DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy!

Chapter Two: House Rules

The atmosphere in the SUV was tense after Kurt dropped Blaine off at his house on the way home. Rachel was still staring out of the backseat window, in awe of the houses and the perfectly trimmed lawns that symbolized the epitome of Americana. She was completely unaware of the fact that Finn and Kurt were freaking out in the front seat about the shit storm that was about to occur in the Hummel-Hudson household when they walked in the front door.

"My father is going to kill me," he whispered to Finn while Rachel pointed at things and "oohed" from the backseat.

"We just gotta keep our cool. He's not going to throw her out on the street," he said, furrowing his brow. "Would he?"

Kurt shook his head. "I don't think he's that cruel, but at this point, I can't be certain. I need to see his initial reaction and find some way to break it to him easy."

"Mon Dieu!" cried Rachel from the backseat. "'Ze houses are so big!"

"Is that the only adjective she knows?" Kurt snapped as they turned down their block. Finn shot him a stern look as he peeked at Rachel from the rear-view mirror. Her mouth was puckered open and a small gasp escaped her lips when they pulled into the driveway next to the other cars of the house.

"So many cars. . ." she said, hopping out of the backseat. She took her small, pink rolling luggage and handbag while Finn took her heavier luggage out of the truck. She blushed and shot him a shy "Merci" as she wheeled her bag towards the house. He was getting more and more nervous by the second as he pictured his step-father's furious face, so instead he focused on Rachel and her amusing reactions to her surroundings. She had to crane her neck in order to take in the entire front facade of the house, and her eyes grew wide as they approached the front door.

"It's a château," she whispered to herself as Kurt unlocked the front door. He pushed himself through the door before Rachel, hoping that his massive frame hid her from sight as he spotted his Mom and Burt in the kitchen. A banner that said "Bienvenue!" was hanging across the dining room and there was place settings for five people on the table as his parents entered the living room. Kurt and Finn stood in front of Rachel to hide her from view until the very last moment. His mouth felt ridiculously dry as he gulped in anticipation.

"So?" his mother said, grinning in anticipation. "Where is he?"

Finn and Kurt took one look at each other before nodding their heads and stepping to the side to reveal the concealed foreigner behind them. Kurt sighed as the blood drained from their parent's faces. "I present to you, Miss Rachel Beri, from Paris."

It was so silent in the living room that Finn thought he had suddenly gone deaf from the stress of the moment. His parents just stared at her like they had never seen a teenage girl before. Burt looked like he was about to say something when Rachel suddenly approached them with her rolling luggage still in hand and a bright "Bonjour tout le monde!" falling from her lips as Finn and Kurt stared at the scene unfolding in front of them in horror.

She was speaking a strange mix of French and broken English she she approached Burt. "I come with gifts pour vous!" Dropping her luggage on the ground, she quickly unzipped it, pulling out a scarf and wrapping it around Burt's neck before giving him twin kisses on each cheek. "For 'ze Papa, a warm écharpe for 'ze cold American winters." She approached Carole and wrapped one around her neck as well, giving her kisses as Carole laughed with a smile. "And one pour Mama aussi!" She seemed to reach her limit with English, and switched to French as Kurt rushed to translate.

"She says that she spent her entire life in Paris and always dreamed about coming to America," he said, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as Finn listened to her speak her native tongue. "Wow, she's speaking so fast I can barely follow her. . . she's saying something along the lines of living the American dream and experiencing our culture and perfecting the language. She promises to improve her English soon, she says she just needs some practice." Rachel looked at Burt and smiled.

"I have two Papa's chez moi!" She said brightly and without shame. "And now I have Américain papa!" Turning to Carole, she grasped her hands in hers and squeezed them. "And I finally have a Mama! I am so happy!"

Carole smiled at the girl, and for a moment Finn thought his mother might cry. "Oh Burt, she is precious!" She took Rachel into her arms and hugged her tightly while Rachel reciprocated. "Can we keep her?"

