AN: Good news. Rory and Logan's session with Fatima took a bit of an unexpected detour and wound up much longer than expected. That means it gets its own stand alone chapter and we still get one more moving in chapter before the epilogue. Yay!

He pushed open the door of the therapist's office and before he could even step foot inside, a blur of blue and brown came barreling at him as Rory threw herself into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, breathing in the scent of her, a sense of calm washing over him. He had gotten home from London late on Sunday, then he'd had to work all day yesterday, so this was the first he was seeing of her since he'd left for his trip a week ago.

"You're here!" she squealed excitedly. It reminded him of those times when he would come home from London to visit her in their old apartment. He'd missed greetings like these.

And truth be told, he was just as happy to see her. It had killed him, being away from her so long, though he had to admit, a part of him was glad that the first he was seeing of her was in Fatima's office at their therapy session. He knew he needed to tell her about his run in with Odette, and he wasn't at all confident about how she would take it. He'd done nothing wrong, but still, Rory had just started to feel secure in herself and their relationship; he didn't want her to worry when there was nothing to be worried about. He cared about Odette, he always would; but he was in love with Rory.

"So, I see you're kind of neutral on the whole 'me being home,' thing," he chuckled.

"I missed you, you idiot," she said, shoving him playfully on the shoulder. "No need to make a big deal about it."

"Says the woman who did a flying leap into my arms like Baby at the end of Dirty Dancing."

"Yeah, well, you don't have Patrick Swayze's moves, but you'll do."

"I mean, who can compare to the Swaze, right?" he grinned. "But as long as you're settling for me…" he leaned in to place a welcoming kiss on her mouth.

"Three weeks without me and you two are literally attached at the lips," a voice broke up their reunion. "You're making me feel obsolete."

He noticed Rory's face blush red as he pulled back. "To be fair," he said, turning to face Fatima, "we were apart for a week of it…and as they say, absence really does make the heart grow fonder. But the good news is," he grabbed for Rory's hand, giving it a squeeze. "We're moving in together. So, I'm sure there will be plenty of arguments for you to mediate again very soon." He could feel Rory's gaze glaring into the side of his head at that last comment.

"Congratulations," Fatima replied warmly. That was good. She didn't say 'hell no,' or immediately tell them they were idiots for even contemplating taking such a big step. "Come in," she ushered them out of the waiting room and into the inner sanctum that was her office. "Tell me about it."

He and Rory situated themselves on the sofa, right next to one another so that they were touching, Rory lacing her fingers with his in his lap.

"So, big step," Fatima observed once they were all settled. "What, may I inquire, made you decide to take it?"

"Rory asked," Logan informed her matter-of-factly. That was all it took as far as he was concerned; for her to ask. For her to put herself out there and show him she was as committed to this as he was. That was all he wanted…all he'd ever wanted.

"Rory asked?" Fatima replied, her eyebrow raising with surprise. "Really?"

"Well, you know me," Rory shrugged. "Ever the spontaneous one."

Fatima chuckled. "Yes, that's exactly how I would describe you. And just how many pro-con lists did it take you to spontaneously make this decision?"

"None, actually."

"Well, color me impressed. What brought about this sudden bout of impulsiveness?"

"I guess…" Rory turned her face to look at him and smiled. "Well, we were in Nantucket for Christmas and my Grandmother said this thing...about being partners. And I guess it made me realize that I didn't need to be afraid of being taken care of, that…that we would take care of each other."

Fatima pursed her lips together, making her analytical face…the one that always made him feel anxious and exposed when she turned it on him, though he had to admit, it did usually proceed some sort of profound insight. Logan gave Rory's hand a squeeze. "That's an odd thing to be afraid of…being taken care of. Why do you think that scared you so much?"

Rory bit her lip. "Well," she hesitated. "My mom, she had me young. And she raised me alone. She left a life of privilege to work as a maid and live in a toolshed. And that world that she left behind, it was always treated as this…this boogey man. It was a world of frivolity and selfishness and greed; people just coasting by on their money and walking all over other people to get what they want. I was raised not to coast. I was raised to work hard and earn everything I got."

"And did you?" Fatima asked.

"Work hard?" Rory asked.

Fatima shook her head. "Earn everything you got?"

"Umm, well…" Rory's eyes looked darty and uncomfortable. It was clear that the answer Fatima was going for was 'no,' and yet Rory couldn't quite seem to get there.

"You do work hard, I can tell that. And you didn't go looking for handouts in your life. And I'm not saying this to take away from your accomplishments, or to make you feel bad about the personal and professional struggles you've recently went through. But the truth is, your mother left her wealth behind, not her privilege."

