Finn sat alone at the dinner table placed in the garden of the Dar Rhizlane, looking out to the illuminated Majoral blue pool, surrounded by candlelight, while sipping a glass of white wine. He'd spent the past week exploring the desert and the mountains with his private tour guide, injecting his trip with the necessary amount of adrenalin he'd searched for. He'd gladly returned from that week dusty and sunburnt to more civil surroundings, with air conditioning in his hotelroom and wifi.

"Hey love," he greeted on Facetime as he'd finished his Tajine.

"Finn, hi," Paris said, "hold on a sec," she said, asking the nanny to watch the kids for a moment. She'd just returned from work.

"Well you look burnt," she stated a moment later, "but it's good to see you were not kidnapped by the Berbers in the mountains," she added, feeling relieved. Paris always did do her homework and some extra.

"The mountains were beautiful," he replied.

"How's the food?" she inquired.

"Amazing, a lot of meat, but I love it," Finn said. "Hold on a sec, I'll show you where I am at," he switched his camera around and showed his magical surroundings.

"You are just trying to make me feel bad, aren't you?" Paris asked, with a smirk. There was little other that she wanted at that moment than to be there with him, a welcome change from what was going on in the next room with the kids fighting over who was the tallest.

"A little," he smirked, "I do miss you," he added.

"I do too," she replied.

"I was actually thinking I might come back a little earlier," Finn stated.

"The place not meeting your expectations?" she asked curiously.

"It has been great, but it's lonely," he said. He'd gotten plenty of attention at the local clubs the other night, mostly from other travellers, but it had lost its appeal to him.

"Well, I'll be happy to have you back home," she said with a smile.

"I'll better let you get back to the kids, I can hear them getting rowdy over there," he suggested.

"Love you!" she said as goodbye.

"Bye, love," he replied, turning his phone off.

He'd indeed already booked a flight back home for the day after the next, hoping to surprise Paris. In the meanwhile he intended to go exploring the Medina and to do some shopping. A week and a half had been all he needed.


Leah was really putting Rory to the test, her 21 month old having learned the art of tantrums followed by kicking and screaming if she didn't want to do something. Logan had only come home for the weekend that week, and she was somewhat unsure whether that was because he really had a lot of work to do or was he indeed still mad at her. And with Finn still travelling, she was experiencing first hand what it might have been like to be a working single mother. She had Lauren of course, but not full time. Besides she was beginning to feel that she needed to get back to her own job soon, still not enjoying living on her savings or Logan's good graces.

"Come on, Leah, we've got to get going, we have to put on shoes. It's cold outside." Rory said, pleadingly.

"No shoes!" she screamed.

"Mommy is going to be late, please," she begged. They were running late for Leah's checkup where Lauren was meeting them so Rory could go straight to her class.

Rory picked up her daughter in her socks, taking her shoes in the other hand, stepping out the door hoping she'd see to reason once they got to the doctor's office. She wondered whether it was just the age or was Leah actually just expressing how she missed Finn the best way she knew. Either way she was exhausted. And this was with the help of a very good nanny.

She was still doing sessions with Cara, feeling more in control than she had months before, and that gave her some hope that things would indeed get better. Lorelai's visit had helped significantly as well. She had her class, she was writing the theoretical part of her research and proofreading for Gwen, while Gwen herself was in London doing her interviews. For the moment she was actually glad she didn't have to go herself.


Paris hadn't heard from Finn for three days now, and frankly she was getting a little worried. He had said he'd try to return sooner, but there was no word from him about when he was arriving or not so much as indication that he was okay. Even when he'd been in the mountains, he'd texted a few times just to let her know he was alright.

"Rory?" Paris called.

"Yes, Paris," she replied.

"You haven't heard from Finn, have you? He told me on Monday he was trying to come home early, but it's been three days," Paris said.

"I'm sure he's fine, just without reception or maybe he's flying or something," Rory tried to calm her.

"I don't know, unless he lost his phone or something, I find it unlikely. He would've texted me at least," Paris worried.

Paris opened her browser as she disconnected, looking for the Embassy number. If there was anything she knew how, it was getting information out of people.


"How's your week been?" Logan asked, arriving from work with sushi and Japanese noodles.

"Rough, Leah's really been uncooperative. I don't know if she is getting sick, it's just the age or if she's missing Finn or something. It had certainly been the longest Leah had been without him," she explained.

"Maybe talk to Honor or Paris about it?" he suggested. So far he only had to deal with the better parts of kids, playing with them and taking them to outings rather than the day to day struggles of early parenthood.

"I guess," Rory agreed, adding, "How was work?"

"Sometimes I feel like dad just wants the company to grow too much, it's been a lot of work. And I don't know, there is bound to be a limit right, how big is too big or unmanageable?" he inquired, not really hoping for an answer.

"Wasn't there just some article about the degrowth movement in the Times?" Rory advised.

"That'd be rather extreme, I'm not sure Mitchum would survive that," he laughed.

"I missed you," Rory added a few minutes later, feeling a little insecure. Leah sat in the high chair right next to her, with a bowl of noodles in front of her, interrupting Rory's train of thought as she had trouble getting the slippery noodle into her mouth.

"Ace, I am not holding a grudge, I really had a week full of meetings," he added guessing her mind. He had frankly been worried himself how Rory would take his delayed absence.

"So we're good?" she hesitated.

"We're okay," he replied, giving her a gentle kiss. He was being careful, he wanted at least some indication Rory was in fact getting past her issues and not just saying so because she worried about losing him. He didn't aim to disappear but he also didn't aim to hide the person he was nor pretend there was no wealth involved. Rory would have to marry him as he came and learn to live with everything that came with it.

'Okay' had to do for now. All she really felt like doing was curling up next to him and just forgetting she had ever said anything.


"Hi, it's me again," Paris called again later that evening, just as Rory had finished brushing her teeth.

"Hi, everything okay?" she asked.

"I just got off the phone with the Embassy in Rabat. They checked his hotel and even the flights. He had a flight booked for yesterday but he never got on the plane," she explained, anxiously.

"Thank you for telling me," Rory replied, a nasty sense of worry rising to her stomach. "So what's next?" she asked.

"I am going to look for him, check the hospitals and so on," she explained, having no doubt in her mind. "Could you ask if Logan could loan or rent me the company jet by any chance? It would save me a ton of time," she asked.

"Absolutely, I'll let you know," Rory promised.


AN: Morocco is a peaceful country these days, and the Berbers do not really go kidnapping people. Just needed to name some local tribe there for some color.