When Burt and Carole got home later that day, it was to see a beautifully done gingerbread house decorated in pure white, delicious looking icing and different colored candies splayed all over it. Everywhere you went in the kitchen, the scent of gingerbread could be smelled; making you smile as you craved a piece of it. It had been put on top of the fridge just in case Burt or Finn lost control of their hunger for that reason alone. When Carole first saw the house, she grinned and talked about what a wonderful of a job they had done, and no one bothered to tell her that the only person who actually worked on it was Kurt. Rachel and Finn were too busy either rebuying the candy or eating it and Blaine spent the entire time listening to every Christmas song on every CD to help with the house.
By the time Carole and Burt did get home, it was well past lunch time and Carole was talking about some ingredients she had picked up for dinner. Finn and Rachel spent the rest of their afternoon until dinner in front of the fire in the small family room, keeping warm by cuddling and sneaking in a few kisses. Blaine had somehow convinced Kurt to go outside and play in the snow, Kurt telling Blaine the entire time to not get his designer winter jacket too dirty, which Blaine ignored entirely as he kept throwing snowballs at him.
Rachel pulled into Finn's chest, relaxing into Finn's body as he ran his hands through her hair. When she closed her eyes with Finn that close, Rachel could forget about how much Kurt didn't like her and how this Christmas wasn't going as great as she planned. It was one of the reasons why she loved Finn so much; he made her forget about all the bad things in her life, and just left all of the good stuff. She couldn't wait until they got married, whenever that was because right now Rachel had no idea when Finn was planning on proposing. It would be soon though, she was sure of it.
"Do you like everyone? Do you like it here?" Finn suddenly asked in a quiet tone as he kept stroking Rachel's hair, looking down at her with soft eyes. Rachel breathed in Finn's scent, gazing up at him with her head on his chest.
"I do like it here. It's nice and quiet; different from New York, but a good kind of different. I've always lived in New York, so I've always been used to the noise and pollution, but this place seems much more natural and surreal. I wouldn't mind living in a place like this." She said, and Finn smiled down at her, very glad to hear this. He didn't realize what her words meant, but she would in the future, and he hoped she liked it.
"You have no idea how great it is to hear you say that Rachel. What about my family? I know they're really different from your dads; they're much louder and there are more people to meet and get along with, and they're all around all the time and everyone knows everyone's business even if it has nothing to do with them." Finn rambled on; thinking about how much more quiet it was at Rachel's house, and how the only thing her dads seemed to get really excited about was Rachel. In his family, Carole and Burt got excited over every little thing; it got kind of irritating after a while.
"I like your family Finn, really I do. I just think Kurt doesn't like me very much and it's ruining Christmas for everyone." Rachel said quietly, and Finn's eyebrows pulled together in confusion. He lightly kissed her forehead, shaking his head.
"No, don't say that. I told you; it's just going to take some time for Kurt to come around, but he will eventually. He just needs to get his head out of his ass and calm down. And you're not ruining Christmas for anyone; Christmas is like this every year." Finn reassured her, and Rachel giggled, deciding to ignore Finn's cursing just this one time, and leaning up to kiss Finn's lips for a moment before pulling away.
"So you're telling me that you eat all the candy every year?" She asked with a smile, and he grinned at her, diving down to give her another deep kiss. He kissed her for a few moments, slightly pulling away to breathe.
"Every single year," Finn growled into Rachel's lips, and she could feel his smile in the kiss.
"What a bright time, it's the right time, to rock the night away"
It was after dinner that Finn snuck up to his bedroom, opening the closet and reaching up, looking for the box. Rachel was downstairs with Blaine, singing random Christmas carols after they had both realized their voices sounded wonderful together. Finn thought that no one was upstairs when he took the small box down from the top shelf of the closet, smiling to himself as he slowly took the top off, looking at the antique with a grin on his face. Yes, she would like it very much, Finn was absolutely sure of that now since they talked by the fireplace, and she would like the rest of his plans too.
He was so content with looking at the piece of jewelry, the Finn didn't even notice when Carole silently stepped into the bedroom, watching her son closely. Finn put the lid back on the old box, sighing as he put it back on the old shelf. He wasn't even surprised when Carole made herself known, almost as if he expected her to be standing there.
"You're going to give it to her, aren't you?" Carole asked quietly, and Finn turned to her with a small smile on his face, Carole already knowing the answer. She had known it from the moment she had met Rachel, from the way Finn looked at her. Rachel was different from the other girls Finn had dated; she was staying.
