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: Only a week left until the season three premiere! Bring on the Finchel!
Chapter Six: Never Let Me Go
Finn's head hurt like hell by the time he finally woke up; he had no idea what had knocked him out in the first place, but he rubbed the dull ache on his head while he his eyes strained against the bright lights. The pillow his head was resting on wasn't the most comfortable pillow he'd ever slept on, but it was warm, and it smelled like Rachel.
When he looked up and found himself staring directly into her red, swollen eyes, he realized the pillow he'd been laying on was Rachel.
"What happened?" He asked groggily while she gasped. He could feel her entire body shaking around him and his head was still pounding. "How did I get on the floor?" The last thing he remembered was coming here to warn Rachel about the attack at graduation tomorrow. So how did he end up lying unconscious in Rachel's lap?
"You hit your head," she said in-between sniffles. "You've been out for almost an hour." He tried to sit up but his head was screaming at him to lay back down in the warmth and comfort of Rachel's lap. She didn't seem to protest as she gently played with his hair, twirling it around in her fingers. When he felt a drop of moisture fall onto his face, he looked up and realized that Rachel was crying.
"Hey," he tried to sit up again and this time it worked, even if he was still a little dizzy. He gathered her into his arms as they sat on the rug next to her bed, and he let her cry into his embrace for a few moments. "I'm fine, baby, you see?"
"Finn," she cried. "What are we going to do about tomorrow?" If it were even possible he held onto her tighter as flashes of Sue's conversation sped through his mind.
"We're going to find some way to stop it, Rach. There has to be a way. We'll call the news, the police, whatever it takes."
"No one will believe us," she moaned. "I barely believe us."
"I know, but we have to try. If that doesn't work then we have to at least help as many people as we can." She pulled away from him quickly then, glaring at him like he was the one responsible for this.
"Why do you have to be so brave?" She asked, her voice laced with horror. "How can you be so calm about this?" She waited for him to answer but he couldn't come up with a solid reason. He just shrugged his shoulders and tried to explain.
"I don't know why. I guess I just know that it's the right thing to do." She didn't seem consoled; in fact she looked more upset than ever. "But I promise you, Rachel, that I'm going to keep you safe. No matter what." He knew that they had broken up only yesterday, but nothing, not even the threat of a bomb was going to change the way he felt about her. Even if they never spoke again after graduation, he had to make sure that she was okay. He loved her too much to see her get hurt. "We might be broken up Rachel, but I still love you." He knew saying those words were a mistake but he couldn't take them back now.
The last thing he expected was for Rachel to fling herself at him with her arms outstretched, pulling him in for a kiss that sent sparks shooting through his entire body. Their lips meshed together as he drank her in, and he held onto her with a desperation that he had never felt before. What if the bomb actually went off tomorrow? What if this was the last chance he would ever have to be with her? The thought was almost too much to bear.
"I love you, Finn," she whispered against his lips. "Please don't leave me." He swallowed her sighs in his kisses and reciprocated in earnest. He wasn't going anywhere.
"We're gonna make it, Rachel." He lifted her up in his arms and placed her gently on the bed, but her arms were still wrapped around his neck like a vice. She refused to relinquish her grip on him so he tucked himself as close to her body as space would allow.
For a long time they held each other in silence. Rachel cried into his arms and he allowed her to do this with no interruptions, even though she refused to explain why she was so upset after his staunch reassurance that she would be protected. He tried to console her in every way he knew how, but nothing seemed to alleviate the sadness that plagued her. It was making him anxious about tomorrow; more anxious than he already felt.
The afternoon stretched out in front of them as they wasted it away in the peace of each other's arms. He didn't know how much time had passed around them, but he was quite lost in his own thoughts about tomorrow's graduation ceremony. As difficult as it was to believe the strange woman he had seen in Sue's office, there was something in his gut that was telling him that this was real, and he was determined to stop whatever was being planned.
Suddenly, a soft caress on his cheek snapped him out of his thoughts and he opened his eyes to look into Rachel's large brown ones, getting caught up in the torment he saw there. She was worried about tomorrow, he could tell, but there was something about her demeanor that was worrying him. She looked so scared. He wanted to protect her from her fear, but he didn't know how, so he allowed her to stroke the stubble on his cheeks because it seemed to calm her down.
"You know, for someone who wanted to break up with me, you sure don't seem to mind being so close." His words were barely louder than a whisper and her eyes were sad.
"I shouldn't have broken up with you yesterday, Finn. It was a mistake."
"Hey, I thought this was the plan." He tried to reassure her. "You're gonna go to New York and I'm staying in the Midwest for school. This was everything you ever wanted."
"I changed my mind," she said, her voice filled with desperation. "I don't want to lose you, Finn. Not ever."
"That won't ever happen, Rachel," he whispered against her lips, closing in to place the softest of kisses on her lips. Her eyes closed blissfully as he sighed against her. "I'm not going anywhere." He closed his eyes and lost himself in the feeling of his lips on hers, and succumbed to the pull of her body. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, almost afriad to let go as emotions started to run high. He could feel her grabbing at him, his clothes, the collar of his shirt, as if he were about to escape from her grasp at any moment. As if he ever wanted to leave this bed.
