DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy! :)

A/N: I hope you all love a chase, because Rachel has no idea where she's going, and Finn doesn't want to be found.

Chapter Three

Will I ever get to where I'm going?
If I do will I know when I'm there?
If the wind blew me in the right direction
Would I even care?
I would.

Not even a full twelve hours after he left the only town he'd ever known, Finn was approaching Detroit with anxiety prickling at every nerve in his body. His car felt cramped and the air was stale from the heat that was blasting mercilessly through the vents to stave off the biting Michigan wind that threatened to seep into his car. All he wanted to do was stretch out his legs and find someplace to sleep for the night, and he wondered if he should just stop now and resume his trek to Detroit in the morning. He still had some more driving to do before he reached his destination.

Whatever that was.

It was dark, and he wasn't used to the foreign highways that could take him deep into the unknown with one wrong turn. It wasn't until his stomach started to rumble painfully when he realized that he hadn't even eaten at all today, something that was just plain unheard of in the life of Finn Hudson. He needed a good meal, and he needed it quick. A highway sign informed him that he was a few miles outside of Ann Arbor, MI, and a warm, inviting light on the side of the road alerted him to the presence of a rest stop of some kind. This was probably his last chance to pull over for a few miles, and he took this opportunity to get off the road and get some food in him before he found someplace to settle for the night. He quickly pulled over and parked his car, appraising the building and realizing that it wasn't a rest stop at all.

It looked like an old mansion; three stories tall with architecture dating back much farther than anything in Lima. As he approached the building, he could tell that it was renovated and the bottom floor had been reverted into a diner with a classic "All-American" style interior. A glowing sign that read "Danny's Diner" flickered in the darkness of the parking lot, and he could clearly see that this place catered to travelers on the road and people just passing through. Very few people were inside, but it looked cozy and warm. A wooden stairway led from the outside parking lot to the second floor, where Finn assumed the owners of the diner lived.

He walked into the establishment without a second thought, tempted by the smell of fresh cooked food and hoping to find some information on where he could stay for the night. He really hoped he didn't have to sleep in his car. That would suck.

When he walked into the diner, he found himself as the center of attention when all the heads turned to look at the teenage boy with suspicion. He felt suddenly awkward, and approached the seats in front of the counter-top with hesitance. It wasn't until an older woman approached him with curly gray hair and a warm smile when he started to feel at ease.

"How are you doing tonight, son? What can I get for you?" He read the woman's name tag and tried to smile at Marion as politely as he could.

"Um," he picked up the menu in front of him but wasn't really absorbing what he was reading. "I guess I'll just have a coke and a cheeseburger deluxe, please. With onion rings instead of fries." The woman took down his order while Finn remembered how Rachel would always get upset when he ordered onion rings instead of fries because she didn't eat them, and how they'd loved to pick food off of each other's plates. A deep sigh escaped his lips when he looked around and tried to picture Rachel in a place like this. She would call it kitschy or some other word he wouldn't understand, but she would have liked it. As long as they had soy milkshakes and veggie burgers.

"Something troubling you, honey?" The nice old waitress placed his coke in front of him and gave him a sympathetic look. It was then when he noticed that most of the other patrons had left, and he was sitting alone in a diner on the side of the highway with no direction, no plan, and no place to stay.

"Yeah, something is troubling me, actually," he could see a man poke his head out from the food pick-up counter, and he realized that the three of them were the only people left in the diner. Part of him just wanted to get all of this heartache off of his chest, so he took a deep breath and the dam of emotions burst in an explosion he couldn't control. "I ran away from home."

The man came out from behind the kitchen doors and Finn could tell that he was an older man, but nowhere near the same age as Marion. He was shorter than Finn was but he had the build of a wrestler, and his stubbly face held a deep grimace. He ran a hand through his greasy black hair. "What do you mean, you "ran away from home," kid? I have band t-shirts that are older than you."

"Quiet Rich, and let the boy speak. Can't you see he's a bit traumatized." She turned back to Finn with an encouraging smile. "Go on, dear. Tell us your name."

It took him a second to gather his thoughts before he tried to speak so he didn't sound like a child who hadn't gotten his way. "I'm Finn, Finn Hudson, and I needed to get away from the pressure of my old life. I've had a lot of things go wrong for me over the past year and I couldn't deal with it anymore. I had to get away. So I'm heading to Detroit and I'm gonna get a job and find a new place to live. I'm gonna have a fresh start." Even to him his words sounded hollow, and he looked up to find the two adults staring at him with a mix of sympathy and doubt.

"Of all the places you could have gone you chose Detroit? Good luck trying to find a job there, kid." The man, Rich, said with sarcasm. "Don't you even watch the news?"

"What do you mean?" Finn asked softly and Marion turned around and threw her order book at Rich in anger.

"You ass! Why don't you just close down the kitchen if you don't want to be productive! Can't you see this boy needs some help!" Rich just scoffed at Marion and returned into the kitchen where Finn could hear a sink running and grumbles floating into the eating area.

