A/N; Hey everyone! Thanks for being so patient with updates, I really appreciate it. School did just start for me this week, but I managed to get some writing in, thankfully. I finally got around to this one and I'm sorry that it's been so long! This chapter moves a little quickly, but I wanted it to build up to the next one since I've already started working on that, too.

Big thank yous to all followers/favorites and reviews, as usual! You guys are the best, and I appreciate the feedback so much. Enjoy!

-Kay.

Chapter 4-

James, Carlos, and Kendall liked to talk. A lot. It didn't bother Logan really, because the more they talked, the less he had to, and that was just fine. The three boys had obviously known each other for a long time –since Kindergarten, he learned after curiously asking about it. They talked a lot about hockey, about how Carlos was beating them up at practices, about how James's slap shot was definitely going to get them into league playoffs this season. He couldn't say he had ever really had much interest in the sport, but listening to them making joking jabs at each other or excitedly share both success and injury stories, he had found himself pretty enthralled.

"Did you play sports back in Texas?" Kendall asked curiously, popping a Dorito in his mouth.

They were sitting back behind the gym, where the basketball and volleyball courts were on the black top. No one else was back there but them, most students situating in the quad or the cafeteria. Vaguely, Logan wondered if they were even allowed back there during lunch, but then it occurred to him that Kendall was the principal's son, he probably would have known better. Though, he supposed knowing better and following the rules were two different things.

Logan shook his head, "Sports aren't really my thing. I'm not coordinated enough."

"Don't you skateboard, though?" James kinked a brow.

"It's different. Sports take a lot more energy, a lot more time." He shrugged. He couldn't exactly get into the explanation of why he didn't have the time.

"Hey, what made you move all the way out here anyway?" Carlos asked.

"My mom's agency transferred her." He replied.

He kept his answers short and simple. Despite the fact that he didn't really want to keep talking about himself, he figured giving any answer was better than being obviously deviating. The questions didn't last for too long, thankfully, just a couple about what Texas was like and if he liked the new school so far. He made a comment about the pretty cool people and let his eyes land on James when he said it, earning a grin.

"You really should hang with us after school, dude." Kendall declared finally.

Shooting a glance in James's direction, Logan found the brunette's smile to be missing.

"I, um, can't today. Maybe next week, though." At least then it gave him time to come up with a better excuse. Or actually talk to his mom about it. One of the two.

It didn't get pushed much further, mostly on account of the fact that lunch time ended and they all had to get to their next classes. Logan didn't miss the almost hopeful looking expression on James's face before they all separated, however. He spent the afternoon after school napping with Faith, since evidently the both of them were exhausted enough to need the extra sleep, and it reminded Logan of just how important it really was for him to be at home after school.

His first official weekend since starting school turned out to be less relaxing than he might have hoped. His mom had decided that since she only worked afternoons and evenings during the week that Saturdays were her day to work all day. Her working left Logan with the full responsibility for Faith that he had gotten used to before he had gone back to school. It wasn't something he was complaining about. Sure, he had homework and still a little bit of unpacking to do, even, but he had Faith. His Faith time was precious time.

"Come on, pretty girl, you can do it." He cooed, smiling.

The six month old let out a shriek, followed by a little babbling. She was propped on her hands and knees, the perfect position to take off crawling, but she stayed in place. Every few seconds she would suck on her lower lip and wobble front to back, as if she were about to move forward, but still nothing. It definitely got more than a little chuckle out of her father, though.

"Look, just like this."

Logan moved so that he was on his hands and knees beside the baby. He moved one hand forward slowly, a knee following a moment later. He slowly demonstrated the crawl until he was a couple feet away from her, then turning around and crawling back toward her. Faith's wide brown eyes were locked on him and as he got nearer to her, she let out a gurgled laugh at him.

Logan smiled widely at the child and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. Faith let out a little more of her high pitched babbling before she started whining, obviously being done with being in her current position. She hadn't quite figured out how to get back after getting there just yet. Logan lifted her up and sat her back down normally on the living room floor, handing her her plastic toy keys and running a hand down her back.

His gaze snapped up toward the front door when he heard a knock, his brow twitching into a furrow. Scooping up Faith, who was now busy contently gumming at her toy, Logan went to answer the door. His eyebrows shot up a second after the red door was open, recognizing the wavy-haired girl in front of him.

