AN: Corrections to Chapter Nine. I Jess said Charlie instead of Ernest, thanks for pointing that out kiwifruit03. Also, Rory said that Jess had Ernest for the next four months. He really only had him for the next four weeks from that point. The Corrections have been made.

I'd also like to respond one reviewer who asked if I knew I was brilliant, I'd like to say, Of course! I'd like to cite my pen name as an example of my self acknowledged brilliance. Anyway, I sure do hope this chapter is in character. I'd like to think so. Then again, I also like to think I'm a genius, so you can judge for yourself. (The correct answer is that yes, I am a genius. I have proof.)

Chapter Ten: You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore

Three weeks later on a Friday night, Finn walked in to Rory Gilmore's now familiar house after work. He tried knocking, but music was blasting so loud that he figured she couldn't hear him, so he came in through the unlocked door.

"Rory?" he called out to the house. "You know, you shouldn't leave the door unlocked when you're here by yourself. It's not safe."

When he was greeted with no answer, he began to search the house. The song playing on the stereo, he could now decipher as We Got the Beat. When he entered the kitchen he could see her behind sticking out of the open refrigerator, but the rest of her body was bent over inside the fridge.

This was the perfect opportunity if he ever saw one. He walked over and grabbed her ass, which evoked a gasp from her, before turning to the coffee pot to pour himself a cup. A moment later he was assaulted by a stalk of celery.

"What the hell are you doing in my daughter's house, grabbing my ass, and drinking my coffee!"

He turned to be greeted by the site of not his girlfriend, but her mother. "I-I-I'm so sorry. I thought you were Rory."

"Well I guess I can appreciate the compliment. Judging from the accent I guess it's safe to assume that you're Finn?"

"Yes ma'am." He couldn't believe that she just brushed off the ass grab.

"Now I'll have none of that. If you wish to live you will call me Lorelai."

"Alright Lorelai."

"Good. So is there anything I can help you with?"

"I actually came by to surprise Rory. It's our one month anniversary. If you don't mind me asking though, were you supposed to be here today? I mean, I think she would've mentioned you coming."

"Well, I figured I'd come for the weekend to hang with Rory, maybe get drunk, and then go home to discover the mess that my kids have made with only their father supervising them."

"Oh, alright then, I guess…" as Finn trailed off, they both heard the door opening.

She walked into the kitchen and noticed the two unexpected persons. "What are you guys doing here?"

Finn looked at her for a second. "Surprise?" He offered lamely.

Lorelai explained the situation to Rory, during which Rory and Finn were silent, except for when Rory reached over and smacked Finn when Lorelai said he grabbed her butt. When she was finished, they all sat in silence for a moment.

"Well," began Rory. "What should we all do?"

"I can leave," said Finn. "It feels wrong to deny you your time together."

"No, no. I should be the one to leave. This is your first anniversary."

"Neither of you are leaving," proclaimed Rory, in a 'don't you dare object' voice. "What were your plans for tonight Finn?"

"Dinner, desert and a night of passionate," he suddenly remembered Lorelai's presence in the room. "Crossword puzzles. We were going to do crossword puzzles."

"Well, that won't do. My mom hates crossword puzzles."

"It's true. After that incident where I spent a week trying to figure out a three-letter word for evasive that starts with a c."

"Coy," said Rory and Finn in unison.

"Oh my God. You were actually going to do crosswords. You were, weren't you? This is like some weird pod-people world."

They ignored her comment as they shared a smile over their reply. Suddenly, Finn looked as if he had had an epiphany. "I've got it. Let's go to a karaoke bar!"

"Perfect!" Exclaimed Lorelai.

"No way in hell."

"Oh come on babe, you don't have to sing. Leave that to me."

"Come on Rory, it'll be fun! Or need I remind you of the agonizing 62 hours of labor I was in when I had you."

"You weren't in labor for 62 hours mom."

"You don't know. I could have been."

"Fine, fine. I'll go."

"Splendid. My friend Joe owns a karaoke bar in Southie. It's the best of both worlds. We can make fun of their horrible singing, and their accents at the same time."

