Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Logan.” Louise slammed her hands down on the counter as she looked at the blonde. “We need to talk.”

His hands flew up in front of himself. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

She arched a brow at him. “Being defensive right out the gate usually isn’t the best way to convince people of that, ya know.”

“Because you’re so good at being innocent,” he shot back with a glare, crossing his arms over his chest.

His childish comeback made her roll her eyes and she sighed, sitting down on one of the red stools. “Remind me why Mandy is going out with you?”

The mention of his girlfriend made the man immediately melt, a dopey grin spreading on his lips as he leaned forward to rest his chin on his hands. “Because she’s the best. She could step on me and I’d say thank you.”

Louise pretended to retch. “God, you’re so sick.”

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes as he stood up straight again. “You said we needed to talk, so talk. What do you want?”

Right, time to get serious. Louise clasped her hands together as she looked up at him. “Everyone has been treating me like I’m going to break except you. Why.” It wasn’t a question.

He looked at her for a long moment before shrugging. “Because I know you and I know you’re way tougher than you look. You’ve always been someone who took life by the balls and made it your bitch. I figured if I treated you differently it would only make things worse and that wouldn’t help anyone. Plus,” his nose wrinkled as his mouth turned down in a frown, “I think them treating you with kid gloves is stupid. You’re Louise frickin’ Belcher. The first time we met you put me in my place and you’ve kept doing that ever since. You missing a few years of memories doesn’t change a thing for me.”

A heartfelt speech from Logan Bush of all people was not what she had been expecting. They were clearly on better terms these days but this…this was something else. Did he actually care about her? What had happened in the last few years to warrant that ?

And it absolutely did not leave her feeling a little teary, hell no.

Clearing her throat, she looked away as she rubbed at her eye. Something was in it, that had to be why they were wet. “Thanks,” she mumbled, blinking the last of it away before looking at him. “I just want everything to go back to normal,” she confessed quietly, staring down at the counter. “I may not remember how my life was before, but I know it wasn’t full of everyone treating me like some delicate frickin’ flower. My dad needs to retire so that he doesn’t work himself into another stroke and Rudy needs to go to law school so that he can do what he wants with his life. I need to prove that I can do this.” She looked up at him, determined. “And you’re going to help me do that.”

A huge grin broke out on his face and he slapped his hand down on the counter. “Hell yeah! She’s back, baby!” His eyes were shining as they met hers. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

For the first time in her life, she was actually excited to be working with the older boy. Louise sat up, spreading her fingers against the linoleum as she leaned forward. “Alright, so here’s what I’m thinking…”

To keep anyone from suspecting anything, Louise made sure to be on her best behavior for the next week. When they went to the restaurant, she stayed out of the way and let everyone work around her without protesting about not doing anything. When Rudy insisted she rest, she did so without complaint. Her siblings came to see her with their children and she made sure to take it easy with the kids and not fight with Rudy when he sent them on their merry way after a few hours. It was annoying and being so submissive killed her on the inside, but it was all going to be worth it. That’s what she kept telling herself. She just had to wait for the right moment…

It came that next Sunday. Her parents were going out of town and would be gone the whole day, and Rudy’s mom had him over to babysit his half-sister Marina since she was only seven and couldn’t be left home alone.

“If you need anything, call me, okay?” Rudy told her as he grabbed his keys from the kitchen. “I won’t be far and I can just bring Marina with me.”

“I’ll be fine, Roo,” she reassured him for what felt like the hundredth time.

He hesitated at the door, turning to look back at her with his brows knitted together. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“Someone has to stay to watch the dogs,” she said quickly, looking over her shoulder at the three big dogs laying by the window napping. They were perfectly capable of being by themselves but she needed the excuse.

As if sensing that she needed help convincing her husband, Toby let out a little whimper and curled up tighter, his tail tapping against the hardwood floor.

“Aw, poor baby must be having a bad dream,” Louise cooed before looking up at the man. “See? I can’t leave him alone.”

Rudy still didn’t seem sure, but he just sighed and turned towards the door again. “Alright.” But as he reached for the knob he stopped, his hand floating right above it.

