There are probably mistakes in this. It was a hard chapter to write. Feel free to point them out to me and I will correct them as soon as I can.
Thanks you guys!
Songs are:
H.O.L.Y. - Florida Georgia Line
In Case You Didn't Know - Brett Young
TM
It was early on a Saturday morning; a cloudless, blue and orange sky that would have been picturesque on any other day.
A brown casket parted the sea of black with ease. Leading the processional was his mother, hands clasped in front of her stomach, and beside her was his stepbrother and stepfather. Behind them, the football team in Letterman jackets cheering their captain in silence as they marched with their heads down and silent tears openly flowing down their faces. The Cheerios followed shortly after. The biggest shock to some was seeing the Unholy Trinity together for the first time in months. Quinn wore a long black dress with her hair loosely curled while Santana dressed in a black suit, her hair tied back away from her face. Brittany was the only one in full uniform, tight, high ponytail and all.
To some, it was the perfect show of unity. To others, it was just another example of death bringing together those who had been apart.
They were there for Finn.
No matter the anger Santana.
No matter the disgust.
No matter the pain.
It was all for him that day.
Students, teachers, coaches, and friends walked the procession down the cemetery path.
But there were some who decided to watch from a distance and mourn in their own way.
Next to a mausoleum, in perfect view of the procession, sat Puck and Rachel. It was just them. Rachel had stopped crying a long time ago. Her eyes were swollen from the number of tears she'd shed over the last few days. Finn may not have been the love of her life, but he was the first boy she loved at McKinley. He was always that lumbering oaf that seemed to do more harm than good, but his soul was almost always pure. He made his mistakes, some worse than others, but he wasn't a bad guy. Rachel leaned her head on Puck's shoulders and sniffed, wrapping a scarf around her face and neck so she wouldn't get sick.
Puck shifted and blew smoke upward instead of to the side as he'd been doing to avoid blowing it at Rachel. There were at least four cigarette butts surrounding his boots, but Rachel said nothing about it. He hadn't cried. He didn't speak. He smoked. It was a thing he and Finn shared in secret. Everyone knew Puck smoked, but no one knew Finn did, and it was a secret Puck would take to the grave for his friend. His brother.
An hour passed, neither one saying a word as the processional grew smaller and smaller, and as the afternoon went on, Rachel remained on Puck's shoulder, wide awake. Both had their eyes cast to the sky, watching birds fly overhead, and the silence was almost peaceful. It was broken by the sounds of leaves crunching behind them, and Puck turned to the side as Quinn and Santana came around to the front. They settled down in front of them, and for a moment, the four friends just looked at one another, trying to see what could possibly come next.
What do you say to each other when you lose someone you hated but loved at some point in time?
What do you say to his ex-girlfriend?
What do you say to his tormentor-turned-friend-turned-enemy?
What do you say to his best friend since elementary school?
What do you say to the one that was never his, but loved him all the same?
Nothing. Which is what they did.
After several long moments, they agreed to sit there in each other's company. Eventually, they moved so they were all touching each other in some way. Quinn stretched out with her head in Santana's lap. Puck laid down and placed his head on Quinn's stomach. Rachel laid on Puck's chest with Santana's head resting on her thighs and that's how they stayed.
In the silence, each one remembered and regretted the last things they ever said to Finn, coping with the fact they'll never be able to make it up to him.
The Next Monday...
Sue sighed as she walked the halls after the final club had dismissed. The place was empty. The vigils were gone, only dried flowers remained, and it seemed the school had worked its way back into some sense of normalcy while simultaneous adjusting to the new changes. Santana came back to school and immediately resigned from the team. Quinn followed. Sue saw it coming and accepted their resignation easily. Brittany was in control of the Cheerios and doing her best Quinn impression. Puck and Rachel, along with LJ and Tori, labeled themselves the untouchables. It seemed as if even the Glee Club had reigned it in a little. Mr. Schue was avoiding the students like the plague. All in all, things were falling into place and falling out of place as well.
Sue turned the corner and had to put her reflexes to good use to avoid knocking Santana to the ground.
"Sorry," Santana said, taking a step back. "I was lost in my head."
"No harm done," Sue said. She then looked at the clock and back at Santana. "Although, I am curious as to why you're here so late? I thought you were going out to dinner with Puck and the Berry brigade."
Santana chewed on her lip and said, "I was getting in some extra reps at the gym."
"Try again."
"What? How-
"You always chew your bottom lip before you lie. It's a well-known fact that we let you get away with on occasion. Now, why are you really here?"
Santana looked down and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Quinn and I wanted to do something special for Rachel. With everything that's been going on, we somewhat forgot about our promise that we were genuine about our feelings for her."
Sue's eyes widened. That wasn't at all what she was expecting. "I see. Do you, uh, do you need any help?" she asked.
"I don't think so. Honestly, it's nothing extravagant, just special."
"And this is for tomorrow?"
"No, Wednesday."
"You're going to serenade her, aren't you?"
Santana nodded. "It won't be obnoxious like the Broadway rejects. It'll be me and Quinn or us by ourselves publicly declaring our love for Rachel in hopes that she knows we're being serious. It's really challenging because she's changed a lot, but we can see she's still the same girl we fell in love with. She's the best part of our day and-" Santana stopped and cleared her throat. "You get the point," she mumbled.
Sue patted Santana on the shoulder and said, "You'll be fine. Just be open and honest. Word of advice for you and Quinn, Rachel loves you too, but she needs to know that there's room for her in something that's already been established. Once you do that, then you can work on loving her separately and as a union. This is going to the hardest, easiest thing you've probably ever done in your life. They are two different people with similar interests, and you'll learn that what one appreciates, the other doesn't. Spend the early parts learning their love languages as a single partner and also as a trio. I have faith in you three. Out of everyone she's ever met, you two are the ones that make it work."
Sue could see Santana was distracted again, and she gently pushed her in the direction of the exit. She needed to set the alarm and didn't want to Santana being so caught up in her head she got locked in the school overnight.
Wednesday
LJ dragged Rachel to the front row in the auditorium, specifically, the seat with one white rose on the armrest. She picked it up, looked at him in confusion, and he shrugged.
"I'm only doing what I was told. Now sit down," he said.
Rachel hesitantly sat down in the seat and LJ vanished. Puck walked out on the stage. He had on a cowboy hat and a pair of jeans with boots. He winked at her and started strumming the guitar in his hands. Rachel bit back a groan, but stopped when she recognized the song. She sat up in her seat and narrowed her eyes, but Puck refused to give anything away.
When the sun had left and the winter came
And the sky fall could only bring the rain
I sat in darkness, all broken-hearted
I couldn't find a day I didn't feel alone
I never meant to cry, started losing hope
But somehow baby, you broke through and saved me
Rachel couldn't breathe. She knew that voice. Sure enough, Quinn came out from behind Puck and snatched the hat from his head. Rachel inhaled what she could and tried not to show too much emotion. She knew Quinn hated country, but Rachel loved it, and she picked a song that Rachel spent hours listening to. It was one of her favorites. Part of her questioned how she knew it, but it didn't matter. She smiled and held the rose close as Quinn continued.
You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving
'Cause you're the first thing I know I can believe in
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
Rachel felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes and took her bottom lip between her teeth. She wasn't going to cry. Not yet. Quinn's voice got louder with the next verse, and Rachel could feel parts of her melting away.
You made the brightest days from the darkest nights
You're the river bank where I was baptized
Cleanse all the demons
That were killing my freedom
Let me lay you down, give me to ya
Get you singing babe, hallelujah
We'll be touching, we'll be touching heaven
Rachel laughed a little, but she couldn't stop the tears from falling. Quinn jumped down from the stage. She held up her hand, and Puck stopped playing. She knelt in front of Rachel and sang the last part with more emotion than Rachel was expecting.
I don't need the stars 'cause you shine for me
Like fire in my veins, you're my ecstasy
You're my ecstasy
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
Quinn stopped singing and leaned forward. She kissed Rachel on the cheek and hopped back on the stage. Rachel's smile fell as Quinn pretty much ran to the back and Puck merely bowed at the waist before he followed after her. She sat there in the dark, torn between swooning and screaming in frustration, and jumped when LJ approached her from the side. He took one look at her and snorted.
