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: Sorry about the lack of updates but my mother was in the hospital and family always comes first. She's much better now, so we're back in business. Enjoy the final chapter of Out of Time!

Chapter Eight: The Explosion

Finn's heart was pounding harder than he'd ever felt before as he stood in Sue's office, completely helpless while Quinn attached the bomb around his midriff, sealing his fate as the mystery bomber who had destroyed his entire life in a single moment. One of Sue's bodyguards was standing behind him with a gun to his head, so there was no point in struggling or trying to escape. He had always wondered who the tall man had been, that horrifying day ten years past. It was a sick kind of symmetry that he was the one who had caused it, and thus consequently tried to solve it.

While Quinn was busy strapping the wires onto his person, he couldn't help but lock eyes with Rachel, who was standing on the far side of Sue's office with a big beefy bodyguard standing at her side. He wished that she'd listened to him and escaped instead of walking to her death, but there was nothing more he could do for her now. He had failed her in every single way, and now he could see the unshed tears glistening in her eyes from his position as they both faced the inevitable truth.

There was no way to stop the attack from happening.

He'd failed his mission.

"Quinn, I'm begging you, please don't do this," Rachel pleaded to the blond with anguish in her tone, but Quinn dismissed it with a sharp shake of the head.

"Shut up, Berry, it won't matter for much longer anyway." The bitterness in her tone was too heavy to ignore and it gave him chills. How could Quinn go through with the plan? How could she just stand by and watch her whole world be destroyed again.

"You know there's no way back after this, Quinn," he said, his voice so low that not even the guards could hear him. "You could stop this, you know you can. You can't let Sue win. All she's ever done was fight against us, even when we were back in glee club. It's not too late for you, Quinn. You can give yourself the life you should have had all along. You can save us all." For a moment, Quinn stopped attaching the wires around his chest and locked eyes with Finn, who stared into her good eye, hoping she would understand. For a moment, he saw a softness behind her gaze that he hadn't seen in years, and for a moment he thought he might have broken through to her.

However, he was only fooling himself, because instead of responding to his final request, Quinn continued with her task until the bomb was completely strapped onto Finn's torso. He squirmed under the unfamiliar weight of it, and it was awkward, lumpy, and horribly uncomfortable. When he looked into her eyes again, all the emotion he had seen there was now gone, replaced with nothing but hatred. She pressed a button on the center console and the timer came to life, flashing zeros as all of Finn's hopes were dashed in an instant.

"Put this on," Quinn commanded as he threw him a large, black trench coat. As he slipped it on over his body and the homemade bomb, he felt a sickening sense of deja vu that shook him to the core. He really was the bomber. The coat looked exactly as he'd remembered it.

With armed bodyguards surrounding them at all sides, Rachel looked terrified as they were slowly led towards the gymnasium and he reached over to squeeze her hand tightly. The fear in her eyes was too prominent to ignore and he was on the verge of panicking. He wanted to get her out of here so badly, but it was too late. There was no escape.

"I'm sorry, Rachel," was all he could say to the girl that he had failed over and over again. His whole life had been dedicated to stopping this tragedy, when in reality he was the one who had caused it.

"Don't be, Finn. You did everything you could."

"It wasn't enough." She looked like she wanted to argue, but before he could speak Quinn came up behind her with a loaded gun pointed right at the back of her head. Rachel's eyes shot open from the shock of the cold metal on her skin and Finn was helpless to prevent any of it.

"Let her go!" He could hear the opening measures to Pomp and Circumstance and knew that the ceremony had already begun. They had minutes left to spare before he blew up the entire school.

"No way. She's my collateral, just in case you decide to be a hero." She cocked the gun and Finn saw a single tear fall from Rachel's eye. "Get up on that stage, Finn. Now." Rachel's fear was so thick it was stifling him as he made up his mind to complete the task at hand. Maybe if Quinn kept her behind the scenes, Rachel would be safer. In any case, he was out of options as Quinn nodded towards the entrance.

With his resolve already set, he opened the doors to the gymnasium and sealed his own fate forever as he walked towards the stage.

Sitting in the uncomfortable chairs of the gymnasium, and fidgeting wildly in his bright red graduation gown, Finn couldn't stop worrying as he searched around the room for the familiar sight of Rachel. They had been separated for about 10 minutes and he was starting to get worried. Was she with his future counterpart? Had they figured out a way to stop the attack?

