Authors Note: This is a multi-chapter song-fic focussing on the different stages of Finn and Rachel's growing friendship.
I do not have a BETA and so all mistakes are my own. I am also not associated with FOX or Glee in anyway. The characters are not mine, I just have fun playing with them in my world
Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know
That somethin' wasn't right?
Oh baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go
And now you're outta sight
Finn Hudson stared up at the open window of his new next door neighbour's house, the summer sun beating down on him. The Berry's had only moved in about 4 hours ago and already the girl was blasting her music and signing along at the top of her voice. Finn frowned, he was really hoping for a neighbour who wanted to play catch or climb trees, not one who just wanted to do girly things like sing all the time, Finn got enough of that from his brother Kurt. Although he had to admit it, the girl had a really pretty voice.
Show me how you want it to be
Tell me baby 'cause I need to know now
Oh because
He turned around away from the direction of the singing and headed back into the house. He walked inside to find his mom and Kurt at the front door, Kurt holding a plate of cookies in his hand. Finn's mouth watered at the delicious chocolate chip cookies and he automatically reached out to grab one before he felt Kurt's hand slap him away.
"Hey! What did ya do that for!" he grumbled rubbing his stinging hand.
"Finn, these aren't for you, they're for the Berry's. I'm going over there now to welcome them to the neighbourhood."
"Finn" Carole softly started, "Why don't you go over with Kurt and introduce yourself"
"But mom!" Finn whined.
"No buts Finn, get over there and be a gentleman."
"Fine" he huffed turning around and heading out the door with Kurt dragging his feet across to the new neighbours.
Kurt knocked boldly on the door and Finn heard the shuffling of feet followed by a girl's voice, "Just a minute!" she shouted out through the door.
'Oh great', Finn rolled his eyes, 'she's coming to the door' he really wished his best friend Puck had moved in next door and not this airy girl who only liked to sing.
The door swung open and Finn was greeted by a short, tiny brunette wearing a yellow halter sundress.
"Oh hello" she exclaimed, smiling widely, "I'm Rachel Barbra Berry, it's lovely to meet both of you, are those cookies for us? How sweet! I must call my daddies to come and meet you both!"
Finn blinked twice trying to take in all the information the little girl in front of him had rattled off at high speed. 'Daddies? He was pretty confused but Kurt shot him a look that warned him to keep his mouth shut. Oh well he would just have to ask his mom later.
"How terribly rude of me" Rachel exclaimed, "Please come in!"
Kurt walked in first and held out his hand to her, "I'm Kurt, it's nice to meet you Rachel, I have to say, I really love that dress, that colour just works so well with your complexion!"
"Thank you" Rachel blushed staring down at her dress, "And you are?" she asked holding out her hand to Finn. He stared at it for a moment before remembering he was supposed to shake it.
He quickly reached out, grabbing her small hand in her much larger one. "I'm Finn, Finn Hudson" he said shaking her hand rather vigorously "How old are you anyways? You're tiny"
"Finn!" Kurt gasped, "You never ask a lady how old she is!"
Rachel just laughed at Kurt, "It's okay, I get asked a lot on account of how small I am. I'm nine." she stated proudly.
"Cool Kurt's 9 too but I just turned 10" he says puffing out his chest, "we're brothers"
"Brothers?" Rachel asked curiously staring at the two boys.
"Yeah, my mom married Kurt's dad a few years ago" Finn explained smiling at Kurt.
"Awesome!" Rachel smiled. "So we'll all be in the same year when school goes back. I'm so glad I met you guys, I really hate going into new places where I don't know anybody."
"Well, I for one am glad to have met a friend with such great taste in clothes. Finn has terrible taste in clothes, he just wears shirts and shorts most of the time!" Kurt smiled looping his arm through hers. "You must show me the rest of your wardrobe sometime"
Rachel smiled widely at Kurt before looking over at Finn.
Finn stared down at the floor rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. He never really thought about clothes, he usually just wore what his mom picked out for him, but Kurt's comment about his wardrobe had made him think that maybe he should take more interest in what he wore?
Rachel's small voice pulled him out of his thoughts and back to her eyes. "Oh Kurt, I'm sure it's not that bad, and besides I think Finn looks very dapper in his shirt and shorts." She smiled at him blushing a deep crimson. Finn had no idea what the word 'dapper' meant but he was sure it was a good thing.
