This chapter doesn't have too much in the way of plot, but there is a big moment that happens that I think we've all been waiting for. I don't want to spoil it, but it is M-rated, for those of you that want to skim that section.
I'm in my last semester of grad school and my written comprehensive exams are this week. Please pray for me or put good vibes into the universe or something. I should have been studying, but I desperately needed a break and wrote another chapter of this instead. At least it was stress-relieving!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "The Wind that Blew my Heart Away" by the Fruit Bats. This chapter title is the same as the title of the song, and is the title of One Tree Hill, episode 3x13.
It was late—almost one in the morning—when Quinn edged the door of her apartment open and tried her best to sneak in. It was pitch-black in the apartment, and completely silent. Quinn eased the door closed, keeping the knob turned in her hand and only letting it click softly into place once it was fully shut.
The light in the living room flicked on, and Quinn let out a shout of surprise as she spun around to find Rachel and Santana sitting on the couch, watching her expectantly. She placed a hand to her chest as she leaned back against the doorframe, glaring at her two so-called best friends.
"Aw, look," Rachel said in a sickly sweet voice. Her eyes were bright with teasing, and she was clearly struggling not to burst into laughter. "She wore her cheerleading uniform on her date. Did Noah wear his jersey and letterman jacket as well? How cute."
"So fitting for the captain of the cheerleading team and one of the star football players," Santana agreed.
"You guys suck," Quinn snapped. But then she was unable to keep the smile off of her face as she joined her friends on the couch. She covered her face with her hands, still a little in disbelief that the night had gone so perfectly.
"So? Tell us everything!" Santana demanded, dropping all attempts at teasing Quinn.
"Except for the gross stuff," Rachel added. "I don't need to hear any of that."
It was true that Quinn had still been in her cheerleading uniform, and Puck in his jersey and letterman jacket, on their date. It was Friday night and they had a football game that the Titans had won—they were headed to the playoffs and then, hopefully, to the state championship. After the game, Puck had taken Quinn to the café, where he picked up a picnic basket from his mother. After Anne had spent five minutes gushing over them and hugging them both, they had gone up to the roof of the café to eat and play minigolf.
It was the perfect night for them. Low-stakes, low-pressure, not overdone. And, it had ended in a pretty spectacular kiss that Quinn swore she could still feel on her lips.
Noting the look on Quinn's face, Rachel groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Ugh, you're thinking about kissing Noah, aren't you?"
"What can I say?" Quinn giggled. "I know Puck is like a brother to you, and all, but he's a good kisser, Rachel."
Santana nodded seriously. "He really is."
Instead of the moment turning awkward, Quinn just started laughing harder. Santana joined in, glad that all of the pain and hurt from the year before was finally over and done with. Rachel looked between them, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Ew." She stated with a shudder. There was no way that she ever wanted to think about whether or not Noah Puckerman was a good kisser—she'd leave that to Quinn.
The following night, Rachel and Finn were curled up on the couch together in the apartment. They had ordered takeout and had the newest Marvel movie playing, though neither of them were paying much attention.
They had the apartment to themselves for the night. Quinn was out with Puck, and Brittney had come down from the city and surprised Santana with a visit. Quinn had promised to clear out of the apartment until late, so neither were worried about the highly compromising position they were currently in.
Rachel was straddling Finn on the couch, pressed as close to him as she could get. She could feel his arousal pressing through the thin material of her leggings, and she ached to be even closer to him. Finn had already stripped Rachel's tank top off, but hadn't yet tried to remove her lacey bralette. His fingers traced slowly, seductively over the lines of her back as he kissed her deeply, fully in control even though Rachel was perched on top of him.
Finn was still fully clothed in a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of worn jeans, and Rachel was desperate to feel her skin pressed against his. Sliding her fingers beneath the soft cotton of his shirt, Rachel pressed them against his abdomen, moaning into his mouth. His tongue stroked urgently against hers as she touched his skin, prompting Rachel to remove his shirt entirely.
She rolled her hips against his, feeling more aroused by the minute. She deepened the kiss, running her hands down his chest, pausing when she felt a chain around his neck.
Finn had gone still as soon as Rachel's fingers came in contact with the chain. He didn't move as she pulled back from the kiss, her hands pressed against his chest, to stare at the chain. At the center of the chain, resting near his heart, was his wedding band.
Rachel stared at it, her eyes wide. She had noticed that once they had started school again, Finn hadn't been wearing his wedding band around her. She had supposed that was just another way that he was trying his best to make her feel comfortable in his presence, but she had resolved not to think about it much at the time. Her own wedding band was tucked safely away in a pouch in her jewelry box, and she had stared at them every night since returning to Lima.
"You're wearing it," she whispered. She reached out and touched the ring, then moved her fingers to rest over his heart, which was beating rapidly.
Finn waited until Rachel looked him in the eye before he responded. "I never took it off."
Wrapping her fingers around the chain of the necklace, Rachel used it to haul Finn closer and kiss him again. "God, I love you," she murmured against his lips. This was it, she was ready. She couldn't believe that she had gone this long without Finn's touch, and she never wanted to go without it again.
Sliding his hands under Rachel's bottom, he lifted her and deposited her on the couch, covering her body with his. Rachel parted her thighs, allowing Finn to settle between them. He rocked against her as he moved his lips down her neck, nipping and sucking lightly. Rachel arched underneath him, and Finn took the opportunity to slide his fingers under the lace of her bralette. He paused, pulling back to look into Rachel's eyes, wordlessly asking if this is okay.
"Please," Rachel breathed, undulating against him. "Yes."
Finn stripped Rachel's bralette off and tossed it somewhere behind him. At first, he just kissed her, pressing his bare chest against hers. Rachel hissed in pleasure as the metal of the chain he was wearing, warm from being against his skin, pressed against her. Then Finn ran his palms, warm and rough from callouses, down her sides, following the lines of her thighs, until he hooked his hands under her knees. He brought her legs up, guiding them to wrap around his waist.
Rachel sucked in a quick breath as he pressed against her, exactly where she needed him the most. For months, she had nothing but her own hand to satisfy any urges she had. And, god knows she'd never admit it at the time, any time she felt the need to give in to those urges, it was always Finn that she had imagined—the way he touched her, the way he tasted, the way he moved inside her. It was half the reason she had always been so confused around Finn, once they had come back to Lima.
Rachel rocketed back to the present when Finn's broad palm cupped her breast. They both moaned, loudly, neither of them quite believing that they were back here again, finally. Rachel strained against him, suddenly feeling frantic, pressing as close to him as she could get as she tried to strip off her leggings and underwear at the same time. The tangled fabric got caught between where their thighs were pressed closely together, but Rachel wasn't about to let that slow her down. She slipped her fingers into the waistband of Finn's worn jeans, tugging insistently.
"Off," she ordered. It suddenly felt so ridiculous, that they had waited so long for this, that they had waited at all. What had she been so worried about? Nothing was more perfect then feeling Finn's weight pressed against her, having her arms wrapped around him.
Finn pulled back to look down at her, his brown eyes serious and assessing. Rachel stared back at him, as open and honest as she could possibly be. Whatever he saw there, he must have agreed with, because then he was kissing her with as much fierceness and intensity as she had been feeling moments before.
Rachel's tangled leggings disappeared within seconds; Finn's jeans were unbuttoned and followed soon after. He kissed her again as he slipped his fingers between her legs, feeling just how ready she was. He cursed against her mouth at the wetness that coated his fingers and she keened, enjoying his touch but wanting even more than that.
Sliding her legs around his waist, Rachel drew Finn closer as he slipped inside of her with one, sure thrust. Rachel didn't know how to describe the exclamations that left both of them at the same time: it was like a cross between disbelief, relief, wanting, and love, all at the same time. It was like coming home, it was like floating in space, it was like falling back to earth.
Finn's weight was settled against her just enough that there was no space between them, but he still made sure that he wasn't crushing her as their bodies moved together. They moved in synch, hips rolling, hands pulling, thighs clutching and backs arching.
It was heady, it was explosive, and Rachel's orgasm hit her out of nowhere, overtaking her. She gave in to it, surrendering herself to Finn just as he did with her. They shuddered together, holding on to one another tightly, and it was like everything was finally falling back into place.
Rachel finally came back to herself sometime later, and Finn's body was still covering hers, still pressed inside of her as she cradled him with her thighs. Finn's forehead was pressed to her shoulder, his hands clutching her hips, his thumbs moving in circles against her skin.
"Aw, man," Finn finally muttered.
Taken aback, Rachel tilted her head so that she could catch his eye. "What?"
Finn propped himself up on his hands so that he could finally get his fill of looking at her—something that he had missed out on in their initial frenzy. "There was so much more that I wanted to do the first time we made love again," he lamented, in a near-perfect imitation of Rachel's dramatics. "Your tits, Rach—god, I missed them so much, and I barely got to spend any time with them before we—"
"Finn!" Rachel tried to sound mad, but her giggles were kind of ruining the effect. "I can't believe you called my breasts tits! I'm not an animal, you know, I am a woman—"
"Oh believe me, I know that." Finn waggled his eyebrows at her as he cupped her breast again, stroking his thumb over her nipple. Rachel moaned, arching into his hand, clearly begging for more of his touch.
