Puppet Master

When Logan returned to his room later that day, he was promptly ambushed by Finn and Colin who proceeded to blindfold him, gag him and tie him up. They swung him up onto their shoulders and hauled him out of the room.

After taking him for a none-too-gentle walk, they deposited him on a sofa and proceeded to untie and un-gag him.

"Finn? Colin?" Logan was not amused at their antics.

"You know," came a feminine voice that Logan instantly recognized as Rory's, "as much as I love your buddies, I can't say I like being mistaken for them very much."

Logan got up, and, using her voice as a beacon, started towards her. "Well, you really can't blame me, can you? Having them kidnap me like that – not exactly kosher, I must say."

"What can I say? I don't always deal above board. Where's the fun in that?"

"Yes, I've notic-" Logan was cut off as he tripped over a couple of books lying on the floor and fell flat on his back.

Rory giggled; she couldn't help herself. "You know, they untied you for a reason."

"Do you say so? And what would that reason be?"

"So you could take the blindfold off yourself."

"But without the blindfold, making my way over to you and wrapping my arms around you wouldn't seem so impressive."

"Oh, is that what you were trying to do?" She giggled again. "It didn't work very well, did it?"

"Maybe if someone was tidier, I wouldn't have fallen on my butt."

"Oh, so this is my fault?"

"Psh. Hush you. I'm not done." That said, Logan stood up and proceeded to sure-footedly find his way to Rory. He hesitated slightly before wrapping his arms around her. "Hey you," he said quietly before kissing her.

Rory broke away before the kiss could go deeper. "We need to talk."

Logan, who was fed up with not being able to see her, reached up and pulled his blindfold off. "That doesn't sound good."

"No, no, nothing like that," she hastened to reassure him and then amended her statement. "Or maybe it is a little like that."

"Like what?" Logan was already lost.

"It's just -" Rory broke off, at a loss for words and sat down wearily on the couch. Quietly, Logan sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "What is this?"

"This?" echoed Logan.

"Us." She paused. "I mean, is there an us?" Uncharacteristically, she fell silent instead of rambling on and on.

Logan looked unfazed. "I want there to be an us. The question is do you want an us?"

"Maybe."

"All I get is a maybe?" Logan teased.

"Well, yes I want an us, but…" she trailed off miserably.

"Ooh, a 'yes, but'. Much better than a 'maybe'. We'll still have to work on that."

"But can I trust you?"

"Have I ever led you wrong yet?"

"Not yet, no." She could see where he was going with this.

"So what is your criteria for trust? Previous experience? Cause in that area, I'm doing pretty well," he joked. Rory just looked at him, so his face turned serious and he continued. "I guess I can't give you more than that. I'm just going to have to prove myself trustworthy day by day. But ultimately you have to decide whether or not you can trust me. It's your heart on the line and only you can make that decision."

Rory looked taken aback by Logan's sudden insight. He decided it might be best to leave her alone and give her time to think. He disentangled himself carefully and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead. "See you later Ace," he said, in what he meant to be a carefree voice, but ended up coming out as barely above a whisper.

"Bye Logan," she whispered forlornly, before collapsing on the couch like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.

Logan walked back to his room slowly, meditating on what had happened. It was good to know that Rory liked him, but disheartening to realize that at this point, it wasn't enough for her. In a sudden flash of wisdom, Logan realized that this probably had nothing to do with him. He hadn't given her any real reason why he couldn't be trusted. The pranks, he added parenthetically to himself, had always been perceived as such, and she knew, he assured himself, that he hadn't really meant anything by them; he had just wanted to catch her attention.

Saddened, he wondered who had hurt her so badly. Who had made her decide that people weren't trustworthy? Who had convinced her that, no matter what, people inevitably hurt her?

She didn't deserve that. She deserved better. Better than him probably, but he wouldn't let that stop him, as long as she reciprocated his interest. His pace picked up speed as he became determined to show her that some people, at least, were trustworthy.

He entered his suite with renewed zest. He half expected to be accosted by Finn and Colin, but it didn't bother him a bit when all he received was silence.

Meanwhile, Rory lay on the couch contemplating her situation. She liked Logan, she really did. Although he had seemed like a pompous jackass on their first meeting, she had to admit that he had turned out to be a decent guy. By no means was he perfect, but Rory had already learned that perfect wasn't everything it was cracked up to be. Perfect was boring. You needed flaws to add spice to a relationship. Logan challenged her to see outside of her relatively small world view. He was so different, but in a good way. And they had chemistry.

No, it was never a question of whether or not she liked Logan. That much was crystal clear. The question was whether or not she trusted him with her heart.

Deep down, she realized that this had nothing to do with Logan. It went much further back than just him. It went further back than Dean, than Jess, and even further back than Dean the first time around. She was sure that her issues with trust started with her father.

Her father, who had never been enough. Sure, he came around once in a while, just long enough to get her excited and attached before leaving again. Every time, she invariably grew to trust him, and every time, equally invariably, he left without a backward glance.

It wasn't all her dad's fault – she acknowledged that. Jess had added his own two cents, leaving her just when she needed him the most. Dean too, for that matter. In fact, Dean was worse than Jess. He had used her as a cop out of his marriage. He had tricked her into believing that he loved her and wanted to be with her. And she had fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. And then, just when it had started to get tough, he ran away, like a scared little boy, coming to the belated realization that what they had done was wrong.

And what did all of this add up to? A girl who was afraid to trust; afraid to trust even the nice guys that came around. She started to cry. It hurt so bad knowing that something good was coming her way, but because of her past, she was too afraid to fully embrace it.

In a way, her mind was already made up. But this was only deep down inside of her heart. She still had yet to realize it in her head.

AN: OMG, can you say angst? I swear, I didn't mean for it to turn out this way, but we do need a little bit of this so we can be all the more happy when things turn out good, right? Okay, done waxing philosophical. I'll try and make the next chapter happier. I promise, I'll try.