In a Moment
Chapter 2: Finn

Summary: A person could make a choice that has the power to make or break their lives. A million thoughts could go through their minds in one moment. Watch as some of our glee members make such a choice.

Rachel was FREAKING OUT. It was pretty obvious. Well, to someone who knew her as well as Finn did anyway. How could he tell?

Well, she was biting her lip like crazy for one. She ALWAYS did that when she was worried. That was how he knew that she still got a slight case of stage fright right before she went up onstage. She would bit her lip quickly, and then walk on.

Another? She licked her lips when she was upset too. Finn stood by the other entrance and he could see her tongue snake out and lick her lip quickly.

Another tell-tale sign was that she had been as thirsty as a…really thirsty person…the entire time they had been here. Rachel had downed about three water bottles in the span of an hour.

Those three things let Finn know two things about how Rachel was feeling. The lip-biting and lip-licking told him that she was nervous.

He thought it was reassuring that she still got stage fright. It just meant that she was…well, human. He also thought she looked really cute when she bit her lip. She would always look off to the side guiltily while she did it and she had the cutest look on her face. Finn knew that Rachel thought her lip-biting was unattractive, but he liked it. It was just one of the many little things that made Rachel the girl he loved.

Love.

Finn looked back over at Rachel and saw her looking back at him. He smiled. He loved this girl more than anything. And it wasn't just some little kid love, like what Puck's little sister felt towards that kid Andrew in her class. It wasn't an extremely strong like, like how Rachel felt about the Dumbass, or how Finn had felt about Quinn. It wasn't a lust either, like how Puck felt about…well, basically every girl he had ever gone out with.

No, this went way beyond any of those. This was deep within him, way deep where no one was allowed…except Rachel Berry.

Finn walked towards Rachel. Well, really, his feet just kind of pulled him there. It interested him. He didn't remember telling his feet to take him towards Rachel, they just did. It was like he had to be where she was. He looked into her big, chocolatey eyes and saw them shining with happiness. Yes, she was nervous all right, but she was excited.

"Break a leg," she said.

Finn stopped.

When Rachel drank water, it meant that she was upset about something. Really upset about something. He had first noticed it after they had kissed for the first time. The next day, she drank a lot of water, an almost unhealthy amount. He was kind of worried about her since he had heard about that chick that died over the radio because she got dared to drink a ton of water. He started to notice it over time. He thought it was really funny and – again – extremely cute (then again, most of what Rachel did was cute. She couldn't do anything without being cute in Finn's eyes).

So what was she upset about?

Of course.

The Dumbass: Jesse St. James.

Finn knew he wasn't the smartest person in the world. After all, he'd only just realized that who he had been copying off of in math wasn't the best person to copy off of because the square root of 25 wasn't rainbows apparently. Finn definitely wasn't the smartest person in the world, but he wasn't a complete idiot. He knew some part of Rachel still liked the Dumbass. Finn hoped that part of Rachel was a million times smaller than the part that liked Finn…or loved Finn. The second one was perfectly okay with him.

What could Finn say to Rachel? What could he say that would tell her that he was okay with her still hurting over the Dumbass? That if she wanted to take things slow, he would take them as slow as she wanted, just as long as she didn't write him off completely? How could he tell her that he would wait forever for her? How could he tell her that no matter what happened, no matter who showed up, he would love her and always would. Forever meant forever.

He could tell her the truth.

How would she react? Would she freak? Would she say it back? Would she give him one of her heart-stopping smiles? What would she do?

He didn't expect her to say it back. After all, she still had feelings for the Dumbass and was probably trying to think over that obstacle. Finn had had months to stew about his feelings for Rachel. He could pinpoint the exact moment when he realized he was in love with her.

It was in the doctor's office when she had laryngitis. He couldn't get over how adorable it was that she was so freaked out about a simple surgery. Then, it made him pissed that she thought she was no good if she couldn't sing. Of course she was good if she couldn't sing. She could still act right? So she had that going for her. Rachel was really smart besides, and could easily get accepted into a good college. She was really good with kids, so she could become a drama teacher or something. Or she could become a kid's doctor. A pedia…pedialite…pediatrick…a kid's doctor. She was definitely smart enough.

She was really nice too. She believed in good and all that stuff. He got so mad at her for not having any faith in herself. Then she rejected him again for the Dumbass. That freakin' jerk face Vocal Adrenaline brat.

He knew, he knew in that moment that he loved her. He wasn't exactly sure of it at first, but he figured it out. She was the one, the only one for him.

There lay his choice: Tell Rachel he loved her or hold it in for a little longer.

Finn looked over Rachel and was struck by how beautiful she was. And no, he wasn't talking about her curvy body, although it was beautiful and displayed perfectly in that dress. It wasn't her boobs, although…they looked really good in that dress as well (what could he do? He was a guy after all). It wasn't her hair, the long, beautifully brown hair that he ached to run his hands through, to twirl and twist around his fingers. It wasn't even her perfectly full lips that just begged to be kissed long and hard. No, it was her eyes that finally made his decision. Her eyes were bright and shining. She was smiling with her eyes, something she hadn't done in a few weeks.

Finn stared into her shining eyes and he found that one of the most important decisions of his life was already made.

"I love you," he said. Her eyes jumped in surprise but they still glowed happily. He saw her perfect lips curve into a gentle smile for just a second. He walked back to his place even though all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her, to bury his head into her sweet smelling hair, to hold her small frame against his and never let him go. Finn also knew that if he didn't stop thinking about her, he was going to have a…one of his problems. And that would be awkward to explain onstage.

Yes, he saw her bite her lip, lick her lip, make a noise (a very cute noise) with her mouth that let him know she was thirsty, which were all tell-tale signs that she was scared shitless, but she had smiled first. That meant she felt something back and that something overpowered her other feelings of doubt. They were going to be together.

Finn took a cleansing breath. He felt like he had just had the hardest workout of his life. He realized it was because of his thinking. He had never thought so much in his entire life. Not for any type of test…not that he thought about his tests…he just cheated off of someone else. Then something popped into Finn's mind that surprised him:

All that took place in the course of a single second.

A single moment.

Yay. I liked this one although my favorite one is the next chapter. I hope ya'll liked this chapter though.

And here are your brownie points:

Thank you very much to Swamp Fairy, caityjane, and scissorhands101 for reviewing/favoriting/alerting to my story. I appreciate it so very much.

I might be able to post tomorrow but I'm not sure because I have a party I need to be going to. I'll try though. Plus, my step-dad is going to be tinkering with our Internet, so it might be down all day. I don't know.

Bye bye!