"Finn, what's your problem? You need to relax before you start getting stress acne." Kurt was sitting next to him since they were seated in alphabetical order, and even he could notice how visibly upset Finn was at the moment. He ignored his step-brother and continued searching for Rachel in the crowd. If they had stopped the attack, he certainly couldn't tell; the gym was quickly filling up with people and Figgins was starting to command everyone's attention so they could begin. He was so nervous he couldn't focus on anything other than finding Rachel and didn't notice when the doors started to close from the outside. Rachel was still nowhere to be found when the band started playing the intro to Pomp and Circumstance and Finn was now officially freaking out.

He spotted Sue sitting cross-legged on the stage, a small smirk playing at the corners of her lips while Finn simmered quietly with rage. If he didn't get proof that the bomb threat was stopped in thirty seconds, he was going to stand up and say something, damn everyone's reaction. He started to pump himself up, like he was heading out on the field for a championship game-winning play, and took a deep breath before working up the nerve to stand up in his seat.

No one noticed him however, because at that very moment the back doors to the gym opened up, and a tall man in a long black trench coat started to walk up the aisle towards the stage.

"No," he whispered under his breath as the tall man passed by his row. The man looked up at him for a fraction of a second and when they locked eyes he didn't know whether to scream or run.

It was him. His future self was staring him right in the eye and the shock of it all was practically crippling him. Rachel was still nowhere to be seen and Finn's heart started to race.

"Save her," was all that the scarred man said as he walked past him, and Finn's blood was frozen in his veins at the implication. Rachel was obviously in trouble and he needed to do something, but what?

The man in black approached the stage while Finn stood there, almost mute from the shock of the situation. This was really happening and the reality of the situation made him snap as his body started running on auto-pilot.

"Bomb!"He yelled, scaring both himself and the people sitting around him. All the heads in his vicinity turned to face him with varying looks of confusion while Kurt elbowed him in the ribs, hard.

"What do you think you're doing?" He hissed, but Kurt went ignored as he took a deep breath and screamed it again.

"That man has a bomb!" Standing up and pointing at the man who was still slowly approaching the stage, the crowd erupted into a cacophony of screams that deafened him while the audience began to panic. His future self continued to walk forward towards Sue, while he got lost in the panicked crowd.

"Stop! Wait!" Sue started to yell as the crowd quickly got to their feet and headed for the escape exits, only to find them all blocked by Sue's guards and locked from the outside. She had trapped them all with no way out. He looked at the stage and his future self was still walking towards Sue with a purpose. Was the bomb really going to explode now? Should he run? Where was Rachel?

Time moved in slow motion as he watched as his future self walked towards Sue, holding his coat closed until they were standing face to face. The scarred man curled his lip up in disgust and opened up the coat to reveal the bomb.

"Die, you bitch!" He yelled before revealing the bomb to the screaming crowd. He closed his eyes and watched as his life flashed before his eyes. There was a beat of silence where both Finns waited for the explosion to come, but a moment later when he re-opened his eyes, he was still standing in his red gown in the middle of a panicked crowd.

Nothing had happened. The bomb didn't go off. His future self was staring down at the bomb and the timer was nothing but flashing zeros.

Before he could figure out what was going on, a loud gunshot echoed off the walls and brought the entire gymnasium to a standstill. Finn looked up on the stage in horror as Quinn pulled Rachel by her hair with the gun still pointing at her head, and a collective gasp of shock rang through the frightened crowd.

"Nobody move!" Quinn pointed the gun at the ceiling again and let out another shot before returning it to Rachel's temple. She looked terrified and her fear only intensified his as he absorbed the situation. The bomb was attached to his future self and Rachel was standing right in it's path. It was never supposed to be like this! He had to find a way to get her away from Quinn. "You're not going anywhere. The doors are locked from the outside."

"Oh!" Sue cried dramatically from her position on the stage. She was a terribly poor actor. "What is the meaning of this?" Suddenly, instead of pointing the gun at Rachel again, Quinn turned around and glared at Sue with her good eye while she slowly pointed the gun towards her, shocking everyone both on stage and in the crowd.

"I think you know what this is about, Sue." her voice was shaking almost as much as the gun. "Tell them. Tell them the truth about how you planned to have them all killed."

