Hey. I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. For some reason, this week has been particularly tough for me. I don't know why, the best excuse I can give is that grief is VERY unpredictable. I'm sorry that my updates have been so much slower than they used to be, but I hope those of you who are still around are still enjoying the stories. Hope you enjoy this chapter and review if you want me to continue.
Just to clarify things, the events of "The Future" are canon in this story, so Finn did not join the army and Rachel did not go to NYADA. Instead, Finn went to OSU, and Rachel went to Princeton until she was attacked (you can read that story in the future), and then she transferred to OSU. Therefore, none of the events of Season 4 of Glee took place unless they get referenced at some point.
Chapter 8: Baby Issues
"When should we tell them?" Finn whispered to Rachel. They were getting ready for dinner, and all four kids were at the table. The food was almost ready, but they still hadn't told the kids that Rachel was pregnant.
"Tell us what?" Emma asked. Clearly, Finn hadn't been as quiet as he hoped he was. He wasn't sure how they'd react, especially Allie.
"What did we do?" Ryan asked.
"Nothing," Finn said, pacing around. He was most worried about Allie's reaction.
"I'm beginning to worry that we did something," Allie said.
Finn looked at Rachel. Maybe she needed to tell them. He gave her a look to tell her she needed to.
Rachel looked at the kids. "I'm pregnant."
"A baby?" Sarah asked, giggling.
Finn's eyes fell on Allie, who was sitting there in silence. But he turned to Sarah. "Yeah, a baby."
"I hope it's a boy," Ryan said. "I want a brother."
"I'm full," Allie said. "Can I go to my room?"
"We haven't even eaten," Ryan said.
"I'm not hungry!" Allie shouted as she began to go upstairs.
"Where are you going?" Rachel asked.
"Why are you having a baby?!" Allie shouted.
Now didn't seem like the appropriate time to talk about sex, especially with so many young kids.
"We didn't plan it," Rachel said.
"Oh, like you didn't plan to have me?" Allie snapped as she walked away. "Well, then maybe you shouldn't keep this baby either! Why did you keep all of them, and why are you keeping this baby, but not me?"
Finn and Rachel started to follow Allie up the stairs. "Can you please listen to us?" Finn asked.
"No!" Allie shouted. She went down the hall and they heard the door slam.
Finn and Rachel looked up the stairs. "That didn't go well," Finn said.
"No," Rachel said as she took her husband's hand.
"What do we do now?" Finn asked.
"Let's just let her be," Rachel said. "She'll come down when she's ready."
Finn and Rachel went back to the dining room. "Where's Allie?" Emma asked.
"She's upstairs," Finn said. "Right now, let's just let her be upstairs."
Finn felt ready to cry, but knew he couldn't in front of the kids. He and Rachel had been trying so hard to bond with Allie and make her comfortable, and it felt like they were back at square one now.
No one said much of anything at dinner. Even Sarah seemed to know that something wasn't quite right. After dinner, Ryan, Emma and Sarah went off to their rooms, and Finn and Rachel stayed in the kitchen to clean up. Finn put Allie's food in the refrigerator in case she got hungry later.
"I do feel bad," Rachel sighed. "She lost the man and woman she saw as her parents, and she feels like once again she's being replaced."
Finn looked at Rachel's stomach. "We weren't even trying to get pregnant."
"Were we with any of them?" Rachel asked.
"You have a point," Finn said.
x
Allie could hear Finn and Rachel's conversation from her room. She loved the bond she was forming with Finn, Rachel, Emma, Ryan and Sarah, but she still missed her parents. She was feeling confused too. Finn and Rachel had given her up, but they'd kept Ryan. They'd kept Emma. They'd kept Sarah. She'd be the only one who they hadn't kept from the beginning. And a baby would definitely change the dynamic. She was just getting used to how things worked here, and a baby would be another new thing to get used to.
She wished her parents hadn't died. For nine years she'd been in a stable world. She'd made friends here and was getting to know her birth parents, but she missed her parents and her friends back in Columbus. Then again, she wasn't sure if some of her friends in Columbus were still friends. She was just feeling really confused right now.
Allie heard a knock on her door. "Allie can I come in?" she heard Rachel say.
"I want to be alone now!" Allie said. She couldn't stand to look at Finn or Rachel right now.
"Okay," Rachel said. "It might help to talk. Finn and I are downstairs if you need us."
Allie looked around the room. She'd been through so many changes lately, too many. She was just starting to get used to Cleveland and Cambridge Elementary and the Hudson family. She couldn't handle another change.
Allie wanted to leave her room, but she was too angry to face Finn and Rachel. She heard when they got Sarah ready for bed. Then she heard them get Ryan and Emma ready for bed. Shortly after that, she heard another knock on the door. "Allie, are you sure you don't want me to come in?" Finn asked. "I know you're upset but..."
"Leave me alone!" Allie said.
Finn sighed. "Okay, I'll be downstairs with Rachel."
x
"She hates us," Rachel sighed as she looked down at her stomach. She was probably only a few weeks along. There was still time for Allie to get used to the idea. Right?
"She doesn't hate us," Finn said. "At least I hope she doesn't."
"I've always loved her," Rachel said, starting to cry. "She was our first child."
"You know how much I love her," Finn said, also starting to cry. "I thought about her every day."
