Couldn't wait any longer. I know, weird, because generally I can force myself to hold out for the two days, but apparently I didn't have that will power today. I'm sure you guys don't mind, right?

And to stem questions before they happen, Chapter 11 will be about Catherine. Until then, you guys are going to have to deal (grins).

Lastly, a sappy note, because you guys have reviewed this to death and I'm so incredibly happy to see you guys enjoying the story. I honestly had myself prepared for no more than 50 reviews and I'm way above that now and poised for over 100 if you guys keep reviewing like you have. I'm so honoured and humbled and I could rant on and on for a while, but you guys simply want the story!

Have fun!

They'd been pretty much incommunicado for a week and Logan was getting antsy. He couldn't say it was his choice, and when he'd subtly – okay, not so subtly – checked with Honour, it sounded like Rory had barely been in New York over that time. It didn't stop him from leaving messages or texting her. He knew she'd text back when she had a free moment, and hadn't been disappointed. It still shocked him that he would be willing to initiate contact with her so soon after seeing her.

He was out with Colin, Finn and Steph and he'd already made a mental note to keep Steph from choosing their venue in the near future. He didn't mind the club that much, but he minded the women around him that weren't the challenge they used to be. He had developed a dislike of the game he used to play and was so much more aware of the gold-digging women surrounding him than before.

So he excused himself, stepping outside of the club with a small, acknowledging smile at the bouncer and pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello?"

Logan wasn't surprised to hear the childish voice. "Soph, it's Logan. Is Rory around?"

"Hey Logan!" Sophie exclaimed in excitement. "Rory's asleep. She came back from San Francisco tonight and she was pretty dead. Pretty much went to bed without dinner."

Logan gasped, playing along. "No dinner? That doesn't sound like her." He could almost see Sophie's nod on the other end. At the Vineyard, he and Sophie had bonded almost as much as he and Rory had. He'd found a little Rory in the kid and that Sophie's reactions to situations were very much like Rory's.

"It's not, but she's tired. I'm pretty sure she's been on a plane every day since she got back."

Logan whistled low. When Honour had said Rory was busy she certainly meant busy. "Don't they have people who can go and do those meetings for them?"

"Rory and Honour like to meet the newbies. Something about honesty and taxes in there... Rory told me all about it, but it's a whole bunch of work talk, so I kind of zoned out."

Logan laughed. "Understandable."

"Is there something you wanted? Is it something important?" Sophie asked.

"Nothing that can wait. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't running herself too ragged, that's all. How are you?"

"I've been watched like a hawk," Sophie said with a sigh. "Rory doesn't even like vegetables and she's been forcing me to eat them."

Logan chuckled at the whining. "Did you try and sneak them off your plate?"

Sophie laughed. "I'm not crazy. She's got those eyes in the back of her head! And it seems Nanny does too!"

"She's just worried," he tried to reassure the eight year old. "I'm sure it'll tone down after a while."

"Maybe you can get her to let me eat junk again. I told her I'd say when I wasn't feeling good the next time and that she never had to eat all these stupid green things when she was sick!" Sophie whined.

"This too will pass," he said wisely, looking up at the night sky. "Can you tell Rory I called?"

"Should she call you back?" Sophie asked innocently.

"Please. Whenever she gets a break."

"Okay. I'm sorry she's not awake to talk to you. She's been a grouch."

Logan's eyebrow went up. "A grouch?"

"Snappy on the phone, mean about the food… they're not Rory."

Logan nodded. "I see. Well, Soph, I have to go.

She was silent for a minute. "Will you call again?"

"Sorry?" He didn't understand the question. He talked to Rory all the time.

"Call here, when I'm around?"

Logan puzzled that over for a minute before grinning. "You don't miss me, do you?" he teased, almost laughing at the scoff that came over the line.

"Of course not," Sophie replied in kind, playing along with his game. "Will you?"

"How be I call you tomorrow? When do you get home?"

"Around 4."

"Alright. I'll give you a call around 4:30. That gives you just enough time to start on your homework, right?"

"Right. Good. Okay! I'll tell Rory you called."

"And I'll call you tomorrow," Logan promised.

"Night, Logan."

"Good night, Sophie." He turned to go back into the club, surprised to find Colin standing beside him. "How long have you been standing there."

"Long enough. I thought you decided to go after Gilmore… or Hayden… whatever, you get my point."

"Rory's usually the easiest name to go with," Logan said with amusement. "And what are you talking about?"

"You've been out with us three times this week and you've been a pain in the ass, Logan. Now you're talking to other women on the phone?"

Now Logan understood – and was blown away by the loyalty Rory had already inspired from his friends – what Colin was saying. "Sophie's not a woman."

Colin raised an eyebrow. "You're calling her tomorrow, Huntz."

