"Excuse me; how do I make a complaint?"

Finn silently counted to five in his head while he wore a practised, weary smile. "Through me, Mrs Warner, and I'm very sorry that you want to do so."

The old woman in front of him gave him a once over before she sighed and shook her head, clutching at her purse. "Mr Hudson, you know I'm a big fan of your establishment, and usually I wouldn't make a fuss over little details, but tonight's meal was inedible. I mean really, have you hired a new chef? Because I normally order the fillet steak and it is always flawless, yet the one that appeared before me today was a disgrace." Finishing with an indignant huff, Finn assumed she had said her piece, and tried his best to stay calm.

"My head chef, Quinn Fabray, had some... unfortunate news, and has found it difficult to stay professional; I promise that it won't happen again."

"I hope not," said Mrs Warner harshly, though she patted him on the arm in an affectionate way nonetheless. "Goodnight Mr Hudson."

"Goodnight Mrs Warner, have a safe journey home."

One he was sure she was out of earshot, Finn was all but ready to storm into the kitchen to tell Quinn to pull herself together, though when Rachel hurried out carrying two plates of undignified slop, he knew he had to intervene.

"Wait, babe, you can't serve that," he said exasperatedly. "I've already received five complaints, and news travels fast."

Rachel looked down at the food, wrinkling her nose before gazing back at him. "I understand the lack of appeal, but Quinn's the only chef, and honestly Finn, do you believe that to be an effective business strategy?"

Finn gave a noncommittal shrug. "People don't usually come here for the food, and Quinn normally handles it on her own..." Cursing under his breath, he snatched the plates from her grasp and headed towards the kitchen. "I guess I should give it a shot."

"No!" squeaked Rachel as she followed behind him like a lost puppy, "you burn cereal!"

"That was one time!"

"And this is a lot more complex than adding milk to frosted flakes," she said dryly. "Let me handle this."

Finn stopped in his tracks, almost spilling some kind of unidentifiable sauce onto the floor. "Rach, I can't just expect you to do that..."

" I'm volunteering myself. Besides, after tasting Quinn's banana bread, I know I can do a much better job than she's doing." She rolled up the sleeves of her shirt to show she had initiative, and caught unawares by Finn's lips on hers, she was forced to push him away before he spilt food all over her hair.

"S-sorry," he spluttered, his ears turning red, "it's just, when you're all strong and saving the day and stuff... It's hot."

Rachel gave him a coy smile (accompanied by a quick squeeze of his ass) and took the plates before returning to the kitchen. "Tell the couple at the back that there's been a little delay." Granting him with one last smile and a wink, Rachel disappeared to join Quinn, leaving Finn already craving her company; best girlfriend ever.

Glee!

Puck hated being in the doghouse. He'd had enough similar experiences to know that it never ended well, and judging by the clambering of cutlery and the occasional curse word that emanated from the kitchen, it looked like Quinn was taking it personally; fucking Santana.

"I can't believe I chose to accompany Mercedes to the little girls' room at the exact time that Satan paid a visit."

Puck growled, slamming down a cup of coffee that spilled onto the bar counter. "Will you just can it Hummel? I'm so sick of hearing you complain!" He turned to the younger boy with an angry snarl, and Kurt wisely took a few steps back. "You know what I can't believe? That Santana brought that photo with her in the first place! What the hell did I do to deserve that? Nothin', that's what!"

Just before Kurt had time to snap back with a witty retort, Finn came to the rescue with his much needed good news; "We're closing in ten so get everyone out."

Instead of helping as he usually did, Puck took the opportunity to storm off in a fit of frustration, leaving a less than impressed Kurt to clean up his mess.

"So, Finn, why was Santana here in the first please?"

"Huh? Oh, I dunno, nothing to do with me."

Kurt raised an eyebrow as he placed his hands on his hips. "Why is it that I have a feeling you're being less than truthful? You look extremely guilty."

"No I don't," replied Finn flatly (damn, Kurt knew him too well). He tried his best to keep his face straight as he changed the subject, 'cause no matter how suspicious the Santana stuff was, he was genuinely concerned for Quinn. "How's she doing?"

"You're going to have to replace a few cooking utensils, but apart from that she's doing terribly."

Finn rolled his eyes; Puckerman. "They'll sort things out, they always do."

"That's what I thought too, but I haven't seen her this angry before," Kurt admitted softly, shaking his head with a sigh. "Young love."

"Yeah, something like that. Look, I have a few things to sort out; can I leave you to it?"

Before Kurt could protest (he was his brother, he was obligated to help), Finn disappeared into the kitchen, holding his breath to assess the damage.

"Hey Rach, how's uh... how's everything?"

Rachel looked up from the stove, and despite the redness in her cheeks, the sweat on her forehead and the haphazard way that her hair was pulled into a ponytail, Finn was sure he'd never seen anything sexier.

"Exhausting and hectic," she all but panted. "If you're referring to Quinn, she's outside getting some fresh air, but she's pretty devastated. I tried to talk to her and offer some advice but she called me a few choice words that I'm positive she picked up from Noah."

