Quote of the week:

"I'm more talented than all of you. I see that clearly now. It's Brittany. (pause) Bitch"
- Brittany S. Pierce, from Glee

Chapter 14: Sugar we're going down

Rory was working on her excuses as she spotted Finn and Colin in the bar. Stephanie had started to hiccup, which was always a bad sign, and Logan had decided to go for a quick walk with her and maybe force some coffee into her. Logan didn't always act like an actual human being, but he loved Stephanie and he knew that it was a bad idea to let her act drunk around her parents. Not that they would have noticed, Rory thought, as they were engrossed in a drunken fight of their own. Rory shook her head. Logan's parents were pretty bad, Colin didn't talk to his unless someone had died or there was a wedding, but Stephanie's parents were probably the worst. They had separated when she was ten, but opted to not get a divorce (for reasons Rory couldn't even begin to imagine, seeing as they quite obviously hated each other), which had resulted in perhaps the most dysfunctional home Rory had ever heard of. Stephanie's father was some kind of producer and her mother was some kind of socialite, which was a pretty bad combination, apparently. They still lived together, although Stephanie's father was working his way through the fifth secretary (according to Colin) and her mother had dabbled in everything from tennis instructors to gynaecologists. Rory definitely felt bad for Stephanie.

"Fighting again" she asked, as she joined Finn and Colin.

"Yes, no surprise there. Apparently, bringing the poolboy is much more tacky than bringing your nineteen year old secretary Brandi" Colin said.

"The traditional spelling" Finn chirped.

"Good to know" Rory said, watching the elder "couple" with a sort of weird fascination (she figured it was the same kind that made people stop and ogle a traffic-accident). "Logan took Steph out to get her sobered up."

"Good, she doesn't need to deal with Jack Nicholson and Joan Collins over there" Colin said, disapproval evident in his voice. Much like everyone else, he didn't exactly care for them either. "You ready for maid of honour duty tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I've talked over everything with Steph, I need to be at the church at eleven to help her with everything…"

"That might entail slipping roofies in her mother's champagne" Finn chuckled. He was having a great time; anything that took his mind of the complicated state of affairs his lovelife was currently in, was great in his mind.

"Don't joke about that" Colin said with a straight face. "Stephanie actually called the zoo and asked if she could borrow a tranquilizer gun!"

Rory and Finn shared an uneasy look; Stephanie was not above bribing people. "They said no, right?"

"Yes… Yeah…" Colin suddenly looked a little worried as well. "They would have to… Right?"

Finn laughed and smacked Colin on the shoulder. "I hope you never cheat, mate."

"I love myself too much to cheat" Colin said, in true Colin-style. "I better go make sure she doesn't throw up un Huntzberger. The last time he demanded we bought him a new suit." Colin rolled his eyes, like Logan had demanded they bought him an island.

"How immature of him" Finn said in a flat tone as Colin left him alone with Rory. "So love, got what you needed?"

"Excuse me?"

"The interview?"

"Oh… No, not really, but I guess it's better than nothing, right?" She smiled at him, she had forgotten how nice he looked in a suit, although she had always appreciated his somewhat twisted fashion sense.

"That's what my dear old papa always says."

Rory suddenly felt a little awkward, usually Finn felt empty air with mindless chitchat, but now he was just staring at his drink. "So, Colin used to date your sister? Which one?" Rory felt like that was the safest topic right now.

"The nice one, Idina."

"And your dad shot him?"

"I swear, it was an accident. That, and someone forgetting to list his allergies at the hospital."

"So where is Jane tonight?" Rory had been trying to force herself to ask him that all evening.

"Not here, love, obviously." He downed the rest of his drink. "She dumped my cheating ass and booked a flight home. I'm guessing she's plotting her revenge as we speak."

"Oh I'm sorry" Rory managed to force out.

"You are still a terrible liar, Gilmore" he breathed into her ear. It sent shivers down her spine having him so close and she couldn't help herself, as she took a deep sniff. He smelled like cologne and alcohol and somehow that really worked for him. She tried to fight the blush that was heating her cheeks.

