A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the responses!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.
Chapter 17 – August 2012
Lying on the right side, Rachel was staring at his adorable dorky face right in front of her face, recalling the last night.
Finn had repeatedly said to her, 'I'm sorry, Rachel, I'm so sorry'. Honestly, she had forgiven him a long time ago, because, whatever the reason would be, she had been never able to believe that he had played on her feelings, judging by what he had been doing for her since working together this year. He was a really caring person.
And she was the one to feel sorry for him, the situation that he had been compelled to be in. To say what she had heard from Finn was aghast was an understatement of the century. That was beyond what she could ever imagine. That was absolutely, terribly, awfully wrong. Her heart went out to Finn, who had had to experience and go through with it.
A tiny part of her felt sorry for Vanessa, too. Of course, Rachel felt strong indignation with her since the woman was the one who had pressed the button that had led Finn to fall into the black hole. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder why she had to love the wrong guy who couldn't love her back but kept her on a leash. Had she tried to stand up for herself at some point? Maybe she had, but apparently failed.
Sometimes, thought-feeling-action triangle didn't work well. Especially when it came to love and relationships.
The last night was the longest night that she had ever crossed.
After Finn had finished his story, except for the details of his journey in Europe (they had been too exhausted from the emotional drain to continue), they just held each other until falling asleep, as if one's presence was another's comforter. Rachel's sleep was like a log for the first time in a long time, even though it was only a few hours.
A light snore coming from his shapely nose, his eyelid twitching at times, his freckles over his nose blended into the sunburn, and drooling from his slightly parted lips began forming a tiny stain on the pillow—Rachel couldn't help, she cupped her mouth to suppress fits of giggles.
Finn twitched his eyelids one last time before slowly opening one eye, only to find the girl of his dream try to suppress her giggles but failed miserably.
"What's so funny?" Yet halfway through awake, Finn asked in a sleepy voice as he tried to get her hand away from her mouth.
"Nothing." Rachel still giggled as she complied tearing her hand away.
Finn arched his eyebrow. "You're still laughing."
"I'm not, just," Rachel gestured to the corner of his lips, "you're drooling."
"Oh." Finn hastily wiped his mouth with a hand, right before smugly grinning at Rachel to cover his embarrassment. "I know you drool."
"I do not!" Rachel hissed scandalized, but her hand flew up to the corner of her lips to make sure that she was not drooling.
Finn chuckled. "You're not now, but I know you do sometimes, Rach."
"I do not!" Rachel repeated huffing as she attempted to slap his arm.
Finn fended off as he grabbed her hand before she could do so. "You keep telling yourself." Smirking, he led her hand to wrap his neck before leaning closer to her face and giving her a chaste kiss on her lips. "So," he started after the kiss and good mornings, "I can kiss you whenever and wherever I want to from now on?" He asked, his lopsided grin formed around his lips.
"That's debatable." Rachel replied nonchalantly as she rolled over to lay down on the back.
"What?" Finn frowned.
Rachel turned her head to look at him with eyes full of mischief. "Only if you take it back."
Aware all too well of what she was talking about, Finn decided to play along with her. "Take what back?"
"That I drool."
"That I won't." Finn rolled over on the back too, his arms behind his head. "Which means I'm not allowed to kiss you. But I'm fine with it." He shrugged.
Rachel gasped at his sentiment. Still lying on the back, she folded her arms in front of her chest, slightly threshing her legs, annoyed a bit at him turning the table.
Before she could come up with any idea to come back, Finn, who glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and chuckled at her childish demeanor, climbed on top of her, untying her arms before pinning them on the top of her head. He said nothing, but looking into her eyes.
Rachel pouted, but neither saying, nor moving, she just looked back into his eye, waiting for him to make a move.
Finn slowly leaned his face down to hers before he captured her mouth. He traced her lower lip with his tongue, silently begging for her to take it into her mouth, as he brushed the bare skin of her shoulder with his fingers and slid the strap of her sun dress (they had slept wearing for the previous day) aside.