"Maybe I should just pay Santana," Finn muttered.

"We've already been through this. Although you're a very selfless, caring person by nature, it's not your fault that your friends have done things that they are probably ashamed of." She gave him a timid smile. "Maybe you could go and talk to Quinn? After all, this is almost the same scenario that broke us up, so I'm sure you have some advice to offer."

Her words were tinged with sadness, which made Finn's heart ache a little. "Okay, I'll give it a go."

"Just don't tell her about being blackmailed."

"Right, yeah, good thinking. Do you need help cleaning up?"

"I'm good thank you; go and help Quinn."

Vowing to show her how much he appreciated her (in more ways than one), Finn waved at Rachel and made his way out of the kitchen, stepping into the small outer yard that was usually reserved for deliveries and the occasional private dry hump (unsurprisingly, Puck was the only one who had embraced that activity).

It was dark, and with minimal lighting, Finn had trouble finding Quinn. He strained his eyes and ears in a bid to try and locate her, and when he heard quiet, familiar sobs, he gulped painfully; he wasn't so great at being emotional.

He found her behind three large crates of Ohio's finest beer (Burt swore by the stuff). Finn lowered himself onto the slightly damp floor between the empty Twinkie wrappers (Kurt's guilty pleasure) and discarded cigarette butts (left by Katie, a former waitress), careful not to accidentally sit on her.

"Hey," he whispered, wrapping an arm around Quinn's shoulder. Though for a second he felt her recoil, it didn't take her long to lean into his touch, clutching at his shirt as she wept.

"Puck, h-he's an ass," she spluttered, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

"I know," said Finn with a nod, "but you love him, and if he wasn't an ass, he wouldn't be Puck."

This elicited a half laugh, half sob. "But he, Finn, he-"

"I know," he said again while he rubbed soothing circles on her shoulder. "And believe me, he's an idiot, but I've been there, and-"

"He lied to me," she spat, narrowing her eyes with fury. "He told me Santana had offered him sex but he'd said no."

Finn felt sick to the stomach; their situation was more similar than he'd realised. God, why was Santana always causing trouble?

"And have you thought of why he lied to you? Maybe he was so scared that you'd want nothing to do with him anymore. Maybe he was so ashamed of what he'd done that he didn't want to admit his stupid mistake to you, never mind himself. Maybe he just didn't fucking think."

Quinn, her eyes wide and fearful, gazed up at Finn, who looked close to tears himself.

"I can't just forget this."

"But you can't give up on him either. Rachel thought I slept with Santana because I didn't love her, but it was because I had feelings for her that I had sex; I was jealous and lonely and I didn't think I'd get another shot at her."

Quinn pursed her lips as she played with her dress. "I never thought..."

"Mmm?"

"I was dating Jesse at the time, and I didn't realise... I didn't think that he might have been jealous."

Finn clenched and unclenched his jaw. "Trust me, St. James brings out the worst in everyone."

Quinn managed a laugh. "Not one of my finest decisions." She pressed a small kiss to his cheek, patted his leg as a thank you, then stood up and brushed herself down. "Sorry about the food," she whispered gingerly.

"Don't worry; Rachel saved the day. Just think about what I said."

"Goodnight Finn and... and thank you."

"Night Quinn, see you tomorrow."

Glee!

Santana sat on the sidewalk, taking a hurried breath of air before inhaling another mouthful of unsatisfying smoke. Cigarettes were more of a habit than a pleasure, and briefly, she wondered if it was the same way for everyone; she no longer got enjoyment from the dirty little sticks, but she didn't get enjoyment from a lot of things these days.

She glanced down at her watch and chuckled humourlessly to herself; it wouldn't be long until he came looking for her.

"Lopez, you said you were only going to smoke one."

Right on time.

Santana stood up unsteadily on her overly large heels and crushed her cigarette under her foot. "That was my only one. I was trying to savour it." She glanced once at Jacob, who gave her an indignant glare.

"Is that so? Frightened to be in my presence?" His words were accompanied with an inhuman smile, and with a shudder, Santana felt a pang of revulsion course through her veins.

"What? No, I just haven't seen Berry in a while. I was... mulling things over." She placed her hands on her hips. "So, sir, what next?"

"All in good time my pretty, all in good time." Jacob ran his hand down Santana's arm before returning to the restaurant, and when she was sure he wasn't watching, she retched.

"Why did you do it?"

Santana looked up from her sheet music, unaware that their glee rehearsal was over for the day. She'd been so caught up in, well, everything, that she hadn't taken in a word spoken by Mr Schue.

Whatever, like she cared.

"Do what?" she asked blankly.

Brittany shrugged her shoulders. "Why did you tell everyone about having sex with Finn? Didn't you know how much it would hurt Rachel?"

Santana rolled her eyes dismissively; she hadn't expected Brittany to give her the third degree. "So I spilled the beans, big deal." She scrunched up the paper and shoved it forcefully into her purse, knowing that she wasn't going to look at it again. She'd said it before and she'd say it again; everyone knew she was only there to look hot.

"What? I don't understand what beans have to do with Finn and Rachel..."

Santana scowled because as much as she could tolerate Brittany's daily confusion, she wasn't in the mood for explaining her actions when she barely knew her motives herself. "Just drop it, Britt."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because I'm a bitch, okay?" she snapped, jumping up out of her seat. "I don't need to have a motive to be a bitch, and I was sick of seeing Frankenteen and Hobbit so frickin' happy all the time."

"But we're a family," Brittany said quietly. She looked up from her seat, her eyes big and shiny and confused, and she shrugged once more. "I think Finn and Rachel are cute together, and they deserve to be happy. Everyone deserves to be happy."

"And then why aren't I happy, hmm? Why am I never happy?"

The kicker was that neither of them knew the answer.

Glee!

With the bar locked up and closed for the night, and with a newly reunited Puck and Quinn (according to a mortified Kurt, who'd found them half naked in the storeroom, partaking in a frantic makeout session), Finn tried to believe that things were going to be okay. If Quinn had been able to overcome the photo that Santana had left, then it was likely that everyone else would be able to deal with their respective bombshells, right? At least, that's what Rachel kept insisting, and Finn just tried to make himself believe her; there wasn't much else he could do.

"What if Santana gave you a photo of me hurting you somehow?" Finn mused in the darkness. Though they'd both hoped that once they were done for the day they could give the whole sex thing another go, by the time they'd gotten back to Finn's apartment, they were both exhausted beyond measure. Instead, and almost as satisfying, they'd curled up in his bed together, Finn's arm around Rachel's shoulders, her head on his chest.

"Hmm?" she asked sleepily.

"This photo stuff. What if Santana produced a picture of me that looked bad; would you react the same way as Quinn?"

"No," she said without a second thought.

"Oh, cool."

"If I've learnt anything, it's that issues can be talked out. If I'd stopped to listen to what you had to say about your first time with Santana, we might not have split up at all, and if you'd stopped to listen to what I had to say earlier today, you wouldn't have gotten so worked up."

"Yeah, that's true."

"You've no reason to believe that she has such a photo, do you Finn? I mean, is there anything that you're not proud of?"

Finn chuckled. "Believe me, there are so many things I'm not proud of. But no, nothing that Santana would be interested in, unless she has a photo of me testing out an automatic toilet that wet my pants when I tried to flush it."

"That doesn't surprise me," Rachel said with a giggle. She let out a tiny sigh as she nuzzled her face against him, and draped her arm over his chest. "Let's just hope that she's bluffing; it might have even blown over tomorrow."

"Yeah," yawned Finn, though he didn't sound convinced. "Night babe, I love you."

"I love you too Finn; goodnight."

Glee!

Finn woke the next morning to the welcome smell of bacon and eggs, and practically skipped into the kitchen, ready to thank his super awesome girlfriend for being super awesome.

"Something smells-"

"Oh for the love of God, cover yourself up!"

Finn stopped in his tracks at the same time that his jaw hit the floor, because it wasn't just Rachel who was in his apartment; Kurt was on the couch, staring at Finn's naked form.

Awkward.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he spluttered. Finn grabbed the closest thing he could find, and though it wasn't particularly flattering, his crocodile oven mitt managed to cover his modesty.

"You mean apart from being scarred for life?" Kurt shuddered and paused, toying with the hem of his jacket. "Quinn received an envelope addressed to me, and inside was a photo."

"What kind of photo?"

When Kurt shook his head and began to tear up, Rachel took the bacon off of the heat so she could focus on the conversation properly. "A photo of Sam kissing a blonde girl."

"On the lips," Kurt managed to hiss. "He's gay, so I don't understand what he's doing! He's had plenty of time to experiment over the years! I must have done this, I must have forced him into the arms of some tramp after I proposed to him and-"

"Hold up," said Finn wearily, "you proposed to the dude?"

"Oh how exciting!" gushed the tiny girl beside him, who was practically jumping up and down in happiness. "When? How did you pop the question? What did-"

"I don't think now's the best time, babe."

Rachel snapped her mouth shut and nodded. "Right, of course, there's a time and place for everything." Resisting the urge to smirk at the sight of Finn wearing nothing but an oven mitt (which would need to be thoroughly washed), she sat beside Kurt and took his hand before giving it a comforting squeeze. "You need to speak to Sam, and before you protest, you have to. It could be a misunderstanding, it could be just a friend, or could even be an old picture. If you really love him, Kurt, then you need to give him the chance to explain."

Finn smiled to himself, quietly impressed by Rachel's ability to handle the situation, and even Kurt managed a tiny smile, however brief. "You're right," he sniffled, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I haven't had the chance to talk to him yet and Santana is such a vindictive harpy that it wouldn't surprise me if she's just trying to cause trouble. Thank you, Rachel."

Rachel beamed at him, and Finn could tell that she loved being able to help. "No problem; I genuinely hope you manage to get to the bottom of it all."

Kurt let himself out (after giving Finn a dirty glare), and Rachel turned her attention to her boyfriend, whose cheeks began to redden at the realisation that he was pretty much naked.

"The crocodile is an interesting touch," she grinned, and a giggle escaped her lips when Finn did his best impression of a dinosaur.

"Wait, what noise do crocodiles make?"

"I don't know, but your breakfast is getting cold Mr Hudson."

"You're too kind Mrs Hudson."

Rachel eyes widened at the same time that Finn realised his error, and he dropped the oven mitt in response. "Woah, babe, I shouldn't have- Don't take that the wrong way."

"And which way would that be?" she asked, a sour note to her voice. "Is it because the idea of marrying me repulses you?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant." Ignoring that he was completely naked, Finn took a few steps forward until he was looking down at Rachel, his eyes pleading her to understand. "I actually meant... Well, I love you Rach, and I know we haven't been back together for long but I still think about the future, and I guess, um, Mrs Rachel Hudson has a ring to it, or Rachel Berry Hudson if you want to keep-"

Rachel kissed him to shut him up before she burst into tears (happy tears, just to be clear), and though she was aware that he wasn't wearing anything at all, she still pressed her body up against him while her lips mashed comfortably with his . His hands rested on her butt and hers found refuge in his bed hair, and while the bacon became cold, both of their bodies began to heat up drastically.

Finn was the first to break away so that he could catch his breath (though the twinkle in his eye proved just how much he wanted to continue). "I'm so torn right now," he moaned, pressing his forehead to Rachel's.

"How so?"

"I really wanna carry on where we left off," he practically purred, and in case it wasn't obvious enough, he squeezed Rachel's ass, causing her to jump in surprise. "But the bacon smells incredible and I'm frickin' starving."

"Then eat so that you have plenty of energy for later." Rachel dragged her fingernails down his chest, stopping just above his groin, and licked her lips before giving him a wink. "Don't be long Mr Hudson."

Finn was sure he'd set a new world record for fastest bacon eater ever.

Glee!

"That was-"

"Perfect? Breathtaking? Much more enjoyable than the first time around?"

Finn let out a breathy chuckle as he kissed the top of Rachel's head. "I was gonna such fucking epic but yeah, those too."

"I could get used to this whole sex business," she said coyly, tracing her fingers over his lightly defined abs. "Especially the way you say my name when you're about to, you know..."

"Yeah, I know," Finn whispered hastily. He hoped Rachel wouldn't notice the way his cheeks and ears burnt with embarrassment, but he had no such luck, since she tilted her head slightly to examine his face.

"So you have no problem when I see you naked, no problem when you see me naked, but you're bashful about the fact that you have a very sexy moan?"

"Raaach, come on, do we really have to talk about it? It's not voluntary, I just- You're so hot and awesome and the way you touch me..." He shrugged and gave her his best pout, which he'd learnt from the Miss Berry master. "It's not my fault my body loves your body."

Rachel giggled and shifted beside him so she could press her lips to his sweaty cheek. "It's not a bad thing, really, and it makes me come undone because your eyelids flicker, and you gulp and lick your lips, and you pull this extremely wonderful face." She sighed dramatically, once again resting her face on his chest. She loved listening to his heart beat under her ear, because as unbelievable as it seemed, it was beating for her. "I don't like how I can't stay quiet."

"Are you kidding me?" Finn practically wailed. "That's the best part! You're loud anyway-" Rachel shot him a warning glare, and Finn felt the hair on the back of his neck stick up. "I mean it in a good way babe, honest. But like, I didn't think you'd be loud in the bedroom too, and umf, you have no idea what it does to my body, and my ego, to hear how much you're enjoying it, this, us, you know?" He made a noise of indignation while he gently pulled his fingers through her hair, smiling at the way she purred in enjoyment. "I thought I'd gotten better at being eloquent, but then you turned up and I sound like a high schooler again."

"I think you have a wonderful way with words and I understand exactly what you mean."

"You do?"

She nodded, and when he stopped playing with her hair, she let out a tiny growl. "Don't stop," she whined, and Finn laughed loudly, resigned to pampering her some more.

"I remember you saying that a lot too."

"How very charming of you to bring it up."

"Oh Finn, don't stop, oh oh, Finn!"

Rachel slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "I don't sound anything like that!

"I love you Rach," he said earnestly, and the pretend frown that had rested on her face disappeared in an instant.

"I love you too." Sitting up whilst wrapping a sheet around her body (she had no problem with being naked in front of him, but she needed his attention and he was easily distracted), Rachel placed a hand on his chest, and did her best to look like she didn't want to jump his bones again. "I've been thinking, and-"

"Oh God, you're totally gonna break up with me!"

Rachel rolled her eyes at the same time that Finn tried to pull her in for a hug. Reluctantly, she pushed him away because it was serious, and he smelt way too amazing for his own good. "Not right now I'm not. You see, when Kurt came over, I was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. As far as I know, Quinn didn't receive any more photos of Noah being indiscrete, and neither did Mercedes." She felt Finn stiffen when the subject of Santana came up again, and though she wanted to kiss away the worried frown from his face, she couldn't. "I believe that she's going to go after your friends, one at a time, until you succumb to her demands. The only solution I can see is quite simple."

"We kill her and stuff her body in the garbage disposal?"

