Life Goes On For the Living – Chapter 5

(I do not own Glee or any of the characters.)

(Author's Note - Several of you commented that this story needed to continue for at least another chapter. I have reworked the end of the last chapter and written a continuation. I hope that this ending is more satisfying.)

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"Are we going to let Quinn dictate how we live our lives?" Finn asked Rachel the day Quinn blew into town and delivered her ultimatum.

"As much as I want to be with you, we've got to let Quinn win this one for Emily's sake. You've spent her entire life protecting her from the truth. I see no need to stop now," Rachel tried to reassure Finn who was still angry after his meeting with Quinn.

"Then where do we go from here?" Finn asked blankly.

"First I need to take Brandon over to McKinley and let him look around. I want him to make sure that this move is right for him too. I can call Mr. Schue tonight and make the arrangements. Does our old high school still have a glee club or a swim team?"

"Yes they have a swim team, and most of the kids that swim at the pool are on the high school team."

"Is Roz Washington still the swim coach?"

"Nah, she retired the same year Coach Sue retired. I think the two of them actually became friends. The swim team is now coached by Sam Evans."

"Sam! I had no idea he was still in town!

"Yeah, Sam teaches at the high school. He became a special education teacher after he saw what some help could do for him. He's done a lot of good over there with kids that might have slipped through the cracks."

"Moving here is sounding more like the right thing to do. After Brandon and I tour the high school, I'll make arrangements to have our things in New York packed up and shipped here if he wants to stay. I also need to get back in touch with my agent and my manager. If I'm going to put out a new album I need to get started. It's a lot of work."

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Rachel and Brandon's move to Lima was difficult at first, but Brandon was making more good friends at McKinley than he ever had in New York. Brandon did miss the fast pace of the city, but eventually adjusted. Sam kept him busy on the swim team, and Mr. Schue kept an eye out for him.

Moving to Lima worked out for Rachel as well. Hiram was able to stay in his home. Since Rachel wasn't living in New York putting out a new CD was harder than she expected, but her recording label worked out the logistics. The recordings were done in Chicago on weekends when she could get someone to stay with Hiram and Brandon. Usually it was Carole and Burt.

Through the week Rachel found an adult day care for Hiram that kept him active. After her third CD was finished she decided to start the old McKinley glee club up again. It had died a few years earlier when Mr. Schue became principal and just didn't have the time.

To her surprise, interest in the glee club was overwhelming. Having a Broadway star and a top selling recording artist as the director was a big deal in a small town like Lima. The week before she started she pried Finn from work to go to the high school with her. Except for a thick coat of dust the choir room hadn't changed a lot except some of it was used for book storage.

"Look Finn, this is where we fell in love when we were fifteen. Do you remember?" Rachel asked as she opened the old familiar door.

"No this is isn't where I fell in love with you. I fell in love that afternoon in the auditorium when I kissed you for the first time. Let's see if it looks the same."

The auditorium hadn't changed that much either as Finn flipped on a bank of light. "I don't think they use it for musicals anyone."

To the side of the stage sat an old piano in need of repair.

"Remember, I was giving you a voice lesson, and then we had a picnic. I told you that you could kiss me if you wanted to."

"I still do," Finn's breathing skipped as he leaned over and kissed Rachel until they were both light headed. "Rach, I love you so much, if we weren't in a high school surrounded by a thousand kids right now who knows what I might do?"

"I don't have to pick up my dad from adult day care until five, and the kids have swim practice today. Why don't you take a few more hours off from work and come over to my house?"

"Rachel, this is a small town, What if Quinn finds out that we're seeing each other?"

"Quinn never said that we couldn't be friends. She just threatened to tell Emily everything if we got married. I moved to Lima for my dad, and I do have a faucet in need of repair if anyone asks."

Leading Finn up the stairs to her old bedroom, she lay down on the bed and patted the spot where the two made out so many years ago.

"Rach, we're both thirty-five years old and sneaking around just like we did in high school." Finn moaned between heated kisses.

"I don't care just as long as I can be with you."

Later the two were wrapped in the sheets and each others arms.

"That was better than I ever remembered Rachel," Finn kissed the back of her neck while he held he close to his chest.

"Better!" Rachel smirked as she turned around in his arms to look at him.

"What are we going to do?" Finn asked. "Sneak around like a couple of teen-agers?"

"I'll do what ever it takes to keep Emily safe even if that means never being being your wife."

Their weekly afternoon rendezvous soon became routine. They would spend an hour or two in total bliss, and then act like casual friends in public.

