Chapter 213

February 16th, 2007

Logan had just surprised Rory at her crappy Howe Street apartment, coming to see her ahead of their agreed time, having missed her too much to wait a day longer. He still didn't like her living there, feeling like it was out of sheer stubbornness and his stupid words she was here in the first place. But he'd accepted it, knowing well enough to pick his battles with her.

After some casual banter - greetings and Rory explaining how she was essentially supposed to be watching a wrestling match right about now and trade notes with Paris later, they'd ended right back where they'd started - kissing. And the face Paris called Rory's harlequin romance face had hardly left her face the entire time Logan had been there. Having him in New York was so much better than having him in London.

But now she knew she needed to come clean about something, and her face already showed signs of guilt.

"Logan, um… I have to talk to you," she said, as the kiss broke, reluctantly, still in his arms.

"Sure, what's going on?" Logan replied, not liking the sound of this. She'd gone so serious all of a sudden.

"Well, uh…. Maybe, let's sit?" Rory suggested nervously.

"Okay," he agreed, and joined her on the couch.

"Okay," Rory sighed. "This is hard for me… to bring up, but… because of the whole thing that happened with Marty. I just wanted to tell you about it now so that you don't think this is a big deal. Or, actually, maybe it is a big deal. I don't know… That's why I want to talk to you about it," Rory rambled.

"What's going on?" Logan said, sounding concerned. It wasn't like him to be uncertain with his relationship with Rory - not recently at least. But as the past had shown - there were things that could rattle them - there had been his screw ups, there had been Jess, there had been long-distance, that whole craziness with Marty… and whatever this was.

"Well, maybe it's just human nature. I mean, maybe we don't want to be happy," Rory said, almost sounding like she was philosophizing. But this also raised Logan's concern - what was not human nature? Wasn't she happy?

"You're not happy?" Logan asked, nearly assuming the worst.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm so happy," she tried to make it as clear as possible.

"Okay, good, so what's the problem?" Logan shot back, now feeling more confused than ever.

"Um, I don't know…," she hesitated. "See - I never thought of myself as a self-destructive person before, but I don't know - maybe I do have this weird self-sabotaging streak?" she pondered out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked, finding it rather humorous, though not completely worry-free, how she could circle a topic she was afraid to bring up.

"Well, the grad student who's filling in for my grandfather… I guess he's kind of good-looking. And I ran into him at the bookstore, and I told him I liked Isabel Allende, and it was disgusting!" Rory explained, not making a lot of sense.

To Logan she looked adorable, admitting all of this. So innocent and so ridiculously self-critical, there were fewer things this cute he'd ever seen her ramble about.

"You told him you like Isabel Allende?" Logan asked in confusion, along with a light chuckle.

"But it was the way I said it. I was all nervous and weird. I mean I Googled him after class. I don't know even know why. I just, you're being so perfect, and I'm turning into this monster.., " Rory fretted, finally coming out with it.

"You're not a monster," Logan calmed her, struggling to fight his laughter.

"No, I am. I am," Rory argued. "I just I think I got so safe… and felt so good with you that I let my guard down, and this beast emerged," Rory confessed.

"Hey, make up your mind! Are you a beast or a monster?" Logan teased.

"Logan…," Rory resented him joking on the subject.

"What it sounds like what you're telling me is you have a crush on this guy," Logan reflected.

"I'm so sorry," Rory said, sounding incredibly guilty, looking down for a moment.

Now Logan really struggled to fight his smile.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Rory asked, not understanding why he wasn't mad at her.

"It's just a crush," Logan spelled it out for her.

"You're not upset?" Rory asked.

"I'd be a hypocrite, because I have on occasion found other girls attractive," Logan pointed out something Rory had almost completely pushed to the back of her mind.

"Yes, I know," Rory replied, sounding confused by why he was bringing this up.

"But I would never do anything about it because I love you and want to be with you," Logan made it abundantly clear.

"That's good, I guess," Rory said, almost sounding disappointed that some sort of punishment wasn't in store for her.

"You guess?" Logan didn't quite follow.

"No, it is good," Rory said, changing her tone to a lighter on. "It's just… Did I break you?" Rory asked.

"What?" Logan asked.

"Paris said that I broke you, that if I kicked you with my spurs, you wouldn't spook. Is that true?" Rory asked.

"No, I'd definitely be a little spooked," Logan replied, grinning widely, finding this hilarious.

"You know what I mean," she scolded him.

"I honestly don't," Logan said, shaking his head.

"I guess she meant that you belong to me or something," Rory admitted.

"Well, do you belong to me?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Rory said, thoughtfully.

