For some fucking reason, everytime I upload a chapter to FF. net it puts everything into one chapter. Yeah. No line breaks. What the hell? So I have to upload a chapter and then go back through and hit the space button for every paragraph. So frustrating. What the hell?

ANOTHER AUTHORS NOTE, PLEASE READ: Okay, so I purposely waited to post this at the last possible chance BECAUSE I am going on vacation from the 21st to the 28th. I wrote another chapter that I will TRY and post when I'm on vacation because I don't want to leave you guys high and dry. This was done a while ago but I wanted to wait to post it so that it was as close to my vacation date as possible. I'm going to Disney world :D thanks for all the amazing reviews and alerts as always.

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Chapter 14

After Rachel had said goodbye to her fathers and Finn actually got a handshake from both of them (Mr. Leroy squeezed his hand with an authoritative message—which Finn got loud and clear: hurt my Rachel and I'll hurt you) they walked out of her dad's hospital room and started to the car.

Most of it was in silence, except when Finn told Rachel to wait as he put his arm out in front of her for a car to pass that she hadn't seen. It wasn't like her to not check both ways before crossing the street—like seriously, she yelled at him when he didn't check.

"You okay?" He asked softly, his voice echoing concern as they crossed the street and headed to his truck. He dug his keys out of his pocket.

She wrapped her arms around herself and shrugged softly, not answering him.

He unlocked the truck and watched her crawl inside before getting in the car himself. As he closed the door, she looked out the window to her right, shivering reached for the blanket in the back and settled it over her legs.

"Thank you," She said softly, looking at him. "I'm sorry about my dad in there. I didn't expect him to react the way he did…and I told you it'd be alright, that you were just being silly…"

Finn frowned. That's what she was upset about? "Hey, it's okay." He smiled softly, trying to reassure her. He was used to it but he didn't want to tell her that. "He's just doing what dads do, he wants to protect you. And it's not like he wasn't right…I uh, I've hurt you before so…"

She shook her head. "Don't do that."

He looked at her. "Do what?"

"Blame yourself for something I did."

She sniffled and rubbed her nose with the back of her wrist.

He sighed. "Rachel, how many times are we going to have to talk about this?"

She leaned back in her seat. "Just because you say it was mutual doesn't mean that I don't feel bad about it. That I still don't believe that it was my fault that we broke up!"

"I didn't tell you about Santana." Finn snapped.

"Well I was…being stupid!"

He slammed his hands on the steering wheel. "Rachel."

"I go from telling you that girls want sex just as much as guys do and then I'm celibate. I'm sure that wasn't pie for you. I know what people say about me, Finn." He could hear her tearing up just from her voice. "What they said about me when we were dating, what they still say."

"You think I broke up with you because we weren't having sex?" He turned his head to look at her and then angled his body to face her too. "After Quinn and the baby gate, I'd be celibi-"

"-bate." She corrected, voice quivering.

He rolled his eyes. "Celibate too, alright?"

Finn knew this wasn't really what she was upset about. Well, okay…sure, kids at his school were fucking assholes. He knew what they were saying about her because he'd heard it when he was dating her. People were just cruel and quick to judge someone they didn't even know. Just because she didn't look like Quinn or put out like Santana didn't mean she was a prude…or that she was an awful girlfriend. He was a guy but he knew that sometimes a relationship meant a bit more than touching boobs. Even though Rachel's were awesome. All this emotion was coming from being with her dad—he briefly wondered if Sam had to deal with the same thing after picking her up (or if it was just worse this time because her dad had basically tried to throw a clipboard at him).

"And those fuckers at school don't know what the hell they're talking about.

"Rachel let out a long breath and her eyes closed, perfect curled lashes settling against pink skin. "On Friday… Taylor was saying something about Sam. And you."

Taylor? Finn leaned his shoulder against the seat and tried to think. Who the hell was she and why did she sound familiar? Oh, right! Taylor was the new cheer captain—just one of Sue's minions waiting for her spotlight. With Quinn basically out of the picture she had had her chance at being the top of the school. She was cheer captain and just as hot as Quinn—but with more popularity to back her up (especially after she realized Quinn wasn't a shoe-in for homecoming queen since she had no quarterback boyfriend anymore).

She had tried to ask Finn out more times than not after breaking up with Rachel. He declined just as many times as she asked until she stopped."She…she cornered me in the bathroom and she had heard that you broke up with me because I wasn't letting you get to third base. Or home," She let out a soft sniffle. "Whatever. I usually don't let rumors get to me like that but…" Rachel opened her eyes to look at him. The sadness there made his heart clench.

