Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"

A/N: I've been trying to get back to writing "You Can Do Better" but that requires me to write Finn as a decent human being and the one on the show has just been pissing me off week in and week out, so I came up with this to try to put myself back in the mindset of Finn Hudson, Reasonably Decent Person. Hope to have that update soon as well. In the meantime, enjoy.

Do You Remember When?

Finn Hudson was a happy man. It had taken him a while to get to happy. High school was a turbulent time for full soaring highs and crushing lows and after graduation, when nearly everyone he knew fled Lima and he was kind of stuck there he thought he might never be happy again, but little by little things had turned around. He and Blaine bonded, first over missing Kurt who was off in New York and then over other shared interests, music, sports, video games. He found he really enjoyed working in and eventually running Burt's shop. Taking something that didn't work and making it function again gave him a real sense of accomplishment. He never got to play college ball like he'd wanted but Coach Bieste or Shannon as he got to call her now which was still weird, had asked him to assistant coach The Titans after he graduated and he'd really enjoyed that as well. It kept him close to the game he loved.

His love life had been a wreck after high school. He'd had to fight with every fiber in his being to stop himself from begging Rachel to stay. He loved her like crazy and didn't want to lose her but he also didn't want her to stay for him. She might have, if he'd asked her, but he would be the only thing she was staying for. The entire rest of her life was leading her out of Lima so he had to let her go. After that he moped for most of the summer, and even after he'd stopped, he still couldn't talk to or even really look at any girl that reminded him of her. Brown hair, brown eyes, dark completion, short... he couldn't do any of it and the last one was really a problem because when you're 6'4" most girls are pretty short.

About eight months after graduation he met Erin O'Malley who solved all those problems for him, tall with fair skin, curly red hair and green eyes and just a hint of an Irish accent. Finn liked her immediately, and she liked him. They had a great deal in common and were smitten with one another from the outset, spending every free second with each other. Even they wouldn't have argued that getting married after only four months was really fast but they were happy together and they both had good jobs, so they reasoned that there wasn't good cause to wait.

Eva Chrystal Hudson entered the world nine months almost to the day after the wedding and everyone that knew Finn said they'd never seen him happier. She looked like her mom except for her dark brown hair and her lopsided smile which very clearly spoke of her father's influence.

Weekdays were hectic with lots of running around to get everything accomplished in their day, but every Sunday they had a routine. Finn would get up and start breakfast while Erin got Eva up. They'd have breakfast as a family, telling stories of their days, laughing and smiling. After breakfast, Erin would dress Eva up in one of her pretty dresses and got to church. Finn, outside of a week he'd spent praying to a grilled cheese sandwich, never had much in the way of faith, so when they were out the door, he would make his weekly phone call.

"Hello, Finn," came the voice of Rachel Berry over the phone, "It is wonderful to hear from you as always."

"It's good to talk to you, too, Rach." Erin knew about the weekly phone calls. They didn't keep secrets. Finn had let secrets destroy his relationship with Rachel… twice, so he was determined not to let it happen again. At first she wasn't sure what to think about her boyfriend making weekly calls to his ex-girlfriend. She didn't want to be controlling and say that he couldn't call her but she'd have been lying if she said it didn't bother her… until Rachel came out about her relationship with Quinn Fabray, that is.

"How is your lovely family?" she asked, every week, without fail.

"We're doin real good," he replied, "Y'know, we got the big birthday coming up this week."

"I know, it's positively unbelievable that your little girl is almost two," Rachel said, "I'm so very sorry that we will be unable to attend the festivities this year. I feel like a terrible aunt."

"No, it's cool, Rach. You guys have got busy lives. You can't just come rushing back to Lima every three months to see my kid. We already got the box full of presents you sent, and like the letter said the only thing she got to open early was your CD. That's really awesome. Oh, we saw you at The Grammys last week. You guys all looked great, you, Quinn, Mercedes, Santana, Brittany."

"Thank you very much. I'll pass you compliments along to your brother when I see him this afternoon."

"I already told Kurt that your dresses all looked great," Finn said, "How wild was it that Santana and Mercedes won and that you were the one presenting it to them? Were you jealous that they won a Grammy before you?"

Rachel laughed a little and replied, "You would certainly think that I would be. I expected myself to be, but when the time came I was just as proud as could be. They both worked so hard on their album and then the tour and all the publicity, and Santana actually answered thousands of questions without ever snapping at anyone."

"They totally deserved it. Erin can't stop listening to their album. It's crazy awesome," Finn said.

"As Santana would say, true that."

"Santana's acceptance speech was real nice, I thought, up until the 'Suck it Figgins' part anyways."

"Yes, that was entirely unnecessary," Rachel said laughing, "How's the football team?"

"Really good," Finn enthused, "You know, last week was the big rivalry week against Carmel and we shut them out. Shannon, you know Coach Bieste, was really pumped about that."

