Yes or no - Book 4 - S.E.

Extra: Finn Hudson

A/N: So, as I said before, I didn't really feel comfortable writing for The Quarterback episode, but I just felt like Emily and Finn deserved some closure, especially after their whole story together last season. So, here it is, a small tribute for Finn Hudson of my own. I hope you enjoy it.

Sam had been spending the last few days at Natalie and Emily's house to give Carole, Kurt and Burt some time by themselves and with each other. For a while, Sam had felt like he was intruding something — sure the Hudson-Hummel's never failed to make him feel like part of the family, but with Finn's passing, staying in the spare room of their house just felt like too much. Besides, he was happy to be staying with Emily, considering the two of them also needed some time for healing and, having each other near was helping the two of them greatly.

After the news, the two of them had cried, spending a whole night in each other's arms, mourning the loss of a friend. But Emily had bounced back from it rather quickly and it wasn't that she wasn't affected by it, of course she was. But she knew Sam was closer to Finn than she ever was and she knew he needed to get in touch with his feelings more than she did. So for the following days, after Finn's death, Emily would let Sam crawl into her bed and cry into her chest as she shushed him gently, pressing sweet kisses to his forehead and running her fingers through his hair.

And Sam was grateful for it. And he knew she was staying strong like that not only for him but for everyone in glee club as well that, for some reason, would often end up crying on her shoulders in the silence of the empty choir room or in the dark of a vacant classroom. And for a whole week, Emily didn't complain. She would embrace anyone who needed her; she would rock them in her arms and she would assure them that, whenever he was, Finn was looking down on them and that he was proud of them.

But even strong, stoic Emily had a breaking point and it wasn't until the seventh day after Finn's death — on the last day of the Finn tribute the glee club had put together — that Emily decided she couldn't do that anymore. So, rushing from her bedroom to the spare room Sam had been staying in, she didn't bother knocking, falling into Sam's bed as she sobbed.

Wasting no time at all, it was Sam's turn to play the protector, throwing his phone to the side as he gathered his girlfriend in his arms and caressed her hair as she buried her face in his chest to cry. They stayed like that for a while, holding each other in silence, no words exchanged as Emily poured out all the emotions she had been holding inside of her for far too long.

"You want to talk about it, bub?" Sam asked gently, his hand still running through Emily's hair as she sniffled.

"I couldn't find a song to sing to him." She whimpered, shifting in the bed so she was sitting up against Sam as he leaned against the wall with his arm draped over her shoulders. "I didn't feel right."

"Why?"

"I was awful to him in high school." She admitted. "I mean, I was awful to Rachel but that kind of means I was awful to him, right? I mean, he hated me, didn't he?"

"Of course not..." Sam shook his head then, pulling Emily closer to him so she was sitting over his lap now. "He didn't hate you, Emily. You were just as much family to him as anyone else in that glee club. And you know, there was a reason he decided to confide in you while he was at school after the army. He trusted your judgment, Em... He admired you."

Emily whimpered then, sobbing gently again as Sam squeezed her in his arms. After a second of silence, Emily leaned her head against Sam's shoulder as she started to talk again.

"You know, after he came back from college, we had a conversation one day." She said, as Sam only nodded, encouraging her to keep going as he rubbed her arm gently. "He was still apologizing for the kiss. And I said it was okay. But I think there was part of me that still wasn't okay with that and I think part of him knew it. I'm just... I'm just so scared that he died thinking I hated him for it — or for whatever reason. I'm terrified he died thinking I didn't like him. Because I don't think I ever told him what he meant to me. And how much... And how much I admired him for being the first popular kid to step up and say yeah, I'm in the glee club. I just... I wish he knew that the only reason why I do that now, it's because of him..."

Sam felt his heart breaking at that. So, squeezing her in his arms once she started sobbing again, Sam rocked them both side to side, pressing Emily's head to his chest as she cried and leaning his chin over her head as he tried not to break down with her as well, knowing she needed him to be strong for her right now. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head then, looking up at the ceiling as he sighed deeply.

"He knew, baby..." Sam whispered, to try and calm down his girlfriend. "He knew it, I promise."

Forever in our hearts,

Cory Monteith, 1982 - 2013