Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy this chapter! I think you'll all be pretty happy with it. :)

Yet another reason this crossover between Glee and One Tree Hill was so fun: they both mentioned Grease (episode 3x04 of One Tree Hill).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" by Flogging Molly. The song was also used as the title of the One Tree Hill episode 3x08.

"Do I have to wear that?"

Puck tossed the leather jacket at Finn, and then picked up one of his own. "Dude, this is like the best possible Halloween costume that could have been assigned to us. It's leather jackets, jeans, and a white t-shirt. I'm actually not mad about this."

"For once," Finn quipped.

"Fuck you," Puck immediately snapped. He slid the leather jacket on and combed his fingers through the mohawk that he had let grow out specifically for the Halloween party at Anne's Café. They had closed the café down early so that they could transform it into a club for the night, complete with a bar and a space for a band to perform. It was part of a new series of events that Anne and Carole (who, to everyone's amusement, had bought in as partner to the café) had planned together.

Finn studied the blue T-Birds patch on the back of Puck's jacket. Kurt had spent hours hand stitching the patches for their costumes onto the back of leather jackets he had either found in Dalton Academy's costume department or at a thrift shop. The effect was amazing, as the jackets looked like they had come right out of the movie Grease.

Because that's what they were dressing up as. Finn was told in no uncertain terms that he was to dress as Danny Zuko, as Quinn, Puck, and Santana had collectively decided that they were all going to dress in a group costume this year. Finn could only assume that if he was dressing as Danny, Rachel would be dressing as Sandy.

He wondered which version of Sandy she'd be. While he knew that Rachel could certainly pull off Sandy's end-of-movie look with ease, that wasn't really her style. The longer he thought about it, the more he supposed it didn't really matter—and honestly, he was just driving himself insane. Finn knew that Rachel would look hot no matter what costume she chose, and he'd love it no matter what. He just wanted her to be comfortable, and didn't want Santana and Quinn (mostly Santana) to talk her into wearing something she wouldn't like.

All in all, Finn supposed that there were worse costumes he could have been told to wear. At least spandex wasn't involved. So he pulled on his own leather jacket over the white t-shirt he was wearing, and slid a pair of Ray Bans on over his eyes. Of course, the sunglasses were going to come off as soon as they were in Anne's Café, but Kurt had insisted that they "completed the look."

"See, now, was that so hard?" Puck clapped Finn on the shoulder and then pushed him out of his room at the Hudson guest house. "Let's get going. Santana has definitely figured out a way for us to sneak alcohol at the café."

"At the café your mom owns? Dude, that seems like a bad idea."

"A bad idea? Weren't you the one of the football players last year who got drunk and stole a school bus?" Puck couldn't believe that he was the one trying to convince Finn to party. Times had definitely changed.

Finn snorted. "I wouldn't ever dream of trying to trick your mom. She's scary when she's angry."

That was very true, but it wasn't about to deter Puck. She had gotten over the tattoo Santana had convinced him to get, after all. Taking Finn by the shoulders, Puck pushed him towards the door. "I bet the girls are already there. Can we leave now?"

Finn shot Puck and annoyed look, but still allowed his brother to manhandle him out of the Hudson guest house anyway. "Why are you so anxious to get there?" A gleeful smile broke out on his face. "It's because of Quinn, isn't it? Are the two of you finally getting over yourselves and getting together?"

"Fuck you," Puck said again, but his delivery was weak. Everyone knew that Quinn and Puck had a thing for one another, but thanks to Finn and Rahcel's drama, they weren't the center of attention. Puck and Quinn hadn't talked about their non-relationship, but somehow, without having an actual conversation about it, they had mutually agreed that they were going to take it slow. Especially after everything that had happened last year.

"Aw, buddy." Finn wrapped his arm around Puck's shoulders and ruffled his mohawk, even as Puck struggled to get away from him. "It's okay to admit that you're in love with Quinn. We all know it."

Clenching his fists, Puck took a deep breath and released it slowly. "You dick, you're so lucky we're going to a party and we're trying to get you back with your wife. Otherwise, I'd totally kick your ass."

"I'm just saying, this is a completely missed opportunity for you to wear that leather jumpsuit and look hot as hell. Your ass would look great in it."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she finished fixing the barrette in her hair. The top half of her hair was pulled back with white flowers affixed to the barrette, to go along with the yellow dress she was wearing as her costume. She was dressed as Sandy from the hand jive contest during the school dance. Santana had campaigned hard for Rachel to wear Sandy's finale outfit, but while Rachel adored Grease and could appreciate the dramatic, climactic finale, she was not about to spend all night zipped into a body suit with fake leather bottoms and high heels. Rachel was going for comfort, and she maintained that if everyone else got to wear cute jackets and comfortable bottoms, she was going to wear what she wanted.

"The costume you bought had a zipper that broke before I even tried it on! Do you think I'd want to get stuck in that thing all night?" When Santana opened her mouth to argue again, Rachel added, "If you want to wear it so badly, go right ahead."

Santana made a face. "And be paired with Finnegan at the party? No thank you."

Ignoring Santana, Rachel smoothed the yellow skirt of her dress. The truth was, she had considered wearing Sandy's iconic final outfit, but in the end, it just hadn't felt right. Besides, she had already played Sandy in the tenth grade musical production of Grease, so that dream had already been fulfilled.

"Come on, no fighting before the party," Quinn said as she inserted herself between Rachel and Santana. "Tonight is supposed to be fun, remember?"

"Which is why we're doing shots!" Running out of Rachel's room, Santana returned with a bottle of Fireball and three shot glasses. Rachel and Quinn sighed, but dutifully took the shots Santana had poured for them.

Rachel wiped her mouth and set her shot glass aside. "You know, we can't get too drunk before we get to Anne's," she advised. "She'll ban us for life if we get too out of hand."

"Oh god, I know better than to get drunk in front of Anne Puckerman," Santana said with a shudder. "She's scary as hell. No, we can get drunk at the after party. We're having it here, by the way."

Yeah, Rachel should have seen that coming. Anne and Carole had agreed that the café could be open for an all-ages Halloween party until 10 PM that night, so of course everyone would want to have an after party. Kurt had been entirely too gleeful all week, which was a sure sign that he was in party-planning mode. Quinn had asked for her Papa's famous spinach and artichoke dip recipe, which should have been another clue. Oh, well, Rachel wouldn't mind hosting a party. It was about time they all let loose a little bit.

"I made Santana promise that we'd keep it small," Quinn assured Rachel. "So the whole grade won't end up here. Right, Santana?" She pinned her co-captain with a pointed look, and Santana muttered a curse in Spanish under her breath but held her hands up.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I only invited the cool people to the after party."

"Ugh, Santana, are you in middle school? I think we're past labels like that."

"What?" Santana poured herself another shot and knocked it back. "All I'm saying is that I'm surprised we're hanging out with the dorks from the River Park now."

Anne, who had dressed up as a saloon owner, dropped off another pitcher of soda at the VIP table she had set aside for the kids. "You all signed up for karaoke, right?" she asked. "Carole and I wanted to record everyone up on stage!"

"Um, of course I signed everyone up for karaoke," Rachel said immediately. "We're all going to be singing 'Like a Prayer!'"

All of the boys (except for Kurt) collectively groaned, but didn't bother arguing with Rachel. Besides, Puck already planned on getting Rachel back by signing her and Finn up to sing together, without anyone else backing them up, so he was willing to suffer through the Madonna song.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to be hijacking the karaoke stage until 10 PM," Santana told Anne. "And we're not sorry about it!" She high-fived Blaine, who had already been up on the stage three separate times—once with Kurt, once with Rachel, and once with both of them.

The DJ called Puck, Finn, Kurt, Blaine, Rachel, Quinn, and Santana up to the stage for their song. Anne clapped with delight and then went to find Carole. They both worked their way up to the front of the crowd, so that they had the best vantage point to record the kids' performance.

It went perfectly, of course. Puck, Finn, Quinn, and Santana hadn't had any sort of vocal lessons, but they all possessed raw talent that paired well with Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine's professionally trained voices. Even though the dancing left something to be desired—Finn had absolutely no rhythm and someone needed to tell Puck that hip thrusts weren't the only dance move that ever existed—they all had a lot of fun up there and once the song was over, descended the stage to rousing applause.

"We're amazing!" Quinn exclaimed as they made their way back to the table. She grabbed on to Puck's arm, unable to contain her excitement. Puck knew that he was going to end up back on that karaoke stage with Quinn at some point.

"We should start a band," Santana agreed, at least seventy percent serious. Puck could play the guitar and Finn could play the drums, and Santana was pretty sure that she could learn to play the tambourine. That counted as a band instrument, right?

"We should totally start a band!" Blaine yelled agreement.

"Aw, Puck!" Anne hugged her son tightly, not at all fazed when he tried to struggle away from her. "I love seeing you perform with all of your friends. It's like when you and Rachel were little and used to sing together!"

"What?!"

The exclamation came in unison from Finn, Quinn, Santana, Kurt, and Blaine. Mike Chang, Dave Karofsky, and Matt Rutherford, all of whom were Puck's River Park buddies and had grown up with Puck and Rachel, and had to sit through many performances over the years, nodded in confirmation. In fact, Rachel had often roped them into performing as well—not that they would admit it to anyone.

Of course, that didn't stop Anne from spilling the beans. "It's like when you two and all the boys from the River Park put on that little show at the end of summer right before you all started middle school. I still have the video!"

