Saturday morning Dianna stirred lightly from her sleep, the sun's rays managing to be only slightly muted by the room's curtains. Turning to her side, she was met directly at eye level with someone's chest. Her eyes moved up and she smiled as they locked with a pair of familiar ones, almost grey in the muted lighting. Letting out a small, content sigh, she scooted closer to him, wrapping her arm around his stomach while she laid her tired head on his chest. He smiled and stroked her hair, letting himself get lost in the moment.

Chord had been awake for a while, smiling when he realized that he hadn't dreamt the fact that she had fallen asleep next to him last night. Opting out of getting up at a decent time, he let himself relax. Chord propped his head on his hand and watched Dianna sleep, gaining peace in knowing that everything had finally fallen into place for them.

"How long have you been awake?" Dianna mumbled against his chest. Semi-embarrassed, he answered her sheepishly through a yawn.

"Only around ten minutes, I was just trying to convince myself that this isn't a dream." She beamed, tilting her head up to kiss him lightly. He was happily surprised by her spontaneity, smiling into the kiss.

"I think it's safe to say it's real." They laid there for a while, just making small talk and relishing each other's presence. During a moment of silence, Chord leaned down to her, giving her one last kiss before getting up from bed. She pouted and he smirked at her, raising his hands in mock defense.

"My mom is still down the hall, she'll definitely expect the worst if she comes in. And you know Harmony's already awake and ready to go on the hunt to find you." She chuckled and reluctantly left the warmth of his bed behind, stepping on her tip-toes to put her arms around his neck. She moved to kiss him but he gave her his cheek, laughing. "Do you want me to force you to stay here?"

"Good point." She moved to leave, stopping in the door to blow him a playful kiss. Smiling, he pretended to catch it and put it in his pocket. Dianna stifled her laugher and moved two doors down the hall, back to where her bed had been unoccupied for the night. Unlike her brother, Harmony hated sleeping with the door even a tiny bit ajar. This made it difficult for Dianna, and she turned the gold knob as slowly as she could, listening to it squeak a little. The door made the same noise as she opened it, and it closed with a suppressed knocking. Turning around slowly, she began to tiptoe to her bed, only to be interrupted by someone clearing their throat. She had been caught.

"Did you sleep good?" Harmony's voice was light teasing, and she sat cross-legged on the top of her sheets, book in hand.

"I thought you'd still be asleep."

"Not a chance, I'm a really light sleeper. I woke up when you left last night too, I just didn't let you know that I saw you."

"My foot was hurting really bad last night, I didn't know what to do so I just sort of decided to go to him." Dianna shrugged her shoulders sheepishly and reached for her suitcase, looking for the few clean clothes she had left. Today was her last day visiting, and she'd have to wake up early the next morning to catch her plane. She was sad, each piece of clothing she moved reminding her of what she did the day she wore it; the aqua blue shirt from her first day, her favorite pair of jeans she'd worn to Dale Hollow, and even the floppy black hat that'd fallen from her head at the fair. She hardly thought she'd be able to wear any of these without thinking of Tennessee, of being around a large family she'd grown to love.

Today was the moment of the trip she'd been the most nervous about. The Overstreet's were having a huge family party, with as many members of their oversized extended family as they could fit coming at once. She knew he had a big family, and Dianna was just on edge about impressing them. It would be the first time she'd be introduced as Chord's girlfriend, him finally making things official the night before. They couldn't be fully official until Glee ended, but at least it was something that they knew, even if anybody else couldn't.

The party was set to start at one, and the first guests arrived at twelve thirty. It was Chord's grandparents from his father's side, and they were absolutely adorable. His grandfather was taller than most men his age and thin as a rail. He wore a cowboy hat atop his grey hair, and he had an adorable butt-chin that protruded a bit from his face. His nana was equally as cute. A lot shorter than her husband, she was thin too, wearing a dress that made her look younger than she really was. Her hair was grey too, fashioned in a boy cut that framed her round face. She had Chord's bright hazel eyes, round like quarters. They both hugged her immediately, his grandmother taking a good look at her.

"Oh, Chord she's beautiful!" His nana was clearly very excited and Dianna laughed shyly, thanking his nana sweetly. The rest of the guests didn't arrive until a few minutes after one, and she went through the same routine with almost all of them, Chord gluing her to his side and leading her through the now massive crowd of people by the hand, showing her off proudly. Soon her other hand was taken and she was pulled down a bit. Curious, she looked down to see a little girl no more than three, struggling to keep up with their semi-fast pace. Dianna stopped Chord and bent down to say hello, the girl smiling bright. She had blonde hair that fell in pretty ringlets around her face, and bright blue eyes above a bridge of freckles traveling along her nose and cheeks.

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Macie."

"That's such a pretty name. I'm Dianna." She held out her hand and the little girl shook it hard, giggling at herself.

"Play?" Macie was trying to drag her along with her, repeating her request over and over again. Dianna looked up at a laughing Chord and he waved her off, watching in amusement as she was dragged away by his exuberant two year old cousin. They came back, though, Macie running in front of Dianna. "You play too!" She stood in between them, taking a hand from each, and jumped along in between them as they lifted her from the ground, letting her swing a bit before setting her down again. They were led to a sandy part of Chord's back yard, where his childhood swing set still remained. Macie shouted up the ladder of its little tower, and soon a little boy was sliding down the slide. He ran straight for Chord who gladly picked him up, swinging him around a bit before balancing him on his side.

