Chapter 33 - The Final

Finn and Dalton didn't see each other all week. They had to rehearse 3 songs for the competition. The first was a group number: a Christmas mashup with all of the X Factor finalists. Finn and Dalton were the two acts who made it to the grand final, so they got to walk on stage wearing a Santa costume and a Snowman costume. Finn was the Santa, and he had a lot of fun, shaking his belly around and singing along to their christmas medley. The next song they needed to perform was easy: it was their favourite song that they had performed all competition. Finn decided on The Power of Love. Although his love life was almost nonexistent, It had been the most fun song to perform, and it had received the most praise from the judges and audience. Now that Finn had made it to the finals, he was a minor celebrity in New York, so was stopped by either fans or paparazzi pretty often. The final song he needed to perform was his "Winners Single." This would be the song that, if he won, he would record with Sony Music and release as his debut single. He decided on a song that he performed, so many years ago, at the Glee club finale. The Glee Club was now reintroduced, so that week had been effectively useless, but he got his hopefully X Factor winning song out of it. Louis helped him for half the week, and Taylor helped him during the other half.

Finn had gotten an unlimited number of tickets for the finals to give to family and friends. He had given tickets to everyone from Glee when he was in high school, and they all travelled from all around the country, to watch him compete in the final. Even Quinn decided to show up. She looked as radiant as ever, and Finn felt old feelings start to bubble up. Wait until after the competition, Finn thought to himself. They planned to have a Glee Club reunion in New York the day after the competition. Kurt, Santana, Rachel, Mercedes, Quinn, Brittany, Sam, Puck, Mike, Blaine, Tina and Artie had all made the journey out. Most of them had already graduated from their undergraduate degree in college. Artie, Tina, Blaine, Sam and Brittany were seniors in college, and Santana was at Columbia Law. It was finally Sunday December 9th, the day of the finals. They would perform both songs that day, and the winner of the competition would perform their Winner's single at the Closing Ceremony. Everyone that had come to watch Finn, had gone into the audience to find their seats. The X Factor contestants had just finished their group number, and the crowd was roaring with laughter at Finn and Dalton's outfits. There would be a quick, 20 minute break as the guys changed into their attire for the finals. Finn had gone for a simple black suit, with an unbuttoned shirt and no tie. Dalton performed first, singing beautiful renditions of Angels, and Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word. Finn knew it was going to be a close competition. He was waiting backstage when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around. It was Ella.

"Ella!" he said, giving her a hug and kissing her on the cheek."

"Hey Finn, I wanted to wish you good luck. I never thought I'd be saying this, given that you were the one who eliminated me, but I hope you win the competition."

"Thanks. It really should be you in this final though."

"Nah. You and Dalton deserve it. And anyways, I just got a call last night. Atlantic Records wants me! I'm going to stay in New York and create my own album."

Finn smiled at his friend. He was so happy for her. "Ella! That's amazing!"

Suddenly, the announcer called his name.

"Well, I gotta go."

"Good luck!"

He nodded and walked onto the stage to start his first song. Finn looked out into the vast Concert hall. Thank god he had done it so many times that he no longer felt nerves about being in front of all these people. The finals were taking place in Madison Square Garden, in front of 21,000 people.

*Sings The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood - James Arthur X Factor Version*

The crowd roared at the end of the song. Finn had nailed the song. If it was good last time, this time, it was great. Not a single person in the audience was displeased, and the judges were on their feet, clapping and cheering for him. When the applause and cheering finally died down, Finn got ready to sing his final song.

*Sings Impossible by Shontelle - James Arthur Version*

It was simply superb. He hit every note to perfection, and sang with so much emotion in his voice. The visual special effects worked excellently. He was fairly certain now that after this performance, even if he didn't win, he would get some kind of record deal. After he had finished, the crowd were all on their feet. He couldn't have put in any more effort towards his performances. Dalton walked back on stage after. The two men stood next to each other, with their arms draped across each other's shoulders. Whatever the result was, he knew that him and Dalton would stay firm friends with each other. The host walked onto the stage for the last time, holding an envelope.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for… the winner of the X Factor 2021 is…"

You could hear a pin drop in the sold-out stadium. Dalton and Finn both held their breath.

"FINN HUDSON! Congratulations man! You win a million dollars and a recording contract with Sony Music!"

Finn and Dalton gave each other a hug and Louis gave both of his mentees big hugs. He then walked over and thanked the judges for everything. They all were so happy for him. Finn then jumped the fence and clambered into the audience. He gave all of the Glee Club and his family hugs and fist bumps. After this, he climbed back on stage and accepted his trophy. He performed his Winner's Single once more, and then walked offstage for the last time. He couldn't wait to start a life as a performing artist. When he made it backstage, Ella ran up to them and gave both him and Dalton a hug. That night, they said their goodbyes to Gracie. She was moving back to L.A. She, unfortunately, hadn't impressed record labels enough to earn a contract yet, but Dalton had received an offer from Capitol Records, Ella had received an offer from Atlantic Records and Finn, of course, had his offer from Sony Music. Taylor also announced some big news. She was going to stay in New York to record her next album, rather than moving back to L.A. Ella and Taylor had met a couple of times and got along like a house on fire. They decided to look for an apartment together, and Finn and Dalton decided to look for one too. Despite the fact that all of them - especially Taylor - had enough money for their own place, it was a lot more fun to have a roommate, especially one that they were close friends with. Finn took all of his Glee Club friends and his family out to a bar to celebrate. He always chose bars over nightclubs. They were a lot more fun, and a lot more casual.

Over the next few weeks, Finn, Taylor, Ella and Dalton spent a lot of time together. They managed to find two apartments right opposite each other in 220 Central Park South. It was a great place in the city to live, and they both bought 2 bedroom apartments. Dalton and Finn had decorated their apartment in a manly way. They had a foosball table, a table tennis table, guitars hanging from the walls, a framed autographed football jersey from Tom Brady (it had been Taylor's birthday gift to Finn), recliner sofas, a TV and a surround sound speaker system. The benefits of being professional singer-songwriters. The girls' apartment was much nicer. It was bigger - it had 3 bedrooms - and it was decorated with a lot more of a family feel to it. The guys had set up a massive TV and speaker system in the living room, as well as a karaoke system. They had made sure that the apartment had very thick walls, so they could talk and sing as loud as they wanted, without receiving complaints. Finn and Dalton spent a lot of time in Ella and Taylor's place. The 4 of them had formed an unbreakable friendship and they had quickly become his best friends. All of their recording contracts began January 1st, so they were all unemployed for the three weeks until then. Finn still spent a bit of time with his friends from Glee, but it was much less than he used to. He had just turned 23 a month ago: he was officially an adult so started to spend less time with high school friends. This was the case with everyone in Glee though - they all were starting their lives after college and wanted to get away from their high-school life. Not many people were coming back to Lima for Christmas, and Carole and Burt were still travelling the world, so Finn didn't bother going back.

Finn decided to spend Christmas with Dalton, Ella and Taylor. They planned to spend up until Boxing day in Manhattan, volunteering at homeless shelters, serving food, and spreading cheer in childrens' wards in hospitals. They would spend christmas day in Ella and Taylor's apartment and then on Boxing day, they were driving up to a ski resort and spending a week up there. Taylor and Finn were both pretty good skiers, but Ella and Dalton had never skied in their lives. Taylor and Finn planned to teach them. They were staying a week in Windham Mountain, and were going to spend the New Year there. They all went to work on January 3rd so they had quite a bit of time until then. On Christmas day, Finn woke up pretty early. As by far the best cook out of the four of them, he had been tasked with making Christmas dinner so he had to start pretty early. Dalton and Taylor had never had a proper Christmas dinner before, so the pressure was on for Finn to make an amazing meal. He picked up the turkey in the morning and started making the stuffing. By the afternoon, he had made a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and vegetables. For dessert, Finn also baked a cake, christmas cookies and they had bought shortbread from the supermarket. By the time he was done cooking, everyone had woken up and were sitting around in Taylor and Ella's apartment. Finn was lucky that both apartments were opposite each other, as he had to utilize both kitchens for the meal. By 5 pm on Christmas day, all of the food was laid out on the table at Taylor and Ella's apartment and they were all admiring Finn's work.

