Isabel bounded into the apartment with excitement. She couldn’t wait to tell Blaine the great news, that Rachel had given the go ahead for him to move in.
Blaine was engrossed in a documentary when Isabel bounced in the room.
“Hey” he smiled looking up from the TV for a few seconds.
“Hey” Isabel replied, kissing him as she jumped on the lounge next to him.
Drawing his eyes away from the television again Blaine finally saw the happy smile on his girlfriends face.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
“Well I just had lunch with Rachel” she informed him. In reality she really should have gone back to work after lunch but she couldn’t wait to tell Blaine the exciting news.
Lately work had become low on the priority list for Isabel, which probably came as a shock to her colleges. Luckily Isabel had the luxury of coming and going as she wanted and she figured that the seventy hour weeks that she put in for the past four years made up for the thirty she was doing now.
“That’s nice” Blaine said.
“So I talked to her about our living arrangement” she told him.
“Really?” Blaine's eyes widened. He hadn’t expected that to happen so quickly. “What did she say?”
“She said that she thinks you should move in with us, that she would love for you to” she grinned brightly.
“Really?” he asked. “That’s great!”
“So does that mean you will?” Isabel asked him.
“Of course” he replied as he leaned in to kiss her. “As long as you truly want me too”
“I do,” she declared passionately. “I can’t bare the thought of not sleeping with you every night”
“I feel the same way sweetie” Blaine smiled. “I feel the same way.”
The apartment was quiet when Rachel arrived home a little before five. She wondered briefly where Isabel and Blaine were but quickly forgot about them when she caught sight of the time. Her curiosity was peaked about tonight, wondering what Finn had planned. But mostly Rachel just hoped that tonight would be a new start between them. She hated the uneasiness she had felt with Finn today and was starting to regret ever opening her mouth and telling him that she loved him at all.
After a shower Rachel searched through her wardrobe to find a dress suitable for the night and eventually pulled out a floor length, pink satin dress that she had worn to her firms annual ball the year before.
Sliding it on with a pair of silver stilettos Rachel appraised herself in the mirror.
“Perfect” she whispered at her reflection.
Choosing to let her hair flow down her back, she curled the ends and added some modest makeup, and after adding some jewellery she was ready to go.
Finn stood nervously at the door to Rachel's apartment and waited for her to open it. He had a lot riding on tonight and he wanted it to be perfect, Rachel certainly deserved that.
“Hi” her quiet voice startled him and when Finn raised his eyes to meet hers his eyes bulged out of his head.
“Um wow,” he said. “You look spectacular, beautiful”
Rachel blushed “Thank you”
Finn was wearing a tuxedo much to her surprise, he looked more handsome than ever and she wondered what a man like Finn was doing with her, how long did she really think she was going to be able to hold onto him, especially when he didn’t love her.
“You look very handsome,” she told him shyly. It felt like their first date all over again.
Sensing Rachel's nervousness and reluctance to make the first move, Finn stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her small waist and leaned in to kiss her gently.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked when he pulled back.
Rachel looked up at him with wide eyes, full of surprise but at the same time happiness, and nodded. “Let me just get my bag,” she replied before taking a step away to fetch it off the hallway table.
When she returned Finn took her hand in his larger one and led her out of the apartment and into the lift. When the reached the bottom floor Rachel was surprised to find a black limousine waiting for them.
Stopping a few steps away from it she looked at Finn with questioning eyes “Finn?”
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“No, we’re going in a limousine?” she asked.
Finn grinned “Yeah”
“But why?”
“I told you tonight was special, I’m going to make all your dreams come true and that starts with a limousine”
Rachel grinned at his words. He really was incredibly sweet.
The driver helped her into the back of the car and Finn joined her a few seconds later. It was almost an hour drive in the traffic to New York harbor where the boat that Finn had borrowed of a client was waiting for them.
The drive had been quiet, Finn and Rachel holding hands the whole way while Rachel took in the New York skyline around her.
“I really love this city,” she admitted.
“I know what you mean,” he agreed. “There is just something about it”
“I know” she replied. You couldn’t explain in words what it was about New York it was just a feeling you had.
Finn gazed at the angel sitting next to him and suddenly began to feel nervous. Tonight was an important night in their relationship; even he was surprised by what he was about to do.
When the car came to a stop at the marina Rachel looked around confused.
“What are we doing here?” she had suspected that Finn was going to take her to a very expensive restaurant considering the way they were dressing.
Finn just grinned “You’ll see” he told her.
He took her hand when they exited the car and began leading Rachel in the direction of the boat. It was a 50-foot cruiser and the crew had already set up the boat for their arrival.
“Oh my god” Rachel gasped when she caught sight of it.
Finn stopped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist “do you like it?” he whispered in her ear. There was a table set up for dinner, beautiful flowers and fairy lights everywhere.
“You did this for me?” she asked.
“Yeah” he nodded.
He could see the beginning of tears forming in her eyes and was quick to wipe them away. “Hey no tears ok” he laughed “this is supposed to be a happy night”
“I am happy,” she laughed at him.
Finn led her to the boat then where they were greeted. “Good evening Mr. Hudson, Ms Berry, dinner is ready whenever you like”
“Thank you” Finn told them. “We’ll just look around and wait until we’re out on the Harbor before eating” he confirmed and that was exactly what they did.
Finn showed Rachel around on the boat that he had been on a handful of times, before they sat down to enjoy the view as they cruised onto the New York Harbor just as the final glows of the sunset were fading.
“This is so beautiful” Rachel whispered awed.
“Not anywhere as beautiful as you” Finn whispered. Rachel turned and smiled at him and was amazed to find him staring at her with so much emotion.
He reached out and cupped her face gently before leaning in and kissing her. The kiss was slow and gentle, their mouths lingering, their noses touching.
Knowing it was the perfect moment and not being able to hold it back any longer Finn finally spoke. “I love you,” he whispered. “I love you so much” he confessed.
His words were so faint that Rachel almost didn’t hear him but when he repeated them there was no mistaking what she had heard or how her heart leapt at the words.
“Really?” she whispered, tears once again returning to her eyes.
“With all my heart” he promised.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
Their mouths came together again, this time more passionately, more urgently as both Finn and Rachel tried to convey their love and happiness in one kiss and when they pulled back they both had tears in their eyes.
“You mean so much to me, and I’m so sorry that you thought for even a second I didn’t love you” he apologized then.
“None of that matters” she told him. “You’ve just made me the happiest women alive” she laughed.
Finn grinned “Good” he said “so maybe you’d consider making me the happiest man alive by agreeing to something”
“Well you have to ask me something first” she teased but all of a sudden she felt butterflies running around in her stomach. Surely he wasn’t going to ask her what she thought he was, even though she loved him with all her heart it was certainly to soon to get married, wasn’t it?.
“Well I was planning on asking you this for a few weeks but after you told me this morning about Blaine, I realized that now was the perfect timing.” He explained. “Rachel, I want you to move in with me?”
Rachel's eye lit up in surprise and delight at his question “Are you serious?”
Finn laughed at her surprise “Very. I think its perfect, we spend most of our time at my house now and I hate the thought of you going home for any reason” he informed her.
“I know,” she whispered.
“Does that mean Yes?” he asked excitedly.
Rachel grinned “Yeah it does. I would love to live with you,” she told him.
Finn's reaction was one of pure joy; he picked Rachel up into his arms and whirled around in delight.
“You really mean it?” he asked again when he planted her down on the ground.
“Yes” Rachel laughed “of course I do but I will have to talk to Isabel and Blaine about it first to make sure they can afford the apartment and are willing to take over my half of the lease”
“We’ll take care of it regardless” he assured her. There was no way that he was going to let something as simple as money or a legal technicality stop Rachel from moving in
“Mr. Hudson dinner is served” one of the crew informed him then. Finn led Rachel over to the table and helped her into her seat before taking his seat across from her. The minute he was seated their hands sought each other out across the table.
Rachel smiled. This was the single most perfect night of her life, she thought to herself. Finn Hudson loved her.