A cluster of stars:
A Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry fan fiction
AU: supernatural /friendship
T- Rating: for some strong language
A complete one shot.
Summary: Can a person's past be forgotten when they finally find a group of people just like them, and have a life filled with GLEE?
This story is a short companion piece of sorts, but not really an epilogue to 'A Star for my love'. If you haven't all ready read it please do, as it will help you understand this one. I own nothing but the plot and OC's, any songs used or mentioned belong to their rightful owners, and of course any mistakes are mine.
This story has a twist to it, so please stay with it, read and review, but more importantly enjoy. Thanks for all the wonderful and encouraging support of my writing.
cab4five
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A young couple were at the Hudberry Gardens, Memorial park in Lima, watching their daughter enjoying the playground, their newborn baby snuggled in a safe bundle of blue blankets in his fathers' arms, doing like most babies of that age do, just enjoying being held and fussed over.
A short time later they were approached by an Asian girl with bright pink streaks in her waist length dark hair, dressed in a dark gothic style outfit. Who introduced herself as Tina Coen-Chang, and asked if they'd mind if she sat and chatted to them for a little while, thinking it a bit strange that a complete stranger, would just sit down and start a conversation. Pushing that thought to the back of their minds, happy just to have another person of similar age to converse with, but somehow sensing that the woman meant no harm even if the meeting was unusual. The tall man and his wife who was at least a foot shorter than her husband eagerly acquiesced to her request, but they kept a close watch on their children nevertheless
"I've seen you and your little ones here a lot, do you live close by?" at the funny look from the others and the way the man holds the baby a bit tighter, Tina says quickly holding up her hands and waving them in a negative motion "Oh no please don't worry I'm not a stalker or anything like that, it's just sometimes I hear you sing and I was wondering if you'd like to come and meet a few friends of mine, we are a club of sorts, and could use another couple of voices, plus everyone is really cool and friendly and we are all about the same age, well all except Mr Schue of course he is a teacher."
The couple then make their own introductions telling their companion they are Finn and Rachel Hudson, and then Rachel points to the little girl, having a great time on the kiddie slide and play gym, who Tina surmises to be about 3 and says "that is our Isabella and this little one." She smiles at the swaddled baby, "Is the newest addition to our family, Christopher."
Finn and Rachel, look at each other each knowing what the other will say, Finn knows how much Rachel enjoys singing so he sends his wife a little nod and answers for the both of them.
"It sounds like it might be fun, but as long as we can bring our children, as we've no one to look after them."
"That's fine, I'm sure the others would love to see some little ones… well the girls anyway you know all mother hen and all, well we have a meeting in a little while do you want to follow me now?"
"Yes that sounds like an excellent idea" Rachel says smiling at Tina, before turning to call her daughter, who at the sound of her name turned her head and made her way towards the adults shyly watching the dark haired lady. "Bella come on darling we are going now…, no please don't frown or pout it will give you wrinkles we can come back another time alright? This nice lady is Mrs…?" " Miss" Tina supplies "yes, Miss Coen Chang, can you say hello?"
Isabella whispers a soft "Hello" and presents a tiny hand for a handshake, which Tina takes and returns the greeting. Her parents beaming with pride at their daughter's polite manners.
"She is taking Mommy and Daddy to meet some friends of hers that like to sing, maybe you can join in." Rachel says
The little girl nods her head excitedly and attaches herself to her mother asking "Is Cwissy gonna come too" looking over at her brother.
"Of course possum, we can't leave Chris behind anyway you know he enjoys listening to Mommy sing." Finn says smiling
Isabella nods her little head again making her long light brown braids bounce about, a beaming grin on her face and her big soft caramel eyes shinning.
A short while later Tina and her new friends reach the McKinley High School and enter through a door in the back of the building that after a short walk along a hallway few minutes later opens into the choir room.
Rachel and Finn each with a tight hold on their children and each other's hands nervously smile at the gathered group.
Tina in an excited babble says "Hey Mr Schue I found us some more members and believe me they are both really good", she turns to the room at large and says
"Guys this is Finn and Rachel Hudson and their kids Isabella and Chris… Rachel, Finn this is…" and introduces her friends by way of a pointing finger at each person. Who as their name is called, waves a hand or nods their head in greeting.
