I do not own Glee
Sorry for any mistakes, I didn't feel like going it we it another time because you guys have waited long enougchair another chapter! Enjoy!
Also, I tried to make the present a little longer! But, this is kinda a 'Part 1' and the 'Part 2' will, hopefully, be up soon!
Past
"Happy birthday, dear Matthew! Happy birthday to you!" They finish singing and Matt gurgles happily from his high chair.
Rachel smiles at him from across the room and he winks back at her. Slowly, she cuts a part of the cake off and places it on Matt's high chair.
His son grabs the cake with his hand and tries to shove it in his mouth, only it doesn't go into his mouth, but around his face.
Everyone chuckles at him, commenting about how cute he is.
Matt turned one today. Time flew by and now his son is a year old.
Rachel cuts another slice, this time handing it to Finn. She spent all day yesterday baking the Elmo cake for their son and it came out looking great.
"Thanks, babe." He says, leaning down to kiss his wife. Matt gurgles loudly in his seat, clapping his hands together. Rachel chuckles, pulling away and turning back to the cake.
He turns back to his son, but Santana has already swooped in and is currently wiping the babies mouth.
Santana may put on her 'badass' attitude, but she really loves their son. Ever since Matt was born, San literally can't stay away from him. She always offers to help out and take care of him when they need help.
He thinks it's because she really wants to start a family, but she hasn't found the one to start it with yet. She never really moved on after Brittany ran off to London with Sam a year ago.
"Thanks, San." He tells her, swiftly walking past. Kurt and Blaine converse quietly in his living room and his mom stands just off to the side.
"I really like what you and Rachel have done with the place! You guys really worked hard." She smiles at him. He looks around at the yellow painted walls adorned with pictures of their families.
"She was determined to have it finished by Matt's birthday, and you know that she always gets what she wants." He chuckles.
They went out in a limb by buying this house just outside of Brooklyn. It was really beat up and torn down, but Rachel was determined that it was the perfect house. With a little t.l.c, it was fixed in no time.
"Well, it looks great." She grins, looking up at him. Burt comes over, taking Carole's hand and then tells her that they have a flight to catch. She sighs, leaning over to give him a hug.
"Thanks for coming, mom." He tells her and she sniffles.
"I am so proud of you." She says and he just smiles. Burt gives him a quick hug before going off into the kitchen and saying goodbye to Rachel and Matt.
Kurt comes and gives Finn a hug as well, saying that he and Blaine have a train to catch back to Manhattan and with that, they leave as well.
Santana leaves shortly after, along with several of his co-workers and some of Rachel cast members.
Quinn calls at about seven, wishing Matt a happy birthday and Puck shoots Finn a text saying the same as well.
They've all tried to keep in contact, but it was kind if hard once life kicked in.
Quinn lives in Chicago with her husband and their daughter, who is just two years older than Matt. Puck still lives in L.A, constantly going from girlfriend to girlfriend.
Mike and Tina have survived all this time, and they have two twin girls who are just six years old. No one has heard from Mercedes in quite a while and Britt and Sam barely talk to everyone as well.
The only one that everyone talks to is Mr. Schue all the way back in Ohio. Other than that, most everyone has gone their separate ways.
Once he sets Matt down in his crib, he descends down the stairs and into the kitchen where Rachel is washing dishes.
He wraps his arms around her waist, kissing down her neck. She giggles softly, turning around to face him.
"I say our little party was a success." She whispers, kissing his chin lightly.
"I would have to agree with you" he smiles. "Mom loved the house. She said you did a great job on it." Rachel's eyes light up and a wide smile takes control of her lips.
"Really?! Oh, that's amazing! I worked very hard, you know."
"Uh huh," he breathes, kissing down her neck. "I think you deserve a break." She laughs quietly as he begins to explore her body.
Just as he begins to shimmy off her shirt, a loud cry comes from Matt's room. He groans against her stomach and she laughs again.
"You go get him and I'm going to finish the dishes." She kisses his head before pushing him away and turning back to the dishes.
He smiles at her because she's honestly the prettiest girl in the entire world.
Sometimes he wonders how he got so lucky.
Present
He can't really sleep anymore.
Every time he tries, he has nightmares. He gave up on sleep when he began having the reoccurring dream, and he's never tried sleeping again.
The nightmares started after she left him. They would be of Matt begging for him to save him. He would plead and cry and no matter what Finn did, he could never get to Matt in time.
To get away, he began to ask for the night shifts at the station. At first, his boss was skeptical because Finn always used to ask for the nights off so he could take care of Matt while Rachel performed.
Too bad he has no one to take care of now.
It's not like Rachel still performs, either. She quit after Matt died. She didn't give any warning to her cast mates or director. She just left.
Much like she did to him.
Anyways, soon enough he convinced his boss to let him take the night shifts. At first, it was hard because he's never worked the night shifts, but Ricky, another guy who worked the night, helped him get accustomed to it.
Working at the firehouse can be a pain in the ass. They always seem to busy because people tend to be stupid and light things on fire. However, the last few weeks have been really slow.
Until tonight.
He's been exhausted all day and he's actually looking forward for it to be a slow night.
Of course, fate has other plans for him because at midnight, the siren in the firehouse begins to wail loudly. The other men rush down the firepole, and Finn follows closely behind them. They gather outside the truck, James, their boss, is yelling out different commands.