The year that Emily was a freshman at Michigan State and Brandon was a senior at McKinley, Hiram died peacefully in his sleep. Rachel went to wake him up one morning and found him. The first person that she called was Finn. He came over and spent the day with her. He held her when she cried and helped her make the arrangements when she was able.

"Should I put Dad's obituary in the paper?" Rachel asked Finn. "Quinn reading Daddy's obituary two years ago is what brought her to town."

"Go ahead and put it in if that's what you want to do. I'll handle Quinn if she shows up again."

Quinn didn't return and Emily never went looking for her. Emily thought about it on her eighteenth birthday but decided against it. Finn, Carole, and Burt had raised her, and they were all the parents she needed.

Emily did well at Michigan State and met Michael Eastman there. She married him a week after she graduated and had her first daughter a year later and a second daughter two years later.

Brandon left home for Ohio State a year after Hiram died leaving Rachel alone in the Berry House. Brandon and Emily had tried to talk their parents into getting married, but Rachel said that four times was enough. Finn's standard answer was that you couldn't teach and old dog new tricks.

Neither Brandon nor Emily knew that their parents secretly wanted to be married, but didn't because they were protecting Emily from the truth and Quinn's threats.

Brandon didn't have a clue what he wanted to do when he entered Ohio State but found his calling in social services working with troubled teens. When he graduated he returned to Lima and began working with teenagers who had lost their way. With him he brought Lisa. His college sweetheart who became his wife. She too worked for social services except her passion was working with the elderly. Lisa had to stop working for a while when their twin boys were born.

Finn and Rachel were approaching forty-five the year that everyone gathered in Lima for Thanksgiving. Rachel along with Emily and Lisa had cooked for days in anticipation of having everyone together. Burt and Carole would be there along with Blaine and Kurt.

Brandon and Michael were playing with the kids in the back yard after dinner. Burt, Finn, Blaine, and Kurt were asleep in the living room while a football game flickered on the big screen in front of them.

Rachel and the girls were putting the last of the china away when the door bell rang. Answering the door, she was face to face with Puck, his patrol car in the driveway.

"Puck it's so good to see you? Have you had your Thanksgiving feast yet? We have plenty left," Rachel gushed as she pulled her old friend through the door.

"Rachel, I'm not here for a social visit. I need to talk to you and Finn if he's here."

"Come on in and see everyone. I'll have to wake Finn up." After Puck had greeted everyone, he managed to get Rachel and Finn out to his patrol car.

"I'm really sorry to disrupt your family gathering, but some news came in on the police wire that I thought might affect you," Puck said quietly to his old friends.

"What is it Finn?" asked nervously.

"It's Quinn; she was killed two days ago. She died in a car accident in Hartford. I don't know if you ever told Emily who her mother was, but I thought you'd like to know."

"Emily has never met her mother," Finn said in shock.

"Are you going to tell her that her mother is dead?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know. Emily stopped asking about her years ago."

Finn was really quiet the rest of the afternoon. Rachel knew what he was thinking about.

Later that night Rachel was going to bed early. It had been a long day and she was exhausted. Brandon and Lisa were downstairs chasing their twins around trying to get them into bed as well.

Rachel had just pulled the comforter up over her shoulder when her cell phone rang. It was Finn.

"Rach, I know I said goodnight an hour ago, but could you come outside and talk to me for a moment? I'm parked in your driveway."

Pulling on her white robe and slippers she was soon seated in Finn's truck.

"I've made up my mind. Emily is happy. I'm going to let her stay that way. But I'm not happy. I've been in love with you since I was fifteen years old. I've wanted to marry you since I was eighteen. Quinn is gone and there is nothing standing in our way. How would you feel about a New Year's Eve wedding?"

"Finn, are you asking me to marry you?" Rachel asked in disbelief. "We're both going to be forty-five next year. Don't you think it's a little late?"

"Better late than never my mom always said. Rachel Barbara Berry, will you marry me? I don't have a ring or anything, but tomorrow is Black Friday and all of the stores will be open."

"Of course I'll marry you! New Year's Eve can not come quick enough!"

Rachel and Finn were married on New Year's Eve in a small candle light service. Brandon gave the bride away, Kurt was the best man, and Emily was the matron of honor.

They had been in love for thirty years, but had spent most of it protecting Emily and a secret.

Finn moved out of the Hummel/Hudson house and into Rachel's. They spent their first night as husband and wife in the same room where it all began.

The End (again)

I hope that you enjoyed this ending better than the previous one. Please look for my new story that will be up soon. It is entitled "The Surrogates." Sincerely, Whistler Nights