Chapter 22

November – Age 18 – Senior Year

College Visits

"Hey Ms. P," Finn greeted as he walked into her office.

"Hey Finn, right on time," she replied. She got out her 'Finn Hudson' notebook and dated their session. "Did you get a chance to thin about your 'homework'?"

"Yeah, and I came up with an answer," he said proudly. "Social work."

"Really?"

"Well, I've been thinking about where I would be without you and Wende, and I want to be that person for other people."

"That's very commendable," Emma replied. "Well then. Let's have a look at a few choice schools in Ohio that have that program you want." She began pulling out numerous pamphlets from a very neatly organized filing cabinet. "I have gotten all the pamphlets from the colleges ready for you, but I would like for you to look through them and maybe next week we can narrow some down for next week?" Finn felt slightly overwhelmed but he was able to skim through the list and able to rule out the community colleges. He handed them directly back to the ginger haired counselor.

"I'll look through these then," Finn said. "Thanks for getting these for me."

"No problem," she replied. "If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail or stop in."

"I will," he said. Finn took his time going back to lunch with the pamphlets and took his place beside Santana. "I got the pamphlets from Ms. P."

"Cool, maybe we can look over them this weekend," Santana suggested. "I'm not sure that I want to leave Ohio either."

"I thought you might want to go to New York like Kurt and Rachel," Finn said.

"Well, I'm definitely a NYC visitor, but I'm not certain I would want to live there," she admitted. "I'm a hometown kid, deep down."

"I don't think I would have guessed that for you this time last year."

"I'd like to think that I have grown up over the past year," she teased.

"I think we both have," Finn agreed. "I'll definitely be looking over these this weekend, maybe after Church Sunday, since Mercedes will be over, and she has already decided that she wants to go to UCLA."

"She is crazy," Santana giggled. "Too much sunshine has bleached those LA people's brains out."

"Well, she will certainly have plenty stories for us," Finn replied.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sunday rolled around and Mercedes happily agreed to take Charlotte to the park for a few hours while Finn and Santana got the information about their potential colleges. There were pamphlets for Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, Kent State, Bowling Green State University, University of Akron, Miami University of Ohio, Case Westerns Reserve, Ohio University, Wright State University, University of Toledo, Cleveland State University, Xavier University, Youngstown State University, University of Dayton, Oberlin College, Baldwin Wallace University, Kenyon College, University of Mount Union, University of Findlay, Dennison University, Ashland University, John Carroll University, Ohio Northwestern University, Cincinnati State Tech, Capital University, Ohio Weslyan University, Walsh University, Wittenberg University, Adaville University, University of Northwestern Ohio, Franklin University, Muskingum University, Central State University, Clark State, Malone University, and James A Rhoads State.

"This is a huge pile," Santana commented.

"Well, I took out the Spanish universities and the community colleges," Finn said, his eyes getting larger as the pile was spread out across the table.

"I know that I want to do nursing programs," Santana said. "Most schools offer a nursing program."

"I'm going for social work," Finn said. "So let's sift through and see which ones have a nursing program that also have a social work program."

"Good idea," Santana said. She began to take her 'half' of the pamphlets and began leafing through them. Some of them were discarded because their lack of programs, but not many. Finn did the same with his half.

"Now we should do them by location?" Finn questioned.

"I certainly wouldn't want to take Charlotte too far from her first home," Santana agreed.

"This is why I love you," Finn said. "You are thinking about Charlotte as much as I do."

"Well, I love you, and I don't just get into relationships with guys easily, especially ones with kids... so I'm I this, and I think going to the same college will not only help up accomplish our career goals, but I think it will help us grow, and it will be a better way to raise Charlotte." Finn let her finish her thought before he attacked her mouth. She was surprised at first by the kiss, but let him take the reins on this one. Carol came out of the kitchen to bring them a snack of grapes, cheese, and crackers.

"That doesn't look like college hunting," she teased gently as she set the plate down. The teens broke apart and grinned up at her sheepishly.

"We are, we already narrowed down our choices some," Finn reasoned. They went back to it, continuing to narrow down their list of suspects. It took quite a while, but they managed to narrow down their choices to four: University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, Kent State University and Ohio State University.

"I think this is a good list for Ms. P," Santana said as they were all done.

"Yeah, and I think this is a totally doable visitation list as well."

"Yeah, totally," she agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hey Finn, Santana," Emma greeted. She wasn't really surprised that Finn would bring Santana to this meeting. "Did you narrow the school choices down?"

"Yeah, got four of them," Finn replied. Santana fished out the pamphlets out of her book bag. Emma took the pamphlets and gave the couple a smile.

"These are good schools. You planning on doing a visit before applying?"

"Yeah," Finn said. "We are going to take two weekends and visit all four, one on each day."

"That sounds reasonable," Emma praised. "I hope that you take notes and bring them back and I can help you get them narrowed down if you'd like. But I would hope that you can finish the applications by the middle of December."

"I think we can get that done," Santana said.

"I will keep looking into different scholarships as well, for the both of you," Emma also offered. "Feel free to look for some on your own, but I will be trying to find ones that particularly pertain to your specific situations."

"Thanks," Santana said gratefully. "I know that my parents make a lot of money, but I don't want to have to rely on them solely to take care of my tuition. I already found one at the hospital Dad works at, and I've already applied for it."

"I'm glad you're taking the initiative Santana," Emma commended. "I've noticed that you two seem to be planning on going to the same college."

"Santana had a good point," Finn said. "We did talk about this over the weekend. It will help us grow as a couple, help accomplish our goals, and will give Charlotte more stability."

"Very mature of you," Emma replied. "I want you to know, that if there are any issue that arise, I will always be just a phone call or e-mail away. I know that there are counseling services at all of these colleges, but if the sense of familiarity will help, I will gladly be here. You two are a shining example of what many older couples strive to be."

There were two blushing teens sitting in her office, clearly embarrassed over the high praise.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It took an extra hour a night to get the applications finished, the colleges having been visited, and the essays that needed to be filled out for the applications as well as the scholarships. Santana was over most nights, as was Dave, so they could do their homework together and get their applications out. It was a nice little family unit they had there. There was all the love and support that you could ever ask for.