Curious, Louise tilted head to the side. “You okay?”

After a long moment he turned back around to face her with an expression she couldn’t quite read but made her heart pound in her chest. His eyes lit up with determination and he marched over to her, cupping her face in his hands and leaning down to press a short but fierce kiss to her forehead. Then he pulled back to look in her eyes, his own light hues intense. “Promise me you won’t push yourself today,” he said, his voice low.

No, it did not make her swoon, shut up! Ignoring the way his tone made her pulse race, Louise quickly nodded. “I promise,” she managed to get out, horrified at how squeaky her voice was right now. What was wrong with her?! Had falling in love with him really made her this much of a sap??

And why didn’t that fact upset her more? Why did she kind of… like it?

Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Rudy nodded and let go of her, turning around to walk over to the door. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way home,” he called over his shoulder as he opened it.

“Tell Marina I say hi,” she called back, unable to tear her eyes away.

The smile he threw her way made her knees feel like jelly. “I will. Have a good day, Lou.” Then he was gone, closing the door behind him.

Louise had to take a moment to get her bearings back, and even still she stumbled a little as she hurried down the hall to her room. Once there, she grabbed her phone and sent a text.

Louise

[ husband left. are the parentals gone yet? ]

The device buzzed in reply just a few seconds later.

Logan

[ mr and mrs b have left the building. we’re in the clear. need me to come get u? ]

Louise

[ i think my old bike is here. i’ll be over in ten. ]

Logan

[ 👍 ]

Changing into a pair of jeans and a green shirt, Louise made sure her hat was secure on her head as she left the bedroom. Shoving her phone and wallet into her pockets, she grabbed her keys from off the kitchen counter and went over to say goodbye to the dogs. “Don’t destroy anything while I’m gone,” she instructed before kneeling down to press quick kisses to the tops of their heads.

Toby lifted his to give her what looked like the doggy equivalent of a smile, wagging his tail before flopping over against George.

Louise smiled and rubbed behind his ear before going over to the door. Taking a deep breath, she unlocked it and stepped out, heading down the hall to the elevator. There was no turning back now, she had made her decision. If today didn’t convince all of them, nothing would. Everything had to be perfect .

Once she was outside, she hurried over to the bike rack and was pleased to see her old bicycle chained up. Earlier that week she’d asked Rudy to bring it home from the restaurant, stating that she wanted to use it to go on runs with the dogs without actually having to run. Her husband had been nervous but ultimately gave in after she promised to be careful whenever she rode it. For very obvious reasons he didn’t want her to fall off and hit her head.

Shaking the thought away, Louise unchained it with the key on her lanyard and got on, kicking off and starting to peddle down the road. She was a little wobbly at first but after the first block she was steady again, and that old saying was right about getting back on a bicycle, huh?

Logan was waiting outside the restaurant for her when she rode up. He waited for her to get off her bike and store it in the alley beside the restaurant before looking at her, rubbing his hands together. “Alright, you ready for this?”

Louise nodded, squaring her shoulders. “Yep. Just you and me today, running the restaurant by ourselves.”

“It’s not too late to back out,” he told her, then seemed to realize that he sounded way too nice as he cleared his throat, his cheeks turning pink. “Ya know, if you’re too chicken to handle it.”

Even though she knew he didn’t mean it, his words still made her hackles raise and her eyes narrowed at him. “I think you’re the one who’s too chicken, Berry.”

His mouth turned down and he glared down at her, his hands curling into fists at his sides. “Oh, so it’s like that? Let me tell you something, Smelcher , I think I can run this place even better than you.”

A sharp laugh escaped her and she rolled her eyes at him. “Oh please, I’ve been doing this since I could walk. I don’t even need you, I just have you here because I need a bus boy.”

“Them’s fightin’ words, Four Ears.” Even if his tone was harsh, his eyes were twinkling as he looked down at her. “We both know you need me today.”

“Sure sure, whatever helps you sleep at night,” she snarked, reaching up to pat his shoulder.

