Thanks for all of the people who reviewed, you guys are simply amazing!
Thanks to Lourenda, my beta for getting this chapter back so quick.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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Rory woke up and looked around not recognizing her surroundings. Slowly she sat up and saw Logan sleeping uncomfortably on a chair in the corner.
'It must be Logan's room.' She thought as a wave of nausea swept over her.
Quickly and quietly she got out of bed and tried to remember where Logan had told her the bathroom was located. 'Left or right…. I'm going to go left and pray to go that is where it is."
Rory found the bathroom just in time as she fell to he knees and emptied the contents of her stomach. Sitting back against the wall, she let her tears fall. She was never sick and when she was it was always just a cold. Why did it have to be so much worse this time?
There was a knock on the door but before she could respond it opened revealing a sleepy but still concerned Logan.
"Ace, you ok?"
"I don't feel good." She told him as she shivered slightly.
Logan sat on the floor next to her and pulled Rory into his arms, rubbing small circles on her back. "You've probably got the flu, it's been going around. My sister, Honor had it a few weeks ago."
"Does it last long?" She whimpered.
"Not too long, but still a lot longer than you want it to." He told her sympathetically.
"I'm never sick," She told him snuggling into his arms in hopes of becoming warmer, "And now I have the flu. This blows."
Logan shook his head, even when she was sick she was adorable. "Do you think you're done in here?"
Rory nodded and tried to stand up but her legs wouldn't allow it, she was too weak.
Logan saw her struggling and his heart sunk, he quickly gathered her into his arms and carried her back to his room.
"I can walk you know." She weakly argued.
"Rory, you can barely stand let alone walk."
Rory knew he was right and didn't have the energy to fight with him, so she snuggled into his arms and let him walk her back to bed.
"Do you need anything?" He asked after he tucked her into his bed.
"No."
"I'll be over here if you need me." Logan told her placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"No."
"No, what?"
"I want you here with me." Rory said quietly.
"Ace, you're sick. You need to have your space so you can get better, you don't need me crowding you."
"Logan, please." Rory said tiredly.
Without another word Logan quickly got under the covers of his bed and Rory instantly snuggled into his arms. He brushed the hair out of her face noticing that while her head was still burning Rory was shivering.
"Thanks." he heard her say in a small voice.
"For what?"
"For taking care of me, I haven't exactly been the nicest person lately."
Logan weighed his options on how he could respond to this; he decided to honestly tell her what he thought. Her fever was so high and she was on so much cold medicine - tomorrow she wouldn't even remember.
"It's no big deal; this is what you do for people you care about."
"You care about me?"
"Yes…a lot." Logan admitted for the first time not only to her but to himself.
"Good." Rory mumbled as she slowly drifted off to sleep "love you."
Logan's eyes widened in shocked 'Did she just say what I think she did? No, I probably misunderstood her.' He reasoned with himself. However, he couldn't help but feel a pang of hope in his heart that she had in fact said it.
'Why isn't this scaring me? Why don't I have the urge to get out of this bed and run to the nearest blonde?'
Just then Rory let out a whimper and repositioned herself in his arms. Her head was nuzzled into the crook of his neck as her body was curled into a ball next to him. 'That's why.' he thought smiling.
For Logan, 'love' and 'commitment' were two very big and very scary words that hadn't even been introduced into his vocabulary until he met Rory.
That day in the coffee line, getting lucky with the newspaper auction and even what happened between them at the LDB event was as if fate was telling him, 'Here is your one and only chance, don't fuck it up.'
But he would, he knew he would inevitably do something to fuck it up. According to his father that's all he ever did was mess up and screw around.
'I won't do that to Rory,' he told himself. 'I can't, she's given me so much without even realizing it.' Logan smiled as he thought back to the conversation he had with her at the LDB event.
"I can't think of an example right now, but you know how in movies and TV shows they cuddle? They have that moment where they both just lay tangled in each others arms and laugh when neither one of them know what to say?"
Rory nodded.