"Finn," she whispered, her voice almost a plea. "I want us to make love."
He stopped kissing her instantly, almost afriad he had heard her wrong as he pulled away from her lips. "What?"
"You heard me correctly, Finn. I want us to make love. Right now."
He was at a loss for words. She had always been hesitant when it came to the more intimate parts of their relationship and while he didn't want to push her out of her comfort zone, he couldn't deny how much he wanted it as well. They had tried it only a few times over the past year, but they were moments he would never forget. In fact, seeing as they were supposed to be broken up, he didn't think he would ever have this opportunity again, so there was no way he was turning it down.
"Are you sure about this Rachel?" He knew he was an idiot for asking, but he had to make sure she was alright with this. He had never pushed her into it before and he didn't want to start now. "I mean, you say you want us to be together, but what's going to happen after graduation tomorrow? What about New York and Purdue?"
"Finn, there might not be a life waiting for me after graduation. We could die tomorrow. This might be our last chance to show how much we love one another."
"Don't say that, Rachel. We're going to work something out. Everything's going to be okay. . ."
"You don't know that!" She screamed, narrowing her eyes at him while she got lost in her own hysteria. "People are going to die tomorrow, Finn. Tonight is all we have left." She reached forward and grabbed his hand, placing it over her heart where her hands rested on his. "And I refuse to take our last night together for granted."
Before he could protest, she closed the distance between them with a fiery kiss that sent Finn's body ablaze. How one small girl could have such power over him, he would never understand. She was so small in his arms, but she had so much life in her it was hard to imagine it all fitting into such a small package.
"Right now, all I want you to do is love me," her hand dipped down past the waist of his pants and rested it on his crotch while his eyes almost rolled back into his head from the pleasure. "And never let me go."
"I'm not going anywhere," he said, determined, his hands slinking up the sides of her blouse and teasing the soft skin of her ribs. He pulled the shirt over her head and captured her lips the second she was free from the clothing. They wrestled the clothes off of one another, always touching, never separating, like they were joined together at the soul. He grabbed a condom from his wallet just to be safe as she kissed his all the way from his neck to his belly button.
Her touches were no longer gentle and shy like they once were; their hands and their bodies moved together with a building passion that was almost indescribable. Her body sang to him in; pulling him in like her voice always did. Once their clothing was all gone, Rachel lay beneath him and her perfect body glowed in the waning light of the sun. Her fathers would be home from work soon but at that moment, there was no need for worry or panic. As much as he hated to admit it, Rachel was right; this might just be their last chance to be together. This moment would be seared into his brain forever as she shyly opened her legs, and he rested himself above her.
He tried to stifle a low moan as he entered the warmth of her body, feeling more connected with her than ever before. They moved together in tandem, their eyes never leaving the heated gaze that connected them. Every sigh, every moan, would be etched into his memory forever. This was the kind of love he would never forget.
He could feel his body start to unravel as the passion between them grew too thick to ignore. With a keening cry, Rachel dug her nails into his shoulders and snapped, panting and sighing as he continued to pump toward his own completion. Looking down into the peaceful joy of Rachel's face was enough to send him into his own orgasm and he felt the sweat dripping down his brow as she shyly kissed his collarbone, bringing him down from his ecstasy.
They laid perfectly still in each other's arms for a long while after that. Finn was almost hesitant to let go of her, and break the sacred connection he'd felt with her. That was something he would never forget. He could hear her sniffle quietly, trying to hide it but failing. He could always tell when she was upset, especially now. There was reason to be. He was upset too, he wasn't going to show it though. He had to be strong for her; for them. Tomorrow was going to be a day they would never forget.
A buzzing of a cell phone snapped them out of the quiet of her trance. Rachel wiped the lingering tears away while she reached over for her phone. She scrolled through her Blackberry until she found the message.
"My dads are on their way home. They're bringing Thai. Should I ask them to pick you up something?" Her eyes were wide with hope. He knew she wanted him to stay as she started to gather their clothes together and get dressed.
However, his own mother was heavy on his thoughts and he knew in his heart that he should spend the evening at home with her. He had a feeling in his gut about tomorrow that he could not shake, and he wanted to spend tonight with his family.
"I wish I could Rachel, but I should be with my mom and Burt tonight. One last family dinner, you know?" She nodded her head sadly. She understood, but it was still hard to say goodbye. "How are you getting to graduation tomorrow?" She looked away from him, staring out of her window at the late afternoon sun.
"I don't know. I kind of want to be there early."
"Me too. Thank you for believing me," he said suddenly, and her head snapped back as she stared at him with wide eyes. "About the bomb. And the Quinn from the future. Future Quinn." He joked. She wasn't laughing.
"I-," she hesitated, looking torn, like she wanted to say something but couldn't. "I trust you, Finn. You know that."
"I know you do, and trust me when I say that I'm going to do everything I can to help everyone. Tonight won't be our last night together, I promise." He placed a hand on her cheek while she sighed sadly and kissed his palm.
"Don't make promises you know you can't keep." He dropped his hand. "Do you want to give me a ride to school in the morning?"
