Author's Note: So I know I have yet to update my multi-chapter Finchel story that I was writing months ago, sorry by the way for the lack of an update but I've not felt inspired and I've lost all interest so I am waiting for a spark of interest/motivation to hit me and in the meanwhile I was blown away by glee's last episode 3x10 and decided to write a missing scene/episode tag/Finn's POV for it. I've not written anything like this much so I hope you like it and please let me know what you think :).
Warning: SPOILERS, MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR 3X10! DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU ;).
Stepping through the glass front doors of Lima's best and pretty much only jewellery store, Finn felt his stomach churn with nerves. He had been up all night thanks to his mother's sudden confession about the truth about his father's death. It had been devastating for Finn to learn that his father was not a war hero but a drug addicted loser that had been too selfish to give up the drugs for his wife and for the baby son that he would never get to know because he overdosed from his had twisted and turned Finn's entire world upside down and he had been forced to face his future plans of joining the army and making something of himself shattering in front of his very eyes.
There was no way that he could join up now and risk becoming like his father, the man who he used to imagine was this amazing hero who Finn should aspire to be exactly like but instead turned out to be a massive disappointment. He felt betrayed by his mother. He felt hurt and betrayed that she had only told him this because of his ambitions to join the army. She had been trying to protect him but it had only done him more harm than good. He had felt even more lost than ever before but as he got into bed that night and stared up at the ceiling it hit him. He did have one good thing going in his life, one thing that kept him from giving into his despair and giving up on life entirely, one thing that he knew he was going to want to keep in his life forever and be in his future and that was Rachel and her love for him.
If he didn't have Rachel, Finn knew that he would be truly lost and on his own. She was his light, his guardian angel, the person that saved him from giving into the urge to just give up on trying and to settle with what he had. She made him want to do better, to reach for the stars and to become the best possible version of himself that he could be. She was the only thing that Finn knew for a fact that he wanted in his future. He wanted to marry her, have children with her and raise a family and grow old with her. It may be a little crazy to believe that he had found his soul mate, the one at just the age of 18 but it was true.
Rachel Berry was his dream, his soul mate.
People could call him naive, a silly love struck teenager who didn't know what he wanted or anything else but guess what? Finn didn't care. Those people were just jealous that they still had no one special in their lives.
Walking around the jewellery store, he looked through the glass casings and admired the rings that he had been looking at a few days prior with Mr Schuester. He had recently got himself a credit card and today would be the first time that he was going to use it. He knew that it would take him forever to pay back the debt that he was going to be in for a while thanks to his planned purchase but he knew that it would be worth it. He was considering it an investment towards his future and it really was. It was an investment for Rachel and she was his future.
Finn looked at the beautiful rings in the cases and inspected them all carefully, wanting to find the perfect one that had Rachel written all over it. Finn knew that it was probably a little insane to be buying an engagement ring at 18 for his 18 year old girlfriend but to be honest everyone else was already making plans for their futures and Finn wanted to make plans of his own. He knew Rachel would be shocked and probably hesitant when he presented the ring to her but he would wait decades for her if it meant that she would always be in his life and by his side. He would follow her to New York and watch her live her dreams and support her in every way he could if that's what she wanted just as long as he was with her because she was his future and he just wanted her to know that.
Finn allowed his eyes to continue to wander along the case, flinching occasionally at some of the price tags on a few of the rings and began to think of all the reasons why Rachel was so important to him, why she was so important that he had probably lost his mind and decided to ask her to marry him at such a young age.
Well for one thing she was the only one who had ever believed in him and believed that he was worth more than Lima, that he could do anything if he set his mind to it. Even his mother and Burt believed he should stay in Lima and take over the tyre shop, believing that he had no future anywhere else but Rachel had told him that he shouldn't put himself down. If he wanted to leave Lima and go someplace else for a while then he would be able to do so. No one else should tell him otherwise.
Rachel often told him that she believed that he was talented enough to make it as a musician. Probably not a dancer or anything that involved moving his legs and arms about in an elaborate style but she thought that if he had the inclination and a little more belief in himself then he would be able to make it as a singer or even as a drummer. He could do anything, she believed, like he was some kind of superman or something. To be honest, Finn didn't think he was that great but Rachel made him feel like he was. He didn't understand it and he didn't know why she thought he was worthy of her love and praise but Rachel never doubted what she felt or thought about him for one second and it made him love her even more.
