There was a snowstorm alright, the entire Hartford Downtown just barely functioning. But still - when wealthy patients wanted a baby bad enough - they generally found a way to get to the clinic if that was in their plans, even if that took them hiring a snow plough. Hence while Dynasty Makers had had a couple of cancellations for the day, the clinic was still functioning, simply experiencing some delays in both doctors and patients getting there.
"How hard is it to find some means of snow-capable transportation and deliver from a mile away in less than an hour?!" Paris huffed angrily as she stepped into the doctor's kitchen nook, carrying her Caesar salad that their usual restaurant had taken two hours to deliver, having expected mostly to be muttering to just herself.
It was only as she turned, having gotten a fork out of the drawer and popped the lid off her salad, as she noticed Vikki sitting at the table in the corner reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood while eating her home-made hummus-sprout sandwich.
Vikki swallowed. "Or you could just skip the overpriced iceberger with most likely heavy-metal contaminated anchovies", she commented, raising her eyebrow, and bit into her sandwich.
It was Vikki's third day at the clinic, but the two hadn't really had much interactions besides some official introductions during the first day, Paris having had a busy week.
"It's still the healthiest thing they have on the menu," Paris replied, quite appreciating her no-bullshit banter. "God, I miss New York," she sighed. At least in New York you had some options, even during a snowstorm.
"Why are you here then?" Vikki asked, closing her book by placing her finger where she left off. It was common knowledge that Dynasty Makers also had a clinic in New York.
"Kids, schools - much like yourself," Paris replied, after swallowing her overpriced iceberger salad.
"Husband?" she asked, casually.
"Divorced," Paris replied. "Betraying his Ivy league education by writing for Hallmark," Paris snorted bluntly. As she'd registered the question and her almost automated response, for a moment she held her breath, wondering if she was supposed to inquire the same in return, while in fact she thought she had a fairly good idea about already. Thankfully she didn't have to.
"Mine likes the rough side of medicine - ER at NYP, ex-military," Vikki replied , adding "my ex, I mean."
That was all the confirmation Paris really needed to confirm what she'd suspected all along. But still, bringing it up that somehow she'd pieced it together that Vikki's ex was one of her former schoolmates felt odd. It was not like there was any official history - it was all in her head.
"What school does you kid go to?" Paris asked after a few minutes of silence, during which she'd continued to eat and Vikki to finish her water.
Vikki cleared her throat, the question surprising her as much as it did Paris. Paris usually didn't care about things like that, nor did she like small-talk.
"Oak Hill," Vikki replied, rising from the table.
Paris perhaps shouldn't have asked - it really wasn't the employer's business - and that response certainly made her hesitate if she'd crossed the line. Oak Hill was a special school for kids with disabilities.
Vikki walked over to the kitchen and placed her glass into the dishwasher, and rinsed out her stainless steel lunch container.
"It's nothing horrible, just Aspergers. Sometimes I think maybe we're the weird ones," she commented, still facing the kitchen, not Paris, as if doubting herself whether this was something she wanted to share or Paris to hear. "Anyways, our next patient should be up...unless she's late," she added, taking a breath, and went out the door.
Vikki had no idea how much sense her statement had made to Paris. Though Paris would've argued over the relaxed use of "we" in her sentence. While she'd never actually gotten a diagnosis herself she'd spend a lot of time pondering what was wrong with people… or her. On several occasions she'd considered whether she too was somewhere on the specturm.
As she continued to eat alone a whole new train of thought filled Paris' head, imagining how Tristian had handled something like that. Even if the diagnosis wasn't very severe, it still could've added to the stress of marriage. Strangely enough she was kind of curious what their life had been like together. She knew there were several ethical dilemmas for her to ponder over, but she couldn't help it. With Vikki reminding her a great deal of herself, it was almost too easy to imagine herself in her shoes.
Besides his family, Logan was missing his friends too. Sure, he knew some people that he could go out with for a pint after a long day in London too, but the age was such that most people preferred to spend evenings and weekends with their families. So would he. Naturally, Logan had not abandoned his real friends, even if he was away from them too, and occasionally texted with Colin and with Hugo, who'd become a fairly good person with whom he could have slightly more intellingent conversations about their field while not really having to go into work topics per se. Robert had been busy with some big work project for the past couple of months, hence not really communicating that much. And Finn - he'd been off the radar longer than usual, even though this often happened when he went home to Australia. But frankly, Logan was beginning to miss the old bugger.
