A/N: Thank you for the kind reviews, everybody, and I apologize for taking a while to update. I got a little carried away with this chapter, but I hope you enjoy!
He remembers that she has always dreamed of the childhood she was deprived of. It's one of the few things she never really mentions, or seems to want to discuss, but he sees it in her eyes. He sees it every time they take a walk in the park, and she watches as the children have jumping contests off the swing sets, share bread with each other as they feed the ducks, and run after each other with circular wands in their hands, leaving bubbles floating behind them. He sees it the time they went to Sam's baseball game and a dad and his three kids were flying a kite in the open field nearby. He sees it when they volunteer at the elementary school choir concert, and a group of little girls discussed their slumber party plans for afterwards, complete with makeovers and the Hannah Montana deluxe edition DVD. He sees the want, the longing, the desire to go back in time and fully live out what should be the most carefree and innocent days of a person's life.
He always knew she never really had friends, but it never occurred to him that, because of her dads' busy courtroom schedules, she never got to experience those essential childhood adventures at all. And that's just wrong. They're only getting older, and the decisions are only getting that much more important, and the real world is just that much closer. It's now or never- his girl needs to experience that invincible feeling every kid gets as they're looking down from the top of their tree fort, or chasing lightning bugs around the backyard on a warm summer night. He wants that for her, so badly. So he sets his nose to the grindstone as he concocts a master plan. This is gonna be so awesome.
They park their car in the usual spot, and Rachel walks around to the back to get the towels and food. Before she can even lift the trunk up the entire way, she feels the cool spray of water on her back and squeals.
"Finn! What are you doing?"
She's afraid to even turn around- she doesn't know what's going on, but her back's already dripping, and complete soakage just doesn't seem worth risking.
He doesn't reply, he only puts his hand over her eyes and leans into her ear.
"When I take my hand away, you've got to count to 20. Open your eyes, pick up your weapon, and come after me. Loser's whoever's wettest by the time one of us runs out of water. Ready, go!"
With that, he scampers away, leaving a very confused Rachel twisting her head every which way, eyes still closed. He turns around and jogs backwards for a few seconds to check on her, and grins at her adorability. "Count, Rach! And no cheating, keep your eyes closed and stay facing that way!" She stops frantically turning her head, but keeps her eyes closed and lowers her head to begin her countdown.
"..18, 19, 19 and a half, 19 and three fifths, 19 and eight ninths, 19 and nineteen twentieths, 20!" She turns and does a quick pan of the scene in front of her. Remembering Finn's words, she looks for her weapon and locates, at her side, the biggest water gun she's ever seen. So he wants to play dirty, eh? She picks it up and takes off for a wooded section, eyes peeled open and ready for another attack. "I'm coming for you, Hudson! You can run, but you can't hide!"
He has to stifle a laugh at her last words, because she is literally four feet away from him, on the other side of a massive elm. He quickly gains his composure, readies himself, and launches his attack.
"Your defense needs some work, hot stuff." The water hits her entire left side, and she is too surprised to react. By the time she realizes what's happened, Finn's halfway to the lake. Realizing he's only headed towards unprotected, open land, she charges after him, water gun in position, and lets out a battle cry. They chase each other around for a few minutes before he manages to leave her sight and hides behind a boulder. Rachel walks cautiously towards the rocks, eyes moving erratically, flinching at every slight movement. A squirrel darts behind her, and she turns and aims, ready to defend herself.
And then Finn can't help it. He was gonna let Rachel win, he really was. But it's just too perfect. So he crawls on all fours to the side of the boulder and shoots the rest of the water at the remaining dry spots, leaping up and lifting his empty gun over his head in victory. She spins around and looks at him, her face full of shock and defeat, only to be replaced by her megawatt grin. She tackles him, and ends up on top of him as they both lay in the grass.
"I win." Finn flashes a half-smile her way, and she all but melts right on the spot.
"Fine, fine. You win. That's okay, I would've been mad if you had let me win. I'd much rather you consider me your equal, and we have a fair competition."
