A/N: This story was inspired by the books in the series The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver. It is influenced by the series as well, so nothing belongs to me except for my words in the order that they're in. This story is completely A/U, so some characters might seem a little out of character initially, but give it time! I really hope you enjoy this story.
The Demon Trapper's Daughter
Chapter One: Trapped
November 2021
New York City, NY
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
A year and a half ago, things changed.
As crazy as it might sound, the world suddenly became overrun with demons.
Yes, demons from hell.
Contrary to popular belief, they range in size, shape, and level of danger. Only demon hunters and trappers know how to catch them and get rid of them. New demon trappers and hunters were told that demons had always been around, but that they were so scarce that the rest of the world didn't know about them. Nowadays, it was common to have to call a demon trapper or hunter at least once every couple of weeks because demons were in the neighborhood.
Demon trappers were more common than hunters – they were the ones that just trapped the demons and sold them to the Vatican for money. From there, the trappers were told that the Vatican disposed of them correctly. Demon hunters, on the other hand, had their own methods of killing the demons.
To most people, trapping the demons made more sense since you could make some money off of them.
But no one knew why demons suddenly overpopulated the city; everyone figured that it couldn't have been a good reason.
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
Seventeen year old Rachel Berry walked into the library with a child's sippy cup in her hand. For a random Wednesday night, the library had plenty of patrons, which she wasn't very happy about. Capturing demons was hard enough. Capturing them with an audience just increased her level of stress.
But she'd been a demon trapper for six months now and had caught plenty of level one demons already, so she just had to remember the training that her dad, Leroy, had jammed into her head in that amount of time.
The head librarian had called her dad, a master demon trapper, and explained the situation at hand. Apparently, the librarian started to find ripped up books littering the aisles between the shelves around three days ago. Her dad was convinced that it was a Biblio demon that was to blame, so he sent Rachel to catch the three inch tall monster.
The rent was due soon, so Rachel was even more determined to catch the demon. Seventy five dollars for catching the Biblio wasn't much, but every little bit helped when you were desperate.
Ever since Rachel's other dad, Hiram, died, she and Leroy had become completely dependent on one another.
And since it was a demon that killed Hiram, Rachel and her dad had started trapping demons.
Leroy was just promoted to master trapper, which was pretty close to the top of the demon trapper hierarchy. He even had his own trainees; Rachel, of course, and a boy that Rachel had grown to strongly dislike – Finn Hudson.
Well, for a while, Rachel thought that Finn was the greatest thing since sliced bread… but that was a story for another time.
"Are you Miss Berry?" the elderly woman behind the desk asked. Her gray hair was in a ballerina bun and she was wearing a gray skirt and suit jacket that Rachel's old friend, Kurt, wouldn't have approved of. She hadn't seen Kurt since he moved away a year ago and she missed him terribly. Once again, Rachel had to force herself to focus.
She came to a stop and gave the woman her best smile.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm Rachel Berry," Rachel said.
"You're much… smaller than I thought you'd be," the librarian observed. Rachel resisted the urge to scowl at the woman. If it wasn't her size, it was the fact that she was a girl that made people question if she could be a trapper.
"I can assure you that my small stature doesn't prevent me from completing my job," Rachel said politely.
"I sure hope you're right," the librarian said nonchalantly. "The fiend seems to be focusing on the area around the Archives Room. That's where we keep our most dated texts."
"Well, that makes sense," Rachel explained. "The older the material, the more they love destroying it." It was true – all of this was in the demon trapper's manual.
"Well, I really hope that this matter can get resolved before irreplaceable texts are ruined," the librarian said.
"I can assure you that it will be," Rachel said with the utmost confidence. If it was one thing Rachel Berry was full of, it was confidence.
When it came to level one demons, at least.
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
It took some persuasion before the elderly librarian went along with Rachel's plan. Rachel thought the idea was a stroke of pure genius. The librarian was a bit apprehensive.
