Finn woke to the sensation of the softness of the sheets under him, a smooth breeze flowing over him, feeling the sun on his skin, feeling well rested. But there was something else. He could feel the tickle of someone else's hair on his cheek, a slight hint of a giggle, followed by a gentle stroke of a finger along the bridge of his nose, up his forehead, causing his mouth to curve upwards. The single finger was then joined by another finger both continuing to trace the outline of his face all the way down to his chin. The touch was definitely feminen and tender - he'd had a number of massages in his life, but this was not one of those times. The fingers continued to trail around his skin - neck, cheeks, the philtrum of his upper lip and edge of his lips. He could feel her breath on him, the tension lingering.
"Time to wake," she hummed, letting her blonde silky hair brush over his face. And that scent…he didn't quite know what it was, but it was imprinted to his brain by now.
"But I don't want to wake," Finn argued, playfully, keeping his eyes closed for a moment longer.
He felt another tickle, his resistance to not wake seeming futile.
As his eyes opened and saw the most beautiful face he knew, upside down, her light brown eyes, strong curved eyebrows, and the way the corners of her mouth created double dimples when she smiled. His gut went hollow at that smile.
It only took one blink for the illusion to break and Finn woke for real. The disappointment was palpable, leaving him feeling empty. He found himself in his large, laconic, concrete-floored bedroom, his bed, positioned in the middle of the room, facing the floor to ceiling window glancing over Manhattan. It was raining outside, casting a grim emphasis on the fact that he was alone. The fact that it had been just a dream hurt, but at the same time made him feel relieved. He hadn't crossed the line. He swallowed hard.
Finn groaned audibly and turned around, burrowing his face into his pillow, squeezing the pillow angrily with his fists. He didn't want to be thinking of her that way - he couldn't be thinking of her that way. Each time one of these dreams - essentially about wanting to catch someone just out of reach - happened he was ridden by guilt for days afterwards.
He'd had crushes before, and it was certainly one of his weaknesses that swept him away, generally burning rapidly and then going out with a 'puff' when he least expected it. But this time it wasn't primarily about the physical, like it often was - confusing the physical chemistry for love. This time it was almost everything else above that - the way her mind worked, how easy it was to be around her, how she kept surprising him and how his mind just kept trailing back to her. It was her mind first, everything else second - that was something his brain had trouble comprehending - his mind usually never worked like that.
Every molecule in his body knew how wrong this was, but it didn't change how he felt. He was just drawn to her, like a sailor drawn to the siren. Trouble. Period. He knew he was screwed.
He turned to his side, reaching out for his phone and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself at the sight of a message notification from her. She'd sent it 1.30 AM, that alone taking a bite of his heart - he wasn't an afterthought. And yes, he recalled very well everything Logan had said in July, and he'd picked up her tiny hints, her consistency at being in contact with him to begin with, her determination to complete his list at the same time noting how she held back, tried to stay indifferent and tried to dress down. And all that made him feel flattered no doubt. It had started out just with seeing a friend who needed someone to talk to, it had been compassion, being a decent human being. But because he'd naively continued that - she had changed something in him. It had caught him off guard. She'd calmed him, made him look at things differently, made him care - deeply. Come to think of it - it was probably his fault. He should've known better. Period. But it was not like he was perfect, his moral compass always being a little off.
"We should talk," the message said.
Nothing good ever began with those words. And frankly he was just scared.
Maybe she'd noticed the changes to the list? Making sure she was safe was one thing, but maybe that had just been too much? When he'd started it, it had been harmless fun, now - he was genuinely wanting to offer her the things he wished he could've done with her. The only thing he felt a little proud of at this point was the fact that he hadn't gone all out in making sure she got the VIP treatment in a lot of those places, like his first well-meaning instinct had been.
"I'm in town until Wednesday, then off to Stars Hollow with Rory for a long weekend," she'd written next, clearly meaning that she wanted to see him in person.
He wasn't sure if he could do that. He wasn't sure if he could hold it together to be honest. It could go a number of ways and none of them was a good outcome. Hence, he didn't reply, deciding to postpone that response until he knew what he would say.
