Hey everyone! Here's chapter 32! Thank you for all the alerts, favs, and reviews!
Since I don't know if I'll update this tomorrow, I just wanted to say one year ago tomorrow, I started writing Complicated and published it that day! I can't believe it's been one year since I uploaded the first chapter, thinking it wouldn't get any reviews. Now, another fanfic later and a total of over 600 reviews, I can't believe I've come this far on fanfiction. So for everyone that's stuck around for as long as they have, thank you!
In the previous chapter, someone guessed who was going to get the bad news was right. You'll find out what that bad news is in this chapter C:
I don't own Glee. The only characters I own are the Cory Hudson, Anthony Hudson, and the Tishlers (excluding Beth)
Enjoy!
"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!" Rachel started rubbing her eyes when she heard Cory shouting from the bottom of their bed, attempting her hit her with his tiny hands. She was thankful he wasn't tall enough to reach her, or else her and Finn would be in trouble.
"What is it Cor?" she asked tiredly.
"Chwistmas! It's Chwistmas!" he exclaimed with glee while jumping up and down. She smiled while watching him, knowing he was happy.
"Wha...? What happened?" Finn groaned while slowly blinking his eyes open.
"It's Christmas Finn," Rachel answered. She didn't celebrate Christmas, but it brought her enough joy to see Cory get excited about it. She hoped that one day he'd wonder about his Jewish heritage and want to celebrate it as well.
"Oh yeah. Merry Christmas Cory," Finn said when he sat up.
"Presents! Presents!" their toddler started to jump up and down again.
"We'll open presents as soon as I get some coffee in my system and your dad gets some orange juice," she told him while getting out of bed like a sloth. Before Rachel picked up Cory, she took her phone and it's charger out of the electrical socket and noticed she got a text from Shelby. They hadn't talked in a few months, so getting a text from her was surprising. It said "Call me when you get up." She picked up Cory to take him into the living room while she made the phone call.
Once the other line picked up, she said "Hello?"
"Hi Rachel," Shelby said with a sweet tone. "How are you?"
"I'm doing okay. You?"
"Same here. Have you had your baby yet?"
"Yes, a beautiful baby boy named Anthony. Cory likes him besides the fact he sometimes keeps him up at night," the brunette laughed, and she heard her mom do the same as well.
"That's great to hear. However, I'm sorry to say that I can't come for Christmas this year. Would you mind if I stopped by later this week?" Shelby questioned.
It didn't seem like such a bad idea. She knew her mom probably wanted to meet Anthony and see Cory again. "Sure. How does Thursday afternoon sound? Finn will be here since he's on winter break."
"Thursday is great! I'll see you then. Bye Rachel," and she hung up the phone. It seemed strange that the phone call was so short. Maybe she had some other business to attend to. Either way it was nice to hear from her.
"Who were you on the phone with?" Finn asked with a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice in both of his hands.
"Shelby. She's going to come over Thursday since she can't make it today if that's okay."
"That's fine. She can meet Anthony," he said as he took a sip of his juice. Cory waddled towards his parents with a large grin on his face.
"Presents?"
"Yes, you can open them," they said together, and he tore into all of his presents and finished in about five minutes. For Christmas, he got a personalized name puzzle that spelled out his name, a train set, some blocks, some bath toys. The present that Cory got that made Finn very excited was the little basketball set that included a small ball, net and hoop. Overall, he seemed happy with all of the toys he received.
"Are you happy Cory?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, I happy," Cory said while hugging his dinosaur toy that he received from Noah when he was born. He loved that toy and took it everywhere; maybe Cory had a little connection with Noah since he was considered his father for the first few months of his existence. "More?"
"You'll get more presents from your grandpas, grandma, and Uncle Kurt when they come over," Finn said.
"Okay. I hungry," he said. And that was the end of the conversation.
-more-than-words-
"I wanna wear pajamas Mommy!" Cory argued with his mom while looking at the clothes on his bed. Rachel was making him dress a little nicer with a sweater and a pair of jeans.
"We're going to have company over, Cory. You need to look nice for your grandparents and uncle. How are you doing to feel when you're the only one who's dressed in pajamas?"
"Sleepy," he answered. His response made her want to laugh because it was the truth, but she couldn't.
"I'll make you a deal, okay?" he nodded. "If you dress nicely today, you can stay in your pajamas all day tomorrow. Does that sound good?"
"Okay!" Rachel helped him get dressed, and once he was dressed he darted out of his room and into the living room. Shortly after he got dressed, it was noon and her dads, Finn's step dad and mom, and Kurt arrived with some food and presents.
"Happy holidays everyone," Finn and Rachel said while hugging everyone and welcomed them in their home. She made sure to shut the door quickly since it was snowing and it was rather chilly outside.
"It's great to be inside. It's freezing out there!" Carole exclaimed while placing some presents by the tree. Cory started looking at all of them in awe, and Finn was watching him to make sure he didn't touch any of the gifts.
"So, what should we do first? Open our gifts or eat?" Burt asked.
"Presents!" Cory echoed himself from earlier in the day. Despite the fact everyone did want to see what they got for Christmas, they all agreed to eat first. While eating, everyone talked about their lives and if they were okay or not. Rachel felt left out since she was the only one who didn't have much to say besides how Cory and Anthony were doing.
"So how's raising two children, Rachel?" Hiram questioned.
"It's challenging, but I'm glad I have Finn to help me," she praised her boyfriend with a smile and patted his arm. "And to be honest, I've been thinking about getting a job to help out a little more once Anthony is six weeks old. There's no limit when it comes to helping out."
"Really?" Finn asked, surprised.
"I know I've never said anything before, but I figured I would announce my plan. with the whole family around."
"We're happy for you Rachel. All of us," LeRoy reassured her and everyone agreed with him. Everyone shared a few more laughs and jokes while eating before they cleaned up and got all the dishes in the kitchen for later. Cory was the first one to arrive in the living room and waited for everyone else to come in.
Rachel's phone started ringing, which alarmed her. When she saw it was Quinn calling, her look went from curious to concerned. She never called on the holidays; she only texted everyone from glee saying happy whatever holiday it was. Finn saw she was calling too, and they gazed into each others' eyes for a minute before she answered her phone.
"Hello?"
"Rachel...who's with you right now?"
"Finn and Kurt. Their parents and my dads are in the other room," she told her.
"C-can you put me on speaker phone?" the blonde was stuttering. This wasn't good at all.
"You're on," Kurt looked over at the two and Rachel signaled him to come over and listen.
"Now tell us what's wrong," Finn said.
"I woke up late this m-morning and saw a call from an unknown number. I called them back and it t-turned out to be...Sorry," she apologized. All three of the young adults could hear she was crying. "It turned out to be someone at a Child Protective Service physicality in Columbus. He called to tell me that Beth's adoptive parents, John and Cassidy had died in a c-car accident on the 23rd."
"Oh god, we're so sorry Quinn," Rachel said with sadness. "What about Beth and their other child?"
"Beth and Elise are fine, thankfully. They were at their grandparents at the time. T-the only reason they called me was because they found Beth's adoption papers in the Tishlers' records. In their will, it said that Elise and Beth were to be given to the same family member."
"So, are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"I don't get Beth," Quinn sniffled. "The social worker wouldn't even tell me who received custody of my little girl. Puck's ready to kick some butt if we don't find out who has her. It's not fair."
"We know...we know," they were still shocked.
"Well, I have to go now. I'm supposed to find out who has her tomorrow since today is Christmas and no one's at the office. I'll try to see you all before I go back to Connecticut, okay?"
"Alright, take care of yourself."
"Bye," and she hung up. Everyone left the kitchen without saying a word and went into the living room. Poor Quinn, and poor Elise and Beth too. Beth wouldn't know any better, but Elise lost her mom and dad.
Sometimes the holidays weren't the best time of year.
So, good news: Beth and Elise are safe and Rachel is going to start job hunt. Bad news: John and Cassidy are gone.
Coming up in Chapter 33: Shelby comes over to the Finchel residence, and Quinn finds out who received custody of Beth.