Where Dreams Take You
Rachel was staring out the window as the rain was coming down on the pane of glass in the back of the rehearsal hall. Her phone was sitting on the windowsill as she waited for Finn's call. He always called at 5pm. Always. She looked at her watch, 4:55. She leaned her head against the cool glass and closed her eyes. It had been three weeks since she had last seen him. "One Night Stand" had been signed by Atlantic records two years ago. Six months after Finn and Rachel had gotten married that day in the hospital when she had almost lost him. It had been two short years, but nothing about their lives was the same.
Blaine quit his job at the firm, opting to spend his full attention to the band. His father was furious but Blaine's skill around contracts and legal terms came in handy as Blaine took on the day to day activities of making sure they weren't taken advantage of. Kurt spent all his time working on costumes for "Phantom of the Opera" until one day he realized that design was his calling. He built himself up one stitch at a time, moving on to work on costumes for the production of "Wicked". Sam, newly single was making waves across the country as one of the music world's hottest bachelors. Puck settled down with Quinn, who strangely enough was one of Rachel's closest friends in the past two years. Puck and Quinn had weekly dinners with Beth and Shelby, and had recently gotten hitched when Puck dragged Quinn off to Vegas, proposing to her in the middle of the fountain at The Bellagio, his version of the biggest pool he had ever seen.
Finn finished school but put his career on hold when the band got signed. He focused full time on writing music, even earning a production credit for their first album. He still got letters now and then from the state correctional facility, always signed "Your love, April" that he would quickly burn and throw away in the bin in the back of the house. He would laugh it off and tell Rachel that "Crazy April must not have taken her meds that day" but Rachel knew it was something that would always haunt him. The first few months after the attack he would wake up in a sweat, holding his side as he would fling himself out of bed screaming her name. He would always reassure her that he was fine and eventually the nightmares stopped. Puck even began joking with him about getting his ass kicked by a girl, to which Finn would always remind him that he was the one wearing the apron and drinking from an invisible tea cup on most nights.
And Rachel, well she didn't get her role on "Wicked"; in fact she didn't get a role for eight months. She got frustrated, she felt like quitting, but Finn never let her give up. Instead she auditioned for anything that came across her desk. She worked harder, practicing every night on her voice, dancing, getting her acting just right until a role fell into her lap. She wasn't even auditioning that day. She showed up with Kurt, helping him carry in rungs of fabric and string. The two of them were playing around on the set of "Wicked", a dream come true for them, when they realized they weren't alone. She was offered the role of Maureen in "Rent" the next day. Things had been crazy ever since.
Rachel was distracted from her thoughts when she heard her phone buzzing against the wooden shelf by the window. She picked it up quickly. "Finn?" She said excitedly.
"Hey baby. Sorry I think was a couple minutes late tonight." His voice echoed through the speaker, the sound of Puck and Sam discussing the merits of having a hulk on your team in Avengers.
She looked at her watch and laughed, 5:02. Finn was always so serious about calling her every night at the same time. It was one way that he promised her that even though they weren't together every night, nothing was going to change between them. "I think I can deal with two minutes, Finn." She said half seriously.
"I would have called on time but Puck had some stupid idea to take the stairs up to the room…something about my 'unsightly bagel rolls' needing a work out." Finn groaned on the other end and she knew that he hated it when Puck ribbed him about his weight. Finn was in no way fat or out of shape, but he gave up years ago trying to look like Puck, and the attack had left him with a lot of pain in his back that made heavy exercise unbearable for him.
"Well you tell Noah that I like my husband just the way he is. And I happen to think those little love handles of yours are sexy." She giggled into the phone as she looked at the photo of her and Finn on her dressing room table. It was from their last trip back to Ohio, Rachel was sitting on the swings in the back of the elementary school and Finn was standing in front of her, leaning over as he kissed her cheek. A memory made possible by Kurt who was never far from his camera. "I miss you Finn." She sighed softly.
"I know baby. I miss you too." His voice was soft and she could hear a door shutting and the sounds of everyone else in the room drown away.
The other end of the line was silent for a moment. Three weeks felt like an eternity. "Where are you today?" She said, interrupting the thick silence.
"Um…Missouri. We leave in the morning. I think we're headed to North Carolina or one of the Carolina's. I never know. I just make Blaine tell me before we get on stage where we are so I don't shout the wrong state or something dumb."
"Well you could never say anything dumb."
"Yeah, I leave that up to Kyle." Finn joked. The two had become friends, but Finn never fully trusted him after his infatuation with Rachel.
"When are you coming back this way?" Rachel asked quietly. She didn't have a break in her show for another month, leaving the state was out of the question and she never let her understudy cover for her. She was Rachel Hudson after all; she was on that stage every night and had never missed a show, even the one time she had come down with the flu. She had Kurt make her some herbal tea in the morning and was back on stage by nightfall. She was nothing if not determined.
"We're headed west soon. Pretty sure we've got Texas and Arizona coming up. That usually means California is up next." She could hear the heaviness in his voice. Being apart wasn't easy on their marriage. They would go months without seeing each other. But they were living their dreams. They had everything they had ever hoped for, except for that whole, being in the same space part. When she didn't speak for a moment, he finally broke in. "You're doing alright though, right? The house is ok? Kurt's taking care of everything right?"
Rachel smiled to herself, enjoying Finn's protective nature washing over her. "I'm fine Finn. Kurt and I are doing everything we need to. I'm a big girl."
Finn laughed. "Well on the inside you are."
"Hey, just because you aren't here doesn't mean I can't glare at you for calling me short."
"Oh no, the Rachel Hudson death glare." He mocked.
"Mr. Hudson, you would be wise to be afraid of my death glare if you have any intention of getting in my pants when I see you again."
"Hey now, you don't joke about sex. That's sacred babe. You can't withhold that when we barely see each other as it is." His voice was calm with a slight air of concern to it and it caused the smile to grow on her face.
"Relax, you know better than I do that I wouldn't last two minutes if I tried to withhold sex from you after months of being apart." She felt her cheeks get warm just thinking about touching him again.
"It's my charm right?" He said with a chuckle.
"That and your adorable little bagel rolls." She heard him scoff into the receiver and she giggled loudly.
"Man I miss your face when you laugh."
Her laughing stopped immediately and she sighed. "I'll find a way to get to one of your shows if you're not coming this way soon." She knew Kurt was missing Blaine as much as she missed Finn and would jump at the chance for an impromptu flight out of town.
She could hear pounding on the door and muffled sounds as he put his hand to the phone receiver. "Alright give me two minutes." She heard him tell whoever was at the door. "Sorry babe, I gotta run. We need to catch dinner before the show."
Rachel sighed heavily and touched her hand to the picture frame in front of her. "I'll be thinking of you. I love you, Finn."
"I love you too, Rach. Always."
The phone clicked in her ear and the line went dead. She looked out the window as the rain continued to come down in New York, soaking the streets below. There was a knock at her door and she sat her phone down and stood up. "It's open."
Kurt pushed his head through the crack of the door. "Hey sunshine, you up for some dinner?" She smiled as he entered the room. He always waited for her phone call to be done before he came to get her.
"Dinner sounds perfect." She said with a smile as she grabbed her phone and purse, smiling down at the frame in front of the mirror before she locked arms with her best friend and headed out of the theater.