Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the lyrics used in this story; though I'm obsessed with both.
"If you came to me empty handed, I'd brave your ocean to bring you home. And if you came to me empty heart-ed, I'd find the pieces to make you whole. If I fell into you would it be close enough? If I finally let you in would you show me what love is, if I had nothing to give?"
-from 'Empty Handed'
Rachel woke up even before her alarm went off, a steady beat against her warm cheek, and a low, deep, almost growling sound rousing her. Slowly she opened one eye, and then the other to find the source. She had one arm flung across Finn's chest, her head resting on his broad chest while his gentle snoring filtered straight down to her ears. She smiled sleepily to herself when she felt the pressure of his arm lightly draped around her waist, holding her in place. She laid there soaking up the unconscious embrace, wondering how he would feel if he had been the one to wake up first, when her phone started to vibrate against the nightstand. Grudgingly, Rachel rolled over, disentangling herself from him to stop the interruption. She snatched the phone up along with her room key to take the call.
"Brit, what's up? Is everything okay" she whispered into the mouth piece.
"I'm sorry to call so late Rachel, I know it's probably like three in the morning or something wherever you're at, but I needed to ask you something."
She smiled at her friends logic, knowing there was no point in correcting her. "Don't worry about it Brit, you're not bothering me. What did you need?"
"I can't remember where I put Lord Tubbington's favorite bowl. You know the blue one with the gold stars you decorated for his birthday?"
"Brittany, I'm sure it's in the top corner of your closet. Isn't that where you always keep it?"
"Of course, duh. I'll check there next" she said brightly, pausing on the line.
Rachel waited for a few seconds, waiting for her friend to continue, or at least to say that she had found said bowl. It had been in the same place since Rachel had crafted it for him, it was strange even for Brittany that she would forget that.
"Did you find it Brit" Rachel asked as the silence persisted.
"Oh yeah, here it is, thanks Rachel."
Her brow furrowed, absolutely positive that she hadn't heard any movement, or opening of any doors on the other end of the phone. "Did you need anything else?"
"Not really...just, when are you coming home?" she asked, the pout ringing in her tone.
"I'll be home late tomorrow night, why, miss me?" she questioned, grinning as she tried to picture the expression on her dear friends' face.
"I do" she whined, and Rachel could even hear her flop down on the bed. "Santana misses you too. She told me not to call because you're probably sucking face and getting it in with the frat boy, but I wanted to anyway. We never hang out anymore, I miss my sweet lady kisses" she whined.
"Brittany, I miss you too. But you do know that we don't share lady kisses, that's you and Santana."
"That doesn't mean I don't think about them" she answered, making Rachel burst out into laughter.
"God, I miss you guys" she said, wiping a laughing tear from her eye. "When I get back we'll have a full out sleepover to make up for missed time, deal?"
"Only if you're down for the lady kisses" she heard Santana call from the background and her heart smiled even more.
"Tell her not to get her hopes up" Rachel giggled, turning her head as Will emerged from his room.
"Good morning Rachel, is Tina up?"
"Oh, um, not quite yet. She was still asleep, but I'll wake her up" she sputtered, taking a step defensively in front of the door. "I'll go around and knock on people's doors since I'm already up, you finish getting ready" she offered, hopefully avoiding a big blow up.
"Thank you Rachel. Tell everybody to be downstairs in the lobby in no later than forty five minutes" he said with a smile before returning into his room. Whew.
"What was that about hobbit? And why do you sound all squirrely?"
"Because" she started, grinning to herself as she finally spilled to her friends. "It's not really Tina in my bed."
"Holy shit" she heard, followed by the sound of tussling then Santana's voice directly through the speaker. "You're shitting me, Andre the Frat Giant is in your bed? You little slut" she cried. "Did you sleep together? Is he as big down there as he looks? I want details!"
