‘I should have told you’ Finn's whisper broke her thoughts then.

‘Y-Yes, yes you should have’ she agreed.

Rachel hopped up from her spot on the bed and walked to the window where she remained quiet, just staring out. There were so many things going through her mind at that moment. Hurt and betrayal, anger but most importantly love, and she felt it.

Finn sat on his bed watching her, he wasn’t sure what to think about her reaction. He expected her to yell and scream at him for lying to her or at least to be upset and cry but this reaction he didn’t know how to read.

After fifteen minutes of silence he got off his bed and softly padded to where she was standing and hesitantly reached out and wrapped his hands around her from behind.

‘El?’ he whispered. ‘Say something’ he begged. He had no idea what she would say or whether or not hearing what ever she had to say wouldn’t break his heart.

‘I love you’ she whispered completely surprising him, that was the last thing he expected to hear out of her mouth but he couldn’t deny that he needed to hear her say it so badly at that moment.

‘I love you too’ he responded.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she asked him then. She believed she already knew the answer but she wanted to hear it from him.

‘Because I knew what would happen’ he answered simply.

‘And what would have I done?’ she asked curiously.

‘You would have got angry with your parents and told them to go to hell and we would have ended up on the next plane to Vegas. I didn’t ever want you to think that you had to make a choice between me and your parents, and I still don’t and the thing was, at the time your parents did have some good points’ he explained.

Rachel whirled around to face him ‘Do you really believe that?’ she asked bitterly ‘If you could go back and put this entire three and half years behind us would you do it the same? I mean I completely understand that you didn’t want me to choose but the point is that they didn’t care about putting me in that situation. Would you really want to be right back in this situation if you were given the chance?’

‘Of course not’ he shook his head.

‘What would you change?’ she asked.

‘Everything’ he admitted. He would change everything from the day after Prom. He wouldn’t go to her parents about asking her to marry him and he knew that they would be together right now and happier than they ever thought possible.

‘Exactly. Maybe we were too young to get married but that wasn’t there decision to make’ she cried.

‘It was my decision whether or not I wanted to marry you and it’s still my decision. It’s not yours and it’s certainly not my parents’ Finn held her tightly as she cried. He hated to see her cry but he knew she needed to get this off her chest or it would just brew until she was ready to explode. He knew from experience that it wouldn’t be pretty if she did either, he had been on the receiving end before and had barely survived.

‘You should have told me, it wasn’t fair that you all made the decision for me’ she sobbed into his chest.

‘I know, I just didn’t want to make things worse’ he replied.

‘Worse than what? Worse than now? Look at us, we’re a product of what my parents made us. We’ve spent years apart miserable because all they cared about was me getting some bullshit job that I’ll hate every minute of’

‘Yeah well your right about that, nothing could be worse than what I’ve done to us’ he whispered.

‘I cant believe my parents’ she screamed in frustration then ‘how dare they’ Finn could tell her anger had finally surfaced but it surprised him that it was directed at her parents. He expected her to be a little upset with them but thought that most of her anger would be directed at him. He knew he had made a mistake keeping things from her, he knew he had made a lot of mistakes when it concerned her and they’re relationship he just prayed that she would be able to forgive him for it one day.

‘Just wait till I talk to them’ she raged.

‘See this is was I meant’ Finn interrupted then.

‘Now because of me your going to fight with your parents’ he cried.

‘No I’m fighting with my parents because they made choices about my life which they had no right to make. God my parents have always known how we feel about each other they had no right to say NO to you’ she yelled.

Finn was speechless, he agreed completely. He had never expected them to turn him down when he went to them wearing his heart on his sleeve. He had always considered himself responsible when it came to Rachel and her parents had always liked him as far as he knew.

‘See, you agree with me. I mean you don’t even talk to my parents anymore and this is why isn’t it?’ she asked him.

‘Yes’ he admitted. It was hard to put your anger aside but the main reason behind it was because the first time they had returned to Roswell to visit, Nancy Berry had made a point of rubbing it his face that she was right by continually asking Rachel about all the good looking guys she’d been dating and how happy she was.

‘Aren’t you angry with them?’ Rachel asked then.

‘Of course I am’ Finn cried ‘they ruined everything. I fucking hate your father and mother for what we’ve been through. I know it’s not there fault that I stuffed up with Serena but I hate that they made me feel that I wasn’t good enough for you, that I wasn’t enough for you.’

‘Your everything to me’ Rachel told him honestly. ‘I know you think that I would have regretted giving up my dream job for you but don’t you get it’ she whispered. ‘None of it matters to me without you’

Finn pulled her tightly against his chest then, leaning his head against the top of her head ‘do you mean that?’ he asked.

Rachel pulled back slightly so that she could see his face ‘Yes’ she said tearily ‘I don’t want to move to Europe, California or even Roswell unless it’s with you. God it all means nothing without you’ she told him.

‘Oh god I love you’ he cried ‘and I don’t care where I have to go to be with you. If you want to go to Europe baby we’ll go because you’re my life El, you’re my forever’

Rachel reached up and kissed him then, a kiss which Finn quickly returned. At some point during the night he believed he would never feel the soft touch of her lips again or the way her tongue would dart in his mouth and tangle with his own.

When they pulled apart they were both gasping for air but for the first time in over a week they both held a twinkle of hope in their eyes that they could get through this, together.

‘I don’t want to be apart again’ Rachel admitted ‘we’ve spent too much time apart already’

‘Are you sure?’ Finn asked her ‘I know things are really fucked up at the moment and that I have a long way to go before I earn your trust again but I want to do it, El. I want you to be able to forgive me’ he told her.

‘Time’ she whispered ‘I just need time and I need you to be here with me, for me’ she told him.

‘You have me’ he said. ‘Forever’ he added.

‘I like the sounds of that’ she smiled

‘Really?’ he asked ‘I mean are you still sure about that?’

‘Yes’ she declared without a doubt ‘there has never been anyone else’ she told him.

‘I don’t deserve you’ he replied.

‘Yes you do’ she nodded.

Finn leaned down and took her lips in a more gentler kiss this time. The kiss was one of hope and even of forgiveness.