As it turns out, Rachel and Kurt make nothing short of friends. Neither of them would have believed that they had so much in common; not only were they both Broadway lovers, but it turned out Kurt was just as good of a singer as Rachel was, and they spent the rest of the day breaking out into Christmas songs. Rachel was even more surprised when Kurt was somehow able to push Finn into singing a duet with Rachel, and he surprisingly didn't sound so bad himself. She found herself sad to not be able to sing another song with Finn when Kurt insisted that him and Blaine should sing a duet, and they impressed both Finn and Rachel with their own version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside".
Before Rachel knew it, the day had gone by and time seemed to go a lot quicker now that everyone seemed to be getting along. Now that Kurt had let his guard down and had started to become friends with Rachel, everyone else seemed to relax greatly. Burt was suddenly talking so much more, and one time, Rachel actually came across finding Burt alone in the kitchen while he sang quietly to himself. Yes, the holiday of Christmas was finally starting to feel like the wonderful experience that Rachel had always dreamed of. Christmas decorations all over the house, the tree glowing every night, snow falling all through the day, and snowmen, reefs, mistletoe, and love everywhere. Christmas in Canada was starting to look like Christmas in one of those classic holiday movies. And Rachel had Finn to thank for it.
"Hey Rachel, can you come over here for a moment? I have to show you something." Finn called to Rachel on Christmas Eve from the family room. Rachel was in the living room with Kurt, watching The Phantom of the Opera and having a mini Broadway marathon when Finn asked for her. Telling Kurt not to bother with stopping the movie for her, she made her way to the family room where Finn stood in a green and red flannel shirt, smiling brightly at Rachel.
"What was so important that you had to show me?" Rachel asks, looking around the room as if expecting something to come out and surprise her. But Finn just kept smiling at Rachel, coming towards her quickly.
"You'll see in a minute, just stand right…there." He said, as he took hold of her shoulders, and shifted Rachel so she was standing in the same spot Finn had just been standing. She looked around her again, expecting something to finally make sense to her, but Finn just stood closely in front of her, grinning.
"What are we doing Finn?" She asked with a giggle, and Finn looked up slowly at the ceiling, Rachel's eyes following. She lets out another giggle as her eyes spotted what was hanging above her and Finn, and she slapped his chest playfully. "I can't believe you!"
"Wow; I didn't even realize that was there, weird, huh?" Finn asked in a mockingly shocked tone, looking from the mistletoe to Rachel with a slight smile on his face. Grinning, Rachel reached up to put her arms around Finn's neck, bringing him closer so their faces were only inches away, Rachel on her tippy toes.
"You are so sneaky." She says, and the way Rachel said it made it sound like bad thing, but it was easily forgotten when she presses her lips against Finn's, kissing him deeply. Rachel's mouth allowed Finn's tongue entrance after a couple of seconds of kissing, and Finn got lost in the kiss even more, touching a hand to Rachel's soft hair, massaging her head. He sighed into the kiss, feeling Rachel's tongue against his lip, the hand that wasn't busy in the hair made its way down to her lower back. When breathing was necessary, Rachel pulled away, breathing heavily.
"I love you so much." Finn sighed, moving his face into Rachel's hair, breathing in her scent. She sighed as well as Finn's mouth attached to the skin on her neck, kissing and licking there. "But I do have a real surprise for you."
"Do you really? When do I get this surprise?" Rachel whispered, hoping that the surprise was the ring. It would make sense, wouldn't it? What other surprise would Finn talk about? She felt him smile against her skin, suddenly pulling away from her.
"You'll find out soon enough." He said with a grin, and with those words, Finn was gone from the room while Rachel digested what had just happened, her lips swollen and a conspicuous mark on her neck.
"Do you hear what I hear, A song, a song, High above the tree, With a voice as big as the sea"
If Rachel wasn't quiet about what she was doing, someone would easily hear her and come to see what she was doing. And Rachel couldn't have that, so she slowly and quietly opened the door to Finn's bedroom, peaking inside. Finn was downstairs watching The Christmas Story so she didn't have to worry about him suddenly coming up.