Finn mentally patted his own back. Of course, he wasn't about to reveal his motivations to her- she didn't need to know that, on top of his masculine need for victory, he wasn't necessarily complaining about the current opacity of her white shirt.
They eventually make their way back over to the car and eat their food down by the lake. He tries not to stare as she rips her wet clothes off and stands there in her navy blue bikini. He loves those little ties on the sides, it always makes him feel like there are only a few little strings holding the whole thing together, and, come on, that's pretty sexy.
The sun is hot and it feels so good to just sprawl out on the towel, the sweat on their skin catching the slight breeze. After whispering some sweet nothings to each other, creating stories based on the shapes of the clouds, and taking a short nap, Finn drags Rachel into the water. They splash around for a few minutes, adjusting to the cool water, and he floats around while she looks for baby fish. Suddenly, he's on his feet again, asking her if it's been an hour since they've eaten.
"Yes, Finn, of course it's been an hour! I wouldn't let you, or myself, for that matter, swim without properly digesting our food! We could get cramps and sink to the bottom of the lake and drown!"
He grins. Always dramatic.
"Well, in that case, last one to Sadie's Bank is a rotten egg!" And he takes off, swimming towards the land up the lake a little. She's close behind him, trying to grab onto his feet in an attempt to overtake him. She's tired, but there's no way she's letting him win this one, too.
A few minutes later, they both reach the bank at the same time, but Rachel scampers out of the water, determined to be the first to reach the grass.
"I win! I win! You lose, you lose, you lose, 'cause I win, I win, I winnnn!" Her sing-songy chant is accompanied by a hop-skip and wide eyes.
"Whatever, babe, you totally cheated," he grumbles, and then grins and winks at her to let her know he's just teasing. "But I may or may not have a tiny surprise for you.."
"What! A surprise? Where? I wanna see!"
Oh, God, she is just too adorable.
"Well, Rach, we're gonna have to climb uphill a little that way first. Follow me."
Rachel was holding his hand in a flash, skipping alongside him and softly chanting "I won, I won, you lost, I won.." with a childlike smile on her face.
They had almost reached the clearing, when she sees what lies ahead and charges forward, her boyfriend's hand the last thing on her mind.
"A tire, Finn! A tire! Just like in all the movies! To swing into the water! I've always wanted to do this! Finn, it's a tire like in all the movies!" She claps her hands to her cheeks, and over her mouth, and in her hair, and above her head as she jumps around excitedly, looking at Finn, then at the tire, then back at Finn.
Finn's heart does somersaults as he watches her and doesn't even try to keep the silly grin off his face. He and Puck had headed up here earlier today to tie the tire to that huge tree at the top of the slope. They had fought a little about what kind of knot to use, and whether or not the tree was too far from the lake, potentially resulting in a painful entry into the water, and Finn had slight rope burn on his right hand, but it had all been completely worth it just to see her now. He refocuses his attention, and she is still pushing the swing around, then going to the edge of the land and kneeling to look down into the water, and walking back over to the tire.
"Well, what are you waiting for, babe? Let's go!"
She claps and jumps up and down at his words, before a slight frown reaches her face.
"Okay, but you go first, Finn, I'm a little nervous. That's a long way to jump."
"Aw, babe, don't be scared! I wouldn't plan something dangerous for you. But okay, I'll go first, and you come right after me, 'kay?"
He walks over to the swing, holds onto the rope, and steps on the bottom ring of the tire with one foot, pushing himself off with the other to gain momentum.
"Okay, here I go!" And he goes back and forth a couple times before letting go as the tire swings over the water. He tucks his legs into him, and lands with a cannonball, huge ripples following his entry.
When he finally comes up to the surface, he sees Rachel looking down at him with a curious face. He grins and gives her a thumbs-up.
"That was awesome, Rach! Come on, your turn! Don't worry, I'm right here!"
She apprehensively imitates his earlier actions and nervously swings around on it a little bit.
"Come on, babe, you gotta let go or the tire's gonna slow down and you'll have to get down and start over! Don't be scared, I would never let anything happen to you."
