Title: Right Behind You
Rating: M for later chapters
Summary: Rachel Berry is trying to make a name for herself as an actress in Hollywood, but someone is trying to ruin her life and make sure that doesn't happen. A private investigator named Quinn Fabray somehow becomes involved in the whole thing and gets more than she bargained for. But will she be able to help Rachel?
Warnings: None for this chapter.
Rachel is immediately aware of the silence. It's almost too quiet. There's no sign of the deep breathing that she became familiar with overnight.
She frowns and absently pats the space next to her only to realize it's empty. "Quinn?" She finally opens her eyes to confirm that she is in fact alone in the bed.
A sudden panic rushes over her and she jumps up and scurries out the bedroom.
"Good morning," the blonde says from the kitchen when she sees her. "I was just making some coffee." Her smile quickly fades when she sees Rachel's worried expression. "What's wrong?"
Rachel shakes her head. "Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
She nods. "Everything's fine." To prove it, she makes her way across the apartment and latches onto Quinn for a kiss.
Quinn wraps her arms around her waist and lets her lips linger for a little while longer before pulling away. She smiles.
"Good morning to you too," Rachel says.
"Did you sleep okay?"
"I did." She squeezes Quinn's shoulders. "Thank you for letting me stay over."
After last night's events, Rachel didn't want to be alone, so Quinn had offered to let her stay the night. They were both completely exhausted by the time they turned in, so nothing happened beyond cuddling. But still, it was perfect.
Quinn turns and hands her a mug of coffee. "I don't know how you take it, but there's—"
"This is fine," Rachel says as she takes a sip.
Quinn nods and takes a step back. Rachel notices that she looks tense and possibly anxious. "What's wrong?" she asks.
"I'm just nervous about seeing Kurt," Quinn answers. "He probably hates me right now."
"He doesn't hate you," Rachel says. "It wasn't your fault and he knows that."
Quinn just shrugs. "I just feel awful."
"So do I, but Kurt's okay. You're okay. And that's all that matters."
"But what if next time—"
"There isn't going to be a next time!"
A door can be heard opening, silencing them. Brittany pops her head out of her bedroom and groggily says, "Can you guys keep it down? I'm trying to sleep in."
"Sorry, Britt," Quinn calls out. When the door closes, she turns back to Rachel, a slight smile adorning her face. "You know, them trying to kill me means that we must be getting close to finding out who they are."
"Let's hope that's the case," Rachel says. "Now stop putting thoughts of you and death in my head and let's go see how Kurt's doing."
Quinn's anxiety grows even worse as soon as they're at the hospital. She takes deep breaths as they venture down the hall to his room. She doesn't know how he's going when he sees her, but she's hoping Rachel is right and that it'll be okay.
"Are you sure you're okay to go in?" Rachel asks when they reach the door. When Quinn nods, giving her the affirmative, she knocks gently before opening it.
Kurt is by himself, silently gazing out the window with only the sound of the TV in the room. He turns his head when they come in and smiles. "I was wondering when you would show up."
Rachel returns the smile. "It's still early."
"I know. I was kidding." He looks at the blonde. "And hello to you."
"Hey, Kurt." Quinn takes a seat next to Rachel by the bed. "You look good."
"And I feel fine, which is what I keep telling the doctors. But they won't let me leave just yet."
"I'm sure it's just a precaution," Rachel says. "It's better to play it safe and make sure your health is at one-hundred percent before you leave."
Kurt rolls his eyes. "Whatever."
All three heads turn when they hear Rachel's name on the TV.
A news reporter stares at the screen. "And after the events that occurred last night, actress Rachel Berry's assistant is now in the hospital. Police say—" Quinn snatches the remote and turns it off.
"No, please, let me bask in my newfound fame as 'Rachel Berry's assistant'," Kurt says drolly.
Quinn sighs. "Kurt, I feel partially responsible that you're here in the first place. And I just want to say I'm sorry that you were brought into this mess."
He laughs. "I've been in this mess since day one." He looks at Rachel pointedly before looking back at Quinn. "And besides, it's not like you were the one that did this."
"I know, but—"
"No buts," he interjects. "The only person I have it out for now is the person that did this to me."
Quinn exhales slowly before nodding. "So do I."
