hello wonderful readers. this story has literally been sitting saved on my computer for about a year. and tonight i saw a post on my dashboard that was from "sweet home alabama" and i got the sudden urge to fix my terrible story that is (loosely) based off of that movie! okay so maybe a lot of it is, but i made it plenty finchel-y. now there's not a lot of finchel in this part of it, but there will be, because if you've seen the movie you know there's a lot of angst before you get to the good part! so without further adu, here is my attempt at writing good fanfiction. 3
i.
The sky was dark and cloudy as they sat on the beach as they always did. Well, if you could even call it a beach. It was more of a strip of sand, connected to a lake. But that didn't really matter to them, they were eleven after all. Laughter made her stomach clench as he said yet another thing which forced her into a fit of giggles. He always knew how to make her smile, and that's how Rachel knew that she loved Finn.
They sat there for a while, just watching the sky, but he saw it before she did. "C'mon!" he nudged her elbow. Lightening. She smiled. "Let's go!" He took off running, and she quickly followed, quickly glancing behind her noticing the bolt that landed two feet away from where she was just sitting.
"Wait! Finn! What are you possibly doing?" She called, slowing him down. "There was lightening here, not even two seconds ago!" He turned to look at her, a look of confusion on his face.
"You're so dumb." He teased, walking back to grab her hand. "Lightening never hits the same place twice!"
"I am not stupid, Finn Hudson! I'll have you know that my daddies said that I have a higher IQ than any of our friends, especially Noah! They said that he was dumber than a sack of pota-" Finn sighed and sat down on the sand rolling his eyes at her.
Smiling, Rachel sat next to him in the sand. "You're stupid." She smiled, nudging his shoulder with her chin. They sat like that, watching the lightening until Finn broke the silence.
"Rach…?" she looked at him then, seeing something in his eyes she had never seen before. She couldn't stop the words before they came out of her mouth.
"You know you can kiss me if you want too…" she sighed, leaning towards him.
"I want to." He said, leaning in to kiss her.
Just as their lips met, a bolt of lightening hit them shooting them apart from each other.
Rachel shot up from her slumber, her chair rolling her back a few inches before she realized that she had been dreaming. She shook her head, trying to clear out the memories that had just resurfaced. It was all just a dream, she reminded herself, wiping the tiny bit of drool away from the corner of her mouth.
"Good dream?" she heard Santana chuckle.
"Ha ha" Rachel scowled at her.
"Oh, come on Rachel, you're stressed, you haven't slept in weeks, you deserve some rest." Santana smiled.
Ever since Rachel moved to New York, Santana Lopez had been her best friend, and even though she was a bitch sometimes, Rachel always knew Santana had her back.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"Plus," Santana added, "it's closing night tonight, you needed to rest your vocal chords anyway." With that, she walked out of the room, leaving Rachel by herself.
Packing up her things, Rachel walked through the theatre, telling everyone she saw she would see them later that night, and to make sure to drink plenty of tea with honey. It was the greatest thing to drink before a performance after all.
She called a goodbye to Santana, who was standing with her other best friend, Kurt, and left the building, excited as anything to get home and sleep. Sleep that didn't include dreams like the last one.
She suspected something was up as soon as she put her key in the lock. And as soon as she opened the door, her suspicions were confirmed. She smiled at the sight of her apartment. Dozens of roses surrounded her. Vases of them were on the counters, and the pedals from them on the floor, leading her to the living room, where dozens more were waiting for her.
She laughed quietly to herself as she walked around, inhaling the scent of them. Rachel reached into her bag to pull out her phone, immediately dialing the cause for all of this. When he answered she simply said; "I love you, I love you, I love you." Rachel said, sitting on the side of her bed, which was also covered in petals.
"I see you got the flowers?" He chuckled. She could hear his smile on the other end of the line.
"They are wonderful, Sam. Absolutely gorgeous!"
