Rory sat down and let out a sigh. Shaking her head with a mixture of amusement and frustration she pulled the basket sitting atop her desk towards her. Logan had been there almost two weeks and every single day during that time she would walk in to work to find something else waiting for her. Today's gift appeared to be at least a dozen different types of gourmet coffee from all around the world. Was he really so oblivious as to think that all of these presents would change her mind? Was he really so naive that he thought he could buy her love?

She dug through the basket looking for the note she knew would be there. Locating the piece of stationary she unfolded it and began to read.

Dear Ace,

I wanted to get you the world's best coffee but I know Luke would never reveal his sources, especially to me. I have, however, begun the search for the world's second best cup of coffee. Here are the contenders so far. Hope you enjoy.

Love,

Logan

Rory rolled her eyes. How the hell was she supposed to enjoy this coffee? Was she just going to walk into her apartment with the giant basket and say "hey Jess, want some expensive coffee compliments of my ex-boyfriend?" As though Jess weren't jealous enough as it was. She couldn't bring this coffee home, she couldn't bring any of his presents home. She had a pair of $4000 earrings she couldn't wear sitting in her jewelry box because Logan refused to take them back. She had originally thought that she could at least leave things like the flowers and the crystal picture frame on her desk but even that wasn't a possibility anymore since Jess had decided to stop by the office every chance he got. He'd come to take her out to lunch almost everyday and the few days when he hadn't made an appearance at noon he chose to stop by at the end of the day to take her out for a drink.

Of course she could hardly blame Jess for not trusting her around Logan, she could barely trust herself. The truth was, although she was distinctly uncomfortable with all the gifts, she was growing increasingly comfortable with his presence. She no longer flinched when he would place his hand on her arm or her shoulder or the small of her back or anywhere else he could touch her without being completely inappropriate. She also noticed that the little voice of reason that haunted her when they would lock eyes and stare a little too long, was slowly fading into the background. She tried to tell herself that it was OK to be comfortable around Logan, that it was a good thing. They had to work together after all, things shouldn't be awkward. Now maybe if he would just accept the fact that she was with Jess, they could be friends. Of course deep down she knew that was impossible; she'd never be just friends with Logan. She thought back to the day when they first became an official couple. She had planned on ending things all together, not wanting to push Logan into something he didn't want; she had told him that they should just go back to being friends. Even then, before things had gotten serious, she knew it was a lie. They had never been friends; the sexual tension had followed them like a shadow from the moment they had first argued. No, she would never be just friends with Logan Huntzberger.

Not knowing what else to do with the coffee, she picked it up and brought it to the break room. It looked as though the entire office would be helping Logan on that quest for the world's second best cup of coffee.

"From the fiance?" some girl who's name Rory didn't know asked as she looked from the ring on Rory's left hand to the basket of coffee. Rory tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes. She knew this had been a constant topic of debate around the office for the past two weeks. Everyone was wondering whether the gifts were coming from Jess or Logan. Not that it mattered anyway, the conclusion people came to was the same either way; if the gifts were from Logan it meant she was having an affair with him; if the gifts were from Jess it meant that she was having an affair and Jess suspected and was trying to lay claim to what was his.

That was just another one of the reasons she was annoyed that Logan kept buying her all these things. He was just fueling the fire and he didn't seem to care. People could talk all they wanted, what did it matter, he was used to people talking about him. The only other time she had been the topic of the gossip mills like this was when she'd first started dating Logan. Back then all the girls hated her because she'd "cut in line" now they hated her because she precluded a line. There could be no line as long as Rory was in the picture. So they talked, as people always did when they were jealous. She figured if the girls in the office could have it their way, they'd brand her with a scarlet A.

"I figured I'd share the wealth with the office. What do you think of..." Rory pulled one of the bags out and read the label, "hazelnut, from Brazil?"

Rory thought for a split moment that she had successfully dodged the question but one look at the girl's face told her otherwise. No, the coffee wasn't from her fiance; a Gilmore would never share her coffee if she didn't have to. "Hazelnut from Brazil sounds good," the girl answered with a fake smile. The girl didn't stick around for the coffee though, she immediately left the break room and as Rory watched her leave she noticed the girl walk straight up to one of her friends and whisper something in her ear. She began to turn away, trying not to think about the gossip but something or someone, rather, caught her eye.

Rory walked to the door of the break room for a better look, hoping her eyes were deceiving her; they weren't. This day just couldn't get any worse. She had expected this. She knew he would come around occasionally and that Logan couldn't always protect her from him like he had on Halloween, but seeing him still threw her for a loop. Their eyes caught and he stared at her for a moment, his lips curved into the same smirk his son was famous for, only on him it wasn't nearly as sexy. She felt as though she were three feet tall as he continued to stare at her for what seemed like eternity but was really only a few seconds. He finally turned away to walk towards Logan's office and she felt herself breath again, though she was still far from calm.

