So many of you recognized that I included Chris Colfer's tweet regarding the massive amount of corn he managed to consume during the 4th of July! Nice work! The other reference was Rachel's "Captain Obvious" remark and Finn pointing to himself. Cory called himself "Captain Obvious" in an interview with Lea in Australia. I had just rewatched that interview so I guess it was fresh in my mind when I wrote chapter 11, haha.

Enjoy my Finchelly chapter. And yes, I just said Finchelly. :)

Disclaimer: Give me a G! G! Give me an L! L! Give me an E! E! Give me an E! E! Put it all together and what does it spell? GLEE…is not mine!

Chapter 12

Seth moaned as the sun's bright beams penetrated his window, blinding him when he tried to open his eyes. He reluctantly tossed off his covers and tottered towards his dresser to get ready for the day's events. Seth had it all planned out. First, he would drive past the Berrys' home a couple of times, just to get a feel of the place. Maybe he would find some sort of clue there, something he could twist in order to get some alone time with Rachel.

After rapidly brushing his teeth and slipping on a simple blue tee with brown shorts, Seth hurried out the door without even saying a word to his parents. Jacob had included Rachel's address in the letter so Seth immediately jumped into the car and drove off in search of the Berrys' residence.

Nothing would stop him from reaching his goal.

Nothing.

Finn awoke to the shrill chirps of young birds, squawking for food from their mama. He wearily rubbed his eyes and tried to lift his left arm to tousle his hair but he stopped once he saw that Rachel had rested her head on his chest. He carefully extracted his arm from under Rachel who was still sleeping. Finn brushed his disheveled hair out of his face as he tried to recount what had expired last night…

Finn waved good-bye as his Glee club friends left Rachel's house one by one, sighing when he finally shut the door once Brittany had remembered how to leave. He whipped around to see Rachel, sitting on the couch, stroking her bandaged hand.

"Hey," he comforted as he took the seat right next to her, "Is it bothering you?"

"It just stings. That's all," Rachel replied simply, still staring down at her hand. She turned to face Finn, her face full of insecurity with a hint of sadness.

"I guess you're going to want to leave now, huh?"

"Not if you don't want me to." Finn reached over and rubbed her hand gently.

"You probably wouldn't want to stay here with me."

"Why not?"

"Hello? I'm Rachel Berry, future star and a complete nobody at school."

"When are you going to understand?" He shook his head at her.

Rachel cocked her head slightly, a tiny bit offended that there was something she wasn't getting and curious as to what he knew more than her.

"Your reputation doesn't mean anything to me. You know what? I've changed my mind. I'm spending the night here," Finn stated boldly. Rachel looked at him wide-eyed.

"What?"

"I don't want you to be alone tonight. I mean your dads aren't going to be back until tomorrow morning and who knows what'll happen if you're here alone again?" He hesitated for a moment, uncertain if Rachel reciprocated the feelings he had for her, "I mean, unless you'd rather stay here by your—"

"Thanks Finn," Rachel interrupted quietly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a tiny peck on the cheek. He felt his face turn red for the second time in one day as he heard her whisper into his ear, "You're a great knight in shining armor."

She yawned as she pulled away, beginning to drift off the sleep from the activity of the day's happenings. Her head fell on Finn's shoulder, her eyelids beginning to droop. Finn bent over and murmured in her ear, "And I'll always be just that. No matter what."

Rachel soon fell asleep with Finn on the couch. Not wanting to disturb her, Finn carefully moved out of his seat and tucked an arm under Rachel's legs. With his other arm supporting her behind her shoulders, Finn gently lifted the sleeping girl in his arms. He carried her up the stairs, not being able to resist from staring at her face the whole time. It was the picture of sweet and innocent, the definition of pure serenity. Making sure not to wake her up, Finn's arms grasped Rachel tightly until he reached her bedroom. He tenderly laid her on her bed, covering her body with a giant blanket.

Sitting beside Rachel on the bed, Finn stroked her silky long hair which was spread all over her pillow. With each stroke he realized how much he cared for the girl lying before him. They had been through so much already, both the good and bad.

Finn sighed, planting one last kiss on her forehead before walking around to the other side of the bed. Finn hoped Rachel wouldn't mind sharing a bed with him. He wasn't sure what her policy would be with boys and beds. Hopefully, she would not oppose once she woke up.

He threw off his shirt, placing it on the back of a chair. Slowly moving into bed, Finn stayed away from Rachel in case she didn't want him that close to her. He didn't even bother covering himself with a blanket simply because he did not want to disturb Rachel. Sleep quickly overcame him as well; he didn't realize how tired he actually was up until now. Closing his eyes, Finn soon fell asleep, just as peaceful and calm as Rachel.

She got close, Finn thought, looking down at Rachel's body snuggled very close to his, Real close. Not that he didn't mind of course. But as much as he didn't want to, Finn had to get up. What would papa Berrys do if they saw Finn lying with their daughter like this? No, he didn't even want to imagine the outcome.

As he moved to get up, the motion must have woken Rachel up because he was met with brown eyes staring back at him.

"Hey, how was your night?" he asked softly, propping his body up with his elbow.

"Better because you were here," she said quietly, her palm still resting on his bare chest.

He couldn't help but smile. They stared into each other's eyes for the longest time, relishing the quiet and peacefulness. However, it was time for him to get home. His mother would probably be worried sick.

"I guess I'd better get going," he finally said after the long and meaningful silence. Finn slowly turned around and slipped out of bed.

Rachel stood up with him and grabbed a hold of his hand, ready to lead him downstairs. As they walked out of Rachel's room, Finn couldn't help but notice that the guest room's door was still open. Red bloodstains were still soaked in the carpet, chewed up strips of duct tape scattered around a wooden chair.

Finn shuddered, goose bumps rising up his arm, and glanced back at Rachel to make sure she didn't see it. He didn't want her remembering the incident as well. Luckily, she seemed to have missed the unguarded crime scene.

Rachel led Finn down the stairs and ushered him towards the door. Once she opened the front door, Finn stepped out and turned to face her. She stood in the doorway, her hand still entwined with his.

Finn slipped his hand out of her grasp in order to give a tiny wave good bye but froze when Rachel unexpectedly stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. He felt his world stop and she brushed her mouth against his; he physically had to restrain his tongue from breaking past her lips. She kissed him only for a brief second (oh, how he wished it was longer!) and pulled away, giving him a bittersweet sort of smile. Finn couldn't hide the grin on his face even if he tried.

"Thank you Finn," she said sweetly, touching his arm, "for everything."

"Anytime."

Seth poked his head from behind the newspaper he was pretending to read. He had been sitting in his parked car right across the street from Rachel's house for hours, waiting for some action, some commotion, some anything! Glancing back and forth from his paper and the house, Seth tried his best not to look too suspicious. At last, he spotted something in the corner of his eye.

Movement. Finally.

Seth peeked over and saw Finn leaving Rachel's home. What was he doing here? Seth knew all about Finn from what Jacob had told him: he was a stupid jock who couldn't tell his left from his right. But what was he doing leaving Rachel's house in the morning? He must have stayed over. Seth deduced that Finn had to have some feelings for Rachel if they spent the night together. He had to have.

Seth's thoughts were confirmed when he saw what happened next.

Finn and Rachel in a lip lock.

His eyes grew large. Whoa. Didn't expect that to happen so soon. I guess she means a lot to him, he thought, grinning evilly, and he to her…hmmm. Seth now knew exactly what he had to do.

2 days later

Rachel had just come back from school, her backpack slung over her shoulder, her hair whipping lightly in the breeze as she walked up her driveway. After an excruciatingly long bus ride home, she was glad to finally be home. Rachel opened her front door and upon entrance was immediately greeted by her dads.

"Hey, how was school today sweetheart?" Hiram gave his daughter a tight squeeze and planted a small kiss on her head.

"Great," she responded cheerily, "I'm know I aced my geometry test and Mr. Schue assigned me another solo, of course." She pointed up the stairs, "I'm going to start on my massive load of homework now so I can get my MySpace video up on time. God knows I have a lot to make up for my absence!" She stood on her tiptoes to give each of her dads a peck on the cheek and sprinted up towards her room.

