AN: Hi, just a quick note to say that I'm not dead, I've just been really busy and unable to find time to write. Hence the lack of updates. However, all of my stories have still been plaguing my mind and pleading to be finished. And I will try my hardest to achieve that feat. If I still have any readers left out there, this one's for you. I hope you enjoy it and keep your eyes peeled in the future.

Disclaimer: I own this story but not Gilmore Girls.

An Offer She Couldn't Refuse

Chapter Seven: Burnt Fingers

Rory had never really been a light sleeper, but the faint sound of someone snoring close by broke through her peaceful slumber. As she slowly drifted in an out of consciousness, her mind adjusted to her surroundings. She felt warmth emanating from an unknown source. She breathed in an unfamiliar scent and when she felt movement around her as well as something squeezing her butt, her eyes popped open and she was greeted by the sight of Finn with his arms wrapped around her, his face merely inches away and his hand copping a feel of her butt. Her immediate reaction was to push him away and so she did. However, she underestimated her own strength and when she gave him a shove, his whole lanky frame slid off the couch beside her and onto the floor with a thump.

"Finn!" she yelled as he sat up, scanning his surroundings in a sleepy daze. He looked pretty disoriented and Rory was trying hard not to throw something at him in her annoyance at his unconscious effort to cop a feel.

"What happened? How'd I end up down here?" he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ran a hand through his dark messy hair. Rory sat up straight and threw a cushion at his head as her irritation overwhelmed her.

"Your hands were on my butt, Finn," she informed him in a not too happy manner. Finn furrowed his brows trying to understand what she was talking about. All he remembered was a very pleasant dream in which some mystery dream girl had a very firm…

"Do you work out?" he enquired curiously. Rory rolled her eyes, growled at him and hit him again over the head with another cushion. She jumped up from the couch and stomped over towards the kitchen to make herself some coffee. She really needed some caffeine in her system.

Finn, meanwhile, replaced the cushions on the couch and picked himself up off the floor. He followed Rory through to the kitchen in hope that she would take pity on him and offer him some coffee. He gave her the puppy dog eyes that no woman had ever been able to resist. Rory just glowered at him and then slid a mug over to him. Finn grinned mischievously; victorious again.

"You can pour your own," she grunted and Finn happily obliged, topping up her own mug in the process, trying to score some brownie points. He was learning that Rory Gilmore definitely wasn't a morning person.

"Do you treat all of your gentlemen callers with such dazzling charm? I really have no idea how anyone could resist such a sparkling personality as yours."

"I just woke up to find you groping me on the couch. Forgive me if I'm not Little Miss Sunshine!" she said dryly and Finn just shrugged. Rory finished her coffee, washed out her mug and returned back to the living area. Finn's eyes were glued to her derriere as she went.

"Do you do Yoga?" he wondered out loud, genuinely curious as to how she got such a perfect butt. Rory turned back and caught him admiring her assets.

"Stop staring at my butt, Finn!" she seethed with anger. He was really starting to get on her bad side.

"Sorry." He put his hands up and refrained from looking directly at her perfectly petite rear.

Rory shook her head and slumped down onto the couch. She grabbed her purse from the floor and pulled out her cell phone. She saw that she had a voicemail and went about listening to the message, while ignoring Finn as he bumped around in her kitchen.

The message was from Vanessa. She sounded slightly drunk so she knew it must have been from the night before. She had left her in Logan's capable hands. She really didn't see the need to torture herself by watching them fawn all over each other. It definitely wasn't her idea of a fun night out. She was grateful for Finn's rescue. She was so grateful; she could probably almost overlook his early morning indiscretion.

"Do you have any pop tarts, love?" Finn asked breaking through her reverie.

"Cupboard on the left," she informed him and then went about listening to her message.

"Hey Gilmore! Where did you disappear to? You were just here and now…hang on, I'll be right there…so Rory we should do something soon. We need to catch up. How about breakfast tomorrow? Not too early though. I have a feeling tonight is going to be a long night."

With a suggestive laugh, the message ended and Rory felt her stomach roll. She really didn't want to know who she was talking to or how long last night actually turned out to be. She had a pretty good imagination and that was bad enough. It wasn't Vanessa's fault. She didn't know that Rory and Logan had a history. She had never mentioned it. In fact, they weren't good enough friends for her to want to go into all the painful, complicated details about her past love life. Vanessa's only fault, and it was a big enough fault on its own, was the fact that she had just spent half the day gushing about her upcoming nuptials and then proceeded to flirt and canoodle and god knows what else with another man.

Rory shook her head trying to shake the visual of Vanessa and Logan together from her mind. She had never been a masochist and had no desire to start now.

Looking at her watch, she noted that it was only 8 o'clock in the morning. In Vanessa's message she had said something about having breakfast. Perhaps she could cipher some details from her regarding her indiscretion with Logan, not that she had any desire to hear the details. She just needed to know that they hadn't slept together. She had no right to feel jealous or territorial over Logan. He was free to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted, but Rory couldn't shake the feeling of nausea at the idea of him sleeping with one of her friends. Even after all this time that was just too close to home.

"Penny for your thoughts, love." Rory snapped out of her trance to see Finn sitting beside her with a concerned expression on his face. Removing the pensive frown from her face, Rory smiled and brushed it off.

"It's nothing. I'm just going to go take a shower," she informed him as pleasantly as possible. Finn quirked an eyebrow and leered at her.

"Want some company?" he smirked and Rory had to fight the urge to smack him on the head.

"If you come anywhere hear that shower while I'm in there, I will castrate you Finn Morgan!" she told him in a very serious tone. Finn's eyes widened in horror at the thought of losing his favourite appendage. He took a big gulp and returned his attention to his coffee mug.

"Say no more," he added and Rory smirked in amusement at having finally wiped the smile off his face. She grabbed her purse and made her way through to the bathroom. Finn's eyes following her the whole way. Once she had disappeared, he grabbed the TV remote and slumped back on the couch. He tried to force his attention onto the images on screen, but he couldn't get the disturbing vision of her smiling maniacally while hacking off Finn junior out of his mind. He would never unconsciously grope her ever again.

RLRLRLRLRLRL

The whole drive over to Vanessa's apartment, Rory's mind was assaulted with a barrage of horrifying images of her friend and her ex-boyfriend together. No matter what she did, the memories from the night before were haunting her and she felt sick to her stomach. She kept telling herself that it was none of her business and that she had no right to be jealous. However her brain wasn't willing to accept that rationale.

It was as if there was a mental block which had caused part of her brain to forget the reasons behind her break-up with Logan. She should've been able to move on and forget about Logan Huntzberger. That had been the plan, but ever since he had walked back into her life, she felt that old twinge.

The fluttering of her heart whenever he was close by was one indicator that told her that even if she did break up with him because of his mother's threats, it didn't stop her from having feelings for him. Those feelings hadn't just disappeared. That was why it was so hard to think of him with Vanessa or anyone else. But it didn't matter now. Logan could barely even look her in the eye. It was pretty clear to her that he didn't return those feelings anymore. He had made that abundantly clear.

As she made her way through the hallway to Vanessa's apartment, she took a deep breath and hesitantly knocked on the door.

She heard some movement and then a few seconds later the door opened and a rather hung over looking Vanessa appeared. Rory let out the breath she had been holding and offered her friend a strained smile.

"Hey," she gestured a wave with her hand and Vanessa returned her smile.

"Wow someone's the early bird this morning," she commented as she opened the door wider and let out a yawn. Rory's eyes did a quick scan of inside her apartment, looking for any sign of a certain blonde haired boy.

"You left a message saying we should meet for breakfast," Rory informed her. Vanessa furrowed her brow as she tried to remember the previous night. Everything was kind of a blur.

"I did?" Rory nodded and Vanessa ran her hand through her messy bed hair.

