It had been ten years since Finn Hudson had received his diploma from William McKinley High school. Ten years since his world had completely shifted and he had let Rachel get on that train to New York, making his way to Georgia. Which meant it had been nine and half years since she had officially broken up with him. Nine and a half years since he'd talked to her or seen her aside from those occasional Broadway show promotional pictures that his mother would always try to show him. But not that he was counting.

"Finn Hudson!" Sam Evans called, patting the tall man's shoulder with enthusiasm. "Hey! Wassaaaaaap! How you doing man?! It's been like what, 10 years or something like that?" The blonde held out a hand for a handshake. "I'm kidding dude, I know that, it's the ten year reunion. Duh."

"Sam? Hey man! How ya doing? I'm great!" Finn chuckled. "You haven't changed a bit! Hey...What are you doing here, isn't your reunion next year?"

"Yeah, I'm just here supporting Mercedes. She's smokin' tonight, have you seen her? Apparently she saw Mike and Tina making out in the bathroom; probably don't have much time for that with all their Asian babies."

"Yeah totally." Finn chuckled. "Are you guys like together again? I didn't know that. That's cool."

"We're kinda testin' things out for a second time, yeah." Sam nodded, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. His eyes wandered the crowded, overly decorated gym as Finn focused on filling his plate at the food table beside them. A tanned, leggy brunette pushed back dark brunette curls and smoothed down her tight black dress from across the room. He nudged Finn, keeping his eyes on her. "Dude...Is that Rachel?"

Finn splashed the scoop back into the punch clumsily and quickly turned back, surveying the room. Sure enough he followed Sam's gaze to the back of the trendy, heel-wearing woman.

"Maybe it's not her, she's short but I can't tell..." Sam squinted.

The woman turned her chin slightly, making her prominent nose visible but Finn hadn't needed the evidence. He'd know her body anywhere. "No dude, that's her. Didn't think she'd come..." He muttered before turning away to sip some punch.

Sam shrugged a little and nodded at his friend. "Me either I mean...a successful Broadway lady who probably lives in some mansion in a New York skyscraper after being made fun of for her weird animal sweaters in high school. Didn't see that comin' either. Plus you're here. Uh..." Patting Finn's shoulder in sympathy, Sam quickly made his exit from the food table. "Good to see you man, catch ya later. Good luck."

Finn stuffed some popcorn straight from the bowl into his mouth and tried not to think about Sam's words. He and Rachel had broken off contact nearly a decade ago and each had their own lives now. It's not like he was going to talk to her.

"Finn Hudson?"

Finn swallowed and quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth as the all-too familiar voice sounded from behind him. How had she made it across the room that quickly? Maybe she did that scary, crazy march. If that was the case, she was probably coming to kill him. He mustered up a small smile and turned around to face an equally beaming Rachel Berry. "Rachel. Hi."

"Hi." Was all she said, widening her toothy grin.

Finn shrugged a little. "Uh, you look great! Wow. I'm happy you could make it. I know you've been busy. Well I've heard you've been busy."

"Yes I'm sort of in the middle of a show right now but they gave me the weekend off so I flew down, saw my dads which has been wonderful. How are Carol and Burt?"

"Cool. They're great, I'm sure they'd give their love if they were here."

They both bobbed their heads in a light nod as silence took over, Rachel taking the liberty to rub her lips together to smooth out her shimmery lip gloss. Finn couldn't help but let his eyes wander there for a moment. Shaking it off, he turned back to the table for another glass of punch. "Well it was nice seeing you. Have a nice night."

"Oh-I was just going to grab myself some punch as well..." She stated, reaching over for a cup. "Are you still in Lima?"

"Yeah, I'm still at McKinley actually. I'm a teacher here- and I run the Glee Club."

She looked up at him with surprise. "No way! Wow, that's exciting, Finn. I'm sure you're great."

"Thanks. And you're great in New York." The tall man nodded. "You got everything you wanted. If you're staying longer than tonight, you should visit Glee Club or something if you want."

"Like perform for them? Give a motivational pep talk?"

"No, more like just sit and watch for fun..but if you want to give a talk or something I'm sure they'd be up for that!"

"Ill keep that in mind. Prepare a little something after I test out the waters." Rachel chuckled, softening her voice. "I'm glad you're good."

"Me too." Finn smiled at her for a moment, patting her arm gently and making his way past her to greet others.

"Whoa! Violated! Violated!" Kurt Hummel panicked as an arm grabbed his, forcefully pulling him towards the ladies' room. He got a face-full of dark curls as the door opened and he yanked his arm free. "Oh it's you. What happened?"

"Look I-I know we've been unbearably good with the whole you don't bring up anything Finn-related with me or vice versa but..." Rachel swallowed to halt her rapid speech, and shook her head breathlessly.

"Okay so I'm guessing we need to bring him up...I told you he'd be here Rachel. Did you talk?!"

"I know! I know, you broke that rule to give me fair warning because there were exceptions if he happened to be in a location which I was heading or he died, and I appreciate that, but I wasn't fully prepared!" She took another calming breath and glanced down to the floor. "It didn't feel real. I thought, I've had my fair share of new men-far and few-but I figured seeing him would be easy. A polite hello how are you and we'd move on our separate ways. We just made small talk but I feel like I'm going to vomit."

"Okay.. okay well then it's a good thing we're in a bathroom..." Kurt sighed and took the little brunette's arms gently. "Rachel, it's been 10 years... was there /still/ tension?"

"A little. I don't know if he felt tense or just less...familiar than we used to be." She broke loose from his grip and turned to face the mirrors. "Can I break the vow and ask you a question?"

"We broke the vow 5 minutes ago. Shoot."

"Is there someone?"

She watched Kurt quiet down, leaning against the wall with a sigh. "I'm not sure if it's still going on but.. the last time he told me about her.. yes. There's someone." he mumbled sympathetically, glancing at the reflection of his best friend.

Rachel nodded lightly, dabbing her face with cold water (careful not to smear her make-up). "Well then no point in moping over the unchangeable! It doesn't matter anyways, I'm happy for him. For them both. Besides we wouldn't be very good together, it-it's been to long and we're in very different places."

Kurt nodded slowly. "Maybe.. a friendship?"

"Maybe just less avoidance. We're mature adults now. He asked me to visit the glee club while I'm here and if I don't I'll look like the loser who couldn't bare to face the past."

The fashion magazine editor pouted lightly and made his way over to Rachel to give her an encouraging squeeze. "Maybe it'll be good to be back for a day. You haven't been here in forever. See the choir room in all it's glory."

"I have sort of been planning my returning pep talk should I ever be asked to speak as a McKinley alum..."

"Mm of course. Perfect timing then! Monday morning, I expect you be in the choir room Ms Rachel Berry.