"That sounds wonderful, Tina! We can't wait to see you all tomorrow. It feels like it's been years. Well, I'll let you go, sounds like someone is cranky," Rachel gushed into her phone before letting Tina attend to her crying infant, "Bye Tina."

Hanging up, Rachel turned to her own baby sitting in his swing next to the kitchen table, grinning from ear to ear. "Guess what, Teddy! You get to meet your first new friend tomorrow! Isn't it exciting?!" Teddy's only response was to continue to stare blankly up at his mother. "I know. You don't know what I'm talking about, but trust me Ted, it's exciting."

Being a new mother, Rachel had been spending most of her time inside taking care of her son and the house, and though she loved her baby boy beyond words, she was growing a little stir crazy and cabin fever was beginning to settle in. She hadn't hung out with anyone other than Teddy, Finn and both of their parents in over a month. It was going to be so nice to have a girls' day with Tina, who was having similar problems with wanting a day off from babysitting.

When Tina called and asked Rachel if she and Finn wanted to come over the next day for shopping and dinner after, she jumped on the chance to get out of the house and have actual contact with someone who didn't drool most of the time. While her family and Finn were great shoulders to lean on and spend time with, Rachel just wanted to be able to have a day with a friend to blow off some steam.

"You're going to get to meet little Maia for the first time and Mommy's going to get to hang out with Aunt Tina, and Daddy and Uncle Mike are going to babysit you and Maia then we're all going to have dinner together. Yay!" Rachel clapped her fingertips together quietly as she leaned over Teddy, a huge grin on her face. Finally, her enthusiasm spilled over to Teddy who shook and reached out for his mom.

Having finished her meal, Rachel picked him up and headed back into the living room to give Teddy his lunch. "I can't wait to tell Daddy the good news. It's our first family outing together, at least to someone's we're not related to. We'll need to take lots of pictures to add it to your baby book. And I'm sure Tina will want some for Maia's baby book. She's keeping one too."

She made herself comfortable on the couch, flicking on the television and preparing Teddy. He didn't care so much about making new friends when a direct line to the good stuff was out and ready for suckling. He was voracious and determined to suck out every last drop he could get every time he ate. "Definitely your father's son," she commented uncomfortably when he gummed down a little too hard. "Thank goodness you don't have teeth and I'm not a hamburger."

While he was preoccupied with lunch, Rachel took the quiet moment to call Finn and tell him the good news about their outing the next day. Before he could even get a word out, Rachel jumped on him. "Whatever plans you may or may not have for tomorrow, you need to cancel them because we're going shopping and doing dinner with Tina and Mike."

"Hi baby, I miss you too," he replied sarcastically.

"Hello, Finn. I'm sorry, I'm just really excited about tomorrow."

"What's happening tomorrow?"

Rachel groaned and rolled her eyes. "We're going over to Tina and Mike's for shopping and dinner. So reschedule anything you may have planned for tomorrow."

"And who's watching the babies while we do all this? They're both still a little too young for such a big public outing," Finn added, annoyance tingeing his tone slightly.

"Oh, I guess I should clarify. Tina and I are going shopping while you and Mike stay at Tina's to babysit and prepare dinner."

"Is this plan set in stone? Because I kinda just wanted to spend my first Saturday off in weeks at home with you and Ted, in my underwear. I'm sick of pants and really not in the mood to hang out with anyone."

Rachel's joyous mood suddenly soured and her voice became deadly calm so as not to disturb Teddy. "Finn, I have been cooped up in this house alone with an infant for five weeks. I haven't been anywhere but my dads', your parents' and the grocery store since I gave birth. I haven't seen anyone besides Ted, your parents, my parents and you since his bris. I'm not asking a lot for you to give up one Saturday so I can see a friend. You see your friends almost every day. Let me see mine or so help me God you will rue the day you crossed back onto my bad side. We're meeting Tina and Mike at their house at noon tomorrow. Understand?"

Even through the phone, Finn could feel the rage brewing in her. She could tell from the absolute silence that followed as he thought about his answer. His throat cleared before sounding through the phone. "So, what's for dinner? Do we need to bring anything?"

Pleased with Finn's new attitude about their joint dinner plans, Rachel instantly perked back up. "I'm going to make some cupcakes after I finish feeding Teddy and put him down for his nap. Otherwise, Tina and Mike are taking care of everything. Apparently, in addition to being a fantastic dancer, Mike is an excellent cook. You two should have a lot to talk about while you work on dinner." Then an idea hit her. "Maybe you could get some new menu ideas from him. You said with the expansion you were looking for some new dishes to try."

"Maybe…" Just then a huge crash could be heard in the background followed by a lot of yelling. "Babe, I'm sorry to cut this short, but Puck may have just created a lawsuit. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

Before she could even repeat the words back, Finn was gone and the line went dead. Rachel looked down at their son and tutted. "I love that man so much, but sometimes he is just infuriating."

The rest of the day moved as it had since things calmed down after Theodore joined the family. Rachel tended to her son and all his needs while doing laundry, dishes, cleaning up all of Snickerdoodle's toys laying around and cleaning his bed and litter box, earning his ire when she disturbed the cat condo he had been perched in. Once the hard work was done and Teddy had woken from his nap, Rachel started on the more enjoyable part of her domestic duties.

While she preferred baking to cooking, learning to make new and different dishes was proving to be one of the most interesting parts of her day. Now that her cravings for meat had subsided, Rachel was back on the vegetarian wagon and attempting to sway Finn to join her in futile attempts. He indulged her by eating whatever she placed in front of him, with the exception of tofu, but she knew he preferred a nice juicy steak or burger to anything vegetarian she could make. Most nights she ended up surprising him with some form of meat.

Though she didn't mind taking care of her boys and their home, after multiple weeks of the same monotonous routine, it was growing old. In addition to getting out with other adults again, Rachel was starting to miss work too. She still sang every day to an audience consisting of Teddy and Doodle, but she was itching to get back to auditioning. If she were honest, she even missed working at the bar. Being a housewife with an infant didn't provide too many opportunities for variety in her daily life. She knew having a baby would change her entire life completely, but she still wanted all the things she aspired to have before.

While she sat there contemplating how to reconcile her past, present, and future to best benefit her son, fiancé and herself, the oven began to beep alerting her to the casserole in the oven. Fretting over it burning, Rachel picked Teddy up and rushed into the kitchen strapping him back into his swing before pulling the dish from the oven.

