FIC: We'll take Manhattan
this is officially AU, now - I think I wrote it between Original song and night of neglect?
TITLE: We’ll take Manhattan
AUTHOR: TaleWeaver
FANDOM: Glee
SUMMARY: After Nationals, Finn and Rachel spend a quiet moment admiring the lights of New York City. AKA my perfect scene for the season 2 finale.
RATING/PAIRING: PG for lots of sexual implications, but all the actual business is off-screen; Finn/Rachel
DISCLAIMER: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and FOX studio. Title comes from the song ‘Manhattan’ by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart.
SPOILERS: All of season 2 to be safe.
AUTHOUR’S NOTES: I was hoping that the Finn/Rachel reunion would take place over Regionals (echoing their original union), so they’d be ready for more by the time Nationals come around, but no, the writers don’t like me that much. On the other hand, after ‘original song’ I do have renewed hope that they’re not going to make us wait until season 3! I can only assume the writers are dragging the reconciliation out as long as possible because I can only think of one or two things that could possibly break them up again, and they don’t work for the long term.
MUSE-IC: DJ Sammy’s cover of ‘Heaven’ (candlelight mix). If the following link (take out the spaces) doesn’t work, try a straight search.
www. youtube. com/ watch?v= 2CLCUoUUBuk&feature= BF&list= PL72A89DBD52674294&index= 2
The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy --
We'll turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
- ‘Manhattan’, Rogers/Hart
Finn came awake slowly, smiling as he stretched, the sheets rubbing against his bare skin. He was a little sore along his shoulders and back, but he felt incredible.
But he could only hear his own breathing, and that was very wrong. Why wasn’t Rachel snuggled up against him, soft and warm and smelling like lavender and him?
“Rachel?”
He blinked the last of his nap out of his eyes as he pushed himself up on his elbow, looking blearily around Rachel’s hotel room (and how incredibly grateful was he that her dads had treated her to her own room for Nationals? Though he’d never be able to tell them why).
“Over here, Finn.”
Her voice was quiet, even in the still room.
Finn couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face, even if he’d wanted to. Rachel was sitting in the window seat, her bare legs stretched out in front of her, looking out the picture window. She was wearing his dress shirt, from his Nationals costume.
Only his dress shirt.
It was so big on her that it came down as long as one of her mini-skirts, which was kind of a shame, and even with the sleeves rolled up it almost swallowed her arms, but she hadn’t quite buttoned it up all the way, so it hung off one shoulder.
He’d never wanted to have artistic talent before, but he wished he could make a picture of her like this, to keep this perfect image - this perfect memory - with him forever. Finn tried to remember where he’d left his phone, and wondered if Rachel would let him take a photo instead. It wasn’t like she was showing anything she shouldn’t be to anyone else.
God, she looked so beautiful. But most of all, she looked sexy, even with his shirt billowing around her slender form. Was that because it was his shirt, or because only a couple of hours ago, he’d finally seen all of the lovely body beneath that shirt, felt it pressed against his own with nothing between them for the first time?
Finn realised his body was starting to rouse, just from the memories, and decided that maybe he wanted some new ones.
“Rach? Come back to bed.”
He was trying to sound seductive, but it wasn’t working. Rachel just flashed him his favourite of her smiles, gentle and loving and just for him, and asked, “Come join me.”
So yeah, he really wanted Rachel to come back to bed so he could unbutton his shirt, and maybe she could leave it on while she got to be on top this time, but she looked so beautiful now that Finn would do anything she wanted (and then maybe, she’d let him carry her to bed? He knew she’d like it, but he’d been too nervous and frightened of dropping her to try it before).
So he hunted around for his boxers, slid them on and joined her at the window. Rachel scooted forward, still smiling that smile, and Finn climbed onto the window seat, sitting behind her with his legs on either side of hers, so she could lean her back against his chest.
He looked out the window, and knew immediately why Rachel hadn’t wanted to come back to bed.
He wasn’t sure which shone brighter, the stars in the black-velvet sky above, or the dazzling neon cityscape of New York City, spread out below them like some crazy electric picnic blanket.
“Can you see it, Finn? This is going to be our city. One year, maybe a few more, but this is going to be ours. We won’t just take Manhattan, but all of New York.”
Rachel lifted her left hand and flattened it on the window, palm-down with her fingers spread out.
Finn blinked hard a few times, because one of the silver lights had sort of moved, so he could see it glowing on her ring finger. Maybe Rachel’s sixth sense could be sexually transmitted or something (and that would be so cool), because in that moment Finn knew, without a doubt, that one day Rachel would wear a diamond ring on that same finger, and he was going to be the one who slid it on her hand. The knowledge shook him to the core, even as it dazzled him, before the complete and utter rightness of the idea steadied him again.
