Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters from Glee, this is simply for fun!


The slight shaking of the airplane woke Rachel up just as she was reaching a peaceful sleep. Looking around she saw many passengers around her reading or talking quietly to their friends traveling with them. She felt a pang in her chest as she watched two women, obviously friends, interact and laugh together, reminding her of her own friends. Rachel missed them so much already even though she had just left this morning.

"Rachel, are you ready to go? We need to leave soon or you'll miss your flight!" Quinn yelled as she checked her hair in the mirror in the hallway. Satisfied at her appearance she gave herself a grin.

"I can't do it," Rachel said sadly, sniffling and walking into the room with her hair in braids and in her pink pajamas with fluffy slippers. "I can't go to L.A. and follow through with this. There's no way."

Gasping as she saw her friend's appearance in the mirror Quinn turned around and looked at her with a bewildered expression. "Rachel! We have to leave in twenty minutes and you're dressed like a third grader ready to go to her first slumber party! What are you thinking?! C'mon go get ready. You are not backing out now!"

Footsteps soon came down the hallway once again and in came Puck in only pajama pants, yawning widely. "Why the hell are you yelling Q? You know I don't like to get up this early for any reason at all, it's why I said bye to Berry last night."

"Well excuse me Puck, but if you can't see Rachel has to go soon and she isn't even ready!" Quinn yelled waving her arms at the brunette girl, who was currently sitting at the kitchen table fiddling with her hair. "Santana! Get in here right now!"

"God don't get your panties in a twist," Puck mumbled as he went to the kitchen and grabbed a box of Frosted Flakes to eat out of.

Quinn fixed him with a pointed glare and turned to Rachel again who now had silent tears running down her cheeks. "Rachel you have to go. The producers and everyone else is counting on you. You made a commitment. It's not right to go back on your word now."

"What's the problem?" Santana grumbled as she came in and saw Rachel still not dressed. "Shit Berry what are you still doing here! You should be gone already with Quinn to the airport!"

Crying even more now Rachel spoke, "I can't go Santana. This was all a big mistake! I had the worst dream last night that I got to L.A. and no one liked me. Not one guy. Do you know how humiliating that would be if that actually happens?!"

"Oh geez," Puck sighed loudly, clearly showing his annoyance. "God Rach do us all a favor and go. You have a hot ass and a great body and there is no reason for you to worry. Trust me I would know. It's not like I haven't checked you out before. Every one of those guys is going to want you and to get into your pants."

With a disgusted grimace Rachel turned to him in her seat and said, "Noah it may be that you would know what is attractive about a woman but you aren't reliable and it's just one opinion. Plus that is highly inappropriate considering you are dating Quinn, not me."

"Puck's right though," Blaine responded coming into the room. Naturally he was a morning person so he was wide awake and heard the whole conversation as he got out of bed. "Rachel I may be gay, but I know for a fact that any guy is lucky to have you. Trust me, when we go out together and walk down the streets a lot of guys look at you, you just don't see it. You need to get over your insecurities and go."

"But-," Rachel started to protest, only to be quickly cut off by Santana.

"No excuses! I swear to God Rachel if you don't go in 15 minutes I will go all Lima Heights on your ass. I only got 4 hours of sleep and am not in a good mood. You do not want to deal with me right now."

The conversation had ended pretty much there after that. Rachel went and got ready and soon she had said her last goodbyes to her friends, including Brittany who had just woken up before she had left. Quinn had dropped her off at the airport just in time and before she knew it Rachel had had her last embrace with Quinn before she was off to L.A.

"Attention passengers we will be landing in Los Angeles in twenty minutes. Please remain seated until then," a voice of a flight attendant said over the speakers. This information set Rachel on edge. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to still be the normal Rachel, the one that would have never done anything like this at all. She had never been more scared in her life.

As the plane descended Rachel fretted more and more but she knew there was nowhere to go now. This was it. Her life as a single woman was gone.

