A Divine Accident

by HerHighMess

All his life he has been trying to find ways to escape his preordained destiny - unsuccessfully. And just as he started giving up hope he meets someone who introduces him to a life he never knew he wanted until he experienced it. A way of life that could set him free. [ROGAN]

5. An Unsung Tragedy

Chapter 4: An Unsung Tragedy of One L. E. Huntzberger

---

"Is everything ready for today?" Colin asked as he entered Logan's dorm and found him on the sofa reading the newspaper.

"Yeah, everything is ready, Col," Logan sighed as he folded the newspaper, "I talked to Seth earlier, he's already at the location and everything is going according to the plan. They have just assembled the scaffold and are doing the last tests for the jump."

Colin nodded, "And what about Reporter Girl?"

"I delivered the message to her yesterday, telling her to wait for us blindfolded today at 4pm in the vestibule at Branford."

"And you didn't tell her anything else?"

"Nope, I haven't seen her since the Pub."

"So how did you deliver the message then?"

"I taped it to her window and waited until she got back to her room to be sure that she saw it."

"You do realise that she is going to throw a fit when she finds out that we'll be staying there until tomorrow afternoon?"

Logan sighed again, "Yeah, but this way we get the upper hand at least for a bit."

"But she won't have the costumes for the event - it will go against the integrity of the event!" Colin exclaimed.

"I took care of that too," Logan rolled his eyes at his rapidly more annoying friend. Colin surely could be paranoid sometimes.

Colin eyed him suspiciously, "What do you mean you took care of it?"

"Like I said, I took care of it," Logan glared at him, "Why does it interest you that much?"

"You bought the dresses for her, didn't you?" Colin asked knowingly.

Logan lowered his head, really wishing he wasn't having this conversation right now, knowing that Colin would just be adding this to his and Finn's list of things to mock him about, "Maybe," he answered quietly.

Letting out a bark of laughter, Colin said, "I knew it!"

"Laugh it up, buddy, why are you making such a big deal out of this? I knew that she can't interfere with the integrity of the event and I took care of it. Don't read to much into this."

"Oh, this is just precious, I can't wait until I tell Finn about this!" Colin was still laughing, "So when are you going to ask her on the infamous date?"

Seeing as his next answer will probably trigger his friend even more, Logan groaned, "Actually, tonight."

"You are going to ask her tonight?"

"Yeah."

"But when will the date take place? Tomorrow when we get back?" Colin was confused by his friend's answer, "I mean, it can't be next weekend because you never ask any girl that much in advance…"

"No, the date will be tonight," Logan clarified the situation.

Colin stared incredulously at him, "You're seriously not thinking on having a date with her tonight at the event, are you?"

"Why not?"

"Why not?! Have you lost your mind? It has already been hard enough to win the Brigade over to let us bring her along and now you're going to flaunt her there in front of all of them? You do realise this has the potential to backfire monumentally?"

"I actually think it is the perfect solution. I will treat the whole event as the date and that way I'll get to spend even more time with her than I would on a regular date and maybe figure out some things about her. And I could also show her what the Brigade is about and maybe make her join," Logan stated confidently.

Colin rolled his eyes, "Even though I can understand some of your points and someone should definitely make her join the Brigade since she is a legacy, I still think this is going to backfire."

"Okay, and if it does, it will only have to do with me. It has nothing to do with you."

"Of course it has to do with me! Everything that has to do with you has to do with me! I'll have to clean up your mess!"

"Geez, Colin, get your ducks in a row! Nothing will go wrong. Just calm down and let me handle this, okay?" Logan stated calmly, "I know what I'm doing, don't worry about this. However, you can worry about Finn. It's already 2 PM and as far as I know he's still sleeping," he looked pointedly at him, "That means that you should wake him up soon so that we are on the road by 4 PM. He's the designated driver for today."

Colin groaned, "Trust me, I know. I have been preparing myself the whole day for the joys of waking Finn up," he glanced at his watch, "But you are right, I have to get going if we're going to make it on time. We'll pick you up on our way to the car and then we'll go to pick up Reporter Girl," he stated and left the room.

Logan watched his friend leave and sighed with relief because he decided not to pester him anymore. He has been doing that more than enough in the last couple of days. Contrary to his first thought about the Brigadiers being easy to sway about bringing Ace to the event - it appears that he was wrong. Terribly wrong. It hasn't been easy at all. They agreed momentarily to bringing her when they said she was a Gilmore. But everything went downhill when they said that she wanted to do an article about the Brigade. They also had to talk to Stephanie about being reckless and outing them but in the end it helped when all legacy members voted for bringing a reporter to the event. It took some arm-twisting with some members but they managed to get what they wanted.

He had also given a lot out thought about his date with Ace but ended up deciding to just turn her outing with the LDB as a date. That way he could keep an eye on her most of the time and he can show her what the Brigade is really about. He couldn't wait to see her in the dresses he picked up for her - one for tonight and one for tomorrow. He was slightly worried about not letting her know about the event being an overnight thing, but when the idea about having a day-long date with her popped up in his head, he let most of his worries go and started planning.

He was curious to see her mingle with the members - he wondered how she would act or would she even fit in the group. After all, she was raised outside of the Society and he still hasn't seen her in that environment - well, except with him and Colin and Finn. He was also excited to find out more about her and maybe finally figure out what was it about her that made her so intriguing. So alluring. Or why he was still hung up on her after a few weeks without even having slept with her! Or kissed her! That was the other thing - he was also secretly hoping that he was going to get to kiss those luscious lips of hers sometime today or tomorrow. Yes, these are going to be two very good days.

---

Groaning Finn with sunglasses on his nose and a stressed Colin picked him up a bit before 4pm and they were now in the car on their way to pick up Ace. "Park here, I'll be right back," Logan said and got out of the car to get to the Branford vestibule.

He saw her leaning on the vestibule wall, wearing a blindfold. He took a minute to appreciate her good looks. And boy, did she look good. She was wearing a tight grey turtleneck and figure hugging jeans. However, when his look reached her face, he could see a slight frown appearing just above the blindfold and a pout on her lips. Yeah, she wasn't happy with the blindfold situation. Bad luck, she'll have to deal with it.

Logan approached her and tugged gently on her forearm, a shot of electricity running yet again through him, just as it did the last time when he touched her in the library for the first time. Again - what the hell is that?! He got out of his moment of confusion and said, "Hey Ace, let's go," he pulled her with him and led her to the car but then he noticed people giving them strange looks - I mean really, what would a guy leading a blindfolded girl across the quad in the middle of the day could look like if not weird? So then he decided to take her hand in his and a new bolt ran through him but he also noticed how her hand fit perfectly into his.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when she spoke up, "Where are we going, Logan?" She asked with an irritated voice. Yeah, she definitely wasn't happy with this turn of events.

"You'll see, Ace, you're getting your article," he answered her just as they got to the car. He opened the doors to the back seat and he gently pushed her head so that she doesn't hit it while entering the car and then slid at the seat next to her. He leaned forward and said with a voice louder than usual, just because he knew that Finn was groggy, "Hit it!"

Finn groaned, "Argh! Not so loud!" He exclaimed and started up the car towards their destination.

Colin looked back from the front seat, "Is the blindfold secured?"

Logan answered annoyed by his friend's annoyingness, "Secure and in place."

"Our anonymity is crucial, Logan, crucial!" Colin stated and Finn groaned again - both at his annoying friend and the bright daylight.

"What's wrong with Finn?" Ace asked smugly. Argh! That little minx! Logan knew very well that she asked that on purpose, sensing that Colin was above paranoid about their anonymity.

"Good job with the blindfold, Logan," Colin sighed exasperatedly.

"I recognise your voices, Colin," she stated again. And there she goes again! Minx!

Finn asked desperately, "Could everyone keep it down, please?"

"Could we remove the blindfold now?" She turned slightly towards Logan, obviously directing the question to him.

Heh - no can do, "We are also hiding our destination," he answered with the same smugness she outed his friends' voices with just moments earlier.

"We had to leave at this ungodly hour," Finn complained again.

"It's 4 in the afternoon," she stated nonchalantly.

Logan rolled his eyes, "He's got a thing about the sun."

Finn piped in in acknowledgment, "It's too bright."

"So, how come you're not wearing your gorilla masks?" She asked again. Minx! Minx! Minx!

Yep, that triggered Colin yet again, "She can see," he stated panicky.

"I can tell because your voices aren't muffled," she explained her statement.

Logan decided that this was the perfect moment to let her know about the duration of their outing and also to get back at her a bit for asking all of those questions when she clearly sensed Colin's panic about the blindfold, "Oh, by the way, this thing's overnight," he said smirkingly.

"Overnight?!" She exclaimed.

"Didn't I mention that before?" He asked innocently.

"It must have slipped your mind," she answered bitterly. Yeah, she wasn't happy about this… Wonder why?

Well, only one way to find out, "This doesn't screw up anything for you, does it?" He asked even more innocently, trying to figure out why she was pissed.

"Actually, it does!" She hissed at him, "I have some important obligations and people who depend on me. I can't just breeze through life like you, you know?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked incredulously.

"Exactly what I've said - I have people who depend on me, I can't just drop everything out of the blue," she stated annoyingly at him again and started fidgeting in her seat.

What could be so important that she reacted like this? He shared a look with Colin whose look told him that he should have seen it coming but he just shrugged his shoulders, "What is so important that it can't be dropped for a day?" He asked carefully, not knowing what could get her pissed off like this.

She sighed and answered softly, "My baby sister."

And now he felt like a complete idiot. Shit.

But he didn't even know that she had a sister! He didn't find out about her when he researched her.

"You have to take care of your baby sister?" He asked looking for confirmation.

"Yeah," she sighed and started rummaging through her bag, "Look, I need to make a phone call. I won't say anything about the LDB, don't worry. But I need to make a phone call, is that okay?"

Colin turned in his seat and nodded at Logan, also confused by the situation. "Sure," Logan said, "Make the call."

"Thanks," she answered and got her phone from her bag. Speed-dialling number 2 on her phone, she brought it up to her ear and waited for the other side to pick up. "Hey, dad, it's me. How are you?"

Her dad?! He exchanged confused looks with Colin and then with Finn in the mirror. He also didn't find out anything about her father. He had just assumed that he wasn't in the picture. Interesting. He knew that he shouldn't be eavesdropping, but he wanted to know more.