Hence, when Logan noticed a fifth picture in row of 'Finn and some mystery woman' appear on his Instagram feed, the latest making it very obvious she was someone important to Finn by the photo exhibiting Finn and the woman on a beach in their swimwear with his hand around her neck endearingly and kissing her temple, Logan was curious, wanting to check in. He did so both in good caution, having once set up a pact with the guys to avoid another milk-maid incident, though he doubted that was really needed at their age, and to pat Finn in the back, at least virtually, if he had perhaps indeed found something meaningful.
It was early morning for Logan, and he'd gotten to the office before anyone else. It was gloomy outside and he honestly was missing the light and the snow, somehow the darkness making it so much harder to withstand being away from everyone he loved. He was now counting days.
When an image of Finn on Facetime popped up on Logan's tablet, showing Finn lounging by the pool at his sister's, where Logan had also been to four years ago for a Christmas holiday, the glow of the pool lighting reflecting against Finn's skin, it definitely made Logan miss the idea of a poolside break - hopefully with both his family and friends.
"Hey, man," Logan greeted.
"Hey, mate," Finn replied. "God, I wouldn't want to trade places with you right now," he commented burtally, seeing Logan dressed in a business suit, the grim office interior and the darkness outside his office window in the background.
"Tell me about it," Logan chuckled, knowing he could always trust Finn to give him it like I was. "So, how's Brissy treating you this year?" Logan asked, not wanting to outright pry.
"Oh just wonderfully. Here, this is Charlie," Finn replied cheerily, turning his camera to the recliner chair next to him to catch Charlie, her hair braided into a long messy side braid that came down her shoulder and wearing a relaxed beach dress, her gorgeous legs propped up on the chair. "Charlie, this is Logan," he introduced.
Charlie waved to the camera, adding a friendly "Hi". Finn had spoken quite a lot about Logan to her, hence she really didn't need much further explanation. But as he spoke about his friends in general it was always about what they meant to him or what they did together rather than their family names or fancy positions, so Charlie remained oblivious to his fame.
Finn and Charlie had just spend the day at the Woorim beach, the fires around this region now being more or less out, surfing and hanging out and after they'd just come around to Sylvie's for dinner, all the kids being at their other parent's for the evening. Sylvie had been dying to meet her and the two had really found a good reason to object. Hell - after already meeting the parents, what harm was Sylvie going to do besides some teasing.
Logan really hadn't been expecting to be introduced to anyone when he'd called and for a moment he pondered whether he might actually hear what Finn really thought about the woman with her sitting right there.
"I'll be right back," Logan could hear Charlie say in the background, followed by a quick flash of movement behind Finn as she passed him, heading for the toilet.
"Get some more wine, will you, darling," Finn said to Charlie, over his shoulder, before she walked off, getting an affirmative nod in return.
"So Charlie, eh?" Logan asked with a hint of insinuation.
"Hm-hm," Finn replied with a wide and stupid grin on his face.
"Serious?" Logan asked.
"It would appear so, my dear friend," he added in a satisfied tone, nodding his head. There was no doubt that they liked each other, both the company and physically, and he was definitely taking this seriously.
"It's good to hear," Logan replied.
"I know - I know. Right now I'm just on a high on all of this but I'm under no impression that there aren't going to be some tough decisions to be made once the holiday mode end, but… good God...she's amazing," he exclaimed, running his palm over his forehead and hair, as he shook her head, almost assuming Logan was about to caution him.
Logan listened, recalling Colin, rather than Finn, worrying about him when he'd first started dating Rory that he was losing it. Logan knew better than to caution Finn about endangering his wealth or knocking someone up by accident, he'd had plenty of practice weeding out the exploiters. Not that Logan knew but Charlie really wasn't a threath in that sense, being fairly well off herself - perhaps not in New York terms - but well enough.
"She's Canadian - and I don't want to hear it," Finn continued, as if assuming Logan to make a joke about it. But these days Logan really wasn't going to do that - having grown a lot since being in college. "We're kind of just immersing ourselves in it and figuring things out as we go, I guess. But I really feel like we're in the same place in life... that this could really be something...," he blabbered, having come to that realization last night, when he'd slept alone, or hardly slept at all, feeling like a part of him was missing.
