Happy Halloween you crazy kids, here is the final chapter of my hopefully breathtaking mermaid epic. I'm excited that I finally beat my old review record, now if you can help me make it to 200 reviews for the first time ever I'll be your best friend. Anyway I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it, you guys are the best!

Carole is impressed with the job Kurt has done on the downstairs bedroom, it looks like her, the pink, the Broadway posters, the cat themed comforter (She knows he must have died a little inside when he picked it out for her). Burt didn't even pretend to be upset about giving up his gym, he can keep the treadmill in his and Carole's room and the weights in the den, it's not like he really ever used them anyway. Carole beams a little as he hangs the finishing touch on her wall. It's the rhinestone encrusted fish that he knew she would love, just a little something to remind her of home.

"So, what do you guys think?" Kurt says proudly.

"Oh Kurt, it's beautiful," Carole says, her voice breaking a bit. She always has wanted a daughter.

"Yeah, great job babe," Blaine says.

"I'm digging that fish," Burt chimes in.

"At least one of you does," Kurt says, rolling his eyes.

"So what should we do now? Should we wait for them on the pier?" Carole says.

"They'll find their way," Burt says. "It's only been a month."

"I wonder if Finn's going to be all pruny when he gets back," Blaine says.

"That's what you're wondering?" Kurt says snarkily.

"Do you think he'll still be able to hear?" Blaine says, ignoring Kurt's question.

"I'm pretty sure evolution took care of all that Blaine." Kurt continues.

Finn has to admit that it's strange coming home, he's never had to come home from anywhere before, let alone after spending a month under the sea and three extra days in Australia. Rachel was right, it really was magical, and being able to see more than coral and exotic fish was a nice change for her. They'll go other places, they may even take a plane one of these days. They resurface under the pier together and Finn smiles instantly at the sight of his island home, he never thought he had the capacity to miss this place.

"It looks the same," Finn says, scanning the beach as they leave the water in their bathing suits, hand in hand.

"What were you expecting? You've only been gone for a month," she says teasingly.

"I know, it's just kind of strange, it's like I've seen the world you know?"

"You've seen one other continent, there's still plenty more world to see Finn, like New York."

"Are you sure going the first week of Christmas break is a good idea, the water is going to be freezing," he says. "Maybe we can take a plane."

"I told you, your body can handle it, we're far more resilient than the average human, my father went to Alaska for his pilgrimage, Alaska Finn"

"Oh, so that's why he's pissed off all the time," Finn says.

"Well I did lie to him for seven years and bring home a human boyfriend," she says, shrugging.

"He's warming up to me though right? When we left he called me Finn and not 'you daughter stealing bottom feeder.'"

"And he really liked all of your stories, he pretended not to but he smiled a little at the one with the robots."

"Actually I was just giving him the gist of the Terminator," he says sheepishly.

"He'll come around," Rachel assures him.

"Maybe he'll lighten up a little if we find him a boyfriend, I mean I know Mermaids only get together to reproduce and everything but he's already done that. Besides, he's always commenting on that black Merman's shoulders."

"I think that's a nice idea," she says squeezing his hand as they continue to walk along the beach. It wasn't that hard to readjust to walking once they got to Sydney, the swimming was the hard part, even Rachel had a hard time being in the water with her new legs, but she adjusted eventually and she became almost as fast as she used to be, but much to her annoyance Finn was actually faster for the first time ever. The speaking telepathically was also a challenge, the first few times Rachel talked to him he would instinctively open his mouth to talk back to her, embarrassed when only bubbles would escape. He got used to it eventually though, so much so that they talked that way together the entire time they were in Australia, they could talk while they were eating, talk while they were kissing, even talk while they were talking with their mouths to other people. His favorite part about having Rachel's cool mermaid powers was by far the language absorption, although it did freak him out a little when he bumped into a Japanese tourist and could suddenly speak it fluently. "I'm so taking Japanese in school next year," he said excitedly.

School is bound to be tricky, there is still so much that Rachel doesn't know, and even Finn has trouble with Algebra and science, but Kurt promises to help her and Rachel always was the fastest learner he's ever encountered. The biggest trouble will be explaining why Rachel is a senior all of a sudden, the story Rachel worked out is that she lied about her age and ran away from a troubled home, it's as good a cover as any, she really is getting better at this.

They finally reach the house and Finn takes a keep breath before reaching for the doorknob, but there's no need, his mom explodes through the door and wraps him in a hug so tight it steals his breath.

"Oh my god Finn," Carole beams "Look at you!"

"Hey mom," he manages to choke out.

"Rachel, how are you honey?" Carole says over her son's shoulder.

"I'm lovely," she says. "I missed you all so much."

"Mom, if you don't mind I kind of need to get dressed," Finn says.

"Oh, of course," she says, finally releasing him from her death grip.

They change into dry clothes and meet the rest of their family in the kitchen, anxious to see what Burt's been up to in the last month, Rachel's eyes go wide at the sight of the manila envelope he holds out to her, it's her new life, right there in front of her. She tentatively takes it as if it's a priceless gem, to her it may as well be.

"You know that old college buddy of mine in the mainland I was telling you about?" Burt says, Rachel simply nods.

"Well he's an expert in phony documents," Burt explains. "Birth certificate, school records, ID, the whole nine. "Congratulations Rachel Berry, you officially exist."

"Rachel Berry," she says testing out the name as she looks over the shiny new fake ID. "Presenting star of stage and screen, Rachel Berry!" she continues exuberantly.

"Thank you guys," Finn says, "For everything."

"And seeing as you're going to be with us for the next year we want this to feel like home, we want you to think of us as your family," Carole says warmly.

"I already think of you as family," Rachel says.

"Wait, you're not thinking of adopting her are you, her being my sister would be kind of wierd," Finn chimes in.

"Do you think before you ask questions?" Kurt replies snarkily.

"No, we're not adopting you, but we did want to give you a gift," Carole says, "Follow us"

Rachel takes Finn's hand as she follows them down the hall, they stop at the door at the end of it. She's never been in this particular room before, and she wonders to herself what the surprise could possibly be.

"Rachel, welcome to your new home away from home," Kurt says, opening the door to the redecorated space and its just as they anticipated, she completely lights up at the sight of it.

"I can't believe you did this," she says emotionally. "I would have been perfectly happy to sleep on the couch."

"We were happy to do it, especially Kurt," Burt says.

"Give me a modest budget and an empty space and I'm all over it," Kurt agrees.

"It's beautiful," Rachel says tearfully.

"You guys are just too awesome for words," Finn says as he and Rachel take turns hugging his mother, Burt and Kurt in sequence.

"Hey I helped," Blaine said.

"Thank you very much too Blaine," Rachel says, kissing him on the cheek.

"Well we had ulterior motives, we don't want any funny business under this roof do you hear me?" Burt says sternly.

"Scout's honor," Finn agrees.

One week later

She reads all day, every day, determined to catch up by the time school starts, Finn doesn't mind, he likes watching her study, the way she bites her lip and twirls her hair while she's deep in thought is so charming, the problem is he can't always resist the urge to attack her when there's no one else in the house. Sometimes when she has her study sessions with Kurt he goes out to hang with Puck, Artie, Santana and the others. They don't all know the full story behind Quinn leaving and her dad being arrested, but they do know that she tracked down her mom in Chicago and is at least making strides toward regaining some semblance of a normal life. They all talk on facebook a lot. They buy Rachel's story about her home life, and they're all happy to have her around for the indefinite future, even if they won't always own up to it, Finn can tell that she's part of the group.

She's studying again now, listening to the Phantom soundtrack on her new ipod as Finn plays Call Of duty, it's nice, it feels normal, and it's good to feel normal sometimes, even though they're anything but.

"Finn?" she says, removing her earphones.

"Yeah babe?" he says pausing his game.

She shuts the book and gives him a warm smile. "What do you say we go to the movies tonight? We haven't been since Harry Potter, it seems wrong that it's the only film I've seen on the big screen."

"Are you sure you don't need to study more?" Finn says, not because he wants her to, but because it feels like the right thing to say.

"I can take a break, I fear that all of this new information is starting to push out the old stuff."

"Okay, just give me ten minutes," he says getting up from his bed. He needs to do laundry, he hasn't done it since before he went to sea, but the pair of jeans crumpled up in the corner look passable enough. He pulls them on over his boxers that he's been wearing all afternoon and he shoves his hands in his pockets, pushing the lining back in, but as he feels some sort of knotted, beaded cord in his pocket his brow knits in confusion. He pulls it out, and he smiles instantly as he sees what it is.

"Wow," I can't believe I forgot about this," he says, looking at the fish bracelet in his hand.

"What?" Rachel says, standing up to meet his side.

"Here, hold out your wrist," he says softly and she obliges. He fastens the bauble around her wrist and her faces lights up, just like he knew it would.

"It's beautiful," she says. "It's two little fish."

"It reminded me of us," he says bashfully. "Now more then ever."

"It's like you said when you were little," she says, taking his hand. "You're a fish too."

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.