Title: The Tire Shop
Author: Debra
Rating: Mature(for language)
Summary: Takes place after Original Song. Rachel, while at a slumber party with Kurt and Mercedes, tells them about her confrontation with Quinn.
Author's Notes: After watching that scene where Quinn, who has only been back with Finn for two weeks, is planning their future and hinting that Rachel should face reality. All through that little speech, I wanted to slap her and tell her to take her own advice. I also thought that Burt might have a few words to say about a teenage girl making future plans for his tire store. That Carole and Finn might have something say about this as well.
Disclaimer: The characters in this story all belong to Ryan Murphy Productions and Fox Television and not by me. Although I wish I did.
It was the weekend after New Directions had won Regionals and Rachel Berry was over at Kurt's for a slumber party that Saturday night. She was sitting on his bed; eating her vegan ice cream and watching Kurt give Mercedes a makeover. Her two friends had dragged her over there after Finn and Quinn had officially come out as a couple the previous Monday. They were trying to pull her out of the sadness that had taken over but they weren't succeeding very well. Especially when she had arrived at Kurt's Finn had been leaving for a date with Quinn.
The tension between the former couple had been high as they stared at each other for a few moments before Rachel had quickly rushed into the house. Kurt, who had seen the whole thing, glared at his stepbrother and led a visibly upset Rachel upstairs.
"That's it! I am tired of you moping, Rachel! Finn is with Quinn now and even though every interaction I see with them, he is uncomfortable as hell and not as into it as she is, they are a couple. Move on, sweetie. He obviously has," Kurt commented before continuing to speak. "Although Finn hasn't had it very easy since he told his mom about dating Quinn again. Carole has called him a jackass on several occasions for going back to 'the lying little bitch. She can't stand her! He isn't even allowed to bring her to the house, Carole is that angry about him forgiving Quinn and not you. But until my stepbrother gets his head out of his ass, you have to let him do what he is going to do and get on with your life."
"I don't know, Kurt. I have seen them together at school and I don't see it lasting very long. She is putting her campaign for them to be Prom King and Queen together. Putting up posters and everything and they are constantly fighting. Then when he won't do what she wants him to, Quinn turns into the bitch we hated when Glee Club first started. I think she is starting to piss him off."
"It gets much worse than that, Mercedes, "Rachel quietly said as she watched her ice cream melt.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean," Mercedes asked, sharing a look with Kurt, who looked as confused as his best friend did.
"She is planning their entire future together already," Rachel murmured quietly. She then realized that she had said too much and stopped speaking, staring down into the almost liquefied ice cream.
Carole, who was walking by Kurt's door, stepped inside the room with her arms placed over her chest and watched her son's ex-girlfriend. She liked Rachel and after hearing the entire story from both Finn and Kurt, Carole thought her son was being an idiot. Especially now that he is seeing Quinn Fabray again, whose lies and betrayal were worse than Rachel's had ever been; so anything the tiny brunette could tell her about what was going on would help out a great deal.
"You don't get to say something like that, girl and then stop talking," Mercedes demanded. "Tell us what you mean by that."
"I wouldn't mind hearing that myself" Carole said, as she stepped into Kurt's room and sat down beside Rachel on the bed. "Tell me what Quinn has planned for my son's future."
"Before Regionals I saw them together in the hallway and she took his hand in hers. He pulled it away pretty quickly but it was enough to for me to figure out that something was happening between them."
Rachel told the three of them about confronting Quinn in the auditorium. When it got to the part where Quinn described hers and Finn's future, Carole's face turned red in anger. She touched Rachel gently on the shoulder and hugged the girl in a comforting manner before standing up and walking over to the door. Kurt and Mercedes, who had been listening to the story with growing looks of shock on their faces, glanced at each other before staring at Carole.
"I think I need to inform Burt of the fact that he has already decided to leave his tire shop to Finn. He might find it interesting to know that a sixteen year old girl has already made that decision for him. If the three of you hear any yelling downstairs at any time tonight, stay in this room and keep the door closed." she bit out before marching out into the hall and pulling the door closed behind her.