When the plane landed and she, along with all the other passengers, got off, Rachel headed to the baggage claim and proceeded to go through the airport looking for her ride to where the show was being shot at. Looking to the right of her near the benches by the entrance she saw a sign that read RACHEL BERRY being held by a short, dark-skinned man who was dressed in a suit and tie.

She walked over to the man and with a smile informed him that she was who he was looking for. "Hi, I'm Rachel Berry. I assume you're going to be my ride to the resort where the show is going to be filmed."

"Ah, Miss Berry it's nice to meet you. I must admit I was getting worried you wouldn't show up and that I would have to deal with the terrifying producer known as Sue Sylvester. Have you met her?" The man asked as he took her luggage into his hands, leaving her to only hold her carry-on bag.

"Um, once I believe. I had only a couple meetings with the producers but they were mostly with Emma and Terri." Rachel replied.

"Oh well then you're lucky. Trust me when I say Sue is a menace." He said with a shudder. "On that note we should get going."

"Okay," Rachel agreed following him out to a shiny black limo just outside the entrance. "What's your name by the way? I don't know if you mentioned it."

"My apologies Miss Berry! You can call me Mr. Figgins," He replied as he opened the door for her in the back and then went around to the front and got in. Starting the ignition Mr. Figgins added, "It should be a short trip to the resort depending on traffic. I'm sure you're ready to start the show right?"

"You could say that I guess," Rachel said as she looked out the window from her seat. "I guess I'm just nervous too though. It's not every day you date seventeen different men."

Mr. Figgins had easily agreed with her on that point and afterward had focused on his driving allowing Rachel to take in her surroundings. L.A. was similar to New York in the sense that it had many buildings and seemed to be incredibly populated so she figured she could just pretend it was home to help calm her. She fell asleep a few minutes into the ride and woke when the car was turning into a gigantic home.

"We're here Miss Berry," Mr. Figgins announced. "I hope you enjoy yourself. The mansion is really nice to stay in."

"Thank you for driving me here," Rachel said as the car rolled to a stop. Climbing out the sight took her breath away as she stood before the mansion. The house was a pure white with navy blue shutters open on the outside of the windows, reminding her of the house from the movie The Notebook. It was three stories tall, each having its own balcony which she was sure would give her a nice view of the surrounding area. On the outside in front of the porch were several plants and trees that varied in size and a row of daisies lined the walkway going to the door on both sides. It was absolutely breath-taking and that was just the outside.

"Hello Rachel," a voice came from behind her, startling the petite woman out of her amazement. She whirled around to come face to face with a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties with very curly hair and a friendly smile. Alongside of him was Emma holding a planner in her hand and checking off something on her list. "My name is Will Schuester."

Shaking the hand that he had outstretched Rachel smiled back at him. "Hello it's so nice to meet you. You're the host of the show right?"

"That's right I am. I'll be the one you talk to the most on the air besides the men and I will be the person you can confide to whenever you need help or advice," Will said with a nod of his head. Rachel could tell he was made for this job. It was easy to talk to him because he had such a friendly demeanor and relaxed personality. "I hope you like the mansion. This will be your home for a while."

"It's amazing," Rachel said honestly, looking back once again at the house. "I love it."

Appraising the house for another minute she then looked back to the others. "So Will, Emma is there something you needed from me? I don't mean to be rude. I'm just wondering because I was really hoping to go inside and settle into the place."

Looking at the gold-colored watch on her wrist that matched her shoes perfectly, Emma spoke up, "Actually Rachel we just wanted to check up on you and say welcome. The house should be spotless I mean I went in myself just to be sure. You know how the maids are, they say they cleaned the dust off the light bulbs but it's always-."

"As Emma was saying," Will interjected, noticing she was about to ramble on about the state of cleanliness of the mansion, "we just wanted to make sure you're settling in alright since you have a big night ahead of you."

