Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or Sarah McLachlan.

Full Of Grace
Rainbow Connection

---
Why are there so many songs about rainbows?
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
---

Rory was torn out of her peaceful sleep by the annoying ringing of a cell phone. She groaned loudly and buried her head underneath the blankets hoping to block the sound out. She presumed that soon enough whoever it was calling would hang up but the phone continued to ring non-stop. Sighing in defeat, Rory pushed the blanket down and slung her legs over the side of the bed and onto the floor. The minute they touched the cool metal zipper of the sleeping bag though she snapped them up. She impelled herself into a sitting position so she could inspect the floor beside the bed, making sure her sister's form wasn't lying there still. After seeing that all was clear, Rory hoped out of bed and over to Brooke's desk where she saw the phone.

Rory stared down at the tiny object, trying to find the glorious button that would stop the constant ringing. Giving up, she pressed the pad of her thumb to the keypad and started pushing random buttons, in hope that one would work.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden voice made Rory jump and drop the phone as her hand went to press against her heart. She exhaled loudly a couple times to regulate her breathing before fixing Brooke with a glare. "You know it's very evil to sneak up on people like that," she informed her, bending over to pick up the phone that had finally stopped ringing.

Brooke raised an eyebrow at Rory and poised her had on her hip. "Sneak up?" she question. "I'm in your direct view and this is my room," she told her pointedly, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Still evil," Rory muttered and was about to turn around and head straight back to bed, wanting to catch up on the sleep she'd been lacking in the past week, when the phone in her hand started to ring again. "Oh my God!" she yelped and held the object out to Brooke who was laughing somewhat subtly. "Make it stop," she begged feebly.

Brooke gave in and walked over, grabbing her phone and pressing a button before pushing it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked, frowning as Rory climbed back into her bed.

Logan who was on the other end smiled that she had actually picked up this time, unlike no one the last time he'd call and her mother before that. "Where did you scamper off to yesterday?" he asked his tone teasing.

Brooke let her own smile grow larger upon hearing his voice and she shifted on her feet leaning back against her desk. "Home."

"Home as in not your dorm," Logan stated.

"Home as in Stars Hollow," she replied innocently.

"Yeah well I don't mind," he said, earning a raised eyebrow from Brooke even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"You know that right there, it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside," she replied sarcastically, reaching down to the ground and picking up her stuffed rooster.

Logan laughed richly. "Well what can I say Ace, I'm a giver."

"Are you sure Logan?" Brooke asked trying her best to aim the rooster perfectly so it would hit Rory, whose eyes had popped open upon hearing that name. "Cause you know all those nights I spent in your bedroom could protest that statement."

Rory heard that sentence loud and clear and her mouth dropped open in shock. She'd never heard anything like that come from Brooke. She abandoned the notion of going back to sleep and instead pushed herself up. She had just straightened out when something soft and small collided with the side of her head, the impact knocking her still sleepy figure back down with a groan.

Brooke's hand froze out in front of her, her eyes wide and her mouth open when she saw the rooster crash into her sister. She couldn't help but feel her chest start to shake as laughter erupted from her throat. She almost couldn't breathe with how hard she was laughing, knowing it was only funny because the rooster would have missed Rory by a long shot had she not sat up.

Rory sat back up and launched the rooster back at her sister but her aim was completely off and the stuffed animal surged across the room and hit the window dead on. Brooke only laughed harder and Rory glared at her. "That wasn't funny," she pouted but could feel a smile threatening her lips.

"It was a little funny," Brooke said finally managing to calm down. She walked over to the window and picked up the rooster, laughing as Rory flinched on instinct. "Sorry about that Logan," she said into the phone placing the rooster on the foot of her bed.

Rory who had been going to pick it up again and launch another attack froze when she heard the name again. Logan was Finn's roommate and he'd said he was dating Brooke. She cocked her head to the side, watching her sister as she talked on the phone with this Logan guy. Rory had never really seen Brooke look like this before. Her cheeks were pink; obviously blushing from something he'd said, her blue eyes were sparkling with laughter and happiness and she had a wide smile on her lips that looked like it would never go away.

