Still haven't forgotten about my promise to finish this story! Since graduating, I've taken the Praxis (and passed), and have started my clinical fellowship. Things are a little crazy, as you can imagine. But I'm still writing and am determined to squeeze out some more Finchel goodness before this story is officially over!
As always, thank you for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "Home" by The Foo Fighters. It was featured in episode 5x13 of One Tree Hill.
"If you come near me with that tape measure one more time, I swear to god, Hummel, I'll—"
"Noah!" Rachel's hiss of his name was accompanied by a sharp elbow to his side. Puck scowled at her and rubbed his ribs. Her aim was always unerringly accurate, so he usually tried to stay out of arm's reach when he was being a smart ass.
They were two days away from Burt and Carole's wedding ceremony. The rehearsal dinner was going to be that night, and they would spend all of the day tomorrow pampering and prepping for the wedding ceremony that Saturday. Between Santana, Kurt, and the wedding planner that Burt and Carole had hired to actually run the operations on the day of the ceremony (allegedly so Kurt and Santana could enjoy the ceremony and the reception without having to worry about anything—the rest of them knew that it was just so the two wedding dictators would stop bugging all of them), tensions were running a little high with the rest of the wedding party.
"We have shit to set up for the rehearsal dinner," Puck continued. It hadn't been exactly what he wanted to say, but he also didn't want to be attacked by Rachel's pointy elbows again.
"Yes, Puckerman, I know," Kurt said patiently as he finished measuring the length of Puck's sleeve on his suit. Kurt had campaigned hard for tuxedos, but Burt had put his foot down. This wedding would be all about comfort and fun and just having a good time in general. Both Burt and Carole had insisted that there was no need for the event to be black-tie, which Kurt eventually relented to. While he knew he was driving everyone crazy, he wasn't about to argue with what the bride and the groom really wanted.
But there were some things that he was going to direct them on, and he wasn't about to apologize for it.
"I just want to make sure that we all look our very best for the wedding. I don't think you can argue with that, can you?" Kurt continued. The tape measure snapped back, and Kurt made a few notes in his ever-present wedding notebook.
Puck thought about saying something about how Kurt wouldn't even be the one making any sort of alterations to the suits, so he wasn't even sure why he was being measured, but he kept the comment to himself. He had a very interesting sort of relationship with Kurt—they were cousins, sort of. With Burt acting as his father figure since Chris had abandoned him, they had grown up together. When Kurt's mother passed, Anne had taken up a motherly role for him, as well. Brothers might have been a better description for them, but they were also friends. Sure, they were the kind of friends that constantly bickered and made fun of one another, but there was a foundation of trust, love, and respect there.
Puck recalled numerous times growing up where he had gotten into fights defending Kurt, and he didn't regret them for one second. Kurt had taken it upon himself to defend Puck in different ways—like from his friends at Dalton Academy that didn't quite understand his friendship with Puck.
Despite their usual pattern of arguments, this wedding was only bringing them closer. With the marriage between Burt and Carole, the three boys—Kurt, Puck, and Finn—were becoming a proper family. Marriage, first between Finn and Rachel, and now between Burt and Carole, were binding them in ways that would keep them in one another's lives for years to come.
"I guess not," Puck finally grumbled. But just because he couldn't have an interaction with Kurt without annoying him at least a little bit, Puck reached over and ruffled Kurt's hair.
Letting out a stream of rather impressive curses, Kurt dropped his tape measure and wedding notebook and rushed over to the mirror, combing his fingers through his hair until it was fluffed up and properly styled once again. "Do you wake up every morning and try to be as annoying as possible, Puckerman?" Kurt demanded.
"Yes," Puck answered immediately with a smirk.
Kurt rolled his eyes. Before he could respond and more bickering could commence, Finn decided to step in. "Kurt, permission to change out of my suit? Rach and I have a therapy session to get to."
While Kurt and Puck had been getting snippy with one another, Rachel had snuck off to finalize some of the rehearsal dinner details with Anne and Santana somewhere else in the Hummel house. His phone buzzed on the table he had left it on before getting changed, and he knew that it was a message from Rachel, reminding him that they needed to leave in five minutes.
"Yes, you're dismissed," Kurt said with a wave of his hand. He stooped down and scooped up his measuring tape and notebook. "Puckerman, you can get changed as well, but I need you to hang around. I need help loading the centerpieces for the rehearsal dinner into my car."
Puck yanked at his tie with jerky movements. He managed not to throw the suit jacket to the ground, like he really wanted to. Instead, he took it off and tossed it over the back of a chair. "Oh, thanks for the permission," he snit. "I'm surprised you didn't want me to put the centerpieces together for you."
Kurt was unfazed by Puck's snippy attitude. "Your girlfriend helped me put them together, actually. But keep that attitude up and I'll tap you to help tie the sashes on the back of the chairs for the reception."
Puck rolled his eyes and grumbled something under his breath, but went to go get changed. He mumbled to Kurt that he would meet him to help move the boxes containing the centerpieces in a few minutes, and Kurt smiled triumphantly. Puck said goodbye to Finn, shouted the same to Rachel, and then disappeared into one of the bathrooms to change.
"Therapy is going well, then?" Kurt asked his soon-to-be step-brother. The Hudson-Hummel-Puckerman family tree was getting quite big—they'd need to start wearing t-shirts at some point.
"It is," Finn told him. As always, he was a little bit surprised by it. Of course, he thought that going to therapy would be a good idea for them, but he hadn't expected it to have such a positive impact, and so quickly. They had gotten lucky, finding a therapist that truly didn't judge them for getting married so young, and listened patiently as Finn and Rachel tried to work their way through what happened at the end of the last school year.
"Good," Kurt said with a genuine smile. He was no stranger to therapy himself, and was glad that his friends had thought to reach out and ask for help. "I'm glad."
Finn patted Kurt on the shoulder in that brotherly, affectionate way. "We should only be about an hour. So if you need us to pick anything up before we come help set up for the rehearsal dinner, let us know."
Kurt, with his nose already buried in the wedding notebook once again as he scribbled something, made a sound of acknowledgement in the back of his throat. After changing, Finn quickly made his way through the Hummel house, shouting goodbye to Burt, Anne, and Santana. Rachel was waiting out by the car, her hip propped against the passenger door. When she saw her husband, she tilted her face up towards his, inviting a kiss.
Finn happily dropped one to her lips. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah. You were officially released by the Wedding Overlord?"
Finn chuckled at the nickname they had bestowed upon Kurt, not long after the official planning had started. Whenever any of them—including Anne, Burt, and Carole—used it around Kurt, he pretended to ignore them. Santana was affectionately known as the Wedding Captain. While she was annoyed that the nickname insinuated that she was a sort of second-in-command to Kurt, she also secretly loved it. Quinn had coined it when Santana had given an order and Quinn had jokingly replied, "Aye aye, Captain."
"I sure was," Finn confirmed. He opened the car door for Rachel and waited until she was settled in the seat before he closed his door and made his way over to the driver's side. As he pulled away from the Hummel house, he reached across the gearshift and took Rachel's hand, smiling as she laced her fingers with his.
"Should I always feel as if my mind was blown every time we come out of a session?" Finn asked.
"It is kind of crazy," Rachel agreed. She felt the same as Finn. They had attended about six sessions so far, and after each one, it felt like they had some big, eye-opening moment. Their therapist credited the fact that Finn and Rachel had worked out some of their problems on their own already, so their communication was currently in a very good place. Still, both Finn and Rachel agreed that having an unbiased third party to talk to was very helpful.
They were currently working through the insecurities that both Finn and Rachel had that had led to the break in their relationship in the first place. Rachel feared failure, to the point of self-sabotage at times, while Finn feared abandonment. That had been especially eye-opening for him, as he had always felt he pushed people away in order to succeed on his own.
Their therapist had looked him dead in the eye, then, and asked him why he continued to play football after his father had used it as a way to control and abuse him for so many years. Finn, confused and more than a little thrown, had answered that he wanted to prove to his father that he was better than him.
Then the therapist said, "Maybe you didn't want him to leave."
Finn was quiet for a long moment after that before he finally said, "Yeah. Maybe."
