AN: Sorry for the wait. I hope you all like this chapter. We will, see a further bonding happen here. Please let me know what you think.

After lunch Finn had taken Rory back to her grandparent's house. The second he drove off Rory's mood dropped. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about spending time with Finn that had made her feel a little less broken.

Once inside the house Rory was immediately intercepted by her grandmother.

"Rory, oh my God, Rory," her grandma grabbed her and held her at arm's length, examining her from head to toe. "Where have you been? I went to check on you last night and you weren't in the pool house. I tried to call you, but your cellphone was off."

Rory suddenly felt even worse. "I'm sorry grandma. I went out to dinner with a friend. It got late so he let me crash on his couch." She didn't like to lie to her grandmother like this, but it's not like she could tell her grandma she went to ask Logan for money to pay off her drug dealer and then slept in another boy's bed.

"You were out with a friend?" The look on Emily Gilmore's face was hopeful. Rory had overheard her grandmother's concerns voiced to her grandfather many times. Emily was seriously worried that her granddaughter would never be happy again; and it was a great possibility.

Finn was the first person that Rory had spent time with outside of her family and Logan. In fact He was the first person she wasn't forced to spend time with.

"Yes grandma I," She was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Since was the closest to it she turned and opened the door. On the other side of the door Finn was standing with a soft smile. "Finn, what are you doing back here?"

"Finn, Finn Morgan?" Emily's voice sounded behind Rory. "As is Veronica Morgan's grandson?"

Finn shifted his gaze to Emily, "The one and only," he said with a kind smile. He turned his attention back to Rory, "I forgot to give you my number." He handed her a piece of paper with his number scribbled on it. "I know last night was just a chance meeting, but it was nice to talk to you, and I hope we can do it again."

Rory felt confused. From the way he sounded he was the broken one who needed help and not her. She took the number and offered him a smile. "Thanks, Finn."

As Finn turned to leave Rory heard her grandmother's voice again, "Oh Mr. Morgan, would you like to join us for dinner tonight? It would be so nice to have one of Rory's friends in our company."

Finn glanced at Rory before answering, "Thank you so much, Mrs. Gilmore, for the offer, but I am expected at my own grandmother's for dinner tonight."

Emily nodded, "Yes, yes of course. I remember that Veronica likes to have the whole family over on Saturdays. Well, how about tomorrow night?"

Again, Finn looked at Rory. "If Rory doesn't mind my company at the table, I would be delighted."

Now both Finn and her grandmother were looking at her for an answer. "I don't mind if Finn joins us tomorrow night."

"Well this it's settled," Emily said with a smile stretched across her face, "Tomorrow night you will join us for dinner. How does 7:00pm sound?"

After they all said their goodbyes Emily went to the kitchen to plan dinner with the cook and Rory made her way out to the pool house. She was feeling a little overwhelmed; she hadn't expected Finn to come back to the house, let alone be invited for dinner. In truth, she didn't know how she felt about having him over, but didn't want to be rude and say no. Had it been Logan or Lane she would have just said no; but Finn had bought her not only lunch earlier that day, but dinner the night before.

When she got into the pool house she went straight to her bed and crawled under the covers. She tried to go to sleep, but she couldn't stop thinking about how comfy Finn bed was. Not just the physical feel of the bed, but how she had not had any nightmares.

Since the accident she hadn't slept through the night without waking up crying at least twice a night. She had slept quite nicely at Finn's. She had even forgotten that it was also Logan's place too.

She didn't feel comfortable in Logan's bed anymore. She didn't know if this was because she was irritated with Logan, or if she just didn't feel comfortable around him anymore; but she knew that the nights she had tried to stay in his bed she hadn't gotten any sleep.

Rory fell in and out of sleep until dinner time. She had managed to pull herself out of bed to join her grandparents for dinner, but she headed right back to bed after the plates were cleared. Her grandma and told her grandpa all about how she had spent time with a friend and how that friend was coming for dinner tomorrow night. This bit of news had her grandpa smiling. She knew that her grandparents wanted nothing more than to see her happy again. She only wished it was as simple as having a friend for dinner.

Sunday morning and afternoon flew by fast. Before Rory realized it, the dining room table was being set for 4 instead of its usual 3. Emily had made somewhat of a fuss with the dinner selection, deciding that having a guest was a bigger deal than it really was. After much deliberation, she had settled on an Italian dinner.

The dinner menu consisted of antipasto salad, minestrone soup, chicken scaloppini, homemade bread sticks, and tiramisu. Emily had even asked the cook to whip up some biscotti for coffee after dinner.

Rory understood the reasons for her grandma's actions, but she wasn't quite ready for it all. Finn was just a friend, a recently made friend more specifically, and she didn't need all this fuss being made over him.

Dinnertime arrived quicker than it would have on any other night. Finn had arrived promptly at 7:00pm with a bottle of expensive white wine in hand. This had Emily singing praises at what a wonderfully well-mannered young man he was. Her praises continued through dinner as Finn displayed his impeccable table manners and his fine-tuned skill in the art of conversation.

Rory had learned a lot about Finn that she didn't know. He was majoring in psychology (which surprised her, because she never took him for a psychological kind of guy), he amazingly had a 3.79 (this surprised her more, seeing as most of the times she saw him at school he was drunk out of his mind), his family had actually lived here for generations, but had spent every summer and holiday in Australia, and his family had known her family for years (this confused her, because she had never met them at any of the Gilmore dinner parties).

"How is your mother doing?" Emily asked, "We haven't seen her since before Rory was born."

"She's well," Finn replied with a shrug. The subtle smile that had been on his face throughout the meal had suddenly vanished. "She actually lives in Australia now. She and my father split a few years ago, and she felt like the space was best."

Rory couldn't help but hear the tinge of sadness in his voice. It was obvious that her grandparents hadn't noticed, because they continued to question him relentlessly. By the time the dessert was served, Rory felt like she had learned his entire life's story. Her grandparents had asked every question imaginable, from grades to family, even whether or not he was dating anyone. She did, however, notice that they had not asked a single question regarding Madison. They probably knew what had happened, or knew of it.

After dessert the four of them moved to the sitting room where Richard took over the conversation with talk about the insurance business; how he had helped Finn's father when he first came to town, and how he could help Finn with any business endeavors he may want to pursue in the future.

After another hour of shop talk from Richard, and more life-prying questions from Emily, Rory's grandparents retired for the night leaving her alone with Finn. They sat in silence for a while, neither of them looking at the other.

"I'm sorry," they both finally said in unison.

Finn looked confused, "What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry for my insane grandparents and the third degree the subjected you to. What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in any way." His eyes lock on hers. "I didn't mean to cause such a big deal when I came back yesterday. I just enjoyed talking to you and felt that maybe if you were up for it, maybe we could meet up for lunch or dinner again. Honestly, you are the first person I have been able to talk to about Madison. I liked it. It felt good to get some of it out." His voice broke when he said his sister's name.

Rory felt the need to look away from his intense gaze, but found she was unable to. "It's not your fault that my grandma is overzealous. Emily Gilmore can get a little intense when it comes to, well, when it comes to just about everything."

He just smiled in reply.

Rory continued, "But to answer you're your unasked question, I wouldn't mind joining you for lunch or dinner one of these days. I enjoyed talking to you too."

Finn smiled grew a little wider, but his eyes continued to look sad. "I would like that very much." He stood from his spot on the couch; he had been sitting opposite of her with the coffee table in between them. "I guess I should be going. I have an early class tomorrow."

Rory got up and walked him to the door. "Thanks Finn, for being a good friend and enduring the Gilmores."

"No problem, luv. They weren't that bad. My family could give them a run for their money." Again, she could see hidden sadness behind his eyes.

Before he left he leaned in and gave her a hug and to her immense surprise, she returned it. As stupid as it sounded she hadn't hugged or been hugged in months. The last person to hug her was Luke in the hospital, and the last person she had hugged was her mom, before she had gotten in the car. As she thought about it she felt tears prick the backs of her eyes. Unconsciously she tightened her arms around Finn, and he returned the gesture.

Neither of the spoke; they just stood there, holding each other, like they were trying to prevent the other from falling apart.