Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 16
Rachel saw Kurt's texts when she arrived at the estate of the Hummel-Hudsons.
Kurt: Change of plan!
Kurt: Grandfather just returned.
Kurt: Tell Andy to turn around
Kurt: Rachel?
The first text arrived fifteen minutes, the last one three minutes ago, and there were also three missed calls of Finn.
Panicked, Rachel looked at her phone, thinking about what she shall do. Before she could think of something, Andy had opened the door for her. She grabbed her bags with the ice cream and let Andy help her out of the limousine.
On the grand entrance, she could already see Finn and Kurt waiting. Finn had crossed her arms while Kurt was waving at her shortly.
Rachel turned to Andy. "I don't know how long I can stay here. Are you here for a while?"
The chauffeur smiled a bit. "I'm always here, Ms. Berry. Mr. Hudson just needs to tell me, and I will drive you home." He lifted his bonnet and got into the car to drive into the garage.
Quick, Rachel went up the stairs to the entrance.
"Hi", she whispered. "I have just seen your messages. Is your grandfather here?"
Finn and Kurt nodded. Although they didn't look that happy, Finn pulled her into a short hug.
"Hey", he murmured into her neck and she got goosebumps.
After she pulled away, Kurt sighed. "Grandfather came home because he wants to have dinner with us."
"Then I should leave, right?", Rachel said, undetermined. She didn't want to give them the feeling she would leave when it got complicated.
Finn also spent the entire evening with her family. But they both looked so unhappy because they were forced to spend time with their grandfather. She didn't want to make it worse with her presence.
Finn grimaced. "I just want to spare you that torture."
In this moment, James Hudson appeared on the hallway.
When he spotted Rachel, his eyes widened for a split second.
She stiffened.
"Invite your guest in and close the door, goddammit! Where do we live, in a madhouse?"
Kurt's and Finn's eyes widened, and they turned around. For a while, they were all just staring at each other. Kurt quickly composed himself, softly pulling Rachel into the house.
He closed the door behind her, and Rachel was standing a stone's throw away from James Hudson who eyed her.
Rachel asked herself why she allowed that this man was intimidating her. She didn't care what he thought of her, she only felt anger, disdain and animosity for him – and no respect.
So she was looking at him was well. "Good evening, Mr. Hudson", she said.
"Grandfather, you surely remember Rachel", Finn added.
Mr. Hudson nodded to her. Then, he turned back to Finn and Kurt. "Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Your…friend is invited."
He turned around and left the foyer.
Next to her she could hear Kurt exhaling. "Oh gosh, Rachel", he said. "I'm sorry about that. We only wanted a relaxed evening, and now we have to agonize over grandfather. Instead of sushi we will surely eat Coq au vin." He grimaced.
Finn looked at Rachel. "It's not too late to escape."
"Your grandfather has already seen me."
"That doesn't matter."
"Would it be better for you if I left?"
Finn didn't hesitate. "Of course not. The sooner grandfather gets used to the thought that you are one of us, the better."
Warmth was flooding her body. She squeezed Finn's arm. "I won't leave. Besides, I like chicken now that I gave up the vegetarian thing." She lifted her bag. "And I got Ice Cream."
"I will take this to the kitchen", Kurt said. "You can go ahead."
Finn's hand was on Rachel's back when they entered the dining hall. The room was spacious with high walls and wide windows. Over the long table was hanging an imposing chandelier which looked better than the one of the ballrooms of McKinley. The table had been set professionally with expensive looking cutlery, pretty porcelain and wine glasses with golden accents.
But it was not only the decoration and the furniture which was different to the dining room of Rachel's home. The atmosphere was tensed and cold compared to the warm and relaxed one Rachel grew up with.
James Hudson's presence made it impossible to feel comfortable. It was unbelievable.
Rachel could never imagine living with that man under a roof.
Rachel sat down next to Finn, Kurt was on the opposite of them while James took a seat on the end of the table.
Two employees entered and put in front of each person a table of delicious smelling soup. Rachel imitated Finn and Kurt and laid the napkin on her lap.
"To a good evening", James said, raising his glass.
Finn and Kurt mumbled something agreeing and Rachel raised her glass as well.
That was the most uncomfortable evening in her life, and it just started.
The first minutes, nobody said anything. It was so silent in the room that her noises such as chewing or drinking sounded so loud to her. Rachel tried to think of a topic, but she just couldn't.
She dared looking over to Finn whose smile was a bit forced.
Finally, Kurt decided to break the silence. "The charity gala was great, right, Rachel? I have heard only positive feedback."
