Disclaimer: I don't own MMFD or any of the characters.


Rae ran all the way from the chippy to Chloe's house, ignoring the way her lungs and muscles burned in protest. How could she have been stupid enough to leave her bag behind when her diary was in it? How could she just forget when the weight of all those secrets she was carrying around was so heavy? But she had been so distressed by Chloe's glee over the kiss she had shared with Finn that all of her senses had seemed to fail her and all she had been able to concentrate on was the overwhelming need to escape.

She threw herself at Chloe's front door and hammered her fist hard against it, praying that Chloe wouldn't have read her diary. There was no way that Chloe would keep the things she had written a secret and that didn't mean devastation for just Rae, that would cause Archie heartache too and Rae couldn't bear the thought of that.

"Rae," Chloe came to the door, her eyebrows drawn together in annoyance and her mouth in a set frown. "What the hell did you write? Finn won't tell me. Did you write something horrible about me?"

Rae's stomach plummeted at Chloe's words. Finn had read her diary. Not only would he have seen all the romantic slush she had written about him but he would have read all of the nasty things that she had written when they first met. She would never be able to convince him that she didn't mean them because she hadn't known him properly at that point.

"Where is-?" Rae began but her words died in her throat when Finn emerged from behind Chloe.

"Chloe, I told you it didn't matter didn't I? Why can't ya just mind your own business?"

He walked down Chloe's front steps, pulling his jacket on as he went. He looked a little subdued but not angry, as far as Rae could tell, but that didn't do anything to calm her frayed nerves.

"Here," he said quietly and handed Rae her bag. "Come a walk with me, will ya, Rae?"

"Yeah, right, we need to have a chat I suppose," she replied, stumbling over her words a bit. Her heart was hammering so loudly she could hear it in her ears.

"What the hell is going on guys?" Chloe called after them as they started to walk away but when Rae tried to turn back to answer her, Finn just tugged on her wrist to keep her moving forward.

They walked to the park in silence, the air around them awkward and heavy. Rae wished Finn would just get what he had to say out. She wished he would just rip the plaster off quickly and tell her she was a stupid cow that had no chance with him so that she could go home and cry and begin trying to put her life back together. The waiting was making her feel ill. It was like waiting for the axe to fall on her head.

They sat down across from each other at a wooden table in the park and Rae couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Finn, I'm sorry-" she blurted but was cut off mid-sentence by him.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" he asked, looking at her, his gorgeous features schooled into a troubled frown. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper that she recognised immediately. "I thought we were best mates. If you'd have just told me how you felt and asked me what was going on with Chloe instead of jumping to mad conclusions you wouldn't have got yourself into this much of a state," he continued and gestured to the paper he had begun to smooth out. "I'm not goin' out with her, Rae."

Finn offered her the piece of paper and she took it, relief beginning to flood her body, "This is all you read?"

"Well yeah, I guessed there must be more but I wasn't gonna go through your stuff, was I?" he answered. "So," he pressed. "Why did you not just tell me? Are you ashamed that ya like me? I know I'm nothin' special but…"

Her heart broke as he trailed off with a shrug. He could hardly look her in the eye and he looked small from all his insecurities. She had figured out a while ago that he wasn't the confident guy he came across as but being faced with the reality of that was still difficult for her.

"Finn," she said quietly. "I'm not ashamed of you, I'm ashamed of me. I know you're too fit to go out with fat bitch like me so not saying anything meant that I wouldn't need to hear you reject me."

Finn's head shot up at her harsh words.

"Shut up," he said seriously. Rae was taken aback by how angry he looked. "Don't talk about yourself like that. I like ya, Rae."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, she was sure that she had been mistaken.

"You don't mean that," she said quietly, refusing to let the little spark of hope that was growing within her get any bigger.

"Yeah," Finn said firmly. "I do. The only reason I kissed Chloe was 'cause I saw you and Archie."

"Me and Archie are just mates," she told him sincerely.

He ducked his head to hide the grin on his face, "Good. I'm glad."

"Yeah?" she asked, still uncertain.

He nodded and pulled her hand towards him and turned it so her palm was facing upwards. Her stomach tied itself up in tight knots as she watched him trace 'I think I love you' into the skin there.

Rae was suddenly having trouble breathing as she took his hand and shakily traced 'me too' into his palm.

Finn breathed a deep sigh of relief and pulled Rae's hand up to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. And then he was laughing, loud and hysterical with relief and most importantly, he was still holding her hand.

"We're a pair of idiots," he chuckled.

'Yep,' Rae thought as she watched and giggled along with him. 'I definitely love him.'

And for the first time, instead of making her feel hopeless and distressed that thought left her feeling safe and content. She loved him and he loved her back and things were really going to be okay.