Leaps and landings

1

A very long AN: This story is a spinoff of "Maine event" which was mostly ROGAN, but another interesting coupling developed in that story, which took place largely off scene. This story aims to remedy that. It contains some bit of the same dialogue but I've tried to incorporate new thoughts to them. I do recommend that you read the "Maine event" first to get the full background story, but in case you did or just need a refresher or don't want to, the cliffnotes of that are:

* Logan's engagement with Odette was just a friendly (with some benefits) arrangement so Logan could become the majority stakeholder at HPG and Odette could escape her traditional / controlling family and move to the US and disappear. There are no romantic feelings between the two. It's a friendship, a partnership to achieve a common goal - get away from under their parent's influence.

* While Logan went along with the fake-marriage with Odette, he actually married Rory just a couple of days prior to that, leaving Odette legally in a difficult position.

* Odette, Rory and Logan all live in Odette's house in Manhattan. She's friendly with Rory. She understands that true love is hard to find and does not blame Rory and Logan for finding a way to be together.

*Odette wants to have a baby - her clock is ticking and she's willing to do it alone.

* Financially she is independent.

* Jess is an editor/manager at Truncheon, which is now owned by HPG (e.g Mitchum/Logan), but it continues to work more or less independently in Philadelphia in the beginning of the story.

* Just for graphical imagination - in my stories I picture Jess looking sightly more like the real Milo these days rather than Jess in the AYITL (less rough around the edges).

* Rory works for Jess, editing books, part time. She plans on studying to become a teacher.

I realize this story probably won't be as popular as one of my last ROGAN fics, but those who do read this and like it - your comments and votes are very very welcome. I do believe Jess also deserves a happy ending even if that isn't Rory necessarily.

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Chapter 1

Jess' head throbbed a little, needing a glass of water but feeling reluctant to move from the warmth of the bed. As his eyes peeked around the room, unwilling to fully open, the found himself in a bedroom that was clearly feminine just by the pile of throw pillows that now were tossed around the room,not really being able to make out a lot of details this time of the night. It was still dark outside, and he really hadn't meant to sleep over. 

A naked back lay besides him, her spine showing as it curved, her knees pulled up, the blanket slightly draped over her hips. He closed his eyes, for just a few minutes, trying to recall what had led him there.

It had been a long day at the office for both Jess and Logan, forming a game plan for future developments of Truncheon, including the possible expansion to New York in the coming months.

Jess had grown accustomed to his business-self, the role he was supposed to carry more and more in recent years - finding the perfect balance between his own style and what was acceptable by the business. But in a way, it felt somehow age appropriate to him, like this was him growing up, and whether that came though writing another book or wearing suits and dress-shirts and controlling his behavior, it didn't really matter. If he wanted something more from his life, moving forward was the way to do it.

Jess didn't really understand why Logan had insisted on bringing him over for dinner. Sure, it was nice of him to take him to dinner, like he often did with business associates himself, and he'd told him that Rory was going to be there, without specifying the context. But that raised a whole other round of questions - why on earth would this guy want the three of them at the same table? It was putting it mildly that he didn't have a very high opinion of the guy on a personal level. Logan Huntzberger was an excellent businessman and for that he put up with him, not that he had a choice, now that Trunchedon was owned by the HPG. He had nothing against seeing Rory of course, it had been a while since he'd seen her face to face. But the whole thing just seemed odd.