A/N; Hey guys! Sorry it's been a little while since the last update. I was on a mini vacation for a little while there and didn't have a computer I could write on. I did have a notebook, though, and this was the story that came to me first [despite me really needing to update my other Jagan and my Kames stories, too -which will be happening asap!]. This chapter's a little on the long side, to top it off.

As always much thanks and love to those of you who favorite/follow and leave me feedback, you're the best and I love you!

Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

-Kay.

Chapter 3-

Logan's hand had taken to sliding up and down his daughter's back once again. Over time it had almost become completely unconscious. Even when Faith wasn't fussing or necessarily needing the soothing, he would slowly rub up and down her back. It seemed to keep her calm the majority of the time, and it kept Logan a certain level of calm, too. It gave him something to get a little lost in, he figured, since unlike other kids his age, he couldn't really manage the time for sports or music or some other seemingly important hobby to get lost and caught up in.

He had gotten past the complaining about it, though. Sports he didn't care much for playing himself. Music he liked, he would hum or even sing for Faith pretty frequently, but it wasn't something he was intensely into, not really something he ever thought of pursuing. Even before Faith, his studies had always been one of his biggest focuses. He wanted to be a doctor; there weren't a whole lot of doctor-related hobbies to be had.

His mom often told him his interest in being a doctor and his need to take care of others was probably what helped to make him such a good father with Faith. Logan figured a little bit of the same, but he also liked to think that it wasn't just a doctor thing. It was kind of a Mitchell thing.

He had lost his own dad when he was only six, and after the car accident, his mom had stepped up so exponentially to make sure that he was well taken care of, regardless of only having one parent. Of course, his mom dated here and there over the years, and he almost had a father figure once again, but Joanna Mitchell was a pretty independent and headstrong woman. Her son had inherited those traits, too, along with the strong sense of being a powerful, prominent figure in his child's life to make up for her not having both of her parents.

The white bedroom door barely creaked open, and Logan's tired brown eyes glanced down only for a second to the half asleep baby girl lying on his chest where he laid on his bed before looking over at his mom in the bedroom doorway with a small smile.

"Office all situated?" he whispered.

Joanna nodded. "Is she asleep yet?"

Logan looked down at Faith once again. She was blinking slowly, obviously fighting off the oncoming unconsciousness. Her pacifier would barely move every few seconds as she sucked on it tiredly. After dinner tended to be like this for her. She would have her bottle and be really mellow and clingy after the fact, falling asleep not too long afterwards. Sometimes Logan would read one of her picture books to her, or have to turn on a movie, but a lot of the time he could simply lay down with her like he was now and she would be content until she finally dozed off and he could get up to lay her in her crib for the night.

"Nah, she's just zoning out right now. Almost there." Logan said softly with a slight shake of his head.

His mother nodded knowingly with a gentle smile. Brown eyes followed the woman along as she moved to grab the empty baby bottle off of his nightstand to take back out to the kitchen. Joanna used her free hand to run her fingers back through her son's dark hair before leaning down to kiss his forehead, and then the small head rested on his chest.

He was extremely lucky, he knew, that he had his mom to help him with everything like she did. Naturally, she hadn't taken too well to learning that she was going to be a grandmother before forty, but since Faith was born and Logan had taken on the parental responsibilities of taking care of a baby, she had been more than graciously helpful. Logan knew full well that he would have been completely screwed without her, even if the prospect of the woman throwing him out or anything wasn't entirely likely in the first place.

After a quiet exchange of 'I love you's, Joanna left the room again to no doubt wash the empty bottle she had grabbed. Originally, he had intended on going out into the living room after Faith was asleep to sit with his mom and talk about school and work. However, not long after Faith had dozed off and his hand had slowed to a stop on her small back, he, too, found himself falling asleep.

When Faith started stirring against him several hours later, Logan was quick to sit up and cradle her against his chest. A quick look at the clock told him that it was much earlier than he wanted or needed to be up, 4:30 in the morning not exactly being the best time for full functioning. Faith was squirming against him, kicking her legs unhappily and wailing now that her pacifier wasn't in her mouth to occupy it.

