Yearning for Zion

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Spoilers: Nothing substantial from the second half of season 1, nothing at all after "Theatricality"

1. The Soloist

Rachel Berry Hudson always gets the solo. She's handled lead vocals for the past four years, and the choir behind her has gotten bigger, and the audience has gotten larger. It's exactly what she always wanted.

Or it would be, if they were actually here to see her perform.

She only does religious music, of course, and only on worship days... which used to be only Sunday mornings, but have since expanded to Tuesday and Friday evenings.

She wears a white robe, and underneath that, a loose silk dress that runs to her ankles and de-emphasizes anything approaching a hint of hips or breasts. She wears makeup, which is a luxury these days, and a steady smile for everyone in the congregation. Looking pretty and positive is utterly fitting (if not outright mandatory) for the first wife of young Finn Hudson, a well-respected priesthood holder and a strong candidate for being called west to work directly for the Prophet Henrickson in Utah.

She looks out at the audience and on nearly every one of their faces sees some variation of the same basic feelings: exhaustion, desperation, and hope. A big part of the reason she's standing where she is, wearing what she is, doing what she's doing, is because over the years the hope's become more apparent, and the desperation's subsided a bit. And as long as she gets to continue her work with the Wives' Organizing Committee, she thinks she can keep pushing things in the right direction.

Quinn Fabray Hudson's face is one of the few that stands out in the crowd. She isn't staring ahead in rapt belief, or as if she's waiting for answers or enlightenment to arrive and make everything make sense. Except for the brief seconds it takes for her to turn her head and tell one of the three children next her to settle down, she just stares straight ahead at the altar with almost no expression, except perhaps the slightest hint of a smile. Rachel has always been "cute," or "pretty", but Quinn was and remains outright beautiful, even as she plays the role of Finn Hudson's attentive, supportive second wife.

Quinn is another part of the reason Rachel is where she is, doing what she's doing.

Finn sits on a pew in front of the altar, facing the crowd at an angle; Rachel can still see his face from her position. She searches it for some hint of the goofy, good-hearted, more-than-slightly dim guy she married, but sees only the fine, upstanding religious leader he's become, without a trace of doubt or humility left.

Finn is the reason she's here in the first place, although it's becoming harder for her to remember why.

Rachel finishes her solo. Worship lets out, and all six Hudsons - dad, moms, and three kids - walk home together.