"Is it alright if I use that ring?" Finn asked unsurely, and Carole gave him a reassuring smile. She had given Finn that ring when he was eighteen, telling him that it had been her engagement ring that Christopher, Finn's father, had given her. Carole had warned Finn to not give it to a woman lightly; marriage was a serious thing, and she did not want him to go and get married to some random woman and screw it up. He seemed to have got the point, and Carole knew that he had always been very serious about finding the right girl, and now it seemed he had.
"Of course that's alright. You know that's why I gave it to you." She said, and Finn's smile grew bigger. Carole walked into the room more so she was standing in front of her son, a sad smile on her face. Finn's eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
"Mom, are you crying?" He asked, and Finn could see the tears gathering around Carole's eyes, his mother trying to hold them back. Carole looked down at the floor, then back up again.
"No, I'm fine." She choked out, and before Finn could say anything in return, she had her arms wrapped around him in a tight hug. Finn could feel her tears falling onto his sleeves, but he didn't complain as he patted his mom on the back, having to bend down a little to do so. After a moment of silent crying and hugging, Carol pulled away, clearing her throat and looking Finn in the eyes.
"Rachel is a wonderful girl, and I think she's the one for you. I'm so happy for you Finn." Carole said, smiling genuinely up at him. Finn gave her another hug, smiling to himself when he pulled away. Carole sniffed once, and Finn wondered that if she was crying this much now, how much would she cry at the actual wedding?
"Thanks Mom, for everything." Finn said, and Carole gave him another smile. Just at that moment, Rachel entered the room looking very tired. At seeing Finn and Carole there, Rachel stopped where she was, realizing that she had just interrupted something.
"I'm sorry; I was just going to get ready for bed. I didn't mean to interrupt." Rachel said apologetically, but Carole waved her off. She brushed away the last stray tears so Rachel wouldn't see them and then patted Finn's shoulder, telling Rachel that she hadn't interrupted anything and to have a good night. She walked past her, and left the room, closing the door behind her. Rachel turned to Finn with a concerned face, coming closer to him.
"Is Carole okay? Was it something I did?" Rachel asked, concerned. Finn gave her a reassuring smile, putting his arms around her and bringing Rachel close to his body. She still looked just as worried though.
"Mom's fine; she just wanted to talk to me about something. It wasn't something you did, okay, so stop worrying so much." He told her, and kissed the top of her head to calm her. It seemed to have work, because Rachel's tensed body relaxed against his as he held her.
"I love you." She whispered Rachel's head on his chest. Finn smiled to himself, stroking his hands through her hair, one of his favorite things to do.
"I know, because I love you too." Finn said back, and he held Rachel closer, wondering and hoping that they could just stay like this for the rest of the holiday.
That night, it was harder falling asleep for Finn that night then it was the night before. Part of that reason was for the great lack of sex because Rachel was too worried thinking about how much Kurt didn't like her to do anything physical with Finn, and the other part was that the ring in the closet was heavy in Finn's mind. When would he give it to her and how would he give it to her? Finn was still thinking about that; should he propose to her here in front of his family, or would Rachel want to do it privately just between the two of them? Should he just do it on Christmas or Christmas Eve, but was that very original? Finn just didn't know how this thing usually worked.
The next day, Burt went out to get a Christmas tree, Finn and Rachel tagging along. Rachel had never bought a Christmas tree before, another Hudson- Hummel tradition, and she had been excited to go. Finn was very into it once they got there; looking for the exact right tree, and saying how it had to be sturdy and big and the pines couldn't be falling off every two seconds. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Rachel, Finn came across a good sized tree, the smell of pine drifting off of it. He smiled at the tree and then at Rachel.
"This is the tree Rachel, I know it is." Finn said in a confident voice, and Burt came up from behind them, looking the tree up and down before giving Finn the thumbs up.
"I'll go get one of the workers and they'll help us bring it to the truck." Burt said, and then walked off. If Rachel had known how much of a mess bringing a Christmas tree home would be, she wouldn't have gone to help in the first place with it. She couldn't help but worry about the tree in the back of the truck on the way back to the cottage; the truck kept rumbling and driving over bumpy roads which made the tree shake, and Rachel had this irrational fear of the tree's ropes somehow detaching from the truck, and the tree rolling right off.