"She asked me how it felt to be a filler. Basically it's just a really mean term the cheerios came up with just for me." She laughed bitterly and Finn shook his head. "A filler is a girl that fills the gap between a guy's girlfriends. So I was a filler for you until you ended up with Quinn and—and until Sam breaks up with me to find someone better."

There was no one better than her. No one. He kind of wished this Taylor was a guy because he seriously wanted to handle this whole situation with his fists. But he'd never hit a girl and that was the only goddamn thing saving her. And 'a filler'? Really? Those girls didn't have anything better to do then come up with stupid nicknames that made no sense but were used to hurt his ex-girlfriend?He breathed out slowly as his fists clenched. He couldn't punch his truck—it already had some trouble running from time to time he didn't need to make it worse.

"She said that Sam would just end up dumping me after he found out that 'my legs were sealed shut'. I've never felt so humiliated in my life, Finn. What's so wrong with being a virgin?"The pain in her voice was unbearable. He leaned forward and cupped her cheek.

"Nothing. Rachel, nothing is wrong with that. If I wouldn't have been such an idiot and gave into Santana-pressure, I'd still be one too. And I regret that I'm not. It just…it made me feel empty afterwards."

Her lower lip wobbled and he closed his eyes as she let out a sob. He pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, letting her push her face into his shoulder and neck and empty her tears.

This whole thing must of have been building up since Friday because it was Sunday and he hadn't known about it at all. Usually he heard stuff around school about Rachel—she was the chosen person to make fun of. But—had she told Sam about this? Had she just waited until now to tell him because they were friends? Or maybe she wasn't going to tell anyone at all. Her emotions were strung out and stretched thin; things made her a lot more upset than they should of. Maybe this was all backlash from her dad and everything going on with that. One thing escalated into another and all of a sudden Finn had a crying Rachel Berry on his chest.

Even though it was probably from that—he knew stuff like this bothered Rachel. She was always made fun of for something. For being a virgin, for not looking like Quinn or for having a 'huge nose,' for being passionate, for dressing 'weird' or talking too fast. It was no wonder she didn't want anyone to know about her dads at school. They would friggin eat her alive.

And he hadn't been lying to her when he said he had regretted having sex with Santana. Not only had it been rushed and done for the wrong reasons, it had messed up everything between them. Broken them up. He had wanted it to be something special—what had Rachel said in her room that one time? Saving it for eachother? Yeah, he had wanted wished he could have saved it for Rachel.

Because it would have been something special with her—because she was special.

"Those people know nothing about you." He said softly, rubbing her back and placing a soft kiss on her head. He pulled back and cupped her face, running his thumbs over her cheeks. "Is all this just from what Taylor said?"

She sniffled and looked up into his eyes, dark coffee brown searching his pale cinnamon ones. She shook her head and looked down, not pulling away—letting her face relax into his hands cupping her face.

"B-before we left, my dad whispered to me that the doctor had come in earlier when we were talking in the lobby and said—daddy was getting worse. The tumors in his neck aren't shrinking…Finn. I don't know what to do." Her voice getting faster and more hysteric, tears in her eyes and sobs building up in her chest. "I can't lose my daddy, I just can't."

She collapsed against his body, heart wrenching sobs spilling from her (harder than before, when she had first told him about her dad being sick). These were different—desperate, scared…painful (the kind of sad where someone else could feel it. The kind that just ripped someone up from the inside out).He didn't know what to do; there was literally nothing he could do to help her. He wrapped himself around her, held her as close as he could in the small space. She curled into him like a chair folding in on itself. Her hands bunched his shirt up and he felt her nose dip in the space between his chest and arm.

There had to be something that could help Rachel and her family. Fuck, anything. Santana's dad was a doctor right? Like…a real good one. Finn bit his lip. He couldn't tell Santana about Rachel's dad though, could he? Could he trust her? What could her dad even do? Everything cost money—A large and bright light bulb went off in Finn's head.

