Chapter 3: "Fine, I'll take my business elsewhere,"

"Hit me again, barkeep," Rory said, pushing her empty glass aside, "And make it a double this time."

"That's your fourth glass in two hours," the bartender said.

"Did I ask you to keep count? No. I asked you to pour me another drink," Rory told him.

It had been a few weeks since that night out with her co-workers. And after getting herself smashingly drunk, Rory was able to go home and pass out, nightmare free. Since then she's gone out with the group from work every weekend, but has also been going to the bar down the street from her apartment a few times a week.

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine. I live two minutes from here. I can walk home no problem. I have pepper spray in my purse, plus I have the number to a cab company on speed dial," Rory told the bartender, "I'm fine. Now will you please just pour me my drink like I asked."

"Fine," he said, pouring the bourbon into her empty glass. It was drink of choice for the night. As much as he hated to continue to pour her drinks he was glad she was smart enough not to mix her alcohols and since she had stayed until closing the first night she came in he had seen her walk home as he was locking up and knew it was in fact close and within sight of the front door so he could make sure she got home okay if she needed it, "But this is the last one."

"Yeah, yeah," Rory said.

"I mean it. Finish this and I'll call you a cab," he said, "Or better yet, I'll close the place down and take you home myself if I have to."

"Whatever," Rory said, picking up her glass and walking away from the bar, taking a seat at a nearby table as her phone rang, "Ugh, seriously. When will I get a reprieve. Why, hello Sergeant DuGrey. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Tristan?" she asked when he didn't respond after a few minutes.

"Are you drunk?" Tristan asked.

"Possibly, what's it to you? Shouldn't you be working or something or do you spend all your time calling to see if I'll answer?" she asked, "And what are you even doing up right now anyway, it's like five AM?"

"Five-thirty, actually," Tristan said, "I'm always up this early. I've been getting up by five AM since military school."

"Gross, I don't think my clock has a five AM," Rory said, swirling the alcohol in her glass before taking another sip.

"Are you alright, Rory?" Tristan asked.

"I'm fine," she said, taking another sip.

"Are you sure because while I'm glad to hear your voice, you usually ignore my calls," Tristan said, "I'm surprised you answered."

"I blame it on the alcohol," Rory said, finishing off the last of the glass, "And now I have to go."

"Don't. Talk to me," Tristan said.

"There's nothing to talk about. My glass is empty. I need another drink," Rory said.

"I think that's the last thing you need, Rory," he told her.

"You're calling me Rory," she said, running her finger along the rim of her empty glass, "I have to go. I'll, uh, I'll talk to you soon, Tris."

"Yeah, sure, I can believe…." Tristan said as Rory ended the call, not listening to the rest of what he had to say.

"One more," Rory said, setting her empty glass on the bar.

"No, I don't know what's going on, but I'm done serving you," the bartender said.

"Fine, I'll take my business elsewhere," Rory said, tossing a few bills on the counter to cover the costs of her drinks, throwing her purse over her shoulder as she quickly turned to leave, walking straight into another customer as she walked towards the door.

"Woah, easy, there. Are you alright?" the man asked, placing his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"Logan?" Rory questioned, looking up into the eyes of the man she hadn't seen since he walked away from her the day she graduated from Yale.

"Ace?" Logan asked, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she said, noticing he was still holding on to her, "You can let go now."

"Sorry," he said, laying his hands down at his sides, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. Goodbye, Logan" she said, taking a step towards the door again, swaying a bit as she did.

"I hate to disagree with you Ace, but you are far from fine," Logan said, "Come on, I'll take you home."

"I can get myself home," she said, brushing his arm away as he placed it around her shoulder.

"Really because from where I'm standing, you're about five seconds away from passing out," Logan said, placing his arm back around her, preparing himself to catch her if she did in fact pass out.

"Fine!" she said.

The next morning Rory woke up to her head pounding, unsure of how she got home. The last she remembered was hanging up on Tristan. She was still dressed in her clothes from the night before so she knew that however she got home, nothing had happened.

"Oh, good you're up. I've got tacos and a fresh pot of coffee," Logan said when Rory came out into the living room after showering and changing her clothes.

"Logan?" Rory asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I stayed to make sure you were okay," he told her.

"Stayed? You stayed here? How? When?" she asked.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

"I remember being at the bar down the street. I was on the phone and...I don't remember coming home," she said, "Did you bring me home?"

"I did. I was walking into the bar as you were trying to storm out. You ran into me and ended up passing out in my arms," Logan said, "You're lucky I caught you."

"Well, thanks. And thanks for the tacos," Rory said, picking one up and taking a bite, "Mmm, so good. So what are you doing in D.C. anyway?"

"I'm checking out a paper for my dad," Logan told her.

"Your dad? I thought you were done with HPG?" Rory asked.

"I was, but…" he began.

"What?" Rory asked.

"California wasn't what I thought it would be," he told her.

"Oh?" she asked.

"I liked my job and I was good at it, but for the first time in my life I was alone," he said, "Truly alone. No family, no friends…"

"No girlfriend," Rory added.

"Yeah," he said.

"Logan…" Rory began, "I...I don't really know what to say except I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's my fault. You weren't ready and I pushed it," Logan said, "I told you we would factor each other in and then I went and made all those plans with the job and the house without discussing anything with you first and I should have. It took me a long time to realize that. I spent a lot of time just being mad at you."

