Finn looked out the window of his Hartford office as he reflected on the last week. Life had settled back down for him and Rory after Logan's interference the previous week, and he and Rory and Emma had been spending more time together. They usually cooked dinner together at Rory's house, and Finn often picked Emma up from school if Rory had things to do after the last class of the day. He looked to the clock and shut down his computer and locked his office after he saw the time.

"Caroline, I'm out for the day. I'll have my cell phone with me if you need anything," Finn told his secretary as he walked out of his office.

"Have a great evening, Mr. Morgan. Picking up Miss Emma today?" she asked with a smile. She had been Finn's secretary for many years, having made the move from New York back to Hartford when he did, and it warmed her heart to see the recent changes in his life.

"I am, Caroline. And please, if I've told you once I've told you a million times, please call me Finn," he playfully admonished her as he continued out of the office.

He made the short drive to Chilton and walked to Emma's classroom to pick her up. He smiled as he watched her playing with her friends for a moment before getting her attention. She was playing princess with two of her classmates, dancing and twirling in a dress-up princess dress over her uniform. He chuckled as he watched her curtsey, and then smiled as her face lit up when he saw him.

"Finny!" she exclaimed happily! "Are you picking me up today?"

"I am, little love. Why don't you take your dress-up dress off and I'll get your backpack and papers?"

She quickly began taking off the dress-up clothes that she had on while Finn walked over to her cubby, retrieving her backpack. Her teacher, Mrs. Worthington, met him at Emma's cubby with a small stack of papers in her hand.

"Mr. Morgan, nice to see you. Here are Emma's papers from the school," she told him as she handed him the papers.

"Thank you, Mrs. Worthington. Did she have a good day?"

"She had a great day," she replied as she walked across the room to intercept a budding block war. Finn slung Emma's backpack on his shoulder and took her hand as the two walked down the hall and out to Finn's car. He buckled her in and then got in the front seat, leafing quickly through the papers that her teacher had handed him to ensure that she didn't need anything for the next day. He stopped as he saw a flyer for an event at the school the following Saturday and considered the event as he read the details. He finally sat the papers in his passenger seat and drove to a nearby ice cream parlor where he and Emma enjoyed ice cream and then walked a couple of doors down to the grocery store.

"What sounds good for dinner, little love?" he asked Emma.

"Can we have cheeseburgers, please?" Emma asked, turning her Bambi eyes to Finn.

"Anything you want, Em," he chuckled. They got all of the necessary items for burgers, salad and a fruit pizza and drove back to Rory's house. They had exchanged keys the previous week to make things easier if Finn wanted to bring Emma back to Rory's house after school. He got Emma situated with a book and some juice while he made the patties for the burgers and the salad, stashing both in the fridge so that they would be ready when it was time to cook dinner. He then baked the sugar cookie dough for the fruit pizza and mixed up the cream cheese and powdered sugar and cut up the fruit while it baked. Once he took it out to cool he turned his attention to Emma, sitting down with her at the table.

"How was school today, Em?" he asked her.

"It was good, Finny. I had lots of fun!" she exclaimed happily.

"What was your favorite part of your day?" he asked as Rory walked in the door.

"My favorite part of the day was ice cream with you!" she exclaimed as she got up and ran to Rory.

"Hey, guys!" Rory greeted them as she picked Emma up and hugged her. "Let me go change and I'll be right back."

Rory returned to the dining room where Finn and Emma were still chatting away a few minutes later, now in jeans and a comfortable t-shirt. She grabbed a bottle of water and sat down at the table with them, enjoying watching the two interact. Finally Finn turned his attention to Rory, leaning over and kissing her temple.

"Are you gorgeous ladies ready to eat? All we need to do is grill the burgers and we'll be ready for dinner."

"I'm starved," Rory replied as she got up and moved to the kitchen. She helped Finn carry the burgers out while he started the grill and Emma played in the backyard happily, lost in her own world of adventure and pretend. Once Finn was certain that Emma wasn't paying attention to them anymore he turned to Rory and began the conversation he'd been considering since he got into his car at Chilton.

"Hey Ror, Mrs. Worthington gave me Em's papers from the school today and I saw the flyer about the father-daughter dance next weekend. If it's okay with you, I would love to ask Emma if I could take her," he asked, sounding nervous.

"You would want to do that for her?" Rory asked quietly.

"Of course I would, kitten. I've told you before, there's nothing I wouldn't do for that girl. Obviously she doesn't have a father figure, but the flyer said to bring your favorite guy, and I would be honored to go with her. What do you say?"

Rory found herself standing in front of this amazing man, quite possibly the last man she ever would have expected to be making the choice to be a strong male influence in her daughter's life, and wiped the tears that had begun to form in her eyes.

"I say you have a four-year old to ask out on a date," Rory chuckled as she hugged him tight.

"Really, love?"

"Really!" she chuckled.

"Can I ask her now?" he asked excitedly. Rory laughed at the sight of this 39-year old man practically bouncing in excitement over the prospect of taking her daughter to a father-daughter dance. It was just too cute and sweet for words.

"Go!" she quickly shooed him as she placed the burgers on the grill.

Finn quickly bounded across the yard to where Emma was playing, thankfully within hearing distance from Rory, and knelt down in front of her.

"Hey, Em, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked her.

"Uh-huh."

"There's a fun dance at your school next weekend for little girls and their favorite guys," he began, careful not to directly address the event being for fathers and daughters, "and I was hoping that you would let me take you out to a fancy dinner, just you and me, and to the dance."

"What do you do at a dance, Finny?" Emma asked, scrunching up her little button nose as she considered Finn's statement.

"Well, you dance like a princess and have punch and cookies and have all kinds of fun," Finn whispered conspiratorially.

"Could I dress like a princess, too? Would you be my prince?" she asked eagerly. Finn chuckled at her excitement.

"You sure can, Em. As long as it's okay with your mom, we can go shopping for a princess dress for you tomorrow, and I would be honored to be your prince." Rory's heart melted even more as she watched them.

"Yes, Finny, yes!" Emma shrieked as she launched herself into his arms, almost knocking him down since he was already crouching. Finn laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

"Mommy, can we go dress shopping with Finny tomorrow? Please?" Emma begged.

"Please, Mommy? Finny wants to do this for his favorite little girl in the world," he added pleasingly.

Rory just laughed at the pair and nodded her assent as she flipped the burgers. She left the two of them playing in the backyard while she grabbed the salad and dessert pizza in addition to plates and silverware, bringing everything to the table on the back patio. It was a gorgeous fall evening, and it only seemed right to enjoy dinner outside. She walked back in the house and grabbed Emma's juice, a bottle of wine and two wine glasses and sat them on the table before removing the burgers from the grill. After sending Emma in to wash her hands, the three of them sat down and enjoyed dinner, laughter and conversation. Over the past few weeks, more of her evenings had ended up like this than had ended up with just herself and Emma having dinner, and she couldn't help but think how nice this was.