A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Once again, sorry for the delay. Lazy writer is very lazy.

For all those who are wondering, we will be seeing more of the cast of Glee in this story. I just won't tell you who or when they'll be showing up because, if you couldn't tell from my previous story, I enjoy drawing things out, but at least it didn't take me half the story to introduce Finn right?

And of course, they'll all be OOC to varying degrees. This is a future AU after all.

For reasons unknown to Rachel, she woke up by herself without the aid of an alarm the next day. To her horror, she had also woken up much too early for her liking, then again anything before noon was much too early for her liking, especially if it was a Saturday. After all, it wasn't as if she needed to be at the theater any earlier than 2 PM for her matinee shows and she could stroll into the theater even later for night performances. Of course, that didn't exactly mean she always made her call time, even if she only had to be at the theater 45 minutes before show time. It's not like the director, stage, and theater managers could complain about her habit, after all, she was the Tony Award winner who headlined the show, the person that people paid large sums of money to see.

So, when she woke up at 8:30 AM on her third day in Lima, Ohio, she was more than displeased. As she laid awake in the bed, her mind eventually came to the conclusion that it was the Neanderthal's fault that she was awake so early. There was no other explanation for it because her muscles cried out for more rest since they were still sore, even after her long soak in the bathtub and a night's sleep. She didn't exactly know why it was his fault, just that it was. It had to be his fault. It definitely wasn't because she actually went to bed at a decent hour the night before, instead of staying up past 4 AM partying like she usually did. That definitely wasn't it at all.

As she lazily stretched out in bed, she came to the realization that what she had said to the Neanderthal the day before wasn't a lie, as she had quickly learned to enjoy the feeling of sleeping in Kurt's shirt. Not only was it large and comfortable, it was extremely soft so she knew that it was high quality and the smell that came from it was borderline intoxicating. The bed itself was one of the best she had ever slept in and she had slept on plenty of comfortable beds in her short life, but this one blew all the others away. Not only was the bed was soft and comfortable, the sheets and comforter were as well; they verged on being better than even her own bed back in New York.

In short, she hadn't felt this refreshed from a night's sleep in a long time, aside from her still sore muscles of course.

She pulled the sheets up around her head and took a deep breath. With a cocked head, she wondered why the sheets didn't have the same smell as the shirt that she slept in, but she dismissed that with the assumption that Kurt showered in the morning. She threw the sheets away from her face and her eyes darted around looking for things that didn't exist before she pulled the shirt up around her face, breathed in, and smiled, like she said the smell was almost intoxicating.

After tossing and turning for 15 minutes, she realized that there was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep again and made her way downstairs where she came upon Burt and Carole sitting around the dining room table sipping coffee from their mugs.

"Rachel honey, would you like some breakfast?"

"No thank you," A yawn forced its way out, "just coffee would be fine."

"Are you sure? I found this recipe for vegan waffles that sounds like they would be delicious. Not to mention we have a giant jug of real maple syrup we have to get rid of."

A smile crept onto Rachel's face. "Well, when you put it like that, how could I say no?"

Carole smiled at her. "Wonderful, give me about 15 minutes and you'll have a stack of them right in front of you." The older woman walked into the kitchen, "In the meantime help yourself to the coffee."

Rachel grabbed the same large mug she used yesterday morning and made a cup of coffee which she quickly drained before she prepared another cup.

"I think between you and Finn we may have to start making two full pots on the weekend."

"Sorry. I'll try to refrain from drinking so much while I'm here."

"Rachel, I didn't mean anything by it. You're a guest here; you're welcome to as much coffee as you can drink while you're here with us."

Rachel smiled in return and took a seat across from Burt at the table while Carole busied herself with the waffles.

Burt's eyebrows rose slightly. "Nice shirt."

"Oh, thank you. I found it in the closet of Kurt's room." A sip of coffee was taken, "I hope Kurt won't mind."

"Uh, why would Kurt mind?"

"I am wearing his shirt without his permission."

Burt's eyebrows lifted even more before he grinned and said, "Right, of course, I'm sure he won't mind." It was his turn to take a sip, "Has Finn seen you in that shirt yet?"

Rachel returned the grin. "Yes, he was quite surprised when I came down in it yesterday morning."

Burt laughed. "I'll bet he was."

They both took a few drinks from their mugs before she spoke again.

