The pitter-patter of a pair of small, sock encased feet approaching caused her lips to lift into a smile, just like they did when she heard them for the first time, the third time, and the hundredth. She would never be tired of hearing it.

"Mommy?"

The sauce in front of her was stirred. "Yes sweetie?"

"Can I have a glass of water?"

A glance away from the sauce she was preparing, down towards her daughter. "Try again."

"Do I have to?"

Another glance downwards. "Yes, you do."

The small face scrunched up in annoyance. "May I have a glass of water, please?"

"Of course you may."

As she opened a cabinet and grabbed a glass, she thought for what had to be the millionth time that he had probably passed down the gene that made their daughter want to bicker with her constantly. It was playful now, but who knew what it would be like when their child grew up. If it was anything like what she was like, she'd have a tornado that loved to argue with her on her hands. Heaven help her.

The glass was filled with water then handed over and the child ran off.

"Juliet Christine Hudson!" The little girl slid to a stop and turned around. "What have I told you about running at home?"

A pout. "Not to?"

"That's right."

"But daddy's going to be back on TV soon!"

Oh yes, he definitely passed that bickering gene down, no doubt about it. Yet another thing to blame on him.

Rachel listened for a moment. "They're in the middle of a commercial, take your time and walk back to the living room sweetie."

Another pout. "Okay."

Her attention returned to the sauce and, after a taste, she added a bit more red pepper then reduced the heat to let it simmer. A pot was filled with water and a handful of salt was added to it, a quick check of her watch told her she had plenty of time to spare, so she left the pot of water unheated and set a pan of ready to be baked garlic bread on the counter. Another glass of water was poured, this time for herself, and she made her way to the living room where she found her daughter sitting Indian style in the middle of the sofa, eyes glued to a commercial, and clutching her old stuffed monkey.

"See? You didn't miss daddy did you?"

"Noooooooooooo, I didn't."

Rachel set her glass down on the table and she took a seat on the sofa which immediately led to Juliet scrambling in-between Rachel's legs as Rachel stretched out one leg along the sofa and the other dangled to the ground.

"Comfy?" she said into her daughter's ear and wrapped her arms around her child as they both leaned back, her into the crook of the armrest and her daughter into her chest and stomach.

"Yes."

A kiss was planted on the top of the head in front of her. "Good."

Their attention was drawn to the television as the World Series of Poker title card was shown and a sultry female voice said, "World Series of Poker. Main Event. Final Table."

Rachel's attention wandered away from the TV as the announcers were shown introducing the final episode, with her memory and the number of times she had seen this she could recite all of their dialogue word for word, for the entire four hours of the final table that was aired, backwards. Juliet, of course, had devoted every bit of attention she had to the television, not even Rachel resting her chin on top of her head could distract her. Rachel couldn't tell if Juliet was more interested in the poker being played or if she just wanted to stare at the man she called daddy. Rachel couldn't blame her one bit if it was the latter.

"Mommy?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Tell me a story?"

Then again, maybe staring at her daddy over and over again in the same episodes couldn't keep the attention of her daughter.

"A story?"

"Please?"

"Hmm," Rachel said as she rested her chin on her daughter's head. "Hold on. I'm thinking."

"Kay."

A grin appeared on Rachel's face as she pieced together a few thoughts. "Okay. All ready?"

She felt her daughter nod.

"Once upon a time, in a land much like where we live, lived a princess who was very selfish and spoiled. Now, people let her be selfish and spoiled because she was pretty and could sing and it made people happy to watch and listen to her, but people hated to work for her because she was mean to them and only did it because they had to. One day—"

"Why was she so mean to them?"

"I was— She was mean to them because she didn't know any better."

"Why didn't she know any better?"

"She was a spoiled little princess so she never really grew up."

"Oh."

Rachel waited for a beat before she asked, "Can I continue with the story?"

"Yes please."

"Now, one day the princess's fairy godmother sent her to a land far, far away to teach her a lesson. This new land was completely different from her home. Where her home was loud and busy, this land was calm and quiet. The people in this new land were kind, peaceful, and completely unlike the princess. And in this land she met a prince who she was forced to live with. The prince—"

"Was the prince handsome?"

Rachel laughed then said, "Of course he was handsome." She grinned. "He was very handsome, just like daddy. Now, where was I?"

"The pretty princess had to live with the handsome prince that looked like daddy."

"Right. So the princess had to live with the price but from the start they didn't get along. They fought with each other all the time over the smallest things because neither one of them wanted to live with each other."

"They loafed each other!"

"Loafed?"

"Yea, like that movie where you had that funny green stuff on your face."

"Uh…," Rachel said as she puzzled over this. "Oh, you mean loathe."

"Loaf."

"No, it sounds like the word 'the' is at the end."

"They loathed each other?"

"Much better. But yes, they loathed each other and kept loathing each other even after the prince saved the princess's life. The funny thing was the more time they spent with together the more they discovered things about the other that they liked."

"They're gonna fall in love!"

Rachel laughed and said, "They might."

"They will," Juliet said as she nodded.

