Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, but I'm sure the Palladino's don't mind sharing. They seem like a cool couple.

A/N: No, no, no, no, no. I demand sympathy. I just lost three pages of this. If I wasn't so tired I'd be sobbing right now. Three hours of typing. Definitely going to cry. So once more unto the breach.

So, I think this is the last part. Keep an eye on the complete button. If it is not there then once again I have forgotten to change this bit. Could be there is another chapter. Never mind.

A/N2: The thing in the computer room is based on something that happened to me, sadly it took me ages to figure out that this is the sophisticated version of running up to a girl on the playground and tugging her braids. Cool trick though and now that I know how it is done it is that much cooler. Definitely A for effort.

I apologise in advance if they are OOC.

Chapter Three: Theirs

Slowly, numbly Rory left the set of rooms she shared with Paris secure in the knowledge that her mother would most likely be sleeping in her bed when she got tired.

Surely her and Paris were wrong, they had to be wrong. No way would Rory have missed something as earth shattering as being in love with Finn, right? This was vital stuff. Sure, she needed to be smacked over the head by Lane in order to know about Dean. And she hadn't known about Tristan, if she was really honest with herself, until said man had told her how much he had wanted to kiss her five minutes before leaving for military school and never returning. She flushed slightly when she remembered her obliviousness regarding Jess' intentions and the disaster that had been Dean mark two. But she'd grown up, right? That's what college was all about. Growing up and learning. Learning how to deal with life and being in love with one of your best friends.

Rory sighed in frustration. She hadn't come here to fall in love. She was here in Yale to learn. Learn for the rest of your life and not to meet the love of your life before you even had a chance to experience other things.

"NO!" Rory said out loud, shaking her head to clear it from that particular thought. "That is not what is happening here. He is not the love of my life. I'm not ready for that. I don't want my life to be like that." Uncomfortably however the thought impinged on her consciousness that life was what happened while you were planning other things.

Resolutely Rory turned her thoughts to other topics, suppressing the thought that she was procrastinating from having to deal with the really important issues.

"They're wrong about Marty. I just know they are. It's all a figment of their imagination. He is not in love with me. He's a friend nothing more."

Rory groaned and sank down on a convenient bench in the quiet secluded park her feet had carried her to. Obsessing about whether or not Marty was infatuated with her was beside the point and did not resolve the situation with Finn. If he was there was nothing she could do about it, as she only liked him as a friend. Seeing as he had never let his maybe-attraction get in the way of their friendship, Rory decided to ignore it. It would only embarrass Marty to know that she knew. No good could come from that.

Looking around she realised that the secluded park she thought herself in was nothing of the sort, it was simply a part of the campus she did not often frequent, namely the small park at the entrance to the football pitch.

"Well, that's fine. Nobody is going to look for me here." she mused settling in for a long think. Fortunately the moon was out and combined with the soft glow of the streetlights illuminated the area quite nicely. It was almost romantic. All she needed now was a knight in shining armour on a white charger and she would be set. Soaking in the atmosphere, it took her a while to realise that in her haste to leave the apartment she had failed to pick up the basic tools of her trade, namely pen and paper. How the hell was she supposed to methodically lay out the plus/minus list concerning loving Finn if she didn't have paper to write on or even if she did, something to write on it with.

"This is just fabulous." Rory groused. However, just as she was about to jump up and retrace her steps in a effort to claim the missing utensils a memory of something her mother had once said to her intruded.

"Sweetie, not everything can be solved with lists. I know you would like it to be so, but it just isn't possible. And love is one of those things. It is not something you can just decide on. A plus/minus thing, where you can weigh the advantages and disadvantages and then make your decision. It just is. You can fall in love with the most random person, often at first sight and nothing can change that. It's not a conscious thing. You either are or you aren't. And no list is going to change that."

At the time her mother had been talking about a nice young man her grandparents had been shoving her way. Derek had been everything she could have wanted in a man, nice intelligent and caring, but there just wasn't any sparkage. Rory had felt terribly bad about not being able to like him as everybody - bar her mom who just wanted her happy - thought she should.

Looked like her mother was going to get her wish. For the first time in as long as she could think, Rory was going to make a decision without the benefit of a list.

"If I just knew where to start."

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Finn stalked through the night, lips quirking in a smile when yet another freshman scuttled out of his path after taking one look at his thunderous expression.

He felt no real pleasure however. Morosely gazing at the scenes of past exploits instead. And there were numerous. There was the tree behind which he had convinced the Psych TA to partake in some outdoor nookie. And a little further on was the fountain in which Marie - or was it Claire - and he had pranced around, finding out to his pleasure and Marie/Claire's chagrin that white wasn't the only colour to go see-through when wet.

The Phi-Beta sorority house brought a host of memories. He was just glad that the sisters were as bad at remembering names as he was, otherwise he would have been in a world of trouble ages ago.

Which brought him back to the real reason he was wandering the campus at night. From the first time he had seen her he had never forgotten her name. Sure he pretended that he had as a joke but that was all it had been. A pretence. A vain attempt to ignore the warning signs.

And the fact that Rory's name, her real name not some random nickname, had stuck in his mind so easily should have been as obvious a fact as a pink elephant in a tutu.

When he had listed his daily routine to the boys, he hadn't been entirely honest. He saw Rory more often than simply at LDB events. Coffee breaks, the occasional trips to amusement parks, mainly when he thought she was working too hard. Without realising it Rory had already changed his life and yet he had still held on to bedding a different girl every night.

And now all that would be over. It would be one woman for as long as the relationship held. The thought wasn't as frightening as he thought it would be. Another surprise to add to the long list of surprises this night had brought.

Finn couldn't deny that the thought of being with Rory held enormous amount of pleasure. It made him feel all warm and tingly. The thought of falling asleep with her beside him, waking up with her beside him, seeing that lovely face and those eyes light up. It would be bliss. Right up until he did something monumentally stupid and made her run as far away as her legs could carry her, leaving him hurt in the dust. "But maybe this will be different?" He asked himself almost wistfully.

With a deep sigh Finn dropped to the grass beside a tree. "Who am I kidding? How am I supposed to have a normal relationship when the only one I've ever seen is the dysfunctional hell my parents put me through." Neither of his parents had been willing to bend even the slightest. Not even in the four other marriages they had managed to rack up between them. It was all so messed up.

"Rory doesn't need someone like me. What could I possibly give her?" Another sigh split the night. "I'm just going to have to get over it. And make sure she finds somebody nice. That way I can be sure she is happy." he fell back on the grass, resolutely ignoring the little voice inside his head that was trying to get him to understand that this might not be the best thing and that his reaction to somebody encroaching on his things had never been the most lucid or restrained. "I'm just a regular knight in shining armour aren't I?.

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Rory flopped back on the bench, letting one arm dangle and her thoughts wander. Now that she had decided to not use the list system that had served her so well over the years, she would jut have to let her thoughts wander and see where it would take her.

Unbidden her thoughts turned back to another bench and another time. It had been after another one of those horrid Dean incidents, when she had just realised that she would never be anything but the other woman. She had sat there mourning the loss of her innocence, realising it was impossible to recapture the joys of her first love, that it had been stupid to try simply because she felt so lost in her first year at Yale. It hurt to realise how messed up everything had become and how much the early memories had bee tarnished.

And just when she had reached rock bottom wallowing-wise two things had appeared in her line of sight. One was a pair of expensive loafers and the other a hand holding a double tall latte machiato. And attached to both was Finn, gazing at her with compassion and understanding.

He'd sat with her in comfortable silence as she wrestled her demons and then whisked her away for a fun-filled afternoon at the fair before finally depositing her slightly tipsy and giggling at the door to her dorm.

Rory sighed: "Just like a knight in slightly tarnished armour."

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"Right focus Finn! We have to find a nice young man for Rory. Somebody reliable and … no scratch that. Reliable is boring. She needs somebody she can count on, who is there when she needs him." Finn nodded to himself. Now he was getting somewhere. "Somebody who lightens her oh so serious study or die attitude."

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Rory switched positions once more trying to find a single one that was even remotely comfy. She couldn't go back to her nice comfy bed back at the dorm because one the one hand her mom had probably spread out in it and on he other the whole point of this exercise was to figure out how she felt about Finn and to figure out what she wanted.

Inadvertently her mind wandered back to the week before finals started. She'd been studying online in one of the many computer rooms provided by the university when the first popup appeared on her screen.

x

Pssst

x

Rory blinked, confused, dismissed it as a fluke and clicked the box closed.

x

Pssst!

x

There was another one. 'Well, twice is a coincidence' Rory muttered to herself. Moving the mouse to hover over the little x she clicked the box closed once more and continued working.

x

Seriously! Pssst

x

Now she was getting pissed off. Glancing up sharply she looked around to see no suspicious behaviour. All the students she could see were studiously staring at their screens. And there was nobody she knew anyway. Sitting back down she tried to immerse herself in her work.

x

Didn't your mom teach you that ignoring people is rude?

x

Rory huffed. This was getting ridiculous. How was she supposed to get any work done. Frowning furiously she clicked to pop-up closed.

x

Don't frown kitten. It'll give you wrinkles.

x

"What?" Rory jumped out of her seat, only to see Finn pop up from the computer he had been hiding behind.

