"Accidentally in Love" - Ch. 4: As If We Never Said Goodbye
Summary: Quinn wakes up after the accident and thinks it's sophomore year. She's dating Finn and Rachel's dating Puck. After some coaxing, they play along for the sake of Quinn's mental stability. A Puckleberry Fuinn fic.
Rating: T ...there's a chance there will be a more "M" chapter later, but I'll give fair warning.
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you all are liking it! I'm having fun writing it, and also fixing some crazy absurdities the Glee writers have written this year, because I can! I'm trying to update as often as possible!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters. If I did Finchel would be Season One news, and we'd have beautiful Puckleberry Fuinn...and lots of Pezberry duets! And Tina would get a song, and maybe even a storyline.
Quinn tried to make idle chat with Finn as she picked at the Chinese take-out he had brought for them. She was feeling so conflicted on whether or not to actually eat the food. Her brain was telling her it was okay to eat it because the baby needed some food, but when she reminded herself she wasn't pregnancy anymore, it told her there was no way she could eat this without a bottle of the Sue Sylvester Master Cleanse. However, from the glimpses Quinn had gotten of her body, she realized this two year older version of herself apparently didn't follow that Cheerio diet so strictly anymore. Eventually she decided to pick around, and focus on Finn instead.
She tried to think of a story the girls had mentioned earlier that she could get him to elaborate on when she remembered there was actually something she wanted to ask him, "So Santana and Rachel were telling me funny stories earlier and they were talking about how your mom got remarried."
"Yeah, to Kurt's dad. The Glee Club were the musical act for the wedding," Finn said.
"Kurt's dad owns the tire shop right?" Finn nodded. "Sounds like you finally got your manly father figure."
"Yeah, Burt takes me to OSU games and we talk sports a lot. And he employed me at the shop so we work on cars together," Finn said smiling.
"I'm so happy for you," Quinn said. She knew how much that meant to him. He and Puck always joked about being co-presidents of the "Daddy Issue" Club, but she knew it affected both of them way more than they let on.
"So you're a part-time grease monkey now?" she asked with a smile.
"Yep. Burt even wants me to take over the shop once I graduate," Finn said. "Since college football didn't exactly work out as planned."
Quinn bit the inside of her cheek. She always imagined she and Finn going off to OSU, him playing football and her cheering on the sidelines. He'd go on to teach and coach high school football, and she'd sell real estate and raise their four beautiful children. All of this was to happen far outside of Lima.
"Well, running an auto shop is nothing to scoff at," she said optimistically.
"I just said he wants me to run it. I, however, have plans of following my beautiful girlfriend to New..." Finn quickly caught himself and thankfully remembered where Yale was, "Haven."
"What's in New Haven?" Quinn asked confused.
"Yale University, where someone got in early decision," Finn said, beaming at her.
"Me? Seriously?" Quinn asked excitedly. Finn nodded.
Screw Cheerios, I'm an Ivy Leaguse girl, Quinn thought to herself before deciding to scarf down the delicious looking food in front of her.
"So what are you going to do in New Haven?" she asked, to which Finn shrugged.
"Maybe you can take classes at the community college, or coach sports at the Y!" Quinn suggested excitedly.
Finn smiled. As sad and weird as this whole situation was, this was probably the best conversation about post-high school he'd had in awhile.
After dinner, Finn settled in next to Quinn on the hospital bed to watch one of the romantic comedies she had requested he bring. Finn put his arm around her, and she snuggled in. It felt so natural to him, yet he knew it should feel wrong since he's almost a married man.
"Can I ask you something?" Finn said.
"Sure, but I'm not sure I'll have an answer," Quinn replied, leaning her head onto his shoulder.
"Before we all started filling you in, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked. It was something that had been gnawing at him all day.
"You, actually," Quinn said. "We thought we could add to our cool factor by sporting sunglasses in the hall, but we were just proven wrong by some slushie facials. We were in the bathroom, and you were helping me wash my hair and comforting me as I cried."
Finn cringed, "That's the last thing you remember."
"No, I remember you kissing my forehead after we were all cleaned off and you said 'I love you. Who cares about popularity, as long as I have you I know we're going to make it in this world,'" Quinn said before reaching up to kiss Finn. Finn tried desparately to do what Rachel had asked and see Quinn as an actress or picture her as Rachel, but as soon as Quinn's lips met his he knew it was no use. He felt them. The amazing fireworks he only ever felt when he kissed Quinn Fabray.
As they sat watching the movie Finn berated himself. He was in love with Rachel, and those fireworks he felt with Quinn also came with a lot of baggage and issues. Quinn was eventually going to get her memory back, and things would go back to normal. Finn just had to kiss Quinn as few times as possible, treat this like the acting exercise Rachel suggested, and then when this was all over he and Rachel could start their lives together.
Rachel fell onto her bed. It had been an absolutely exhausting day. Santana finally left at 2am after raiding Rachel's closet, prepping her for the girls day tomorrow, and making way too many suggestive comments about Rachel and Puck. She even went as far as to suggest considering this whole experience a "free pass" before tying herself down in marriage. Rachel was too overwhelmed by everything to really argue with the absurdity of that suggestion. Nothing was going to actually happen between her and Puck except for a little bit of acting, and same went for Finn. Or at least Rachel tried to convince herself of that and not let paranoia sink in when she realized Finn still hadn't called her or even sent her a "goodnight" text.
On the upside, she did actually have fun at her dinner with Puck. They worked out the details of their coupledom. The chemistry always came easy, but there will little things to discuss like cutesy nicknames, their relationship history, the rules that would keep Puck from getting slapped by Rachel, and just to be safe, their their post-high school plans. The last topic brought them to the discussion of their actual post-high school plans. Puck told her about how he was thinking of taking off for LA with just his guitar when school ended in June. She told him about all of her back-up schools, in case NYADA didn't work out, and how she'd already been accepted to Carnegie Mellon University, and was waiting to hear back from Wagner College, Syracuse, NYU, UCLA, and the Boston Conservatory. Her dads told her she had to apply to at least three schools that aren't in New York as a "just in case", and as an extreme back-up she also had applied to Ohio State University, where she had already been admitted and offered a full scholarship package strictly based on her academics.
She realized now that she hadn't really told anyone about her acceptance to Carnegie Mellon. It is a fantastic program, but Rachel just didn't want to imagine not being in New York. She didn't really like talking to Finn about college because it always seemed to bum him out, and she and Kurt had a strictly "NYADA or Bust" philosophy between them. But it was nice to talk to someone about the other possibilities. Noah helped reassure her that even if she doesn't get into NYADA she has a future somewhere, possibly even in Pittsburgh or maybe, LA.
Jessie had told her about how great LA was before he got kicked out of school. Sure, LA isn't Broadway but there's Hollywood and sunshine. Plus if Noah was headed there, maybe Finn would be more inclined to go. Rachel decided she was way too tired to contemplate all of the issues she should have with that thought. Rachel shut her eyes and let her mind wander to places it hadn't ever really been before...Rachel singing at the Hollywood Bowl, Rachel bringing down the house at a theater in Boston, Rachel telling E! True Hollywood Story about her college years in Pittsburgh, Rachel singing in a recording studio with a mohawked friend playing guitar...