"Look who's talking," accused Rory. "Your accent will be much more noticeable."

"But mine's exotic."

They decided to eat dinner, to prepare for the night of humiliation. They went out to dinner, which Finn insisted to pay for, before driving the half hour to the bar. Finn had the Caddy, and so Rory offered her mother the front seat and sat in the back.

"So, are you thinking of all the songs you're going to sing Rory?" Her mother jokingly asked her, knowing it would take an earthquake to make her daughter do karaoke.

"Yeah, I was thinking the old classic, 'No Way in Hell.' Oh and I almost forgot, that eighties power ballad, 'Over My Dead Body'"

"Well you don't have to be so snippy about it," said Lorelai. She then turned to Finn. "What about you Australian, you got any songs in mind?"

"Oh, plenty. But it's a surprise. I'll give you a hint though, I will be paying small tribute to my national homage."

"Ooh! Olivia Newton John?"

"I was thinking more like AC/DC, but I'll try to take on something by Olivia if I get through my lengthy list."

"Well, I'd be a willing participant in a Grease duet."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The rest of the drive was mostly silent, save the Oasis CD playing. When they arrived at the bar, it was around eight o'clock.

"Well ladies, I think we got here at the perfect time. Within the next hour, our large audience will assemble, but they'll all be too sober to sing, leaving the mic open to moi."

"That reminds me, you're going to do karaoke sober?"

"Oh, alcohol was never needed for me to make a fool of myself. It was just something to make me look like more of a fool."

"I think I'm going to like you being in AA though. It's like a built in Designated Driver, without the guilt of not letting someone else drink."

They walked into the bar, which was indeed starting to fill up. Finn led them over to the bar and spoke to a bartender, where Lorelai quickly ordered a Martini and Rory gave in to her mother's chiding and ordered a Long Island ice tea.

"But you better not be trying to get me drunk so I'll sleep with you," she said to her mother.

After a few minutes, a man in a suit walked over to them. "Finn! Great to see you!" He and Finn shared a manly hug.

"You too, Joe. I'd like to introduce you my girlfriend Rory, and her mother Lorelai." Rory silently smiled at his mention of her as his girlfriend. It was the first time they had ever labeled each other.

"Pleasure! Any friend of Finn's is a friend of mine."

"So how did you two meet?" Inquired Lorelai.

"We're in AA together," supplied Finn.

"And Finn did my divorce. So can I get you guys anything?"

"I think we're good here. But a little latter on you might help us out in surpassing the queue for singing."

"Of course, Finn." He then turned to the other occupants of the table, "You know Finn's actually good for business. He makes people aspire to reach his level of entertainment."

"We'll be the judge of that," said Rory.

A waitress came up to deliver their drinks, and the waitress whispered something into his ear.

"Thank you Rose," he said to the waitress. And then to the rest of the group, "I'm sorry, but there seems to be a problem that requires my attention. Oh, all your drinks will be on the house for the night, I've already informed Jeremy at the bar."

"Thanks man, it's been great seeing you."

"You too, I'll try to stop by sometime later tonight."

"We'll be here."

"Well that was nice of him," said Lorelai.

"Yeah, he does that every time I come in. I think he still feels indebted to me for the discount I gave him on his divorce work."

"Well, in any case, it means more free liquor for me!" Joked Lorelai.

After Joe left the table, Finn left to go sign himself up for his list of songs. When he came back he whispered something into Lorelai's ear.

"Oh, that is so perfect! I can't wait!"

"For what?" Rory didn't know if she liked her boyfriend and her mother having secrets.

"You shall see," said Finn as he left to go do his first song. It was a surprisingly good rendition of Sinatra's 'That's Life'. He returned to the table with the applause still following him.

"Very good Finn. I have to say I'm surprised," remarked Rory.

"The lady doth underestimate much."

Lorelai's turn came soon after to sing 'Vacation' as Rory and Finn watched. Finn went through a number of other songs including 'You Shook Me All Night Long', 'Twist and Shout' and more of his other favorites.

