Hello! This is my second Glee fic, I'm getting slowly addicted! I thought it was just going to be a oneshot, but I think I'm going to need to do two chapters to do it justice :) This is set a few years after high school ends, so Finn is around twenty five. I won't say anything else except this is decidely Finn/Rachel (L) So cute! I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think.

Donna xxx

He had been toying with the idea for a while now, spent agonising hours weighing up all of the pros and cons of taking such a big step, before finally deciding: To hell with it. He was as happy now as he figured he was ever going to be, so why not? They'd been dating steadily for nine months now, his second longest relationship ever, and he knew she thought it was the next logical step.

The only reason that he was hesitant was absolutely ridiculous, so stupid that he bearely even allowed himself to think it. At least, not when he was conscious, anyway... What or who his dreams chose to focus on, he told himself he had no control over.

And so, Finn planned it all out. On friday, he would surprise her by picking her up from work for the first time ever at around six thirty, taking with him the red dress he vaguely knew she liked to wear on evenings out. He would take her to a showing of a musical on Broadway, before a late dinner at a nice restaurant... And that was when he'd ask her. The whole plan seemed fine to him.

He spent the friday daytime killing time at work, trying to be excited and wondering why exactly he wasn't. Surely this was supposed to be the best day of his life, he knew he was supposed to be surer about this than anything... But this was the right thing to do, and he knew it. Better to do it now and secure a good future for himself with a woman who loved him, rather than spending his life chasing a pointless dream and wondering, at the end of it all, what he might have had.

He was planning to leave at five-thirty, hoping that he could avoid the rush hour traffic that was enevitable when attempting to drive across town in New York. But, of course, the fates had their way, and the uber-diva who's new single Finn was producing and who was meant to be finished by four that day did not even arrive at the studio until three-forty-five. Which meant that an irritable Finn did not get to leave work until six-fifteen, without even a chance to change out of his work suit.

By this time, of course, the traffic was in full flow, gridlocked as far as the eye could see. Finn banged his head frustratedly against the steering wheel, guessing, and quite rightly, that he would finally reach her office only to be told that she had already left. Bad omen number one.

"Crap. How long ago did she leave?" He asked the mousy girl on the front desk in her building, "Was it long?"

"Uuuuhhhhh..." The bored-looking receptionist considered, "Now let me just check in the book... What was her name again, Mr. Hudson?"

"Grace. I just told you this." Finn tried desperately not to get too agitated.

"Grace Hudson, Grace Hudson..." She sucked on the end of a biro as she flipped through the log book.

"Her name isn't Hudson!" He almost cried, sorely tempted to start wringing his hands, "Hudson is my name, I just told you! Her name is Grace Ferringdon, and all I want to know is what time she clocked out."

"Right..." The girl looked confused, "Well, we have Grace Ferringdon here, but I'm not sure what time she left, it doesn't say...I could get ehr supervisor to see if he can remem-"

"Look." Finn cut her off, "You've been on reception all day, right? Can you please just tell me what time you vaguely remember her walking out of the elevators, writing her name in the book and then leaving?"

"Hmmmm," She considered, "What does she look like?"

He sighed, "She's a... small woman, you might say, around five four, long dark hair, dress sense a little quirky, she sings to herself quite a lot of the time..." He felt a little guilty as he said it, knowing inside him that it was no mere coincidence that he was about to propose to a woman who greatly resembled the person who had almost prevented him from ever leaving Ohio.

And it wasn't just in looks, either. As much as Grace did look like a certain someone, Finn had also been drawn to her all those months ago because of the way her eyes sparkled, the way that she lit up when she sang whilst pottering about the apartment. Her ridiculous enthieusiasm for broadway musicals and her habit of crying at every single remotely sad moment of every film ever made. Sure, all of these tings were on a much smaller scale than the person he couldn't help comparing her to... but they were there all the same, and he found them strangely comforting.

"Ummm..." The girl behind reception mused, "That wouldn't be her there, would it?" Finn turned and looked at where the girl was gesturing, to see Grace crashing through the entrance doors, her arms laden with files and looking flushed.

"Finn!" She exlaimed as she saw him, "I just had to dash back because I realized I didn't sign out properly... What are you doing here?"

"I'm surprising you!" He told her as she grabbed the pen and wrote the time in the log book, "I've booked us in to see Cabaret at seven-thirty, and then I thought we could grab some dinner afterwards."

"That sounds wonderful." She practically gasped, "But baby... what's the occasion?"

"No occasion, as such." He told her, smiling, "There's just something I wanted to talk to you about, and I tought this would be a nice way to... celebrate."

Her eyes widened, and he could instantly tell that she knew what he meant by the beam that broke out over her face as she threw his arms around her. Maybe, he thought, just maybe, tonight would go alright after all.

Or maybe not. In the car on the painstakingly slow drive over to the theatre, Grace was halfway through clumsily changing in the back seat when she told Finn he'd brought her the wrong dress... This one, although it resembled her favourite red dress, was one he had mistakenly dug out of the back of her wardrobe, and hadn't fitted her since she was seventeen. Bad omen number two.

When they finally did arrive and get parked, the couple were running so late that Finn didn't even glance at the huge poster outside of the theatre as they dashed inside, or have a chance to pick up a programme, instead heading directly to the box office, where the assistant informed them that there had been a mix-up with the booking arrangements. Instead of sitting directly in the middle, with prime view, they would be in the very front row, having to crane their necks just a few feet from the stage. Bad omen number three.

"Come on, sweetie, I'm sure it will be fine." Grace squeezed his hand as they edged into their seats, "The experience is more fulfilling when you have front-row seats, anyway." Finn tried to smile, but inside him the feeling was growing that tonight was turning into a complete disaster.

"Did you see the picture of the leading lady outside?" She asked him, whilst attempting to pull down the hem of her too-short, too-tight dress, "She's absolutely beautiful, and the reviews I've read, my god..."

"I didn't see her." Finn replied, distracted and only half listening. What was he doing?

Luckily, he was saved from having to think of a reply to that daunting question, as the house lights dropped and the orchestra began to play,the opening bars of the very first song. A spotlight shone down onto the leading actress that Grace had spoken so highly of... This was bad omen number four, most definitely the worst so far.

Finn's eyes widened... He really knew he was in trouble now. And he could barely contain his mixture of shock, delight and fear all mingled into one, as Rachel Berry began to sing.