Logan stepped off of the elevator and into the grand lobby searching briefly for Rory before seeing her looking at one of the adornments that filled the large space. He smiled at the sight of her curiosity and walked to her purposefully. Rory managed to catch a glimpse of the figure striding towards her and immediately turned her attention away from the object in the lobby towards Logan. As he got within earshot, Rory started talking: "There's my favourite young mogul, how goes the world of wheeling and dealing?"
"The world of wheeling and dealing is about 15 stories up. This," Logan spread his arms out, "is the world of wining and dining and I think we should really embrace it," Logan finished up by kissing Rory.
"You think that kiss will make up for the cheestasticness of that line mister?" Logan pouted his lips and started to frown, "I'm just saying that it's going to take a lot more of that later tonight to regain your standing."
"Well, we can't have my standing being anything less that spectacular, so I guess I'll have to oblige."
"That you will, now what about the meeting. I'm dying to hear all about it."
Logan was about to roll his eyes, but heard the earnest enthusiasm in Rory's voice and refrained, "Later Ace, I promise, I just spent the past two hours conferencing with Australia stuck in the office with two other people who I'm sure will be trying their best to kiss my ass, they thought calling me Mitchum as a compliment."
"Ouch, I'm sorry," Rory said as she took Logan's arm and began to run her fingers up and down its length.
"Over dinner, I'll tell you all you want to know, but now I want to take you out, get something good to eat and have a great night. How does that sound?"
"That sounds wonderful Logan."
"Good, so let me lead the way, and you can start telling me about your day, no one gave you trouble did they? Because if they did…"
Rory laughed as she went through the open door Logan had held for her. "Nope, no trouble, you won't have to fire anyone on Monday. I just wandered around, soaking everything in. Although it wasn't until I hit the floor where lots of international stuff was taking place that I really got excited…"
Rory's tone perked up and her voice sped up as she told Logan of her adventures on the floor she, one day in the future, she would like to be a part of. Her enthusiasm and joy at the experience was hard for Logan to ignore and before they got in the car to go to dinner he felt as if he was reliving the day with her, happy for her and glad that even thought they spent the afternoon apart he was able to do something for her that she appreciated very much.
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The restaurant Logan has chosen for dinner was elegant and romantic. It was very popular in New York for couples that liked the feeling of intimacy while dining with many strangers. It was a hard balance to strike, but Rory thought this restaurant managed it perfectly. That was to say nothing of the delectable food they had been dining on. Still, even with all of the qualities that the restaurant possessed one thing was stopping this night from being enjoyable. Logan. It's not as though he was unpleasant, he made polite small talk, allowed her to ramble while maintaining a face that looked interested. He wasn't cold, he wasn't grouchy, but Rory could tell that something wasn't right. There was something in Logan's face that tipped her off, she noticed some apprehension but couldn't tell from what. It was after the entrée was taken away that Rory decided to ask.
"Hey, do you want to talk about your day at the office today?"
"Huh?" Logan remarked, shifting focus away from his napkin.
"You told me you would tell me what happened in that meeting at dinner. This is dinner, now you can tell me," Logan's face showed the same apprehension that had been present throughout dinner, "I know something's been bugging you, you may think you have a great mask, but not with me Logan, I know you too well. So just tell me, it really can't be that bad."
Logan took a deep breath, knowing this was coming. The truth was he didn't really know why he was so nervous to tell her so he started his explanation with words that he had contemplated since the meeting had ended.
"Okay, it's really nothing major. I don't even know why I'm acting this way to tell you the truth. Things weren't going well in the meeting between two groups in a paper in Sydney; both had different ideas on what the paper should be now that the editor died. It was status quo versus change, and we were all worried that the paper would have to shut down. Nothing Jeff and Dave, those were the two working with me, suggested helped. So I had the bright idea that if I moderated things then they'd take it seriously, and for whatever reason it worked. They liked the fact that an actual Huntzberger would go address the situation. So I'm due in Sydney probably Wednesday."
Rory stayed silent for a moment, "That's what you were nervous about? Telling me you negotiated a solution to a major problem? Why on earth would you think that's a bad thing."
Logan now looked a bit embarrassed, "I'll be away all week and I'm not sure when I'll be back it could be Sunday, it could not."
I made it months without seeing you Logan, one weekend won't kill me. It may heighten my need for you when you get back, but I can do it. After all this is your job, and you are doing a great one at it. I understand."
"I knew you would, I just, I guess I didn't want to have to leave the hemisphere so soon after returning to the states, even if it is just for a few days."
"Logan, I know your work will sometimes take you away when you don't want to go, but I know that you'll always come back. Plus, it won't be long until I may be able to accompany you on such adventures. I mean, I'd love to get a job fresh from graduating, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. So I could accompany you on these trips at times, maybe write a few articles for my portfolio. I do find it cute that you were worried about this though," Rory smiled at him, and he smiled back, his first genuine, worry free smile since leaving the Huntzberger building.
"Well that's not a big deal. You always find me cute," Logan said, trademark smirk in place.
"You know, I think I may have liked you more when you were apprehensive."
"Well, for what we have planned tonight, I don't think you'd like to see a return of apprehensive Logan."
"No!" Rory said a bit too loud, drawing the attention of some near by patrons, and blushed when their focus shifted to her. "I mean," she started more quietly, "I think we have seen the last of that Logan for a while."
"Yeah, I think so too," they paused just looking in to each other's eyes, neither one wanting to break the gaze. "So, should we order dessert? Or do you want to take in that New York skyline again?" Logan asked suggestively.
Rory wasted no time in giving Logan her response, delivered with an even voice, belying the urgency she was feeling inside, "You know, I think we have some dessert at home that we could eat if we wanted to."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, and I hear the best time to view that skyline is," Rory looked at her watch, "right about now. How about that? Strange, don't you think?"
"Yeah, that's very weird timing."
"So what do you think? Dessert or other things."
Logan gestured for a nearby waiter to come to their table and when he did, he hurriedly said: "Cheque please."
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Author's Note: Transitional chapter, the next couple will deal with Logan in Australia, and I think will be fun to write.Approaching the finish line of the story, I have an idea of how I want to end it, it just needs some tweaking and leaves it very open ended for a sequel but it's not really a cliffhanger so this story will be self-contained. As always, reviews are appreciated! Happy reading!