it's unhinged

SAM: I'm down!

JAX: Count me in.

DANIELLE: "I mean like a naughty child, not the other kind - though, I'm sure that's what you were hoping for." Danielle pointed out seriously, making sure he knew that this was going to be no walk in the park.

Sure, she was glad that he was home and everything was light-hearted but at no point whatsoever did she want him to think that he was completely off the hook here.

The little fist pump was enough to muster a small smile out of the blonde. He and Sam really did rub off on one another because that was all Evans. That was another Tennessean who would be happy to have Logan Walsh back on the scene.

Rolling her eyes at his hand, she playfully slapped his hand away and untied her apron.

"Finish your coffee and I'll be out in five."

LOGAN: He hung his head when Danielle called him out on his internal thoughts. She wasn't wrong. Right now, he'd do just about anything to get Danielle back to his place after dinner, but he knew it wasn't going to happen. And, actually, he was glad. She deserved to be treated better this time around, and that meant no booty calls. No matter what.

SAM: Ooh. Dark.

SAM: YESSSS!!!!

JAX: Welcome home, in that case!

LOGAN: Lets celebrate with a round of drinks!

SAM: Forever??

DANIELLE: "Yeah, and you use all of that to try and win people over when you've been naughty, so yeah, that's how you're a jerk," Danielle teased, throwing it right back at him. "And that smirk will get you nowhere, Mister. Put it away."

As Danielle continued to drink her coffee she listened, somewhat in horror, as Logan explained he was running on caffeine and, well, that was about it. His move home wasn't quite over yet, either.

"You make a good argument," Danielle nodded. "And I guess it would be a little mean of me to send you home with an empty stomach. But it's not a date, Logan, don't get any ideas."

Taking her coffee cup to the sink, she pointed a finger to him pointedly.

"No funny business."

LOGAN: He tilted his head to the side and brought his palm to his chest, a sarcastically sorrow expression on his face. "You wound me" Logan teased. "But seriously, when you say naughty, do you mean, like, naughty-naughty, or like, /naughty/?" Another laugh came from his lips until his quickly chided once more and immediately slapped his hand over his mouth to keep himself from acting out.

He watched on as she thought it over, and Logan could tell he was winning here. The second Danielle agreed to have dinner with him, Logan mentally fist-pumped, a lá Sam Evans style. So far, the move back was really working out for him.

SAM: :O For reals!?!

JAX: Took your damn time.

LOGAN: Guess who's back, back, back, back again, gain, gain.

DANIELLE: Biting down on her bottom lip to stifle her own laughter as Logan let out a big, booming laugh, Danielle shook her head. How the hell was she going to make him work for anything when he was this cute?

Logan had always been a weak spot for her and she was pretty sure that the same applied vice verse. Still, she knew that although he was back now and she was glad to see him, they had stuff to work through before anything happened.

"You know how you are," the blonde shrugged, taking another sip of coffee. "And I'm impressed that you're even awake right now. You should probably go home, sleep it off...think of what your next big line is gonna be."

LOGAN: "I do?" he wondered, scratching the hair above his temple as he furrowed his brow. "I mean, I know I'm good looking, very, very strong, hilarious, and all that, but a jerk.... nope. I don't think so." And again, a smirk found its way onto his lips. She was too easy to mess with, but it was one of his favorite parts of their relationship.

"The three coffees I already had before this one probably have a part to play in my insomnia," he admitted, offering a shrug. "But if you're trying to get rid of me so badly, I guess I could go home and try and take a nap. Gotta find my sheets first, since, you know, it's been a while since I've been to my apartment."

Since he owned his own place, he had put it up on Air B&B while he was in Austin. The last renter left last week, and Logan was sure he had a lot of laundry waiting for him at his place, including his own stuff he'd brought from Austin. Right now, he would rather ignore those responsibilities and spend time with Danielle, though.

DANIELLE: Typically, Danielle Clarke was anything but an open book. She'd learned quite the poker face during her time in New York and she often would pride herself on her elusiveness and how easy it was to keep boys on their toes.

Logan Walsh, however, was a whole other story. The words that came out of his mouth stopped her dead in her tracks and she felt her whole body freeze up; the shivers running through her veins soon after.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" the blonde said after some time; clearing her throat and reaching for her drink.

She was going to take a little moment, carefully selecting her answer because she was not about to jump across the table and tell him everything was okay again. Because it wasn't.

"How long you been working on that one? About the time it takes to drive from Texas to Tennessee?" Danielle asked, adding a little laugh for good measure.

LOGAN: He threw his head back and laughed, letting it hang for a moment and shake from side to side. "No, actually, nobody but you has ever called me that before," he commented, his head slowly returning to an upright position. "And how am I such a jerk, anyway?" He knew she didn't mean it like how it sounded. This was Danielle; she was just taken by surprise from what he'd said, and this was her defense mechanism.

DANIELLE: Ah, of course, just Jenna. The two of them were incredibly close and she would have been pretty surprised if he left her out of the loop.

However, as Logan continued he managed to surprise her with something else entirely. He'd just driven all the way from Texas to Tennessee and the first place he went to was the Bluebird to see her? Wow, he really was upping his game.

"You came straight here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why's that? And don't say the coffee."

LOGAN: She wasn’t kidding when she said he’d have to work for it, but he wasn’t kidding when he said he’d work his ass off. Now was the time to man up and do just that.

“Well, you see, there’s this girl who works here. She always works the dinner shift before taking some time to herself and then going to her second job. It’s pretty mind blowing that she can juggle two jobs, actually, but that’s not the point. The point is that the entire drive, I couldn’t stop thinking about this girl. And I especially couldn’t stop thinking about how stupid I was to have left her the way I did, instead of asking her to come with me, cause, you know, I missed her a lot when I was gone, and that’s why I just had to see her. Couldn’t wait.”

DANIELLE: Pottering around as she made his coffee, she kept a close watch on him out of the corner of her eye. Luckily, her BFF Jolie had spotted the situation and went over there to keep Logan company while she composed herself once more -- something Danielle made a note of to thank her for later.

Once she had two coffees in her hand, one black, she made her way over to the countertop and slid his over to him; keeping the counter between them just for good measure.

"Thanks, I'll add that to my resume," she chuckled. "So, does anyone know that you're back yet?"

LOGAN: He didn’t notice the way that she purposely stuck to the other side of the counter, and thought nothing of it. He was too happy to be around her again to even care if she was trying to keep her distance. If that was what she needed, then so be it.

“Only Jenna,” he replied, knowing that he should have told more people before randomly showing back up in town. At least, he should have told Jax and Sam, but guys weren’t like girls. They wouldn’t be mad that he didn’t tell them first.

DANIELLE: At first it was a little overwhelming; here he was, right in there with the intense statement. Luckily, he soon followed it up with a comment that caused a little chuckle to slide past her lips.

"Sounds like you had an...interesting time in Texas," the blonde replied, raising her eyebrows. "I'm basically almost done. Grab a seat, I'll bring over a coffee. I bet you're pretty tired after that trip."

Yeah, she was acting pretty normal on the outside but her insides were doing backflips. She hadn't seen him for so long and he looked /so/ good. Like, really good. Like, the best she'd seen him in years. She needed a moment to step away and compose herself before having a full conversation with the guy.

LOGAN: Okay, so he might have freaked her out a little with his newfound philosophy on life, and he’d remember that for next time. Don’t freak out the girl you’re trying to win over again. Duly noted.

He laughed and nodded his head, moving over to one of the stools at the countertop. Luckily, the Bluebird wasn’t a full on bar and it was much easier to avoid alcohol here than Molly’s. Plus, Danielle was doing him a favor and bringing him a coffee before he even had a chance to consider anything else.

He waited, said hello to Jolie and caught up with her, and eventually, Danielle returned with a cup of coffee. Black, just the way he liked it.

LOGAN: It had been years since Logan was last in Nashville. His dad’s death had seriously struck a chord with him, causing him to spiral into severe depression. He refused to go down that path again, though - it didn’t work out well for him after Jenna’s accident, and it caused more harm to those he loved most, like Sam. That was why he knew he had to leave. If there was any chance he’d be putting hisDANIELLE: It was strange that after years of radio silence - and even after then, an icy response to her, Logan was now adamant that he was coming back home to Nashville; looking keen as ever to maybe revisit something between the two of them.

Of course, Danielle could understand that he'd been through a massive trauma. Despite the fact that Logan and Jenna had always had a rocky relationship with their father, it was still devastating to lose him. How that equated to cutting her out of his life and picking up to move on, she never would know for sure, but she was aware that Logan had a lot of unresolved issues, so she didn't want to be /too/ hard on him.

The Bluebird was packed because of their guests and Danielle was making the rounds, listening along but focusing more on what she had to do before she could call it a day and grab a few hours peace before going to Molly's.

Feeling someone tug on her arm, she turned to see none other than Logan Walsh's face. Yes, he'd told her he was coming home but damn, he made fast work of getting there.

"Hi, stranger," Danielle smirked, picking her jaw off from the floor. "You don't waste any time, do you?"

LOGAN: As soon as she spun around to face him, Logan’s heart began racing. He wasn’t prepared for this, even though he’d spent his entire trip hyping himself up for this moment. It was all a lot more real than he could have imagined.

“One thing I’ve learned is that there isn’t enough time in this world and we have to spend every second making the most out of life,” he shrugged. It probably sounded a little preachy to her, but he felt it in his core. His time on this planet was limited, and he wanted to make sure he spent all of it with her.

“Plus, my landlord wanted me out of there so he could jack up the price for some foreign tenant who didn’t know any better,” he added with a laugh. Texas was one interesting place.

DANIELLE: I like the sound of that.

DANIELLE: Don’t get any ideas, you’re working for it, mister.

LOGAN: It had been years since Logan was last in Nashville. His dad’s death had seriously struck a chord with him, causing him to spiral into severe depression. He refused to go down that path again, though - it didn’t work out well for him after Jenna’s accident, and it caused more harm to those he loved most, like Sam. That was why he knew he had to leave. If there was any chance he’d be putting his friends’ lives - or worse, Danielle’s life - at risk, he knew he had to get out. Get away from them all. So he did.

And now it was finally time to come back. With Jenna’s persuasion, he decided to see a therapist two times every week. She helped him discuss difficult things, like his relationship with his father, his alcoholism, his career choice, and his future. That was what made him realize his future wasn’t in Austin, Texas. His future was waiting for him back in Nashville.

In no time, Logan was packed up and on the road back to his hometown, and he knew who he wanted to see as soon as he got there.