"Alright, alright, pretty girl. You're okay, come on." Logan murmured sleepily.

He got up from bed, balancing Faith in the crook of one arm as he rubbed at his eyes with his other hand. Going into the kitchen, he had to transfer the baby up into a position against his shoulder as she continued to cry. He bounced her gently, whispering to shush her, but she kept on fussing in his arms.

"Faith, baby, you're okay. It's alright." He sighed, continuing to bounce her slowly.

With her teething, it wasn't entirely unusual for her to wake up in discomfort in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. It was just a bit of an inconvenience to be woken up at 4:30 in the morning and have to spend an hour getting her to calm down and get back to sleep, especially now that he actually had to be at school in a few hours. Faith let out a particularly loud cry near his ear before burrowing her tear-soaked face against his neck. Logan frowned and sighed heavily, suppressing a groan. This was always one of the harder parts.

"Here, let me take her."

He might have been startled by the sudden sound of his mom's slightly groggy sounding voice if he hadn't grown to anticipate her waking up in instances like this. Faith could get loud when she was unhappy and there was no sleeping through that for either of them. Logan didn't bother to argue and claim that he could handle it, much too tired to do so. Once Faith was in her grandmother's arms, he ran a hand down over his face.

"Did her teething ring end up back in the freezer?" Joanna asked.

Logan turned and yanked the freezer door open, resisting the urge to swear at himself when he realized he had forgotten to put the ring in there like usual. Maybe it was the being in a new place, or the exhaustion from the first day at school after so long, but whatever it was, he felt off his game and he didn't like that. Being off his game meant screwing up a routine. He slammed the freezer shut none too lightly and winced both at the sound of the door and the sound of Faith's strained crying from his mother's arms. Joanna sighed and patted the baby's back carefully as she 'shhh'-ed her quietly.

"Logan, it's fine, just get me her pacifier and I'll get her back down again. You need to get a couple more hours of sleep, sweetheart."

Logan frowned, not because he was unhappy with the thought of getting a little more sleep, but because he always tended to feel guilty when he let his mom take over the baby's 'night shifts.' That was why he didn't let her take over often in the first place. Faith's fussing was just starting to die down, small huffs and whines being let out now as she squirmed in Joanna's hold. Logan gave his mom a nod before going to his room to grab Faith's pacifier for her.

While it only took his mom about twenty minutes or so to get Faith completely calm and asleep again, it took Logan quite a bit longer to get back to sleep. When six thirty rolled around and it was time for him to get up and ready for school, he was beyond tired. His mom was still asleep in her room, Faith still asleep in her crib, and after the night before, he opted not to bother with waking them up just to get a ride to school when he could skate there. After he had gotten dressed in his black jeans and gray long-sleeved shirt, he ran his fingers through the soft, messy front of his unstyled dark hair, feeling too lazy to gel it up for the day. Once he had his backpack slung over his shoulder and his board tucked under his arm, Logan leaned over the side of his daughter's crib and pressed a kiss into Faith's feathery hair before taking off for the day.

Sitting through first period Calculus was excruciating. On a good day it probably wouldn't have been an issue because he was good at math and could typically breeze through most of it. However, the struggle to even keep his eyes open made the class period exceedingly difficult. It wasn't exactly the best impression to give the teacher, he figured, not showing up at all on his first day and falling asleep in class on the second. He might have cared if he had more energy.

In between first and second period, while he was standing at his locker, he was startled out of his zombie-like reverie by Carlos jumping up behind him and clapping both hands on his shoulders. Logan almost admired the way that Carlos was so easy to act like they were practically best buds after having only met just the day before. He himself definitely wasn't that open anymore.

"He made it to day two, give the man a prize." Kendall joked, joining them.

Logan barely let out a chuckle as he slid his Physics text book off the locker shelf. "Fingers crossed I make it another day."

"Yeah, you're looking particularly dead today, dude." The blonde pointed out.

"Did you stay up all night playing the new Zombie Slayer game, too?" Carlos asked enthusiastically. "Not that I did that. I also did not chug down three cups of coffee from the staff lounge during TA period just now."

