Chapter 5

It was about 11:30 pm when Finn and Rachel officially called it a night. They said their goodbyes at the front door and she watched as he walked down the hallway.

Watching him leave, Rachel did consider the fact that she may have forgiven him too quick, but then again he was her first love, and you would forgive your first love anything. She knew the choice of forgiving him wasn't easy, but if forgiveness was the key to keeping their friendship the way it was and to not loosing Finn, Rachel would do it any time. She just hoped Finn really meant what he said tonight.

Locking the front door, Rachel cleaned the living room of popcorn and other food and drinks, then folded the two blankets up. After all of this was done, she put the disk back in it's case, and made her way to her bed.

Setting her clock for 4:15, Rachel closed her eyes, knowing that a long and stressful day was ahead of her. Thinking about all that happened today, Rachel couldn't help but smile at how happy she was. Thinking of today's events with Finn she fell into yet another peaceful sleep.

By the time her alarm clock rang through her room, she abruptly sat up and turned it off. On her way out the door, Rachel debated whether or not she wanted to grab something to eat from her kitchen, but realizing she probably had nothing to eat in the pantry, she decided to stop at a local vender.

By the time she got to the hospital, she was already halfway through her cup of coffee. Getting to her locker room, she opened her locker and quickly changed into her cleaned pair of light blue scrubs.

Once she was out, she was already being ordered to start her daily rounds by one of the residents. Today was a little better with the rounds than it was Friday.. There were no mean parents and the patient's family actually let her do her job. She had a way better day. One of the best things about her day was she met the cutest little girl. Her name was Amy and she was in the hospital to have her tonsils removed and Rachel was assigned to the surgery. By the end of things, Rachel gave her an orange popsicle and rolled her out of the hospital to the parent's car. Watching them leave, Rachel smiled and waved, thanking God that she had a smooth surgery and no problems.

By the end of the week, Rachel was considering asking for extra shifts so she occupy herself, but she decided not to. She decided to let this weekend be a relaxation from all of the hard work she did this week.

At about 5:30 pm on Friday, Rachel got a call from Quinn.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Rachel, thank God you answered. Please tell me you have nothing planned for this weekend." Quinn began, sounding frantic.

"Nothing important, just hanging around the house. Why?" she asked.

"Because, Sam's family wants to have this huge gathering in Ohio, and I need someone to watch Jer. I tried to call everyone. San, Britt, even Puck. Please say you'll watch him.." she begged,

"I don't know, Q. Can't you just bring him with you?" she asked.

"I thought of that too. But, everyone's gonna be asking to hold him and see him and you have no idea how aggravating a large crowd around your 3 month old son is.. Plus, i feel he's too young to be on an airplane. Please, Rach. You're my last resort." she pleaded again.

"Quinn, i'm not good with children. Remember what happened in like freshmen year? After those kids tied me up and wrecked the house I never got asked to babysit them again. Plus, Jeremy is a small baby. I don't know the first thing about babies." she explained.

"It's not that complicated, Rachel. He won't even be that much of a bother. It's quite simple actually. All he does is eat, sleep, and poop. Oh yeah, and he loves to be held, so it's basically like playing baby dolls like we did in the first grade. Except, he's an actual baby. Come on, Rach. You can do it, please. I need you to say yes. You're the only option." she told Rachel.

"Okay, what time are you going to bring him over? and where will he sleep? I don't have a crib for him." she asked.

"Don't worry about it, I have a portable play pin for him. He'll sleep in there. And I'll bring his favorite blankets and stuffed giraffe. We'll be here at like 5:55.. We have a 6:30 flight at JFK."

"Okay. I'll try to clean up a little." she said, before hanging up.

By the time Rachel heard the buzzer ring, her whole apartment was somewhat cleaned up. Opening the door up to Quinn with Jeremy in her arms, Rachel felt a little nervous. She hoped that he would be sleeping so that when Quinn left she wouldn't have to face the possibly of him crying when she handed him over to her. But, he was wide awake. Looking straight at her with big emerald green eyes, huge lips wrapped around his pacifier, and curly blonde hair. Quinn carefully handed Rachel the small child while she dragged his two bags into the apartment and the portable play pin which would act like his crib for the next two days.

"Okay, his formula is in his diaper bag along with his bottles. I usually feed him 4-5 ounces every 2-3 hours of the day. I usually make sure that he has had 24-32 ounces per day. Also, he will let you know when he's hungry. He usually becomes a little fussy when he's hungry, also if his diaper is dirty you will know, he also gets fussy for that too. His diapers are in his diaper bag as well as his wipes and baby powder. If he gets too fussy, his pacifier usually calms him down. Oh yeah, I also have his little seat to place in the bathtub while bathing him. His soap is also in the diaper bag as well. All of his clothes and blankets are in the yellow bag. Also, he likes to have his purple giraffe with him at all times. He also likes to be rocked back and forth while being fed. He falls asleep easily that way. Okay, I think I told you everything you need to know. Also, keep him wrapped up in warm clothes and his blankets, but just not to warm. I don't want him to smother. And, the play pin just folds open. They have directions on it if you get confused. Okay. If I don't leave now, we'll never make it in time. Thank you so much for doing this Rachel. I owe you big time. You'll do amazing." Quinn said. Walking over to the small baby in Rachel's arms, Quinn placed a small kiss on his forehead. "Goodbye, buddy. Aunt Rachie's gonna take great care of you. Mommy will be back as soon as possible. Okay, bye Rachel." she smiled, and hugged Rachel before she quickly walked out of the door, leaving Rachel and Jeremy alone in her apartment. Rachel could already feel Jeremy start to squirm and start crying.

Quinn told Rachel that she fed him last at around two thirty, so Rachel decided to see if he was hungry. Grabbing the diaper bag, Rachel placed it on the counter with Jeremy in one arm. After she was finished fixing the formula for him, she grabbed him giraffe stuffed animal and a blanket from the yellow bag, Rachel sat in her recliner, turned on the TV and started rocking him as she placed the bottle in his mouth, sighing with relief when the crying ended. She knew that this would be tough, but he was really cute so that helped. Laughing at him smiling up at her, she watched him gulp down the formula.

"You must've been really hungry, huh Buddy." she giggled as his big emerald eyes stared up at her. At around 10:13 pm, Jeremy finally fell asleep in Rachel's arms after a second bottle. Setting up his small play pin bed wasn't as easy as Rachel thought it would be. Rachel had to look over the directions at least twice before she knew exactly how to get it to open fully. Once she did. She placed one of her extra comforters in her closet over the floor of the play pin. Placing Jeremy on top of the comforter, she placed a small blanket over the sleeping child and walked out of her room, after shutting off the lights.

Once she was finished with her bath, Rachel put on her pajamas and quietly went into her bed, tiptoeing past where the baby was sleeping. At around 2:24 am, there was a loud crying that woke Rachel up. Picking up Jeremy from the pin, Rachel walked into the living room and tried to rock him back to sleep. When his crying didn't stop, Rachel fixed him a bottle to see if he was hungry. When he refused it, Rachel checked to see if his diaper was dirty, it was. Changing him, Rachel was a little disappointed when he continued to cry. Trying to rock him once more, Rachel didn't know what to do when he was still wide awake and screaming. Freaking out, Rachel was wondering whether or not she should call Quinn. It was almost three in the morning, Rachel didn't want to wake her up, but she also had no idea what to do. Finally giving up, Rachel dressed Jeremy in warm clothes, placed him in his car seat, put a blanket over his body to keep him from getting cold, grabbed his yellow bag and diaper bag, and made her way quickly downstairs to a taxi with the screaming child in the car seat in her hands.

Once she got into the taxi she told the man the location over the baby's loud cries.. About halfway to her stop, the taxi driver seemed to have been annoyed and made a snarky comment.

"Can you please get your kid to shut up, miss?"

"Can you please pay attention to the road and get me to where I wanna go?" she retorted which gained silence from the driver. Once the cab stopped, she grabbed everything from the cab, including the car seat with Jeremy in it, paid the ransom, and ran inside going up the elevator. Once she got to the door, she banged on it hard, waiting for an answer. There was none. Grabbing her key, she opened the door, and placed the bags on the floor, and placed the car seat on the counter and picked up Jeremy in her arms, beginning to rock him back and forth.

"Shhh, everything's gonna be okay, baby. Please stop crying. Please.." she whispered.. Rocking him in her arms.

Suddenly Rachel heard a pair of footsteps coming towards her in the dark and she knew exactly who it was..

"Rachel? What are you doing here? It's 3 am.. What's going on?" he asked, looking at Rachel rocking the crying baby in her arms.

