It's his day off today, he wants to sleep in the way he always does when Rachel's sleeping next to him, but his phone is ringing, and he can't not answer it because it could be Kurt or his parents and after the last visit he's never ignoring a call from them again. He loves his parents, but the last thing he needs is them showing up unexpected again. But it's not his parents, it's a number that takes him a second to recognize and once he realizes who it is he can't ignore it. He has a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling.
"Hello?" he says hesitantly, picking up the phone.
"Hello Mr. Hudson, this is Susan from liberty house, I'm so sorry to wake you but I'm afraid it's urgent."
"Is this about Naomi?" He says, even though he can't imagine who else it could be about.
"Yes, I'm afraid she ran away again. We put her to bed last night and when we went to wake her up the next morning she was gone."
He rubs his neck in frustration, so much for her understanding he thought to himself.
"I think I might know where she is," Finn says, getting out of bed.
"What's wrong Finn?" Rachel says groggily.
"Nothing, go back to sleep babe," he says, still on the phone with Susan.
He knows exactly where to find her, sitting at his kitchen counter with Froot Loops and cartoons. But when he gets there and sees that the TV is off and the chair is empty his blood runs cold.
"I'll call you right back," he thinks he hears her say there's something you should know before he hangs up the phone, but he doesn't pay it any mind. He checks the couch next, she's not there, then the bathroom, then the hallway, his closet and even Julie's room, she's nowhere to be found.
"Finn, what's wrong?" Rachel says sleepily, leaning out of the bedroom.
"Naomi ran away," he says quietly.
"What? When?" she says worriedly.
"Either last night or this morning, they don't know," He continues, his face fraught with worry. "I have to find her Rachel, I feel like this is all my fault. If I would have just…" he trails off.
"Okay," she says. "I'll go with you, just give me five minutes."
"No, you should stay."
"Finn, if she's important to you then she's important to me, I want to help," she insists
"Okay," he says, kissing her once on the forehead before going to his bedroom to put on his clothes.
They check the firehouse first, then the burned down motel where they question the young boy who used to bring her food, then central park and even the vintage clothing store, everywhere that Finn had taken her. It takes hours and they come up with nothing, as worried as he was before it's far worse now. Even Rachel is starting to get worried and she's never even met her.
"I think I should call Liberty House," Finn says.
"Finn you can't just give up," Rachel says.
"I'm not giving up, but maybe they know something that can help us," he says, dialing the number.
Susan picks up after one ring.
"Liberty House, Susan Speaking."
"This is Finn Hudson," he says.
"Have you found her?" Susan says frantically.
"I've looked in every place I could think of. Is there anywhere else you guys know of that she might be?"
There is quiet on the other line and Finn fears the call has been disconnected.
"Hello?" he says, making sure she's still there.
"I'm still here. But I think I know why she ran away," she begins tentatively, and he fears he knows what she's about to say. "This is difficult, but Naomi's mother was found dead last night, we had to tell her and she was of course very upset."
His heart sinks. "Do you know where they found the body?" he says, noticing the horrified look on Rachel's face as he says it.
"The police aren't giving out that information right now, but I suspect they've already looked there," she says.
"Okay, well thank you," he says, hanging up the phone.
"Oh my god Finn, did she die?" Rachel says, tears welling up in her eyes.
"No, her mother died," Finn says sadly.
"Oh no, that poor girl," Rachel says, and he knows that outpouring of emotion isn't just about Naomi. He kisses the top of her head. "Hey it's alright, we'll find her."
"Where else could she be?" Rachel says.
And suddenly it dawns on him, he can't believe he didn't think of it before.
"Rachel, what playhouses have shown both Annie and Little shop over the last few years?"
"Um, I know the sixth street playhouse did Little Shop last year, but it closed six months ago," she says. "Why?"
"I think I know where she is."
The sixth street playhouse isn't too far away and it's as they suspected, the locks have been picked and the door is open. A sudden feeling of relief washes over Finn. And it only grows once he hears the music echoing from backstage.
