AN: This chapter is in advance for tomorrow (by my time zone). Expecting a busy work day.

Winging it a bit with the timeline for Logan, I am assuming he went to college at 18, though he could've also gone at 19 (born in February 1982). Let's just assume he went at 18, and perhaps went through his college process as slowly as he could trying to delay the inevitable.

And also I know I probably should change the description in the beginning of this story - this is so not just Rory-centric anymore. My bad - I always plot, but things just get a life of their own once I write.

I didn't recall a scene of R and L discussing Chilton much in OS so I assume he doest knowany details. And I don't think it anything Rory should've told him. And I do believe Logan needs friends that understand the current him better. It doest mean he thinks any less of his old friends.


Chapter 64

June 12th, 2001

Linkin Park's 'In the End' played as Logan and his buddies, Colin and Finn, made their way through the front door of Bowman's house, to where they'd been invited for a pool party. Everyone was invited, everyone under the age of 20 who was anyone in these circles. Though at this point, as the guys walked through the at least 5-million-dollar house, that had once belonged to Tommy Hilfiger, they noticed something significantly wrong with this scene.

There were at least two dozen guys and maybe five girls, and they looked too young for them - sophomores, maybe juniors. Too needy, too inexperienced, too much drama.

There was also Bowman's stepmom ofcourse and it really didn't take long for Finn to be on that case, the leggy redhead, probably an ex-model or Miss Providence 1995 or thereabout, currently in a black bikini and a see-through crochet robe over it, was soon enough enjoying his best game.

The guys were all a little sunbaked in the face, dressed in light-colored polo-shirts, having just been flown over from Indonesia, after the unfortunate yacht incident, hence Logan was glad to be anywhere but home, where nagging about his latest stunt seemed to follow him around constantly. He couldn't wait to get back to Yale, truthfully, as the prospect of either being home or the HPG offices New York over the summer to 'learn' were not looking terribly fascinating compared to what he'd rather be doing with his summer.

"This is a sausage-fest, Logan!" Colin complained about the obvious. "I told you we should've gone to Alissa's," he added in a concerned tone, this being one of three invites they'd gotten for the evening.

"Just give it a few minutes," Logan added, and pulled out his brand new Nokia 6301 and texted Alissa, the curvy brunette Colin had had a thign for since forever. Unforunately the girl seemed to respond better to Logan, but there was bro code, but he could still use his influence.

Colin glanced over his shoulder and nodded approvingly. The girls were having a smaller party a mile away, and Logan being the prime meat at this point, asking where the girls were, noting that they were missing all the fun, was bound to have at least a car-full of girls come driving over here in no time.

"Hey, Bowman - how's it going?" Logan shook hands with a Jesse-Eisenberg-type he'd been together at St. Sebastian's with for a year once, though at different years. The guy was only really popular for his money and game, but had enough draw to the younger girls apparently.

There was a brief exchange of greetings, and soon Bowman led them forward to the pool area and offered them some drinks, treating them a little like royalty. A younger guy like himself, was proud to have someone as notorious as Logan Huntzberger and his crew, attend.

It was then Finn joined them, having been blown off by Mrs. Wilcox, needing a drink.

Mrs. Wilcox, Bowman's stepmom however decided to enjoy the attention of several young pairs of eyes, by casting her robe demonstratively on one of the recliners, and decided to fuss around with the recliner enough to give them quite a show of her bikini body, before settling in and beginning to oil herself.

"Holy hell," Finn muttered, and drank his scotch in one go. The unattainable were always what he craved.

Bowman was certainly embarrassed by the sight and if anyone understood him it was Colin, who out of solidarity decided to turn his attention to the prettiest of the younger girls, desperately hoping her to be at least legal.

Logan leaned back, deciding just to enjoy his drink, not being in a hurry. He looked at the girls, and there were several that caught his eye. But he was in no hurry with that either, simply wanting to see where the day led. Suddenly he overheard DuGray, a guy he'd also seen around a few times last summer, grumble about something, while looking like he wasn't particularly in a partying mood.

"Boohoo DuGray, you just need to flush Mary out of your system. I get it she had that nun-look that you're so into apparently. But trust me, it's nothing like half a bottle of rum and…. Um… Tiffany here, can't fix," another guy, Duncan if Logan recalled correctly, spoke, going out of his way a few steps and pulled over a petite blonde, who didn't seem to mind the attention one bit.

It was at that moment several of the girls Logan had texted earlier, arrived, drawing the guy's attention to themselves.

But had he only known…


November 21st, 2021

Logan was never one to dwell too long on getting something over and done with, not the ordinary things at least, and this was certainly one of those times. Maybe it was just ridiculously good timing on his part but this time he'd gotten a response in five minutes.

And as it just happened to be the end of Tristan's shift at Saint Francis, Tristan offered to meet him at a pub he frequented by the hospital.

The Irish-style pub was surprisingly busy for a Sunday night, several screens playing NFL which seemed to be the main draw, when Logan got there just a little before 9 PM.

For a second he almost didn't recognize him, the way he'd changed over the years didn't scream what he recalled when he thought of DuGray. But then again, neither probably did he.

"Hey, Huntz," Tristan stepped up to him, having said a a casual 'see you later' to a few of his colleagues a few seconds earlier. The guy was wearing a simple denim shirt and chinos.

"DuGray," Logan exclaimed, offering him a manly half hug.

"Oh man, it's been like… forever," Tristan commented.

