A/N: So this is it, the breakup chapter, but keep in mind, there wouldn't be a chapter for them to get back together without breaking up first. An extra special, above the moon thanks to collaborator and beta anothergleekgirl. Enjoy!

Kurt opened his Valentine package from Blaine, a Soda Stream Machine, complete with seven different soda mixes. Blaine had told him that these machines were all the rage in Lima, and it wouldn't be long till the machines became popular on the East Coast as well. Kurt was not so sure as he fiddled with the manual, but Blaine had been sweet and he wanted to at least try to enjoy his gift. He had sent Blaine a set of new silk bow ties, to dress up his wardrobe for senior year.

A knock at the door pulled Kurt away from his machine. "Just as well," Kurt muttered, tucking the machine under his arm. "Coming!" Opening the door, the machine fell to the floor with a thud. "Finn!"

"Hey man," Finn said, patting his brother on the arm. He looked down at the machine on the floor. "Need some help?"

"Maybe it's broken," Kurt said quickly, kicking the machine aside, not bothering to check if it was in one piece.

"Sure," Finn said slowly, slinging his duffle bag on his shoulder. "Got a hug for your brother?" Finn and Kurt or 'Furt' had become close over the years, and there was never a need to add the 'step' prefix to their brotherly titles.

"Always." Kurt pulled his brother in for a hug, allowing Finn to envelop him in his arms. Kurt inhaled. "You smell great," he commented.

"I'm using the aftershave you got me for Christmas – it's a big hit on the base."

"Glad to know that my good taste translates elsewhere."

Finn looked around the room. "Where's Rachel?"

Kurt nearly tripped on the carpet. "Rachel is out," he said slowly, attempting a recovery.

"Out alone in the city on Valentine's Day?"

"Not exactly. Did she know you were coming?"

"Nope – it's a surprise."

"Oh – she'll be surprised," Kurt said under his breath. "Let me show you Rachel's room. She's got the bigger bed – you know her, everything about her is big."

"One of the many things I love about her."

"Do our parents know that you're here?" Kurt asked, fishing for information.

"Mom and Burt know, but I asked them not to say anything."

"Well they kept their word," Kurt muttered, feeling a quick pang of resentment that he was left out.

"If you don't mind, I'll wait here for Rachel. If you have other plans or anything…"

"I just finished my Valentine chat with Blaine, no other plans."

"Glad you two are working things out."

"So am I. You know he may be coming out to New York in the fall. There's a lot of great things about New York," Kurt offered.

"Um hmm." Finn kicked off his shoes. "Did Rachel say anything about where she was or when she'll be back?"

"Her plans were last minute."

Finn nodded his head. "Is she with that guy?"

Kurt sighed, sitting with Finn on Rachel's bed. There didn't seem a point in pretending that Brody didn't exist, or that Finn didn't know about him. "She…"

"Kurt, we're back!"

Kurt quickly stood up, cut off by Rachel entering the apartment.

"We?" Finn asked dubiously.

"We're in here," Kurt said, cluing Rachel into the fact that he wasn't alone.

"Is Blaine here to surprise you?" Rachel asked as she stepped into the entryway of her bedroom. "Oh," she said quietly, seeing Finn on her bed.

"Surprise!" Finn said cheerfully, crossing to her. As he leaned in to kiss her, stopping short as he caught the sight of another man behind Rachel. "You must be Brody," Finn said, pivoting from Rachel and offering Brody a handshake.

"And you're Finn," Brody said, accepting the gesture. "Rachel's told me so much about you."

"She's mentioned you too. Didn't mention that you two were going out on Valentine's Day though," returning his eyes to Rachel.

Rachel started to explain. "It was spur of the moment and…"

"All my idea, I invited her out," Brody finished.

"No girlfriend of your own?" Finn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not very big into labels," Brody chuckled awkwardly. "It looks a little crowded in here. I think I'll go."

"Bye Brody," Rachel said, her eyes locked on Finn, wondering what he was going to do next.

"Nice to meet you," Finn said quickly, his eyes locked with Rachel.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk," announced Kurt, waving goodbye. "You two could use some time alone together."

"Thanks," Rachel and Finn said in unison.

Rachel began to organize her dresser area. "So when did you decide you were coming to see me?"

"I got leave from the Army," he said while crossing over to her once more.

Rachel held her hand out. "We need to talk."

Finn nodded. "It seems that we do. You were out pretty late with your friend there."

She sighed. "I gave up having a curfew when I moved out of my childhood home."

"I'm not judging you."

"Well it sounds like you are!" Rachel snapped. "Are you expecting me to just sit at home every night waiting for the phone to ring, or a video chat, or for a letter to arrive?"

Finn shook his head. "I would never expect that of you. I told you to go to New York to follow your dream."

"It was our dream once."

"No, no actually it wasn't. I listened junior and senior year while you went on and on about how great New York is and how you had to go to NYADA, but I had no real desire to join you here."

Rachel shook her head. "You interviewed for The Actor's Studio with James Lipton."

"That was a mistake and a complete waste of time; Lipton only interviews already established actors for his program."

Rachel sat down on the bed. "If you didn't want New York you could have told me, I would have listened."

Finn sat down next to her, reaching for her hand. "Would you?"

"I, I, I mean to but…"

"You are a star Rach, I couldn't be the reason that you didn't come here."

Rachel lowered her head. "You didn't tell me you were coming tonight, and reading your letters from the Army, learning what you're going through, wondering what you might be going through… I worry about you Finn. Brody, Brody is my best friend at NYADA, and one of the few people that I can talk to here outside of Kurt."

He tenderly lifted her chin to look her in the eyes and said softly, "You can still talk to me."

"We haven't talked in months. You didn't even think to talk to me beforehand about extending your contract with the Army for such a long period."

"That still bothers you?"

"It will always bother me," Rachel insisted with finality. "I don't see a point in you being there, sacrificing everything for—"

"Something bigger than myself. I am still part of something bigger than myself. Just like New Directions."

"No," she said sharply. "What you're doing in the Army is nothing like show choir, the two are complete opposites."

"I made it into the Maneuver Center of Excellence," he said, disregarding her last statement. "After the training is completed, I'm adding my name to the active reserve list."

Rachel stood up, panicked and on edge. "What? You're leaving the country?"

"Not necessarily, a lot of active reserve members end up staying local."

"Aren't we fighting a war somewhere?" Rachel asked, wrinkling her brow. The thought of him in an active war zone terrified her.

"We have a presence in a lot of different places. Rach, this will give me a chance to see the world, to serve others, to find my purpose." He's trying to reason with her but doesn't feel like it's working. He felt as though he was fighting a losing battle.

Rachel dug her nails into her palms. "A year ago, we were talking about getting married. We were going to be together."

"A year ago, I wasn't even thinking about my future, or anything past the next week." He sighed unevenly and added, "and a year ago all I thought I had was you. I was scared and desperate. And clueless."

"So you're springing all of this on me now. Is this why you came to visit?"

"I should be finishing the training for Center of Excellence by the time Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury get married."

"And then what happens?"

"You'll be here in New York, I'll be in Georgia."

"You could leave at any second. Be at the beck and call of the armed forces…or worse," Rachel let out a low moan, thinking of losing Finn all together. "This is not at all how I envisioned our life together!"

"I see that," he said slowly with some trepidation.

"Being the girlfriend of an Army man, constantly wondering where you are, what you're doing, are you safe, worrying about every little thing…"

"I can take care of myself," he pointed out.

"Yourself is all you're thinking about," she said coolly.

"That is so untrue!" Finn snapped back. "I think of you every day when I'm out there in Georgia. I sent you all the way here so that you could follow your dreams, even though being apart from you was the last thing I wanted. But I knew how important it was to you, so I put my happiness aside for the sake of yours. Don't tell me that I don't think about you."

"I'm just, lonely here, Finn. I hang out with Brody so much because he is here and he is available. I am, I am lonely," she repeated. "All of this long distance and letters, it seems romantic but it leaves me lonely and craving more."

"So you want to stop writing?"

Rachel lowered her head. "I think we should stop everything for a while."

Finn touched Rachel's shoulder. "We shouldn't be talking about this now, you're upset."

"I am that, I am upset. If the Army is that important to you, I want you to be able to devote your time to it, while I devote my time to school."

Finn shook his head, squeezing Rachel's shoulder. "We shouldn't do anything when you're this upset. I can go, and we'll just keep writing like we have been."

"That's just it," she pulled away from Finn's touch and stood up. "It's not working anymore. We don't talk like we used to, we're going in different directions."

"Yeah, it seems like that, for right now - but it's not forever. And we'll find our way back to each other Rach, we always do," he insisted.

"If it's destiny, then it's destiny," she said finally. "But I can't keep pinning all of my hopes on someone who isn't here, who can't be here."

Finn blinked. "You're ending things?"

Rachel nodded. "I think right now, it's for the best for both of us. We spend some time apart, focus on our goals and our ambitions. Me here in New York, you with all of your Army stuff."

"The work I do there is important Rachel." He wasn't loving hearing her refer to his time there as 'stuff'.

"Then don't let me keep you from it," she said quietly.

"Why can't we have both?" Finn asked, his voice faltering.

"We may be able to have both, eventually; but you and I, we should spend some time apart, finding ourselves separately before we're ready to be together."

"So no contact. No calls, no letters."

"We'll see each other this summer, at Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury's wedding. You'll have finished your training, I'll be done with freshman year. We may have more clarity," she emphasized, echoing Brody's sentiments from earlier that day.

Finn nodded. "I still love you." It was the only thing he felt he could say in that moment.

"I love you too. But now it's my turn to be the one to let you go, even if I don't understand why you're going."

Finn grabbed his bag, planning on heading back to Georgia early. "If you want to know how I'm doing or anything…"

"Kurt will fill me in, and he'll fill you in too. He makes for a good go-between."

"He hasn't even agreed to that yet."

"He'll agree. Most people don't say 'no' to me," Rachel added with a sad twinkle in her eye.

"I never really could." There was a wistfulness to his voice, part of him wanting to push back harder, reject her idea of no contact. But he was held back. They were both so young, not even twenty. And it did seem that their lives were going in different directions.

Rachel broke the silence. "This isn't easy for me - for either one of us. But we're only looking at three months."

"That's around ninety days. It'll go by in a flash."

"You seem so sure of yourself even now."

"The one thing I'm sure of is that we are meant to be together. And if that means letting you go so that you can follow your dreams, then I'd do it in a heartbeat." Finn breached the gap between them. "So I am going to be the first one to walk away, with one last kiss, to last us till summer."

Rachel struggled to mouth a response, but found herself temporarily speechless. Taking a moment, she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. "I want you to take care of yourself while you're gone. Be safe with your gun and other tools, and remember that people care about you back home." Bringing her gaze back to him, she looked to Finn for assurance.

Finn reached up to cradle the back of her head and pulled her to him, bringing her mouth to his, his fingers tangled through her long dark hair. She automatically wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled herself as tight to him as possible. He started to deepen the kiss when she reluctantly pulled back and smiled at him.

"See you in the summer?" he asked with a hopeful gaze.

Rachel responded with a subtle nod, watching Finn go out the door. Leaving it open, she stood there in the now empty apartment.

They were now both free to chart their own courses, and if they were meant to be, they would find their way back to each other.