Chapter Three: So Obsessed
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and favorites so far! The flashback for this chapter is in italics. As always, I don't own Glee or any of its characters. The title of this chapter comes from Obsessed by Mariah Carey.
"Think we can steal you away for one more case until you're officially on vacation?" Schue asked Rachel late one night as she was finishing up paperwork.
She looked at the calendar taped on her wall. It was the second of February, and her vacation was supposed to start on the fifth for Jenna's birthday. She looked up at her boss with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, sir. I can't miss Jenna's birthday again this year."
He came into her office. "I had a feeling that would be your answer." He stopped at her desk and pointed at a picture. "May I?"
Rachel nodded as she kept working on the paperwork.
"Did I ever tell you how Emma and I made it work for the kids' birthdays?"
Rachel looked up from her paperwork and shook her head.
"You know how once a year, there's that month we're all required to take off?" Schue waited for Rachel to nod her head. "That's when Emma and I would always plan to have the kids. And I've never missed a birthday."
Rachel shook her head and smiled. "Well, if I ever get married and have more kids I'll keep that in mind." She stopped writing and looked up at Schue. "Is this going to get back to Sylvester that I refused to work this case? I can't afford to get fired."
"Don't worry about Sylvester. I won't tell her anything."
"Thank you, sir." Rachel turned off her desk lamp. "Well, I'm going to head home for the night. I'll see you when I get home."
-X-
Rachel knocked impatiently on Brody's apartment door. It was seven thirty and she had promised Jenna she could play at Playland at McDonald's before her eight thirty bedtime. Rachel had already broken some her last few promises to Jenna, and she didn't want to break this one.
"Jesus, Rachel, take a chill pill." Brody said, opening his apartment door. "What's up, sweet thing?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. Brody's flattery may have worked on her when she was in college, but she wasn't young and naïve anymore. "Is Jenna's stuff packed?"
"Yes, I think. I sent Tiffany back to help her out."
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Tiffany? Is that your catch of the week?"
"Oh, come on, Rachel baby. You had your chance."
She rolled her eyes again. "Wow, it sounds like I've missed out on so much. Tell me, how is working at Linens 'n' Things?"
Brody pursed his lips. "Relax. I'll go get Jenna."
She leaned against the door frame of his apartment and waited for Jenna when he phone started ringing. She dug through her purse and smiled when she saw Finn's name flash across the screen. "Hey, can I call you back later? I'm in the process of trying to get Jenna to McDonald's but Brody is being difficult." She raised her voice on the last part, hoping he'd hear it from wherever he was in the apartment.
"No, it's fine. I just wanted to call and tell you I'm going to miss you on this case. I'll see you when we get back. I'm sure we'll all miss you."
"I'll miss all of you too. Especially you." She heard footsteps and saw Brody was coming back with Jenna behind him. "I gotta go. I'll see you later." She hung up the phone and bent down to Jenna's level. "Hi baby girl."
"Hi, Momma!" Jenna said with a bright smile on her face. "Ready?"
"Of course I am." She gave Jenna a kiss on the forehead and took her bag from Brody. "I'll be back in a week." She extended her free hand and Jenna took it as they started down the hallway to the stairwell.
-X-
"There's my favorite niece!" Blaine said when Rachel and Jenna made it to McDonald's. She ran over to Blaine and wrapped her arms around his legs.
"Uncle Blaine!" Jenna said, looking up at her uncle. "I'm six!"
Blaine sat down in the chair and looked at Jenna. "Oh, there's no way that you're six. Are you sure you aren't three?"
"Uncle Blaine! I'm six, right Momma?" Jenna said, looking up at Rachel.
She smiled and sat in the chair across from Blaine. "Not quite, baby girl. You still have another three days." She winked at Blaine. "Do you want me or Uncle Blaine to go to Playland with you?"
Jenna looked between the two of them. "Both!"
-X-
"Well, that was an interesting outing to McDonald's." Blaine said once Rachel got Jenna tucked in to bed.
"I think all of our trips to McDonald's are interesting." Rachel said, sitting on the couch. "Finally home for vacation." Rachel said, taking a relaxing breath. "I have so much planned for tomorrow. A spa day, catching up on my favorite TV shows . . . it's going to be a great day."
Blaine walked in from the kitchen and handed Rachel three envelopes. "These came for you while you were gone."
Rachel frowned as she took them. No one ever wrote her letters and the writing wasn't one that she recognized.
"It's probably just a charity wanting me to donate money I don't really have. Or a school wanting me to come in and do a presentation." She opened the top envelope and gasped.
"Rach, what is it?" Blaine asked, coming up behind his sister.
Wordlessly, she handed him the letter as she ripped open the other two envelopes, horrified to see more of the same type of letters.
"Rach . . . "
"I think," she started, "That the stalker is back again."
Originally, Rachel didn't think she had a stalker. She thought Finn, or even Blaine, was playing a prank on her. It wouldn't have been the first time this happened; the three of them played pranks on each other all the time in high school.
