AN: Alright well...these two can't just jump into bed together, right? And so begins the angst and banter and sexual tension/frustration between the pair. I'm going to have fun with it though. I will ask, please, please, please, review. Hundreds of you guys view this and that makes me so happy, but give this girl some love and tell me how you're liking it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

Chapter Three - Coffee at Luke's

Logan bounced an orange basketball over to Rory when she made her way onto the sports court in the backyard. It could be outfitted for tennis but Nate preferred basketball, so that is what it was at the moment. "All set?" Logan asked as Rory took the ball in her hand clumsily and walked towards them. She had put on a pair of jeans, white sneakers and a long sleeved v-neck shirt, her hair was pulled back into a loose bun on the top of her head and Logan recognized the tennis bracelet she was wearing as one he had given her during their courtship.

"I am not playing basketball," Rory bounced the ball back to him, she could see her son practicing his layup on the other side of the court and took he opportunity to pull Logan aside. "Please do not mention this in any way, shape or form in front of him."

"Ace, I'm not a teenager, but I still know the last thing any boy wants to know about is his mom doing what you were doing," he gave her a knowing look, "I on the other hand, as a red blooded man am thrilled to have that image in my mind."

"That image," Rory told him pointedly, "is the last time you'll be seeing me do that."

Logan smirked. He wasn't so easily convinced. The chemistry had always existed between the two of them. Lack of chemistry was never the problem. What had been their problem though was both of them being stubborn and pig headed, unwilling to say what they wanted from each other before it was too late. They had, a few times over the years, fallen back into the familiar comfort of each other. Each time though happenstance had a way of stepping in. When Logan moved to London for work, he was too afraid to ask Rory to come with him, and so, rather than telling her then that he was in love with her, they had agreed to pause their time together, and deal with it when he moved back. A few months later when Rory had casually mentioned going on a date with a guy who neither of them could remember now, Logan had begun dating as well. That was when he met Odette, and eventually they had become serious and the next logical step was marriage. His marriage to Odette had been good. She had loved Nathan, she had gone above and beyond to become involved in his life. She had gone to anything and everything she could, she had embraced coparenting with Rory, even when it was hard. Even when she knew she was competing with some unspoken bond between Rory and Logan. It wasn't just Nathan that tied them together and Odette knew that, she had told Logan as much when they had occasionally fought about Rory. The nail in the coffin though was that Rory had been able to give Logan what she couldn't. For whatever reason, although she had never smoked, only drank moderately, was in great shape and ate well, Odette had been unable to get pregnant. They had been tested, both she and Logan and the doctor wasn't able to give them any specific reason for their struggle with fertility, but as time went on, Odette felt that not only did Rory and Logan have this short hand, this connection between the two of them, but Rory had seemingly given Logan what she couldn't. A child. A child who Odette had come to love. And so, after he and Odette split up, and after Rory and the guy she had been dating at the time split up, they once again fell back into the habit of falling into bed together. This time they had to be more aware, they had to be much more conscious of their son who was now old enough to understand that his family unit was different than some of his friends. So again, instead of having a discussion, instead of admitting how they felt, they had called it off. A short time later, Rory had ended up meeting Mark. Mark was a nice man. He was kind, he was good to Nathan, he was good to Rory. He had managed to coexist with Logan, he got along with Rory's family. He didn't seem to want kids of his own. They had never discussed it during their relationship, Mark was perfectly content with his role bonus parent to Nathan, even if Logan's involvement sometimes bothered him. Logan had dated, not seriously, but he had met women and dated them, keeping them all away from Nathan in the years since his divorce, and more than once he had wondered if he had squandered away the only chance he had left with Rory because he was scared.

"Oh trust me," Logan shot back, "I have many other dirty thoughts about you that have played out over the years. In fact, some I think I still have photographic evidence of."

Rory ignored him and turned her attention back to their son, "how is he doing?"

"He's good," Logan stood beside her, ball in his arms as they both watched him together. "He worries, but that mostly comes at night when he's not doing things. During the day with online school and everything he is busy, but then we watch the news, or he reads a paper, and you know there is no keeping a newspaper away from this kid, it's in his blood. Anyway, then he worries. He asks about you, or he asks about my parents, or your parents, he worries about his friends. I mean, thankfully most of his friends have retreated to country properties where they can be away from the masses, but he worries."

Rory nodded her head, blinking slowly. She was sure Nathan had grown in the weeks since she had dropped him off. Somehow this pandemic was moving slowly but quickly at the same time. She supposed that was true of parenting in general. "I don't think this is going to be over quickly."