Putting a smile on her face and being the incredible actress she was Rachel replied nonchalantly saying, "Right. Tonight's the night. I'm actually pretty excited. My friends gave me this huge pep talk this morning and last night before I left so I think I'm ready."

"It's okay to be nervous Rachel," Will said with a knowing smile. Grateful that he understood her anxiety the brunette gave a nod of her head as he continued on. "Just be yourself. That's my best advice."

"Will's right, Rachel, tonight's only the first night so it should be easy. It's like going to a new school. You're just meeting the men and learning a little about them," Emma added, checking her watch again. "Now it's about three o'clock now so we start having the men arrive at about eight so you should probably head in and get settled and ready now. I don't how long it will take you but I know being on plane always makes me want to take a long shower and get clean."

"Okay what time should I be fully ready?" She asked in response to that announcement.

"We'll have someone come get you a little before 7:30," Will answered, already turning to go with Emma back in the direction of the newly arrived car waiting for them. "We'll see you in a few hours Rachel."

"Okay see you then," Rachel yelled loudly to their retreating figures. Turning back to the house and walking up to the front door she let herself in only to be even more amazed by in the inside of the house than she was by the outside. After admiring the house and exploring for a little while longer Rachel headed up to the master bedroom in which she would be staying and saw her suitcase on the bed. Heading into the bathroom she looked at her tired face and saw just how lazy she looked after her day of travel. Her hair was thrown into a messy bun, she had on her favorite pair of yoga pants, and a sweatshirt she bought from her favorite store that was completely worn out. Rachel knew she needed to start getting ready now if she wanted to look nice for her first night on the show.

Putting her worries aside for now she checked her phone one last time before she started her rigorous process of getting ready. Rachel smiled as she saw various texts of Good Luck! from her friends back home and once again found courage in the fact that her friends believed in her. With that she headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower and set out her makeup bag on the counter. She only had a few hours till her life would change and Rachel wanted to look her absolute best for it.


Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Mr. Hudson I'm here to pick you up to go meet with the producers before they start filming. Are you ready to go or should I wait a few minutes?" a soft and hesitant voice asked from behind the door of Finn's hotel room.

Opening the door Finn came face to face with a tired looking, stout man with black hair and a dark green shirt on under his formal coat. "Hey man, I should be ready in a few minutes. I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's no problem Mr. Hudson. My name is Howard Bamboo," the man replied as he leaned against the wall on the side of the door. "We just need to go in about five minutes at least. I don't know how long that is since I can't count higher than thirty but please be ready by then or the producer Sue says I have to leave 'your sad, pathetic self behind'." Putting air quotes around the last part Howard then gave him a nod to let him go.

"Right," Finn said awkwardly as the man waited for him to go back in. "Well I should be done in two so I'll be right out." With that he closed the door and went back into his room. He had his two suitcases packed and ready to go so he went into the bathroom to check that he grabbed all his things in their like his comb and toothbrush. Standing in there he looked at his reflection one last time before he would be leaving.

Finn was dressed in a white formal shirt that he often wore only for weddings and other special occasions and had on a black suit jacket and pants. He had his nicest black dress shoes on that were super shiny from all the disuse of them. And finally he had on his tie that was a pure red like the color his football jersey had been in high school, and even though Kurt had complained about him wearing it when he had called his brother earlier, Finn was wearing it anyway.

"Finn! You cannot wear that tie tonight when you first meet this girl! It's too bright of a color and it'll make you look like an albino when you meet her. You think she's going to want you stay if you look super white like you've been in the sun before." Kurt screeched into the phone, trying to advice his brother on what to wear for the night.

"Kurt, I'm pretty sure it'll be fine. It's not like I'm as pale as the dude in that vampire movie that you've watched at least a zillion times with Mercedes and Tina," Finn replied already putting on the tie without the consent of his brother.