"Mr Schuester"
"My boyfriend, Artie Abrams"
"Blaine Anderson"
"Brittany Pierce"
"Kurt Hummel, Blaine's boyfriend"
"Matt Rutherford"
"Mercedes Jones"
"Mike Chang"
"Noah or (Puck as he prefers) Puckerman"
"Sam Evans, Mercedes' boyfriend"
"Last but not least, Santana Lopez, Brittany's girlfriend"
"Hello everyone" Finn and Rachel say together and wave at the group,
"Welcome Finn and Rachel, please call me Mr Schue or Will if you'd rather seeing as you're not really my students" he chuckles and moves across the room to shake hands with them. Everyone else does the same some a little more excitedly than others but they still welcomed the newcomers.
Tina was right about the girls going 'Mother hen' on the little ones, and they took turns in holding baby Chris and playing games with Isabella, even Kurt and Blaine got in on it, well Kurt was going on about moisturisers and fashion, while Isabella was more interested in playing with Blaine's polka dot bow tie.
The time spent with their new friends in the choir room that Thursday was the most fun Finn and Rachel had, had for ages. And while she was partial to Broadway songs and musicals, Rachel was very quick on pick up on the current chart hits. She was happily surprised that when the group of them sang together, it sounded magnificent; all Mr Schue did really was guide them and accompany them on his ukulele. Just before the meeting ended Puck, Artie, and Sam, moved over to their guitars and asked Finn if he played anything.
"Er yeah, I um played the drums a little bit but nothing like the sort of music we've been doing here."
'Hey 'tis cool man, just give it a go I'm sure whatever skill ya got will come back yeah?" Artie said making a fist bump action in Finn's direction.
He looks over at Rachel who is nodding and beaming at him and motioning with one hand to have a go. Finn sends her a happy dimpled smile and moves over to the bright red drum kit, with the words 'McKinley High Jazz ensemble' painted on the outside of the bass.
Puck motions to a sheet of paper and asks him if he knows the song, Finn nods at the Mohawk wearing guitarist and says "I might be a bit rusty man" then immediately starts to count the beat in, and for the next few minutes the choir room is filled with magic as drums, guitar and Blaine's piano skills, complement each other, when the girls add their vocals, poor Mr Schue is just about floating away with glee.
"OH MY GOD! You kids are something special; oh I wish we could still compete in show choir competitions, you guys would ace it every time. I was so sad when McKinley stopped entering a team"
"Why can't we, Mr Schue?" Finn asks rubbing a hand across his neck, "I mean every one here is super talented."
"Because we no longer have the option, Finn, he says sadly, but hey on the upside, we can have our own little club right here, and simply call it
GLEE
What do you guys think?"
A loud chorus of "YEAH" echoed around the room before everyone said their goodbyes', Finn and Rachel were told that the group liked to meet everyday, but there was always usually someone around so to just come along when they wanted.
Once the children were settled Finn and Rachel made themselves comfortable in their favourite spot on the porch of their cottage, watching as the moonlight glistened off the shingles covering the brick well in the front yard and listening as the creek made its way over the fallen logs and rocks, makings its own music to join in with the cicadas and birds and the soothing whoosh of the breeze as it passed through the giant buckeye trees that made a cool, shade overhead.
"Did you enjoy GLEE baby?" It was so much fun playing the drums and meeting the others they all seem really cool, though I could sense something really angry about Puck,"
"Yes I did honey, I'm so glad we went everyone is so very talented and of course I would know, and without being a show off, I must admit that I'm rather talented myself."
Finn chuckles at his tiny wife's humble monologue, before gathering her onto his lap and pressing his lips against hers, whilst one hand is busy underneath her loose shirt caressing her breast; his other has tangled its self in her satiny brunette tresses, and cupping the back of her head. The lustful moans she releases always sound like music to Finn and he can't wait to get into their bed where he can show her how talented he thinks she is, knowing he will have his attentions reciprocated a 100 fold and made to feel like he is floating.
Time passes and the Hudson's become very close to the other members of GLEE, and as they get to know them, each person's background stories are told freely just like one would be talking about any number of everyday happenings.
It was one such day when Finn was first in the choir room, playing about on the drums when Puck appeared, looking annoyed and instead of the usual fist bump, didn't seem to notice Finn was even in the room, until the tall drummer spoke.
"Hey man, are you alright? You don't seem to be your self today, I'm glad to help if I can."
"Huh? Nah dude, there's nothing you can do; I mean I should be over it but by now … but aw what the hell. Where's everyone else?"
"Oh they've gone to the auditorium Mike, Santana, Brittany and Matt wanted to show off some new dance moves apparently the group is better when they're loose or something … damned if I know man, dancing has never been my strong point." Finn chuckles causing a small smile to appear on his friends face.
Puck then moves closer to where Finn is sat after leaving the drums, sighs deeply and slides a hand through his Mohawk, before beginning his story and once he starts Finn gets the impression he is not really speaking to him but more like Puck is lost in his memories.
