A/N: Here's an update for you. This chapter is a little longer than previous ones. Hopefully it'll answer some of your questions. Quick thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far. I'm glad you are enjoying this sequel as much as I enjoy writing it.
Someday
Chapter Three: Missing The Past
Logan sat on the couch in the living room with his feet up and his eyes focused on the words on the newspaper in front of him. His mind was elsewhere. He wasn't thinking about his girlfriend who was on the other side of the country missing him like crazy, if her texts were anything to go by. No, his thoughts were reserved for one person only, Rory Gilmore.
Coming back to Hartford for the holidays had stirred up old feelings that he thought were well hidden. Apparently he was wrong, and Rory wasn't even here. She was an ocean away, but somehow he felt closer to her than ever.
They had stayed in contact over the last three and a half years. For the first three months after their break up, he hadn't heard a peep from her. He himself made a conscious effort to let her move on with her life. She was just starting a new job and he didn't want to distract her. Then one night; while out on his first date since the break up, he received a text message from Rory. It had come completely out of the blue. She had sent him some lame joke which had made him laugh more than he had that whole evening. He never saw the girl again, but he and Rory continued texting back and forth. They would send each other stupid, unfunny jokes for the first few months. They then graduated to emailing every other week. She would tell him about all of the places she had visited while on the campaign trail with Obama Barrack. Logan would tell her about his latest business deals. They never mentioned their personal lives. As far as Logan was concerned, he didn't want to know if she was dating anyone.
So for three and a half years they had kept in contact, however, they hadn't spoken on the phone. He hadn't heard her voice in all of that time. He had been moments away from dialling her number on many occasions but could never go through with it. He didn't trust himself not to crumble and beg her to come to California. He knew that if he heard her voice, it would kill him.
A few weeks ago he had been surprised when his phone rang to see her number come up on the caller ID. He didn't answer it. He just let it ring out while staring at the phone in stunned silence. Obviously he wanted to know why she would be calling him. The fear that something was wrong passed through his mind, but he had then called Honor to ask if she had heard any news, she was his unwitting source.
Nobody knew that they were still communicating. They had agreed to keep it to themselves. He found it harder than he thought it would be. Honor was one of the closest people to him. He told her practically everything that went on in his life, but not this. He kept Rory close to his heart, a place where no one could touch.
"Come on, Jasper. Be a good boy for mommy and go to sleep." Honor begged her young son as she entered the living room cradling him in her arms. Jasper was cranky, he was crying and waving his hands in the air and kicking his legs. Logan looked up to see his exhausted sister trying to calm him down and rock him to sleep, but he wasn't having any of it.
"Sssh." she whispered as she sat down on the chair across from Logan. Jasper was still crying, well actually he was wailing and Honor was becoming frantic.
"Does he need fed?" Logan asked as he placed the newspaper down onto the coffee table. Honor glared at him.
"No, he needs sleep." she said firmly. Logan sighed and got up from couch. He crossed the room and bent down to take the screaming child from her arms. "Logan!"
Logan cradled his nephew and rocked him gently while whispering softly in his ear. After a few moments Jasper calmed down, the tears dried up. Logan sat back down on the couch with him in his arms. Honor watched on in awe, her jaw dropped to the floor. Soon Jasper was sucking on his thumb, drifting off to sleep. Logan watched as his eyelashes fluttered and his breathing evened out.
"How did you do that?" Honor whispered as she got up from the chair and sat down beside her miracle worker of a brother and her now soundly sleeping child. Logan shrugged and grinned widely.
"I guess he just loves his uncle Logan." Honor smiled and brushed her hand gently over her son's forehead as he was lost to the land of nod.
"You should call your office and hand in your resignation now. You are staying here forever, or at least until he's eighteen." she said in all seriousness. Logan laughed softly so as not to wake Jasper up again.
"You'll get a handle on it soon, Hon." he assured her. Honor frowned and slumped back on the couch.
"What if I don't? What if I turn out just like mom? I can't even get him to go to sleep."
Logan shook his head. He knew that Honor was nothing like their mother and that she would be a great mom. She just needed to give herself time to adjust. He had told her that many times. He looked down at his peacefully sleeping nephew and handed him over carefully to his mother. Honor wrapped her arms around her young son and smiled lovingly down at him.
"I'm scared, Logan." she admitted. She glanced over at Logan with tears in her eyes. Logan leaned forward and rubbed his thumb over cheek and placed a kiss on her forehead.
"I know. But I'm here and you have Josh." Honor laughed at the thought of Josh helping her. He was even more clueless than she was.
"You're going to be fine." he placed his hand on her arm in a comforting gesture and got up from the couch.
"You're going to make a great dad someday, Logan." she told him honestly. Logan smiled and left the room.
Honor loved her brother dearly. He had such a good heart and he just seemed to have a way about him with children. He was nothing like Mitchum. Kids loved him and she couldn't wait until he had his own little bundle of joy. She knew it would be the luckiest child in the world to have her baby brother in its life.
RLRLRLRLRL
Rory was on a mission. She needed to go shopping. There was less than a week until Christmas and she was running out of time. She loved this time of year, especially being at home. She had missed Christmas in Star Hollow the year before, but was determined to enjoy it this time around. She was home with her friends and family and there was nowhere else she'd rather be.
Bounding downstairs, she searched the living room for her car keys. She was planning to drive to Hartford to pick up some things. This trip she would go alone as she was planning on shopping for her mother.
She couldn't remember where she last saw her keys and so she checked everywhere she could think, under the table, on the couch, underneath the couch. Suddenly she remembered hearing her mother tell her that she would put some of her stuff in the closet as Luke had already tripped over it twice. She smiled and then made her way to the closet. She opened the door and looked down. What she saw made her freeze on the spot. Her breath caught in the back of her throat and she was pretty sure she felt her heart stop.
Slowly, she lowered herself down to sit on the floor, crossing her legs; she couldn't take her eyes off the thing before her. There was a box sitting on the floor next to her suitcases, and in that box was something that she hadn't laid eyes on in a very long time.
The rocket. It was the Logan rocket. She had completely forgotten all about it, but as she sat there, staring at it, all of her old feelings came tumbling back to her. She smiled as she ran her fingers over the shiny object. She lifted it out of the box and held it out in front of her.
Soon her eyes were drawn away by something else familiar. It was a gorilla mask. It was the gorilla mask Logan had left outside her door after the Life and Death Brigade event. She remembered that event fondly. In a way it signified her whole relationship with Logan. He persuaded her to take a chance and jump with him. Jump into the unknown. Her smile broadened as she remembered how exhilarating it was.
She peered further into the box where she found old ticket stubs from the cinema and the theatre; from dates he had taken her on. She found his old 'I'm with stupid!' shirt that she had stolen from his luggage when he was leaving for London. She pulled it out of the box and held it to her face, it still smelled of him. Well, actually it smelled of his cologne seeing as she had accidentally spilled a bottle of the stuff all over it. She used to sleep wearing the shirt while he was in London. It made her feel closer to him.
Glancing around the room, she checked that she was completely alone and then she tugged the shirt over her head. It was still too big for her, but it brought back so many fond memories.
God, she missed him. It had been three and a half years since they had gone their separate ways. Three and a half years in which she had tried to move on and live her life without him. But somehow, everything always came back to Logan. He was haunting her. He was entwined with her soul and there was nothing she could do about it.
As something shiny caught her eye, she noticed a camera. It was her old digital camera, the one she thought she had lost three years ago. She reached into the box and picked up it up. She then carried the box of stuff under her arm through to the living room and sat on the couch. She powered on the camera and flicked through the files. Her heart stopped when she was met with a pair of familiar brown eyes and that electric smile that had turned her to mush so many times.
Rory continued flicking through the many pictures of them both together. She smiled broadly as she came to the infamous shower photos. She had to admit, he had a nice butt.
Giggling to herself; she continued her trip down memory lane. There were pictures of them taken with Finn and Colin. There were pictures from weekends spent at Martha's Vineyard. There were a few pictures taken in the bedroom of their old apartment. They were pictures that were making her blush just looking at them. They were pictures that she would not be letting anyone else view.
By the time the last picture arrived, she found herself in tears. It was the one of them jumping off the tower holding hands all those years ago. She closed her watery eyes and remembered the feel of excitement as they fell to the ground. She could remember vividly the feel of his hand in hers and the beat of her heart in her chest when they landed and he stared into her eyes. She remembered it all. She remembered him. She missed him.
RLRLRLRLRL
"Ah, this is the life!" Honor exclaimed as she took a large gulp of her cappuccino. She slumped back into her chair and closed her eyes as for the first time that day, she felt totally relaxed and at peace. It had been so long since she had just been able to enjoy a day to herself. Since Jasper had come along she hadn't been able to tear herself away from him. At that moment, as the sweet tasting liquid caressed her throat and her new Jimmy Choo's sat in their box by her side, she was in absolute heaven. The peaceful feeling lasted for about thirty seconds before she started worrying about her month old son at home with his father. "I should check in with Josh. Make sure Jasper is…" As she reached for her cell phone, Logan snatched it from her grasp and tucked it into his inside jacket pocket.