"I never meant to come between you" she said, feeling only a little insincere. Honestly, she hadn't meant to, but she wasn't quite as sorry about Finn now being single as she probably should be.

"Maybe not love, but you did." He sighed. "In the end, it would probably have happened anyways, right? I would've gotten bored, she would have slept with Logan, something like that. It's always something like that. Have you talked to your grandparents about this?"

"No, I've been sort of avoiding them. I think my grandmother went a little crazy when she saw the pictures…"

"And if I recall right, which unfortunately isn't always the case, your grandparents aren't my biggest fans" Finn said. Downing someone's thirty year old singe malt scotch like it was cheap vodka didn't always endear you to other people, was Finn's experience.

"Oh it's not that bad" Rory lied.

"Your grandfather once called me dopey" Finn said with a smile. "I remember that quite clearly. Doped up would have been more accurate, but still…"

"Finn?" Rory had thought about this for some time now. "Was it really that bad? The drinking and all that? Was it really that bad? I mean, you graduated Yale and you run a business now…"

"It was pretty bad for a while. My parents would probably have sent me to Betty Ford if they had an academic profile. It wasn't as bad when I attended Yale. I managed to show up to almost all my classes. But I'll admit, there are things I don't remember."

"Like meeting me…"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but honestly Logan always had something new under that weird t-rex arm of his everyday, so I never really made the effort until you decided to stick around."

"So I should feel flattered" Rory asked with a smile.

"Oh definitely, love" he whispered in her ear.

Rory took a deep breath, trying to muster the courage for what she was about to propose. "I think…. I believe… No, I think that you should come home… With me, that is. Tonight. So we can talk."

"Just talk?"

"Yeah, because you're rebounding, so…" Rory trailed off, she could barely belief she had actually proposed something like this, even though it was fairly innocent.

"Ah, but I was rebounding from you when I met Jane, so technically, I've already had the rebound girl" Finn tried to logic with her.

"Ryder gave me some papers, legal papers about Daniel. We should figure out a way for you to spend time with him" Rory reasoned. Actually, legal papers were probably the last thing on her mind right now, what with him standing so close she could smell him, but for their future's sake, she had to be the adult here. Even if it seriously sucked. "So, yeah… I'll find you when it's time to leave and that'll be it. And now I'll go find Paris." Rory almost ran away from him.

She found Paris at their table, where she was having a vigorous debate with Stephanie's paternal grandfather. Or as vigorous as someone older than the written language was capable of having. Paris ignored Rory's presence for some time, until she couldn't ignore the look on her face anymore. "What?"

"I'm a walking disaster! I just asked Finn to come home with me tonight."

"Oh. Well there's nothing wrong with that, you're a grown woman with urges…"

"Oh god, please don't ever use that word ever again in my presence" Rory whispered, trying to erase the memory from her mind. "To talk!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Well yeah…. Because Jane broke their engagement, it would be stupid to start something now."

"Aha." Paris leaned back in her seat. "Stephanie's grandfather is very nice, don't you think?"

"Paris, you have got to stop that, seriously! It's creepy" Rory exclaimed, hoping Stephanie's grandparents were as deaf as they looked.

"What? There is nothing wrong with appreciating an older specimen" Paris whispered.

"Paris, there is so many things wrong with that sentence that I don't even know where to begin!"

"Honestly Rory, you're so stuck up. Finn's older too, you know."

"Finn wasn't around when they invented electricity" Rory said in an angry whisper.

Paris just ignored that and went back to her discussion, leaving Rory to look around the room. This felt like dangerous territory. Logan was glaring daggers at her and she had a feeling he would try to get her alone so they could talk again before the night was over. Stephanie, who had obviously found out that Colin had drugged her, was having a weird argument with him. It was obvious they were fighting about it, but both of them kept smiling, trying not to show they were fighting, but the smiles looked so scary it just drew attention to them. Robert, Tristan and Finn were dancing and Ryder was huddled in a corner, reading a book. Rory had never been to a society-wedding (as she had missed Honor's nuptials), but she was pretty sure this wasn't the usual ordeal. Of course, with the Life and Death Brigade people and Stephanie's extremely weird family, she should probably have known this would be a night to remember.

"Hey Ace, can I talk to you?"

"Really Logan, I don't see what there is to talk…"

"It was Finn, right?" He gave her a significant look. "That you cheated with. It was Finn, wasn't it?"

Rory looked at Paris, who was still busy talking to Stephanie's grandfather and she discreetly got up and followed Logan to an empty table near a deserted corner. "I'm sorry…"

"Finn is like one of my best friends" Logan said in a flat tone. "Did you sleep with him?"

"Yes."

"More than once?"

"No, it was just that one time, after graduation. I was hurting and we got really drunk…"

"Did you keep in touch, when he was in Australia? When he was with Jane?"

Rory closed her eyes and bit her lip. This was so not the right place to have a talk like this. "It wasn't like that, Logan. And I never did this to intentionally hurt you."

Logan seemed to think that over. "I was such a jerk to you, wasn't I?"

"Yeah you kinda were. But I'm still sorry I cheated on you. I've never done that before." Until now, of course, Rory added to herself. She still hadn't called Dean.

"You like Finn? I mean, judging by the pictures it pretty obvious, but… You like him?"

"I don't know, maybe? But all this stuff with Jane…"

"Yeah and the fact he has a kid. I still can't believe that. And he never ever told me. I'm thinking Colin probably knew, because, knowing Finn, he would have set up some kind of trust fund or something like that, for the kid, Colin would oversee that probably. Or maybe Ryer would, but I think Colin knew. But wow… Finn's a dad. Can you believe that?"

Rory made a somewhat strangled half-laugh. "Yeah…"

"But you know, Finn's changed. I'm pretty sure he's like the coolest dad ever, teaching the kid to surf and fish and wear really weird clothes and listen to strange music… You knew about it too?"

Rory took a deep breath. Should she tell him or was that Finn's lot? She wasn't sure and whoever should do the deed definitely shouldn't do it at a rehearsal dinner. Right? She wasn't sure what the proper etiquette in such a situation was. "Are you mad at me?"

"I think I'm a little hurt, but I know it's my own fault. Kinda thought you were the one, Ace. Now you'll always be the one that got away" he said with a smile.

Yeah and had your best friend's baby, Rory thought. But that was probably not the right way to break it to Logan either. "Oh I'm sure you've had plenty of fish after me" Rory said, still smiling like a nervous fool.

"Hey guys" Tristan said and plopped down next to Rory. "Your lover is hitting on me, make him stop."

"What?"

"Finn… It's annoying" Tristan whined.

"Why did you call him my lover" Rory said in a sharp tone.

"Oh please, Ace. You've just admitted that you slept with him, and there's pictures of you all over the net making out like there's no tomorrow."

"You slept with Finn?" Tristan had probably just talked a little loud due to excitement, but to Rory he might as well have gotten up on the stage, and announced it to the whole room.

"Shut up" she hushed him. "We are not having this conversation!"

"Wow so you really aren't Mary anymore, huh" Tristan said. "Hey, so Logan, did you know Finn's got a kid?"

"No I was just talking to Ace about it, it's completely crazy. He never even mentioned something like that" Logan said.

"Oh wow, look at the time. Way past my bedtime. Guess I'll see you two tomorrow, bye" Rory said and made a hasty retreat from the table. She thought about finding Finn, but after about a milliseconds' consideration she nixed that idea. Leaving together was definitely the fastest way to get people to talk even more about them.

"Hey Paris, I'm leaving" Rory told Paris. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah sure, is everything ok?"

Rory was surprised Paris even asked. It was obvious she didn't mean it. "Yeah sure. I'm just tired."

Paris just gave her a sceptical look at that statement. "Sure. See you tomorrow."

Rory was out of the door before anyone could make objections. She knew it was totally bad manners to leave without saying goodbye, but she didn't feel like facing anyone right now. She sent Finn a text, asking him to meet her at home in an hour. That way it wouldn't look weird, she reasoned with herself. Finn, however, didn't answer and she was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling that he wasn't gonna show up.

