They'd finally left the shop, but not until Rachel could barely walk. Finn couldn't help but grin at that. Damn, he loved his girlfriend. He knew that she rolled her eyes when he said she was perfect, but he meant it. He loved everything about her.

They ran by her house for her to change into her bathing suit, then by his to put on his trunks. He hoped his mom didn't say anything about how long it seemed to take them to get to the lake.

Before his dad had died, he'd built a small cabin by the lake. He'd planned on having at least two kids (boys, preferably), and was going to teach them how to hunt and fish. Carol had brought Finn out to fish when he was little, and they'd spent many summer nights sitting on the lake shore watching the waves. Now that he was older, he realized that his mom had been missing his father. He looked over at Rachel and once again thought about how lucky they'd been. Hopefully neither of them would have to miss each other for a long, long time.

"Finn!" Carol called to him when he parked the truck by the cabin. He noticed that all of his friends were already there.

"Looks like we're the last ones," he told Rachel, winking.

Rachel flushed. "We were painting, right?"

"Right," he said, laughing. "Hey Mom," he said, hugging his mother as he got out of the truck.

"I didn't think you two were ever going to get here!" Carol said. "You almost ruined the surprise."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said. "It's all my fault."

Carol waved her hand, smiling. "Don't worry about it, you guys just hurry up and get over here."

Finn took Rachel's hand and they joined their friends on the lake shore. "Hey man," Sam said. He had a guard over his hand to protect his cast from the water.

"Y'all have already been in the water?" Finn asked.

"Hell yeah," Mercedes said. "It's about 500 degrees out here." She hugged Rachel. "How you doing, girl?"

"I'm good," Rachel told her.

"Okay, everyone sit down," Burt said, coming out of the cabin. "Your surprise will be here in a few minutes."

The friends sat around, discussing what the surprise could be and making plans for the next days work. Mercedes's dad's office was almost finished, and they divided up tasks to share among themselves.

Hearing a car pulling up in the driveway, everyone stopped talking and turned to look. Quinn got out of her car, waving to them. She walked around to the passenger side and opened the door, helping Puck out.

"Noah?" Rachel said, standing up. Finn stood beside her. They'd been to visit Puck once, a few days ago. At the time, the doctors weren't sure when he'd be coming home. "Noah!" she cried, running towards him.

Noah's head was still bandaged, his leg and collarbone were still broken, and he looked like a giant bruise. Even looking like the walking dead, Finn had never been so happy to see his best friend.

Rachel reached him, stopping. "I'm not sure if I can hug you or not," she said.

"Hug me gently, Shorty," he said.

Rachel put her arms around her friend, resting her face in his chest. "I'm so sorry, Noah," she said, crying. "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"Shh," Puck said, stroking her hair with his free hand. "We got them in the end, right?"

Rachel nodded, looking up at him. "I love you."

Puck grinned. "I love you too, Rach." He looked up at Finn. "Finn."

Finn hugged him. "Thank you, man," he told Puck. Pulling away, he wiped at tears they both pretended weren't there.

Puck looked out at their friends. "I thought this was a party?" he shouted, grinning.

Kurt started some music, and Burt went back to the grill. Most of the kids went back into the water. Puck sat on the shore with Rachel and Finn, watching the others swim around.

"How are things going with Quinn?" Rachel asked him.

"We're friends," Puck told her. He shrugged, then winced. "It's good." He sighed. "I can't believe such an epic fucking battle went down without me."

"I wished you'd been there," Finn told him. "I don't like to go to war without my wingman."

"I would have fucked shit up," Puck said in agreement. He looked at Rachel. "I'm glad that shit is over, though."

Rachel nodded. "Me too."

"How's everyone healing?" Puck asked.

Finn shrugged. "Some of us were hurt more than others. The football team has been decimated. Between your broken bones, Sam's broken wrist, Mike's cracked ribs and mine? We're screwed." He sighed. "That's not counting Blaine's arm and Artie's whole body."

"We'll heal," Puck said. "And then we'll destroy anything that comes our way. This is our year."

"How long until your cast comes off?" Rachel asked him.

"Four more weeks," he told her. "They said something about physical therapy." He shrugged. "Whatever it's going to take to get me back out there on the field."

"And we still have Glee," Rachel said, sitting up straighter. "I've been thinking about songs, and-"

"Not now, Berry," Puck told her, laughing. "Wait until we get to school."

Rachel sighed and Finn put his arm around her shoulder. "You can tell me later," he whispered in her ear. Rachel beamed at him.

