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Chapter 17

When Rachel woke up at 6 am on her eighteenth birthday, she honestly didn't feel any different.
She took her phone, checking her texts.
On 1 am, Mercedes had sent her a voice memo, quietly singing happy birthday.
On 3 am, Tina had sent her a nice text as well.
And Ryder just sent her a birthday emoji.
Since she couldn't sleep anymore, she got up and went to her desk, checking her calendar.

The next school party was just around the corner and they still needed to plan a lot of things.

Principal Figgins had told them that the design of the invitations had been praised a lot.

Rachel stared turned the page of her calendar – and gasped.

When did she write down Finn's name? With hearts? What the actual fuck?

She didn't even notice!

When she thought about Finn Hudson, there was no longer hate and distrust, but something…warm and thrilling. She never would have thought she would one day stop hating him. It was the opposite, now.

The door opened, and LeRoy and Hiram entered. "I knew you were awake!", Hiram laughed and went over to the desk. He pecked her. "Happy Birthday, darling!" LeRoy followed suit. "Thank you, dads", Rachel beamed.

Together, they went to the living room.

"Surprise!", her family shouted. Rachel yelped, surprised.

Her grandparents, her aunt Tilda, her uncle Tom and her cousin Johnny were standing in her living room, starting to sing Happy Birthday.
Rachel could feel some tears of joy running down her cheeks.

Her dads did a really got job decorating the room with balloons and chains of lights. On the table, she could spot a lot of presents.

They all ate a great breakfast and then, it was time for the presents. Uncle Tom, aunt Tilda and Johnny gave her new headphones and a necklace, her grandparents gave her a perfume and chocolate and her dads gave her a new laptop.

"And this one? Who gave it to me?", Rachel asked, pointing at a big box wrapped in black wrapping paper with a blue ribbon on top.

"No idea. Maybe your secret lover?", Hiram joked. "It came by post, no address of the sender", LeRoy added. "But we all know who it is, right?"

"OMG, you have a boyfriend?", Johnny asked, excited.
"No!", Rachel shouted, blushing.

"Come on, open it!", Tilda urged her.

Rachel took the package and went over to the sofa, sitting down. It was dead silent everyone waited for her to open it. She opened the box. Inside, there was a bag. She lifted it out of the box with eyes wide open.

The bag was black, made out of leather and with white pearls on the front. Carefully, she opened the bag. There were a lot of pockets inside, for her laptop as well.

It was the most elegant bag she had ever seen. And then, she noticed something she hadn't seen on the first sight. Her initials on the side - R.B.B.

Rachel gasped. She felt like she was dreaming. Behind her, Tilda was screaming delightedly. She looked down the box and spotted a card. It was cream colored with golden flecks. Someone had written something.

Happy Birthday, Rachel. – F.

That was all.

But it was enough to make those butterflies in her stomach move again.

She didn't know how to react. That had to be the most expensive present someone had ever given to her. But she didn't want to think about the prize. It was kind of cute Finn had thought about her birthday. He must've noticed that her bag was old.

"That was so thoughtful of that boy", Tilda gushed.

"And he is rich", Johnny added. "But I doubt that he paid something if his grandparents own that place"

"Guys!", LeRoy cut them off, pointing at the table where there was coffee, tea and the birthday cake. "Leave Rachel alone and sit down!"

"You don't have to talk about a present, okay? That young man had thought about you and that's a wonderful gesture. You need to thank him afterwards", Hiram winked. "Now go, blow your candles."

There was only one wish all the years. NYADA, and maybe Harvard on the second place. But this year, another wish was in her head.

She had to concentrate when she closed her eyes. "On your eighteenth birthday, you can make two wishes", Hiram next to her winked. "Yes, that's right", LeRoy agreed.

But why was Finn's name the first she had to think about?


It was one of the best birthdays ever. After their brunch, they went to the park to make a new family photo, needing more than ten attempts to make it perfect. They decided to take a picnic basket to eat dinner outside because it was unusually warm outside.

In the afternoon, Mercedes came over to bring Rachel her birthday present, a biography of Barbra Streisand.
Actually, she wanted to leave again to let the family celebrate together, but her dads insisted that she needed to stay.

They decided to play Twister and then frisbee, but since the wind was too strong, they all had to run a lot.

After everyone was tired, they all ate chicken-avocado-tomato sandwiches (without chicken for Rachel, of course), strawberry-chocolate pancakes and pink lemonade her dads had prepared at home.

Rachel was surprised how well Mercedes got along with her family. She never wanted to mix the McKinley world and her world at home, but it was not a bad idea actually.

After everyone went home, Rachel decided to go to bed. After all, she was up since six am and tired as hell.
When she went to bed, she looked over to the box with her new bag.

She didn't know whether Finn knew how happy he made her with his present. She never wanted to return that bag. She quickly retrieved her phone and dialed Finn's number. It was ringing and ringing. After she wanted to give up, he picked up.

"Rachel Berry." It almost sounded like he expected her call.

