Six months later…
The last six months had been status quo for Logan Huntzberger. He had thrown himself back into his work, life was almost exactly the same as it had been in California. He would get to the office before the sun was up most mornings, and would leave long after the sun had set.
His brownstone was still full of boxes, working six days a week would do that to anyone. He didn't care though, he was trying so hard to not focus on his personal life.
After a few weeks of silence, he had given up hope that he would hear from Rory. Not that he should be surprised, after eight years of silence, what should he expect? Now, six months had passed, and he had tried to put that night behind him. He had done his due diligence in trying to contact her, she refused. That was enough for him.
Recently, he had attempted to go on a series of what can only be described as terrible dates. None of the women were remotely interesting, set ups from his mother, society approved, but lacking any sort of semblance of a real personality.
It was yet another late night in the office. His desk phone rang suddenly, snapping himself out of his daze.
"Huntzberger"
"Logan!" Finn practically shouted.
Logan could barely hear him over the sound of chaos in the background.
"What's going on buddy?" Logan asked.
"You'll never believe how amazing the lady I just found is."
Logan's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Finn had finally heard from Rory. Quickly though, Logan shook his head, this craziness had to end.
"I don't want to see her. Not anymore." Logan said gripping the phone tight.
"Mate, no offence, but I don't really care. I'm bringing her back to my apartment. What a knockout, red hair down to her hips."
Logan realized quickly that Finn was drunk and sharing his excitement about his latest exploit.
"You go have fun, Finn, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Wait. Logan, there's a reason I called. I want to get together with you. How's Friday sound?"
Logan flipped to his calendar, a fruitless effort, he knew it was empty. "Yeah Finn, Friday sounds good. I'll see you then. And Finn? Go have fun."
Logan hung up the phone.
Somewhere up town, Finn hung up the phone, smiled, put his arm around a gorgeous redhead, and led her out of the bar.
"I need a life." Logan sighed to himself. He stood, looked at the clock, decided it was time to leave the office and went to flag a cab.
...
It was Friday evening and Rory looked at her watch, she was running late. She only arrived back in the city this morning, for the first time in six months. It was an eight year tradition that she would grab dinner with Finn, any time she was in New York, but she was regretting this particular dinner, she had tried avoiding the crazy Australian, ever since her ill-fated night with Logan six months ago.
Finn was as persistent as ever, and she knew she couldn't avoid his calls for the rest of her life. He was her friend after all, and she didn't want to lose that.
What struck her as odd was that Finn wanted her to come over for dinner at his place, they usually met at a restaurant, but whatever, she was hungry, and the promise of copious amounts of coffee was enticing her.
After arriving at his building, she was greeted by a doorman.
"Excuse me miss, to where can I direct you?" The doorman asked.
"I'm here to see Finn Walker" Rory explained.
"Right this way miss." The doorman put Rory into the elevator, turned a key, and pushed the button for the penthouse.
The elevator doors opened, and Rory stepped into one of the most beautiful apartments she had ever seen. It was almost enough to take her breath away. As she stepped out into the apartment, she did lose her breath, but for an entirely different reason. There standing across the room, looking at Finn's liquor cabinet was none other than Logan.
She started to back away, hoping she could get back to the elevator before he would notice her.
"Finn.." Logan said picking up a bottle from the liquor cabinet. "I had no idea you were holding out on me, we need to drink this, tonight."
Logan turned around, the bottle sliding from his hands, crashing to the floor, splintered glass and scotch splashed all around his feet.
Just then the elevator dinged again, Finn stepped out.
"Good. You're both here"
Rory and Logan both looked at Finn incredulously.
"You both need to talk, and you are both too stubborn to see it. It took six months to get you into the same city, and you aren't going to be leaving this apartment until you work it out.
Finn stepped back into the elevator gave them a smile, and headed back downstairs. Since a key was needed to call the elevator to the penthouse, they were stuck.
"So..." Rory said.
"So…" Logan responded.
"Hi?" Rory told him.
"That's all you have to say?" Logan asked.
"What do you want me to say?" Rory mumbled.
"How about you start with why you left me in the middle of the night, after having sex, that you initiated I might add, after not seeing each other for eight years."
Rory looked at her feet. "Logan, I'm sorry… I just. I wasn't myself. I was hurting, I missed you, I'll admit that, but it was just a spur of the moment thing."
"Is that all I'm worth to you? A spur of the moment thing?" Logan asked.
"No… it's just… you're in California. I'm all over the place. We haven't seen each other in eight years, you told me it was all or nothing, I thought that was pretty clear." Rory had started to ramble.
"Rory" Logan started.
She ignored him and continued, "Look it was really amazing of you to fly all that way, but we tried, we failed, we were in different parts of our lives.
"Rory" Logan tried again.
Still not noticing he was trying to speak, she was about to start on a new sentence when she finally heard him yell "RORY."
"What?" She yelled back.
"I'm not in California." he told her.
"What do you mean you aren't in California?" she asked puzzled.
"I moved back to New York almost 10 months ago." Logan said.
Rory quickly did the math in her head, and realized he had been back on the east coast around the time her grandfather died.
"But then, why did you tell me you flew all the way from California?" she asked.
"I did. My company is still based out of Palo Alto, but we opened up a New York office. I got tasked with heading it up. I was on my way back from a trip to the west coast office, when I got delayed by the storm. I tried as hard as I could to get back in time for Richard's memorial service." Logan explained.
