The Hudson Attic – Chapter 2

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

Bright and early the next morning, Burt, Carole, and Kurt were up and dressed ready to go and look at the possible new house.

Finn was still asleep with one foot stuck out from under the cover.

"Finn, get up! Everyone's ready to go and look at the house except you. Dad doesn't want to be too late opening up the tire store this morning. I'll make you a deal. Since I'm away at Dalton so much, I'll give you first choice of the bedrooms. Just get up!" Kurt shouted. He knew that Finn could be an immovable object when he didn't want to get out of bed.

"Okay, I'm on my way. I know where the house is, you three go on without me. I'll catch up," Finn said rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Well don't doddle or the first dibs at bedrooms deal will be off the table. I'll give you fifteen minutes to catch up with the rest of us." Kurt yelled back to Finn as he ran up the stairs.

What Kurt had said finally sunk into Finn's head. "Oh no, I could get stuck with another closet or a little girl's room," Finn thought to himself. As visions of a Pepto pink room ran through his head he jumped in some clothes, brushed his teeth and grabbed a cold bagel as he ran out to his truck.

He pulled into the driveway of the prospective new house right behind Kurt, Burt, and his mom. They were waiting on the owner to come and open the door for them.

The outside was not bad. It was a rather long brick house that was two stories high in the middle. Finn noticed that it had a large yard, and he'd probably be the one doing the mowing and leaf raking.

The four of them walked around to the back and found a detached four bay garage with a small shop. Everyone liked this part, no scraping car windshields in the winter. The detached part might be a problem with all of the winter snow, but they agreed that it was not a deal breaker.

Circling back around to the front of the house, the owner had arrived and was opening the front door. Burt introduced his family to the owner Mr. Joseph Anderson.

"Joe, I appreciate your meeting us so early. I've got to get over to the shop and my wife Carole works the evening shift over at the hospital."

Joe was busy showing Carole and Burt the kitchen and the master bath while the two boys took off to check out the second and third bedrooms. The two extra bedrooms and bathrooms were essentially the same except one of the bathrooms had Pepto pink tile and a bath tub. The other bathroom was shades of blue, grey, and white with a large walk in shower.

Kurt was beginning to regret the deal that he'd made with Finn, but decided on the bedroom with the pink tile in the bathroom. He reasoned that Finn couldn't fit in the tub and the tile could be replaced with something more his style.

Both boys were excited as they toured the rest of the house with Carole and Burt. Carole and Finn were most excited about the dishwasher. Since Finn had been old enough to reach the sink, he'd been the family dishwasher.

The four decided that this house just might work. Carole and Burt sat down with Mr. Anderson to write up an offer.

"Mom, I need to get over to our old house and get started on the attic," Finn said as he gave Carole a kiss on the cheek. "I'll drop Kurt back off at the house since I have my truck."

"Thanks Honey," Carole said to Finn. "Make sure that you get everything out of the attic. I don't think that I can still get up there."

Finn dropped off Kurt and made his way over to the old Hudson house. The garbage men were there loading up the trash from the basement.

He climbed the stairs and decided to keep his coat, toboggan, and gloves on. The attic was probably as cold as the outside. Finn was glad that he did when he opened the attic door and was hit with a blast of freezing air.

Once inside the attic, it was like taking a trip down memory lane. He and Puck had played up here in the spring and fall when they were in elementary school. He pulled up a familiar loose board, and underneath it he found the boy's long forgotten stash of Playboy magazines. When Puck's dad was at home he'd left his magazines lying around and Puck had sneaked out a few. These will have to go in the '

keeping pile, Finn thought to himself.

The attic was like a refrigerator, but Finn continued to work. He was so interested in what he was finding that he really forgot about the cold. In one corner sat his old baby bed, the rail still had his teeth marks on it. Beside the baby bed was his old high chair. These would go to the trash pile at the curb. A corroded set of golf clubs were near the baby bed.

An aluminum Christmas tree was sitting near the chimney. Finn thought that the fake green trees were bad enough, but that silver aluminum tree was just plain wrong. The silver tree was definitely going in the trash pile along with the mile of tangled Christmas lights.

Before he could really move anything, a dusty rolled up rug had to go first. It was heavy and really more than he could handle by himself. "How am I going to get it down all of those steps without some help?" he said talking to himself.

