Here Without You
I am so glad that you guys liked the proposal...believe it or not, I have a Finn-like character in my family and the "tombstone" was his real proposal to his wife, so I stole it because I thought it would be very much like Finn.
I am working on two more Finchel fics simultaneously for the next stories. The first will be a series of one shots A/U Finchel across the US (different locations/regions doing different types of occupations)and will be lighthearted and fluffy. The second is a multi chapter super angsty one.
But here is the last chapter of Here Without You since it's just wrapping things up it's kind of short, but I hope you like it.
The final song featured is I Knew You Were Waiting for Me by Aretha Franklin and George Michael.
Chapter 6
July 18th, 2013
Lub Dupp...lub dupp...lub dupp...lub dupp...lub dupp..lub dupp lub dupp
Finn's heart started racing the moment he saw her! So that's what it feels like to stand at the front of the church watching the girl of your dreams walk toward you with everyone's eyes on her! Watching her as she makes her way down the aisle, makes his knees weak and his head slightly dizzy. Her eyes are fixed on his, and she displays a secretive smile that tells him she knows exactly what he is thinking. He watches her as she slowly walks forward and then veers off and goes to stand with the rest of the bridesmaids at the altar.
Finn looks over at Mr. Schue (it's so hard to call him Will) and sees him slowly letting out his breath when the bride stands with her father at the opposite end of the aisle. Emma looks beautiful and Will can't take his eyes off her. The music starts and as she and her father approach Will, he puts out a visibly shaky arm, she takes it, and they walk up the few steps to the altar.
As Will and Emma recite their vows, Finn and Rachel look at each other instead of looking at the bride and groom. Their eyes are speaking those vows to each other.
The wedding goes off without a hitch and Finn is proud because he didn't drop the ring or anything when Will asked for it. He did his job as best man perfectly, including the bachelor party. Although he did get help for that one from Puck. He can't wait until it's his turn as the groom.
At the reception, Finn and Rachel were slow dancing to one of the songs, her head resting on his chest, when he asks, "When do you think we'll be ready to do that?" They got engaged again a few months ago, but they hadn't really spoken about setting a date. She lifts her head off his chest and looks at him in the eyes and replies, "I'm ready whenever you are. We can do it now, in a year, or after graduation...you're mine and you are staying mine...forever. There is a part of me that is in a rush, but another part of me that says we have plenty of time. So this time, you are in charge of the date. But my preference would be now."
"Mine too, but I think our families would probably freak out because of our on again, off again history. I don't think they would be very supportive," Finn replies sadly. "I can't say that I blame them."
Rachel looks at this eyes, and starts smiling, grabs his hand and says, "I have an idea. Let's go talk in private."
As Rachel and Finn head toward the elevators off the main lobby of the hotel, Kurt and Santana look at each other and roll their eyes. "Geez, you'd think going at it every day for the past three months would have been enough to hold off until after the reception!" Kurt looks disgusted while Santana laughs. Kurt looks at her and continues, "Look, you did not walk in on them doing it on the kitchen counter, ok? Finn yelled at ME to get out and come back in 15 minutes! I had to disinfect the counter with bleach, TWICE, just to be sure!"
Santana looks at him and says, "That's nothing, I had to pick the bathroom lock to use the bathroom cause they were doing it in the bathtub and I had to pee. They froze and sat looking at me with their goofy faces while I peed, and then kept at it after I flushed and left. This is Rachel I-can't-have-Brody-see-me-naked Berry, and Finn I'm-so-nervous-it's-my-first-time Hudson we are talking about. Damn it! I am the sexy hot, bitch around here...how do they get more action than me?"
Kurt looks at her in complete agreement, " I know! You know what makes is worse? I have been riding the celibacy train so long, I am actually jealous of them! Can you believe it?" Kurt pauses for a beat and then continues, "Anyway, I know we are sharing a room, and Blaine and Brittany are sharing a room, so what do you think we swap roommates? Blaine and I have been talking and I think I am ready to give this another chance."
"What? Are you serious? You are going to hook up with Blaine? Here?" She looks at him incredulously and then sympathetically. "Fine...go ahead, I'll stay with Brittany. We are long overdue for a conversation anyway."
F+R/F+R/F+R/F+R
August 6, 2013
"Finn, are you absolutely sure about this? It seems a little crazy!" Kurt blurts out as they stand next to each other. Kurt in his stylish suit, looks over at Finn in his dark brown suit looking nervously around the corner of the hallway in anticipation.
Around the corner in another room, Rachel is inspecting her white lace knee length, form fitting dress in the mirror and is absolutely beautiful with her hair half up and half down in luxurious curls with baby's breath intertwined within it. She has a pale pink lip gloss on and her eyes are lined in soft brown with black lashes. Santana stands behind her in a purple tight dress and looks at her in the mirror. "You look good enough to eat! Frankenteen with cream his pants when he sees you!"
