CHAPTER 134

It was Bella…

"Finn? Finn? Earth to Finn!" Nicole exclaimed, snapping her fingers in Finn's face. Finn still ignored her though. Nicole then turned around to see what/who Finn was looking at and when she saw, realisation flooded through her face. Finn stood up and walked over to Bella. She saw him and her face paled for a brief moment before determination took over.

"Um… hi." Finn said.

"Long time." She said. Finn nodded. "You were great tonight by the way. And last night too, you were awesome."

Finn smiled.

"Thanks. Did you watch me on TV?" He asked. She shook her head.

"No, I… I was there in the arena." She replied. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Um… huh? How?" Finn asked.

"Nicole invited me. Sent me a free ticket on the condition that I come to this bar afterwards. That request makes more sense now."

As Bella was talking, Nicole slid out of the booth behind Finn and patted him on the shoulder as she walked past.

"Oh. It was you…" Finn remarked. Nicole shrugged.

"I'm your mentor. It's my job to be your eyes when you're too thick headed to see three feet in front of you. See you, Finn." She said. Finn smiled at her.

"Bye." Finn replied and Nicole walked over to Rylan and Jahmene, who were in an intense arm wrestle by the bar. Finn then turned back to Bella, who was staring at him intently.

"Do you want to go take a walk? Catch up?" Finn asked. Bella nodded and the two of them left the bar together.

Watching them from the other side of the bar were George and Santana.

"Oh, snap! My boy's about to get laid!" George remarked. Santana rolled her eyes.

"More like beaten up. Bella's gonna beat the crap out of him. Mark my words, Finn isn't getting any tonight!"

George raised an eyebrow.

"Wanna bet?"

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Meanwhile, Finn and Bella were spending the walk catching up on what they had missed in each other's lives, but only their professional ones. They had both purposely skirted around their personal issues. They had just made it to the East River and they sat down together on one of the benches.

"OK, what the hell, Finn? One of us has gotta bring it up! Why did you abandon me? After all we went through together, you dumped me by a GROUP TEXT?!"

Finn looked down in shame.

"Um… Bella, I'm so, so sorry about that. I owed you a proper breakup."

"That's great, but sorry doesn't take away the pain I felt. It doesn't take away all those nights I spent crying. It doesn't take away how you broke my damn heart, Finn!"

"Look, I'm sorry, but it's not like I was sipping mojitos by a beach when I sent that message. I had just been through the worst 2 years of my life and trust me, I was hurting just as much, if not more."

"You don't think I could have helped you?" Bella spat. "Finn, I know you better than anyone in this world. I could've helped you!"

"No, you couldn't have." Finn muttered. "I wasn't only damaged mentally, but I was a danger to myself and others around me. You don't know how many times I sat in my bed sit and pointed my gun to my temple. What if you had been there, and I pointed the gun at you instead? I would NEVER be able to forgive myself if something happened to you."

"No! You wouldn't have done anything! I could've talked you down! This was just you being scared of going through a rough patch in our relationship. You were scared of commitment so you decided to run instead!"

Finn laughed hollowly.

"You're definitely barking up the wrong tree, Bella. Trust me." He murmured, quietly.

"No, I'm not! You were scared that our relationship was getting too real so you ran away like a little bitch!"

His fight with Santana in that hotel in Hawaii came flooding back in a weird moment of deja vu. Santana had said those exact words. But this time, he wasn't going to walk away from confrontation. He was stronger now and he wasn't going to run.

"You know I was going to propose to you? When I was supposed to be discharged. I had a ring and everything. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I loved you more than a person could possibly another person. But then things beyond my control went wrong, which is why I broke up with you and ran. So don't you dare tell me that I was scared of commitment." He growled.

What Bella did next Finn couldn't have predicted in a million years. She leaned in and kissed him gently. They kissed for several moments before they broke apart.

"Damn it, why do you have to be such a good kisser?!" Bella muttered. Finn chuckled.

"Wait… are we…?" Finn's voice trailed off. Bella's gorgeous hazel eyes looked deep into his.

"I mean, you've got some serious sucking up to do but… maybe. If you want. Truth is, I tried moving on from you when we broke up but I just couldn't. You're my person, Finn, whether you like it or not. We're soulmates and kissing you just now felt so… right. I love you Finn Hudson, you dopey yet unbelievably sexy idiot."

Finn laughed.

"I love you too, Bella Sutton, you amazing, gorgeous, hilarious lady. Now, can I take you out for dinner?"

Bella shook her head.

"No." She replied. Finn's smile dropped. "Don't you have a hotel room nearby?" She asked. "I believe we have some catching up to do." She said, winking at him.

Finn's face erupted in a huge smile.

"I believe we do." He grinned back. Finn stood up and held out a hand to help Bella up with. As she took it, Finn winced in pain as Bella took it and she noticed immediately.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Finn nodded and gritted his teeth.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Old injury."

"Let me guess… some jackass hit you with his car?" Bella asked, knowingly. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"You knew it was me?" He asked. Bella nodded.

"Well, yeah. Who else would run away from me like I was physically burning them? Thank you, by the way. You saved my life that night, even if you ran away like a little girl after."

"Sorry." He replied, blushing. Bella shrugged.

"It's fine. But out of curiosity, why did you run, by the way?" She asked. Finn sighed.

"I wanted to face you, but I wanted to wait until after the competition. I didn't want to risk distracting myself. I needed to say at the very top of my game to be able to do as well as I did in the competition."

"That makes sense." Bella replied, before smiling at him. "I can't believe that my boyfriend is the X Factor champion!"

Finn smiled faintly.

"Wow. Boyfriend. I haven't heard that word said about me in years." Finn remarked. Bella smiled.

"Well, boyfriend for now. You're going to have to spoil me for the next little while to make up for dumping me before."

Finn laughed.

"I think I can do that. We're here." He said, and they stopped outside a random apartment building. Bella raised an eyebrow.

"Um… this doesn't look like the X Factor hotel I've seen on TV." Bella said, nervously. Finn sighed.

"Yeah, I had to check out of the hotel this morning. I'm renting an AirBnB for the next little while until I buy a place. Here, come on. Let's go." He said, taking her hand and leading her into the building.

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"Wow, Finn. When you said you were renting an AirBnB, I didn't think you meant the penthouse!" Bella exclaimed as they stepped inside. Finn laughed.

"Yeah, I'm still getting used to the star treatment, myself; Everything truly is bigger and better up here. Flat Screen TV, a bar in the apartment, a bigger, more comfortable bed." Finn whispered the last part in her ear. Bella smiled.

"Lead the way." She purred back, following him into the bedroom. They made love that night. Several times. Being with Bella again felt so amazing. This truly was the best night of his life. The X Factor win seemed like a millennia ago. After Finn and Bella had completely worn each other out, they settled to sleep. As Bella fell asleep with her head resting against his chest, Finn looked down at the angel next to him. How had he gotten so lucky? It was like after all the crap he had gone through in his life, the stars were finally realigning. His career and his love life were perfect. Little did he know that something that happened the next was going to change that.

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The next morning, at almost midday, Bella woke up with a goofy smile on her face. She was finally back with… wait, where was Finn? He wasn't beside her! She started to panic. Had he seriously slept with her and then had regrets? Was there something about her that wasn't good enough? Her panics were immediately cut off as Finn entered the room, a tray in his hands. Bella inhaled the sublime scent and sighed in ecstasy. When Finn noticed that she was awake, he smiled at her.

"Good morning, babe. How'd you sleep?" He asked, leaning down and kissing her. She smiled and kissed him back.

"Amazingly. Although I have to admit, I am kind of feeling the aftermath of last night."

Finn blushed.

"Sorry about that." He murmured, looking down. Bella giggled.

"Don't worry. I don't regret it one bit." She replied.

"I'm glad. And hopefully, breakfast in bed will help." He said. Bella beamed as Finn laid the delectable tray of food on her lap. As Finn looked into her eyes, he saw nothing but pure love and he knew, beyond all doubt, that that woman in front of him was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He just needed to not screw up and hold onto that woman and he'd be okay.

"Hey babe." Finn said. "Crazy idea… have you ever been to Bora Bora?"