Side order of Finn in this one... Catherine next chapter!
"Good morning, Miss Hayden," Rory's assistant Lindsey greeted her as Rory stepped onto her floor.
Rory waved weakly. "Morning, Lindsey. What's on today's agenda?" Really, she felt like hell. Her nose had started to clog earlier in the week and getting up this morning had been a huge chore. She had barely stomached toast with Sophie before heading into the office. And that didn't touch on the pounding headache in her temples, nor the aches up her back and neck.
"You have a 9:00 meeting with the board of directors about client updates, lunch at 1 with Mr Huntzberger and I took the liberty of organizing the files on your desk into those to consider and those that are probably okay for a little while longer. And Miss Huntzberger wanted to talk to you at first chance."
Rory nodded as her assistant went on, wishing she'd remembered to take aspirin before leaving the house that morning. "Let Honour know I'm in and she can come talk to me. Thanks Linds."
She sat back in her desk chair, immediately reaching for her bottom drawer and the first aid kit she kept there. Aspirin was first on her list and she gulped down two pills along with two glasses of water. Then she relaxed, closing her eyes against the harsh glare of the winter sun.
"Hey, Rory? Rory? Hello?"
Rory snapped out of the stupor she was in to take in her friend. Her stomach was churning, her head pounding. She tried to open her mouth to answer Honour but felt her stomach lurch and raced for the bathroom attached to her office. Honour was close on her heels, holding Rory's hair back as she brought up everything in her stomach.
"Why are you even here," Honour asked softly, carefully lowering herself to the floor beside Rory. "You look like crap, you should be at home resting."
"Meetings today and tonnes of paperwork that I left here," Rory answered. "I can't drop everything because I'm not one hundred percent."
"You're nowhere close to fifty percent. I'm calling my driver and he's going to take you home, no questions asked."
"But—" Rory tried to protest.
"What part of no questions asked don't you understand? I'll handle the files, I can handle the meeting. Go home, sleep, get better." Honour helped Rory up and walked with her down to the lobby. A few minutes later a car pulled up and Honour loaded Rory inside, giving the driver her address and telling him to make sure she got inside all right.
When Honour made it back upstairs, she strode straight to Lindsey. "What was on Rory's schedule today?"
"Mostly paperwork, the meeting and lunch with your brother," Lindsey answered quickly. "Is everything okay?"
"Rory's sick. Take messages for anyone who calls her and I'll handle my brother."
"Yes, ma'am."
Honour rolled her eyes as she headed back into Rory's office and picked up her phone.
"Hi, you've got Logan Huntzberger. I can't make it to the phone, leave a message and I'll get back to you. If it's Finn, you need to clear out your voicemail again!"
Honour couldn't stop the chuckle at her brother's frustrations. Finally the beep sounded. "Logan, it's Honour. I'm cancelling on behalf of Rory. She's got a nasty flu and I sent her home. Don't worry, she should be fine in a couple of days. I'm going to go check on her after work. Bye." Honour looked down at the impeccable organization of Rory's desk and snatched up the folders. If Rory wasn't going to be able to do this work, she'd have to step up. With a sigh, she headed back into her office to hole herself up for a day of paperwork.
Rory was surprised to hear a knock at her door later no more than half an hour after Honour's driver had dropped her off. With a groan, she dragged herself off of the couch where she'd collapsed when she got in and made her way to the door.
"Good morning, Love. God it's early."
Rory stared wide-eyed at the Australian. "Finn?"
"The one and only. Logan called, said he got a call from his sister that you were sick and since I had nothing important to do today, I figured I'd come and keep you company until Logan could. I come baring gifts of soup and coffee. Apparently it's supposed to be better than alcohol, though I don't know where Huntz is coming from."
Rory blinked. "You're here to take care of me?"
"Of course, Love. Can't leave you sick all by yourself! Who is going to save you when you collapse from exhaustion? Who is going to hunt down the remote to make sure you don't use too much energy?"
"And he sent you?"
"Colin's a workaholic and Steph couldn't get her ass down here fast enough. So Logan woke me up."
"You don't have to do this," Rory protested feebly, leaning on the wall as she felt her legs giving out. "I'm fine on my own, seriously."
Finn looked her over, for the first time since she'd ever met him completely serious. "You can barely stand up," he pointed out.
"I wouldn't be if you hadn't knocked on the door," she argued back, resting more heavily on the wall. Before she could register his next action, Finn had set all of the bags he was carrying inside the door, kicked the offending object closed with his foot and hoisted Rory into his arms. He deposited her gently on the couch. Seconds later she was bundled under blankets, the remote within arms reach.
"Much better."
"Seriously, Finn, I'm fine. Go home, go back to sleep, don't worry about me." She was honestly confused as to why Finn would have woken up just to come and take care of her.
"I'm under strict orders to make sure you relax today," Finn contradicted. "I take my job very seriously."
Rory raised an eyebrow. "Apparently. I think you're just simply hung over and not drunk."
"That's the most insane thing I think I've ever heard, Love. After all, I am still drunk from last night."
Rory chuckled. "I'll call Logan and tell him to lay off, but I'm fine, Finn. You don't need to give up your day to look after me."
"I'm just the morning shift, Love. I believe our young Huntzberger will be dropping by himself once he has finished all of his meetings to make sure you are still resting and focusing on getting better."
She groaned. "I don't need you guys watching over me. I'm a big girl."
