Rachel stood on one side of the bed, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Finn, who was standing on the other side of the bed. They were supposed to be going to sleep now, but instead they were up fighting about the silliest thing.
"I said no Finn! I'm not going to do it with you when your parents are sleeping just down the hall!" Rachel repeated, and Finn rolled his eyes, thinking that Carole and Burt were probably doing it anyway too so what was the big deal? For once his mom let his girlfriend sleep in the same room as him and Rachel didn't even want to have sex? Something wasn't right with this picture here.
"What's the big deal? Mom and Burt are most likely doing it too; you can kind of hear it when you walk by late at night. And Kurt and Blaine do it every night." Finn whined, not wanting to think about either of those couples doing it. Rachel sighed loudly, going over to her main suitcase and pulling out a smaller bag from inside of it.
"Well we're not Burt and Carole or Kurt and Blaine, so you can forget about it. Now I'm going to go brush my teeth and wash my makeup off, and then we'll go to bed and right to sleep; nothing in between." Rachel said in hard voice, and Finn groaned, throwing his head back while Rachel left the room.
She walked down the empty hall, closing the door on a complaining Finn as she went over to the bathroom door. Rachel was about to pass by Kurt and Blaine's room to the bathroom but her name being said in the room stopped her. She shouldn't have let her curiosity get the better of her, Rachel should have just kept walking to the bathroom and minded her own business, but they were talking about her. And if they were talking about her, didn't that make it Rachel's business too?
"I think she's nice. Finn seems to really love her." Came Blaine's voice, and Rachel smiled to herself. Blaine seemed like a good guy, and she was glad that he had good things to say about her. There was a shuffling of feet and then Kurt's voice could be heard.
"Well I don't really like her. She seems fake to me; all she did was compliment Dad and Carole and act all interested in my job when I know she wasn't." Kurt said, and Rachel's heart sank. What did she do wrong to make Kurt not like her? Was being interested in Kurt's work and saying nice things to Finn's parent a bad thing? Since when did it mean she was fake? Blaine sighed loudly on the other side of the door.
"Kurt, let it go. Rachel's a good person; you're only acting like this because you think she's going to somehow break Finn's heart. And I know how protective you are about Finn; didn't you use to have thing for him before Burt and Carole got married?" Blaine asked with a teasing tone in his question. Rachel held back a gasp; Finn had never mentioned that before. Whenever Finn had brought up Kurt he talked about how dramatic he was and talented and how good of a brother he was; never that Kurt used to have a crush on him.
"Ugh, don't remind me of that horrific time, Blaine. I really don't like thinking about how bad my taste had been back then. Besides, I was a freshman in high school; I was naïve. But that is not the reason why I don't like Rachel. In fact, I'm a little disappointed by Rachel. I mean the girl can sing according to Finn and had the chance to make it on Broadway, and she decided to be a journalist instead? What kind of person gives up big dreams for boring ones instead? Disappointed, I'll tell you Blaine, and unimpressed." Kurt said, and Rachel sank to the floor at hearing his words. Yes, it was true; she had wanted to be a Broadway star when she was young, but she grew out of those dreams, realized bigger ones, but that didn't mean they were boring. It just meant Rachel had different ones. But was that really the only reason why Kurt didn't like her? It seemed a little ridiculous, actually.
"That's a pretty stupid reason to not like Rachel, Kurt." Blaine said, voicing Rachel's thoughts. Rachel nodded in agreement with Blaine.
"I just don't like her, okay? And neither do Dad and Carole; they're only pretending to for the sake of Finn. Hopefully, Finn will come to his senses soon and realize that this dream he has with Rachel, whether it includes marriage or babies or whatever, is nothing but a dream. Rachel will be gone by Easter, guaranteed." Kurt announced, sounding completely sure of himself. Rachel shoved her face in her hands, willing herself not to cry. Was what Kurt said true? Did Burt and Carole not actually like her and were only pretending to? Was everything she had ever imagined with Finn; getting married, having a family together, growing old with one another; was that anything but a reality that Rachel would have to come to terms with come spring?
"That's a little harsh Kurt. But knowing you, if you say it's going to happen like that, it most likely will." Blaine said after a pregnant silence, and Rachel heard some more shuffling within the bedroom, her face still in her hands.
"It will; soon enough Finn will be bringing home another Santana Lopez." Kurt said, and Rachel could practically feel Kurt smile as Blaine let out a small laugh. She wondered what could have been so funny about what Kurt had said.
"It would be funny if she ended up being a lesbian too…but not funny for Finn." Blaine said, and before Rachel could question what Blaine had just said, someone stepped out of the room next to Kurt and Blaine's and they stared down at Rachel for a moment before saying anything.
"Rachel, what are you doing?" Burt asked, and Rachel looked up in surprise to see Burt standing over her, a curious look in his eyes. Feeling her face go red with embarrassment, Rachel looked up at Burt, opening her mouth to say something but finding that nothing was coming out. "You know what, don't worry about it. I'm sure you have your own reasons for sitting on the floor and holding your face like you were crying. I'll just pretend I didn't see you or something."
And with those words, Burt left Rachel on the floor and trotted down the stairs to get something in the kitchen. Rachel glanced at Kurt's door, worried that he might suddenly step out and notice that she had been eavesdropping, and stood up from where she sat, going to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Rachel was finishing up getting ready for bed, brushing her teeth when she heard the bathroom door creak open a little, and turned to see who was standing there; it was Kurt.
"Hi Kurt." Rachel uncomfortably, refusing to look at Kurt at all and keeping her eyes on her reflection in the mirror. Kurt shifted where he stood, his hand on the doorknob and looking at something sitting on the sink.
"I just came in to brush my teeth." He said quietly, and Rachel cleaned off her toothbrush, still not looking at Kurt.
"I'm just about finished; don't worry. I'll be out of your hair in a second." She said simply, and Rachel couldn't help but realize what she had just said could have had a double meaning. Rachel closed her eyes for a second, hoping that the second meaning of those words wouldn't come true. No, Finn had bought her that engagement ring; whatever Kurt thought about her relationship with Finn was wrong, Rachel just knew it.
"It's okay. Hey, is that moisturizer? Can I borrow it; I forgot mine." Kurt said, still looking at the moisturizer that was on the sink. Rachel looked down at the moisturizer, something that Puck, Quinn's husband, had given her for her birthday last year because he didn't know what to get women for their birthdays, and she didn't even use it. It had a bad smell that didn't agree with Rachel.
"Oh, yeah sure you can. You can keep it if you want; I don't like it. My friend's husband gave it to me, and she sort of helped me pack my things, so…." Rachel never finished her sentence because Kurt had jumped for the moisturizer, and Rachel awkwardly washed off her toothbrush, wishing Kurt a good night before brushing past him and leaving the bathroom.
Rachel didn't know why she didn't put Kurt on the spot, and tell him what she had heard. Maybe it was better to be silent and not say anything at all; did Rachel really want to cause more trouble with Kurt? But at the same time, she felt that if she confronted Kurt about whatever issues he has with her, they could get over this and actually be friends. It didn't matter right now anyway; Rachel was going to bed where Finn was already wrapped in covers, his head on the pillows and looking at her expectedly.
"Alright, I've come up with a list of reasons as to why we should have sex. You took longer than I expected, so I've had a lot of time to think about this." Finn said right when Rachel entered the room, and she lightly closed and locked the door behind her. Rachel tried to hold back the tears; it wasn't her fault she was such an emotional drama queen. Her boyfriend's family didn't even like her and Finn was planning to propose to her. How could she ever get married to a man that she loved so dearly, but his family didn't even like her?
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Finn asked sincerely as Rachel fell onto the bed, shoving her face into the cowboy comforters. Finn crawled out from his spot under the blankets, moving closer so he was sitting in front of Rachel to stroke her hair lightly. "Babe, what happened?"