Hours passed, Rachel still busy filling out her history homework, her hand growing increasingly tired by the minute. She had already taken a break by posting a video online and decided to continue finishing her endless amount of homework. After all, Rachel didn't ever want to be behind in school. What would happen to her more than perfect 4.2 GPA? In order to maintain her good grades that she held so dear, Rachel had a lot on her plate and she was determined to finally get caught up.

Honk. Honk. Honk.

Rachel abruptly turned around, startled by the sudden blaring noise outside. Must be another car alarm going off, she thought, shrugging it off and resuming her homework.

HONK. HONK.

The beeping became more apparent and irritating. She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the constant, seemingly unrelenting noise. This couldn't have been just a car alarm; there had to have been someone purposely pressing on that horn and breaking the silence. She frowned. Couldn't they see that she was trying to get some work done? Once the honking appeared to have stopped, Rachel let out a sigh of relief, glad to be able to focus on her studies.

HONK!

The noise came back with a vengeance, lasting even louder and longer than before. Rachel huffed, throwing down her pencil in frustration, and stomped down the stairs to give that person a good talking to. She ripped open the front door and gasped.

Rachel thought she must have been standing there gaping like a fish out of water, she was so surprised. There stood a shiny black limousine right in front of her house with a sign somehow standing up on the top.

Rachel, I have a surprise for you. Love, Finn

She read the poster at least ten times before everything hit home. She wanted so desperately to scream out loud but found it more appropriate to scream inwardly instead (seeing how it was around nighttime and she didn't want to wake her neighbors up). Without even thinking, Rachel automatically dashed over to the vehicle whereupon the driver rolled down the window.

With the window down, Rachel could only slightly make out the driver. Most of his facial features were hidden in the shadows and the black cap situated on his head didn't help her much either. She could tell that the driver had pretty long brown hair and once he opened his mouth to speak, she discovered there were braces glued to his teeth.

"So, you coming in?" His voice was gruff yet Rachel couldn't help but feel that the driver was rather young.

"Yeah sure, just let me do something first," Rachel replied hastily before running back into her house. She ran as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom to make herself look presentable. Smoothing out her high waisted, navy blue pleated skirt, Rachel frantically looked through the drawers prior to slapping a matching headband on her head. She tried her best to straighten out her plain white dress shirt but abandoned her efforts once she knew that she was wasting way too much time. Hopefully Finn wouldn't really care. Taking one last glance in the mirror, she hurried out of the bathroom and shouted an "I'll be back soon! Don't worry!" to her dads before running out to the limousine. The door was already open and waiting for her, the driver still in his seat.

She climbed into the back seat, expecting to see Finn but instead saw no one. Rachel shut the door and knocked on the glass separating the front compartment where the driver was sitting from the back. The glass slowly came down and Rachel asked, confused, "Where's Finn?"

"He's waiting for you at the special location."

"Oh, okay, thanks," she said as the glass quickly rolled back up. She was on her way to meet Finn! Joy blossomed within her; she couldn't wait to see what Finn had planned for her. This was such a nice surprise! Rachel never knew Finn could be such a romantic and yet he somehow managed to pull it off! She giggled with glee, leaning her head on the back of the seat, smiling as wide as the Cheshire cat.

She was ecstatic.

She was so ecstatic that she didn't even notice the car doors lock suddenly, even before the car started cruising down the road.

Ahhhh…dun dun dunnnn! Hey, I didn't promise you happy endings for every chapter. The cliffies return xD I hope the flashback wasn't too hard to read...I wasn't sure how to structure it.

So, please tell me what you think! I am leaving for a very long vacation soon and I won't be able to post during my trip –cries–. I know, it's killing me! No internet connection means no updates so if I'm fortunate enough to get a hold of a computer during my vacation, I'll try my hardest to submit another chapter.

I'm thinking about getting another chapter up before I leave so please review in order for me to post it :) The more reviews, the sooner I will post it before vacation time! Thanks!