Placing it on the stovetop, she nearly screamed when she noticed something was off. Situated within the melted parmesan and marinara sauce was the priceless token of Finn's love and commitment to her: Rachel's engagement ring.

Burning her fingers as she attempted to pull it from the dish, she yelped and jumped back shaking her hand before wising up and grabbing some tongs. Frantically, she worked to clean the ring, praying the cheese, tomato sauce and heat hadn't ruined it.

"Oh, thank God," Rachel breathed in relief when she finished and examined the ring. All the stones were still in their settings and the metal was just as shiny and round as always. She slipped the ring back on her finger but wondered if she should keep it there.

Before giving birth and losing a ton of weight in the five weeks since then, Rachel had been wearing her ring either on her necklaces or on whatever finger it would fit on when she went without one. It had been working fine until her fingers slimmed to the point the ring became too big to fit any of them except her thumb. But she was stubborn and refused not to wear it or get it resized until she was certain her weight fluctuations had ceased. Finn had told her numerous times she was going to lose it, as she constantly did during the nights she fell asleep with it on, but she would always brush him off saying she would notice while conscious. Only she didn't notice and it ended up in a casserole. She could just picture Finn's smug 'I-told-you-so' face if he had discovered what happened.

Afraid to lose it again, Rachel removed the ring and instead popped it in the chalk dish for safe keeping until she headed back upstairs. "Well, all's well that ends well. He doesn't need to know," she muttered to herself.

"Who doesn't need to know what?"

Rachel whirled around clutching her frantically beating her heart as she stared up into the scruffy face of her fiancé. "Geez, you scared me! I didn't even hear you come in."

"Really? I made, like, a ton of noise since I slammed the door by accident and nearly tripped over Doodle."

"Oh," Rachel felt sheepish. How could she have missed all that? "I guess I was just really caught up in my thoughts."

Finn leaned forward and pressed a welcoming kiss to Rachel's waiting lips. "What are you thinking about that has you so preoccupied?"

"Dinner," she semi-fibbed. "I hope you like it. It's baked gnocchi with ricotta cheese and marinara sauce, with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top." She beamed at him, proud of her culinary prowess.

"Sounds delicious, but…"

She knew what he was going to say and cut him off, "There are meatballs too." She rolled her eyes while Finn grinned happily. He wrapped his arms around Rachel and kissed her again.

"You're the best."

"I know," she chuckled. She pecked his lips once more before maneuvering around him to grab some plates. "Why don't you go say hello to Teddy while I finish up dinner? He's missed his Daddy."

"Daddy missed him too…and he missed his Mama." He winked, pulling her back into his arms and kissing her hotly. "It's so good to see you. I've missed you so much."

"You just saw me this morning."

"It's been a really long day." Finn let Rachel go and walked over to pick up Teddy. Even after five weeks he was still so tiny compared with Finn's giant body. "How's my little dude?" He rubbed his back soothingly and pressed a kiss to his forehead, swaying back and forth gently.

Putting out place settings for two, Rachel inquired about Finn's stress. "So what happened at work earlier when we were on the phone? Is that what's bugging you?"

Finn sighed and sat down at his spot, adjusting Teddy in his arms. "Yes. Puck is a moron. For some reason he thought it would be a good idea to work on some drywall next door by himself but ended up falling off the ladder and landed on a nail. It went right into his shoulder. He's lucky it wasn't a few inches higher and to the left. It could have slammed right into his head."

"Oh my God! That's insane! Is he alright?"

"He's fine, other than the concussion and the nail wound in the shoulder obviously." Finn put Teddy back in his swing as Rachel placed the meatballs and casserole on the table, joining Finn. "He should have just left the construction to the construction workers. He has no business working on that stuff himself, even with his background in construction. This entire process has been so much harder than I thought it would be. The deli was in pretty bad shape when Mr. Schneider left. It's no wonder he wanted to retire." Finn sighed deeply. "Enough about Puck and the renovation. How was your day?" He spooned some meatballs and casserole onto his plate, grinning at Rachel pleasantly.

Rachel shrugged. "Same as usual. I cleaned, cooked, took care of Teddy. But as I told you earlier, I talked to Tina and we made plans. She's been in the same boat as me when it comes to being cooped up. Maia is so tiny and Tina is so worried she'll catch something or get hurt easier since she was premature so she hardly ever leaves the house."

"At least they got to bring her home and they don't have to constantly travel back and forth to the hospital. Maia seemed pretty strong when we saw her."

The pair continued to chat about their days and upcoming trip to Long Island City. Rachel's enthusiasm was beginning to wear off on Finn even though he didn't know Mike or Tina all that well. By the end of their meal, both were all caught up with the other and were starting in on ice cream for dessert when Finn noticed Rachel's ring was missing from her finger.

"Lose something?" he inquired, raising his eyebrow, eyeing her finger.

"No. It's in the chalk dish. I put it there for safe keeping while I was cooking." She sat up straighter and popped a spoonful of strawberry ice cream in her mouth. There was no way she was going to admit Finn had been right about losing her ring. It wasn't that big of a deal since she had found it and it would only lead to an unnecessary conversation.

Finn smirked as if he knew there was more to the story but wisely didn't say anything. Instead he stood up and grabbed some whipped cream from the fridge and her ring from the chalk dish. Playing with it between his thumb and forefinger, Finn looked at the object as he spoke. "We should really get this resized. It's too big for your dainty little fingers. Not that my mom has like, man-hands or anything, but you're just tinier than her as a whole." He put the ring on the table before gripping her hand in his and kissing the backs of her fingers. "I'd say we've waited long enough to put a ring on it."

Rachel snorted, licking her spoon. "You already did put a ring on it. Just because it doesn't fit at the moment doesn't mean you don't like it." She motioned to her body with a cute little flourish and nod of the head.

He grinned and let go of her hand to cover his ice cream in whipped cream before filling his mouth.

"That is disgusting, Finn! We share that can!"

Instead of taking it to mean stop, Finn just offered to give her some. She just shook her head and watched as he filled his mouth one more time.

x

Noon approached slowly as Finn, Rachel and Teddy made their way to Tina and Mike's apartment. Rachel was so excited she was practically bouncing in the driver's seat. Since their death defying trip to New Jersey for Theodore's bris, Rachel had insisted upon driving whenever she could to avoid a coronary or any other damage Finn may cause by operating the vehicle. Usually he put up a fight about how he was a good driver, but since she was adamant about him going to Long Island City to spend the day with Rachel's friend's fiancé and their kids, he didn't argue. If Rachel wanted to get out of the house, he'd let her lead the way.