And then a mighty roar
Will start the sky to cryin'
But not even light'ning
Will be frightening my lion
And with no fear inside
No need to run
No need to hide
You're standing strong and tall
You're the bravest of them all
If on courage you must call
Then just keep on tryin'
And tryin', and tryin'
You're a lion
In your own way, be a lion
"Finn, is that her?" Rachel says.
"Yeah," Finn says with a bit of a smile, "that's her."
"Oh my god, you found a little star didn't you?" She says, tears in her eyes and a small smile on her face.
"Come on," Finn says and they head backstage.
And sure enough she's sitting at the piano, clumsily picking out notes on it as she sings her heart out.
"Naomi?" Finn says softly. She stops and turns around and her face is streaked with tears. "I heard about what happened to you mom, I'm… I'm so sorry."
She sniffles and turns back to the piano without a word, and she begins to play a simple tune.
"Hold on Finn," Rachel says, "I have an idea." And she walks up to the piano bench, sits and begins to play the other part of heart and soul. And he watches them, not saying a word. They finish after a few runs and Rachel turns toward her.
"I'm Rachel," she says.
"I know, I saw your picture in Dolphin's apartment," she turns to look at Finn and again to Naomi who begins absentmindedly hitting random keys again.
"Naomi, everyone is really worried about you," Finn says, walking up to her.
"And I'm sure they all miss your singing," Rachel says. "You have a beautiful voice."
"You used to sing on Broadway," she says as a statement rather than a question.
"Yeah, before…" she trails off. "How did you know that?"
"I saw your pictures in the book. You looked really happy."
"I was, I was very happy."
"My mommy wanted to sing on Broadway, but she couldn't because of the voices."
"Your mom was a schizophrenic?" Rachel says.
"I don't know what that means," Naomi says. "But my grandpa used to take care of us until he got too old and we were all alone after that. And now I'm alone."
Finn's heart breaks more and more with every word, he knew that she had problems but he had no idea how bad they were.
"I'm sorry I ran away again Dolphin, I know I promised I wouldn't," she says, her voice heartbreakingly sad.
"Hey, that's okay," he says sitting on the other side of her. "You were upset, I understand."
Naomi begins to cry more and wraps her arms around Finn's waist and cries into his chest. And he just looks at Rachel who has started to cry for about the fifth time that day. "Look, everything's going to be okay. I promise."
"He's right Naomi," Rachel says, stroking the little girl's back. "I know it hurts now but it's going to get better."
She sits up again and wipes her tears. "You have to take me. I don't want to go back to that stupid place. You guys have to let me stay," she says almost angrily."I won't get in your way I promise, and I know how to do chores, I'm really good at that, you know I am."
"Naomi I—
"Okay," Rachel says, cutting Finn off.
"What?" Finn says, not sure if he heard her right. He looks at her face and he realizes what's happening.
"You can stay with us, if you really want to."
He can't believe what he's hearing but she looks and sounds so certain.
"Are you sure?" Finn says.
"She's hurting Finn, and we're hurting," Rachel says. "We can all be hurting together. I want her to stay."
He contemplates her words for a few moments, wondering if they can handle all of this. The three of them are all so damaged and it's going to take years before they're really okay again. But he knows that Rachel is right, they can help each other through it.
"Okay," Finn says finally. "Okay. We're going to try to make this work."
"Really?" Naomi says, still sniffling.
"Yeah," Finn says, looking at Rachel as Rachel looks back at him. "We'll make it work."
I wouldn't want to go back to Liberty House either, I think I made it seem like a pretty crappy group home with how easily they lose kids. Also, sorry I sprung the whole dead mom thing on you after promising that this story wouldn't get sadder, but I'm sure most of you saw that coming. One last thing, I didn't have an eleventh hour change of heart, it was always my plan to have them take in Naomi, although there is an alternate ending floating around in my head in which Kurt and Blaine adopt her, the main reason I decided against that ending was because I felt they were too inconsequential to the story (also I'm not enough of a Klaine shipper yet). Stay tuned for the epilogue, which should be posted in like half an hour. I'm a little shocked at how fast I zipped through this thing.