She gives Finn a nervous glance and gets off the tire, only to get back on with determination on her face. She swings a few times before releasing the rope, entering the water the same way he had. She resurfaces, slightly sputtering, and searches frantically for him, as he swims up behind her and grabs her waist.
"See? Now, wasn't that fun?"
She grins.
"That was freakin' awesome!"
He can't decide if it's cuter when she jumps around like a five-year-old or when she lets her vocabulary slide.
They run back up a few more times, but after reaching the top for the fifth time, they decide they don't want to have to come back up a sixth time, and abandon the swing. They curl up together in the grass, sitting up to watch the sunset, and lying back down as the sky gradually darkened.
"That's Venus, Finn. They call it the "Morning Star," it shows up before sunset. You know how many times I've made wishes on it, thinking it was the first star in the sky? But it's actually a planet."
"So none of them came true, huh?"
"I wouldn't say that."
She looks over at him, the shadows hiding all but her beautiful eyes, and Finn is a little taken aback by how much love he sees in them. How, how, how did I ever get this lucky?
She kisses him, softly and sweetly. He cups her face and gently brushes her hair away from her face before returning the kiss with more passion. He reaches around her waist and rolls her on top of him, moaning slightly as her tongue enters his mouth. His hands roam her arms, her shoulders, her back, her hips, and come to rest on her butt. He cups it with both hands and pulls her closer to him, and they both groan softly. Their kisses get more and more heated, and Finn can feel his erection straining against his swim trunks. She rocks her hips a little, then, and he breaks their kiss with a moan and almost loses it as he pushes back against her. Breathlessly, she pulls her face away from his and looks in his eyes, kissing him once more on the forehead.
"We should go, Finn, it's getting pretty dark."
He closes his eyes and swallows, nodding his head. Kissing her nose, he gently lifts her off of him and stands them both up. They start the walk towards their picnic site about a quarter mile away, Finn with his arm around Rachel's shoulders, and her with an arm around his waist. They pack up their belongings in a peaceful silence, and rejoin hands on the trek to the car.
Finn takes the basket from her and bends to place everything in the trunk, starting slightly when he feels her arms around his waist. Hugging him from behind, she gently places kisses on his back, and he slowly straightens. He turns and hugs her back, kissing her hairline and holding her head to his chest. She's the first to break the silence as she lifts her head to look at him.
"Thank you, Finn. I had such a wonderful time today, I truly did. Not to say I typically don't, because I always enjoy time spent with you, but it was very sweet of you to put all that extra effort in to make today so special. I know what you were trying to do, you wanted me to know what it was like when you were growing up and got to do all these things with your friends.
I didn't have a bad childhood, Finn, I really didn't- I was so lucky to have such wonderful fathers and we did our own things every now and then, you know? They took me to New York during their long vacations and we saw lots of musicals and went to all the museums, or sometimes I got to attend their galas with them. But, still, I didn't have friends, and no one ever invited me to these sorts of things, and you're right- I did feel like I was missing out, like there was some secret every other kid but me knew. And the fact that you care about me so much that you wanted me to experience this, this free-as-a-bird feeling, means so much to me. And that you went through all this trouble.. I am so blessed to have you in my life, Finn."
He feels his heart constrict as he smiles down at her.
"I'm so glad you had a good time today, because I know I did, and you wanna know what? All this stuff was so much more fun the second time around, seven years later, with you."
He pulls her head back to his chest and murmurs softly into her hair.
"I love you, baby, and you deserve it. You deserve everything."
They slowly release each other and slide into the truck, and she places a kiss on Finn's cheek before he turns on the engine and they head for her house, Rachel tucked into his side the entire way.
A/N: I hope it wasn't TOO cheesy, I know I had a couple gag-worthy parts in there. But happy Finchel = happy us! :) I realize the tone changed a little between this and the last chapter, but I still tried to keep it kind of light (I have a tendency to run away with the emotional stuff, I tried not to). Please let me know what you thought, and I'll try to have another update within the next couple days.. hopefully tomorrow! Maybe watching Fluffy-Finchel-packed "Duets" tomorrow night will spark my imagination a little ;) Love to you all.