Bringing the tree into the house was another story entirely; it was dragged in with towels on the floor so the pine needles wouldn't make such a mess, but the towels didn't help at all. Pine needles covered the hallway floor, and Carole and Rachel had to go over it with a broom while Burt and Finn moved the big, comfy chair in the corner of the room for the tree to go there. Kurt and Blaine were too busy sorting out the ornaments, Kurt going on about how everyone in the family had certain ornaments to hang on the tree. He sorted them out into five groups, everyone else except Blaine ignoring him as he talked away.
"Kurt? Rachel doesn't have a pile." Finn said awkwardly, standing in front of the piles with his hands in his pockets. Kurt looked up from the ornaments at Finn, to Blaine who was untangling the lights, and then to Rachel, who stood behind Finn, biting her lip.
"Well I sorted the ornaments on who they were meant for; first Christmas ones, anniversaries, the cute, handmade, macaroni ornaments we made in first grade. Sorry, but Rachel doesn't have any of those in our box of ornaments, so because of that, she doesn't have her own pile." Kurt said curtly, and Finn glanced at Rachel, sighing loudly. He didn't understand why Kurt was acting like this; it wasn't like Kurt had to be so mean, and Finn knew that he would get along well with Rachel if he just let her in.
"I don't understand why we need to have piles anyway. If I want to put up an ornament from Blaine's pile, I should be able to put up an ornament from Blaine's pile. I shouldn't be limited to just my small pile." Finn argued, and Kurt rolled his eyes, Blaine's eyes going from the Christmas tree lights to Kurt and Finn. Rachel kept quiet, watching the two of them closely.
"This is the way we've been doing it for years, so why would we change tradition now? Just give Rachel some of your ornaments." Kurt said, and the discussion was dropped, neither Finn nor Rachel feeling like arguing with Kurt anymore. When the lights were on the tree, giving off more Christmas cheer, they were able to put the ornaments on the tree. Finn gave Rachel the majority of his pile of ornaments, his pile further away from the others so he and Rachel were more separated from everyone else. They both leaned over the pile, Finn facing Rachel.
"I'm sorry about Kurt. I don't know what's up with him this week. I swear, as time goes by he'll warm up to you, I know he will." Finn said in a low voice, and Rachel bit her lower lip again, thinking the problem was bigger than that. Maybe Kurt wouldn't just warm up to her, no matter how much time Rachel spent around him. The source of the problem was something else, something that had nothing to do with time; it was a Rachel problem. Kurt just didn't like Rachel, and she didn't understand why, but he did. Rachel had to do something about it.
"I think I should talk to him, get down to the point of what this is all about. I think a confrontation is the only way to end this." Rachel said, and Finn nodded in agreement. The rest of the family had already started putting on the ornaments, and it didn't take Rachel very long to put hers up, looking at each one closely. There was a football ornament that Rachel supposed Finn's mom had given him back in high school, an ornament with Finn's band on it, an ornament splattered with different colors that Finn told her he had made himself in the sixth grade. It was nice; it felt like she was getting Finn's life through ornaments from second Christmas all the way to college graduation.
"Well that's embarrassing." Finn said, his face going as red as Santa's coat as Rachel picked up the last ornament in her pile. It was what Kurt had described before; a huge circle framed by different colored macaroni, and in the middle of the ornament was a picture of a small boy in a Star Wars t-shirt, wearing a big smile and showing his teeth, the two front teeth missing.
"Aw, look how cute you were Finn!" Rachel said with a laugh, catching the attention of Carole. She came over from her own ornaments to see what Rachel was looking at, and when she saw it, she grinned.
"Oh Rachel, I have to show the photo albums I have of Finn. He was so adorable as a child! I swear; I don't know how he got this big! I wonder if I have any pictures of him as a child here…." And with those words, Carole was gone and out of the room, going upstairs to search for embarrassing photos of Finn from his childhood.
"I really hope she doesn't find anything." Finn said once Carole was gone, and Rachel smiled at him, hoping differently. She couldn't possibly marry Finn if she hadn't even seen the embarrassing photos of him; photos from childhood were something every relationship had to experience. Finn was still blushing as Rachel looked at the macaroni ornament again, touching it lightly.
"What grade were you in when this was taken?" Rachel asked, and Finn looked at the picture again, thinking hard.
