CHAPTER 7
Quinn and Finn walked into the apartment building and Finn knocked on the door. As they waited for an answer, Quinn and Finn looked around. It was a very rough, filthy neighborhood.
"Not exactly the ideal digs for an expecting mother." Finn commented, before knocking on the door again. "LAPD! Open up!"
Again, no answer. Finn and Quinn sighed.
"I guess we're gonna have to go all the way back to the station and get a warrant." She said.
Suddenly, the sound of a cat screeching rang through the air. Finn and Quinn looked at each other and smirked.
"Did you hear that?" Quinn said.
"Sounds like a woman in distress to me." Finn remarked. Both of them cocked their guns and after taking a step back, Finn kicked down the door and the two stormed in. The two of them walked through the apartment and made sure that there was nobody there. As Quinn walked into the bathroom to search for the woman, she noticed a tube of prescription pills on the counter. She picked them up and read the name on the label.
"Natasha Belenko." Quinn called to Finn. "Could be her real name. 50 milligrams of Newgen."
"That's a prenatal vitamin. You take it when you're pregnant and iron-deficient." He explained. Quinn's eyes widened.
"How the hell do you know that?" Quinn asked, astonished. Before Finn could answer, they both heard footsteps behind them. They turned around to see Natasha in the doorway of the apartment.
"It's okay. We're the police." Quinn said, gently. "We just want to talk to you."
The lady bolted and Finn and Quinn groaned before chasing after her. They chased the woman down the hallway and she ran up the stairs.
"I'm going up!" Finn shouted to Quinn.
"Okay, you go up! I'll go down!" She shouted. Finn followed Natasha up to the roof of the building. She ran towards the edge of the building and Finn chased after her.
"Hey! It's okay! Look! I'm a cop, Natasha! It's okay." He said, gently. "I'm a cop."
"You don't look like a policeman." She screamed.
"I didn't say I was an exemplary one." Finn replied. Natasha looked down at the other side of the ledge and saw the extremely long drop to the ground. She sobbed. "It's not a great option, Natasha." He commented, as he walked over to the ledge next to her. "It's a long way down."
On the ground, Quinn watched as Finn walked closer to the ledge. Her eyes widened in alarm.
"No, no, no, no, no! Finn, get away from the ledge!" She screamed. Finn couldn't hear her though. He was too high up. Finn faced Natasha and sighed.
"Look, far be it for me to tell anyone that they need to continue living." He said. "My only request… you wait another 7 months."
"What do you know about me?" She cried.
"I know you're taking care of yourself because you already love that child. Most important thing in the world to you is protecting that baby. Let me help you."
"You can't protect us!"
"Look, I know we just met, but it's probably the only thing I can do."
Quinn, on the ground, was watching the exchange. Suddenly, a glint of light from the neighboring building caught her eye. She turned to see a hooded man with a sniper rifle, aiming at Natasha. Her eyes widened.
"FINN!" She shouted. Finn still couldn't hear her.
"Trust me." He said gently to Natasha. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
Quinn groaned and took out her gun. She was too far from the sniper to be able to make the shot but she had one more option. Squinting one eye shut, Quinn aimed and fired at a satellite next to Finn. He spun around and because he was forced to turn, he saw the sniper. His eyes widened. Gritting his teeth, he sprinted towards Natasha and tackled her off the ledge…
They were freefalling just as the sniper fired his weapon. The shot missed them as they barreled towards the ground. Finn and Natasha braced for impact but it never came. Instead, they smashed through a window and into the apartment building opposite. They both groaned and coughed as they stumbled to their feet.
"You okay?" Finn murmured as he helped Natasha up.
"Yeah, I think so." She replied. Suddenly, someone cleared their throat. They spun around to see a perplexed family staring at them. Finn waved at them.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm a cop. Uh… the city will take care of all this." He said, pointing to the broken window. "Just tell 'em to put it on my tab. Finn Hudson."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Two hours later, Natasha was back at the station in the interrogation room. Finn was in the room with her and Quinn, Kurt and Dr. Pillsbury was watching from the other side of the two-sided mirror.
"Help me understand this." Captain Hummel said. "He jumped off a roof with her?"
"More like a leaping dive with a twist." Quinn replied. "But I'm not the most reliable witness. My eyes were closed."
"This man is truly dangerous." Kurt shook his head. "I can't allow him to be in the field. Doc, you're gonna have to back me up on this. I mean, psychologically speaking, he's… he's nuts, right?"
"He's in a lot of pain. That's all I can say." Dr. Pillsbury said. "He lost his wife and child less than a year ago."
Quinn's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry… child?"
Dr. Pillsbury looked at him.
"Quinn, you didn't know? She was pregnant."
Tears sprang to Quinn's eyes.
"Oh, my…" She whispered and then she watched Finn talk to Natasha…
"So what happened?" Finn asked Natasha. She took a deep breath.
"I was working at a bar in San Diego when I started dating this man. I thought it was love. One day, I took a picture of him, and I wanted to send it to my family. He got mad. He took out the SIM card and microwaved it."
"What's this lovely gentleman's name?" Finn asked.
"Gino Corelli." She replied. "But I don't think it's real. I was ready to break it off when…"
"You got pregnant." Finn finished her sentence. She nodded.
"So I followed him to a motel one day. I peeked in through the window expecting him to be there with another woman. But instead, there were bags with money and guns in boxes. Then he saw me. And like ice, he shot at me. I was scared, so I ran to L.A to hide out. Then at the party, there was one of the men from the motel. He saw me, and then…"
Natasha's voice trailed off into silent sobs. Finn put his jacket around her shoulders and he took her hand in his.
"Hey. It's okay." He whispered. "Natasha. I give you my word. You and your child are gonna be safe."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"I want her in protective custody. Safe house. 24 hour watch." Finn demanded to Captain Hummel. "I'll take the first shift."
"No way. Someone else will cover it." Kurt replied. "Finn, you're not being punished. You did good. The day's over. Go home."
Finn sighed and sat at his desk. Quinn turned to him.
"All right, well, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yeah." He replied. Quinn started to walk away but she turned back around.
"Hey!" She said.
"Huh?" Finn replied.
"You want to come have dinner with us?"
"No." Finn replied.
"No?" Quinn spat. "Not a 'No, thank you?' Just flat out rejection."
"Come on, Q. I know what you're trying to do. All right? I'm not a charity case."
"You know, personally, I'd like to spend as little time with you as possible. But last night when you didn't show up, Santana made me eat a kale salad. Not even a respectable lettuce. Man, I worked three days on those ribs. You look at 'em and they just fall right off the bone. You want to stay here by yourself, fine with me. My ribs are superb."
"Quinn…" He chuckled. "I'm from Texas. Come on, don't embarrass yourself. Your ribs are going to be subpar at best."
Quinn laughed and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?"
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Finn ended up coming over for dinner that night, and he had to admit, the ribs were decent. There was one more left on the platter and Quinn reached for it but Santana slapped her hand away.
"No, no, let Finn have it. He's our guest." Santana lectured.
"But he doesn't want it." Quinn complained. "He's still working on his last one."
Finn, who was still eating one, took the final rib and put it on his plate.
"Oh, no, no, no, no. I got room for one more." He smirked. He then proceeded to eat it really slowly, just to annoy Quinn.
"Can I be excused?" Haley asked. "I have a ton of homework."
"Phone on the table." Santana said. "And you can leave once our guest is finished."
"I'm done." Finn replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Thank you, Santana, Quinn. That was excellent."
"You're always welcome, Finn." Santana replied, smiling at him. He nodded and smiled.
"Beer?" He asked them.
"Yeah, man, I'd love one." Luke said. Finn stood up, walking towards the kitchen and he winked.
"All right!" Finn exclaimed.
"Absolutely not." Quinn snapped.
"Oh, come on, Q! What, are you gonna send the kid off to college without a tolerance?" Finn laughed. "You don't want him waking up on some frat house lawn, puking all over himself. My advice, two beers a day and a shot of whiskey on the weekends. Doctor's orders."
Quinn looked at him like he was insane. Santana however relented.
"OK, one beer." She replied. "After you finish your homework."
Quinn scowled at her. Santana giggled.
"What? I don't want him thinking it's some kind of big rebellion! Right?"
"Exactly!" Finn agreed.
"Boy, you can smell a beer. Just a sniff. That's it." Quinn said. Once Luke left the room, Quinn turned to Finn.
"Some parent you'd make." She remarked before realising what she had said. "Hey, I'm sorry about that."
Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"About what?" He asked. Suddenly, the baby monitor went off as Alex had started crying.
"I'll get it." Santana said. "Quinn, come help me?"
Quinn and Santana both went upstairs together, leaving Finn alone at the table. As they tended to Quinn's baby, Santana turned to Quinn.
"You know, I heard a crazy story down at the courthouse today." Santana remarked. "There was a high-speed chase in the Hills. Couple of hero cops chased down a propane truck that blew a hole the size of a crater."
"It was more like a pothole." Quinn defended herself. "And I wouldn't call them 'hero' cops. I mean, these things get exaggerated."
Quinn stopped talking when Santana shot her a death glare. Quinn sighed.
"Okay, I didn't want you to be worried." Quinn replied. Santana rolled her eyes.
"Quinn, I've been the sister of a cop for over 15 years. Worrying, I've learned to live with. Lying, I won't."
"Okay, I'm sorry." Quinn replied. "It's just, my past two decades as a cop hasn't been as interesting and action-packed as three days with Finn."
Santana laughed.
"I noticed." She responded. "He's a good man. And I can't imagine what he's been through."
"He lost his child." Quinn blurted out. Santana's eyes widened.
"What?"
"His wife was 9 months pregnant." Quinn whispered, handing Alex to Santana. As Santana held the child, she thought about what would happen if she lost one of them. They might not be her biological kids but she loved them just the same. Santana put the baby in her crib before turning to Quinn again.
"Quinn, you remember when you were in uniform, and you busted up that crack house and you brought home the stray?"
"Yeah. Roscoe was a great dog." Quinn reminisced.
"Oh, god, Quinn! Roscoe was a nightmare!" Santana chuckled. "I mean, he bit the arm off the sofa, crapped everywhere and attacked every stranger in sight."
"What are you saying? Is Finn… Roscoe in this scenario?"
"I'm saying… even though we loved him, we couldn't have Roscoe today."
"Why? Because we have a bigger house? Nicer things"
"Because we have more to lose." She replied, pointing to the baby in the crib. Quinn sighed. The two of them walked downstairs to see the dishes all done and table remade. Surprised, Quinn, then walked into the living room, looking for Finn.
"Finn!" She called, looking all over for him. Eventually, she walked outside and saw Finn lying fast asleep in one of the deckchairs, a beer bottle still in his hands. Quinn walked over to him and rather than waking him up, she gently took the bottle from his limp hands and then covered him with a blanket before walking inside.