Hey guys. Thanks as always for all your support. I really appreciated reading all your reviews on the last chapter. It's been a year and it's still pretty tough not having Cory, Finn and Finchel. With Season 6 approaching, it's hard not to think about what could have been. Enjoy this chapter and review if you want me to continue!
Chapter 33: Apart Yet Together
"I don't know if this is a good idea," Rachel said to Finn. She and Finn were walking to Shelby's townhouse together. As nice as it had been of Dani to let her stay at their place, they knew that Dani and Santana would probably like to be by themselves, and the idea of a bed to sleep in was definitely tempting.
"Rachel, it'll be fine," Finn said. "I know you're still figuring things out, but I'll be with you."
"Yeah," Rachel said softly. She took Finn's hand. "I didn't sleep well last night."
"Me neither," Finn said.
"I just..." Rachel began. She paused, knowing Finn didn't like it when she brought up Lucy. She had a feeling that Lucy had something to do with it. "It was someone we know, I just know it. Someone who doesn't like us and is looking for revenge."
"I don't know who did it," Finn said.
"I don't know if I want to know," Rachel said. "The police are looking into it, but it's probably hard to trace fingerprints. And we live in New York. There's much worse crimes possible than breaking into an apartment."
"Yeah," Finn agreed. "I just hope everything works out."
Rachel and Finn rang the doorbell of Shelby's townhouse. They'd gone to classes today, simply because they figured they might as well, but they'd both called off at the diner. Shelby came to the door.
"Finn, Rachel, are you okay?" Shelby asked.
"We're as okay as we can be," Finn said. "Where's Beth?"
"She's at preschool now," Shelby said.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "With everything that's been going on, I forgot it was the school week for a minute."
"Of course," Shelby said. "Would you two like lunch?"
"Don't feel like you have to make us something, you're sick," Rachel said.
"Lots of my friends sent pre-cooked meals that we can just heat up," Shelby said. "Do either of you two want anything in particular? I have casserole, enchilladas, tacos, lasagna..."
"I'd kind of like lasagna," Finn admitted. "Does that sound okay to you, Rach?"
"Yeah, that sounds fine," Rachel said. "I'll put it in the oven." She didn't want Shelby to have to do too much work and felt bad for putting this burden on her mother who was already so sick.
"I'm going to go lie down," Shelby said. "If either of you need me, you can come get me."
"Okay," Rachel said. "Thank you so much for letting us come."
"Of course I did," Shelby said, going upstairs.
Rachel cuddled up to Finn in the living room. "I'm not just upset, I'm worried about everyone else."
"Me too," Finn agreed.
"I'm so exhausted," Rachel said. "Good thing we didn't have to move things over. There's no way I could unpack."
"It's not like there's much of anything to move," Finn told Rachel. "I mean, almost all our clothes are gone and the new ones haven't arrived yet. At least here we'll have a bed to sleep in."
"Yeah, that's true," Rachel said. "It was nice of Dani to let us stay at her place, but she doesn't have an extra room." Blaine's parents had ordered a bed for Kurt and Blaine at a department store in New York, and the store had delivered it to Elliott's apartment, so now Kurt and Blaine had moved that bed into a spare room at Elliott's rather than sleeping on the foldout couch. Santana was obviously sleeping in Dani's bed, so Finn and Rachel were the only ones without a bed.
"Your parents are sending your clothes to Dani's, right?" Rachel asked Finn. She didn't know what her dads would think of them staying with Shelby.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "My dads are sending some clothes there, too."
"I already miss living with everyone," Rachel said.
"Yeah, me too," Finn agreed.
"How long do you think it'll take?" Rachel asked Finn. "To get everything back and to get our lives to the point they were at before the apartment was broken into?"
"I don't know," Finn admitted. "There's lots of uncertainty right now." He looked at Rachel. "What do you think your dads will think of you staying here?"
"I don't know," Rachel admitted. Her dads didn't know that she was seeing Shelby regularly. They didn't know that Shelby was sick. "I just hope they understand."
Rachel felt her phone vibrate. She looked and saw a text from Kurt. "How's the place? Are you guys okay?"
Rachel texted Kurt back. "Yeah, we're fine."
Finn looked at the phone. "Ask Kurt how things are going."
"Finn's wondering how you are," Rachel texted.
"We have our bed set up," Kurt texted. "Elliott's attempting to make dinner for us."
Rachel showed Finn the text as Finn got out his own phone. "I'm going to call him."
"Worried about your brother?" Rachel asked.
"Of course," Finn said. He dialed Kurt's number, putting the phone on speaker so Rachel could hear. Kurt picked up. "Hi Finn."
"Hey Kurt," Finn said. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay," Kurt said. "How are you?"
"I'm okay," Finn said. "Rachel and I are just waiting for our dinner to finish heating up. How's Blaine?"
"He's on the phone with Ryder," Kurt said. "Apparently the New Directions are trying to do something for us."
"That's nice," Finn said.
"I don't think a song is going to fix this," Rachel said. She hated to be a downer, but it was true.