Logan swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. "Yeah it is starting to look that way."

"Are you alright with that? I mean with u-," she started before she corrected herself, "with him being here for longer…we thought it would just be a few weeks."

"He's my kid, Ace," Logan told her simply. "Where else would I want him to be? And you are staying here too. I don't want you going back until things are sorted out."

"I can't just live with you."

"Why not? You're here now…" Logan paused as he watched Nate, "you've gotta keep your left foot planted Nate," he called from where he was standing, "one tap and someone would knock you over."

"You can't see from that far away!" Nathan challenged his father.

"I can, so plant the foot!"

Rory laughed at the interaction. Sports. She had never expected her son to be a sports fan, in fact she never really knew Logan to be interested in sports, but she had come to find out that he had in fact been quite the athlete during his teen years, before the partying and girls and drinking got in the way. Nate had gotten that from his father. His love of sports. He loved to swim, he loved basketball, baseball, he loved sailing and snowboarding, but he also loved to read. He read novels, he read newspapers, she supposed Logan was right. His love of newspapers was essentially in his blood. Rory knew that her feelings of doubt and insecurity over Nathan's relationship with Logan were silly. She knew that her son was happy and loved, she knew that he was safe, and provided for. He was a good kid, he wasn't mean, he wasn't a show off, he didn't get involved in stupid drama at school, he was truly the best parts of both of them. "I'm going to go in," Rory interrupted the twosome who were still shouting tips across the court. "Why don't you," she looked at her ex, "go participate instead of throwing shade from the peanut gallery."

"Someone is feeling a bit over confident, wouldn't you say?" Logan smiled at her.

"You wouldn't," Rory shrugged, "mostly because it would also involve you admitting you watched me in the bathtub for at least a few minutes…"

Logan laughed and rubbed the stubble on his chin. This woman would be the death of him but he was alright with that. "Just stay out of the kitchen," Logan told her.

"You know better than to try to keep a Gilmore away from her food," Rory countered as she walked back towards the main house. She grabbed a book and returned to the patio where although she couldn't see them, she could hear them. She could hear the rubber bouncing on the court, she could hear them laughing and Nathan throwing some insults towards his father jokingly. She wasn't sure how long it was before they came back and interrupted her book, Nathan sat down on a chair and Logan declared that he was going to grab some water. Rory smiled as Nathan reminded his father not to get a bottled water but instead to fill a glass from the fridge. A battle that her son had been waging against his father, aunt and grandparents for years. It made Rory happy, to see her son from the age of about six berate his grandparents for their wasteful over use of single use of plastics, and now at twelve having him still care that much filled her heart. "So," Rory looked at her watch, "I'm not making dinner?"

Nathan shook his head, "no, but you can come in now," he looked at his father who nodded.

"Alright," Rory smiled cautiously. She followed Nathan as he excitedly went into the house and made a beeline for the kitchen.

"Here," Nathan smiled proudly as he displayed a large basket covered in cellophane.

Rory put her hand on her chest and smiled. She blinked back the tears that immediately came to her eyes as she saw that Nathan and Logan had spent the better part of their day driving around to pick up a carefully curated basket of her favourite things and things they thought she might like. "You didn't have to do this," Rory looked at the basket without opening it, "did you do all this?"

"Dad wrapped it," Nathan shrugged, "we were in the garage for a while, and he said fuck."

"Nathan don't say that word," Logan chimed in and Rory gave him a smile.

"I wasn't saying it, I was repeating it - there is a difference."

"He's your son," Logan shook his head as he moved to the counter to stand beside Rory, Nathan was on the other side. "He just wanted you to have some things to feel at home."

"Open it," Nathan grinned.

Rory shook her head, "it's too perfectly wrapped."

"You sound like Grammie Emily," Nathan rolled his eyes at the thought of his great grandmother discussing just how impeccably wrapped a gift was.

"Well, the woman is right about some things," Rory countered. "Can you pass me the scissors?" Nathan complied and ran around the island to grab them, she had to bite her tongue to keep from reminding him not to run with scissors, but she knew if she did that, he would give her a theatrical response about he wasn't a baby anymore. "Thank you," Rory took the scissors from him and carefully clipped the big blue ribbon that was holding everything together. She pulled the ribbon off and turned to Logan, "where did you learn to do this?" she nodded to the perfectly wrapped box.

"YouTube is a wonderful thing, Ace."

