A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the responses! While I'm evolving the epilogue from the plot, I've been thinking back and forth for a while about this chapter and… obviously, you've got three more chapters (this chapter included) to read. I hope you'll enjoy the ride to the end. And I am also writing a One Shot (AU Finchel) simultaneously—sneak peek; a psychic Broadway actress' romcom (fingers crossed).

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.

Chapter 18 – September 2012

"Finn, Finn!"

A jolt of his shoulder along with a female voice brought Finn back to the earth. It had been a week and a half since Rachel told him that she was moving to London, and thinking about it had been easy for him to get spaced out.

How ironic it was; what he had tried to get her spark back in her eyes, turned out that they would have to be apart from each other again. Although they had finally confirmed their feelings towards one another. He had thought there would be no obstacles between them anymore.

"Uh, sorry, what did you say?" Finn asked, scratching his head with embarrassment.

"The meeting was over." Harmony giggled, her hand still on his shoulder. "So, what do you say about we go grab a couple of coffee? I want to make the whole photography things clear on the Chirstmas Issue." She lightly squeezed his shoulder.

"Now? Um, I've already made a plan afterwards," Finn took a pause before punctuating, "with my girlfriend."

"Oh," Harmony's face fell, but she decided to ignore his emphasis on his last words. "I'm sure she understands you'll be late. You know, Xmas Issue requires immense preparation." She flirtatiously traced her fingers on his arm.

He tried to not so obviously flinch from her touch on his arm as he glanced at the time on his wrist. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the art director and the senior editor about out of the room. "I've got fifteen minutes to go, so, we can talk here." Clearing his throat, he sent a signal with his pleading eyes for Artie and Mercedes not to leave him alone with the junior editor of The Musicraker in the meeting room. "And I think we need the senior editor and the art director here to discuss."

Much to Finn's relief, Artie caught the signal. "Right," he approached them, giving an understanding look at the photographer, "what do you want to talk?" He sat on a chair next to Finn. Followed Mercedes, who took a chair beside the younger editor.

Harmony tore her hand away from Finn, throwing an icy glare at the art director before turning her head to face the photographer with a smile. "You know, I forgot I have another meeting, so," she got out of the chair, "another time." Resolutely throwing a wink at Finn, she rushed out of the room.

Mercedes made a face as she watched Harmony exiting the meeting room. "What's with that girl?" She turned to face Finn. "Is she always like that?"

"More or less." Finn shook his head, letting out a relieved sigh.

If he were still a teenager, or a college student, he would have floated on air when getting girls' attention. He, however, was wiser now. He had seen it all, especially women who were having an ax to grind. Still, he was Finn Hudson; he couldn't be rude to them (okay, he admitted that it wouldn't put it past them to come on to him more forcibly).

"Well, I gotta go." Finn patted Artie on the back appreciatively as he stood up from the chair. "Thanks, guys."

"Are you gonna see Rachel later?" Artie too got out of the chair as he asked. "Is she really moving to London? I've heard it from Mercedes."

"Yeah." Finn replied absent-mindedly as he got the door for Artie and Mercedes.

"Is that okay with you? I mean–" Artie bit his tongue as Mercedes nudged his limbs.

A part of him wanted to take her by the button. Screw those photographs that he had taken in pubs in Europe. Yeah, he wanted to scream. But he couldn't forgive himself if he would hold her back from her achieving her goals as an editor, whether it was for him too or not.

"Finn, I have something to tell you." Rachel started playing with her necklace nervously.

"Um, okay." Finn led her to a nearest chair before he sat on it and pulled her on his lap. She seemed to hesitate, so he encouraged her to speak up him whatever she had to as he rubbed her thigh gently. "What do you have to tell me?"

Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his head. "I-I've got an offer an editor position at T&H." She broke an eternal silence.

"T&H?"

"Tibideaux & Hueghan, one of the best art/photography publishing companies in the world." Rachel informed.

"That's, that's awesome!" Squeezing her thigh, Finn smiled genuinely as he pulled himself slightly away from her so that he could see her join him, but soon his smile changed into a frown as he saw Rachel seem not so happy. "Isn't it? Why the long face?"

"It's," Rachel let out a sigh before looked into his eyes, "it's in London, Finn."

"Oh." Finn's face fell. "Uh," he cleared his throat, "are you gonna take it?" He examined her face as he looked back into her eyes. "You're gonna take it." He concluded as he saw her biting her lower lip.

"Yes." Rachel breathed.

