Kind of a short chapter but a necessary one. The next one will be longer I promise. :)
Finn couldn't believe it. A random beautiful girl, no, woman waltzed right out of his ancient cabinet into his room and managed to wiggle her way into his heart in the too short amount of time they had spent together. The even better part was that she hadn't recognized him at all.
That was always the problem. They always recognized him ruining any chance of knowing whether what they felt was real or not. Finn wanted real love, not superficial love the way many of the women his mother tried to force on him felt fine with. All those women wanted Finn for his crown, not because they liked him as a man or even a person.
Even when he would sneak off and have dalliances with common women in the kingdom Finn still couldn't find what he was looking for. In some ways the common women were even worse than the privileged ones. They had never known luxury so when they figured out Finn was the King of McKinley they fought to hold onto him and in some cases would even beg for him to marry them. They stopped caring about him and only worried about what being with him could mean.
But not Rachel. She hadn't recognized him, hell she hadn't even known where she was. To her he was just some guy, just Finn, just what he always wanted to be. She had behaved so openly with him, which was refreshing as everyone always acted so prim and proper around him. And the way she stared at him, at his body, the way her eyes grew bigger and her pupils dilated... He wished he could see those big chocolaty eyes again.
He laid back on his bed staring at the canopy over top wondering if and when he'd get to see her again. She said she would come back but after he thought about it and how exactly she had come and went, it left him scratching his head. She walked into and out of his room through his coat cabinet. It wasn't exactly a grand entry way. When he examined the cabinet upon her departure he became even more puzzled. The back was solid wood and there was no secret opening in it or the wall behind the piece. Where the heck did she come from?
A knock on the door pulled Finn from his thoughts of Rachel's mysterious appearance in his bedroom.
"Finny? Can I come in?" his mother's voice called from the other side of the door.
Finn got out of bed and opened the door to let his mother in. She was dressed to impress in one of her best gowns and crowns.
"Finn, why aren't you dressed yet? Didn't Kurt lay out an outfit for you? Lady Fabray and Quinn will be here soon," she chastised as she walked over to his curtains to draw them back and let in some sunlight. "You can't meet your future bride in a ratty old pair of knickerbockers. Now get dressed!"
Finn groaned. "Mom, for the last time! I'm not marrying Quinn no matter what agreement you and Lady Fabray have come to without my consent. I will be picking who I marry."
It wasn't exactly that he didn't like Quinn - she was very pretty - he just didn't want to marry her because he was being forced to. Maybe if they got to know each other over time he could love her, maybe, but that was the other problem. He didn't want to learn to love someone. He wanted to be able to know he was in love right away and know he was loved in return. Was that so much to ask?
"Finn, you have weaseled your way out of every betrothal I have set up for you. You will not be doing it again. You are 23 years old and with your father gone you are king."
"Thanks for reminding me Mom, I had completely forgotten that the entire well being of the kingdom rests on my shoulders," he cut in with acidic sarcasm.
His mother glared at him clearly not amused with his attitude. "My point, if you would have let me make it is that as king certain things are expected of you. Taking a wife is a pretty big one. Having children with that wife is even bigger. You realize if you died right now our rule would revert to your Aunt Sue, right? That can't happen, I won't let it. She would destroy this kingdom with her tyrannical rule she's been planning since she was old enough for conscious thought."
"Well it's a good thing I don't plan on dying anytime soon," he shot back, tossing himself onto his bed and flinging his arm over his eyes. They had this conversation practically every day it seemed. He knew what was at stake if something were to happen to him. Aunt Sue was a nut job who on more than one occasion had tried to off him since birth but he wasn't going to let her scare him into marriage with someone he didn't want to be married to.
His mother threw a clean shirt and pants at him. "Get dressed. I expect you to be clean and ready to greet Lady Fabray and Quinn when they arrive." She narrowed her eyes at her son.
What was Finn doing? He was the king for crying out loud! If he didn't want to do something he shouldn't have to. "No, I'm not doing it Mom! I'm the king. You don't control what I do!" he roared at his mother.
She just rubbed her eyes. He always pulled this on her but it never worked. At his heart he was still a scared little boy who worried about being able to rule on his own. He needed her to continue on.
"You're right. You're the king. You can do what you want. I guess that means I can just retire off to the chateau for the rest of my life and leave the kingdom entirely in your hands. After all, the whole thing rests on your big boy shoulders. I'm sure you're more than capable of running this kingdom all by yourself."
She turned and headed for the door counting in her head.
"Fine, I'll say hello," Finn said through gritted teeth.