"I told Tori to make sure you had a tissue, but she seemed to think you wouldn't cry. Obviously, she doesn't know you well or our sister has a heart made of solid rock, not ice."
"What?"
"Just come on, we're going to be late for class."
Rachel let LJ pull her out of the seat and drag her out of the auditorium. Rachel looked down at the rose in her hand and wondered if that was the only surprise of her day.
Rachel couldn't help but feel like Tori and Puck were avoiding her. When she saw them, they would turn the other way. She hadn't seen Quinn since that morning, and she hadn't seen Santana at all. She was going crazy. Mercedes and the others, however, had bothered her from the moment she stepped into the hallway. She had to duck them as much as Puck and Tori were ducking her. She kept her head down, and let the crowds die off before she made her way to her last class of the day.
At least that was the plan.
Hands grabbed her by the waist from behind and a cloth went over her eyes. She didn't scream, only because she recognized the voice from the lips pressed against her ear.
"It's just us," Santana whispered.
From the other side, she heard Quinn as she said, "Do you trust us?"
Rachel felt something that wasn't exactly trust bubbling in her stomach, but she nodded yes. She let them lead the way. While they walked, she heard the same guitar from earlier, but it was playing another song she knew word for word, chord for chord, and in every way possible. Her heart jumped into her throat while her stomach flipped so many times that she got nauseous. As she got closer, she heard also heard a piano, and that cemented what she already knew. Tori. Tori was the one who knew Rachel loved the song, and Tori was the one who learned it for her. Whether she sang or not. It was Rachel's song, and she was already in tears hearing it.
"Are you crying?" Quinn asked.
"We haven't even done anything yet," Santana teased.
"Shut up," Rachel huffed.
The hands on her waist guided her down and she landed on a bench of sorts. Seconds later, she felt the cloth being removed. When her eyes adjusted, she froze. They were in the choir room. LJ stood guard at the door while Sue stood guard at the other. Tori sat on a chair in front of the piano as she played while Puck leaned against the wall.
"What is this?" Rachel asked.
Quinn and Santana stood in front of her.
"We know how much this family, both blood and otherwise, means to you now. At first, we were going to do this on our own, but we wanted to show you that we were serious. So we have your brother, your sister, your godmother, and your best friend here to promise with our hearts and minds that we want to be yours," Santana said.
"We love you. Both of us. Equally and deeply. It has been a rough couple of weeks, and we realized that after our confession, we never doubled down on it. So that's what we decided to do," Quinn said.
Rachel felt like a blubbering idiot, but she pulled it together as she asked, "You did all of this? Both of you?"
"No," Quinn said, sheepishly. "This was actually all Santana. I'm shit with romantic gestures."
"But this morning-
"Was Santana's idea," Quinn admitted. "I meant every word, but I probably would've done something stupid like blurt it out in the hallway or something."
Santana snorted. "Or sent you a text at four in the morning," she added.
Rachel smiled when Quinn pouted, and then she looked at Santana.
"You seriously planned all of this?" she whispered.
"Yes. We're going to prove it by singing, even though we know how much you hate people serenading you."
Puck snorted in the background. Santana and Quinn shifted so that they were both kneeling in front of Rachel. They each grabbed her hand and sang in perfect harmony. Naturally, they changed the lyrics.
You've got all of us
We belong to you
Yeah, you're our everything
Rachel laughed at the lyric change.
In case you didn't know
We're crazy bout you
We would be lying if we said
That we could live this life without you
Even though we don't tell you all the time
You had our heart a long long time ago
In case you didn't know
Santana stepped forward first and kissed Rachel on the lips, and Quinn followed shortly after. Rachel was so distracted she missed the others leaving. She knew kissing them would be an experience, but she didn't plan on the type of experience. She was so distracted by them, and them by her, they missed the others leaving. The three sat there through the final bell, and Rachel knew in that moment coming back to Lima was the best idea she'd made in a long time.