"Just like you are, Rachel. I am so proud of you, and you're going to do so good tonight, I can feel it. I know it!" She couldn't hide the excitement on her face.
"Thank you, baby, but I'm still amazing even though I've done this hundreds of times before?"
"Even if you did this a million times, you would still be the most fantastic woman on Broadway."
"You always know what to say, Sam. I'll see you tonight, okay?" she bit her lip to try to keep herself from smiling so wide.
"Okay, Rachel, I love you." Sam said.
"I love you too." Rachel lay back on her bed when she hung up. She in fact, had the best boyfriend ever.
ii.
The show went off without a hitch, just as she suspected it to. She got three standing ovations, something that she didn't even know was possible. But hey, who was she to complain? As always, Sam was there in the front row, another bouquet of roses in his hand. It must be the last of them, she hoped.
She locked hands with Kurt and Santana as they took their final bows. And as the curtain fell, Rachel felt the tears start to pour down her cheeks. She held their hands tightly, not wanting to let them go, or the show. She had let enough go in her life, it hurt her to lose something so important again.
When she saw Sam come backstage, she wiped her eyes, pushing all of her recent thoughts out of her mind. She squeezed Santana and Kurt's hands once more before running into Sam's arms, where he grabbed her in a tight embrace.
"Rachel Smythe, you were the most amazing woman on that stage, and the most beautiful." He said kissing her cheeks and her forehead. "And you were the most talented." He kissed her lips. She smiled against them, loving him more and more every time he spoke.
"Thank you, Sam. For everything." He handed her the bouquet, smiling at her.
"Those are the last ones." She smiled, he had read her mind. "But you might want some more, because I have to tell you something." She felt her stomach drop at his words. He didn't figure it out, did he?
"My mother wants us to attend her gala tomorrow night." She sighed a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "I know that you hate them, and you like it when our relationship is low profile, and I love that too, but my mother is the mayor of this city, so we kinda have to do what she says…"
Rachel grasped his hands in hers. "You have been so amazing for me in the past weeks, coming to all my shows, and still making time with me with all of your obligations, of course we can go. And I'll even smile some of the time!" She laughed, kissing Sam on the cheek.
"I love you, Rachel Smythe, did you know that?"
She smiled, "And I love you, Sam Evans."
iii.
Her phone rings as she's putting in her second earring. She curses to herself that Sam is early, and he didn't give her enough time to get ready. Even though he's like forty minutes earlier than when he said he would get her. "Hello?"
"Hey, baby. Listen, I'm running a little late, so I'm gonna send Tony to get you and take you here, is that okay? He should be there in like ten minutes or so." She sighed.
"Okay, good, because I am almost ready and I was going to have to punch you because you didn't give me enough time to get ready!" she heard him chuckle on the other end of the line.
"Women…"
"Oh, whatever. Have Tony call me when he gets here. I love you, butthead." Rachel said, hanging up when she got the response she wanted.
iv.
She smiles when she gets outside, Tony holding open the door of the limo for her, just like he always did. Out of all of the people that serviced the Evans, Tony had to be Rachel's favorite. While all the other people that worked there (Rachel refused to call them servants) were usually angry or unhappy to be there, Tony always seemed happy to help her and loved to talk to her. Rachel's fondest memory with Tony was on her and Sam's first date.
Tony had picked her up from her apartment, because Sam's mother made him stay at the office late. She had never been out with people with real money or power before, so she was already nervous as a person in her situation could be. Tony noticed automatically and had pulled her aside.
"Now, Ms. Smythe. There is no reason to be nervous. I have worked for many a families in my lifetime. And out of all of them, Mr. Evans is the kindest man that I have ever had the pleasure of working for. I know he cares about you, and doesn't mind that you aren't of his, well…"
"That I don't have a political career?" Rachel asked, not wanting to think he offended her.
"Exactly." He smiled softly at her. "Feel a little better?"
"Very much so, thank you, Tony."
"So, Sam tells me that your show went well?" He said, helping her into the car. She waited until he was seated in the front of the car before she answered him.
"It went very well, thank you. And it was so kind of you to come to one of my shows, you didn't have to do that at all!" She blushed.
"It was nothing, Mr. Evans loves you, and as long as you don't tell him I said this, I think that I'm in love with your voice a little bit." He winked at her from the rearview mirror.
"Well, you wouldn't be the first." She stuck out her tongue, earning a smirk from the front of the car. "So, where exactly are we headed?" Rachel said, not recognizing her surroundings as they drove.
"Oh, Mr. Evans told me to take a few back roads, not as much paparazzi and such." As the car came to a halt.
"Yes, that sounds like Sam." She laughed. The door opened to reveal her gorgeous boyfriend, standing smiling just like he always was when he was expecting her. If she could pick out one thing she loved about him, it was that any time he saw her, he smiled like that.
"You ready to go, gorgeous?" He asked, reaching his hand for hers, helping her out of the car.
"Yes, let's go. Tony, will I see you after?" She called over her shoulder as he walked her though a set of doors.
"Yes, Ms. Smythe, you will. Have fun!" He called back. And if Rachel had turned to look at him, she would have seen the giant smile plastered on his face.
"Where are we going?" Rachel asked, when Sam walked her into a big dark room. She was pretty sure this was not a political gala. "I'm pretty sure this is not a political gala." She heard Sam chuckle next to her.
"Don't freak out, Rachel. I can tell you are and I can't even see your face." He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Now stand riiiiiiiggghhhttt here." He positioned her into the spot he wanted her in, and let go.
"Samuel, what is going on?" She demanded, admitting to herself she was getting kind of freaked out. Just as she opened her mouth to speak again, the lights in the room clicked on, one by one.
She gasped loudly as she took in her surroundings. As the lights slowly turned on, she saw the cases of jewelry surrounding her. All of the cases around her were full of rings, big, beautiful, shiny, diamond rings. Engagement rings. She felt her heart leap in her chest as she turned and saw Sam on one knee.
"Sam?" She asked, completely speechless.
"Rachel Smythe, will you marry me?" He asked, smiling at her, just the way she had always loved. She answered in the only way that she knew how.
"Are you sure?" She asked, a look of surprise arising on his face. "Are you really sure, cause if you're not sure, we can just go back to the car or something!"
"Rachel, Rachel." Sam said, standing up.
"We've only been together eight months, Sam." She said.
"You know I never do anything rash. And I usually don't ask questions I don't already know the answer to." He smirked as he spoke, gently rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. "So," he said, as Rachel looked around the room at all of the rings. "With the risk of being rejected twice, I'm going to ask you again." Rachel just stared at him, eyes wide. "Will you marry me?"
A smile curled on her lips as she absorbed the question. She jumped into his arms before she answered him. "Yes! Yes! I will marry you!" She smiled as he spun her around in circles. It was official, she in fact had the best fiancée ever.
v.
She barely made it to the car before she attacked him. Her lips were everywhere on his skin. She didn't want to leave any part of exposed skin he had unkissed. She was engaged to Sam Evans. The most wonderful man she had ever met. She heard Tony clear his throat in the front seat. "Sorry, Tony, you'll have to excuse us for a bit." Rachel smiled. She reached above her and clicked the button that was there, rising the divider for the car.
"Mmm." Sam sighed against her lips. Rachel started pulling at his tie, trying to expose more of his neck. She didn't really care that they were on their way to a gala for the mayor of New York City aka her future mother in law, she just wanted her fiancée and she wanted him now. Her lips were distracted however when Sam spoke. "So, when are we going to tell your parents?"
"Uhh, what?" She tore her lips away from his neck.
"When are you going to call them and tell them? You want to now?" He reached into his pants pocket to get his phone.
