DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy! :)
A/N: This story has become my life. I think about this story more than I think about the show itself. Hope you enjoy the two updates in a row.
Hero
Chapter Twelve: Dead-End Job
Walking down the hot, crowded streets of Manhattan, Rachel led Hudson down Lafayette Street, towards her job at The Eclectic Cafe. She was working the 5-12 shift tonight, and was hoping for mega-tips so she could make rent in a few days. Sighing deeply to herself, she thought idly that only people in New York had to worry about terrorists and rent at the same time.
A shrill beeping snapped her out of her daze, and she watched as Hudson pulled out a bulky cell phone-the kind with the walkie-talkie capabilities. She watched as he took orders and nodded to himself. When he got off the phone, he took her hand and started to lead her in the opposite direction, back to her apartment. His hand was warm, and she didn't want to pull away.
So she didn't.
"What's the matter? What happened?" Ever since she saw him pull out his gun this morning, she found herself on pins-and-needles, always needing to know what was going on. Was she in danger?
"Nothing is wrong, Rachel. We got a special package in the mail." He led her to the post office not too far away from her apartment, and he pulled out a key for a PO BOX. She watched as he found his mailbox on the walls lined with slots, and he opened it up to find a small package inside. "The tech guys are quick!" He said enthusiastically while opening the box. She watched, wide eyed, as he pulled out two pins. One of them was the pin she had bought him for Christmas, two years ago. The same Bass clef pin that she'd seen on his uniform last night. The other pin, was a matching Treble clef, the same size and color of Hudson's.
"These pins are now GPS trackers for you and I. Wear it at all times, Rachel. If we ever get separated or lost, I'll be able to find you with this. You have to promise me you'll never take it off, okay?"
"I promise." She picked the little pin up and fastened it to the front of her shirt. It seemed like a regular ordinary pin. She watched as he placed his on the front of his shirt as well. She stared at his pin blatantly, losing herself in the memories of Finn and that last holiday they'd spent together.
"It's so you never forget the music in your heart. . ." Hadn't she said that, once?
"Are you okay?" Looking up into his eyes, she could feel the moisture trailing down her face. Hastily wiping away her tears, she cleared the emotion out of her throat.
"Oh, um, yeah. I'm fine." She shook her head and tried to be blasé. "I think something was in my eye. Do we still have time before five? I wanted to take you somewhere."
He checked his watch and nodded. "Yeah, we have time. Where are we going?"
She smiled softly to herself, knowing that this should be interesting. "Did you ever wonder why you had a bass clef pin at all?"
Shaking his head, he rubbed the back of his neck shamefully. "No, I couldn't remember." They headed out of the Post Office and back down Lafayette, towards the cafe.
"Well, you, Hudson, loved music."
"I did?" He sounded so innocent, so lost. It warmed her heart then broke it all over again.
"It was how we met. You and I were the captains of the glee club." She continued to walk down the street, not knowing that Hudson had stopped walking altogether. When she turned around, his face was pinched together, almost as if he was in pain, and it took some time for him to snap out of his momentary daze. He'd acted like this before. He must be remembering things!
When he finally lifted up his head, the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "New Directions."
She gasped audibly, stepping forward and forcing him to make eye contact with her. "What did you just say?"
He looked up at her with wide, searching eyes and smiled the first true genuine smile she had seen from him. "New Directions was the name of our glee club. Our teacher was," He paused, searching his brain for the memory, "Mr. Schuester."
She almost screamed out loud. He was really starting to remember things! Sure, it was just the name of their club and advisor, but he'd remembered it all on his own. Her theory was working. BABY STEPS!
"Hudson, that's great! Do you remember anything else?" They started to walk again, a bit of energy in their steps.
"Not really, but I think Quinn and Puck were in the club with us too, am I right?"
"Yes! You're totally right." She hadn't felt this happy in, well, she couldn't remember when she'd been this happy! She was seeing more and more of Finn shining through by the second. "And I think you're going to love this place." She led him into a music store, not too far away from the Eclectic Cafe. Pulling him by the hand, she led them into the back of the store with the percussion instruments.
"Tada!" She waved her arms in a grand gesture towards the complete drum kit in the far corner of the store. Hudson shot her a quizzical look.
"Um, Rachel?"
"You were a drummer. You sang in glee club, sure, but before I even knew you, you were playing drums like a rock star. I think it's all still there, waiting for you to tap into it. Give it a try." He looked at the drums hesitantly, and it took him a full minute before he walked up to the drum kit and sat down on the stool. He picked up a spare set of drumsticks that were resting on a shelf by the drums he held one in each hand.