"I'm sorry about him, he's a never-ending pessimist." Marion smiled warmly at Finn and he was reminded of his grandmother, who'd passed away while he was still a boy. He felt like he could trust this lady, and he felt himself open up to her kind smile and wise eyes. "But he was a bit right about finding a job in Detroit. After the economy went bust a few years ago, they had to shut down a lot of the automobile factories in the region, like Ford, which employed thousands of people in the Detroit area. Now that they're closed, jobs in Detroit are almost impossible to find." His hopes sunk lower and lower as Marion explained the problems in Detroit, and Finn wondered if he should just head home in the morning after he crashed somewhere. Obviously, he was in over his head and he had no clue as to what he would even do when he got to Detroit. Maybe he should try Chicago instead. . .

"Where are you sleeping tonight, son?" Snapping out of his thoughts, he saw his burger in front of him and started to stuff the food in his mouth like a man possessed with hunger, looking up at Marion with worry etched into his features. He chewed hastily and swallowed before trying to answer.

"I don't know. Probably my car. I can't afford a hotel," he sighed. "I don't even know what I'm doing anymore."

Marion nodded her head solemnly, and a determined look crossed her elderly features. "How would you like to be my new dishwasher?"

He almost choked on his onion ring. "Excuse me?"

"Well, in case you didn't realize it, I am the owner of this diner; have been since 1975. My husband Danny and I ran this place for years; he was the cook and I was the waitress. We were fine with sharing all the responsibilities ourselves. When he got sick about five years ago, I hired Rich to take over the cook position, but he also serves as the dishwasher and does nothing but complain about it. He doesn't share Danny's work-ethic, you see."

"I heard that!" Came a voice from behind the wall.

"I know you did! I wanted you to!" She called back into the kitchen and Finn could hear water splashing and curses flying. He stifled a laugh while Marion continued her pitch. "Anyway, you can work here if you like as the dishwasher; the hours are long but I can pay you more than minimum wage since I only have one other employee."

He rubbed the back of his neck in deep thought. "I would love to, but I have nowhere to stay around here."

"No worries. I live upstairs, above the diner. My son Brandon lives in Grand Rapids with his girlfriend, but I still keep his room nice for when he comes to visit me. If you give me 50 dollars a week from your paycheck for the bedroom, I think we have ourselves a deal."

Finn couldn't believe his ears; mere minutes ago he was ready to crawl back to Lima with his tail between his legs, and now he was being offered a job and a place to stay. "But what about your husband, Danny? Won't he be upset to know you're letting a runaway stay in his son's room?"

A look of deep anguish settled in her eyes as he continued to shove his burger down his throat like he'd never been fed before. "He passed away last year from cancer. Besides, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded. You remind me a lot of my Brandon, and if my son had run away from home, I would have wanted someone to take care of him too." Suddenly he thought of his mother, sitting in the dining room with his letter and realizing that her son had given up on the life that she had tried to provide for him. It was enough to make him put down his burger; he suddenly felt very sick. "Anyway, I've been alone for a while, it will be nice to have someone else around besides Rich."

"I heard that!"

"I know!" She called into the kitchen and Finn genuinely smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages. "So what do you say, Finn? Do we have a deal?" She stuck out her hand and he took it immediately, shaking it and sharing a smile with the nicest old lady he'd ever met.

"Deal."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I take a look around, it's evident the scene has changed.
And there are times when I feel improved, improved upon the past.
And there are times when I can't seem to understand at all.
And yes it seems as though I'm going nowhere really fucking fast.

The road was endless. Mile after mile of nothing but road and asphalt and the bitter realization that she was headed nowhere fast. She had been on the road for two whole days, headed in a direction she didn't even know was right, and with every mile she put behind her came the nagging sensation that she was never going to find Finn.

He could be anywhere by now, she thought, as she realized it had been a full 48-hours since he'd left Lima. Besides her little nap earlier at the rest stop she had been driving for almost a whole day, and now as she stared into the darkness that was Interstate 70, she wondered what would happen if she just followed this road forever. Her map had informed her that it led straight to Denver, Colorado, and maybe Finn had headed there where the snow would be perfect for snowboarding. He loved to snowboard. Yeah, that could be a clue or something.

Who was she trying to fool? She had no clues whatsoever, only hunches and feelings that didn't amount to anything.

It was getting late, and Rachel knew she couldn't go another night on the road, so she considered her options. She could pull over at the next exit and try to find a motel to crash for the night, or she could save money by sleeping in the car. She had her father's credit card for emergencies, but she didn't want to use it unless she had no other choice. So she pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park, keeping the engine on to provide her with the heat she so desperately needed. The doors were locked, but she still felt unsafe in the darkness and solitude of the night. She kept the interior light off, but turned on her blackberry again to check her messages.

They were the same as this morning; messages from Kurt begging to bring his car back and texts from her dads wanting her to give up her "wild goose chase of love" and see reason. However, there was another message, this time from Mr. Schuester, asking her why she and Finn had missed their Captain's meeting that afternoon. A pang of guilt hit her in the chest when she realized how easily she had forgotten about glee after Finn's disappearance and wondered what Mr. Schue was gonna do without them. It was hard enough getting Lauren to cover for Kurt when he'd left, who was Mr. Schue going to find to replace her and Finn if they never came home?

