A/N: This epilogue has been long overdue, I know. I'm not really sure if I like this, but I hope you do =)

He knew something was wrong from the moment he reached the front door and couldn't hear any sound coming from the other side. At five thirty in the evening, their home is never quiet. If Rachel isn't singing something, then it'll be Chris, laughing his five year old head off at Tom & Jerry. Needless to say, the silence coming from the other end is alarming to say the least.

"I'm home," he calls out as he pushes the front door open. Standing in the doorway, he frowns when there's no answer. Chris would usually be climbing up his leg by now. He turns to the coat rack and notes that Rachel's red jacket and Chris's bright yellow one hangs neatly off of it. Rachel's keys are in their usual place, in the bowl on the kitchen counter. So they're home.

Why is it so strangely silent?

"Rachel?" he calls out, closing the door behind him as he cautiously treks through the living room. It's been almost four months since they moved out of the old house, and he's still getting used to the abundance of space they have now. Chris loves it, of course. Their son is a bundle of energy and a constant source of anxiety for his mother. He's only five (and three months, he thinks to himself, momentarily amused. It's entirely Rachel's fault that the kid wakes up asking how old is he exactly every single day), but he's been to the hospital enough times that both him and Rachel are now on first names bases with the nurses at the emergency unit.

"Rach?" he calls out again as he steps into their empty bedroom.

"We're in here!" she answers, her voice floating over from Chris's playroom. It was meant to be a guest room. And it was, until about a month in, when they found their son with his palms full of paint and his fingerprints all along the wall, as high up as he could reach, with the proudest smile pasted on his face. So they spoil their kid rotten, so what? Considering how hard it was trying to have him in the first place, Finn figured, why the hell not? Besides, Rachel gets crazy defensive whenever someone so much as mentions the idea of disciplining her son. They're working on it, okay?

Besides, Christopher was their little miracle. When he thinks it over, his entire life has been filled with small miracles, really. Getting out of Lima, finding Rachel, losing her and then, well, finding the real her, his life is nothing short of a real life soap opera, and never in a million years would Finn have thought it would ever turn out to be this dramatic.

They didn't get married right away, although his mother's ring went right back around her finger the moment she said yes (This time without the memory-removing car accident, thank you very much). They waited for a little more stability, while Rachel fully came to terms with who she is, was, and that person she still couldn't remember. Finn was there for every step of the way, the one constant truth in her life, and it hadn't been easy. Bitter words had been exchanged in more than one occasion, and he still regretfully remembers walking out on her once, when the anger at being the punching bag for all her frustrations became too much (He doesn't know if there is any other man in the world whose fiancé got crazy, territorial jealous with, well, herself essentially, but he can say it now, it was a doozy man).

A huge part of her anger came from the fact that Rachel Berry had lived the life that Rachel Corcoran had always wanted, and the fact that she couldn't even remember it had upset her to no end. It took him a while, two years actually, trying to convince her that Rachel Berry was still her, that they're one and the same, and that anything Rachel Berry could have done, Rachel Corcoran could too.

"How do you know that?" she'd asked hesitantly at one point, and he'd smiled, because that was easy,

"You have me, remember?" he answered, only a little playfully. "Just like she did."

She had teased him mercilessly about being full of himself, but he knew from the ruddy hue of her cheeks and the small, unrestrained smile on her face, that his words had helped as she began to tackle her tangled life with renewed vigor.

She didn't go back to performing, not exactly, but he did convince her to take vocal lessons, and it wasn't long until she herself started to train the other students herself ("I guess my vocal muscles remember her, even if I don't"). He pushes her to audition for roles, and even though she got some of them, the performing bug didn't seem to bite her the same way it did the old Rachel.

"It's not about not believing in myself," she told him when he confronted her about it one night. She was lying on their bed, turned to her side as she faced him, and he knew from the look of conviction on her face that she meant it. "I know I can do it. If I wanted to. I just- if you had told me, a few years ago, that somewhere inside of me there's this person with this amazing voice-"

"With perfect pitch," he reminded her, grinning.

