AN: Thank you for all the reviews on this.I do want to apalogize that I took so long to get this out. It's a very difficult fic to write, so it's going to be slow writing. Also, I want to clarify that Finn & Rory are not going to be a couple quickly. She's just lost the love of her life... she's got a lot to work out before she can even consider being with him romantically. She needs to mourn. I just wanted to reiterate that this is going to be a long fic... there's a lot of storyline here that needs to be worked through, and I'm not going to rush it. Anyways, thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate your support on this one.

It had been two weeks since Finn moved in to the house. It had been twenty four days since Tristan's accident. Rory sat up in her bed, blinking. She heard someone moving around down stairs in the kitchen. Yawning, she thought it may be Tristan.

As she stood up and grabbed her robe, moving out of the bedroom, reality hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh God" Was all she could manage to say, placing her head in her hands.

She continued to the kitchen, seeing Finn, her best friend, the one person in the world she had come to truly rely on since the accident.

He looked over at her and poured her a cup of hot tea. She took it, and sipped, not once complaining. She walked over to the table and sat down, looking at him.

"I'm a mess." Were the first words out of her mouth.

"You have a reason." He shrugged, wondering where this conversation was going. She didn't talk much anymore. Hardly at all. She certainly hadn't initiated a conversation since Tristan's death.

Rory shook her head. "No, no I don't. I have a daughter and a baby on the way. I have people that depend on me. I need to be stronger."

Her eyes were filling with tears as she blinked up at him, looking through her lashes. Her eyes met his.

"Help me be stronger." Was what came out as a whisper, as she couldn't manage to find her voice.

Finn felt his heart break again, right then and there. She was his best friend's wife. She herself had been one of his best friends since she and Logan broke up three years ago. He would do anything and everything in his power to help her.

He opened his mouth to say something, but they were interrupted by a small two year old blonde haired, blue eyed angel named Mary.

Rory quickly wiped her eyes and walked over to the toddler, picking her up, and giving her a kiss. It was time she became a mother to her daughter again. It was what Tristan would want.

-GG-

Later that night Finn and Rory sat in front of the fireplace, making a list. He nursed a large cup of coffee, and she had a glass of milk.

"Are you sure you're ready? This can wait, or I can do it, or someone else can. You don't need to push yourself." He told her gently.

Rory blinked, sniffling. "I would imagine it would only get harder, the longer I wait." She replied, her voice so quiet he could barely hear her.

Finn nodded. This was new territory to him. What was he supposed to tell his best friend? Was he supposed to suggest she wait to start going through her dead husband's items, or was he supposed to encourage her to go through them, so she could begin to move forward and live again?

He looked over to the couch, relieved to see she was asleep. He needed to make a call.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line answered after a few rings.

"Hey Chris, is Lorelai there?" Finn asked, opening the refrigerator and grabbing a piece of fruit.

"Yeah, hold on."

Finn munched on his fruit for a few moments, waiting for Lorelai to come to the phone.

"Finn?" Lorelai asked, coming on the line.

"Hey Lore." He answered her.

"How's she doing?"

Finn let out a sigh. "I'm not sure. She may be getting better… then again this could be a bad sign. I don't know. That's why I called you." He rambled on, clearly out of his comfort zone with dealing with loss, grief, and comforting someone in their time of need.

"Hold on, back it up, rewind." Lorelai instructed, obviously confused. "What's going on?"

"Rory decided that she needs to start being a mother… and basically moving on. Today she decided that her new project is going to be sorting through Tristan's things." Finn explained, hoping the older Lorelai could shed some light on what he should do.

The silence over the line was deafening.

"Lorelai?"

"Uh, yeah." She snapped out of her thoughts. "I don't know what to tell you Finn. I think you just need to let her do this her way. I think it's her way of mourning. Just let her mourn, and help her whenever she asks for it."

"Thanks."

They continued to talk about Mary and Rory for a few moments and then hung up. Finn went to bed that night knowing what he needed to do the next day.