She quickly shoved that thought out of her head as she erased Mr. Schue's message. She made a promise to herself that she wouldn't let something like that happen to the glee club. No one was going to need a replacement because she was going to find Finn and bring him home.

It was lonely in the spacious SUV all by herself. She climbed into the backseat where she kept her bags and wished there was a bathroom nearby where she could take a hot shower and scrub all the grime from her body. Rummaging through her bags, she put on two pairs of socks along with her pajamas, hoping to keep as warm as possible because she knew she couldn't keep the heat running all night long. If she did, it would burn out the battery, and she couldn't afford the time and money it took to have one of those replaced. In the trunk of the SUV she found a thick blanket that Kurt had used for the glee picnics they'd had over the summer, and even though it wasn't washed and still smelled like grass, it was a blanket and it would keep her warm.

Shutting down the engine of the car, she knew that she was in for a long and cold night. Climbing into the back seat of the vehicle, she let her legs stretch out as far as they could as she tried to fight against the cold that was seeping into the car. Now that she didn't have to focus on driving or her plan to find Finn, the weight of what she had done over the past two days suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks.

She had stolen her best friend's car.

She had run away from home to find the boy who was trying to run away from her.

She was hurting her family at home and jeopardizing her glee family as well with her pursuit of the boy who's heart she had broken.

"It's worth it, it's worth it, it's worth it." She chanted to herself. Looking at her phone in the darkness of the car, she realized that it was only two days until her birthday; tomorrow was the 17th and her birthday was the 18th of December. She made a promise to herself that she would be able to find Finn before then; the perfect birthday present. An image of them going out for cake and ice cream popped into her head and she let the illusion lull her into a light slumber. She was about to fall asleep fully when a strong knock came from outside of the car.

A sharp, jagged scream escaped her lips when she heard the noise and a million different scenarios popped into her head, ranging from a psycho killer rapist to a murdering hitchhiker. Turning around, she saw the flashing blue and red lights of a police cruiser out of her back windows and let out a sigh of releif. Feeling gracious that it was a policeman instead of a criminal, she hopped back into the front seat of the car and opened the window, smiling timidly at the officer.

"Is there a problem here, miss?" The officer was wearing a thick coat and the night wind instantly sucked all the semi-warm air out of the car. On his uniform she saw a badge that said "Kansas State Trooper" on it, and she tried to explain herself as best as she could.

"No, officer, I've just been driving for hours and I stopped here to take a small nap before I continue my travels." The officer gave her a hard look and she hoped he didn't ask for her license and registration. She had the license but had no clue where Kurt kept his registration, and if the car had been reported missing by Burt then she was headed straight for jail.

"Well, miss, I can't let you stay here to sleep on the side of the interstate. You could freeze to death out here and I couldn't have that on my conscience. If you follow my cruiser, I can lead you to a motel not too far from here where you can sleep for the night." As much as she wanted to protest, she couldn't say no to the offer. It was very generous for him to try to help her, and to be honest she was afraid of freezing to death on the road. She could already feel a deep shiver spasm through her body as the cold Kansas wind swept through the car.

"Alright sir, thank you." The officer got back into his cruiser and pulled out onto the highway with Rachel following close behind. She could see signs for Manhattan, Kansas, locally known as the "Little Apple" and laughed at the irony. She'd always wanted to make it to Manhattan on her own, but not like this. The cop pulled into a parking lot and she followed, seeing the signs for the Manhattan Motel. It wasn't the Ritz-Carlton, but it would do. The cop led her into the area where she made her reservations for the night using her father's credit card, and said goodnight to the officer.

"You take care of yourself, miss. You don't want to get yourself sick during this time of the year. It's almost the holidays."

"Thank you, sir." The cop left the motel's reservation area and Rachel got the key for her room. She quickly headed inside and turned up the heat as far as it would go, suddenly feeling very cold even though she was already inside. The motel was generic in style; there was a single bed and an adjacent bathroom, with a dresser and a TV set up in the corner. She would take full advantage of that bathroom in the morning; she was too tired to even move now that her massive fatigue had caught up with her. At least she could get a decent night's sleep where she would be safe. As she curled up into a ball under the covers, she knew deep down that trying to sleep in her car was a bad idea. She could have frozen to death, and then she never would have found Finn.

But a nagging voice in her head knew that her money was severely limited, and she wouldn't be able to afford a motel every night no matter how cheap and shoddy they were. Her dads were gonna find out she had taken their card sooner or later, and when that happened, she was screwed. Besides, she had also stolen Kurt's car as well, and she knew Burt well enough to know that he was going to report the car missing soon. Next time she saw a cop, she might not be so lucky. On top of all of this, she still had no idea where to find Finn, and no clues to help her find her way.

She was running out of time.

She was running out of hope.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Salut mes amis!

Finn is getting settled, but how will Rachel find him?

Song lyrics from "Nowhere Fast" by Incubus

Until next time... sings... Don't Stop, Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois