I wrote this last year but thought that no one read the book, so I just saved it for my own reading. I finally decided to post it, because Philip's concern for Logan and guilt for he had done to him nearly moved me to tears. *sniff*

Disclaimers: The book, CandyMakers and its characters belong to Wendy Mass.

A Rediscovered Friendship

(The Candymakers fanfic- LOGAN/PHILIP)

Philip waited outside the huge wooden door of the Life Is Sweet? candy factory. It was a week after the candy-making competition and after his Harmonicandy was chosen as the winning candy and also a week after he had read the letter from Logan during the four new friends' day out at Verona Park.

"…I hope you'll come back to the factory to hang out. I promise if you throw me something and I miss it, that I won't climb into another vat of chocolate…"

He felt a pang of guilt when he thought again of how he was indirectly the cause of Logan's scars and worse when he remembered how badly he had treated the boy during the course of the competition.

"It's not your fault," Reggie, his father's longtime driver/bodyguard/assistant told him the night before. "Your father lied to you. He only wanted to protect you from getting hurt."

"He already did that," Philip muttered. "For seven years, I had kept a grudge on the one and only friend I ever had, thinking he was the one that got me banned from the factory when all this time, I was only tricked by my dad. I don't deserve a friend like Logan."

"Hey now, kiddo," Reggie put an arm around him. "That's no way to call yourself. It was a mistake and he forgave you. All is good. Your mother would've been so proud of you for actually working together with the others and you didn't do it for yourself this time. If that's not all, let me remind you how you got over your fears of playing in front of an audience and blew everyone away with your violin composition."

Philip looked up at Reggie and felt embarrassed for tearing up at his words. He quickly wiped away his tears and took a deep breath. With a quivering voice that he tried hard to suppress, he said, "Th-thanks, Reggie. That was really nice of you."

"No problem, Philip," the man smiled. Philip instantly decided to take charge again and threatened, "Don't you dare tell anyone about this or I swear I'll get my father to fire you." Reggie chuckled, "Your secret is safe with me", and Philip calmed down just a bit.

Back outside on the front porch of the factory, Philip considered whether to press the doorbell repeatedly, knock or just wait patiently. He didn't get to think for long when the huge door opened and out walked the person he came all the way to see. His scars were still evident and clear on his face but as usual, he never made any indication of being bothered by it.

"Hey, Philip," Logan brightened up at his friend in his typical suit and tie. "What brings you here today? It's Saturday."

"I…" but Philip never got to finish before Logan ushered him inside. "I'm so glad you're here," the latter chirped. "Miles has a lot of homework to do so he couldn't make it today and Daisy's in the taffy room helping Fran pull the taffy. She decided to work extra hours today. We could go see her first."

"Uhh," Philip's cheeks were filled with a tinge of red at the mention of Daisy's name. Neither Logan nor Miles knew of his little crush on the 13-year-old spy and he intended to keep that a secret for as long as he could. "No thanks, Logan. I actually came here to see you."

"Oh," Logan seemed surprised at his answer. "Okay then. You wanna go to the Tropical Room instead? We can hang out there."

"Sure, that sounds good," Philip replied. He followed Logan all the way past the other rooms to the hot and humid Tropical Room. Logan pressed the button at the side and the steamed up glass doors slid aside. They both ran into the room and stopped under Logan's favourite Sapodilla tree. They could hear Avery from the other end of the room by the rustle of tree branches there.

Philip sat down first, ignoring the wet muddy stains from the recently sprinkled ground forming on his pants. He really had changed. Logan settled in front of him.

"So," the Candymaker's son started. "What's this meeting for? What do you wanna talk to me about?"

Philip hesitated and looked down, trying to come up with the right words to say. "I'm sorry."

"What?" This was something new to Logan. Philip rarely ever apologizes and when he did, it was only when he did something really bad, like trying to steal the secret ingredient and even that was only after the candy-making contest was over.

