Author's Note: You are all seriously awesome. Thank you so much for the reviews! The flashback is in italics. This chapter title comes from "Ever the Same" by Rob Thomas.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Quinn had been in labor with Beth for about ten hours. Now that the baby was born, she was resting in her room, allowing the rest of the family to recuperate. Rachel walked through the hospital, just taking the time to stretch her legs before she went back to her apartment.

During her walk, Rachel found Puck standing in front of the window of the room where they were holding his newborn daughter. She found little Beth immediately and smiled when she saw her new niece sleeping soundly.

"How are you doing, Noah?" Rachel asked

Puck rubbed a hand over his hair. "I'm scared shitless, honestly."

"Noah, everything is going to be alright," Rachel said. "You love Quinn, and Quinn loves you, and both of you love this baby."

Puck gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Berry," he said. After a moment, he sighed. "I just wish that Finn was here. He's always been a brother to me, and I… I wish that Quinn and I would have handled things differently."

Rachel didn't want to outright agree with Puck, because she knew that he was already feeling bad enough. She knew that both Puck and Quinn still felt horrible for what had happened.

"Well… You can't change things now," Rachel said carefully.

"I know," Puck said quietly.

"But Finn seems like a nice guy," Rachel continued. "And you two have been best friends for almost all of your life. I'm sure that he'll come around eventually. It's just going to take some time."

Puck was quiet for a long moment. "Thank you," he said. "You know, you won't make a bad little sister. Or sister-in-law. Whatever."

Rachel tried not to squeal at Puck's implication. "Are you going to ask Quinn to marry you?"

Puck smiled at Rachel's enthusiasm. "Yeah. Can you keep your mouth shut about it long enough for me to do it?"

"How long do I have to wait?" Rachel demanded.

"Can you give it a few months? We just had a baby, after all."

"Alright, fine," Rachel relented with a scowl. She resented the implication that she couldn't keep a secret. "But you have to let me help you pick out a ring."

"Already done," Puck said.

"Can I see it, then?"

Puck laughed. "Just relax, Berry."

Rachel sighed in exasperation at Puck before she nodded her head. "Fine," she repeated. "I'm going to go check up on my parents."

Puck nodded his head and turned to watch his daughter again. "Oh, and Berry?" When Rachel turned, Puck smirked. "Maybe Finn can be Uncle Finn to your Aunt Rachel."

Just as Puck had suspected (he had always known that Rachel had a crush on Finn. And he suspected that Finn had a thing for Rachel, too), Rachel's cheeks flushed bright red. "Excuse me?" she said, her voice jumping up to a higher octave than normal.

Puck gave her an innocent look. "I was just saying that one day, Beth might call Finn Uncle Finn. That's all."

"Right." Rachel gave him a strange look before she left. Once she was out of earshot, Puck started laughing. He knew that one day, he would get to hear Beth call his best friend and his future sister-in-law Uncle Finn and Aunt Rachel.

"Seriously, you two are the worst at keeping secrets. Nearly everyone knows now that the two of you are together."

Finn rolled his eyes at Puck. "Dude. You're not helping at all right now."

"I just don't understand why you two insisted on hiding it," Puck said. "We're all happy for you, man."

"Considering that it was you who fucked him over in the first place, you better be happy for him," Santana said as she came into the living room. Rachel was out picking up their takeout for them. Since Kurt was out with Blaine, they had decided to go over to Rachel's apartment and have dinner. Rachel had left to pick up the food before Finn had arrived, otherwise he would have gone with her. Now he was stuck with Puck and Santana as they argued back and forth.

Puck scowled at her. "You don't have to be such a bitch, Lopez. We all know what happened."

Finn sighed. He hadn't quite planned on playing referee, but he should have expected it. "And we're over it," he pointed out. "So let's just… let it go."

Puck glared at Santana for another moment before he said, "Well, I was the first one to figure it out. I'm surprised it took you so long, Lopez."

"Yeah right, Puckerman," Santana said with a snort. "I've known Rachel nearly my entire life. I knew the moment that Rachel met Finn that she would find a way to climb him like a tree."

"I've known Finn for that long, too. And since we're older than you, I've known him longer. I could tell right away that he would want to bone Berry the second they saw each other."

Finn was so glad Rachel wasn't in the apartment at that moment.

"Guys, we are not arguing about this right now," Finn said. He definitely wanted to put an end to that disagreement before Rachel returned.

"Whatever, Hudson," Puck said dismissively. Thankfully, though, the conversation was dropped. The door opened and Rachel came in, carrying the bags of their food. Finn jumped up to help her, greeting her with a kiss on the lips.

"Gross," Santana muttered. "They're cute." Rachel only smiled pleasantly at her roommate as she took the cartons out of the bag and grabbed some forks from the drawer.

"Anyway, Finn." Puck stood up and made his way to the counter. "I had a question for you."

Finn grabbed his own carton and snagged a fork from Rachel, thanking her with a kiss on the cheek. "What's up, man?"

"Well… I haven't exactly picked a best man yet," Puck revealed.

That caused Rachel to gasp rather dramatically. "Are you serious?" she demanded. She had pretty much spent the past year planning this wedding with Quinn. Her older sister wanted everything to be perfect. If Quinn found out that Puck hadn't picked a best man yet, her head would probably explode. And so would Rachel's, by extension. "The wedding is in three days, Noah. I can't believe you haven't picked a best man yet!"

Puck gave her a slightly exasperated look. "Berry. I'm trying to ask a question here."

"Oh." Rachel suddenly understood what Puck was trying to do, and she smiled. She gestured for him to go on. "Continue, please."

"Anyway." Turing back to Finn, Puck prepared to continue. "I was kind of keeping the spot open, especially since we started talking to each other again. So I was wondering if you were interested in having it." Puck ran a hand over his Mohawk. He tried not to be nervous for Finn's response, but he couldn't help it. Finn was the only person he could imagine having as his best man.

"Yeah," Finn said. He smiled, because he knew that it hadn't exactly been easy for Puck to ask that question and admit that he had always wanted him for a best man. "Yeah, I will."

Everyone stayed in comfortable silence for a long moment. Rachel was beaming brightly as she held onto Finn's hand. He smiled down at her and then nodded his head at Puck, who reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. Suddenly, Santana broke the silence.

"Aw! The bromance has been officially reunited! How cute!"

That caused Finn to chuckle and Rachel to laugh outright. Puck rolled his eyes and said, "Right. That's enough of this super feeling fuzzy shit for me."

"We have so much to do," Quinn said as she checked her hair in the mirror. "Do we really have to go to my bachelorette party?"

"Of course we do, Quinn," Rachel said. But honestly, it wasn't like Rachel wanted to go either. "Besides, your other bridesmaids won't stop bothering you until you go. They wouldn't leave me alone until I planned one."

"I guess I am lucky that you were the one who planned it," Quinn relented. "Knowing my former roommates, they definitely would have gone a little wild with the planning. Aubrey loves that sort of thing."

"Right." Rachel straightened the hem of her dress and then slipped her jacket on. They were two days away from the wedding, and Tiffany had called her four days ago, demanding to know why a bachelorette party hadn't been set up yet (despite the fact that Quinn had stated that she didn't really want one). Rachel had then received calls from both Aubrey and Gwen with suggestions for a party.

Rachel, knowing her sister, had set up a small gathering at a swanky bar. Quinn had definitely done her fair share of partying, but since graduating from college she had matured in her tastes. They were just going to spend a fun, quiet night out. While Quinn had been initially reluctant to go, she found that the quiet night Rachel had planned would work perfectly.

"Aubrey called me earlier. She said that we should go to the same club that Kurt had Finn's birthday party at. But I told her that I was perfectly fine with being at the bar," Quinn said. She grabbed her jacket as well and pulled it on. "Ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be," Rachel muttered. She was just glad that Santana was going to be there tonight, as well. She needed a buffer from all the other bridesmaids.

It took them fifteen minutes to get to the bar. Rachel spotted Santana immediately, and the Latina handed her a very pink drink as soon as Rachel sat down. She had told Santana about how Gwen had been all over Finn from the beginning, and that only made Santana want to kick her ass even more.

She gave her a best friend a thankful smile and took a sip of her drink. She certainly didn't plan on getting drunk (much as she wanted to), so she was careful with keeping track of how many she drank. She was on her second drink and not really paying attention to the conversation when Quinn, Tiffany, and Aubrey got up to get more drinks from the bar.

Santana's phone rang then, and she gave Rachel a slightly apologetic look as she held it up to show her the screen. "It's Brittany," she said.

Rachel sighed and nodded her head. "Go ahead," she said, albeit a bit reluctantly. It wasn't like she wanted to be left at the table alone with Gwen. Santana patted her back before she left the booth.

Rachel sighed and took a long sip of her drink. She wondered how long it would be before Gwen said something to piss her off. And, not surprisingly, it didn't take very long at all.

Gwen stared at her. "I know," she said.

Rachel took another sip of her pink drink. "Excuse me?" she said in a dull voice. She wasn't in the mood to play any games, especially not with Gwen.

"I know," Gwen repeated. "I know everything."

"Gwen, I'm not following. And frankly, I'm getting a little tired of you. So if you could elaborate, that would be wonderful." Rachel was so done with taking Gwen's crap. She would be civil with Gwen in front of Quinn, for her sake, but after the wedding all bets were off.

Gwen gave Rachel a cold smirk. "I know about your secret relationship with Finn."

Rachel almost choked on another sip of her drink. But she called on her superb acting skills and schooled her features, returning Gwen's smirk with a cool look. She didn't start denying, but she didn't confirm Gwen's claim either. She needed to find out what Gwen knew.

Fortunately, she was very forthcoming with the information. "On Finn's birthday, I saw you dancing with him at the club. It looked as if you two were very… cozy."

"And what if we were just dancing?" Rachel asked. She and Finn definitely hadn't been just dancing. But still.