"Well, that's good. I'm happy you're doing better," she said softly, "But listen, I called to tell you that I won't be able to make it until tomorrow morning but I'll for sure be there by tomorrow evening. I know it's last minute, but something came up for school and I can't get out of it. I hope that's okay," she explained the situation and nodded thoughtfully while listening to the other side, "Great, thanks! So, I'll be there tomorrow evening and I can stay until Wednesday morning. I have to get back to school then to hand in an article," she continued listening to her dad, "Cool, it's a deal then," she chuckled softly, "Now, how's Gigi? The little rascal's giving you a hard time again?" She asked knowingly and started laughing at something that he told her, "Oh, yeah, she's definitely my sister. What in the hell came up to you to feed her that gruesome stuff?!" She exclaimed half-jokingly and half-disbelievingly. "Sure I eat green foods," she frowned, "I share a particular love to green M&M's," she deadpanned.

Finn burst out laughing while Logan and Colin chuckled quietly at her last statement what made her aware that they were following her conversation with her dad. Logan noticed a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. So cute.

"Um, listen, I've gotta go but I'll see you tomorrow. Give Gigi a kiss from me. Love you, bye," she listened to the other side for a couple more moments and then ended the call. She frowned her forehead in thought and said to the boys, "I have one other call to make and then I'm done," she continued speed-dialling number 4 on her phone and waited for an answer which came moments after with a loud shriek that the boys could clearly hear, "What?!"

Rory winced at the loudness coming from her phone speaker and moved the phone away from her ear for a bit but then greeted the person on the other side of the line, "Well hello, Paris, aren't we chirpy today?" She asked with mock laced through her voice what made all of the boys snicker again. After listening to the other side for a bit, she obviously decided to cut to the chase, "Listen, Paris, I had to leave for a day and will be back sometime tomorrow," she was interrupted by Paris and started shaking her head, "Paris, listen to me - it doesn't matter where I am," she groaned at something, "I'm okay, nothing will happen to me," she scrunched up her nose towards Logan and he would bet all his money that she was glaring at him at that moment, "Just listen to me, please!" She exclaimed again, "Could you please pack me a bag for four days and put it in my car? I'm driving straight to Boston tomorrow when I get back to the campus, I don't have time to pack. Just pack some clothes for me and the books that are currently on my table, along with my laptop bag," she listened to the other side for a bit and nodded, "Thank you," she stated gratefully, "And also, could you please get rid of that monstrous printing press that is occupying half of our living room until I get back?" She asked pleadingly, "I hit my toes in it again last night when I was going to get some water and one of my bags is still stuck underneath it! Just move it somewhere else, please, we can't keep living like this!" Rory exclaimed even further and then groaned after some yelling was heard from the other side of the line, "Paris, I know that you are grieving but you need to move that thing someplace else, okay?" She asked softly, obviously trying to soothe her friend but then she suddenly cringed at something, "TMI, TMI, don't wanna know! How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not interested in the details of your kinky relationship with now passed professor? Just take care of that monstrosity! I'll be back on Wednesday, see you then. Call me if you need me, bye," she ended the call, put her phone back in her bag and put her head in her hands, breathing out loudly.

Finn groaned, "Love, that was definitely too much drama for this bright part of the day!" He exclaimed, "But I do have some questions after hearing this call."

"Me too, I don't even know where to start," Colin piped in amusedly. He was probably extremely relieved that she hasn't said to anybody where she was going.

Logan laughed loudly, "I must say I agree with them, Ace, you've said some pretty interesting stuff there," he stated as well, "But you do know that you're safe with us, right?" He asked more concernedly.

"Well, I'd surely hope so," she mumbled.

"You are, don't worry," he reassured her by gently touching her arm to let her know he was serious. She nodded at his statement and relaxed considerably but he kept his hand on her arm.

"Love, you really have nothing to worry about, you're just going to have the most fun you've ever had!" Finn exclaimed excitedly but then calmed down a bit to ask his next question, "So, now that that is out of the way, can I finally start with the questions before my head explodes?"

"Aren't I the one that should be asking you questions?" Rory asked amusedly.

"You can ask us questions at the event or on the drive back," Colin offered.

"So we are going to an event?" She asked curiously.

"Yes," Logan confirmed, "I sincerely advise you to let Finn ask his questions right now before he becomes all fidgety. You don't want fidgety Finn as a driver, trust me."

She groaned at his statement, "Sure, be my guest," she made a movement with her other arm to let them know they can start with questions.

"So could this Paris chic possibly be a redhead?" Of course that was Finn's first question which made all of them chuckle.

"No, she's not, Finny, sorry," Rory answered amusedly.

"Okay, I've got one," Colin cut in, "Why the hell do you have a printing press in your dorm? And how large could it be that it takes up your living room?"

Rory chuckled at his question, "As I've said, it's large. The sitting area became non-existent in the last couple of weeks."

"But why do you have it?" Finn repeated Colin's question.

"Ah, that's a long story. Paris inherited it from her former lover."

"What do you mean inherited?"

"Or former lover?"

"He passed away?"

Logan slowly started connecting the dots and remembered the poster for a wake that he had seen at the beginning of school year, "Wait!" He exclaimed, "You don't mean to tell us that she is the one that had the affair wit Professor Fleming?!"

She nodded cautiously, "Boy, you connected the dots much faster than I had thought you would."

"So it's true?" Colin asked with interest reeking from his voice.

"Yeah, but you haven't heard it from me," she nodded again.

"Geez! This is getting even better and better!" Finn was getting excited again, "And here I had thought we would have a boring drive to our destination…"

"If it makes you happy…" she shrugged.

"Ohhh, it does. Now tell me…" Finn continued asking her various questions about her phone call with Paris, while Colin and Logan piped in from time to time during the rest of their drive.

Logan was amazed at how well she fit within their group and how at ease she was with them. But he still couldn't wait for them to finally come to the event so that he could spend some alone time with her. He had some questions of his own.

---

Two hours later they arrived to their destination. Passing by a couple of cars, Finn parked at the spot nearest to the path leading to the tents and lunged out of the car, "This mountain air has revivified me!" He chuckled and sprinted towards the Brigadiers.

"Make sure he doesn't run off a cliff," Logan said to Colin as he was getting out of the car.

"How come it's my turn again?" Colin whined but followed Finn.

Logan lead Rory carefully out of the car and put his hand at the small of her back, "You okay?"

"I smell trees," she replied offhandedly.

He led her to the table with lanterns to pick up one, "Oh, nothing gets past you!" He mocked softly and continued leading her towards the clearing with the tents.

After a couple of minutes of walking down the path she spoke up again, "So, the firing squad is just up ahead?" She asked innocently but Logan could read annoyance with a bit of mocking in her voice.

He decided to follow her cue, "And there's a line… Damn…"

She was obviously annoyed by the situation, "Seriously, Logan, is the blindfold coming off or am I Patty Hearst-ing it the whole trip?" She asked with a small pout.

They just made their way to the clearing with the tents so he could make her wish come true and take her out of her misery, "It's coming off. It's coming off right now," he said and pulled the blindfold gently from her head.

It took her a few moments to get her eyes to refocus and he was looking at her intently, wanting to catch her reaction to what she was seeing. Her eyes sparkled in interest in amazement, "Oh my…" she said with wonder in her voice.

He kind of expected this type of a reaction from her but he didn't expect being so mesmerised by it. He had seen so many events like this before but now it was as if he was seeing it for the first time. Quickly, he shook his head and made his way in front of her towards her tent, "Is this what you expected?" He asked, trying to clear his mind a bit.

"No, not at all what I expected," she answered amusedly while following him among the tents.

"Let me guess what you were thinking…" he decided to have some fun with her, "Sleeping bags, flashlights, keg, three boxes of stale Triscuits, half eaten bag of Oreos, some Doritos and a bong," he deadpanned, making sure to look mockingly at her at the end of his rant.

She chuckled slightly and nodded mockingly, "That might be exactly what I pictured."

"You can apologise later," he chuckled as she continued with his play and made his way towards her tent, pointing at it, "This is yours," he led her to her tent and lifted up the flap so that she could enter.

"Mine?" She asked with a small frown. What did she think that she'd have to sleep outside? Of course they took care of her accommodation as well. Weird girl.

He nodded, "Not much closet space but the view is decent," he added jokingly as she entered the tent.

"It's cozy." Yeah, he thought to himself, it is. Especially now when he was seeing her in that small space, under the candlelight, her scent enveloping him.

Logan took a deep breath to gather himself, "Festivities start in half an hour," he informed her and pointed to the two boxes that he put on a small chair in the tent, "The top one is for tonight, the bottom one for tomorrow. You should start getting ready, we have a date to go to," he added amusedly at the end, waiting for her reaction.

"What?!" She stunned around and glared at him. Yep, she did not see that one coming, did she? Too bad.

He grinned wickedly at her, "Tick-tock, Ace, you wouldn't want to be late, would you?" He asked her with a chuckle and exited her tent, making his way to the catering team. He had to make sure to separate some food for the two of them before Finn puts too much salt in everything.

After taking care of the food, he made his way towards his tent to get himself ready for the evening as well. The theme of tonight's event was the turn of the century so he will be wearing a cream safari-style suit from that era. The dress that he got for Ace was also cream coloured and he couldn't wait to see her in it. He got ready and quickly made his way to her tent and sat on a chair outside of it to wait for her to come out.

While he was observing most of the Brigadiers who have already gathered in the middle of the tents, he heard some rustling coming from her tent and moved his gaze in that direction just as she got out.

Sweet Jesus.

He couldn't stop his eyes from flying over her body and that dress. He had always had an eye for dress sizes, but not even he could imagine this dress fitting her so perfectly. It had a half-high neck in intricate cream lace that spread down in a V-shape over her chest, fastened by many tiny buttons. A Basque waist perfectly hugging her slender figure and silk spreading to the floor in an A-line, moving slowly as she did. Cap sleeves spreading gently over her shoulders, making her beautiful creamy arms even more enhanced.

His eyes finally landed on her face and he saw that she put her hair in an half-up way, her fringe still tousled across her forehead, framing her beautiful face just perfectly. He gulped visibly, trying to gather himself again.

What was this girl doing to him? She was practically fully dressed and she still managed to do this to him! He felt a certain lower region of his body twitch at the sight of her and he got even more confused as well as uncomfortable.

I mean, seriously?! This never happens!

She caught him gazing over her and blushed slightly which didn't go pass Logan and made his lower region even more excited at the prospect of her reacting like this to him. Fortunately, his jacket was long enough to hide what was happening in his pants so, taking another deep breath to calm himself, he got up and said with a smirk on his face, trying to make the situation less uncomfortable, "Yeah, I've got an eye for dress sizes."

Rory rolled his eyes at his comment, "So this was your doing then?" She asked surprised, probably not expecting him to be the one to take care of her costumes for the event.

"Well, I had to take care of my date, hadn't I?"

"About that - when did we agree on a date tonight? I have to work, you know?" She frowned.