"Problems, kitten?" He snarked with a grin.

Trying desperately to hold on to her indignant expression, Rory instead burst into giggles.

It was only much later that it would occur to her that hacking his way into her computer and playing that trick on her certainly required a level of skill one would not normally assume from a self-professed lazy party-animal. Maybe that had been the moment when he had become more than a one-dimensional cardboard cut-out and turned into an interesting human being with quirks and talents and weaknesses.

She giggled once more. Finn's stunt had made her day, not to mention livened up a very dull evening at her grandparents' house. Her mom had made a comment about playground tactics but Rory had laughed her off at the point.

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Finn was rapidly wearing a groove into the hundred year old lawn in front of the library. "I have to find somebody who her mom will like. And her grandparents." Finn sighed. This was rapidly turning into one the twelve labours. Her mom was a sweetheart but Emily and Richard were another story entirely. They had never agreed on the same man, ever!

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Now that she was finally getting around to taking stock of Finn's role in her life, Rory realised that somehow he had already become a large part of it without her even realising. She saw him every day, at least twice. Once for their regular coffee date which usually was his first and her tenth cup of the day and then at whatever event the LDB planned. She'd missed the last two because of finals.

From that thought she jumped to the last time she'd missed an event. Just as she had been getting ready for the secret party everybody knew about her mother had phoned in tears, wailing that she didn't fit in any of her clothes anymore and that Luke would never love her anymore when she looked like a beached whale with ankles the size of sleeper rails.

Rory had just about managed to hide the laugh bubbling up inside her and promised to come over immediately. Of course that had been the moment Finn had chosen to come pick her up. Although she had no idea how it had happened they had ended up going to Star's Hollow together. Within five minutes of arriving Finn had had her mother in stitches with laughter and even managed to tease a smile out of Luke.

Rory smiled to herself once more. Finn had slipped into life in Star's Hollow remarkably easily. Took to it like a duck to water in fact. "Maybe I do like him?" Rory mused, still unsure of herself. He had passed all her subconsciously given tests with more or less flying colours, he made her laugh, fit into both her lives as if born to it - something none of her ex-boyfriends had ever managed to pull off - and let's face it he was certainly easy on the eyes.

Maybe she did like him. As more than simply a friend. But there was only one way to find out. She would have to go over there and find out.

"No. I can't do that. What if he doesn't like me? Then we can't even be friends anymore." It burst out from her. The only thing that worried her more than telling Finn was finding out that he didn't like her that way - would never like her that way - and would sever all contact. She trusted that he wouldn't laugh, but, all the same, things would be awkward.

"I could just pretend that nothing is wrong and carry on as before. Nobody needs to know." She tried to reassure herself. Only to suffer a flashback to the women Finn had scored in the past weeks and her - quickly suppressed - flashes of murderous rage and jealousy.

"This is stupid! Are you a Gilmore or not? Grandad would be ashamed of your cowardice. Just get up and go over there and …"

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Finn had resumed his restless walking around campus, unable to stay still for longer than a minute. He had completed his mental list of the perfect boyfriend for Rory.

'So you're okay with somebody else kissing her then?' An insidious little voice asked him.

A red haze filled his vision as he pictured Rory in somebody else's arms. His fists automatically balled, twitching to close around the perpetrator's throat.

"Nobody touches my Rory." He growled into the stillness of the night.

'Thought so.' The little voice stated smugly.

Finn sagged, realising that it wasn't in him to try and see Rory happy with somebody else. He wanted her to be happy with him, even though he knew he was the worst investment there could be. But that didn't matter. He wanted to. He had to at least try. And if he was lucky she wouldn't laugh in his face but maybe listen and maybe, just maybe, give him a chance.

Looking up he realised that his feet had carried him to the football pitch and as if in answer to an unspoken prayer, there on a bench lay Rory, one arm and a leg dangling to the ground. Eyes half-closed and talking to herself.

Steeling himself he walked on. "Right. This is it. Courage Finn."