"Uh, I think I was in second grade then. Yeah, I was missing a couple of teeth that year." Finn said, and he pulled the ornament out of Rachel's hand before she could say anything more on it, putting it on the tree himself. He was obviously still embarrassed by it, and Rachel shrugged, not understanding why. She would be more than glad to show Finn all the pictures from her childhood. Just at that moment, Carole came into the room again; her hands empty and a frown on her face.
"I'm sorry Rachel, I couldn't find any here. All the pictures of Finn are already in his room; the rest are back at home on Ohio. You'll have to see them one day when you visit." Carole said apologetically, and Finn let out a sigh of relief. Both Finn and Rachel finished putting up their ornaments quickly after that, Carole busy putting tinsel on the tree.
"You all act like she's staying around forever." Kurt suddenly said, and everyone in the room turned to look at him in shock. Kurt didn't even seemed moved by everyone staring at him, and kept talking, "Finn's girlfriends never stay around too long."
"Kurt, that's really not appropriate to say." Burt said after a short silence, everyone's eyes still on Kurt as he put up another ornament on the tree. He didn't even notice anyone looking at him, going on with his work like everything was just dandy.
"You know it's true." He simply said in response, and Rachel glanced at Finn, who looked like he was trying to hold himself back from throwing a punch at Kurt. Blaine saw the expression on Finn's face, and then walked towards Kurt, telling him that he needed help with something in the kitchen. Without a complaint, Kurt followed Blaine out of the room, leaving Carole to give Rachel an apologetic smile.
"These things take time." She said, and Rachel smiled, knowing that the problem was more than that. It didn't take anyone long to get back to what they were doing before, and Rachel pulled Finn away from Burt and Carole.
"I think I'm going to go talk to Kurt now. Get this over with so we can all enjoy Christmas." She said, and Finn agreed, Rachel silently leaving the room so no one other than Finn would notice her absence. In the kitchen, Blaine and Kurt were leaning over the counter, their heads close together and conversing quietly. From the look on Kurt's face, Rachel couldn't see Blaine's because he was facing away from her, they were talking about something that was getting Kurt annoyed. Not knowing how to make herself known, Rachel cleared her throat once, and Kurt's eyes snapped from Blaine to Rachel, Blaine turning around to see who was there.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to talk to Kurt about something." Rachel said, shifting from one foot to another. Blaine glanced at Kurt quickly, biting his lip as Kurt only slightly shook his head so Rachel couldn't see, but she still caught the slight motion of his head. Ignoring the shake of the head, Blaine nodded at Rachel, saying it was no problem. The look on Kurt's face said that it clearly was a problem as Blaine left the room, leaving Rachel and Kurt in the kitchen with an uncomfortable silence.
"Are you making hot chocolate?" Rachel asked after a moment, coming closer to the counter to see what Kurt was doing. He shifted his eyes from her, looking at the bag of marsh mellows instead. Kurt poured himself a cup of hot chocolate, and then picking up the marsh mellow bag to put a bunch of mini marsh mellows into his mug.
"Yes. Do you want some?" He asked, still not looking at Rachel. Rachel nodded in response and Kurt is still silent as he poured Rachel a cup of hot chocolate. Once she had her cup and had put a respective amount of marsh mellows in it, Rachel sat down at the kitchen table, looking at Kurt expectedly. Having no choice but to join her at the table, Kurt sat down opposite of Rachel with a loud sigh.
"The gingerbread house came out great Kurt; I realized I haven't told you that. You did a really good job on it." Rachel complimented, breaking the silence, looking up at the fridge to see the gingerbread house sitting on the top. Kurt's eyes went from his hot chocolate to the gingerbread house, holding back a smile. Rachel was right; the gingerbread house had come out well.
"Thank you. My gingerbread houses always come out well every year. Blaine thinks it's a little silly to care so much about a gingerbread house, but that's coming from the man who spends an hour looking for the perfect Christmas song to play." Kurt says with a smile, and Rachel giggles in response. Maybe they could get along, if Kurt just accepted her.
"I know you don't like me Kurt." Rachel suddenly said, breaking the somewhat comforting silence, and Kurt's eyes snapped to Rachel's face, his lips in a tight line. She had ruined the friendly moment, and now they were back to that uneasy tension. Kurt stared at Rachel for a couple of seconds, and Rachel stared back, before going on, "You've made it very clear that you don't think much of me and don't expect me to stick around much longer, but I've got something to tell you Kurt. I don't mean to sound rude, so excuse me if I come off that way, but I'm not going anywhere. Finn doesn't want me to go anywhere; he loves me and I love him and that's never going to change. I know that you might think different and not like me, but ultimately, what you think of me doesn't matter in the end because it's Finn's decision. It's Finn's decision. I think you and I could be great friends Kurt if you just stopped being so rude to me and started to welcome me to the family instead. Everyone else has so why can't you? Finn's told me lots about you, and from what I hear, you're a Broadway lover and very talented; two things that we both have in common. Something tells me that we would be really good friends Kurt, if you'd just let me."