What if—he went to Mr. Schue. He was trustworthy and he listened when any of the glee kids had problems (he was almost better then Miss Pillsbury sometimes). Maybe if he told Mr. Schue about Rachel's dad, the glee club could hold a bake sale (a top secret one with a code name so no one knew what it was really for! Like they could say it was for another glee fieldtrip and then use the money to help Rachel's dad…get Santana's father to look him over).Well of course he'd have to make sure Santana's dad was a cancer doctor first…but then he could ask Mr. Schue. The glee club liked Rachel—well cept for Quinn but other than that they'd be into helping her (because deep down, even though all of them thought she was annoying and that she hogged the spotlight—they all knew Rachel was a good person with a big heart and that she'd help any of them in a heartbeat if they needed something).

Finn could do this. He wanted and needed to do this for her. Sam could help co-captain it all and keep Rachel from finding out until he was sure it would work but…he needed to do something. He was tired of standing by while Rachel sobbed her heart out so helplessly. She barely had time to go to work with school and the hospital—any extra money would help. So even if Santana's dad couldn't help there would be extra money for her and her was the least he could do and sometimes that was more than enough.

He waited until she stopped crying to pull away. She looked completely worn out and sad—and yet she still managed to look so beautiful. He cupped her cheek and stroked the tear tracks off her had to do this for her; after all, shouldn't you do anything you can for the person you love?"

You might not remember earlier today and some of the things you said but…you told me you loved me."

Rachel's eyes widened an instant before a dark red blush covered her cheeks. "Oh." She murmured, her voice thick with unshed tears. I guess when it comes to a sick parent you just can't cry enough.

He smiled softly, tapping her nose with his finger. "You gonna try and take it back?"

She shook her head and a small smile tugged at the edges of her lips. "No, I wouldn't do that. I do love you…I probably always will." She bit her lip. "What did you say back?"

Finn leaned closer to her. "Let's just say that it's two way street, okay?"

"You're…not mad?" She asked, unsure.

Why would he be mad? He wasn't the one who had a boyfriend while she declared druken (and now sober) love confessions to her ex.

"I'm not mad." He told her, taking her hand and squeezing it. "I love you too Rachel," She looked up into his eyes, swallowing. "I never stopped."

She swallowed thickly and looked down, sniffling. "Why are you telling me this now? When I'm—"

"I just want you to know how I feel. The truth." Finn licked his lips. "I'm not…I don't want there to be any more lies between us. This friendship is so important to me." He squeezed her hand again. "I meant what I said to your dad, I'm not going to hurt you again."

"You can't promise that." She sounded bitter.

"Not hurting you on purpose? That I can promise." He reassured her, shaking her hand."I just…I wanted you to know that when you were drunk you said stuff to me, you wanted me to kiss you. And I wanted to. I could of…but I didn't. And you have no idea how hard that was."

She bit her lip so hard. It looked like she was trying to make it bleed. "I'm sorry I put you in that position to compromise our friendship."

"I just wanted you to know."

Rachel looked up at him and smiled softly. "Thank you for not taking advantage of me."

He smiled and bit his tongue on telling her that she had made it goddamn difficult because all drunk Rachel Berry wanted to do was take her clothes off.

"And thank you for telling me the truth." She nodded. "About how you feel. I-I appreciate it and…I told you once that I'd always be honest with you so—I'm with Sam. I really like him a lot." Rachel sighed softly and swiped tear tacks off her other cheek with the hand that wasn't holding his.

"I want to be with him." She squeezed his hand this time and leaned forward to place a kiss on his forehead. He closed his eyes as he felt her lips touch his skin.

So much for that no lying thing. Her lips were saying one thing, but her eyes and that kiss were telling him the truth.

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Finn could never understand how traffic could build up in such a small place. They had left her dad's room over twenty five minutes ago but were still trying to get out of the friggin parking lot. Cars were stretched in a long line for as far as Finn could see.

He sighed and checked his right mirror before turning the car. He drove for about a minute before he hit another cluster fuck of traffic. What the hell had happened that was causing the backup? He would have turned left and drove out of hospital parking lot's other entrance but he'd have to go in the opposite direction of Rachel's and his house. He knew Lima pretty well but it was dark and he was not going to take the chance of getting them lost.

So he stayed in the traffic—it'd have to move leaned his head back against the seat, glancing at Rachel. She had been texting someone for the past ten minutes (he guessed Sam since she barely texted anyone other than her dads and Kurt). She closed her phone and turned her head to look at him, giving him a small smile.

"I'm sorry about before."

Finn frowned. "For what?"

She bit her lip and turned her body to face him, pulling the blanket up over her stomach. "For the…Niagara falls that I unleashed on your chest slash neck."

He chuckled. "I don't mind. That's what friends are for, right? Besides, better out than in."

