tattered footnotes

. . .

She looks great on stage.

She sounds great, too.

But then again, she always did, and probably always would.

Even he had to admit, their rendition of the song is pretty decent. And Hudson is talented (not nearly as much as him, though); a little flat sometimes, but he doubted anyone really cared.

And if they did, herperformance completely made up for whatever lack of musical training her leading man possessed.

She sings out the notes in perfect pitch, and her voice is full of emotion, like she means every single word.

And judging by the fact that she hasn't taken her eyes off the awkward football player (seriously?) for more than a second, he guesses she really does.

.

Truth is, despite everything, he did love Rachel Berry. He had never thought he'd find someone just as driven and, yes, talented as him, but there she was. Brunette hair, petite frame, animal sweaters and killing voice.

The two of them were destined to be stars and that was just certain. Maybe their ambition combined was too much for somewhere like Ohio, but their paths simply had to cross at one point.

Because, all in all, they were perfect for each other. She was like the female version of him, and it was obvious that they fit together. It was only rational that they dated.

It was only rational, though. And maybe that's why it didn't work out.

(That, and the fact that he threw eggs at her in the middle of a school parking lot.)

Their relationship was a technicality, carefully thought out. Calculated, if you will. It was planned. (By whom, exactly, he would never know.)

His love for Rachel Berry made sense. Just like 1+1=2.

"Hey," he feels a hand on his shoulders. He doesn't have to look to know it was Shelby, so he doesn't. "C'mon. Let's get inside and start warming up. We need to focus only on putting a good show right now."

He doesn't miss the 'we', nor the sad tone in her voice.

He glances at the stage one more time, only to see her grabbing the tall boy's hand and looking at him like nothing else in the word mattered.

As he follows Shelby out of the auditorium, he thinks that he finally understands it. He doesn't get why it's Finn Hudson of all people (the guy thought you could get pregnant by making out in a hot tub, for God's sake) who gets to hold her hand in the end, but he realizes that he doesn't have to get it. He isn't supposed to.

That's what they say in those cheesy Hollywood movies (that are, in all purposes, extremely commercial, and he plans to star in two of them at the most, in order not to ruin his career by putting a label on himself, and becoming some twisted, male version of Meg Ryan).That when it comes to real love (not rational love), you're not supposed to get it; you're just supposed to go along with it.

Or something like that.

He loved her, he can admit that, but he also knows that he loves his talent more, and he knew, even as he started to like her, that he would break her heart if that's what it took. And she would never love him, as she loved that other boy. So Jesse and Rachel's end was just as inevitable as its beginning.

But Finn and Rachel are always going to be Finn and Rachel. They're every other Taylor Swift song, and he doesn't appreciate her like he should, and he's way too tall while she's way too short, and there's no way he can vocally match her, but they are what happens when 1+1=11.

It's not rational, it's not perfect, and it's not obvious; it's only right, somehow.

He's not stupid, he can see that (just like he saw the looks, and the secret smiles, and his hand lingering on hers a little longer than necessary). And he thinks that it's okay.

It takes a big heart like Rachel's to love like that, and Jesse St. James doesn't even have a heart.

(But, as he gets back stage and listens to them belting out the first verse of 'Don't Stop Believin' through the speakers, he questions that statement for the first time in his life, because he swears he can feel something breaking inside of him.)

.:. .:.

She realizes that every time they perform, it's a different high. It's all equally self-fulfilling, but this is different from when she gets a solo in Glee, or even when they performed at Sectionals.

This is Regionals, and it's pretty amazing that they've gotten this far.

And suddenly, it doesn't matter if Ms. Sylvester's one of the judges or if the harmonies fell flat at some point, or that they were competing against Vocal Adrenaline, because she can still hear the audience clapping and it feels like there's something exploding inside of her, so she can't help but put her hopes up and voice her happiness.

"Screw that! We are gonna win this!" she hears Rachel reply to her, and feels a hand on her shoulder.

Everybody breaks into smalls groups as they take in that feeling of a good performance. Kurt and Mercedes are whispering and looking at the door, Artie is high-fiving Puck, Quinn is still outside, Brittany and Santana are playing with each other's hair, Finn is basically jumping up and down in front of Mike and Matt as they talk and drink Gatorade, and she finds herself in a corner with Rachel.

"Finntoldmehelovedme," the brunette diva suddenly blurts out.

Rachel's looking at her expectantly, and Tina looks around, but they're in the very far corner of the room, and no one else seems to have heard it, each of them wrapped up in their own conversations.

"What?" is all she manages to let out, because it's seriously not something she expected to hear at that particular moment.

Not that she thought Finn couldn't be in love with Rachel (sometimes it's like those two forget that there's other people in the room), but mostly because she and Rachel aren't exactly close. Then again, Rachel's not exactly close to any of the girls in the club. Tina's probably the closest of a friend that the girl's ever had, if you count out the 'friends' that Rachel's also dated.

"I'm sorry," Rachel starts speaking again, "I realize this must be uncomfortable for you, since we don't usually converse in this kind of manner, and I obviously let my - maybe a little misguided - enthusiasm somehow cloud my judgment, and I-"

Rachel talks a lot. And she's a drama queen. And she's a little (maybe more than a little) obsessed and selfish. And she's just always criticizing and bossing everyone around. And she's just… intense.

And that's everything Tina isn't. At least on most days.

But Rachel's also in the bottom of the food chain, getting slushied. And she really loves Glee, and would do anything to keep what they have alive. And, some days, very rare days, Rachel will let out that she's just as insecure about herself as anyone else. And she's been lonely, for a long time.

And that's everything Tina can relate to.

She's loyal, to her beliefs, and to the people she cares about. And she's nice to you when you deserve it. And she's flat out honest, which means she's trust worthy and her criticism is always constructive. And she believes in herself, and won't let anyone bring her down.

And that's everything Tina admires about her.

So, she puts herself in that place for a moment, and thinks about what she'd like to hear if she told someone that the guy she's been after for a year told her she loved her.

"How did he say it?" She obviously caught the smaller girl off guard as she immediately stops talking. "When did it happen?"

"Excuse me?" Rachel asks, genuine confusion spreading through her face. Frankly, Tina's surprised at her own words too.

"Finn…" She glances at the boy in question, and sees him trying to look over at them discretely. It isn't really working. "How did he tell you he loved you?"

"Oh," Rachel says as she retrieves from her initial shock, and smiles. "Well, we were just about to get on stage, and the song started playing, so I looked at him and he smiled at me. But then, I-"

She's cut off again, though, by Mercedes screaming. When everybody turns to stare at her, she elaborates, "Quinn's in labor!"

"Oh, my God!" Rachel exclaims, completely forgetting about their conversation.

And then it's chaos.

.

They lost.

To Vocal Adrenaline. And to Aural Intensity. They didn't place. Glee club's over. For good. Sue Sylvester is a bitch.

Everyone is quiet; no one dares to break that tense silence.

On her way to her seat, she walks past Finn, next to Rachel. Her face is a mess of sadness and disappointment all in one, and he looks like he could cry. They don't look at each other in the eye, or say anything, just like everyone else.

But her fingers are intertwined with his, and his thumb's grazing small circles against her knuckle, and, even though she's not really one for feeling all giddy and bubbly about this type of thing, she thinks the two of them look kind of perfect.

Even though everything she loved about school, along with some of her dreams and a few of almost-friendships had been crushed just an hour ago, she can't help but smile a little.

.:. .:.

He runs into them at Breadstix.

His parents came for a visit, and his dad wanted to take him out to dinner, to have one of his 'man to man' talks.

His dad just got up to go to the restroom when he sees them. They're sitting close by and she's feeding him some of her food. He makes a face and they both laugh. For some reason he can't quite understand, he doesn't want them to see him.

Maybe it's because this girl who wears knee socks and animal sweaters to school on a daily basis is enjoying a date with her boyfriend, while he's just some divorced loser who only goes out with his father.

Maybe it's because they're his students, and he probably knows more about their personal life than he should.

Or maybe it's something else entirely, he doesn't really know.

But his wishes of getting through the night unnoticed go right out of the window when someone from the table behind him drops a plate and the noise causes Finn to look in his direction.

He says something to Rachel, and she turns her gaze towards him too. Finn waves and they both get up and walk over to his table.

"Hey, Mr. Shue," Finn smiles. Rachel's standing beside him, and his arm is wrapped around her waist.

"Hey guys," he replies. "How's your summer going?"

"Great!" Rachel smiles one of her extremely bright smiles. "Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you. I've been researching, and have compiled an alphabetical list of songs we could use for Sectionals, along with my personal suggestion of the person who would be mostly suitable to sing it, and some basic dance moves I felt were appropriate and fitting. I was wondering if you could take a look at it."

Finn's still smiling, but he looks at him while his girlfriend talks, almost as if apologizing, "c'mon, Rach. Mr. Shue's on vacation, too."

"Yes, Finn, I know that," she states, looking at him seriously, "but time's a precious advantage, and we need to be prepared."

"It's okay, Finn, summer's almost over, anyways. Could you send me the list, Rachel? You've got my e-mail, right?"

"Of course," she beams.

Before any of them can say anything else, Rachel's phone rings, and she excuses herself to answer it.

He looks over at Finn, and sees the boy staring at her while she talks to one of her dads and gestures with her free hand at the same time.

"So," he tries to make conversation, "you and Rachel, huh?"

Finn and Rachel.

He, more often than not, recognizes his old high school self in Finn. He sees the same passion and talent for music that he had back when he was sixteen, when his dreams were big and powerful and the future was right ahead of him.

Rachel's something else entirely. She's not like anything or anyone he's ever seen before, and her ambition and enthusiasm together can knock you off your feet. She's annoying and not that much of a team player, but she's talented. He (or anyone, for that matter) can't deny it. Her voice's something out of this world. But her personality takes a while to get used to. He can't really teach her anything technical, because they both know she's surpassed his knowledge of music and dancing and performing a while ago, so his lesson for her is something else entirely, too.

When he thinks about his high school years, he's always brought back to memories of Terri, and himself, and them. Together and in love. It was before all the drama and the challenges of being an adult had set in, and they were the picture perfect couple that everyone envied and adored at the same time.

Kind of like Finn and Quinn, back in the beginning of the school year (their names even rhyme). So, whenever he saw the quarterback and the cheerleader holding hands in the hallways, it brought a smile to his face, because it's him and Terri in high school, all over again.