"Oh my god!" Puck managed to wrest free of his mother's embrace. "Mom! Could you please stop?"

"What? You have a talent, and you should be proud of it!"

"Anne is right, we are very talented," Rachel agreed. She smiled up at Finn, who was standing behind her, ready to make fun of Puck at any given opportunity. "You're very talented as well, you know."

Finn grinned at her, their arms brushing against one another as he shifted next to her. "Yeah, you've told me that once or twice."

Standing there in the middle of the party at Anne's Café, Finn and Rachel kept smiling at each other, sharing a fun, flirtatious little moment. Quinn and Santana shared superior glances, clearly glad that their plans over the past few months had been working.

Puck, of course, had to ruin the moment by making a face and asking, "Is this some sort of weird sex thing?"

Finn and Rachel's faces turned the same shade of red. "Puck!"

True to Quinn's promise, the party at the apartment was relatively tame—at least as far as parties went. All of their usual group was there, as well as the boys from the River Park, the football team, the Cheerios, and a few of Kurt and Blaine's friends from Dalton Academy. Everyone was having a good time, and no one was getting out of hand. An impromptu costume contest had taken place, and it was agreed that Quinn, Santana, Rachel, Finn, Puck, Kurt, and Blaine had won with their Grease costumes.

Rachel had spent the next twenty minutes telling anyone who would listen that they had won because Rachel had chosen a Sandy costume that was different from the usual finale cat suit. Everyone else just let her have a good time with it, because they were happy that Finn and Rachel were finally getting along and making progress. None of them had missed the affectionate gaze Finn had been watching Rachel with ever since they won the costume contest.

"Okay, Hudson, you have to make a move."

Finn completely failed at acting like he had no idea what Puck was talking about. He tried to hide his red cheeks behind his cup of beer, but Puck was no dummy. He grinned and clapped his brother on the shoulder, then gave him an encouraging push in Rachel's direction. Puck wasn't buying Finn's act for one second.

"Please, like I need to take relationship advice from you?" Finn retorted. "Are you going to make a move on Quinn finally?" He paused, thinking about it for a moment. "That felt weird to say, but I stand by my question."

"Are you kidding me, I don't want to think about you and Berry having… marital relations." Puck shuddered. "But I do want the two of you to figure your shit out, so… this is your brother, telling you to make a move and go after the woman you love. Who is also my best friend. Whoa, that felt weird to say also."

Before Finn could tell Puck that they never had to talk about this again, Kurt was suddenly at Finn's other side. "Puckerman is right, Finn. You do need to make a move. Has anything happened between the two of you since your lunch date?"

Finn had nearly spilled his beer at Kurt's sudden appearance, but he managed to recover just in time. He cleared his throat and said, "Uh… I don't know, not really. We've been talking a lot more, but—"

"You need to kiss her," Kurt decided.

"Whoa, Petunia!" Puck looked impressed. "You want Hudson to just go for it? Bold move. I approve."

Finn rolled his eyes skyward and prayed for patience. "I hate both of you."

Kurt snorted. "Get over yourself, you know we're right." When Finn shot him an annoyed look, Kurt clucked and added, "We'll run interference for you and make sure the two of you get some alone time."

"Alone time, with my wife, in her apartment? Yeah, that should be hard."

Puck, who was familiar with using sarcasm as a defense mechanism, shook his head. "Look, man. All of this has been about getting you and Rahcel back together, so the two of you can finally admit what we all knew from the start. That you want to be together. You guys just needed a push in the right direction."

Finn knew that Puck was right, and he also knew that he owed Puck for this. He'd figure out a way to thank Puck and the rest of their friends for this, after he finally made his move with Rachel. Puck and Kurt were both right after all; Finn and Rachel had been working on moving forward, and it was time for them to take the next step.

Rachel was dancing with Santana and Quinn in the living room, where a makeshift dance floor had been created. She looked like she was having fun, like all the heaviness from the summer had finally passed and things were getting ack to the way they should have been. That feeling was only confirmed when Rachel looked up and caught Finn's eye. He tilted his head towards the direction of Rachel's room, and she smiled and nodded her head.

A minute later, Finn was closing the door to Rachel's room. She was already there, sitting on the bed. She was still wearing her costume, but her hair was loose and curling around her shoulders. Finn had shed his leather T-bird jacket hours ago, but Rachel had to admit the effect of his white t-shirt and jeans was still very appealing.

"Hey," Finn said.

Rachel stood up and smoothed the skirt of her dress out. "Hey."

Both Finn and Rachel stood there for a long moment, watching one another. Then they moved at the same time, meeting each other in the middle of the bedroom. Rachel stretched up on to her tiptoes as Finn's arms slipped around her waist.

And finally, for the first time in months, their lips met in a passionate kiss.

Thanks for reading!