OK folks. I'm putting in a little twisty angst in the story. Don't throw stale Christmas cookies at me. I promise when this story ends, you will all be happy. I'm just not sure when this story will end. So sit back and enjoy. Your reviews are loved.
Finn felt dirty. Tears were streaming down his face. He hated Santana Lopez with all his might and she had to ambush him, touch him and kiss him. All Finn could think about was getting out of town, fast. Heading over to the livery stable, he walked right past Puck, guided Copper out of the stall, lifted himself off and rode bareback out of the stable. A freezing mist was settling over the land and stung his face, but it felt good to him. It was punishment for Santana kissing him. Finn kicked Copper harder, making the horse go faster. Letting out a scream of frustration, Finn didn't see the low hanging branch that hit him squarely in the chest, sending him flying through the air and landing with a thud on the frozen ground.
Finn could feel the warm blood on the back of his head and his chest and legs burning in pain. Things were hazy as he tried to look around him, but he could feel what he thought was blood in his eyes. What have I done? Am I going to die? I need to see Rachel one more time. I have to tell her how much I love her and what she means to me. Please God, I'm not ready to be with my parents. I'm happy for once. Don't punish me. I want nothing to do with Santana. Please God, don't take me away. Let me stay with my angel, my Rachel…
Puck was standing at the stable with a worried look on his face when Rachel walked up after class. "What's wrong Puck? You looked worried." Rachel asked her friend. Over the time she had lived in Lima, Rachel had learned to like and trust Puck. Even though he came on strong, he was a good friend and protector of Finn, so that made him a good man in her eyes.
"Well, Finn came running in here about forty minutes ago, grabbed Copper, and rode him out of here like a bat out of hell. Finn had this absolute look of terror in his eyes. Why was he in town today?"
Rachel didn't like what Puck was saying, "He had a meeting with Santana about some furniture her father commissioned for him to make. They met with Artie at the post office." With that, Puck took off for the post office with Rachel in tow. Puck was going to find out what the hell was going on.
Slamming the door open Puck yelled, "Artie! Where are ya dude?" Artie was being wheeled out of the back by Brittany, his wife.
"Hey Puck, Rachel. What's up?"
"What the hell happened to Finn during your meeting today with Santana? Finn just took off about forty minutes ago on Copper, bareback." When Artie heard that, a concerned look came over his eyes.
"Santana came on to him while we were meeting. From the way Finn jumped, and her hands were on the table, I'd say she used her foot to brush against him rather intimately under the table. When Finn jumped, I told Santana she needed to fill out paperwork to give him an escape. After that, I have no idea, because he walked out and went in the direction of the church."
"I saw him there." Brittany said, "He was looking through the windows at you Rachel. He had a huge smile on his face as he was watching you through the window. That was when I was walking back to the office here."
Puck was looking around at the four adults, "Ok, so from when Brittany saw Finn happy looking at the window, and the time he came running to the livery stable, what happened?" Puck and Rachel were trying to get to the bottom of Finn's behavior when Santana walked in. All four sets of eyes turned to her.
"What? I just came to pick up some paperwork that I left."
Puck was the first to react. Stepping in front of Santana, he placed a hand on her chest to stop her, "What did you do to Finn?"
"Nothing."
"Wrong answer Santana. Artie already told us about what happened here, and I know you too well. You didn't leave him alone did you? You did something to him while he was watching Rachel teach her class, didn't you?" Puck was accentuating each word by poking Santana. Puck was raised not to hit women, but every fiber of his being was screaming at him to hit her. "Tell us the truth Santana. No more of your damned games. What did you do to him!"
"I felt his junk and kissed him, telling him I was giving him a taste of a real woman. He…"Santana didn't have a chance to finish her statement because Brittany hit her, closed fist, right in the nose. When Santana righted herself, Brittany then slapped her across the cheek, causing the Latina's nose to bleed and her eye to turn red.
Rachel was about to say something when Kurt, the livery stables owner's young son came running in to find Puck. "Puck, Mr. Finn's horse Copper just came back to the stable with no Mr. Finn. He's got some fresh scratches on him that are bleeding. Dad said to come get you!"
Rachel and Puck went running to the stable, with Brittany and Artie close behind. Copper was nervously stamping the ground. Along his left side there were deep scratches that looked to be caused by branches or thorns. Burt, the owner, was calming the horse down with some carrots and trying to look at the scratches. Puck took one look at Copper, he grabbed a saddled horse and took off riding in the last direction he had seen Finn.
Rachel was scared to death. Finn was gone. There was no trace of him and Copper was all scratched up. It was cold with a freezing rain coming down. What happened to Finn? Rachel didn't think she would be able to go on if anything happened to Finn. He was her hero, the man that saved her. Rachel had always felt that she was happy with her life of travel and performing, but when she found Finn, she learned that she wasn't really happy. She had, in some ways, been just like Finn, and going through the motions. When she spent those first twenty-four hours with him, she had never been so happy. Food tasted better, her touch was more acute, things smelled unbelievable, and his smell was unbelievable. Rachel said a quiet prayer to god to keep Finn safe until Puck found him.
Burt's voice brought Rachel out of her thoughts. "Kurt, go get the doc. If Finn is hurt, then he needs to be here when Puck brings him back, so go get him Kurt. Tell him Finn could be seriously hurt." Kurt took off running out of the stable. Brittany sat next to Rachel, holding her hand, trying to comfort her the best she could. Rachel just smiled at her friend, not knowing what else to do.
