Finn Hudson walks out of his plane's arrival gate in uniform. He swings his duffel bag over his shoulder and looks around. The airport is decked out in holiday cheer—there are ribbons and wreaths—and there are a ton of people coming and going.
It's weird.
He hasn't been back on Ohio soil since he graduated from high school and left for basic and somehow it feels like nothing has changed. It's the same Ohio that he spent most of his early life in. It's the same Ohio where his mom is waiting for him with grilled cheese and chili, where Burt is already putting bottles of beer in their fridge for him, where Kurt is coming home to tomorrow with Blaine and a suitcase full of outfits for Finn in tow. He smiles at the thought of his ridiculous family while he looks around the airport for a bathroom. He never could fit in those tiny airplane bathrooms.
He's in there, standing in front of the urinal in a strangely empty airport bathroom when he realizes that someone is humming from one of the stalls. He looks over hesitantly and doesn't see any legs.
Hmm…
"Hello?" He calls out and the humming immediately stops. There isn't anything else that follows so Finn looks away from the stalls. He hears ruffling and when he looks over, there are two tiny legs squatting down and a little boy looking at him from under the stall's wall.
"Shh!" The little boy tells him, putting a finger against his mouth. His head disappears behind the stall and Finn just stares at this boy's legs. He suddenly realizes that there's nobody else in this room that could be his father or brother.
"Uh-oh," Finn says to no one. The boy in the stall giggles and looks down on him again.
"Uh-oh," he mimics Finn, laughing again.
"Hey buddy," Finn says, kneeling down to look at the boy. They're out by the arrival gate waiting area and Finn's thinking of how ridiculously busy this airport is since it's Christmas Eve. That and how this boy's parents must be freaking out. "Do you know what your mom's or dad's name is?"
"No," the little boy shakes his head. He's holding on to the arm of his lion stuffed animal, having dragged it behind him the entire time. Finn looks at the lion and the boy sees him looking at it.
"Mommy likes lions," The boy says, lifting the lion up to Finn's face. "Hi!"
Finn laughs.
"Hi Mr. Lion," he says to the stuffed animal. The boy laughs, bringing the lion in for a hug. Finn ruffles his hair before getting up.
"We'll find your mommy and daddy, okay little guy?" He tells the little boy, holding out his hand. The little guy just laughs and puts his tiny hand inside Finn's massive hand. Finn pulls his duffel bag close and looks for an airport employee.
The information desk directed them to security.
Finn and the little boy have been sitting in a special waiting room for a good half hour now. He's been laughing as the little boy keeps telling him stories with his broken speech. He's using his lion as a prop and making little sound effects. This boy couldn't be any older than three but he's a pretty sharp kid.
"…And then the wobots and the bears…and…" He rambles on. Suddenly, he sits up and his attention immediately shifts to somewhere behind Finn.
"MAMA!" He screams, wiggling to get out of the chair. Finn laughs and helps him out.
"Tony!" Calls out a familiar voice from the door and when Finn turns around, he sees his high school girlfriend kneeling on the ground and hugging the little boy tight. He literally can't form a sentence right now.
"Rach, is it Tony?" Finn vaguely hears another voice approaching the room. He's still kind of stuck with what's in front of him right now. Rachel Berry is in front of him, crying and hugging the crap out of her son. He had been frantically running around this airport, trying to reunite this adorable little boy with his mother, who turns out is Rachel Berry, his first love.
"MOMMY!" The little boy screams and that's when Finn snaps back to reality. Because Quinn Fabray is breathless as she appears at the doorstep with a little girl in tow. Her hair is sticking out in odd places, like she'd been running around for a good hour, and she immediately breaks into a huge smile when she sees Rachel and the little boy.
Rachel lets him go and the little boy runs to hug Quinn.
"We were so worried!" Quinn mumbles into the little boy's hair.
The realization dawns to Finn and it floors him. No wonder the little boy kept on switching between mama and mommy. It's not because he's three years old. It's because he has two moms. And those two moms happen to be Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray (Or would it be Fabray-Berry? Or Berry-Fabray? Or maybe they combined their last names…Faberry? Would that work?).
He thinks about that puzzle for a second before the realization hits him one more time. Holy shit. Rachel and Quinn are together. With two adorable children who drag around lion stuffed animals.
Holy Shit.
Rachel moves closer to Quinn, Tony (that's his name, Finn finally realizes) and their little girl and they sort of just sit there and revel in being together.
Finn doesn't really know when the appropriate time to say hi would be. He's not really one to ruin family moments. Especially when little kids disappear for hours at a crowded airport on Christmas Eve. Especially when it's his two ex-girlfriends and their children. But the little girl that came in with Quinn seems to have decided for him.
"Are you a soldier?" She asks innocently, looking up at him in wonder.
Quinn and Rachel both follow the little girl's eyes and all Finn can do is smile and wave awkwardly.
"Hi," He says.
"Thank you again Finn," Rachel says for the billionth time as she hugs him tight. "Remember to swing by at my dads' sometime this week."
"I'm glad I could help," is what he tells her in response. "And I will."
She lets him go and Quinn moves in to give him another hug.
"Stop saving the universe all the time" She says jokingly.
Finn laughs.
"Only on Christmas," Finn responds.
"You sure you don't need a ride?" Rachel asks as she zips up Tony's coat.
"Nah," Finn reassures her.
They wave their final goodbyes, and the little girl—Harmony, he found out earlier while he was catching up with the Berry-Fabrays and waiting for their respective rides—waves and yells back to him.
"Thanks for returning my brother Mr. Soldier!" She yells as her family walks to the door that will take them out of the airport. "Merry Chrismahannukah!"
Finn waves back with a laugh. Oh, that is definitely Rachel Berry's daughter.
Tony stops moving and Quinn turns around when she realizes her arm isn't going anywhere.
"Tony?" Finn hears her ask.
Tony looks up at his mommy and tugs at her arm. Quinn leans in as he whispers something and she smiles and nods. Letting go of his mommy's hand, Tony walks back with his lion stuffed animal in tow. He stops right in front of Finn. Finn looks from Quinn, who has her arms around Rachel and Harmony, to Tony and kneels down to be eye level with him.
Wordlessly, Tony sticks his lion out to him. Finn hesitantly moves to touch the toy and Tony nods and smiles. Finn takes the lion in his hands.
"Say bye!" Tony says to the lion, looking at Finn.
"Bye," Finn says, holding the lion up. Tony waves before running back to his moms and his sister. Quinn and Rachel give him one more wave before joining hands and walking out the door with their children in tow.
Finn stares at the door for a while and then he notices his own phone ringing.
"Hey," he says. "I see your truck. I'll be there in a second."
Slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder, he makes his way out of the doors and into Lima and waves to his step-father.