Chapter Three – Falling

Shortly after the big revelation I found myself leading Rory down the street towards the London Times. Coincidentally the first stop in our weeklong adventure. This had not been in my original plan but after the idea occurred to me, I found it to be too ingenious to pass up.

I strode forward tugging lightly on her wrist, indicating that she should walk faster. She trailed slightly behind me and pulled back slightly at my indication to move more quickly. When I turned to look back at her she pouted at me and clutched tighter to the portfolio in her hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked me huffily, panting a little at our rushed pace. "There are strict rules against this type of activity."

"If I told you, it would ruin all the fun Gilmore. And I'm sure I'm breaking more than one rule at the moment, but I'm sure you're referring to the fact that you're moving at a faster pace than a comfortable stroll with nothing redeeming at the end of the tunnel," I said with a smirk at her indignant, disbelieving face because I knew I had hit home. It felt good to be me.

When we pulled to a stop in front of the Times I saw a look of shock cross her face and I knew she had realized what I was about to make her do.

"Nonononono," she said backing away from the doors. "I'm not going in there Logan. I'm pretty sure what you want me to do and I'll tell you now that my answer is no."

"I understood you completely the first time you said no Ace but this is something all reporters have to do. And you'll be the better for it. If it makes you feel any better, it will be a good friend of mine interviewing you," I said while guiding her toward the door.

"That's all very well and good," she said panicked, "but you're not the one interviewing at one of the most prestigious newspapers in London."

"No, I just own it," I said with a wink as I led her to the elevator. "Now, stop worrying and I'll remind you again that I'm doing this for a very good reason, as well as the fact that this entire deal was to give you experience in the business. Interviews are a huge part of that."

She just gaped at me. "This is your newspaper?"

I shook my head at her naiveté and replied, "You think I would bring you into an enemy newspaper and hand them talent like yours? No, I'm being purely selfish here. And it's technically not mine, it's my father's. But for the next year it's as good as mine."

At that point we had reached Sophie's office and I turned away from Ace to knock on the door. Wait a minute. Where did that come from? I never nicknamed girls. Well sure, pet names for the bed bunnies but only because I couldn't remember their names. But this, Ace, was so personal that I could barely wrap my mind around it.

When the door swung open and Sophie appeared at my elbow, I could dimly hear myself introducing them both before excusing myself to my own office to wait for the end of the interview and readdress the situation in my mind.

I remained lost in thought for well over a half-hour, staring sightlessly out of my window, completely unaware of time's passage. When Sophie and Rory entered my office at the end of their interview, laughing all the while, I was so startled I almost fell out of my chair which only made the duo laugh harder. Apparently the joke was on me.

"That's the second time in two days I've made him jump four feet in the air," Rory said with a giggle.

I rose from my chair. "I'm sure Sophie would love to hear the story Ace, but I'm not sure that my pride can take any more," I said with a wry smile.

Sophie snorted. "Logan Huntzberger, you have more pride and ego than should be allowed in one room. It's amazing that you manage to live with yourself."

I glared at the redhead. "I'm not that bad Soph." At that she simply raised an eyebrow.

Rory laughed and added, "He certainly does have quite an ego, yet still he manages to keep friends. That, I believe is the miracle."

"It's all in a winning personality," I said with a charming smile.

"And there it is," Sophie crowed, "the Huntzberger ego that we've all come to know and love."

"Ouch, don't be mean love. My mate Logan here is very fragile and you shouldn't be attacking his precious pride. It might seriously injure him," said an Australian voice from the door.

At this I just shook my head. There was no point in defending myself anymore. This was Finn he knew too many of my embarrassing secrets to provoke him. I decided it was a good time for a new subject.

"So Ace, how did the interview go?" I said mentally cringing at the third unconscious use of Ace.

"Oh, it was great! Sophie was so nice and I got an article!" she said excitedly, bouncing in her seat.

"She gave you an article did she?" I said raising my eyebrows in Sophie's direction. "And what would the subject be, pray tell?"

Rory was obviously oblivious to my displeasure. I was supposed to be the one to give her the article. Not Sophie. It was a part of her learning experience.

Her eyes shone brightly as she replied, "I get to write a critique on the Musical Mary Poppins. Sophie said that you would come with me and give me advice and critiques on how to write the article properly."

I could feel anger and mirth bubbling in my veins. Sophie knew how much I absolutely abhorred musicals. Yet here I was, just about to agree willingly to attend this horror of a musical and it was obvious everyone knew it.

"Sounds great Ace," I said with a sigh and a half assed glare in Sophie and Finn's direction. All three of us knew who won, and it certainly wasn't me.

"Rory, I know Logan has a lot planned for you two so you guys had best get a move on," Sophie said. "Why don't you grab your portfolio from my office and meet us back here. I just have a couple work related things to talk to Logan about."

Rory flashed a bright smile. "Of course. I'll be right back," she said before disappearing out the door.

Sophie made sure she was out of earshot before starting in on me. "Ace Logan? You gave her a nickname? Wow, this is serious isn't it?" she said with a low whistle.

