The next morning Finn slept in a little, then had a meeting with the psychiatrist, Dr. Belhaven, in the shrink's office downstairs. He took his time getting there, enjoying being out of his room. Dressed normally and walking the familiar halls, he could even pretend for a moment that he hadn't spent the last few days stuck in one of the patient rooms.

The psychiatrist was very calm as he explained the situation. As the neurologist had said previously, there wasn't anything that they could promise. However, the shrink was more hopeful about the potential for recovery, especially since the scan evidence indicated the presence of at least some of the memories.

Finn then got a lot of information about how they should proceed now. Regular weekly visits to start, and he should keep a daily log of things he remembered or even impressions that might be related to memories, how he felt about things from his missing past, which in Finn's case meant just about everything in his new life. He didn't necessarily have to tell the shrink all of them, but he should at least write them all down.

Relaxation was key, apparently, and Finn felt he should be able to do that. If something came back he should just let it flow, see where it leads. Explore it a little and try to have it be concrete. That seemed a little contradictory, don't try too much but also nail newly remembered things down, but apparently it would make more sense in practice and had to do with how memories often linked together. And it was early, they would work on it more during later appointments.

The final piece of advice was to not think badly of himself for any of this, including seeing a psychiatrist. Apparently far more people did than you'd think, and even more should if they could get past the negative associations. The brain could have things wrong with it just like any other part of a person, it was just a lot harder to diagnose and treat. Of course a shrink would say that, but it seemed okay.

It was all a lot to take in, but Finn dutifully took the notes, handouts, and a copy of his appointment schedule, and vowed to at least give it a good try. Except he wasn't supposed to try too hard to remember since he might make stuff up if he wasn't careful, and the invented memories could ruin his chances of remembering the real ones. Or something like that. It sounded ominous, but since he'd been told not to worry too much, Finn decided to put at least that into practice right away.

After lunch Finn was reading up on the last year of NFL football when he heard a knock, and he invited whoever it was in by reflex. He raised his head to see an older man, stocky, wearing a baseball cap and regular clothes; the same man he'd seen with his mom when he woke up. This must be Burt, his mom's new husband.

"Hey Finn," Burt said.

"You're Burt, right?" Finn replied. "You're my stepfather, Mom says." Stepfather. That word sounded so strange for him to say.

"That's right," Burt said, coming toward him, holding out his hand. Finn rose from his chair and shook it. "I just thought I'd drop by to see you. I know you asked, but I'd've wanted to come by anyway, let you get to know me again and see if you have any questions. You're the man of the family, after all, so I figure there might be some things you want to know about this guy who married your mom."

"Such as?"

"Anything," Burt said, sitting down with Finn. "My life's an open book. I know most people are probably deciding for themselves what to tell you, leave out the bad stuff or whatever, but I leave it up to you. Take control."

"Ah, okay," Finn replied. Having control was good, and really unusual right now. But being able to ask anything didn't give him much to start from, so he went with what he'd been told already as a lead-off. "So... Mom says you own a tire shop," Finn said. "And I work there for you."

"Yes. Well, you worked there part-time during school and this summer you were working there full-time. It's not a permanent gig though, it would be if you wanted it, you're good and I trust you, but you can do whatever you want."

"Huh."

"And -" Burt cut himself off. "Sorry, wanted to let you ask."

Finn rolled his eyes. "You might as well go ahead."

"I'm also in Congress. It's pretty new, I won a special election last fall and started in January. I'm back in the constituency right now."

"Wow. Ohio State Congress?"

"U.S. Congress, actually. Someone was running pushing ideas we disagreed with, so I put my name in and won. I've been pretty involved in the local small business community for a long time, and that helped." Burt smiled. "So I'm your congressman. If you ever need anything from the US Government, I'm the person you'd talk to about that."

"Whoa. Mom didn't mention anything about that."

"Well it's pretty new, and she did dump a lot on you already. I don't really feel like a congressman yet. But that's probably a good thing, stay normal. Some of the others have been there for decades and I understand half of what they say if I'm lucky."

Wow. Well he does seem like a good regular dude, probably a good representative. Finn searched for something else to ask. "So how long have you known my mom?"

"Since February twenty-ten, so almost two and a half years. We got married that October."

"That's fast."

Burt grinned. "Yeah, I guess. But I don't have to tell you how great your mom is, how special. You find that, you don't wait. It wasn't long before we knew we were the real deal. And I had a heart attack that fall, it really reminded us what matters."

"A heart attack? Is everything okay with that now?" Finn was concerned, this dude was his stepfather after all. And he seemed nice, and his mom loved him.

"Pretty much. It's never 100% after, of course, but Kurt – my son – he keeps on me about my diet and exercise, staying healthy, and your mom helps too. Kurt even gets me to keep a log of what I do in D.C., and I have to admit it's tough to stick to the plan there, our nation's government is run by people with long working hours and bad eating habits. But I have a lot to live for so I do it the best I can."

"I don't help with that?"

"You can eat anything and you usually do, so you're a bit of a bad influence. But you try to keep it to yourself when Kurt's having me eat rabbit food, which is about as much as I could expect. There's no need for you to pile on too, it's nice to have one member of the family who isn't watching every forkful I eat."

"Who's running the shop while you're in D.C.?"

"I have people. You help, at least you did. You could again if you want."

Finn shook his head. "I don't remember any of that."

"It's changing tires, it's not rocket science. And some other stuff, wheel balancing, that sort of thing, but you took to it really quickly before. And I know you'd let me know if you had any problems."

"Huh."

"Just an offer, don't want to rush you. You probably have plenty of that from everyone else."

"Yeah, everything's... really a lot to take in." Finn smiled sheepishly. "And I don't even know what more to ask about."

"You don't have to ask everything at once. I thought we could watch the game. Cards at Reds, it should be on."

"Hey, sure," Finn said, turning the TV on. He grabbed the remote and fiddled with it. "Um..."

"A few higher."

Finn flipped the channel up three more times, and found the game. "Right."

Burt smiled and settled back in his chair as Finn moved his chair around to get a better view. Finn grabbed the MLB yearbook, flipping to the Reds page to check on the roster. This is comfortable, he thought, watching the next pitch, a strike, listening to the announcers discuss the pitcher's statistics. "Do we do this much?"

"Kick back and watch the game? Yeah. Not so much since I've been in Congress, I'm away a lot, but we do when we can. It's nice."

"Yeah," Finn replied quietly, starting to smile. And he's really easy to talk to.

In fifteen minutes they were both cursing the clumsiness of the Reds' left outfielder, and Finn was at ease. It felt normal.

After the game Burt left, but it wasn't long before Puck stopped by.

"Hey dude," Puck said, walking over to where Finn was still looking through the MLB yearbook. "Reading? You must be desperate."

"Catching up," Finn protested, holding up the thick magazine so Puck could see the cover.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Puck admitted. He looked down at the other magazines on the table and poked through them. "So do these, actually, great stuff. Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday, I finally had a clear day and a whole lot of pools to clean."

Finn shrugged. "No problem. It's not like I was going anywhere."

"Hey, I said I was sorry," Puck frowned. Then he brightened. "But now I can stay until they kick me out, so how about a game?" He brought his xBox controller out from his jacket pocket and unwrapped the cord.

"Sure," Finn grinned, and got up to rearrange the chairs.

"Gotta hand it to your girl," Puck said, plugging his controller in. "She sure knows how to get things done, convincing them to let you have this."

"She, uh, told you?"

"She told me she was going to try. Same thing really, for her anyway."

"Huh."

Puck flipped through the stack of games. "Now here's one you should remember," he said, holding up Halo 3. "Four's still not out yet, though there have been some spinoffs."

"Really?" Finn found it hard to believe that any of his knowledge was still current.

"Yep. Come on, I'll even let you play the Chief first time." Puck put the game in and got it ready to go as Finn settled in his chair. Finn grinned, happy at the sight of the intro he knew, and started to play.

They played several levels, their familiar rapport energizing Finn, until they were distracted by a knock at the door.

"Yeah, come in," Puck called out, then grinned as Finn threw a mock glare at him and put the game on pause.

The door opened to reveal Rachel, carrying a fast food bag. "Oh," she said, seeing the pair of them clearly in the middle of their game. "I brought your burger, Finn," she continued, coming in.

"Hey, thanks, Rachel," Finn said, smiling at her as she walked over to him.

"Hey, what about me?" Puck protested, making a halfhearted grab for the bag as she handed it to Finn.

"I'm sure you can feed yourself, Noah," Rachel said archly.

"Oh, come on, we're right in the middle of a game. If I don't have my own I'll just steal half of his, so do it for Finn," Puck said, grinning.

Rachel sighed, with a tone of exasperation. "Fine, I'll get you some. Maximum sacrilege, I assume?"

Puck smirked. "No point otherwise."

"I'll be right back." With that, Rachel turned and left.

"That wasn't very nice," Finn commented. "At least your attitude." He opened the bag up and dumped out the fries; he hated when they cooled off and got soggy so they'd better eat them right away.

Puck shrugged, grabbing a few fries. "I'm not the one she wants to be nice to her," he said. "And if I was too nice she'd start thinking there was something wrong with my head. Berry's supposed to be marrying my best friend, a certain amount of putting up with crap from me is in the job description."

I guess, Finn thought, then reactivated the game.

Rachel pulled back into the drive-through that she'd left barely fifteen minutes before. Truthfully, she wasn't annoyed with Noah, either his presence or his demand for food; he was good for Finn, and having him around might ease some of the discomfort she and Finn had had the previous day. While some of that was probably due to what she'd unloaded on him, he hadn't been uncomfortable with the story, quite a contrast to what he'd been like at the time. No, Finn was uncomfortable with her. She told herself yet again that it was entirely reasonable to be uncomfortable when you find that you're in a serious relationship with someone you don't know. But her heart ached that when she looked into Finn's eyes she didn't see love there, didn't see him smile at her the way he used to, that special way that was just for her, hear that warmth in his voice; she couldn't touch him, feel his strong hand on her waist, stroke his hair, kiss him. And, though she hardly dared think it, worst of all was that she didn't know when (if ever, please not never) she was going to get any of that back.

She pulled up to the order panel and asked for Noah's usual bacon-double-cheeseburger combo. She still had the salad she'd bought for herself; if they were making a party of it she would too. And she was sure Noah was getting at least some entertainment from thinking about her ordering that burger for him, in breach both of her veganism and of two Jewish food laws. But his mother was far more strict about the religious strictures so he ate freely when he could.

She picked up and paid for the order, then sped back to the hospital. Noah really did deserve this, he was such a help to her very damaged peace of mind about Finn, though she had to resist a little or he'd take advantage. She sighed. Hopefully Finn wouldn't have waited to eat, at least on the fries; she knew he hated how they got soggy when they cooled off.

Sure enough, when she returned to Finn's room they were focused on the game, a rapidly dwindling pile of fries between them.

"Thanks Berry," Puck said, giving her a brief glance as she put his food on the table next to him. She perched herself on the end of Finn's hospital bed and took out her salad. This got her another glance and a raised eyebrow. "You staying?" Puck asked as Finn paused the game and took out his burger.

"I'm not your caterer, Noah," she replied. "And it's not the first time I've watched the two of you play this, you just weren't in person before. Feel free to not mind your language, I don't want to cramp your style."

"Oh you won't cramp my style." Puck brought his burger out too, and took a few appreciative bites.

"Good. Because I'd hate for you to have an excuse when Finn outplays you."

Finn cast a small smile back in her direction, then concentrated on his food. They all talked a little as they ate, but Finn and Puck both finished their burgers quickly and returned to the game. Rachel sat back and slowly ate her salad as she watched them. It seemed to be going well, and her being there didn't seem to distract or unnerve Finn.

Once she finished eating, Rachel watched the game for a little while longer, happy to see that Finn was holding his own. But her eyes were lured down to watching him, the set of his shoulders, the tilt of his head, his hair curling behind his ears, his fingers deft on the controller... she bit back a whimper, but just enough slipped out to attract a sidelong glance from Puck.

Oh, how she missed the feel of Finn's hands on her. And she wanted to touch him so badly.

Maybe she could; just sidle up behind him and look up at the game they were playing, put her arms around his shoulders, smell that wonderful Finn scent and kiss the top of his head and...

And if he pulled away it would kill her, she knew. And he would, especially since he was so into the game. Even before the accident he hadn't liked being distracted while he was playing.

Puck glanced at her again, his face sympathetic, and she did her best to compose herself. "I should be going," she said, going up to them and allowing herself the luxury of lightly putting her hand on Finn's shoulder as he paused the game again.

"Sorry I've been busy this time," Finn said.

"Don't be, it's fine, it's just nice to be around. And I'm glad you're able to be busy, stuck in here, it's good that Noah could come to play. You get out tomorrow, right?"

"If nothing goes wrong. Well, if nothing happens."

Because not everything that could happen would be something wrong. She nodded, glad that he hadn't moved out from under her hand, enjoying the slight feel she had of him. "Then I should see you at home, sometime soon I hope."

"Yeah, okay."

How she wanted to kiss him, just bend down for a moment... but she'd better not, his cheek wasn't raised to her for it or anything like that. And he'd be embarrassed, in front of Noah, even though she knew Noah wouldn't have any problem with it. "Goodbye then." She briefly met Noah's eyes as she turned to go; he had been looking intently at her. She gave him a very tiny shrug, one Finn wouldn't notice, and left.

"You should have kissed her, dude," Puck said, but Finn shrugged it off. Yeah she was presumably available to him, but whatever Puck might think about 'easy tail' he wasn't about to do that to her. Not his style anyway, and he needed to get a better handle on who he was and what he wanted before doing anything like that with anyone.