We're approaching the end people! 8 more chapters to go! Thanks for joining me, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 36
"June third!" Her mom shouted down the phone as Rory answered it sleepily.
"Huh?" Rory asked.
"June third, save the date, your whole flat, that's the day I'm getting married!" Her mom sang happily.
"That's amazing mom." Rory said sitting up and grabbing her robe.
"I've done it all! It's all done, the dress, it's beautiful, the venue, everything. Your dress, you're going to love it, it's this dark blue with silver accents and it'll look amazing on you, its mid length and kind of flares. And we have a working carousel. The pictures are going to be brilliant and we'll ride it till we puke. And then we'll drink and ride it again and puke again." Her mom said excitedly.
"That sounds great." Rory said creeping out of her room.
"You're all quiet what's wrong? Are you hiding from the mob?" Lorelai asked.
"Finn was asleep." Rory said in her normal voice going to make coffee.
"Still?" Her mom asked.
"We were up all night. Lee has a sleep regression or something and we took it in turns so that Mia and Colin could actually sleep for the first time in weeks." Rory said yawning. They'd given back Lee only a couple of hours ago.
"Got to love that Little Lee, he's great birth control." Lorelai giggled.
"Tell me about it." Rory said with a smile. They couldn't make a Lee if they were looking after him.
"So, Spring Breaks coming up next week, do you know what you're doing yet? Because I'll remind you once again, you can come home but you will be woken up at six every morning by banging and drilling and burly, smelly men swearing." Lorelai said.
"No, Finn is going to Costa Rica, or he's supposed to be, it's all up in the air at the moment as he and Logan can't be in the same room as each other without fighting." Rory sighed.
"You're breaking the first rule of fight club hon." Lorelai chuckled.
"Hah. Mia and Colin are staying here, but they're going to visit Phineas and Janice for a couple of days. Paris is going to meet Doyles family so I don't know. I'll probably stay here and work on some articles, sleep, do laundry. All those very exciting things." Rory said.
"I know college kids are supposed to go wild on Spring Break but you need to calm it down party girl. You'll break a hip." Lorelai said.
"Again, hah. You're on a roll today." Rory grumbled drinking a mug of fancy coffee.
"Can't you go to Costa Rica with Aus? That would be fun right?" Her mom prodded.
"It's there last big thing before they graduate and have to become responsible, productive adults, I don't want to get in the way of that and if I go Finn will think he has to entertain me, or won't get as drunk." Rory explained, technically as a member of the Life and Death Brigade she could go, but she didn't think it was right. Finn needed this blowout with his friends. Without her tagging along like normal.
"He did ask you to go, didn't he?" Lorelai said and Rory could hear her frowning down the phone.
"Yes he did." Rory chuckled.
"Oh good, so everything okay with you two? You're back to normal?" Lorelai asked.
"Yes, back the way things were." Rory confirmed with a smile. Paris' advice had worked, that and the talk after they'd had mind blowing sex again. If an occasion came up again where Rory couldn't tell Finn something because of a promise she'd made, she'd just tell him that and he would try not to be an ass.
"That's good. Okay then. Remember June third." Lorelai said. "I will ring you later hon, maybe get some more sleep."
"I can't I've got class in an hour." Rory sighed. "It's fine, I'll write down June third on everyone's calendars so they don't forget." Rory said.
"Bye hon."
"Bye."
Rory finished her coffee and went to get clothes from her and Finn's room. Class was going to be hard work today. Half of Rory thought she shouldn't even be taking classes till she figured out what she was going to do. She hadn't heard back from any newspaper she'd written to. Not one. And she still had no plan, no direction, nothing. It was depressing and upsetting. She felt like a balloon dancing in the wind, only less poetic.
"Love? Come back to bed." Finn groaned as Rory sorted through her clothes trying to be as quite as she could, which had obviously been to no avail.
"I can't, I have class." Rory said pulling out some pants and a top that vaguely matched enough to make an outfit.