When she got home she immediately discarded her clothes and jumped into the shower. It felt like the only quiet time she had gotten all week and she almost felt giddy. After the shower she put on the 'Hello Kitty' nightset her mother had given her as a gag-gift and started to get ready for bed. The wedding was taking place late afternoon, luckily, and Rory had all morning to herself before she had to present for maid-of-honour-duty. That left plenty of time for her to get coffee.

Rory was completely engrossed in her own thoughts, which is why the knock on her door made her jump. She wasn't even sure who would come knocking this time of night.

"Hello Kitty" Finn drunkenly greeted her.

"Finn! I didn't think you were coming?"

"No? Love, your faith in me is disappointing" he grinned. "Logan wouldn't let me leave, he kept pestering me about you and me and Daniel and blah blah blah." Finn made a hand gesture to illustrate how much Logan had been blabbering.

"You're drunk." It wasn't a question.

"Not that much" Finn defended himself.

"You weren't supposed to be drunk" Rory said with a sigh. She placed him on the couch and found a blanket for him. "We'll talk in the morning, I guess. You can sleep here tonight. Just don't throw up on the floor." It was hard for her to keep the disappointment out of voice. She wasn't sure exactly what she was hoping to achieve tonight, but a drunk Finn passing out on her couch definitely wasn't it. And thinking about him in the shower and smelling him at the rehearsal dinner, having him so close. It made her cranky….

She woke up because of the noises. Someone was definitely fumbling around in her kitchen and for a second she hated herself for not taking the baseball bat Luke had tried to push onto her, when she first moved in. Then she remembered that it was most likely just Finn. Drunken Finn. She sighed and got up, before he trashed her entire kitchen.

"Did I wake you" he asked in a solemn tone and Rory definitely needed to take a moment. Sometime during the night, he had slipped out of his jacket and dress shirt and was now only wearing pants. She didn't mind.

"No, it's ok. How are you feeling?"

"Tad tired, nothing to worry about. I was just making some coffee. You want?"

This was perhaps the first time Rory had ever considered saying no to coffee. Ever! The sight of him, standing there, in her kitchen, wearing only pants… It definitely wasn't coffee she was in the mood for. "Oh… Yeah, sure, why not."

Finn poured her a cup. "Sorry about earlier. I'm sober now, promise. If you want to talk?"

Rory considered that, as she sipped her coffee. It was strong, just how she liked it. "No, not right now. How was the couch?"

"Very comfy, thanks" he said with a smile. "How's the bed?"

"Cold" she said, putting the cup down.

"Is that so" he smirked at her.

She nodded. "And lonely." Rory swallowed, this was so unlike her, but she just couldn't help it.

"You know, the couch isn't really that great after all."

"No?"

"No… Maybe we should share the bed? Get you warmed up?"

Rory nodded again, stepping closer to him. "Yeah…"

He gently touched her t-shirt. "You know, the trick to staying warm is less is more…"

She smiled at that and forced herself to meet his eyes. This was definitely out of character for her, but then again, this whole week had been out of character. In a rather bold move, for her, she pulled the t-shirt over her head and he leaned down to kiss her. It felt new and familiar at the same time. They worked their way to the bedroom, strewing clothes along the way. They collapsed on the bed together, revelling in each other.

Jess Mariano had been in the city for almost two years now and somehow he had never managed to run into his old girlfriend. He figured that, even though they were both writers now, they didn't exactly travel in the same circles. That made it all the more shocking to see the woman he still dreamt about sometimes, standing only a few feet away from him, ordering a coffee. He smiled; some things certainly didn't change.

She looked good, he thought. Her hair wasn't as long as when he had first met her, but in a more curly fashion now, with bangs. It suited her and he wondered why he never did contact her after he moved back to New York. He was just about to go over and say hi, when a tall guy joined Rory, fishing a couple bills out of a back pocket and paying the coffee. He put his arm around her and kissed her hair and Jess had to admit, it kinda hurt, seeing that. He caught himself hoping that the guy was an ugly moron, but of course he wasn't. Rory would never be with a guy that was a complete moron. Well, aside from Dean… And maybe that Logan guy. Jess suddenly felt hopeful, until the guy turned around. He had dark, slightly curly hair and Jess guessed he would fit the description 'tall, dark and handsome'. Rory turned around as well and Jess realized there was no escaping this one, unless Rory decided to ignore him.

