Title: Fog
Fandom: Glee
Author:
klutzy_girl Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,155
Characters/Pairings: Finn, Puck, Quinn, Shelby, past Finn/Rachel, mentions of Will/Emma
Spoilers: Up to Journey.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: Future fic. After wife Rachel dies, Finn is left in a fog. He can't figure out what to do next.
Finn Hudson is in a fog. He has been ever since the doctor came into the waiting room and informed him that his wife was never going to wake up again. He doesn’t remember much after that. Puck said he passed out and it took awhile to wake him up.
A drunk driver came out of nowhere when Rachel was on her way home from work and hit the car head on. According to the doctor, she had suffered massive head injuries and internal bleeding. There was no saving her.
He didn’t know what to do without Rachel. They had been together since Regionals. That had been fifteen years ago. They had just started talking about starting a family. It wasn’t fair that Finn lost her. He wants her back.
Finn’s never going to see her walk into the house again. Rachel’s never going to sing or sleep in their bed. They won’t make love anymore. She won’t ramble on about her dads or Shelby or New Directions or pretty much anything else ever again. Rachel rambling on endlessly about her day was Finn’s favorite part of the day if Finn’s being truthful.
In the two weeks since Rachel’s death, there have been a lot of changes in the Hudson household. Burt and Carole have moved in so he won’t be alone. Quinn stops by when they’re working to check on Finn. She brings food with her, just in case. Puck tries to get him to go out (anywhere, actually, but mostly a bar), but he refuses. Finn hasn’t left the house since the funeral. He doesn’t think he can. It hurts too much in the real world. He prefers to be alone in the house he and Rachel shared together.
Kurt hasn’t been able to step foot into his stepbrother’s house. He took one look at Finn and bolted because he couldn’t stop crying. The grief is too much for him.
The door opens and Finn wonders for a second who it is. There have been too many people coming in and out of the house, so it doesn’t really matter. They’re all worried about him, which is annoying.
“Hey, sweetie,” said Shelby. She missed Rachel a lot. Eventually, she and Rachel had worked their way up to having a relationship. Rachel had always been bitter about the fact that Shelby adopted Beth, but still considered her a sister. Like everyone around her, Beth was having a hard time with Rachel’s death.
“What do you want?” Finn was sick of people. What was so hard about people leaving him alone? All he wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position and cry. But no, everyone had to keep bothering him.
“I’m just seeing how you’re doing. Your mom asked me to come over and check on you. How are you?” Shelby knew the answer, but she still had to ask.
“I’m okay,” Finn lied. He was so far from okay it wasn’t even funny. Finn didn’t think he could ever move on from this. How had his mom eventually moved on with Burt? It hurt so much, and he didn’t think the pain was ever going to stop.
“No, you’re not. But that’s okay, because I’m getting you ready to go out. Noah is getting you out of the house, whether you want to or not. You don’t get a say in this, Finn. Sorry.” But Shelby wasn’t sure. She was worried about Finn, and thought getting him out of the house for even an hour would be good for him.
Finn sighed and reluctantly got off the floor. He didn’t want to go anywhere, but Shelby wasn’t about to listen to his rejections of the plan. The widower headed towards the shower to get ready for his day out of the house. Hopefully, Puck was going to take him somewhere that didn’t remind him of Rachel.
After Shelby left, Puck showed up. “We’re going to have some fun today,” he informed Finn. He didn’t have high hopes this would go well, but Puck at least had to try.
“Puck, I don’t want to have any fun.” Finn figured he might as well be up front with his best friend. Having fun was the last thing on his mind. It had only been two weeks since Rachel’s death. Why should he be having any fun?
Puck sighed. “I know you don’t. But at least for me, dude? I promise that I won’t bother you for a long time after this.” He can’t imagine what Finn is going through, and doesn’t ever want to know. He dragged Finn to his car and drove to McKinley High.
“What are we doing here?” Finn doesn’t want to be here. This place holds too many memories for him. He and Rachel (and everyone else) went through so much when they attended McKinley High. This was the last place anyone saw her alive.
“We have a surprise for you.” Puck didn’t think this was going to go well, but he looked forward to being surprised. Maybe Finn would be okay with this.
When Finn walked into the auditorium, he was surprised to see Will Schuester. Emma was by her husband’s side. Actually, all of his and Rachel’s friends were there. “What is this?”
“We needed you out of the house. Today is “Honor Rachel Hudson Day” at McKinley High, and we were all asked back. We wanted you here, to watch. You’re not singing, because we all know that’d be painful for you,” Quinn explained.
“Oh.” Finn didn’t think he’d be able to handle everyone honoring his wife, especially this soon. It hurt just to think about music. How was he going to be able to get through singing?
Halfway through the first song (a Journey medley), Finn lost it. He bolted out of the auditorium and ran to the men’s restroom.
Puck decided to hightail it out of the auditorium and follow Finn. He had had a suspicion that this day would turn out bad for Finn. He hated being right. “You okay?” Puck questioned when he finally found Finn.
The widower shook his head. “I’m not okay, Puck. I haven’t been okay since Rachel died. My wife is dead. I want her back. Bring her back!”
“I wish I could, Finn. I’m sorry.” Puck braced himself for the breakdown that he figured was able to occur. He was right.
Finn started pounding on Puck’s chest with his hands. “Bring her back. I need her. Please bring Rachel back.” He began to sob.
Puck let his best friend pour his grief out on him. Finn wasn’t really hurting him. It was best to just let the breakdown happen.
There was a long road of grief ahead for Finn Hudson, but at least he had family and friends to help him deal with this rough period of time.
Nothing was ever going to be the same again.