"This is Cayden, Macie's twin bother. He's my little mini-me." The little boy clung to him and he tickled him, causing the boy to erupt in a fitof adorable giggles, laughing until he could no longer, simply shaking in a state of silent laughter as Chord continued to tickle him.

They spent most of the party playing with the twins, pushing them on the swings and teaching them red light green light. The two took to Dianna easily, and by the end of the day it was Macie who was most upset about leaving, not wanting to say goodbye to her new friend.

"Hey, how's this? Next time I see you we can play even longer, maybe we can even play dress up without the boys." Macie smiled at this and hugged her, reluctantly going back to her mother.

By the end of the day, Chord was confident that Dianna would be the one he'd spend the rest of his life with. He'd had a hunch before, but at some point during the day it had become absolutely clear to him. He watched her play with Macie and the other kids with adoration; she was amazing with kids, and they just seemed to love her. It was as if she always knew what to say, even when they were fighting amongst each other. She held a certain level of respect with them that just came with her presence, and they listened to her as if she'd known them their whole lives. Watching her, he could see her years from now, holding a little girl with hair identical to Macie's. Her eyes were theirs, though, hazel with little bits of blue. She had Dianna's pretty little nose, and was laughing as she pushed her on the swings, a blonde boy of about five running around them. It was the perfect picture, their future right in front of his eyes. It scared him, but Chord knew he was ready for that, as long as it was Dianna who was by his side.

He'd even had that talk with his parents on his press day. Chord had been wanting to talk with them about her for a while, but he waited patiently until they'd met her. His mom had cried, apparently moved by his mini speech, and his dad had given him a look of pride. He'd never been so happy in his life. The only problem that night was that he and Dianna weren't official, but now that they were the path to the moment he'd finally be married to her didn't seem as far away as it had before. Now he'd just have to play the waiting game; he knew she was still fragile from her past relationships, and he wasn't about to push her. She deserved better than that.

That night was the night of their first date. Dianna wore a pretty flowered sundress with blue flats to match, the stitches on her foot looking strange in the shoe. Her hair was adorned with a bow that reminded her of Quinn Fabray. He wore a collared shirt and khaki pants, a pair of 'man-dles' Mark had given him on his feet. They went to one of Chord's favorite restaurants, a family-owned business in the heart of town. The waiting area was full, but instead of going through the front door they went around, Chord knocking on the side door. The man who greeted him was middle aged, brown hair beginning to bald. A pair of round glasses rested on his nose, and his little beer belly wasn't very well hidden by the white apron he was wearing. The man led them to a table in the back, where their waitress greeted them by name too. Dianna just shook her head, still marveling at the small town charm the restaurant held.

The inside was built to look like a house, with different 'rooms' they could eat in. The one he'd reserved was a smaller one, which she assumed was supposed to be a sunroom. It was decorated like the beach, white wood accents and sea shell knick knacks adorning the walls and tables. The room leading into theirs held four tables of four, all in the center of what was the family room. The walls held built in benches, and a TV hung on the wall opposite to their door.

Half way through dinner, Chord took Dianna's hand on top of the table. She felt the weight of something drop in it, and he took his hand away. She was holding a little white box, and she looked at him curiously before opening it. Inside was a little silver ring. The diamonds on it met in the middle, where a silver heart was the main focus. She gasped and looked up at Chord, who was looking right back at her.

"I want to marry you…some day." She smiled at the familiar words, the ones he had said to her when he was Sam and she was Quinn. "But until then, will you accept this promise ring? If you accept, this ring will symbolize my promise to you to be true, to never pressure you to do anything more than kiss." She could hear the next few words in her head, but he veered from what had been written in the script, making sure she'd realize that he was telling the truth. "I'll never hurt you, and I promise to hurt anyone who does. I promise to make you proud when you can finally say 'that's my boyfriend.' I promise I'll be by your side when you win your first Emmy. I promise I'll be there when you're hurt, or happy, or any of those things. I promise to do all of those things. I really love you, Dianna, and I want to be with you forever." She was crying when she slid the ring on her finger and he wiped her tears from her face with his thumb gently, kissing her before sitting back in his seat. Her heart was pounding but she was happy, letting it race for the man who'd given her everything when she thought she'd never have anything at all.

It was early when she woke up the next morning, the moon still hanging on to its last few moments in the sky. Begrudgingly, she climbed out of bed and made her way back to Harmony's room, where her suitcase lay packed under the bed. She had said her final goodbyes last night, exchanging numbers with the sisters and plenty of hugs and well wishes. She wheeled the suitcase out of the room and grabbed her bag on the way out, stopping two doors down. Chord was waiting for her in the doorway, fully dressed and ready to take her to the airport.

The ride was quiet, both tired and unsure of what to say. When they got there he helped her unload everything from the car, turning to wrap her in a tight hug. She tried not to cry, him reassuring her that he'd be back in California before she knew it. As she walked away, the light caught the ring on her finger, colorful reflections bouncing off of the walls of the airport. He watched her walk until she disappeared from his sight, getting into the car with a shy smile stuck on his face. The ride home was long, and Chord spent it counting the days until he'd see her again.