"I can come back later if you're not-" she broke off as the door to the bathroom opened and Logan walked out. Her heart broke just a little more at that moment. When his eyes met hers, she saw no flicker of remorse or guilt at having spent the night with her friend. She saw nothing. He looked straight through her as he pulled on his leather jacket and tucked in his shirt.

Rory couldn't take her eyes off him. She didn't want to look at him. She wanted to run out of the room and ball her eyes out. But she couldn't not look at him. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was like her brain just would not process the information it was receiving. Logan had spent the night with Vanessa.

She heard Vanessa shifting beside her and eventually managed to break her gaze away from Logan. Her dark haired friend gave her a wry smile and had the decency to look slightly remorseful. Although she wasn't aware of just how remorseful she should be.

"I'm gonna go," Logan said as he approached them, his gaze still not meeting Rory's. As he brushed passed her on his way out, Rory felt as if she had been punched in the chest.

"Okay, I'll see you around."

Rory's gaze fell to the floor as Vanessa waved goodbye to her conquest. She felt sick to her stomach and wished for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She heard the elevator doors open and just lifted her head up and dared to look in his direction for a brief instant. When she did, Logan's dark eyes were fixed on hers. There was so much intensity and what she thought was hatred in his stare that she had to fight back the lump that was forming in her throat. He held her gaze until the elevator doors finally closed and Rory could breathe again.

She looked up at Vanessa, who just shrugged, turned her back and walked into her apartment. Rory followed behind. She remained silent. In truth she was kind of speechless. She didn't know how to react to the situation. On one hand she was furious, on the other she was broken hearted. She had to remind herself that she had no right to be mad. She had made her bed, now she had to lay in it.

"You're not going to say anything are you?" Vanessa's voice brought her out of her painful reverie.

"What?"

"To Patrick. You're not going to say anything? Are you?"

Rory took a few seconds to get herself together. She was afraid that she would either break down or start yelling at her. She needed to be calm and composed. She couldn't show the depth of her despair. It wasn't fair.

"I thought you loved Patrick?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I do. Of course I do but…"

"But you spent the night with another man," she finished for her. She couldn't get her head around the fact that Vanessa had been so excited about getting married and could then jump into bed with a stranger.

"Look, Rory it's not that big of a deal. These things happen," Vanessa explained trying to brush off the significance of her actions. Rory couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What?" her eyes widened in shock at her blasé attitude. Vanessa sat down on the couch and sipped on a cup of coffee.

"Oh come on, do you think Patrick is an angel?" Rory frowned; she knew Patrick wasn't an angel. She had first hand experience. After their first meeting he had tried it on with her saying that Vanessa never had to know. Apparently that wasn't the first time and Vanessa definitely knew.

"So then why are you marrying him?"

"Because I love him," she said casually. Rory was confused. How could she claim to love someone but sleep with someone else?

"Rory love isn't all candy and flowers. Patrick isn't perfect, but neither am I. And in the world that we live in, it's just expected. He's not the great love of my life and I kind of suspect the same for him. But our families are two of the most powerful families in the country and well…"

"So you're just marrying him because of…" she searched her brain for the right word, "…convenience. And you're happy with that?"

"Sure," she shrugged and finished her coffee.

"Patrick has his indiscretions and I have mine. As long as neither of us know about it, everything is fine," she explained and Rory felt sick.

"That's twisted. How can you…?"

"Don't judge me Rory. We didn't all grow up in happy bubble land like you. This is the real world. I'm sorry we can't all be as perfect as you are,"

Rory didn't know what to say. She stared at Vanessa and realised that she really had no idea who the black haired girl really was. They had formed an easy friendship but it wasn't strong like her bond with Lane or even Paris. Vanessa was the kind of friend who would stab you in the back or sleep with your ex-boyfriend without even giving you a second thought. And in that moment, Rory realised that she didn't need a friend like that in her life. She had been so cut off from her old life that she had been willing to settle for even the slightest glimmer of kindness and understanding. But she would rather be on her own than be a part of Vanessa's cruel world.

"I think I should go," she spoke quietly. Vanessa rolled her eyes and turned her gaze to the TV.