"Skip it. Sleep." Finn moaned into her pillow.
"I can't, the Professor is handing out assignments today." Rory said. She had taken a creative writing class last semester but it was only a six-week course so she'd signed up for a marketing course this semester. Paris had pointed out that writing was a big part of marketing, persuasive writing at that, so would help shape her style ultimately.
"Do I have class?" Finn asked tiredly.
"Not till three, you're good." Rory laughed getting dressed.
"Yay, night love." Finn said and was instantly asleep, she was always amazed at how easily Finn could fall asleep. And jealous of the skill at times too.
Rory grabbed her leather bag that Mia had brought her for her twentieth birthday, stocked it with more paper and was ready to go. She hoped that the Professor was just handing out assignments today and wouldn't be lecturing properly. She was so tired she felt drunk.
/\\\/\\\
Mia looked up as the door went to see which one of her flatmates had returned. She was in the living room with Lee, giving him some tummy time and singing nursery rhymes, waiting for Colin to get back so they could trade off and she could go to class. At least today she wouldn't fall asleep in a lecture after a good night's sleep last night thanks to Uncle Finn and Aunty Rory.
Colin was working on something to thank Rory for everything she'd done for them, the babysitting not included.
Rory herself came staggering through into the living room her arms full of papers and a frown on her face.
"Fun day down the mines?" Mia asked, Rory's eyes had bags under them.
"This assignment!" Rory said ranting, going straight to the kitchen to make herself coffee. "No one would switch with me!"
"Why did you want to switch? What's the assignment?" Mia asked, Rory normally did whatever was asked of her without complaint, it was odd she wanted to switch assignments.
"It's for my marketing class that Paris talked me into taking. We got given a company, we have to delve into their marketing campaigns and basically tear them apart and then come up with a new campaign altogether. They're seeing if they can get representatives of the actual companies to come to our final presentations. Guess who I got?" Rory said slamming down the coffee canister and stirring the drink violently.
"Erm? I don't know?" Mia asked cautiously.
"Morgan Hotels." Rory said angrily.
"Oh." Mia said trying not laugh.
"Surely that's a conflict of interests. And who's the representative going to be? Your dad, Janice, Josh? James? Finn? I couldn't have got McDonald's or Burberry? No." Rory groaned picking up the coffee and making her way to the couch.
"Well at least dad, Janice or Josh would be nice." Mia tried to sooth her friend.
"No, they would openly laugh in my face." Rory pouted and Mia had no recourse to that, although they wouldn't do it meanly they would do it.
"They can be professional." Mia said.
"Yes, they can. However, this is a fictional marketing campaign given by a girl who not long ago was in front of them in a hospital gown, who has cried in front of both of them. I've painted your dads' nails. They're not going to take me seriously and I don't blame them. And now I've got to rip apart their marketing for the hotels which I don't know the first thing about doing." Rory ranted. "This is like a terrible episode of the Apprentice; I just need Trump to turn up and shout your fired and there you have it ladies and gentlemen."
Little Lee was watching Rory rant and pace intently a small smile on his little face and when she got to the crescendo of her rant he giggled, a full, real giggle.
"Oh! Did he just laugh?" Mia asked.
"He just laughed!" Rory jumped excitedly bringing another adorable giggle from Mia's perfect baby boy.
"Oh, baby, is Aunty Rory funny? She is, isn't she, she is funny." Mia cooed picking Lee up.
/\\\/\\\
"I'm going to miss you love. Two whole weeks." Finn said the night before they flew out, him for Costa Rica, her for multiple Morgan Hotels. She'd had an idea for her marketing project, it wasn't exactly what the Professor had asked for but she thought it was a better idea for the giant that was the internationally renowned hotel chained.
"I'm going to miss you too." Rory said cuddling up closer to Finn. They'd spent the day in bed. "This will be the longest we've gone without speaking in almost two years."
