Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 48th cycle. Now cycle 49!

"Busted Hudson"
Finn/Elsie, The Remedy
Familiar Strangers series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

She was this close to getting a dirty look from Dee, with how distracted having Finn there was starting to make her. She tried to be careful, but it was getting harder. They'd been 'officially dating' – as the time before almost felt like unofficial lunch dates – for just over a month now, and in both cases it was bringing them more and more happiness each day. Finn continued to come in to the diner for his lunch every day he knew he'd find her on the other side of that counter.

That day, she had brought him his lunch and stopped to lean on the counter. "I'm thinking I should bring them salads this time," she nodded, and he frowned.

"Instead of pizza?" She nodded again. "They're not going to eat them…"

"Sure they will," Elsie smiled. "You weren't too sure about it at first either, but you love it now," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I was…"

"Flirting?" she grinned, and he was in no position to contest that. "But you still love it, I'm sure the band will, too." He sat back.

"Alright, game on," he told her, and she laughed, for all of a moment, but then she paused, eyes fixed over his head. "What's wrong?" he asked, just as the bell at the door chimed. She gave him a side little smile.

"Hi, what can I get you?" she spoke to the new entry, and Finn had yet to look over his shoulder when he heard…

"Picking up an order," he sounded like he'd been aware already that she would be there. For Finn though, it was a surprise, especially with the information he held, if he… "Finn?" He turned.

"Hey, Mr. Schue," he nodded, smiling.

"Wow, what a coincidence," Will chuckled, "Having the two of you back here."

"Yeah," Elsie nodded slowly, looking to Finn, and she frowned, noticing he didn't look nearly as affected at this slow release of information.

"You two should drop by some time, show the Glee Club what it was like for you," he suggested. Elsie still looked at Finn, and now she knew – he knew. Will had sat and chatted with Finn, while Elsie looked to gather his order. He had paid, said goodbye to both, and he was gone. They both watched him go, and when the bell rang at the door, Finn slowly turned back, with a pretty good idea of the face he'd meet. She stared him down with a smirking squint.

"Forget to tell me something?" she asked, and he gave an innocent look. "How long?"

"The day you asked me if I'd take Elmer in," he revealed, breathing out. She laughed, and that gave him relief. "I wanted to tell you, but…" he started.

"I guess it didn't really matter anymore in the end," she nodded, and he looked to her with a small nod, not sure whether he should go into the whole thing. Her reason was right, too, but then there had been… her ex. "Alright, tell me," she leaned to the counter. "Did I slip, or did you just remember?" she asked, curious. He looked to her.

"Alex," he stated, and she blinked. "I just heard myself say your name with his name, and… it came to me." He paused, needing to say it. "I'm sorry, he was a great guy." Her smile grew sad.

"He was," she breathed.

"I didn't want to… overstep, or…" he tried to explain, and she shook her head.

"You weren't," she promised. "I wouldn't have led you on. I knew what I was doing."

"So no regrets?" he smiled, and she smiled back, shaking her head. "So… what now?"

"Now…" she 'thought,' "Now let's talk salads." It was as before, they weren't changed by this.

That night, packing the salads as agreed, they had gone to join Finn's band in Sam's basement apartment. There was a bit of a divide as far as the pizza substitution, but there would be change, she was confident. The salads were not the biggest discussion point anyway.

As they were setting up the instruments, Finn had told Sam about Schuester's visit, and what it had led to. There he caught on to something, a trick that had been played on him by the blonde laughing it up with Tina and Lucy in the kitchen as they talked, observing the ring now on Lucy's finger.

The practice had started soon after, followed by the salad dinner. When it was done and they were driving to her place – he'd spend the night – she was victorious.

"Didn't I tell you they'd like the salads just fine?" she smiled.

"Yeah, they did," he nodded slowly. "But I'm pretty sure if we don't show up with pizza next week, we'll never hear the end of it."

"Fine, alright," she agreed.

They got to her apartment, where they were greeted by Elsie's dogs, Mimi and Leo. They had taken a bit of time to warm up to him, but by now they got along like old friends. He could see Elsie relax, unwinding her long hair, throwing her shoes off. They had ended up sitting on the couch to watch television, and it was there that he had something to bring up.

"So when were you going to tell me how you got them all pretending they didn't know you?" he asked, and he could hear her chuckle into his arm.

"Oops…" He smiled, bringing her closer into his arms. "Well, it's out now," she told him, pulling away to go get something from her room. She returned with what he saw was a picture. She sat again and showed him. It was the image she had sought out some time ago, of the New Directions and Troubletones, where they both stood among the others. "Been waiting to show you for ages."

"You know I've been trying to think if we ever really talked back then… I don't think we did."

"Maybe not, but we're here now," she smiled. He looked back to the picture, just five years ago, back when they never could have had what they had now… But things had a way of fixing themselves.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!