Rachel Berry Hudson waved two oven mitts from the tiny cramped kitchen as her husband of two months opened the door to the cozy apartment. "Oh good! You're back!" She piped. "I just finished a series of trial meals from my literary supplement "The Way of Vegan Living" and we have meatless meatballs, veggie lasagna, and tofu casserole to choose from for dinner!" The short diva wrinkled her nose and scanned at the counters full of food. "Just fill your plate and the rest will be left overs for the rest of the week. I was on a roll."

Finn's face lit up at the sight and smell of food (even if the smell was a little funky) and bent down to place a warm kiss on his wife's lips. "Wow! You did all this? Branching out from banana bread."
Their new months of marriage had brought challenges in the food department. They compromised that eating out once a week wouldn't make to much of a dent in their salary. Finn still had money from his ongoing contract with the army and was currently using his time off duty to work at an auto repair shop. To him it felt like a little piece of Ohio. And it helped pay the bills.

Nearly a year after he had let the singing starlet go on that train station headed for the big apple, the musical duo had found there way back to each other. It seemed that even a mere 12 months apart had made them different people. Or maybe it was the work of the army and a prestigious dramatic arts academy. Either way, their love returned stronger despite the change, and Finn had decided to wait out his off call months in New York. Two and a half years later, they finally had the means for the wedding of Rachel's dreams and Finn was ready to say he'd never let her go. They were married the summer after her junior year.

Now the Hudsons were happily cooped up in a tiny New York apartment that didn't exactly live up to the penthouse that Rachel had envisioned. But it worked. It was a shift from Rachel living on campus at NYADA and Finn rooming with Kurt in an apartment as his step brother attended a nearby ashion institute. They were finally together and really married.

Rachel smiled proudly as her husband heartily filled his plate, clapping her oven mitts together. "Cooking is very different from baking, but it was a challenge and I accepted!" She poked the casserole with her spatula skeptically. "Does this look a little burnt to you?" Taking Finn's full mouth as a no, the brunette brought her plate over to the kitchen table and took a seat. "So !" How was your day at the office?" Rachel leaned in with a whisper. "The office was simply metaphorical. I'm fully aware that you work in a garage."

The tall man swallowed his bite and nodded with a chuckle. "Yea it's way messier than an office." He shrugged. "But it was good. How were classes? You had dance today, right? In the morning?"

"I am happy to report that I received no ridicule from my instructor today. Actually, she complimented my form." The little ingenue beamed. "Personally, I think she's always liked me. She just prefers the methods of negative reinforcement. Constructive criticism if you will. Sometimes that's what it takes to get a star to the top."

Her husband nodded between mouthfuls again and chugged his glass of water. "Cool. My guy at the recruiting station called me this morning. Gotta call him back later."

Rachel poked a forkful of casserole into her mouth and looked up at him. "Oh? What did he say?"

Finn shook with head. "Guess I'll have to call him back to know more."

A silent nod was the NYADA student's response. Generally calls from the recruiter meant that Finn was going to be pulled away from her for a few weeks. It hadn't happened yet since they had married and she wasn't looking forward to the day it did. "Well I was thinking that maybe tonight we could invite ourselves over to Kurt's? I'm sure his new roommate wouldn't mind! I mean the Tony nominations are being announced and even students attending an institute of fashion should be conscious of the happenings in the musical theater world. This is New York after all."

"Yeah! Totally. I'll call Jeff once we're at Kurt's. The food was great by the way. Even the fake meat stuff." Finn leaned over the small table to place a kiss of gratitude to his wife's cheek. He could wait a few hours to find out when he'd have to leave.