"I don't know about this, Rachel. I'm not remembering anything." She knew that she shouldn't be pushing him, but dammit, she wanted some part of her Finn back, even if it was just the drummer!
"Go for it, Hudson. I know you can do it." He hesitated a bit more, before he suddenly slammed the sticks down on the snare.
And he was off.
She had always loved watching Finn play the drums. He was always so into it, so in tune with the music and the beat. Watching him now was just as hypnotizing as when they were teenagers; practicing after school, lounging in his garage with Puck and Artie. She could see a glowing smile on his face, and he'd never looked more like Finn. He made eye contact with her, and suddenly his face morphed into an expression so heartbreakingly familiar, she almost turned away.
He was giving her his drumface.
Sure, he had no idea that this look made her particularly weak in the knees and reverted her back to a teenage school girl, but Rachel still found herself lost in his expression. He looked so intense, so much like her Finn, that it made her heart hurt. With a panic, she realized that she was starting to blur the lines in-between the two. Sure he couldn't remember their history, but he was still Finn, right? What was the difference?
The difference was that you and Finn never had to run from international terrorists! He is your bodyguard now, he's no longer your high school boyfriend. This isn't a game.
But she couldn't deny that she was barely able to resist him. When he'd kissed her forehead before, all she wanted to do was look up and kiss his lips instead. She wanted to remember what it felt like to be in his arms. To be loved by a man.
Even if the man couldn't remember her.
Checking her watch, she knew she had to be at work soon. She waved to Hudson to get his attention and he reluctantly stopped playing. When he stood up from the drum kit, he walked right up to Rachel and pulled her into a crushing hug.
Fuck it! She screamed at herself, and wrapped her arms around his broad and muscular waist. Inhaling deeply, she sighed blissfully. He still smelled exactly the same.
"Thank you, Rachel. Thank you." He continued to hold her and she could feel the emotion clogging her voice, making her throat burn and rasp as hot tears filled her eyes. "That was amazing! I've never felt so," He pulled away from her, staring down into her face intensely, "alive." She watched as his eyes gazed lower until he was staring at her lips. He started to lean in closer to her, invading her personal space until she could feel his soft breath on her face. She wanted to close the distance between them, so badly. . .
Softly, slowly, he placed his lips upon hers in a kiss that set her blood ablaze. Their lips were barely caressing, but she felt like every nerve of her body was firing off electrical shocks. She melted into his embrace, and she heard a low moan escape his lips. Pressing her mouth against his, their lips moved together in a dance that was so achingly familiar, she had to pull away. When she made eye contact with him, seeing the passion burning in his eyes, she knew that this had been a bad idea.
"We've kissed before." It was a statement, and not a question.
"Yes." There was no point in lying.
"I heard you talking to Quinn and Puck about me." He let go of her then, and took a few steps back. "About my memory, and how you want to take it slow." Searching her eyes, his body became tense again, not as relaxed as he'd been on the drums. "You'll tell me one day, right?"
"Yes, Hudson. I swear that I'll tell you. It's just that, right now, we don't know what's going to happen with al-Charef, and I think it would be better for you to focus on important things like the mission before you take on a lifetime full of memories. But we can take it slow! Do things like we did today. Small things." His face fell slightly. "Do you understand?"
He shook his head slowly, sadly. "I get it." He looked around the music store and shrugged. "C'mon. You're going to be late for work."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Rachel, seventeen is up!" Grabbing the plates from the hot-line and balancing them expertly on her tray, Rachel maneuvered around the crowded cafe to place her order down.
"OK, that's one cherry protein shake with extra flaxseed oil, one wheat-grass smoothie with with soy milk and two vegan burritos!" Placing the order down at the table, she loved working at an all-vegan cafe. It made snacking on breaks so easy for her!
The Eclectic Cafe wasn't the largest place in the world, but it was always full of young hipsters and college kids from all around the city, searching for healthy food. She pretty much knew the clientèle, and she made decent money here on a given night. Tonight though, the place was so crowded she could barely move, and she was happy with the tips she'd made, even though she didn't have to close for another two hours.
She walked to the back corner, where her bodyguard was nursing his fifth cup of chamomile tea, and re-reading the Village Voice for the third time. "Can I get you anything, Specialist?" They had this routine down. Every half an hour she came over and refilled his tea, and he gave her the run down on security.
"Another tea please, and I would like to maybe try a vegan brownie." He looked up at her quizzically. "What's in a vegan brownie?"
"Um, I think we use soy in our brownies as the protein. They're good." She pulled out a magazine she'd been keeping in her apron. "And one of my customers left this here, you can put that Village Voice down." She placed a "Time-Out New York" in front of him and he started to flip through the pages. "Find us something to do for tomorrow, maybe. I don't have work, so we can go do something fun. Maybe something musical. Check it out." She watched, amused, as he started to read through the different events and concerts. She walked off to get him his brownie and tea, when her manager told her that she had another customer sitting in her section. She gave Hudson's order to the line cook, and made her way over to the table in the back by the kitchens.
