You're all amazing!! Thank you!! I'm sorry to everyone who thinks I was evil for the cliffhanger. I hope this makes up for it.(More drama, in the next few chapters, don't say you weren't warned hehe)
Blue Eyes, What a Surprise
Finn was wandering around his new town. Josh had bought a house in this place, it was a nice enough house, large, open, light, and Josh got points for making the garage a workshop. But this wasn't home. Australia was home. Finn sighed. This was... there wasn't even a bar here. Still, Josh was happy, had a girlfriend and Finn rarely stayed at home anyway. So he could deal with it for a couple of weeks.
He'd been in Australia for a month with his grandparents and his mates back home. It had been nice, freeing. He'd surfed, had barbecues, gone rock climbing, fishing, hiking. He'd had a few drinks but nothing to excess.
He hadn't gotten Finn drunk since the yacht actually. He'd been blind drunk, they all had but he was the one driving. He was the one who crashed straight into a cropping of rocks. That was on him. He could have caused someone's death. He could have killed someone, by being drunk. That was something he couldn't cope with.
So here he was, sober, slightly annoyed but here, wandering round the town that was going to be putting on a summer festival, looking for something to do while Josh went and got groceries for the dinner they were hosting that night.
Finn was going to meet Josh's girlfriend that he couldn't stop talking about. He grinned. He was glad his uncle was happy, and very obviously getting laid. It had been way too long.
In fact, it had been a bit on the long side for Finn too. There had been girls this summer, of course, but they hadn't kept up with the banter. Hadn't got his references, hadn't been into music. Didn't have sparkling blue expressive eyes. Finn sighed. He had to get over that and get on someone else. He met a girl he liked. So what. He wasn't a boyfriend, he was a casual lay, and she was a girlfriend. And a virgin to boot. So no. He had to get over it, get past blue eyes that looked up at him in his dreams. That he probably wouldn't even see again.
Finn walked past a little diner out on to the town square that was a hive of activity. A small crowd gathered round something and Finn wondered if one of the locals had done something unforgivable, like break a bottle for the ring toss game.
Finn went to look at whatever passed as entertainment here only to find the last thing he expected. Some punk was trying to fight his uncle. Finn thought 'trying' but the bloke had got one shot in by the looks of Josh's swollen cheek.
"Hey!" Finn yelled his blood boiling. He marched through the crowd of people stood not doing anything and pulled the guy away from his uncle.
"You alright?" Finn asked Josh who was breathing heavily, a wild look in his eyes that were burning with fury. Finn shuddered a little at the look.
"Yeah." Josh breathed his eyes on the guy, who Finn kind of recognised.
The guy started coming forward again, breathing hard, a black eye forming.
"No! Just leave!" A girl threw herself in the path of the guy, Finn noticed she was holding on to her wrist, a small red, turning blue bruise just above it.
"Get out of my way whore." The guy said his eyes not leaving Josh, obviously about to push the girl out of the way, Josh tensed next to him.
"That's enough! You've done enough, you no good punk!" A small blonde-haired woman broke away from the crowd and joined the girl, their backs to Finn and Josh.
The guy looked over the two women then Josh and Finn.
"This isn't over." The guy bit out at the brunette in front of him but turned on his tail and walked off, Finn noticed he had a slight limp, probably from Josh.
"Yes it is!" The blonde woman shouted at the guys retreating back. "You okay sugar?" The woman asked the girl.
The girl whispered something Finn couldn't hear. He saw her petite frame was shaking a little though.
"What was that about?" Finn asked Josh, other than a swelling cheek, thankfully his uncle looked fine.
"I'll tell you about it in a bit, we've got to get her checked out and call her mum." Josh nodded to the brunette in front of them.
Josh and Finn walked over to the girl and woman who were stood talking.
"Josh! That was insane, Dean has lost his god damn mind! Honestly! Thank god you were here sugar! Lorelai sure is going to be happy!" The blonde woman shouted but the brunette kept her back to them, still shaking a little.
Finn frowned. What the hell had happened here?
"Thanks Babette. I'll take Little Lorelai here and call her mum." Josh said with a small smile.
"You do that! Take her to Luke's! He's got a first aid kit and get him to call doctor Memetic! He'll come out, that no good putz! I've gotta go tell Morey! Bye doll, bye!" Babette said rushing off. She was certainly... spirited, Finn thought, still confused as to what had actually happened here.
"Rory?" Josh said softly, and Finn remembered his uncle taking care of him when he had been sick, even though he'd technically been an adult, his soft voice helping to sooth the illness and misery. "Come on, let's get your wrist looked at."
The girl turned and looked at them.
Finn stopped, his smile freezing, it was her. Blue eyes who had been invading his dreams. His damsel, Rory.
"Thank you." Rory whispered to Josh before her eyes turned to Finn, a blush lighting up her cheeks prettily. Finn felt his heart beat that little bit harder. It was really her. This was... insane.
"Rory?" He asked.
"My knight in tarnished armour strikes again." Rory smiled a little, still holding her wrist. "I promise I don't always need rescuing."
"Wait, you two know each other?" Josh frowned first at Finn then at Rory.
"Oh, we go way back, right love?" Finn smirked his hand on her lower back as he gently steered, her towards the diner his uncle had mentioned. He ignored the fact that his hand heated where he touched her petite frame, and the fact that his heart skipped a beat as she looked up at him and smiled properly.
"Yes, I believe I owe you food." Rory replied.
"How do you know each other?" Josh frowned looking between the two.
"Finn rescued me from the worst date ever the last day of Yale." Rory said shyly.
"You're Rory's rescuer?" Josh asked his eyes wide the note of surprise in his voice a tad bit insulting.
"Yup. How do you know the lovely Rory?" Finn asked.
"I've just met her. Like now. But this is my girlfriend's daughter." Josh said pointedly.
Finn fought back a groan. This was not happening. Of all the girls in all the world.
"Thank you, again, I'm so sorry you got hurt." Rory said turning her big blue eyes onto his uncle.
"Yeah, nah, no worries. I threw the first punch." Josh shrugged casually, opening the door of the diner for Rory.
"Still, thanks." Rory said facing the floor, her hair covering her face.
"What do you want?" An angry looking guy asked Josh from behind the counter of a smallish diner. Finn frowned, so much for small town hospitality, hey?
"Babette said you had a first aid kit and could call a doctor, Luke? I'm also hoping you have some ice. For Rory." Josh said, emphasising the name Rory.
The change in the diner man, Luke, was instant.
"Rory? What happened? Are you okay, here sit down? I'll get the first aid kit." Luke ushered them to a table.
Quickly the previously angry man walked away and came almost running back with a medical kit.
"What happened?" Luke asked passing the first aid kit to Josh and Finn leant forward on the edge of his chair, also wanting the answer to this question.
"Dean." Rory started saying, Finn knew where he recognised the guy from now, Yale, when he'd walked Rory back. Him and that other guy had wrecked the evening.
"Dean did this?!" Luke shouted pointing at Rory's wrist that was getting a hell of a bruise. Suddenly Finn wished instead of breaking up the fight he'd jumped in. "Where is he? I'll kill him!"
"He's gone." Rory said. "It's fine."
"It's not fine!" Luke yelled. "Help yourselves to coffee."
Finn watched as the guy who owned the diner marched from his place of business leaving the customers to themselves. This was a very strange place, but looking at Rory's blue eyes and watching her nibbling on her full bottom lip, he wasn't so annoyed at Josh for moving them here anymore.
"Right then darling, let's have a look at this wrist first and then I'll call your mum and sort out some coffee." Josh said with a smile on his face. "Do you know where Luke keeps the ice?"
"There's an ice machine behind the counter, or in the walk-in in the store room." Rory said. "I'm fine, I'll go get you some for your cheek."
"Nah, you sit down, you've had a shock. I've got this, no worries, alright?" Josh said standing up.
"I'm really sorry I got your... uncle? Hurt." Rory said to him avoiding his eyes.