"Straight after I graduated from this fucking joint", a snort of derision makes Finn look up "I never thought I would ya know, I was never the most studious kid at school, being more interested in how many chicks I could bang in a week and how many older dudes I could talk into buying me beer when I stood out side of the 711 on Friday nights. Or doin' the supa hot Milfs when I cleaned their pools… and a short stint in Juvie for tryin' to steal an ATM. Oh did I mention about the beautiful cheerleader I knocked up in sophomore year and who was the girlfriend at the time of my best friend? Well anyway by the time I got to senior year my good buddy, who funnily enough was a lot like you, and whose girl I 'was with' made me see that I should put all the bad shit behind me and try to make somethin' of my life. So anyway I got my shit together and joined the US Air force, and finally found a place to belong and prove not only to myself but all the other fuckers in this damn town, that I wasn't the useless no hoper, lima looser I was pegged to be. I was finally goin' somewhere ya know my life was good I had reconnected with the girl, I'd been in love with since 8th grade.
"The one who had your kid?"
Puck nods and buries his face in his hands
"Oh man I'm sorry Puck, but what happened then?" Finn asks
Clenching his fists Puck looks Finn straight in the eyes, hazel locking with caramel and in a harsh tone says "in 2009 due to a stray fucking bullet, ricocheting off the wing of my aircraft during a fucking training exercise, and hitting the fuel tank causing me and my bird to explode in a fire ball. Since then I've been hangin' around this town trying to come to terms with what happened to me just when I was getting my life sorted. You wanna know what really pissed me off the most? My girl hooked up with some rich fucker she met at college out east 'bout a fortnight after I left, and forgot everything we were workin towards after declaring' how much she loved me and wanted to make it work, we had even been able to visit with our kid an' get to know her an' stuff."
Puck is pacing the room trying to calm down, while Finn can do nothing but watch.
"Aw hell, I'm real sorry man, but I understand where you are coming from" Puck raises his face towards Finn and sends him a look that is hard to decipher but Finn continues, deciding it was time their new friends found out a little about he and Rachel.
"May 1941 we had a new manager and his family come to work on Hudberry estate, he was an alright man, worked hard and was honest you know"
Puck nods and instantly recognises the name Hudberry, as the mystery that surrounded one of the nicest families from the largest land holding in Lima had been common knowledge for years, and passed down through the generations, his nanna would tell him the sad story every time he came to visit her.
"Shit man you are that Finn Hudson!, fuck dude , I'm real sorry, my nanna used to tell me all about your family when I visited her, her sister, Sybil Ben- Israel was friends with your mom and everyone in town had always thought something screwy went down.
"Thanks Puck, yeah anyway this new manager had a daughter a couple of years older than me and Rach, see we'd grown up together and my mom thought of and cared for Rach as her own, 'cause when Rachel was born she was too early, and well her Mom died. Anyway this girl was always hanging around me and had set her sight on catching me as a husband even though the whole town knew I was keen on Rachel and wouldn't stray, and that she felt the same about me. Mid November 1941, Rachel and I had just become engaged and were busy planning our wedding, and then Rach caught a really bad cold and was stuck in bed for a while. Then oneday this other girl turns up on her doorstep and asks Rach to go for a walk and a picnic by the river bank , and as it wasn't too cold out she thought the fresh air would do her good, you know." Puck nods and motions for Finn to go on "well they got talking and this girl was asking Rach all about me and when Rachel said something about us getting engaged and wanting to marry as soon as possible…"
Puck could see Finn was getting upset and he had an inkling of what went down that day, but waited for his friend to continue.
"She bashed my beautiful Rach over the head and dumped her in the damn well, then went home as though nothing happened. Then when I couldn't find my girl and was asking everyone she tried to cosy up to me every chance she got flashing her breasts at me, trying to kiss me, and even coming up to our house with plates of bakery goods. The bitch wrote down everything she did in a freaking diary and even the plans for our wedding flowers. I'd never given her more than the time of day and as I found out later she just wanted to marry money and would do what ever she had to."
"I real sorry dude so what happened after that?"
