Hey everyone! Sorry I wasn't able to update earlier this week, I had to update my Microsoft Word program and it took a lot longer than expected. But I spent my time off deciding how I want the story to end – and I'm really excited for it! Anyway, updates will go back to normal again, I promise. Also, please feel free to review this! I love hearing what people have to say about my writing and I'd love it if you'd leave your two cents. It would mean a lot to me!

Rachel looks at Blaine with a small smile, giggling softly as she sees him. She can't believe what she sees, what she hears. There he is, standing in front of her. Rachel never could have dreamt that she would be standing in Finn's era, or whatever she wants to call it with someone she knows and recognizes. It's enough to make her want to cry, but she doesn't. Rachel picks up Blaine's hand and inspects it carefully, eyes wide and almost full of worry as she focuses on his hand. They're so big and warm - they remind her of Finn's.

"You look a bit surprised," Blaine says with a small laugh, resting his hands on either side of Rachel's waist. She sighs and falls into him, resting her head against his chest, eyes pinched shut. Blaine finds his hand on Rachel's back, consoling her slightly. "Rach…" his voice trails off, rubbing her back and feeling her chest rise and fall with her heavy breaths, giggling slightly as she rests her hands against his chest. "Are you alright?"

"I am," she says after a while, looking up at Blaine, her face still planted against his chest. "I just… I can't believe it's you." She sighs deeply and pulls away from him for a moment, her smile nearly lighting up the entire hallway. "Why are you here, then?" Her face twists into the confused look it had been in before, hands grabbing his wrists. "And why am I here, Blaine? I've been so scared ever since I got here, and-"

"Rachel," Blaine says, shaking her hands a bit and causing her to stop. "You're still the same old you." The two back away from each other for a moment, Blaine taking the time to truly look at her. He analyzes her face and takes her in for the first time, confused. "You look… so much younger, Rach." He smiles at her and reaches out to place his hand to her cheek, Rachel dipping her head down and blushing. It's what he always used to do to her, his hand feeling like it belongs on the side of her face once he places it there. "Just like how you looked when we met. When we were eighteen – you remember?" He takes notice of her new hair and how she dresses has changed, but that comes naturally. He dresses somewhere around the same, but he's still adapted to the 21st century, just like everyone else. Rachel has this glow about her – the glow he's looking for. It's exactly what she's supposed to have.

"They say I look like I'm eighteen now," she explains, removing his hand from her face. "All of the new friends I've made… they all just assume I've graduated high school, I think, but none of them have." She giggles a bit and takes Blaine by the hand, making a face. "If only they knew, right Blaine?" She looks up at him with a smile, hoping that his face will match hers, but it doesn't. Her face falls and she becomes worried, eyebrows furrowing. "I'm not eighteen, am I? I don't… I'm not eighteen. I can't be."

Blaine looks at her sternly, sighing. "Rach, who are all of these people you've met? Like, that girl and the boy you were sitting with at the callback? Where are you living?" The smile slowly starts to reappear on Rachel's face, but nowhere near as great and as bright as it had been earlier.

"Oh, those are Santana and Kurt," she tells him brightly, her voice not losing its chipper quality that he recognizes from their years together. "Santana, of course, is the girl – she's rather cross most of the time, but once you get to know her she's lovely, really. Kurt is the boy, and he kind of reminds me of you, Blaine – all dressed up and classy and he loves show tunes, just like you and I. He keeps on listening to these records – and they're not really records, you know, because they're these tiny little plastic silvery things that you stick into another big plastic thing… but anyway, he listens to these records of this woman named Barbra Streisand who he says he loves, and I suppose her music is alright, but she's no Judy Garland, Blaine." She giggles as she goes off on another one of her tangents, her face lighting up once more. "Do you remember that one time when you and I almost met Judy Garland in the bathroom of Sardi's that one night?"

"Rachel," Blaine says rather curtly, interrupting the girls' daydream. "I need you to tell me all about the people that you've met here, alright?" He places his hands on her shoulders and looks at her, his face looking sterner than before.

"Well, there is this boy…" She lets her voice fall off and Blaine smiles knowingly, watching as Rachel walks away from him for a moment. He chases after her, grabbing onto her by the hand.

"Rachel."

"He's the one whose room I woke up in. He's so handsome, Blaine, really, he is. He's got eyes that are as green as that dress I have that I wore to your birthday party that one year, remember?" She sighs for a moment and giggles happily to herself, picturing Finn in her head. She's never really taken the time to truly think about all of the qualities he possesses that make her feel so madly in love with him, but now that she is she can feel her heart beat a million times a minute. "He's so tall, too… much taller than me, but I guess everyone's taller than me. He's just… he's so lovely, Blaine. Every time I see him I feel like I'm supposed to be with him – at least for that moment, I think. The way he looks at me and the way I feel when I'm around him just makes me feel loved, I guess." She pauses and looks at Blaine for a moment, catching herself as she feels her heart slow down. "But why am I here, Blaine?" She looks at him, eyes pleading for an answer. "I've been here long enough and I want an answer. How am I supposed to get back home?"

Blaine looks at her with a small smile, swinging her hand slightly as he doesn't break contact with her eyes. She's so beautiful; it's enough to make him want her. It's no surprise that she already has a boy that's fallen in love with her. At least that's what it sounds like when she talks about whoever this mystery boy is.

"Can you come with me?" He asks, looking at her. "I promise, I'll explain everything. Just come with me. To my car."

Rachel looks at him with a small smile, looking out of the window of the theatre. It's raining, the lights of Santana's car turned on. She just nods and they head out, Rachel holding Blaine's hand the entire time.

:.:.:

"I'm just saying, I wouldn't mind going out for coffee with him. At least let me find out what his name is," Kurt pleads to Santana in her car, the Latina rolling her eyes at the thought. He's still gushing over the boy who sang with Rachel, the Tony hopeful that he finds adorable. Lady Gaga is being pumped through the car, Santana noticing Rachel and some other figure running out of the theatre at long last.

"Finally," she gripes, laying into her car horn. "Ya es demaciado tarde, ay…" Kurt rolls his eyes as she begins to go off in some kind of Spanish tangent, looking in the rear view mirror. "Oh, don't look now, Kurt, but she's running out here with your little piece of man candy." She snickers a bit, looking at Kurt with a smile. "He's even shielding her from the rain with his cardigan. How sweet." Kurt swats at her and Santana makes a face, noticing Rachel standing before her car and tapping on the window, asking to have it rolled down.

"This is Blaine," she says over the rain, Santana eventually complying with her wishes. "He and I are actually friends, and we haven't seen each other in so long… we're going to head out to catch up over some coffee, alright?" Santana nods her head and shoots a smile over to Blaine, the boy with the gelled hair smiling back.

"A friend?" Santana asks, a bit curious. "What, are you guys like, diaper buddies or something?"

"We went to high school together," Blaine pipes from behind Rachel. "Rach is just lovely. I can't believe we're seeing each other again." The two feign smiles and surprised grins and Santana just rolls her eyes, waving her hand before the two of them.

"Whatever you say, cream puff," she says, revving her car engine. "Just make sure he brings you back to my place, alright? I'm not about to go and get you at all hours of the night. Crazy, chica." Blaine smiles with Rachel and looks into the car slightly, grinning.

"You two were both fabulous," he says, Kurt smiling a bit. "Really, I'd be surprised if you two weren't Riff and Anita." Santana nods her head approvingly and Kurt just grins, Santana rolling her window up with a small smile.

"He's so gay," Kurt says with a smile, drumming on his knees giddily. "Gay diddy gay gay gay."

:.:.:

Rachel adjusts herself nervously in Blaine's car, watching as he sits in the driver's seat next to her. For some reason she isn't allowed to drive a car here, and she doesn't know why. It wasn't like she couldn't drive a car back when she was in her own respective era. Just not without a license, that was all.

"Tell me more about this boy you've met, Rach," Blaine prompts her, startling the brunette a bit. "I need to know more about him. Trust me."

She giggles and smiles to herself, beginning to play with the hem of her dress. In any other situation, she wouldn't be as willing to give out so much information about herself or her feelings or someone she had felt that she had grown so close to, but it's Blaine. She's known him for ages – literally, if you included their little jump through time.

"His name is Finn Hudson," she gushes, looking at Blaine with a smile. "And he's just… he's so lovely, Blaine. He's everything I've ever wanted in a boyfriend or a husband." Her voice drops for a moment, realizing what she's saying. "But it's no use, really. He's already taken." Blaine looks at her, a frown crossing over his face. "I really shouldn't be chasing after a man who already has someone special in his life."

