AN: Yesterday turned out to be long and full of work, as will most Fridays probably, and it's just been a little difficult to focus, so no chapter yesterday. But here you go. Thank you for your reviews!


Chapter 83

December 17th, 2021

Rory and Logan had put away their coats in the cloakroom and were making their way along the hallway, the grand harlequin floor clinking under Rory's heels. Logan was dressed a little more casually than Rory this time, wearing a wine red dress-shirt and a dark gray vest, which Rory was more used to seeing as Finn's signature look, but she was surprised how refreshing it looked on him. He's beard was trimmed, but still just the length she loved on him - not too scratchy but long enough for her to run her fingers through it.

Being with Logan was the same, but it wasn't. And that went beyond the surface. Rory wasn't complaining, not at all - but every once in a while she felt on edge - like she didn't know what he'd do at a given situation. And when he looked different - it was a moment when these fears were somehow elevated.

His touch was excellent at calming her though, just like right now, as he held her hand. Logan chuckled, as they made it past a line of lockers and a janitor's closet, a low hum of 'Jingle Bells' melody carrying in the background.

"What?" Rory asked, wanting to know what was that funny.

"Ever fool around in these halls?" Logan hummed to her ear, with a wide grin.

"Like in high school? I think you confused me with some of your floozies from back then," Rory played all innocent, having gathered enough courage to teach each-other about almost anything in their pasts. These weren't secrets anymore, and they no longer hurt, hence amongst the two of them teasing each other about their past less-than-perfect behavior was allowed.

"I really should just ask Tristan…," Logan teased. He talked about a number of things with him, having met him a few times now, but Rory was not one of their regular topics beyond how she was doing.

"Back then I just made out bark benches, my living room, Doosye's, and oh yeah… once in the parking lot here," Rory recalled, tapping her index finger on her chin, as if having to put some effort into reminding her. "And…," she began, recalling her Christmas party encounter from two years ago, but hesitating. With a lot of effort she'd pushed that to the very back of her head. Teasing each-other about something from when they were in college seemed so much simpler than something a little more recent.

"And what?" Logan asked, liking the naughtiness in her tone, stopping and letting his hands wrap around her waist. He wouldn't have minded pulling her into that janitor's closet, truth be told.

"And once as an adult… in the art class," Rory whispered, her formerly sensual tone changing into simply wanting to get that across her lips as briefly as possible. Clearly she was a little embarrassed.

"Like recently?" Logan asked, eyes wide, really having not expected that.

"No," Rory replied, regretting having even brought it up. She was saved by one of the teachers passing them, mumbling something about having left her phone in her coat. "Well what is recent?" she shrugged her shoulders innocently, and laughed.

Their topic, and what was the tension that would've lead to them kissing each-other was interrupted by some older teacher opening the hall to the ceremony hall door with a loud bang, not on purpose, and the hallways filled with Johnnyswim's 'Christmas Waltz' whispering them lyrics about falling love, which made them both smile, as they continued down the hallway.

Logan wasn't oblivious about attending this party, likely being the start of a big round of gossip, but for once he didn't mind that prospect. He had no intention of telling his mother in person, and his sister should just get a picture of an engagement ring on Rory's finger, preferably by the end of the night, that his sister should expect to be Logan's style, having had no chance over how his former engagement was broadcasted.

As they stepped into the ceremony hall, joyous bounce in their step, feeling like they could concur pretty much anything, their arms linked, the sight didn't really match what one might have expected of a Christmas celebration. But the cheap decor and sad-looking boxed wines did surprisingly little to their moods.

"You're ready for this to be out in the open, as this might mean everyone?" Logan asked, stopping her at the doorway for a second, holding onto Rory's ring hand and massaging the ring itself under his finger like he'd loved doing in this past week whenever he got the chance.

"Uh… yeah, I guess," Rory replied, wondering why he was hesitating.

"Jess too?" Logan needed to double check.

"Better now than in Nantucket, right?" Rory replied with a deep inhale, realizing that Em might easily spil that information otherwise before then.

"Okay," Logan exhaled, already seeing from the corner of his eye how one of the older ladies was approaching him.

"Don't worry, they'll be too drunk in an hour to care," Rory whispered to Logan, sideways, knowing that whatever they were inquired about now, soon enough they'd get to have their little Christmas party too. She'd seen this happen last year as one of her younger colleagues had shown up with a boyfriend, but naturally he hadn't been as big of a celebrity as Logan was. They'd gotten 20-questions - what he did, where he was from, what his parents did, if he wanted kids and so forth. Thankfully, it hadn't been a young relationship. And as proved by the couple in the opposite end of the hall - that couple seemed to be still together, which was promising.

"Nora, I'd like you to meet Logan, my fiance," Rory took charge and introduced him, not deeming it to be necessary to even say out his last name. It was a pivotal moment as they accepted their congratulations, when Rory realized she'd need to decide what she was going to do with her last name in this process too. Was she really going to be a Huntzberger?

Thankfully in an hour they'd made their way from small-talk to the buffet table, piled up with an unusual amount of various cup cakes, tosca cake and tiny pizza squares - a rather uncoordinated selection. Sure, they'd gotten all types of questions - how they'd met and when were they having the wedding - a lot of questions they didn't really have answers to quite yet among them, but it didn't matter. It was actually a little entertaining and certainly less tense than it would've been at one of Shira's parties. And they intended to have none of those.

