Actions Speak Louder Than Words – Chapter 10
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)
Warning: This chapter contains violence, harsh language, and multiple deaths. Rating has been changed to M.
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On Saturday morning Rachel and Finn were up early. Beth hadn't figured out how escape from the blue Pack and Play in Kurt and Blaine's room and she was crying loudly.
"How did you sleep, baby girl?" Finn cooed to Beth as he wiped the tears from her face. "Are you hungry? How did you like Uncle Kurt's room?"
"It is kind of scary in here," Finn said almost to himself looking around the room. It was obvious which half of the room was Kurt's and which half was Blaine's. Blaine's side looked like a guy's room, and Kurt's side looked like his and Kurt's original room in the Hummel basement, only worse.
"We need to get a head start if we're going to see everything that I have planned for today," Rachel said spooning some oatmeal into Beth.
"Rachel, you're going to be here three maybe four years going to school. Then you have Broadway ahead of you. We have plenty of time to see it all. Beth's just two years old, and she still needs her afternoon nap. I would like to sit down and have a talk with Monty while we're here. How about it if you pick one thing near here, and let's do that this morning? I want to see it all with you, just not in one day," Finn suggested.
"Okay Finn, I see your point," Rachel agreed. "The Children's Museum of Manhattan is close by and it'll probably take all morning. Everything else on my list will require a taxi cab and a car seat, and I really would like for you to have a sit down talk with Monty."
"Thanks Babe," Finn said leaning down to give Rachel a quick kiss before he headed for the shower.
"Finn, I forgot to tell you, but the water's rusty and the hot water is very cold when you first turn it on," Rachel said as she stuck her head in the bathroom door.
"Oh, I wish you had told me that two minutes ago," Finn said as he struck his head around the shower curtain. His teeth were chattering.
"I'm sorry; just like the AC it takes a while for the hot water to get up here. Most days I have a luke warm shower," Rachel apologized.
When Rachel returned to the kitchen, Beth had dumped her oatmeal out and was having a good time playing in it.
"Leave the shower running when you get through," Rachel yelled at Finn through the shower curtain.
"Are you getting in?" Finn asked.
"We have to give your daughter a bath," Rachel shouted back while Finn looked around the shower curtain to see Rachel and Beth with oatmeal all over both of them.
Finn laughed and said, "My daughter? What happened to our daughter? Haven't you learned that you can't leave her alone with food?"
As Finn was getting dressed, Rachel advised him to wear his most comfortable walking shoes, "New York is a walking city, and will you please put some sunscreen on Beth? While you're doing that I'll call Monty and have him get the stroller out of the storage room downstairs."
Downstairs they met Monty with the stroller ready to go.
"Thanks for getting that out for us," Finn said to Monty. "We'll be back for lunch if you'd like to get together and talk. Beth will be taking her afternoon nap this afternoon."
"I don't want to take you away from your family since you're only going to be here for a few days, but I really would like to ask you a few questions," Monty asked.
"I have some questions for you too," Finn nodded. "Rachel has your number in her cell phone; I'll call you when Beth goes down for her nap."
They headed in the direction of the Children's Museum of Manhattan with Finn pushed Beth's stroller with one hand while holding Rachel's hand with the other.
"I'm sorry that I booked this afternoon to get together with Monty. I would much rather take a nap with you while Beth's takes her nap," Finn apologized with a smile.
"It's alright. You need to sit down and talk this out with Monty before you go back to Lima. We still have tonight," Rachel smiled up at Finn.
Arriving at the museum Finn had to check Beth's stroller at the door. Getting a map, Rachel took Beth to the Playworks area on the third floor first. Beth was a little afraid of Alphy the talking baby dragon that ate alphabet blocks at first, but she took right off on the crawling obstacle course. Finn whined until Rachel agreed to let him take Beth out to the City Splash area.
