So, just a little one-shot to start off the hiatus :)
Thank you to the lovely Gillian Deverone for beta-ing.
Enjoy!
Finn Hudson is not happy.
No – he's very, very upset and he's determined to make the rest of the world see that 'cause he doesn't wanna be upset on his own, right?
He grumbles around the house for a good part of an hour, ignoring Colin the dog as he trails the man with a wagging tail and hopeful look. And Finn pretty much does that to his wife too, though minus the tail part since that'd be totally crazy. Only thing is, it's not doing anything to budge her decision.
"Finn," Rachel sighs loudly, rubbing her aching forehead, "Lucy is sixteen – stop treating her like a baby."
"But she is!" he argues. "She's my baby. Rach, you've gotta convince her to cancel this date."
When all he receives in return is a roll of the eyes, he begins to prepare himself for defeat. The little punk should be here in thirty minutes and that's not enough time to scare his daughter out of dating boys forever-man, that sounds so nice.
Rachel thrusts a pile of laundry into his hands. "Go and put this away in our wardrobe, baby."
"That's it," he mumbles, "turn me into your maid when you get tired of me."
"If you were my maid, I'd have you in the full outfit," she grins, her eyes suggestive.
With a smirk right back at her, he raises his eyebrow and ducks when she throws a balled up sock at him but it misses by…well, a lot.
He laughs, "All these years and your aim still sucks."
She grins, "Well, whilst everyone else was getting hand –eye coordination, I was receiving extra talent. It's a fair trade in my opinion." Rachel then shrugs and returns to the laundry, happy with her explanation.
His mood hasn't changed though. Maybe it's been uplifted a little bit – a teeny tiny increase of happiness. But that's just Rachel's doing, isn't it? His wife knows how to cheer him up.
But now he has to focus on the bigger problem. His little girl, his youngest girl, is going on a date with a no good, rotten teenager who clearly wants to take advantage of her. And that just won't do. 'Cause she's still a kid and she doesn't know how to handle herself if something bad happens – not when he's not there to protect her. That's his job, right?
He reaches their room, slowly putting the clothes into the right places. Puck says that he's whipped, but Rachel can't be expected to do everything. She already cooks practically everything in the house. He doesn't mind helping much either, especially when she repays him in only the way that she can.
On his way back, he hears giggles coming from Lucy's room and peeps his head nosily around the corner, straining to look inside.
It goes silent.
"Dad, you're the worst eavesdropper ever!" Amber yells, her voice brimming with amusement. He pushes the door open lightly, stepping into the colourful chaos that is his daughter's bedroom. Lucy is sitting on the bed while Amber is helping her with her makeup, though now they're both smirking at him.
"Hey guys," he announces, "did I heard laughing?" He smiles hopefully, inviting himself into the room.
His daughters share a look. "Yeah," Amber says, "we were laughing at our dorky dad. You may know him?"
"Quite well actually," he grins, joining Lucy on the bed. "Hey sweetie."
"I'm not cancelling the date, Daddy," she deadpans, her face serious.
Finn holds his hands up in surrender, "I didn't say anything!" She eyes him suspiciously, "Luce, come on. Do you really think that I'd try to do that?" But…like, how did she know?
"You've been trying to do it for the past week," she says pointedly, "even after Mom told you to stop."
"I just think that you're – "
"Too young to enter the dangerous world of dating," she recites with an eye roll. "You and Mom were dating when you were my age. You're such a hypocrite."
He looks down a little guiltily because maybe she has a point. But Rachel's dads probably acted the same way when she went for dates with him and Puck and even Jesse. It's just a dad thing, he supposes. Lucy is looking desperately to her older sister. He totally knows that look.
Finn nudges her, "Oh, you want me to leave, do you?"
She sighs loudly, "I just…I need to get ready. Bret is going to be here in," she checks her clock, "twenty minutes! Daddy go, I have to get changed."
He pouts to himself, "Fine, throw me out of your room. I don't care. I only raised you for sixteen years."
Lucy chuckles to herself, eyes bright. "Love you, daddy."
His face softens, "Love you too, sweetheart." So much for his plan of convincing her that she should wait a few years to date or maybe, you know, decades. "I'll leave you to get dressed."
With a caring smile, he presses a kiss to her forehead before rising and heading to the door. Once he's out in the hallway, he gives a deep sigh and slumps ever so slightly. Why does she even want to date anyway? She's never shown any interest in boys anyway, unlike her sister. Now she gave him a heart attack when at the tender age of ten she wanted to go on a date with a boy.