But Rachel was stubborn, so the librarian gave in. That's why Rachel was now standing on a low bookcase, with the sippy cup in her hand. The door to the Archives Room was wide open, just begging for the Biblio to come running. And when it did, Rachel would jump off of the bookcase and capture it.
See? Genius.
It didn't take long before Rachel heard the unmistakable sound of tiny demon footsteps running toward her. She smiled slightly as the Biblio came into view. She didn't smile because it was cute – its face made it look like a goblin with green skin that reminded her of snot – she smiled because it was falling right into the trap.
She waited until exactly the right moment before jumping off of the bookcase. The demon was so tiny that it didn't even see her up there. She landed with a muted thud, scaring the demon. It looked right up at her with a glare. Then, Rachel quickly slammed the sippy cup over it, pinning it to the floor.
"Got you!" she exclaimed. She then reached into her jacket pocket and grabbed the lid to the sippy cup. Carefully, she put the lid next to the cup and then lifted it slightly before jamming the lid underneath it. She then flipped the cup right side up before smiling at the ducks that decorated the cup.
Before she could tighten the lid all of the way, a sudden burst of wind blew past her. She could hear the papers around her flutter in the strong wind. Rachel looked around in confusion. They were inside and that was too big of a gust of wind for it to just come through a window. Unless…
In a panic, she looked around the library. Some of the people sitting at the library tables were also looking around in confusion, meaning that they felt the blast of wind, too.
Then, she saw it on a balcony where all of the reference books were housed.
She had only read descriptions of them, but she was pretty darn sure she was looking at the fiercest of level five demons, a Geo.
Her eyes bugged out the same time that it slowly raised a hand and pointed at her.
"Berry," it growled.
Rachel had no idea how to deal with these demons. So, she did what any sane person would do.
She ran.
"Everyone get out!" she shouted loudly as she ran away from the demon. People looked at her like she was crazy.
But then, as the ground started shaking, they started standing up and running toward the exits. Rachel tripped over a leg of a table and dropped the lid to the sippy cup. She quickly placed her hand over the top and watched as it rolled away.
"Ouch!" she yelled when she felt the piercing sting of the Biblio's bite. In retaliation, she slammed he sippy cup against edge of the table. "Don't do that!" she shouted at the cup.
The shaking of the floor only increased, causing the bookshelves around her to sway dangerously. She followed the path that the sippy cup lid took as it rolled away, finally spotting it next to a large bookcase.
With her now aching hand covering the top of the sippy cup, she kneeled down and grabbed the lid and slammed it on the cup before tightening it tightly. The ground continued to shake as she placed the demon in her pink messenger bag.
She couldn't hear much besides the rattling of bookshelves and heavy books as they fell to the ground. Then, without warning, the bookcase in front of her toppled over. Rachel flattened herself to the ground and covered her head with her arms. She whimpered as each heavy book hit her back before the bookcase hit the one in front of it, knocking it over. Then, it settled on Rachel, pinning her down.
She could hear the crashing around her as more bookcases fell. Rachel hoped that everyone had made it out of the library.
Moments later, all was silent. The ground stopped shaking. Rachel removed her hands from over her head and used them to start pushing away the books that were in front of her. The bookcase wasn't completely squishing Rachel, but it certainly made it difficult to move. In fact, she was panting and sweating by the time she escaped.
She stood shakily and looked around at the library. Only a few bookcases were still standing. The rest were on the ground, like they were involved in a large game of dominos. What made Rachel incredibly angry was the fact that some idiots had stayed in the library, recording the entire thing on their cell phones. She shook her head in aggravation. Was recording that really worth possibly getting hurt?
"I already called the police," she heard a shaky voice from behind her say. Rachel turned and saw the librarian standing a few feet away from her, her gray hair falling out of its proper ballerina bun.
"Fabulous," Rachel groaned to herself.
