Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or any music, movies, places or people mentioned or quoted.
A/N: I want to say thank you thank you thank you all for the wonderful reviews they helped cheer up my crappy week. I even love it when there is just a letter or one word in the review! I would also like to thank reviewer AJ for giving me that extra kick in the butt that I needed to post the next chapter today. I want to let RoryGLoganHFan30 know that I really love Logan too, but for this story he is around to cause problems. Even though he is manipulative in my story, I think he still does love Rory. And I totally agree that Lorelai is to blame for Rory's answer to his proposal.
This chapter is a bit of a filler but we get to see more Finn and there are a few important things that will be set up for future chapters. Don't worry happyseaturtle, JJsMommy27, Curley-Q, KariandTK, and Lena Kim (among others) what you want will happen soon!
Chapter 10
"Rory, Tristan, I'm so glad I found you. Francine called and needed your dad's help with something and then Sookie called and she needs me to come to the Dragonfly. She is having some crisis about tonight's dinner and Michel won't leave her alone, something about low-fat cheese and I need you to watch the kids until I can get back. I would take them with me, but there is a meeting going on in the dining room for some apple cider convention thing and I don't want them to interrupt it. I know you are having lunch with Caitlin and Finn, but there just isn't anyone available to watch them right now. I'm sure it won't be as easy to avoid the crazy camera people if you have to drag three kids with you, but I am desperate" Lorelai said as she dragged the twins behind her and Gigi followed.
"Mom, don't worry of course we will watch them. We have the bodyguards and they will do their best to shield the kids from the cameras. Plus Finn and Caitlin love them so they won't care. We're just going to Luke's." Rory took the two boy's hands and Tristan put his hand on Gigi's shoulder as they turned to cross the street. Cameras flashed at the family-like picture. "I will bet they are going to publish those with stories about how our future family will look just like this," Rory said quietly as she and Tristan led the kids to Luke's for lunch.
"There she is, my favorite fair-headed Hayden, the always lovely Georgia; how do you do doll?" Finn winked at Gigi as he kissed her hand. She giggled then gave him a huge hug. "And how is the terrible twosome today?"
"Finn, I'm three, not two." Alex pouted. "Yeah, me too, I'm three." Ben gave an identical pout after looking at his brother's face.
"I know you're three, I meant twosome as in the two of you, not your age. I meant both of you; I meant, oh never mind. Hey guess what, we got you presents." Finn tried to explain himself but failed miserably and went for the easy way out.
Caitlin pulled out three bags and handed them to the three kids. Gigi opened hers and found a princess Barbie doll and immediately took it out of its box and started playing with it. The boys each pulled out a monster truck from their bags.
"I wanted the blue one," said Ben. "I wanted the red one," said Alex.
"I can fix this problem. Boys, give me the trucks." Rory held out her hands for the trucks. They handed them to her and then she put the opposite truck in front of each boy. They both smiled and began running the trucks over the tables, chairs and Finn's head.
"Why didn't you just ask them to switch?" Caitlin asked.
"That would seem like the easy thing to do, but then we would have had to listen to the 'he took my truck' argument. It happens every time they want what the other has. Tristan actually figured out this method and it is the only one that works." Rory looked at Finn and laughed as tried to untangle his hair from Alex's truck.
"Finn, your hair took my truck. Give it back. Let me pull it out." Alex reached for the truck.
"No! Don't pull it out, I will get it. Love can you please try to untangle it?" Finn begged Caitlin.
"I know how to get it out. You should put peanut butter on it. That's what Mommy did when Gigi got gum in her hair. Luke, Finn needs peanut butter," Ben yelled to Luke.
"I don't want peanut butter on my truck. We need to cut his hair. Luke, Finn needs scissors," Alex yelled to Luke.
"What is going on out here?" Luke asked as he came out of the kitchen with some food for the boys and coffee for the adults.
"Finn's hair took my truck and I need to get it back." Alex was getting frustrated and had started to pull on the truck.
