Part Twenty-One

"Are you sure they're both going to be here?" Brittany asked nervously before getting out of the car.

"Britts, I gots this!" Santana reassured her, "I told Quinn that if she came to this party then I won't give her the whole 'lady loving' stuff anymore."

"What about Finn?" She asked, "he didn't exactly seem in the party mood today."

"Well I told him there'd be lots of alcohol and you'd be drunk so you'd be dancing half naked… I don't think he could resist" Santana told her, winking.

"I can't believe you're pimping me out just to get these two together. Are you sure neither of them know the other one will be here?" she asked, still nervous.

"I'm positive! When do my plans ever go wrong?" Santana remarked, taking Brittany's hand and leading her towards the bonfire, "Look, lover boy is right there, stop worrying or he's gunna realise something is up." Brittany took a deep breath and composed herself.

"Hey, Finn!" she called, dragging Santana over to him, they sat down next to him at the bonfire and he handed them both a drink.

"Hi, are these all people from our school? I don't even recognise half of the people here…" he told them looking around.

"That's what happens when you have a party in the middle of nowhere, what do you expect? Bouncers?" Santana asked him.

"Hey, I didn't throw it, what's with the attitude?" he asked, feeling defensive.

"I'm mad at you," she explained, "and it will stay that way 'til you man up and fix things with Quinn. Seriously, even Beth is less of a little girl than you are."

"San!" Brittany scolded her, giving Finn an apologetic look.

"It's ok, Brit, San's right,"

"As always," Santana added smirking.

"But I don't see what the point is," he told them, sighing and taking another gulp of his drink, "You didn't see her face when I was with her in the parking lot last week… She doesn't even want me to try."

"Yeah, well you don't see her face every time we say your name," Santana told him.

"It's like she forgets she's supposed to be mad at you for a few seconds and she's all lovey-dovey smiling," Brittany cut in.

"And then she remembers and starts glaring again, it's all an act you know, her being mad at you," Santana told him.

"She's just trying to convince herself she doesn't want you because she's trying to swear off boys or something," Brittany explained.

"Which leads to a totally different conversation that she just refuses to have with me," Santana added, smirking.

"Not the time, baby," Brittany warned her.

"Listen, girls, thanks for trying to help, but she's made it pretty clear to me how she feels, I'm a mistake. Can I not just get drunk and pretend to be happy?" he asked.

"We're not dropping this, Finn, but I suppose a bit of time off couldn't hurt," Brittany told him.

"A toast!" Santana declared, raising her cup. Brittany and Finn did the same, "to denial!" she shouted, earning her a nudge in the ribs from Brittany.

Brittany pulled away from Santana's lips and turned to Finn to continue their conversation but he was staring off into the distance instead. She followed his line of sight and saw Rachel dancing with an incredibly drunk Puck.

"Finn don't you dare even think about it," she chastised him, "You know bad for each other you were!"

"I'm not thinking about it, I was just thinking about how fast she moved on this time," he told her, "it feels weird, I never realised how obsessed and possessive and stalkerish she still was until she stopped. It feels kinda, liberationing…"

"You mean liberating," Santana told him.

"Yeah, that…" he said still watching Rachel. Santana nudged Brittany and nodded in the opposite direction. She turned and saw Quinn getting out of her car.

"You ready?" Brittany whispered.

"I've got to go," Santana told her making sure Finn noticed, she turned to him, "I've got a special surprise to remind you and Quinnie-bee how much you actually love each other," she told him, giving him a wink and then running off.

"What the… wait! Quinn is here?" he asked Brittany, panicking.

"Yep! She's over there, let's go say hello!" she said, cheerfully. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards Quinn.

"You planned this didn't you, I swear to got Brittany, if you planned this I'm going to be so pissed off!" he warned her.

"Yeah, yeah, you can thank me in the morning," she turned and beamed at him, then continued dragging him towards Quinn. "Hey, Quinn! Good to see you, anyway, you two probably have a lot to talk about, so like… bye!" she beamed at them both and ran off to find Santana, laughing lightly.

"I should have known this was a trap," Quinn said, more to herself than Finn. "I'm gunna go…"

"Wait, Quinn, don't leave! She was right…" Finn told her, pleadingly.

"Finn, we have nothing to talk about, I'm just going to go home, this was a mistake…"

"For fucks sake Quinn! Stop being so damn proud!" he shouted, feeling frustrated.

"Excuse me?" she said, offended.

"I love you, Quinn, but sometimes I really wish you would open up more and stop shutting yourself off!"

"We are so not going down this road again!"

"Quinn! Don't you get it? I'm worried about you!" he told her, still feeling frustrated. "Every time something bad or scary happens to you, you just shut down so you don't have to feel it, but what if they never go away? What if one day when you finally let your guard down, all these bad things from your past are still there and they just tear you apart because you never dealt with them before?"

