DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy! :)

A/N: **NEW STORY** Me Voila! Are you guys ready for another Minsky fic? This one has the potential for greatness! I hope you enjoy it! This story takes place in the future with flashbacks to the past.

The Dreamers

Chapter One: The Lima Loser

It was a beautiful day. The kind of day you remember for it's perfection; the kind of day you wished every day on Earth should be like. Clear, warm, bright. The sun shone down onto them like they were the only two people in the world, as they laid in the grass and wasted away another lazy summer afternoon.

Their hands were entwined in a loose grasp as their bodies stretched across a simple checkered cloth, protecting their clothes from the dirt and grass and creating a serene atmosphere between the two teens. They were relaxed. They were calm.

They were happier than they'd ever been.

He sat up and removed his shirt, exposing his wide, yet, pale, chest to the hot summer sun. As long as he was outside he might as well get a tan. He laid down onto his back and his tiny brunette companion sat up with her hands on her hips and a furrow on her brow.

"Finn Hudson, just what do you think you're doing?"

He had to shield his eyes from the blinding sun, but he looked up at Rachel Berry, his friend, the girl he loved, and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. I'm kind of pale. Maybe I can get a tan."

"Not without proper protection!" She reached into her large, ornate summer tote and pulled out a sunscreen with SPF 75. "It is just plain irresponsible to expose your sensitive skin to harmful Ultraviolet rays! You could get melanoma!"

He gave her the look- the look that meant she was using words bigger than he could understand and he needed a translation. She smiled softly and rephrased. "Trying to get a tan without using sunscreen could result in skin cancer."

"Oh!" His mouth turned up in a crooked half smile while he sat up from the blanket. He took the sunscreen from her and rubbed the cream liberally onto his arms and chest. "Could you get my back, Rachel?" He turned around and faced away from her, not before catching a rosy blush that spread across her face beautifully, highlighting her shy smile and her hooded eyes.

"Sure." He could hear her pour some of the goopy cream onto her hands and suddenly, he felt small, cool, hands rubbing his shoulders and neck.

Uh-oh. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

Her hands massaged the creme into his skin in wide, relaxing circles and he felt his eyes closing of their own accord. Her simple touches were making him feel almost drunk; he was lightheaded and his breathing was becoming more and more shallow by the minute. He couldn't even stifle a low moan when she rubbed creme into the one spot where Azemio had rammed him on the 30 yard line at Football camp last week. He was pretty sure she had covered every inch of his back in sunscreen, but her small hands kept on running over his muscles, kneading them softly and making his eyes roll back into his head in pleasure.

"Finn?" Her voice was low as he hummed a small response. He was on cloud nine at the moment and didn't want to come down. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Rach. Anything." Her hands fell from his back and he almost whimpered from the loss of contact. He turned around to face her and she saw her wiping the sunscreen off on the small blanket.

"Are we dating?" She said the "d" word with hesitance and he knew exactly why. This summer hadn't been easiest for Rachel after what had happened with Jesse, and he had promised her that she could take all the time she needed to get over him.

As long as he got to hang out with her all the time. As friends of course. Even though he loved her and she knew about it. But their little arrangement turned out to be pretty perfect. Sure, they weren't making out with each other or anything, but he'd never been happier to just walk in the park or go to a fair or watch a movie. As long as it was with her.

He shrugged his shoulders and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "I don't know, Rach. I mean, you know how I feel about you." He let that hang in the air. It had been over a month since his confession of love but they rarely brought it up. They kind of treated it like it was a simple fact of life, and Finn was waiting for her to be able to move on from that fucktard St. Jackass. "Do you want to start dating?"

"Yes." He wasn't expecting her swift reply, but before he could rejoice in the fact that Rachel was finally over Jesse, she continued. "But I'm worried."

"About what?"

She looked away from him, a frown marring her perfect face. "The future."

"Pfft." He made a rude noise and she turned to him with an eyebrow raised in disbelief. He back-tracked. "What about the future? We're only 16."