Her expression now was a lot different then the one she'd been wearing the day before. Rory hadn't wanted to fight, she hadn't wanted to rehash everything from last year, but it seems it was inevitable. And in this case the only thing that would help their relationship. Rory flashed back to everything they'd said to each other and she realized that she didn't regret the fight as a whole. Sure a couple comments she wished she could have kept to herself but it all seemed to work out for the best. But the only thing she could really concentrate on was how good it had felt, how good it still felt, to know that she wasn't going back to California. The day's of selling herself were over and Rory felt like a weight had been lifted off of her, she felt free and for once in control of her life. And she liked that feeling, she really liked it.

Rory snapped back into the present when she heard Brooke put her phone down on her desk and watched her turn and walk out of the room. It only took a second for Rory to be hot on her heels. She adopted an innocent look and plopped down in the kitchen table next to Brooke. "So who's your boy toy?" she asked, pretending like she didn't know who he was.

Brooke didn't blush or even look surprised by her question like Rory would have thought but instead she had the same mischievous glint to her eye and a smirk on her lips. "Who's yours?" she shot back.

Rory fought the urge to let her mouth drop open with that question and she folded her arms in front of her chest in a business like manner. "Brooke I've only been here two days…" Rory couldn't fight her hand that instantly smacked itself across her mouth as those words left it. She knew saying that was a mistake, she'd just reeled Brooke in hook, line and sinker.

"Oh really? And where, pray tell, did you stay?" she asked, acting as if she didn't already know.

"Nowhere," Rory replied shortly, averting her eyes. "I didn't stay anywhere."

"So what, you just dropped off the face of the earth for a night?" Brooke asked rhetorically. "Funny, I could have sworn that was impossible."

"Yeah well, I'm special," Rory exclaimed, pushing out of her chair and walking into the living room hoping to escape Brooke's questioning but to no avail her step-sister was right on her tail.

"Special enough to stay the night in Mr. Morgan's bedroom?" Brooke asked, perching herself on the armrest of the couch while Rory stretched out on it.

Rory paused before answering and looked up at Brooke. "I'm sorry, I don't know who that is," she told her which technically wasn't a lie because she didn't know Finn's last name.

"No?" she asked, sliding down onto the couch and beside my feet. "Tall, dark and handsome," she described him, listing the attributes on her fingers.

"You know Brooke, probably half the male population fits that criteria," Rory told her smartly.

"Australian," she declared simply.

Rory frowned at that one word that brought her down completely. "Okay so maybe I know who that is," she admitted.

Brooke nodded her head and pushed herself off the couch, grabbing a pillow and sitting down on it in front of Rory. She smiled encouragingly. "Good because I want to know what was going through your head when you agreed to go back to his dorm?" she asked hotly, all pretences of the happy Brooke from before gone.

"What?" Rory exclaimed, not liking her sudden mood change.

"Rory, you don't go home with guy's you don't know!" Brooke yelled throwing her hands into the air.

Rory looked at her bewildered for a moment before she sat up, a frown marring her features. "I'm sorry, do you not remember what I use to do for a living?" she asked sardonically.

Brooke rolled her eyes. "I don't care about that!" she shouted. "What I care about is how much danger you could have been in."

"He's your friend," Rory said, calming down after realizing Brooke was only worried about her.

"I know and I'm so grateful because any other guy…" she trailed off.

"I get it," Rory said and moved over on the couch, patting the spot next to her. "I'm sorry," she apologized after Brooke sat down.

Brooke smiled forgivingly and crossed her legs in front of her, her blue eyes playful once again. "So?" she asked, drawing out the one syllable word.

Rory laughed and focussed on Brooke with her famous Bambi eyes. "So what?"

"Well what happened?" she asked, her tone questioning.

"Nothing," Rory told her simply, lying back against the couch.

"Nothing?" she repeated, obviously not believing Rory.

"I met him, he scared the hell out of me and I went back to his dorm," she told her and off of Brooke's raised eyebrow she relented. "Okay fine, we talked about parts of my past, his problems with his dad and mine with my mom. Then I went to bed and in the morning Collin scared me half to death."

Brooke cut her off though by shaking her head and waving her hand until she got Rory's attention. "He talked about his dad with you?" she asked inquisitively.

"Yep," Rory replied lightly.

Brooke lent back, eyebrows raised and eyes wider then normal. "Wow," she exclaimed. "He doesn't like talking about his dad at all; I wouldn't think he would just tell a complete stranger."