"Well that's what is supposed to happen, you're supposed to lay in each others arms
feeling safe and comfortable and awkward all at the same time. I've never done that step, I've always been too afraid."
"I am sure no one would laugh at you because you're a closet cuddler."
"It's not that. It's just I've never had enough feelings for a girl to have that moment…Until you."
Logan didn't say stuff like that, he wasn't ever so brutally honest with anyone and that included himself. But there was something about Rory Gilmore that made him feel like she actually wanted to know what he was thinking.
Deciding that the murmured 'Love you' was either misheard or a result of her being sick he shoved it into the back of his mind. There was no point on worrying about something that never happened. He wasn't in love with Rory, he knew that. He also knew that it was only a matter of time before he was.
He relaxed back into the pillows and tightened his grip around her waist before drifting off to sleep.
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One week later…
"Doyle! I still want to do the article!"
"I don't care, Gilmore. I already let someone else have it."
Rory was following Doyle around the newsroom and refused to stop until he gave her back her article.
"It was my assignment."
"Yes it was, but then you got sick and I gave it to someone else."
"I've seen the most recent issue of the YDN and there is no article about the Auction in there. Not to mention you had an article to replace the one I was supposed to do."
"Yeah, speaking of which, how the hell did you get Huntzberger to do that?" Doyle said turning to face her.
"I was sick and he offered."
"That doesn't sound like him. He's usually a 'if you don't have blonde hair, big boobs and a IQ below that of a girl' I won't do anything for you, kind of a guy." Doyle told her.
"Well, people change." Rory said shortly. She didn't like that Doyle thought so little of Logan.
"I see that and you were the one that changed him so you are officially dubbed the 'Miracle Worker,' but never the less I gave your article away, find a new one."
"No! It was my story, I want to write it. Please, Doyle. I'm begging. You have reduced me to begging, that should make you feel good about yourself."
"You're right, it does. I guess I can run them both side by side to show the different points of view." Doyle said pensively then sighed, "Fine, you can do the article."
Rory gave a squeal of excitement, "Thank you so much!"
"Yeah, Yeah. All I have to say is it better be proofed and on time!"
"I won't let you down, Chief."
"Chief…I like that."
Rory smiled, "I thought you would." And with that she was out of the newsroom on her way back to her dorm.
She had been feeling a lot better; she had caught a bug that only lasted about 48 hours. She didn't remember much about those days. She was pretty out of it, but she did know that of all people Logan had taken care of her.
She vaguely remembered him offering to send Doyle an article, there were a few fuzzy details about him convincing her to take a bath and even a hazy memory of him trying to calm her down and assure her that she'd be ok.
However, there was one thing that stood out clear as day. One moment she remembered as if she had been fully alert.
"It's no big deal; this is what you do for people you care about."
"You care about me?"
"Yes…a lot."
After that her memory went blank but those words seemed to stick. He cared about her; he cared about her … a lot. That fact was difficult for Rory to wrap her mind around.
From what she had heard Logan Huntzberger didn't care about anyone other than Logan Huntzberger, but it was getting harder and harder to believe that.
The LDB event he had been so sweet to her the first night and patient with her after she had her mini breakdown. Not even she could deny that she was falling fast and hard for Logan.
Her ringing cell phone brought her out of her thoughts "Hello?"
"Hey, Ace. How you feeling?"
Rory smiled at her phone, Logan had been calling at least twice a day just to ask how she was feeling "I'm fine, Logan, just like all the other times you've called."
"I'm just making sure. I don't like when you're sick."
"You're concern is appreciated." Rory told him. "How was class?"
"Tedious, dull, completely mind-numbing, I'm telling you it's a miracle that I am not in a boredom induced coma."
"What class were you in?"
"Media Studies."
Rory laughed, "You find media studies boring?
"Any place without you is boring."
"Aw, you are so…full of it." Rory laughed.
"It was worth a shot."
"I give you points for the effort." Rory smiled then she got an idea "Hey, umm…What are your plans for tonight?"
