For cac04 who sent me a brilliant novel and got my blood pumping fast enough to want to post again. Good luck, dear!

Rory settled back against her desk chair with a heavy sigh. She'd been back at work non-stop for three weeks since she, Honour, Sophie and Logan had taken that break in Martha's Vineyard. Something had shifted between her and Logan during that trip. He'd intensified his flirting instead of pulling back from her because of the intensity of the weekend. They talked minimum once a day, often calling each other at work just to share some random form of good news and when Sophie picked up the phone, he was just as likely to talk to her. She wasn't against it at all, she loved it, but it scared her at times. If she let herself get caught up in Logan, there was a chance she wouldn't make it out in one healthy piece.

The ringing of her phone startled her. "Hayden."

"Hey Ace."

His tone was dull and she was worried. "Hey Logan."

"I know we had plans for tonight, but I'm going to have to cancel them."

Rory felt her heart drop. "Okay."

"I'm so, so sorry, Rory. I just…" he let out a breath of air in a whoosh. "I'm not good company right now."

"What happened?"

"You don't want to hear about it."

Her shoulders sagged. "Okay."

"Rain check?"

"Yeah."

"I really am sorry, Rory."

A small smile grew over her face. "I know."

"I'll call you."

"You do that."

She stared at her computer screen for all of five minutes before an idea started forming in the back of her mind. There were few things that cheered her up on a bad day more than a movie night and it would probably be a lot healthier than Logan's usual choice of events to blow off steam. Plus, a sugar coma was infinitely less painful than a hangover. She already had movies in mind, all of them action based, no chick flicks, guy movies. And she'd bring along her long list of approved Gilmore Girl junk food.

Doing a mental inventory of her own personal stock, Rory realized she had some shopping to do. Glancing at her watch, she figured she could snatch up the junk food and movies and they could argue over what type of food to order when she got there. Of course, she'd have to introduce him with slightly less food than she and her mother usually consumed, with a little bit of Kitty and Sophie's help, but she hoped it would be worth it.

She was already heading towards Honour's office with her stuff packed up, the night still planning itself in her head as she poked her head into Honour's office. "I'm out."

"I heard you had dinner with Logan tonight," Honour replied, not looking up from her screen.

"Cancelled. He wouldn't tell me anything, as per usual."

Honour looked up at her. "When I know, you'll know," she promised as usual. She'd told Logan to get a grip on himself and look at what was in front of him, but sometimes things didn't go her way. Still, she could hope that Logan would realize Rory was the best thing he'd had since Catherine, and letting her go would be a sad, sad tribute.

Rory smiled. "Thanks, Honour. Though, I'm hoping to get a sugar-induced rant out of him."

Honour cocked her head. "You know he drinks himself into a stupor when the Huntzbergers get a hold of him, right?"

Rory shrugged. "I'm hoping I can get over there before any permanent damage is done. Since he called from the office I'm assuming he hasn't left yet. With a little bit of luck I'll catch him on his first or second."

"You're a brave girl."

Rory shrugged. "He'd do the same for me."

Honour's smile was soft and secretive. "He already did."

"The Vineyard," Rory acknowledged, "And I'd debate that with you further but I have to get going if I'm going to pick everything up and get to his place in time. Text me the address?"

"Sure thing. Get going."

Logan was startled by the knock on the door of his apartment. He hadn't even made it half way through his first glass. If it was Finn or Colin… "Not interested!"

"I come bearing food and entertaining company, open up."

He was startled to recognize Rory's voice and before he knew exactly what he was doing, he had pulled open the door. "What are you doing here?"

"You sounded terrible on the phone. Plus, a sugar coma's less painful than a hangover. Can I come in?"

He felt his lips twitch at the corner of his mouth. Sometimes she was just too cute to argue with. "Sure thing." He stepped aside to allow her passage, taking in the rolling suitcase she brought with her. "How much did you bring?"

"Enough for a medium-sized Gilmore Girls movie night. I figured I could introduce you to the full on real thing some other time."

"I'm touched."

"Cheers me up," she said with a shrug, hoisting the suitcase onto his counter. "Honour gave me the address. You don't mind, right?"

He held up his half finished glass. "Sugar coma's better than the hang over, remember?"

Rory's chuckle sounded slightly awkward, even to her own ears. "I know you said you weren't going to be good company tonight, so I figured I could make sure you didn't give yourself alcohol poisoning and we wouldn't have to talk because we'd be watching movies and eating and then there would be no pain tomorrow morning and..."