"Sorry, Rach, I don't have a clue who's writing you those letters." Finn said one night. "That's not even my handwriting."
"Well, I know that. But people can change around handwriting easily. Haven't you been paying attention in Callahan's class?"
"I haven't been to his class in a week. I've had other things going on."
"Finn, the World Series isn't a reason to miss class. I'm three months pregnant and I haven't even missed any of my classes."
"No need to pull the pregnancy card." Finn muttered. "If it makes you feel better, I'll take it down to the lab and see if anyone can pick up fingerprints on it."
"Thanks, Finn."
-X- Week after week, Rachel kept getting a single one paged letter from her stalker and they got progressively worse.
Eventually, it got to the point where Rachel refused to go out anywhere unless both Blaine and Finn were with her.
"Rach, you need out of this dorm." Finn said one Friday night. "Come on, Blaine and I are running to grab some food at the diner. You want to come with us?"
Rachel bit her lip. She wanted to go, but she also wanted to sit on the couch and eat ice cream while she watched reruns of Friends. "Well . . . "
"I'm making you come with us. You've been cooped up in here for weeks, and you need out of here. Blaine's pulling around the car, and when he gets here, we're getting food. And I'm not taking no for an answer.
Rachel smiled. "Okay, Finn."
-X- As quickly as the notes started coming was as quickly as they stopped coming. And Rachel's life started going back to normal. Until about a month after Jenna when she felt like someone was following her around the Academy. She rushed back to her room, locked her door, and texted Finn to tell him he needed to get to the apartment as soon as possible.
She spent the rest of that night locked in the apartment with Finn, Blaine, and baby Jenna eating mac 'n' cheese and watching movies.
"I was lucky the first time." Rachel said, her hands shaking. "What if I'm not so lucky this time?"
Blaine crossed the room and wrapped his little sister in his arms. "It's going to be okay. I'm going to take these letters with me when I go to work tomorrow and we'll start tracing the letters. We won't let this go as far as they did last time."
It was about three months after Rachel felt like someone was following her around school before she finally started to relax. And when she was finally calmed down, she got a package, not a letter, from her stalker.
"I don't want to open it." Rachel said, eyes transfixed on the box. "What if it's a bomb?"
"How long has it been here, Rach?" Finn asked, also eyeing the box.
"Four, maybe five, hours. Why?" She turned around to see Blaine and Finn visibly relax.
"If it's been that long, there's probably not a bomb in the box." Blaine said. "So hopefully it'll be safe to open."
"Wait, I have an idea." Finn said, running to Rachel and Jenna's room in the apartment. He reappeared a few moments later with doctor's masks.
"Finn, now is not the time to play doctor. We have something serious on our hands." Blaine said.
"No, that's not the point of the masks. We should all wear them in case there's something poisonous in the box. This way, we'll limit our intake."
"Where did the masks even come from?"
"I stocked up on them the first time I had to watch Jenna when Rach was in class."
"Give me a mask so we can get this over with." Rachel said, yanking one of the masks out of Finn's hands. She took a few deep breaths, grabbed a pair of scissors and sliced open the tape at the top of the box. She looked in, raised an eyebrow, and pulled out a tank top.
Then her eyes widened with fear. "Oh my God! My stalker was in here in the entire time!"
"Why would someone wait almost six years to send me more stalker letters?" Rachel mumbled to herself.
Deciding she'd deal with the stalker issue later, she curled up on the couch and rubbed her temples.
"I think it's time to go to bed." Rachel said, grabbing the gray blanket from the top of the couch. She threw it over her body and promptly fell asleep.
-X-
"Rachel, you need to wake up." Blaine said, shaking her shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at the clock on the cable box. 2:38 in the morning.
"What the fuck Blaine? I'm going back to sleep." She buried her face into one of the couch pillows before Blaine ripped the blanket off her.
"Jenna's gone."
Rachel bolted upright. "What?"
"I hadn't heard any noise coming from Jenna's room all night. So I went back to check on her because I thought you'd want some sleep because you looked wiped out. And when I went back in her room, she wasn't in there. She isn't anywhere in the apartment."
Rachel threw her hair in a messy ponytail. "Call the police." She grabbed her phone and called Finn.
"What?" Finn asked, clearly groggy.
"Someone kidnapped Jenna."
"What?"
"Someone broke into the apartment and took Jenna. She's not in here."
Rachel heard sheets rustling around. "I'll be there in a few hours. Schue will understand. I'm sure when this case is done we'll help you find her. Even if it is unofficial."
"Finn, what am I going to do?" she asked weakly.
"Rach, babe, you're going to call the police, talk to them, then you're going to get some sleep. I'll be there when you wake up in the morning and we can help look for Jenna even more. And Rach,"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
She took a deep breath and tried not to cry. "I love you too, Finn. Hurry back here."