After the first night, since Logan had no clue why Rory had left, or if she was coming back, he decided he'd do his best to continue with his life as normally as possible, at least during business hours. He got up, showered, dressed, and left for work. The only major modification in his morning was that instead of having coffee with his wife, he skipped coffee all together and got a cup of tea at the dodgy espresso stand Rory refused to go to. If he went to any other stand, they'd know what he wanted, and know something was off because he ordered, well, anything other than the normal.

Once he arrived at his office, his day moved along quickly. He dealt with the same people he dealt with every day, and handled the same matters in the same manner as always. In fact, the sense of normalcy actually helped him forget the disappearance of his wife, for a few moments. Some time after lunch he glanced at the time, and realized it was just about 3:00, which meant that he only had to try to hold himself together for two more hours, and then he could go home and tear the house apart trying to figure out what happened. Two hours he could do that, he just needed a project. Just as he was about to dig into the background of a company he was considering buying out (which would at least occupy two hours), his intercom buzzed.

"Mr. Huntzberger?" his assistant asked.

"It's Logan," he reminded her for the tenth time.

"Yes, sorry about that sir."

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Oh right. Sorry. Mr. Huntzberger is here to see you."

Logan dropped his head into hands on his desk. Right. It was the third Friday of the month, Mitchum was in town. Just what he wanted to deal with. "Thanks. Send him on in."

"Sure thing."

Logan scrubbed at his face with his hands, trying to remove the evidence of his lack of sleep, and spread papers out all over his desk, trying to look busy.

Knock, knock. He heard the sound at his door. "Come on in."

"Hello Logan," his father said smoothly as he stepped into the office.

"Hey Dad. How was your flight?" Mitchum came to New York the third weekend of every month. He had a standing meeting with Logan on Friday afternoon, dinner with some of the editors on Friday night, time with Honor and Josh on Saturday, and he returned home to Connecticut on Sunday morning. No one asked what he did on Saturday nights. Every one knew, but no one wanted to confirm, plausible deniability.

"Short," he responded brusquely. "What's this I hear about a hitch in the Addison purchase?"

"What did you hear?" Logan asked. Last he'd checked, things were going smoothly.

"I heard that Addison wouldn't sign until he got assurances that all of his staff would be retained."

Logan scoffed, that never happened in a buy out. "Addison's dreaming and he knows it. At most he gets to keep forty percent of his staff. He's even signed the agreement. I think he's just blustering for the sake of his people. It looks better."

"If he's already signed, why isn't this done?"

"I told him we'd hold off on finalizing things until after the first of the month."

"Oh. Alright." Mitchum's bluster vanished, and he smiled at his son. "Do you and Rory want to join me for the editor's dinner tonight?"

Logan froze momentarily. Did his father know something was going on? He had an eerily accurate sixth sense on these things some times. "Uh, no thanks. We've already got plans tonight. Next time though?"

"Sure. Will we see you two at the Reynolds' anniversary party next week?"

"I think so," Logan hedged.

"Good. So how's everything else going?" Mitchum asked.

"I think things are going well. Readership is up, or at least subscriptions are, who knows if people actually read everything they subscribe to. I was just about to start digging into the Levy Group, considering buying them for their entertainment following."

"Sounds like a good plan. Everything else?"

"Everything's okay," he said, willing himself to sound convincing.

"Alright. Good. Well then I guess I can see myself out. I was mainly concerned about the Addison thing," Mitchum admitted.

"Okay." Logan stood to shake his father's hand before he left. "Hey Dad?" he asked, just as Mitchum reached the door.

"Yeah?"

"Has…" he paused, trying to figure out how to word his question without giving his situation away to his dad, but still get advice, "Has Mom ever done something off the wall…"

His father cut him off. "All the time."

"No, what I mean is, has she ever done something completely out of left field, but you have no clue why she did it?"

"Like what?" came the suspicious response.

Logan wracked his brain trying to find an episode from his childhood that might sort of fit the situation. "Okay, when I was 9, I came home from school to find Mom stapling all of your pants shut." Mitchum chuckled at Logan's memory. "I mean, now as an adult, I can look back, and her actions make sense. But did they make sense to you at the time? Did she just find out about someone or…" he trailed off. Even though his father's extra curricular activities were common knowledge, but no one ever actually spoke about them.

Mitchum cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. "They didn't make sense at the time, but a few days later I got a call from a… lady friend, and suddenly everything made sense."

"Why do you and Mom stay married?" Logan asked. "You don't even like each other anymore."

"Why do you and Rory stay married?" Mitchum asked in return.

Logan felt the flush of heat from his anger redden his cheeks. "Rory and I love each other. We respect each other. We also genuinely enjoy each other's company."

Mitchum shrugged. "Your mother and I love each other in our own ways. She forgives my dalliances and I forgive hers," he explained simply.

"Mom cheats too?" Logan asked, surprised by this revelation.

His father nodded.

"Why bother with being married at all then?" At this point, the questions had nothing to do with Rory, he was just merely curious.

"We're old and set in our ways. And honestly, at the end of the week, I'd rather end up at home with your mother. She understands me in a way that no one else ever has."

Logan dropped back into his chair, his head spinning with all of this new information.

"Is everything all right with you and Rory?" Mitchum asked as he made his way to the door.

"Fine," he said mechanically.

"Well I'm going to head off to dinner then. Let me know if you need anything."

Logan nodded his head woodenly, and continued to stare at the door long after it closed behind his father.

After work Logan headed home. He didn't want to go out for drinks or dinner. He just wanted to be alone so he could try and figure out what the hell was going on in his life. He was just pulling into his driveway when his phone rang. He grabbed for it eagerly, hoping it was Rory, despite the fact that it wasn't her ring tone.

"Hello?" he answered quickly.

"Hey Mate! How's it going?" Finn's voice came through the line.

"It's going," he said.

"I'm in town! Want to come out and meet me for dinner and drinks?"

Logan shook his head even though Finn couldn't see him. "Not tonight."

"Are you okay Mate?" Finn asked, sounding surprisingly serious. "You don't sound like yourself."

"Not really," he answered honestly.

He heard some jostling on the other end of the phone before Finn spoke again. "Are you at home? I'm coming to you."

"You don't have to Finn. I'll be fine."

Finn growled at him. "You're my best friend, and damn it I'm going to be there for you!"

Logan chuckled at Finn's absurdly honorable notions of friendship. "Fine, be my guest. I just got home. You may want to bring dinner."

"Will your lovely wife be joining us? Should I bring enough for three?"

"It'll just be the two of us," Logan told him. He hung up the phone before Finn could ask any questions. There would be plenty of time for questions later.

It took forty-five minutes for Finn to get from wherever he was to Logan's door. Logan heard a quick knock then, "Mate? Where are you?" Finn had let himself in.

"Kitchen," Logan called back.

Finn entered his kitchen with a bag of take out in one hand and bottle of whiskey in the other. Logan raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" Finn asked. "You sounded like you needed it."

He just shook his head in response. "What did you bring to eat?"

"Barbeque," Finn answered. "The traditional stuff. Pulled pork, ribs, corn, rolls, and mashed potatoes."

"Where'd you get that?" Logan hadn't eaten anything much since the Chinese food the night before, and despite his lack of appetite, the food did smell amazing.

Finn shrugged. "New place downtown. It's my job to know about these things." He set the bag on the counter and began to unpack it.

Logan busied himself getting plates, silverware, and glasses.

"When did we get so civilized?" Finn asked with a laugh, as Logan stuck a serving spoon in the potatoes. Finn was right. There was a time not that long ago when they would have eaten straight out of the containers on guys night. The old bite and pass routine.

"I don't want to take a chance and get a rib that you've already licked," Logan replied dryly.

Finn stuck his tongue out at him in response, but began to load his plate. When he finished loading the plate, he poured them each a very stiff drink. "Where are we eating, Mate?"

"The den's as good a place as any," Logan replied.

Both men carried their drinks and plates into the den and settled themselves on the couch. Neither of them were sports fans, so instead Logan flipped on the dinner time reruns. An old rerun of Friends came on, and they ate in silence as they watched Monica and Chandler have their first weekend away together.

After the food was mostly eaten, Finn pushed his plate back and shifted in his seat to look at Logan. "What's going on Mate? Where's Rory?"

Logan was surprised at Finn's seriousness, but still didn't know how to answer. "Dunno. Boston maybe," he said finally.

