Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting but lately life has really been kicking my ass. Also after the Glee finale I was internally debating whether or not anyone would still want to read Glee/Finchel fanfiction anymore. But as I've seen over the past couple of days people are still posting, so as long as people are still reading and reviewing I will keep up my end and keep on posting new content. So once again all the legal stuff belongs to Ryan Murphy & FOX except my characters. So please read, review, rewind, then read and review again…enjoy!
New York City (3 Months Later)
I wonder if this is what it's like to be dead and in a coffin, Finn thought morbidly to himself. He couldn't help but let his mind drift to thoughts such as these. Especially when your lying down on a cold sterile table with your head inside a giant magnetic tunnel getting your brain scanned. After Finn was informed that abnormalities were found in his preliminary tests done at the Lima General Hospital Oncology department. The doctors thought it best that he undergo a MRI scan to further clarify if his brain tumour had come back, and how best to proceed.
Depending on the scan results his options were if it were the same tumour he had in Georgia, he would need another surgery on his brain to remove it. Or if it was a different tumour or was located in a different part of his brain then Finn may have to undergo chemotherapy treatment again. Finn's doctor told him that these tests are routine and that judging by the results they already have, and Finn's ongoing symptoms of bloody noses, memory loss and some problems with his mobility function in his right hand. It's more than likely his tumour has come back and all they can do is determine the tumour's type and location and form a battle plan around that.
What freaked him out the most were the mobility problems that only seemed to occur down the right side of his body permeating in his right hand. It didn't happen all the time but he had noticed that it had been slowly increasing in regularity. None of his friends knew about this latest symptom, only Puck; and he only knew because he had found Finn one day. Unable to drive home from the studio because he couldn't hold his car keys with his right hand. That particular symptom also culminated with the memory loss was Finn's worst fear, which was not being able to play the drums anymore. He had good days and bad days. Good days, Finn was like his old self, writing songs and playing the drums. Bad days consisted of sometimes not even being able to get out of bed his body hurt so much; or not being able to remember the lyrics to any of his songs and not being able to grip the drumsticks properly to play the drums like he used to.
Finn thought it was only fair that he inform Ellie of his potential medical problems before they embarked on their joint venture together. He didn't want her to think he was keeping anything from her or trying to use her in anyway. But much to Finn's great delight she took the news brilliantly and said she had no thought of cancelling their partnership. Especially since over the three months they had been in New York, they had formed a good friendship. It also helped that Finn had delivered Mercedes Jones and they were currently in the middle of creating in Finn's humble opinion one outstanding debut album. Alongside the album Finn had found success with his song writing, having sold a bunch of songs with a handful of them becoming massive hits. Ellie also informed Finn that her mother died of cancer and that she wouldn't let that happen to him. She also put him contact with some of the best tumour specialists in the world. Which is how he found himself having an MRI scan done at Lenox Hill hospital in New York City.
The MRI machine shut down and Finn heard the voice of the MRI technician come over the intercom saying they were done. Just as Finn finished getting dressed, his doctor came into the room.
"Hey Finn. How are you feeling?"
"Better now that, that's over with, doc" Finn answered the doctor as he continued to gather his belongings.
"I know getting an MRI done can be nerve racking. But we needed to do it, to see what position of the brain your particular tumour was located. So we could determine the best course of treatment for you, Finn." Dr Levy explained to Finn.
"Yeah, I know"
"Now Finn you're going to have a lot to go through in the near future. Are you still sure you don't won't me to contact anyone for you? You know any relatives you'd want close by, girlfriend, parents, siblings…wife even, anyone?" Dr Levy tried his best to implore Finn to contact some of his family.
Finn's heart literally wrenched in his chest when he heard Dr Levy mention the word wife; if only things had been different Finn would be married to the most beautiful woman in the world…but he wasn't. Finn let out a loud sigh and answered the doctor, "No thanks Doc, if I need anyone in my family I'll call them myself."
"Okay. Since you're of legal age I can't force you to contact anyone if you don't want to. But Finn your going to need someone, because when your talking about cancer things generally get worse before they get better." Dr Levy explained to his patient.
"Don't worry Doc, I've got some good people around me."
"Ah! Like the young gentleman with the Mohawk in the waiting room; who keeps alternating between hitting on my nurses and confronting every doctor that goes pass to see if they have any information on you." Chuckled Dr Levy.
"Yeah! That would be my best friend Noah Puckerman. Are we done here Doc?"
"Yes Finn we are. Just remember to take that medication I gave you and I've scheduled your first chemo appointment for next week. We should have the MRI results back by then, and then we can see if we should do another surgery or not."
"Okay thanks Doc" Finn waved goodbye to Dr Levy and grabbed the rest of his stuff and headed back out to the waiting room. As he walked past the nurse's station, Finn yelled out a hello and goodbye to the nurse working in there. He made special mention to stop and give Nurse Wilson a special goodbye. Because Nurse Wilson was always the one who looked after him during his appointments at the hospital.