He slapped her hand away then turned to unlock the restaurant. The fact that he had a key made her arch a brow but she stored that away for later questioning. For now, she followed him inside and headed for the kitchen to start preparing for the day, chopping up fresh veggies and making sure they had enough meat before peeling the potatoes for fries.

Within the first half hour the first batch of customers showed up. Seymour’s Bay was well into tourist season so business had been picking up as of late. Sitting around watching it had been driving Louise crazy so she was glad to finally be back in action where she belonged. She’d been out of the hospital for over a month now and just staying in the apartment all day had started to make her go stir crazy. Working was all she’d known since she was a kid, it was in her blood. The sooner Rudy and her dad realized that again, the better.

By the time the lunch rush was starting to settle down Louise felt comfortable and confident in the kitchen. She was getting orders done quicker than she ever had before and she hadn’t messed up a single one. Logan, it turned out, was kind of a natural with the customers, easily charming the newcomers and shooting the shit with the regulars. He got the food delivered out in record time and collected a good amount of tips – which she of course was going to insist he share with her. She was the one working her butt off over a hot grill, after all.

“How you holding up?” he asked her after the restaurant was clear, peering in at her from the kitchen window.

Louise looked up from where she’d been scrubbing the grill, one eyebrow raising. “I’m fine, Berry, don’t worry about me.”

“How’s your head feeling?” He leaned an arm on the sill as his eyes searched her expression. “Stieblitz said you’ve having headaches since you got out.”

Damn her husband and his big mouth. “I’m fine,” she repeated, ignoring the way the back of her skull started to ache. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Psht, as if I’d ever worry about you,” he scoffed, but he had that weird look in his eyes again…like the one from before when she’d seen him in the restaurant for the first time.

What the hell is that about?

Before she could say anything else a new group of tourists wandered in and he pulled away to greet them with that dumb smile of his. But even as she rolled her eyes at him, she had to admit – if only to herself – that it was starting to grow on her.

More people came in and the orders were piling up. Louise was still managing just fine, but the pain in her head was starting to get worse. Determined to work through it, she ignored it even as her eyes started to water. Damn smoke was getting in them, she convinced herself, reaching up to rub at her face.

Her hand pulled back and her heart sank when she saw that her fingers were covered in blood. God damn it, not again, not now. She didn’t have time for this! Her eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for something she could use to wipe it away before anyone could see. She spotted a roll of paper towels by the door and she hurried over to grab them.

Her foot caught on a crack in the floor and she fell with a shriek that she couldn’t keep back. She caught herself with her hands, wincing when she felt the skin on the heels of them scrape on the floor. Crap. Double crap. Triple crap!

“You okay?” Logan poked his head into the kitchen. “I heard you scream and–” His face turned sheet white when he saw her on the floor and his eyes were wide with terror. “Shit,” he breathed, his body going rigid.

“I’m fine,” she tried to insist as she attempted to scramble to her feet, slipping on something and letting out a harsh curse when her vision went blurry.

“Stay there,” he ordered, then she heard him call out, “Sorry folks, we gotta close up early for a little bit. I’ll come around with boxes and your checks.”

“Don’t,” she started to say.

“This isn’t up for debate, Louise,” he told her firmly, and the use of her actual name made her swallow hard. Okay, he was actually serious right now.

Head feeling like an anvil had been dropped on it, Louise closed her eyes and leaned back against the sink as she tried to will the pain away. Her earlier promise to Rudy floated across her memory and guilt made her stomach clench. She really thought that she’d be fine…they were all counting on her…

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there before a pair of hands grabbed her under the arms to haul her to her feet. “Come on, kid, let’s get you cleaned up,” Logan’s voice murmured in her ear, and she let him put her arm around his neck as he guided her out of the kitchen. She squinted her eyes open as he helped her into a booth then closed them again, the bright floressents hurting her even more.

Something cool and damp was pressed into her hands. “Clean yourself up,” Logan told her.

She did as he instructed, wiping the cloth under her nose and mouth and chin where she felt the blood starting to dry. When she opened her eyes she saw that he’d turned the lights off and she was able to look down at her shirt, grimacing when she saw the scarlett on her collar. There was no way of hiding what had happened to others now. God damn it…

“I can grab you a clean shirt from my car if you want,” Logan offered, and she glanced over to see him sitting in the booth across the table from her.

