"Hey Rory, what's the deal with Finn anyway? Can you give me any info?" Poppy asked from where she was perched on the couch in their hotel suite in Manhattan. For Rory, it was weird to be in a hotel a fifteen minute cab ride from her apartment, but she was willing to deal with it for the perks of room service.

"What kind of deal do you mean?" Rory asked, sitting down across from Poppy. They only had one final event left on the tour, Rory was glad to be finishing up the tour, but sad Poppy would be returning home to Boston. They had become close, although sharing hotel rooms for three weeks will do that.

"Girlfriends? Boyfriends? Job?"

"Well he is definitely straight, he does like to occasionally play the metrosexual angle so I can see where the thoughts of him being gay could come from. He could be bi but I'm ninety five percent sure he isn't. I've never known him to have a girlfriend, just dates, but that was in college, and they were all playboys. He may have changed," Rory felt the need to add, having watched Poppy's face fall at her description. "He is an awesome friend to have, always the life and soul of the party, but he cares. He is never as drunk as he seems, just very outgoing."

"So is it a waste of time even considering pursuing him?"

"I don't think so. Remember it's been over five years since I have had regular contact with him. As for job, his family owns a luxury hotel chain. He is the VP as far as I know, he travels a lot between work, and his family, who are still in Australia half of the year."

"That sounds interesting. You really hung around with the trust fund kids at Yale huh?" Poppy asked.

"For some of it anyway. Although I suppose I am technically a trust fund kid, mine didn't get discharged until after I graduated so I never had the same disposable income at Yale that they all had."

"Really? And you dated that Logan guy? He was hot but he seemed like an asshole," Poppy said looking at Rory quizzically.

"He could be an asshole, he was the head playboy. I was the girl who tamed him for a while, until we went to his sister's wedding and I found out he had slept with all of her bridesmaids after a fight that he and I had had previously."

"No way! And he left you to socialize with them?" Poppy asked horrified.

"Yep! And he thought that they were in the wrong for telling me about it." Rory said indignantly, the memories of that time coming back to her.

"Oh so he is that kind of guy, nothing is ever his fault?"

"Never. But Colin and Finn are different, they never did anything like that to anyone while I knew them. The worst was only when girls wanted seconds but the guys had made it clear it was a one time thing, they never led anyone on." Rory leaned back on her couch, watching Poppy carefully, she was biting her lip and concentrating hard, with her cellphone in her hand. "Have you heard from Finn?"

"Huh?" Poppy asked looking up. "Oh yes, he was texting, he wanted to know our plans while we were in Manhattan."

"And? What did you tell him?" Rory asked.

"Well I mentioned the signing I had this morning, and the radio interview yesterday."

"Did you mention tonight's signing and party?" Rory asked, thinking she probably knew the answer already.

"No, it isn't like he would come anyway. It would be boring for him," she said resignedly.

"You don't know that. Plus we will be done early enough to go out afterwards anyway."

"No, it's okay. I will leave the ball in his court, see if he asks to see me."


Poppy was half way through reading her chosen excerpt to the crowd when Rory spotted him. Finn. He must be more interested than Poppy thought to show up, without being told when and where it was. Rory decided to say nothing and see what happened. She couldn't see who, if anyone, was with him.

Poppy was in the middle of her signing before she spotted him, although considering he was standing in front of her asking her to sign his book, there wasn't much chance she could miss him.

"Finn!"

"Miss Khannington, I just love all your work," he gushed, pretending to just be a normal fan.

"How would you like me to sign it?" she asked, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, knowing that anyone else there wouldn't know that she knew him outside of this instance.

"To Finn, with all my kisses, Poppy?" he quipped cheekily.

"How about 'Finn, I didn't know you could read'?" she retorted quickly, as she signed her name with a flourish. "Rory is around somewhere, if you would like she could tell you where we are heading after if you want to join us."

"Alright then, I will go and find her. See you soon," he said before quickly departing, knowing she had lots of work to do.


"Do you think he will show?" Poppy asked Rory as they walked into the bar hosting her end of tour party.

"I think he wouldn't have asked if he wasn't going to. Try not to stress, let's get all the boring things over so we can relax. I'll make sure we say hi to all the big-wigs before the wine kicks in."

"I don't wanna!"

"Come on, we both know the quicker we get it over with, the quicker they leave and this becomes a real party." Rory said, leading her over to her boss.

"Well Miss Khannington, I hear you have been keeping Rory here busy."

"I wouldn't put it like that," Rory started preparing to defend her friend before realizing that it was a joke.

"Yes, I wanted to keep her on her toes. She was more willing to do things with me than anyone else who has came on tour with me before."

"Interesting, what did you two ladies get up to?"

"Not much, some tourist things, shopping, site seeing, wine tasting all the normal things," Rory said quickly.

"And skydiving." Poppy added. "That was awesome!"

"You took her skydiving?" Mr Miller asked Rory.

"More like I took her along," Poppy interrupted, suddenly realizing why Rory hadn't mentioned it originally.

"Where did you go to do that?"

"A small airfield between Boston and Hartford," Rory answered. "They were extremely highly rated and recommended, I did check."

"As long as you did your due diligence I suppose. Did you at least have fun?" As much as he would never admit it, Mr Miller did have a soft spot for Rory, originally he took her on as an intern as a favor only to be pleasantly surprised by her work ethic, which continued to impress him years later.

"It was a blast," Poppy exclaimed.

"It was much better than I thought it was going to be. We went with a large group I went to college with so it was nice to know nearly everyone there," Rory stated with a smile. "I see the Barnes and Noble buyer over there, we better go and say hello. I will see you back in the office next week."

"Yes, go and have fun, relax. You have both earned it," Mr Miller said, walking away from the pair with a smile.


"God! I need something stronger than this to drink," Rory groaned, waving her empty martini glass at Poppy, as they walked towards the bar.

"Drink ladies?" A voice asked, as if from nowhere. The girls turned to see Finn, Colin and a bored looking Logan standing there, Finn had a tray of drinks in his hand.

"Rory we changed your normal martini out for a bone dry Martini, you're welcome. Poppy we weren't as sure what you were drinking so there is a Long Island iced tea and a Negroni. If you would like something else, one of us will go to the bar," Colin said, handing out the drinks.

"You are Gods. Thank you," Rory gushed, taking a gulp of her drink.

"Can I have your whiskey?" Poppy asked, batting her lashes in Finn's direction.

"Of course Love, I can drink the iced tea."

"So not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you all doing here?" Rory asked Colin and Logan, leaving Finn free to talk to Poppy.

"Well, Finn needed a wingman, he wasn't sure how long the work portion of this would last, and he wasn't sure if she would like him just showing up," Colin said, looking over at the twosome who had stepped away. "Although it looks like he needn't have worried."

"And I spoke to enough contacts here that the Dark Lord will hear about it and think I'm taking some extra initiative." Logan said with a shrug.

"No, she likes him. She wasn't sure if he was serious or if she is just a passing fancy though. But I think it's too early for even Finn to know that," Rory stated looking over at the couple, who were now laughing.

"Oh no, he likes her," Colin said.

"A lot," added Logan.

"That's good. She might be a client but I really like her and we have become close so I would have hated it if I had introduced her to a playboy who was going to mess her around."

"Nope, Finn has grown up a lot, especially in how he treats women. He even had a proper girlfriend last year," Colin said.

"And what about you two?" Rory asked. "Any signs of settling down?"

"I am still seeing Stephanie on and off. I think soon we will have to decide if we want to settle down together or if we want to break it off for good. My father likes Stephanie, but my Mom thinks that I could do better."

"Really?" Rory asked, she knew Colin's parents quite well from her work with the Hayden firm, and she would have thought it would have been the other way round. "Well, to sound like an idealist, I think if you are still happy to be on and off with her and don't feel the need to commit then you should break it off fully. You will find someone you love enough that you could never imagine being with anyone else."

"A little idealistic for sure there Ace," Logan said, almost sadly. "I'm still living out the dynastic plan. The dark lord has increased his hints about me needing to settle down and pop out an heir and a spare. I did meet someone last week that has potential but who knows."

"You didn't mention that," Colin asked, looking closely at his friend.

"Odette? The French Heiress?"

"Oh, I thought you ruled her out because your father introduced you?"

"I did but I think I'm being too hasty. She is someone I would have introduced myself to if he hadn't. We also had quite a bit in common, I think I was dismissing her simply because of who did the introductions, and I had a rose tinted view of the past." Logan stated, looking away from Rory.

"Well I think it's great we are all growing up. I know I've grown up a lot in the past year alone. About time the family would say. Grandma is still hoping I will get married and become a society housewife," Rory said, as the guys joined her in laughing, knowing that would never work for Rory. "Not sure how she thinks that would happen with the amount of work and travel I do."

"Surely book publishing doesn't require that much regular travel?" Logan asked.

"No, it doesn't. I usually don't even do trips like this. Poppy requested me, I was the person who picked her first novel out of the slush pile and brought it to the attention of the right people." Rory said, trying to decide whether to discuss her real reasons for travel.

"So what? Does the boyfriend make you do all the traveling?" Logan sneered.

"Tristan? Oh no, not at all. He has a place here so he is back regularly, and Paris lives in Boston so I go there regularly to see her."

"And how is Paris?"

"She's finishing up her surgical training actually."

"Really? Paris is a doctor?"

"Yep, but a surgeon, so most of her patients are asleep." Rory added with a laugh. "So Logan you mentioned heading to the West coast?"

"Yes, I am a fan of the San Francisco area so I am looking into it more, trying to see if I can be based there and still look after operations. I figure I travel so much it doesn't really matter which airport I start and end my journeys at."

"That's true. And Colin, I hear you are making quite the name for yourself in corporate litigation?" Rory asked, before mentally kicking herself, realizing that there was no explanation as to how she would know that.

"I like to think so," Colin answered reflexively. "Hang on, where did you hear that?"

"Would you buy it if I said it just came up at a recent meeting?" Rory said innocently.

"A publishing meeting?" Logan asked.

"Nooo."

"Hey guys, we are going to head out of here, just wanted to check Rory was okay to get back?" Finn interrupted.

"Do you want me to go to my place instead of the hotel?" Rory asked. "I can come and pick you up for the meeting in the morning."

"Yes." "No."

"What Finn means to say is of course not, we wouldn't kick you out of where you are staying and have all of your stuff." Poppy said, giving Finn the side eye.

"Okay. I will see you in the morning then. Have fun. Finn keep her safe. She is still my responsibility until the morning."

"See you!" The couple said in unison before swiftly leaving the bar.

"Well that is my sign to get out of here. If anyone notices I'm still here and Poppy isn't, well I would not enjoy that meeting." Rory said, taking a final gulp of her drink. "Boys, it has been nice. I'm sure I will see you around," Rory quickly bussed kisses across both their cheeks before leaving swiftly.

"Did you notice she never answered you?" Logan asked Colin, as they watched her leave, wondering what secrets she was keeping.