"Wow, Finn! That looks incredible!" Taylor said.

"Yeah! Since when are you a master-chef?" Dalton asked, confused. Finn laughed.

"I had to cook a lot of my own meals between the ages of 7 and 16. I was in foster care for 7 years, and then living with a single mom who worked full-time." He shrugged. Ella put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well it looks amazing! Let's dig in! Finn, you want to give a toast before we start?" she asked.

"Not really. I just want to eat. I didn't eat breakfast and lunch because I was too busy cooking. Oh, one thing. I freaking love you guys! You guys are like my family." They all cheered and clinked their glasses together. They then started eating. The food was divine, and everyone had several helpings. There wouldn't be any leftovers at all. They spent the evening exchanging presents for each other. They all had gotten presents for each other, and Finn had received a very nice pair of headphones from Dalton, a Toronto Raptors jersey from Ella, and 5 t-shirts with stupid or dirty messages on them from Taylor. The t-shirt thing was something that Finn had started a couple of years ago. Whenever he would wear an informal t-shirt, it would always have to have some kind of message on it, either funny or dirty. He never wore a plain t-shirt. The rest of the night was spent with them eating dessert, drinking eggnog and chatting. At around 11 pm, Finn walked over to the fridge and grabbed himself a bottle of water. When he came back to the sofa, Dalton asked him a question.

"Finn, you don't have to answer this, but I can't help but ask. When you were in the SEALs, did you ever kill anyone?"

Finn dropped his water bottle and made no move to pick it up. Ella and Taylor had both heard the question and turned towards the two guys. Before that point, Finn had been asked very little about his life as a SEAL. "I was in the SEALs for 3 years. I went on a suicide mission where I was captured by the enemy and held as a POW for 3 months. I think you know what my answer is going to be."

They all nodded. "Again, you don't need to answer this, but may I ask how many?"

Finn shook his head. "I'm not going to answer that. All I can say is a lot." Taylor turned to him.

"Finn, you don't have to tell us But even if you do, none of us are going to look at you any differently. It's not like you were a mobster or mafia member. You fought fearlessly to protect this country." Finn nodded.

"Are you sure you want to know? It's not pretty." They all nodded.

"OK, so during my time in the SEALs, I went on three missions. The first was a very famous mission. It was the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Me and a couple of men had to helicopter into the compound, and kill the most dangerous man in the world. But obviously, as the leader of Al Qaeda, he had a lot of protection. We were granted the highest level of engagement. We were to kill anyone who got in the way, and was armed. During that mission I killed 16 people."

Nobody spoke.

"The second mission was a RICO Bust. There was a huge cartel who were hiding out close to the Brazil-Colombia border, deep in the Amazon. We had to storm the compound and arrest as many people as we could. However, we had licence to kill if the men we were arresting were armed. We rescued 156 people who were being used as slaves, and arrested 287 people. I had to kill 7 people on that mission."

"23 people is not a lot. And all of them were in self-defense." Dalton said.