In three quick strides Logan had reached her and pulled her against his body. "Thank you, Ace."

Since her face was buried against his shoulder – taking in the scent of sweat, and cologne – he couldn't see her smile. "Hey, you babysat Sophie for me when I needed a break. You need cheering up."

"Still… this is more than Finn or Colin would ever do for me."

Rory looked up at him. "You haven't seen what I brought yet. It can get pretty horrifying. And that doesn't even include dinner."

Logan groaned playfully. "You mean we're going to be eating more food than this?"

Rory laughed, a full laugh this time, not just a chuckle. "Huntzberger, you ain't seen nothin' yet!"

Five hours, two movies and two pizzas later, Rory and Logan had relocated to Logan's bedroom for comfort. Rory had brought yoga pants and a tank top along with her knowing that watching movies in the business suit she'd been wearing was stupid and enjoyment of said movies was next to impossible and Logan had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. He was just putting in the next movie.

"So, tell me, Mr Huntzberger," she said from the pillows. "Is this better than getting drunk by yourself?"

Logan shot her a grin, making sure the DVD player accepted the disk before moving beside her and sitting on top of the covers. Rory, he noticed, had made herself completely at home underneath them. "Infinitely," he responded. "You have a talent."

She blushed. "Thanks."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments while the opening credits started. All evening Rory had tried to keep things light and happy, but she really wanted to know what had set Logan off this time and had affected him enough to cancel. There had been other times where Logan had been less than himself at dinner, but he rarely cancelled them because he was in a bad mood. By the end of the meal, she usually had him smiling and laughing.

She couldn't hold it in anymore. "Logan?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?"

She took a deep breath for courage. "What happened in your family that set you off?"

He looked at her, startled. "How did you know it was family?"

She met his gaze, concern overflowing from every pore in her body. "Nothing else puts you in as bad of a mood as that pressure does," she reasoned.

Logan sighed. "Honour has a big mouth."

"She worries about you."

"It's not her problem, nor is it yours."

Rory stamped down the flash of irritation. "You're right, it's not. I'm sorry for worrying." She turned her attention back to the movie, knowing Logan's eyes were still on her.

Turning away was probably the best and worst thing she could have done. It tugged at his heart. She'd only been concerned, been worried, and he'd snapped at her and told her off. He was pulling back from her, the one thing he'd promised himself he'd try and stop doing.

Since the Vineyard he'd been calculated in the things they did and the places they went. He was more deliberate in his flirting, yearning for the blush that crept over her face with a well placed sexual innuendo or the cute smile she shot him when she proved him wrong. Honour had been right, though. If he was going to keep carefully manoeuvring his way into a relationship with Rory, he would have to share with her. He sighed. "I'm my father's only heir and sometimes I think the family's biggest disappointment."

Rory glanced at him, trying not to show as much relief as she felt at him sharing. "How are you a disappointment?" He wrote constantly, that she knew from actually picking up the paper, and he was a good writer. It would surprise her to hear him passed over any sort of promotion in the near future with the work he was doing. And he was young, entrepreneurial from what they'd chatted about, and fresh-faced. She could see big things in his future.

Logan shrugged. "I've never been good enough."

Rory gave up pretending to half pay attention to the movie. "How can you not be good enough for your own family? I thought it was your mother you had problems with and you know you'll always be better than good enough for Honour."

"I don't know," he snapped, then got a look at her startled face and apologized.

"It's okay. I just wasn't prepared for it," she replied with an easy smile. "But I don't get it. You went to Yale, you went into journalism, there was never a question about where you'd end up and you followed The Plan. How can you be a disappointment?"

Logan shrugged. "I come home at the end of the day. Sure, I work hard, but I forgo work sometimes for other things. Like dates."

"And friends," Rory agreed. "But you need those things to keep you sane."

"I do. Mother doesn't think I should have any distractions other than the necessary events to find me a suitable trophy wife."

"I don't understand."

"Quite frankly, Ace, neither do I. I've always known I was going to work for my dad's company and I was never as bitter about it as I think I could have been. Sure, I did some things that were a deliberate strike against my parents, but I enjoyed my freedom while it lasted."

Rory nodded. "So what was it this time?"

Logan sighed. "Honestly, I can't even remember. Mom called and started yapping about some society function that was happening and how I had to come meet some society trophy wife and… I don't know. Then to top it all off my team pitched a new idea to my dad and he turned it down flat."