Finn walked out of the doctor's office door into the well-lit waiting room. All it took was a quick glance around the room to spot his mohawked friend. Puck was sitting in one of those typical uncomfortable hospital chairs in the corner of the room with his mobile to his ear. As soon as Puck saw that Finn had finished his appointment, Puck ended his call and marched over to his friend.
"So?" was all that Puck said, while staring Finn down for an explanation.
"Well I'm booked in for some chemo early next week and they'll tell me the results of my scan then. Who was that on the phone?" explained Finn.
"That was Sonya from the label saying that Sony's been ringing nonstop asking for some more awesome tracks from Finny-D."
"Did you tell Sonya that I've got those tracks already packaged and ready to go? She just needs to address them to Will over at Sony and were good to go." Finn listed off to Puck as they made their way through the hospital towards the exit.
Just as they reached the outside of the hospital and stood in the fresh air and sunshine, Puck pulled Finn aside. "Finn! Are you sure you should be doing all this. I mean your working long hours with Mercedes during the day, creating a killer album. Then at night your playing drums for us in the band…by the way who knew New York chicks get hot for drummers. Did you see the crowd there was for us at the venue the other night? Anyway, where was I? Oh Yeah! Then on top of all that your writing songs not only for us but also for other people."
"Puck I need this, okay! I need to keep busy otherwise all I'm going to do is sit there and think about things. Which will just make me depressed and I don't want to be depressed. I'm finally living my dream, Puck…can you believe it." Finn told his friend in all seriousness.
Finn then turned and looked out across the front of the hospital and onwards to the bustling New York streets. When all of a sudden he yelled out, "I'M LIVING MY DREAM!"
Finn was brought quickly back down from his exhilarated moment by a passing pedestrian, "Yeah! Good for you kid! NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!"
A laughing Finn just thanked the man and ran back to Puck who was standing on the hospital stairs. "Only in New York City, huh! I now realise why Rachel loves this place so much."
Puck just took in his excited friend and couldn't help but laugh along with him. "Come on ya big idiot! We need to get across town to the venue. We got a gig tonight at Sarfati's and the place is booked solid."
Both Finn and Puck raced down to the street and fought through the multitude of pedestrians occupying the busy New York sidewalk, to try and find a cab. By some miracle they were able to flag down a passing cab fairly quickly. The cab containing the two friends sped off into the early evening, with the promise of an extra twenty for the driver. If he could perform a miracle of his own and get them across town in less than thirty minutes.
Rachel dragged her tired body through the front door of the loft and threw her bag and keys on the table by the door. Why she agreed to work that triple shift at the Spotlight Diner was anyone's guess. But she felt sorry for Gunter when he couldn't find anyone last minute to cover the extra shift. Also she had been blowing off the diner a bit lately as rehearsals for opening night of Funny Girl heated up. Rachel thought to herself, I guess that's what you get for doing your good deed for the day. Now that she had finally made it home, all she wanted to do was change into her comfiest clothes and eat takeout while she binged watch a Real Housewives marathon.
Rachel's plan would've been perfect had it not been for the extremely loud music coming from Santana's room. Now after living with Santana, Rachel had come to learn that loud music emanating from the Latina's bedroom could mean anyone of three different things. One if it was loud aggressive music, it meant Santana was pissed off; and if you didn't want Aunty Snixx to stab you in the eye with a blunt pencil, you best stay the hell out of her way. Second if it was something smooth like pop or jazz music then Santana was once again perfecting the art of sweet lady kisses. Which is something Rachel found out the hard way when she walked in on Santana and Dani in the middle of a lot more than sweet lady kisses. Thirdly if the music was as it is now, Justin Timberlake's Sexy Ladies, then Santana was only doing one thing. That was getting herself dolled up so she could sweep any unsuspecting New York City woman off her feet and into her bed, whether she was straight or not. So with the law of averages on her side, Rachel felt it safe enough for her to enter.
Sure enough as Rachel opened the door to Santana's room there she was digging through her closet; looking for the appropriate pair of shoes to go along with her dress. "San, what are you doing?"
Santana turned around at the sound of her name and saw Rachel standing in the doorway of her room. "Berry! Just the person I wanted to see. Have you seen my black strappy heels? I swear I put them in here somewhere."
Rachel moved further into the room and went to sit down on the bed. But when she remembered where she was she decided that wouldn't be such a great idea. So she went across and sat in Santana's chair in front of her desk. "You mean the ones you let me borrow when we went out for drinks the other night with Kurt? Those are in my closet with my other pairs."
Santana shot up from her position in the closet and bolted out of the room, leaving Rachel sitting alone in the chair. A minute later the black haired former cheerio skidding back into the room, much to the amusement of Rachel who was still patiently sitting in Santana's chair. She somehow had managed to put one of the shoes on and was trying for the second while hopping around the room.
"Thank God! Man hands! Do you know how long I've been looking for these?" Santana explained to her roommate as she now started her search for her purse.
"You look nice. Hot date with Dani tonight?" enquired an interested Rachel.
Santana, who was now looking for her purse under her bed, raised her head back up and stared at Rachel. "NICE! In this dress, I'm a living breathing wet dream! And yes I have a hot date with Dani tonight and hopefully an even hotter after date with her as well."
"God San! Sometimes I swear you're more uncouth than Noah!" Rachel said while scrunching her face up in disgust.
"Thanks for the compliment Berry! Hey have you seen my purse?" Santana went back to digging through her stuff in search of her elusive purse.
Rachel had a quick look around and noticed Santana's purse sitting behind where she was sitting on her desk. But wanting to have a bit of fun with her roommate she decided to let Santana keep looking for a bit longer.
"No I haven't seen your purse. Where are you guys off to tonight anyway?"
"What? Oh! She's taking me to some music club called Sarfati's. Apparently there's this hot new band that everyone's talking about, that we just have to check out. You know how Dani gets hot for all that music stuff…kinda like you. Your welcome to come with, that's if you aren't doing anything with Plastic man tonight, and where the fuck is my purse?" A frustrated Santana kept on digging through her messy room looking for her purse.
"Sarfati's? What a wonderful name, I bet it's full of the most interesting people. Also I do not get as you so vulgarly put it 'hot' over music stuff, I'm a lady I'll have you know Santana. And after the day I've had the only place I'll be going tonight is either the couch or straight to bed and Brody actually has a name you know. Anyway he's at some camping trip or something with his buddies, who knew New York City guys, liked camping so much. You better give me all the details about this Sarfati's place, tomorrow cause it sounds like a place I want to check out."
"Yeah the joint would probably be right up your alley. This guy apparently owns it whose daughter is some Broadway person or something. I don't know! You and Hummel are the ones into that crap not me. As for you being a lady, I'm pretty sure you were doing some extremely un-ladylike things with our very own singing QB after the wedding that wasn't. And correct me if I'm wrong here Berry, but wasn't that after you sang a duet together? As for Brody I can tell you that no man likes camping as much as that guy seems to. I don't trust him and my psychic Mexican third eye is never wrong, plus my Abuela told me to never trust a man who waxes his chest. It's unnatural she would always tell me, but according to her so is my lifestyle…so who knows." A wistful Santana replied back to her friend.
"Really she was on Broadway do I know her, what was she in? And yes we all know Finn and I had relations at the wedding! But what we don't know is who you had relations with that night! And its not Brody's fault that he likes to look after himself, even though I will admit that I prefer a slightly softer physique because it's better for cuddling. By the way here's your purse!" Rachel said as she threw Santana her purse.
"Relations, Rachel…really? You do realise we live in 2015 not 1944. How the hell would I know if you know her! She was in some show called Spring Awakening, then left cause she wanted to be some movie star or something instead. Ha! Softer physique…in other words you prefer Finn Hudson to Donkey face. And…" Santana paused when she heard Rachel mention that she found her purse. "Thank God! Now I can get the hell out of here! Later toots!" Santana yelled as she raced out the door.
"I DO NOT LIKE FINN HUDSON!" Rachel yelled at Santana as she raced out the door. As she stood there after watching the door slam behind Santana, Rachel thought to herself. "At least I think I don't. But he was always so warm and cuddly. Not to mention drop dead gorgeous and it didn't hurt that he had an extremely large…" even in her own thoughts she was still demure as ever. "RACHEL!" she admonished herself as she made her way to the couch for a night of binge watching trashy reality TV. "I guess that's what I get for hanging around Santana so much" she thought to herself as the first episode of Real Housewives of New York started playing. Rachel smirked to herself and allowed herself to have one more heated thought about one Finn Hudson. "He did have a large one and MY GOD! Did he know how to use it!" laughing to herself, Rachel's attention was brought back to the show by the first of many catfights between the housewives breaking out.
Santana and Dani finally made it inside the packed music club, after waiting for almost an hour in the line out the front. Santana was seriously considering flashing the guy at the door if it got them inside faster. But she luckily didn't have to as they were selected with a group of other girls to head on in to the establishment.
Santana quickly guided Dani over to a secluded booth in the corner. The booth was far enough away that she could get her Mack on, while still is relatively close enough to listen to the band. What confused Santana was why all the girls were fighting over getting as close to the stage as possible, when there were plenty of available tables in other locations.
"What's going on? Those chicks are crowding that stage like they're trying to get into Target on Black Friday!" Santana said as she waved one of the roaming waiters over to order a drink.
Dani just looked at her girlfriend incredulously, "You've seriously never heard of this band before? There stuff is blowing up all over the radio and iTunes"
"Really? What's their name again?" questioned a surprised Santana as she ordered herself a cranberry martini and Dani a cosmopolitan.
"They're called McKinley and there's five of them and they're all talented and hot. They write all they own stuff too. I swear to you Santana that guy who writes for them is like a freaking poet." A dreamy Dani sighed.
"If I didn't know any better I would say that you have a huge crush on these guys."
Dani just rolled her eyes as the waiter brought their drinks over, "Please I may be as Lesbian as they come but even I can appreciate the appearance of fine handsome man. Trust me! You'll know what I'm talking about when these guys come on. One article about them even described them as having the good looks of a boy band but with the awesome beats, guitar riffs and killer vocals of a stadium rock band!"
"McKinley? You know, I went to high school at William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio" Santana simply stated.
"Really? What a weird…" Dani was interrupted by a loud voice booming her girlfriend's name from across the room.
"SANTANA LOPEZ!"
Santana whipped her head around at the sound of her name and saw the last person she expected to see. She saw none other than, Mercedes Jones decked out in all her finery, walking over to her table.
"Mercedes?" a confused Santana half asked not quite believing what she was seeing.
"You better believe it chica!"
Santana jumped up out of her chair and rushed over and gave her old friend an extremely big hug. "Oh My God! What are you doing here? Come and sit with us at our table."
Mercedes sat down at the table with Santana and Dani while Santana made the introductions between her friend and her girlfriend.
"Ah! So you're the legendary Mercedes. Santana's told me so much about you." Dani greeted.
"I see my reputation precedes me!" greeted Mercedes back.
"So what are you doing here, Mercedes?" questioned Santana
"I live here now. I moved here about three months ago because I changed labels and my new label is setup here so I moved and I've been working on my new album. What are you guys doing here?" Mercedes asked as she also ordered a drink from a passing waiter.
"Oh! Were here to see McKinley perform." Dani giddily responded to Mercedes.
"Is Rachel or Kurt here then?"
"No she's back at the loft. She was too tired after doing a triple shift at the Diner and Kurt's working back late again at Vogue with Isabelle." Santana casually responded.
"Oh! I thought they'd want to be here for this"
"Why would Berry and Hummel want to be here for the performance of some band, even if they do have an eerily similar name to our High School?" a confused Santana questioned her friend.
"Do you know who this band is?" an astonished Mercedes asked the Latina.
"No she doesn't have a clue! I was trying to school her on them when you came over." Interrupted Dani
"Really, how much did you tell her?" an intrigued Mercedes answered back.
"Just their name and how popular there getting…Oh! Also how hot they are! I pretty sure most of these girls wouldn't mind getting to know some of the guys in the band a little better if you know what I mean." Dani responded.
"Yeah well I don't care what those little hoochie's do as long as they stay away from the guitarist!" Mercedes huffed.
"Which one? The one with the weird haircut or the blonde, or is it the young one?" Dani chimed in.
While at the same time Santana said, "You little hussy! Your dating one of the guys in the band and you weren't going to tell us! Geez Merc! I'm like seriously offended! Whatever happened to Trouty-mouth?" Santana joked.
Mercedes tried to answer Dani's question first, "The blonde one…" and then turned her attention to answering Santana. "You want to know what happened to Sam well I'm…"
"Shush! They're starting the show!" Dani said giddily as the lights dimmed as the mass of women near the stage started going hysterical over the arrival of the band.
"Enjoy the show, Santana!" Mercedes leaned over and said with a scheming smirk, before settling back into her seat ready for the show. Santana just looked at her friend with utter confusion, before shaking it off and snuggling into her girlfriend in preparation for the show. But not before taking one last look at her friend and thought, "Celebrity life is really turning Mercedes crazy".
With the lights turned down low, a single spotlight shone down onto the stage and out walked a single person.
"How are you all doing tonight? I'm Marc for those of you who don't know and I own this wonderful place. But your not here for me you're here for five young, talented musicians from Ohio!"
Santana looked around the crowded club as the mass of people screamed loudly as the band was mentioned. She had to chuckle to herself there was even a couple of people crying.
"Individually they're known as, Ryder, Sam, Puck, Blaine and Finn but together there known as McKinley! Give it up for MCKINLEY! Ladies and gentlemen!"
All of a sudden the entire stage lit up with a blinding light, to reveal the bands instruments set out in formation. As the crowd was going hysterical, out walked the five members of McKinley, Blaine, Ryder, Sam, Finn and Puck and situated themselves behind their respective instruments. Santana looked over at Mercedes stunned and couldn't believe what she was seeing was real.
There in front of her stood Noah Puckerman the guy who she thought wasn't good for anything other than a quick romp in the hay. She almost didn't recognise Blaine Anderson without so much product in his hair. Sam Evans the loveable Avatar geek was tuning his guitar that made him look more edgy and cool than he ever was in High School. Santana vaguely remembered the young guy on bass as one of those new kids who had auditioned for New Directions.