"Hey!" Logan called first thing in the morning for him, knowing that it was likely the best chance for him to speak to Rory all day. His workdays in London didn't really compare to what he did in New York, essentially for the time being he'd taken over the CEO responsibilities like he had thought he would three years ago. Being back at the London office was like another world, and without that phone call, at least once a day, he feared he might just forget that things really were a lot better. He couldn't really believe how he could've ever thought that being the CEO here in London, all alone or with an arranged marriage, could ever be a life worth living, knowing how good, despite being utterly tireing, the alternative was.
"Hey!" Rory replied, on their way to Stars Hollow. While they'd still kept their Volvo XC-90 for outings that involved just for their immediate family, Hallam now also drove a black Mercedes-Benz V-class, which made Rory feel almost like they were a VIP delegation of sort, as it was just the kind of car political advisories and secretaries used in Europe when she had been over there on a few occasions for work. That life however, seemed like a lifetime ago, the present situation of a car this size full of people, thankfully at a 3 to 3 ratio against the kids, and Hallam, who was driving, also like nothing she'd known to dream of. They'd waited a few days so Celeste and Luke got the house ready for them, and waiting one more day so G was done with school wasn't really an issue. Hallam would just drive her back on Sunday.
"I just wanted to check in, see if you got to Stars Hollow alright?" Logan asked with some concern. It was just 6 AM in London and Rory could tell from his voice he hadn't had his coffee yet.
"We're about fifteen minutes out, just drove past Hartford," Rory said, glancing out the window.
"Everything sounds calm enough," Logan commented. Rory's main worry about going to Stars Hollow had been for a while about getting everybody in the car and surviving the physical driving part of it - three kids with two different sets of sleep and feeding patterns and entertainment needs. And this is the twins were on their schedule.
"Shh.. don't jinx it," Rory hushed him. "The girls are asleep, Finny is snacking and Maya is reading him 'Grumpy Monkey', Rory explained. G was sitting opposite her, the second row of seats facing the rear, her earphones on, having closed her eyes for a minute. G kept checking her phone every five minutes, but Rory didn't think much of it - teenagers, right?
"Sounds good! Sounds like you're doing great," Logan added. In a way he was sad that he was missing the girls' first big outing, but under the circumstances he was glad that Rory was going, getting out the house, changing things up. He strongly believed this would be really good for her and also in terms of believing in her own capacity to handle the girls anywhere, even if she did have help.
"Everything going okay over there?" Rory asked in return, appreciating his enthusiasm.
"It's okay. Bobby's really out of it, barely able to pick up the phone. And that's with the drip. But I'm meeting the consultant today so hopeful things will get moving today," Logan explained.
"Fingers crossed," she replied. Despite having a very good distraction going on, she couldn't wait for him to come home. She still worried a little, that perhaps her words the other day had scarred him - she'd carelessly hit him when he was down, simply rolled all her innermost fears into one and slammed him a curve ball. Sure, they'd made up and both had felt bad - but she just kept wishing that there was something she could do to take those words back. Now they both just had to live with the knowledge that if they ever did fight for real, things could get really ugly. It was like cracking a door to some parallel world that they didn't want to exist. That was a world where hurtful things were said on purpose and marriages went to die.
"So are you staying at Celeste's, right?" he asked, walking over to his Marriott Grosvenor Square suite window to cast a glimpse over the early morning dimly lit streets wet with the drizzle that had just stopped. He really had not missed the London weather.
"Yeah, why?" Rory replied curiously. Surely he should've known that.
"So I know where to send you chocolates, champagne, flowers and fruit baskets of course," Logan smirked.
"Logan…," she sighed, feeling at a loss for words. "You know…," she began, realizing then that he was probably just kidding, having left that type of grand gestures in the past, knowing she really didn't need stuff like that.
"I just wondered for a second why you transferred Celeste all that money, but I guess that was for the guest house," Logan explained, having gotten a little curious about the transaction he'd seen at their statement.
"Yeah," she replied briefly, not wanting to openly discuss Celeste's financial issues in front of Gigi, Maya and Hallam.
