It was Valentine's Day and this year the only person Finn would be kissing was Rachel. Even if he didn't have the most amazing girlfriend ever he still would not be re-opening that kissing booth. He never wanted to have mono again. That was the worst month ever and he hadn't even made that much money. This year, since the glee club made it to Nationals again, they needed something that could bring the guys of McKinley in too. So Rachel came up with the idea of selling carnations.

The whole week prior to Valentine's Day, the New Directions kids took turns during lunch selling carnations and dedications; red ones for love and white ones for friendship. That Tuesday Finn, Rachel, Riley, Kyle and Marie would deliver them all to their subjects during second period. Surprisingly, they sold over $3,000 worth of carnations and most of it was profit since Kurt had been able to score them a great deal at the flower shop he had gone to for Burt and Carole's wedding. Rachel had noticed during her and Finn's shifts selling them that most people would buy at least two carnations if not more. She couldn't help but feel proud of her idea which had clearly gone over well with the student body.

On Monday afternoon Kurt and Finn picked up the boxes of carnations and brought them back to school so everyone could help tag them with the dedications people had written. It took them hours to get through all of them and the whole time everyone bitched about how annoying it was to have to tie all the little slips of paper to the stems but Rachel couldn't be happier. Yet again she had come up with a fantastic plan to help her New Directions family. Even though they'd whine about how awful it was at first, she knew, like always, they'd come around to appreciate it once it was over.

The next day Rachel arrived to the school early to make sure all the flowers were bundled properly. It would not do to give someone the wrong flower. After checking the names on the dedications to her list of students' schedules three times, Rachel headed to her first period class. She was anxious to hand out the carnations and see peoples' reactions to them. She was also kind of hoping there'd be at least one red one waiting for her on her desk when she returned to class.

The bell signaling that first period was over finally rang and Rachel rushed out of the room to head to the choir room. When she arrived she found Kyle and Marie looking over the flowers trying to find the bunches they were due to hand out.

"Hey guys! Ready to spread the love?" Rachel asked excitedly. Kyle just nodded at her but Marie gushed.

"I'm so ready, Rachel! This was an amazing idea! You always come up with the greatest ideas. You're so smart." Rachel smiled sweetly at Marie, appreciating all the praise. She had noticed, especially after her Halloween party, that Marie had grown rather attached to her. Marie constantly complimented her and always agreed with her and even started wearing knee socks and skirts more often. She was like the Rachel Berry Fan Club and Rachel couldn't get enough.

Finally Riley showed up followed by Finn. It was the first time she had seen him all day so as he entered the room she walked over to him and gave him a huge kiss. "Happy Valentine's Day, baby. Ready to hand out flowers?"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Rach. About as ready as I'll ever be. I've never given flowers to a dude before. Not looking forward to that," Finn said as he moved toward the piles of flowers to find his bunches.

"Finn as co-captains of glee it is our responsibility to work together on things like this. And really you aren't giving them the flowers. You're simply the messenger. You'll be like Cupid, helping to spread love around McKinley." Rachel smiled at Finn. Kyle began laughing at the mental image of Finn wearing a diaper and carrying a bow and heart tipped arrows as Cupid but quickly tried disguising it as a cough when he saw Finn glare at him. As a lowly Freshman it was not smart of him to get on the bad side of the McKinley all-star Senior.

Once the five of them had all their bunches sorted and ready for distribution, they headed out to hand them out. They had separated the school into five areas that each of them would cover. Rachel and Finn were each covering half of the first floor which contained classrooms that seven out of the 17 glee members would be in this period. The first room Rachel would cover would be Mr. Schuester's.

"Hola Rachel. Come on in," Mr. Schuester said as he noticed Rachel standing at the door with the large box of flowers. "Clase, su attencion por favor." Mr. Schue motioned for Rachel to take the floor.

"Gracias Señor Schuester. Good morning! Happy Valentine's Day! I have quite a few carnations here for everyone so let's get started." Rachel started calling out names and handing the flowers to everyone. When she got to Quinn's name she smiled at the girl. "Quinn, looks like you have a quite a few admirers here."

Rachel walked over to the girl and handed her four red carnations and six white ones. As she laid the flowers down on Quinn's desk she could recall having put some of the dedications on them. At least one red flower was from Kyle. He was enamored of Quinn and had been since the first moment he saw her. Honestly Rachel figured it was the only reason he had joined glee club but she wasn't complaining. Rachel even got the vibe that Quinn had a little crush on him. She would never admit it however because a Senior girl like Quinn Fabray dating a Freshman boy like Kyle Neuman was not something people would just let happen. Not at this school. Plus she was graduating in June and leaving for college in the fall. Things would never work out.

Quinn smiled as she read all her dedications and Rachel continued down the list. Then she got to Finn's name. Obviously he was not in the room at the moment so she'd just have to leave his flowers for him. She grabbed the bunch labeled with his name and finally noticed something. All the carnations but one he was receiving were red. Rachel had only bought him one red one. Who the hell were the other seven from? She tried to speed read the dedications as she placed the flowers on his desk but she wasn't able to catch any names. Her blood boiled a little. How dare seven other girls send her boyfriend a red carnation? Didn't they realize he had a girlfriend and a very serious one at that?

Before she could throw a hissy fit over it in the middle of Mr. Schue's room, she continued down the list. She practically threw the flowers at the rest of the people on it. She thanked the class and Mr. Schuester and angrily exited the room.

On the other end of the school Finn was in a math room he'd never been in. When he looked at the list of names he realized why he had never been in there, it was the smart people's math room. Finn wasn't exactly remedial but he wasn't Einstein either. He was average. Even though he knew his responsibility as a glee co-captain meant having to do this, it didn't mean he felt comfortable standing alone in the front of the room of kids waiting for their flowers. Finally he started reading off the names.

"Artie Abrams," Finn read. He looked up and smiled at Artie who grinned. Finn handed him a bunch of white carnations and a single red one. Finn had remembered tying that dedication. It had been from Brittany. They had been on and off for the last year and at least for now it appeared they were on again.

Finn looked back at the list. "Rachel Berry," he said looking up for her until he remembered she was handing out flowers too. Finn had paid a dollar just like everyone else for his flower but when Kurt and him had gone to pick them up he had decided to go a little fancier. He had bought Rachel a single red rose and tied his dedication to that instead of a carnation. So, now as he stared down at her bunch of flowers he was wondering why four of them were red. He had figured Jacob Ben Israel had bought at least one of these, the guy still didn't get that Rachel wasn't interested, but that still left three others. Who the hell was declaring their love for Rachel? Didn't they realize she was taken?

Trying not to dwell it too much right now, Finn placed the bunch of flowers on her desk and moved onto the next name. Finn handed a bunch of white carnations and a single red one to Mike Chang and did the same for Tina. They sat next to each other in the room and leaned over to kiss one another after reading their dedications.

Then he got down to Kurt's name. Sadly all of his were white. This didn't bother Kurt that much since he had Blaine and knew he'd get more than just a silly carnation from him later, but he was somewhat disappointed. Even Rachel had gotten four red ones which Kurt knew were not from Finn. It sucked that no one at school felt confident enough to declare their love for Kurt via flower, if there even was anyone at school who was in love with Kurt.

Finn finished up his list for that room and moved onto the next one. Ten minutes before the period was over Finn had finished his area and headed back to Mr. Schuester's class. When he arrived he noticed his desk was not empty. There sat a single white carnation and eight red ones. He hadn't expected Rachel to buy him that many flowers. It wasn't needed. But then he looked at the slips attached to the flowers. The white carnation was from Kurt and just said something mildly embarrassing about being a good brother and keeping it down the next time Rachel came over but to enjoy his first Valentine's Day with her. Then he read the one from Rachel.

My dearest Finn,

Happy Valentine's Day! I love you so much and I can't wait to see what you have planned for our date tonight. You never fail to amaze me with your ingenuity when you apply yourself. I'll see you at my house around seven just like you said. I love you, Finn.

Forever yours,

Rachel*

Finn smiled. He wasn't exactly sure what ingenuity meant but he had a feeling it was a good thing. He'd look it up later. Then he moved onto the seven other red carnations. He vaguely recalled who these girls were from the kissing booth last year but he honestly didn't care. It didn't matter that they sent him red carnations anyway, he was in love with Rachel and nothing was going to change that. The last dedication he read actually kind of freaked him out though. It read:

Finn,

We've never really spoken before but I just needed you to know this before you left school forever and I never got the chance to tell you. I'm in love with you. The moment I first saw you I had this fantasy of just shoving you into the janitor's closet and kissing you like mad. You make my heart beat like a hummingbird's wings and my breathing stop all together. I know you're with Rachel and nothing will ever come from this but I just had to tell you how I felt even if you'll never know who I am. I love you, Finn Hudson.

Your Secret Admirer

Finn just sat there dumbfounded. Someone anonymous was in love with him and wanted to shove him in the janitor's closet? What was going on? The other carnations had expressed similar feelings but something about this one felt different. Maybe it was because of the element of the unknown. Finn wasn't sure.