"Are he and Kurt close?"

"Ah, they had a bit of a rough start, but they've come to love each other in their own way."

"What do you mean by rough start?"

"Oh, they're actually step-brothers. Kurt's my kid and Finn is Carole's. We got married just about four years ago."

"Really? If you hadn't told me I would have thought you were a real family." He raised his eyebrows, "Wait, I didn't mean-"

Burt's laugh cut her off. "No, it's okay; I understand what you mean. I'm happy that Finn has taken to me so well and Kurt with Carole." He smiled, "Things are a lot easier since everyone gets along with each other, don't know what we'd do if Kurt and Finn didn't get along. What about you? Carole told me that you have two dads?"

"Yes, and they're wonderful to me. When I first-"

Carole interrupted her by placing a plate with two waffles in front of her and a jug of syrup next to it.

"Here you go dear, fresh off the iron. I couldn't find any vegan whipped cream but I do have fresh strawberry and blueberries if you'd like."

"Strawberries would be delightful."

"Coming right up." Carole said as she went back to the kitchen

Turning her head back towards Burt, she continued their conversation.

"Where was I? Oh yes, when I realized that I had the dream to become a Broadway star and they sacrificed their lives in the town we used to live in to move the family to New York when I was only four." Carole placed a bowl of strawberries on the table and returned to the kitchen, "Obviously, that put just that much pressure on me to achieve my dream, but I think we all knew that I would reach my goals."

"You don't remember what city you were born in?"

"No." Rachel took a bite of the waffles and grinned wildly, "These are delicious!"

"I would hope so." Carole yelled back from the kitchen.

Burt chuckled before he said, "And you've never been curious enough to ask?"

She shrugged."I've never thought about it. I mean I've achieved my dreams, so I don't have a reason to look back to where I came from."

Burt thought her statement over for a moment and shrugged. "I guess if you don't think you have a reason to think about where you're from, you don't need to find out. But, I don't think I could ever not want to know where I was from, no matter how old I was when I left."

"I've never been one to look back towards the past, only towards the future."

"I suppose that's a good philosophy to have." A thoughtful look came over his face, "Do you ever wonder about your birth mother?"

She shook her head. "No, again, I've never had a reason to wonder about her. My dad and daddy have given me everything I could possibly want in my life." She looked off to her left for moment, "Although, sometimes I can't help but wonder how my life would've been different if I had known her."

"It sounds like you've had a pretty good life in New York."

"I have, anything I have ever wanted has come easily for me, from getting into the best schools to making numerous friends to winning the lead roles in numerous school musicals to being one of the most popular students in school to making my way to Broadway, I have never wanted for anything in either my personal or professional lives."

Rachel ate some more of the delicious waffles as they both drank more of their coffee in silence.

"So why exactly are you here in Lima? Carole just told-"

The opening and closing of the front door distracted them as Finn Hudson got back home from his regular morning jog where he found the strange sight of the cheerleader up so early at the kitchen table with Burt eating-

"Ooh, waffles. Awesome."

Finn sat down as his mom came out of the kitchen with a stack of waffles.

"Don't you want to shower first honey?"

"Nah, fresh waffles are way more important than a shower." He said as he grabbed a plate, three waffles and poured a lot of maple syrup over them before taking a big bite.

Rachel sniffed loudly beside him. "I think in your case the shower would be much more important."

He pointed at his full mouth as he chewed and shook his head.

She glared at him and said, "You're so crude."

He shrugged and continued chewing.

Burt pulled their attention away. "So you two kids have anything planned for today?"

The mouthful of waffles was swallowed. "Dunno about her, but I'm going to lounge around and play video games."

Burt laughed. "Sounds like a good way to spend a Saturday."

"Well, I need to visit an AT&T store to have my iPhone replaced," Carole came back from the kitchen with a final plate of waffles and then sat down at the table with her coffee, "and then buy some new clothes since I only had one clean set with me."

"And that sounds like a terrible way to spend a Saturday."

"I will need a ride for today."

Burt nodded his head. "Carole has volunteer work at the soup kitchen, so that leaves Finn."

Finn's head shot up from his eating. "What? Why can't you do it?"

"Oh, I just don't want to." Burt turned his head to look at Rachel, "Not that I don't enjoy spending time with you, but I don't feel like spending a day shopping." He turned his head to look back at Finn, "So, I'm delegating it to you."

