Everyone appeared to have a different reaction when they awoke on Saturday morning and saw that Thad and Rachel had updated their relationship status on Facebook. Kurt practically fell out of bed, before grabbing his phone, determined to know every single detail of the night previous. Jeff groaned and reached for his wallet, cursing Nick's luck at guessing when this would happen. Trent even cheered out loud, waking up the rest of his household, before he text Thad. And Finn? Well, Finn just sat in confusion, staring at the Facebook page in front of him. This was not supposed to be happening.

That had been around a month ago, and now Rachel was sat at her desk, practically sick with nerves over meeting Thad's family. She glanced down at her cell, swallowing hard when she realised she only had five minutes until she had to leave for Thad's house.

"You can do this," she spoke to her reflection in the floor length mirror next to her. "You're Rachel Barbra Berry. You can do anything." She paused to take in a deep breath, looking down at her outfit as she did so. She had asked Kurt for his advice on what to wear, and for once, had stuck to what he'd told her. He understood why she was so nervous, but told her that from what he'd heard from the rest of the Warblers, Thad's family were nothing short of wonderful, and that he was sure Thad's parents would love her. Rachel got up and exited her room, grabbing her jacket and purse from where they were hung on by the staircase.

"Are you now heading off to Thad's, honey?" Hiram questioned as he exited kitchen. One glance at his daughter told him just how nervous she was, so he pressed a reassuring kiss onto her temple.

"They'll love you," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her in a brief hug. "Now go and enjoy yourself! I've made us some cookies so you can sit and tell me all about them." Rachel smiled at her dad's words, and left the house feeling a tiny bit more confident than she had whilst she was sat in her room.

The Harwood household was in chaos. This was the first time Thad had ever invited a girl over for dinner, and according to his mother, that meant everything had to be perfect. She'd spent the week researching vegan dishes that her entire family would eat, despite Thad's protests that she didn't have to make an entirely vegan meal. The whole family had each been given a task to complete in order to make the Harwood home perfect; even Thad's father had been roped into helping, although he'd managed to shy away from his task, Thad realised as he heaved more boxes around in the garage. He wasn't even sure why he had to clean the garage; he certainly had no plans to take Rachel in there, even if he was forced into giving her a tour of the house.

"Is this okay?" Thad announced, walking into the kitchen in a third different outfit. The first two had been totally disregarded by his mother, and Thad hoped this one would satisfy her, as he didn't have time to change again before Rachel's arrival. His mother turned and looked over her son, a happy smile spreading over her features.

"Much better," she smiled, sorting the collar on Thad's grey shirt. "Where's your father?"

"In the study. Jenny and Dani are still getting ready. I'm going to go wait for Rachel, okay?" Thad replied, leaning in to kiss his mother on the cheek. "By the way, mom. Thanks."

"For what?" she replied, her spoon stuck in mid-stir.

"For all this," Thad smiled, gesturing to the food that was cooking on the stove. Before his mom could reply he hurried out the front door, nervously pacing back and forth on the porch. He knew Rachel would be nervous, hell, he was nervous and this was his own family! Trent had been attempting to calm Thad down about this all week at Dalton, although his efforts had appeared fruitless. Trent couldn't work out why Thad was so nervous, anyway. If the Harwood family could love Nick and Jeff the way they did (who knows why?) then they would surely love Rachel Berry. After what felt like forever, he finally spotted Rachel's silver car slowly making its way down the street towards his house. He rushed over to Rachel's door and opened it for her as soon as she put her car into park.

"I'm so nervous, Thad," she whispered, clutching hold of his hand.

"Don't be. Mom has never been so excited before. She loves you before she's even met you," Thad replied, determined to hide his own nerves from Rachel. He leaned down to press his lips to Rachel's.

"Your house is so big," Rachel stated as they pulled apart. "And it looks so lovely."

"Wait until you see the inside," Thad grinned, tugging Rachel along, his nerves almost forgotten.

Rachel tried to remember some kind of breathing exercise as she walked hand in hand with Thad towards his house. Her nerves just would not leave her, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that nothing could go wrong. Thad seemed to recognise this and squeezed her hand, kissing her again just as they reached the front door. Thad opened the door for Rachel and gestured for her to step inside, which she did, coming face-to-face with Thad's twin sisters.

"Hi!" they exclaimed in unison, bright smiles on their faces. The twins had been unbelievably excited to meet Rachel, they had bugged Thad every day until he finally revealed when she was going to be meeting their family. And since that day, they had been bugging him with questions about Rachel. He swore they were going to turn into creepy superfans of someone who they had never met. Until now, that was.

"Rach, these are my sisters Jennifer and Danielle," Thad introduced, pointing at the respective twin. "Jenny, Dani, this is Rachel Berry."

"You're really pretty, Rachel," Jenny announced. Dani nodded in agreement before they disappeared into another room, leaving Rachel a little stunned over what had just happened. Thad remained silent for a second, shocked his sisters had said so little.

"Thad? Is that you?" Thad's mother bustled into the entrance hall, her apron still tightly tied around her waist. Her eyes rounded on Rachel, and her face immediately broke into a huge grin. "You must be Rachel. I'm Thad's mother, please call me Sharon. Oh, you just look lovely! I hope you'll enjoy what I've cooked today dear, I'm not too familiar with vegan cooking, but Thad suggested some of the foods that you liked." His mother's voice faded as she grabbed hold of Rachel's arm, steering her into the kitchen to show off dinner. Thad took this opportunity to inform his father that Rachel was here.

"Dad?" Thad poked his head around the half open study door. His father looked up from his laptop screen, no doubt working on his latest case.

"Rachel's here?" he questioned, nodding along with Thad. He quickly shut down his laptop and pulled his glasses off of his face, and quickly joined Thad at the door.

"I suppose we had best rescue her from your mother, right?" his father glanced at his son good-humouredly, clapping a hand onto his shoulder. The two men headed into the kitchen, and when they found it empty, opted for the dining room, where Rachel, Thad's sisters and Thad's mother were all engaged in a deep conversation over...well, Thad wasn't exactly sure what. His father cleared his throat, causing all four women to look up at him. Rachel stood up immediately, her nerves seemingly vanished and replaced with the confidence she usually wore.

"Rachel, this is my dad, Edward. Dad, this is Rachel Berry," Thad introduced, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Harwood," Rachel announced, sending one of her famous smiles to Thad's father.

"Oh, please, call me Ed, Rachel. Nearly everyone does. And the pleasure is most certainly mine. Welcome to the Harwood home."