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
Twenty two year old Finn Hudson stood by his truck outside of the library. Police cruisers, two fire trucks, and an ambulance swarmed the scene, bathing the surrounding neighborhood in red and blue flashing lights.
Finn shook his head, wondering how Rachel could have screwed up so badly. Sure, he'd made a few mistakes in the last year, but it was pretty rare to need the police called to a scene when you were only trapping a level one demon.
He was there to Rachel up for the Trapper's Guild meeting that was in a half an hour. Now, he was sure that this incident was going to be brought up. She'd probably be lucky if her trapper's license wasn't suspended.
He was about to walk up to a police officer and ask for her when he saw her almost limping from the library. She looked up and spotted him and his truck across the street and quickly straightened her stance, like she hadn't been limping in the first place. She also shot him a glare before walking across the street.
Ever since she was fourteen, she hated him.
It started out nice enough with her having a little crush on him. Then, when he turned eighteen and left for the army, he shot her down. Even he admitted that he did it rudely, but there was no way that eighteen year old Finn Hudson was going to go out with Rachel. She was too young and he was too… messed up.
Until high school, Finn didn't really have a stable home life. His dad died in the army when he was young and his mom was a drunk. Then, when he was seventeen, he met Leroy Berry – his history teacher.
Leroy helped him to believe in himself again and graduate. He supported Finn's decision to join the army. Then, when Finn came back from a three year tour of duty, Leroy introduced Finn to demon trapping. He then reintroduced Finn to Rachel, who had aged amazingly while he'd been gone.
She was totally hot now. And totally pissed at him for blowing her off three years ago.
Finn had been kicking demon ass since then.
"Since when do you need a fire truck and ambulances and stuff for a Biblio?" Finn asked with a chuckle as Rachel crossed the street. She then came to a stop in front of him and glared.
"Don't start with me," she snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"Your dad sent me to get you. There's a meeting tonight," Finn replied, not bothered by her anger. He was used to it by now.
"Perfect," she muttered quietly. "I can drive myself, you know."
"Your dad heard about what happened here on the police radio and told me to get you," Finn stated. "We wanted to make sure you're okay."
Rachel laughed humorlessly. "Like you care," she said, rolling her eyes.
I do care, Finn thought. "Just get in," he said, opening the door to his truck and climbing in. With a huff, Rachel walked around to the passenger's side and got in, slamming the door. "So, are you gonna tell me what happened?" he asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Rachel murmured.
"Try me," Finn replied.
"It wasn't the Biblio," Rachel said. "I'm pretty sure it was a five. A Geo."
Finn glanced at her speculatively. "What makes you think that?" he asked.
"Well, it was really tall and had a black cloak on. It had these long claws, kinda like what threes have," Rachel explained. "But what made me think it was a level five was the fact that practically caused a full-fledged earthquake in the middle of the library. Strong wind gusts, too."
"Seriously?" Finn asked. Everything she said made it sound like it was a five. He had only seen a Geo once. They were pretty damn scary.
"Yes. A bookcase landed on me. I'll probably have bruises as proof," Rachel said in a huff.
"But that doesn't really make sense," Finn replied after a moment. "Your dad always told me that it was pretty damn rare for two different level demons to be in the same place at the same time. I mean, threes usually travel in groups together, but I've never heard of a one and a five sharing the same space…"
"I know what I saw," Rachel said grudgingly. Finn was about to say he believed her when she spoke again. "And it said my name. It pointed at me and said 'Berry'," she said, sounding confused. "How would it have known my last name?"
"I don't… I don't know," Finn replied. Now, that was pretty freaking weird. Finn had never heard of a demon referring to a trapper by name before. He'd be sure to mention it to Leroy; it unsettled him a little. He peeked over at Rachel worriedly and saw her looking out the window. She was also cradling her hand to her stomach.
"Did you hurt your hand?" Finn asked, returning his gaze to the road.
"The Biblio bit me. I'm fine," she said dismissively.
"Did you clean it?" he asked.