Then an idea came to him. The attic had a large window in the front gable. If the window wasn't painted shut, he could heave the rug through the window. It'd land in the front yard below if his plan worked.

Soon the rug was in the front yard along with his mother's bushes that had been smashed flat when the rug landed on top of them.

Finn was happy with his idea and soon the aluminum tree, golf clubs, high chair, and Christmas lights were in the pile in the front yard. The commotion had even caught the attention of the neighbors.

Taking a break, Finn realized that he could see four or five blocks into town from his vantage point in the open gable window. There were no leaves on the trees at this time and the opposing street intersected with his street right in front of his house. He was looking down the long open street when he spotted a pink Prius parked on the curb in the distance. It had to be Rachel's car. She was the only person in Lima that owned a pink Prius.

Was she stalking him? He felt himself becoming annoyed. He was tired of the calls, the texting, the e-mails, the sugar cookies in the mail box. He thought about calling her on her cell phone and telling her that the stalking wasn't working, that he could see her car. Maybe he would just walk right up to her car and confront her? As his anger grew he saw a petite brunette leave a nearby shop and get into the pink car. The car started and then made an illegal u-turn heading the car in the opposite direction from his house. As the pink dot disappeared he felt disappointment replace the annoyed feeling. She wasn't stalking him at all. In fact she had made an illegal u-turn to avoid driving by his house.

Finn closed the attic window and decided to go back into the main house to warm up. Grabbing the cassette player and the tape that his dad had made in Kuwait, he made his way down to the kitchen. He and his mom had been living over at Burt's house for over a month now, and there was not much left to eat in the pantry. Finding a can of soup and some coffee, he soon had a warm meal underway.

Christopher Hudson's voice from a far away battle field was soon playing again on the cassette player. As Finn listened to his father's words, he wondered if it was destiny or karma or something else that had caused him to find the cassette now. Then he thought of Rachel. She couldn't have known that he had spotted her car from the attic window. She was so close, but she'd made an illegal u-turn to avoid driving by his house. Did he really want her out of his life? He'd told Carole that he had fantasized about one day buying their house from her and living in it with Rachel. He could see Rachel cooking on his mom's avocado green stove.

But a small voice in the back of his head brought him back to reality, "She cheated on you, remember?"

Finishing his soup, he tried to push his dream of a life with Rachel out of his head before he started up to the attic again.

Most of the trash had been heaved out of the attic window and was waiting in a pile in the front yard.

Opening the attic door once again, Finn was hit with another blast of cold air. Next he would have to form a "to keep" pile and a Goodwill pile on the landing.

Finn found a wooden box with the word "china" written across the top. He knew that is was his Grandmother Hudson's china so he carefully brought it down to the landing. Behind the china were two more wooden boxes. One was marked crystal and the other was silverware. These were placed by the china with the same care.

In the furtherest corner of the attic sat an old wooden trunk. It had a dome top and was covered with embossed tin. Inside he found old pictures of his grandparents and his parents. Looking at the images of Christopher Hudson, Finn realized that he really did have his father's eyes. His father was tall and athletic like him. Under those pictures of his dad, he found some wedding pictures. Carole and Chris Hudson looked like they were so much in love and it was the happiest day of their lives.

Digging a little deeper he found a music box. He opened it up and a tiny ballerina snapped into position so quickly, it almost scared him. Finn wound it up and the tiny ballerina began to twirl to the tune of Tiny Dancer. Rachel was his tiny dancer, but she'd betrayed him, remember? He quickly closed the music box and took it down to the landing with the china, crystal, and silverware.

The rest of the day Finn finished cleaning out the attic while trying to justify his feelings toward Rachel to himself. Later in the afternoon, he once again hauled the trash to the curb, and placed the Goodwill items in the back of his truck.

Among the years worth of stuff that Finn had found in the attic, he'd decided to keep his old snow sled. They just didn't make them like that anymore.

With his truck loaded he locked the front door and headed for Goodwill. After he brought everything in, he was headed out the door reading his receipt when he ran head first into Rachel Berry who was carrying a box in. Rachel's box of items spilled all over the floor.

"Rachel, I didn't see you, I'm so sorry. Let me help you pick this up," he said embarrassed.

"Finn, I didn't see you either. I should watch where I'm going," Rachel said shocked to see him.

