October, 2022
The real estate market was indeed doing well, and it showed through the beautiful estate Quinn and Finn now lived in: an impressive two-story split-level home with a brick face and chimney and white trimming. The front yard boasted a sizable patch of green grass with a maple tree, and a brick-lain path from the front steps to the driveway. The engaged couple had recently moved in and had a minimal number of boxes left to unpack. Much of their delay in finishing had to do with Quinn finding out she was expecting. Now seven months along, her priority, along with Finn's, had been preparing for their baby. During the week—and sometimes on the weekend for Quinn—they worked, and in their free time they prepared a nursery for the arrival of their little girl.
Over the weekend, Finn and Quinn had the days off from their jobs. Finn—now a coach for the Lake View High School glee club in Chicago—had a Saturday morning practice with the community's pee wee football team that he coached. Meanwhile, Quinn was at their home with an off-season cold. She felt it coming on Friday morning and it quickly worsened as the day turned to night. Late in the night, she woke Finn out of a dead sleep, demanding that he sleep in their guest room.
"What? Why?" Finn groggily asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Because," Quinn pressed, "I don't want to get you sick too. We can't both get sick and try to take care of each other, now go."
"But—"
"Finn!" She sniffled but kept her face stern. The moment her eyes narrowed, Finn knew he was going to lose the short-lived argument. There was no point in arguing with his sick, hormonal fiancée. His shoulders and expression fell in defeat as he rolled out of the warm, comfortable California King; clad only in boxers and a wife beater, he loped sleepily from the room.
Unfortunately for Quinn, she hadn't slept much through the night. Between the congestion in her nose, the kicking in her belly and the irrational tears for missing her future husband being beside her, she hadn't gone back to sleep until the sun peeked through the bedroom window. She slept through Finn's return to the bedroom for a shower and fresh clothes, and she slept through his quiet departure from their home.
A loyal coach, Finn maintained his hour-long practice with his pee wee team. He warmed up with them and then taught them a new play that they would eventually execute in their first game of the season. After the practice ended and his kids' parents arrived to claim their children, the tall brunette gathered up his things and hastily got into his Jeep. Almost the entire time that he was away from the house, his thoughts were on Quinn; while he hadn't caused her abrupt illness, he felt awful that she became sick right now of all times. He wanted to do something nice for her to cheer her up, but no ideas immediately came to him.
Stopped at a traffic light, Finn glanced at the cluster of small shops and restaurants to his right. Squeezed in between a Subway and a Payless was a moniker that read: Paula's Flowers. It switched on the light bulb in Finn's mind, and before he could miss the shopping center's entrance, he turned right into it. After parking and entering the flower shop, Finn was bombarded with the blended aroma of various types of flowers. The distinct smell had him glancing about the room as if his eyes were chasing after the source of the smell.
"Hi there! Welcome to Paula's Flowers!" said a perky red-head. She looked significantly older than Finn and, like most people, she was noticeably shorter than him. Her hands were on her hips but her smile seemed friendly.
"Uhh, hi!" spoke Finn with an awkward wave of his hand. "Yeah, I wanted to get some flowers that say 'Get Well Soon'."
"Who are the flowers for?" asked the red-headed florist.
Finn raised his brows but cast a crooked, boyish smile, "They're for my fiancée. She's sick and pregnant so I wanna get her something special. Cheer her up, y'know?"
The florist smiled in awe at Finn, "That's so sweet! She's got herself a great guy." After winking to him, she turned her back and gestured to an array of pre-arranged bouquets displayed in a panel of refrigerators behind her register. "Well we've got Calla Lilies, Tiger Lilies, Daisies, Tulips, Morning Glory, Hydrangeas, Carnations, and of course you can't go wrong with roses."
Both of Finn's brows were raised at the overwhelming options for him to choose from. He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully, "Uh…okay I know she hates carnations—they look cheap to her. Um…you're right about roses but I want this to be special, so…how about the Tiger Lilies?"
"Sure!" beamed the florist. She turned her back to Finn again and pulled open the door that enclosed the Tiger Lilies. After gathering up one dozen, she walked down to the furthest fridge door, opened it and pulled out some cotton-colored tendrils to accent the bold orange flowers. Her hands expertly bound the flowers in cellophane, and then she reached up to a beam above her where a series of ribbon spools hung. Her hand paused as she was about to make the selection for herself, but she took one long look at Finn, smiled again and asked, "She likes pink, doesn't she?"
The corners of his eyes crinkled, and the corners of his lips curled up again. "Yeah…she does—how did you know that?"
With a tug of the pale pink spool and a friendly smile, she said, "Lucky guess."
Finn returned to the house, half-expecting Quinn to still be shuffling about the house despite being ill. However, the house was silent, save the grandfather clock in the dining room. It tick-tick-ticked away as the short golden pendulum swung from behind the glass. The cellophane scrunched in his hands, "Quinn?" he called. He loped in the kitchen and sure enough, it was empty. He double-checked the downstairs guest room although he was doubtful she would be in there to begin with.
Finally, he took to the stairs to check their daughter's room. The nursery held plenty within its pink walls—an oak crib, a matching dresser, a changing table and a glider, but no Quinn.
With growing concern, Finn entered the master bedroom he and Quinn shared. To his slight relief, he spotted his future wife, but was slightly saddened to see her still asleep—her head turned into a pillow while one hand rested over her bump.
"Man, she must really be sick," he breathed to himself. The tall brunette stepped further into the room but as he did, his eyes never left Quinn's slumbering face. He gazed over the golden blonde mess around her head that now resembled lion's mane. Her face looked tense, and yet her gently tanned skin was smooth, flawless. Her long dark lashes kissed the top of her flushed cheeks as she breathed faint, adorable snores onto his half of the bed.
For a moment, he recalled a night when he told Quinn that she snored. She denied it completely and got upset with him for saying so, but after he told her that he thought it was cute, she blushed and turned her face away to hide a tiny smile from him—or so she thought she'd hid it.
Coming around to his half of the bed, Finn set the flowers down on his nightstand as quietly as he could, pulled his shoes off and climbed into the bed beside his fiancée. Now lying face to face with his slumbering love, Finn brushed a few rebellious strands of hair from her face and kissed her warm forehead. Quinn stirred lightly but hadn't woken up; he left one hand rested above her head while the other joined hers on her rounded stomach. It was times like these where he would privately reflect on his life.
If he were to think back to his later years in high school and what he thought life would be like for him now, they were nothing like what it turned out to be. He assumed his life was going to be with Rachel, but it obviously was not meant to be. One thing he had come to realize later in life, was that back in high school, Quinn was trying to get him to grow up. Back then, he couldn't see that because of…well a multitude of reasons. But now, he had grown up; he had become a lot wiser now than the days where he wanted to name his child Drizzle or put his dreams on the back burner for someone else. He loved what he was doing with his life, and he loved that Quinn was beside him, supporting him in his endeavors to inspire kids through some of the roughest times of their life. He'd forever be thankful to Mr. Schue for having that influence on him, but it was Quinn's steadfast support, following his divorce from Rachel, that really gave him the backbone to pursue true happiness.
He didn't know where else to turn. At the time of his divorce—nearly four years prior—his stepbrother's close friendship with the Broadway star left Finn with few options on who to talk to. Puck was off in the army; Mike had become a new dad and was only half coherent when he'd try calling him. He wasn't assumed Mercedes to be in the same boat as Kurt, and Sam apologized for having next-to-no experience with divorces when he called them. Neither Santana nor Brittany had ever cared much for Rachel and he wasn't in the mood for "I told you so"s from either one of them. His stepdad, Burt and his mother tried to offer some helpful words, but when it came down to it, there wasn't much to say. He was out of New York and back in Ohio with no job, no spouse and no other commitments. And then one fateful trip to the old Lima Bean granted him a reconnection with Quinn Fabray—Yale graduate and real estate intern for an agent, he would later discover was Mercedes' mother.
What was intended to be a quick "hi-and-bye" encounter, ended up becoming a chat that lasted hours long. Most of the conversation was carried by Finn, as the tales leading up to his divorce spilled out of his mouth. That was something else he had noticed about Quinn—intimidating as she could be, he often found it easy to talk to her.
The coffee encounter turned into occasional dates. And the occasional dates turned into Quinn inspiring him to get his teaching credentials so that he could do for them what Mr. Schue did for all the New Directions—push them to be the best 'them' that they could. She also reminded Finn that he was his best when he led and motivated others.
His and Quinn's rekindled relationship grew over the two years that followed, and to their fortune, they were able to move to Chicago at roughly the same time. With a glowing recommendation from Mercedes' mother, Quinn had been offered a job with a real estate agency. Soon after, Finn picked up the glee teacher and later, a coaching job for the community's football team.
Now, Finn was remembering this all with a favorable smile on. He shut his eyes and let his body rest beside his future wife and unborn daughter. The chance of falling ill was one he'd be willing to take, if it meant he could still remain close to Quinn.
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