Hi guys. This chapter would have been up earlier but I was at The Killers last Saturday and it was like the best night of my life and I woke the next morning and saw the news about Cory on Facebook. It's devastating. I couldn't even wrap my head around it. He was irreplaceable. I felt kind of weird about uploading this but…

Just reminding you that we are making good progress and I already know how the scene with Blaine finding out is going to go.

Chapter 12- Home Truths

Rachel stared down at her stomach in shock. There was now a pronounced bump that she could have sworn wasn't there the previous night. It was as if it had grown within the space of twenty four hours. She was now in her third month of pregnancy and remembered reading in the pregnancy book her fathers had bought for her that it was around that time that most women started to show. Great. Rachel sighed and tried to adjust her dress that now fit snugly so as to draw as little attention as possible to her abdomen.

Of course she noticed because it was her body and she knew she was pregnant but the seventeen year old wondered if others would figure it out. Rachel hoped not. She had at least counted on another month before all the whispering and rumour spreading began.

At school she was even more self-conscious than usual. It seemed like everyone's eyes were on her even though it was highly unlikely that that was the case. Rachel busied herself before class began by organising her books for the day.

Quinn walked by her locker and stopped to say hi. Her eyes immediately went to her fellow glee-clubber's stomach. No, it couldn't be…Rachel's reluctance to make eye contact pretty much confirmed her suspicions. Wow. Of all people, she didn't expect it from Berry. The blond crossed her arms across her chest and leaned up against the neighbouring locker. "So how far along are you?"

Rachel's blood ran cold. No, this wasn't happening. "W-what?"

She pursed her lips. "I'd say about three, three and half months." The brunette's lips opened and closed several times but no words came out. Quinn at least expected her to deny it. "I've been there before Berry. I know what a baby bump looks like. Don't insult my intelligence. Who's the father?"

Her eyes widened. "Shh! Not so loud! Do you want everyone in the school to know?"

Quinn ignored that question and frowned. "It's Finn's, isn't it?"

"No, it's not Finn's! And I don't think that's any of your business!" Rachel snapped at her friend. She knew she probably shouldn't have been so rude but she was desperate.

The blond shrugged. "You don't have to tell me but trust me, these things have a way of coming back to burn you. I'm sure you know how it feels to keep a secret; it only gets worse. Soon you'll find yourself with no-one but your baby-daddy."

I don't even have my baby-daddy! Rachel thought to herself. There was a more pressing matter, however. "Is it really that obvious?"

"To me? Yes. To everyone else? I don't think so. You're still pretty small but that isn't going to last for long. Once you start showing you seem to get bigger by the day."

Rachel swallowed hard. She wasn't ready for that. She wanted her peers to be ignorant to her situation for as long as humanly possible. It wasn't fair. Every time she felt like she had a handle on things, another milestone that she had to face came along. "How did you get through this?" Rachel wondered desperately, "Because a lot of the time it feels like I won't be able to."

Quinn frowned. She really pitied the girl. She knew exactly what Rachel was going through and what was still to come. It only got worse. The blond hugged her. "Well first of all, you need your friends. They're the ones who are going to get you through this. I'm not going to lie and say this is going to be easy, because it isn't. It's probably going to be the hardest thing you're going to do but you will get through it. Even if it seems like you won't."

Tears filled Rachel's eyes. "I don't want anyone to know, Quinn. I'm so embarrassed. I don't want to tell Finn or anyone in glee."

"Rachel, you can't keep it a secret forever. Very soon they're going to find out anyway; who's terms do you want it to be on? You need to take control. They will support you," the blond informed her seriously. "Think about it," Quinn urged her before moving on to her own locker.

That's exactly what Rachel did- all she could do for the rest of the day. Every time someone looked at her she became paranoid. The petite brunette didn't want to be walking on eggshells around her friends too. She needed to tell them, that was obvious, but she didn't know how. It would take consideration. Rachel decided in Math that she would tell them.

Just not today.

She needed a contingency plan; who she was going to tell first, how she was going to do it… A lot of things needed to be resolved before she could take that step.

After school and glee, Finn and Rachel went to the Lima Bean again. When they were hanging out everything was so much better. He made her feel secure. They talked and laughed and smiled… Today, however, Rachel felt sad. She had no idea how Finn would react to her news.

The prospect frightened her.

When they had finished, the two walked back to school to collect their respective cars. They were comfortably silent for a while before Finn spoke. "I'm going to miss Glee tomorrow. I have this doctor's thing…"

That sounded familiar. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I haven't been in a while and my mom's making me go…" Finn stopped by her car. He looked conflicted. The atmosphere was suddenly tangible. Finn hesitated for a moment, fighting an internal battle before he decided to go with his gut feeling. He leaned in and kissed a very unsuspecting Rachel.

She was completely shocked. This was bad, very bad. The kiss went on for a few seconds before Rachel regained control of her body and pulled away. "We can't do this," she told him straight out.

Finn was confused. They had become so much closer. Things were good again. He couldn't see a possible reason why they shouldn't. "Why not?"

"Because I'm pregnant."