Hey guys! I know it's uncommon to do so many stories at once, but this is an idea I've always had, and sometimes you just have to write a story, so that's what it was like for this story for me. Plus, with an election coming up in the US, I thought now would be a good time :) This story is different from anything I've ever done with Finchel (though I wrote an original fiction story about an election back in high school) and takes place in an alternate world from both Gleeverse and the United States. Some things you should know:

1. Obviously, Finn is alive. Finn and Rachel stuck with their no contact rule after Glease, so Rachel didn't come back for Will's wedding or the end of glee club celebration. All events of Season 5 except Finn's death are canon, but since Rachel disappeared after That's So Rachel, the events of Season 6 are not canon.

2. This story also takes place in an alternate universe of the United States. A Republican won the 2012 presidential election.

3. The politician Finchel campaign for is borrowed from another TV show, as are most politicians in the story. I dropped some hints in this chapter about who Finchel are campaigning for, and the first person to guess correctly gets to pick the first non-Finchel glee characters to appear :)

Without further ado, enjoy the first chapter, and review if I should keep going!

Chapter 1: Get Their Confidence Back

"UGH!" Finn groaned. He sat in the living room, watching as the Yankees scored another run in a game against the Indians. Before Finn had a chance to hear what was next, he heard crying on the baby monitor, and walked upstairs to the nursery. His mom had asked him to watch the six-month-old daughter of one of her co-workers tonight while she and Burt went out to dinner with the coworker and he'd agreed to do it. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

Finn went upstairs with the bottle, scooped the baby out of the crib, and began cradling her. "It's okay, Mommy and Daddy will be home soon."

Watching the baby drink the bottle, Finn thought about how simple life was when you were this young, and how not simple his life was. It was summer of 2015 and a lot had changed. Ever since graduation, things had just gone downhill, and every time life took a step forward, it seemed to immediately take two steps back.

Finn thought he'd make a good name for himself in the army. Sure, he was upset that he hadn't gotten into the college he wanted and that it meant breaking up with Rachel, but he could redeem his dad. Of course, he hadn't even been there a month before he shot himself and got discharged. He hid out in Georgia for a while before going to New York, hoping to fix things up with Rachel, only to find that she'd moved on to a guy who looked like he was made of plastic. Worried it would be too hard to face her, he told her no contact, and she hadn't contacted him since.

Things finally started to get better when he started helping with the glee club while Mr. Schuester was in Washington. Finn enjoyed helping the glee club, but then the glee club was disbanded when they didn't win Nationals. Sure, he was at college now, but he was struggling academically. Academics had always been a struggle for him. After the glee club was disbanded, Mr. Schue got a job at Carmel High, and Coach Sylvester had transferred all the glee club members to other schools, so Finn didn't even have a chance to fall back on the glee club.

Finn's thoughts were interrupted when Carole's friend got home. He took his money and drove home, still feeling down by the events that had happened over the past few years.

"How was babysitting?" Carole asked as Finn came in.

Finn shrugged. "It was fine. She slept most of the time I was there."

"That's what babies do," Carole said.

"Well, I sleep a lot, too," Finn added.

"That's true," Carole admitted. "Maybe too much."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked.

"Finn, you need to get out and about more," Burt said. "You're always sitting on the couch watching TV or sleeping."

Finn knew that was true, and he was ashamed of that. Still, he wasn't going to let his parents draw attention to it. "That's not true... I work at the tire shop."

"Yeah, you arrive and just go through the motions," Burt said.

Why were his parents choosing tonight of all night to make Finn feel bad about his situation? "I'm fine."

"Finn, honey, we want to see you happy, and you're not very happy," Carole said. "Your brother's well on his way to a career at Vogue..."

Finn couldn't take this anymore. "Haven't you noticed any time I get involved with something it goes to hell?"

"Honey, you haven't tried getting involved with something in over a year..." Carole began.

"Yeah, I'm struggling to get Cs in college, big deal," Finn groaned.

"You just need to get your confidence and focus back," Burt said.

"Well, do you have any ideas on how I can do that?" Finn asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Burt said. "One of my friends in congress is running for president and he was telling me the other day that he's hiring staff for his campaign..."

