What Happens In Hamburg

Chapter 7

Logan woke to the sound of the rain beating against the window, his eyes adjusting quickly to the obscure greyness he could see through the curtains. Rory was still snuggled up against him, her hands on his chest and knees curled up. He glanced at the time, trying not to wake her - 11.45 AM. His eyes travelled across the room noting the old poster still hung up on the wall, listing their discussion points and reminding him of the painfulness of the evening, which had gone very differently than he'd imagined. In many ways it would have been easier to stay in their bubble, not knowing everything that had gone on in those years in between, but he understood that if they were ever going to make this work for real, that information had been vital. More than anything he wished he could travel back in time somehow, to do things differently when he proposed, saving them both a lot of heartache, saving her from all that. He wondered how Rory's past relationships would affect what they had now, whether it would influence whatever they decided to do. Rory had said she loved and trusted Logan, and he believed her. He also knew he'd placed her in a number of difficult positions in the past, last night included, now knowing what he knew, pushing her in any way was the last thing he should do when it came to working out their potential future. Still, what he wanted to do, without repeating past mistakes, was to assure her he was not going to leave her again. He was just about to think of possible scenarios that he could do to be with her, the practical kind, when Rory began to stir.

She rolled to her back, stretching her back and arms out, opening her eyes.

"Good morning," he greeted, trying to start the morning on a positive note. He needed a break from all the seriousness.

"Morning," Rory replied. "What time is it?" she inquired.

"Almost noon," he replied.

"Wow, now I feel like we've missed most of the day," she said, recalling disturbingly that her plane was leaving in almost 24 hours.

"The weather sort of screwed up my plans anyways," he said, getting ready to get up from the bed. While he would've gladly stayed with her in bed, just holding her, he needed to distance himself from the heavyness of last night's conversation, at least for a while.

"Sorry about that," she said, sitting up in bed, her legs crossed.

"Don't be, not your fault," he said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Listen," he turned around just as he'd reached the bedroom door, adding, "Rory, correct me if I am wrong but I feel that we both want to be together. So maybe, me saying this will just skip us a long, harder than it should be, conversation. I think that if the only thing we figure out today is whether we do want to try to make us work, that alone would be plenty for me. The rest are just the details, and those we can work on in time, long distance if we have to. Just the load of information was heavy yesterday, I am still processing myself. But I do meant what I said about that not changing how I feel about you. I just think I'd like to actually spend some time without today - just being, not necessarily going over analyzing every detail of our past or our present emotions. So please, can you just think about this while I go shower and make us some breakfast."

Rory was stunned by that little speech, having not quite expected him to simplify everything that was aready going on in her head, fearing her immindent departure in less than 24 hours. She knew what he meant - the evening hadn't been easy, not for the speaker or the listener. But it had to be done. And now, despite wanting to figure everything out, she found it very hard to disagree with what Logan had just said. She did want to be with him. And truthfully, the world didn't seem like such a big place as it had nearly a decade ago.

When Logan emerged from the bathroom, a towel around his waist, he was a little surprised to hear Rory in the kitchen. He quickly pulled on a pair of light sweatpants and a grey t-shirt, and joined her in the kitchen.