Here's a little sneak preview for you guys, I suppose it's a takeoff of The Family Man (in reverse) with a bit of it's a wonderful life thrown in, minus the Christmas references. I won't continue this story until I'm done with Holly Golightly, and I know I haven't been updating as frequently as I would like to on either of my stories, but I'll try to make it quick.
"Jack! Sally! Stop running in the house darlings! Mommy's trying to run lines, she has a very big audition tomorrow," Rachel cries.
"But mommy, Jack is trying to push me into the lava." Sally replies.
"Jack, do you mean to tell me that you have used your godlike powers to transform my floor into lava yet again? That's the thid time this week." Rachel says dramatically. "And I just bought these shoes."
"There's no lava over here," Jack says as if it should be common knowledge. "It's in the living room and I'm going to push her in."
"Help me Daddy," Sally shrieks, running up to Finn and wrapping her thin arms around his legs.
"Nobody is going to push my little girl into the lava," Finn says, sweeping the five year old into his arms and blowing a raspberry on her cheek, making her squeal.
"Finn, we need to focus," Rachel says gently. "Jack, honey, why don't you take a break from your supervillainy and go watch The Little Mermaid with your sister?"
"That's a girl's movie!" Jack protests.
"Aladdin then," Rachel shoots back, "Scoot," she continues, giving Jack a playful slap on the behind with her script while Finn sets Sally back down to join her twin brother.
"Okay, where were we?" Rachel says, flipping back to her position in the script as the children leave the room. "Ah yes, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, from the top."
"I don't get why you need to sing it again, you already nailed it," Finn argues.
"I know honey but you were just a little bit flat on that last note," Rachel, says, always the honest one.
"I'm not the one auditioning," Finn sighs.
"A singer is only as good as her duet partner. You've always had the most beautiful voice Finn, I know you have it in you, now once more with feeeeling," she insists dramatically. And all Finn can do is smile and shake his head as he begins to sing.
What do you get when you fall in love? A girl with a pin to burst your bubble That's what you get for all your trouble I'll never fall in love again, I'll never fall in love again
As they sing together like so many times before, Finn grabs the script away from Rachel and sets it down next to his own and he places one hand on her waist and takes her hand in his other one, gently swaying her as they harmonize together. She tries to keep her voice strong as they dance together, but it's hard to stave off the urge to giggle as he holds her like that.
What do you get when you kiss a girl? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia After you do, she'll never phone ya. I 'll never fall in love again. Dontcha know that I'll never fall in love again? Don't tell me what it's all about, 'cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out, Out of those chains, those chains that bind you, That is why I'm here to remind you
What do you get when you fall in love? You only get lies and pain and sorrow, So for at least until tomorrow, I'll never fall in love again No, no, I'll never fall in love again
At the last note he leans in, pressing his lips to hers and holding her closer while she runs her fingers through his hair and kisses him back deeply, but much like the time they performed their first nationals and he kissed her in the middle of the stage, they have to remember where they are at some point, and that is made quickly apparent by the sound of little hands clapping for them. So much for Aladdin.
"Yay!" Sally exclaims happily as she claps, "Do it again."
"Yeah, sing it again!" Jack agrees. "But no kissing, that's gross."
At that Rachel buries her face in Finn's chest, grinning and blushing with embarrassment.
"What do you say mommy?" Finn says confidently as Rachel turns her head, laying her cheek against him and smiling at her two five year olds. "Once more from the top?"
It's bedtime and even though the twins resist, Finn and Rachel both know that they'll conk out as soon as their heads hit the pillows with all of their horsing around today.
"I'm not sleepy dad," Jack complains as Finn carries him piggy back to his room. "I want to watch Kill Bill."
"Finn!" Rachel protests as she carries Sally in her arms. "You let Jack watch Kill Bill?" And Finn only goes red in embarrassment.
"He let me watch it too mommy," Sally says, her little arms wrapped around Rachel's neck and she simply shakes her head at him.
"I told you not to let them watch that stuff Finn, it'll give them nightmares," Rachel argues.
"I made them close their eyes during the bloody parts, " Finn explains. "But don't worry, I won't do it again since these two can't keep a secret," he says reaching over to tickle Sally and make her giggle.
"Don't feel bad dad, she let us watch Sweeney Todd," Jack says.
"You did, did you?" Finn says, narrowing his eyes at Rachel slyly.
"That is completely different," Rachel says coolly.
"How?" Finn argues.
"It's Sondheim," she replies.
They enter the kids room and put them into their respective beds.
"Mommy, if you get to be in the show will I get to have my own room?" Sally says, pronouncing her Rs like Ws as Rachel tucks her in.
