Summer Before Senior Year

"Lily, this is a ball," said Rachel. "Can you say 'ball'?"

"Fa!" said Lily. Then she looked up at Rachel and grinned as if expecting applause.

"Give it up, Rachel," said Kurt, who was laying on the couch in the Hudson-Hummel living room watching TV while Rachel and Lily played on the floor. "You are not going to teach Lily how to talk in the time it takes Finn to get back."

Rachel ignored Kurt. "Lily, this is a chair. Can you say, 'chair'?"

"Fa!" squealed Lily again.

"Where is Finn, anyway?" said Kurt.

"He went shopping," said Rachel. "Lily, this is a dolly-"

"What?" said Kurt. "Finn went shopping without me?"

"Fa!" shouted Lily, pointing to the dolly.

"Calm down, he's just going out with your dad to get some supplies for the shop," said Rachel. "How do you handle going clothes shopping with Finn, anyway? He doesn't exactly have your style."

"It's pure torture," said Kurt. "But I'm sure if he went by himself or with the guys he'd do even worse. He's all boy, it's impossible to get him to wear anything nice."

"That's what you have me for, silly!" said Rachel. "And Blaine. And Lily. Hey Lily, this is a dress, can you say 'dress'?"

"Fa!" said Lily.

"Oh, come on now," said Kurt, looking at Lily seriously. "I've taught you better than that." The one-year-old just blinked. "Hey Rachel, would you mind handing me the remote? It's over there on the armchair."

"Sure," said Rachel. She stood up and grabbed the remote. "Here." She stepped closer towards Kurt to hand it to him, banging her leg hard against the coffee table in the process. "Oww, dammit," she mumbled.

Lily grinned. "Oww dammit!"

First Day Of Senior Year

"Lily, guess what?" said Finn. "I'm going back to school today."

"School! Yay!" said Lily.

"Easy for you to say," said Finn, pulling his jacket on over his school uniform. "Kurt's going to school, too."

"Yay!" said Lily. "Kurt school! School sing hall cwock winnows door hard swam! wooms desks red coffee cold mess."

"Um…yeah," said Finn. "Lily, why don't you put all the toys you were planning to take to grandma's house in the diaper bag?"

Lily grinned. "Gwama school too?"

"No, Lily," said Finn. "You're going to Grandma Fabray's house while I go to school with Kurt and Blaine and Rachel."

"Rachel!" squealed Lily. "Toenails!"

Finn sighed, stuffed the rest of the books he needed into his backpack, and began packing Lily's toys himself. He still thought his daughter was much too young for toenail polish, even though Rachel, Kurt, and his mom had all begged to differ.

"Lily school!" said Lily. "Lily school! Lily school!"

"No Lily," said Finn. "Lily grandma's house, Daddy school."

"No," said Lily. Then she just sat there for a minute. "Daddy sing baby Rachel song."

"What?" said Finn. He went over to Lily, sat her down on the edge of his bed, and started to put her shoes on.

"Sing baby Rachel song," said Lily again.

"What is that?" said Finn.

"Baby Rachel song!" said Lily, looking at Finn like he was a complete idiot for not knowing what she was talking about.

"Let's go get in the car," said Finn. He grabbed the backpack and the diaper bag and took Lily's hand. She toddled along next to him on small clumsy legs.

"Baby la light uppa wood wike no bunny ewse," sang Lily, completely off-key but clearly enough.

"Oh that Rachel song," said Finn, surprised that she still remembered how he had seranaded Rachel with that song shortly before Nationals. He stepped out into the garage where his car was and scooped Lily up so she wouldn't trip down the cement steps.

"Daddy sing!" squealed Lily.

"No, sorry Lily," said Finn. "That's Rachel's song. I can only sing it to her."

"Aww," said Lily as Finn unlocked the side door to his car. "Daddy sing stand by Lily song?"