Rachel stood back and took pictures of Finn and Beth racing their boats down the water chutes. Carole was going to love these pictures of her son. Finn was the biggest kid there. When they finished Finn was wet and Beth was soaking wet. It was time to head back to the apartment for a sandwich.
After lunch Rachel gave her cell phone to Finn so he could call Monty. She would get Beth into a dry sleeper and put her down for a nap. While Finn was gone and Beth was sleeping Rachel was going to work on her assignments for Introduction to Musical Theater. She had never made a B before in her life, and she had to pull it up before finals.
Finn knocked on Monty's door and was surprised by how cool his apartment was.
"Man are you hogging all the AC down here," Finn asked when Monty opened the door.
"Nah, my apartment is right above the HVAC unit in the basement. The noise from it helps to drown out the noise from the street, but the first floor is always cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter," Monty said inviting Finn in.
"Can I get you something to drink? I know that you're probably underage, but I have soda and water," Monty asked.
"A soda will be just fine," Finn said as he noticed the copied newspaper clippings about the Viet Nam War that were thumb tacked to the wall.
Monty returned with the soda and offered Finn a seat. "We both know why we're here; would you like to go first?" Monty asked point blank.
"Before we get into anything, I just want to tell you that I have the best, most tender-hearted mom in the world at home. She took losing Dad very hard, and it took her years to get over it. She has finally made peace with the past, and is happy. If telling her about you will cause her even a moment's pain, I won't do it," Finn explained.
"What do you mean?" Monty asked.
"I'm afraid that when she sees you, it's going to bring up too much of the past. She says that I look just like my dad, and you look like a forty year old version of me. I don't want her to think that the ghosts from the past have come back."
"Actually, I'm forty-five. If you're uncomfortable telling her about me, then please don't. She doesn't ever have to know that I exist," Monty said with a hint of sadness to his voice.
"But if you really are my uncle, I want to know you," Finn said. "All my life I have felt like there was a piece who I am that was missing. I'm not asking for you to replace my dad because you can't, but I think both of us might be good for each other. I have lost so much, and you have lost even more."
"Finn, I don't have much of money. Just a few thousand dollars in the bank and a paid-up burial insurance policy. If you think that I might be your dad's half-brother, then I'm willing to pay for one of those DNA tests that you see advertised on TV. I have no one in this world, and the possibility that I might have someone is worth the money to me. And if you think I am trying to latch onto your family tree for your money or something like that, I'm not. I make a good wage here, and I'm happy doing what I do," Monty said trying to reassure Finn of his intentions.
"No, I never thought that. My mom works shifts at the hospital. She drives a ten year old car, and up until recently we lived in a shoe box of a house. She recently married Kurt's dad, and they bought a bigger house for all of us. It's mortgaged to the max," Finn told Monty.
Finn paused and then redirected his questions. "Now that we've set the ground rules, why don't you tell me everything that you know about your dad?" Finn asked.
"I don't know a lot because my mom, Margaret Montgomery would never talk about my dad. I didn't know that much about him until after she died, and I found all of those letters and newspaper clippings. All I know is that they were seeing each other before he was shipped off to Viet Nam after basic training. From the letter that his buddy sent to her, my dad was captured by the Viet Kong on his first patrol after he got there. All of her letters to him were returned by the Army, and since they weren't married, the Army never told her anything. She wouldn't have known that he was a POW if she hadn't contacted his Army buddy after the war was over. What hurt her the most was that my father never contacted her when the war ended and the POWs came home."
"If this guy Joe in these letters really is my Grandpa Joe, I might be able to answer that. From what my mom has told me, Grandpa Joe was brain washed in addition to being beaten and tortured by the Viet Kong. My Grandma Ann met him in the hospital, and she said that he was pretty messed up at the time. He spent months at Walter Reid Army Hospital and then a longer time in a psychiatric hospital. She said that he recovered from his physical injuries, but he never fully healed from the mental ones. I'm not making excuses for my grandfather, but it's possible that he lost his memories of those years."
