Disclaimer: I do not have any relation to Glee or any of the writers on Fox. Purely fictional.

Rachel doesn't say very much tonight, and Finn was a little worried that it might've been because he was around. But she does tell her fathers that she misses them a lot, and Finn knows that sometimes, it would be more than enough.

The night air fills the silence once she was done, neither of them really wanting to speak. But Rachel starts to get up first, only to have Finn tug on her elbows.

"Rach, do you think... Do you think I could stay here a little while more?"

She looks at him, his eyes filled with a sudden kind longing. She doesn't question his motives, but resumes to kneeling beside him by the bed.

He smiles a little, clenches his hands together and bows his head again. And she follows suit. She hears him let out multiple breaths, rushed and choky.

"Dad?" He whispers into the void. His voice never seemed more fragile to her, so she does what he has been doing the entire night. Her hand goes to wrap his knotted fingers and just like she expected, his voice grew a little stronger.

"Dad? I know I've never done this before since you left, but Rachel sort of taught me that this is the only way I get to connect with you so..."

He pauses for a while, and along the way throughout the entire ten minutes. But Rachel doesn't interrupt, because underneath her hands, she feels him tremble and knows what it was like and that it was perfectly fine to be a little scared.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been the son that you wanted me to be. But that's changing now. Rachel, this awesome girl beside me here is coaching me, and mom thinks that she's doing a really good job so I hope that you're proud of me up there too. At least, I want you to be."

Rachel's heart rate speeds up when she hears the way he talks about her. It's different, welcoming and warm.

"Mom hardly talks about you anymore, but she still gets that look on her face whenever I accidentally slip your name. We've been doing pretty good around here, so I don't know. I guess, all I wanted to say is seeing that its thanksgiving, I'm thankful that you and Mr Berrys have brought Rachel into our house. Everyone loves her here."

Rachel smiles at this, but then the next two words might have been the reason why she found herself barely breathing as he ended off.

"Including me."

Finn's not sure if he might be sending out the wrong message, but he says it anyway because when it comes to 'talking to his father', he speaks about nothing but the truth.

"So yeah, I miss you."

Then he opens his eyes and looks at the girl beside him. Her face was pink, little tears protruding from her cheeks. She sniffles a little, but comes to the conclusion that he was done so she hurriedly wipes her eyes.

Rachel offers a small smile because she doesn't really want to say anything. They looked at their hands placed neatly on the bed and quickly retreated before it got awkward.

He straightens his back, clears his throat, but in a more assertive manner now. Then, he turns his body around so that he could lean against the mattress. Her knees were still resting on the floor and she watches as he starts to unravel a side he never allowed anyone to discover before.

He tells her about everything he could remember about his dad. And so did she about hers. He listens very intently, and she appreciates him for that. She lets him know that sometimes, she cries herself to sleep just from the thought of them, and he nods but doesn't tell her that he does to. He explains that it's not about Burt being an awful dad, it's just that sometimes he just misses his biological dad and she tells him she knows exactly what he means.

It comforts them both, to know that they could confide in each other about these things because to their prior knowledge, they never thought they could share something in common but they evidently do now.

She remembers of that one time, when she returned home late and Carole couldn't stop panicking. He smiles, recollecting that night because even he was a little worried. She tells him, (even though he already knows this because he sits outside her room every night) it was the first time she felt what it might be like having a mother in her life and she just couldn't stop crying because it was when it hit her that this was a life now.

"I know I've said this a million times now, but your mother is just about the best one there is."

He agrees again, like he always does because its the truth. And he starts to tell her that ever since she started living with them, he begins to feel more responsible as well. Not that he wasn't used to caring for another lady, but it's that there was a protective kind of instinct that he develops after he sees that she was going to be in their home for good.

"Haven't you felt that way about Quinn?"

He shakes his head solemnly, explaining that Quinn always seemed to take matters into her own hands that sometimes, he feels a little redundant. Rachel's independent like that too, but she makes the effort to make Finn feel like a man sometimes, like her life needs him.

She blushes a lot when he says this, because it is already out there that she has just about the biggest crush on him. But he doesn't mind. Instead, he starts to nudge her shoulder and jokes about how that's either the role of the boyfriend or an older brother anyway. And if he had a choice, he wouldn't opt for the latter cause it just makes him feel senior-ly.

Rachel wants to think that he's flirting a little, but she also reminds herself that he would never fall in love with a girl like her. So she just changes the subject very quickly. She tells him about her performances, and that she gets nervous all the time while he tells her it's pretty much the same thing before a big game.

And that very night, was the beginning of many in which they spend hours just talking about everything.

Mm, chapter 16! I hope this makes up for the lack of updates! Happy upcoming weekend to everyone ;) Much love, xx