Don't own Glee, if I did, Finn and Rachel would have had a bunch of kids with Kurt and Blaine as their Godparents by now. Oh and yeah, Cory would always wear uniforms of all kinds and he would always be rocking his scruff.

…::::…..

You're here before

Couldn't look you in the eye

You're like an angel

Your skin makes me cry

i.

He is happy with his new apartment.

It isn't big – it has a bedroom, a bathroom, a tiny kitchen and another small room for every other purpose. But it's cozy and decorated nicely, nothing too flamboyant, too bright. He likes the atmosphere it brings, the vintage wallpaper, the grey curtains with purple stripes, the empty flower vase and the grey sofa. It fits him, really. The thing he loves most about the apartment is the location. It's on the rooftop of a small and old New York building, the kind of building with beautiful decorative details at the entrance, the kind of building that speaks New York. He has a thing for vintage; he just didn't know it before. He loves how it is almost always so peaceful and quite here, the people in the building seem to care about nothing but themselves. It's fine to him, really, he prefers it that way. Being a writer, he loves being able to live in his own little world, occasionally, the noise from the busy streets will wake him up and on a lucky day, he will be able to find something to be his muse, something for him to write about, to be passionate about, to love. At the age of 23, he has published two books – nothing too racy or too boring, they were all adequate.

He lights a cigarette and steps to the balcony, gazing at the shining stars above. His mother always said that stars were people who had gone to heaven. He wonders if it was true or not, if it was, his father must be up there somewhere.

A noise suddenly pulls him away from his thoughts.

"Meow…"

He turns around and sees a pair of green eyes staring at him.

"Hey there…" – He smiles at the cat, notices how his body is trembling. It must be the New York wind.

He puts out the cigarette, bends down to pat the cat's head, chuckles as it rubs its head in his rough hand.

"You seem to like it a lot, huh?" – He coos, then picks up the little thing and takes a good look at it – "Male."He then notices a pendant around its neck. "Barbra?" He furrows his eyebrows in confusion, looks at the cat sympathetically, "Who would name a male cat Barbra?"

The cat mews in response, as if it was agreeing with whatever he says.

"You don't like that name, do you?"

Suddenly, someone knocks on his door, abruptly ends his bonding time with Barbra.

He looks at his watch and is surprised to see it's almost midnight. As he's making his way to the door, he can't help but wonder who it may be, and he plays scenarios in his head, suspecting the worst.

He opens it slightly and sees a familiar face of a man – he can't recall him, but he is certain they have met before.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

The man adjusts his glasses nervously and speaks up:

"Hello, my name is Hiram Berry. I am terribly sorry for disturbing you at this time."

"I'm Finn, it's can I help you?"

"My daughter's cat has gone missing, and she's been sick for a couple of days but she won't go back to bed until we find him and…"

As Hiram's explaining, the cat jumps off from Finn's embrace and rushes through the door. A little girl appears from behind Hiram and the little thing immediately jumps into her arms.

"Barbra! See, Daddy, I knew he was here! I knew it!"

"Erm…" – Hiram points at the little girl and tells Finn, "This is my daughter, Rachel."

Hearing her name, the girl turns around and looks at Finn with the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen.

She extends her little hand to Finn, and he chuckles as he takes it.

"My name is Rachel Barbra Berry, ten years old, future Broadway star."

Finn cocks one of his eyebrows at her, and then looks at her father.

"She's quite ambitious for her own good." – Hiram smiles and picks his daughter up, who is holding the cat so tight Finn's actually concerned for its safety.

Finn looks at the girl again, and smiles at her: "I'm Finn Christopher Hudson, free-lance writer."

"What does it mean?"

"It means that I can write whatever I like, for whomever I want."

"That's quite intriguing."

"Are you sure you're ten?"

Rachel giggles at Finn's words, yawns a little bit.

"Okay, sweetie, let's put you to bed. Thank you, Mr. Hudson."

"Oh, please, call me Finn. I insist. I'm not that old."

"Thank you, Mr. Finn!" – Rachel smiles, eyes closed, and Finn suddenly feels unexplainable warmth rushing through his heart as he looks at her.