They were still working through those insecurities, and likely would be for quite a while. A success for them, however, had been when they talked about themselves as individuals, as opposed to just two people in a relationship. Yes, they were Finn and Rachel Hudson, and they were married, and they were a team, but they were also people with individual hopes and dreams. They had ambitions and goals and things that they wished to accomplish. It was okay to want those things. The important thing was to support one another through those journeys. The self-sacrificing behavior was no longer necessary.
Of course, it wasn't all perfect. Finn and Rachel had gotten into a fight after their third session, where they had really dug into Finn putting Rachel on the train. At one point, Finn had doubled down and insisted that it had been the right thing to do—she was going to go to New York no matter what, so he had made it easy for her and had made the choice. Rachel had yelled at Finn then, shouting that he didn't understand just how hurt she had been by the choice he made, how she had wondered for months if she'd ever be able to forgive him the pain he had caused her.
Finn had yelled back at her, reminding her that she kept New York a secret for months herself, and how much that had hurt. They yelled until they were hoarse; they had both cried, more than once. The whole experience had been cathartic. Hours later, after they had both calmed down some, they had come back together and agreed that they had both been wrong.
They had agreed the next day that that would be the last time they argued about the train. Their therapist told them not to be afraid to discuss it, should those feelings come back up. They had made it through that summer, their separation, and their big fight and had come out on the other side stronger for it.
They talked about their respective family situations and their college plans—there was probably more that they still had to cover. At the end of the day, both Finn and Rachel agreed that therapy was the right choice. They couldn't just brush over everything that had happened during the summer. When Finn and Rachel had made the choice to resume their relationship, they had also made the choice to work through their problems.
"I wonder what's going to happen when we really start digging into my issues with my dad," Finn said with snort. "I'm sure that will be a lot of fun."
"Aw, come on." Finn was clearly trying to make a joke, but it was full of dark humor and fell kind of flat. Rachel didn't like to hear him talk about himself like that. "Yeah, you are going to have to work through all of that crap with your dad. And it's not going to happen overnight. But we can do it."
They were back at their car, and Finn tugged Rachel to a stop before he drew her into his arms. "Thanks, Rach," he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Rachel closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Finn's waist, resting her head against his chest so that she could hear the reassuring beat of his heart. They stood like that for several long moments, until the buzz of both of their phones going off simultaneously alerted them to the fact that they really needed to get moving.
Their phones had bene going off repeatedly for the past fifteen minutes, but both Finn and Rachel had been ignoring them. The Wedding Overlord and the Wedding Captain could be a bit much, and there were currently multiple group messages going on while they planned all of the parties.
Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I have twenty-nine text messages." He tapped open the message icon with his thumb. "Twenty-one of them are from Kurt."
Pulling her own phone out of her purse, Rachel held it up triumphantly to her husband. "I have forty-one text messages"
"You do not!" Finn took Rachel's wrist in a gentle grasp and lifted it so that he could see the screen of her phone more clearly. Sure enough, the little red circle showed that there were forty-one unread text messages. Ever since the wedding planning had started, Finn and Rachel had their own little competition going on who received the most text messages on any given day.
Rachel took her phone back from her husband. "I have nineteen from Kurt, but I also have fifteen from Noah, begging us to come rescue him."
"He's a big baby." They both got into the car, and as Finn started the engine, he asked, "Do we need to stop anywhere before we head over to the Café?"
Rachel quickly scanned the messages from Kurt. "Apparently we need to stop to get any kind of white flowers we can get our hands on. Noah dropped a box of the centerpieces when Anne's boyfriend showed up to help set up."
Finn's eyebrows shot up. "Oh shit, is that the first time he met him?"
"In an official capacity? Yes," Rachel answered. Anne had been dating him for almost six months, but she had been taking it very, very slow. She hadn't really dated when Puck was growing up, and as far as Rachel knew, any relationship that Anne did have as they grew older had been very brief. She had been wary about bringing any man around Puck, and had only wanted to do so if they were going to be in a serious, committed relationship. Finally, it seemed like she had found a guy she could go the distance with.
Finn cackled at the thought of Puck meeting his mother's boyfriend. Finn had been kind of freaking out when he had discovered that his mom and Burt were in a relationship. At the time, Puck had told Finn to calm down, and all that really mattered was that Carole would be happy. Finn couldn't wait to say the same thing to Puck.
