6. Unfinished Sentences And Words Left Unsaid

The smoke curled through the starless air, staining the sky like a question mark, hanging overhead like a toxic cloud. Rory hesitated, watching the smoker before her, not sure if she could interrupt his reverie. Not sure of the reception she'd receive. As though he heard her thoughts, Logan turned toward her and gave her that little half-smile she remembered so well.

"I didn't know you smoked," she stammered, feeling like a child who got caught peeping at the adults after bedtime.

Logan shrugged eloquently. "It's a new habit. And, as with most of my filthy new habits, I blame Colin and Finn for it."

"Convenient," Rory smiled, stepping out onto the balcony. Behind her, the noise of the Christmas fundraiser in the Peach Room continued. Outside, with Logan, it was quieter and the air was fresher, cleansed of any noxious gossip and poisonous compliments. She had forgotten how much she disliked Hartford high society, Rory reflected, how little time she truly had for those who considered construction problems and domestic difficulties issues of national importance. And although she hadn't forgotten how much she enjoyed Logan's company, she was unprepared for the flash of pure joy she felt when she saw him again.

"So has life been good for you, Rory?" Logan asked politely.

Rory nodded. "I am enjoying the new job, even though it's not the wisest idea to start something new just before Christmas. It took me a week to track down the Human Resources officer who was supposed to process my salary payments."

"Hussy ran off to Balito to soak up some sun, huh?"

"Close. Hussy was sitting under his desk with the AC on full blast, swigging Malibu from a bottle and crooning to an Elvis Does Christmas CD."

"Bet you my smoking doesn't look so bad in comparison."

"It looks positively healthy," Rory concurred, twirling a strand of hair. "How have you been, Logan?"

"California has been good," Logan replied, stubbing out the cigarette and clasping his hands together on the balcony rail. "Different from New England in a variety of ways, but good."

"No need to blast the AC to get the illusion of warmth, huh?"

"Something like that," Logan smiled at her. For a moment, they simply stood together on the balcony, watching the Hartford lights sparkle beneath then.

Not bad, Gilmore. Not bad at all for two people who haven't seen each other in four years, last when one turned down the other's marriage proposal. And he doesn't look like he's spent the last four years sitting in his darkened closet, cradling pictures of me to his chest while eating Fruit Loops from the box and singing sad indie love songs to himself. He looks like he's had a good time in California. Good. Yeah.

"Enjoying having a settled home address again?" Logan asked, lighting another cigarette and letting it dangle between his fingers.

"Immensely," Rory smiled. "Although it's rather strange to be living back in Stars Hollow after having travelled so much."

Logan frowned at her. "You're living in Stars Hollow? Why?"

"Because I'm not a Rockefeller, Logan, I can't afford something nice in Hartford."

"Like that hole you lived in with Paris and Doyle was the Paris Ritz?"

"Why do you care where I live, Logan?"

"Because you're supposed to be moving forward, Rory," Logan stubbed out the cigarette violently and Rory flinched from his fury. "Remember? That's why you didn't want to marry me, because you wanted to have all of the wonderful opportunities that the world was going to get you. You didn't want to settle down with me, because that would deprive you of all the opportunities you so desperately craved. But now you're moving back with your mom and her diner boyfriend? That's not moving forward. It's moving backward, turning away from everything that I could have offered you and declining every opportunity for advancement. It's pathetic, actually."

"Don't talk like that about Luke," Rory protested angrily, feeling a sting of tears. "He owns that diner and quite a few other buildings in town."

"Yeah, he's a real Donald Trump," Logan sneered.

"And you're a real snob, Logan."

"At least I don't run from opportunity. At least I don't throw away every chance I could ever have of happiness."

"You did when you broke up with me," Rory shouted furiously, wiping ineffectively at her wet cheeks. "I'm not the one that ran away from the opportunity of us being together, Logan, you did!"