"He's fine, Honor." he assured her with a smile on his face. He sat across from her in a small coffee shop in Hartford. He had managed to convince her to accompany him on a shopping trip; however, her maternal instincts were driving him insane. "Just relax."
Honor sighed and took another sip of her cappuccino. "Okay. This is hard, you know. I can't help worrying about him."
"Honor. Stop. At this rate you are going to turn the kid into a momma's boy. Eventually, you are going to have to let him breathe without you."
Honor glared at him and then turned her attention to her bags. She had gone a little crazy and bought herself some new outfits and shoes. She was a new mother and didn't have the time to go shopping normally. Today, she made a point of buying herself a new wardrobe for Christmas. It was her gift to herself. Obviously, she bought some things for other people too.
RLRLRLRL
Having eventually found her keys and some emotional stability, Rory had driven to Hartford and spent the last two hours searching for the perfect present for her mother. She had been in practically every store in the city but nothing had screamed Lorelai Gilmore loudly enough. She was seriously considering just buying the fancy ceramic ashtray she spotted in the window of a thrift store and just making up some fanciful story about it. Her mother might buy it. She was kooky enough. She had always had an obsession for buying odd items. She was a self proclaimed collector of cheap tat and cheesy knock offs. It could work.
Maybe not.
As she walked along the busy street, her attention was drawn to the sound of a familiar voice talking animatedly on a phone just up ahead. As she got nearer, his voice became clearer and she was able to make him out. It was Finn. He was standing outside a restaurant yelling at someone on the phone. She found herself smiling brightly. She hadn't seen Finn since she and Logan had gone their separate ways. She had always had a soft spot for him. He always had a way of making her laugh. It was weird. Breaking up with Logan had meant that not only did she lose him but she lost Colin and Finn too. It wasn't until now, standing inches away from Finn, that she realised just how much she had missed the crazy, eternally drunk Aussie and his equally as unruly sidekick. She had grown rather attached to them over the years. Not to mention their partner in crime.
Slowly, she approached Finn and stopped as he finally spotted her. He gave her a warm smile and finished up his conversation. He hung up the phone and trailed his eyes over the blue eyed beauty standing before him.
"Well, I'll be damned. Rory Gilmore. How are you love?" he greeted her. Before she could respond he had engulfed her in a bear hug, squeezing her to within an inch of her life.
"Hey, Finn. It's good to see you." she smiled as he finally let her go.
"What brings you to these parts? Last I heard you were off to living it up in London."
"I'm just home for the holidays." she told him. She hadn't really decided whether she was going to go back to London or not, yet. "What about you? How has life been treating you since the last time I saw you?"
"Well, I finally got my pilots licence. So, I can fly anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat. Well, as soon as I buy a plane."
"That might be handy." Rory agreed with a smile on her face. The thought of Finn being solely responsible for a huge flying aircraft didn't fill her with a great sense of calm.
"Hey, as soon as I do you are booked up to fly with Finn airlines." he informed her. Rory tried to hide the shudder she felt at the prospect.
"Great. I can't wait." she said through gritted teeth. Finn smiled. His attention was drawn to his phone once again when he heard it beeping. He checked the message and sighed shaking his head.
"Women can be so impatient." he remarked. Rory narrowed her eyes as he text back and then smiled back at her. "I guess I should get used to it. Once we tie the knot, she'll be ordering me everywhere."
Rory's eyes went wide as he smiled at his phone. Did she hear him right? Did he say he was getting married?
No way. Not the eternal bachelor, Finn. He couldn't possibly have changed that much that he would be ready to settle down. Although, she probably would have said the same thing about Logan and he managed to surprise her.
"Are you? Are you getting married?" she asked cautiously. She thought that she must have misheard him. There was no way.
Finn grinned and nodded his head. "Yep. You heard correctly. I'm getting hitched. In three months to be exact. Who'd have thought it, eh?"
Rory raised her brows in disbelief. She couldn't quite comprehend the idea of Finn settling down. "Um, congratulations. That's great."
"Thanks, love. Her name's Vanessa, she is as hot as they come and, I don't know, we just click. She is the one for me."
"Redhead?"
"Actually, no. She's a blonde. I asked if she would dye it, but she is pretty stubborn. But I don't know, there is something about blonde hair." he stared off thoughtfully. Rory stared at him and smiled. He seemed happy, he seemed content. She was happy for him. Everyone deserved their own happy ending. She genuinely hoped that it worked out for him.
"So, are Colin and Logan fighting over who gets to be best man?" she smiled at the thought. Finn's smile disappeared and he lowered his gaze to the ground. His shiny, happy demeanour suddenly gone.
"Um, no actually. Colin will be doing the honours." he said simply. Rory frowned as he avoided making eye contact.
"So, Logan bowed out gracefully?" she quizzed him. Saying his name out loud felt strange to her, but what was stranger was the fact that Finn had completely changed from the happy, go lucky character from before into a more conflicted soul.
"Um, no. Logan won't be attending the wedding." he told her in a hushed tone. His voice sounded different. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes and in his tone. Instinctively, Rory felt her stomach dip. Was there something wrong with Logan that he wouldn't be able to attend his best friend's wedding? Had he been hurt in some way? She was still in contact with him to some degree but not to the extent where she would know if something bad had happened to him. Her whole body became overwhelmed with the fear and dread that something was wrong.
"Why not?" she asked him, her heart thumping in her chest.
"We're not exactly on speaking terms." Finn answered her. She felt herself visibly relax as the fear abated only to be replaced with confusion.
"Not on speaking terms? Since when?" she wondered, her brows furrowed as she contemplated the thought that these close friends could have drifted apart over the years. At Yale, Logan, Colin and Finn had been like brothers. They were inseparable. She wondered what could have happened to break such a strong bond.
"I haven't spoken to Logan for about three and a half years now." He said as he ran his hand through his messy black hair. Rory was stunned. Three and a half years. They hadn't spoken in all this time. She found that incredible.
"Why? What happened?" She was intrigued. It didn't make sense to her.
"Logan decided he was going to propose to you. I told him not to. He didn't want to hear what I had to say and then he moved to California and stopped returning my phone calls." he explained calmly. Rory's frown intensified. Because of her. They had fallen out over her?
"You told him not to?" she asked hesitantly. Finn studied her before answering.
"Its not that I didn't think you two would make a great couple. You did. I had never seen him happier than when he was with you, but you were just graduating. You had your whole life waiting in front of you. I just told him that he should wait. Give you some time. When he told me about moving to California, I asked him if he had discussed it with you. I figured that you wouldn't want to uproot your whole life like that. So, I told him not to go through with it. When he asked you and you turned him down, I tried to talk to him but he didn't want to know. He just left and I haven't heard a word from him since then."
Rory was silent. She couldn't believe what he was telling her.
"I told him not to push you. That he would end up losing you if he did. Apparently that wasn't what he wanted to hear."
"I had no idea." she said incredulously. Finn shrugged. He tried to act like it didn't bother him. That he was fine without Logan in his life. The truth was that there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't miss him.
"Do you still talk to Colin?" she asked. Her blue eyes staring up at him.
"Oh yeah. I can't get rid of that miserable bugger." Finn joked. Silently he was relieved to at least have one of his best friends in his life.
"You miss him, don't you?" Rory asked her voice thick with emotion. She could see the same look in Finn's eyes that she saw in her own. It was like something was missing, someone was missing. They had both lost the most important person in their lives and knew exactly what it was like to live in a Logan-less existence. At least she still had some kind of communication with him. She was grateful for that.
"He was like a brother to me. It's just not the same without him around, you know?" he said honestly. Rory nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. It wasn't the same without him for her either. She missed him more than she ever thought possible.
After a moment of contemplative silence, Finn resorted back to his old lovable self and reached out to hug her again.
"Well, anyway. Screw Huntzberger! He has no idea what he's missing. He's probably turned into one of those Hollywood lovies. With the bottox and the healthy living. He's probably miserable without me. Serves him right." Finn insisted with a forced smile. Rory sighed and mirrored his own pained expression.
Finn broke his gaze away from hers and pulled out a card from his pocket. He handed it over to her. "Here. Take this. Give me a call sometime. We should go to dinner sometime. You can meet Vanessa. And you must come to the wedding." He insisted. Rory studied the card. It had his name and number on it and she tucked it inside her own pocket.
"You don't have to invite me to your wedding." she told him graciously. Finn shook his head and frowned at her.
"Nonsense. You're practically family." Rory smiled at that and nodded her acceptance.
"Okay. Thanks."
"Well, I should get going. Otherwise she'll call off the wedding." he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. "It was good seeing you again, Gilmore. I missed you."
Rory's smile widened. "You to. I missed you too."
Finn winked at her. "Of course you did, love. I know you always wanted me." he teased her as he brushed passed her. Rory chuckled and watched him go.
"Only in my dreams." she called after him. He waved his goodbyes and Rory found herself smiling all the way to the nearest coffee shop as her caffeine craving became too much to ignore.
RLRLRLRLRL
Honor sifted through her bags for the umpteenth time as she fought the urge to go through Logan's coat pocket for her phone. He had disappeared to the bathroom and left her on her own to think up every possible terrible scenario that could happen to her only child without her supervision.
She was fighting a losing battle as horrible images flashed through her mind. Reaching over for his coat, something caught her eye. Actually, someone caught her eye. She noticed a brunette standing at the counter ordering coffee. From behind she looked staggeringly familiar. She looked like the ex love of her little brother's life. The woman who had broken his heart and his soul.
As she turned around, Honor immediately slumped down trying to hide herself as those blue eyes searched for an empty table. Honor instinctively felt anger towards her and was sorely tempted to go over and give her a peace of her mind. How dare she hurt her brother? Who did she think she was?
Honor's thoughts soon turned to her brother and the fact that he was due to return from the restroom at any moment and would come face to face with the little harlot. Not wanting to reopen old wounds and see her brother devastated all over again, Honor decided that she needed to discreetly gather her belongings and get him out of there as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
Her eyes followed Rory as she sat at a table near the corner of the room. She picked up her bags as quickly as she could. Why did she have to buy so many shoes?
As she made her way sliding between the many tables, she eventually reached the front of the coffee shop. She waited by the restrooms for what seemed like forever in mortal terror that Logan would walk out just as Rory decided she needed to go to the bathroom herself.
After waiting impatiently for a few short minutes, Honor pushed open the door and noticed Logan standing at the sinks washing his hands.
"Hey, little brother, will you hurry up in there? I have a son I need to get back to." she said anxiously. Logan smiled and shook his head as he dried his hands and headed for the exit.
"You seriously need help." he told her jokingly. Honor just hurried him out and pushed him quickly towards the door.
"Come on, come on." Logan rolled his eyes at his bossy sister before realising that he didn't have his jacket.
"Crap, I'll be right back." he turned to go back to their table. Honor's eyes widened in horror and she grabbed his arm.
"Where are you going?" she noticed Rory sitting a few feet away. She was reading a book and sipping on some coffee. She knew that if Logan turned around he would see her and then his whole world would crash down around him again. She knew it had been almost four years since they broke up, but she also knew her brother. She knew that the reason he and Grace were having problems was because he wasn't able to let go of the past; of Rory. He probably never would and while part of her wanted him and Rory to end up living happily ever after together, the other part; the overprotective part wanted to keep him away from anything or anyone who would cause him pain.
Logan looked at her as if she was nuts as a smirk grew on his face. "I need my jacket."
Honor sighed relieved. "I've got your jacket here. It's in one these bags. Come on, lets go."
Logan shook his head once again and allowed her to lead the way. Motherhood had made her even more insane than she already was, but he would humour her, for now.
Logan retreated to his room for the evening having spent the night playing scrabble with his sister and brother in law. That was what his social life had come to. He was truly pathetic these days.
He got ready for bed and thought about what the next evening would bring. Tomorrow was the Gilmore's Christmas Party. He had promised he would attend and he couldn't deny the fact that he felt nervous about going back to that house. It held a lot of memories that he wasn't sure whether he was ready to face yet.
Before getting into bed, he decided to check his emails. He was expecting to hear from Geoff Abbott, one of his partners back in Paolo Alto. He sat down at the desk and powered on his laptop. Once it was booted up, he went online and checked his email account. He had two messages. One was from Geoff, but the other immediately caught his attention.
He clicked on the second one and waited for it to open. Once it did, he felt his heart stop and all of the blood run from his face as he was met with the striking image of his Ace and himself staring intently at one another moments after jumping off the makeshift tower. His hand was wrapped in hers and held firmly against her chest and his eyes were transfixed. She was equally as enthralled with him.
As his heart started beating again, Logan moved the page down to reveal a message that made his whole body freeze. It read:
I miss you.
A
Three simple words which held so much more meaning for him. He stared at the picture for what felt like forever before he closed it and switched off his computer. He slowly meandered over to his bed, his mind swirling with thoughts of Rory.
The last thing he thought before his eyes closed over and sleep invaded was; I miss you too.
A/N: So, they almost ran into each other! Eek! What will happen when they are finally reunited? Find out in the next chapter. In the meantime, please review. Oh, and I hope you're not too upset with Honor. She doesn't hate Rory, she's just trying to protect her little brother from getting his heart broken again.