"Yes, I do seem to recall you having an infatuation with YouTube," she recalled when they were together and Logan had spent his time wallowing after his failed investment.

"Well, it has grown since then, and so have I, and believe it or not, although I have a housekeeper who I consider family," he added pointedly, as though Rory didn't know that he respected his housekeeper, Jessica, immensely, "I do stuff like this on my own."

"And here I thought she always wrapped my gifts."

"You two are gross," Nathan interrupted their banter. The relationship his parents had was weird to many, but it was all he knew. He liked that they got along, he liked that it wasn't weird for them to be together, but sometimes he wished the two didn't make googly eyes at each other so frequently.

"Sorry," Rory laughed and turned her attention back to the gift, she pulled the cellophane down to reveal the contents of the large basket, "you didn't?" she smiled at her son as she pulled an enormous bag of coffee from Luke's, "you saw Grandpa?"

Nathan nodded, "we wore our masks and stayed far apart. I think he misses grandma, but he gave us lots of coffee and then made dad promise that he wouldn't let me drink it."

"Grandpa is right about that," Logan laughed. "We figured you should still be able to have coffee from Luke's even if you can't have coffee at Luke's."

Rory continued to try to keep the tears from falling as she thought about her parents. Her mother and stepfather, her father and sister, she missed them. She missed not worrying about them. She was certain she called her dad and sister at least twice a week to remind them to stay home and wear their masks. Gigi was so close to graduating from Harvard but it seemed to be on pause for the moment, and her dad thankfully was able to work from home. Luke had moved to takeout orders only and he would do porch deliveries when he could. Steve and Kwan were actually helping with some of the local porch deliveries, Lane had sent photos of her boys all masked up and dropping food off to their neighbours, it truly was a full circle moment considering Lane having worked at Luke's when she was a few years older than the boys. "Thank you," Rory continued through the basket, a bottle of her favourite vodka, Tito's, which she knew that Logan didn't drink, he preferred Grey Goose. There was cake from Weston's Bakery, a charcuterie box from a local cheese shop, "you got me a sweatsuit? And scrunchies?" Rory laughed.

"Honor says the lounge wear is the best, and they are made by a local woman."

"Which one of you came up with this?" Rory wiped the tears as she continued to look through the goodies.

"Nate," Logan nodded to their son, "he wanted to make sure you felt at home here."

"Thank you," Rory pulled Nathan into a hug, "I'm so glad to be your mom," she admitted softly to him. It was just the three of them so he hugged her back tightly, "don't worry about this, ok? We're lucky. We can stay home. I can stay with dad, we have the space to be out and about here…I don't want you to worry."

"What about Grammie Emily and Grandma and Grandpa and Grandpa Chris? Or Nana and Papa?" he referred to Mitchum and Shira.

"We're all lucky," Logan stepped in as Rory sniffed some tears away, "Nana and Papa are totally safe, they aren't going anywhere, they are having their groceries delivered and everyone is just hunkering down. Grandma and Grandpa are being safe, Grammie is safe, Grandpa Chris and Aunt Gi are safe…we don't have to worry."

"But Odette's dad died…"

Logan rubbed his face and inhaled, "I know, but…he got sick at the beginning of this, and we understand more now. There is still a lot we don't know," he thought back to some of the briefs that had come to him over the last few days about spread and the tiny particles that were causing spread, "but we know more. And we do know that if we stay home, and restrict our contacts, and wear a mask and wash our hands, we are doing everything we can to stay safe."

"Even Papa is staying home?"

"I promise the old guy is staying home, in fact, Honor and I told his team they have to let us know if he tries to leave the property," Logan referred to the security team that Mitchum had hired after Donald Trump was elected and Mitchum's papers hadn't exactly spoken highly of the man, mind you, Mitchum was generally politically neutral, but there were things he couldn't shy away from commenting on. He may have been an asshole sometimes, but he was a human at the very least.

"I just want to go back to normal," Nathan admitted.

"We know," Rory told him, "but this is pretty great of you."

"Dad had most of the ideas," Nathan told them. "I'm going to go play X Box, can you call me for dinner?"

Rory looked at Logan who nodded at Nate, she figured she couldn't complain because in essence he had spent his entire day with either both of his parents, or just Logan, so wanting to decompress was normal. "It's not in his room," Logan assured her.

"What isn't?"

"The X-Box, it isn't in his room."

"I didn't care," Rory laughed.

"It's in the playroom upstairs, or…it used to be the playroom, I guess he is too old for a playroom now, but it's in the TV room upstairs."

