Chapter Seven: Magic Floating In The Air

Author's Note: Thanks again for the wonderful reviews that this story has been getting. It makes me excited to check my email and see a new review has come through, and I love reading them all. I was inspired to have the housemates get a kitten after I remembered the picture that Cory tweeted last year of Lea holding a kitten. And if any of you would like to know, Penelope is the name of my kitten I got about a month ago, so that's where the idea came from. As always, I don't own any of the Glee characters, I just love to write about them. The chapter title comes from Breathe by Faith Hill.

And a quick side note: I probably will not be able to update again until some point on Monday due to a busy work schedule on Sunday.

"Hey, Rachel, can I ask you something?" Kurt asked one morning as the two of them were eating breakfast at the house.

"Yeah, sure. What's going on?" Rachel took a bite of her banana and waited for Kurt to continue talking.

"I was thinking that we need a pet around the house. Because we're all uptight when we get home, and I feel like having a pet would help us unwind. I was thinking that we get a kitten."

"I think that's a great idea. And since Sylvester is insisting I'm not allowed to come to work until Thursday, I'll go pick one out today."

"If you could, would you get a girl? And when they ask you for a name, could you name her Penelope?"

"I love the name Penelope." Rachel said, taking another bite of banana. "Absolutely. She'll be the most loved little kitten in all of New York."

"Who's going to be the most loved kitten in all of New York?" Quinn said, shuffling into the kitchen. "Where the hell is the coffee?"

"It's still in the process of being made. And our kitten is going to be the most loved kitten in all of New York." Kurt said, taking a bite of pineapple from his fruit platter he made himself for breakfast.

"Cool. We're getting a cat." Quinn said, a little less enthusiastically as Kurt and Rachel had hoped.

"Do you not want a kitten? Because we just wanted one to help us unwind after work." Rachel said.

"No, a kitten's fine. Just give me time to wake up a little more." Quinn stared at the coffee pot, as if willing it to fill up quicker than it already was. "Damn it." she muttered, pulling out her pager. "Kurt, we have to go now. Sylvester sent out an SOS. You'll probably be getting one soon."

Sure enough, Kurt's pager started going off and the rest of the house was filled with the sounds of beeps and pings.

Rachel's pager laid silent on the countertop.

"I wish my appendix decided to burst when I was ten. Maybe I could have been included on this SOS too."

"What the hell is Sylvester's problem? I could have been sleeping for another ten minutes." Puck said. "And why the hell is there no coffee?"

"Patience, Noah, the coffee is in the process of being made. But Quinn gets her coffee first, she's been waiting."

Quinn waggled her eyebrows at Puck. She saw enough coffee was sitting in the pot and poured herself a cup. "Your turn, Puckerman."

Puck made a face and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Berry, you're so lucky that you're not cleared to work again. Because if Sylvester is paging interns with an SOS, it's going to be a long day. Hudson's complaining because he has to cancel his date with the mystery girl."

Rachel's heart sank. She didn't think that an SOS call meant she wouldn't get her Sardi's date with Finn.

"Any idea who this mystery girl even is?" Blaine said, joining everyone in the kitchen. "Puck, you have to know something. You're Finn's best friend."

"Yeah, you would think that would be enough to get me details about the girl, but I've gotten nothing. Not even a name."

Rachel bent her head down and smiled. Thank God Finn was still cool with keeping their relationship a secret.

"You guys, this isn't an appropriate conversation to be having in front of Rachel." Kurt said, glaring at Puck and Blaine.

"No, it's fine. Finn and I are friends, and just because he's dating some girl doesn't mean you can't talk about it in front of me. I'm sure I'll end up meeting her whenever Finn is ready to introduce her to everyone." Rachel got up and threw her banana peel away. "Well, you all enjoy your SOS call from Sylvester. I'm going back to bed."

"See that? That's why we all need to come down with appendicitis. We get days off of work and don't get annoying ass pages from Sylvester." Puck said as Rachel left the kitchen.

Rachel smiled and rolled her eyes as she went up the stairs. Now she had to face Finn and hear the news that their date to Sardi's was cancelled.

"Hey, Rach, have you heard? We got an SOS from Sylvester, so I think our date is going to be cancelled tonight." Finn said, coming out from his room.

"Yeah, I heard. It's okay. We're doctors. I get it. We'll get our Sardi's date at some point. Now go before I make you late for work." She smiled at him as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Rach. I'll see if I can sneak out at some point and give you a call to see how you're doing."

"Okay. But if I don't answer the phone, I'm either sleeping or out getting our kitten." Rachel said, squealing on the last word.

"We're getting a kitten?"

"Yes, and Kurt and I have picked out the name Penelope. Now you need to hurry before you make everyone else late. I'll be fine all by myself. Go to work and save some lives."

"You're jealous that you aren't getting to work on this SOS, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Now go before I get even more jealous." Rachel watched Finn walk off and smiled as he walked away.

