A/N: I know, mean evil non-updating me… There is a good excuse though. A couple of days ago I had one of my, more than normally, clumsy days, and decided that it would be a really good idea to pour the cup of coffee I had in my hand into my lab-top… Oh, and I drink coffee from pint-sized cups… My computer has been drying out the last couple of day, and now I hope its okay, otherwise I hope it stays functional at least till I've updated…

And now for the thank you's…

Bethany Inc: After your little story, I feel like I have to come clean… Once my mother and brother lured me into eating a rabbit (They told me it was chicken… I know, I was easy…) and afterwards when they told me, I cried for hours… I was 12… God, that's embarrassing… In my defense, I had a rabbit myself, and kept picturing that they had slaughtered and eaten it…

Evelyn: You've had me looking over my shoulder the last couple of days… I've been scared that suddenly you and some lynching crowd would turn up to hunt me down with your pit forks and hang me for being a bad updater, Thank you for not doing that… And thank you for your Great, very sweet review of 'The Transatlantic'…

Irish-Chick13: There will not exactly be a fight, but…. I'm sorry, but I can't make it all sweet and dramatic….

Gilmoregirl7878Yes, the book fell… but it will not be forgotten, the devilish thing… Computer screen too bright, lol… You must have been going at it even worse than me…

Citygrl: You worry too much… I don't think Jess deserves to drive a wedge between them either, hell I didn't even really like him when he was in the show for real… But I have to make a little drama, right?

Wickedshizit: He, he… I have a really good friend who claims I remind him of Lorelai, mainly because of the insane ramblings, the fact that I can eat a whole cow and still ask for dessert, and the major coffee addiction… And remember Richard was a young socialite once too and he hasn't forgotten what it was like as Emily has, he's had his fair amount of sub-parties, so of cause he'd know…

And to princetongirl, just hidden, spinaround, roxygrl694, finnlover, Nemi Jade, ReeseAnn, zetaphi7, rockrose, rose217, and Toniboo thanks for reviews, you're great…!

Five Gold Rings

The curtains weren't drawn, but it didn't matter. She was too tired, and too much in need of coffee, to care if anyone saw her in her naked state. She gently moved Finns arm that was protectively lying over her body. He mumbled something in his sleep, and reached out and hugged her pillow instead of her warm body that she had moved out of the bed. She sniggered and made a mental note to tease him about it when he woke up. She got dressed and left the room. She found her favorite coffee stand and bought a couple of big coffees. Walking back to her room she swallowed one of them happily, and joyfully started the second. When she came back into her dorm, she kicked of her shoes, and went back into the bedroom. As she went over to the bed, she stumped her little toe on something that where lying on the floor. She bend down and picked the perpetrating object up from the floor, and saw the book that Jess gave her yesterday, still gift wrapped. Instead of going back to bed, she sat down in her favorite chair by the window, she put her coffee down in the windowsill, and unwrapped the book. As she had guessed, it was a book, a little thin book, but not just any book. It had his name on it. 'Allegory' it was called, and then underneath, in gold letters was the name Jess Mariano. She snapped for breath and opened it, she had no idea what she was looking for, but she knew there was a message in there for her. He hadn't written anything in there himself, but the dedication…

"For the girl I loved and hurt the most,

and yet she never lost faith in me"

Could that be anyone else than her? Shane? Hardly, but maybe there was someone after me? She thought hard about it, but ended with a no. Yet she was not quite sure, so she turned a page and began to read. She read, while her coffee got cold, and snow started to fall outside the window, but she didn't notice.

After two hours, Finn began to stir. When he opened his eyes, he saw the girl he had secretly started to call his girlfriend sitting motionless in the chair by the window. She was staring straight into nothingness with an empty expression on her face, and he got a little worried. Have I done something? Or is it something I haven't done? What the bloody hell is wrong with her? He rolled over and sat up, and walked slowly over to her. She was holding a closed book, and on a sudden impulse, he glanced down at the cover. Jess… Jess… The guy from last night was called Jess, wasn't he? He looked at her, and saw that she was looking back at him with a weird look on her face, that he was unable to read.

"I think you'd better go"

Her voice didn't sound like the voice he was used to hear, and she wouldn't look into his eyes. He kneeled down next to her, and covered her hands with his own. A feeling of fear spread throughout him, he felt cold to the core.

"Rory… Did I do anything wrong?" the fear was audible in his voice.

She looked at him, but avoided his eyes.

"I just… I'm a bit messed up right now" she looked down at her hands and withdrew them from his grip "I need to think"

He looked at his hands that were lying limply in her lap. And for the first time in ten years, he felt like crying, he hated that guy, and he hated that he had gotten so attached to the girl. She had never promised him anything, and yet he had fallen with a bang. He slowly got up from his position on the floor and started to get dressed, still none of them said a word. As he walked towards the door, he still expected her to call him back, but not a sound was uttered from her end of the room. When he reached the door, he cleared his throat.

"Can I…" he didn't know what to say.

She didn't answer, and he shook his head. He closed the door behind him, and got a terrible feeling that he had done something really stupid. He leaned his head against the wall next to her door and closed his eyes. Bloody, fucking idiot… He didn't even know if he was telling himself or the Jess-guy off. Bloody, fucking motherfucker… Who the hell does he think he is to come into her life and play all high and mighty…? As if, he had any reason… Finn realized that he had no idea if Jess had a reason or not, but he still blamed the guy. He knocked his head against the hard, cold rock, and then he left. The only thing he needed right now was a drink, or ten thousand of them.