"How's that coming along?" he asks. "Were you able to get any evidence from last night?"
"We tried. Last night was just a dead end," Quinn says, frustrated.
"But the police are actually helping now," Rachel adds.
"It's just one detective that's on the case," Quinn says in annoyance.
"You don't sound to happy about it," Kurt points out.
"That's because I'm not happy with who they gave us." And right on cue, her phone begins ringing. She sees 'Satan' on the screen and begrudgingly answers it. "I'll be there soon."
"I get to your apartment and you're not even here. I said first thing in the morning, Fabray. You'll be lucky if I don't kick your ass when I see you."
Quinn promptly hangs up and looks at the other two apologetically. "I have to go. But I'll come back soon, Kurt."
"Don't bother. I'll probably be out tomorrow."
She nods and turns to Rachel. "Do you need me to drive you back to your place?"
"Don't worry. I'll have a driver pick me up."
"Are you sure?"
Rachel leans over and presses a kiss against her cheek. "Yes. Now get out of here before I change my mind."
Quinn smiles as she gets up. "I'll call you later."
Rachel watches her leave the room with a matching smile. She doesn't turn back around until Kurt clears his throat.
"You two are at the annoyingly cute stage," he says.
"Oh hush."
"Did you finally seal the deal?"
She blushes. "No!"
He pouts. "Seriously? Still? Not even after last night's 'date'?" he air-quotes.
"Well with the way the night ended, I wasn't exactly in the mood for romance."
"That's a shame."
"Shut up."
They share a laugh. It's rare that Rachel gets this sort of alone time with her best friend. It's comforting to say the least. "How are you holding up?" she asks.
He sighs. "Honestly, that was the scariest thing I've ever been through. For a minute I really thought I was going to die."
Rachel swallows. "But you're okay now, and that's what matters."
Kurt nods and is silent for a moment as he thinks to himself. He then smiles. "All I remember before blacking out was Quinn ordering everyone around while you were weeping hysterically and Will was running around like a headless chicken. If I wasn't on the verge of death, I would've laughed."
"Well can you blame me? I was freaking out. And Quinn used to be a cop, remember? I guess she was trying to take control of the situation."
"Someone had to. Remind me to thank her later."
"I will," she says. She leans back in her chair and let's out a long breath.
"I know I'm not supposed to pry about the case, but has Quinn made any progress?"
Rachel nods. "She has a few leads…" she says hesitantly.
"What's wrong?" Kurt asks.
"She really thinks that it's Finn."
"Finn?"
"Yes," she answers quietly.
"Well, do you think that it could be him?"
She frowns even deeper to herself. "I don't want to think that it's him. I don't want to think that the Finn we knew would want to put you in the hospital."
"But it wasn't me he was trying to put in here," Kurt reminds her.
She feels her chest constrict for the thousandth time when she's yet again reminded that it was nearly Quinn that almost ended up here. Or the fact that she could've ended up worse.
"Are you completely sure it's not him?" Kurt asks after a long pause. "You know him better than I do."
"Knew him. We haven't been cordial in years. I don't know him anymore, Kurt."
"Which shows that even you know people change. He could be a completely different person from what he was in high school. And I know you don't want to admit it, but there is the possibility that Quinn is right."
She nods because it's logical, but the younger high school girl in her still refuses to believe it. "Maybe I just have to figure it out for myself," she says, mostly to herself.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurt asks.
She shakes her head and grabs her purse. "Nothing." She stands. "I'll be back a little later, okay?"
"Rachel…" he says warily, "please don't do anything stupid."
She rolls her eyes. "When have I ever done anything stupid?"
"It'll be hours before I get to the end of that list."
Rachel glares at him. "Goodbye, Kurt."
"Kidding. But seriously, don't do anything dramatic. And are you really going to come back later?"
"I said I would."
"Good. I put you down as an emergency contact so you can stay outside of visiting hours, if you want to."
She smiles. "Thanks."
"Oh and can you do me a favor?"
"Of course."
"Can you do everything in your power to make sure Will doesn't come and visit? I know he would drive me up the wall."
She chuckles. "I'll do my best. I don't even know where he is right now." Not that she really cares.
"So I'll see you later?" he asks hopefully.
She nods. "Definitely. Bye, Kurt."
