#egyouppt

[finchel-fics]

Author: Egyouppt Status: Complete Rating: T Chapters: 11 Words: 27k

Summary: Finn keeps telling himself he's strong enough to resist Rachel's crazy. But is he? Not likely! Finchel concept fic. Complete!

[finchel-fics]

Author: egyouppt Status: Complete Rating: M Chapters: one-shot Words: 11k

Summary: He's pretty sure they're going to have an awesome senior year and everything that comes after it. But before that, he's gonna focus on this summer with Rachel, and he's pretty sure that's gonna be epic too. Post 2x22

[thepastryshoppe]

Drabble: Let's Not Be Weird

ohdaisywick:

He doesn’t let her win.

She still wins, though, just ‘cause she’s gotten a lot better. He wonders if she practiced at all while they were apart. But that just leads to thoughts of them being apart. And since they’re together again, he doesn’t see the point of thinking about them apart anymore. It wasn’t what either of them really wanted.

He laughs as she jumps around, everyone in the bowling alley staring at her. She doesn’t care. At first, he thought maybe she didn’t notice. But come on, she’s Rachel; she always knows when the attention is on her, especially because she’s always trying to direct it there. “Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles, grinning. “We still have at least one more game to bowl.”

 She just turns to him, her face set in a bright smile, before picking up the pink ball again. 

See, he’d figured they could go bowling again, but this time it would be right. There wouldn’t be any other boyfriends or girlfriends or babies, or confused feelings. Just Finn and Rachel and a bunch of other sweaty people who want to bowl too—they don’t really count, though.

