Part 2/3: The Wooing

Rory smiled at her grandfather as they walked towards her office. She had been studying journalism, ready to take on the world with her writing abilities when her grandfather had had a heart attack and decided, finally, it was time to retire. But who to leave Gilmore Insurance Group was the cause of his worries for months.

When Rory had approached him, telling him that she was ready and willing to change her Major and go on to business school, he'd been ready to keel over then. He'd protested and ranted and raved for months, saying that she wasn't going to change her career because of him. Of course in those months that he protested, she'd graduated from Yale with a Major in Journalism, applied to Harvard Business School and gotten in.

Luckily, at that time Finn had been in charge of taking care of a few hotels in Boston and they'd been able to share an apartment and they had become the best of friends. Eventually, her grandfather had come around and named her the heiress to the Gilmore fortune and a new partner for Gilmore Insurance Group, where her grandfather, though retired, made an occasional appearance at the office.

"Well, you did marvelously, Rory. You really brought those men to their knees."

Rory laughed. "I just proposed a better deal, Grandpa, one where we wouldn't have to fire eighty percent of our employees and yet make more money. I'm not firing people to maximize profit if I can keep the people, give them a raise AND get more profit. Ridiculous how men like them think that they need to fire someone to make more money. Haven't they ever heard of the phrase 'you need to spend money to earn money.'?"

"I'm sure they have, but they're a bunch of cheapskates and hate spending money."

"Well, I'm changing that," Rory said defiantly. When she'd taken over the Insurance Group, she'd watched from the sidelines as Finn had dipped his feet in different ventures, not only acquiring hotels, but TV and radio stations, clothing stores and even a newspaper here and there with Logan's help. When she'd seen him come out successful, she'd asked him to help her branch out.

So not only was she president and CEO of Gilmore Insurance Group, but she owned three magazines that were teen-related and a fashion magazine that she and her friend Stephanie had created and put out in publication that had sky rocketed in popularity. She even co-owned a TV station with Finn, one of her best and most successful ventures yet.

"How is everything?" Richard asked as they turned the corner and she started to open the door to her office.

"Good. You know I have an idea for-" Rory trailed off as her eyes widened.

"Oh, Miss Hayden, you're here," Cynthia, her secretary, said quite relieved. "They just keep coming. Since your office is full, we redirected them to your apartment. I hope that's okay?"

"How many?" She cracked out as her grandfather stood stunned behind her.

"I haven't counted, miss, but I'm guessing about a million, if not more."

That wasn't an exaggeration. In her office there was a vase upon vase filled with sunflowers which weren't even in season. She didn't even have to guess who they were from.

"Rory, what is all this?" Richard asked as they walked further into the office as best they could.

"I..." Rory stopped. How could she explain to her grandfather that Finn was trying to prove to her that he was worthy enough to take her innocence? She really couldn't, instead she turned to Cynthia who was standing at the doorway, a small smile on her face. "Was there a letter or anything?" Rory asked.

"There was." Cynthia disappeared for a few seconds coming back and handing Rory an envelope. Rory ignored her grandfather as she motioned him into the room and closed the door when a group started to gather around her office to get a look in the sunflower-filled room. She ripped the envelope open and took out the piece of paper.

Finn's neat scrawl was on the paper which made her feel a bit better that their "situation" was still between them.

Love,

Sorry to disrupt you work day, but this was the first fact that came to mind and I couldn't help myself.

Fact number 2: You've always wanted someone to send you sunflowers to work. Or any flowers. There's something about a person taking the time out of their day to send flowers to a person they care about.

Finn

It wasn't too personal, but something she'd told him years ago, when she'd been dating someone at Harvard, over lunch one afternoon when the guy hadn't seemed interested in her enough. She hadn't mentioned it again and neither had Finn. Frankly she'd forgotten about it, because of her lack of boyfriends or interest.

Though the fact wasn't as personal as the other one had been, she had a feeling that as this went on, the facts were going to get more and more personal.

"Rory?"

She blinked and realized her grandfather and Cynthia were still in the room. "Oh."

"Who are they from?" Cynthia asked now interested.

"Um… secret admirer," she lied with a frown. "Nothing else came?"

"Nothi-" Cynthia looked surprised. "A million sunflowers show up in your office from a secret admirer and you're asking if something else came?"

She winced. "Right, well… um…" She played with the hem of her shirt as she looked around the room. What would she do with the flowers?

"Well, if it changes things, you have a meeting with Mr Morgan at the TV station in about an hour," Cynthia said as she walked to the desk to check the planner.

