Author's Note: Still amazed at how much support this story is getting. You guys are awesome! The flashback is in italics. This chapter title comes from "Before It's Too Late" by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rachel grumbled darkly to herself as she viciously slid the spatula under the cookies she had just baked and deposited them on the serving platter. She was so caught up in her mutterings that she didn't notice the back door open and close.

"What did those cookies ever do to you?"

Rachel jumped and spun around, only to find Finn standing behind her. He was holding a bouquet of pretty wildflowers and giving her that wonderful half smile. Rachel felt her heartbeat increase as she smiled at him in return.

"Nothing," Rachel said. "I'm just… I'm a little frustrated, that's all."

Finn leaned against the kitchen table and watched as Rachel began to arrange the cookies on the platter. She had been baking all day long for her mother and stepfather's annual end of summer cookout. Rachel now only had two weeks until she would be starting her sophomore year, and she couldn't wait.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Finn offered.

Rachel looked over her shoulder at him and gave him a small smile before she turned back to the food. "It's nothing, really. Quinn was just supposed to be helping me bake, but she ripped her dress or something and has been out shopping all day for a new one and—" She stopped abruptly when she realized that she was, in fact, speaking to Quinn's boyfriend. "Oops. I'm sorry."

Finn chuckled. "It's okay, Rach." He stepped closer to her and set the flowers aside, and Rachel knew that he had gotten them for her mother. He was always so chivalrous.

"But you don't need to hear me complain about Quinn," Rachel said with a sigh.

Finn came to stand next to her. "Trust me, I understand how annoying siblings can be sometimes. Kurt is my brother, remember? He's always ragging on me for what I wear." Rachel laughed and Finn smiled in return. He watched her arrange the cookies for a moment before he said, "Can I do anything to help?"

"Finn, you don't have to—"

"It's the least I could do." And without waiting for a response from Rachel, Finn started removing the cookies from another cookie sheet. Rachel watched him with a smile, but was distracted when the door opened again.

"Little star!"

Rachel squealed and ran towards her father and his partner and threw her arms around both of them at the same time. "Daddy! Papa!"

"How are you, princess?" Leroy asked.

Well, since Finn showed up, Rachel was feeling much better. But she wasn't about to share that with anyone, let alone either of her fathers. "I'm alright," she said instead. "Finn is just helping me finish up with the baking."

"Oh." Hiram got a very interested look on his face as he looked between Finn and Rachel. "So you're the boy that's been dating Quinn, then."

Finn nodded his head and shook Hiram's hand and then Leroy's. "I am. It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Rachel has told us a bit about you," Leroy said. Her papa's words caused Rachel's cheeks to flush bright red. It wasn't like she wanted Finn to know how much she talked about him. "She says that you're a firefighter."

Finn smiled at Rachel before speaking to Leroy. "I am."

"Excellent!" Leroy clapped Finn on the back and moved so that they were walking into the living room. "Let's talk then."

As soon as they were out of earshot, Hiram turned to his daughter. He didn't miss the way her cheeks were flushed or how her eyes followed Finn's form out of the kitchen.

"Finn seems like a nice man," he said.

Rachel nodded her head. "He is."

"It was nice of him to help you."

"It was."

"He's very handsome, too."

"He is—Daddy!"

"What?" Hiram smiled. He just knew that his little girl had a crush on Finn, and her previous admission proved it. "I was just simply stating a fact."

Rachel gave him a look. "Daddy," she said again. She knew what kind of game he was playing.

Hiram hugged her. "It's okay, little star. I know that you like Finn. I won't tell anyone. Besides your papa, that is." Rachel smiled, and then Hiram added, "By the way, you have the approval from both me and your papa."

"Rachel, I can't believe that you're leaving me only two and half weeks before the wedding!"

Rachel zipped her suitcase shut and turned to face her sister, giving her a smile. "Quinn, you're going to be fine. I'll only be gone for the weekend. We didn't have anything planned, anyway."

"But what if there's an emergency?" Quinn said. "You can't leave!"

Rachel patted her hand. "Then call Santana." Santana would kill her for telling Quinn that, but Rachel seriously doubted that there would be any kind of serious emergency.