"But I thought I just had to spend work with her! Now you're telling me I have to spend my days off with her too?"

Rachel finished her final bite of waffles in time to say, "Well, I'm not jumping at the chance to spend more time with you either, I just need some directions to the mall and I'll be fine."

Carole smiled sweetly at Finn. "Nonsense, you won't let Rachel wander around a town she doesn't know by herself will you?"

Finn stabbed at the final pieces of waffles a few times, polished them off, and then sighed.

"No, I'll take her around."

"What do you mean you don't have any iPhones in stock?"

"Uh, we- we are currently out of iPhones miss. The new models are always pretty popular."

Rachel glared at the nervous, pimply employee of the AT&T store. "And you're the only AT&T store in town? Isn't there another one in the mall or something?"

"Uh, there are smaller booths inside the mall, but they get all their stock from this main store miss."

Rachel groaned and then said, "Fine, I'll just place an order with you and have the phone delivered to where I'm currently staying."

"Sure, I can do that for you miss."

After ten minutes, Rachel's eyes had slowly narrowed into slits, because it became apparent that the employee couldn't place the order no matter how often he tried due to the store's network being down.

"Finn, is everything in this town as incompetent as this person and store?"

"What?" Finn looked up from fooling around with the latest phones, "It's not his fault that most people buy their phones online and that the store's network is down." Rachel glared at him, "Hey, I know, why don't you just order a replacement from my house? I'm sure it won't take too long to get there. You can even use my laptop."

"Hmm, yes, I could do that." She turned back towards the employee, "Thank you for all your useless help."

But the employee was ignoring her and staring straight at Finn.

"Wait, Finn as in Finn Hudson? As in the Finn Hudson?"

She saw a grimace flash across his face for a moment before he responded.

"Yea, the one and only."

Her eyes darted back to the employee who was growing much too excited over meeting the Neanderthal.

"This is so awesome! I can't believe Finn Hudson is in my store! I remember watching you on TV win the championship game your senior year when I was a kid! Jesus, I wanted to be just like you when I grew up."

Her eyes returned to Finn and saw him slowly nod a few times.

"Yea, that was a good game."

All of a sudden the employee's voice was much less excited. "What happened to you really sucked."

Finn's eyes looked down for a second then back up at a phone before he shrugged and said, "That's life you know? You can't always get what you want."

The pimply faced employee didn't have a response for Finn who started to awkwardly shuffle his feet so Rachel stepped in. "But if you try sometimes, you get what you need."

Finn looked up at Rachel with a grin. "Now who's being witty?"

"Well, I am a New Yorker after all; we're required to be by law."

"Anyway, let's get going." He turned towards the employee, "Thanks for all your help, uh," He glanced at his nametag, "Kevin."

"Sorry, I couldn't help your friend out Mr. Hudson."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you would have if you could've."

As they left the store, Rachel's curiosity was killing her.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Finn replied as he opened the door to his truck.

"What was that with the worker in the store?" Rachel said after she sat down in the passenger seat.

"That was uh, nothing." Finn said as he started the truck and began the drive to the mall.

"It didn't seem like nothing. He seemed to be genuinely honored to meet you."

"Don't know why, not like I'm anyone important."

Rachel nodded. "Exactly, you're just a small town mechanic. He probably just mistook you for someone else… Although, he said you were on TV in some sort of game?"

"Ah, yea, my one shining moment in high school. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things."

"No, I suppose not."

Rachel watched as they the town faded away in the window as they drove towards the mall and the promise of shopping.

"How far away is this mall anyway?"

"Uh, about 30 minutes?"

Rachel sighed. "Of course it is." She took a deep breath, "So, as I was saying yesterday before your friend Noah rudely interrupted me, I believe that Rent was-"

Finn cut her off by turning on the CD player filling the truck with the sounds of the Rolling Stones which drew a glare from her.

"Look, it's not that I don't uh, mind, talking with you, but can we have the music on too?"

"Oh, of course, I do happen to love all genres of music."

Finn glanced at her. "Even stuff like classic rock?"

"How could I not love classic rock? It is the forefather of all the genres of modern rock and some of the greatest songs ever written are within that genre."

"Uh, that's awesome that you like classic rock."

"Still, I am not in the mood for it. You wouldn't happen to have any albums from Broadway?"

"Uh, I-"

She waved her hand at him. "No, of course you wouldn't."

"But, I-"

"Don't worry about it; the Rolling Stones are a fine choice for the drive."

Finn shook his head and continued to drive; it wasn't his fault that Rachel kept cutting him off while he was trying to tell her that he, thanks to Kurt, did have Broadway soundtracks in his CD case. Plus, he definitely wasn't going to say no if she didn't mind the Stones, which was actually pretty cool of her.

Aside from the quick glance and grin they shared when "You Can't Always Get What You Want" came on, Finn passed the drive nodding his head and tapping out the beats to the songs on the steering wheel, while Rachel finally explained why Rent was so bad, something about the combination of cutting too many songs and the awful Hollywood casting of Rosario Dawson. Eventually, he noticed that she had stopped talking and was either quietly singing or mouthing the words to the songs as she stared out the window lost in thought, probably thinking about new things to complain about.

However, Rachel wasn't thinking about new things to complain about, well aside from the completely useless AT&T store they had just visited, she was thinking about, well more like dreading, the mall the Neanderthal was taking her to. She hoped that the mall wouldn't have the usual department stores and chain brands that filled most of the malls in America but from what she had seen of Lima and its surroundings, all her hope was probably going to waste.

As Rachel feared, the shopping mall that Finn brought her to only contained department stores and the major chain brands. With a sigh, she led Finn towards Nordstrom, hoping to be able to find enough outfits until the airline finally delivered her luggage. On the plus side, this was also another excellent way to torture the Neanderthal. After all, what man liked being dragged around a shopping mall? So Rachel took her time wandering around Nordstrom dragging him around as she slowly picked through the clothes on the racks and had to stifle giggles as she noticed Finn trudging along behind her, carrying the items she'd already purchased, looking bored to death.

A dress on a rack caught her eye and as she made her way over she noticed a blonde streak race past her to jump onto Finn causing him to stumble backwards before he caught himself.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinn!"

"Hey Brit, long time no see." Finn said as he wrapped his arms around the blonde, hugging her back.

"We've missed you!"

"We?" Finn tilted his head to look past Brittany, "Santana's around here isn't she?"

"Yup!" She dropped down to the ground, turned her head to look behind her, and waved, "San! Look who I found!"

Rachel turned her head to follow the blonde's gaze and found two beautiful, smiling women, a Latina and another blonde, making their way towards Finn and Brittany carrying their spoils. Well, the blonde was smiling and the Latina had a dangerous looking grin on as they approached Finn.

"Perfect, just the thing I was looking for." Santana, Rachel assumed, held out her bags, "Carry these for me Hudson."

Finn looked at the bags. "Uh…"

"Just take the bags, we both know you'll end up doing it anyway because that's the way mama Hudson raised you." She looked over at the blonde, "Q, give him your crap too."

"No, I'm ok. I think I can handle carrying a bag or two."

"This isn't about you being able to carry your crap; this is about punishing Hudson for not showing up at the bar because apparently we're not important enough to see. Plus, it's not like you never made him carry your crap before."

The blonde smiled and stepped in front of Finn and said, "Well, she does have a point." Her bags were held out at Finn, "Here you go Finn."

"You gonna introduce us to the new girl?" Santana said after Finn groaned and took their bags.

"Rachel, these are three of my friends from high school: Quinn, Santana, and Brittany." He said as he pointed at each person, "And this is Rachel Berry."

Rachel looked over the people in front of her. Her first impression had proved to be true, the two women were each gorgeous in their own way, the blonde had a classical beauty about her that would have let her fit in with movie stars of old and the Latina seemed to exude sensuality with every movement, no matter how small. The Latina's smile turned into a smirk that made Rachel feel as though she was a mouse about to be toyed with, while the smile fell off of the blonde and was replaced with a cold and calculating gaze that seemed to examine her very soul. Given a choice, Rachel would take the Latina's smirk over the blonde's gaze 100 times out of 100.

"Not bad Hudson, nose is a little big, but not bad at all."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"What? I'm approving of Hudson's choice."

"Choice?"

Santana looked Rachel up and down again. "Well, you look like you could be good enough for Hudson, plus you look nothing like that bitch Lisa, so that's a big bonus."

Rachel narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Lisa? Good enough? What are you talking about?"

Quinn spoke up. "I think what Santana is trying to say is that she thinks you and Finn make a good couple."

Finn snapped out of his shopping induced stupor. "Whoa, we're not dating. She's just staying at my place because…" A confused expression appeared on Finn's face, "You know, I don't even really know why she's staying with us." He looked at Rachel, "Why are you staying with us anyway?"

Rachel tried to respond, but Santana interrupted her. "So, let me get this straight, you two aren't dating, but she's staying with you?"

Finn nodded and said, "Yea."

"Tell me you two are going at it at least."

Rachel noticed Quinn's eyes darting between her Finn before settling on her.

"No we are not 'going at it,' considering the fact that I only met him two days ago."

The blonde's gaze softened and returned to Finn while Santana continued her interrogation.

"So, if you two aren't going out or hooking up, why are you on a shopping trip with her?"

"Because I had no choice."

Santana smirked. "Mama Hudson eh?"

"Yea."

"Such a mama's boy." Santana turned to Quinn, "C'mon Q, let's go look at bikinis." Then to Finn, "You too Hudson, since you've got our stuff."

"Wait! I haven't finished looking at these dresses yet."

"You mean these polka-dotted monstrosities?" Santana gave Rachel a look, "Maybe it's a good thing you aren't dating Hudson then."

"You don't think they're cute?"

"Yea, maybe on a nine year old." Santana looked over Rachel again, "I mean really, with what you're wearing now, you shouldn't even be looking at these hideous things."

"I- I- You're right, I don't know why they caught my eye." And she was right. As the group made their way over to the swimwear section, Rachel had no idea why the dresses had even caught her eye, since they were something she wouldn't be caught dead wearing back in New York. She really had to get out of this town.

"Finn, you're coming to my party right?"

"Uh, what party?"

"You know, for someone who spends most of his spare time on a computer, you don't check your email that often."

"Uh," Finn pulled out his phone and tapped on it for a moment, "Next Saturday? Yea I'll be there."

"Rachel," The blonde looked toward her for a moment, "If you're still here, you're welcome to come as well."

"Thank you for the invitation, but hopefully I'll have left before then." But somehow, Rachel doubted that her dads and Jessica would've gone through all this trouble just to send her away for only one week. At least she'd be able to get a new bikini out of this though.

"Whoa, what'd you think you're doing?" She heard Finn ask her as she looked through the racks.

"I'm selecting a few new pieces of swimwear in case I'm able to attend Quinn's party."

"Uh, my mom said that this credit card was for emergencies only and I get that you need more than two outfits to wear until the rest of your luggage gets here, but you don't need bikinis. Hell, you don't even need one bikini!"

"But I'll have nothing to wear to the pool party!"

"Aren't you getting your luggage delivered early next week?"

"Yes and?"

"Didn't you pack swim stuff?"

Rachel crossed her arms. "Yes and?"

Finn looked at her as if she was crazy. "And that means you don't need to buy new bikinis!"

Rachel threw her arms up. "Why do you have to be so difficult? They're just bikinis!"

Finn opened his mouth to reply but the sound of a clearing throat interrupted him.

"You two sure you aren't going at it? Cause the way you two argue sure makes it sound like you are." Santana said as she stepped out of the changing room.

"I can assure you that we are not 'going at it.'"

Santana shrugged, struck a pose and said, "So what'd you think? You like?"

Rachel looked her over. "You look very beautiful."

"Always do," Santana looked over at Finn. "Hudson?"

The Neanderthal stood speechless for a moment.

"Uh…"

Santana rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes." Then turned towards the changing rooms, "Britt, Q, get your butts out here so we can see."

The two blondes came out of the changing rooms, Brittany practically came running out of them until she slid to a stop in front of Santana and Quinn calmly walking out behind her, both in the new two-piece outfits they selected.

"San, you look pretty!"

The Latina's cheeks flushed and she looked down before she softly said, "Thanks, you do too."

Rachel's attention was pulled towards the other blonde who had stopped in front of Finn.

"Finn, how do I look?"

Rachel could have swore that Quinn looked almost nervous as she stood there waiting for Finn's response that never came.

"Jesus Hudson, it's not like you've never seen her half naked before. Hell, you've even seen her naked. Just tell her she looks amazing and get it over with."