"Who would do something like this?" Richard asked still in shock. "And you said there were more?"

"So many more," Cynthia told him.

"Well, your grandmother will be pleased. She's been going on about how you haven't been seeing anyone."

"Of course," Rory muttered.

Richard kissed the top of her head. "Well, when you find out who this admirer is, tell him he has Richard Gilmore's approval. Bye Rory."

"See you later, Grandpa," she said as they stepped over the vases sitting on the floor and she walked him out of the office. Shutting the door once again she turned to Cynthia, who also happened to be her best girl confidant since Stephanie had moved to California.

"So who is it?" Cynthia asked eagerly. "And what did the letter say?"

"You need to call Finn and tell him I can't make the TV station meeting."

"But-"

"Call and I'll tell you everything over lunch." She could tell Cynthia wasn't to happy with the compromise, but picked up the phone and dialed Finn's office while Rory still looked around at all the flowers ad small smile was finally playing at her lips.

"Morgan."

"Hey Finn, it's Cynthia from Rory's office."

Finn laughed. "You've worked for Rory for three years now, Cyn, I know who you are."

"Right, well, Rory wanted me to call and tell you that she wouldn't be able to make the station meeting today."

"Oh right, I've pushed it back. I seemed to have forgotten to tell Rory abut it. Tell her not to worry about it, it's for later next week now."

"Oh, uh, just a second." She pulled the phone away and looked at Rory. "He says he pushed the meeting back to later next week."

Rory paused. That meant… what? she wondered. She nodded slightly. "That's fine."

"She says that's fine, Finn. She's in somewhat of a shocked state at the moment."

"And why's that? Some big bad tough guy try to loophole their way through child labor laws again?"

Cynthia laughed. "No… well, not yet anyway. Some secret admirer sent her sunflowers."

"Really?"

"But not just a dozen, he sent millions of them. They're covering every inch of her office. The room got so full that I had to redirect them to your apartment."

"What's she doing?"

"Just sort of standing in the middle of the room with a smile. But I don't think she's going to get much work done for the rest of the day."

"Neither do I," Finn laughed. "I've got to get going, Cyn. Tell Rory I'll see her later."

"All right. Bye Finn." She hung up and looked over at the woman who was biting her lip.

"Finn sent them," Rory whispered a few moments later.

"Finn?" Cynthia asked. "Why?"

Rory let a giggle escape as she picked up a sunflower and brought it to her nose. "The idiot's trying to woo me. Come on, let's get lunch and I'll tell you everything."

"Oh, girl, you better dish all," Cynthia said grabbing her purse and following Rory out of the office.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"So let me get this straight. Finn likes you and now he's trying to pop your cherry by sharing 15 intimate details that only he knows."

Rory laughed. "When you put it like that…"

"I didn't even know you liked Finn like that," Cynthia said taking a bite of her salad.

Rory shrugged, a small smile on her face. "We've always had this flirtatious relationship," she admitted. "Everyone notices. We're very touchy-feely with each other, always have been. We're just really comfortable around each other. Hell, the guy's walked in on me showering and I really didn't mind it."

"Really?"

Rory nodded. "He's the only guy I don't mind to see me naked. I've slapped both Logan and Colin for trying, and all my exes have tried to get in my pants. But with Finn it's different."

"How?"

"'Cause I think deep down I was waiting for him to notice me this way. Because I've been noticing him this way for a very long time. It kills me to see him get in these disastrous relationships," she sighed. "He's a great guy, no… he's amazing. And it's just hard to see these women use him for his money or connections."

"And he knows you're not using him like that."

"Of course not." Rory laughed at the idea. "I have my own money and I have my own connections. I don't need Finn for that. And Finn doesn't need me for that. And we have mutual contacts from our professional relationship. We work well together professionally, and I know we would work well personally. He's my best friend."

"And you're his. Well..." Cynthia smiled proud of her friend. "I'm just glad you both realized it. You're both cute together and you guys would last."

"We would," Rory nodded, then rolled her eyes as she signaled the waiter. "We should get back to work. I've got work to be done before I head home tonight."

"So you're heading home?"

Rory laughed, "I need my bed. Last few nights I've been sleeping at my desk."

The waiter came to their able, sans check. "A gentleman has already paid for your meal. He told me to give you this." He held out a wrapped package for Rory.

"For me?" She frowned as she took out the small card from between the ribbon.

Checks paid for, love. Should tell you stalking is a pastime of mine.

Rory looked up and around the restaurant for Finn. "Do you know where he is? The man that gave you this?"

"I'm afraid he just came in and told us to put your check on his tab and to give you that. He left a few minutes ago."