Anyway, he’s pretty sure it doesn’t actually matter who wins. Because it’ll still be their first date gone completely right since they broke up.  Like the one in New York was epic, except for that part where Rachel ran away, you know? That wasn’t the coolest thing that’s ever happened to him. He takes a quick sip of his coke, then turns so he can watch her take her turn. And okay, sort of also so he can look at her ass, but hey, he’s her boyfriend and he’s entitled to. If she minded, she wouldn’t be wiggling it out there on purpose. And he knows it’s on purpose ‘cause every so often she looks over her shoulder and grins mischievously at him. Basically, she’s a tease. But he likes it. He also likes the sound of her excited laugh as she gets another spare, running over to hug him.  One thing about Rachel is that her energy is basically infectious. So, soon he’s laughing too, his arms banded tightly around her as she buries her face in his chest.  Another thing about Rachel is that she fits perfectly against him (he thinks that means he’ll fit perfectly inside her, but he’ll talk more about that when the time comes; it’s not like he’s gonna pressure her). And he even finds it cute the way she nuzzles her nose into his shirt, kinda sniffing him. He gets it, though; he missed the way she smelled when they were apart. He missed the way she everything, basically. Again, though, thoughts of them being apart are unnecessary.  He gets a strike and he can tell by the look on Rachel’s face that she’s debating between being happy for him and slightly annoyed at him taking lead. He shoots her a smirk and she plants her hands on her hips. He guesses they’re having a competition now. Which is cool too, though he’s pretty sure he’s gonna win even if he doesn’t, you know, win. But elaborating on it any further will be cheesy and distract him from trying to kick his girlfriend’s ass—at bowling. Not, like, literally; just to be clear. He’d never pull something like that. Anyway, the game goes on. And it’s actually pretty even. So eventually, he has to ask, “Rachel, did you, like…practice?” They’re sitting across from each other, taking a small break. He takes a bite of his pizza; she bites delicately at a French fry.  Her gaze becomes shy and her cheeks flush a little. “Yeah,” she answers softly. “Whenever I was stressed out or too down to drink a glass of water with my dads, I would come here. I—I remembered what you said,” she murmured. “About bowling being your stress reliever. And I remembered the time you took me. I guess it was a way for me to feel more connected to you since we were apart.”  She looks up at him again, and her eyes are clear but deep. He feels the corners of his lips twitch up. It kinda moves him more than he has words for. And while he’d known she still—she still loved him and stuff when he was with Quinn, or with no one, he’d never really thought about what she’d do about it. “It’s stupid, isn’t it?” Her voice is quiet, vulnerable. He takes her hand over the table, brushing her knuckles with his thumb. “It’s not,” he says, his smile still in place. “Not at all. I, ah,” he starts to say, unsure if he should tell her. Should this be embarrassing information? Maybe, but he’s out of that place where it bothers him. “I memorized Funny Girl,” he tells her.  She gives him a questioning look, but he can already see the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. He licks his lips and lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “Kurt had a copy and I missed you. I mean, even with—when I was dating—I just, I missed you. And like you said, it was a way for me to feel more connected to you when I couldn’t, you know—I couldn’t just come up and kiss you if I wanted to or something.” He thinks he might be blinded by the white of her teeth, but it’s a hell of a way to lose vision, so maybe it’s okay. Because she’s smiling so brightly it makes his heart clench a little, but in the good way. Then she says, “ But you can now,” and gives him that sort of shy look again. “Yeah,” he agrees, missing her hint. “But yeah, I just…I get what you mean. And I think it’s pretty awesome. I guess we really are tethered,” he tells her. She stops sipping her Sprite, her lips paused around the straw (yeah like that doesn’t give him a dirty image or two or fifty). “That speech got to you too, didn’t it?” she asks quietly. “Yeah” he breathes. “Yeah, it did. Why do you think I broke up with Quinn? I mean, she’s, you know—she’s always gonna be my first girlfriend. But she’s not—she’s not you. It just took me so long to pull my head outta my ass,” he says bitterly. He hates those moments when he hates himself. But he still resents the fact that he always feels the need to bury all the pain instead of dealing with it. If he’d just done that, a plethora of other mistakes could have been avoided too. But the look she’s giving him now—one of softness, one of hope; love—it tells him not to dwell on it.  So he tries not to. She tries to shrug a little. “Look, we both hurt each other, Finn. But we have the whole summer, and all of next year to make up for it. And maybe beyond that.” She says the last part so quietly he almost thinks he’s hearing things, but he knows he’s not. And his heart starts to beat a little faster at the implication. He swallows thickly.  “You’re right.” He sips his soda, clears his throat. “You, uh, wanna get back to the game?”  She just stands up and struts over to pick up her ball—again, her last turn—and manages to throw a strike. He eyes her incredulously. He’s not sure how she managed a strike, considering that was a pretty terrible throw. Apparently even gravity loves Rachel Berry. It totally needs to back off, though ‘cause he doubts anything or anyone loves her more than he does. No offense to her dads or anything. But then on her—he forgets the name, but the ball she gets because she knocked over all the pins on the tenth frame—she only knocks down three. She pouts, but it distracts him enough that he only ends up knocking over eight of the pins between his two turns with the ball. She wins again.  Well, he totally would have won if she hadn’t practiced, ‘cause the last time they were here and she won, that was obviously beginners luck and…stuff. Whatever. But she jumps around in circles, grinning, before jumping into his arms, her arms linked around his neck. He breathes her name, and he’s well aware of the parallel of the last time they were here. This was the part where she kissed him; just laid one right on him. And though he shouldn’t have, he enjoyed every forbidden second of it. She doesn’t kiss him this time though, but she’s still holding onto him, standing up on her tip toes. “Finn?” she asks. “Yeah, babe?” She giggles a little; that’s the best he can describe it. And when she speaks, she sounds all breathy and awesome. “Are you gonna kiss me or not?” So she was waiting for him to make the move this time. He fixes her with a half smile. “I definitely am,” he murmurs before pressing his lips to hers. They’re soft and pliant and move slowly under his as he kisses her—really kisses her. And this time, everything is right, even the fact that she’s sort of stepping on his feet to reach up higher. Basically, it—the date, the kiss, the girl—is everything he thought it would be. And then some.

[thepastryshoppe]

"Everything," he whispers. And then there's flash after flash after flash of scenes from his life that he wishes he could relive or take back or that should never have happened. There's Santana in the motel room, Rachel smiling at him and finally finally saying she loves him too. Kurt staring at him in shock after the incident when they almost shared a room. There's Finn crying on Mr. Schue's shoulder when he found out Quinn (Quinn deal with that later why did you even think she changed? Some people can change, but most never do and you got tricked again dumbass) was pregnant, and the day Rachel told him it wasn't his and Rachel and Puck on her bed. And Rachel saying she's so sorry and Finn saying she's not supposed to make him feel so terrible, but he misses the good parts, he does. But then there's today and she needs to be by herself, just like he said, but she thinks he needs to be by himself too, but he doesn't know how. And god, his head is pounding and everything aches, both physically and emotionally and he's so drained. It hurts to think and it hurts even more to feel, but all his defenses have already crumbled and this is all he can do now. So he just cries harder and finally lets Burt hug him because it's someone and someone is better than no one, right? Especially when he doesn't know who to have anymore, who he does have. Rachel will always be his friend, that's what she'd said. And knows she'd stand by that. But there's no way he can work on himself, or find out who he is or whatever it is she's asking him to do, if he doesn't know who he is apart from her. And he can't keep relying on her because it's not fair on either of them and he's finally starting to realize it.

