A/N: Honestly, I can't believe how much time has passed since we updated this! So sorry! We are back now and determined to finish! Sometimes life just gets in the way. Thank you for sticking with us and your continued support. It means the world o us.

They broke apart from their kiss, which was so innocently chaste and barely a peck, yet so sweet and tender. Rachel looked up into his big green eyes.

"Cash or credit?" Manny interrupted their moment.

Rachel didn't answer, she was so lost in the moment and in his eyes. "Gar I-"

"Hmm?" Manny asked, then looking up to see what was going on. "Oh! Pardon moi, please, continue, I'll just be in the back," He ducked behind the counter, slightly peeking up to watch.

Neither one of them noticed Manny gawking at them, urging them to take things further if they so wished. Hell he'd have probably made room for them right on his counter, tossing everything on it to the floor in a matter of seconds. "Yes Rae?" Garfield asked ever so softly, brushing her soft hair out of her face.

She looked into his eyes a moment longer, then back to Manny, then just at the floor as she casually distanced herself from him a few centimeters, letting her hands drop. "I uh… I want to buy you these suits. It's almost like they were made for you," She flashed him a small, but fabricated smile, opening her purse and searching through it for a charge card.

Garfield sighed, "Oh alright, I suppose a snazzy actress should have a snazzy looking bodyguard but I warn you Miss Roth, you can dress up an asshole, but he's still an asshole." He smiled. That amazing, charming Logan smile he's had his whole life.

She smirked, "That's okay. You can put the 'ass' in 'classy'." She winked at him and flashed him the most amazing smile he had ever seen. It was small but so gorgeously adorable on her.

Finally completing the transaction, Garfield watched as she spent money that she earned. She earned it... worked for it. As much as she earned her money as the average Joe had to work and be paid minimum wages. But did Rachel ever buy something for herself? A guilty pleasure item like... a video game? A new purse? A pair of rhinestone studded converse? What did Rachel Roth do with her monetary earnings?

She turned to him as Manny bagged the suits. "Did you still want to get fries?"

Garfield didn't care what they did... as long as they did something together. He went to bed thinking about her and woke up thinking about her. And it wasn't *just because she set his alarm with a personalized, 'GARFIELD LOGAN GET THE HELL UP' – it was because he genuinely thought about her. She barely left his mind, he barely left her side but he still anticipated when he'd see her next. Was that even healthy? "I want *you to call the shots Rae, because you don't get the chance to."

She pursed her lips for a moment, thinking. "Well, you said you wanted fries. But I have ice cream at my place… and they're replaying the last Batman movie on TV if you wanted to catch it…"

He truly doubted that she really wanted to catch a re-run of Batman on again, but he couldn't say no to Rachel. One of his guilty pleasures was food but he had to take many alternatives to fit his vegetarian eating habits, but always wanted to try new things... just not meat/animal related. "I'm game for a little bit of the Battyman." He smirked, shrugging his shoulders.

Garfield wasn't a bossy, tell-you-what-to-do kinda person. He pretty much went with the flow, whatever the flow was for the most part. Now he wasn't a guy who didn't have a mind and followed the in-crowd either, he always remained calm and cool, collected. But you did *not want to see his angry side.

"Thanks Manny, for measuring all my junk, and the trunk." He grinned, purposely putting poor, unsuspecting Manny between a rock and hard-place with his words alone.

"Cool, Manny can you send those to Garfield's house? I'll text you all the information?"

Manny nodded, seeming overly eager. "Sure, give me his phone number and address…"

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Never mind. Send it to my house."

Manny's face fell. "Fine," He frowned, "But you're no fun."

An extravagant limousine for a simple-needed girl seemed like such a waste, Garfield wasn't one to waste anything he was given. It was rude and gave off an arrogance that what was being offered, wasn't good enough. No one enjoys the company of a rude individual. "Rachel, you... just earned yourself the title of 'Chicken Shit'. How does that make you feel?" as he popped open the limo bar-fridge with his foot, grabbing out an expensive whiskey – shutting it again with the same foot, opening it with his strong hands.

What he was insinuating they do next, wasn't being a good influence on Rachel. But as long as they were both enclosed in the limousine with darkest tint windows...

"Chicken… Shit?" She raised an eyebrow. "I don't quite know what you're saying, but I have an intense urge to slap you. I suggest you elaborate." She said it seriously, but he understood her well enough to know she was just being playful… he hoped.