"Well at least we'll have something to talk about when we get back." Finn said and she pushed him with her hand. His chest was so firm and she loved the feel of it. She didn't think she would ever get sick of him.
"Don't go forgetting me in Costa Rica." Rory said smiling up at him, loving the way his arm tightened around him.
"Never love." Finn said softly. "And you don't go forgetting me in your trip round the world. Are you sure you can't take Paris with you, nothing will happen with Paris there."
"I'll be fine. Mom will be with me in the first week anyway. And the second week I'm seeing your dad and Janice in Hong Kong for a couple of nights, so I'm only on my own in Italy and then back to the States." Rory said, she was actually really excited about her project, if it worked the way she hoped anyway.
"I didn't hear anything about not forgetting me there love. Do I need to work harder to give you a night you won't forget?" Finn smirked pulling her on top of him.
"Well, you can certainly try." Rory smiled lowering herself to give him a long, slow kiss.
/\\\/\\\
"So, you're not going to tell me this wonderful plan you have?" Josh asked her as he drove her and her mom to the airport.
"No. I'm embarrassed enough I'm doing this but I'm going to sink or swim on my own merits." Rory said firmly.
"Fair play to you Shelia." Josh said.
"Yeah, you said it, Delphine." Her mom smirked.
"Sink or swim. I get it." Rory laughed at her mom.
"Proud." Lorelai smiled back.
"Thank you for sending all that information to me." Rory said to Josh. She had asked him for average booking rates at all their hotels, and any information he had on their repeat customers. Customers who only visited once. Age ranges, length of stay.
"You manage to get Finn to look at it?" Josh asked.
"Nope. He said he knew all he needed to for now, and he'd use my scary organised notes after the summer." Rory said.
"Of course, he did he's a bludger. Oh well, he'll learn after summer." Josh sighed.
"So we're going to Australia first right?" Her mom asked bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Yeah but only for two days. I thought the best place to start was at the flagship Hotel and end in Miami where I can fly back to Hartford ready for Friday night dinner with the grandparents before a weekend of sleep then Finn's back and I have the presentation a week later." Rory said pulling out her itinerary for the next two weeks.
"You sure you won't use the jet? It'll be quicker and more comfortable." Josh asked.
"No, you guys are already letting me stay in the hotels for free. I don't want to cost you more money." Rory said firmly, she'd already had this discussion with Finn. And Mia. And Phineas.
"If you look at it this way, we're getting a marketing proposal for free, so actually you're making us money rather than costing it us." Josh said.
"I think you may be sorely disappointed if you think my college project is going to earn you money." Rory laughed but actually feeling more pressure now.
"You got to have more confidence in yourself darling. I'm sure it'll be wonderful, even if it isn't you can tell us about the coffee supply, like in Atlantic City." Josh chuckled; they'd changed supplier with Lorelai's blessing.
Rory checked her phone and sighed.
"Finn not messaged you yet?" Her mom asked.
"No, I won't hear from him in a week at least, they're out of cell phone range for that long. We haven't gone that long in two years without talking, even before we got together, we emailed. It's going to be really strange." Rory said. "But he's going to have fun and I'm going to get this project done no matter what."
"No matter what?" Her mom asked.
"Yes, I was really annoyed that no one would swap with me and I could still drop the class without losing credits. But I am going to do my best and that way whoever is judging it won't be able to laugh at me. I hope. I keep having nightmares of doing the presentation at the Gazebo and everyone is there just laughing and pointing and I'm totally in silence. I can't say anything and then the Professor fails me and I have to drop out of Yale." Rory explained.
"So, no pressure then?" Her mom laughed.
"Exactly." Rory said.
"Don't worry none Shelia. Finn we'd laugh and point at, you're good." Josh said from the front.
"Are you going to tell me who's coming to watch yet? Maybe send an intern or a secretary?" Rory asked.