"Oh my god, Jess! Hi" she said and smiled at him.

"Rory, hey" he said, trying to squash the butterflies in his stomach at the sight of her. He had been such an idiot back then.

"What are you doing here?"

"Live here, actually. Moved back a couple of years ago. You?" He already knew, but he didn't want to sound stalkerish in front of her new guy.

"I live here, been living here for like five years. I write for the Times" she said with a smile. "Oh, this is Finn" she said and gave the guy a big smile. "Finn, this is my ex-boyfriend Jess Mariano."

The guy offered his hand. "Finn Morgan" he said with an accent.

"Jess" Jess just said, as he reluctantly shook the hand. "So, married?" He felt he might as well get it out of the way.

"Not exactly" Rory said and Jess noticed she started to look a little uncomfortable. Maybe they weren't actually together. The guy could be gay, Jess told himself. "Finn and I are old friends from Yale, actually."

"We should meet up for coffee one day" Jess said. "Since we're both in the same city."

"Oh… Yeah, that would be nice" Rory looked even more uncomfortable now.

The guy seemed to notice too. "Love, why don't I go get you some more coffee" he offered and Jess decided he really hated that accent. And he especially hated the way Rory smiled at the guy. And what the hell kind of a name was Finn anyway. That was something you named your dog. Or that oversized teenager on the musical show.

Rory gave Jess another nervous smile. "How are you?""

Fine. Still a struggling writer, but I'm good, I like it."

"That's good" Rory said, looking in the direction the guy went.

"You two together?"

"It's complicated. Finn's… Finn and I…" Rory struggled with the words. "We have a child together."

Jess couldn't have been more surprised if Rory had told him she was growing a tail. "You have a kid?"

She nodded. "Daniel, he's almost five."

"Wow…. You had him pretty young."

"Yeah, but it's been good."

Jess looked in the weird guy's direction. He was ordering coffee now. "He's been good to you?"

Rory didn't really feel like explaining the whole uncomfortable and awkward history between her and Finn and she felt weird in Jess' company. It was pretty obvious he thought Finn was a moron. "Yeah he has. He's been busy, his dad is sick and he has a company to run, but… He's a good guy."

Jess just nodded. He hadn't expected Rory to give him some kind of sob story about how she had been pining away for him ever since they last saw each other, but it would have been nice anyway. "You doing anything today?"

Rory looked at her clock. It was only around nine in the morning, she still had plenty of time to get to the church and try to keep Stephanie's crazy antics in check. She and Finn had only ventured out because Rory had run out of coffee and the apartment smelled like sex (according to Finn). "Some of our friends are getting married today. We just went to get some coffee and breakfast, then we have to be at the church" Rory said, almost relieved when Finn joined them and put and arm around her.

"You're the writer ex, right" Finn asked, genuinely interested.

"Yeah" Jess said, knowing that was kinda cool in Rory's book. And this guy didn't look like he could form two coherent sentences on paper. "What do you do?"

"I manage my father's company. We own a chain of hotels around the world, and things like that. Certainly not as exciting as being a writer" Finn said with a grin. He was so on to the this Jess guy, it was obvious he was trying to impress Rory and maybe he did, but after last night, Finn didn't have any doubt about her. "We should get you to the church, love. Steph's probably trying to drown her mother as we chitchat." He kissed her hair for extra effect.

"Yeah, sorry Jess, but Finn's right, we have to go. But it was nice seeing you, though" she said with a small smile and left with the guy, holding his hand. Jess noted she made no attempt to schedule a day for them to catch up.

A/N: The mystery tattoo in the mysterious place will stay a mystery. Although I would love to hear your guesses. And if anyone has an embarrassing tattoo?

I'm so sorry about the late update, but seriously, I've had the worst two weeks… You know when you have those days where you should just stay in bed, not get up, just stay inside and watch tv and not talk to anyone? Two weeks like that! It sucked so much and if it doesn't get better soon, I'm gonna rob a bank and jump on the next flight to a remote island. I hear Johnny Depp's got a private island, I might go there. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, once I explained everything to him.