Disclaimer: I still own nothing. If I did, there'd be a whole lot more making out.

A/N: This happens in the same world as In Brandy, Truth, Clocked, and Here We Come a'Wassailing, but this takes place about five years in the future. This will be a multi-chaptered fic, in the present-tense, and can be read independently of the other stories. There are mentions of other ships, though I haven't decided if we'll see them later on or not. But in case we do, they are: Artie/Tina, Brittany/Santana, Rachel/Puck, Kurt/OC (the OC won't play a major role, but we might see him). There's also a possible Mr. Hummel/Mrs. Hudson hookup in the future. Obviously, the primary focus will be on Will/Finn, though we don't see it in this chapter. Here be exposition. Enjoy!

The first thing Finn notices is the new video store on the corner. He feels suddenly old and nostalgic, even though he's only just turned 22, and he was in Lima not two months before to visit his mom. Still, time marches on, and Finn is a little surprised to realize that his hometown is marching along with it.

Turning onto Oakley Street, he counts four houses on the right, then turns into the driveway that leads past a well-manicured lawn and a bed of bright red geraniums. He parks behind a dark green station wagon in the carport, and notices the sticker in the back window in the shape of a dancer, with CAROLINA printed in a semi-circle above it.

She's on the front porch waving before he can even get the car door open, and he feels a sudden rush of home. She looks amazing. Her blonde hair is still long, and pulled back into a sleek ponytail. She's wearing a pink hoodie and grey knit pants, and her feet are bare. She's kept her figure, though Finn never really doubted she would.

"Hi, stranger," she says with a smile, as he climbs out of the car. He bounds up the sidewalk in two long strides and sweeps her into a hug.

"Hey," he says, breathing in her scent of perfume and soap and hair spray. He pulls away, hands on her shoulders, and looks intently at her face. "You sure haven't changed," he says, and she laughs.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

They grin at each other, happy to be reunited after nearly two years, and then Finn senses a new presence. The little girl hides behind her mom's legs, ducking shyly when Quinn twists around to coax her out.

"Carolina, you remember your Uncle Finn, don't you?"

The little girl is breathtaking. Her hair is fair and falls in a tangled wave down her back, marking a stark contrast to her olive skin and luminous dark eyes.

Finn bends down, peering around Quinn, and gives the child a friendly smile. "Hey there, little Drizzle."

Quinn laughs. "You're still hung up on that?"

"It was a good name," Finn says, with mock defensiveness.

"Uh huh. Well, I suppose I'll let you come in, in spite of your bad taste."

"Thanks," Finn says drily, following Quinn as she turns and leads him inside the house. Carolina watches him walk past, eyes wide, and he wonders if she really does remember him. He hasn't seen her since she was two, and then it was only for a few minutes after she woke up from a nap. She'd been cranky, and wanted nothing to do with him.

Quinn's house is as immaculate as Quinn herself, though Finn can tell the place is older and is probably in need of some repairs. He makes a mental note to ask her tactfully if she needs anything done while he's home. The house is a rental, but it's a huge step up from the cramped apartment she was living in last time Finn saw her.

She leads him into the living room and motions for him to take a seat on the brown suede couch. She excuses herself to the kitchen to get them the coffee she's made, and he takes a moment to look around, noticing the scattered toys in the corner and the row of children's DVDs under the TV. Suddenly, he looks toward the door and finds himself caught in a dark gaze.

"Hey, Carolina," he says, giving the child a little wave. She cocks her head and looks at him suspiciously, then takes a cautious step into the room. "Wanna show me your toys?" She shakes her head 'no,' but goes over to the corner and sits down, taking up a wooden puzzle and pulling out the chunky pieces. Slowly, Finn gets up and moves across the room, sitting down on the floor at a safe distance. "That's a pretty cool puzzle."

"It's animals," she says matter-of-factly, holding the base out so he can see the farm scene painted on it.

"Awesome," he says. "What's your favorite?"

She shrugs, then expertly fits a lamb cutout back into the base. "I like cats," she says, and puts the puzzle down so she can pick up a Barbie doll in a pink sparkly evening gown.

"I like cats, too," Finn says, watching her smooth out the doll's long blonde hair. He feels a sudden ache that he's almost been able to forget the last two years, and he swallows past the lump that's risen in his throat.