"Doesn't sound like it was your fault love. Don't worry. Who knew that the cause of the town's fights would be none other than my very own damsel?" Finn said with a grin lazing back in the chair.
"Oh no, I've started one, actually two now, I guess. Kirk and Miss Patty fight at least once a month though, he never learns, and she always beats him up." Rory giggled and the sound ran straight through him jumpstarting his heart and straight to his groin.
"Here we are. Ice." Josh came back, a rag full of ice in his hand that he pressed to Rory's wrist. "And your mum is on her way."
Rory groaned. "She's going to be so angry and then she's going to make terrible jokes."
"Yes she is." Josh chuckled. "Do you want some coffee? If you're anything like your mum I'm surprised you're not having withdrawals yet."
"Yes please." Rory said eagerly, shifting the ice on her wrist.
"Finn?" Josh asked.
"Yeah, sure." Finn nodded, his eyes snapping back to Rory.
As Josh went to help himself to coffee Finn pulled the ice off of Rory's hand gently. As softly as he could he inspected the wrist, there was no swelling, just bruising and although he was sure it probably hurt, he couldn't see any damage.
"It's just a bruise." Finn said passing the ice back.
"Are you pre-med?" Rory asked her eyes on his, hypnotising. And she had no idea just how gorgeous she was, he could see that.
"Nah, me and my mates get into enough scrapes. I'm a business major." Finn said.
"Oh. So... this is crazy right? It's not just me?" Rory asked.
"It's not just you Patsy Cline." Finn chuckled and watched the smile spread across her face, realising his reference. This was what had been missing recently, from one meeting he had wanted this connection, intellect with any of the girls he had met, but until he saw her again it had been missing. "So, you live here?"
"Yeah, of all the Gin joints hey?" Rory said.
"Here we are." Josh came back with two mugs of coffee putting them down onto the table and going back to get a third for himself.
Finn took a sip of his coffee, he didn't drink hot drinks often, but when he did it was coffee for the caffeine, a must after an all-night party followed by a class. Which happened far too often.
"God this is good coffee." Finn said impressed.
"Luke's coffee, is the best coffee in Connecticut." Rory nodded with a wide smile, taking her cup with her good hand and sipping the drink.
Finn watched unable to look away as she moaned after taking a sip, her tongue darting out to catch any stray drop that may have lingered on her lips. Finn had never before thought of drinking coffee as an erotic endeavour, until that moment.
"So, your mum tells me you eat anything but vegetables for tonight, is that right?" Josh said nudging Finn under the table with his foot. He'd been busted staring.
"Pretty much." Rory agreed.
"Rory!" The door to the diner burst open and a tall woman with dark hair swept in like a storm.
Finn could see the family resemblance; Rory was a mini clone of her mum. Very, very good genes those women had.
"What happened? Kirk said you'd kicked Dean and started a fight but Josh had pulled you to safety and then some other guy had defended your honour, which if it's true I'm very proud of by the way. Then Taylor said that Dean had lost his mind and started shouting at you and then started a fight. Miss Patty said something about a romantic moment after being flung on the floor by Dean who was fighting Josh. You get the idea. What happened!?" Lorelai asked urgently sitting next to her daughter. Finn had never heard anyone talk that fast without taking a breath and he'd been round guys who were pretty off their heads on something or other illegal, this woman though was something else.
Finn sat and listened to the whole story come from Rory and then Josh. His anger increasing with every word.
Finn didn't always treat women well, he knew that, but he also knew he was upfront with them about what he wanted before they hooked up. He'd never do that to a girl. Especially not one like Rory. Finn wished that he'd taken a swing at the dick too. He was surprised but pleasantly so when he learnt that actually, the petite thing next to him was the reason that Dean had been limping.
"And wait, so Finley, is your Finn. The rescuer?" Rory's mum asked, her eyes lighting up as she looked over at Finn.
"Yes, well, he's not my Finn." Rory mumbled with a bright red blush, Finn bit back a laugh and an inappropriate comment. Just.
