Chapter One – I Can't Shake the Look You Gave

Sam watched Rachel as she jotted down lyrics to her new song on the bed they shared most of the time. He had been with Rachel for two years now and he had dropped hints like crazy that they should find a place together, but she always seemed opposed. Saying things like 'Why not keep both of our places' or 'I like my little house, and their just isn't room for boy stuff'.

He had worried at first, maybe she was cheating on him or something. But, he didn't think that was the case, she was just scared of commitment for some reason.

"How's the song going?" Sam finally asked, jumping next to her on the bed looking down at her scribbles.

Rachel sighed and looked up at her boyfriend, "It's not, as you can see." She frowned. "I need three more songs for this album." She frowned.

"Well, you can hire a song writer. There is no harm in that." Sam comforted, putting his hand on her lower back and rubbing her skin softly.

Rachel turned on her side so Sam's hand was on her hip and rested her head and her hand with her elbow propping her up. Sam mirrored her and smiled widely.

Rachel gave him a half grin, "Sam?"

"Yes baby?"

"Maybe you should go to your apartment? I need to write."

Sam's smile dropped, "But, we are having people over in a couple hours."

Rachel's face dropped, "Oh man." She sighed, "I forgot about that. Who's coming over again?"

"Santana and Puck and Puck's friend and his brother. Also, didn't you invite your cousin over?"

"Quinn? Yeah." Rachel sat up slowly. "I'm sorry, Sam. I forgot all about that." She started looking in her closet, "I'm sorry to do this, but can you maybe not come over tomorrow? I need a day." Rachel dug through her cramped closet.

Sam nodded even though he knew she could see him, "That's fine or whatever. I'm going to hop in the shower." Sam stomped off.

Rachel loved Sam, she loved him. She loved his quirky comments and he could always make her laugh. But, sometimes she just felt smothered by him. She found the dress that she loved to wear when she threw house parties and hung it on a hanger and turned on her steamer and sat on the bed looking at her pad of paper.

The reason she couldn't write it because everything was so boring. Her life was just… boring. She needed some gossip. Maybe she could write about other people's lives. She sighed and heard Sam humming in the shower and smiled to herself.

It was rude of her to act that way to him earlier, she knew it.

She scampered over to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

Sam opened the door revealing his bare chest to Rachel, "Sorry, did you leave your curling iron in here or something?"

"No." Rachel grinned mischeviously, "I thought I could join you." She lifted her eyebrow.

Rachel hadn't asked to join him in a long time, Sam was silent, he just opened the door motioning for her to come in, signifying his ascent. Rachel slipped off her tank top and short quickly and put her arms around Sam's neck, "I love you. I'm sorry I act crazy when I'm writing."

Sam chuckled, "You're always writing." He lifted an eyebrow. "But, I love you too."

Rachel heard the doorbell ring as she put the last garnishes on a cheese and fruit platter, she wished she had more vegan friends, but Sam did not share her same interest in meeting those types of people.

She opened the door to Santana, Puck's girlfriend. Puck and Sam have been best friends for a long time and Rachel didn't like Santana when they first started dating, she had a feeling that she would break his heart, but after two years she had proved Rachel wrong and she had actually become good friends with her.

Rachel grinned and hugged her and they exchanged small talk, "Where's Noah?"

"He's waiting for Finn and Kurt."

"Who?"

"Finn is his best friend from high school. He just moved to the city with his brother, Kurt." Santana explained and took a seat on a bar stool.

"White or red wine?"

"You're so lame, Berry. No tequila?"

Sam walked in the room and gave Santana a quick hug, "There is some Patron in the liquor cabinet, do you want me to pour you a shot?" Sam suggested.

"Only if you'll drink with me, Evans."

Rachel lifted her eyebrow at Sam, she assumed he would know what the eyebrow lift meant. To her dismay, he accepted. "Let's do it."

Rachel furrowed her brow and poured herself a glass of wine and leaned against the cabinet in frustration. She hated with Sam drank hard liquor. Hated it. They almost always got in a fight or he got sick. In any case, she wasn't looking forward to the evening.

The doorbell chimed again and she made her way to open it and was surprised when she saw Quinn with two unfamiliar men. "Quinn!" She squealed and hugged her cousins, "Who are your friends?" She looked at the two strangers.