"This is all you have?" Santana flips through the file. "Are you kidding me right now?"
Quinn rubs her temples, ready to throw the other woman out of the apartment. The only thing keeping her from doing so is Brittany's presence. "That's a lot for a single case file. What more do you want?"
"I was telling Santana that we have a couple leads," Brittany offers. They were all sat at the desk. Quinn and Santana are on opposite ends because if they were any closer, someone was likely to get hurt.
"Yeah, and they're nothing solid."
"But it's a start," Quinn says.
"Alright, well let's start with this. Your main guy, Finn Hudson, wasn't even there last night. His alibi checks out."
"He's not the only suspect. Did you get that list of everyone that was there?"
"I did, and I did a cross-check. The only ones that were there from this file was Mercedes Jones and Kitty Wilde. And there's no way in hell I'm going after Mercedes Jones. She has some of the biggest connections in town, and I'll be lucky if I can get a job working in mall security after this."
"Rachel was adamant about looking into her," Quinn says with a sigh. This is one thing she can agree with Santana on.
"She's off the list," Santana says with no room for argument. "So we start with Kitty Wilde."
"I spoke to her once. I didn't get much out of her, but it's pretty clear that she still has some resentment towards Rachel."
"Then I guess I should pay her a visit." Santana tosses the file in front of Quinn. "Make a copy of this."
Quinn takes it with a roll of her eyes and stomps over to the copy machine. As she scans everything, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Santana staring at her with her arms crossed. "What?" she says.
"Is there something else you're not telling me, Fabray?"
She turns to look at her. "Like what?"
"Gee, I don't know. You're pretty hell-bent on proving this is Finn Hudson's work. Why is that?"
"It's just because Finn is Rachel's ex-boyfriend and Quinn really likes her," Brittany says. Quinn throws her a look.
"I think there's more to it than that," Santana says to her girlfriend. "Like maybe Quinn here has something on him that she's not sharing."
Quinn clenches her jaw. She can't tell Santana about her talks with Jacob Ben Israel without risking getting thrown in jail, which the other woman would be delighted to do. She she does her best to keep her expression stoic. "It's just a hunch. I have a feeling about this guy." She hands over a new file with copies of everything to Santana.
"Uh huh." Santana snatches it out of her hand. "We'll see about that. Now if you'll excuse me, someone has to make progress on this case." She leans down to give Brittany a quick peck. Quinn grimaces. "Also, you should know that we're keeping an eye on your girlfriend."
Quinn furrows her brow. "Thanks?" At least she knows now that Rachel will be safe when she's not around.
After standing in front of the door for over five minutes, accepting that she won't be able to muster up the courage if she doesn't just get this over with, Rachel raises her hand and finally knocks on it.
"Just a second," the voice on the other side calls out.
She takes a step back and frowns as she looks around the apartment complex. This was the address that Tina gave her. She's not sure what exactly she was expecting. When the door opens, she clears her throat, and says, "Hello, Finn."
"Rachel?" For some reason, he seems even taller compared to the last time she saw him, which probably isn't possible. His features have matured a bit, but he still has the same youthful face she's always known. "What are you doing here?" he asks, surprised at the sudden visit.
"I was wondering if we could talk? Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah! Of course. Come in." He turns and accidentally bumps into the doorframe in his nervousness. He then steps aside and gestures for her to go in.
She surveys the small apartment. It's messy, in a typical boy way. It reminded her of the way his bedroom looked when they were in high school.
Finn's cheeks turn red as he scratches the back of his neck. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone to come by."
"Did I come at a bad time?"
He shakes his head and stuffs his hands into his pockets and mumbles, "I wasn't doing anything today."
She nods. She looks at the couch and briefly contemplates sitting down, but decides against it. She doesn't know how long she'll be here for.
"Did you want something? Like to… drink? I have water and—"
"No thank you," she says with a smile.
He nods and looks down at the floor. He silently shifts back and forth on his feet for a moment before he says, "I heard about what happened to Kurt. Is he doing okay?"
"Kurt's okay," she answers. "They got to him just in time. He's going to be fine."
"Yeah. I would go visit him, but I don't know if he would want to see me."
Rachel doesn't answer because she doesn't know either. "I'll tell him that you wish him well."