"Thanks!" says Rachel, "And he doesn't spontaneously combust anymore like when he was 16, you know. He has great control now!"
"Oh, we know, we hear it over and over and over again." Santana snickers under her breath and looks at her phone for the time. "Ok, Rachel, I think it's time. Are you really, really sure about this?"
Rachel looks at her with determination and says, "Of course I am sure...it was my idea! Now send a text to Kurt telling him we are coming."
The girls leave the room and walk toward the main room where the deed takes place. As she walks around the corner, she sees Kurt and Finn. The way he looks takes her breath away and she falters her steps! He is wearing the suit he wore at their prom and he is gorgeous and she can't believe that he is hers and that she will be the one to get to grow old with him. She starts walking toward them and Finn's smile is wide and his eyes twinkling as she approaches him.
They stand facing each other looking at each other for a few seconds to make the moment last, and finally she looks at him and asks, "Ready?" As he nods she grabs his hand and says, "Let's go!" He brings the back of her right hand to his lips and they walk into the room.
As the justice of the peace is reciting vows, Finn and Rachel face each other holding hands. The officiant is very quick with the formalities and has them sign the marriage certificate as soon as as they are finished. He looks at them and says, "Ok, you are legally married! So go ahead and seal it with a kiss!" The officiant smiles as them as Finn grabs Rachel by the shoulders and gives her a lingering kiss, and then turns to the Kurt and Santana, "You guys need to sign right here as witnesses." They take turns signing the marriage certificate and turn around to walk out of the room with them.
"So, how does it feel?" Kurt asks Finn. Finn looks at Rachel and says, "To be honest I don't feel any different, do you?" he asks looking at Rachel. "No, not really!" she replies. "But I think that's good. Since we have to pretend that we are not married with our families. Now, you two," she points to Kurt and Santana, "you must keep this a secret. We want to have our big wedding sometime in the future, so no one must not know about this. Got it? I want my dads to look at me as if that is my wedding day and Finn's mom the same. I don't want that day tainted by people saying 'oh, but they were already married'. Today is just for me and Finn, so as far as you are concerned, it never happened. And honestly, if we were not required to have witnesses, you wouldn't have known either." Rachel then turned toward Finn.
She walks up to him and snakes her arms around his neck and kisses him on the lips lightly. She then pulls back slightly and says, "Hello, husband! As a surprise for you, I got us a room at one of the hotels downtown for two days, so we can have a baby honeymoon, to go along with our baby wedding. What do you think?"
Finn moves his hands down to squeeze her butt and says, "Mmm, I like that! And as a surprise for you, I got us tickets to see The Book of Mormon. You could call it a baby surprise for our baby wedding." Rachel squeals and jumps in his arms with excitement as Finn continues, "I also have one more thing for you. I got this a while back waiting until we were really together again to give it to you." He pulls a small velvet, rectangular box from his jacket pocket and hands it to her. She takes the box excitedly from his hands and slowly opens it. Inside is the small Statue of Liberty pendant she had seen him buying in the gift shop.
She quickly looks up to him and blurts out, "I thought this was for Olivia."
Finn looks confused, "What? Did you see me buying this?" At Rachel's nod he continues, "Rachel, it is a symbol of New York with 'gold stars' around it...how could you think it would be for anyone else?"
"I love it!" she says happily and hands it to him while turning around so he can fasten it around her neck. "It will be a secret memory of our baby wedding. Kurt take a picture of us, will you?"
Kurt takes Rachel's iPhone and complies, then looks at Santana and says, "All this 'baby' talk is making me want to gag. Anyway, thank you Finn and Rachel for having your "baby honeymoon" somewhere other than the kitchen counter or bathtub, or couch, or sliding door, or window sill, or..."
"Ok, we got it...shut up, Kurt!" He hesitates a little and then looks at Kurt and Santana, "Thanks guys for sharing this day with us. It meant a lot to have you here."
"Anytime! We love you both, truly we do, even if we fuss about you all the time." Santana responds with love.
"Ok, baby, let's go get our stuff and go downtown." Finn grabs Rachel's hand and tries to find a cab.
"Let the baby honeymoon begin!" She laughs and jumps in his arms!
August 6, 2016 4:00 p.m.
Lub Dupp...lub dupp...lub dupp...lub dupp...lub dupp..lub dupp lub dupp
There she is at the opposite end on the aisle with her dads looking like an angel in her long white dress. She looks nervously at him while his fingertips are fingering the hem of his sleeves. He is even more nervous than he could have imagined. Everyone's eyes are bouncing from Rachel to him looking for his reaction. As she gets closer, he can't help but smile at her and her nervousness melts away into a glorious Rachel Berry smile. They decided on an outside wedding in this cozy park that has a beautiful gazebo. He knew this would be a glorious day and it is. It is cloudy, but the photographer said that this would make their photos great, but Rachel has been fearing rain. It hasn't rained and the clouds are slowly dissipating. He is standing at the bottom step of the gazebo and she is walking in the aisle separating the sea of white chairs set up for the guests. There are colorful flowers with white ribbon bows at each row of chairs and the same type of flowers adorn the entry way into the gazebo. The usual suspects are bridesmaids; Tina, Mercedes, Brittany and Santana as maid of honor. Puck, Sam, and Artie are groomsmen. Kurt is his best man and leans over to him whispering, "Why are you so nervous? You are already married!" Finn keeps his eyes on Rachel and slowly mouths, "This feels real, it didn't feel real before!" As soon as Rachel and her dads reach him, they kiss their daughter's cheek and place her hand on Finn's open palm. Hiram looks at Finn and says, "She is yours now. Take care of her!" and lightly pats him on the shoulder.
Finn takes her hand and tells Hiram, "I will!" and continues up the gazebo to marry the most gorgeous girl in the world.
In the past few years they have been able to settle their differences easily. Since Rachel graduated from NYADA, they recently moved out of the loft into their own apartment. She worked her way from off Broadway to her first musical on Broadway that is still in rehearsal stages. Finn has one more year of school, and is already assisting with the direction of some off Broadway plays in which he also acts. He plans on getting a music degree also, so he will probably take more classes even after he graduates. He really likes teaching, so that can be his later on in life career if he feels like getting out of the constant audition-and-look-for-the-next-thing kind of life.
At the reception, they do the traditional wedding events like garter toss (caught by Blaine), the bouquet toss (caught by Kurt) the first wedding dance (Faithfully) the cake cutting (where Rachel smashed the cake piece in Finn's face and he retaliated by kissing her hard and getting it all over her face) and now as the night was drawing to a close, it was time for their surprise for their guests.
Rachel stands by the head table to make an announcement. "Thank you all for being here to celebrate this day with us. I know some of you have travelled long distances to come here, so as a special thank you to you all, Finn and I will perform a song. It's been a while since you all have heard a Finchel duet, so here it is." The crowd claps as Rachel grabs Finn's hand and they walk to the band stand where the band is preparing for their song.
Rachel:
Like a warrior that fights
And wins the battle
I know the taste of victory
Though I went through some nights
Consumed by the shadows
I was crippled emotionally
Finn:
Somehow I made it through the heartache
Yes I did. I escaped
I found my way out of the darkness
I kept my faith (I know you did), kept my faith
Both:
When the river was deep I didn't falter
When the mountain was high I still believed
When the valley was low it didn't stop me no, no
I knew you were waiting, I knew you were waiting for me.
Rachel:
With an endless desire I kept on searching
Sure in time our eyes would meet
Like the bridge is on fire
The hurt is over, one touch and you set me free
Finn:
I don't regret a single moment, no I don't looking back
When I think of all those disappointments
I just laugh (I know you do) I just laugh
As they sing all their glee friends are at the dance floor in front of them singing along with them and dancing. As the song finishes, Finn and Rachel know that no mater what the ups and downs of life, they will survive them.
Both:
So we were drawn together through destiny
I know this love we share was meant to be
I knew you were waiting
I knew you were waiting for me
After they finished their song they hug each other and kiss on stage. The party continues longer with dancing around the dance floor with their friends. Soon they say goodbye to everyone and begin to go up to their room. As they take the elevator to the penthouse suite, Finn pushes Rachel against the wall and places his hands on the wall next to her head. "So, Mrs. Hudson, do you feel married now?" He bends his head to her neck and starts placing light kisses from her neck to the top of her strapless dress at he swell of her breast.
Rachel moans lightly and hooks her index finger into the waistband of his pants behind his belt buckle. "Mmmm, yes I do, Mr. Hudson! Do you?"
"Absolutely and I can't wait to get you to bed so you can perform your wifely duties!" he chuckles against her skin and moves his lips to hers.
"Oh, I'm ready, as long as you are ready to perform your husbandly duties!" she whispers into his ear while unzipping his pants and slipping her hand inside his boxers to hold his hardness in her hand. Just then the ding of the elevator alerts them that they have reached the top floor. Rachel looks at Finn, bites her lip and says, "Maybe we need to christen this elevator first before we go to the bed." Finn's eyes open wide while she grabs him by the lapels and brings him to her for a hard passionate kiss. The elevators doors close but the elevator lingers on the top floor for quite a while.
A/N I love secret weddings/elopements; I find them incredibly romantic. Thank you for reading!
