CHAPTER 2

One week later

"I assume you've told everyone already?" Kurt asked, leaning against the doorframe to Finn's room.

Finn looked up from where he was folding clothes into his military issued duffle bag, carefully checking each item from the list the National Guard had given him. After he had met up with his recruiter and submitted the enlistment forms, the US Air Force had fitted him for fatigues, jackets, etc. and given him all of the equipment that he would need while training and in combat. All he had to do was keep the stuff safe and not lose any of it. Finn knew that if he lost any of his stuff, there was no way that the Air Guard would let him carry a gun. Finn was scheduled to leave for training the next week, and would also be put through various physical and mental tests. The recruiter assured him he'd easily pass given his already athletic abilities and experience.

"No, I haven't," Finn admitted, carefully placing another pair of pants into his bag and he then looked up at his brother.

"Not even Rachel?" He asked, surprised. Despite the fact that he dated Quinn twice and Rachel once, Kurt knew that Finn liked Rachel a lot more than Quinn. And when Rachel accused him of cheating and then cheated herself, Finn was incredibly hurt. It was at that moment when Finn 'gave up'. Finn stopped trying in Glee, got injured in football, and his life started to fall apart. Kurt seemed to have the impression that Finn still loved Rachel, but Finn knew that it was genuinely not true.

Finn snorted. "Especially not Rachel. Bitch cheated on me. I don't give a fuck about her!"

"I thought you guys were still friends, at least."

"With friends like her, I don't need enemies." Finn snarled. Kurt rolled his eyes at his brother. And Kurt was dubbed the melodramatic brother!

"No need to be overdramatic. She made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes."

"I'm sorry! She started by believing the school slut that I was cheating, and had the nerve to try and accuse me. When I assured her that it wasn't true, Rachel still believed Santana over me. She then tried to cheat on me, with the same guy that helped Quinn cheat on me with, knowing full well how badly Quinn's cheating affected me. She would have cheated if Puck hadn't gotten out. And that's me trusting him on that one. For all I know, they could have done it, and just lied to me. So forgive me if she isn't the first on my Contact list!"

Kurt listened to his brother's soliloquy and started to realise why Finn said he didn't have feelings for Rachel anymore. However, Rachel was also Kurt's best friend, so he was rooting for them to get back together.

"And besides," Finn continued. "Other than you and Mom and Burt, no one knows."

"That won't win you many friends with Glee," Kurt argued.

Finn shook his head and he continued packing his things. "I really don't care. Who am I gonna be friends with? The two girls who cheated on me, the guys who they cheated on me with, the people who knew that Quinn's baby wasn't mine but didn't want to tell me. Great friend group!" Finn remarked sarcastically.

"That explains why you didn't come to the Glee party the other day Everyone was wondering where the hell you were. Puck told them he thought you'd hooked up with one of the Cheerios. I realised that you hadn't told them about the Air Force yet but I didn't tell them your secret."

Finn rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Of course he did. Puck had to be that guy and start a rumour just because one of them smiled at me; I barely even know those girls. And I wasn't really in the mood to celebrate, especially not that way. I was busy. I needed to start getting fitted for my equipment for the Air Force." Finn admitted, grabbing a jacket and packing it next.

"Alright," Kurt said with a dismissive wave of his hand, flipping his bangs off his face in the process. "Just one thing though. You need to help me understand why you've decided to drop everything here with your life and friends to go killing villains in a country that you don't know yet. Can't you get enough of that on the paintball course?" Kurt scrunched his face up at the mere thought of it all.

"Because I need to get away from all the shit here! I need to do something for me, and be around people who are fighting alongside me, not just pretending to and then stabbing me in the fucking back!" Finn was getting annoyed and started to raise his voice so that it could be heard from outside the room.

"Watch the language up there!" Burt called down from the main floor. He was sweeping the hallway and could hear bits of the conversation - mainly Finn as Finn's voice was a lot louder.

Kurt sat down on Finn's chair, and Finn looked away from him and kept packing. He had just finished putting everything in his duffel and was checking off the items from his list as he looked into the duffel one more time. "You know you say that these people are not your friends, but you're also the one who helped convince Rachel to not have a nose job. You lead the football team to a conference championship. You helped Sam out by donating your old clothes and gave toys to his siblings."

Finn shrugged. "I would have done it for anyone. I didn't do it because they're my friends: I did it because it was the right thing to do, and I'd be a real asshole not to," he replied.

Kurt nodded a bit, and then shrugged slightly. "Well, you seem to have made up your mind, brother. I know that if anything, you're as stubborn as an ass, so you're not gonna change your mind." He looked disdainfully at the uniform Finn had been issued earlier that day. "Are all the colours the same as vomit? Like they couldn't have branched out with a nice teal or turquoise?"

The tall quarterback laughed at him. "It is the military, Kurt."

"Just saying, maybe less people would get shot if they looked better." Kurt stood from where he was sitting and looked up at his brother. "I'll miss you, Finn."

Finn smiled. "Hey, it's just for two months. I'll be back on September fourth."

"Yes, but still, I've gotten used to having you and your ape-like ways around this house. And it's going to be hard to not have a wardrobe to critique every day."

"You've always got Burt and Carole," Finn pointed out. They smiled at each other before they exchanged a quick hug, and Finn stepped back. "I'll miss you too, man."

"You make sure you write to us, okay?" Carole said as she hugged Finn a final time before he made his way over to the group of recruits standing by the large green bus, waiting to take them to Lackland Air Force Base in Michigan.

"Yeah, Mom, I will. Sounds like that's about all I'll have time for anyway if the schedule they give is true. And I'll email as soon as we're allowed to use the computers but that won't be for a little while." Finn threw his gear over his shoulder and took a deep breath in near disbelief that he was here, about to embark on a journey that even a year ago he never would have imagined himself taking. There was actually a small chance that he would die in the next 2 months. And he never actually said goodbye to his 'friends' from Glee. Not that they deserved it anyways.

Knowing that he was about to be grouped together on orders of their Sergeant, he quickly pulled out his cell phone and sent a mass text to everyone in Glee and football. After a few keystrokes, he smiled and handed the phone over to Kurt. "Can't take that with me, so I guess I'll let you take care of it."

His brother nodded and took Finn's phone and put it in his pocket. "You take care of yourself, Finn. And don't forget, work on you this summer and forget all the rest of that crap you went through. This is a chance to start fresh. Make it a good start."

"I will. And thanks for everything, guys."

"Attention, recruits!" A loud voice, belonging to an imposing looking black man with several stripes on his uniform, suddenly rang through the parking lot. "Fall into ranks here for transportation to Lackland Air Force Base. On the double! Move it!"

Finn waved quickly to his family and hurried over, quickly falling into line alphabetically after a few last names were exchanged between the other soldier recruits. He fell right between "Hemsworth" and "Horrace" and easily towered over both of them by about four or five inches. He followed the others up the line until he came to the Sergeant, who looked him up and down with a menacing stare. "Hudson, I presume?"

"Yes, Sir!" Finn nodded at the Sergeant.

"Good to have you with us. Now get your lanky ass on the bus and get ready to ship out."

Finn nodded and hurried on the bus, selecting a seat near the back where he could stretch his long legs a little easier. He turned towards the window and gave a small wave to both Burt and Carole, who waved back, and then before long the bus lurched forward and pulled away. Finn sighed as he watched the streets of Lima roll by through the bus' window and eventually give way to sprawling countryside, focusing on the words his step-father had said to him just a few days before.