Once they found a parking spot and made it up to Tina and Mike's, the reunion between the women made it seem as if they had been separated for decades rather than six weeks as they squealed loudly in greeting.

"Oh my goodness! Little Teddy! He's so adorable, Rachel. You and Finn made one cute baby," Tina praised when she finally got to see their son in person after calming down and getting settled.

"We like to think so." Rachel laughed and pulled Teddy out of his winter coat and booties. Lifting him from his carrier, she held him to her and showed him up close to Tina and Mike. "Teddy, meet Aunt Tina and Uncle Mike! You'll get to know them and their little girl a lot better as you grow up, at least I hope."

"Oh, of course! We'll be there for all your big future moments. We are sorry we missed his birth and his bris. Maia is just…"

"Totally understandable, Tina. There's no need to apologize. Your family comes first, always." The two women shared a smile. "Would you like to hold him?" Rachel offered.

Tina nodded enthusiastically and accepted Teddy into her arms, playing with his little fingers as he stared at her in confusion. "Do you want to see Maia? She's in for a nap right now, but we can check on her."

"Yes! I got all your pictures of her but I can't wait to see how much she's grown in person."

While the women went in to check on Maia, Teddy tagging along in Tina's arms, Mike and Finn were left a little awkwardly out in the living room.

"So, I guess we're babysitting together today," Mike said flatly.

"Yep."

"If you want to set Teddy's stuff up in our bedroom, that's fine. Tina's kinda paranoid about other babies and kids being around Maia for too long yet."

"No problem." Finn followed Mike into their room and unfolded the travel crib, setting up all of Teddy's stuff.

Mike shuffled awkwardly, helping Finn with the crib. "So, uh, we were planning on chicken stir fry for dinner tonight. Is that okay with you and Rachel?"

"Anything with chicken in it is definitely fine with me, but Rachel's back on her vegetarian diet."

"Oh… Well, I think we have some tofu. I could make a small separate skillet for her."

"Finn!" Rachel whispered harshly from the doorway, beckoning him toward her. "Mike, you come too." They all walked into Maia's nursery to find Teddy and Maia both awake and seated in their carriers side by side on the floor. "Look at how adorable they are together!"

"Wow, Ted is like twice the size of Maia."

"Well, he does have your giant genes," Rachel quipped. "But can you believe it? Maia has gotten so much bigger in such a small amount of time. It's hard to believe she's a premie."

Tina stared down at her daughter with so much love in her eyes. "She has quite the appetite already. I feel like I'm feeding her every hour." As if to prove her point, Maia started to get a little fussy in her seat. "Looks like it's time for another one."

Tina and Rachel both tended to their babies, taking pictures, feeding them and changing them once more before handing the reins over to their fiancés.

"I'm not a baby, Rachel. I think I can handle our son for a few hours without you. Go have fun with Tina and I promise Teddy will be in the same condition you left him in," Finn assured Rachel as she worried for the millionth time over the smallest thing.

"No, no, I trust you. I know you'll take great care of Teddy because you're an amazing father. It's just…" She worried her lower lip, toying with her purse strap. "I've grown so used to having Teddy with me; it's just strange to leave him behind."

Finn tugged Rachel into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It's only a few hours. He'll probably be asleep for most of them so when you get back, Teddy will be fresh and ready to greet you with a happy shake. You know the one." They both chuckled thinking about how excited he got whenever Rachel was near.

"Please, pay attention and take good care of Teddy. And help Mike with Maia. And keep me updated."

"Yes, ma'am. Now go have fun. You and Tina deserve it."

With a final goodbye kiss, Rachel and Tina were on their way.

"So…" Mike said, turning from the door to flick on the television. "We've got a bit before I need to start dinner. You play Halo?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?" Mike tossed Finn a controller and they settled in to play, babies seated in front of them on the floor in their carriers.

x

Hours later, Rachel and Tina were taking a break at Starbucks to warm up with some hot tea when both decided it was time to check in with the boys.

"I hope Maia hasn't been too fussy. She still has some trouble with taking a bottle from Mike."

"I'm sure if there were a problem, one of them would have called."

After three rings, Finn finally picked up the phone. "Hey, Rach. I'm surprised I haven't heard from you sooner. Other than the 50 texts, I mean," he chuckled into the phone.

"Just because I'm out of the house and away from my baby doesn't mean I don't want to know what he's doing and if he's missing me."

"And I want to know if Mike had any trouble feeding Maia," Tina added. "He hasn't replied to any of my texts."

"Oh, hi Tina. Um, she was a little fussy, but once she understood the bottle had milk, she calmed right down."

"That's good to hear. Other than babysitting, what have you boys been up to?" she added.

"Halo. Mike is a worthy adversary." There was a pause in the conversation before some shuffling and Mike's voice came through.

"Hello, ladies. Having fun gallivanting around without us?"

Tina grinned happily at the sound of his voice. "Yes, we are. It's been great getting out of the house. But I forgot how exhausting shopping can be. I can't wait to get home to see you and Maia and have dinner."

"All that groaning about how you never get out of the house anymore and now you can't wait to get back in?"

She rolled her eyes and leaned on the table. "I wanted to get out for a few hours, not leave you forever."

Mike chuckled. "Well, Maia and I can't wait to see you. Before I forget, I missed snap peas on the list so if you happen to go by a grocery store, could you pick some up? If you're heading home soon I'll start on dinner now."

"Sounds good. We'll head on home now. We were pretty much done anyway."

Saying goodbye and hanging up, Rachel slipped her phone back into her bag and gasped when she noticed a problem. "No, no, no, no, NO!" she screeched, searching through her purse, dumping everything out on the table.

"What's wrong?"

"No…" She froze when she realized it wasn't in her purse then dove into her shopping bags.

"Rachel, what's going on?"

"My ring. My engagement ring is gone!"

Throwing everything out haphazardly, Rachel frantically shook out her new clothes, her pockets, anything that could be hiding her ring. "Not again…" she lamented in anguish.

"Again? You've lost your ring before?" Tina picked up a shirt and shook it out to help.

"It ended up baked into a casserole. I didn't even notice it had fallen off." She grabbed one of Tina's bags and dumped everything from that one. "I can't go home without that ring! Finn will chew me out. And Carole," Rachel gasped when she thought about the ring's original owner, "she'll be so disappointed and hate me for losing her ring. It's not like it can be replaced! Finn's father, his late father, gave that ring to his mother and she trusted me with it. She trusts me with Finn. What if this changes her mind and she tells Finn not to marry me? I mean, we already have a child together so it will be hard to kick me out of Finn's life completely, but…"

Placing her hand on Rachel's arm to stop the rambling, Tina stared directly at Rachel. "You need to calm down. Breathe." With her advice, both began breathing as if they were in Lamaze class. Once she had calmed enough to truly listen, Tina spoke. "Where is the last place you definitely remember seeing it?"