"The princess also found out that the prince hurt his leg in a war and she made fun of him because he walked with a limp."

Her daughter gasped. "That's mean!"

"I know." Rachel buried her face in the hair in front of her. "It was mean."

"I hope the prince stopped talking to the princess."

Rachel pulled her head back and laughed. "No, the prince wasn't cruel or mean. He forgave her."

"The prince sounds nice, like daddy."

"The prince was very much like daddy."

For the next 20 minutes, Rachel weaved this fairy tale, drawing on her extensive knowledge of musicals, plays, and movies to insert the prince and princess into more and more outrageous situations, much to her daughter's delight. The only thing that could have pulled Juliet's attention away from the story was the front door opening which caused her to pull herself away from Rachel and practically run towards the entrance of the condo.

"Daddy!"

"Hey baby girl." Finn Hudson said as he picked up his daughter.

"Mom! Mom!" Her eldest by a few years appeared from behind Finn, "We saw the best player ever today! I totally wanna be him when I grow up!"

"Do you now?"

"Yea! He has a cannon arm and he's only in high school! He's going to make it to the league one day and I already got his signature!"

A piece of paper with barely legible scrawl was shown to her.

"Better keep it in a safe place then Chris." Her son ran off to his room.

She looked up at Finn. "I take it football camp went well?"

He nodded. "Yea, there's some real talent this year. A lot of them will play major college ball one day and a few might even play in the NFL."

"I'm sure they will if they listen to you."

"Yea, if they listen to me, but all they seem to want to do is talk about the tournament last year."

Rachel smiled up at Finn as he poked his daughter in the side causing her to giggle. "How was your day?"

"It was good! I got to watch you on TV all day!"

A grin was shot at Rachel. "All day huh?"

Rachel rolled her eyes at Finn as their daughter said, "Yep!"

"You and mommy get tired of the monkeys at the zoo?"

"Nooooooooooooooooo," the little girl said as she shook her head. "Mommy told me a story too!"

"A story huh? About what?"

"A prince and a princess. The princess was mean and went to a land far far away and the prince was nice and they went on adventures together and they were falling in love and then you came home and mommy had to stop telling the story."

Finn looked over at Rachel. "A mean princess that met a prince in a far away land huh?"

"What?" Rachel asked innocently.

Finn shook his head and said, "Never mind." He glanced at the TV. "They're showing that again?"

Rachel nodded. "ESPN seems to be devoting an entire channel to last year's World Series."

"Hmm, probably getting people fired up for this year's tournament."

"That's what I thought as well."

Finn kicked off his shoes, took a seat on the sofa, and put Juliet down in-between them.

"We really gonna watch this again?"

"Shhhhhhhhh," came from the little one.

"Guess so." She said with a smile.

"I think our baby girl is going to grow up to be a show-tune singing card shark." He whispered into her ear over the head of their daughter.

"I hope not, Norman Chad would give her some awful nickname like siren or songbird." She whispered back.

"Hey, songbird isn't a terrible nickname."

"I suppose—"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

They grinned at each other over their daughter's head and he shrugged.

"Aw, not this again. Can't we watch something else?" Chris said as he returned from his room.

"It's almost over." Finn waved Chris over. "Come take a seat next to your old man."

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Chris shot a glare at his sister before taking a seat on the sofa next to Finn.

"All in." She heard Finn's television twin say.

"If Negreanu calls, this would be it! We would have our 2028 World Champion of Poker!"

Rachel watched as the Daniel Negreanu on TV thought about his choices and even though she knew how it would play out, she couldn't help but get sucked into the moment. The utter silence from the three other people on the sofa told her that they were waiting with anticipation as well.

Negreanu looked down at his chip stack and smiled then chuckled. "Looks like I don't really have a choice, I call."

The two players flipped over their cards, showing that Finn had the best hand which knocked Negreanu out and leaving Finn as the last player standing. Negreanu shrugged in defeat and they both stood up to shake hands, congratulating each other for playing a good game. Negreanu then stepped aside which let Finn raise his arms and scream with joy, mirroring the scream that came from the child in-between her and Finn.

Rachel covered her daughter's mouth and said, "Indoor voice please." When the hand was removed a much quieter scream was released.

On the television, Finn was being awarded his WSOP bracelet by the casino manager, the culmination of almost three weeks of play and proof that he was the best player in the world that year.

"So Finn, how does it feel to be the World Champion of Poker?"

A microphone was held out to Television Finn as he stood and stared at the bracelet in his hands. "I don't know. I can't believe this is happening. I'm just kinda speechless."

The casino manager chuckled. "Is there anything you'd like to quickly say?"

"Yea, I'd like to thank my wife, Rachel, for believing in me and that I love her, Christopher, and Juliet and I wish that they could be here with me!"

"And there you have it, Finn Hudson, winner of a record 11.5 million dollars and 2028 World Champion of Poker!"

As the program ended and the credits began to roll, Rachel grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

"All right, time to get cleaned up and changed. Uncle Kurt and Blaine will be here for dinner soon."

"But I wanna see daddy's bracelet!"

