Here's Part Two!
I was given a few prompts by both my good friends Lauren (who part 1 is for) and Marion (who this part is for). I couldn't choose, so thus why we have two parts! I had so much fun with this family. Who knows, maybe we'll come back to them. Anyway, Marion - I'm not sure this was QUITE what you were after because you requested humor. But I did my best. I hope you like it! See disclaimer in first part. I still don't own glee.
Father of The Year - Pt 2. Surprise?
Finn groaned as the sunlight hit him square in the face. He woke up to an empty bed, but for a moment it didn't bother him in the least. He rolled over on the cool sheets, the bare skin of his stomach touching the sheets and he sighed in delight. New York was experiencing an early heat wave and the cool sheets were a relief against his heated skin. It meant the air conditioner that he had just paid a small fortune to fix was working.
He maneuvered his arms under the pillow and he inhaled the smell that his wife had left behind on the pillow. The familiar smell of her shampoo and face moisturiser invaded his senses as he waited with baited breath for what was his favourite part of his day - when the kids made him breakfast in bed for Father's Day.
It had been a long standing tradition - something Rachel had started that very first Father's Day when Gwendolyn (as she preferred to exclusively to be referred to as now at the ripe age of 12) was just six weeks old. The production had become even bigger as they added kids to their brood, growing their family by two more children over the course of the four years that followed. Samuel Albert(who liked to go by Sam now, instead of the Sammy Gwen had christened him with), came almost a year and a half after Gwen, with Stella Grace coming up shortly the January after Sam turned 1. Some people said they had the kids too fast, but they'd never thought so. He loved that his kids were so close - even though it meant that most days they fought like cats and dogs - he wouldn't change a thing.
Except maybe how long it was taking them to bring him his breakfast. His stomach grumbled as he rolled over on to his back once more and stared at the ceiling. He hoped they hurried up, and most of all - he hoped they remembered the bacon.
"Dad's going to be so mad Mom," Gwendolyn sighed as she pushed her chair back against the tiles of the kitchen, where she had been sitting at the breakfast bar eating her waffles.
Rachel looked up from where she was chopping up some fruit at the counter and raised her eyebrow at her oldest daughter. "He'll be happy tonight, sweetie..."
It was Gwendolyn's turn to raise an eyebrow at her mother. "If you're sure."
"Gwendolyn, I've known your father longer than you've been alive. I think I know he'll be fine..." Rachel laughed.
"Daddy's going to be sad we didn't make him bacon," Stella entered the conversation as she brought her own bowl to the sink, from where she had been sitting in the living room watching cartoons with Samuel. "He likes his bacon," she giggled as her plate clattered in the sink. Rachel winced as it made the loud noise, as Stella looked up at her with a grin on her face. Just like Finn's. "Can I go play outside now? I want to play on my scooter!"
Rachel laughed at the serious look on her youngest daughter's face. "Of course," she started as she pushed her long bangs out of her face. "But don't go far. We have to leave soon, remember?"
Stella nodded hastily as she ran for the foyer of the house, and clamoured for the stairs. "WALK STELLA!" Rachel called after her, her voice echoing through the open concept.
Finn heard Rachel's voice echoing off the walls of the foyer, followed by the clomping that he associated with Stella's feet. He slid his body down on the bed more, wrapping himself up in the blanket so it looked like he was just waking up. His eyes caught the alarm clock, and saw that it was nearing 10am. Late, by other Father's Day standards. He sighed as he thought about how it was a sign that his three stooges as he lovingly sometimes (in his head and to his best friend Mike) referred to his kids as, were growing up.
But the clomping went right passed his door, followed by the slamming of Stella's bedroom door. Finn groaned as he leaned back on the pillows as he had previously and rubbed his hands over his face. So much for that, he thoughts. He blinked a few times as he stared at the ceiling as his family seemed to go on with life below him.
He was torn. On one hand, he wanted to hope that his breakfast was still coming. But on the other, he was getting kind of - bored. He'd left everything elsewhere in the house; his iPad in his office, his phone downstairs in the kitchen. The book he was reading on his nightstand only captured his attention for a few minutes. He was bored. He hadn't been bored in years - he had three kids and a pretty demanding wife (in the nicest way possible) - life was never supposed to be boring. But here he was, bored. So as the time continued to flow on, and he even heard Gwendolyn start playing the piano downstairs - he decided to take matters into his own hands. He slipped out of bed and shoved his feet into slippers, and found a t-shirt to slip over his bare chest.
But as he was getting dressed, the door to the bedroom opened. He turned around to find Rachel standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her stomach as she stared at him.
"Look who's finally decided to join the land of the living," she quipped as a smile graced her lips. She crossed the room and came to step in front of where he was standing. She placed her hands on his bare arms. "Tired babe?"
He rubbed his eyes for effect, even though he was the furthest thing tired. Rachel smiled gently and wrapped herself around his waist. She patted his stomach.
"Well, I'm going to head out -I have to pick up groceries and I promised Gwen I would take her out to go shopping for a bathing suit," Rachel rambled as she blew out a breath. Bathing suit shopping was the least of her favourite shopping experiences. His wife liked shopping. She did - his credit card statements were a testament to that. They worked hard for what they had - always have, so it didn't bother him in the least.
"That's all that's planned for today?" he asked quietly as his hands wrapped around her waist and squeezed her hip gently.
"Yes..." she answered, her words drawn out as she looked up at him. "Were you thinking of doing something else? If you are you'll have to take Stella and Sam," she started. "I'll probably be gone for the rest of the day, you know how much fun it is trying to get Gwen through a mall."
Finn scoffed a little. He'd done it once since she hit the double digits and he vowed never to do it again without Rachel in tow. She was her mother to a tee.
"I guess I can be here with frick and frack," he sighed as she patted his back once more before disentangling herself from her husband. "Maybe I'll enlist Sam to help me in the yard this afternoon..."
"Good luck with that, he's already playing on the iPad in the living room," she chuckled. She leaned up on her tip toes and placed a kiss on his lips. "Love you..."
"Love you too," he mumbled as she started to retreat out of the bedroom. "Don't take my credit card!" he called after her.
"Too late, it's already in my wallet!" she called back as she started down the hallway towards the stairs.
Finn groaned and blew out a breath before he fell back against the bed, rubbing his eyes once more.
Rachel blew out a breath once she had collected Gwendolyn and made it out to her SUV in the garage.
"Dad's going to be so mad," she repeated her sentiment from breakfast.
"Yeah, you keep saying that," Rachel sighed as she pulled out of the garage and nearly slammed on her breaks when a squirrel dashed behind her vehicle. She grumbled under her breath before going forward and pulling out onto the street. "I happen to think he's going to love his surprise."
"He's going to be mighty suspicious when we come home with no bags from the grocery store and I don't have a bathing suit to wear to Emerson's birthday party on Saturday," she grumbled.
"Number one - he won't be surprised about the bathing suit. Not with the way you shop," she raised an eyebrow as she turned onto the major road by their house. "Number two - we actually are going grocery shopping after I pick up the jerseys from Aunt Quinns."
"We're going to Aunt Quinns? Ugh," Gwen pouted with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Relax. We're going to be there for five minutes. Uncle David picked up the jerseys for me so we have to stop there. She told me Patrick and Uncle David were going out golfing."
Gwendolyn rolled her eyes. Patrick, Quinn and David's son, was the same age as her and they'd had all the same classes growing up. Quinn and Rachel often joked they'd soon be mother's in law with how the two kids fought.
"Just make it quick," she sighed.
Finn wandered downstairs once Rachel and Gwen left the house. He found Sam exactly where Rachel told him she would find him, on the couch in the living room with the iPad.
"Where's your sister?"
Sam didn't even look up from the game he was playing.
"She's outside," he huffed as he missed the target in Angry Birds.
"By herself?" Finn questioned. He instantly felt his blood pressure rising. It wasn't like Rachel to leave their youngest outside alone, let alone not tell him she was by herself before she left. "What is she doing outside by herself? And your mother just left her there?"
"She's in the backyard Dad," he grumbled.
"Oh," Finn felt his blood pressure level out as he ran his hands through his hair. The back door that was off the kitchen slid open as a sweaty Stella came barrelling into the room.
"Daddy! What are we having for lunch?" she grinned as she grabbed onto his hand with her sweaty palms. Finn internally cringed at the feeling, but smiled outwardly as she pulled on his hand.
"What do you want to have for lunch?" he asked as he looked down at the messy little girl. She was grinning up at him with wide eyes. "Maybe we can go out for pizza?"
"No!" Sam called from the couch. Finn eyed him as he threw the iPad down beside him. "We can't go out for pizza!"
"Sam, watch what you're doing!" Finn yelped at first, before lowering his voice. "And why can't we have pizza? You suddenly don't like pizza anymore?"
Pizza was Sam's favourite food. Had been since he had enough teeth, and Rachel's permission, to eat it.
"No! I still...I just don't feel like having any today," Sam dropped his eyes and wouldn't meet Finn's. "I just want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, is that okay?"
Finn eyed his only son. "Of course, that okay Stells?" Finn untangled his hand from Stella's and rubbed his hand through her messy hair. "And maybe a bath for you is in order as well..." Stella just laughed.
It was early in the afternoon when Finn heard the garage door rumble to life. He hoisted himself out of the easy chair he had fallen into with his iPad a little while ago. He raised an eyebrow because he knew it was Rachel, but it was hours before she had alluded that she would be back. He walked over to the garage door and opened it to find her getting out of the SUV while Gwen sulked in the front seat.
"What's her issue?"
"They didn't have the bathing suit that she wanted in her size," Rachel rolled her eyes as she walked around to the back of the SUV and opened the hatch. "You going to help me with these bags?"
He nodded routinely, before stepping down the few steps that led into the garage. In the time it took him to cross the space Gwen got out of the car and gave her best Rachel Berry fake pout that she could muster and headed into the house.
Finn quietly grabbed a few bags of groceries. "She can't help with the bags?"
Rachel laughed. "Leave her be, Finn," she laughed.
"When did she get so old, Rach?" he asked as he transferred all the bags he was holding to one hand so he could close the hatch of the SUV.
"I could ask you the same thing, honey," she laughed as she walked into the house.
Finn sighed. He followed her into the house and towards the kitchen, before dropping the bags he held on the island.
"What do you say we go out for dinner?" he asked as he started to help her sort through the bags of food she had bought. He wrinkled his nose when he pulled out a bag of fresh kale. Rachel reached over and slapped his chest as she reached for the bag so she could put it in the crisper.
"Finn, I just spent a small fortune on groceries," She sighed. "Maybe we..." She turned around to look at him and saw him standing behind the counter looking at her intently. "Okay. We can go out for dinner," she relented.
She hadn't figured out how she was going to get him into the car to take him to her surprise, anyway. She decided then to just give in, give the guy an inch. She saw his features relax and she smiled as she looked at him.
"Where were you thinking sweetheart?" she asked as she grabbed for one of the gallons of milk she had bought to put in the fridge. "Just not fish please - last time it gave Stella a stomach ache, and I have too busy a day at work tomorrow to deal with it," she sighed, just as the child in question ran into the kitchen.
"Mommy, Daddy tried to take us out for pizza but Sam told him no, just like you told him to!" she grinned as she ran for her mother.
Finn quirked an eyebrow at his wife. "Well guess what Stells, we're going to have pizza for dinner!"
Stella squealed as she clapped her hands. "I'm going to go tell Sam!"
"Be nice!" they both yelled simultaneously.
So something was going on. Finn walked into the bedroom to change his clothes so they could go out for dinner as a family. He ran his fingers through his hair as he walked towards the dresser. Rachel had ordered him to slip on a polo shirt and some nicer shorts, nicer than the sweat pant like shorts he was wearing. He'd been taking orders from her about his wardrobe for years - since high school. It's how the y worked. He listened when she talked. And she cooked the foods he liked.
He whistled while he got dressed, a sudden happiness descending on him as he allowed a hopefulness to envelope him. Maybe they hadn't forgotten.
Rachel wrestled the keys to the SUV away from Finn as they got ready to leave.
"I can drive to the pizza place Rach," he argued as he followed her out to the garage. The kids were already out in the garage, waiting for the car to be unlocked so they could get in.
"I want to drive, is that alright?"
"No offense Rach, but you're not that great a driver," he teased as he followed her to the garage. They stepped out one after another and he turned to make sure the door was locked behind him before stepping down the stairs.
She clicked the button to let the kids in and watched as they all scrambled into the SUV. She laughed as she pushed at Finn's chest.
"I'm a great driver, Mr. I'm not sure what the speed limit was, Officer," she laughed as she tapped on his chest. Get pulled over one time and he never heard the end of it. In his defense Rachel had been in labor with Samuel and screaming her head off that the baby was coming any second, but he still got the butt of the driving jokes.
"You're lucky I love you," he winked.
"Besides, the seat is already positioned for me," she winked as she reached up on her toes and pressed a kiss on his cheek. "Get in the car Mr. Hudson or we're going to be late."
Finn gave her a confused look before following her lead and getting into the truck. The kids squabbles behind him immediately distracted him from his confused thoughts.
The ride into the city was quiet. They had a favourite pizza place in the Bronx they used to visit often, when they first moved to the city after they were married - straight out of high school. They had moved to the suburbs when she got pregnant with Gwendolyn, trading in the lights of the city for the different bustle of suburbia.
Finn had just said he wanted pizza. He hadn't said where he wanted to get it.
"Rach?" he questioned as she started to go down streets that were familiar to him.
"Yeah?" she asked as turned on her blinker to turn left.
"Where are we going?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"We're going for pizza Daddy," Stella chirped from the back seat.
"I know that sweetheart...but Rach...there's a perfectly good pizza place blocks from our house and..." he lost his thought as they pulled around a corner and Yankee Stadium started to come into view. "Rachel..." his voice gave a warning tone as the joined the line that would get them into the parking lot for the stadium.
"Rachel Hudson, what have you done?" he laughed as their SUV inched forward in the line.
"What do you mean? We're going for pizza!" she laughed.
Now he knew why she wanted to drive. If he'd been driving they would be at the one down the street from their house. They would be missing the game.
They made it up to the parking attendant and were waved through after Rachel was given a ticket to keep on the dash. The kids giggled from the backseat as they weaved through the garage, trying to find a spot big enough for their SUV.
When they finally parked, everyone got out. Finn took Stella's hand and started to walk towards the entrance he had seen to the stadium before Rachel called him back. He turned around and Stella giggled when she saw her Mom, Samuel and Gwendolyn wearing New York Yankees jerseys, holding the two left out to both Finn and her.
Finn grinned as he walked back towards the rest of his family, and even chuckled more when Rachel insisted he strip off the polo to put the jersey on. Maybe that's why all the girls had been wearing tank tops, he thought without letting the smile fall from his lips. When he finished putting the jersey on, Rachel surged up on her toes and placed a wet kiss on his cheek.
"Happy Father's Day," she grinned when she pulled away. The kids giggled from behind them.
"Now can we go inside?!" Samuel laughed. "The game is about to start and I'm STARVING..."
Both Finn and Rachel laughed as they both extended hands out to their kids. "Okay, let's go get some pizza...and watch some baseball!" Finn laughed excitedly.
Rachel smiled as she watched both Samuel and Stella clamour to grab for one of Finn's hands, while Gwendolyn grabbed for hers. She had had the idea a few weeks ago, to get him tickets to the game. He had been itching to go to a Yankees game for awhile and with the kids activities and life and work and other responsibilities, there was never the time. David, Quinn's husband, worked for the Yankees and had been able to get some tickets for a good price for her - along with the jerseys. And the idea had been born.
She laughed as she watched him goof off with the kids as they walked into the stadium. Over the years Father's Day had become a somewhat happier holiday for Finn. Losing the father who raised him so close to the very first holiday for him, had left a scar that still burned to this day. But as the kids got older, and even as they got older as a couple that feeling of loss had somehow transformed into something else. She watched with a wide smile on her face as he ruffled Samuel's hair as they walked towards the ticket booth where they had to give their tickets. She heard the tail end of a joke he was telling Gwendolyn who had broken away from her to join her siblings and father.
He treasured Father's Day. Almost more than he did Christmas, or the children's birthdays. It was the one day, she thought, that proved to him that he was doing something right - even though she reminded him every chance she got that he was a wonderful father. He was the best father she could have ever imagined for her kids.
"Are you coming slowpoke?" he called back behind him. She grinned as she picked up her steps and caught up with her family.
They made it through the turn stiles and Finn insisted they find their seats before they got something to eat. She watched as he bounced on his feet like a little kid on Christmas when he realized how decent their seats were.
"How did you get these?" he asked after they found their seats.
"I had some help," she winked as they sat down. "You thought I forgot, didn't you?" she asked quietly as the kids started squabbling about what they wanted to eat.
Finn looked down at her and waited a beat. She watched him purse his lips for a minute before they broke out in a smile.
"Well, for awhile I did. But I kind of got the hint that something was going on when you weren't gone all day like you said you would be," he winked. "But for what it's worth, this is a great surprise."
She smiled, a relieved smile because part of her had worried he would be upset. But the look of joy on his face, of excitement to share this experience with all of his kids at once was worthwhile.
"Now," he announced as he slapped his hands against his shorts. "Who wants pizza?"
A chorus of Me's came clattering from the kids the instant the words left his mouth. Rachel broke out into a smile as a laugh escaped her lips.
"Thanks for making me a dad," he whispered as he stood up with Sam to go get the food. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips. "And for making this the best father's day, ever..." he grinned. She puckered her lips and kissed him again before Sam pushed on his back to make him go.