Rory sighed as Cynthia smirked. "Finn?"

Rory nodded. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Anything else I can do for you, ladies?"

"No, I think we're fine for now."

"All right," he smiled at both before leaving. Rory returned her eyes to the card.

All right, not really. Just thought this was the perfect moment to share another fact.

Fact number three: Your favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. Yes, I realize everybody knows this, but only a selected few know the reason why, me being one of them. It was the first book your father gave you when you turned eight. And out of all the things your father's given you that was your favorite.

Open the package, love.

Rory put the card down and opened the package he'd sent. Biting her lip, she flipped through the pages of the first edition of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice.

"That boy knows you good," Cynthia said watching her smile.

"Yeah," Rory said wiping the unshed tears from her eyes, "He really does."

"Come on," Cyn said smiling. "Let's get back to work… or, well, try to."

Rory nodded and closed the box with the book inside. She couldn't wait to see what Finn had in store next.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The next morning Rory woke up to the sound of rain hitting her window instead of the usual blaring of her alarm clock.

Smiling she got out of bed, shutting off her alarm before it sounded and ruined the moment. She shuffled her way to the the window, pulling open her curtains. She smiled at the rain that was streaming down her window and on the street. It looked like she was staying in.

She got back in bed and sat against the headboard, her knees hugged against her chest. She grabbed the phone and called the office leaving a message for Cynthia telling her that she wasn't feeling very well and was staying in for the day. She added a cough and a weak sounding voice for good measure. She also asked Cyn to move all her meetings and appointments back, thanked her and hung up.

Rainy days were what Rory dubbed her selfish day. No matter who was being unconvinced by her staying in on rainy days, she stayed. It was the one day she decided she wouldn't feel bad for taking a day to herself. It was a day where she indulged in things that she rarely got to do.

Sometimes she'd follow in the footsteps of Holly Golightly and Blair Waldorf and have Breakfast at Tiffany's (even if she didn't live in New York), dressing up in her black dress and gloves and big dark glasses, but on most rainy days she stayed in her pajamas and within the walls of her apartment and indulged in her not-so-secret collection of romance novels lining the back shelf of her closet. Finn had dubbed it her porn collection and then proceeded to share with all of their friends that she had said books, thus the not-so-secret collection.

She decided that today was a stay-in day with a trip to the used bookstore down the street. She was about to get back up to chose the book she would start when she heard rustling in the kitchen. She got up and she stuck her head out her door and smiled when she heard Finn muttering. Deciding to respect the rules of their arrangement and not talk to him until he was ready, she closed the door silently and got back in bed. She would stay there until he left.

Some time between her waiting and him leaving she had fallen asleep again. She was facing the door and when she looked up at her nightstand to see the time, she saw a breakfast tray instead. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she noted it was a little past eight thirty, meaning Finn had just left for the office.

Looking at the breakfast tray she grabbed it gently and settled it over her lap smiling. There was a vase with a yellow rose with a red tips, a bowl of chicken noodle soup along with crackers to go with it, hot chocolate with a cinnamon stick in it and all the utensils. Sitting on the side of the tray was a wrapped present and a note.

She opened the note and smiled at Finn's writing.

For some reason you tend to get "Sick" on rainy days so there's the chicken noodle soup to make you feel better. And the hot chocolate has an espresso shot, I haven't forgotten my coffee addict. I know about your hooky days, love.

Fact number four: when it rains, nine times out of ten you'll stay home in your pajamas and robe, reading your porn novels. When you do go to work, you spend the entire time looking out your window, wishing you had stayed home.

I went through your books while you were at work yesterday and did some research on some of the incomplete series you have. And some new ones. Hope you'll like the one I got you.

Have your rainy day and do it in style, love. I left my Black Card on the counter just in case you decided to go Holly Golightly today. If not, I opened a tab with the old man at the bookstore down the street.

Enjoy!

Finn

She shook her head, surprised that he knew so much about her rainy days. It was one thing to know she ditched work to stay in, it took a very preceptive person to know exactly what she did on these days. Finn had known her almost seven years and they'd never talked about her rainy days. She'd just conveniently come down with a 24 hour bug every time it rained, neither needed any more explanation than that.

Apparently Finn did know her a lot better than their other friends. Colin had advised her to go to the doctor to get her 24 hour rain flu checked out while Logan had once sent a doctor to check on her. She'd had to explain to the nice gentleman who was persistent in taking her temperature and following through the exam that she was faking and just didn't want to go to work.