Of course, that both Finn and Quinn and Will and Terri had eventually ended, around the same time, and for almost the same reason.

"Yeah," Finn takes a while to answer, so he has to scan his mind back to remember the last thing he'd said, but the quarterback is smiling, "I love her."

He's not really surprised by that statement, but he wasn't really expecting it either. He figures he won't say anything else, because if he's looking for analogies, Finn would be him, Quinn would be Terri and Rachel would have to be Emma.

And, when he thinks about it too much, he always comes out as a hypocrite.

.:. .:.

"Okay. Let me see if I got this straight," she states after Rachel's rant. "You-" she points to the girl in front of her, "want me-" points to herself, "to try and convince Finn that we should get back together?"

The brown eyed girl in front of her nods frantically.

"And," Quinn narrows her eyes and looks intensely at Rachel, "you're sure about this?"

"I just want to know if he really loves me," Rachel answers, like getting your one-time-enemy-slash-boyfriend's-ex-girlfriend-who-cheated-on-him to flirt with said boyfriend, as a way to test his love for you is something the brunette does every day.

"Look," Quinn looks down at the paper the smaller girl is holding out for her and sighs, "you helped me out last year when I was pregnant, so I guess I owe you or something."

Rachel looks like she's about to say something, but Quinn puts up her hand, "don't interrupt me."

"Anyways," she continues when she's sure Rachel will let her finish, "I don't like owning anyone any favors, so I do this for you, and we call it even, deal?"

Rachel beams and stretches out her free hand, "deal."

Quinn looks down at the hand, and makes sure to produce a perfect look of disgust before shaking it.

"And I won't be needing these," she points at the sheet of paper in Rachel's hands. "I am perfectly capable of getting a guy's attention without scripted lines."

Rachel just nods.

(Quinn: 1, Rachel: 0)

"Thank you so much, Quinn," Rachel is about to leave when Quinn intercepts her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait," she gives Rachel the iciest glare she can muster. "I'll leave first, and you're gonna stay here and count to twenty before you follow. I don't need to be seen walking out of the bathroom with a loser."

Rachel takes a sharp breath and Quinn's eyes dare her to say something.

"Fine," she simply replies.

(Quinn : 2, Rachel: 0)

"Also," Quinn checks herself in the mirror one more time. "I am not doing this because I like you or anything, I'm just repaying a favor. And-" she stresses on the 'and', "if word about this gets out, you're dead. Are we clear?"

Rachel tightens her lip together before answering, "crystal."

Quinn smiles her most mischievous smile, before walking to the door. She walks out into the crowded hallway, but not before looking at Rachel once more and saying,

"I know you want Finn to say no to my proposal, so he can prove you wrong, but what are you gonna do if he says yes?"

The look on Rachel's face is almost priceless.

(Quinn: 4, Rachel: 0

She scores twice, because Quinn Fabray just never loses.)

.

"I said what you wanted me to, and he shot me down," she informs Rachel, "so congrats. Looks like he really loves you."

She doesn't want to see the happy look that's definitely plastered over Rachel's face, and she doesn't want Rachel – or anyone – to see the look on her own face, so she walks away as soon as possible.

She's a cheerleader. Rachel is a loud-mouth loser who dresses like a transvestite.

She's blonde and beautiful and flawless. Rachel's hardly that pretty, and her nose is definitely… characteristic, for a lack of a better word that doesn't offend Jesus.

She's everything any guy would want. But she's not Rachel.

He chooses Rachel.

And she knows it's not because of any of 'the nastiness' that happened last year. She knows that even if she had been the perfect model of the perfect girlfriend, he'd still have chosen Rachel 'man hands' Berry.

And it's not fair.

It's not fair because she misses him. Not him and his little naïve comments, and the way he would never look at her like he looks at Rachel,and how he would instantly forget 99% of the things she said. But she misses the comfort that she had when he was in her life, and the security she had that she was on top and no one could bring her down, and the guarantee of that prom queen and prom king titles. Before they found out that there was more meaning to life than the high school food chain, and before she discovered that she actually enjoyed music, and before people were giving her dirty looks in the hall while pointing to her stomach.

She knows that 'before', it was really all a lie, but it's still not fair.

It's not fair because Quinn Fabray never loses.

Especially not to someone like Rachel Berry.

(Quinn: 4, Rachel: 10)

.:. .:.

The first thing he noticed about Rachel Berry is that she's… different (to say the least). She dressed weirdly - that was the first thing that came to mind when he first saw her. Then, his eyes travelled down to her legs, and he thought she was kinda hot. (He knows it's not right to think about women that way, but he can't help it. He's a teenager, and it's the first time in a while that he gets to see actual girls in the school hallways.)

When she turned around though, his eyes diverted up so she wouldn't see him staring, and he noticed her nose. Because, well, it was hard not to. It's not, like, completely ugly or anything, but it was larger than most and that's what called his attention.

He noticed her eyes next because that's what he usually likes to notice in (most) people. They're brown, but not the dark brown he was used to seeing. They're like chocolate brown, and he thought he could maybe get lost in them, like a little kid looking at one of those chocolate fountains.

When he started going to Glee practices, he realized that the girl could sing. Like, really sing. He also realized that she was sort of crazy. Okay, nothing 'sort of' about it, she was completely insane. The way she talked reminded him a little bit of that Sheldon guy from that 'Big Bang Theory' show that his aunt likes to watch (although not even Rachel is as bad as him), and the girl's pretty hardcore about pretty much everything she does, and she has all this goals and a super intense personality, which is a little scary (especially when he heard of the girl who was sent to a crack house or something), because he likes to say he's more of an easy going type of guy.

But, anyways, she's nice to him most of the time, and it's not that bad when she obsesses over their performances, and they don't really talk. Like, ever.

Which is why he's confused when she shows up at his house after school.

He's surprised when he opens the front door to find her standing there, but then he sees Finn next to her, so he feels a little less uncomfortable. (Finn looks very uncomfortable, though. And not very happy, either.)

"Well, hello Sam," Rachel greets, before looking over at Finn. "See, I told you he would be home."

Finn just rolls his eyes.

"Uhm… hi," Sam says, tilting his head a little to the left. "What're you guys doing here?"

Rachel is about to respond, but Finn cuts her off, "nothing. We were just leaving. C'mon, Rachel," he grabs her arm and starts to pull her towards her car, parked on the other side of the road.

"No," she shakes him off, "you're the one who started this, and we're going to finish it."

"Raaaach," Finn groans, but her fierce expression remains unchanged.

He looks from Finn to Rachel than to Finn again while they speak, but it doesn't do much to alleviate his confusion.

"Erm, guys," he runs his hand through his hair, "what's going on?"

"Well," Rachel starts to explain. "Finn, here, has doubts about our, and I quote, 'movie star chemistry thingy in the song about the touching'. And while I have continually tried to assure him that our relationship is completely professional," she takes a deep breath, "Finn, here, doesn't seem to find it in him to believe me. Therefore, we are here so that you can reassure him that you have absolutely no romantic inclinations towards me," she glances over at Finn, "since his girlfriend's words don't seem to be enough for-"

"You know I didn't mean it like that, Rachel."

"Oh, really? Because I can clearly remember you saying that you trusted that I didn't have any feelings of that nature regarding Sam at all," she looks at him before murmuring a quick 'no offense', "but that there was no way to know if Sam felt the same."

"Well, you were right, as always, I'm sorry!" He throws his hands up in the air. "You didn't have to embarrass me in front of my friend just to prove a freakin' point!"

"So, you finally admit it! You think I embarrass you!" She put her hand on her chest, with an over-the-top expression of indignity. "I'll have you know, Finn Hudson, that I-"

"Guys, Guys!" Sam couldn't stand it anymore. He could barely understand about half of what Rachel said (because her vocabulary was hard to follow, and she was talking at a Formula 1 kart speed), but he understood that Finn and Rachel were fighting.

On his doorstep.

About him. Well, sort of.

"Okay," he does his best to sound like the voice his mother used when his siblings were fighting about whose turn it was to clean off Hermet, the hamster's poop, "I don't have any feelings or whatever for you, Rachel."

As Rachel gives Finn a pointed look, he continues, "and, if you're going to keep shouting, please don't do it here. My grandma's asleep, and she gets super cranky when she's forced to wake up from her beauty nap."

"Sorry," Finn and Rachel say in unison.

"But it's all Finn's fault," Rachel quickly adds, "he's the one who got all jealous because of a number that's probably going to get banned from the show given the amount of sexual innuendos in it."

"Hey!" Finn protests in his usual boyish way (whoa… where did that come from?), "there's nothing inu- inu…whatever about it! You guys are gonna have sex on stage!"

"Finn," Rachel sighs, "we are not going to have sex. Besides, I've already told you. I am going to be on Broadway someday. And if you can't handle watching me in suggestive, completely meaningless,scenes with my future co-stars, then we can't be together."

"Yes, Rachel, I understand that. But if you have the right to be all romantic with some guy, don't I have the right to be a little bothered by it?"

"A little bothered? You almost broke my car window when you punched it!"

"Oh, c'mon! There's hardly a crack!" He looks at Sam for support. "C'mon, dude, help me out here. Wouldn't you feel the same if the situation was rever—reveres… if it was the other way around?"

They both turn their gaze to Sam, each daring him to say a different thing. He, in turn, looks from Finn to Rachel again, sighs, and closes the door.

It's a liberating feeling, really.

"See what you did?" He hears Rachel's muffled voice through the door, "now you've offended him with your attitude!"

"My attitude?" Finn questions. "I didn't even wanna come! You're the one who dragged me here!"

"Oh, Finn!" Sam can easily hear Rachel's exasperation. "I could hardly drag you, you know that! Quit being so dramatic!"

"Me? Dramatic?" Finn lets out a laugh full of sarcasm. "Like I'm the one in this relationship who needs to work on that!"

"Fine!" Rachel shouts. "You do whatever you want, then! Have fun walking home!"

There are loud footsteps, which Rachel is obviously forcing a little, to increase the dramatic effect of her storm out, probably. But then, Finn's voice stops her.

"Aaargh! Don't you get where I'm coming from?" He asks, his voice louder. Sam thinks about his grandma waking up for a moment, but shakes it off. Even her wrath is worth this. It's like watching –or listening – to a soap opera (some of which he's secretly addicted to). "I mean, I know you'll go on to be great on Broadway and win lots of Tonys and shi- stuff like that, but that's like, ten years from now. We'll probably be married already, and I'll have time to get used to it, so I'll be totally cool about it, I promise."