Puck was traveling down a small lane that ran along the woods. It wasn't a regularly used path, but there were fresh hoof marks in the icy snow. The path was getting slick. Riding for another fifteen minutes, which in Puck's mind took forever, he saw a dark lump on the white ground, with broken branches around it. Slowing his horse down even more, Puck jumped off to investigate. Looking down, Puck saw the snow stained red and his friend Finn laying their contorted, his eyes just staring up at the sky.
Falling down by his friend, Puck felt for a heartbeat, and thanked god there was one, even though it was very faint. Puck pulled his coat off and covered Finn with it to keep him warm. Puck grabbed his horse and had the horse kneel down, which was hard, and then picked Finn up, draping him over the saddle. Puck knew the horse would have trouble with both men on him, but walking the horse would take too long and Finn could die. Jumping up on the horse and sitting it far on the hump, Puck dug his heels in and set the horse on a gallop.
Dr. Lopez was waiting impatiently at the livery stable for a patient that wasn't even there. All the heads turned when they heard the sound of a galloping horse. Burt opened up the door to Puck bringing in an unconscious Finn. Rachel screamed when she saw the lifeless Finn draped over the horse, his hair matted in blood. Artie grabbed Rachel as she started to fall and set her on his lap, allowing her to cry uncontrollably onto his shoulder, while his wife stroked her hair and whispered to her softly.
Dr. Lopez took one look at Finn and started instructing Burt, Puck and Kurt to grab different things. The fire was stoked to create more heat, and blankets were laid in front of it. After placing Finn on the blankets, his clothes were stripped and more blankets were placed on top to try to bring his body temperature up. Washing the blood off of him, Dr. Lopez saw the gashes on Finn's chest and face and determined that they were not life threatening or serious, but the gash in the back of his head was. Not able to adequately get to the gash, Dr. Lopez asked for Burt's shears and closely cropped Finn's brown hair so that he could get to the gash better.
Dr. Lopez stitched the gash in Finn's head, and took a bright light to Finn's pupil. After examining them, Dr. Lopez let out a sigh, "What's wrong Doctor? Is Finn going to live?" Artie asked, knowing that there was no way Rachel would be able to. Rachel picked up her head and looked at the doctor, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.
"He will hopefully be fine. His pupils do react to light, which is very good, but he does have a head injury. Right now his body is going to stay unconscious until it heals itself, so I don't know how long he will be like this. His body temperature is coming up too, which is good, because I was afraid hypothermia would set in. We will need to move him to a better place than here, but the manor is too far away. I don't want him in the cold anymore than he needs to be."
Brittany spoke before anyone, "He and Rachel can stay at Artie's and my house. We can sleep in the back room at the post office. That way he will also be near you doctor if something happens." The doctor nodded, and Rachel just started crying more, giving her friend a huge hug of thanks.
Burt and Puck carefully moved Finn to the Abrams' house and Rachel got Finn situated in the big bed he had made for them. The doctor took Finn's vital signs again and gave Rachel instructions. Rachel looked at Finn's pale face and now very short hair. The gash on his cheek and temple were red and mean looking. Rachel decided she couldn't take it anymore, and crawled in bed with Finn, curling up to his cold body, hoping her warmth would transfer to him.
As Dr. Lopez walked out of the Abram's house, Puck stopped him dead in his track. "Dr. Lopez, I need to talk to you about what happened to Finn. This was an accident, but one that was caused by your daughter."
"What do you mean Puckerman? My daughter had nothing to do with that man being hit by a branch while riding."
"Yes she did sir. She was the reason he was riding bareback in the frickin winter like hell on earth. YOUR daughter has been coming onto Finn every time he is in town. When she met with him today, she brushed his foot against his groin, making him jump, and then when he was watching his fiancé teach, your daughter grabbed his groin, kissed him and propositioned him to join her in her bed. And this came from your own daughter's mouth. She knows he wants nothing to do with her, but she keeps pursuing him and this is what happened." Puck's voice was even and strong. He was going to finally put that slut Santana in her place. She wasn't a saint and her father needed to know it.
"What are you accusing my daughter of Puckerman?" Dr. Lopez was trying to intimidate Puck, but Puck didn't care and wasn't going to be intimidated.
"Your daughter is a slut, and sleeps with any man that will have her, often climbing through her window at night. Your daughter went after the one man that wouldn't even look at her, and when she was lewd with him, sent him in a terror that caused him to be in an accident because he probably couldn't think straight due to shame, that he shouldn't have been feeling."
With that, Puck walked away, heading to the Abram's to check on Finn and Rachel. When he walked in, he saw Rachel curled up against Finn, but she wasn't asleep. "Hey you. How is he?"
"Cold, but breathing. I'm going to need to go take care of the animals…"
Puck shook his head, "Burt and Kurt were going out there to do that for you and to grab you some necessities. Burt said they'd take care of the animals for you until Finn was better. You just take care of this big guy. He's finally found happiness with you, and I want to be able to embarrass the hell out of him on your wedding day, so get him warm." Puck leaned down and kissed Rachel on the top of her head and patted Finn, leaving the two.
As the night went on, Rachel could feel Finn stir a little as he got warmer. Finally hoping that skin to skin contact would warm him up faster, Rachel stripped and curled herself up to Finn, melding her body with his. When their body temperatures were almost equal, Finn's eyes opened and hoarsely said, "Rachel…"