It was then that he noticed a small notebook, pen and a camera in her hand. He shook his head slightly - he should have seen this coming, "And you will work. You will get everything that you need and while you're not working we'll be on a date. I hope that you realise that I will treat the whole time of this outing as our date, don't you?" He asked her with an amusing smirk.

She scoffed and then glared at him, "You're crazy."

"Glad you're finally catching up!" He exclaimed cheerily, "However, I think it's the time to let you in on the other conditions of you being here."

"Okay…" she stated suspiciously and narrowed her eyes at him.

He snatched the camera from her hand and waved it in front of her before putting it in his jacket pocket, "First, no pictures."

"Hey!" She exclaimed, pointing at the camera.

"You'll get it back at the end of the trip," he stated offhandedly, "Second: no names," he reminded her again.

"Geez, we agreed on that one already, don't worry," she rolled her eyes at him again.

"And I'm just reminding you. Better safe than sorry. Which leads me to the third: no physical descriptions of any of us," he stated pointedly, "There are authority figures up and down Connecticut trying to nab us for things we may have done in the past. Naughty things," he scrunched his face to let her know he was serious about those things but won't be explaining them to her.

"I'll keep you anonymous," she answered softly. Good girl.

"What number was I on?" He lost his train of thought by gazing in her deep cerulean eyes.

"You just did third," she deadpanned.

He nodded in recognition, "Fourth: no identification on our location."

She spread her hands in exasperation and answered in a slightly high-pitched voice, "I don't know where we are!"

"Fifth," he continued smiling at her before she interrupted him.

"You're going to run out of ifth's," she added joyfully.

He chuckled at her comment, "Most important condition of all: you must agree not to interfere with the integrity of the event," he stated firmly and looked deeply in her eyes.

"What is the event," she asked with a disbelieving smile on her face, "And how can I interfere?"

Logan laughed at her persistence, "So you agree?" He searched for confirmation.

She lowered her look and relented, "Yes, I agree."

"Great," he nodded in satisfaction, trusting her to follow the rules, "Your two hours for research start now and then it's time for our date. I'll come find you when the time is up."

Rory glared at him again, "You do know that I don't appreciate being cornered like this, don't you?"

He laughed loudly, "That's just the cherry on top of this plan of mine," he winked at her, "I had to show you somehow that I'm still the Master in this game," he leaned towards her, "Enjoy your research, Ace, I'll come and get you soon." With that he spun around on his heels and made his way across the clearing to Colin and Finn, desperately hoping that the walk and fresh night air will free him of the unexpected situation happening in his pants. Geez.

---

During the past 2 hours, Logan has kept his eye on Rory almost the whole time. However, his reasons came with a bit of confusion to him. Sure, he had to keep an eye on her to see whether she'll respect the conditions of her being here, but he quickly noticed a lot of the male population of Brigadiers hitting on her and that somehow didn't sit well with him. He was well aware that she looked stunning in the dress he had picked out for her, but it didn't mean that they all had to hit on her! He would have liked nothing more than to follow her around as she did her interviews and glare off all the guys that dared to hit on her or ravish her with their looks but he couldn't do that out of multiple reasons. First, he was absolutely positive that she wouldn't appreciate that kind of behaviour. Second, and more important, that kind of behaviour didn't go along his reputation! So yeah, he was confused, never having felt like this before.

Closing in on the time he had given her for her article this evening, he slowly made his way towards her, finding her in a secluded part of the forest just out of the clearing where the rest of the Brigadiers were partying well into the night. He approached her with a lantern in his hand and observed her as she was going through her notes - gently biting on her lower lip, deep in her thoughts. What he would give to kiss those luscious lips! She looked absolutely mesmerising at that moment and he had to get himself out of his stupor (again - why has that been happening so often since he had met her?!) to approach her and get them started on their date.

"The word was that a bear dragged you off," he tried to joke while he approached her and put a lantern on the stone next to her.

She looked up at him, startled, and focused, "No bear. I just wanted a quiet place to collect my thoughts."

"You found it," he stated softly and sat next to her on a tree trunk, "So, are you getting some scoop from the group?"

"Yeah, not as much as I had hoped to but I have already filled out two notebooks," Rory answered proudly.

"Sorry," he offered, "But it took a bit of arm-twisting to get you to come in the first place. At least as a reporter."

"Don't worry, I have collected enough even without their cooperation. And there is still tomorrow for collecting some infos," she looked pointedly at him, "But I could use some of your cooperation, you know?"

Logan smirked at her, "You would, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah…" she said before continuing, "I mean, this is pretty incredible, but it's just a preamble to the big stunt tomorrow, right?" She looked at him for an answer but he only smiled softly at her, amazed at her curiosity, "How do you pay for this? Are there dues, or do you chip in or is there an Alumni that's sponsoring it? How is it organised? And what is happening tomorrow? Is it just as big or bigger? And do people know that you're here? Park Rangers? Or the landowner? Where are we? Are we still in Connecticut?" She fired her questions all at once and then looked at him for some clarification, slightly out of breath.

Logan laughed softly at her ability to talk a thousand words a minute, "Geez, Ace, let a man breathe!"

She blushed slightly at his comment and looked the other way, "I'm sorry, I talk a mile a minute when I'm curious or excited."

"I see that, Ace, that was quite a rant," he smirked at her.

"Well? Do you have some answers for me?"

"Yeah," he stated and she immediately took the pen in her hand, ready to make notes, "But not now. As far as I remember, your time as an investigative journalist is over for the night which means that the time has come for our date to commence. Am I right?"

Rory frowned at the fact that she won't be getting her answers as soon as she'd like, "So when do I get my answers?" She asked but then glared again at him, "But you know, I'm still not happy about a date being thrown on me like this, out of the blue?"

Yeah, he knew that… That's why it was even more fun to do it now, "Come on, can you show just a little bit of enthusiasm about a date with a charming guy like myself? Why do you need to wound me?" He put his hands over his heart in a mocking way.

She chuckled at his act, "Why do you have to do everything out of the blue?"

"It keeps life interesting," he shrugged.

"Well, not for me! I have to plan in advance!" She exclaimed but with a smile on her face, "You're throwing me off kilter a lot lately, you know that? I'm one surprise from you away from being afraid of my own shadow!" She mocked him.

Yeah, my sentiments exactly - he thought to himself, even though he was aware that she was mocking him. But he would never admit to her that she was slowly starting to throw him off kilter as well.

"Oh really?" He smirked, "I guess I have to step up my game then."

Rory groaned at his statement, "Please don't."

"Okay, enough of this, we have a dinner to get to," he patted her knee and got up, stretching out his hand to her to help her get up.

"Dinner?" She asked excitedly with sparks in her eyes. Hm… interesting reaction.

When she took his hand and got up, he extracted his hand and put it on the small of her back, picked up the lantern that he had brought with himself earlier and led her to the table in front of his tent. He had purposefully taken the tent that was fairly close to hers - just in case - but still out of direct sight from where the group would be partying. He wanted them to have some privacy.

"Yeah, and you should be grateful that you are on a date with such a gentleman, as I have separated our meals from the rest of the food before Finn managed to get to it and salted it too much," at her weird look he offered an explanation, "He's Australian, they have a thing about salt…"

"Okaaaay," she accepted his explanation and sat on a chair that he had pulled out for her. He helped her get situated and then sat himself, after he lifted the dome that was covering their food in the middle of the table.

Her eyes sparkled again at the sight of food and he was amused by that revelation. He wasn't used to girls who ate. Most of the girls he took out ate barely three leafs of salad in one dinner, but something told him that Ace wasn't like that.

He poured the red wine into their glasses and lifted his to cheer, "Let the date commence!"

She smiled softly and nodded, cheering with him. They started eating and talking about what she had found out from the group and what she thought of the Brigade so far.

After a while he sat mesmerised at her eating. She was eating as she was worshipping each bite, moaning silently at some points. What freaked him out was that again a certain lower region of his body decided to react to the sounds she was producing while she was eating. What is happening with me?! He thought that he was behaving like some teenage boy who is in the company of a pretty girl for the first time!

Catching his gaze on her, she blushed and asked, "What?"

"Nothing," he shook his head softly, "I just… I have never seen a girl eat like this before. Honestly, I'm not sure I have ever seen anybody eat like this before."

Rory blushed even more and looked down at her lap, as if she was embarrassed, "Sorry…" she muttered quietly.

Oh shit, she understood it wrongly! He stretched his arm across the small table and put a finger beneath her chin, lifting it slowly up so that she could look at him, he said softly, "Hey, nothing to be sorry about. Or embarrassed. It was actually a compliment. It is nice to dine with someone who enjoys their food, very refreshing."

As he removed his finger from her chin and picked up his fork again, she smiled with one of those thousand-watt smiles at him, "Thank you."

"Anytime," he answered sincerely, and feeling that this moment got a bit too much, decided to change to some easier topic, so he looked at her plate, "But I see that you're not a fan of vegetables, aren't you?" Then he remembered her phone call from the car, "Now I understand what you said about green M&M's back in the car."

She laughed loudly, "You all really are quite the little eavesdroppers, aren't you?" She shot him an amused look, "But yeah, I don't eat much of the so-called healthy food if it's not absolutely necessary," then she looked slightly accusingly at him, "Please don't tell me that you're one of those health freaks who lives off celery juice and always eats a perfectly balanced meals?!"

Now it was on him to lough loudly, "No, I'm not. Even though it appears that I definitely eat more healthily than you, I'm not a health freak per se."

"Whew, that was close," she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand mockingly.

Chuckling softly at her reaction, he had to ask, "So, why don't you eat healthy foods?"

"It's just a Gilmore way," she shrugged, "I honestly don't know if we have ever had any piece of fruit in our house, to be honest. Well, except if Luke brought something…"

Luke? Was he her boyfriend? She didn't give out the vibe that she had a boyfriend, but he had to make sure because there was a weird knot forming in the pit of his stomach, "Luke?"

"My mum's boyfriend," she nodded as it was self-explanatory, "Well, actually, he has been her boyfriend since just recently but they have been dancing around it since I can't even remember when. But he was like a father to me while I was growing up."

He had to admit that he was relieved by this Luke guy not being her boyfriend and the knot in his stomach disappeared slowly but he still felt the sensation that it had left there. What was that feeling? However, he had some other questions he wanted clarified now, "But what about your real father? Didn't you talk to him today in the car?"

Rory shook her head as if she was trying to decide to tell him something or not but then nodded, "Yeah, I was talking to my dad."

"But what do you mean then that this Luke guy was like your father while you were growing up?"

"Well, my dad was almost never around when I was little. He went to college and then moved to California where he started his company. He moved back to the East Coast only a few years ago - to Boston, but our relationship got extremely better in the last year or so."

"So you basically didn't know him until recently?"

"No, I knew him. He always made a point to call me once a week but we were never close. Then he got another daughter almost two years ago and since then our relationship has been progressing immensely."

"I see… Do you see him often now that he's in Boston?"

She nodded, a smile forming on her face, "Yes, especially in the last couple of months."

"Why only in the last couple of months?"

"Geez, what is this - an inquisition?" She joked.

He chuckled at her joke, "Sorry, no, but I'm just interested."

Rory looked thoughtfully at him for a moment and then continued, "Sherry, the woman with whom he had my baby sister left them recently to go chase her career in Paris. So my dad became a single parent and he needs help sometimes."

"She just left? Just like that?" He asked in shock.

"Yeah, pretty much. Packed her bags, left a note and boarded the plane to Paris."

"Wow."

She shrugged, "Tell me all about it…"

"So you have been taking care of your sister? I mean, don't get me wrong, but how and when do you manage it?"

"That's a question I ask myself sometimes as well," she chuckled, "But I guess I have to. That's what family is for, right? I always wished I had siblings when I was younger and now I have one and her mother left her out of the blue and I want her to have a family. Besides, I like spending time with them."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His family was nothing like that. Actually, he couldn't remember any family from High Society that was remotely like that. But then again - she wasn't really from High Society, at least judging by the way she had been raised. Of course he had his sister and they had been extremely close while growing up, but he had never encountered any situation like this. Nevertheless, there was still something that was bothering him, "But your dad left you as well?"

She winced at his question and he regretted it immediately, beating himself up for making her remember something that she might not consider as a happy memory. Shaking her head slowly, she answered softly, "It's a lot more complicated than that."

Logan frowned at her answer but saw that she was uncomfortable with this course of conversation, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to bring up and unhappy memories."

"They are not unhappy in themselves, it's just complicated," she shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her drink. Looking thoughtfully at him again, she asked, "Do you have any siblings?"

Glad that she had changed the subject, he nodded with a smile on his face, "Yeah, Honor, she's my big sister."

"That must be nice," she smiled softly, "Are you two close?"

He nodded again, "Yes, we're close. We used to be very close when we were kids but now we don't see each other that much anymore. We still talk regularly over the phone."

"Why don't you see each other?"

"Well, I'm here and she's living and working in New York. And we're both grown up now and don't need to protect each other that much from our wonderful parents," he answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice at his last statement.

"You don't get along with your parents?" She asked confusedly.

"No."

"Why not?"

"They are not my parents in the true definition of the word. They are just people who needed me to prolong the family name and take over the company when the time comes," he stated bitterly. He wasn't glad that the conversation was now steered in this direction but, at the same time, he was slightly surprised with himself opening up to her about this. There was something about her that made him talk. That made him talk about things he never talked about. But the thing is - he would really not like to talk about his family.

"I'm sorry," she looked at him with understanding in her eyes and put her hand on his which was on the table. He was surprised that he wasn't seeing any pity or sympathy in her eyes, only pure and honest understanding. How could she be that way?

Logan smiled softly and looked at their hands, he turned his hand upside down and gently grabbed her hand, trying to let her know that it really was okay, "Nothing to be sorry about," his voice a bit hoarse by not being used to these situations. She smiled softly at him.

Thankfully, at that very moment the rest of the Brigade broke out in a song not far away from them. When Logan recognised the song as "As Time Goes By", he instantly knew that Finn was behind that. Rory diverted her gaze towards where the song was coming from and smiled, "It's pretty," she stated with a soft voice.

"It's drunk," Logan stated, knowing that it was orchestrated by Finn and just because of that it had to be drunk.

"Well, it sounds pretty. I like it," she repeated her statement.

He chuckled, "I didn't sad I didn't like it," he winked at her.

"It makes ma want to watch 'Casablanca' again," her eyes sparkled at the mention of the movie.

Noticing the sparkle in her eyes, he had to ask, "I gather that you've seen it multiple times already, haven't you?"

She eyes him suspiciously, "How do you gather that?"

"Your eyes sparkled beautifully when you mentioned it," he said softly, observing the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"I may know it by heart…" she answered offhandedly, trying to avert his gaze.

Logan chuckled lightly at her admission, "And why is that?"

She retracted her hand gently from his grip and took a sip of her wine, "I can't ever get enough of it. There is just something about it. Every time I watch it again, I notice something new," she said wistfully and got lost in her thoughts, her eyes landing again on the group singing the song. Logan looked at her, again completely overtaken by her until she turned her head towards him again and looked him straight in the eyes, "Have you seen it?"

When he nodded in affirmative, she continued, looking back at the group which was now slowly finishing the song, "I like to call it an unsung tragedy, you know?" He shot her a confused look, as if trying to get an explanation. She chuckled at that, "It's a story about two lovers who are obviously the loves of each other's lives and they meet again at a totally unexpected place after a few years and the fact that they had thought they would never meet again. One would think that they would rekindle their relationship now when they're both finally at the same place and at the same time but the sequence of events tears them apart again. And Rick - out of love for her and in the name of the greater good - lets her go. He actually makes her go with Victor and he knows it's the right decision, even though it means he won't ever be able to live his life as happily as he could if he would be with her," she looked back at Logan, "And that is what I like to call an unsung tragedy - because no one talks about that. Everybody talks about what he did and how magnificent it was, but no one talks about the aftermath."

Logan studied her for a bit while pondering what she had said. He had never thought about it that way. He had never thought about the aftermath which she mentioned. But the thing is - he wasn't familiar with those feelings, so he never had to think that way. Sure, he loved his sister in a brotherly way, as well as Finn and Colin, but he didn't know what love was, or what it could be. It was a completely unfamiliar feeling for him and, if somebody would ask him to describe love - unfortunately, he wouldn't know how to describe it.

If he were honest with himself, he had resigned himself from ever even getting a chance to love - it just wasn't in the cards for the Huntzberger Heir. Nor love, nor happiness. He made his peace with it a long time ago. Surely, he found himself trying to solve the mysteries behind such feelings sometimes when he came across them in literature, but it was always sort of superficial. He never let himself think deeper about those things because he was afraid that it would just make him hope again that he could escape the date with his destiny. And hope was the last feeling he allowed himself to have. Nothing good ever came from hope in his case.

He spent his life running away from anything connected to his destiny, but somehow he always got pulled back. Now, he lives his life to the fullest, trying to experience as much as he can in the little time he has left.

Seeing a hand being waved in front of his face, he refocused on the beautiful sapphire-eyed girl sitting across from him. She grinned at him, "Did I bum you out now?"

Clearing his throat, he answered, "You make a mean point, Ace. I have never thought about it that way."

"Glad to have broadened your horizons, then," she grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

Deciding to end this conversation because he was painfully aware that he had nothing to contribute to it, he stood up and extended his hand towards her, "Would you like to dance?"

Rory was slightly shocked at his sudden movement, but after recovering quickly, she chuckled, "If you insist," she put her hand in his and stood up, "But I should warn you - I'm not much of a dancer."

"I'll believe that when I see it," he said with a slight chuckle and led her to the dance floor among the other Brigadiers.

"Oh, trust me, your feet won't be thankful for your unconditional faith in my dancing skills."

"Just relax and let me lead," he said and pulled her to him, putting his other hand around her waist on her back. He pulled their still entwined hands to his chest and started swaying softly with her in his arms.

It took her a couple of minutes and gentle coaxing from him to relax and let him lead but when she did, he took up some more intricate moves and moved them flawlessly through around the dance floor.

Since the moment he had pulled her into his arms, there was this tingling sensation gliding through his body and he marvelled at how perfectly she fit into his arms. They kept the eye contact during their whole time dancing, both completely lost in each other.

After some time, and him completely unaware of how much time exactly, the noise started slowly dying down and then also the music. Noticing the silence that had spread around them, he slowly ended their dance and tore his eyes from hers. Looking around the clearing, he noticed that they were the only ones that were still outside their tents.

She looked around as well, obviously noticing the same thing he did what made her blush profusely and lower her gaze to the floor. He chuckled softly at her reaction and untwined their hands but still kept his other hand at the small of her back, "Come on, let's get to our tents, we have an early morning tomorrow."

Rory looked at him with slightly blurred eyes and nodded, following him towards her tent. He stopped in front of her tent and gently removing his hand from her back stood in front of her, "So, what do you say, Ace?" He smirked at her, "Was it as bad as you had imagined?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "It was actually very nice, thank you."

Doing a little happy dance in his head, he smirked even more, "Told you it would be the date of your lifetime."

"Geez, don't let it get into your head, Huntzberger," she scoffed, "And who said anything about a date of a lifetime?"

He put his hand on his heart in a mocking way, "And here you go and wound me again, Ace."

"You'll survive," she deadpanned.

Logan smiled softly at her and while he wanted to kiss her properly goodnight more than anything, he decided against it - feeling that she wouldn't appreciate it so soon, and leaned towards her - brushing his lips softly against her cheek, "Good night, Ace," he whispered softly and backed away again.

He saw the blush on her cheeks and a smile forming on her lips, as her eyes were still a bit unfocused, "Good night, Logan," she whispered as well and entered her tent.

Making his way towards his tent, he was still doing little happy dances in his head. But he was also still feeling the softness of her cheek on his lips and that beautiful scent of hers. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and go back with her into her tent but he knew that he would have to wait a bit more for that.

For that very reason, he had to make sure that the rest of their date tomorrow goes even more perfectly so that he could ask her out again sometime soon and maybe even steal a kiss that he so much craved.

Getting ready for bed, he laid in his cot, his head overflown with various thoughts and mysteries that this one night with the girl with the sapphire eyes had awoken in him. Trying to let go of his thoughts, he slowly drifted off to the land of the dreams.

---

Waking up in a haze, Logan tried to focus on his surroundings. To say that he hadn't slept well last night would be the understatement of the century. He was tossing and turning all night, somewhere between peaceful slumber and roaring thoughts about his date with Rory, which resulted in him being very non-rested right now. And on top of it all - when he had finally managed to fall asleep, she creeped her way into his dreams as well! Needless to say, her being in his dreams ended up with them being very naughty dreams. Again - he was feeling like a horny teenager. What was this girl doing to him?!

He got out of his cot with a groan, freshened himself up and got dressed in a tuxedo for the day before them. Trying to clear his thoughts just a little bit, he made his way across the clearing with the tents to another clearing where today's events will take place. Being in charge of this year's annual gathering meant that everything must go perfectly. They have given this event a lot of thought and were eager to make it a memorable one.

Approaching the seven-stories scaffold built for today's jump, he saw Colin discussing something with Seth - the guy responsible for all of their stunts. Making his way to them, he greeted them, "Good morning, men, how are you this fine day?"

Colin shot him an amused look, "Better question is how are you this fine day?"

