I hope the last chapter was okay :) thanks for everyone who sent a review and for who read it. Hope everyone likes it so far!

ONCE AGAIN I wrote too much and had to break this into two chapters. So heres chapter 10 and I'm finishing Chapter 11 and it should be posted in a day or two!

Here is chapter 10! :D

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Chapter 10

Rachel rang his doorbell ten minutes early and Finn couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Of course she was ten minutes early…ten minutes early was on time for her. He had opened the door to a petite brunette, wearing a bright smile on her face and cookies in her hand. He smiled. She looked so much better than yesterday. Her eyes weren't so sad or tired and it seemed her enthusiasm was up a few more notches (he guessed she got more sleep than the night before last). He took in her clothes as she rambled off her ideas for "working the space" in his basement. Something about…streamers with a quarter-inch of tape…? She was wearing a short yellow skirt (like mustard yellow) and a red top (with little yellow birds on it)…he tried not to associate her with ketchup and mustard (he was hungry…). Her hair had small curls in it and a red headband to match her shirt with a little bow on the left of it.

Finn smiled and took the cookies from her and looked up as Sam came walking up the driveway. Sam smiled at Finn and put an arm around Rachel.

Right. Finn tried not to feel deflated…Sam was Rachel's ride. Of course he was going to be here early…why hadn't he thought of that? He knew Sam was going to be at the party and all but…he guessed he just wanted some more alone time with Rachel to get his feelings sorted out. Whatever. Once again…the day wasn't about him. He had to focus on getting everything ready for Kurt.

"So snicker doodles, huh?"

Rachel beamed at him. "Of course! Per your request."

He smirked. "Does that mean I can…"

She smacked his hand before he could even open the top. "No, they're for the party Finn. Please tell me you ate breakfast today…important meal of the day and everything?"

Finn smiled sheepishly. "Does Gatorade and cookies from last night count?"

Rachel shook her head and let out a laugh. "No definitely not! You're going to stunt your growth."

"Rachel, I think I'm done growing. If I grow any taller I won't be able to walk through doorways." He had always been kind of self-conscious about his height and well…anything to do with his body.

It wasn't like he didn't notice how people called him 'frankenteen' behind his back or how he tripped over his own goddamn feet. He knew he was clumsy…and he should have had enough confidence to just say, "fuck you" to anyone who didn't like how he walked or looked. He glanced up at Rachel. He knew she accepted him for everything he was—she actually told him once that she liked how tall he was…because he had to bend down to wrap his arms around her to hug her.

"There is nothing wrong with how tall you are, Finn." She said confidently.

And there she was, defending his insecurities again. Could she, like, read his mind or something? Maybe he should stop thinking about her legs in that skirt then…

"So…how much stuff are we putting up?" Sam asked as Finn led them down to his basement.

"Watch the steps." He told Sam and he watched as Sam took Rachel's hand to make sure she made it down the steps steadily.

She smiled at him in thanks and Finn briefly considered falling down the stairs and knocking himself out so he wouldn't have to witness all this cute crap.

"I have some balloons and streamers…and I think my mom left this, like, banner that says, "Happy Birthday"."

Finn flipped the lights on and they flickered to life in the dark basement. He had already vacuumed the floor and cleaned up the room so that it didn't seem so dusty. His mom and Burt decided to make the basement into one of those cool 'hang out places' that they kept seeing on TV commercials. The ones that said "turn your cellar into a second living room". So they had managed to put a carpet down and buy another couch that fit down the stairs. They set it against the back wall, along with a pool table and a regular table with some chairs. They were working on getting the TV connected but Finn could probably figure that out before two rolled around.

"Is that all the food you have?"

Finn turned to look in the direction of Sam, who was looking at the table on the far side of the room. It had a few trays of cookies and there were some chips…now it was going to have Rachel's cookies (his stomach grumbled at the thought and set them on the table).

"No…man, I invited Puck and he eats more than I do."