"Yeah, except I keep…doing that to you, I just feel bad that you have to support my emotional baggage." She said softly, playing with a fray in the blanket.

If he had given her any inkling that he was annoyed by her crying on him then he hadn't meant to. Sure, he hated when she cried (that was obvious) but if she needed to, he wanted to be there for her. It was better for her to cry against him then do it alone, thinking she had no one to vent to. He wondered if she ever emotionally exploded to Sam (okay, so that was a really bad description that he'd keep to himself)…he was her boyfriend after all.

"Hey, did I say that I had a problem with that?"

She smiled slowly. "No."

He nodded. "Exactly, so get those kinda thoughts out of your pretty head, okay?"

She giggled and leaned back against the seat. "Fine."

Rachel was silent a few more minutes before she sighed.

Finn shook his head at the traffic and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, this traffic blows."

She shrugged. "I have nowhere to be, it's not a big deal."

"Sam isn't waiting for you at home or anything?"

She bit her lip. "He was texting me that he had just gotten off work but I told him I'd probably be getting home very late because of the traffic so he's just going to head home and get some sleep."

Finn groaned. "I forgot about sleep—" She interrupted him with a laugh and he shook his head, smiling playfully at her. "I meant I forgot we had school tomorrow and everything. Feel free to get some shut eye here, my truck is comfy."

She beamed. "Yes! It's a very comfy truck, besides, I have a blanket too."

He smirked. "Yeah, and I know you need the sleep."

Her smiled faded slowly and nodded, biting her lower lip again. "Do you think my dad is going to be okay?"

Finn moved up a little in traffic and heard a car honk. He checked his rearview mirror before looking at her. He slowly took her hand into his and gave it a small squeeze.

"I hope so, Rachel, I really do." She smiled softly and squeezed his hand back. "All I know for sure is that your dad is strong," He smiled and gently tapped her nose with his finger. "Just like you. So he's gonna fight this thing as hard as he can. All we gotta do is have some faith in him."Rachel smirked softly.

"When did you get so good at saying the right things?"

"I took a class." He joked. "Wrote down some notes and BAM, I'm a natural."He winked and she giggled, gently pushing him away as traffic moved forward.

He moved the car up as well, checking his dashboard for how much gas he had in the tank. It was a little low but he should have had enough to get home and everything but with this traffic—who knew. Maybe he could stop at a gas station if he saw one.

Finn kind of understood maybe a percentage of what traffic was like in major cities. They hardly had anything heavy in Lima…and if they did it was cleared up within an hour. Major cities however like Los Angeles or New York always had heavy traffic. He didn't understand how people dealt with it.

He rubbed the back of his neck. New York. He sighed softly, what the hell were they going to do about performing in New York?

"We have to talk to Mr. Schue about changing Quinn at Nationals. You have to sing Rachel; you're the best we've got."

He still didn't understand why she hadn't spoken up that day in glee. He knew she was focused on her father and lack of sleep but…he knew she loved the spotlight, and not even that but he knew how much she loved the glee club. She couldn't have wanted them to lose. And that's what was going to happen if they let Quinn sing as their female lead. She was talented but…she was no Rachel Berry.

"Quinn's…not that bad." Rachel said softly.

Finn luckily had the opportunity to just stare at her. He didn't understand where she was going with that. "Yeah, she's not that bad but…compared to you she kinda borderlines awful."

She blushed at the compliment but bit her lip nervously. "She already hates me…"

"And you think letting her sing is going to change that?"Rachel swallowed and looked down at her hands—okay, obviously she had thought that. Way to go, Hudson.

He sighed. "She doesn't hate you because of your voice."

Rachel laughed. "Right. Everyone hates me for my voice, Finn."

He smirked as he saw a little bit of the old Rachel shine through—the one that was so passionate and talented that it kind of rubbed people the wrong way. But she was right. She was amazing and everyone knew it—that's where the hate all came from.

But this wasn't about her voice. "She hates you because you have me."

He looked back to the road and moved up in the traffic, beeping the horn at an asshole that was stopping short and almost made Finn tail-end him. He could feel Rachel's eyes on him but he couldn't look over at her.

He didn't expect her to say anything to that. He just wanted to be honest with her. She had him in a way that Quinn could never have. Or any girl for that matter.

He just wanted to make that clear.

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Okay, so! I have a chapter already written and will update on my vacation :) (Hopefully mid-vacation, around the 25th or 26th if I have downtime! I come home on the 28th). Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!