Finn slid his arms around her waist, his fingers just brushing the bottom curves of her breasts. “Where are we going to live?”
“Manhattan, eventually, right near Broadway so there won’t be much of a commute. But first we’ll be in a tiny walk-up that’s really not big enough for your feet and my Barbra Streisand collection - and Kurt’s wardrobe in the second bedroom, maybe? - so we’ll complain constantly but we’ll secretly love it, and I’ll cry the day we finally move out because our lifestyles have outgrown the building. So then, yes, we’ll settle in our apartment near Broadway, not the penthouse because that’s just pretentious, but it will be a good-sized apartment that Kurt will decorate for us, because he’ll whine and moan and bewail our horrible tastes in decor until we say yes, and we’ll cover him with praise when he’s done because it really will be lovely but still us.”
“Sounds nice,” Finn replied, still staring at Rachel’s hand, outlined in scribbles of electric blue and hot pink, tinged with silver starlight. “Maybe we can rent it out after we move.”
“Move where? Why would we leave?” Rachel asked curiously.
“One of those brownstone places. Maybe near Central park, if there’s any left. Or what about Brooklyn, where that tree grew in the book we had to read for English? We’ll have a mini-garden and a barbeque grill on the rooftop, and hold parties up there in the summer, and everyone will want to come to our place for Fourth of July. But there’s a front stoop for our kids to hang out on while they eat ice-cream, and railings to tie the dog’s leash to so he - or she, I don’t know - won’t be able to get away while they eat.”
Rachel’s voice was soft, and she snuggled back against him. “Kids, huh? How many?”
“I guess it depends on how many times you’re willing to go on maternity leave from whatever show you’re in. But I’d like at least two. No more than four, I think, unless we have a surprise baby years after we’ve decided that we’re happy the way we are.”
Rachel’s hand left the window, and she laid her forearms over his, interlacing her fingers with his own.
“You’ve really thought about this, huh?”
Finn rested his cheek against the top of her head, and smiled. “Nope. Just came up with it. Some things you don’t have to think about. Some things you just know.”
He still wanted to carry her back to bed, but to his own faint surprise, there was something he actually wanted more right now.
“Rachel? Sing me a love song?”
Rachel’s reflection smiled, and blushed just a little, and bit her lip. “Hmm... give me a moment to think. Bryan Adams okay?”
“Anything you want, Rach,” Finn sighed, giving her a quick squeeze.
Rachel licked her lips, and began to sing.
“Oh, thinking about all our younger years
There was only you and me
We were young and wild and free
Now nothing can take you away from me
We’ve been down that road before
But that's over now
You keep me coming back for more”
Finn pressed a kiss to her hair, and breathed in her lavender shampoo, smiling in a quiet, glowing happiness he’d never felt before.
“Baby you're all that I want
When you're lying here in my arms
I'm finding it hard to believe
We're in heaven
And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven”
Rachel twisted in his arms, so she was half-lying on her hip with her head against his chest, clutching onto his arm with both hands, the other arm supporting her back, her head tilted back slightly so she could look into his eyes.
Even as she started the next verse, it really hit Finn. This was the rest of his life, and it was starting right now.
“Oh, once in your life you find someone
Who will turn your world around
Bring you up when you're feeling down
Yeah, nothing could change what you mean to me
Oh there's lots that I could say
But just hold me now
Cause our love will light the way”
Rachel had twisted all the way around, with her arms around his neck and her breasts pressed against his chest. Her nose gently rubbed against his again and again, and her voice was barely above a whisper. But since she was still Rachel Berry, it echoed clearly through the room.
“And baby you're all that I want
When you're lying here in my arms
I'm finding it hard to believe
We're in heaven”
Finn managed to slide his hands under Rachel’s thighs, just below where those amazing legs of hers met an equally amazing ass. Moving slowly, he shifted his legs to the side and stood, Rachel wrapping her legs around his hips, still singing quietly as he walked them back to the bed.
“And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven”
Finn turned and sat on the bed, Rachel straddling his lap with her back to the windows. As his fingers clumsily worked at the buttons to his shirt, he took over the song, singing his longing and joy back to her.
“I've been waiting for so long
For something to arrive
For love to come along
Now our dreams are coming true
Through the good times and the bad
Yeah, I'll be standing there by you”
He tried to put all his love into the last line, because they both know he failed to keep this promise once before. It’s not that he meant it any more than he did the last time - because the last time, he meant it with everything he was, and he meant it every bit as much now. But this time he understood exactly what he was promising, and he was making the promise anyway.
Then the shirt hit the floor, and so did his boxers. Finn didn’t feel the sheets underneath his back, or hear the pounding of his own heart. Nothing existed in the world but Rachel, her skin hot and silky against his, and the silhouette of her body outlined in neon and starlight.
