A/N: Thank you for reading my story and for the responses!

In this chapter, I am going to mention Jenny, who was, in case that there are those who have not read 'The Boy Next Door,' Finn's high school girlfriend having cheated on him with his best friend (not Puck) and caused him to be unable to trust women subsequently (she was sort of Quinn in Glee, but thousands times harpy).

And since this chapter is on the Thanksgiving Day, NFL Thanksgiving games are mentioned a bit as well. Actual three games on the day in 2015 are still TBA. So, I picked up Lions vs. Packers and Cowboys vs. Jets as the two of the games (and depicted Jets as a still underdog despite the fact in the real world that a new HC and GM were hired).

I'm under the weather now. :( I've totally forgotten how terrible you feel with a cold because it's been a while since I had it last time. It's getting colder outside these days, so take care of yourself too!

Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

"Finn, it's time to wake up!" Rachel shook her boyfriend's long arm back and forth. "Rusty needs to go out and exercise," she tried again.

"Hmmmmm," Finn rolled onto the other side away from her in his sleep.

Actually, he had already been awake for hours. No. He couldn't sleep at all, to be honest. Then why did he pretend to continue his slumber? Did he need to tell the reasons? Which were so obvious.

For one, he was pissed at Sam, who had totally ruined his night. For another, he also was upset about what Quinn had said to Rachel, which he believed was unnecessary. He knew that his best friend could be a jerk with bravado and sometimes felt bad for Quinn, who had to be a mother at the age 21 in college, gotten knocked up by the Mohawk. But still.

In addition to that, the married couple was having make-up sex all night in the next room to his and Rachel's (Kurt had reluctantly undertaken the task of Eli-sitting, Beth in Burt's and Carole's bedroom). Which, of course, totally killed Rachel's mood and he wasn't able to get any action. Though he wasn't going to to begin with because the Berrys were staying on the same floor.

And now he was forced to revise his plan from scratch.

"Fine," Rachel climbed off the bed as she sensed that Finn was unlikely to wake up at any minute. "I'll take him out alone."

Finn heard her tone changed. He generally took Rusty for a walk and exercise with Rachel in the morning when he was not on a school day. This morning, however, he shut his eyes tightly, refusing to open them or move his large body from the bed to accompany her. Mentally apologizing to her, he told himself that it would be the best for both of them, while he heard his girlfriend preparing to go-out with the dog.

A few minutes later, having heard Rachel leaving the room, Finn finally opened his eyes. He tilted his head to glance at the doorway before crawling out of the bed. Then he quietly opened the door, poking his head to look around the corridor. Rachel was nowhere to be found. She must have already been out with Rusty.

Finn quickly traveled into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face before returning to the bedroom to change into some decent clothes. He took a glance at the time on his cell phone on the night table. While he knew that it was still early for him and them to have serious conversations, he had no choice, nor time.

Finn stopped in front of the guest room. He breathed deeply before knocking on the door softly.

"Come in."

Finn wrenched the door open slowly and peered into the room.

"Finn! Good morning," greeted Hiram, standing beside the closet, already in a pair of gray slacks and a purple V-neck sweater, as he encouraged him to enter the room with a wave of his hand.

Finn slowly let himself in the room before starting. "I, uｍ, am sorry to bother you such early morning, but I–"

"I didn't know that you were interested in us," Hiram interrupted, placing his hands on his chest, looking at Finn fondly. "It is unfortunate but we have a strict rule whom to choose for three-way," he deadpanned.

"Hiram, really," Leroy admonished, stopping his hand from folding his clothes on the bed, giving a look to his significant other.

"W-what? N-no!" Finn cried, frantically waving his hands before him. "I just, I-I was just–," he choked.

"Finn, I was just kidding," Hiram chuckled, walking to the bed. "So? What did you want to talk to us?" he smiled up at Finn as he perched himself on the edge of the bed.

Finn cleared his throat, wiping his hands on his chinos. "I said that Rachel and I hadn't talked about marriage last night, but I, um, have been thinking about it for weeks, to ask her to marry me," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, it was the last April that the idea of marrying her popped up in my head for the first time, on the way back home from Bronx Zoo with her," he said in one breath.