"Oh, I don't know them." Quinn said quickly as she took her coat off, "They walked up behind me."

The tall stranger put out his hand, "I'm Finn, Puck's friend. This is my brother, Kurt."

Rachel waved at them both, "Hey guys, come in. Where is Noah?"

Finn's brows knitted together in confusion, "Who's Noah?"

Quinn giggled, "Puck, Noah Puckerman." Quinn explained, Rachel noticed she was obviously already taking a liking to the tall stranger.

"Oh." Finn scratched his head, "I guess I never put that together." Rachel thought his confusion was adorable, Quinn obviously thought so too. "He's on the phone with work, he pointed us in the right direction." Finn grinned.

Kurt was making his way around the apartment, "Who designed this place? It's spectacular."

Rachel was ecstatic when she heard Kurt speak, he was obviously gay and Rachel loved gay men, seeing as she had two gay Dads, she always took a liking to them. "Well I did everything myself. Over the coarse of the last six years of course." She beamed at Kurt. "I'm Rachel, by the way."

"Oh you're Sam's girlfriend." Kurt noted and Finn's face seemed to fall, Rachel pretended not to notice.

"Yes sir. Have you two met Sam?"

"Once or twice." Finn told her, "Puck takes us out with Sam from time to time whenever we're in town. But, now we're living here." Finn rambled.

"What can I get everyone to drink?" Rachel asked suddenly, realizing how rude she was being.

Quinn poured herself a glass of white wine and Kurt followed her lead, Finn didn't seem interested in wine at all, "We have beer or I believe Sam and Santana are drinking hard liquor in the other room."

"They're in there alone?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow, he had this look that Rachel didn't like, nor could she put her finger on.

Rachel laughed off her discomfort, "Yeah, so if anyone wants hard liquor…" Rachel was cut off by Puck's loud voice in the entryway.

"I'm here, bitches." He screamed and Quinn giggled as Rachel rolled her eyes.

"This is a house party, not a bar." Rachel whispered under her breath. She was hoping no one heard her, but Finn seemed to and gave her a empathetic smile.

"I'll take that beer." He whispered and she grinned and reached in the fridge to grab it out.

Sam and Santana made their way into the kitchen, following Puck's entrance and everyone made introductions and hellos. Sam gave Quinn, Finn and Kurt a tour a 'their' place as he kept calling it and that really got under her skin.

Rachel sat on a bar stool, talking to Santana about work and fashion and continued drinking. Rachel tried to ignore Sam and his drunken statements about her commitment issues, but at some point she just internally snapped.

Finn, of all people, noticed her coming undone and suggested she take a shot. She shook her head and declined, brushing off the urge to take a bottle of jack into her room and drink the whole thing while watching Funny Girl.

"Come on, why do you show me to the liquor cabinet at least?" Finn said quietly as she watched Santana, Puck, Kurt and Sam take shots and Quinn cheer them on.

"No, it's—" Rachel was cut off by the sound of Sam's slurring words.

"Who thinks I should propose to Rachel by saying 'say hello to my little friend'" Sam butchered the Tony Montana accent, "And then pull out a ring?" Sam beamed and Santana clapped her hands and was screaming 'do it!' when Rachel looked up at Finn.

"It's in here." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the den and shut the door behind them. She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in and looked up at Finn with frustration written all over her face, "I hate when he gets like this."

Finn nodded, "My ex used to drink too much, too." He bit his lip and opened the cabinet, "Uh, looks like all you've got left is some vodka."

Rachel shook her head, "I've got a private stash." She laughed a little and walked over to wear he was standing, bending over to open bottom cupboard, "It's a little hidden. What do you like?"

Rachel was unaware that she had put her ass right in front of Finn and he was painfully aware of this fact, he couldn't think straight enough to answer, "Uh, I don't really care, or I mean, know. What do-whatdya have?" Finn stammered.

Step back, Hudson Finn was screaming at himself. Your junk is like two inches from her, her, her…

"…and rum."

"Sorry, what?" Finn realized he hadn't heard her list off anything.

"Whiskey, Vodka, Jager and Rum."

"What kind of Whiskey?" Finn asked, still inches away from her.