Where was she supposed to start with her search? Rachel picked up Finn's clothes on the floor from the day before, checking the pockets and dropping them with a loud sigh when she realized they weren't in there. Next was the dresser, which Rachel combed clean in a matter of five minutes, opening and closing all the drawers and ruffling things around as she looked for the small box. If she was an engagement ring where would she be? She checked under the bed, where a bunch of boxes were put. Eagerly, Rachel pulled the boxes out, taking the lids off and disappointed to see that the only thing in the boxes were scarves, gloves, and hats.
Rachel pushed the boxes back under the bed, looking around the room again as she sat down on the floor. She was getting tired of waiting for Finn to just pop the question already; she needed to see the ring now. All this time Rachel had only guessed it was an engagement ring Finn was planning on giving her Christmas day, but now she was surer than ever that it was a ring after Finn had told her he had a surprise for her, and it increased her impatience. Rachel was anything but patient when it came to big surprises for herself, and this was one she couldn't wait any longer for. But the ring seemed to be nowhere…but that closet sure did look inviting to check.
She pushed herself off the wooden floor, opening the closet door and looking into the small closet. Rachel pushed past the hanged up shirts, and rummaged through the shoes and socks on the floor, but the ring was nowhere in sight. Her eyes drifted up towards the high shelf of the closet, sweatshirts and sweaters stored up there. The ring had to be up there; where else would Finn keep it? Rachel reached up to take the things down from the shelf, but her hand stopped an inch away from the shelf, unable to reach any farther.
Biting her lip and trying to not let out a cry of frustration, Rachel stood on the very tip of her toes like she sometimes had to do when kissing Finn, and tried to stretch out her arm even more, but she only touched the edge of the shelf, still not close enough to get the things on the shelf down. This time, Rachel actually did let out a low whimper as she walked over to the small desk in the room, pushing the chair towards the closet. She stood on top of the chair, glad to see that she was now eye level with the shelf, and could see all the contents on it. Right on top of a red sweater sat exactly what she was looking for; a black, velvet box. Rachel was almost too excited to pick it up.
Grabbing the box with a new burst of energy, Rachel jumped off the chair and sat down on the bed. She held the box with both of her hands, focusing in on it. What would the ring look like? Was this wrong of her, sneaking around to see her engagement ring before Finn could give it to her? Even if she already knew about the ring, wasn't it still right that Finn should see her face the first time Rachel saw the ring? Yes, that was the right thing to do. Rachel couldn't look at the ring until Finn proposed; it would be wrong of her to do otherwise. Sighing loudly, Rachel stood up and stood back up on the chair, putting the box back where she had found it.
As she put the ring back, Rachel's eyes caught onto something else. Another box was sitting in the corner of the shelf wrapped in green and red wrapping paper. Curiously, Rachel picked it up to take a closer look at it, and realized with shock that it was the exact same shape and size of the box with the ring in it. This didn't make any sense; if Finn had two small boxes to give her for Christmas, which box had the ring in it? And what was the other box for? Which box held the engagement ring in it? This made no sense!
"Rachel? Are you up here?" Finn's voice drifted through the bedroom, and Rachel quickly threw the wrapped up box back in the corner of the closet shelf, jumped off the chair, pushed the chair back by the desk while scraping the floor accidentally, and sat down on the bed, trying to catch her breathe. Finn came in one second after Rachel sat down, looking around the room before laying his eyes on Rachel, an eyebrow raised. "Are you okay? You look tired."
"Yeah, I just lost something, but then I found it." Rachel lied, and Finn smiled at her, his eyes still on Rachel. But that didn't mean she missed the quick glance he had given the closet.
