Finn frowned as he made his way into the choir room. He would have thought that Rachel would have more courage that this and would face actually seeing him in glee. Sure, he was still pretty pissed about her lying to him about the video, but that was no reason for her to skip practice. Mr Schue was already there, talking to Quinn about something. She was another girl who had lied to him, making him look like an idiot in front of everyone, though he convinced himself that Rachel didn't mean to hurt him like she had.

"Hey Finn," Kurt waved. Finn waved back awkwardly," Hi"

Mr Schue looked at the kids, realising that Rachel was probably too embarrassed to show up at glee, so he started anyway.

"So, we need to get started with our number for the week."

He was distracted by the door opening, seeing Rachel walk in. He smiled a 'thank you' at her, motioning for her to sit down. Rachel took the only free seat, next to Finn, who gave her a small smile, though she just appeared to be really sad as she turned her attention to Mr Schue.

"We'll give this song a run through first, then we can start choreography. Tina, Finn, you wanna come up here?"

Tina looked just as confused as everybody at being chosen for a solo, but she still stood up slowly, standing with Finn, who was looking at Mr Schue as though he had two heads.

"I don't mean to be rude or disrespectful Mr Schue, but Rachel's here. She ALWAYS takes the solos. No offence Tina."

"N-none t-t-taken."

"Finn, did it ever occur to you that there's more than one girl who can sing in this group than Rachel? I think she'd appreciate a break once in a while. Don't you agree Rachel?"

She smiled and nodded at him. He was covering up for her so that they wouldn't find out about her voice. Though, this received a few strange glances from everyone else.

"Okay, who are you and what the hell have you done with Rachel Berry?" Kurt held his hands up in

shock as he questioned her.

"Guys! Let's focus. Finn, Tina, get us started."

As Finn sang with Tina, Rachel felt her heart wrench: duets were always down by her and Finn, but not, because of her stupid voice, she couldn't even talk properly. When Finn's voice mixed with her, it was like the holy grail. Their voices just worked so well together, and not to mention that feeling she got whenever she sang with him. It wasn't the same as with Jesse. He Knew he was amazing and never let anyone forget it, especially her. She'd thought that he'd been perfect as they sang 'hello', but lately he'd been more demanding. Singing songs that featured him more heavily on lead vocals, despite that he voice was spectacular.

She watched Finn with happy eyes, noticing the glances he kept sending her way. Perhaps he forgiven her over the video and was back to being her friend.

By the end of practice, her sadness had completely disappeared and her face was sore from smiling so much. She slid her bag onto her shoulder, waving goodbye to Mr Schue and left the room, her hair bouncing from side to side. A hand brushed against her shoulder, causing her to turn around, startled.

"Sorry if I scared you," Finn began, walking by her side," I just wanted to say hi. You weren't at practice yesterday and you didn't say anything today. Not one word."

Oh God, Rachel watched him as he waited for a reply, staring at her intensly.

"I'I've lost my voice," she tried to say as little as possible: each word was hard to get out. Finn's mouth opened slightly in shock.

"We're screwed."

She shook her head, taking it as a compliment that he thought they needed her to win, but they all needed to believe in themselves.

"Is there anything I can do for you? You look a little tired."

Rachel shook her head.

"Sure? I could...give you a ride home? It's pretty dark right now and I know how you get really paranoid about stuff like that. Especially when you're on your own. Not that I'm saying that that would happen if I wasn't with you. I mean, you can look after yourself and stuff."

She felt a small laugh escape her mouth. He was so cute when he babbled on like that. She had to remind herself that she had a boyfriend, even if he was mad at her.

"A ride home would be nice," she coughed at the end. They quickly reached the car park, Finn opening the door for Rachel, before walking around to his own side. He was so chivalrous. As they began to drive don the dark streets, he began talking once more.

"Is it serious?"

"What?" Rachel frowned.

"You're voice. Why've you lost it?"

"Laryngitis," she coughed," It should be gone soon."

"Good. Glee isn't the same without you singing. And I really like singing with you. With Jesse gone this week, I though we'd have a duet together, but apparently not."

Rachel frowned, seeing the disappointment on his face," We still can."

He now looked confused, giving her strange looks," What do you mean?"

"When I can sing again, we should do a duet." she smiled. Finn returned it," Deal."

Rachel turned to face to look out of the window," It's snowing," she whispered.

"I love the snow," Fin sounded like a child," Me and my mum used to make the biggest snowmen ever!"

He pulled up onto her free drive, realising that her dads weren't home.

"You wanna come in?" she sounded nervous.

"Sure," he turned off the engine and they both climbed out, reaching the front door. She fumbled around for her key. It was so cold that Finn could see his breathe in front of him, hovering up in the air. He had no idea how Rachel had worn a skirt to school today, and not even look like she was cold. The door clicked open and they both headed inside. He instantly felt the heat wash over him and was extremely thankful. She dropped her bag on the floor, rubbing her shoulders as though she were in deep pain.

He followed her into the kitchen where the was what looked like a bowl of green mush.

"That looks disgusting," she croaked. Finn suddenly remembered the ten dollars he had in his pocket.