Rachel gave her husband a kiss. "She seemed to be warming up to us. Especially the other kids."
"When do you think she'll talk to us again?" Finn asked.
Rachel shrugged. "Soon, I hope."
"Should we go check on her?" Finn asked.
"Yeah," Rachel said. It had gotten pretty late. They went upstairs and knocked on Allie's door.
"It's late," Finn said. "Maybe she's asleep."
Rachel slowly opened the door and went into Allie's room. They saw that the lights were off and that Allie was in her bed, clutching her favorite stuffed animal. She was clearly asleep.
"We love you," Finn whispered as he and Rachel kissed their oldest daughter and left the room.
"Maybe she'll be feeling better in the morning," Rachel said quietly as she and Finn left. It was Friday night, so there wasn't school tomorrow. Maybe that wold make a small difference.
x
Allie hadn't really been asleep, she was pretending to be asleep. She was hungry, but she didn't want to talk to anyone right now. By now, she was sure that Finn and Rachel had fallen asleep, so she tiptoed downstairs and into the kitchen. She saw that someone had put her dinner in the refrigerator, so she put the plate in the microwave and looked around the kitchen and living room as the food heated up. Photos of Ryan, Emma and Sarah from the time they were babies were all over the living room. They'd had experiences with Finn and Rachel that she'd never get to have. This baby would have those experiences, too. There were pictures of her, too, but she was still feeling unsure. What probably got to her the most was the photo of Finn, Rachel, Emma, Ryan and Sarah. Would they be willing to replace that one of a photo of her with them?
The microwave went off, and Allie went to go eat her dinner. She admitted as she ate it that Rachel made good food. As she ate, she got a photo album off the shelf. Looking at this album, she could tell that it was from before Ryan and Emma were even born. She recognized Puck, Quinn, Mike and Tina, so this was from when Finn and Rachel were in high school. As she moved further along in the album, she noticed that Rachel had a baby bump in some of these photos. This was from when Rachel was pregnant with her. And Finn and Rachel looked pretty happy in these pictures.
She continued to look through the album, and eventually got to pictures after graduation. There was one picture of Rachel in a hospital bed, with Finn at her side. They both had their arms around a tiny baby. This was her, she knew it. They looked so happy, but at the same time, in so much pain.
The photos from the coming months were not as frequent. It was probably because of all the drama that went on during Finn and Rachel's first year of college, but she noticed they didn't look as happy in these photos. The first one they looked happy in was the one where Finn was giving Rachel her engagement ring.
Allie was beginning to get tired, but she was feeling intrigued at the same time by her birth parents' past. It did make her feel better to see that she was in the photos from their senior year, that she wasn't a part of their past they tried to hide. Anyway, she didn't want anyone to know she was still up at this hour. She went upstairs and fell asleep almost right away.
x
It was eleven in the morning, and Finn and Rachel were playing with Sarah while Ryan was at Nick's house and Emma was at Ava's. Allie was still asleep. "Do you think she'll come down any time soon?" Finn asked.
"I don't know," Rachel said. "But her food was gone this morning, so we know she ate."
Finally, Allie came downstairs. "Hi."
"Look who decided to come down," Rachel said with a smile.
"I'm sorry I was mean yesterday," Allie said.
"It's okay," Finn said. "We understand. We've had other babies we kept and we didn't keep you. You have every right to be upset with us. We really wanted to keep you. We really wish we could have spent the past nine years with you, but we didn't think we could give you what you needed when we found out."
"We've always loved you, Allie," Rachel added. "We spent every day for the past nine years wondering about you and missing you."
"I'm really sorry," Allie said. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad."
"We love you," Finn said.
"Thanks for taking care of me," Allie said.
"Of course we're taking care of you," Rachel said.
"Play with us?" Sarah asked Allie.
Allie smiled. "I'd love to."
x
The rest of the day went well, and Allie didn't say anything about the baby, but at the same time, she didn't argue with Finn and Rachel. As she was getting ready for bed that night, she turned to Finn and Rachel. "Last night, I saw the photo of you two with me at the hospital when I was born."
Finn and Rachel both got big smiled. "You did?" Finn asked.
"Yeah," Allie said.
"We wanted a photo with you before you left," Rachel said. "We didn't want to let you go."
"You know, your brother and sisters haven't seen that photo yet," Finn said, almost wondering if he chose the right words.
"Maybe you should show them," Allie said. "I was hungry last night, so I went downstairs to heat up my dinner and then I looked at that photo album. You have lots of photo albums though."
"Yes we do," Rachel said.
"I forgot to tell you yesterday, I found out I got into the orchestra," Allie said.
"That's great!" Finn said. "Let us know when the first concert is."
"I will," Allie said. "I'm sorry about last night."
"Honey, you don't need to keep apologizing," Rachel said. "We understand."
"Finn, Rachel..." Allie said as they began leaving. Finn and Rachel both turned to face Allie. "I love you," Allie said.
Finn and Rachel both felt tears in their eyes. They'd been waiting so long to hear those words from Allie. "We love you, too," Finn said.
"So much," Rachel added.
Chapter 9 preview: The Hudsons go to New York for Thanksgiving, where Allie meets Kurt, Blaine and their sons for the first time. Burt, Carole and Rachel's dads also appear.