"Tomato, tomato." Lorelai said with a wave of her hand getting up and going behind the counter to pour herself a coffee.
"What are you doing behind the counter! Get out of there! Rory, how are you feeling?" Luke barked coming in through the diner door startling Finn.
"I was serving myself seeing as the server, that would be you, wasn't here." Lorelai said lifting the case to the donuts and helping herself to one of them too.
"Don't use your hands! Use the tongs, and get a plate!" Luke said.
Lorelai stuck her tongue out and Finn chuckled.
"Thank you, both of you. Really. Deans completely lost his mind and I'm just grateful you were there Josh, and you too Finley." Lorelai said seriously sitting back down at the table and passing out donuts that she had piled onto a plate.
"It's just Finn. I'm happy to have put the tarnished armour back on." Finn said winking at Rory who again blushed. He vaguely wondered if she blushed anywhere else too or if it was just her face.
"I'm cooking dinner in an hour; you're going to ruin your appetite." Josh said pointing at the donuts that the girls were helping themselves to.
"Oh please, we'd put Randy to shame." Lorelai scoffed. "One donut will not ruin our appetite."
"It's true, last year we had four thanksgiving dinners." Rory agreed choosing a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles.
/\\\/\\\
"So how come you can cook and fix things? And you don't have a maid but this place is tidy?" Lorelai asked over a delicious and very fancy meal.
"Well Finley helped with the cooking." Josh shrugged with a smile.
"You can cook?" Rory asked looking across the table at him.
"I take it from your tone of voice you can't love?" Finn chuckled.
"I can make a mean mac n cheese. And I'm a wonder with pop tarts. Other than that, not so much." Rory admitted taking a drink of her soda.
"Hey, don't sell yourself short you do toast and cereal too." Her mom grinned at her.
"Oh, sorry I forgot, see I'm practically a gourmet chef here." Rory said.
"So...? You can do stuff, how?" Her mom asked Josh again.
Rory smiled at the pair, her mom was just so happy with the man and he seemed to be head over heels for her mom too. It was so sweet.
"Mum made me learn how to cook, made me work with Rosie in the kitchen for a month after that thing with the Turbasons front door." Josh said with a chuckle.
"Oh yeah. I was such a good girl, tucked up in my bed that night." Her mom said with a wicked smile.
"You brought the paint." Josh said.
"Oh yeah, it was a very nice shade of pink. I don't understand why they didn't like it. Some people have no taste." Her mom said.
"Josh made me learn after I got caught trying to sneak out after he'd grounded me." Finn said with his own smile.
"You grounded him for sneaking out? You mister thirteen ways out they don't know about?" Her mom gasped.
"Haven't you ever grounded Rory for doing something you did?" Josh asked sounding unrepentant.
"The only time Rory was grounded she grounded herself. I've never had to, she never snuck out or went out drinking, pulled pranks on neighbours." Lorelai said proudly and Rory was once again reminded of just how sheltered she was.
"Really?" Finn asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Really. I went to a party once that was busted up by the police after a fight broke out that I kind of caused and my mom just sang to me." Rory shrugged.
"You said you didn't start fights." Finn pointed out.
"I said I'd only started one, now two fights. That was the other one." Rory smirked.
"Did you get busted for that thing from I never, girl guide?" Finn asked.
"I told my mom." Rory said.
"What did we tell mommy?" Lorelai asked.
"That I stole some corn-starch from Doose's." Rory explained.
"Yes, but then you went back and put the money in the charity box and went to build houses for the homeless." Her mom said.
"You really are a girl guide." Finn said and Rory blushed, embarrassed.
"Maybe you have been too sheltered. Okay, this year is your rebel year, okay?" Her mom said leaning across the table.
"Oh yeah, I'll get right on that." Rory rolled her eyes.
"I mean it, get drunk, get a tattoo, dye your hair purple, go to Las Vegas and marry a hooker." Her mom said.
"Funny, that's what I had planned to do for Spring Break." Finn added and Rory laughed.
