Hi! Thanks so much for your reviews of the next chapter. I was a bit nervous about posting this chapter. I guess since the last crime was committed by an original character, I was more nervous about posting this one. I hope you guys don't hate me! I do like how this turned out though. Hope you enjoy and review if you want me to continue.
Chapter 41: The Reveal
Finn, Rachel, Kurt, Blaine and Santana had called their other friends in New York to meet them at the police station. Finn's heart was beating fast as they went. The police had found out who'd broken into their apartment, and he'd have to give everything he had to not beat that person up. If it hadn't been for all the support of their family and friends, the situation could have been a whole lot worse.
"So they found out who did it?" Tina asked as she, Artie and Sam arrived at the police station.
"Yeah," Blaine said.
The police officer came out. "You guys are here from the apartment in Bushwick?"
"Yes," Finn said.
"Come with me," the officer said. "We managed to be able to see the people from the apartment on tape."
The group followed him into the back room and sat down at a table. The officer held up a DVD. "So here's the DVD. Tell us if you recognize either of the men in the video."
He turned on the DVD and sure enough, Finn recognized both the men right away. It was exactly what he'd suspected. What he didn't expect was for it to be BOTH of them. How did they know each other? How long had they been teaming up against them?
"Yeah, we know them," Rachel snapped. "That's two of my ex-boyfriends."
Finn looked at Rachel, who was clenching her fists in anger. Of course he was angry at Jesse and Brody, but Rachel seemed even angrier.
"Their names are Jesse St. James and Brody Weston," Santana said. "St. James dated Rachel in high school and Weston dated her last year. They're trouble, I knew it from the beginning."
"Yeah, Brody's a giggolo," Sam added.
"Well, that's irrelevant," the police officer said. "But we're going to need to bring Mr. St. James and Mr. Weston here."
"Are we going to have to talk to them?" Rachel asked. Finn noticed how nervous Rachel looked, and he didn't want her to have to face them.
"Well, not if you don't want to," the police officer said. "Not today anyway. But eventually we will likely take this to court and you'd see them then..."
Finn put his arm around Rachel. "This is my fault," Rachel mumbled.
"What do you mean?" the police officer asked.
"It's because of me that they did it!" Rachel sighed.
"Rachel, it's not your fault that they're crazy psychopaths," Finn said.
"Yeah," Blaine added. "I knew they were trouble, but I didn't think they were criminals."
"I'm going to have one of my other colleagues look up their contact information," the police officer said. "If you guys don't want to stay here, you don't have to."
"I feel like I should stay here," Rachel said. "This is my fault after all."
"Rachel, it's not your fault," Kurt said. "And no way am I letting my best friend face these criminals alone."
"Yeah, I'm staying too, in case someone needs to go Lima Heights on them," Santana said.
"That may not be a good idea," Finn told Santana. "But yeah, I'm not going to let you face them without YOUR FIANCE."
"They'll really lose it when they find out you two are engaged now," Sam said.
"Yeah, all of us will stay with you," Artie said.
"All right," the police officer said. "We'll go look up their contact information and have them brought down here."
As the police officer left, Finn looked at Rachel who was staring at the floor. "I'm so sorry."
"Rachel, why are you blaming yourself?" Finn asked.
"Because I'm the one who dated those criminals in the first place!" Rachel said.
"When you dated them, you didn't know they were criminals," Santana said.
"We knew they were assholes though," Kurt said.
"You guys don't need to stay," Rachel said.
"Yes we do," Finn said.
x
After some time, two policemen came in with Jesse and Brody. "Why are we here?" Brody asked. He looked and saw the New Directions alumni.
"Oh, look who else is here," Jesse said. "Have the police decided to start arresting for lack of talent?"
"That's not funny, Mr. St. James," the police officer said. He sat down Jesse and Brody and turned on the TV. Finn watched Jesse and Brody's faces as they watched the video. Their looks were looks of confusion and guilt, wondering how the police had gotten that video.
"Do you two have anything to say about this?" the police officer asked.
Jesse and Brody both sat there in silence. "Why were you taking our things out of our apartment?" Santana asked.
"We heard that you guys were moving and we thought we'd help out," Brody said, clearly lying.
"Really?" the police officer asked.
"How would you know whether not we were moving?" Blaine asked.
"We looked at the video," the police officer said. "Mr. St. James, Mr. Weston, this isn't a game. We know that you broke into their apartment."
"Well, I know they don't like us much," Jesse said. "I mean, Rachel and I used to date, and Rachel and Brody used to date, too."
