A/N: This has been a really hard time for me, as I'm sure it has been for all of you too. I'd like to tell you that I will keep writing, but I don't really know when I'll be ready for that yet. But thank you for all your messages, they were very sweet.

He knows it's bad when he can hear Don't Rain on My Parade loud and clear as he makes his way up the street to her house. Okay, he already knows it's bad. He winces when Barbra hits her high note, but when Rachel turns the volume up on Funny Girl in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, it's really bad. He could only imagine the calls her parents have been getting from the neighbors (they got pretty intense that one week when she'd do her vocal warm ups out on their patio every night before her glee club audition). Finn shakes his head, his tall, lanky frame rushing to the door as he glances down at the ammunition in his hand with a grim nod of his head. He rings the doorbell three times before one of her dads answers, and when Hiram Berry sees him, his worried demeanor changes immediately into one of relief.

"Finn," he exclaims loudly, clapping him on the back as he pulls the boy in. "Come in! I'm so glad to see you."

"Hey Mr. B," he says in an equally loud voice. Hiram shoots a brief smile in his direction before his eye shoots up the stairs the solemn expression back on his face. "It's bad huh?"

"I'm sure you can hear the music from the end of the street," her father answers wryly. Finn nods, because yeah, that's true. Rachel's other father comes in from the living room then, smiling when he sees Finn. He likes her dads. They're tall, like him, and when he was going through his growth spurt (he's still kind of growing though), and everyone at school was calling him a beanpole and stuff, her dads totally made it easier for him when they showed their old pictures. Hiram told him that he's going to be a stud once he grows into his body, and not to sound arrogant or anything, but he kind of is since he made it onto the football team.

Being freakishly tall's not so bad these days either, since it's totally easier for him to check out a girl's rack without looking like a total perv, but anyway. He says a quick hello to Leroy before Hiram turns to his husband with a huge frown on his face, and turns back to Finn.

"I knew it wasn't a good idea," Hiram says as he leans closer to Finn, almost conspiratorially. "I told her, Rachel honey, are you sure about this? I don't trust that Puckerman kid, not since he almost ran over poor Judas with that loud motorcycle of his down by the temple a few months back. I told her that, didn't I Leroy?" He turns briefly to Leroy who nods while he rolls his eyes and smiles apologetically at Finn who's awkwardly grabbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah," Finn mumbles.

"She hasn't come out of her room ever since she came home crying yesterday," Hiram told him worriedly. "Get her to come out, okay Finn?"

"Well, I've got my ammunition," he says awkwardly, holding up the box of double stuffed Oreos in his hand. Hiram smiles at him, clapping his back once again before ushering him up the steps to her room.

He seriously doesn't know how she hasn't busted an eardrum by now, the volume of the movie is so loud, but he hurries up the steps and to her room, tentatively knocking on her door. Then it hits him that probably can't hear him and knocks a little harder.

"I don't want a glass of water daddy!" she yells through the door, and her voice sounds hoarse, like she's been crying real hard and he sighs, knocking the door quickly three times before he stops and knocks once, repeating the melody. They came up with that knock when they were like, eight okay? Shut up.

"Rachel," he calls out. "It's me."

There's merciful silence for a few seconds as she mutes her TV, but the volume turns up again and he frowns.

"Rachel," he says loudly. "Open up, it's Finn."

"Go away!" she yells. His brows crease together in confusion at the fury in her voice. What's she mad at him for anyway?

"Rach c'mon," he says. "I have Oreos!"

"No!"

"They're double stuffed!"

It's quiet again, and he grins to himself when he listens to her shuffling and the bolt in her room unlatching. The door opens just a crack and he catches a glimpse of Rachel drowning in her bright pink robe, her hair all over the place and her eyes swollen. An inexplicable shot of anger shoots up his spine at Noah Puckerman, and yeah Puck may be his wing man, but Rachel's his best friend, and Finn's going to beat the shit out of that dude when he sees him.

"Gimme," she says quietly, her voice hoarse as she shoves her palm upwards through the door.

"You gotta let me in first," he says quietly. She shakes her head stubbornly. "C'mon Rachel. Please?"

"No. You're his friend," she mutters darkly. He feels a little insulted by that insinuation, and kind of hurt to be honest, but he shrugs it off.

"Dude, I'm like your best friend," he points out.

"No you're a boy, and all boys are the same. And you can just go ahead and go to your little boys club, and tell Noah how pathetic I am for crying over him because I'm such a weak little prude, and how I'm crying my eyes out with my loud mouth-"

"Did he say that?" he cuts in sharply. Fuck, he told the ass to let her down easy. Rachel sighs, looking away.

"Go away Finn. And give me my Oreos."

"Nope," he says nonchalantly, pushing past her to step into her room despite her protests. There is a pile of tissues on the floor next to her bed and he barely glances at the TV screen to see Fanny Brice frozen with her mouth open. He sits on the edge of her bed while she stands near the door with her arms crossed angrily over her chest. She looks like a little animal, like a mouse or something as her body caves in on herself. Her cheeks are totally puffy from all that crying and he thinks of a chipmunk. Yeah that's it. Rachel looks like a tiny little chipmunk right now. A very pissed off tiny little chipmunk, who looks like she's about to pelt him with her secret stash of acorns any second.

"C'mere," he tells her, patting the space next to him. She shakes her head once resolutely and he rolls his eyes. "Rach, c'mon. You know I'm not leaving."

She lets out the loudest dramatic sigh that she could muster before she makes her way to him and he hides his smile. Even when she's heartbroken, she's being a drama queen. Of course, he shouldn't have expected anything else. She stands in front of him with her hand on her hips and he pulls against her right hand gently, placing the box of Oreos on her palm.

"You know I totally went down to the 7-11 to get you this," he tells her softly. "I had to walk like, four blocks 'cause my mom took the car out." She pushes her bottom lip out, pouting as she stares down at the cookies in her hand before she mutters a small thanks.

"I'm gonna hug you now, okay?" he says a little teasingly. Rachel always says that before she attacks anyone with her hugs. She's like, tiny, but her hugs are anything but, so he gets why she feels the need to, but he still laughs at her for it. An almost smile graces her face before she rolls her eyes.

"If you want to," she answers, shrugging.

"I want to," he tells her, placing his hands on either side of her waist to pull her closer before he wraps his arms around her. It takes her a few seconds before she reciprocates, winding her arms over his shoulder and pushing her face into his neck. He feels her hot tears against his skin and pulls her closer, right onto his lap.

"I'm sorry Rach," he mumbles into her hair, soothingly rubbing her back in a circular motion.

"Why?" she mumbles. Her hot breath grazes his skin and he feels the hair on the back of his head stand on end, but he pushes the feeling away because this is Rachel and she's his best friend, and he's not a pervert. "It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry he's an ass," he mutters. He feels the curve of her smile before she pulls back with a small giggle.

"He kind of is, isn't he?" she says wryly. He nods his head, keeping mum.

The back of his head is filled with reminders of how he told her so. He told her Puck was in it for nothing more than just a good time, because he knows the dude, and Puckerman prides himself in being the love 'em and leave 'em kind. But she wouldn't listen, and then it got weird when she told him that maybe he was just jealous, and then it got awkward, and they both just stopped speaking until the whole thing blew over and yeah okay, they dated longer than Puck's ever dated anyone.

Granted, three months isn't that long of a time, but for Puck, that's like a whole fucking year, and Finn was almost convinced that he meant it this time, until he caught the dude flirting with one of the cheerleaders from the rival school on their away game a few weeks back. By flirting, he meant that the asshole was sticking his hand up the girl's uniform, and after about ten minutes of shoving the guy up against the wall while she walked away, Puck told him that he and Rachel were kind of dead. Well, Rachel sure as hell didn't think so when she'd called Finn earlier and told him to tell Puck good luck and that she was wearing the dude's letterman as a symbol because she couldn't be there herself.

"She's a prude man," Puck had muttered, and that had resulted in Finn shoving him up against the wall for another good ten minutes until he apologized.

"But dude, she totally is. I mean, okay she's cute and stuff, but like, it's been three months man, and I haven't gotten even half a boob. These babies haven't even gone anywhere within the region of her tits-"

"God Puck," he had muttered in distaste as Puck held up his hands in front of him. The idea of Puck making out with his best friend kinda made him feel like throwing up, but the idea of Rachel sitting at home all excited while her fucking boyfriend is rounding second base with some random chick made him feel even sicker.

"I'm a sex shark, dude. The Puck has needs."

Finn's not even going to mention how disturbing it was to know that Puck calls his penis 'the Puck', and he totally ignored that comment as he told him to break up with her.

He spent the next few weeks giving Puck meaningful looks and glaring daggers at the guy every time he so much as laid a hand on Rachel.

"Aww man, it's those fucking Bambi eyes," Puck moaned in the locker room. "I can't do it."

"What's the big deal?" he asked tersely, shoving his deodorant back into his locker before grabbing his shirt. "You dump girls all the fucking time."

"Yeah, but Rachel has that fucking look on her face every time she thinks I'm about to do it, and shit, man you know what I mean."

Of course he fucking knows what he meant. He'd known Rachel ever since she talked his ear off when they sat next to each other in Miss Perry's kindergarten class, he knows all her looks.

"Well, tough luck. I swear Puckerman, if you keep leading her on-"

"Can't you do it for me?"

"Fuck you, man."

"Dude-"

"I swear to God Puck-"

"Okay okay! I'll do it tomorrow," Puck muttered, holding his hands up defensively.

"And go easy on her," Finn demanded. Puck rolled his eyes and said nothing, and the next day, when Finn waited for her at her locker when school was over and she hadn't shown up, he knew it was done for. She hadn't picked up any one of his calls and wouldn't let him in when he came over and shit, he didn't know what the standard procedure for a break up was.

He still kind of feels like he's supposed to be kicking Puck's ass now or something, even though he was the one who told him to break up with her. But Rachel look so upset and he hates to see her cry. She's still sitting on his lap and looking sad, and he shoots her a tiny smile, shifting back on the bed. He manoeuvres them over to the headboard, reaching out for her remote to press play, and the volume assaults his ears once again.

"I'mma turn it down a little, okay?" he whispers in her ear, and she nods. He turns the volume down until it reaches normal human level. He's sitting with his feet sprawled in front of him on her bed, and she curls up next to him and leans her head on his shoulder. She's so upset, she's not even bothered by the fact that his dirty sneakers are on her bedspread, but he leans forward and takes them off anyway, dropping them to the side of her bed. When he turns around, the box of cookies are already open, and she's going through her first packet of Oreos, stuffing her face with three of them at once.

He can't help the chuckle that escapes him when his mind goes back to the chipmunk reference, and she looks at him inquisitively.

"Storing food for the winter, Rach?" he teases. She looks confused, her large brown eyes furrowed close together and her cheeks puffed up from the Oreos still in her mouth. "You look like a chipmunk."

She rolls her eyes, chewing quickly and swallowing before she glares at him.

"Now is not the time to make fun of me Hudson," she grumbles.

"I'm not! You look cute. Hey, chipmunks are cute," he protests when she smacks his arm.

"Yeah, sure," she mutters under her breath. She quiets down, and the fire that was in her eyes just a few seconds ago dies out again. He doesn't say anything, pulling her against him. He sits quietly, not moving an inch as he trains his eyes onto the screen. He doesn't even steal one of her Oreos, because he knows she'll probably smack him again. She blows through the first packet in ten minutes, and it's kind of alarming to see her viciously tear the next packet open and pulling out three Oreos to stuff into her mouth again.