Logan raised his eyebrows and laughed as he noticed Kendall nodding slowly and mouthing 'he totally did' before making an expression that suggested he thought the shorter boy's antics were crazy.

"I was not playing the new Zombie Slayer game, but thank you for reminding me I need to rent it." Logan said.

"Dude, no. Just hang out with us at James's after school. We always have video game Fridays." Kendall noted.

"Yes! You should totally come! His living room has total surround sound and his TV's mounted on a wall and it's like 100 inches long." Carlos added.

"Seventy-two inches wide, but who's counting?"

Logan's eyebrows once again shot up momentarily as James suddenly joined them, jumping into the conversation as if he'd been there the whole time. His brunette hair was looking a little unkempt and the front of his black leather jacket looked slightly wrinkled. Logan almost would have thought James was going for some kind of grungy, bad boy look if it weren't for the tell tale smear of shimmery lip gloss at the corner of his mouth.

"That's a great color on you, James, you should wear it more often." Kendall teased, obviously noticing as well.

James rolled his hazel eyes and swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "Bite me."

"Lucy?" Carlos asked.

A mischievous grin crossed the brunette's face.

"How did you even get away with making out in the choir room with the rest of the class there?" Kendall kinked a brow.

"We weren't in the choir room, we were in my car. You know chicks love the 'Stang." James grinned.

Kendall faked a shudder and Carlos snickered. It was almost easy being around the three boys because they had obviously known each other for a long time and they seemed content enough to play off of each other and not need much input from Logan, which he was pretty much okay with. Still, he did feel a certain curiosity prodding at him as he listened to the exchange in front of him.

"Is Lucy your girlfriend?" he asked.

Immediately, the other three boys erupted into a fit of laughter, James shaking his head slowly.

"James doesn't really do girlfriends." Carlos answered. "Oh wait! Boyfriends either."

For a moment Logan was both confused and a little surprised by the tacked on interjection. Looking at James, he found the taller boy actively working to keep a composed face as his cheeks turned red.

"That's right, James is an equal opportunity face sucker." Kendall taunted jokingly, lifting a hand to playfully pinch his cheek.

"Shut up, Knight." James swatted the blonde's hand away with a sneer, earning a laugh in return.

Logan took quick notice to the way that Kendall and Carlos hadn't made it a point to share that information for the sake of shaming their friend or legitimately make fun of him for it. If anything it was just another one of the things he had noticed so far that seemed to show how close and comfortable with each other they were. It had been an awfully long time since he had had anyone like that.

On top of his observations, Logan found his mind wandering elsewhere, too. Trying to hurriedly distract himself from the thoughts that were poking at him, he muttered something about getting to class just before the bell rang once again. While he rushed to his Physics class, Logan tried to blame the fact that he was thinking about what he was on his being so tired. Surely being completely exhausted from a lack of sleep was a valid enough excuse for now thinking about James kissing boys, right?

As much as he was absolutely craving the chance to go home and spend his free period and lunch with Faith again, Logan also knew that if he went home and was laying around with the baby, there was no way he wasn't going to knock out being as tired as he already was. Missing half of his second day of school probably wasn't the best idea, even if he was already having trouble staying conscious while he was in his classes. Instead, he went out to the student parking lot and called his mom to check in on the six month old.

Not unusually, she had been doing just fine all day. Late nights seemed to not affect the child quite the way they affected her daddy. Lucky her. After giving his mom a slightly unnecessary reminder that Faith didn't like the pea baby food again, he headed back into the school building from the parking lot.

Instead of plopping down anywhere and giving himself the option to doze off for however long it actually lasted, Logan decided to sluggishly wander campus. If anything it would at least help him become familiar with his new school. The bright gold, red, and white school colors were on every bulletin board he passed, causing him to have to rub his eyes every now and again. Flyers and banners advertising club sign ups and the upcoming homecoming game and dance were hung in every hallway, as if students could forget from once corridor to the next. He figured the need for excessive reminders was most likely just out of excitement, but seeing as he didn't really get excited for things like that so much anymore he just saw it as a little over the top.

