The Look-A-Like - Chapter 4

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

Wednesday was Rachel's first day of classes. She woke to find that the AC was once again back on.

"Fine," she said to herself, "Where were you at one AM when it was like an oven in here, and I was sweating like a race horse?" She made a note to herself to go out and buy a box fan like Blaine and Kurt had done the day before. At least she would have a back up when the finicky AC decided to stop working.

Standing in the shower washing off the dried sweat she ran over last night's call with Finn and Beth in her mind. Beth has been so full of herself telling Rachel about her new potty and going to the grocery store with Sharon. Just the memory of Beth's exuberance brought an instant smile to her face. Finn had told her about his classes and working with Sam down at Burt's.

Sam was working out well, and he was a big help with Finn's music theory. Between tire changes, Sam was already teaching Finn how to find the major chords.

She had let Finn and Beth do most of the talking and had neglected to tell him about his look-a-like in New York. She also hadn't told him about the problems with the apartment. At the time they were talking the AC was pour out cool air, and she thought that problem was over.

Rachel made a note to herself to track down Monty again and have a word with him about the sporadic AC on the third floor. She also was going to try and meet some of her neighbors. Was everyone on the third floor having these kinds of problems or was it just their apartment? Whether or not he resembled Finn, Ian "Monty" Montgomery was going to find out that she was not some cow-town girl that he could brush aside. Rachel Berry Hudson was a force to be reckoned with!

Drying her hair and dressing quickly, she hoped to catch Monty before he took off to who knows where. To be the live-in building superintendent, he was proving to be never around when you needed him.

Banging on Monty's door at eight AM, no one answered. Rachel had wanted to come downstairs to bang on his door during the sweltering night before, but the dimly lit staircase had changed her mind. She didn't want to be late for her first class at Juilliard so she decided to slid a note under his door. Turning to leave, she whirled around and ran head first into the chest of the six foot three inch figure that she had been looking for. It was apparent that Monty had been out all night, and he reeked of alcohol.

"Monty, where have you been? We just about roasted in that apartment again last night. I tried your cell but it went straight to voice mail."

"Can't a working class guy enjoy an Off Broadway show and a drink once in awhile?" Monty slurred his words. "I may not be good enough to be a performer, but I can still enjoy a good show once in awhile, can't I?"

"Monty, you were at a show last night? Which one did you go and see?" Rachel asked ignoring Monty's hung over condition for the moment.

"Right now, I don't remember, but it was good. The manager lets me sit in the back of the balcony, and then I always go to this little bar afterwards for a drink or two. It could've been me on that stage, but those fool's wouldn't have me," Monty slurred. "If only Anya hadn't walked out on me"

"Who's Anya?" Rachel asked.

"My wife," Monty confessed.

"I thought you said your wife was dead," Rachel asked confused.

"Dead, left me, what's the difference? She's been gone so long; she's probably six feet under somewhere by now. Anya's final words to me were that she was as good as dead to me. She only married me to get into this country legally." Monty almost sobbed in his drunken stupor.

"Are you going to be alright?" Rachel asked looking at her watch. "I would stay and help you, but I'm going to be late for my first class at Juilliard."

"Well we wouldn't want that to happen now would we?" Monty said fighting off the alcohol. "You go on and attend your classes and become a star. I'll be okay after some coffee and some sleep. I'll go and bang on that AC unit again when my own head stops banging."

Monty slid the key into the lock, open his door, and then shut it in Rachel's face like he had the day before.

Rachel hurried off to her first class of many to come at Juilliard. Her first class was Introduction to the Musical Stage. Her professor was a retired Russian ballerina named Professor Zhivanevskaya who asked that she be called simply "Zelda."

On her way home, Rachel stopped and bought herself a box fan to put in her window when the AC refused to work. She didn't like having her window open to the fire escape while she tried to sleep. Maybe if she jammed the fan into the window any intruder would make enough noise to wake her up if they tried to get in.

Hauling the fan up the stairs, Monty saw Rachel and offered to help. "Ms. Hudson, I hope you don't need the fan. The AC has been working steadily all day. And Ms. Hudson, I'm sorry that I lied to you and your friends about my wife. After all these years of waiting for her to come back, it's just easier to say that she's dead. I don't have to explain anything that way. I'm also sorry that you saw me hung over. It happens from time to time," Monty explained sheepishly.

"I'm not against celebratory libation from time to time. Just please don't let it interfere with you duties as building superintendent," Rachel scolded as she passed the fan off to Monty.

"I have no idea what you just said," Monty commented.

"Finn, my husband says the exact same thing. Are you sure that you couldn't be related? Here hold my book bag and I'll show you a picture of him," Rachel said digging in her purse.

"Ms. Hudson, I do see a resemblance, but I am an only child, and I have no other family. My wife Anya and I never had any children because she said that it would interfer with her life on the stage," Monty scoffed as he handed Finn's picture back to Rachel. "I am of Scotch-English descent, but more Scottish than English. My family has been in this country for several hundred years.