"That let herself get sick," Finn replied, patting her foot where he sat. "Now, I should be able to handle the microwave, right?"
Rory nodded, finally resigning herself to Finn's company at least for a while. "But I get to pick what we watch!"
Logan recognized Rory's home number on his cell and picked it up immediately. "Hello."
"It's Finn, mate. She finally fell asleep."
Logan let out a breath. "Good."
"She was drugged but good. Those meds you sent are fantastic."
Logan chuckled. "I should be there in about an hour. You okay by yourself?"
"She's got me hooked on these soaps," Finn said with a sigh. "I might have to actually wake up at some ungodly hour to watch these on a regular basis."
"Poor you. How is she?"
"Alive enough to fill me in on all of the plots we're watching. Baffled me too. Your Ace didn't strike me as the soap opera type."
Logan grinned. "Her guiltiest pleasure is General Hospital," he confided, "But if you ever tell her I was the one that told you that, I might kill you."
Finn laughed. "Well, your girl drank all of the orange juice in the house so Colin's bringing some over in about ten while he's on his lunch break."
Logan sighed. "Thanks for helping me out with this." He could almost see Finn shrugging.
"We're her friends too. I'm surprised no one got a hold of Steph to tell her."
"Still, thanks."
"Sure thing, mate. Hold on, I think that's Colin at the door. Stupid boy probably broke all the speed limits getting here."
Logan laughed. "So he drove like you," he teased. He heard Finn mumbling something about Americans driving too slow before the line went dead.
Rory opened her eyes, groaned and immediately closed them again. Apparently the aspirin she'd taken when Finn was around had worn off and she was sure the New York Philharmonic was playing in her head again. She cleared her throat to get the cobwebs out of it before calling out for Finn.
"He went back to bed, Ace."
"Logan?" She met his chocolate gaze as he stepped into her bedroom. "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you're taking a break," he answered as if it was obvious, sitting down on the edge of her bed and holding out a couple of pills and a glass of orange juice.
"I am going to be so sick of orange juice by the end of this," Rory groaned, accepting the offerings anyway. "What happened to Finn?"
"He went home," Logan repeated watching carefully as she swallowed the pills and gulped down the juice. He took the glass and placed it on the nightstand. "I told him I had everything under control. That office of yours is fantastic by the way."
"You're using it? Why aren't you at your own office?"
"Because someone's got to make sure you don't go back to yours."
Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm not that bad."
"Honour said you looked like hell this morning when she saw you. You went into work already sick, she sent you home."
Rory pouted. She hated it when he was right. "Is that why you sent Finn this morning?"
"I'd have come myself but Mitchum was coming to inspect the paper," Logan answered, brushing her bangs off of her forehead. "I left as soon as he did. I have my phone if they really need me and your fantastic computer downstairs has allowed me access to my e-mail and our servers."
"Why do you get to work and I can't?"
"Because I'm perfectly healthy and you can barely move," Logan responded.
"I can move just fine," Rory protested, sitting up and immediately pausing. "As soon as the room stops spinning."
Logan chuckled. "I think Finn left some of that soup downstairs and he said you were able to keep it down okay. When was the last time you ate?"
Rory sighed slowly lowering herself back into her pillows. "When Finn got here," she admitted.
"You think you can keep some more down?"
"I can try."
"That's my girl." They locked eyes at the possessive.
Rory was the one to break the gaze and the silence, looking at her alarm clock. "Think I can go meet Sophie at the bus stop?"
Logan followed her gaze. "She gets back at four? We'll see. I was supposed to call her today anyway."
Rory grinned, extremely happy that Sophie and Logan had continued to talk. It had gotten to the point where Logan and Sophie had a planned conversation once a week. "She'll be happier to see you in person."
He took her hand. "So it's okay that I'm here?"
"I'm glad you're here," she admitted, loving the feeling of his thumb brushing over the back of her knuckles. "I'm just feeling a little guilty that you guys are handing everything over to other people to come take care of me. I could have called my mom."
"And she runs her own inn," Logan pointed out. "At least Finn, Colin and I have other people that can take over our jobs for us for a few hours."
"Mom's got Michele and Sookie," Rory protested.
"She's also got your dad and Kitty," Logan countered. "Adds a little bit of spice in my life, Ace, no worries."
Rory sighed, curling up. "Why on earth do you keep doing this stuff?"
"It's my turn," he said simply.
Rory knew she was stressed and irritated, but it didn't stop her from lashing out. "So this is all about obligation."
Logan was taken aback by her bitter tone. "Ace…" He reached out and felt a pang of hurt when she pulled away from the hand he rested on her shoulder. "This isn't an obligation," he swore.
"Sure."
"Rory, stop."
Her first name made her meet his eyes.
He remembered her hand still in his, her skin soft under his continually stroking thumb. "This isn't any sort of thank you for the movie night, just like I know your movie night wasn't a thank you for babysitting Sophie. I'm here because I want to be, because I want to make sure you get better and rest." His eyes begged her to believe him. He hated it when she said things like this, hated it when she compared herself to the other women he used to have in his life.
His sincerity showed in his eyes and Rory almost groaned. She hated that she really couldn't stay mad at him. She looked away, curling into a ball and closing her eyes. "Thank you," she said softly.
He smiled, even though he knew she couldn't see it. "No thanks, Ace. Soup?" Her smile he could see.
"Please."
"Coming right up."