"But I thought you loved being roomies with Jack," Rachel says. "What about your psychic twin connection?"
"It still works when we're in different rooms," Sally says as if that should be obvious, she really is so much like her brother.
"Yeah and If I have my own room I can have superhero wallpaper, Sally hates superheroes," Jack says pronouncing his Rs like his sister.
"I do not, but you only like the boy ones, I like Wonder woman." Sally says.
"Wonder woman is stupid, her weapon is a rope," Jack says, rolling his eyes.
"So? She can fly, Batman can't fly," Sally argues.
"Batman doesn't need to fly, he has the bat mobile, and he has the Joker, Wonder Woman doesn't have anyone cool to fight." Jack shoots back.
"She has Cheetah."
"Cheetah sucks."
"Listen buddy," Finn says, stopping the argument in its tracks. "When your mom gets this part then we'll talk about getting a bigger apartment okay?" Finn says.
"Okay Pumpkins, mommy loves you both so much," Rachel says bending down to kiss Sally on the forehead, her and Finn switch places so they can say goodnight to both twins.
"Daddy, before you go to sleep can you sing us a song?" Sally says. "Like from Aladdin?"
"Yeah, sing Aladdin!" Jack agrees.
"Okay but do you guys promise to go to sleep when were done?" Rachel says.
"I promise," Sally says.
"Yeah, we promise." Jack concurs.
By the time they finish singing A Whole New World the kids are fast asleep.
After putting Jack and Sally to bed, never an easy feat, they drag themselves to their room, collapsing onto their big cushy bed, Finn in his boxers and wife beater, Rachel in the oversized defying gravity T-shirt she bought for Finn their first month in New York after they went to see Wicked. He's always thought she looked adorable in it. There was a time when she would take two solid hours getting ready for bed, now she was lucky if she got to brush her teeth and wash her face at the end of the night. It was just as well, Rachel was always beautiful, there was no need for all of that effort, besides, less time spent primping meant more time for sex, and if he had to choose he'd choose the sex every time.
"Do you wanna fool around tonight?" Rachel says, her eyes closed, her voice tired.
"Babe you're exhausted, just get some sleep, you have your audition tomorrow," Finn says, even though it is pretty painful saying the right thing in that situation.
"Okay," Rachel says sleepily. "I'll wake you up at six AM, we can sneak one in before you go to work."
"God I love you," he says, leaning in to kiss his wife's immobile lips.
"I love you too, now let me sleep, Fran Kubelik needs her beauty rest," Rachel says and he pulls the covers over the both of them and turns on the TV
Today TMZ caught up Quinn Fabray outside Whole Foods, the Model slash actress was in LA promoting her newest film-
Finn switches the channel immediately, he knows that it must still sting hearing about Quinn's success in the business, the success that continues to elude Rachel after years of countless auditions, dinner theatre, off off off Broadway shows, understudying for more popular and far less talented actresses, chorus line work, stints as townperson number two and overall disappointment.
"Why do you do that every time they talk about Quinn?" Rachel says, still half asleep.
"You know I hate that show," Finn says defensively.
"Of course, I'm sure Lifetime's Elicit Betrayal starring Angie Harmon will be a much more entertaining option for you," Rachel quips, Finn face goes red as he switches it from Lifetime to Adult Swim. "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm happy for Quinn?"
"I know babe," he says not entirely sure if he believes her. "I know."
"Okay, I want you to have chapters five and six read by tomorrow," Finn says as the bell rings and his students pile out of his musical theory class. Finn loves his job, there's nothing else on the planet he could see himself doing, considering his reputation in high school was biggest idiot on the planet the fact that he gets paid to impart wisdom to high schoolers still blows his mind a little, but the best part of his job is by far codirecting the glee club. LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts has the best show choir in the nation and helping lead it to victory (with the help of a dance coach, naturally) last year gave him a sense of fulfillment that he's never known before, even if it did mean beating his old Alma Mater McKinley high. He just wishes that Rachel could have the same satisfaction out of her job. Knowing how much she's sacrificed over the years to have a family fills him with a sinking sense of guilt every so often, even though he knows she loves them all more than anything. She deserved to have it all though, and he knew deep down that she still wanted it all, she still dreamed about seeing her name in big bold lights and her face on Broadway posters, and at nearly thirty years old the possibility was becoming more and more out of reach. She always swears to him that she wouldn't trade their life together for anything, but she always was such a good actress, it's just hard not to let his mind go to that place sometimes.
"Hey Mr. Hudson," Dennis, one of his students says as he meets him by the whiteboard. "Do I really have to sing a duet with Nanette Harding in glee?"
