Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Maci.

I am honestly BLOWN away by everyone whose read and reviewed, you all are the best! I take everything you guys say into consideration for what you all would like to read in the story.

I would also like to give a HUGE thank you to joyofrediscoveringyou for editing this chapter, you're the best! Thank you!

x.

"Hey Maci, have you thought about what you want for your birthday?" Finn asked pouring milk into the bowl of cereal "I mean you only turn five once."

"Daddy, you turn every age once."

"Well aren't you full of smartness these days?" Finn smiled sitting on the other side of the table. He didn't want a repeat of the other day when he went to sit in the other room with his meal. Apparently, Miss Rachel was very adamant on them eating at the table when he wasn't home. Not that there wasn't anything wrong with sitting at the table, he just didn't realize that Maci would want to.

"But I was thinking..." Slurping on the milk from her spoon, Maci smiled " I want a doggy"

"No pets allowed, it's a rule."

"Well that's a stupid rule." She kicked her foot against the table.

"Don't say stupid, that's mean." Finn also stopped her foot from hitting the table again. "I'm sorry, it's just that the people that run this place won't allow pets. Is there anything else you might want?"

"No." She replied, her tone clipped as she just continues eating.

"So, what do you want to do today? It's daddy and Maci day!"

"Nothing." Resting her chin on her hands, she looked down at her half-full bowl.

"Want to go to the park?" Finn tried

"No"

"The movies?"

"No"

"Well what do you want to do?"

"Can we go see Miss Rachel?" Maci sighed, her dad's lack of understanding that she didn't want to go to the park so they could throw around a football.

"But I thought it would be a fun day with just the two of us." Finn got pumped up with excitement to show her how fun he could be. "If the two of us were to do something today that you wanted, what would it be?"

"Could we go shopping?" Her eyebrows raised in question.

"Yeah of course, for toys?"

"No I want dresses."

"You want dresses, I thought you didn't like dresses?"

"I want them now, they are pretty. Miss Rachel wears dresses and she's pretty, I want to be just like her."

"Seriously, on our day together you want to go dress shopping?" Finn had never ever heard her mention that she liked dresses, let alone want to wear one.

"We don't have to..."

"We'll go, we can get ready and go after breakfast."

"Best daddy and Maci day is a go!"

xx.

"What about this one?" Finn asked picking up what seemed to be the hundredth or fifth hundred dress of the day.

"I don't like black daddy, I want pink or yellow." Picking up a dress from a rack, a Ralph Lauren white dress with pastel pink flowers with a pale pink bow tied in the front. "This one daddy, this is so cute!"

Looking the dress up and down he couldn't believe that his little girl was turning into, well, a little girl. Putting yet another dress into his arm he made sure they were the size the woman had told them would fit Maci.

Maci stacked more and more into his arms until finally one of the workers came over to him.

"Hello sir." The blonde smiled sweetly "Would you like me to take those for you? I can place them over at the register until your shopping is complete."

"Yeah, that would be awesome." Finn walked with the woman, dropping them onto a counter. "My daughter is apparently getting a brand new wardrobe today."

"My daughter is the same way, she gets her shopping from me though. Her father absolutely dreads it."

"Yeah, well it's not exactly my favorite thing to do." Finn chuckled as Maci brought him white shorts and a pair of pale yellow ones. "Seems like she knows what she's doing though. I just recently got her a nanny, ever since she's been on this girly kick."

"Every little girl deserves some pretty outfits."

"I'm just used to jeans and t-shirts." Finn couldn't believe how transformed his kid had become in a matter of almost three weeks. "You know, my little football girl."

"She's still in there." The sales clerk patted Finn on the arm "Do you need something else?"

"She's going to need like those flip flop things that have a backing to them, right?"

"Sandals." She smiled "What size is she?"

"Thirteen." Finn informed the woman before going over with Maci to help her with reaching the shirts. It was an hour later that the pair walked out of Bloomingdales with four bags in Finns arms. Maci held Laci in her own hands as Finn hailed for a taxi. Jumping in and scooting across the seats Finn got in, putting the bags next to him. Instructing the driver where to go Finn turned to Maci to find her peeking through the bags.

"Thank daddy, I'm so excited to wear all my new clothes!" Maci leaned over hugging Finn close to her. She then swung her legs forwards, showing off her brand new sandals. "I think you did an awesome job with shopping! These are perfect."

He didn't dare mention that the clerk had helped him, instead he let himself have this one.

xxx.

"Hi Uncle Kurt." Maci waved as they entered Blaine's store looking around the first floor but Maci had seemed to spot them two men before she did. Catching up to the four year old, Rachel waved to Blaine who seemed to be joining the two.

"Look at you watching little Maci." Blaine smiled ruffling Maci's head smiling down at her. "What are you guys doing today?"

"We're going to the zoo!" Maci exclaimed "Miss Rachel said we're going to see lots of animals."

"We just wanted to stop in and see you guys. It's going to be a long day in the zoo so we stopped for some breakfast around the street." Holding onto Maci's hand she swung them back and forth. "We're going to go catch the subway into the Bronx, but we'll be back before Finn is supposed to be home."

"Come on let's go!" Maci insisted pulling on Rachel's hand "We're going to miss the animals!"

"You heard the girl, get going." Blaine chuckled "Bring me back a monkey or something."

"I can't bring you back a monkey!" Maci squealed "I'll get in trouble!"

"Darn, well I guess just bring me back a stuffed animal instead."

"That I can do." Maci smiled, waving at Kurt and Blaine as she led Rachel back out into the streets. Eager to go to the zoo, they purchased their subway stubs for the day and got on their way. Rubbing sunscreen into Maci's exposed skin that was sticking out of her shorts and tanktop, Rachel did the same for what was coming out of her own shorts and tee.

Arriving at the Bronx at around ten, Rachel kept Maci's hand within a tight grasp with her own as they walked up the stairs.

"Stay with me, okay?" Rachel told Maci as they walked in the direction of the zoo. Paying for their tickets Rachel had to keep a tight grasp of Maci's hand as they got situated at the entrance.

Deciding not to get a map and to just roam around to see what they come across, Rachel let Maci decide which way they should start. Deciding with the left side, the two began to walk. Arriving to the gorilla exhibit, Maci couldn't be held back as she ran to the front, squeezing her way in-between people to look at them.

Only but a step behind Maci, Rachel looked in excitement at the gorilla.

"There's a baby gorilla!" Maci squealed "It's a baby!"

" It's so cute!" Rachel leaned down to Maci's level as they both watched the baby move around in the grass. "Look, I think the daddy gorilla is coming out."

"Whoa, it's so big!"

"Miss Rachel, what do gorillas eat?"

"They eat fruit and leaves. They are herbivores."

"What does that mean?" Maci's eyes wide in wonder

"Herbivore means that the animal eats mostly green things, things without meat."

"So you're a herbnivora?" Rachel giggled at her mispronunciation and her remembering that Rachel doesn't eat meat.

"I guess that does make me a herbivore."

Moving on down the pavement, Maci was in awe of just some of the animals they passed. While Maci stopped to look at the zebras, Rachel felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. keeping an eye on Maci, Rachel answered it noticing it was Finn.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I got out of practice earlier than expected. Are you guys still at the zoo?" Finn asked as Rachel smiled when Maci pointed in excitement to the zebra moving closer to where everybody was standing.

"Yeah, we got here about a half hour ago. If you want, you can meet us here. Maci is having a blast looking at the animals." Moving closer to Maci as they both watched the zebras, Rachel waiting for Finn.

"I was hoping you'd say that." The voice was awfully close, looking to the left Rachel saw Finn, changed into a pair of khaki shorts and black v-neck tee. Maci had finally taken notice to her father joining them.

"Daddy!" Maci yelled happily while hugging his legs "You came to see the animals?"

"Sure did! My coach let us out early." Rubbing his daughters back FInn looked to Rachel smiling "You don't mind if I crash you do you?"

"Are you kidding? she's your daughter."

"Yeah well, I don't want to ruin 'awesome Miss Rachel' time."

"I guess you're just going to have to find out how truly boring I am." Adjusting her sunglasses on top of her head, Rachel smiled as Maci grabbed both her father and Rachel's hand.

Pulling them to the next exhibit Maci gasped. "Oh, my gosh!"

"What the heck is that?" Finn mumbled looking at what seemed to be a dog.

"It's an African Wild Dog"

"That is so cool looking" Maci watched it with such awe
"You know Maci has never been to the zoo before?" Finn admitted, somewhat ashamed "With work and everything I just wasn't able to bring her yet."

"There's a first time for everything!" Rachel reassured him "I didn't get on a ride until my senior trip in high school. My boyfriend at the time Jesse, he convinced me."

"Daddy! Miss Rachel!" Maci giggled pointing to the wild dog. "He's licking himself."

"I'm not sure if I should find that disturbing or cute." Finn mumbled behind his smile as he gave his daughter a thumbs up.

"What a silly dog." Rachel chuckled before smiling and mumbling "Disturbing, look at its teeth. That's just gross."

Without another thought Maci ran off to the next exhibit leaving the two adults in the dust.

"Wait up Maci!" Finn yelled after the little girl, both him and Rachel running after her. The next hour consisted of just over three exhibits because Maci wanted to know just about every single fact about the animals she saw. It was finally around one when she took a seat on one of the benches complaining of thirst and hunger.

Deciding that maybe it was the best time to have lunch, Finn suggested they eat at one of the places. Grabbing a table Finn insisted on buying lunch for them.

"I already know what you want." Finn said pointing to his daughter who drank out of a water bottle Rachel had brought with them. "What about you?"

"Miss Rachel is like a gorilla!" Maci giggled putting down her water bottle on the table. Finn, on the other hand, couldn't believe that his daughter would say such a thing.

"Maci you can't say that about a lady." Finn blushed, embarrassed that his daughter would say such a thing about Rachel's eating habits. "Apologize."

"Finn..." Rachel giggled along side of Maci "She's just merely stating that my eating habits are like a gorilla, not that I eat like a gorilla. I taught her today that gorillas are herbivores, meaning that they don't eat meat."

"They eat green stuff." Maci proud of her memory

"Oh." Finn was impressed "Well in that case, I'll see if they've got a salad for you."

"Thank you." Rachel smiled crossing her leg over the other as her and Maci went through the map they had picked up along the way. Walking away Finn could hear the two conversing on what they should go see after they eat. Ordering himself a hamburger along with the food for the other two, Finn came back to the table handing out the food. Maci dug into her chicken finger with ranch dressing as Rachel thanked Finn for lunch.

"It's the least I can do." He smiled sitting on the other side of the table. "So what's the game plan after lunch?"

The sly smirk on Maci's face should have said it all.

A half hour later Finn was being pulled into a butterfly house where there are all these flowers, bushes, trees and just about anything you could think of that relates to butterflies. Maci was in heaven as she walked around just staring at the bright, different butterflies.

Keeping an eye on his daughter he couldn't help but look at Rachel who was bent over smiling at a butterfly resting on top of a pink flower. The orange and yellow insect fluttering its wings as it sits there, watching Rachel coo at it. Watching as Rachel takes her finger to the butterfly she picks it up gently, bringing her and the butterfly closer to her face.

He had honestly never seen anything as amazing as that. Watching the butterfly flutter away, Rachel giggles as she takes a noticing of Finn watching her. Blushing just a little from the attention she received, Rachel pointed to the butterfly while walking to him.

"I think they are so precious and gentle. Being in here is amazing because they are so used to humans, they like the attention."

"That was awesome, I've never seen anyone hold a butterfly before."

"Oh yes, I've held many." Rachel bit her lip, holding up a finger as she goes for another butterfly. Gently helping the creature onto her finger she brings it up to Finn's face. "They are truly one of a kind."

"Amazing..." Finn stared in awe, almost cross eyed from looking at it so closely.

"Miss Rachel you have a butterfly on your finger!" Maci gasped looking up to the butterfly on Rachel's finger. "I'm going to go try!"

"Okay, just don't leave the place. Stay where I can keep an eye on you." Finn instructed, Maci gave him a thumbs up as she ran to another bush. Letting the butterfly go off her finger Rachel leaned against the interior of the butterfly house, playing with some of the flowers. "So, I would just like to say how impressed I am on how you got Maci to wear dresses. As much as I enjoyed the little tomboy phase, I know Kurt is dying to get you and Maci shopping."

"I heard about your shopping trip." Rachel laughed "Maci told me all about how you weren't as understanding on what she wanted."

"Apparently I'm not a very girly man." Finn chuckled remembering those exact words coming from his daughter's mouth earlier in the week. "Seriously though, I am impressed. Kurt had been on my case about getting Maci dresses since the kid could walk. I tried but she just wasn't into them, Kurt would buy them and Maci would throw a fit if I tried to put them on her. Then you came and now all the girl wants to wear are dresses or pink."

"Well she is a little lady." Rachel smiled watching Maci skip around trying to pick up butterflies. "I've been wearing dresses and skirts since I can remember. I have two gay fathers, it's only common that they would want me to look like I do. Plus I went to Carmel, I had to look my best."

Looking over to Finn to see his remark about her gay fathers, his raised eyebrows alarmed her a little as he opened his mouth. "Kurt said you went to Carmel, we were rivals in football so I unfortunately have nothing good to say about that school."

Impressed on his lack of comment on her father's Rachel felt a little more open with him. The fact that he had a gay step brother who he was close with was welcoming as well. "Well I'll have you know that Carmel football was nothing but a joke from my understanding. Many of the students there focused more on the arts than they did sports."

"See, at McKinley we focused on the sports. We might have sucked at football but our hockey and basketball teams were pretty kick ass." Finn smiled "I was only on the football team and basketball team. I would have gone for baseball but I couldn't overlap the sports."

"I'm uncoordinated, besides dancing and singing. I would have put McKinley to shame or Carmel if I had even attempted to play any sports."

"I can't dance to save my life, I suck."

"I'm not the best dancer out there either, so no shame." Rachel laughed "So what year did you graduate?"

"Two thousand and ten, I'm twenty five, almost twenty six in just about a couple months. What about you?"

"Two thousand and twelve, twenty three. I graduated from high school and came straight to New York, it's always been my dream to be on Broadway. Singing is just something that comes naturally to me, though I work extremely hard."

"Yeah, totally. I mean your voice the other day was just amazing."

"Well I have been known to make people cry."

"If you had been singing a sad song, I would have." Finn agreed, nodding hard. "You know, I've caught Maci singing to herself a lot more lately."

"You have?" Rachel's eyes lit up

"Yeah, sometimes when I sneak up on her she is singing softly to herself."

"That's great! You don't mind right?"

"What, that she sings?" Finn questioned glancing around quickly to check on Maci, who was sitting on the ground at a bunch of flowers while watching the butterflies. "Of course not, she's actually got a few good pipes in her."

"Excellent." Rachel smiled "Soon enough you'll have a little Streisand in your house as well."

"Who?" Finn asked confused.

"Oh my, I can obviously see that you are a Transformers man." Rachel patted Finn casually on the shoulder as she began to walk to catch up with Maci.

"Bumblebee is pretty awesome."

xxxx.

"She is so heavy." Finn complained carrying Maci in his arms as they walk to the train station, after a long day at the zoo Maci is zonked out. "I liked it so much better when she was like ten pounds."

"It's not like she's a hundred pounds." Rachel laughed taking a hold of the backpack they'd packed for the day.

"Yeah well, you try carrying a dead asleep four year old down the streets and down the stairs." Finn chuckled gripping her tighter as they climbed their way to the subway. "Are you sure you're going to be okay on your way home? I can pay for a cab from my penthouse, that way you don't have to ride alone or walk alone."

"I've been walking these streets for five years Finn, I'm sure I will perfectly fine tonight." Rachel smiled at him appreciating his worry but it was unnecessary. "I will be at your house at regular time tomorrow."

Parting their separate ways, Finn called her name making her turn around. "Thanks for being good to her, she really likes you."
"Well it's a good thing I really like her too." Waving her hand, Rachel gripped the backpack closer to her body. "I'll bring this tomorrow, have a good night."

"You too" Finn waved back watching as she disappeared behind the cement walls to catch her own ride home.

Suddenly for the first time in four years, Finn felt alone.

xxxxx.

"So how was the zoo?" Kurt answered the phone as he sat at vanity, moisturizing his skin. "Aren't you glad I gave you a heads up?"

"Yeah it was pretty awesome, Maci really liked the animals. Rachel is doing great with Maci." Finn commented as he sat in the back of the taxi with Maci curled up beside him, still sleeping. "We all had a good time."

"I'm glad." Kurt smiled to himself in the mirror "You should try and get off a little more, do some things with them. I bet Maci had a good time today."

"She did but dude you know I have to go to practice. It's not even an option."

"I know that more than anyone else, all I'm trying to say is maybe you should include yourself in some of the things Maci and Rachel do."

"Kurt..." Finn groaned resting his head against the taxi's backseat. "I know what you're doing..."

"Oh no!" Kurt gasped looking at himself through the mirror definitely not wanting to get into this over the phone or that night. "I dropped my facial cleanser all over the floor, I need to go."

"Kurt I'm serious!" Finn warned but it was too late, Kurt had already hung up.

Suddenly the taxi hauled to a stop and the man turned around giving him the total. Pulling out his wallet Finn paid for their transportation home. Getting out of the taxi, Finn reached for Maci and pulling her into his arms. Shutting the door with his foot the two or rather Finn carrying Maci climbed up the stairs and into the lobby, one of the men working there called for the elevator. Thanking him, Finn stepped in holding Maci close to him just so she didn't fall down his body.

"Daddy?" Maci mumbled picking her head off his shoulder, looking around confused.

"Shhh... go back to sleep." Finn cooed running one hand through her hair. "Where almost home."

"Where's Miss Rachel?" She looked around panicked at the thought of leaving her behind.

"She'll be back tomorrow, Miss Rachel had to go home and sleep." Finn comforted her as the elevator dinged signalling that they were on the floor of their home. Slipping his key in Finn walked through the door, putting Maci in bed. Slipping off her shoes and cuddling her into the covers Finn kissed her goodnight. Not even moving an inch more as she was passed out from such a long day at the zoo. One that wouldn't have even been possible if it wasn't for Rachel.

If Kurt thought he was setting him up, he had another thing coming. Rachel was his daughter's nanny, not just some random woman. Maci loved being around Rachel and Finn wasn't going to ruin that for his daughter. She was just about the only woman who had Maci connected with, no, there was no way he was going to take that from Maci. No matter how hot the nanny was.

Authors note is at the top.