Chapter Thirteen: Thursday Night My Stockings Needed Mending

AN: Much to Say. Sorry about the lack of updates, but school and finals are over. So, did anyone else think the season finale was really dumb? Come one Rory! 'Aww, poor me. I'm gonna drop out of the Ivy League college that my grandparents are paying for.' Boo hoo. I swear, over the last two seasons, I've just stopped liking Rory. Oh well. I guess I should start calling this thing AU, because Rory's an idiot.

Okay, so enjoy this chapter. Happy reading.

The next morning, Finn and Rory awoke in the mess of blankets they had created the night before.

"I can't believe you convinced me to do thatin my mother's house!"

"Convinced? You were a more than willing participant, or don't you remember moaning my name. And by the way, good job with the Lorelai not hearing us thing, NOT!"

"She didn't hear us, my mom sleeps like a log, Luke on the other hand…EW! Luke heard us having sex! He did! He's the lightest sleeper ever. He wakes up when mom shifts half an inch in bed. My mom hearing us is one thing, but Luke?"

"Rory, calm down. He didn't hear us. I made sure your volume didn't get too out of control. Although I can't blame you. That was some of my best work."

"Look at the ego on you. I should let you know that if Luke did hear us, you two will have an extremely awkward relationship for at least the rest of the weekend, and there could be tension for the remainder of your relationship with him."

"Why wouldn't there be any tension with you and Luke?"

"Because Luke thinks I'm perfect. In his eyes, I can commit no wrong. When Jess and I told him we were pregnant, he attacked Jess verbally and physically for being so irresponsible, then he gave me cake!"

"He didn't hear us anyway. We were very quiet. Plus, they probably weren't even in bed yet."

"Maybe not for the first time, but the second time… I'm not worried anyway though, because like I said. You'll take all the blame."

"Yeah, for your inability to repress the urge to verbally express the pleasure I'm causing you."

"Can you blame me?" She said somewhat seductively. "Wouldn't you have a hard time containing it if you had a sexy Australian man making love to you."

"If I had? I do. His name's Steve. Haven't I mentioned him before?"

"Okay, I'm taking myself away from this madness," she said getting out of bed. "I'm taking a shower."

"Can I join you?"

The sound of a multiple sets of little feet running in the hallway outside the door and then a banging on the door answered his question for him.

"I'm guessing no, then."

That afternoon, Finn and Rory sat on the back porch watching their respective children playing with Luke and Lorelai's kids on the swing set. Finn remembered the dinner they were to attend tonight, and decided that now would be as good a time as any to break the news about Logan to Rory.

"So where did you say we were going with Colin and Steph tonight?"

"I didn't. It's this great restaurant in Hartford that Lane told me about."

"Clothes?"

"Dressy casual. That green and blue striped shirt would be good. And those dark brown dress pants. Oh! And those brown Steve Maddens we got last week."

"How do you know I packed all that?"

"I looked in your drawers."

"Geez, I gave Colin a hard time about his wife dressing him, and now you're doing it to me."

"Well I can't have my man looking trashy."

"Have you ever known me to look trashy?"

"Only when you were actually trashed," she laughed at her dumb joke.

"Well those days are over, and gone with them are any times when I would ever look less than worthy of gracing the cover of GQ." He suddenly remembered the reason he brought the dinner up. "So guess who I talked to the other day?"

"Who?"

"You're not even gonna fake guess?" He looked disappointed. "You have to pretend like you're interested."

"Fine, was it Big Bird?"

"No, but good try. It was Logan."

"Don't you guys talk all the time? I mean, Stephanie says you and Colin talk at least once a week."

"Colin and I do talk once a week. Logan on the other hand…"

"What's going on between you two?"

"Nothing, I was just sort of, you know, avoiding him since we started dating."

"You've avoided one of your best friends for the last month? How does he not think you're dead?"

"I wrote a few emails. I just didn't know how he would react to our relationship."

"Finn, that was lifetimes ago. I'm sure he won't care that you're dating."

"You might be right, but it's more likely that he will completely flip out about it."

"Well," she said, rationalizing. "You'll never know until you tell him, so go give him a call."

"Well…that's the other thing." He paused. "After tonight, Logan will know about us whether I call him or not."

"And why is that?"

"I sort of invited him to dinner tonight…"

"WHAT?"

"I don't know how it happened. It was like I blinked, and all of the sudden he was coming to dinner with us."

"How does that happen?"

"We figured out that we'd both be in Hartford this weekend, and then I mentioned that I was meeting Colin for dinner, and he immediately agreed to the assumed invite."

"And he doesn't know that I'm going to be there?"

"I didn't have time to tell him and then he had to get off the phone."

Rory took a deep breath to calm herself from a potential anxiety attack. "It's fine. We'll live through this."

"Or die trying."

That night, Rory drove Finn's car to the front of the restaurant where the valet took the keys to park it.

"Well," began Finn as he buttoned his sports coat before offering Rory his hand. "You ready?"

"Not in the least bit."

"Me either. But alas..."

"Yeah, yeah. Point me to the bar," she remarked as they entered the building.

"Well at least you get alcohol. I have to go through this sober."

"A fitting punishment for the one who got us into this mess."

"Well if I remember correctly you were the one who set this whole thing …"

He was interrupted by her exclamation, "Look! There's Colin and Stephanie. That means Logan's not here yet."

"Yet," he whispered into her ear from behind as they made their way to wear Colin and Stephanie waited at the bar. They all exchanged hugs in greeting when the Maitre D informed that the table was ready. Rory was about to inform him that they were still waiting for the fifth member of their party when Stephanie told her about Logan calling to inform them that he would be late.

Seated at the table, they ordered drinks with Stephanie and Finn opting for non alcoholic beverages, and Rory and Colin ordering wine.

"Colin, I can't believe you're drinking wine in front of your pregnant wife," Rory remarked to him.

"Why? You're drinking wine in front of your sober boyfriend. Besides, my drinking won't hurt the baby, while her drinking would."

Rory disregarded him and turned to Stephanie. "You need to crack the whip on him. When I was pregnant I wouldn't let Jess drink at all, including coffee. If I had to abstain, then so did he."

Stephanie laughed at her friend and the two turned back to their significant others' conversation about the stock market.

"I mean it Finn, even though the market is in a stage of prosperity right now, we're over due for a recession."

"That's where I think you're wrong, mate. Financial experts are predicting a continued rise in stock prices."

Stephanie and Rory listened for a minute before Stephanie said to her friend, "Would it be too incredibly girly if I excused myself from this manly stock talk and went to the bathroom?"

Rory answered back, "Hey, you're pregnant. Blame it on the baby, I'll even piggyback on your excuse and join you."

"Well of course. Women always go to the restroom in twos."

"Right you are Steph." The ladies excused them selves and walked towards the back of the restaurant.

"Thank God we finally scared them away with financial talk. So how are you holding up?" Colin asked Finn.

"About as well as anyone who's about to die."

"He would never kill you. At the very most, he'll just stop being friends with you and you two would only see each other at awkward Yale alumni events. And maybe you'd still get the Christmas car his secretary sends out for him every year."

"Thanks Colin, that helped so much," he said sarcastically.

"You think it'd be bad for you. I'd be the go-between guy. I'd have to inform each of you of the new developments in each others lives, not to mention the way Steph and I would have to decide which one of you to invite to our parties."

"Ooh! Pick me! I'm very well behaved in front of company!"

"That will be taken into consideration Finn. I can promise you that."

Before they had anytime to go further into the subject, they were interrupted by a voice behind them.

"I hope you two aren't repeating the argument about you got to be best man at your wedding Colin."

"Logan!" Exclaimed Colin as he and Finn rose to greet their old friend. They exchanged hugs before again sitting down.

"Where's Stephanie?" He asked gesturing towards the empty chair beside Colin. "And don't tell me you actually have a girlfriend now Finn." He said with regards to the other empty chair beside Finn.

"Well yes, actually…"

"No kidding. I guess a lot changes when you don't talk to someone for a month."

"About that, Logan. I'm really sorry for avoiding you, but things were kind of complicated in my life."

"Complicated as in how Finn?"

"Well you know," he began when he spotted Rory and Stephanie returning to their table. "Logan, there was a reason I didn't respond to any of your messages for the past month or so."

"I think we've established that Finn. I'm just trying to figure out what the reason was," he paused when he noticed the presence of Stephanie now at the table. He, along with Finn and Colin stood as proper society gentleman should when a lady enters. He walked around the table to greet her. "You look great Steph. I mean it. If all women looked that good pregnant, it'd be the new 'in' thing."

"It's good to see you Logan," she said while eying Rory who had gotten held up waiting for a waiter to pass, and was just arriving at the table.

"Logan," began Finn to get his friend's attention. "You remember Rory Gilmore."

"What? Why is Rory here?" He asked, but as he saw Rory grasp Finn's hand, it became painfully clear.

"Rory and I have been dating for the past month or so. This was the reason I didn't want to call you. I was afraid of how you'd react."

"Well," he started slowly. He couldn't, and didn't want to comprehend the situation. "It looks like I'm the fifth wheel," he said lamely.

They were all seated at the table again when Finn began to speak. "Look Logan. I'm really sorry for not telling you. I just didn't want to ruin anything between us. And Rory and mine's relationship was still new. I didn't want to have to face the reality yet. Please don't be mad at me."

Logan thought for a second. He was a little shocked to Rory Gilmore after all theses years, dating his best friend no less. But he couldn't really blame Finn for pursuing her. It had been almost a decade since she and him had dated, and who was he to try and still hold claim over her. He couldn't help but feel a little pain though. He had always secretly thought of Rory as 'the one that got away'. But their relationship was never meant to work and he couldn't fault Finn for that. He replied to Finn's earlier plea, "I'm not mad."

Finn looked so happy he could've burst. He jumped up from his chair and came around the table to envelope Logan into a tight hug. "You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that."