Seth snickered at Colin's remark, "Hi, Logan. We were just discussing the schedule of events today. Everything is done and prepared as planned."

"Great, thank you, Seth," Logan nodded appreciatively and shot Colin an annoyed look because he was still grinning at him.

"No problem," Seth waved it off with his hand, "I'm going to get some breakfast before the festivities begin. See ya later, boys," he said and made his way towards the tents.

"Soooo," Colin looked at Logan, "You've got anything to report, mate?" He asked him with a grin on his face.

Logan rolled his eyes at his friend, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Of course he knew what his friend was talking about but judging by his grin and teasing, he was not in the mood for discussing Ace with him now. Or anytime soon for that matter.

"Sure you don't," Colin eyed him suspiciously until a wicked gleam appeared in his eyes, "You sure you have no idea what I'm talking about?" At Logan's nod (desperately hoping that his friend will just let it go), he grinned even more wickedly and continued, "Well, let me refresh your memory then, huh? I'm talking about a certain brunette reporter with baby blue eyes who just happened to be on a so-called date with you last night, here at the LDB event. I'm talking about the fact that even though you have given her two hours to do her research before the date, you kept your eyes on her like a hawk, scowling anytime any male Brigadier approached her. During those two hours you, of course, didn't pay any attention to anything else, not even any other ladies that were here at this fine event," he looked at Logan with a frown on his forehead to what Logan just shrugged, "I'm talking about the fact that you had a date with the said reporter not so far away from the group, but still in a fairly secluded space, so that Finn and I had to run interference half of the night just not to let anyone disturb you. I'm talking about the fact that then you took the Reporter Girl to the dance floor and danced with her for almost two hours, never removing your gaze from hers, so much that you didn't even mention that the music had stopped and the others had cleared out for the night," Colin chuckled lightly, "I mean, Finn and I were watching you at the end, not believing what we were seeing!" He exclaimed, "Now, do you have anything to say about that?"

"I don't know what you want me to say, Colin," Logan sighed

"You don't have to say anything, what we've seen is enough. However, we would like to know what is going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

Colin laughed loudly, "Jesus, are you really that oblivious? You must admit that this is not your usual MO."

"So what if it's not?"

"Nothing, nothing…" Colin retracted his grin and immediately got more serious, "I just wanted to ask you what you are doing."

Logan combed his hand through his hair, "I'm not doing anything, Colin, I just had a date with an interesting girl. That's it."

"Well, that one is obvious," Colin rolled his eyes, "But I was just wondering if you were aware that she is not the type of a girl you usually associate with?"

"Of course I know that," Logan scoffed, "Where are you going with this?" He eyed his friend suspiciously.

Colin sighed at his friend, "Logan, don't give me that attitude, I'm just trying to help you to see reason."

"Reason?"

"Yes, reason," he sighed again, "Look, what I'm trying to say is that she is different. You can't play with her, you know that, right?"

Logan sighed, "Yeah, I know that. But I still don't get what it has to do with you."

"It has nothing to do with me!" Colin exclaimed exasperatedly, "I'm just trying to help you see that she is not the type of girl you usually go out with."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan asked harshly.

"Hey," Colin held up his hands, "No need to bark at me. What I wanted to say is that it may be good for you to take a step back from her and cool off for a bit - clear your mind. Because I think that if this progresses any further, she won't be wanting the same thing you will. Even you have to be aware of that."

"And you think you know what she would want?"

"Yeah - a relationship. An exclusive relationship," Colin stated firmly, waiting for his friend's reaction.

Logan gulped loudly, having slight problems breathing now that he had finally heard what Colin was trying to tell him. Sure, somewhere deep down he was aware of the fact. He was aware of the fact that she was not like any other girl that he had met before. He was aware of the fact that she was different - in a beautiful, enticing and intriguing way. But she was a girlfriend girl. And he wasn't a boyfriend. He couldn't be. No. Not now. Not ever.

"See, that's what I have been trying to make you see… You need to think long and hard about this before someone ends up hurt."

"There's nothing to think about," Logan stated quietly, "I can't be that."

"I didn't say that, Logan… I just said that you need to think long and hard about all of this. This is a completely new territory for you."

"I can't be that. That's it - the end of story," Logan stated firmly.

Colin sighed at his best friend's statement, "Logan… No one says that you can't be that. It's just… We have been watching you for weeks now as you have been following her and we are seeing the change in you. We just don't want you to get your hopes up for nothing."

"I know, Colin, but there's nothing you can do," Logan thought about this for a moment, "What's going on between me and Ace is just that - between me and her. I can take care of myself."

"Just don't do anything stupid," Colin said, knowing that his stubborn friend won't be relenting from this one, "But please, for the love of God, don't hurt her."

Logan narrowed his eyes at him, "Why would I hurt her?"

"I'm not saying you you would hurt her intentionally. I'm just saying that this is a new territory for you, as it is for us, and we don't want you messing this up. We like her, she fits into our group. It's refreshing to have somebody with a brain among us. She's becoming our friend as well."

Logan thought for a moment about what his friend was saying and finally understood his side, "Col, you have nothing to worry about. I'll take care of this."

"That's all I'm asking. Just be careful."

"Okay," Logan nodded, "Now, where's Finn?"

Colin chuckled, "It's 8 AM, what do you think where he is?"

"Right, well somebody needs to wake him up so that he's ready on time," Logan stated, wanting to get away from the previous conversation and his friend's look, "I'll go do that, I have to bring coffee to Ace as well, so I may also bring it to him."

Colin studied him for a bit and the relented with a nod, "Okay, you do that," he sighed when he saw his friend turning to head towards the tents, "And, Logan, we're always here if you need to talk, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, thanks, Col," Logan nodded and headed towards the tents, his head spinning with what his friend had just told him.

---

Logan was sitting in front of Rory's tent, waiting for her to come out so that they could go to the ceremony. They were already late. What was taking her so long? He had brought her a cup of coffee almost an hour ago and put it on the table in front of the tent, after gently tapping on the tent flap to wake her up. She had gotten out of the tent and took the coffee greedily, inhaling its aroma before taking the first sip and moaning quietly, just as a look of pure content spread out on her face. That, of course, didn't do that well for Logan, because he was already fascinated by her looks right after waking up - her hair in a bed-hair frenzy, her eyes still clouded with sleep. And she was beautiful, even without a touch of make up, completely natural. He honestly couldn't remember if he had ever seen a girl without a touch of make up but now that he had seen her like that, it excited him to no end.

Shifting uncomfortably, he smiled softly, "Good morning."

"Good morning," she answered and looked at him, already clad in his tux, "Well this is a surprise."

His lower region reacted even more to her look and he was desperate to get away from her before it got out of hand or, even worse, she noticed what was happening, "You should start getting ready yourself. I will pick you up in less than an hour," he told her and turned abruptly to go and wake up Finn.

So, yeah, after waking up Finn - what was everything but easy, he grabbed something to eat and checked again if everything is ready for today. He also got some weird looks from other Brigadiers, especially scowling ones from the female population of the Brigade, which only enhanced his thoughts about what he was actually doing with Ace.

He was well aware now that he had to take a step back from her, he was afraid about what could happen if he continued following her around as he has ben doing for the last couple of weeks. And as much as he didn't want to do that, it was the only thing he could do. That's why he had decided not to pursue the rest of their date today and let her have the time to do some more research for the article. He had planned on them taking part in all games, just simply having fun. But he couldn't do that now, not when his brain was in overdrive about everything and not when his brain went to complete mush when he was close to her, or when his body reacted to the most unexpected things from her. No. He had to step back.

But why the hell has this uneasy feeling appeared in his stomach, just as he had made that decision?

Lost in his thoughts, he missed her coming out of her tent and when she cleared her throat he lifted his head and saw her standing in front of him in the other dress that he had picked out for her.

Dear Lord.

He had purposefully picked out a dress in light blue, thinking it would go well with those magnificent eyes of hers. But he didn't expect him getting a hard on by seeing her in it. The strapless ball gown fitted her small frame as if it was made for her, spreading to the floor in an A-shape. Small delicate beading around her waist enhanced the sparkle in her eyes even more.

Determined to get out of his stupor, he got up abruptly and buttoned his jacket to hide what was going on in his pants. He gulped and said harsher than he was meaning to, "We're late."

Rory chuckled lightly, "Well, for your information, putting on a ball gown by yourself is a tad more difficult than you'd imagine."

"You could've asked for my help, you know?" He smirked at her, finally getting his composure back.

"In your dreams, buster," she rolled her eyes at him.

Oh yeah, he was dreaming about that. He should not be thinking about that right now! It's not helping with his body's reaction anyhow!

"We go this way," he said and put his hand on the small of the back to lead her in the right direction. However, the moment that he had touched her, a strong bolt reappeared again so he removed the hand and sped up, walking a couple of steps in front of her, both trying to get to the ceremony on time and to clear his thoughts.

"Hurry up!" He told her, looking at her over his shoulder, as he saw that Colin had already started with his speech.

"You try running in a crinoline!" She exclaimed.

"Let's go! We're late!"

"For what? The ritual sacrifice?" Rory asked amusedly.

As they reached their places in the middle of the group, Finn handed them their flutes with champagne and Colin was rounding up his speech, "I hereby greet the here gathered 108th Grand Assembly of the honourable Life and Death Brigade," he raised his flute, "Please raise your glasses," and exclaimed, "In Omnia Paratus!" He cheered.

"In Omnia Paratus," everybody cheered, and Logan turned to Rory to lead his glass towards her lips, motioning for her to do the same for him. They both took a sip of champagne from each other, Logan doing his best not to focus on her luscious lips.

The group dissolved in cheers, scattering all over the clearing where today's event will take place. Logan retracted his arm with the flute from Rory, finished his drink and went away behind the group, desperate to clear his head and on a mission to have fun. He thought that it would be better this way, letting her do her research by herself, hoping that she would also relax a bit and partake in various games. He wasn't overjoyed by his decision of not continuing their date as planned - he really did want to be with her as she experienced all of this, but he needed to regain the control over himself first.

---

While enjoying the games with fellow Brigadiers, Logan has again kept his eye on Rory. He noticed that she hasn't taken part in any games, she kept on trying to interview other members with not su much success. But however - does she ever have any fun?

He was talking to Colin and Robert about the upcoming stunt when he noticed her talking with Finn while he was shooting people with the paintball gun. He observed them with one eye while keeping up with the conversation but when he noticed Finn trying to teach her how to shoot by enveloping her from behind to show her how to hold the rifle, he hastily made his excuses and stormed off towards them. He couldn't explain his reaction, he just knew that there was a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach from the moment that he saw Finn touch her.

Logan made his way to them and tapped softly on Finn's shoulder to let him know he will be taking over. Finn turned around to him, grinning wickedly, "Oh goodie! I wanna be a target anyways!"

"You're always a target, Finn," Logan rolled his eyes at his friend.

Rory turned around then as well, confused by Finn's reaction but the she saw Logan she smiled softly, "Hey."

"Hey, Ace," he smiled back at her, "I saw that Finn was going to teach you how to shoot so I had to save you before you both ended up injured," he grinned at Finn's glare, "It is never a good idea to let Finn teach anybody anything when he's drunk."

"Thanks, mate," Finn rolled his eyes at him but then grinned wickedly and winked at Rory, "Love, it seems that my mate here has decided to continue your date," he patted a fuming Logan on his back, "I'll let you kids alone. Remember - safety first!"

Logan watched his friend gallop excitedly to the jumping point. Yeah, he is going to pay for this. He then turned to Rory to find her blushing profusely but also grinning at their interaction. Or his reaction. Honestly, he didn't know what was worse.

Deciding to step up, he reached towards Rory and put his arm on her hip, "Lets shoot Finn, what do you say?"

"Be my guest," she chuckled, "I don't think it would be a good idea for me to shoot anybody."

He laughed at her remark, "Come on, I'll show you," he placed the gun properly in her hands and turned her in the right direction. Taking his place just behind her, ha placed his left hand under her left hand holding the point and his right hand over her right hand resting on the trigger. He was completely mesmerised by her scent and tried his best to focus on his task.

"When you see Finn standing at the jumping point, yell 'pull'. When he jumps, point the rifle towards the high point where he was jumping to, count to three and then pull the trigger, okay?" He instructed her, still softly holding her arms.

She nodded, "Okay."

"Good. Look, he's there, you can yell now."

"PULL!" She yelled and Finn jumped.

Logan counted quietly to three in her ear and pressed softly on her finger on the trigger. They fired the gun and a splash of blue appeared in the middle of Finn's white shirt. She jumped excitedly, "We did it!" She turned around and her eyes sparkled like he had never seen before. Now he felt sad that he didn't spend the morning with her, playing all sorts of games together. He wanted to see that sparkle again.

"Well done, Ace," he smiled proudly, "Wanna try again?"

"You can shoot, I still have some research to do," she handed him the gun.

They saw a stumbling Finn going their way. When he reached them, he glared at them, "You shot me," he slurred.

"Isn't that the point?" Rory asked innocently, making Logan bark with laughter

Finn just glared at her, groaned and staggered away, "I'm going to be a target again."

"If you want to interview Finn, you better do it quickly," Logan informed her, taking his position to shoot another target.

"So, is this your big stunt?" Of course she decided to interview him now.

"Big stunt?" He decided to play with her for a bit but he was confused how she even knew about a big stunt?

"According to my research, you guys always do one big thing at your gatherings," she stated matter-of-factly.

"PULL!" Logan yelled, deciding not to answer her question.

"So, is this it?" She asked again. God, does she ever give up?

"Does it look like it?"

"I'm guessing no," she stated, looking curiously at him, as if wanting more information.

"Well you answered your own question," he played a bit more with her and then yelled, "PULL!" and pulled the trigger, shooting his target perfectly.

"Nice shot," she praised him and it made him happy to no end. Why did it matter to him that much what she thought about him?

"Thanks," he turned to her, "You'll know it when you see it," he winked at her.

At that moment, two guys carrying Finn on a stretcher passed by them. Finn exclaimed half theatrically and half in pain, "I missed the mat!"

"Again?" Logan asked him amusedly.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me!" Finn exclaimed, "In Omnia!" He tried to cheer but failed miserably.

Logan laughed hardly at his best friend's antics, knowing fully well that Finn would be okay. However, a look of worry crossed Rory's face when she saw him on the stretcher, "Is he going to be okay?" She asked with worry laced through her voice.

"Yeah," Logan nodded and turned to her, amazed by her care for somebody she hardly knows, "It happens all the time. He'll probably have a few bruised ribs and he'll be as good as new in a few days."

"Are you sure?" She asked with a frown.

He nodded with a sincere smile, "Yes," he looked at her curiously, "Why are you worrying so much?"

"What do you mean?" She frowned again.

He noticed that his question came out harsher than he meant it to and that she probably understood it wrongly, "I mean… I mean, you've only met him recently but you're showing a great deal of worry now."

"Just because I've met him recently doesn't mean I can't see that he's a good person. Or that I can't care for his well being after seeing him hurt," she answered directly, glaring at him.

"I know and I admire that, I'm just not used to people reacting like that."

"Like what? Caring?" She called him out on it.

"Well… yeah," he relented, slightly shifting in his spot.

She smiled warmly at him, "Then it means that you've been hanging out with the wrong people," she stated, "There is nothing wrong about caring for well-being of people around you."

"Yeah… I guess not…" he answered softly, gazing at her eyes. Deciding to change the subject, "So, you think Finn is a good guy?" He asked with a smirk.

Rory rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, I do. He is a specimen of his own but he is still nice. It's nice to hang our with him," a small wicked gleam appeared in her eyes, "As a matter of fact, Colin is too. I like hanging out with them."

And what about him? Why didn't she mention him? He nodded at her statement, disappointed that she didn't mention him, "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"Alright then," she nodded, "I'm going to try and get some more answers," she stated, "see you later."

Rory started walking away from him and he took up the paintball gun again to play - to get his mind off of everything. A strange feeling washed over him when she didn't mention him - some combination of disappointment and sadness. After a few steps, she turned around and called at him, "Logan!"

He turned towards her, doing his best to hide the miserable feelings washing over him, "Yeah?"

"Just for the record," she grinned at him, "You're a pretty decent guy as well."

Nodding his head, he shot her a brilliant sincere smile - one that he didn't use often. She winked at him and went her own way.

Turning back to the shooting area, he was sure he was sporting he largest grin everyone had ever worn.

---

Halfway to the First Aid tent Logan was met by a scowling and obviously annoyed Colin, "How is our patient?" He asked his friend cheerfully even though he was fairly certain that Colin's current mood was definitely caused by Finn.

"He got this harebrained idea that he is still going to make the jump," Colin sighed with frustration.

"How bad is he? The usual or do we have a bed-ridden Australian again?" Logan asked curiously, hoping that it wasn't the latter. As much as he loved his best friend, he was a royal pain in the ass when he had to be on bed-rest.

"God, no!" Colin exclaimed, "He's just a little bruised but he's also, of course, fairly drunk so there's no way he would even make it to the top of the scaffold."

"Should have seen that one coming," Logan nodded, "C'mon, let's go persuade him to stay with both feet on the Earth this time."

They entered the tent and saw Finn trying to convince some of the other Brigadiers that he's perfectly capable of taking the jump now. Logan motioned for them to go out so that they could talk to him.

"Finn, you're not making that jump, I hope that's clear," Colin tried to reassure him again.

"The hell I'm not!" Finn exclaimed and tried to get up from the cot but failing miserably. Logan and Colin caught him and laid him down again.

"See, you can't even stand properly," Logan scolded him.

"I will be able to in the time for the jump!" Finn still resisted.

"The jump is in less than half an hour," Colin looked pointedly at him.

"But I want to jump!" Finn whined, "I haven't jumped in a long time."

"You can jump the next time, Finn, it's not the end of the world," Logan tried to convince him to let it go again.

"But I was looking forward to this time! This is the first time we've built the seven-stories scaffold! And it's our event and you can't be the only one of us who will be jumping," he moved his look from Logan and looked pointedly at Colin, "Especially when this sissy here won't be jumping!"

Colin glared at him while Logan tried to stifle a laugh, "Finn, you know I'm deathly afraid of heights! There's no need to call me a sissy!"

"You jumped once! Why can't you do it again?!"

"It was an initiation jump, I had to do it!"

"And here you are - alive. Do it again, live a little!" Finn was now actually messing with Colin, knowing fully well that neither of them won't be making the jump but he had to goad him a little.

While Finn and Colin were bickering, a plan started to develop in Logan's head. There was actually a person among them who has never jumped before. And maybe he could convince her. After all, if there was anything he was actually good at - it would be convincing people to do something the normally wouldn't do.

Hm…

Could I coax her into doing it?

Would she jump?

He was deep in thought when Finn kicked Colin slightly in the shin with his foot, "Colin! Colin! Look at our mate here! Doesn't he look like he has an idea on how to solve this grand problem that we are facing?"

They looked at him expectantly, waiting on him to explain what he was thinking about. Logan smiled mischievously, "I think I know who could make the jump."

Colin looked confusedly at him with a frown, "Who? Really, Logan, no one else other than you six has made even an inkling of interest for jumping today. We don't have a substitute."

However, Finn obviously understood what Logan was aiming at and grinned at him, "You really think you can make her do it?"

Looking between his two friends, Colin frowned even more until he finally got what was going on, "No!" He exclaimed, "You cannot be serious, Logan. She'll never do it. You heard her yourself - she doesn't have any urge to even be in the Brigade. She's not that type of a person, why would she do it?"

Logan eyed his friend and his reaction suspiciously, "What's it to you?"

"It has nothing to do with me! I'm just saying that she'll never go for it. How do you even plan on persuading her?"

"C'mon, Col," Logan rolled his eyes, "You know me. You know how persuasive I can be."

"Geez, Logan, if you were as persuasive with her as you state, you would have taken her out weeks ago!"

"Colin, mate, calm down," Finn interfered, "Let him try. If he succeeds - great. If he doesn't - we'll have a nice laugh."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Logan glared at Finn.

"Anytime, mate," Finn winked at him and turned to Colin, "Care to make a bet? I say a thousand that she jumps."

Colin looked between his friends again, thinking about where this was leading to and the smirked, "Now you're talking, buddy," he stretched his hand toward Finn to shake him in lieu of making the deal.

"Great, are we done now?" Logan smirked at them, "I have a reporter to convince to do something crazy."

"Off you go, mate!" Finn shooed him out of the tent, "We'll be watching carefully."

Logan rolled his eyes at his crazy Australian friend and started heading off to search for Rory but remembered after a few steps that he has her camera in his pocket that he grabbed this morning while he was getting ready. He got back to their friends and handed Colin the camera, "This is Ace's. If I succeed in this, I think she would appreciate some hard evidence that she had actually done it."

Colin eyed him suspiciously, "She won't publish any photos, will she?"

"No, she won't. You can maybe take some photos from afar of the people on the top and she can publish those if we're not recognisable."

Nodding, Colin put the camera in his pocket and turned back to Finn, letting Logan go on his mission.

---

Spotting her at the edge of the clearing while she was curiously eyeing the scaffold and the people on top of it, Logan made his way to her.

Game on.

"Hope you're thinking of superlatives," he smirked at her while he passed by her for a couple of steps.

"What are they going to do?" She followed them and asked curiously.