She went from bending down the knelling down, brushing her ass against him as she transformed her position and Finn let out a sigh of relief and stepped backwards.

"Wild Turkey, Jack Daniels, or Bushmills."

"Wild Turkey." Finn could finally think straight as she stood up and realized he was painfully hard and was hoping that was hidden in the curves of his jeans.

"What mixer do you want?" Rachel grinned at him, pouring a shot in a glass for him and for her.

"I'll just shoot it. It's fine."

"Are we in college or what? When did this turn into a shot party?" Rachel frowned and Finn chuckled.

"Hey, I'm just doing what everyone else is doing. We can drink like the sophisticated 30 year olds we are." Finn chuckled, "I'll take Coke or Pepsi, if you have it."

"I have it." She smiled and then changed her tune quickly, "And I'm not 30, 29 until December 18th." She laughed, "And don't you try to age me."

Finn nodded, "You got it."

Rachel and Finn clinked their glasses and took a sip before taking a seat on the couch, "We should probably go back in there." She frowned.

"If they miss us, they'll come look for us." Finn told her and she agreed with a wide grin. "So tell me about you, Miss Rachel … What's your last name?"

"Berry, Rachel Berry. What's yours?"

"Hudson, Finn Hudson." Finn grinned.

"That's a really solid name." Rachel grinned.

They talked about their lives for what seems like hours, Rachel told him about how she moved to the city to become a Broadway star but it just never worked out the way she wanted, so she ended up writing songs for musicals and eventually went to making her own albums. She wasn't huge, but people knew her and she had a couple Christmas album's that went platinum. Which was ironic, because she was Jewish.

Finn told Rachel about how he had been running his step-dad's tire shop, ('Kurt didn't look like your biological brother.' Rachel noted.) and after a while, it just wasn't enough. When Kurt asked him to come with him to New York, he jumped at the chance. He had found a position at a local tire shop as the branch manager and would work their until he could get a band together.

"I'm a drummer."

"No way. I'm looking for a drummer for my next album." Rachel beamed. "Mine is moving back to germany after we're done recording the album I'm currently on. Assuming I can't get through it before he leaves."

"What's the hold up?" Finn asked, refreshing their drinks for the third time.

"Inspiration of any kind." Rachel laughed, "My life is too boring."

"Well you can write about Puck's life." Finn told her, "And his cheating whore of a girlfriend."

As soon as the words left Finn's mouth he knew he shouldn't have said anything. "Wait. What?"

"uh, nothing. Just like, a hunch I've had or something. It's really nothing. God Rach, please don't say anything." Finn was freaking out almost immediately. Damn his loose lips when it came to alcohol.

Rachel bit her lip and thought for a moment, back to Kurt's comment about Sam and Santana being alone, "You really think she's cheating?" Rachel whispered, moving closer to Finn.

Finn's eyes widened, "Yeah, but please don't tell her I said anything, Rach. She's the devil."

Rachel giggled a little, "I've had my doubts about her too." Rachel admitted. "Noah means the world to me, Finn. He really does. So, I think we should look into this."

Finn backed away, with one hitched eyebrow, "Look into it how?" Finn wondered.

"We have to prove it." Rachel told him.

"How are we going to pull that off?"

"I don't know. But, it's the only way to do it. Because if we don't, Noah will be stuck with her forever. You know he's planning to propose. We can't let him do that." Rachel urged and Finn thought for a moment.

Finn was hesitant to work with Rachel on anything, seeing as he found her semi-irresistible. Even in this close proximity, he wanted to kiss her. "Let's do it." Finn's mouth said against his better judgment.

"Great." Rachel beamed. "Let's exchange numbers."

A/N: This story is Finchel Endgame, as well as focusing on them. But, it will have a lot of other pairings, including Fuinn, Samchel, Pucktana, Klaine and Quam. It's a pretty intricate story. The main characters have all been introduced, I might bring Brittany and Artie into it but will not be touching on Brittana. Santana is straight in this story for all intents and purposes. Just to clear anything up.

Also, I of course don't own anything. Glee, any brands I talk about, or any of the characters.

The name of this story and the title of this chapter if from the Parachute song, 'Under Control'. Listen to it, it has a big part to do with this story in later chapters.