There's a pause, before he continues, "but this is high school. And you're a great actress so, everyone's gonna believe that you're actually into my teammate. In front of the whole school. When I saw you guys rehearsing earlier, I got all these thoughts flashing into my head, and I don't know, I just freaked out. And I know nothing's going on between the two of you, but it's not like I haven't been there before."

There's a long silence, but then he hears Rachel's soft voice, "do you really believe we're gonna be married in ten years?"

He doesn't hear Finn's answer, but there's ruffling and sounds he can't really identify, and he considers opening the door a little to hear better, but he stops himself.

That's when it hits him.

Is he really eavesdropping on his friends'cheesy couple's fight?

He immediately walks away from the door.

Maybe changing schools wasn't really a good idea. Rachel's crazy is starting to rub off on him or something.

God knows it has absolutely gotten to Finn already.

.:. .:.

He and Rachel are very similar, they both know that. And they could easily have become best friends, if it wasn't for the fact that Rachel seems to always be a step ahead of him.

They both have good grades, but Rachel's the one with honors.

They both are excellent, talented, perfectly tuned singers, but Rachel's range is almost an octave larger than his, and she's the one who gets all of the solos.

They both can dance fairly well, but she's the one who's had dance lessons since the age of three.

They both dress differently, but he's never had a guy call his clothes 'cute'.

They both had an attitude and a strong personality, but her storm outs are epic, and she's the one everybody sees as determined.

They both deal with homophobia on a daily basis, but she doesn't get a kiss from Karofsky.

They both like Broadway, and show tunes, but she's the one who gets to go to New York every year.

They both use basically the same hair and skin care products, but she doesn't get teased because of it.

They both have to make do without a mother, but at least she has an extra dad to make up for it.

They both are going to get out of Lima, but she's got an express train ticket while he has to crawl out of the Godforsaken town.

They both relate to and worship Ephalba, but she's the one who could ever get an audition for the role.

They're both at the bottom of the high school food chain, but she's had three boyfriends, and he's had none.

They both had huge and impossible crushes on Finn while he was dating someone else, but she's the one who got him to love her.

He knows it's not really her fault, but Rachel has pretty much everything he's wanted.

He wonders when it all became a competition, and when did they get so obsessed about winning.

.

When he gets to Dalton Academy as an official student for the first time, they give him a pamphlet on bullying. It describes what it is and exemplifies the kind of thing that the school absolutely doesn't allow.

'Bullying behavior may include name calling, verbal or written abuse, exclusion from activities, exclusion from social situations, physical abuse, or coercion. Bullies behave this way to be perceived as popular or tough or to get attention. They may bully out of jealousy or be acting out because they themselves are bullied.'

Name calling, verbal abuse, exclusion from activities, jealousy, acting out.

It sounds too familiar to him. Not only because this has been done to himself, but because he has done this to Rachel.

He's just as bad as Karofsky, really.

He thinks back to when she asked him to sing a duet with her and a sort of silent truce was formed between them. A promise, to reach out when absolutely necessary.

Whenever he's practicing with the Warblers, and has to contain the urge to raise his hand so he won't look like the naive rookie everyone seems to think he is, or when he's reading by himself in his room, or when he's staring at his uniform and thinking about how indifferent it look among everyone else, her words keep on echoing in his head, over and over.

You might be lonely, but you're never alone.

She really is a step in front of him, but, sometimes she stops to take a breath so he can catch up, and they can help each other out.

Maybe next time, he would try and walk faster.

.:. .:.

Rachel and Finn are over.

And it's all because of Santana.

The Gods of manipulation would be proud.

No, they wouldn't. You only did it because you're jealous and couldn't handle it.

It's not jealousy. Why would she be jealous of someone like Berry?

Because she's got everything you want, but are too afraid to fight for.

Ha, afraid? She is Santana Lopez. Her name and 'fear' don't go in the same sentence, unless she's the one causing it.

You are the on causing it. Upon yourself.

No, she did it as a favor for everyone. The midget was standing too tall for a midget. And nobody even likes her anyways.

Finn liked her.

Yeah, because Finn's an idiot.

Puck liked her.

He didn't. He just wanted to score some.

Then why didn't he sleep with her?

Berry is, like, the ultimate prude. She's probably going to find a way to get pregnant without having sex, or something.

First of all, there are ways to get pregnant without having sex, that's how Rachel was born.

So maybe that's why she's such a freak.

Second of all, she wanted to have sex with Puck, remember? He was the one who stopped it.

See? It wasn't even Santana's fault. The dwarf was the one who cheated.

Becauseyoutold her about the Madonna experience.

Again, she was doing everyone a favor anyways. The girl was gonna find out anyways.

It didn't have to be like that, did it?

Well, then how did it have to be? If it was up to Frankenteen, he would wait until he was, like, dying to tell her, because that way he wouldn't have to suffer the consequences.

You keep telling yourself that, honey.

I doesn't matter anyways. She cheated. Santana has never cheated.

Because all of your relationships were non-exclusive.

Whatever.

Don't you feel at least a little guilty?

Santana Lopez doesn't do guilty. Coach Sylvester says it's almost worse than fear.

Well, haven't you noticed how awful they look? Finn just kind of stands there, and Rachel's not asking for solos anymore.

They'll get over it.

What if they don't? What if the club loses Finn's leadership and Rachel's voice forever? How's that a favor for everyone?

The club doesn't need that anymore. They won Sectionals without it. She won them Sectionals with her solo.

No… You tied at Sectionals, with your solo. If Rachel had a solo, that wouldn't have happened. New Directions would have won, just like last year.

It's not like it's all on her! She just told the truth! Someone had to do it! How can anyone blame her for that?

Well, fine. You told her the truth. Did you have to flirt with Finn after? Or provoke Rachel even more? Did you really need to tell her nobody liked her?

It's not like she forced her to cheat. That, the argyle- sweater-lover did all on her own.

Yes, but it's almost like you shoved her in Puck's lap, and put a gun on her head to force her to stay there. Why do you think she did it? Because she felt insecure. Because she wanted someone to think she was hot like you.

Yes, and so she should. Every girl in the school wanted to think she was hot like her, even when they know it won't happen. Berry's no exception. Finn was the crappy boyfriend. And Rachelwas the insecure one. That's what got them to break up. There's no Santana in that occasion.

Well, you're the one who said there was, remember?

Finn and Rachel are over.

And it's all because of Santana.

How proud are the God's of manipulation now?

You know what? Fuck this.

That, you already did. That's what started this mess in the first place, wasn't it?

Oh, shut up.

.:. .:.

She needs to go to the library.

She doesn't like free period that much, because San has English, so there's no one to be with her and tell her what to do next. But she asked Artie what she could do, and he said she should go to the library and finish her homework.

But she forgot how to get there.

Rachel's in her locker grabbing her books, so maybe she could ask her.

"Actually, I was going to the library myself," is Rachel's answer, "so why don't you just follow me?"

She nods and grabs Rachel's arm.

She likes Rachel, because her clothes are always very soft and nice to touch, and she always answers her questions, and smiles.

She likes Rachel's smile.

San doesn't like Rachel very much, so they can't hang out a lot.

But that's okay, because she's talking to Rachel now, about the paper she has to write for her English homework, and Rachel's trying to explain the concept of a well written essay to her.

They get to the library and Rachel stops all of the sudden. She looks at where Rachel's looking and sees Finn there.

"Hi, Finn!" She waves, and he looks up, but he doesn't answer her. He and Rachel just keep staring at each other. "Did Artie tell you to come here too?"

"No," he clears his throat, "Mr. Mayfield caught me sleeping in class again so he told me to come here and read this," he points to a book, "and write about it."

"Oh," she smiles.

"Hey, Britt," Rachel calls. "Didn't you say you needed help with your paper?"

That's when she remembers. Finn and Rachel were dating. But then they broke up. That's kinda sad. They were cute, because she was really short and he was very tall, so if you added them up and then divided it by two, it would be like two normal sized people. At least that's what her math tutor says. She liked Finn and Rachel better when they were together. Finn wasn't always looking hurt and Rachel smiled a lot more.

And, as she's said before, she really likes Rachel's smile.

But Rachel looks very sad now, so maybe she should say something.

"Will you help me?" She asks and Rachel nods, "thank you."

She smiles and skips towards a table. Rachel sits down next to her.

"So, let's see," Rachel finds a book and opens it in front of her. "Here," she points to the page, "read this."

Brittany doesn't like words very much. They're good for you to say what's in your head, but that's the problem. There are just so many things in her head that she doesn't know how to explain and the words she says never seem to come out right, because other people don't understand what she's trying to tell them.

She doesn't understand what other people try to tell her most times, either.

"I don't get it," she states, and Rachel sighs, before moving closer.

"It's basically a theory that this guy, Plato, came up with," Rachel starts to explain. "He said that when we, the humans, where created, we had four legs, four arms, and two heads."

"Like aliens?"

"Well, yes. Maybe."

"Cool."

"Anyways," Rachel continues, "the Gods thought that the humans' hearts were too big and powerful, and they were afraid that the humans would become more strong and powerful than them, so they decided to cut the humans in half, to make them weaker."

"But why would someone do something terrible like that?"

"I don't know. I-I guess the Gods were afraid that they were going to be replaced by the humans; they felt like they were losing everything they had, so they did something stupid. But they regret it. Immensely. And they're sorry."

She's starting to understand a little. The Gods were evil. But what does 'immensely' mean?

She's about to ask Rachel, but Finn speaks first, "well, if the Gods were so sorry about it, maybe they shouldn't have done it in the first place."

"They weren't thinking straight," Rachel's voice is getting louder than a whisper, and Brittany starts to worry, because you need to be silent in libraries, like, at all times, right?

"They were too shaken and upset to remember reason," Rachel's still talking, "of course that wouldn't have happened, if someone had reassured them that they wouldn't be replaced."

"Oh," Finn's voice is louder too, "so, it's not the Gods' fault! They're always innocent. It's always other people that are wrong, never them!"

"I'm not saying that," Rachel starts, but the old lady sitting behind the desk hears her this time, and looks really mad. "I'm saying that what they did was wrong, yes, but they've owned up to their mistakes and accepted the consequences. Except it was not only their fault and some people should realize that."