Louise shook her head with a wry smile. “I think going back home in one of your shirts would come across worse than a little bit of blood.”

His mouth quirked up in a small smile. “That’s fair. I don’t want my future-in-law thinking I’m trying to hone in on his wife.”

“As if you’d ever,” she retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Hell no,” he said emphatically, shaking his head. “You’re way too young for me.”

“What, you don’t want to get accused of being a groomer?” she joked weakly, the pain in her head still prevalent.

He noticed and stood up. “Wait here,” he said, going into the kitchen. He came back out with a glass of water and a couple of pills in his hand. “Here.” He handed both to her before taking his seat again. “Mandy gets migraines sometimes so I always keep extra pain meds on me in case she needs them.”

“How considerate of you.” She popped the pills into her mouth before washing them down with the water.

“I’m trying to be less of a shit head these days,” he said as one side of his mouth turned up in his own wry smile. “Dunno if I always succeed, but I gotta get some credit for the effort, right?”

“Sure.” Louise blinked at him, curiosity making her brow furrow. “Is that why my dad hired you?”

“He didn’t hire me.” His eyes met hers again. “You did.”

Her eyes went wide. “Me??”

“Yeah, when you were running the restaurant after your dad had his stroke.” Logan crossed his arms on the table.

“Was it because you’re dating my husband’s cousin?”

The corners of his mouth twitched up. “Nah, it was before me and Mandy started dating. You needed help during that time and I needed a job.”

She leaned towards him as interest nagged at her. “But why you? We’ve always hated each other. Why would I hire you?”

His shoulders lifted. “You needed someone interested in the business of the restaurant. I’d graduated with my bachelor’s in business that last spring and I wanted to do something with it other than working for my parents, which wasn’t an option.” His nose wrinkled. “We had a falling out during my last semester of college and I wasn’t going to go crawling back to them begging for forgiveness. Man’s gotta have some pride.”

Now there was a story she needed to hear. Probably another time, though, since she wasn’t sure she couldn’t pretend to not care with how badly her head was hurting. Needing to change the subject, she said the next thing that came into her mind. “So what’s with the weird looks you’ve been giving me?”

It was his turn to blink at her. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been looking at me funny for the past few weeks now. And don’t try to bullshit me and say you haven’t,” she added with a frown, “because we both know that’s a crock. And why did you look like you’d seen a ghost back there? What was that about?”

His expression fell and he looked away from her, his eyes darkening as he swallowed and his hands curling into fists. “It was a lot of blood,” he muttered, and she glanced down at the cloth she’d used to clean herself up. “It freaked me out, okay? It was like–like…”

It hit her then and she stared at him. “You were there, weren’t you? The day I fell and hit my head.”

Logan nodded, a pained look on his face. “It was just you and me in the restaurant,” he told her, leaning back in the booth. “Your parents had gone up for the night and we were cleaning up. We were doing our usual bickering thing and you were nagging me about wiping down the tables. I was going to come back with something I thought was really clever sounding when…” He swallowed again and she could see that his fingers were trembling. “I guess you slipped on something or maybe you just lost your footing, I dunno. You went down and the sound your head made when it hit the corner of the table…” His breath came out in short spurts as his whole frame started to shake.

Her hand darted out to grab his wrist as alarms sounded in her head. “Logan, calm down, you’re gonna give yourself a heart attack.”

“There was so much blood,” he mumbled, his hand flipping over to grasp her wrist, his fingers able to wrap all the way around it. “For a sec all I could do was just stand there and stare because I’d never seen that much blood in my life. I know head wounds bleed a lot but this was different. I only snapped out of it when you started groaning, and even then it was almost too late. Going home that night all I could think about was how useless I was. I just…I just froze.” His voice was almost a whisper.

For the first time she could remember, she felt genuine sympathy for Logan Bush. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, her thumb brushing over his pulse point. “I can’t even imagine how much that must have sucked.”

His shoulders lifted in a weak shrug. “I’m not the one who went into a week-long coma and came out missing five years worth of memories. That sucks major monkey balls.”

