CHAPTER TWO

Rachel hated Tuesdays. Absolutely hated them. Cassandra pushed each of her students to their limits but with Rachel: she felt it was more personal. Rachel lived in a large apartment with Kurt in New York city. It was her childhood dream to be accepted into a prestigious performing arts school in New york with her gay best friend and so far, life has been quite fair. After winning Nationals in glee club with the New Directions, Rachel finally felt her dreams were coming true.

She got dressed into her black uniform, combed her hair, brushed her teeth and walked towards the kitchen. Kurt was already waltzing around the kitchen making his signature green juice, his right hand held the blender's lid tightly and the other hand was clasped over a phone.

"Yes dad I'm fine." Kurt replied and continued adding celery, kale and apple.

"Rachel and I are settling in, we have classes this afternoon."

Rachel sat on the bench top with her head in her hands. She couldn't remember the last time she talked to her dads. They were both in Virginia and were both very busy. Rachel could never work out when to call them, her dads were always either 'stalking criminals', 'arresting terrorists' or 'preventing a nuclear weapon from destroying America'. She remembered one time: a couple of months back, Rachel had arrived in New York carrying her pink suitcase and was dying to call her dads. She picked up her phone and dialled eagerly, her father Hiram picked up. Seconds into the conversation, shouting could be heard from the other side.

"Sorry Rachel, Daddy has to stop a terrorist from bombing the Hoover Dam."

The conversation ended there.

Kurt finally turned around with a big smile on his face and handed the phone over to Rachel.

"He wants to talk to you." Kurt mouthed and poured his juice into two glass cups.

"Hi Burt."

"Hi Rachel, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine."

"You settling in okay with Kurt?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking."

"Okay, I'll cut to the chase. I'm planning on coming to New York to pay you two a visit in a couple of month's time. Kurt's my son and you are like a daughter to me so I reckon…like a good dad…I should see how kids are doing. How does that sound?"

"That's great, Kurt and I are excited to see you."

"Great, I'll let you go now. Talk to you later."

Rachel ended the call and placed the phone on the table.

"Can you imagine my dad in New York?" Kurt said and the two fell into laughter.

Finn and Dewey finally arrived in New York. They grabbed their duffel bags and caught a cab to their accommodation: an apartment, ten metres away from Rachel Berry's apartment. Once the duo reached their apartment, Dewey took a much-needed shower while Finn studied Rachel's itinerary. Hiram had sent Finn a copy of Rachel's schedule. He found out that Rachel is studying at NYADA, she lives with a roommate called Kurt Hummel and today she has dance class until five pm. Dewey walked out and was dressed in a white collared shirt, jeans and black leather shoes. After a shower, Finn changed into a suit and got himself ready for NYADA.

Holding a picture of Rachel in his hand and NYADA's address, Finn parted ways with Dewey and decided to walk to the performing arts school. New York was certainly different, Dewey and him were country boys and the city was certainly a change. Finn grew up in Ohio and went to a small school on the outskirts, he found out that Rachel also grew up in Ohio and studied at McKinley. His best mate grew up in Maine and spent half his life around farms and horses. Finn knew that Dewey probably disliked the buzz that was New York.

Walking with his hands in his pockets, Finn took in all his surroundings: the sight, smell and sound. He checked his watch and realised he was a couple minutes early, Rachel's class doesn't start until twelve. He finally arrived at NYADA and after he was acknowledged by the reception, Finn sat down on the huge black sofas and waited for Rachel.

Rachel and Kurt walked through the two large doors of NYADA and checked the itinerary. Dance class was in room twelve with Rachel's best friend: Cassandra. Rachel prepped herself before she met Cassandra and finally walked towards the room.

On the other side of the wall, Finn talked to Dewey on the phone.

"No mate, I haven't seen her yet."

"Yes, I do know what she looks like."

Finn laid back and observed the students running about in front of him. He looked for a girl with wavy brown hair, brown eyes and a fairly large nose. Suddenly, Finn's eyes caught sight of a girl that matched his description, she was walking alongside another man, he was probably Kurt Hummel. Without being too obvious, Finn stood up and followed the two. He held his bodyguard badge in his left hand and stealthily followed Rachel upstairs, around corners and into rooms.

Rachel said goodbye to Kurt and arrived at Room twelve, Cassandra hadn't arrived yet. It was her with a couple students only. Rachel was about to change into her dance shoes when she saw five girls staring at a man outside. The girls looked besotted and infatuated at this suited man. They giggled, laughed and looked up and down at his frame. They finally walked in and spoke.

"My god, he is so tall."

"He is so dreamy and handsome. I think I'm in love."

"I always love the tall, dark and mysterious ones."

Feeling intrigued, Rachel started walking towards the man. Some of her classmates started surrounding him and asking him questions. He seemed chill and went along with the frenzy. Rachel looked outside and saw a tall, muscular man. He had gorgeous brown eyes, short neat hair and adorable dimples; freckles dotted his perfectly shaped nose and his suit made him more desirable. She thought about her classmates and schoolmates and wondered who was the lucky girl who scored a date with this man.