"Everyone hates me here." She mumbled into the covers, and although Rachel couldn't see Finn's face, she knew he was shocked and sad to hear this. He kept stroking her hair lightly, and Rachel shifted her head a little so she now had her face buried into Finn's lap.
"No one hates you here." Finn said quietly, and Rachel felt some of the tears fall down her face and onto Finn's pajama pants. She grabbed onto his shirt, holding onto it tightly as more tears fell down.
"You have to say that; you're my boyfriend. I heard Kurt and Blaine talking, Finn; Kurt doesn't like me. And he said Carole and Burt didn't either; they're just pretending to so you'll be happy. No one likes me; Kurt said I'll be gone by Easter. Easter Finn! He says soon enough you'll have another Santana Lopez, whoever she is, and maybe she'll be a lesbian too, which I don't understand but it doesn't matter." Rachel cried into Finn's legs, and he slowly picked her up in his arms, bringing Rachel closer to his chest so she was completely in his lap. Rachel kissed the crook of Finn's neck, putting her head there.
"Don't listen to a thing Kurt says; he's just not used to you yet. I told you on the way here; it takes a while for Kurt to warm up to people, but he'll realize how awesome you are soon enough. I give until the end of the week before he realizes that you are just like him, but a different sexuality. And Burt and Carole do like you, I know they do. They aren't actors like you Rachel. And as for Santana Lopez, well she's just some dumb ex- girlfriend that I can't be more than happy to be done with, sure she was really hot but…" Finn glanced down at Rachel to see she was glaring at him from his words about Santana's looks, and he backtracked a little on what he was saying, "But Santana or any hot girl other than you doesn't matter to me Rachel. Only you Rachel and you're here to stay, I swear."
Rachel looked up at Finn, sniffling and wiping some of the stray tears away from her cheeks. Finn gently put a hand on her cheek, brushing off some more tears as Rachel looked into his face, looking for maybe something that said he was just saying those things as to not hurt her feelings. But just like Burt and Carole, Finn wasn't an actor either, and everything he was saying was the truth.
"I love you." Rachel breathed out, and Finn smiled as Rachel leaned out of his lap to kiss Finn on the lips. They gently kissed for a while, Rachel letting his love wash over her. Finn's hands went from her hair to Rachel's back, bringing her closer to his body at eye level. She smiled at him.
"I love you too." He said, and Rachel giggled as Finn fell down on the bed, laying on his back as she fell on top of him, kissing Finn's face all over and down his jaw. He groaned in response as Rachel's hand went south and slipped into Finn's pants, holding him and making Finn moan again.
"I also heard Blaine mention that Kurt used to have a crush on you in high school." Rachel mentioned with another giggled as Finn's head rolled back with her hand moving up and down.
"Rachel, thinking about Kurt at a time like this will do the opposite of turn me on." Finn mumbled his eyes closed and his head still back as Rachel put her free hand under Finn's shirt, running her hands on his skin and quickly discarding the shirt from his body.
"I think it's rather obvious that you're already very turned on Finn." Rachel said with a smile, her hand still working in Finn's pants. He moaned again, and Rachel fell against his body completely, giggling into his chest.
"I guess there's no reason to tell you that list now." Finn said with a smirk as he put his hand in the waistband of Rachel's pajama pants, pulling them down to reveal her panties.
"I guess there's not." Rachel confirmed, and she let out another burst of giggles as Finn went on to rid Rachel of her clothes.
"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la!"
Breakfast had been alright the day after; Rachel had made the mistake of emptying the coffee pot and getting a glare from Kurt because she didn't know how much longer it took Kurt to get ready in the morning and that he liked to have some coffee too. Rachel thought that it just gave Kurt another reason not to like her, and Finn patted her on the back for support.
"How did you sleep Rachel?" Carole asked when she walked into the kitchen. Rachel caught Finn's eye from the seat next to her, and smiled at him, thinking about the night before.
"I slept well, thank you." She said, taking a sip of her coffee when she felt Finn's foot against her leg. Carole smiled at her, not even noticing her son's actions underneath the table as she took a seat opposite of Finn. Rachel kicked Finn's foot away underneath the table, in which he glared at her from above the table.
