a/n: Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, alerted etc. I appreciate yall sticking with it and waiting it out. I hope the ending is everything you expect and you enjoy it. And thanks to my awesome beta Jen for making the rambling coherent. You're all kinds of awesome. And I'm totally glad you offered to take on this project. As me, this story was my baby for so many reasons. It was both emotional and a joy to write. I know I have another story open and I'll slowly get around to that one. But otherwise, this is me hanging up my writers cap for a while. Thanks again for sticking it out and seriously there's better writers out there, go read them.

Finn had been right, Quinn thought to herself as she looked up at the quaint house on Lilcac Drive. She had initially thought he was completely insane when he'd called her and told her he'd found a house for her and her husband. And then when he told her where it was, she knew he was really insane. She had already cased the neighborhood and it was well out of their price range. The gray house on Lilac Drive wasn't huge by any means. And Quinn didn't know what to expect as they took the five steps up the front porch and inside the front door. But as soon as she took a look around all she saw was the future. She saw what the living room would look like with a lighter shade of paint. She saw the way the whole house would smell the first time she cooked a meal in the kitchen; even if it did give off a bit of a depressing bachelor vibe, all she could see was the home it could become.

"Finn?" She called as they pushed the door open after knocking.

"Right here." He replied as he walked to the foyer from the kitchen. He quickly held his hand out to Nick's for a handshake before he leaned down and gave Quinn a quick hug. "Just like I told you, two bedrooms and one bath; which was completely renovated about three years ago, so it's all fairly new except the tub that everyone insisted stayed put. Go you guys, have a look around." He nodded at the couple as he walked back to his bedroom and began stuffing clothes into a duffle bag. He didn't want to linger around them and make them feel like he was forcing the house on them. Buyer or not, he was leaving; that he had already decided.

"This place is great. It's not too big. We've already got enough furniture to fill it and this room would be perfect for a nursery."

"It's perfect. It's… exactly what we've been looking for; a place to start our life."

Finn smiled to himself as he heard their voices carry from down the stairs. He'd never thought of his office as the kind of room anyone would use for a nursery. But he'd never really made any kind of plans for the house before either. He shook his head and let out a pleased laugh to himself as he realized they were doing what you were suppose to do when you looked for a house. They were making plans for it.

"So?" He asked the couple as they made their way back down the stairs. "Do I need to list it or are we good?"

"I don't know if we can afford it man. I know what this neighborhood goes for and…"

"Quinn told me your price range, I'm trying to get rid of it not make a buck so you can afford it if you want it." He moved the duffle bag up on his shoulder and stuck his hand out again waiting for an affirming shake.

Quinn looked up to her husband and smiled broadly when he stuck his hand out to shake Finn's, "We want it." Her blonde hair blew in the breeze that crossed over the yard as she nervously bit her lip just waiting for him to change his mind at any moment as she followed him out to the front porch. "Are you sure about this?"

Finn cleared his throat and pointed to the window making a shaking motion with his hands. "The kitchen window sticks. You have to jiggle it a little if you want to get it open. And the screen door in the back needs to be replaced; it squeaks really loudly when you go in and out of it. I've been meaning to replace it for a while but just never got around to it." He gave her a nod for extra affirmation to her question. "The movers will be here tomorrow to put my stuff in storage but if there's anything you want to keep, keep it." He nodded and licked his lips as he let his eyes gaze over the front porch. "I know it's not much of a house but..."

"It's perfect." She cut his sentence off not wanting to hear what else he had to say right then. "This means so much to us, you have no idea." He could make out hints of happy tears starting to form in her eyes.

Even if he had doubts about his decision, they would have all been washed away with those tears. He was doing the right thing and not just for himself. A small chuckled left his chest as he leaned down to give her a quick hug before he threw his bag over his shoulder. "If there's any other problems you have my number, call me."

"Finn!" He had barely made it the five steps down the porch when he heard her call out his name. His head snapped around to face her. "I'm glad you figured it out. Good luck."

"You too," his voice quiet and honest as he gave her a smile and climbed into the cab that was waiting on him. He watched out the taxi window as Quinn's husband joined her on the porch and the happy couple waved at him. He wished them all the luck and happiness life could give. And she had wished him luck. He wasn't sure if luck was what he needed but he would take it because there was one more thing he needed to do before he could leave.
00000

Finn stared through the window of the office door and watched Steve with her head buried in the paper work for a moment. He known the man long enough to know that when he lifted his head, tossed off his glasses and pinched his fingers over the bridge of his nose it meant he was frustrated and lacked focus. It was the moment Finn used as his cue to push the office door open. His bag fell to the floor with a loud thump as he leaned his body against the door frame.

Steve jumped startled by the sound of Finn's bag hitting the floor. His eyes opened quickly and he stared at Finn for a moment before his eyes drifted down to the bag. "You need something?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

Finn shrugged slightly and pressed an unsure smile at the man he considered his best friend. "A ride?"

The simple question and unsure smile let off a thousand words of an unspoken apology and for a moment the two stared at each other in silence that slowly turned into understanding. A single soft chuckle left Steve as he nodded and reached for his keys.
0000

"For what its worth I deserved everything you said to me." Finn said breaking the silence in the car as they neared the drop off section of the airport.

