"Finn, please, don't do this." I said as he walked out our front door. "We need you. Finn, wait. Please, don't go." He threw his weekend suitcase stuffed full of clothes and toiletries into the back seat of his car, removed our daughter's car seat, and slammed the door. "Finn, please at least look at me if you're walking out on me, on our family." I begged.

He turned around and looked into my eyes, gently stroking my cheek. "I'm not 'walking out', Rach. I just have some... things I need to figure out. I'm going away. I'm not sure when I'll be back. I'm turning my phone off, so you won't be able to get a hold of me. I'll call Arianna tonight and every night. But please don't ask me why. I just need to find me." He opened and got into his car, turned it on, and drove away.

I stood on the front steps of our perfect home as he sped towards the highway. As I watched him go, I thought of all the things I'd given him, all the things I'd given up for him. I'd never been more disappointed in myself in my life. I'd given up my dreams for him, because I love him. We'd stayed in Lima, because he'd wanted to work for Burt. We'd moved in next to Noah after we'd gotten married, followed closely by Sam and Quinn, and finally Kurt and Blaine.

I walked slowly into the house, closed the front door, and went into the kitchen. I hadn't had a drink since my failure of a party a few years ago, but today seemed as good a day as any to try it again. I poured myself a small glass of wine and went into the living room and sat on the couch. There was still at least an hour and a half until I needed to pick Ari up from school to run her to singing lessons.

I didn't really know what to do with myself, so I just sat. I flipped through the TV channels looking for anything that would lift my spirits. There was nothing. I went back into the kitchen, rinsed out my glass, and began to bake. I'd always bake when I was upset. Finn used to make fun of me for it, but it really did help calm me down.

I looked at the clock above the oven. "Damn." My cookies had two minutes left, but it would take me longer than that to pick Arianna up. I couldn't turn them off, that would stop the cooking process. I grabbed the phone off the wall and dialed Sam and Quinn. One of them would be able to watch my cookies, right?

"Hello?" Sam said as he answered the phone.

"Sam, hi, it's Rachel."

"Oh, hey Rachel. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you or Quinn could come over and watch my cookies in the oven? I need to pick up Arianna from school but the cookies only have two minutes left in the oven."

"Sure, I'll be over in a second."

"Thank you so much! I'll leave the door unlocked and then you can lock it when you leave. Feel free to take some home to Quinn."

"Bye Rach. And thanks. Quinn loves your cookies." I quickly hung up the phone, hung my apron up on its hook, and grabbed my keys off the rail on the refrigerator. I drove to Arianna's school with the car almost silent. I needed to think. Why would Finn leave like that? What had I done?

Arianna got into the car and at once turned the radio on. "Hi, mommy!"

"Hi sweetie. How was your day at school?"

"It was alright. One of the kids in my class called daddy a mean name, so I hit him. Then he laughed at me and said you were ugly." she said, frowning.

"Wait, you hit him?" Why hadn't I gotten a call?

"Not hard." She said frowning. "He made fun of me for that, too."

"Did you tell your teacher? Which child was it?"

"No, I didn't tell a teacher. I'm not five, mom. I'm seven. And it was that Jackson kid. He's dumb, anyway."

'Jackson?' I thought to myself. 'Who did I know who'd named their son Jackson? That's such a weird name...'

We rode the rest of the way back to the house in silence with just the radio playing in the background. Arianna walked into the house first. I knew she could smell the cookies and would soon ask me what was wrong. How could I tell her that Finn had walked out? How could I tell her daddy wasn't coming home tonight?

"Mommy, what's wrong? Why isn't daddy home?" Arianna asked as I hung my keys up in the kitchen. "Mommy, please, answer me. Where's daddy?"

"Ari, sit down. Please." We walked into the living room. She sat on the couch and I sat in one of the chairs. "Daddy isn't coming home for a while. He's not sure that he loves mommy right now."

"Mommy, of course he loves you!" she interrupted. "How can he not? You've been together since high school!"

"Let me finish." I wiped the corner of my eye where a tear was forming. "Daddy just needs some time for himself. He said he'll call you tonight. You can talk to him every day, just like normal. I promise."

Arianna began to cry and ran straight to her room. I remained seated on the couch, crying as well. This was going to be so hard. We missed singing lessons today, but I guess singing was less important than this…