"Probably to soak up all the beer." Rachel wrinkled her nose in distaste and Sam chuckled softly.

Finn smiled and tried not to notice Sam's hand stroking her left side. "My mom left money for pizza and we have cake so…I think we'll be good."

"And…everyone gets here at two?" Sam asked, looking around the basement.

"That's what I texted everyone…cept Blaine is bringing Kurt around two-fifteen, so we can yell surprise and stuff."

Rachel clapped her hands excitedly. "Excellent! We better get started. I will be on streamer duty! Finn, get me a chair!"

Finn watched Sam smile at Rachel. That look…he knew that look. He could feel that goddamn look! Sam was falling for Rachel Berry, like, Finn was pretty sure he liked her a lot (maybe even loved her?). He shuddered and tried not to think about it.

Maybe it was too soon for love but Finn recognized that look. It was totally the 'I'm-in-major-like-with-Rachel-Berry-and-may-have-already-pictured-her-naked-' look. Finn's fist clenched at the thought. He guessed he shouldn't have been surprised…he couldn't have been the only one having dreams about Rachel in a red bikini.

But that didn't mean Finn had to like it. Because he didn't.

He glanced over at Sam, who was whispering something in Rachel's ear and she laughed loudly—filling the entire room. Finn tried not to picture Sam's head as something he should hit.

Yeah, he didn't like it at all.

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Balloons, the banner and some of the streamers were hung. It was rounding around to 1:30 so Finn ordered the pizza. By the time it got to the house people would be starting to arrive. Timing was everything…and he knew this pizza place had a knack for being later than they always said…at least by an hour.

He peeked up at Rachel as she stood on a chair, trying to reach the ceiling with the blue streamer he had handed her with some tape.

"You uh, sure you got that? If you topple over…"

"I have it," She grunted…Finn tried to ignore how awesome it made his downstairs brain feel. "Just tell me in what direction I should be heading for the streamer to be evenly spaced with the others."

Finn couldn't have been happier that Sam had been called by his grandmother on his cell…because otherwise Finn wouldn't have been in this position—helping Rachel in a short skirt to hang some streamers. As soon as Sam went upstairs, Finn's eyes were drifting all over Rachel's legs…like he was Christopher Columbus in uncharted territory.

"To the right…." He told her. Yep, wasn't even looking at her hand. "Wait, no, more left." His eyes glided up her legs and rested just below the end of her skirt. He brought his lower lip into his mouth. "Uhm, down. Yeah, now left…"

"Finn Hudson," She screeched, gaining his attention. Blush crept on his cheeks as her eyes connected with his. "I am standing on my toes on a chair trying to hang streamers. Would you stop staring at my legs and watch what I'm doing?"

"I was…I thought there was, like, a spider on your leg or something. You know, those things can be poisonous! I saved your life!"

She wasn't buying that at all but she laughed regardless, which relaxed him a little. "Right. Well, thanks so much. I'll be sure to tell everyone of your white knight valor."

He had no idea what she was saying…wasn't valor some type of lubricant? Or wait, maybe that was Vaseline. Whatever, he knew what a white knight was…so he figured that was good at least. White knights had swords and defeated dragons and everything (his little cousin had made him play World of Warcraft once and that had been enough). They also saved damsels in distress…and he liked the idea of protecting Rachel. So all in all, he decided she had been giving him a compliment.

He grinned and she shook her head, smiling as she turned her attention back to the streamer.

"Its twisted, here…just, turn it left." He smirked. "No, my left."

She snorted in the most girlish way he'd ever heard. "It's the same for both of us, Finn."

He blushed. "Right then."

She turned it and the stream straightened out. She put the tape on the end and stuck it to the ceiling before carefully stepping down from the chair. She glanced at the clock on the wall before looking at him.

"Is that time correct?"

He nodded. "Yeah…why?"

"It's just…I thought you told me Quinn was going to be here at one and it's one-thirty."

Right, Quinn. Between Rachel's legs and Sam's goddamn looks at him, he had forgotten all about Quinn. He was guessing she wasn't coming because it was a half n hour passed the time she was supposed to show up and she wasn't there barking in his ear to stop staring at Rachel or begging to get back together with him for the sake of prom.

"I uh, I don't know…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "We kinda broke up."

Finn looked back at Rachel and found that her face was fighting several emotions all at once. Surprise, relief and…sadness? Those were the only ones he could really pick out.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Why? He wasn't…and something told him that's not what Rachel wanted to say.

"It's okay." He said softly.

Because it was…it really was. He was tired of being walked all over like a goddamn doormat and he was really tired of Quinn tearing Rachel apart because she was clearly jealous, insecure or both at once.

Finn wasn't sure what he had expected Rachel to do. It wasn't like he honestly thought she was going to drop everything, including Sam, to be with him after this little information bomb. Maybe he had just wanted something other than a few words.

"Can I…" She hesitated, biting her lower lip. "Can I ask why?"

"Why we broke up?"

She nodded and he sighed, shaking his head. How could he tell her it was because of her and not sound like a total jackass? Because, deep down, Finn knew it just wasn't about prom or the fact that Quinn never let him be on an emotional level with her or how she always tried to control him. Sure, those things were irritating and that wasn't what a relationship should have been about but…he knew it was because of Rachel. Because he was still in love with her…because he had never really stopped being in love with her in the first place. And he broke up with Quinn to be with her. To wait as long as it took for Samchel to run its course.

But he couldn't just…tell her that. That would ruin his friendship with her and her relationship with Sam. And he was not being a relationship ruiner again. God, couldn't they just ever say what they were thinking?

"It was just like…I could never get anything right with her, you know? Everything I did just…caused an argument or something."

And that was all he could really say. He and Quinn had a lot of problems—and it went beyond disagreeing on prom corsages and ballots. It was something deeply rooted in them from the beginning. They had never really…meshed. When they had started dating freshmen year, cause he was quarterback and she was head cheerleader and that's just how things were, they didn't really get along because she hardly ever let him speak up with his own opinion or feelings. It was easy to get along with Quinn if he just agreed with her. It wasn't until Rachel that he really told her what he wanted, that he was more than just her arm-candy boyfriend with football gear and a stupid popularity vote. The more he had spoken up, the more Quinn and him fought…until it all basically unraveled. This time was just like the last…except there wasn't a baby involved.

"She didn't appreciate your feelings or your opinions, Finn." Rachel said quietly. "And no matter what she told you, you're not stupid."

He smiled softly. "Or a moron?" He added, smirking softly—trying to joke with her because he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable at the amount of seriousness in her voice and eyes.

"I mean it, Finn. She had no right to call you any of those things."

She swallowed and looked away; he could pick up all the anger in her voice. She was upset…over Quinn calling him insulting names. Is this what he looked like every time Quinn had called Rachel something? He couldn't deny that it was kind of nice to know that she felt just as protective over him as he was for her.

He bent down a little to scoop her hand into his. He gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thanks, Rachel." She looked up at him and a small, warm smile spread over her lips. "Remind me that I have to show you those prom dress sketches my mom left, okay?"

Finn smiled, getting lost in how her hand molded into his. Perfect. Like a puzzle finding its missing piece. He heard Sam approach the basement steps and quickly let go of Rachel's hand, clearing his throat and turning around to grab…something. Fuck. Anything so that his hands could latch onto something.

He picked up her box of cookies and un-popped the lid, snagging one of the delicious round cookies that were going to send his stomach to heaven.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure that pizza is never going to get here." Sam commented, sitting on the couch. He watched as Rachel wandered over and plopped down next to him.

"It will," Finn took a bite out of the cookie he held in his hand and bit back a groan. Seriously. What the hell did Rachel put in these cookies that made them so orgasmic? "This place takes forever and a day to deliver pizza. People aren't due to show up for a half n hour anyways."

"Is everything alright with your grandmother?" Rachel asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, she's just wondering when I'll be home and everything."

Finn took another bite of his cookie and leaned against the table. His mind kept drifting over the idea of getting Sam upstairs again somehow. So I could hang out with Rachel without feeling his eyes on my friggin back the whole time.

He looked over at Sam and Rachel on the couch, watched as Sam put an arm around her and smiled as they talked over little things like his grandma, dinner at his house and then driving Rachel to the hospital to see her dad. They were so comfortable and relaxed—perfectly happy in each other's company.

Yeah, their conversation was simple, plain, ordinary, not important or significant. But that didn't mean Finn wouldn't give anything to be on that couch, with Rachel, holding her close to him…talking about every-day insignificant stuff just like Sam was.

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Finn wasn't entirely sure how things had gotten out of hand. The party had been going on for a friggin hour and there was already beer stains all over the carpet and pieces of food on basically every goddamn surface. The music Artie had brought had a lot of bass and rap, which was fine, Finn didn't care but it was making the whole basement shake and plastic cups were vibrating off tables and countertops—spilling their contents on whatever was below. He was pretty sure this was worse than the Rachel Berry House Party Extravaganza.

Before he knew it, people were arriving. Quinn was pissed off and barely looked at him, Mercedes was chatting with Rachel and Sam was smiling at their conversation, Puck was filling up red plastic cups with God knows what (combinations of peach wine coolers and vodka…and something else) and Blaine was texting Finn that him and Kurt were going to be there soon. Everyone yelled surprise as Kurt and Blaine came down the steps and the look on Kurt's face was priceless—happy, thankful…Finn couldn't have been smiling wider at how surprised Kurt was.

But then all of a sudden the music was really loud and as far as Finn could tell everyone had had a drink or two and he wished he could have had a really large cup of whatever Puck was passing out because his mom was going to be pissed at the ruined carpet Burt had just put down. He nursed the half cup of pop in his hand and took a small sip, the bubbles of fizz tickling his lips as he swallowed. How the hell was he supposed to drive everyone home? He could probably deal with all the guys sleeping over so that they could sober up but he'd have to cart all the girls home—and here he thought having a bunch of girls in one car with him would have been some kind of wet dream. But he was so far from being turned on at the thought. In fact, he was annoyed by it. Couldn't they have one goddamn party without all the booze? He wasn't like…a prude (or wait; was it a teetotaler?) or anything. He drank at parties. Every time the damn cheerleaders had had a cheerio party he drank a beer and a half with Puck so that he wouldn't have to put up with Quinn's nonstop whining about the beer in her hand making her fat in her cheerleading uniform.

But Finn promised his mom that there wouldn't be drinking…so least he could do was make that true on his part. Besides, there needed to be someone to take these drunk-asses home. He glanced over at Rachel and…he was honestly surprised to see a cup in her hand because the last time she had approved of drinking and all that it involved, Brittany had vomited purple gunk all over her. He swore she was done with drinking after that but…maybe she had water or something.

Puck sauntered over to where Sam and Rachel were sitting. Rachel had Mercedes sitting on the floor, back against the couch and between her legs to try and braid her hair. Finn really tried not to think of how perfectly Rachel's legs were spread and swore Sam heard his thoughts because he took his jacket off and draped it over Rachel's bare legs. Both of the girls looked up at Puck who had two red cups in his hands. He said something about how it was hot that Mercedes was in-between Rachel's legs like that and Finn rolled his eyes. Puck was a typical horny teenager when sober so…it was at least ten times worse when he was drunk. He was damn near vulgar (but then again…Finn hadn't just been thinking about Rachel's legs or anything…).

Before he could approach Puck and ask him to stop peddling his alcohol concoction like it was water in the Savannah, Quinn appeared right in front of him. Seriously, one moment she was on the other side of the room and the next she was smack dab against his chest—like, clinging to him and spilling her drink on his shirt.