"Carolina, didn't I tell you to pick up those puzzle pieces?" Quinn says, as she sweeps into the room with a tray of coffee and cookies. The little girl nods and begins gathering the pieces, dropping them into a bright green basket. "Thank you," Quinn says, putting her tray down on the coffee table. Finn resumes his seat, and she passes him a mug that has "#1 Mom" scrawled across it in rainbow colors.

They fall into easy conversation -- much easier than that last couple years of high school, when Finn thought they'd never be close again. Glee Club forced them to talk, but he'd spent the rest of that year and all of his senior year feeling so betrayed by both his girlfriend and his best friend, he could barely look at them. It wasn't until he went off to college that Kurt convinced him it was time to forgive and forget. The two unlikely roommates had become best friends during their years at Ohio State, and Finn had learned that when Kurt deigned to give advice, you were smart to take it.

"How're Puck and Rachel?" Finn asks, and Quinn smiles. It's a genuine smile, and he is glad to see it.

"They're so good," she says, and there is nothing but warmth in her voice.

"How are they liking Dayton?"

"Oh, Rachel is getting used to it. She found a job, teaching drama at a school for the arts. She says it's a baby step up from Lima, so I guess that's something."

Finn laughs. "Yeah, I guess so."

"She says there's a lot of community and regional theatre there. They have an opera, a philharmonic, and a ballet company, so she's keeping busy making the rounds. And Noah loves living on-base."

"That's great," Finn says, and he's happy to discover he actually means it.

"Yeah. You know, I was a little shocked when Noah decided to join the Air Force. I thought he was running away from his problems. And I guess he was. But you know, it really did change him." Quinn smiles, watching Carolina playing quietly in the corner, and Finn wonders if she sees Puck every time she looks at her. He does.

"We meet halfway every other weekend," Quinn goes on, taking a sip of her coffee. "Carolina loves going to stay with them. And sometimes Rachel and I meet in Columbus, and the three of us girls go shopping."

"That sounds like fun," Finn says, though he wonders how two girls with such different styles could possibly shop at the same stores.

"How's Kurt?" Quinn asks, and Finn perks up a little at the question.

"He's great. He got accepted into OSU's law school, so he'll be sticking around a few more years."

"Wow, that's fantastic. Are you guys going to keep living together?"

"I think so. We've made it four years, so I suppose we can last a little longer." Finn smiles, wondering if Kurt is already taking advantage of having the apartment to himself for the next couple weeks.

"Is he seeing anyone?" Quinn asks, and Finn can't help a snort.

"Anyone and everyone."

Quinn laughs. "Four years is an awfully long time to live with someone," she says, giving Finn a playful wink. "You sure you didn't fall into his bed once or twice in all that time?"

Finn can't help the blush he can feel spreading across his cheeks. No, he and Kurt had never participated in any extracurricular activities in or out of bed, but Kurt was the first person he told, back in Freshman year, when he'd decided he might be open to dating the occasional guy. Kurt, being Kurt, had tossed him a pack of condoms and a banana from the top of the mini-fridge, and told him to go at it. Kurt was also the first person he'd told about... him. He hadn't breathed a word of it in high school, but by sophomore year, he still couldn't get that night right before Christmas '09 out of his head.

"Oh! I have news!" Quinn says, apparently not noticing Finn's discomfort, or the fact that he hadn't answered her question. "Guess who's pregnant?"

"Not Rachel?" he says, feeling a little conflicted. It's not that he wouldn't be happy for her -- for her and Puck -- but he'd always pictured himself becoming a family man before any of the others. He has to admit it bothers him a little that that's not the case.

Quinn shakes her head, and he feels a bit of guilty relief. "It's Tina!" she says, and Finn laughs.

"Tina? Way to go, Artie!"

"I know, right? The doctors said it wasn't likely to happen, but the second Tina went off her birth control... bang!"

"So to speak," Finn quips, and the two of them share a laugh.

"They've been planning to get married in the spring, but Tina's afraid she'll be as big as a house, so we'll see. Artie's determined to make an honest woman out of her."

"And what about Brittany and Santana?" Finn asks, and Quinn rolls her eyes.

"On again, off again... as usual," she says. "I knew there would be problems when Brit followed Santana out to San Francisco. Apparently she's started dancing with this hip-hop group in Berkeley, and she loves it. But she says Santana brings home a new guy... or girl... at least once a week."

