"Hey Logan," Rory said with uncertainty in her eyes as she rung her hands together, "Not to be rude or anything, but what exactly are you doing here?" Rory managed to get out as she finally willed herself to meet Logan's eyes.
Biting his inner cheek to keep from yelling Logan rolled his eyes before speaking through gritted teeth, "Paris asked me to watch her beach house while she and Doyle went on a trip." Logan tried desperately to conceal his anger as he clenched and unclenched his fists. 'I will not hit a woman, I will not hit a woman….however Doyle is somehow a man so I'll defiantly hit him,' Logan thought as he stared at a dumbfounded Rory.
"But I had told Paris weeks ago that I would watch her house for her….I don't see why…." Rory started, but stopped as realization of the situation at hand washed over her features, "That bitch!" Rory said in an irate tone, causing Logan to wince at its forcefulness.
"Listen Ror, I can go," Logan finally spoke as he pointed towards the still open door, "It doesn't take two people to watch a house and you came all the way here so I would hate to inconvenience any…." Logan stuttered with a distressed look clearly apparent on his face as he motioned back and forth between her and the door.
"Logan," Rory snapped, breaking him out of his monologue, "You're rambling." Rory said as she lifted her hand to her mouth to mask the chuckle that emanated out of it.
"Sorry," Logan softly stated as he looked down at his hands and then up at her. "Listen, I'm just going to leave," Logan said with a pained expression as he pointed to the door, silently pleading with her to ask him to stay, "Good-bye Rory," Logan uttered those all to familiar words as he proceeded to walk out the door.
"Logan wait!" Rory exclaimed, as he was half-way out the door.
"Yea?" Logan quipped, as he turned around, slight smile evident on his face.
Realizing how that may have come off, Rory quickly checked herself before starting again. "Why don't you stay for dinner?" Rory whispered while pointing towards the kitchen.
"You cook Ace?" Smile now clearly present.
"God no!" Rory laughed out with a disgusted look on her face. "I ordered pizza, probably enough to feed a small Peruvian village and I wouldn't mind having some company," Rory smiled warmly at Logan before moving into the kitchen. Logan sighed as he shut the front door before reluctantly following her.
"Do you want some coffee?" Rory questioned as she put her hair up into a ponytail.
Logan only nodded as he sat down on a stool and tried not to think about how incredibly awkward this felt.
"So," Rory stated, setting down a cup of coffee in front of Logan, breaking the awkward silence, "How did Hitler and her lap dog sucker you into watching their house?"
Logan just chuckled at the reference to Doyle's masculinity, "Oh, you know Paris and how forceful she could be," Logan quipped, not wanting to say more, not knowing if Rory knew the extent of his relationship with Doyle and Paris. After moving to California, Paris and Doyle looked up Logan and the trio quickly became good friends seeing as how they new no one else in San Francisco.
"Oh do I know," Rory exclaimed, rolling her eyes as she sat down across from Logan.
"So what about you Rory," Logan said as he stirred the sugar into his coffee, "How did you get roped in?"
"I offered actually," Rory replied, sincerity emanating from her voice, "I had just finished the Obama Campaign when she offered and I thought a much needed vacation would be good before I started to job hunt." Rory finished eyes boring into his. 'Besides,' Rory thought, 'I knew I was bound to run into at some point or another, albeit not this soon and I missed you.'
The awkward duo sat in silence for what seemed to be hours, each lost in their own thoughts, when the doorbell rang. Rory sprang up and ran to the door before Logan could even raise his head.
Rory couldn't help but let out a laugh at the sight before her. There was the pizza boy, no more than seventeen, standing at the door, shifting anxiously from foot to foot, police officer standing next to him. Is this how it works in California? The delivery boys are convicted felons and the gardeners are illegal immigrants?
"I swear officer, the delivery boy didn't do it," Rory said in mock seriousness, "It was Mrs. White in the study, with the revolver." The delivery boy laughed nervously and the cop just stared at her in confusion. "Sorry, bad joke." Rory whispered as she paid the delivery boy and watched him leave.
"What can I do for you officer?" Rory questioned as she passed the pizza's to Logan who had just entered the room, upon hearing the commotion.