"That's plan B," she said with a mischievous smile, and Finn managed to crack a grin. "We need to confront her head on. Obviously, we don't know where she's staying, or if she's even in New York anymore, but if we contact Brittany, maybe she'd be able to shed some light on the way her friend is behaving."

Finn rubbed the back of his neck while he sucked in a breath. "I dunno, I don't think Britt and the bitch stayed in contact after high school."

"What makes you say that?"

He sat forward, pressing a hand to his mouth in thought. "When we graduated, everyone was happy and stuff." He winced at the way that Rachel's eyes seemed to cloud over, because of course, she hadn't been happy, and in reality, neither had Finn. "We promised to keep in contact and everything but with people moving away, it didn't really happen. I tried to call the guys now and again but sometimes it went weeks without hearing from anyone. Anyway um, Artie called me... actually, I don't remember when that was, but he asked if I'd heard from Santana."

"Oh?" Rachel asked, sitting forward a little in interest.

"Yeah; it turns out that Brittany had had some kind of argument with her best friend and she refused to talk to Artie about it; she kept saying something about right and wrong and he couldn't make sense of it all. Course, then about a week later, Santana appeared asking for money but I was too preoccupied with the bar to think of letting Artie know."

"I wonder what debts she was referring to when she asked for help?" She pursed her lips to try and come to some logical explanation, but how could Santana have accumulated such big financial difficulties?

"I dunno, I didn't exactly ask."

Rachel pulled the sheet around her a little tighter, grabbed a scrunchie that was beside her heap of clothes on the floor, and tugged her hair into an unruly pony tail in an attempt to gather her thoughts.

It did little to help though, and considering that she should have been putting her energy into preparing for Sean's imminent visit, she knew that they had to deal with Santana by any means possible.

"I'm going to call Brittany," she stated while looking under the bed for her underwear. "Even if she hasn't spoken to Santana recently, she might be able to help me without knowing it, and I can't just sit around while more photos are distributed."

"But babe, today's my day off and we have, like, the whole day to, you know..." Finn shrugged, giving her his best 'I really love you and we should just screw each other without stopping' look, but he obviously had a lot of work to do on perfecting it, 'cause Rachel continued to dress herself.

"Sorry Finn, but I need to get to the bottom of this, and then we can fuck as much as you want." Pulling her dress over her head, she smiled sweetly. "I'll be freshening myself up in the bathroom."

When the source of his sudden boner had disappeared from sight, Finn literally pinched himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming; Rachel's discarded bra and the word 'fuck' ringing in his ears said that she was most definitely real.

Glee!

Santana paced up and down in Brittany's bedroom, practically biting off her fingernails while the blonde simply watched her with intrigue, though said nothing (which made a welcoming, and slightly worrying, change).

"So you don't want to know why I'm here at three in the morning?" the Latina finally ventured. She stopped long enough to stare Brittany down, and was met with an infuriating lack of anything, like she was always expecting Santana to just appear at ridiculous times of the day.

"Yeah, but I thought you'd tell me and I didn't want to make you mad."

Santana was about to quip back with "You never make me mad," but that would lead down a dangerous road, and she had come to see her best friend for a reason.

"Santana?"

She was aware that she hadn't said anything in a while, but when what needed to be said was so difficult, it came as no surprise that she was stalling. "Yeah Britt?"

"I love you, and you know that, right? We'll always be friends."

The way Brittany said it, so simple and full of honesty, made Santana tear up, but fuck it, she wasn't supposed to be getting emotional. She had to settle it once and for all, and she couldn't be all weepy and shit.

"Even if I've done something terrible?"

"That isn't true though because you could never do anything wrong."

Santana gritted her teeth to stop herself from saying something she'd no doubt regret. "I've fucked up a lot of things in the past, and I know I'm gonna do it again in the future."

"No you're not."

"Just shut the hell up!" She got no pleasure from the way that Brittany recoiled like she'd just seen the Easter bunny getting bitch slapped, yet a part of her, a very selfish and dark part, believed that it was for the best. "I'm not some frickin' saint, Brittany! I don't go around helping homeless kittens and I don't compliment people on their hideous outfits and I can never do anything right, so stop telling me how perfect I am."

"You helped Lord Tubbington when he was choking on a fish bone," Brittany said desperately, as if she was clinging to the notion of Santana being a good person. "And I never said you were perfect. Nobody's perfect San, and you're sometimes mean to people and you don't like horses, but you're my friend."

Santana narrowed her eyes and sucked in a breath of despair. "You're not going to think I'm anything when I tell you what I've done."

Glee!

Usually, Finn's days off were spent catching up with sleep, since he worked late every day of the week. Part of that was because he still didn't have enough staff members to make an effective rota system, and part of that was because he didn't really have a life outside of the bar.

Puck hated that. Finn had lost count of the times his best friend had drunk called him at four in the morning to bitch about how he missed the 'old days', and though he'd never specified which ones he meant, Finn assumed he wasn't talking about the times Puck screwed him over.

