Olive Garden

Rachel flushed when Finn started to compliment her. She had never received such comments in her life and had honestly never expected to. There were certainly more amazing people in the world, like Barbra Streisand. Or J.K. Rowling. Or Gandhi. Or Nelson Mandela. Or Finn Hudson. See five people off the top of her head that were far more awesome than she was. Shaking her head with a small smile on her lips, Rachel said, "You're wrong. About me being the most amazing person on Earth. But thank you." Rachel took another small bite of her dinner, then looked up with wide eyes at the last comment he made. She knew exactly how that was. Her whole life before him had been filled with music and the drive to be the best and that was great, but from the moment he had first kissed her in the auditorium she had been filled with love. And he had been her first friend, and the one to break down her carefully constructed walls so she could slowly make other friends. And because of him she knew what it was like to be loved by someone other than her fathers for the first time in her life. Her life had changed so much since she met him, since they fell in love. "You know the sentiment is returned, correct?" she asked softly. "You know you're the best part of my life, right?"

Finn smiled softly and as she spoke he could see his life flash before his eyes. Prom, graduation, college, getting a place of their own, a huge vow renewal so she could have the big wedding she always wanted, children, and growing old. It was all with her. Never in a million years did he ever imagine his life would turn out like this, but it did and it was so much better than he ever could have dreamed. "I love you." he told her genuinely once she'd finished speaking. He took a breath to snap himself out of it, because they were in public and no matter how much he wanted to take her right there on the table he knew it wasn't happening. Finn took the last few bites of his dinner before smiling at her. "So, where do you want to go next? We can go to the park and take a walk or drive somewhere.... it's up to you. I'd suggest a movie but I don't really want to focus on anything but you right now so it would be kinda pointless." He would also suggest going home and straight to bed but there were like a million people there and who knew what kind of disaster that would end in. No, whether they slept together or not it was better to go somewhere that they could be alone for a little while. Rachel was his wife and they hadn't had time to themselves in a long time, so he was being selfish tonight.

A rush of heat burned through her body at his words. Rachel would always love to hear him say it. It didn't matter if they spent all day repeating those same words to each other, she wouldn't tire of it. She practically craved it. "I love you too." The couple finished their meals in relative silence, simply enjoying the pleasure of the others company. At Finn's suggestion, Rachel thought for a moment then said, "How about the lake down in the park? Where we had the picnic the one time so I could sing for Burt." As far as Rachel could tell, no one really went there, and they wouldn't be there at this time of night, so the pair could be relatively alone. And more than anything that night, Rachel wanted alone time with her husband. Between her injuries, preparing for Regionals, and living in a house with four other people, they hadn't been truly alone at any point in the past couple months and it pained her more than she wanted to admit. Tonight was their time for each other, no matter what anyone else wanted.