Finn didn't know how to react. Slowly he turned his face towards the space in front of him, and just stared into it for a while. Only he felt was his grip around her waist losing strength.

She was going to live a seven-hour-flight away from him.

"Finn," Rachel started caressing his left cheek with a hand, the other still on his neck, "You inspire me as much as you said I you," she reasoned, leaning her head against his, "I've lost my direction in life since I left The Musicraker. But I-I, after you showed me your photo–"

"You've found it," Finn whispered, still his eyes directed into the space, "in London." He added as if he pondered the meaning.

"Look at me, Finn, please," Rachel said desperately as she cradled his face with her tiny hands to turn it her way.

Finn, instead of looking at her, buried his face into her chest and wrapped her torso with his arms. "When do you have to go?" He breathed into her body.

"I don't know yet," Rachel answered, her fingers playing with the nape of his neck. "It would be cleared in a week, I suppose." She felt Finn's nod, so she called out with hesitation. "Finn?"

Finn finally pulled him away from her and looked up at her. "Yeah?"

Her eyes cast down. "What do we do now? What do you want?" She asked in a low voice as if she was afraid of an answer what she didn't want to hear. "I understand if you d–"

Finn pressed his forefinger onto her lips to cut her off, "Of course, I want this to work out, Rach," his hand shifted to her cheek, "I want us to work out." He gently caressed it. "Do you?"

Rachel nodded, threading her fingers through his hair, "I want this to work out, Finn, I want us to work out too." She buried her face in his neck. "I just don't know how."

"We can make it." Finn soothed the small back of her up and down gently. "We can make it, babe."

The rest of the night, they cleared everything away from Santana's office, walked to his apartment together without saying even a word, then made love over and over until they got into the ground as if tomorrow never had come.

"Finn?"

Finn snapped out as Artie grabbed his shoulder. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Rachel was freaking out.

As days passed, she got more and more stressed out.

Lacking in experience as a book editor was not an issue here since she loved to be challenged. Besides, she got fully motivated to embark on projects with definite goals—she had already submitted a draft proposal suggesting that a photography book of the tipsy people in pubs that Finn had taken should be published.

Leaving the things open question of Sylvester Publishing was not a big issue, either. Although she had been worried, especially about Mercedes, Tina and Kitty who were patiently and quietly waiting and seeing how the wind would blow.

She, however, had minutely gotten the information from Santana, Will and Beiste that Sylvester Publishing might sell off The Musicraker and Survêtement to The Holiday Corporation in all likelihood, and she believed one twenty hundred percent that The Holiday Corporation should rehire those three girls because of their high professional competences.

What had been perturbing her was that she might grope her way among strangers in London.

Scratch that.

What had been putting her through emotional turmoil was–

"Rach? Babe?"

Him.

Rachel heard that Finn threw his key into the bowl on the cabinet in the doorway. The sound of his footsteps got on towards the kitchen.

Finn had insisted that she should stay in his apartment as much as she could until her departure for London, other than for the necessary days for her to pack her stuff for moving at her childhood house in New Jersey.

That was getting her freak out the most. Because, the longer the time she spent with him, the harder it would get for her to say goodbye to him. Yes, she knew that she was the one who had made a decision to move to London, let alone she hadn't given him a chance to pronounce on it.

On top of that, she had decided it right after they had exchanged I-love-yous for the first time.

Sure, he seemed a bit disappointed with her decision, but he still had been the supportive, caring, and sweet Finn Hudson.

That made her start thinking whether she deserved him or not. And thinking about that kind of things only got her more stressed out. Most of people hardly could make a long distance relationship work; she had seen the roller coaster that Mercedes and Sam had ridden.

Yeah, she got what she asked for.

Rachel resumed scrubbing the floor where she didn't need to clean since she had done that two days before too. Nevertheless, she scrubbed the same spot harder, trying her best to get rid of the thoughts.

Finn walked over towards his kitchen through the smell of her homemade orange cleaner filled with the whole living room. He sighed as he saw her cleaning the kitchen floor again; in a span of two weeks under the same roof, he had learned that Rachel Berry was a stress cleaner. Not that he was complaining, since his apartment was cleaner than he ever could keep it. But sometimes, her freaking out freaked him out too.

Finn sat on the floor, grasping his knees, leaning against the fridge. "Hey, Rach." He softly called her name again.

Rachel paused in her task when his voice came right behind her. She straightened up on her knees before turning around to see him. "Hi, Finn." She greeted, blushing with embarrassment, before taking a flu mask off of her face and rubber gloves off her hands.