Rachel was so relieved he had chosen a topic where she knew what to say. "Absolutely. People donated over 200 000 dollars. That's way more than we expected."
"Wow", Kurt said. "Is Principal Figgins content?"
She nodded. "Yes, he is most of the time, luckily."
"Expect of a few exceptions.", Finn mumbled. When Rachel turned to him, he smiled into his glass.
She knew what he was thinking about. The day Figgins forced him to take part at the event management club was still in her memories like it happened the day before.
Rachel smiled back.
"Okay, maybe one exception. But it had nothing to do with me or my team."
"Rachel", James interrupted their conversation and she noticed how her grin vanished.
"As I have heard, you are really active in school."
"Yes. I'm in glee and the event management club for three years."
He nodded shortly. "Well, well."
"Rachel leads the event management club", Finn said without looking up from his soup.
His grandfather ignored him. "And do you want to study?", he asked.
"I will go the either NYADA or Harvard in October."
Interested, Mr. Hudson looked up and for the first time this evening, she got the impression he noticed her.
She held her breath. She didn't want to talk about colleges with this man. It was holy to her and she didn't want someone to destroy it who had no idea how much studying at one of these universities meant to her.
"Really? What do you want to study?"
"Dramatical Arts."
"Interesting.", he answered. "And Harvard is coincidentally the same college Finn will attend. How practical."
Rachel ignored his hint. "It's a great university. The interviews at Har…" She trailed off. When they had been at Harvard, Mrs. Hummel died. Rachel looked over to Kurt who stared down his soup. "I really liked it and I can't wait until fall", she ended her sentence. She couldn't imagine how hard it was for Kurt and Finn to think about that time. But Finn next to her pretended nothing happened and ate his soup.
Eating the starter took them over an hour. During the main dish, Kurt and Rachel tried making the best out of the situation, talking about movies, music, Mercedes' blog or books. When Kurt told her he used to do ballet, James smiled minimally. But that smile disappeared fast, and Rachel thought that she could have imagined that smile.
"In Swan Lake, I got the smallest minor role, but I was so proud.", Kurt remembered. He cut the chicken on his plate which had been decorated with vegetables. The cook put so many efforts in decorating so that it was a shame for Rachel to ruin it.
"I would like to see some photos."
"No, you don't", Finn mumbled. "He was one of these ugly ducklings. The photos are creepy."
"Why don't you tell Rachel you also took ballet lessons?", Kurt said, smiling naughtily. When Finn threw him an angry glance, he just shrugged, biting into a carrot.
"Really?", Rachel said, surprised. She thought Finn hated dancing.
"Kurt pretended it was so hard. He complained every day. I told him not to whine, everyone could jump in the air and spin around like that."
"So he took lessons for three days.", Kurt snorted with laughter. "You should have seen him. He was a terrible dancer. And still is."
"How long did you hold on?", Rachel asked, grinning.
"As long until Kurt promised he wouldn't complain about the lessons at home."
"You had been a really nice brother.", Rachel remarked.
"I'm trying", Finn answered.
"Luckily, he had only taken three lessons with us. Or else, I would have stopped immediately and not after one and a half years.", Kurt said.
"Why did you stop?", Rachel wanted to know.
"A lack of discipline", James answered as if Rachel had posed him the question and not Kurt.
"My grandson generally does only things that are easy for him. Instead of meeting a challenge, he gives up."
An uncomfortable silence fills the room.
Kurt's lips had turned into bloodless lines, Finn next to her clutched his fork tightly. The only one who continued eating as if nothing had happened was James Hudson. He didn't even notice he had ruined the mood in the room with his mean comment.
Rachel wondered how he could treat his so-called poster grandson like that. If he was so mean to Kurt, how did he act towards Finn, his least favorite grandchild? Honestly, she didn't want to know.
Rachel knew that Kurt would be ready to meet any challenge. She got a feeling that James didn't even know his grandson if he talked like that about him.
"I would like to see the photos anyway.", she broke the silence, trying to sound cheerful. "I'm sure you looked cute, even as an ugly duckling."
She wanted to do anything to make the boys a little bit less stressed out.
"I will show you after dinner", Kurt answered with a forced smile. He lifted his head and looked over to a painting of their family. Rachel turned around, looking at it closer.
It had been painted when Elaine was still alive, and the boys had been fourteen to fifteen years old.
"Well", Mr. Hudson suddenly said, getting up. "I have a telephone conference in a few minutes. Have a good evening." He nodded at them and left the room.
Stunned, Rachel looked back and forth between Kurt and Finn, but they didn't seem that surprised their grandfather just left.
"He just left", she whispered, looking over to the door.
"That's normal, don't bother", Kurt shrugged.