"What?" Finn practically screamed. All Logan could do was shrug. "When? Why?" Each of Finn's questions got louder.

Logan looked down at his plate sadly shook his head.

"Seriously Huntz, what the hell's going on here?"

"Don't you think I'd tell you if I knew?" Logan said sharply.

"Please tell me you're kidding about all of this."

"Damn it Finn, this isn't something I'd fucking joke about!" Logan yelled.

Being yelled at seemed to be the impetus that Finn needed to realize that his friend was serious. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

Logan leaned forward to catch his head in his hands. "I don't know. I came home to a note yesterday."

"A note?"

"Dear Logan, You deserve better than me. I'm sorry," he paraphrased.

Finn looked shocked. "What the hell? That doesn't sound like Rory. Has anything out of the ordinary happened lately?"

He shook his head. "I can't think of anything. Wednesday night we went out to dinner, talked about our upcoming calendars, and tried to find a time to vacation. All seemed right with the world."

"She hasn't been distant or overly attentive lately?" Finn asked. He could read between the lines.

Logan snorted. "You think Rory would cheat on me?" He lifted his head to meet Finn's eyes. "No way. Not after what happened with Jess."

"Okay Mate. Have you been through the house with a fine toothed comb looking for clues?"

"As best as I could. I even went into Rory's office," he admitted.

"What makes you think she's in Boston?"

"I called Paris," he said sheepishly.

Finn laughed. "I can't imagine that went well."

"Like a lead balloon," Logan confirmed. "But I know where she is, and Paris will call if something happens. She may not like me, but she does love Rory."

Finn nodded. "Okay, then what do we do?"

"Get drunk?" Logan suggested.

"As you wish." Finn got up to retrieve the bottle of whiskey he brought and a bottle of Coke from the refrigerator.

Logan woke up with the sun streaming in across his face. He squinted to take in his surroundings. He seemed to be in his own den, in his recliner. There was a loud noise coming from somewhere nearby. He pushed his legs down on the footrest to help himself into an upright position. According to the clock on the wall it was 10:30, and a glance around the room told him that the loud noise was Finn passed out on the couch, snoring. He heard a faint buzz and began to pat at the surrounding areas in search of his phone. Eventually he found the phone wedged under the arm of the chair.

He unlocked the phone to find that the buzzing was a missed call from Honor. He looked at his phone in horror, wondering he'd drunk dialed Rory. He quickly scrolled through his call list, grateful to not find any recent calls to Rory in the list. He then switched to text messages. There was only one he sent. It was the same as the night before. I love you, I miss you, please come home. And surprisingly, there was a response from her. I love you too.

The sound of Finn's snores got louder again, and Logan flung a nearby pillow at him. Finn made a startled noise, then rolled over. His phone started buzzing again, and it was a second call from Honor. He gingerly pushed himself into a standing position, and made his way out of the den to take the call, not wanting to wake Finn just yet.

"Hello?" he whispered into the phone.

"Logan?" Honor asked, then continued before he could answer. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," he answered in a normal voice. "I just woke up. Finn stayed over last night."

Honor laughed. "I can't believe Rory lets you have drunken boys night still."

He shrugged even though she couldn't see him. "It's part of who I am."

"So, do you and Rory want to come for lunch with Dad today? When I talked to him this morning, he seemed bummed that he didn't get to see you guys last night."

Logan sighed, hating to lie to his sister. "Sorry, we can't we already have plans today."

"Let me talk to Rory," Honor said, knowing her sister-in-law was one to try and please everyone.

"She's in the shower," he lied.

"Who's in the shower?" Finn asked, coming into the room behind him.

"Rory," Logan answered.

"Oh good. I'm so glad she decided to come home," Finn replied sleepily. "Has she made coffee?"

"Come home from where?" Honor asked.

"I have to go," Logan told his sister, trying to rush off the phone. He shot Finn a dirty look, but he was already shuffling off to the kitchen.

"Logan, wait! Where did Rory go? Why did she decide to come home?" He could hear the panic in his sister's voice. "Why haven't I heard anything about this yet?"

He sighed loudly. "Not everything is your business Honor."

She snorted on the other end of the phone. "Yeah right. As your big sister, it's my right and privilege to know every detail of your life."

"Later Honor," he said sharply.

"Just tell me, is everything okay?" she asked. She was genuinely concerned.