"Good. Mom says dinner is ready." Finn said, and Rachel got off the bed and took Finn's hand, letting him lead her downstairs for Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Eve dinner seemed more special than a regular dinner in the Hudson-Hummel cottage. Everyone seemed much happier tonight, candles lit on the table, an assortment of food to choose from, smiles everywhere. Rachel's hand didn't leave Finn's for a moment during dinner, her thumb gently stroking his skin. Kurt and Blaine spent the entire dinner talking about their wedding in the summer, a topic Kurt thought was something he should started thinking about more seriously. They hadn't made a big deal out of it recently because they wanted to wait for everyone to know about it first, but now that everyone was aware of it now; Kurt could finally start planning it.
"And I don't want to keep the party too big, but not too small either. I don't think a lot of my friends are going to be able to come since it's going to be in New York, but we do still have a lot of family between the two of us." Kurt was saying, and Carole and Burt just nodded, listening quietly. Every once in a while, Blaine would add something to what Kurt was saying, but Kurt did most of the talking. Rachel couldn't focus on the conversation; she was too busy spending the time dreaming about her and Finn's wedding… after he proposed of course, whenever that was.
"You seemed to have enjoyed the dinner Finn. Were you hungry?" Carole asked once they were done, seeing that her son's plate was scraped clean. Finn looked up from his plate, licking his lips clean of the chicken juice.
"Yeah, it was really good." He said, and Carole had Burt help her clean off the table. Rachel didn't know what happened after this; did they just go to bed or did Finn's family have some sort of Christmas Eve tradition? She stood up from her seat, standing awkwardly in the corner of the dining room as she waited for someone to do something.
"I'm going to go get my gifts to put them under the tree. Rachel, do you want to join me?" Finn asked as everyone else finished cleaning off the table. Rachel looked up at him, thinking that this might be the moment that Finn proposed. Well why not? It was Christmas Eve after all, and Finn did have her ring hiding in his closet, and whatever that other box had inside of it. Maybe now would be the time Finn was thinking of giving it to her, well at least Rachel hoped so.
"Sure." She said, following Finn out of the room and upstairs to his bedroom. When up there, Finn opened his closet, and Rachel tried to keep her excitement under control as she went over to her suitcases to get the gifts that she got for Finn's family out. He must have been getting out her engagement ring, what else could he be getting out? Rachel slowly turned to face Finn, trying to hide the grin on her face as he pulled out a small stack of Christmas presents.
"Are one of those for me?" Rachel asked, coming over to get a closer look at the pile of gifts. But neither of the two small boxes were there, but Finn was probably hiding it somewhere on him so Rachel didn't find out about it; too bad that surprise had been ruined.
"You bet." He said, and then picked up the pile, hardly even looking at Rachel as he walked past her and left the room. Wait a second; this wasn't how it was supposed to go. Finn just wasn't supposed to waltz in, get his gifts, tell her "you bet" in that casual tone and then leave her there. No. No! He was supposed to propose to her, Finn was supposed to get on one knee and ask Rachel to marry him. That was how this was supposed to happen. That was how it was going to happen…soon. It had to happen soon, it just had to.
After a long moment where Rachel contemplated exactly when Finn was going to ask her to marry him, because he was going to do it soon, she knew that, Rachel left the bedroom with her gifts. Finn must have been planning to propose tomorrow, on Christmas. Yes, that must have been it! It made the most sense anyway! What would be more romantic then asking the woman you love to marry you on one of the most wonderful days of the year? It was the perfect plan really; Rachel just had to wait until then.
"You're going to burn yourself Blaine if you do it like that." Kurt warned when Rachel entered the family room, Blaine bending over the fireplace. He ignored Kurt as he finished lighting the fire, and then joined him on the loveseat. Finn was sitting in the comfy armchair, looking tensed with his elbows on his knees, his eyes focusing in on the fire. Rachel could see the red reflection of the fire in his eyes, his face set in a straight line, and she wondered what was wrong with him. Rachel put her gifts under the tree, and then sat down next to him on the less comfortable armchair, watching Finn closely and lightly touching his leg. Finn didn't even notice her, his mind somewhere else.
"Finn, are you alright? You seem worried." Carole said, voicing Rachel's thoughts. Finn hardly moved his head to look at his mother, his attention still obviously somewhere else.
"Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking." He said quickly, and then went back to looking at the fireplace. Carole looked at Rachel and shared a curious look as Burt joined Carole on the sofa. A peaceful silence filled the room as Finn seemed to relax in his seat, sighing loudly and sitting back in the comfy chair.
"So are we going to give one another one gift like we do every year?" Burt asked, breaking the silence. Rachel wasn't sure if that was something all families did (she was pretty sure you weren't supposed to open any gifts until Christmas morning), but maybe it was something only Finn's family did. Either way, getting a gift now didn't sound so bad.
"Oh yeah, let's do that before we forget." Carole said, and Kurt explained to Rachel that each person gave their significant other one gift on Christmas Eve, a tradition started by Kurt's grandparents. Finn nudged Rachel's shoulder after Kurt finished explaining what to do.
"A tradition I know better as that moment where you're horribly reminded that you're single. Speaking of which, that means I get one gift from everyone tonight since I was always left out of this 'significant other' thing." Finn told Rachel, and then turned to the rest of the family with a satisfied smile. He seemed to be thinking that this Christmas was like every other Christmas where Finn was single, and so got pity from the rest of the family on Christmas Eve in gift form. Carole gave him a knowing look.
"Not anymore you don't Finn, not with Rachel here." Carole told him, and Finn's mouth dropped in surprise. This would be the first Christmas where he only received one gift on Christmas Eve instead of four. Rachel giggled at his expression, and Kurt said that it was about time Finn got the same amount of Christmas presents as everyone else.
"What? What is this?" Finn asked no one in particular in a sing song voice. Kurt and Blaine exchanged presents as Carole and Burt did the same, Rachel holding hers out for Finn to take. After a moment where Finn got over the small shock of fewer gifts, he took Rachel's present gratefully and reached down under the Christmas tree to take out Rachel's. He handed her a medium size gift, and Rachel knew that this couldn't be the engagement ring. It was far too big to be that.
"Oh, thank you so much Blaine!" Kurt said happily, smiling at the small bottle of moisturizer in his hands and then pulling Blaine forward for a kiss. Rachel directed her attention back to her own gift, not having opened it yet, and tearing it opened to see what Finn had gotten her.
"It's so soft." She noted quietly as Rachel took the beige sweater into her hands, and ran her hands over the cashmere slowly. Rachel really wasn't one for expensive cashmere, but she had been looking at this specific sweater at the mall for a while now, and Finn knew that. "I've been hoping to get this. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I saw you looking at it that one time at the mall, and so I decided buy it for you." Finn explained, and Rachel smiled at him, kissing his cheek lightly before Finn started opening his gift. He tore open the small gift, and smiled when he pulled out the silver watch.
"Nice. I needed a new one." Finn said appreciatively, and kissed Rachel in thank you. Once everyone had opened their one gift, Carole announced that she was getting tired and after wishing everyone a good, peaceful night and a Merry Christmas, Carole and Burt left to go upstairs and sleep. Kurt and Blaine looked at Finn and Rachel after they had left, Blaine pursing his lips together in thought.
"I'm bored. Do you guys want to go build a snowman before bed?" Blaine asked, and Rachel raised an eyebrow at him. Why would she go out at this time, ten thirty for that matter, in the darkness and build a snowman? Wasn't it a little late to do that, but Rachel looked around and saw that no one else seemed to have a problem with making a snowman at this time of night.
"Sure. Let me just go get my coat." Finn said, and he left the room, Rachel following after a moment. She got her winter coat and put in on, Blaine and Kurt already at the front door with their coats and hats on. Kurt opened the door, peeking out at the darkness, and then he was gone, Blaine following. Rachel looked at Finn a little unsurely, and he only shrugged at her until he was out the door too. Rachel found that even if she didn't want to go outside, she had no choice anyway.
Outside, Finn, Kurt, and Blaine were on the front lawn looking at the snowman Kurt and Blaine had made a couple of days ago. They were talking quietly as Rachel came up to them, her hands shoved in her pockets, and her nose slowly going red from the cold.