"Yeah you did. But you also should have known I'd never actually turn my back on you." He pulled the car to a stop and looked at Finn. Steve could see the change in his eyes. There was a lack of certainty but behind that something he'd hadn't seen in a long, something he had once wondered if he'd ever see again. There was hope in Finn's eyes. "I just needed you to think I would."

"It's probably a few years late but thank you." There were no other words needed as Finn held his hand up and Steve clasped it to pull him into a quick hug before Finn collected his bag from the back seat and got out of the car.

Before he was three steps out of the car Steve quickly rolled the passenger side window down, "Finn!" He called out and waited for him to turned around, "Don't take this the wrong way but I sincerely hope I never live down the street from you again."

The two men exchanged smiles for an instant, before Finn nodded and Steve waved, and then rolled the window up as Finn took a deep breath and turned around to disappear into the airport. He still wasn't sure luck was what he needed but he'd take it.

000
Finn quickly pushed his way through the airport and got into the first cab he could find outside. He let out a deep breath and tried to calm his racing thoughts as he looked out the window. Both times he'd been to New York he'd left heartbroken. This time was different, he told himself as he took in the city around him. This time was different because this time he wasn't leaving. His heart was pounding is his chest as they driver turned down Rachel's street and when he caught a glimpse of her making her way to her apartment it stopped beating altogether.

Finn choked back the lump in his throat and pointed at the sidewalk. "Let me out right here!" He said and jumped out of the cab so fast he almost forgot to pay the driver and get his bag. By the time he managed to collect himself she was almost to her door.

"I should have followed you!" Finn yelled out to her before she got out of ear shot. He waited with baited breath as she stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around, a clear look of disbelief on her face. "Ten years ago I should have followed you. And I didn't. I didn't even try. I just gave up. It was the first mistake I made in a long line of giving up. And I can't take back the years. I can't make everything right but I can make this right. I was pissed at you when I left but I should have been pissed at myself." He blew out a breath and took small steps until he reached her. His hand moved down to take a hold of hers and he tried to collect his thoughts even for them to make sense. "I gave up on myself and I built these walls around me. I told you that my house was a place where I could go and there was just peace. But it wasn't peace, it was numbness. It allowed me not to feel anything. It was a prison and I never even realized that until you came along. Rachel you made me feel alive again and it scared the hell out of me because I wasn't supposed to ever feel that way again. So I ran. I ran so I could just lock it all away again." His face twisted up with his painful confession to her and he tightened his grip on her hand.

Rachel's eyes drifted down as she felt Finn take hold on her hand. "Was?" She whispered and looked back up to his eyes.

A half smile crossed his lips as he realized her question, "I sold my house."

"You sold your house for me?" Her voice soft and unsure as she spoke.

"No. I sold it for me. I can't keep locking myself away in some self made prison. I can't go through life without feeling anymore." He blinked his eyes tightly closed for a moment and let out a harsh breath. "I don't want to feel numb anymore. I don't want to feel the way I felt before you came back into my life anymore. I can't just keep giving up. I've loved you since I was sixteen year old and I'm not giving up this time. I refuse to ever give up again. So I'm here. I'm homeless and I don't have a damn clue what I'm going to do in New York. I sold my house for me, but I'm here because I love you."

Rachel's lips were pressed firmly together as she tried to hold the emotions in. It sounded almost as if a sniffle broke through as she reached up and ran her hand down his face. She closed her eyes and fought back tears as she traced her fingers down his face.

"I'm not giving up." He repeated unable to read her face as she unwillingly let the tears fall from her eyes. "If you want me to go..."

His word were cut off mid sentence as Rachel grabbed his face in her hands and crushed her lips onto his in a kiss that did more than just light his body on fire. "Stay." She whispered against his lips. "I told you before stay forever if you want to and we'll hole up safe in our own walls that we built and when you have to face the world outside you can face it with me."

"Does that mean I'm not homeless?" Finn pulled his face from hers and smiled down as she softly shook her head and started to pull him in the direction of her apartment.

00000

"Rachel, I brought Monday night dinner!" Kurt announced as he let himself in her front door. The bags of take in his hand hit the floor as his eyes went wide and he shrieked.

"Kurt! No!" Rachel and Finn yelled as they scrambled to untangle their limbs and cover their bodies with a blanket from the couch.

"Not again!" Kurt yelled as he slammed the front door behind him. "You're seriously paying for my therapy!"

"He's going to have to learn to knock," Finn buried his head into Rachel's shoulder and laughed against her skin. "We're never hearing the end of it."

"And hopefully we'll never have too." Rachel whispered as she pulled Finn's face from her shoulder and softly kissed him.

There wouldn't be five steps up to his front door anymore. He would take an elevator instead. And his window wouldn't over look a yard and kids getting on a school bus. Now he'd see a sidewalk and people going in all directions. He couldn't say he wasn't going to miss the routine, but he would make a new one. Because now when he came home he wouldn't be closing his door and locking out the world. He'd be coming home to the one person who had made him want to see the world again.

~fin