"Ouch, some help here please? No scissors." Finn was looking close to tears as Caitlin began trying to untangle the truck.
"Boys why don't you eat your food and maybe by the time you are done the truck will be out of Finn's hair," Rory suggested.
"What can I get the rest of you to eat?" Luke took their orders and went back into the kitchen.
Caitlin finally got the truck out of Finn's hair and he rubbed his head. "Thank you. Now that my hair is free of trucks, I need all of your help in a most important matter." Finn pulled out four different tabloids and opened them to pictures of himself.
"Looking at all of these pictures, what do you think is my best side? I just can't decide," Finn said seriously.
Tristan looked at the pictures and said, "I think it is your right side."
"See, I was leaning toward my left. What makes you say my right side?"
"I would have to say that your eyes seem to twinkle more when they capture your right side," Tristan replied.
"Hmm, I see what you are saying, but doesn't my jawline look stronger from my left?" Finn questioned.
"I guess, but I really think your eyes are your best feature and you should showcase them more," Tristan said.
Neither noticed that Caitlin and Rory were barely containing their laughter.
"So Caitlin, think we should invite these two girls along for pedicures the next time we go?" Rory asked teasingly.
"Rory, they're boys, not girls," Ben commented.
"Right now I'm not so sure about that," Rory said as she laughed.
"Did I not prove to you this morning in bed just how much of a man I am? I know I had you screaming my name," Tristan said seductively.
"Tristan!" Rory exclaimed.
"That's not exactly how you said it; it was more screaming my name in ecstasy." Tristan smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"What does screaming a name in ecstasy mean?" Gigi asked curiously as Tristan's eyes grew wide and he looked at Rory with a panicked face.
"Tristan Michael DuGrey, you said it, you explain it," Rory said as she returned his earlier smirk.
Everyone watched as Tristan got flustered and started to stutter. "Um, well you see, it's uh, it's when one adult yells another adult's name really loud to let them know something."
"Oh, okay," Gigi said shrugging her shoulders and picking up her Barbie doll again. Tristan relaxed as she didn't ask more questions.
After lunch everyone started to walk back to the Hayden house when Miss Patty stepped outside of her dance studio. "There is my favorite exotic young man. Finn, let me take a look at you today," she called out to him.
"That is the one redhead that frightens me. Please help me!" Finn turned to Miss Patty and said, "Sorry I can't stop today; we have a lot to do for the wedding, you know planning and such."
"Nonsense, I am sure Rory and Tristan, who also looks good enough to eat today, can spare you for a few minutes."
"Sure Miss Patty. Why don't you show Finn your famous Founder's Day punch? I'm sure Finn would love to try it," Rory said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Why are you throwing me to the sharks?" Finn whispered looking scared.
"Didn't Caitlin pass along my message? You don't take the coffee from our penthouse without paying for it. We will rescue you after we drop off the kids. Have fun!" Rory teased. Caitlin decided to stay with Finn so that he wouldn't be totally alone with Miss Patty.
When Rory and Tristan got back to the Hayden house, they met Lorelai as she was getting out of her Jeep.
"It looks like your dad is home. Let's go get him so he can take you to your sleepover at Amy's house, Gigi, before we drop off the boys with Zach, Brian and Gil so we can do wedding planning." Lorelai took Ben from Rory while Tristan carried Alex into the house. Both boys had gotten tired on the walk home and wanted to be carried.
"Chris, are you home yet?" Lorelai yelled as they walked into the house.
"Are you screaming Daddy's name in ecstasy?" Gigi asked Lorelai.
"What? Where did you hear that?" Lorelai asked dumbfounded as she almost dropped Ben.
Tristan put Alex down quickly and said, "Uh, we're going to leave now. We have to find my parents and also rescue Finn from Miss Patty. See you later." Tristan dragged a laughing Rory out the door and to his car.
Rory and Tristan met his parents at Kim's Antiques where Natalie had found some pieces of furniture that would work well in her living room. They were arranging delivery when Lane arrived.
"Did you know that Miss Patty and Finn are drinking, dancing and singing songs from 'Guys and Dolls'? I saw Caitlin just sitting there watching them and laughing. She didn't even try to save Finn when Miss Patty tried to pinch him. I saw you come in here and I thought I would let you know that you might want to rescue him before he drinks much more of that punch," Lane said as she remembered the horrors that come from Miss Patty's punch.
"Thanks Lane. I guess we should get him away from there. We need him to help us test the cakes and I don't think he knows how toxic that punch can be. Are you still meeting us at the inn in an hour?" Rory asked Lane.
"I will be there. Zach, Brian and Gil are going to watch Alex, Ben, Steve and Kwan in exchange for some of Sookie's cake. Sookie made a cake just for the guys that I have to pick up from Jackson and then I will meet you," said Lane.
"We will see you all soon. We're going to drive to the inn so we can leave when we are done with dinner. I have a dress fitting tomorrow so we are going back to the city tonight. Michael, Natalie, do you remember how to get to the inn?" Rory asked.
"We can get there; we will see you in an hour." Natalie went back to talking to Mrs. Kim.
An hour later everyone met at the Dragonfly and Finn sat at the table and moaned a bit. "What is in that punch? She wouldn't tell me. It was so sweet, yet so strong."
Lorelai handed Finn a disgusting looking thick drink and said, "Drink all of this and don't ask what is in it. It is the special cure to Miss Patty's punch. Hurry up, we have a lot of cake to try and you need to neutralize that punch so it doesn't mix with the cake frosting. Not a pretty sight if you don't; I know this from past experience." She made a disgusted face and shuddered a bit.
Finn did as he was told and then proceeded to help everyone try about fifteen different types of cakes. When almost everyone was sick of cake, Sookie served a wonderful dinner which everyone enjoyed. After dinner Rory and Lorelai tried three cakes again in order to make the final decision. "Tristan, try this one again. I think this one might be the one." Rory tried to feed Tristan another bite of cake.
"There is no way that I can eat anymore cake. Whatever cake you want, just tell Sookie. Please don't make me eat more." Tristan looked a little sick at the thought of more cake.
"Okay, but don't complain if you don't like the cake at the wedding. I will remind you that you couldn't be a man and eat more cake on our cake testing day if you complain," Rory teased as she picked up another piece of cake to try again.
"How can you eat more cake?" Tristan asked.
"How can you not? It is cake and we have lots of good coffee to go with it. There is the perfect bitterness to the coffee to match the sweetness of the cake and I'm going to eat cake until we find the perfect one." Tristan just shook his head and drank his coffee while watching Rory and Lorelai debate over the cakes.
After dinner and the effects of the punch completely wore off, Finn approached Rory and asked to talk to her in the front room while Caitlin and Lane were doing some bachelorette party planning.
"I need your help with something big; but I need you to keep it a secret from Caitlin," Finn said a bit nervously as he sat on a couch.
"Are you going to propose? It's about time Finn!" Rory was bouncing with excitement.
"Not exactly. It's a little more than that." Finn sighed and leaned back to look through the doorway to make sure Caitlin was still busy. "Since we are all going to Las Vegas the weekend before Thanksgiving for the bachelor and bachelorette parties I was hoping that we could make it a double celebration. Caitlin doesn't have much family, just her parents and she doesn't want a big wedding. I was hoping to surprise her by getting married in Vegas. I am going to fly her parents out there but I don't want her to know about any of it."
"Oh Finn, that is a great idea. We can have our parties the first night and you can get married the next. Then she can really celebrate her last night of sanity, I mean single life!" Rory teased.
Finn rolled his eyes and said, "Thanks love. I'm going to need your help though. I can't get everything I need without her suspecting something."