-GG-

The next morning Rory and Finn stood in the hallway together. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, grabbing Rory's hand and looking into her eyes.

She shook her head. "It's not a matter of wanting to. It's a matter of needing to. I need to do this. For me. For Mary. For the baby. For all of us."

He nodded and followed her into the room. Rory had decided that she needed to figure out what to do with Tristan's things.

Finn tried to talk her into waiting for a while, but she insisted that she needed to do this now. She needed to move forward. Or at least try to.

An hour later, they were still hard at work. She had already separated clothing into piles to go to a local charity. Finn walked over to the dresser.

"What about his clothes in here?" He asked, pointing to the dresser.

Rory paused. When she was pregnant with Mary she wore Tristan's sweats and T-shirts around the house. She still did occasionally since they were comfortable.

She shook her head. "I can't. I need those. The-"

"It's ok." Finn assured her, squeezing her shoulders as he gave her a quick hug.

He walked over to Tristan's closet and saw a white gift bag tucked into a corner. He lifted it up.

"Luv, I don't know what this is." He told her, handing her the bag. He didn't want to snoop through Tristan's things too much. That was Rory's job.

She took the bag and sat on the bed, opening it.

"Oh my God." She muttered, lifting her hand to her mouth. Tears were starting to fall down her face.

"What?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

She lifted up a small caramel color teddy bear for him to see. It was from Build-A-Bear.

"He got it for the baby. He did the same thing for Mary when I was pregnant with her." She shook her head as the tears came more heavily. She pressed the bear against her chest, holding it close. The last person to have touched the bear was Tristan. She just wanted to feel close to him in some way again.

"I think that's enough for today." She whispered to Finn.

He nodded, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead before walking out of the room, giving her privacy for her memories of Tristan.

Finn walked downstairs to the kitchen and made another pot of coffee. He had been living and breathing the stuff lately. It kept him going. More importantly, it kept him from drinking.

He glanced at the calendar as he made his way to his room, where he needed to catch up on paperwork. He had called and made Rory a doctor's appointment for Friday. It was Wednesday. He would make sure she went to it.

-GG-

Upstairs Rory was curled up on her bed with the teddy bear squeezed to her chest. She clearly remembered the day he presented her with Mary's bear.

"Honey, I'm home!" Tristan called, walking in the front door.

Rory walked into the room, kissing him in greeting. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to the bag in his hand.

He grinned, his blue eyes sparkling brightly. "This, is for the baby."

She shot him a look. "You do realize the baby won't be here for several months, right?" The three month pregnant brunette asked him, shaking her head.

"It doesn't mean I can't buy my child a present!" He defended.

"This kid is going to be sooo spoiled. So, what is it?"

He handed her the bag and she pulled the perfect little teddy bear out, "Aww, Tris, it's perfect." She cooed, her eyes tearing up. She couldn't believe her life was going so perfectly. She had a wonderful, loving husband and a baby on the way. Could life be any better?

"Just like you, and our baby." He replied, leaning over to capture her lips with his.

-GG-

Two hours later Finn was almost finished with his paperwork. As he was going over the last document, the phone rang. Not wanting to bother Rory or Mary he quickly picked it up.

"Hello?" He said into the receiver.

"Hey Finn. It's me." Lorelai said. She was on her lunch break. She called several times a day to make sure Rory, Mary, and Finn were doing ok.

"Hey Lore."

"How is she doing?"

"We started going through his things." He told her, putting the document down.

"How did that go?"

"Well, it was going as well as can be expected until we found a present Tristan bought the baby."

There was silence. "He loved being a dad."

"Yeah, he did." Finn agreed. He remembered seeing his best friend with his daughter. It was an unexpected but beautiful sight. Tristan loved his family more than anything in the world.

"I need to go. I'll call later." Lorelai told him, trying not to cry. Her son-in-law was the best thing that ever happened to Rory.

They hung up, but not before Finn could here Lorelai sniffling. He shook his head. Only time would help heal the wounds for everyone.