"I'm glad you did. I wasn't sure that bed would be big enough for the two of you; Finn never had someone else sleeping there with him before." Carole went on, and Rachel thought that sleeping wasn't really what had happened in that bed last night.
"It was fine; we made it fit, didn't we Finn?" Rachel asked shortly, glancing from Carole to Finn, smiling brightly. This time, it as Rachel leg that rubbed against Finn's, and she put her hand on Finn's seat, between his two legs. From above the table where everyone could see, Finn gave Rachel a bright smile, moving forward a little in his seat so that her hand was pressed against his crotch.
"That's good to hear. So Finn, Kurt, Blaine; Burt and I are going shopping today to pick up some things for the Christmas dinner. Kurt, weren't you talking about that gingerbread house you wanted to make the other day? Maybe the four of you can do that together." Carole said as Burt walked into the kitchen to join the rest of the family in the room. Kurt looked at Blaine in excitement, his eyes wide with gleam.
"Remember I was telling you about that Blaine? Carole, I made an entire diagram just for the gingerbread house. Blaine and I picked up candy on our way here." Kurt said happily, clapping his hands while Blaine grinned back at him. Rachel had never made a gingerbread house before, but she had heard of her friends in grammar school do them and kids on commercials making them, and they always sounded and looked like a lot of fun. Not to mention, they always came out so pretty.
"I've never made a gingerbread house before. It always seems like so much fun though." Rachel said thoughtfully, and Kurt only spared her a glance, turning his attention back to Blaine. Finn wasn't even paying attention to what anyone was saying; Rachel's hand was working against his crotch subconsciously, and it was keeping him pretty content.
"Kurt makes one every year Rachel, I'm sure they would love to have you help them with it this year. Finn does it ever year too, don't you Finn?" Carole asked, turning to Finn, who had his eyes closed and was leaning over the table, not hearing a word his mother way saying.
"Yeah," Finn mumbled and then said some other incoherent words as Rachel gave him a proud smile. Everyone except Rachel gave Finn a weird look as his mouth went into an O shape, and laid his head on his plate, his scrambled eggs sticking to his forehead as everyone kept staring at him.
"Are you okay Finn?" Burt asked unsurely, staying at his spot from the opposite side of the room. He would have said Finn was in pain, but he wouldn't be smiling like that if he was in pain. Very slowly, Finn lifted his head off his plate, a piece of egg falling off his forehead while he did and another piece sticking to his skin.
"I'm great. That was great. I'm great." Finn breathed out, his eyes still closed. Blaine and Kurt exchanged a look while Rachel removed her hand from Finn's chair, sitting up again in her seat. Carole reached for her car keys hanging on the kitchen wall, Burt in tow as she started to walk out of the room.
"We should be back in a couple of hours or so. You guys should do that gingerbread house while we're gone." Carole said, and with a goodbye she and Burt left the house. Kurt and Blaine turned back to Finn, who still looked like he was out of energy while Rachel only smiled at him.
"I think I need to, err, go change my pants. These are, uh, getting a little…uncomfortable." Finn said as he shifted in his seat and his face went red, and then jumping up and running out of the kitchen as fast as he can. Kurt and Blaine turned to Rachel, waiting for some sort of explanation. Rachel looked at the space between the two men, rubbing her hands together uncomfortably.
"I guess he hasn't worn those pants in a while." She said with a smile, and Kurt and Blaine hardly smiled back.
When Finn had put on a fresh pair of pants, breakfast was cleared off the table, and Rachel called Quinn to tell her that she and Finn had made it to the cottage okay (conveniently leaving out the fact that Kurt seemed to hate her for some reason so to not worry Quinn in any way), Kurt pulled out the gingerbread house making kit. It came with the basic things for making a gingerbread house; the walls, and ceiling, vanilla icing, little bags of M&Ms and gumdrops, and a little gingerbread man and woman to go with it. Kurt took out the directions, clearing his throat and unfolding them to read to the three of them.