"What do you think they're going to do?" She must know that this was the big stunt that she inquired about earlier.

"They're not going to jump?!" Rory asked disbelievingly.

Time to state the obvious. "Jump!" He exclaimed.

She motioned with her arm towards the top of the scaffold, "That's like seven stories! They're going to die!"

"We are all gonna die one die," he deadpanned, playing a bit with her to test the waters.

"But those four are today," she was still motioning to the people at the top.

Okay, time to play.

"Six," he stated.

"I see four," she frowned while looking up.

"I'm heading up," he informed her.

Rory rolled her eyes at him, "Of course you are."

Yeah, and you're coming with me.

"Finn was supposed to do it but a few of us figured he had already made it this far so…" he shrugged nonchalantly, "There's an extra space."

Logan looked pointedly at her while she was again gazing up the scaffold, waiting on her to figure out where he was heading with his explanations.

Rory looked shocked at him. Aha. She got it. "No!"

Ugh, this is going to take much more convincing than I had thought it would.

Time to lay it on thick.

"And we are not going to die. No one in the Life and Death Brigade has ever died," he stated, "Well, old ones have."

She was still shocked by his insinuation, "I am not going to jump."

Just then Seth approached from behind Logan, "We're all set."

Great! Maybe this way I can convince her how safe it is. "This is Seth," Logan patted him on the shoulder, "He's the genius behind all this."

Seth chuckled seeing where Logan was going, "It's very safe. We did dozens of successful test-drops and every potato came out without a scratch."

"Potato?" She frowned again, apparently not convinced by Seth's mastermind.

Logan decided to joke for a bit, "You can't test using people, that would be dangerous!"

"Look, thanks for the offer," she chuckled nervously, "But I'm here as a journalist. An observer," she stated confidently, "Journalists do not participate."

AHA! Now we're talking. I just have to rile her up enough to make her do it.

"Since when?" He challenged her.

"Since forever," she deadpanned.

Yep. This is it. Let's prove her wrong.

"George Plimpton never participated?" Logan asked knowingly.

"What?" She exclaimed with a high-pitched voice, obviously seeing where he was going with this conversation.

"His best stuff put him in the thick of it. Fighting Sugar Ray Robinson? Quarterbacking for the Lions? Skating for the Bruins?"

"So he participated…" she tried to amend her previous statement, seeing that she won't be getting out of this easily.

Logan shrugged his shoulders, "Bill Buford? Lived with hooligans and amongst the thugs?" He started naming more and more incredible journalists who participated in various dangerous events only to get their articles, "Ernie Powell? He was so deep in the action in the World War Two that he was killed by a Japanese sniper. Not that you need to go that far…"

"Buford Pyle, I know!" She exclaimed exasperatedly, seeing that he was right and she wasn't getting out with her statement.

Wow. She knew Pyle… Rarely anybody who wasn't in the business knew about him. But he should have expected it from her.

He continued, seeing that this was working, "Richard Hall that was for four months in the Nazi prison working for the UP? Hunter Thompson lived with Hell's Angels. Got in the mud, didn't just orbit around. He drove his riding. He put you in those bikers' parties, he put you in those bikers' heads," he stated confidently, seeing through her eyes that he was getting to her.

"Alright, alright!" She exclaimed, "So, you know," she chuckled, "Those guys participated. I got it but I…" she was about to continue when Colin interrupted her.

"Jumpers to their places, please!" He yelled and looked quickly at Logan, letting him know that they were actually waiting just on them. He also held a winning smirk, seeing that Logan has not yet managed to convince Rory to jump.

Like Hell I'll let Colin be right.

"You're scared," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, yeah…" she exclaimed looking at the top of the scaffold again.

"And that's stopping the great?!"

He just had to challenge her.

Rory pointed at herself, "It's stopping this great!"

"Come on!" He exclaimed, "You look like you need a little adventure!" He knew that this was his last straw of hope to get her up there but he was just laying the facts. Sure, he could've said it more nicely but there's no time and if he has ever been something - it would be being honest.

She glared at him, "What does that mean?"

"You're just a little sheltered," he stated again, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why?" She asked, timidly looking around, "Because I haven't spent time in a Nazi prison, been stomped on by hooligans and beat up by Hell's Angels?" She inquired, her brows furrowed, "And Plimpton got pretty banged up too…" she stated knowingly.

"It will be fun! It will be a thrill! Something stupid, something bad for you! Just something different!" He tried convincing her again and he saw a bit of her resolve fading away.

Oh, what the Hell.

He moved in for a kill.

Standing next to her, pointing at the scaffold, he gave his best, "Isn't this the point of being young?" He turned to look at her, "It's your choice, Ace," he said softly but confidently, "People can live for a hundred years without really living for a minute. You climb up here with me it's one less minute you haven't lived," he gave his best in soft but strong voice, his face mere inches away from hers. He somehow felt that he needed to stand close to her to reassure her, to make her understand that he was serious and that it was safe.

Rory looked at the ground again and he sensed her brain in overdrive. She took a deep breath and looked up much more calmly.

YES! He had her!

"Let's go," she stated confidently, looking at Logan.

He smiled triumphantly, "Let's go!" He exclaimed and headed towards the ladders. On his way he winked to Colin and Finn. Finn grinned wickedly and Colin looked like he was going to faint.

That will teach him never to bet against me.

"I'm not a fan of ladders," she stated non-repulsedly.

He could only agree with her, "They scare the crap out of me too."

Logan let her climb a couple of steps before him, just so that he could catch her if she slipped. She really doesn't seem like an athletic person and he couldn't even imagine how hard climbing this would be in a crinoline. He should have thought this through earlier and maybe arranged with Seth that she is strapped while climbing as well. Oh well, what is done is done, the only thing he could do now was to climb behind her, watch her step and don't look under her dress because this was nor the time nor the place for this. And he was sure as hell that she wouldn't appreciate it.

Making their way to the top, she looked down, "High. We're very high," she said in a small panicky voice.

"I've been higher," Logan stated, leading her to their places.

"I meant distance from the ground," she deadpanned, following him to her place.

"That too," he deadpanned back and picked up the umbrellas.

Seth was waiting on them with their safety straps, "This is totally safe," he stated and showed her the belt that she was supposed to put on, "And it goes with the outfit. Nice!" He exclaimed and put it on her.

Another Brigadier strapped Logan as well, while he was opening the umbrellas.

"Why do they look so worried?" Rory exclaimed, looking at the people on the ground.

"We're low on champagne," he dead-panned. But it was actually the truth.

Colin started yelling some formal LDB sayings in Latin from the ground and Logan glanced at slightly panicking Rory, "You can back out, you know? No one is forcing you." He wouldn't like her to think that she was forced into doing this. He would never do that to her.

"I know," she said resolutely and grabbed her umbrella from him.

Hearing that Colin was almost done with his reciting, Logan just had to make sure of something, "You trust me?"

She must know that I would never make her do anything where she could get hurt, mustn't she? He would never hurt her.

Rory was still looking at the people on the ground, inhaled deeply and stated, "You jump, I jump, Jack."

He grinned at her statement. How fitting.

"In Omnia Paratus!" The group on the ground cheered.

Logan decided to make a joke just to ease her up a bit, "I really should have confirmed that those potatoes were okay."

Her head snapped towards him but it was the time to jump so he reflexively grabbed her hand, interlaced their fingers and took a step over the edge, pulling her with him.

And just a moment later - they were flying. Her hand still firmly in his, gripping it tightly. He had made many even more dangerous jumps than this one before but this one was different. His whole body was tingling from exhilaration. It felt like the strongest adrenaline rush ever had hit him. If he were honest with himself, he wasn't expecting that from this jump but he was also not expecting his Ace jumping with him - hand in hand. Could that be the reason this jump is the best one he had ever experienced?

Sooner than expected, they reached the ground and both of them landed still hand in hand, stumbling a bit but they managed to keep each other from falling. The Brigadiers cheered in ecstasy.

Still holding hands, Rory and Logan looked at each other, both trying to catch their breaths. When he saw the most amazing sparkle in her eyes, flushed cheeks and joy written all over her face, he was floored. He was so happy that he had convinced her to do it, otherwise he would never get to experience this side of her.

Catching him off guard, Rory pulled their intertwined hands to her chest, tingles again surging through his whole body.

"You did good, Ace!" He exclaimed proudly, hoping that she could hear the emotion.

She put her other hand over his on her chest, "Once in a lifetime experience!" She exclaimed amazedly.

Logan bored her eyes at her, wanting her to believe him, "Only if you want it to be."

Rory caught his look and it seemed to him that she understood what he was saying. They kept staring at each other, both of them leaning even closer, still out of breath. But she was mesmerising. He was mesmerised by her. Her deep blue eyes that shined like millions of stars, her flushed cheeks, her blinding smile.

There was no way he wasn't going to kiss her - right here, right now.

I'm doing it. Finally.

And just as he leaned even closer to her and she tilted her head a bit towards him, giving him the perfect angle to lean in - they got interrupted by some Brigadiers shoving champagne flutes in their hands and congratulating them.

NO! No, no, no!

He was enveloped in a hug by Colin and she by Finn. After a couple of minutes of congratulations from various Brigadiers, he looked around expecting to find her somewhere nearby. He then noticed that she was dragged to the other side of the clearing and was now among a group of people, animatedly telling some story.

Sighing, he made his way towards his tent to start getting ready to head back to Yale. He was stopped after a few steps by Colin, "I can't believe you managed to get her to jump!"

"Well, I did," Logan shrugged, not wanting to talk about it, "I'm going to change, we are leaving in an hour. I'll meet you by the car, I'll drive back since Finn is drunk and hurt."

Colin eyed him for a moment, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Now I know it's definitely something."

"It's nothing, Col, just let me be. I'll see you in an hour," he stated and went away. He was aware that he was being rude without a reason to his best friend but just wanted to be alone now.

Why the hell were we interrupted?

Why couldn't I have kissed her?

But then he thought about his conversation with Colin that morning and his resolution not to continue his date with her today and concluded that maybe it was for the best that he didn't get to kiss her.

Even though he wanted to. So much.

He had never felt like this before. He had never felt this pull toward another girl. What was it with her that made him react this way? Made him feel this way?

Then he again remembered her blinding smile and luminous eyes and he knew he would have kissed her, were they not interrupted. How could he not?

But - it was for the best. She wasn't like other girls and he could never give her what she would want. He was not the one for relationships.

Despite this pull that he felt towards her, he knew he couldn't act on it. He just couldn't.

He had to regain his composure again and close the chapter called "Ace". There was nothing he could do here anymore. After today, he would stop following her around and continue with his old lifestyle.

Making his resolution, he lied down on his cot, now changed into his clothes for the trip. He closed his eyes, confident in his decision.

