DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy!

A/N: I got this idea from an anon on Tumblr and ran with it. Whomever it was; thank you for the inspiration ;)

Lost in Translation

Chapter One: The Exchange

"Please, Dad? Carole already said yes and the fact that you haven't yet agreed with your wife and better half really disconcerts me." Burt leveled Kurt with a single glare from across the dinner table as Finn and Carole stayed as silent as death. They did not want to be a part of this conversation and Finn shoved a huge forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth as an excuse to be quiet.

"I know that Carole said yes, but this is my house and I have final say in the matter," he reached over and held his wife's hand in his. "And I don't appreciate you going behind my back and asking her permission before you checked with me first. Carole is your step-mother but I am your father and my word is law around here."

"But Daaaad,"Kurt whined, drawing out the word as Finn winced from the sound. "This is my chance to really perfect my language skills and inject some culture into this household. I already told Madame Tartuffe that I would be able to participate in the Cultural Immersion Exchange."

"Well you shouldn't have done that before clearing it with me first. I'm sorry Kurt, but I'm not just going to allow some stranger from a foreign country to live in my house. I refuse."

Kurt looked over at his step-brother, and Finn took a huge sip of his coke as the focus turned solely on him. He hated being involved in family fights, especially about things that had nothing to do with him. He didn't even speak French anyway and therefore would barely interact with the foreigner when he arrived. "Finn, what do you think about this?" Kurt asked brightly, nudging Finn in the side for support.

"Well, um," he looked around the table at his parents and Kurt and shrugged his shoulders in nonchalance. "I think it would be kind of cool, cause like, America rocks, right? We should spread the money." His family stared at him in confusion.

"You mean, spread the wealth?" Kurt clarified.

"Yeah, spread the wealth. You know, show this person how great our country is. It can't be that bad, right?" God, he was such a dork. No wonder he hadn't had a girlfriend in months.

Burt's eyes narrowed dangerously at his step-son as his wife squeezed his hand. "How long will he be here for? This French exchange student?"

"Eight weeks," Kurt replied. "He'll be gone by Spring Break." Burt shook his head and Kurt was now practically begging. "Dad, I'm the best French speaker in my class, and the exchange student needs someone who will be able to communicate with them. This could be a great opportunity for the entire family to learn about a culture and a language that's so different from our own. Please don't let it pass us by. This could be a really awesome experience for us."

"Burt," Carole finally said, looking her husband in the eyes. Finn always had a lot of love and respect for his mother, and he was glad that she had found someone that she truly loved. He hoped one day to find a girl who made him as happy as Burt made Carole. "I think we should do this. I've always wanted to go to France and instead of spending all that money on a trip, we can bring France to us. Maybe we really will learn something from this experience?"

"Or maybe this exchange student is a psychopath! Or a terrorist!" Kurt rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Dad, now you're just being irrational," Kurt grumbled.

With a heavy sigh, Burt looked around the table at his family, and Finn could almost see his resolve start to crack. He was outnumbered three-to-one, and he was never one to deny his beloved son something that he truly wanted.

"Alright, fine. I'll allow it." He conceded after a tense minute where all of the family's focus was on him. Kurt let out a squeal of delight as Finn finished the rest of his dinner in peace. He wasn't really affected by this decision, besides the slight invasion of privacy, but he was happy for his brother. He knew how much this meant to him and wanted to support him either way.

"Yes!" He yelled, pumping his fist in the air. "Now I can put "International Exchange Host" on my NYADA application. The Office of Admissions will eat that up!"

"Yeah, well, you're the one who has to set up the guest room for this exchange student. No one here besides you speaks French, so you have to be the one who's in charge of all of his needs. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Of course! I really hope whoever they send has a classic, Parisian style to them. I better go whip out my Edith Piaf and Serge Gainsbourg records!" Kurt jumped up from the table and ran off after dumping his plates in the sink. "I'm going to go finish the Exchange Application and call Mercedes. This is fabulous!" Finn smiled as his brother flounced off and finished the rest of his meal.

"Sacre bleu," muttered Burt over his pork chops as Carole smiled at her husband. "This is going to be a disaster."

For weeks leading up to the student's arrival, Kurt was practically floating on air, filled with excitement and enthusiasm for their foreign visitor. He had never seen his step-brother so thrilled about anything, and it was a contagious kind of happiness that Finn enjoyed. Kurt had been singing nothing but French songs in glee club for days, and had even started wearing berets around the house. The guest room was already prepared and Carole bought a cookbook filled with French recipes that they could try out on their new guest.

Finn just continued with his monotonous daily life as usual, completely unaware of the change that was about to occur in the Hummel-Hudson household. He went to glee club, sat through classes, and tried not to think about the fact that he still didn't have any plans for next year, while everyone else was preoccupied with their own future plans. Video games were a welcome alternative to dealing with reality, but he knew that he had to eventually figure it out, seeing as there was only six months left of school until he graduated.

