The Legend - A Gilmore Girls Fan Fiction

Chapter 89

Finn held my chair out for me and I sat down at the table.  He picked a nice restaurant to go to, one that was quiet enough to where we could talk, but not so stuffy that we felt like we couldn't have any fun.  He cleared his throat and began the conversation.  "I'd like to say I'm sorry that my sister ambushed you into a date with me, but I'm not sorry" he teased.

I laughed and nodded.  "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you had twin sense or something, the way you both know what to do for each other" I said.

"Ah, but she's much too young to be my twin" he said.

"Yeah, six years is a bit of a stretch for twin territory – especially when you're going to be forty this year!  Holy hell!" I teased.

"You're not so far behind me yourself there, missy.  You've only got two years left before you're there, too" he reminded me and I groaned in realization.

My phone vibrated and I looked at my phone in confusion.  "It's Steph...  That's weird, I haven't heard from her in a while" I said.

"Go ahead and answer it, Love" he said, and I did.

"Hey, Steph!  How are things going with you?" I asked.

"Yes!  Of course Emma can be your flower girl!  She'll love that!" I said, and then I listened as she continued talking.  "Oh – uh – are you sure?  I mean, I'd be honored to be one of your bridesmaids, Steph, but Finn and I aren't together anymore and I wasn't sure if that was going to come between you and me" I said.  Finn turned to look at me, and the sadness was clear on his face.  I listened as Stephanie insisted I was being silly and it wasn't going to change her mind one bit, and that she wanted me to be a bridesmaid, no matter who I was or wasn't dating.  "Okay, then sure, I would love to!  Thank you for asking me!" I said happily.  We talked for only a moment longer because I didn't want to be rude, and then I turned my attention back to Finn.

"What?" I asked with a laugh.

"I'm not going to let you lose them as friends, just because we broke up, Rory" he promised.

I shrugged.  "It happened before when Logan and I broke up, so I just assumed" I said.

"Stephanie asked me about all that before she asked you.  She wanted to make sure I was okay with it first" he said.

"So you knew she was going to ask me?" I asked.

"Yeah, she asked me not to say anything though, so I waited to let her ask you herself" he said.

I smiled.  "That was sweet, thanks" I said.

The waiter came by and took our order, and we got back to talking.  "I have a proposition for you" he said.

"You do?" I asked, not really sure what to expect.

"I do.  Look, I know we're really broken, and it's going to take a lot of hard work, dedication, and time to get us to a point where we could even consider getting back together, so that's not what I'm asking for right now" he said.

"Okay...  So what are you asking for?" I asked.

"I may have an idea that will make all of us partially happy, giving us the space and distance you need to get your head right, but still giving us and Emma a chance to stay close and work on rebuilding" he said.

"You're being very vague.  What did you have in mind?" I asked with a light laugh.

"You get Em every other weekend, so on the weekends you have her, could I convince you to both stay one night at my place?  For one night, we can just be friends, and give Emma some semblance of the same normalcy she was so used to with us?  You can stay in the spare room if you want to, or I can, I don't care.  I just want you there.  I miss you guys, Rory.  My house has never felt so empty, and neither has my life" he whispered.

I exhaled heavily.  This was a really big thing to ask of me.  "I don't know that that's such a good idea, Finn...  I mean, won't that just give her false hope that things are progressing and that we'll eventually get back together?" I asked him.

"Isn't that what you want to have happen eventually?" he asked.

I sighed again.  "I – I don't know, I mean – maybe?  Probably!  But what if we get too comfortable and stop trying to do things right, and just get caught up in everything and forget about our plan for rebuilding?  I don't want to get swept away in another relationship with you that's just bound to break again.  I can't go through that again" I told him.

"Just one night, Ror.  That's only two nights a month.  That still leaves 28 days that you don't have to be anywhere near me if you don't want to be" he whispered, sadness catching in his throat.

I sighed.  "I'll think about it, Finn, but I'm just scared of what that will do.  I hate being mad at you, and truthfully I'm not even mad. But you know that tower you tried so hard to climb up to get to me? Well, you had done such a wonderful job of convincing me that I didn't need it anymore that I let it be torn down - but then we broke up, so I had to rebuild, and I had to add on a few thousand levels for extra protection..." I whispered sadly.

"I know.  And I want to make it right, but I can't do that if you don't give me the chance to.  Please, Rory.  Please?  Let me try and fix us" he pleaded and I sighed, looking down at my glass, twirling my finger along the rim.

"Maybe we can try it, but I'm afraid of hurting Emma all over again if it doesn't work" I told him.

"I understand, Rory, trust me" he said and I scoffed involuntarily.  "God, I know I messed up and if I hadn't, then I'd still be able to tell you to trust me and have it be somewhat credible.  Look, I know I don't deserve another chance, and I know in many ways, there's going to be no possible way to repair the damage that I've caused, but I've got to try.  And I hope that one day I'll be able to tell you to trust me without you having such an indignant feeling about it; and that one day you might actually believe that you can in fact trust me again.  I'm working on that.  I don't know how to make it happen, but I won't give up" he promised.