"Because I'm not willing to settle down in my childhood house, in my childhood dreams," Logan yelled back. "Because I wanted more for me, for you, for us than simply settling down in a dead-end routine in a dead-end town. You always knew I was ambitious, Ace, you always brought out that side of me! In the end, you left me for your own ambitions. And if I could see you fulfilling those dreams, chasing down those ambitions, I could've taken it. But you threw away your chances of happiness with me and you're not doing the job you should be doing!"

"You set me up with this job! Did you set me up only to fail? Is that one of your life goals, wreaking revenge on me for not wanting to marry you just after graduating college?"

"You were supposed to be in Washington!" Logan bellowed. "Washington, Ace, not Hartford! Washington is bustling with politics and politicians and everything you always said you wanted to write about! Everything you need to satisfy your career goals is there! But you ask for a position in Hartford, simply so that you can move back into your old house and play at being a grownup!"

"Logan, you broke up with me for not wanting to marry you straight out of college! You are the one that ended our relationship, not me. I never said I didn't want to be with you, only that I didn't want to get my marriage certificate and my college degree all on the same day! You decided that wasn't good enough for you, so what right do you have to be so angry about the way I choose to live my life?" Rory hissed.

"Because you turned me down for your ambition and now you are turning down your own ambitions," Logan slammed his hand onto the railing. "I miss you, Rory, I think about the life we could have had every damned day. When I thought that you were actually working toward your goals, running around with a notepad and pen, ready to scare every politician straight, setting the world on fire with your exposes and your articles, I could bear the thought of not being with you. But now I see you're content with commuting between your childhood house and a job you were supposed to be doing in the political hub of the free world! And you're standing in front of me, looking all sleek and sexy and ... "

"Logan, I ..."

His hands gripped her waist with an urgency she never felt from him and he crushed his mouth to hers, muting her reply with a passionate kiss.

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"So how was your shindig last night, favourite daughter of mine?" Lorelai chirped as Rory stumbled blearily into the kitchen the following morning. Rory poured herself some coffee as she mumbled a reply, slumping down at the table to drink it. Lorelai glanced at her with veiled concerned. "That good, huh?"

"Just boring," Rory responded, knowing better than to mention the fireworks on the balcony. That little Mills & Boon moment was anything but boring. Passionate, yes. Fiery and fiercely amorous, too. Unexpected, definitely. But not boring. Her mouth still stung with the force of Logan's kisses, her cheeks still flamed with his hot breath, her body still tingled with the imprint of his searing touch. "Just bland canapés and boring businessmen."

"Sounds like Christmas," Lorelai remarked, handing her daughter a PopTart.

"Hmmm."

"Did you see Logan?" Lorelai asked, trying and slightly succeeding in sounding casual.

Rory crumbled the PopTart between her fingers. "Uh-huh."

"Was it like Atonement or was it more like a Quentin Tarantino version of former lovers meeting again?"

"It was like two people seeing each other again after four years of not speaking to each other," Rory said, remembering how Logan pressed his body to hers. And how good it felt. God, she'd almost forgotten how good it could feel.

"You think you'll see him again?"

"I don't know," Rory replied, remembering his whispered request to meet him in a week's time.

"Just remember, hon, that there's bound to be some unresolved feelings between you. You go from almost marrying him to not seeing him. That's bound to leave you feeling a little like you should talk to Oprah about it," Lorelai said, refilling Rory's coffee cup. "And you're bound to feel a little obligated to him after he helped you with the job."

And after the way he kissed you, you're bound to feel a little weak in the knees, a little dizzy in the clouds. Gilmore, you're starting to sound sappy. Stop it.

But as Rory sipped her coffee, she allowed the feeling to creep up on her. The feeling that the unresolved feelings between herself and Logan would remain unresolved, that the words left unsaid and thoughts left unspoken would finally be said and spoken. Soon.

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A/N: Love the Logan? Loathe the Logan? Enjoying the revival of the Rogan? Please review!