"Cool, thanks." He sighs to himself. "A couple cops came by earlier to talk to me. They didn't say why, but after I found out about Kurt on the news, I figured that was why."
She frowns. "What did they say?"
"They just wanted to know where I was last night."
"Oh." She clears her throat.
"So they think I have something to do with… whatever is going on with you?"
"I don't know what the police think."
"Well, it's what Quinn Fabray thinks."
Her head snaps up to him. She doesn't like the way he says Quinn's name. "She works with me."
"Yeah, I know she's like an investigator or something," Finn says. "She came to talk to me." A hint of annoyance laces his voice.
"It's her job, Finn."
"And she's been following me." Disbelief flashes across his eyes. "Are you telling her to follow me?"
"I don't tell her what to do. I just hired her for this investigation, and she does what she feels is necessary."
"Do you think I have something to do with all of this? With Kurt? With you?"
"Everyone in my life has to be looked at. And—"
"That's not what I asked you, Rachel." His voice begins to rise. It doesn't sound angry, just full of sorrow and heartbreak. He steps closer and opens his mouth to speak again, but stops and closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath. "Sorry."
Rachel realizes she subconsciously moved away from him in fear. She was never afraid of him before, and she feels ridiculous now. "It's okay," she says softly.
"Why are you here?" he blurts. "I mean, is there a reason you came by?"
She shrugs. "I don't know. We haven't talked much since I moved back, and I just wanted to see how you're doing."
"I could be doing better, but," he gestures around the apartment, "I'm doing okay."
Rachel nods. "Look, I understand if you hate me, Finn."
"I don't hate you," he says. "Yeah, what happened sucked. But it's not like it's your fault you're not into guys. I just wish you would've told me. Maybe it wasn't real to you, but it was to me."
"Our relationship was real," she says. "I was just trying to figure everything out."
"And you couldn't at least talk to me about it?"
"I didn't want to hurt you." She crosses her arms and looks down at the floor. "I knew talking to you about it would've just upset you."
"Well it still hurt."
Rachel sighs. "I don't think I ever properly apologized, but I'm truly sorry, Finn. Even before we dated, you were a great friend to me. Before Kurt, you were my only friend, and I took that for granted. If I could go back and do things over, I would. But I can't, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Finn's face softens. He shrugs. "It was a long time ago. I'm over it."
"And I'm also sorry if me being here brings out bad memories." She picks up her purse. "I should go."
She turns to leave, but freezes when he puts a hand on her shoulder. "Rach, wait." When she makes no move to leave, he says, "I know that I was pissed for a while. And I know that you're going through some stuff right now." He pauses. "But I'll always care about you, and I would never hurt you. I just want you to know that."
Rachel turns her head to look at him. "I believe you." And she does.
With that, she leaves.
Quinn pounds on the door. "Open up, Israel!" She's been knocking on Jacob Ben Israel's door for several minutes now. She went by his work only to discover that he never showed up today. This was the next place she went to find him. "I swear to God if I find out you're in there, I'm going to throw you down these stairs!"
"Whoa, that's a little violent, don't you think?"
She whips her head around to see Santana approaching her. "What are you doing here?"
"No, what are you doing here?"
Quinn glances at the door then back at the detective. "I came to see someone, but I guess they're not home."
"And would this happen to pertain to Rachel Berry's case?"
She dodges the question. "Did you seriously follow me here?"
"Yes."
"I thought you were going to see Kitty Wilde."
"I will," Santana says, clearly loving how much she's getting on Quinn's nerves.
"Then why are you wasting time following me around?"
"Because I know you're withholding information," she looks at the door, "and I told you I'm going to find out what it is."
Quinn shakes her head. "Whatever." She walks off, only to have the other woman right behind her.
As they descend the stairs, Santana says, "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about. Did you ever consider the possibility that there's more than one person involved?"
Once they reach the bottom, Quinn turns to face her with a frown. "More than one person?"
"Yes, genius. You know I have a masters in psychology—"
"You've only mentioned that a thousand times."
"—which means I'm sort of an expert in profiling. And when I was looking through the file, I noticed that everything seems pretty inconsistent to be the work of just one person."
"So what you're saying is a group of people could be working together and conspiring against Rachel?"
"It's not too far-fetched. She's not exactly a ball of sunshine. I'm sure there's a lot of people that hate her." Santana wrinkles her nose. "Maybe you two really are made for each other."
"I get your point," Quinn interrupts.
Santana smirks. "Did this seriously never cross your mind?"
"Of course it did," Quinn says, trying not to look stupid.
"I'm sure. With that being said, this means we have to be looking at everyone Rachel associates with, past and present. If you're so sure it's someone she went to high school with, they could easily be working with someone she met after that hates her just as much."
Quinn nods as she thinks thinks out loud, "Maybe if we can find just one, we can find out whoever else there is."
Santana shrugs. "Let's hope it's that easy."
"Rachel Berry here to see Ms. Sylvester," Rachel says warmly. It's futile because she's still met with a look of annoyance from Becky.
"I'll let her know you're here," the assistant says. Rachel sighs and takes a seat.
Will bursts into the room, out of breath, and says, "Sorry I'm late." He turns and smiles. "Hey, Becky."
"Go away, Schuester." He frowns and sits next to Rachel.
"So why are we here?" Rachel asks. Will had called her as soon as she left Finn's to meet him here.
"I don't know. Sue called me up and said we had to get here as soon as possible because she needed to talk to us about something."
Dread suddenly takes over her. "Do you think she's dropping me as her client? After last night?"
Will clasps his hands together and lets out a long breath. He seems just as worried. "I have no idea, Rachel."
"How did she sound on the phone?"
"The way Sue always sounds: angry and annoyed."
"I heard that!" Becky yells. "Lock it up."
Rachel pouts and sinks lower into her seat. This could possibly be the end of her career. What other agent would want to take her on after this? Sue Sylvester was not only known for producing stars, but also ruining them. "This is a disaster." She begins hyperventilating.
"Rachel, calm down," Will whispers harshly.
A door can be heard being thrown open. "Berry! Schuester! Get in here now!"
They both hurry out of their seats and quickly scamper to the agent's office. Rachel is still in panic mode, and it worsens as soon as she's face to face with Sue. "Listen, I don't know how this happened and I don't know why either and this isn't even my fault and it's definitely not Kurt's fault. Please don't—"
"Shush!" Sue rubs her temple. "I always get a headache when you're around. And that's not a coincidence. I haven't even given you the good news yet and you're already yammering away."
"Good news?" Rachel and Will say at the same time.
Sue nods. "Where is Porcelain, by the way? I kind of like staring at his oddly feminine features."
Rachel frowns. "…in the hospital."
"That's right! I heard that on the news this morning." Sue smiles and points at Rachel. "And this is great publicity, by the way. Your name was trending on Twitter for a while."
"Well he's fine, in case you were concerned."
"Rachel!" Will hisses.
Sue waves them off. "I have a conference call coming up, so I'm going to make this quick. You got that part."
"What!" Rachel shrieks. "I got the part?"
"That's what I just said, isn't it?" Sue shakes her head while mumbling all sorts of insults. "The studio called me this morning. It seems they made this decision even before last night's incident, so I guess you really blew them away at both auditions."
Rachel can't contain her excitement. "This is amazing!"
"Yeah, all I'm hearing is you talking, and I want to hear no talking."
She clamps her mouth shut, but her beaming smile remains.
Sue puts on her glasses as she looks at her computer screen. "I've arranged for you to meet with the producers on Friday morning. You will then do all of the administrative paperwork. Pay negotiations, filming schedules, things like that. Basically, this is when you officially accept the part."
Rachel nods fervently. "I know how this works."
"Good. I'm going to let them know that we have an agreement. Word is going to get out that you've been offered the part, and you should know this could conflict with any auditions you have in the near future."
"She doesn't have anything big coming up," Will says.
"I see." Sue takes off her glasses. "So now that I've relayed everything to you, get out of my office."
They leave the building. Rachel pulls her phone out and starts typing her message to Kurt. "I can't believe this is happening!" she squeals. Her first major starring role… she was losing hope that this day would come.
Will nods as he types on his own phone. "We need to make sure you're prepped for this role. You have to know that script inside and out. And you can't have anymore distractions."
Rachel rolls her eyes. "I know that."
"How is Fabray doing on the case?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"Because I need to know these things," he snaps, not happy with her answer.
"I'm sure they're making progress."