Finn nods, feeling bad for Brittany, who's always been pretty nice to him. He glances at his watch, surprised to find that it's already after 4:00.

"School's been out for more than an hour," Quinn says, giving him a knowing smile.

Finn looks up at her, surprised. "What?"

"You've been checking your watch every five minutes. He's been out of school for at least an hour."

Finn flushes, embarrassed at his transparency. Finally, seeing Quinn's shrewd look, he opts for honesty. "It's Wednesday, so he's got rehearsal. He probably won't be heading home for another twenty minutes or so."

Quinn nods. "Do you talk to him often?"

"No. He finally set up a facebook account, so we email every now and again, but that's about it. I saw him in the grocery store last Thanksgiving. How about you?" Finn holds his breath, almost afraid to hear Quinn's answer.

"He teaches Carolina's kinder-music class at the community center. She adores him."

Finn smiles, though there's a touch of sadness in it. "I'm sure the feeling's mutual."

"It is." She laughs. "She couldn't say 'Mr. Schue' when she started, but she just kept trying. Eventually, she managed to call him 'Mushu,' and it kinda stuck."

"Like the pork?"

Quinn smiles. "Yeah. That's my kid. She screams bloody murder when I try to get her to eat a green bean, but if I put enough soy sauce on it, she'd eat a piece of cardboard."

"That's Puck," Finn says, laughing. "He's got more MSG in his system than he's got red blood cells."

"He's okay, you know," she says, and Finn knows she's not talking about Puck.

"That's good," he says, though he finds it a little difficult to get the words out without choking. He takes a swig of his now lukewarm coffee, blanching at the bitterness.

"When Mrs. Pillsbury left, I thought it was the last straw. But he's... okay. He stays busy. You'll never guess who he made up with."

"Who?" Finn asks, curious.

"Coach Sylvester."

"No!"

Quinn nods, looking as if she can't quite believe it herself. "I go bowling every Thursday with some of the other nurses, and I've seen them there with Coach Tanaka and a couple others. They act all chummy, like nothing ever happened."

Finn sits back, a little shell-shocked. "Wow. I never thought I'd see the day..."

"Me either," Quinn says.

Finn falls silent, looking down at the half of a cookie he hasn't eaten. He wants to say something, but he's not sure how much Quinn has figured out on her own.

"He asks about you," she says finally, giving him a significant look.

Finn has to take a deep breath before he speaks, to steady his voice. "He does?"

Quinn nods. "When I drop off Carolina. Not every time, but at least once a month or so. You should go see him."

"I... I'm not sure he wants to see me," Finn says softly.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"I don't know. What if I remind him... of a... of a bad time in his life? You know, Terri leaving him, his relationship with Mrs. Pillsbury, and... everything else."

Quinn looks at him through slightly narrowed eyes. He knows she wants to ask what else, but she doesn't, and he is grateful. Instead, she reaches across the coffee table and puts her small hand on top of his.

"What do you think he thinks of every time he sees Carolina? Life goes on, Finn. Mr. Schue isn't going to blame you because you happened to be around when he was going through a rough time. He'll be glad to see you. I know it."

Finn nods, and gives her a small smile. "Thanks," he says, turning his hand over and giving hers a squeeze.

"You're welcome. Now, you'd better go. He should be home by now. But you're coming back to see me, mister."

Finn laughs. "I promise," he says, and he really means it. "I don't start the new job for another two weeks, so I'll be around."

"Good," Quinn says, standing up and picking up the tray. "I'll see if Noah and Rachel will come here to pick up Carolina this weekend – we can all have dinner."

"That'd be great."

"Bye, Finn."

Finn leans over and places a soft kiss on Quinn's cheek. He only wonders for the briefest moment what might have been, but the emptiness is quickly replaced by the pride he feels in how hard she's worked, and how far she's come.

"Bye, Quinn," he says softly in her ear. "Bye, Drizzle." He waves at the girl, who's digging through her DVDs and expertly pushing buttons on the TV. She looks up with a shy smile and gives him a little wave, then goes on about her business.

Finn walks out the door and gets into his car. With a last wave at Quinn, he buckles his seat belt and backs out of the drive, turning onto Oakley Street and heading west. It'll take him five minutes to get there – five minutes to figure out how to make up a lifetime.