A/N: I've gotten so many story and favourite alerts on this story I feel like skipping through a meadow while butterflies flit round me and birds sing overhead, I'm thathappy. So, this is really a Finn & Rachel fic, with appearances by all our Gleeks. AU future Broadway!Rachel and firefighter!Finn in the NY!verse. And its all mixed up along the timeline.

Disclaimer: Glee is not mine, I just really love our gleeks!


the voice in the back of my heart

She doesn't find out by a phone call.

She's heading to LA because it's Tina's birthday and Mercedes was performing as back-up for some super-star for this show she was working with and getting them passes so they turn it into Ladies Night Weekend with Kurt. Blaine, Mike and Finn weren't too pleased about them flying across the country for a weekend but with a little bit of kissing and even Rachel pulling out the lingerie and Finn ends up driving them to JFK early Friday morning pouting all the way.

"You didn't invite Quinn?" He asks, pulling her carry-on from the back. He turns back to pull two of Kurt's suitcases and Tina's bag, glaring at his brother.

"Really? Two bags plus a carry-on?"

Kurt merely blinks at him from behind sunglasses at 5am and hoists his bag onto his shoulder. "Why would we invite Quinn? The only time she hangs out with us is if Puck's with us, and I really don't think I could keep from not strangling her on the other side of the country."

Finn grumbles and walks over to a trolley and drops all four bags, glaring at Kurt as he pushes it away.

He wraps his arms around his girlfriend and tucks her head under his chin. "Can't you have girls' night here?"

She chuckles and squeezes her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his chest as she gazes up at him. "Listen, I don't harp on you when you want to go off with Mike and Sam to some crazy hockey match, and Tina really wants to go and I really want to see Cedes."

"Rachel, come on!" Tina hollers.

Finn pouts and presses his lips to hers. "Naked Sunday when you come back?"

She giggles and smacks his chest. He pushes his bottom lip out further.

"Sunday."

She links their middle fingers together, kisses them then kisses him and Tina has to come over and pull her away.

"I love you!" They say it together as Tina drags her through the front doors of the departure lounge.

"Kiss her when she gets back!" Tina shouts behind them.

"You're just jealous because your husband isn't here," Rachel laughs.

"Yes. Now they both can suffer together at the firehouse," Tina retorts and they both laugh.

"Why is it Mike always there?"

"I have no idea. Something about the snack machine and your banana bread. The other paramedics say the ones at the hospital suck." They wrap their arms around each other and join Kurt in line to check in and they squeal like little girls when Kurt calls Mercedes and announces they're making LA their bitch.

So, LA.

The three of them are backstage screaming at Mercedes' performance. Their best friend sounds amazing and they're jumping up and down like fools and neither of them hears their phones ringing.

Noah and Mike keep calling but no one answers.

Later, when they're doing shots and Tina's missing Mike, Kurt confiscates all phones and its way in the afternoon the next day before anyone remembers about them.

Noah's and Stacey's, Sam's sister, calls all go to voicemail.

Mercedes is up before everyone else and leaves to go get coffee when it's creeping past one in the afternoon. She's loud when she comes in and they're all still sprawled on cushions on the living room floor and Rachel is drooling on Tina's legs.

Mercedes whistles and she opens one eye to glare at her best friend.

"I hate you."

"Must you be so loud?" Kurt grumbles, pulling the shield from his over his eyes. Tina rolls over and rubs her face then stretches.

"What's the plan today?"

"You all slept through the afternoon." Mercedes chuckles, handing over cups of green tea to Rachel and Kurt and Tina a hot chocolate. She puts a basket of muffins and a plate of fruit on the coffee table.

Rachel yawns. "We can still go hit up Rodeo Drive and the Walk of Fame. 'S not too late."

Kurt perks up. "Rodeo Drive." He's up and in the bathroom before anyone registers what just happened.

Mercedes tosses over napkins and flips on the TV to show a news ticker about a fire showing firemen putting out a very large blaze. Mercedes' gets a haunted look in her eyes, worrying away at her lip and Rachel understands the feeling, since they're both dating firemen.

She walks over on her knees and sits at her friend's foot, resting her cheek on her leg as she nibbles at her muffin and Mercedes' ruffles her hair as thanks.

Tina yawns and gulps her chocolate, falling onto the couch as she stares at the screen. Rachel isn't really watching the newscast though; they're in LA and thankfully their boys are safe in Brooklyn. The view outside of Cedes' high rise apartment is gorgeous and sunny and she's actually excited to see the Walk of Fame.

"Hey Rach, maybe we should check out the Saban Theatre while we're here."

She turns around to face Tina. "Like see a show?"

Her friend grins. "Yea, just to see how the other side lives, eh?" Her and Tina have been with Will Shuester's workshop since graduation and they've only gotten small roles on Off-Broadway. One day it'll be their names in lights and people coming from all over the world to see them perform. She grins at Tina.

"Rachel."

Mercedes' voice sounds hollow. She looks up at her and sees trepidation on her friend's face as she stares at the TV.

She turns back to the TV, frowning as she watches them try and put out an office building, the blaze too much for one engine to handle. Blood pounds in her ears as she stares at the screen when it tells her an explosion in an office building is still ablaze and that there are two other engines arriving on the scene and her heart plummets to her stomach when Lad.107, Engine 225- Brooklyn flashes across in the news ticker.

Finn and Sam are part of ladder 107, Engine 225 from Brooklyn.

Mercedes' hand clamps down on her shoulder as they both stare at the screen, barely aware of Tina screaming for Kurt. He comes in, rubbing stuff into his hair and takes one look at their faces and then at the TV.

"Jesus Christ, Finn."

She doesn't look around when he hurries over to his jacket, tossing theirphones at them.

She fights to pull her eyes away from the screen, her hand flying to her mouth when she sees 78 missed calls.

Three from the hospital.

Twelve from her fathers.

Fifteen from Finn's parents.

Five from Mike.

Eight from Santana.

Thirty-five from Noah.

Her face is wet as she dials speed dial two.

It goes straight to Finn's voicemail every time.

She's about to dial a fifth time when it rings in her hand. She brushes away tears to see Noah's face grinning back at her.

"Noah?" Her voice is hoarse when she answers.

"Jesus fuck, Berry! Where the hell have you been?" He growls.

"Noah, what's happened?"

It's Mercedes beside Rachel who screams out in answer and Tina grips onto their friend's shoulder. Kurt puts his hand around her arm pulling her to her feet and she hears bits and pieces of what her cousin tells her. Kurt takes the phone from her and pushes her into the bathroom.

"Do not make me have to come undress you. Your clothes will be waiting on you."

He hesitates, and she sees the fear flash across his face before he presses his forehead against hers. Then he disappears and leaves her alone.

She goes through the motions as quickly as she can, tying her wet hair into a plait when she comes out of the bathroom. Tina is already dressed and on the phone as she bustles about. Kurt leads her over to the bed where her clothes are laid out.

Mercedes is sitting at the desk with her hand pressing at her forehead and before long they're sitting in the taxi, arms wrapped around each other as they head towards LAX, Kurt's phone still glued to his ear.


The second she rushes through the hospital doors to where Noah said the fire-fighters were being kept, she spies Burt. Finn's step-father looks up at the rush of footsteps and gets to his feet, wrapping his arms around Rachel and Mercedes. Her friend rushes over towards her boyfriend's family and Kurt steps into his father's embrace.

There are two other families there: she recognizes Sam's father and sister and sees Graham's, the other fire-fighter who was trapped, pregnant wife walking towards them with a water jug in her hands. Stacey, taller than Rachel already at 16 hugs her tight and Mr. Evans squeezes her hand after pulling Mercedes into their arms. Graham's wife, Sheila, grips onto Rachel's hand hard, brushing away her tears.

They tell them that Sam's doing better than when they brought him in, he's awake and talking, but the doctor's have him in some other room while they run some more tests, his mother with him. He only suffered a minor concussion and some bruised ribs. Mercedes and Stacey wrap their arms around each other as they cry.

Graham has a broken collarbone and a sprained wrist, but he was going to be alright. Both he and Sam would be fine because Finn held up part of the roof that had fallen on Graham and knocked Sam aside. Right after they'd pulled Graham out, Finn had passed out and hit his head.

He was still unconscious.

Burt presses his lips to her hair and pushes her forward with Kurt. She grips his hands until her knuckles are bone white while Kurt murmurs reassurances to her. She wants to believe him, that Finn will be alright, but it had been almost 24 hours since they pulled them from the fire. Everyone else was awake.

They find Carole in the room, her fingers clasping her son's. Aside from the dirt smudging his face and the bandages wrapped around his head and shoulder Finn looks like he's asleep.

Carole looks up when Rachel whimpers and opens her arms to her. She goes over to her boyfriend's mother and allows the woman to crush her to her chest, her eyes never leaving Finn.

"How is he?" She disentangles herself from the woman's arms and runs her fingers lightly over Finn's other hand on the bed, her palm pressing against his. She leans over touches her lips to his cheek, Kurt's hand running over his brother's shaved head.

"The doctors said he hit his head hard even with the helmet on when he collapsed. He was holding the beam up for almost thirty minutes before anyone could come in and get them, and ah - he dislocated his shoulder too." Carole's voice is wet with tears as she grips her son's hand tighter.

"He had to be the hero, huh?" Kurt's proud of his brother, she knows; he shakes his head with a small smile on his face.

"Graham would have been crushed if it weren't for Finn."

She looks to the doorway to see her cousin standing there, a grim look on his face. She presses her hand to her mouth to stifle her cries and curls her small body beside Finn's, getting as close to him while still being mindful of his injuries.

"Baby, I'm home. It's not Sunday yet, but I'm home. Please wake up," she whispers, kissing his chest. There's no reaction from Finn besides the steady rise and fall of his chest and the faint fluttering of his eyes.

More tears leak from her eyes as she cries silently. Maybe she's overreacting, but she did promise him she'd come home on Sunday. And she's here but he's not awake to see her.

This was the risk she lived with with Finn being a fire-fighter. She loves him for it and she was proud of him for saving Sam and Graham's lives, but not at the risk of his own. He was young and eager and very good at his job after just a year in the fire department. She remembers thinking that Finn as a fire-fighter was sexy and dangerous. Today, right now she can see just how dangerous it can be.

Now would be a really good time for Finn to wake up and stop scaring her.


His face is still dirty from the soot and ash from the fire. She reluctantly pulls herself way from beside him and gets a towel from the nurses and a basin of warm water and sits beside him, wiping the dirt from his face. She runs her fingers over the freckles she loves, whispering silent prayers that he'll open his eyes. She loves his eyes, they speak volume when his lips don't and she can spend hours just staring into them; she can't imagine not seeing them again.

Restless hearts
Sleep alone tonight
Sending all my love along the wire

"Have you slept sweetheart?"

She turns around to see Carole standing there with two coffee cups and a duffel bag. She had to insist the night she came back that Kurt take his parents to stay at her and Finn's apartment, Carole was sleeping in the uncomfortable chair beside Finn and Burt was in the waiting chair outside his door because he refuses to leave his wife's side. She hates hospitals but as long as Finn was here, this is where she was going to be. And she wasn't leaving until he woke up.

"Yes, a little."

The older woman frowns disapprovingly but says nothing as she walks into the room and hands her a cup, pressing her lips to Rachel's hair. "Any change?"

She shakes her head and runs her hands over Finn's, sighing when there's no reaction. She links their middle fingers together and settle on the chair beside the bed.

"His Chief came by earlier and Mike and Tina are downstairs getting something to eat," she says quietly.

Finn's mother nods and pulls up a chair opposite her and Finn. "How're the others?"

"Sam's good, he came by earlier, despite Mercedes' mothering him." She cracks a smile and looks back at the beautiful man lying prone on the bed. "Graham isn't supposed to be up on his feet either but he stopped by too, to thank Finn. Sheila dragged him away to get some rest, they're supposed to be getting him a chair."

Carole nods and they share a proud smile.

There's still no change throughout the day and she eats because Carole and Kurt insist, drags herself to the shower and hurries back to curl up beside Finn, singing to him again as the sun disappears into the sky.

Three days into Finn's unconsciousness, her fathers drop by again and LeRoy's eyes are red when he embraces Carole. Finn's mother and her daddy had really become good friends since they first met at her and Kurt's NYADA performance. She watches as they talk quietly and when Finn's doctor calls them outside Finn's hospital door, both sets of parents huddle in a corner with her. Her daddy holds Carole's hand in both of his while Burt wraps his arms around his wife.

She holds Finn's hand tight in hers and caresses his cheek. He has a couple days of scruff that Kurt insists needs to be shaved. She tells him no because Finn hates shaving and she's a fan of his scruffiness, she loves him a little bit more because of it.


She slips next door to see Graham when the doctors check on Finn the third night. Sheila is curled up on the cot beside Graham's bed, the sheet slipping from her shoulders. She adjusts the sheets and brushes the woman's hair off her forehead.

"How is he?"

She looks up to meet Graham's worried eyes and smiles. "He's still asleep, but the doctor's aren't worrying about anything else going wrong. He'll have one hell of a headache when he wakes up though."

Finn's friend nods and sighs relieved. His grey eyes are wet when he opens them. "Three years. I've been with the force two years longer than Huddy and I've never had to worry about this. Another explosion went off when we were sweeping the building and Huddy just reacted."

She rests her hand on Graham's arms. "Stop. It's over, you're fine. And Sam's fine. Finn will be alright."

He stares at her and then nods once. She squeezes his hand as his eyes slip closed. She catches Sheila watching them and smiles at her before she walks out, going back to Finn's room. Kurt is already sleeping on the hard chair beside the bed. She lays beside Finn again, singing, resting her cheek against his heart. She listens to the beat of it as it relaxes her and lulls her to sleep.

On Tuesday, Santana and Brittany visit with Mike and Tina. Carole and Burt come in, bringing her breakfast that she picks at and grudgingly lets Carole push her towards the bathroom. She stands aside with Carole and Kurt when the nurse comes in to check Finn's vitals again. Physically, Finn was fine, despite the dislocated shoulder and minor smoke inhalation. The doctors think that the stress of that much weight combined with the heat of the collapsed room simply overwhelmed Finn. Its just a matter of time before he wakes up.

She falls asleep beside Finn, his parents already leaving for the night and Kurt's boyfriend dragging him home because he slept there the night before. In her sleep, she feels the arm not in the sling tighten around her as he groans softly. She jerks awake, moving slowly as she pushes herself up on her elbows. Finn swallows and frowns, his eyes still closed.

"Rach?" He croaks.

"Yea." She breathes.

He smiles tentatively, slowly blinking his eyes open.

"Hi."

She kisses her fingertips and presses them to his lips. "Hi."

He pouts and she pushes herself up so she can press her lips to his, her face wetting his.

"Where am I?"

"Hospital." She brushes tears from her eyes and fumbles for the alert button on Finn's bed.

"The fire." He coughs slightly and she leans over and grabs her bottle of water and a straw, kneeling to put the bottle at his lips. Finn drinks greedily before laying his head back on the pillow, his hand reaching for her again.

"Sam?"

"He's fine. He's home."

Finn nods. "Graham?"

"Room next door. He'll be okay."

He tries to smile and she slips off the bed when the doctor and nurses rush in. His good arm grabs onto her palm and won't let go. She kisses his hand as the doctor gently pulls her away, and she hurries towards a corner, pulling out her phone to call his mother and brother, tears blurring the numbers in front of her because Finn was finally awake.

You stand by me
I'm forever yours
Faithfully


She sits in the bathtub pressed against Finn as his fingers trail water over her arm.

"I could hear you singing."

She twists her head on his chest so she can stare up at him.

"Yea." He smiles shyly. "It's like – hearing something in the next room, and you keep getting closer and closer to it, but you never get to it."

She thinks for a minute and then frowns. "So, you're saying, my singing brought you back? That day in the hospital?"

Finn smiles and kisses her hair. "I guess so."

"Huh." She twists back around, running her palm over his thigh.

"I mean, we'd only been dating, what seven months? I only remember praying we got out of that place because Sunday was supposed to be Naked Sunday."

She pinches his thigh and Finn yelps, water sloshing over the side as he jerks. He wraps his arms around her and peppers her neck with wet kisses.

"I'm sorry I never picked up my phone in LA," she says quietly as his lips linger on the spot behind her ear.

"Rach -,"

"I'm sorry," she says again. He turns her in his arms and brushes her hair away from her face.

"I'm here, I'm still here."

She nods and he uses his thumbs to wipe away the tears on her face. He watches her eyes as he leans in and kisses her, the amber-coloured depths sparkling at her.

She presses her fingers to his jaw, smiling as her engagement ring sparkles on her finger.

"Tell me something else."


A/N2: Sorry I took so long to update, but clearly I don't do well with multitasking in writing three different fics and all those drabbles. Plus, real life is a bitch, and work just, gah!