"No." He disconnected the phone before she could ask any more questions.

He set the phone down and scrubbed at his eyes, finally ran his hands through his messy bed head.

"There's no coffee," Finn announced as he returned from the kitchen.

Logan exhaled loudly. "I just woke up."

A confused expression appeared on Finn's face. "I thought you said Rory was home."

"No. I was trying to get out of lunch with my father, and when Honor wanted to talk to Rory I told her that Rory was in the shower. That's when you came in and blew the whole thing," Logan shouted.

"Sorry Mate," Finn said, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

Logan groaned. "It's okay. I just didn't want to tell my family about this until I knew a little more. God knows my mother is likely to throw a party, and put an add in the newspaper to search for the new Mrs. Logan Huntzberger."

Finn clasped Logan on the shoulder. "Don't give up Mate, I'm sure this is all some big misunderstanding and she'll be home soon. And I'm sure Mitchum will keep Shira in check for a little while."

Logan nodded, then headed for the kitchen to make some coffee.

The rest of Logan's weekend passed in a blur. Not that it went by quickly, just that he was so out of it that he didn't pay much attention to the time. He wandered around the house looking for clues as to why Rory left. He reread her goodbye note a hundred times, hoping for enlightenment. But in the end, when Sunday night came he knew nothing more than he did on Thursday night.

Around 11:00, he finally decided that he'd done all he could, and that it was time to go to bed. He stripped down to his boxers and his undershirt and slid into the bed. He texted Rory his nightly message and picked up his book to read for a while. He didn't know how long he'd been reading when his phone chimed, he looked down expecting it to be Rory, surprised to find that it was Paris. She's in Stars Hollow now. Well, that was something. He sent a return message. Thank you.

Just as he set his phone down, it went off again. This time it was his nightly message from Rory. He was no closer to finding out what was going on, but at least she still loved him.

Monday brought a sense of normalcy. He got up and went to work, like everything was normal. He didn't get any calls from his father, so he knew Honor hadn't said anything. He also hadn't gotten any calls from Honor, which surprised him. Usually hanging up on her was a sure fire way to ensure she bombarded him with calls, texts, and emails. Josh must have talked some sense into her.

As the days passed he considered calling Lorelai again, but he was pretty sure she wouldn't give him any information. It was to his great surprise that his phone rang on Wednesday morning and Lorelai's number was in the caller id.

"Hello?" he answered nervously. He'd been anticipating bad news for days.

"It's not Rory," Lorelai told him quickly.

He tried to suppress a sigh. "I didn't think it was," he lied.

"She's in Stars Hollow," she said quietly.

"I know."

"How?" He could picture the curious look on his mother-in-law's face.

"Paris sent me a text on Sunday night."

"How come you haven't come to get her since you know where she is?" Lorelai asked.

Logan had asked himself the same question time and time again. He stood up from his desk and began to pace around his office. "I don't know," he told her honestly. "I don't know why she left, so I don't know how she'll react if I just show up."

"It's been a week, aren't you the least bit curious?"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Honestly, I've been going out of my mind!"

Lorelai was silent for a moment. He could tell she was working up the courage to say something. "If you come now, and it goes badly, I'll take the heat."

He laughed bitterly. "Things must be really bad if you're willing to take the heat off me. You hate me."

"I don't hate you Logan," she replied. "But yes, things are really bad."

"What's going on?" he asked, hoping for a tiny bit of insight.

"Nope," she said quickly, and he could imagine her standing in front of him, shaking her head. "It's not my story to tell. I'm just calling to tell you that you need to come here and hear it."

"Alright. I've got a meeting at 2:00, but I'll leave right after that. I'll probably be at your place around 6:30."

Logan could hear Lorelai taking a deep breath before she started to talk again. "She's not staying with me. She's staying at the apartment above Luke's."

"Oh," Logan said, surprised at the turn of events. "Why?"

"Part of the story, you'll have to find out from her."

He groaned. "Fine. Since when is there an apartment above Luke's?" he asked curiously. He'd never been there. "Who lives there?"

"There's always been an apartment there. No one lives in it currently, but Luke lived there before we got married. Jess and Rory used to stay there when-" she cut herself off. "Never mind."

"Lorelai!" he exclaimed.