"Oh no Shelia. For you we pull out the big guns. Our marketing director will be there, as well as the head of operations for America. The head of the board is also trying to make it." Josh said with a smirk that made you really see the family resemblance between him and Finn.
"So, Janice, you and maybe Phineas then." Rory groaned.
"Hey, at least Janice will be nice." Her mom said.
"I resent that comment. I'm always nice. I'm a nice guy." Josh pouted. "Anyway, we're here get out."
"Oh, yes, so charming." Her mom said opening the door.
"See, I told ya. Now go, make a pretty project that will make us lots of money." Josh smiled turning in his seat.
"You may have to settle for one that won't cost you lots of money." Rory laughed.
"Eh, that'd do." Josh shrugged his lips twitching.
/\\\/\\\
Rory was five minutes from landing in Miami, she was happy, the project was coming along better than she'd thought. In fact, she was really enjoying it, enjoying the challenge and the imagination she needed as well as the hard work making her campaign come to life. Maybe Paris wasn't such a nut badgering her into taking the class. Not that she'd tell Paris that of course.
Miami was hot and thriving with college kids on Spring Break just like her. It was the perfect backdrop to what she wanted to do here. She took out her camera and started taking pictures before she even got to the hotel. She made sure not to get anyone's faces in any pictures, that way she wouldn't have to bug people for permission to use them. Doing it in other countries had been hard with language barriers and Rory thanked her fancy phone for having a translator on it.
When she arrived at the hotel she was queuing for reception. She noticed that the other customers all seemed to be here on business rather than leisure.
"Hi, Rory Gilmore, I should have a room for two nights." Rory smiled at the woman behind the desk.
The woman looked her up and down, her French manicured nails then reluctantly started tapping at the keyboard. She reminded Rory of Michele; it wasn't a flattering comparison.
"Sorry, there's no Gilmore on here." The woman said with a smile.
"Oh, erm, it should have been booked for me..." Rory bit her lip.
"The Spring Breakers are generally in the motel across the road." The woman said condescendingly. Rory thought she saw the problem this hotel had and it wasn't the marketing.
"I'm not here on Spring Break." Rory corrected with a smile.
"Well, unfortunately we don't have your room booked." The receptionist said.
"Well then can I get a room for two nights please?" Rory didn't mind paying for two nights.
"We're fully booked." The receptionists said bluntly.
"Alright. I'll just ring the person who should have booked the hotel." Rory smiled moving out of the way so the next person could check in.
"Rory, hello there darling. Are you having lots of fun?" Josh answered on the second ring. Rory thought he was probably playing angry birds again.
"I am actually. Erm, you did book the hotel in Miami right? There seems to be a bit of a problem..." Rory asked hesitantly.
"Nah, yeah. I booked your entire itinerary personally, didn't even ask my secretary to do it." Josh chuckled and Rory heard him tapping computer keys. "No, you're logged into the system, in one of our nicer rooms may I say."
"They've all been nice rooms, thank you." Rory chuckled.
"Try checking in again but leave me on the phone. Put it on speaker so I can hear yeah?" Josh said and sounded like he was frowning.
"You can be quiet that long?" Rory chuckled.
"Mean... very, very mean." Josh said with a laugh.
"Okay, I'm putting you on speaker now." Rory said changing the phone to speaker.
"Hi, I'm sorry, I've just talked with the gentleman who booked my room, he definitely booked it, for today. Would you possibly be able to check again please? Rory Gilmore." Rory said politely.
"I've already checked. You're not on the system." The woman said snottily.
"Yes, but please, can you check again." Rory said losing patience.
The receptionist sighed and started tapping away at the computer again.
"There is no Rory Gilmore on here." The receptionist said.
"There bloody is." Josh said from the phone. "I'm in the system now, I can see it. Room five oh nine."
"Excuse me!" The receptionist said angrily.
"I want to speak with your general manager immediately." Josh said calmly from the tiny speaker on her phone.
"He's not here today." The receptionist said flatly.
