Missing Pieces

Chapter 11: Prince Seeking a Princess

Finn looked out the window of his Hartford office as he reflected on the last week.  Life had settled back down for him and Rory after Logan's interference the previous week, and he and Rory and Emma had been spending more time together.  They usually cooked dinner together at Rory's house, and Finn often picked Emma up from school if Rory had things to do after the last class of the day.  He looked to the clock and shut down his computer and locked his office after he saw the time.

"Caroline, I'm out for the day.  I'll have my cell phone with me if you need anything," Finn told his secretary as he walked out of his office.

"Have a great evening, Mr. Morgan.  Picking up Miss Emma today?" she asked with a smile.  She had been Finn's secretary for many years, having made the move from New York back to Hartford when he did, and it warmed her heart to see the recent changes in his life.   

"I am, Caroline.  And please, if I've told you once I've told you a million times, please call me Finn," he playfully admonished her as he continued out of the office.

He made the short drive to Chilton and walked to Emma's classroom to pick her up.  He smiled as he watched her playing with her friends for a moment before getting her attention.  She was playing princess with two of her classmates, dancing and twirling in a dress-up princess dress over her uniform.  He chuckled as he watched her curtsey, and then smiled as her face lit up when he saw him.

"Finny!" she exclaimed happily!  "Are you picking me up today?"

"I am, little love.  Why don't you take your dress-up dress off and I'll get your backpack and papers?"

She quickly began taking off the dress-up clothes that she had on while Finn walked over to her cubby, retrieving her backpack.  Her teacher, Mrs. Worthington, met him at Emma's cubby with a small stack of papers in her hand.

"Mr. Morgan, nice to see you.  Here are Emma's papers from the school," she told him as she handed him the papers.

"Thank you, Mrs. Worthington.  Did she have a good day?"

"She had a great day," she replied as she walked across the room to intercept a budding block war.  Finn slung Emma's backpack on his shoulder and took her hand as the two walked down the hall and out to Finn's car.  He buckled her in and then got in the front seat, leafing quickly through the papers that her teacher had handed him to ensure that she didn't need anything for the next day.  He stopped as he saw a flyer for an event at the school the following Saturday and considered the event as he read the details.  He finally sat the papers in his passenger seat and drove to a nearby ice cream parlor where he and Emma enjoyed ice cream and then walked a couple of doors down to the grocery store.

"What sounds good for dinner, little love?" he asked Emma.

"Can we have cheeseburgers, please?" Emma asked, turning her Bambi eyes to Finn.

"Anything you want, Em," he chuckled.  They got all of the necessary items for burgers, salad and a fruit pizza and drove back to Rory's house.  They had exchanged keys the previous week to make things easier if Finn wanted to bring Emma back to Rory's house after school.  He got Emma situated with a book and some juice while he made the patties for the burgers and the salad, stashing both in the fridge so that they would be ready when it was time to cook dinner.  He then baked the sugar cookie dough for the fruit pizza and mixed up the cream cheese and powdered sugar and cut up the fruit while it baked.  Once he took it out to cool he turned his attention to Emma, sitting down with her at the table.

"How was school today, Em?" he asked her.

"It was good, Finny.  I had lots of fun!" she exclaimed happily.