It hadn't been easy for Finn to fall asleep that night, but somehow he had managed. He kept his cell phone next to his bed just in case she called but he knew that if he opted out of sleep for too much longer he'd lose his mind, little did he know the badly needed shut-eye he was currently getting would soon be interrupted in the best possible way. The knock on his window was enough to stir him awake, but not enough to disturb his parents, especially not with the sound of the rain drowning everything out.

At first he thought she was a dream, or some kind of crazy insomnia induced vision, but even after switching on his lamp and rubbing his eyes she didn't disappear. He climbed out of his bed and lifted the window, allowing the soaking wet, pajama clad girl in.

"Rachel?" he said groggily. "What's wrong, what happened?"

She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Instead she collapsed into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shh, Rachel it's okay, everything's going to be okay" Finn said.

"Finn I'm so sorry. I should have believed you I just…"

"You don't have to apologize. I shouldn't have sprung it on you like that."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep, I just had to see you" she said, starting to pull herself together.

"That's alright. I couldn't sleep either" he lied.

He held Rachel in his arms and stroked her back comfortingly, not caring that she got his clothes wet.

"I th-think deep down I knew y-you were te-elling the truth, but it j-just felt like too much was ha-happening at once and I couldn't d-deal with it all." She stammered. After coming in from the rain the cold was beginning to catch up to her. Finn could feel her shivering in his arms.

"God you're freezing Rachel" he said. "Let me find you something warm to put on."

He went to his dresser and looked through his drawer, finding a fleece pajama top.

"I'll just keep my back turned while you chang—

Finn stopped in his tracks. Rachel had removed her coat, set her crutches aside and raised her arms in the air, giving him a knowing smile. Finn placed the fleece top on his bed and walked up to her. He tried to keep his hands from trembling as he lifted her cotton nightie up over her head. He couldn't believe that Rachel was letting him undress her in his room at one in the morning. But somehow it didn't feel like a seduction (although he absolutely would have welcomed her seducing him) it felt purer than that, it felt like trust. He tried not to look like a perv gawking over her naked body, but it couldn't have been harder, her body was amazing. He grabbed the shirt off of the bed and pulled it on over her head before he lost control and mauled her then and there.

"Thank you" she said.

Rachel and Finn laid together in his bed, his head resting in the crook of her neck and his arms wrapped around her small body. They had been up talking most of the night, but now they just lied together in blissful silence.

"Finn, are you asleep?" she whispered, shaking him gently.

"No, I was just closing my eyes" he said looking at her.

"It's four in the morning. I should probably go home now."

"No, don't go. Stay with me" He said pulling her closer.

She smiled and kissed him softly "Okay, fifteen more minutes" she said. "Can you talk to me so I don't fall asleep?"

"Okay, what's your favorite movie?" he said, at a loss for more stimulating subject matter when he was so unbelievably tired.

"Funny girl" she said, not even having to think about it. "My dad took me to see it at this old timey movie theater when I was 3. It's one of the last memories I have of him."

"How did he die?" Finn asked, still too tired to filter his questions. "I mean, is it okay for me to ask?"

She hesitated a bit before starting "Well it was daddy's birthday and the three of us went out to Red Robin to celebrate. Apparently this group of guys had been drinking a lot and they started heckling us. It got pretty ugly so we decided to leave early." She paused, clearly having trouble reliving what was obviously a horrible night.

"Rachel you don't have to keep going it's okay" Finn said regretting asking her. He had guessed cancer or an accident, not a hate crime.

"It's alright, I want to talk about it. I never have before" She said. "We started driving home and realized that they were following us. They rolled down the windows and started shouting these vile things and dad tried to get away but they started ramming their car into us and honking and… finally they ran us off of the road and we landed into this ditch. Me and daddy came away mostly unscathed but… dad didn't make it."

"Rachel, I'm so sorry" he said.

"I try to forget that night all of the time, but it's still so vivid. Right before the crash dad looked right at me. I don't remember what he said but I still remember his face." As she started to cry Finn held her close and kissed her tear stained face.

"I wish he were here now." Rachel continued. "This was my first break-up. Daddy always says that dad was way better at dealing with this kind of thing. I wouldn't doubt it, when daddy picked me up early and saw me crying he actually asked me if I wanted a sundae."

"Hey, that would have worked for me" Finn said making her laugh.

"Daddy's great, but I guess I just can't help missing dad sometimes. I just wish I had gotten to know him better."

"Your dad would have been so proud of you Rachel" he said, stroking her hair gently.

"I don't know about that" she said. "I'm not who you think I am Finn"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not this perfect selfless person. I can be stuck-up, overly competitive, conceited, bossy, ruthless."

"Ruthless?" Finn said.

"I don't mean to be, sometimes I just get so caught up in competition I lose myself" she said. "Like this one time when Coach Sylvester gave Santana Lopez the top of the pyramid, I rigged the scale in the girl's locker room to make it look like she had gained three pounds."

"Three pounds isn't that bad" Finn said.

"Not if you're a Cheerio" she said. "Maybe that's why I stayed with Puck so long, I guess I just don't like myself very much sometimes."

"I like you" he said reassuringly.

"Hey, what happened to love?" she said.

"I don' know, after that Santana thing I might have to rethink that" he joked. "I mean, you have to admit that's pretty messed up"

Rachel giggled and nudged him playfully before kissing him deeply on the lips. It was almost shocking how easy kissing Finn Hudson had become.

She didn't know when they had fallen asleep, but when she opened her eyes it was light out and other voices could be heard in the house.

"Finn!" cried Finn's dad from outside the door. "Time to get up." He opened the door without knocking before Rachel even had a chance to hide. At that point all she could do was look at him guiltily.

"So" Finn's dad said, clearly in shock. "You must be Rachel."