Speak of the devil.
"Hey dad!"
Spinning around, albeit a little clumsily, he comes face to face with Amber. Well, not exactly face to face 'cause she's a good few inches shorter than him, but nothing like Rachel of course-all of their children are taller than her, much to her chagrin.
"Yes?" he raises an eyebrow.
She shuffles a little nervously before her large brown eyes gaze upon him, "So…err, James and I set a date for the wedding."
He chokes.
He actually chokes, on the air or something. Point is, he was not expecting that.. "Y-you have?" his voice sounding like it did before he hit puberty.
James is her fiancé, obviously, the guy who swept her off her feet or whatever Rachel says. His wife adores James. Seriously, it's kind of creepy because he's about twenty years younger than her. Anyway, James is a veterinarian, as of last year – he's totally be cool if he wasn't pushing this wedding so much.
Marriage is a big step and he wants Amber to be as happy as possible.
He knows that he and Rachel married young but they'd known each other for three years. Amber has known James for just over a year and they're already planning their wedding. It just gives him an unsettling feeling.
Amber smiles wildly, clearly resisting the urge to jump up and down from excitement, "Yes! We're going to have a fall wedding." There are literally stars in her eyes. "And I've started looking at dresses. Of course Mom and Uncle Kurt keep butting in but it's just…it's finally happening."
A smile pulls at his lips. He's totally happy that she's happy because clearly she is. Just look at her. Finn just doesn't know whether he's ready for the whole "giving her away" part. He wants to keep her forever, his baby girl. It could be just like old times when they spent a whole summer building the tree house or they'd go for a smoothie every Wednesday afternoon after dance without fail.
And now he's got to give her to some other man?
For so long, he was the most important man in her life and she trusted him with pretty much everything, save girl problems 'cause Rachel is a lot better at handling that, thank you very much.
Staring at her, he wants to see his little girl, but he doesn't.
He sees a grown woman.
Someone who doesn't need their "dorky dad" with them every step of the way.
It's kind of scary because it's only a few years until Lucy is down the same path…
"Are you not happy?" she asks when she comes down from her high.
"Amber," he says, "of course I'm happy. I'm just considering how much damage there's gonna be to my bank account."
She grins, "We want a really simple wedding, I've told you."
"Try telling that to your Uncle Kurt. He wants to hire an elephant," he groans. "An elephant!"
"Well, rest assured, Dad," she replies, "all my decisions are final. I inherited the stubbornness of both you and Mom."
"Hey, we're not stubborn!"
Amber gives him a look, folding her arms, "Sure." She quickly becomes more worried: "So…are you going to walk me down the aisle?"
And now he smiles, cherishing the hope in her eyes, "Sweetheart, do you really need to ask that?" She bounds forward as she catches him a tight hug, her chin resting on his shoulder. "Well, this is rare," he jokes.
"Shut up, dad," Amber laughs gently, "you're ruining the moment."
He smiles, squeezing her a little tighter.
And then someone else decides the ruin the moment.
"Ew, public hugging somewhere else, please," Zach frowns as he comes out of his bedroom, gesturing for them to move.
Amber rolls her eyes, "Honestly, Zach, your manners are desperately lacking."
"I learned from the best, sister," he grins before stalking off in search of food.
"He's so not being in the wedding."
Finn nudges her gently, "Ah, come on, he's your baby brother."
"Don't remind me," she huffs. She then straightens up, brushing down her hair. "Well, I should get going. I only came to help Luce get ready because, as much as she likes to think so, Mom knows nothing about fashion or boys."
"I think you'll find that she's very good at picking out the right boy," he smirks, "she picked me, right?"
His daughter hides her giggle before patting his shoulder, "Keep telling yourself that." When his smile falls, she quickly kisses his cheek and hurries down the stairs with a "Bye!"
And then the doorbell rings, "Dad, loverboy's here!"
He grumbles. Great.
When he manages to reach the bottom of the stairs, he finds Rachel standing with a terrified looking boy. This only increases when he sees the tall man lumbering over to him.
"Hello, Mr. Hudson," he breathes, "I-I'm Bret."
Behind him, Rachel is mouthing "Be nice." He observes the kid like he's his prey or something and Bret looks to the floor. Finn almost feels for the kid, having been in this exact situation with Rachel's dads and that was not fun, plus she has two dads and they're both their own kind of crazy, not that he'd ever admit that to Rachel.