"I'm glad, I'm happy for you. Maybe you're having your very own Gilmore effect," Logan added, hopefully.
Finn loved the idea of Logan comparing Charlie to Rory, feeling the support of so many people, all that were rooting for him - for them. He could only hope that what was developing was anything as good, just hopefully less complicated. The only trouble was he was terrified of screwing this up, as if there hadn't been enough nervousness in the beginning of their relationship already.
Logan could then see Charlie returning from behind him, setting the fresh bottle into the wine cooler next to Finn's recliner. He could see Finn's eyes trailing off the camera for a moment and next he could hear a plunge into the pool.
"Finny misses you, I think he thinks we're somewhere off together," Logan added, recalling his last phone call to his son, continuing to give a quick recap on his mundane world and what was going on with Rory and the kids.
"Oh right, I'll try to give them a call tomorrow," Finn promised, for a moment feeling a little guilty for simply disappearing from New York as suddenly as he had. Finny was more and more aware of the people around him - and he felt bad for not having really considered his feelings in all of this. For a second he wondered how G was doing - despite everything she'd been a friend too, hoping turly that she was past their mess by now.
"Alright, I better be off - I have a conference call starting in five," Logan fibbed, feeling like Finn already had other things on his mind, not wanting to really dwell too much about him feeling a little lonely. He knew he was going to be fine, just five days and two hours until he would see Rory and the kids again.
As the call disconnected, Finn threw his tablet onto the spare recliner and got up, and plummeted into the water, really not wanting to think too much about New York at this point, yet aiming to keep his promise to call.
Finn swam a few breast strokes, swimming up to Charlie who was floating by the side of the pool, just holding on to the edge, her ears under water. He wrapped his arm around her waist, jolting her out of her zone.
Charlie yelped, being quite ticklish, but his touch soon brought a wide smile on her face.
Finn kissed her, tongues swirling and lips moving already so comfortably, as she cling to his neck with one arm.
"I kind of hear that conversation a bit," Charlie said as they held each other, just a couple of inches between their faces.
For a moment Finn worried, maybe he'd put it too strongly, too enthusiastically, perhaps getting his hopes up too much, when he's spoken about them and her.
"It's okay," Charlie soothed him, by now knowing his worried face. "What you said was really sweet. I'm not really sure what to do with myself... And honestly I'm scared as hell, and probably saying this won't help it… But I think I'm really falling for you," she admitted, looking at him a little hesitantly.
In any other scenario Finn would've fled at the sound of those words. Women who confessed their feelings to men during the early weeks generally would've qualified as whacky, but the storm of euphoria that those words woken in him was something he'd never felt. He'd said those words before, maybe even a degree stronger words, but he wasn't really sure he'd ever meant them.
But he just couldn't get the words out. Yet his eyes observed her face turn sad, almost as if swallowing a lump in her throat. He just couldn't see her like that, he just needed to get past his own fears.
"I'm already in love with you. I can't stop thinking about you, I can't sleep…," Finn blurted out, hardly believing it was him saying this.
Charlie kissed his lip with gratitude, while now clinging onto his neck with both her arms.
Finn held her firmly by her waist and as her legs wrapped around him, he moved to hold her by her thighs, as the kiss carried.
"Where have you been all my life, Finn Morgan?" Charlie asked in whisper, as the kiss broke.
Finn preferred not to answer that, focusing rather on the curves of her body that felt amazing under his fingers. He wouldn't have wanted to meet her sooner - he wouldn't have treated her how he now knew she should treated, he would've perhaps been simply blinded by bigger boobs or something else superficial - he didn't want her to ever meet that Finn Morgan.
Instead, he kissed her again, pulling her flush up against himself as hard as he could, slowly moving her towards the pool stairs, intending to take her into the poolhouse. Before they got out, however, they continued kissing on the stairs for a bit, Charlie quite enjoying the way he was teasing her breasts - first softly cupping, then strenghtening his grasp and then grazing the nipples.
Charlie trailed her fingers down the side of her face, jaw, and then neck. She loved that he wasn't the classical pretty-boy, he had character, his skin, his hair, his little imperfections adding so much to his sexapil.