"She really told you that?" Kurt asked, shaking his head in dismay. "My dad is going to have a fit! Finn hasn't shown any interest at all in the tire shop and my dad is planning on selling it when he retires. He knows that neither Finn nor I want to run it. He would rather sell it to someone who will appreciate it and wants to do that kind of work."
The conversation was stopped quickly at the sound of Burt's voice carrying throughout the house.
"CALL FINN AND GET HIM AND THAT LITTLE GIRL OVER HERE NOW!"
Rachel burst into tears and held her head in her hands as the implications of Burt's words went through her. She knew that things were about to get bad around here, that Burt was going to have a few choice words for Quinn.
"I shouldn't have said that, Kurt. I wasn't going to, it just slipped out. He's going to hate me!"
"I think he is going to hate her more for planning his future like that. He is already starting figure out that she only wants him to become Prom Queen, this might push him away from her and cause them to break up," Mercedes stated, trying to comfort Rachel.
All three of them had a feeling their slumber party was not going to be boring and that things never be the same afterwards.
Thirty minutes later, Finn came walking in the front door with Quinn right beside him, fighting not to roll his eyes at her. All she had wanted to talk about was prom dresses, corsages and all of that other bullshit. He was tuning her out and wondering what the fuck he was thinking getting back together with her. He needed just the right excuse to end things with her because the girl was losing her damn mind.
He distracted himself with thoughts of how beautiful Rachel had looked last weekend at Regionals and the beautiful song she had written. He just wondered where she had gotten the inspiration to write that amazing song. Something had to have happened to put her in an emotional state to write 'Get It Right'. Finn had a pretty good idea who it was and if he found out that it was Quinn who had upset her, their renewed relationship would be over.
Finn stopped short at the sight of his mom and stepfather standing in the living room. Judging by the looks on their faces, they weren't happy. He had a feeling that whatever was making them that angry, it wasn't good and it had something to do with him and Quinn.
"Finn, did you ever tell Quinn that you wanted to marry her and have a family while she became a real estate agent and you ran my tire shop?" Burt asked, not even giving Finn and Quinn a chance to step into the room with them before saying what he had to say.
Finn turned to Quinn, fury burning in his eyes as his girlfriend muttered 'That little bitch!' under her breath. He then looked over at his stepfather and his mom and it was very clear to him that his mother was getting ready to go off. Given the mood he was in right now, he wasn't about to stop her. This had been a long time in coming and when she became angry, Carole Hummel was even scarier than Quinn, especially when she looked the way she did now.
"Don't you dare come into my home and call anybody a little bitch! I watched you yell and scream at my son when you were pregnant with his baby. Then I had to be the one to comfort him after the truth came out that Beth was Puck's child. I will never accept you as a part of my son's life and if he ever did get it into his head to marry you, I would disown him so fast his head would spin or fight like hell to talk him out of it. Oh and if I hear about you giving Rachel any trouble over the fact that she told me the truth about your conversation in the auditorium, you will regret it. The way I see things, the one who needs a reality check here is you. My son is destined for more than this town and you. He just hasn't figured it out yet."
"What conversation in the auditorium?" Finn asked his mother.
"It seems Rachel saw the two of you holding hands in the hall and went to ask Quinn if the two of you were back together. She told her yes and then told her some nonsense about how the two of you would get married, have a family while she became a successful real estate agent and you ran Burt's tire shop. That Rachel needed to face reality because in the end she gets you and Rachel gets her heart broken," Carole turned fury filled eyes onto Quinn. "Did I miss anything Quinn?"
"She was spouting some nonsense that it wasn't over between her and Finn and she wasn't giving up on him. I had to give her a reality check."
"Young lady, my wife is right. The one in need of a reality check is you," Burt said, sternly. I had already decided to sell my tire shop after I retire because I have already figured out that Kurt and Finn aren't interested in running it. Are you so selfish that all you care about is what you want? That Finn might not see a future with you because from the way I understood the two of you have only been officially back together less than a week, sneaking around for a couple of weeks before that and before that, cheating on your boyfriend with Finn. That seems to be a pattern with you. Is that Finn's future? Dating you until the next hot guy comes along that will give you more popularity than Finn can?"