"Well, then I'm cool with that," Logan said.

"You are?" Rory replied, not being used to feeling like this. So content.

"Yeah. This whole thing is my fault," Logan said, surprising Rory this time.

"What? Why?" Rory asked.

"I was a jerk about Marty. I overreacted, and I obviously freaked you out so much I made you think you have to tell me when you recommend a book to a guy, and you don't, okay," Logan explained, feeling a little embarrassed because of that whole thing.

"Yeah, okay," Rory agreed.

"Because I trust you completely, and I'm not worried about us," Logan declared.

"Yeah, I guess I'm not either," she agreed. "It's weird," she said, being not used to this kind of honest communication, not even with him. While they'd done long distance, talking - period - had taken some effort, mostly including their day-to-day things, their plans and plenty of naughtiness.

"But good weird?" Logan asked, finding this conversation a first definitely as well.

"Great weird," Rory assured.

Logan stretched out his neck, and kissed her, his arm going around her waist and hers to his arm. It was comfortable. Safe. This whole honesty thing was new, a little scary but strangely satisfying. But since neither was really used to this feeling - it was something that led to easily overthinking things too.


June 27th, 2022

Since they hadn't gotten very far from the villa they were staying in for a couple of days now, having more essential things to do - this day they'd decided to change things up by making it an outing day. It was kind of perfect too - the weather was just perfect, not too hot, and they were both also beginning to sense that the villa could use some cleaning, having not really allowed the maid to do much around the house since they'd been there throughout the day, in various stages of undress.

They'd hired a driver for a day, which took the stress away from having to know how to navigate these narrow roads or needing to keep eyes on a map - not that the island was big enough to really get lost in.

They'd visited the Anse Chastanet beach, Logan insisting on trying swimming in as many beaches as he could, being quite keen on snorkeling among other things. But since the palm-leave shades and comfortable beach-chairs provided nice little places for people like Rory to snuggle up with a book - nobody was complaining.

They were on a real paradise island that actually wasn't overcrowded this time of the year. It was safe to say they were enjoying their anonymity out here to the fullest. They were just a couple on their honeymoon.

After a long and big lunch - both enjoying the fresh seafood the place had to offer, they'd taken a drive to Malgretoute. The place had some incredible nature, not that either of them had ever really known much about tropical plants or birds.

They visited the Superman waterfall, snapping a few holiday photos, including selfies, just like they had troughout their trip. Even if most of the photos had been of them lounging in bed or the villa's pool until now. But what was really their destination in this region were the sulfur springs and mud baths, having been told to be the real gem of the island.

Logan was the one to climb into every body of water he could, boyishly curious like he was, trying out different springs that he was allowed in, and Rory could just tell he wanted to do the cannonball jumps too that some younger people were doing. But she had a changed man with her this time around - he wasn't doing anything stupid to risk what he'd just achieved or was about to become - their marriage and becoming a father.

Rory was more hesitant, not wanting to risk tripping or slipping in unknown bodies of water. Her balance wasn't what it used to be. But watching Logan was half the fun anyways - definitely having that little boy in him still, the same she'd fallen in love with once.

As they finally made it to the actual sulfur baths, they had tour guide waiting for them.

"And here we have the sulfur baths. The sulfur in the water comes from Soufrier Volcano that erupted in the 1700s. There was a weak spot in the crust of a collapsed volcanic crater and this is now considered a dormant volcano. Thanks to this we have the opportunity to dive into the mud baths. It's said to detoxify the body and can treat various skin conditions such as burns, eczema, sore joints and more," their guide spoke to them privately, showing them around the mud-bath complex.

"How warm is it?" Logan asked. They'd already come in their bathing suits, Rory having a light caftan over her bikini. She hadn't dared to wear a bikini for quite some time, but this time it had just made sense not to get several different maternity bathing suits, but just wear regular bikinis. Logan had assured her over and over again how she looked spetacular and nobody could tell she had any scars or strechmarks, even assuring how much he loved that he was the only one who really knew her little imperfections. He really was good with his words and touches when it came to making her feel special.

"Around 104 degrees Farenheit, much like the Japanese hot springs which can often be found in various spas," the guide explained. "I do have to warn you that they're not usually recommended for people with high blood pressure or those who are pregnant. But we've had people enjoy them with just dipping their legs in for a short time, or simply using the mud without actually climbing into the baths," the guide continued, hoping the guests wouldn't be too disappointed at this information. But that was already something Rory had had her doubts on before coming here.