"First of all Finn, Robert Pattinson had makeup on in Twilight to make him look like that. He actually has a nice skin color underneath all that. And second of all I am begging you not to wear it. The black tie looks much more serious. The red just looks silly when you meet someone," Kurt stated with no hint of amusement in his voice.

"Sorry dude but I'm wearing it. If she doesn't like it then so be it, but this is my lucky tie. Plus it's my favorite color," Finn smiled knowing it would bother his brother just that much more.

"Finn we are talking about meeting a girl you could potentially become engaged to at the end of all this! Don't be such a three year old and wear a tie just because it's your favorite color!"

Imagining Kurt pacing and flailing his arms all around in his room was all too easy. In fact if Finn listened hard enough he could hear his younger brother's designer boots clicking on the floorboards. Laughing he responded to Kurt, "Sorry little bro but it's happening."

With a huff Kurt spoke, "Fine. I can tell that no matter how many times I tell you you'll never listen. I'm just saying if she sends you home tonight we know why."

"Yeah because I'm sure my tie is gonna be the reason she lets me go Kurt," Finn replied, rolling his eyes at his brother's dramatics. Finn would never understand how his brother had gotten rejected from that drama school in New York senior year of high school since as far as he could tell Kurt was always being overdramatic with everything. Of course being rejected there didn't stop him and his younger brother had soon taken a job as an intern at and soon received a promotion. So naturally working there had only fueled Kurt's desire to give Finn a completely new wardrobe.

"Whatever Finn. You know my point though. I just want you to really hit it off with this girl," Kurt told him earnestly. "You need someone in your life."

Hearing the sincerity in his brother's voice Finn said, "Thanks Kurt. I know you want it to work so badly but I'm just going to let the universe handle it. If we are meant to be together then me and this girl will be together."

Sighing Kurt then wished him luck and told Finn he had to go because he needed to start on some project his boss Isabelle had assigned to him to do.

Smiling to himself at his brother's antics and remembering the conversation from earlier Finn ran a hand through his hair and gave himself one last grin in the mirror before heading back to the hotel door and having Howard help him with his bags. He would be staying in a house with all of the other guys so he needed to take everything with him.

I just have to get through tonight, Finn thought on the drive over to the place to meet the producers. After that Finn could only hope everything would go well. Arriving to the house his door swung open before the car even really stopped and he saw the faces of the producers.

"Hello Finn it's nice to see you again," Emma greeted him.

"Pillsbury dough boy get on over here we need to put you in a group," Sue yelled standing in front of a large group of men.

Going through the process of organizing where every man was supposed to go was Emma's job and it took almost a half an hour to get it to perfection for her. In the mean time Finn introduced himself to a few of the men and kept up light conversation with them. Once the red-headed woman was satisfied and Sue stopped criticizing everyone's looks, the men got into the cars and got prepared to meet the woman they would be fighting over. Soon enough they were on their way to meet her and Finn knew that everything depended on tonight.


"Okay Rachel so all of the men should be on their way over right now. Aren't you excited to be here?" Will asked her as they stood outside the mansion where the men would be staying. He was delivering his questions perfectly and with his personality Rachel was at ease talking with him in front of the cameras and crew.

"To be honest Will I was quite anxious about this and I still am, but I feel like my nerves are slowly changing into excitement you know? This experience allows for so many possibilities and I could potentially find a husband here at the end of this," Rachel said happily, adding the part about finding a husband only because the show producer Terri had told her she has to mention that.

"Well that's great to hear!" Will beamed at her, his forehead crinkling ever so slightly from smiling so widely. He looked her up and down and added "And might I say you look incredible tonight. Those men won't know what hit them."

Rachel smiled at the compliment and silently thanked Quinn, Santana, and Brittany for helping her pick out the incredible dresses she would be getting to wear on every single one of these cocktail party nights. They had gone out shopping the weeks leading up to the show and checked out every boutique and store they could in order to find the perfect dresses for her. By the end of it they were happy with the choices and Rachel loved every single one.