"Rachel, they just want to help," Finn said, giving his girlfriend a disappointed look.
"I know," Rachel said. She didn't want to sound like that. She wanted things to be okay. She didn't know how she was really feeling now. Scared. Angry. Sad. A combination of the three.
"This is hard on all of us," Kurt pointed out. "Finn, I talked to our parents and they'll send some things over soon. They also put some money in our bank accounts so we can get some extra food."
"That's good," Finn said.
The timer went off. "I'm going to go get our dinner, Finn," Rachel said as Finn continued talking with Kurt. She went to the kitchen and got the lasagna out of the oven, then went back to join Finn on the couch.
"Maybe we could hang out after classes tomorrow?" Rachel asked Kurt.
"Yeah, I'd like that," Kurt said. "You guys have a good night."
"Yeah, you too," Finn said.
After Finn hung up the phone, Rachel heard the doorbell ring. She went to the door and saw Beth. "Rachel!" Beth exclaimed.
"Hi Beth," Rachel said.
"What are you doing here?" Beth asked.
Rachel thought for a minute about what to say. "Something bad happened at my house, so Finn and I are going to stay with you and your mommy for a little."
"YAY!" Beth exclaimed, giving Rachel a hug.
Beth's friend's mom looked up. "Where's your mom?"
"She's upstairs," Rachel said.
"Okay," Beth's friend's mom said. "Well, I'm happy to have Beth over any time she needs to. Haley loves playing with her."
"I'll tell our mom," Rachel said. It felt weird to call Shelby her mom, or to have someone refer to Shelby that way, but she didn't want to explain the situation to a stranger.
"So your mom is upstairs sleeping," Finn said to Beth. "Rachel and I heated up some dinner, would you like some?"
"Yes please!" Beth said.
x
Finn returned to work at the diner the next day. He was still shaken up and scared from everything that happened, but he'd have to go back to work at some point, so he figured he might as well go back now. Blaine had recently started working at the diner as well and was also working today, so at least Finn wasn't alone.
"How are you and Kurt?" Finn asked Blaine as they began putting some trays of food together for customers.
"Well, we're doing better, now that we have a bed again," Blaine said. "Kurt used some of the money your guys' parents gave him to go out and get some clothes and the refrigerator's pretty well stocked now."
"That's good," Finn said. "I guess it could have been worse. We could have been hurt."
"Yeah, we could have," Blaine agreed. "Do you think you and Rachel are going to stay where you are, or go back to the loft, or do you think you'll look for a new apartment?"
"I don't know," Finn admitted. He hadn't thought much about it. The loft leasing directors had understood that they might have negative associations with the loft and had told them they'd let them out of the lease if they wanted. "I do miss all living together."
"Yeah, me too," Blaine agreed. "I think right now we need to focus on getting back on our feet though."
"So do I," Finn agreed.
Finn and Blaine brought the trays to the customers and then went back to the booth to wait for more orders to take. "Remember a couple months ago when I told you that I wanted to propose to Kurt?" Blaine asked Finn.
"Yeah, of course I do," Finn said. Maybe now would be a good time to tell someone that he wanted to propose to Rachel again.
"I remember at the time you told me that you thought that it was too soon," Blaine continued. "And I think you were right. Getting back together by getting engaged - that would just be moving too fast."
"Yeah, but aren't you glad you're back together?" Finn asked.
"Of course I am," Blaine said. "And it's being together again, and living together, as adults, that makes me more sure than ever that I want to spend the rest of my life with Kurt."
"Are you saying you want to propose again?" Finn asked.
"Well, maybe not right now," Blaine admitted. "Not right after everythign that happened. But I do want to do it sometime soon - and I guess what I'm asking you is, what do you think?"
"I know you and Kurt are meant to be together," Finn said. "I've known that since the first time Kurt told me about you."
"You really think so?" Blaine asked.
"I know so," Finn said.
"Well, that's how Kurt and I have always felt about you and Rachel," Blaine told Finn.
Maybe now would be a good time for Finn to tell Blaine. "You're not the only one who's thinking about proposing."
"You are, too?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah," Finn said. "It's like you said with Kurt. Now that Rachel and I are together again and stronger than ever, and living together, and helping each other through some really bad times... I know she's the one."
"Finn, Blaine, tables two and three have new guests," the supervisor called.
"Guess we'd better to take their orders," Finn said.
"Yeah," Blaine added.
x
"Here are the clothes your dads sent," Santana said, handing Rachel the box of clothes.
"Thanks," Rachel said, taking the clothes as Santana sat next to her on the couch. While Finn and Blaine were at the diner, Rachel had invited Santana, Kurt and Tina over to Shelby's. "I appreciate you letting me send them there. I just - I don't know what my dads would think of me staying at Shelby's."
"I guess in some ways I'm glad I don't know who my birth parents are," Tina said. "It might complicate things."
"Well, I am glad Shelby's in my life now," Rachel said.
"There's probably no way to find out who mine are," Tina said. "They're in Korea, probably." She turned to Santana. "Your parents sent you some stuff, too?"
