Hi everyone. I hope you all had as okay a day as possible yesterday. Hard to believe yesterday was the one year anniversary. One year later and it still really sucks. I miss Cory and Finchel every day, and as Kurt says, I'm going to spend my entire life doing so.
Anyway, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. Enjoy this one and review if you want me to continue!
Chapter 31: Wicked
"It's nice, being back on this stage, just the two of us," Finn said to Rachel as they stood on the stage of the auditorium of McKinley. It was decorated with the set for Wicked, but the two of them needed some time there for just them. It was their special place, and even though they'd gotten to Lima, they knew they wanted to come here right away.
"I know," Rachel agreed.
"I should have brought a picnic for us," Finn said.
Rachel gave Finn a smile. "Yeah, you even would have had airplane cups from the flight in."
Finn put his arm around Rachel. "We would have. I remember the last time we had a competition performance in this auditorium - it was Regionals our senior year, and you were singing your solo and then looking at me like I was the most perfect thing in the world." He smiled at the memory.
"You are the most perfect thing in the world," Rachel said, snuggling up to Finn and taking his hand.
Finn began rubbing circles into Rachel's hand with his thumb. "I miss being here sometimes, don't you?"
"Definitely," Rachel said. "I miss getting to spend so much time with you and with all our friends. When we were here, we were so special."
"You're the understudy in a Broadway production," Finn reminded Rachel.
"Yeah, I know," Rachel said. "But it isn't the same as here. I may never get to perform on that stage."
"She's going to call off eventually," Finn told Rachel. "She can't do all those shows all the time." Finn couldn't imagine doing eight shows a week. It would be exhausting, and it might get a little repetitive.
"We'll see," Rachel said.
"All I know is that I'm going to be in the front row when you do get to perform, whatever it takes," Finn told Rachel.
"Even if the show's sold out?" Rachel asked with a teasing smile.
"Even if it's sold out," Finn said. He'd be in that front row, no matter what.
"I mention you in my biography in the program," Rachel said.
"You do?" Finn asked.
"Yeah," Rachel said. She got out a piece of paper from her purse. "This is the page with the cast and crew bios. I technically can't release it, but I can show it to you."
Finn read Rachel's biography. "Rachel is honored to be the understudy for Fanny Brice on Broadway. This is her first major stage production, although she is a student at NYADA and was a member of her high school glee club, the New Directions (William McKinley High School, Lima, OH). Rachel was the female lead of New Directions and led the group to three Sectional titles, two Regional titles and the 2012 National title, and she also played Maria in the school's production of West Side Story. She sends her love to her fathers, Hiram and LeRoy Berry, who had her in singing, dancing and acting lessons from an early age; her mother, Shelby Corcoran, from whom she acquired her talent; her sisters, Kylie Nichols and Beth Corcoran; her friends from New Directions; and the love of her life (and favorite duet partner), Finn Hudson, who has been there for her every step of the way." As Finn read the part about him, he felt his heart swoon. Finn looked at Rachel. "This is so sweet."
Rachel gave Finn a hug. "Do you like what I said about you?"
"That was my favorite part," Finn said. "I'm so proud of you, Rachel."
"I'm so proud of you," Rachel said. "You didn't think you'd be able to make it in New York. You had a huge setback when we first got there, but you're stronger than ever and thriving."
"I always thought I'd spend these years at Allen County Community College bussing tables at Breadstix," Finn admitted.
"Aren't you glad that didn't happen?" Rachel asked.
"So glad," Finn said. "Want to go join everyone else in the choir room?"
"Yeah," Rachel said.
As Finn took Rachel's hand and walked to the choir room, he thought about their time here. There was something else the auditorium reminded him of that he hadn't said anything about while they were there - the first time he asked her to marry him. Back then the timing hadn't been right. But now they were at a point in their adult lives that they were beginning to establish things, and they'd both grown up a lot. Maybe sometime soon he could get her another ring.
Finn and Rachel walked through the hall before arriving in the choir room. Finn walked in, where Mr. Schue was standing at the front, clearly preparing today's rehearsal. "Hey, you two!"
"Hey!" Finn said, hugging his mentor.
"How are you guys?" Mr. Schue asked.
"It's good to be back," Rachel said.
"They'll be happy to have you back," Mr. Schue said. "Where are the other New Yorkers?"
"I know they're coming later today," Rachel said.
"Yeah," Mr. Schue said. "It's going to mean so much to these kids that all thirteen of the legendary alumni are coming back to see them perform."
"Oh, I'm excited," Finn said. "How's Baby Schue?"
"He should be here before long," Mr. Schue said. "You two will have to come meet him after he's born."
"Of course we will!" Rachel said.
"Emma and I were talking, and we were actually hoping that you two would be the godparents," Mr. Schue said.
"You want us to be the godparents?" Finn asked. He knew that he and Rachel were special to Mr. Schue, but he wasn't expecting that.
"We do," Mr. Schue said. "You two really helped me rediscover my passion and led us to each other."
"We'd be honored," Finn said, knowing he spoke for Rachel as well.
"Good," Mr. Schue said. He turned to Rachel. "How's your mother doing?"
"Finn and I saw her shortly before we came," Rachel said. "It's going to be a long few months, but she has me and Kylie and Beth and Finn and all her friends with her in this."
"I keep meaning to send her something," Mr. Schue said. "Maybe I'll send it with Kylie next time she goes to New York."
Finn decided not to say that Kylie's adoptive parents were unaware that she'd gone to New York to see Shelby. "Yeah, you should."
Before Finn or Rachel had time to say anything else, the current members of the glee club began coming in. Finn didn't recognize a few of them, and he was glad to see that more people were joining. "Who are the new members?" Finn whispered to Ryder.
"Oh, I got two freshmen from the football team to join," Ryder told Finn. "That's Nathan, and that's Anthony. Marley recruited the girl whose locker is near hers. She's a freshman too, and her name is Samantha. And then the other girl over there is a sophomore. Her name is Ellie and she's in one of Mr. Schue's history classes."
"I'm glad you guys have more members," Finn told Ryder.
"Yeah, we have enough now that next year, we'll already have twelve after the seniors graduate," Ryder told Finn.
"Are you and Marley excited to be the leads for the second year in a row?" Finn asked.
"Of course we are!" Ryder told Finn. "It's even better this year because we're finally officially together."
"I'm glad you never gave up on her," Finn said.
"Well, we shouldn't give up on the girls we love," Ryder said.
"That's right," Finn said.
After all the current members of New Directions had arrived, Mr. Schue turned to Finn and Rachel. "As you can see, we have some special people who've come back to help make the musical the best it can possibly be. Finn and Rachel are here today, and the other alumni are going to be visiting to help out throughout the rest of the week."
Kitty stood up. "And I'd like to announce that I'm continuing my tradition of having a slumber party for all the girls." She looked at Rachel. "Rachel, tell the other alumni they're invited, too." Then she looked at Marley. "Don't worry, it'll be better than last year's."
x
The next day, all thirteen New Directions alumni helped out with Wicked rehearsal. After rehearsal, all the New Directions girls, past and present, gathered at Kitty's house for a sleepover. As Rachel was laying out her sleeping bag, Mercedes came over to her. "Rachel, is it true that Tina and Sam are dating?"
"Yes," Rachel said. She knew that might upset Mercedes. She knew how upset she'd been about Finn being with Quinn, Santana and Penny. "Are you okay?"
"Why are they doing that?" Mercedes asked. "I thought Tina and Mike were going to get back together and be together forever."
"Well, they said they've been developing feelings for each other for a while," Rachel told Mercedes. "What did Sam say the last time you guys talked about your relationship?"
"He said he didn't think things would work out with him in New York and me in LA," Mercedes said, looking annoyed.
Santana came over. "Are you annoyed about Tina and Sam?"
"How did you know?" Mercedes asked.
"I know that sort of stuff," Santana said. "I can just tell. Ever since we got to Lima, you've been giving Tina dirty looks."
Tina arrived and came over to Mercedes. "Hey, Mercedes!"
"Don't act like there's nothing going on, Tina Cohen-Chang!" Mercedes snapped.
Tina looked upset. "Did I do something wrong?"
Rachel was surprised. She'd never seen Mercedes mad at Tina before. "Yeah," Mercedes said. "You should have said something to me before you started dating Sam."
"I didn't think it would bother you," Tina said.
"Well, it does!" Mercedes said. "You shouldn't date your friends' exes."
"Well, since Sam's in New York and you're in LA..." Tina began.
Mercedes turned to Rachel. "Did it matter to you when you were in New York and Finn was here?"
Rachel knew that she had to be honest. "No." At the same time though, she didn't want to be in the middle of this.
"See?" Mercedes asked Tina, causing lots of the new girls to look up from the game they were playing on the floor.
"Another love triangle, huh?" Unique asked.
"There were lots of those when we were in New Directions," Quinn said.
"Have there been any for you guys?" Rachel asked. She knew most of the things about New Directions from Kylie, but she didn't like seeing Mercedes and Tina arguing.
"Not really in this group," Kitty said. "Well, I'm with Artie of course, and Ryder and Marley, Joe and Sugar, and Rory and Harmony are together."
Rachel was about to say something about Kylie and Jack (she was wondering who it was who was into Kylie as well) but decided not to. "Is Jake over Marley?"
"He seems to have finally accepted that I'm with Ryder now," Marley said.
"It does hurt seeing someone you love with someone else," Brittany said.
Rachel had a feeling she knew what Brittany was talking about. "What do you mean?" Santana asked.
"Like you don't know," Brittany said. "You're still dating that New York girl."
"Brittany, you said you didn't want to be with me," Santana said.
"Okay everyone, let's stop," Rachel said. "This is a night of fun."
"Yeah, let's watch a movie," Kylie added.
The girls picked out a movie to watch, but Rachel had a feeling the tensions were still there.
x
Finn watched as the cast of Wicked performed the opening number. Today they were going to be doing a run through for the alumni before opening night tomorrow, and the alumni were supposed to give feedback on the songs.
"That was really good," Rachel said.
"The version with me as Glinda is better," Unique said.
"And you'll get that for the performance with you as Glinda and Harmony as Elphaba," Mr. Schue said.
"Well, I think Jake's dance moves in that were the best," Mike commented. "But you guys should try to put more passion into your dance partners, make it look like they're the only one you want to dance with and that they're the whole world to you." Finn noticed Mike eyeing Sam and Tina.
"Mike, this isn't a romantic song," Artie reminded him. "This is just a fun opening number."
"Well, I thought it was really good," Finn said.
"Yeah, Kitty, I really liked your entrance," Rachel said.
"Thank you," Kitty said. "I was keeping in mind the tips Quinn gave me for performing last year."
"It is different not having Finn and Artie as the directors," Marley said.
"Yeah, you two were great last year," Ryder added.
"Thanks," Finn said. Being here and helping out again definitely reminded him of how much he'd enjoyed working with New Directions last year. Maybe there was some glee club in New York that would let him help out.
"Okay, let's continue," Mr. Schue said.
x
At the end of the rehearsal, Puck came up to Finn. "Hey."
"Hey," Finn said. He knew they hadn't talked much since Rachel (and by extension, Finn) started seeing Beth more.
"I know we haven't been talking as much ever since you guys started seeing Beth," Puck said. "We'd really like to go with you next time."
"Well, Rachel asked Shelby to tell Beth about you two," Finn told Puck. "So maybe you two can come next time."
"I'd like that," Puck said. "It's just... we're 90 minutes away and ever since that happened, we haven't really seen you all."
"Yeah," Finn said. "I was hoping we could see you more."
"Well, we'll make an effort to see you more," Puck said. "And maybe you could even come out to Connecticut sometime."
Then Rachel and Quinn came over to their boyfriends. "Hey, what were you guys talking about?" Quinn asked.
"Finn said maybe next time they see Beth, we can come too," Puck told Quinn.
Quinn looked happy. "I'd love that."
"Yeah, we'd like you guys to come," Rachel added.
"So, how's Jake doing post-Marley?" Finn asked Puck.
"He regrets what he did, but I think he's slowly accepting that she and Ryder are together," Puck said.
"He'll find his Quinn," Quinn said, taking Puck's hand.
"That's what I keep telling him," Puck said.
"It's kind of odd how New Directions helped you and I both find our siblings we didn't know about beforehand," Rachel told Puck.
"It is," Puck agreed. "I'm glad it did."
"Me too," Rachel said. "Glee club's helped change our lives in more than one way."
x
The opening night of the musical, Rachel went to the girls' dressing room and saw Kylie talking with some of the other girls. Shelby had asked her to pick up flowers for Kylie from her and Beth, and Rachel had also wanted to get flowers for her sister. She and Finn had also decided to pick up flowers for the girls from New Directions Finn had worked with. "Hey," Rachel said.
Kylie looked up at Rachel. "Hey. I know I said it before, but I'm so glad you could come for opening night."
"Of course I could," Rachel said. "I wouldn't miss seeing my little sister in Wicked."
Kylie smiled. "Thanks."
Rachel handed Kylie two bouquets of flowers. "These are for you. Shelby told me to get some flowers for you, so one bouquet's from her and Beth, and the other one's from me and Finn."
"Thank you," Kylie said, giving Rachel a hug.
"You're welcome," Rachel said. She handed Kitty, Marley and Unique each a bouquet as well. "These are from Finn and me. We really enjoyed working with you guys at the beginning of the year, and Finn enjoyed working with you last year." Then she handed one to Harmony. "And you are a lead, even if it is only one show."
"Awww, thank you Rachel!" Marley said.
"Yeah, thanks," Harmony added. Rachel was glad to see Harmony wasn't demanding the lead right now.
"Good luck tonight, you girls," Rachel said. "Kitty, I know Artie's got some flowers for you, too."
"Of course he does!" Kitty said.
Rachel left the dressing room and went to join the other alumni in the audience. She saw that a seat had been saved for her between Finn and Kurt. Rachel took a seat and watched the performance. She'd seen the dress rehearsals, but this felt even better. Wicked always had been one of her favorite musicals, and it was one of the shows she hoped to be in on Broadway one day. The current members of New Directions were amazing and it brought back so many good memories of Rachel being in West Side Story. Maybe one day, she'd be in this musical on a Broadway stage. Maybe.
Chapter 32 preview: When the New Yorkers get back to New York, a not at all pleasant surprise is waiting for them. Something went wrong at the apartment when they were gone...
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