Inspired by the movie Life As We Know It

For the Harlequin Challenge

Nothing Comes For Free

Georgie and Logan, GH

Chapter Thirteen

June 2016

Logan never thought he'd feel like one of the family at Mac Scorpio's house. The guy hadn't liked him back in the day when he had a fling with Maxie, while she was dating Coop (not one of Logan's finest moments, admittedly), and he sure hadn't liked him when he took a job as Anthony Zacchara's nurse.

Then Mac accused him of being the Text Message Killer- and Logan had blown up at him.

So it was no surprise that Mac would rather had seen Logan dead than living with Georgie, and helping to raise Mac's grandkids.

For one day at least, all the bad blood was pushed aside, because Mac was so overjoyed to learn that Maxie and Cooper were alive. When Georgie, Logan and the kids made it to Mac and Felicia's house, after a long day of traveling, Mac embraced each other them- even Logan.

The kids ran off to hug their parents.

Felicia then hugged Georgie and said to Logan. "Thank you for taking such good care of my family. I knew you must be a good man, if Cooper would trust you with his children."

"I just did what anyone would do, ma'am." He said, with a polite nod, before his eyes met Georgie's and he added "It was my honor."

His eyes moved over to watch Cooper and Maxie embracing their kids. Georgie started to cry happy tears at the sight.

A pang echoed in Logan's heart. As much as he was glad everything worked out this way, Georgie and him would still be leaving here tonight without Frankie and LJ, without "their" kids. If it was going to go down this way, it was lucky that Cooper and Maxie had made it home after just a month.

The pain of giving up custody would increase with every day that passed. The pain of the kids living without their parents would increase too. The pain that came from Maxie and Cooper being cheated out of living their lives on their terms would increase with every passing day.

Thank God they had escaped their captors relatively quickly. Now all of them, himself included, could move on from here.

Cooper walked over to Logan. Love, affection, undying loyalty and unending trust shone in his eyes as he pulled Logan into a hug. "Sorry for dying on you, my bad."

Logan chuckled. "A month to escape? Really? You're slipping, old man."

Cooper pushed his shoulder, before clamping his hand there. "I could never pay you back for taking care of my kids-."

"Hey, hey, hey, hush up with that. I didn't do anything but hang out with my niece and nephew. I like them more than you so it was no hardship. And you will pay me back: you owe me thirty days of free babysitting once I have a kid of my own."

Cooper chuckled. "Done." He turned to Georgie. His expression softened even more. "Thank you," he whispered, getting choked up. "I never had to worry if the kids were okay because I knew they were safe with you both."

Georgie smiled. "That was quite the surprise you and my sister sprung on us- that me and Logan had to live together to raise the kids. A little head's up would have been nice. But it all worked out in the end."

Maxie teased "You're way too good for him!"

Logan laughed. "And here I thought you were my biggest fan."

Maxie joked "Where would you get a stupid idea like that? My sister is clearly way out of your league."

Logan said "Yeah, well, I agree but have you ever tried arguing with her?"

Georgie moved closer to Logan. "Hey, I'm right here. I can speak for myself."

Logan teased her. "So what do you say? Are you totally out of my league?"

Felicia said "Yes, I'd love to hear the answer to that."

Mac said "You had better not drag my daughter back to Texas."

Georgie and Logan shared a secret look, as he remembered their conversation about moving to the farm, before she asked him "Are you sure you want to be part of this crazy family?"

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life, doll."

"I've never been more wrong about anything in my life than I was on the day you moved into my house. I thought it would turn out to be a disaster. It turns out that I didn't realize the real disaster was ending in that moment: my life without you. And the best part of my life was just getting started- all because a loud, shirtless cowboy moved in."

Mac asked "What do you mean: shirtless?"

Georgie and Logan ignored the question because they were too caught up in each other. He stepped closer to her. He really wanted to kiss her but he knew she was often gun shy about physical affection.

She whispered "Let's go home," before taking his hand and pulling him out the door.

They kissed outside, under the stars, in her parent's driveway. Love had grown between them unexpectedly and it continued to grow each day.

He had never saw her coming. Never could have guessed that everything that would make his life complete was waiting for him back in this town he had put in his rearview mirror years before.

He was home. Home was wherever Georgie was from now on.

THE END

Author's note: I wrote this story over the span of three years. It was a pleasure to write it and to be able to share it here. It was a labor of love. I'm glad there are still readers interested in Glo. I'm very grateful for the readers who reviewed this story here and elsewhere. Thank you!