Rachel closed her eyes and thought hard. "I remember putting it on this morning. I know I had it driving over to your apartment." Then the memories of her ring began to fade. "I don't…I'm pretty sure I had it when we left your place. But I can't remember! Oh God, what am I going to do?"

Folding all their clothes up and stuffing them back in their bags, Tina thought up a plan. "We'll call all the places we've been today and ask if anyone has found it. If not, then we can call the police and file a report."

"What if no one ever finds it? What do I do then?"

x

"Since we're here, I'm going to stop in for some snap peas," Tina informed a still frazzled Rachel as they passed by a little bodega after getting off the subway almost three hours later. No one had found her ring and though they said they'd keep eyes open for it, the chances of ever getting it back were slim. Even the police told her the statistics were against her. There was a high probability she would have to swallow her fear and tell Finn she had lost the second most precious thing he had ever given her, after their son, of course.

She thought endlessly about the last place she saw it, but nothing later than Tina's apartment was coming to mind. Perhaps that's where it was. She'd have to ask Tina to look around for it after they left later. There was no way she could tell Finn it was gone yet. She needed to create a plan of attack for explaining it was missing with next to no chance of being found and she needed to have a way to convince Carole she was still worthy of her son even though she had misplaced one of her most sentimentally important pieces of jewelry.

Before she knew it, Tina had bought the peas and they were back on their way to the apartment. There was no more stalling the inevitable. She would just have to keep Finn from looking too closely at her hand until she could come up with a coherent way to break the news.

As they approached Tina's apartment door a few minutes later, they could hear the television blaring a game.

"Boom! Suck on that!" Finn boomed as the door swung open to show him with his hands in the air, a look of triumph on his face while Mike rolled his eyes. "You may have me beat at Halo, but I am the master of Madden." When he finally noticed the women in the doorway, Finn stood up quickly and put his controller on the coffee table. "Hey, Rach. Let me help you with those."

"Oh, it's okay. I've got it." Rachel ducked around Finn, guilt growing worse, to avoid looking straight at him. "They aren't that heavy."

Taking his lead, Mike helped Tina with her bags. "Geez, Tina. You bought like a whole new wardrobe," he muttered earning a glare.

"Yes, I did. For our daughter, since she's growing out of everything faster than we expected she would. In case you've forgotten, we haven't had a baby shower yet so we don't have much." She pulled her coat off and hung it on the rack, Rachel behind her. "Speaking of our daughter, where are the babies?"

"They fell asleep. We fed them and they passed right out."

"And speaking of feeding," Rachel added, "we brought snap peas. Sorry it took us longer to get home than expected. We ended up finding another store we wanted to check out." She nibbled on her lip hoping they wouldn't realize she was fibbing.

Mike just shrugged. "It's okay. To be honest, we didn't even notice. But I can start on dinner now. Stir fry doesn't take that long."

And it didn't. Mike had dinner ready in a flash while the Tina, Rachel and Finn checked on their sleeping infants before setting the table. Nervous he would discover her fingers were ringless, Rachel kept them tucked in her lap until she could no longer hide them. It might have looked weird eating her food with no hands.

"Wow, Mike. Tina wasn't kidding about your culinary skills. This is amazing." She popped a piece of tofu in her mouth and couldn't believe the taste. Since switching back to a meatless diet, food had lost some of its flavor and euphoric affect, but she also couldn't be sure if it had to do with her pregnancy hormones finally dying down as well.

He pinked slightly in embarrassment. "Thanks. I don't cook for anyone other than Tina often, so it's nice to know she isn't lying about how it tastes." They all chuckled.

"Well, there is no reason to lie. It's fantastic. I've never had stir fry like this before."

He shrugged. "I use rice wine and white pepper for added flavor. But don't worry, all the alcohol cooks out so you don't need to worry about that."

"I would never think to make stir fry that way." The table went silent as everyone was so absorbed in the meal until they were all satiated fully.

Rubbing his stomach in satisfaction, Finn was the first to say anything. "You really cannot go wrong with chicken, unless it's undercooked. That's the only way."

"It's a staple in our house. My mom knows how to do everything with it."

"Including using the feet. She makes chicken feet salad and forces it on everyone for every holiday," Tina added, shivering and making a face in disgust.

"It's an old family recipe. It's not like she's ever forced you to eat it."

"Maybe she never physically shoved a spoonful down my throat but she's definitely used her death stare to make me eat it." She and Mike shared a dark look before Tina turned to Rachel. "Whenever I try to decline eating any she makes some snarky comment about how if I'm going to be with Mike I'll need to get used to making it and eating it since it's one of his favorite dishes. She just loves to watch me choke it down."

Mike wiped his mouth and narrowed his eyes at his fiancé, leaning on the table. "My mother is not that vindictive. She doesn't force you to eat anything, nor does she expect you to make chicken feet salad for me. Why do you always have to make my mother out to be such a dragon lady? She's been nothing but nice to you ever since we started dating. She even stood by us when we told her we were pregnant and gave us her blessing when we got engaged. That's more than your mother did."

Tina's mouth fell open and she scoffed. "Your mother has hardly stood by us or given us her blessing…" She stood up grabbing her bowl and everyone else's in an angry huff, muttering about Mike's mother the entire time before moving into the kitchen, Mike following. Their voices started rising as they sniped at each other's mothers.

Back at the table, Rachel and Finn were sharing awkward uncomfortable glances at being stuck watching their dinner turn into a train wreck. "I told you we should have stayed home today."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. "Everything was going well until you started talking about chicken."

"How was I supposed to know chicken would trigger an argument? You were the one who told me to discuss recipes with Mike."

A breaking plate could be heard, startling Rachel and Finn into paying attention to their disagreement again. "Now look what you did!" Tina cried, motioning toward the floor.

"It was your fault. I told you not to stack the bowls like that."

Finn leaned over toward Rachel and mumbled into her ear, "Perhaps we should grab Teddy and get out of here. I don't think they need an audience for this."

"Normally I hate to eat and run, but I think you're right."