"You know, now that you mention it…" Rachel shifted until Finn's mouth was closer to her breast, and she wiggled pointedly. Finn smirked up at her as he licked his lips and then blew lightly across her nipple, watching it bud in the cool air. "There are some things that I wish I would have gotten to do, too, though I'm certainly not mad about how this turned out."
"Huh." Finn's tongue darted out, running across her left nipple as he palmed her ass to draw her closer to him. "We should work on that, then."
"We should," Rachel agreed, her voice high and breathy. God, she was so ready to go again, and from the way that Finn was hardening against her thigh, she could tell that he was, as well. "But not on the couch. If Quinn finds us like this, I'll never hear the end of it."
Rachel wasn't entirely sure how he managed it, but one second, Finn was on top of her on the couch, and the next, he was standing straight up and she was wrapped around his body as he lifted her into the air. She shrieked in surprise, holding on to him, feeling aroused and giddy and just… generally happy.
"Your bed, then?" Finn suggested.
"Absolutely." Rachel pressed a kiss to the side of his face, tenderly stroking his cheek. "I plan on keeping you there for a long, long time."
They made love again as soon as they were in Rachel's bed with the door locked behind them. They took their time, touching and exploring and remembering, drawing it out as long as they could. Finn and Rachel would fall asleep, tangled up in one another, and then wake up to find a new way to make love, rediscovering all of their favorite ways to touch one another and be together.
It was well after dawn when they finally fell asleep for good, with Rachel sprawled across Finn's chest and the sheets lazily draped over their entwined bodies. It was the smell of coffee and bacon that woke them up around noon, and they could hear pots clanging and cursing—clearly, Puck was in the apartment, and doing his very best to wake Finn and Rachel up by being as loud as possible.
"The circus has arrived," Finn murmured, his voice a deep rumble in his chest. Rachel giggled and snuggled closer to him for a moment, enjoying the feeling of finally waking up in Finn's arms again.
"If Santana is here, we probably have about five minutes before she starts trying to break into my room," Rachel noted. "And for someone who grew up in the nicest part of Lima, she's surprisingly good at picking locks."
"You bet your ass I am!" came Santana's voice through the door. Clearly, she'd had her ear pressed to it, waiting for them to wake up.
Rachel groaned and pulled the sheet over her head. "One day, we'll have privacy."
"I can hear you bitching, Tutor Berry-Hudson!"
"We might as well get out there," Finn told her as he squeezed her hip. "They're never going to leave us alone, otherwise. Plus, I'm starving."
"How romantic," Rachel teased. She climbed out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a Lima High School cheerleading t-shirt. Finn, at Quinn's urging, had come prepared with an overnight bag, and thankfully had a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt to change into as well. Rachel watched him with a smile playing on her lips, enjoying the simple intimacy of seeing Finn move through his daily routines.
"What?" Finn asked when he caught her staring at him. Not that he didn't enjoy Rachel watching him with those tender, warm eyes, but he was still finding it a little hard to believe that they had finally made it back to this place—together.
"Nothing," Rachel said after another moment of just drinking him in. "I… I just love you, is all."
Crossing the bedroom, Finn pulled Rachel into his arms. "I love you, too." Ducking down, he kissed her deeply, enjoying their last few moments alone together.
"Quit making out and get out here!" Now it was Puck yelling at them. "Some of us are hungry, and Quinn is making us wait until you come out here to eat!"
Finn and Rachel rolled their eyes simultaneously, but walked out of Rachel's room to appease their friends moments later. Finn's arm was wrapped around Rachel's shoulders, holding her close, and Rachel's hand rested on his chest, over where his wedding ring was tucked under his t-shirt. She couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed it before—it was likely because she had tried her very hardest not to notice anything about Finn when she had first come back.
Quinn, who was arranging muffins from Anne's café on a platter, took one look at them and scrunched her nose. "I'm going to have to get a new couch, aren't I?"
Rachel blushed and buried her face in Finn's chest, giving them away immediately. Finn tried his best not to look too proud of himself, but didn't quite succeed. Puck made a disgusted noise and covered his face with his hands, as if he could block out any unwanted mental images.
"Oh my god, I sit on that couch," Puck complained. "Could you at least disinfect it, or something?"
"Don't be such a prude, Puck," Quinn teased, clearly pleased with herself.
"I—what?" Puck spluttered while Santana cackled. "I'm… I'm not a prude, I—what?"
"We could go back in your room, and they would probably never notice that we escaped," Finn whispered in Rachel's ear as Quinn and Satana continued to mercilessly tease Puck.
Rachel patted Finn's chest and then stood on her tiptoes so that she could press a kiss to his cheek. "No, I would miss this. They may be a circus, but they're our circus."
Thanks for reading! And thanks again to everyone who's stuck with this story. You guys are awesome!