"It's that time of year again where you pull out the reefs and ornaments; Christmas time! And what else makes Christmas complete then your very own gingerbread house made by you? This gingerbread house is easy to make and fun for everyone in the family; all you need to do is follow these simple rules, and by the time that last gumdrop is put on, you'll have your unique gingerbread house. Blah, blah, blah, skip this part." Kurt said in a formal voice, and then flipped through the pages while Finn pulled apart the walls of the house, looking at each one carefully.
"Okay, so first thing's first, we need to put the icing into," Kurt said, his eyes on the directions while he held up a plastic bag, "this."
"Well, you seem to have a hold of things over here Kurt. I think I'll go put on a Christmas CD for us to listen to." Blaine said, standing up and walking towards the CD player on the kitchen counter. He started going through the pile of CDs sitting next to the CD player, while Rachel opened the plastic bags full of candy, placing them in front of Finn.
"Hey Finn, could you go get the candy bags I brought with me? They're in my bedroom in a plastic bag to the left." Kurt said, struggling to empty the icing into the bag. Finn glanced down at the candy in front of him again, quickly licking his lips, as he stood up and left the room to get the rest of the candy. Seeing that Kurt was having a little trouble with the icing, Rachel sat up more.
"Do you want me to help you with that Kurt? I've baked a lot of cakes before and work with icing all the time." She asked helpfully, but Kurt only glared at her for a moment before going to back to the task at hand. Rachel felt herself shrink in her seat at his glare.
"I can do it myself, thank you very much." He said curtly, ignoring Rachel completely now as he finished emptying the icing, smiling at his work. Finn reentered the room, a large bag in his hand. He sat back down and opened the bag, looking into it with an interested look on his face as he pulled the candy out of the bag. Finn's smile got bigger and bigger with every bag of candy he pulled out.
"Wow Kurt, you really went all out, didn't you?" Finn said as Rachel took a couple of bags of candy and started to tear them open, Finn doing the same. Kurt smiled to himself as he squeezed the icing out of the little hole in the bag, icing gently falling onto the meeting place of the two gingerbread walls.
"I thought the more the better." He responded, and Finn glanced around at everyone, making sure everyone was too busy to notice him pop a gumdrop into his mouth. Rachel started pulling something out of her pocket, and Finn saw that it was a piece of paper folded into a perfect square, and she started to unfold it.
"I hope you don't mind Kurt, but I've written down some ideas for what I want for the gingerbread house. As you know, I've never celebrated Christmas before or made a gingerbread house so I don't know for sure if this is the usual thing you do with gingerbread houses, but I've just been getting so much inspiration for this and I think the ideas are really good ones." Rachel said, pushing the paper in her hand towards Kurt, who didn't even bother to look at it. Rachel bit her bottom lip as she glanced at Finn, who just shrugged while Kurt pushed the paper back towards Rachel.
"Every year Rachel, I write down what I want to do with the gingerbread house, and that's what we do. No changes made." Kurt said quickly, and Rachel slowly took the paper back, looking down at her ideas again before putting them back in her pocket while Finn gave her a sympathetic look. And then Kurt added, "Besides, if your style of gingerbread houses is anything like your style in clothes, I'm saving us all from a huge disaster."
"Kurt, don't you think you're being a little rude to Rachel? There's nothing wrong with her clothes." Finn said to his brother, who just waved his hand at him, ignoring completely what he was saying. Finn sighed loudly, putting his arm around Rachel in silent support as she stared at her lap. He reindeer sweater was cute, not a disaster. Kurt turned to Blaine, who was still going through the CDs.
"Blaine, what are you doing over there? How long does it take to put a CD in?" Kurt asked, and Blaine glanced up at him from the CDs, finally choosing one and putting it in the CD player. The first song started an after a couple of seconds of listening to it, Blaine stopped the song and took the CD out.
"It's all about finding the right music to set the right mood." Blaine said expertly, and Finn rolled his eyes at him as Kurt went back to work. He took the plastic wrapper off a candy cane, and put it in his mouth, the curly side of it sticking out of his mouth.