Another reason that Finn knew that Rachel was definitely supposed to be in his future if he had any say about it was the fact that she never called him stupid or dumb or made him feel like an idiot when he didn't understand big words that she used or tried to control him at all. She allowed him to roam free, let him just be himself and loved him for it despite all of his flaws and the fact that he had been less than a perfect boyfriend towards her in the past. She was amazing the way that she made him feel like a genius at times even when everyone else including Finn knew otherwise.
She repeatedly called him the hottest guy in school whereas Quinn and Santana had always made him feel as if he was supposed to be the lucky one to have them in his life and they could have done way better than him and would if he didn't do as he was told like a good, well trained puppy dog. Despite her own personality flaws, Finn loved Rachel for her gentleness and kindness. Even though many people didn't get to see it beneath all of her crazy, she was unbelievably patient towards him and always made him feel chosen, like he was special and like he was more than good enough for her.
Sometimes she even made him feel too good and he hated that because that usually meant that she was feeling insecure about herself and Finn didn't even know what she had to feel insecure about. She was beautiful, confident, talented, smart and witty (something only Finn and occasionally Kurt got to see) and he had no doubt that she would be going a lot further in life than any of the so called popular kids in might rule McKinley now but someday Rachel Berry was going to rule the world and when that happened Finn wanted to be right by her side.
"Can I help you sir?" Finn was jolted out of his thoughts as a sharply dressed man that was clearly a sales assistant or maybe even the manager stepped towards him.
"No, I'm fine. I was just looking for something for my girlfriend" he explained, not wanting to tell a total stranger that he was going to ask his not-yet-graduated-from-high-school girlfriend to marry him.
"I see. Anything in particular?" he persisted and Finn just wanted to tell the man to mind his own business.
"No" he lied and the man finally left him alone to deal with another customer to continue pursuing the rings. As he looked, finally he saw a ring that caught his eye. He looked at the price tag and tried not to cringe too much. It was pretty and practically screamed Rachel but the price was way more than just two months salary. It was more like four months.
Finn's mind drifted back to all the reasons that he loved Rachel and just why he wanted to ask her to marry him now and not in five years time when it would be less...unexpected. Thinking of how certain he was that the brunette was supposed to be in his future even when everything else was so unsure at the moment, he felt a sudden burst of confidence that he wanted to buy this exact ring and propose to her. No matter what the cost was and even if he risked being turned down, Finn knew he would want to at least buy this perfect ring to give to her in the future even if she refused him now and made him wait several years. He really hoped she wouldn't, however, since he wasn't sure that he could wait that long to make Rachel his, well more than she already was anyway.
"Excuse me" Finn called out to a blonde, middle aged, well dressed woman that stood behind the counter. She glanced at him in surprise and offered him a tight smile.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"I'd like to buy a ring...that ring actually" Finn pointed to the ring he had been looking at moments before and the woman's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Oh...err...I see. That ring costs $1,000 dollars you are aware?" she asked him.
"I can read" Finn retorted and handed her the credit card that he had opened up only very recently.
"Okay...I'll just get the box and a bag for the ring" The woman said after swiping the card, obviously looking suspicious and curious about the young man buying the engagement ring from the store.
Finn waited patiently and as he waited he wondered how Rachel would react to him bending down on one knee and presenting her with the engagement ring. He hoped she wouldn't call him an idiot and dump him for proposing to her so early on in their lives. Rather Finn hoped that a bright smile would light up her face and she would practically leap into his arms in delight. Okay maybe that was pushing it a little bit, he mused to himself as the sales woman came back with his ring placed into one of those fancy velvet boxes and bagged for him.
"Have a nice day" she said and Finn smiled to himself as he walked out of the store. He could hardly believe that he had actually done it, that he had actually bought a ring and was going to ask Rachel to be his wife...maybe not right away but someday and in the meanwhile he would have cemented their future together and that was the most important thing to him right now.
With the bag in his hand, Finn walked down the street under the blistering Ohio sun and felt a lot less lost than he had before. Rachel was the person that gave his life direction and meaning and now it felt like he knew exactly the way that he wanted to go instead of stumbling around everywhere unsure of what he was doing.
As soon as he got home, Finn took the ring box from the bag and gazed at the ring, its diamond sparkling with rainbow colours as though it was covered in glitter and shining brighter than any star in the sky. He tried to imagined it on Rachel's ring finger and the very thought sent Finn's heart pumping rapidly and as he fell to sleep that night, he dreamt of the day that Rachel walked down the aisle towards him in a beautiful white dress and a radiant smile on her face.
He knew that day may not be anytime soon but it was day in his future that he knew he wanted and looked forward to eagerly. Finally he knew had a goal in life to aim for and he couldn't have felt more excited about it.