"I…" Rory's mouth hung open, unsure what to say or how to respond to such an accusation. Logan knew exactly what was going on in her head; how she wanted to defend herself, to say it wasn't true, to insist that she had in fact earned everything in her life. Because if there was one thing Rory hated to think of herself as, it was privileged. It reminded him of that first article she'd written for Hugo about his launch party, and how she'd somehow seen herself as different from him and the others there…how she thought of herself as this average girl who had to work ten times harder than the rest of them. But while Rory may have been more 'average' than him, she was certainly far from Joe Bus Driver. And it wasn't just her money either. Logan had come to terms with his privilege long ago, but even still, he suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable with the knowledge that the two of them were unloading their dysfunctional, rich, white people problems on their black therapist. In all this time he'd somehow failed to consider all the disparities.

"There's nothing wrong with being privileged," Fatima assured her. "I'm not asking for you to apologize for the advantages you were given in life. It's not your privilege that's the problem, it's ignoring that that privilege exists. Because when you refuse to acknowledge that things came easier to you than they did to others, then you continue to propagate the inequities in our society. But to paraphrase Uncle Ben, with great privilege comes great responsibility. It's okay to accept your privilege, so long as you accept the responsibility that comes with it."

"I," Rory fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing at Logan. "I don't really know what to say."

"God, we must," Logan shook his head, "we must sound so obnoxious and spoiled to you. I'm so sorry."

"No," Fatima shook her head. "That's not what this is about. I'm not trying to diminish your problems. But guilt won't help you. You shouldn't feel guilty or ashamed of being rich, or white, or straight. In fact, I'm telling you to embrace it. Because as long as you're fighting it, you can't use the opportunity it's giving you." She turned her attention back to Rory. "Rory, I get the impression you feel like you need to struggle in life in order for your accomplishments to mean something. But as long as you're spending all your energy on trying to prove yourself, you won't have any resources left to help lift others up. Equality isn't about you struggling more, it's about making sure everyone struggles less."

"I guess…I guess I never thought of it like that."

"I know this is an uncomfortable conversation," Fatima acknowledged. "But that's okay. Discomfort isn't something to avoid. If you're feeling uncomfortable right now, I want you to sit with that and ask yourself why."

There was quiet for a few minutes and Logan did feel uncomfortable. If he was honest with himself, he never really had felt guilty about being white, being rich, being a man. Life came easy to him and he knew that. But the truth was, he had a platform…a huge one. And yes, the HPG papers were covering stories about systemic racism, the rise of white supremacy, Charlottesville, even things like Hurricane Maria and the disproportionate effects of climate change on communities of color. But was that enough? Could he be doing more? Could he be raising up more voices of minorities? Logan had just come back from a meeting of all the senior management across the entire international corporation and he was having trouble thinking of one non-white face in that board room. And there hadn't been very many women either.

"Okay," Fatima said after a while. "I don't want to belabor this point. I certainly hope it's something we can feel safe revisiting, and I hope it's something you'll continue to consider and think about. But for now, I think we can move on."

But the discomfort hung in the air, making it hard to go back to talking about their problems. Logan still needed to tell Rory about Odette, but it seemed like such an inappropriate thing to be discussing at that moment; so trivial, even though he knew to Rory it wouldn't be. Or maybe it would be right now. Maybe now was exactly the time to put his run-in into perspective. Of course, even thinking that made him feel terrible; like he was once again using his privilege and capitalizing off systemic racism to make his own problems go away.

"Really," Fatima assured them. "It's okay. Tell me more about the moving plans."

"Well," Rory hesitated. Logan could tell she was feeling as awkward as he was. "I'm almost all packed and I brought some boxes over to Logan's already while he was away, so I should be all settled in by the end of the week." Her words started to flow a little more as they moved on from their previous topic of discussion. "We're having a little housewarming party on Saturday."

"Wow, fast."

"Bad fast?" Logan asked. It was something that he was worried about…that Fatima would tell them they were moving too fast and they should wait. He didn't want to wait. He didn't want to waste any more time. He'd been waiting for this since he was 25.

"No," Fatima shook her head. Logan let out a sigh of relief. He even felt Rory relax a little next to him which was reassuring; she really did want this as much as he did. "If you're ready, you're ready. You're a family, you've got a daughter. I understand being eager to start your lives together. Though I would offer one word of caution…"

"What's that?" Rory asked.

"When you first started coming to me, Logan was staying in town with you, and he wound up feeling stifled because he was trying to force himself into your world and the life you'd created. Now you're moving in with Logan. You're moving into a home that he created for himself. A home he designed, in part, to find who he was as an individual, and as a father, separate from who he was as a partner. I want to make sure you don't just insert yourself into that without making it yours also. If you're going to start your lives together, it should be together. A life and a home you create as a couple."

Logan nodded. "This is just temporary. We're going to be looking for a house to buy when my lease is up this summer."

"Excellent, that's good to hear. I must say, I really am impressed with the progress you two have made. The fact that you came to this decision all on your own…that Rory was the one to propose it, that even though the decision was spontaneous at the time, you two have talked about your plans and thought it through. You have come a long way."