Finn felt his mouth dry, his hands more sweaty otherwise, but he went on nonetheless. "A-and, I'd like you to know that this was not because Sam and Mercedes had announced their engagement, o-nor, I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. I swear, it wasn't, because I, eh, have already gotten the ring, and, and, I would have flown to Ohio if there wasn't the strike, a-and–" he rambled.

"Get to the point, Finn," Leroy interrupted, depositing himself on the bed next to Hiram. "What's your point?"

"I, um," Finn swallowed thickly, "I was wondering if I'd have your blessing."

Hiram and Leroy exchanged looks and both turned their heads to face Finn standing in front of them.

"Of course, you have our–"

"Hiram," Leroy cut him off, placing his hand on his spouse's arm, his eyes still on Finn. "Finn, you're really a good boy, a good boyfriend to Rachel as well. But I think she's too young to get married," he said with a stern face.

Finn blinked a few times, his mouth quivering at the dismissal. Although there were always possibilities that fathers would turn down, he hadn't ever expected that he would be shut down outrightly by her fathers (one of them, to be more precise) since he got along with them so well so far, at least he thought they did.

"Quinn, is that the blonde lady's name?" Leroy continued. "She had a point there. You might reach the age to be a married man, but Rachel'll be turning 24 next month. You should know, for women, getting married at 20 to 24 years old would most likely end in divorce. Besides, you two are together only for 2 years."

"Leroy, really," this time was Hiram chiming in. He was sporting the same look as Finn was (well, Finn had paler and more horrified look than Hiram did though). "They have cohabited for almost the same amount of time, just in case that you forgot," he pointed out.

"Ah, cohabitation," Leroy nodded, as if he predicted what his husband (or Finn) would retort. "Did you know that there was the study which revealed that premarital cohabitation was associated with a higher risk of divorce, for women specifically, regardless of the couple's intention to marry when they moved in together?" Leroy reasoned, looking at his husband.

"That's," Finn cried out, "that's a load of bull! Statistics are utter bullshit!" He was too shocked to be careful with his words. He didn't know whether or not his hands' vibrating was because of his anger at the unfairness of which Leroy had brought up the stupid studies and statistics.

"A-at whatever age they marry," Finn continued, knowing that he needed some damage control (but honestly, he didn't know how), "there are always only three options; staying married, separation, and divorce," he said looking into Leroy's eyes, his hands still vibrating. "The same goes for cohabitation before marriage. Some couples bite the dust, some don't. I-I would be lying if I said that we-we'd never had a fight. I understand that you're looking out for your daughter and I respect that. But I love her, I will always love her no matter what. I can't imagine my life without her in it. I want to be the reasons she smiles and laughs everyday for the rest of my life, just like she's been to me."

Finn breathed heavily as he finished, feeling his face hot.

Leroy widened his eyes at Finn's outburst and looked at him for a moment. "Finn," he sighed, "I'm not saying that you two shouldn't get married. If you're so sure you'll always love her, why now? Her career has just taken off. Why can't you wait a little longer? Why do you rush into things?"

When Finn was about to open his mouth, Hiram cut in.

"What's your problem, Leroy?" Hiram folded his arms across his chest. "You said that he was a good boy and a good boyfriend to our daughter, didn't you? Don't you think that he is the right person for her?"

"I just want her to experience a lot of things before she gets married. That's it," Leroy said stubbornly, averting his eyes away from his spouse and soon-to-be-his-son-in-law.

Hiram let out a sigh. "Finn," he stood up from the bed and approached the shell shocked Finn, "he just doesn't want to admit that Rachel is not his baby girl anymore, even though you two are living together for a while," he shook his head as he patted Finn on the shoulder before leading him towards the doorway. "I'm going to talk some sense into him," he whispered in his ear before adding. "Don't worry, Finn, you'll have our blessing before you know it," he reassured, winking at him.

All Finn could do was nod.

He stood in a stupor in front of the closed door of the guest room for a while, trying his best not to get panicked.