Quinn threw herself down on Rachel's bed. Instead of looking like a twenty-three year old woman who was a mother and getting married in less than a month, she looked like her two year old daughter. "I don't understand why you have to go spend the weekend with your fathers. You can just go and visit them any time you want!"

"I miss my daddy and my papa," Rachel said. Honestly, she was just thankful that her fathers were willing to cover for her and Finn as they went to Ohio for the weekend. "We're just going to see a few shows, like we used to when I was still in school."

"Ugh, fine," Quinn finally relented. "But if it's a really big emergency, do I have permission to call you? As my maid of honor, you're supposed to help me with those things, you know."

"Only if it's a life-threatening one," Rachel said.

Quinn smiled. "Okay."

"I mean it!" Rachel exclaimed as she pointed a finger at her. "Someone better be dying or severely bleeding out if I get a call from you. I don't want one just because the color of the napkins don't match the tablecloth."

"So I guess that would be a call for Santana, then?" Quinn asked.

Rachel winced. "I think that might be more a call for Mom, actually. You know what, maybe you should just call Mom instead of calling Santana. That might be safer for everyone." At this point, she was more than ready to go on this trip with Finn. It would be so nice to get a weekend away from everything.

Finn lifted Rachel's bag from the compartment over their seats and grunted under the weight. "Jeeze, Rach. What did you put in here? We're only going to be here for two days." He slung both his carry on and Rachel's over his shoulder.

"I know," Rachel said. "I just wanted to be prepared." They made their way off of the plane and Finn took Rachel's hand.

"What do you need to be prepared for? It's only two days, remember?"

"Obviously, I had to pack in case it rained. Also, what if your mother and your stepfather want to take us out to dinner? I had to bring a dress just in case. Not to mention my hair and makeup products are in there, as well." She laced their fingers together as they walked through the airport.

"Ah." Finn chuckled. He lifted their entwined hands and kissed her knuckles. "That makes so much sense now."

Rachel playfully nudged his side. "Don't you dare mock me, Finn Hudson. This is all very important and requires a lot of planning." Even though she had met Finn's mother and stepfather before, she was still nervous. She had only been Kurt's friend then. Now she was Finn's girlfriend.

They got the keys to the car Finn rented and loaded their bags into it. "Have you ever been to Ohio before?" Finn asked as he opened the car door for her. He waited until Rachel was settled in before going over to the driver's side and getting in.

Rachel shook her head. "Never. This is my first time here."

"Since we're only here for two days, I'll only be able to show you around Lima. But that only depends on if my mom lets us go long enough. She's going to want to talk to you the entire time."

It was then that Rachel got a worried look on her face. She bit her lip as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt, her previous worries coming back full force. "What if she doesn't like me?"

Stopping at a red light, Finn turned to give her an incredulous look. "Rach, are you kidding me? I've already told you that my mom loves you. Don't you remember all of the times she and Burt have come up to visit Kurt? She's only ever had good things to say about you." He took her hand again, squeezing it reassuringly.

"That's different."

"How is that different?"

"Because now I'm dating her son! That's so different from being best friends with her other son. I'm sleeping with her firstborn."

Finn had to choke back a laugh as he started driving again. He still held her hand, rubbing his thumb soothingly over the back of it. "I didn't realize that you were going to share that information with her."

"Finn!" Rachel punched his arm as her cheeks flamed bright red.

"Hey! Don't punch the driver!"

"Finn Hudson, I would never say that to your mother. As far as she knows, we're completely celibate."

"Rach, baby, come on." Finn pouted. "That's no fun at all. And my mom isn't stupid. She definitely doesn't need to know any details, but, you know…"

Rachel scowled at him. "Well, she doesn't need to know that I'm defiling her baby boy."

"Defiling? Really?" Finn turned down a street that had pretty, picturesque houses. He flashed her a smirk, and his dimple appeared in his left cheek. "Do you plan on having your wicked way with me later tonight, or something?"

"Not if you keep teasing me," Rachel grumbled.

Finn grinned and lifted her hand to his lips so that he could kiss her knuckles again. "I love you, Rachel Berry."

