At ten past three Finn arrived at Hiram Berry's law office, and after a small wait he was shown in.

"Finn, it's good to see you, " Hiram said, rising as Finn came in. "You look well."

"I am, sir. Hiram. Very well." Finn grinned. "Great, actually."

The older man looked at him. "You're remembering," he said, returning Finn's smile. "You feel... like you."

"Yes," Finn nodded. "It's just since this morning, and I can't be sure it's all there, but, yes. We don't have to worry about the long-term any more. Or we shouldn't, anyway."

"Have you discussed this with your psychiatrist?"

"Not yet, my next appointment's on Wednesday. But I don't have any obvious gaps, it's more stable every time I think about it, and I definitely know how I feel." Finn took a deep breath. "This is the point where I tell you that I'm in love with your daughter," he said. "I always have been, even when I couldn't remember her that was still there, deep down."

Hiram looked carefully at Finn. "It would have been," he said. "But now what? We can certainly step the case up now, once your psychiatrist signs off on your condition we'll know the limits of the liability and can proceed with the main part of the suit. But what about Rachel?"

"I just – I want to go see her. Talk to her. I guess maybe I should wait a little, make sure everything's coming back right, but I love her and I can't stop thinking about her. None of the other memories have gone away again, I should be okay. And she needs me, Kurt told me, he told me she wakes up in the middle of the night calling out for me and I'm not there. I can be there now. I want to be there. I'm just trying to figure out how to approach her."

Hiram frowned. "The timing isn't good, Finn, she's extremely busy. And you have things to do here too. Your courses –"

"Two courses at Lima Community College," Finn scoffed. "I don't care about them, they're not worth another night of her crying over me." He looked at the picture on Hiram's desk, tears springing to his eyes as he looked into Rachel's. Hold on, Rach, he thought. It's almost over. "It's over, she doesn't have to do that any more."

"She is coping, though. She's looking forward to being back and seeing you again, but she's managing well right now. Getting through her work, getting ready for the show. If she hears from you now, it could endanger all that."

"She'd have a harder time hearing from me that I'm better than not? Really?" Finn didn't like the reaction he was getting, especially since it was still a little difficult to trust that Rachel's dads wouldn't take advantage of the situation to keep them apart. He knew they'd only reluctantly come around to how close he and Rachel were, thinking Rachel far too young and concerned about the plans they'd always had for her. Finn tried to control himself, but it was difficult. He took a deep breath. "Are you sure there isn't a conflict of interest here?" Maybe he should have waited and talked to them both at home after all.

Hiram frowned. "We're not talking about your legal situation right now, Finn. And I know you wouldn't want to work against Rachel's interests and well-being."

"Not Rachel's. Yours. Or what you may think hers are." Finn swallowed, bringing himself under better control. "I know you weren't originally a big fan of us getting engaged." He met Hiram's eyes, just looking into them.

"Oh." Hiram looked back at him. "No, neither of us were, and truthfully we do still think it was likely a mistake on your part to ask her to make a commitment like that so young, or make it yourself." Finn's frown deepened at hearing this. "But you did, and she said yes, and it's not the sort of thing that can be walked back without making things considerably worse. If nothing else, your situation has made it extremely clear how much losing you would hurt Rachel. She loves you, she wants you as part of her life, and she's always held on very tightly to what she loves. Even before all this you were set to make the best of it, and we'd decided to support you in the hopes that it would turn out not to be a mistake after all. We're not changing that, we want everything to go well for both of you. And we certainly have additional respect for you knowing all the effort you've put into your recovery. We know a lot of that has been for her sake."

Finn nodded at this, easing. But if Hiram and LeRoy supported his relationship with Rachel, he didn't understand Hiram's objection now. "So what's the problem, then? Why do you think it would hurt her to hear from me now?" Finn became concerned. "Is something wrong with her?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Hiram reassured Finn. "Aside from missing you. But as I said, she's been coping. It's not the way she would prefer things to be, but it is currently a way, and there's so much going on right now. She would have to switch modes if she heard from you, your return would be one of the biggest distractions she could possibly have. It would break into how she's managing things, her routine."

"Oh." Finn paused. "I guess it would." He did understand that, a little. He'd had difficulty in his psych class earlier that afternoon, he just hadn't been able to concentrate. Some of that was dealing with his returned memories, he certainly didn't feel like the same person he'd been in the previous class, and he'd lost continuity with his mental state from last week. But some of it was being distracted by thoughts of Rachel. Memories, actually, since he'd always had the thoughts. But the change in his life was definitely a distraction, and he'd already wondered how it might affect his finishing the course. Rachel wouldn't have as much to deal with mentally, but she was also working a lot harder, almost constantly from what Kurt had said. "Too close to the end of term, huh?"

"I think so. She barely has a chance to talk to us these days, just a short call when she takes a break is all she can manage." Hiram snorted. "It's funny, in a way. LeRoy and I were worried that she was overworking herself, burying herself in her work to alleviate the loneliness of not having you there, and now that same intensity is what prevents it from being corrected. But it's very close to the end of term, there isn't time for her to adjust to a new situation."

Finn nodded reluctantly. "I get that, I know how she is." Rachel was currently going full steam ahead, and breaking into that rarely produced good results for anybody, especially her.