"I've been instructed by the chief deputy to inform all residents that a major storm is headed this way, and that all roads are presently shut down."
"But officer, it's not even raining!" Logan shouted as he pointed accusingly to the sky as Rory stood by, helplessly watching the scene unfold. "And I live two minutes from here!"
"Listen kid, I don't really care if you live two minutes away or two seconds. If you're out on the road, I will arrest you." And with that the cop left, leaving a distraught, open mouthed Logan standing next to a very uncomfortable Rory.
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An hour and a half later, the pizza was finished and Rory and Logan sat in silence watching the storm violently rage on from the patio window. Neither had spoken to the other since the officer left, and the tension of a possible fight looming over them was so thick that Rory was sure that even thunder and lighting wouldn't break it.
"I need a drink," Logan suddenly announced as he jumped up from his position on the floor and walked over to the wine cabinet.
"Is being stuck here with me really that bad?" Rory whispered, not really meaning for him to hear, but hurt evident in her voice nonetheless.
"Yes," Logan replied nerves and anger testing on his patience, "It is."
"And Why is that?" Rory bitingly replied back although they both knew she knew the answer.
"Why?" Logan said through gritted teeth as he threw the corkscrew down with some much force that Rory jumped back slightly, "You broke my fucking heart Rory! You said no," Logan said eyes full of pain and emotion as he stared pitifully at her.
"And you walked away," Rory shouted back, tears falling down her eyes before she threw open the patio door and ran out into the rain.
Rory hadn't been out there for more than a moment when she turned around at the sound of foot steps jogging behind her.
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Before Logan could even rationalize what he was doing, he was out in the pouring rain running after her yet again. As he reached her, Rory opened her mouth in protest but Logan shut her up the only way he knew how; he kissed her.
Pulling her forcefully up against him Logan tried desperately to convey everything that he felt for her in that one kiss, hoping, praying even, that she understood. It was only when they pulled away and regained their breath, that he spoke.
"You've wrecked me Gilmore," Logan cracked, all of his previously built up walls falling down. "Absolutely wrecked me in the worst possible way that a person could be."
Rory just stared on in confusion as she pulled away from his tight embrace, mouth agape as his confession.
"I never wanted this," He admitted honestly as he motioned between them, "But you," He continued pointing an accusing finger at her, "were ever so persistent as you always are, and god damn it even though I never wanted it, I realized that in time I needed it, needed you."
"When I proposed I was so sure that you would say yes," Logan said with helpless eyes as he stared at her. All Rory could offer was a comforting smile as he went on, "But you didn't and suddenly my whole world came to a halt. The person that meant everything to me, the one that I loved the most said no and I had to idea were to turn. So I reverted back to my old ways, hell bent on forgetting you, but I couldn't. I thought of you when I made coffee in the morning, thinking about how I probably wasn't making it strong enough. Or in the morning when I went to pull you closer and you weren't there, or if I saw a joke that you would have liked I wanted to call you but I couldn't. The fact that I loved you was ever more present when you weren't here than when you were." Logan finished quietly as he moved closer to her.
"Logan," Rory started unable to grasp the right words to convey the emotions she felt in her heart. She loved him, that was no question, but could they really go back?
"Rory I need you," Logan said with all the honesty and sincerity that he had as he stood in front of her, dripping from head to toe.
"Logan, I really don't know," Rory said doubtfully as she looked anywhere but at him, arms wound tight around her. "So much time has past that I do.."
"Rory don't think about time! Think with what your heart is telling you. Now I can stand out here for the rest of the night, catch a pneumonia, be on my death bed, and still list the ways and reasons on why need you in my life if you still need to hear it." Logan said as he waved his arms around wildly to emphasize his point. "Just please, answer me one question," Logan said as he reached for her hand, "Is there still a chance?" All of the want and hope clearly present in his eyes as he awaited her answer.
Rory just stood there for a moment, absorbing everything that he had said, pro/con lists running rapidly through her mind. Then she did something completely abnormal for her; she took Logan's advice and followed her heart. Pulling him into a kiss, she now conveyed the emotions that she had felt swimming inside of her ever since she saw in at the door that afternoon. Pulling back from the kiss smiling she looked into Logan's chocolate eyes and realized she had made the right choice, "What do you think?"