He holds out his hand, "Nice to meet you."
Bret visibly relaxes, gripping him in a firm handshake. Handshakes are important, Rachel says, as they show what kind of character a person has. Bret has a strong handshake, much like his own.
Before the awkward silence can take hold of them, Rachel intervenes.
"So Bret," she smiles, the action painfully wide, "where are you taking Lucy tonight?"
"I'm err…" he clears his throat, "taking her to see a show. They're playing West Side Story at the community theatre."
Of course. Trick his baby with the lure of her favorite thing!
When Finn doesn't respond, Rachel once more speaks. "That sounds wonderful!" Finn's brows furrow together-why does she sound so nervous?
The sound of movement upstairs captures their attention and he turns to see Lucy making her way toward them, having eyes only for Bret. His breath hitches. She's wearing a simple black dress with a red sash around her waist, her hair is wavy and perfectly styled. And the smile that she's sporting only adds to the look.
She just…
She's so grown up.
As she reaches them, he can see her shaking with nerves. "Hi Bret," she says, looking unsure of whether to hug him or not. She turns to her parents, "We're gonna go then." After hugging Rachel, she gives Finn a kiss on the cheek. "Bye."
"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Hudson," Bret adds hastily as Lucy practically drags him from the door.
Once they're gone, he notices Rachel watching him, "What?"
She shakes her head lightly.
"Anyway," he pats his belly, "what're we having for dinner?"
"I'm afraid that you and Zach are going to have to fend for yourselves," she tells him, beginning to walk into the living room, "I've got my book club into twenty minutes. I should really get going."
Finn groans, "Can't you miss it?" Her gasp is the answer to that. "I don't get why they added another meeting this week. All you do is talk. Can't you do it over the phone or something?" Rachel shifts uncomfortably under his questions, causing him to stare at her with curiosity.
"No," she insists, grabbing her red coat, "I'm going, but I'll be back in a few hours. Don't worry about Lucy either-she'll be fine." To be honest, she looks like she's trying to convince herself more. Now ready to brave the cold of the outside, she takes her bag – which looks too full to have only books in there – and tucks it beneath her arm. Rachel kisses him sweetly and says, "Try not to destroy my kitchen."
He smirks, "No promises."
Rachel sets a glare upon him, and he squirms, "Fine, fine. I'll take the utmost care with your precious kitchen."
She beams, "That's better." Her hands runs over his chest smoothly, "I love you, but you know that."
"You may have mentioned it before," he teases.
With a chuckle, she kisses him again and starts to head out, "See you later, baby. Bye, Zach!"
The eighteen year old's muffled response comes a few seconds later and then Rachel's out of the door with a wave.
He checks the clock again.
An hour.
It's only been an hour.
Why does it feel like an eternity?
Finn watches the seconds hand slowly move around the circle, willing it to move faster so that Lucy will be home, where he knows that she's safe. He knows that he should call Rachel – she'll calm his nerves right down – but she hates when he calls during her book club.
He should distract himself before he goes crazy because, at this rate, he'll be tearing his hair out all night with worry.
What if that little brat is taking advantage of his daughter?
He could do something against her will and Finn'll never know because it'll be too late.
Finn slowly moves into the kitchen where the box of pizza remains there, most of it gone. Zach is at the table on his laptop, his large headphones blurring out repetitive beats.
Sitting himself across from his son, Finn sighs, "How long do you think it is before she comes back?"
Zach, obviously not being able to hear, furrows his brows in confusion. A little reluctantly, he takes off the headphones, "What?"
"Your sister," Finn clarifies, "what time do you think she'll be back?"
He stares around aimlessly before shrugging. Teenage boys, Finn realizes, aren't exactly helpful. Zach goes to put his headphones on once more though his father's lament proceeds. "I wish your mom was here. She always knows what to do in times like this – God, how's she staying so calm."
"Yeah," Zach smirks, "Mom's totally fine with this."
"What's that supposed to mean?" his face scrunches up in confusion. His son only shakes his head and continues on the laptop, typing furiously as Finn ponders.
...
"Do you think that she's having fun?"
"Who?" he asks, clearly annoyed.
"Lucy!"
Zach sighs, "Yeah…probably, I dunno. She's watching a musical so…"
Finn rests his chin on his hand, frowning deeply, "What if he's like…putting his arm around her?" His forehead creases with worry, "and she leaning her head on his or something. Holy crap – this isn't happening."