"I mean," she says suddenly with her mouth full. She sits up, and he sees anger crossing her features. "I gave him everything, Finn!" she yells and he winces. She's totally spewing Oreo flecks all over his face right now, but okay, now is not the time to think about how disgusting that is. "Everything. What more does he want?"

He looks at her. She's looking back at him expectantly, like she's waiting for an answer, and he decides to be blunt.

"Your boobs," he says bluntly. Her eyes widen and she looks down for a second (his eyes are not following her gaze. Nope.).

"What?" she hisses.

"You won't let him touch your boobs-"

"Oh my God!" she yells, her face burning as she takes Herman, her stuffed elephant and smacks him in the chest with it. "Don't be crude Finn."

"Dude! You asked."

"I- I-" she stutters, eyes still wide. She's sitting on her knees on the bed, eyes wide as she looks at him, and well, at least she's not crying anymore. "Why are boys such perverts?"

He doesn't really have an answer for that one. She's still blushing like a fire hydrant and he almost grins at the look on her face.

"Is that all you think about?" she demands. He shrugs.

"Pretty much, yeah. And like, Rachel, it's Puck. I'm pretty sure he thinks about it like, a million times more than the average dude."

"I- But he never- I mean-"

"Never pressured you into anything?" he asks curiously. She shakes her head, and at least that's one thing he doesn't have to punch Puck in the face for.

"I mean, he always, you know, tried to put his hands there. And sometimes he-"

"Ahhh Rachel!" he yells, clapping his hands over his ears at her words. "Gross! I don't want to hear this."

"But Finn-"

"No! Are you kidding me?" he exclaims, stubbornly refusing to let her pulls his hands away. She tries a few more times but he stands his ground and after a few seconds she stops, deflating as she leans back against the headboard and stares glumly at the TV. He cautiously puts his hands back on his lap.

"I just want to know what I did wrong," she mumbles quietly. He sighs. He turns towards her, nudging her shoulder until she looks at him.

"Rach, you didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why-"

"Look he's an ass, okay? And like, he wants more than you wanna give, and there's nothing wrong with that. You shouldn't- there's nothing wrong with you for not wanting to."

"But-"

"I'm sorry he hurt you Rach, but like, you deserve better, you know?"

"How do you know?" she demands, like she's actually worried that she doesn't or something, and like, is she insane?

"Dude," he says, wrapping an arm around her to pull her close. " "Cause you're my best friend, and I know you better than anyone. And Rachel, you're like, the coolest girl I know. I mean, yeah sure you're kinda intense, but that's awesome too. And Puckerman's an idiot, because I don't know how he can know you and not love you, because that's like the easiest thing in the world to do, believe me."

He's blushing furiously, thanking God that her head is on his chest because that means she's not looking at him. He didn't really mean to say all that. Like, not like that at least. Aw hell, he feels the awkwardness creeping in, and the last time that happened, it was 'cause she told him he was jealous of Puck and it made him all confused until he decided to just forget about it.

"Finn," she says quietly.

"Hmm?" he says, trying to keep his tone in check. He feels her arms going around his waist, and suddenly she's hugging him so tightly, he can barely breathe. Rachel turns her face into his chest, rubbing it against his shirt when he moves his hand from between her shoulder blades to rest just above her hips.

"Thank you," she mumbles against him. He relaxes, smiling when she squeezes him again before she loosens her hold.

"That's what best friends are for," he murmurs. She nods against him. She looks up, scooting up the bed until they're face to face, and there's an earnest smile on her face as she takes his face in her hands.

"I love you so much Hudson," she tells him solemnly, before her face breaks into a giant beam and she kisses his cheek. He chuckles. She's still squishing his face and he knows he looks ridiculous with his cheeks pressed to his teeth. He probably looks like a chipmunk too by now, he thinks wryly. She giggles when he wiggles his eyebrows.

"I love you too Berry."