Rory thought about that for a moment before turning her head to look at Brooke. "Well that's the beauty of it. With a stranger they don't know who you are or what you've done. They really can't judge you."

Brooke nodded her head. "Did you tell him about…?" she trailed off, not liking to say it out loud, especially since it was now a part of Rory's past.

Rory shook her head, combing her fingers through her hair. "No," she told her quietly. "I wanted to though…"

Brooke lifted her head to look more closely at Rory. She found her staring off into space, her eyes glazed over and her mouth parted slightly. She looked like she was deep in thought about something and Brooke couldn't help but hope it was about Finn. She'd been friends with the Australian for a year now and she knew a lot about him. She also knew a lot about Rory, and she knew they would be perfect for each other. Rory could teach Finn how to settle down and be with only one girl, and Finn could teach Rory to trust herself and to just be.

"Did anything else happen?" Brooke asked, breaking Rory out of her thoughts.

Rory shook her head but then a wide smile came onto her face and she looked at Brooke, a twinkle in her eye. "He took me shopping," she said excitedly. "Bought me clothes because all I had was a dress."

"Or those little scraps of material you try and pass as dresses!" Brooke scoffed, earning herself a shove in the shoulder.

The rest of the morning the two girls spent talking and laughing on the couch. It was a bonding moment of sorts, closing over old wounds they had between them. They finally forgave each other for everything they'd said and they finally moved past it. They talked until their throats hurt, laughed until they were gasping for breath and cried because they were really happy.

---

It was past noon when Rory and Brooke climbed into Brooke's car intent on heading back to Yale. Rory had brought up the fundamental question that was, 'If she wasn't going back to California, where was she going to live?' After much debate from both girls Rory had finally relented. She would be staying with Brooke in her dorm until she could find a place, which could take a while.

"Are you sure it's okay that I'll be staying with you?" Rory asked, turning to face Brooke, watching her navigate through the traffic.

"For the last time yes!" she exclaimed exasperated. "It's no problem."

"What about your roommate…" Rory trailed off, not really remembering the girls' name.

Brooke smiled something sad but happy. "Paris' boyfriend Doyle asked her to move in with him, she won't be a problem."

Rory nodded her head and faced the window, watching the passing cars and scenery for a minute. "What about the big guys at Yale?" she asked all of a sudden.

"The big guys at Yale?" Brooke sputtered, starting to laugh a bit.

"Yeah, the powers that be or something like that," she exclaimed.

Brooke furrowed her brows for a moment but she decided that Rory must be talking about the Dean or someone and so she smiled. "What about them?"

"Well I don't go to Yale, I mean won't they get mad if I just start living there?" she asked, images of her being carried of the campus by the police flashing in her mind.

"I hardly think they know every kid who goes to Yale," Brooke let her know.

"Yeah you're probably right," she said, nodding her head a couple times. "So what should we do when we get there?" she asked.

Brooke slowed the car down almost subconsciously as she turned to look at Rory with a guilty smile on her face. "Well actually…"

"Let me guess," Rory interrupted her. "Logan?"

"Logan," she repeated, her tone apologizing. "Listen Rory I'm sorry but he's kind of freaking out about you and…"

"Hey, Brooke it's okay," Rory told her reassuringly. "But I want one thing from you."

"Okay…" Brooke said hesitantly, thinking along the lines that agreeing to that is like making a deal with the devil.

Rory smirked and turned completely in her seat. "Tell me about this Logan guy," she said excitedly. "And I want details, okay? You leave something out you die!"

---

Rory had been sitting in the same position for about a half an hour now. She was on the couch in Brooke's dorm room, watching C-span play out on the TV and she couldn't possible be more bored. She flicked the TV off and jumped up onto her feet, searching the room for something to do. When she spotted a coffee maker, a wide smile made itself known on her face and she skipped over to it…only to find no coffee left.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to go get some," she mumbled to herself, completely disregarding Brooke's pleas for her to stay inside the dorm.

Rory put on her boots and walked towards the door, opening it only enough to peek out. After making sure Brooke wasn't anywhere around she walked all the way out and into the campus. Her hands instantly went to her arms, rubbing them to fend off the freezing January air.