"You did?" she asked. "But why?"
"Don't you think that it's obvious?"
She walked over to the couch and plunked down.
"Logan, you ended things with me." she was willing herself to not cry.
"Rory… why did you leave me in the middle of the night?" Logan pressed again.
"Logan.. Why did you give me an all or nothing ultimatum?" Rory tried to avoid his question.
"I made a mistake! Ok does that make you happy? I made the worst mistake of my life when I walked away that day. Happy? I've been miserable for the last eight years. It took me a long time to realize that, but I should never have sprung that decision on you. I had just convinced myself that you would say yes" Logan raised his voice.
"I wanted to say yes, but I just needed time" Rory shot back. "I was just graduating college, I hadn't even taken one unknown step into the world yet. I needed some time to explore, I had hoped we could explore together, but you shot that idea down pretty damn quick.
"We hadn't even talked about marriage, not even once. Agreeing to factor each other into each other's decisions, seemed like a normal next step. But you didn't factor me in, you planned everything for me without checking with me first. How was I supposed to react to that? I had no idea you had jumped from factoring me in, to getting married in such a short span of time. Can you blame me for freaking out a little?" Rory said, all in one breath.
The tears were spilling over now, but Logan was still standing in the mess of glass and scotch, refusing to even look at her.
"Rory, I need to know. Why did you leave me in the middle of the night?" Logan asked a third time.
"Because I was afraid if I stayed, you would go back to California and break my heart again. There! Happy? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
Logan looked at her properly for the first time since dropping the bottle of scotch.
"Why would you think I would break your heart again? Logan questioned, turning and walking toward the couch.
Rory looked away, and mumbled. So low he almost didn't hear her. "Because part of me still loves you."
Logan's heart soared. He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.
She continued, more firmly this time. "When you left me eight years ago, I was a mess. I left for the Obama campaign, and tried to push my feelings aside, but I was heartbroken and homesick. I cried myself to sleep for weeks. I alienated myself from the other reporters, I barely ate. I threw myself into my writing. It wasn't healthy." She looked at her hands while she spoke.
"I tried, I really did. To move on. You know. But I'm never in any place for more than a few weeks. No one really ever compared." Rory looked up at Logan, her eyes swimming with tears.
"God my life is such a mess. She said wiping at her eyes. "I hate my job. This isn't what I expected, what I had planned. I was sitting in a diner watching some slob stuff sweet potatoes in his face when I got the call about grandpa. This is where my life ended up, the great Rory Gilmore, writing an article about eating sweet potatoes. Maybe your dad was right."
"Rory Gilmore. Don't you dare say that for one second. I've followed your work right from the start. Every article. Christ, I even have a google alert set-up to let me know anytime your name comes up somewhere online. You are a fantastic writer, probably the best I know, but you've lost your spark Ace. That fiery ace reporter passion has been missing for the last few years. You don't sound like you." Logan told her.
Rory snorted. "You can thank articles like the sweet potato for that."
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"I tried to call you. You know? A few weeks into the campaign. But you changed your number." she said.
Logan silently cursed himself.
"I told myself then, it was really over." Rory started to tear up again.
Logan instinctively reached out and grabbed her hand.
She looked up at him and tentatively smiled.
Taking a breath, she asked again. "Why did you come see me that night?"
Logan sighed. "Rory, I tried to push the thought of you out of my life every day for the last eight years. When Finn called me to tell me about Richard, I tried to jump on a plane that night. He talked me out of it. It was a gut reaction, I knew you would be devastated, I remember how you felt after his last heart attack. I let my guard down, let the emotion I was suppressing seep through. I decided to let you be, but I knew I had to come and express my condolences, and see how you were doing."
"When you looked at me and burst into tears, every ounce of resolve I had went out the window. And then you kissed me." Logan paused almost hesitant to tell her the next part.
"Rory… That was the best night of my life. I just wish it were under better circumstances." Logan told her, looking into her eyes.
Rory shifted uncomfortably, and Logan's smile fell.
"Logan… I… Uh…" Rory faltered, not knowing exactly what to say.
He withdrew his hand, and looked into his lap. "It's ok Rory, I'll leave you be."
"Logan! Wait." She reached out and grabbed his hand.
"I don't know what this is, not anymore. But it's clear we have unresolved feelings for each other still." She continued.
"I'm still all over the place for work, I'm supposed to go to Virginia on Monday for a week. You were clear that you don't want a long distance relationship."
"Rory"
"I get that, Logan, I really do. But I don't think I can give up talking to you completely. Not again."
"Rory, would you please listen for just a second?" Logan interrupted her.
"I can't let you go, not again. I don't know where this is going, but shouldn't we see? We've got this whole weekend, we can try and figure out what this is. You can come stay with me, spend the weekend together." Logan told her.
Rory bit her lip. "Logan, I don't know if that's the best idea. The staying with you, I mean. I think you're right, we need to figure this out. But I think it would be best if I stayed at my hotel."
"Now. Can you please call Finn and ask him to let us out of here? I'm starved, Finn promised me coffee and food and obviously neither of them are here. I need to eat." Rory told him.
Logan smiled "I'm sure we can take care of that." picked up the phone and called Finn.
As they waited for the crazy Australian to return, Logan sighed. "He's going to kill me for dropping that bottle of scotch. It's worth $100,000."