How was he going to win Leroy's heart over to have his blessing?

Drained, he dragged his feet on the way to his bedroom.

Rachel peered inside the bedroom after she had walked Rusty to the Central Park, only to find Finn still in bed.

She frowned as she saw his clothes and sleeping posture; he had already changed his clothes, but lying on one side of the bed in a fetal position, folding his arm across his chest, turning away from the doorway.

She knew what it meant. She had been there so many times. Something was upsetting Finn. Or he was suffering some conflict between his emotional side and rational one.

The first time Rachel had seen this Finn was after they had bumped into Jenny in the street on the way back home from the theater over a year before.

AT that time, Finn thought that he had already forgiven her and let the past between them go. He, however, got upset when they got home, mostly because not only did Jenny make an apology for what she had done to him, but also turned defiant showering insults on him and Rachel, saying with a snicker that it was no wonder that beautiful girls (like her) easily lost their interests in a guy like him because he had bad taste in women.

A new anger gushed out, which made Finn think that he could never forgive her, that he could never let the past go. Which totally confused and twisted Finn's head. Him not being able to at least let it go made him doubt that he deserved Rachel.

It took a few hours for Rachel to get him to open up and all night to untie his twisted mind; he didn't have to forgive Jenny nor let the past go, it didn't mean that he loved Rachel less, Jenny was just a big bloody pathetic lair playing with people's minds, don't let her get in his head (just like he had once said to Rachel).

Rachel sighed. She climbed onto the bed and got laid down close to him. Then she placed her arm on his from behind, placing her lips on his shoulder. And they stayed like that for a while.

"Do you want to talk about what's upsetting you?" finally breaking the silence, Rachel quietly asked.

Finn, however, shook his head; there was no way in hell that he was going to tell her about that.

Rachel figured that it would take more time than the night after they had encountered Jenny, since she had no idea as to what was bothering him. So, she decided to change the subject. "Aren't you hungry? Your mother's making your favorite pancakes. Everyone's waiting for us upstairs."

Finn tilted his head towards her before switching his sides on the bed to pull her into his chest. "I am hungry, I always am hungry, you know that."

Rachel giggled at his words, which caused his trademark lopsided smile to creep to his lips. She gently caressed his cheek before climbing off the bed and stretching her arm for him to get out of the bed. "Come on, then."

Finn took her hand in his before pushing his body up with the other arm. He, however, let go of her hand when he sat up on the bed. "Go first, I'm going to the bathroom."

"Okay," Rachel nodded with a tight smile, ignoring some uneasiness in her stomach.

When Rachel was about to exit the room, Finn called out to stop her. "Rachel?"

Rachel whirled around in the doorway and waited for him to say something patiently without a word.

"Um," Finn hesitated, running a hand through his hair. "Have you ever thought that you wanted to ex–," he cleared his throat, "I mean, that you wanted to date another guy?"

Dumbfounded, Rachel's jaw dropped open, looking at her boyfriend as if he had begun to grow horns on his head. "Where did that come from?" she asked scandalized.

"Have you?" Finn repeated, frowning at the fact that she had not answered his question.

"Of course not!" Rachel cried. "I have never thought about such a thing!" she crossed her arms in front of her chest, feeling a bit hurt. Why did he have to ask that kind of things? Didn't he trust her? Did he feel that she had not expressed her love for him enough? Or…

"Have you? That's why you asked?" Rachel gingerly asked.

"What? No!" Finn sprung to his feet before rushing to his girlfriend. "No, no, baby, no, I didn't mean that," he amended. "I just, I–," he looked up at the ceiling because he didn't come up with anything. So, he pulled her into his chest to envelop her before saying. "I love you, Rachel, no matter what," he breathed into her hair.

Confused, Rachel frowned in his arms, her hands on his chest. However, she said back to him nonetheless. "I love you too, Finny."

By the time the game between Lions and Parckers began, Finn's mood seemed uplifted. Out of the corner of her eye glancing at him sitting on the sofa with the other boys in the living room, Rachel continued bringing her theory to the girls' squad plus Kurt in the dining room.

"What do you guys think? I don't think the three Sugars are different people."

"Motta… I heard that before," Carole said under her breath, tilting her head to one side. "I don't remember where, but…" she pursued her lips tightly, absorbed in thought.

"Putting the fact that you broke the law aside, Rachel," Mercedes started in a slightly accusing tone, folding her arms across her chest, "why don't you just ask Puck about the girl who committed suicide?" she nodded in the direction where Puck and the other boys were moved between joy and despair.

"I tried!" Rachel cried, leaning further into the chair. "But he was niggling me and never provided the information!" she huffed, blowing her bangs, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Which means," Kurt chimed in, "Sugar Motta probably didn't commit suicide, the police haven't ruled out foul play." He turned his head to face Puck's wife. "Don't you think?"

"He has by no means one conversation about work at home," Quinn informed. "Except for his idiots of colleagues' 'heroic' episodes, him included," air-quoting rolling her eyes, she added matter-of-factly. "But the police generally have no duty of confidentiality."

"Hmm, interesting," Kurt frowned, one arm folded across his chest, the other hand rested beneath his chin. "So, they don't have any valuable information either," he concluded.

"That is, you cued in him, Rachel," Mercedes said, leaning forward.

Rachel's eyes lit up. "I'm one step ahead of the police?" she clapped her hands excitedly. "I'll definitely have to continue a background check on Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh then!"

"Rachela?" Hiram called out, walking into the dining room. "I'm afraid we must be going," he announced.

"Already?" Rachel got out of the chair before approaching her fathers.

"Unfortunately," Leroy answered behind his husband.

"Oh, okay," Rachel nodded. "I'll see you off at the airport then," she said before going downstairs to grab her coat and purse.

When the Berrys finished expressing their gratitude to Burt and Carole for letting them stay overnight and saying goodbyes to everyone, Finn got out of the sofa and grabbed their luggage by the doorway.

"Could I have a minute of your time before you go?" Finn said in a low voice to not reach anyone's ear other than the Berrys. "Walk a talk?"

"I truly am sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to get worked up like that," Finn started once they stepped out of the apartment.

"No, Finn, I am the one to apologize," Leroy cut him off. "Hiram was right," he glanced at his spouse, who was trying to hail a cab at the curb. "I," he shook his head, "overreacted a bit, hearing you asking us for her hand in marriage." He sighed. "I just… She's always my little girl, you know, wearing a pink tutu, dancing around the living room."

Recalling the time when he visited the Berrys with Rachel in Lima last year and saw some pictures of her childhood, Finn automatically broke into a smile.

Leroy examined Finn's face before clearing his throat. "I know that she really loves you and your face now proves enough that you're really into her too, so, uh," he saw Rachel's red coat behind the glass door of the apartment building, "good luck with your proposal," he quickly added.

Finn's heart soared. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he hugged Leroy tightly, not aware that Rachel was approaching them.

Confused, Rachel frowned with a smile, seeing her father and boyfriend hugging as she finally caught up with the three of them. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"Nothing!" Finn answered as he abruptly tore himself away from her father.

"We just invited you two to the annual Caribbean cruise next year." Leroy promptly lied, shooting a look at Hiram, who finished placing their luggage in the cab trunk.

"I didn't know that you wanted to join them in the cruise," Rachel said, turning to see her boyfriend.

"But we'll understand that you two couldn't make it," Hiram chimed in, seeing Finn unable to think of an answer, "because, you know, you're busy with your show and it's not easy for him to take some time off at the end of the school year."

"Yeah," Rachel said, still frowning, out of the corner of her eye glancing at Finn, who was rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, shall we?" she shook her head and gestured for her fathers to get in the cab before turning to face her boyfriend again. "I'll be back in a couple of hours," she tiptoed to kiss him.

Finn nodded at his girlfriend before shaking his hand in a firm grip with the Berrys respectively. "Have a smooth flight, Sir."

"Thank you, Finn," Leroy patted him on the shoulder. "Take care of yourself and my daughter," he threw a meaningful look at him before getting into the cab.

After he Had waved a hand to them, seeing the cab driving off, Finn stood at the curb with a goofy grin for a while. Now all he had left was pick a place and a day to ask Rachel to marry him!

When Rachel got back to the Hudson-Hummel apartment, the boys and Burt were completely engrossed in the game of Cowboys versus Jets on the TV while the girls and Carole were preparing the dinner for all of them. So, she decided to help Carole, wandering through the dining room towards the kitchen. Until something caught her eyes.

Rachel came to a halt at the corner of the table, to pick up a thing which was buzzing and flashing vertiginously.

"Finn," Rachel called out from the dining room. "Your phone has been ringing off the hook."

Finn, however, didn't seem to notice that she had spoken to him since the game was coming to the climax in the third quarter. So, Rachel walked back to the living room and called his name again. "Finn?"

"Hmm?" he answered absent-mindedly, his eyes glued to the TV.

"Fuck off, Berry," Puck shushed. "Dammit!" he cried as Todd Bowles' blitzing scheme had just failed again. "Bowles is a one-trick pony! Blitz doesn't work out. We don't have a good secondary!" he yelled at the TV screen.

"We?" Sam chuckled, "when did you become their HC?"

"Fuck you, Kentucky boy. I've been a hard-core gang green ever since I can remember," Puck threw some popcorns at the blonde guy.

"Finn?" Rachel tried again. "Your phone is ringing."

"Hmm," Finn's eyes still were fixated on the TV. "Can you answer the phone for me?" he said without turning to look at his girlfriend before he jumped out of the sofa when Dexter McDonald miraculously succeeded an intercept. He shared hi-fives with Puck and Burt.

Rachel rolled her eyes as she answered the phone instead of Finn, returning back to the dining room. "Hello? Finn Hudson's phone, Rachel's speaking."

"Who?"

"Huh?" Rachel looked at the screen of the phone with a frown, "uh, Rachel."

"May I speak to Finny?"

Finny? Who the heck was this? "Um, he's unable to come to the phone right now. Excuse me, but who am I speaking to?" Rachel asked, still knitting her brows.

"Oh."

Rachel heard the voice sounded disappointed.

"I'm Penelope. He said that he was going to phone me but I couldn't wait to hear from him, so here I am!"

The girl named Penelope giggled and kept going before Rachel could put a word in.

"I was thinking if he would like to meet me tomorrow? I know that he chose the necklace for me to get at Tiffany because he said that it looked good on me. But I had a second thought to get the other one too, you know, that he also mentioned that it was very me."

So, this girl was the one who had gone shopping with Finn at Tiffany. Having stolen a glance at the living room, Rachel fled to the downstairs, listening to the girl's blabbing. Once she shut the door of the bedroom behind her, she straightened up to confront the girl who seemed to try to steal her man. "Are you aware that you're talking to his girlfriend?" she punctuated as she bluntly asked.

"Are you? I thought that his girlfriend's name was Rafaela or Rebecca or something."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's Rachel," she firmly announced. "And don't you have a boyfriend? Does he know that you're hitting on another guy who already has a girlfriend?" But all she heard was her small laugh. She felt her blood begin to boil in her head. She was sure that some steam was visibly given off from her ears and her head now.

"Did he say that? I have a boyfriend? Hmm, he might have made up a story to cover up our date."

Although Penelope mumbled with giggles the last part of her words on the other end of the phone, Rachel could clearly hear what she had just said. "Date? You must have misunderstood. It was not a date!" she raised her voice despite herself. "I know that you dragged him into Tiffany to buy something for yourself."

"That's where you're wrong, Rebecca."

"It's Rachel," Rachel stomped her feet at the place.

"Anyway, I'll be calling later when he's available. I hope you won't be bothering to answer his phone without his permission, Rafaela."

With that, Penelope hung up on Rachel.

When Rachel was about to go upstairs and get her boyfriend to explain everything, the phone buzzed again. She scrolled the phone screen to read the text that had just come in.

Why did you tell her that I had a boyfriend? As far as I'm concerned, YOU asked me to keep you company, didn't you? Should I take it that we're going on a second date tomorrow? I understand that it's not easy to break up with her, but I believe we'll be together soon. I'm going to bed tonight holding your word onto my heart. I know we're getting along REALLY well. – Penelope

On her rational side, she knew that Finn was not one to engage in infidelity. On the other hand, he was apparently hiding something from her, if there was some truth of Penelope's words. Rachel knew that Finn was very attractive unlike her and a man of many girls' dream, which sometimes made her insecurities pop up in her head. She was vertically-challenged with a big nose after all.

But her love for him was second to none!

Rachel tried to control her breathing from some wrath towards the thick skin girl on the phone before emerging out of the bedroom to confront her boyfriend.

"You lied to me," Rachel slid herself between the TV and the sofa where the boys and Burt were sitting on, her arms across her chest, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Huh?" Finn tilted his head down to one side to continue watching the game.

"What the fuck, Berry?" Puck cried out. "Move your ass!" he nudged Finn's arm. "Dude, do something!"

Rachel glanced back at the TV quickly before turning her head to throw a sharp glare at the Mohawk. "Shut it, Puckerman! Who cares? Your team's losing anyway," she said and her gaze shifted to her boyfriend. "So, that was why you asked me?"

"Huh?" Confused, Finn repeated. "Baby, would you just move, please? Jets are on a crucial third down right now," he gestured for her to move.

Rachel's nostril flared. "You asked me was because you wanted to dating another woman, wasn't it?"

"What?" Finn finally tore his gaze away from the TV screen to meet his girlfriend's eyes. His face sported a dumbfounded look, his jaw dropping open. "W-what are you talking about?"

Having decided that their soon-turning-to-be-some-quarrel was more fun to watch than to witness his team losing, Puck rested his body backwards into the sofa, his hand to stop Burt from interfering them, before placing his arms behind his head. "They're like an old married couple, much more interesting to watch than a comedy show," he chuckled. "They're even wearing the weird matching smell!"

"It was from Penelope," Rachel held his phone up in the air. "The call," she continued, "she said that she didn't have a boyfriend and you asked her to go out with you!"

"Penelope? Who?" Finn asked with a frown.

"The woman that you took out to Tiffany!" Rachel raised her voice, her hand on her hip, the other still holding his phone in the air, ignoring that now all the girls and Kurt walked into the living room to see what was going on.

"Um, uh," Finn ran a hand through his hair, not finding the way to explain the shopping excursion omitting the part of his purchasing the engagement ring.

Rachel's rage gradually formed into some anxiety since Finn hadn't answered her important question. "Do you?" her voice deflated. Then she was about to move her empty hand up to her neckline in order to calm her nervousness with touching her pendant. "Oh, my God!" she cried out. With a surely realization that she lost her pendant somehow, she loosed her grip of the phone.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Finn tried in vain to rescue his phone from falling into the beer pitcher.

PLOP.

"Oh, my God!" Rachel repeated, her hand on her mouth, unaware that Finn's phone was now completely soaked in the beer. She rushed into the downstairs, leaving everybody making faces in the living room.

"What was that?" Kurt said, picking Rusty up from the floor.

Undecided whether he should chase after his girlfriend or check his phone first, Finn stood on his feet at the place, his eyes to the way Rachel ran to. Then he glanced down at the beer pitcher, to find that his phone had already been pulled out of it by someone. He shifted his gaze to the blonde guy, who was now removing the battery, SIM card and SD card from the phone.

"What?" Sam looked at Finn, neatly placing the phone parts on the paper towel.

"What are you doing with my phone?" Finn asked, frowning.

"I just tried to save your data from water damage," Sam replied nonchalantly. "I can't guarantee, but it might help to save your phone."

"Oh," Finn rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, thanks." But you can't wipe your ruining my night off the books. He mentally added before shaking his head. "I, um, am going to check up on Rachel," he announced and walked out of the living room, wondering what had just happened and how he was going to explain the shopping with Penny Owen.

Finn let out a sigh, feeling a headache start bugging him.

Well, at least the Berrys had already been on the way home. He should be relieved that they hadn't seen him and their daughter making a scene in the living room.

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