Rachel stood by her window, looking out at the darkness.
The rain was falling hard and making the most beautiful sound against her window pain. She could smell the freshness that the rain was bringing to the earth, even if it was 2am. The sounds and the smells relaxed her and brought her some comfort.
She grabbed a pillow and a blanket from her bed, and settled down on her window ledge, which was big enough for her to lay down on.
Her warm breath dusted the windows with condensation. She took her index finger and wrote "R&F" within a love heart. The cool moisture was surprisingly refreshing to her finger tip, making her feel serene and calm.
She toyed with the ring that was delicately positioned on her engagement finger.
Words could not describe what that one band of silver meant to her. Whenever she touched it, she felt electric vibes move through her body, making her feel alive. The feeling was comparable to the way she felt when she touched Finn.
The last few weeks seemed crazy to her. She felt as though she was going to wake up at any second, and she'd be back in Grade 10. She was scared that she'd wake up the unhappy, spoiled young girl she used to be. Finn had changed her in so many ways. She finally felt happy when she was with him. Of course she felt happy when she finally belted that one note that she'd been working on her hitting, her entire life… but nothing compared to the happiness Finn made her feel.
She smiled down at her ring, bringing it to her lips and planting a small kiss on the diamond. If she couldn't kiss Finn, kissing the jewel was the next best thing.
She hadn't seen Finn for three full days.
He was busy working at the shop. Rachel completely respected his decision to work over seeing her during Spring Break. She knew how hard he was trying to save up money for New York. It made her feel extremely guilty. Rachel felt as though she should have a job too, but Leroy and Hiram had told her that it was a foolish idea and that she needed to concentrate on her academics and her performance training before anything else.
As much as she didn't want to complain about not seeing Finn, it was extremely hard not to.
She glanced over at her clock that was ticking away on her night stand.
2:37am.
She couldn't sleep.
Whenever Rachel had anything on her mind, it gave her serious insomnia. Usually when she had insomnia, it would be over Glee club choreography, or upcoming assignment deadlines. But what was bothering her tonight was much more complex than that.
What if Finn realised that she was not worth all his effort and trouble? What if he woke up one day and decided that he was sick of catering to her needs instead of his own? What if he realised that he didn't want to marry her?
Rachel tried to push the thoughts out of her head. She knew that Finn couldn't think like that. He loved her. He always told her that he loved her. Always. Surely Finn wasn't sick of her? Why would he have proposed to her if he didn't love her, and didn't want to be with her?
Exhaling all her negative thoughts into the air, she relaxed her head and felt herself drifting off to sleep.
The sound of her door creaking open awoke Rachel in a start from where she was still positioned, sprawled out on her window sill under a blanket.
She opened her eyes to see Finn standing in her doorway.
"Finn?" she said sleeplily.
"Rachel, why are you sleeping on your window sill?" Finn said, smiling down at her.
He wrapped his large arms around her small, idle body and lifted her from the window sill and placed her carefully onto her bed. He handled her so gently and touched her so softly, as if she was a rare china doll that would smash if he held her too tightly.
"I-I don't know, I couldn't sleep but- Finn what are you doing here?" she croaked still half asleep, feeling disorientated.
"I missed you. I couldn't stand not seeing you any longer. I'm sorry that I've not made time for you lately Rachel" he said, taking off his shoes and placing them by her bed neatly and slipping off his letterman jacket. He wrapped his arm around her body, and traced his fingers up and down her waist affectionately and lead down next to her on the bed.
"What are you talking about, Finn? No! I'm sorry that I'm making you work so hard. I feel awful…" she said, her head nuzzling into his chin. Her head bobbed up and down on his chest every time he breathed.
He leaned into her face and took her lips in his, kissing her lightly. He placed kisses on her cheeks and neck before lifting his head up and resting it on the headboard of her bed.
"You're not making me work hard, Rachel. It's just something I need to do for us…" he whispered into her ear, feeling her breathing slowing down again. He was so happy that she could relax when she was with him.
"Well, at least I have you now" she responded to him, kissing the side of his lips through a smile.
He moved his hands up and down her back, moving his fingers between the crooks and bumps of her spinal cord. They engaged in a heated kiss, their tongues dancing around playfully in each other's mouths. He nibbled at her lips when he came up for air, which he knew she loved. Her arms wrapped around his chest and up to his neck. She clung to him tightly not wanting to let him go.
"I love you" he stroked her face with the tips of his finger.
She smiled. She was so in love with this man, words could not describe.
"I love you too" she whispered, feeling his body spoon into hers. His arms wrapped protectively round her waist.
Her clock read 3:42am.
She could feel her eyes fluttering shut as she drifted off to sleep again, but Finn kept his hands busy stroking her waist and shoulders.
She must have fallen asleep, because when she awoke next it was 5am and Finn was calling her name.
"Rachel? Wake up babe..." he gently shaked her, not really wanting to interrupt her peaceful sleeping.
"What? What's going on?" she said, eventually sitting up and rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I'm tired Finn, can't we please just snuggle back down and sleep?"
He laughed. She was so adorable when she was exhausted and half asleep.
"No. You need to get up. We're going out!" he sounded cheery and wide awake.
She was now even more confused than before. She looked over at her crazy boyfriend. He was stood over her, fully dressed.
"Out? It's five in the morning Finn!" she groaned, burying her head in her pillow.
Finn sat down on the bed next to her and took her hand.
"Rach, come on! Here, I made you some tea." He place a mug on her night stand as he watched her lift her head and lift the mug back off the stand and to her mouth.
"Thank-you," she smiled, taking generous sips and becoming wider awake.
20 minutes later, Rachel was up and dressed. She had brushed her long, silky hair, cleaned and flossed her teeth, and got changed into something relatively comfortable.
Finn guided her out of the house and into his key. He used the key Leroy and Hiram had given him to lock the door, before proceeding to reverse out of the Berry's driveway.
It was still pitch black and it was still raining hard. The rain drops bounced off the glass of the windows, making the most beautiful percussion sound. As much as Rachel loved the feel of the rain on her face, she refrained away from opening the window as the truck was just the right temperature for her. She loved how it was dark and miserable outside, but she was warm and comfortable inside the truck with Finn.
"You're crazy Mr. Hudson" she said, still confused about what was going on. He hadn't told her anything. Just that she needed to get up and dressed into something comfortable.
"Just crazy in love" he said, half laughing at his cheesy come back.
She laughed. Even when the joke wasn't funny, Finn could still make her laugh. She loved that in him.
"I'm being serious! Where are we going?" she hit his shoulder playfully.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough" he said cheekily, flashing her one of his famous half smiles.
The pair jumped out of Finn's truck and into the parking lot that they parked in.
Rachel grabbed her handbag from the passenger seat and slung it around her shoulder.
Finn appeared from behind the truck, closing the trunk of the truck.
He wheeled out two suitcases. Rachel recognized hers immediately.
"Where did you get that, Finn? What are you doing with my suitcase?" she squealed, running up to him.
"For the 5 minutes we've been here, you haven't realized that we're at Ohio Airport?" he laughed, letting go of the suitcases leaving them upright, and wrapping his arms around her waist once more.
"What? What are we doing at the airport?" she laughed, not taking her fiancée seriously in the slightest.
"Well. I realized that we've got a tough few months ahead, and that we've had a tough few weeks. I want to treasure every single moment that I have with you, Rachel, before then. Things aren't going to be easy, you know with Nationals and Graduation and New York… but I just wanted to treat us to something before all that. Remember when I said I was saving up for a hotel for us to stay in, away from everyone else?" he said, staring into her beautiful brown eyes.
"Uhh, y-yes?" Rachel responded, hardly able to speak. Had he really just said all that to her? Was she dreaming?
"Well, my mum came into some money recently, and she decided to give it to me. That combined with my hotel fund was enough to buy us a week away together!" he said, holding her closer to him.
"What? We're going on vacation together? Right now?" she squeaked, hardly able to contain her excitement. She squeezed his hand tightly into hers.
"Yeah! I spent the last few days working to get some extra spending money for us. I put some towards our New York fund too, but I felt as though this was a better cause right now. I packed your suitcase for you while you were asleep, and your dads left me a list of everything that you would have packed had you actually packed, so don't worry about that…" he was caught off guard as she smashed her lips with his, automatically slipping her tongue into his mouth.
The rain started to fall around them once more, pitter pattering on their engaged bodies. Even the rain couldn't cool them off, though.
"You didn't need to do this, Finn." She said, finally coming up from their embrace for air.
"I know I didn't. But I wanted to. I love you so much Rachel. Plus, it's good practice for us living together" he rested his hand underneath her chin, kissing her nose tenderly.
Her nose was by far his favourite feature of Rachel's. He knew she didn't think so, but it was the most beautiful, unique nose he had ever seen on a girl, and he loved it.
"Well, let's get out of the rain then!" he continued, feeling for her hand as she grabbed onto her suitcase, and grabbed onto his with his spare hand.
"Wait! You didn't tell me where we're going!"
"You'll have to wait and see until we get into check-in then." He chuckled, winking at her and rubbing her hand affectionately.