Rachel let out a content sigh into his mouth. She lifted her hands to wrap around his neck as she parted her lips for his tongue. She unconsciously played with the nape of his neck.
Finn's tongue shifted to her neck, and then to the back of her ear before he nibbled her earlobe. When he reached for the zipper on her left side with one hand, the other caressing her inner thigh, the ringtone of his cell phone interrupted them.
Finn groaned as he dropped his head into Rachel's neck before climbing off of her to answer the phone which had been neglected on the night table. "I know, I know, I'm on the way back." He said before his assistant could greet.
Rachel zipped her up and sat up on the bed while Finn talking with a person who she assumed was Ryder on the other end of the line.
"I have to go." Finn let out a sigh with disappointment, rubbing the back of his neck, after having hung up the phone. "You sure you have to be back to the City today? You can stay in my hotel room." He suggested expectantly.
Rachel shook her head, "I'd love to, but," she let out a sigh, "I have to go, too, considering what Mercedes texted us yesterday." She climbed off of the bed before she smoothed her dress and combed her hair with her hand.
Finn approached the bed and sat on it nearby the spot she was standing. Then he pulled her waist with his arms to set her between his legs. "I have something to show you."
"Now?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on his shoulder, looking down at him.
"No. I'm go–" Finn began, rubbing her arms up and down.
"Oh, okay." Rachel looked a slightly disappointed. But soon her eyes lit up. "What is it? Tell me what you're gonna show me." She shook him by the shoulders.
Finn chuckled. "You'll see when I go back to New York." Then his face changed into a straight. "Do you still feel," he cleared his throat, "going on a date with me?" He saw her bite her lower lip with hesitation. "Don't worry, that's not gonna happen this time." He assured.
Rachel gave him a tight smile. "I know."
"So you let me take you out? Next week when I'm back to the City?" Finn asked again.
Rachel nodded. "Okay. But if you–"
"Nope, not gonna happen, ever. I promise." Finn cut her off as he cradled her cheeks with his hands before pulling her face to his to give her a chaste kiss. "Okay?"
Rachel slightly nodded on his lips.
When Finn was about to deepen the kiss, his cell phone interrupted them again. He growled loudly.
Giggling, Rachel pulled herself away from Finn. "You should go." She yanked his arms for him to stand.
"Please call or text me before you leave and when you arrive at JFK, okay?" Finn turned around in the doorway. He gave her one last kiss before heading back to his hotel. "Bye, Rach. See you in New York."
"See you, Finn."
"So, you're saying that the company assets better be sold?" Mercedes asked with a frown.
In the upstairs of Beiste's work studio, Mercedes, Artie, Kitty Blaine and Jake were carefully listening to Beiste, April and Will.
The curly haired woman had explained so far that there would be no way for them to drag Sue down from the chairman of the company unless Jesse had a certain physical evidence that Sue had trapped Will and Rachel.
"It's difficult for us to turn this game around under the circumstances." Beiste looked around the people in the room.
"I know you guys all have some kind of attachment to working for Sylvester Publishing," April, who was pacing around, followed. "But think about it," the tiny blonde woman stopped pacing before turning to see the people in the room, "we can't completely eliminate the threats posed by her, as long as Sue hangs on to the power at the company."
Schuester let out a sigh. "You know, even if we could stop her from selling the assets this time, she would rake over old ashes again."
"But," Beiste interrupted, "there's one thing that we can control."
"What is it?" Kitty asked expectantly.
"Sorry, buddy, we're not allowed to tell the employees this information yet." Beiste said apologetically.
"If that means you would find a company before Sue could do so," Blaine began, "you know, which could purchase the assets–"
"You're not supposed to know that kind of things." Beiste cut him off, but a hint of a smile on her lips.
"But what are we supposed to do now?" Artie asked with a distressed. "Just wait for some company to save our ass?"
"Yeah, there's no guarantee that a new owner would re-hire all of us and assure the same spots that we are in now." Jake murmured.
"I'm afraid to say no." April responded. "But I promise that we're gonna avoid adverse developments for you guys as much as possible."
"Have you told him?" Mercedes asked as she received her glass of red wine from a bartender.
"Not yet." Rachel sighed as she put her head down on the wooden counter. "Besides, I'm still undecided." She tilted her head up slightly before sipping her water.
"But that's a great opportunity, you know, once in a lifetime kind of opportunity." Mercedes pointed out. "You should tell him."
"I know, Mer, I know." Rachel let out a sigh again, her chin on her hands, her elbows on the counter.
"Holy fuck!"
Rachel, who were in a lemon yellow open back sun dress, thin spaghetti straps crossing only around the neck and the lower back, groaned at a smug voice which had come from behind. "Noah, I'm not in the mood."
Puck raised his eyebrow.
"It's really hot out there! That's all there is to it! No more no less!" Rachel huffed. Why did she have to volunteer to give her moron of a cousin the information that she would go on a date with Finn later?
She was nervous. She trusted Finn, but what if he changed his mind? She didn't think that the FBI thing would happen or some girl would trap him, but she couldn't help.
"You didn't get any action in London, did you? Damn, the dude's got no balls." The Mohawk jumped over the counter before standing in front of Rachel through it. "You're wearing that to seduce him, aren't you?"
While Mercedes shook her head, Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're unbelievable. Do you realize that you've turned 30 years old a week before?"
"Speaking of which, you didn't give me a present." Pouting, Puck held his hand out to her. "Where's my present?" He demanded.
"You're such juvenile." Rachel murmured as she pulled a small box from her purse. "Here." She violently thrust it into Puck's hand.
"That's my girl." Satisfied, Puck smirked at her before hastily ripping the ribbon and the wrapping paper off of the box. "Nice!" He cried out, after he had examined and found it was a guitar pick with a (real) signature of Kieth Richards. "Thanks, bro." With that, he walked back into the back room.
"I'm not a bro!" Rachel huffed before turning her head to see her best friend. "Do you still feel going out with that?" She deadpanned.
"I don't know, Rachel, but I have to have a second thought about it." Mercedes laughed. "Anyway, I–"
"Hello, Cedes, Hobbit."
Rachel and Mercedes whirled around on the stool, only to find that the Latina stood behind them.
"When are you gonna stop calling me names?" Annoyed, Rachel made a face asking.
"Never." Smirking, Santana slid herself onto a stool next to Rachel. "Nice outfit, by the way." She gestured to Rachel's sun dress, still her smirk plastered on her face, all too well knowing the brunette would go out on a date with Frankenteen. "Listen, you'll like what I've got."
Rachel arched her eyebrow. "What's it?"
"This is just between us, okay?" Santana premised in a low voice, leaning forward. "Do you guys know The Holiday Corporation?" She saw the two women nodding. "Holly Holiday's thinking purchasing the assets of Sylvester Publishing."
Rachel and Mercedes exchanged a glance.
"Yup, that's right." Santana answered an unspoken question. "I can't say that The Musicraker and Survêtement would continue their circulation, you know, since they already publish a fashion magazine, but Bryan Ryan is one of the top management of The Holiday Cor–," she stopped as she saw Rachel and Mercedes frowning, "he's April Rhodes' long time partner, so, you know what I mean." She winked at them.
"Are you sure?" Mercedes cautiously asked. "Who did you get the information from?"
"I have my ways. Besides, I'm a successful business woman, of course I'm good at reading the latest market trends." Santana answered nonchalantly. "And as for the latter question, you don't have to know." She held her forefinger up in the air to get a bartender's attention before tilting her head towards the two. "You're gonna treat me to a drink, right?"
As he had promised, Finn showed up outside Figgins' bar at 7 pm. The second his large frame came into her sight, her nervousness and anxiety were all gone.
Over the course of the dinner at a cozy Greek restaurant, Finn told his journey in Europe, especially about the people he had met in pubs, their talks, and four months with Victor at Les Furieux.
"Did that guy really kill a man?" Rachel gasped dramatically as she finished her dessert. "Weren't you sacred sitting next to him?" She asked as she elegantly wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"He didn't look like a murderer." Finn shrugged before beckoned the waiter for their bill. "Everybody was tipsy, so, I don't know whether or not they told the truth."
After the waiter had returned his credit card, Finn squeezed her hand on the table. "Ready to go?"
"Only if you tell me where we're going next and what you're gonna show me."
"Nope." Finn shook his head.
"Then I'm not going." Rachel pulled her hand away from his before folding her arms across her chest.
"Alright, I'll tell you where we're going." Finn compromised.
Rachel lightened up as she untied her arms, before frantically nodding for him to go on.
Finn chuckled. "Snixx building."
Rachel frowned. "Santana's office?" She tilted her head to one side before something came to her mind. "Oh, it has a view?" She clapped her hands happily.
"You'll see when we get there." Finn winked at her as he stood up from the chair. He approached her and offered his arm for her to loop. "Now, c'mon, Rach, let's go."
Before they entered the dark, empty office floor of Snixx, Finn turned to face Rachel. "You stay here and count up to a hundred, then enter the office, okay?" With that, he was about to step into the office alone.
"Wait, what?" Rachel yanked his arm to stop him from disappearing into the office. "You leave me here alone?" She looked around the dark foyer, fidgeted. "What if a smuggler or a murderer shows up?" Apparently the story she had heard from Finn at the restaurant haunted her.
"Rachel, breathe," Finn rubbed her arms up and down, "the entrance of this building is locked. You saw the security guard in the lobby, didn't you?" He assured. "Just wait here and count up to a hundred. Then follow the waymarks that I left. I'll wait for you at the end point."
Rachel frowned, but complied. "Okay, I'm gonna count up to a hundred."
Finn placed his lips on her forehead before pushing the front door of the office. "See you at the end point." With that, he disappeared into the office.
Rachel took a deep breath and started counting. "–ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine, and one hundred. I'm coming, Finn!" She cried out, her voice echoed in the foyer. She slowly pushed the door to step into the office, only to find white arrows on the floor of the corridor.
Rachel followed the arrows and stopped in front of one of the rooms which seemed like a meeting room. She gasped as she wrenched the door open and stepped in. All the walls in the room were covered a white fabric, and many photographs were pinned on the fabric.
"START HERE."
The big sign was written on the left wall.
Rachel approached the first picture; the city street of Dublin overlooked from a gloomy hotel room. The street, however, was not brought into focus. The window frame was. Only you could see was the drenched street in the falling rain, and the umbrellas people were putting up in the street.
Misanthropy, sadness, isolation—Rachel felt a tight knot in her chest.
The next a dozen photographs addressed the same kinds of negative expression; remorse, regret, captivated, hedged, or suffocated. None of them were a portrait. Just the street scenery, gazed blankly with the lose hope mind from somewhere outside, as if he had been forbidden to interact with people, or as if he couldn't trust anybody.
He must have been hard on himself. Sometimes, he must have been in tears as he looked into the viewfinder.
Rachel unconsciously rubbed her chest with her tight fist over and over, as if she could untie her tight knot in there with her doing so.
But one thing, that made her relieved, was that he had never stopped releasing the shutter. He had never given up hope, even if he had felt it being slipped out of his hands. Taking pictures was like his therapy, to face the music, to be true to himself.
As it was, the photographs hanging on the walls, slowly but certainly, got to be taken the place of portraits of the people who he had met in pubs during his wandering life. Still, the people in his pictures looked suffering from something even though they smiled. And Finn identified himself with them. But the soft looks they gave him and he gave them back were surely melting the wall he had created between the world he had run away from and himself.
"GO NEXT ROOM."
The new note was put beside the last photograph in the room. She followed the instruction and entered the next room, where was also covered a white cloth and many pictures were pinned on it.
The pictures were completely different from the ones in the previous room. Finn found himself again. Although she could see some tiredness in some of the photographs, that was not Finn's, but the object's from the day or its life.
Rachel stopped in front of one particular photograph, in which a middle aged man, who was bald on top and in Journey T-shirt, pointed to his beer belly with impish eyes behind the bar counter. "So, this is Victor." She whispered with a smile.
When she shifted her eyes to the next one, she couldn't help giggling. Every one of the people in the picture buried their heads in their hands, some of them flatted on their face down, some gazed up. Maybe their favorite football team lost, or the striker missed his shoot, or the opposite team scored. She thought.
The next picture was that the crowd in the pub all held their glasses up to the camera. She could see some of them clearly completely drunk, but even though in that state, they enjoyed the moment with Finn, and Finn gave his feeling of close ties with them back at them through the lens.
The rest of the photographs in the room were also breathtaking. Finn captured various lifestyles and emotions of the (tipsy) people in every picture. She knew that Finn, as a photographer, got more advanced.
"NEXT ROOM IS THE LAST."
Rachel widened her eyes as she skipped into the last room. All the photographs in the room were of her.
In New Orleans; one was that Mr. White twirled her around sharing laughter, another was that standing next to Blaine, she frowned listening to Mr. White at The Ninth Ward, her arms across her chest.
In London; one was that her one hand on her hip, the other formed into a fist holding up in the air, Rachel yelled at someone who was not in the picture (she assumed it was Jesse), another was that she seemed to jump up and down with Mercedes holding their hands, when she remembered they had seen Adele passing by them.
And in the office—she didn't know when he snuck into the reference room and took the picture of it. She was sleeping, falling on her face on the table. Oh, God, was she drooling? She felt her face go red.
Huffing, she moved onto the next one.
"PULL THE CLOTH OFF."
Was written on one of the walls in the room.
Rachel cupped her mouth with her hand as she followed the instruction. That was the picture that she was sleeping on his bed, wearing his T-shirt, in the morning after they first had shared the night. And right before they made love. She remembered.
She stared at the photograph as Finn snuck up behind her, two large hands wrapping around her waist. "This is my favorite." He turned her around to face him. "And the moment that I fell in love with you, Rachel."
Rachel opened her mouth, but none of the words came from it. She just kept staring at him. Because, she was so overwhelmed by everything that he had shown her, by this heartfelt moment. It was a rare moment that she was at a loss with words. Now her view clouded over with tears.
"I love you, Rachel. That's my three words." Finn cradled her face with his hands, looked into her eyes.
Then Rachel finally threw herself into his large frame, her arms around his neck, her face burying in it. "I love you, too, Finn." She managed to let out her feelings.
Finn held her tighter. He didn't care he would be choked by her death grip, and he knew she didn't care either she might be suffocated with his tight hold of her. They just didn't want to put any space between them now.
"God, I love you, Rachel, I'm so in love with you." Finn said into her hair. "I've wanted to tell you this for a long time. I know I once disappointed you, but," he finally, but reluctantly pulled himself away from her, "you were always here," he placed her hand on his chest. "You are the reason that I could keep photographing even when I had a tough time." He wiped her tears with his thumb. "You're my motivation, Rachel, you're my moo–"
"Moose, I know." Finishing his sentence, Rachel cracked a smile between tears. "And I love you, too, so much, Finn. But those landscape–"
"I know, I suck." Finn cut her off this time before letting out a laugh, tipping his head back. Rachel joined him.
"Thank you, Rachel." When their laughter died down, Finn lifted her hand towards his mouth to kiss the back of it.
"No, Thank you, Finn." Rachel said with a genuine smile, but her face immediately fell because she realized what would be her destiny; those photographs should reach more people, be staged at some exhibit or published. And she was the one to make it happen.
"What's wrong?" Finn asked with concerned eyes as he saw something was up to her.
Rachel let out a sigh.
"Finn, I have something to tell you."
A/N: The last twist. But don't worry, they're gonna work out. And the story is coming to an end. The story will end in the next two chapters (or three? Epilogue included).
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