Well, he definitely was not expecting that.

To say that Rachel was scared at the moment was an understatement. In reality, she was so terrified that she could barely support her own weight. The barrel of the gun was pressed hard into her temple and it was still hot from all the bullets that Quinn had already fired. All she wanted to do was run, but her body had frozen from fear and Quinn still had a murderous grip on her in point blank range.

At the moment, however, she was more concerned with the bomb that was still attached to Finn's torso, and wondered why it hadn't gone off yet. Finn looked just as confused as she did and she could see the other Finn in the crowd from the corner of her eye, dressed in his red gown and looking more scared than she'd ever seen him. Sue was frozen at center stage, staring out into the audience who was still in a mild state of panic.

"Tell them, Sue!" Quinn continued and pressed the gun even deeper into her temple. She let out a whimper of pain as the pressure began to build. "Tell them or I'll shoot her right here." She threatened as she cocked the gun.

"No!" Came the harsh cry from both Finns; she saw her Finn in the crowd, dressed in his red cap and gown, trying to push through the crowd and make it to the stage. The other Finn stayed perfectly still, lest he provoke Quinn, but she could see the panic swirling in his eyes.

Sue smirked evilly; her eyes glistening with hate as her innocent demeanor changed instantly. "Do it, Quinn. They're all going to die anyway in a few minutes from the bomb, so why not get started early?" The crowd gasped in unison as the truth fell from Sue's lips. Sue started to walk forward, towards her and Quinn, and Rachel could almost feel Quinn's defenses crumbling as Sue used her powerful influence against her. "Come on, Q. It's me. I've always taken care of you and I plan on doing it again." The softness in her tone disappeared as quickly as it came. "Now follow the plan and set off the damn bomb already!"

"No," Quinn said firmly and pushed Rachel away from her so she could hold the gun with both hands, pointing it directly at Sue. She was momentarily falling until a pair of strong arms grabbed her around her waist, and bright red was the only color she could see as Finn steadied her on her feet. He pulled her away from the stage, into the chaos of the crowd, but her eyes were still locked on Quinn, Sue and the Finn on stage, who still had the dormant bomb strapped to his chest.

"All my life, you've done nothing to help other people. You promised to take care of me but the only thing you ever did was turn me into this." She waved at her face and looked out into the crowd. Rachel and her made eye contact for a split second and then her focused returned to Sue. "I want the entire world to know that you're a cold, psychopathic monster, and I'm not going to let you hurt the people I love ever again. It ends here. Tell them all the truth or I will shoot you."

Sue looked around the crowd and Rachel hadn't even realized that the chaos had calmed down into complete and total silence. The rest of the graduating class, the faculty and all the student's family members stared at Sue with nothing but hate and disgust written plainly on their features. Sue started to back up slowly, looking around her as the crowd started to move forward. There was booing that steadily grew louder until Sue suddenly bolted for the door, trying to run from the mob of people she had just tried to kill.

The police officers that surrounded the building were no longer under Sue's command now that the truth was out, and they grabbed her the second she tried to escape from the gym. While Rachel wanted to bask in the glory of success, there was still a major problem at hand.

Quinn and Finn were still on stage, and now the cops wanted them, too

It was a bittersweet kind of victory for Finn as he stood on stage, watching the cops haul Sue away in handcuffs. For the first time in ten years, he felt vindicated. He had succeeded in his mission, even though it was Quinn who had orchestrated the entire thing.

All that mattered was that his friends and family was alive, which meant one thing.

His mission was complete.

He no longer belonged in this world.

Quinn and him were the only people left on the stage when he noticed the other cops rushing into the gymnasium with their weapons pointing directly at the two time-travelers, and their options were very slim. He could see Rachel from his peripheral vision and she was safe with his younger self; exactly where she was supposed to be. Now she could have the life that was once stolen from her; it was all he had ever wanted.

There was only one more thing left to do.

"So, you have any bright ideas now, Quinn?" He whispered as the police surrounded the stage. Quinn had her weapon still raised at the officers but she reached into her pocket for a simple remote control. They made eye contact with one another and the decision was already made. It was their only option and they both knew it.

"Follow my lead. I've disabled the bomb for now, but I can still make it go off whenever I want." Quinn said, under her breath while she started to step backwards towards the exit. "Let us pass," she yelled to the cops that surrounded them.