And Rachel could feel her heart melt at his sweet words. "You know, you can't always think that that's going to work every time I get annoyed."

"Is it working right now?"

Rachel scowled at the smirk on Finn's lips. "Yes," she admitted grudgingly.

"Okay, then." After a few more moments, Finn pulled into a driveway in front of a pretty brick house. Rachel bit her lip and Finn kissed her hand again. "It's going to be fine."

Rachel pointed at him as a smirk of her own came onto her lips. "Just remember this moment when you're meeting my fathers again."

Finn paled a little at the thought, but he got out of the car nonetheless. Leaving the bags for later, Finn opened Rachel's door for her and then took her hand. They walked towards the front door, but it swung open before they could get there.

Carole Hummel stood in the doorway. She was wearing a wide smile on her face as she watched them approach.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed in lieu of a greeting. "You're dating!"

"I always knew that my Finny had a crush on you," Carole said. They had finished dinner an hour ago, and now they were sitting at the dining room table and drinking coffee. Burt was in the kitchen, as he had volunteered to do the dishes (but he had told Finn that it was his job for the rest of the weekend). Finn's cheeks reddened at his mother's words.

"Mom," he mumbled in embarrassment. Rachel let out a giggle as Carole ignored her son's protest and continued speaking.

"And then when I talked to him a month ago, I could tell that he was happy, even though everyone else had been worrying about his dating life. But I could tell that my Finny wasn't telling me everything."

Finn's brow furrowed in confusion. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew!" Carole patted his hand. "I'm your mother, Finn Christopher Hudson. I know everything."

"Oh." Finn blinked in surprise and Rachel laughed. "Okay, then." He looked at Rachel and made a face at her for laughing, and she just smiled and reached up to kiss his cheek.

Carole smiled. "You really do look very happy, Finny," she said. When Rachel turned to look at her, Carole nodded her head.

"Thanks, Mom," Finn said. "And speaking of, you have to tell Kurt to stop trying to mess with my life. He threw a birthday party for me just so he could find me a girlfriend. Rachel was not very pleased."

"Of course I wasn't pleased!" Rachel exclaimed. "He can't keep trying to set you up with girls when you already have a perfectly good girlfriend."

Finn wrapped his arm around her kissed her temple. "Of course I have a wonderful girlfriend. But Kurt doesn't know that, baby. Remember?"

Carole looked between her son and his girlfriend. "Kurt doesn't know?" she repeated.

Both Finn and Rachel shifted in their seats. "Uh… no," Finn finally said. "Kurt doesn't know. Actually, a lot of people don't know. Well, Rachel's fathers know. And Puck knows, and Rachel's friend Tina knows, and Sam and Mercedes know. And I'm pretty sure Santana is really close to knowing. But other than that, a lot of people don't know."

"Finn, I'm not sure if I understand what you're talking about," Carole said with a note of worry in her voice.

Rachel bit her lip and squeezed Finn's hand tightly. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, and she felt instantly comforted by being in his arms. "We wanted to keep it quiet until after the wedding since we—alright, I—wasn't very sure how Quinn would react."

"Oh. I see." Carole watched the young couple in front of her for a long moment. "I'm not entirely sure that Quinn would be unhappy that you two are dating."

"Well…" Rachel truly did look worried about what was going to happen. "Quinn has just been so stressed with planning the wedding, and I just… I don't know if I would really appreciate it if I had a younger sister and she dated one of my ex-boyfriends."

"I think she sort of cancelled that out when she cheated on me with my best friend," Finn pointed out. "She doesn't really have room to be angry. And honestly… her cheating on me was one of the best things that could have ever happened. Because it led me to you, Rachel."

Rachel's face relaxed into a smile and she reached up to press a hand to his cheek, resting her forehead against his. "I love you, Finn," she whispered.

Carole watched the couple with a motherly smile on her face. She was worried about their situation, but she could see how happy they made each other. Even though she had a feeling that this was going to get a little messy, she knew that everything was going to be okay. It was mother's intuition.

Author's Note: Ah, Carole. The voice of reason. In the next chapter, someone else reveals that they already knew about Finn and Rachel's relationship. Thanks for reading!