"So what?" I asked defensively. "Just because I gave her a nickname means nothing. She's an Ace Reporter that's all. Give me some credit; I've only known the girl 28 hours."

"Mate, we're not accusing you," Finn said gently, "We're just saying that you're getting attached and it's not something we've ever seen. Don't get me wrong," he said lifting his hands in the air, "Rory seems like a great girl, having known her all of ten minutes, I'm not the best judge, but both you and Soph seem to like her. I just want you to be careful. This is relatively uncharted territory for you. You're bound to falter at some point, just let her know at some point."

Rory re-entered the room. "Let who know what?" she asked puzzled.

"Nothing important Love," Finn said.

She shrugged. "Okay," she said and changed the subject. "So what's next on the agenda el capitán?" she asked me.

"Well, I thought I might outline the week for you and then we would probably head over to one of the smaller papers and introduce you to the different newsrooms."

"Sounds great," she said with a smile, "Because there are a couple things I want to add to that task-list of yours."

I raised my eyebrows shocked. She already had ideas for the week? She didn't even know what I had planned, but knowing her, I probably didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Of course Gilmore," I said resigned. "Take out your demands and I'll try my best to be fair." I joked.

"And that, is our cue to leave," Sophie said rising from her seat and dragging Finn up with her. "We have work to do."

"Yeah, like snogging in the copy room." Finn muttered in her ear, to which she responded by hitting him in the chest.

"Out!" I shouted, not wanting to see their flirting in my office.

"Fine, fine, we're going," Finn muttered as they made their way to the door. However before the door could fully close behind him I heard, "Don't forget to tell her Logan!"

"Okay," Rory said. "I definitely didn't hear wrong that time. What are you supposed to tell me?" She paused. "Well I'm assuming it was me, seeing as you avoided my question the first time and just now, Finn wouldn't have said that unless it had something to do with me."

"It's not important right yet Ace," I told her. "I'll let you know when you need to know."

She nodded. "That's another thing I wanted to ask. Why do you keep calling me Ace? I let it go earlier because Sophie and Finn were there, but…" she trailed off.

"That is a much easier question to answer," I replied. "I call you Ace because you're the Ace Reporter. Nothing personal, just letting you know that I think you write well."

"Okay. Thanks Logan," she said, both for the explanation as well as the compliment, guarded as it was.

"No problem." I sat back down and invited her to sit across from me. "I think we should get to our week's itinerary," I said with a smile.

I was rewarded with a big smile. "That sounds great."

Chapter Four – To Your Heart From Mine

I'm sure I should have been surprised at her conditions to the week of activities but amazingly, I wasn't. Certainly, I had never had to have a news-themed movie night before. But then again, I had never had to show someone around the news business either. Nonetheless, I doubt my father ever had a movie night with a protégé. Eww really gross image of my father there. Make that a reminder to myself never to think anything familiar of my father ever again.

"So where are we going now?" Rory voice broke through my thought process.

"To our first destination on Rory's Road to Discovery," I said quoting Finn.

"And that's supposed to tell me something?" She asked sceptically.

"It tells you scads of things," I said with a laugh. "You know we're touring papers, and we're heading South. You know my name is Logan and that tree there is a willow."

At that she poked my with her elbow. "Don't be smart. It's not becoming," she said haughtily.

"And you're the new Emily Post I suppose?" I asked with a smirk.

"No, that would be my grandmother. I only retained enough to get me through my coming out party."

"Good Lord Almighty. You were a deb? Please tell me you have pictures of the event," I pleaded. That information was entirely too good to pass up as it had infinite mocking possibilities.

"Swallow that smirk mister before I make you," she snapped. "And if I did have pictures, I would absolutely not be giving them to you."

I mock pouted at this, but stored the information away in my brain for future reference. Even without pictures the possibilities were infinite. And it was more than likely that either one of her grandmothers or even her mother had kept pictures.

"So where are we going now?" she repeated after a short silence.

I rolled my eyes. She just didn't give up did she? But then again, if she did she wouldn't be my Ace. Wait a second. My Ace? Was I going insane or was this happening more often?

God, I needed a drink. I could hear Finn's voice in my head on endless repeat and it was driving me insane. Shit or get off the pot rang in my ears as I pulled Rory in the door of Nave Magazine.

Now was not the time for this internal battle, I had more important things to do and most of all, I had to stop thinking about the whole situation and I would be fine. But seeing as I had to spend the rest of the week with her, it was proving to be harder than expected.

But for now, I had Nave to keep me occupied until I could spend yet another evening pondering the appearance of Rory Gilmore in my life and the effect that it was creating.

I turned at the sound of a voice calling my name and my face broke out in a grin. "Jake! How are you man? It's really great to see you!"

He laughed. "It's great to see you too Huntz. How many years has it been?"

"Since Delane's," I replied.

"Yes, good old Delane. God, how is the old man?" Jake said brushing his long dark emo-bangs out of his eyes.

"Probably in retirement trying his best to forget us!" I said as we both cracked up. At this, Rory cleared her throat and I remembered her presence.

"Oh my god, sorry. Jake may I have the pleasure of introducing you to Rory Gilmore-Hayden? Ace, this is my good friend Jake Stanzioni. We've known each other since we were…" I had to think for a second. I seriously couldn't remember when we met. "When was it Jake?"

"Your fourth birthday I believe. Or maybe it was my fourth birthday. Nevertheless, all I remember about the day was presents, cake and then both of us throwing up from eating too much cake."

"That sounds delightful," Rory muttered with a slightly disgusted look on her face.

"It was a pretty good day." Jake agreed.

I shook my head. We were getting way off topic. It was my turn to direct attention back to immediate events.

"As wonderful as it is to reminisce, we did come for a reason," I said with a slight tinge of regret to my voice. And I was regretful. Hanging out with Jake was always a blast. "I brought Ace here to take a look at the inner workings of a magazine. I thought Nave would be a good place to start, just to give her some perspective on the spectrum of different news publications."

Jake shot me a smirk. "Was that a not-so-subtle jab at my magazine Huntzberger? Because, just because we don't circulate to every household in London and the surrounding area doesn't mean anything Huntzberger. You couldn't tell me the difference between punk and rap if your life depended on it," he said trying to hide a smile.

Rory looked at me aghast. "Please tell me that he's joking."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you all think so little of me?" I threw my hands up in mock despair. "He's obviously joking. No one rooms with that music freak for over four years and picks up nothing."

"I'm so proud of my little student," Jake cooed annoyingly before addressing Rory. "Before I came around to bug him about his music, his favourite song was Don't Worry Be Happy," Jake said with a snort.

"Oh my god," Rory said giggling, "Please tell me he's joking. Or not. This is too funny."

"I was four. You're allowed to like Bobby McFerrin when you're four years old. It's happy. And it wasn't my favourite song," I said defensively.

"No, it was the theme to the Power Rangers." Jake said smiling wickedly.

"I'm guessing that asking you to stop mocking me is a useless exercise?" I asked defeated.

"Yep. You, Logan Huntzberger have a wonderfully mockable past that this lovely man here is going to tell me just to torture you," she said gleefully.

"I was afraid of that," I muttered to myself before resigning myself to torture. I had known that this was going to happen. I had just hoped that it wouldn't. Apparently luck was against me today.

"As much fun as 'Beat down Logan' day is, Ace and I have much to do and only a small window to fit it all in. If you both want to stay here and mock, be my guest. I'll leave you to it. Otherwise, let's take a tour around the magazine."

It actually appeared that Rory and Jake thought about the decision before following me, laughing every so often. I rolled my eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time. It was going to be a long day.

After what seemed like the longest three hours of my life, we exited the magazine; Rory bounced along happily while I trailed behind her feeling slightly beaten.

"So where to next Mr Timekeeper?" she teased.

I glared at her half-heartedly. "You my dear are going to Hell."

She just flapped her hand dismissively at me. "Been there, done that," she proclaimed.

I just raised an eyebrow. "You've been to Hell? Do tell," I asked curious.

She just rolled her eyes. "It was my mother's doing. She wanted to actually tell people she had been to hell and back for me so she sent me to Hell and then came to pick me up in her Jeep. She also calls the Jeep her Noble Steed if you must know," Rory said exasperated. "Although it does come in handy when people like you tell me that I'm going to Hell."

"It certainly is quite the story." I said. "But then again, I've been to Hell as well. Not for any good fun reasons like you, but for business with my father. Needless to say, we didn't stay long," I said with a grimace. Business trips with my father rarely turned out well.

She winced. "That doesn't sound like much fun at all. Although, whenever I went on a business trip with my dad it was always lots of fun. But then again, I'm guessing we went on those trips for different reasons…"

"Probably," I replied dryly. I could only imagine what she did with her father while on business trips. A lot more than sit in boring meetings and get lectures about not putting enough effort into my education.

She took one look at my broody expression and grabbed my hand, tugging gently. "So Mr Broody, where to next?" I broke out in a grin. She was going to like the next stop, very much.

"How do you feel about taste testing at all the best coffee shops in London?" I asked teasingly.

Her mouth dropped open. "Please tell me you're serious."

"I'm serious," I deadpanned.

"Oh my god!" she squealed. "I never knew coffee was a part of the news business but regardless of that, sign me up now!" she said excitedly.

I laughed. I knew that I was going to get that reaction. "A reporter has got to have some way to refuel. Coffee is a huge part of that Ace. Just think, today we get coffee testing, and tomorrow is food."

She gave me a big hug. "I really like you right now," she said before grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the closest café.

I shook my head internally and picked up my step to keep up with her accelerated pace. The things I do for you, Rory Gilmore. I thought ruefully knowing my indecision towards her was swiftly coming to its end.

Hello All, I guess I lied about not ever posting more than one chapter in one. But then again, I thought that these two should go together so here you are. Otherwise, I have a little favour to ask of anyone and anyone. If anyone knows of any News-themed movies or even movies with magazines or newspapers as a sort of major point please drop their names in a review. It should come vastly apparent in the next couple of chapters. Also, prepare yourself for some Tristan Dugrey interference:P Well, I hoped you liked the chapter and stay tuned for more!

Lots of Love

SingingSailor