"It's fine, I just didn't know they were doing poorly," Logan added a little worriedly.
"I don't really know the specifics," Rory replied honestly. That hadn't really been a phone conversation.
"Okay, just tell her if they need help, our door is open," he assured. He wasn't just aiming to give them the money, but when it came to investing, offering jobs and so forth - he really could help.
"Oh, we just passed the sign, I got to guide Hallam. Call you later?" Rory noticed turning onto the road, that really looked just the same.
"Sure! I love you," Logan said, already beginning to head towards the shower to get ready.
"Me too," she replied, feeling it in her gut.
"Wow, I haven't been here in ages," G commented.
"Left at the church and then left…, no right, at Luke's," Rory instructed, struggling with left and right while sitting her back to the driving direction.
"Hey Gigi, when were you here last, anyways?" Rory asked G.
"I must've been 3-4 or something, just before they broke up," G replied.
"Right," Rory replied, having forgotten that event briefly, smiling bitter-sweetly.
"And Rory?" G said, wanting to add something.
"Do you mind calling me G, or Georgia? I'm feeling kind of sick of the name Gigi, it's such a kid's name, you know," she added, just as Hallam turned right at Luke's.
"Okay, sure. I apologize in advance if I get it wrong, you've always been Gigi to me, and dad might be difficult to persuade," Rory added.
G rolled her eyes - Rory really didn't need to tell her how challenging shaking his dad's image of her as a child, despite the expectations he tended to put on her.
"Just turn into the alley right of that old red brick building," Rory instructed Hallam. Celeste had already opened the gate wide, her own small dark grey Mazda already waiting at the end of the driveway with Princess Elsa sun shade on the back and side windows.
Clearly Celeste had been keeping an eye out for them, emerging from the kitchen, with Evie holding her hand, before Rory had even a chance to slide the side door open, trying to do it without a loud bang.
"Hallam, we can unload everything here, and once done you can head over to the Dragonfly yourself," Rory explained, stepping out of the car, having made arrangements for him to spend the week, maybe a little longer, there. She wasn't really planning on needing his services while in town - most of the place being in walking distance and she had the stroller with the buggy board. But it was good to know he was around if they needed him. The logistics of getting the three kids into a car, just any car being not that easy.
"Hey!" Celeste came around the van, and wrapped her arms around Rory.
Rory was at a loss for words - how she'd missed her! Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she hardly felt like she wanted to lose contact with her, holding onto her shoulder.
"It's been too long," she finally managed.
"Better late than never, right?" Celeste noted.
"You remember, Maya, and Gigi now goes by G," Rory began to introduce everybody, almost half forgetting that Celeste knew everybody.
"Evie, look who's there!" Celeste crouched down besides her daughter, pointing at Finny who was climbing out of his car seat all by himself.
Evie, however, clung around her mother's neck as she crouched, having a bit of a shy phase.
"Oh, Evie, honey… it's just Finny, you remember him, don't you?" Celeste explained, trying to sooth her. A few months was like years in toddler time, Celeste having not brought her along the last time because Evie had had pink eye.
Celeste heaved Evie to her hip, and extended her other hand to Finny, who at least seemed to remember her, allowing the others to get the babies with their carseats and their luggage.
"Aww…. the girls look adorable," Celeste melted at the sight of them, babies still being somewhat of a soft spot for her. She was through with that part - there was no doubt - but each time she saw one, it was like her hormones went on overdrive. The hormones and the reality just didn't match, but that she'd accepted.
"Especially when they sleep," Rory chuckled.
"So I tried out a few different layouts of the place and I figured Gi… G could actually stay in our second study, the pull out is pretty decent," Celeste began, gesturing towards the kitchen door. Placing two (or three) adults and three kids into the two bedroom chief's house that just had one bathroom, seemed like overdoing it, hence she decided everyone was likely going to be more comfortable if she spread them out as much as possible. Finny would get the small bedroom, Maya the larger one and Rory would get the so-called living room that was modified into a bedroom by now with her babies. Luke had helped Celeste get beds, cribs, a few dressers and a couch for Rory's bedroom, a few essentials to the kitchen, so they also now had a minifridge, coffee maker, water heater and even a Baby Brezza. They'd even put a small TV to Maya's room, thinking she probably didn't care much for hanging out with them all the time. She'd also stocked up the fridge for them and made sure they had all the baby essentials like a bunch of small towels, baby blankets and play arches, some toys and lots and lots of diapers.