"Put your weapons down and get down on the ground!" An officer ordered, but they both ignored his request.

"Let us pass or else this school is going up in flames." She pressed the button on the remote and the bomb came to life, the timer changing from the flashing zeros to 2:00 minutes. His heart started to sync up to the ticking of the timer and he knew in his heart that this was the right thing to do.

Suddenly he heard a scream from the crowd and saw Rachel trying to move towards the stage, her arms stretched out as if she were trying to reach him. Luckily, his younger counterpart was there to hold her back, and she collapsed into the safety of his arms when she realized what had to happen now. He smiled warmly, thinking about the life that they would have together, and the hapiness they would share.

His conscience was clear. There were no more regrets.

"Everybody move! We have a live explosive!" The crowd quickly parted as Finn started to walk out of the gymnasium, the clock still ticking as Quinn followed him with the gun still raised for some cover. Once they were clear of the doors, they started running towards the football feild at full speed as the timer ticked past 30 seconds. They knew this was all the time they had left and were happy they didn't have to go through their final mission alone. As the clock ticked down from 00:10 seconds they held hands and when Finn looked at Quinn for the final time there was an actual smile on her face. For a moment, she was beautiful again.

"Thank you, Quinn. For saving them."

"No," she said sweetly, the ghost of the girl she once was. "Thank you, Finn. For saving me."

And then, they were no more.

It took all summer for Rachel to get over the death of his future self. They had followed the cops outside, along with most of the crowd to see the epic explosion and Rachel had been inconsolable for days, refusing to even look at him. It was hard for him to come to grips with the reality of what had happened those few days before graduation, and sometimes he wondered if it were all a crazy kind of dream. But when Rachel looked tearfully into his eyes and started to stroke the unmarred skin of his face, he knew that it was all true. His future self had come back and sacrificed himself so Rachel could live. It really did sound like something he would do when he thought about it, late at night when he couldn't sleep.

However, now that his future self was gone, Rachel was struggling with her greif over the situation. He wanted to be there for her and support her, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous. Had Rachel fallen for his future self? Was he now second best compared to the overwhelming feat of heroism that his future counterpart had accomplished?

The thought depressed him more and more as summer quickly passed them by. It was now August and their departure dates for college were only days away. They had barely mentioned it all summer, but the threat of it was there, and now it was looming closer than ever. In fact, Finn had already started packing, and his room was a veritable sty when he looked up to see Rachel standing in his doorway in a simple summer dress. She smiled softly before entering, going over to his closet and pulling out his Titans jacket.

"Are you going to take your letterman's jacket to college with you? You're playing for the Purdue team now and high school football seems a bit mediocre in comparison, don't you think?"

He grinned as he recognized the playful tone in her voice. She hadn't been this cheerful in a long while. "You just want to steal my jacket cause you want to wear it around New York. Admit it."

"Guilty," she said as she slipped it on and pushed up the sleeves. It practically swam on her, but he always thought it was adorable. She brought the lapel up to her nose and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. "It smells like you." They made eye contact and he could see the unshed tears swimming there as she tried to maintain composure. Her voice was shaky and unsteady when she spoke again. "We're going to try and make this work, right?"

"Of course, baby," he said as he pulled her into his arms. She buried herself into his chest and nuzzled her head against him. "I'm going to call you every day and we'll fly to Lima for the holidays and I'll come to New York for Spring Break. It will be great."

"I just don't want to lose you again." He winced when he interpreted the hidden meaning. She was still thinking about the other Finn when she said those words.

"Rachel," he gently pushed her away from him so he could look into her watery eyes."I know you cared about him. I get it. But I'm not going anywhere. The other me came back here to make sure that we had the life we deserved and I'm ready to start it with you. College is just the first step but I want this to work. We have to make this work, not just for us, but for the Finn who'd sacrificed it all just so you can live. He wouldn't want you to mourn him forever, because now we can finally be happy." He leaned down and gently placed his lips on hers, coaxing her mouth open until their tongues met in a searing kiss that reminded them of their true feelings for one another. No matter how far away they might be, they would always love each other, and nothing, not even fate, could stop it.

"I love you, Finn." She whispered as they broke apart for air.

"I love you too, Rachel." He kissed the top of her forehead. "Until the ends of time."

THE END

Merci mille fois, mes amis!