DISCLAIMER: I am not the awesome Ryan Murphy but merely a fan of his work. Obviously we are like minded individuals; NPH, Joss Whedon and Safety Dance? You'll realize we are psychically connected if New Directions sings anything by Cat Stevens =D

Ch2…

He hadn't been stalking her, well not exactly. It just so happened that his gym class made it so that when Rachel left music theory they would both be in the same hallway and headed to the same algebra class. He had been late out of the locker room thanks to 'someone' taking his shirt and leaving it in the showers to soak up water. Now he stank of sweat and cheap deodorant after rescuing a plain white shirt from the lost and found box. He had noticed her immediately, her hair was as always down and his height made it easy for him to see her in the crowd, he'd been within a hands grasp of her when she veered off and outside to what most students referred to as the deadbeats dumpsters. It was either his gut wrenching feeling that she was upset or his strong urge to avoid anything math related that had him follow her outside.

He didn't now how long he hung back just watching her breakdown, at first he had wanted to comfort her but Santana's snark about him stalking Rachel made him stop. By the time he had decided to just ignore the voice and go to her it had seemed kind of creepy that he had been watching her cry, shoulder shaking, sobs unmistakable.

"Are you just going to keep standing there?"

Her voice made him jump and stumble against the dumpsters, great now he smelt like sweat, cheap deodorant and yesterdays lunch.

"How long have you known I was here?"

"Pretty much the whole time, you're not really built for stealth." She replied wiping at her face with a pack of tissues she pulled from her bag. "Pretty pathetic huh?"

"Nah." He dismissed dropping down next to her. "Pathetic would be believing someone when they said they could get pregnant in a spa without having sex."

As intended Rachel actually managed a laugh, a small hiccupping one but he would take the small victory.

"You're not pathetic Finn, you just believe the best in people." She told him patting his hand. "That's not pathetic, it shows what kind of person you are."

"So the fact that I'm a gullible idiot is a good thing?" He asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"I think we both fall under that category now." Rachel replied sadly biting down on her lip. "I'm just so angry at myself. I knew there was something off about him but I was just so happy that somebody liked me and wasn't ashamed about it that I didn't care. I should have known better, nothing good ever comes without strings attached."

"Don't blame yourself Rach. If I hadn't screwed up with you Jesse would have never swooped in. What a douche. You're awesome, don't let idiots like us make you think otherwise."

"Oh yeah I'm real awesome." Rachel agreed sarcastically, he didn't like it colouring her tone, it didn't suit her. "I'm so awesome that the only person who called me last night to see if I was okay was Brittany and three minutes into that conversation I realized she thought she had called Quinn. Besides you no one wanted to know if I was okay. Nobody cares Finn, if I lost my voice and couldn't sing anymore I would disappear and no one would even care."

"I'd care." He told her holding her roughly by the chin. "You know I'd care. It might take a little while but eventually I get it. Those other guys… they'll figure it out too. Don't give up on them Rach."

Somehow sitting amongst the dumpsters holding the girl you had weird stomach curling feelings for and wiping tears from her face was the exact place he wanted to be. He could kiss her right now, he wanted to.

"Finn?"

For a moment he was back in the auditorium and she was telling him he could kiss her.

"Yeah?"

"Can you take me home? I can't be here right now."

Blinking he snapped back into reality, he flushed slightly and nodded standing up quickly and offering her his hand.

"Yeah of course, do you want me to stay with you? My mum would kill me if I left you by yourself when you're feeling so miserable."

"I'm just going to make cookie dough and watch The Way We Were and cry." She told him buckling herself into his car. "You can stay if you want but you have to go back to school for Glee this afternoon, one of the co captains should be there to set an example."

He didn't bother trying to hide the smile, even when she looked so small and alone she was still thinking about what was best for the club.

"Sure, as long you don't mind sharing that cookie dough."

"I'll make you your very own bowl." She promised. "And could you not tell anyone about this? I'm already the laughing stock of the school the last thing I want to do is give them something else to laugh about."

"It'll be our little secret." He told her whistling and tapping out a beat on the steering wheel. Rachel gasped and slapped his arm recognizing the song.

"I'm not a dirty little secret Mr. Hudson!" She exclaimed hitting him again.

"My dirty little secret, who has to know?" He sang teasing her. Huffing she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Great! Now I have that song stuck in my head!" She snapped a few minutes later.

"Pay back." Finn told her smugly pulling the car into her driveway. "I had Express Yourself stuck in mine for days. Try explaining that in the showers after Basketball practice."

Without much warning the visual of Finn dressed in a colourful corset style top and black pants popped into her mind and she giggled.

"Glad my misfortune can amuse you." He sulked winking so she knew he wasn't really upset.

"Just leave your bag here." She gestured to the space next to the door and walked towards the kitchen. "I'll teach you how to make my famous sugar cookies, I find baking is a great way to express yourself." She emphasized her eyes twinkling.

"If you're just going to make fun of me maybe I should leave." Finn decided pretending to get up.

"Fine, I'll stop!" She promised grabbing his arm and swinging him around. "I really appreciate this Finn, thank you." Standing up on her toes she leant up to kiss his cheek, her shoes slipped and her kiss ended up sloppily on the corner of his mouth. They both turned bright red and sprang apart.

"So! Can you grab some eggs? I'll get the flour and sugar." Rachel instructed turning away.

This was a bad idea, a bad, bad, bad idea.

Mr Schuester was cursing to himself using language that was more suited to a boxing arena than a school hallway. Finn knew where he was headed, it was where he could always be found when he had a problem; in Miss. Pillsbury's office. Carefully he took the long way around to her office, if he had his sunglasses and a dark hat he'd wear them both.

He could actually hear Mr. Schue before he could see him, lucky school had been out for about fifteen minutes or else there would be a group of students listening in.

"Mr. Schue? Can I talk to you for a sec?" He asked slipping into the office and smiling nervously at Ms. Pillsbury who looked alarmed at Mr. Schuester's anger.

"What is it Finn?" He asked grinding each word with his teeth.

"It's about Rachel." That got his attention, the anger magically falling from his face. "She asked me not to say anything in front of the club, she just wasn't up to facing everyone after yesterday. I could kill that guy."

"Get in line." wiLL muttered earning a small glare from Emma.

"She'll be okay, I'm going to go back there now I already called my mum and she said I have to bring Rachel to dinner tonight and she can stay with us while her dad's are at their conference in Maine." He explained quickly.

"Did she say exactly why she skipped school?" Will motioned to Emma who had the attendance records open on her computer. "Why you both did?"

"She was really upset and she asked me to take her home and my mum told me to never leave someone alone when they were upset. She said she'd call the school tomorrow and explain everything." Finn was itching to leave, their decision to make cookie dough had backfired when Finn had slipped and ended up smashing some batter into Rachel's hair. Of course a full on food fight had ensued both of them sliding over the kitchen's hardwood floors which Rachel remembered had been waxed the night before.

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked her to sing this afternoon." Will said regretfully scratching the back of his neck. "Rachel's always been so strong I just figured she'd want to sing about it and get it out of her system."

"Don't blame yourself Will, given her track record I would have made the same assumption." Emma consoled him carefully mindful of Finn still in the room.

"What kind of song?" Finn asked intrigued, getting her into a song searching frenzy could help.

"Something that says we are strong and are going to overcome everything, like an anthem." He elaborated his idea form earlier more fully. "Maybe it was too much for her."

"Don't worry about it Mr. Schue by tomorrow Rach and I will have something to share."

"Are you sure? I mean if she was so upset today do you really think she'll come back tomorrow?" Will was doubtful, there was only so much kids could handle and he had a feeling yesterday might be what cracked one Rachel Berry.

"She'll be here if I have to walk her to every class myself." Finn sounded so solemn Emma almost laughed, it was like he would take a bullet for her; or at least a slushie.

She waited until Finn closed the door behind him and walked off before she looked back at Will who looked nervous.

"What is it Will?"

"I'm just worried, a bad break up is one thing but to be publically humiliated like that y your first boyfriend is-"

"A horrifying thing." She finished for him. "Every break up feels horribly Will but if you have good friends to help you through it you'll emerge stronger than before and it looks like Rachel has that in Finn."

"It's just too bad about the other kids." He said darkly. "I really thought my kids were better than that, that after everything they'd been through this year that they were smarter than that."

"They're still teenagers Will. They don't always say or do the right thing, they need someone to show them the way." She pursed her lips and giggled lightly. "Or scream it at them."

Will just looked at Emma and shook his head. Maybe his kids were what he thought; all he knew was tomorrow was going to be very enlightening.

Thanks so much for all your lovely reviews. Definitely gave me incentive to keep writing, I've already knocked out 5 chapters of this so keep the reviews coming and I'll keep posting! BTW Anyone else LOVE watching Finn and Puck sing LOSER?