"Kirean Thomas, clocked in about two hours ago. Is logged onto his computer that is located in his office which is right behind you. Now you either go get him or I will call his personal phone and talk to him there, up to you." Josh said.
"I can't do that..." The receptionist started saying.
"Okay, Rory do you want to go have some lunch in the restaurant. On the house of course. I'll sort this out darling." Josh said happily.
"Okay, thank you." Rory said before Josh hung up.
"Miss, you can't go into the restaurant..." The receptionist said as Rory walked away.
"The restaurant at every Morgan Hotel is available for public use as well as guests. Though the general public are to have vacated the premises before the Night Manager and night porters begin their shifts at ten pm. That's unless they're part of a wedding party or function." Rory recited to the woman.
"I... yes but our hotel caters primarily to." The woman started to say.
"The Morgan Hotels are not franchises, you're not to make your own rules about the general running of the hotels without first clearing it with the head of operations. Unless of course it becomes a matter of safety, then decisions need to be run past the head of operations at the earliest possible time." Rory said, she knew this business inside out. Or some of it anyway. She'd been doing her research for three weeks straight and she was good at research and she'd worked in one of the hotels, as a duty manager no less. "And you haven't run that decision by the head of operations. I know that because that was who I was on the phone with. Joshua Morgan. So I'm going to have some lunch now. Thanks."
Rory smiled as she walked away. That had been fun. She didn't feel the least bit bad either. This staff was costing the Morgan's business, that much was obvious.
/\\\/\\\
Rory had been in Miami for one day and she was ready to go home. She wasn't getting anything she needed from the hotel, the problems were more than they wouldn't let people use the restaurants or people not in right clothes or age bracket check in. There were so many more, but Josh was flying out in a couple of weeks to personally oversee the restructuring of the place, or so he said anyway.
Rory was deciding whether to go out to eat or just try to change her plane ticket home when her phone rang.
Rory picked it up seeing it was Josh again.
"Hi." She said.
"Rory. Janice and Phineas are on their way to get you at the hotel." He said gravely.
"What, why? What's wrong?" Rory said sitting up.
"There was an accident in Cost Rica." Josh started saying.
"Finn! Oh my god... is he okay?" Rory asked her heart beating wildly, her world collapsing, her breath struggling.
"He's being airlifted to New York. Can you be ready in half an hour, Phineas should be there by then." Josh said not answering her question which gave her more answer than she needed. No he was not okay.
"Tell them to go straight to New York, be with Finn. I'll get the next flight out." Rory said standing and starting to pack her bag, which she hadn't done much unpacking of thankfully.
"They're already on their way darling. As it is you'll beat Finn there." Josh said. "Can you be ready in thirty minutes?"
"Yes of course. Do they want me to meet them at the airport?" Rory asked.
"The more waiting around you all have to do at the hospital the crazier you're going to make yourselves. Just pack up and wait for them in the lobby. I'll meet you in New York too." Josh said his voice strained.
"Yeah, of course. Thanks." Rory said hanging up and making sure she hadn't forgotten anything.
Packed and ready Rory hurried out of her room grabbing her key. What did it mean that Finn was hurt? What had he done? They were all idiots when together and Finn didn't have Colin there to have his back. He did have Robert and Lanny though she reminded herself.
Rory hurried to the reception desk to check out. It was done quickly thankfully and with nothing else to do Rory sat in the lobby trying not to panic or cry.
Rory didn't know how long it had been before she realised someone was talking to her.
"Miss, you can't sit here." A man was saying to her. She wondered how long he'd been trying to get her attention, he sounded angry.
"What why?" Rory asked vaguely.
"We don't allow loiterers in the lobby." The man said with a sneer.
"I'm waiting to be picked up." Rory said automatically her brain still thinking of Finn.
"Well then you have to wait somewhere else." The man said, he was wearing a suit, she thought he was probably a manager.
"You're fired." A voice snapped angrily.
