Welcome to my second finchel fanfic! I am new to fanfics and would love to hear your comments and reviews! I don't own any of the characters and they all belong to Glee and Ryan Murphy!

Chapter 1:

Finn couldn't believe that he was back home in good ole Lima Ohio. Honestly, he thought he would never miss this place, but after spending the past four years in North Carolina at Camp Lejeune, a Marine military base, he was happy to be back. After graduation, all of his high school friends, including the girlfriend he loved more than anything left to go and pursue their dreams. Okay, so maybe a couple stayed in Ohio, but those that did went to college and knew what they wanted to do with their lives, but not Finn. In fact, after he said goodbye to Rachel as she left for New York to fulfill her dream of becoming a huge broadway star he couldn't help but feel like his life had no direction. As Finn contemplated life he found himself staring at a picture of his father that had died in Iraq and finally knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to be brave, and since he hadn't gotten a scholarship of any kind he figured once he got out he could use the GI bill to pay for schooling so his mom and Burt wouldn't have to worry about it.

A week later Finn found himself at a Marine recruiting office, and a week after that he was shipped off to bootcamp. As much pride as he felt for the Marines, and how thankful he was for the way it had turned him into a man, he couldn't wait for his four year enlistment to be up. He missed his family, he missed home, and he missed being in control of his own life. Yes, Finn had played a lot of call of duty and figured he could do something like that, but in real life it was a whole different story and a whole lot scarier. During his enlistment he found himself in Afghanistan at one point and the only thing that got him through was the thought of his mom, funny stories from glee club, and last but not least, Rachel. Sure, they had broken up a long time ago, but she had sent him one letter during bootcamp to wish him luck and give him encouragement, basically telling him he could accomplish whatever he set his mind to, and he had kept it with him all through his enlistment and especially during his deployment. In fact, he kept it in his left breast pocket, right where his heart was.

After arriving home his first goal had been to get a part time job while he went to school. Luckily he had Burt who got him a part time job as a mechanic at his shop. Sure, Finn didn't know all that much about cars just yet, but after being in the Marine Corps for four years he had become a pretty quick learner and truly did believe what Rachel had said about him being able to accomplish whatever he set his mind to. Plus, his old buddy Puck apparently worked there and that was a plus. Perhaps he had kept in touch with their old glee buddies and could fill him in.

The next thing that Finn wanted to do was go back to McKinley High and see Mr. Shuester. Back when Finn was just a lowly Sophomore who had no direction in his life Mr. Shue took him under his wing and had become like a second father to him. One of the good things about being single in the Marine Corps was that all of his money went to him and only him and all of his money had been spent on a beautiful black toyota tacoma. Wanting to go say thank you Finn hoped into his new truck and headed in the familiar direction of McKinley High.

Once Finn arrived in front of the school he couldn't help but take a second to look it over. Yep, same old McKinley High. Finn glanced down at his watch before realizing he needed to get in there quick. He wasn't exactly sure if the schedule was the same or not, but if he was right Glee club would probably be getting out within the next fifteen minutes or so. This way he would be sure to catch Mr Shue before he left. As he walked down the hall he couldn't help but smile as millions of memories rushed back to him. The biggest smile came as he passed by his old locker from senior year. In between classes this had become his and Rachel's little meeting spot, where she pretty much kept all of her books and things too as they did their best to not show too much pda, but who were they kidding? they were young and in love and did whatever they wanted.

Not wanting to miss out on the last couple of minutes glee club where he could possibly catch a listen to the newbies he took one last glance at the locker before heading to the choir room. A smile came to his lips as he spotted that the door was open and he could actually see some students in there. Yes, he had made it! Just as he was about to take a step closer he heard something that made him stop dead in his tracks.

"what have i done? wish i could run, away from this ship going under. Just trying to help, hurt everyone else, now I feel the weight of the world is on my shoulders..."