As Finn helped her pick up her donated items, he expected the box to be filled with all of the little trinkets that he'd given her since June, but it wasn't. There were sequenced leg warmers, a slushy stained reindeer sweater, and discarded things of her fathers.

The two exchanged pleasantries and inquired about each other's holidays but little else. Any onlooker would have guessed that they were mere acquaintances, not a former couple. Rachel did not beg, and Finn did not budge.

Finn excused himself and returned to his truck. All the way home he kicked himself. He should've said this. He should've said that. How really stupid could he be? But then the little voice in the back of his head reminded him. "She cheated on you with your ex-best friend, remember."

Once again, Kurt was preparing dinner, except this time he was in a festive mood. Carole and Burt had made an offer on the new house and things were looking good. Now it was up to the bank, but Burt was not really worried about that. They would get the money for the present Hummel house in two weeks, and he could put part of his percentage in the shop up for collateral if needed.

Burt was soon home and the three men were enjoying Kurt's fine cooking and talked about the new house. When the meal ended, Burt fixed a plate for Carole and the boys did the dishes. Kurt washed and Finn dried.

"Have you talked to Rachel since yesterday?" Finn asked Kurt trying not to be obvious.

"Yes, we had a long conversation this afternoon. She's doing much better; I think that she has turned a corner." Kurt said as he wiped the kitchen table.

"What do you mean?" Finn asked a little shocked.

"She's realizing that there's life without you. She's still hurting, but she's finally accepted the fact that you don't want her," Kurt said as he left the kitchen.

"Did she really say all of that?" Finn said following Kurt.

"When are you going to realize big brother that you didn't hang the sun, the moon, and the stars. You've made your intentions very clear, and she said that 2011 will be a new start for her. Now if will stop with the twenty questions, I need to call Blaine," Kurt said as he left Finn standing in the hall with his mouth open.

Carole arrived home around 11:30 to find Finn waiting up for her and Burt asleep in his recliner in front of the TV.

"Finn, I've got great news," Carole said as she came through the door. "I know that Burt is asleep in front of the TV so wake him up. I want to tell him too."

"What is it honey?" Burt asked as Finn warmed up her dinner in the microwave.

"I asked my supervisor at the hospital if I could move to the day shift, and there is an opening. She said that I could change to the day shift starting next Monday. I'll be able to cook for my men and have dinner with them," Carole said as she hugged Burt's neck.

"Mom, I need to talk to you for a minute about our old house if you have time before bed," Finn interrupted.

Burt made his excuses and made his way to bed leaving Carole and Finn alone in the kitchen to talk.

"What about the old house?" Carole asked.

"It's not the house Mom. I want to talk to you about Rachel. I think that I might want her back, but a little voice in my head keeps reminding me about what she did," Finn said almost in a whisper.

"What does your heart say son?"

"My heart is still hurting too much to say much of anything. But I ran into her at Goodwill today, and all I wanted to do was to hug her and tell her that I forgive her."

"Are you ready to forgive her?" Carole asked.

"Yes and no. I want to forgive her, but if she betrayed me once, what's to keep her from doing it again?"

"Son you make this sound like a James Bond spy movie. She's seventeen years old, and you are her first love. I'm not making excuses, but I think that both of you were at fault, and both of you need to do some apologizing and forgiving. Your dad and I had a rule to never go to bed angry."

Finn remembered his dad's words from the tape. "Never go to bed angry, and hurt pride won't keep you warm at night."

"Thanks Mom, you've given me something to think about." Finn said.

"Oh before I forget," his mom said changing the subject. "How'd the attic go?

"Your aluminum Christmas tree is headed to the dump, but Grandma Hudson's china and stuff are waiting for you on the landing. I found an old trunk full of pictures and they're waiting for you too."

"Not my aluminum Christmas Tree!" Carole shrieked in mock surprise. "No Honey, I'm glad that you threw that thing out. Thank you for cleaning out the attic. I know that it must have been cold up there."

"It was okay Mom. I'll clean out my old room tomorrow, and then I'm going to need some help with all that wall paper."

Finn kissed his mom on the cheek and then headed downstairs for a bedtime shower.

He stretched out in the bigger bed that Burt had bought for him and thought about calling Rachel. It was after midnight, would she be awake? Then the little voice in the back of his head spoke to him again. "She betrayed you once, she could do it again."

-/-

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