Disclaimer- I do not own Glee or any of it's characters.

A/N: Okay, so I don't watch Glee anymore, but I have been forced to see commercials about it even though I don't watch Fox at all. So I got some ideas about Rachel in college if she had married Finn. This story is more of Rachel figuring things out, but Quinn does come into the story later on.

"So, this is the bed? Where am I supposed to fit?"

"Can you not fit? I'm sorry, I didn't really think about it when I saw the room before."

"Um, I guess I could just lie on the floor."

"No, oh I know. We could get you one of those air mattresses from Bed, Bath and Beyond. That way you'll at least be comfortable."

"But how are we gonna…you know?"

"Um, we'll work something out, Finn. Now, let's finish putting up my Barbra posters."

Rachel cannot believe she made it to New York, enrolled in NYADA and married to love of her life, Finn Hudson. After all of the flack they endured for wanting to get married right out of high school, and all of their worries about their futures, things ended up working out. She knew that she could have it all, a husband, friends and a career, well she has the first two, but she's working on the last.

School starts and it is stressful because her dance teacher is a little mean, she constantly berates her, singling her out because she had fallen out of step once or twice. But she enjoys all of her other classes, like singing, which she does exceptionally well. She has made small talk with a few of the other freshman, but everyone seems to keep to themselves.

The night before the second week of school, Rachel is awakened by the sound of Finn snoring away on his mattress. She decides to go use the bathroom and apply some moisturizer to her face since she's up now.

She makes her way into the co-ed bathroom when she hears a man singing in the shower. She wonders who it is behind this soothing voice, maybe he could become her new duet partner.

She moisturizes and listens quietly as he continues singing after turning off the shower. Rachel is mesmerized until he suddenly appears completely naked. All she sees is rippling muscles and then when her eyes venture further south, she quickly averts her eyes with a small squeal. He jumps and scrambles to grab a towel to cover himself.

"Oh my God! I'm sorry." She apologizes as she covers her eyes with her hand.

"Uh, it's okay. I didn't know anyone was in here. You scared the hell out of me." He says out of breath.

"I'm really sorry, I was just distracted by your voice. You're really good." She says, still covering her eyes.

"Thanks, well I'm Brody, Brody Weston." He takes her hand to shake it. "It's okay, I'm decent." He chuckles.

Rachel carefully removes her hand to find that he is toweled at the waist, leaving his still dripping upper body exposed.

"Um, I-I'm Rachel Berry." She stammers.

They shake hands.

"I-I'd better go, get some sleep for tomorrow."

"Hey, I think we're in the same classes. I heard you sing last week and I have to say you're not so bad yourself."

Rachel beams at the compliment. "Thank you well I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah I guess so." He says before winking at her.

Rachel goes back into her room, to her snoring husband, feeling a little more excited having made a friend here at school.

They see each other in class the next day and he asks her to have lunch with him in the quad. They sit on a bench, eating salads and talking. Rachel tells him where she's from and about glee club winning National's. She finds him to be a great listener, and very well spoken.

"It's really great out here. Thanks for inviting me to lunch, usually I'm eating in my dorm with my husband."

"Wait, you're married?" Brody asks out of shock.

"Oh, did I not mention that?" Rachel frowns, it just never came up she guesses.

"Wow so small town girl with the big-time voice is already taken, smart guy. Does he go here too?"

Rachel is slightly embarrassed to say. "No, he is still figuring out what he wants to do. He lives here with me though."

She can see the concern on Brody's face as she tells him that. His eyebrows shoot up and he looks like he wants to say something, but holds his tongue out of politeness. Somehow, yet again she feels the need to defend her reasons for being with Finn.

"Look, I know what you're about to say, but me and Finn, we love each other. Isn't that enough?" She watches as he takes a big bite of his salad as he turns away from her.

"A lot of our friends and family disproved, but I knew in my heart that we were going to be together forever. So-"

"See that right there?" He interrupts.

"Don't get me wrong. We really don't know each other well, but you just spoke in the past tense about being together forever with him."

Rachel thinks back to what she just said. "You know what I meant. No matter what, I know I made the right decision." She finishes with a curt nod. Brody puts up his hands as if he were backing off.

"I'm a junior now, but if I'd kept my high school girlfriend during freshman year, I wouldn't have made it. It was just too much stress on it's on. You're a newlywed, so I know you must be going through it." He says.

"I-I'm coping. Finn's always there when I'm having a bad day. So that's comforting."

"Well that's good."

The rest of Rachel's day goes by smoothly, that is until dance class in the late afternoon.

"Berry! What the hell are you doing over there? Keep up!"

Rachel can feel her face burning once again as she is singled out from the entire class. She has been working her butt off trying to improve her dance skills and Ms. July seems to not notice. At the end of class Ms. July pulls her aside.

"I told you during the first week that if you didn't want this bad enough, don't bother showing up. I guess you weren't listening so I'll tell you again, don't come back in here until you pull your head out of your ass and follow simple directions. I can't have you wasting my and your fellow classmates time with your inept abilities." Ms. July shakes her head in disappointment before walking away.

Rachel finds herself speechless. She cannot believe she's practically being kicked out of dance class even though she has improved since the first week. She knows she has gotten better, she has practiced as much as she can in her dorm, when Finn bothers to pick up his mattress. Things would be so much easier if she had Brittany or Quinn here to help her learn the moves. She will not accept defeat though, she just has to find someone here who knows the steps…Brody.

She goes back to her room and collapses onto her bed.

"Hey, want me to make you one too?" Finn asks her as he plates on of the grilled cheese sandwiches on his plate.

"What? How many times do I have to tell you? I'm vegan, which means no meat or dairy, Finn." She cannot believe that he still forgets things like that after all this time.

He sits down on his blow-up mattress with a plate of two grilled cheese sandwiches and a mountain of potato chips on the side. Rachel usually has no problem with the disturbing way that Finn scarves down his food, but today, she cannot stand it.

He chews sloppily as he sits there, watching their tiny television. The crunching and smacking sounds grate on her nerves, she sits up and just watches him. Her eyes dart back and forth between the plate and his mouth. The sound of his smacking seems to pierce through her brain, causing her to want to smack the plate out of his hand to make it stop.

She hops suddenly out of bed, deciding to go anywhere that isn't here, listening to Finn.

"I'm going for a walk." Rachel says calmly, the opposite of what she feels.

"Okay." Finn replies, not once looking away from the tv.

The next day at lunch with Brody, she asks him about helping her with her dancing. They agree to practice after class in his dorm a few times a week.

She eats lunch with Brody for the rest of the week. They also see each other after dance class in his dorm, where they practice dancing, but on a few occasions end up talking for an hour.

Rachel only tells Finn that she is putting in extra time practicing, but she doesn't tell him she's doing it with another guy. There's no reason to make him jealous when there is nothing going on between her and Brody.

She sings a solo in class Friday, Brody is the only one who gives her a standing ovation in front of everyone. She blushes hard, and thanks him after class.

"Thank you for the support."

"You were amazing, those other guys are probably jealous. You deserved applause for that."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it."

"Hey, so since we don't have dance today, maybe we could go do something."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I have to go spend some time with Finn, he's been complaining about me staying out late this week."

"I understand. Well I'll see you Monday then."

"Okay."

She watches as he walks off, he is such a great friend, but Rachel believes that he may want a little more than that. Even though she is attracted to him, she cannot see herself going there with him, regardless if she were with Finn or not.

Later that night, Rachel lies on the noisy mattress with Finn. He is beside her, hovering above, kissing her neck softly. It has been a while since they had done this, but for some reason, Rachel cannot get into it. Her mind wonders to all sorts of things, from Brody in the hallway earlier, to dance class and stupid Ms. July.

The thought of Ms. July sticks in her brain for some reason. She is such a bitch dancing around in her tight leotard, with her firm abs and blond hair. She thinks about how Quinn used to be mean to her, but she came around to being her friend. Ms. July seems like a lost cause, but she'll keep trying to prove she's good enough.

She finally starts to get into it, kissing him with more enthusiasm and grabbing at his chest, palming the soft mounds there. He immediately pulls her hands away.

"Hey, don't do that." He tells her.

"What?"

"You grab at my chest sometimes like I have boobs or something."

"Oh, sorry." She tries to kiss him again, but he pulls back.

"I can't anymore. Every time you do that it makes me feel imma- um, less than a man." He says as he sits up.

"Immasculated?" Rachel helps him out.

"Yeah, look I know I've gained a few pounds since we got together, and my chest has gotten jiggly, so could you try not to do that. I guess I'm just sensitive about my chest."

"I-I'm sorry Finn. Have you thought about exercising a little, you have free reign of the gym here. Maybe you could lift weights or something?" Rachel hopes that she comes off as helpful, she doesn't want Finn to feel pressured into anything.

"I know, it's just sometimes, I'll think about exercising for a minute, but then I'll go and make myself a couple grilled cheeses instead."

Rachel thinks about the other day when she had to watch Finn gobble down all that food, she shudders.

The rest of their weekend goes smoothly, mainly because they went out on the town. They had a lot of fun together at the movies and dinner at a restaurant that actually has vegan options.

It's Wednesday, the day that Kurt is arriving in New York. He told her Monday that he would come see her and Finn later today.

She sends Kurt a text during her lunch with Brody:

Hey Kurt, so glad you're coming. I really need someone to talk to. I met this really cute guy from class, I'm with him right now, we've been eating lunch together every day.

He's so hot, you should see his body! Oh, and his voice, Kurt, definitely leading man material. I digress though, he is actually really cool and smart and funny. I'll introduce you two when you arrive, later. -Rachel

She presses send and gets back to her conversation with Brody. They share a vegan wrap for lunch. She found out last week that he eats vegetarian sometimes just to keep healthy.

She meets Kurt out by the curb as he exits his taxi. They run to each other, and he picks her up and spins her around.

"I can't believe you're in New York, Kurt!"

"Neither can I!"

"How have you been?"

He tells her why he decided to drop everything to come to New York. They catch up on the latest gossip concerning everyone back in Lima and her remaining friends at McKinley.

"So, have you talked to Quinn?" He asks curiously.

The question takes her by surprise, she hadn't talked to Quinn since after graduation.

Quinn hasn't called and she admits that she's scared to call her herself. She just knows Quinn will be angry with her for going through with the wedding after everything that had happened.

"No, I haven't." She replies morosely.

"Really? I would have thought you'd keep in contact seeing as she only gave you those expensive passes. I mean, she obviously wanted to see you again, otherwise she wouldn't have bought those tickets. Why aren't you guys speaking?"

Rachel swallows hard, her mouth has become extremely dry suddenly. She misses Quinn dearly, but she has no idea how to tell her that.

"Hey, let's not talk about that right now, I-I'm thirsty. Plus, I need to tell you more about my new friend here."

"What new friend?"

"Uh, the one I texted you about earlier."

"You didn't text me earlier or at all today. Did you receive a response?"

"No, but I did send it. Hold on," she takes out her cell phone and checks her sent messages.

"Oh my God! No! Kurt! I accidentally sent that message to Finn!" Rachel yells hysterically. Kurt snatches her phone and reads the message.

"What? My god, Rachel. You really know how to self sabotage don't you."

"Kurt!"

"Well maybe he hasn't checked it yet."

"I have to talk to him." She turns around and heads towards her dorm.

"I'm coming with." Kurt says as he trails behind her.

They walk into the dorm to find Finn huddled in the middle of the floor, his blow up mattress packed away. His eyes are puffy and his nose is red, he had been crying.

"Finn, it's not what it sounded like, that guy he's just a classmate. I was thinking of introducing him to Kurt. It says so in the message. Why is all your stuff packed up?"

"You think I believe that? After the way you've been acting towards me, like, like you're disgusted with me sometimes. Then you wanted me exercise. What? To look more like him!"

"No, I don't want that. You were the one insecure about your body, I was merely suggesting-"

"Right, and what about all that other stuff, huh. You never told you were eating lunch with him. I'd call and you'd say your were eating out and when I asked to come you have all these excuses. And all that stuff you said about him, you've been staying out later and later. I can't believe I was so blind!"

She looks down at her hands, clasped together in her lap as he stands over her yelling.

"You hardly ever wanna have sex, and every time we do, you drift off somewhere into your own world. You don't even look at me. But you know what? I now see how much of a mistake it was marrying you. Kurt can I stay with you for a while? I cannot stay here with her anymore. I should've listened to you Kurt, Quinn too."

Rachel is stunned speechless but her head snaps up at the mention of Quinn's name.

Finn grabs his things and abruptly storms out of the room.

"Rachel honey, are you okay?" Kurt asks. He was uncharacteristically quiet as well. She looks up at him with tearless glassy eyes.

"Rachel," he shakes her by the shoulders.

"That's it? It was that easy for him to leave me. I thought that being married meant that he trusted me. That it would keep him from leaving me."

"Oh sweetheart," Kurt looks down at her with a sympathetic expression.

"But Kurt," she half smiles.

"I thought I would be devastated." She removes his hand from her shoulders and holds one.

"I thought that I would just die if he ever left. Maybe I'm in shock, or something or maybe it was time to quit fooling ourselves. All that stuff he said was true, although a little one-sided, but true nonetheless." She takes a deep breath.