"What kind of progress? She has to keep me filled in, too."
Rachel takes a step back as she looks at him. "Last I checked, she doesn't work for you. And this doesn't involve you."
"Like hell it doesn't."
"You weren't the one that was nearly murdered last night, Will."
"Yeah? And it's not over, Rachel. They didn't succeed, and they're just going to try again."
She moves back even further. Being near him suddenly makes her nervous, and his words only send chills down her spine. She doesn't want to be alone with him. "I have to go."
"What?" He becomes confused. "We still have to go—"
"I don't care," she says. "I'm taking the rest of the day off."
She turns his back to him before he can say anything else and rushes to her car without looking back.
Quinn slowly lifts her face from the desk, then promptly drops her forehead against the hard wood. She repeats this action over and over.
Brittany comes out of her room and looks at Quinn. "You're still doing that? You're going to give yourself a concession."
"It's concussion," Quinn answers. She lifts her head and looks at her friend. "I seriously don't know what I'm doing anymore."
"Relax, it's just a brain fart. I get those sometimes." Brittany sits down next to her. "Is this about what you and Santana talked about earlier?"
Quinn nods. "I feel like I've been looking at everything wrong."
Brittany shrugs. "So… now just look at everything right!" She pulls out her phone and busies herself.
Quinn smiles. Leave it to Brittany to simplify everything.
"Oh hey, there's some news about Rachel on here."
Quinn sits up. "What is it?"
"It says she got a huge offer or something." Without thinking, Quinn snatches the phone from her. "Hey!"
Smiling as she skims through the news article, Quinn says to herself, "She got the part."
Brittany grabs her phone back. "That's good, right?"
"It's great, Britt."
"You should congratulate her."
Not needing to be told twice, Quinn hurries to her room and dials Rachel's number. It was already late, and she hasn't talked to Rachel since that morning. She's been so wrapped up all day that she's not surprised she didn't hear about this.
She furrows her brow when it hits her that Rachel hasn't personally told her yet.
The line rings and the brunette picks up right away. "Hello?"
"Hey," Quinn says with a smile. She notices that Rachel sounds out of breath. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm just walking into the hospital. I'm staying with Kurt for tonight."
"Oh."
"Is everything okay?"
Remembering why she called, she says, "I heard you got that part. Congratulations."
"Thank you." She hears shuffling for a moment before Rachel says, "Sorry. I was going to call and tell you, but I've been really busy today."
"Don't even worry," Quinn says. "But I'm really happy for you. I know how hard you've been working for this."
"And it finally paid off. I'm still in shock."
Quinn laughs. "I bet. You're going to be amazing."
Rachel is quiet. Quinn is about to ask if she's still there when she says, "You know, we should celebrate."
Not missing the suggestive tone, Quinn lifts an eyebrow and responds with, "Yes, we should. What did you have in mind?"
"I have a few things in mind. Maybe we can talk more about it tomorrow?"
Quinn swallows. "I'll call you."
"Good." Rachel sighs. "Okay, go get some sleep. I can't wait to see you."
"Me too. And tell Kurt I said hi."
"I will."
"Okay. Bye, Rachel."
"Bye, Quinn."
After Rachel hangs up with Quinn, she grabs her bag and pushes the door to Kurt's room open. "Hey," she says with a smile. She settles down on the couch by the bed.
"So they said they can release me tomorrow," Kurt says.
"Looks like you'll have my company to enjoy until then."
Kurt chuckles, then frowns at her. "Is everything okay? You sounded a little weird on the phone."
She nods. "I'm fine. I just didn't want to be alone tonight." It was true. She was overcome with that familiar feeling of being watched again. She knew she would've only felt better if she was with someone else, so she called Kurt.
"I'm glad you're here. It's nice to have someone that's not a nurse hanging around."
Rachel laughs. "Have you been bored?"
"Oh, don't get me started."
Hours later, in the middle of the night, Rachel and Kurt are both fast asleep in the hospital room. Silently, Rachel's phone goes off in her bag with a new message from a blocked number.
Take that part and you're dead!
A/N: Thank you for reading. Not spoiling anything, but there's going to be one big reveal next chapter :)
Also, I've mapped out the rest of the story and you should all know that there is going to be a total of 15 chapters.
Feel free to let me know what you think so far!