Family business

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

"NOAH PUCKERMAN YOU DID WHAT?!" Rachel Berry-Hudson screams as she clutches her phone between her hands aggressively. She couldn't possibly have heard him correctly. There's no way her best friend of eleven years, the uncle to her children, could possibly have just said to her what she thinks he did. "Noah tell me this instant you are joking!" She demands when he remains silent on the other end.

"I, uh...I-I got married?" Noah stutters nervously as if it's a question.

"Finn!" Rachel calls out for her husband, holding the phone away from her because this conversation is too much for her to handle right now. "FINN CHRISTOPHER HUDSON!"

"What?" Finn calls bewildered as he rounds the corner, mouth full of Lucky Charms.

"Talk to him. I just...I can't," she exhales, wiping her brow dramatically. "And stop eating the kids cereal."

She snatches the bowl out of his hands, smiling to herself as she rounds the corner into the kitchen and takes a huge bite. She sits slowly at the kitchen table, leaning back and rubbing the small bump making its presence known under her favorite NYFD t-shirt she stole from Finn back when they first became a real couple.

This pregnancy was anything but planned, with two kids at home and full time gigs on both Broadway and the New York fire department, she and Finn had decided their baby having days were over. That was until a rare and absolutely irresistable opportunity presented itself to them, a weekend away, just the two of them. One straight block of forty-eight hours spent completely alone and naked plus one prescription of birth control sitting forgotten in their home medicine cabinet equaled a brand new baby Hudson! It was an accident to say the least, but a happy one!

Rachel grins as she munches on Finn's bowl of Lucky Charms, insides bathed in warmth as she eyes the family pictures scattered throughout the kitchen. Finn, her sweet, sweet Finn who had once broken her heart so completely she thought she'd never recover. He's the best husband she could have ever imagined, betterthan she could have imagined. She's lost count of all the ways he's put her heart back together, how he's proven to her that he's a changed man, starting with one Lyric Jade Hudson. Six years ago their little Lyric was born and changed their lives irrevocably. The joy, love and laughter she brought into their home was so addictive, they couldn't help but try for another. Three years after Lyric was born, Rachel and Finn welcomed Lucas Noah Hudson into their hearts (and yes, Uncle Noah did cry when he heard his name, but don't bother asking him. He still denies it). The four of them have spent countless hours together making memories, laughing, singing, dancing, playing ball. Having a family, or more importantly, a family with Finn, is everything she's ever dreamed it would be. It's everything she's ever wanted.

Marrying Finn, making it on Broadway, having Lyric and Lucas, all of these things have made Rachel so indescribably happy. She feels so blessed, truly feels like she's exactly where she's supposed to be and with whom she's meant to be there with. Still, there always feels like there's something missing...

It doesn't matter how happy she is, how right everything seems to be going, because even when she's at her happiest, head thrown back in laughter, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, there's still something missing. There will always be something missing. The decision she made to give her daughter away twelve years ago still haunts her to this day. She knows deep down it was the right decision for Barbie, she knows she's happy and thriving from the open line of communication she keeps with Tom and Angie, Barbie's adopted parents. Even still, the sting of allowing another woman to mother her child is a pain that has affected Rachel much more than anything else she's experienced in her life, and she knows that will never go away.

Barbie's adoption was anything but traditional, but it's been wonderful, all things considered. She's kept her word to Barbie, a promise she made so many moons ago on a magical New York City night, she's seen her perform in every play or performance she's had. Barbie hasn't known, of course, but Rachel and Finn have made every arrangement possible to attend her shows, switching shifts, surprising understudies with extra nights, Rachel even donning wigs a time or two as her star rose and people began to recognize her. They did it all to see her shine and boy has she. Rachel wonders sometimes if the pride radiating from deep inside her while watching Barbie on stage doesn't somehow break through and illuminate the entire room and she is simply too oblivious, too completely wrapped up in the miniature Finn show-stopper before her to even notice. She knows Finn feels the same, the look of pure adoration that graces his handsome features as he watches her is one she knows all too well, having seen it aimed at Lyric and Lucas on a daily basis these last six years.