Four seconds. Four seconds for him to realize he still needed her. She smiled to herself. "I'll send someone up when they arrive," she announced without turning back around before exiting. The door shut leaving Finn sulking alone in his bedroom.
Back in Manhattan Rachel was shaken to her core. What the hell just happened? One minute she was in Manhattan at a little girl's birthday party and the next she was in some Kingdom of McKinley. It sounded more like the name of a high school than a kingdom but still, that wasn't normal. It had to be a brain aneurysm; that was the only explanation. There wasn't some strange kingdom with the most attractive man she'd ever seen inside of Rocco's old vanishing cabinet. This wasn't the freaking Chronicles of Narnia!
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Rocco asked bringing her back.
Rachel stared at the older man. "Nothing. Just having some difficulty readjusting to the lighting is all." Rachel smiled and waved her hand in dismissal. There was no way she could tell Rocco what just happened. He'd never believe her, she didn't even believe her.
Their set was over but the woman who had hired Rocco offered them both some cake and ice cream. Rachel wasn't one for cake or ice cream unless it was vegan but she thanked the woman nonetheless then went about packing up while Rocco enjoyed his cake.
The entire time Rachel put their things away she thought about Finn and the chances that what had happened actually occurred and it wasn't just some crazy dreamland she had made up. One way to find out would be to check the cabinet again.
Making sure no one was watching her, Rachel opened the cabinet and stood inside it. She pulled the trap door back and just saw the back of the cabinet like she usually did. There was no opening down the center, no light coming into it, just a plain wooden board. Rachel's face fell and her heart sank as the excitement she didn't realize she had, began to drain.
She had made it up. There was no man in the cabinet waiting for her to come back to his mystical kingdom. How could there be when there was no opening in the back and this was just a regular old magician's vanishing cabinet?
But if she made it up that meant she could get back to it in her mind right? She closed her eyes and thought of the place she so desperately wanted to escape to once more but only visions of the past came to her mind; visions of the man and those beautiful sad eyes.
"Miss Rachel, what are you doing?" a child's voice called from behind, startling Rachel and making her heart race. She turned around to see a small girl wearing a Cinderella costume staring at her.
Rachel stepped out of the cabinet and closed the door behind her. She smiled at the girl.
"I was just looking to see how Rocco made me disappear earlier. He's so good, even I don't know how he did it," Rachel said in total truth.
"I do!" She leaned closer to whisper to Rachel. "It's magic," she asserted in wonder.
"You know, I think you're right," Rachel said to the girl with a smile. Just then another little girl walked into the room.
"Megan, Ashley is opening presents now!"
Megan looked up at Rachel. "I gotta go. Thanks for the show!"
Rachel waved goodbye to the child then turned to look back at the cabinet, arms crossed over her chest and a thought bubble brewing.
"Yeah, magic."
About an hour later, Rachel was in her dressing room removing her princess costume. She stared at herself wearing only her bra and panties in the mirror examining her appearance. She didn't think she was a creature from the Black Lagoon or anything but she had never considered herself hot like Finn had said she was. Would he still find her hot if he ever saw her as bare as she had seen him?
Shivering at the slight breeze coming through the window, Rachel pulled on her blue polka dot tank top with the cute ruffle and buttons down the middle and her simple white cotton skirt. It was warm that summery day and Rachel thought it would be nice to dress up a little for it.
Rachel exited her dressing room and found Rocco in the living room watching television. "I'm going to head out now Rocco. I'll see you for that Bat Mitzvah party tomorrow."
"Alright Rachel. Have a good night!" he called back.
She made it to the door when Rachel realized she had left her purse in her room. Quickly Rachel ran down the hall passing by the prop room on her way before turning around and stopping in front of the door.
What was she doing? Rachel had already dismissed the strange occurrence as a form of hallucination brought on by stress from having such a horrible life. Against her better judgment Rachel turned the knob on the door anyway and entered the small room.
The cabinet was right at the front as it was the last thing Rocco and Rachel had brought in. As she had done before, Rachel examined the exterior then interior of the cabinet. The back wall was still completely solid. This was crazy! There was no way McKinley and Finn were real. Rachel turned to walk out of the cabinet, ready to leave the whole mess behind her until a thought occurred to her.
The front door was open. When she had stumbled upon this mystery crack the door had been shut. Maybe that was the difference, the door needed to be shut in order for whatever made it happen to work.
Adrenaline coursing through her veins as the very real possibility of seeing Finn again crossed her mind Rachel shut the front door of the cabinet then opened the trap door. There it was again, the light she had seen before. Her face lit up as she realized her guess had been correct.