After hearing Burt talk about how he could easily be dumped for the next guy that came along who could increase Quinn's status and popularity and thinking about her vision for their future, Finn realized what a jackass he had been. Then he thought about the words of Rachel's song. It hit him that Quinn had never actually came out and apologized for what she had done to him. All she had said was that Puck was a mistake and that she wishes her first time had been with him but only to distract him when he had questioned her motives for wanting to be with him in the first place.
He had then thought about Rachel and how she had repeatedly tried to apologize to him. She had been fighting for him almost every day of the past four months while Quinn had only said she was sorry right after he found out the truth. She had then taken up with Puck pretty quickly after the truth about Beth had come out, before moving onto Sam. He realized that Quinn Fabray was the type of girl who had to have a boyfriend and had never truly been alone before.
It was at that moment, that Finn realized what a mistake he had made in getting involved with Quinn again. What an idiot he had been for that past four months. It was now time to fix the damage that had been done but there was something he had to do first.
"Mom, can either you or Burt take Quinn home because I am done with her."
"I'm not going anywhere Finn and we are not over!"
Quinn's shriek carried throughout the house. She had her hands on her hips and glaring at him, her green eyes burning with fury.
"Go home, Quinn. Find someone else to live out your dreams to become Prom Queen because we are over. I am done with you, for good this time."
"No! You don't decide when we are over! I cheated on Sam for you! Don't you walk away from me!"
Finn ignored her rants, as Burt carried her out of the front door and walked towards the stairs. He went up them and stopped at the first door on the right. He could hear a muted conversation through it but waited a few moments before knocking on Kurt's bedroom door.
He was so lost in his thoughts, Finn hadn't been aware of the fact that his mother had followed him. At least until she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Go in there, son. I'll let the no girls in your room rule slide for just tonight so the two of you can talk and you can keep the door closed. But know this, Finn Christopher, I will be walking past your room every five minutes so if you do work things out, nothing is to happen except kissing and sleeping. Am I understood?"
"I understand, mom."
Finn opened the door to Kurt's room to the sight of Rachel sitting on the end of his stepbrother's bed, being comforted by Kurt and Mercedes. He felt like an ass for doing this to her and hoped that they could make things right.
What she was wearing, a pair of pink pajamas and her brown hair in two braids like she wore at the football game were making things worse because he could feel his body starting to respond to that as well. His mailman problem would be making a comeback if he wasn't careful. That should have been his first clue that his heart wasn't completely in it with Quinn. His little problem that had plagued their first relationship hadn't been a factor this time around. Finn could feel just from seeing her wearing her hair like that and those pajamas, that if he touched Rachel in anyway shape or form, the 'mailman' would return tonight.
"I'm sorry; me and Rachel need to talk."
He quickly took Rachel by the hand and gently pulled her out of the room. Mercedes and Kurt shared a look before following them out into the hall and standing with Carole as the door to Finn's room closed.
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Kurt asked.
"He was the one who approached Mr. Schue about starting an MVP for every competition and talked to everybody about voting for her. Even when he made it official that he was back with Quinn, it was all about taking care of Rachel. He loves her. You should have seen the two of them during yours and Blaine's duet. Puck said he was looking at her before she turned to look at him and according to Lauren that is when Quinn decided to take his hand. Before Get It Right, he walked over and told her to Break A Leg. She said that last time they were there; he had told her that he loved her. There was a pause, and then he told her he liked her song and she told him to listen carefully because she means every word of it. Puck said he couldn't take his eyes off of her when she was singing and that Finn looked like he was about to cry at some parts of it. Even Quinn could tell what was going on and then you have the hug at the end of 'Loser Like Me'. I saw Quinn's face and she had to have known she was fighting a losing battle."
"I didn't get a chance to see the tape of your performances, how about we go downstairs and watch it. I want to hear this song that had my son on the verge of tears," Carole commented, taking one last look at her son's closed bedroom door as they went downstairs.