"Welcome to the Eclectic Cafe, my name is Rachel. What can I get for you tonight?" The menu obscured her customers face, but the person let the menu drop down slowly, until she was making full eye contact with him.
She froze in her skin, terror and fear spreading through her like a blazing wildfire.
She was staring into the eyes of Mouad Mohammed al-Charef.
"I would like for you to stay silent. Make no move." His accent was so thick she could barely understand him. His English wasn't so great either.
"W-What do you want from me?" Adrenaline pumped through her veins and all of her instincts were telling her to run for her life. But her body was frozen still.
"I want you to go into the kitchen and not make a sound. Tell anyone, and this place goes to hell." He lifted up his hand to show her a black remote, hidden in his sleeve. He was planning on blowing this place up!
"Okay. I'll go, I'll go." She backed away from him while he stood up and grabbed her by the arm. She desperately looked at Hudson from across the cafe, an his head was still buried in the Time-Out New York. He didn't see as Charef pulled her into the kitchen, and out the back doors into the alley.
He pushed her against the hard brick siding of the cafe, and she could hear the blood pounding in her ears. He grabbed her by the arms, and pushed against her so she was trapped. Where was Hudson!
"You are very easy girl to find!" He laughed in her face. "It was almost too easy!"
"What do you want?" She winced as his hold on her arms tightened.
"You." His voice was low as he leaned into her even more. "But, I don't know whether I want you dead or alive yet." He pulled out a long knife, the blade glowing in the dim alley. She'd never been more scared in her life. "You have stolen my Sabwa's face." He placed the sharp blade of the knife against the sensitive skin under her ear, by her throat. Her breathing became short and shallow as the panic bubbled under her skin. "Maybe I should cut it off." The blade pressed into her skin as she cried out softly. She watched, bewildered, as his gaze softened and the knife started to pull away from her neck.
He'd hesitated. . .maybe she looked too much like Sabwa. . .
All of a sudden, the back doors to the cafe burst open, and Hudson had his handgun raised at full alert. "Don't move! Drop your weapon!" His eyes moved from her to Charef and back, absorbing the scene in front of him. Charef pulled her off of the wall and held her in front of him as a shield, his knife returning to the spot under her throat.
"She is mine." He started to back up with her, walking towards the street and out of the alleyway. Hudson's steps coordinated with his, as he tried to inch closer to Charef. She stared at Hudson, eyes wide with fear, watching as he pointed the gun straight at her. Well, at Charef, but the gun was still in her face. She felt the blade pressing into her skin, and she could feel the sharpness of it. Suddenly, Charef missed a step backwards, causing him to stumble and the knife to slip. She could feel it slicing into her skin, and a sharp cry escaped her lips. Charef immediately pushed her away from him and into Hudson's willing arms. Before Hudson could balance both the girl and the gun, he had run off into the night.
"FUCK!" Hudson screamed as he reached for his cell phone. "I need all units on Lafayette Street heading west towards Chinatown, Charef is on the loose. I need a full bomb squad at the Eclectic Cafe on Lafayette and Bowery."
She was in Hudson's arms, which was a good thing because she didn't know if she could even balance her own weight yet. Every inch of her body was shaking uncontrollably, and she couldn't stop the buzzing of adrenaline throughout her system. She could feel something dripping down her neck, and in complete horror, she stared at the blood all over her hands.
That's when she lost it. Rachel Berry could only take so much.
She started to cry, her body seizing with the heaving sobs that escaped her lips. Hudson got off the phone and wrapped both arms around her, supporting her weight.
"Rachel? You're bleeding!" He moved to pull away from her, but she held onto his shirt even tighter, pulling him back into the embrace.
"No, please, don't leave me!" Rubbing her back in calming circles, she started to cry even more. That was exactly how he'd comforted her in the past. She could see her blood dripping onto his shirt, but she felt no pain. The cut was shallow, but it was long, trailing from her ear to her chin.
"Don't worry, Rachel. I'm not going anywhere."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The cafe was secure; apparently Charef was carrying around a fake detonator, seeing as the bomb squad found nothing in the cafe or in it's vicinity. Hudson cleaned out her wound and it eventually stopped bleeding. She had a nasty cut on her face now, though, and it stung when her tears fell into it.
They had been escorted back to her apartment, and the entire time she could only see Charef's eyes in front of hers. They sat next to each other on the couch, and she saw Hudson staring at her worriedly from the corner of her eyes. As much as she just wanted to forget about it all, she could still feel the sharp blade against her face. She could hear his voice in her mind, his cackling laugh sending chills down her spine. If Hudson hadn't been there. . .
"Hudson, can I ask you something?"
His head whipped around quickly, searching her face to see if she was okay. She hadn't really spoken all that much since the alley, and she knew that must have put him on edge. All she'd needed was some time to decompress, and now she was back to normal, and filled with questions.
"Of course, Rachel, anything." He'd been so worried about her, and she could still hear the desperation in his tone.
"If you're trying to hide me from Charef, why am I still living in my old apartment and going to work? Shouldn't I be hiding away somewhere?" She stared as his face began to fall, and he looked away from her guiltily. Wait a second. . .Charef had said that she'd been too easy to find. . .
"Am I BAIT?" She shot off of the couch and watched as his face morphed into a mask of shock. "You told me I could trust you!"
"You can!" He shot off of the couch and tried to reach out for her, but she backed up away from him and into her kitchen. "You're not bait, Rachel. But we thought it would be better to have him come to us. We don't know where he's hiding anymore."
"But what if he comes after me again? What if he finds out where I live and blows up the entire apartment building?"
He placed his hands up in a calming matter, but Rachel felt anything but calm. "We have reason to believe that he wants to keep you alive. You saw him today; he could have hurt you but he didn't."
"I don't feel safe anymore, Hudson. I really don't."
"Rachel, listen to me." He walked forward until the two of them were pressed up against her fridge. "You're the only thing I have left in this whole fucked-up world." His hand reached up to gently graze the slice on her face. "It's bad enough he got this close to you, I won't let that happen again. You are safe with me." He paused and looked pensive for a moment. "What do you go to school for? Why are you in New York?"
His body was still dangerously close to hers, and his proximity was intoxicating, but she pushed forward with the conversation. "Music. It was always my dream to be on Broadway."
"And you're waitressing instead of auditioning, why?"
She started to get agitated. Hadn't they already discussed this? "Because I have rent to pay, and auditions don't pay the bills."
"Well, I think you should start auditioning again, and quit the cafe." She burned with anger, her pride feeling bruised.
"Did you hear what I just said-"
"I'll help you with your rent." Her mouth snapped shut while she was still mid-sentence and she stared at him unabashedly.
"What?"
"I get paid a salary. I mighty fine salary if I do say so. And since I'm staying here for the time being, I should do the honorable thing and pay rent." She was frozen in shock, what should she even say? "It's not fair to you that you're wasting your time and talents on a job like this. Besides, I don't want you to work there anymore anyways, it's not safe."
"I don't know what to say."
Shrugging his shoulders, he shot her a crooked smile that stopped her heart from beating in her chest. That smile was so achingly familiar, she just stood there and let it crumble all of her defenses.
"Just say yes, Rachel." He leaned his forehead against hers. "You need someone to help you, and I want to be that person. Let me be that person."
Looking up into his eyes, into his tender expression, she no longer knew the difference between Finn and Hudson. She was so tired, so overwhelmed with the events of the past 24 hours, that she was surprised she still knew which way was up.
"Okay." She knew this was wrong. Hudson was filling in the roles that Finn had left in his wake. But she didn't care anymore. She wanted some part of him back, even if she was pretending. It was better than nothing. "You can pay rent and I'll start auditioning tomorrow."
She watched as a slow smile crept onto his face, morphing him into the Finn she'd known and loved. For the second time that day, she could feel her walls crumbling down around her, as he reached over and placed another breathtaking kiss on her lips.
"Come on Rach, let's go to bed." Her heart shattered into a million pieces all over again as his old nickname for her spilled out of his lips.
"You go ahead, Ill be there in a minute." He nodded and went into her bedroom, oblivious to her pain. She crawled back onto the couch and started to sob. That one word, that one name was enough to break the already tenuous hold she had on her sanity that night. She would have gone to bed with him, and she wouldn't have been able to control what had happened. Was this considered cheating? Was this somehow all ethically wrong?
She sobbed in desperation, turning on the TV to block out the sounds of her cries. Her mind was playing tricks on her, her heart was playing tricks on her, and she could no longer distinguish the lines between her Finn and Hudson.
She cried herself to sleep on the sofa, and woke up the next morning in her bed. The fact that Hudson had carried her inside to her bed was the driving force that had made up her mind.
Finn wasn't going to come back.
Hudson was now her future.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Salut mes amis!
Charef is still on the loose and Rachel is falling for Hudson! When will he get his memories back?
Until Next Time. . .*sings* Don't Stop. . . Reviewing!
Merci Mille Fois
The Minsk