FINI
TITLE: We’ll take Manhattan
AUTHOR: TaleWeaver
FANDOM: Glee
SUMMARY: After Nationals, Finn and Rachel spend a quiet moment admiring the lights of New York City. AKA my perfect scene for the season 2 finale.
RATING/PAIRING: PG for lots of sexual implications, but all the actual business is off-screen; Finn/Rachel
DISCLAIMER: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and FOX studio. Title comes from the song ‘Manhattan’ by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart.
SPOILERS: All of season 2 to be safe.
AUTHOUR’S NOTES: I was hoping that the Finn/Rachel reunion would take place over Regionals (echoing their original union), so they’d be ready for more by the time Nationals come around, but no, the writers don’t like me that much. On the other hand, after ‘original song’ I do have renewed hope that they’re not going to make us wait until season 3! I can only assume the writers are dragging the reconciliation out as long as possible because I can only think of one or two things that could possibly break them up again, and they don’t work for the long term.
MUSE-IC: DJ Sammy’s cover of ‘Heaven’ (candlelight mix). If the following link (take out the spaces) doesn’t work, try a straight search.
www. youtube. com/ watch?v= 2CLCUoUUBuk&feature= BF&list= PL72A89DBD52674294&index= 2
The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy --
We'll turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
- ‘Manhattan’, Rogers/Hart
Finn came awake slowly, smiling as he stretched, the sheets rubbing against his bare skin. He was a little sore along his shoulders and back, but he felt incredible.
But he could only hear his own breathing, and that was very wrong. Why wasn’t Rachel snuggled up against him, soft and warm and smelling like lavender and him?
“Rachel?”
He blinked the last of his nap out of his eyes as he pushed himself up on his elbow, looking blearily around Rachel’s hotel room (and how incredibly grateful was he that her dads had treated her to her own room for Nationals? Though he’d never be able to tell them why).
“Over here, Finn.”
Her voice was quiet, even in the still room.
Finn couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face, even if he’d wanted to. Rachel was sitting in the window seat, her bare legs stretched out in front of her, looking out the picture window. She was wearing his dress shirt, from his Nationals costume.
Only his dress shirt.
It was so big on her that it came down as long as one of her mini-skirts, which was kind of a shame, and even with the sleeves rolled up it almost swallowed her arms, but she hadn’t quite buttoned it up all the way, so it hung off one shoulder.
He’d never wanted to have artistic talent before, but he wished he could make a picture of her like this, to keep this perfect image - this perfect memory - with him forever. Finn tried to remember where he’d left his phone, and wondered if Rachel would let him take a photo instead. It wasn’t like she was showing anything she shouldn’t be to anyone else.
God, she looked so beautiful. But most of all, she looked sexy, even with his shirt billowing around her slender form. Was that because it was his shirt, or because only a couple of hours ago, he’d finally seen all of the lovely body beneath that shirt, felt it pressed against his own with nothing between them for the first time?
Finn realised his body was starting to rouse, just from the memories, and decided that maybe he wanted some new ones.
“Rach? Come back to bed.”
He was trying to sound seductive, but it wasn’t working. Rachel just flashed him his favourite of her smiles, gentle and loving and just for him, and asked, “Come join me.”
So yeah, he really wanted Rachel to come back to bed so he could unbutton his shirt, and maybe she could leave it on while she got to be on top this time, but she looked so beautiful now that Finn would do anything she wanted (and then maybe, she’d let him carry her to bed? He knew she’d like it, but he’d been too nervous and frightened of dropping her to try it before).
So he hunted around for his boxers, slid them on and joined her at the window. Rachel scooted forward, still smiling that smile, and Finn climbed onto the window seat, sitting behind her with his legs on either side of hers, so she could lean her back against his chest.
He looked out the window, and knew immediately why Rachel hadn’t wanted to come back to bed.
He wasn’t sure which shone brighter, the stars in the black-velvet sky above, or the dazzling neon cityscape of New York City, spread out below them like some crazy electric picnic blanket.
“Can you see it, Finn? This is going to be our city. One year, maybe a few more, but this is going to be ours. We won’t just take Manhattan, but all of New York.”
Rachel lifted her left hand and flattened it on the window, palm-down with her fingers spread out.
Finn blinked hard a few times, because one of the silver lights had sort of moved, so he could see it glowing on her ring finger. Maybe Rachel’s sixth sense could be sexually transmitted or something (and that would be so cool), because in that moment Finn knew, without a doubt, that one day Rachel would wear a diamond ring on that same finger, and he was going to be the one who slid it on her hand. The knowledge shook him to the core, even as it dazzled him, before the complete and utter rightness of the idea steadied him again.