"Be good, Broadway star. I'll see you around."

Hiram nods at Finn then with Rachel, already fallen asleep in his arms, walks away. Finn watches until the two figures disappear down the stairs.

ii.

The second time Finn sees her, she's crying at the bottom of the stairs.

At first he didn't recognize her, until she looks up at him. He can never mistake those gorgeous eyes anywhere.

He puts the groceries bag aside and kneels down in front of her:

"Hey, Rachel, right? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Finn looks at her closely to find any signs of injury and is glad to find nothing.

"What does the word faggot mean?"

Finn furrows his eyebrows, "Rachel, it's a bad word, you shouldn't be saying that! Who told you that?"

"Some kids at school" – She sobs out the words, her eyes are red and puffy – "They say that my Daddy is a faggot. They say that it's disgusting."

Finn sighs, the world is as shitty as ever.

"Hey, your father is a great man, okay? You don't listen to those kids, ever, alright?"

"They call me crazy, too. Am I crazy?"

"Yeah, you are."

She begins to cry harder.

Finn tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and asks softly:

"But you know what?"

Rachel slowly shakes her head as Finn puts both his hands on her shoulder:

"All the best people are."

Rachel widens her eyes in surprise, then nods her head and stands up. Finn hands her a tissue to wipe the tears off her face, and a couple of minutes later, she begins to talk animatedly about her other friends at school, about a pretty girl named Quinn who shares her food with Rachel, about a kid named Noah who likes to pull at her ponytail but he's actually nice to her, about her favorite teacher, Mr. Shue. Finn listens to every word she says, and he finds himself talking to her too. About his books, about his favorite songs, movies, about her cat and how he doesn't understand why she names a male cat Barbra. She just shrugs and tells him that the cat likes that name. He laughs as she tells him that she maybe developing a gift, like Doctor Doolittle. He says he doesn't know that movie and she looks scandalized, she tells him he's missing out on too much. He laughs again and really, he thinks she's much more mature than he ever was at her age.

They stop talking as she reaches her apartment. Hiram opens the door and he seems surprised to see Finn again. As Rachel goes straight into the house to find Barbra, Finn tells Hiram the story Rachel told him and watches as the man slowly nods his head, a tear rolls down on his face. He thanks Finn and offers him a cup of tea.

"Thanks,but I've got work to do, so, maybe next time."

iii.

The next time Finn sees her, she's helping her Daddy with all the little boxes in front of the building.

"Hey, Broadway star, what are you doing there?" – He smiles at her as he takes the box from her and helps her carry it to the truck.

"We're moving to Chicago." – Rachel says, eyes at the ground.

"Chicago? Why?" – He can't help but feel his heart sinks a little at her words.

"Daddy's got a big promotion – which he says is a very good thing. Mr. Finn…"

Rachel tugs at his sleeve, and looks up at him with sad eyes:

"Is Chicago beautiful? I mean, Daddy said it was, but maybe he was just saying it, you know, because he wants me to just be happy." – Sometimes, Rachel is way too smart to be 10.

He kneels in front of her and gives her a genuine smile:

"It's called Windy City, did you know that? It's a really great place, I've lived there before actually. It's not the same as New York, but it's nice. You'll like it."

"Will I see you again, Mr. Finn?"

"One day, maybe."

"Cross your heart?"

Finn nods and crosses his heart.

"Cross my heart."

Rachel beams at him and runs to her father's car as he's calling for her.

Finn watches as the car disappears at the corner of the busy street of New York.

One day is almost the same as never.

Almost.

Tbc

A/N:

I'm a rainbow person in real life (no, seriously, I'm as high as a kite all the time)but I don't know how to write rainbows(TT^TT), I tried, but failed epically, so I do what I do better, writing angst!

Please, my beautiful, gorgeous readers, I need to see your reviews pop up on my screen! More reviews, more viewers, the happier I am, the better I write!

"Creep" by Radiohead, oh my God, what a beautiful song!

I kinda stole a line from "Alice in Wonderland"(_"_). I couldn't help it!

Thank you! Til next time!(^v^)