Finn had done neither. He'd make her soup, leave it on the stove, kiss the top of her head, tell her to have a good day in and leave for the office. The idiot had known all along, and that was why she was falling head over heels in love with him with every fact.

Putting the note in her nightstand where she'd taken to putting all the others, she opened the package and smiled at the paranormal romance that he'd gotten her. He did know her. She smiled opening it on the first page and got comfortable on her bed before looking back at the single rose sitting in the vase.

A while ago when Finn had met a girl he sort of liked, he'd wanted to give her roses that had some sort of meaning. So they'd done research and found a site that gave all the colors of roses and their meanings. He'd sent the girl orange roses which meant desire. It was his way of saying "I want to fuck you, nothing else." She looked at the rose he'd sent her, yellow with red tips. Thinking back she sat up and looked at the rose with wide eyes. The yellow symbolized friendship while the red symbolized falling in love.

She took the rose out of the vase and felt her eyes well up with tears. No thorns. No thorns meant love at first sight.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Thank you for calling the Dragonfly Inn. This is Lorelai Hayden speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey mom," Rory greeted as she adjusted her headset so she could still work while talking to her mom.

"Mom? I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number seeing as I don't have a daughter!" Her mother said with her flare of drama that she was known for

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry I haven't called, I've been busy."

"Too busy to call and say 'Hey, I'm still alive'?" Her mother gasped. "I hear the keyboard. Are you working??"

"No!" Rory replied quickly sending the e-mail she was working on and taking her fingers off the keyboard with a wince.

"You have your headset on, are you head-setting me!"

"No! I'm not head-setting you."

"Uh huh, sure."

"So how's dad?" Rory asked venturing into a safer topic, then easing into the reason she had called.

She'd been born in Hartford when her mother was a mere 16-years old. Her mother Lorelai, deciding she didn't want to be forced into marriage, had run away to the town Rory had grown up in Stars Hollow. But when her mother had turned twenty three and Rory seven, Christopher Hayden had come looking for them. He told Lorelai he'd given her enough time to rebel and that he wanted to have a family with her and Rory.

At that point her father was attending his final years of Princeton. Lorelai agreed to be with him, but to have the wedding after he graduated. They moved into his parents' house. Lorelai attended community college while Rory started her years at private school.

Two years later Chris and Lorelai were married. Chris was working at his father's law firm and Lorelai was starting her inn in Stars Hollow. The inn was now a worldwide success with Finn's family's help. The Stars Hollow Dragonfly Inn was just one of the locations where her mother had inns.

The call she made to her mother was not to her Stars Hollow office, but to her Paris office where her mother and father vacationed frequently. Her father took care of the Hayden firms internationally while Rory took care of the ones in the States. Her parents preferred Europe, she preferred the good ol' USA, and Finn's homeland of Australia every once in a great moon.

"Your father's fine, he's abandoned me in Paris though."

"Where is he?"

"Checking things in Madrid. He'll be back in a few days. For now I'm kicking back in the apartment and working my ass off here."

"Keeping busy?"

"Yep. I got an interesting call from your grandmother the other day."

"Which one?"

"Emily."

"Oh, and?"

"And what's this about you having a stalker?"

Rory laughed. "Secret admirer, not a stalker."

"Well, apparently Emily isn't too happy with anybody disrupting a work day with bombarding a person with flowers. Apparently it's distasteful and inappropriate."

Rory frowned. "I thought it was sweet and so did grandpa."

"Eh, it's Emily."

"True."

"So have you found this secret admirer slash stalker?"

Rory laughed. "He was never a secret and he isn't a stalker. Just very observant."

"Ah, so you admit it's a he."

Rory frowned. "Never claimed otherwise."

Lorelai laughed. "Who is it?"

Rory bit her lip and shifted in her seat, leaning back and playing with the hems of her sleeves. "How would you take it if, say… me and Logan got together?"

"You and Logan?" She could see the frown on her mother's face. "Um… wow, that's…"

"Weird, right?"

"Is Logan your secret admirer?"

"No."

"Oh," her mother let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god, I'm a bit more partial to Finn than Logan."

Rory sat up. "Really?"

"Sure, he's a good guy… Logan's a bit…"

"Promiscuous?"

"So's Finn, but I don't think the poor guy knows better. Logan just does it to…"

"Get off," Rory laughed. "Can you see me and Finn together?"

"Finally admitting you love him?"

Rory bit her lip and found herself welcoming the idea instead of running from it. "Maybe." Her mother stayed silent before sighing.

"Really?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know. I think Finn's a sweet guy, but does he know how to be a boyfriend?"