Sue noticed her standing in the doorway and she quickly made her way over to her. "Hey, come on," Sue said, grabbing Rory's hand. "Let's go get some coffee."

"I have a whole basket full of coffee," Rory answered mechanically.

"Rory..."

"We shouldn't just leave work in the middle of the day."

"I think we'll be forgiven," Sue replied, tugging on Rory's hand. "Let's go." Rory didn't put up anymore of a fight as she followed Sue to the elevators.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Jenyl, one of the assistant editors asked them as they walked by.

"Out for coffee," Sue told her.

"I don't think so, get back to work," she ordered them.

"Sorry, personal emergency. We'll be back later."

"Unless you're personal emergency involves various body parts being broken or bleeding I don't want to hear about it. In case you didn't notice the senior Huntzberger just made an appearance and I don't want to have to explain staff members mysteriously disappearing."

"I don't think we'll be missed," Sue replied.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm sure she'll be missed," Jenyl pointed at Rory. "Huntzberger will probably want her around for a good fuck to cheer himself up after daddy dearest leaves," the woman hissed.

Rory knew what everyone was thinking but to actually hear someone come out and say it straight to her face was dumbfounding. She stood there speechless for a moment until she noticed Sue lunging herself at the woman.

"Oh them's fighting words Missy," the red head threatened.

"Sue! Sue! Stop it," Rory threw herself between the two women.

"Didn't you hear what she just said about you?" Sue asked incredulously.

"Oh, I heard. It's not worth starting a fight over though. She's just sore because she can't get into Logan's pants," Rory shot an evil glare over her shoulder at the other woman. "And instead of admitting that the reason she could never be with him is because she's a manipulative, gold-digging, bitch, she decided to make up stories so she could place the blame on me." Rory turned her full attention back to Jenyl. "Green's an ugly color on you. Get over it. Logan's far too good a man to ever settle for the likes of you. But hey, Mitchum's here and manipulative, gold-digging, bitches are exactly his type, so maybe if you're really lucky you can still lay a Huntzberger." Rory grabbed Sue's arm and led her onto the elevator.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan looked up from his papers as the door to his office began to open. He wondered who would brave enough to enter without knocking; the only people in the office who weren't intimidated by him were Rory and Sue. As much as he liked the idea of it being Rory behind the door he wasn't foolish enough to expect that and he knew it wasn't Sue either. His curiosity was peeked but as soon as the door opened fully and he identified his intruder, he was anything but surprised.

"What are you doing here?" he sighed.

"I own this paper," Mitchum replied.

"You own a lot of papers, what makes this one so special?"

"Don't get cute with me, son. I'm certainly not about to hand over this kind of responsibility to you and not check in from time to time. I'll admit you're good at your job but you still have plenty to learn."

"Yes well, you've checked in, everything's running smoothly, and now you can leave," Logan turned his attention back to the paperwork he was going over.

"That's not very polite. I thought you're mother taught you better manners than that," Mitchum returned in a slightly joking tone.

"You mean the nanny taught me better manners. Mom had about as much to do with raising me as you did."

"Touche," Mitchum agreed. "Still, the proper thing to do here would be to invite me to sit. Good business etiquette and all."

"I don't need to invite you to sit, Dad. You'll do as you please anyway," Logan didn't even look up from his work.

"True, true. How about this sofa. Is it a safe place to sit or has it been used for any...after hours activities, perhaps with the lovely Miss Gilmore?" Logan's head shot up at hearing Rory's name. "No, no, of course not. Rory is many things but stupid isn't one of them. She wouldn't be fool enough to fall for your tactics twice, especially not when she's engaged to be married," Mitchum sat on the leather sofa, feeling confident in his assessment.

Logan's eyes narrowed angrily at his father. "You knew," he hissed.

"That she worked here? Of course. I thought you were smarter than that Logan. You really believed I didn't know what was going on? I know everything that happens at my papers. I spent countless hours researching the newspapers in this area before handing the reigns over to you. I've known since the beginning," Mitchum confirmed.

"And the engagement, you knew of that from the beginning as well?" Logan asked, trying to stifle the anger he felt.

"Yes well, Emily could hardly shut up about it; though I'm quite certain she exaggerated the lucky, young man's merits."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Don't play dumb Dad. Why did you choose this paper? I'm sensing it wasn't despite the fact that she worked here but because of it. So why? I know you weren't hoping for some grand reunion. You never would have risked throwing us together if you thought I had a snowball's chance in hell. You never liked Rory. She was intelligent and career driven, two things a Huntzberger's wife should never be, and the exact qualities you tried to stifle when you gave her that internship and ripped her dreams out from under her feet. Most of all you hated that she made me happy," Logan said vehemently.

"Oh please, are people still going on about that internship? Everyone is so convinced that I set out to destroy that girl's career and turn her into the perfect trophy wife for you. If I had really wanted to destroy her career any hopes of a job in journalism would be dead and buried by now. I said what I said because she needed to hear it, end of story. She's a better reporter for it now."

"Oh yes, I'm sure your intentions were completely noble, as always," Logan scoffed. "Just as I'm sure you're intentions in sending me here were nothing less than a noble attempt to reunite me with the love of my life. I'm sure you expected her to fall right back into my arms and forget about her fiance, except wait- you already admitted that you expected nothing of the sort. So that takes me right back to my original question...why? Was it just to see me suffer? To make me miserable? Was it so that I could spend every day just out of reach of the one thing that could make me happy? So that I could wind up as bitter and jaded as you?"

"Of course not," Mitchum scoffed. "If you want to know the real answer to you're question you'll have to ask yourself. You wanted to know why I chose this paper? I didn't choose, you did. I simply presented you with the options."

"But you knew. You knew once I found out about her that there would be no choice. You knew she would be my weakness."

"Exactly Logan, and the only way to overcome your weakness is to face it."

"So this was what? Some sort of test? Some warped form of a life lesson? You can't just play with people's lives like this!" Logan yelled.

"You'll thank me for this some day, Logan. It will help you become a better businessman."

"A better businessman?" Logan asked with disbelief, standing up from behind his desk for emphasis. "How about just helping me become a better man? Isn't that what most father's aim for? But you've never had any interest in that; I was always more your heir than your son. You don't care about anything but this business. You don't care who you hurt as long as it makes you a few dollars. Well you're not only messing with my life here, you're messing with hers. It's sickening."

"I'm not the one messing up her life here. All the problems with her fiance, your doing. All the dirty looks I saw her co-workers giving her out in the newsroom not even ten minutes ago, you're doing as well. You had the opportunity to walk away from this, to let her keep living her life as she was, but you chose not to do that. I'm not the one messing up her life, you are."

Logan opened up his mouth to respond but nothing came out. What was he supposed to say to that? He stared silently at his father for a few moments before sinking back down into his chair. "You're right," he said softly.

"Well, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you admit that," Mitchum responded with a look of smug satisfaction.

"This is my fault. It's all my fault. I'm just as bad as you are. Here I am going on and on about how you'll do whatever it takes to get what you want no matter who you hurt when I'm doing exactly the same thing. I'm trying so hard not to be like you that I'm becoming exactly like you. Well not anymore," Logan said, standing up again. "I have to go talk to her, I have to fix this." Logan headed for the door.

"Where are you going? We're not done here. We haven't even discussed the paper yet," Mitchum boomed.

Logan didn't care. "Make yourself at home, Dad. You will anyway," he said as he exited the office.

Logan stepped out into the newsroom and looked towards Rory's desk, it was empty. "Hey!" he said, stopping the first person to cross his path. "Did you see where Ac...Ms. Gilmore went?" he asked frantically.

The man was practically cowering in front of Logan, it was pathetic. "I...I think I saw her leave with Ms. Hanley s...sir," he stuttered.

"Sue," Logan mumbled to himself. Sue probably took her to get away from his father.

"Y...yes sir. About ten minutes ago. I don't know where they went. I saw them talking with Ms. Flick," he pointed towards Jenyl. "Perhaps she knows where they went."

"Thanks," Logan replied and headed for the woman who had been pointed out to him. "Ms. Flick," he called out as he approached her.

Jenyl turned towards Logan and a sickeningly sweet smile graced her lips. "Please, call me Jenyl."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Ms. Flick," he said again. "Would you happen to know where I could find Ms. Gilmore."

A scowl formed on Jenyl's face but she quickly hid it away again. "Oh, yes. She left a little while ago with her friend...the one with the red hair, oh what is her name again?"

"Sue Hanley," Logan supplied.

"Yes, that's it," she continued on in her sweetest voice. "They mentioned something about coffee and I tried to explain to them that is was inappropriate to leave in the middle of the day but they were very adamant...not to mention quite rude."

"Where would they go for coffee?" he asked impatiently.

"Excuse me?"

Logan let out an annoyed breath and tried again. "Is there a particular place near by that people often go to for coffee?

"Oh, they probably went to the diner on the corner," she replied, brusquely, clearly fed up with talking about Rory.

"Thanks," he replied and turned away but as he did he heard Jenyl mumble something under her breath. "What?" he turned back around.

"Nothing."

"No, I'm quite sure I heard you say something. It seemed to involve Ms. Gilmore's name as well as several derogatory terms."

"I didn't say..."

Logan cut her off. He wasn't in the mood to listen to her excuses. "Let's got something straight, every member of my staff is to be treated with respect. You'll remember that if you intend to keep your job. Your petty jealousy is not an excuse for profanity and slander."

"I am not..."

"Jealous? Of course you are. Not without good reason, Ms. Gilmore is intelligent, talented and beautiful...and no, we're not sleeping together, since I know that's what you think, but if we were it would be none of your goddamn business. I suggest you convey this message to the rest of your colleagues because if I hear anyone talking shit about her again, I can assure you they won't like the consequences," and with that Logan stormed out of the newsroom and went to find Rory.