as far as friends go

chapter 14

One year later

Hearing the alarm go off, Rachel groaned as she stirred in bed. Hitting the off button as quickly as she could, she slowly sat up and adjusted her eyes around the very dark room. Grabbing her eye glasses, she put them on. It was 2:15 am and she had to be at the hospital for 3:00. This week was another one of those weeks where she'd been put on the crazy shift schedule.

Quietly getting up, she tiptoed to the large walk-in closet and grabbed a pair of scrubs from the shelf where they were neatly folded. Exiting the closet, Rachel slowly and gently made her way through the pitch-black room, trying not to stub her toe or run into something that could make a lot of noise. Successfully making her way to the door without any noise, she walked out and silently closed the door behind her. Getting to the kitchen, she fixed some coffee and rested her head on the counter as she waited for it to be done brewing.

It had been an exact year from the date where Finn professed his love for her in a bar full of strangers and asked Rachel to move in with him. At this point, Rachel knew with all of her heart that she couldn't be happier. In the time after Finn asked her to move in with him, their relationship only spiraled upwards. They were living the dream now and nothing could ever change that. She loved him with all of her heart and he was the one.

Hearing the beeper going off, informing her that the coffee was ready, she fixed a cup and headed towards their master bathroom. After changing into her scrubs, Rachel brushed her teeth and placed her hair in it's normal messy high bun. By the time she was finished, she looked at herself in the mirror. She was really glad that Finn was asleep right now, because she definitely didn't look her best. Her everyday work look wasn't really that great. Scrubs, tennis shoes, small button up grey jacket, no make-up, messy bun, and eye glasses. She just didn't really care about her appearance on work days.

After she was done, she looked at the clock. It was 2:25. She usually left at around 2:45 which gave her 20 minutes of breathing and relaxing time. She decided that she'd get some things done before she left so once Finn left for work this morning, the house wouldn't be left sitting nasty and dirty.

Turning on the TV in the kitchen, Rachel walked to the utility room and grabbed the basket of unfolded clothes that she meant to fold last night before getting too tired and going to bed. Placing the basket on the counter, Rachel started folding quickly as she some sitcom that was on at this hour. She found that when she was up at two in the morning for work there was never really that much to watch. The TV mostly consisted of old sitcoms, advertisements, and reruns of shows, or movies. She much preferred getting up at 5, because the news was her favorite thing to watch in the mornings.

Watching TV and folding clothes, Rachel was startled with the sound of footsteps on the floor. Turning around, she was greeted by a sleepy looking Finn.

"What are you doing up this early? I didn't wake you up, did I?" Rachel asked.

"No. I couldn't sleep anymore." he replied in a groggy tone, smiling as he pulled her in for a hug.

"Well good luck with that because i'm down right exhausted." she chuckled.

"Look at the bright side, the earlier you go in, the earlier you get to come home." he smiled, as he held her close to his chest.

"Yeah." she said.

Looking at the clock, it was now 2:30 and Rachel knew that if she left now, she'd have a little extra time at the hospital to get situated before making her daily rounds.

"Okay." she said pulling away from the embrace. "It's 2:30 and if I leave now, I can catch the subway." she smiled, grabbing her purse and scarf.

"The subway? Why not a taxi?" he asked, sounding concerned.