Rachel had made it back to math about five minutes before the bell was due to ring. She smiled at everyone reading over their dedications and smiling themselves. She knew this had been a good idea, with the exception of the seven girls who had sent Finn red carnations. As she approached her desk she noticed she had four white and five red flowers. One of them was not a carnation however.

She smiled sweetly when she picked up the red rose from Finn. Rachel opened the dedication and read:

Rachel,

Happy Valentine's Day! Sorry for being such an ass last year about the kissing booth thing. Don't worry, now you can get a big sloppy mouth kiss from me anytime you want for free and you don't need to worry about catching mono. I hope your day is awesome. I'll see you tonight at your place at seven. I love you, Rach.

Faithfully,

Finn

Rachel chuckled a bit at his apology. She smelled the rose and hugged it to her chest lovingly. Then she moved on to her white carnations. One was from Mercedes just telling her to have a happy V-Day, another was from Kurt and made her blush a little, one was from Marie and just said how much she appreciated Rachel being her friend even though she was only a Freshman and the last one was from Brittany. It had a drawn on picture of a cat carrying a flower in its mouth and a thought bubble that said 'Happy Valentine's Day'. Rachel thought it was extremely cute.

Lastly were the red carnations. Rachel was truly curious as to why there were four of them. Over her high school career only four people had ever shown interest in her. Finn had given her the rose, Puck was definitely not interested in Rachel now as he was still - to everyone's surprise - with Lauren and Jesse had finally backed off after Nationals last year and he didn't even go to McKinley anyway. She had a feeling at least one of these would be from Jacob Ben Israel but that still left three others.

Rachel opened a dedication and all it had written on it was 'love'. She opened another and it said, 'Rachel, I' and the next one she opened read, 'You. Jacob'. Instantly, she put it together. Jacob had sent Rachel three carnations spelling out how he felt about her. She rolled her eyes and crumpled up the little slips of paper. Then she realized there was still another red carnation. Her interest was beyond piqued.

Slowly she opened the last dedication and read it. All it said was, 'You are beautiful.' She looked around the room like maybe the person who sent her the flower was there. There was no way to discern who had sent it though. Rachel really hated anonymity, now so more than ever.

The bell rang a few moments later and everyone exited the room to get to their next class. For the rest of the school day neither Finn nor Rachel could get their anonymous dedications out of their heads. It wasn't that they wanted to pursue their writers; they just had a gross curiosity as to who had these feelings for them. Finally the end of the day had arrived, which meant glee rehearsal.

Everyone filed into the room and took their seats while they waited for Mr. Schue. Finn plopped down next to Rachel, interlocked his fingers with her's and pulled them to his mouth so he could kiss the back of her hand. Mr. Schue entered a moment later.

"Congratulations guys! The carnation sale was a huge success. Everyone loved getting their flowers today. Let's give our organizer, Rachel, a big hand," he praised as everyone clapped for Rachel. She almost stood up and curtsied but she didn't want to go too over the top with her thank you. "If you don't mind Rachel, I'd like to try this idea again next year."

"Certainly, Mr. Schuester. You can use any of my ideas, as long as I get proper credit for them of course," Rachel stated. She didn't need anything more than just simple recognition for all her hard work.

"Well seeing as it is Valentine's Day and I'm sure most of you have plans, I'm cancelling glee practice for today. I just wanted to congratulate all of you on your hard work. So I will see you all tomorrow." Everyone stood up and headed to the door, chatting about all the carnations and dedications they had received that day; everyone except for Finn, Rachel and Marie.

"I cannot believe you got seven red carnations that were not from me today. Do people still not realize we are together?" Rachel asked in a huff. Finn gave a small smile.

"Does it really matter, Rach? The only red carnation I cared about was the one from you." Rachel was overjoyed at Finn's words. "And what about you with your four red ones? It was really annoying have to put four carnations on your desk that were not from me."

"You don't need to worry about those. Three of them were from Jacob," Rachel said with great distaste. She could not wait to get to New York where Jacob would not be.

"That still leaves one. Who was that from?" Finn didn't really want to know but at the same time really did. He knew Rachel wouldn't drop him for some tool who could only say what he felt on a little slip of paper handed to her by someone else, but he still wanted to know whose ass he'd have to kick if the guy ever tried anything.

"I don't know. It wasn't signed. Not even from 'Your Secret Admirer' or anything. All it said was 'You are beautiful'." She looked up at Finn expecting to see jealousy cross his face but she didn't.