Truth be told, Logan hadn't had made evening plans since he had met Rory. "Nothing, Colin and Finn were probably going to try and convince me to go to the pub."
"Oh, well if you are up to it I was wondering if you'd want to…hang out?"
"Hang out?" He asked with a big grin, Rory was asking him out.
"Yeah, umm we could get something to eat…go to a movie, maybe we could watch one at my dorm…I…" Rory stumbled over her words. She had never been one to ask a guy out, so asking Logan was making her nervous.
"Ace, I'd love to," Logan cut her off.
Rory let out a sigh of relief, "Do you want to stay in or go out?"
"How about we stay in, I'll be at your dorm with Chinese and you can get the movies."
Rory smiled, he knew exactly what she wanted to do. "How's six sound?"
"Perfect, I'll see you then."
"Bye, Logan."
"Bye, Ror."
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It was six o'clock and Rory had just gotten out of the shower. Her mother had called prompting a thirty five minute phone call that Rory had not planned on.
There was a knock at the door and she knew it was Logan. Groaning she walked over and opened the door trying to act as normal as possible. "Hello."
"Hello."
"Come on in."
Logan walked into her dorm and set the food on the coffee table turning to say something to Rory he realized she was in a towel. "Nice outfit."
A pink blush appeared on Rory's face "Sorry, I lost track of time."
"Don't worry about it. You look adorable in your Mickey Mouse towel."
"I'm going to change. Make yourself comfortable." Rory said and walked into her room.
Logan was sitting on the sofa flipping through a magazine when he heard Rory call to him, "Do you care if I just put on some pajamas?"
"Nope." He called back.
Seconds later Rory waltzed out of her room in red flannel pajama pants and a white long sleeve t-shirt. "Good, cause I was going to do it anyways."
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Two hours later the Chinese food was almost gone along with the candy Rory had bought for the evening was practically finished.
"I don't feel well." Rory groaned.
"I am going to assume it was because you ate probably three bags of candy and more than half of the Chinese food by yourself."
"Shut up, Huntzberger. I have no self control when I am around food…It just sits there begging for me to eat it."
"If you use that logic for the rest of your life I will not be surprised if you end up to be 400 pounds." Logan teased.
"I have used that theory my whole life and is there anything wrong with me?" Rory asked half joking half serious.
"You're perfect." He told her sincerely.
Rory's heart melted and a blush crept onto her cheeks.
The next few minutes were silent until Logan excused himself to use the bathroom.
Rory was picking up some of the food containers and wrappers when the cell phone on the coffee table rang. It was dark and Rory had just gotten a new cell phone so the ringer was still on the factory setting. Assuming it was hers she picked up.
"Hello?"
"Oh, umm…I was calling Logan." the voice on the other end said.
Rory quickly looked at the phone to realize it was not hers "Uh, sorry. I picked up the wrong one."
"Whatever." The voice dismissed. "Can you just tell him Tracey called and that I am looking forward to our date tomorrow?"
Rory's heart shattered into a million pieces "Yeah, I'll do that."
"Great bye!" The voice said then a dial tone was heard.
'Why, why would he do this to me?' Rory thought as she sat on the couch and curled herself into a ball. 'Why would he take care of me when I was sick or say all that stuff at the event if he didn't mean them?'
Logan walked back into the living room, "What movie is next?"
Rory willed herself not to cry, "I think we should call it a night."
"Why? It's only 8:30."
"I'm tired and I've got to get up early tomorrow."
Logan looked at her carefully. "Alright," he said uneasily as he walked over to her. He went to place a kiss on her forehead, but she pulled away.
"I'll talk to you soon?"
"Yeah."
Logan was about to leave when Rory's voice stopped him, "By the way…Tracey said she can't wait for your date tomorrow."
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I meant to get this chapter out before I started school but it just wasn't working for me that is why you might have noticed this idea…Completely generic. No worries, I know where this is going. I am seeing about three or four more chapters to this story.
Reviews are always appreciated!