Leave it to Finn to pull a Mr Schue and rope in a student into an outside school musical performance. Which brought Santana to Finn Hudson the friendly, compassionate, all-American singing quarterback. The guy who everyone secretly thought was going to be a typical Lima, Ohio resident running the local auto shop all his life. Telling anyone who would listen how he used to be a championship winning quarterback and once dated Broadway's Rachel Berry. Was there on stage testing out his drum kit proving that all of his past detractor's preconceived misconceptions about him were one hundred per cent irrefutably false. Seeing Finn in his element was painting him in a whole new light to the former Cheerio and dare she say it he was even, sexy.
Blaine moved over and stood at the front of the stage and adjusted the microphone, "How's everyone doing tonight?" which was met by a loud raucous response from the crowd.
"Tonight your in for a treat! Were going to start off with a brand new song and tonight is our very first public performance of it. So here we go I hope you like it as much as we do!"
As he finished talking the lights dimmed really low again. Thousands of twinkling lights appeared all over the ceiling of the club, creating a beautiful and intimate setting, as the music started playing…
'Cause you're a sky, cause you're a sky full of stars
I'm gonna give you my heart
'Cause you're a sky, cause you're a sky full of stars
'Cause you light up the path
I don't care, go on and tear me apart
I don't care if you do
'Cause in a sky, cause in a sky full of stars
I think I saw you
'Cause you're a sky, cause you're a sky full of stars
I want to die in your arms, arms
'Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark
I'm going to give you my heart
And I don't care, go on and tear me apart
And I don't care if you do
'Cause in a sky, cause in a sky full of stars
I think I see you
I think I see you
Because you're a sky, you're a sky full of stars
Such a heavenly view
You're such a heavenly view
The crowd erupted in excited applause as the song finished, with Santana, Dani and Mercedes joining in.
"Thanks you guys have been great! See you next time!" Blaine shouted as the band was leaving the stage after their fourth consecutive encore that had been demanded by the crowd.
"Come on let's go see the guys. Aunty Snixx needs to punch Puckerman extremely hard for not telling me they were freaking rock stars!" Santana said as jumped up from the table and headed off into the crowd.
Dani just turned to Mercedes who was sitting at the table with her, "Um! Are we meant to be following her?"
Mercedes just chuckled and replied, "Don't worry girl! I'm with the band…follow me."
The two girls slowly made their way through the departing crowd. After finally making it through the throng of people they spotted Santana trying to find a way back stage. Mercedes and Dani started laughing while they watched Santana push and threaten her way through a long line of young ladies trying to get backstage to hopefully become groupies of the band. Finally Santana got to the front of the line where a large red velvet rope separated the backstage area from the main section of the club. Just like a bull in a China shop, Santana marched ahead and tried to barge past the rope. But just as she spotted her friends from High School aka the band walking back to their dressing room backstage an extremely large African American man abruptly stopped her.
"HEY DARLING! No groupies past the rope! To get back there your name needs to be on my list and I'm pretty sure your name isn't on my list. The line for groupies start's over there." Boomed the six foot six three hundred pound hulk of a man. Who had been hired by the label to be security for the guys. After they found their hotel room full of half naked girls after coming home from one of their shows. Jamal Rubio was a perfect fit for the job. One because he used to be a former left tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL before a knee injury cut his career short. Two because he was literally the kindest and sweetest person you could meet and dealt with all the overzealous fans with respect and a firm hand. But at the same time you cross Jamal at all, and he turns from a teddy bear into a Grizzly bear that would rip you limb from limb.
"First of all! Tall, Dark and annoying! I AM NOT, NOR WILL I EVER BE A GROUPIE, OKAY! Especially a groupie for the like of Hudson, Puckerman and the Warbler! I'm Santana Lopez and I went to High School with those five dropkicks, now let me through the Goddamn rope!" yelled an annoyed Santana.
Jamal just let out a booming laugh and pushed her further back away from the rope. "Nice try little chica! I give you points for trying. But like I said before if you're not on my list your not getting in, and don't try and feed me anymore lies cause I've heard them all. Already tonight, I've turned away people claiming to be sisters, mothers, fathers, girlfriends, and friends from boy scouts. Also strangely enough someone even dressed as a nun claiming she needed to see the band to pray and help guide them through the spiritual wilderness. So you see a friend from High School is just not going to cut it, but at least you were original!"
"But I really did go to school with those idiots! We were in Glee Club together as well!" an extremely frustrated Santana told Jamal.
"You expect me to believe you were friends with these guys in High School, yet you haven't stopped insulting them since we first started speaking!" Jamal just boomed back.
"Please! That's our thing! Finn's the sappy, sensitive everyman with weird puffy pyramid shaped nipples that everyone can relate too. Puck's the Jewish, bad boy lothario one but really he's a big softy. Trouty-mouth or Sam is the geeky, but adorable one and surely you've heard his lame impressions. Then there's Blaine, fun fact about Blaine if you ever want to see him randomly start crying just ask him about Pavarotti the bird…it's a long, extremely boring and nonsensical story so don't even bother asking me to tell you about it. Lastly the newbie, Ryder, who fills the stereotypical role every band, has. Just like the Spice Girls had Baby Spice, thus McKinley has Ryder to appeal to all those tweens finally ready to unleash those brand new hormones upon an unsuspecting society. And I'm the sexy Latina with snarky and bitchy tendencies but secretly has a heart of gold, that everyone either roots for or secretly wishes they could be." Santana nonchalantly explained with a dramatic roll of her eyes.
"Now you're definitely NOT getting in! You sound like a stalker! How did you find out all those things? Were you the one who's been stealing Finn's underwear and then sending them back to him used?"
"First of all that's just gross! Ewww! And that would have to be one big ass stalker to fit into Finn's panties. Second of course I know these delinquents I've slept with half of them!"
"You're really not helping your case here…"
Just then Mercedes and Dani walked up behind Santana after having enough of watching Santana repeatedly try and fail to get in.
"Well if it isn't Mercedes Jones as I live and breathe!" Jamal boomed to Mercedes standing behind Santana, which startled the daylights out of her.
"Jamal Rubio, what's up, brother?" Mercedes said happily, coming around to the front and giving Jamal a really big hug.
"How's that album of yours coming along? You know my wife still expects a signed copy, that's if it's not to much trouble," Jamal said acting like a giddy schoolkid around Mercedes, much to the amusement of Santana and Dani.
"That's no trouble at all. How are Rhonda and the kids? I bet little Tobias is getting big."
Jamal whipped out his wallet and started showing Mercedes photos of his wife and kids. Santana meanwhile tried to slip past while he was distracted talking to Mercedes.
"Not so fast, chica! How many times do I have to tell you? If you're not on the list you stay behind the rope! As for you Mercedes you can go on in." Jamal said while pushing Santana once again back behind the rope. Then turning around and letting Mercedes waltz through into the inner sanctum.
"Hey why doe she get to go in?" Santana cried out.
"Because I know her and as I've told you her name is on the DAMN LIST!" a frustrated Jamal told the fiery Latina.
"Yeah well! Were with her aren't we Mercedes?" Santana called out to her friend.
Jamal turned around and looked at Mercedes, "Is that true, Ms Jones are these two ladies with you?"
Mercedes just looked at Santana and Dani and shrugged her shoulders; "Never seen them before in my life…sorry!" and then she spun around and started walking off again.
"Nice try ladies, now will you please make your way to the back of the line…"
"Jamal…Jamal!" Mercedes interrupted making Jamal once again turn his attention towards Mercedes.
"There with me. I was just having a little fun! There cool, they can come in. Oh and by the way Santana really did go to school with the guys." Mercedes said laughing hysterically.
Jamal just once again opened up the rope and allowed Santana and Dani through to the other side. "My apologise ladies! You both have a good night now."
Santana could be heard mumbling something about, how it was about time and steroids must of affected his brain, as she and Dani walked through the rope and over to Mercedes.
"Not funny Aretha! Seriously not funny!" a snooty Santana chastised her friend, which only made Mercedes laugh even harder. The girl's attention was grabbed by the loud groans of disappointment and anger from the crowd that these ladies were allowed through when others weren't.
Mercedes and Dani started walking off down the hallway to the dressing rooms. But stopped when they noticed Santana lagging behind.
"Santana what are you doing?" Dani questioned her girlfriend.
"Wait up, I got to go do something" Santana called out before running back to the rope which sectioned off the two different parts of the club. When the mass of potential groupies saw one of the girls that was let in instead of them, they let their groans and angry shouts ring out. Meanwhile Santana was standing safely behind the velvet rope hamming it up, causing the crowd to become even more agitated and annoyed.
Santana realising she's probably pushed the situation to its limits jumped up on a nearby box and shouted to the crowd. "LATER BITCHES!" And then ran back to join, Mercedes and her girlfriend who were standing there in hysterics at the antics of their friend.
Dani and Santana followed Mercedes through the maze of corridors that led to the performers dressing rooms backstage. While walking along the halls they were led past poster after poster and picture after picture of the different artists who had performed there. They then rounded another corner and came to a set of doors with different names on them. Mercedes led them a bit further down until they came to a large door with, McKinley in big bold letters emblazoned across it. Mercedes gave the old shave and a haircut knock to the door and waited for it to open.
The dressing room door opened to reveal one Noah Puckerman. The first person Puck saw was Mercedes so he simply turned around and called out. "Yo Sam! Your girl's here!"
"Hello to you too…" Mercedes answered back and before she could finish a blonde blur could be seen sprinting for the open door to reveal Sam Evans who pulled his girlfriend into the room. Puck then noticed there were two other girls waiting outside as well. One was a gorgeous brunette with a killer smile and the other was…Holy Shit! The other was Santana Lopez.
"Santana?"
"Hello Puckerman, are you going to invite us in, or are you going to leave us standing outside the door like some Jehovah's Witness's?" Santana said rather curtly.
Puck moved to the side of the door and motioned for them to come into the room. When Dani walked past him, Puck gave her his best seductive smile and said, "Hey Beautiful! What's your name?"
Dani just giggled and smiled before meekly answering, "Dani".
"Dani, that's a really beautiful name for a beautiful lady. I'm Puck…"
Puck was interrupted from finishing as Santana came storming over and putting her arm around Dani and glaring at her former lover. "Keep it in your pants Puckerman! She's my girlfriend!"
"Sooo…no arrangement for casual threesomes like there was with you and Britt?" Puck said with a smirk on his face.
Dani punched Santana in the arm and said, "You slept with Puck from McKinley?"
Santana just looked at her girlfriend and shrugged her shoulders, "What? It's not like I'm proud of it or anything and it happened during my young and stupid days. Plus I was still in the closet at the time, so to speak, so that didn't help either! Since we seem to airing my dirty laundry and in the interest of full disclosure I also fucked Hudson as well."
"Is there anyone in this band you haven't slept with?" a stunned Dani questioned.
"I haven't had sex with Blaine, purely because I don't have the exact appendage he likes unlike Kurt. I did date Sam for like two seconds but didn't have sex, I guess because he was lusting after some brown sugar. As for the Newbie…what's his name again? Riley…no Ryder, as for Ryder I don't even know him hardly, I've literally seen him like three times in my entire life. Also I think he has a huge man crush on Finn." Santana listed off nonchalantly.
After both girls agreed the past was the past and that's where it should stay, they were led over to some couches where Blaine and Ryder were sitting and talking. Except for Sam and Mercedes who had gone off on their own to have some private time. Puck introduced Dani to Blaine and Ryder before they sat down on the couch as well.
"Where's Finnocence?" enquired Santana
"He's over there, talking to…" Blaine started.
"Wait! Is that David Brown from Sony Music? He founded so many great artists" interrupted a disbelieving Dani.
"Why would Hudson be talking to a guy like that?" added Santana
"He's probably trying to get us to leave our label and sign with Sony. Last time he offered Finn a five million dollar signing bonus for him to go work for Sony purely as a songwriter and another two million if our band signed with them." Blaine told the two girls.
"And he knocked them back? I knew Finn was always a few fries short of a Happy meal but really that's insane, knocking back that much money!" a flabbergasted Santana added.
"Well with Finn it's not about the money. He just wants to make good quality music and where we are now gives him and us the ability and freedom to craft our own existence. Plus Finn already makes close to that as it is just from his songs." Ryder added, standing up for his former Glee Club Coach.
"Wait a minute! Finn writes the songs?" Santana said confused.
"Everyone…yeah! I was surprised at first too, but he has a gift he really does. I've helped him out a couple of times with arrangements that he gives me a credit mention for. He writes for us and also as of this point in time he writes songs for several other artists. At the moment Finn has written three songs currently in the Top twenty." Blaine explained.
"Anything we would know?" Dani enquired eagerly.
"Well in the Top Twenty he wrote, 'Never Say Never', 'Wine Coloured Roses' and 'Take Me Back To The Start'" Puck explained to Santana and Dani.
"Finn Hudson wrote 'Never Say Never' that is so…" started Santana
"Beautiful…that song always just really gets to me you know!" Dani said interrupting her girlfriend.
"I was going to say that is so weird and unbelievable…but that works too I guess." Santana flippantly added.
"Anyway! Enough about Finn, how's Kurt doing?" Blaine reverted the conversation away from Finn for a minute so he could get the lowdown on his ex-boyfriend.
"Kurt's doing really well. He's extremely busy studying at NYADA during the day while also still interning for Isabelle at Vogue as well. Elliot and Kurt unfortunately broke up which in turn broke up our own little band, 'Pamela Lansbury'. Also Rachel quit after Brody told her that she had to quit our band because no Broadway producer would apparently cast someone who dared to be part of an ironic cover band with their friends. Kurt and Rachel didn't talk to each other for a couple of weeks after that. Not to mention Kurt showed the NYADA gossips Rachel's 'Run Joey Run' video and Rachel burnt Kurt's brand new Burberry Scarf in a trash bin right in front of him. That little stunt almost burnt the entire apartment down. Oh! And apparently Kurt is somewhat semi serious with this guy called Walter who was the manager of the nursing home where he put on his Peter Pan production." Dani explained Kurt's New York life to Blaine.
"Walter huh! Is he good looking?" a nervous Blaine asked, obviously fishing for information about his rival.
"Please the dude's like ancient! There's more chance of the poor guy dying then there is anything happening between the two." Remarked Santana while filing her nails.
Santana saw Blaine sit back in his chair and visibly relax at the news about his competition for Kurt's affections. She also looked over and just simply watched Finn talking to the Sony executive. Santana had to admit that he looked happy and relaxed and he had an extra glow or something. But while he looked happy, she noticed his smile didn't seem to have the same lustre it usually had. So he may be happy but there was definitely something missing. If she had to guess, she would put money on that something missing being a five foot two, annoying, Jewish diva called Rachel Berry.
That's when something clicked in Santana's mind and she came up with an ingenious plan. She didn't normally play cupid because frankly helping out her fellow man, seemed worse than getting water boarded. But somehow, some way those losers in Glee Club had managed to worm their way into her heart. Lord knows how they broke down her defences and walls, but they now were in and those annoying bastards were hard to get out once there in your heart. Plus doing something bad to Finn always felt like she was kicking an extremely large puppy and it also didn't help matters that he was always trying to help her.
There was a reason her plan was so ingenious. It was ingenious because the execution of it would allow her to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. It would allow her to get rid of Mr Ed himself, Brody while getting Finchel back together which would get the 'real' Rachel back. Finchel? She always hated the stupid couple names the kids in the Glee Club came up with for all the different pairings. But in saying that she always was partial to Brittanna simply for the fact it sounded like the name of an empire with her and Brittany as Queens at the helm. Anyway she needed to get the ball rolling on the plan as soon as she could so she had to get back to the loft and start on Rachel.
"Sorry guys it's getting late we should be going" Santana blurted out of nowhere interrupting the burgeoning conversation between Ryder, Dani, Puck and Blaine.
"You're not going to wait for Finn? I thought we could go out for drinks after." Blaine said surprisingly upset that Santana and Dani were calling it a night.
"Can't we go for drinks with them Santana? I would really love to show Finn some of my songs to see what he thinks. Plus it's only ten thirty!" Dani whined.
"Sorry I've got a big test in the morning and I need my rest" Santana lied.
"No you don't all your exams were last week." A suspicious Dani asked her girlfriend.
"FINE! I need my beauty sleep. You seriously think I wake up looking this sexy? Kurt was right about needing to have a two-hour morning cleansing ritual each morning. So let's go!" Santana said while walking around making sure they had all their stuff.
"Say bye to Mercedes for us and give Finn a hello to I suppose. Oh! By the way how long are you guys performing at this venue for?" Santana enquired as she was shoving her girlfriend out the door.
"Were here for the next couple of nights but then we have the label party… I'll make sure the label sends you guys some tickets and some for Kurt and Rachel as well," Puck told Santana.
"Thanks and Bye!" Santana and Dani rushed out down he hall and back out into the main area of the club. Before Dani eventually managed to stop her girlfriend, "Okay! What's going on Santana?"
"I'm going to get Kurt and Blaine as well as Finn and Rachel back together." Santana told her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And what's in it for you?"
"Oh My God! You wound me Danielle! Why would I Santana Lopez have ulterior motives about getting my dear, dear friends back together?" Santana replied in an extremely exaggerated fashion.
"Santana?" Dani just crossed her arms and gave her girlfriend a look of your games doesn't work on me.
"FINE! It also get's Brody no pants out of our lives as well"
"Okay I'm in! What do we need to do?" Dani said confidently.
"What just like that, you're going to help me?"
"Yeah that dude's an ass. Did you know he actually said to me that it's a good thing that I play guitar, so the audience doesn't see my belly roll? Just because I'm not a freaking size two like Rachel doesn't make me fat! So let's take this asshole down!" a fired up Dani told her girlfriend.
"That's my girl! First we have to convince Berry so let's go."
Santana and Dani ran the rest of the way out of the club and walked up and down the street until they could find a taxi. Just as they finally managed to hail a cab Dani brought Santana's attention to another cab across the street which had two people exiting the vehicle. "Hey! Isn't that Brody?"
Sure enough there was Brody exiting the cab across the street from the club with an obviously older woman. Santana didn't think anything of it at first because he did teach dance classes so it could have been one of his students or maybe a relative like a mother or aunt. But what she saw next definitely wasn't something you do with a family member. Just as Brody was leading the older lady into the hotel across the street, the frisky older woman reached out and groped Brody's ass. A surprised Brody just turned around and gave the sexually frustrated cougar a deep passionate kiss before they disappeared from view inside the hotel.
Santana and Dani just looked at each other as if did you see what I just saw. Upon the realisation that they did actually witness a cougar devouring Rachel's boyfriend, it gave them an extra boost to put operation get Klaine and Finchel back together a definite go. Plus expose Brody's lying cheating ass to the world. Then they jumped into their own cab and drove off into the night scheming and devising the downfall of one Brody Weston all the way back to the loft.
Hope everybody enjoyed this chapter. The song used in this chapter was 'A Sky Full of Stars' by Coldplay and I made up the names of the songs Finn supposedly has in the Top 20 so any semblance to real life songs is pure coincidence. To all the Finchel fans don't worry because…dun, dun, dun…spoiler alert next chapter Finchel will actually see each other face to face. Will their reunion be good or bad? I don't know cause Finchel hasn't spoken to me yet. Whatever happens I hope people continue to enjoy the ride. Until next time have a good one and don't do anything I wouldn't do.