Rachel decreased the distance between them and finally their eyes met. Her heart skipped a beat and her mouth became dry. Her body was betraying her. You don't even know him. He could be some sort of a murderer. Rachel told herself as she froze in position. The man pushed off the wall and started walking towards her, the sea of girls parted as he walked until finally they were face to face.

"Hi I'm Finn Hudson."

"I'm Rachel." She whispered

"Hey Rachel…I'm your bodyguard."

Rachel's mouth dropped. The butterflies in her stomach flew out of her system, her childish thoughts dissolved and she was shaken back into reality.

"What?" Rachel asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"I'm your bodyguard."

"Hold on, is this a joke? Am I on Punk'd?"

"No."

"Why the hell would I need a bodyguard?"

"Call your dad."

Rachel squinted and reached for her phone. Finn looked at the way Rachel spoke with Mr Berry. He wasn't expecting the conversation and first introductions to go this way. He pictured himself telling Rachel he was her bodyguard and her accepting it. But here he was looking at Rachel talking quite angrily to her dad. He started to sweat a bit. Finn had never had an argument with a girl before, he didn't know what to do next.

Rachel ended the call.

"Look, my dad thinks that I need you to keep my safe but I'm perfectly okay on my own. Thanks for coming all the way to New York but I don't need a bodyguard." Rachel said and shoved a fifty-dollar bill into Finn's hand. "You can use that for the train fare home. Rachel smiled, lifted her bag on one shoulder and walked into class.

Finn stood still; he knew Hiram would want him to stay. It was his duty to protect her, he knew the dangers that were coming and he couldn't leave her alone. Finn decided to wait at NYADA; he was still going to be her bodyguard even if Rachel felt she didn't need one. Finn slumped onto a chair, pulled his right leg over his left knee and waited.

His phone rang and Finn saw that it was Dewey.

"So how did it go?"

"Not too well…actually not well at all." Finn sighed at stared at the closed door in front of him. "She wasn't too ecstatic about having a bodyguard."

"What? Not even a bodyguard that looks like a fucking model?" Dewey laughed and Finn smiled.

"I think she's one of those independent: 'I-can-take-care-of-myself' types"

"Oh well, at least she's safe with us."

Finn agreed and ended the call. Another four hours of waiting.

Rachel couldn't concentrate in class today after her little meeting with her so called bodyguard. Cassandra was being extra bitchy today, which made matters worse. Rachel had a hunch 'Finn Hudson' was still outside, staring at the door.

Rachel thought about it, he was pretty cute…actually really cute. No. Really hot.

Rachel shook her head. No. Focus. Five-six-seven-eight, with arms outstretched Rachel spinned and leapt across the dance floor.

Dewey tapped his index finger on his lips. He had lied to Finn; he didn't come to New York to be Rachel's second bodyguard. No. Hiram gave him another mission, a secret, private mission. Dewey Andreas came to New York to figure out the location of the Talisman. He was the best field agent in the CIA and the only man for the job. His job was not only to protect Rachel Berry but to protect his best mate and America. He was the only ranger with white thread sewn on his uniform in Ranger school, Dewey made it through the winter: the hardest time of the year to train and so he was granted the honour to attach his ranger tab with the special thread. He was a talented man and he knew it.

Dewey laid the blueprint on the table and studied the drawn circles on the map. The circles represented the possible locations of the Talisman. His job was to enter the locations with his team of agents and flush the gang out towards a waiting Hiram. Dewey wasn't scared of his mission, heck he wasn't even scared of death, he was scared that Finn would find out. The job was a suicide mission and Finn would do everything he could to stop the mission. Dewey knew Finn couldn't bear to see him die. It was going to be a difficult burden to keep.

Finn almost dozed off a couple of times, just another twenty minutes before the end of class. After hours of humming to himself and twiddling his thumbs, Finn had now turned to a loose string on his suit for entertainment. Suddenly, he felt a figure walk towards him. Finn looked up and saw Kurt Hummel.

"My father told me about Hiram. You're Rachel's bodyguard right?"

Kurt asked and took a seat next to Finn.

"Yeah, I am."

"I overheard your conversation with Rachel, I know that she doesn't want you but can I tell you something?"

Finn shrugged. "Yeah sure."

"I know what's been going on, Hiram has told me everything. I know about the death threats and the Talisman and I just need your promise that you will protect her no matter what. I need her to be safe and I know you can keep her safe." Kurt had his hand outstretched; he was expecting a handshake for confirmation. Finn nodded understandably and shook the hand. Kurt smiled and continued talking to him until the class ended.

Kurt was right. No matter how Rachel may feel about him being her bodyguard, Finn made a promise to Hiram, himself and Kurt that he will keep Rachel safe and Finn…has never broken a promise.

So that's chapter two for ya . You got to know more about each individual character particularly Finn and my new character Dewey. Even though Rachel may be a bit cold towards Finn, don't worry, that will change soon. Expect to see some future romance, action and hype.

Thanks for reading,

Dedreas