"Logan you don't have to explain," Rory told him. They had disagreed about getting the console at first. Rory hadn't wanted Nathan to have one, but Logan had given his perspective which was that by keeping Nathan away from things like video games, it created this illusion that they were somehow something he should hide. By giving him access, it would hopefully teach him to use it in moderation.

"I know, I just wanted you to know."

Rory smiled. She appreciated that he tried to keep her in the loop, for her part, she tried to empower him to make autonomous decisions for Nathan, but that was still a work in progress. "I should put this away," Rory nodded to the gift box which she hadn't completely gone through yet."

"I'm going to go change," Logan told her, "then we can make dinner?"

Rory nodded her head and Logan left the room. She turned on some music and piled away the items that were specifically for her on one end of the counter. The lounge pants and sweater, the scrunchie and the bath goodies went in one pile and the consumables in another. Getting to the bottom of the basket Rory gasped as she picked up the leather bound book, "Logan!" she shouted as she opened the cover and ran her fingers over the writing that was on the front cover. "Logan!"

Logan appeared a moment later and saw tears in Rory's eyes. He was holding his Burberry polo that he was about to put on and he instinctively dropped it on the counter and pulled her in for a hug. "I was waiting for this," he admitted softly as Rory sobbed into his chest.

"Where did you?" Rory's chest heaved against Logan's warm skin. "I have looked…"

"Your mom gave me free reign of the inn last weekend, so Nate and I went," Logan held her close, "and turned the place upside down to find it. Luke had been looking through the house and couldn't find it."

"I," Rory sniffled, "after the funeral, I thought," her body convulsed slightly, the movement was stifled by his arms around her.

"How did you?"

Logan didn't need her to finish the sentence, he knew what she was asking. "I just…we were going to send you something no matter what, and I know you miss him. I thought you would want him close to you."

Rory nodded and release her grip on Logan, he waited a few seconds and let her to. Rory looked at the book and saw her grandfathers handwriting on the inside of the cover. He wouldn't normally have defaced a book this way, but it was the first edition copy of A Mencken Chrestomathy and he knew she would never get rid of it. He had loaned it to her and then eventually gifted it to her with the writing.

You have been our greatest gift, and I will always be proud of you. Richard Gilmore

Rory ran her fingers over the words, they had always meant so much to her. It was a stark contrast to the disapproval she had received from the Hayden family, and the complicated relationship between Lorelai and her parents meant that Rory wasn't always sure where she stood. But when Richard Gilmore, a man of few words gifted her his first edition with this scrawled on it, she knew it meant everything. "Thank you," she smiled.

"You good?" Logan asked, he grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, "I was worried you'd gotten carried away with the cheese and cut a finger off or something."

Rory laughed, "no, I did think that we could go into that overpriced room you call a wine cellar and pick a bottle and watch a movie tonight. I never have anyone to watch movies with because Nate is gone, and when he was at home, he was way too cool to watch a movie with his mom, and Mark doesn't like movies."

"You lived with someone who didn't love movies?" Logan had to admit, he was surprised. Being a bibliophile and a cinephile was more or less a requirement to be around Rory or her mother. He knew that Mark had a keen eye for books, so he had just assumed the man was into cinema as well.

"Oh get over the Mark thing, he is a good guy," Rory glared as she wiped her tears and put the book in the pile of things to take upstairs.

"Is a good guy?" Logan gave her a quick glance as he walked to the fridge to start pulling out food for dinner.

"Well he is a good guy regardless of what is going on between the two of us."

"Where is he now?" Logan asked, he pulled out baking potatoes and steaks that he had gotten. He would sauté some mushrooms and put together a salad, he tried to keep himself busy and his face away from Rory so she wouldn't see his reaction to whatever she said next.

"He's at our place still," Rory told him. She studied him from behind to see how he reacted. "We got in a fight, we both said some things we didn't mean."

"So we're talking about this now?" Logan asked her as he took the steak out of the butcher paper and put it onto a cutting board to season it. "I thought we weren't?"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rory asked, annoyed at his attitude, he had asked just a night before what was going on, and now he was getting pissy about hearing the details.

"If you need to talk about it, talk about it," Logan told her. "It just…I don't know, it seemed like you guys weren't together when you showed up here early."

"We aren't…" Rory sighed, she hated this part of her relationship with Logan, the underlying complicating factor that they both tried not to address, "we're on a break. This whole Covid mess complicates things, and if it wasn't happening, we would be together, but it is happening, and we don't agree on some stuff, so we're taking a break."