"Yeah, now that I think about it I don't really want to build another snowman." Blaine said after a long moment where they all just stared at the snowman. Kurt nodded in agreement, and Blaine started walking back to the front door, Kurt in tow. Finn went to stand next to Rachel, smiling evilly down at her. Before Rachel could wonder what was up with him, Finn had bent down to pick up a pile of snow, patting it together into a ball. Rachel held in a giggle as Finn examined the ball of snow, a satisfied grin on his face. Just as Blaine was about to open the door, a snowball went flying across the lawn and hit Blaine right in the back of his head. Both Finn and Rachel burst out in laughter as Blaine stopped walking, and slowly turned to face them.
"You did not just do that." Blaine said in a hard voice, Kurt turning around to see what had happened. His eyes went wide when he realized, and Kurt tried to hold back laughter for Blaine's sake. Finn only shrugged, Rachel giggling next to him.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Finn said with a smirk, and Rachel was reminded of when they went shopping a couple of days before coming to the cottage when Finn had said something similar to her in a more teasing tone. Blaine sighed loudly in response, and then bent down to pick up some snow himself. He had done it so quickly that no one really saw the action of it, but then Blaine had thrown a snowball at Finn, hitting him right in the face. Blaine and Kurt laughed while Rachel helped Finn clean the snow off his face.
"You're going to pay for that!" Finn warned, and then another snowball was being thrown and all four of them were running for cover. Rachel threw herself behind a bush, patting the snow together into a ball. She looked over the bush, a snowball flying through the air and Kurt running across the lawn. She could just see Finn's head peeking around a tree, and taking the chance, Rachel sat up a little more, aimed, and threw. It hit the tree instead of Finn, but he did notice it and ran to a different hiding spot.
They went like that for the next hour; having a snowball fight and running around the lawn like kids. Once Rachel was completely out of breathe, snow running down her shirt and the end of her pants wet, she let herself fall into the snow face first, feeling the coldness against her face.
"You're out." Finn said above her, throwing one last snowball at Rachel's back, and then helping her get back up. Kurt threw one last snowball at Finn before following Blaine inside, both soaked in snow. Rachel grunted as Finn pulled on her arms and helped her get on her two feet again. Once she was up, Finn quickly put his arm around her shoulders, helping Rachel walk towards the front door. She wasn't used to extreme snowball fights, in fact, Rachel wasn't used to snowball fights period.
"Okay, we're going to bed. Goodnight Finn, goodnight Rachel, merry Christmas." Kurt said once the four of them were in the house and up the stairs. Finn and Rachel said their goodnights and then Rachel flopped down on Finn's bed, sighing. Finn chuckled as he fell on the bed next to Rachel, removing his completely wet socks.
"I'm so tired." Rachel said uselessly, and Finn took it upon himself to strip Rachel of her wet clothes, gently putting her pajamas on. Once he did, Rachel pushed her body up the bed while Finn got changed himself and tucked herself under the covers. She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep when Rachel felt someone shifting on the bed, and then a warm body surrounding her, big arms engulfing her, and bringing her body closer to his. Rachel reopened her eyes with a small smile on her face.
"Thank you." He whispered into her ear, ticking Rachel's skin. Her smile grew bigger as Finn lightly kissed her neck, and she wondered what Finn was thanking her for. She should be the one thanking him; it was Finn after all who had brought her here to meet his lovely family and give her first real Christmas experience.
"Thank you. This had been the best Christmas ever." Rachel said with a smile, and Finn grinned in response. Christmas technically hadn't even happened yet, and Rachel was already saying it was the best. Finn really did love her, and he was more sure in that moment than ever before that he wanted to marry this woman, and he was going to, Finn knew that much.
"I love you." He said, and at those last words, Rachel's eyes fluttered closed, and he wondered if she had even heard what he had just said, but it didn't matter either way. Rachel knew he loved her already.
AN: Finn's line, "What is this?" is a shout out to a different Christmas movie. If you think you know the movie, say it in the reviews because I'm interested to know if anyone was able to pick up on that.