"Don't you ever think of it?" A certain emotion had entered her voice that he couldn't place. Anxiety? Fear? "What's going to happen after high school? What's going to happen to us after high school?" He didn't like the way she'd said "us." Too foreboding.

"I guess so. Sometimes." He was lying. He never thought about the future; not in detail, like Rachel obviously had. "Why are you so worried about this, Rachel?"

"What is your dream, Finn? What do you think about before you go to sleep at night?"

"You." He said it on reflex, but he knew it was the truth. Yeah, maybe he did think about her and jerk-off before bed, but he was a teenage boy. He was allowed. She blushed scarlet and he twisted around his words to truly answer her question. "I think about being with you, Rachel. The only dream I've ever truly had was to get out of Lima. And I feel it in my bones; we're gonna get out of here, Rach." He reached for her hands and grasped them tightly. "You're going to be a star, and I don't care what I have to do, as long as we're together. We're gonna make our dreams come true."

A brilliant smile stretched across her face and he felt her tiny hands squeeze his. "Do you promise?"

"I promise, Rach. As long as we're together, nothing will hold us back." With this, the young starlet leaned forward and captured his lips in a kiss that made it feel like he was tanning on the surface of the sun instead of the town park. The amorous couple laid back down on the sheet, this time wrapped in each others arms, and watched the day pass in front of them in the blissful serenity of summer.

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A sharp, shrill, blaring alarm rang throughout the tiny apartment, filling the cluttered space with the signal for the start of the new day. A loud groan came from the small futon as Finn pulled back the covers and slammed his hand down onto the offending alarm. He cursed bitterly when he saw the time. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Running a tired hand over his stubbled face, he dragged himself out of bed, in a terrible mood. Of course he'd had to have that dream last night. It automatically put him on edge, and he knew today was going to be just as crappy as the last.

Yawning widely and trying to stretch out the muscles in his sore back, he walked to his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He almost wanted to run and hide from his reflection. It was plain scary. His eyes had dark circles under them and they were puffy and tired. He hadn't shaved in days? Weeks? He couldn't remember as he scratched the thick wiry hairs on his face. Should he shave today? Meh.

Instead he splashed some water on his face and wiped it off, not caring about his appearance. Why the hell should he? He had no one to impress. The thought made him even more bitter than before, when he'd woken up. He really wished he would stop having those dreams. It felt like his mind was punishing him for some reason. There was no reason in the world why he was still dreaming of Rachel Berry after all this time.

It didn't make sense to dream about a girl you hadn't seen for ten years.

Even if she'd been the love of his life.

He ran a hand over his hair while he was brushing his teeth and he almost dropped the toothbrush out of his mouth in shock. He turned his face to the side and his eyes threatened to bulge out of his skull at what he saw.

Gray hairs. Finn Hudson had a few stray gray hairs growing in on his hairline. Turning his face around to the other side, he stared in horror as he saw even more on the left side of his face then his right.

The toothbrush dropped out of his mouth and fell into the sink with a soft thud. Toothpaste was dripping out of the corners of his mouth, but he made no move to spit it out.

He was miserable. He was single, he was 30, he was going gray, he had a crap job, and he still lived in the same shitty town he had grown up in his entire life.

Finn Hudson was a Lima Loser.

And he hated himself for it.

What had happened to him? The young boy who was filled with anbitions and goals? The boy who knew what he wanted and vowed to never give up. The boy who'd made promises that he'd intended to keep. What had happened?

Rachel Berry was what happened.

But he wouldn't think about her now. It was bad enough he'd had that dream of her again. The same dream that had been haunting him for a decade. The dream that had been haunting him ever since. . .

Never-mind. It was no use in thinking about his terrible past, he had to get to work.

He pulled on his blue overalls and grabbed his tool-bag before heading out of the door and driving his busted car across town to work. He pulled out his master key as he opened up the shop.

