I get so impatient when I write and especially with this chapter because each time I wrote them interacting, I was just waiting for them to kiss before I realised that 1) it's way too early for that and 2) I'm the person that can make that happen. We are, perhaps, getting closer to that moment, however.

Again, feeback is appreciated!

Rachel was between his legs because that was the most comfortable place for her to be. His head was tilted back and he had his nose wrinkled up. Occasionally, she would touch his face with her ointment covered index finger, hum to herself, and then turn away from him. The small bathroom was cramped with the both of them in it and Finn's knees had begun to hurt around ten minutes ago from being pushed against the bathtub for so long. Rachel didn't seem to notice his discomfort as she was so engrossed in her task of testing which ointment would work best on him and Finn wasn't about to stop her while she seemed as focused as he was when he would change a tire.

After a few moments, she let out another hum, cleaned her hand on the towel that Kurt had cut up to be a cloth, and then placed her hands on her hips. Finn lifted his head and looked at her, waiting for her to say something while she looked at him. Something like that could have been awkward if it was anyone else but Finn found that the silence between them was comfortable. The corner of his mouth twitched up into a smile.

"I think the first one worked better." Rachel mused. She tilted her head to the side to survey her work further.

"You think?" Finn asked.

"It's going to take a few days of days of using it to find out." Rachel said. "Which is a moot point, because by then, the remainder of your bruises will have faded and we won't know if any of them have worked or even if they sped up the healing."

Finn's head couldn't keep up with everything she was say and all he could focus on was how she looked good for someone who had been awake until five am talking to him. He looked awful, with dark bags under his eyes and his sullen look that made the yellowed bruises look a lot worse than they actually were. On the bright side, he would be going to the hospital tomorrow to get his stitches removed.

"Cool." he said.

"I noticed that you have a lot of other face creams and skincare products in your cupboard." Rachel noted as she leaned over to gather up her items. "Do those belong to your brother?"

"Yeah," Finn said. "Kurt is, like, obsessed with his skincare -"

He stopped mid sentence when he noticed it. It was purple and blue and it had hues of red around the outside of it, or the small part of it Finn could see anyway. The short sleeve of her red dress had slid up ever so slightly and revealed the large and angry bruise that decorated her skin. It looked vaguely hand shaped. His brow furrowed and he tried to remember if he'd seen it there when they had first met before he realised he couldn't remember and also that he seemed to be an expert in bruises lately and because of that, he knew that the bruise was fresh. She'd just gotten it.

"As we all should be." Rachel said, as though she had assumed Finn had ended his sentence rather than stopping it. "It's disgusting when someone doesn't look after themselves and men shouldn't be afraid of some moisturiser, I can tell you that girls prefer it when a boy has smooth skin."

Finn didn't answer her because he was so caught up in what he was looking at. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around it, like he'd assumed he was the only person in the entire world who could get a bruise. Maybe it was because he didn't see Rachel as someone who would recreationally partake in hobbies that would leave her bruised. He could remember when Quinn would show up and have bruises from cheerleading but Rachel didn't seem like a cheerleader.

And then Finn remembered one thing from their conversation yesterday and that was her boyfriend, Brody. He didn't want to jump to conclusions and assume that it was, simply because he'd been rude and she had gotten a little more subdued when she was with him. Finn assumed that that was the norm because he'd been the same with Quinn – though he did remember Kurt telling him that their relationship had reeked of emotional abuse but Finn was a dude, he couldn't get abused, right?

But this wasn't about him, it was about Rachel and her bruise.

"Hey," he said. "How do you know so much about this bruise stuff anyway?"

Rachel looked at him, for a brief moment, like he'd slapped her and yikes, that wasn't a way he wanted to be looked at or a simile he wanted to entertain the idea of. She shrugged, quickly, and looked away from him almost as soon as she had looked at him.

"I'm a theatre kid." she said. "We need to learn all about this stuff. I know how to cover tattoos and how to make cuts out of makeup. I used to scare my dads when I would come home looking like I'd just been assaulted when, in fact, it was just stage make up."

Finn ignored the word assaulted and swallowed the panic that became synonymous with it. "You know a lot, huh?"

