(a/n) Hi! This is my new story! Please review it! Thanks!
Rachel Berry always thought that she would make it big. Bigger than big. But when it came down to it, she just wasn't what the directors on Broadway wanted. They wanted thin girls with small noses and big voices. Sure, Rachel had a voice that could fill an entire city, but that just wasn't enough.
After she didn't get the part of Fanny Brice in her first Broadway audition, she didn't fret much.
It's only my first audition, she thought, I'm lucky that I even got a callback!
But after numerous auditions throughout Rachel's college years and getting callback after callback, never actually getting the role, Rachel decided to take a break on auditions.
When she graduated from NYADA, she made the decision to return to Lima for a year or so. This way she could take a break from Broadway, spend time with her dads, and get away from the loft. Kurt had become super busy and successful and it made Rachel feel so terrible about herself and she just needed time away.
She had kind of erased Finn from her life in the past few years. They had both taken separate paths in life and they just didn't have the communication like they used to. Of course they still felt that same feeling for each other. Tethered. That's how they would always feel about each other.
The moment that Rachel returned to Ohio, she started searching for jobs. She didn't want to be using her dad's money for everything. She wanted to be independent.
It didn't take her long to get a job. She ended up getting a job at the new bakery in town, called Tiny Cakes. They specialized in cupcakes and small pastries, hence the name. Rachel's job title was "packager and delivery girl" and she didn't mind it. She made good money for the most part and she didn't have to stay in the cake shop all day.
Rachel had to deliver an order one Saturday. It was summer and the shop was freezing due to the fact that it had to stay cold because of the icing and stuff. If anything melted, they were doomed. So when Rachel was told to deliver a small order to someone's home for a "coming home" party or something, she gladly accepted to get away from the frigid bakery.
The tiny brunette hopped in her car with the order and put the address into the GPS. She felt like the address was familiar, but she wasn't sure how she knew the address, so she shrugged it off and went on her way.
Rachel turned on the radio as she drove to the location, singing along to the song that was playing. Although she sang in the shower sometimes, Rachel hadn't used her voice to sing like she used to. She could sing along to the radio and stuff, but she didn't want to sing anymore. It made her miss New York too much.
As she arrived to the house, it finally hit her as to where she was. It was the Hudson/Hummel house. The front still looked the same as it did over 5 years before, except there was a huge "Welcome Home" sign in the front, near the garage door. She wondered who was coming home as she sat there for a moment, trying to catch up on where she was. When she realized that she was taking too much time with the car off and sitting in the driveway, where she figured that people would want to park in soon, she got out of the car with the order, which was cake pops, and went to the front door. It seemed odd to her that she had been there many times before, but she felt like a stranger.
After hesitating for a moment, Rachel pressed the button to the doorbell, feeling anxious. It shouldn't have been such a big deal, but it was. She and Kurt hadn't had any communication in the past year or so because he had been really busy, she guessed. Rachel didn't even know what was going on in his life or if he was still living in New York.
Finn's mother, Carole, answered the door with a smile on her face. She didn't notice Rachel at first, until Rachel lifted her head to give her the cake pops and the receipt. "Oh, is that you, Rachel?" she asked, motioning for her to come inside.
"Oh, Mrs. Hummel, I can't come in. I need to get back to work." She explained softly. Carole smiled. "So you're working for the bakery now? Kurt told us that you moved back but I guess Lima has turned into a bigger town since we haven't seen you much. I mean we've been busy, Burt and I, between work and being at the hospital and such…" she rambled. Rachel gave Carole a confused look, wondering what she meant about the hospital.
Carole shrugged it off, continuing to talk about Lima and how much it had changed but Rachel wasn't paying much attention. She was still thinking about the hospital thing, but she didn't want to ask and be nosey. After a few minutes, Rachel noticed people pulling into the house so she decided that she should leave. "Well it was nice to see you, Mrs. Hummel but I should really get back to work." She stated, walking off of the porch slowly. Carole said goodbye and told her that she would come by the cake shop sometime to say hello.
Rachel made her way back to her car, her head wandering in a million places as she got in and drove away, back to the shop.
The rest of the summer was a drag. Every day, Rachel would go to work from 10 until 4, unless there was an order to be delivered before or after those hours. She had rented herself a small apartment in a building near her dad's house and she liked having her own space. Her neighbors weren't that pleasant, staying up all hours of the night partying and such but Rachel dealt with it as best she could.
The cake shop stayed busy; many people had pool parties and such that they wanted to take little treats to and whatnot. Rachel's boss, Victoria, had offered to let Rachel take time off since she had been working there for over a year, but Rachel didn't see any need to since she had nothing better to do.
In mid- July, she took up on Victoria's offer and took a week off, hoping to relax and enjoy her time off. Working was a good way to keep her mind off of her real dream of performing so she hoped that taking a short time off wouldn't make her feel depressed over not having what she wanted.
On the first day of her vacation time, Rachel decided to call Kurt. She hadn't talked to him in over a year and she missed him a lot. Before she left, they had some issues, both wanting spotlight as usual, but Kurt was still her best friend and she wanted to talk to him.
She texted him, asking if he was in Lima and if they could meet up. Kurt responded shortly after, saying that he was in town and he would love to meet at the Lima Bean if that was okay with her. She said that she would and they planned to meet at two in the afternoon.
As Rachel drove to the coffee shop that afternoon, she wondered if it would be awkward to talk to Kurt or not. She hoped that it wouldn't be, but since they hadn't spoken in such a long time it might be.
When she got to the Lima Bean, Kurt was already there, sitting at a table with two cups of coffee. Rachel sat down and smiled. "I hope you still drink the same thing." He stated, giving her a small smile.
"I do, thank you." Rachel replied. They sat awkwardly for a moment until Rachel finally broke the ice. "So how have you been, Kurt?" she asked sweetly, taking a sip of her coffee which, to her demise, was scalding.
Kurt replied after crossing his legs under the table, "I've been alright. Busy, but doing well." He sighed. "I heard that you've been working for Tiny Cakes." He said. Rachel figured that Carole had told him about Rachel working at the cake shop; she nodded. "Yep, over a year now."
Silence was creeping over the table as Kurt took a sip of his drink, what Rachel assumed to be hot tea; he always drank hot tea at the Lima Bean. "So are you back in Lima for the summer or…" Rachel questioned, feeling a little nosey but not minding much.
"I'm actually not really sure at this point." He said softly, looking at the table.
"Depending on what?" Rachel asked, giving Kurt a confused look. Kurt looked up at her with wider eyes than before. "Oh, y'know, Finn." He responded, looking down again and taking another drink of his tea.
"What do you mean?" she asked, sounding worried. She was worried. Was something wrong with him? Was he alright? Last she knew, he was helping Mr. Schuester with Glee club and working on getting his teaching degree. But that was 5 years ago. What had she missed in that length of time?
"You don't know, Rachel?" Kurt asked, moving closer to her. Rachel gave Kurt a frantic look. On the inside she was freaking out. This wasn't just Kurt's brother. This was Finn. The Finn that she had loved. The Finn that she was tethered to. The Finn that she had been engaged to. That Finn.
"What? Kurt, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly. At this point, Kurt had grabbed a hold of her hand. This worried her, making her feel like something was really really wrong.
"Finn has cancer, Rachel."