"It's none of your business Finn!"

"Actually, you're wrong! It is my business, because I love you and I want to be with you! Which means I want to be there when your wall comes down and you need someone to help you deal with everything."

"I don't need someone to help me deal with them!"

"Yes you do! I get it Quinn, you're strong, you're stronger than anyone I've ever met, but that doesn't mean you need to do everything alone! Nobody should have to be alone when they're upset, even if they want to be…" he added, his voice softening. She looked away from him, remembering when she had said the same thing to him, but he placed his hand gently on her cheek and turned her to look at him. She bit her lip in frustration, her eyes welling up.

"Please, Quinn, I love you. Please just give me one more chance to prove it to you," he begged.

"I can't go through losing you again, Finn," she told him, "I know one of us will just fuck up again and… can you promise me that we won't fuck it up this time?"

"No… I can't promise that," he told her honestly, "You know when I look at Santana and Brittany… It's weird; we're still pretty much kids, but I just know they're meant to be together forever, they're perfect."

"What's that got to-" she began to ask, but he ignored her continuing on.

"But we're not, we're screwed up and we're a mess and we should never be able to work together," he told her, causing tears to run down her face. "But we do… we do work and somehow after everything we always come back to each other.

"I can't promise that I won't fuck up again, because I'm useless and you deserve better than me. Honestly, you're too good for anyone else on this planet, not just me. But I can promise that I will do everything I can to prevent me fucking up and if I do and we break up again, no matter what happens I will still fight for you and never give up on us.

"A few weeks ago I truly though I had nothing in my life except for Rachel, but then I realised that was just what she wanted me to think. I was miserable like that, thinking she was all I had left. But with you, I don't care if you're the only good thing in my life or if you're the best of many, as long as you're a part of my life I'll be happy." He laughed, sounding slightly crazy as he let all his pent up feelings out.

"You know, I was actually going to ask you to marry me to prove how committed to this I am," he told her.

"You what?" she asked, in shock.

"I changed my mind though, sort of. We're way too young, too stupid… especially me. But I have a better idea, give me a year; give me a whole year after we graduate. In this one year, no matter what arguments we have, no matter what happens to us and no matter who tries to force themselves between us, Rachel, Puck or someone new, we will stay together. I'll be yours and you'll be mine, no matter what. Then at the end of that year, if you still love me and you can look back on that year without wishing you were never with me, if at the end of that year you still want me, give me another year. Then another and another and another and then when we know we can do this, then I'll ask you to marry me.

"When we know it's not just some teenage fantasy, if we can make it through high school and graduation, the summer, college and getting a job and all those other obstacles – and I'm pretty sure we can – we can make it through anything, because most couples don't even make it through the first hurdle.

"I can promise that much, if it's not enough then just remember I love you, good luck with Yale and I hope one day we'll find each other again like we always do" He kissed her on the cheek and wiped away more of her tears. "Just think about it, okay?"

"I used to think first loves were forever, but I was wrong…" she said, making him sick with disappointment.

"I understand," he told her beginning to walk away.

"Finn wait, you need to let me finish," he turned back to her to see her smiling slightly.

"First loves aren't forever, you might always remember them and they might always be important to you, but most of the time they end. That's why they call it a first love, because you are supposed to have more than one, because it ends. But that's what makes what we have so special, you were my first love Finn, and after Puck and Rachel and Sam and Brittany and Santana… for both of us… we still love each other, you stood by me when I was pregnant, Puck barely even stood by me and it was his baby. We have both made so many mistakes and yet somehow you still make me think that maybe first loves can be forever… One year," she paused, seeming to consider his idea. "I've been in love with you for more than three, one is a piece of cake," she pulled him into a kiss and he felt sparks shoot through his entire body; he kissed back ferociously. Every touch made him feel fireworks again, then he realised he didn't just feel them; he could hear them.

He pulled away from the kiss and opened his eyes to see Quinn's face being lit up by flashes of orange, red and blue.

"I've got to go," Santana told Brittany making sure Finn noticed, she turned to him, "I've got a special surprise to remind you and Quinnie-bee how much you actually love each other," she told him, giving him a wink and then running off.

'Santana is a genius…' he though to himself. He watched the fireworks for a few moments before turning back to Quinn, she grinned at him making him grin right back. He rested his forehead on hers, taking her hands in his.

"Fireworks…"

The End

A/N: Thank you for reading :) I was gunna go on a break from multi-chapters but after what happened last episode I have an idea for a Fuinn fic that I might write. (the thing is I bet someone else will have had the same idea and will probably it better than me :P it'll depend how much I like what I write on whether I actually post it since there's most likely going to be a hell of a lot of 'after the accident' fics for the next few weeks xD)