At first Finn thought he was imagining the whole thing, but it was real. He was hearing Rachel Berry's voice. Wanting to make sure it wasn't some recording Finn quickly moved towards the choir room door. Much to his surprise and delight there she was, in the flesh, singing. There was something different about her, but he couldn't tell what. She was still just as beautiful as ever, but you could tell that she had matured and looked older. As for her style, that looked almost the exact same, but he actually liked that about her. The voice though, now that was the same, but somehow better.

"Oh, how many times will it take for me to get it right... to get it right"

He had heard her finish as all the students began to clap, as Finn did his best to not clap along with them. Finn waited for Mr. Shue to step forward and thank Rachel for stopping by since she was probably some famous broadway singer now, but that didn't happen, and instead Rachel bowed and began to talk.

"See class, you can write an original song. I wrote that song as a junior and it even took my glee club to nationals so no excuses!" she told them as she playfully pointed her fingers at the kids in the class. "So your assignment this week is to come up with lyrics, and remember, it's best when they come from the heart," she concluded as the class all began to stand up. He watched as Rachel turned around to go erase something off of the chalkboard, but as the two made eye contact she too stopped dead in her tracks.

Once all the kids had exited the classroom Finn made his way in.

"Where's Mr. Shue?" he asked, breaking the silence, although he truly had a bunch of other questions he much rather would have asked first.

"He's in New York, he's actually in a play on broadway. He's actually pretty amazing, you should really stop by and see it," she told him as she walked to the dry erase board and began to erase, almost as if she didn't want to look at him. "I'm sure he'd love to see you."

"So I guess that leads me to ask why you aren't in New York with him?" he asked. He knew he was probably being a bit forward, but this was one of the reasons they had broken up, and here she was back in McKinley. He knew he had struck a chord when Rachel stopped erasing and stared at the chalkboard for a minute without saying anything. "I'm sorry, this is probably none of my business," he added, not wanting to put her on the spot.

"No, it's fine. I guess New York just wasn't what I thought it would be, and I missed my Dad's and I always loved singing so I went to school and became a choir teacher and now here i am. Oh, and I'm obviously the glee club director," she explained rather quickly as she turned around and folded her arms.

"Oh, I see," Finn responded as he nodded her head as he tried his best to determine if she was truly happy or not, since that really was all he had ever wanted for her.

"So, you're back home?" she asked as a smile finally came to her lips. "Kurt and I have tried to keep in contact and every time I asked about you I was always so relieved to hear you were safe," she told him, a big smile coming to his face at the thought of her wanting to know about him.

"Yep, I'm back home for good," he told her with a nod. "So in honor of me being back I'm thinking I should take you out to dinner," he continued. Yes, he knew he was being a bit forward, but one good thing that the Marine Corps had given him was confidence and not to waste any precious time so why not?

"Well, as lovely as that sounds..." she started a little nervously. "I'm actually kind of seeing one. He's a guidance counselor here.. and.. yeah," she went on as he raised an eyebrow at her. He was pretty sad to hear that she was taken, but he couldn't blame this guy, she was Rachel Berry and she was quite the catch.

"A guidance counselor?" he asked with a small chuckle, mostly just trying to make himself feel better about the whole situation. "You really are taking after Mr. Shuester aren't you?" he playfully asked.

"Ha Ha!" she teased with a playfull roll of the eyes. Finn was about to respond before a familiar blonde made their way into the room.

"Rach, you ready to go?" Sam asked before his eyes moved straight to Finn. "Finn, is that you?" he asked with a huge smile before making his way over and reached out his hand for a shake. "It's been a long time," he went on.

Finn reached out and shook Sam's hand before they embraced in a manly hug. "Yeah, it has. What are you doing here?" he asked, feeling rather confused before he watched as Sam put his arm around Rachel's waist. "Wait, are you guys together?" he asked as he began to feel a little sick.

"Um, yeah, he's the guidance counselor I was telling you about..." Rachel responded, looking rather nervous.

Alright! That's chapter 1! Hope you guys liked it and I can't wait to start on the next chapter! The song was 'Get it right' by glee cast!