A/N: This is a Finchel/Quick story. I wanted to write a short fic based on spoilers for the Superbowl and Valentine's episodes and it kind of got out of hand! The first few chapters are mostly Finchel and then it picks up Quick after the Valentine's "episode." I'm trying to write it like it's the rest of the season. So I've planned 22 episodes, each episode should be 3 to 4 chapters long. You can tell from the chapter title which "episode" you are on.

I do not own Glee.

This was the worst Christmas ever. They had just moved, so his mom had barely decorated and he still felt like he was staying over in someone else's house. He'd had a lot of fun things planned for this winter break, but Rachel had destroyed all of that. If he was honest, he knew he'd played a pretty big role in screwing everything up, but he didn't know how to fix it. Somehow, Finn had found himself at this silly Glee party for Mr. Shue on Christmas eve, when he'd really rather be anywhere else. It just sucked.

Rachel glanced out the window. The snow was really starting to come down now. She was trying to decide if she had stayed long enough at the party to be able to leave. It was hard to be decorating a tree so Mr. Schue wouldn't be lonely, when she was so lonely too. It was almost unbearable to be pretending to be happy with all of these people who didn't like her. But mainly, it was pure torture to be in the same room as him. They were supposed to be celebrating this holiday together, and instead she was spending it, trying to make him see how sorry she was and how much she loved him, without pushing him into running away from her. After the disaster of trying to sing him a song for a gift and that horrible Christmas tree shopping trip, she was doing better about not bothering him. Luckily, school was out for vacation, so she actually hadn't seen or talked to him before tonight. She'd felt so stupid when he caught her looking at him at the tree. She had just smiled quickly and looked away. She'd been avoiding him all night, and she was tired and her head ached from all of the acting. She couldn't keep a happy face any longer.

Finn knew he wasn't supposed to care, but he felt really bad for Rachel. He could tell she was having a bad night. She was trying to avoid him and Puck and Santana, which resulted in her hiding in the kitchen a lot and rearranging cookies. He wanted to tell her she didn't have to avoid him. He wanted to tell her a lot of things actually, but he just couldn't figure out how. Everything was such a mess. He'd thought about it a lot over the last week. He was mad, mad that they couldn't work it out before she went to Puck, mad that they had gotten so far away from each other, mad that he can't touch her and hold her and make them both feel better. He was mad at her, he was mad at Puck. But it'd slowly been creeping in on him, that the person he was the maddest at was himself. He thought if they could just talk it out, really talk it out without Ms. Pillsbury, then they could fix it. The last week without her had been horrible, and he was ready to forgive her.

Except she hadn't asked him since the stupid tree lot and he didn't know how to get from where they were to where he wanted to be. And she was probably still mad about Santana. There was so much anger on both sides. Watching her at the party had made his heart ache. He hated seeing her shy and skittish. He hated how no one was talking to her. He just wanted to tell her he loved her. He saw her leave, and he thought, now, now I'll tell her and we'll fix it and everything will be fine. He followed her into the front living room and she must have forgotten something, because she turned around and ran right into him. And suddenly, he couldn't breathe. He could feel her, she was so close, and he could smell her shampoo and she was perfect and she was just...she jumped away from him like she'd been burned.

"I'm so sorry, Finn. I was just getting ready to leave." She said it in a rush, like maybe he was going to yell at her just for being in his space. And he didn't know how to start or what to say.

"Yeah, I was just leaving too. My mom wants me home when Kurt gets back. Merry Christmas, Rach." He waited a minute, hoping she'd walk out with him. But the awkward silence stretched out longer and longer and she turned to go back into the party, mumbling something about saying good bye to Mr. Schuester. He nodded and walked past her to the door and then he stopped. "Did you ever get a snow scraper for your car?" She shook her head no. "My dad keeps saying he'll bring one home, but he hasn't yet." He nodded and waved again, and left.

The whole time he was cleaning off her car, he was waiting for her to come out. He was really annoyed that no one seemed to care about Rachel, how could her dads not buy her a snow brush? How could everyone just not talk to her? How could no one else see how special she is? He was mad and he was freezing and he really did have to get home, so he left her the snow brush, a crappy present, he knew, but it was something. He kicked himself the whole way home for blowing his chance. He'd been doing that a lot since the whole mess started. He didn't know how something so good ended up so bad.

She texted him "thank you" and he had a million things he wanted to say in response, but it was late and his family really did need him, so he just texted back "no prob" and hoped she knew he meant "no problem, because I love you."

*Glee*

A whole week had passed since Christmas. Rachel and Finn hadn't spoken or texted since Christmas Eve. He spent the whole week willing his phone to ring. He'd have taken anything at that point, a text, a call, a "like" on his Facebook status. But nothing. It was like she'd forgotten he existed. And he knew that was unfair. He had basically told her to leave him alone, but he really didn't think she'd listen. He'd been kind of talking to Kurt about everything, but Kurt wasn't exactly the person you asked for advice if you wanted to feel better about yourself. He felt like crap. Kurt said he should be on his knees, begging Rachel to come back. Kurt said he should have stood up for Rachel and not let Santana walk all over her. Kurt said he was a huge jerk and Rachel deserved better than him. Kurt actually said a lot of stuff he didn't want to hear and Finn tuned him out after awhile. Every time he thought he'd gotten a handle on things, he got all screwed up again.

