PAIRING: Finn/Rory.

RATING: G

SPOILERS: Everything that has aired so far is fair game.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. All characters are property of ASP and the WB.

NOTES: Chapter title courtesy of A PJ Harvey song. Thank you to all the lovely reviewers.

Three: This Mess We're In

Thus began the flurry of phone calls that came from all over. Lane called from L.A and highly approved. Stephanie called from Atlanta, talked to Finn then asked to speak to Rory. They made plans to meet up in January, when Stephanie was in New York for a shareholders meeting. Paris called from Boston, Emily and Richard broke out the speakerphone (opening with, 'Rory, did we wake you? And making Rory cringe), several of Finn's relatives called from uptown, Lorelai called again, twice. And that was only the phone calls that were made to Rory and Finn. Elsewhere Colin and Stephanie both phoned Logan. Finn's mother phoned Emily to arrange a meeting. Lane phoned Lorelai. The telephone companies were making a bundle on long distance from everyone involved. Shame none of them owned stock.

At about 2 PM Finn turned off his phone and stuffed it in the freezer, behind a package of garden vegetables Luke had brought over once. Rory followed his lead and turned off or unplugged anything that rang or beeped. She imagined she's just experienced what a starlet does at a press junket, answered the same question a dozen times with only a slight rearranging of words. She'd played the 'we're just friends' card to minimal effect.

"Well, that was fun," Finn said sarcastically from where he was once again sprawled across Rory's couch. "Now I remember why I like e-mail. E-mail doesn't talk back in a snippy tone like Auntie Adele. Oh, by the way," he was aiming for casual but missed, "you are now required to attend tomorrow night's festivities."

"Why?"

"My mum's a difficult lady to say no to."

Rory snickered and shoved his legs aside so she could sit, "Never pictured you as a mama's boy, Finn."

"Hey, you're hardly one to talk, Gilmore. If ever there was a classic case of cast iron apron strings it's you and yours."

Rory didn't really have a leg to stand on when it came to arguing that point. "What should I wear?"

"It's black tie. Basically a ball, though we don't call it that. My mother thinks 'balls' are only for people who can't actually afford to attend one." Finn's arm came to rest behind her back.

"If only I had a fairy godmother."

"Do you need a dress, fair lady? Just give me a minute to let my phone unthaw and I'll have you something alarmingly expensive and gorgeous and made in a sweatshop delivered within the hour."

"No. It's okay. I bought a dress for Grandma's New Years Eve Party that I can wear. If you'd like to turn some mice into servants though, feel free. This place could use some dusting."

"I've a good many talents. Sadly, transfiguration is not among them."

"Yet another reason why Harry Potter would be the perfect boyfriend."

"I'm more of a Malfoy man, myself."

Rory curled her legs up under her, leaning into him, "That's a sentence I never thought I'd hear you say."

"My nieces are Potter freaks. Wouldn't let me read 'em anything else last time I saw them."

"Oh. You read?."

"Occasionally. Men's magazines. TV Guide, you know."

Rory was silent for a moment. Finn's hand twisted strands of her hair gently, "Finn?"

"Mmm?"

"What are we going to tell people?"

"We tell them that we're friends. Unless…" he cleared his throat. Rory almost thought he sounded nervous, but then, Finn didn't get nervous. "Unless you'd like to tell them something different?"

"Friends is good."

"Agreed."

The next day, Finn and Rory went to lunch and Rory confessed to being slightly terrified.

"Whatever for? You've been to these sorts of things before. You'll eat a canapé. Tell you've never met before that you're grandparents, Richard and Emily Gilmore, are doing just fine. You'll have a glass of champagne. Talk about your job. You'll dance. Lather, rinse, repeat."

"Ugh. I suck at small talk."

"No you don't. I've seen you work these parties before, Rory. You're naturally charming."

Rory rolled her eyes, "I suppose, I should take that as a compliment, coming from you."

"I'm a people person."

