Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.

A/N: We are family...

Rachel flew up from the sofa and rushed out of the room. "Is it my fault?" Beth asked, she didn't intentionally want to upset anyone, she really thought that Rachel already knew. "Was it what I said?"

"No, baby, it...it...I should have told her already," Shelby reassured Beth. "I'll go talk to her, you just stay here," she urged her daughter. Shelby quickly mounted the stairs and found Rachel hurriedly thrusting her clothes into the small suitcase she'd brought with her. "Rachel, please," Shelby begged, she didn't want her to go like this, she'd only just found her again.

"Shelby, you all lied to me," Rachel sighed and sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. "Who all knows about this?" she asked quietly, worriedly, she was embarrassed about it. Rachel allowed her eyes to connect with her mother's. "You all knew, all of you? Carole? Puck? Quinn?" she asked and saw the truth in Shelby's eyes. "Oh my God, why didn't any of you tell me?" she demanded, her voice rising as she began to cry in earnest.

"We wanted to protect you," Shelby admitted, it was the first thing that popped to mind but it was also the truth, they had all wanted to preserve Rachel's memories of Finn, they didn't want to tarnish them for her in any way.

"Protect me?" Rachel cried. "Protect me from what?" she demanded. "I'm almost thirty years old, you don't get to protect me," she exclaimed. "If you wanted to protect me you should have stuck around when I was born," she shouted cruelly and snatched up her bag. "I'm going to my dads'," she announced as she left the room and ran down the stairs.

"Rachel, I'm sorry," Beth said quietly, just as Rachel pulled the front door open. "I didn't mean to upset you," she told her honestly.

"Beth, I know that you didn't," Rachel replied kindly, without looking back at the young girl. "But I need some time to absorb this, to work this out in my head, you know?" she said.

"I know," Beth assured Rachel. And the sad fact was, Beth did know all about needing time to figure things out, she'd just done all that with Puck and Quinn, and there were still sometimes that she had to take a step back and remember that it wasn't all fabulous. "But don't blame Robyn, ok?" she urged. "It's not her fault."

"No, I know it isn't," Rachel managed to say before she choked on the sob that tried to escape. She hurried to her hire car and threw the bag in before climbing in and driving to her dads' house. "Anyone home?" she called when she let herself in. "Hello?" she shouted and felt depressed when she remembered that her dads were at a father/father convention in Toledo, which was why she'd elected to stay with Shelby in the first place. Rachel spun around when the doorbell rang.

"Rachel?" Carole Hummel called. "Rachel, it's me, please let me in, I need to talk to you," she added hopefully.

"Well I don't want to talk to anyone," Rachel answered silently. "Why don't you all just leave me alone to work through this?" she asked without a sound.

"Rachel?" Carole called again. "Rachel, I know you're in there, I saw you go in, please, will you just come and talk to me, I have something for you, something from Finn," she said to tempt Rachel to open the door.

"What do you have?" Rachel asked when she cracked open the door.

"A letter, a letter from Finn," Carole said quickly and lifted the envelope up for Rachel to see. Rachel opened the door wider to allow Carole in. "Here, he left this for you, in case you ever found out about Robyn," she explained and thrust the letter towards Rachel.

Rachel walked into the lounge on wobbly legs, she plopped down onto the sofa and felt sick as she opened the envelope. "My Darling Rachel," she read out and then her voice broke, she read the rest to herself. "If you're reading this then it means that you know the truth, you know what I did and I am so sorry. Don't get me wrong, I'm not apologising for my daughter, I'm actually kind of proud of my contribution to that event, I sort of feel like it made up for having Beth taken away from me like she was, although that sounds stupid but I promised myself I would start this letter only once and I wouldn't cross anything out so if it starts to ramble, sorry, but I'm a bit spaced.

"And that's something else I have to admit to, the drugs. I'm sorry about that too, but it wasn't totally my fault, well, it was, I was just going to use circumstances and other people as an excuse, but that's the coward's way out. I guess if you are reading this, it means that I misjudged too, my dad said I probably would at least once, he's OD'd a ton of times but he's always had someone around him to help him out, let's hope Puck knows what to do if he finds me. I guess we all thought it would be Puck that would go down this route, not me, everyone always thought I was too goody-goody to go bad, but hey, what do you know? Maybe it's true, maybe the quiet ones are the worst.