This was the new them.

"Wine?" Rory asked, gesturing in a Michelin Star restaurant way towards the boxed wine, making it seem a lot more glamorous than it really was.

"I'm good," Logan replied, shaking his head briefly, and settled for some water instead. Rory still wasn't terribly used to that, but took a glass for herself. Back in college she would've appreciated his sobriety a lot more, having had more negative experiences with him getting way too drunk, most often drinking his feelings, but now it was just making her feel a little guilty for drinking. Sure, she knew it was better for one's health, sure - if she wanted to have a baby with him someday - she was better drinking less too. She hadn't dared dwell on the latter too much yet, all that work providing a convenient escape. She wasn't sure if she was scared or just hesitant, but she certainly was afraid to disappoint him too.

The party started out with an icebreaker questionnaire that they were supposed to ask in small groups, and then switch groups after a couple of questions.

"Which of the teachers would make the best department store Santa?" Rory asked the group, causing a chorus of laughter while others continued to offer their suggestions.

Logan didn't really know all the people, so he was at a bit of a loss for this, but it didn't matter.

"Have you ever re-gifted a present?" Mr. Mcquire asked.

"Yes, many times," Rory admitted, thinking back to all of her grandmother's antiques that she'd gifted her and her mother years before she passed.

"I don't recall," Logan replied.

As they switched to the next group, it was Max's group, who'd gotten there a little late. The principal's group was always a good place to be - having some more privileges of doing whatever he pleased, including skipping the question of "What Christmas carol gets stuck in your head the most?"

"Rory, hi, you look great," commented Max, who stepped by to grab himself some wine as well.

"Hey," Rory replied. "Max, have you met Logan?" she introduced him.

"As I've already heard the whispers, fiance, I hear," Max replied, shaking Logan's hand.

"Logan Huntzberger," he replied, figuring this was the moment to use his last name, which took Rory a little by surprise. But it was not like she was ashamed of it.

"Max Medina, nice to meet you," he replied.

"Max, here, was very nearly going to be my stepdad once," Rory explained to Logan.

"Ages ago. Two wives and three children ago," Max chuckled, not having to hide these details from Rory. He had no regrets, but was he was richer for it.

"Oh right," Logan replied, having really only briefly discussed the topic ages ago and now knew that Rory knew the principal from her own high school times. He felt a little humble for not knowing more, but the truth was that they hadn't yet had the chance to talk about a lot of things. There were still uncharted waters in their joint canvas. "Nice to meet you too," he added.

"Congratulations to you two," Max said, raising his glass to them. "And I am sure your mother must be thrilled," he added.

"Well, she's known about this for about a few hours so…," Rory shrugged.

"Ah…," Max chuckled. "Well I'm sure all she wants is you to be happy," he added. "And so do I," he added.

"We are," Rory replied, clinging onto Logan's arm, her face looking dreamy.

"Well if it wasn't for the crazy hours she puts in here..," Logan said, letting the sentence roll over his lips without fully thinking it through.

"Ah…Logan," Rory elbowed him seemingly playfully. "The job is what it is," she added as if apologizing for him.

"It's not an easy profession, the younger you are the harder you work, unfortunately. And Rory really has made a huge jump considering she just started a few years ago, that's how I was when I started, but I have the privilege of being single and childless back then," Max explained, not minding Logan's comment much. "But I can tell you that she is a real asset," he added.

"I don't doubt that," Logan replied in a proud tone.

It was as Max headed off to talk to someone else, when Rory pulled Logan aside, excusing them from the game.

The look on her face was not what he'd expected, but perhaps he should've.

"I really don't appreciate you talking on my behalf," Rory huffed with a lowered voice, fighting very hard not to let her body language show her annoyment.

"I didn't mean it like that. It was stating the obvious, wasn't it?" Logan replied.

"Yes, but I don't need you to rub that in front of Max. Sure, Max is more of a friend or family than just my boss, but it's still embarrassing," Rory admitted. There was also a conception that teachers were supposed to work hard and if you weren't working hard enough you couldn't possibly be a good teacher. And sure, why this was something one joked sometimes about with other teachers, coming from Logan it almost sounded like he was asking her special treatment with the influence of his name.

"But what is there to hide - you work a lot, you work like I used to work. I know what that is like. I also know that generally people do that for a variety of reasons, not all of which are good for you. And here I am - I keep asking for weeks now what are you doing this for and I am not getting any good answers," Logan replied, getting a little agitated himself. He couldn't deny that at the back of his head he was thinking about whether this would be something in the way of them ever having a baby together, but he genuinely just wanted her well and to have her around to their joint time, not understanding why she didn't want to put that first.

It was then Max's assistant called everyone to dance, the D.J putting on one of Ariana Grande's Christmas hits. Neither Rory or Logan really felt like dancing, both really feeling like they needed a breather. They hadn't really had a real fight since they'd gotten together, and it had hit them with a punch - maybe they weren't perfect?

"I am just worried about you, I don't mean anything bad by it," Logan tried to sooth her. "But you heard what the therapist said, and I don't mean to push you… but can you really blame me for wanting you not to kills yourself with you work?" he said.