Rachel looked down. "After you get changed sweetie."

"Come on you two." Finn said.

After Finn picked Juliet up and Chris followed them to the bedrooms, Rachel went back to the kitchen and checked on the sauce that she had left simmering. It looked like it had reduced enough and a quick taste told her that it had, so she turned down the heat a bit more. The pot of water was put on high heat and the oven was turned on for the garlic bread, as Rachel continued to prepare for dinner.

Rachel found a freshly changed Juliet with arms up and looking up at her as she reentered the living room. "All right, let's go see daddy's bracelets."

Juliet was picked up and the pair made their way to a shelf by the television that held Finn's three World Series of Poker bracelets, two for smaller events and a larger version for the Main Event he had won last year.

"Daddy's bracelets are much prettier than your trophies."

Rachel gently tapped her head against her daughter's. "Yes they are."

And it was true, compared to the jewel-encrusted, gold World Series of Poker bracelets, her three Tony Awards, one for Best Featured Actress and two for Best Actress, sitting directly behind the bracelets looked downright plain. Of course, Rachel would've liked to explain this by saying that Broadway was a much more sophisticated world than poker, but after a career spanning over three decades and counting, she knew that wasn't true. Plus, she wouldn't have said no to a diamond or two or ten on her awards. But, that probably had something to do with the fact that no one paid $10,000 to compete in the Tony Awards.

"Hey, shouldn't you go get changed too?" Finn asked her as he returned to the living room to come stand next to her.

"Should I?"

"Well, I guess you could always eat dinner in sweatpants and my shirt."

Rachel looked down at the outfit she had on, completely forgetting that she hadn't changed this morning since Juliet decided that their entire day would be spent in the condo watching poker. It wasn't the original shirt that she had first worn all those days ago, that had to be discarded due to wear and tear after a few years, along with a few of the others that she had claimed as sleepwear, but Rachel always slept in one of Finn's shirts no matter what. Even during some of their most heated arguments, she always went to bed in one of his shirts.

"I'm sure no one would mind, but you'd probably have to listen to Kurt's comments all night about how unfitting an outfit it is for a Tony winner."

"I forgot I had these on."

Finn grinned. "I see that spectacular memory of yours is failing in your old age."

A glare was shot at Finn. "You must want to sleep on the sofa tonight."

A half smile. "Well, I did buy a super comfy couch for a reason."

"You must really want to sleep on the sofa tonight."

"You keep saying that, but you never follow through."

"I don't like you very much right now."

"That's okay." He bent down and kissed her cheek. "As long as you still love me."

Rachel grinned. "We'll see about that."

"Can I sleep on the sofa with daddy?"

Rachel laughed and smiled at her daughter who was giving her a questioning look. "No, no one is sleeping on the sofa tonight, sweetie. Mommy and daddy are being silly." She looked back up and caught Finn staring at the awards on the shelf, "Are you sure you don't want to compete this year? You still have time to register."

Finn looked over at her after a moment. "I'm sure; I've never liked spending so much time away from you and the kids year after year and after winning the Main Event last year I'll never have to again."

A confused Rachel looked over at Finn. "What do you mean never?"

Finn returned to staring at the awards. "I've been thinking about giving up tournaments for a while. I mean, it's kinda nice to fly around the world playing poker, but I miss out on so much at home when I'm away."

"It would be nice to have you home the entire year."

He grinned at her. "Miss your handsome husband that much?"

She grinned back. "No, I miss not having to raise two children by myself for weeks at a time." The grin fell off her face. "Wouldn't you miss it?"

He turned his head to look at the awards again. "Yea, a little bit, but I'd still have internet poker and there are still the casinos nearby, plus now that I've taken this assistant coach job I can't be gone for half the year. So, I think it's time to stop running around the world playing tournaments."

After a few more moments of staring at the awards, Finn said, "Come on baby girl, let mommy go get changed."

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay."

Rachel let Juliet drop to the ground and their daughter scurried over to the sofa while she started to make her way to her bedroom.

Finn's voice made her pause. "Do you need me to do anything in the kitchen?"

"Could you stir the sauce, put the garlic bread in the oven, and pull out the salad ingredients from the refrigerator?"

He shot a joking glare at her as he walked towards the kitchen. "Is that all?"

She smiled sweetly back at him. "Oh, put the pasta in if the water is boiling."

A few more steps were taken towards the bedroom before she heard Finn say something that brought a smile to her face. "There's way too much red pepper in this!"

Some things would never change and for that, Rachel Berry was grateful.

The End

A/N: Well, that's that. In some ways I'm prouder of this story than my first because I had to struggle, and I mean struggle, through this. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this much more than I did writing it.

Thanks to JannP, sma (you should really sign in before you leave a review), and the rest of the fildos. Thank you to mida212 and her group of friends for the help. Finally, a big thank you to CarmenMauri who seemed to be my own personal cheerleader and without whom I might have not finished this story. Oh yea, and thanks to all those crappy rom-coms I've watched.

Finally, if you care, there's a note in my profile about what I plan to do or not do next.