This is the end, folks. Thank you to all of you who have stuck by me. There's a special note at the end, like always, that I would love for you all to read. I think I might cry. And now, we move onto the final installment of A Very Glee Reunion.

Well, you stood there with me in the doorway
My hands shake, I'm not usually this way
But you pull me in and I'm a little more brave
It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really somethin'
It's fearless
'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless
And I don't know why but with you I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless
Fearless – Taylor Swift

I must have set a packing record because I was done and out the door of my childhood home in no time. Granted, I threw everything in the suitcase and didn't even bother to fold it. To even save time, I left my dirty laundry and even wore a black lace dress from my high school days. In my defense, I did stand to look at the mirror near the door. I looked exactly as I did when I was sixteen years old in this dress. They were right when they said my ethnicity aged slowly, but even then, I knew I was different. I knew that something in me had changed.

The neighbors out watering their gardens were even startled when they saw me come out in my outfit. I really didn't care about any looks that I got now. All I wanted to do was to get to my rental car so that I can leave. I needed to run and I needed to be quick about it. With the remote, the doors opened with ease and I threw everything I could into the backseat. There would be time for replacing if anything needed to be replaced.

I choked back a sob when I turned on the engine of my car. I couldn't cry, I wouldn't even dare to cry lest I wanted to be immobilized. I knew I was leaving my heart behind, but it was for the best, right? We both had lives that we couldn't give up—he had his kids, the Glee club would be lost without him and I wouldn't dare take him away from what he loved doing. I had a life up in New York. My job wasn't very secure—any minute a new writer could swoop in and take everything that I had worked so hard to get. I needed to do this—it wasn't a guarantee that Finn and I would be together forever, but our separate lives guaranteed that we wouldn't be. I lived by guarantees. Risks weren't my thing.

I made the hour and a half drive to Dayton in an hour flat—bobbing and weaving in and out of lanes on the interstate. I knew I was living up to a stereotype, but did it really matter now that I was? Sure, I had worked hard to establish myself away from that, but there were times when stereotypes needed to happen.

And I sound like a right old hypocrite right now, really.

Who was I to talk about stereotypes when I was in the middle of one right now? I, a workaholic who had cut all ties with her roots, came back to the place where she grew up and fell in love with one of the most popular boys in school. I was a walking cliché. So why was it that I felt the need to just justify every single one of my actions if it makes me sound like a total bimbo in the middle of it all?

I groaned out after I returned my rental car. The next flight to John F. Kennedy International wouldn't be for another hour or so, so the only thing I could do was sit and wait. My knee bounced in agitation. I wanted to just be done with this place already—but even I couldn't escape the memory from last night. I was drunk, yes, but I acted out of my own accord. It was what I wanted, not what the alcohol wanted. I had begged him, moaned for him, and told him everything that he wanted was his, not the alcohol. And even then when I thought I could put it in the back of my mind, I was reminded because I was still so deliciously sore.

"Great", I muttered to myself, holding my purse close. My ticket was in my hand and I kept staring at it, hoping that if I did, the time would pass by quicker than it was. It was as if someone up there was torturing me with this—or was it me that couldn't just accept fate and just roll with the wind instead of just trying to push through what I felt like should happen?

"Tina", I heard a voice and looked up. There in front of me was Rachel Berry and Jesse St. James; both were tugging at their luggage. I offered the married couple a smile. "Hi", I meekly said before they both took seats beside me, me in the middle. Oh great, was this an intervention?

Rachel's eyes darted to my ticket and I could immediately tell from her body language that she was disappointed in me for not staying. She even gave a look to Jesse and he nodded. I wanted that—that silent communication between lovers and I instantly knew that I had given it up when I left Finn back at his apartment. I couldn't do it—not to myself. I couldn't bear to have my heart broken.

That was the real reason. I couldn't help but feel that this was some sick cruel joke and a stab at another dream of mine. That was why I felt so inclined to hold onto my job. It was one of the dreams that had worked out in my favor. I couldn't do that to myself. Receiving disappointment time and time again had taken a toll on me. I learned my lessons, why didn't I put them into good use.

"It's a shame you're leaving", St. James said beside me. I nodded my answer to him and watched as people tried to get a closer look at the three of us. Did it matter that an international movie star and his wife were catching up with an old friend but did they have to document and talk about it while watching it? "You're going back to New York?" I nodded at him again.

