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Rachel

When you're with someone long enough, you always feel them. You always know what they're thinking, almost at the same instant that they're thinking it.

Finn walked into the hotel room with an expression in his brown eyes. I looked up questioningly, searchingly, and shook my head.

"We can't do this," he said.

"I know." I gestured to the suitcases. "I already started packing up."

"We have to leave."

"It's not like she expected us or anything, right? I'll bet the orphanage never called her back."

"Of course," he said reassuringly. "I… we're too young, Rach. Maybe when we're older. Maybe when she's older. I don't think she could handle it."

"I know I can't," I said honestly. "I've been thinking about it and, well, it was our choice. My choice, really. Who am I to go back on that? It's not as though she contacted us. Maybe she has no interest in a reunion. I keep trying to think of ways that this would work out, and I can't. Maybe it's a sign."

He nodded wordlessly and reached for his phone charger, tucking it into his bag. I watched him, chewing my lip. We were doing the right thing, right? We'd hurt our baby girl, and what if she wasn't in a position to forgive us? I remember the fifteen-year-old me – I was hurt and sad and full of angst. The timing just wasn't right, I told myself.

Silence hung over the room. It felt like those humid days where the weight of water presses down on you, sweltering and suffocating and hot, and you feel swollen and oppressed. If I was with anybody other than Finn, I would have run screaming from the room, but he had mellowed me. He'd tamed the fiery monster inside of me, the petulant teenager, years ago, and he had proven, over time, that every tear that fell, he would be there to catch it.

Suddenly, in the midst of this all, a sound emerged. A ringtone. Finn's ringtone. We both jumped, shaken out of our own thoughts. I gestured to it.

"You going to answer it?" I asked.

We both knew he didn't want to. Carefully, he retrieved it from his pocket, checked the screen. I was up by now, standing next to him, his arm automatically around my shoulder.

"Kurt," he said in surprise. I tilted my head; what could he want? We hadn't talked to him in ages.

I asked again, "You going to answer it?"

In response, he held the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

Hey, Finn! It's Kurt – remember me?

"Of course I do." Finn gave a faint smile, looking at me. "I'm going to put you on speaker, okay? Rach is here."

Finn nudged me; I spoke up hurriedly, "Hey, it's Rachel."

"Rach! How are you?"

"Um… good."

I could practically hear Kurt's raised eyebrow. "Good, huh. So, uh, where are you guys these days?" I thought I heard someone, maybe Blaine, in the background, but then it was quiet.

"We are… actually, we're in New York," Finn said cautiously.

"No way! The big city? Got sick of good ol' Ohio?"

"You could say that."

There was a painfully pregnant pause. Should we tell him? Did he already know something?

"By the way, what's the name of the hotel you're staying at? Just a random question."

"Why?" I asked.

"Geez, can't a man ask a simple question? Kidding, Rach. No, but seriously, where are you guys staying? Blaine and I – say hi, Blaine!" I was right. There was a faraway "hi!" as Kurt continued, "We live here now. We've got this gorgeous apartment, it's tiny and adorable and everything I ever dreamed of. Since you're in the area, mind if we drop by?"

"We're leaving," Finn said. "Sorry, man."

"Oh, no problem," Kurt said airily. "Nice talking to you." And he hung up abruptly.

"That was weird," I said frankly.

"Yeah, I don't know. This is the first time we've talked in, what, probably over 6 months, and he talks to us for, like, ten seconds and hangs up. It's not like I'm his brother or anything." Finn frowned, attempting to fold up a t-shirt.

I watched him fumble in grim amusement. After all these years, he still couldn't manage to make it work. "Maybe we were being weird," I suggested. "We weren't the friendliest. You're his brother too, Finn. Oh, give it." I grabbed the shirt and folded it, placing it carefully in his suitcase.

"Thanks," he said, reaching for my hand. We looked around the room. It was empty, plain, as if we'd never even made a dent. Was this what our baby's life was like now? Could she just erase us? Did she? And if we entered, would we disturb her peace? The image of a ravaged hotel room flashed before my eyes.

"Ready to go?" I asked. "I, um, I already called the station and got us last-minute tickets. They're dropping us off a few towns away, but we can take local transportation."

"Okay," he said quietly, taking his bag and handing me mine. "After you."

And we walked out of that hotel room, planning to never go back.

Well, it didn't exactly turn out like that.

How do you like it? In the next chapter it's Kurt and Allie POV. Let me know what you think in the review section, and thanks for reading!