Rory's started to make a mental list of everything she would need to do. "You take care of the rings, her parents and any reservations you need to make in Vegas. I will take care of everything else, including getting her time off from work. Are you going to leave from there for your honeymoon? Where are you taking her?"
"Yeah we will. I was thinking of taking her to Australia to see my family since they won't be there for the wedding. We will probably be gone until two weeks before your wedding."
"Okay, I will make sure to pack for her for that too. This will be so much fun! Don't worry about anything. We should get back in there before she starts to get suspicious." Rory hugged Finn and led him back into the dining room.
The next morning Rory went to her fitting at Jill M. Bridals. "I love this dress! It is exactly how I pictured it. I can't believe you have it done this quickly," Rory exclaimed as she tried on her dress.
"I'm glad you like it. I have to say, your ideas were perfect and I was so excited to make them a reality that I have worked on it more than anything else." Jill put a few more pins in place to get the perfect fit. "I will have this ready for your final fitting the week before your wedding. The bridesmaids' dresses will also be ready for the final fitting then."
"Speaking of bridesmaids, I need your help for one of them. Caitlin's boyfriend is going to surprise her with a wedding in a little less than a month. He asked me to help and I am wondering if you can make her a dress," Rory asked hopefully.
"I do have her measurements and as long as it isn't too crazy of a dress I can definitely make it. What do you have in mind?" Jill asked as she pulled out some design books.
As they looked at designs, Rory said, "I'm hoping you and your husband can come to our wedding. After all the work you have put into these dresses I would hate it if you couldn't be there to see them."
"Of course we will come. Thank you so much for asking us. We will be dropping the dresses off in the morning anyway and I will be there to make sure nothing needs to be adjusted at the last minute. Oh I can't wait to tell my husband! We've never been invited to someone famous' wedding before, sure I have designed for a couple, but no one is as nice as you are." Jill could hardly wait until she got home to share the news with her husband.
After planning Caitlin's wedding dress, Rory decided to try to find clothes for Caitlin's honeymoon. Since it would be more summer-like temperatures in northern Australia where Finn's family lived, Rory decided to go to some of the department stores on 5th Avenue which would still carry summer fashions even though they were out of season for New York.
As she was looking through some clothing racks she overheard a woman talking on her cell phone.
"I finally got away from that foolish girl my son so stupidly proposed to. She is so annoying and dumb, asking the same questions over and over again. And her family connections are just horrible. I have been trying to convince him to dump her and get back together with his ex-girlfriend. Now there is a girl who has money. I had originally thought she was a gold-digger, but she just came into so much money we would all be set for life. I still don't like her but I could pretend for the money. If only the little witch wasn't engaged to another man; it's only a matter of time before my son can get her to come back to him. He's trying but it isn't going too well. He says he has a plan but part of it fell through yesterday."
Rory couldn't see who was talking, but she had a good feeling about who it was. Just as she was about to try to find the woman, she bumped into a pretty blonde woman about Rory's age and said, "Oh, I am so sorry. I was a bit distracted by someone over there's phone conversation. I know it isn't nice to eavesdrop, but something about it drew me in."
"That's okay, I was listening too. Hi, I'm Sarah, the foolish girl her son stupidly proposed to. You're Rory, right?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, I have a feeling you know that not because of newspapers or tabloids, right?" Rory now was absolutely sure she was talking to Logan's fiancée and that it was Shira around the corner.
"You would be correct. I was at your birthday party with Logan and his parents."
"I would have thought Shira would be ecstatic over your engagement to Logan. When I dated him she made it quite clear that you were a much better choice than I was," Rory admitted.
"She was until he actually proposed. Mitchum wants it and my parents agreed; so as long as my parents keep thinking Logan is the perfect gentleman they won't let me break off the engagement. I don't like to disappoint them so I tend to do what they want me to do. Sure the Huntzberger money and name are great but I would rather marry the man I love."
"You don't love Logan?" Rory asked.
