#blessed

He had his questions. So many damn questions like where was she. What the hell happened. And why was he still throwing a party in the middle of his breakdown. Especially one that quite literally revolved around something he was now missing. Though Logan's clear desire to keep it together, made Jackson stuff that down. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Logan, holding him tight. "I'm sorry Logan, that fucking sucks." He clicked his tongue against his teeth, shaking his head for a moment. "Wanna tell me what happened now or just drink for tonight?"

Logan knew he would have to face the music sooner or later. The one question that made his stomach turn and his chest ache. 'How did it end?'. Logan couldn't stand even thinking about it. He didn't want it to be real but the longer this night had gone on, the more he realised he couldn't keep running. Isobel was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Not now. Not... not for a long time, right? The future he'd always seen for them seemed so far away. It was too complicated now, it was too serious. "Thanks, Jackson," he said softly, letting his friend hold him tightly. If Logan spent any longer in Jackson's understanding embrace, they were going to lose it. "Drink-," they managed at last, pulling back but still holding onto his shoulder- "Drink a lot, please. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Isobel clung to Angie's hand like the lifeline it was. Ever since the break up she had been feeling pretty damn helpless, but if something could make her believe there was hope, it was this woman. Maybe she could talk to Alex, maybe she could fix everything... Maybe Isobel was delusional. "I want to believe you." She sighed and lifted her eyes to look at her again, still struggling with those pesky tears. "She's Lexa's mom and she hates me. I don't know how I'm supposed to fight that. It's not like I don't deserve it."

Angie hated every second of seeing her babies upset like this. Isobel had never been an optimist- how could she be?- but Angie wasn't about to let her slip. "Now you listen to me, sweetheart. You don't deserve this. There are moments when we have to hold our heads high and give more grace than we usually do. She is Lexa's mom and that's a forever thing, baby. But you're family too. You and Logan... that's a forever thing too. Now's the time to hold your head high, okay? You're going to get through this." Just then, their whiskey shots arrived. "C'mon, let's drink to it."

Alex was about to knock again when the door opened, but Logan wasn't speaking to her. Was he on a handsfree call? Was he wearing tweed? She remained in the doorway a moment longer than could be considered normal–free hand still raised and mouth slightly agape–before finally stepping inside. Listening to the words of their call, an uncomfortable feeling washed over Alex as she tried to figure out what kind of Twilight Zone she had walked into. "Okay..." She responded, brow furrowed. Alex passed Lexa over to them when he offered, but she was still looking at him like they were a stranger. "What's going on? Are you still able to watch her today?"

Logan held Lexa with ease, giving her the biggest smile before kissing her precious little nose. "Hi sweetheart. Hello, hello-," he cooed in one of the many 'baby talk' voices he'd developed since Lexa was born. They were pulled back into the present by Alex's questions, looking over apologetically. "Right. I- Yes, absolutely. It's never a problem - we've just had a bit of an emergency at the office and now this networking thing is being moved up. My dad is totally freaking out, not that you'd know. I need to go in and help cover it with him but don't worry, there'll only be a couple hours overlap and my mom's already on her way." Logan paused then, looking over her furrowed brow and look of... Well, he wasn't sure. "I'm, uh, working with my dad now."

"Yeah, especially about a secret separation. If anyone gets to the unreasonable one, I think I do. It's fine, I can just keep skipping work. Not like I want to be there anyway. I think responsible Zeke is dead." Zeke shrugged; it had been short-lived, but he had actually tried. "I can't imagine many being worse than that." He laughed, shaking his head. "Not sure, not here or the city. I asked her if she wanted to hang out, but no response. Being serious? Don't go getting old on us."

"Shit... Yeah, you're definitely right on that one. Be as unreasonable as you possibly can for as long as you can. Well hey, if my dad asks, I know nothing about it. RIP, man. He burned bright and fast, we'll miss him truly." Logan laughed a little but his answer touched on a nerve. Caitlyn-and-Zeke were such an on again, off again, couple you'd have to be buried fifty foot deep to not know about them. By Logan's watch, they should have been back together by now. "Maybe she's just busy, you know? Or planning to surprise you! Yeah, that'd make sense. Right? It is Valentine's Day. Ha... Yeah, I'll try my best."

"please do, clearly i need all the help i can get" she sighed with a soft smile. it wasn't like logan didn't know what her dating history was like, all of them ending badly with jess having her heart broken. maybe if she wasn't someone that knew her best friends like the back of her hand that they'd be able to avoid her questions, but she worried about them. "that's okay, we can talk about it tomorrow, next week, next month...whenever you want" she reassured him before her jaw dropped at the news "oh logan, i'm so sorry" she hugged him tightly without hesitation "i'm sorry to hear that...we don't have to say more about it if you don't want to"

logan had tried to say it out loud more than once tonight. he wanted to desensitize himself to the sharp pain that his words brought. it was the definition of madness, right? doing something over and over again and expecting to get a different outcome. this just hurt. every time, it hurt. logan's eyes closed when jess pulled him into a tight hug and he could have lost it then. they'd promised themself that they could get to the end of the night, though. everyone would get matched off, and logan could finally crumble. "thanks, jess. i just... i can't tonight, you know? tomorrow. we can- we can talk about it tomorrow."

"For some of these people, even getting to talk to me might be the best night of their lives." Juliette let out a laugh. He should have expected that Angie was always buzzing around. "You know her, I think I am more likely to see the back of her head than her face. That woman has more energy than some of the 20-year-olds here. Between your mom and Jesse, I might end up seeing more of Lexa than my own parents this year." She got it, who wanted to ruin a party by talking about feelings, especially when they can drink. "I will not ask again, but I'm sorry. Yeah, it's kind of crazy, from pregnancy scares to being a real model. I never would have predicted this for myself."

"Damn right," Logan laughed, holding his drink up to her. Juliette had this way of making him feel totally comfortable. He'd always appreciated that about her. "Oh man, that's so true. My mom has everything planned like, two years in advance. She's non-stop. You can run but you can't hide from Lexa Logan Vandervort. How's Jesse doing, anyways?" Logan had only been without Isobel for a few weeks and he felt like he didn't even exist. Jesse and Sophia... Well, everyone knew what had happened there. "Thank you, Juliette. I do appreciate it, I just... it's too big, you know? If I think about it then I'm not going to be able to stop. And- And there are too many ice sculptures for me to bring the vibe down. We've come a long way, huh? You're doing awesome."

"i'll punch you in the goddamn throat for that" she would need a chair to stand on to get high enough to punch said throat but she'll find one. "so what? you're just going to spend your birthday and this whole party to celebrate you crying in a hotel room? jeez logan. that simply cannot be allowed"

logan couldn't help chuckling at her impassioned speech about him not being a sad sack for the rest of the night. it might even have been the reason he stayed up as long as he did. "that was the plan... what did you have in mind?"

"Must be." They both knew why they were really drinking for two. Jake noted the sidestepping of his question, and understood entirely. However, if they weren't talking about him, they would be talking about him, and he didn't want that either. "I'm fine. Physio's going okay. The elephant ice sculpture was a choice, that's for sure."

"That's great, man. Hey, if Spencer King can do it... you can do it," Logan grinned, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. Normally, Logan could rely on his endless pool of optimism- especially for the sake of his brother- but tonight, it hurt to try. "An awesome choice? The permits were too hard to get for the real thing, you know. We had to make cuts. We have the premium tequila in, though. Everything balances out in the end."

she almost didn't recognise him at the change in appearance. gone was the usual logan appearance, replaced with corporate logan. ceren did a double take and held onto his arm "i would but i can't even explain how happy i am to see you" not just to have them to talk to at the event, but she had dearly missed her friend since she had last visited him at his apartment. "can't do deal when music drowns out the talking, and some of these people love to talk"

"i'm happy to see you too, cer," he said softly, giving her hand a squeeze as she held onto his arm. ceren and jess would be there for him in a heartbeat, he knew that. there wasn't anything logan wouldn't do for them either. it was just too big, you know? being without isobel. logan didn't want to think about it. throwing themself into working for their dad wasn't the healthiest coping mechanism but here they were. "that might be the understatement of the year. you need to duck and swerve to avoid the worst ones - i learned that the hard way. networking isn't my dad's, ah, forté though. he could use the moral support even from across the room."

Juliette: big L tonight babe

Blythe hadn't been back in the city since her disastrous non-wedding day, needing time to process her disappointment and realign her future plans. While her heart remained intact, her ego had taken a beating, but she was happy to let the Upper East Side elite believe that she was devastated to lose Roman.

Tonight Ellen was watching little Lexa so both Logan and Alex had a free night. Of all the things in the world Logan could be doing, they never thought it'd be this. Juliette had invited them to her party, of course, and Alex was surely there but... it didn't feel right. What did though? He was about to call it a night (embarrassingly early) when heard her voice. Logan would have recognised Blythe Elswood anywhere.

Having said that she would meet Logan at his father's office in thirty minutes, Scarlett was there with ten minutes to spare and entirely overthinking what their texts had meant. Had he just been inviting her to the event, or was the intention that she would be their date? Did people have dates to networking events? Was it a friend date or a date date? It hadn't been too long since he had broken up with Isobel, so surely it was just friendly? Did she want it to not be? It's not like they hadn't almost been something on more than one occasion... Her thoughts flickered to Jason and the moments they almost kept having, but she quickly pushed those aside. Gosh how she wished people would just voice their intentions.

Logan hadn't been masquerading as this new version of himself for very long. He had used it as a lifeline and a distraction. A role to play in a time when he couldn't stomach his real life. Spending one single moment without her was unbearable, but Logan had to bear it. They didn't have a choice, that much had been made clear. It wasn't as hard as they thought it would be, working at Angel Capital. Maybe they had been listening after all when their dad went on about work, the company, the Hunter legacy... Logan's thoughts were thankfully interrupted by the arrival of Scarlett Vandervort.