"Tana" Rachel laughed, clutching the phone closer to her ear as if the said giant could hear the girls shrieks through both the phone and the door. "I did not have sex with him last night, we just shared a bed" she clarified, not a lie at all. She knew sharing the whole truth wasn't to be done over the phone, no it was definitely a topic for their impending sleepover. "There were sparks though. I think he might really like me" she whispered, looking back in paranoia.
"Did he try to screw you? Did he kiss you? Are you gonna sleep with him? I'm dying over here Berry, spill."
"I don't know what's going to happen Tana, but I do think he kissed me on the head before I fell asleep last night" she said, smiling at the fuzzy memory.
"Well that's not weird at all. What is he, some sort of perv?"
"While I wouldn't completely deny that he is a slight pervert at times, what he did was sweet, not weird at all" she defended, crossing her arms over her chest even though she couldn't see her.
"Whatever, you're giving me a migraine with the vagueness. Hurry home so we can talk."
"Because you miss me" Rachel taunted with a grin as she heard Santana making gagging sounds. "Say it, or I'll find a hobo down here to live with, and I won't come home at all" she laughed. "Then you'll never know."
"That's the stupidest thing I've heard since you started yapping about that giant pool boy being beautiful. But fine, I do miss you hobbit. So hurry home, and bring snacks" she added.
"I miss you too too sweetheart" Rachel cooed into the phone, practically hearing Santana's eyes roll. "See you soon" she finished, blowing kisses into the phone before hanging up.
Her morning had definitely been made, twice over, and the grin stayed glued to her face as she opened the door to her room, finding Finn up and walking towards her. He had his bag in hand, and an almost guilty expression on his face. The image instantly pained her, too close to what she had walked back in to find on the night that he didn't stay.
"Leaving again" she asked airily, looking down at the ground to hide her anger, balling her hands into fists at her side.
"Um, I was actually going to take a shower" he answered, moving past her to set his bag down in the small bathroom. "Was that your boyfriend on the phone" he asked quietly, bending down to remove his toiletries and underclothes from the bag. He looked up to her when she didn't answer, her mouth hanging open in shock. Crap, she'd been caught. "I heard you saying I miss you and blowing kisses and stuff" he continued, rubbing the back of his neck before standing and looking down at her imploringly.
"That was just Santana and Brittany on the phone. They miss me, and we're scheduling a big girl's night for when I get back, so it was nothing romantic if that's what you were thinking. Though I can't say that their intentions might be slightly more than platonic if I'd allow, but that's all" she said, more than relieved that he hadn't heard her talking about him.
He nodded silently, his brow coming out of it's furrow with every word she spoke. "Cool. So um, if it had been a guy, like, if you had a boyfriend, you would tell me" he said barely above a whisper, turning his back to her to test the temperature of the water.
"Of course I would Finn, you know that" she whispered back, pushing her hair out of her face to better watch the muscles in his thin t-shirt clad back move. "How about you? Would you tell me, if you had a girlfriend, or something" she asked. It was fair game, he had asked her.
"I don't usually do the girlfriend thing, you know that" he called quietly, turning on the shower head and pulling the curtain. "But if I did, I think you'd be the first to know. Anyway, I'm about to shower so..." he trailed off, reaching down and yanking the shirt over his head.
Oh dear God his bare chest, she had almost forgotten how glorious his body was. Her throat dried as she stared at him, unable to scowl or look away when she saw him smirking at her gaze.
"See something you like" he teased, his cocky grin now even more pronounced.
"You wish" she shot back lamely, shaking her head of the inappropriate but wholly desirable thoughts. "Make sure to scrub the jerk off, it tends to stick to you" she called, sticking her tongue out at him before shutting the bathroom door on him with a smile.
"Okay guys, this is it" Will cried, clapping a hand on both Finn and Mike's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you all, I keep saying it, but I really do mean it. No matter what the turn out, I'm insanely proud of all of you and glad we got to share this experience together" he smiled, moving around to place hands on Puck and Blaine. "That being said, let's get out there and kick some ass! We've been practicing like champions, let's show these guys what we're made of" he cried, being met with enthusiastic cheers from the whole group.
