A/N: I was so moved by the Marley/Finn scene in Feud that I had to write this. Pleas enjoy and review, my first Glee fic.
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Marley Rose sighed heavily, looking around her bare bedroom. Gone were her posters, pictures, glee trophies. Everything was packed. Packed for college. Full ride at Los Angeles Academy of Performing Arts. Ever since joining Glee her sophomore year, Marley knew the stage was where she was meant to be. She had overcome many things in the past three years, her eating disorder, bullies, and heartbreak. Now, graduating top of her class, she was ready to start anew. She was startled out of her thoughts by the doorbell.
"Can you get that sweetheart?" Millie Rose called.
"Yes mom!" Marley shouted back, hurrying down the stairs.
Since it was nearly 11 p.m., she expected it to be Kitty, who had become her best girlfriend, or Unique. She even suspected it could be Ryder or Jake, even though they had broken up. She never could have guessed it to be-
"F-Finn?"
"Hey Marley."
The last time Marley saw Finn Hudson was the day Mr. Shue refused to forgive Finn for kissing Miss Pillsbury. She had gone to Finn's 'office' and told him to man-up. He never returned to McKinley High. No one knew where he went. He didn't answer his phone, his parents were sworn to secrecy, and he just disappeared. For a long time Marley worried that she it was her fault. As time went on, Finn Hudson was forgotten, as people tended to become. But Marley never forgot the guy who was so kind to her after she messed up.
"Come-Come in." she stammered, shoving a box aside to open the door wider.
"You're moving?" Finn asked.
"Um, yeah." Marley said, hurrying ahead to move a box off the couch, "Have a seat."
"Thanks." Finn said, sitting, "Where to?"
"Huh?" Marley said distractedly, sitting in a chair opposite him.
"Where are you moving to?"
"Oh! Los Angeles. I got into a performing arts college there." Marley said.
He smiled at her warmly. His smile was the same. The rest of him had changed though. He seemed taller, sturdier. His facial features had sharpened, and he held himself in an erudite manner. He clutched a square-like object wrapped in cloth.
"Congratulations." he said.
"Thanks." she responded.
There was a moment of silence.
"Where have you been?" she finally blurted out.
He gave a breathy laugh.
"Not far." he said, "Columbus."
"Why are you here?" she asked, then covered her mouth, "I'm sorry, that sounded so rude."
He waved his hand. "It's okay."
Marley watched as he carefully unwrapped what was in his hand.
"I went and got one." he said.
"Got what?"
Marley was confused as Finn stood and handed her the frame he had unwrapped. She looked down to see a certificate. A teaching certificate to be exact. In the name of one Finn Christopher Hudson. She was thrown back three years earlier.
"If Mr. Shue doesn't want you around anymore, forget him." she implored, "Don't let him define you."
"The problem is he does define me!" Finn snapped at her, packing his things roughly, "The four years I spent in Glee club, this whole freakin' school defines me and without it I just feel…lost, so…"
She looked him in the eyes.
"After we lost sectionals, I was terrified that everything was going to fall apart. You fought to keep us together." she said softly, "You're a natural leader Finn. A teacher. You don't need Mr. Shue's approval to be that."
He looked at her with a sigh.
"Yeah," he said, "but I do need a little something called a teaching degree."
She smiled at him before turning to leave. She paused.
"So? Go get one."
She waved goodbye.
That was the last time she had seen him.
"You did it." Marley said with a smile, "You're gonna be a teacher?"
Finn beamed "Yeah."
"Your parents must be so proud of you." she said, handing the diploma back to him.
"They don't know yet." he said sheepishly.
"What?" Marley gasped, "You're not going to tell them?"
"Oh, I am!" he said quickly, "But I wanted you to be the first person I told."
Marley pointed at herself.
"Me?"
"Yeah." Finn said shyly, "I couldn't have done it without you."
Marley gaped at him. Without her? Finn picked up a picture out of an open box beside him. It was a picture of the glee club at nationals.
"We won nationals the last three years straight." she said with a smile.
"I know." he said, "I was there. For every one of them."
"You were?" she asked, surprised.
"Just another face in the crowd." he said, "But I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
Marley was touched.
"What did you mean?" she asked, "That you couldn't have done it without me?"
Finn ran a hand across his diploma.
"You kicked my ass into gear." he explained.
"Really." she said, eyebrow raised.
Finn leaned forward and clasped his hands together.
"That night, my last night at McKinley, I was crushed. I had just let down the man I idolized, considered my best friend. And he had turned away from me. I was beyond hurt. I-I felt as though I had just lost my identity. I had planned to pack my things and find some alcohol. I felt worthless. Then you stopped by and," he paused to smirk at her, "and 'spoke freely'."
Marley giggled at that. He laughed with her for a moment before sobering.
"You were really the only person who ever did." he said.
Before she could ask what he meant, her mother entered the living room.
"Ms. Rose." Finn said, scrambling to his feet, his old awkwardness re-appearing, "I'm sorry for coming so late."
Millie Rose looked over the man standing in her living room.
"Mom, you remember Finn Hudson, right?" Marley said.
There was a spark of recognition and Millie nodded.
"Of course. How are you?" Millie said.
"Just fine Ma'am." he said.
Millie was a wise woman. She could tell that her daughter and Finn were deep into something.
"Well, it's good to see you. I'll just be in the kitchen."
Marley gave her mom a grateful smile. Finn sat back down when the kitchen door closed.
"What did you mean?" Marley asked.
"You were really the only one to speak to me freely." Finn continued, "People tended to tip-toe around me. Or lead me on. Or worst of all, pity me."
Finn reached out and touched her hand.
"Not you though. You said what you thought. You were honest. So when you said I was a leader. That I could be a teacher. That my life did not depend on a man I had put too far up on a pedestal, I believed you."
"It's true." was all Marley could say, "But I was hardly the only one who noticed."
"But you were the only one I heard." he said, "So that very night I applied for financial aid. The next morning I applied to Ohio State. As soon as everything went through, I moved to Columbus."
"I'm very proud of you Finn." Marley said sincerely.
His ears turned an endearing shade of pink.
"I came here to say thank you." Finn said, "For telling me to go get my degree."
"Well, you're welcome. But obviously it was your hard work that earned you that piece of paper." she said humbly.
He grinned at her.
"The hardest thing I've ever done."
"Do you have a job yet?" she asked, feeling quite warm from the praise.
"Yeah. I'm gonna be a high school gym teacher a few towns over, in Findlay." he said with pride, "They want me to run their Glee club too."
Marley clapped her hands excitedly.
"That's great Finn. I guess McKinley has real big competition now."
Marley respected Mr. Shuester as a teacher and an adult. But he had lost her respect for him as a friend when he rebuked Finn.
"Yeah, I guess so." Finn said.
Marley squeezed his hand.
"I know so." she said firmly.
The grandfather clock in the hall chimed twelve times. Midnight.
"Well, I better go." Finn said, standing.
Marley nodded and stood as well. She followed him to the door, opening it for him. He stepped out onto the porch.
"Finn?" she said.
He paused and turned back.
"Yeah?"
He gave a grunt when she threw her arms around him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"You are a star Marley Rose." he whispered, "Don't you forget it."
And with that he drove off into the Lima night.
Marley would keep in touch with Finn Hudson, sending him encouragement throughout the years. She would even credit him as one of her biggest influences as she accepted her Academy Award. Finn would make Marley's words to him his motto, which he would share with those he taught.
"So Go Get One"