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"Come on Rory, it's not that hard. Just get up and go over there and …"

"And what, kitten?" The slightly accented voice shocked Rory into an upright position as she stared at the man who had monopolised her thoughts for the past hours.

"What are you doing out here? I thought you had a test tomorrow?"

Taken slightly aback Rory gazed at Finn. Clad in slacks and an untucked white shirt, he stood in front of her with his hands buried in his pockets, an unreadable expression on his handsome face.

"I had a lot of thinking to do." she answered. "What about you? Don't you have a party you're supposed to be at?"

"I had a lot of thinking to do?" he echoed, drinking in the sight before him with starving eyes. "Mind if I sit?"

Silently Rory slid over and made room on the bench. Silence fell, only to be broken by the very nervous Rory.

"So what were you thinking about? Where to go on spring break? I hear Tijuana is good. Not that I have ever been there, but they say it's good. Not any specific they, just you know generalised they. Anyway, they say that there are a lot of willing girls there, so maybe you should go there." Finn's face, originally amused by her rambling, fell when he realised how one-dimensional he must look to outsiders. 'Who am I kidding? This is just stupid. She'll never…'

"No, not Tijuana. I'm kinda over that whole different girl every night thing. You know it seems a bit desperate. I was flirting with the idea of settling down." Desperately Finn hoped Rory might pick up the thoughts he was trying to telepathically transmit.

"Wow. That's a big change." She paused, then blurted out with: "So are you in love. Cause love changes everything, they say." Finn startled out of his reverie was just as surprised as she was when he answered honestly. "Yeah."

"Yeah, what?"

"Yeah, I fell in love."

"Oh." Words failed her. Registering the odd look he sent her however launched her straight into babble mode. "So is she a redhead? Cause we all know that you like redheads. Is she nice. Do I know her?"

Finn smiled slightly before answering. "Well, brunette actually. And yes she is very nice and you know her."

Rory sagged, screaming inside. 'Why now? He finally comes out of his different woman every night spiel and it's not me. Why not me? I'm brunette. What's wrong with me?' Nothing had prepared her for the amount of pain she was feeling at that moment, not the break-ups with Dean or Jess, nothing came close to the agony she felt at that moment. If there was still any doubt left in her that she hadn't fallen for Finn it was dispelled by the tide of pain running through her body at that moment. And in a timeless move perfected by all mammals when attacked and hurt, Rory tried to salvage some of her pride and build the wall that would hopefully sustain her when she met Finn and his love.

"Yeah, I kinda fell in love as well."

"What's he like?" Finn managed to grind out past the haze of pain he felt at the thought of once again being too late.

Lost in memories, Rory replied in a dreamy voice: "He's lovely. Good-looking, nice. He brings me coffee. My mother loves him and he makes me laugh."

'It's that Marty guy. I knew it. Of course she is going to fall for the nice guy. Girls like Rory always fall for the nice guy. They never fall for the biggest player on campus. Who was I kidding? Well, if he ever hurts her I am going to go medieval on his ass.' Finn had never felt so lost before.

In an attempt at levity, completely spoilt by the expression on his face he said: "Well, if he breaks your heart me and the boys are going to have something to say about it."

"He already has." Rory's hands flew to her mouth when she realised that she had just said that last thought out loud.

"He what? I'm gonna kill…" Finn stilled when he felt Rory's hand on his arm.

"Don't, Finn. There's nothing you can do. He doesn't love me. You can't force something like that. There either is love or there isn't and if there isn't, there is nothing you can do to change that." A single tear dripped off her nose. Undone Finn gathered her into his arms.

Rory froze, desperately trying to overcome the shivers his touch sent racing through her systems, only tuning back into his words with much effort.

"Don't cry, kitten. He's not worth it. You're the sweetest girl I know. You're sexy and warm-hearted and intelligent and witty. He's stupid not to want you."

That was too much for Rory. Disentangling herself abruptly from his arms, she jumped up.

"I can't do this." Helplessly she looked at Finn. "I've gotta go." And with that darkness swallowed her, leaving behind a dejected Finn wondering when and where his life had taken the turn-off to hell.

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Rory had only taken ten steps when she froze, realising that she had to tell Finn. Despite the fact that he would probably never talk to her ever again, he deserved to know. She knew he wouldn't tell anybody, he was too much of a gentleman to do that. As her mother said, if you don't ask the answer is always no. Granted she had been talking about extra coffee at Luke's at the time, but the principle applied. And even though she knew the answer, Rory had to tell Finn the truth. Turning on one heel, swiping furiously at the tears falling from her eyes, she stalked back the way she came. Drawing herself up to her full height, she looked Finn in the eye and said: "It's you."