A sly look slips onto Zach's face.
"Yeah dad, you're right!" he gasps, "and what if it leads to them holding hands? And then, oh wait, she'll stay at his house tonight and they kiss before making out. You know that making out always leads to sex nowadays and Lucy will get pregnant with a bastard child. She'll have to drop out of high school and get her own place with Bret to raise said child – oh, and this will all end a few months before Amber's wedding so maybe you can make it a double wedding. Save some money. Of course you'll be spending it all on your grandchild, old man."
Finn's eyes go wider than ever before.
What does a heart attack feel like? 'Cause right now his is kinda going crazy.
Zach grins, "And here we all were thinking that Amber would be the first to pop one out."
Finn shoots up from in seat, knocking it over in his haste. He doesn't even bother to pick it up as he's rushing from the door. "I'm too young to be a granddad!" he screams on his way out of the door. Zach just snickers before continuing to listen to his music.
He's been parked in the theatre parking lot for a good twenty five minutes and there's still no sign of anyone leaving.
Maybe he's overreacting, but he's definitely not going to take that chance. Lucy is not getting pregnant on his watch. Not for at least another ten years.
His eyes keep scanning over to area, looking for any movement or people. But there's nothing. Just him and his millions of worries – they all feel so heavy and scary. A person in the background catches his attention and he stares at the entrance of the theatre with unbroken concentration, only to see that it's one person, wearing a red coat.
Wait a minute.
Wait one fucking minute.
That person looks like his wife.
He squints his eyes.
It is his wife.
And she's skittishly walking across the parking lot, looking traumatized.
Finn is completely thrown. He beeps the horn of the car, causing her to jump and stare for the source of the noise, only to have her wide eyes land on him, her mouth falling open.
"What're you doing?" he asks before realizing that he's in the car and she's not. He gestures for her to come over, but it's kind of pointless, because she's practically already there. She opens the passenger door and climbs inside. "Rach, what the hell are you doing?"
"Me?" she places her hand on her hip. "Why are you here?"
He frowns, "I asked you first."
She desperately searches for an answer. "M-my book club, yes! It got moved here – I should have told you. Must have slipped my mind," she forces a smile onto her face.
But Finn already knows, "You were spying on them!"
"No," she gasps, "I would never do that." He gives her a look and her eyes fall to the floor. "Maybe I was spying…just a little."
"Hah, I knew it!" he points his finger at her, "you were the one trying to get me not to worry and you're hiding in the theatre and watching their every move." Rachel's head drops into her hands as she groans loudly.
"I couldn't help myself," she admits.
He can't believe it. After days and days of her telling him "it's okay" or "you're just being paranoid" he finds out that she's just as bad, maybe even worse. Rachel pouts at him, her eyes wide, "You don't understand, Finn. They were so close – they're were practically sitting on one seat." She sounds horrified. "And he kissed her on the cheek. Four times!"
His ears prick up, "No!"
"Yes," she shouts, even though he's right next to her. Her hands grab onto his shoulders with strength, "Finn, do you know what this means?"
Yes, yes he does. Hello grandparenthood.
"It means that they'll kiss more and then that'll continue to have unprotected intercourse at his house before she falls pregnant to the tragic affair, forcing her to completely abandon her education and…"
This sounds familiar…
Like something he's heard before.
About half an hour before actually.
"Rach," he cuts her off, "have you been talking to Zach by any chance?"
"Well, he was there when I needed guidance as to how to handle this! And then he started saying all these things that would happen," she rants, "and it is! He was right Finn."
Finn can't believe his son – saying that to both of them, probably to get them to shut up. This isn't the first time that he's done something like this. "Baby, I have a feeling that our son has been playing with our emotions."
She halts from her mutterings about not being ready to be a grandma to stare at him, "W-what?"
"I think Zach was trying to scare us. He just wanted to get rid of us," he begins, "man, that's good!" Rachel just glares at him and he grows sheepish, "I mean, we'll have to talk to him when we get back. Let's go."
"No!" she moves his hands from the steering wheel. "Let's just stay a little longer. Look, people are already starting to come out."
"Honey…" he begins, knowing full well that it's wrong to spy on people, but he can't help himself. He needs to know that Lucy's okay.
Rachel grabs his arm, "Look, there they are!"
And he can see them too, walking hand in hand over to his car most likely. Only problem is, it appears that his car is near their car. "Shit!" he curses.