Rory turned to her computer when she heard a ping coming from her speakers signaling she had an instant message.

Exoticaussie23: Ready for the next fact, love?

Rory smiled. "He's willing to learn."

"So you guys are together yet?"

"Um…" frowning she typed in her response.

Coffeegirl35: Shoot.

She bit her lip. "I'm not really quite sure. It's undefined as of now."

"'Undefined as of now', that sounds very official."

Exocticaussie23: fact number five, you're not as partial to junk food as you make your mother believe.

Rory gasped and her eyes widened. "What?"

"What?" Lorelai asked.

Rory's mouth dropped open as Finn sent another message.

Exoticaussie23: instead of hiding chocolate and ice cream in that mini fridge you have at work, you actually hide carrot sticks and salads, along with Hidden Valley Ranch.

Rory stared at her computer screen in shock. No one, not even her closest friends, not even Luke who had gotten her hooked on salads knew she still ate them. Her mother would probably disown her if she ever knew her daughter even looked at any type of vegetable or fruit-like substance with more than curiosity.

Coffeegirl35: how… when…

Exoticaussie23: I found it a little weird that you'd get vegetables for me and then they'd end up disappearing before I had a chance to even think about what I'd make with them. Ready for the next one? You're mother use to leave you with Luke as a kid after school, and he use to tell you horror stories about unprocessed meat and make you eat salads. No one, not even Luke, knows you kept the habit. It's not a fast metabolism that keeps your body in great shape it's actually eating right and exercising.

"Rory, you still with me?"

"Uh… Mom, I'm going to have to call you back later."

"But.."

"I just wanted to know what you thought about the possibility of me and Finn."

"Oh."

"And I just realized that it doesn't really matter, I'll, uh, I'll call you later."

"Rory!" Lorelai shouted into the phone before Rory hung up and took her headset off and threw it on the desk, concentrating on the computer.

Coffeegirl35: after the whole vegetable thing, it being my deep dark secret, I'm a little afraid of what you have up your sleeve.

Exoticaussie23: Trust me, love, I've got much worse. This one's not so bad though. Right about now Cyn should walk in though…

Rory looked up just as Cyn walked up wheeling in a cart. Rory's mouth opened this time in utter shock as she saw what was on the cart.

"Oh my god."

"Rory, something you want to tell me?" Cyn asked amused.

Rory looked back on the screen to see Finn's message.

Exoticaussie23: number six: you're a closet High School Musical fan, you've seen the movie 58 times, know every word and song by heart BUT you own no merchandise though you're dying to buy them.

Coffeegirl35: so you took the liberty to buy out the store?

Exoticaussie23: just a few things, go look, I'll be right here when you get back.

Rory got up, keeping him to his word as she went to look at the cart. There was a gift basket sitting in the center, with both High School Musical movies, soundtracks, along with school/office supplies. Pencils, pens, stationary, book covers, folders and bookmarks, each depicting either the entire cast or all of them separately.

Next to the basket sat bags of all kinds, cinch bags with Troy Bolton on one and Gabriella and Troy on the other, a mini backpack with "I majored in Vacation" with the whole cast on it, a tote bag with all of them on it, and five different variations of purses with the entire cast, along with one with Sharpay all by herself, also a lunch bag that had Ryan and Sharpay on it.

There were bracelets, journals, cellphone charms, earrings, banners with "I love Troy Bolton" on them, along with bedding, dinnerware and on the bottom of the cart sat a folded up butterfly chair. Rory opened it and laughed when she saw the well-known picture of the cast jumping in the air.

He also added kid costumes and party decorations. Everything that High School Musical made, she was sure Finn had gotten one of. Dolls, footwear, sleepwear, he got everything.

"I-"

Cyn raised an eyebrow. "Are you a closet Zac Efron fan? 'Cause now that I think of it, you didn't even come to work when Hairspray came out in theaters."

Rory blushed but kept quiet while she went back to her desk. Sitting down she stared at the screen before answering.

Coffeegirl35: So does this mean you're my Troy Bolton?

Exoticaussie23: only if you want me to be love, I've got to go, enjoy your HSM things

Before she could respond, he had already logged off leaving her staring at the screen.

"So... High School Musical?" Cyn said. "I had you pegged for more of a Cheetah Girls fan. You know, Amigas Cheetahs," she sang wriggling her hips.

"Leave!" Rory laughed as Cyn started dancing and singing as she left the office.

She went back to the cart and toyed with the Gabriella doll. "You are the music in me," she whispered before laughing at herself and sitting at her desk, attempting to get back to work.