Quietly, Rachel and Finn pushed their chairs in and headed to Tina and Mike's bedroom to find Teddy awake and staring up at his mobile. When he laid eyes on Rachel, he began to shake and let out a happy cry.

"Hello, my precious baby boy!" she cooed enthusiastically, lifting him up and cradling him. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and lightly stroked his downy head. "Mommy missed you. Did you have fun with Daddy today?"

He didn't do much in way of a reply, but she could tell by his pleasant mood that Finn had done a wonderful job of taking care of Teddy without her.

"Okay, everything's packed. Let's get out of here."

"Don't you think we should at least say goodbye?"

"I suppose."

They exited the bedroom to find Mike and Tina now arguing about how Tina's father wanted them to include Judaism in their wedding ceremony even though neither of them was a practicing Jew. When Mike noticed them with all their stuff together, he paused the conversation, putting on a happier face.

"You guys heading home?"

Rachel glanced up at Finn. "Yeah. It's getting late and Teddy will need to be in bed soon. We're sorry to eat and run."

"Oh, well you can't go yet," Tina implored. "We haven't even gotten around to asking you what we wanted to ask."

Rachel and Finn both furrowed their brows. "What did you want to ask?"

"Well, part of the reason we invited you over to dinner tonight, other than just getting together again for the first time in weeks, is because we wanted to know… Maia's baptism is going to be in a few weeks. We're combining her baby shower and baptism together just to make things easier, and we were wondering, even though you're Jewish and Finn is…I'm not sure what Finn is, but anyway-"

"Tina, you're rambling," Mike cut in.

"Right. Anyway, what we were wondering was, you totally don't have to accept because we understand it's a pretty big deal, but we were wondering if you would like to be Maia's godparents."

The room went silent for a moment as Finn and Rachel shared a wide eyed look of surprise. "Y-you want us," she waved between her and Finn, "to be Maia's godparents? But, why? I mean, not that we aren't honored that you would consider us, but wouldn't you rather have someone you're closer to and have known longer? Like a family member?"

"We've discussed it, at length actually, and you and Finn have helped us more with my pregnancy and preparing for Maia than anyone and we thought you deserved some recognition for being there for us. We aren't expecting you to be like legal guardians or anything in case something were to happen to us, if that's what you were thinking. We know that is what godparents used to be essentially, but now it's more of a title of honor than anything else."

Rachel breathed a little easier at that. Not that she wouldn't help Tina and Mike out in any way that she could, but being potentially responsible for another couple's child was a heavy burden to carry. As it was, she was still learning how to be the best mom she could be to her own child. She wasn't sure she could handle the added stress of worrying about having to care for another baby if something were to happen to her friends.

"Basically, all you'd have to do is be like an aunt and uncle."

"I already figured we kinda were."

"Exactly! It would just be a little more official, in a way."

Rachel looked to her fiancé to see what he thought. "Any thoughts?"

"I'm not really religious though and Rachel's Jewish. Is that a problem?"

Tina waved her hand in dismissal. "Technically, the godparent is supposed to at least be Christian but we're going more with character over religion. If we had to choose based on that, we'd be stuck with Mike's cousin Rob who is so clumsy he would probably drop Maia the first time he held her and my cousin Alice who would constantly tell Maia she's going to Hell since she was conceived out of wedlock. You're definitely better choices."

Silently agreeing with each other, Rachel and Finn smiled at their friends. "We'd be honored to be Maia's godparents. Of course we'll do it."

Tina squealed happily and pulled Rachel in for a hug. "Thank you, Rachel. It means so much to us that you'll be her godparents." Releasing her, she rushed for the kitchen coming back with an envelope. "This is all the information about her Christening and the party. I was going to mail it, but since you're here and agreed to be godparents, I figured I'd give it to you now. We're so excited!" She clapped her hands together and shook a little in happiness. "I can't wait."

While Tina celebrated, Teddy yawned widely reminding everyone that it was time to leave. The couples said their goodbyes and parted ways ending the night on a better note than dinner ended.

The drive home was surprisingly short and when they made it in the house, Rachel was ready to pass out.

"I hope he doesn't wake up tonight. I really want to sleep," she groaned, heading up the stairs with Finn behind her.

"If he does wake up, I can take care of him." Stopping on the second floor, Finn put Teddy's carrier down and tugged Rachel in for a hug. "You head on up to bed. I can get Ted changed for bed."

Rachel placed her hands on his shoulders, pushed up on her tip toes, and kissed him in appreciation. "Thank you."

Taking her hands in his, Finn entwined their fingers. "No problem." As he played with her fingers, he realized something was off. Glancing down at their hands, he noticed her ring was missing again. "Did you lose your ring?"

She froze for a second before quickly relaxing. "I put it in my purse for safe keeping. It was getting a little bothersome moving around while trying things on." She chewed on her lip, hoping Finn would buy it.

He narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything. "Okay." Letting go of her hands, he picked Ted up and headed for his nursery. "We'll be up in a few minutes."

"Can't wait!" She giggled and left her boys to head up to bed.

Finn got back on task and headed to the nursery, pulling Teddy from his seat and placing him on his changing table. "You were such a good boy today, buddy. Thanks for not giving your old man too much trouble." He chuckled and undid the straps of his overalls, tugging them off before folding them to toss in the laundry. As he tossed the item in the bin however, a small clang brought his attention to the floor. Holding down his son with one hand, Finn bent down to pick up what had fallen and shook his head in disappointment when he saw what it was.

Standing back up, he looked down at his son. "Either Mommy has confused your overalls with her purse or she lied to me. Let's find out." Finishing dressing him in his jammies, Finn carried Teddy upstairs to question Rachel about the whereabouts of her ring, but walked into their room to find her snoring loudly with a magazine open and sitting on her face.

Sighing, Finn kissed Teddy's forehead and placed the sleepy infant in his bassinet. "I guess we'll get an answer tomorrow. Night, buddy. Sweet dreams."

x

The next day when Finn asked Rachel about her ring, she gave him the same story, but this time when she bit her lip he knew what it meant. She was hiding losing her ring from him and he was sure he knew why. He had told her multiple times she needed to resize her ring but she had been too stubborn to listen and now he had been proven right. It irked him that after all their talks of having honest and open communication she was lying to him about something as important as her engagement ring. But if she was going to play that game to keep from hearing him say 'I told you so', he could play too.

Instead of giving her the ring back and watching her continue to force it to stay on, Sunday night after she fell asleep, Finn measured her finger and the next morning before heading into work took it to a jeweler.

"Oh my, this is a beautiful ring. Did you purchase it here?" the woman behind the counter asked as she examined the ring with her eyepiece.

"It's a family ring. My dad gave it to my mom and she wanted me to have it."

The woman smiled and placed the ring down, grabbing a ring sizing stick to measure its current width. "That's so sweet. I bet your girlfriend will love it."

"She's actually already my fiancée. I sorta messed up asking her to marry me the first time but she agreed anyway and now seemed like a good time to ask again the way I really wanted to. My fiancée lost a ton of weight after having our son and her fingers are way too tiny for the ring now and she thinks she lost it and is hiding it from me, but I found the ring in my son's overalls and thought I'd surprise her. Plus, she can sweat a little about losing it since she's keeping it from me."

The saleswoman stared at him wide eyed with a tense grin for a moment before nodding and going back to measuring. "Well, I'm sure she'll love it even more once it fits properly. Do you have her ring size?"

He pulled out the strip of paper he used to measure her finger and handed it over. "I hope that's right. She was asleep when I did it so she wouldn't know and she kept moving around."

"If there are any issues with sizing just bring it on back and we'll fix it for you, no problem. I notice the band is blank. Did you want to get any personalization done while we have it here?"

Finn thought about it and grabbed a form for engraving. "How long do you think this will take?"

"No more than three days usually but with Valentine's Day coming up, it may be longer. It's a busy time for us. Was there a specific time you needed it done by?"

"I was kinda hoping for Valentine's Day," he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know it's kinda clichéd but Rachel has high hopes for this Valentine's Day since it's our first one together."

"Nothing makes Valentine's Day more memorable than a proposal. I'm sure your fiancée will be thrilled." Taking his engraving form, she raised her eyebrow at what he had written. It was a rather unusual request. "Is this correct?"

Finn grinned and nodded his head. "Yep. It's not a problem is it? It's not too much to fit on the band?"

The woman seemed skeptical but knew better than to mention it. People wanted what they wanted and it wasn't her place to judge. "Nope. It should fit just fine." Giving him a large smile she placed the ring in a box and set it with the rest of the jewelry due for alterations. "We'll give you a call as soon as it's done!"

Leaving the ring with the jeweler, Finn headed off to work and upon arriving found Puck sitting in the back office. "What the hell are you doing in? I thought you'd be milking your injury for weeks."

"I would have stayed home but Quinn kicked me out. She's all moody still and sick of my face."

Getting comfortable, Finn leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. "Sounds about right. How's the shoulder? I know your head's fucked up but that's nothing new."

Puck flipped him off then rubbed his shoulder. "It's still sore as hell, but I'll live."

"Just so you know you're banned from the construction area until it's finished. We don't need any more injuries or the construction guys finding out you were messing with their stuff. I've got enough crazy going on without worrying about you killing yourself. If you go, I'll have to find another asshole to put up with and that's just too much work."

"It's Manhattan. There's hardly a shortage of assholes to choose from. Still, I appreciate it," he replied tersely. Growing more serious, Puck turned to business. "So, speaking of assholes…our shipment of Valentine's Day menus came in today, but I had to send them back."

Falling forward, Finn pounded on his desk. "What?! Puck! Valentine's Day is three days away! We need those menus. Why would you send them back?!"

"Because I didn't think people would want to eat 'crap cakes' for dinner. I figured if we wanted to keep our business we shouldn't make it seem like we're serving people shit for food."

Finn's eyes widened comically and his mouth fell open dramatically. "Crap cakes? They actually printed the menus with crap cakes on them?!"

"Crap cakes. The manager I spoke with said they aren't sure how it happened but they're terribly sorry and will rush the menus so they're here tomorrow, free of charge."

Finn shook his head and leaned back in his chair. It was days like this that he was reminded how hard it actually was to own a business. "Please tell me you saved at least one of those menus. I want it framed. Crap cakes…" he muttered to himself, the 12 year old boy in him loving the potty humor despite the headache.

"Are you kidding? I already stuck one up on the Wall of Greatness." He threw his thumb over his shoulder to point to the menu hanging on the wall between the first dollar the restaurant had ever made and a picture of them both with Burt and the Mayor at their grand opening.

"You think it's good enough to warrant the spot the Best Burger Award was in?" He noticed the very first award had been downgraded to the second row.

"At least for the day. I can move it later."

Finn rolled his eyes and set about doing his work while Puckerman headed out to the front to check on business.

x

The next three days were agonizing. Finn wanted so badly to call Rachel out on the missing ring every time he noticed her bare hand but refused to allow himself the satisfaction. The look on her face when he would give it to her for the second time would be satisfaction enough and then he could berate her for keeping the truth from him for as long as she did.

What Finn didn't realize however, was that Rachel was about to crack.

"I need to tell him. It's just gone. I've torn this place apart, searched the car a few dozen times, you said it wasn't anywhere in your apartment, no one has called to tell me it's been turned in. I need to face facts that I lost Carole's ring, suck it up, and tell Finn. He's going to be so disappointed in me for losing it and trying to cover it up," Rachel lamented to Tina over the phone after another unsuccessful search of the house.

The guilt had been gnawing at her for days while the hope of a miraculous reappearance dwindled. She could hardly look at Finn without shame creeping up on her and a little voice in the back of her head telling her to tell him. Finally it was too much. As soon as he got home from work, she was going to tell him.

"You messed up. It's not the end of the world. There are worse things than losing a ring and Finn will understand. You probably should have told him as soon as it happened, but just explain the situation and I'm sure everything will work out. You and Finn have been through way worse than this and always come out the other side stronger."

Rachel sighed knowing deep down she was right. She should have told him immediately, but her pride wouldn't let her and now he was going to be angry.

"You're right. I should have told him. I know I should have, but I just felt so stupid. Surely he'll understand. That's why he didn't tell me about his ex-wife, which in my opinion is a much bigger deal," she rationalized. Then she started to think about Carole and how she would react to the loss and the lie, until she heard the key in the door and knew Finn was home. "Tina, Finn is home. I need to go."

"Tell him now before you get yourself any deeper. Good luck."

The women hung up and Rachel prepared herself to face the music. Meeting Finn in the hallway, she smiled in greeting. "Hi, sweetie. How was your day?"

"Good. Kinda slow, but good," he replied, hanging his jacket up and pulling Rachel in for a hello kiss. They moved into the living room where Teddy was asleep in his swing and Finn smiled at their son. He was so peaceful when he slept.

Anxious to get it over with, Rachel waited for Finn to take a seat while she paced impatiently, wringing her hands together.

"Rach? You okay?" He had a feeling he knew what was wrong.

Ripping the band-aid off quickly, she started, "I haven't been wearing my ring the past few days because I lost it and I'm sorry I didn't tell you and lied to your face whenever you asked. I didn't want to upset you or disappoint you and thought it would show up somewhere but it hasn't and the guilt has been killing me, so I'm telling you now. Please don't be too angry with me." She plopped down on the coffee table and lowered her head in disgrace.

A huge smarmy grin spread across his face with Rachel's admission, until she picked her head up and he screwed his face into a stern stone-like expression. "You lost your engagement ring," he replied calmly.

She nodded solemnly. Then she took his hand. "I am so sorry, Finn. I should have told you, but…I'm stubborn and didn't want to admit you were right and that I had actually lost my ring after all the times I said I wouldn't. I know I can never replace it or what it meant to your family, but I promise you, I will do everything I possibly can to make amends for my mistake."

As he stared into her eyes, Finn knew he wasn't truly mad at Rachel. He was definitely annoyed, but after all they had gone through, it wasn't the worst possible thing that could have happened. And at least she came clean herself, even if it was days after the fact.

"I gotta say I'm disappointed. We promised each other no more secrets." He could see the waterworks about to start. "But I'm not angry. I love you, Rachel, and I don't need a ring to show that. It's just a ring. I mean, yeah, it's a family heirloom and completely irreplaceable, but it's still just a ring. I'm more concerned with the person who wears it."

Rachel swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped at the unshed tears brimming over. "You aren't angry?"

He shook his head and tugged Rachel into his lap, kissing her temple. "No. Just annoyed you lied to my face."

"I'm sorry. I really thought the matter would resolve itself and the ring would just pop up somewhere and this wouldn't have been an issue." She turned to face Finn directly. "I want to tell your mother and apologize for losing her engagement ring. I feel terrible about it and she deserves the truth from me."

"She might be upset, but…Rachel, it's not her ring anymore. It's your ring now. If you lose it, it's yours to lose. She gave it to you to keep, not borrow."

"You're right. But I still feel awful. Your dad picked that ring out specifically with her in mind and it just means so much to me that she cares enough about me to allow me to have it. I hate the idea of disappointing her which is why I want to come clean about it."

"Well, let's wait on that until after Valentine's Day." He didn't need to add anymore stress to Rachel's life or his mother's than was necessary. By tomorrow night, the matter would be resolved.

"That's probably best. No need to ruin her Valentine's Day too." She turned her face away, a tear escaping down her cheek.

Finn took her chin his hand and turned her head back to face him. "Who said Valentine's Day was ruined?"

"N-no one, I guess. I just figured you wouldn't want to celebrate it after I let you down."

"You didn't let me down. And it's our first Valentine's Day together. Of course we're going to celebrate it." He tugged her face closer and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I love you, Rachel."

"I love you too, Finn."

x

When she woke the next morning, Rachel slid out of bed as quietly as she could to keep from waking Finn or Teddy to rush downstairs. She had a big day of penance ahead of her and she was beginning with breakfast in bed complete with all of Finn's favorites, including full fat and real pork bacon. It was tough not to snack while she cooked, as she had grown accustomed to doing while pregnant, but she forced herself to focus on Finn's needs to avoid the temptation of greasy meat.

Finishing up with fruit and orange juice, Rachel arranged the tray perfectly and headed back upstairs to find her fiancé still asleep. Placing the tray down, she rubbed his back and pressed soft kisses to his cheek. "Finn…Finny…wake up, sweetie." He grumbled a bit before turning away from her. Raising her voice a little, she spoke right into his ear. "Finn…bacon."

He shot up so fast he nearly smacked Rachel in the face. "Wher's bacon?" he mumbled sleepily, stretching and blearily looking around him.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Finn. I made you breakfast in bed."

Yawning and stretching, Finn let out a loud groan, shaking the sleep off before looking closer at the tray Rachel had picked up. "Mmm, bacon." He could smell its delicious grease, waking him like smelling salts. "Just for me?"

"Just for you." Rachel placed the tray over Finn's lap. "All your favorites: bacon, eggs, sausage, blueberry pancakes, a little fruit salad, rye toast and orange juice. You deserve it for being the best fiancé a girl could ask for." She kissed his cheek again before moving over to check on Teddy.

She caught him in the middle of a yawn, just now waking himself. "Good morning, Theodore!" When he saw her, Teddy let out a cry and waved his arms at her. She lifted him out of his crib and cradled him to her, kissing his head. "Happy Valentine's Day, baby. It's your first holiday with us. You're like our little baby Cupid."

Finn grinned as he watched them, knowing something Rachel didn't know. "He kinda is, actually. He's what brought us together."

She smiled at Finn before looking back at Teddy. "Did you shoot Daddy in the butt with an arrow?" she joked, sitting down next to Finn. "He would look adorable with some little wings. Teddy, our own little Cupid."

After breakfast, Rachel and Finn spent the day together cuddling in bed, playing with Teddy, enjoying time alone with each other while he napped. Since Puck was generally unwanted around the house these days due to Quinn's hormonal rages, he was taking care of the restaurant that night while Finn and everyone else with a significant other that didn't currently want to strangle them got time off to celebrate. It was well overdue that Finn took a Valentine's Day off.

Being without anyone most holidays, he stayed at work all day making sure everyone else had a good time, watching as they canoodled with their husbands and wives, or girlfriends and boyfriends, lovers of all kinds, eating dinner as foreplay. Usually it grossed him out to see public displays of affection on Valentine's Day, especially the really heavy ones, but not this year. This year he'd be a canoodler, a romantic in love with the person he was with. This year would be different.

"Sardi's. Our first fake and semi-real date," Rachel remembered fondly as they walked through the door of the restaurant hours later. "Good choice, Finn."

"I thought you'd like it."

Rachel was seated in a booth with Teddy in his carrier next to her, Finn across the table in a chair. She looked around at all the caricatures. "Someday, Finn, we'll be sitting under a caricature of me."

"No doubt. Now we'll just have to settle for…someone. I can't read those signatures."

Rachel giggled and read off all the names of the celebrities, telling Finn of the accomplishments of each and their significance to their field. Dinner progressed smoothly and by the time it was over, Rachel had totally given Finn a hard on with footsie and Teddy had been complimented on how adorable he looked in a suit by nearly every lady they came across.

