Nothing Comes For Free

Georgie and Logan, GH

Chapter Three

May 2016

"Logan?" Lulu asked, as he walked into Kelly's diner. She was working behind the register.

He froze in place. A jagged breath hissed over his clenched teeth. She still looked good- real good.

He half excepted his heart to do that funny thing it used to do over her. Had always done, every time he saw her for every second he had known her.

But it didn't this time.

A jagged breath hissed over his clenched teeth. One battle down. For the first time in eight years Logan could say for sure that Lulu Spencer didn't affect him anymore.

He hadn't stepped foot back in this town since the day she had dumped him- after he was accused of being the Text Message Killer. For the first couple of years, he stayed away just to avoid her and then later he just got busy.

Port Charles hadn't seemed like the kind of place he would pick to spend his downtime.

If he would have come back, he may have run into the father who didn't want much to do with him. Or all the people who had called him a loser. Or the man that Lulu married instead of him.

The only good part of Port Charles for Logan Hayes had been his best friend, who he called his brother, and the family that Coop made here. Since Coop had been willing to bring that family to Texas once a year and also meet Logan for fishing, hiking and boating trips every now and then, it had made it easy to avoid Port Charles.

In one instant, at the will reading that morning, he realized that this place he hadn't ever wanted to call home again just became where he would be hanging his hat for at least the next fifteen years- because of the kids.

His kids now?

It was hard to think of LJ and Frankie as anything but Cooper and Maxie's. Still Coop and Maxie had enough faith in Logan to leave him the responsibility of their babies- with Georgie's help, of course- and he had to make sure he never betrayed that faith.

If that meant living in Port Charles until the kids were grown up and independent then that was what he would do.

Lulu asked "Am I seeing things?"

"Nope," he told Lulu. "Your eyes are just fine." He walked up to the counter. "Can I get a coffee to go? Two creams, two sugars."

"Sure." As she poured the coffee, she said "I'm sorry for your loss. I didn't see you at the funeral?"

"I said goodbye in my own way."

"In town just for a visit then?"

"Nah, to stay for good. What about you? You never wanted to get out? I thought you come from a long line of traveling feet?"

"I've had my adventures but Spinelli and I both feel like it's important to give our kids stability."

"I heard you married that guy and popped out a couple of rug rats. Congratulations."

"Thank you. All three are the loves of my life. What about you? I see that ring finger is still bare. Still skirt chasing, are you?"

"Something like that. I guess." He took the coffee, handed her five dollars and said "Thanks, darlin." With a tip of his head toward her, he turned and left the diner.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Later that same day, Georgie sucked in a breath, when she passed Logan's bedroom and saw him pulling off his shirt. His back was turned to her.

She hadn't seen a body like his...well ever...up close and personal. Her dating life came to a brutal halt when she was still in her teens. Back when boys were still maturing into men, with bodies like Logan had now.

She swallowed hard and pushed down whatever feelings shimmed through her, unbidden and unwanted for sure.

"Don't get too comfortable," she said to him, leaning on the door and feigning casualness at his invasion of her space, her privacy, her home.

She crossed her arms over her chest and fixed him with a stern look, when he glanced over his shoulder toward her.

He asked "Should I sleep in my clothes then?"

"Might as well because as soon as we get a court date you'll be back on the launch as fast as I can get the staff to pack your things up. It would really save time if you just leave it all in your suitcase."

Holding his shirt in his hand, he walked toward her.

She swallowed hard again, then bit down on the inside of her bottom lip. Her hands clenched. Her heart jacked up...from annoyance, she told herself.

This man had been thrust in her life thanks to Maxie thinking he was reformed, and Cooper always having blinders about his best friend, and now Georgie was stuck dealing with him. Of course, that was affecting her both physically and emotionally.

She wanted peace and quiet to grieve her sister. She wanted wisdom to help her raise her niece and nephew. She wanted to go back in time and have Maxie and Cooper get out of that burning house.

She wanted so much she wasn't able to get right now. Instead she got the one thing she could do without: Logan under her roof.

Logan said "Look here, missy, I know you liked your life before last week. This big, spook house where you are the queen and nobody, certainly no man, can tell you what to do or how to live, and guess what? I liked my little life on my farm too. Where I could spend my nights with a woman who didn't have ice water running through her veins."

Georgie huffed in annoyance at his description of her. She was the total opposite of that! He didn't know how much she was barely holding it together on some days.

For eight years she fought demons. For eight years she dodged and weaved trying to escape her own memories of being strangled, almost to death, by her ex-boyfriend and tried to make damn sure she never was in a position to be abused by any man again.

For eight years every shadow made her jump, every strange man made her tense.

If she was prickly, it was because she had to be in order to survive. She wasn't like that with LJ and Frankie, or the kids down at Ward House, where she volunteered from time to time, or with her friends.

Just with men. Like him. Cocky men who think they rule the world.

Georgie told Logan "Then go back to Texas and back to whatever loser woman will have you."

"I would love to but that ain't an option for me. Face it. Those kids need us both. If you'd stop hating the fact that you're stuck with me for five seconds you might see that none of this is about you. It's about Frankie and LJ. You may hate the sight of me but they need their Uncle Logan as much as they need their Aunt Georgie. Do you want them seeing us fight? Feeling this tension?"

"Since when are you the child whisperer?"

"I don't know a thing about raising kids but I know something about hospitality. Down in Texas we sure as hell don't treat guests the way you're treating me." With that, he closed the bedroom door in her face.

"AHHH!" She slapped the door. "This is not going to work, Logan. Maxie and Cooper were wrong when they set this up. I can't live like this!"

"Tough, baby cakes!" he yelled back through the door, not sounding like he gave a damn about her distress.

Georgie stomped off to her own room. As she turned the corner she saw four year old Frankie standing in the hallway, holding a doll in her arms. It was clear she had overheard the arguing.

Georgie opened her mouth to comfort Frankie, but the little girl ran back to her room and hid under the bed.

For the next half an hour Georgie had to spend comforting her niece and assuring her that it would all work out okay. They played dolls until Frankie said "I love Uncle Logan. I don't want him to die like Mommy and Daddy."

"Uncle Logan won't die."

"He will go bye-bye?"

Georgie let out a sigh. "I don't know. He says he won't go back to Texas."

"Uncle Logan stay here with us?"

"It looks like it." She might hate the idea but she couldn't bear to cause the kids once more loss. Not right now.

For now, it seemed, she was good and stuck with that interloping cowboy.