"You know, Tina. I was very looking forward to talking with you about tonight. Jesse and I were going to offer you a proposition", Rachel injected, smiling wide at me. I gave her a fake one in return, hoping she didn't notice. I didn't speak, but she went on anyway. "We were hoping if you would co-author a book with us. It would be about both of our journeys and our decision to come back and live in Lima instead of New York."

I furrowed my brow before turning to Rachel. Why was she giving up what she wanted so badly just to move back? Hadn't she realized that she had worked so hard, that she got what she wanted and now she was throwing all of it away? "Why", I asked her, out of curiosity—a pang of jealousy to my voice.

"Because", she began, holding her hand out to Jesse and leaving her other on her stomach. I hadn't noticed before, but she was wearing awfully flowy clothes—still designer, of course. "When you're in love, you'd do anything for that person. Yes, my dreams were realized and when they were, I was done. I wanted others and Jesse fulfills them for me. I'm in love, Tina, and there's nothing in the world what I would be than to be Mrs. Jesse St. James and the mother of our children."

I was an idiot, I was a fool. I shook my head at her words and instantly, every tear that I was holding back, every word that I wanted to say to everyone spilled out. I told them both how much had happened in these two weeks and how much more that I love Finn Hudson more than anything in the world but I couldn't bear it to myself to have that crushed just like everything else. They both soothed to the best that they could and I appreciated them for it, but I knew what I had to do—that was, until Jesse's next words brought me out of my thoughts.

"What do you want more, Cohen-Chang? Your job, where you'd be alone for the rest of your life, or your one true love whose probably just as upset as you are right now? What you're dreaming is reality if you choose to embrace it, so go do it. Stop sitting on your ass and be a badass."

I stood up, and I winced slightly at the abrupt shift in my muscles. It was about damn time that I stood up for myself and I was truly inspired at Jesse's words. And if he kept Rachel away from Finn, so be it. I was going to back, I was going to beg for forgiveness and I hoped that Finn would take me back.

"You guys are right", I explained as I turned to them both. "When you're in love, love's a dream and you always have to shoot to them. Just because it's a dream, doesn't mean it can't be real."

The both of them showed me identical smiles and I realized that they both were the same person at the moment, two bodies but one soul—they were soul mates, musical soul mates, just like Finn was mine.

But my elation was short lived. I had no way to get back—I had depleted my bank account when I bought my ticket and there was no way I could return it now. I was definitely screwed if I wanted to go back to Lima. Rachel, sensing my problem stood up and put an arm around me. "We're taking our private jet to Lima Municipal Airport after this. We just had to stop at Dayton to clear customs. Jesse and I were in Aruba for two weeks. Would you like to come with us?"

They didn't have to ask me twice. My luggage would be mailed to my apartment when I wouldn't show up to get it. There were more important reasons this time to go back to Lima. I needed to get Finn back.

"It sucks, guys", Finn Hudson explained to the five males in front of him. He had his hands in his pockets while he explained all that had happened to him. They were in all in Puckerman's bar, drinking while their respective others mingled with the other gleeks. So far, the Glee reunion consisted of the people that were still around the Ohio area, and that still had contact with each other. "I love her and she's gone."

A groan escaped Puck as he handed Finn another beer from behind the bar. He closed it for today, or rather, Rachel and Jesse had rented it out for the day. "So you had a good fuck, Finn. That doesn't mean that you love her."

"But it doesn't mean that he doesn't not love her", Sam interjected before taking a sip of his own.

"Tina's something", Artie spoke from his wheelchair, shrugging his shoulders while looking up at everyone. "She's stubborn and hard headed, very straight forward."

Mike nodded in agreement. "Dead set on what is reality instead of what could be reality."

"What I don't understand is why you didn't run after her."

Everyone turned their heads to Kurt as he spoke, he with a martini in his hand. Kurt didn't speak much when he was around the other males, but when he did; he usually talked a mean bit of sense. Finn was about to answer his step-brother before he was interrupted by a ringing near the door.

The door opened this time and Rachel Berry walked in with her husband in her arm, everyone saying their hellos before dispersing again. Not everyone was on good terms with Jesse St. James, the look on Noah Puckerman's face confirmed that, but what was done was done. There wasn't anything that anyone could do.

And he really couldn't complain. He had both Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce on his arm for tonight.

"I did", Finn pointed out before downing half of his beer. The best cure for any hangover or a broken heart was to keep drinking. Sure, he had spent most of his day with his Glee club, getting ready for the tribute song that they had planned for this occasion so he couldn't do much. "Ask Puck. I even had him come get me so that I could see if she took her rental car back and went over to her house. When I got there, dude, my car was there, but hers wasn't. She's gone, for good." No one had noticed the ringing that came again.

"Now, I wouldn't say that."

"Now, I wouldn't say that". I spoke out, walking to the six boys slowly. My heels clacked against the tile of the bar as I walked; every pair of eyes was on me. Yes, I did look a tad overdressed in my black lace Markus Lupfer long sleeved mini dress, but it was for a special occasion. And with Rachel's coaxing, I went back to the salon and got the blue streaks put back into my hair. Truly unprofessional of me, but did I really need to be professional for what I was going to do?

But with renewed confidence, I stood next to Finn, looking up to him still. There was a look of hard stone on his face and I couldn't blame him, I couldn't blame him for being so mad at me. But I needed to speak my piece, declare what I needed and if he was done with me, so be it.

"Finn", I began, my voice was tentative and breaking from all of the nerves that I accumulated. "Co-could we talk, maybe?" My stutter returned then, how lovely.

"Why? I thought you said enough this morning."

I expect that reply from him, but what I didn't expect was that everyone would be listening in. If there ever was an audience, I guess it should be for this. Look, I just now fulfilled my dream of becoming an entertainer. How lovely.

"Finn, please", I begged of him and before he could speak, I spouted out what I was feeling. I said everything from what happened when we first met to last night. I said everything what I was feeling and everything that needed to be said from me. By the time, I was done, it was like I was winded, my legs couldn't keep me up anymore and all I wanted to do was pass out. I held onto the bar for assistance, because I knew no one was moving to help me anytime soon.

"Wow", he spoke and I scoffed. If that was all I could get from him, why did I even bother? "You need this more than I do", he said, offering me the last half of his beer. I took it gratefully and drank a sip to wet my mouth. "Thanks", I said just as quietly has I had spoken before. My head tilted at him, waiting at him to speak, to say anything—but even then, I realized that he wasn't going to. Even so much that I hoped that he'd feel the same, I there was a part in me that knew that it wasn't reciprocal. He was a man, and even men needed their itched scratched every once in a while. I was just a notch in his bed post, wasn't I?

I nodded once, putting the beer on the table before turning around. I was fully intent on walking out the door before a hand stopped me. It was those same hands that were all over me last night. I had to turn back, look straight into his eyes and silently with him to say something or just let me go.

But he didn't say something—he didn't say anything. All he did was brought his head down to sweep me into a kiss, much like the first one that we shared. It was rough, fiery, and passionate and I loved every minute of it. I stood on my toes to return the kiss; and in that instant, we had nothing to say to each other. Everything that needed to be said was in that kiss. It moved me, it moved others and soon the tears that were threatening to spill did—but they were in elation instead of sadness.

It took ages before we both pulled away; everyone looking at us in adoration—but it didn't matter. All I had were eyes for Finn and he kept his attention towards me and me alone. "I love you too", he told me, confirming what was elusive to me and I instantly moved to kiss him again. It didn't matter anymore, I was his and he was mine. The future could be dealt with later, but right now, I was elated in realizing my dream with Finn Hudson.

And I couldn't have been any happier in my life.

"What are you doing", Finn wrapped his arms around Tina, looking at the computer screen in front of his girlfriend. It was three weeks after the reunion and they didn't leave each other's side for anything except for Finn leaving for work.

"Editing my last story for the New Yorker", she replied, a small smile to her face as she patted his hands once. "I start my job at the college tomorrow and I need to be prepared, Finn", she laughed, turning over to press her lips to his once.

"Do you regret coming to Lima the month ago then, if you're still writing for the New Yorker?"

Tina shook her head, a soft smile to her face. "No, I don't."

And they lived happily ever after.

There it is: the ending to A Very Glee Reunion. It wasn't much of a Glee reunion, but that was the title I could come up with. Anyway, I would like to thank everyone who had read and reviewed this fic and stuck with it through the eight days I wrote it. But there are some special thanks I needed to sort out.

Thank you to my friends, every single one of you had encouraged me to write this little piece and in the end, I dedicate all of this to you. You guys are my inspiration and sticking with me while I planned each and every chapter for you all. This, all of this, is for Alicia, Lindsay, Stephanie, Leah, Rachel, Kaitlyn, Dakota, Bridget, Neera, and Hannah.

Thank you to aprettyfacelies for reviewing this as much as she did. It made this aspiring writer happy.

Thank yous also go out to Kasia, OnEgNBiGgLeEk, LeggoxMyxEggo, and CaptainVocke.

I may write up an epilogue sometime in the future, so keep an eye out for it.

Love always
btwbbyilysm