"Gotta remember to invest in a warmer coat," she said bitingly.

"Talking to yourself love?"

Rory spun around with the sound of that voice and a smile unknowingly spread itself across her lips. Finn was standing in front of her now, annoyingly cute smirk in place and looking like her hero with two coffee cups in hand. "Hey," she said, her gaze focussed on the coffee instead of him.

Finn laughed and offered one of the cups to her, which she greedily took and started sipping on it right away. He walked to her side, offering this time his arm for her. He watched her eyes light up and she laughed slightly, threading her arm through his and they started walking again, his mere presence keeping her warm.

"So, how'd everything go with Brooke?" Finn asked after a minute. He wanted to hear that it went great because he knew that would make her happy but at the same time he wanted her to tell him it went horrible because then he would be able to offer her to stay with him. He'd always been selfish that way.

"It went really great, we talked about everything," she told him, making sure to leave out any information that might lead to him asking what was the problem between them. "We went to Stars Hollow last night." She didn't know why she told him that but she felt like she needed to justify why she wasn't around last night… 'It's not like he was looking for you or anything,' she argued with herself.

"So…" he trailed off, feeling all of a sudden nervous around her, like he was school boy with a crush. "You got a place to stay right?"

Rory smiled at his worry and she nodded her head. "In Brooke's dorm, her roommates moving out so I'm taking her room," she explained.

Finn raised an eyebrow. "Paris is leaving?" he asked, sounding thankful.

"Why so happy?" Rory asked, wondering why he was reacting like that.

Finn laughed and looked down at her, rosy cheeks and wind blown hair, beautiful in his eyes. "You obviously haven't met her," he said pointedly.

Rory laughed heartily and shook her head. "If she supposedly makes that kind of impression then I can't say that I have."

"It might be best to keep in that way, love," Finn told her cringing a little, obviously remembering something about Paris. He shook his head and his eyes landed on an empty expanse of snow up ahead. He looked behind them and noticed they'd been walking in the direction that passed behind the school. A mischievous twinkle lit up his eyes and he unhooked his arm from Rory's, coming to stand in front of her. "Play a game with me?" he pleaded, eyes begging her mercifully.

Rory instantly melted with one look into his beautiful brown eyes and she nodded. "What kind of a game?" she asked.

Finn held up his fingers, silencing her and then grabbed her coffee cup and ran off in the direction of the garbage can. "Don't worry love!" he called as he ran back up to her and grabbed onto her hand again. "Nothing illegal."

Rory laughed as she ran with him, almost smacking directly into his back when he stopped. She pressed her hand against his jacket to steady herself, smiling at the tingles that shot up through her arm. Finn turned around and placed his arms on her shoulders. "Okay love, now you gotta close your eyes," he told her, smiling as her face scrunched up with a frown.

"What kind of game is this?" she asked hesitantly.

Finn shuffled a little closer to her, his hands running down her arms and warming them completely. He was so close to her she could smell his aftershave and feel the heat emanating off his body. "It's definitely an interesting game," he told her his voice low and his accent thick.

Rory tilted her head to the side and looked straight into his eyes. "Why does interesting scare me?" she asked teasingly.

"I have no clue love," he told her, adopting a foreign expression of innocence. "I'm entirely trustworthy," he promised, smiling even wider when Rory's eyes fell closed slowly. He backed away from her, walking backwards so he could keep an eye on her.

"Why do I have to close my eyes?" Rory asked, crossing her arms in front of her, wondering what he was doing. She knew he'd walked off and she prayed he wasn't stranding her here like some joke. "Finn?" she questioned, feeling relieved when she heard him laugh. "Okay you know this isn't funny…" she was cut off suddenly as something cold and wet collided with her shoulder. Her whole body flinched from the cold and her eyes snapped open, looking down at her soaked shoulder and then to Finn, who was almost on the ground he was laughing so hard.

"It was a little funny love," Finn gasped, looking up and watching her shake the snow of her shoulder.

Rory nodded and pulled the layers away from her skin to get it from sticking. She looked over at Finn and fixed him with a playful glare. "You are so dead!" she told him and ran towards him but Finn shot to his feet and ran in the opposite direction, finally jumping behind a pile of snow. Rory bent down and started to make a pile of snow balls, ignoring the iciness of her hands. Rory smiled evilly and walked over to the wall of the school, slinking against it until she could clearly see Finn, who was peeking above the pile. Rory let a smirk play on her lips as she ran forward and started pelting Finn with snowballs and he fell backwards into the snow with a moan.

Rory ran out of snow as she came up to him and she stopped as she saw him sitting up. He was covered in snow from his hair to his pants and Rory couldn't help but start laughing at the sight. Finn smiled and brushed the snow off of him. "I gotta hand it to you love," he said, gathering her attention. "You did well."

"Well?" Rory asked, her tone jeering. "I whooped you!" she exclaimed, victoriously.

Finn laughed and leaned back on his elbows. "Okay fine," he caved. "How about a truce?" he asked.

"A real one?" Rory asked tentatively, stepping just a bit closer to him.

"A real one, I promise," Finn told her and waited until she sank down in the snow beside him until he brought out his hand from behind his back, snow packed inside his fist. "Or maybe not!" he yelled and dumped it over her head.

"Eeep!" Rory yelled and shrank away from him, shivering from the cold and she smacked him in the arm as he laughed. "You suck!" she exclaimed, cleaning the snow out of her hair and pouting slightly, as she fought to not start laughing to.

Finn laughed even harder at her vexed words but it died in his throat when he caught sight of her. She was lying beside him, her hair fanned out around her, her cheeks pink, her lips parted and her blue eyes filled with amusement and affection. She looked like an angel, like a bloody goddess to Finn and he instantly moved closer to her, the side of his body pressing against hers while he leaned over her a bit. His gaze flickered from her now wide eyes to her lips and he licked his own while thoughts of covering hers with his filled his mind.

Rory couldn't look away as their eyes locked on each other. He looked so gorgeous, leaning over top of her and Rory's hand, on its own accord, moved from her stomach to his arm, grasping tightly the material of his jacket. She let herself drown completely in his chocolate brown eyes before letting her own shift to his lips, to see that he was breathing very heavily. A blush highlighted her cheeks when she noticed where his eyes were focussed but at the same time desire spread throughout her entire body.

Finn slowly raised his glazed eyes to hers again. "A goddess," he breathed out, making her blush even harder. Finn smiled genuinely and leaned down closer to her, breathing in the scent of her hair, like a heady wine. Finn felt Rory tilt her head to the side giving him more room and more incentive to go on. He eagerly brushed hit hot lips against the shell of her ear, feeling her whole body quake under his touch. Finn let his lips traverse the expanse of silky skin leading to her neck. He darted into the nape of her neck and with his lips pursed, nipped at the skin there, using the same gentleness as would a cat lifting her precious kittens.

Then, with a series of little nips, he skilfully brought his lips around from the nape of her neck to the curve of her jaw and then let himself brush a gentle kiss across the side of her mouth, feeling her shoulder stiffen as his hand rested on it. Finn couldn't control himself any longer as he lifted his head back; watching her heavy lidded eyes drift closed and he swooped gracefully down through the air, bringing his lips down firmly onto the lips of Rory who was at this point quivering in his arms.

Rory's whole body sung at the contact between them and she eagerly pressed her lips harder into his lips. Finn kissed her as though, at that moment, nothing else existed in the world to him. She moved her lips against his softly, opening her mouth when his tongue teased her lips. She let her hand scale up his arm, pulling on his shoulder, making him fall on top of her. Rory welcomed the feeling of his body covering hers and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him harder against her.

The two of them only broke apart from each other when the need to breathe became too hard to ignore. Finn pulled back for a second, before resting his forehead against hers. They were both breathing heavily and staring into each others eyes.

"Hi," Finn breathed in front of her lips, unable to stop the huge smile curving his lips.

Rory let her eyes flutter closed again, as she replayed the kiss in her mind. She heard Finn but for the life of her she couldn't get herself to say anything back. Her mind was swimming and the kiss had completely erased any form of coherent thought from it. It had the best kiss of her life and the only thing she could do when she looked back into his eyes was smile widely.

---
All of us under its spell.
We know that it's probably magic.
---

Wow! I hope everyone likes that chapter. Some might think they're moving a tad to fast but I think of their feelings for each other as really passionate and that chapter just kind of came out like that!

Anyway please read and review,
-Ella.