Blaine makes a face and looks at Rachel for a moment, reaching out to touch her cheek once more. It's like their contact makes her alright again, or at least puts her somewhere where she feels like everything's alright. It's a sensation she hasn't had the liberty of feeling in a long time, and she wants it for as long as she can have it.

"You are so stunning, Rach," he tells her, smiling. "I'm sure this boy… whoever he is, he finds you just as beautiful." Rachel smiles slightly, looking at Blaine with a pout on her face. "Whoever ends up with you in the end is one of the luckiest men in the world." She giggles, looking down into her lap and blushing. "Besides, that's kind of the reason as to why you're here." Rachel looks up from her lap, face flushed.

"Why?"

He sighs, resting his hands on the steering wheel and staring out the windshield. He doesn't know how to start with this – how do you, essentially, tell someone living that they've already died? She's dead. He's dead too, but at least he knows that he's dead. She doesn't. She's living day to day thinking that everything is perfectly fine and that the only thing she really has to worry about is getting back home. It's just too bad that there really isn't home for her. This is home – she's stuck. They're both stuck. They're in limbo together, whether they like it or not.

"Rachel, I want you to remember the very last thing you did back before you… before you came here, alright?" She looks at Blaine, eyes wide and waiting for an answer. "Can you remember?"

"Of course," she says plainly. "I was driving home to Ohio. It was Christmas time and I was just cast in my first Broadway show – I was going to surprise my parents by driving back home for the holidays." Blaine blinks and leaves his eyes closed for a moment, feeling a lump form in his throat. It wasn't easy hearing about your best friends' death on Christmas Eve. The memories seem to flood him much faster than they do to Rachel – but that's natural.

"Anything else?"

"I remember parking the car off on the side of the road because it was late and I didn't want to drive at night, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was-" She pauses, looking at Blaine with a smile. "Oh, Blaine, you don't have to cry. It's alright." He shakes his head from side to side as she tries to comfort him, confused.

"No, Rach, you don't… you don't understand." She looks at him, feeling tears well up in her own eyes. "You died that night." Rachel feels her entire body go numb, feeling herself go into complete shock. She can't be dead. She's walking and talking and breathing and living, the exact opposite of what dead people do. She's reminded of when she first woke up in Finn's room – the exact words he had said echoing in her head and sending shivers down her spine.

"Wait… aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"No," she protests, choking on her own sobs. "No, Blaine, you're lying. Finn said the same thing when I first met him. How can I- I can't be dead. I just can't be." She begins to cry, hiding her face in her hands. Blaine just nods, swallowing his own emotions and looking at his friend.

"You parked your car on a set of unmarked train tracks," he explains, sorrow filling his voice. "By the time the train was coming, it was too late. You were fast asleep." Rachel looks up at Blaine for a moment, unable to look at him for too long. "I'm so sorry, Rach."

She cries and doesn't know what to do with herself, feeling like something truly has died within her this time. She doesn't understand how any of this is possible – and why her, of all people? She's never done anything horrible to make her deserve such a punishment. What a horrible punishment cast upon her by some horrible, horrible higher power, and there's absolutely nothing she can do about it.

"So am I a ghost, then?" She looks through her hands and wipes her tears away from her eyes, still unable to grasp everything. She's dead. There's no coming back from the dead. She can't be a ghost, though. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to speak to the people she's grown to love so dearly while she's been here. She wouldn't be able to hold Finn's hand and look at him so longingly in the way she does.

Blaine shakes his head, smiling a bit. "No," he tells her, reaching out to touch her hand. "But, Rach, there is a way for you to get out of all of this. And the best part is for you, is that you're already half way there." He smiles gingerly and Rachel looks at him, continuing to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"So I'm some kind of time traveler?"

"Not exactly," he says. "I don't know what it is, but there's something about the whole… movie thing… movie magic, I guess you could call it. When you died, Rachel, you had never been in love. When you woke up in that boy's room, it was like you were waking up from the sleep you took that night – we're in purgatory, essentially. Only it's not all bad. You're sent back to find the one you love – and well, Rach, the one you love is clearly here. That's why you were sent here."