"I like to be rigorous." Rachel said. "That way, I don't make mistakes."

Finn nodded, thinking about the mistake he'd made at Sam's party. "Does that work?"

Rachel thought about it and then she looked sad. "Sometimes."

Finn looked at her and decided he didn't like it when she looked sad. "I make mistakes all of the time."

"I don't believe that for a moment." Rachel said.

"No, it's true." Finn said. "I once thought a grilled cheese was my connection to God, who I don't even believe in."

Rachel let out a laugh. "That's ridiculous."

"I know." Finn agreed. "I was an idiot and everyone just let me do that for, like, a week."

Rachel shook her head. "Please tell me you threw it away."

"No, I ate it." Finn said. "And then ended up with food poisoning."

Rachel laughed again and Finn laughed with her. She had a nice laugh, one he wanted to hear more of.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But that really is a mistake."

"It is." Finn agreed.

"One time," Rachel said. "My school held auditions for our glee club and there was a girl who I thought was better than me, so I sent her to a defunct crack house."

"No way," Finn said and she nodded. "How did you even know where a crack house was?"

Rachel smiled at him. "A star never reveals her secrets."

"Well," Finn said. "I'm impressed."

"You're the only one who is." Rachel said. "They all got angry at me and I had to sorrowfully sing a ballad to let them know how I felt."

"They're just boring." Finn said.

Rachel looked away, bashfully. "Oh, but they were right."

Finn half smiled. "I walked down the hallway in my underwear once."

"Finn!" Rachel gasped. "Oh my god!"

"I'm serious!" he said. "I got slammed for it for weeks."

"Why would you do that?" she asked.

Finn shrugged. "I wanted to feel hot."

"You don't need to do that." Rachel said. "You are hot."

Finn looked at her, his brow furrowed and she met his confused look with an embarrassed one and quickly looked away, to try and save herself. Quickly, she began to speak again.

"I bought fifteen tickets for Cats, the musical, from a homeless man." she said. "He charged my credit card by swiping his butt crack."

Finn laughed. "That's disgusting."

"I know!" Rachel said. "And I completely forgot that Cats had closed, so then I just looked like an idiot to everyone."

"Oh, you're not an idiot." Finn said. "An idiot is someone who lets two strangers -"

The front door slammed shut then, cutting him off and letting them both know that someone had just entered. Finn felt a cold chill run down his spine when he realised what he had been about to tell her. He supposed it was lucky that they were in the bathroom because he felt sick, suddenly.

"Finn?" Kurt called out.

"In here!" Finn said.

He looked at Rachel then and noticed she was eyeing him in an odd fashion. He was about to ask her why that was when Kurt appeared in the doorway. His eyebrow shot up and he began to smirk, reading way into the situation in front of him.

"Well, hello." he said.

Finn shook his head. "Rachel, this is my brother, Kurt."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Rachel reached over, holding a hand out to shake Kurt's hand.

Kurt returned the gesture. "And I you, Rachel."

"She was just showing me some ways to get rid of bruises." Finn explained.

"Oh, I see." Kurt crossed his arms. "I feel sorry for you, he knows nothing about skincare."

"It's fine." Rachel said. "He was a darling to work with."

Kurt looked at Finn, smirked, and then looked back to Rachel. "That's funny. Last time I tried to help him, he smacked the moist toilette out of my hand."

"Okay, whatever." Finn said and then stood up.

Due to the small bathroom, he ended up chest to chest – or chest to torso – with Rachel and she let out a small oh sound and he could feel his cheeks blush and they tried to manoeuvre past each other but only ended up closer together, until Finn finally managed to break free from their small bubble. When he looked back at Kurt, he wore an even bigger smirk.

"Uh, Rach, Rachel, would you like to stay for dinner?" Finn asked, as casually as he could.

Rachel brushed her bangs from her eyes. "I would but I don't really eat meat."

"That's fine." Kurt said. "I found a great take away place that has nice vegetarian and vegan options."

"Oh, well," Rachel looked at Finn. "If you want me to."

Finn blushed once more. "I would."

She nodded and bit her lip. "Okay."

"Great!" Kurt spoke a little louder than usual. "I'll go find the menu!"

Half an hour later, the three of them were in the living room, with the food Kurt had ordered for them from that fancy take away. Finn was sat on the sofa with Rachel next to him and she was mid conversation with Kurt. They both had struck up a rapport when they both found that the other knew just as much about Broadway as the other did. They seemed to be getting along great and Finn simply sat there, listening to what they were saying without having anything of substance to offer. He barely knew what half of the things they were talking about were and despite the amount of times Kurt had bugged him about it, Finn had never once listened to the many musicals that he had been asked to. It wasn't his thing but it was nice to see Kurt getting along with someone and Finn kinda liked the brightness in Rachel's eyes when she spoke about something she was so obviously passionate about. For a moment, he caught himself smiling absent mindedly at her while she gushed over some musical about a green girl.

Maybe it was jumping the gun but Finn had decided that he never wanted Rachel to leave his life. She was a force of nature he couldn't ignore. She was wild and strong and a whirlwind. She was a tornado.

"And then I had to clean green body paint from places I didn't even realise I had gotten it." Rachel said, with a short laugh. "Who knew you could get so much paint in your ears."

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean." Kurt said. "There has been many a time I've dressed as Elphaba, to dramatically recreate Defying Gravity and ended up spending hours in the bathroom washing the green paint off."

"Honestly, you think they would have found some new way or method to play the role without so much hassle." Rachel said and then sighed. "But I don't think the role would be worth it like that. The work is what makes it so much fun."

"Oh, god, I know." Kurt agreed. "I would bath in green paint if it meant I even got the chance to glimpse the lights of Broadway."

Rachel nodded in agreement. "I'm so glad you're going to be at NYADA with me. You're like, on the same level as me and that has never happened to me before."

"Oh, that's preposterous." Kurt said. "I'm sure there's other people out there who are like that."

"Well," Rachel looked at Finn for a moment too long. "There is my boyfriend, Brody."

"Boyfriend?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, yes." Rachel said. "We've been dating for three years now. It's... nice."

Finn turned away from her, unable to hide the grimace that crossed his features then. He wasn't sure if it was just plain jealousy that made him uneasy to hear Brody's name or that he was Rachel's boyfriend or if it was because of the earlier idea that had come to him. He thought about it, the more it made a little too much sense.

Brody was a lot bigger than Rachel in many ways and he'd been rude to her when she had introduced him. It was quite possible that he was the kind of guy who got physical with their girlfriend in the worst way possible. Finn felt a little sick just thinking about it and he carefully set his plate down on the coffee table. He was thankful that neither Rachel nor Kurt seemed to notice his actions. He was especially thankful that Kurt didn't notice because he could imagine the lecture he would have gotten from him after Rachel left.

"I never asked," Kurt said. "How did you and Finn meet?"

Finn narrowed his eyes. He was sure he'd told Kurt that.

"Oh, well, your brother was a real gentleman and he helped me when some jerk made me drop my sheet music." Rachel explained. "We got a coffee and spent some time talking to each other after that and we became friends rather quickly."

"That's nice." Kurt said. "To be fair, our family was worried Finn would struggle to make friends here."

"Thanks." Finn hissed but only got a shrug from Kurt in response.

"No, I get it." Rachel said, putting her hand on his knee, which caught Finn off guard. "My dads were worried about the same thing but I can safely say that I have two new friends."

"And we're both flattered." Kurt said.

"I assume your parents were worried about him," Rachel gave Finn a quick look. "Because of the car accident?"

Finn felt like he'd just been punched in the gut as soon as she said it. He hadn't thought she would bring it up and there was a chance that Kurt could correct her and then he would be caught in his lies.

"Car accident?" Kurt asked.

"You know," Rachel looked at Finn. "The one you told me about?"

"Yeah," Finn said forcefully and then turned to Kurt. "You know, that thing that happened recently?"

Kurt looked confused for a moment before he nodded. "Oh, yes, that." he said. "Well, we were all worried because of that but it seems like we don't have to be."

"That's so nice!" Rachel said, looking like she'd not noticed or brushed off the awkward exchange Kurt and Finn had just had. "And now you can tell your parents that everything is okay."

"Totally." Kurt nodded.

The conversation was brought to an end abruptly, when Rachel's phone began to vibrate loudly against the coffee table. She quickly set down her half eaten meal to pick it up and read the texts she had gotten. Finn watched her face, waiting for some sign that it was Brody and she was going to leave him for someone better and -

Where the hell had that come from? Finn didn't think about her romantically, right?

"Oh, it's my room mate." Rachel said. "I need to get home. She's having a crisis."

Finn relaxed at the pronoun she.

"And right as we were having so much fun." Kurt said.

"We can talk again soon." Rachel said. "I had a lot of fun talking to you, Kurt."

"So did I." Kurt said. "I'll have Finn give me your number so I can text you later."

"That'd be nice." Rachel said and stood up. "Thanks for the dinner, it was nice."

"You're welcome." Kurt said.

Finn realised then, that Rachel was leaving and that he didn't like the idea of her leaving so soon. He didn't want to be alone and he certainly didn't want to be alone when he knew that she could be someone who would keep him company. It didn't matter whether or not the jumbled mess of emotions he had right now where romantic or not. He thought she was nice. He liked hanging out with her and he didn't want to be away from her so soon.

Finn stood up then, abruptly enough that they both noticed. "I'll walk you to the door."

"Oh," Rachel said. "I'd like that."

They left the room together then, Finn ignoring the look Kurt gave him and Rachel with the small bag of items she had brought with her. They walked down the short hallway – which was far too short – and Finn opened the door for her. She stepped out of the apartment and then, turned to face him.

"Would you, um," She paused. "Would you like to walk me home?"

Finn took in a sharp breath. "I'd love to."

The New York air was humid enough that Finn was slightly reminded of home, of the summers he'd spent in Ohio, in Sam's backyard or Mike's house. It was almost enough to make him feel nostalgic but that was yet another emotion he had chosen to bury deep within him along with the others. Rachel walked beside him, her arms wrapped around herself. They had just gotten off the subway, which told Finn that there wasn't that much of a distance between them.

(But really, who was he kidding? There was a distance but he was willing to convince himself that it was short.)

Again, the silence between them wasn't uncomfortable. It was, perhaps, one of the best silences he'd found himself in. Everything seemed to be easy around Rachel, it was like he was able to breathe a little more better than usual. He didn't want to think about what that actually meant.

When they did get to her apartment, he saw that it was much nicer than the one he and Kurt shared. It wasn't in the best neighbourhood but a mere look at the building that housed her apartment told him that it was definitely worth it. Finn almost wanted to know what it would have been like to live here with her, to wake up every morning and have her be there, making breakfast or looking over her schoolwork. It would have been nice.

"This is the noisiest neighbourhood imaginable." Rachel told him. "but it is so worth it for how nice this apartment is. I'm so lucky we managed to find it."

"You're probably really grateful for it, after seeing ours." Finn said.

Rachel shook her head. "No, not at all. Your apartment is quaint. It would be a stereotypical place for a newly married couple to move into while they try to start their lives."

"That's... one way to look at it." Finn said.

Rachel smiled at him and then pointed to a sliding door. "This is me."

"Cool." Finn said. "Well, you got home safe."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I had fun today."

"Me too." Finn said. "Nothing like spending two hours deciding which ointment is the best for bruises."

"It was your skin tone." Rachel argued. "It's different from mine."

"Oh, no, I get it." Finn said. "It was fun."

Rachel smiled and brushed some hair from off of her shoulder. "We should, uh, hang out again."

"That'd be nice." Finn agreed.

"Okay..." Rachel nodded. "I'll text you?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Finn said.

He took a step back, to turn and leave, but before he could make his big get away, the door behind them was yanked opened. Finn half expected to see Brody but instead, there was a Latina girl with curly back hair. She wore a tight dress and looked like she was ready to kill someone. Finn hoped it wasn't him. Or Rachel.

"Okay," she said. "Where is he?"

"What?" Rachel asked. "What are you talking about Santana?"

"The plastic Ken doll." The girl, Santana, said. "I heard you talking to a man and we both know that the only man that you're allowed to talk to is him."