"How about we order a pizza?" he suggested, placing the money in her hand. She grinned, picking up the phone. Maybe he felt sorry for her being ill, and this was his way of compensating.

By seven, they were snuggled on the smallest sofa, watching West side story, which Rachel had insisted on. Finn had become uncomfortably warm, feeling small beads of sweat on his forehead whereas Rachel had two blankets covering her and still managed to be cold. On the table, there was an empty pizza box: Rachel had ate as though she'd been starved for the past few days.

He leaned forward to grab his can of coke, feeling his arm brush against hers, and it felt like it was on fire," God Rachel, you're hot."

"What?" she squeaked, and he soon realised what she thought he meant.

"Oh no, I mean, you're really warm. Are you sure that you're alright?"

"Well, I'm pretty tired," she said, placing her fingers against her sore throat as she spoke," Nothing serious though."

She smiled, pulling the blankets up to her neck and shivering slightly. Finn was being extremely nice to her, despite the fact that she'd basically humiliated him. As she turned to face the screen once more, she noticed him stealing glances at her. Maybe things weren't as hopeless as she had initially thought.

Rachel felt herself yawn, eyelids feeling heavy. She couldn't believe it. It wasn't even seven o'clock and she was falling asleep!

Finn noticed her slowly drift off, resting her burning head on his shoulder. She snored slightly, which he strangely found himself smiling at. He saw that the film had finished and now names ran across the screen. Without warning his phone began to rang and he silently cursed it for interrupting Rachel's rest.

Her eyes opened, obviously started by the sudden noise.

"What the...?"

"Shhh," he began, answering the call.

"Hello."

"Finn honey, what time are you planning on coming home?" he recognised his mum's voice. Damn, he'd forgot to text her about where he was going.

"Sorry mum. I'm studying at a friends house," he mumbled back to her, hearing the surprise in her reaction.

"Oh really? Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to come to dinner with me, Burt and Kurt, but if you're busy..."

"Yeah," he said casually," but hey, thanks for asking me. I'll see you later."

"Bye Finn," she sounded disappointed.

"Bye."

He hung up before she'd offer to take him out somewhere else. He was totally thrilled that she'd recently got a life and all, but he didn't need her dragging him into it all the time.

"Was that your mum?" Rachel whispered from beside him. He glanced down at him, nodding as he placed the phone back inside his pocket and grinning at her confused look.

"Yeah, she wanted me to go out for dinner tonight," he didn't feel comfortable enough to tell her who with. Not that many people knew about his mum and Kurt's dad.

"You should have," she paused to cough loudly," gone. Don't let me stop you."

"Not really my thing," he confessed, then he felt more words just flow out of his mouth," And I couldn't tear myself away from you while you were sleeping."

She didn't say anything, though stared straight ahead. He realised what he said was quite weird really, maybe borderline stalker. Rachel hadn't been thinking of it like that. She loved having Finn so close to her, especially when she was feeling so down, but she had a boyfriend. Admittedly, he was probably still mad at her, but they hadn't officially broken up, and shed like it to stay that way, or so she thought she did.

"Screwed up again, huh?" She heard Finn groan, obviously embarrassed.

"Don't say that," the truth is, if there was no Jesse in the picture, she'd be all over Finn right now.

"Why not?" his voice bellowed through the room," No matter what I do, I end up ruining things, especially between us. God, why did I ever break up with you? The truth is, I regret that day more than anything. When you ran off crying, the guilt was... it was overwhelming."

Rachel felt her bottom lip quivering as he spoke.

"I swore to myself that I'd never make you feel pain like that, and here I am, all over you when you're already taken and ill. God, what's wrong with me?"

She placed her hand over his, feeling his cold fingers," There's nothing wrong with you."

And without thinking, she leaned in to kiss him. Maybe it was because she were so ill but, as he kissed back, she felt herself become hotter and more flushed. He'd responded quickly, running his hands up her arms and then through her hair. His tongue danced along her top lip with the kiss becoming more intimate. One of his hands now roamed near her legs, but he was stopped in his tracks as he heard the front door open.

"Rachel, we're home!" her dad called.

Eyes widening, she pushed Finn back in the sofa, pulling the covers up over herself again.

"Hi, daddy," she coughed into a balled up fist, turning away from Finn.

"Oh, you still not feeling better?" another man stepped into the room, eyeing up Finn suspiciously," And who is this?"

"I'm Finn," he smiled, feeling slightly tongue tied," I drove Rachel home today and we've been running through some things for glee."

His lie seemed to be convincing enough and they bought it, though he noticed them share a glance.

"The infamous Finn Hudson," one smiled. What did infamous mean? Finn hid his confusion and looked at his watch,"Well, I better get going. See you Rachel."

He leaned in to give her a long hug, feeling the warmth radiate from her entire body. She smelled like flowers and perfume, making him feel slightly dizzy with happiness.

"Nice meeting you Mr Berry and Mr Berry," it felt weird saying it, but they didn't seem to mind his uncomfortable words and smiled back at him.

"You too Finn. Thanks for taking care of our little girl while we were gone."

He nodded in reply, picking up his things and leaving quickly. As he left the house, he felt himself smiling widely.