Taking deep breaths to put his mind back on track Finn continues, "Well 6 months later I joined the army and was sent overseas' after basic to Europe, volunteering for every dangerous mission I could , basically trying to get shot so I could be with Rach, but she kept me safe , I'd hear her voice in my head telling me to be careful and it worked for 2 years then on one patrol in the jungle my platoon was ambushed and all but me was taken prisoner, so later that night I managed to get my buddies free and just as we about clear of the enemy's compound and one bastard who was hiding got me. Then I 'woke' up in the home that Rach had been making for us in the caretakers cottage in Hudberry, then we found our kids Isabella in 2001, had been playing at the creek with the other kids from the group home and well, she slipped on mossy rocks, and fell into deep icy cold water, the other kids panicked . She was lost and just wanted someone to love her, then little Chris, we found him wrapped in a bundle of dirty newspapers' abandoned by a dumpster just a couple of hours after his birth in mid winter of 2005. So now our family is complete and we have come to terms with what happened to us. But we had the last laugh so to speak because in 1995 we went to visit the evil woman, who hurt Rach, in the nursing home she had recently moved into, and get this her room, was the one my Mom had died in about a month before. Well anyway I and Rach left her a little message and wham she was gone, the police never did figure it out but she deserved everything she got. Not only for killing Rachel but her brother killed mine and Rachel's Dad's, and stole our estate right from under my Mom's grieving nose."
Puck is about to say something else but the rest of the group appear the girls happily chatting about the latest fashions that are allowed on the shelves. Rachel's eyes zero in on Finn and Noah and she knows Finn has told their story. Which she is fine with as she had heard most of the other tales today and would let Finn know the full stories later,
Finn paints a big grin on his face as little Isabella dances over to him and climbs on his lap pressing sloppy kisses on his cheek excitedly telling him all bout her new dance. "Daddy you shudda sees me dance, I is rel good".
"You did? Well aren't you just the cleverest little bit, you can show me when we get home ok?" speedy head bobbing in agreement, make both Finn and Puck smile widely.
After GLEE that day Rachel told Finn about the other kids and how they sadly came to be there
Will, Tina, Sam and Mercedes had died from their injuries resulting from in a bomb blast at McKinley High in 2009 when the girls were juniors, and had both very recently celebrated their 1st anniversary milestones in their relationships. Apparently the bomb had been left in the wall near the gas pipes in the choir room by the football coach at the time who was jealous that the guidance councillor Emma Pillsbury, kept refusing his advances because she was in love with Will Schuester, who was in the process of divorcing his wife because she lied to him about a baby she was pretending to be pregnant with.
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In 2010 Artie had been trapped in a porta potty hidden under a sheet of taped down black plastic by a group of jocks one day after school ended for the summer and due to his being confined in a wheelchair was unable to get out therefore suffocating from the smell and heat in the cramped space and wasn't found for days.
Santana and Brittany after a crash caused by a drunken carful of joy riders on the night of their senior prom. They had just come out as a couple which wasn't common in small town Lima at that time (1985) and they had been subjected to jeers and endless taunting. Their car had been pushed off an embankment into the river, then the when the boys had climbed down, pulling the injured girls out of the car before raping them, repeatedly telling them that all they needed was the right man to show them what they were missing , before pushing their unconscious bodies into the fast flowing water.
Kurt and Blaine had been victims of a hate crime due to their sexual orientation in (1972) while they were in Columbus for a music concert, and had been set upon by a group of thugs while walking back to their car.
Matt and Mike were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time in 1949 and 1951 respectively. Wrongfully blamed due to their ethnicity for assaults on children and been killed by crazed vigilantes.
Finn was in tears along with Rachel by the time she had finished telling her tales, but the one comfort that they all had she said, was that they all had found somewhere to 'hang out' and after a while of getting to know each other and finally come to terms with what happened to them realised they enjoyed singing and making music and as they were all pretty much the same age when they passed, felt comfortable in each others presence.
Finn and Rachel loved being with the others and had a ball 'sitting in' on classes at McKinley high continuing with their education, attending prom with their friends and after 'graduating' together, and were finally able to have the life that had been denied them so long ago.
So if you ever happen to be in the hallways of the rebuilt McKinley high School arts wings, In Lima Ohio, and feel strange or think you are hearing things don't worry you will be quite safe it will only be the GLEE, club practicing and being happy in their new lives. And putting the past where it belongs in the past. But please don't rush away take the time to sit and listen if you believe in other worlds you can find peace the 16 people inside the choir room can attest to that. They never stopped believing
G.L.E.E
(Ghosts, Living, Embracing, Eternity)
A/N: Well what did you think? I hope it wasn't too confusing or terrible. I hope you enjoyed it anyway, it was just something that came to me and I had to get it down. Please remember this is fan fiction so even as ghosts the characters' can do what they want. Thanks for reading I'd love to hear your thoughts so please review.
Last chapter of 'You've always been more' has been started so expect it soon, now this one shot is out of my head I can focus on the other story.
cab4five