"Why don't you change your clothes? They'll be there in an hour." Finn pulled her arm to place her between his legs before pressing his lips on her forehead. "You don't want to be late, do you?"

Without answering, Rachel snuggled into his chest, wrapping her arms around his torso, listening to his heart beats.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked quietly, idly playing with her hair. "What's bothering you?"

"What if you m–"

His chest vibrated when her quiet muffled voice slipped out of her mouth, but she closed her mouth and then her eyes too, just keep listening to his steady heart beats to calm her. Then she looked up at him with a smile and asked. "Wanna take a bite my muffins before we go?"

"Rachel–"

"I baked a bunch for the party." Rachel cut him off, pulling herself away from him and stood up before grabbing the plate next to the basket full of muffins.

Finn sighed and rubbed his face as he also raised himself off the floor. "Rachel, I know something's bothering you. Tell me what's in your head." He took the plate from her hands and placed it back on the kitchen counter.

"Nothing, just," Rachel wrapped her arms around his torso, leaning her head against his chest, before whispering. "Just hold me for a while, and I'll be fine."

"Rachel."

"Please, please, just–, please, Finn."

Finn nodded in defeat. "Okay." He said and enveloped her tiny body before dropped gentle kisses on her hair.

"Suck it up, Puck." Mercedes scolded at the petulant demeanor of the Mohawk.

Puck had been sulking about Rachel's decision and about that they didn't have a party at his bar but the upstairs of Beiste's work studio, the corner of the room, Schuester and Beiste having some serious talk.

"A bunch of Sue's people are there, you know that. Al least we catered from your bar." Mercedes thrust a large dish displayed loaded potato chips in Puck's hands. "Get to work."

With a sigh, Puck complied. He took the dish from Mercedes before making his way over towards the clothed table in the middle of the room.

"When are you going to give me a send-off party?" Kurt asked as he placed paper napkins on the table.

"Are you serious right now?" Tina snorted as she put a large basket filled with chicken wings. "You've been keeping the interview for a job at Vogue dot com from me."

"Give him a break, Tina." Blaine helpfully said as he approached them before patting Kurt on the back. "He didn't mean to upset or betray you," he faced his boyfriend, "right? Kurt?" He earned a tight smile from him.

"I don't understand why you're so upset." Kurt mumbled. "You know that Isabelle Wright is my idol and I pledged my loyalty to her."

"But al least you could've told me sooner." Tina huffed as she took another dish from her boyfriend.

"I did know that before you." Lauren, who already had attacked some chicken wings, mercilessly stated.

"Alright, enough." Mike yanked the arm of his girlfriend into him as she was about to retort. "Didn't he apologize already, did he? Why so dwelling on it?"

Tina shook her head. "Nothing, I just–," she held her tongue. She couldn't decide whether she should find a job outside of the company or just wait for The Holiday Corporation to reach an agreement with Sylvester Publishing.

Most of the workers from Sylvester Publishing got uptight recently since they didn't know what would happen to them when the company would officially announce entering into the assets purchase agreement with The Holiday Corporation, which it should officially go out to the public a month or two later at the earliest.

And Tina was one of them. Like Mercedes and Kitty, she had been too busy with the task at hand to have enough time to make a decision about her near future.

The corner of her eyes, Tina could see Ryder was joking with Matt, Jake, Joe, and Marley—she heard that the young brunette just had gotten a job offer for a secretary position at a record company this morning.

Mike, who had already had a couple of interviews for a senior writer position at some of sports magazines based in New York, rubbed his girlfriend's back up and down. "Babe, I know what's bugging you, but everything comes to those who wait." He encouraged.

Tina sighed. "I guess. But I can't help thinking there might have been anything that could be done about this. Only if the Jackass wasn't tamed by the devil." She frowned as she slipped the name from her mouth. "Where's he anyway? Didn't he give Rachel his own words that he would cooperate with us?"

"Sue beat us to it." Santana cracked her heels behind them, Brittany in tow.

Tina, Mike, Lauren, Kurt and Blaine turned around to see the Latina. Kitty and Artie approached them as they heard the name of the douche.

"What do you know about him?" Asked Artie, who had been thinking that he would create his own business with Jake.

"Sue sent him to a rehab which has a strict visitor policy. He isn't allowed to have visitors for a year." Santana informed nonchalantly, examining her manicures.

"How did you know?" Surprised, Blaine asked.