"Yea," He rubbed the back of his neck, "You know you look amazing, always have."

"Thanks." Quinn smiled, "I guess I know which bikini I'm wearing to the party."

"Yea, I'm taking this one and B is definitely taking the one she has on."

Santana held out her pinky which Brittany linked her own with and they went back into the changing rooms with Quinn following behind, leaving Finn and Rachel alone.

"I take it you and Quinn have some history?"

"Huh?" Finn snapped out of another shopping induced stupor, "Oh yea, we were high school sweethearts."

"How romantic!"

"Yea, I guess."

"Why aren't you two together now?" Rachel said as she picked through swimwear she wouldn't be able to buy.

"Uh, we got to college-"

Rachel's head snapped towards Finn. "Wait, you went to college? Why are you a mechanic if you have a college education?"

"That's a long story," He said as he ran a hand through his hair, "A story that I won't be telling you."

"Why not? I bet it'd be entertaining and I need something to entertain me!"

Finn looked at her as if she was crazy, again. "Because my life isn't some sort of TV show for your entertainment."

Rachel pouted and said, "Fine. Don't blame me if I die from boredom."

"Are you always this dramatic?"

She glared at him. "So what happened between you and Quinn?"

"Well, we got to college and things just sort of fell apart there."

Rachel looked through a few more pieces before she looked at Finn again since he stopped talking. "That's it? That's all you're going to give me?"

"Yup, cause it's part of that long story I won't be telling you."

"You are so-"

"Again, with the arguing." Santana said as she came out with her original clothing on, "Maybe you two should bump uglies and just get it over with already."

"Jesus, Santana!" Finn yelled.

"What? It's true cause there's no way you two won't become fucking annoying with all your arguing."

"Leave them alone Santana." Quinn said as she emerged from the changing room with Brittany.

"You know it's true and you know that Hudson has to start dating again, that Lisa bitch is like-"

Quinn cut her off. "Now isn't the time or place for that conversation."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's go pay for this crap." She turned to look at Finn, "We're going to hit up Breadstix for dinner, you two wanna come with?"

"No, we already have plans for dinner."

Finn looked at her with a confused expression. "We do?"

"Yes, we do." Rachel looked towards the trio of women, "It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Quinn replied, "see you next week."

Finn and Rachel parted ways from his high school friends and made their way back to his truck in the parking lot.

"I didn't know we had dinner plans." Finn said after they began their drive back to Lima.

"Well, I promised your mom that I would cook dinner and I figured tonight would be as good as any."

"Oh."

"Plus, I do need to thank you for yesterday and from what I have seen, food would be an excellent gift."

"You don't really need to thank me. I mean, it's not like I thought I was going to get something back for doing that. It was just something I had to do."

"That is exactly the reason why I need to thank you; selfless acts are the ones that should be rewarded the most." After a moment Rachel spoke up again, "We will need to make a stop at a grocery store."

Their conversation died as the sounds of Bon Jovi filled the truck as Finn drove them to the grocery store closest to the house. Finn always enjoyed visiting that store because it always gave him a kick to watch Azimio and Karofsky bag his stuff. Those assholes definitely deserved the shitty lives they had ended up with. Kurt said it was karma that ended up there, although that didn't explain why he had ended up as a Lima loser as well. He didn't think he was that bad of a guy in high school and college.

They came back from the grocery store to an empty house as Carole was still at the soup kitchen and Burt had left them a note saying that he'd be at a bar watching the afternoon baseball game. After they had put away the groceries, Finn brought Rachel down to the basement so she could use one of his laptops to order her new phone and he noticed she seemed pretty impressed with the decorations of the room as she looked around.

"Here, you can use this one to order your phone."

"Why do you have two laptops?"

"Hmm?" Finn said as he dropped his wallet and keys on a table, "Oh, I use two laptops so I can play more hands of poker at once."

Rachel took another look around the basement before sitting down in front of the laptop to start her order.

"How do you afford all these expensive things as a mechanic?"

"I don't, I bought all of these things with my poker winnings. I don't really touch the money I make at the shop."

"You must very good at poker to have bought all of these things."

"Not really, I'm sure there are plenty of people a lot better than me." He said as he flopped down onto the bed, tired from a day of shopping.

