Lima, Ohio

"I'm home!" Finn yelled excitedly as he dropped his luggage off at the doorway and ran immediately to the kitchen. He was starving after the long flight, despite the fact that he ate only several hours earlier on the plane. He heard rushing from the staircase and Burt and Carole appeared at the top.

"Honey!" Carole screeched a wide grin stretched across her face as she embraced her son who had been studying in Boston to fufill his dreams and become a teacher. "How are you?" She asked still clinging to her son and standing on her tip toes so she could meet his face. "Is everyone being nice, are you making friends?"

And the motherly instincts have kicked in. This must be a new record. Finn chuckled while pulling back from the hug to give Burt a quick one. "Mom, relax. I'm great. School's fine and yes everybody's nice." He tried to sound irritated, but he couldn't help that his tone was was overly excited and happy. He was just happy to be back in Lima after a long and tiresome year.

"Are you hungry, kid?" Burt asked clasping his shoulder. He already knew the answer. Having Finn come home was always enjoyable for Burt, it was nice to have a kid in the house after a year of just him and Carole.

"Starved." He responded rubbing his stomach and taking a seat at the table while they all laughed.

"So tell me everything. What have you been up to? Are you keeping your grades up?" Carole reached for the bread in the cabinet and prepared her son's favorite sandwich.

"Mom, please. Let me eat before you interrogate me." Finn chided jokingly.

"Excuse me for being interested in you life." She put her hands on her hips, but was smiling broadly. She returned to cooking and pulled out the mayonaisse and lettuce from the refrigarator, then carefully sliced tomatoes.

"To answer your question, the classes and schoolwork are pretty hard but the parties are kick-"

"Finn, we don't pay your tuiton for you to sing and dance at night." Carole reprimanded.

"What's the big deal? When I was his age, I was doing a lot worse than partying if you know what I mean." Burt added seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"Don't give him any ideas." She gave a defeated sigh and nudged Burt's shoulder as if to say you are such a bad role model.

They all took seats and Burt placed a plate infront of Finn. His eyes gleamed with pleasure as he began to devour the sandwich. "mmm, mom you have skill." He praised while taking a break from eating. She smiled appreciatevly and turned to ask Burt about something to let Finn fill himself up.

After finishing in a record amount of time, he let out a satisfied sigh and pulled his phone from outside of his jean pocket. Finn scrolled through his contacts before finding Quinn's and remembered that she was also flying in today. They hadn't seen one another in over a year and calling wasn't the same as seeing someone.They weren't dating, but they were close friends and no matter what, they always would be. Besides, they had alot of catching up to do.

To: Quinn 2:58 pm

Hey did u land yet?

"Hey finn can you tell mercedes my regrets for not going to the wedding?" Burt asked turning away from his conversation with carole. He knew that he wouldn't be able to see Mercedes anytime soon to apologize for the late notice and figured Finn could reach her easier.

"You can't go?"

"No, some guy's bothering me about the shop and the only date he had available to meet was the same day." He responded regretfully.

"Yeah, I guess." Finn shrugged casually, and twitched slightly when he felt a buzzing in his pocket.

To Finn 3:00

I get in tonight. U free tmw?

"You just got home and now your already looking at you phone?" Carole shook her head in annoyance and threw her hands up in the air. But, Finn hardly noticed considering he was too busy responding. "Everyone's always on electronics these days. Why can't peole just talk?" She snapped her fingers from across the table, but after no avail, she grabbed the dishes and walked over to the sink.

To Quinn: 3:01

Yeah. Lunch at Breadsticks?

He was finally snapped back into reality when Burt informed him about the sleeping arrangements.

"We cleaned up the guest room if you want to go put all your things in there." Burt said nodding his head upward and shuffling to the door to gather all of Finn's belongings.

"I got it." He jumped out of the chair and rushed to where Burt was standing and took his suitcase. "Thanks." He stepped around Burt and started up the stairs and down the halls. He hated the guest room so much, it was stuffy and always at and unbearingly hot temperature. But he would never mention it, because the only other spare room would be Kurt's old one and Burt refused to let anyone touch anything down there. Finn had only been in the basement once after Kurt left and everything was exactly the same. Maybe Burt just didn't want to lose the memory of Kurt, he thought.

His phone buzzed several times as he was making his way up the stairs and dropped everything to the floor with a loud clamor.

To Finn: 3:03

Perfect!

He smiled giddily like a teenager who just his first kiss. What can he say? School ended, it was summer, and everyone was finally coming home for their friend's big day. Well almost everyone. He hadn't really thought about his stepbrother in a while, but it was hard to completely forget about him, seeing as Kurt Hummel was on every billboard and magazine. He really missed him though. He missed the snarky comments and judgemental tone that always came up. But, Kurt was happy. That was really all that mattered.

He plopped on the bed, still clutching his phone and playing a game of brick breaker as his mind wandered. He wondered about how Burt coped with never seeing his son. He wondered about what Kurt was doing now. He wondered if Kurt ever thought about Lima, if he even remembered where he came from...he wondered if Kurt was ever coming home. But he didn't need to think too hard on the last one. It was pretty much common knowledge that Kurt would never return.

Laying on his bed, he thought about the New Years party when everything turned downhill. Kurt and Burt were fuming at each other and Finn tried to calm everyone, but things kept getting worse. If only Kurt knew how much Burt regretted that day. It was the most shameful thing in his life and he would do anything to re-do it. If only Kurt knew how much he was still loved, and that if he were to ever come back, he would be welcomed with open arms.