But Santana didn't answer, but smirked.

"I think you should start a private detective bureau." Kitty concluded.

"Oh, she's–"

"Brittany," Santana cut her off, "don't you need those?" she pointed to the dish filled with chocolate brownies, "for Lord Tubbington? Didn't you promise him that you would bring them home for him?"

"Oh, yes!" Brittany clapped her hands before pulling a Tupperware out of her tote bag and making her way over to the table that Santana had mentioned.

"Hey guys, Rachel and Finn are here."

Everyone turned their faces to the doorway as Mercedes called out, to find Rachel and Finn hand in hand standing there.

"Alright, let's get started!"

"Have you talked to Santana?" Said Kurt in a low voice, leaning closer to his stepbrother.

"Yeah." Finn mumbled as he picked three chicken wings from the plate.

Kurt raised his eyebrow as his brother didn't say much. "So?" He pressed as he neatly placed the food from the dishes on his small plate.

Finn let out a sigh. "It didn't go well."

"You're only a greenhorn in this business, Finnocence." Santana said without tearing her eyes off of the documents in front of her. "You can not be a picky."

"I know, but–"

"Look," Interrupting before Finn could finish, Santana finally lifted her head to face him, "I'm not gonna force you to do what you don't want to, but you're in no position to do whatever you want to." She continued, not letting him have a chance to speak. "At least you'll have a greater opportunity to go there, if–"

"If her proposal gets approved," Finn completed under his breath, "I know." He ran a hand through his hair as started pacing around.

"Then you can fly for free to bang your midget. What more could you ask for?" Santana said bluntly before resuming the documents.

Remembering Santana's words, Finn scrunched his nose.

When Kurt was about to open his mouth, Mercedes clinked her wine glass to get the people's attention. "Time for the group photo!"

Finn and Kurt turned around, only to find that Matt had already set his tripods, waiting for everyone to be drawn up in a few lines for his camera. So, they walked over to the rest of the people to join.

Finn circled to stand behind Rachel, wrapping his arms around her, resting his chin on her head.

Mercedes and Tina sandwiched Rachel as Mike stood behind his girlfriend, his hands on Tina's shoulders. Puck crouched down before his cousin, brushing Rachel's hand away from his Mohawk.

Artie and Kitty climbed on the chairs behind Mike in the back row, Santana and Brittany diagonally behind Mercedes.

Jake and Ryder sat on the floor with their hands on the knees next to the Mohawk, Marley positioning between the two young guys. Joe put his hands on his knees, placing himself on the right side of Puck.

Kurt and Blaine stood next to Mike, Will and Beiste separating both sides of the gang.

"Alright," Matt lastly joined them as he circled the gang to be on his feet behind Santana and Brittany before he released the remote.

"Are you ready? One, two, three, smile!"

"Are you sure you don't want us to be at the airport?" Mercedes asked.

Rachel just shook her head. "I'll call you when I land in there."

"You're going to be back at Thanksgiving or Christmas break, right?" Tina hugged Rachel back.

"I hope so." Rachel answered.

"Good luck, Rachel. I'm sure you won't let Madam Tibideaux down though." Will patted her on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Will." Rachel gave him a smile before yanking her cousin into her. "Noah," she hugged the Mohawk tightly, "don't break Mer's heart, okay?" She whispered in his ear.

Puck reluctantly hugged her back. "Okay." He mumbled.

Rachel hugged one by one, trying to let her tears fall, before she left Beiste's studio. "Thanks, guys, for tonight, and everything." She gave them a force smile. "I'm really sorry I can't see through, but I hope all goes well."

"Don't worry kid, I'll take care of it." Beiste patted her on the back.

Rachel nodded. "Thank you, Shannon."

"You remember the ice cream parlor in the East Village?" Peering through the window, Rachel asked when she and Finn were in a cab on the way to his apartment.

Finn let out a small laugh. "Yeah, the one that I dropped my ice cream on a tattoo guy and almost got a blow, right?"

"That was my fault." Giggling, Rachel turned her head to see Finn before squeezing his arm. "I want to have Pistachio Soft Serve!"

"Now?" Surprised, Finn looked down at her. "Babe, it's almost midnight."

"The parlor is open 24/7, Finn." Rachel assured. "And I don't wear those stupid 10-inch high heels tonight, so don't worry, I won't stumble."

