Author's Note: My marvelous beta Tori helped me a hell of a lot with this one, especially the call of duty part. I do not own any video game thing so yeah she helped a lot.
Finn Hudson strolled down the hallway looking for a particular brunette. His height gave him quite an advantage, and suddenly he caught a glimpse of the diva as she raised herself onto her tiptoes in an effort to get a book from the top shelf of her locker. The boy hurried over to help.
"Here, let me get that for you," he said gently and handed her the physics book.
"Thanks," she responded quietly as she closed her locker lightly.
"So, Quinn's coming back today," he prompted.
Rachel's face brightened slightly at the mention of the blonde.
"Yes she is, Finn. She has made quite the recovery."
Finn nodded dumbly as an uncomfortable silence fell over the two.
"What do you have now?" she asked somewhat out of curiosity but mostly to fill the silence.
"Oh, uh, I have lunch. Puck and I usually drive to the burger place down the block, but he's really into working out and stuff so he said he didn't want to anymore. What do you have?"
Rachel giggled at his simplicity. He was so sweet when he didn't try so hard to impress her.
"Well, I have lunch as well. I was actually going to head to the choir room to practice for today's rehearsal."
"Can I walk you there?" he asked eagerly.
Although Rachel was in no mood to be courted, she enjoy his company, so she nodded and gladly handed over her thirty-pound science book.
Finn took it easily and guided her safely down the hallway. It felt kind of nice, walking with the quarterback. People didn't gawk at her outfit or laugh at her or slushy her. She felt a little safer knowing that if anyone tried to hurt her Finn would be her knight in shining armor and whisk her away to safety.
They arrived at the room, and Finn opened the door for the tiny brunette. He could also be a gentleman, especially to her.
She walked over to the piano and set her bag down onto the bench. Her eyes briefly glanced at the black and white keys, the same keys Quinn that had tickled a few weeks prior.
Rachel let a small smile dance over her lips, the haunting melody ringing in her ears, the same melody reminded her of her semi-unrequited feelings for Quinn.
"You can come in if you want, Finn," she said gently as she gestured for him to join her.
He smiled and nodded and went over to his usual seat and placed his backpack on the back of the chair. Then he came over to the piano.
"So, what song did you need to practice? I mean, Regionals is over, Rach. We kinda lost…"
Rachel bit her lip.
She could tell him that she has been working on a power ballad for the past week to convince Quinn that she should be with her.
She could also tell him that she is head over heels for Quinn Fabray.
"It is never too early to start preparing for next year's sectionals, Finn."
"Oh, okay then," he replied simply.
Rachel fiddled with the hem of her short skirt as Finn bit his thumb.
"Hey, Rach?"
He sounded like a five year old.
"Yes, Finn?" she said, a sigh escaping her lips.
"I'm sorry about what happened in the hospital. I just really didn't like seeing you all upset and everything. I really wanted to make you feel better so I said it was going to be okay. I didn't know you'd get so angry. If I had known that would have happened I'd of said it wasn't going to be okay or something."
His rambling amused the brunette, which was much different than her usual articulate strings of words. She looked at him, noticing his little dimple and innocent brown eyes, and couldn't be upset with him. He had never intended to upset her.
"It's alright, Finn. I was just stressed about Quinn, that's all. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
Finn beamed at Rachel and wrapped her into a bear hug, warming the diva in his arms. Once they pulled away, Finn grasped Rachel's tiny hand with his larger one.
"Does this mean you would maybe want to go out with me this Friday night? We could see that new alien movie and get dinner at that burger place a few blocks away from the theater. Plus they give you these cool glasses that make everything in the screen pop out so the aliens will be like out of the screen," Finn asked with a dopey grin.
Rachel gawked at the boy.
"As flattering as this all is Finn, I must decline."
Finn let go of her hand.
"Do you not like aliens? Because there's this other movie about a dog that's a super hero or that new Jennifer Anniston movie…"
"It's not the movie, Finn."
"Then what is it, Rachel? If you didn't want to go out with me then why are we here hugging and holding hands? Why did we kiss in the auditorium? Why did you make us those crazy calendars and go to all of my basketball games? I really like you, Rachel, more than Quinn and Santana and Brittany. Just tell me why you can't date me."
Finn was staring straight into her eyes hungry for the truth.
"Finn, I need to tell you something," Rachel began.
He leaned up against the piano and nodded for her to continue.
"Finn, I really like you. We've always had something special. I've known that since the first time I heard you sing. My feelings grew into something more, and I wanted more than the platonic relationship we had, even though you weren't available. Then after Quinn revealed the father of her child we were free to be together. I thought I'd be happy but I wasn't. I felt awful for telling you the truth because it hurt Quinn, but I tried to get over it and threw myself into our relationship."
Fin nodded. He had tried to erase that day from his memory. It was the most humiliating event of his life. Quinn broke his heart, and he still hated her for it.
"After we broke up, I was devastated for all of two hours until I met Jesse. He was me, but in a male body. He was talented, ambitious, not to mention a diva. He swept me off of my feet and before I knew it we were dating and I was falling, hard."
She took in a shaky breath.
"Then he dumped me too. I felt like- like there was something wrong with me. You dumped me, Jesse dumped me, and I felt so alone. Luckily, I wasn't the only person feeling alone. When Quinn performed her funk number, it was like I saw her for the first time. I saw how hurt she was, how lonely and guilty and humiliated she was. I figured that was something to bond over. We've gotten to know each other quite well and I-," she paused and took a deep breath.
Her usually overused mouth failed her.
"You, what?"
"We kissed."
Finn froze as the words registered in his mind.
"Do you like her?"
"Yes, I like her a lot," she breathed, avoiding the boy's eyes. "Finn, I'm sorry that I let this go on for so long. Had I known my sexual orientation I would have ended things much sooner. I just hope we can be friends because I really care about you, Finn. You are a great guy, and I cannot imagine not having you in my life."
Finn stared at her, dumbfounded at what she had just confessed. After about five minutes, he seemed to have processed what she had said.
"Friends? You- you like Quinn, my ex-girlfriend? Are you saying that you want to date the girl that broke my heart? She humiliated me, Rachel! I can't believe you're choosing her over me!"
"I'm sorry, Finn, please don't be upset. This isn't about sides I-,"
She was cut off by the sound of a chair hitting the wall. The boy was fuming.
"Whatever. Do what you want. Be a lesbian or whatever. We're done."
Finn stormed out of the room, hurling another chair into the wall, and slammed the door behind him.
Rachel let out a deep breath trying to relieve the guilt welling up inside. While she was relieved after telling the truth, it would probably be a while until he even looked at her again.
-/-
"I can't believe our girlfriends are lesbian lovers."
Finn and Puck sat in the Hudson's basement playing Call of Duty. Puck was kicking Finn's ass. It was eighth period, and both boys had another off period. They needed a good distraction from the drama in their lives; a game where they killed people with machine guns seemed like the perfect option.
"I know," Finn responded, shoveling a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
"Shit!"
"Yes! I finally got you!" Finn exclaimed happily.
"Only because you noob tubed me! Cheater!"
"Whatever I still killed you, and stopped your kill streak," Finn said with a glint of smugness behind his expression.
Puck rolled his eyes and paused the game.
"What are you doing?"
"Dude, how can you seriously care about a video game at a time like this? The loves of our lives dumped us for each other. I mean what the hell, man?"
Finn shrugged. He had sort of cooled down after playing video games for a while. It's amazing what killing computer animated people can do to a person's mood.
Puck sighed and leaned back in the armchair.
"Wait, does this mean that Quinn's a lesbian too?" Finn asked as his eyes widened at the realization.
Puck rolled his eyes yet again and resumed the game.
"No shit, Sherlock."
-/-
Quinn was released from the hospital. Her baby, however, was still in recovery and would remain there until she was deemed healthy.
Rachel had stayed with her every day for as long as she could, bringing along books, music, and any sort of entertainment. It seemed to brighten Quinn's mood, although the tension was still in the room from the other night's discussion.
Rachel sat in the choir room tapping her pen nervously against her notebook.
In the aftermath of Quinn's incident, the fate of Glee club had escaped Rachel's mind. They had lost which meant the club was over. The one good thing in her life was gone
The rest of the club filed in over the next ten minute, Mr. Schuester trailing in behind the kids. Everyone except Quinn was present. They all had a somber expression on their faces, all of them disappointed about the club's demise. Puck was sitting next to Finn who was glaring at Rachel, still hurt by his rejection.
"Okay guys. I know Regionals didn't go as planned, but we should be thankful that Quinn and her baby are alive and well. Now, in light of recent events, Principal Figgins has reevaluated the club's status. Because we never actually performed at Regionals, technically we lost by forfeit, so Principal Figgins has decided to give us another year to prove ourselves to him and the school."
The kids looked at one another, not believing what they were hearing.
"Come on, we've got another year!"
The club burst into applause, all of them more than happy that the club wasn't over. Rachel ran and hugged her teacher as the guys high fived, and the girls hugged and cheered.
Once they had all settled down, Mr. Scheuster went over to the piano and grabbed his ukulele. Just as he was about to start, a tall blonde walked into the room. She was wearing a pink dress that hugged her midline and a white headband with a lily on it.
The room fell silent.
She walked over to the teacher and whispered something into his ear. He smiled a bit before questioning her quietly. Rachel's stomach was invaded by a herd of butterflies. She smiled at Quinn who managed to look stunning despite the events that had transpired over the last week. Quinn walked over and spoke to the band that all nodded at her request.
"Hey, guys," she started softly, her hand subconsciously going to her now flat stomach. "I know it's been awhile, but I just wanted to thank you guys for everything. I-I've had a rough year, and I know that I couldn't have gotten through it without each and every one of you."
Almost everybody, except for Puck and Finn, nodded and smiled at the girl in the center of the room. Rachel remained silent. Quinn licked her lips and took a step towards the brunette fidgeting in her seat. The blonde smiled tenderly. Her hair seemed to shimmer under the lights.
"Rachel," she said quietly staring deeply into the brunette's eyes, "this song is for you."