"I know I did some canvassing for you, but I don't think that qualifies me for a job on a campaign," Finn said. Plus, with his luck, Burt's friend would probably lose the election.

"I did tell him that you need a positive outlet in your life and he agreed that you could get that with the campaign," Burt said.

Finn had no idea what he would do. Still, the thought of one of Burt's friends from congress as president was a good one. From 2001 to 2009, the United States had a Republican president who was absolutely terrible. In 2008, a Democratic senator from Illinois was elected president and started to clean things up, but he moved at a slower pace than people would have liked and the country still wasn't in the place people wanted it to be when the 2012 election came around. In 2012, another Republican was elected president, and things were an even bigger mess than they were before, if possible. "Well, our country could use a better president," Finn admitted.

"Yeah, my friend has lots of great ideas, but he's a long shot and he'll need all the help he can get," Burt said. "I'd work for him, but with my health history, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be traveling all over the country."

"Traveling all over the country?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, if you got this job, you'd get to go all over the country on the campaign and meet all sorts of people," Carole said.

"Wow," Finn said. He had to admit, that could be fun.

"Yeah, and like I said, I put in a good word for you with him," Burt added.

"Do you still think he'd hire me?" Finn asked.

x

Finn paced around the office portion of the capitol building. He'd filled out the application and done a background check online and gotten a phone call from someone from the campaign, asking for an interview at the congressman's office in DC. This had just been an idea in theory before, but now this was it. He was really here. Was he going to mess up again? Or would he get his confidence back like he hoped he would?

Finally, about ten minutes (that felt like much longer) after Finn checked in with the secretary, a man who looked like he was in his 30s came out. "Hi, are you Finn?" the man asked.

"Yeah," Finn said.

"Hi, I'm Josh, the campaign manager," the man said. "Let's go into the congressman's office to chat."

"Okay," Finn said. He'd expected the congressman himself, but this was the campaign manager. At least if he said or did something stupid with the campaign manager, it would be less embarrassing than if it happened with the congressman.

When they got into the congressman's office, Finn reached into his bag and pulled out his resume. "So, I have a copy of my resume for you. You probably saw it when I applied online though... I don't know what position would be best for me, but I did do some canvassing and phone calls for my stepdad when he ran for congress..."

"Yeah, I looked at your resume," Josh interrupted. "And I read your cover letter. I'm just going to ask you a few things... can you tell me a little about yourself?"

Now Finn was feeling nervous. No doubt everything he said wold be repeated to the congressman. "Well... I graduated from high school in 2012 and ever since then I've been trying to find my place in the world. I go to University of Lima, but it's been a challenge. When I was in high school, I played football, basketball and baseball, and I was also in the glee club. I was our male lead singer and I played the drums for some of our numbers too, and we won Nationals our senior year." He knew he should probably talk about his post high school life. "After graduation, I was in the army for a while, but I had trouble with handling a gun so I was discharged. I helped out with the glee club that I was in, but then it was disbanded due to lack of funding. Right now I've been working at my stepfather's tire shop. I thought this would be something fun and different to do, and I do care about this country and want it to go in a better direction." He just hoped he hadn't said anything stupid. He didn't know very much about politics. In fact, he was sure he wouldn't have even gotten an interview had it not been a friend of Burt's running for president.

"I see," Josh said. "So, Finn, tell me, what are some things about this country you'd like to change?"

"Well, for one thing, we need to create more jobs," Finn admitted. "I also think we need health care for everyone, and more funding for education, and that gay marriage should be legal in all 50 states."

"You think like the congressman, I see," Josh said. "Now, I was talking with him, and assuming your background check comes back okay, we do have a position for you on the campaign. He looked over your resume as well, and your stepfather put in a good word for you with him."

Finn nodded. He was worried the congressman was just giving him this job because he felt sorry for Finn. Burt knew how unhappy Finn had been since he graduated high school. But this was about getting back into the game, and it would probably look good on his resume... but with his luck, the congressman would probably end up losing the election...

"Are you okay, Finn?" Josh asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, I just didn't expect to get a job on a presidential campaign," Finn said. If his stepdad wasn't friends with the presidential candidate, he was sure he wouldn't be getting this job. But regardless of the circumstances - he was getting it.