"Rachel, that's not what I meant." Finn protested as he put his hand on hers on his arm. Truth be told, he wanted to spend the last night in the City with Rachel in bed. The next day, she would be at her childhood house, saving the last day for her father Hiram. Then he would pick her up with a rental car the next morning to the JFK.

"I didn't eat that much, so my stomach has room for another dessert." Rachel reasoned. "I'm sure you still have room for it too. Or you don't need to have it. I'll have it either way." She gently patted the partition of the cab to let the driver know their direction change, "To 113 Avenue A, East Village, please."

Then Rachel slowly turned her head to the window to looking the shifting scenes of the City outside the window.

Finn started at the back of her head for a moment. "Fine. Anything you want, Rach." He murmured.

Rachel was not ready for going (his) home. Because, it would get more real for her to leave New York and Finn once she would step into his apartment. Of course, Rachel wanted to be held in his arm all night on the last night with him.

She knew that Finn was patiently waiting for her to finish her ice cream (he had already finished his and now was staring at her across the table). Her ice cream, however, didn't last long. She reluctantly took her last bite.

"Ready to go home?" Finn gave her a small smile before offering his hand for her to stood up.

Rachel bit her lower lip before nodding. She took his hand and got out of her chair before looping her arms around his.

Thankfully, they hailed a cab as soon as they reached 1st avenue, though Rachel got quiet once more in the cab on the way back to his apartment.

When the cab driver finally pulled over in front of his apartment and they got out of it, Rachel abruptly stopped her feet moving and yanked Finn's arm. "I don't want to go home yet." She blurted out. And she looked up at Finn with pleading eyes. "How about we stroll around Hudson River Park?"

Finn sighed as he glanced at the time—it was past 1 am. But he complied. "Okay."

As they got closer to the park, something irrational feelings surged up from Rachel's stomach. "You shouldn't be nice." She whispered.

"What?" Finn looked down at Rachel, who was clinging to his arm.

"You're too good to me." Rachel bit her bottom lip.

Finn frowned. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Rachel looked up at him. "Are you fine with this?"

Confused, Finn frowned deeper. "Seriously, Rachel, what are you talking about?"

"Why didn't you ever say no to me?" Rachel started pacing around in the street. "You're too nice, too understanding, Finn!" She didn't realize that she raised her voice.

Taken aback for a second, Finn stared at Rachel moving back and forth, biting her nails. "What do you want me to say, Rachel?" He quietly asked. "You want me to say 'don't go'? Is that really what you want to hear?"

"No!" Rachel cried out, "No, I-I don't know!" She plumped herself down on a curb—which was usually horrifying for her to do because of germs, but now she didn't care—, her head in her hands.

Frustrated with that he didn't understand what was going on in her head, Finn ran a hand through his hair. "What could I say to you, Rachel?" His voice was still quiet. "Last time I checked, you made a decision, not me!" Raising his voice, he began pacing in front of Rachel, rubbing his tired face. "Do you think it's easy for me?" He stopped before her. "The second you said you loved me, you decided to live thirty five hundred miles away from me!" He yelled.

She knew that what she was doing didn't make sense, being irrational, lack of coherence. "I know I did!" She buried her face in her hands, trying to hide her tears threatening to fall.

Finn let out a deep breath as he saw her start sobbing. "Rachel–" He stepped closer to her, before crouching down and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I'm sorry I was being crazy." She admitted between shaky breaths. "I just, I think I'm a little bit nervous before going to London."

Finn sat on the curb next to Rachel, his arms on his knees. "A little bit?" He playfully nudged her tiny body with his large one, hoping her mood would be lifted. "You scrubbed every inch of my apartment."

Rachel cracked a smile despite herself before admitting, okay, a lot." She finally lifted her head up to face Finn, wiping her runny nose with the back of her hand, which she earned his chuckles, so she hurriedly took some facial tissues from her purse to blow her nose. "I'm sorry." She said again.

"You know," Finn started, "I would be lying if I said that nothing is unpredictable, but," he held her shoulder to get her closer to him, "we both agreed that we wanted us to work out, right?" He felt Rachel's nod on his shoulder. "Then we can make it."

"But If–"

"Even IF something happens between us," Finn interrupted, "I'll always find you. Because I love you too much to lose you." He looked down at her. "Will you find me too?"

Rachel tilted her head to see him and nodded. "I will, Finn, I will." She leaned her head on his shoulder again. "I love you, Finn, so much. And thank you." She closed her eyes, wishing that time could just stop as it was now.

"I love you too, Rachel." Finn pressed his lips on her head.

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