"Langu – "
He pulls her down with him so that they can't be seen, both hidden behind the dashboard. His head is basically in her lap, not that he's unhappy about that.
There's a tense silence in the car as they judge the right amount of time to wait.
"Do you think they're gone?" Rachel whispers, her voice muffles by her face against his back.
"Lemme check," he mumbles, peeping his eyes over the dashboard to see the couple in the car a few down from them. He waits impatiently for it to drive off before sitting up and groaning, "Man, I'm getting too old for stuff like this."
But Rachel isn't listening. She buckles her seatbelt quickly, eyes shining with determination
"Follow that car!" she screeches, reaching into her bag and pulling out a pair of… binoculars! And she's holding them to her eyes as she stares ahead of her. "Faster, or you'll lose them."
"I'm going as fast as I can!" he huffs, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
When Bret's car takes a turn to his house rather than theirs, Rachel gasps loudly, "Zach was right. My poor baby." She then goes into a long speech about just how unfortunate Lucy will be when she falls prey to teenage pregnancy. But like…she's not that clueless, is she? They brought her up, didn't they? They taught her right and wrong, good and bad. She knows how to protect herself.
He totally slams his foot on the break which, in hindsight, was a pretty dumb idea. The car lurches forward, taking Rachel's binoculars with it and they both are shot there too, only to be dragged back again by the seatbelts. A car behind him beeps and he curses himself before pulling onto the side of the road.
"Finn! What are you doing?" she looks downright pissed, especially when she picks up her broken binoculars.
"What are we doing?" he looks her straight in the eyes, "Rach, this is stupid."
"What is?"
He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. "We're spying on our own daughter."
"To protect her."
"No," he argues, "how is this protecting her? What would you have done if your dads did this?" He knows that he'd be beyond pissed and humiliated if his mom ever did it. "We're supposed to trust her."
Rachel stutters, "W-we do."
"Do we? Look at us – you've just spent an hour watching her on her first date. Isn't that wrong?" he can't believe that he never realized this before. "We're just…we're blinded by fear."
She looks guilty, her eyes filled with sadness.
And Finn feels it too.
"Are we like, going through a mid-life crisis or something?" he feels super confused, "because Amber's getting married and Zach, he'll be moving out next month. So…so all we have right now is Lucy and- "
"We don't want to let her go," Rachel finishes quietly, "oh my God – we are going through a mid-life crisis. I honestly didn't see this coming. I mean, spying is only a tiny step above what's normal for me." She cracks a small smile, clearly finding some humor in the situation.
But Finn is just sitting there.
The realization hit him hard. He's only, like, forty seven years old. Fuck.
He rubs his forehead, turning to Rachel when he feels her hand gently rubbing his arm. "You okay?" she asks.
"I'm old," he says. "Really old."
"No you're not," she assures him, "you're still as young and fit as ever."
"But I'm not…"
Rachel pouts, "Finn, come on, believe me. I'm your wife." When her hand finds his, he idly messes with her wedding ring, smiling at the small object.
"I think that we've both been acting a little over the top, huh? I blame Zach a little – that pregnancy story really knocked me over the edge."
She chuckles, "I think he's in need of a very long lecture about worrying his dear old parents."
"Oh, so now we're old?"
"We can be old together?" she offers.
"Hmm," he taps his chin thoughtfully, "If you want to."
Her eyes meet his, "I do."
Finn grins, "It's a deal." No more panicking. No more stalking their daughter around the neighborhood on her first date. No more lying to each other about stalking their daughter around the neighbourhood on her first date. Beside him, Rachel starts to laugh. "What?" he smiles.
"I can't believe how crazy I've been about this. So what if my baby girl's all grown up! It's just part of life, right?"
"Right," he agrees, though he still can't help but long for the many years that he's lost. "Let's go home," he finally announces. "Together." Rachel smiles and nods.
He starts the engine to the car, grinning when she puts the binoculars back in her bag.
"I still can't believe that you brought binoculars," he says.
Rachel raises her eyebrow, "I bet you ten dollars that your binoculars are in this car right now."
He slides down in the seat a little, "…certainly not."
"Thirty dollars."
"They're…not here," he sticks to his story.
"A hundred dollars!" she announces confidently.
Finn sighs, "They're under my coat on the back seat."
She smirks, "Thought so."
I hope that you liked it!
Protective Finn is my favourite :D
Please review