"I need help.. I can't do this on my own. Quinn and Sam are out of town, I don't know what's up with Santana and Brittany, and i'm sure as hell not going to Puck.. You're the only person I know. Please, Finn help me.. He has been crying since 2:20 this morning and he won't stop. I changed his diaper, I tried to feed him.. He won't stop and I am so tired. Please, help me." Rachel begged.

"Okay.. Are those his things?" he asked, pointing to the bags on the floor.

"Yes. Why?" she replied.

"Maybe we can find something in those bags that could help him. Bring them over here." he instructed.

Carefully placing Jeremy into Finn's arms, she walked over to the bags and brought them towards Finn. Opening the zipper of the two bags, Rachel emptied the two bags on the counter.

"Is he too warm?" she asked.

"He doesn't feel like it. I mean, his temperature is normal." Finn replied.

"Too cold?" she asked another question.

"He's wrapped in this blanket. I don't think so." he replied again.

"Wait a minute. Does he have a pacifier with him?" he asked.

"Umm, yes. It's in this bag somewhere. I don't know why I didn't think of that before." she answered, digging through the bag. Finding it, she walked over to Finn holding the baby, and placed the small pacifier into Jeremy's mouth. Once he spit it out, he started to cry again.

"Crap! I'm out of ideas, Finn!" Rachel exclaimed, running her hand through her hair.

"Well, when I was younger my mom sang me lullabies, maybe Quinn sings to him and he wants someone to sing to him.

"Then what are you waiting for, sing." Rachel told him.

"I said Quinn, not Sam. He's probably used to a female's voice. Plus, you've always had a better voice than me. So, you sing." he replied.

"You know that's not true, Finn. You're amazingly talented. That's why you should sing." she answered back.

"Do you want the baby to stop crying? Or, are we going to sit here going back and forth about who should sing?" he asked.

"Fine. " she said, following him to the couch. As Finn sat down, Rachel kneeled on the side of him so she could see the baby's red face over Finn's muscular arm. Placing her hand on Finn's shoulder, she began to sing one of her show tunes she remembered singing from high school.

_oh my man I love him so_
_he'll never know_
_all my life is just despair_
_but I don't care_

_when he takes me in his arms_
_the world is bright_
_alright_

_what's the difference if I say_
_I'll go away_
_when I know I'll come back_
_on my knees someday_

_for whatever my man is_
_I am his _
_forever more_

_oh my man I love him so_
_he'll never know_
_all my life is just despair_
_but I don't care_

_when he takes me in his arms_
_the world is bright_
_alright_

_what's the difference if I say_
_I'll go away_
_when I know I'll come back_
_on my knees someday_

_for whatever my man is_
_I am his _
_forever more_

By the time Rachel finished singing, Jeremy surprisingly stopped crying and was now fast asleep in Finn's arms.

"You're a genius. You have to help me for the rest of the weekend." she whispered.

"I don't know, Rach. I'm not really good with these sort of things. Babysitting." he explained.

"Neither am I.. Why do you think I came here? Please, Finn. I will even pay you." she begged.

"Okay, no paying. I'll do it. But under one condition..." he started.

"Anything."

"You're the one changing all of the dirty diapers." he laughed.

"Deal." she laughed along.

By the end of the weekend, Rachel had moved all of Jeremy's stuff over to Finn's penthouse along with a small bag of her clothes. She slept on the couch, with Jeremy in Finn's room with him. She had to admit that she had a lot of fun babysitting with Finn. On Saturday, they decided to take Jeremy to a picnic in central park and spent the whole day, watching the clouds, petting random dogs, and making crazy faces at Jeremy, trying to make him laugh. For lunch, they fed Jeremy and went get hot dogs from the closest vender. Walking around, Rachel smiled at all of the trees and all of the people walking, running, and riding their bikes. She really wished she could come here more often. If only her job didn't require so many hours.

Early Sunday morning, Finn and Rachel dressed Jeremy in a large bundle of clothes after they decided to take him to Times Square. Once they got there they went inside of Toy 'R Us to look at all of the baby toys with Jeremy, then they went eat breakfast at the Hard Rock Café. After, they went to M&M's World and bought m&ms. Once they were finished looking at the different colored M&M's, they then stopped by Madam Tussaud's wax museum to look at all of the exhibits. Surprisingly, Jeremy hadn't cried the whole day. Once they left Times Square, it 5:30 and Finn and Rachel began to become a little sad knowing that Jeremy would be being picked up in a few hours, when Quinn and Sam's plane landed at 8:15.