"You seem like a great young man, and for this position, we try to find young people of promise," Josh said. "We were thinking that we'd have you be an aide to the congressman."

An aide? What would he do as an aide? "Can you tell me about that job?" Finn managed to ask.

Josh handed Finn a piece of paper. "Here's a list of what your responsibilities would be. You'll be traveling around the country with him all the time, so it'll be very consuming. You'll need to help with answering calls, talking to voters, making reservations, running errands for him, helping out on the campaign plane with paperwork, stuff like that."

At least Finn didn't think he could screw that up. "That sounds doable." Then he looked at the bottom of the paper. The position would pay $5000 a month.

"You sure you're up to it?" Josh asked. "I've been involved with politics most of my life and it's not an easy business, I'm warning you now. There will be late nights and early mornings. People will be nasty. Your every move will be watched. Anything you do between now and Election Day will reflect on the congressman's campaign, and on the congressman himself."

It wasn't like Finn went out and got drunk or anything like that. "Yeah, I'm sure I'm up to it."

"Well, we'll need you next week," Josh continued. "We'll be hitting the road and the congressman will need you. Like I said, he saw your resume and he gave me the okay. All you need to do is fill out the paperwork."

Finn couldn't believe it. "This soon?"

Josh handed Finn some paperwork. "Well, I told you that things can be unexpected. Just pack about two weeks worth of clothes, you probably won't be getting to do laundry very often."

"Okay," Finn said. Sure, this was a big change, but he was just glad that he'd been offered a job.

x

Rachel was completely miserable.

Every day she mentally beat herself up for doing That's So Rachel. She'd made a complete fool of herself on national television, being on a horrible show with a horrible script. Nearly every media outlet had criticized her and the show, and she'd had to flee LA and go home, only to find out that her dads were divorcing and moving to two separate cities. Right now, Hiram was living in Cleveland and LeRoy was living in Cincinnati. Then again, Rachel's problems had started before That's So Rachel, even if that was the final straw.

It all began after high school graduation. Finn had put her on that train and she spent the summer in New York, feeling like a fish out of water. Then Rachel's first semester at NYADA had been a nightmare. Cassandra July had targeted her and the other kids at NYADA didn't like her. Of course there was Brody - she was lonely, and he was showing interest in her, so she took it. But every time she did something with Brody, she found herself wishing she was doing it with Finn instead. When she went home to Lima for Grease, she'd seen Finn, and she wanted so badly to get back together. But then Cassandra insulted her on the phone and she started crying. Finn assumed she was crying over Brody, and he told her that he didn't think they should contact each other anymore. So Rachel stuck with that, and to this day, she hadn't contacted Finn. But she missed him so much. Not a day went by that she didn't think about him and wonder how he was doing. But he didn't want her to contact him, and she should respect that.

Knowing that Finn didn't want to get back together, Rachel threw herself into things with Brody. She invited him to move in eventually, but he was always out late. Eventually, Santana found some suspicious items, and Rachel, Kurt and Santana discovered that Brody was a gigolo. Since Finn had told Rachel no contact, she didn't return to Lima for Mr. Schue's wedding, even though she wanted to. Now that she didn't even have someone to use as a Finn replacement, she wished so badly that she and Finn could be together again. But Finn didn't want to be together.

Rachel had gotten the part of Fanny Brice, but not without a struggle. Shortly after Rachel got the part, she heard that the glee club had been cut by Principal Sylvester after they placed second at Nationals. Kurt and Santana went back for the farewell program, but Rachel stayed home, even though once again she wanted to.

Rachel threw herself into rehearsals, but she did make some irresponsible decisions. The director was very controlling, and when Rachel pretended to have cut her hair, she nearly got fired. Overwhelmed by school and rehearsal, she decided to drop out of school. And then she got the That's So Rachel offer and quit Funny Girl.

That's So Rachel was probably the worst decision she'd ever made. The Pilot drew criticism from nearly every major group and media outlet and was pulled before it could go to series. Rachel returned home in humiliation, hoping that she could rebuild her life, only to find out that her dads were divorcing and selling her childhood home. Humiliated, Rachel hadn't contacted any of her friends since That's So Rachel. She wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to be her friend anymore, with a show like that in her name.