"My holy water was in my car. I didn't have the chance to yet," she replied. Holy water not only was a great weapon against the demons, but it was pretty much the only thing that healed bites or other wounds that the demons made.
"We'll clean it before we go inside," Finn said. He saw Rachel nod out of the corner of his eye.
After ten minutes, Rachel hadn't said anything else to Finn. He kind of missed the fourteen year old Rachel that talked his ear off all the time. The thing she mostly talked about was Broadway; it was her dream. After hearing her sing, Finn was positive that she would make it there one day.
Then, Hiram Berry died, changing everything.
"Do you think the Guild knows about this already?" Rachel asked, sounding worried.
"Probably," Finn said. "Most of them listen to police radios like your dad does."
"Fantastic," Rachel groaned.
"Once you tell them what happened, they shouldn't be too hard on you," Finn said.
"Yeah, right," Rachel replied. "You know John Karofsky hates me and my dad. He's been waiting for the day when I screw up so that my dad can lose his master trapper status. And his son, Dave, hates me, too. If it comes down to a vote, they're definitely going to vote that I lose my license. Then dad could be demoted."
"You never know," Finn replied with a shrug. He hated to say that she was probably right. Most of the trappers didn't mind having Rachel around. Others weren't fond of the fact that a chick was now a trapper. In fact, Rachel was the first female trapper that the Trappers Guild had ever had. And since she was Leroy Berry's daughter, the trappers that were assholes felt like she could get away with screwing up easily.
But they didn't know Rachel like Finn did; he knew that she was harder on herself than anyone else. She'd probably be mentally kicking herself for days after what happened tonight, even though it sounded like it wasn't her fault at all.
Finn pulled up to the dilapidated church where they held the Trappers Guild meetings. The church wasn't used for services anymore, but it was still on holy ground, which meant that no demon could come and crash the meetings.
Of course, a demon would have to be really stupid if it tried to attack a room full of trained trappers.
Finn jumped out of his truck and closed his door before opening the toolbox on the back of his truck and pulling out a gallon of holy water.
"Come here, Rach," he said, unscrewing the cap. Ever since she was fourteen, he called her "Rach." She insisted that he called her Rachel for the longest, but the nickname just kind of stuck.
Rachel walked around the front of the truck and met Finn by the driver's side door. She held out her hand and he grimaced a little at the bite. It was red and swollen with purple-like bruises around it.
"This is gonna burn," he said, holding the jug of holy water over her hand.
"I know," Rachel said. She gritted her teeth. "Just do it."
With a nod, Finn tipped the jug over and poured the water on her hand. He heard her gasp and groan in pain as soon as the water hit the bite. Smoke came up from the wound like the water was putting out a fire. Finn peeked at Rachel and saw the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
But she didn't let them fall; she was tough. Cleaning demon bites hurt like hell, even if they were from a level one demon.
Once he figured the wound was sufficiently cleaned, he stopped pouring the holy water and put the lid back on. Rachel reached into her pink bag and grabbed out a large bandage before opening it and putting it on her palm.
"Do you have the Biblio in there?" Finn asked, pointing to her bag.
"Yeah, why?" she asked.
"You have to keep it in the truck. If it crosses onto holy ground, even if you're carrying it, it'll die. Then you'll be out on seventy five bucks," Finn said.
"Right. I forgot," she admitted quietly. Rachel reached into her bag and grabbed the duck sippy cup and handed it to Finn. He opened his door and roughly tossed it inside.
"What was that for?" she asked. "The cup could have burst open."
"It bit you. I wasn't gonna be nice," he said gruffly. See? I'm not a total dick, he thought.
Rachel scrutinized him for a second before turning toward the old church. Finn closed his truck door and followed right behind her.
He couldn't help but stare at her ass in those jeans as they made their way to church.
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
Rachel wasn't too excited about having to ride to the meeting with Finn, but for the first time in a long time, they didn't end up arguing over something. They usually butted heads a lot, and insulted one another on a regular basis.