"Look, Finn, I'll talk things over with LeRoy, and you should come over sometime too, so we can all talk together. If there's a problem, of course we'll let you know. You should know we're not going anywhere over the holidays this year; we usually go to my brother's for the end of Hanukkah, but Rachel's refused to go, so we're staying here instead."

Finn smiled. "She won't go?" He was very happy to hear this, that she'd insisted on staying.

"Completely refused. She brought it up on the way to New York, actually. It's different now that she's moved away, it makes sense to let her settle in and stay at home for the limited time she's here, but that's not really why. It hurt her so much to leave you, she'd just be miserable if we made her go."

"Not that you can." Not that they should anyway, but Rachel would be eighteen in eight days, legally adult.

"True."

"And we need the time together. My memory's back, and I love her, but we can't pretend it never happened." Finn smiled tightly. "Plus I miss her so much that I'd probably just follow you anyway." But he frowned again. "I don't know, it still seems wrong," he said. "You and I deciding what she does and doesn't need to know, supposedly for her own good. Kind of – paternalistic, is that the word?" He saw Hiram nod, frowning slightly. "Rachel's always known what she wanted."

"It's your information. And you decided before not to tell her the details of how you were doing until she came home, so she's not expecting to hear from you."

Burned by my own best intentions. Nothing new about that I guess. But Finn still protested. "That was so she wouldn't be disappointed if I remembered less than she hoped I would," he said. "No chance of that now." He exhaled. "But I get it, and I wouldn't want to throw her off. It's just eleven days, I can wait."

Hiram smiled. "Good. Thank you."

"Hey, you know I'd never want to hurt Rachel. But if she's getting upset, worried about me, then that could wreck things too. I'd need to tell her then."

Hiram agreed that they'd try not to let that happen, and they made plans for Finn to come over for dinner on Friday.

But how is Rachel doing? Finn sighed to himself once he'd returned home. It tore at him that he couldn't be there for her. Maybe he should go anyway, screw his courses and what her dad said. Or talk to her, or something. But no, he felt like he needed to see her. Remembering was one thing, but he still didn't quite have continuity between then and now; the real test was how he would feel when she was there with him, when he could take her into his arms again. He briefly fantasized about arriving in New York late, going to the apartment and sliding into bed next to her, ready to answer the next time she called out for him. Maybe she'd wake up in his arms and write the whole mess off as just a incredibly bad dream. Or she'd think she was dreaming he was there. Damn.

I should talk to Kurt, he'd know how she is. But that needed to be covert, and from what Kurt had said, Finn knew Kurt wasn't usually that far away from Rachel unless she was rehearsing. Thank God for Kurt, I owe you so much, bro. He pulled his phone out and started to write a text. need 2 talk 2U asap, don't tell R* – he stopped and edited it a little so Kurt wouldn't think there was bad news. need 2 talk 2U asap, good but need help, plz don't tell. He didn't need to say who not to tell, who else could there be, and there was always a chance Rachel might get a quick glance at it and notice it more if he mentioned her. He pressed send, then waited.

And waited. And started looking at the draft of his psych term paper when he realized that Kurt might be in rehearsal or something, it was late afternoon. He tried to put it out of his head while he got himself back up to speed on his topic; sure he remembered writing the paper so far, but it still felt a little unreal, he wasn't the same him who'd written it.

After dinner the call came. "Sorry it took me so long," Kurt apologized. "I was practicing, we don't take many breaks these days. What's going on that has you so secretive?"

"I remember," Finn said.

"What?" Kurt's voice was suddenly louder. "What do you remember?" he asked, more quietly.

"A lot. Not sure it's everything, and I just had the breakthrough this morning, but – I remember Rachel, so much about Rachel, so many times together, even when we were split up... it's like I had a ten-ton weight dropped on my head, full of memories of Rachel. And everyone else, everything really, but she's the backbone of all of it. It's not isolated memories, it all fits together and I feel it too." He exhaled. "I'm back, Kurt, I'm really back."

"Wow." Kurt sounded happy. "That's wonderful."

"Yeah. But I don't know what to do about it. It's all I can do to stop myself from calling her, or getting on the next bus to go see her. But it's really new, it's only just back and I haven't talked to my shrink about it yet, and anyway Hiram says to wait. But I don't want to."

"You told Hiram already?" Kurt was surprised.

"Yeah, he's my lawyer, he needed to know, and I wanted to talk to him about Rachel."

"Hmm. So what do you need me for?"

"We're worried it'll throw her if she finds out, it's almost the end of term, so he says I should hold off on telling her until she gets back. But I'm also worried about what you told me, how much she misses me and how upset she is sometimes. Just thinking about her crying over me, I want to be there so badly. I need to know how she is and how you think she'd react."

"How would she react? She'd be thrilled. She'd want to see you right away." But Kurt paused, and groaned. "Oh. I see what he means."

"What do you mean?"

"She's lonely, and she misses you, but... she's been using it. Channeling it, like I said before. It's like she's convinced herself that she has to be the very best and then you'll be so spellbound that it won't matter what you remember."

"Um... that's kind of weird, Kurt."

"It is, and she knows it, she knows it's just something she's told herself to turn her situation into something that helps her instead of hurts her. A sort of emotional jujitsu. But whatever she's doing, it's working."