"Well surely, you must have some talent at it for you make enough money to buy these things." Rachel said as she continued her order, "I mean, not that I know much about poker, but I'm sure that the game requires some skill for a person to succeed."

"I guess."

"Thank you for letting me use your laptop." Rachel said as she stood up after she finished her order and started to make her way out of the basement, "We have about an hour before we need to start making dinner."

"Uh, okay."

Rachel stopped short at the end of the table. "Can I borrow your iPod? I'd like to listen to some music before beginning dinner."

"Yea, sure, go ahead."

"Thank you." Rachel said as she grabbed his iPod and headphones before she made her way out of the basement.

Finn remained sprawled out on his bed for a few minutes before deciding to head up to the living room to kill some zombies. He definitely didn't want to spend the brain power to play poker after spending the day having his mind numbed from shopping. So Finn spent the next 45 minutes solely focusing on blasting away at zombies on his Xbox in the living room.

As his session of zombie killing neared its end, he narrowed his eyes in confusion since the sound effects and music to the game sounded completely wrong. It was almost as if someone was singing underneath all of noise the game put out. When he muted the TV, he realized that there was someone singing in the house and that someone was good, really good. Then he realized it had to be the cheerleader who was singing since she was the only other person in the house.

After wondering if he should go up there for a moment, he turned off his Xbox and slowly made his way upstairs towards the source of the singing.

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby

Finn reached the top of the stairs.

I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with

He reached the door to his old room which was opened part of the way and looked inside.

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby

He saw Rachel holding her hairbrush up in front of her like a microphone while hopping up and down to the song's beat with one headphone pad on her ear and the other off letting her hear herself sing.

I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with

Rachel stopped hopping as she belted out the final chorus.

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with

That such a tiny person could produce such a big and powerful sound made Finn stop and stare in wonder. After a moment, he lifted his hand to knock on the door but stopped when he saw her pick up his iPod and narrow her eyes as she scanned through it, searching for a song. Her lips lifted into a small smile as she made her next selection. She threw her hairbrush onto the bed, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands in front of her with her fingers on her right hand tapping out the beat on the back of her left.

When I was younger I used to be wild
As wild as an elephant's child
No one could hold me down
No one could keep me around
Now it's your turn, take a shot
Baby show me everything that you got
Maybe you can keep me alive
Maybe you can get in my mind
But it's only a matter of time

She opened her eyes and dropped her hands to her sides.

Before I run far away
I need to take a holiday
Maybe it's a fall from grace
I gotta find a new place
A holiday
I'll set off on a new chase
I gotta see a new face
I need to take a holiday

My father, he was always wise
As wise as an elephant's eyes
He couldn't hold me down
He couldn't keep me around
So are you gonna take your shot?
It's the only one that you got
Maybe I'll go out on a limb
Maybe I'll jump in for a swim
When the lights go dim

You know I'll run far away
I need to take a holiday
Maybe it's a fall from grace
I gotta find a new place
A holiday
I'll set off on a new chase
I gotta see a new face
I need to take a holiday

Her voice rose in volume.

A new start
I've broken too many hearts
And I don't have any clue where to go
I don't know
But maybe I'll be back someday after my holiday

Her voice softened.

When I was younger I used to be wild
As wild as an elephant's child
And I don't think I'll ever change
I think I'm gonna stay the same

Her voice rose again and she lifted her arms.

I'll run away
I need to take a holiday
Maybe it's a fall from grace
I gotta find a new place
A holiday
I'll set off on a new chase
I gotta see a new face
I need to take a holiday

Her voice grew softer.

A new start
I've broken too many hearts
And I don't have any clue where to go
I don't know
But maybe I'll be back someday after my holiday

Then softer still as she clasped her hands again and sang the last verse.

All of the wasted time
The hours that were left behind
The answers that we'll never find
They don't mean a thing tonight

Finn Hudson stood there with his jaw open, stunned at how easily she went from a hard rock song to a much softer alt rock piece. Her voice was seriously amazing and he had heard some pretty good singers during his time in high school, but she would have easily blown all of them away. Hell, she probably could blow away most of the crappy artists that passed as music nowadays.

As he watched her pick up his iPod again, he really wished he could just stand outside the room and listen to her sing another song, but they really had to start on dinner. So before she could settle on another song he knocked on the door before opening it all the way, causing her to jump slightly.

