Meant to Be

CHAPTER 31 - TIME TO TALK

Rory stood on the walkway flanked by rows and rows of trees in Central Park looking at Logan with a soft smile on her face. She couldn't miss the spark in his eye as his laid his chocolate brown eyes on her. Finally, after nearly four years apart, here they stood, just the two of them without the pressure of declined proposals, dynastic plans, and insignificant significant others pulling them apart. Logan crossed the distance between them in a few long strides and without a moment of hesitation slipped his strong arms around Rory with full and commanding force. In reciprocation she slid her arms around his neck and buried her head in to his chest. Time seemed to stop, neither of them willing to break their hold on one another. Finally Logan spoke:

"You came," he nearly whispered.

"I had to," She replied back softly.

They finally broke apart and headed towards a bench and both sat down, only mere inches separating them. Rory looked up at Logan willing him to break the silence.

"I guess it's time that I start explaining things," he said.

"Now would seem to be a good as time as any," she replied back trying her best to appear nonchalant as she was still somewhat afraid of where this conversation would lead.

He reached for her hand and she obliged him as his thumb softly caressed the palm of her hand.

"After we kissed on New Year's Eve I knew in that moment that things with Katie were never going to work out. No matter how much I could try to suppress my feelings it wouldn't be fair to her, or me, or you to sit by and passively let my parents plans overtake my own happiness," Logan continued as Rory nodded in understanding.

"I ended up in Finn and Rosemary's suite and didn't see Katie until the next morning. She was pissed off, and rightfully so, that I had failed to spend the evening with her and that's when I told her the truth, that we couldn't move forward with the wedding. She was quick to blame you but as I told her, you are not responsible for my actions. She tried to convince me that avoiding the public scrutiny of a broken engagement was worse than just going through with it, but when I made it clear that we could never get married that's when she decided she hated me and wished me a miserable life. She's not wrong about how I handled things but my future misery isn't dependent on what some newspaper writes about me ... my future happiness is dependent on how you feel."

"That's a lot of pressure. You're Logan Huntzbergber and you've always made your own destiny." Rory replied

"Well, in this matter I have no control. All I know is that I realized I would throw everything ... the company, the money, my families reputation ... away for an opportunity just to be near you that it must mean something," Logan responded.

"I don't want you to have to throw it all away for me. One day, maybe not now, but one day you would resent me for it," Rory responded.

"You don't have to worry about that. I've never been too concerned about my reputation or my families and to my surprise, Mitchum didn't fire me. You don't have to worry about me throwing anything away. The only thing I would regret is not telling you how I feel about you and Rory, you've got to know by now, that I love you. I loved you that day you took my hand and we jumped off that scaffolding. I loved you when we were doing the no strings thing. I loved you when you became my girlfriend. Fuck Rory, I even loved you when you turned down my marriage proposal. I've loved you through our ups and downs and my families stupidity and your mom's disapproval of me. I will love you forever, even if you tell me today that you don't love –"

Rory held her hand up to Logan's lips, gently urging him to stop speaking.

"Even after all these years I am still somehow surprised that you have this innate ability to say exactly what I need to hear. I've spent every day since graduation trying to push back the feeling that I made the biggest mistake of my life and here you are giving me a chance at a do-over. I don't know if I deserve that but I am not going to miss my chance at happiness, not again," Rory uttered.

"So ..." Logan left the words hanging in the cold New York air.

"So ..." Rory shot back at him.

"We're really going to do this?" Logan asked still unsure if he was dreaming or if this was in fact reality.

"You jump I jump jack," Rory replied with a wink.

Logan didn't speak. He wrapped his arms around Rory in a tight hug. She could feel every inch of his muscular arms around her body, god, she had missed this so much. He stood without warning and ushered her to follow suit. "Let's go," he said. "Where?" she replied. "My place is right around the corner and I want to show you around since I have a feeling you'll be spending quite a lot of time there," Logan smirked. "Lead the way, Master and Commander!" Rory responded as they made their way out of Central Park and down the block to Logan's Penthouse, both feeling a sense of excitement and relief that things were finally as they should be.