Excerpt from Chapter 2 of Love Needs a Heart Like Mine, by egyouppt

[thepastryshoppe]

Who We Are

Finn didn't really understand how "Blame It" would fit into the assembly, but no one ever really listened to what he thought anyway, so it was whatever. And it wasn't really a bad song, he guessed. And he got to wear an awesome leather jacket, so that was cool and everything.

He sighed when Rachel started talking about…whatever it was she was talking about. Hearing Rachel say that there were no dangers of drinking as long as you had a safe, designated driver made his stomach drop. When did this even happen? Had her date with Blaine been good enough that she wanted to drink all the time or something? When was the last time she'd been sober? And…and she was hanging all over Mike and Jesus.

He wasn't jealous, okay? He just…this wasn't Rachel. And he just wanted to know what had happened to the Rachel that he knew and lo—he just wanted to know why she was acting all different and stuff, all right? Was that a crime? No.

Finn's brow furrowed when everyone started giving Mr. Schue crap. Not that he was gonna say he'd never drink again or whatever, but he was pretty sure an adult drinking was kinda different since it was, like, legal and stuff. But then again, he guessed seeing people drinking it all the time kinda influenced kids to do it. Even Puck said that the commercials during NASCAR were about beer. (Wait, Puck watched NASCAR? He had to remember to give him shit for that one later. NASCAR? Really? He shook his head).

But he did contribute to the collective groan when Mr. Schue announced they would spend the whole day thinking about songs to sing for the assembly. Didn't everyone know by now that thinking wasn't his forte ("Actually, Finn," he remembered Rachel saying once, "the correct pronunciation for the word you're referring to is fort. The accent on forte comes from the Italian word, in music, meaning loud, derived from the Latin word fortis." He didn't know why he remembered that, but he did. And if he had an excuse to use "ten dollar" words, then he would because people thought he was stupid enough as it was).

The rest of the day passed mostly in a blur. He didn't see Rachel, but he vaguely wondered if she was just throwing up somewhere before grimacing. He wasn't trying to be cruel to her, honestly! Tapping his pencil against the paper on which he was supposed to be taking notes (about some book or other that the class was supposed to read, but he wasn't paying attention) he noticed Quinn looking at him sadly. It was weird because they really hadn't talked much since Sam dumped her.

It sounded awful, but now that she was like, "on the market," or whatever Rachel called it, the appeal kind of died down. But it wasn't just that. He didn't think Quinn actually loved Sam, or at least not really, but he guessed she must have cared about him though, because she spent a lot of time looking at him and Santana all mopey-like. And he didn't wanna get in the middle of it or take advantage of it. He can admit what he'd done—encouraging her to cheat and all—wasn't cool. Like, really wasn't. And it really wasn't him either.

He dropped his pencil. Holy shit. He was totally, like, having an epiphalee or…yeah, that wasn't right. Epiphany. Because Rachel wasn't really being herself, right? And as much as he didn't like it, he needed to let her have this period of out of characterness, seeing as he'd gone through his and wasn't really sure where he stood with Quinn now either. But if it lasted too long, he would say something to her. Like, he was kinda moving on with Quinn, right? Wait, that came out wrong.

He was, like, over his resurfaced feelings for Quinn. Or at least he wasn't gonna do anything about them if they were still there (he didn't really know what he felt most of the time, 'cause he spent a lot of time just being confused and stuff) because he was just tired of it. If Rachel wanted to do a little living, he guessed he would just have to find a way to deal with it for a while. She would come back eventually, right? And so would he, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Of course!

He should have thought of it sooner.

After Rachel's party, Finn sees the need to keep an eye on her - to make sure she's okay. Dealing with this new side of Rachel takes some getting used to, however, and never more so when she announces she's got a date with Blaine. Standing on the sidelines of events as they spin out of control in some areas, he tries to understand what's happening to her. And eventually comes to an understanding that strengthens their friendship - and maybe a little more.

Who we are is a lovely companion piece to "Blame it on the Alcohol" (Glee 2x14), written by egyouppt.

[thepastryshoppe]

Long Way to Happy

He thinks it's fitting that Valentine's Day falls on a Monday—the shittiest holiday of the year on the shittiest day of the week. It's like poetry. Really fucking awful poetry.