He had practically wandered all the way back around to his locker again, rounding another corner and yawning. Mid-yawn, he stumbled into someone else coming around the corner from the opposite direction. Quickly, he muttered an apology only to hurriedly look up at the other student when he recognized the voice of the reply.

James was half grinning crookedly at him. His hair looked much more like it had the day before now, styled to a tousled perfection. Vaguely, Logan recognized the smell of hair spray and he glanced down to find that the brunette had a can of it, along with a plastic comb, in his hand.

"Vanity break?" Logan joked, chuckling lightly.

James snickered, "Of course. You didn't think I looked this good with no effort, did you? I mean, I'm lucky, but I'm not that lucky."

Logan breathed out a laugh and shook his head slowly. He bit back the comment on the tip of his tongue, once again blaming his lack of sleep on his sudden James- daydreams? That seemed really girly. And not quite accurate either, exactly. It wasn't as if he was writing the boy's name in hearts all over his notebook or anything. Now that would be girly. He was just… what was he doing? Caught up in admiring someone who happened to be good looking? Sure, that sounded good.

It was like finding a celebrity attractive and thinking about what it must be like to be with them. He had only just met James a day ago, and he did look like his face belonged in magazines or on TV's, so why not make that comparison. At least then he could use the 'he's just nice to look at' excuse for his wandering mind and his getting seemingly lost in depths of bright hazel eyes.

It wasn't exactly the first time he had found himself finding another guy aesthetically pleasing, so at least he didn't have that to worry about. Granted, most of his male attraction was just curiosity and admiring from afar. He had dated a grand total of two people in his life, both were girls. The second, his longest lasting relationship, had resulted in him becoming a parent at seventeen years old. After Faith had been born, dating and being interested in other people for anything other than a little bit of conversation here and there had been extremely low on his list of priorities.

Finally snapping back to reality after a beat of delay, Logan cleared his throat. "Why aren't you in class?" he asked.

James nodded the shorter boy along with him as they headed up the hall toward where their lockers were.

"ASB's this period and most people are either putting up more homecoming posters or picking out a backdrop for the pictures. I usually get away with slipping out."

"You're in ASB?" Logan kinked a brow, unable to quite mask the fact that he was mildly impressed from his tone of voice.

"Senior class president, James Diamond, at your service." He gave a joking half-bow as they continued along before stopping at his locker.

"That must be pretty cool. Probably makes you popular around here, right?"

James snorted and closed his locker again after his hair care essentials were inside. Slumping back against the metal door, he slid his hands into the pockets of his jacket. There was a smirk on his face when he looked at the darker haired boy again. Logan shifted his weight on his feet and swallowed.

"Being senior class president didn't make me popular. Being popular made me senior class president." James said.

Logan's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Look, it's like this," The boy started, "Didn't you have those kids who kind of had their 'entitlement' to rule the school back where you were before here?"

"I went to a school where the freshman class alone was twice the size of this entire student population. So, no. Little hard to achieve that there." Logan replied.

"Okay then, um, have you ever watched One Tree Hill?"

"Do I look like the kind of person that watches One Tree Hill?"

"It's actually not that bad. There was this girl I hung out with last year that used to make me watch it and-"

"James, the point?" Logan laughed slightly.

"Oh, right, okay. Well, you know how there's those kids who go to the same high school that their parents went to and are like living their legacy or whatever, because everyone knows the parents' story?"

"Don't those kids usually end up being kind of pretentious douchebags?"

James laughed outright, the action causing his eyes to crinkle a little around the edges. Even just the sound of the easy laughter caused a small smile to tug at the corners of Logan's mouth.

"Call me pretentious douchebag, then." James grinned.

Logan raised his eyebrows, smiling faintly still, "You? Pretentious? Naaah."

Both boys snickered, shaking their heads.

"What'd they do here?"

James pushed himself off his locker and waved a hand for Logan to follow him up the hall. The smaller boy hesitated for a moment but started to follow as James glanced back at him. Admittedly, he was just kind of glad he wasn't having to talk about himself for the time being, even if this was more social interaction than he had had in weeks.

They came to a stop once again when they reached a glass case full of various sports team photos and trophies. James gently tapped a knuckle against the glass over a picture of the cheer squad from the class of 93. Logan leaned in closer to get a look at the light brown haired cheer leader in the center of the squad. At closer focus, he could see the slightly familiar color of hazel eyes that the boy beside him had.

"Mom was in cheer all four years, captain for three, and Dad-" James tapped against the glass two more times, once over a picture of the football team and then the ASB class of the same year, "Quarterback and student body president."

Logan smirked slightly, raising a brow, "Your mom and dad were cheer captain and quarterback of the football team?"

"Yep."

"How cliché." He chuckled.

"Tell me about it." James laughed lightly. "I tried the football thing freshman year, but my dad was a little nuts about the conditioning, and it just wasn't really my thing."

Looking away from the photos in the glass case, Logan let his eyes linger on James's face. The brunette had a thoughtful expression as he stared at the picture of his father.

"I used to joke about doing cheer instead, but he'd always get pretty irked about it. Wasn't too happy when I got into choir either, but," he shrugged, "Whatever, you know? He was a little happier when I got into hockey with Kendall, but he'll still throw the occasional jabs about me not playing football like he did."

"What about your mom?" Logan asked, his voice quieter than originally intended.

James shrugged again, "She just lets me do whatever I want most of the time. She's got her own cosmetic line she does a ton of travelling to promote, so I'm home alone a lot. She doesn't make me go to my Dad's while she's gone, at least."

Momentarily, Logan wondered why it was so easy for James to share the details of his life right off the bat like he was. It might not have been the deeper details of his personal life, but even those of his family life on the surface seemed like more than what you shared with a practical stranger. It occurred to him after another few seconds of thought that James probably didn't get to share this kind of story often. Everyone here knew him, or at least knew who he was and who his parents were. These were details he most likely didn't get the chance to share with anyone because it was almost common knowledge in the small town.

Suddenly Logan missed living in a bigger city where he could get away with being irrelevant to anything important.

"Anyway, yeah, um," James rubbed at the back of his neck, shaking his head slightly, as if he was clearing it before looking away from the photographs and once again at Logan. "The guys mentioned video game Friday, right? You should come. Back seat might be a little cramped with two of you back there, but it shouldn't be too-"

"I can't."

James's brow twitched into a furrow as a small frown tugged down the corners of his mouth. Realizing how the quickly snapped reply had come off, Logan cleared his throat and let out a slightly nervous sounding laugh to cover it up.

"It's just that, uh, it's still a new place, we're still getting all situated. My mom kind of prefers me to be home right after school to help get things done and whatnot." Logan made up.

He could feel his face heat up, cheeks and the tops of his ears burning. He was a terrible liar. Even if he knew why he was essentially keeping Faith a secret, lying about his reasoning for needing to be home made him feel guilty. He cleared his throat again and rubbed his eye tiredly as if to make another point.

"It's been a long week, too, y'know? Just getting here and everything." He shrugged with one shoulder.

The taller of the two boys pursed his lips, obviously trying to mask the faint disappointment on his face, but failing to do so. For a moment, Logan vaguely wondered how often people ever told James no to things, but the thought was fleeting.

"Right, yeah, makes sense, I guess." The brunette mumbled.

The bell rang suddenly and Logan jolted, not expecting it. His eyes flicked up the hall toward the rapidly filling hallway before they were back on James's face, finding a completely different expression on his face than before. He was grinning easily again and moving beside him to lazily sling an arm about his shoulders much in the same way Carlos seemed to like to do. It was a little different with James, though, because he was a lot bigger than Carlos was, he felt enveloped in the embrace somehow.

"Can't get out of hanging with us at lunch today, though." James noted.

Logan snorted out a laugh and shook his head, rolling his eyes. There was a smile on his face despite himself when he agreed. He figured since he wasn't giving a full truth about after school he could at least give him lunch.