"No. I love his friend Colin. Logan never really pays much attention to me. He thinks of our engagement as more of a business deal and he gets a trophy wife out of it. Colin has always been there for me. He loves me too, but as long as I'm with Logan we won't do anything about it. He has been trying to help me find a way out of the relationship but we can't figure anything out yet. I keep playing the part of the blonde bimbo hoping that the Huntzbergers will get sick of me and let us break this off but Logan just chooses to ignore me instead of breaking up with me. I'm really not stupid like they have all implied. I graduated magna cum laude with a degree in sociology and a minor in theater from Princeton. I don't work right now because women who work are against the Huntzberger ideals. I guess I am destined for the life a trophy wife." Sarah shrugged and sighed looking defeated.
"What would you say to me helping you get out of your engagement if you can help me figure out Logan's plan to get me to come back to him?" Rory asked with a smirk.
"I say I am in; I will do anything to get out that engagement. But why would you help me?" Sarah wondered as she handed Rory a business card with her information on it.
"Colin was one of my good friends until Logan and I ended our relationship and I want to help him. Plus upsetting the Huntzbergers is a perk. I will call you tomorrow so we can talk some more. But now, how about if we make Shira aware of our presence, maybe mess with her a bit?" Rory asked with a twinkle in her eye. Sarah responded with a nod and a huge smile.
"Shira, Shira, look who I just met! It's that girl whose birthday party we went to a couple weeks ago. I think her name is Lori or is it Tori? You know, she's that girl you called a gold-digger and who wasn't good enough for your family, right? And then we found out she had like tons of money and then you like fainted. Wow, it's too bad that she and Logan broke up. Well not really because now I get to marry Logie-bear." Sarah said as she smiled and batted her eyelashes. Rory could barely keep a straight face at the dramatic change in demeanor and intelligence Sarah was displaying.
After glaring at Sarah, Shira looked toward Rory and pasted a fake smile on her face and said, "Rory! How good to see you dear. Ignore Sarah; she confuses her imagination with reality. How have you been? I have missed you so much since Logan left you. I have told him every day just how wonderful you are and that he never should have let you get away from him. I know he misses you and that he loves you so much. I'm sure that DuGrey boy tricked you into agreeing to marry him. It's okay dear, you can break off your engagement with him and I know Logan would be happy to take his place."
"Shira, it's so good to see you too. Don't worry about what Sarah said. I will just pretend I didn't hear it. I'm such a little witch for not keeping in contact with you. How is Logan since he was forcibly removed from my office last week and issued a restraining order against me and my wonderful fiancé? I would hate it if his plans caused a rift in his own engagement. Especially since you have wanted Sarah to become a member of your family since the first time I met you." Rory gave Shira an innocent look as she made sure to emphasize the key words from Shira's phone conversation.
Shira pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow and replied, "Yes. Things change; and well, as you can see, Sarah is unfortunately still here. Anyway, we should get going. It was lovely seeing you again. I will make sure to let Logan know I saw you today. He will be so disappointed that he decided not to go shopping with us. Goodbye Rory."
"Sarah, it was nice meeting you. And Shira before you leave I must tell you how beautiful your blonde hair looks today," Rory said sweetly.
"Why thank you dear. Hopefully we will see you soon," Shira said smiling and patting her hair.
"You're welcome. But it really is a shame that you ruined it by dying your roots black. Have a nice day!" Rory winked and walked away to return to her shopping.
A/N: This chapter used a suggestion from Rose5mar and if you have ideas for things you want to see, please let me know and I will try to work them into the story! Please take a few seconds to review. Instead of a survey, I am going to try for a fill in the blank. Think of a word or words that best complete the following sentence and click review and let me know!
While reading this chapter, I _.
(I would like feedback, no matter how silly! Examples : laughed, smiled, frowned, decided I don't want to read the next one, wished the next chapter was posted already, cried, ate a bowl of ice cream, wished I had cake, figured out which really is Finn's best side, loved the idea of Finn's surprise wedding, liked that Sarah is actually smart and loves Colin)