Chapter Six: Help Me Fit In My Skin
Author's Note: Once again, thank you to everyone who has alerted and followed this story. Now, just because Finn and Rachel are (finally) together, it doesn't mean that the story is ending anytime soon, hopefully. I'm honestly playing this by ear, and we're going to see where the story goes. Instead of Rachel being a vegan in the story, I decided to make her a selective vegetarian (like I am), hence the choice of dinner that occurs later in the chapter. And as a side note for the rest of the story, Finchel and the rest of the roommates are Yankees fans, mostly because I know Lea loves the Yankees, and they also happen to be my favorite baseball team. As always, I don't own the Glee characters or the Yankees, all of those rights go to Ryan Murphy and Fox and Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner family, respectively. The chapter title comes from the song Naked by Avril Lavigne.
"Hey there, sexy doctor. Is there a way you can spring me from this place? I miss seeing the patients, not being a patient." Rachel said after being in the hospital for two days.
"Sexy doctor? Wow. I've been upgraded in the past two days. I feel special." Finn said, sitting down in one of the chairs in Rachel's room.
"Well, don't feel so special. I'm trying to use as many nicknames as possible on all of the doctor's to let me out of here. I'm going insane."
"Well, you can call me the bearer of good news because I have your release papers here for you to sign."
"Oh thank God. I've been waiting days for this. Gimme the papers. Gimme me, gimme me, gimme me!" Rachel all but leaned over to grab the papers out of Finn's hands.
"Wait a second, you don't get to have these right away. I have something to ask you before you aren't my patient anymore."
"Technically I'm not your patient. I'm Sylvester's patient, and you're the intern on my case. But what did you want to ask?"
"I want to take you out on a real date. And not just a nighttime pudding eating fest. A real date. One where you and I get dressed up and go out to dinner. I was thinking Sardi's—"
"Sardi's!" Rachel squealed. "I've always wanted to go there. Yes, Finn Hudson, I will go on a date with you." Her smile started to fade. "But there's something I need to ask you."
"What's wrong? Are you already doubting our relationship because, Rach, I'm really into this."
"No, Finn, don't worry, so am I. It's just, I'm not really ready for everyone to know about us. So is there any way we could…I don't know…keep our relationship between the two of us for now?"
Finn smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind Rachel's ear. "Anything for you, Rach." He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.
She sighed. "I can't wait to get out of here so that way I can give you a real kiss. And maybe a little something more."
"Trust me, Rachel Berry, I want you out of here just as much. And that is what these papers are for." Finn handed Rachel the papers and handed her a pen and she scribbled her signature on the paper. "So when is our date? Do you want me to make the reservation for the restaurant when I get back to the house?"
"No because the reservation is for tomorrow night at seven. I can't wait." Finn said, smiling at her. "I'll see you back at the house."
"I'll see you tonight." Rachel got up from the bed and kissed Finn's cheek. "If there's a way you can come home right after work instead of going to Rolling Greens, that would be much appreciated. Because I have a surprise up my sleeve for you."
"Nothing too strenuous. You heard what Sylvester said when you got out of surgery."
"Yes, Finn, I heard her. And it's not really that much. Just get home right away."
"I will; I promise."
"Good. I'll be waiting." She smiled and walked into the bathroom to change clothes before she left.
"Ah, Dr. Hudson." Hiram said, coming into Rachel's room. "Is she being discharged today?"
"She already signed her papers, Mr. Berry. She's in the middle getting changed now." Finn looked down at Rachel's discharge papers and signed something. "Are you and the other Mr. Berry taking her home?"
"Leroy is. I needed to come in to check on something in the clinic. I thought I saw something on Rachel's chart about a consult a few weeks ago. I just wanted to find out what it was about."
Finn stopped dead in his tracks. Rachel hadn't told her dads about the almost pregnancy? Well, he certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell them.
"Well, I don't know anything about it, either. So if you came to me for answers, I'm sorry, I don't have a clue."
"Have a clue about what?" Rachel asked, coming out from the bathroom as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.
"There's my favorite daughter. While we wait for your father, I have a question for you. Why did you stop in the clinic a few weeks ago for a consult?"
Finn noticed Rachel's eyes widen slightly. "Oh, I needed my flu shot. Can't work here in the hospital without a flu shot. Finn, have you gotten yours yet?" Rachel said, effectively taking the heat off of her.
"Oh, yeah. I got it around the same time you did. Hopefully I'm not getting sick with it again this year."
"Smart choice, Finn. Anyway, are you taking me home today, or is Daddy?"
"Actually, Mr. Berry, I get off from work in about ten minutes. If you wanted to have a nice night with Mr. Berry, I could take Rachel home. Especially since she said the two of you live all the way out on Long Island and Rach is my roommate."
"Finn, that's a very nice offer, but you don't really have to do that. Besides, seeing Rachel is a privilege for her father and I." Leroy said, coming into the room. "Rachela, I'm so glad you're able to come home today. Now, your father and I were talking last night, and if you need us, it's a long drive from Long Island."
"What are you saying?"
"We think it would be helpful that, during your recovery, your father and I move into the house with you. Just to make sure there aren't any complications."
Rachel looked shocked. "No, you really don't need to do that. I live in a house with a whole bunch of other doctors. And I come to work and I'm surrounded by more doctors. Daddies, I love and appreciate the offer, but I am fine. And while I'm sure you'd love to drive me home and make sure I'm okay, but Long Island is forty-five minutes away without traffic, and right now it's rush hour, which means it's going to be a lot longer than that. You hate traffic, so I suggest you both head out and try to get home to enjoy a nice dinner together, while Finn takes me home and makes sure nothing bad arises from the surgery. Please, Daddies."
Hiram and Leroy shared a look with each other.
"It is starting to get a little late, Hiram." Leroy said, taking his husband's hand. "You can trust Finn, because he made a good decision to come work at McKinley and not at that stupid St. John's." Leroy walked over to Rachel and kissed her cheek. "You call us if you need anything."
"Of course I will." Rachel smiled at her dads. "Do you want me to wait in the lobby for you, Finn?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I just have a few more patients I need to see then we can head home."
"Well, thank you, Finn. That's nice of you." Hiram said. "Now, I suppose we should be on our way back to the house. Call if you need anything." he reminded.
"I will. Enjoy your night." Rachel said, smiling at them. They each kissed her cheek and left.
Once they were out of the room, Rachel let out a sigh of relief and sat down on one of the chairs. "Thank God I thought of the flu shot. I did not need them to know I thought I was knocked up with the competition's baby."
"Yeah, I was impressed you thought of that so quickly."
"I took an acting class once. I thought it would be good to control my emotions when talking with a patient. So far it's doing me a lot of good. But we'll see how well it goes during residency and beyond." She stood up from the chair. "Well, I'll go wait in the lobby and I'll see you in a few minutes." She gave him a sly smile. "See you later, Dr. Hudson." She left the room, making sure to sway her hips as she walked out of the room.
Finn let out a chuckle and looked back at Rachel's release papers. After she signed her name, she included a small star at the end of her name. He noticed she did that a lot, actually. And she had some sort of obsession with gold stars. They covered the walls of her room back at the house, she stuck two gold star stickers on her tennis shoes for work, and her locker here at the hospital had tons of cut out gold stars hung all over the inside.
Maybe it was some kind of Rachel Berry fetish.
"So, why did you need me home right after work? Because Puck is convinced that I'm sick for missing drinks at Rolling Greens for the third night in a row." Finn said, taking his jacket off when he got back to the house with Rachel.
"Because instead of disgusting bar food for dinner tonight, I'm cooking for us." Rachel said, looking for something in one of the cabinets.
"Uh, Rach, are you sure that's a good idea? Last time you wanted to cook for us, you almost set the house on fire because you forgot about the rice."
"For your information, it is also partly Noah's fault because he distracted me. And I'm not really cooking, it's more like I just have to heat things up. It's not all that hard to make chicken noodle soup." She pulled out a can of Campbell's soup and began searching a drawer for a can opener. "You go relax and I'll make dinner."
"You sure? You just had surgery, shouldn't I be the one making dinner?"
"Finn, making chicken noodle soup will not cause me to pop my stitches. I will be fine. Grab a beer and go watch some baseball game on the TV. I think the Yankees are playing."
"You know, you're my favorite girlfriend for saying that."
"What? For letting you watch a Yankees game? Finn, I've lived in New York City my entire life. The Yankees are the dominate team here."
"Ten years ago, Puck would have kicked your ass for saying that."
"Thank God he converted to being a Yankees fan before moving into my house. I will not have any Mets fan living in my house." Rachel said as she poured the soup into a pan. "Go enjoy the game and update me on anything that happens when I bring dinner out."
"Will do, Rach."
"I'm so glad your ability to make chicken noodle soup is much better than making chicken and wild rice." Finn said as he took a bit of the ice cream sandwich that Rachel brought out for dessert.
"You have to be a horrible cook to mess up chicken noodle soup."
"Yeah, well, my roommate in college burnt a piece of chicken once."
"What?" Rachel asked, giggling. "How the hell does that happen?"
"I don't even know. After that, I offered to order pizza every time he got lonely and felt homesick."
Rachel laughed again and took a bit of her ice cream sandwich. "This was a really fun first date. Maybe for our second date I'll actually be able to eat real food."
"Whoa, Rach, this is so not our first date. Our first date is going to be at Sardi's. Remember the conversation at the hospital?"
"Okay, I look forward to our first real date. But then what should we call this? A predate?"
"Sure, this was our predate. But I suppose there's something I should tell you before our dinner at Sardi's."
"This sounds serious. Is everything okay?"
"How do you feel about going out with someone who has a kid?"
"You have a kid?"
"Yeah. A daughter. Her name is Zoey and she's four. I don't really get to see her that much because her and her mother live out in California." Finn fished around in his pocket for his wallet to show Rachel a picture of Zoey. He flipped through a few pictures then showed one to Rachel. "This is her."
"Finn, she's adorable. And it's not a problem. I love little kids. My mom adopted a baby a few years ago and she's just the cutest little thing in the entire world." Rachel gave Finn a quick kiss. "And I'm fine dating a guy who has a daughter. Especially one as cute as Zoey is."
"Really, Rach? That's usually a deal breaker for some people."
"Not for me, Finn Hudson. Do you think I could meet her sometime in the future?"
"I definitely think so."
Rachel smiled and kissed Finn.