"Remind me," Rachel said, "shut them out means that Carmel scored no points, correct?"

"Yeah."

"A dominating victory," she said, "Be sure to tell the team that Rachel Berry said she was very proud of them in a job well done."

"Dude, they will be so pumped to hear that!"

"Really?"

"Rach, I tell you all the time that everybody here is like really proud of you guys. I wasn't just talkin about like just me and Puck or whatever, I mean everybody. Your dads' house is like a local landmark and stuff. Mr. Shue has a wait list for the Glee Club now cuz anybody who dreams of gettin out of Lima wants in since like five famous people were all in New Directions together. I think your mom is talkin about putting together a new group of Troubletones just so everyone can be in Glee."

"I knew the Glee Club was extremely popular," Rachel said, "but I guess it's such an alien concept to me that the football team is proud of us. I'm so use to thinking of athletics and the arts being in competition."

"Most of the football team is in Glee Club."

"Well, if they are that big of fans," Rachel said, "then tell them that if they make the State Championship then Quinn and I will be there to cheer them on."

"Are you serious?" he asked not quite believing, "They will flip out when I tell them that."

"I am extremely serious. It's very important to give back to the community and support those that support you," Rachel said.

"Then you can bet your Tony that they'll make it."

"While I know that you know I would never gamble with something so precious to me, I do understand you are merely being hyperbolic and I'm glad that I am such an inspiration to your team and I'm glad that you have such supreme confidence in your team, and I look forward to watching yet another triumphant victory for The Titans. Unfortunately, I am going to have to get off the phone soon."

"Yeah, me too," Finn said, "The lawn's not going to mow itself. You said you have a movie audition coming up, right? Was that this week?"

"It is, Thursday."

"Well then we'll all keep our fingers crossed for you, and good… I mean, break a leg."

"Thank you, Finn, and you be sure to take lots of pictures of Eva's birthday party and e-mail all of them to me. I do not have nearly enough pictures of that little angel."

"Rach, I've sent you like hundreds of pictures of her," Finn replied.

"Yes, as I said, not nearly enough," Rachel replied, "She is after all the first Glee baby… or well, the first one post-high school, anyway."

He just chuckled. "Alright Rach, will do. I'll talk to you next week."

"That you will, Mr. Hudson."

After hanging up with Rachel, Finn would collect his iPod and head outside to tend to his lawn. Some weeks he would just be watering it or pulling weeds from the flower beds around the yard or various other tasks but this week it needed mowed so he pull out the riding mower, started it up and took off. Regardless of the tasks at hand Finn still loved to listen to and most times to sing along to classic rock music. "Hey where did we go," he sang out his voice overpowered by the sound of the lawnmower, "Days when the rains came down in the hollow, playin' a new game, laughing and a running hey, hey. Skipping and a jumping in the misty morning fog with our hearts a thumpin' and you my brown eyed girl, you my brown eyed girl."

Finn missed seeing Rachel every day, missed her smile and her warm hugs and even her tendency to use words that he didn't understand. It's not that he didn't love his wife because he did, loved her with everything he had, in fact. He just missed Rachel.

"Whatever happened to Tuesday and so slow going down the old mine with a transistor radio standing in the sunlight laughing, hiding behind a rainbow's wall, slipping and sliding all along the water fall, with you my brown eyed girl, you my brown eyed girl."

Of course he'd wished she'd have been able to stay with him when they graduated but he also knew that she couldn't. If she had stayed, if she'd given up her dream of performing on Broadway, then the Rachel that he had loved, his Rachel would have died. Everything that made her who she was would have gone away, withered and dried up, and she'd have become someone else entirely and Finn had no idea if he would have loved that girl. If Rachel's mother was any indication as to what she'd have been like, he was pretty sure she wouldn't have. No, Rachel was always bound for New York.

"Do you remember when we used to sing, Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da."

They say you never really get over your first love, and for Finn Hudson that was certainly true. He'd moved on to the next great love in his life, and he wouldn't give her… them up for anything, but he hadn't and likely never would be completely over Rachel Berry. So he dealt with it through his Sunday morning ritual, a phone call followed by yard work while listening to Van Morrison sing a sad song about a brown eyed girl that got away… one that he hadn't fully gotten over.

"So hard to find my way, now that I'm all on my own. I saw you just the other day, my how you have grown, cast my memory back there, Lord. Sometime I'm overcome thinking 'bout making love in the green grass behind the stadium with you my brown eyed girl. You my brown eyed girl."

He would finish mowing in about an hour, just in time for Erin and Eva to get home from church. Finn would put Eva down for her nap while Erin made sandwiches for lunch. They would eat quickly, shower together and make love after. If they had time, they would catch a nap of their own until Eva woke up and they would spend the evening as a family doing family things. The next day would bring the return of their busy, busy lives, but Sunday was just for them, and for that Finn Hudson was a happy man.

"Do you remember when we used to sing Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da?"