A/N: Wow! You guys are amazing! Thank you for all of the reviews! Seriously, it means a lot. Here we have the long-awaited for chapter five. It's fluffy, happy, and fun. It's also kind of a filler chapter. I'm not very happy with the end of it, but I hated keeping you guys waiting, so here it is. I hope you enjoy:)
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After spending the night in the airport, Rory got on her 7:00 AM flight to Heathrow the next morning. After a seven hour flight, plus a five hour time difference, she arrived in London around 7:00 PM. Rory had gone over several scenarios in her mind. She would just run to his office and kiss him. Or, no, that was too forward…she would sit him down, tell him to simply listen, and she would talk. Tell him she was sorry. Well, she should tell him she's sorry no matter what. Rory went over her speech in her mind hundreds of times:
"Logan, listen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I did. I had no right to yell at you, and you have always supported me. Thank you for that. I've just been so mixed up inside over this L.A. Times thing. And I understand that you can't know everything about what's going to happen in the next year or so. I'm trying to accept it. I want to accept it. I love you." And then she would kiss him. Or should she kiss him as soon as she saw him? Gah, this was annoying.
Rory exchanged her American money for English pounds after going through customs. She didn't have much cash. Barely enough to get a cab ride to Logan's office building. It was 7:30 – he usually stayed until before 9:00. After securing a taxi and relaying her destination, she sat back in her seat and sighed. I'll see him soon. The cab ride seemed to take hours instead of only thirty minutes to the business district.
There it was. Logan's office building. And she was right, she barely had enough money to cover the taxi fare. Getting out of the cab, Rory closed the door and stood there simply staring up at the building. It was bigger than she had imagined. Probably about fifteen stories. The overcast sky looming overhead made it seem even more intimidating. "Wow," she breathed.
Finally getting herself together, Rory made her way towards the front door, but was stopped by a security guard. "Pass," he demanded.
"Excuse me?"
"Miss," he addressed her in a charming British accent, "You need a pass to get into the building."
"But I…why?"
He looked at her strangely. "Company policy," he explained. Rory sized up the man. He was a tall, probably about 6'2", black man with eyes that reminded her of Logan's. Overall, he was handsome, but Rory wasn't focusing on that right now. Right now, he was standing between her and Logan.
"I'm Logan Huntzberger's girlfriend," she explained, as if that would cover everything.
"Of course you are," he said amusedly.
"No," Rory corrected him. "I'm Rory Gilmore."
"Tim Daniels, nice to meet you," he said with a grin.
Rory frowned. "I'll call him and tell him that I'm here myself," she announced, whipping out her cell phone.
"Tell him I say 'hello'."
Rory scowled at him and flipped open her phone. Turning it on, 'low battery' flashed on the screen before it turned itself off. "No," Rory groaned. She looked up at Tim again. "My uh, my phone's dead."
"Sorry to hear that, Ms. Gilmore," he told her plainly.
Rory sighed in frustration. "Look, can't you just…tell him that I'm here?"
He laughed at her. "You make it sound like Mr. Huntzberger and I are chums. No I can't tell him that you're here. If every person who asked that got their way, Mr. Huntzberger would never get out of work," he said, shaking his head.
"But I'm his girlfriend!"
"Yes, I'm aware of that, and I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you."
"Listen!" Rory yelled at him, narrowing her eyes. "I just spent the night at the airport, and caught a 7:00 AM flight here. Then I sat on a seven hour flight in coach. I'm tired, and I just spent my last bit of cash on a taxi! I have no money on me, my cell phone is dead, and now you're telling me I can't even see the person I did all of that for!"
"If you want, you can wait until Mr. Huntzberger leaves. I know for a fact that he's still in his office. Shouldn't be more than an hour." Tim's eyes sympathized with her, but there was simply nothing he could do.
Rory rubbed her temples and groaned. "Fine, I'll go sit next to that bird…statue thing," she said, waving her hand towards the statue that stood adjacent to the front door.
"It's a griffin," Time explained.
"Right." Rory walked over to the statue and slumped down onto the base of it. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. A passing breeze caused her to shiver. She was only wearing a short sleeved blouse and black dress slacks. Wrapping her hands around herself, she suddenly wished she had worn something warmer. She stared at Tim pleadingly, but the security guard did his best not to look at her. With a grunt, Rory turned her head to look around. Being the business district, there weren't many tourist attractions around, but the buildings themselves were pretty, and Rory enjoyed watching the cars drive on the wrong side of the road.
About ten minutes later, she felt a drop. Oh no. Turning her face up to the overcast sky, the heavens suddenly opened. Rory gasped, jumping up and running over towards Tim, who simply stood there as if it wasn't pouring rain.
"Tim!" She screamed, doing her best to be heard over the pounding of water. "It's raining!"
"Yes, Ms. Gilmore, I can see that!"
"Please, Tim, please!"
"I'm sorry!"
Rory yelled out in frustration before stubbornly walking back over to her griffin statue and plopping down again. Within minutes, she was soaked through and shivering. She glared at Tim.
A few minutes later, a black limousine pulled up in front of the building, and Rory's mind began turning. Then, as if on cue, the front doors opened and Logan walked out, holding a newspaper over his head to try and shield himself from the rain. Rory stood up and watched as he walked quickly towards the limo. He was almost there when Rory's vocal chords woke up. "Logan," she said, but he couldn't hear her over the still-pounding rain. "Logan!" Still nothing. "Logan!" That did it.
Logan stopped just as he was reaching for the door handle and looked behind him. His face turned quizzical upon seeing Rory. She stood there, soaking wet and shivering. "What are you doing here!" He yelled in order to be heard over the rain.
"I had to see you!"
"What!"
"I had to see you!" She yelled louder.
"You flew all the way here just to see me!"
Rory was suddenly tired of yelling over the rain. She had a better way of getting her point across. She ran toward him through the rain. Once to him, Rory stopped and looked into his eyes. Logan slowly lowered the newspaper from over his head, allowing himself to be pounded on by the rain as well.
Without another word, Rory wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss. Logan automatically encircled her waist with his arms and pulled her to him. The pounding rain fell on deaf ears as Rory lost herself in Logan. Finally, for the first time since he'd left that second time, she felt truly happy.
They pulled apart after a few moments and Logan gazed at her adoringly before his brows creased upon taking her in fully. "You're shivering," he told her.
"Yeah, well, I've been waiting for awhile," she explained, barely managing a smile as her teeth chattered.
"Come on," Logan said, ushering her into the car.
Before she got in, Rory glanced back at Tim who was still standing in front of the door. She smiled at him, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly in response. He gave her a wink.
Rory slid into the leather seat of the limo, quickly followed by Logan who shut the door behind them. The car immediately began to move.
"Ace," Logan said with a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Well," Rory began after her teeth stopped chattering, "After our fight last night, I felt really bad and I realized I was being irrational. So I tried to call you back, but you didn't pick up. Then I was going to see my mom, but I decided to see you instead. So," she sighed, "I drove to the airport, bought the last ticket on a 7:00 AM flight to London, spent the night at the airport, and now here I am."
Logan smirked at her story. "You're crazy," he observed, shaking his head.
"It's fun to be crazy. But, as I found out, it is not fun to spend the night at the airport. For future reference."
"I'll be sure to remember that. Now, are you okay? How long were you waiting outside?"
"Half an hour maybe," Rory told him. "Tim wouldn't let me in."
"Tim?"
"The security guard."
"Oh yeah, well it's company policy. Why didn't you just call me? I would have gotten you in."
"I was going to, but my phone died and I had no cash on me after the cab fare."
"Well that would explain it," Logan stated absentmindedly.
"Explain what?"
He chuckled. "I was trying to call you all day, but you didn't pick up at work and your cell phone kept going straight to voicemail. I thought you were ignoring me. Little did I know…"
"Ha! Hardly," Rory retorted.
They reached Logan's apartment about fifteen minutes later. It was still pouring rain as he guided her into the building and up the elevator to the top floor. "Wow," Rory murmured upon entering the penthouse. "This is really nice."
"Yeah," Logan agreed. "Come on, I'll get you some dry clothes." She followed him through the living room and down a wide hallway to the end door which led into the master bedroom. Logan walked over to his dresser and pulled out some sweatpants, a T-shirt, and an old Yale hoodie. "Here." He tossed them to her. "The bathroom's right behind you, there should be clean towels in there."
Rory caught the clothes and thanked him before turning around and walking into the bathroom. After locking the door, she placed his sweats by the sink and closed her eyes with a sigh. She was finally here with Logan.
Rory slowly dried herself off and slipped into the clothes Logan had given her. She tightened the cord around the waist of his sweatpants as tight as she could to make them stay. His clothes practically drowned her, but Rory didn't mind. They smelled like him and that soothed her. After pulling the sweatshirt over her head, Rory finished drying her hair until it was just damp and not dripping wet.
Rory opened the door, but found the bedroom empty. "Logan?" She called out.
"In the kitchen, Ace!" Rory smiled at that. She was glad that he was back to calling her Ace. She loved that nickname.
Rory followed the small of fresh coffee back down the hallway and into the kitchen. "Here you go," Logan offered her a big mug of coffee.
"Thank you," Rory said with a gracious smile, taking the mug and sipping the hot coffee. She walked into the living room and sat down on the leather couch. It reminded her of the one that was in Logan's old dorm at Yale. She glanced around the apartment. In true Huntzberger style, it was huge – even bigger than Logan and Rory's apartment back in New Haven.
Logan followed her into the living room and sat down next to her on the couch. Rory scooted closer and leaned against him. Logan responded by wrapping an arm around her shoulder and placing a kiss atop her damp hair.
"I missed you," Rory murmured.
"So I see," he replied with a grin. "I can't believe you flew all the way over here. And you spent the night at the airport?"
"And here I thought you would be happy to see me," Rory said with a melodramatic sigh.
"You know I'm happy to see you," Logan assured her with a smile, leaning in to kiss her. She pulled him closer, wanting to lose herself in him again. She missed that feeling. Rory stood, pulling Logan with her. She quickly pulled off his T-shirt, before replacing her lips on his. Rory began backing out of the living room into the hallway, all the while not putting any distance between herself and Logan. Getting the message, he gently lifted her off the ground, causing her to giggle as he carried her towards the bedroom.
-
Rory blinked her eyes open. Ouch. It was bright. She lifted her head off of Logan's chest and looked up to see him smiling at her. "Good morning," she greeted, sitting up to give him a quick kiss.
"Morning, Ace."
"What time is it, don't you have to go to work?"
"It's 8:30 and it's Saturday – I have the day off today," Logan explained.
"Oh."
"So I was just thinking, does anyone know you're here? You didn't just take off without telling anyone, did you?"
"Yeah, I called everyone that needed to know from the airport. Work's covered for the next few days – I just have to e-mail an article by tomorrow afternoon, and my mom knows where to reach me," Rory reassured him.
"Okay, good."
"Come on," Rory said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of bed. "We burned off a lot of calories last night and I don't know about you, but I'm starving." He followed her down the hallway into the kitchen.
"Sorry to let you down, Ace," but I barely have any food. "I don't do a lot of cooking here."
Rory turned around to face him and frowned. "Then what do you suppose we do? I really don't feel like going anywhere for breakfast."
"Me either," he agreed. "We can just order in."
"Order in breakfast? You can do that?"
"Of course."
"Whoa, I love this city."
Logan laughed and walked over to a corkboard he had on the wall. Scanning it, he finally found what he was looking for removed a piece of paper. "Here's the number of a place nearby that has every breakfast food you could ever imagine," he explained, handing it to her. "I'm going to go shower. Order anything you want."
"You do realize it's very dangerous telling a Gilmore that?" Rory asked, taking the piece of paper and eyeing him curiously.
"Yes, I'm well aware of the danger."
"Anything I want?" She checked.
"Go crazy," he urged with a smile.
"Oh, I will."
"Good." He kissed her before going to take a shower.
Rory smiled and walked over to the phone. Picking it up, she dialed the number. Someone picked up immediately. "Hi, I would like to order two stacks of six chocolate – chip pancakes, four blueberry waffles, two chocolate-chip muffins, two banana nut muffins, four large coffees, half a gallon of milk, six slices of French toast, four slices of regular toast, a dozen chocolate glazed donuts, a bowl of mixed fruit, and, oh, a lot of maple syrup, and some butter, too."
"Will that be all?" Asked the amazed person on the other line.
"Yeah, I think that's it."
"Do you have a tab here?"
"Umm, is there one under the name 'Huntzberger'?" Rory asked, unsure.
"Yes, there is. Your food should be there in about twenty minutes. Thank you for your order, Mrs. Huntzberger."
"Oh, I'm n…I mean…yes, thank you." Rory quickly hung up the phone as a smile came across her face. Mrs. Huntzberger…she liked the sound of that.
Logan walked into the living room just as two men were setting down all of the food Rory had ordered on the table. He smiled at all of the bags and Styrofoam containers. The amount of them didn't surprise him at all.
"Thank you," Rory said before closing the door and turning around to find Logan standing there, shaking his head. "You said 'Go crazy'," she reminded him, walking over to the table and taking a seat.
"I know," Logan confirmed, sitting down across from her.
"Coffee?" Rory asked, handing him a large cup.
-
"Full, Rory announced forty-five minutes later as she sat down next to Logan on the couch.
"Very full," he agreed.
"Like I might explode."
"If you do, explode over in that general direction," he said, pointing away from himself. "I just showered."
"I'll keep that in mind," Rory assured him. There was a moment of silence as Rory downed the last bit of her coffee. "So…"
"So?"
"I guess it's time we had the talk," Rory ventured uneasily.
"Ah yes, the dreaded talk."
Rory smiled and leaned back into the couch. "But no fighting this time. We're going to discuss this like the mature adults that we are."
"This coming from the girl that just ate six chocolate-chip pancakes, two blueberry waffles, three slices of French toast, a muffin, and what was it…three or four donuts?"
"Not the point, Huntzberger," Rory said with a shake of her head.
"Okay, not the point," he agreed, nodding. "The Los Angeles Times is the point, I'm guessing?"
"Wow, you're a quick one," Rory noted sarcastically.
"Alright," Logan said with a sigh, pulling Rory closer to him. "You want my advice?"
"I would love your advice," Rory confirmed.
"Okay. You're right, this is a big opportunity and deals like this don't come around very often. It's definitely something to consider." Logan held her gaze as he continued. "Look, I don't want to be selfish and say that you can't take this job because I would miss you too much. That would be way too hypocritical."
"This is true." Rory nodded.
"I think I need to talk to my father. Again. Last time I talked to him was somewhat blasé about the whole thing because I was angry. I think if I take a serious approach to the subject, he will, too," Logan explained. "Until then," he gave Rory's shoulder a poke, "I think you should still keep considering it. I mean, for all we know I might end up in L.A. as well."
"Now wouldn't that be convenient?" Rory asked, somewhat amused at the prospect of it.
"Way too convenient for the real world," Logan confirmed, smiling at her.
"But then there's the whole subject of my family, my friends, Stars Hollow," Rory went on. "I'm going to miss all of that, too."
"Well, that's something you can also take into consideration," Logan advised her. "I mean, getting a job at the L.A. Times is great and all, but what good is all that if you're miserable while you do it?"
"Yeah I guess…I guess I never really thought about it that way," Rory admitted, momentarily lost in the thought. After a moment she looked back up at him and smiled. "I love you."
Logan leaned down and kissed her deeply. "I love you, too," he murmured softly.
Rory snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his arms wrapped securely around her waist. She could feel his chest move up and down as he breathed, and the soft, rhythmic beating of his heart. For the first time in the past few days or weeks, she let go of everything. The fear of what was going to happen, or better yet, the fear of not knowing what was going to happen. She pushed all of those thoughts out of her mind and simply enjoyed right here and right now. She loved this feeling. She loved to be loved, and when it came thoughts like that, there was no indecision. Logan loved her, and she knew that. It was simple. The fact that she loved him was probably the simplest thing in her life right now. She didn't need to rethink it or re-examine it. And it made her happy. In the end, isn't that what everyone wants? Just to simply be loved. It was one of the simplest things in life, but the hardest to obtain. Rory had it now, though, and she wasn't willing to let it go. She would fight for it, and if that meant not taking the L.A. job, then so be it. She would take Logan's advice though; she would keep considering it.
-
"Ace? Ace, wake up." Logan gently shook Rory until her dreary eyes opened.
"Mmm?" She groaned, sitting up slightly and yawning.
"It's time to get up," Logan explained, getting off the bed and walking over to his dresser.
"What time is it?"
"Seven o'clock," he answered.
"What? Why are you waking me up at seven o'clock?" Rory demanded, glaring at him.
"Because last night you told me to wake you up at seven so you could finish your article and e-mail it in to Harry," Logan reminded her as he concentrated on tying his tie.
"Oh." With that, Rory pushed down the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "When do you leave?"
"In half an hour," he replied, reaching for his suit jacket. "There's coffee in the kitchen."
"Thank you," she mumbled, stumbling down the hallway and into the kitchen where she poured herself a steaming mug of coffee.
A few minutes later, Logan appeared. He was fully dressed in his suit and ready to face the day. "So I know this is last minute and all," he began, taking a seat across from her at the table, "But there's a charity event I have to go to tonight. It's black tie – the whole shebang. Do you want to go?"
"Anything to spend time with you," Rory agreed with a smile.
"I assure you, it will be boring. Lots of high-society people trying to make business deals with each other and talking about golf and polo," he assured her.
"I think I can handle it – I've had practice."
"We'll leave as early as we can."
"Logan, stop trying to convince me to go after I've already agreed to it – twice," Rory said in amusement.
"Alright, good." Logan smiled at her.
"I have nothing to wear though," she reminded him. "I mean, I know you think I look absolutely stunning in your sweatpants, but I'm not sure if these people will agree."
"Right, well, we will have to remedy that," he announced, standing up and pulling out his wallet. Removing his black card, he handed it to her. "Get whatever you need."
Rory stared at the card with wide eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Sure I'm sure," he told her with a shrug. "Now, I've got go get going. The event starts at seven o'clock, so a car will be here to pick you up a little after six thirty. I'll meet you there."
"Okay."
Logan rounded the table and placed two hands on her shoulders, bending down to give her a kiss goodbye. "I love you," he reminded her as he headed for the door.
Rory simply smiled as she repeated the three words and watched him go. She returned her gaze to the table and the American Express black card sitting before her. Now she couldn't wait to get her article out of the way.
-
"Okay," Rory announced as she got into the back seat of the limo. "Where is the best place in London to buy a dress?"
The driver simply stared at her in the rear-view mirror.
"Right," Rory stated in resignation. "You're a guy." She thought to herself before an idea popped into her head. "Oh! Can I go to Harrod's?"
The driver didn't answer, but instead began driving. Rory sat back and smiled. She opened the window and gazed out happily. Life was good right now.
-
Four hours later, Rory emerged from Harrod's. After finding the perfect dress, she also bought some every-day clothes. Unsure of how long she would remain in London, Rory figured it was best if she had normal clothing to wear also. She was currently adorned in the same clothes that she had arrived to London in. Thankfully, they had been washed since then.
The limo driver put her bags in the trunk, and Rory was about to get into the back seat again when something caught her eye. Starbucks. "Wait right here," Rory told him as she quickly headed towards the coffee shop. She'd only had three cups that day.
Walking in, she took in the heavenly scent and walked over to the counter. "I'll have a large coffee, please." The cashier rang up her order just as Rory realized something. She had no cash on her. Timidly, she pulled out Logan's card. "Do you take credit cards?"
-
A/N again: Rory will still be in London in the next chapter. I plan on writing the charity event, etc. I'm still not sure how long she's going to remain in London. And even though he's not really in this chapter, you have not seen the last of Chas Murdoch! Now review to all of your heart's content!