"He always finds an excuse to escape from awkward situations", Finn said and took a sip of his lemonade. "Even though he had been the one who wanted to have dinner with us in the first place. I can't remember having seen him longer than two hours in a row."
Finn snorted. "Not that I would be unhappy about it."
"I doubt he even has a telephone conference. Grandmother never would have allowed it.", Kurt mumbled.
Finn took a deep breath. "If you want to, you can leave, now.", he said, looking at Rachel. "We could end that depressing evening now and catch it up next week."
Kurt nodded. "Yes, no one here will resent it if you want to leave."
Indignant, Rachel looked back and forth between the brothers. "I won't waste that delicious food, especially not now that I'm into meat again." With the fork, she pointed at her barely touched chicken, then at Kurt.
"Besides, I won't leave before I have seen your ballet photos."
Kurt laughed and Finn shook his head, smiling.
Rachel started eating again, trying not to look like the meeting with James Hudson had fazed her. Because it had. The rest of the dinner was more relaxed, but Rachel was glad anyway when they went to Kurt's room after dessert.
Now, they were sitting on his large, comfortable sofa, looking at their photo album.
"You were so endearing", she sighed, pointing at a photo where the two boys were hugging each other tightly. "Finn and I had played a lot together, even before our parents married.", Kurt explained.
"Yes, before grandfather married grandmother, she had been married to grandfather's elder brother. But he passed away before Kurt or I were born.", Finn said.
"I didn't know that", Rachel whispered. "That's interesting."
"Joseph Hudson, grandmother's first husband, wrote in his testament that Hudson's should belong to grandmother only.", Kurt went on. "This way, grandmother became the only CEO of Hudson's and grandfather got nothing although he was Joseph's younger brother."
"So, after Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Hummel married, they both shared it?", Rachel asked.
Finn shook his head. "Not really. Grandmother was officially still the only CEO. Unofficially, well… it was different." He turned the page. "But we don't want to bore you with our family's story.", he changed the topic.
On the photos, she could also see younger versions of Sam, Mike, Puck, Artie, Quinn, Santana, Brittany and even of Chandler.
"Cool that you know each other for so long", Rachel said with admiration.
"Sometimes I have a feeling we are all siblings.", Kurt smiled. She nodded and looked at a little version of Finn who built a sandcastle with mini-Sam.
"Did you and Sam talk?", Rachel asked Finn.
"Yes" Finn paused. "There is so much going on in his life, now."
"Is it bad?", Kurt asked immediately.
Finn shrugged. "I promised him not to tell anyone. But if you talk to him, he would surely tell you."
Kurt frowned. "Yes, I will. I'm going to call him afterwards and offer him my help, whatever it is."
Rachel was a bit relieved that the feud between Finn and Sam seemed to be over. When she and Finn talked over the phone on her birthday, he had told her how important it was for him to spend his last schoolyear with his friends, especially with his bros. The lightheartedness had been taken away by the death of Elaine, that's why it was more important he had friends he could count on. And vice versa.
Later, Rachel said goodbye to Kurt, and Finn brought her home. Well, Andy did, but Finn drove with her in the limousine.
Even if she didn't want it: Since she met James Hudson, she felt like there was a shadow over them. She had seen him three times, now. And everytime, he had tried to drive a wedge between Rachel and Finn. She hoped Finn wouldn't allow it this time. What was about to develop between the two of them, was bigger than the influence of his grandfather.
"What are you thinking about?", Finn suddenly asked.
Rachel took a deep breath. "That I would like to have more of those evenings with you. But at the same time, I wonder…" Rachel paused.
Finn waited, looking at her. "What?", he asked after a while.
"I wonder how things will continue. For you", she whispered. "With you and your grandfather, I mean. That he tells you how you have to live your life against your will?"
Finn stared down as if there was something exciting on the floor. Finally, he slowly shook his head.
"It's not only about him", he said after a while. "It's not the lifework of my grandfather I want to take over. I…I don't want to disappoint grandma."
Rachel gasped.
She didn't think about it like that. Of course, some things had changed after the death of Elaine.
"What if I will?" Rachel recognized something in his eyes: fear. She had never seen this before.
"I'm by your side.", she whispered. These were only four small words, but they were important to her.
Finn looked at her for a long time. He seemed to get what she wanted to say with these words. The panic vanished from his glance and was replaced by hope and the same warmth she loved about him.
In the next moment, Finn took her hand and squeezed it.
"I'm by your side. No matter what's going to happen."
Rachel sank back against his chest.
Together, they would find a way.
A/N: Aww...
Next time: the spring ball! But beware, it won't go off without a hitch...