He gave his eyes a roll, "It means intimidated. Nervous. Have you ever even drank before or is this whiskey as old as my dad's balls? And that's 20, with an additional 21 years experience." He stated, matter-of-factly.

She gave a smug smile. "Oh, I mean, I don't like to brag… but I have had seventy year old wine in Italy. It wasn't that good, actually. Why does it need to age again?" She smiled, genuinely. She didn't usually drink, ever actually, but she wouldn't mind drinking with Garfield. She trusted him completely and was never worried of opening up in front of him. "Oh, it doesn't matter. I don't know how old the whiskey is, I've never opened that fridge."

Garfield smirked, "Well I think it's about time you decide to be adventurous. I mean, it wasn't long ago that you took a risk on hiring me and look what's happened since? I don't suggest you remember anything unpleasant at this moment." He teased her lightly, opening the bottle and taking a generous sip. "Your turn superstar."

She gave him a nervous smile, but took the bottle. "Bottoms up, I suppose." She took a swig, probably bigger than she should have, trying to impress him, then handed him back the bottle. She felt excited for some reason, and she was happy to have some quality time with her best friend, not just her body guard.

He glanced down at his old, worn 'department store' wrist watch. 11:13 pm. This time in the evenings during high school Garfield hardly remembered where he parked Victor's car accidentally-on-purpose. Away from the house party. It was hilarious when poor Victor had a shit-fit and thought someone stole his car... but not so much when it came time to leave after sleeping on the floor of someone's house they didn't know. Ah, those were the days! He chuckled to himself and Rachel eyed him suspiciously.

Garfield cleared his throat and blushed. "Ah, sorry. I was just... thinking about a few years back. When life wasn't so complicated, y'know?"

Rachel scoffed, "Life- not complicated? Can't say I relate." Her eyes seemed distant for a moment, but refocused on him with a noticeable intrigue. "I missed out on the normal teenage years… tell me about yours?" She had played in the roles of teenagers, but never actually had the experience for herself. She was more interested in hearing about a real teenager's life than she let on.

Garfield thought for a moment. He took the bottle from her and had a sip for himself. "Well... Vic and I were... alright for the most part. We attended classes regularly... we also attended weekend parties regularly too. House parties man... I have a love/hate relationship with them. It depends what happened. The drama can suck you in big time though. We tried our best not to let it bother us. The best part of them was playing games though... like 7 Minutes in Heaven... Spin the Bottle... Never Have I Ever." He straightened up and handed the bottle back to Rachel. "There was this one time that there were a few girls that Vic and I had our eyes on and they wanted to play 'Twister'... hell of course we were down, if we could get on the polka-dotted mat with our limbs awkwardly wrapped around some attractive girls... why not right?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Until it was Victor and I on the mat and he ate burritos for dinner and wow... he had bad gas that night."

Rachel giggled, she had a love for Victor as a brother and she could only imagine the trouble he got into as a teenager. "Oh, that sounds really fun." She always dreamed of playing games like these. The grass was always greener. Her first kiss being on set with Richard Greyson was far from romantic and glamorous after being told it wasn't 'passionate' enough and having to spend four more takes repeating the process. "Must have been great," she grabbed the bottle from him and drank again, liking the heat it made her feel in her chest. She glanced at Garfield's perfectly shaped lips. Now that she thought about it, her real first kiss was just a few moments ago… The butterflies in her stomach flared up and she decided to drown them with more whiskey. "Do you miss those days?" She hoped to keep him talking and occupy her mind.

He thought about it. He did and didn't at the same time. "Yes and no. No because I really couldn't keep up with my weekend partying now... no matter what or how my ego reacts – know that I'm dead on the inside. And my liver is aching and raging at the same time." Things were much simpler for him then. "They were the most crucial four years of my life. The path to finding out who I was... about to become. I don't think you truly find your identity during those years... you find your true self after you leave what you're familiar with."

He didn't want to keep reaching over her for the bottle... so he found two lovely wine glasses to pour the whiskey in. After he re-situated himself... he leaned back into the seat. Who knew a limousine could be so comfy? "The only reason I made it to university was because of football. I kept grades alright... but I knew I was destined to build my career on a major league team. It was the last game of the season... I knew there were several talent scouts in the crowd... no matter what the outcome of the game... I had a high chance of at least being approached with an amazing opportunity... until..." he drained a good portion of his glass and lightly swirled the contents around. He tried to find the right words... ones that wouldn't make him sound like a failure.

Rachel was on the edge of her seat. She knew him well, and could often almost feel the emotions of others, even when she was a blank slate of emotion herself. "Until?" She tried to lead him to continue, but then remembered the many times she asked him to respect her boundaries. She placed a hand on his knee. "Garfield… sometimes things are hard to talk about, and you owe me nothing. You don't have to tell me, but this is a safe place and I'm happy to listen." Her amethyst eyes blinked at him. He could see a vulnerability in her eyes that reminisced the look she gave him an hour ago during that fateful moment in the suit shop. It was an emotion he couldn't quite read but it made his heart swell.

He knew that he didn't have to share the intimate details but he wanted to. He didn't want there to be any secrets between them. None that he could help anyway. "Have you ever been so incredibly close to something that you could almost taste it? Not food-wise... but... success?" He let out a light sigh and shifted. He hadn't noticed that the space between them grew smaller. "I knew that whether the last game finished with a win or loss, I'd be well on my way." He bit down on his lip but only for a moment. "In the last two minutes of the game – leave it up to yours truly - to get an injury... a..." he shifted his right leg as a dull pain lingered. "career ending injury. I damaged 3 out of 4 major ligaments in my right knee."

It was that moment that Rachel remembered the first day he became her bodyguard... the same one where she made him run behind the limousine.

Rachel's heart dropped. She thought she knew suffering, but here she was with other-worldly success just handed right to her. And here was Garfield, someone who worked for years for success to have it ripped out from under him in less than a minute. She looked deeply into his eyes. "Wow. I am so sorry, Garfield. I could never begin to understand how this makes you feel…" She thought about what she would want someone to say to her in a moment like this. "Not that it's what you want to hear, but success can't be measured in the amount of money you make. Success is measured in the amount of happiness you attain and the quality of person you grow into. I would say you're wildly successful in my book, Gar, because you're a really incredible person. You're kind, generous, selfless, intelligent, witty, and hilarious."

Garfield's cheeks blushed several shades of red. No one had ever complimented him like that before. "Thank you, Rae. That means a lot coming from you." He shifted. "Honestly... I would've liked to play on a team for a few years before the injury took place but... to think if it had... I wouldn't be here with you right now." Life sure had a strange way of working out sometimes. "And just so we're clear... there's no where else I'd rather be."

Review Replies

Fiery Pancake: It is continued! Thanks for your review! I can't believe it's been so long since we've updated. We've gotten older, and busier, but we're back! And fully excited to see this story to the end. Thank you so much for the support!

RavenSerendipity: Update is here! We kept you waiting literally years, we apologize. Feels like just yesterday we were writing this, so surprised it's been years. We are going to finish

Guest: totally not the last chapter! We totally agree on fandoms and ugggh tara. Hate to put her in here but we gotta do what we gotta do. Thanks for reviewing!

DianaisShrek: 3 years later we keep you from waiting any longer. Sorry for the ridiculous wait. Time flew by and we've been so busy. Thanks for the encouragement! Thanks for reviewing! You're the best!

Dj25taz: where IS tara… youll find out ;) thanks for reviewing

Dracona Halfling: Totally agree! I hate tara. But every good story needs a villain. Thanks!

Wolfy Loveland: Thanks Wolfy! You're the best. Sorry to keep you waiting!

CaliIntern: Awww, glad you could celebrate. Hope you come back and celebrate something else!

rmich2: Lol are you worried now? Hahaha 3 years later. Thanks for reviewing!

daniiibabiii: Here's the next chapter! Hope you could wait xD Sorry to make you wait!

Sweetums14: Oh my gosh! So funny how we all have different images of what our favorite fictional characters look like. David Patkeau is pretty yummy!

Purplepox63010: Yes! First kiss. Ugh. Took them long enough.

DarkWingedAngel8 : If by "update asap" you meant three years later, then here it is :D haha thanks for reviewing and supporting us. You're the best. Sorry to make you wait so long.

ohheylizet: We're going to try to update regularly now

JasonVUK: BIG SHINY DONUT CHAPTER AGAIN aww you and your wife! My new OTP! How cute. We miss you immensely, please feel free to pm us! We are back!

Kaarlinaa: Hi! It's been years but we're continuing. Thank you for your encouragement!