Burt instantly went from a pale shade of white to a dark shade of red as his shock was quickly replaced by anger. "Carole, she is not a stray cat, she is a teenage girl! We have two boys living under this roof and we were not planning for this." Rachel looked between Burt and Carole, not understanding them while Finn and Kurt watched the argument unfold.

"What do you expect us to do? Send her away? This is her dream, and we promised her a place to stay. We can't go back on our word now." Carole was stroking Rachel's hair as she glanced at her husband. "Besides, I always did secretly want a daughter."

"Hey!" Finn said, feeling slightly offended.

"Sorry, honey, but it's true. I think Rachel will be very happy here," Carole said, shooting Burt a knowing look that Finn did not understand. "As long as you set up some rules in order to keep this house functioning as normal, I don't see any problem with having her stay with us." Burt nodded his head grimly as Carole rubbed Rachel on her shoulders. "Come dear, let's get you unpacked while Burt talks to the boys."

As Carole led Rachel away, Finn got the sinking feeling in his chest that he was about to get yelled at as the ladies went upstairs. He made eye contact with Rachel for a split second and she was practically glowing with happiness as she waved goodbye to him, which made him smile.

Unfortunately, that smile instantly turned into a grimace as he turned to face his step-father. He was glaring at Kurt with a deep frown on his face and he looked so tense that Finn worried about his health.

"What the hell happened, Kurt?" he roared when the girls were out of earshot. "I thought this guest was supposed to be a boy!"

"I'll just be going now. . ." Finn said, trying to back out of the room. It wasn't his fault that Kurt had messed up on his application, why did he have to get yelled at for it? But Burt pointed to Finn and gave him a stern look as well.

"Don't you move an inch, Finn. This concerns you too." Finn groaned but complied as he plopped himself down on the couch. Kurt sat next to him as Burt started to pace around the living room, weighing his options. "Alright, here's the deal, now that she's staying with us she is my responsibility, so my rules are going to be law from now on."

"Yes, sir," the boys repeated.

"Good," Burt sighed, still overwhelmed with the turn of events. "So how did this happen again?"

Kurt heaved a sigh as he rubbed his temples. "I messed up on the application and they sent a girl because they thought I was one too." Burt shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Alright, rule number one, under no circumstances are you to go in her room. Either of you. The guest room is off limits to anything with a Y chromosome." The boys nodded their heads in unison as he continued. "Second rule, she is not allowed in your bedrooms at all. If you want to socialize you have to do it downstairs with parental supervision."

"But Dad, she's here to learn from us, how can we limit where she goes around the house? What if she wants to borrow one of my DVD's, or use Finn's computer? She's not a prisoner, she's our guest!" Burt frowned and thought about it for a moment before relenting.

"Fine, if she has to be in either of your rooms for any reason, the door must be kept open at all times and an adult must be home. I'm serious."

"We get it, we get it," Kurt said as Burt turned to Finn with his eyes narrowed.

"And you just better watch yourself around her." Finn shot up in his seat and stared at his step-father, exasperated.

"What did I do?" Finn asked. "None of this was my fault!"

"I know it wasn't your fault, but I don't have to worry about Kurt crushing on the cute little French girl. If I can't trust you in the house with her then we're going to have to resort to drastic measures."

Finn looked at Kurt for clarification but his step-brother just shrugged his shoulders. "You're not going to kick her out, will you?" Finn asked as Burt shook his head.

"I can't ask her to leave because I'm legally responsible for her now, but I can send you away until she leaves as a precaution." Finn shot to his feet, completely flabbergasted at the turn of events as he faced off against Burt.

"Why does it feel like I'm getting punished for something I didn't even do? This is ridiculous!"

"It won't be an issue if we all follow the rules and adhere to the boundaries that I'm setting. I don't want to be the bad guy here, but now I'm responsible for a young, impressionable French teenage girl, and if she wants to be treated like a part of the family, then I'm going to protect her like she's really my daughter."

"But I'm your step-son!" Finn said, almost yelling. It just wasn't fair! "Don't you trust me?"

"I do, Finn. I do. But now that we have Rachel here the rules are going to be a lot more strict for the next eight weeks. As long as everyone follows them, then we won't have any problems." Burt clamped a hand on Finn's shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes. "We clear, son?"

"Yeah," Finn said, brushing his hand off. "Crystal." There was a beat of silence before Kurt jumped of of the couch with a clap of his hands.

"Well, now that we're all settled, I think I'll go check up on dinner. . ." Kurt took two steps before Burt turned his anger towards his son.

"Not so fast, boy. You're doing extra duty at the shop to make up for all the stress you're causing Carole and I and if I hear any complaints, then you're not allowed to go to Miami Beach with the girls for spring break."

"Dad!" He cried in horror.

"Don't you dare! Don't think you're going to get away with this just because I don't have to worry about you falling for the French girl." Speaking of the French girl, his mother and Rachel chose the perfect moment to come back downstairs and join the men as the dinner timer went off in the kitchen.

"I feel like a princesse," she said, staring around the house in wonder. "Your house is très belle, Madame Uh-mell."

"Thank you dear," Carole beamed at the young girl. "But please, call me Carole."

"Rachel," Burt called to her as she joined them in the living room. "There are some things we need to talk about."

"D'accord," she said with a tentative smile. "Is there a problème?"

"Well, yes," Burt said, which caused Rachel to frown deeply.

"Did I do something bad?" She asked, her face falling.

"There are some things we need to discuss." He turned to his son. "Kurt, please translate for me so she understands fully." Kurt stepped forward and began to translate for Rachel's benefit. "While your here, you have to follow our rules, and right now we have to make sure to keep you separated from the boys, so you can't go into their bedrooms unless the door is open and there's an adult in the house. Do you understand?"

"Oui," she said, a determined look on her face as she nodded. For a split second, her eyes met his from across the room and he had to look away. It was like she was reading his mind. He felt like she could see right through him.

"And the boys aren't allowed in your bedroom either, unless we're home and the door is open."

"Oui," she said firmly, nodding her head once more. "I promise."

Burt smiled warmly at the girl and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Welcome to the family."

Dinner was an amusing affair. Rachel gushed about the food and the size of the house and the number of cars that the family owned throughout the entire meal. She promised to go food shopping after school just so she could cook them dinner the next night, and the family seemed excited about the French cuisine she was going to serve. Finn enjoyed trying to translate her multi-lingual conversations and listening to her speak with her native French accent. She really was adorable, but Burt's warnings were still ringing in his ear like alarm bells, just waiting to go off.

He didn't doubt for a second that Burt was serious about his threat to send Finn away; he'd done it once before during sophomore year because of an incident with Kurt where he'd used a homophobic slur towards him, and even though he hadn't really meant it in a vicious way Burt had kicked him out of the house for a while. Deep down, he knew that Burt wouldn't hesitate to do it again if Finn broke his rules about Rachel, and he decided to keep himself at a safe distance from her at all times. He immediately went upstairs after dinner to play video games instead of watching TV with Rachel and his family, just so he could avoid her.

The clock on his bedside said 9:30 when he heard a soft knock on his door, and he turned around to find Rachel standing in his door-frame, looking amused as she stared around the room.

"Um, hi," he said awkwardly, trying not to fall off of his computer chair as he maneuvered it around to face her. She had changed from her day clothes into a pair of matching pink pajamas, and her shoulder length hair was loosely braided as it draped over her shoulder. He was only in sweatpants and a white t-shirt, so he couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious around her.

"Bonsoir," she said, looking at the posters around the room. Her eyes landed on the drum kit in the far corner and her face lit up with excitement. "Ah, c'est genial!" She said, crossing the threshold of his room and approaching the instrument. "You play?"

"Yeah, I love the drums. I've been playing since I was a little kid." He was nervous that she was now fully immersed in his bedroom, breaking the important cardinal rule of the house. "But, like, you're not supposed to be in here." He hated sounding like a dweeb, but he'd rather admire her from afar than get kicked out of the house and not see her at all.

"Ah, les règles," she sighed. "But 'ze door is open," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

He looked at the open door and forced a smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Unfortunately, that didn't stop his heart from racing a mile a minute. When was the last time any girl was in his bedroom besides his mom? He had no idea as she lightly tapped the cymbal with her fingertip, creating a sharp, tinny sound.

"You play for me soon," she demanded, nodding her head. "And I will sing for you."

"Okay," he agreed, wondering about her musical skills. "Do you like to sing?"

"Oui!" She said, very enthusiastic. "C'est ma passion."

"Your passion?" he repeated.

"Oui," her eyes were twinkling with excitement.

"Are you coming to glee club practice tomorrow?" He asked, knowing that she would enjoy it.

"Glee club?" She said, repeating the foreign word. "What is glee club?"

"Me and Kurt are in it. We sing, dance, and get to perform in competitions. You'll love it."

"I do not think I understand," she said with a frown.

"That's okay, you'll see tomorrow," she looked excited at the prospect of learning about glee club, and as much as he wanted her to stay in his room and chat, he knew that he could get in massive trouble for it if Burt were to come upstairs. It was still only her first day here, and if he got caught breaking the house rules on the first night then his parents were never going to trust him again. "You should get to bed. Tomorrow is a big day."

"Big day?" She repeated with eyes wide.

"Yeah, it's your first day of American school," he said as she clapped her hands together happily. A random thought entered his head as he walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out a tiny, pocket-sized book. "Here, this is for you," he said, handing it over to her.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" She asked, turning through the pages and glancing up at him with wide eyes.

"It's a thesaurus. Kurt slipped it in my stocking this year in hopes that it would increase my vocabulary, but I think you'll get more use out of it then I will." Her eyes glanced through the pages and her excitement increased by the second.

"It's a book of English words!" She said, her face glowing.

"Yeah, so you can practice and learn more words," she held the book to her chest and hugged it tightly.

"Merci bien, Feen," she said, backing out of the room and opening the book. "You are very. . ." she turned the pages until she found the word she was looking for. ". . .Chivalrous. Un gentilhomme." He didn't know what a "jenty-um" was, but he hoped it was good. "Bonne soirée!" She said before disappearing out of sight.

"Bonne soirée," he repeated, waving at his door like a fool. Kurt walked past his door a second later and saw him standing there, waving like a complete dweeb at nothing with a stupid grin on his face.

"What the heck are you doing?" He asked, exasperated, snapping Finn out of his French-induced trance.

"Quick, Kurt, what's a 'jenty-um'?" Finn asked in a rush and Kurt looked at him like he was crazy.

"A what?"

"A 'jenty-um', she called me a 'jenty-um,' what does it mean?"

It took a second before Kurt could understand what he was saying. "A gentilhomme? She really called you that?" Finn nodded and a knowing smile appeared on Kurt's face. "It means she thinks you're a gentleman," he laughed. "Maybe dad was right about those rules." His heart was racing at the implication, but he glared at his brother for the remark about the omnipresent rules.

"Burt has nothing to worry about. I don't plan on breaking the rules anytime soon."

"Yes, but what about the princess? All she needs is a noble knight to make her fairy tale complete."

"Just go to bed," Finn said trying to ignore Kurt's comments. "We've all got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. She's going to be shadowing your every move all day for the next eight weeks, so you better be prepared for this."

"Oui, bien sur," he groaned, is voice heavy with sarcasm. "I can't wait." Kurt shuffled into his room, probably to call Blaine about face wash, while Finn stood in the hallway and stared at Rachel's closed door. She was so close to him, but unless he broke Burt's staunch rules, there was no way they could be anything other than friends. She probably had a boyfriend in France anyway, he thought to himself bitterly as he returned to his video games in lieu of going to bed. She was here to learn, and after eight weeks she would be gone for good.

But until then, he was going to make sure she had the best American experience ever.

She was a part of the family now, after all.

Merci mille fois, mes amis!

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