Chapter Seven

Rory was frozen to the spot. Her heart hammered loudly in her chest. No one moved a muscle. Then pandemonium erupted as Logan and Jess started talking over each other, their voices gradually getting louder and louder.

Logan tried to talk to Rory, "We need to talk-"

"Want me to punch him?" Jess was pointing at Logan.

"You need to shut up, Jenny!"

"It's Jess and you need to leave."

"I need to leave? She's having my kid. You need to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere." Jess started to square up to Logan.

Logan balled his fist. "Wanna bet?"

Rory stood in the middle of the hallway, still immobile. Her fingers finally released the mug she was holding and the sound of it shattering on the floor finally shut the two men up. Logan spun away from Jess to face Rory.

"Rory? You ok?" His voice was instantly concerned.

"No! No, I'm not ok. What are you doing here Logan?"

"We need to talk."

"So pick up a phone! You don't just turn up at my house after the way we left things. I thought I'd never see you again."

"Oh, come on, Rory. You did this, remember? You left me after the night out with the boys and then just showed up out of the blue, dropped a massive bomb on me and then ran away!"

Jess finally spoke, anger written all over his face. "Clearly you two have some issues to resolve. I should go."

"Yeah, you should. I can take it from here." Logan retorted.

Rory turned to Jess. "I'm ok, Jess. I'll call you. Thanks for everything."

Jess gave her a long look, then grabbed his jacket and stormed from the house, leaving Rory standing in the hallway, staring at Logan in shocked disbelief.

"Hey, ace."

"Don't you 'hey ace' me, Huntzberger. What are you doing here?"

Logan put his best lost little boy face on. "We need to talk about this, Rory." He gestured towards her stomach as he spoke.

Her tone was acid as she snapped at him. "This? This? My baby is not a 'this', Logan."

"I'm sorry! I don't know what to do here. I came to say sorry for freaking out. Finn said-"

"Finn said? You called Finn? Jeez, did you run off to Vegas again? I can't cope with you, Logan. One child is hard enough! You will never grow up. You're like Peter Pan and Colin, Finn and Robert are your Lost Boys. I'm not Wendy, Logan. I can't look after you all."

Logan's face fell. "You're mad at me? Why?

"Why? WHY? Are you kidding me, Logan? Your underwhelming reaction to the news you're going to be a daddy, maybe? You were there, you know how badly you behaved."

"I was in shock, Rory! Cut me a bit of slack here. I came to sort this out now, surely that's something?"

"There's nothing to sort out. You didn't want to know then, and I don't want to know now. You need to leave."

"You really want me to go?"

"Yeah. Yes, I do. When I came to London, I just wanted you to tell me it was going to be ok, Logan. I just needed your arms around me, and for you to make it all ok." Her voice cracked. I will not cry, she thought. "I needed you. And you just weren't there." She crossed her arms across her chest and averted her gaze. She couldn't look at him or she would probably break down. Logan moved closer to her and sighed softly.

"I'm here now, ace. I just got a little lost there for a while."

"Logan…" Rory mumbled, her anger evaporating as fast as it had risen up.

"I missed you. More than you will ever know."

"Logan, please. I can't do this now."

"Ok. Well, I'll be in town a few days. We can talk more later."

Rory nodded, and made the mistake of looking up. Logan was closer than she had anticipated. Her stomach did a funny flip as her breath caught in her throat. Logan cupped her chin in his hand and briefly touched his lips to hers.

"I'll see you soon, ace." He whispered, and then he left her alone, just as she had asked.