"Be nice, Finn," Rachel told him, but she was grinning as she said it. She couldn't deny that it would be pretty funny to see Puck totally out of his element.
"What?" Finn shot her a charming smile. "I'm always nice."
The colors for the wedding were white, cream, and a dark, forest green. The tables were covered in ivory, the centerpieces low and overflowing with white flowers and sprigs of dark ivy. They would be similar to the centerpieces for the wedding reception, though those would be taller.
Kurt and Santana had managed to transform the Café—drapes of white fabric tumbled to the floor, and soft candlelight lit the place. Anne was providing the food for the dinner, keeping it simple with delicious pasta dishes and roasted chicken. Most of the food had been prepared the night before or earlier that day, so all Anne really had to focus on were the appetizers. Rachel found her behind the counter, standing next to a man with curly hair.
"That must be the boyfriend," Rachel murmured to her husband. She jerked her chin towards Kurt, who was arranging three low, clear glass vases while Puck sat sullenly next to him. "Why don't you bring the flowers over, and I'll see what I can find out?"
Finn picked up the bags of flowers that they had purchased from the local grocery store and made his way over to where his two brothers were sitting. Rachel watched the three of them with an affectionate smile before she made her way over to the counter. Anne looked up, giving her a smile.
"Rachel, perfect timing! Do you think you could help me arrange some of the charcuterie boards?"
"Of course," Rachel said. She joined Anne behind the counter, plucking her usual apron off of one of the hooks on the wall. "So, I heard that we missed some excitement."
Anne rolled her eyes. "Yes, Rachel, meet the excitement." She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and put her hand on the man's shoulder. "This is Will Schuester. Will, this is Rachel Berry-Hudson, Puck's best friend."
"It's nice to meet you, Rachel," Will said with a warm smile. He offered his hand to shake. "I've heard a lot about you. All good things!" he quickly added when Anne nudged him in the side with her elbow.
Rachel waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, Anne knows all of my embarrassing stories. She's practically another mother to me." When Anne's eye grew wide and she pressed a hand to her chest, Rachel added, "Come on, you know it's true! And Noah will come around. You know it just takes him time to adjust to change."
Anne and Will exchanged a look. To Rachel's delight, Will reached over and took Anne's hand in his own, squeezing comfortingly. "I know," Anne said. "And truthfully, this wasn't how I wanted Will and Puck to meet. But things have just been so crazy the last few months…"
Wasn't that the truth. First had been the accident, then the two weeks Burt spent recovering. Chris's recovery was much longer—as far as any of them knew, he was now at home with a home-health nurse. The investigation into the fire had continued, and just as they had suspected, Chris had turned witness against Jules and her family. He'd likely have to pay some fines, maybe do a stint of house arrest if the judge was feeling particularly righteous, but was otherwise going to get off scot-free.
Then they had all been distracted by the wedding planning and life in general Christmas was only two weeks away, now, and they were preparing for that as well. Life was crazy in Lima, but thankfully it wasn't in the dramatic way they had all experienced earlier in the year.
"Weddings make everyone happy," Rachel said reassuringly. "Send them up for a round of minigolf on the roof, and I'm sure they'll get along famously."
"You play minigolf, Schuester?" Puck had suddenly appeared at Rachel's side, his arms crossed over his chest. Rachel rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the side. Having been prepared for that sneaky little maneuver, Puck had flexed his abdomen so it didn't hurt nearly as much as it had earlier. Rachel huffed in annoyance and instead resorted to poking Puck in the sensitive spot where his neck met his shoulder. He winced and batted her hand away.
"Don't be an ass!" she hissed under her breath.
"Berry-Hudson, I swear to god—"
"We're all playing nicely over here, right?" Finn, having been dismissed by Kurt because "he was going to crush the flowers with his giant paws," had made his way over to the counter. Rachel beamed at him, loving that he had somehow known the perfect moment to intervene. Anne made the introductions again, and to Will's credit, he didn't visibly react when Anne mentioned that Finn and Rachel were husband and wife. Granted, Anne had probably told Will the whole story beforehand, but still.
"Playing a round of minigolf is a good idea," Finn agreed. "All three of us will go up to the roof, if that's okay with you, Anne?"
"Of course it is," Anne said immediately. "Santana and Quinn should be here soon. We'll have everything covered. You guys go. Have fun. Bond." Anne shooed the three men away, ignoring the pointed look her son shot in her direction.
"Finn will make sure that Noah doesn't say anything too ridiculous," Rachel assured Anne as they watched them go.
"I'm not worried about it," Anne said quickly. At Rachel's raised eyebrow, she added, "Well, I'm not that worried about it."
The round of minigolf had been the right move. Puck had gotten to know Will a little better. Some mostly friendly trash talk had been exchanged, and Finn had intervened only when necessary. By the time they came back down to get ready for the party, things were much less tense. Rachel and Anne had exchanged significant looks, thrilled that it had all gone so well.
"So," Rachel asked as Puck and Finn made their way over to the table where she was lining up all of the little punch glasses Santana had brought. "How did it go?"
"Fine," Puck grunted.
"It went great. They're best friends," Finn teased.
Puck scowled at his brother. "Don't make me kick your ass at your mother's rehearsal dinner, Hudson."
Rachel—who was already in a silver dress picked specifically for the rehearsal dinner by Kurt—shooed the boys towards the bathroom. "Stop threatening everyone and go get changed, alright? Burt and Carole are going to be here in ten minutes, and we want everyone to be smiling by the time they get here."
Puck shot her a dark look and then mumbled, "I'm about to start calling you the Wedding Minion."
Finn choked on a laugh but managed to swallow it just in time. Luckily, Rachel's indignant shriek drowned it out. She poked Puck, who wasn't quite quick enough to avoid her pointy finger. When she heard Finn snigger at how Puck tried to twist away, she rounded on him.
"You need to go and get dressed, too," Rachel ordered.
Finn held his hands up in surrender. "Hey, don't send those pointy fingers my way." He snagged her hand and tugged her closer, ducking down to press a sweet kiss to her lips. Even though she was kind of annoyed—the Wedding Overlord and the Wedding Captain were getting to be a bit much—she melted against Finn and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.
Rachel let the kiss go on for a few delicious moments before she pressed her hands to Finn's chest and pushed him gently away. "Ugh, stop distracting me. You're too sexy!"
"Ew," Kurt and Santana said at the same time as they bustled by, piles of hand-painted name cards in their hands.
"Do you want help?" Rachel asked. Quinn had done the name cards in water colors for the rehearsal dinner, and had done signs for the tables at the reception. Quinn was currently safely behind the counter with Anne, filling pitchers of water for each table. She had wisely handed off the name cards as soon as she arrived, knowing that Kurt and Santana were going to be particular about the placement.
"No!" Santana said at the same time Kurt demanded, "You can make sure your husband gets dressed!"
Finn shook his head good naturedly, kissed Rachel again, and the went into the back to change into a pair of dress pants and a button down shirt (this outfit was also Kurt-approved). Rachel finished arranging the punch glasses and then joined Quinn and Anne behind the counter.
Burt and Carole arrived not long after that. All of their guests raised either flutes of champagne or sparkling cider as they walked into the café. They mingled and then when everyone sat down for dinner, Finn, Kurt, and Puck gave lovely speeches about their families coming together. Originally, Puck hadn't been sure about giving a speech. It had been Kurt who had finally convinced him to do it—he had told Puck that Finn was going to be his brother. Since Finn and Puck were already brothers, that would kind of make Puck Kurt's brother, as well.
As Puck thanked Kurt for including him, Santana leaned over to Rachel and whispered, "What a weird family tree."
There was some more mingling after that. Kurt had somehow arranged for outdoor heaters to be brought up to the rooftop, so that the guests could go and play minigolf if they wanted. They turned some music on and pushed some of the tables back, creating a space to dance if people wanted to.
Burt and Carole were wrapped up in each other's arms, swaying slowly to a Bruno Mars song, when Kurt saw him. Outside the Café, stumbling on the sidewalk, was Chris Hudson. He looked horrible—unshaven, hair a mess, skin pale.
Their little group had been leaning against the counter, watching their parents have a good time on the dancefloor. Kurt leaned over and quietly said to Finn, "Um, is that your dad?"
Finn's jaw tightened as he looked out to the sidewalk. Both Rachel and Puck noticed Finn's immediate change in demeanor. They looked up at the same time and saw Chris as well. Puck cursed lowly but viciously under his breath, while Rachel quickly turned back to the parents, making sure that they hadn't yet noticed what was going on. Thankfully, they had no idea that Carole's ex-husband was currently outside of the Café, looking to cause a scene.
"I need to handle this," Finn said quietly. He looked resigned but determined, and Rachel's heart ached for him. Things had been going so well for them so far. Of course, it couldn't all be perfect, but Rachel really wished that Chris Hudson would stop trying to ruin everyone's good time.
"I'm coming with you," Puck said in a tone that brokered no argument. Finn nodded his head once, not really expecting anything different. He was surprised, however, when Kurt spoke up.
"I'm coming, too," Kurt said. When Finn and Puck both opened their mouths to argue, Kurt added, "You guys are my brothers. I'm going."
Well, Finn and Puck certainly couldn't argue with that statement. All three of the boys exchanged serious looks, nodded their heads, and went through the back to slip quietly outside.
Rachel turned towards Quinn and Santana, who were watching the exchange with concerned looks on their faces. "Can you guys make sure that Carole, Burt, and Anne are distracted?"
"Yes, of course," Quinn said. "Where are you going?"
"With them," Rachel said. "Someone needs to be there to call 911, just in case." Although she was really hoping that it wouldn't come to that.
"Do you need backup?" For once, Santana wasn't cracking a joke about hidden razorblades.
Tossing an anxious look out the window—the boys had just come around the Café and were calmly walking up to Chris, who was just staring into the window, watching everyone dance—Rachel shook her head. "Not at the moment. But… keep an eye out, alright?"
Quinn and Santana reached down at the same time to squeeze both of Rachel's hands. She smiled as best as she could and then followed the boys out the back. When she came around the Café to the sidewalk, she heard Chris already arguing with Finn. It seemed that Puck and Kurt hadn't said anything quite yet.
"Just go home, Dad," Finn said quietly. "No one wants any trouble."
"What? It's a party!" Chris slurred and stumbled, tripping over his own feet. "A party that my whole family is at! But wait." Chris put his index finger to his mouth and pretended to think. "It's for my wife, getting married to my cousin."
"Ex-wife," Finn said calmly. "Come on, go home. All this moving around can't be good for your recovery." All Finn got in response to that was a snort from Chris. At that point, all three boys realized that Rachel was outside with them. She was standing behind Finn and Puck, and they made it clear that they weren't going to move aside and expose her to Chris. So far, he hadn't noticed that she was there.
"How did you get here, anyway?" Puck asked, not unkindly. There was no love lost between the Chris and Puck, but the man had just been through a traumatic incident and his current actions would only exacerbate his injuries. "You didn't drive, did you?" He didn't want Chris to put anyone else in danger.
Chris sneered at Puck. "I walked."
"It's a damn miracle you didn't get yourself killed on the way here," Puck said with snort. His sympathy only went so far.
"We can call someone to come and get you," Kurt offered. "So you can get back home safely."
Chris looked at Kurt for a long moment, his eyes full of disdain. Chris's relationship with Burt hadn't been good in years, so his interactions with Kurt were practically nonexistent. Finn and Puck looked between Kurt and Chris, wondering if they were going to have kick Chris's ass if he said something awful.
Thankfully—for where the situation was at—all Chris did was look away with a sniff. Kurt rolled his eyes, not at all offended that Chris wasn't really acknowledging him. He preferred it that way, honestly. After muttering to Puck to keep an eye on Chris, Finn took his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the number to the beach house. He was hoping that the night nurse would answer.
It was a stroke of luck that the nurse answered quickly. Finn found that he had to reassure the frantic nurse, who was upset that she had lost her charge. He quickly explained the situation, and the nurse assured him that she was on the way to pick Chris up. He was going to ask if she needed help, but Chris was now struggling to keep his eyes open. It was clear that he had mixed alcohol with his pain killers. Finn would make sure that the nurse evaluated him before they decided whether or not Chris should go to the hospital.
As Finn finished talking to the nurse, he reached down to squeeze Rachel's hand. She laced their fingers together and squeezed back in return. She wouldn't feel completely okay until the nurse had arrived, but all things considered, this was the best outcome that they could hope for.
Chris's eyes drifted shut and he swayed dangerously. Puck managed to jump froward just in time, catching Chris before he hit the ground. He eased Chris on to one of the park benches that lined the street just as Finn hung up his phone and turned back around. He cursed when he saw his father collapse, wondering just what else could go wrong on this night.
Even though Chris's skin was clammy and pale, his breathing was even and steady. As Puck settled him onto the bench, his eyes fluttered open again. It took him a moment to focus, but he eventually succeeded.
"Puck," Chris grunted. "I'm sorry."
Puck blinked in surprise. Out of all of the things he ever expected to come out of Chris Hudson's mouth, that phrase had certainly never been one of them. "For what?" he couldn't help but ask.
Blinking slowly, Chris swallowed hard. "Everything."
Puck stared at Chris for a long moment, at a loss for words. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he pulled back from Chris and jumped away from the bench. "No," he said as he shook his head. "No. You don't get to say that to me. Ever." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I don't need you to apologize to me. And I don't want you to."
Finn gave his brother a sympathetic look. He didn't think they would ever know what had broken Chris Hudson so completely. It was really shitty that they would never be able to figure out if Chris really meant what he said in moments like this, or if it was just another way to manipulate them. Either way, the best thing for all of them would be to shut Chris Hudson out of their lives completely.
"Go on, Puck," Finn told him. "Go take a minute, and then go back in the party. The nurse should be here in a few minutes. I can handle this."
Puck nodded his head, his jaw clenched. He quickly went around to the back of the Café, where they heard a large crash—Puck had clearly hit or kicked something. Looking at Kurt, Finn jerked his head towards Puck, indicating that he should follow him. Kurt reached out to squeeze first Finn's shoulder and then Rachel's before he turned and followed Puck.
"Rach, you should—" Finn began, but she cut him off.
"No, I'm staying here with you," Rachel said. The stubborn lift of her chin left no room for argument, so Finn didn't even bother to try. He stood over where Chris had passed out on the bench, watching him with a stony expression on his face. Rachel came up next to him, wrapping both of her arms around one of his and resting her cheek against his bicep. She reached down and held his hand in between both of hers.
It was only a few more minutes before the nurse showed up. She quickly evaluated Chris and determined that he just needed to sleep the medication and the alcohol off. Finn asked if she needed help, but the nurse assured him that she had called in the nurse for the morning shift early to help her. Finn sent the nurse on her way with Chris bundled safely in the backseat.
Standing on the sidewalk, Finn and Rachel watched the car's headlights disappear. Finn didn't seem like he wanted to move, and Rachel was content to stand there with him, holding him. Finally, Finn squeezed her hand, and she looked up to see him smiling down at her.
"What?" Rachel asked.
Turning her in his arms, Finn ducked down and laid a kiss on her lips that was slow, deep, and left her breathless. She strained up on her tiptoes, trying to get as close as she possibly could to him. Even when they had to part to finally breathe, they still remained close enough that their lips brushed with every breath they took.
"I love you," Finn said. "So much."
Rachel smiled in return, and the tightness she had felt in her chest ever since Chris had shown up finally eased. "I love you, too."
"How much longer do you think we have to stay at the party?" Finn asked. "I'd like to end tonight on a good note." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and Rachel laughed as she patted his chest.
"Something tells me that we'll be here for a while, still." Rachel nodded her head towards the window of the Café. Anne, Will, Burt, Carole, Hiram, and Leroy all had their noses practically pressed to the glass, watching them. It was clear that they had seen at least some of what had gone on with Chris. "We have some explaining to do, and I think Puck is going to need us to do a few rounds of minigolf."
"That… actually sounds like fun," Finn said. Together, they began to walk back into the Café. "You ready for me to kick your ass at minigolf?"
"Please," Rachel said with a snort. "I'm the queen of minigolf, and you know it." Thankfully, they would all get to have this night end on a good note. Together.
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