-1Australian Summer

Epilogue

Rory slowly opened her eyes. She'd been dreaming again. It seemed every time there was a thunder storm she'd close her eyes, and image she was in his arms again. And then her mind would take over and she'd replay their last night together. It had been 3 months since she left Australia. Logan and Aryn had come to visit a few times with the baby, but Finn was never mentioned. Once, Logan informed her that he was

"Fucking miserable without you. Rory. I don't know what happened or why you ran away, but… he's gotten worse. He was sober the whole summer until you left. Now, we're lucky if he's sober at all."

"It's not my problem, Logan." After that, he was never mentioned again.

Registering what had woken her up in the first place, Rory sat up going to answer the door. Finn was standing in the pouring rain, with Ryn in her carrier, covered with a blanket.

"Finn…."

"Is Aryn here? Or Logan?" His tone was clipped. Then the baby's crying registered.

"What's wrong?" She took the baby from him, quickly bringing her in the house and taking her out of her carrier. She left Finn at the door, so he let himself in and shut the door. He couldn't help but be distracted, watching her bounce the baby like a pro. Once the baby settled down, Rory finally turned to him again.

"What happened, Finn?"

"They fought… Aryn left. Logan came over with the baby, got drunk against my wishes, and then he left, too, going to look for Aryn. But the baby wouldn't stop crying and neither is answering their phone… but she's fine now, right? You calmed her down."

"What did they fight about?"

"Logan took Ryn for a walk on the campus, and proceeded to be hit on and Aryn met up with them, and girls were still coming up to him, and she flipped."

"Oh, so nothing new."

"No, nothing new." He laid down on the couch exhausted.

"Tired?"

"Yes."

"How did you know where I live?"

"I've… been here a few time. When I wasn't…"

"Sober?"

"Yeah. I…"

"Why don't you go home and get some sleep then. I have some of the baby's stuff from when I watch her. You can let Aryn and Logan have a nice night alone for some make up sex." She walked out of the room without saying another word. When she came back, the baby wasn't in sight, as she was sleeping on Rory's bed.

Much to her surprise. Finn was still there.

"Why are you still here?" She looked exhausted suddenly, the façade she'd been putting up, quickly fading.

"Why did you leave?" There was so much emotion in his voice, it broke her heart.

"I… just giving you what you wanted all along." She tried to turn away from him, but he caught her arm and slowly turned her.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Yes. I couldn't be there anymore. So, I gave you what you wanted and left."

"Rory… what I wanted…. Want is you."

"Finn…" She was on the verge of tears.

"Why don't you believe me?"

"Because that's how it started! Tell me I'm wrong, Finn!"

"I don't deny that's how it started… but I fell for you. Hard. That night…. When we stopped. Then I knew I loved you-" Rory squeezed here eyes shut.

"No. Don't say you love me… you don't know what love is, Finn!"

"Not this again…." He groaned. "Why does everyone like to tell me that!"

"You went from 'loving' Rose, to loving me?"

"I never claimed to love her. I wanted to be with her. There's a difference."

"No, there isn't Finn because you even said you loved her!"

"Okay, so then I didn't know what it was… but damnit, Rory!" He yelled.

"Shh… the baby's sleeping." She quieted him. "Finn, you don't love me… you love the idea of loving me. You want to be in love so bad that you convince yourself-"

"No, Rory, I convinced myself with Rose. I was able to forget her quite easily with alcohol and girls. I couldn't with you. Every girl wasn't anything like you, all were compared to you. God, after the first 2 I just stopped even bothering to fuck them. They couldn't compare in conversation. I just decided to stay drunk all day and night."

"Don't blame your alcoholism on me!"

"I'm not. I'm an alcoholic… I know that. But with you… I didn't want to be drunk. I didn't want to drink. Yeah, I went through withdrawal, but I had you and that was enough. Without you, I crumbled.

"Finn…. Don't do this to me, please, not now. I can't handle-" The ringing phone cut her off. "Hello?" She answered. "No, I'm fine. I'm busy right now. I swear, I'm fine Tris….baby, please. Just… I'm watching Ryn… Aryn's brother just dropped her off. No, I want to bond with my niece. Tristan, please. Thank you." Finn heard a faint 'I love you' from the other end as she hung up.

"You went back to him? You fucking went back to him?" He asked, suddenly feeling suffocated. "What ended our relationship, you go and do anyway."

"I…"

"What, were you being spiteful? Or did you really want to be with him the whole time?"

"I guess I was being spiteful. And you slept with other girls!"

"You were the one who left, Rory!" She opened her mouth to argue. "Don't even try and turn this around and blame it on me! I tried Rory… every day I tried! You were the one that told me 'Not enough' when I told you I loved you…."

"I lied… Finn, please don't do this to me!"

"Rory?" A voice called from the back door.

"Tristan?" Finn tensed.

"Baby, I know you said not to come over but I really needed to see you… Finn. What are you doing here?"

"Tristan, I asked you not to come over."

"Had I known why I would have drove faster."

"It's not what it looks like, okay? Finn was dropping off Ryn and we got to talking, okay?"

"You told me you wanted nothing to do with him…"

"And once upon a time she told me she hated you. She'd never go back to you. Look at that, here you are."

"This doesn't concern you, Finn."

"Well, considering you interrupted our conversation-"

"Go get drunk or something." Tristan yelled back at him.

"Shut up! I don't care what bullshit is going on, the baby is sleeping, okay?" Rory stormed out of the room to check on the baby. Finn, who was closest to the room followed, closing the door so Tristan couldn't follow. Rory was on the bed watching the baby.

"You ever think about yours, Love?"

"All the time."

"Is that why you went back to him?"

"Finn…"

"Rory, please. I need to know. I need to understand. Okay?"

"I was scared."

"Of what?"

"Of you. Of how I felt. God, Finn… why are you doing this to me? I've moved on, why can't you?"

"You didn't move on, you moved back. You're clinging to the past!"

"No, that's you."

"Rory, love, look at me." And that was a mistake. The second she did, he had her in his arms, kissing her passionately. She responded eagerly, giving herself to the kiss. He pulled back. leaving her gasping for more. "Tell me you don't love me."

"I…" She broke out of his arms and pushed past him. "Leave." She was crying. He hung his head and silently walked out the door.

"Rory? What the hell happened?"

"Tris, we need to talk…"

"What's wrong?"

"Did you ever read the end of my paper?"

"No, you said it ended with you and him… and I didn't want to read that, sorry."

Rory dug out her back to school essay about her summer. The 27 pages of it. She received an 100 on it. It was entered in a contest by her teacher, too.

"And that was it. The end of my Australian Summer. Or, winter actually. But to me, all the love and passion I felt made my soul feel on fire. Thus it still felt like summer. If only I hadn't fallen in love for the Aussi. Every night, I still have trouble sleeping without him. Part of me wishes I hadn't left his hoodie, because then I'd have a piece of him with me. But like Tristan, I have to cut him out and let him be nothing but a memory. I need to move on. It was a summer fling, and something I've never forget.

I'll always love Finn.

How could I not?…"

"Nothing but a memory? Really?"

"Tristan…"

"You'll always love Finn? Is that why you never tell me you love me?"

"Tris…"

"Do you still have trouble, Ror?"

"Yes. Yes. Yes. I love him, my god. I love him, but I'm afraid. Okay? You're safe. You've broken my heart once already. You can't break it if you don't even have it! I'm sorry, okay?"

"We're over."

"We never even started again."

"It doesn't matter to you that I love you, does it?"

"Not really. Then again, it never does." I cried more, mostly to myself as he stormed out of my house. He slammed the door, and then I heard the baby cry.

-

-

Rory walked around Chilton in a daze. Everyone around her was just a blur. At lunch she sat outside, by herself, despite the cold. She suddenly longed to be in Australia again.

"Rory?" Madeline asked gently. "Somewhere is here to see you…"

"Maddie… I'm really not in the mood to talk. I know, I never am anymore, but you understand, right?" Not even bothering to look at the girl in question.

"Explain it to me, Love."

"Fiinn?" She gasped, not expecting to see him there. "What are you doing here?"

"Aryn's trying to transfer to Chilton. Apparently, she doesn't like Andover much. I'm sorry, I couldn't help wanting to see you… Ari said you broke up with Tristan… and I just… I wanted to know why… I mean, it's none of my busi-"

"You."

"What?"

"You, I broke up with him because of you. You were right. I need to stop living in the past. I need to move on. Finn, our winter was great-" He smiled, knowing she had no idea she didn't call it a summer. "But I can't- I can't live like Aryn. I can't be worried about what you're doing all the time. I need to focus on school-"

"Fair enough, Love. I get it. You don't have time to be with me." He looked so sad. It broke her heart even more.

"No, Finn… that's not it. It's not that I don't have the time, it's that I don't have the strength…"

"I get it. Can we at least be friends? I miss you, Love."

"I miss you, too."

"Friends?"

"Friends."

"I-" The bell cut her off. "I've got to get to class. Bye, Finn."

And they spent the next 6 months as just that. Friends and nothing more. Or, was that simply a lie? The two acted as if they were together, but neither noticed it. The only difference between the way things were and the way things are was they weren't making out all the time.

However, Finn had a master plan in all of it. Graduation day, Rory, Aryn, Paris, Madeline, and Louise stood in a huddle group. They would be taking they're places soon and all were excited. Finn watched from a far, holding his niece. The two of them were getting anxious and bored, as well as a headache, from all the commotion in the courtyard. It often amazed Finn how much he and his 10 month old niece really were a like. He was always baby sitting her or playing with her, or holding her. He probably held her the most besides her parents.

"Paris Gellar."

"Lorelai Gilmore."

"Louise Grant."

"Aryn Huntzburger." Yes, Aryn and Logan had gotten married after that fight that brought Rory and Finn face to face again.

"Madeline Lynn."

"So, have you decided what lovely Ivy league school you'll be attending?" Finn asked her.

"Actually, I have. I spent my entire life striving for Harvard, so…" She paused for dramatic effect. Finn's face fell a little, assuming she was going to say Harvard. "I'm going to Yale."

He couldn't control his joy as he swept her up and spun her around. Once he placed her feet on the ground again, he didn't let go.

"Finn…" He was caught in a moment, and suddenly, so was she. Their faces gravitated toward one another. Almost touching-

"Finn, Ryn wants you! Oh, sorry." Aryn apologized.

"Aryn! You are forever interrupting me from kissing her!" Finn whined. Aryn skirted away, smirking a bit.

"So are you going to kiss me anytime soon, or should I just do it myself?" Rory asked. Finn quickly broke out of his daze and kissed her passionately.

The excited cheers and yells from their friends and family brought them back to reality. Both were floating on cloud nine.

"So, did you know that Aryn and Logan are going to Australia for the break?"

'Really now? And, this means what to me?" Rory played.

"Well, I'll be going, too. And I'd hate to be left alone in that huge house with just Ryn…"

"And…?"

"How would you like to spend your summer in Australia with me again?"

"I'd love to."

The End

(The real one this time, I promise!)

Well, that's it. It's over. Sad. Oh well… I'm not sure if I ended it how I'd envisioned, but I like it. Thanks to everyone who read. You guys are all great! I'll see ya'll in August with a new story, hopefully!

xBree