Hello! Here is the next chapter :) This is just kind of a filler chapter with random stuff. It leads to something big in the next chapter though :) Enjoy!
Finn managed to get through the next week okay. He still needed to talk to Hannah, but still didn't think he really was ready yet. He saw her a couple times in the lobby and, yeah, it was hard, but it wasn't as hard. He was able to go on with his day and not look back.
It was the day of SpongeBob on ice and the girls had spent the night with Finn because it was Halloween the night before and Madie just had to sleep in her SpongeBob bed at Finn's because she was SpongeBob for Halloween. Whatever. Rachel walked through Finn's door on Saturday morning with a huge smile on her face, catching him as he was walking past.
"Hey Finn." Rachel smiled.
Finn smiled and pulled her further inside by her arm. When he had the door shut, he spun her around and pulled her into his bare chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he said, "I thought that you were Hannah. She's been just walking right on in a couple times."
Rachel laughed into his chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
"I guess it is okay." He joked.
"It better be." She slowly started pulling away from him. "What time are we leaving?"
"Soon."
"Where are my daughters?" Rachel wondered.
"They are still asleep." Finn said, pointing towards the kid's room. "Wanna go wake them up?"
Rachel nodded and walked down the hall and into the room. Ava was already awake and standing up in her crib. Her arms automatically shot out when she saw them enter the room and Rachel reached down, picking her up and whispered some good morning's into her ear. She looked down at the twin bed and saw Madie sound asleep underneath the SpongeBob blanket. Rachel bent down beside the bed and gently rubbed her daughter's back. "Madie, sweetie it's time to wake up." Rachel whispered. Madie slowly opened her eyes and started to turn over and sit up. "Hey precious. Did you have fun?" Rachel asked. Madie sleepily nodded her head and wrapped her tiny arms around her mother. Madie slowly got down from the bed and she went straight for Finn with her arms up in the air. He swung her up onto his hip and rubbed her back lovingly. Rachel's legs went to jelly at the sight.
"I'm tired." Madie said, resting her head on Finn's shoulder.
"You stayed out late last night." Rachel said.
"Come on, you gotta wake up! It's a big day my little pop star!" Finn bounced her up and down.
Rachel's heart swelled at Finn calling Madie his little pop star.
"Mads, we gotta leave soon. We wouldn't want to keep SpongeBob waiting." Rachel said.
When Finn and Rachel could finally pry Madie and Ava out of the venue of SpongeBob on Ice, they all went back to Rachel's apartment. "I got a letter from Lima, Ohio." Rachel said in question as she was looking through her mail.
"Really? Who is it from?"
"I don't know. The address looks familiar, but I don't remember."
Finn shrugged as they walked off of the elevator. When they got inside the apartment, Madie went to play upstairs while Rachel put Ava down for a nap and then joined Finn on the couch. Rachel slowly opened the mail from Lima, and discovered an invitation on the inside.
"Oh, it's the invitation for our class reunion!"
"Really? When is it?" Finn asked.
"Saturday, November 23. That's the Saturday before Thanksgiving."
"Can you make it that weekend? Do you have a show?" Finn asked, worried.
"Nope. I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off including both of the weekends. Just found out last night." Rachel grinned.
"Really?!" Finn asked, getting excited.
"No Finn, I'm lying to you." Rachel said sarcastically.
"No need for sarcasm." Finn smiled. "I have that whole week off too. I was thinking about going to Lima for part of that week anyways, but now that the reunion is the weekend before, I think that I will just go that whole week."
"That sounds like a great plan. Can I get in on that?" Rachel smiled.
"Of course you can."
"Yay!" Rachel clapped. "I called my dad's last night to tell them, but they unfortunately won't be home until Thursday morning and then they gotta leave again Friday afternoon." She frowned. "They said they'll leave me a key, though."
Finn frowned, too. "Or you could just stay with us. I'm sure there is plenty of room."
"But I'll have the girls with me and I don't want to do that to your mother."
"Oh please, Rach. My mom would love it."
Rachel winced. "I don't know…"
"You're not staying by yourself all week."
"If Carole says its okay, then I'll do it." Rachel finally agreed.
"Deal."
"I'm so excited!" Rachel squealed.
"Me too, babe." Finn winked, playfully. Rachel knew that he was just messing around, but there was something about him calling her babe that made her want to melt.
"Okay it's at McKinley in the gym and it starts at 8:00 p.m. And it says that they are combining the classes of 2012 and 2013 into one reunion. That means that everyone from glee should be invited! Do you think everyone will come?" Rachel asked, getting excited.
"I hope so." Finn smirked.
She watched him carefully as he pulled out his cell phone and face timed his mom.
"Hello?" Carole asked as she looked into the camera.
"Hey mom!" Finn smiled.
"Finny! How are you honey? You feeling better?"
"I'm good, Mom. You?"
"Oh, I'm great. I've been packing a lot though. We are moving back to Lima next weekend." She moved the camera so that he could see all of the boxes.
"Really? Do you need my help? I can fly there and help you guys!"
"No, Finn. We're Fine. Where are you at? Is that your apartment? I still haven't seen it yet!"
"I'm at Rachel's right now." Finn said, moving so that Rachel was in the shot. "Hi Carole!" Rachel waved.
"Oh, hello dear! What are you two up to?"
"We just got back from seeing SpongeBob on Ice." Finn chuckled.
"Well that isn't a very romantic place for a date, Finn." Carole smirked.
Rachel blushed and put a smile on her face. "We took Madie for her birthday."
"Madie?" Carole asked in wonder.
"My daughter." Rachel smiled.
"Ah, I see. That was sweet of you. Did she have fun?"
"Tons." Finn smiled. "I'll send you a picture."
"That's good."
"So, we just got our invitation for our class reunion. It's the weekend before Thanksgiving and both Rach and I have off so we were thinking about staying that entire week. What do you think?" Finn smirked.
"Really? Yes, yes, yes! That would be awesome! What about Kurt and Blaine? Are they coming for the whole week also?"
"We haven't talked to them yet. They will probably want to go to the reunion and I know that they want to come down for Thanksgiving, so most likely." Finn shrugged.
"Well this is going to be so much fun. I miss you guys!"
"I miss you too, mom. But listen, Rachel's dads will be out of town until Thursday morning and I don't really want to her stay at her house alone so—"
"Oh, she can stay with us!" Carole didn't even let him finish the sentence.
"Are you sure, Carole? I have my two little girls and I wouldn't want to be a burden."
"Absolutely. It's settled, you are staying with us! I can't wait to meet your little girls! Finn won't stop talking about them."
Rachel smiled over at Finn, a look of adoration on her face. "Thank you so much, Carole."
"The more the merrier!" Carole smiled widely. "So, what's going on with you? What have you been up to?"
"Nothing, really. Just been working and hanging out with my little diva." Finn smiled and Rachel laughed.
Carole smiled at her son and his ex-fiancé. "So everything is okay with… she who shall not be named."
"Mom, everything is fine with Hannah." Finn laughed. "I'm doing great. She won't leave me alone though…"
"Well, who would? You're such a great man, Finny."
"Thank you, mom." Finn laughed.
"Well I'm sorry that you've had a rough couple of weeks. It really sucks when you break up with someone."
"It does, but I'm glad it happened. I needed to move to other things and people." Finn smirked.
"Like?"
Finn shrugged and winked at Rachel, causing her blush harder than she ever has. He looked back over to Carole's amused face. Before Finn could say anything more, Madie came flying down the stairs screaming about something. Rachel and Finn both turned their heads quickly.
"What's going on?" Carole asked.
"Mads, calm down." Rachel said. "Why are you screaming? Please don't wake Ava up."
"Mommy, there's a huge spider in the playroom." Madie yelled.
Finn tried to hold back his laughs. "She is just like you, Rach." He laughed.
"Huge, huh? Well maybe if you ask nicely, Finn will go kill it for you." Rachel said, ignoring his extremely true comment.
"What? Me?" Finn asked.
"Are you scared, Finny?" Rachel said in a sarcastic voice.
"No, I'm not scared. Are you?" Finn asked.
"I am." Rachel said proudly. "I hate spiders."
Finn got up off the couch and said, "Here, hold my mom."
Rachel giggled at the way that sounded and followed Finn and Madie up the stairs.
"From what I can see Rachel, you have a very nice place." Carole laughed.
"Thank you." Rachel smiled.
"It looks like you guys are busy right now, so I'll let you go. Call me later!"
"Bye mom!" Finn yelled.
"Bye Carole!" Rachel said, before hanging up the phone and walking into the playroom.
"Alright, where is this spider?" Finn asked.
Madie cautiously led him over to where she found it and pointed it out. Finn looked underneath one of the toys that was laying on the floor and saw the spider. She wasn't exaggerating, the spider was huge. "Holy shit." Finn whispered.
"Is it big?" Rachel asked.
"It's very big."
Rachel made a face and led Madie out of the room.
"Thanks, Rach." Finn laughed.
"What? I'm just trying to protect my daughter." Rachel smirked.
Finn shook his head, charged out of the room, and straight to Rachel. She screamed as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Finn!" She laughed. "What in the hell are you doing?"
Finn held her tighter by the back of her thighs and walked into the playroom. "Shh. Don't wake up Ava." Finn laughed. He quickly walked over to where the spider was and Rachel started freaking out.
"No, no, no Finn. Don't you dare." Rachel laughed.
He shifted Rachel so that he was holding her bridal style, and he slowly started bending down towards the large spider. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face in his shirt. "Finn, I'm going to kill you."
Madie stood in the door way laughing, and Rachel managed to hop out of Finn's arms. Her foot brushed against a toy as she landed on the floor and the spider started crawling. Rachel screamed and jumped towards Finn's back. Luckily, he caught her and held her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist from behind. He laughed loudly as he chased the spider and eventually stepped on it. When he removed his foot he looked behind him to where Rachel was hiding her face in the back of his shoulder and said, "Better?"
