June 2015

When Rory and Logan had not-quite-so-accidentally bumped into each other at her grandmothers Christmas party back in December, they had, of course, both meant well and were quite sincere about getting together and catching up sometime in the future. However, for whatever reason, it never quite happened for them. Despite the extensive travelling that they both did over the next few months, neither of them ever found themselves in the right place, at the right time, that was until Rory found herself in London on a work trip some six months later.

Rory was sitting relaxing in the room at her London hotel after a busy day researching for an article. She was in town working a piece she was putting together for Conde Nast Traveler magazine on the most romantic restaurants in London and she'd never felt less inadequate visiting these supposed venues for love while completely on her own. After another long day traipsing around London and writing up her notes she was just about ready to let her hair down. Rory truly loved travelling for her job but it had sometimes turned out to be a lonely and isolating experience. She often found herself in some of the nicest cities in the world but with nobody there to share it with, the excitement waned pretty quickly. As she looked out of the window down onto the Mayfair streets below, she toyed with the iPhone in her hand. Perhaps it was finally time for that catch-up with Logan.

After they had spoken to each other at the Christmas party, Rory had woken up the next to a Facebook friend request from Logan. After deliberating over it for a while, she had tentatively accepted the request. As much as she'd always wanted to avoid knowing too much about Logan's life, she had of course been seriously intrigued once his profile was all opened up to her and she had then lost several hours of her life poring over his photos to see exactly what it was that he had been up to over the past few years. Rory had smiled as she had flicked through the photos of Logan and his old friends, who by the look of it, still enjoyed getting up to their old Life and Death Brigade style antics. There was the odd family photo – Honor looked well – and the occasional photo of Logan with his arm around a girl, but nobody that appeared too often, leading her to believe that he wasn't currently in a serious relationship. Rory felt a little bit ashamed and going through his photos in such detail but she suspected that he would probably do the same with hers.

Since December, they'd since exchanged the odd message or left a friendly comment for the other on Facebook, so even though she was a little hesitant, she didn't really feel that awkward about calling to let him know she was in town. It was just a friendly thing. No awkwardness required. Rory dialled the number and waited for him to answer.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Rory Gilmore, as I live and breathe! This is a call that I never thought would come!" Logan said with a smile as he answered the call.

"There's no need for sarcasm Huntzberger, I can hang up again you know…" Rory teased.

"No! Don't do that. What can I do for you?" he asked. He was genuinely curious as to where this call was going to lead.

"Well, I happen to be in town for a couple of days and I wondered if you wanted to perhaps meet for a drink and catch up like we promised to," she said confidently.

Logan paused for a moment. He knew that it would be hard to be around Rory without wanting to touch her, she had always had that effect on him, and at the Christmas party that pull had been stronger than ever, but he was more than a little intrigued to get to know what she was up to these days and this was his chance.

"Absolutely, when is good for you?" he asked.

"How about now?" Rory said.

"Now it is. Where are you?" Logan said before he spoke to his driver to let him know his plans were changing.

Rory smiled. "I'm staying at The Connaught in Mayfair. I'll meet you in the Coburg Bar downstairs"

"I'll be there in half an hour," Logan said.

Rory ended the call and took a deep breath. She put her iPhone down on the bedside table before she stepped into the shower and got herself changed quickly. As she zipped up her little black dress and slid her feet into some heels, she looked at herself in the full-length mirror and pursed her lips at herself. For some reason, she felt like she was just about to fall straight down the rabbit hole and while she was very aware that now was the time to stop that tumble into the abyss from happening if she really wanted to avoid it, she knew that she couldn't, or wouldn't. Her curiosity was getting the better of her.


Rory took the elevator and headed downstairs to the bar. When she walked in she found Logan already there, sitting at a table with drinks for them.

"How on earth did you beat me here? I was literally upstairs," she smiled at him as he stood up to greet her with a kiss.

"Punctuality is one of my strong points" he laughed. "You look great Rory," he said casting an appreciative eye over her.

"Thanks. Champagne? What's the occasion?" Rory asked as she sat down next to him.

"We don't need an occasion to drink champagne do we? " he said as he poured her a glass. "So, we're averaging six months for a date then huh?"

"This is SO not a date Logan" Rory laughed "I would have called sooner but I've been travelling a lot…" she trailed off. It was the truth, her freelance work had seen her all over the place in recent months.

Logan nodded at her. "I know! I've been reading your work online. Formenta, Provence, Montauk…"

"Stalking me Huntzberger? I'm impressed…and a little scared" she teased as she sipped her champagne. "It's been a really busy few months. I've been doing a lot of freelance work for Conde Nast but I know there is an Assistant Editor position coming soon and I really want to get a staff position, so got to put the hours in at the moment" she rolled her eyes.