"Hudson! You've got crowd control! Make sure everyone stays far enough away!" Internally, he moans because crowd control is the worst.
They all gather inside the truck, bringing it to life and letting the siren wail throughout the streets.
He can see the fire as soon as they reach about a mile away.
The flames build up from the top of the apartment building and he seriously wonders how this happened.
As they reach the apartment building, they scramble out of their truck and grab the hose as fast as they can.
The manager of the apartment comes racing towards them, saying that he thinks everyone is out. He also tells them that all of the people in the building are standing off to the side, so James goes to have a look at everyone.
Finn makes his way towards the crowd that is slowly building. He begins to ask people to step back when he hears her voice.
"Finn!" She screams wildly at him. He turns in shock to see Rachel running towards him. She's wearing her little pink dress with her oily apron, showing that she must've just gotten back from work.
"Rachel?" He asks in disbelief. Why was she here?
"Finn," she cries out. "Finn, Santana's not out here! She's still inside! Santana isn't here!" He's confused for a moment before he remembers that Rachel lives with Santana.
This is their apartment building.
Many thoughts go racing through his mind, but one look at Rachel's distressed face, makes him sprint towards the building.
"Finn! What the hell are you doing!" Ricky screams at him as he plunges his way into the building. The fire is just reaching the bottom floor, so he quickly runs to the stairs.
It's so hot and muggy and he is coughing violently by the time he reaches the fifth floor. He runs down the hallways to the familiar apartment and when he reaches the door, he doesn't hesitate to kick it in.
Flames burst up, but he runs full speed anyways.
"Santana!" He screams out. There's no response at all. "Fuck, Santana! Where are you?" He yells out again.
A faint cough catches his attention, and he races through the kitchen to try and find her.
She's laying on the ground by the couch in the living room. He can barely see her with all the smoke that's filled the room, but she's there.
He runs to her and, being as gentle as he can, he turns her over.
"Santana, can you hear me?" He asks, trying to find a way to carry her. He can already see some burns forming on her skin, turning it from a Carmel color to a dark brown.
"Hudson?" She croaks out, and he imagines that her throat must be filled with smoke. She begins to cough violently, her whole body shaking.
"Don't worry, San. I'm going to get you out of here." He promises. He slowly lifts her off the ground, and she cries out. He apologizes and continues in his way out of the apartment.
He can see some of the flames diminishing because of the help of the other firemen, and he's very thankful for that.
Making it down the stairs is the hardest because its hard to see in front of him because of the smoke. He can feel Santana lose consciousness halfway down, so he keeps trying to get her to stay awake.
Finally, he bursts into the open air and the crowd claps wildly for him. Some paramedics come and take Santana from him and begin to pump oxygen into her mouth. He asks if she's going to be okay, and a nurse assures him that they will do everything they can.
Somehow, Rachel manages to get past the other officers and she comes rushing towards where Santana is laying.
"Is she okay?" She quickly asks and a nurse tells her she needs to back away.
"Rach-" he tries, but she ignores him.
"This is my best friend! Please tell me she's going to be okay!" She screams at the nurse.
"Ma'am, don't make me call an officer over here to take care of you." The nurse threatens.
"Rach," and this time she looks at him, tears running down her face. "Let them do their job. I'm sure she's going to be okay." He says even though he can't be positive. Santana burns looked really bad and he doesn't know if she's going to be okay, but Rachel's distressed look makes him say she'll be fine.
Rachel seems to like this, because she backs away from the nurse. She turns to him and walks right next to him.
"I can't stand to lose someone else that I love." She whispers and he looks down at her. He's about to respond, but another voice gets his attention.
"Hudson!" The voice screams and he groans as he turns to see his boss storming at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Look-" he tries.
"Shut the hell up!" His boss looks so angry right now and he internally groans that Rachel has to watch this right now. "You could've gotten yourself killed! I gave you your orders and you didn't listen! We had guys ready to go get the girl, but you always try to be the hero." He can see the veins sticking out on his boss' neck.
The crowd has peaked interest in this fight now, and everyone seems to be watching.
He bows his head, trying to avoid embarrassment.
"Excuse me, sir," Rachel all of a sudden says, causing his head to whip up. His boss turns to his ex-wife, eyeing her. "I don't really understand why Finn is being yelled at." She simply says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Listen, lady. This is none of your business. Who do you think you are?" His boss spits out.
"Why, my name is Rachel Berry," and hearing her say her last name makes his heart ache just a little. "And I believe that Finn here was just doing his job. He saved a woman today and he's being punished because of that. It doesn't make any sense." She tells his boss.
"Well-" but Rachel holds up a hand.
"I'm not finished," she simply says. "I happen to be very well versed with the New York safety team and I could pull a few strings to make sure that you can never have another position in safety. So, you better let Finn slide on this one." His boss stutters for a moment before back away slowly.
He turns to her, his eyebrows raised.
"New York safety team?" He smiles slightly.
"I had to come up with something quick! It was believable. I mean, look at the way he reacted." She points to his boss who is currently pacing.
"You know," he begins. "I didn't need your help." She looks at him, her eyes sparkling under the moonlight.
"I know." She whispers.
He sighs before looking away, but his peripherals catch her still looking at him.