Rachel didn't talk to him for a week when he called her a "selfish little girl" a couple of months ago. The only reason she started talking to him again was because her dad had asked her to.
Since Finn's legs were longer, he made it to the doors of the church first. He let himself inside and let the door close, causing Rachel to have to jog the last couple of steps and catch it.
"Jerk," she muttered under her breath. She figured he couldn't even spell chivalry, let alone know what it meant. She had to enter another set of doors before she was inside the church. Finn was already bending down to sit in the chair by her dad. Rachel walked quickly and sat at her dad's side. He smiled at her sweetly before turning his attention back to Will Schuester, the head of all the master trappers.
All of the trappers in New York were sitting in a large circle of chairs and tables, numbering about 30 trappers in all.
"Nice to see you both, Miss Berry and Mister Hudson," Will said.
"You too, Mr. Schu," Finn replied. Rachel just smiled at Will widely.
Rachel really liked Mr. Schuester. He was the only one that allowed people to call him by anything other than Master Schuester. Finn also picked Will's "nickname," calling him Mr. Schu. Just like the nickname "Rach," it stuck.
"Are we just gonna sit here, or are we gonna talk about Berry's fuck up?" John Karofsky grumbled, glaring at Rachel. "I'm sure if my son destroyed a library catching a level one, it would be the first thing we'd talk about."
"Watch it, John," Leroy Berry warned.
"I'd actually like to get the chance to explain," Rachel said in a clear voice.
"What's there to explain?" John asked. "You're not cut out for this." Rachel glared at him and refused to back down.
"I deserve the chance to explain what happened," Rachel said, looking to Mr. Schu.
"She's right, John," Mr. Schu said. "Go ahead, Rachel."
"Catching the Biblio wasn't the problem," she said. "I captured the one and then a large gust of wind went through the library. That's when I saw the five."
There were suddenly murmurs around the table as people talked to one another either in surprise or disbelief.
"Quiet!" Mr. Schu shouted, bringing everyone's attention back to Rachel. "How do you know it was a five?" he asked more calmly.
"It looked just like I read about. It was big, certainly taller than me, was wearing a black cloak, and had claws longer than a three has," she said. "I saw it and tried to run and then the ground started shaking."
"Oh, please!" John Karofsky snorted. "You messed up the library trying to catch a one. This is a really nice story, but I'm not falling for it."
"Finn believes me!" Rachel said, turning to Finn. "Right, Finn?"
Finn shrugged. Everyone turned to look at him and he cowered in his seat a bit. "It sounds like a five, I mean… But I wasn't really there to see it, so I don't know," he said quietly. Rachel glared at him before shaking her head. He'd never stand up for anyone or anything if it went against the status quo.
"Wait!" Rachel said, an idea popping into her head. "There were people there recording it on their phones! There's bound to be a video on the internet!"
"I'm on it," she heard a voice say. She turned and saw her best friend, Noah Puckerman, pull out his cell phone. They'd been best friends their entire lives, going to the synagogue and school together. Puck even flirted with her on a daily basis, but it would never amount to anything. Rachel wouldn't consider him dating material.
Everyone murmured quietly as Puck searched for the video.
"Got it!" he said. Trappers on either side of him scooted in closer as they watched the video. "Damn!" some of them said. She could hear the crashing from the tiny speaker in Puck's phone, reminding her of how sore she was.
"That's gotta be a five," one of the older trappers said.
"Definitely," Puck agreed. He passed his phone around and the other trappers watched the video.
Leroy turned to Rachel. "Are you alright, sweetie?" he asked, sounding concerned.
"Of course, daddy," she said. "Just a little sore."
"I'm glad, but I don't want you hunting on your own anymore," he said. "You'll be with Finn from now on."
"But, daddy-"
"I don't want to hear it," he said quickly. "I'm not losing you, too." Rachel couldn't say anything after that; she just nodded in agreement and turned her attention to the group. Finn caught her eye. He looked at her apologetically, but she turned away.