"Ms. Berry," the old lady gives Rachel a very mean look, "this is the sanctuary of books and quiet. If your tone doesn't come down immediately, I'll personally see that you're escorted out of here." She looks at Finn, then, "the same goes for you Mr. Hudson."

"Yes, ma'am," Finn got back to his book, while Rachel apologizes with some really long words.

"Aren't you going to finish the story?" She asks as Rachel sits back down.

Rachel looks at Brittany for a moment, before going back to the book, "sure."

Brittany smiles and Rachel starts talking again.

"Well, since the Gods had decided to split the humans in two, the humans were forever destined to feel lonely and incomplete, until they found their other half. So, now they spend their whole lives looking for it. And that's where people get the idea of 'soul mates'."

"That's it?"

"Yes, Brittany, that's pretty much all there is to it."

"But what about the part where they get married and have babies, and live happily ever after?"

Rachel laughs a little, "this is not one of those stories."

"Oh. Then I don't like it," she starts to wonder, which was something very rare for Brittany, "I don't like stories that don't have happy endings."

"Well," Rachel tries to explain, "it's not really a happy ending, but it's not really a sad ending either."

"Of course it's a sad ending," she exclaims. "You said that they were going to be lonely and incomplete forever."

"Only if they don't find their soul mate," Rachel replies, "Because if they do, than they get to… live happily ever after, I guess."

"And how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Find your soul mate and live happily ever after?"

"I don't know, Britt," Rachel sighs. "Nobody really knows."

"Then how do you know when you found it?"

"You just know," she pauses, "you can feel it."

"How can you be so sure?" She asks, but doesn't let Rachel respond before adding a "wait," because she's wondering and she thinks she can come up with an answer on her own this time, "I know. You've found your soul mate already, haven't you?"

But maybe that was the wrong question to ask, because Rachel suddenly looks very, very, sad. Like she wouldn't smile ever again, and that was bad, because, maybe she said it before, but she really likes Rachel's smiles.

"Yes," Rachel answers, "at least I used to think so."

"Then how come you're not happy?"

"Huh?"

"You said that when you found your soul mate, you lived happily ever after. You don't look happy."

Rachel isn't looking at Brittany anymore. She's looking at Finn, and Finn's looking at her and they were doing that weird staring thing again, "I—It's… uhm… it doesn't work like that."

"But you said-"

"I know, but, it's just not that easy anymore."

"I really don't like this story," she crosses her arms beneath her breasts, "it's way too complicated."

"I don't like it very much either," is all Rachel says before there's silence. Brittany starts to think of something new to ask, but she all she can remember is that time when she asked her Astronomy teacher about ducks and he was a little mad at her, and that reminds her of that time when she and Santana went to feed the ducks at the park, and the park reminds her of her sister, because she really likes the swings.

But before her sister can remind her of something else, the bell rings and Rachel and Finn get up at the same time, and Rachel says it's time to leave, but they can finish talking some other time if Brittany wants.

But Brittany's not very sure if she wants to, because that will probably just confuse her more. She still needs to finish her paper, and now she needs to find a soul mate, too, or she won't live happily ever after and the evil Gods will win.

She walks out of the library and starts to think really hard.

Can you buy a soul mate? How much does it cost?

She'll ask Artie later. He's smart, so he probably knows.

.:. .:.

"Michael Chang, if you don't get off this damn couch right this minute, I swear, I'll-"

"Okay, ma'," he rolls his eyes and pauses the game, "we're going."

"Sorry, dude," he apologizes to his friend sitting next to him, but Finn just shrugs and gets up to follow him towards the kitchen.

"'S fine. I was getting hungry, anyways."

"You're always hungry," he smiles at the tall quarterback as they step into the kitchen.

"True," Finn replies, but his eyes widen a little as he looks over the kitchen counter.

Yep, his mom definitely overdid it this time.

"Ma'," He calls, and she looks up from her tray of vanilla cookies. "Isn't it a little… much? I mean, you could feed the entire Lima population with those muffins alone."

He and Finn both chuckle, but immediately stop when his mom pulls out the 'Ultimate Scary Glare®'.

"It's not all for you," she explains. "You eat as much as you can, and I'll give the rest to Mrs. Banner next door. You can take some to your house, too, Finn, if you'd like."

"Yeah, cool," Finn smiles, "thanks, Mrs. C."

"Oh," his mom smiles back, "anytime, honey."

His mom has this soft spot for Finn and it's really creepy. She's not like one of those moms who have crushes on their son's friends or anything, but she's always saying what a good kid Finn is, and she believes basically anything the guy says. Plus, she loves that he's basically the only one who can eat all of the food she bakes.

He has accused her of liking Finn better than her own son once, but it didn't turn out very well, because she decided that she should spend more time with him, and that started her habit of going out to dinner with him and Tina.

But, on the upside, whenever there's a party and he says Finn's gonna be there, it's almost certain that she'll let him go. And she lets him host their videogame marathon in the house, when he mentions inviting Finn.

Although, of course, not even Finn can get her to stop bugging them during the game. She read in some magazine that some kid had a seizure while playing 'Halo', so she's convinced that if they sit in front of the TV for too long, they'll die.

He has tried to tell her that the kid only had a seizure because he had a brain tumor, and that actually saved him from dying, but she still insists in making them eat snacks and do anything, really, to get up from the couch.

It's been a while since they've done this. Ever since Finn and Rachel got back together after Puck Fiasco 2.0, he's been spending a lot of time with her, and they haven't gotten to hang out much.

He loves videogame marathons, because there's really nothing better to get him to relax than killing some zombies. But he and Artie are still kind of awkward, and since everything that's been happening with Quinn, if he invites Puck, Sam gets offended, and if he invites Sam, Puck gets pissed, and if he invites them both, they can't really play with all the tension in the room.

He does hang out with some guys from the football team, but his mom doesn't let them into the house, so his only choice is Finn, and he doesn't disappoint.

The doorbell rings, snapping him out of his thoughts. His mom says she's got it, and he looks over at Finn to see that he has eaten about half a tray of the strawberry cupcakes. He chuckles, because he's never met anyone who could eat half as much as Finn, or even half as fast.

"What?" Finn asks with a mouth full, and before he can come up with a good sarcastic remark about Finn's eating habits, a crying Rachel runs into the room, his mother in tow.

He can barely process what's happening, but Rachel's suddenly in Finn's arms, her mascara ruined and her hair all messed up, sobbing like crazy.

"Rach? Rach, baby, you need to calm down," Finn's rubbing circles on her back, but it's not doing much to alleviate her crying. "Breathe, okay? Slowly."

He gives his mom a questioning look while Finn's trying to get Rachel to do some breathing exercises. She just leans closer to him and whispers, "I don't know, she just showed up crying and asked me if Finn was here, so I told her to come in."

He just nods as he catches Finn's gaze, which says that the quarterback's just as confused about this.

"Honey, why don't you lie her down in the living room?" His mom asks, glancing worriedly at Rachel. "I'll go get her some water."

Finn does what his mom says, and he follows them into the living room as Finn settles Rachel on the couch.

"Shh," he takes a strand of hair off her face, "just keep breathing, baby. Everything's gonna be okay."

His mom gets Rachel a glass of water, and Finn helps her drink it. The two of them just stand there awkwardly watching Finn try to comfort Rachel, whose sobs have become less frantic.

Finn tries to get up to give the now empty glass back to him mom, but Rachel doesn't want to let go of his hand, so he just sets the glass on the floor, and his mom goes over to get it.

He's still trying to get over what just happened in the kitchen, so he basically just stares at the couple on the couch, without saying or doing anything.

If this was Puck, Finn would have definitely gotten some crap about this later, but he doesn't seem to care. He's not Puck anyways, so he knows that Finn knows that this is staying between them.

"I know, I know," he whispers as Rachel mumbles something incomprehensible, "I love you, too. I'm not going anywhere."

His mom looks like she's almost crying or something, the same expression she has on her face whenever he walks in on her watching one of those romantic chick flicks.

He doesn't know how long it's been – seriously, Rachel Berry is lying down in his living room couch, wetting his friend's shirt with tears when they were supposed to be playing videogames… Can you blame him for being a little shocked? – but Finn scopes Rachel up in his arms and looks at him apologetically.

"I probably should get her home," Finn says, and he and his mom both nod. "But thanks for the cupcakes, Mrs. C," he looks over once more at Rachel, who's been driven into a slumber state, before waving awkwardly while trying to balance his girlfriend in his arms, and leaves.

His mom wipes a tear, and looks at him, "oh, would you look at that?" She puts her hand on her heart, "thank God for Finn, to keep romance and chivalry alive!"

Women.

Go figure.

.

He gets a text from Finn.

Hey. Sorry bout 2day. Rach says she's sorry 2. Can we try it again next weekend?

He replies immediately.

Yeah, sure, don't worry. Is everything ok, though? With Rachel?

It's almost a whole minute before he hears the sound of his phone beeping.

Yeah. It was nothing… it's just… dude u can't tell Rachel this, like, ever. Or she'll kill me… srsly.

He's curious, and types out a response.

Sure… why? Did something bad happen?

Again, it takes a little while for Finn to answer.

No… it's just… that day of the month.

No way.

No way. Are you serious?

Yeah… mike, really, u can't tell Rachel about this. Or anyone.

Don't worry about it. I've been there. I mean, Tina's got her moments.

Yeah… ok,thx… gotta go. Ttl.

Bye.

He shuts his phone, and laughs to himself for a while.

He's definitely not laughing later though, when he's on a date with Tina, and his mom tells her about the events of the afternoon, and his girlfriend gets mad at him for not being as 'sensitive to her inner problems'.

The worst part is, his mom picks Tina's side this time, and when those two are together, he gets away with absolutely nothing.

Women.

Go figure.

.:. .:.

"What is it now, Sue?"

"Well," she takes in a sharp breath, "the brunette version of Streisand and the quarterback who has tripped over his own foot so many times that it's not really a wonder why our football team's the worst in the state, which is why I continually advocate for a campaign that my Cheerios should cheer for themselves, and-"

"Get to the point, Sue."

"I was walking to my office, in time to drink my daily appointed protein shake," she leans closer to the desk, "when I saw it. A despicable act of PDA being displayed in the hallways."