"Hi, sorry to bother y- Oh! Logan!" It was Camille.

A look of confusion crossed Logan's face, "Camille? I mean- Yeah, you're Camille, hi."

Camille's eyes flicked to Faith, a smile coming across the brunette's face. "Look at you! You're a cutie."

The girl was grinning and wiggling a finger in Faith's direction. Logan felt a little ill suddenly, now being aware of the fact that he was standing in front of one of his classmates with his daughter in the crook of his arm. He swallowed, feeling nervous.

"What's- Did you need something?" he asked.

Camille's attention turned back to him, smile still on her face. "Yeah, sorry! I live in the house behind you guys." She said, pointing. "One of my dog's toys flew over the fence into your yard. Normally I'd have just hopped the fence and grabbed it, but I knew someone new was living here now. I just didn't realize it was you."

After she finished her explanation, the girl's attention once again moved to the baby, crinkling her nose up as she smiled at her. Faith was watching Camille with both interest and a little curiosity, Logan noticed. Still, the infant's once hand was tightly wrapped around the collar of his gray t-shirt. She hadn't been around a lot of new people, especially not since getting to the new place, he wasn't surprised to see her being slightly nervous.

"Well, if you wanna come on through and grab that toy." He said finally, after clearing his throat.

He was already stepping out of the way to let her in before she nodded. He stayed in the living room, bouncing Faith idly as he waited for Camille to come back through once again. Admittedly, he was trying to think up a good cover story. He felt on edge, like it was far too soon for there to be any chinks in the armor that was his cover. A moment after the initial thought of an excuse crossed his mind, his eyes flicked to the baby he was holding. Then came the guilt.

He knew that treating Faith like some big kind of secret that he couldn't let people in on wasn't the smartest thing to do. Not only was he pretty sure that no matter how hard he tried –if now was any sort of example- he wasn't going to be able to play it off, depending on how long it didgo on for, he knew that it would only make it look as if he were ashamed.

Not that he was proud of the fact that he was seventeen and a single father, exactly. That wasn't precisely something that he went around announcing in order to receive praise. The act, yeah, he might have been a little ashamed of that, because he should have been smarter, should have known better. Trusting a simple 'I'm on the pill' and sleeping with Lindsay, thinking they were safe just because she had told him so, that was his mistake. Faith? Faith wasn't the mistake. She happened, and she was sooner than he anticipated ever becoming a father, but he couldn't take out anything on her.

Chewing anxiously at his lip, Logan perked up again as Camille came back into the living room, the dog tug-of-war rope in her hand. She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then it closed again as her eyes moved to Faith, as if she had thought of something else to say the second she saw the baby again.

"I didn't know you had a little sister." She pointed out.

Logan swallowed and breathed out heavily. "She's not my sister."

"Oh." Camille's brow furrowed as Logan chewed at the inside of his lip. The girl's eyes flicked between him and Faith a couple times before they widened in realization. "Oh!"

Logan pressed his lips together in a tight line and gave a stiff nod, adjusting Faith at his hip for good measure.

"Wow! I didn't even- I mean- Wow." Camille said quickly, shaking her head.

"Wow's the word." Logan mumbled. "If you could like.. not mention this to anyone, that'd be great."

A frown crossed Camille's face, "Wait, it's a secret? Well, of course it is, if it wasn't then word would already be out and everyone in town would know you're a dad."

Logan winced. "I would really rather not get that rep before I've even settled in entirely."

"How do you plan on keeping a babya secret?" She questioned, tone suddenly turning to reprimanding. "Why would you want to, even? Just because she's a baby and can't say she wants the public acknowledgement doesn't mean she doesn't deserve it."

"The situation's complicated, okay?"

"Well, no duh. You're in high school and have a baby. What are you gonna tell her when she's older, hm? That you kept her a secret from everyone to save your image?"

"That's not-"

"What if she ends up resenting you for it and thinking something must be wrong with her?"

"I'd appreciate if you would stop lecturing me on how to handle a situation with my own child, thank you." He grumbled.

Camille's eyes fell on Faith momentarily, the little girl just barely starting to fuss as she became aware of her father's increasing exasperation. Logan worked to relax and shushed her softly, bouncing her gently for a moment before turning his attention back to Camille. The brunette let out a short sigh and tucked a piece of her wavy hair behind her ear.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I guess if you really don't want me to say anything, I won't. Technically it's not really my business, but I still think you're being stupid."