"Settle down, everyone," Mr. Schu called. He waited a few moments and the chatter died down. "It would seem that Miss Berry was encountered by a level five demon tonight. That being said, the damage to the library wasn't her fault."
"Is my license safe?" she asked, not daring to smile yet.
"Don't worry, Rachel," Mr. Schu said with a small smile. "You handled things quite well." Rachel turned to look at Mr. Karofsky. He looked like a two year old that just had his favorite toy taken away. She resisted the urge to smile widely.
"Alright, what's next on the agenda?" Mr. Schu asked. Rachel looked over to Puck, who flashed her a smile and a thumbs up. She smiled just a little in return.
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
"I seriously can't believe it," Puck said after the meeting. "I haven't even seen a five yet and I'm ranked higher than you!" Puck had the same ranking that Finn did – a journeyman. They were allowed to capture up to a level three demon on their own, but had to capture fours and fives with assistance.
"I didn't even have any holy water on me," Rachel said, sounding bothered. "If it would have attacked, I'd be dead right now."
"Maybe we should get you some holy water and grounding orbs and stuff," Puck said.
"Noah, my dad won't even explain to me what all of the weapons do," Rachel said. "Out of everyone, he's the most worried about me being a trapper."
"Yeah, but you're pretty kick ass with catching the ones!" Puck said. "I mean, I never would have thought of half the stuff that you've thought of."
"Don't underestimate yourself, Noah," Rachel said with a smile. Puck rolled his eyes.
"Rach?" she heard a voice say. She turned around and saw Finn standing there with his hands in his pockets, looking sheepish.
"What do you want, Finn?" she asked impatiently.
"I just… I'm sorry for doubting you," he said.
"You didn't doubt me," Rachel said quickly. "You sounded like you believed me when we were in your truck. And then as soon as you get in here, you leave me high and dry."
"You don't understand-"
"I understand perfectly, Finn," she said, cutting him off. "I understand that you'd rather go with the crowd and to make things easier for yourself, while making me out to be some sort of liar, instead of sticking up for what you really think."
"But, Rach-"
"I don't want to hear it, Finn. I really don't," she said, interrupting him again. "I'm tired and aching from having heavy books and a bookcase landing on me. I'll listen to your poorly created excuses another day." She turned away from him and faced Puck. "Goodnight, Noah. Call me tomorrow."
Then, without saying goodbye to Finn, she walked away.
Rachel then met her dad at his truck and climbed inside.
"You seem aggravated," Leroy observed. "What's the matter, honey?"
"It's Finn," Rachel huffed. "He's the single most irritating person on the entire planet."
"That's not the first time I've heard you say that," Leroy laughed.
"Well, it's true," Rachel said.
"But sweetie, you've been angry at him ever since you were fourteen," Leroy said. "Are you sure this isn't because there are some unresolved feelings?"
Rachel laughed. "Trust me, dad. Any feelings I had for that boy disappeared a long time ago," she said.
"Well, you might as well try and find a happy medium with him since you'll be trapping together," Leroy replied.
"Can't I trap with Noah?" Rachel asked. "He has the same ranking that Finn does."
"That may be true, but Finn has been trained by me, so I know that he knows what he's doing. Noah, on the other hand, seems less trustworthy than Finn," Leroy said.
"At least Noah actually likes me," Rachel grumbled.
"Finn likes you," Leroy said, sounding shocked that she said that. "He cares about you very deeply."
"Yeah, right," Rachel muttered under her breath. In all honesty, she cared about Finn, too. Even though he was an asshole most of the time, there had been a few moments when he'd been decently kind toward Rachel. And he even tried to help her learn the different kinds of demons and other things in his spare time.
Even though Rachel thought the army had helped him mature some, and help him gain some more muscle, he was still incredibly annoying.
"Don't forget that I'm going trapping with Finn tonight," Leroy said.
