: A is for Australian… that quirky one from Yale. B is for Baby… Rory and Logan's. C is for Caffeine... Rory's first love. This is an intermingling of all three. I don't own or claim responsibility for any of these characters… hopefully they are written well enough to even somewhat resemble the ones on screen.

ABC's

It was cruel and unusual torture but if Rory Gilmore wasn't able to consume her usual amount of caffeine in mug form, she sure as hell was going to get her fix some other way.

It had become a ritual of hers, doing the majority of her 'homework' within the haze of caffeinated air of her local coffee shop. She's soak it in, that delicious air, as she did her reading on motherhood and childcare. Watch longingly as people sipped all forms of caffeine perfection from their trendy mugs, while she was supposed to be researching the best car-seats and baby monitors. She'd even pushed aside planning the perfect nursery, layout and style, to fantasize about her growing coffee mug collection at home and the day she could truly christen each one.

Pushing the door of the shop open, Rory strode in with her very pregnant belly encased in a blouse her mother said made her belly look unrealistically big on her little body. It was her favorite regardless... something about that cobalt blue... even if it was last year's colour, she didn't care. She breathed in the wondrous caffeinated air and smiled at Rebeca, manning the cash. She'd been in here enough times to know everyone by name, and create a semi-factual background for each of them. For example, she knew all about Rebecca's crush on the new guy, Marcus... and that Wednesdays and Thursdays were the best days she could flirt her way into more whipped cream... or it was just Jack's way of flirting with all the girls. Still, it was the perfect home away from home.

After wrestling with the newest pregnancy trials of Braxton hicks contractions, Rory was looking forward to a quiet afternoon of sipping her favorite indulgence away from the prying eyes of Luke and her mother, while flipping through her baby name book. The last thing on her list to decide on before her due date the following week. Names. Nearly eight and a half months had gone by and she'd still been undecided on which names to pick... or even which ones she'd even consider seriously. Not even her family or the helpfully nosey townsfolk of Stars Hollow could help her decide. It had been her very first true procrastination, choosing those names. She'd looked through every book, listened endlessly to each suggestion but still a decision eluded her.

Ignoring all of that for another few minutes however, Rory went up to the cash and ordered her usual then picked a table by the window, a comfortable half booth that she'd claimed as her own months before. Happy to see it empty, she deposited her bag and scarf there just to be sure no one else scooped it up, then she returned to the counter to collect her drink.

"You know Rory, I would have brought it to the table." Marcus scolded her sweetly with those silky chocolate brown eyes of his.

She just smiled and passed it off as an excuse for him to stay behind the counter and flirt with Rebeca but nearby she didn't notice a man look up from his book and coffee to stare at her. She slid down the counter to where the sugar and cream waited to be added to your drink of choice. Rory doctored her coffee and turned towards her seat, only to stop suddenly.

Standing in her way was a tall, lean, and perpetually tanned figure with a face from not so long ago. The man flashed a slow smile that made her hands a little unsteady. His green eyes not even daring to leave her face, to take in the giant pregnant belly of hers, seemed to lead him towards her. His steps were deliberately slow, but his long legs saw that he reached her in three simple strides, leaving her just enough time to return her coffee to the counter. He didn't even speak, he just reached out with both hands and gently cupped her face, lowering his lips to her forehead. A kiss that was as gentle as it was a gesture of a guardian but it was sweetly protective, made all the more meaningful as he broke the lingering kiss with his first words to her in nine months.

"Still photogenic as ever." He whispered, his lips brushing her forehead. "Good girl."

Rory closed her eyes tightly, her chest swelling with emotion.

She hadn't been lying when she'd told him, as she'd said goodbye to them all, that she'd miss him the most. As poetic as it might have been, quoting a classic, she and Finn had always been fortunate with their good relationship. Their friendship had been built around Logan, sure, but it had definitely flourished away from him as well. As loud and flirtatious as he could be, Finn never betrayed a secret and had always been the ideal person to distract you from anything negative. He was the epitome of youthful misadventure in their circle of friends and, she was sure, he'd remain that way forever.

Finn released her finally and inched backwards just enough so they could look each other in the eye. He was surprised by the sweeping sadness he felt when he noticed the tears amplifying her unusually innocent blue eyes. A feature he'd always loved about her. That perfect innocence, even when they corrupted her with alcohol and youthful rebellion. It was like she was both untouchable and incorruptible, regardless of what happened around her.

Reaching up, Rory laid a hand on his cheek, much like she had in the old days and felt a wave of nostalgia rush over her for their wilder, younger days. Still, she smiled sweetly.

"Why, Finn." She murmured, tilting her head a little to one side. "You've grown up."

He looked down at her, his sparkling green eyes still very much the same… full of that tempting mischief and charming lunacy, but hiding much. She would never quite understand how much he'd missed her. Their 'little mother'. Now, it seemed, she was to be someone else's mother. She'd grown up too.

His grin lifted slowly, crooked and full of unspoken words. He took hold of her hand upon his cheek and planted a kiss in her palm.

"Just trying to impress you, luv."

She couldn't help but smile at him. As arrogant as he could be when he wanted to, he did have a good heart hidden away beneath that thick layer of brash charm.

"You know you don't need to do that with me Finn." She replied sweetly as she took back her hand and laid it upon the swell of her belly, a move she made without thinking, but Finn's gaze couldn't help but settle on the belly.