There's nothing else I can do. But why does my heart clench in this painful way anytime I think about it?

And what is that damned fluttering in the pit of my stomach every time I see or think of her?!

---

An hour later he was standing by the car, waiting for the others to gather so that they can head back to the campus. His mind still a whirlwind, Logan was looking forward to driving back. Driving always gave him some peace to get his mind off of what was bothering him.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Rory who was holding the two boxes with dresses. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he replied softly as well and then cleared his throat, "Are you ready to head back?"

"Yeah," she handed him the boxes, "Here are the dresses. I didn't know what to do with them, so - here you go."

Logan looked confusedly at her, "They're yours, Ace. Take them with you."

Rory frowned a bit, "Logan, no. I can't take them, they're too much, really. Thank you, but I can't accept them."

"Sure you can, I got them for you."

"And that's nice and I'm grateful that you did that, but it's just too much. You should give them to somebody who would get a better use out of them."

"Ace…" Logan sighed, trying to decide what to do and how to make her accept his gift, "Please, just take them. They were a gift for you. I wanted you to fit in with the integrity of the event and I had you in mind when I got them. They're not supposed to be for anybody else."

She looked at him slightly perplexed for a moment and then nodded slowly, a smile forming on her lips, "Well, then, thank you. They really are beautiful."

Not nearly as beautiful as you are.

Clearing his throat again, he nodded, "Good, then, I'll put them in the trunk, okay?" He headed to the back of the car, "Finn and Colin should be here any moment, I'll be driving us back," after putting the boxes in the trunk, he made his way back to her and pulled out the blindfold from his pocket, "I'm afraid you'll have to put this back on."

She scrunched her nose, "Again?"

"We're still hiding out destination, Ace."

Groaning, she took the blindfold and climbed into the back of the car and put on the blindfold just as Finn and Colin reached them as well. They eyed Logan suspiciously but he just shook his head and went to the driver's seat. Colin sat in the front with him and Finn sat back with Rory.

They were on their way back to the campus with Rory interviewing them about the LDB. Logan was trying to stay out of the conversation but he still kept listening - amazed by how her brain worked.

She really was something else.

He tried desperately to shake that awful feeling creeping up in his chest, as well as clearing his thoughts. No such luck.

Arriving to the campus, Finn exclaimed, "To the pub!" And got out of the car.

"No way, Finn, you're going to your room," Colin deadpanned with a sigh, getting out of the car to catch him.

"But why?" Finn whined.

"You are all bruised and you drank more than enough today, let's just go home, I'm tired."

"I bet my mate Logan will go with me!"

Logan was getting out of the car as well and opening the door for Rory to exit the car. She had already taken off the blindfold and her eyes were all sleepy and misted. She looked adorable.

"I'm going to my room as well, Finn," Logan sighed and looked back at Rory, "Come on, I'll walk you to your dorm," he offered and went to retrieve the boxes form the trunk.

She shook her head slightly, "Thanks, but no need. I'm heading straight to Boston now."

Oh, yeah. Right. He has completely forgotten about that. He was actually feeling bad that she would have to drive alone now for two hours.

"Well, then let me walk you to your car," he smiled at her.

He knew that he should get away from her as soon as possible but his body reacted just the opposite from his mind. He wanted to spend every single second he still could today with her, knowing that his decision has been made.

"Okay," she smiled back at him and then turned to Colin and Finn, "Boys, it has been fun as always. See you soon!"

"Have a safe trip, Reporter Girl," Colin smiled at her as well.

"Love! I'm expecting you at some of our parties when you come back!" Finn exclaimed and gave her a bear hug, groaning when he pulled back, "Should not have done that. Ouch!"

Rory giggled at him and looked at Colin, "Take care of him."

"I always do," he sighed.

She smiled and waved at them, turning around she pointed in the direction where her car was, "My car is just there."

"Cool, let's go," Logan stated and made his way in the direction that she had pointed to.

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes until she stopped and unlocked a Prius, "This is me."

He nodded, slightly disappointed that this was their parting point and handed her the boxes, "You should put these in the car."

Taking the boxes from him, she smiled again and looked directly at his eyes for a couple of moments, "Thank you, Logan."

"For what?" He frowned.

"For everything. Letting me come to the event, helping me. For a beautiful date. And, most of all, for convincing me to take the jump. I would've never done it if it weren't for you."

His heart swelled at her words and he smiled back at her, "It was all you, Ace, remember that. You were the one who figured it out and you were the one who took the jump."

Rory smiled a blinding smile at him, "Well, thank you, anyways," she looked at her car, "I should really get going now."

"Yeah," Logan nodded, "Have a safe trip, Ace."

"Thanks," she smiled the last time at him and got into her car.

He looked at her as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove away. With a sigh he made his way to his dorm, determined to take her out of his head.

---

Entering his dorm, Logan spotted his two best friends on the sofa bickering about which movie they are going to watch, "What are you two doing here?"

"Finn wanted to be here and it was the only way I could stop him from going out tonight," Colin shrugged, trying to take the remote from Finn.

"Guys, I'm really not in the mood right now. Can't you just watch a movie in your dorm?" Logan asked as he headed to the bar cart to pour himself a drink.

"We know that you're not in the mood, that's why I insisted on coming here, mate," Finn looked at him, "Care to tell your boy Finn what's bothering you?"

"Nothing," Logan grumbled, taking a sip of his drink and sitting in the armchair.

"You sure there, mate? You have been sulking ever since the jump," Colin asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It's nothing, I'm just tired."

"Tired?" Finn asked, "I wouldn't say so… I would say that it has something to do with our Love. But for the life of me I can't imagine what could've happened since the jump."

"I agree…" Colin stated, "And based on the photos I took of the jump, I can tell that you've enjoyed it. Even enjoyed it more than usual. So, what's up?"

"Photos?" Logan frowned.

"Yeah, you gave me Rory's camera to take a couple of photos if she jumped."

"Shit, I forgot about that."

Colin handed him the camera from his pocket, "Here you go, look at them."

Logan frowned again, taking the camera and turning it on. There were photos of them climbing the scaffold, on the top of the scaffold, him grabbing her hand, them taking the step over the edge, them flying down hand in hand. All photos were as he had expected them to be but he was not prepared for the next one.

The next one was just as they had landed, still hand in hand, their other hands holding the umbrellas beside them. Both of them staring at each other with huge smiles on their faces. He didn't recognise this smile on himself, it was a smile of pure happiness - something he rarely got to experience.

Clicking the button again, he saw the last photo: both of them leaning towards each other, mere milliseconds from kissing. A flash of memory surged through him at seeing this photo and he had to close his eyes and shake his head to make it go away. Just seeing this photo made him remember all the tingling, all the feelings he had at that moment.

Opening up his eyes, he turned off the camera and looked up at his friends, finding them staring at him inquisitively.

Trying to avoid the subject that was bound to happen, he said, "Thanks for the photos, Col, I'll make sure she gets the camera back."

"No problem," Colin nodded, "You should also give her a gorilla mask and a bottle of champagne from the event."

WHAT?!

Those were the gifts that new members get after they join the Brigade.

"What?!"

"Yeah," Finn piped in, "She made the jump. Even though non-deliberately, she joined the Brigade. She doesn't have to take part in the events if she doesn't want to, but she is a member now. After all, it is her legacy, whether she wanted it to be or not. And I'm sure you'll be able to convince her to come to our next events, won't you, mate?"

Logan really didn't want to be having this conversation, he just wanted to get his mind off of her, "Yeah, I guess…" he drank the rest of his drink and stood up, "Listen, I'm going to my room. I have some homework to do and I want to sleep. You stay here, Lanny won't be back until tomorrow evening anyways."

His friends eyed him suspiciously again, "Are you sure you're okay, mate? You know you can talk to us?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, I know… I just have some things on my mind and I need to sort them out."

"Okay then…" Colin said, "But, Logan, if it has to do with our talk from this morning, don't overthink it. It's not a sin to be happy, you know?" Finn nodded at his statement in agreement.

Looking at Colin again, he nodded and went to his room.

Later that night when he finally laid in his bed, he was exhausted. He wasn't exhausted from the trip nor from the homework that he was supposed to do. Sufficient to say that he almost hadn't done any work. When he had turned on his computer to start working he got distracted by the camera looking at him from the corner of his desk, so he plugged it in and copied the photos to his gallery as well. At the moment he laid in bed he wasn't even sure how long he had spent staring at that last photo.

He was trying so hard to wrap his mind around everything but she just wasn't exiting his head. He was confused more than he could remember ever being. He tried to name those feelings that he had felt but no such luck. It was something completely new and he didn't know how to handle them.

He briefly remembered what Ace had told him last night - about the unsung tragedy and how it's never spoken about. About how Rick had done the right thing, he had done something for the greater good, even though he hurt himself by doing so.

Could it be? Could this be my unsung tragedy?

Logan was sure he was doing the right thing. He had to get away from her before somebody got hurt. But, if he were honest with himself, he was already hurting. Hurting in a way he didn't recognise. Nevertheless, it was the right thing to do. He could never give her what she deserved. She deserved so much more than him. He was a complete emotional cripple, never having experienced any of this. And he couldn't give up this little remaining time of his freedom for a girl. Not even for her. No matter how amazing and beautiful she is, he couldn't do it.

He knew what his life is supposed to look like, what it will look like in less than two years time. And he needed his freedom. He needed to stock up on wild memories and experiences before his time was up, knowing that he wouldn't be able to live his unobstructed life forever.

Slowly drifting to sleep, his mind wandered to the conclusion that this must be it.

An Unsung Tragedy of One L. E. Huntzberger.

---

TBC!

Author's Note: Dear readers! Sorry for keeping you waiting for this chapter - life got in the way a bit and I also wanted to make sure that I've succeeded in writing this chapter the way I wanted to. And it's also pretty long. I must say I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out - hopefully you are too. As you may have noticed, I have refrained from changing anything monumental from this episode, everything is just so important for the development of our fave couple. On the other hand, I added some other things to spice it up a bit and to give myself some base for the further development of this story. Hope you like it!

I know that the ending is a bit sulky, but I needed it to be real. I'm doing the total development of Logan's character and there are so many things to be said here! Whew! Also, regarding Rory, as you've probably noticed, I also added some changes to her story - relationship with Christopher, for example. Don't worry, everything will be explained thoroughly eventually.

Now I'm off to write the next chapter and, no, it won't be based on the Yale-Male party. I decided against that storyline since it wouldn't add anything significant to this story. I might do a similar party somewhere down the road, but for now it's really not needed. However, I have something interesting prepared for the next chapter ;)

Thanks again to your wonderful reviews on my last chapter! Keep 'em coming and you'll be hearing from me soon!