"Sure. I'd like that." They nodded in unison and she walked him downstairs as they held hands. They lingered in the foyer for a while and Finn had to tear his hands from hers before leaving. He reminded her to call in the bomb threat and they agreed to call the media as well. He left her house after kissing her goodnight, and it was a kiss full of longing and desperation. He wished they had more time.
But they didn't. He knew it in his gut. Every second of the clock brought him closer to the threat of graduation, and as he walked to his truck his heart felt heavier than bricks in his chest.
He got into his car and slammed his fists down on the wheel in frustration before starting the ignition. When he put on the lights he realized that there was something on the windshield of his car. Had he gotten a ticket parking outside of Rachel's house? That had never happened before and he'd parked in this spot dozens of times.
He reached out of his window and pulled the paper into the cabin, unfolding it and trying to read the clumsy scrawl. It kind of looked like his own handwriting as he made out the message.
If you love her, keep her away from the school tomorrow.
His blood was frozen in his veins like ice as he reread the message over again in the dim light of his car. Who had left this here for him? How did this person know about the attack? About his relationship with Rachel? His heart was hammering in his chest and the sound of it was all he could hear as he drove home on auto-pilot. On the way home, he stopped by the pay phone outside of the movie theater and placed an anonymous call in to the police. Then he called the local news station and warned them about tomorrow, just like he promised Rachel. The note from the stranger was still clutched in his hands as he finished the calls and drove home.
Sitting through dinner with his family was almost torture. Listening to his mother and Kurt chart about graduation was going to drive him crazy and part of him wished that he had stayed at Rachel's. He tried to block out the chatter with thoughts of the note and was left feeling more confused than ever before. Someone was trying to warn him about tomorrow, someone who knew what he knew. Who could it be? What did it all mean?
"Finn? Honey are you alright?" His head snapped up and he saw his family staring at him with looks that reflected both concern and confusion. He looked down at his plate and it turned out that he had been stabbing his meatloaf into tiny ground bits of beef while he was lost in thought.
"Yeah, Mom, I'm okay. Just distracted is all." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Don't worry about it, Carole. Finn is still pining over Rachel and the end of their tumultuous love affair." His mother and step-brother shared the same look of sympathy as his temper flared.
"Actually, Rachel and I are back together, thank you very much, and we're stronger than ever before." He stood up and gathered his plate. "Excuse me. I'm going to go to bed early tonight." He dropped off his plates in the sink and stomped off to his room, dropping himself on the bed with a loud sigh and reaching for the note that he had read countless times already. If someone else knew about the attack, then maybe they were willing to help! Maybe he didn't have to bring Rachel into this mess, maybe they should run like the note had mentioned. With a heavy heart and a head full of unanswered questions, Finn set his alarm and fell into an uneasy sleep filled with sirens, strangers hiding in the shadows and the sound of Rachel screaming.
The sun had barely even risen yet when Quinn found herself in Sue Sylvester's office, still as pristine as it had been in her memories. She stood behind Sue's desk as the Police chief stared Sue down with a ferocity in his gaze that neither woman could ignore. This man meant business, even at this early hour.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I don't think you're hearing me clearly. We have had three separate bomb threats placed in for tomorrow's graduation ceremony. The local media has been alerted of this as well. We could have a full-scale riot at our hands in less than a few hours if you do not co-operate with us."
"Sir, there is no way we are postponing the ceremony. This is obviously some sort of well-planned prank that's gotten out of hand. What could possibly happen at a simple high school graduation?" Sue lied with her silver tongue as Quinn was distracted by the nostalgia around her. Against the walls were the portraits from Junior and Senior year and she couldn't help but lose herself in the memories of her lost youth. Being back here made her realize exactly how much she had taken for granted when she was queen bee Quinn Fabray. "Besides, I have a top team of bodyguards surrounding me at all times," Quinn smirked and winked her good eye. "There is nothing to fear."
"Well, Coach Sylvester, I couldn't care less if you had the entire United States Marine Corps here to protect you. I care about the safety of the innocent people who just want to see their children graduate. This event will be postponed for a later date."
"NO!" Sue jumped out of her seat with her eyes wide. Quinn could see the traces of her future madness brewing behind them. "I will pull in all the security I have. No one will be allowed inside without clearance by me. I take on full responsibility to secure this school from any harm if you're willing to work with me and give me the manpower I need."
The officer looked hesitant, but conceded Sue with a strong handshake. "If you plan on footing the bill, then it's your responsibility." Quinn watched this transaction play out in front of her and almost felt sick to her stomach as she saw Sue's smile. All of her instincts were screaming at her to stop this from happening, but Sue, the Sue from her time, would murder her if she found out what had happened. . .
No. She was going to be the Queen one day. Once upon a time she'd been the queen of McKinely but if she followed through with the plan, then Sue would make her Queen of the country. Maybe even the world. Then it wouldn't matter that her face was scarred forever, because she would be the most powerful woman to ever exist.
All she had to do was go along with the plan.
In less than a few hours, this place was gonna blow.
Until Next Time. . .Don't Stop, Reviewing!
Merci mille fois, mes amis!