"It definitely didn't look that way. And my suspicions were confirmed when I saw you leaving the bathroom with him. Now what would you and Finn be doing in a bathroom together?"

Now Rachel definitely knew that they had been caught. So the bathroom at the club wasn't the best place for her and Finn's little interlude. She could have kicked herself for being so stupid. She might have been able to get away with it had Gwen not been there. At this point, there was only one thing that Rachel could say—and she had been itching to say it since the first time she had met Gwen.

"Then you can stop trying to go after Finn, then," Rachel stated. "Because he's not interested." Knowing how Finn felt about her—knowing his love for her and the way that he looked into her eyes and the way that he touched her—helped Rachel firmly tell Gwen off. "And he never will be."

"We'll see about that," Gwen snapped. When Rachel opened her mouth to retort, Gwen held her hand up. "And I might tell Quinn about your little relationship with Finn. I'm sure that's why you're keeping it quiet, isn't it?"

Rachel pressed her lips together as her eyes narrowed into a dangerous, dark glare. She wasn't normally one for violence, but she had never wanted to hit someone as much as she did at that moment.

Before Rachel could properly respond (or not properly, depending on how you looked at it), everyone came back to the table. Quinn, Aubrey, and Tiffany had gotten drinks for everyone, and they passed them around. Rachel downed hers quickly as Santana look on in concern.

"Berry," she said. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to be sick."

Rachel's eyes flashed briefly to Gwen, and Santana didn't miss it. "I think I might be," she said quietly. Turning towards her sister, she gave her a small smile. "I'm sure it's nothing bad. I'm just going to go home and lay down. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

Quinn reached over and hugged Rachel tightly. When she pulled back, Rachel saw that she was giving her a look full of worry. "Call me if you're feeling worse, okay?" she said. "If not, I'll see you tomorrow."

Rachel nodded her head and got up to leave. She hailed a cab outside of the bar and jumped in, pulling her phone out. Instead of going back to her own apartment, Rachel gave the cab driver the address for Finn's. She set a quick text off to Kurt to tell him that she was spending the night at Quinn's before she laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.

The door swung open before Rachel had even knocked. When Finn saw her, he pulled her into his arms and embraced her tightly. He pressed a kiss to her temple as Rachel sank into his arms and closed her eyes. She loved how he always immediately made her feel so much better.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked gently. "I just got a text from Santana and Puck. Puck said that he got a call from Quinn that you weren't feeling well, and Santana said that you left the bachelorette party suddenly. What's going on?"

"Gwen," Rachel muttered into Finn's chest. "I just… I'm so tired of her and everything that she says and all the trouble that she tries to stir up."

"Baby, what did she do?" He gently rubbed her shoulder, and Rachel leaned further into his touch.

"She knows about us," Rachel revealed. "She's known about us since your birthday. And she threatened to tell Quinn."

Finn dragged a hand through his hair. He didn't really feel angry about how Gwen was threatening to tell everyone about their relationship (he was, however, majorly pissed that she kept bothering Rachel. Finn wouldn't stand for that). He was just more annoyed with the fact that she kept trying to interject herself in their lives. He was tired of the shit that Gwen had been trying to pull. Really, all he wanted was for her to go away.

"That's it," Finn said. He didn't even feel like dealing with Gwen at that particular moment, so he was just going to spend the night making sure that Rachel was okay. And the next time he saw Gwen, it was going to be done. "We're going to put an end to this. The next time we see her, that's it. I'm done."

"I just don't want her to tell Quinn before we get a chance to. That would probably be the worst thing that could possibly happen." Rachel sighed and dropped on to the couch. She had no doubt that Gwen would find a way to spin the story to make Finn and Rachel out to be the bad guys. That was the last thing that Rachel wanted. "If I had just told Quinn about us from the beginning, none of this would be happening right now."

Finn took a seat next to her and rubbed a comforting hand over her back. "It's not your fault," Finn said firmly. He really did believe that. He wasn't putting any of the blame on Rachel. At any rate, he had taken a part in the decision-making as much as she had. "You just wanted everyone to be happy. But things can't always be perfect, baby. You just have to trust that everything is going to work out."

Rachel rested her head on Finn's shoulder. "Everything is going to okay, right?"

"I think so." He kissed the top of her head before he said, "So why don't I put in a copy of Funny Girl and grab you one of my sweaters?"

For the first time since she had come into the apartment, Rachel's face relaxed into a true smile. "I love you. Has anyone ever told you that you're pretty much the best boyfriend ever?"

"Once or twice. I wouldn't mind hearing it again." Finn kissed her tenderly. "I love you, too," he added before he disappeared in his room to grab her one of his sweaters.

Rachel smiled again and settled into the couch. Despite her earlier worries, she really did believe that everything was going to work out. And no matter what, she would always have Finn and the rest of their friends and family by her side.

Author's Note: Bet that wasn't the person you all thought was going to find out. At least Rachel got a chance to tell Gwen off. :) So the next chapter is the wedding! We're finally there! Not to mention, Finn and Rachel get caught by someone else at the wedding.