Day 0: Finn Hudson

Six years, the longest period of active duty for a standard eight-year enlistment, and it would be up in a few days. Specialist Finn Hudson, US Army, lifting weights in his unit's base gym, wondered what he was going to do now. Yes, he still had two years of reserve duty to do, and he was subject to recall, but leaving active duty meant he had to decide what he was going to do with his life, and he hadn't thought about that in six years.

He hadn't been able to come to any sort of decision six years ago. Faced with options he didn't want, and some he wanted but still didn't entirely like or couldn't do, he'd made his choice by choosing not to decide. Stopping the awful dilemma by simply looking into his heart, and casting his lot in with whatever the universe wanted for him, because he couldn't pick anything himself. Not following his beloved Rachel to New York where he figured he'd just be a loser and drag her down or be eventually rejected (probably both). Not keeping her waiting in Lima while he got his act together, when she should be headed for NYADA and stardom. Not... anything he could think of. And he loved Rachel so much, he couldn't trust himself to make a good decision where she was involved. He wasn't all that good at thinking anyway, his heart knew better than his brain did most of the time. And either way his heart would break, breaking to lose Rachel, it would break if she left him but also break if she wrecked who she was out of love for him. Breaking to not deserve her, to not be good enough for her. And under this pressure, his heart had spoken.

Surrender, his heart had told him. Surrender, trust the universe, that you will be with her when you should be.

He didn't know where this idea had come from, especially since it wasn't a common one either in general or for him. Despite his thoughts about his tether to Rachel and his brief fixation on an image in a grilled cheese sandwich, Finn wasn't particularly spiritual, except when he heard Rachel sing. But unlike all the other options, it seemed like something he could actually do. And he had surrendered. He'd asked the universe what he should do, and he'd come face-to-face with an army recruiter. Signed on for the longest active term he could, because it felt right. No idea why, he didn't really ask himself that, he just did it. And then put the girl he loved more than his life on a train to New York, to her future without him.

He hadn't thought about his life in six years, but he'd certainly thought about her. Sometimes wondering how she was doing or wishing he could be with her, but mostly just aimless thinking about her, her voice, her eyes, her smile, the feel of her body against his. Rachel.

But now, six years gone, he did wonder what she might be doing, and what she might do if he showed up again. Not that he had a plan to, but he didn't have a plan not to either. He didn't know what he was going to do. Maybe the universe would tell him.

Finn's thoughts and workout were both interrupted when the staff sergeant, Fogie, poked his head into the gym and called out his name.

"Sorry, Huddy, I know you're almost off active, but Slats says we're needed. Disaster S and R. Get your gear, we assemble in 60."

S and R, Search and Rescue, or Recovery. It wasn't an official infantry duty, but their unit had developed a team who specialized in that, and it included Finn. He'd excelled at his regular Combat Lifesaver training, particularly in the three years since Gregg, one of their medics, had arrived and encouraged him; he liked being able to help people, save his buddies and affected civilians, though when it had been suggested that he could turn medic himself it didn't feel right. He was used to his buddies here anyway, he liked Gregg and he'd been paired up with Coff since AIT, if he went back for more training he'd be reassigned. So he helped them both out, standard infantry work and muscle most of the time, front line paramedical intervention and backing up their medic when that was needed instead. He'd worked well in that role on the team, they'd had a tour in Afghanistan where they'd dealt significantly with Taliban bombings of schools and other US-backed civilian installations, and while it had been hard to deal emotionally with digging kids out of bombed schools, he felt good about the ones they'd managed to save. He liked his role in that better than just being the muscle or waiting behind the line for someone else to do the initial recovery.

It wasn't usual for them to get called in at home, though they'd had two assignments to help with hurricane disaster relief last year. But it was too early in the summer for hurricanes and too late for spring flooding. Finn let his mind empty as he took a quick shower, dressed, and went to his room to grab his duffel. Great thing about being in the Army, he didn't have to worry about the big picture, where he went and what he was supposed to do, all he had to do was figure out the details of how to do it when he got there.

The team assembled as directed, and it was the same extended squad they'd formed for the Afghan work, which was a little surprising. Coff and Jacksy for muscle, Gregg as medic, Finn assisting both - that was their usual rescue team. But also reporting were Sammy and Hunts, who normally worked ahead of them when they had to check for explosives, and that didn't bode well for whatever they were going into. The full squad from the other company was coming too, the six guys they'd trained a few months ago to do the same work, so whoever it was needed serious help.

The destination was domestic, they could tell that much, but they weren't told where they were going until they were airborne, so word couldn't get out. Then they were told they were on their way to New York City, to help the local emergency workers with a bombed office building in the financial district. The FDNY had their hands full dealing with the evacuation of and damage to the neighboring buildings, and didn't have as much experience with explosives, so the Army had been called in to relieve the NYPD and help with the recovery of the wreckage and casualties in the base of the building itself.

Search and recovery with the bomb squad in the wreckage of an office building in New York - this didn't look good for whoever had been there, or what was going on for it to have happened. But Finn couldn't worry about that, the big picture wasn't his job. Like with the Afghan schoolkids, they had to save who they could and try to ignore the fate of those they couldn't. Do their best and hope it was enough.