Finn laughed mirthlessly. "Nowhere near done yet. The third mission was an extraction mission. The son of the Ambassador of the States to India had been kidnapped by a Bangladehi drug cartel. I had to go in and rescue him. Then, the mission went horribly wrong. It turns out that the government was helping the cartel. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? So me and the kid were stuck in the middle of Bangladesh, and needed to get to the border. However, in order to trap the boy, the government put the entire city on lockdown so we were effectively trapped. There were 5 of us on the mission. The government ambushed and killed one of us, leaving 4 of us, and the kid. I alone was with the kid. The other guys were waiting at the border to help with the escape. When we found out that the city was on lockdown, me and the kid had to find cover so we made it to a safehouse, where one of the 3 other troops was waiting. I soon found out that he had sold out to the government and drug cartel and accepted a ten million dollar reward to hand the boy back into their custody. The government had also guaranteed all of us safe exit from the country. He betrayed us to save himself. I started to fight with him, trying to kill him. The boy ended up shooting him. After that catastrophe, one of the remaining two troops came to meet us near one of the blockades that the government had built to trap people in the country. We made a plan that I would distract the troops by the blockade by starting to shoot, and the boy and my fellow officer would use the distraction and get past the first blockade. This worked pretty well. All of the troops were attacking me, so nobody noticed them slip by. Then, when they made it to the bridge, a full-on gunfight started. I made it there shortly after and killed a lot of people. I got sniped in the upper left arm and blacked out due to blood loss. The kid made it to our helicopter and escaped with the two remaining troops. I woke up in a dark cellar and was tortured for 3 months. I escaped by fighting my way out, killing a lot of guards in the process. I made it onto a helicopter but the helicopter was severely damaged because the guards started shooting at it. I made it into the air, but only lasted for 10 minutes, before I had to jump out due to the chopper malfunctioning and exploded. I parachuted into Kathmandu, Nepal, where I stowed away in the wheel compartment of a private plane. I then parachuted into Calgary, Canada, where I was taken into mountie custody. I was flown back to the States shortly after. The reason I told you this long-ass story was to show you that I had no choice than to kill those people. Me and the kid I was rescuing would have died if it weren't for it. Are you sure you want to hear the number?"

"Yes, and stop deflecting." Taylor said.

"OK, how many do you guys think I killed in the third mission?" Finn asked, interested to see their response.

"20," Taylor said.

"50," Ella sighed.

"500," Dalton said. Ella rolled her eyes.

""Real mature, dude." Ella said to her friend.

"Woah, woah, woah. Lay off him. He's actually closer than you are." Their eyes widened. "Yeah, in the third mission, I had to kill 289 people, like a fucking monster." He got up to leave when Taylor grabbed his arm.

"Wait, Finn. You're NOT a monster. You did what most people are too scared to do."

"Yeah, Finn. You're a goddamn hero," Ella said, smiling at him. Finn faintly smiled back.

"Thanks guys, it means a lot. I haven't really told many people that stuff before. I'm going to get some rest. It's been a long day and we leave pretty early tomorrow."

They all got up. "Yeah, we should probably all get some sleep now." Ella said. "Love you guys."

They all got up and gave each other hugs. Ella and Taylor retired to their bedrooms and Finn and Dalton walked across the hall to their apartment. They entered the apartment and walked towards their rooms. Both theirs, Taylor and Ella's suitcases for their trip were littered all over the floor. They planned to rent skis when they arrived, but they still had ski goggles, jackets, pants and all of their other attire that they needed packed in suitcases.

Finn and Dalton managed to sleep for about 6 hours, but at 6 am, they woke up and got ready to leave. It was a two and a half hour drive up to the resort, and because Dalton owned the largest car (a minivan), they took his car. At 6:15 am, Taylor and Ella entered Finn and Dalton's place. They were both still half-asleep, rubbing their eyes and yawning. They made it downstairs to the carpark at around 6:30 and threw their bags in the back of Dalton's car. Dalton was driving and Taylor called shotgun so Finn and Ella sat at the back. Ella fell back asleep almost immediately, her head slumping on Finn's shoulder. Finn could not fall back asleep. One of the drags of being ex-military - once you were awake, you could not sleep again. She was snoring quietly and drooling on his jacket. Finn didn't care though. Nobody talked much on the way. Dalton was concentrating on driving and not slipping on the icy road, Taylor was reading a magazine and Ella was sleeping. Finn took out his phone and started reading through his emails. He had an email from Sony Music so he opened it. It had been just over two weeks since the X Factor Finals and his debut single was released, and the email was to notify him about his earning in the first 2 weeks. He almost dropped his phone and Ella stirred. She went back to sleep though. He tapped Taylor on the shoulder and she turned around.