Kurt had brought it up a few times too. Sometimes he'd casually ask about his brother's love life while gushing about his own, and sometimes he'd ask outright why Finn was such a recluse.

His same response to both of them was always the same; "It's my life", and depending on how pissed Kurt was about Finn's lack of a social life, he'd break into their mashup from high school that sometimes received a tiny smirk in response.

As far as he saw it, it was his own goddamn business what he did with his time. Okay, he understood that his mom was a little worried that he was lonely and sad and frightened of the big bad city of New York or something, but that was the way he liked it, you know? He had his friends, and he had his bar, and just because he wasn't dating, it wasn't as if he was completely discontent with the way things had turned out.

Instead of sleeping though, Finn was sitting on the tiny couch in his tiny living room, his head in his hands as he listened to his girlfriend catch up with Brittany. She'd started off with the usual questions, such as "How are you enjoying the weather?" and "Are you and Artie happy together?" and "How's that delightful cat of yours?", but the longer she talked, the harder he could tell she found it.

When you talked to Brittany, you had to be ready to be patient, 'cause she possessed the ability to change the subject without warning or need. Therefore, Finn watched humourlessly as Rachel became more and more frustrated with the lack of information she was getting from Brittany (how Artie had put up with her for so long he'd never know).

"Yes, Brittany, I understand that you like going to the zoo but I was just wondering about Santana." Rachel let out a silent sigh of annoyance as one hand tugged at her hair, and when she caught Finn's gaze, she rolled her eyes. "No, I've never tried eating octopus before because I'm a proud vegan, though you know, I think Santana may have- Yes, Finn's here." She handed over her cell phone and practically collapsed into Finn's lap, her head resting on his legs while she let out an indignant whine. "She wants to speak to you."

"Awesome," Finn said with a smirk. He kissed her once on the forehead and took the phone from her outspread hand, licking his lips before readying his patience. "Hey Britt, how are things?" He smiled down at Rachel as he listened to her many stories about Lord Tubbington and Lady Whiskerly, the newest addition to her family.

"Maybe you were right," Rachel whispered. "I guess she doesn't know anything about Santana."

"Me?" Finn said, pressing a finger to her lips, which she sucked into her mouth and caused him to bite back a groan. "Oh, you know, the usual. Well, me and Rach are back together now and-" He held the phone away from him suddenly, wincing at the screams of delight that emanated from the other end. "Jeez Brittany, that was a little loud. Yeah, I'm really happy for us too." He smiled lovingly down at the girl who was mirroring his expression, and as he listened to Brittany's congratulations, he ran a finger over Rachel's face as a way of remembering every little detail. "Puck and Quinn still work at the bar, yeah, and Kurt and Mercedes are visiting. They were only gonna be staying a night, but it looks like they're taking a permanent vacation here or something. I um, I also saw Santana yesterday, and- Hello, Brittany?"

Rachel sat up, frowning at the confusion on Finn's face. "What happened?"

"I think she just hung up on me." The cell phone in his hand began ringing two seconds later, and with a shrug, Finn answered. "Is- Oh, hey Artie! What happened?"

Rachel stayed silent while Finn talked to Artie. She tried to follow the conversation as best she could, but it seemed that the two of them were catching up more than anything, and not wanting to intrude, she left him to it, determined to clean the kitchen to keep herself busy.

As she scrubbed tirelessly at the beaten kitchen counters, there was a knock on the door that made her jump, and though she felt a little uncomfortable answering it when it was probably Finn they wanted, she knew that he was preoccupied, so she brushed herself down and opened the door. Standing in a non-descript navy uniform, his head shaved and his eyes small, was a man holding a brown envelope. He didn't wait for Rachel to question his appearance, but simply thrust the envelope at her before skulking off, ignoring her pleas for him to stay.

She knew what was in the envelope before it had even been opened, and as Finn continued to laugh and joke with Artie, Rachel felt her heart race at the name on the front; Rachel Berry. Careful not to arouse any suspicion from her boyfriend, she calmly made her way into the bedroom and ripped open the documents once the door was closed.

She'd half expected the photos to be some of the topless ones that Finn had mentioned the day before, and in that expectancy, she had assured herself that things would be okay. She wasn't ashamed of her body (and her sexual experiences with Finn had only helped to make her proud of the way she looked), and if they were eventually distributed to anyone and everyone, it wasn't as if they were degrading.

Her logic was completely off base though. Why would Santana send her the photos when she wanted to cause as much damage as possible? The best way to hurt her was to incriminate Finn, and as her eyes flickered over the photo in her grasp, she realised that that was exactly what Santana had done.

The picture was of Finn smoking. Rachel peered into the envelope, expecting to see more, but it seemed to be the only one.

"Really?" she muttered to herself, scrutinising the photo in case she was missing the obvious scandal; all she could see was her beautiful boyfriend holding a cigarette.

"Hey babe, who was that?"

Rachel nearly jumped out of her skin at Finn's voice. She turned to him, a practised smile on her face, because she knew she was missing the big picture; Santana surely wasn't threatening them with this?

"A delivery... for me," she said quietly, handing him the photo. "Though I fail to see how this is supposed to make me hate you."

