Quotes of the week:

Sacks: Sheriff wants to ask you some questions.

Veronica: My answer was final. I will not go to prom with him.

From Veronica Mars (I loved that show)

Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent: Darling, nothing is final 'til you're dead, and even then, I'm sure God negotiates.

From the movie 'Ever After' (I just love this quote – sorry if some find it offense).

Chapter 3: Dance Dance

Rory's head was a complete mess when she reached her grandparents house. It could have been him, it fitted, but then again, what were the odds? Finn didn't exactly seem like the guy who would walk around in parks. But then again, a lot had happened over the last five years. There was a very real chance that Daniel had talked to his father today.

"Rory dear, come in" her grandmother almost yelled at her. Rory briefly hugged her and entered the house.

"Hi grandpa" she said and hugged him as well.

"Rory dear. How are you?"

"Oh I'm fine" she answered.

"Really? You look a little pale dear" Emily said, looking at her with a frown.

"No, I'm just a bit tired, that's all. Long day at work. When is mom getting here?"

"She was supposed to be here already. Luke isn't coming though, Lorelai said he had something to do, although I can't for the life of me figure out what can be so important that it needs dealing with a Friday night."

Rory just smiled. Her mom had married Luke some time ago, but Luke still cringed whenever the topic of Friday night dinner came up and he avoided it as often as he could. Her mother was always a little late, which was something she did only to annoy Emily. Rory knew this, but tonight she just really needed to talk to her mom.

"Finally" Emily said, as the maid answered the door and Lorelai entered the living room.

"Sorry I'm late, but.."

"Save your excuses, young lady" Emily said. "Sit down, I just need to take care of something in the kitchen and then our guests should arrive."

"Wonder what she possible needs to take care of in the kitchen" Lorelai whispered, but when Rory didn't even smile, she looked more closely at her daughter. "What's wrong?"

"Finn's back" Rory whispered back.

"Finn? As in Daniel's father Finn?" Rory nodded. "How do you know?"

"Well Colin told me he would be back, but then Sally came home with Daniel from the park today and tells me how she accidentally hit a guy with a snowball and he was Australian and his name was Finn!"

"Wow" was all Lorelai could say.

"And apparently he is really hot." Rory made a face. The conversation had stirred up a lot of old emotions she barely knew she had.

"Oh honey, that must have been really weird" Lorelai said and hugged her daughter, as the doorbell rang.

"Oh that must be the Morgan's" Emily said, entering the living room again. "They are some of our oldest friends and they just got here from Australia. Isn't that exciting?"

Two people, about the same age as Emily and Richard, entered the living room. They were tanned and seemed dressed a bit odd, seeing as it was winter in Connecticut right now.

"Emily dear" the woman said, hugging Emily fiercely.

"Bloody weather outside" the man said. Rory immediately picked up on the accent and started to feel weird again. Apparently everything about this day was going to remind her of Finn.

"Claire and John, this is out daughter Lorelai and our granddaughter Rory" Emily said, looking at them with pride.

"Oh Emily, they are adorable" the woman who's name was Claire gushed.

"Yes we try to be as adorable as humanly possible" Lorelai said with a smile.

They all entered the dining room and sat down at the table.

"So Rory, Richard tells me you graduated Yale a couple of years ago" the man, John, said.

"Yeah I graduated five years ago" Rory said, not really sure what to say.

"Our grandson went to Yale as well. Graduated the same time you did."

"Oh, what's his name, maybe I had some classes with him."

"Finley, although I believe his friends calls him Finn" Claire answered.

"Oh I remember him. He was such a charming boy" Emily gushed. Rory just felt like throwing up. "Do you remember Richard?"

"Yes, I believe he and his friends drank all of my Scotch the last time they were here" Richard said, sounding somewhat displeased.

John looked apologetic. "Well, that was a long time ago and Finley had some issues that needed addressing. I can assure you he has grown into a fine young man. He is practically running the Firm now."

"Oh, I didn't know. How is he doing" Richard asked, sounding more interested now.

"Very good. But we are still hoping our son Landon will get better. I do believe Finley is a little too young for all that responsibility. Besides, he's getting married soon…"

Emily interrupted Claire with a loud "oh how wonderful."

Lorelai looked at Rory, who was very busy studying her plate.

"Rory, I think my zipper just broke. Come help me fix it" Lorelai said and grabbed Rory, before backing out of the room, ignoring her mother's "Lorelai please!"

