Thanks a lot for all the reviews on Chapter 16. As I'm sure you can guess, even though regular seasons of Glee are 22 episodes, this will be a lot more than that and will go to the end of the 2013-2014 school year. (And depending on the reception this gets, I might do a Season 6, too!) Hope you guys enjoy this new chapter and review if you want me to keep going!
Chapter 17: Wanted And Unwanted Guests
Rachel was sitting in the living room, reading over the Funny Girl script. She hadn't had to go to many rehearsals yet, but it would definitely help to know the lines in case they ever needed her. She'd gotten off work just now, but Kurt and Santana's shifts weren't over yet, and Finn and Blaine were both at work as well.
It was nice to have some quiet time to herself, since things had been a little crazy lately. There had been some drama when her dads visited, especially when her dads and Kylie's parents had ran into Shelby. Rachel hadn't talked to Shelby since they ran into her, but she and Kylie talked frequently, and they both knew that they were hoping that Shelby would want them in her life (rather than going between wanting them in her life and not wanting them in her life) and that their adoptive parents would eventually come around to letting them get to know their birth mother. They also agreed that no matter what ended up happening with Shelby, they were glad that they had found out the truth because this had brought them together.
As Rachel turned the page of her script, she heard a knock on the door. She looked through the peephole, saw it was Brittany and opened the door.
"It's Brittany, bitch!" Brittany shouted.
"Brittany!" Rachel said, giving her friend a hug. "It's great to see you!"
"You too," Brittany said. "Where's everyone else?"
"They're all still at work," Rachel said. "I finished my shift earlier."
"Oh, that's cool," Brittany said, sitting down. "So, are you guys having a fun summer here in New York?"
"We are!" Rachel said. "Do you think you might end up going to school in New York in the fall?"
"I don't know," Brittany said. "MIT wasn't the school for me. They were always putting me in math labs and didn't give me any time to be myself."
"That's not good," Rachel said. "If you were here in New York, you'd know lots of people here."
"Yeah, that's part of the reason why I like New York," Brittany said. "I'll have you, Finn, Kurt, Blaine, Santana, Tina, Sam and Artie here."
"Yeah, and Quinn and Puck are nearby," Rachel said.
"Who's this Dani girl?" Brittany asked.
"You'll probably meet her while you're here," Rachel said. "She works at the diner with us. She's nice and I like hanging out with her."
"Do you think Santana's in love with her?" Brittany asked.
Rachel paused. "Well, they just started dating."
"Why's Santana dating her?" Brittany asked Rachel.
How was Rachel supposed to answer this? "Maybe that quetion would be better for Santana."
Before Brittany had a chance to get home from work, Blaine came in. "Brittany!" Blaine exclaimed.
"Hi, Blaine Warbler," Brittany said.
"I'm so glad you're here," Blaine said. "We really missed you the second half of the school year."
"I missed you guys too," Brittany said. "I wish I could have finished up the second half of the year at McKinley. MIT was no fun."
"Where else are you looking at schools for next year besides here in New York?" Blaine asked.
"Lots of Ohio schools," Brittany said.
A little while later, Kurt and Santana arrived home from the diner. "Brittany!" Kurt said, giving her a hug.
"I missed you guys," Brittany said.
"We missed you too," Santana said, hugging Brittany. "Quinn and Puck are coming to visit too, while you're here, so the Unholy Trinity's going to all be together!"
Quinn and Puck were coming? Their last visit hadn't gone so well, so Rachel wasn't sure if she wanted them to visit.
"It's been too long!" Brittany said. "So, Santana, what about Dani?"
"What about her?" Santana asked, looking uncomfortable.
"Is she going to be here at all while I'm here?" Brittany asked.
Rachel gave Santana a look. She could tell that this was uncomfortable for her friend. Santana looked back at Rachel and turned to Brittany. "Well, she was at the diner today. If you don't want to meet her, you don't have to."
"No, I want to meet her," Brittany said.
Rachel didn't know if the fact that Brittany wanted to meet Dani was a good thing or a bad thing.
x
Puck and Quinn arrived from New Haven the next day. Rachel was working later than their other roommates, and she was fine with that. After all, her last few encounters with Quinn hadn't been very pleasant. When Rachel got home from work, Finn, Puck and Blaine were playing video games in the living room, while Kurt, Santana, Brittany and Quinn were sitting in the kitchen talking. Rachel said hi to everone quickly before going to her room. When she got to her room, she heard her door open. She looked up and saw Quinn.
"Hey," Quinn said quietly.
Rachel looked up at Quinn. "Hey."
"Can we talk?" Quinn asked.
Rachel wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to Quinn after what happened last time. "Sure."
Quinn came into Rachel's room and sat down. "Rachel, I'm really sorry about how mad I got at you the last time I visited. It's not your fault and I shouldn't have gotten so angry."
"Well, you and I are both in similar situations, we just have different positions in them," Rachel said. "I think we're both in situations people don't really understand unless they've been through them themselves."
"I just was sad that you got to see Beth and that I didn't," Quinn said. "I really want to get to know Beth, Rachel. I know Shelby's raising her, but I would like to be a second mom, if that makes sense. But I don't have any legal rights to her and Shelby does, so it's really up to her whether I get to see Beth or not." She looked down. "And I think I kind of ruined my chances at that."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't think I'll be seeing Beth any time soon," Rachel said.
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked.
"Well, Shelby said some things pretty similar to Kylie and me when I took Kylie to meet her," Rachel said. "Kylie was upset and told her parents, and her parents told my dads. Then when her parents and my dads were in New York at the same time, we ran into Shelby, and they told her that they don't want her around us. She sounded like she felt bad about what happened earlier, but my dads sounded like they didn't want her around me."
"Rachel, you're a legal adult," Quinn said. "Technically, your dads can't tell Shelby whether not she can contact you anymore."
"I guess you're right," Rachel said. "But I do feel bad for you. I was talking to Kylie, and we do want our birth mother in our life, but what if this happens again?"
"It is complicated," Quinn said. "Beth's too young to really understand everything, but when she's old enough, I worry that she might not want me in her life. Especially if Shelby tells her about what happened senior year."
"Things will work out," Rachel said. "At least I hope they will."
"I'm sorry, Rachel," Quinn said. "I didn't want to hurt you."
"Thanks for talking with me," Rachel said when they heard a noise from the living room.
"Why are you here?" Brittany shouted.
"Oh no," Quinn said to Rachel. "Sounds like Santana's girlfriend is here."
"Yeah, I think so too," Rachel said. They went into the living room, where Finn and Puck were holding back a very angry Brittany, Dani was looking confused and Santana just looked uncomfortable.
"Did I do something wrong?" Dani asked Brittany.
"Of course you didn't do anything wrong," Santana said. "She's my ex girlfriend, I think she's just jealous."
"Santana told me that you guys weren't going to get back together," Dani told Brittany.
"Well, she lied!" Brittany said. "Lord Tubbington's going to come after you!"
"Who's Lord Tubbington?" Dani asked.
"Brittany's cat," Santana said. "Brittany's convinced he has all kinds of superpowers."
"Because he does!" Brittany said. "He's a genius."
"Brittany, you said to me that you thought I should go to New York and get a new girlfriend," Santana said.
"Well, I was wrong," Brittany said. "You can't recreate what you and I have."
"No one's saying I'm doing that," Santana said. "This is something different."
"Break up with her," Brittany said.
"No, I'm not going to," Santana said.
"Then I'm leaving," Brittany snapped, grabbing her bag and storming out of the apartment. "Don't talk to me again until she's out of the picture."
Everyone was quiet for a few moments as Brittany left. "I'm sorry about that," Santana said to Dani.
"Do you still love her?" Dani asked.
"Well, she's my best friend," Santana said. "I do miss having her as a best friend, but I think I'm where I belong now."
"I'm sure she'll come around," Puck said.
"I hope so," Santana said.
x
Puck and Quinn went back to New Haven after about a week in New York, and this visit had been much more pleasurable than their last one. They now had metro passes to New York so they were hoping to visit whenever they could.
After Quinn and Puck left, it was odd not having guests in the apartment since they'd had so many this summer. Rachel had gotten up early to make breakfast for Finn before work when she heard a knock at the door. Kurt, Blaine and Santana were all still asleep, and Finn was in his room getting ready for work, so she had no idea who would be here. When she looked out the peephole, she saw a woman a little older than her with red hair. This was Finn's coworker, right? Rachel opened the door. "May I help you?"
"You remember me, right?" the woman asked. "I'm Lucy. I work with Finn. I was wondering if he'd like to walk to work together."
Rachel knew Finn didn't like Lucy. "Uh, I think he already left."
Lucy stepped into the apartment. "You guys have kind of a crappy apartment."
Insulting their apartment? Now Rachel was beginning to see why Finn didn't like her. "Lucy, I didn't invite you to come in."
"Oh, I don't think you need to," Lucy said. "This is what I do." She looked around. "Lots of Broadway posters, huh?"
"Yeah, I like Broadway," Rachel said.
Lucy picked up a photo on the living room table of Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Santana, Quinn, Puck, Mike and Mercedes at their graduation last year. "Who are these people?"
Rachel was feeling more and more uncomfortable. "Those are our friends from high school. That's from our graduation."
"Oh, I see," Lucy said. She moved on and picked up the photo next to that one, of the eight members of the Class of 2012 with the current members of New Directions at Nationals this year. "Same people, huh?"
"Yeah, Finn and I were in glee club in high school, and that's from when we went to help out at Nationals with our glee club in May," Rachel said.
"Oh," Lucy said. "Rachel, are you and Finn still stuck in high school?"