"She asked me to. It's after she gets home from school so I'm not breaking any rules." He was honesty having too much fun riling Colin up to tell him the truth.

"School? Logan! Is she even legal?" The last was hissed under Colin's breath.

Logan looked at his friend. "Calling anyone is legal, Colin."

Colin crossed his arms across his chest. "You going to set a date up with her?"

Logan shrugged. "For ice cream, maybe." He hadn't realized he'd missed Sophie until he talked on the phone with her. They'd spent three straight days together, it wasn't as if they didn't have a chance to make friends. She was as sharp as Rory and had even debated the good and bad points of A Tale of Two Cities with him. He was suddenly seriously considering taking Sophie out for ice cream.

"Ice cream? That's what you do with a little cousin."

"Or an eight-year-old, yeah," Logan acknowledged, finally taking pity on Colin. "I called Rory. Sophie picked up."

"Rory has an eight-year-old roommate?"

"Adoptee that was part of the foundation," Logan explained briefly with a wave of his hand.

"How is your Ace?"

"Exhausted. And she's not mine."

"Yet."

"Colin…"

"Logan… You said you were going to do something about it. We're sick of your moping. You haven't talked to her all week, have you?"

"Nope. Sophie said she's been on and off planes all around the country. Apparently she got home from San Fran tonight and just passed out."

Colin nodded, taking in his friend at a glance. "If you want to get out of here, you go. You didn't seem like you were having the greatest time in there."

Logan sighed. "I'm not up for the usual game tonight, that's all," he tried to justify.

"No excuses necessary. Call her tomorrow and then maybe the next time you come out you'll be in a better mood." Then Colin returned to the club.

Logan thought for a split second about following him, getting completely hammered and heading out with some girl, but thought better of it. He didn't feel like it.

It took all of Rory's effort to make herself get out of bed the next morning. Between travelling across the county, sitting in meeting after meeting and having very little time at home with Sophie, Rory was about ready to collapse. In all of the rushing she'd done she'd barely even gotten a chance to so much as text Logan in the last seven days though she'd gotten each and every one of his messages. She groaned loudly as her cell phone rang.

"Hayden."

"I thought for a bit there you'd died"

Rory almost sagged in relief at his voice. "Hi."

"Hi. You busy?"

"Have been all week."

"Do I need to let you go?"

"Please don't."

Logan chuckled. "Did Soph tell you I called?"

"Yeah. She was very excited to hear from you."

"We've made another phone date," he answered in amusement. "How are you?"

"Homicidal. Honour's going on the next trip, I don't care what she bribes me with."

"What was it this time?"

"New coffee for the break room," Rory replied sheepishly. "Now that I look back, it really wasn't the best deal I made. She knows when and how to attack."

"Early morning, before coffee."

Rory sighed. "I'll agree to anything. How have you been?"

"Eh," he replied noncommittally and Rory could almost see his shrug.

"Just eh?" Rory teased. "For a writer you certainly are inarticulate."

His chuckle made her shiver. "Shoot, hang on a second Ace."

She could hear muffled voices for a few minutes before Logan came back on the phone. "I'm going to have to call you back later. Apparently there's a meeting I so conveniently hoped to forget about. You'll be around?"

"I'm going to try and get out of here to grab Sophie at the bus," Rory responded. "But other than that…"

"If you're not at the office I'll try your cell." He paused. "It was good talking to you."

Rory smiled softly. "You too."

The 'I missed you's went unsaid.

Rory replaced the phone in its cradle with a comforting sigh. Her week suddenly seemed just a bit brighter and she apparently hadn't realized how much she missed Logan in her absence. Yet part of her still fought against anything more than friendship. She wasn't in complete denial, just absolutely terrified for what may come of it. Logan was gorgeous, charming, rich, and pompous, but he was also sweet, caring and considerate, at least when he was with her.

He'd stretched out to include Sophie over a weekend that should have been his to whittle away. He promised her while Sophie was asleep on their drive back to New York that he'd actually had fun over the weekend and he wasn't just saying that. Considering he'd be willing to make time to call an eight-year-old spoke of his honesty.

Suddenly she had a twisted but necessary idea. She pulled out a blank piece of paper and drew two lines on it, one horizontal and one vertical. She'd decide what she was going to do the same way she decided a lot of the major decisions in her life.

A pro-con list.

Okay, she thought to herself. Gorgeous – pro, charming… more of a pro than a con. Rich? Quite frankly irrelevant.

Considerate, sweet and caring found their way under the pros, as did his ability to get along with her grandparents and with Sophie. His past went under cons in big, capital letters.

Because, quite frankly, that's what it boiled down to, she realized, her pen poised over the paper as she stared at the word. While she acknowledged the 'more than friends' idea, she was a girlfriend girl, he was a casual dater when he had the time.

She was so absorbed in her list and her thoughts she didn't hear anyone approach. At the clearing of a throat she quickly flipped the page over, slamming her pen on top. "Hey Honour."

"How dead am I?"

Rory smiled and shook her head. "I think I can forgive you. What's up?"

"You have a minute for friend time?" Honour asked.

The brunette shrugged. "For you, always. Everything okay?"

"I haven't had a chance to really talk to you since we got back from Martha's."

"You were the one that decided you bribe me so I'd go on this trip and not you," Rory reminded her best friend. "You could have gone."

"I still wouldn't have talked to you," Honour pointed out smugly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. "Honour? Everything okay?"

Honour let out a heavy breath, as if preparing herself for battle. "What's going on with you and my brother?"

Rory sighed. "Where is this coming from?" Before she went any further, she wanted to know where Honour sat.

"He gave up a weekend for you. He took care of an eight-year-old for you. He…noticed you outside on the sand when you were talking to your mom, he knows you and your mom get out of hand. Not once when we were at the Vineyard did you have to remake a coffee he gave to you and he let you help him cook. He won't let anyone help him cook."

"He can't do it all by himself," Rory defended.

Honour nodded. "You're missing the point. He makes time for you, Rory, something he's never done for any other girl. Not for me, not for Steph. You're the first girl his friends truly enjoy, and I know because I saw Steph after the two of you left for the hospital and we ended up having lunch last week. You mellow him out, you make him breathe and he adds some spice into your life."

"Very good speech Honour, but where are you going with it?" Rory was still exhausted, still cranky, and Honour beating around the bush wasn't helping.

"I love you both and I don't want to see either of you hurt if you…" Honour paused, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "God! Logan's practically in love with you, Rory! He denies it, but he is and I just… I want you to go into things with open eyes."

Rory was wary of what Honour was going to say next. "I know he doesn't date exclusively, Honour, if that's what you're worried about."

"But he would for you."

Rory was flabbergasted by the mere suggestion. "What?"

"He'd be a boyfriend to you. He'd treat you like a queen, he'd be everything a good boyfriend should be and more. The only thing is that you have to be wiling to trust him."

"I do," Rory said, confusion in her voice. "He knows Sophie."

"That's not what I mean, Ror. We've all got things we wish hadn't happened, things that affect us more than we'd like to believe. He doesn't want to hurt you and he doesn't want to put you in a position where you can get hurt, but he cares for you and he'd be a boyfriend for you."

"Honour, I have no idea where you're going with this," Rory said in exasperation. "I'm tired, I'm cranky, and I can't deal with you beating around the bush."

"We all know you can get hurt in a relationship of any kind with Logan. I know you've been hurt in serious relationships before with people who didn't have Logan's reputation."

Rory froze. Honour, Lane and Paris had all promised never to bring up the failed relationship with her last boyfriend. Robert had cheated on her and she'd caught him. Rory had walked in blind and burned was an understatement for her fears. "You promised never to bring that up," Rory whispered, the pain still remarkably fresh in her mind.

Honour sighed. "I know I promised, but I don't want that to stand in the way of something that could be absolutely fantastic for you. I know Logan, and I know he'd worship the ground you walk on. Robert… never did."

It was common knowledge that most of the women in Rory's life, her grandparents excluded, were not necessarily happy with Rory's choice of beau in Robert. However, because Rory had seemed so happy, they'd all let it slide. When they broke up, Lorelai hadn't held back in her opinion of him and Christopher had even chimed in. For a while, it helped Rory feel better about the cheating, but the pain hadn't exactly gone away.

"Nothing is going to happen between Logan and I, Honour. You really have nothing to worry about."

"Give it time," the blond said wisely. Then she graced Rory with a huge smile, completely changing her mood and attitude as she was known to. "You need to go home and sleep. I can hold down the fort for today."

Rory looked at her clock. "I'll be leaving in an hour anyway so I can meet Sophie's bus, but thanks."

Honour nodded and turned to leave. At the door she stopped and turned back.

"Pasts only affect us if we want them to," the blond told her friend. "If you're willing to move on, they become lessons or the pain fades. Either way, with the right people, they can seem like they don't exist."

Rory looked at her friend, poised over the paper she was jotting her pro-con list on. "No one knows that right person. I'm not ready to put myself at risk like that."

Honour, however, wasn't stupid, and had managed to not only catch sight but read the paper Rory had been writing on. "The pro-con list tells me otherwise. Night Ror."

Rory shook her head as the blond headed off to her own office. "Night Honour," she mumbled affectionately. She looked down at her list and sighed, the big capital letters representing Logan's reputation glaring up at her. It was a really big con, that past, and especially when mixed with her own. He had the previous reputation where Robert had an innocent one. Losing her heart to a playboy would only spell trouble.

And with the stability Rory had finally found with her life, she couldn't take that risk.