"What's up?" she whispered. Finn handed her his phone and she had the exact reaction he did. She was a lot louder than Finn though. She screamed when she finished reading the email. Ella grumbled and rubbed her eyes.

"Seriously Taylor? I was asleep!" she groaned.

"Wow! Someone's not a morning person," Dalton teased from the front seat. She leaned forward and punched his shoulder.

"Anyways, why did Taylor go crazy?" Ella asked.

"Finn, this is incredible!" Taylor smiled at her brother.

"WHAT IS?" Ella and Dalton shouted. They were really curious at this point.

"Finn's debut single, Impossible. In two weeks, it earned one and a half million bucks in royalties. Of that, Finn receives 30 percent, which is $450,000. It's a number 1 hit in US, UK, Japan, South Korea, China, France, Spain, Canada, Italy already. It's rising on many other charts as well. If he carries on this way, by the end of the month, he'll earn an additional $600,000. It's already broken the record for fastest-rising song in history after 2 weeks. He may well break the record for biggest song in history."

They gasped and cheered for their friend. They spent the rest of the journey talking and soon pulled up to the lodge they were staying at. It was very luxurious and cost quite a bit. Taylor had paid for most of it - she was the only one out of all of them who already had an album released so earnt by far the most money. Finn was receiving his first paycheck for Impossible when they arrived back in Manhattan. As soon as they had checked in and dropped their bags off, they changed and went straight to the slope. There was a cabin at the top of the slope, with both a small cafe, and a ski rental shop. They all rented skis for the week, and they managed to make it onto the slopes with only a few people recognizing them. The four of them decided to start on the bunny hills as even though Taylor and Finn were pretty good skiers, Ella and Dalton were complete novices. They fell over A LOT. Finn and Taylor did their best to catch them, but it didn't always work. It was easy to help Ella as she was pretty light, but Dalton was almost the same weight as Finn, so it was harder to catch him when he fell. The four of them spent most of the day on the bunny hills, but Finn and Taylor left for a couple of hours to do more advanced slopes. Taylor was an intermediate level skier so decided on the Blue Square slope. Finn, however, had been skiing his entire life so was pretty high level. He opted for a Double Black Diamond. All of them were wearing GoPros, so they watched each other's footage that night. Finn's was by far the most interesting. He flew down the insanely steep hills, expertly weaving in and out of trees. They did this for the first 5 days of the trip.

On the 6th day they were there (New Year's Eve), they were relaxing in the cabin and jamming to songs with Finn on guitar. They were all sprawled out across the living room - Finn was lying with his feet up in front of the fireplace. They didn't want to go to the party that the lodge were hosting as they didn't feel like getting mobbed by drunk fans.

"So Finn, you're already a record-breaking recording artist. How does it feel, dude?" Dalton asked.

"Honestly, it's awwwwesome." Finn smiled. "Makes me glad I didn't just give up and die when I got sniped."

"Well, I for one am glad you're alive," Taylor said. "I wouldn't even know Ella and Dalton if you had died, but now you guys are like my best friends. I love you guys."

"We love you too," Ella said, giving her friend a hug. "So Finn, do you have any ideas on a next song? You have pretty big shoes to fill after Impossible."

"Actually, yeah. So my debut album is going to be called You. All of the songs are going to be love songs or heartbreak songs. And because I did a heartbreak song with Impossible, this time I'm going to do a love song. I've been playing around with some melodies over the past week or so and I'm ready to start recording when we get back."