Finn slid his arms around her waist, his fingers just brushing the bottom curves of her breasts. “Where are we going to live?”
“Manhattan, eventually, right near Broadway so there won’t be much of a commute. But first we’ll be in a tiny walk-up that’s really not big enough for your feet and my Barbra Streisand collection - and Kurt’s wardrobe in the second bedroom, maybe? - so we’ll complain constantly but we’ll secretly love it, and I’ll cry the day we finally move out because our lifestyles have outgrown the building. So then, yes, we’ll settle in our apartment near Broadway, not the penthouse because that’s just pretentious, but it will be a good-sized apartment that Kurt will decorate for us, because he’ll whine and moan and bewail our horrible tastes in decor until we say yes, and we’ll cover him with praise when he’s done because it really will be lovely but still us.”
“Sounds nice,” Finn replied, still staring at Rachel’s hand, outlined in scribbles of electric blue and hot pink, tinged with silver starlight. “Maybe we can rent it out after we move.”
“Move where? Why would we leave?” Rachel asked curiously.
“One of those brownstone places. Maybe near Central park, if there’s any left. Or what about Brooklyn, where that tree grew in the book we had to read for English? We’ll have a mini-garden and a barbeque grill on the rooftop, and hold parties up there in the summer, and everyone will want to come to our place for Fourth of July. But there’s a front stoop for our kids to hang out on while they eat ice-cream, and railings to tie the dog’s leash to so he - or she, I don’t know - won’t be able to get away while they eat.”
Rachel’s voice was soft, and she snuggled back against him. “Kids, huh? How many?”
“I guess it depends on how many times you’re willing to go on maternity leave from whatever show you’re in. But I’d like at least two. No more than four, I think, unless we have a surprise baby years after we’ve decided that we’re happy the way we are.”
Rachel’s hand left the window, and she laid her forearms over his, interlacing her fingers with his own.
“You’ve really thought about this, huh?”
Finn rested his cheek against the top of her head, and smiled. “Nope. Just came up with it. Some things you don’t have to think about. Some things you just know.”
He still wanted to carry her back to bed, but to his own faint surprise, there was something he actually wanted more right now.
“Rachel? Sing me a love song?”
Rachel’s reflection smiled, and blushed just a little, and bit her lip. “Hmm... give me a moment to think. Bryan Adams okay?”
“Anything you want, Rach,” Finn sighed, giving her a quick squeeze.
Rachel licked her lips, and began to sing.
“Oh, thinking about all our younger years
There was only you and me
We were young and wild and free
Now nothing can take you away from me
We’ve been down that road before
But that's over now
You keep me coming back for more”
Finn pressed a kiss to her hair, and breathed in her lavender shampoo, smiling in a quiet, glowing happiness he’d never felt before.
“Baby you're all that I want
When you're lying here in my arms
I'm finding it hard to believe
We're in heaven
And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven”
Rachel twisted in his arms, so she was half-lying on her hip with her head against his chest, clutching onto his arm with both hands, the other arm supporting her back, her head tilted back slightly so she could look into his eyes.
Even as she started the next verse, it really hit Finn. This was the rest of his life, and it was starting right now.
“Oh, once in your life you find someone
Who will turn your world around
Bring you up when you're feeling down
Yeah, nothing could change what you mean to me
Oh there's lots that I could say
But just hold me now
Cause our love will light the way”
Rachel had twisted all the way around, with her arms around his neck and her breasts pressed against his chest. Her nose gently rubbed against his again and again, and her voice was barely above a whisper. But since she was still Rachel Berry, it echoed clearly through the room.
“And baby you're all that I want
When you're lying here in my arms
I'm finding it hard to believe
We're in heaven”
Finn managed to slide his hands under Rachel’s thighs, just below where those amazing legs of hers met an equally amazing ass. Moving slowly, he shifted his legs to the side and stood, Rachel wrapping her legs around his hips, still singing quietly as he walked them back to the bed.
“And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven”
Finn turned and sat on the bed, Rachel straddling his lap with her back to the windows. As his fingers clumsily worked at the buttons to his shirt, he took over the song, singing his longing and joy back to her.
“I've been waiting for so long
For something to arrive
For love to come along
Now our dreams are coming true
Through the good times and the bad
Yeah, I'll be standing there by you”
He tried to put all his love into the last line, because they both know he failed to keep this promise once before. It’s not that he meant it any more than he did the last time - because the last time, he meant it with everything he was, and he meant it every bit as much now. But this time he understood exactly what he was promising, and he was making the promise anyway.
Then the shirt hit the floor, and so did his boxers. Finn didn’t feel the sheets underneath his back, or hear the pounding of his own heart. Nothing existed in the world but Rachel, her skin hot and silky against his, and the silhouette of her body outlined in neon and starlight.
FINI