"Oh, um," She grabbed his hand. "How about we just wait a little while?"
"Why do you want to wait?" He asked, his head turned to the side a little.
"Well, I mean, once it gets out to the press, it's never going to stop, you know the paparazzi baby." He nodded. "What if we just wait a little while, let the press from my show go down, and this whole gala thing blow over, we don't want them thinking we got engaged for them, you know what I mean."
Sam looked at her confused, but then nodded his head. "That makes sense. If you want to wait," He grabbed her left hand. "We can wait." He kissed it before turning the newly placed ring so the stone was on the inside of her hand.
vi.
The cameras flashed brightly as Sam helped her out of the limo again. Holding her tightly to his side, he walked over to his mother, who had an angry expression on her face. "You're late." She said angrily, through a fake smile.
"Sorry Mom, I had something to take care of." Rachel laughed to herself at how ridiculous they always were when they fought in public with their fake smiles plastered on their face. Sam's mom turned to her.
"Lovely as always to see you again, Rachel." She smiled. Rachel couldn't tell if it was fake or if it was real.
"You too, Madame Mayor." Rachel answered.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You can call me Annie. We're practically family anyway." She smiled. Rachel returned her smile. Oh how right you are Annie. Rachel thought to herself. "I heard your last show was last night, I hope it went well?" Rachel walked next to the Evans as they made their way down the carpet towards the building.
"It went very well," Rachel hesitated. "Annie."
"That is fantastic." Kate said, taking Rachel's hands in hers. "You are a real star, you know that? Sammy never was lying when he said how great your voice was." She squeezed Rachel's hands, and Rachel knew by the face that her future mother in law was now wearing that Annie had felt the ring on her finger.
"Samuel. Why is there an ice rink on Rachel's very important finger?" Kate asked, plastering her fake smile back on her face.
Sam walked over to his mother. "That's because it's an engagement ring." He whispered quietly. "But, don't say anything, Rachel doesn't want to announce it-" He was quickly cut off by his mother.
"Oh my god." She said, turning over Rachel's left hand. YOU'RE ENGAGED!" Annie yelled, causing all of the paparazzi to turn towards them, taking hundreds of pictures.
"…yet." Sam finished, putting his face in his hands. Rachel just looked on, surprised, forcing a smile of her own for the cameras. This was going to be a looong night.
vii.
Her phone rang as she drove. Clicking the bow on her Hello Kitty blue tooth, she heard Santana's voice. "So, you're engaged and you didn't even tell me!? I had to calm Kurt the fuck down because he was so hurt you didn't tell him yourself. We had to find out from the papers!"
"It just happened, San! I promise. We literally got engaged a half hour before the gala and then his mother when and ruined it all by blurting out to everyone in the entire city."
"Alright Smythe, but you're lucky I love you so much. Well, just hurry up, Kurt and I are at Starbucks, and he's waiting to bombard you with bridal magazines, so get your stupid little engaged ass down here so he can do it already."
"I can't."
"What do you mean you can't Rachel. Where are you?" Santana asked, slightly annoyed.
"I'm in Ohio." Rachel answered.
"What the absolute fuck Smythe?" Santana sighed.
"Yeah…." She groaned.
viii.
Rachel pulled up to the house like she had those millions of times before. It didn't feel different to her, and for some reason, that really scared her. She climbed out of her car and looked around, seeing her old dog, Drizzle, laying on the front porch. She frowned. She remembered how she left the most important animal in the world behind in her haste to get the hell out of her hometown. She walked around her car and put her bag on the hood, taking off her engagement ring and dropping it in the bag as she took out a packet of papers. Just as she was taking them out of the envelope, she heard the front door slam.
Her whole body froze as she heard a voice that she hadn't heard in five years. And it didn't get past her that his voice could still get to her. "Well, well, well, who do we have here?" He asked. She could hear him walking down the porch steps. She turned to face him, leaning against the hood of her car.