"So did I. I was hurt though, more than anything. I mean, as much as I didn't want you to go to London I knew you needed to go, if not because it was what Mitchum wanted, but for yourself, too," Rory said, "You needed that time and experience to forgive yourself out and decide who you truly wanted to be. If I agreed to marry you and went with you to California I wouldn't have had that chance."

"I know. I do, really, at least I know that now. I know that saying no to my proposal wasn't saying no to me or to us, but you wanting your chance to see what was out there and what you could do," Logan said.

"Yeah, but sometimes I wonder though," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"What if I said 'yes.' I wondered that for awhile after you walked away and during the campaign," she said, "Even more the past few months. I think that if I had said 'yes' we would have been engaged for awhile and married shortly after, mostly likely still on the west coast. I'd be working for a paper out there and I wouldn't have...I, maybe wouldn't have gone overseas."

"Rory. I wish like hell that didn't happen to you. From the moment I first heard your name associated with the list of missing journalists I wanted to reach out to your mom or your grandparents and then when you came back I wanted to come see you, but…" he said.

"But what?" Rory asked.

"It wasn't my place anymore. I walked away and while I still cared about you, I didn't have any right to bother your mom or anyone," he said.

"You could have asked. Or called," she said.

"Would you have answered?" he asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," she said, "I've been ignoring most calls lately."

"I know. Your phone rang three times last night and twice this morning. All the same number," he said.

"Yeah, persistent," Rory said.

"You should call him back," Logan said.

"What?" she asked.

"DuGrey. You should call him back," Logan said.

"How do you know who was calling?" Rory asked.

"He called your house phone after you didn't answer your cell. I saw on the caller I.D. it was the same number and picked it up when he started leaving a message," Logan said.

"You shouldn't have done that, Logan," Rory said.

"I'm sorry, but he sounded worried and I wanted him to know you were alright," Logan said, "He cares about you."

"Doesn't mean I have to talk to him," Rory said.

"No, but you should and you know it. I don't know the guy personally, but I remember him being around at a few parties and such growing up. He's a good guy Ace, you should give him a chance or at least talk to him," Logan said.

"Everytime I talk to him he asks how I'm doing and...I just really don't want to talk about it," Rory said.

"Then don't. Ask him questions about how he's doing or ask him something random," Logan said, "You haven't really spent any time with the guy since high school so use these phone calls to get to know each other again."

"Why are you encouraging this?" she asked.

"Because I think he could be good for you," he said, "We talked for awhile and he seems like a great guy. I think he could make you happy and you deserve to be happy."

"Thanks, Logan," Rory said, "You know, you deserve to be happy, too."

"You're welcome and actually I am. I am pretty happy," he told her.

"Are you seeing someone?" Rory asked.

"For a few months now. Her name is Ashlee. She was actually the one who first saw your name and told me you were missing," Logan said, "We had only been on a few dates at that point, but we knew each other for awhile. We actually met out in California a couple months after I moved out there, but she was only there on vacation."

"She lives out here?" Rory asked.

"New York. And I wasn't ready to date anyone when we first met anyway, but she told me if I ever found myself back on the east coast to look her up," Logan said.

"And you did," she said.

"Yeah. I've been back about a year and finally a few months ago I called her and told her I was living here again and we went out," he said, "I had told her a bit about you when I first met her in Palo Alto. She's a psychologist and she's really good at reading people so she knew I was not in the best place at the time and offered to listen if I wanted to share my feelings."

"That's how she knew who I was and told you what was going on," Rory said.

"Yeah. She actually told me it would be okay for me to call you or Lorelai, but the idea still felt like it wasn't my place or like I was betraying her," he said.

"Does she know you're here now, with me?" Rory asked.

"Yeah. I called her after I got you home. She said I should stay to be sure you were okay and so we could talk about everything. She wants to meet you if and when you're up for it," Logan said.

"Really? That won't be like extremely awkward and weird?" Rory asked.

"Probably. If we do it I can always ask Colin and Finn to join us," Logan said.

"That will definitely make it interesting," Rory said, "It's been ages since I've seen them. I actually miss Finn and his crazy drunken antics."

"Speaking of. What was last night all about, Ace? I've seen you drunk before, but not like that?" Logan asked.

"It helps stop the nightmares," she said.

"Rory, you really should talk to someone about that," he said.

"I have, but talking about it just seems to make it worse. Unless I've drank enough coffee to keep myself awake so I don't sleep or pass out after a few drinks, the nightmares are there," she said.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be. Just something I have to live with," Rory said.

"I'm sure it will get better, Ace. It's just going to take time," Logan told her, "You can't expect it to get easier or go away overnight."

"I know, but it's been months. I thought the nightmares would be gone by now," Rory said, "Or at least easier to deal with."

"It will only get easier when you feel better talking about it. Holding in your fears and feelings isn't good and you know it," Logan said.

"You're right," she said.

AN: I know, I know. It's been forever since I've posted a chapter for this story and I have no good excuses so I won't give you one. I hope I've made up for it by having this one be a little longer. And I hope Logan came across okay. This is the first time I've really had to write for him. He is in my Rory & Riley series, but since that is an AU, Logan is more of a background character and for this story he needed to be sort of the Logan we got, but with him realizing the problem I always saw with his proposal. The fact that he seemed to completely forget their talk in Hay Bale Maze. Anyway. Happy reading and I promised not to take this long to post another chapter again!