Quote of the week:

Carrie Bradshaw: "I put a bird in my hair."

From 'Sex And The City: The Movie' (because it's an absolutely awesome movie)

A/N: Yeah, still don't own anything, in case you were wondering.

Chapter 2: The Pros And Cons Of Breathing

About 8 months later Rory gave birth to a small, dark haired boy she named Daniel Richard Gilmore. Her friends had of course found out she was pregnant, but the only ones to know the truth about the child's father was Lorelai, Lane and Paris and they were all sworn to secrecy. As far as Stephanie and Colin and everyone else were concerned, Rory had had some stupid one-night stand with a guy whose name she didn't even know.

Daniel was perfect. His hair was dark, almost black and his eyes were the same green colour as his father's. Rory loved him more than life itself. She had gotten herself a job at the New York Times and although it wasn't her dream job, it was a start. She sometimes met Mitchum Huntzberger but did her best to stay away from him and keeping forced conversation to an ultimate low.

She still hung out with Stephanie and Colin, they had moved to New York as well, Colin getting a job in his dad's law firm and Stephanie tagging along. They had gotten engaged a couple of days before Daniel's fourth birthday.

By now it was quite clear that Daniel's heritage was a little bit more exotic than most other children. He had light olive skin, almost completely dark hair and light green eyes. Lorelai sometimes joked that his father most have been a total hunk, but Rory just shrugged it off. She thought about Finn once in a while, wondering how he was doing and such, but she never found the courage to call him. What little she actually heard about him, she heard from Colin and Stephanie, like the late thursday afternoon Colin came over.

"So Rory" he said while she poured coffee for them in the kitchen. "Don't you think it's time to talk some truth?"

She almost poured coffee all over herself when he said that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I just thought that you wanted to share with me who Daniel's father really is."

"Oh" she said. "No." Rory smiled as she handed Colin the cup.

"Alright, then I'll say it. It's Finn, right?"

Rory coughed coffee all over her self and stood to get a towel, muttering something inaudible to Colin.

"Sorry didn't quite catch that" he yelled after her.

"I said that is preposterous" she answered and returned to the room with a towel and a new shirt.

"Well, I talked to Finn after the graduation party and he had quite an interesting story to tell."

"I'm sure he did" Rory said, taking a small sip of her coffee.

"He told me that you two slept together, but you completely freaked out the morning after and that you never talked after that. Sounds about right?"

"Sort of" she muttered.

"So unless you adopted a new persona that week, I would have to guess that Finn's the father. Seeing as there wasn't all that many black haired, green eyed, olive skinned guys running around in New Haven."

"Yeah yeah you're a fucking detective" Rory groaned. She usually didn't cuss, but the occasion called for it, she thought.

"Thank you. So, now to more important matters: does Finn know?"

Rory shook her head and suddenly felt awkward and embarrassed. Colin was an old friend of Finn. This could turn out ugly.

"Though as much. Doubt Finn would have been able to shut up about it if he had known."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know, Rory. It's the right thing to do, but it's your life. I would think about letting him know if I were you."

Rory nodded. Colin was right.

"So, onto the real reason I'm here, except of course to determine your son's parentage. I talked to Finn some days ago. He'll be in town the next couple of weeks for some business and the wedding." Colin and Stephanie had finally agreed on a date. Rory was going to be the maid of honour.

Rory nodded again. "How is he?"

"Good, I think. He works a lot. His father is still sick, so Finn pretty much runs the family company."

"Yeah, I never got around to find out exactly what it is that his family does."

"They are in real estate. Hotels and such" Colin said. Finn had always said he was a male Paris Hilton, only more promiscuous. "Finn wasn't suppose to take over the company, but his older brother Charlie was killed in a car crash when Finn was fifteen, so…"

"Oh" Rory said. "I didn't know."

"Yeah, well it wasn't exactly something Finn ran around and told everybody about. His parents sent him to live with some relatives about two years after the accident when Finn had gotten completely out of control."

"The drinking?"

"Yeah among other things. I met Finn's sister once, she told me he was destructive and violent before they sent him away."

"Wow. Kinda hard to imagine Finn being destructive and violent" Rory said.

"Yeah well he was always very busy being drunk, so he might simply not have had the time."

Rory smiled. "So what you are trying to tell me is that Finn will be coming to New York soon and that I should probably tell him about Daniel?"