Finn Hudson had not changed a bit since she last saw him. He was still just as tall as he always was and still had those dimples in his cheeks that she used to love. He also still had the same crooked smile, a smile that she loved more than Sam's. He had grease all over him, Rachel suspected he had been working on cars all day, due to the fact that he had a part of one in his hand. An alternator for a 57' Chevy. Damn her for still knowing shit about cars because of him. The girl that she was now didn't care about car parts; she cared about everything but them. She was a city girl; she didn't need to know about cars because she didn't use them. Anyway, it didn't matter how he looked, she was back in her hell hole of a home town for a reason, and she was not leaving until she got what she wanted.
"Well I mean, you could give me a god damned divorce, Finn Hudson." She spat, taking off her sunglasses and giving him a look at who he was talking to. She saw his eyes widen at the realization of who she was.
"You're joking, right? You came all the way to Lima just to get a divorce out of me?" He turned around and started walking back up the stairs.
"Do you think you're funny or something Finn? My lawyer charges me up the ass every fucking time you send these papers back."
"Calm down. I'm glad you finally got the message, Rachel."
"UGH" She growled, fisting the roof of her rental car. "What will it take foe you to just sign them?!"
She heard Finn come up behind her. "I could think of a few things" He breathed into her ear. A shiver went down her spine, something that didn't go unnoticed by Finn. He chuckled. "Nah, I don't think I'm going to sign them, Rach." Rachel let out a small scream as he walked away.
"WHY ARE YOU SO FRUSTRATING?" She screamed. "Where are you going?!" She asked, noticing he was walking away from her into the house. She scrambled to put the papers back into her bag and follow him.
"Leaving, you're so good at it, I figure you'd know what it was when it was happening." She groaned following him to the door of the house.
"Can we just try to keep this civilized or something, Finn? Then I can go home."
"Oh really, Rach, what do you know about being home? Do your dads even know that you're home?"
"That is MY business, Finn, not yours." She took a step towards him.
"Rachel, they are the only family you've got. Get your butt back into your car and go see them, and then maybe we'll talk." Finn said, walking into the house, slamming the door behind him.
"FINN!" Rachel screamed, calling through the door. "The only reason you won't sign these papers is because I want you to!"
"No, Rachel," he opened the door to her again. "The reason I am not signing the papers is because you turned into some prissy bitch, and right now, all I want to do is piss you off!" He slammed it in her face again. She let out a frustrated sigh and walked around the house, knowing exactly where the hide-a-key she left was.
ix.
He slammed the front door right in her face. God, who the fuck did she think she was, coming back here after seven years of no contact to demand that he give her a divorce? Finn stalked towards the fridge and grabbed a beer out of it. He couldn't even wrap his head around the fact that he was here, back where she belonged, and the only thing that she wanted out of him was a divorce. He didn't know whether to be hurt, or to be flattered that she took this much energy just to end their marriage. He settled on flattered as he took a swig of his beer. As he turned to walk back into the living room, he saw that the front door was wide open, and he sighed as he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey genius." She said, as he turned around. "Next time you lock someone out, make sure they don't know where the spare key is." She held up the door key.
Finn laughed. "That's the thing about hide-a-keys, Rach. It would be nice if your wife told you where it was!"
"I'm not your wife, Finn. I'm just," she sighed. "I'm just the first girl who climbed into the back of your truck." He winced at her words. Part of him thought that that was true, that the only reason that they were ever together was because of how everything happened, but the other part of him knew for a fact that she loved him just as much as he loved her.
"If you're saying you're not the same girl that you were, let me remind you." He said, grabbing his phone off the counter, and locking himself in his.
"Finn! Just sign the papers!"
After he made sure the door was locked, Finn went over to his phone and dialed a number that he knew all too well. "Hey, it's Finn. You should get over here fast. There's some shit going down at my place and I need help."
x.
The sirens make Rachel perk up in her seat. "Finn, are you fucking kidding me?!" She yelled, running to his door and punching it as hard as she could. "You called Sylvester on me?! You know how much that old bag hates me. She's the biggest bitch in Lima, ever since she elected herself the police chief." Finn opened the door and looked at her.
"Well then, you shouldn't have broken into my house, Rachel." She dove behind the couch when she heard the knock on the door. "Hey man." She heard Finn say, and Rachel popped her head up from the back of the couch. Instead of seeing Sue Sylvester, the old cheerleading coach, self elected ruler of everything to do with the legal system in Lima, Ohio, she saw her old friend, Mike Chang.
Mike was one of her best friends growing up. She knew that he of all people here was going to get out of there, make it someplace big. She felt kind of bad that he didn't but at the same time, she was proud of him for achieving his dream of being a cop. "Where is she?" he asked, looking around the room. When he spotted her, a smile appeared on his face.
"Rachel!" He smiled, as she stood up and ran towards him. Even though she hadn't seen him in seven years, he was still the exact same person he was before she left. It seemed like everyone in Lima was still the same.
"Mike! I can't believe it! You're the chief of police?! I'm so proud of you!" She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.
"Thanks, Rachel! Yeah, it took a while, but they finally forced Sue to retire, thank God too, she was getting to old for the job." He smiled, but when he saw Finn frowning he remembered he had a job to do. "So what's the problem?"
"The problem is," Finn answered, slightly annoyed that a reunion and not an arresting was occurring. "Rachel broke into my house."
"Is that true, Rachel?"
"Well, technically, I didn't break in, I used the spare key." Mike nodded his head. "She didn't really break in then, Finn." Mike agreed.
"But she doesn't live here, Mike. She hasn't in seven years." Forgetting that major detail, Mike turned to Rachel.
"Rachel, he's right, that was technically against the law."
"Fine, Mike, I'll go to the police station if that's what you want, but you have to make him sign theses papers first." Rachel said, grabbing the divorce papers and shoving them in Mike's hands.
"Divorce papers?" He asked surprised.
"Yeah, what does that matter, she hasn't been here for seven years, Mike." Finn said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"Well technically," He said, handing the papers back over to Rachel. "If you haven't signed the papers yet, you two are still married," Finn groaned. "Meaning it doesn't really matter, cause it's both of your house." Mike stated, smiling at Rachel.
Rachel's face lit up, and she let out a sigh of relief. Just for good measure, she stuck her tongue out at Finn. When Finn saw, Rachel saw an idea pop into Finn's mind and she instantly regretted her moment of weakness.
"Hey, Mike, do you remember how your dad's car got vandalized in our senior year?" Finn asked, raising his eyebrows. Rachel felt her stomach drop.
"Yeah, there's like an old warrant out for that still cause he still won't let it go that his prized Ferrari got destroyed." Finn nodded in agreement, his face in a sly pout.
"Well, what if I told you the person who spray painted your dad's car is standing in this very room?" Finn smiled, looking at Rachel, who was now trying to come up with any excuse she could to get out of this.
Mike's face turned red with anger as he turned to face Rachel, whose face was now buried in her hands.
xi.
Rachel was thankful when they took the cuffs off of her. Those were always the worst part of being arrested. She hated to remember her childhood and how much of a troublemaker she was. She was arrested at least once a week, maybe twice, depending on what there was to do that day, which to be fair, there wasn't a lot to do in Lima, Ohio but to cause trouble, especially when you hung out with a guy like Noah Puckerman. They were never serious charges against her of course, just little tiny ones. Her daddy was friends with one of the guys that were high up in the station when she was younger, so she always managed to get away with warnings. And she was lucky enough that her friends did too.
"You get one phone call, Berry. You know how this goes" An officer said to her. She didn't exactly recognize who they were, but Rachel assumed it was someone who had worked there when she was younger, or just heard about her reputation.
"Thanks…" she replied sarcastically, walking over to the payphone she was all too familiar with using. She quickly dialed her Dad's house number and waited until the picked up.
"Hello?" Her father Hiram answered. Rachel let out a sigh of relief that it was her Daddy that answered and not her Dad.
"Hi, Daddy, it's me." Rachel said quietly. She felt sort of ashamed that she hadn't really spoken to her fathers in a long time, but she was a busy person, a Broadway star. They just didn't really know how big she was.
"Berry Pie, is that you?" He asked. She ignored the fact that he sounded shocked to hear from her. She heard her Dad cough and adjust himself on his chair, asking if it was really her on the phone.
"Yeah Daddy, it's me. How are you?" Rachel asked.
"I'm good, baby doll, what have you been up to? How are you?" Hiram sounded giddy as he spoke to his daughter.
"I'm good."
"I'm trying to figure out what color to paint the living room." Hiram sighed. "I want to paint it red, but your father will not have it. I mean it's kind of ridiculous. He loves red." Hiram droned on. Rachel rolled her eyes.
"Daddy, that all sounds lovely, but I only have five minutes to talk…"
"Oh Berry Pie, you don't have to talk to me now, call me back when you get the chance…"
"No! Daddy, no, I only got one phone call." Rachel quickly said, not wanting her father to hang up on her.
"What do you mean, where are you, Rachel?" Hiram asked, alarmed.
"I'm in town!" She laughed. She could practically hear the gears click in her father's head as he figured out where she was.
"Your father will be there in twenty minutes." Hiram sighed.
xii.
LeRoy opened Rachel's door for her as Rachel climbed into her dads' car. He let out a loud sigh as he closed the door, and Rachel prepared herself for the lecture she knew she was about to receive.
"So, what did you do this time, Berry Pie?" he asked as he started the car.
"I didn't do anything, Dad. This time it was all Finn. Finn and his stupid big fat mouth." She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was just a misunderstanding on Mike's part."
LeRoy laughed. "A misunderstanding? Kinda like that wedding that I had to pay for, huh?" He nudged her in the shoulder with his elbow.
"I would hardly call that a wedding." Rachel defended.
"Finn was nervous, Rachel. You can't blame him."
"Dad! He was still drunk from the night before! Puckerman took him out, got him hammered and then shipped him off to me to get married."
"You're still mad about that?" LeRoy looked at his daughter, trying to hide a smile. She knew all too well how much her dad loved Finn.
"YES!" Now Rachel was angry. "I ended up going to the reception all by myself. There was a puke stain down the front of my dress, and he was sleeping it off on a couch that was somewhere in the hotel." Rachel folded her arms back across her chest. "I can't believe after all this time, you're still siding with him, he-"
"I am not siding with him, Berry Pie. I am not siding with anyone." LeRoy sighed. "Finn's just…" he sighed. "Finn is just a different person now, that's all Berry Pie."
"Can we just not talk about Finn?" Rachel said angrily, turning to look out the window.
"Okay fine. So what's new with you, Rachel?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
Rachel smiled to herself when she thought about Sam. "I met someone. Dad, he's a great guy. And I'm happy." She could see her father roll his eyes next to her. "Really."
xiii.
Her daddy practically strangles her when they get back to her Dad's house. "Berry Pie! I've missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Daddy." She managed to choke out before he drops her on the ground again.
He moved her so she was directly in front of him, and he checked out every inch of her. "Baby doll, you look so good! Did you get a hair cut? Or highlights or something?" He brushed her hair behind her ears.
"No, it's just the same, I think…" Rachel said, walking towards the front door. Her fathers followed behind, closing the door behind them. "Wow, you've done a lot with this place." Rachel said, taking in her surroundings. They had done a lot with her childhood home. There was all new furniture decorating the rooms to the sides of the hallway. She walked into the living room still looking around at all the changes. LeRoy broke her from her daze.
"Rachie, come look at this painting! Your Daddy bought it for me the Christmas before last."
"Oh." Rachel, now angry, turned and faced her Dad. "You mean the Christmas that you were supposed to come visit me in New York?"
"Honey, I told you that wasn't going to work for us." Rachel shook her head. "Let me get you those tickets…" Hiram walked around her towards a cabinet on the side of the room.
"What do you mean?" She asked, and froze when her Daddy handed her back two plane tickets. "Are you kidding me? These were a gift for you, so that you could come visit me in New York and see me in my play and how well I've been doing for myself."
She could tell she was talking to a wall as her Daddy walked into the kitchen. "Honey are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something to eat?" Rachel sat down on the couch in a huff.
"No. Dad got me food on the way home from jail." She kicked off her boots and put her feet up on the table in front of her. "And I wouldn't have even gotten put into jail today if it weren't for stupid Finn and his stupid fucking ego."
"Oh!" Hiram interrupted. "I see you have your priorities straight there my little Berry Pie, Finn, Jail, and then home?"
"Daddy, it was just some unfinished business with him, that's all."
"Finn's doing all right for himself, Rachel. He's going places." LeRoy stated, and Rachel tried not to let it irritate her that her dad was still supporting Finn, even after everything that happened between them.
"And once upon a time Rachel, you were going places too." Hiram said, sitting next to Rachel on the couch. Rachel rolled he eyes at her father as she handed the plane tickets back over to him.
"Here, I don't want them."
"Rachel, what am I going to do with these? It's better if you have them so that you can get your money back."
"Really, Daddy? Really? I mean you and Dad go all over the country when his senior citizen show choir is touring or has a competition, but when your one and only daughter, your so called 'pride and joy of life' wants you to come visit her in New York, you can't even do that." She was standing now, in front of her Daddy, anger seeping through her veins.
"The door swings both ways, Rachel. You could actually come home for once instead of only visiting every seven years." Hiram scolded.
"My whole life, you both have been pushing me so I was a better person so I could get out of here, do something better with my life. That's why since I was a child you both put me in acting lessons and voice lessons so that I could be a star on Broadway! Why would I even want to come home?"
"All I want for you, my sweet, sweet Rachel is for you to be happy. And if that's in New York, far be it from me to keep you from being there."
"You want me to be happy?" Rachel asked, walking towards her bag. "We're there Daddy. I am happy. I am an Off- Broadway star in New York. And yes, I know that is not exactly the most perfect position that I am in right now, but I will be on Broadway one day. And I am happy doing what I am doing." As she spoke, she felt around inside of her bag for her engagement ring. When she found it, she slipped it on her finger before turning to her fathers. "And someone loves me, Daddy. And I love him." He showed her father her hand, now adorned with her gigantic Tiffany's engagement ring.
Hiram grabbed her hand to look at the ring. Her Dad spoke before her Daddy could. "Hiram, why don't you see if we have any of that champagne left in the fridge so we can celebrate?" He let go of her hand and left the room.
"Your Daddy is a very complex person, Rachel." LeRoy whispered.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed." She sighed, grabbing her bag and walking up the stairs to her room. She was scared of what she would find when she got there. Her fathers had redone the rest of the house, why wouldn't they have changed her bedroom too? When she opened the door, she was slightly relieved to see that her room hadn't changed a bit since she was there last.
The walls were still the bright gold that she had her fathers paint when she was little. She had wanted gold because she loved gold stars. Because gold stars were metaphors of being a star. And she, Rachel Berry, was the biggest star out there. She sat down on the bed allowing herself to fall backwards, her head landing on the pillow. As she closed her eyes to drift to sleep, she couldn't help but to think of her father's words. What exactly did he mean by 'Finn was making something of himself'? But as she kept her eyes shut, all thoughts of Finn disappeared, and the beautiful smile of her fiancée appeared, helping her fall asleep.