"Tell me what you remember about him," Monty asked.
"Grandpa Joe and Grandma Ann lived on her father's dairy farm outside of Lima. Except for Grandma Ann, Mom, and me, he preferred the company of animals over people. They had a storm cellar for tornadoes and storms. Whenever he heard the first crack of thunder, he would huddle us into that cellar. The man was never really still, but when he was his hands trembled," Finn told Monty.
"How long has he been dead?" Monty asked.
"He died when I was about ten, and Grandma Ann died not long after that. The farm had belonged to Grandma Ann's father. When it was sold, everything went for back taxes and bills. They're both buried in Lima," Finn said sadly.
"Do you have any pictures of him?" Monty asked Finn.
"I brought what I could find without Mom realizing that they were missing. Here's one of Grandpa Joe and my dad right before Dad left for Desert Storm. If you notice my dad is smiling, and Grandpa Joe looks like he's about to cry," Finn said handing him the picture.
Monty studied the picture for a few moments. "Do you mind if I take this picture down the street and have a copy made of it? I'll get it back to you before you head home tomorrow," Monty asked.
"Sure, just get it back to me so I can put it back before Mom notices that's it gone." Finn paused a moment before he asked Monty the other question that was on his mind.
"Monty, can you tell me anything about Rachel's apartment upstairs? She pulled the carpet up looking for that smell and the hardwood floor is stained with something that looks like blood."
"My wife Anya and I lived in apartment 333 when we were first married. She was in this country with The Royal Ballet of Russia. She was their Prima Ballerina. I met her while working at the Gershwin. We were both teen-agers, and she thought she wanted to defect to the United States. This was during the Cold War before the Russian Block broke up. The US Embassy wouldn't grant her asylum so we ran off and got married so she could get a green card and stay in this country."
Monty continued, "We were happy at first, but The Royal Ballet soon replaced her as their Prima Ballerina and returned to Moscow without her. That's when reality hit her. She was treated like royalty in Russia and in this country she wasn't. The American critics gave her bad reviews. They all said that she was too tall to be a leading ballerina. She became angry and depressed, and she took it out on me. That blood on the floor in the apartment is mine. Anya was in a rage one night and threw a knife at me among other things. She hit me in the neck with the knife and then ran out. You can still see the scar right over my collar bone. That was the last time that I ever saw her. If Miss Sallie's son Marcus hadn't heard the noise and found me I would have bled to death."
"I have tried everything to get that stain out of the wood, but nothing works short of replacing the boards. As for the smell, I think that a rat must have died under the floor. I use a lot of rat poison in the basement, and this building is old. The rats come in from the sewers," Monty concluded.
"Do you have anything else that you would like to know about me?" Monty asked Finn.
"Not at the moment, and I really need to get back upstairs to Rachel and Beth. Our plane doesn't leave until two tomorrow afternoon if you have anything else that you would like to ask me," Finn offered as he got up to leave.
"I'll be here, and I'll make sure that I get this photo of your dad and your grandfather back to you before you leave," Monty said offering Finn his hand.
"There's one more thing in case Rachel and her friends didn't tell you, I drink," Monty said forthrightly. "I don't drink everyday, but when the loneliness and the loss get the best of me, I drink too much. I'm not proud of it. I try to be a harmless drunk, but I have done some things that I really don't remember, and I have sobered up in some strange places. It doesn't happen very often, but it has happened."
"Monty, you didn't have to tell me that, I already knew it. Thank you for being straight with me," Finn said returning Monty's handshake.
Upstairs Beth was still asleep, and Finn was met by the smell of vegetable lasagna in the oven.
"Hi, Babe," Rachel greeted Finn with a quick kiss. "We've been eating out so much; I thought that I would cook tonight. There's an ice cream shop near by that sells vegan ice cream if you would like to go out later this evening."
"That sounds like a great idea. Has Beth been asleep the whole time that I've been gone?" Finn asked.