She looked down and saw the dead spider on the ground. She took a deep breath and looked over towards Finn's face which was way closer to hers than she thought. "That was not cool." Rachel whispered. "No, but it was funny." Finn whispered back. Rachel smiled as her eyes flickered down to his lips. She looked back up to his eyes through her long eyelashes and watched as his eyes flickered down just as hers did.
"It's not dead yet!" Madie yelled, causing them to look away from each other. Rachel looked down, tightening her grip on Finn and saw it starting to slowly move. Finn stepped on it a couple more times before it was really dead. He walked out of the playroom, let Rachel slide down from him, and went to get some toilet paper to pick up the dead spider with. When the insect was down the toilet, Madie continued to play in the playroom while Finn and Rachel resumed their position on the couch.
Just as Rachel was going to play their movie, there was a loud knock on the door. "Ugh." Rachel threw her head back in annoyance. She looked over at Finn and jutted her lip out. "Pretty pretty please…"
"Fine." Finn laughed. "But only because I can't say no to that puppy face."
"Good to know." Rachel laughed, biting her lip. Finn stood up, throwing a couch pillow in Rachel's direction as he went to answer the door. He swiftly opened the door and frowned when he saw the patronizing man standing on the other side. The man glared at Finn, his cheeky smile promptly falling.
Finn was not in the least happy to see this man. "May I help you?"
"Is Rachel here?" Jack demanded.
Finn opened his mouth to say something rude, but decided against it. "Why do you ask?"
"I need to speak with her."
Finn clenched his jaw. "Fine." He opened the door wider and allowed the smaller man to come in.
"Rach, Jeff is here!" Finn said loudly.
"Who?" Rachel questioned, getting up off of the couch. The man turned around and glared at Finn. "It's Jack."
"Whoops, my bad." Finn said, sarcastically.
Rachel approached the two men, trying to stifle her giggle from Finn purposely messing up Jack's name. She knows that Finn doesn't think too highly of him, especially ever since the whole karaoke incident. All the times that they've spoken since then, Jack has been a giant asshole to Finn. It hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows with Rachel and Jack either. After the karaoke night, Rachel made it very clear that she was upset with him and that she doesn't think of him in any other way other than her cast mate. All he has been trying to do ever since is get back on her good side and try to move past the friend zone. Clearly, he hasn't had much luck.
"Hey beautiful." Jack smiled. "How is my Fanny?" He went in to give her a deep hug, one which Rachel didn't reciprocate.
"I'm fine, Jack. What do you want?"
"Can a woman's husband not stop by just to chat?"
"You are not my husband. You're my stage husband."
"Not really much of a difference."
"There's a huge difference."
Jack accepted his defeat. "Do you want to take a walk?"
"No, thank you." Rachel declined. "Finn and I were about to watch a movie."
Jack glared between the two of them. "I'll just watch with you, then."
"Well—" Rachel began, but Jack was already on his way to the living room. He sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to him. "Come on, Rachie-poo. Sit next to me!"
Finn slumped down onto the loveseat and sighed deeply, swinging his legs up so he was laying down, facing the television. "I'm good." Rachel shook her head and crawled over Finn, laying down so that she was snuggled up to him, wedged between his body and the back of the loveseat. She moved his arms so that they were around her body and she leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Just go with it and he'll leave." Finn smirked and pulled Rachel closer to him as she pressed play.
Madie appeared several minutes later. "What are you doing here?" She spit at Jack. Jack looked from the little girl to the two people snuggled up on the loveseat and sighed. "I was just leaving, actually. I forgot about something that I need to do."
"Bye." Madie exaggerated, stomping her little foot.
"Oh, and Rachel? I came over to tell you that our next cast dinner is tomorrow night."
"And you couldn't just call or text?" Finn asked.
"I was in the neighborhood and…"
"Thank you Jack. I'll think about it." Rachel said reluctantly. She skipped out on the last one, fear of the karaoke thing happening again, so she hasn't been to one in a while.
"Do you want me to come and pick you up?"
"I can get there on my own. Or Finn will bring me." Rachel assured.
Jack tightened his lips and nodded. "Okay. I hope to see you tomorrow night then."
"So are you really going to go?" Finn asked.
Rachel shrugged and looked at him thoughtfully. "Well I do miss hanging out with my cast. I haven't done it in a while…"
Finn nodded.
"But I'll only go if you go with me." Rachel made clear.
Finn cocked his head to the side. "I thought it was a cast party though?"
"Yeah, but people bring their boyfriends or girlfriends or spouses with them all the time." Rachel looked away from Finn. He raised his eyebrows at her, a smirk growing on his face. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I brought my best friend." She quickly added.
"Okay."
"So you'll go with me?"
"I wouldn't miss it."
Hannah had caught Finn in the lobby of his building and asked him if they could talk yet again. This time, he decided to finally give in to her and agreed to dinner at his apartment. No matter what, it was not a date for him. He did not have any intentions on getting back together with Hannah, but he knew that's what she wanted to talk about. He thought that if he just went ahead and got it over with, then maybe she will realize that they are not meant for each other and finally leave him alone. Or, it could be the total opposite of that and she will obsess over him even more. Hopefully that wouldn't happen. She got there at around 6:00 p.m. on Friday night and Finn had dinner ready. They ate while Hannah talked the whole time. Finn wasn't ready to talk just quite yet. She talked about how much she missed and loved him. She kept trying to get closer to him and touch him, but Finn wasn't having any of it. He could tell that she was getting quite agitated with him, but he didn't care. To help with the pounding headache that he had from her talking all night, Finn grabbed himself a beer and sat down on the couch quite a few inches away from her.
They were both silent for long enough to make Finn uncomfortable. "Look, Hannah. I'm sorry. I'm not really sorry for breaking up with you because that really needed to happen, but I'm sorry for the way that I acted during our relationship. I treated you like shit and you kind of got screwed over. And I am truly deeply sorry for that. The second that I felt myself feeling just the slightest bit towards Rachel, I should have either cut that off or broken up with you right then. It really wasn't fair to you. You got the shit end of this whole thing and it sucks that I just now realized it. I really wasn't meaning to drag you along like I did, but I really didn't know what I wanted. I thought I wanted you and I really have thought about spending the rest of my life with you. But, god, Rachel. She came into my life a-a-and I turned into the shittiest boyfriend ever. I wouldn't have blamed you for breaking up with me. I may not have realized what I was doing at the time, but I realize it now. I had formed this kind of family unit with Rachel and left you out cold. And I'm sorry."
Hannah was crying. She flung herself at Finn, sobbing into his shirt. He sat, stunned.
"It's okay, Finn. Thank you for finally admitting it. I haven't been all sunshine and rainbows either. I actually may have even pushed you even more towards her. When I began to suspect things, I started acting bitchy and cold instead of actually talking to you about it. I'm sorry too. The demise of our relationship was not completely in your hands. We both had a part."
Finn smirked a little bit and backed out of her embrace, nodding. "It's cool of you to say that."
"So this is really it?"
Finn nodded. "I think this is best for both of us."
"And you're sure that you don't want to just try to work through these problems?" Hannah tried.
"Hannah…"
"You really love her, don't you?"
Finn looked up at her with wet eyes. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to.
"What does she have that I don't?"
He sighed and took a swig of his beer. This wasn't going to be an easy conversation.
On Saturday afternoon, Rachel stopped by Finn's apartment to ask him about his 'date' type thing with Hannah. After they had texted a little the night before while he was still on the date, he hadn't answered any of her texts. And he hadn't answered any of her phone calls that she had been placing to him since 10:00 Saturday morning. She was a little worried, but knew he probably just lost his phone or something. Wouldn't be the first time. She let herself in with her key and was surprised to hear silence. She looked around in the kitchen and living room before she went to Finn's room and quietly knocked on the door. When nobody answered, she slowly opened it until she saw Finn laying down in his bed fast asleep. Rachel quickly went and placed Ava in her crib, then made her way back to Finn's room. She smiled and walked over to the opposite side of the bed, slipping her heels off, and sliding underneath the covers right up next to Finn. She laid on her side, watching him peacefully sleep for a few minutes before she started to softly say his name.
He stirred a little bit before moving his head in the direction of the voice and slowly opening his eyes. He smiled at the face staring back at him and said, "Hey Rach."
"Finn, why in the hell are you still in bed?" Rachel giggled.
"What time is it?" Finn groaned.
"12ish."
"Oh gosh… I guess I was tired."
"From your 'date' last night?" Rachel laughed, scooting closer to him. Finn stretched his arm and let it fall across Rachel's waist.
"It was not a date. I made sure she knew that too."
"And did she let off?"
"A little bit. She fought it for a really long time though." Finn chuckled.
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, it's cool. We talked it all out and I don't think she will be bothering me anymore. At least I hope so."
"Good." Rachel smiled.
"What are you doing in my bed?" He laughed.
"You looked all warm and cozy." Rachel cuddled herself into his chest.
"And am I?"
"You are." She said.
Finn smiled and pushed Rachel so that she was on her back and he was sprawled out on top of her.
"Finn! You're crushing me!" Rachel laughed.
"Are you calling me fat?" He laughed into her ear.
"No, but I am relatively small."
"You're my tiny little angel." He laughed.
Rachel smiled up at him and he slowly rolled off of her, pulling her up against him.
"Where's Madie and Ava?"
"Madie is at a birthday party and Ava is in the other room in her crib."
It was silent for a few moments. "I love cuddling." Rachel yawned.
"Me too, babe." Finn said.
Rachel slowly opened her eyelids to see Finn staring her.
"Hey, sleepy head." Finn smiled.
"What time is it?" Rachel yawned.
"1:00, we both took a little nap."
"I guess we did." Rachel began stretching out her limbs. "And were you watching me sleep?"
"I was." Finn said proudly. "It's one of my favorite things to do."
"Oh, is it?" Rachel smirked.
"It always has been."
Rachel smiled at Finn and slowly sat up. "I need to go pick up Madie."
"Do you wanna go to Times Square and see the posters?" Finn asked.
"The posters are up?!"
"They got put up yesterday. Did Kurt not call you?"
"No! But, yes I want to go!" Rachel clapped and jumped out of the bed. "Come on old man!"
Rachel and Finn walked up the sidewalk and up to the door of the house which was hosting the birthday party. After the host answered the door, she led them into the living room where tons of kids were sitting and playing. "We were actually finishing up our last game if you don't mind waiting. There are some other parents in the kitchen if you want to go talk to them."
"Thank you." Rachel smiled. Finn waved at some kids that he recognized as his students as he walked with Rachel to the kitchen. Rachel spotted Libby, and pointed her out to Finn. They hoped that Hannah wasn't one of the adults that they were about to go join. As Rachel opened the door to the kitchen, they had no such luck. Hannah was standing there with Libby's mom and three other mom's and two dads. She looked up at Rachel and Finn as soon as they entered the room and her smile automatically fell. Finn didn't know what to do, so Rachel grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her.
"Hey everyone." Rachel smiled. She gave the other mom's a hug while Finn lingered behind her, paying attention to Ava in his arms and trying not to look in Hannah's direction.
"I don't know if any of you remember Finn. I mean I guess he's some of your kid's teacher so…" Rachel introduced. Finn gave a small wave before stepping closer to Rachel, making sure that her arm stayed looped through his.
"Hello Finn." Hannah said.
"Hannah." Finn smiled.
"Would the happy couple like some punch?" Hannah asked.
"Oh no, we're not—" Rachel began.
"Oh come on! You don't have to lie! It's so obvious." Hannah said. "I mean, that is why you broke up with me isn't it Finn? Because you are in love with her?"
Finn shifted uncomfortably and looked around at all the faces staring at him. She swore she wouldn't say a word to anyone.
"I don't think that's any of your business." Rachel said quietly. Why was Hannah being so rude?
"Well I think that it's in everyone's best interest to know who you're dating, Rachel. Finally moving on from your husband?"
"Hannah, stop. Why are you doing this? What happened to last night? I thought we were cool?" Finn asked.
"Well, we're not 'cool'. Just go ahead and tell everyone how you dumped me for your student's mother."
"Come on, Finn. Let's go." Rachel grabbed his hand and led him out of the kitchen. As they were leaving, Rachel could hear Libby's mom telling Hannah that she was being a little rude. Damn straight.
Rachel grabbed Madie and the four of them started walking towards the car.
"Finn!" They heard from behind them. He turned around to see Hannah running towards them. "Finn, can we talk?" She said. Finn glanced down at Rachel. He shrugged at Hannah and said, "Fine, talk."
Hannah looked from Finn to Rachel, who had a strong grip on Finn's hand. "Uh, I-I'm sorry. I was rude."
"Yeah, you were."
"I guess I am just a little jealous." She said.
"You know, I thought that you were different. I thought that you were actually nice and a cool person."
"I am!" Hannah said.
"A cool person doesn't say stuff like that in front of a whole bunch of other people. Especially in front of parents of my students. If one of them complain, then I could get fired, Hannah."
"I'm sorry. I told them that it wasn't true."
Finn turned around and helped Madie and Ava into the car.
"S-She forgot her goodie bag. Here." Hannah handed a pink bag to Rachel. Finn shut the passenger door, went around to the other side to get in, and drove off.
"Well, that went great." Rachel said.
"I don't know why she was being like that." Finn uttered. He shook his head.
"Did you have a good time, Madie?" Rachel asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, it was pretty fun. My birthday party was awesomer though."
"It's more awesome, awesomer isn't a word."
"Well, whatever. Can I please have my goodie bag?" She dug through the bag until she found an item she didn't like. "Momma, I don't like this flavor of lollipop. Do you want it?"
"Sure, baby." Rachel took the sucker from her daughter and stuck it in her mouth, tossing the wrapper in her purse.
Finn could see her licking and sucking on it out of the corner of his eye and was pretty sure that she was trying to torture him on purpose.
"Madie, what would you think about going to see Granddad and Poppy for a whole week for Thanksgiving?"
"Can Finn come?!" Madie asked, immediately.
Rachel smiled. She loved that her daughter's first thought was about Finn. She really did love him.
"I wouldn't miss it, sweetie." Finn smiled.
"Then yay!" Madie clapped.
"Rach, what flavor is that?" Finn asked.
Rachel took the sucker out of her mouth and examined it. "I believe that it's watermelon."
Finn reached over the console, grabbed the sucker and stuck it in his mouth. "Oh, my favorite."
"Finn!" Rachel laughed.
"Ew!" Madie said from the backseat. "Mommy told me that I'm not opposed to share suckers with other people because their spit is all over it."
"It's not like I've never had your mother's spit in my mouth before." Finn mumbled.
Rachel looked at him with wide eyes and smacked him on the arm. She grabbed the stick that was coming from his mouth and placed the sucker back in her own mouth. "Don't steal my sucker." She pouted as Finn gave her a devilish grin.
Finn, Rachel, Ava and Madie walked slowly through Times Square, trying to spot the posters. Madie spotted the first one on one of the big digital boards that changed with advertisements. They stood and watched as 'Hummel Fashion' flashed across the screen with 'New Children's clothing line!' underneath it. The words got smaller and a picture of Madie, Braylon, Hadley, Maddox, and Ava all huddled together came up onto the screen. Rachel was quick to take a picture of it before it faded away.
"Whoa, we were on the board!" Madie screamed.
They all continued walking around until they found another one. This one was an actual poster and was the size of a large banner. It also had the words 'Hummel Fashion', 'Brand new children's line', and the address of the store on it. There was a separate picture of each of the kids on it. Madie was thrilled. Finn and Rachel lined her up so that she was just below the poster and she pointed up at herself. Rachel snapped a picture and they continued on the find the last poster. Kurt had told them that they would be pleasantly surprised and to look above TGI Friday's for it. The three of them walked to the end of Time's Square and looked above the restaurant to see a huge poster. It was a picture of Madie in front of a white screen by herself. Her leg was popped and her hands were on her hips. She was the main focus of the whole poster and the only other thing on it besides her was small words that went across the very bottom. Madie was jumping up and down with excitement. Rachel wanted to do the same as her, but she would look a bit weird. Finn found a nice looking stranger and asked if she would take a photo of them with the poster. To be able to get the whole poster in, Finn had to put Madie on his shoulders. He wrapped his free hand around Rachel's waist and she stood up on her tippy toes for the picture, Ava perched on her side.
They decided to go grab a bite to eat inside TGI Friday's while they were right there. While they were waiting, Rachel posted the picture of all four of them on Twitter with the caption, 'Check out this amazing new poster of Madie TIMES SQUARE! Proud Momma :) #HummelFashion'. She slid her phone back into her pocket and looked up to catch Finn staring. She gave him a small smile and tried to hide her blush.
"You posting more things about me on Twitter?" Finn smirked.
"Well it was mostly about Madie, but you were in the picture." Rachel smiled.
Finn lightly shook his head at her.
Rachel rolled her eyes and nudged him a little bit. She looked across the table at the child who was contently coloring and then back at the large man whose thigh was pressed up against hers. She rested her head on her hand as she watched him. He felt her eyes on him and he slowly turned his head to look at her. They held each other's gazes for what felt like forever until Rachel looked away quickly when she heard Ava squeal. She scanned through the restaurant, wondering why they still haven't been waited on. As she was looking around, she saw a man that looked way too familiar. As she stared at him, she realized that it was just the man that she thought it was. He was standing at a table talking to a small family and laughing. Rachel grabbed Finn's leg right above the knee and squeezed hard. Finn looked over to see all of the color completely drained out of her face and a horrified look on her face. "You okay?" He whispered. Rachel nodded slightly and tried her best to give him a small smile. She turned her head to look at Madie and saw that she was looking in the direction of the man. She had a knowing look on her face, and Rachel knew that Madie had recognized the man. Rachel took a deep breath and tried her best to hide behind Finn. She watched the man step away from the table and start walking in their direction. She noticed the apron he was sporting and figured that he was a waiter. He used to be a doctor, why the hell was he here? She clenched her other hand onto Finn's arm and squeezed tightly. Please don't be our waiter, please don't be our waiter. Rachel thought. She had no such luck and the man came striding over to them with a huge smile on his face. Shit.
"Sorry about the wait. Welcome to TGI Friday's, my name is—Oh my god. Rachel?"
Finn dropped his eyebrows and looked over to Rachel who was squeezing his arm and thigh as tight as she could. She let out a deep breath and tried her best to smile up at him. Finn knew her well enough to tell that the smile was forced.
"Hey…"
"A-and Madie and Ava! Um, it's good to see you three girls. Ava has gotten big. Um, H- How have you been?" The man asked, clearly nervous.
"We've been fine." Rachel said quietly.
"That's good." The waiter mumbled. "So can I start you off with some drinks?"
Finn looked over to Rachel who was staring down at her lap, and then back to the man. "Uh, she'll have a diet coke, I'll take a Dr. Pepper, and the little ones will have a lemonade and a milk."
The waiter nodded and right as he started to walk off, Finn stopped him. "Um, I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name."
"Jeremy." He smiled.
Finn nodded and as soon as he walked away he turned back to Rachel and immediately flung his arm around her to pull her in.
"Oh gosh, Rach. I'm so sorry." Finn whispered.
Rachel obliged and leaned into Finn. "No, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm over it." Rachel smiled. "Just a bit shocked, that's all."
Finn could actually hear the genuine in her voice and knew that she really was okay. "I'm here if you need me. I can punch his guts out."
Rachel laughed a little bit. "Thank you Finn, but that's not necessary. I'm way too good for him anyways."
"Now we've both had an awkward interaction with our ex's today… I mean yours was much worse but still." Finn said.
"Mommy, was that Jeremy?" Madie wondered.
"Yes it was." Rachel confirmed.
Madie looked thoughtfully at her mother with pursed lips. "I haven't really missed him that much." She said, honestly. "I like Finn way more."
Rachel smiled at her daughter and chuckled. "Me too, baby girl."
Finn smiled widely and placed a quick kiss on Rachel's temple.
Jeremy came back and handed out their drinks. "Are you guys ready to order?" He choked out.
Rachel nodded softly and started to speak, but nothing came out. She looked to Finn for help and he got the hint.
"Uh yeah, I'll have the Philly Stacked Burger, she'll have The House Salad and French Onion Soup, and Madie and Ava will both have the mac-and-cheese with fries off of the kid's menu." Finn ordered.
Jeremy glared at Finn after he wrote the order down. He looked over at Madie, who was in another world, then to Rachel, whose eyes were focused on her hands in her lap.
"Okay, I'll have that out as soon as I can." He said, quietly.
"That dude has a mean glare." Finn whispered to Rachel.
"How did you know what the girls and I wanted to eat? We never told you." Rachel wondered.
Finn pursed his lips and shrugged. "You're my best friend and I know practically everything about you. And from the past months, I have picked up a thing or two about what Madie and Ava like to eat and I know that mac-and-cheese is their favorite."
Rachel smiled widely at him. "It's the little things that make me so happy."
"I make you happy?" Finn asked.
"Incredibly."
The four of them enjoyed their dinner quietly. Finn paid (didn't give the dude a tip), and as they were walking towards the exit, Rachel heard someone call her name. She turned around to see Jeremy waving her down. "Hey Rachel, can we talk?"
"No."
"Rachel, please."
She gave a deep breath. "Fine."
"Come on, let's go outside."
They all five stepped out onto the busy sidewalk outside.
"Can we talk… privately?" Jeremy asked, looking towards Finn and the girls.
"No." Rachel made clear. "They stay or we don't talk at all."
Madie turned around and wrapped her arms around one of Finn's legs. He reached his free arm down and ran his hand through her blonde hair. Jeremy eyed them for a moment before focusing his attention back on Rachel. "Look Rachel, I'm sorry."
"Oh, are you? What are you even doing here? I thought that you were a big shot New York City doctor?"
"I-I was. I got fired." When Rachel didn't show any signs of sympathy, he continued. "So, who is this?"
"This is Finn." Rachel said, confidently.
"Finn? Like the Finn?" Jeremy asked.
Finn raised his eyebrows. Apparently this guy knew about him, which means Rachel had brought him up.
"Yeah…" Rachel said quietly.
"Rachel, I really think that we should talk in private." Jeremy insisted.
"No. Go ahead and say what you need to say or else I'm gonna be leaving."
"No! Okay. Uh… Rachel, I get that you're upset and maybe a little angry at me, but I… I miss you."
"Y-you what?" Rachel spit out.
"I miss you. C'mon, I think that I'm still in love with you. You're all that I have been thinking about for these past couple months."
Finn was about the punch the shit out of this guy.
"What? No. Y-you cannot say that. You cannot lead me on, practically move in with me, and then just vanish one night. You left my five year old and infant home with a damn babysitter and disappeared! And all you left me was a freaking email a week later. So, no. You cannot say that you miss me. And you do not get any sympathy from me because you got fired from your precious job that was always more important than me. I feel like the only reason you are saying any of this right now is because you're lonely and you want my money. I actually cried when you left me like that, but now that I look back at it I have no idea why. You never loved me. I never even loved you. I mean, I sure thought that I did. But I was still hung up on my husband and just needed someone to heal my heartbreak. I actually trusted you. I was a complete idiot for that. So, please, do not say that you miss me and you are still in love with me, because that is complete bullshit. And even if it wasn't, I certainly have not missed you and I am not in love with you. I stopped missing you the day after you were gone. Goodbye, Jeremy."
Rachel grabbed Finn's hand and pulled him with her down the street. They were practically running and she didn't stop until they reached the car. She opened the door and slammed it shut while Finn placed the girls in their seats. He ran around to the other side and hopped in. Rachel was staring down at her feet.
"You okay?" Finn said softly.
She slowly looked up towards him and nodded. She grabbed his hand and interlocked their fingers.
"Can we go back to your place?"
"Sure."
Finn carried Ava and Madie upstairs to his apartment and laid them down in their beds. He shut the door and shuffled into the living room where Rachel was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands.
"Rach?"
She looked up to Finn and he noticed her tear stained cheeks.
"Hey, hey, hey. Why are you crying?" He sat down and pulled her right up against him.
"Why did he have to do that?" Rachel cried.
Finn didn't know how to answer.
"I don't understand! Why did he have to do that? I-I don't get it."
"Wait, Rach… you're not still hung up on him… are you?"
"No!" She reassured. "Not even a little bit. But I am still pissed at him. He's a big reason for my trust issues! And he thinks he can just come back after what he did?"
"He's an idiot, Rach."
"I was finally getting better! And he just made all of the bad memories come back!"
"Baby, shhh. Come on, look at me." Finn grabbed her face. "You are much better. Don't let him ruin that. He's a complete asshole and he does not deserve you. Don't cry over him."
"I'm not crying over him…" Rachel said quietly.
"Then why are you crying?"
"To be honest… I don't know. One thing that has changed in the past ten years is that I cry. A lot. And most of the time it's for no reason and sometimes it for every reason. I just bottle all of my emotions up and then every once and a while I just break down and let it all out. It actually hasn't happened in a while… I haven't really had a reason to. But, seeing him… he just brought back all of these emotions that I felt while dating him. I was so messed up and broken before you came back and he reminded me of that. I need to just cry right now. Just let me cry." Rachel threw her head back in her hands and big sobs came out.
Finn sat stunned for a few seconds, but finally got it together and grabbed her hands from her face. He pulled her onto his lap and cradled her, rocking her and singing softly into her ear. After several minutes she calmed down a little bit.
"Talk to me, Rach."
She sniffled.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Kyle." She answered, suddenly.
Finn certainly was not expecting that answer.
"I-I don't miss him. Well, I do. I miss the old him. I miss the Kyle that I was married to before he went insane. It's not really that I miss him but that I miss the times when everything wasn't so fucked up. And I know you probably don't want to hear about my happy little life with another man—"
"No, Rach. I do. Tell me everything. Talk to me. I'm here to listen."
Rachel looked up at him a little shocked. "Well, believe it or not, Kyle was actually a really amazing man. He was so sweet, like you. And he really was a great father to Madie for the first couple of years. He always used to dance with her and sing on the top of his lungs, even though he couldn't sing to save his life. He was also very funny, always making Madie and I laugh." She paused, wincing a little bit. "I still can't tell where it all went wrong."
They were both quiet for a while, only the sound of their breathing filling the air.
"When I started to notice him slipping away, I did everything in my power to save it. I cooked all of his favorite meals every night and made sure it was always ready when he got home, I did all of his laundry and dry-cleaning, I brought him lunch at his office every week, I bought him tons of shit, made sure he always had a fresh drink, had god damn sex with him like I was a fucking doll whenever he pleased, and even managed to get myself pregnant thinking that would fix every problem we ever had." Her tone had started soft, but quickly turned angry and bitter. "I don't know what the fuck I did wrong. But, apparently something bad. Because I was nothing but good to that man a-a-and he—" Her breath caught in her throat and a loud sob came out.
"Rachel, you cannot blame yourself for any of that. You did absolutely nothing wrong. God he is the one who lost everything good he would ever have. He is a stupid, ignorant asshole who does not deserve you. You are way better than he will ever be. He clearly does not see what he is missing out on. He must be blind. You, Madie, and Ava are the three most perfect girls I have ever laid eyes on. And if he can't see that, then he's the biggest idiot in the world. Please don't let him get to you anymore. You don't need him, Rach."
"He destroyed me." She cried. "He tore me down. He never abused me physically or really verbally for that matter, but he abused the fuck out of my emotions. He made me feel like the biggest piece of shit every day. Just the tones and looks he gave me. At the beginning, he would complement me all the time and make me feel like a damn princess. But then he stopped and one day he never looked at me the same. He looked at me as if I were a child o-or a damn slave. And when he left me all alone with two children and made me actually fearful of him, my heart shattered. And I have never managed to put it all back together."
Finn squeezed her as tight as he possibly could. He had no idea what to say. "Rach, I don't know what I can do to help you, but I am here for you. I will listen to you talk forever or sit here and cry with you forever. You will get through this. I know you and I know that he will be nothing but a memory in no time. It's just a matter of you wanting to get better and stronger. And I know you do."
Rachel looked up to Finn to see a tear rolling down his cheek. She reached up and wiped it away with her thumb. Rachel placed a kiss on the corner of Finn's mouth and snuggled further into his chest. "Thank you Finn."
"You're welcome, Rach."
They were silent for a while, Rachel sniffling every once and a while and Finn whispering kind words to her.
"And for the record, what you said to Jeremy today, that was bad ass."
Rachel laughed slightly and Finn shifted so that they were laying down on the couch and he was spooning Rachel from behind.
"Can I just ask one more question?" Finn whispered.
"Sure."
"How did Jeremy know who I was?"
Rachel giggled. "You played a huge part in my high school life, so when we talked about that kind of stuff, your name came up a lot. Plus, Kurt has a big mouth."
He laid there breathing in the scent of her hair and listening to her breathing slow down. When he thought that she was asleep, he whispered, "I love you, Rach."
She definitely wasn't asleep.
Hmm will Rachel have a good or bad response? Please review! :)