He felt Rory straighten up proudly beside him at the compliment, but he was having trouble fully basking in the glow of their ostensibly functional relationship. Not when he still had the pall of Odette hanging over his head. He had to tell her, otherwise they hadn't come nearly as far as Fatima seemed to think. But how would Rory take it? He was sure it would be a little uncomfortable for her, but he had to have faith that she was feeling comfortable enough with them to take their meeting for what it was and not get self-conscious and insecure about it. He had to have as much faith in them and their relationship as Fatima seemed to have.

"Is everything okay, Logan?" Fatima asked. She must have noticed the nervous look on his face; that was, after all, her job.

He grabbed Rory's hands in his, turning to face her. "I have to tell you something."

He watched as Rory's face went even whiter than her usual alabaster complexion. "What? Are you having second thoughts? Do you not want to…?" she asked. He could see the panic in her eyes.

"No. God, no. No second thoughts, I swear."

"Oooookay," she drew the word out slowly. "Then…"

"Something happened in London," he told her.

"Something…happened in London," she repeated, swallowing nervously. He could see the wheels turning in her head, taking her to the worst possible conclusions.

"It's nothing serious, I promise."

"Right," Rory noted. "That's why the big build up and the ambiguity."

"No, it's just…a sensitive subject, and I don't want you to…" he took one of his hands back, bringing his fingers to press on the bridge of his nose.

"Logan?" Fatima prodded.

He released his hand back into his lap and looked up to meet Rory's eye. "I ran in to Odette."

"Oh." The word was short and clipped, but he also noticed that her shoulders relaxed slightly. It was a good sign.

"Nothing happened." Rory nodded her head half-heartedly. "We went for a walk, we talked."

She seemed to relax a little more. "What did you talk about?"

"Well, she told me about her new boyfriend...Henri, the pediatric neurosurgeon." He figured that was the best place to start. Rory's lips actually curved up into an almost smile, and he knew he'd picked right.

"Trading up, I see."

Logan laughed. "That's what I told her."

"Anything else?" She bit her lip, but he noticed her body continue to relax.

"She said I looked happy. I told her I was glad she'd found someone who treats her well and that I was sorry I couldn't be that guy for her."

"And?"

"And she asked me why I stayed with her when it was always you I loved."

Rory looked up and he could read the question in her eyes. "Why did you stay with her?" she asked. "Or, no…" she shook her head. "I think I know why you stayed with her. But there's still one thing that I don't understand. One thing that still kind of hurts."

The words were a sharp pain to his heart. He hated hurting her, and to know there was something he did that was still hurting her…that had been hurting her all this time…. "What's that?"

"Why did you propose? I mean, we were together-sort of-for almost a year at that point. You had both of us and you chose her."

"No, Rory…" he shook his head. That wasn't what he'd done. "That's not…"

"Do you know I read the engagement announcement in the paper…two weeks after Grandpa died. I'd just lost Grandpa and…." She sniffled back a tear and that pain in his heart struck again, stronger this time, knowing that he'd made her pain worse. But she wasn't the only one who'd been hurting back then

"Do you know I found out about Richard from my father? Four days after he died. Four days you went without telling me that one of the most important people in your life was dead. Seven days you went without telling me he had another heart attack."

"Well, I'm sorry if in the midst of my grief I couldn't stop and take care of you."

"I didn't want you to take care of me," he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "I wanted to take care of you. But you didn't want me to. You didn't try to lean on me at all. You didn't need me at all. I called you up. I offered to fly down there; to come to the funeral or to hide out in a hotel room; whatever you wanted. But you didn't want me."

"Of course I wanted you."

"I know," Logan nodded his head. "I know that now. But it was like you said earlier…you were afraid of letting anyone take care of you. And I just…I realized in that moment, when you told me not to come…I realized you were never going to let me be there for you the way I wanted to be. And so I didn't choose Odette. I just realized that there wasn't a choice because you weren't an option. And Odette was there, and she was committed. So I asked her to marry me. But even then I couldn't let go of you."

"I wanted you," she said again, tears falling from her eyes now. "I wanted you so much, it physically ached. In between dreams of Grandpa being magically alive again, I had dreams of you being there like we were a real couple; dreams of you standing by my side at the funeral, holding me while I cried…" she did this strange half sob, half chuckle, "Flying in on a chopper and getting fish for Grandma," she added. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you that at the time, but don't ever doubt how much I wanted you; how much I needed you. How much I still do."

Logan reached up to cradle her face, his thumb tenderly wiping away the tears as they slid down her cheek. "Don't ever be afraid to tell me," he whispered, leaning in to place a tender kiss on her lips. They stayed that way for a minute, his forehead resting on hers, until they were finally broken apart by the sound of a throat clearing. Rory pulled back clearly embarrassed, but Logan just chuckled.

Fatima chuckled too. "You two are definitely making me feel obsolete."

AN: Okay, so I needed to give Fatima one last proper goodbye. As she noted, our duo is doing pretty damn well on their own but they certainly couldn't have done it without her. And they'll keep seeing her, I'm sure, but maybe not every week. Now I know I said this last time, but I really mean it now, lol. One more chapter and the epilogue. Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review.