"Whatever," she brushed her off and ignored her as Rory turned and walked out of the apartment and down the hallway towards the elevator. As she pressed the button and waited for the car to arrive on her floor, her mind replayed the image of Logan's hateful glare. The doors opened and she stepped inside as she realised the irony of the situation. Logan hated her because he thought she was the kind of person horrible enough to use somebody for their connections, but he had then spent the night with someone who actually was capable of such cold behaviour.

RLRLRLRLRLRL

"Honey, I'm home!" Finn called out as he opened the door to his and Logan's apartment and walked inside. As he approached the main room, he saw Colin and Logan sitting on the couch, their attention focused on the video game they were playing. Colin raised his hand in the air in acknowledgement but Logan didn't even flinch. He just stared straight ahead and ignored his Australian best friend. His cold shoulder didn't bother Finn one bit. After all of the crazy stunts he had been involved in over the years, he was used to being on people's bad side. He just wasn't entirely sure what reason Logan would have to be pissed with him this time.

He plopped himself down on the chair across from his two friends as they yelled at the TV and bantered back and forth. Colin was his usual carefree self, but as Finn studied Logan he could almost see the anger radiate off of him. His shoulders were tensed, his jaw locked and his eyes were black. When he eventually allowed himself to make eye contact with Finn, he knew it was serious. Logan was pissed with a capital P.

"Are you going to yell at me and tell me what's eating you, or are you just going to pout for the rest of the day?" Finn asked in his normal, blunt way. Colin tore his gaze away from the screen and flitted between his two best friends. As soon as he had arrived earlier he could tell that there was something seriously wrong with his friend. It seemed that his black mood from the previous night had carried over and only intensified since then.

Logan glared at Finn and then turned his gaze back to the screen; all of his focus was on trying to remain calm. He didn't respond to his friend. He just remained silent.

"This is about Rory I'm guessing?" Finn continued on while Colin's eyes widened in fear. He really didn't want to be caught in the middle of another argument about Rory Gilmore.

"Finn," he warned but Finn just continued staring down Logan, who had returned his devil gaze to meet his.

"Well, say something…"

"You spent the night with her, didn't you?" Logan cut him off. His tone was so icy cool it unnerved even him.

Finn's eyebrows rose as realisation set in. Logan had seen him leaving the club with Rory the night before. Logan had then been witness to the fact that he had not come home until the next day, obviously putting two and two together.

A mixture of emotions fluttered through his mind. First of all, he was actually hurt that Logan could think that he would even consider breaking the number one rule in the guy code; don't sleep with your best friend's ex. They had known each other for a long time now, surely he trusted him enough to know that he would never even contemplate such a betrayal.

Second of all, he was annoyed at Logan for how screwed up he was. He had spent so much time denying that he had any feelings for Rory and yet he was angry to think that she had slept with someone else. He really had no right to even care who Rory got involved with. He had shown her nothing but contempt since their break up and now he was playing the jealous ex-boyfriend.

Third of all, Finn found the whole thing entirely amusing and the smirk on his face was evidence of that. Logan was so transparent it really was pitiful. For the last few months he had tried in vain to convince everyone that his feelings for Rory were only fleeting and that her breaking up with him the way she did hadn't affected him. Finn hadn't believed him for a second and going by Logan's angry over reaction to the idea that he had spent the night with Rory, he had been entirely vindicated. He took great amusement in that.

He continued to smirk at Logan as a plan formulated in his mind. If Logan was going to bury his head in the sand and live in denial, perhaps it was up to Finn to point out what was staring him in the face. It was his duty as his best friend.

"So what if I did?" Finn shrugged and then pushed himself up from his chair and strode over to the kitchen to get a beer. He could imagine the look on Logan's face.

He peeled off the lid, took a large sip and let out a long sigh. "That girl really has a great arse!"

With that last comment, he spun around and practically ran towards his bedroom. Secretly he was desperate to stick around and see Logan's reaction firsthand. However, he valued his life too much and knew that by letting Logan think that he and Rory had actually had sex, he was playing with fire.