Logan nodded and turned to face her, "so this stuff, if it's a Covid deal breaker, why isn't it a regular one?"

"You're an asshole sometimes," Rory shook her head. This was them in a nutshell. He knew that he was the problem, and he needed to hear her say it. It was like he was going to get off on the fact that he still had this presence in her life that neither of them seemed to be able to move past or address.

"Wanna go use my tub and get that frustration out?" Logan licked his lips and smiled. He was trying to defuse the situation, he knew that they would talk about it, but he didn't really want Nathan walking in in the middle of the conversation.

"I'm taking this upstairs," she shook her head and grabbed the contents of her basket, "I'll be down to help with dinner in a few."

"Don't rush on my account," Logan teased her, he could hear her muttering under her breath as she went upstairs to the guest room that she had claimed her own years earlier. Logan ran a hand through his hair and focused his attention on cooking. He didn't know why he was so annoyed at the fact that they hadn't officially broken up. No matter what had gone on, it had upset Rory enough to flee Brooklyn earlier than initially expected and spend the extra time with Nate. He had wondered a few times since he suggested she come to stay if it was a good idea. Their flirty banter, their back and forth, it was all fun and games when someone could simply walk away, but sleeping in the same house, being together all the time, it might take that banter and make some of it a little bit more real than either of them anticipated. Logan thought back to what he had walked in on earlier, her head thrown back in contentment, the water over her porcelain skin which still looked exactly as it had when they had dated, the way her chest rose and fell as she got closer to her own climax. He should have left, he knew he should have left, but she was still the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen and he knew by the tightening in his chest and his pants, she was probably still the only woman he had ever really been in love with. It wasn't to diminish his relationship with Odette. He had loved Odette. She was a good woman, a good partner, a kind person, but they never had the chemistry that he and Rory had. Logan and Odette were good partners. Rory was the love of Logan's life and he knew that, he would take her any way he could, and that now meant as a coparent. He couldn't bare losing her, and he couldn't handle hurting Nate in the process. So he would ignore it. The way it felt when she talked about Mark, the way it hurt when he found out she wasn't willing to completely call the end of their relationship. He would have to figure out how to live through that, while living under the same roof for the time being. Rory returned a few minutes later and helped with dinner. Dinner was quiet, Logan would tell her later that it typically was, there just wasn't much to talk about when you spent all of your time with the same person, and she supposed that made sense. After dinner, Nate wanted to take an ATV around the property and Logan had agreed, he promised Rory he would be outside to supervise loosely, and Nate had agreed to wear a helmet. Rory went to Logan's office with her computer and checked her e-mail. Work had been slow to say the least. She heard rumours from other small publications and freelancers of layoffs coming, but she tried not to think about it as she reviewed her assignments, mostly fluff pieces and a couple of pieces about the mounting deaths in New York City. Rory sighed and opened up the files, she had started working on most of it last week but her deadlines were coming up so she needed to submit them, the last thing she needed was to risk losing her job because she didn't submit on time. She finished two articles and sent them to be edited before closing her laptop. Her phone buzzed as she walked upstairs to her bedroom and she pulled it out and swiped to answer the FaceTime call. "Are you alright?" Rory asked, panic in her voice.

"I'm fine kiddo," her father assured her. He would never stop calling her kid, or kiddo, no matter how old she got. "I just wanted to check in."

"Oh, good, ok. You're still not going out? You have masks? I sent sanitizer the other day…"

"I have everything I need," Christopher assured her. "How are you doing? You make it to Hartford alright?"

Rory nodded as she made it to her bedroom and sat down on the bed. "I came last night. It's nice to be out of the city, to have a bit more space…be with Nathan."

"I can imagine being away from him these last few weeks has been strange."

"I mean, I'm used to him being here, being with Logan…but everything is so scary right now, I just…I like the idea of all of us being together." Rory looked at her father. Her parents had always been young. She remembered the jokes about the hot young parents, and now they were starting to look older. She knew they weren't old given her age, but she worried about them more. "How is Gi?"

"Georgia," Christopher smiled and rolled his eyes, as if to suggest there was a story there, "is doing good. School has pivoted online so she should be alright for her finals."

Rory smiled, "Georgia?" her sister had been GiGi for as long as she could remember.

"Yes, apparently it is Georgia Hayden now, GiGi is too young. She's an adult now."

"Ahhh," Rory laughed. "How could I forget."