"Life on the road not working out for you?" Logan looked at her questioningly. Rory had always wanted to travel with work, that was her thing and one of the reasons that they'd gone their separate ways back at graduation. She wasn't about to be pinned down to one place.

"It's fun, it's been a lot of fun" she nodded "but it's pretty exhausting and think I'd be happy to sit still for a while now, maybe finally lay down some roots. What about you? I was a little surprised when you said that you were back with HPG…"

When Logan had taken the steps to move away from his father all those years ago, Rory had been so proud of him. It hadn't been an easy thing to do to turn his back on his preordained life. She so hoped that he hadn't been dragged back there against his will.

"He made me an offer I couldn't refuse" Logan smirked.

"Mitchum has finally joined the mob?" Rory joked.

"Not quite…" Logan smirked "It was just the right thing at the right time. I was growing a bit bored of what I was doing in California but had obviously proved myself enough to daddy and he asked me to come back and offered me the position of Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President"

"And you enjoy it right?" Rory looked at him carefully.

"Yeah, you know, it's been a time of big change in our industry. Digital and tech are the two things I am passionate about. It's been great to be able to take what I learned and apply to the family business and it's always been a bit of a thrill, playing with big boys, it's what keeps it exciting." Logan admitted.

"If you're happy, then that's great," Rory said and she really meant it. Though their break-up had been difficult, she still only ever wanted him to be happy.

They sat and talked casually for a little while, covering most of the safer topics like work and their families but after a couple more glasses of champagne, Logan decided that he couldn't beat around the bush for much longer. He needed more insight into Rory's life.

"So, come on, we may as well just get it out there…what about your personal life? Any significant others?" he asked.

Rory raised an eyebrow at the question. "You really want to go there? Okay" she shrugged. "Well, currently, official status is that I'm single, have been for a while. I mean, there have been a few….I don't know what you would call them, I guess not relationships…flings? But they were short lived. I go on dates but it's hard trying to maintain anything more than that when you're moving around as much as I do. What about you? I don't see a ring on your finger?" she asked as she picked up her champagne.

"Not met that someone special yet" he smiled "but I guess I've not exactly been looking for it either if I happen to meet someone then great in the meantime…"

"…you're just happy having fun, right? Same here" she said as she emptied her glass.

"I never really took you for the no-strings kind of girl" Logan smiled "I mean, I know we tried that but it wasn't you was it?" he said as he remembered back to their failed attempt at being casual all those years ago.

"Things change, people change," Rory said.

She didn't really want to admit to Logan that she'd actually become very good at the whole no-strings thing. One-night stands had never really been her thing but doing the casual dating thing and not tying herself down to any one man in particular, that she had nailed.

"Well that's the second bottle of champagne gone, do you want another drink or…" Logan paused. He wasn't really sure what he was asking. He knew that he wanted but did she want the same?

Rory smiled "It's getting late, I should probably call it a night now…" she said as she fiddled with her hair.

Logan nodded "Time flies when you're having fun huh. I'll walk you to your room" he said as he stood up.

"This is a very reputable hotel Logan, I doubt anything is going to happen to me on the way back to my room…" Rory said as she looked up at him.

"I was brought up proper. What on earth would my mother say if I were to forget my manners and not see a lady safely to her door!" Logan teased.

"I am sure that your mother would have quite a lot to say if she knew you were here with me," Rory said as she stood up and took his arm. "But as you wish," she said as he led her out of the bar and they took the elevator upstairs to her room.

Rory stood quietly next to Logan in the elevator. She was starting to feel the effects of the champagne combining with a little nervous energy. She knew as soon as she put her key in the door the jig was going to be well and truly up. They'd been working up to this point all evening – she would be lying to herself if she said that it wasn't how she had hoped the night would end when she had called him earlier. Rory had thought about Logan for the past six months and she knew that she was never going to get past the desire to feel him on her body again, she needed closure on this. Sure, past this one night there really wasn't much chance of them being together and she knew that maybe tomorrow, in the cold light of day she'd regret going there one more time with him but tomorrow she could blame the champagne. Tomorrow was another day. Right now, she knew exactly what she wanted to happen – what needed to happen.


A/N: Thank you SO much for the support yesterday on Chapter 1, it really means a lot. Thank you thank you thank you. Did I give you fair warning that this story was going to get a bit smutty? Because obviously it will...

Just to answer a few questions as I did tell you to ask away...

Jordana60 - Ryan and Rory are just friends. Drunken fumble - let's just say they fooled around but didn't take it too far before realizing they were better as friends. Rory is definitely a bit more headstrong and confident in this story!

chelsbaby - I'm going to 'borrow' a few little bits from the Revival, not entirely sure how much yet, but yes Odette may well make an appearance...