But feeling the weight of Finn's words, and the tight embrace he was currently giving Logan, he could completely comprehend how much this meant to Finn. "You can let go now, man."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I must've forgotten myself."

"That seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?" Chimed in Colin.

The group broke into fluid conversation after the situation was resolved. When the live band began to play another song, Finn extended his hand to Rory, who accepted the unspoken invitation, and the two quickly moved to the sparsely populated dance floor.

"So how do you think it went?" Finn was eager to hear Rory's opinion.

"I think it went well. He didn't even seem that mad. And there was only minimal tension at the table.

"I know. This is almost to good to be true. I mean, the only thing better that could've happened would've been if he'd been overjoyed to hear about it."

Back at the table, Colin, Stephanie, and Logan were sharing a similar conversation.

"I can't believe you took that so well Logan. Almost as if you were a, dare I say it, adult," joked Colin.

"Well, I thought about it, and even though I did at one time have been very hung up on Rory, that was years ago. We've both moved on, obviously," he gestured to the dance floor where Finn was kissing Rory's neck as she laughed at something he had just said. "Besides, Finn can offer Rory what she wants. Settling down, a house, a kid."

Stephanie snorted at the last part of his sentence.

"What's so funny?" He didn't like being the butt of this joke.

"Rory doesn't need Finn's offering of a kid. She has one of her own."

Logan almost choked on his scotch. "I beg your pardon?"

"Rory," Stephanie began slowly, as if talking to a two year old. "Has a son."

He stood from the table and pushed in his chair. "I think it's about time I cut in."

He walked to where the couple stood on the floor, tapped Finn on the shoulder, and said with perfect Cotillion ease, "May I?"

Finn glanced at Rory, before offering her hand to Logan. "Of course."

Rory and Logan quickly assumed a dancing position, with a safe, comfortable distance between them.

Logan wasted no time in jumping right in. "So I hear you have a kid."

"Yes I do."

"No one ever told me you got married."

"Now you and I both know that one does not have to be married to have a child."

"So who's the father, then?" Suddenly his face went white as a thought over came him. "He's not mine, is he?"

"God no. If he was yours, I'd have had you paying child support though the nose just to get back at you for the birthing pains. But no, he's not yours. We were always careful, unlike Jess and I…"

"Jess? Do I know him?"

"I may have mentioned him in passing at some point. He was an old high school boyfriend. We met up again after I graduated and moved to New York. Tried to rekindle our relationship, but there was nothing left. We decided to just be friends, but not before one night of unprotected sex."

"The condom broke?"

"I wish. We decided we couldn't wait for Jess to run out and buy some. We were out."

"You horn ball."

"Like I was saying," she ignored his earlier comment. "Nine months latter, I squeezed that eight-pounder out."

"Great visual. But really Ror. You look good. You do not look like someone who's had a baby in the very least."

"You know, that's exactly what Finn said when he found out."

"He and I have that in common."

"What, the inability to tell when a woman is a mother?"

"No. The desire to compliment beautiful women."

She blushed slightly as the song ended. She suggested they move back to the table, and he agreed. Just as the two sat down, their food arrived and they began to eat. The topic of conversation quickly focused on the group member's respective children. Stephanie told stories of the antics of their youngest boy who had thought his name was 'you' for two months because that was what everyone referred to him as. Rory mentioned how Ernest had come back from New York with an accent he picked up from the other kids in the building. Finn talked about Charlie's new love of Finn's black silk boxers, and how they were always missing. Logan just sat and listed to the stories of their children with a smile. Soon, dinner was over, and Finn insisted it was his turn to pay, even Colin distinctly remembered otherwise until Stephanie jabbed him with her elbow.

As the group stood outside, waiting for their cars to be brought around, Stepahine stood with Finn and Rory, talking about her desire for her pregnancy to be over, while Logan stood behind them with Colin.

"After listening to you guys talk tonight," began Logan. "I've decided something."

"And what would that be?"

"I think I want this," he said gesturing towards Stephanie.

"You want Stephanie? Please, it'd be my pleasure to have you take a pregnant woman off my hands."

"No, I mean, what you guys have."

"Marital problems?"

"I think I want to find a girl and settle down."

"You. Want to settle down? Are you okay?"

"I know I always said I was planning on becoming an eccentric old man who dates women half his age, but I don't know. Just, listening to you guys talk about your kids, seeing Rory and Finn together…"

"So that's what this is about."

"It's not. I just realized that I want that with someone. I want to tell corny stories about my kids."

"My stories are not corny!"

"Anyway. Just, can you not tell Stephanie about this?"

"Oh, don't worry. Even I wouldn't wish the wrath of her match-making anyone."

Sorry if that ending was too corny. I'm a pretty corny person, so... Anyway, I hope you like how I handled the Logan situtaion. Don't worry, I wasn't gonna have him still be madly in love after 10 years. But yeah, so I love feedback, especially in the summer since I'm on the computer 60 times a day, so give me some reviews to read. Or don't, you know.