Mitchum Huntzberger stood in the doorway.
Rory just sat there, unable to speak. Logan looked shocked and none too pleased.
Before he could say anything, Mitchum began making small talk.
"Logan, how have you been?" Mitchum asked pleasantly, as if the last time they had spoken Logan hadn't been evicted from his yard.
Logan stammered out a reply. "Fine, I guess."
"That's good. You are probably wondering why I'm here." Mitchum was suddenly all business.
Logan nodded mutely.
"I'm here because your mother and I have reconciled. I don't want to go through my life without her, so I've decided to forget about the past and take her back. It's not like I haven't had a few, um, indiscretions myself. So I wanted to extend that offer to you as well. She wants you in our lives, and even though you aren't biologically mine, you are still my son. You have better business instincts than I thought you did and I'm willing to legally recognize you as my son and heir. What do you say?"
Logan sat silent, stunned for a minute, but then the words just seemed to spill out of him.
"You know at first I missed you, and the family and the life I had, until I realized how dysfunctional it was to even miss it. We were never happy. I didn't know what happy was. You make being part of the family sound like a business proposition. So no, I don't want be your son anymore, and you know why? Because I don't want to end up like you. I don't want to sit behind some horrible desk day after day while the whole time everything that made me alive is shriveling up and dying. I don't want to live on edge every day wondering when you will decide you don't want me anymore. I don't want to lose my feelings and my compassion. I don't want to be cold and hard like you are. I want to be able to choose my own life and I want to offer my kids the future that they want, not the future that I want for them. I'm sick of all the rules and social conventions. I want to do everything my way. I don't want to be surrounded by a crowd of sycophants who tell me nothing but what they think I want to here, because they are groveling and begging for scraps of money or power. So no, sorry, I don't think that I can ever be part of your plan or your family again because I've seen what its made you and I've seen what it was making me. I have a better life now and I did it on my own. I don't need your money or the career you had planned out for me. I don't need Yale or any other school. And now I can say to you what I've always wanted to say to you, for my entire life. Screw you, get out of my life!"
Mitchum stepped back from the fury of Logan's words.
"I don't think you know what you are talking about. I understand that you are angry with me for the way I treated you, and I admit that it was wrong, but I've apologized so you need to get over it and come back to the family. You can't just walk away from your relatives. And Shira, Honor and I are your family, like it or not. So grow up and get over it."
"Oh I did grow up, and I grew out of needing you. You always want people to jump through your hoops, well I'm not jumping anymore. I'll have a relationship with Honor, and with mom and I'll even be polite to you but I want to make this very clear, I want nothing from you or anyone else, and I don't want to be in any part of your plans. I have my own life now and thats the way I like it. All those years I desperately wanted the courage to say no to you, to do what I wanted instead of being pushed through that one door. Well I have that courage now and I'm living my own life. So please leave." Logan gestured to the door.
Stiff with anger Mitchum turned and walked out without another word.
Rory sat stunned on the couch. "I can't believe you said all that to him."
Logan sat down next to her, shaking. "Neither can I. But I meant every word. I don't want any part of that life anymore. If I have anything its going to be because I got it myself. I don't want to answer to anybody for how I live."
Rory gave him a kiss. "I love that about you. So what are we going to do now?"
"Well are you back for good?" asked Logan.
Rory nodded. "Yes, I am. No matter what I know now that I want to be with you."
"Then we can get through anything. And right now things are fine. I'm bartending now at this small pub and having a great time. It's more like a party than work, and some little money is coming in from the papers. And with my mom and Mitchum back together he probably won't cause any trouble over the small papers that I do have. I still don't know how my mom could go so back and forth." here Logan shook his head. "Last time I saw her she took a swing at me. But then she was drunk. We both were. Although really thats nothing out of the ordinary."
"Are you allowed to drink at work?" Rory asked.
"I don't need that stuff now. I was avoiding my life before but why would I want to miss it now?" Logan answered. "Sure I have the occasional drink when I'm not working. I've made more friends, mostly Yale students actually who come to the bar and we hang out on weekends."
Rory felt a twinge of jealousy. "I have no right to ask, but were there any other girls?"
Logan shook his head, then stopped. "I did kiss one girl, one night. But thats as far as it went and that was when I realized that I didn't want to be kissing anyone else but you. It was way too soon to move on, no matter how lonely I felt."
Rory was about to reply when Marty wandered back in. "Hey, I didn't know how long I should be gone." he said uncertainly.
Rory stood up to give him a quick hug, forgetting that she was wearing nothing but Logan's robe. "I'm sorry I didn't really say hi before, I was so distracted. But its great to see you and I'm so glad you and Logan are friends now."
With a hint of regret, and slightly uncomfortable, Marty hugged her back. "Yeah, he ended up being pretty okay and a good roommate." Logan knew that Marty had always liked Rory but he also knew that he would not do anything to interfere with their relationship. He was a real friend, not like the group he used to have who would have taken Rory in a second if they thought that they could.
"Logan and I were just talking about what we were going to do. I graduate in less than a month and after that I have no idea what we are going to do."
"Yeah well the lease on this place ends around graduation so I'm moving out. I don't know if you and Logan want to stay, but I'm not sure yet where I'll go. Wherever I find a job, I guess." said Marty.
Rory looked at Logan. "Do you want to live with me again?" she asked him.
Logan nodded. "Of course. But I'm not sure about here. We have to see. I was telling Rory about the newspapers but since I never really had any interest in the business I figured she and I could take a look at them together and then if she wants to run them thats fine with me."
Rory gave Logan a wide-eyed grateful look. "You want me to run your papers?"
"Well you should check them out first. You know meet the staff, read their stuff, see how many subscriptions there are. And Ace, they're our papers." he stressed.
Rory gave him a quick kiss, wanting to avoid the PDA in front of Marty.
"I can't wait to take a look." she said. "I can't believe how much everything has changed since this morning, but in a really good way."
"I couldn't agree with you more."