"Plus Finn got my cousin sent to jail," Brody said. "So I guess you can see why you thought we'd do it."
Cousin? "What are you talking about?" Finn asked.
"My cousin, Lucy O'Reilly," Brody said. "Remember her?"
Finn felt his stomach turning around. Lucy was Brody's cousin? Were there evil genes in that family? So was this revenge for what had happened with Lucy? Or was it just the fact that Jesse and Brody hated the New Directions alumni?
"Yes, we all remember Lucy," Kurt said. "Finn was pretty shaken up by what she did to him."
"Yeah, he spent months in therapy," Blaine added.
"Mr. Weston, Mr. St. James, this isn't time for you two to be messing around," the police officer said. "We know that it was you who broke into the apartment."
"Why did you do it?" Finn asked. Jesse and Brody had both somewhat admitted that they'd broken in.
"It isn't what you think it is!" Jesse said.
"So going into our apartment and taking all our things wasn't on purpose?" Santana snapped.
Jesse and Brody both sat there in silence.
"That's what we thought," Kurt said. "Why did you do it?"
"It's like we said, it wasn't what you think it is!" Brody said.
"Mr. Weston, Mr. St. James, this is a serious crime," the police officer said. "You stole thousands of dollars worth of things. Where is all their stuff, anyway?"
Neither Jesse nor Brody said anything. The police officer turned to the New Directions alumni. "Well, maybe if you guys aren't here, we'll be able to figure things out. If it comes to setting a court date, we'll get in touch with you."
"Thank you," Finn said. He was tempted to glare at Jesse and Brody, but he didn't want to give them any fuel. After they left the police station, Rachel started crying.
"Rachel," Finn began, hugging his girlfriend.
"They're such horrible people," Rachel said.
"I can't believe Brody and Lucy are cousins!" Kurt said.
"He never mentioned to me that he had a cousin in New York," Rachel said.
"You would have thought she would have known who Rachel was," Blaine said.
"I had a feeling Lucy would have something to do with it somehow," Finn said. "I just didn't know it would be like this."
"Well, they've been caught, so that's something," Artie said.
"Thanks so much for showing us that video," Finn said to Artie. "If you hadn't shown it to us we wouldn't have figured out the truth.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "Tell your classmate we said thank you."
x
Rachel hadn't slept much, but she had to show up for her preview the next day. She couldn't help but feel guilty. Jesse and Brody had likely done that to get revenge on her. If she'd been the only person in the equation, that would have been one thing, but her fiance and three of her closest friends had been impacted. If they hadn't been helped out so much by their family and friends, it could have taken them months to get enough money to replace all their furniture and pay the rent.
Rachel looked at Finn who was asleep next to her and then went downstairs. She was glad Finn was sleeping. She knew that reminders of Lucy were always going to be hard on him. When she went downstairs, she heard footsteps behind her and turned and saw Shelby.
"Hey," Rachel said. "I was just getting a drink."
"So, how were things with the police?" Shelby asked.
Rachel paused. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Shelby who was behind it, since she knew Shelby and Jesse had a bond when Shelby coached Vocal Adrenaline. "We found out who did it."
"Who?" Shelby asked.
"Jesse and Brody," Rachel said. "It turns out Brody is Lucy's cousin."
"Oh God," Shelby said. "I didn't think Jesse was like that."
"I knew Brody was a liar but I never thought that he was a criminal," Rachel said. "And I knew that Jesse had played me but I didn't think he'd do this."
"Rachel..." Shelby began.
"I feel so bad," Rachel said. "I wouldn't feel as bad if it was just my apartment but Finn and Kurt and Blaine and Santana got hurt because if it, because of two of my exes."
"Well, hopefully justice will be served," Shelby said.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "I really appreciate what you did for us these past few months."
"I couldn't let my daughter and my future son-in-law not have a nice place to stay," Shelby said.
"Thank you," Rachel said. "You know, the new place we're looking isn't too far from here, so we'll still get to see you."
"I'd love that," Shelby said.
Rachel said good night to Shelby and then went upstairs, where Finn was tossing and turning in the bed. She rubbed Finn's shoulders, hoping it would calm him down, and he looked at her. "Hey Rach."
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.
"I'm sorry," Finn whispered.
"Sorry for what?" Rachel asked.
"They did it to get revenge on me for what happened with Lucy, I know they did," Finn said. "I didn't know she was his cousin."
"Finn, this isn't your fault," Rachel said, hugging Finn close.
Finn tightened the embrace. "I love you so much Rach."
"I love you too," Rachel said. "I do hope that they end up where they belong. Things are getting better for us. We found another apartment and we're getting married."
"Yes," Finn said. "No matter what happens, they lose, because we have each other."
x
Rachel was pretty tired when she arrived at the theatre for her preview the next day. She wished she could change the date. She was exhausted from finding out the truth yesterday and not getting much sleep last night. But she knew that if she asked for a reschedule, it could damage her image.
"You look exhausted," Rupert said as he came up to Rachel.
"Don't worry, it won't effect my performance," Rachel said.
"Good," Rupert said. "We do like to have the understudies perform for the critics so we can get an idea of what they'd think if we need to use an understudy in the actual show."
"You'll be happy you chose me today," Rachel said.
"I'm sure that if Marissa ever can't go on, you'd make a great show," Rupert said.
Rachel smiled at her director, but she felt herself getting more nervous on the inside. She couldn't let them down now.
Rupert welcomed the critics to the preview before the curtain went up. Rachel tried to block Jesse and Brody out of her mind, and getting to perform was a good distraction. Even though it was just for critics, getting to perform one of her dream roles was an incredible feeling. She hadn't made any mistakes - and then it was time for one of the final songs of the show.
Rachel: Who are you now,
Now that you're mine?
Are you something more
Than you were before?
Are you warmer in the rain,
Are you stronger for my touch,
Am I giving too little
By my lovin' you too much?
How is the view,
Sunny and green?
How do you compare it to
The views you've seen?
I know I am better, braver and surer too,
But you-are you now-
Where are you now?
Are you someone better for my love?
Where. She'd sang where instead of who. She'd made a mistake. Yes, it was just a preview, but the critics were going to notice. Rupert was going to notice. Was she still going to be able to be an understudy?
Rachel did her best to stay in character throughout the rest of the show, but she couldn't stop thinking about the one word she'd sang wrong. At the end of the performance, she went backstage, expecting Rupert to give her a hard time about the one word she sang wrong.
Instead, Rupert just looked at her and said, "Thanks for today, Rachel. We'll see what they say."
He knew that she'd made that mistake. Rachel sighed as she looked at her phone. Finn was at the Columbia gym with Blaine, Sam and Artie. She texted Kurt to ask where he was. He was at Dani's with Santana, Dani and Tina. Rachel took the train to the apartment to join her friends.
"Hey!" Dani said as Rachel arrived. "They were just filling me in on what you guys discovered."
"Yeah, we didn't know that they were LIKE THAT," Kurt said.
"So, how was the preview?" Tina asked.
Rachel sighed. "I messed up."
"What happened?" Dani asked.
"During who are you now I sang 'where' instead of 'who' by mistake in the last line," Rachel admitted.
"One word in one line?" Santana asked. "Rachel, that's nothing!"
"Yeah, but the critics aren't going to like it," Rachel said.
"If they focus on that, that's their loss," Tina said.
"I just hope that's not what the critics talk about in their review," Rachel admitted.
"Did they say when they're printing the reviews?" Kurt asked.
"They said a few days," Rachel said.
"Well, you had an upsetting day yesterday, and you were able to perform well," Dani said. "That should be an accomplishment."
x
"What did they say?" Rachel asked. She'd gotten a text from Marissa saying that the reviews of the understudy performances were up. She was afraid to look at the review, so she asked Finn to look.
"They liked you," Finn said as he looked at his computer screen.
"But I messed up," Rachel said. "I sang the wrong word."
"Rachel, you were amazing, I'm sure you were," Finn said. "It was one word. And you'd just found out some shocking news... I'm so proud of you for being able to go out there at all."
"Really?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, really," Finn said. "To all of it."
Rachel gave Finn a hug. "When do you think we'll get the court date?"
"Soon, I bet," Finn said. "I didn't think we'd be going back to court so soon."
"Yeah, but the good news is that we know who did it," Rachel said.
"Yeah," Finn said. "And I do like the place we picked out to move into."
"Yeah, me too," Rachel said.
"Seriously Rach, look at these reviews though," Finn said. "They really liked you."
Rachel took a look. They had praised her singing voice and her acting. "Wow."
"Seriously, I hope you get to perform at least once," Finn said. "I'd love to get to watch my fiancee on Broadway."
"I'm glad they didn't dwell on my mistake," Rachel said.
"Everything else cancelled it out, I know it," Finn said before giving Rachel a kiss.
Chapter 42 preview: All the ND go back to Lima to meet Mr. Schue's child. With all her bridesmaids in Lima, Rachel and the girls go to try on her wedding dress and the girls' bridesmaids' dresses. Something else might be coming for another couple.
10 reviews unlock Chapter 42!