"Come on Dennis, not this again, you guys sound great together," Finn insists.
"But she's so weird," Dennis says. "She dresses like an undertaker and she's always staring at me with this intense look in her eyes while she's singing, it freaks me out." Finn knows Nanette well, she wears all black and writes freaky song lyrics about death and sex and … well, Dennis. She's also gorgeous, talented, and oddly sweet, which is probably just as frightening for a teenaged boy.
"Yeah, I remember the weird girl in my class, her name was Rachel Berry, she was always wearing these animal sweaters and knee high socks and she talked constantly, I mean nonstop. She had a crush on me too, a big one."
"What did you do about it?" Dennis says.
"I married her," Finn replies. "See you tomorrow Dennis."
He heads home early that day, it's a half day and there's no glee club on Mondays so he'll pick the kids up and wait for Rachel to come home from her audition, it will be a nice surprise for her. She didn't call him, so she's probably not finished reading for the part yet. The kids will be done with school at three so he has some time to kill at home before he gets them from school.
He's surprised to see Rachel's purse on the counter when he lets himself in, he knows she would have called him to say how the audition went if she were done already, she always calls him after an audition. Maybe he missed her call.
"Rach, babe, you home?" he says as he tosses his keys on the counter and heads to their bedroom, the door is closed and he can hear sniffling on the other side of the door.
"Rachel, are you okay?"
"Finn, what are you doing back?" she says from behind the door.
"There's a faculty meeting, we had a half day," he explains, his voice concerned. "Rachel, is everything okay?"
"I don't really want to talk about it right now Finn," she says, still crying.
"Was it the audition?" he persists.
"I said I didn't want to talk about it," she says, a little more firmly.
"Look, you don't have to talk to me okay, but I'm coming in," He twists the knob and pushes the door open carefully, poking his head in, and the sight of his wife at that moment makes his heart sink, her face is blotchy and her eyes are bloodshot, as if she's been crying for hours.
"Finn can you please just go do something else?" she says. "I don't want you to see me like this."
"Oh baby it's okay," he says, climbing onto the bed with her, taking her tiny, shaking body into his arms. She wipes her tears and lets him hold her. "Just tell me what happened.
"I wasn't up there for thirty seconds, I didn't even get to the second verse before the director gave me a 'thank you, we'll call you,'" she sobs. "And I had such a good feeling about this one, I was perfect for that role Finn."
"You are perfect," he says rubbing her back and kissing her forehead. "Look maybe it's not as bad as you think, maybe you were so good that thirty seconds was all he needed."
"Don't patronize me," she says, breaking out of his embrace. "I know what 'thank you, we'll call you' means, I've been hearing it nonstop for ten goddamn years and I'm so sick of it. I'm sick of maybe next time, I'm sick of hoping that one day I'll have my big break. 28 year old mothers don't get big breaks Finn, that's just the way it is. The Quinn Fabrays of the world will always win. Lets just face it, it's over for me."
"That's not true Rachel, it can still happen for yo-
"Don't be so naïve," she snaps, cutting him off, and he realizes that she's upset, because why shouldn't she be? "I had my chance five years ago and I screwed it up, there was no bouncing back from that."
His brow knits in confusion and he knows she doesn't mean what he thinks she means, because she couldn't mean that. "Wait a minute, are you actually saying you regret having the twins?"
And her face goes from angry to guilty. "No, that's not… I didn't mean it that way."
"Then how did you mean it?" Finn says.
"I don't know, I don't know what I mean," she cries. "I love them both, I do, and I love you so so much but sometimes I just wonder you know, whether we should have waited. I mean if I would have been able to take that part we could have had this completely different, better life, all of us."
"We have a great life Rachel," he protests "Or at least that's what you've always said, have you just been humoring me all these years?"
"No Finn, you're twisting my words," she says desperately, reaching for him.
"Is this what you do after every bad audition Rachel?" he says, dodging her hand. "You come home and cry your eyes out over what a disappointment your life is?"
"Finn stop," she says. But he can't and he knows that she isn't the one he's really mad at, as always he's mad at himself, and he's not even sure why anymore. Maybe it's because she's confirming everything he's feared since the day they exchanged vows, that maybe she wouldn't become the star she always dreamed of being and that she'd end up resenting him because of it. Maybe she had a reason to.
"Whatever, I'm going to go pick up the twins," he says getting up from the bed.
"Finn it's one thirty," she reminds him.
"I'll wait," he insists, marching out of their bedroom.
"Finn please don't leave like this," she says, crying after him. But he's out the door too fast to hear the words.