"Well, at least whoever it was got that right," Finn said leaning down to kiss Rachel. Just before he could deepen it, a throat cleared next to the couple. They broke apart and found Marie patiently staring at them.

"Sorry to bother you but, Rachel I was wondering if you could help me with something from music theory really quick. It's due tomorrow and I'm really stuck. No one knows music better than you do." Though Rachel was annoyed at Marie's interruption, that feeling was quickly replaced by appreciation at Marie's astute assessment.

Rachel smiled brightly. "Of course, Marie. Just give me a moment to run to my locker first. I'll be right back." Rachel exited the room leaving Finn and Marie alone together. Even though they had been in glee together all year, Finn didn't really know Marie. She really only spoke to Rachel, otherwise she remained quiet.

"So did you get any carnations today?" Finn asked awkwardly.

Marie stared at the floor. "Yes, a few friendship ones." She paused for a moment. "I didn't get any from the person I really wanted to though." Marie glanced up at Finn quickly then back down to the floor. He wasn't sure if it was her words or the way she had looked at him but suddenly Finn knew who sent him that awkward red carnation. Now he had no idea how to continue. Should he tell her he knew or just play dumb? The last thing he needed was to be in another love triangle even if this time he wouldn't be leaving his girlfriend.

Hesitantly Finn replied. "Well, maybe next year you'll get some nice red ones." He licked his lips nervously and scrunched his mouth up on one side.

"Maybe," Marie said sadly. Not being able to handle her sad expression Finn decided to subtly let her know he knew and then gently let her down. He couldn't have some 14 year old girl pining away for him. He needed to help her move on from him.

"You know, just because that certain guy doesn't feel the same way about you as you feel about him doesn't mean no one will. I'm sure there's a great guy out there who will want to be with you like you want him. A Finn to your Rachel," he said smiling briefly. Marie smiled back slightly.

"You know I sent you a carnation, don't you?" Marie asked boldly, blushing beet red as Finn shook his head yes. "God, I'm so embarrassed." She walked over to the chair, sat down and placed her head in her hands.

Finn moved to sit next to her and patted her shoulder lightly. "It's alright Marie. I've done way more embarrassing stuff," Finn said remembering all the times he ended up in strange outfits and all the stupid stuff he said in the past. Most recently, during the last glee rehearsal he had been having stomach problems from his Philly cheesesteak at lunch and right as the song finished and everything was dead silent he let out the loudest and longest fart he'd ever had. As everyone turned to stare at him, he could feel every ounce of blood he had rush to his face. It was not one of his finer moments.

"Yeah, I heard about when you walked down the hall in just your underwear," Marie stated, going red at the thought. Now Finn felt really uncomfortable as Marie stared at him. It was like she was undressing him with her eyes. He shifted away in his seat.

"Anyway," Finn continued, "you're a great girl Marie and someday you'll find the right guy. That guy just isn't me. You deserve someone who wants you just as much as you want them."

"Like how you want Rachel," Marie said quietly. Though she didn't say anything for a moment after that, Finn had a feeling Marie got the message. She stood up and faced Finn. She stuck her hand out and waited for him to grab it. "Thank you, Finn."

Finn hesitantly grabbed Marie's hand. "For what?" he asked as she began shaking it.

"For being so understanding and not making me feel horrible for sending you that. You're right. I shouldn't settle for unrequited love. Someone is out there for me. I just need to concentrate on finding him," Marie explained.

Finn stood up and towered over her. She wasn't quite as short as Rachel, but she wasn't eye level either. "Anytime," he said with a smirk.

Marie released his hand and made her way over to her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Rachel walked back in with her book bag and was babbling away already about notes and beats and other parts of music that neither Finn nor Marie was actually listening to. Rachel stopped and looked at Marie with confusion. "I thought you needed my help?" she asked somewhat dejectedly.

"Finn actually helped me figure it out. It's okay, Rachel. Thanks though. I hope you and Finn have a great Valentine's Day!" Marie said with a big smile and actually meaning her words. She hugged Rachel goodbye and left the choir room.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at Finn. "Okay then." Before Rachel could say anything else, Finn closed the distance between them and kissed Rachel softly. When they broke apart Rachel pulled her lips in to just taste Finn. "What was that for?"

"For wanting me just as much as I want you," Finn said quietly before leaning forward to kiss her again. "Remember, seven at your place. I'll be there on time so you gotta be ready," Finn said as he pulled away from her lips and moved toward the door. He smirked at Rachel before ducking out of the room leaving her standing there alone.

Seven was not coming fast enough.

Another two parter! I'm looking to have the second half up very soon. I hope you'll find it worth the wait.