Tonight she wanted to wear a dress that would make her feel comfortable but also beautiful in order to have some confidence in front of the men. After spending the first hour at the mansion showering and pampering herself Rachel got right down to picking out the dress and figuring out how she wanted her hair done. Sorting through the dresses she felt the various fabrics and stared at the décor on each one looking for just the right one. When she had saw it she knew then that she had found the perfect one for tonight.

The dress was floor length and had a sweet heart neckline that exposed a minimal amount of cleavage with which she was comfortable with. It hugged her curves nicely too and flared out a little at the bottom, giving it a kind of mermaid style form. Her favorite part of it though was the decoration on it. The dress was a dark blue giving her skin a nice tan tone to it and on the left side of it was what looked almost like a star sparkling in all directions. The glitter was thick in the center hiding most of the blue in the left corner near the top of her dress and as it spread more of the dark blue fabric could be seen and the streams of silver thinned out. Rachel had specifically loved it for having the glitter on it and she thought it would be perfect to wear for tonight. To finish out her outfit she had on silver open toe sandal heels that had two diamond shaped accessories in the middle of them.

As for her hair Rachel had swept her bangs to the side and curled her long brown hair into wide set curls. One side of her hair was held back by silver bobby pins but was still loose to give herself a nice, simple look to her already sparkly ensemble. The final touches had been her makeup which she kept as natural as possible with a subtle amount of eyeliner and mascara as well as some blush along her cheeks and a touch of lip gloss to her lips.

Rachel felt incredible in her outfit and her confidence was soaring now thanks to Will's compliment. "Thank you, Will. That's sweet of you to say," she replied to his statement.

Hearing the sounds of cars down the street the two looked in that direction and then turned to each other. Will smiling said, "Well, Rachel, here comes the first car. You're going to greet each of the men and once they are all here and inside you just have to go in and mingle with them. Just get a feel of who like and what not, it's all fairly simple."

"Sounds good, Will. Thank you," Rachel told him and with a squeeze to her hand as a sign of wishing her luck Will walked away leaving her alone.

Calling cut the director then told the crew to rearrange the cameras so they could get the angles needed for the initial meetings. While they did this the cars were just outside the gates waiting to pull into the driveway. Trying to keep her breathing even Rachel tried to appear calm as all the preparation for the meetings was happening around her. She looked up to the sky and looked at the stars that were already appearing even though the sun had just gone down. Rachel was the star of this show and she thought about all the control she had in her position. Really there was no reason for her to worry; it was the men who would be leaving, not her.

Finally the preparation was done and with the cameras and lights and everything else in place Rachel went to the spot she was supposed to stand at. Closing her eyes she took one last moment to herself to get ready for the events ahead of her.


Finn had decided that being in the last car to arrive at the mansion completely and officially sucked. Sure there were other dudes with him too and they seemed pretty chill but he could really feel the nerves settling in for having to wait so long. He kept running his hand through his hair and along the back of his neck as he continually checked out the window to see any form of movement. There was none.

"Hey man I heard it always takes awhile for these first meetings. Don't stress too much. We should be good. You just need to relax." Turning his head to see who was talking he saw a guy about his age looking at him and holding his hand out. The dude's lips were huge and it was obvious he was in good shape based on the way his body sat as if he had no fat on him whatsoever. "The name's Sam Evans. I just thought I should introduce myself. Provide a little bit of distraction for you."

Finn gave him a smile and shook the outstretched hand Sam had put out. "Thanks man. I'm Finn Hudson. Could you really tell I'm nervous as hell?"

"Well by the way you were tapping your foot I think we could all tell Gigantor. Trust me my acting skills allow me to usually keep a calm façade up but you were about to experience hell from me if you weren't going to stop," a man with curly brown hair said from the opposite end of the limo. "I'm Jesse St. James by the way. I don't even know why I'm in here with you guys when I asked specifically for my own ride, but I might as well introduce myself I guess."

