Chapter 8

Christopher answered the door surrounded by a group of boys and smiled when he saw Alyssa, her mom and another lady he'd never seen before.

"Who invited a girl? Is she your girlfriend?" A dark haired little boy made a face as he looked over towards the pretty little girl with a present bag in hand.

Christopher turned around and slightly punched his friend, "Cool it Justin there are lots of girls here, and nooooo she's my best friend… Alyssa hi!"

Rachel smiled as she looked down at him, "Happy Birthday Christopher, thanks for inviting us. This is my best friend Brooke."

"Happy Birthday Chris!" Brooke smiled as she waved at him.

"Thank you."

Alyssa reached out giving him her present, "Here you go, Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, come in, lets go play."

Rachel nodded as Alyssa took off running after the boys. She turned around to shut the door behind her and Brooke when she was greeted by a very pretty woman, "Hi. Welcome."

"Hi… I'm Rachel. I'm Finn's…"

"Rachel Berry, the Broadway Star. Your Finn's girl." She smiled as she stuck her hand out.

Rachel laughed a bit as she blushed shaking her hand, "Yes. That would be me… and you are?"

"Oh sorry, I'm Katie, Finn's sister. Welcome."

Rachel's eyes widened as she smiled, "So nice to meet you, this is my best friend, Brooke."

"Welcome"

Katie smiled as Finn interrupted. "Hey Rach." He smiled brightly as he saw her standing by the door. He walked up to her grabbing her in his arms for a tight hug and kissing her cheek softly, "So glad you made it."

"Of course. We wouldn't have missed it." She smiled as she nudged herself into his side.

"This is…"

Finn shook her hand as he finished Rachel's sentence, "Brooke right?"

Brooke smiled as she took his hand "That would be me, thanks for the invite. I've heard a lot about you Finn."

"Same here, glad you could make it."

Katie watched as she saw her brother the happiest he'd been in a really long time, "Well I should get back in the kitchen, but please Rachel, Brooke make yourselves at home. It was really nice meeting you both."

"Thank you, same here." Rachel smiled as Katie excused herself.

Finn grabbed Rachel's hand guiding her towards the back yard. Finn's sister lived about twenty minutes outside of the city in a small, but beautiful town in an even more beautiful home.

"This house is amazing…" Rachel looked around at all the details and beauty of the large home. "Yea, Phil, Katie's husband is a Lawyer. They do pretty well…"

The three of them laughed a bit as they stepped into the Kitchen. The room was filled with adults, kids, balloons and lots of dinosaurs.

"This looks great Finn."

"Thanks, we worked really hard, but hey, your kid only turns seven once right?" He laughed a bit as one of the kids came screaming through the door.

"Excuse me, Chris' dad when can I have cake?"

Rachel laughed at the little boy eager to dig into the awesome cake that sat at the table. "Soon Eric."

"I'm gonna go grab us some drinks, why don't you guys head out back and grab a seat at one of the tables, I'll meet you out there."

"Oh, okay." She blushed a bit as he bent down to kiss her forehead before walking away.

The girls took a seat outside watching the kids run around. As Brooke laughed a bit, "Wow. You guys should have your own movie or something… You know like The Notebook part two."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Shut up."

"I'm not kidding, the way he looks at you, and the way you melt over it every time. Its cute, but hilarious no doubt."

"You're just jealous." Rachel crossed her arms in front of her as she tried to keep a straight face and failed as a smile broke through.

Brooke laughed some more as she shook her head in agreement, "You're probably right."

"Who's driving?" Both girls turned to see Finn standing with drinks in his hand.

Rachel smiled as she stuck her hand up, "That would be me."

"Alright, beer for you…" Brooke eye's lit up as she took the bottle from his hand.

"You are the best."

Rachel laughed as he handed her a bottle of water, "And water for you."

"Thanks Finn."

He smiled as he sat down next to her, beer in one hand, and reaching his arm around her chair with the other.

"He's cute." Both looked over at Brooke as she continued to sip her beer.

Finn laughed a bit as Rachel looked up at him, "I know right?"

Brooke made a face as she looked at them both, "No, not Finn. No offense Finn…"

"None taken."

"I was talking about him…" Finn and Rachel turned to follow the direction of her finger as Finn began to laugh.

"Jake? Well lucky for you he's single… and happens to be my best friend."

Brooke sat up eagerly in her seat, "Really. Well now I like you even more Finn Hudson." Rachel laughed as Finn stood up.

"I'll be right back."

He made his way over to where Jake was standing as Rachel looked over Brooke. "You are the worst you know that."

"I know, but you love me anyway."

Finn came back Jake right behind him, "Hey Rach, I'd like to introduce you to someone, this is my co-worker and best friend Jake… Jake this is Rachel. And Brooke."

"Ladies. Rachel, its nice to finally meet you, I can't get Hudson to shut up about you at work. And you… Brooke? I haven't heard anything about, but definitely would like to."

She smiled as she stuck her hand out to shake his. "Likewise."

Rachel looked over at the two of them with a big smile on her face, "Brooke's my best friend and she's visiting for a while."

Jake sat down next to Brooke as they engaged in conversation.

Finn grabbed Rachel's hand as she stood up and followed him. "Well that was, weird. But so Brooke like."

Finn laughed, "Did we just play match makers?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders at and continued to laugh at what had just happened.

Chris came running up to them, all of his friends in tow, "Hey dad can we cut the cake now?"

"Yes, buddy. Lets go."

…

Everyone gathered around the table as Finn lit the candles on the cake.

"Alright everybody on the count of three. One. Two. Three, HappyBirthdaytoyou…."

As the song finished Chris leaned over his cake as he shut his eyes tightly and made his wish. Applause and cheer filled the room as Katie made her way to the front to cut it and hand out pieces.

…

Chris sat with Alyssa as they played with one of his new games. She leaned over and whispered to him, "Hey Chris."

"Yea."

"What'd you wish for?"

"Pinky Promise not to tell…"

Alyssa stuck her pinky out and nodded. "I wished for a mom like yours."

She smiled as she looked over at Rachel who was helping Finn clean up "Yea, she's the best mom ever… I can share, she can be your mom too."

"Thanks, that's why you're my best friend."

"Mine too."