Until then, school was a constant reminder of the fact that he was simply floating through the rest of the year with no ambition or goals, and the more his friends continued to talk about their future plans, the more he stressed out about his own.

He was walking down the hallway after school with his head down deep in thought, when a noise startled him out of his depressing reverie. Immediately, he spotted Kurt at his locker with his boyfriend Blaine, his face red and looking like he was about to cry. Today was supposed to be the day of the exchange student's arrival; so why was he so upset? Finn quickly spanned the length of the hallway and joined his brother as he wondered what could get Kurt so agitated on what was supposed to be such a monumental day for him.

"We were going to discuss men's fashion trends! I thought he would admire my clothes and look like a Louis Vuitton model. My dreams are all ruined!" He overheard Kurt wailing into Blaine's shoulder as he approached the two boys.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked as Blaine shook his head with an exasperated sigh.

"Kurt got the information about the exchange student today," he said while rubbing Kurt's back in circles. "Apparently he messed up on his Foreign Exchange application and there was a bit of a misunderstanding."

Finn frowned as Kurt continued to wail into his boyfriend's embrace. "What kind of misunderstanding?"

"They're sending a girl!" He screamed as Finn stared at his brother in shock. This was definitely not in the family's plans for the exchange.

"What do you mean, they're sending a girl? I thought you said they were sending a dude!" His step-father was not going to like a french girl living in the house with two teenage boys, even if one of them was gay. Finn of course didn't mind, but Burt and Carole were not going to be happy.

"The application was in French, so I didn't realize it when I put my middle name in the first name column. Instead of Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, they listed me as Elizabeth K. Hummel and sent me a female exchange student."

Finn could feel his heart begin to race in his chest. A French girl? Living with his family? Sharing his bathroom upstairs? It had been so long since his last girlfriend, he couldn't help but let his mind wander about their foreign French guest. Was she hot? Did she dig American guys? He hoped that she spoke at least a bit of English, if only for his sake.

"Well, when is she getting here? I thought she arrived today," Finn asked.

"She is here, she's in the French room," Blaine said. "Kurt took one look at her and ran away screaming."

He turned on his brother with a heavy glare. "You just left her in the school with no one on her very first day? What's wrong with you?" Kurt glared at his step-brother from his boyfriend's embrace.

"I took one look at her librarian-chic outfit and could barely take it. I thought France was supposed to be a country with style." Finn shook his head, disappointed in his brother's behavior.

"You've been waiting for this day for weeks and now you're just going to stand here like a brat while your foreign guest stands around, lost in a new country?"

He sniffled and pouted like a child. "Well when you put it that way, I sound like a bad person."

"Go get in there and take care of your guest! You wanted this!" Finn said, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. Blaine let go of Kurt while his step-brother dried his eyes.

"Yeah, well, you didn't give a crap about this exchange student until you found out she was a girl, so I'm not going to let you make me feel bad about this. I was looking forward to a Gaspard Ulliel, not a Marion Cotillard."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Blaine deadpanned from his side. Finn didn't know who any of those people were, but he ignored his brother and pushed him toward the French classroom, where the foreign exchange student was waiting for them. Kurt, Finn and Blaine all entered the room to find a petite girl talking animatedly in French to Madame Tartuffe with a smile. The teacher spotted the boys and pushed the small girl forward.

"Ah, there you are, Monsieur Hummel," the teacher said brightly, pronouncing it "uh-mell". "I wondered what had happened to you. I would like to introduce you to Mademoiselle Rachel Beri, from Paris." The small girl smiled and Finn was transfixed on the stunning image in front of him. She was short, but very slim, and every inch of her seemed to be coiffed to perfection. Her nails were short and manicured and her bangs were trimmed right above the brow, framing her face with her thick, shiny, shoulder length brunette hair. She was wearing a white beret on her head, to match the fluffy white sweater that hugged her frame perfectly. A sleek black pencil skirt highlighted her short, yet shapely legs with modest flats. When his eyes landed on her face, however, he lost himself in her large, dark brown eyes that stared at him from across the room and seemed to see straight through him.

Her lips were full and rose-petal pink as she licked them in anticipation and greeted them with a bright "Salut!". She stepped forward and placed a kiss on each of Kurt's cheeks, like the way celebrities did on the red carpet. Kurt made him watch that kind of stuff all the time and he always thought it was weird, but when Rachel did it she looked classy and sophisticated. Kurt looked semi-impressed as well.

Finn was shocked when she did the same to Blaine, and then approached Finn to repeat the friendly gesture. Standing all the way on her tippy toes, she barely reached his cheek as she pressed hers against his and her nose brushed lightly against his skin. It was a bit large, if he were being honest, but it seemed to fit her and her unique beauty. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply while she was invading his personal space and the most heavenly scent entered his nose. She smelled like a department store or something, flowery and crisp and chic.

He had never seen a girl like her before in his life; her style, her face, her demeanor. Everything about her was one of a kind.

Like a doofus he said "hello" to her after she greeted him, and even though she didn't say anything back, he could see a light blush highlight her cheeks as she stepped away from him. She was wearing Eiffel Tower earrings and for some reason that made him smile.

Finn and Blaine stood to the side while Kurt, Madame Tartuffe and Rachel spoke quickly in French. There were three very large bags of luggage in the corner of the classroom, and it finally hit Finn in that moment that this girl was going to be living with them.

For eight whole weeks.

He thought the grin would be forever permanent on his face. How lucky was he to have one of the most beautiful girl's he'd ever seen live in his house with him? Sure, the language barrier was bound to be an obstacle, but he would deal with it if only to be closer to her. Maybe Kurt could even teach him a phrase or two?

Speaking of his brother, Kurt still didn't look entirely thrilled at the prospect of hosting a French girl for eight weeks, but he forced a smile for her benefit as Madame Tartuffe left the room for the day. The three boys all stood around her while she looked around the classroom in awe of her surroundings. It was an awkward few minutes before Finn eventually nudged Kurt in the side with his elbow, whispering to him under his breath.

"Do something, dude. This is her first day in America and If I were her, I would think it was pretty lame."

"Well she's in Lima, not L.A.," he hissed. "It's not like there's a ton of stuff to do around here."

"Take her on a tour of the school or something. Don't just stand there," he ordered, noticing the way she curled her hair around her fingers in anticipation. Kurt turned to Rachel and asked her in French if she would like a tour of the school, and she accepted with a soft "Oui".Finn smiled at her politely as they walked out of the classroom together. He felt the urge to say something, but he was afraid of the language barriers that existed between them. He figured that they would have to talk eventually, so he gathered up his courage and tried to introduce himself to her. They were going to be sharing a bathroom, after all.

"I'm Kurt's brother, Finn." He said to her as they walked down the hallway with the other boys. Kurt would point out something in French and Rachel would nod her head, but she stared up at Finn in confusion as he sighed. This wasn't going well at all, but he had to try.

"Kurt," he pointed at his brother and slowly enunciated his words. "He is my brother." He pointed to himself and she nodded her head. "We live together. You're staying with us."

"Kurt, your brother?" She said, her accent thick but incredibly adorable. "We stay chez vous?"

"Yeah," he said, sticking out his hand. "My name is Finn."

"Finn," she said, and she pronounced it like Feen, but he couldn't care less. "Enchanté," she replied with a smile.

"Enchanté," he repeated as his heart started to race.

"Is he brother, too?" She pointed at Blaine and Finn couldn't help but laugh.

"No, that's Blaine. He's Kurt's boyfriend." Nodding her head, he wasn't sure if she completely understood but she didn't ask for elaboration. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her as they continued walking side by side in the halls after school. She really was one of the most prettiest girls he had ever seen and her accent was beyond adorable. Unfortunately, after that little introduction he really didn't know what else to say to her. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked next to her in silence while Kurt and Blaine gave her a tour of the school.

"'Ze school is big," she said, spotting the football field from the second floor windows. "Very big," she said, using hand gestures to articulate as she spread her arms out wide.

"Yeah, it's a lot to get used to, but it's not that bad."

"It's not that bad?" Rachel repeated, her voice questioning. Kurt leaned over and whispered the translation to her, which made her eyes light up in enthusiasm.

"No, it's formidable!" She said, mixing French and English. "Everything in America is so big." She looked up at Finn and blushed heavily. "Even 'ze boys!" He thought his heart skipped a beat as he took in her cherubic smile and enthusiastic attitude. It was borderline infectious as he felt his lips pull up in a smile.

"This is nothing, Rachel, you should see the mall," he said as she cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"What is this mall?" She wondered, but before he elaborated, Kurt pulled her by the wrist to his side.

"Before we start amazing her with the wonders of America, how about we get her home first? We still have to break the news to our parents that our exchange student is female and I'm sure my father is just going to be thrilled."Kurt was speaking too fast for Rachel to understand as she looked between both boys for some kind of explanation. Finn forced a smile for her benefit, thinking about Burt and the fight she was about to walk in on.

"We are leaving?" She asked politely, and Finn nodded as they returned to the French classrooms to pick up her luggage. He took the heaviest ones and followed Rachel, Kurt and Blaine out of the school while Kurt began a conversation with her in French. When she spoke her native language he was almost hypnotized by the sound of her voice and accent, and for the first time ever he wished that he had taken French instead of Spanish, just so he could communicate with her easier.

She sat in the backseat of Kurt's SUV with Finn and his eyes never left her frame as they maneuvered their way through Lima. Everything she saw amazed her, and he couldn't help but wonder why. She was from Paris, one of the most beautiful cities in the entire world, and here she was looking at the corn fields like they were made of gold. What was so damn special about his crappy hometown? He didn't understand, but she sure seemed to enjoy herself.

"It's beautiful," she whispered in wonder as the rest of Lima passed them by.

"Yeah," he agreed, looking only at her. "Beautiful."

Merci mille fois, mes amis!

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