She looked around 'The Underground', the pool hall of the Tennessee University, noting its vast size compared to The Playground. It was massive, like there had to be triple the tables here than there were back at home. At each one of the tables were people she had never seen before, moving around the table with such grace, knocking balls in with perfect precision. It was a little intimidating, but she had all the faith in the world in her boys.
It was definitely going to be a long day though. There were only eighty five people playing in the tournament, and the entirety would be played throughout the day. Meaning they had fifteen minute lunch breaks, given they weren't disqualified, and then another fifteen minute dinner break, that was it. The team had already decided that if any of them were still playing through the breaks, they would run to the on-campus diner and bring back food for them to eat. And yes, that did mean that Rachel would search every convenient store and snack bar on the grounds to acquire a bag of sour patch kids and possibly even a yoohoo for Finn when that time came. She didn't consider that special treatment at all, more like a reward.
"They're really freaking good huh" Puck spoke from beside her, rubbing his chin as if he were stroking an evil beard. "We might need some extra help."
"Noah, you know that I am very opposed to cheating" she chided, looking around, "however, I will be performing my flawless Jedi mind tricks from the sidelines for you guys. I got your back" she added, tapping the side of her head as Finn rolled his eyes at her.
"That's weak Rach, we need something concrete, like a distraction" he mused, his eyes traveling until they landed on her, traveling up her frame and to her eyes. "I got it! Okay, get this" he said, throwing an arm around she and Finn's shoulders to whisper his plan. "If it looks like we're getting beat, you sit right across from the table, bend over, and flash 'em your boobs. Bam! Distraction" he cheered lowly, pumping both fists around them.
"Dude" Finn started, trying to hide his laugh.
"That is absolutely deplorable, and insane" she finished, glaring at Puck. "Furthermore-"
"Right, your boobs probably aren't big enough to get the job done" he interrupted, looking thoughtful again. "Maybe we can get Tina to do that, she's got a nice set. But what can you do? Hmm..." he thought as she ground her jaw again. "Oh okay! You're into all that theater and shit, you can pull this off. If one of us is getting beat, like bad in the final rounds or something, you pull out all the stops and start throwing up. I mean like, gagging really loud and making a scene and all that close by. It'll blow them all up and we'll gain the edge" he finished triumphantly, staring at her horrified expression. "Don't be a chicken Berry, you can do it."
"She actually can't, no gag reflex" Finn answered for her, all three of their eyes going wide at the admission.
"What? How the hell do you know that" Puck asked, releasing his arms from around them.
"Uh, she umm, she told me once. Like a long time ago, over food or something" Finn rambled, pulling on the collar of his shirt, completely missing the flabbergasted look Puck was aiming at Rachel. "You know how random our conversations are, I don't even really remember the details and stuff. Did anybody see where the bathroom is?"
"Shut up" she mouthed to him, positive that her cheeks were fire engine red.
"Nah, but I'm about to go find it, gotta drain the snake" he said, tossing Rachel a wink before leaving them behind.
Seconds later her phone buzzed and she looked down, an enormous grin stretching her face.
Holy shit, you just turned my boy into a stuttering, blubbering idiot...That I have never seen, what are you doing to him? Cause it's working :)
"Umm, sorry about that" he mumbled, his cheeks an adorable pink as he held the pool cue in his hand.
"Don't worry about it, I don't think he caught on" she lied, shrugging her shoulders. "Are you nervous?"
"Not at all actually, I feel really good. I'm kinda pumped" he answered, giving her a dazzling smile.
"You should be, you'll be great. And just in case the nerves or pressure do catch up to you, I brought you a surprise, don't tell Noah" she added, reaching into her pocket.
"Really" he asked, his eyes shining down at her in happy surprise.
She opened her hand to him, holding out a shiny silver chain with a small ring dangling from it. She watched as the comprehension crossed his face, his bright lopsided smile gracing his lovely face almost instantly, making her heart melt.