The big moment was approaching fast as Finn and Rachel walked up the steps to get in the house. He had received a text from his inside man that the place was ready and hoped Rachel would appreciate the effort. Even if the night failed miserably, he was still pretty sure Rachel would marry him since they were already engaged.

When she opened the door and saw the rose petals making a trail up the stairs and the heart decorations and little cupids strung everywhere, she paused in the doorway and gasped. "Finn! Someone broke into our house and decorated!"

He snorted in laughter and closed the door behind him, placing Ted down on the floor. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rachel." He took her hands and kissed her deeply.

"I love you so much."

"I love you too." Picking their son up, he led Rachel upstairs. "Let's see what else these decorating fiends did to the house."

They followed the petal trail into the movie room to find it set up with comfy blankets and pillows, dessert and sparkling cider, and a selection of movies laid out to choose from.

"Okay, this wasn't here when we left. Who did this?"

"Kurt. His plans with Blaine weren't going to start until later so I asked if he could do me a favor. Do you like it?"

"Yes. It's very romantic, Finn."

He kissed her softly. "There's tiramisu and chocolate covered strawberries. Why don't you go see if our decorator left anything out for you in our room while I put Ted to bed and then we can meet back here and pick a movie?"

"Okay." She leaned down to pick Teddy up and give him a goodnight kiss. "Night, baby boy. Mommy loves you."

Finn gave her that cute little lopsided smile and exited the room, taking Teddy with him, while Rachel went to their room.

In Teddy's nursery, Finn quickly pulled Teddy's little suit off and threw on the costume he had picked up the day before when he went to get Rachel's ring from the jeweler.

"I'm really sorry about any future relationships this may affect, but I know your mother is going to love it. Forgive me, son." Teddy's only response was to yawn and flutter his eyes sleepily. "Okay, let's do this."

He rushed back to the movie room hoping Rachel hadn't made it there first and breathed in relief when he found it empty. Placing Teddy on a little cloud pillow, he laid down next to him waiting for Rachel. He took a deep breath and pulled the box out of his pocket, clutching it tightly.

Rachel padded in a few moments later, dressed in the slinky red silk nightie. Finn wasn't expecting anything to happen as Rachel still couldn't have sex and wasn't even ready to yet, but seeing her in silky lingerie was something he missed and enjoyed immensely.

"Wow, you look…amazing," he marveled.

"What's going on here?" she asked when she saw Teddy asleep dressed as a little Cupid, complete with bow and arrow.

"You did say he's our Cupid. I thought you'd get a kick out of it."

She giggled, nodding her head. "It is the most adorable thing I've ever seen." As she got close enough to see what was written on the red sash draped across Teddy's torso, she tilted her head to read it. Her brows drew together in wonder. "Finn…what…?" She was baffled as to why the sash read 'Marry me?'.

Finn sat up on his knees and picked Teddy up to hold him close. "Rachel, I know I already asked you, and it was a great spur of the moment proposal if you ask me, but when I first thought about asking you to marry me, I had always imagined giving you a romantic night you'd never forget. And you kind of accidentally gave me the perfect opportunity to ask you the way you deserve."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Finn didn't reply, instead popping open the black ring box to reveal her lost engagement ring. Rachel gasped in recognition, holding her hands over her mouth as she tried not to cry.

"What? How? Finn…"

"Teddy. I found the ring in his overalls when we came home after dinner with Tina and Mike."

Rachel began to openly cry in relief that her ring was no longer lost. She took the ring box from Finn and pulled it out, slipping it on her finger. "It actually fits now."

"I had it resized. But that's not all. Look on the inside of the band."

She pulled the ring off and read the inscription. "'I told you so.' she read aloud, throwing her head back and laughing loudly. "I was wondering why you didn't say it last night. I knew you wanted to." Finn stood up and pulled Rachel in close. She placed her hand on Teddy's back, rubbing it gently. "If you knew I was covering up losing my ring the entire time, why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, I wanted to surprise you with the proposal for one reason, the other was that I thought I'd let you stew a little, and now I have it etched in metal that I was right about you needing to get your ring resized. You really should have told me."

"I know. I'm sorry. I promise if I ever lose it again, I will let you know right away."

"We shouldn't have to worry about that now since it fits properly. It does fit properly, right? You were moving around a lot when I measured your finger."

"It fits perfectly."

"I'm glad." He kissed her again. "I really should put Ted to bed now. He's completely passed out."

Rachel nodded in agreement. "Oh, but can I get a few pictures of him first? I want to put this in his baby book."

Finn chuckled and laid him back down on the cloud pillow. Rachel ran to grab the camera and took a few pictures of her sleeping angel. "He's going to want to burn these when he gets older, but I don't care. He's only going to be our baby for so long."

"We need to have something to embarrass him with in the future."

After she got her fill of photos, Finn took Teddy to bed and Rachel picked out a movie. "What'd you pick?" he asked when he came back and settled in next to her.

"Princess Bride. It's a classic. Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin-"

"Andre the Giant, that kid from The Wonder Years. I've seen it. Good choice."

As the movie played, Rachel stared down at her improved engagement ring. She thought it was lost forever and would never have forgiven herself for it, but Finn had found it and made it even better. There was no way she would ever let it slip from her finger again, protecting it fiercely. For once, it had been the best Valentine's Day ever. Finn forgave her for her deceit, spent the day caring for her and showering her in his love, and reinforced his desire to spend the rest of his life with her. They had come a long way since the year prior and through all the ups and downs they managed to find a happy and stable place which both had sought but had never found before.

When she snuggled in close, ready to enjoy the movie with her fiancé, Finn kissed the top of her head.

"Today was perfect, Finn. Thank you."

"You're welcome, and thank you. You made my day perfect too."

"It was my pleasure." Rachel leaned up and gave Finn a scorching kiss.

"Now let's watch the movie."

Head spinning in delight, all Finn could do was grin. "As you wish."

Finally, an update! I hope it was a decent comeback. I'm a bit rusty and as it's been about a year since I've written, the details got a little muddied but I tried my best to make sure things added up. If things don't add up or something doesn't make sense, I apologize.

This was a long time coming and I'm sorry for how long my break was from writing. My muse had been disappearing for awhile even before Cory's passing and after we lost him, I lost practically all drive to write, but recently it has been coming back. As for the show, we may have lost Finn in canon, but he can live on in fic and that is why I wanted to continue writing once I was ready to. Cory and Finn both deserved better endings and if I can at least give Finn a happy ending, I'm happy to share it with everyone else who wants to see it too.

So, fingers crossed my next update won't take another year.