"Finn Hudson" If he said her entire name, so could she.

"Are you ok?", he asked. In the background, she could hear music which got quieter. She wondered where he was now and what he was doing.

"I'm fine. I just looked at my new bag", she answered, carefully touching the leather.

"Do you like it?", he asked, and Rachel wished she could see how he looked now. What he wore at the moment. What was wrong with her?

"It's gorgeous. You know that it wasn't necessary, right?", she asked. She closed the bag and sat down at the desk.

"I wanted to give something to you. And I thought that the Finn 2.0 was a great choice"

"The Finn 2.0?"

"That's the name of the model."

"You give me a bag which you called after yourself?"

"I didn't, it was grandmother. There is also a Kurt. And some which are called after my parents. But that one is called Finn 2.0 because I made it more feminine. Kurt helped me a bit because I'm not that experienced."

Rachel grinned. "Do you give Hummel-Hudson things to all of your friends?", she asked.

Finn didn't answer for a while. "No.", he finally said. Rachel didn't know what to say. What did that mean for them?

"If you and Kurt one day take over the firm, you have to call a bag after me", Rachel said to break the silence.

"Can I tell you a secret, Rachel?", Finn suddenly said quietly.

"You can tell me everything", Rachel answered softly.

There was a pause and she could hear steps. Now, she couldn't hear music anymore.

"I…I don't want to take over the firm of my grandparents." If he had been here, she would've stared at him.

"And to be honest, I don't want to go to Harvard either.", he went on.

Her heart was beating so loud she could hear it in her ears. "What do you want?"

He laughed bitterly. "It's the first time someone asked me that question."

"But that question is so important."

He didn't say anything for a while.

"I have no other choice, you know. I mean it is clear that Kurt will take over Hummel-Hudson's one day and I will take over the car business of mom and Burt, but I want to know how it's like to have a choice.
I mean, I love cars, but I want to find out what my true passion is. But my whole life is already predefined: McKinley, Harvard and the firm, that's all."

Rachel clutched her phone. That was the most honest thing she had ever heard from him. She couldn't believe he had told her that secret.

"My dads always told me that it doesn't matter where I'm from and that I can do whatever I want to. I think each human deserves these possibilities."

Finn sighed deeply. "Sometimes…" he trailed off, not knowing whether he should continue.

"Sometimes, I feel like I can't breathe because everything around me suffocates me."

"Oh, Finn", Rachel whispered. Her heart was aching for him. She always thought he enjoyed the power of his family name. But now, it all made sense: his strain each time they were talking about universities and his reaction when his grandparents showed up.

Suddenly, Rachel got it. She understood why he acted like that at the beginning of the schoolyear. His I-Don't-Give-A-Damn behavior.

"That schoolyear…is the last one where you don't need to take on responsibility", she mumbled.

"It is my last chance to be free.", he agreed.

"I wish I could be by your side now", she said before she could reconsider her words.

"What would you do if you were here?", he wanted to know. Now, he didn't sound desperate, but a bit…teasing.

"I would pull you into a hug.", she answered earnestly.

"I think I would like that."

They never really hugged and if he were by her side now, she would never say something like that. But now, with his voice in her ear, nothing felt impossible.

"Did you celebrate your Birthday well?", Finn asked her after a while.

"Yes", she answered and started telling her about her day, which presents she got, about the delicious picnic and that she beat Mercedes and her aunt at Frisbee, but Mercedes beat her at Twister.
Finn laughed a lot, glad about the change of topic.

After that, they talked about everything and nothing, not noticing how fast the time passed.

Before she could blink, it was already three am and they were still talking, wide awake.

Rachel stared at the Football sweater which laid on her dresser.

And only thought about Finn.


Principal Figgins looked at Rachel with his deep brown eyes.

"Did I get that right, Ms. Berry?", he asked her, frowning. "You want me to cancel Mr. Hudson's punishment?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes, sir."

He looked skeptical. "Why shall I do that? The term isn't over yet"

"He was really engaged, Sir", Rachel said. "He had great ideas and he was a great source of inspiration"

Figgins leaned back, crossing his arms. He seemed to consider it. "And the football team needs Finn more at the moment. Sam Evans is a good quarterback, but not as experienced. That's also what Coach Beiste said at the interview for the McKinley Blog."

Figgins frowned even more. "And you don't say it because that boy messed up and you want to get rid of him?"

Rachel shook her head. "Now way, Sir. I'm just thinking about what's good for our school. He supported us and now he needs to support his team again. We can't allow another defeat like last Friday." That seemed to be a weak point.

The principal's eyes widened, and he stiffened a bit. "I understand." He nodded and Rachel held her breath. "Alright. Mr. Hudson may return to his football team."

Rachel smiled thankfully, but he lifted his finger. "But only after the party took place. I don't want to risk that he thinks of something to ruin our event."

Rachel nodded. "Of course, Sir."

"And please don't tell anyone for now."
He shooed her out of his office after he called Coach Beiste on his phone.


A/N: Next chapter: Halloween party!