She could hear the frustration in his voice and how much it annoyed him. She felt like she wanted to find some way to help him, to try and assuage some of his irritation. Since she was also very much aware that talk of marriage in society was taboo, she decided in a course of conversation she could actually understand. "So you proposed an idea and he flipped out at you?"

He couldn't stop a smile from stretching his lips. "Are you sure you're not cut out to be a reporter?"

She laughed slightly. "Thought about it once or twice, but went into business instead. I'm pretty sure Grandpa wants me to take over the Gilmore company when he decides to finally retire. But I want to hear about this idea of yours."

"It's boring shop talk, Ace. You don't want to watch the movie?"

She shook her head tucking a let underneath her and turning to face him. This was important to him and she wanted to hear his idea before passing judgement on Mitchum's decision to ignore it. "I can watch the movie some other time and your mother is too deep of a topic for either of the Huntzberger children. What's this idea of yours?"

So Logan explained it to her. Print media was becoming obsolete with the access the internet granted. Huntzberger Media owned papers and publishing companies, but no internet corporations, nor did they really even have a website. Their readers were aging and Logan knew that to get new readers they had to expand into the technological side of the news. His father, however, didn't want to see that.

"Well that's silly," Rory said, sharing her opinion. "Some people don't have all the time in the world to read the paper and using web sites is just easier. I know I use them when I don't have time to finish my paper in the morning."

"Exactly. I suggested to a couple of the people I work with that we look for some sort of internet company to buy or we start our very own site. When we built the proposal and took it to Mitchum, he shot it down flat."

"Why? Where's the losses?"

Logan suddenly felt extremely stupid. Of course his Ace would understand the business aspect. She had a degree in it, she knew how businesses worked. "I have no idea. I mean, our idea included subscribing and therefore paying a fee to get certain articles or benefits, and it would cost the same as the daily paper. Eventually the benefits outweigh the risks. Plus, we could get sponsors like you guys have, except run ads on our websites, just like papers run ads."

Rory grinned. "I know what you mean. We have a site, you know. That's how we get a lot of our clientele."

"Are you serious?"

Rory nodded. "There's a section on the site that allows them to contact us with any questions and gives them directions on how to submit applications and stuff. I think Honour and I are both hoping for some international recognition out of it, but we think it was a fabulous investment."

Without thinking, Logan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She had just turned a horrible day into something almost bearable. "Can you pitch this to my father?"

She chuckled. "Find success stories, prove to him that internet news can be a gain and not a loss," she suggested, shuffling so their thighs were pressed together and her head could rest on his shoulder. The ease in which they shifted into such an intimate position wasn't lost on her. She'd felt the changes in their relationship and, as often as her head argued against it, her heart welcomed it with open arms.

"It's a great idea, Logan, and maybe you should start your own site anyway, manage it from home. You can monitor the hits it gets, maybe even monitor subscriptions if you want to do that and test it for yourself, without your dad knowing."

"I can't do it by myself," he protested finding himself a comfortable position by winding his arm around her back so his hand rested on the opposite hip. "That's a lot of work."

"You already said you had a group of people that were on board with the idea," she reminded him hyper aware of his hand on her hip. "You've got a trust fund too, so it's not like getting the money to start it would be that much of a problem. Plus, those people are already writing articles for your print papers, right? Why not just put them up as your site? Then no new things have to be written unless you want them to be."

Logan sighed trailing his fingers over the fabric of her top. Part of him couldn't believe the simple intimacy while talking about something so serious. "I don't know if I can go behind my father's back like that, Ace. If he finds out, I'm a dead man."

"And your company is going to be dead if something isn't done, Logan, you said that already."

He looked down at the top of her head, surprised at the insight and help she'd been at settling his mind. She was right, after all. He was sure he was going to be forced to pick up the pieces of Huntzberger Media if he didn't do something proactive to increase their readers. It was fine if Mitchum didn't want to accept that print media was going out of style, but Logan wasn't about to watch a legacy fall apart because his father was too stubborn. She had helped him see that.

Honour had been right. The thought struck him suddenly and with force he hadn't been ready for. She'd told him that sharing things with Rory couldn't hurt him as much as he thought and while he'd already decided to explain his past to her, the fact that she had supported his idea, that she hadn't told him he was stupid and a disappointment, went a long way to solidify the trust he already had in her.

He was reminded of how different Rory was from many of the other girls he knew. Steph and Honour could both hold their own in arguments with him, could even talk business with him, but many of the other women he interacted with had absolutely no clue about what he was going on and on about when he started talking business. Rory, on the other hand, had the education to back her up and the experience of essentially running her own company.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he said, looking down at the top of her head, pressing a kiss to her part.