"You know, it's really cool sharing a dorm with Puck. I mean, I know he doesn't actually go to college and God knows who people think he is, but this is like every camp I ever wanted to go to when I was growing up and Puck is like the brother I never had. Don't get me wrong, Kurt is a cool brother, but he's never going to bring five girls back to the dorm to share, now is he? Well, Puck doesn't exactly share, but I get involved and that's probably more than you need to know. Anyway, back to why I was writing this. So my daughter just turned two months old, and I just told you about her, but I lied to you, I'm sorry about that, but I didn't think you'd want to know that I had sex with Sue Sylvester, especially when you went to such lengths to make sure that we were both absolutely pure and each others' firsts when you and I slept together for the first time. I'm sorry I lied to you, actually, I lied to Puck too, I pretended to be asleep and talked about it, but I told him the same jerking off story that I told you. I wish there was a better excuse but there isn't, the only reason I did it was because Sue said that she was going to tell everyone about the drugs and I couldn't live with that, well, that was the first time anyway, after that it just got easier, she was a body and I used her as much as she used me and I can't believe how long this letter is, I didn't think I had that many words in me, is there even a period or a comma in this thing? Do I have to go back and check my spellings and stuff? Will it ever matter? I don't care, anyway, I just felt like I had to put my thoughts down on paper, I wrote one to my mom too, I'll hide them in my bedroom at home, behind the loose baseboard next to my bathroom, like you didn't already know that if this letter is in your hands and if it's not you, if it's someone a million years in the future reading this, wow, greetings from 2013, cool, dude, do you still wear pants in the future or is everyone naked? And if you are all naked, how do you control the boners? I think I need to sleep now, my new dealer cuts his stuff with something different, makes me feel weird, going now, bye Rach, I love you, don't hate me."

"Does it ramble as much as the one I got did?" Carole asked.

"It makes sense at the beginning," Rachel replied warily, she wasn't sure how much of this stuff Carole knew.

"Does he tell you about the drugs as well as Robyn?" Carole asked. "He told me a lot of stuff, about his dad too, stuff that I didn't know before, stuff I wish I still didn't know," she admitted. Rachel nodded. "I swear I didn't know, I truly didn't, not until you and Quinn told me about Robyn and then just last week, Burt and Blaine were talking about remodelling Finn's room, apparently they think I've kept it as a shrine for too long, not that I think I've kept it as a shrine, I haven't, I mean, I've kept a few of his things," she shrugged.

"A few?" Rachel asked with her eyebrow raised to emphasise her question.

"Fine, so I've kept all the boxes we packed up just after he died and I never found the heart to redecorate," Carole admitted and pulled a face at herself. "Ok, so it was a shrine," she sighed. "But anyway, when Burt pulled a loose baseboard off, they found these letters, there was one for me, one for you and one for Robyn," she told Rachel with a sniff and a few more tears. "I haven't given Robyn hers yet," she added. "I don't know how much of a good idea it is."

"Maybe you should read this one, see if there's anything in there that coincides with the letter you got," Rachel suggested. "And maybe the best way would be for the three of us to get together, to support each other, for the two of us to support Robyn."

"Thank you," Carole managed to say, to almost say as her voice cracked.

"I think she was really mad at me," Beth pouted.

"Come here," Quinn murmured and held an arm out to welcome Beth onto her bed. Beth climbed up and allowed Quinn to comfort her. "She'll be fine," she reassured the young girl, "it was probably just a shock to her, but she'll be fine. For a long time she thought she knew one thing and she'd come to terms with that and now it turns out that the thing is not what she thought, it's bound to be a shock, but she'll get over it," Quinn said with a certainty she felt was justified, Rachel damn well would get over it. Beth didn't say anything, she just sniffed and nodded and allowed Quinn's warmth and maternal love to wash over her.

"You could take diaper duty to take your mind off stuff," Puck suggested with a slightly pleading look in his eyes.

"No thanks," Beth sighed and hid a grin as she turned her face into Quinn. "He might be cute, but right now he smells really bad," she whispered and made Quinn chuckle.