"And there isn't time for something else to work instead."

"Not really."

"But I remember I always promised I'd be there for opening night. And this is her first show, in New York, and it's even going to be her birthday."

"Finn – she'd drop everything if she saw you. We train at dealing with surprises, but that's more like 'how to save the show if your costars screw up or the scenery falls apart', not 'how to keep your mind on the show when the love of your life reappears without warning'."

"Yeah, that's what I was worried about. And it's a big break for her, I don't want to screw it up." Finn tried to remind himself that his goal had been to remember by the time she got back; he'd managed to do it early and was now a temporary victim of his own success. But the thought of Rachel still lonely, still needing him and worrying about him when she didn't need to, that cut deeply. She's strong, she's really busy, her friends are still there for her, he reminded himself. It's just eleven more days. "Okay," he told Kurt. "But keep an eye on her, please? I know you have your own stuff to do, but – just don't let her worry about me."

"Deal."

"Great. Thank you. And Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Anything you need, just ask. I owe you so much for all of this. It isn't the first time you've kept both of us from falling apart without each other, though I sure hope it's the last. You're the best brother ever."

"She's my friend too, I couldn't not help her. Both of you."

"I know. But that still doesn't mean we don't owe you. And I'd help you out anyway even if you hadn't done this. Good people deserve good things, and you're the best. She's not the only person I'm remembering properly now."

"That's good," Kurt replied, his smile evident in his voice. "But, uh, I really have to go now or I won't get a chance to eat. I'll be in touch. Take care Finn." With that he hung up.

I guess that settles it, Finn thought. Just eleven days. And it is good that she's managing to use things to her advantage, at least for now. He briefly let himself indulge in the same fantasy Kurt had described, of Rachel shining brightly on stage, completely stunning him with her brilliance and then marching straight up to him and having her way with him. It was a little ridiculous that she thought she'd need to do that, but it was still really hot.

Tuesday night was karaoke. Finn knew he could trust his friends not to pass the word to Rachel, they'd already been very good at keeping quiet about what he'd remembered before. He didn't want to make any sort of announcement, though. As for Puck... Finn smirked. Yeah, Puck had been a big help and a great friend, he'd never have managed without him, but his old friend had also had a lot of fun at Finn's expense and Finn wasn't above getting a little of his own back. Puck was due a taste of 'haven't I sung this before' himself, let him wonder what Finn remembered for a change. And Finn was quite sure he'd seen "Fat Bottomed Girls" in the karaoke list.

When Finn arrived he saw Puck at the bar, none of the others there yet.

"Hey Puck," Finn called out.

"Hey," Puck called back, giving Finn a glance over his shoulder. Then he froze, turned, and stared. "Holy shit."

"Uh... what?"

A grin slowly spread over Puck's face. "Holy fucking shit, Finn. It worked. It really worked. Fuckin' A."

How the hell does he know? Finn tried to keep a confused expression on his face, but failed, and slowly started to grin.

"Welcome back, bro." Puck closed the last few steps, and slapped him on the back. "So that's what it took, huh?"

"Seems that's what it took. Can't be sure it's everything, but..." Finn shrugged, smiling. "It all feels right. Like me."

"Well you look like you."

"You can actually tell?"

"Uh, yeah, guess so. Not sure how, you still look confused, but you always did. You just seem like you, normal you confused, not amnesiac you confused." Puck grinned. "You weren't going to tell me, huh Finnessa?"

Finn turned sheepish. "Not at first. Thought I'd give you a little 'blast from the past' yourself."

"Motherfucker."

"You're lucky Rachel doesn't call you that. She might if you piss her off enough."

Puck winced. "You just had to remember that, huh."

"Can't pick and choose, it's a package deal. Trust me, I'd much rather have left that out. And a few other choice things."

"I can guess what some of those are. But they happened, you might as well know them too." Puck shrugged.

"So, do you think other people will be able to tell?"

"You mean will Rachel be able to tell? Haven't you told her yet? Hell, I'm surprised you're not halfway to New York by now."

"Yeah, so am I. But her dads don't think I should, she's really into a tight spot at school right now, plus she's in this show, they say she's managing and don't think I should break into that." Finn frowned. "Kurt agrees. I don't know, I can't be objective about this when I want to see her so badly."

"Well you could surprise her, be waiting to sweep her off her feet when she gets home. She might not be able to tell by looking at you, probably too much wishful thinking to get in the way, but you plant one on her and she should know."

Finn waved the suggestion off. "I don't care about surprising her or anything like that, I just don't want her to miss me any more than she has to. She's had a really hard time, I'm supposed to be there with her."

When the others arrived Finn sprung his surprise on them instead, taking control of the karaoke machine and selecting songs he remembered them doing before. Tina singing "True Colors" seemed to be written off as coincidence, but Artie started looking at him funny when he had Puck sing "Fat Bottomed Girls", and Tina was staring once Brittany was singing "Run the World (Girls)". He raised the stakes with "Friday", probably enjoying that song for the first time ever as he wondered just how long he could push this for. Unlike other times that they'd told him about, he wasn't picking from a particular sequence or time, just stuff they'd done. Finally he had them all doing "Proud Mary", though it sounded weird without Mercedes, and Artie rolled over as they finished.