Rory looked round the man and saw Janice and Phineas behind him. She jumped up and went to give Janice a hug.
"Mr... Mr... Morgan... I'm sorry there was a misunderstanding." The man said.
"I don't care, Mr Hooper, duty manager." Phineas said reading the man's badge. "You're fired. You were rude and abrasive to my personal guest. You are fired." Phineas said angrily. "Are you ready to go Rory, the jets waiting."
"Yes, yeah. Have you heard anything?" Rory asked grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. None of them looked back at the man who stared after them vacantly.
"Nothing yet. He'll touch down in New York in about an hour. We'll beat him there." Phineas said opening the door of the car, a big black thing for Rory and then Janice.
"What happened?" Rory asked.
"All we know is he was doing something and his parachute didn't open. He said something about base jumping to me when he was talking about the trip." Phineas replied his jaw so tight it must have been hurting him to speak.
Rory couldn't speak after that. His parachute hadn't opened.
/\\\/\\\
Rory sat in the waiting room of the hospital by herself. Only family had been allowed to go in before Finn headed for surgery, no matter how much Phineas had argued otherwise. Hospital policy.
She hadn't heard anything other than the fact that he was alive. That was what she was clinging to. He was alive. He was still there.
Rory looked up as she heard a familiar voice. "Finn, Finnegan Morgan. No, I'm not family. Alright I am family. No I am. We're cousins, I just sometimes forget that. Yes, ask Jan, she'll tell you. Fine thanks." Her mom came into the waiting room unhappily.
"Mom?" Rory asked.
"Oh hon." Lorelai said grabbing Rory for a hug. "How is he, have you heard?"
"No, they're in the now, he's heading for surgery but I wasn't allowed to go in. Family only." Rory said.
"I know. Stupid rule." Lorelai muttered unhappily.
"You came?" Rory asked her mom.
"No, I'm an illusion. Of course, I came hon. It's Finn." Her mom said simply. "How are you holding up?"
"Bad, verging on terribly." Rory answered looking back towards the door, the Morgan's would be back any minute hopefully.
"He'll be okay. Finn's a fighter, he'll be back cracking bad jokes and drinking too much scotch before you can say Aussie. Don't worry." Lorelai said grabbing Rory's hand.
"I just want to do something. Anything." Rory said helplessly.
"All you can do right now is wait sweets." Her mom replied sadly.
They sat in silence doing just that for what felt like hours before the Morgan's returned, all looking as though they'd been crying. Josh, Janice, Mia and Phineas.
Rory and Lorelai stood up. Rory couldn't say anything, she couldn't ask.
"He's down in surgery now for a punctured lung." Janice told Rory softly. "He's also broken his leg in two places and got a minor brain bleed. They're going to fix that at the same time. It's bad. But they're fairly certain it's not life threatening."
Rory collapsed into a chair as her legs gave out. A brain bleed, a punctured lung... suddenly she regretted binge watching Greys Anatomy all those times with Mia.
Rory watched as her mom got up to give hugs to all of the people present and one by one everyone sat down to wait.
It was an hour later when the first word was spoken.
"What's Luke doing?" Phineas asked.
"He's with his daughter." Lorelai said quietly.
"Daughter!?" Mia and Rory said together, the two friends sat side by side holding hands.
"Yes, daughter." Lorelai nodded.
"I didn't know Luke had a daughter." Janice frowned.
"Neither did I." Lorelai said.
"Wow, how old?" Rory asked holding her mom's hand as well.
"Her names April, she's twelve, Luke's know about her for two months and now he's asking to postpone the wedding." Lorelai said. "Which, honestly felt like he'd just slapped me in the face but then I got the call about Finn and... it doesn't matter."
"It does matter." Janice said firmly. "Finn will be the first one to say... well probably something to make everyone laugh and then add something idiotic before throwing down some words of wisdom."
"He'd say, in the words of Mia, Luke's an idiot, then he'd ask you what you wanted. Knowing he kept a secret from you for two months do you still want a relationship, do you want to still get married. Then he'd hit on you and flinch away from me." Rory said with a small smile.