Rory was numb, she was confused beyond all belief. And the only thing she was fairly sure of was that it was not a good idea having Finn lying in her bed while she tried to figure everything out. To take it all from the beginning, something she had wished for in a long time had happened. Jess had come back, hell, he had even written a book about her. In the book that was lying in her lap, she was the Celestial City to his Christian, she was the thing he longed and craved for. Only now, she wasn't sure if that was what she wanted anymore. She moaned loudly and caught her head in her hands. Why couldn't life be easy for a change? Now wouldn't that be nice? Right then she heard a scramble at the door, she had forgotten about Paris coming home today and cursed loudly. Paris of cause chose that exact moment to walk in the door. She frowned.

"I can hear that spending Christmas without your mother hasn't improved your manners, not that I should have expected it too"

Rory didn't answer, she didn't know if she wanted to share with Paris, but she needed to talk to someone. She got up from the chair and went over to Paris, she took one of her bags, and instead held out the book. Paris gave her a puzzled look and took it. She glanced down at it, and then back to Rory.

"Your Jess?" Rory nodded "You're kidding, right?" She shook her head.

Both girls dropped the bag they were holding and dropped themselves on the couch. Paris turned to the first side and read the inscription.

"Wow" Rory nodded.

"So, was he here?" Rory nodded again "Are you going to actually speak anytime soon?"

"Sorry," Rory sighed, "I'm just lost"

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

Paris looked at her confused, and then she noticed the knocked over lamp in the common room, and the mess in Rory's bed as she looked through the open door. Her eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped a little, she looked back at Rory with interest.

"You had a boy in your room" her voice was teasing.

And she knew she had hit the jackpot when Rory blushed all over. Rory jumped to her feet and started pacing, and Paris sat back and honestly enjoyed it a little. Rory was rarely this much besides herself, it was normally herself that was putting on a spectacle… Rory stopped pacing for a while, and looked at Paris.

"Finn… I met him a couple of days ago…" she started mowing again "Jess dropped the book of and I didn't open it, Finn came, Jess left and we went to the party, and then he came back here, and this morning when I woke up I opened it… and then I told him to leave…"

Paris was completely puzzled, she got up from the couch and stopped Rory by grabbing her firmly by the shoulders.

"Okay," she gave Rory a quick hug "slow down and tell me what happened, and with a little more adjectives this time please"

They both sat down, and slowly Paris managed to yank the whole story out of Rory. She got more and more surprised at her friend, as the story moved along. When Rory finished she was astonished. Rory sleeping with some guy she hardly knew. The next thing will be purple snow…Rory smiled tiredly and looked at Paris.

"Any ideas?" there was a silent prayer in her eyes.

"Only one," she grinned "Coffee!"

Rory smiled, but something in her attitude told Paris that even coffee wouldn't be enough this time. They found their way to the coffee stand, and got as much coffee as they could carry. Then they searched for a place they could sit down, it was still snowing, and there weren't many options, but they found a bench under a pent roof where they sat down. After having sat in silence for a while, Paris grumbled.

"Well, at least the snow's not purple"

Rory just gave her one of those looks she had reserved just for Paris, the 'I-know-you're-crazy-so-I'm-not-gonna-ask' look. She looked down on the ground, where the snow was starting to settle and color the ground white. Paris realized that she was thinking about the Finn-Jess situation, and nudged her shoulder gently.

"You'll figure it out, just stop thinking about it so much. Suddenly you'll just know"

Rory smiled and nudged her back, sometimes Paris was a really good friend, and those sometimes completely made up for all the other times. She swallowed the rest of her coffee, and started on the next cup. Rory remembered where she had been over Christmas, and suddenly Jess was buried in her mind, instead she turned to Paris and looked exited.

"So, tell me. How was Christmas with Doyle's parents?"

Paris smiled, and then tried to hide it behind her enormous mittens.

"Very red, green, and Christmassy" she sniggered.

In Finn's dorm room things was a lot less high-spirited. After Finns less than joyful greeting, and his quick retreat to his own room, both Colin and Logan had guessed that something was wrong. Even if their brains were still intoxicated beyond belief. They looked at each other as Finn's door slammed behind him.

"Trouble in paradise?" Colin muttered.

Logan looked at the door with surprise. He nodded.

"Must be" he frowned "though I didn't expect it with the reporter, she seemed interested"

"As did he" Colin mentioned.

They looked at each other, and moaned as if on cue. They had been there the only other time Finn had any feelings for a girl, and it hadn't been pretty. And the biggest trouble was that, this time they both had a feeling it was gonna be worse. Finn had been oblivious to other girls ever since he saw Rory, and they had noticed of cause, how could they not? He was normally the one storming around after anything with a pulse.

"So, what do we do about it?"

Colin sighed, he wasn't really up for playing David Hasselhof, but his friend needed to be saved, and he wasn't one for letting people drown. But Logan shook his head, this wasn't something he wanted to get caught up in.

"Nothing yet, maybe they'll fix it on their own. Let's hope they do. All we can do right now is be here if he wants to talk"

Colin nodded reluctantly. He hated to see Finn all messed up, but he knew Logan was right. If they interfered, there was a chance that they'd just mess things up worse. He sighed again and returned hi attention to the T.V, there was a documentary on about Britney Spears, and Finn rarely allowed them to watch stuff like that. It seemed that he had an idea that Britney was bad music, something that neither Colin nor Logan shared with him. Right now, he was just enjoying Britney's boobs in a far too tight tube top. Logan nudged him in the side with an elbow.

"Wanna bet that is they pop out?" he sent the T.V a dirty look.

"You idiot, do you really think that they'd be showing that in a documentary" Colin nudged him back.

"Hey, don't call me an idiot"

"Well, you are an idiot"