Her memories flash back to the scene she had previously witnessed. The girl in need of a nose job whose name she doesn't remember was smiling stupidly and leaning against her locker, while the tall guy kissed her cheek. Then, he held her hand as they walk together down the hall, staring at each other with those dreamy, dumb eyes, until he whispered something in her ear and she laughed.

"Sue…" Figgins sighs, and she gets frustrated because he's not taking her seriously.

"No. You listen to me, Figgy," she glares at him, "these two are seniors now; is this the kind of example you want to be set for the students of this school?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I'd recommend a week of suspension for the shiny couple, and a motion for the school board to take action against William Shuester."

"Sue, you cannot expect me to fire William for every little thing one of the members of his club says or does!" He throws his hands up in the air, "he's got nothing to do it with, and the kids are just kids! You can't control them; it's young love!"

"Okay," she leans closer to the Indian principle and gives him a threatening look, "first of all, William Shuester is a curly haired bad influence on those kids, as well as a threat to this school. Have you not seen the last two numbers his Glee Club has performed in the past two years? God knows what they have prepared this time; they'll probably show the performance at midnight on HBO."

"Second of all," she puts a hand up in front of his face when he makes motion to talk, effectively silencing him, "love is dangerous. It's evil. It makes people blind and they do things they would never consider doing were they not intoxicated by this poisonous feeling. It can be more manipulative than me," she points to herself and Figgins scoffs. "Do you really think it is correct to let it propagate in a place filled with semi sexually active, hormonal teenagers?"

"Sue…" He sighs once again. She's heard her name spoken from his mouth more times than it was spoken from her mother's. That shouldn't be a surprise, but it's really annoying. "The kids haven't really done anything wrong, and Will has nothing to do with it; I cannot suspend them. If you insist, I will call them in for a warning, but that's all you're going to get from me today."

"Fine," she crosses her arms over her chest, "but don't come running to me when this school turns into come sort of twisted remake of 'Skins' and the school board sends you back to India."

.

Argh.

She was in a good mood today. She had seen an article about her team in the newspaper and she didn't have to call her lawyer to sue for the things they wrote about her. Until the little display in the hallway and her talk with Figgins. Now she's furious, because no one takes her for granted.

Ever.

She sees a Cheerio and her boyfriend kissing, and she doesn't care that it's one of her girls this time; she pushes them away from each other, and shoves the confused freshman into the lockers.

Love.

Stupid, ridiculous love. Only idiots would really fall into its trap.

But, as she reaches her office and looks at a picture of herself and her sister sitting on her desk, she can't deny it; love exists. And it's powerful.

Even for one Sue Sylvester.

.:. .:.

"Finn?" She stands in her doorstep for a moment, the heavy rain outside muffling her voice. "What're you doing here? Did you drive? Are you home for the whole weekend? Why didn't you tell me?"

The realization that her son was getting wet in the rain in front of her hits her and she waves her hand in front of her head, "never mind that. Come inside; you must be freezing!"

He does as he's told and gets into the house. "Mom, I-" he wets the floor, but she doesn't care because he's shivering, so she doesn't let him talk.

"Not now," she closes the door behind them, now a little wet herself from the droplets of rain that were pushed inside – and into her clothes – by the wind. "You go upstairs and change out of these clothes, then we'll talk."

He looks like he's considering it for a moment before shaking his head slightly and heading upstairs to his old room.

.

"I need you to lend me some money," is what he says as soon as he gets back downstairs. "I'll pay you back as soon as I can; I just need enough to get a plane ticket to New York."

"What?" She's in the kitchen, pouring them some coffee, but upon hearing her son's declaration – who's never asked her for money before – she stops and rests the pot on the counter, turning around to face him, "Finn; what's going on? Did something happen to Rachel? What – why are you asking me for money?"

"Where's Burt?"

"Still in the shop," she's never seen him quite like this, uneasy. "I told him to stay there until the storm passes – but, don't change the subject, mister. What's going on?"

He doesn't look down to the floor, and he doesn't fiddle with the hem of his shirt like he always does when he's nervous about something; he just looks her right in the eye and says, "I'm quitting college."

"WHAT?"

It's a good thing she isn't holding the coffee pot anymore, or else she'd have dropped it. "What – why – how – Finn Hudson. Absolutely not. Finn, what's going on?"

"Rachel got shot," his voice's soft, broken, like when he was five and would ask if he could sleep with her, 'cause he'd had a nightmare.

"What – oh, my God," she covers her mouth with her hand and Finn just nods. She opens her arms out to him, and he immediately steps into her embrace. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She was robbed on the way back from school, and they shot her shoulder; the doctors said she's gonna be fine, but – but –"she hugs him tighter and runs her hand soothingly on his back. He's way taller than her, but, when they stand like this, he becomes so small and it breaks her heart, "but that's not the point, mom," he says into her shoulder. "This is all my fault."

"What? How could this be your fault? You weren't even there!"

"Exactly!" He pulls away from her. "I wasn't there. Some guy shot Rachel and I wasn't there to protect her. What if it happens again? And what if she doesn't make it this time? Mom, what if she dies when I'm five hundred miles away? What if - "

"Finn," she cuts him off, "that's enough. Come here." She sits on the couch and pats the spot next to herself. "Honey," she begins once he's seated beside her, "I know that you love Rachel, and that it's hard for you to be apart from her, but this is not the solution; This could've happened whether you were there or not, and no matter how close you live to each other, you'll never be able to protect her from everything."

"But at least I'll be there for her, if something happens!" He punches the arm of the couch, and she knows he's angry, because that's the only time he punches things. He did it when he found the truth about the baby, and all the times he and Rachel broke up.

"So you're going to go off to New York; with no money, no college degree, and no place to stay," she says sternly. "You can't even support yourself! How will anyone else be able to lean on you?"

"I'll stay with Rachel until I get a job and get some things figured out," he answers her without hesitation.

"Oh, really?" She asks him with sarcasm, "and how did you get Rachel to agree with that? Because I know her, and there's just no way she'd let you do this."

He doesn't answer her, but she already knows.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" She asks. "You're just going to show up at her apartment unannounced and expect her to be fine with it?"

"I don't know, mom," he looks at her fiercely. "I don't care. I just need to be with her."

Carole freezes for a moment, and she has to look away from her son. It's moments like this that make her sure of who Finn's father is. There are these flashes she gets sometimes when she looks at him; it feels like a Dejá vu, and, for a second, she can see Chris right there with her. Then the moment goes away and it's back to Finn again.

But it doesn't go away this time, because she knows that look; Christopher had looked at her like that the day he'd told her he was joining the army.

They were broke at the time. He couldn't pay for college anymore, and no one was hiring. They had a fight and she was screaming at him, told him they shouldn't have married so young; they'd rushed into the future and now the future was ruined. He walked away, slamming the door and she thought that was it. She thought she'd never see him again.

But he came back late that night, and told her that they were gonna be fine; he had fixed their problem. He was going to become a hero. She'd cried; she tried to tell him that he already was a hero, her hero, but he wouldn't listen. His eyes were so full of determination and passion, and she didn't have the courage to do anything to take that look away from his face. She just let him kiss away her worries, and nine months later, Finn was born.

And then Christopher was dead.

She wasn't making that mistake again.

"I don't belong in college, mom," Finn's still rambling, "I'm just some stupid jock who got lucky and got a scholarship. I haven't even decided my major yet. They should have given my spot to someone else."

"Stop it. Don't you dare talk like this about my son," she glares at him as strongly as she can. "You're not stupid, and I don't ever wanna hear you call yourself that ever again. And you're not quitting college. You have worked so hard to get this scholarship, Finn, and you deserve it; I'm not going to let you give this up for unjustified guilt."

There's a pause, but the brief silence ends when the first notes of 'Faithfully' start playing through the fabric of his pocket.

She knows this ringtone. It's Rachel.

Finn takes one last glance at her before pulling the metallic device from his pocket and pressing the answer button.

"Hey, babe," he sighs into the phone. "Are you feeling better? I'm fine. What? No! Wait – How did you find out? It was Kurt, wasn't it? What? No, Rachel, you listen to me; I don't care about that. No, Rach- Rachel. Rachel. Rach – please, Rachel just -"

She smiles inwards as she could hear the high pitched voice from the other line, obviously lecturing Finn. She knows things were going to be fine. Rachel's just as determined as Kurt (with whom she would talk to about knowing of Finn's plans and not telling her), and Finn, when he puts his mind into it, and her son rarely says no to her.

She knew Rachel would talk him out of this crazy idea, and she'd never approve of him quitting college.

That's why she likes the girl. The tiny brunette may have taken her spot on Finn's list of most important people, but it doesn't bother her anymore (not, a lot, anyways). The girl is crazy most of times, and a little too… expressive. But she's seen them together, and it's something magical, almost.

Because Rachel's special, and she made Finn feel special too.

And that's all she's ever asked for her son.

.:. .:.

"Tell me again why I'm doing this?" He attempts to stretch out in his seat, but is not very successful.

"Because you're a very good boyfriend, who very much likes doing things for me," she smiles at him. A fluffy pink teddy bear suddenly falls on his lap and he sighs. He lo - cares about Anna a lot, but this was a bad idea.

He absolutely hates airplanes.

It usually means moving and changing and he doesn't like changes. He needs to be sure about things.

"This is the seventh time," he glares at her (playfully), before turning around and throwing the bear back to the little girl sitting behind them. "And this is a mistake; Seriously, I'm a bad wedding date."

"Oh, c'mon," she slaps his arm (playfully), "what're you so afraid of? It's not like you know anyone there."

"No, but I'm going to meet people. Not just any people, your family," he doesn't like meeting new people either. He's always been very shy and he was used to staying in the background as a kid.

"Well, actually, you're only going to meet my cousin and uncles," she says quietly and he raises an eyebrow. "I didn't tell you that before, but no one else from my family will be there."

"Why not?"

"You know my uncle is gay," she pauses and he nods. "And my family isn't exactly very -" she's trying to search for the right word. "- accepting. My mom's the only one who talked to him, and after my parents died," she looks down sadly, "well. Now there's only me."

He doesn't say anything; instead, he grabs her hand and squeezes it softly. She looks up at him and smiles again; he feels butterflies.

Of course, the moment is ruined by the pink bear that hits his head and falls on his lap for the eighth time. She giggles softly and he turns around to give it back once more. "You better make it up to me," he says.