During the time they waited, Rachel texted Quinn letting her know that everything went fine and to inform her that they were both at Finn's house. While waiting for Quinn and Sam to come over, Rachel sat on the couch with Jeremy fast asleep in her arms. She had already given him a bath, fed him, and changed his diaper for a final time. Sitting next to her, Finn smiled and looked at the TV screen as well.

"Today was fun." he whispered.

"Very." she agreed. "I wish we could have another day with him though." she admitted.

"I know. It went by too fast." he replied.

"Well, next time she needs a babysitter, I will definitely be recommending the two of us." she giggled.

"Definitely.." he smiled at her.

"And you said you weren't good with babies... I'll have to disagree with that one. You were like his favorite person this week." she smiled back at him.

"You think so?" he asked, looking down at Jeremy.

"Definitely. The only time he would let me hold him was if I had a bottle or I had his purple giraffe." she admitted.

"What can i say? It's a guy thing. Bonding time, I guess." he took the small hand in his large one. "This little dude will grow up to become a stud. Just like his uncle Finn."

"Whatever you say." she silently laughed.

"Just wait and see." he told her.

"I think he'll grow up to become a gentleman. Quinn's his mother, after all." she smiled at Finn.

"You're right about one thing." he said. "This little man has damn good parents."

"Hey, baby ears work better than you know." she corrected him.

"Relax, he doesn't know what we're saying." he smiled down at him.

"I hope Quinn and Sam take their time. But, knowing Quinn, she'll get to her baby as soon as possible. They're probably almost here." Rachel whispered to Finn.

"You're right." he replied.

Wiping away a tear, Rachel knew it was stupid to be crying right now, but she just really would miss this weekend. Spending time with Finn and the baby showed Rachel what she'd been missing in her life. A family.

"Hey, why are you crying?" Finn asked, his expression becoming sincere.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I just don't want this moment to end. I don't him to leave." she smiled, looking down at Jeremy. "It really shows me what I'll never have."

"What? A baby? Rachel, you'll have a family someday." he assured her.

"Maybe you're right. But, it'll never be a happy one, or normal. I'll always have to be at work, i'll never see my kids with the job I have.. That is if I even meet the right guy."

"So, what are you saying? You want to quit your job?" he asked.

"No. I just wish my future could travel in a different direction from where it's traveling now." she explained. "And maybe that means finding a new path in my career. I don't know. I'm just lost. I'm almost 27.. I have nothing going for me except for my job. It just seems like everyone around me is moving forward with their lives and i'm just standing still. I mean, Quinn and Sam, they're married and they have him, San and Britt have each other. Puck's trying to help his screwed up love life, even you have a life. Your business. You've built all this success around you, while still having the time to be around the people you care about. I have gotten success in my career, but I haven't seen Kurt or my parents in 9 years, because I can't just pack up and go. I sometimes can't even get weekends off. I love my job, I save lives and make people happy, and in the beginning it was everything, but now, I just feel like I've done all there was to do and now it's just a burden.. Keeping me living my personal life. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm stuck." she explained.

"Rachel, if you're not happy with your life the way it is. Change it. You don't like your career anymore? Find a new one. Your life is like an online game. You decide what happens next. You don't like the direction your future is heading in? Make a freaking U-turn and find a new direction. And, your career isn't the only thing going for you.. You have a best friend sitting on the side of you who loves you very much and will support you no matter what. I mean that.." he smiled, as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Have I ever told you how awesome you are, Hudson?" she asked.

"You may have mentioned it once or twice.." he joked, causing her to giggle.

For the rest of the time, they stayed on the couch waiting for Quinn and Sam to show their faces. In the mean time, it's not like it was even possible, but, Rachel's heart longed for Finn even more than it already had. This weekend really was amazing. If only he knew how she felt about him..

Finn's mind was spinning like a tornado. Finn smiled to himself.. If only she knew how he felt about her...

So, here's my newest installment. I really hoped you all enjoyed this story and I will try to write more tomorrow. This chapter is my personal favorite. Finn and Rachel would make awesome parents. You may be able to see that in future chapters, maybe not. Stay tuned to find out.. ;) Reviews are appreciated and recommended.. 3