"Quinn!" He grabbed her wrists and tried to straighten her hand but it was useless, half the cup was already emptied on his shirt. He sighed.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She slurred.

He shook his head as she struggled against his hold on her wrists. He didn't want to hurt her so he let go and she collapsed against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist like a goddamn choke hold. Her head bumped against his left arm as she…was she snuggling against him? He didn't know what to do with his hands…he finally just, kind of, rested them on her shoulders because he was super uncomfortable and she smelled like cheap flower perfume and a distillery. When had Quinn become a clingy drunk instead of an angry one that just yelled a lot? Because he would have rather had the Quinn with rage-blackouts than the clingy-induced beer stain on his shirt.

"Doing what?" He asked, trying to walk over towards the chairs with her. He finally just wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her.

"Dumping me!" She screeched and he winced. He set her down on a chair and sighed softly. "I loooooooved you," Quinn swooned and Finn placed his hand on her shoulder to steady her. "And I jussst wanted to be prom king—!"

"Queen." He corrected but it went unheard because she continued in all her drunken glory.

"—was that too much to ask of you?" She grabbed a cup sitting on the table next to her and took a very large gulp. "It was her, wasn't it? Miss Berry." He was glad the music was so loud because she was basically screaming. "You're still in love with her, aren't you? Even though she's together with my ex boyfriend! She takes everything from me! Solos and boyfriends and…and she's fucking pretty!"

Finn was pretty sure Quinn meant to insult Rachel there but it came out as a compliment instead. The awesome effects of alcohol, ladies and gents.

"Quinn…"

She looked up at him, her anger suddenly melting into tears. Her doe eyes filled with sadness and he heard her breath hiccup in her chest.

"She's taken everything."

He couldn't just walk away from this. He sighed, once again cursing himself for having this party and for inviting Puck because he knew he'd bring beer (which caused people to behave like assholes but ironically it was a truth serum too) and why couldn't he just be a dick this one time instead letting girls with tears strolling down their faces turn him into a puddle of guilt with the sudden need to comfort them.

"Shh." He said softly, bending down a little so that his face was across from hers.

He cupped her face and ran his thumb over her cheek. This was for the little moments, before Rachel and before the babygate—before his confusing feelings and her jealously ruined them both, when he actually considered that he loved her.

"I'm sorry, okay? This whole relationship was my fault. I had gotten back together with you while still being in love with someone else…and that wasn't fair to you."

She sniffled and a sole tear strolled down her cheek. "I just wanted to be perfect. And that included being with you." The slur on the end of her words really downplayed what she was saying. She sounded ridiculous instead of sincere.

"I know." He said anyways, giving her the slightest kiss on her forehead. "We can still be friends okay?" He needed to get her home.

She nodded softly and looked away from him. "You didn't answer meeeeee." A large pout formed on her lips as Finn stood up and looked down at her. "You feel back in love with her, didn't you?"

Feel? Oh, fell. Actually, he did answer that. It was a different question but it had the same answer. He guessed between the beer and the tears Quinn hadn't heard him.

"No, I uhm, I never fell out of love with her." Finn said softly, his voice confident, trying to get her to understand.

She was smashed beyond all belief, taking yet another large sip out of the stupid red cup. But beyond the haze of drunkenness and teary eyes, he saw something that hadn't been there before.

Understanding.

Quinn finally understood his feelings for Rachel—and hopefully that meant that she was just ready to except them and move on. Because even though she could be manipulative…and a bitch…deep down he knew Quinn was a nice girl (when she was happy at least). And she deserved to be with someone that could make her happy.

It just wasn't him.

He glanced over at Rachel, who was taking ridiculously large sips out of the cup Puck had given her. She was giggling over nothing and leaning onto Sam like he was the fucking comfiest pillow she'd ever seen.

Finn just wanted to make Rachel happy again—the problem was somebody else was already making her happy and he didn't know if he'd ever have that chance again.

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:) Hope everyone enjoyed! Please review to let me know how I'm doing! Thank you!