“It’s not great,” she admitted with a tight smile. “But I’m trying to make the best with what I have. Which is why I had to do this today.” She gestured around the restaurant with her other hand before letting out a sigh. “Even if I did push myself too hard today.”

“Has that happened before?” His head tilted to the side. “Your nose bleeding, I mean.”

Louise nodded with a hum. “Yeah, just one other time. I don’t really know what triggers it, it just happens.”

“Probably stress or something.” He shrugged again. “I’m not a doctor, though, so what do I know.”

For some reason that made her chuckle. “Nah, you ended up flipping burgers for a living. I bet your parents would be thrilled if they found out.”

“Oh, they know, and they’re not happy,” he confirmed with a grin. “Not that I care what they think. They can go fuck themselves.”

“Language,” she mockingly scolded him, doing her best impression of her mother.

That made him laugh and he shook his head, pulling his hand away from her. “You little shit.”

“You gonna put me in a Reverse Norwegian Stink Hold?” she shot back with a shit-eating grin.

Logan groaned, letting his head fall back to thud against the wall. “Ugh, why couldn’t you have lost that memory?”

“What would I hold over your head if I had?” she grinned as he sighed and rolled his eyes.

They were interrupted when the door flew open, and Louise turned her head to see her husband standing there. His brows were drawn with upset and his eyes filled with something akin to betrayal as they landed on her. She knew the exact moment he saw the blood on her shirt as his mouth turned down in a deep scowl. “You lied to me,” he said, his voice quiet but filled with accusation.

Logan stood up then, stepping towards him. “Stieblitz–”

“And you helped her do this.” Rudy turned his anger on the shorter man as he glared at him. “I ought to tell Bob what you did today so that he can fire your ass.”

“Absolutely not,” Louise snapped, standing up and returning her husband’s harsh expression. “It was my idea, leave him out of it.”

The taller man took a moment to reel himself back in, closing his eyes as he took in deep breaths. “This isn’t okay, Louise.” His light hues opened up as he stared her down. “You promised me that you’d take it easy today.”

“I was fine,” she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“But your nose bled again, right?” He stepped closer to her, refusing to back down. “The evidence is right there.” He gestured to her shirt.

“A minor set back,” she said quickly, once more cursing her stupid head and what it made her do.

“She was doing really good,” Logan added, and Louise could feel him standing right behind her. “We got it under control before it could get worse.”

“Stay out of this!” Rudy snarled at the blonde. “She’s my wife, Bush, I think I know what’s better for her than you.”

“Stop it!” Louise walked over to stand in front of her husband, glaring up at him as her hand shot up to poke two fingers hard against his chest. “You can’t keep me locked up forever, Rudy. Just because we’re married doesn’t mean that you get to tell me what to do!”

“You refuse to acknowledge your limits, Louise. Someone has to take care of you.”

“I don’t need to be taken care of!” she retorted, her voice getting louder. “You can’t keep treating me like I’m going to break, Rudy! I can handle things just fine by myself.”

Rudy dragged his hands down his face with an aggravated sigh. “Oh my god, why are you being so stubborn about this??”

“Because it’s my life!” She was yelling now and she didn’t care if anyone outside heard them. “I’m not eighteen anymore! I don’t care if I can’t remember how my life was before, I want it back!”

“You’re not ready for this!” Rudy spread his arms wide. “You keep pushing yourself! What if one day you push too hard and go back into that coma?!”

His words hit her square in the chest and suddenly she understood. He was afraid. He was afraid…of losing her.

“Roo.” Her hands went up to cup his face as she searched his eyes. “I get it, I do. But worrying about that doesn’t help me. If I’m just cautious for the rest of my life, I’ll never be able to live. You and my dad will never be able to live the lives you want. I can’t just stand by and let you guys continue to sacrifice that for me. I need you to trust me on this.” The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. “Please. Can you at least try to do that?”

Rudy’s eyes searched her face for longer than she anticipated and Louise found herself holding her breath. His chest expanded in a deep sigh and he slowly nodded his head, reaching up to wrap his fingers around her wrists. “Okay. Okay.” His expression became firm. “But can we compromise? Like you start out working two or three days a week in short shifts so that you don’t overextend yourself and end up with a nosebleed again?”