"I did all those things. I'm going to be fine." Rachel nods as she walks Kurt to the door. "Take him with you and try to calm him down. Okay, goodnight Kurt."

The minute he's out the door, Rachel takes another deep breath. She turns and leans her back against the door's cool surface. She feels empty and a little anxious, but anxious for what exactly?

Her room feels hollow as she goes to bed alone for the first time in months. One thing she will miss is the warmth Finn provided inside this cold cement dorm.

The next day Rachel wakes up feeling well rested. She looks down and realizes that it was probably because her sleep hadn't been disrupted by Finn's snoring.

Later on at lunch with Brody, she tells him what happened.

"He just left?"

"Yes. The thing is, I don't feel very heartbroken. One should, shouldn't they? I mean, my husband left me last night. I feel like I wasn't a good wife, maybe we weren't ready. We probably should have listened to Quinn."

"Who's Quinn? Is that Finn's sibling or something?"

"What? Hardly. They used to date, so I hope not."

"So, she used to date Finn too?"

"Yes, it's kind of a long story. She goes to Yale now though."

"Wow, she must be really smart."

"She is. She's very beautiful as well. You'd probably ditch me to hang out with her the minute you see her."

"I doubt that. So your smart, beautiful friend told you not to get married so young, and you didn't take her advice. Why?"

"I actually have no clue."

"Oh excuse me I have to take this. Hey, Kurt,"

Kurt tells her that he's on his way to take her to lunch. She tells him that she's already having lunch with Brody.

"Really, Rachel. I have to meet this guy that's causing you to cast Finn aside like yesterday's garbage. I'm coming now."

"What? He left me, Kurt."

"Well you gave him little choice, what with that text message and all that weird sex stuff that I really wish I hadn't heard."

"Just- get over here." She hangs up her phone.

"That was my best friend Kurt. Well, actually he's Finn's stepbrother too. He's coming to meet you since he is suspicious of our newly formed friendship."

"Okay cool, I'll show him just how much of a nice guy I am. And that I had nothing to do with you and your husband's…breakup?"

"I guess you could say that. Though I'm not quite sure of the finality of anything so soon."

"Right, you two might be back together by the weekend. You couples are weird like that."

Rachel laughs it off, but she is sincerely doubtful of that outcome.

Kurt arrives, a few minutes later and he walks right over to them.

"Hey,"

"Hey, Kurt. This is Brody, Brody this is my best friend Kurt." She watches as Brody looks up at Kurt with an unreadable expression on his face. She lightly nudges him in the side with her elbow.

"Oh, um. Hi. Nice to finally meet you." He stammers out, whilst shaking Kurt's hand with a huge smile plastered across his face.

She sees Kurt look him from top to bottom, then he gives her his look of approval. Approval for what exactly, she does not know.

The three of them make small talk for a little while before Brody has to go. He leaves, and they decide to walk to her dorm to talk some more.

"Okay, so he is just scrumptious. Rachel, why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried to remember?"

"Oh right. So, you and Finn? Nevermore?"

"What did he say?"

"He hasn't said much, but mostly he said that he hasn't been happy for a while and your accidental text just brought it all out."

"Hmm, so that's it. It's over then. I, too have not been as happy as I should've been being married to him. Everything he would do, began to annoy me to my wits end. I was starting to think about what it'd be like without him here, living with me. What kind of wife thinks things like that about her husband?"

"You'd be surprised."

"So it's normal for a wife to fantasize about her husband choking on his fourth grilled cheese sandwich that he insists on eating in bed."

"Well, that's not normal. Rachel, I really don't want to say I told you so, but you two were so not ready for marriage. Sure you love each other, but sometimes that isn't enough. Especially if the sex isn't good."

"What? He told you that?"

"No, I was going by that stuff he said last night."

"Oh, well it's true. We just weren't on the same page when it came to being together. He always hated the way that I touched him."

"What do you mean? I would have thought he'd like for you to touch him."

"Well he is really insecure about his…chest, and he told me that I kept treating him like he had boobs." She confesses as she looks down at her hands.

She can hear Kurt snickering and she looks pointedly up at him. He covers his mouth in an effort to stifle his laughter.

"Kurt, this is no laughing manner. I'm talking about the downfall of my marriage, to your brother."

"Sorry, I just…it's kind of funny when you think about it." She gives him another serious look.

"Okay maybe not today, but you'll find it funny a few weeks from now."