"Finn, what's going on with the music selections? You don't even like all of these."

Finn suppressed his smile. "How do you know?" he asked, doing his best to sound and look puzzled.

"Because –" Artie cut himself off, frowning.

"Because we've done them all before," Brittany said, picking up the thought. The others glared at her. "What? It's not like he doesn't know."

Puck burst out laughing. "Told you it'd be Brittany," he told Finn. "Everyone else is overthinking it."

Blaine's jaw dropped. "You really remember all this?" he asked Finn, dumbfounded. "Consciously?"

"What, Kurt didn't tell you?" Finn asked in return, finally letting himself grin. "Yes, it's all back. At least I sure think so and it had better stay."

"Since when?" Artie asked.

"Yesterday morning."

All thoughts of singing were forgotten as the others bombarded Finn with questions, which quickly turned into a variety of unsolicited advice once he told them Kurt and Rachel's dad had both convinced him not to tell Rachel until her term was done. Various scenarios for how to tell her were offered, each more involved than the last, and once someone started using the word 'vote' Finn decided that was enough.

"Look, guys, I'm so grateful for everything you've done to help me out," he interjected as Blaine and Tina were debating big romantic gestures. "But I'm in charge of my life now, okay? That was kind of the point." They looked crestfallen, and he hadn't meant to be rude, but it seemed like they'd gotten a bit too familiar with knowing more about his life than he did, and that wasn't true any more. He knew himself, and he knew Rachel. Sure, she liked big romantic stuff but not if she was made insecure about it first, and some of their suggestions were way too much like the 'pretend to take someone for granted and then surprise them by being thoughtful later' stuff that Rachel would hate (if she didn't run off after stage one, which she just might – deliberately upsetting Rachel would be a bad idea even if she hadn't already been through so much). He'd usually kept things simple, and she'd appreciated his heartfelt sentiments as offered without needing anything beyond sincerity. "Sorry, and some of that sounds great for some other time, but I don't want to leave Rachel in suspense for a minute more than I need to. She's been worried about me more than enough for a lifetime by now. She gets back, I tell her, the two of us take it from there."

Finn was torn on how to tell his shrink about all this, at his next appointment. He settled for a relatively direct approach: he put his hand out and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Finn Hudson."

Belhaven blinked, then looked at him carefully, seeing the wide grin that Finn couldn't hide any longer. "Yes you are, aren't you?" He beamed, then gestured Finn to a chair and leaned back in his. "So tell me about yourself."

Finn talked about a lot of things in the hour that followed, but mostly about Rachel. What he remembered, some about how he remembered it and how it had made everything fit together, and also about what to do now. He wanted to know what the psychiatrist thought about Hiram and Kurt's concerns, that finding out about his recovery might distract her too much during a very stressful time; he wasn't surprised when the doctor approved of that reasoning, but he was still disappointed.

Finn couldn't shake the feeling that Rachel was the final piece to truly connect him to his recovered memories. He remembered her and loved her, but it still felt a little disjoint from him, and he had the same sort of keyed-up nervousness about being with Rachel again that he used to get before big games, the sort of 'I don't know what I'm doing' feeling that always went away as soon as something started. It was always easier just to be with Rachel than think about being with Rachel, a complicated thing made so very simple when he could just do it. Would their connection be there, as wonderful and simply there as he remembered it to be? It must, surely, but he'd be a lot happier when he could be with her and have everything fall into place the way it should.

Nine days.

Wednesday night he went over to Puck's for video games, but before starting to play, Puck decided to give him an impromptu quiz on three years of Glee Club. Everything was in there, including some stuff that Finn figured Puck put in because he wanted to know that Finn was dealing with it, like Finn's reaction to finding out about Puck and Quinn.

Finn could also tell that Puck had been dying to tease him about some of it, like his Rocky Horror costume walk through the halls and his Lady Gaga outfit. Still, it wasn't a bad idea to check for holes, and he was happy not to find any.

"Do you remember when Rachel defended you to Santana?" Puck asked eventually.

There was more than once, Finn thought. But the best one – yeah, that's clear as day.

He hadn't been paying attention at the start of it; he'd been talking quietly with Rachel and enjoying having his arm around her again after the long day of school. Santana had been at the far end of the choir room, talking to Brittany and Rory, and had started angrily ranting about the double standard at McKinley, how public displays of affection were tolerated but only between 'straight' couples. Her volume had increased as she started complaining about Finn and Rachel, primarily Finn, drawing the attention of the rest of the club.

"I can't even kiss Brit in the hall, but nobody stops Gigantor there from mauling his pet hobbit any chance he gets," Santana complains. And that's really rude, 'cause I don't maul Rachel, we're happy together so everyone else should just finally butt out and care about their own stuff instead. Especially Santana, we support her and Brittany so why can't she do the same for us? I stroke Rachel's hair, and it feels really good under my hand, all silky, and she sighs and leans her head against me as we try to ignore what's going on at the other end of the room.

"Why does she always call Finn those weird names?" I hear Rory ask Brittany. Because she's Santana, I reply mentally, but of course Brittany has some wacky justification for her girlfriend's stream of insults.

"He's a giant," she answers, like it's obvious. "He needs a giant name and she's trying them out."