She laughs and kisses him softly, before whispering in his ear, "don't worry, you'll get your reward for being such a good boy."

He raises both his eyebrows and smirks.

"Oh, but you're going to love my cousin!" She exclaims, putting her hands together. "She's so great! She may get a little too carried away sometimes, but I absolutely loved her. And her fiancé is so nice."

He can't help but smile at her excitement as she keeps going, "they're high school sweethearts, isn't that just so cute? Can you imagine, going all the way from a small town like Lima, Ohio to New York all the while staying together and – Matt? Is everything okay?"

No. no. no. no.

Gay parents. A little (yeah, right) too carried away. Lima, Ohio.

It just couldn't be. Just… no.

"What did you say was your cousin's name again?" He asks and she looks at him with confusion.

"Rachel," she answers and his chin drops. "Rachel Berry."

No way. Just… no fucking way.

.

Way.

Yep, that's it. He's watching, fingers intertwined with Anna's, as Rachel freakin' Berry walks by him, seconds away from marrying Finn Hudson.

He seriously couldn't have hoped for a weirder day.

"Why didn't you tell me you grew up in Lima?" Anna whispers in his ear as Rachel reaches the wedding canopy (Chuppah. Right. He's not sure if he can remember that).

"I didn't," he whispers back, "I just went to high school there for like, two years, and then we moved."

He did move away that summer. He remembers that Rachel and Finn were somewhat dating when he left. He never was that close to Finn. The dude was cool and everything, but the only one whose love life he really knew about was Mike's (and the plan to go to Asian camp so he could spend some time with Tina was his last idea on how to give Mike an advantage in the Asian girl's eyes. According to Mike's Facebook status and pictures that had followed that summer, it had worked.)

And he was even less close to Rachel. Truth is, she'd been his first kiss. He had just moved to this new town (like he'd done many times before), and his neighbor, this blonde sweet girl – Brittany – was having an 'end-of-summer' party, and she invited him.

He went because he had nothing better to do.

He was shy, and didn't know anyone; so he just stood in a corner, invisible. Until he saw that there was another person invisible in a corner. There was this short brunette who's wearing a blue dress with a bow, and she was sitting alone by the drinks' table. After about twenty minutes, he finally mustered up the courage to go seat next to her.

She said hi, he said hi, they talked; she told him she's going to be on Broadway someday and he proposed they leave because the music's too loud and they couldn't hear each other very well. He walked her home and they kissed on her doorstep, just like in the movies (she actually said that when they pulled away).

He only saw her again after school's back; after he met this guy Mike and joined the football team. He's sitting in the cool table for lunch, and they told him about this tradition that they have; he didn't think it's very cool, but he laughed along anyway.

The guys wanted him to get 'initialized' in the slushie ritual, so they convinced him to get someone from behind; he didn't realize who that someone actually was until it was too late.

That one was his first and last slushie. He eventually moved on to being invisible again, so no one really cared that much.

He considered apologizing, but really, he was too ashamed and he wouldn't know what to say. It's not like she'd even look at him anymore, and he tried to talk to her a couple times, but she always seemed to run away whenever he was around, and he didn't really have the nerve to run after her, even though, deep down, he knows he could've catched her if he'd tried hard enough.

But he didn't catch her, and eventually let it go.

When he joined Glee and finally went up to talk to her, she said she'd let it go too; she told him it's fine and she's moved on and he shouldn't keep feeling guilty.

He did feel guilty tough, specially that other summer, right before he moved, when Santana invited the whole glee club to a party and they played truth or dare.

Mercedes asked her who'd been her first kiss; she glanced at him for a second and answered it'd been Finn. Kurt scoffed, and said it couldn't be true. She looked down before saying that her actual first kiss wasn't Finn, but one that didn't count in her book. Then they asked who her actual first kiss was.

She changed her choice to dare.

Everyone remembered she'd dated Puck before Finn, and they all assumed he was the one.

He got a hold of her alone in the kitchen later, and told him he was sorry. She told him she understood, and she'd have done the same thing.

He left that night, knowing that it wasn't true; she wouldn't have done the same thing, and if she had, at least she wouldn't have been a coward. No, not Rachel Berry. She was probably one of the bravest people he knew, and that only added more to that feeling he got in the pitch of his stomach whenever he saw someone get slushied.

So, when he moved out of Lima, he never expected to see Rachel Berry again. Least of all at her wedding to Finn Hudson.

"Oh, would you just look at that!" He hears Anna whisper, leaning onto him, "isn't she beautiful?"

He looks at his girlfriend and smiles. She has tears in her eyes, happy tears and her bright smile makes his heart jump a little inside his chest. His gaze shifts to Finn for a moment and he wonders if maybe that's how he feels about Rachel, because he should; Rachel deserves that much. He sees Rachel in her pretty white dress, and she looks so happy, he can't help but feel happy for her, too. Maybe it's good, that they never progressed to more than that first kiss, because then she and Finn could not have happened. Then again, they probably would have happened anyways, because from the way they're looking at each other, he can tell that it's meant to be like that.

He looks back at Anna, in her red dress that he hopes will be off by the end of the night. Her hair's done up all fancy, even though he always tells her he likes it better when she keeps it down. But still, as she holds his hand and focuses only on the soon to be married couple he's supposed to be looking at, he notices how she glows when she's happy.

Yeah. She really is beautiful.

He leans closer to her and moves his mouth closer to her ear, before whispering, "I love you."

Her eyes widen, and she turns to look at him, "what did you say?"

"I love you," he repeats.

She hugs him and tucks her head on the crook of his neck, "I love you, too."

They've been dating for almost a year now, and she's been way too patient, but he's never said it before. He's never said it to anyone; he's felt it, thought it, but he was always too afraid to say it out loud. He's always had commitment problems, and he was always very insecure about himself. Now, the only thing he can think about is why he hasn't said it sooner. He laughs softly to himself, Anna still pressed tightly to him.

Maybe weddings were a good thing.

.:. .:.

He doesn't like to sleep in an empty bed.

He knows that his bed was empty for nine years before he met Carole, and she still works night shifts at the hospital, and that it's not really empty, because he's sleeping in it, but he doesn't like it.

Today, though, he has to get over it, because Rachel had this idea that Finn and Carole should spend a little more quality time together, so she got tickets to a Broadway show for the two of them to catch up and have some mother and son bonding or something (he didn't think a Broadway show was very ideal, because they can't actually talk there, but Carole's eyes lit up when Rachel mentioned it, and that's enough for him).

It's still earlier than when he normally goes to bed, but there was nothing good on TV, and he and Rachel don't really have anything to talk about, so she hovers over him, asking if he needs anything (even though Finn told her she should rest) all the time, and it's kinda awkward. He thought he'd be doing everyone a favor if he just went to sleep.

Except he can't.

He keeps tossing and turning, and he names all the good heavy metal bands from the 80's, and counts to one hundred and twenty seven, but nothing works.

It's going to be a long night.

.

He's almost closing his eyes, when he hears a knock on the door. "Mr. Hummel?"

He wonders if it's Carole for a moment, but she never calls him Mr. Hummel. In fact, there's only one person he can think of that calls him Mr. Hummel.

"Rachel?" He murmurs, as he reluctantly gets up and out of bed (he was this close to actually falling asleep) and walks over to the door.

When he opens it though, he almost thinks he hasn't woken up yet.

Because his step-son's wife – his step-son's eight and a half months pregnant wife – is leaning with one hand against the wall, the other over her swollen stomach.

"Rachel? Are you alright?" He rushes over to her almost instinctively, and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to bother you while you were sleeping but -"she cries out in pain, "Carole and Finn haven't come back yet, and -" her talking gave way to shallow breaths as she closed her eyes and her face scrunched up, "my water just broke."

Oh, shit.

He walks back inside the guest room and grabs his car keys. "Lean on me if you need to," he tells her as he takes her hand as he leads her down the stairs as carefully as he can.

The night just got that much longer.

.

He's pretty sure his hand's broken and all the screaming is making him a little disorientated.

"Okay," he hears the doctor say, "she's crowning! Just one more push, Rachel, c'mon."

She squeezes his hand again and he tries to think back to the one time he's been in this situation before, but he'd puked his guts out when Kurt was being born, and the doctors had asked him to leave.

She's screeching in pain, and then there's sharp crying that he knows isn't coming from Rachel.

Wait.

Rachel just gave birth.

Still no sign from Finn. Where the hell were they?

As if on cue, the door opens to show a flustered Finn rushing into the room. Rachel lets go of his hand as her husband approaches them. His step-son flashes him a look of gratitude, and he just nods before stepping aside to let Finn take over. They never really needed that many words between them.

"I'm so sorry, baby," Finn tells her quickly, "I'm so sorry. We didn't see the message at first, and there was traffic, and -"

Finn's cut off by the sound of Rachel's hand hitting his cheek.

"I cannot believe this," she yells at him. "I had to deliver this baby without her father, because you were too lazy to check your damn- AARRGHHH." She closes her eyes again, and Finn immediately reaches to grab her hand.

"Looks like we're ready for the other one," the doctor says as she gets back to sitting between Rachel's legs.

"See? At least I didn't miss the whole thing," Finn states, but Rachel doesn't respond because they are already telling her to push.

The screaming is back, but this time Finn's kissing her forehead and whispering that he loves her and it's going to be okay.

She says it's not going to be okay, and they're never having sex again, so he thinks he's heard enough and it's probably best if he just leaves unnoticed.

He steps outside and finds Carole in the waiting area. She runs up to him as soon as she catches a sight of him, and starts to bombard him with questions, "did we make it here on time? How's Rachel? Did you get her ice chips? Is Finn being good to her?"

He chuckles softly, before placing her hand between both of his. "Relax," he told her, "the first one's a girl. And everything's fine."

"My grandkids are being born and you're telling me to relax?" She pulls her hand out of his grasp and he winces in pain a little.

"What? Did I hurt you?" Carole's tone changes from anxious to concerned in a heartbeat.

"No, it's not you," he shows her his sore and slightly red hand, "Rachel's a very strong girl."

She tries to suppress a laugh but it doesn't work. "Yes, that she is."

"Let me see," she grabs his hand softly, and inspects it as if her life depended on it. "It's just a little swollen, but I don't think it's broken. Is it hurting bad? Do you wanna see a doctor? I mean, the ER's right downstairs."