"It's your job right now," Quinn insisted to Puck, "I just fed him, you get to clean him up," she reminded him. Puck pouted and got to work, the faces he pulled said it all. "Good choice, Beth," Quinn murmured to her.

"Are you sure my dad wrote this for me?" Robyn asked nervously, she glanced at both Carole and Rachel, they both nodded. Robyn breathed in deeply, as though she was steeling herself to face something traumatic. Slowly, she tore the envelope open. Carole had a sudden moment of panic, she wished with all her heart that she'd opened it and given Robyn the letter - minus the envelope - once she'd read it, once she'd made sure that it didn't contain anything to hurt the vulnerable young girl.

"To my beautiful daughter," Robyn read aloud in a quivering voice, she paused, laughed a little nervously, then glanced back at the page. "You can tell this was written a long time ago," she mumbled and pushed her glasses up her nose then turned back to the letter.

"I met you today. Your mom invited me to meet you and it was an awesome experience. I held you, I fed you and I even changed your diaper, although that wasn't quite so awesome, and your mom is going to work out visitation for us. I mean, I know I agreed when she first asked me, I agreed that I would never contact you, I would never make myself known to you, but that's just impossible. See, the whole time you were growing inside your mom, I could see you at school all the time and it made me feel close to you, and then once I graduated and afterwards, when you were born, that all disappeared because I wasn't near you everyday, and I missed that. I haven't told anyone the real truth of how you came to be, I mean, I told Rachel - that's Rachel Berry and by the time you read this letter, she'll be a big Broadway star - but I told her the same story that your mom told people, that she was artificially inseminated, but she wasn't, there is nothing artificial in the way you were created, you are all real, and she wanted you so much, she longed for you. And in a way, I kind of did too, like maybe I knew you would be my only chance at making something special out of something not so special.

"Robyn, I want you always to remember that I love you like any father would love his child and you are totally awesome, and maybe someday we can even tell your grandma about you. Love you, love, your dad xx"

"He really loved me?" Robyn asked as tears began to roll down her face.

"He really did," Carole confirmed quietly.

"And it wasn't just for the money?" Robyn queried.

"I don't think so," Rachel replied with a sniff, she laid her hand over Robyn's trembling one. "I think he saw an opportunity to do something unique for someone, and the good in him wouldn't let him refuse," she explained. "And the end result is something so amazing that I'm glad he did it, I'm glad that you're here, Robyn, because you are all the best of him, the most precious part of him and we all love you so very, very much."

Robyn threw herself into her grandmother's arms and sobbed, she wasn't crying because she was sad, she was crying because she was happy and for the first time in her life, she felt like she truly belonged.

"Don't you think it's been a weird year?" Beth asked Robyn, as they helped Puck to get the table in the yard ready for their combined Memorial Day gathering.

"I think it's been the weirdest year ever," Robyn agreed. "I mean, look at all that's happened," she said as they both sat down on the grass, leaving Puck to finish off alone. "You found out that you were adopted," she said listing the first thing that had blown the world apart.

"And then I met my birth parents," Beth said, holding up two fingers to begin listing. "And I met my mom's daughter and my grandparents," she said, putting a third finger up. "Then there was you finding out about your dad and your grandparents," she added, sticking a fourth finger up.

"Yeah," Robyn sighed with a smile on her face. "And you got a cute baby brother," she said a touch enviously, only just a touch, she didn't, like, want her mom to have another baby or anything, she just wished that she had a sibling too.

"I did," Beth replied with an even bigger smile. "I got aunts and uncles too," she said, lifting yet another finger. "And even Puck's dad has turned out ok in the grandpa stakes," she murmured and showed Robyn the pretty silver butterfly necklace that Nate had given her to celebrate the fact that she was reunited with her birth family. "Quinn's dad is a total loss, but then again, he isn't that good with Finn, either, you know what he bought for the baby when he was born?" she said in disgust. "Savings Bonds," she announced as though Russell had presented baby Finn with a snake to play with. Puck couldn't help but grin as he overheard the two girls. "I think the best part of this year has been all the new family that we've both gotten," Beth said decisively as she stood and dusted off her backside. "I mean, this time last year it was just you and your mom and it was just me and my mom and now we both have more relatives than we know what to do with, but you know what?" she asked and squinted up at the sky.

