Disclaimer: Amy Sherman-Palladino claims ownership of Gilmore Girls. But since she so underused Tanc Sade, would she mind just handing him over?

A/N: So I'm making this an AU after season 5 in which Mitchum never offered Rory an internship, so that chain of just god awful events never happened. Basically, this is my excuse to get Finn and Rory in a car for a week. Enjoy!

Dedicated to my incredibly patient beta, cutiepiegirl, who must get some sort of gold star for putting up with me.

Warnings: Language, innuendo, drug use, good-natured state bashing (even my own home state!), and lots of awful singing

Chapter 1: California Bound

Forget everything tomorrow

We'll be on a brand new road

Chasing the sun back to the West Coast

In eight hours, we're California bound

-Caroline Liar

When the phone rang at nearly three in the afternoon, a very frustrated Rory Gilmore snatched it up off of the coffee table in her house in Stars Hollow. He was late. Maybe.

"Hey, Ace," came Logan's smooth voice from three thousand miles away. "How's the road trip going?"

"Oh, hey. I thought you might be Finn. I'm still in Stars Hollow," she replied as she nestled back into the couch.

Logan chuckled into the phone. "That sounds like Finn. It's probably why he gave you guys plenty of time to get out here. Have you tried calling him?"

"It goes straight to voicemail," she grumbled. She switched the phone from one hand to another and grabbed a pillow to put between her and the arm of the couch. "I've been waiting for two hours."

"Don't worry, Finn is a fun road trip partner, I promise. I miss you."

A small smile formed on her lips. "I miss you too. How's LA?"

"I wouldn't know, I barely leave this office. It looks nice. I think there might be sun and people outside," he joked.

"I've heard rumors about that, but I'll do some investigative reporting on your behalf when I get there," she replied teasingly.

He laughed, and she could hear a chair creaking in the background as he leaned back at his desk. "You're too good to me, Ace. Look, I'll call Finn on his other phone and see where he is. Call me when you get to your hotel tonight."

"He has two phones?" Rory asked dubiously.

"A girls phone and a guys phone," Logan confirmed. "Talk to him about it on the trip. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," Rory answered in a daze. A guys phone and a girls phone? Well, she supposed she was going to be learning a lot about Finn on this trip. When Logan had asked her to drive out to California with Finn to pick him up from his internship, she'd naturally been a bit hesitant. But her mom of all people had encouraged her to go do it, despite the fact that she'd be in a car for a week with a guy bothof them barely knew. Lorelai was insistent that it'd be good for her.

Rory picked up a book and had justbarely settled down to read it when the doorbell rang. But before she could get up to answer it Lorelai flew down the stairs and swung the door open to reveal a disheveled Australian. His khaki pants looked liked they had been on the floor of his room for a week and his hair was sticking out in more than a few directions. In his left hand he held out a single white rose meant for Lorelai, who just looked back at him.

"You smell like cigarettes," she stated.

"You scare me," he replied.

She then smiled sweetly at him and took the flower he offered to her. "Come on in, Finn."

He stepped past her and into the path of one Rory Gilmore, who stood in the entryway behind her mother with her hands on her hips. "You're late."

"Actually, love, since I never told you when I would be here, I am exactly on time," he replied as he picked up the suitcase next to her. "Did you pack enough dresses?"

"Enough dresses?" Rory repeated. "Is there a minimum dress requirement I have to have for this road trip?"

"Nebraska isn't going to be temperate. Plus I'm going out on a limb and am to assume that we're not going to be staying in the hotel all week in LA."

Lorelai laughed. "Oh, sweet Finn, you know what happens when you assume. A Gilmore always wants to sit around in a room that he or she does not have to clean themselves."

"My mistake, dear Lorelai, surely I meant that I won't allow Rory to sit around in one of the sundry hotel rooms we will be staying at during this whirlwind adventure through The Rest of America," he replied, his lips forming a small smirk.

Rory frowned at Finn. "I'm standing right here, you know."

"Of course you are," he said patronizingly.

"Hey, Hoke Colburn, why don't you take her bags to the car?" Lorelai told Finn in a manner that suggested he not try and argue with her.

He tipped an imaginary hat in her direction. "Yes, Miss Werthan." He winked at Rory and began to hum as he swung her duffel bag over his shoulder.

Lorelai swung her arm over Rory's shoulders. "You're so lucky, kid, getting to be stuck with him in the car for a week. What I wouldn't give to be young," she sighed dramatically.

"You're the one that told me to go out and explore the country while I can. And I know you don't like Logan that much -"

"What are you talking about? I think Logan is a fine, upstanding gentleman of good breeding with a high standing in society," Lorelai interrupted.

"- But I'm glad you're okay with me going on this trip," Rory finished, ignoring her mother's interruptions.

"My very own Jack Kerouac."

"Or Jan," Rory shot back.

"Whichever one you are, you're my own little Kerouac on her own adventure with someone who is questionably sane. And while I am slightly concerned with your safety, I trust your judgment," Lorelai told her daughter, squeezing her shoulder for emphasis. "Just like I trust you not to fall in love with the west coast and drop out of college and become a bohemian painter living on the streets of Venice and never coming back to me."

"In what way does that sound like me?" Rory countered.

"I just had to make sure, I have no idea what ideas Logan is putting into your head."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Mom."

"Fine, fine." Lorelai removed her arm from around her daughter and opened up the hall closet. "Close your eyes," she commanded with a barely suppressed giggle. "I have a road trip present for you."

"Is it a pony?" Rory guessed, holding out her hands out of habit from her mother's many surprise gifts for various occasions.

"Close!" Lorelai set down the object in Rory's outstretched arms. "Open your eyes."

Rory gazed down at the explosion of pink and lace and tulle in her hands. "How is this close to a pony?"

"Close in that it's soft? It's your very own travel pillow, with a little Lorelai flair as a bonus, so you don't forget your dear mother who birthed you and raised you to be the awesome woman that you are!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"You're delusional if you think I'm going to forget you. You're going to call me every day and you know it," Rory replied.

"Well in that case..." Lorelai grabbed a side of the pillow, but Rory snatched it away from her mom and held it to her chest.

"I didn't say I didn't want it."

"Darling, ready to go?" Finn called from the porch. "The open road beckons us, we must heed its calls."

"Billy," Lorelai said solemnly.

Rory smiled. "It's just two weeks, me and Wyatt."

"And Logan. Don't forget Logan."

"I'm going to miss you," Rory said as Lorelai grabbed her into a hug.

"You too, kid. Bring me back stories. And call me every night."

"You know I will." Rory pulled back from her mom and walked towards Finn's outstretched arm. Lorelai followed her daughter out onto the porch and watch as Finn took Rory's arm, then lifted her up and swung her down the steps and in a circle on the lawn as she shrieked for him to let her down. He just laughed and set her down next to the passenger door of his BMW.

Rory waved to her mom one last time before getting into the car and rested the pillow on her lap. Lorelai waved back and watched as one of Logan Huntzberger's friends drove her daughter out of their driveway and out of their state.