"It's Christmas, Blaine. Any Christmas music would set the mood." Finn said through the side of his mouth, and took the candy cane back out of his mouth, offering one to Rachel who just shook her head at it.
They went like that for the next half an hour; Blaine couldn't seem to find a CD that he liked best, Kurt focused extra hard to make the gingerbread house look perfect, Rachel longingly stared at Kurt as he worked on the house, every once in a while offering up an idea that Kurt would turn down, and Finn kept opening more candy bags, stuffing the candy into his mouth. By the time Kurt had actually finished putting the house together with the icing, he was tired, but excited to decorate it with the candy.
"What…what happened to all of the candy? I had more than this." Kurt asked, staring up at the half empty bags of candy. Rachel and Blaine turned to look at the half eaten candy while Finn put in another handful of M&Ms into his mouth. Kurt slowly looked up from the candy to Finn, who was now licking his lips clean from the candy cane he had just been eating, getting angrier by the second.
"Finn, how much candy did you eat?" Kurt asked loudly, making Finn drop the candy cane he was holding, and look up at his brother with wide eyes. Rachel looked down at the empty candy bags in front of Finn, realizing how much he had actually ate. "That candy wasn't there for you to eat you pig, it was to make the gingerbread house with!"
Kurt threw an empty bag of candy at Finn, but since it was only air, it fell slowly to the table before it could actually hit Finn's face. Rachel grabbed Finn's hand, stroking his skin gently with her thumb as Finn looked back down at the candy, looking unmoved from Kurt calling him a pig.
"I didn't realize how much I ate. I'm sorry. We still have enough candy for the house." Finn said quietly, pushing the candy that was left towards Kurt. But Kurt kept glaring at him, looking from Finn, to the candy, to Blaine, and then back again.
"No, we don't have enough. I wanted to use the candy canes and Skittles for the sidewalk, but now thanks to you Finn, I don't have those anymore. You and Rachel could go to the supermarket and go pick up more candy now since you decided to eat it all." Kurt went on, and Finn's mouth dropped, Rachel able to see his tongue, which was redder than usual thanks to the Jolly Ranchers he had stuffed into his mouth before.
"But we're like in the middle of nowhere! It's going to take, like, more than an hour to get to the supermarket." Finn said, and Kurt just smirked at him, going over to help Blaine choose a CD already.
"You should've thought about that before you ate all the candy." Kurt said, and Finn huffed loudly as he stood up from his chair, making Rachel stand up too. She watched Finn as he glared at Kurt quickly before turning the other way to get his jacket. Rachel turned to Kurt nervously, her hands shaking a little as she put them in her pockets.
"Finn didn't mean to eat all the candy you know Kurt. We just wanted to help you." Rachel said, and Kurt turned to face her, Blaine looking over his shoulder to see what would happen.
"While I appreciate you standing up for my brother, Rachel, I would appreciate it even more if you went with him to get more candy. That's how you could help me. Oh, and make sure Finn doesn't start stuffing the candy down his throat on the drive back." Kurt says, and with those words, he turns his back on Rachel to help Blaine again, who just gives her a small smile and shrug before turning his attention back to the CD player. Rachel sighed loudly, turning to leave the kitchen and join Finn in the front hall.
It was like no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much Rachel talked to Kurt or tried to help out, he just didn't like her more and more. How was Rachel supposed to marry Finn if Kurt didn't even like her? And worst of all, it now seemed Kurt was getting bitter with everyone who wasn't named Blaine, and Rachel couldn't help but feel like it was somehow her fault. Maybe if she wasn't here, if it was just Finn, Kurt, Blaine, Carole, and Burt like it always seemed to be, Kurt wouldn't be acting so mean. It was Rachel's fault, she knew it was; she was ruining Christmas for everyone. Rachel was just sure of it.
Maybe Christmas with Finn's family wasn't a good idea.
AN: Tell me in the reviews if you think this fanfic should now be ranted M thanks to this chapter. I'm not sure.