/\\\/\\\
Rory laid on her bed waiting for her mom who would undoubtedly be in any minute.
Sure enough, minutes later her door was flung open and her mom was bouncing on her bed next to her.
"So... Finn." Her mom said shortly looking up at her with expectant eyes.
"Finn?" Rory asked.
"Yes, Finn. He is gorgeous, we both have very good taste." Her mom giggled. "So, is something going on there?"
"No. Nothing's going on. I think we could be friends." Rory said, she would really like to be friends with the outgoing Australian. He made her smile, laugh, he kept up. He was also very handsome and made her heart beat faster, her breath catch and her palms clammy, but she was swearing off guys for a while. Reminding herself that Finn's friends had more than implied he jumped from girl to girl.
"Huh, so the blushing and giggling, the doe eyes, that was all you just wanting to be friends?" Her mom asked, sounding incredulous.
"Yes." Rory insisted.
"Denial is not just a river in Egypt." Her mom smirked.
"Go away." Rory said.
"Alright, send the poor mommy away, hours of labour, years of changing diapers, feeding you, clothing you and this is all that thanks I get. Thrown out of your room like yesterday's newspaper." Her mom sighed dramatically while actually leaving the room.
Rory laid back on her bed and smiled. It had been a nice night. Josh was a good fit for her mom, and he had helped her with Dean without needing too. And Finn... Rory sighed. Finn was... Finn would be a great friend. She was hoping she'd be able to hang out with him some more before they went back to school.
Just as friends. Of course.
/\\\/\\\
"So what are you doing today?" Josh asked with raised eyebrows.
Finn sighed, he understood why Josh was up his arse, after the whole year off Yale, yacht thing, but he didn't like it. He felt like a teenager again the way he was being monitored.
"While you are searching for office space Colin and Logan will come round, we'll go into the town and look around the rinky dink festival. Then we'll come back here and wait for you, then we'll go back to the thing at night time, so you can see your girlfriend." Finn said in a monotone voice.
"And you're not going to run off to New York, or Nevada, or anywhere else that is not Stars Hollow?" Josh asked trying to hide a smile.
"No. Not today anyway." Finn grinned, what an idea.
"Okay, I'll hopefully be back by four, we'll get dinner out." Josh told him.
"Yes, yes. Go away, I'll be fine. I'll be a model boy scout." Finn smirked raising his hand.
"That makes me feel worse if anything. Alright I'll see you later then." Josh said leaving the living room where Finn was sprawled out on the comfy couch.
Finn laid out flicking through channels for a few minutes before he put the controls down, bored. He could go back into his workshop and finish what he started yesterday, but the guys would be round soon and he didn't fancy another conversation with them about his hobby. He supposed he could read or listen to some music while he waited but he didn't feel like it.
He pulled himself off the couch and headed for his room. His room had all his things from Australia in it, a larger bed, an en-suite, a huge TV but it still didn't feel like home.
Finn turned on some music then laid on his bed, closing his eyes. He hoped that this festival had something interesting to do. Or Colin, Logan and he would have to make their own fun, which would undoubtedly piss Josh off. Though after listening to Lorelai's stories the other night, he thought that perhaps Josh wasn't as pissed off as he came across when Finn did play pranks, snuck off and got into trouble.
Finn got up with a smile when he heard the doorbell. He answered the door to find Colin, Logan and surprisingly Tristan at the door.
"Nice place man." Logan nodded coming in.
"Hello to you too darling." Finn grinned stepping back and letting them in.
"Tristan wanted to come." Colin said.
"The more the merrier." Finn replied with a smile for his friends' cousin, who he was surprised was still talking with him, considering the yacht and everything.
"I wanted to see if this place is still the same." Tristan said with a smirk, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
"Pretty sure this place hasn't changed since it was founded mate." Finn said grabbing some shoes and pulling them on as his mates wandered round the ground floor. "You been here before then?"
"Oh yeah. For a school project when I was at Chilton. Very interesting characters in this place." Tristan smirked again. Finn couldn't argue. He'd met Kirk.