Rory looked up at him in surprise at the gesture, hoping the heat that had risen in her body from his fingers wasn't showing on her face. "Why? I didn't say anything that wasn't true."

Logan nodded. "But you put it into perspective. I was so angry that I couldn't look at it any other way then the way it went down. And you came here, knowing I was in a bad mood, just to cheer me up."

She was blushing bright red now from his flattery. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and neck and was thankful that her embarrassment hid everything else. She tried to shrug it off. "You don't usually cancel on me, Mac," she admitted. "I get worried when you do."

Logan snuggled down into his blankets, keeping Rory close to him as he settled down. "Want to restart the movie?" he asked.

Rory had moved with him, her head now on his chest as they lay flat. "Nah, we didn't miss much. We'll just watch from here."

For the third time that night, he kissed her head, wrapping his arms around her tighter than before. She made him feel better about himself and his work. She had turned into his sanity and his confidante in the six months. Somehow she understood him and somehow she stuck with him. It really didn't make sense to him, but as long as she was willing to stay with him, he wouldn't complain.

Now, he just had to find a way to handle telling her about Catherine.

Rory woke to the glow of the television and tried to roll over in bed. It took her a few moments to realize that the weight around her body was Logan's arm and it was his chest she was using as a pillow. Somehow during the movie they had both drifted off, snuggled up like she remembered after talking.

She was honestly surprised that Logan had been willing to share as much with her as he had. She expected to fight him, to leave in a huff and was prepared for this to be their first major fight since becoming friends. He'd opened up a lot easier than she'd expected, but she took it in stride, telling him things that she not only believed he wanted to hear, but things she knew to be true.

She'd learned a lot about him during that conversation. He was an independent person with his own ideas and his own opinions. When his parents tried to control his decisions and his future, he hated it. She realized that it was the reason Steph, Colin, Finn and Logan had so many outrageous stories from their youth. It was their way of controlling some part of their life.

She also cemented one of Logan's biggest and carefully hidden fears. He didn't show fear often, a trait she hated and admired. She was surprised at his adamant reaction to any future wife. She figured him to be the trophy wife type. He had a hundred different numbers on speed dial for dates and to the extent of her knowledge always showed up to events with a different blond bimbo on his arm. She'd gotten insight into his need for intelligence and a challenge at their first fundraiser together, but never had she realized how deep that yearning ran. He didn't want the trophy wife, he wanted a best friend and companion. He wanted love, not convenience.

She loved learning these little things about Logan. He had more quirks than her home town and her favourite past time had become studying him. It went beyond his looks, though she'd learned to read him over their constant time together. He loved M&Ms in his popcorn instead of with it. His biggest indulgence were the crime novels he kept hidden in his office. His favourite movie genre wasn't stereotypical action-adventure with too much blood and gore, but those with storylines, especially if they had historical significance. He got a little wrinkle above his left eye when he was joking with her and clammed up when it came to talking about any of his 'girlfriends' or familial relationships that didn't include Honour.

She hadn't realized she was drawing patterns on his chest until his hand closed over hers. "Go to sleep, Ace."

She blushed crimson. "The TV woke me up," she explained stupidly.

His hand fumbled around on his bedside table until he found the remote and clicked off the power. The room was suddenly much darker, light coming from the streetlights in one long shaft between his bedroom curtains. "Now can you go to sleep? You've been watching me for ten minutes and it's a little disconcerting."

She was impressed with his ability to use large words even half asleep. "I didn't mean to wake you," she replied, her voice a whisper. "I'm sorry."

He mumbled something incoherently, tugging her until she was almost sprawled across him. His hand trailed up and down her spine trying to soothe the tension in her back and get her to relax and sleep. It never once crossed his mind that these were things a boyfriend did for his girlfriend, but it did register in his half asleep mind that something was wrong. "Everything okay?" he asked drowsily.

Rory focused her eyes on a spot on his comforter, trying to make up a lie to tell him.

"Rory?"

She gave up. "I'm glad you talked to me about what was bugging you… I mean with your dad and everything," she finally settled on.

"Friends share with friends, right?"

"You just… I just…"

Logan sighed. "Rory, Ace, I'm really not awake enough to be having a serious conversation with you," he said, humour in his voice. "I need at least half of my brain capacity and with the day I had, I just need to sleep. Can you please try and relax?"

"Okay," she said in a small voice, breathing in and out once, closing her eyes. Her body relaxed in Logan's arms and the next thing she knew, she was asleep.