"But I thought we were having movie night," Rachel complained. "You've been trapping every night for this past week."
"We need rent money, sweetie," Leroy reminded her patiently.
"Right," Rachel said quietly. "You're right. Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize," Leroy said. "Trust me, I'd much rather be spending time with you."
"Thanks, daddy," Rachel replied. "But I did catch that Biblio. It should help some."
"I'm proud of you," Leroy said with a smile.
Then, Rachel remembered. "Shoot! I left it in Finn's truck," she said.
"I'll get it from him tonight," Leroy said.
Minutes later, Leroy pulled in front of the apartment complex. It wasn't that much better looking than the rundown church, but at least they had a roof over their heads.
"Don't wait up. I'll probably be late," Leroy said.
"Be careful," Rachel said. She then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"I always am," he said with a smile. Rachel threw her pink messenger bag over her shoulder and climbed out of the truck, closing the door more easily than she had closed Finn's truck door.
By the time she got into the apartment, her body was practically screaming for a hot shower. After straightening up the apartment some, she got in the shower, relaxing under the hot spray.
She showered for longer than she usually did before getting out. Less than five minutes later, her pajamas were on and she was climbing into bed. It had been an incredibly long night.
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
Rachel thought that she was still sleeping when she heard a banging sound. As the banging grew louder, Rachel's thinking became clearer. She then realized that it was the front door. But who would be banging on the front door in the middle of the night?
"Dad, is that you?" she called as she walked out of her room and toward the front door. The banging continued. "Dad?"
She unlocked both locks on the door before pulling it open. She was surprised to see Finn Hudson standing outside her door.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" she asked. "Where's my dad?"
Finn opened his mouth and then closed it again, seemingly at a loss for words.
"Spit it out, Finn," Rachel said in a clipped voice. "Where's my dad?"
"He's gone," Finn said quietly.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Rachel asked. "You're not making any sense."
"Rach, he's gone," Finn said, looking at her with red-rimmed, sad eyes.
"If this is you trying to mess with me, it's not funny!" Rachel said, growing irritated.
Finn took a deep breath before reaching out and grabbing Rachel by the shoulders. "Listen to me," he said clearly. "I'm sorry, but Leroy's dead. A five got him."
Rachel shook his hands off of her shoulders and backed up into the living room. Finn walked inside and closed the door before turning back to Rachel.
"Rach, please say something," Finn practically begged.
"You're joking," she said. "My dad's not… he's fine."
"No, Rachel, he's not," Finn said, sounding like he was getting irritated. "I was there. I saw it happen."
Then, it hit her.
He wasn't joking.
"Oh my God," Rachel choked, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.
"Rachel…" Finn said, walking closer to her. He attempted to pull her into a hug, but she backed away from him.
"No! Where were you?" she practically yelled at him. "You were supposed to have his back! What were you doing?"
"I was right there," Finn insisted. "We cornered a three and the five came out of nowhere. The three went after me and your dad… We weren't expecting it and it just…"
Rachel sank onto the couch as the tears started to fall. She dropped her head into her hands as she started sobbing. She felt Finn sit next to her and put his hand on her back, attempting to soothe her.
"It's gonna be okay," he said, his voice cracking.
"How is it going to be okay?" Rachel cried with her head still in her hands. "I don't have anyone anymore!"
"You have me," Finn said, his voice more firm than before. Rachel suddenly sat up, her tear-filled eyes staring into his.
"You hate me. That's the same as me being alone," she insisted. She then got up before Finn could say anything. He heard her sobbing before her bedroom door slammed shut.
Finn sat back on the couch, completely in shock. She actually believed that he hated her.
Finn decided quickly that he needed to convince Rachel that he didn't hate her. He would help her and be there for her.
After all, he promised Leroy that he would.
TBC
-GLEE-GLEE-GLEE-
A/N: This might be a little different than you're accustomed to, but I really hope that you like it! Please leave me a review and tell me what you think!