Rachel turned bright red. "Santana, I was talking to Finn."

She motioned to him and Santana looked over to where he said. Finn attempted to come off as casual but only managed to look as awkward as he felt. She looked him over, like she was calculating all of his flaws and every embarrassing thing he'd ever done, before she crossed her arms over her chest.

"So, no donkey face?" Santana asked.

"That's my boyfriend, Santana." Rachel said.

She shrugged. "Where is he?"

"At practice." Rachel said.

"He's always at practice." Santana said. "Whatever. Get in here so that I can eat."

Rachel shook her head. "Are you not going to say hi to my friend?"

Santana, once more, looked at Finn. "Your friends with a giant?"

"People can't help their height." Rachel said.

"Point taken." Santana said. "Hi, Berry's friend."

"Much better." Rachel smiled. "Go back into the apartment, we can talk then."

Santana gave Rachel a wary look. "Fine. But we're seriously talking this time. No avoiding it."

"We will." Rachel reassured her.

Santana turned on her heel then and walked back into the apartment. Finn could hear her heels on the wooden floor for another few moments until she either sat down or was stood on softer ground. When he looked down at Rachel, she was shaking her head but wore a small smile.

"She's your room mate?" Finn asked.

"She is." Rachel said. "I know she seems like she can be a handful but she's really not."

"She was kinda mean." Finn said.

"Oh, she's just like that with people she doesn't know or trust." Rachel said. "She's actually a nice person and she cares about people, she just doesn't show it."

"Does she trust Brody?" Finn blurted out.

Rachel looked at him, shock making her eyes widen. "Oh, my god."

"Shit, um," Finn shook his head, embarrassed. "I should go. I'm gonna go. I'll see you later."

Without looking back, Finn ran from the apartment.

The hospital smelled strikingly like bleach. Finn couldn't shake the smell from his senses and it was the only thing he could concentrate on as he sat and waited. Beside him, Kurt sat with one leg crossed over the other. In his hands, he held a thick magazine that said Vogue on the cover. Finn couldn't stop bouncing one of his own legs.

"Something that is truly interesting," Kurt said. "Is the way we're becoming more obsessed with fashionable items that we wore decades before we were born."

"Uh huh." Finn said but he wasn't listening.

"Like our obsession with clothes from the 90s." Kurt said.

"Cool." Finn said.

"Are you listening to me?" Kurt asked.

"Huh? What?" Finn asked. "Uh, no, sorry."

Kurt closed his magazine with a thump. "Are you nervous right now?"

"What gave you that idea?" Finn asked.

Without saying anything, Kurt reached over and put his hand against Finn's knee. Finn stopped bouncing his leg and looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"This is nothing." Kurt said. "You're just getting your stitches taken out. It's nothing to be worried about."

"That's easy for you to say." Finn said.

"Would you like a distraction?" Kurt asked.

"Like what?" Finn asked.

"Oh, I don't know." Kurt grinned. "Tell me about Rachel."

Finn shot him an annoyed look. "There's nothing to say."

"You two seem pretty close already." Kurt said.

"We're friends." Finn said with a shrug.

"Hm," Kurt hummed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Finn said.

"What car accident was she talking about?" Kurt asked.

Finn froze and then looked over at Kurt. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, sure." Kurt said. "It's not as if you made a completely false story and lied to her."

Finn sighed. "What was I supposed to do? Tell her the truth and let her see that I'm an idiot?"

"No." Kurt said. "But you also didn't have to lie."

"What does it matter?" Finn asked. "I have no chance in hell of ever having more with her."

Kurt shifted in his seat, turning his body to face Finn. "Do you like her like that?"

"No, no," Finn said. "It's just, I don't know, she makes me feel good."

"And that's a miracle." Kurt said.

"What does that mean?" Finn asked.

"It means that you're in a place where it's a little harder to feel good than it used to be." Kurt said. "And it's amazing that Rachel is able to make you feel good now, of all times."

Finn slumped down in his seat. "It's got nothing to do with that."

"Hm." Kurt nodded. "Have you even considered talking to someone about it?"

"What's there to say?" Finn asked. "Oh, yeah, I got my ass kicked by two guys I let into my car and it's totally their fault that it all happened. Except not because I'm the worst person in the world."

Kurt let out a long sigh. "How many times do I need to remind you that what happened isn't your fault? People in this world take advantage of people's good natures. It's just a shame that it happened to you, of all people."

Finn shook his head. His eyes stung with tears that he didn't want to be there. He turned his head to look at Kurt. Despite his own stubborn attitude, he had to admit that he was thankful that Kurt was here with him, that Kurt had been kind enough to allow him to come to New York with him. He'd never thought that Kurt, of all people, was the person he would turn to while he was in a crisis.

Or maybe, a small voice told him, Kurt just felt like he owed Finn for the times he'd had his back during the whole bullying debacle. Maybe Kurt felt like he had to repay Finn for that and none of this was a kind gesture, out of the goodness of his heart, but his way to get rid of his own guilt. It wasn't a massive leap, Finn had once heard that people tended to look out for themselves and themselves only and that they would do exactly that just so that they could make themselves feel better. Maybe Kurt was one of those people.

Maybe Rachel was one of those people.

"Finn Hudson?" Someone called out and Finn was up within seconds.

He ignored Kurt attempting to say something to him and went over to where the doctor was. After a short exchange, Finn followed her down a few hallways until they were in a small room. There was a bed covered with a thing sheet of paper and it looked like the nurse's office from his school. Finn sat down on the bed and watched as the doctor brought over a tray of items.

"I've been in contact with your doctor from Ohio." she explained. "He filled me in on the extent of your injuries. It seems like the bruising has cleared up rather quickly and we just need to remove the stitches."

"Yeah." Finn said. "Will it hurt?"

"Not much." She said. "It's just a few snips and then some tugging as I remove the thread. You'll be fine."

Finn nodded and took in a deep breath as she began to do exactly what she said. She gently removed the sutures and got rid of one of the last reminders of the incident. After a few minutes, the stitches were completely gone and as the doctor turned away, Finn gently touched the place they had been. He could feel a small line there and he correctly guessed that it was a scar. So, maybe the reminder wasn't completely gone. Maybe he would have to live with a small one forever. That made his stomach twist violently.

"The same rules apply." The doctor explained. "Keep the area clean, take care when you're cleaning it, and try not to do anything that would aggravate it for a little while. There's still a chance you could open the wound."

"Will the scar always be there?" Finn asked.

"It might get fainter over time but yes, the scar will always be there." she said. "I could recommend some good treatments that have proven to help scars fade quicker, if you'd like?"

Finn shook his head. "No, it'll be fine."

"Okay." She said. "There is another thing."

"Hm?"

"I had looked over your files and noticed that you don't seem to be in any kind of counselling." she said.

"Oh, I don't need it." Finn said. "I'm fine, it was nothing."

"Uh huh." She moved over to her desk and then came back over to him. "This is a card for a counselling service. You can call up and make an appointment but they do accept walk ins for short meetings. It'd be best if you at least went once."

Finn took the card she handed him and looked down at it for a moment. He wasn't going to go but he figured it was best just to entertain the idea.

"Sure," he said. "I'll think about it. Are we, um, done?"

"We are." she said. "Feel free to come back if any of your injuries flare up again."

"Yeah."

Finn got off the bed and quickly left the room quicker than he'd ever done so in his life. He quickly made his way down the hallways until he was back in the waiting area and Kurt spotted him, standing up as he did so.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Fine. Stitches are gone." Finn said. "But I'm gonna have a scar."

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked.

"I'm fine. Why?" Finn asked.

"You seem a little panicked." Kurt said.

"I just want to go home, okay?" Finn said.

"Sure." Kurt said. "Let's go."

They left the hospital then, heading down the pavement towards where they could find the subway that would take them back to their apartment. Kurt had been more than right when he'd noted how Finn seemed more panicked because he did feel more panicked. He wasn't sure where the notion had come from but he did know that he wanted it gone.

He assumed it had everything to do with the card that was still clenched in his hand, so when they passed a trash can, Finn threw it away.