"I just wanted to apologize for being really mean to you before this and acting like a prat," Philip let it all out in one go. "I'm sorry for trying to take revenge on you and hating you for seven years when I thought that you got me banned from the factory. I'm sorry for causing all the scars and burns on your face and arms. I'm sorry for thinking that you faked them and tried to be an attention-seeker. I'm just really sorry that my dad planned to buy this factory from you and ruin our friendship by making me think it was your fault."

Logan didn't know what to say. He could only stare at Philip and cringe as the son of the businessman plucked some leaves from the Sapodilla tree. This was uncommon. Was this the same Philip he met less than two weeks ago? He doubted it. Was this the same Philip he met seven years ago? Yes, yes it was. At that moment, Logan reached over to his first child friend he ever made and hugged him, something that Miles would have done had he been here.

Philip felt a gust of wind escape him as he was engulfed in a great bear hug from Logan. He stiffened and barely moved, not knowing what to do. Slowly, he returned the hug and felt his eyes prickle once more. 'Control yourself,' he mentally scolded himself. 'A Ransford never lets his emotions get the best of him'.

After what seemed like a very long time, Logan let him go. An awkward silence fell on the two of them and Logan was the first to break it. "Thanks," he choked and cleared his throat to relax his muscles. "You didn't have to, you know. I never hated you. I understand why you acted the way you did and I forgive you."

"Yeah, well…" Philip was at a loss of what to say. "I feel really embarrassed right now. I don't usually, you know, apologize much." Logan laughed at this. "It's okay, I know it's not easy for you. But hey, as we've promised each other, no more secrets, right?"

"Y-yeah, sure," Philip sputtered. He still wasn't ready yet to let Logan know about him liking Daisy.

It was Logan's turn to feel guilty this time. He remembered the old violin that Philip returned to him. 'I guess now's the right time to tell him,' he thought. "Hey, Philip?"

Philip who was once again staring at the ground turned his face up. "Yeah?"

"Remember the Stradivarius you gave back to me?"

"Oh, Logan, I told you, I'm not taking it back," Philip said.

"No, no, I mean, I just wanted to tell you that my grandfather wasn't only a candy factory founder," Logan replied.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"He was also a woodcarving enthusiast."

"So you're saying…" Realization hit Philip in the face, as he finally understood what Logan meant. "You mean…"

"Yeah," Logan scratched his neck. "My grandfather made the Stradivarius. Besides making candy, he loved to carve wood and play music. I just thought you might like to know."

"Are you kidding me?" Philip burst into laughter, unable to contain his excitement. "That's the coolest thing ever. The Stradivarius is the best handmade instrument collection in the world and yours is a limited edition. Your…your grandfather is legendary!"

Logan was taken aback. He had never received that much praise from Philip before, much less if it was about his ancestor. No proper words came to his mind and he instead blurted out, "Wanna sleep over here tonight?"

Philip stopped jumping and hesitated. He usually preferred to sleep in his own big and plush room but today he wanted some company. If this should be a way to bring their friendship back to how it was before, he'd take it, even if his clothes might end up getting dirty.

"I'd like that," he gave a genuine smile and Logan's only response was, "Great!"

"What are we going to do now?"

"Well," Logan said. "How 'bout we go see Daisy and Fran? Maybe we can help out with the taffy pulling or something if that's okay with you."

At the mention of Daisy, Philip blushed again. Well, it was not a lie that he would like to see her face again, her very pretty face and natural brown hair that smelled like fruit. "I'm fine with that."

"Are you blushing?" Logan asked curiously.

Philip's eyes bulged wide. "No! It's the hot air in this room. The high temperature is finally getting to me." He rolled his eyes to throw Logan off suspicion.

Logan appeared doubtful at first but didn't question him. The Tropical Room was really hot after all. "Let's go then!"

The two boys left the room, racing each other despite the No-Running-In-The-Factory rule. Their laughter could be heard throughout the corridors, eliciting the memory of similar sounds heard by most of the older factory workers seven years ago. It created a sense of dejavu. Only this time, there were no accidents to break them apart and no scheming businessmen trying to buy the factory, just two twelve-year-old boys with a rediscovered friendship.

RnR, if you want.

~talking-hat~