Looking nothing less than mortified, Finn reluctantly took the picture, then snorted instantly at the subject. "I swear, I wasn't smoking that! Katie, the girl who used to work here, she had me hold it for her while she went to the bathroom and God, Rach, you have to believe me, I've never smoked before!"

"It's okay," she insisted, taking the photo and throwing it to the ground. "I believe you, and even if you had been smoking, it's not that big of a deal, is it?"

He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't understand. A couple of years ago, my mom's brother, my Uncle Jeremy, died after contracting lung cancer, and he basically lived off of cigarettes. I promised my mom I'd never touch them 'cause she was so upset, and she was terrified that I'd suddenly become addicted like my uncle, and yeah..." He gazed down at the picture on the floor, and he felt his blood run cold. "What if Santana sent one to my mom? And like, how does she know about this? Because for anyone else, it would just be a cigarette and..." He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to ignore the worry on Rachel's face. "Anyway, um, Britt and Artie are gonna visit tomorrow because Brittany wants to talk to us about Santana, and Artie wants to say hi, so that's progress, right?"

Rachel nodded, even if she felt slightly nauseous at the thought of seeing them again. "Any information is a step in the right direction." Wearing a loving smile to hide her anxiety, she held her arms out, and looked up at him as she said quietly, "Will you hug me, Finn?"

Curled against Finn's chest, his arms wrapped protectively around her while he kissed her hair and showered her in compliments, Rachel spent the rest of the afternoon in his embrace, and almost managed to forget that Santana Lopez was trying to ruin their lives.

Glee!

Santana stared into her locker, her eyes fixed on the mirror hung on the door. The bags under her eyes were more than noticeable, and no amount of makeup had been able to hide them. This, looking like a complete dork, was what she got for trying to be a human for a change. The things Brittany had said, about Finn and Rachel being happy, had really fucking got to her, and no matter how much she hated Berry (scratch that; strongly disliked was probably more appropriate), Britt was right; she still deserved to be happy.

She'd practiced her apology so many times the night before that she knew she could easily recite it in her sleep (which would have been preferable since she'd forsaken sleep to write the damn thing). She knew that as soon as she saw the hobbit dressed in her usual granny clothes, she'd forget most of what she needed to say so that she could get away from her as quickly as she could, but she figured it was the thought that counted, right? Sure, something like that.

Santana took a deep breath, blinked a few times in an effort to rid herself of her exhaustion, and when she saw Rachel out of the corner of her eye, she readied herself for the best apology anyone had ever made ever.

Only, when she closed her locker and started towards the small girl, Santana noticed tear marks staining her cheeks, and holy crap, her socks didn't match! It wasn't like she always made a note of what Rachel wore, but even if she dressed like a blind old biddy, she looked presentable and smart and whatever. On even closer inspection, Santana noticed crease marks in her skirt, and her hair was messy like she'd just woken up, and-

And she was wearing the same cringey cat sweater as she had been the day before.

Santana gulped, and the apology she'd prepared disappeared. There was no way she could handle facing Berry if she was emotionally unstable or some shit, and anyway, there'd be plenty of time to apologise for outing her fumble with Finnocence.

As she passed her in the hallway, she was sure she saw some kind of expectancy in Rachel's eyes, but she dismissed that and hurried to her class; Santana Lopez didn't do apologies anyway.

Glee!

After writing another countless address on front of a brown envelope, Santana took a second to massage her temple with a quiet groan. New York was supposed to be the place where people achieved their dreams and enjoyed life and all that kind of crap, right? So why the hell was she still sitting in her hotel room, doing favours for Jacob?

Well, they weren't exactly favours when he had enough information to completely destroy her life, so she wasn't allowed to be picky.

Still, she couldn't help thinking about all the wrong decisions she'd made as she ran her sore tongue along the tenth envelope that day. Most of the incriminating photos that she'd been forced to look at weren't even that bad, and fucking hell, she'd been in the same positions countless times, and then some.

She picked up the next one on her list, and her eyes scanned the photo of Quinn Fabray, McKinley's little angel. God, once upon a time she'd worshipped the blonde girl. Before Glee, and before Sue Sylvester had pitted them against each other, they'd been the equivalent of best friends. Quinn was smart and beautiful and, surprisingly, a real friend when Santana had needed it, and thinking back, she'd lost track of how many sleepovers they'd had, how many secrets they'd shared, how many memories they'd created.

It was a bitch that life had screwed them both over, and had transformed them into competitive mortal enemies. She had wondered, so many times, if Quinn felt regret over the way things had turned out, because though she'd never openly admit it, Santana regretted every single fucking thing.

Now here she was, staring down at a photo of Quinn holding a small child, and though she wasn't sure what Jacob meant to do with it, she checked his master list of shit stirring, and paired it up with the person it was supposed to go to; Noah Puckerman.

Santana pursed her lips in thought. Maybe Puck didn't know that Quinn had been seeing their lovechild in secret? Whatever, she wasn't there to think, and she didn't let herself think for long, 'cause the more time that passed, the more disconnected she became. She couldn't let herself feel for the losers that she'd once known and liked (maybe even loved), because when it came down to their happiness and her own, she chose hers every time; that was just the way things had to be.