Burt Hummel's Auto and Tire garage was where Finn had been working since he was sixteen years old. It had started out as a way for him to make money in the summertime. Then it had become his part-time job before college.

Now it was his career. He was a full time grease monkey and full-blown Lima Loser. It was everything he had never wanted for himself, all wrapped into one shitty life he couldn't stand.

He went around the garage, turning on the lights and tools and machines. He walked over to the far end of the shop, where a large mass was covered in a thick tarp. He ripped the fabric off and stared at his baby, his project; the one thing that made his life just a little less crappy.

A 1969 Pontiac Firebird. Red. Old as hell. But to him it was gorgeous. It had taken him two years of work to get to this point and it was almost done. When he'd bought the car it was total crap; everything had to be replaced, and it needed a new paint job and an engine. So he worked and saved and pinched every penny he could so he could rebuild that car. It was the last thing in his life that made him happy, and he spent another few minutes staring at his baby, hoping he would be able to afford the final paint job by next week. The car was about 90 percent done, and when it was fixed up to perfection, he was throwing everything he owned into it and running the hell away from Lima.

For good this time.

He placed the tarp back over his baby and continued opening the shop. He went into the office and started to brew a pot of coffee for Burt. He was always the first person in the shop, so he could be the first person to leave in the day. Normally he hid in the office doing paperwork while Burt talked to the customers, then he would work on a few projects. He was always getting recognized in this damn small town, another reason for the beard and the scruffy appearance. He would rather people think he was some random bum than have people know that he was the Golden Boy who had fallen from grace. It was embarrassing.

But it seemed that fate wasn't on his side, because before Burt could even show up, he had a customer in the shop, looking around for someone to help him. He begrudgingly walked to the front of the shop and almost had a heart attack at what he saw.

Will Schuester, his old Spanish teacher, glee advisor and mentor, was standing in the waiting room, staring at Finn like he'd seen a ghost.

Finn wanted to crawl in a hole and die, right then and there.

"Mr. Schue?" It was reflex, really. Twelve years had gone by since he had graduated from high school, and he still called him by his last name. Old habits die hard.

The older man squinted at Finn, his face pinched in confusion. After a tense minute where Finn felt like an awkward moron, The crinkle in his brow smoothed out and a look of recognition crossed his features. "Finn? Finn Hudson? Is that really you?"

Finn shrugged his shoulders, hating how pathetic he felt at the moment. This was exactly the reason why he hid in the back and let his step-father deal with the customers. "In the flesh." He said bitterly.

Will looked at him appraisingly and walked up to him with his arms wide open. Finn was shocked when he found himself in a crushing hug with Mr. Schue. Or Will. He should definitely be calling him Will. They weren't in high school anymore. He pat the older man on the back, and didn't feel as awkward anymore.

"What are you doing here? How have you been?" Will pulled back from him and bombarded Finn with questions he really didn't want to answer. If he was being truthful, he would have said, "I hate my life and I want to run the fuck away."

But instead, he said, "Doing fine, I guess. I work here with my step-dad. You remember, Kurt Hummel's father?"

"Yes! Your parents got married didn't they?"

"Yup, about five years ago."

"That's fantastic! And Kurt?"

Finn let out a small chuckle. His step-brother was living the life he had dreamed for himself once. "Kurt is great, actually. He lives with his husband in California where they run a party-planning business. He's really happy. I see him about twice a year." The last time he saw Kurt was the winter holidays. "He was planning on coming back to Lima during the summer, maybe we could all get together and do lunch." Hey, it was something to look forward to. . .

But a frown appeared on Will's face and he shook his head. "That's kind of why I'm here. I need my car tuned up because me and Emma are moving out of the district." Finn blanched. Mr. Schuester was moving away? Didn't he still coach the glee club at McKinley?

"You're moving?"

"Yeah, the district forced us into an early retirement so they could hire newer teachers who would work for scraps. Since we're both still kicking, we decided to move into another part of the state, to see if they had any teaching positions there."