After That's So Rachel, Rachel couldn't get a job interview, not even at fast food restaurants. She'd been in Cincinnati with LeRoy at first and couldn't find a job there, and now she was in Cleveland with Hiram and hadn't found a job here either. Desperate, she began applying for every job she could find on the internet, some in other cities. Surely someone could find a place for her... right?

So it had been a shock for Rachel when of all things, she'd gotten a phone call from a campaign from an up-and-coming congressman running for president. Rachel had applied for a job on the presidential campaign when she read about him online and thought she liked where he stood on the issues - but she didn't think she'd get a call back when she couldn't even get calls back when she applied to be a hotel room cleaner.

Here she was walking around Union Station in DC, on her way to the Capitol for her interview. As she walked up to the Capitol, she thought of Finn. Burt was in congress, too. Did Burt know this congressman? Had Finn met him?

She couldn't let herself think like this. She finally had a job interview, and she had to make herself look good. Rachel checked in with the receptionist at the Capitol and was escorted up to the congressman's office, where a blond woman was waiting for her. "You're Rachel Berry?" the woman asked. "I'm Anna, I'm the deputy campaign manager."

"Hi," Rachel said, finding herself getting nervous. "Yeah, I'm Rachel." At least this woman hadn't said anything about That's So Rachel. If Rachel got this job, maybe it could help her get some self esteem back.

"I'm sorry the campaign manager couldn't meet with you today, but he had to go to a press conference with the congressman," Anna said. "But both the congressman and the campaign manager looked at your resume..."

Oh no. What did they think? Were they disqualifying her from That's So Rachel? "Well, I've never done anything like this before," Rachel managed to say. "But I've always cared about lots of the issues that are going to be issues in this election, and I think the congressman has good ideas."

"Well, we definitely got that idea in your cover letter, Rachel," Anna said. "So, what are some issues that are important to you?"

"Well, I was really involved in the arts at my high school and arts funding is being cut from public schools across the country, and I think that needs to stop," Rachel said. "I was also raised by gay parents, and it's important to me that gay marriage become legal in all 50 states."

"Have you ever been involved with a campaign before?" Anna asked.

Yes. She had. She'd helped Finn campaign for Burt. Bt that was a soft spot. "I did some canvassing when my friend's dad was running for office when I was in high school, but other than that, I didn't. Part of what appealed to me about this was it would be something different." She took a deep breath. "After graduating high school, my life's been all over the place, and I think doing something new and different would be a good thing. We can work for a brighter America," she said, using the campaign slogan.

"Well, from talking with the congressman and the campaign manager, we were thinking of hiring you to be an aide on the campaign," Anna told Rachel. "We can tell you're special by looking over your resume. We hired another aide as well and he's also from Ohio. This is a position we typically give to young people. You'll help make arrangements for the congressman, run errands for us, do some canvassing, stuff like that. There will be challenges. It's a difficult thing to do emotionally and physically, but I can tell you it'll be worth it." She handed Rachel some paperwork.

Rachel couldn't believe it. She was being offered a job. Part of her couldn't help but wonder if she was being offered this job because the congressman and his staff felt sorry for her, but at least she had a job. Someone was willing to take a chance on her. And it felt so good. "Wow, thank you so much!"

"You'll need to be back here in DC to hit the road next week," Anna told Rachel. "Is that okay with you?"

Of course it was okay. She was finally going to be doing something productive with herself. She finally hadn't been rejected for a job.

After some more discussions about the job, Rachel started to leave the capitol. As she walked toward the elevator, she noticed an office with a familiar name on it that she hadn't noticed on her way in: Burt Hummel. She didn't expect Burt's office to be on this floor. She would have thought the offices would be sorted alphabetically, or by state.

She almost considered knocking on the door and saying hi. She missed Finn. She missed Kurt. She missed Burt and Carole. She hoped that they were doing well.

Then she heard the elevator beep. It was here. She put her nostalgic thoughts out of her head. For the first time since That's So Rachel, someone was showing confidence in her. And it felt so good.

Chapter 2 preview: Finchel meet the presidential candidate - and see each other for the first time since Glease. What will they think when they find out that they are working on the same campaign? How will it affect the campaign as it takes off?

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