Her mouth parted in a wide smile and she nodded eagerly. “Yeah, we can do that.”

His answering smile made her want to melt and she started to raise up on her tiptoes to–

A throat clearing behind them made her jump and she let go of him, taking a few steps back as her cheeks became hot with embarrassment. The color wouldn’t go away as she turned around to see Logan looking at them with a smirk that made her want to slap him. “Not that I don’t love seeing you two be disgustingly cute, but this is a place of business, not snogging,” he snarked at them, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rudy’s eyes narrowed at him. “Like you can talk. You’d be making out with Mandy twenty-four seven if she let you.”

The blonde’s shoulders lifted in a shrug. “What can I say, my woman is so hot I can barely keep my hands off of her.”

“I will pay you to never say that about my cousin again.”

“You couldn’t afford it if you tried,” Logan sneered.

Louise rolled her eyes at their antics. Men could be so stupid sometimes. Then she turned back to her business partner. “Thanks again for helping me do this,” she told him with a half-smile.

Logan waved her off. “Don’t mention it. Unless you wanna help me get in Mandy’s good graces by telling her how nice I was today.”

“Good graces?” Louise arched a brow at him. “Berry, you’re already dating her.”

“So? It still counts.”

“Oh my god,” Rudy sighed, taking Louise’s hand. “I’m not going to stand around listening to you being gross about my cousin. We’re going home.”

“Wow, just gonna leave me all by myself with the clean up?” Logan called indignantly after them as they walked to the door.

“Call it retribution,” Rudy shot back over his shoulder, and Louise couldn’t help laughing. Who knew her husband could be so sassy?

Definitely one of the things that must have helped her fall for him. She did love herself a comeback king.

Rudy led her over to where he’d parked his car. “I’m assuming you rode your bike here?” he asked.

She nodded back. “Yeah.”

“I’ll come by later to grab it for you. For now,” he opened the passenger side door for her, “I’d like to get you home so you can rest.”

“You don’t need to take care of me,” Louise tried to insist.

Her heart skipped a beat when he leaned down to her level, resting his arms on the door frame. “I know I don’t need to. I want to.” His eye met hers and damn it why did he have to look at her that way? Didn’t he know what it did to her heart?

It was a good thing she was already sitting down.

“Fine,” she said quietly, looking away before he could see the dark flush staining her face and down her neck.

If he noticed he didn’t say anything, instead closing her door and going over to the driver’s side. Once he was in they were heading back down the road towards their apartment complex to spend the rest of the day together.

Later that night Louise woke up on the couch curled up into Rudy’s side. She lifted her head to see her husband sleeping soundly, his arms wrapped around her waist and his face smooth and serene. Having him this close made her heart pound against her ribcage and her eyes kept straying back to his lips. They looked so soft. If only…

As if sensing her stare, Rudy’s eyelids fluttered and he peered down at her, sleep clinging in the corners of his light hues. “You okay?” he murmured, his voice so low that it made her break out in goosebumps.

Louise nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.” She started to curl into him again.

Rudy pulled his arms away from her, nearly making her whine. “If you’re tired, you should go to bed, sweetheart,” he mumbled.

The endearment sent her heart into overdrive and she swallowed as she tried to stomp her feelings back down. “You know, the bed is big enough for two,” she ventured to say, sidling up to him.

Rudy stiffened. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“What? Why not?” She frowned at him. “Rudy, you’ve been sleeping on this couch for over a month now. Don’t you want your bed back?”

“I’m fine staying out here,” he insisted. leaning back against the arm of the couch.

She wanted to argue more with him about this but she was just too darn tired right now. “Fine,” she sighed, standing up and heading for the hall. “Whatever you say, Roo.”

“Sleep good, Lou,” he called after her, and she swore she could hear him smiling.

This boy…

As Louise curled up in her bed, she had only had one thought:

She was going to sleep with her husband again if it was the last thing she did.

You wanna word that a lil better?

Oh shut up.