"Can we hear it?" Taylor asked, intrigued.

"You guys want to hear it? It's kind of rough cause I haven't finished."

"Yeah, play it!" Dalton said.

"OK, this song is called Perfect. It's going to have a faint drum beat when I record it, but I'm going to do it completely stripped now."

They nodded and he started playing.

*Sings Perfect (Acoustic) by Ed Sheeran*

They all cheered when he finished singing.

"That was amazing!" Taylor said and hugged her half-brother.

"Yeah Finn, that's going to be a No. 1 hit for sure!" Dalton told his friend. Finn smiled then turned to Ella.

"What about you, Ell? What did you think?"

"I think… I think it was amazing." she said, with a weird look on her face. Finn noticed.

"Ella, are you OK?" he asked, concerned for his friend.

"Yeah I'm fine," she responded. "Just a bit tired and have a bit of a headache. I'm going to grab a headache pill from the bathroom. I'll be right back," she said, leaving the room. Finn and Dalton looked at each other, confused, but Taylor had a look of realisation on her face.

"I'm going to check on her," Taylor said, and left to go and follow her friend. When she made it to the bathroom, she knocked on the door. "Ella! Open up, it's me."

"Come in!" Taylor heard Ella's faint voice and she stepped into the bathroom. She saw Ella standing over the sink, tears pouring down her face. Taylor ran over and hugged her friend. She knew exactly what her friend was thinking about.

"How long?" she asked gently.

"How long what?" Ella asked, but deep down she knew what Taylor was talking about.

"How long have you been in love with my brother?" Ella's face filled with fear. She tried to play it down.

"I wouldn't say I'm in love with him…"Ella tried to backpedal and cover herself.

"Right, you just stare at him longingly, and run to the bathroom, crying, after he sings a love song."

Ella felt defeated and decided to come clean. "OK Fine. I want him to be with me. But he seems to be close to getting back together with his ex. You know, his ex of 3 years?" Her voice was dripping with envy. Taylor empathised for her friend.

"Look, honey, you and I can't control who Finn chooses to be with. The most you can do is tell him how you feel."

"I don't think I'm ready for that yet." Ella said, nervously.

"And there's no rush. But if Finn does get back with his ex which, for the record, I don't think he will, you can't be too upset about it. I just had an idea. Come with me."

They left the bathroom and Ella followed her friend back into the living room, where Finn and Dalton were watching TV. It was 11:55, so the ball was about to drop in New York.

"Listen up, guys! Dalton, you're kissing me at midnight," Taylor said. Dalton turned around, confused.

"Huh?" he asked dumbly.

"Well, I can't kiss Finn, he's my brother. So Finn's kissing Ella, and you're kissing me." The guys nodded. Ella shot daggers at her friend. She seriously just set her up for a kiss with the person she had been consumed in her love with for the past month like it was no big deal! She started to get nervous. Finn smiled at her.

"Don't worry, Ella. I'm not too bad a kisser. And, for the record, I'd much rather be kissing you than Dalton." She laughed and her nerves started to fade. Finn was a great guy. There was nothing to be afraid about. Soon the time went to 60 seconds left. Then 30. Then, finally 10.

"10!" They all said. "9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Happy New Year" they all shouted. Finn gave Ella a lingering kiss. They both felt sparks when they kissed each other, and were hesitant to pull away. It felt so right, them being there locked in an embrace. But they had to separate for air, so they pulled away from each other.

"Happy New Year, Ella," Finn said to her.

"Happy New Year," she responded. "Hopefully, by next year, we'll all have an album released."

"Yeah, I know we will. Not too sure about Dalton though," he said, winking at her.

"Hey!" Dalton shouted, indignantly. They all laughed. They all went to sleep at around 12:30 am. Ella and Finn were both awake long after their heads hit the pillows. They were both thinking about their kiss, and how great it had been. Eventually, they managed to get some sleep.

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