Disclaimer: I don't own glee, if I did Cory Monteith would be my bff and Naya Rivera would be my lady.

I know, I know I suck and should only be focusing on one story, but I can't help it dammit, you know how I am. Also, I've wanted to write a fifties finchel fic forever, so here it finally is. I'm not expecting it to be nearly as popular as Bully seeing as my other historical AU fic completely tanked, but I hope whoever reads this really likes it anyway. Also there will be some angst here naturally but nothing as horrible as Bully or Somewhere There's a Place For Us, and I have a humor story planned for my next outing. I can't be a freaking downer all the time. For anyone reading Bully, keep your eyes open for another update tomorrow.

Lima Ohio, 1951

He keeps going over it in his head, how to tell them. He knows that Burt will be proud, and Carole will cry and hug him and won't want to let him go, but in the end she'll send him on his way with her blessing, and he knows that Kurt will make some joke to hide the fact that his heart is aching too. But no matter how hard they cry and fuss over him, he knows that they won't try to talk him out of it. It's what they've always wanted for him, to make something of himself, to do something with his life that he could feel proud of. He knows he owes it to them to become a great man, he owes them the world. Finn Hudson was never supposed to have this life, he wasn't supposed to make it through school, he isn't supposed to have people in his life who care about him and a girl who's too good for him but loves him so fiercely anyway. sometimes he can't believe how lucky he got, and he hopes that luck will follow him to war. He ships out a month after graduation, so there's time at least, time to spend with the closest thing he's ever had to a family, time to spend with them... time to spend with her.

He climbs the four steps to the Hummel's front porch and takes a deep breath before knocking. He shouldn't be so anxious, not really, the truth is they'll probably be expecting as much, but still, the nervousness is almost overwhelming and hits him even harder when Carole opens the door, that same beaming smile on her face that she always gets when she sees him

"Hi Carole," he says, smiling back. Carole Hummel is one of the kindest, warmest ladies he's ever known, the way she hugs and smiles and always smells like fresh laundry always makes everything seem better, and she makes it so easy to forget he didn't grow up here, that she was never really his.

"Finn, where have you been? Your dinner is ice cold mister," she says, grabbing him by the wrist and yanking him inside the house.

"Sorry, I lost track of the time," he replies.

"Don't be sorry, be on time," she replies teasingly. She made a pot roast, his favorite, it's like somehow she knew today would end up being unlike every other day.

"Carole," he starts. "There's something I have to say, something important."

"Food first," she insists. "You must be starving." He is to be honest, and everything looks so good that his mouth is starting to water, so he relents, sinking down in the chair in front of his meal as Carole pours him some iced tea. He tries to eat slow like she always tells him, the first meal he had on this table he ate like he'd never have anything to eat again in his life, because that was a very real possibility three years ago.

"Well look what the cat dragged in," Finns turns his attention to the doorway between the den and the kitchen, where Carole's husband Burt now stands, a beer in hand and an easy smile on his lips. "You weren't getting into trouble with the Berry girl again were you?"

"No sir," he replies truthfully, he hasn't spoken to Rachel all day, he still doesn't even know how to begin to break the news to her, she's the main reason he's doing this to begin with, but it's not likely that she'll see it that way. The Hummels were going to be a piece of cake compared to her.

"If anything she's the one who keeps him out of trouble," Carole says. "She's just the loveliest girl." Finn has to smile at that, because he knows better than anyone.

"Well anyway, glad you're home, I could use your help in the garage when you get a moment," Burt says. It's not his home, not really, but it always makes Finn feel good to hear them say that.

He finishes his meal and leaves Carole with an appreciative kiss on the cheek before joining Burt in the garage. He thinks the news will be easier to break to Burt first, then they can tell Carole together.

"Can you hand me that Allen wrench?" Burt says, not looking up from under the hood, Finn obliges, handing it to him without words.

"So, you going to tell me what's on your mind?" Burt says, continuing to his task.

"That obvious huh?" Finn says with a nervous chuckle.

"What's troubling you kid?"

He lets out a low exhale and figures there's no point delaying any more. It's easier somehow with Burt not looking at him, and Finn focuses very hard on the tennis ball hanging from the beams on the ceiling as he starts to talk.

"Well, as you know graduation is only two months away, and I know you said I still had a job at the tire shop if I wanted it."

"You betcha," Burt says quickly. "Can you hand me that flathead?"

As he gives him the screwdriver he continues his prepared speech, clearing his throat before speaking again.

"I really appreciate the opportunity Burt, I can't tell you how much...

"Oh no, here comes the but," Burt says, finally looking up from his work.

"I think what I'm looking for, what I really want out of life, it isn't here, it isn't in this town," Finn continues. "I want to do something more with my life, I want a good job and a family and all of the things that you have."

"You can have all that here," Burt protests,

"Not with Rachel," Finn argues, and a look of understanding graces Burt's features then. "But I have to prove that I'm worthy of her if her pa's ever going to let her marry me."

"Hot damn son, I didn't realize," Burt says, a serious look on his face.

"She's the one, the only one," Finn says without missing a beat. "But she deserves a man Burt, and the only way I can be that for her-

"Is by enlisting?" Burt says, finishing Finn's sentence, he just looks down then, shifting his feet.

"How'd you know?" Finn says quietly.

"Because I know you," Burt says. "You've always had your code of honor even back when you were stealing car parts."

"I'll be out before Rachel graduates college," Finn continues. "The army will pay for my degree, and I can get a good job, give her a good life."

"Well you don't have to convince me," Burt says, clapping him solidly on the back. "It takes a brave man to fight for his country, and a good man to fight for his girl. And whether you realize it or not, you're both son."

"Thanks Burt," Finn says with a small smile. "You want to go tell Carole."

"Get ready for the waterworks," Burt says, closing the hood for now.

"They'll prepare me for Rachel," Finn says as he starts back into the house. He still doesn't even know where to begin with Rachel.

LeRoy's roses are always so beautiful this time of year, she could stay out in the garden for hours, just inhaling the sweet fragrance in the air. It reminds her of Finn, it was about this time three years ago when she first caught him sleeping in her treehouse, she let him sleep that night, covering him with a blanket from her room. When she returned the next morning he was gone, the blanket neatly folded and a freshly cut rose sitting happily in a coca cola bottle on the little shelf, a gift, a thank you. She crushed that rose in a book once it started to wilt, he doesn't know that she still has it, or even that she found it in the first place.

She wonders if the flowers will be as lovely in New York, probably not without LeRoy and his green thumb always around, but she supposes if her parents aren't reason enough to visit then LeRoy and his roses surely are.

She curses the fact that she still has to wait so long. Somehow New York already feels like home without her ever having set foot there, and she wishes she could just fall asleep for two years and wake up in Finn's arms in their New York city apartment. It will have to be an apartment, surely they won't allow Finn to live in the dorms with her, and she simply won't leave without him. Her parents will be angry, furious even, although they've always been fond enough of Finn as a high school steady they certainly didn't see him as suitable for her to spend the rest of her life with, and they took every opportunity to remind her every time she found herself talking too seriously about their relationship. She's his girl, sure, but as far as her parents are concerned that ends with graduation. They insist that college is where she'll find the man she was meant to marry and Finn will seem like a distant memory before the first semester is over. Silly parents.

"Psst!"

She's suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the loud whisper coming from the treehouse, and she doesn't even have to look to know who it is, but she smiles up at him anyway.

"Hello stranger," she says sweetly. It's only been a day since she's seen him last but she still missed him, and was starting to worry that he was avoiding her, but seeing him now, waiting for her in the treehouse like so many times before, smiling that sweet smile of his, her mind is instantly put at ease. She climbs the rope ladder quickly and throws her arms around his neck, and he returns the favor with a kiss, a long, deep kiss that steals her breath, the kind of kiss that nice boys weren't supposed to know how to give.

"Finn," she sighs breathlessly as their lips part, resting her forehead against his. "I've been missing you all day."

"Me too," he replies, combing a bit of loose hair behind her ear, she can just make him out in the pale moonlight, his freckled nose, his dimpled smile, his warm amber eyes, her Finn.

"Did Burt work you half dead at the tire shop again?"

"No," he says softly, and upon closer inspection she realizes that he looks a little nervous, and maybe a bit sad.

"What's the matter honey bear?" she says, unlinking her arms from around his neck and cupping his face in her hands.

"I just, there's something I wanted to talk to you about, something important."

She sits back a little, concerned. "What is it Finn?"

"Well," he starts, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "You love me, right?"

"Of course I do," she answers as if the very question is ridiculous.

"I love you too, I love you very much," he replies, lacing his fingers through hers. "And I want to marry you one day."

"I want to marry you too Finn Hudson," she says with a smile in her voice.

"But before I can make you my wife I want to be good enough to be your husband, I want to be the man you deserve Rachel."

"You are the man I deserve," she says insistently. "You're the best one in the entire world."

"You're too good to me," he says. "But the fact is when your parents look at me they don't see their future son in law, they see-

"I don't care about what my mom and dad think Finn," she says, cutting him off. "You know that, and where is this coming from anyway?" she continues and now she's the one who sounds nervous.

"I'm enlisting Rachel," he finally says, so quietly she thinks she misunderstands him at first, she hopes she's misunderstanding him.

"No," she says firmly, shaking her head sharply. "No, not in a millions years, no."

"Rachel-

"You're not going," she insists further. "Do you have any idea what can happen to you over there?"

"Nothing is going to happen to me, I promise you that," he responds.

"You're right nothing is going to happen to you, because you're not going," she says, and her voice is breaking now. "You'll work at Burt's shop and when I graduate we'll go to New York, together, that's what we talked about."

"That's what you talked about Rachel, but have you ever really thought about what I'm going to do in New York with no job and no degree, how am I going to take care of you while you go on your auditions?"

"We can take care of each other," she says desperately, and she's full blown crying now, because she can't believe he would even consider this with the war going on. "How can we do that if you die?"

He leans in then, kissing her firmly, cradling her head in his hands and moving his lips insistently over hers.

"I won't," he promises as he breaks the kiss. "I have too damn much to live for."

"I knew it," she says, shaking her head. "I knew you would do this to me, you have soldier written all over you. I can see it every time I look in your eyes and it just terrifies me. But Finn you're so much more than that, you're kind and good and you sing beautifully and I don't care what anyone says, you're as smart as the day is long, I don't deserve someone better Finn, there is no one better."

"Come here," he says, his voice gentle, and she collapses against him, letting him hold her and rub her back as she cries. "This will be good for us, once my service is up I can get a proper education, and a good job, in New York with you, and we'll get married and we'll be happy forever and ever. I promise you Rachel."

"What am I going to do without you for four years Finn? Tell me that."

"You're going to be a star that's what you're going to do," he replies, and he kisses the top of her head as he holds her and she wipes at her tears.

"Rachel, honey it's getting late, come inside!" at the sound of Mr. Berry's voice she sits up from Finn's embrace, wiping her nose and smoothing her hair.

"I have to go," she says, her voice a little hoarse. "But we're not done talking about this." before he can say anything she leans in and kisses him again, her lips trembling a bit against his own. "I love you so much."

"I love you," he responds and kisses her one last time before she disappears down the rope ladder.

I took a risk making Finn an orphan and Carole Kurt's biological mom instead, but I hope making her a prominent motherly figure in his life will quell the oddness some. Stay tuned folks!