"When I said I thought she should keep living with me until things have calmed down, she reminded me that you moved in with a man when you were still at Yale…"

Rory smiled, she understood now why that might not have been the best decision in the eyes of her parents, but she had been young and in need, and then young and in love. "Well, the guy was a good guy," she told him, "but I don't know that it would be the path I would recommend Nathan take."

"Yes, so you know how I feel about it."

"If I recall, you were pretty happy about Logan back then."

"I still like Logan, you know I think you two need to sort your shit out, and back then…well, back then. Things with your mom and I were weird, things with you and I were weird…I didn't want to make waves back then."

"And now?"

"Well, I'm picking my battles and calling her Georgia."

Rory laughed, "well, speaking of Logan, he and I are supposed to be watching a movie soon because our son is too cool to hang out with us."

"I am familiar with that as well," Christopher told her. "How…how does Mark feel about all this?"

Rory inhaled and felt her eyes widen almost involuntarily, "he's not thrilled," she admitted. "We are just…pausing right now. He is at home in Brooklyn, and I am here with Nathan."

"And Logan."

"I'm here with Nathan and when things calm down a bit, Mark and I will talk and figure things out." Rory and her father said their goodbye's, Rory promised to call him in a few days and Christopher promised to stay inside and if he wanted to go for a walk he would wear a mask. She left her phone on the bedside table to charge and pulled on a pair of tie dye jogging pants she had ordered a couple of weeks earlier and an off the shoulder pullover sweater, leaving her hair pulled back as it had been most of the day. She walked past Nathan's room and knocked, seeing him sitting in his chair with a book in his lap, "don't stay up too late?" she told him.

"Night mom."

"Thank you for the gift today, that was really special."

"I'm glad you're here," Nathan told her.

"I'm glad I'm here too," Rory smiled. "Dad and I are going to watch a movie downstairs if you need us."

"Can I call Brayden?" Nathan asked, referring to a friend from school who was holed up in the Hamptons.

"Sure," Rory nodded, "just not too late." Rory left her son and walked down the hall and down the stairs to the basement where she didn't see Logan. She saw him a moment later as she travelled through the basement living area and into the wine cellar. "Don't bring out anything fancy on my account," Rory smiled as she leaned against the arched doorframe to enter the temperature controlled room.

"No, the fancy is for me," Logan laughed. "I feel overdressed," he looked down at himself still wearing jeans and a polo.

"Are we good?" Rory ignored his comment and walked into the cellar, looking at the long neck bottles, no matter how many years had passed, she still wasn't much of a wine connoisseur. She liked wine, but she wasn't exactly storing vintages in Brooklyn.

"What do you mean are we good?" Logan asked as he pulled a 2012 Opus One and inspected the label. "Why wouldn't we be good?"

"Oh come on," Rory rolled her eyes, "we're going to be stuck together for a while, do you really want to play this game?"

"Stuck together," Logan repeated, "is that what this is? Being here is you being held against your will? Because last I checked, you came here by your own choice. I suggested it but you willingly got in the car."

"I didn't mean that," Rory shot back in frustration, "I just mean we can't be bickering all the time. It's cute and fun when one of us leaves at the end of the night, but we can't just pick at each other."

"I won't pick at you," Logan told her as he grabbed two wine glasses from the shelf.

"And the Mark thing…you're fine?" Rory asked cautiously.

"What is the Mark thing Rory? He's your boyfriend? Right? If he's your boyfriend, then I'm happy if you're happy."

"He's not," Rory began, unsure of how to proceed as Logan looked at her, waiting for her to say more. "I don't know what Mark and I are. And I know in the past you and I have done this…this thing, this dance. But…we don't know when we can leave here, we don't know when we can see our parents or when Nathan can see his friends. So…no matter what Mark and I are, we need to be careful because Nathan is who gets hurt. I know what it is like to watch your parents go back and forth with whatever their situation is, and you and I, we both said a long time ago we wouldn't do that to him."

"I didn't say anything about us," Logan told her boldly.

"Oh give me a break!" Rory whisper-yelled at him, "sure, you didn't explicitly say anything about us, but if you didn't care about us," she gestured to the space between them, "then you wouldn't give a rats ass if I'm still with Mark. So which is it. Do you care if I'm with Mark, or not?"

Logan paused and licked his lips. One day. They had made it one day without fighting. "I don't care if you're with Mark," he lied. "I just want you to be happy."

"Well then fine, I am happy with Mark. So just…if there is something to tell, I will tell you!"

"Fine."