Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Finn stood in front of his mirror, checking his outfit for the third time in the past ten minutes. Dammit, normally, he wasn't so petty like Kurt, just because of stupid clothes. Speaking of which, he hadn't heard of him for hours now, and he didn't even answer when he sent him photos of which button up shirt to choose.
Normally, Kurt always answered immediately if it was about fashion, but his phone seemed to be turned off. And for some reason, Finn couldn't reach him mentally as well.
Finn shrugged. Kurt was probably just taking a nap at his workplace, just like a couple of times before.
Back to the initial topic. You surely wonder why he suddenly cared about his appearance?
Yes, right, because of a woman. A special woman. The woman who was the reason why he and Harmony broke up. After Finn had come to terms with their breakup, he had realized that he never had really loved Harmony.
Okay, yes, he did, but not as intensely as he loved someone else.
Rachel was…how shall he put it? She was ambitious. And stubborn at times, but he didn't care. She was independent and strong, and she was caring.
Without a doubt, she was the right one.
Speaking of the devil. Suddenly, Rachel was standing in front of him, rubbing her neck. "Oh, hey Finn."
Finn smiled at her goofily. "I was about to come over to you, you know, kind of. There is something I need to tell you."
For some reason, Rachel had a pained face expression. "Finn, I…"
"I think I'm in love with you." Phew, not as hard as expected. "I love you, Rachel.", he repeated, feeling lighter with every word. Actually, he felt like shouting it from the rooftops.
But instead of looking happy, Rachel's face fell. "Oh, Finn", she sighed.
Suddenly feeling insecure, Finn bowed his head. Did he overwhelm her with the love declaration? Wasn't she ready yet, or worse, didn't she love him? Scratch that, he knew exactly she did not not like him, but there was something else bothering her. But reading her mind now would be an invasion of privacy, and a breach of trust.
"What about Harmony?", she asked quietly, and he looked up again. "I thought the two of you were a couple?"
"Not anymore", Finn answered tonelessly. "We…we broke up. Because we both weren't honest to each other. We probably weren't meant to be with other."
Rachel sighed. "I'm so sorry, Finn."
"But hey, that's good for you, for us, right?" Finn looked at the brunette, pleading. "Rachel, please say something, I'm begging you."
"Finn, you know exactly that I love you as well", Rachel said slowly, and his eyes lit up, "But there is one little problem."
"Which is?" Finn looked at her warmly. "You know you can tell me everything, right?"
"I'm pregnant", she blurted out.
His brain needed a couple of seconds to process that piece of information before he called out: "Wait, what!?"
…
While Rachel sat on his couch, Finn was walking up and down the room, restless. For a while now.
"So let me get this straight, after you have seen me with Harmony, you decided to have sex with your slutty ex who impregnated you while you were drunk?", he summarized.
Rachel nodded shortly.
"Oh, Rachel…", he grumbled, ruffling his hair.
The brunette looked down her feet, sheepish. "To be honest, I didn't even know whether I even wanted to have children one day. My plan was simple: Making it to Broadway, get famous, that's all. Children would only have been in my way." She moved her leg, thoughtful. "But now that I can say goodbye to those plans, I never have thought about what I will do instead."
"Did you consider…to…you know…?", Finn asked tentatively, only thinking the last part of his sentence.
Rachel who had read his mind, shook her head fervently. "No, of course not!" She softly caressed her abdomen and let out another sigh. "That being inside me shouldn't suffer because of my silly mistake. I will keep the baby, of course."
"And did you tell this Brody guy about … you know … the baby?", he wanted to know.
"Until now, I just…couldn't", she confessed, and Finn looked at her incredulously. "I needed to process the information as well." She laughed bitterly and humorlessly. "Funny that I made fun of Quinn not long ago because she got pregnant while she had drunk sex, and now, the same happened to me. That's what's called karma." Rachel sadly looked down her stomach again. "I know Brody, he is the least responsible person of the world. He will leave whenever it gets serious. I'm sure he doesn't want the baby." Tears were welling up in her eyes, and Finn came over to her and pulled her in a hug
"Hey, I'm sure he will man up and stand by his responsibility", he reassured her. "And if he doesn't, I will help you with the baby."
Rachel looked up to him. "Don't be silly, Finn", she said with a watery smile. "You have your life in Seattle, I don't want you to give it up just because of me."
He shook his head. "Being a barista at a mediocre coffeeshop is what you call a life?" Finn laughed. "Yes, Kurt is here as well, that's definitely a pro, but that's all. There is almost nothing that keeps me here in Seattle, and besides, I can talk to him in my head whenever I want to."
Speaking of which, Finn still didn't know about his whereabouts. Whatever, he was probably fine anyway.
Rachel pulled him closer to herself. "Did I already tell you how much I love you?", she whispered to him.
Finn shrugged. "To be honest, that's only the first time."
"I know a better way to show you how much I do.", she suggested with a wink and rose on her toes to kiss him softly.
Tina was nervous when she checked herself in front of the mirror backstage.
"How do I look, Arts?", she asked her friend nervously, refraining herself from ruffling her blond wig. She had done everything in her power to hide her visual identity so that her family and friends wouldn't recognize her on that TV-Show. Now, she was wearing a long, dirty blond wig, giant sunglasses, tons of makeup and cherry red lipstick, plus an extravagant bright pink tulle dress and a big sunhat.
"I wouldn't recognize you if I met you on the streets", Artie grinned, and Tina gave him two thumbs up. "But don't you think it's a bad idea to hide who you are, T? This is your opportunity to show the world your true self."
Tina shook her head, careful not to let the hat drop. "I don't want that, Artie. I want to stay anonymous. What if people start hating me if I show them who I am?"
"Ms. Kennedy?", one of the assistant producers spoke up. "We are going to be on air in less than one minute."
Tina nodded. "Alright", she said and got up from her chair in her stilettos. Hopefully, she was not going to trip while on air.
"Good luck, I'm going to wait backstage." Tina threw Artie one last nervous glance before he rolled to the back and started walking towards Jimmy Fallon who was already sitting on his armchair at the set.
"Are you nervous?", Jimmy asked compassionately when Tina also took a seat and the executive producer gave them a sign that they would air in a couple of seconds.
Tina shrugged. "You could say that."
"We are on air in five, four, three, two…"
Jimmy Fallon flashed his best stage smile before he looked into the camera and said: "Good evening, America, and welcome to the Tonight Show. This time, we are lucky to have a special guest whose name resounded throughout the land: Her name is Vivian Kennedy, and she blew our minds with another stunning novel of hers." He turned to Tina. "Actually, Vivian, this is the first time you show your face to the world. How come you wanted to keep your identity a secret?"
"Well, Jimmy, that's a good question", she answered, somewhat nervous.
"It really is", someone next to her suddenly spoke up sneeringly, and Tina didn't need to turn around to know that Mercedes was standing behind her.
Ignoring her, Tina went on: "I wanted to share my stories with the world out there without revealing who I am because I was worried I could change because of all the fame. And my works could change as well."
"Makes sense", Jimmy agreed, looking her up and down "And what's the matter with your adventurous outfit, if you don't mind asking me?"
"Yeah, Cohen-Chang", Santana who suddenly sat next to Jimmy, asked in a way ruder tone, and crossed her arms. Tina almost yelped and quickly bit her tongue, telling herself to get her act together.
"No, I don't", she joked, and was relieved when people in the audience actually laughed. "What can I say, I like it crazy and daring, that's what I wanted to express with that outfit."
At that, a guy suddenly burst into laughter, and Tina recognized Puck among the audience. "No offense, Asian Chick, but you don't even dare trying out a new latte at the coffeeshop, so don't say you are adventurous."
Jimmy frowned a bit. "Can I be bold?", he asked her, and when Tina said yes, he added: "To me, it seems as if you want to hide underneath your sunglasses and the hat. But me and my assumptions, they have always been farfetched, right? Maybe, you are just a fashionable woman that has a knack for trends." He laughed a bit.
"If Kurt was here, he would so call you out because of that disastrous outfit", Mercedes commented dryly. "And he would be right. You look like a clown."
Tina sighed deeply before she turned to her friends (in her head, of course). "I totally get that you are mad at me, but can we please postpone that conversation?" With that, she concentrated on Jimmy and the Tonight Show again. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, Jimmy. I love that style; it's so revealing and…airy." In her pink tulle dress, she almost felt naked, but he didn't have to know.
"Just like he didn't have to know about my sex life?", Blaine behind her scoffed with a scowl. "Just go on. Tell him about it just like you told him and this entire planet how I humped Hunter when I was vulnerable and weak."
When Tina opened her mouth to tell Blaine for the hundredth time how sorry she was about what she had done to him and all of their friends, she closed it again and cleared her throat. "You know, Jimmy, you were right", she said to the host who looked at her with surprise. "I wanted to hide who I am. And I was successful for almost two years.
But while I did so, I hurt people who are the most important to me." She looked at Santana, Mercedes, Puck, and Blaine when she said that sentence. "And I'm so sorry for what I have done to them. If there was a way to undo it, I would do it immediately." She absentmindedly played with the strand of her blond wig. "All this-" She pointed at her outfit "That's not me. That's a fantasy character I made up to protect myself and to please my fans. I was scared that they wouldn't accept me once they found out who I am."
She slowly put down her hat and laid it onto the table, ignoring her friends who exchanged worried glances.
"Tina, you don't need to do that, really", Blaine said quickly.
"It's okay, we already forgave you", Mercedes added, but Tina shook her head.
"Guys, please. It's my decision", she answered with a wink and turned to Jimmy Fallon again. "But those days where I felt insecure are over. I don't want to do that anymore. I want people to know who I am."
She put off her sunglasses and smiled at the camera insecurely. "Vivian Kennedy is not who I am. I'm no glamourous white blonde who resides in a fancy mansion in Los Angeles." Finally, she put down her wig and laid it onto her lap. "My real name is Tina Cohen-Chang, and I'm just a plain normal Asian girl who lives in a tiny apartment in Portland."
The gasps of Jimmy Fallon, the audience and her friends were almost synchronous.
Next time, we are going to find out what happened to Kurt, don't worry ;)