"She finally went down after two and a half stories. How did your visit with Monty go? Did you find out what you wanted to know?" Rachel asked.
"I think so. He isn't claiming to be my uncle, but he would like to know if he has any family in the world. He didn't know a lot about his dad until after his mother died. Monty married this Russian dancer who basically used him to get a green card, and then she ran out on him."
"Monty told me that the blood stains on the hardwood floor in your room are his. On the night that she left she threw a knife at him and it hit him in the neck. He has a nasty scar to show for it. If Miss Sallie's son Marcus hadn't heard all the noise and found him he would have bled to death."
"Miss Sallie told me about their fights and how she would curse him in Russian and throw dishes at him," Rachel said shaking her head.
"Well apparently she threw more than dishes," Finn said sadly.
"Finn, do you think he's your uncle?"
"I'm almost certain of it. He told you the POW story before he ever knew anything about my family, and it checks out with what Mom told me about my Grandpa Joe. He also has those old letters from Viet Nam. And he and I look too much alike for it to be a coincidence," Finn said nodding his head.
"Are you going to tell your mom about him?" Rachel asked.
"I haven't decided. The drinking bothers me, but maybe if he had a connection to someone, the loneliness wouldn't have such a hold on him, and he wouldn't feel the need to drink. I just hope that Kurt and Blaine don't let it slip while they're in Lima this weekend."
"Kurt knows how important this is to you, and I asked him not to say anything before he left," Rachel reassured Finn.
"Thanks Rach, you think of everything," Finn smiled at her.
Finn, Rachel, and Beth were eating their dinner when they heard the last faltering gasps of the air conditioning before it quit.
"Oh, no!" Rachel fumed, "Not now! That thing goes out at the worst possible times. I'll call Monty, and see if he can fix that pile of scrap metal one more time."
"Rachel, it's okay. Beth and I are used to warm weather and you have two box fans," Finn said trying to appease Rachel.
Rachel called Monty while Finn finished feeding Beth and clearing the table.
"Monty says the AC in the whole building is off, and the HVAC's problems are beyond his expertise this time. It's after five on a Saturday so getting a repair man here now would require an act of congress."
"Like I said, it's no big deal for us. We can take a walk around the neighborhood and get some of that ice cream that you were talking about," Finn reminded her. "If it gets too hot, we can sit out on your fire escape. That's something I've never done before. You can show me where you sit when you look up at the moon the same time that I do."
After dinner the three went down to the lobby to retrieve the stroller. The door to the basement was open, and they could hear someone banging down there.
Finn called down the steps, "Do you need a hand, I know a thing or two about fixing cars and water heaters?"
Monty walked to the base of the steps and called up to Finn, "I don't think this thing has any more life in it. It's time for the owners of this building to buy a new unit. I have nursed this thing along for years, but the compressor is shot. I'll get an AC man out here as soon as possible, but it looks hopeless to me. Thanks, anyway."
"No problem man," Finn said as they left to find the ice cream shop that Rachel had been talking about.
After their ice cream they walked for a while and just enjoyed the New York night.
"Finn, do you think you and Beth could really be happy living here in New York?" Rachel asked looking up at Finn.
"We would be happy any place that you are. We'll have the best of both worlds. Living in the city, and going home to Lima to visit the grandparents," Finn smiled down at Rachel.
"I like the sound of that," Rachel sighed. "I know that your Mom couldn't be happier now that she has a grandchild."
"You know that she's already hinting for another one," Finn joked.
"I know, and someday we'll give your mom another one, just not right away. Beth deserves her time being the baby, and she's going to make a great big sister. That's if we ever get her out of the terrible twos," Rachel said looking down at Beth who was sound asleep in the stroller.
"It looks like someone is ready for bed," Finn whispered turning the stroller around and heading back to the apartment.
Finn wedged Kurt and Blaine's box fan into the bedroom window while Rachel got Beth ready for bed. Beth stirred a little, but she was clearly out for the night as Rachel tucked her into the Pack and Play.
Closing the bedroom door, Rachel and Finn then went out to the living room that was now Rachel's bedroom. Finn retrieved the other box fan from Rachel's old room and jammed it into the living room window.
"Rach, would you like to sit out on the fire escape while it cools off in here?" Finn asked. "I brought a magnum of champagne that Puck gave me. Actually I had it when you were home, but Beth ended up sleeping with us. Then I forgot all about it and it was hot," Finn laughed.
"Is that where that bottle of champagne in the frig came from?" I wasn't sure if Blaine or Kurt had put it in there. I don't have any wine glasses, but I do have some vegan friendly cheese and some crackers," Rachel said offering Finn a quick kiss on the lips.
Finn helped Rachel out onto the fire escape through the window in Rachel's old room.
"It's nice out here," Finn said as he opened the champagne. "Puck never told me where he got this stuff, and I didn't ask."
"Good ole Puck. He can usually come up with about anything that's illegal," Rachel laughed as Finn poured the champagne into the paper cups.
"I'm glad that you and Puck are friends again," Rachel said wistfully as she sipped her champagne.
"We'll never be the best friends that we once were, but I'm glad that we can be regular friends for Beth's sake. Besides you're my best friend now," Finn declared as Rachel sat down between his knees on the step below him.
The two weren't accustomed to the effects of the champagne and we're becoming sillier as the evening wore on. They sang and drank and slowly became fairly drunk.
"Rach, I'm sorry, but I gotta pee, and then I need a nap," Finn slurred as he emptied the bottle into his paper cup.
"Wait on me, I'm going with you," Rachel mumbled as the two staggered back through the window leaving it open behind them.
They fell back on top of Rachel's comforter and were soon sound asleep in each other's arms.
The night wore on as they slept off the effects of the champagne. They were sleeping peacefully as the box fan filled the room with cool air. Around three in the morning they were startled by a loud noise in Rachel's old room. Finn sat up the same time Rachel did. He told her to stay there as he went to investigate.
Walking into Rachel's old bedroom it was hard to see. The only light was coming from the flashing red and green neon light across the street. Reaching for the light switch Finn suddenly felt a red hot searing pain hit him in his side.
"Rachel, RUN!" We're the last words Rachel head Finn yell before she heard a thud and then the sounds of someone hitting the floor.
Running into the room Rachel flipped on the lights to see someone raise one of Blaine's dumb bells over their head to strike Finn again.
"NO!" screamed Rachel at the top of her lungs. The figure turned and Rachel could now see who the intruder was.
"Zelda!" Rachel screamed in horror.
Zelda turned back to Finn who was not moving on the floor. Zelda raised the dumb bell even higher and prepared to strike Finn again when she stopped in mid-blow.
Zelda froze with the dumb bell held high over her head when she saw Finn's face. "Monty! What have I done?" Zelda screamed when she saw who she thought was Monty on the floor.
"Please don't hit him again, can't you see that he's dead," Rachel begged frantically.
Turning around to face Rachel, Zelda screamed at her, "You! This is all yours and Monty's fault! This is our home and the two of you have defiled it! He wouldn't be lying there if it weren't for you!
Rachel's mind was racing, but in her panic she made the connection. Zelda was Anya and Anya was Zelda!
"Zelda, it's me Rachel Hudson from your class at Juilliard. Monty's okay, he's downstairs. That's my husband Finn Hudson."
"Liar!" Zelda screamed at Rachel with even more force. "Do you think I don't know my own husband when I see him? Look at what you have made me do to him! I know who you are! You're just another street walking whore like all the others! Monty wouldn't wait for me! He had to bring his whores up here! Here to our home! I'll have to get rid of you just like I got rid of all the others!"
"If that's what you want then please kill me, just please don't hit him again. He's innocent," Rachel begged holding her hands up.