Rachel scrolled down her Facebook page, discouraged by the party that all the other Glee kids were attending that she wasn't invited to. It was at Santana's, so she wasn't really surprised she wasn't invited. She just wished they wouldn't talk about it where she could see it. She was shutting off her computer when she heard her phone buzz. It was a text from Kurt. They were a little closer since Sectionals, but he was pretty busy with Dalton stuff, so they weren't really friends or anything. She was surprised to see a text from him, and even more surprised when he asked what her New Year's plans were. She replied that Santana was having a party for everyone, and she'd probably be hanging out with her dad's. She almost dropped her phone when she read the next text. "Come hang out with us? Mercedes and Blaine are coming over for a movie marathon."

She didn't know what to do. What if he was there? What if he wasn't there? He'll probably be at the party, she reasoned, and she really didn't want to spend another New Year's with her dads, so she told Kurt she'd be there and then spent the next four hours panicking about making the wrong decision. She pulled up to Kurt's new house around 7 pm. She hadn't been there before and she felt really weird about going to Finn's new house without him knowing. She let out a little sigh of relief when she realized his car wasn't in the driveway. As much as she wanted to see him, she really wanted a drama free evening. And it was. She had a lot of fun laughing with Kurt, Blaine, and Mercedes. They chose bad movies on purpose, so they could all laugh at them. She was laughing so hard her sides hurt, she really hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

Finn had decided to go to Santana's party. Maybe being around other people would make him feel better, being home with Kurt certainly hadn't. When Kurt told him he invited Rachel over, because he felt bad for her being alone, Finn almost decided to stay home. But then he remembered he was mad at her, so he didn't. He was halfway to the party before he remembered he didn't want to be mad at her anymore. Still, the only person who can get under his skin worse than Kurt is Rachel, and the two of them together is more than he wants to think about. He can't spend a whole night with Kurt criticizing his every move and Rachel looking at him like he just kicked her puppy.

The party sucked. He didn't want to talk to Puck. He really didn't want to talk to Santana. He joked around with some of the football guys and had a decent conversation with Mike before Tina pulled him away to dance. He mostly just sat by himself, and drank the same cup of beer he'd had since he arrived. He just wasn't in the mood for any of it. He thought Santana was wrong, sleeping with her didn't make him any cooler. It just made him miserable. He decided to go home. Maybe he could sneak upstairs and spend his New Year's alone.

Kurt wouldn't have it though. He wasn't even all the way up the stairs before he heard Kurt following him. He sighed loudly and shut his door, but Kurt came in anyway and made him come down stairs. It wasn't very hard, he promised Rachel was in a good mood, and Finn really wanted to see her. So he went back down.

Rachel jumped up, "I should be going now." she stammered.

"Don't leave on my account." Finn said softly, "You guys were having fun." He sat down on the opposite side of the room, as far away from her as he could get. He didn't trust himself. He might touch her, he might not be able to keep himself from kissing her. Or he could start his New Year having another senseless argument with her. He didn't want to press his luck. He laughed along as Kurt and Blaine continued entertaining them by mocking the movie. It was pretty funny and he liked seeing Rachel smile. They switched to Ryan Seacrest to watch the ball drop at midnight. When they all started talking about going to Times Square someday to ring in the New Year, he could picture the apartment he and Rachel had talked about sharing in New York and thought it would be awesome to have all their friends come hang out with them there. He tried not to think about how it would probably not happen now.

"Rachel will have to let us all crash in her apartment." He said out loud. And she smiled, a little, like she was glad he remembered.

And then they were all counting down and screaming "Happy New Year!"

When it was time for everyone to leave, he saw Kurt getting ready to walk the girls out. He really needed to be alone with Rachel, even if it was just a second. He offered to take them out, so Kurt could be alone with Blaine. The fact that Kurt blushed bright red at his suggestion was just a bonus. Served him right for being so mean all week. Finn threaded his arm through Mercedes' and headed outside. Rachel followed behind them, feeling like a third wheel. She had parked on the street, so she hugged Mercedes at her car and then turned to go across the lawn. He shouted at her to wait for him and teased her a little about promising Kurt he'd take care of her. He pushed his hands in his pockets, he just wanted to grab her and hold her. He wanted to kiss her senseless. He knew he couldn't. But she looked so pretty under the street lights and it was a new year, and he really did want to find a way to move on. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. He whispered "Happy New Year." He had to turn away, because he was having trouble keeping it together.

That night he made his New Year's resolutions. He was going to be a leader. He was going to be the kind of guy that's good enough for Rachel. He was done letting people bully her. And he was going to fix them. But first, he was going to get his best friend back. Because even if he and Rachel couldn't be a couple, he needed her in his life.