He skips school. He doesn't wanna face Rachel and the way he knows she'd been planning their valentine's date for months before 'cause it hurts too much just like holding your breath hurts too much.

He doesn't wanna see Santana and all her bitchyness and, "you're a fail," type shit 'cause he knows all that already and he doesn't understand the point of her rubbing it in his face all the time. Especially since everyone's been pounding that into his head since day one and he figures he needs some kind of break, you know?

He spends the day eating Cheetos and jerking off to nameless women on his TV screen—and nope, he's not imagining a short little spitfire with deep brown eyes or the fullest lips he could ever imagine. Nope. Not once.

He scrubs a hand over his face 'cause surely this isn't normal, right? To be thinking of her like this when any other time or any other way he tries to think about her makes it feel like his chest is collapsing.

He picks up a bottle of water and gulps it down, resting against the counter. He'll probably be in trouble when his mom gets home 'cause the school probably called her and asked where he was and it's not like she knows he's skipping school. But he really doesn't give a damn, which isn't surprising since it's not like he gives a damn about very much these days. She doesn't ground him when she does get home; she just gives him a look of sorrowful look of deep pity and he's pretty sure that's actually worse. But she doesn't say anything, so neither does he.

She changes her clothes and kisses him on the forehead before she leaves again, telling him he has clean clothes downstairs. Finn looks down at the jeans he'd wrestled on a few moments before she'd come home. They'll do. It's not like he has any fancy plans for tonight or anything.

His mom goes out with Burt tonight. So it's seven o'clock on a Monday night and he needs something to do. And he kinda wants a beer, but he's not nearly as intimidating or good at lying as Puck is, so he knows no one is gonna offer to buy him any. And he doesn't have connections or friends like he used to, so he settles for finding some chocolate milk instead.

What he doesn't expect, though, as he climbs out of his truck is to see Santana sitting in the Pick N Save parking lot, her knees curled up against her chest. And holy fuck is she crying? Did someone at Breadstix refuse to fill her wheelbarrow again or something? He really wants to just ignore her and get his chocolate milk and get the hell outta there, but he knows it's never that simple for him. He steps in front of her carefully.

"Santana?"

She looks up at him through bleary eyes and when she realizes who it is, her face turns cold. She ignores him. And on a normal day, Finn would count his blessings for that. But this isn't a normal day. So he tries his best to act like a real human being instead of the, like, pod-alien he's been the last few months.

"Hey," he says softly. "What's up with you?"

"Get the fuck away from me."

He frowns angrily, but you know what? If she wants to be this way, she can be. He's had enough of the bullshit. "Fine."

But he's an idiot and tries again when he walks out of the store, a bag with a carton of chocolate milk and a few cans of Pringles in hand. He kneels down so he's eye level with her.

She just looks at him. So he waits and looks back.

"Valentine's Day sucks ass," she tells him tersely.

It's enough to startle a strangled, humorless laugh outta him. "Yeah," he agrees. He totally agrees. Though in some part of his brain that he usually tries to hide away, he realizes it's nice to be around someone who agrees. Someone who isn't all lovey-dovey couply gross and disgusting today. Or just for a change in general. 'Cause it seems like everywhere he looks, there are people hugging and kissing and holding hands and all the stuff he can't do with Rachel anymore and all the stuff he can't do with anyone anymore because he doesn't wanna do it with anyone but Rachel and there's just no way for them to make it happen. 'Cause she's not following him around anymore and he's not trying to get her to 'cause he still can't look her in the eyes and tell her it's all okay. It's not okay. Nothing is o-fucking-kay.

And he's tired of people acting like he should be acting like it is. So at least when he's here right now with superskank Santana, well, at least they both feel like shit and it has little or nothing to do with each other, unlike when he and Rachel are both miserable since they're both pissed/sad/devastated about the same thing—kinda. Whatever. Fuck Valentine's Day. You need love to be happy, but you don't need love to live. That's what he's learned.

"Come on." He pulls Santana up by her hands, noticing she's not wearing her Cheerios uniform. He frowns. "I'll drive you home."

Long Way to Happy is a post-breakup one-shot by egyouppt, in which Finn tries to come to terms with what's happened and how it is making him feel. But as if that wasn't enough on his plate all by itself, Santana has to come and make his life even more troublesome by insisting on putting herself into his way - even when she doesn't even mean to.

It's a Finn and Rachel story, but it is also about the dynamic between Santana and him; it is a story, however, that needed to be written and which begs to be read. 

[thepastryshoppe]

Antics

Finn was actually kind of glad Rachel talked him into this. He'd never tell anyone this, but he was almost having fun. He wasn't ever going to do it again, but he was content for a moment. Plus, it beat staying home and installing the new air conditioning unit that Burt had bought. He knew basically everyone would have laughed in Rachel's pretty face and told her, "Hell no!" He seemed to be the only on unable to do that. Upon further reflection, Finn wasn't sure if he envied those people or if he pitied them.

He let an attendant help him chose this armor since he had less than no idea what he was doing and just went along for the ride.

Rachel was waiting in the ring. She hoped this would turn out well enough. She wasn't sure if this was a good idea. Finn could barely walk without tripping; how was he supposed to maneuver around with a weapon? She figured this spectacle would be more cringe-worthy to watch than Finn dancing to Kanye.

On the other hand, he hadn't really complained like she thought he might. Sure, he'd been less than impressed with her "Greensleeves" idea, but he'd eventually gone along with it. She figured they'd come away from this experience and be closer as a couple. The prospect delighted her. She took her position.

It was after five when Finn finally came out. If he'd felt uncomfortable before, he'd just been being a baby (which he totally needed to fix). He was weighed down an extra forty pounds by sheet metal or something. He could only be glad they weren't making him ride a horse. Otherwise, he figured he'd be screwed. They'd stationed Rachel in a chair to the North end of the ring, behind a veil. Apparently these Renaissance folks were itching for mystery. Well, he could get down with that. Nobody was taking Rachel from him, even in pretend.

He'd been so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the announcer call out for the first contender to join him in the ring. Finn preferred the modern way of fighting for your girl: you slammed a guy's head into a locker and growled at him to stay away. But since he was here, he'd play by their rules. Well, if he could remember all of them.

Finn took in his competition. The guy was shorter than Finn, but that wasn't uncommon. He really hoped he'd be able to laugh about this someday. Finn barely paid attention as his sword (no, he hadn't gotten a cooler one, thanks) clanked against the other one. He knew the fight wasn't serious and they weren't allowed to actually hurt each other, but he was trying to make it cool for the kids. And for Rachel. The stray thought of Rachel caused him to falter momentarily, allowing the other guy to knock him to his knees. Crap. He needed to fix this.

"That's riiiiiiight!" the voice sing-songed.

Finn wanted to die. "Mr. Schue?" he asked in disbelief.

"Finn?" The glee club teacher's hesitation enabled Finn to get up and knock him to the ground, holding him there.

"What are you doing here?" Finn wondered as the announcer declared him the winner.

"I'm babysitting my cousin's kids for the weekend. They said they come to this festival every year." His tone was strained. "Why are you here?"

"Rachel."

Finn heard Mr. Schue laugh and, God; he just wanted to get out of there.

When they marched Rachel over, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the dressing room. He quickly threw the armor off (he was so glad to be able to breathe again). He tried to explain why they had to leave and didn't know how to feel when Rachel just laughed at him.

"I wonder who was more embarrassed," she said as they walked.

"If I hadn't won, it definitely would have been me," he replied.

"Oh, Finn," Rachel said dramatically. It always made his knees a little weaker when she said his name like that. "It's not as if Mr. Schuester would actually have won my heart. That will always be yours."

He realized then that he would forever be at Rachel Berry's mercy. He was worse than the broken little puppy that had followed him around for a month when he was thirteen. Strangely enough, it didn't seem like such a bad way to live.

He was about to kiss her when he noticed where they had ended up. "How did we get here again?" Finn asked, keeping his eyes on those creepy little chickens. He was seriously starting to hate poultry. Nasty little buggers.

Before he could shrug and tell Rachel they should get out of there, he saw her eyes go wide. He turned around and cursed.

"Yo!" he called. "What're you doing?"

A truck (right, because they totally had trucks in the 1500s. They didn't even have toothpaste!) was backing towards the coop. Obviously, the driver hadn't heard him. Finn and Rachel clambered out of the way, but not before the driver misjudged his distance and backed right through the fence. Swearing, he pulled up again and cut the engine.

Finn was convinced these chickens were mutants. Maybe they were radioactive or something. Like Spiderman. Regular chickens weren't this hostile and glower-y, were they? Because as soon as the escape route had opened up, dozens of chickens were running and flapping, making their way out. People in the vicinity were barreling away and Finn wasn't stupid enough to stick around and watch the show. He'd never been chased by chickens before, but he was finding he didn't like it.

"We are so leaving," he told Rachel, silently willing her to agree as they fought their way through the crowd of hysterical people and raging birds.

She nodded fearfully, stumbling in her costume. Deciding not to waste any time, Finn scooped her up and carried her to his truck.

"Finn! Finn! My dress!" Rachel was frantically trying to gather her skirts.

"Just shut the door on it!" he ordered.

He was surprised she listened to him, but she did. He took off. Once he got a mile or so out of the parking lot, he pulled over to the side of the road. And laughed.

"What is so funny?" Rachel inquired hotly.

Breathing some, Finn explained," We just got chased out of a Renaissance Fair by a mob of angry chickens!" This brought on another round of hysterics. Oh, shit. He was going insane. For real this time! He was literally, completely going insane. And he wasn't even bothering to try and stop it. At least Rachel joined in this time.

When he could focus again, he looked at her. "We are never doing this again."

"Hell no," Rachel swore, breaking her usual character.

Oh, yeah. He absolutely, positively loved her. No question.

Antics is a wonderful collection of one-shots by egyouppt that showcases just that: the antics and craziness of one Rachel Berry and how Finn Hudson is always, inevitably, roped into joining the chaos. Well-written and spot on in terms of characterization, this collection shows very well how good Finn and Rachel are for each other and how their individual personalities influence the change in the other and also Finchel as a whole.

[thepastryshoppe]

One Wish To Make

She looks at him sadly. "I've been better," she says softly. "I'm sorry," she says again.

Puck leans back against the bench, scrubbing a hand over his head. Figures she'd wanna get all deep and personal and shit. Maybe he's not the brightest kid around, but he can read between the lines. Then again, as much as he hates all this talk about your feelings garbage, it might be what they need because it's what she needs. And if he's trying to be a friend to her, he may as well go all-out. And maybe she'll even figure this shit out. He can grudgingly admit that she and Finn are kinda made for each other and all that other fairytale shit.

He figures that just 'cause they've hit a rough patch doesn't mean it's gotta stay that way. And truth be told, he'd rather not see her moping around like this; it's depresses even him. "It's okay," he tells her. "You wouldn't have slept with me anyway."

Rachel looks at him, affronted. Who is he to be questioning her daring? "I w-would…" she trails off because the words are bitter on her tongue and she knows they're lies.

He laughs a little. "Save it, Rachel. We both know you've never even gotten to third with Fi—anyone. You wouldn't have."

"I wouldn't have," she finally agrees. He almost doesn't hear what she says next. "It should have been me."

"Huh?"

"It should have been me who…who…stopped us," she clarifies. "Then again, I shouldn't have started it."

He flinches at the self-resentment in her tone. It's just so not like her. Not to this extent, anyway. "Hey," he says. "Look, I'm not gonna say you should have done it. Or," he adds with a slight crease in his brow, "that I shoulda gone along with it. But we all make mistakes, Berry. Look at me. I kinda invented them." She smiles up at him a little, though he notices a tear in her eye that she's refusing to wipe away. "So yeah, I'm sorry too. For whatever role I played in breaking you two up. And for, y'know, telling Quinn."

She looks away. He doesn't say anything. What is there to say after this? Finally, she speaks, though her voice is quiet and pained. "Do you think he'll ever forgive me?"

He purses his lips because he doesn't really know the answer to that. After thinking about it for a while, he says, "Maybe. If he ever forgives me."

Her eyes snap to his. Rachel's heart starts pounding a little louder because he's…right. Finn's furious with her and he has the right to be. And she'd known when she did what she did how much worse it was because it was Noah. But it's not just about her, she realizes. It's mostly about her. But it's about Quinn and Noah too because they broke him first. They gave him all the bitterness he feels toward her first. So yes, he'd given her time to explain without really listening. But she'd never tried to look any further than that.

Now it just hurts more because she gets how much more she hurt him. Why does it always take her so long to reach all the pertinent conclusions? She knows why. Because Finn is the one who leads her in that direction and she'd pushed him away and he pushed her away. And they both broke each other and now there's nothing.

Now there's everything.

One Wish To Make is a multi-chapter story by egyouppt about the recent break-up and its consequences. As Finn and Rachel struggle with their heartbreak, they each have to face their own demons about the situation before they can find happiness again. And maybe burying some older ghosts will bring the solutions for the future.