Kurt looked down at his mug after Rachel finished talking, taking a large gulp of the hot chocolate as he tried to digest all of what Rachel had said. She had made her point very clear; that she was here for the long haul, and that she and Kurt should be friends instead of enemies. It was only a matter of Kurt accepting Rachel, and letting her in.
"That's quite the speech Rachel, and I do think it's sweet how much you care about Finn." Kurt said after a pregnant silence. Rachel sipped at her drink, trying to hold back a smile. She was getting somewhere with Kurt; she could feel it. In no time now she and Kurt would be friends and this entire thing could be behind them. "I should let you know that I am not one to easily admit that I was wrong, but I suppose I was. I shouldn't have shut you out so quickly, and I'm sorry about that."
"I accept your apology, and I must say that was much easier than I thought it would be." Rachel said with a smile, letting out a small giggle. She had no idea Kurt would be so willing to forgive, if she had known she would have done this on the first day here. Kurt smiled at her, picking one of the small marsh mellows out of his hot chocolate and popping it into his mouth. "But I have to ask why you didn't like me Kurt? I mean, whenever Finn talked about you, he described you as nice, and accepting, and bubbly. I didn't see any of those characteristics in you when we first met."
"Honestly?" Kurt asks, biting his lip and shyly looking at Rachel, "I was really worried. Finn's past girlfriends haven't been the nicest people in the world; they all seemed to find great joy in mocking and making fun of me. Santana was the worst; she constantly made fun of my sexuality, and bothered Blaine about how much gel he used in his hair. Yeah, I mean I know that Blaine uses a lot of gel, but it's not something that I like Finn's girlfriends to laugh at. They've all been bitches honestly, and they've all thought they could walk all over me. I guess when I met you; I wanted to show you that I'm not someone you could walk all over, so I took a page from Santana's book and became the bitch myself. My plan didn't work very well, did it?"
Rachel gives Kurt a sympathetic smile, gaining so much more respect for him all of a sudden. Kurt was just like her; all her life, people thought they could use Rachel and walk all over her, but they couldn't, and Kurt knew what that was like. He only wanted one of Finn's girlfriends to not bully him, yes he hadn't handled it the right way, but his reasons for acting the way he did were still in the right place.
"I understand Kurt. When I was in high school, I was bullied all the time for the clothes I wore and my ambition. I was different from everyone else in school; I stood out because I loved to sing and write and I was happy to tell anyone who listened that, and I was weird for that. People didn't like me, and they made funny of me. It got so bad in fact that at some point they started throwing slushies at me. It was terrible." Rachel said sympathetically, trying not to remember the feeling of the grape slushy seeping through her blouse and running down her back. Kurt looked at her with big eyes, feeling her pain. He had been bullied too; he knew what she had gone through.
"That's really horrible. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I tried explaining to Finn what my sexuality does to people, how it makes a lot of people immediately hate me and bully me, but he doesn't understand. Finn was the most popular guy back in high school; he didn't have to worry about people picking on him." Kurt said, reminiscing about the teenage Finn and how much more naïve and annoying he had been back then. Yeah, Finn was still completely annoying, but not as much as he used to be. Kurt figured that if Rachel had met Finn when they were teenagers instead of as adults, she would immediately dislike Finn.
"Typical. While Finn was busy being the quarterback of the football team, I was starring in my first lead role as Maria In West Side Story." Rachel said with a smirk, and Kurt's eyes went wide with her words. Wait a second; she had played Maria in West Side Story? How could Rachel forget to mention that little fact? If she wanted Kurt to like her, all she had to do was say that and Kurt would love her!
"You were Maria? West Side Story is one of my favorite musicals ever, after Les Mis and Gypsy of course." Kurt said, and Rachel's jaw dropped in surprise.
"Are you kidding me? Anything featuring Barbara Streisand takes the cake; Les Mis and Gypsy have nothing on Funny Girl because of Barbara!" Rachel responded, and then the two of them started talking like they were old friends, their hot chocolates forgotten.