"Finn is a giant name, from Ireland," Rory says, and that sounds interesting to me, but clearly not to Santana who just wants to rant. She must have had a boring day and needs entertainment.

"Bad enough to have endured that sack of potatoes intimately myself, but he seems intent on demonstrating his lack of sexual appeal to everyone on a regular basis, and the teachers do nothing," Santana snipes. "I'd say it was part of a school weight-loss strategy, but even the heaviest of the Cheerios don't need that much help to lose their appetite." Right to the sensitive part, as always, Santana. Not that I care much about being hot to anyone except Rachel anyway, but it still kind of hurts, and I can tell Rachel's getting irritated too.

"I'm kind of an expert on sacks o'potatoes, and I wouldn't say he's at all like one," Rory says, but he's not getting anywhere with Santana, arguing back just eggs her on and Rory's no match. Nice try, but next time just drop it.

"Did I ask you for your opinion, Irish? Even as much as your kind eat potatoes they've probably never screwed one, at least I hope not, so this is way outside your expertise. Not mine, unfortunately. Last time I take a v-card charity case." Yep, Santana's escalating. I rub Rachel's knee to keep us both calm as we try to ignore it.

"I would hope so," Brittany says quietly. She doesn't like Santana talking about the guys she's been with, everyone seems to know that except Santana herself. Where's Mr. Schue anyway?

"He got a pretty girl to agree to marry him, he must be doing somethin' right," Rory puts in.

"I grant you Yentl seems happy enough, but it's not like she knows any better, Shamu there is all she's ever had." Santana finishes off her put-down with a superior smile and a toss of her head, classic Santana but extra mean in suggesting that Rachel's wrong to be happy with me, can't she mind her own damn business for once?

And now it's really hard to ignore, because everyone else is looking at us. I'm pissed but holding it in, and Rachel's looking down at her notebook. I don't know what she's thinking, though I know she hates when Santana pulls this stuff, like that crappy ten minutes that should never have happened means Santana knows me or anything about how Rachel and I are together. But then Rachel takes a deep breath, puts her pen down and looks back at Santana, and shit, she is not ignoring it any more.

"True satisfaction does not require a basis for comparison, Santana," Rachel says, loudly and precisely, no way to mistake what she said, but – true satisfaction, huh? Wow. Though I agree, when we're together nothing else matters, and we don't need to compare to anyone else to know that what we have is special. I smirk a little at this defense, but it's not over. "Even you must admit that, you can't have slept with everyone," she finishes, and I groan mentally because that's just baiting Santana to go further.

"I beg your pardon?" Santana snarls at her, 'cause Santana used to sleep around a lot but she doesn't like it brought up, even though she kind of just did herself, and anyway that was before she was comfortable with who she is.

"And so you should," Rachel pushes back, and she's pissed but definitely taking charge of this throwdown. "You never pass up a chance to throw it in my face that you were with Finn first, even though it's abundantly clear that this is largely a technicality, since you were obviously unable to bring out his better qualities the way I have." Uh, okay, that's completely true, though I never thought about it like that, but this isn't going to end well... I clutch at her knee to try to hold her back, but there is no stopping her now. "Not that it should matter since he's clearly not your type. As for his appeal to me, conventional wisdom states that it's not the size that counts, it's what you do with it. I wouldn't know, since Finn's considerable size is easily matched by his generosity, talent and enthusiasm as my lover, and his stature is perfectly proportionate."

And everyone's jaw drops, Santana's included, Puck is smirking, and I'm just totally gobsmacked. Did Rachel really just say that about me? Generosity, talent, enthusiasm... Rachel-speak for 'awesome in bed', and holy fuck, she just said that about me. And that's what she thinks about me and how we are together, yes I love taking care of her and she always seems to enjoy it a whole lot, it feels amazing and we're so connected, but... wow. Though I don't quite get all of what she said.

"Proportionate?" I whisper to her. That word sounds a little insulting.

"Finn, there isn't any part of you that can be described as small," I hear her whisper back, and I grin, 'cause yeah, and it's great to be appreciated by my girl for what I've got and what I do with it, especially how great and how close we feel then, and she is so getting extra lucky next time we have the chance. There's no way I'm going to let her be wrong about that.

Everyone's kind of frozen now, especially when Mr. Schue finally comes in, and he is really confused at how everyone's quiet and looking shocked. "What's going on, guys?" he asks, and I try to come up with something to get things going again and cover, but as usual Rach gets to it first, and she decides to stick to the truth.

"I found it necessary to defend my fiancé's sexual prowess, Mr. Schuester," I hear her say as she picks her pen back up, and her tone is so matter-of-fact that I almost choke. "As I fail to see how this topic can be of relevance to anyone other than myself, I think we can now proceed with Glee Club as usual."

She's right about it not being their business, but... holy fuck, Rach. That girl never fails to surprise me, and wow. And now I do start to cough, and excuse myself to get some water, and I have to get myself under control too because hearing her say those things about me like it's just plain truth is so damn hot.

Luckily by the time I go back in, Mr. Schue is talking about some audience connection stuff and everyone's moved on. But nobody else is home at our place that night, so it's time to show Rach that she told the truth about me, and why it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about us because we know what we have together is so right.

Puck saw Finn smirk at the memory. "I see you remember that one," he said. "Your girl certainly schooled the rest of us, and held her own with Santana. Not many can, but San'll back off when you do. And Berry's 'I'm finished now so class can continue' bit at the end was classic."

"I'm probably the only guy that gets complimented as 'proportionate'," Finn said.

Puck laughed. "Yeah, I wasn't sure about that bit at first either," he admitted. "Sounds like the sort of thing small dudes get told as an excuse. But you're not a small dude."

"Nope." Finn grinned. And he'd enjoyed showing Rachel why she'd been right about all the rest too. "Any more things you want to see if I remember?"

"Hmm." Puck thought for a moment. "Why does Rachel call me 'Noah' instead of 'Puck'?"

Finn searched his mind when no answer came readily. All he could remember is that it bothered him. He shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "It bugs me that she does, but I don't know why she does it."

"Does she know it bugs you?"

"I don't think so." Finn frowned, a bit worried. "Okay, Puck, so why does she call you that?"

"I don't know, I wondered if you did," Puck said with a grin.

Finn threw an empty soda can at his friend and laughed ruefully. "Asshole."

"Hey, maybe I'd finally find out." Puck sobered. "Why does it bug you anyway?"

"Just – it reminds me of you and her," Finn said. "That you went out way back when I was tied to Quinn. And that she turned to you when all that crap about me and Santana tanked her self-esteem." He frowned. "I don't know, it just makes me feel that you two share something, what with you being there for her when I should've been but wasn't. It's a little personal."

"Don't worry about that, dude, really," Puck said, slapping Finn on the shoulder. "Both times she just wished I was you. She certainly wasn't calling me 'Noah' then."

Finn swallowed, not really wanting to know, but couldn't stop himself from asking. "What did she call you?"

"'Finn'. Not sure she realized she said it, but Berry's always had it bad for you, dude."

"Wow."

"Yep." Puck nodded. "Anyway she's been calling me 'Noah' long before any of that, so who knows why at this point, she's probably just being ornery. Don't take it personally."

"I'll try not to, I don't really. Anything else you think I would know?"

"What's the deal with her diet comments?"

"Private joke, not telling." Finn gave Puck a mock-glare. "Any more things you actually know?"

"Do you remember when I ambushed you in the alley in Call of Duty and kicked your ass?"

Finn smirked. "No, but I remember when you ambushed me in the alley and tried to kick my ass."

"Hey, you died."

"So did you."

"Your ass still got kicked."

"Ass-kicking implies showing superiority, and you didn't."

"Hey, fancy words." Puck raised his eyebrows. "Where did those come from?"

Finn shrugged. "Spend enough time around Rachel and they rub off."

Puck snorted. "Well while it is great to have you back for real, I think it's time we cut the chatter and started kicking ass together. Now that the natural order of things is restored."

"'Natural order'?"

"I hated being the more mature one of us, it felt so wrong. And way too much responsibility." Puck smirked. "Back to normal now, so let's play."

Finn continued to quiz himself the next day, using photographs. He'd deliberately avoided looking at most pictures from the time he'd forgotten, not wanting to interfere with remembering on his own, but now that he did remember it was a good way to be sure of it. He could place them all, not always specifically, but he hadn't always been that great at remembering specifics even before the accident, so he figured that was normal.

Catching his attention the most were those on his phone from the last few days before the accident, mostly of Rachel. Rachel at the barbeque, wearing her star dress, playing, laughing, smiling. One shot had her in profile with a quiet smile, and he remembered taking that one, seeing the look on her face as she'd watched their friends, and catching it quickly before she noticed him and turned. And shots from two days later, when they'd gone to see Blaine perform at the Kings Island amusement park, including one of them together that he'd had Kurt take for him. He remembered that one well, he'd felt so perfectly happy, sitting on the bench with Rachel on his knee, their arms wrapped around each other, both with irrepressible smiles. They'd started the return trip an hour later, leaving Kurt with Blaine, and then they'd run into heavy traffic, and then...

Then it was four days later and he hadn't remembered any of it.

But that man in the picture, the one who was so in love and so happy that he couldn't stop beaming if he wanted to, this was who he was. And would be again, as soon as the same girl was in those same arms. Finn transferred the picture to his computer and printed it out, a large print he could look at to help him really sink into the memory, needing to tide himself over until he could restore that last crucial piece. Rachel, always Rachel.

Eight days.

Friday night he had dinner with Rachel's dads, and they talked a lot about his future, long term, short term, and a lot of medium term. Finn felt strange telling them so much of his plans before discussing them with Rachel, but he didn't think it was anything she'd have a problem with, not all that different than before.

Their discussions about what to do when Rachel got back from New York got a lot less complicated for Finn once he realized that he was a free agent, he didn't have to agree to anything or negotiate. Finn could do whatever he wanted, they were the ones who needed his agreement, not the other way around. Of course, Finn didn't want to annoy his prospective future fathers-in-law, and Hiram especially had been a big help, but Finn was able to be a lot more insistent. And they should appreciate that his bottom line was always Rachel, he didn't want her to be upset over him any more or kept in suspense. Though it was clear they still didn't get just how close he and Rachel were, which meant they didn't understand just how much his situation could be preying on her mind and emotions. He'd wait for her term and her show to finish, but not more, and he insisted on doing a few other things before that as well.

Rachel's birthday was on Tuesday – he'd already sent his gift with Kurt, before he'd had the final breakthrough, so that was nonnegotiable. It was getting overshadowed by being opening night of her show, she was hardly going to have any time to celebrate, so presents were important, and it could hardly reveal his situation when he'd picked it out before. The star earrings should go with her necklace that she knew he'd seen. Finn insisted on sending flowers to her at the show as well – they'd left things between them in a good place and planned to work more out over Christmas, so why wouldn't he? Finn conceded only as far as picking something that wouldn't give away his returned memory. Even if she would be too distracted if she found out his memory was properly back, at least this way she wouldn't be hurt by thinking that he didn't care, she'd know he was waiting for her even though she didn't know which version of him it was.

And when she returned – "You saw her only three weeks ago," Finn stated. "Once she's here there's no reason to wait any longer."

Seven days.

Finn's limited patience at waiting got thinner and thinner the longer it had to hold out. He was happy to see Kurt when he returned two days before Rachel was due back, but it just made Finn think of Rachel more.

Kurt had gone to the show's opening night and then flown back to Ohio. Finn was glad to hear from him that Rachel was doing well ('stunning on stage, simply stunning, you're lucky she loves you because otherwise the line forms to the left') and had loved his gift, but hearing about it just made the waiting harder. Then he got an idea.

"Hey Kurt, you have your apartment keys, right?"

"Yes," Kurt answered hesitatingly. "Why?" He looked at Finn's eager face and groaned. "No."

"I haven't said anything."

"You don't need to. No I am not lending you my keys so you can go and surprise Rachel."

"Hey, I was just thinking. Okay, I don't want to do anything to screw up her performance and the show, but what about after the last show? I could go wait for her when she gets home. I can get there in time."

"There's a cast party. She's only planning to be home long enough to change."

"I could go too."

"Neither of you would go at all, don't try to fool me on that."

Finn grinned. "Okay, but would that be so bad?"

"A post-show cast party isn't just for blowing off steam, it's for networking. There are people who want to meet her."

"Maybe I don't want them to meet her."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Not guys on the make, industry and NYADA people. Professionals who are interested in her voice and public performance abilities."

Finn frowned. "Yeah, okay. After the cast party?" he offered tentatively.

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "You seriously want to go all the way to New York the day before she's coming back here, so you can have a reunion and probably a very serious conversation with her in the middle of the night when she is completely exhausted? And she's heading to the airport first thing anyway?"

"Yeah, okay, dumb idea," Finn grumbled.

"I know you can't wait to see her. And I know you don't want to make her wait any more either. But she'll be back in two days. And then you can take your time getting 'reacquainted' or whatever you end up doing that I probably won't want to hear about."

Finn sighed. "So stick to the plan."

"So stick to the plan." Kurt saw Finn's discontent, though, and took pity on him. "She loved your flowers, by the way," he said. "The daisies were an inspired choice, she remembered the ones you gave her in August and knew they had to be from you as soon as she saw them. She even has them by her bed."

Finn couldn't help smiling at this. He'd known that was the right arrangement as soon as he'd seen it, something that would remind her of a good time they'd had together after the accident. And the note he'd sent with them had simply told her he was waiting for her. So he'd better do that.

Two more days.

The next night Rachel returned to her apartment after the last show, happy with how well it had gone, both her participation in the group numbers and her short solo. Her suitcase sat on the floor of her room, already packed except for a last few items; all that was left was to go to the cast party, sleep, then head to the airport and fly home.

She looked at the multicolored daisies Finn had sent her for opening night, starting to fade on their third day, and her heart swelled. And the note he'd sent with them – 'I'm waiting for you. Finn.' – well she didn't know anything about what he remembered, or whether any of the songs she'd sent to Carole for him had done anything, but he was waiting, and she'd make sure that even if he didn't remember any of their closer moments before he'd have some new ones to remember before the holidays were over. He was trying to make his way back to her, and she'd help him however he needed to be helped; she also knew exactly how to turn him on, and she'd be quite happy to remind him of that if and when he'd let her.

But first, the cast party. She changed into her robe and sat down at her desk with her makeup mirror and her laptop. Kurt had insisted on vetting her look for the party, despite having gone back to Lima the morning of the previous day, so she signed into Skype and applied her regular foundation as she waited for him. It was wonderful to be able to stay in touch so easily, even though it meant Kurt could continue his tyranny over her wardrobe even in absentia.

She'd narrowed it down to a black dress and a navy blue one, and once Kurt showed up he voted in favor of the navy blue.

"Unless I can convince you to wear the red dress, it's perfect for a party like that, especially at Christmas," he commented.

Rachel sighed. That dress was too sexy to wear to a party solo; it had been hard for Kurt to convince her to buy it in the first place after it caught her eye, and she'd never worn it anywhere. "No, I am not wearing the red dress, and you know I wouldn't, it would just give people the wrong idea. Besides, it's packed."

"You're bringing it with you?" Kurt raised his eyebrows. "To give a certain someone a not-so-wrong idea?"

Rachel blushed. "Yes."

Kurt smirked. "Planning to try to seduce my brother, hmm?"