"What?" Robyn asked as she too stood up.

"I wouldn't change anything," Beth said as she glanced around at the various people who were suddenly milling around. "I mean, if we'd always had these people in our lives, we'd take them for granted, wouldn't we?"

"I suppose so," Robyn replied and pondered Beth's theory. "But because we didn't have big families and now we do we appreciate them more?" she answered in a sort of questioning way.

"Exactly," Beth sighed happily, totally satisfied with her lot. "We appreciate all of them, even the ones who aren't with us," she added a touch sadly for Robyn. "And Rachel's brought those DVDs with her," she suddenly remembered, "the ones of Finn, the original Finn," she quickly corrected herself, in case Robyn thought they were DVDs of baby Finn. "So later, we'll watch DVDs of your dad, how cool is that?" she asked Robyn with excitement, she was looking forward to seeing them herself, Rachel had told her there was something special for her to watch on one of them, something about Puck and Quinn and the way the camera never lies or something.

"Oh. My. God, would you look at my hair?" Quinn cried and almost startled baby Finn into letting go of her nipple. "Look at you, with you head all shaved," she crooned to Puck. "Wasn't that when you were convinced he had skin cancer?" she asked Ruth laughingly.

"Not really," Ruth replied, "I just had a fabulous idea of how to get rid of the mohawk for a while," she added and lifted her wine glass in salute to her son. "Yeah, I perhaps should have kept that to myself, shouldn't I?" she muttered.

"You mean you knew?" Puck demanded, astounded that his mom would have willingly caused him pain and suffering like that.

"Of course," Ruth answered quite proudly. "I called Dr Freidlander, asked him to check for moles and told him that you agreed to having your head shaved. And then I pretended to find a mole on your head."

"Look, look at that, oh, how cute," Beth cried as she watched Quinn dancing with Puck at the top of the stepped stage, she could see the love between them, and so could everyone else, Rachel was right, the camera did not lie. "How long is this before I was born?" she asked Puck and Quinn while pointing at the TV.

"About an hour and a half," Quinn replied with a smile at Beth, who was sat beside Robyn on the floor, right in front of the TV. "And you have no idea how much effort it took to keep going through that routine, Sue, thank you," she added only slightly mockingly, "it was only your hard training that gave me the strength to finish it."

"You're welcome," Sue Sylvester murmured, she remembered the night from a different perspective, she'd been one of the judges and she'd been unable to sway the other judges to look past the polished, over-rehearsed performance from Vocal Adrenaline to the sheer raw talent that oozed from the twelve people that they were watching on the TV right now.

"I remember your fingers digging into my shoulder," Puck grumbled. "There you go," he added a few seconds later when the footage showed that, showed Quinn grip into Puck's shoulder as he joined her to finish out Don't Stop Believing. "Remember the next part?" he asked Quinn.

"Oh yes I do," Quinn sighed.

"I do too," Judy murmured and glanced at Quinn with a half smile. "The look of shock on your face was priceless," she giggled, and Quinn had totally been taken by surprise when her water had broken, she hadn't been expecting that at all. "But the shock I got when it wasn't Finn who appeared by your side was even bigger," she said. Puck smiled at Judy and gave a 'but you got me' look. "I know, I know, you're made for each other, you were even then," Judy added and saw her son-in-law nod in agreement. She smiled as Quinn glanced up lovingly into Puck's eyes, saw him look at Quinn with love too. She was happy for both of them, all of them. And she was thankful that she was a part of it all.

"Can we watch it again?" Robyn asked, she'd totally missed what everyone had been saying, talking about because she had concentrated totally on Finn, her dad, Finn. Rachel skipped the DVD back to the beginning, back to where the music had started, back to where Finn walked through the door into the auditorium, back to where Robyn heard him sing. "That's my dad," she whispered almost to herself, Carole watched her granddaughter with proud tears in her eyes, she didn't even attempt to speak, she knew it would have been impossible.

"That's both of our dads," Beth said softly to Robyn as they watched Puck and Finn go through part of the routine together. Beth glanced behind her. "And that's our family," she whispered happily.