At around eleven o'clock, he turned to Lorelai. "It's Time for our duet. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She followed him to the stage, where he got applause from his newly aquired fans.

The music started to a song Rory didn't immediately recognize. Lorelai began singing in a dramatic voice Rory soon recognized as her Barbra impression.

You don't bring me flowers
You don't sing me love songs

Finn replied in an equally bad impression of what Rory assumed from the song was supposed to be Neil Diamond.

You hardly talk to me anymore
When you come through the door
At the end of the day

Lorelai answered back again, this time giggling slightly at the words she was singing.

I remember when
You couldn't wait to love me
Used to hate to leave me
Now after lovin' me late at night

Finn replied:

When it's good for you
And you're feeling alright

Lorelai again answered back:

Well you just roll over
And you turn out the light
And you don't bring me flowers anymore

When they made it to the harmonic section, Rory could hardly stay on her chair. She applauded them, causing Finn to go into a deep bow.

"Bravo!"

"I'm glad you liked it hon. Perhaps next time I can get you to accompany me?"

"Right."

"Well, this has forever secured you in the Rory's boyfriend Hall of Fame," said Lorelai. "There are a great many who have come before that I have thought I liked, but I didn't know what true liking of a man dating my daughter was until now. You have replaced the infamous Chuck, who was my favorite simply because he was so ridiculously clueless. I had to let him call me Mrs. Danes because I think he was afraid his mother would scald him for calling an adult by her first name. And the jumpiness! My God, he flinched every time someone blinked. Oh, and I couldn't even think of swearing…"

"Mom! Could you not relive my dating past at this very moment. You'll scare Finn away. Besides, I only dated Chuck because I thought he'd be a good step-father for Ernest."

"Way to be a party-pooper. I'm sure he'd love to hear about it." She turned back towards Finn. "Now Jess. He's someone that's definitely not on the best boyfriends list."

"Oh, I've heard about him. Ernest's dad, right?"

"Well, Jess is Ernest's dad, but that's the newer, more improved Jess. The Jess I'm referring to is early Jess, who I will now refer to as Er-Jess from here on out."

"I'm going to the bathroom mom. Stop talking about Jess."

"Ok, well be careful," she returned to Finn. "As I was saying, Er-Jess filled the role of the 'rebel without a cause, nor want for a cause' boyfriend. He is definitely the worst thing I ever encountered as far as Rory's boyfriends. He's fine now, as you'll probably find whenever you meet him. Oh! Oh!"

"You alright?"

"What are you doing next weekend?"

"I have a feeling that even if I did have plans I'll be canceling them shortly."

"You bet you will. You have to come to Stars Hallow with Rory! Everyone would love to meet you."

"Well I'd love to, but I think we should talk to Rory about it."

"Talk to me about what?" asked Rory upon her return from the restroom.

Lorelai told Rory her idea, which Rory was quick to agree to.

"Well, I guess I'll be there then," agreed Finn.

Later that night, Rory and Finn were undressing in Rory's room.

"You're sure it's okay for me to stay over with your mom here?"

"Stay over, yes. No sex though. That's just weird."

"Okay, we'll just have to be extra cuddy then."

"Fine by me."

Rory fell asleep moments later and started her soft humming. Finn, however was having trouble sleeping, so he untangled Rory from his arms and went into the kitchen downstairs.

"Hey there." He was startled by Lorelai and jumped at the sound of her voice. "Now cut that out or I'll have to start calling you Duncan."

"Hey Lorelai."

"Pull up a chair."

They sat in silence for a minute before Finn spoke. "Is this the time when you give me the 'You break her heart I'll break your neck' speech?"

"No, now and days it's more like 'You break her heart I'll slash the tires on your Cadillac' speech."

AN2: Hope you like this chapter. I'm very proud of it. If you haven't heard the song, you should. While I do really like Neil Diamond, Barbara, (as in Streisand, if you didn't already get that) kinda gets on my nerves. The comment about Southie is not meant to offend. I love people from Boston. Please review and tell me how brilliant I am. Or how annoying my confidence is.