Logan tried to ignore the fact that she was voicing all of the internalized notions that made him guilty already, rolling his eyes at her. "I'm not intending to keep her some locked away secret forever, alright? I'm working on how to let people know. It's kind of a big bomb to drop on someone."

Now was Camille's turn to roll her eyes, shaking her head at him. "Whatever you say." She paused and held up the dog toy in her hand. "Thanks for letting me grab this." She said before looking at Faith. Despite the fact that she didn't seem thrilled with him, she managed a smile for the baby girl. "Bye, bye, cutie."

Logan watched her leave with a tight jaw and the heavy sinking realization that things just got much more complicated, much quicker than he would have expected.

Sunday moved too quickly. His mom was home by noon which gave him the opportunity to finally get his homework done. It didn't take him long, and he was back to playing with Faith and giving her a bath in the sink in no time. Monday morning, the situation with Camille on Saturday once again was made more apparent to him when he had to go to school and see her. She didn't say anything to him about anything, but there was a look in her eye when he first saw her up the hall, and he knew that she had to be thinking all the things she'd already told him just the other day.

He felt on edge and he hated it. He shouldn't have felt so nervous just because one person knew about Faith. He shouldn't have felt so nervous about people learning about the baby in the first place.

"Logan!"

He jolted, blinking a few times as Carlos snapped his fingers in front of his face. They were sitting back behind the gym again, all four of them. Upon request from his mother that morning to "please try to make some friends to enjoy his senior year with," he had opted to stay at school for lunch again, even if he would have rather gone home.

"Sorry." He mumbled, rubbing at an eye. "Tired."

"You're always tired." James chuckled, popping a slice of tangerine into his mouth.

"Yeah, well-" Logan cut himself off as he realized his voice was harsher than intended, earning questioning looks from the three boys. "I have trouble sleeping in my new room." He made up.

He supposed it was technically only half untrue.

"My mom used to tell me to drink ginger tea when I couldn't sleep. It actually works." Kendall said.

"I'll have to look into it." Logan replied, though he was doubtful ginger tea was going to do much good for the restless baby girl he shared a room with.

"You never answered my question!" Carlos complained.

Logan kinked a brow. "Question?"

"Yes, spacey, my question. What are you doing on Wednesday after school?"

Logan caught the way that James's hazel eyes flicked up from the fruit he was picking at to rest on him for a second, an almost expect look in them.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Homework or cleaning or something for my mom, probably."

Blaming his mother as an excuse to get out of things wasn't exactly the nicest thing to do, he knew. Especially since she was the one pushing him to get himself a social life. It was the most solid excuse he had, though. Aside from the whole 'I have to take care of my six month old daughter' one.

"You should tell your mom you'll clean after the game." James muttered, actively working to keep his focus on the tangerine instead of looking up at Logan still.

"Game?" Logan asked.

"Hockey game on Wednesday afternoon, dude!" Carlos declared excitedly.

"We're going to freaking kill those suckers, you should totally come watch." Kendall nodded.

"You can cheer me on." James said in between licking off his fingers.

Carlos elbowed him.

"Us. You can cheer us on."

Logan smirked and coughed slightly to cover up the laugh that wanted to escape. James noticed and glanced up through his long lashes for a moment, grinning faintly.

"Really, you should talk to your mom." The brunette said. "It's just one afternoon, right?"

Logan paused to unscrew the cap on his water bottle and take a drink from it before sighing. "I'll see what I can do."

His mother was far too enthused with the idea for his liking.

"Of course that's fine! I can take Faith with me to the office for the afternoon. It shouldn't be a problem at all. I'm glad you're making friends, sweetie." She said over dinner that night, a wide, almost proud smile on her face.

Logan frowned down at his baked potato before glancing toward Faith in her swing. "Are you sure? I mean, it's just your second week in the new office. What if they're not okay with that?"

"Oh, hush. My office manager is well aware of the home situation. She knows I help you out with the baby and that have obligation to."

"It's just a hockey game, Mom. I don't really have to go."

"Yes, you do."