"Tell me about it," Logan replied, and took a seat by the bar where two seats had just opened up.

"You're definitely not the person I expected to look me up, I have to say," Tristan shook his head. "Here, let me buy you a drink - what will you have?" he asked, in a friendly manner.

"Run Wild," Logan suggested, seeing the non-alcoholic IPA option on the bar shelves behind the bartender.

"Good choice. Same for me," Tristan replied, approvingly.

"You can have something else if you want, I'm just preferring a clear head these days," Logan replied.

But instead of hearing something equivalent to 'I thought I'd neve hear those words out of your mouth of all people,' he said instead - "I don't actually drink anymore, 3 years sober. But I don't like to miss out on the social aspect of these places, there's plenty of other things to drink," Tristan replied.

"Oh, I didn't know," Logan replied, apologetically.

"Oh, no worries. I never actually developed a problem, people just tend to assume that once I say it. I just figured it was wise to nip it in the bud. My dad had bit of an issue before he passed," Tristan explained.

"I'm kind of the same way, actually," Logan replied, feeling very surprised this was the thing that they were connecting on, while they'd once acquainted over just the opposite.

"So what's up with you? You're back in Hartford of all places? I saw your names in the news once, years ago… I thought you were in the UK or something?" Tristan spoke.

"I was, for what.. 8-9 years?" Logan recalled. "But I pulled the plug on all of that - left the family company, everything. Did some traveling. And now I guess I am sort of rebuilding. Got a new business started. And well… the reason why I am here is truly an unoriginal one," Logan explained.

"Ah.. a woman?" Tristan mused.

Logan nodded, and accepted his drink.

"What about you?" Logan inquired.

Tristan took a deep, thirsty, sip of his beer.

"Believe it or not, I moved back to be closer to my mom. She needs some medical assistance around the house and she's not the easiest for the nurses to handle. But I still took a small part-time gig here at the hospital. It clears my head," Tristan explained.

"Trust me - I know all about crazy mothers," Logan exhaled with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah," Tristan laughed. "I've seen a bunch too. I recall Bowman's being particularly… umh…exhibitionistic…," he added, and Logan recalled exactly which particular moment he meant.

Logan laughed.

They talked for a while about their chosen paths in life, Tristan about his military career as a military nurse, and later at the ER. They'd both lived abroad, even been to the same cities for some brief point in time, finding that quite astonishing. They talked about joint friends and what they recalled them being up to, who had the biggest boat and coolest car as far as some of the more neutral topics.

They even ended in acknowledging that in a way they were indeed in a very similar position in life which had brought them full circle back to their hometown. They'd even laughed a little about how weird it was for someone their age to find friends, guy friends and assured neither was mistaking this as a date, laughingly.

"Yeah, I wish it was as easy as it is for 5-year-olds," Tristan began to elaborate on the topic of friendships. "I swear, he's been like seven days at his new school and he's already planning on times to invite all of his friends over after Thanksgiving, and that list is like 12 names long..," Tristan explained, laughingly.

"Is his mom still in the picture?" Logan decided to ask. It was just the way he kept talking about his life, his career and kid without ever mentioning a significant other that had caught his interest.

"She's not, actually," Tristan replied.

"Sorry, man, I didn't mean to pry. I'm a divorcee myself," he added, wanting to offer some understanding.

"It's not like that, she passed away actually. She was a veteran," Tristan said, but was clearly reluctant to elaborate. "It's been a long time, and I've been working way too much… who knows maybe being out here, I'll finally have some time to date again," he added. "I actually ran into this girl I used to like in high school that I really liked back then - whoknows…," he began.

That alerted the alarm bells in Logan's brain. It almost sounded like Tristan was testing the waters. Did he know about Rory and him?

"Rory, the person I'm involved with here," Logan began, making the connection abundantly clear, hopefully, adding "she has a kid too. We've had this decades long history, on and off… the kind of thing that took almost no effort to resume where we left off. Hopefully just with fewer communication issues…, she's my everything, man. Letting her go was the biggest mistake in my life and I am sort of making up for that now," Logan explained, realizing that he'd spoken perhaps a little too quickly and nervously for that to have come out naturally.

Logan observed Tristian who'd gone thoughtful at his words, but it definitely wasn't jealousy that he replied with.

"Hey, man - what I said… I never meant to step on your toes. I just thought about her for a second like that," he said, having picked up on the emphasized name and his tone.

After all, Rory wasn't exactly the most common name, and through some of their joint circles, he actually had known that Rory and Logan had dated in college. Hell - they'd been part of the society gossip, which had also come up at Christmas on year at their household through her mother. It was a very small circle.

What actually moved Logan the most was that Tristan seemed genuinely concerned for the relationship between the two of them - developing their friendship.

"No worries man, if anyone understands the draw in her, it's me alright," Logan replied, and patted his shoulder. It was actually kind of hot, knowing that another man wanted her - but Logan had enough to compete with knowing Jess would always be kind of special to her. He was glad to have made his situation and intentions chrystal clear to him.

"Is it weird dating someone with a kid? What's the story with her ex there?" Tristan asked, the former topic brushed away as something irrelevant, both aiming to move past it.


AN: Also thank you for one of the guest reviewers - I was planning on bringing in some mention of Mary from back then, but your review just solidified that idea further. Thank you!

And naturally the former wasn't their only encounter from the 2000nds, just one glimpse.

Please review - they make my day.