"Yes, with perfect pitch, and- and that one day she was going to show herself to the entire world, I would have thought you were crazy. That wasn't me, Finn, you know? I didn't- I never thought I could do any of these things, I didn't even dare to dream about it until- well, until I got into an accident and lost my mind, and she did come out," she said ruefully, shaking her head. She took his hand and brought it up to her cheek.

"And until you," she told him, leaning her face against his hand, her eyes boring into his as he felt his cheeks getting warm. "Until you happened to me, and believed in me, I was a nobody. But with you, when I'm with you, I know I can do anything."

"You know, you happened to me too," he said quietly, shifting closer towards her as her soft smile widened.

"I can be a star," she whispered, leaning towards him, pressing her forehead against his. "If I wanted it. I'm good enough. I'm more than good enough."

"Hell yeah you are."

"Maybe that was I wanted once. But sometimes I think maybe Rachel Berry, maybe she lived it enough for the both of us. That's not what I want Finn."

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice husky from the emotions he was holding back. She smiled, leaning forwards to press their lips together softly before she pulled back.

"I want you. I want a life with you."

"You already have it."

"I want a family Finn."

He allowed those words to sink in as he took in the almost nervous way she's worrying her lips, allowing the smallest of smiles to grow on his.

"Yeah?" he whispered, wrapping his arms around her torso to pull her closer.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

They finally did get married soon after, and it was a smaller affair than one he had imagined before. It was held back in Lima, in his parents' house because Rachel was adamant to have it somewhere that felt like home. Jesse was invited, along with his family, and Finn found that he didn't have it in him anymore to be hostile when her ex-husband came up to him, his newly born baby in his arms.

"Take care of her, or I'll kick your ass," Jesse warned teasingly, and he laughed, clapping the smaller man in the back.

"I promise."

It may be his bias speaking, but he doesn't care to be honest. She was the most beautiful bride he had ever seen, and she was his. He's realized for a while that he probably wouldn't deny her anything if it was within his means, and when they're swaying together in the middle of the dance floor (her toes were safe all evening), and she whispered that she wanted a baby, well that was the extent of their family planning.

But wanting and getting are two different things. It took a year of trying before Rachel was pregnant, and it was subsequently six months later when they lost their son. She had been a wreck, utterly inconsolable for weeks, completely blaming herself for everything, even though he told her over and over that it wasn't her fault. Things just happened. He knew it was more than just their baby, that she was thinking of her daughter too, and how she had lost Shelby in a similar way.

"Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something," she said quietly. "Maybe I'm just not good enough to be a mom."

"That's not true Rachel," he answered tiredly. It had been a month since they lost baby boy Hudson, but the memory of her passed out in the middle of their toilet, blood staining her white dress was still all too clear in his mind.

"Well obviously the universe doesn't share your opinion," she snapped, pulling away from him when he touched her shoulder. The key with Rachel is to be persistent, so he tried again, pulling her toward him gently by the shoulders. When she stopped resisting, he gathered her in his arms, pulling her close to him while she cried into his chest.

"We just need to be patient," he whispered into her hair. "We just have to wait."

"Sometimes it just means that we need to give up Finn."

"Hey," he said, nudging for her to look up. She did, her large eyes filled with tears as he pressed their foreheads together. "Imagine where we would be if I did that. Everyone told me to give up on us Rach, but I never did. And you never did either, and look at us now."

"But-"

"You're a Hudson now babe, and we never give up."

The next time they got pregnant, Rachel became even more neurotic than usual. The coffee table had been lined with baby books of every kind, and she absolutely refused to eat anything that she hadn't cooked herself, barring his pathetic attempts to help her and those last few months when his mom had 'visited' only to stick around until Christopher was born. She drove Santana crazy, calling her and Finn up when the slightest thing happened (The baby's not kicking, he's kicking too much, she feels especially bloated today and Finn's on a school trip, so Santana needs to come over and take her to see the doctor, and the best one of all, "Finn, I'm getting bigger, right? You promise?").

She wouldn't stop hounding their friend until Santana begrudgingly admitted, albeit out of exasperation, that even though she hates babies and thinks that children need to be locked up until they're thirteen, Christopher was different, and that she'll spoil him to death. She certainly didn't disappoint. For all her bitching that Finn and Rachel are turning their kid into a spoiled brat, she's the absolute worst. On the rare moments when they actually do decide to discipline him, Chris has a tendency to pick up Rachel's phone to call up aunt 'Tana for a 'pick-me-up'. They're still trying to work out how he manages to steal his mom's phone away from under her nose every time.