And that was it for the discussion. He sighed and slumped back against the back of the couch, shoveling a bite of potato into his mouth. He wasn't sure why he was hoping his mom would have told him no, because admittedly, he was kind of excited about doing something that didn't involve diapers or drool, it had been a long time. There was another part of him, however, that dreaded the idea of getting close to other people. Getting close led to getting attached, getting attached only ended up leading to disappointment, he had learned.

That night turned out to be quiet on the Faith front, but that didn't seem to stop Logan's restlessness much. Telling the guys the following day that he could go to the game after all had gotten a round of excitement in return, particularly from Carlos who was excited to show off his skills at checking people more than anything, it seemed. James was tight-lipped about his enthusiasm, but Logan didn't miss the way that almost his entire demeanor perked up, including the way his eyes lit up with excitement.

When Wednesday rolled around, Logan was surprised to find just how much of the school actually cared about the hockey team. All of the guys on the team were walking around in their maroon and white jerseys all day. Every once in a while, between classes and looking up the hall, he would notice one of the team members getting a nod, cheer, or high five from one of the other students. It was a little new, if only because he could remember reactions to the football team at his old school being much of the same and hadn't anticipated that level of interest for the hockey team. Things really were different in this new place, he supposed.

Originally, the idea had been for him to go home during his free period and lunch to spend the time with Faith, since he was going to be doing other things after school, but on his way to the office to check out and leave campus, he stopped. Up the hall from where he stood, his eyes caught on the bold white lettering of the back of a jersey reading "Diamond."

James was standing outside of the ASB room, cell phone pressed to his ear. Logan couldn't make out what he was saying from where he was, the tall boy keeping his voice quiet probably so to avoid disrupting the classes in session in the surrounding rooms or being caught on his phone during school hours. Though he couldn't hear what was being said, even from afar, Logan could see the tense set of James's wide shoulders, the way he was impatiently tapping the toe of one of his sneakers on the tiled floor. Biting his lip and breathing in deeply through his nose, Logan started toward the other boy hesitantly.

"Mom, you haven't been to a game all season." James mumbled into the receiver. "There's been like six so far and you haven't even been to one."

Logan's brow furrowed as he frowned.

"That's not the-" James cut himself off as he started to raise his voice, working to quiet himself once again. "I don't care if Dad comes to one, either. I didn't ask him to be there, I asked you to."

The shorter boy couldn't help but feel a little sad for the boy in front of him. He knew that if he had the capability to play a sport, his mom would have been at every game, probably even volunteering to be team mom or something. There never would have been a question about whether or not she wanted to be there, supporting and being proud of him. That was just how his mom was. He couldn't imagine not having that kind of attention, that kind of love.

"Couldn't you catch a flight after the game?" James asked, and Logan could hear the disappointment in his voice. The boy's shoulders slumped as he sighed, bringing his other hand up from his side to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Carlos and Kendall come over all the time anyway, if you were ever home you would know that, but fine, Mom. Have fun at your convention."

James hung up without another word, stuffing his phone irritably back into the pocket of his jeans. He huffed, obviously exasperated, and half turned toward Logan finally, flinching when he noticed the other boy standing there.

"Jesus Christ." James breathed, letting out a slight laugh as he shook his head.

Logan smiled sheepishly. "Nope, just me."

James rolled his eyes with a grin. "Funny." The grin faltered a little and he shifted on his feet. "How long have you been standing there, anyway?"

"Um," Logan rubbed at the back of his neck. "I can say not long it it'll make you feel better."

James grimaced, folding his arms across his chest. Logan found himself taking notice to the way that the jersey clung to him so snugly.

"Right." The brunette muttered. "Just another episode of Keeping up With The Diamonds."

"I'm sorry your mom's not coming to your game." Logan said quietly.

James shrugged his shoulders with a roll of his eyes. "Honestly, I don't know why I still get surprised every time. There's always something. Meeting, stocking a new store, going to a convention." He sighed. "I guess I'm naïve. That's the word, right? Naïve?"

Logan couldn't help but let out a chuckle, nodding.

"Oh well. I'll still kick ass without her there." James said, obviously working to psych himself back up.

The darker haired boy nodded idly, biting his lip.

"Besides," James perked up further, grinning this time. "I'll have you there, that's an accomplishment in itself."

Logan snickered and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I guess so."

James smiled at him, all perfect white teeth and little crinkles at the corners of his hazel eyes, and Logan couldn't help but smile back. Suddenly he was feeling surprisingly glad to be going to the game after all.