"Yeah," Santana said. "I gave Dani the box of clothes Burt and Carole sent for Finn to give him at the diner today."
"That's good," Kurt said. "Rachel, you can tell Finn our parents did put a very generous amount of money in each of our bank accounts if Finn wants to get more to wear besides stripes, plaid, polos and puffy vests."
"Knowing Finn, he'll probably be fine with what he has," Rachel laughed.
"He'll probably use that money for food and video games and tickets to Giants or Jets games," Kurt said.
"That sounds like Finn," Santana said.
Shelby came in. "Hi Rachel. I see your friends are here."
Rachel suddenly remembered she hadn't asked Shelby first if she could have them over. "Yeah, I hope that's okay. Finn's at work now, so I kind of wanted to spend time with them."
"Of course it is," Shelby said. "You guys can stay for dinner if you want."
"Thanks, Shelby," Tina said.
"It's no problem," Shelby said. "If any of your other friends want to come over, they can too."
Rachel heard her phone ringing and looked, seeing that it was her dads. "I'll be right back," she told her friends. She picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Why didn't you tell us you were at Shelby's?" LeRoy asked over the phone.
"What?" Rachel asked. How had they found out?
"We ran into Mr. Schuester today," Hiram said. "He told us that he overheard that Kitty girl saying that she heard from Artie that you and Finn were staying with Shelby."
Well, with their extended second family, Rachel probably couldn't expect this to be kept completely quiet. "You shouldn't worry about where I am," Rachel said. "What matters is that Finn and I have a bed to sleep in and are safe."
"Were you not safe at Dani's?" Hiram asked.
"We were safe, but we were squeezing onto the couch," Rachel said. "Santana had a bed with Dani, and the Andersons sent a bed for Kurt and Blaine over to the spare room at Elliott's."
"Shelby is not a good woman," LeRoy said. "You saw what she did to you, multiple times, what she did to Kylie, what she did to Quinn and Puck when you were in high school."
Rachel couldn't hold it in anymore. She had to tell her dads the truth. "Shelby and I have been building a relationship." She considered telling them that Shelby was sick, but she didn't know how they would react to that.
"So you've been seeing her even though w told her not to be around you?" LeRoy asked.
"You can't dictate who I see and who I can't see," Rachel said, making sure she didn't say anything about the fact that Kylie was also in contact with Shelby. "I'm a grown woman, and I have a right to be able to see my own family."
"So you don't consider us family?" Hiram asked.
"Of course I do!" Rachel said. "But I can't believe you're doing this. I had my apartment broken into. We lost practically everything, and rather than supporting me like Burt and Carole or Blaine's parents, you're lecturing me. And to be honest, I don't feel up to that." She hung up the phone and turned back to her friends. "They aren't too happy about where I'm staying."
"Well, you're an adult, Rachel," Santana said. "You can decide what to do."
"I know," Rachel said. "How did your grandmother take the news?" She knew what Santana's grandmother was like.
"My parents didn't tell me if they told her," Santana said. "To be honest, I don't want to know what she said if they told her. I wish I didn't want her in my life again after what she did..."
"It's understandable," Rachel said. "No matter what, it's typical for people to always love their families."
"Yeah," Santana said.
The doorbell rang, and Rachel went to the door. Finn and Blaine were there, along with Sam and Artie. "We heard you guys were hanging out here, and we thought we'd come check up on you," Sam said.
"That was nice," Rachel sai. "Come on in."
"Kitty said the New Directions' surprise for you should be ready soon," Artie said.
"I wonder what it is," Finn said.
Before Rachel had a chance to say anything, she noticed her phone was ringing. It was an unfamiliar number, but she decided to answer it anyway. "Hello?"
"Hey," Kylie said on the other end. "I'm using Marley's phone to call you."
"What's up?" Rachel asked, wondering why Kylie was using Marley's phone.
"Well, apparently Mr. Schue ran into your dads today and told them that he overheard Kitty and me talking today," Kylie explained. "Kitty said Artie told her that you and Finn are at Shelby's, and I told her that I'd called Shelby to tell her and was glad you were there. I guess Mr. Schue doesn't know the whole story, so he told your dads that's where you were, and they told my parents how she found out, and then they took my phone."
"They took your phone?!" Rachel gasped. Neither set of adoptive parents of Shelby's two birth daughters was being well represented today.
"Yeah," Kylie admitted. "They took my phone. They were really angry that I'm in contact with Shelby. Why shouldn't I be?"
"I'm glad you told Shelby," Rachel said. "I'm glad I have somewhere to stay."
"We're all really worried about you guys," Kylie said.
"Yeah, I miss you, and even though I'm mad at them, I miss my dads," Rachel said. "When things like this happen, you want your family."
"Yeah, of course," Kylie agreed. "At least you have Shelby and Finn and your friends."
"I'm really glad I do," Rachel said. She doubted she would have made it through the past few days without the people she had with her in New York. She just wished her dads weren't being difficult during an already difficult time.
Chapter 34 preview: Finn finds hints in unexpected places as to who broke into their apartment. The New Directions give their surprise to the loft residents.
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