"That's putting it mildly," Rory couldn't even count the number of times she's seem him bewitch people (men and women alike), effortlessly, into doing his bidding. "What's your family like?"

"My parents are… difficult. They'll be perfectly gracious to you, of course, as you're single, from a good family and of a marriageable age, and not deformed in any way. Physically, anyway. You won't talk to them long enough for them to grasp your many mental deformities. You know the type."

Rory punched him playfully for the insult and wrinkled her nose, "Oh. That type."

Finn shrugged, "They're not bad people, really. A little snobby and a lot stiff. You'll meet Ollie. Olivia, actually. She hates it when I call her Ollie."

"Which is why you do."

"You know me far too well, Rory Gilmore. She's my older sister and I've never forgiven her for stabbing me with a fork when I was five."

"I'm guessing you deserved it."

"I may have tossed a couple of her dolls on to the grill when no one was looking, but still. It left a scar. And she was too old for dolls, anyway."

"Poor baby."

"Anyway, violent tendencies aside, she's mostly pretty great. Has kept the parent's off my back heaps of times. Wired me money when they cut me off, picked me up from miscellaneous seedy establishments, etc."

"You're very own rescue squad. Neat. Does she live in London, too?"

"No, actually. She lives in Versailles with her ridiculously brilliant software engineer husband and two mini-hers."

"Ah, the Potter freaks."

"Isabelle and Margot. They'll be there. I plan to sneak them as much sugar as I possibly can so they'll be bouncing off the walls by bedtime."

"Looking for another fork wound?"

"She likes to think she's too mature for that now, so I think I'm safe. My younger brother will be there, too. He's…" Finn grimaced, "basically me during my Yale years."

"Read: lecherous."

"Hey! I resent that."

"Please. If it was wearing lipgloss you hit on it. Heavily. And persistently."

"Fair point," Finn took an insult well, especially when it was a factual one. "But I'd like to think I did it better than he does."

"And you'd be wrong."

"I was in college. Those years are supposed to be about doing stupid things. Jasper's two years out but has yet to do anything but burn through a considerable amount of my father's money."

"Kids these days," Rory shook her head in a show of disappointment.

"You're mocking me."

"Possibly. Grandpa."

Knowing some of the particulars of Finn's family had distracted her, but hadn't been able to calm her nerves. The butterflies were flapping uncontrollably in her stomach as she rode the elevator up to Finn's room. They'd agreed to meet at his hotel room at 7:00, as it was closer to the party site. She was a little early. She knocked on the door then nervously smoothed her hair back. He opened the door after a beat. The sight of Finn in a tuxedo was not unfamiliar (LDB events had always favored formal wear) nor was it unpleasant. He wore it easily and well without a trace of the unease that many men felt when stuffed into a penguin suit. And when he smiled at her, slowly, appreciatively, Rory's breath caught, and she forgot for a second that he was just an old friend.

"I see our years apart have not dampened your obsessive punctuality." He held the door open wider and invited her in. "I've got something for you."

"Really?" Rory asked, intrigued. "Is it bigger than a breadbox?"

"No," he fetched a small blue box from a table and handed it to her. Rory took off her mittens and opened it. Within sat a pair of earrings, tiny diamonds adorning platinum strings.

"Finn, they're lovely."

"I saw them when I was picking out a broach for my mother. Thought of you."

"Thank you," she removed the simple pearl studs she's been wearing and put on Finn's gift. "What do you think?"

"Beautiful."

Rory ducked her head, uncomfortable, because she got the distinct impression he didn't mean just the earrings, "Well, the coat probably doesn't do them justice, but thanks. Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes," he checked his watch, "The car should have arrived already," he pulled his coat from the closet and took her hand in his, "Let's get this over with."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"You know we're in for a boring couple of hours. No way around it. We will smile, and nod, and persevere, like good little pilgrims."

"Good plan. Minus the part about pilgrims."

"How 'bout afterwards we find a McDonald's and eat happy meals? You can have my toy."

Rory placed her hand over her heart, "That's the best offer I've had all week, mister."