"It's part of the story!" she told him hastily. "I'll see you later."

Before he could respond, he was greeted with a dial tone. "Damn it Lorelai," he muttered as he hung up his phone.

If Jess was around… well, he didn't necessarily want to panic, but Jess had always been a bone of contention in their relationship. His mind drifted to a memory.

Three years earlier… a week before the wedding

Logan entered the living room to find Rory curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hand, staring out the window. "Hey Ace, how was your day?"

She jolted in her seat, obviously surprised by his presence. "Logan, hey. How are you?"

"What's going on? Are you okay?" he asked. "You seem kind of out of it."

"I'm fine." She smiled up at him, but he could tell the smile was forced.

He walked over to the couch and took a seat next to her. "What's going on Rory? Are you having second thoughts?"

"Oh no, nothing like that," she said quickly. "I… I just talked to Jess today."

"Your ex husband Jess?" he asked to clarify. "Why?"

She bit her lower lip nervously and focused on the coffee in her cup. "He just called to catch up."

Logan shook his head, not believing her. "You haven't spoken to him in over a year and he just happens to call to catch up the week before we get married? I'm not buying it."

She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe my mom or Luke mentioned the wedding."

"What did he want?" Logan asked brusquely.

"He's going to be in town on Friday and wants to have lunch," she said quietly.

"WHAT?" Logan exploded. "Please tell me you said no!"

"It's just lunch," she said as she looked up from her coffee and met his eyes. "It's no big deal."

Logan stood up from the sofa and began to pace. "So you'd be alright with me having lunch with Emory then?"

Rory stumbled over her words, and even though she said it would be fine, he knew she didn't mean it. "It's different with Jess," she told him.

He rolled his eyes in response.

"Jess is family. I know it sucks sometimes, but that's just the way it is." Her position had shifted into one of stubbornness, and he knew if he kept at it, the argument would only escalate.

Logan threw his hands in the air and walked out of the room. Sometimes it was best just to walk away. He knew she had a point, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He went into his office and did his best to focus on work. It wasn't long before he heard the tap of Rory's shoes. He forced himself not to look up, and soon he felt her hands on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry Logan," she whispered. "I'll cancel if you want me to."

He shook his head. "I don't want to get in between you and your family," he told her. "Let me be clear. I don't like this one bit, and I'm not at all comfortable with it. But for the sake of family relations, I'm going to let it go. I don't need to give your mother another reason to hate me."

"She doesn't hate you Logan," Rory said for probably the hundredth time in their relationship. "But thank you."

"Just try not to make a habit out of it," he said with a small smile.

Realistically, he knew that Rory and Jess were no longer right for each other. He knew that, until last week, he and Rory were happily married, and Rory would never go back to Jess. But yet somehow, despite all of that knowledge, the mere mention of Jess set his nerves on edge.

Work seemed to drag on endlessly as Logan waited for his meeting to start. Once the meeting did start, every minute seemed to take an hour. By the time the meeting was over, Logan couldn't have said what it was about, he was just grateful it was over.

He stopped at his assistant's desk and told her he was leaving for the day and there was a distinct possibility he wouldn't be in tomorrow.

He took the elevator to the garage, and pulled his car out into traffic. He headed north just as fast as traffic would allow.

It was just before 7:00 when he finally made it to Stars Hollow. He parked the car in an empty spot in front of Luke's and checked out his appearance in the vanity mirror. He stepped out of the car and headed to the dinner. He stopped just outside the window and looked in.

There, sitting at the table in front of the window, was his wife. There were papers spread across the table, along with a cup of coffee and a half eaten plate of fries. Sitting next to her was a tall dark haired man, Jess. Both of them were laughing hysterically. He couldn't believe it! Anger seethed through his veins.

Logan didn't mean to disrupt them, but he put his hands on the window, and the noise startled them. Both heads turned to face the window.

"Logan?" Rory asked.

He looked at Rory, then at Jess, dropped his hands and turned to go back to his car.

"Logan wait!" Rory shouted.

AN: I know, it's been a while! I hadn't been writing much, then I started on Half Of My Heart, and that one's just been flowing, but I found half of this chapter the other day and decided to work on it! So here it is.

I hope you enjoyed it! Please read and review! The next chapter will have the first present day Rory/Logan interaction!

S