He waits outside the school, not wanting to go back home, not after the things they said to each other. Part of him wishes he wouldn't have lashed out at her like that, but he couldn't help it, he knew it was bound to come up eventually.
"Do you got a light?" he turns to the man that has just appeared beside him, he's older, with thick rimmed glasses and a hard, angular face and he's dressed in a snappy black business suit, he must just be getting off of work or on his break or something. There is a cigarette placed between his lips and he's leaning in in expectation.
"Sorry," Finn says, "I don't smoke."
"Hmm, just as well," Black suit says, removing the cigarette from his mouth and tucking it behind his ear. "I really should quit."
"So, you're here super early too?" Finn says.
"How do you mean?" Black suit replies.
"You know," Finn says. "Waiting for your kid."
"Oh, of course," he says coolly. "Little Johnny."
"Yeah," Finn says, narrowing his eyes a bit at this odd stranger. "Anyway I'm just blowing off some steam," Finn says, not entirely sure why, this man doesn't exactly look trustworthy, but he needs someone to talk to, and he's the only one here. "I had a fight with my wife."
"Oh yeah," Black suit says, seeming interested enough.
"She had a bad audition and I found her at home crying about it," Finn says. "Like crying really hard and… I'm sorry I shouldn't be telling you any of this."
"It's alright," Black suit says. "A story's just a thought until you tell it."
Finn thinks Black suit means to keep going, so he does. "She's this really amazing singer, like better than anyone on the radio, and her dream has always been to sing on Broadway, and I always thought it would happen for her you know?" Finn explains, the words flowing out of him like lava. "But it's like nothing in her life is going according to plan, and I just can't help but think it's somehow my fault. All I've ever done was support her, but on the inside I've always felt like I was holding her back. I never meant to, but my dreams have always been so much simpler, all I wanted was her and our life together and our kids and I have all of that. It's like my dreams came true and hers are just crumbling little by little."
"A dream deferred isn't the most uncommon thing in the world, in fact it's probably the most common." Black Suit says. "What drives you to blame yourself."
"Because, almost six years ago she got one of the lead roles in Rent, her dream role. But she couldn't take it."
"Why?"
"She got pregnant," Finn explains. "She got pregnant and she had to turn down the role, and I know she did it for me, to make me happy, because I was so excited when I found out, like the most excited I've ever been about anything."
"What makes you think she did it for you, that seems awfully narcissistic, maybe she wanted to be a mother."
"Yeah, after she got famous," Finn says. "And we were really careful too, but sometimes fate just steps in and all of your plans just go to hell, fate or me in this case. I was always the one thing that could break her focus, that could make her forget for even a second what she was put on this earth for, and I know she's happy, or she says that she's happy anyway, and I want to believe her, but sometimes I can't help but think things would have been better for her if she never would have fallen in love with me in the first place."
"Do you really believe that Finn?" Black suit says seriously.
"I can't help it sometimes… wait, did I tell you my name?"
Black suit doesn't answer he simply smirks at him as he pulls out some sort of club, and Finn wonders where he pulled it from but before he can ask Black Suit has cracked him on the side of the head with it, hard, sending him to the ground.
"What the…" Finn starts, his voice weak as black suit leans over him, smiling.
"Sleep well young man," Black Suit says, his voice faraway. "Maybe when you wake up things will be a little bit clearer."
His head hurts, in fact it's the worst headache he's ever had, but he tries to pry his eyes open, maybe if he can flag down a cop they can catch up with Black Suit in time to throw his ass in jail. He just prays to god that his kids don't have to see him splayed out on the cold concrete, probably bleeding. Wait, why does the cold concrete feel so soft and warm? Why does it smell like tide, and why does the school bell sound like an alarm clock.
"Wake up Finn, time to get ready for work," he recognizes that voice, it's one he hasn't heard outside of a movie theater in years. He must have heard it wrong, or maybe he's dreaming. "Finn, come on give me a break today, waking Beth up is going to be hard enough."
Beth, who the hell is Beth? The only Beth he knows is…
"Finn!" He's being shaken now, vigorously by strong, small hands until finally he manages to open his eyes, only to see Quinn Fabray staring down at him.
"Quinn?" Finn says frantically, shooting up in bed, "What the hell are you doing here?"
She looks confused. "I knew it, you were out drinking again last night weren't you?" Quinn says, disappointedly.
"I'm serious Quinn what are you doing here?"
Her face is hard to read, it's a combination of confusion and deep annoyance. "Well," she starts, her tone sarcastic. "The last time I checked I was your wife."
Stay Tuned Folks!