"Ready gentlemen?" Finn asked opening the front door again.
"Is this going to be as boring as I think?" Colin grouched walking out the door first.
"Probably." Finn shrugged. "You never know, there might be some fine young ladies for us though." He ignored the part of his brain that brought up a picture of Rory at that.
"I hope so." Colin said.
"Come on Colin, cheer up, we'll make it fun." Logan said his eyebrows raised and his eyes twinkling. Trouble personified.
/\\\/\\\
Rory walked to the annual summer festival with Lane. She was spending the day with her then would go with her mom for a bit before becoming a roadie for Lane and the rest of Hep Alien that night. A busy, but fun day, she hoped.
They hit the food stands first of course grabbing a corn dog each and strolling round, looking at the different stalls. They were mostly the same ever year, but there would always be one new one. Every year Lane and Rory would find the new stall first and try it out, even the year it was sauerkraut. That had been a bad, bad idea.
"Oh, look! It's a fortune teller." Lane said excitedly.
"I want my fortune!" Rory giggled.
"I predict you're going to meet a tall, dark, handsome man, fall in love and live happily ever after. And become a prize-winning journalist." Lane said in a fake mystic voice.
"I predict you're going to meet a handsome man with amazing taste in music, get signed by a label and tour the world." Rory told her best friend.
"That's the dream." Lane sighed.
"And forget all about your best friend back home, who will one day be sadly saying she use to be best friends with the drummer from Hep Alien, and no one will believe her." Rory joked.
"No, you'll come and give rave reviews for all of our shows. Backstage passes. Free food." Lane giggled.
"You had me at free food." Rory laughed back.
Rory took her seat at the 'psychic' first. The woman was older, maybe in her fifties extravagantly draped in shawls and scarfs.
"I am Madam Carter. Shall I read your tarot cards my dear, or would you prefer I read your palm?" The woman asked without any kind of accent, which Rory found slightly disappointing.
"The palm please." Rory said offering her hand, she'd seen Dr Terrors House of Horrors thank you very much.
"I see a romance in your future, a tall, dark haired man, that will end quickly, after which you will begin a relationship with the love of your life. Also, a tall, dark haired, handsome man, you do have a type, don't you? You will have a long life, successful career. You aren't without troubles though, I see strife with a man, not a romantic partner, or not anymore. Hmm... Yes, I see adventure and fun in your future." Madam Carter said, staring intently at her hand.
"Thank you." Rory said as the psychic let go of her hand.
"Good bye my dear. Next please."
Rory watched as Lane sat next and opted to have her tarot cards read. She couldn't hear what the woman was telling her friend though. Lane looked as if she was trying not to laugh.
"So tell me, how close was I?" Rory asked.
"I'm going to be successful and rich. I'm going to meet a man, who will sweep me off my feet, will have the same interests as me and be very rich." Lane grinned.
"Huh. She never said anything about money in my future, perhaps I'll be poor." Rory grinned.
"It's okay, I'll set you up in a room above the garage of my vast mansion." Lane laughed.
"Me and the love of my life of course?" Rory said.
"Of course." Lane replied. "So, what about your love life, how's it going?"
"I'm going to have a relationship that won't last." Rory said pretending to be sad.
"Oh, no."
"But then I start one with the love of my life, so it's all good. I'll be happy, in love and poor." Rory smiled.
"Okay, what next?" Lane asked looking round the town square. "Out here or the High School?"
"Here then the school, dunk tank should be last so we can change if we need to." Rory said decisively. Last year they'd done the dunk tank first but Jackson, who they'd successfully dunked, had then splashed them and they'd been soaked.
"Alright then. Bottle toss or hook a duck?" Lane asked.
"Bottle toss, we can fight it out over who's worse." Rory laughed.
"Well, hellooo Mary!" A voice that Rory thought had been relegated to her memories and nightmares said from behind them, surprising her. Sure, enough when Rory turned there was Tristan. He hadn't changed much; it was weird seeing him in jeans and a t-shirt though. The smirk on his, admittedly handsome face, remained exactly the same.