Puppet Master

Rory looked at the large framed picture that now rested on a wall in the common room. It was even more hilarious (if that was possible) now than it had been as a Polaroid. Finn lay peacefully asleep and his hair stuck up in all different directions. Half of it – the left half – was bright pink. That had been Rory's doing. Logan had done the right and made it purple with teal tips. The picture showed that they had, quite unforgivably, ruined Finn's white Egyptian cotton bed sheets in the process.

The one thing that the pictures failed to capture was his hands. In a sudden flash of inspiration the night before, Rory had decided to paint his fingernails to match his hair. Logan had taken it a step further and, reminiscent of Finn's bout with the Sharpie, had colored Finn's fingers the same as his hair. A little immature, true, but funny nonetheless – especially when Finn had rubbed his face with his not yet dry fingers.

The more she studied the picture, the harder she laughed. She had just succeeded in taming her laughter when Finn burst into the room, his hair successfully hidden underneath a wool cap. "Rory you won't believe what Logan did…" he broke off as he spied her and the picture she had been admiring. "…Or maybe you would." Almost sheepishly, he faced the ground and tugged the cap off of his head exposing the multicolored locks.

The sight of his hair sent her into another fit of giggles. He looked at her sharply. "Rory, you helped him, didn't you?" His voice was sad and for a moment, it quelled her laughter. This time it was she that looked down, ashamed.

"Sorry, Finn." She looked up and found him staring at her expectantly. "Well Finn, what did you expect me to do?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Harry Potter scar, smiley faces, goatee…sound familiar?"

"Hey, that was between me and him. He knew that perfectly well."

"Finn, I'm disappointed in you." Rory giggled. "You of all people expected Logan Huntzberger to play by the rules?"

"You make a good point. But you knew it was between me and him!"

"Although no one specifically told me, yes, I knew that. Your point is?"

"You knew!" Finn exclaimed, as if that explained everything.

"Finn, I think you have an unfortunate misconception about me. I don't always play by the rules either!"

"Fine," Finn huffed. He turned towards the door, but visibly paused. He turned, took three giant strides and ripped the picture off of the wall before sulking away.

Rory didn't look the least put out at the theft of her property. In fact she smirked, before saying to the room at large, "It's a good thing I had more than one copy made."

"It most certainly is." Rory whirled around to face the owner of the voice. Logan stood, casually leaning on her doorframe.

"Logan! You scared me!"

Nonchalantly, he shrugged, "You scare easily, Ace."

"That is beside the point!"

"So you concede? You admit you do scare easily?"

"Nothing with you is ever easy," Rory muttered.

"Pardon? I didn't quite catch that, Ace."

"Nothing. I said nothing." She paused and moved to hang up the photo. When she finished, she spun to face him. "You do realize what a sacrifice I'm making, don't you? Now Finn will come after me too!"

Characteristically unflappable, Logan only remarked, "I think you overestimate Finn."

Rory sunk into the couch. "No, I think you underestimate him."

Logan walked over to the wall, and gently touched the picture. At Rory's enquiring look, he explained. "It was crooked." Rory gave him a small smile.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Suddenly, Rory blurted, "Country music?"

Logan looked up, startled. "What?"

"You listen to Keith Urban?"

"By your obvious disbelief, I assume you didn't picture me as a country music listener. What, may I ask, did you think I listened to?"

Rory thought for a few minutes. "Actually, I can't see you listening to music at all. It's all so incongruous with your image." She stopped, but when Logan made no move to continue the conversation, she rushed on. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything. It's just that…well, I guess I haven't spent enough time with you to figure out your musical tastes, and -"

"Relax, Ace. No offense taken. And, by the way, I listen to whatever's on the radio."

Rory grinned at him sheepishly. They lapsed into another awkward silence.

Finally, Rory couldn't stand the stillness. "Yes," she said her voice strong and resonant.

"What?" asked Logan, starting to sound, quite unfortunately like a broken record.

"Yes, I can trust you."

Logan got a far-away look in his eye as he tried to place her words. Slowly, as there context came to him, a grin grew on his face. "Are you sure?"

"Hey. No second guessing my decision. It's my heart on the line, remember? My heart, my decision."

"Alright then." They both nodded, huge grins marking their faces, as if that was all there was to say.

AN: I'm sorry it took so long. I'm still trying to figure out were exactly this is going. I promise this isn't the end. I'm not so mean as to end it just when they get together. Also, I'm sorry about how short it is, but hey, something's better than nothing, right?

Thanks to all of my lovely reviewers! You guys are the greatest. And Thought'sPen, you rock – that's all there is to it. Seriously, thanks for all of the support.