Rory's smile dissolved as she found herself shifting her weight uncomfortably from her right foot to the left. She couldn't help it. She felt awkward, standing here in front of him, pregnant. Mere seconds ago it hadn't even been thought of but now...

"Why, luv, I do believe you've had some sort of unfortunate accident. Do my eyes deceive me, or is this real? ...This uncommonly severe swelling in this general area of your delightful person?" He declared, a little more loudly then necessary as he swirled his finger in the air towards her belly, slipping easily into his old antics. "What ever has happened to you while you've been devoid of our delightful company?"

She managed a laugh and stroked her belly with a fondness she'd only lately adopted, rather ashamed of her embarrassment.

"Yeah, well…"

"It's not mine, is it?" He asked, throwing on a look of mock trepidation.

"No, Finn." She sighed then graced him with a half-hidden little smirk. "I think I would have remember that."

His grin brightened knowingly.

"You most certainly would have, luv. Best night or day of your life... I am quite good during both I'll have you know. Well… anytime really…" He replied, offering a sly wink. "Now where was I? Ah yes. A tryst with me, darling girl, you would have remembered. Trust me on that."

Raising his hands in the air and dancing his fingers a little, he pointed towards the now infamous belly.

"May I, darling?"

Rory's brows shot up. He wanted to feel? She couldn't remember the last time someone asked to feel her belly, they usually just helped themselves. But come to think of it, she didn't think any man ever had felt her belly. Luke always passed on the offer, and no one else living here felt comfortable or close enough to her to try it. Somehow it was like she was out of bounds, as Lorelai's daughter... as Luke's step-daughter. She actually could remember Kirk running in the opposite direction when her mother had offered him the opportunity to feel the baby kick. A full out run, Kermit the frog style. It had been quite the sight… granted it had been right after the Alien showing at the theater but still.

"Yeah... go ahead." She stuttered, trying not to appear thrown by his request.

Finn pouted a little, reading her just as well as he had years ago. He felt like his request was granted only to be polite. That damn Gilmore politeness. "You'd rather I didn't formally introduce myself to your soon-to-be blue-eyed beauty?"

"No, no… its just…" She smiled, embarrassed to confess her hesitation. "You're actually the first man to ask, not to mention the first one to feel the baby floating around in there."

Finn's eyes brightened. "I am your first. Aw, my love, I shall have to memorialize this in my diary tonight."

Rory scoffed and reached out, grabbed his hand and flattened it on her taunt belly. Immediately his expression changed, all joking was forgotten. A little shiver went down her spine as Finn took advantage of this opportunity and placed his other thin hand on her belly.

Slowly and effortlessly he slid to a crouch before her, making her even more acutely aware of the people watching them. It had been only the odd person, glancing their way when he spoke loudly, but now... now it seemed like everyone around them was stealing glances at them... whispering to each other. Still, Rory willed herself to ignore them and just focus on Finn. Quickly, she found that she didn't really care if anyone was staring. Finn was here. He was back and he was talking quietly to her baby, all manner of foolishness, as he tried to locate it with his nimble probing fingers.

As she watched him, fighting the strong impulse to reach out and ruffle his unkempt brown hair, Rory felt a shiver of sadness wash through her bones. She had never really given serious consideration to how it would feel to raise a child alone. To miss out on all those moments couples shared together during pregnancy, the actual birth and all the years that followed.

She'd had an amazing mom and she'd lived through it from the kid side herself already, yes, but now that she found herself in her mother's place... well… it was different. She'd just never really considered how nice it might be to have someone there to share all those little moments with.

She smiled over Finn and his slow enamored grin, as it spread across his face. He was older, his electric gaze a little softer. They all were more grown up now but he looked… different. She wanted to know everything that had happened since she saw him last. Every little detail. She'd missed being in the loop with them all... experiencing everything first hand. She hadn't realized it until now but, for all the anxiety they caused, she liked knowing what misadventures they were experimenting with... the hearts they broke... the fortunes they wasted. And yet... she held back. She stayed silent to preserve the moment. This moment that made her smile with bittersweet fondness. This moment that made her want to reach out and touch his shoulder to get his attention, or lay her hand on his cheek again. Still she held back, knowing how intimate that would seem. How out of place it would be at this moment. She'd be able to do that with Logan, even after everything that had happened, but not Finn. As much as she loved him, she couldn't.

She felt nostalgic for those carefree days at Yale, when they'd all been together. They were times that she would never forget, but as she felt movement inside her, those wild college days were overshadowed by this innocent moment in the middle of a quaint little coffee shop. Overshadowed by leaps and bounds.

Her baby, boy or girl, responded to Finn's gentle touch as he slid his hands carefully one way and then the other. A kick met his right hand, and then another. He grinned that crooked grin of his, the one that had sent all the girls falling at his feet several years ago.

"'ello little one." He murmured thoughtfully to her belly, giving it a little rub with his nimble fingers.

Rory blinked, feeling tears come to her eyes again. She wanted to curse the damn pregnancy hormones, but she knew this was so much more then that. She was sad about many things, yes, but those things she couldn't change. She was still having a baby, alone, while the father enjoyed his bride and prosperous future. She had still been absent from the lives of many of her friends for the past few years, only showing up on rare occasions to disappear just as quickly. She had missed so much.

And yet... there was a part of those overwhelming emotions that gave her some joy. A warmth amidst all the turmoil of her life's regrets.

Finn was back.

Somehow he had made a comeback into her sad little life, and just one flash of his smile told her he wasn't going to leave it as easily as before.