"I can do that," said Finn with a smile. He climbed into the front seat, opened the garage door, put the keys in the ignition, and began to sing.

"Oh, why you look so sad?
Tears are in your eyes
Come on and come to me now…"

By the time he finished the song, he and Lily were already at Mrs. Fabray's house. "My song," Lily insisted.

"Yes, Lily," said Finn. "That will always be your song."

"Don't you get it?" said Finn. "He's not gonna recruit me. I'm not good enough at football to get a scholarship, I'm not a good enough singer to get into NYADA, I'm not…"

Finn froze slightly and stopped shouting when Rachel put Lily down in his arms. "Daddy sad?" said Lily.

"You heard what he said," said Rachel softly. "Just because your football career ends in high school doesn't mean your life does. You're too young to be giving up just because your dreams didn't come true. You'll just create new dreams for yourself."

This reminded Finn very much of something that Rachel had said to him after his and Quinn's second sonogram appointment when she found him alone in the choir room freaking out about how he was ever going to be able to live his own life and be a father to Lily at the same time. "Of course you'll still have goals for yourself," she'd said. "You'll just have someone else to think about along the way. Two someone elses," she'd grudgingly added, not yet knowing that the other "someone else" would ultimately end up being her rather than Quinn.

"And this," said Rachel, stroking Lily's dark curls with her left hand. "This is proof that you can do something right."

Finn wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yeah."

"It's okay, Daddy," said Lily. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

Rachel, not quite knowing what else to do, wrapped her arms around both of them and started to sing.

"Yellow diamonds in the light
And we're standing side by side
As your shadow crosses mine
What it takes to come alive
It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny
But I've got to let it go
We found love in a hopeless place
We found love in a hopeless place
We found love in a hopeless place
We found love in a hopeless place"

After a few minutes, Lily was asleep. Rachel wordlessly scooped her up out of Finn's arms, brought her to the bedroom she still shared with Finn, and set her down in the crib. When she got back. Finn was still sitting in the living room with his back facing her. Rachel took off her coat, walked around to in front of the couch, and sat down on the floor. Then she pulled a pillow and blanket down off the couch and placed them on the floor.

"What are you doing?" said Finn. "The play's over."

"I know," said Rachel. "This is about you and me now. I'm not an actress anymore." She leaned over and kissed him. "Just a girl who loves you."

The next day, Finn, Rachel, and Lily all had breakfast together in the kitchen. Burt and Carole came home while they were eating, so Finn told them Rachel had just stopped by to hang out before the show. "How'd the campaign fundraiser go?" said Finn.

"Went great," said Burt. "I'm already five percentage points above Sue Sylvester."

"Oh, Finn," said Carole. "How did it go with the recruiter?"

"Not great," Finn admitted. "There's no way I'll be able to get a football scholarship."

"Are you sure?" said Carole. Both Finn and Rachel nodded sadly.

"You know," said Finn as his eyes happened to fall on an old photograph of his father. "I never told anyone, but my backup plan was always joining the army."

"Oh really?" said Carole, her face instantly turning white.

"Not that that's gonna happen now," Finn mumbled as he glanced at Lily, who was clumsily shoving a spoonful of baby food into her mouth.

"I guess not," said Carole, for the first time secretly glad that her son was a teen dad so that she would never have to explain to him why he should never join the army.

Senior Year Nationals

"Guys, I've got bad news," said Kurt, sprinting into the green room. "Vocal Adrenaline just stole one of our songs."

"Oh, crap," mumbled Blaine. "What song?"

"Finn's solo," said Kurt.

"Say what?" said Finn, who was busy changing Lily's diaper so he could hand her off to Carole.

"You have to come up with a new solo to sing," said Kurt. "In the next five minutes."

"What about that one you sang at Burt and Carole's wedding?" Rachel suggested.

"I'm a little out of practice with that one, I haven't sang it anywhere but the shower in years," said Finn. "What am I gonna do?"

"Shower?" said Lily confused. "Slushie shower big song school pink?"

"What?" said Sam.

"Oh, I wouldn't even try to translate that," said Mercedes, coming over and adjusting his tie.

"Kurt!" said Lily. "Born away!"

"Lily, be quiet," said Rachel. "We're trying to think of a song that Daddy can sing in just a minute."

"Baby Rachel song!" Lily exclaimed.

"What?" said Rachel.

"She's talking about What Makes You Beautiful," said Finn.

"You can sing that!" said Rachel.

Finn smiled. "I don't know. That's our song. I only ever sing it to you."

Rachel smiled back. "Then go out there and sing it to me in front of everyone. I'll stand right here."

Finn leaned over and gave her a quick kiss before walking away to go warm up.

"Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you
Baby, you light up my world
Like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair
Gets me overwhelmed
And when you smile at the ground
It ain't hard to tell
You don't know oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful"

Two original songs later, victory was theirs.

End of Summer

Lily peered into Kurt's room and looked curiously at the stacks of boxes and suitcases by his door. The last time she'd seen them was a few days before Grandma Carole and Grandpa Burt had disappeared with all their things, and she hadn't seen them since.

"Kurt?" said Lily. "Where you go?"

Kurt smiled almost sadly. "I'm going to college."

"What's college?" said Lily.

"It's like high school," said Kurt. "Only bigger. And really far away."

"No!" yelled Lily. "Kurt stay here!"

"I can't," said Kurt. "No one is staying here. That's why Grandpa hired a manager for the tire shop and rented out the house."

"Nooo!" yelled Lily. Then she burst into tears. Not quite sure what to do, Kurt scooped her up and hugged her.

"It's okay, Lily," said Kurt. "You'll still be in Ohio. You're going to college with Daddy."

"Kurt, Lily, Daddy, college?" sniffed Lily.

"Yes," said Kurt. "But we're not all going to the same place."

Lily shook her head. "Kurt stay with us," she whimpered.

"Sorry," said Kurt. "I have to go to college with Rachel. If I don't, she'll have no one to pick out her clothes for her."

"Rachel too!"

"No, sorry," said Kurt. "Blaine might be going with you and Daddy."

Lily shook her head. "Blaine goes with you. Rachel goes with Daddy."

Kurt sighed. "And that would be the part where it all gets complicated."

Not understanding, Lily got up and left to go find Finn. Kurt sighed as she darted into their bedroom and immediately told Finn that they were bringing him and Rachel to college with them. Kurt pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Blaine?"

"You're still coming over later, right?" said Blaine.

"Of course," said Kurt. He paused. "Blaine? Are you okay?"

"Can you just promise me one more time that this is going to work out?" Blaine pleaded reluctantly.

"You're insane. Of course it is," said Kurt. "How many times have I told you that I'm never saying goodbye to you?"

"A lot," Blaine admitted.

"Don't make me close one more door," Kurt sang. "I don't wanna hurt anymore."

"Don't walk away from me," Blaine sang from his end.

Kurt smiled. "I have nothing, nothing, nothing, if I don't have you."

The next morning, Rachel came over to say goodbye to Finn and to pick up Kurt. Lily was so furious that she hid behind the couch until they left and wouldn't even come out to hug them goodbye. Then Kurt and Rachel got into their taxi and drove off to the train station. Lily burst into tears.

"You wanna come out of there, Lily?" said Finn.

"NO!" yelled Lily. "Make Kurt and Rachel come back!"

"I can't," said Finn. "I miss them too." He sighed, suddenly feeling really depressed. This was all so final. "Wanna go to the park?"

"NO!" yelled Lily again.

"Okay, fine," said Finn. He went over to the front door and started to pull his shoes on. "I'll just go by myself."

Within seconds, Lily was up next to him, clinging to his leg. He scooped her up and thought for just one second about how weird it was having nobody else in the house but Lily. Not for long, though. Within two weeks, he and Lily would be living in special housing at Ohio State and this house would be lived in by somebody else.

"This was the last house your mom ever lived in," said Finn with a sigh.

"Mama?" said Lily.

"Yeah," said Finn. Both of them stopped to glance at the picture of himself, Quinn, and Lily as a baby that still hung in the hallway, the one picture that hadn't been taken down yet. He wasn't sure if he liked the idea of it packed away in some storage unit.

"Where Mama go?" Lily asked for the first time ever, startling Finn slightly.

"I don't know, Lily," said Finn. "She's just gone." Then before Lily could ask any more questions, Finn stepped out the front door and locked it behind them.

"Lily, no," said Finn. "Don't throw the sand out of the sandbox. You're supposed to play in it."

"Sorry Daddy," said Lily. She climbed out of the sandbox and tried to scoop the sand back in.

"It's okay," said Finn. "Just try building something."

"Build?" said Lily.

"Yeah," said Finn. "You could try making a house, or a castle…"

"Or a junkyard?"

Finn rolled his eyes and turned around to see Puck standing there. "Hey," said Puck.

"Build castle!" squealed Lily as she began pushing together a mound of sand into a pile.

"Hey," said Finn. "Long time no see."

"Right," said Puck. Things with Finn and Puck sure weren't as tense as they were in the weeks after Finn found out that Puck was Lily's biological father, but they would never be best friends again the way that they were before.

"So, how's it going?" said Puck.

"Good," said Finn. "We're moving away to college in a few days, actually."

"This is my castle, okay?" said Lily, patting her mound of sand triumphantly. Finn smiled.

"Did Kurt and Rachel get accepted into NYADA?" said Puck.

"Yeah," said Finn. "They just left a few minutes ago, actually. Do you have any plans?"

"Lauren and I are moving in together in a few weeks," said Puck. "I'm gonna stop by the tire shop and see if Burt's manager is hiring. Lauren insists that I can't stick with just my pool cleaning business forever, and I guess she's sort of right."

"Nice," said Finn. "What's Lauren gonna do?"

"Professional wrestling," said Puck.

"Big shock," said Finn. Both of the guys laughed in spite of themselves.

"Can I have a picture?" said Puck suddenly.

"Of Lily?" said Finn. He turned to look at his daughter. She was decorating her mound of sand with some dry brown leaves.

"Yeah," said Puck. "Just one. If it's not cool with you I understand. It's just that I'll probably never see her again." Finn took his eyes off Lily and turned to Puck for a moment. "It's not like you're coming back."

"I'm sure I'll be back," said Finn quickly and uncertainly.

"No you won't," said Puck. "At Christmas and Thanksgiving you'll stay with Burt and Carole in Washington, you'll spend summers in New York with Rachel, and then you'll probably stay there together or move somewhere even cooler. Face it: no one ever leaves Lima, and of the people who do, no one ever comes back."

Finn couldn't think of an argument to that. "Do you have a phone with you?"

"Yeah," said Puck.

"Take a picture right now," said Finn.

Puck smiled gratefully. Then he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

Despite what Puck had said, Finn and Lily did make the drive home to Lima occasionally on long weekends so that Lily could spend time with her maternal grandparents while Finn caught up on his schoolwork. But more often Mrs. Fabray would drive up to visit them for the day now and then. As predicted, Finn flew up to Washington for Christmas break. Rachel and Kurt, who he Skyped with almost every day, both came too.

The next summer, Finn ended up staying in Washington and got a job at a hot dog stand. Now three-year-old Lily stayed in day care or occasionally with Carole during the day. Rachel, who was in summer school, took the train to visit them a week after they got there. Kurt went back to Lima to visit Blaine.

"You know Blaine's coming to New York this year too," Rachel remarked as she buttoned up the back of Lily's dress. "He got accepted into the vocal department at Julliard."

"What?" said Finn. "How am I always the last to know?"

Rachel shrugged. "I live with Kurt."

"Right," said Finn. "What do you mean you live together? Are you literally staying in the same dorm room?"

"Yup," said Rachel.

"At Ohio State the dorm rooms are split by gender," said Finn.

"At NYADA the rooms are split by sexual orientation," said Rachel.

"We should move to New York too, Daddy," said Lily seriously. Her determined green eyes were almost convincing. Rachel had French braided Lily's dark hair and put her in a purple party dress that Kurt bought her. Lily adored having Kurt and Rachel around mainly because they did all the "girly" stuff with her that Finn didn't know how to do. Plus, she had begun to notice the weird looks that Finn was getting when he was seen with her around Ohio State-being a single dad of a three-year-old by college wasn't normal. This wasn't the first time that she'd announced they should move.

"Not likely, honey," said Finn.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest. "We're all alone in Ohio. There's nobody to play with."

"Grandma and Grandpa Fabray are in Ohio," said Finn.

"They can come visit us," said Lily. "We don't need to stay in Ohio. Ohio is stupid."

"Yes, honey, we do," said Finn. "My school is in Ohio. You know that."

Lily walked over to a box of toys that wasn't done being unpacked yet, pulled out a tiara, and placed it on her head. "Time for me to turn three!" She skipped out into the kitchen. Finn and Rachel smiled at each other, him relieved that Lily was distracted.

"Does she know that this is a belated birthday party?" asked Rachel.

"I tried telling her, but she's convinced that she can't turn three until she blows out the candles," said Finn.

Rachel smiled. They went to the kitchen to join Burt, Carole, and Lily for her party.

"What a lovely tiara!" said Carole as she helped Lily up into her booster seat. "Where did you get that?"

Finn smiled sadly, remembering where it had come from. "That was Quinn's, mom. Quinn saved it for her."

More time passed. Everyone went back to school. With Blaine in New York, Rachel saw decidedly less of Kurt on the weekends they weren't studying or rehearsing. The next spring he told her that he and Blaine were going away together, so Rachel went back to Ohio to visit Finn and Lily

"What are you planning on doing for your birthday this year, Lily?" said Rachel.

"Daddy's gonna buy me a pony!" Lily announced. Rachel glanced at Finn quickly.

"I already told you, we have no place to keep a pony," said Finn, amused.

"We will in New York," Lily insisted.

"We are not moving to New York, Lily!" said Finn. "At least not right now."

"Yes we will!" yelled Lily.

"No, we're not," said Finn. "I go to school here."

"You can go to Julia and be a singer like Blaine!" yelled Lily. "I know you can sing!"

"Lily…" Rachel began to interject.

"You know what Daddy wants to grow up to be now?" said Lily, turning to Rachel with hands on her hips. "A dumb old contractor!"

"What?" said Rachel, instantly shifting to Lily's side. "Since when?"

Finn shrugged, embarrassed that Rachel was finding out about this from Lily. "I figured that after we all graduate and you become a Broadway star, Lily and I could move to wherever you want to set up home base-I'm guessing New York of course-and I would need to have a job that you can get anywhere."

Rachel shook her head. "You're better than that, Finn."

"Yeah," Lily chimed in. "You're better than that, Daddy!" They all heard Finn's cell phone ring on the coffee table. Lily bolted over to answer it.

"You're just as talented of a performer as I am!" Rachel protested. "You don't think that Broadway could use you? If there's anything NYADA is lacking it's straight macho guys who can sing and…sort of dance."

"How do you figure I'm supposed to be on Broadway?" said Finn. "Don't Broadway performers have to travel all the time? I have a kid."

"Well…you could still be a performer of some sort!" said Rachel. "Not settle for being a contractor!"

"Uncle Blaine's on the phone!" called Lily.

Finn and Rachel both looked at each other as he went to answer the phone. They both knew this discussion wasn't over