Maybe Rachel wasn't going to be such a bad neighbour after all.
My loneliness is killing me now,
I must confess I still believe,
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign; hit me baby one more time.
The summer turned out to be awesome in Finn's books. He got to spend a lot of time with Puck, whose mom dropped him off almost every morning, and it turned out that his new neighbour Rachel was really cool.
She always invited them over to swim at her house and she always had great snacks.
Finn remembered the first time Puck had met Rachel. "Yo Hudson, whose the girl" Puck said staring at Rachel walking across his yard towards them.
"Her names Rachel" Finn hissed, "She's cool, so try not to be a jerk okay?"
"Hi Finn!" Rachel smiled up at Finn, standing in front of him in her short red dress with black polka dots. She reminded him of a strawberry which was weird because she sometimes smelt like one too. He liked it though, she smelt kinda fresh.
"Hey Rachel" he smiled at her, "This is my friend Puck."
Rachel held her hand out to greet the boy, but he just looked at it until she slowly and confusingly withdrew it.
"It's not Puck, it's the Puckosaurus, Hudson!" He sneered at her.
"What kind of a stupid name is Puck anyway?" Rachel asked as Finn stared between her and Puck before doubling over in laughter.
"It's short for Puckerman, Noah Puckerman midget" Puck scowled at Rachel.
"Well Noah" she said sounding it out very slowly and deliberately "I think Puck is an awful name and so from now on, I'll call you by your given name" Rachel stated matter of factly.
Finn couldn't help laughing at the look on his best friends face, "I told you she was cool" Finn says staring at Rachel. He noticed her blushing under his gaze, she does that a lot when he looks at her, he wonders why?
"You think I'm cool?" she asked staring up at him through her eyelashes.
"Sure Rach, you're great." It's the first time he calls her that and she likes it. It makes her feel safe and accepted and so she doesn't correct him. From that day on she's Rach, his Rach.
"So Finn, Noah, do you want to come over and swim?" Puck groans at the use of his name but smiles at her all the same. "You know what midget, I like you, let's go swim."
"Race you!" she screams running off ahead of them, the boys give each other a quick look before bolting after her shouting and laughing.
Oh baby baby
The reason I breathe is you
Now, boy you got me blinded
I bet you baby
There's nothing that I would not do, no
It's not the way I planned it
The rest of the summer flies by for Finn, Rachel, Kurt and Puck and before Finn knows it school has started.
Carole drops Finn, Kurt and Rachel off at school on the first day.
"Thank you Carole" Rachel smiles as she steps out of the car, her soft purple dress swaying around her. She always wears dresses or skirts and Finn really likes it. It's like she's proud of the fact that she's a girl but she's not a girly girl, she plays with him all the time. One time they even played in the mud at the river bank. That was the day he realised he was really glad he was friends with such a cool girl.
"You're welcome sweetheart, I'll pick you all up here after school. Finn, Kurt make sure you stick with Rachel and show her around."
"Sure mom" Finn smiles down at Rachel before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the school. "You're going to love it here, all the teachers are really nice….we except for Mrs Peterson the librarian, she's always telling me to be quiet" he scowls at the remembrance of the teacher.
"Finn, slow down! I'm shorter than you remember; one of your steps is like three of mine!"
"Sorry Rach" Finn smiles at her as he slows down, "I'm just excited for you to meet everyone is all." His lopsided grin is infectious and she can't help but smile up at him.
"I'm excited too Finn I promise, I just need to keep up with you."
"Rachel Barbra Berry you are not entering your first day of school without me by your side, wait up!" Kurt yells from a few metres behind her.
He quickly catches up to them and the three make their way into their first day of the new school year.
Show me how you want it to be
Tell me baby 'cause I need to know now
Oh because
By their first lunch break she's met so many people she can barely remember everyone's names. She knows Puck of course but she was also introduced to a sandy haired boy named Sam, a small boy in a wheelchair, she thinks he said his name is Artie, Mercedes, who she already adores because the girl has amazing sneakers, a really quiet girl named Tina and another quiet boy named Mike.
She really likes them all so far she thinks, as they are all sat around the lunch table asking Rachel a ton of questions about her old life back in Chicago.
Rachel is in the middle of explaining to them how she much she used to love Chicago when she is interrupted as three girls in cheerleading uniforms make their way over to the table.
The middle girl just starts speaking right over her as if she's not even there, "Finn, Puck, why don't you two come join us at the main table." The blonde haired girl sweetly smiles at them before levelling a glare at Rachel.
Rachel sinks back into her chair under the girls stare.
"Yeah Puck" the other dark haired cheerleader speaks up, "Leave these losers and come join us."
Rachel cringes, she knows these types of girls, and she's dealt with them at her old school in Chicago too, except the girls in Chicago were way meaner.
Rachel straightens up in her chair and turns to the main blonde girl in the middle, "Excuse me, my name is Rachel Berry, I don't think we've been properly introduced. I realise that being "popular" cheerleaders you clearly have no use for manners, nor do you think you need them but in the civilized world people introduce themselves before being complete jackasses to someone they've just met."
The whole table fell into stunned silence before Puck started to laugh, he was laughing so hard that tears were running down his face and the rest of the table broke down soon after.
The small blonde girl in the middle stuck her hands on her hips, stomped her foot and promptly walked away quickly followed by the other two, but not before the dark haired girl levelled her with a stare before muttering, "Bad move Berry."
Rachel wasn't certain but she thought she heard the third blonde cheerleader say "Why is there an elf in the school, is Santa coming early this year?"
Once the table calmed down Finn reached over and placed his hand on Rachel's' shoulder. "Rach, that was amazing! No one ever stands up to Quinn, Santana and Britney!"
Rachel gave him a shy smile, "Well, they were really rude."
"Berry, you've got some guts, I like it!" Puck laughed throwing his wadded up sandwich wrapper at her.
"She sure does." Finn smiled draping his arm over her shoulder. It stayed there for the rest of the meal while they all laughed and joked around. Rachel smiled to herself as she looked to the boy next to her, she was really starting to to love Lima.
My loneliness is killin' me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign, hit me baby one more time
Rachel turns 10 in the September and she invites them all to her party. She really has grown to love her small group of friends but Kurt is by far her very best friend. He's so dramatic; he makes her laugh, and most of all, he loves Broadway.
She really likes Finn too but in a different sort of way. He feels like her protector. She imagines his face when she reads about the night in shining armour that rescues the princesses in all her fairy tale books.
The party is awesome and all her friends have a great time at her house, hanging out, watching movies, eating snacks and birthday cake. The night carries on and soon it's just her, Kurt and Finn left, and it feels so familiar.
"Rachel, I need to go, this hair takes a lot of work and I need to get started on my regime if I have any hope of making it to school in the morning" Kurt huffs.
Rachel giggle softly at his dramatics, "Sure thing Kurt, I'll see you tomorrow, and thanks so much for the present."
"Anything for the one and only Rachel Barbra Berry." He replies softly kissing her on the check. "Finn are you coming?" Kurt calls out behind him.
"In a minute!" Finn yells from the living room.
Rachel sees Kurt out the door before returning to the room to find Finn standing in the middle of it nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"What's wrong Finn?" Rachel asks softly, noticing his nervous habit.
"Well, I…um, I got you a present" he says holding out a small, badly wrapped box. "It's really dumb and I don't know if you'll even like it but my mom said you would, and if you don't its okay…"
"Finn" Rachel interrupts him, "I'll love whatever you give me" she smiles softly at him taking the present and unwrapping it to reveal a small box. She opens it and gasps, inside is a delicate silver charm bracelet with one charm on it, the number 10.
"Oh Finn, I love it!" She shouts out, launching herself into his arms.
Finn smiled as he held onto her, smelling her strawberry scented shampoo.
"I'm glad you like it Rach"
"No Finn, you don't understand, I don't like it, I love it!"
Finn laughs at her, he knows she thinks Kurt's dramatic but as far as he's concerned they are both as bad as the other.
"I need to get home before my mom starts to worry" he says walking with her to the front door. "I'm glad you had a fun birthday."
"Oh and Rach…" he smiles leaning down to kiss her softly on the cheek, "happy birthday."
Finn turns and walks away, his figure disappearing into the shadows as Rachel reaches up and softly touches the spot on her cheek where his lips had been.
I must confess that my lonliness is killing me now
Don't you know I still believe?
That you will be here and give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time