AUTHOR'S NOTE: HERE'S YOUR EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT! - KRISTINE.

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: AND HAVE IT END THAT WAY? UH, NO.

CHAPTER EIGHT: WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?

- R - & - L -

He looked down at the ground, clearly contemplating her offer. After he glanced back up and said, "I say no."

She nodded imperceptibly. Her bottom lip was trembling. She blinked rapidly desperately trying to keep the tears at bay. All she could think was that she was a fool. She was a fool for saying no when he first proposed. She was a fool for never trying to repair the damage after he walked away. She was a fool for throwing herself into her work. Still now what she felt most foolish for was thinking that she could just come back here and try to fix things like they hadn't been shot to hell. She was a fool for thinking that he would just be willing to take her back when really despite her passionate plea and sacrifices she hadn't done much to sway him.

"I understand," she rasped silently thinking that she should have worn waterproof mascara even though all that really equated was mascara that ran a little less than usual. "I should probably let you go. I know you were talking business when you answered the door."

"That's it? He asked.

Her face scrunched in bewilderment. "What do you mean that's it? You just said no. I think the normal response would be for me to let you be."

"I just would have thought you would have fought a little harder Ace. I mean you did tell me that you left your job at WNN and were moving to Bay Area in hopes that we could give us another shot. And when I say no your only response is to just sort of limp away like a wounded puppy?"

"Logan I'm not sure what you want from me. Do you want me to hit my knees and beg that you reconsider? Do you want me to lay it all out there even more because I think quitting my job would have been enough to convince you if you were able to be convinced," she said, her voice bordering just on contentious.

He smirked. "I'm just saying Ace I thought you would at least fight for this idea of yours. Living in the Bay Area with no friends can be lonely. Trust me I know from experience. You suggested that we could be friends first. What exactly would we do as friends?"

She looked up at him in disbelief angry words on the tip of her tongue when she realized that he was fucking with her. Logan Huntzberger was screwing with her. His smirk said that he yes he would like to be at the very least friends come January when she moved to the Bay Area, but first he wanted to make her feel a little bad.

She smiled weakly, "You're impossible."

"That's probably true," he admitted. "But I had to at least give you a little bit of a hard time. I mean you did trample heart the last time we saw each other face-to-face though sometimes your news stories also caused me heartache."

"If I could go back I would have said yes," she whispered. Tears started to streak down her cheeks when it proved impossible for her to keep them at bay any longer. "I was a terrified college grad. I thought marrying you would me giving up my career."

"I would have never wanted you to do that," he assured her. He stood to grab her a few tissues from the bathroom. "We would have made it work. Fuck if you'd said I yes I probably would have been okay with us still just being engaged today."

She wiped her tears, thinking that she must have looked like a mess. "I almost called you when the campaign trail was over I just didn't think it was fair."

"Well I almost called you every single day between the one where I walked away and today. There were so many moments when the only person whose voice I wanted to hear was yours so I guess that makes us both fools."

"You watch my news stories?" She asked after a moment of silence where she decided that he was still one of the most attractive men she'd ever met let alone dated.

He was wearing charcoal gray dress pants and a black shirt that despite probably being heavily starched was now a little wrinkled. A quick glance around the room confirmed her suspicion that he hadn't been in Boston very long. For a moment she wondered if he was here on business or for pleasure. Knowing the little bit of information that Stephanie felt comfortable enough to share she was pretty sure that it was business.

He bit his lip and nodded almost sheepishly. It was one of those rare Logan Huntzberger looks that people rarely believed actually existed. "I read them too."

She smiled and quickly swiped at her eyes thinking again that she'd been such a damn fool for walking away.

"So we're going to try this?" She asked her tone full of hope.

"Looks like it," he answered. His sheepish grin had quickly been replaced his more common smirk. "Even though you never did tell me what beings friends looked like when it came to the two of us Ace."

- R - & - L -

For three months Rory and Logan managed to make beings friend work. In all actuality there form a friendship was a lot like a relationship except they didn't kiss except for quick pecks on the cheek and they certainly didn't do anything rash like sleep together. No, instead they went to brunch on Sundays and talked politics and the media industry. When they had work engagements, they always attended as the others date though both made a point to introduce each other as their dear friend. The looks they received in exchange always suggested that the person they were introducing the other two, didn't believe that they were just dear friends for a second. Being friends was perfect and it really seemed to work. That is until April when they flew back East for Colin and Stephanie's engagement party.

It had all started okay. They got separate rooms at the same hotel. They sat across from each other instead of right next to one another. They even took time to meet other single people that Stephanie and Colin deemed worthy enough to invite to the party. Everything was pointing in the direction that come Sunday when they caught their flight back to San Francisco, they'd still just be friends. But then they'd been to awake to go to sleep like everyone else, so they stole a bottle of champagne and headed for the beach. And then they got nostalgic.

"Master and Commander once played on television about three months after we broke up. I was in this shitty hotel in Tacoma. The rest of the reporters had gone out for drinks, but I was over that scene. And anyway I just started bawling," she admitted laughing softly. "When the girl I was bunking with showed up I lied and said it was because I just couldn't get over the way Russell Crowe ruined Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid's marriage."

He snorted softly. "What'd she say to that?"

"She sort of blathered on about having a similar reaction to Mr. and Mrs. Smith because apparently if Jennifer Aniston couldn't find happiness what hope is there for the rest of us."

"She had a point," he mused.

She rolled her eyes and gently shoved him before grabbing the bottle and turning it upwards for another sip.

"For me it was The Twilight Zone." He told her, thinking back to the first time he saw his favorite episode. He hadn't been able to leave the house at all that weekend. If it weren't for an important business meeting at the office that Monday it might have been longer.

"I still have the rocket you gave me."

He gazed at her in surprise. "You do?"

"Of course I do. It's the best gift I've ever received." she said. On her lonely days she would stare it because it was proof that at one point her life she'd found someone. "I could never have parted ways with it. It's made every move with me."

"I don't think I can be friends with you Ace."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What? Why not?" She asked, her voice bordering on whining.

He gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down before explaining himself. "I'm still in love with you. This time we've spent together has been great, but I spend the entire time trying not to kiss. I think that we owe it to ourselves should try again."

"You mean that?" Her heart was practically swelling in her chest in joy. She'd been feeling the exact same way, but had been trying to ignore that.

He nodded and then he leaned in and kissed her passionately. They stayed that way until it seemed that they might pass out from lack of oxygen. Finally they pulled apart.

"I've been waiting for that since Christmas," she admitted between gasps for air. "What took you so long?"

Logan smirked for a second and then he kissed her again.

That night when Rory fell asleep in his arms, she realized that she did have a second chance to be Mrs. Huntzberger after all.

- R - & - L -

AUTHOR'S NOTE: CORNY, I KNOW. HAHA. SO THAT WAS IT. I HOPE YA'LL LIKED IT. THIS STORY HAS MADE ME MISS RORY AND LOGAN MORE THAN I HAVE IN A LONG TIME. I STILL HATE THAT WE WERE LEFT HANGING THE WAY WE WERE. I LOOK FORWARD TO READING THE REVIEWS FOR THIS ONE. I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST! - KRISTINE.