Roommates

52. The Best Thing

Previously...
I nod, taking the last swig of my beer and placing it on the coffee table. "Ok. Wish me luck."
I head for the door and Sam sees me out, reassuring me once more. When he shuts the door and I start walking away, my body feels numb. What's my answer going to be?

***

Finn's POV
I'm here, again.
Stood outside room 218, I feel my palms become sweaty as I clutch the rigid key in my hand. There isn't much noise that I can hear from inside the dorm now, just faint music.
Wish me luck. I think to myself, and turn the key in the lock.

Rachel's POV
Funny Girl is just finishing from one more countless time of watching it. Poor Santana, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if she knew the whole script as well as I do. She doesn't complain though, just sits beside me and watches contently.
As the black screen fades in, I hear the door open and I catch Finn's guilty eye as he walks in. Santana looks too.

"Hey." Finn stops at the door, just locking eyes with mine. I smile as a substitute for a returned 'hello'.
"Well, I'll leave you both to it," Santana gets up from the sunk-in sofa, "text me, okay?" She looks to me, and I nod, hugging her goodbye. As she leaves, Finn puts his keys on the kitchen counter and comes over to the sofa. He sits down carefully beside me.

"I'm sorry." I start as time goes by, "I didn't mean to scare you."
Finn takes my hand in his. "You didn't, I just... needed to think, I guess."
"And did you?"
"I guess so."
The familiar feeling of emptiness and regret fills my body once more. "What do you think...?"
Finn looks down, and the feeling gets worse. He doesn't want the baby. He doesn't want me.

"It's a big thing, Rach—"
"I know!" I rush in, "but I really think we can do it."
"I think we could too, but—"
"W-we can take turns caring for it, like, when I go to class you care for him or her and when you go I do the caring."
"Rachel—"
"It's not like I'd be alone or you would, we'd have each other."
"Ra—"
"We could manage it! I know we could!"
"Rachel!"
Finn cups my face in his hands and suddenly tears start streaming from my face and fear takes over my mind.
"Please say yes. Please don't leave me."
I watch as his eyes begin to glisten and small tears start to form.

"You know I love you. More than anyone else or anything else in the world." He tells me. "I want what's best for you."
"I know, I want that too, for you."
He smiles, but then turns serious. "But it's not just about what me and you want. It's about what's best."
I look down. I know my decision is selfish and sudden, but it's changed me. I know what's best for us now, and this baby. I'm sure of it.

"Have you spoken to your dads?" Finn asks me and I shake my head. "You know they wouldn't let you go home with a baby. That's what I mean: it's not just me and you and our little family, it's about our already-existing family, too."
"My dads couldn't care less about me right now, baby or not."
"You know that's not true."
"It is. They practically told me I messed up my mothers life when she had me young and I'm just doing the same. They don't want me to have this baby which means they think my mother shouldn't have had me."

Finn's POV
I don't know what I can say to Rachel. She's got her mind totally set.
I can understand why: she just wants to feel secure and not afraid anymore. She wants a real family.
But what do I want?

"Come here," I tell her, opening up my arms so she can shuffle closer and cuddle into me. She does. "Your dads love you so much. I've never met them but I know that. I can tell. They mean a lot to you and you to them."
"They used to love me that much."
"They still do. They'll realise that, I promise. It's just for now... it's hard. I mean, we didn't expect to be parents any time soon, and I'm sure they didn't expect to be grandparents just as much."

Another tear falls down Rachel's cheek and I gently wipe it away.
"But I know what I want," she tells me, almost like she's ashamed now, "and that's you and this baby. I need you two."
I run my fingers through her hair as she leans on my shoulder. "I know."
"But what do you want?"

This is the question. The real problem. What do I want? I want this baby, but I want the future I've had planned in my head for 3 years. Football scholarship. Well-paid job. Married. Start a family.
I guess now it's starting from scratch.
"For the first few months of your pregnancy all I wanted was for you to change your mind," I start, and Rachel looks up at me with eyes shining full of hope, "and you didn't."

Rachel doesn't say anything, so I continue. "I figured my wants were selfish, so I pushed them away and focused on you. I put you first like I knew I should. And over time I just learned to deal with it, and accept that I would see my baby for 2 minutes before they were taken away. And that would be it."
"But now, suddenly, it's the other way round. You have changed your mind, and now all you want is to keep it. And because of all the focus I've turned away from being a full-time father I don't know how to feel about it."

Rachel looks sad. "I know it's really sudden, but... seeing my bump. That was the reality of all this; that was the moment it became clear in my head that this baby was real and wasn't just a fantasy."

I listen to what Rachel is telling me, and I really do hear it. I know this baby would make her happy now — but what about years down the line?
We might struggle when they're three and throwing toys across our place. She might grow to resent me and the baby because we ruined her career. But... it could also be happy. She could still continue her career and so could I, and Santana or anyone else would be willing to babysit. We could settle down somewhere with still good grades and get on just fine.
It's a fifty-fifty chance. It's a risk, but is it worth taking?

I take a deep breath, watching Rachel's lost gaze fix onto me, begging for some guidance.
I know my decision.

Rachel's POV
I sit, almost terrified, as Finn argues with himself in his mind. His face goes from hopeful to serious to loving. I don't know what he's thinking.
Suddenly, he takes both my hands in his own.

"Rachel, you're the love of my life." He tells me, and I feel a smile spread across my face and I nod. He's the love of my life, too.
"And... keeping this baby could mean sacrificing everything we've worked towards," he continues, "because we don't know what will happen."
I look down, afraid of the answer I'm about to face.

"And, from that, we may not get to have it all," Finn's voice starts to break, "but... at least we'll have what matters if we're all together."
I look up so quickly I feel my head become heavy. "Is that a—?"
Finn nods, beaming, and I feel myself start to cry. "Yeah."
"Really?" I ask him again in disbelief.
"Yes, I want to have this baby with you."

Out of shock, love, romantic trauma, whatever you want to call it, I pounce onto Finn on the sofa, laughing and crying hysterically, and he hugs me so tightly all the air feels like it's leaving my lungs, but I don't care. I've never felt this much happiness in my whole life, not even when I won the lead in the school musical.
We're going to be a family.
A real family.

Finn's POV
I hug Rachel until my arms ache and so does my heart. When she moves out of my arms and kisses me, I now know that she's the only thing that matters to me in this world. Her and this baby.
I place my hand on her little bump and smile, and Rachel starts sobbing happily even more. I kiss her again, as tears roll down our cheeks and combine into one, and I know I'm right where I should be.
We're going to be a family.
A real family.

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A/N: hey guys!! I really hope you enjoyed this part. It's a bit shorter than normal but I made the last part slightly longer to make up for it.

THEY'RE KEEPING THE BABY. I GRANTED YOUR WISHES. I AM YOUR FAIRY GODMOTHER.

Seriously though, I was crying when I wrote this part. I need my babies to somehow reunite and make this true.

I hope you liked the part, I'll update soon.

//Comment what you think will happen next! Will there be a plot twist or will they live happily ever after?\\