Puck was watching them. "You two, man. I was so worried about you two." He threw a rock into the lake, wincing when his shoulder moved. "I guess you're my best friends," he said gruffly.

"Aw, we love you too," Finn told him, grinning.

"Finn," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. She looked at Puck. "We really do, though, Noah. You're our best friend, too."

Puck smiled, ducking his head a little. "School's going to be weird with so many kids gone," he said, changing the subject from anything that had to do with feelings.

Rachel shrugged. "I'm excited. No more slushies, ever."

"No more shit in the locker room," Puck said, grinning.

"No more hiding out in the Glee room with KISS make up on our faces," Finn said.

Rachel put her arms around both boys. "We're going to rule the school!" she said triumphantly.

"We'll see," Puck said, but he had to smile at her optimism.

As the darkness rolled in, they built a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. Burt and Carol left to give them some time alone.

"This is good," Santana said, licking sticky marshmallow off of her fingers. She looked at her friends. "Not just the marshmallows. Being here with all of you…I guess Brittany was right." She looked at her best friend. "You're all like my family. Even Rachel," she said with a slight laugh.

Rachel smiled. "I've decided that you might not be the devil," she told Santana. "Maybe." Santana laughed again.

Finn wrapped his arms around Rachel and she leaned back into him. "You guys really came through for us," he told his friends. "When things got hard, you didn't give up. You're the bravest people I know."

"I don't know how you and Rachel made it," Quinn told him. She shook her head. "When it was obvious that they wanted Rachel and why…I think I would have left town. I wouldn't have been brave enough to stay here and fight."

"Quinn, you did stay, remember?" Rachel reminded her. "They gave you an ultimatum and you didn't back down."

"I think we all realized that we have something special in us and we weren't willing to let them take that," Sam said.

"Are you talking about the plant you found in the greenhouse?" Mike asked him.

"Oh shit, is that still there?" Puck asked. "I wish you guys had picked it up for me."

"I told you," Kurt said pointedly to Mike. He looked at Blaine and smiled. "I feel terrible for Blaine. He just started going to McKinley and we've already been at war. Literally."

Blaine put his arm around Kurt. "I already knew that Kurt was brave for coming back and standing up for what he believed in," he told his new friends. "But I didn't realize what the rest of you were going through too. I can't imagine how hard it must have been."

"But we had each other," Mercedes said, smiling at Tina. "We've always had each other."

"We were a little more divided," Lauren spoke up. "Now we're just one big, cohesive group. I like that."

"I like it too," Finn said. "When Rachel and I go to New York, we'll really miss you guys."

"You won't miss us," Kurt said. "We're going too." Blaine nodded.

"I'm thinking about going into the Air Force," Puck said. Everyone looked shocked. "What? You get paid, you get to travel, and I'll look like a stud in my uniform. It's win win."

"I've been thinking about doing the same thing," Sam admitted.

"Not me," Mike said. "I'm going to try to get into Julliard. If not them, then another dance school. I know what I want to do."

"Me too," Brittany said. She sighed. "If I graduate."

Santana patted Brittany on the back. "I don't know what I want to do yet," she said. "But I've got a whole year to figure it out."

"Me too," Quinn said, nodding. "I'm not staying in Lima, but I'm not sure where I'm going to go." She smiled at Rachel. "Anything's possible, right?"

Rachel nodded, thinking about her conversation with Quinn regarding that very topic. "Anything." She looked up at Finn, thinking for the ten millionth time how amazing it was to have found her true love in high school. And for him to love her back.

"Whatever I decide to do," Tina said, "I'm going to be amazing at it. And it's because I've had you people around, cheering me on."

"I feel like I'm in an infomercial for a group home or something," Puck said, making a face.

"Noah!" Rachel said, laughing.

He grimaced. "I don't do well with feelings," he said.

"Tell me about it," Quinn, Santana, Lauren, Mercedes and Rachel said in unison.

"Well that's just wrong," he grumbled as his friends laughed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each looking into the fire and thinking about how their lives had been changed by the events of the last couple of weeks. Sure, they had some scars…but they were stronger, better. Now they really were a family.

Finn looked down at Rachel, kissing her cheek. He knew, without a doubt, that all of this had happened because of her. It was because of her that he wanted to be a better person and stayed in Glee Club. Because of that, the cheerleaders had joined, then the football players. The fact that they got better kept the rest of the kids in the club, and now they'd stood up to the bullies that had beaten them down for so long and won. Whether they won Nationals this year or not, Finn knew that they were already winners.

Though it had taken a war, they knew who they were now. And they were awesome.