"Well that was uncomfortable" Lorelai said, as she locked the door to the upstairs bathroom. Rory just sat down and looked into the thin air. She felt miserable, although she couldn't explain why. She had never really had feelings for Finn, and even if she did, that was a long time ago. She shouldn't be feeling like this now, she scolded herself.

Lorelai sat down next to her. "Wanna tell me what's going on?"

"Just caught me by surprise, that's all."

"I thought you said you didn't have feelings for the guy?"

"I didn't think I had. But now, hearing he's getting married. It just…" Rory couldn't explain what she was feeling, but she knew he hated the fact that Finn was getting married. "And now I just feel so stupid. Our fight… I never told you, but we fought mainly because Finn said he was in love with me and I said he was being ridiculous. And then we both said some hurtful things and we never spoke again. And the worst part is, I think I might have been in love with him too, if it hadn't been for Logan."

"And now he is getting married" Lorelai said. "Rory honey, if he is back in New York, perhaps you should look him up and tell him everything. See what happens."

"Yeah Colin said that as well. Finn is coming to the wedding, so I'll see him no matter what."

"Does Colin know?"

Rory nodded. "He came over yesterday and we talked a bit. He guessed it. Said it wasn't that hard, seeing as Finn was the only guy at Yale that looked like that. God I feel stupid. Why didn't I just call him when I found about that I was pregnant?"

"Honey, you were confused and scared. It's natural to feel this way. Why don't I come back to New York with you and we do some shopping tomorrow and figure this out. And then maybe you could give Finn a call or something?"

Rory nodded. "I would like that."

They got up and Rory wiped of her mascara, before re-entering the dining room. Emily and Claire were right now talking about how fantastic their respective granddaughter and grandson was. Rory felt weird, as she sat down at the table.

"Rory, are you alright" Emily asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit tired, that's all."

"We were just talking about a party that we are all going to tomorrow. You should come, if would be a great opportunity for you to meet Finley" Emily said, smiling.

"Oh, I've met him" Rory said in a small voice. The whole table looked confused. "I actually dated a friend of his back at Yale, so we sometimes met. He was very nice" she said to Claire, who looked very happy now.

"Then you should definitely come. It would be just like old times" Claire said.

"Oh, I really don't know" Rory said, unsure of herself.

"Nonsense, you will come. Lorelai, you and Luke should join us."

Lorelai looked at her mother with uncertainty. "Um I think Luke and I had plans tomorrow…" She started, but one look of almost panic in her daughter's eyes softened her. "But I suppose we can change it so only Luke does the thing we were planning to do. So I'll come" Lorelai said, looking at her daughter, trying to reassure her.

They left the dinner fairly quick after that. Lorelai had phoned Luke and told him about the rescheduling. They drove to Rory's apartment and had a movie night with tons of candy.

The following day Rory had left Daniel with Sally for a couple of hours, so she could go shopping with her mother.

"So, do you want to look absolutely stunning or drop dead gorgeous when you meet the Aussie" her mother had asked, as they entered a toy store.

"Doesn't that sort of amount to the same thing" Rory asked, looking at the dresses.

"No, if you are stunning you'll take his breath away and he will be in awe and think you're a real classy lady. If you on the other hand go for the drop dead gorgeous look, you'll take his breath away and he will want to sleep with you and…" Lorelai stopped herself, realizing what she had just said.

"I don't think we should make it our end goal to make him want to sleep with me" Rory said.

"Yeah, let's go for the stunning look. Drop dead gorgeous was a bad idea."

Rory finally managed to find a dress she liked. It was black, strapless, tight fitting at the top and sort of loose at the waist down. Her hair was straight and loose and in the end she thought she had managed to make herself look pretty damn hot.

"Are you sure you can do this" Lorelai asked her daughter, standing outside the huge mansion were the party was held.

"No. But I guess I really don't have a choice" Rory sighed just as the door opened.

It seemed like there were over a hundred people (there were probably more) and at first Rory didn't recognize a single person. And then she saw him. He had his back to her, but she had no doubt that it was indeed him. His tall frame and dark hair stood out in the crowd.

Rory nudged her mother and nodded towards him.

"That's him" she whispered. Rory nodded. "He has a very nice backside. Does it match the front?"

"Mom, be serious, this is hard for me."

"Sorry honey" Lorelai said, trying to be serious.

"Lorelai. Rory. You're late" Emily's loud voice could be heard in a miles radius. Both Lorelai and Rory cringed as heads turned to look at the two women who apparently were late.

"Sorry mom. Traffic" Lorelai said, trying not to feel horribly embarrassed.

Rory looked up and saw that Finn had also turned to look at them. She thought she saw a flicker of a smirk before he turned to the woman standing beside him and said something. Rory felt sick to her stomach when she saw the woman. She had flaming red hair, was tall and thin and beautiful and on her left hand's ring finger she sported a ring with the biggest diamond Rory had ever seen,

"So, have you met Eliza and George?" Emily looked them over.

"Who and who" Lorelai said.

"Eliza and George who are hosting this party" Emily almost rolled her eyes at them.

"Oh" Lorelai and Rory said together. They still had no idea what Emily was talking about, but thought it best just to play along.

"Hey you" someone said behind them.

Rory turned and was hugged. "Hey Steph. How are you doing?"

"Oh you know, bored out of my ass" Stephanie said with a flick of her hand. "Have you seen the old gang?"

"No, no one so far" Rory said, feeling uneasy. Exactly how many from the "old gang" were here?

"Then what are you standing around here for?" She grabbed Rory's hand and led her away before Rory even had a chance to protest. "By the way, you look dead sexy tonight" Stephanie added, as she pulled Rory away.

"Hey Colin" Rory said as they met with him.

"Hey Rory" he said, kissing her cheek.

"Hey Ace."

Rory almost spun around at the sound of her old (and much hated) nickname.

"Logan! Hi!" She was definitely having second thoughts about this whole party thing.

"Logan was just telling us stories about London" Colin said, when Stephanie nudged him in the ribs. "Ouch" he hissed at her, but she just smiled. "Well, we'll leave you to it" she said, dragging Colin away before he had a chance to say anything. Rory looked at the floor, not really sure on how to react.

"So, how you've been?"

"Um, fine" Rory answered, finally looking up. Logan hadn't changed much, he looked a little bit older, but other than that, he was the same old Logan. "You?"

"Working for my dad, you know. But other than that, life is pretty good. So, are you here with someone?"

"My mom" she said, feeling a bit embarrassed. What 27 year old went to a party with their mother?

"Still close, huh?"

"Yeah."

"So, this is weird" Logan finally said. Rory nodded in agreement, this was beyond weird. "Look, I'm really sorry about everything.."

"Don't be, please" Rory interrupted him. "I think we are both equally to blame. Seems stupid to fight over something that happened five years ago."

"Yeah it does. I'm glad you feel that way. So are you seeing anybody? Got that special somebody in your life?"

Rory wondered if she should lie, but thought the better of it. He would probably find out anyway. "Um, actually there kind of is."

"Really? Were is he tonight?"

"Home with his nanny. He's five, so…"

Logan looked flabbergasted. "You have a kid?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. I did not see that coming. Well, tell me all about him."

"His name is Daniel, he turns five in a couple of months and he's probably the love of my life." Rory smiled at the thought of Daniel. He always had that effect on her, no matter how he behaved.

"Am I being to personnel when I ask about his father?"

"Oh… Yeah maybe a bit. He's not really in the picture. Daniel doesn't know him, so…"

Logan nodded. He was afraid to ask the question, but knew it would be nagging him if he didn't. "He, he isn't…. I'm not… Is it me" he finally got out.

Rory almost laughed at him. He sounded so nervous it was almost funny. "No Logan, Daniel is not your son, so you can start breathing again."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's just, well… I'm not ready for that kind of thing, you know?"

Rory nodded. She knew. "Neither was Daniel's father, hence him not being in the picture. But it's good, my mom and grandparents really helped me out, finding me an apartment and taking care of Daniel when I worked. So it all worked out in the end."

"That's good Rory. I'm happy for you. Now, let's get something to drink."

"Did I hear someone say drink" a voice interrupted them. Rory looked up and meet Finn's green eyes. Sally was right, he was (still) extremely good looking.

"Finn, my man" Logan said, giving Finn a manly hug (the kind were you smack each other on the back for no apparent reason). "Have you met Rory?"

"I don't believe I had the pleasure yet" he said, giving her hand a kiss. His accent was the same; everything about him seemed the same, yet there was something different about him.

"Rory, honey, you need to save me from my mother" Lorelai said, walking up behind Finn and Logan.

"Mom, you remember Logan" Rory gestured to Logan, who smiled at Lorelai, "and this is Finn, an old friend from Yale." Rory gestured toward the tall guy standing next to Logan. Lorelai had to agree, he was definitely good looking.

"Hi, I'm Rory's mom" she said.

"Pleasure to meet you" the taller man said.

"Nice accent. Australia?"

The man, Finn, nodded. "You're good. Most people just think I'm a sober Irish." Lorelai laughed. He was actually quite charming. Lorelai could see why her daughter had fallen for him.

"So um, we should probably get going" Lorelai said, sensing the tension in the air. "I do believe your grandmother has found an eligible bachelor to set you up with." And with that she gently turned Rory away from the two men and into the crowd.

"So, that was him?"

Rory nodded. "That was him." She felt emotionally drained, even though their encounter had lasted less than five minutes.

"He's hot. I totally get you know" Lorelai snickered, as they moved to get outside and get some fresh air.

"Thanks mom" Rory said sarcastically.

"Oh, I forgot the booze" Lorelai said, as they entered the huge balcony. ,Listen, I'll be right back, I just need a drink."

Rory stood alone, enjoying the cold air. She could hear the party going on inside, but felt better out her, knowing she was alone. Or so she thought.

"So tell me love, what have you been up to all this time?"

Rory yanked around to see Finn standing up against the doorframe. He pushed himself into an upright position and walked out on the balcony.

"Oh not much" she said and felt uneasy. He was standing very close to her know. "How about you? Stephanie told me about your father."

"Yeah that was pretty rough. I guess one could say that was a tough week, what with being yelled at by the person you where in love with and your father almost dying…" He wasn't gonna let this go, Rory could tell. He wanted to talk about what had happened.

"Finn, I'm sorry, but…" Rory struggled to find the words. "Things got out of hand and we did something stupid."

Finn actually snorted at that. "Call it whatever you want love, but don't try to excuse yourself."

"What?"

"I had feelings for you and unless I'm sorely mistaken you had feelings for me. Perhaps it was stupid getting that drunk and sleeping together, but it would have happened sooner of later, no matter what. The chemistry was there, it was all just a matter of time."

Rory cringed at his words, especially the fact he used past tense. He didn't have feelings for her anymore, he was getting married, and she was left behind feeling more than she should.

"I really don't think this is the right time" she began and tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.

"Then please, Rory, tell me when the right time is" he said, sounding a bit angry. "Because I have been waiting for five fucking years for some kind of explanation."

"I'm sorry." Rory wanted to cry now. She was not at all prepared for this conversation.

"Well sorry doesn't really seem to do any good now. You know what, I had no idea you were so cold. You didn't even call when you heard about my father."

"Finn please. I'm sorry, but you have to understand…"

"What? What do I have to understand? You acted like a bitch…"

"I found out I was pregnant" she blurted out, tears now streaming down her face.

He took a step back. "What?"

"When you left, I found out I was pregnant. I called Stephanie and she told me you had left and…"

"WHAT?"

"Finn I'm sorry, but…"

"I can't deal with this right now" he said and left. Rory just stood there, feeling absolutely miserable. This was a huge mistake, she shouldn't have told him, not this way.

"Rory, are you still out here?" She heard her mother's voice.

"Mom?"

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"I met Finn" she sobbed even harder. "Told him… He just left." She flung herself at her mother and cried even harder.

"Rory, what's going on? Finn just fled the party like a bat out of…" Colin stopped himself and looked at the scene before him. Rory was openly crying while her mother tried to comfort her. "What's going on?" He looked questioningly at Lorelai.

"I don't really know" Lorelai almost whispered.

Rory wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Finn sort of cornered me and I told him."

"Oh." Colin couldn't really find the right words. This explained why Finn had grabbed a bottle of scotch on his way out. He knew Finn didn't drink much anymore (his fiancée didn't approve), so he was confused at this when he saw it, but now it all made sense. Finn had a nasty habit of running away from his problems, like when his brother was killed in a car crash. When he had been released from the hospital, he had started drinking heavily, turning to sex and booze instead of his family, which had only resulted in so many more problems that only made Finn drink even harder.

"Colin, could you please tell my mother that I wasn't feeling well and that Rory took me home. I will call her tomorrow" Lorelai said, gently leading Rory in to the house again. Colin nodded and left the balcony as well.

A/N: So that was long. I'm still a few chapters ahead, but I don't know how much time I'm gonna spend on the writing these next couple of weeks. My boyfriend is being deployed in a month, so I wanna spend as much time with him as possible before that. Sorry, but boyfriend comes before writing. I'll try to update when I can, but no promises.

A/N: To all those who bothered to review: Thank you SO much, you make my day when you do that, so please please continue.

I promise there will be an update at some point, just not right now, because of all the stuff going on in my life right now.

xoxo

Anne