"Nah, I'm okay," he smiles at her. "Finn's probably suffering enough for both of us in there."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's just say Rachel wasn't very happy that Finn missed the birth of their daughter," he tells her, but she still looks at him with confusion. "She slapped him."

"She's giving birth to two babies – my grand babies – today;" Carole eyes him seriously, though he can see the hint of a laugh in the corners of her mouth. "She has the right to do whatever she pleases."

He's obviously never been in labor before, but he knows it's really painful; and, judging by the look on Carole's face, he really shouldn't underestimate it.

So he just grins at her before saying, "of course, dear."

.:. .:.

"So, how come you have like, five different types of candy in here?" She hears Artie say as he wheels himself away from the counter. "All they put in my room was a bottle of water and I have to pay a freakin' steal if I drink it."

"I dunno," she shrugs, "Kurt's paying for my room."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she grabs a bag of M&M's and tosses it to him, "he'd already booked it before he sent me the invitation, and I'm not one to deny free candy."

"Tell me about it," he throws an M&M in the air and tries to catch it with his mouth. It doesn't work, and the small ball of chocolate falls on the carpet.

"Can you believe it?" She asks him as she bends down to grab the fallen M&M from the floor, "Kurt's getting married."

"Yeah," he stares into space for a moment before turning back to her. "And in Lima, of all places."

"I know," she shakes her head, "I thought he was gonna leave this place and never come back."

"Well, apparently it's a great town to get drunk, considering Finn's so hangover he can't even watch his own children," Artie says with a hint of amusement.

"Some bachelor party," she mumbles under her breath.

"Wish I could've been here to see it. Rumor has it Puck got a little too much in the spirits and tried to give Kurt a lap dance as an early wedding gift."

She laughs wholeheartedly, "yeah, I heard about that. Too bad no one has it on camera."

Artie joins her and she moves over to sit by him on the couch. "I know you were stuck at work, but offering to babysit the day you got in, really? You can't feel that bad about not making it to the party."

"Do you really think it's gonna be that bad?" He asks her, a small smile on his lips.

"I've never seen the little people; but I've heard stories," She tells him. "'Sides, they're Finn and Rachel's kids. It's, like, genetically mandatory they're a lil' crazy."

"Got a point there," he says, and they both laugh again. "I know why Finn's not in parenting mode, but why's Rachel busy?"

She's about to answer him, when the doorbell rings.

She gets up from the couch and walks over to the door. "Flower emergency. Kurt wanted lilies, but the store sent tulips instead."

"Of course," he chuckles and shakes his head, right before she opens the door to find Rachel Berry standing in front of her, a smile on her face, a child holding each hand.

"Hey, girl!" She exclaims, before hugging her friend. Rachel lets go of her kids' hands for a moment, so she can hug her back. "Lookin' good," she eyes the smaller brunette in front of her once they've pulled away.

"So are you!" Rachel beams, before turning her gaze to Artie, who's now standing next to her. "Hi, Artie!" She smiles and leans over to hug him, too, "how've you been?"

"I'm great," he responds, and looks over to the two tiny brunettes standing slightly behind their mother, the girl clinging on the hem of her shirt.

"Hi," the little boy steps forward and lets his hand out, "my name is Christopher Aaron Hudson." He smiles at Artie, "what's your name?"

Rachel chuckles at his son's attitude, but Artie wheels himself a little forward, and shakes the boy's hand. "I'm Artie. And this is mine and your mom's other friend, Mercedes."

"Hi," the boy repeats his introduction, directing himself to Mercedes this time. "I'm Christopher Aaron Hudson."

"I think they know that already, honey."

Artie and Mercedes look at each other, before laughing softly.

"What about you, Abby?" Rachel turns to the little girl behind her, "aren't you gonna say hello?"

The girl looks from Artie to Mercedes, and then to her mother, who smiles and nods encouragingly. "Hello," she smiles shyly.

"She's a little shy," Rachel says apologetically, before bringing her wrist closer to her face and looking at her gold watch. "Oh, God, I should get going; Kurt's gonna freak if I'm even a minute late." She looks over at Artie and Mercedes again, "thank you so much for doing this, guys."

"No problem," Mercedes says. "'S not like we've got anything better to do."

"Thank you anyway," Rachel replies, before kneeing down to be level with the children. "Okay, guys, mommy's going now. Come here and give me a kiss."

They do what they're told, and Rachel looks at them seriously, "Behave yourselves, okay?"

They both nod and Rachel stands up. "I'll be back by nine, at most; and you've got my number, right? So please call if anything."

She gives her kids one last hug goodbye, and thanks both her friends again, before she's left them alone with two six-year-olds.

The boy, Christopher, is already talking animatedly to Artie, but his sister's quietly staring at the floor. She looks so much like a miniature Rachel, it's a little disturbing. But Mercedes has to chuckle at the fact that their personalities are completely different, if judging by that first impression.

"So, you like singing?" She tries to starts a conversation, and figures this particular subject would be safe. She was right, apparently; the little girl's eyes perk up at the question.

She nods quickly, and smiles a little. "But I like the drums better."

"Really?" She's a little surprised, and wonders if Rachel knows about this. "You can play the drums, already?"

"Only a little," the little girl bites her bottom lip, "but my daddy's teaching me more."

She nods slightly. It's kind of strange. In all honesty, she was expecting a little diva to walk in and start bossing her around, telling her she needs work on her breathing. But apparently Rachel's resemblance with her daughter is only physical.

Maybe Kurt was wrong when he told her about the 'little monsters'; maybe this was going to be easy, after all.

.

Okay.

Kurt was totally right about them.

After about thirty minutes, the kids started to get bored, and Artie suggested getting them some ice cream. They got pretty hyped about the idea, so she called room service.

Boy, how wrong was she to do that.

Now they were running around her hotel room like crazy, and nothing seemed to get them to stop. They had dropped a vase – thank God it was plastic – and consumed an entire roll of toilet paper in their attempts to wrap it around Artie, who was laughing as they screamed in their sugar high; while she had to go after them to make sure they didn't break anything as they fought over something neither she nor Artie understood.

"Isn't Rachel a vegan?" Artie almost yells at her, but his voice is muffled by the screaming in the background.

"I think so," she walks over to him so they can hear each other better. "Why?"

"Well, vegans don't eat ice cream," Artie's head's turning from side to side as he tries to follow along with the little ones, who are now running around them. "So, y'know, maybe they're not allowed to have ice cream, and that's why it's got such an effect on them."

Ah, hell.

She falls onto the couch with a thud, and Artie laughs at her.

"You think this is funny, white boy?"

"Actually, yes," he says, and Mercedes can't help but laugh too.

"Oh, godness," she sighs. "Do you think they'll ever stop?"

"They have to get tired sometime," he pauses. "Right?"

"I ain't ever babysitting for Rachel again," she puts a hand on her forehead.

"Really; a flower emergency?" Artie questions, "that takes over four hours?"

"Well, they had to go all the way to Cincinnati, because there's no store in Lima that can get them five hundred lilies by tomorrow," she explains. "Of course, I tried telling that to Kurt yesterday, but he wouldn't listen to me because he was worried about the symmetry of his tux."

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Artie asks, and she frowns.

"What?"

"You're jealous," he repeats it as a statement. "You and Kurt used to be best friends in high school, but now Rachel's the one getting the flowers."

"High school was a long time ago," is all she can say, but she knows deep down he's right and he knows she knows it. "I miss him," she sighs, "we used to be so close, and now…"

"Now we're adults," Artie finishes for her. "When did we go from singing teenagers who got slushied on a daily basis to these responsible, boring grown ups?"

"Beats me," she shrugs.

"I mean, Finn and Rachel are parents now," he states. "If someone had told me when I was fifteen that the school quarterback would be married to the Broadway freak, and I'd be babysitting their children, I'd have run them over or something."

"You didn't think they'd make it?" She asks, genuinely curious, "Finn and Rachel, I mean."

"Not when I was fifteen, at least," he answers. "When he joined the club, though, it was pretty obvious; they had way too much chemistry."

Mercedes chuckles, "yeah, well; guess if anyone can handle Rachel Berry, that's Finn Hudson."

"Do you hear that?" Artie puts his hand up, signaling her to be quiet.

"What?" She whispers, suddenly a little concerned. "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," Artie elaborates, "silence."

Oh. Right.

It was only now that she realized the screaming had stopped.

"Odd silence," she says suspiciously. "I better go check on them; see if they're up to something."

"Yeah," Artie nods, "probably."

She gets up from the couch and heads to the bedroom. She opens the door slowly, only to see that her two pillows were now on the floor, underneath the sleeping twins.

She walked quietly over to them, and picked them up, settling them into the bed.

With one last look at them before closing the door again, she had to admit that, for two little monsters, they were pretty cute.

.:. .:.

He looks around the fancy room, sadly eyeing the couples on the dance floor.

It kind of sucks that he doesn't have a date.

He wasn't supposed to even be in Kurt's wedding, but his boss decided to be suddenly nice to him, and unexpectedly canceled their meeting and let him have the weekend off. He didn't have time to find a date, and even if he did, he really couldn't think of anyone he'd have liked to bring.

And if he did have a date, it's not like they could dance anyway.

The last verse of Elvis' 'I Can't Help Falling in Love with You' is playing, and everyone's swaying slowly in front of him. He catches Finn and Rachel dancing in the left corner, her face buried in his chest, while he whispers something in her ear. This is somewhat of a progress for Finn; he'd always had major difficulties when it came to talking (or singing) and dancing at the same time.

He guesses things have really changed since high school.

The song ends, and he watches as Kurt walks over and offers his hand to Rachel, to which she laughs before accepting. Finn kisses her cheek, and walks out of the dance floor, towards his table.

Right next to him are the flower girl and her brother, tiredly sleeping away in four joined chairs. Finn reaches the table, and leans over his daughter before placing a strand of hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead.

"Hey, man," Finn greets as he turns to him.

"Hey," he offers him a small wave. "Taking a break?"

"Yeah," the taller man pulls a chair next to him and sits down. "Kurt wanted to dance with Rachel, and, you know, dancing's not really my thing, so..."

"I know," he lets out a small laugh.

"But, how've you been, dude?" Finn asks with a nudge on his shoulder, "it's been a while since I've talked to you."

"Yeah," he agrees. "Work's been pretty though lately; but I'm okay. What about you?"

