On the First Day of Christmas…

The next few weeks went by quietly. Christmas was drawing nearer, and Rory was looking forwards to it, it had always been her favorite holiday. Finn was still living with her in her and Paris' dorm, and he was refusing even to talk to Logan on the phone. Logan on the other hand wouldn't take no for an answer, he called every two or three days, hoping that one day it would be Finn answering the phone. By the time they had spoken a couple of times he and Rory slowly started to rebuild the friendship they had had before they started to sleep together, he might not have been able to commit to her, but he had always enjoyed her company, and he didn't know many girls he could truthfully say that about.

It was starting to get to Finn a bit, it annoyed him that she laughed and joked with Logan again. He didn't want to be the jealous boyfriend, but he just didn't trust Logan, he had a feeling that this wasn't over yet.

It was Friday afternoon and he came happily humming into the room, much to his dismay it had been covered in Christmas decorations, and it made him shutter every time he went in. Something he and Rory definitely didn't have in common, was this insane obsession she had with Christmas; it had always just made him a bit sad. She was sitting on the bed with the phone in her hand and talking to someone excitedly. It sounded like Logan, and Finns face fell. It took him a second to regain his posture, and by the time he had, she had turned to look at him.

"Hey Finny," she gave him her prize-smile, and returned to the person on the end of the phone "He's here now Colin, should I put him on?"

She listened to him a moment with her head askew, and then let out a laugh.

"Yes I know babe" she looked at Finn and winked "I love you too, but I don't think your friend would like it if you ran of with me to a dark, deserted forest to make passionately love to me for six months".

Finn laughed silently as she heard his response, and then she handed him the phone, shaking her head with a smile on her lips. He didn't press the phone to his ear immediately, but instead just looked at her for a moment. She must have come home only minutes ago. It was frosty outside, and her face was showing it. She was beautiful, her cheeks were rosy, and her eyes were glowing. She looked happy. He traced a finger down her jawbone and then answered Colin, who was yelling in the other end of the phone.

"Yes my dear, I'm here." As Colin continued telling him of for letting him wait, he looked at Rory, rolled his eyes at Colin, and she laughed loudly.

"No Colin, I'm not rolling my eyes at you," he continued in the phone and winked at Rory "and yes I will participate in the conversation now."

Rory could still hear Colin's voice in the phone, as she went out to the kitchenette to make coffee, it sounded like he was shouting at Finn just for the fun of it. She started the coffeemaker and sat down on the floor in front of it with her legs crossed, there was something soothing about watching the coffee run into the pot and it kept her occupied until the coffee was done. Back in the bedroom, Finn ended his conversation with Colin and went to join her in the kitchenette. He smiled as he saw her sitting on the floor only four feet from the big soft couch, sometimes her actions made no sense. He went over, scooped her up into his arms, and carried her over to the couch despite her objections.

"Hey, I was watching that." she squealed.

"What?" he shot a look from her to the coffeemaker and back again "The coffeemaker?"

She nodded.

"You know it's not the TV?"

She nodded again this time more vigorously.

"You sounded like you were talking about the TV?"

"Nooo", she shook her head "this is far better than the TV".

He looked confused and it made her laugh. Sometimes he was so easy to baffle, and she enjoyed it. In retaliation of her laughter, he fell over her and mercilessly started to tickle her until she begged for mercy, promising to do anything he asked of her the next week. He descended on her a bit and started to kiss her lightly all over her face, and her stomach fluttered with butterflies even worse than it had done during the tickling. She practically purred in pleasure as he continued down her neck, obviously shooting for turning the moment into a full-blown make out session. He fingered with the hem of her shirt, looking to pull it over her head, but in that exact minute, Paris burst through the door. At the sight of Finn on top of Rory in the couch, she let out a shriek, and in her bewildered try to leave the room without opening her eyes, and hopefully as fast as humanly possible, she walked right into the wall next to the door. Her shriek had made Finn and Rory sit up in the couch, and the watched Paris' little show, Rory horrified and Finn amused. Giving up on her try Paris opened her eyes and shot them a small glimpse to se if they were still being 'improper' on the couch, and seeing that they weren't she straightened up and was clutching her toe in her hand.

"Hi", she snarled, "having fun are you".

The last comment was shot at Finn, who immediately tried to hide his broad smile.

"If I say no, will you do it again then?" he answered, wearing his most innocent smile.

Paris snorted at him and seemed to decide just to let it go. Rory was stunned, granted Paris had been easier to be around since the breakup with Doyle, but to go to these lengths was… just so un-Paris-like. Paris moved into the middle of the common room holding up the latest copy of The Yale Daily News, she seemed to have problems sorting out what she wanted to say, and instead she just shook the paper forcefully in front of them. Finn felt puzzled, and shot a side wards glance at Rory, however she looked just as lost as he felt.

"I should have been scared before, shouldn't I?" he asked no one in particular.

Rory nodded.

"I wasn't", he seized her hand and fiddled with her fingers "not at all".

"I know," she said "you were completely fearless."

"She was much scarier before."

Rory nodded in agreement "That's because she was angry with you, I don't think she is this time".

"But this time she really freaks me out." Finn made a very scared pouty face and Rory slapped him over the arm.

"Will you stop fooling around and get us some coffee instead."

She went over to Paris and got her to sit down on the couch, and while Finn poured them coffee she got Paris calmed down enough to get her to tell what was wrong. Apparently, Doyle had told her that her writing was boring and lacked interest, that it didn't seem like she put any work into it. Of course, Rory knew this was a lie, who didn't remember how Paris had been so wrapped up in her stories in the first year that one of the Episcopal priests had slapped her with a restraining order to stop her following him around. Rory was, possibly for the first time ever, pissed. She was so angry that she couldn't even speak, and she scared the shit out of Finn when he came with her coffee. She grabbed the cup, and drained it in one gulp.

"That… that… Uhhhh" she spat and took his cup just as he was raising it to his mouth, and drained it too.

"Whoa… Slow down there Kitten, do you really think getting pumped on caffeine will help" Finn mumbled as she went to fill both cups again. And then he took a look at Paris' face. He had never really liked her much, and he had always felt that she deserved everything she got, but he was wrong. No one deserved the look she had on her face, and he was going to do something about it. He went into Rory's room, picked up the phone, and dialed Colin's number.

"'lo" Colin sounded distracted.

"Colin, its Finn. I need your help with something… And Logan's…" he added after a short break. This seemed to catch Colin's attention, and Finn told him about the whole story of what had happened between Doyle and Paris.