Rachel blushed more deeply, flustered, lowering her eyes. Of course that was the idea, basically, but she still didn't like to think about doing it so blatantly or how Finn might react. But then another voice interrupted her thoughts.

"She doesn't have to try."

Finn. Rachel's eyes flashed back to the screen, and there he was, leaning over Kurt's shoulder, his eyes intense. Her breath caught.

"Hey Rach," Finn said, giving her a soft smile. "And I know what you said about that, but I get why, and I mean it the right way now."

He... what? Oh, my name... Oh. Rachel felt her heart race. "You do?"

"Yes. It's me, it really is now." In the screen she saw Kurt attempt to shove him away, but he refused to move. He glanced down at his brother. "You broke the rule, Kurt."

"Like you did by coming into my room without permission?"

"One rule, don't let her worry about me, and you broke it." Finn stepped back, but only so he could wheel Kurt's chair out of the way, despite Kurt's protests at this. He leaned down in front of the computer. "Guess you'll have to make do with me, Rach. I heard your voice and I just couldn't walk away." He grinned. "I suck at fashion advice, all I can really think about are things I don't want you to wear for anyone else, but most of those wouldn't be suitable for a party like that anyway. That pink sundress of yours that you wore again when we went to the fair –"

Rachel caught the emphasized 'again', and tears came to her eyes. She'd hoped he might remember that, when she'd decided to wear the dress that day. Apparently eventually he had.

"– that dark blue dress with the red tie and the flowers –"

That dress... I was wearing that the day he proposed. Rachel gasped. "Finn. You remember that?"

"I remember. I remember a lot, I can't be sure it's everything but it feels like it. Don't know how I could forget, actually, it's weird even thinking back to when I didn't remember. There's something so wrong about me not remembering you." He glanced aside briefly as a noise seemed to distract him, presumably from Kurt. "And now Kurt's going to get worried I've gone all strange because I actually remembered clothes, but I do when you're wearing them." He swallowed. "Though really I just mostly see you."

A few tears started to flow down Rachel's cheek as she looked at him. He looked warmly back, though a little down, looking at the screen instead of into the camera.

"Hey, it's okay now, Rach, it's going to be all right. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but you were so busy with everything we thought it'd throw you too much."

"Seems we were right," Kurt commented sharply, coming back into the picture. "I hate to break this up, but you have a party to get to, diva."

"Screw the party," Rachel said vehemently. "Nothing's more important than this." She wiped her eyes quickly, fixing them back on Finn the moment they were clear.

Finn blinked back tears too, but frowned a little. "No, you need to go," he said. "It's important, you have to network, right? You're a star, of course they want to talk to you. And you don't have to choose, I'm not going anywhere. Go have a good time, I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled again. "I can wait as long as you need me to."

Rachel sniffled at hearing those words she'd used to him in the hospital when she'd been trying to explain how she felt about him. She nodded, smiling through her tears. "Tomorrow, Finn," she promised.

Kurt elbowed Finn out of the way, who straightened, then Kurt rolled his chair back into position and sat down. "When are the agents of chaos picking you up?" he asked pointedly.

Rachel cleared her throat, trying to refocus. "Amanda said she and Megan would come by at ten to eleven," she replied, still distracted.

"Not much time then. Get your makeup done. You should wear the blue dress, so smoky with a touch of the aubergine will bring out your eyes."

"Go easy," Finn's voice came from behind Kurt. "No sad clown hooker like the first time Kurt gave you makeup advice." Rachel giggled at the memory. "You're gorgeous natural, babe. Always have been."

"Out, Finn." Kurt flashed a glare up and back. "If you see the finished result you'll never let her leave."

"And this is a problem how?" But Finn chuckled ruefully. "Okay, I'll leave you to it. Just leave your hair down, Rach, for me. I'll tell you why tomorrow. Along with everything else." And with that he was gone.

Rachel closed her eyes, trying to slow her heart back to something close to normal. It was all so wonderful, Finn remembered her, he was waiting for her, he lo... but he didn't say that. "He didn't tell me he loves me," she said in a small voice. Her hand was still shaking too much to put on makeup. But of course he must, he even remembers proposing. And I didn't say it either, it was all so sudden.

"Probably just saving it for tomorrow. It's not a secret."

"How long...?"

"Has he remembered? That's for him to tell, but it hasn't been very long. You've hardly had a free moment the whole time, that's why he didn't tell you. It took some fancy talking to convince him not to get on the first New York-bound bus anyway."

"Oh..." Rachel's mind started to clear a little. "I'm not sure what I would have done, if I'd seen him," she admitted. Aside from throw myself into his arms and ignore the rest of the world.

"He didn't want to interfere with your exams and with the show. He also didn't want you to be upset about missing him, though. Hence the rule. And yes, I broke it, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just teasing and I didn't realize it could make you worry about what you might be trying to do."

"That's all right now," Rachel said. "It did, just for a moment, until I heard him."

"Good thing he was eavesdropping then." Rachel stared at this, and Kurt laughed. "Come on, you don't think he just happened to walk by? You know the way this place is laid out. He wanted to hear your voice."

Rachel smiled happily, then took a deep breath. Her nerves seemed calmer now, her hands steadier. "Then, right now, the show's gotta go all over the place."

Kurt laughed at her Finn-ism, and they continued talking as she got ready for the party.