"Welcome to your new home, Penelope!" Rachel said, struggling to open the house door with all of the things she needed for the kitten. She looked down at the small kitten and smiled. "Come on, pretty girl. I'll give you the grand tour." She dropped the kitten's toys and food and held Penelope closer to her.

She heard the doorbell ring and felt Penelope tense up in her arms. "It's okay, baby. You can go get to know the house on your own for a little bit." Rachel started to put her down on the ground, then decided against it. She didn't want the new kitten to run off and hide somewhere.

The doorbell rang again and Rachel walked over to answer it. "Is there something I can help you with?" Rachel said when she opened the door. She said it a little coolly, but this person was interrupting Rachel's time to get her cat acclimated to her new home.

"I need to talk to Finn. Finn Hudson. I've been told he lives here. So is he here right now?" The woman looked frazzled and ran a hand through her hair.

"He's a little unavailable. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Mommy, is Daddy there?" A little girl with brown hair and green eyes ran up onto the front porch.

Rachel looked at the little girl and noticed she looked an awful lot like Finn.

This had to be Zoey.

"I need to talk to him right away. Is there a chance I can wait here for him?"

Rachel froze, trying to figure out what to do. If Finn found out Zoey and her mother was here and Rachel didn't let them in, bad things could happen to the fledgling relationship. But Rachel had no clue how Finn felt about Zoey's mother, and if he came home and saw her sitting on the couch, bad things could happen to the fledgling relationship too.

No matter what Rachel Berry did, she would be screwed.

"Look, Mommy, she has a kitten!" Zoey said, pointing at Penelope.

"Yeah, this is my little kitten. Her name is Penelope. If you want to come inside and play with her you can. And you can come in too." Rachel said to Zoey's mom.

"Great. Thank you." She stepped into the house and held out her hand. "I'm Julia. And this is Zoey."

"I'm Rachel; I'm one of Finn's coworkers." And his current girlfriend.

"It's nice to meet you. So is Finn here? There's something I have to talk to him about."

"Everyone got an SOS call this morning." Rachel said, watching Zoey play with the kitten. "If you'd like you can wait until he's home, but there's a chance it's going to be awhile. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, that's fine. And if you don't mind me asking, if you're his coworker, why didn't you get called in, too?"

"I just had surgery and haven't been cleared to work yet." Rachel looked over at Zoey. "She's really cute."

"Thank you. I think Dave, my fiancé and I did a good job."

Rachel raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. If Julia didn't know that Rachel knew who she was, Rachel wasn't going to question her on the paternity. At least Rachel knew that Zoey was Finn's daughter, not this Dave person.

"That's kind of what I needed to see Finn about. You're sure you have no idea how long it will be until he gets back?"

"No clue." Rachel mumbled.

"Hey, Rach, I think we'll still have time for our date at Sardi's. So go get ready and I'll freshen…" Finn trailed off when he saw Julia and Rachel sitting on the couch. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you about something. And I couldn't do it over the phone." Julia turned to Rachel and glared at her. "And you're dating him?"

"Don't turn this around onto Rach. She's done nothing wrong here. Now what the hell are you doing here?"

"We have to talk about Zoey." Julia said.

"Um, I'll go check on Penelope and see how she's settling in to the house." Rachel said, wanting to give the two parents some space to talk things over.

Although Rachel had a feeling there would be more fighting than talking.

"Rach, wake up." She squirmed in bed and rolled over. She smiled when she saw Finn. "How'd things go with Julia?"

"Not very well."

"Well, do you want to talk about it?" Rachel asked, moving around on the bed so Finn could fit on it with her.

"Not really." He looked down to the end of the bed where Penelope was sleeping. "So, that's the fluff ball?"

"Her name is Penelope. Kurt wouldn't appreciate you calling her that." Rachel said, curling into Finn's side.

"I think she's cute. You'll just have to be careful what Puck calls her. He's not all that big on cats. He's more into big dogs."

"Well, that's not what we wanted. Besides, we aren't home enough to have a dog. At least cats are somewhat independent and don't care what you do." Rachel said.

"Sorry about our date to Sardi's being cancelled. I knew you wanted to go."

"It's okay. So what was the SOS about? And how did you get home before everyone else?"

"There was some big trauma that happened and Sylvester needed us to be there. And I'd say the rest of our roommates are still out drinking."

"And Julia and Zoey?"

"Gone and staying at a hotel. Zoey really likes you. She says she liked that you colored with her while Julia made a phone call."

"Well, I thought I'd do something nice for your daughter. And I didn't know you were on bad terms with Julia or I wouldn't have let her in."

"It's fine. At least you got to spend quality time with my daughter and thankfully she likes you. I'd hate to be with someone she didn't like."

Rachel looked up at Finn. "You think we're going to be together forever?"

"Rach, my love, I know we're going to be together forever."