"What?"

"It's you. The guy I fell for. It's you. You're funny and you make me laugh. You don't let me get too serious about things and you bring me coffee. And my mom totally loves you. And she said that if she wasn't married and as big as a beached whale she would have totally taken you up on the island thing in the Caribbean. And there is the minor fact that you are totally hunky. So it's you. And I know that you don't love me, because you found somebody else, but I thought I should let you know. You should always let people know you love them. Mom always says life's too short not to. Anyway, I hope you're happy with the girl. I want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy." She took a deep breath, trying to fathom his expression. Seeing nothing but unbridled shock, Rory sighed. "It's okay. Really. I told you. You can't force love. It's either there or it isn't. And I'm going to be okay. I'll get over it. Just don't come round for a while and you'll see it will be just like before. I'll do the get over it thing and we can be friends again." She waited for a response and when disappointed sighed once more, turned and walked off again.

"I don't want you to get over it." Finn's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Excuse me?" She was sure she must have misheard.

"I don't want you to get over me."

Apparently not. Spinning around, Rory was almost glad when she felt anger take the place of heartache.

"That is the most horrid thing I have ever heard you say. How dare you. Who do you think you are? You arrogant pretentious…"

"I lied." His voice was quiet, no inflection there to give her a clue as to what he was feeling.

"You lied. About what? You not wanting me to get over you?"

"No, that part is true." At her thunderous expression he continued quickly. "I was sitting at the party today and I realised that none of the girls tickled my fancy. I thought I was dying." Rory unwittingly flashed back to her own reaction at her revelation of the evening. "So I thought my way through the day and I realised the one thing that was missing to make my day complete." He paused.

"And what was that?"

"You. The one thing missing was you, Rory."

Rory went as white as a sheet, unwilling to believe it. "You're joking. Tell me, you're joking."

Finn stood up and walked over to her, slowly. Reaching up he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, thrilling with pleasure when he saw her unconsciously lean into the gesture. "Let me tell you about this girl I realised I was in love with. She's a brunette, not my usual thing but I can get past that." He smiled at her. "She has the bluest eyes I've ever seen. She's intelligent and witty. A complete coffeeholic and too serious for her own good sometimes. She's sexy and warm-hearted and I want nothing more than to see where it could go. I've been running from relationships for years, never could see myself as a one-woman man." He suppressed another smile when he felt Rory try to extract herself from his arms, instead bringing her in closer as he went for the killer argument. "But that's okay. I'm not meant to be a one-woman man. I'm meant to be a one-Rory man and that's a completely different story."

Rory gasped, relaxing in his arms, letting her own arms drift tentatively around his waist, feeling hope blossom in her chest.

Leaning down he gave her ample opportunity to move away, only to have her hands grab his head and pull him in for a bone-shattering kiss that hummed through their bodies, weakening knees and sending hearts racing.

"You talk too much." Rory managed, holding onto him for dear life, then dragged him in for another kiss that ended with him swinging her around in a circle head thrown back and laughing.

Long minutes later they were back on the bench, their bench, snuggled into each other, occasionally kissing, talking about their epiphanies but more than anything just enjoying the beginning.

"So what happens now?" Finn asked with some trepidation, flashing back to his insecurities about relationships.

Rory smiled at him, blue eyes sparkling in the rising dawn. Swinging around she straddled his lap. "Well first we tell the guys so they can gloat about how right they were and how deluded we were. Then we buy my mom a year's supply of coffee - after the baby has come because I don't want to face the wrath of Luke. Cause without her I would never have admitted to anything. And we will have to think of something for your friends and the nice woman at the bar who can quote movies. I like her already. And After that I might have to punish you for thinking about doing the noble thing." She smiled and kissed him again.

"And then?" Finn asked, sparkle firmly back in his eyes after the angst of the night.

"And then we see where we go. But as sappy as it sounds, it'll be okay, cause we'll do it together."

"I like that." Finn pulled her back for a long kiss.

The last thing a listener might have heard before beating a hasty retreat was Rory ask: "Tell me do you own a pair of speedos?" and Finn's hearty laugh in response, before silence reigned once more.

The End

A/N: Oh and yes Dshiboutie is a country, although it is probably not spelt that way - it's the way it is spoken. Somewhere in Africa and I have no idea if it has a dictatorship or not, was just the first country to pop into my head. I know, my mind is a weird place.