The jet set down at New York's largest international airport shortly after eleven p.m. on Saturday evening, with Logan confirming the time with the flight attendants before disembarking. He was mentally and physically exhausted, he looked it, and he felt it. Even Rory could tell something wasn't right when she spoke to him over the phone before he got on the plane. Logan brushed it aside not wanting to relive the humiliating experience so soon after the first time. Before ending the call Logan had promised that once he arrived back at the penthouse he would call to say he made it home safely. After calling Rory, Logan made a quick call to Frank to make sure that a car was there at the airport to drive him back to the penthouse. He told Frank the approximate arrival time and boarded the plane in Sydney secure in the knowledge that everything was taken care of.

It took Logan a couple minutes to make it through customs and to retrieve his baggage before he made the walk out to the waiting cars and to Frank. When he got outside he briefly scanned the row of cars but couldn't spot Frank. Instead Logan was alerted to someone's presence by a blur of motion and the joyful screams of his name coming from Rory, who was now firmly ensconced in Logan's arms. A surprised, but delighted Logan stayed silent, just relishing her touch, her scent, her presence, but eventually he managed to speak.

"I missed you Ace, you have no idea."

"I missed you too Logan, I must say you certainly look better than you sounded over the phone."

"Yeah, well now I have a reason sound good. But I got to know, what happened to Frank. I called him and he said he'd be here. How did you know to come here."

"What? You don't want me here?" Rory asked, feigning hurt.

"Of course I do, I just thought you would be busy on your Saturday night. I didn't want to disturb you. After all I'm just going back to our penthouse. I'm exhausted. Still, how did you plan this?"

"I can't envision a scenario in which me getting to see you is disruptive to my plans. I'll take you anytime I can get you. As to my skills in acquiring knowledge, I simply phoned Frank shortly after you left for Australia and told him to phone me when you called him to get home. I have some pull with Frank," Rory smiled recalling the events that led her here.

"And for that I am grateful, Ace," Logan told her as her leaned in for a kiss.

"So, you're probably beat, what with all that traveling, and businessman stuff you did," Logan's face filled with negative emotion upon mention of the business aspect of his trip, "so I think it's time we went home."

Logan looked up at Rory who was still smiling widely, happy to be with him, and he managed to put on a smile too and responded, "Yeah, let's go home."

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They entered the penthouse and Rory turned on a few lights so that they could navigate the area. On the ride over Rory had informed Logan that she was going to stay overnight and help him recover from the jetlag by relaxing with him on Sunday. Logan liked her plan and raised no objection. Logan dropped his stuff by the front door and immediately went for the couch. Rory went to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. After she had done that she went to Logan who was still carrying something on his shoulders, something Rory wanted to help ease the burden of. "Hey," she stroked his arm, "you sounded like you were in a funk when you called me earlier and in the car too. Do you want to talk about it?"

Logan sighed, but he realized that he was going to tell Rory anyway and that it would be good to get this off of his chest. "I will, but it's one of those things that would go better with a coffee or something, so how about we wait until that's ready?"

"Okay" Rory said as she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder until the coffee was ready to be poured and until Logan was ready to talk.

A few minutes later both Rory and Logan had coffee mugs in their hands and were seated comfortably on the couch, Rory being in close contact with Logan so that she could show her support in anyway she could think of. Logan, knowing the sooner he started the sooner he would be finished began:

"Well to be honest things were going pretty well. I thought I was in my element; I was handling arguments, mediating disagreements. I thought I was making progress. We actually did have a few things in place after that first night, and then when I came back I was told it all disintegrated and had to start from scratch. Even though I was deterred we pushed forward and eventually a deal was made. Contracts were signed and everything and at that moment I had such a great sense of pride in something I accomplished."

Rory spoke up, "That's great Logan! Really, I mean you should feel proud. From what you told me before you left that place was a mess. I know you were always skilled with words, but I didn't know that transferred into the business world that well."

"Apparently it doesn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it was just after the final deal was made when Dave, you remember me telling you about him right?" Rory nodded, "Well he called my Father, and put him on speaker phone for everyone to hear. It was then I was informed that everything I went through, all my hard work and effort, all that was for naught."

Rory looked puzzled, "Huh?"

"It was a rouse Rory. It was a test, my Father said, to me it was a joke. Everything was planned, from the initial problems to the backtracking right down to the agreement, hell Dave and Jeff wanted to go out one night in between meetings, that was part of Dad's plan too. All to make sure I could handle it. All to make sure I didn't screw up, and he was glad that I did it. He was glad that I passed his little test."

Rory was stunned with the elaborate deception pulled off just because Mitchum apparently had little confidence in Logan's abilities. "I don't know what to say Logan, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah. You know the worst part? It wasn't hearing that it was a test. It wasn't the fact that I had to rearrange a few things to make it to Sydney. It was the feeling I got when he told me. In front of everyone in the room, I was humiliated. Here I thought something was being done, that I was making a contribution to the company, but I wasn't. I wasn't and it was because of my Father. To top it off, I thought I was making in roads with Dave and Jeff, and that they could actually be friends and not just suck ups, but they were in on it from the beginning. The basically set up my humiliation and I fired them and walked out. That's why my mood wasn't the greatest Ace, I just felt so, so wronged," Logan finished his dropping, his shoulders slouching.

This allowed Rory to set down her coffee mug on the table and bring her arms to rest on Logan's shoulders to start gently messaging the tension filled area. "That does suck Logan, but you know what? You didn't need that business trip. You knew you were a damned good business negotiator. You knew you could do all of that stuff. Just because your Father needed some test to show it to himself doesn't mean that it wasn't there all along. You knew that, I knew that. Don't let your father somehow take away from all you've done this past year. I hate that your Father did this to you. I hate that it was out there for all to see, but that'll just make it that much sweeter when you do it next time and can shove it in his face. Logan," she used her hands to bring his face inches from hers, "I know this may not mean a lot now, but one day you are going to take over from your Father, and you are going to eclipse him in everything. In business, in being a good guy, as a husband, as a Father. You're going to be so much better than him in all of that, and you won't need a test to show that, because it will be clear as day for all to see."

Logan sat silent after Rory's speech, which was delivered with such emotion that she started to tear up with her words. Logan looked at her with such adoration and love, took his thumbs and brushed away the slight tears, touched his forehead to hers and whispered, "It'll only be worth it if you're there with me."

"I'm not going anywhere," she said as the gap was closed and a romantic kiss was shared.

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A few moments later, Rory left the living room to change into more comfortable clothes and to get ready for an hour or two of watching television with Logan. But as she stepped back into view of the couch she realized Logan had other ideas.

Rory saw Logan's form, asleep on the couch, with the first truly content smile on his face since she saw him at the airport. She felt a sense of joy knowing that she was partly responsible for putting that ease into him. She went to the closet and got out their favourite blanket, used during the nights when they were cuddled up with one another. She draped it over Logan so that he wouldn't get cold during the night and then she sat down beside him, under the blanket, with her head rested comfortably on him as she joined Logan in a peaceful sleep.

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