"If that's what you want, then you shall have it!" Zelda screamed as she dropped the dumb bell beside Finn's lifeless body and pulled the knife from his side. When she did it was like pulling a cork from a bottle. The blood escaped from Finn's side even faster.
Rachel stood there paralized prepared to die to save Finn and Beth who was still sleeping in Kurt's room. Closing her eyes, she heard a key turn in the front door and suddenly Monty shoved her aside and was standing between her and Zelda.
"Anya don't!" Monty screamed before she could lunge at Rachel. "Anya it's me Monty! You've come back!"
Anya looked at Finn's pale body and then at Monty, "You sir are also a liar! Just like your little whore! My husband was never an old man like you!"
"No Anya, it's really me, Monty. It's been over twenty years. See I have the scar on my neck to prove it," Monty said pulling his shirt collar back. You hit me with a kitchen knife, but I survived. Why have you waited so long to come?"
"I've come back before, but you always had your dirty little whores living in our apartment. You wouldn't wait for me, so I had to get rid of them for you," Anya said lowering the bloody knife.
Rachel watched in horror as Anya/Zelda stood between her and Finn. Finn didn't move, and he was slowly being surrounded by a pool of his own blood.
"Anya, how many times have you come back?" Monty asked.
"This is the fourth time that I have come to save you from your whores. This one will be the fourth one," Anya said pointing the knife covered in Finn's blood at Rachel.
"What happened to the first three?" Monty asked.
"The first two got away, but that was years ago. I made quick work of the third one," Anya said turning the knife restlessly in her hand.
"What happened to number three?" Monty asked her.
"I wrapped her carefully in her clothes and dumped her down the trash chute in garbage bags," Anya answered unmoved.
"Bags?" Monty asked.
Yes, she was too big to get down the trash chute, so I had to put her down it in pieces. It took most the night. I was almost finished when the neighbors started moving out in the hall at dawn. I had to get rid of the last of her so I pulled up the floor boards in our bed room. Her hands are under there," Anya said pointing to the blood stained floor.
"How long ago was this?" Monty asked.
"Not long ago," Anya answered unblinking.
"Why?" He asked her trying not to let her see him shaking.
"For us," Anya replied lowering her voice.
From the other bedroom, Beth was waking up from all of the noise and screaming. She immediately started crying "Mommy, Daddy," at the top of her lungs.
Anya heard the baby's cries and immediately straightened to her full height.
"So you and one of your whores made a baby did you?" Anya screamed at Monty "Is it this one? Is this whore the one? I wouldn't give you a baby so you found yourself a whore who would? I'll fix it so the two of you never make another one."
Anya raised the knife again and started toward Rachel. Monty lunged and knocked Anya to the floor. The knife flew and Rachel ran to Finn's side.
When Anya hit the floor, her head hit the dumb bell that was lying beside Finn. Her eyes rolled back as a deep gash on the back of head began bleeding. Blood was trickling from her nose and from one ear.
"Anya, where have you been? I have waited all this time." Monty asked Anya as he knelt beside her.
"I never left. I have watched you almost every night when you took out the trash cans. I am your wife. Why did you stop me from killing her?" Anya gasped trying to breathe.
"You stopped being my wife, the moment you hurt my family," Monty said as he stepped away from the dying woman.
Anya took her last breath and was gone.
"Monty, call 911. Finn is badly hurt," Rachel screamed trying to find Finn's pulse.
As they waited for the police and the paramedics, Rachel asked Monty, "How did you know to come?"
"Miss Sallie called me and said that there was trouble in your apartment. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could to find her granddaughter Hannah peeking out their door."
"Beth, I forgot about Beth," Rachel was near hysterical as she continued to hold pressure on Finn's side.
Monty left but soon returned. "Hannah and Miss Sallie have her over at their place."
"Good," Rachel cried inconsolably, "I don't want Beth to remember her daddy like this."
-/- Until the next chapter, please keep reviewing and thank you to all of you who have! I do appreciate your feed back and suggestions. Sincerely, Whistler Nights.