"Hey, we need to start making dinner soon."

"Oh! Sorry." She said as she made her way to the door, "I was distracted since I haven't been able to sing for a few days."

"That's okay, we still have lots of time."

"I was surprised at the variety of music on there. You even had some Broadway!"

"Yea," He nodded, "I listen to a lot of different stuff." His eyes looked away from her for a moment, "Uh, you sounded amazing by the way."

She smiled brightly at him. "I'm glad you thought so, I take a tremendous amount of pride in my voice."

"You should, it's something special."

Her smiled softened and she tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." She stepped around him and took a few steps down the hallway before looking back, "Come on, let's see how good your knife skills are."

Carole Hudson knew she wasn't the smartest person in the world, probably wasn't even the smartest in Lima either. Things like advanced mathematics and science were beyond her grasp. Oh sure, she understood the basics of things like evolution and geometry, but her mind just couldn't keep up when it came down the nitty-gritty details. There was, however, one thing she knew better than anybody else in the world and that was her son.

Sure, Finn wasn't the perfect son, but what kid was? He'd had some problems early in high school with bullying and trying to fit in because kids at that age could be so cruel, but thanks to that nice Spanish teacher and a little support from his girlfriend, Quinn, Finn had become a confident young man and was well on the path to making something of himself. Then came the injury.

It crushed Carole to see her son's hopes and dreams taken away from her son in a single moment on the football field, but not as much as it crushed Finn. The change didn't happen overnight, but she could see Finn slowly going back to the way he was at the start of high school, resigned to the fact that things would never change for him and that he would be stuck in Lima, Ohio for the rest of his life. She saw how he was content to let life pass him by as he did nothing but work at the auto shop, play his video games, and hang out with that friend of his, Noah Puckerman.

Another thing Carole knew about Finn was that he could be as stubborn as a mule when he wanted to be, so she didn't push him after his injury because she knew he needed time to come to terms with his injury and what his life could never be again. However, it had been over a year since the injury and he still didn't have any idea of what to do with his life besides going through the motions of living and that was no way to live a life.

So, Carole had an ulterior motive when she told Hiram and Leroy that she'd be happy to let Rachel stay with them. From what they had told her, their wild child of a daughter would be a great way to give Finn a push out of his comfort zone and as she got home from her volunteer work she thought that from what she had seen between them in their interactions, Finn was definitely being pushed out of his comfort zone.

An amazing smell hit Carole after opening the front door to the house, reminding her of the spaghetti that was served at Breadstix, only this smelled about a thousand times better. The second thing that hit Carole was the sound of Rachel and Finn bickering in the kitchen. As she got closer to the kitchen their argument finally became understandable.

"That's way too much red pepper!" She heard Finn say.

"It is not! This tomato sauce needs the kick of a little red pepper to spice it up!"

"That's not a little!"

"Stop worrying about the sauce, I've made it dozens of times! You need to worry about the pasta!"

Carole leaned against the door frame leading to the kitchen and watched as Rachel stirred her tomato sauce and Finn threw some salt into a pot of water.

"The pasta? The pasta cooks in like no time at all! What's there to worry about?"

Rachel shot Finn a glare. "Have you checked on the garlic bread?"

Her son threw his arms up. "We just put that in the oven!"

Another glare was shot in his direction. "Well, it never hurts to make sure."

Carole finally spoke up. "You two sound like you're having fun."

They both spun around.

"Mom!"

"Mrs. Hudson!"

Carole jokingly glared at Rachel. "Now what did I tell you about calling me that?"

"Not to?"

Carole smiled. "That's right and I think I'll leave you two to finish making dinner, which smells delicious by the way."

As Carole left the kitchen, their bickering immediately began again which she definitely didn't mind, the house had been a little too quiet this summer seeing as how Kurt wasn't able to make it back to Lima. She was pretty sure there wouldn't be a dull moment for Finn as long as Rachel was living with them and that was worth a lot more money than Hiram and Leroy could ever pay her for letting Rachel stay here.

The fact that she could see a certain spark between the two was even better.

The two songs Rachel sings in this chapter are "I Love Rock 'n Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and "Holiday" by Boys Like Girls.

I hope to have the next chapter written without any more long delays, so maybe in a week and a half? Hopefully?

As always, if you have the time, please leave a review.