Life As We Know It

Chapter 18: Sugar Isn't Always Sweet

A few weeks into owning their business, Finn and Rachel were feeling the full strains of owning a business and having their own little family. The two 25 year olds would never have expected their lives to be at the point it was at now and nothing had prepared them for it. Although their good moments outweighed their bad, many of the recent moments felt like they definitely took on more than they should have.

They thought they were balancing family and working life quite well but more than often both came home shattered and it seemed like Cassie was getting the bitter end of it; rarely getting to spend time with Rachel or Finn or even both. When the two did manage to spend a few hours together it was welcomed but the stress of the day or the week left them feeling too tired to bother doing anything much. Rachel's cakes and pastries were becoming popular demands and occasionally requested for parties which meant extra preparation time at the shop. Their private drum or vocal lessons were still being scheduled in. However, they weren't taking any new recruits. The musical side of Sweet Notes was very popular among many of the local youth and parents had even sent in donations for more equipment and facilities. All in all, even though the business was doing very well in such a short time and Finn and Rachel saw the massive difference they were making, they couldn't help but feel they should have waited a bit more. Friday nights meant late nights; as planned earlier, they had The Smiths play a regular set which had become popular and was drumming up interest from small record labels. Their neighbours occasionally took up the karaoke offers, Mercedes, Santana and Tina becoming regulars. One of the stress free things they deemed enjoyable was when the whole gang would get together for performances; their own little glee club, aptly named 'Sweet Notes' too. They themselves were drumming up interest in the community, becoming a hit. A few scouts had even approached Mercedes but she had turned them down due to commitments to her family. Santana, however, was working her way to possibly signing with the one of the small labels The Smiths were sought after.

As if those stress weren't enough, Finn had his birthday party to plan which was in a fortnight. Initially, they didn't want to throw a big party but Rachel argued that they deserve to celebrate big after the year they've had. What they hadn't counted on was trying to figure out how they would plan this and plan their fake wedding which was in just three months. So far, for Finn's party they knew it would be held at Sweet Notes with their closest family and friends, Sweet Notes would perform and Rachel was baking the cake. The finer details and invitations and so forth were still to be sorted. As for their fake wedding, Rachel was at a loss as to how they would pull it through and Finn worried about the severity of the situation. They could have put it off, they could have said they had eloped but that would still cause suspicions since Puck had informed the CPA that they were getting married in a sacred spot in Central Park and Finn told Emily to expect the invitations.

'We wouldn't be going through this is you had kept your mouth shut' a frustrated Rachel told Finn as she, Santana, Kurt and Blaine were sitting around one of the tables in Sweet Notes.

'I said I was sorry for that, how many times do we have to go through this?' Finn replied bitterly as he sat back in his chair, watching Rachel run her hands through her hair and massaging her head.

'We could have got away with it, we could have said we eloped or something put it off even and you go on tell Emily 'to expect an invitation soon'' she spewed mocking him on his words sarcastically.

Santana, Kurt and Blaine all shared a look with each other, their faces filled with shock and worry. In the years they had known Finn and Rachel they hadn't seen them act this way with each other, especially in recent months.

'Look, we can figure this out, we have the venue sorted don't we?' Santana cut in as she rubbed circles on Rachel's back trying to calm her down. 'That's something'