Rachel calls his name, snapping him out of his reverie as he hurries curiously towards the room at the far end of the apartment, pushing the door open to find his wife sitting cross-legged on the floor with an armful of their son as she mutters soothing words against the crown of his head, her hand running up and down his back comfortingly. Christopher's face is pressed against her chest, his pudgy hands clinging around her neck, and he's shaking. Over his head, Rachel's eye catches the raise of his eyebrow.

Gomez, she mouths. Christopher's pet gecko? She turns her head towards Gomez's little aquarium and Finn quietly walks over to it. The little guy is sprawled on the floor, belly-up with his little eyes closed, very much dead.

Oh.

Finn shuffles closer to his family, sinking down next to Rachel. Tentatively, he touches Chris's shoulder.

"What's wrong buddy?" he asks quietly. At the sound of his father's voice, Christopher turns his head, and the kid looks so pathetic, it's almost breaking his heart.

"Dad- daddy," he hiccups, leaning his head against Rachel's shoulder. "Gomez won't wake up. Mom- mommy said he's going to heaven."

Finn looks up at Rachel, trying to hide an amused smile. Heaven? Really? She shrugs, sending him a look that dares him to come up with something better. Obviously, he can't. Chris is looking up at him tearfully, fully expecting him to say something reassuring, but Gomez has very clearly bit the dust, what else is there to say?

"I'm sorry Chris," he says regretfully instead. Christopher, inheriting his mother's big brown eyes, and incidentally, her uncanny ability to look like the whole world has ended, continues staring up at him, big fat tears rolling down his cheeks as his lips start to tremble. Finn opens his arms and Chris jumps immediately, releasing his hold on Rachel to latch on to his father as he continues to cry.

"I don't want him to go to heaven," Christopher wails. "He's not going to like it there."

Rachel, seeing an out, immediately stands, quietly leaving him with their son. Traitor.

"C'mon bud," he says soothingly. "He's gonna love it there. I bet they'll put him in with all the other good lizards, and he'll even get his own rock and everything."

Chris is quiet for a few seconds, his small hands absent-mindedly playing with Finn's tie.

"They'll let him eat Oreos?" Chris asks quietly, looking up at him. He struggles not to make a face.

"All the Oreos Gomez can handle," he promises. Christopher's face brightens for a second before he frowns again.

"But he doesn't know anyone in heaven," his son tells him worriedly. "No one's going to play with him like I do, and what if they almost step on him like mommy?"

Finn hides a smile, putting his hands on Chris's shoulders, pushing him back gently to get a good look at him.

"What do you mean he doesn't know anyone? He knows plenty of people. Star's going to be there, remember her?"

Chris nods solemnly, thinking of their old cat.

"She was a nice kitty."

"Yeah."

"Mommy cried really bad when she went to heaven."

"She did, didn't she? Anyway, Star's going to be there, and she's going to take good care of him. And hey, gammy Corcoran too, and Shelby, and your brother. I mean, yeah, he's gonna miss you, but they're probably all waiting for him right now."

"You promise?" He hates lying to his kid, but letting the little dude believe that lizards go to heaven is bound to be better for him in the long run than telling him that they're going to bury Gomez up in the greenhouse on the roof and that he's going to turn into fertilizer in a few months, right?

"I promise," he answers, grinning. That seemed to cheer Christopher up considerably. Rachel walks in just then, carrying a small matchbox with her. She hands it to Christopher.

"Come on baby, we're going to give him a small funeral, okay?" she says, pulling his son up by his hand as they walk over to the aquarium. He can't help the snort that comes out when Rachel wrinkles her nose as Christopher places his lizard carefully in his 'casket'. She hated Gomez. If there was one thing she would have put her foot down on, it would have been the lizard, but there wasn't much they could do five months ago, when Chris came home with Santana one day with a lizard, and its aquarium in tow (He's pretty sure it was payback for some last minute babysitting). Standing, Finn walks over to them just in time to see Gomez one last time before Christopher slides the matchbox close.

"Did you do it?" he whispers playfully in her ear, voice low enough so that their son won't hear him. She whirls her head around to glare at him immediately, pinching his arm.

"I am not a murderer," she tells him snootily, stepping back to give Christopher room to move. They trail after his tiny frame, walking together behind him as he walks into every room for Gomez to say his last goodbye.

"I don't know Rach," he says solemnly as he throws an arm around her. "You did almost step on him."

"That was an accident!" she hisses, struggling to release herself from his hold, but he won't let her, tucking her even closer to his side. "I may not be fond of that ugly animal, but I definitely won't kill our son's pet! Finn-"

"Mommy?"

He turns his attention back to Christopher, schooling the teasing look on his face into a more appropriately somber expression.

"What is it sweetie?" Rachel asks gently, kneeling down to face him.

"Is gammy Corcoran really going to take care of Gomez in heaven?"

He watches as she pulls back in surprise, looking at his son in confusion.

"Gammy Corcoran?" she repeats. Chris nods his little head vigorously.

"Daddy said she would. And Shelby and Star and-"

"Daddy said that, huh?" she cuts in, looking up at him from where she's kneeling. He shrugs, his lips pulling upward in an unassuming grin. He sees the tension melting away from her face, giving way to a beautiful smile as she turns back to Christopher.

"They really are, okay honey? Gomez is going to have the best time Chris. He's going to be the happiest lizard in heaven ever."

That seems to have eliminated all his doubts as Christopher smiles, those dimples he inherited from Finn coming out in full effect.

"Okay. But we have to wait for aunt 'Tana okay?"

"Why?" Rachel asks, bemused.

"Because she promised she was gonna come," he answers simply.

"When did you- never mind," Rachel says, sighing. "Just get your coat, okay? We're going to go up the minute she arrives."

"Okay," Chris says, shoving the matchbox into her hand as he runs for his yellow jacket.

She makes a face, wrinkling her nose in disgust while he laughs, walking towards her and pulling her up.

"Hand him over," he says, holding out his hand as Rachel drops the matchbox onto his palm. He curls his fingers around it just in time when she pulls him down by his tie, pressing their lips together.

"What's this for?" he mumbles, smiling into their kiss. She presses their lips together once more before she pulls away, smiling.

"For being you," she says simply. He grins, winding his free arm around her waist, Gomez wrapped safely in his other hand.

"It's fun being me." She laughs, wrapping her arms around him as she squeezes the life out of him.

"I love you, you know that?" she whispers, looking up at him with a small smile on her face. It's been years, and sometimes Rachel still looks at him like he hung the moon.

"I was kind of hoping, you know, what with us being married and having a kid and all. And plus, there was that whole forgetting me thing. I mean, it's going to take years of loving just to make up for that alone."

"Shut up," she says, pouting playfully when he laughs. He leans down to kiss her again.

"I love you too, you know that?" he mumbles against her lips.

"God, you two make me sick."

They pull away abruptly to find a slightly dishevelled Santana staring at them with disdain, Christopher in her arms.

"There's a kid in the house for God's sake! Tone it down on the PDA will you?"

"Hi Santana," he says wryly. Santana rolls her eyes, waving off his greeting.

"C'mon, c'mon let's go!" Christopher yells in a burst of energy. "They're waiting for Gomez in heaven."

Santana rolls her eyes again, but she acquiesces, abruptly turning around and walking back towards the door. Finn snorts as he watches them.

"She's totally whipped."

"Oh, and you're not? You're holding a matchbox with a dead lizard inside of it."

"I see your point."

They hear Christopher hollering for Rachel, and he chuckles.

"He must have inherited your lungs," he teases as they walk out the door, hand in hand.

"Of course. He'll be the best singer in his whole class soon."

"You're singing at this 'funeral' aren't you?"

"Prepare to listen to the best rendition of Ben yet."

"That's a song about a mouse named Ben."

"Your point being?"

"Our son is burying a lizard named Gomez."

"I'll improvise."

"Can't wait to hear it Rach."

A/N: And we're really done! Hope you enjoyed the ride, and hey, tell me if you do (or don't).