FOREVER YOURS

"Highway run
Into the midnight sun"

Finn smiled confidently when the first two lines of his song already brought a few cheers from the crowded New York theater. This was it.

"Wheels go round and round
You're on my mind"

"Restless hearts
Sleep alone tonight,"

A few more cheers came when Rachel stepped out onto the huge stage into view.

"Sending all my love
Along the wire"

"And they say that the road
Ain't no place to start a family
But right down the line
It's been you and me
And loving a music man
Ain't always what it's supposed to be"

Finn looked across to the other side of the stage to where Rachel was.

"Oh girl, you stand by me."

Rachel turned back to face him and responded with.

"I'm forever yours
Faithfully"

"They're doing amazing out there," said Kurt. "How on earth are we supposed to follow that up?"

"Hey, it was your fault that they decided to do that song," said Tina.

"Was not," said Kurt.

"Was too!" said Tina.

Three days earlier, Kurt and Rachel had been munching bagels outside of Tiffany's in New York. "I'm just having such a hard time with this, Kurt," said Rachel. "I know I belong in New York, and I know I belong with Finn. The question is, where do I belong more?"

Kurt laughed in spite of himself. "You do realize we haven't even put together a set list for nationals yet? You are getting a bit ahead of yourself."

"I know," said Rachel. "But picture this. Finn decides to stay in Ohio with Lily, I come here and I meet some ridiculously handsome guy and fall in love with him, so I break up with Finn, then that other guy turns out to be just like Jesse and either cheats on me or dumps me over something stupid, and meanwhile Finn had moved on and married, I don't know, Brittany, and has three more kids, and I spend the entire rest of my singing career writing heartfelt songs about the one who got away…"

"Rachel, slow down!" said Kurt. "First of all, I won't let that happen, which I know because I'm coming with you. Second of all, just because you and Finn are inevitably going to be apart from each other for a long time doesn't mean you can't still be faithful."

"That's it!" said Rachel.

"Told you you were getting ahead of yourself," said Kurt.

"And now I know what Finn and I are going to sing for nationals, too," said Rachel. "Come on, let's get back to the room and make everyone rehearse!"

And now here they were.

"I'm still yours
I'm forever yours
Ever yours
Faithfully"

The crowd exploded as the other members of New Directions made their way out onto the stage slowly. It wasn't time for the whole group to sing yet. First there was a solo that had taken forever to decide who would sing.

"I think we should do an original song for the solo!" Rachel had said. "Like the one I wrote."

"Not a bad idea," said Mr. Shu. "It's a risk, but it might just be the one we need to take!"

"I could write a song about Artie," said Tina.

"I could write a song about myself," said Sunshine.

"I could write a song about my cup," said Brittany.

"And if we can't think of anything else, we could always write songs about Sam's mouth," said Santana. Sam glared at her.

"Maybe instead we should all try to write a song for the group number," said Mr. Shue.

Meanwhile, Finn was in his room talking on the phone. "How's she doing? Taking her medicine okay? Good. Glad to hear it. I'll call you on skype after she wakes up. Love you too, Mom. Talk to you later."

"Hey."

Finn turned around. There was Rachel standing in the doorway to the boys' hotel room. He smiled. "What's going on?"

"I was wondering if you'd take a walk with me," said Rachel. "Sorry you had to leave Lily behind. It must be hard."

"It's okay," said Finn. "She's probably happier at home anyway, and I think Mom and Mrs. Fabray are having a field day taking turns fussing over her. I miss her though. It's hard being this far apart from your sick kid."

"If you wanna stay in and just see a movie instead, that's fine," said Rachel.

"Nah," said Finn. "Let's get out."

"If you insist," said Rachel, quickly giving Finn a peck on the cheek and taking his hand.

As they walked past the girls' hotel room, they saw Puck standing outside the door. "Puck, what are you doing?" said Rachel. "If you're looking for Lauren, she went to go see some wrestling match. If not, then you're seriously being creepy."

"Actually, I was waiting for you," said Puck.

Rachel's eyebrows went up. "Oh?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the song you wrote," said Puck. "I want to sing it."

Rachel starred at him for a moment. Then Finn covered his mouth to keep from laughing and she bit her tongue. "It was kind of written for me to sing."

"It would obviously suit me better," said Puck. "You've been in love with Finn this whole time and backed the hell off until Quinn was out of the picture, and I was in love with Quinn this whole time and tore them apart, and I'm never gonna stop hating myself for that until after I get up and sing that song in front of a crowd." Finn and Rachel didn't say anything. "I can totally pull it off. Listen." He took a deep breath. "What have I done? Wish I could run. Away from this…"

At that, Finn was unable to stop himself from bursting out laughing. "Dude! Come talk to me for a second."

"Um, I have to go talk to Santana about our group number," said Rachel. She quietly zipped off.

"Maybe it'll work better if I try to sing with my voice higher, like hers," said Puck.

"Don't you dare," said Finn. "You don't have to do this at all."

"Why?" said Puck. "Don't you hate me for ruining your relationship with Quinn?"

"You didn't," said Finn. "You were wrong too, but you aren't the one who cheated and then lied to me. Besides, I can't hate you. You're the reason Lily exists."

"And the reason she doesn't have a mother!" Puck blurted out.

Finn was startled. "You can't blame yourself for the fact that she died, Puck. Blame it on the alcohol. Blame it on the road. Blame it on her father for turning her away. But you can't blame yourself. Trust me. I've been there."

Puck nodded. Of course he had. Quinn may not have ended up driving drunk that night if Finn hadn't kicked her out. He hadn't thought of that.

"Tell Rachel she can have her solo," said Puck with a smile.

"I will," said Finn. "She'll be happy. And relieved."

Even Puck had to chuckle at that. "By the way, I bought Lily a present for her first birthday. Is that okay?"

"Sure," said Finn. "What did you get her?"

"A skateboard," said Puck. "She's old enough for that, right?"

Finn tried not to laugh. "She'll get there."

"Great," said Puck. "Well, I'll see you tonight."

"Yeah, see you," said Finn. "Oh wait, Puck?"

"Yeah?"

"Make sure you sign the birthday card "From Puck"," okay?" said Finn.

"Of course," said Puck. "Do you think…" he hesitated. "That she'll ever know that I'm her birth father?"

"I don't think so," said Finn. "Some words are just better left unspoken."

"I know," said Puck.

Finn forced himself not to think about Puck or Lily as Rachel belted out the last few lines of her song.

"How many times will it take?
To get it right?
To get it ri-i-ight."

The crowed broke into thunderous applause as she skipped back over to the rest of the group and all turned around. The band switched gears as soon as the applause quieted, and they began to sing their group number.

"Yeah, you may think
That I'm a zero
But hey, everyone you wanna be
Probably started off like me
Yeah, you may say
That I'm a freak show
But hey, give me just a little time
I bet you're gonna change your mind
Cause all of the dirt
You've been throwing my way
It ain't so hard to take
That's right
And I know one day
You'll be screaming my name
And I'll just look away"

Rachel loved that part. She had been busy rehearsing on her own and with Finn while the rest of her team had been putting together the song, but one got the feeling that Kurt had come up with most of the lyrics

"Hit me with the worst you got
And knock me down
'Cause baby I don't care
Keep it up and soon enough you'll figure out
You wanna be
You wanna be
A loser like me

And they knew they had won.