A/N: You know the drill. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Now on with the story.
Looking back at the past week as she lounged in a chair next to Quinn's pool, Rachel figured that it was one of the best she'd ever had. It was right up there with winning the lead in her high school musical, the Broadway premiere of Spring Awakening, and winning a Tony Award. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite as amazing as winning her Tony, but it was really, really good. Needless to say, things between her and Finn were going quite well. Well, aside from the kink in her neck from spending last night sleeping sitting straight up on the couch.
Watching Brittany goof off in and around the pool, dragging Santana along with her, provided plenty of entertainment for Rachel while she waited for Finn to be finished with football practice. And having Noah and Sam provide her with an endless stream of drinks while she sat around doing absolutely nothing was a bonus. The worst part of the afternoon was the fact that Sam and Noah couldn't cook anything properly on the grill leading to a constant stream of insults from Santana when she wasn't busy with Brittany and a growling stomach for everyone at the pool.
A pair of calloused hands covered Rachel's eyes.
"Guess who?"
"With those rough hands," Rachel said as she rolled her eyes underneath those hands. "It has to be some Neanderthal."
Finn's laughs came from behind her as the hands were removed, only to be replaced with his face as he leaned over to kiss her.
He pulled back after the kiss and sniffed a few times. "What's burning?"
"Noah and Sam are attempting to cook lunch," she said as she glanced over at the grill. "Needless to say, they haven't done too well."
"Yea, I wouldn't want to be them right now."
Rachel looked towards the grill again and saw that Santana was yelling at the pair for screwing up her burger again. Things only quieted down when Quinn pulled the Latina away, pointed over at Finn and Rachel, and said something to her. From the frown on her face, whatever was said didn't make Santana too happy but Quinn crossed her arms, rolled her eyes, and said something else to her. This made Santana stare at Finn and Rachel again until she grinned and waved at them.
"Finn!" Santana yelled. "Come make us lunch!"
"Make it yourself!"
"I swear to God, if you don't get over here and grill me a burger right the hell now, I'll fuck up your other leg!"
"Is she always this mean?" Rachel asked while Santana continue to scream at Finn from across the pool.
"No, she's usually meaner than this when she's hungry," he said as he started walking towards the grill. "So I better go cook a burger for her before she kills all of us."
"She can't be that bad can she?"
"I don't feel like finding out. Be right back."
Her eyes followed him as he made his way around the pool with Santana coming up to him as he approached to yell at him some more. Santana continued to yap at Finn even as he shook his head at her antics and started to grill.
"Mind if I sit down?" Quinn said as she walked up.
Rachel shrugged and said, "It's your house."
"Wonderful," Quinn said before she pulled over a patio chair to sit next to Rachel.
The two women lazily sipped on their drinks side by side as they watched Santana devour a burger then demand another one.
"Santana gets really hungry…"
"Yea," Quinn said. "Being mean and cruel has always made her hungry."
"So I hear that you're leaving soon?"
"Yes," Quinn said as she rolled her eyes. "Apparently my dad decided that it would be great if we went on a family vacation before I went back to school."
"That sounds nice."
"Because we really need to be somewhere else to not talk to each other." Quinn turned her head to look at Rachel. "More importantly, how are things going between you and Finn?"
"Things are going fine." She looked at Quinn and smiled. "Great actually."
"Finn's a good guy. I'm happy for you two."
"Thank you, and he is." Quinn grinned and looked towards the grill again. "For the most part."
"Yes, for the most part," Rachel said after she laughed. "But then, every relationship has its own unique problems."
"Speaking of problems, I want to talk to you about one."
"I— Okay, but I'm not exactly sure how much I'd be able to help."
"Amazing, this might be the first time you don't think it's about it you when it is."
"What'd you mean?"
"Rachel, you have a problem. A large problem."
"What exactly would that problem be?" Rachel asked a completely disinterested looking Quinn.
"You really don't know what your big problem is?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Let's see if I can help you find your way," Quinn said after she sighed. "What are you doing here in Lima?"
"I'm here on vacation."
"And why exactly are you here on vacation?"
"I— uh… I'm here—"
"Okay, stop it. I know why you're here Ms. Broadway Diva."
"You know who I am? Finn said he wouldn't tell anyone else."
Quinn lifted her sunglasses and glanced at Rachel for a second. "He didn't have to tell me. After you pulled that little stunt at the first time you were here, I Googled you and I learned all sorts of fun facts about you."
"You Googled me?"
"Don't sound so surprised. I may have been born and raised in this Podunk town but I still know how to use Google."
"You… knew about me this entire time?"
"I did."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"What's the point? You didn't do anything too stupid after that and it seemed like a good piece of information to have if you stepped out of line again, so why bother?"
"Oh…"
"Do you see your problem yet?"
"No."
Quinn sighed. "For someone so talented and ambitious, you can be pretty stupid."
Rachel gasped.
"Oh, don't get your panties all twisted. How long—"
"Hey, how's the party going?" Mike asked as he walked up to them.
"Party's going fine," Quinn said. "Finn is grilling up food by the drinks if you want some."
"Trying to get rid of me that fast?"
"Yes."
"Ouch," Mike said as he feigned an injury to his chest.
"Unless you want to stay here and talk about the female body." She grinned up at him. "You know… tampons, periods, birth control and things like that."
"You know what?" Mike said as he winced then started to walk away. "I'm gonna go see what Finn and Puck are up to. Talk to you guys later."
"Now," Quinn said. "Where were we?"
"You were about to ask—"
"That's right. Exactly how long have you been away from your show?"
"About a month."
"This is the longest time you've been off the stage in your professional life isn't it?"
"It is."
"Getting restless yet?"
Rachel pursed her lips as she considered the question. "A bit."
"Yes, I could tell from the way you threw yourself into karaoke night."
"See your problem yet?"
"No, not really."
"You two are an oblivious match made in heaven."
"Are you going to tell me, or are we just going to dance around this problem all afternoon?"
Quinn glanced at Rachel again and grinned. "There's that confident and assertive young woman I read about. Now, what happens when this little vacation of yours is finished? Because your theatre company can't be too happy about not having their star on stage."
"I go back to New York and resume my run on Broadway obviously."
"Obviously. Someone with your drive and ambition can't sit around doing nothing for this long."
Rachel nodded even though she knew Quinn might not be able to see her.
"And what about Finn?"
"What about Finn?"
"What happens to Finn when you go back to New York?"
"He'll come with me obviously."
"Is that what you really think? Have you talked to him about this?"
"I haven't talked to him about this, but I don't see why he wouldn't want to come with me. He's smart and talented enough to make it in New York."
Quinn turned her head toward Rachel for the third time in their conversation and arched an eyebrow. "You've known each other for a month and you expect him to move in with you?"
"I— Well, when you put it that way…"
"Look, from what I can see, you two are good, possibly great, for each other and Finn's the happiest I've seen him in a long, long time."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Finn has a hard time believing in people, so he's not going to uproot his life for some girl he met a month ago, no matter how much you make him happy now."
"Now why would he have a hard time believing in people?"
"I know I probably played a part in that," Quinn said as she glared at Rachel. "But that doesn't change the fact that he does. It doesn't matter how much he's told you about his life or how much he learns about yours, you do realize that you basically have been lying to him since they day you met him right?"
"I— I wouldn't call it lying." Rachel glanced down for a moment. "More like hiding the truth from him. Plus I hid it from everyone else as well."
"I'm sure he thought about that when he got angry at you. And yes, I pried that information out of Kurt during the week."
"I'm not sure if you realized, but we did work things out between the two of us."
"That may be the case, but if I know Finn he has no idea what your plans are and you spring this move without talking to him, you'll devastate him."
"Don't you think you're being overdramatic?"
"That's funny coming from you."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "While I realize the irony of my statement, I do think you are overstating things."
"You may find this hard to believe, I've known Finn for much longer than you so I have a better idea of how he'll react to things."
"That may be the case and I do appreciate the advice, but I think we'll make it through this just fine."
"Rachel, Finn isn't some understudy or production assistant you can browbeat into being your personal bitch. If you two are doing to make it work, you need to talk to him."
The conversation died as Rachel lowered her head and thought this over until she said, "I know. I know. I just… I just don't know what to say."
"And that, Rachel," Quinn said as she looked over at Rachel with those soul piercing eyes of hers. "Is your problem."
There was nothing Rachel hated more than not knowing what to do and she had absolutely no idea how to tell Finn about her return to New York. Normally she would charge straight ahead if she couldn't come up with a better plan but didn't dare do that here because, more importantly, she had no clue as to how Finn would react when he found out. The one saving grace to this problem was the fact that there was plenty of time for her to explain things to Finn. Seeing as though Jessica and her fathers had left her here for a month without much contact, they wouldn't let her come back to New York without some sort of healthy warning.
At least that's what Rachel hoped for as she sat next to Finn in the basement watching him do something or another on his laptops. Aside from the fact that the conversation with Quinn made her mind churn as it tried to solve this problem, it also angered her because it was something she should have thought of. She'd become too complacent during her time here. And complacent was one thing Rachel Berry was not.
Three months ago, if she saw herself doing what she was doing now here and now, she wouldn't have recognized who she had become and would have slapped herself for losing sight of the things she desired: another Tony Award or two, TV and movie roles, maybe even an Oscar nomination. It wasn't as if she no longer wanted to those things. It's just that ever since she arrived in Lima, all she could think of was her little relationship, confrontational or romantic or otherwise, with Finn. That conversation was the equivalent of a slap to her face. It was exactly what she needed. Sadly, what she needed now was something completely different.
"You've been quiet," she heard Finn say.
"Hmm?"
"You've been quiet ever since we left Quinn's."
"I have?"
"You have and you being quiet usually means something is up." He looked away from whatever he was doing, towards Rachel. "So what's up?"
She really wanted to tell Finn but without any semblance of a plan there was no way she could, so she said, "Nothing is up. There are times when I just don't have anything to say."
"Uh huh…," Finn said in a tone that hinted he didn't believe her.
"So what are you doing on your laptops?" she asked, trying to change the topic.
Finn narrowed his eyes for a fraction of a second before he said, "Playing poker. I usually play for a few hours before I go to bed but… well, you know."
Rachel laughed then grinned. "I'm sorry if I've been distracting you from this important work."
"Hey, what I'm doing is important."
"Uh huh…", she said, repeating Finn's unbelieving tone from seconds ago. "I can see why playing a silly card game with fake money is extremely important."
"Um… the money's not fake."
"But you just bet five hundred dollars in that game."
"Yup."
"You have close to five thousand in one game and almost ten in the other!"
"That's right."
"That's all real money?"
"Sure is."
"How can you have that much?"
"What can I say?" Finn said as he shrugged. "Mike wasn't lying. I'm pretty good at poker."
"And that's all yours?"
"All that and more."
"More?"
"Yea, I have about thirty thousand in one account and a little over forty in the other."
"How long did it take you to get that much?"
"Um, dunno. I just took out some to help cover Kurt's tuition so the accounts are a little low, but I guess I usually average a few thousand a month."
Rachel sat there dumbfounded, not quite able to process what she had just heard, so she watched him play poker for a few minutes and marveled at how easily and confidently he made his decisions. She wondered why she was Finn so much more carefree and confident on the football field and here playing poker compared to the rest of the time she saw him.
"Finn, why are you here?"
"Um, this is my bedroom?"
"No," she said as she playfully shoved him. "Why are you here in Lima?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You could be somewhere else doing so much more than what you're doing right now."
"Burt needs me at the shop to help pay for Kurt's tuition."
"With your poker earnings, you could help out from anywhere."
"Every little bit helps," Finn said as he shrugged.
"Is it because you feel guilt about Kurt being bullied in high school?"
"But don't you want to be something besides a mechanic?"
Finn exhaled loudly then said, "Of course I do, but there's still time for me to do something else after Kurt's finished with school." He started to turn back towards his laptops then stopped. "Wait, why are we even talking about this?"
"I was thinking about things."
"What things would those be?" Finn asked after Rachel sat there silent for two minutes.
"Little things. Silly things. Unimportant things," she said, hoping that Finn wouldn't press her on this because she had always found it hard to not speak her mind and there was a creeping feeling in her mind that she was approaching the point where saying no to him would be extremely difficult.
Happily for Rachel, he said, "Well, if you ever do want to tell me…"
"I know where to find you."
A little bit later, Finn was making himself a snack in the kitchen while Rachel was taking another one of her long baths upstairs. He piled on half a dozen slices of ham and turkey joining the lettuce and tomato that was already there between two slices of bread. Pouring a glass of orange juice completed his snack preparations and he made his way to the dining room eager to eat his food.
"Didn't get enough dinner?" he heard his mom ask right after he took a huge bite of his sandwich.
There was a long pause while he chewed and swallowed that bite of food.
"Dunno, ever since we started doing the vegan thing since Rachel got here I've been getting hungry more often." He took a drink of juice. "I guess I miss meat."
Carole looked down at his sandwich and laughed.
While he continued to eat his snack, his mom sat down in the seat opposite to him, apparently just to watch him eat. Not that he minded since it was his mom, so he devoured his sandwich and juice as he usually would.
"How's Rachel doing?" she asked after he let out a burp when his snack was finished.
Finn and Rachel hadn't exactly told anyone that they had started going out so he was pretty sure that his mom didn't know about them, but it's not like they were trying to hide things so he was also pretty sure that his mom would've seen something. Not that his mom ever needed to see anything to know what was going on in his life, probably came with the fact that she was his mom. Still, he didn't want to tell her yet because he wanted to keep this between him and Rachel because it felt nice to have this private thing between them while she was here, even when the rest of her life was out in public.
"Pretty good I guess."
"Wasn't so mean and bossy after all was she?"
"No, you were right. She can be nice."
Carole smiled. "That's good. I hoped you two would get along."
Finn chuckled. "She didn't make it easy at first."
"Rachel's changed since she started staying with us, hasn't she?"
"Yea, she has." He drained the last bit of his juice. "She's gotten nicer but she was nice to begin with. I guess it's got something to do with how much she wants things to be perfect. It's kinda scary actually. I mean, I can sorta see why people would write about her all the time."
"Been reading up on her?"
"A little bit."
Carole laughed. "Oh honey, I can't believe it took you so long to figure out who she was."
"Hey, I never had a reason to think she was some big shot on Broadway.
"I'm glad Rachel is learning something while she's with us." Carole stood up. "And I'm happy that you're the one helping her."
Carole wished Finn a goodnight and left the dining room, leaving Finn alone with his thoughts which had begun to drift towards food once again. Well, his thoughts were about food when they weren't on the brunette taking a bath on the floor above him.
A morning run was the only part of his training program that Finn kept after his football career ended and even then he didn't run nearly as long or hard as he used to. It wasn't that he really liked to run, cutting the length of the run in half was proof of that, it's just that he needed to get some exercise and running around the neighborhood wasn't too boring. Plus, it was a nice way to remind himself that his leg wasn't completely ruined and it gave him something to do when his nightmares woke up him early in the morning, like they did today.
Of course, those thoughts weren't in Finn's mind as he ran. Other people might have used that time to think about things. Finn used the time to zone out while he ran and listened to his iPod which was why he paid absolutely no attention to the newcomer talking with his mom and Burt in the dining room when he returned from his run and headed to the basement for a shower.
"This is my son, Finn," he heard Carole say after he had poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Hi, Finn," the newcomer said as she smiled up at him, who Finn now realized was an attractive blonde woman in her late 30s, dressed as though she had stepped out of one of the Kurt's fashion magazines and lightly cupping a cup of coffee on the table. "I'm glad I finally got a chance to meet you."
"Um," Finn said as he glanced around the room before sliding into a chair. "Hi?"
"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself," the blonde woman said as she stood up and extended her right hand, causing the bracelets on her arm to jingle. "My name is Jessica Summers. I'm Rachel's agent-slash-manager."
"Oh." He shook her hand before they both sat down again. "That's cool."
"We were just talking with Jessica about Rachel's career," Carole said.
"What about it?" Finn asked while a nervous feeling sprung up in the pit of his stomach.
"Oh," Jessica said. "Pretty much everything. I've been working with Rachel since before her professional debut." She grinned. "So I know all her dirty little secrets."
"Which she has been sharing with us while we waited for Rachel to wake up," Carole said with her own grin.
"I couldn't do anything less with the hospitality you've shown me," Jessica said as she raised her coffee mug in a salute before smelling her drink, taking a sip, and smiling. "Especially when it's this early in the day."
That nervous feeling in Finn's stomach kept growing as Jessica side-stepped his question as to why she was here and instead spent the rest of the morning telling stories about Rachel's career, some of which he already knew from reading bits and pieces of stories about Rachel. The other stories were things that sounded personal but weren't really, mostly funny anecdotes from inside the Broadway world. Finn was pretty sure she was stalling for time because she was hiding something.
The funny thing was, Finn used to be pretty terrible at spotting liars or people who were hiding something from him. Santana used to joke all the time that Quinn could cheat on him all she wanted and he'd never know a thing. Quinn would always roll her eyes at the old joke, saying that she'd never cheat on Finn and he believed her, but it was only natural that doubts crept into his mind sometimes.
Playing tons of poker in college had changed things though since you couldn't do too well unless you could spot who was lying at the table. He'd gotten so good at it; the guys on the football team wouldn't really play with him anymore so he had to find underground games around town where he found out that he needed to learn poker theory to go along with his previously learned skills to have any sort of chance at beating the good players.
As Jessica told a story about one of her other clients, Finn eventually noticed that she kept casually checking her watch at random intervals. Once he saw it, he realized easily she was able to keep their attention by telling them, what were basically, simple stories. He figured she had to be charming, charismatic, and entertaining for the people she worked with and for and wondered if she was entertaining them because it had something to do with her job.
A story finished and, before another one could be started, everyone at the dining table turned their heads as they heard shuffling footsteps make their way toward the room. Finn grins as he, once again, wonders at how Rachel can be so surly in the morning when she's anything but for the rest of the day.
"Morning Carole, Burt," Rachel mumbled with eyes half closed as she dragged her feet towards the kitchen for her daily dose of caffeine. "Morning Finn. Morning Jessica."
Burt and his mom chuckled and he saw Jessica roll her eyes and shake her head as they watched Rachel walk into the kitchen before the clinking of mugs was heard. As the clinks turned into a quick clatter then silence, Finn could almost see Rachel freeze and drop her mug onto the counter in the middle of preparing her drink.
Rachel's head slowly poked out of the kitchen doorway and her eyes glanced around the room, looking at each person in the room until they settled on Jessica.
"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked as her eyes narrowed.
"It's nice to see you too, Rachel," Jessica said after she sipped at her coffee. "I'm glad to see some things haven't changed."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm happy to see you. I just expected some sort of warning before you decide to visit."
Jessica looked over at Carole and said, "That's all the evidence I need."
Carole laughed.
"What evidence?" Rachel asked as she stepped into the dining room. "What are you talking about?"
"The fact that the first words out of your mouth weren't demanding me to take you back to New York is evidence enough that you've changed during your time here," Jessica said as she pulled her handbag off the back of her chair, pulled out her phone, and stood up. "It's time for you to go home."
"Now?"
"Yes, now. Well, today," Jessica said. "You've got an hour to pack before we have to leave."
"But, I need more time—"
Jessica stopped Rachel's complaints by holding up an index finger before she walked into the living room with her phone attached to ear.
"Jessica—," Rachel said before she spun around and looked at Finn. "We need to talk."
"Yea," Finn said. "I guess we do."
After excusing themselves, the pair made their way to the basement and closed the door behind them, knowing that they'd probably need to protection it offered. As if they were following a script, they made their way to opposite sides of the coffee table in the middle of the room and faced each other. Finn stood still except for his gently swaying arms while pretty much all of Rachel's body nervously fidgeted as she wrung her hands.
Finn clenched his jaw as he tried not to think too hard about what he just heard upstairs. With his luck, he should have known this new relationship with Rachel was too good to be true but, for some reason, he held out hope that things would work out between them. Looking at Rachel's face, however, made that hope quickly fade and he figured getting this over with would be the best thing to do.
"What's going on Rachel?"
"I think they're finally letting me go home."
"Yea, no shit." Rachel winced at the curse while Finn gathered himself, blowing out a breath. "What does that mean for us?"
"It doesn't change anything. I still want to be with you."
"Doesn't change anything? Are you insane? This changes everything." He started pacing the length of the coffee table back and forth. "I mean, you'd be in New York and I'd be here."
"You don't have to stay here." She glanced down for a second. "You could come back with me."
"You know I can't do that." Finn stopped pacing at the end of coffee table and faced her. "I've got too many things keeping me here."
"I don't see much of anything keeping you here," she said as she crossed her arms.
"Kurt's tuition. The auto shop. Ring any bells?"
"Neither of those is keeping you here. You can easily help with Kurt's tuition with your poker earnings and I'm sure Burt wouldn't mind hiring someone else to replace you."
"It's not that simple. I have to be here."
Rachel huffed. "The only reason you're staying is some sort of misplaced sense of guilt you have for letting Kurt be bullied while you were in high school."
"That's…" He turned away from her. "That's not why I have to stay."
Rachel pursed her lips. "Then could you please explain to me why you exactly have to stay?"
"Why do I have to change?" Finn asked as he spun around to face her again. "Why can't you stay here?"
"What— That— I—" She took a deep breath and released it. "I have a career back in New York."
"You've already won a Tony, what else can you do on Broadway?" Finn asked as he waved an arm around.
Rachel's jaw dropped. "You think I would quit after appearing in one production and winning one Tony?"
"Why not?"
"Because this is the career that I've always dreamed of having." Rachel said. "I'm not going to give it up for some—" She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.
"Go ahead, say it."
She shook her head.
"Fine, I'll say it for you." He clenched his jaw for a moment. "You're not going to give up your career for some guy you just met." His jaw clenched again. "Is that what you were doing to say?"
"Finn," she said after she dropped her hands to her side. "You have to know that I didn't plan on things happening this way."
"You knew this was going to happen?"
"I didn't know when I would be allowed to go back to New York, but I knew that I would go back one day."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I— I wasn't sure how to tell you and I didn't know when I was going to leave." She looked down for a second. "So I thought I had more time to figure out how to explain things to you."
"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"
"I didn't know how you'd react."
"Well, now you have a pretty good idea," he spat out as they once again found themselves facing each other across the coffee table. "Don't you?"
"I—Yes, I do. Although," she said as she glared at him. "I might have assumed that you would have realized that I'd be going back to New York since you knew I had a flourishing career back there."
He took a step back and said, "Well, why'd you go out with me if you knew you were going back? Did you figure that I'd be easy to forget about?"
"No, I wanted to date you. I just thought that this would be something I could deal with when the time came." She walked around the table to stand directly in front of him. "And, I don't think I could forget about you if I tried."
"How do I know this isn't all just some sort of act? You're supposed to be a great actress."
"I am a great actress," she said with a glare. "And this isn't an act."
Finn sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "This still doesn't solve our problem."
"I still don't understand why you can't come with me."
"And I still don't understand why you have to go back soon. You said you wanted to be with me."
"I do, but I have obligations back in New York and, while I have enjoyed my time here, I do miss my home."
"You're really gonna choose your city and job over me?"
Rachel narrowed her eyes. "I could ask you the same question and, frankly, we've known each other for a month, so yes, I am choosing my home and career over you."
"You can use that excuse but I can't?"
"I have an actual career. You're just a mechanic and I don't know why you'd want to keep doing that job."
"Why wouldn't I want to?"
"Because you're a mechanic."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you could be doing so much more with your life."
Finn clenched his jaw and looked away.
"I don't understand why you won't try," Rachel said as she fought the urge to stomp her feet.
"Look, it doesn't matter." Finn ran a hand through his hair. "Why are you so pressed about this?"
"Is it so wrong to want everything?"
For the life of him, Finn couldn't explain why he said his next words. Maybe he was tired of having everything good taken away from him. Maybe it was how this thing just broadsided him. Or maybe he even meant it. All he knew was that they tumbled out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying. "That's pretty fucking selfish of you."
"I'm sorry you feel that way," Rachel said as she froze and her expression went blank. "And I'm sorry things have turned out this way, but it appears we have reached an impasse."
"Yea, I guess we have."
Before Finn could think of anything to try and salvage the conversation, Rachel said, "Then there's nothing left to say but goodbye."
She spun around on her heel marched up the stairs, leaving Finn alone.
Rachel took one final look around the room she'd called hers for the past month. Frankly, not much would be missed, since it was still basically the room of a college aged boy. The closet space was a disgrace. Nothing in the room matched, aside from the trinkets that she figured Kurt had bought. And she'd be glad to not see a bikini-clad blonde greeting her every morning when she woke up. Speaking of waking up, there was absolutely no way an alarm clock would ever be allowed within a mile of her apartment from now on.
Her eyes darted from the bed towards the small closet. One, an item from the room she would miss and, the other, containing something she would long for. Her eyes went back to the bed and she made a mental note to ask about the brand and model so she could purchase one of her own. It was a shame the other item couldn't be replaced as easily.
"You know what to do right?" she said towards the head of the bed. "This is the last thing I'll ask of you."
With a final look at the closet, she picked up her carry-on bag and walked downstairs where she found Jessica chatting with Carole and Burt in the living room. She walked over to them and gently set her bag down so she could say her goodbyes.
"It was nice meeting you kiddo," Burt said as he shook her hand. "Hope your time with us wasn't all bad."
"Likewise and there was plenty to enjoy," Rachel said with a smile.
Rachel took a step to her left and extended her hand. Carole looked down at her hand and laughed before pulling her into a hug.
"You're always welcome to come back if you need a break from the big city," Carole said into Rachel's ear.
"Thank you," Rachel said. "You don't know how much that means to me."
"Oh, I have a pretty decent idea. And I'm happy and proud that you turned out to be such a bright and vibrant woman and I know your dads are too." Carole pulled away from the hug, wiped away a tear from Rachel's cheek, and smiled. "Even if there have been some bumps along the way."
Rachel grinned and pulled Carole back into a hug.
"Now," Carole said as she pulled away again. "Where is that son of mine?"
"It's alright," Rachel said. "We've already said our goodbyes."
"That doesn't matter. I know I raised him to be better than this."
"It's really alright Carole. We wouldn't have much to say to each other in any case." Rachel picked up her bag. "Plus, I'm sure we need to get going, right Jessica?"
"Now she wants to be on time," Jessica said as she shook her head.
Rachel rolled her eyes and, along with Jessica, said a final goodbye to her hosts. While Jessica walked towards the front door, Rachel's eyes darted to the basement door and lingered for a second before she took a deep breath, let it out, and followed her manager. Choices had been made and she was certainly not going to start dwelling on her decisions now.
Her Louboutins clicked on the hardwood floor of the foyer and Rachel Berry stepped through the front door of the house for the last time.
A/N 2: And so we come to the beginning of the end. See you guys in 2012.