Rachel looks at him incredulously, blinking back tears. "I'm here… I'm here to find somebody to love? That makes no sense," she says. "I loved people back… back when I was alive." She finds the words are hard to say. She can't help but think of Finn, however. He rests in the back of her mind and she thinks about him constantly, everything she does with him in mind. He's so perfect and she wants to spend so much more time with him than she does already, He's the only one that knows her story, for the most part. When she's with him, she feels like she can truly be herself. There's no one else she would rather spend her time with while she's here. She wonders if Blaine's speaking of someone in particular – because if he is, Finn Hudson is the one for her. She's positive of it.

"I don't understand," she says, utterly confused. "I'm supposed to find someone to fall in love with?" If that's the case, then she doesn't want to play that game. Searching for somebody to love and finding somebody to love were two entirely different things. She has no interest in pining after Finn. She wants him to fall for her, just like how she's fallen for him. Sometimes she wonders if he already has, judging by the way he looks at her and talks to her. He's so sweet and he looks at her with the eyes of someone who cares, genuinely cares about her well-being and how she's doing, adjusting to the new reality she's been planted in.

"Sometimes you have to find them," Blaine explains, looking over at Rachel with a slight frown. "I haven't had the most luck finding one for myself. But you, Rach… you're so stunning, and you already sound like you've found someone."

"Someone I love," she corrects him, blushing slightly at his compliment. "I have no idea as to whether or not he loves me back." She thinks of Finn for a moment, and how he smiles whenever he sees her. The way his lips curl up into that crooked little smile makes her giggle whenever she sees it. "Why do I need someone to love me, though? I don't understand."

Blaine sighs a bit, staring out the windshield. "When we died, Rach, we never had anyone that loved us. Or, I guess, we were never in a relationship where the two people loved each other. Coming back here, to the future, I guess, is our second chance at love. We live here until we find the one we're meant to be with, no matter how long it takes – and when we finally do find that person, we get to stay here, with them." Rachel smiles slightly, looking at Blaine.

"I always thought you were going to marry the little girl whose father was the RKO Pictures producer… what was her name again?"

"Sugar," Blaine says rather bitterly. "You know why I was set to marry her, Rach. Her father was going to put me in the next big picture and she was… it was convenient, you know that." Rachel nods her head slowly, remembering her past with Blaine. He's like Kurt; he doesn't swing towards the ladies. He's a complete fruit, to be blunt, and she's supported him since the day he's confided his secret with her.

"You'd be surprised," she reassures him, touching his hand. "Things are different here. There are so many other… queer men in this era, Blaine. Why, Kurt is. He picked out this dress for me, you know." She gestures down to the dress she's wearing, beaming. "Maybe he's the one for you."

"Maybe," Blaine begins, contemplating the idea. "But Rachel, you have the boy that you've fallen in love with right here, waiting for you. Go after him and make him yours." Rachel hangs her head down, looking in her lap. "What's wrong?"

"Finn's already got a sweetheart," she explains, feeling the lump return to her throat. "Quinn Fabray, with blonde hair and blue eyes and a size zero dress to squeeze into. I'll never measure up to her, Blaine." She wipes her eyes slightly and sniffles, tipping her head back up. Her makeup's never gotten so ruddy before, frightening her for a moment as she looks into to the rear view mirror. "I don't think I was meant for him."

"Do you love him?"

She waits for a minute, contemplating the question. "Of course I love him, Blaine, I just-"

"Then you love him. He was the boy whose room you woke up in, Rach. If that's not a sign… then I don't know what is." Rachel smiles at Blaine, leaning over the console splitting the two of them apart and wrapping him in an embrace, resting her head in the crook between his neck and his shoulder. "At least try, Rach. What do you have to lose?"

Rachel looks at Blaine with a bitter smile, feeling some kind of confidence begin to build within her. It isn't much, but it's enough to make her feel better about her situation. He seems like he's in the same boat as she is, and she's more than willing to help him along the way.

"I should talk to Kurt and see what I can do," she says with a laugh, wiping a few stray tears from eyes. "I think he likes you anyway."

:.:.:

"I still don't understand why I'm here." Finn looks around the coffee shop as he sits at the table awkwardly, looking around uncomfortably. This is where Kurt normally frequents for his coffee, not Finn. That, and he wouldn't expect to be sitting across from Santana in a million years. She sips from the coffee she's ordered herself, Finn not drinking anything. He's not a coffee drinker.

"Because when I want to talk to someone about it, I have to do it in public," Santana explains, setting her cup down. "It's something I've been working on. I have rage." She crosses her arms over her chest and gives Finn a judgmental glance, quirking an eyebrow. "That, and you seriously need to be talked to."

"What about?" Finn scoffs, beginning to feel uncomfortable, although he won't show it. He doesn't want to be alone with Santana. She scares him, even though he won't admit it.

"Oh please, like you don't know. Ever since she's gotten here, Rachel's been the only thing on your mind – and don't act like no one notices, because they do. All you do is look at her and hold doors open for her and all of that sappy shit that happens in The Notebook. When you're not staring at her ass you're staring at her tits, and when you're not staring at her tits you're staring at her smile." Santana looks at Finn and watches his face as he reacts, pretending to be surprised and shocked although his face is turning red. "You don't spend as much time with Quinn as you used to. Quinn used to be your moon, Finn, and now… Rachel's like this big star that's lit up your life all of a sudden, and Quinn's gone." Part of her wants to tell him the truth, how Quinn has virtually no interest in him anymore, but she doesn't see the purpose behind it. Part of her feels that Finn doesn't love her anymore either. "It's like Rachel went up and hung the moon just for you."

Finn can't believe his ears. He doesn't want to believe his ears, even though he knows that the best thing for him to do is to listen to whatever feelings he's been having for the past few weeks. Santana's right; ever since Rachel's arrived he's felt this new kind of urgency, like the kind he had felt when he first met Quinn. That rushed, happy urgency that comes with love fills him each time he sees Rachel in Kurt's bedroom or in the basement, sitting with him and giggling. He always notices the way she looks when she laughs at Kurt's jokes, her nose scrunching up on her face and her laugh able to fill the entire room, like a clear bell ringing through the house. She's such a breath of fresh air he can't stand it, driving him close to the point of madness.

Sometimes she spends the night at his house, when she has sleepovers with Kurt and she takes showers the next morning, waking him with the sound of her singing. He'll be genuinely shocked if she doesn't receive the lead in the summer musical; her voice is stunning and unlike anything he's ever heard.

"She's a great girl," he says, trying to mask his emotions. "Can I help it if I like her as a person? It is possible, Santana. You know, you don't always have to want to have sex with someone in order to love them." He sighs, realizing that Santana's telling the truth. When he can and it's not too obvious, Finn does try to steal glances at whatever attributes Rachel has. She's modest, but he likes that about her. Except for that one time Santana had dressed her, Rachel's always looked so lovely and modest and put together. It's hard to not find her attractive.

"I know you like her as a person," Santana argues. "But I know that you don't love Quinn anymore. Hell, you probably don't even like her anymore. Ever since Rachel got here, it's like she's the only thing in the world that matters to you." Finn can't answer. "And the fact that you don't want to say anything only proves my point. Admit it, Finn. You have some kind of… some kind of love for her." Santana smiles a bit to herself, sipping from her coffee once more. "Believe me, she's great. Ever since she's got here… she's just made everything better, that's all."

"Quinn's just… she's been weird these past few weeks, that's all."

"Please. She's just going to move on to whomever she sees fit. Quinn's nothing, Finn. Rachel… she's just different, okay? She's made everything so much better, Finn. Ever since she got here it's like she's patched up all of the holes we have in our lives… and you still can't tell me that you love her?"

"So what if I did love her," Finn challenges Santana, looking at her as though it were a challenge he was proposing. "There's nothing I could do about it. If I were to break up with Quinn, she would kill me. You of all people know that." Santana rolls her eyes, Finn sighing and slumping over a bit in the booth. He lowers his voice, suddenly sounding more insecure than before. "It's not like she would say yes, anyway."

Santana smiles to herself, pushing her coffee out of the way. "You'd be surprised," she says, her voice actually sounding sweet and genuine for the first time. "At least take her out to dinner. Bring her to Breadstix. Make it sound like… like you'll be treating her to a night on the town. It doesn't have to be a date." She smiles at Finn and he tries to smile in return, looking down at the table.

"I need to break up with Quinn."

"Just take Rachel out this once. I think she deserves it." She looks at Finn once more, noticing the fatigue that washes over him as he mentions Quinn's name. "And you do, too."