"What do you mean by that?" Rachel asked.
"How you have photos of your friends from high school all over your apartment," Lucy said. She looked at a photo of Finn, Kurt, Burt and Carole from Burt and Carole's wedding. "Is that Finn's gay brother?"
Now Rachel really had a bad feeling about this. "Lucy, if you're going to insult Kurt, you can just get out of here."
"So that is him?" Lucy asked.
"So what?" Rachel asked. "My dads are gay."
"You have gay parents?" Lucy asked. "Ew, that's gross. Gay people shouldn't have children."
Rachel was resisting the urge to yell at Lucy. "I think you should leave."
"You don't have to be so sensitive," Lucy said. "So, did your dad leave your mom for another man?"
"I've been raised from my dads from the beginning," Rachel said. "And they are amazing parents."
"No, they're not," Lucy said. "Every kid needs a mom and a dad, not two moms or two dads."
"Get out of my apartment," Rachel snapped. "Now."
"I don't know why Finn's so into you," Lucy said. "You're so oversensitive." She held up a photo of Kurt, Blaine, Finn and Rachel. "Is that Finn's brother's boyfriend?"
"Lucy, enough!" Rachel snapped. "I want you out of my apartment, now."
"I guess it is," Lucy said, putting the photo down and holding up one of Rachel and Kylie. "Who's this? Is this your lesbian lover who you're seeing behind Finn's back?"
"No, that's my sister," Rachel said.
"You have a sister?" Lucy asked. "So your dads thought they could get away with two kids?"
"No, we're related via our mom," Rachel said. She didn't want to go into details about Shelby. Not with Lucy, anyway.
Finn came into the living room. "Lucy, why are you here?"
"I was wondering if you might want to walk to work together today?" Lucy asked. "Rachel thought you'd already left for work."
"Actually, I'm not feeling well, so I'm not going to work today," Finn said. He gave Lucy a look of disgust. "How do you know where I live?"
"I have my ways," Lucy said.
"Lucy, I think you should go," Rachel said. "I did not invite you to come in and look around our apartment and insult everyone."
"Get out of here," Finn snapped. "I don't want you in my apartment ever again. If you ever come back, I'm going to call the police."
"You don't have to be so worked up," Lucy said. "I'd better get to work now. Feel better, Finn." She left the apartment as Rachel closed the door behind her, now realizing that Finn definitely had a reason to dislike Lucy.
"She's a psycho!" Rachel said.
"Yes she is," Finn said. "I'm going to go call off work."
"Finn, maybe you should consider quitting your job," Rachel said. "Lucy is trouble. You'd be better off somewhere else."
"Well, I don't see other jobs wanting me to work for them," Finn said. "Rach, I'm really not feeling well. I'm going to go rest."
Rachel gave Finn a kiss. "Okay. Feel better."
"Thanks, Rach," Finn said, going to their room to lie down. As Rachel made breakfast, she felt her stomach hurting. She knew she didn't like Lucy either, and she was also pretty sure she hadn't seen the last of her.
A little while later, Kurt, Blaine and Santana came out for breakfast. "Where's Finn?" Blaine asked.
"Finn's not feeling well," Rachel said. "He's sleeping. Plus, he had an upsetting experience this morning."
"What happened?" Santana asked.
"That coworker of his showed up at the apartment," Rachel said. "Lucy, the one Finn and I ran into at the grocery store and Finn told me he didn't like. When we saw her at the grocery store, I thought she was nice. But she was looking around our apartment and insulting our stuff. Finn didn't even know how she found out where we live."
"She sounds like a stalker," Blaine said.
"Okay," Kurt said. "I'm sorry, but I have to say this: that Lucy girl is trouble."
"I thought she was nice when I met her at the grocery store, but showing up at our apartment was not cool," Rachel agreed. "I have noticed that ever since Finn started that job, he's been different. He's been quieter, and he talks in his sleep at night."
"Do you think Lucy's been bothering him at work?" Blaine asked.
"She's interested in him, I can tell," Rachel said.
"Well, do you think it might be more than that?" Blaine asked.
"What do you mean, more than that?" Rachel asked.
"She found our apartment, Rachel," Blaine said. "That's definitely not normal. All of us have been into people, but we've never taken things as far as she did, just walking in."
"We'll have to keep an eye on Finn," Rachel said. "All of us. I told him he should quit that job, but he's worried no other job will take him."
"Yeah, I don't want him there," Kurt said.
"Maybe we should confront Lucy," Santana said.
"She's an attorney," Rachel said. "I doubt things would come out in favor of us..."
"Rachel, we need to make sure she's not doing anything to Finn that she isn't supposed to," Blaine said.
Rachel didn't know what to say. Lucy couldn't be doing anything that she wasn't supposed to be doing - could she?
Chapter 18 preview: Lucy takes things too far and is confronted by some residents of the loft. Rachel also starts practices as the understudy.
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