Finn kind of felt deflated. Seeing Will had reminded him of all the fun he'd experienced in his youth, and he thought he could maybe reconnect with his old mentor. Heck, the only guy he still saw around town was Puck, and they already went drinking together every Friday night. He needed more friends.

But he was happy for Will. At least he would be able to move on.

"That's great. Good luck." He didn't sound as enthusiastic as he wanted to and Will gave him a suspicious look.

"What about you, Finn? How are you these days? Do you still talk to Rachel?" Just the simple mention of her name was enough to make Finn sick to his stomach. But it wasn't Schue's fault; they had still been dating after graduation. Will didn't know any better.

"No. I don't talk to Rachel anymore."

Will ignored his melancholy tone and started to ramble on about his old student. "You know, I've been turning on the Tony's every year since she graduated and I always expect to see her and I never do! I wonder what she's doing with herself?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully and turned back around to Finn. "Anyway, about you, Finn."

"What about me?"

Will looked around the Auto Garage and stared at Finn until he felt uncomfortable. "Are you happy?"

What a stupid fucking question! No, he wasn't happy! He was the farthest thing from happy. He was so miserable he couldn't remember what happy felt like. Normaly he sugar coated it. Slapped on a fake smile and pretended everything was perfect. But staring into the eyes of the first man in his life to ever get him to open up to anything, he let the truth pour shamelessly from his lips.

"No. No, Mr. Schue. I'm not happy." He slipped again and called him by his last name but the man didn't seem to care. "I'm miserable." He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed deeply. "I'm stuck in this shit town with this shit job and I just never thought it would be this way." Will looked sympathetic to his former student's plight. "I used to have dreams! I used to want to do things with my life, and then . . ." He let the sentence hang in the air. Then Rachel happened. Then his dreams shattered into a million pieces. ". . .I lost hope."

He was drowning in a sea of bitterness when Will clapped a strong hand onto his shoulders and brought his attention back to the present. "Listen, Finn. I know more than anyone what it's like to have dreams that never came true. But you can't give up hope. You still have time. You can't give up." He chuckled bitterly to himself and Finn stood there a bit confused. "You're too much like me, Finn. I once thought life was like a sea of torture you had to wade through your entire life. And then I was able to coach glee club, and it really changed the way I looked at the world again. I know you can do it too. Figure out what makes you happier than anything else in the world and go do it. It's never too late."

He didn't know what to say. No one had been there to encourage Finn these past ten years. Sure his Mom thought he was unhappy but did nothing to help encourage him to break the cycle. To hear the honest and truthful words coming from the one man he'd admired more than anyone else besides his step-father was the wake-up call he'd needed.

But before he could open his mouth to respond, Burt had entered the shop and walked over to where Will and Finn were standing. Will took one look at Burt and walked up to him with his hands out, re-introducing himself to him.

"Ah, yeah. I remember you. Nice to see you again, Will. Finn, go brew some coffee while I talk things over with Will. Then I need you to check the fluids on the '15 Civic that's getting picked up this morning." Finn sighed to himself, preparing himself for the tedium of the day. But Will made eye contact with him once more, and waved goodbye to Finn.

"It was great to see you, Finn. Remember what I said."

"I will, thanks. And good luck with the move." He walked away from his step-father and went straight for the back, Will's words echoing in his head. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too late. He went into the bathroom in the back of the shop and looked at himself in the mirror for the second time that morning.

He made a decision. It was time for him to pick himself off of the floor and move on. He might have been 30, and sporting gray hairs already, but he was still young! He still had his whole life ahead of him, and he needed to take Mr. Schue's advice and find something he loved. He loved his car, but he didn't love working in town. What else did he love?

It hit him like a bolt of lightning. Like an epiphany. Ambition poured through him when he realized exactly what he wanted to do with himself. His new goal. His new dream.

But first, he needed to shave.

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Salut mes amis!

Rachel's chapter is next! What is it that tore these two apart for so long?

Until Next Time. . .*sings* Don't Stop. . .Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk