It's a short one-shot that I wrote a little time ago in portuguese and decided to translate today, because some readers of More of a curse than a blessing said they wanted to read other things I wrote.

It's something simple, but I hope you enjoy it!

xoxo and see you again soon...

Blind date

Since the fateful day when Rachel Berry had broken up with her last boyfriend, Preston Gold, five months before, her former schoolmates, current roommates and best friends, Santana Lopez and Kurt Hummel, were always arranging blind dates for her, with boys of all kinds and origins.

The first of all had been with Kyle, Santana's college classmate, who probably thought she was a bit desperate and that, thus being, he should take advantage of her. He tried to get her to bed on the first date, and was discarded at once and forever, so. The latter had been with Bob, co-star of Kurt in a play he was starring. He and the girl had not even come to kiss, before he had done confessing that he still liked his ex-wife, from whom he was separated for little more than a year.

The worst of them all had been with a colleague of her and Kurt from NYADA, which had gone through respectful till the third date, when he finally declared himself as gay as Hummel, despite his fears to "come out", since he was from a traditional and religious family. The best turned out to be with a friend of Santana's girlfriend, who had made her laugh all night and with whom the conversation had seemed to flow very smoothly. However, they had only met once, probably because, for him, it had been nothing more than just an interesting chat.

Rachel didn't understand why Kurt and Santana thought they had to find her a boyfriend. She was not suffering because of Preston or complaining about loneliness, but they insisted on saying that being alone, when you live with two people who have strong and long-standing relationships, is not the best option, and sooner or later it ends up becoming depressing.

Despite finding that the meetings ended up making her more depressed, because invariably they would make her a little more skeptical about the existence of decent heterosexual men or would make her wonder what was wrong with her, the brunette girl always ended up involved in a new blind date, unable to say "no" to her friends, who seemed to act with the best of intentions.

It was Sunday and, after a few hours of rehearsal for her new Off-Broadway show, Rachel was getting ready for another date arranged by Santana and Kurt, despite the fact that, this time, they seem to be acting in a particularly strange way. They hadn't talked much about the boy with whom she was meeting, just said his name was Chris and that she should meet him at a new restaurant called Take a Chance, near Broadway.

"Good choice, diva. I approve it." Kurt said, entering her bedroom and examining his friend's clothes. She had chosen a dress that was showing her curves perfectly, but without being too tight, and that went to mid-thigh, showing her sensational legs. After so many years living in New York, she knew exactly how to dress to fit the style of the city, without seeming forced and exaggerated, and how to enhance their physical attributes, without border on vulgarity.

"It's hot, huh, Berry?" Santana also appeared, with her direct and objective way. "The one and only... Chris... wont know what hit him." Kurt shared a glance with her and they smiled.

"He must be waiting, and you better not be late on the first date." Kurt completed, raising Rachel from the chair where she was sit combing her hair, after all, she was, in fact, more than ready. Something in his voice seemed mocking, but the young actress pushed that thought away. Why would her friend make fun of the blind date that he scored, anyway?

Rachel took a taxi and soon she was in front of the restaurant, whose address and references her roommates had given her, with total accuracy. The only strange thing is that it did not seem open to the public and, after paying the taxi driver and leaving the car, she was already picking up the phone to speak to one of them and try to understand what was wrong, when a person with extremely familiar voice came to her side.

"Rach."

"FINN! God, Finn! What are you doing here? How long!" She said, hugging him, spontaneous, and he hugged her back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, feeling, along with the warmth of her body and the smell of her perfume, the feelings he always had for her invading his body and soul.

"Three years, two months and fourteen days." He said, coming out of the hug and looking into her eyes.

"You didn't change at all."

"And you're even more beautiful." He praised her and, despite all the things they lived together, all the intimacy they had shared, having been the best of friends, then boyfriend and girlfriend for a long time, and almost becoming husband and wife at some point, she looked down shyly.

"Wait! Just... you are Chris, right?"

"Uh-huh." He laughed, this time he was the person to get awkward. "They could have said any name, but I didn't want them to lie completely, so I chose my middle name." He shrugged.

"But why make it a blind date? Why didn't they just tell me that you were in town and you wanted to see me?"

"I didn't think you'd want to see me, Rach. And they were not so sure too, so..." He put his hands in his pockets, in a nervous gesture.

"Of course I would want to see you, Finn. I don't keep bitterness, rancor... I like to invest in good memories about us. Incidentally, I always ask about you to them, but they just frown!"

"They are not to blame. I asked them to keep certain secrets."

"And now will I be able to know these secrets, finally?" She asked, a little annoyed. "Because if you decided to tell me, it is better we find a place to talk, because this restaurant..." Said, gesturing in frustration to their side. "You could have checked before, couldn't you?" He laughed.

"Come here." He took her hand and led her to the door of said restaurant, taking some keys from his pocket and opening it.

"Do you work here?" She asked, surprised.

"It's a long story... I'll tell you while we eat." He led her to a table set for a dinner for two, pulled out the chair for her to sit and lit two candles then. "I'll be right back, okay?" He added, turning to the back of the restaurant and fading away.

He returned in a short time, as promised, with a bottle of wine in hand, which he poured in two cristal goblets.

"Now we have age for real drinking and I chose us a really great wine. This is Italian. Valpolicella. It's perfect to accompany our pasta with spinach and tomato sauce." He had barely finished speaking and a waiter appeared with the dishes, wishing her "good night", putting them on the table and leaving.

"The wine is delicious... and the pasta is excellent." Said the girl. "But can you explain to me, please, why you came out of nowhere, causing my friends to send me to a blind date... and why are we eating in a closed restaurant?"

"I've explained about the blind date, babe. I quite needed to see you and I didn't know if you would come, if you knew it." She shivered when he called her babe, but manifested no reaction, and he cursed himself mentally for having referred to her that way. Maybe there was no more that kind of place for him in her life. She had talked about investing in good memories and maybe it was just what he had turned, after all it had been more than three years away. "As for the restaurant... it's mine." He added, trying not to think about his worries.

"Yours?" She was surprised, again.

"Yeah... mine." He smiled and she felt a good weakness, a strange kind of peace that she hadn't felt for some time, so she smiled too. "I've been working as a chef at Le Brants, but I wanted to have my own business since I started in the metier, so my mom sold our old home, finally, and gave me the money. We inaugurated it three months ago, and we are doing well. It's been full of people, Monday to Saturday."

"Wow, Finn! This is great! Especially because I can see your enthusiasm with the business... I... I never imagined..."

"Neither did I!" He laughed. "In fact, I not even imagined I would be able to do more than put frozen food in the microwave. Except that when I got here and went to live in the republic..."

"Here in NY? Were you already here before this?" Would the surprises end up eventually?

"I came here long ago, Rach. But please don't get angry with Kurt or Santana, because I begged them not to say anything. I needed time... I needed things to happen to me... I needed my life to take a turn, as yours was taking."

"How long?" She asked, unable to hide that she was, indeed, disappointed.

"Nearly three years." He gulped, but continued. "When I came here, because Santie wanted someone else besides her, to catch that gigolo of your ex boyfriend, I'd had a fight with Will, because I had confessed I had kissed Emma. I left the choir by this, so I thought I should study to be a teacher and went to Ohio Community College... and Puck went with me, would you believe it?" He laughed, but realized that she was still serious. "But I really wanted to study, to give a direction to my life... and not to enjoy college babys and frat parties, like Puck. And I also realized that I was making myself exactly what I'd been more afraid of becoming: a Lima loser. I had told you that you was my girl... that we would end up together, somehow, but... I was walking in the opposite direction, getting in Lima. If your place is here, mine had to be also."

"And then you came here, you stayed here, but you not even visited me! Where is the logic in that?" She questioned angrily.

"It was not so simple, Rach... you know it. I had got a place to live here... a republic. And I'd got a job as an office boy, to be able to keep me. But I was not even studying yet... and you was rehearsing for your first play."

"And you were not worthy of me." She completed for him, tired of his old speech. It had separated them, and not any other thing! "I loved you, Finn! You were always worthy of me... office boy or not!" The use of the verb in the past made the boy's heart tighten, but he was willing to go ahead.

"I know you loved me, babe, but, even so, I needed to find myself! I needed to know what I wanted and what I COULD do, Rachel. Whoever I was, BESIDES the guy who loves you more than anything... what else defines me." Her expression softened, because she could not deny that he really needed to be someone aside from her boyfriend, even if he could play this role better than anyone. Moreover, she could not help but feel good with the mention of his love for her made in the present, not the past.

"And now..." She started, and he, hopeful, anxious, doesn't let her finish.

"And now I know who I am, and what I want. I own a restaurant... I am a chef with various short-time classes and I'm studying gastronomy. I want the restaurant to be a success so I can open others... and I also want to teach how to cook, one day, and combine the two things I can do better in life. " He paused and took a sip of wine, as she moved into the food, trying to digest the information. "I am now worthy of NY... and I feel worthy of you. I wanna do all these things with you by my side, and be by your side in your next premiere, and all the others. But I'll understand... if you think it's too late for us." He added, in a weak tone of voice.

"Finn?" She asked, after a little more time looking at the pasta on her plate as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Huh?"

"I was thinking that... maybe you could serve us some more wine, put a music... and since you're the chef here, change our dishes too. Cause I think cold food does not fit well with a date." She said, looking at him suggestively, and he grinned, lifting, removing the dishes and going fast for the kitchen, as she watched his clumsy ways and laughed heartily, for the first time since she had entered the place.

Once they have been served by the waiter again, they ate and talked about everything that had happened to them during the recent years. Rachel learned that Finn's experience with cooking had emerged quite by chance, when he was forced to participate in task shifting that occurred among residents of the republic where he had lived during his first year in NY.

At first he wore recipes from Carole, when he had to cook for colleagues, and then he started to incorporate recipes he found on the Internet or he saw TV chefs cooking in his spare time. Even doing basic things, his food was always praised, to the point when his mates had reunited, one day, and had decided to dismiss him from the other tasks, so he would be the only one cooking for everybody. Then he started inventing things and, surprisingly, the praise only increased, and then he decided to make the first class, which led to another and another, until he received invitations to work with teachers and finally decided to study to get a superior degree in gastronomy.

She talked about NYADA and the plays she had done, and about the auditions for the one that would debut in a few weeks. She told him just how crazy life with his brother and Santana was, and he laughed a lot at each one of the stories she narrated. Although they had much to say to each other, talking was as natural and as easy as it always had been, as if they had not been so long without speaking to each other. Moreover, it didn't take long for them to begin sharing smiles and glances, showing that, between them, there would always be more than friendship, there would always be at least an irresistible attraction.

"Don't you want to finish drinking this wine and listening to those songs upstairs, with me?" He asked, referring to the apartment where he lived, which was atop the restaurant, as he stroked the back of her hand.

"Can be." She said, turning her hand and lacing her fingers with his. "This wine is very good... and music is my weakness." She provoked.

After disappearing for a while in the kitchen, Finn returned and again he took her hand, taking her home with him. He lighted only one lamp in the livingroom, selected a romantic playlist on his iPod, and poured two glasses of wine, handing one to the brunette, before occupying the seat beside her, who was already sitting pretty at ease on his couch.

The two young adults talked some more, and once in a while, one of them would sing a song, followed by the other, until she remembered something interesting.

"We shouldn't sing together, Finny. We have a dangerous musical chemistry, huh?"

"I think I could handle it." He said, taking the glass of wine from her hand and placing it, along with his own, on the coffee table. "But I don't have the slightest intention of resisting you."

He moved closer, stroking her face with his right hand and then twisting in his fingers the strands of her wavy hair, while he glued his lips to hers, gently. He rubbed, slowly, his nose against hers, uniting again, their lips subtly. After a few quick pecks, they kissed for real, with passion, with language, with desire, with flavor of red wine and promises. She grabbed his neck, and he held stronger in her hair.

"Why don't you take me to see your room?" She asked, when they separated in search of air that was lacking, and he did not hesitate, taking her by the hand and returning to kiss her when they reached the room.

She unzipped her dress and let it slip, leaving also her high heels and snuggling herself, only in lingerie, under the tidy duvets, as she had done years before, when they shared one bedroom for the last time. He observed her, as he did years before also, full of love and longing for the little woman with whom he learned what were the greatest feelings and the best sensations in the world, that he had never experienced with anyone else nor wanted to.

Only with his white boxers, he joined her under the covers, running his hand over her waist, pulling her to him and starting a new session of kisses that lingered neither more nor less than what was needed. Then he traveled through her skin, tracing invisible pathways by the jaw, neck and collarbone, while his hands found the clasp of her bra, opening it. She took it off quickly and his lips and tongue got a long-awaited reunion with her breasts, with her stiff and delicious nipples.

Even if Finn could stay there for a lifetime, without complaining, there was still more to explore, so he went down across her abdomen, kissing, nibbling and licking until he reached her panties. Decided to tease her, he proceeded to give attention to her thighs, starting with one knee, and moving away when approaching dangerously her groin.

Though aroused, Rachel didn't ask for him to hurry. She was also enjoying every touch, every second of contact, all the attention that her former fiancé was giving her once again, after so long, just the way he always did, as if he had in his hands the most precious thing in the entire world. She was enjoying the growing excitement that only he had knew how to provoke in her, until that moment of her life, and that she, in fact, wouldn't want to come from anyone else but him.

However, there came a time when the two of them were on the verge of exploding, and all their movements became more urgent, more anxious. Finn grabbed a condom in the drawer of the bedside table and put it rapidly, invading Rachel and hearing her moan, sweating and sounding with her, finding a common rhythm and leading them to the pinnacle of pleasure.

Their breaths shaken did not allowed them to speak soon, but he pulled her body to rest next to his, not wanting to lose contact, wanting to keep the sense of completeness. They stayed like that for a while, lost in the familiar sense that both had missed so much, until he broke the silence, even being very afraid of what he had to ask her.

"I still love you, Rachel. I will always love, so... I need to know! Does what happened mean you'll give me another chance and start a new story with me... or will I not find you here, when I wake up, like last time we did this?"

"I'm not going anywhere, Finny. I love you too and I will ALWAYS love you." She replied, smiling, and kissed him, before sleeping on his chest for a good part of the night.

In the morning, there she was, as she said, and he felt his hopes in life renewed. Not that he had been unfortunate in recent years, but the truth was that everything he had done was meant to construct a kind of path to get to her, and a rejection could ruin everything. She was the woman of his life and, if he had found an essential part of him in gastronomy, that he didn't know before, he had no doubt that the one who loved Rachel Berry, faithfully and everlastingly, was also an essential part of Finn Hudson.

He prepared a special breakfast they took together before making love again. They spent the day glued, moving away only for an hour, when he had to go to the restaurant to coordinate preparations for lunch. After a lazy afternoon, she decided to sleep with him again, and she insisted that he should go with her get some clothes at home, taking the opportunity to invite their friends over for a small celebration, since they were together again, and Kurt and Santana had helped Finn make it happen.

They arrived at the apartment and found Santana and Kurt, who were not totally surprised to see them together and smiling, just very happy that this had actually happened, although much time had passed without them seeing or knowing about each other.

"We came here for me to change and get some clothes... and also to invite you both to dine with us." Rachel said. "Although I'm still in doubt about whether or not to forgive you for having sent me to lots of awful dates, when you knew that the love of my life was right here in NY." Tried to pretend irritation, but it was difficult amid the happiness that was radiating.

"Finn never seemed to think of you that way until a few months ago. Whenever we talked, he said he didn't want you to know that he was here, so you could move on without constraints." Kurt explained.

"And you asked about him in a so indifferent way, that even today, when you went for the date, I thought maybe you were not getting back together." It was Santana's turn to justified herself.

"I'm an actress!" Rachel recalled, rolling her eyes, and the four of them laughed, as Finn hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek.

Before leaving with Kurt, Santana and their valentines, to celebrate in Finn's restaurant, who also needed to be there to coordinate the activities in the kitchen, Rachel excused herself and took Hudson to her bedroom. She looked for something in a drawer of her bedside table, soon pulling out a small box with the ring that years earlier he had placed in her left hand, in the choir room of their old school. With the jewel on the palm of her hand, she placed it in front of the boy, who watched the object, confused.

"Why are you giving it back to me, justly now, babe?"

"I'm not returning it to you, Finn." She laughed. "I thought you were smarter now that you are an adult full of prospects and all cool, living in NY." She joked.

"Do you want me to...?" He raised an eyebrow.

"That's right. I want you to put it on my finger, Finn. I don't wanna start a new story with you, babe. I want to continue living our story... OUR story that had to be stopped, but was always destined to have a happy ending, as you said, on that day when Will tried and fail to marry Emma." He smiled and laughed, even happier than he already was.

He put the ring on her finger without asking her to marry him again, because she had already accepted years before and they had never ceased to be of one another, even if she had lived with a guy and had two other boyfriends, and he had had some interesting friends with benefits over the years. They sealed the return of their "engaged" status with some passionate kissing, and went dinner with friends, as they had agreed to do.

The wedding was only some years later, because they were young and had no reason to hurry, when they had so much security and certainty of their destiny already mapped. Even because, in practice, they have become husband and wife very soon, because she spent a lot more time at his apartment than at the one whose accounts she shared with Kurt and Santana. In a few months, there was almost no clothing or personal items in the room that, one day, she had shared with a misleading male prostitute, and it did not go unnoticed by anyone.

Life may not always have been a fairy tale for Finn and Rachel, either before or after their candlelight dinner. However, it is safe to say they were happy (very happy!).

And that, after that one night, when she took a chance on him, again and for the last time, they truly lived together ever after.

THE END

Reviews would be really apreciated! =)

And it would be the push I need to translate more. Do you guys want like what I write? Do you want more?