"Your wife was on the stage?" Rachel asked suddenly excited.

"She was a very educated dancer, but because Anya didn't speak English, she couldn't take direction very well. She was also so stubborn. Producers and directors have very little patience for headstrong performers when there are a dozen others waiting to take your place. She left me twenty years ago, and I haven't heard from her since. Now if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about my self," Monty said as he handed Rachel's belongings back to her.

Later Finn, Rachel, and Beth were on Skype having their nightly conversation. Beth told Rachel about her day and going to her play group with Sharon. Beth also wanted to know how much longer it was going to be before Rachel came home.

"Not long sweetie, I'll be home not this weekend, but the next one Rachel promised. Now you go and find G-Daddy and tell him that you're ready for your bedtime story, I need to tell Daddy about my first day of classes," Rachel asked Beth. "I love you, sleep tight!"

"Bye Mommy, I love you," Beth said as she jumped off of Finn's lap and went to look for Leroy and her bedtime story.

"Tell me about your first day at Juilliard, the most prestigious arts school in the whole world. Was it every thing that you thought it would be?" Finn asked with pride in Rachel's accomplishments.

"Finn, I have the most eccentric professor for my Introduction to the Musical Stage class. She's a retired Russian ballerina. I can't pronounce her name, but she asked us to call her Zelda," Rachel smiled.

"Zelda, as in The Legend of Zelda?" Finn asked growing more interested.

"I don't know if she's legendary or not, but she must have been a high ranking ballerina to even be teaching at Juilliard," Rachel answered.

"No, Rach, for once I know something that you don't know!" Finn laughed knowing that Rachel didn't have a clue what he was talking about. "The Legend of Zelda is only one of the best video games of all times."

"Again, our worlds collide," Rachel answered unamused.

"Why are you taking classes from a ballerina? I though you were majoring in musical theater," Finn asked still smiling knowing that he had for once tripped Rachel up.

"Oh Finn, this is more of a history of the musical stage class. I hope that I will learn a lot from her," Rachel answered.

"Finn, I don't mean to change the subject, but is it possible that you might have some relatives here in New York? Our building superintendent looks a lot like you except he's about forty years old," Rachel asked.

"I wouldn't know, you'll have to ask Mom the next time that you're in Lima," Finn smiled at his beautiful bride. "Kurt said something about that too when he called last night. They say that everyone has a look-a-like out there somewhere. Didn't you say that you and Idina Menzel looked alike?" Finn asked.

"I guess you've got a point," Rachel conceded. "But I do want you and Beth to meet him when you come to New York. I'll be home next weekend. Do you think you and Beth could come here two weeks after that? Dad and Daddy said that they would cover our air fare back and forth during my first year."

"I'll have to clear the hours with Burt. Beth has never flown before. I don't know how she'll do, but I would love for her to see New York." Finn grinned.

"I want the two of you to learn to love New York as much as I do. There's so much to do, and Beth can get a first rate education here," Rachel beamed.

"We will, Beth and I'll be happy any place you are," Finn smiled his famous one sided smile.

"Rach, I do have a favor that I would like to ask you about. Do you remember when we sang Linda Ronstadt's and James Ingram's Somewhere Out There for one of our competitions?It's about two separated people looking up at the moon at the same time. We're in the same time zone, and it's a full moon tonight. Tonight at eleven, I'm going to go out in the back yard and look up at the moon. I hope that you'll be looking at it at the same time I am. That way I'll feel a little more connected to you."

"Finn, that's one of the sweetest things that you've ever said to me. Of course, I'll crawl out on my fire escape and look at the moon at precisely eleven. It'll be nice to know that you'll be looking up at the moon at the exact same time that I will be," Rachel said as she felt a small tear form.

A few minutes before eleven that night, Finn was sitting in the backyard swing that he had shared many times with Rachel. She was also waiting on her fire escape so many miles away. At exactly eleven they both began to sing,

"Somewhere out there

Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight

Somewhere out there

Someone's saying a prayer

That we'll find one another

In that big somewhere out there

And even though I know

How very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing

On the same bright star

And when the night wind

Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping

Underneath the same big sky-

Somewhere out there

If love can see us through

Then we'll be together

Somewhere out there

Out where dreams come true"

Finn and Rachel finished singing the song. They both hoped that the other could feel their love for another as they gazed up at the moon. Finn sat in the swing for a few minutes longer, and Rachel sat on the fire escape just staring at the moon.

Rachel didn't know that down below her voice and her lonesome song had attracted the attention of not one, but two people. Monty was taking the last of the trash out to the dumpsters when he stopped to listen to Rachel sing. The other music admirer had stopped in the shadows, entranced by the beautiful voice that was coming from up above.

-/-

Until chapter 5, thank you for all of the awesome reviews and for adding my story to your alerts lists. Your support is appreciated so much, Whistler Nights.

Somewhere Out There was written by Cynthia Weil. The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo.