Rory and Logan walked into his dorm and looked around to see who was home. "Finn! Colin!" Logan yelled
When there was no answer he smiled and pulled Rory towards the couch while flipping on the TV. "We're alone and all you want to do is watch TV?" Rory asked but still sat down and curled up in his lap
He smiled at her and began absentmindedly running his hand through her hair. They both sat and watched TV silent for a while. After about an hour Rory looked up at him. "You know I'm safe at my dorm right? You don't have to protect me from Robert. He's not going to hurt me."
Logan sighed and ran his fingers up her arm stopping where the bruises began. "He's already hurt you and that's enough for me."
"But it really was an accident…"
"Rory." Logan said sharply, "I don't care if it was an accident. He left bruises on your arm. He grabbed you hard enough to leave his handprint on you, he had to know he was doing it. Stop defending him."
"I'm not defending him, I'm just saying that I don't need a protector. I can take care of myself. Take a look at Robert tomorrow, I may be wearing his handprint on my arm, but he's wearing mine on his face, along with the bruises that I'm guessing came from your fists."
Logan's face softened. "Ace, I know you can take care of yourself. That's not the point. The point is that I want to take care of you. I love you Rory and the thought that he left bruises on you is driving me crazy."
"I love you too. Can we stop arguing now?" Rory pleaded
Logan looked at her pleading eyes and instantly backed down. "Of course. Come here."
She scooted closer to him and again he wrapped her up in his arms. They watched movies until he heard her start to doze off. He looked up as he heard the door open and saw Colin and Finn walk in. "Ssh.. she's sleeping." He said immediately
"Sorry." Finn said before walking into his room and shutting the door
"Colin, I need to talk to you and Finn both. Go get Finn back out here." Logan said softly
Colin looked unsure but nodded. "Sure." He said
Logan watched Colin walk into Finn's room and sighed. Rory never said Finn couldn't pound into Robert.
"What is it mate?" Finn asked softly so he didn't wake up Rory
Logan looked down at Rory and then back up at his two friends. "I know I said that I wasn't going to ask you to choose between me and Robert Colin, but some things have changed, and now I think you need to choose."
Colin looked at Logan for a second. "What has changed Logan? I thought we had an understanding. I don't want to choose between you and Robert. You have both been my friends since before I can remember and now…"
"He hurt Rory." Logan interrupted
"I know he abandoned Rory in New York Logan but…"
"That's not what I'm talking about Colin."
"What's going on Logan?" Finn asked concerned
Logan sighed and pulled up the sleeve of Rory's shirt. The second the bruises were visible Finn's face clouded over in anger.
"He did that to her?" Finn said through gritted teeth
"She said it was an accident and she doesn't want a big deal made out of it."
"The hell with what she wants. He left bruises on her. Bloody bastard will be lucky if I don't kill him." Finn said standing up
"Finn sit down." Logan said. He got up and picked Rory up. "I'll be right back." He carried Rory into his room and placed her in bed. He kissed her forehead before turning around and walking out of the room. He shut the door behind her and then walked past Colin and Finn gesturing for them to follow him. They all walked outside into the hallway. "Now you can yell." Logan said calmly
"I don't want to yell! I want to go pay a visit to Robert." Finn snapped
"Wait stop. What happened?" Colin asked
"She said she was walking with Marty and he grabbed her from behind. They apparently had an argument and he wouldn't let go of her arm which he obviously had a strong grip on. She slapped him. He called her a few things that I want to kill him for and then walked off. Now she has an arms covered in black and blue marks. There is no way around this now Colin. You have to choose. Because if you are friends with him, you've go no friends here." Logan said
Colin looked over at Finn. "You feel the same way?"
"Did you see her arm. Of course I feel the same way. Like he said, you can't be friends with us and Robert." Finn said before looking over at Logan, "Can I go kill him now Huntz?"
"No. I'll handle this." Colin said walking off
Finn watched Colin walk off and groaned. "I really wanted to hit the bastard."
"I know Finn, so did I. But Rory doesn't want that. She just wants to forget about it."
"Well I guess that will be easier for her to do when the bruises fade. Bloody jackass."
Logan nodded. "He won't get near her again."
"Damn straight. He comes within three feet of her, he'll leave in a bloody body bag." Finn said reaching for the door knob. He was about to turn it but it stopped. "You ever figure out if you can get rid of an LDB member?"
"Grandpa says it's never been done, or tried before for that matter."
"So it'll be a challenge?" Finn asked curiously
"Yeah."
"Great I love challenges." Finn said
xxxxxx
Robert opened the door when the insistent knocking wouldn't end but kept getting louder. He looked up and saw Colin standing in front of him. "Col.." he started but was stopped when Colin shoved him. When he regained his balance he looked up angrily. "What the hell is your problem!"
"I told you fix it not make it worse you idiot." Colin yelled
"Look man, I tried ok. I went to talk to Rory…"
"And decided the best way to get Logan and Finn off of both of our backs was to color Rory's arm black and blue!"
"I didn't mean to hurt her." Robert said honestly, "besides doesn't anyone care that I'm wearing her handprint on my face?"
Colin laughed haughtily "Yeah Robert. That's what they care about. Rory slapped you. I think there were more concerned with whether or not she hurt her hand hitting you! You arrogant jackass. Now Logan and Finn both are spitting out words like Choose between us and Robert and I'm back to the same place I was before. having to choose between two people I have known my entire life!"
"Well I don't know what to tell you other than I didn't mean to leave a bruise on her." Robert said laying down on the couch
Colin shook his head muttering profanities. "You know you've been one of my friends for as long as I can remember, but never once have you done a single thing to warrant me choosing you over everyone else in my life."
"Colin…"
"And I just realized that I don't have to choose between you and Logan."
"You don't?"
"No I don't. I have to choose between you and Rory."
"Well that should be an easy choice. I mean you've known me forever."
"You're right it should be an easy choice. Never once since I have met her has she ever physically hurt anyone other than you. She has bailed me and the boys out of jail at least twice since I met her."
"Yeah but…"
"You however have never once bailed me out of jail and you are turning out to be a violent son of a bitch. How dare you put your hands on her like that!" Colin yelled
"Colin I told you it was an accident."
"Did you mean to grab her?"
"Well yes…"
"Then it wasn't an accident." Colin shouted, "Rory is an amazing person and she deserves to be treated better than that. You're just jealous that she turned you down for Logan, and I get that. Rory is a gorgeous girl who'd you be lucky to have, but she loves Logan, not you."
"I am not jealous of Logan. I couldn't care less about Rory."
"Then why did you go to her when I said to fix it instead of Logan. You should have gone to Logan. Tried talking to him, but you didn't you went to her. You wanted her forgiveness, which is something you aren't going to get."
Robert sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"Now I am going to make something crystal clear to you. If you value your life you won't go near Rory again. Logan and Finn are going to be with her constantly for a long time. Neither one of them trust or like you."
"Does that mean you aren't going to abandon me entirely?"
"No. I am. If I have to choose between Logan and you, I pick Logan."
"But…"
"No. I told you to fix it or we were done here and you didn't. In fact you made it worse. They'll constantly be looking over their shoulders for you and I refuse to worry that they'll see me with you. I'd rather have an enemy in you than an enemy in Logan and Finn." Colin said walking towards the door. "I'm done with all of this. Bye." He added and then slammed the door behind him.
xxxxxx
Rory woke up disoriented but quickly realized that she was in Logan's bed. She reached over to the other side of the bed for Logan but noticed that she was alone in the bed. She sighed and got up leaving the room. She saw Logan and Finn having an extremely quiet discussion and smiled. Logan looked up when he heard her enter and smiled. "Did we wake you?"
Rory smiled and then nodded. "Yeah, you two were whispering so loudly that I couldn't deal with the racket anymore and had to get up." She said sarcastically
Finn laughed. "That's a witty woman you have there Huntzberger."
Logan nodded and kissed Rory on the cheek. "That she is."
"And downright sexy if you don't mind me saying." Finn added winking at Rory
"Down Finn." Logan said warningly
Rory laughed. "So what are you two in here talking about all conspiracy like?"
Finn smiled. "Just a little challenge."
AN: Read and review please….