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Rachel loved being pregnant. She loved the feeling of the baby moving inside her, touching her hand to the bump and knowing that she was its protector. No one in the world loved that baby as much as she did. As Shelby had said once before, it was like literally having your heart running around outside your body.
Touching the tips of her fingers to her stomach, she felt them tingle, a reaction to the three tiny babies growing inside her.
She knew the risks that a multiple birth could bring, on both herself and the infants. Premature births, leading to weeks in intensive care, their every breath being monitored. Complications with herself.
But for that one moment, she felt safe. She made them feel safe.
"Hey Rach", Finn said cheerfully, stepping into their bedroom and sitting on the end of the bed.
"Hey", Rachel said with a smile, glancing up from her book. "I'm going into work tomorrow, and I'm telling them".
"You are going to go back, though?"
"Absolutely", she nodded. "I love being on stage, I love the audience, I love everything about Broadway. But I love these babies more". That was what she had said,
Moving to sit beside his wife, he smiled as Rachel leaned against him, her head on his chest.
"Everything's going to be okay, right?" Finn checked. "I mean, with everyone?"
"We're going to be fine, I promise". He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Everything's going to be okay".
"You're glowing!" Shelby laughed, as Rachel stepped into the Berry household, Finn right behind her. "Aw, Rachel, you look amazing!"
At fifteen weeks pregnant, Finn and Rachel had made the decision to come home to Lima, for what would possibly be the last time until the babies were born. Their family and friends (friends that were family, Rachel had protested when Finn had said otherwise) had all planned to come to New York upon their birth to visit the couple, but they all knew that it would be the last time they would see them in Lima.
"Hi baby", Hiram said happily, as Rachel kissed his cheek.
"Hi Mum, hi Dad, hi Daddy", she said with a grin.
As the girl who had won Nationals, she would have never pictured her life turning out that way. That the glee couples would stay on to marry and have children. Sam and Mercedes and little Mollie. Tina and Mike. Brittany and Santana and little Daniel. Kurt and Blaine and Thomas. Artie and his wife Lena, with little. Puck and Quinn with Beth and Ella, who weren't so little any more. will and Emma with Aiden and Lilly. And Finn and herself. Triplets on the way.
"Thanks Mum!" Rachel hugged her tight. "I can't wait until these babies are born… I mean, I know it's still a long time away, but there's so much stuff to do!"
In his time off work, Finn had been fixing up the room they would use as a nursery- they had a cot, but two more needed to be purchased. A change table was already in the corner, and they had a fair amount of toys- but they weren't even nearly ready.
"It'll be time for those babies before you know it", Carol promised, kissing Finn's cheek.
"Hey hobbit!" Santana called cheerfully, knocking on the door to the Berry house. "Mr and Mr Berry, Burt, Carol… Coach Corcoran".
(While Santana was part of the family, she still had trouble referring to Shelby as Shelby- something the older brunette found endlessly amusing).
"Hello Santana", Shelby said with a smile, and Brittany bounced in beside her wife, Daniel sitting up in his arms.
"Hello!" Finn reached out to tickle the little boy's bare foot and he squealed with laughter.
So much had changed since high school- Finn had freaked out when Quinn even suggested he hold his goddaughter. Newborn baby Beth was so little, and he was so not… Frankenteen, Santana had called him so many times. But he was perfectly happy to cradle any baby, his own or otherwise- and Beth was no baby any more.
So much had changed… but when they all got together, it was like they were the teenagers soaking up their Nationals win once more. Laughing, joking- all the inside jokes from their New York trip and otherwise. Those moments that no one but they understood.
Things were changing fast, but Rachel knew that they would never be apart.