"That's alright," Rory said, having already accepted that just some things were off limits or challenging for her. Even the hike to this place had been pretty rough on her, but Logan had taken it slow, though she could tell he would've made it in half the time had he kept up his pace.

"Just watch me get all muddy and laugh all you want. You can take pictures," Logan tried to cheer her up. There was nothing he could do about it and for once he didn't think it'd be reasonable not to enjoy any of it just because she couldn't.

"Of course," Rory tried to put up a cheery face. She was just simply tired from the earlier hike. But it gave her a moment to reflect about a couple of things she'd been pondering earlier while Logan had been swimming.

She took her phone and made sure to catch Logan's bathing, which was not at all an unsexy sight. Logan sank himself neck deep into the soggy bath, rising back up with a light gray mud covering him. He reached his hand to the bottom on the bath and began to cover himself with the mud. Since they were currently the only ones there, he was trying to tease her a little - using the mud to draw on his skin. He made a heart shape on his chest, which was a little silly. He jokingly brought out his abs and painted his cheeks as if going to war. Rory couldn't hold back her laughter of how cute he looked, and kind of hot too, bringin all sorts of role play ideas to her mind.

As she shook the naughty thoughts out of her mind for now, she could already imagine bringing her kids here someday - just picturing how much fun they'd all have in this place. And surely there were other places like this around the world as well.

She removed her caftan - not wanting to get it dirty, and sat on the edge of the pool, craving to at least test the water. For a brief moment putting her legs in there couldn't be that horrible, could it?

Logan swam close and without warning made two large mud stains on her thighs, causing her to yelp.

"Logan…," she objected, laughingly. She'd imagined she'd get a little muddy - but not like this. If the water wasn't that warm, she could've sworn he would've just pulled her in and gotten her muddy head to toe. She could tell he wanted to, and frankly she wish he couldn've. But they both but the baby first in this.

Logan just smirked, standing out of the water and with his muddy face, insisted on kissing her as an apology. Having not planned it, Rory's nose got a little muddy too, causing him to laugh. God, she looked cute like that.

"What?" she asked.

"You've got a little something," Logan said, painting his own nose with mud as well, pretending like he didn't know his fingers were muddy.

Rory tried to brush it away with the back of her hand, but didn't quite get everything. But then again she was beginning to not care, as it looked like she was going to have to take a waterfall shower, not as hot, just a 100 ft away anyways.

"Can I do something?" Logan asked, having a handful of mud in his hand.

Rory hesitated for a moment, but nodded. Logan could always get her to do crazy things, even if this was one of the mildest things she could think of probably.

Logan painted her pregnant belly with a huge smile, adding two dots as eyes, causing them both to giggle childishly. It was so innocent but definitely photo worthy, and Logan cleaned his hands to make sure they had photos of this cute moment.

Seeing some other people arrive, they headed for the waterfall shower, not wanting the company. There was just something utterly sexy about washing each-other clean out in broad daylight and in a natural waterfall, the sexual tension causing them to pause and kiss several times. It took a lot of willpower not to forget themselves.

"Do you think it's weird?" Rory asked, as they stood there, thigh-deep in water, his hands around her bump, his hands still a little muddy, having not been in a big hurry to get clean.

"Is what weird?" Logan asked.

"This feeling of content, this safe feeling… It didn't hit me right away after the wedding. But I think now it is - it's like we're done, we're here, we have arrived... I'm yours and you are mine, and that's it. Is it weird that I don't worry about us? Like not at all?" she pondered out loud, the thought process coming kind of out of the blue.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to worry about us. And I don't worry either. We're doing everything better this time," Logan assured, wanting to say he had the recipe for not making any mistakes at all.

"Do you think you and I could do something? I mean not now specifically - but like every year or so," Rory requested, having read about something like this somewhere.

"Anything, Ace," Logan said.

"Can we do a reflection like this once a year. I just mean - no matter whether we're on holiday or not, or whether we're seeing Birdie. Can we just assure each-other, that we feel safe, or if we don't just be honest about it. I feel like… I feel like with Jess in the end the realization was just so abrupt… I don't want to ever be caught off guard like that again. I want to know we're good. That you feel as safe as I do. And I want us to be totally honest. Take it as a moment of reflection and if there's a problem then we'll deal with it straight away, not wait for things to worse," Rory continued, sounding a little emotional.

Logan eyed at her skeptically - just the fact that she was requesting this was telling him that she was still afraid.

"I'll do this every month with you if I have to. But I don't ever want you to feel less than safe. I'm yours and you are mine. I am not going anywhere, Rory," Logan assured, kissing her again while his still muddy palms soothed her bump from its sides, getting it all dirty again.