Roommates

49. Tongue Tied

Previously...
And then it hits me, and my eyes fill with tears so that I can't even see the gentle light from passing by cars peering in through the gap in the curtains.

I want to keep this baby.

***

Friday
Finn's POV
I wake up late this morning at midday although I don't have any classes until 2. I turn over to wrap my arms around Rachel but she's not there. I seem to properly wake from my sleep when I realise, and suddenly the smell of bacon and breakfast fills the room.

I reluctantly get out of bed, although the delicious smell is calling me, and walk through to the kitchen, topless, in my blue checked shorts.
I'm greeted by my gorgeous girlfriend who's grinning proudly over the stove, quietly playing Journey from her phone through a speaker and humming along, probably trying not to wake me with the sound.
"What 'cha doing?" I ask, and she jumps back slightly when she sees me.
"Crap! Sorry, did I wake you up?" She asks, walking towards me and kissing me softly before continuing to flip the bacon in the pan to her left.
"Nah, I just woke up on my own." I smile, leaning myself on the counter beside her, watching her cook.

She wiggles the pan on her right with two small fried eggs inside and flips them over too. "How long have you been up?" I continue.
"'Bout an hour," she says. "I couldn't really sleep."
"Why not?"
She seems to ignore my question and leans over to adjust the temperatures of the stove.
"Rach." I try to get her attention again, and she looks over at me and smiles.
"What?"
"Why couldn't you sleep? Was there something wrong?"
She shakes her head, frowning. "No. Just normal stuff, I guess. Maybe the excitement."

Rach moves one hand down to feel around her stomach again, and when I remember why a smile spreads across my face again like the first time. I lean my hand over and feel it too, and Rachel smiles when I do.
"I need to talk to you." She looks at me, although her expression is one I can't label or recognise. Something between tense and happy, maybe?
"Sure, what about?"
"I don't really want to say until we've sat down." She shrugs, her expression still the same.

I nod and the conversation is dropped as Rachel serves up toast, eggs, sausage and bacon on a plate for each of us and sets them on the table.
"You'd never believe that I used to be vegan with all the stuff I eat now." She laughs, and I try to imagine her as vegan but I do actually struggle. I can't imagine Rachel being able to walk into McDonalds and not get a cheeseburger. Weird.
"Well it's good, less hassle for cooking when I'm not vegan either." I smile, taking a seat and starting to cut into my bacon.

"What's your first lesson?" I ask Rachel, knowing mine is at 2 but we take some different classes.
"Drama at 1," she rolls her eyes. "and right now I could do with less of that in my life."
"Hah." I chuckle. "Well, I have Spanish at 2, and then football training later. Coach moved the training day to Fridays."
"So, after Drama should I just come back to the dorm or see you for, like, 15 minutes?"
"We can grab a coffee for 15 minutes at the little café in the lobby." She smiles as I say this, and I can tell she was hoping I'd want to see her. "What did you want to talk about then?"
Rachel's expression changes back to unreadable again. "Do you want to sit on the sofa?" She's acting uncomfortable, but at the same time like she is comfortable? This is so confusing.
"Sure." I decide it's not such a bad idea, and I take me and Rachel's plates to the dishwasher as she goes to the sofa. Then I walk over, too.

"So, what is it?" I put an arm around her, but she insists on sitting upright when she talks to me.
"Well, you know the baby?" She starts, and I chuckle.
"No, I don't know about my own child." I poke her in the hip gently, tickling her.
Rachel laughs. "Well, um," she takes a breath, turning more serious again. "I know we've spoke about what to do with him or her before."
"Uh-huh?"
"But I can never really tell if you're just trying to agree with me or if giving it away is really what you want."
I shrug. "Well, you're the one carrying them. It's mostly your decision."
"I don't want you to feel like that, though. You're this child's parent as much as I am, regardless of which one of us birth it."
I laugh again. "It'd be a bit weird if it came out of me."
"Yeah," Rachel laughs again, but more nervously this time. "But, what do you really want to do? Regardless of what I want."

I think for a moment. Keeping this baby would save me spending every moment wondering what they're doing and what they look like, and I'd get to raise him or her as my own like they are. But... me and Rachel have school to focus on, too. It would stress her out, I know it would. She can't study and care for a baby full time.
"I'm fine either way, to be honest. I just don't want too much pressure on you."
She shakes her head. "No, Finn, tell me what you want. Not that you're 'fine' because I really want to know."
"Well, you want to give it away, right?"

Rachel's POV
Im not really sure how to word it to him. It's a big change going from "I can't keep this baby" to "I need to keep this baby".
"Well, actually, I've been—" I start, but there's a knock on the door. I look at my watch and see that it's 12:50. I'm meant to go to class in 10 minutes. That's probably Santana.
"I've been thinking—" I try to continue, but there's another knock and Finn sighs and gets up to open it. Crap. Now I'm going to be worrying the whole day about how to tell him, including the whole of last night.

Like I thought, Santana walks in, completely walking past Finn and glares at me.
"Hello?! I've been waiting in the lobby for you! We've got Drama!"
"Tell me about it." I breathe quietly. I walk away from the sofa and grab my bag from the kitchen counter which I put there before Finn woke up — I got ready really early this morning, because I thought it would give me time to talk to him. I guess he woke up later than I thought he would.
"We'll talk later babe?" Finn smiles, apologetically, and I nod, giving him a gentle kiss goodbye.
"See you for coffee." I smile, and leave the dorm with Santana.

[A/N: I know this part is shorter than usual but I had a crappy week so I didn't update, so I just wanted to get something up for you all. The next part will be sooner, hopefully, since this one was shorter and I sort of owe it to you guys anyway lol. I hope you enjoyed this part! How do you think Rachel will tell Finn? And will she stick to her decision?! Thanks for reading. 💘]