"Yeah something like that. Look, there's a lot more to Finn than meets the eye. Just, give him a chance, you know. He might surprise you."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind" Rory said, as Daniel bounced into the room with his nanny. Sally was a senior in high school and she was absolutely in love with Daniel. Rory had hired her on the spot when they met in the park and Sally had never let her down.

"Mommy" the boy shrieked and ran to Rory.

"Hey you" she said, kissing his cheek. "Look who's here to visit." Daniel turned from his mother to see Colin sitting in the opposite chair.

"Onkel Cowin" Daniel screamed. He still had a little trouble pronouncing Colin

"Hey big guy" Colin said.

Sally came into the room and smiled at them.

"You guys have a good day" Rory asked.

"Yeah it was great. We went to the park and skated" Daniel answered before Sally had a chance to. Rory smiled and got up to get Sally's paycheck.

"I swear it's like looking at Finn" Colin muttered, looking at the child. His hair was ruffled at the top and slightly curled, just like Finn's. Daniel would grow up to hate that hair, Colin new from experience.

"Who's Finn" Sally asked, sounding intrigued. She had always wondered how Daniel's father fitted in to the picture, but never dared to ask and Daniel obviously didn't know a thing.

Colin looked a little surprised. It seemed he had forgotten she was in the room. It happened a lot when he was visiting Rory and her son. Sally didn't really know if she liked the guy, he seemed at bit uptight and snobby for her taste, but Rory and Daniel loved him.

"Um, no one" Colin said.

Sally just nodded. She knew better than to press the issue.

"Rory I need to get going, I'm picking up Finn at the airport to night. Steph is going to call you later and plan some things. She has gotten a little wedding crazy, consider yourself warned."

Rory nodded. "It's fine, I totally understand."

"Good, 'cause I don't" Colin said and kissed her cheek before leaving.

Sally loved taking Daniel to the park. He was such a happy kid and she couldn't help but to love him. She sometimes thought about why he didn't have a father figure in his life and where his dad was. He most have been somewhat exotic, Sally had decided, since Daniel's skin colour was a little darker than Rory's porcelain tone and his hair almost black.

They were having a snow fight and Sally couldn't help but to smile when she looked at the little guy. He was so adorable, even when he tried to shower her in snow. She threw a ball at him but missed and hit a guy in a suit that stood nearby.

"Oh my god, I am SO sorry" she said, trying to brush of the snow.

"No, that's quite alright" the guy in the suit said, smiling.

"You talk funny" Daniel said.

The guy laughed and got down to Daniel's level. "That's because I'm not from around here."

"Oh" Daniel said, looking at the man. He had very dark hair and green eyes. "Where are you from?"

The man smiled at him. "Australia. Do you know where that is?"

Daniel nodded. "Very far from here."

The man laughed again. "What's your name mate?"

"Daniel" Daniel said.

"Well I'm Finn and it's nice to meet you. Now you go wash your big sister with some snow" he said, getting up.

"Oh, I'm just his nanny, Sally said, almost getting flustered. The guy was a total hottie.

"Well in that case you have my humble apology" he said and smiled at her. Sally felt her knees weaken. He was tall, dark and handsome, as Lisa, her friend, would say.

"It's fine" she mumbled, not really knowing what to say.

"I wanna go ice skating" Daniel suddenly said, pulling her hand.

"Yeah sure Daniel. Again, I'm really sorry about the snow" Sally said, letting Daniel pull her arm even harder.

"It's quite alright love" the man said and walked away.

When Sally returned to Rory's apartment, Rory was already dressed for her usual Friday night dinner plans with her grandparents. She wasn't bringing Daniel this time, because her grand mother had said there would be some people over and Daniel didn't always behave very well.

"Hey you guys" Rory said, hugging her son fiercely, "Did you have fun in the park?"

"Yeah it was fun. Sally hit a man with snow" Daniel said.

Rory turned to look at Sally with a raised eyebrow. "You hit a man?"

"We had a snowball fight and I accidentally hit this guy with a snowball. Turned out that he was this really hot Australian guy…"

"Australian?" Rory interrupted her.

"Yeah his name was Fenn or Finn or something. Totally cute with the accent and all. Are you okay?"

Rory had turned pale. She swallowed hard. "Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah a bit. Daniel thought he talked weird. Is there a problem?"

"No it's fine, I'm fine. I guess I should get going" she said and absentminded kissed Daniel on the cheek before leaving.

A/N: Feel free to rewiev!!