"It's really nice," Rory exclaimed, recalling the pictures of the dusty house prior to the renovations. Jess and Celeste had really only done a very basic renovation on the place, painting the walls an even silver sage with a white trim and retiling the bathroom floor and shower in a simple white subway tile and switched out the bathroom furnishings. Celeste still felt a little embarrassed how humbly they'd renovated the place - the main house having gotten most of their attention and money, and this place - really just the essentials. But thankful she recalled, that Rory, while used to the finer things in life these days, was not really very picky on the details. She actually thought she saw more squinting from Maya, who surely was used to having her own on-suite, but surely a couple of weeks they could survive.
"The closet space is a little tight, but I figured for a few weeks it should do for now," Celeste explained. "And there's another shower just by the kitchen, just left of the entrance, if you need. It's not ideal, I know…," she added apologetically.
"It's perfect, thank you," Rory sighed, hugging her again.
"And Finny, I put some toys out for you," Celeste added, and it really took no more than that, as Finny hurried off towards the smaller bedroom, Celeste having hung up a few cute bunny posters on his level to spruce the place up a little.
By now Evie had warmed up a bit and began showing Finny all the toys she'd helped pick out for Finny at Walmart. Each time she went there - she still struggled to imagine Jess had once been the Employee of the Month there, making her chuckle.
"I'll just go and show G to her room real quick and then I'll come and help out with the girls if you need me. And I want to show you the house of course, you're free to hang out in both, any time," Celeste continued unsure where to begin. "Oh, and Luke is bringing lunch. Him and Lorelai will be over in an hour or so," she added, excitedly.
"All in good time, I'm not going anywhere," Rory assured, hugging her once more.
"Whoa…," G exclaimed as she went into the main building with Celeste, glancing over the Apparatus Bay. "It looked so 'normal' on the outside," she noted.
Celeste chuckled. That was the reaction they'd been going for. The black shelving against the white and brick on one side of the room, the other was left plain, already exhibiting a few paintings they'd wanted to try out for the place. They'd gotten two large, mid-century modern sectional couches for the lounge area downstairs, that formed the entertainment space along with three dozen fold-up chairs just waiting by the corner. Instead of a classical register desk, Jess had insisted on going with just two similarly mid-century style desks that faced each other, leaving the place with a feel like visiting a home rather than a store. It was not like he was expecting to have people lining up to buy things, hence a simple computer based system would probably suffice.
"There's one bathroom down here by the kitchen," Celeste explained as she led G up the stairs, "and then there's one on the third floor - feel free to use either," she added. "Also there's only really some kids channels when it comes to the TV, but I wrote the wifi password down for you and you can hang out in the common areas and help yourself to anything in the kitchen, just if you finish something write it down on the list on the fridge, please. Evie's bedtime is usually around 9 PM, so that's the quiet time," she added just in case.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," G replied, still glancing at her phone, having not heard back from Finn in two whole days, beginning to worry.
The study was small, but Celeste had pushed her desk up against the wall, which she didn't really use much these days, having a large 10-person dining table in the main room, which enabled her to watch what Evie was up to at the same time, to make some space for G.
"I know the couch doesn't look like much, but it has an extra mattress, and I've once tried sleeping on it myself and it really isn't that bad," Celeste added apologetically.
"Thanks," G replied, sensing she was a little worried how she'd react. She really didn't want to prove anyone right about being a spoiled brat, which she probably was a little.
"I'll head back and help out - they're almost outnumbered there," Celeste said and headed back downstairs to go to the chief's house, hearing Lorelai's voice coming from the house already. Clearly the backup had arrived. Still - having a full house felt good.