Exchanging a look with the other guy from before, Sam, Finn knew that he would not be getting along with this Jesse person. The guy was obviously a douche and seemed like a big prima donna. It was gonna be interesting in the house with him there.

Suddenly the car started to move forward at a slow speed and the men could soon see the entrance of the mansion; the place that these men would be calling home for the next few weeks. It was amazing and Finn knew that it easily cost more than all of the things he owned put together, but what caught his eye more as they kept moving forward was the person standing out front.

Dressed and looking like an angel was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She had on a stunning dark blue dress accentuated with a silver design that looked extremely elegant, but her hair and face looked incredibly natural looking. Her brown hair looked so smooth that Finn wondered what it would be like to run his hand through it and he also noticed how smokin' her body was in the form fitting dress. She wasn't super skinny like you see some girls nowadays but she had a nice curvy figure that was very attractive.

A shallow whistle could be heard coming from one of the guys and Finn looked to see just about every guy staring at the woman they were there for. Luckily Finn was closest to the door and had seemed to have gotten his composure together before anyone else, which allowed him to be the first one out of his car to talk to her. Finn had no idea where this surge of confidence came from but he figured he should go with it. Straightening his tie as he stepped out of the car he saw her looking at him and noticed a small smile on her face. As he walked closer he felt a tightening in his chest and immediately knew this girl, Rachel, he remembered her name being, was something special.

"Hello," she breathed and god was her voice so beautiful. Almost as angelic as her face and Finn had to admit she was even more stunning up close. She had the kind of beauty that was exotic and not at all like any other woman. Her smile just lit up the room and it was impossible not to reciprocate it.

"Hi," Finn greeted, giving her his signature lopsided smile. "My name is Finn Hudson. It's so nice to meet you." And truly it was. Just standing there with her was making his heart thump wildly in his chest.

"Nice to meet you as well, Finn. I'm Rachel Berry. I'm so glad you're here. You have no idea what this means to me," she spoke so sincerely that Finn didn't doubt her for a second that this meant a lot to her.

"Well Rachel I would just like to say you look absolutely beautiful right now," he complimented, noticing the slight blush that stained her cheeks and the way her eyes seemed to light up just a little more too. "I guess I should be going in now since most of the guys are waiting, but I really hope to talk to more. If-if that's okay anyway?"

Finn was really hoping she would say yes to his offer considering that he was already looking forward to spending more time with her, even if there meeting had lasted all of thirty seconds. Finn cursed the person who came up with that rule of a quick meeting. He didn't want to freak her out but there was something that drew him to her already, and he had never felt this way before.

Smiling widely and showing off her perfect set of white teeth Rachel nodded and said, "Of course Finn. I look forward to it. You seem like such a sweet guy."

"Perfect," he beamed in response to her agreement. "I'll see you inside." And with that he walked away thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't messed up the initial meeting like he thought he would. As he looked back Finn saw Rachel staring after him with a smile stretching across her face and he couldn't help but smile back. That is until he tripped over one of the little cobblestones on the pathway up to the mansion and he stumbled forward, catching his balance on the railing of the stairs just barely.

Blushing profusely Finn turned at the sound of muffled giggles only to see Rachel still watching him and trying to be polite by not making it look as if she had seen him trip.

So much for being cool and not screwing up, Finn thought as he quickly scrambled up the stairs and into the house. If that was any indication for how the rest of the night would go, well, Finn could only pray nothing too embarrassing would happen again. Rachel had just witnessed how much of a klutz he was and he didn't want to give her anymore reason for thinking that he was a dork. First impressions were everything after all.


A/N: Obviously this took longer to put up than I anticipated but luckily this chapter is longer than the others! Also I just have to comment on the Valentine's Day episode "I Do" and say that my feelings for Finchel were soaring as I watched it. I am more in love with Finn than I was before and I didn't think that was possible.

But yeah. So anyways as said before Reviews are Welcome!