"I'm fine," he replies, even as he grabs a glass of champagne from a waiter that passes by. He asks if he wants some, but he shakes his head. "Now that Rachel's going steady with her show and all, the money's been kinda good," he watches as Finn pauses to take sip of his drink. "We're thinking about buying a house actually."

"Really?"

He nods with a smile, "the kids are getting bigger now, and we want to raise them somewhere space- spacial-"

"Spacious?" He offers. Finn still has trouble with words, he realizes, and it makes him feel a little nostalgic.

"Yeah, that," he smiles crookedly at him. "Oh! And thanks for babysitting the munchkins yesterday," he points over to his two sleeping children. "I know they can be a handful sometimes, and I wasn't feeling very well after the party, so, yeah; thanks a lot."

"Anytime," he rests his hand on his own lap.

Finn takes another sip of his champagne, "you should come visit us sometime." He places the glass back on the table and starts running his index finger around the base. "I mean, the kids already kinda love you, and Rachel loves having people over."

"Yeah, sure," he says as he loosens his tie a little, "we'll see."

"We'll see what?" he hears Rachel's voice and a moment later she's sitting comfortably on Finn's lap.

"I was just telling Artie that he should come to New York," Finn says as he rests his head on top of hers.

"Oh, yes!" Rachel claps excitedly, "you should definitely come; we could show you the city, and it'd be so much fun!"

"Told ya," Finn remarks and points to Rachel, who looks from him to her husband with raised eyebrows.

"Told him what?" She asks, demanding.

"Nothing, babe," he wraps his arms around her, and Artie wonders if he does this so she won't be able to turn to look at him. "It's a guy thing."

Rachel rolls her eyes, "men."

Finn laughs and places a kiss on the top of her head. Rachel immediately leans forward and then grabs both his arms to free herself from his grasp so she can stand up. She grabs her small purse from the table and takes a mirror out of it.

"Finn," she groans as soon as she sees her reflection and he looks at her with feigned innocence, as if he knows what she's gonna say next. "You're messing up my hair. If Kurt sees that you've ruined his approved hairstyle – which, by the way, took me two and a half hours to perfect – he's going to kill you."

"Rach, I was laying my head in your hair this whole time and you didn't complain once," Finn looks like he knows he's got her now, and he's right, because she pouts for a moment– which also reminds him a lot of his high school years – and then sits back on his lap.

"Fine," she says, putting the mirror back in her purse, "but you're taking the blame if Kurt gets mad when he sees it."

"It's his wedding day, Rachel," he tells her, before looking at Artie and rolling his eyes. "I don't think he's going to be that much worried about your hair."

"Are we talking about the same person here?"

He feels like he's somewhat intruding in their private couple moment, and he's about to mutter some excuse about why he has to leave, but then Rachel squeals, and gets up abruptly. She looks over to see if her slightly loud action had managed to wake one of her kids, but when she sees that they were unmoved by it, her smile gets even brighter.

He recognizes the familiar note pattern, obviously. It their song. It's 'Don't Stop Believin''.

Rachel surprises him again by turning to him instead of Finn, and walking around him to push him onto the dance floor.

"Uhm… Rachel, I don't know if this is a good idea." It's been a while since he's 'danced' and he doesn't think he can still do it after all these years.

"Aw, come on," Rachel protests, still pushing him forward. "You totally owe me for feeding my children ice cream last night."

He doesn't say anything, because she's right. (How did she find out, however, he doesn't know – maybe the kids told her. He should've asked them not to say anything to their mother, though he's pretty sure that wouldn't have worked, either).

But all his thoughts about ice cream are gone now, because he's in the middle of the dance floor, most of his old Glee club members surrounding him, all dancing and laughing, while they spin him around.

It's been a while since he felt like this.

He gets what he misses about high school now.

.:. .:.

This is completely fucked up.

He's sitting in a pansy-ass vegan restaurant, watching two of his high school friends being all mushy over each other, and basically having eye sex. With. Him. Standing. Right. There.

Like, seriously, this much PDA should be against the law, or something.

It's not like he even had a choice. The moment he'd e-mailed Berry (he'd never get used to calling her Hudson, no matter how many times she bugged him about it) about him coming to New York for a day and a half, she wall all excited and he could practically hear her screaming through the computer.

So yeah. She was pretty damn insistent that he stayed with them, and he didn't really mind, at first, because, hell, that meant it was free. And the food was awesome, too.

That is, until he found out that the exact night he'd be staying with them, was Finn and Rachel's anniversary.

He didn't even go to their wedding, and he was not going to stomach a whole night of fuckin' Finchel overload. He'd tried telling her so, but she demanded that he came along with them.

The chick really couldn't get crazier than that.

He got tired of hearing her say 'please' over the phone a thousand times while he was waiting for his flight in the airport (because, yes, she didn't tell him of that specific detail until he was actually half an hour away from boarding on the plane. No hotel reservations, no nothing), so he just gave in.

Finn was obviously not very happy about this, but neither was he, and Rachel has some freaky convincing powers, so that's why he finds himself this close to puking all over his green vegan dinner.

Finn and Rachel don't even seen to notice he's there, and he didn't have time to find a date, so he's playing third wheel, and that's totally not cool.

The Puckmaster does not do third wheel.

He signals for the nearest waiter and orders a bottle of very expensive wine. He figures that if they're gonna torture him, he might as well be intoxicated for it.

Besides, Finn's paying, anyways.

.

He wakes up to way too bright light.

He closes his eyes immediately, and tries to get up, but his head really hurts. After a few more minutes tries he gets up from the bed, and slowly opens his eyes.

Hang on; where was he again?

Oh. Finn and Rachel's guest room. Right.

He opens the door and drags himself down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Now, someone looks like crap," he hears Finn say, and brings a hand to his forehead.

"Not so loud, dude," he manages to say as he tries to blindly find a seat. He finally does and lets himself fall into it.

"Here," he opens his eyes to see Rachel with a glass of water, and a tablet of white pills in her hands, "take this. It'll make you feel better."

He swallows a pill and then the whole glass of water. She grabs it from his hand and fills it again.

"What happened?" He asks, feeling slightly better.

"You don't remember?" Both Rachel and Finn seem amused. "Well, that should serve as a lesson for you, Noah Puckerman; you passed out outside of the restaurant. We almost took you to the hospital!"

Well, that explains why his head hurts. Rachel's voice is way too sharp, though.

Rachel sets a glass of juice in front of Finn, and the noise of it colliding with the table, makes him wince in pain.

"Please don't forget to pick the kids up from Betty's at three," he hears Rachel say to Finn, and feels his mind going back to a rational state. "I don't know how long the dress rehearsal's going to be today, but I probably won't be home for dinner."

Finn nods while still finishing his juice.

"There's lasagna in the fridge; you just have to heat it up when you get home tonight," she states as Finn gets up and puts his now empty glass on the sink. "And, don't worry; it's not vegan."

Finn seems to be glad because of the fact that he gets to eat meat, and Puck can't help but think that his former-former-best-friend is really whipped. He sees him walking over to Rachel, as she almost as if automatically reaches over to fix his tie for him. Finn smiles and kisses her softly, "thanks, babe."

She smiles at him and pats his shoulder, before he turns around and walks to the door. She follows him and they stop on the doorstep. He kisses once again, and this kiss last longer than the first one.

Oh. Come. On.

He clears his throat, and they pull away, a small blush grazing Rachel's cheeks.

"Way too early for that," he remarks and Rachel rolls her eyes.

"Grow up, will you?" She says, before turning back to Finn and smiling at him. "See you tonight."

"I love you," Finn responds.

Oh, my God. Really?

"Love you, too," Rachel whispers back (though it's completely useless 'cause he can totally hear her).

She pecks his lips and Finn looks over at him, "bye Puckerman. Hope you're sober enough to get on your plane this afternoon."

Rachel closes the door, and as soon as she turns around, facing him, he can't help but say, in a mocking tone, "love you, too."

"Oh, shut up," Rachel rolls her eyes again, before heading to the sink to start washing the dishes.

"Thank God I was too drunk to hear anything last," he remarks with a smirk, "or else I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep with you screwing each other's brain's out."

He didn't have to see her face to know she'd turned red, "Noah!" She exclaims, "what is wrong with you?"

"Oh, give me a break," he's the one rolling his eyes now, "tell me Hudson didn't get some last night, and I'll stop." He pauses, before adding, "and take you both to a therapist."

She just stares at him for a moment, before turning an even deeper shade of red, and going back to her dishes.

"Ha, I knew it!" He exclaims, and his head hurts a little, "lucky bastard."

"You're unbelievable," she shakes her head and he can hear the laughing tone in her voice.

Sometimes, he wishes he was in a steady relationship. He's never been a one-woman kinda guy, but it does guarantee him regular sex, even though he thinks he'd get bored eventually.

Sometimes, he thinks about what it's like to be in Finn's place. Not literally in Finn's place. He doesn't want Rachel or anything – he's been there twice already, and he really doesn't wanna go there again. But married, with kids and a house, and a dog, and someone to pour him juice every morning and tie his tie for him.

It's totally not happening for him, but maybe, if he ever found someone –

Whoa.

Stop right there.

His brain's still not functioning properly, and the whole Finn and Rachel atmosphere is taking over him. Yeah, that has to be it.

Because he knows that the whole commitment thing doesn't work for him. He's tried before, more than once. And it was a total failure.

So he just keeps telling himself that it's all too hard for him, and not even worth that much effort.

But then he sees Finn and Rachel and they make it seem so easy, and make it look really, really worth it.

Damn them.

A/N: so, here's the story behind the story: Made a bet with a friend (Hi, Mandy. Yes, you're evil, but you still rock. Hope this was enough to make you not want to send that letter just yet). Lost the bet. Had to do this crazy, complicated writing challenge she came up with, which resulted in this particular one-shot. I won't bore you with the specifics of the challenge, but I just wanted to point out that it had to be at least fifteen thousand words long, and needed to be done in less than five hours. I've never written that much in such a period of time, so I didn't really have any time to revise it very well, much less get it beta'd. Plus, it's already four am here, and I really, really need to sleep. Therefore, I know there's a bunch of spelling/grammar mistakes, not to mention some OOC-ness, in this, and I apologize. Feel free to point out all the flaws by beating me up in a review; though I do hope you managed to enjoy this regardless of them.

Disclaimer: Nope; don't own Glee or anything else you recognise.