Finn watched Rachel as she sat on the end of his bed and he could see how upset she still was. It had ached to see how sad she had been that first Monday after they had won Regionals, the day he had made his renewed romance with Quinn official. Puck had called him out on it and told him he was being an ass. That Quinn was using him to become Prom Queen but he had promised her to go public and he wasn't going to break his word. Only to find out that she had made more of them then what they were and had been planning their future together. To find out that Quinn had already told Rachel about them when she knew that he wanted to wait to make sure that Rachel wasn't hurt by all of this. He had been played by her once again and it was now time to put things back to the way they should have been all along.
"Why, Finn?"
The sadness in her voice almost broke him as he waited for her to finish asking what she needed to hear from him.
"Why could you forgive her and not me? She betrayed you and lied to you so many times and even now, all she cared about was being prom queen."
"I was being an idiot. It was easier to forgive her and not think about how much I still wanted to be with you."
"Why did you set up that damn kissing booth?" Rachel turned fierce eyes onto him. "You had to have known that would be the one thing that would hurt me and you damn well did it anyway."
Finn was taken aback at Rachel cursing; this was something new for her. It was kind of a turn on to hear the good girl using bad language. So now his problem that had begun by seeing her in those pajamas and braids was getting worse.
"Maybe it was my response to your little stunt at making me jealous by singing Need You Now with Puck," he shot back, ignoring how tight his jeans were becoming.
"That was the only way I could get you to look at me! You were avoiding me when we came back to school after Winter break!"
Finn watched as she shot up from the bed, her tiny hands on her hips and glaring at him. The sight of that was definitely not going to help the very embarrassing situation he was finding himself in.
"Maybe I didn't feel like dealing with how angry I was at you, Rachel! That is your problem, you don't know when to back the hell off and let something be! To give someone time to think things through!"
"Well you won't talk to someone and tell them what you are feeling! I have never once heard you say anything about how you felt after you had sex with Santana! So all I could assume was that you liked being with her! Then I had to see her flirting with you in the hall and her strutting up to me and telling me that you took her to dinner afterwards. Then everybody was being horrible to me and where the fuck were you, standing back and letting them do it like you always damn well do! So when Noah came up to me and was actually being nice to me when my boyfriend, the one who said he loved me was avoiding me because he runs from conflict like a coward. I was hurting and angry so I did something I would have never done if I had been thinking clearly."
"I hated every fucking second of my night with Santana! Is that what you want to hear? I wanted it to be you! Does that make you feel any better Rachel? That I called out your name when I came!"
"Why would Santana make it seem like that it was the best night of her life and that you took her out to dinner after it happened?" she asked, a smug grin coming over her face.
"That is because Santana is a fucking bitch who gets off on putting her stupid ass in everybody else's business! She also isn't going to want people to know that a boy didn't enjoy having sex with her or that he called out another girl's name, she is too much of a vain bitch to ever allow that to happen."
"I'll give you that one," Rachel said, nodding her head in acknowledgment of his words. "I just want to know one thing, before we even consider being anything more than friends again. What did you see when you kissed me?"
"You won't jump to conclusions this time and walk away from me?"
"No."
As Finn stood there and watched her waiting for him to speak, he made the decision to show rather than tell Rachel what kissing her was like. He stepped over to where she was standing, lifted her off of the floor and pulled her into a kiss that shook them both to their very souls. It had been three months since their brief kiss in the Christmas Tree lot and the feel of her lips on his made him quickly lower her down onto his bed, their mouths still locked together.
By the time they pulled away from each other, gasping for air, she was lying on top of him. After a few seconds of catching their breaths, their mouths fused in another very scorching hot kiss. She could feel just how much he seemed to want her through her pajamas and it still surprised her that she could get this type of reaction from him. It always had. She inadvertently moved her hips against him as her mouth sought his, reveling in the feel of the joy of kissing him that had been denied her these past few months. The moan that came out of his mouth at her movement shocked her, that Rachel Berry, the school's freak, could make the school quarterback moan like that.
They finally came to their senses after a few moments and they eventually ended up lying beside each other on his bed, talking about everything that had broken them up. Starting with their first kiss and how his problem had shown up, that was what made him run away from her, that she hadn't done anything wrong. All the way up until the events that had broken them up. They even talked about Jesse and how much it had hurt to see her move on so fast from him. To have her forget the she ever had feelings for him, all for a guy that he had known with everything inside of him was using her. But he had hated the fact that he was right because the pain it caused her had killed him to see it. To know, back when he thought that they had slept together, that Jesse had a piece of her that he never would. That had been when Rachel had told him that was exactly how she had felt about Santana.
A few hours later after everything had been discussed between them and a few heated kisses that came close to going too far, Finn and Rachel fell asleep on his bed, not even bothering to get under the comforter. Carole and Burt, who had a scratch on his face from struggling with Quinn, went to check on them before going to their own bedroom. When they saw the teenagers cuddled together but shivering from the chill of the room, Carole went to the closet and got a quilt down to throw over the both of them. Once that was done, she kissed both teenagers on their foreheads, walked over to the doorway where her husband was standing and they left the room, leaving the door cracked open.
That Monday morning, after spending the next day together hanging out with Kurt and Mercedes watching movies, Finn and Rachel walked into McKinley. They were holding hands and he glared at anybody who even stared at them. The only one who wouldn't back off was Santana, who came walking to the other side of Rachel, her books in her hands.
"Just to give you a warning, Quinn is at your locker and she doesn't look happy," the Latina smirked as she watched Finn put his arm around Rachel, pulling her to his side. "And when she sees you with Berry, Quinn is going to go ballistic."
"I don't give a fuck about how happy or unhappy she is, Santana and I want you to spread the word that open season on Rachel is over. If I hear any of the names all of you like to call her come out of anybody's mouth, you will regret it."
"For right now, I hate Quinn more than Berry. So I am willing to help you distract her and make sure Rachel is safe when you can't be with her."
Before Finn could respond, a loud argument from further up the hall stopped everybody in their tracks. From the sound of the voices, it was Kurt and Quinn. Finn exchanged a look with Rachel before the two of them and Santana rushed down the hall towards where Finn's locker was located. All three of them stopped short at the sight of Kurt, having a blistering argument with Quinn and neither one were backing down.
"Who do you think you are deciding what happens to my father's tire shop! You want nothing more than to drag Finn down with you. Well I hate to tell you this but after he threw you out of the house Saturday night, Finn and Rachel talked things over and they are now back together."
Fury filled Quinn's eyes and she was getting ready to respond to Kurt's taunt when Finn came running up, holding Rachel's hand in his. His own eyes were full of anger and he looked ready to strangle somebody.
"Why the hell are the two of you arguing in front of my locker like that? Why aren't you at Dalton?"
"I had a few things to say to Quinn so Blaine is covering for me back at Dalton."
Before Finn could respond to Kurt's statement, Quinn interrupted them, her face red with the force of her anger.
"Why are you with man hands, Finn? You are my boyfriend, not hers!"
"I told you it was over Saturday night and I meant it, Quinn. I have worked things out with Rachel. I'm her boyfriend so get away from me and don't call her man hands or any of the other cruel names you like to call her. Open season on Rachel is over."
Quinn started to go for Rachel's throat when she was pulled away by Puck, who had wrapped his arms around her. Sam stepped in between them to keep Quinn from Rachel as Finn pulled her into his arms. He led her over to her locker to keep her away from his ex, who was fighting against the father of her child.
"Let me go, Puck! I'm going to get her out of my life once and for all!"
Finn held Rachel, who was trembling in his arms as Puck dragged Quinn out of the hallway. Sam and Lauren followed behind them as the other members of New Directions looked on in shock until Santana started to speak.
"Okay, it is up to all of us to keep Q away from Berry because she has completely lost her fucking mind."
Everybody nodded their heads in agreement at the Latina's words before they all went to their first class of the day.
As the day had went on, every time Quinn tried to get close to Rachel, there was a member of New Directions there to stop her. That is until school had ended for the day and the tiny brunette found herself walking down the already empty hall to her locker after leaving her last class of the day. She had been tired of waiting for Santana and Sam to escort her to the choir room for Glee practice and figured that Quinn had calmed down. She was wrong.
The next thing she knew, Rachel felt herself being shoved into a nearby janitor's closet and the sound of the door slamming closed. Quinn's voice came into the room and chills ran down Rachel's spine at quiet rage deep in her classmate and rival's voice.
"I told you, man hands. I get Finn and you get a broken heart. This is for being a snitch and telling Finn's mom what I said to you before Regionals."
The sound of her footsteps walking away from the closet terrified Rachel as she started to scream and pound on the door. She could feel the tears falling down her cheeks and continued to call out for somebody to help her. Her head started to spin as the oxygen in the room started to run out. She had just started to feel herself about to pass out onto the floor when the door opened and Santana was standing there, uncharacteristic concern in her dark eyes.
Rachel, despite everything that happened between them, ended up hugging the former Cheerio before finding herself being pulled into Finn's arms. He held her tightly against him as she started to calm down and realize what was happening around her. That her fellow glee club members were all hovering around her all while giving Quinn, who was being restrained by Puck and Sam, dirty looks.
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FUCKING DIE! He was mine until you came along and I had him back but you wouldn't give up until you took him away from me again."
"She isn't responsible for me breaking up with you, Quinn. You know what, I never realized until now that you have a bad habit of blaming other people for the crap you pull on people. It was Puck's fault for getting you drunk on wine coolers. You would have never cheated on me if he hadn't of done that. According to him, you weren't that drunk, Quinn. You choose to sleep with him and tell me some bullshit lies about how I got you pregnant in the hot tub. I talked to Ms. Holiday after she told me that it wasn't true and she cleared some things up for me. But I continued to mess around with you because I thought I could fix things between us from last year. But I was actually being a chicken shit coward, who was running from the girl he still loved despite what happened to break us up."
Right as Finn finished speaking; Kurt came down the hall with Mr. Schuester, who was glaring at Quinn. It seems he had been told of what she had tried to do to Rachel.
"Puck both you and Sam need to take Quinn to Mr. Figgins office while the rest of you need to go to the choir room."
Everybody did as their Spanish teacher and Choir Director had ordered them to do; while Will stood beside Finn, who was cradling Rachel in his arms.
"Are you okay, Rachel or do you want to go home?"
Rachel turned tear filled eyes towards her teacher and a fierce determination shown in them. She stepped out of her boyfriend's arms and walked down the hall towards the choir room.
"I guess that answers your question, Mr. Schue," Finn commented before following her down the hall.
The teacher watched as Finn caught up with Rachel and smiled at the teenager put his arm around Rachel's shoulders.
As soon as they turned the corner and out of his sight, the smile left the teacher's face as he realized what he had to do. Now he had to go and deal with Quinn and hope that this situation could be dealt with in a fair manner for everyone involved.
AN: This is the first chapter of a two part story. The next one will start two months later around the time for the Prom. Some things will happen just like they did on the show but Finchel are together.
I started this during the break between Original Song and A Night of Neglect and have been working on it off and on since then. I apologize for not updating my stories more often; I have recently returned to school to become a Medical Office Manager and have been trying to get used to be a student again eighteen years after graduating high school. I seem to be getting used to the school work and learning how to get it all done; so I am hoping to actually be able to get some work done on my unfinished stories.
I hope everybody likes this story. The idea for it came from the confrontation scene between Quinn and Rachel during Original Song especially the part about Quinn's fantasy for her and Finn's future. How she implied that Rachel needed to get a grip on reality. I had a feeling, even before Finn told her during the breakup scene in Funeral that he 'didn't want that life', that Quinn was the one who was going to come out the loser in this situation. After the way the character was written in the back half of season 2, I find it very difficult to feel sorry for her because she kind of brought it on herself. Her own ambition and her inability to learn her lesson about cheating on boyfriends, in my opinion, led to her being alone at the end of the season with all three of the boys she has been involved since the show started having moved onto relationships with other girls that they seemed to genuinely care for and in the case of Finn with Rachel, in love with. Although the Quick shipper in me still has hope for her and Puck despite the fact that there was hardly any interaction between them last season. The Finchel fan in me is definitely happy about how the season ended for them and I am cautiously optimistic about next season; although I will not let myself be complacent either and think nothing will happen because after the events of last season, I know that RIB could change their minds and decide to break them up again for useless drama.