"Sounds about right." Mia nodded.
"So what do you want to do?" Janice asked.
"Drink lots of Tequila. But seeing as that's out, I don't know. He won't even let me near her, doesn't want me to have a relationship with her. I can't live like that. I can't have two separate lives, one with us and then one with her, like that terrible movie we saw Being Frank. It's not fair on me. But then I'm probably being selfish, I don't know. Luke's great to me, you know. And he's great to Rory." Lorelai said starting to tear up.
"So, tell him. Tell him you can't live like that and if he can't accept that... well you have your answer." Phineas said gently.
"And you're not being selfish, you shouldn't have to put up with less than what you want out of life. There's a difference between compromising and just being unhappy." Josh added.
"That's enough about me and my pathetic love life... how is Asia?" Lorelai asked Phineas and Janice.
"Alright, it's going well enough, luckily we hadn't got half way back before we got the phone call." Phineas said with a shrug.
"How was your trip, Rory?" Mia asked.
"It was good." Rory said with a small smile, feeling guilty about smiling when Finn was on the operating table.
"Oh, that reminds me, we sacked a Hooper." Janice said to Josh.
"Is that a new slang term?" Josh asked. "Because I'm down with the kids but I haven't heard that one yet."
"Down with the kids?" Mia asked.
"Yes, specifically the five-year-olds." Josh replied.
"No, Mr Hooper, he was a duty manager." Phineas said.
"Let me guess, at Miami?" Josh sighed. "Yeah, I'm flying down with a team in a couple of weeks, the whole place is going to need to be looked at. I know Rory had some problem checking in and using the restaurant because of her age and thinking she was a spring break college student."
"Also, I couldn't access the pool, gym or bar. The codes they gave me wouldn't work and when I actually managed to get into the bar, they wouldn't serve me a club soda." Rory added.
"Any other problems?" Josh frowned.
"Just general rudeness from the staff. Obviously I wasn't the clientele they wanted there." Rory said.
"New staff from tip to toe then. Maybe a remodel while you're at it? Have a reopening?" Phineas suggested.
"With the hotels going up in Asia we don't have the budget for that this year." Josh said.
"The decor was really nice in all the areas I was in, fresh, taken care of, modern but tasteful. The pool area had a few chipped titles that I could see through the window and I couldn't get in the gym but everywhere else looked good." Rory said.
"Sorry. I shouldn't be getting involved." Rory said with a blush when everyone looked at her.
"No, that's brilliant. I can swing a pool remodel and a staff change." Josh said happily.
"Actually, that's given me an idea." Phineas said thoughtfully.
"Really?" Janice asked.
"It's been known to happen from time to time darling." Phineas replied with a smirk.
"Are you the family of Finnegan Morgan?" A doctor in the doorway interrupted the conversation and everyone stood as one.
"We are." Phineas said and Rory saw him grip Janice's hand tightly.
"The surgery went really well. He's not out if the woods yet, but we're very confident that he'll pull through. The next twenty-four hours are critical, after that we'll be able to tell you more." The doctor said soberly.
"Can we see him?" Phineas asked.
"Yes of course. He's in recovery right now, we don't expect him to wake for a while, but you can go see him." The doctor said.
"Thank you." Phineas said and the doctor left.
"Come on then." Janice said taking Phineas' hand and leading him from the room, Josh followed with Mia on his heels. Rory stayed where she was with her mom.
"Ror, come on." Mia hissed poking her head back in the room.
"Thanks." Rory smiled gratefully.
"Idiot." Mia smiled sadly back.
Rory tried not to cry when she saw Finn, she did, but she just couldn't help it. He was hooked up to tubes and monitors, his leg was in a cast, his head bandaged, he had a black eye, days of stubble, he looked wrecked. He looked smaller. She took his hand as Josh moved out of her way.