She grabbed the last photo for the night so she could get some sleep before Jacob came back and tried to cop a feel, and when she saw Brittany, her sweet, gullible Brittany, she felt something crack inside her, almost as if a tiny shard of ice had shattered within her heart.

The photo was of the two of them back in high school, and though Santana couldn't figure out how Jacob had managed to get a picture, she didn't think about that. A tear trickled down her face and landed on the photo of Brittany kissing her, and without warning, she sobbed like she'd never sobbed before.

Glee!

"Talked to Sam and the girl in the picture is his cousin so everything's a-okay (though I may need to talk to her about being inappropriate with a family member). Thanks for helping Rachel, and say hi to Finn for me x"

Rachel proudly read out the text, doing little to hide the beaming smile from her face. Not only was it a misunderstanding between Kurt and Sam, but he'd thanked her; that's what friends did!

"He also says hi," she grinned, and Finn let out a breath that he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

"Awesome, I'm glad they're okay, they make a..." He scrunched his nose up slightly. "What's a good word for me to call them without saying cute? 'Cause I love them both, but not that much."

Rachel giggled as she pressed her face to his shoulder. "How about perfect? Because the more I think about it, the more perfect they seem for each other."

"Yeah, okay, but not as perfect as us though, right?"

Rachel nodded firmly. "Right; never forget that." They shared a quick, tender kiss that left Rachel swooning and left Finn with slightly tighter pants, and when someone rapped their knuckles against the front door, they both stared at each other, not wanting to see what the next threat was.

"I've got a feeling we're gonna be in constant fear all the time," Finn murmured, pressing his face to Rachel's hair in the hope that he could pretend it wasn't happening.

"I'll get it."

"No," he said, kissing the top of her head, "I'll go; stay." He lifted Rachel gently from his lap, kissed her again for good measure, then begrudgingly made his way to the door, not really ready for another ridiculous photo.

Stood in the doorway, a bored expression on his face, was a man holding a huge pizza box. He acknowledged Finn with a grunt, then thrust the box into his stomach before holding his hand out expectantly.

"I didn't order any pizza."

"Well someone did, so you gotta pay."

Finn was pretty sure that pizzas ordered as pranks had to be paid for by the delivery guy, but thinking about it, he was pretty hungry, and Rachel's homemade soup hadn't filled him completely.

"Fine, alright, how much?"

Finn forked out a couple of notes from his pants pocket (making sure not to tip the douche 'cause he hadn't exactly been the friendliest guy), closed the door behind him, then walked into the living room with a smug smile on his face.

"Well? Who is... Oh, pizza? I didn't know you'd ordered any. Wasn't my soup very nice?"

"I loved it," he said honestly, 'cause he had (he just wished there had been more of it). "Apparently someone ordered a pizza to be delivered here though, and-"

"Don't open it!" Rachel shrieked. She jumped out of her seat, grabbed the greasy pizza box and ran to hide it in the kitchen, returning with her hands over her ears. "It could be a bomb!"

Finn let out an overly loud chuckle because man, she really was adorable. "Rach, this isn't an episode of 24."

She lowered her hands in time to cock her head in confusion. "And 24 is?"

Finn gawped at her in shock. "You've never seen 24?" She shook her head. "You don't know who Jack Bauer is?" Another shake of her head. "For real?" Shake shake shake. "Wow, okay, if this relationship is gonna work, we'll have to have a 24 marathon when all this shit is over." He took one of her hands so he could place a kiss on her palm. "It's just a pizza, honest. I'm sorry though, 'cause it won't be vegan friendly."

"Don't worry about me, I'm full to the brim with soup and bread," she said with a smile. "Now hurry up, you don't want it to get cold. Shall we watch the first episode of this television series while you eat?"

Not sure he could love her any more than he already did, Finn licked his lips and went to inspect the pizza. He wasn't too picky when it came to toppings, and as long as it didn't have anchovies on it, he'd consider it edible.

He opened the lid, bracing himself for a pretend bomb, though the contents were probably worse, considering.

"R-Rach, c'mere a sec."

Rachel wandered in behind him, her smile quickly fading, and as he pointed at the pizza, she gasped and pressed a hand to her throat. Spelled out with various toppings were the words 'B CAREFUL HUDSON'.

"We have to call the police," Rachel croaked. She wrapped her hands around Finn's arm and clung to him tightly, because this was bigger than she'd ever imagined, and for whatever reason, Jacob (and possible accomplices) were endangering Finn's life.

"Fucking douchebag," he hissed as he slammed his hand on top of the pizza box, banging it shut with a squelch. "How did he know that I don't like anchovies?"

A/N: Sorry for the delay! I'm actually on holiday right now and I'm stealing someone's wi-fi so I can update this thing, so I probably won't be able to upload another chapter until I'm back in a week so. Thanks for the reviews so far, and feedback on this chapter would be wonderful :) (also, I haven't had chance to reply to the older reviews, but I'll do that when I'm back ^^ x)