"Come on," he urged, unsure how much longer he could wait, needing to have her, and pulled her up as he got up himself.
They didn't really bother drying up, leaving a trail of water behind them as they headed for the bedroom, Charlie cleverly deciding to steer them towards the guest bedroom instead not to make the sheets wet.
With so few layers of clothing between them it was almostly instantly gone from their bodies, the wet hair and droplets on their bodies only adding to the excitement.
Her eyes closed slowly and then opened again, as his fingers drew along her wet center a couple of times, then sinking them into him mouth and licking them clean. It was then she managed to surprise him again - my offering him herself on her knees on the bed. They had tried probably most of the positions by now, but usually starting off with something that involved facing her. But he certainly wasn't going to object - looking at her like that was a gorgeous sigh, sweet round buttocks up in the air just waiting for him.
Despite, her being very wet already, he wasn't just going to slam into her - though it was very tempting, but dropped to his knees and licked her, surprising her. Finn traced a long lingering lick along her vulva, spreading her just slightly, and the whimper she let out was definitely not a whimper of dissapproval. His tongue flicked, and twisted, then repeated the long slow lick again.
Charlie didn't know what to do with herself, ever now and again still feeling a little guilty for not doing her part while he was giving her his attention. But it felt divine and she was unable to protest. Soon the tongue was joined by a finger, just barely slipping into her. She bucked her hips and thrust backwards herself, getting what she wanted, though still feeling like she wasn't getting enough.
Finn loved this demandingness in her that had developed over the past few days, hence, wanting to tease a little longer he pulled back the fingers and continued to trace her core mostly with his tongue, just barely touching her with his fingers. She was dripping wet.
"Finn," she breathed, wanting more.
Finn relented, his own need being almost too strong to handle, and kissed her buttocks and back as he leaned over her. He slid himself along her lower lips, and she did again - bucking her hips - nudging just the tip of him against her.
"Oh, fuck, I almost forgot," Finn said, recalling the missing condom. He rushed to the next room, hastily searching for one of the silver packages, and returned as fast as he could.
She observed him over her shoulder as he returned and stroked her a couple more times, warming her back up again, while his other hand stroked himself, and then slipped on the rubber after ripping the package with his teeth. Her little puffs of excitement that could be heard, worked wonders on him.
Charlie let out a deep exhale as he finally entered her, loving the feel of him. A few strokes later he bottomed out, her hips urging him to slam into her more strongly and deeper, having already admitted to him during one of their pillow talks that some mild pain mixing with pleasure was something she quite enjoyed.
They built a good tempo together, him gripping her waist, his movements gaining urgency as it developed.
As he pounded, she leaned on her elbow now, using her other hand to rub herself, on occasion brushing against him.
Finn almost wanted praise her for taking charge of her needs, which she'd begun to do a lot more, the position not always being ideal for him doing all the work. He continued to thrust into her, letting the climax grow. The intensity that took over his mind surprised even him, almost as if blacking out for a second, but thankfully muscle memory still existed, keeping on the rocking motion going.
Charlie's breathing intensified and then he could feel her spasm, once, and once more. She hardly made a noise, perhaps just a sligh gasp, as she came, which was her little peculiarity as he'd learned by now, but cute nonetheless.
"Oh my fucking God, that was amazing," Finn panted as he fell down on the bed.
Charlie chuckled, loving his - sometimes Brittish - sometimes Australian-sounding phrases, and simply having dropped down on her stomach, letting her arms rest.
"Sorry about forgetting...," he said, referring to the condom incident.
"Well, it's not like I'm getting pregnant," she replied, trying to emphasize the positive in her condition, which Finn really didn't know an awful lot about.
"Yeah, still...," Finn sighed.
Finn realized that this was yet another serious conversation they needed to have. While he hardly ever skipped the condom, and had check-ups fairly regularily, he hadn't really had one in months. This is why he made a mental note to go checked out, just in case - he couldn't just drive blind with her. And while she was amazing, deciding to go rubber-less was also a test of his trust in her - that this wasn't some trick to nail someone wealthy. Falling for her was easy, trusting everything she said was easy - but somehow - this early on, he couldn't really help that tiny drop of doubt to take place in his mind.