"You kept that? After all this time?"
"Of course I did. I don't know about you, but I take my marriage seriously" she said in mock sternness, motioning for him to stoop down. He did so wordlessly, and she latched the chain around his neck. "You gave me this ring on the day that you taught me how to fish, and it was kind of my good luck charm, so maybe it can work the same for you" she declared, smiling at her handiwork.
"That's really nice Rachel, but you kinda sucked that day. Wouldn't that make this the opposite of helpful" he said, arching an eyebrow at her playfully.
"I did not suck Finn. I had a lot of heart, and I did my very best, which is what we want you to do, so it works. Stop trying to ruin the moment."
"Yes ma'am" he answered, mock saluting her before tucking the ring safely into the collar of his shirt. Lucky ring. "Thanks Rachel."
"No problem" she smiled, her eyes locked on his as the announcer called over the system for the players to gather round for their first matches. "Good luck Finn, I'll be rooting for you" she said, tapping her temple yet again and making him smile. She stepped forward quickly, brushing her lips across his cheek in a good luck kiss and pulled back to grin at him.
"Copycat" he whispered, alluding to the goodnight kiss from the night before. Her smile widened as he turned from her, heading off towards the big group to take his place.
It was completely silent in the room aside from the sound of the cues making contact with the balls, and it was absolutely nerve wracking. She barely had any fingernails left at all by the time Finn had reached his sixth match. He was still undefeated, and he had been on a roll so far, but this particular opponent was really getting to her. He had broke and ran the table the first game out of five. Finn was visibly shaken when they started the second match, missing his first shot and watching as the boy ran five balls off of the table before Finn got to shoot again. He had been subtly bringing his hand up to where she was sure the ring was resting on his chest, rubbing softly all morning, but his hand was pretty much glued to the space now.
"I'm freaking out Blaine, oh my God. Look at his face, he's freaking out" she whispered, clutching his hand as tightly as possible. He had stuck by her side almost the entire time. Every once in a while he would walk over to find out how Mike, who's side Tina never left, was doing, as well as Puck. She was so thankful, he had held her hand, and talked her down through all the tough matches, close calls, and winning shots.
"Calm down Rachel, Finn knows what he's doing. If he sees us getting anxious, he'll get anxious" he whispered back, giving her hand a small squeeze. He was right, of course he was right.
She watched him, staring at the table, trying to decide on his plan of action. He moved around, eating up time, and chalking his stick repeatedly, probably from the nerves. She felt so sorry for him, she wanted to run over to that table, smooth the worried line out of his forehead, take the crinkle out of his eyebrows and make him smile. He must have been thinking similar thoughts, because he looked up to her then, his worried eyes boring into hers. She gave him the brightest smile she could muster, before looking over to see that his opponent wasn't looking. Pleased with his inattention, she leaned forward, pushing her breasts together with her elbows and playfully supplying him with the slight view down her shirt Puck had joked about. She made an exaggerated duck face at him and instantly saw his face erupt into a wide smile, a small chuckle slipping from his lips.
Mission Accomplished.
She beamed back at him as he shook his head before finally leaning over the table. He pushed his stick forward with pure ease, knocking the object ball straight into it's pocket flawlessly. She snatched Blaine's hand in her own, bouncing in her seat when he looked up to her again with a victorious smile. He reached down to pull the ring out from his shirt, his eyes locked on hers as he brought the small ring to his lips, then tucked it back into his shirt.
"Yours, I presume" Blaine asked.
She nodded, not the least bit trying to hide it as she watched Finn sink his next shot. There were no words for how happy it made her feel to watch him succeed. Her heart swelled to double it's size, and it felt like the smile would be permanently etched onto her face as she watched the boy that held his heart in her hands overcome and succeed. It made it all the much better that she was somehow involved. The matching smile graced his face as he moved about the table, now completely back in his groove.
"He loves you, you know" Blaine said softly. She turned to look at him, her mouth open in shock. She knew that she loved Finn, there was no doubting that, but the idea of loving her back seemed so strange. Could he really? "I don't know if he knows it or not, but he definitely does" he smiled, giving her hand another squeeze before getting up to check on the others.
She blinked as the thoughts flooded her mind, was it even possible? He had never expressed as much, but he couldn't deny that there was definitely a strong connection between the two of them. Rachel looked up then, eyes falling on the object of her musings. His hand was over the space yet again as the next game started, a distant, warm smile on his face as he softly rubbed at the spot. He felt her gaze and looked over at her, sticking out his tongue and crossing her eyes, making her giggle to herself.
True to her word she had scoured the school for sour patch kids right before lunch, and even brought him a yoohoo for dinner. The hours had been excruciating, each match the closer to the end they got more stressful than the last. She had moved on from her fingernails, to picking at the ends of her hair as she watched Finn. She had moved around to every table he occupied, acting as his personal cheerleader, and silent Jedi mind trick specialist. Today had been a truly amazing day for him, she had seen him play better than ever before. She had proudly watched him run racks of balls, make difficult shots that she had never even seen him attempt before, and was extremely proud of the way he would shake each opponents hand after, completely gracious whereas some others were complete assholes. No matter the outcome, he truly would be the exemplary champion of the tournament, at least in her book.
She wasn't sure what his rank was so far, or how much longer he would have to go if he won this particular match. He had only lost one match so far, meaning that if he lost again he would be disqualified. Puck and Mike had both been knocked out of the bracket just the last round, so they were all crowded around Finn's table now.
The blonde, overly skinny boy that was his opponent had ran the rest of the rack that Finn had left after his break, then immediately broke the balls himself and ran those as well. She could see the defeat on Finn's face, but it wasn't as bad this time. Probably because it wasn't just defeat, it was awe as well. His eyes were glued to the way the small boy worked the table, knocking in a ball and getting the cue ball to land perfectly in place for his next shot. He made it look like pure magic. She could imagine that if he had to lose out to anybody, it might as well be this guy, he was incredible.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. Finn got to shoot exactly three more times before the match was over. Her heart didn't plummet in her chest as she had thought it would however, she was still so proud of him. He had shown exactly what he could do on those tables today, he out-shined so many people, and did so with more grace and humility than she had even thought possible from him. She smiled as she watched him talking animatedly with the boy who had beaten him, both boys smiling and even chuckling a little towards the end. They finally shook hands, and Finn made his way over to the group.
"Whoa stalkers" he joked, plopping down beside Will. "Any word on our stats yet?"
"Not yet, I'm about to go check now. I didn't wanna leave any of your sides until it was done" he said, giving Finn a hug just as he had done Mike and Puck before walking off to talk to the officials.
"You were amazing" Rachel said, reaching over to squeeze his knee from where she sat tucked into Puck's arm. He hadn't taken the loss quite as graciously as Finn and Mike had.
"Thanks Rach" he smiled, before eying Puck. "Dude, you're not gonna cry are you" he laughed, dodging Puck's kick before pounding fists with Blaine and Mike.
"Screw you" Puck spat, dramatically turning his head to drop on Rachel's shoulder. She giggled at the action, surprised when he yanked back from her. "Holy shit, I'm turning into you. This is getting to me, I gotta get out of here, I need some air" he cried, shooting up from his seat to head in the direction of the bathroom.
The small group laughed at him when he departed, immediately launching into stories of their individual matches and challenges. Before long, both Puck and Will had returned. Puck sank back down next to Rachel, she patted his knee, offering her shoulder to him yet again. With a loud sigh he leaned over, propping his head on her as they awaited the news. Finn, on the other side of her, wordlessly reached over, taking her tiny hand in his.
"Okay guys. They're on the final round now as you can tell" he said, motioning around the mostly cleared out room, "so it won't be actually official until the very end, but I have the numbers. There were eighty five competitors today, and only the top twelve are invited to play in Nationals." Finn's hand tightened around hers slightly, and she squeezed back reassuringly, smiling slightly when she felt Puck's loud sigh against her shoulder. "Spot number ten, belongs to Mr. Mike Chang. Spot number twelve belongs to Noah Puckerman, and number seven-" he smiled, not even getting the rest of his sentence out before they all shot up out of their seats.
They danced among themselves, cheering quietly since the tournament was still technically going on. Out of nowhere Blaine came around, grasping her hands and hopping around in a circle with her. As soon as she was released, she found herself swept up in a Mike and Tina sandwich hug, then was passed onto Puck who squeezed her tightly before promptly mussing her hair. Through his joy he nodded behind her with a smile, spinning her around to face Finn. She fell right into his strong arms and he lifted her into the air, his face buried in her hair while his arms wrapped around her securely. She locked both arms around his neck, breathing him in as she giggled in complete ecstasy. He spun them around, holding her tightly to his chest as she murmured 'congratulations' and 'you were great' into his ear repeatedly.
When he finally placed her down on the ground, his arms remained looped around her waist, his beaming smile shining down at her. "You were amazing Finn, I'm so proud of you."
"I couldn't have done it without you" he breathed, pushing a stray hair out of her face. "This thing really is like magic, I'm keeping it" he grinned, pulling out the small ring.
"Oh you didn't really need that, you would've done well all on your own. You're extremely talented Finn" she praised, a little heady at the fact that he was still holding her before she cheekily added "I should know, I'm talented too."
"I'll say. Your Jedi mind tricks are something serious" he said mock seriously, grinning when she punched him lightly in the gut. "Ouch, geez learn how to take a compliment" he laughed. "But seriously, that distraction technique turned way of loosening me up was very impressive" he said, his eyes traveling down to her cleavage, heating every inch of skin that they passed over before returning to her lips. His licked his own as he watched her mouth, his head moving down towards hers almost involuntarily.
"I thought you might enjoy that" she breathed, too weak to pull back as the distance between them seemed to get smaller.
"And you were more than right" he whispered, now close enough for her to easily trace the light dusting of freckles scattered across his nose.
"Okay guys" Will announced, breaking the spell momentarily as he called the increasingly rowdier groups attention. She blinked repeatedly as she looked up, shaking the Finn induced haze from her mind as she looked around. "Do you wanna stick around to the end, see it made official, or do you wanna go ahead and head out? We'll get the email confirmation with the ranks as soon as it's over if we choose to live, so it's completely up to you guys. Whatever you want, this is your night" he cheered, almost bouncing from joy.
All six of the teammates looked around to each other, silently trying to come to a consensus before Puck finally spoke. "It's only midnight, I say we go out on the town tonight, and celebrate. We're going to Nationals baby" he cheered, his infectious enthusiasm immediately pulling everyone on board.
"Looks like that's settled" Will chuckled, "but no one back at the school is to learn of this. No pictures, no tweeting, this is our secret okay. If word gets out, I'll say you all escaped without my notice" he warned, jingling his keys for the team to follow him.
"Yes" Puck cheered, pumping his fist before running over to toss his arm around Rachel's shoulders. "Tonight is gonna be epic. I've never been with a woman from Tennessee, I wonder if they're kinky" he mused.
She wasn't paying attention though, she was watching Finn, walking along beside them, darting glances over at her as they made their way out of the school. It had been a while since she had gone out in general, much less with Finn along for the ride. The last time had been at his crossing party, she wasn't likely to forget that anytime soon. She smiled as she re-lived the memory, remembering Finn's eyes on her as she danced her heart out for him, the way he held her close and (attempted) to move his body in sync with hers. The feeling had been purely intoxicating, and the thought of possibly re-enacting some of those things, even more amplified this time, was making her heart race as he held the door open for her to climb into the van.
Thanks for reading! Hope you're enjoying, we are nearing the end people!
Thanks so much for all of your reviews, and support!