Let's Do The Time Warp Again (Part 4/9)
Title: Let's Do The Time Warp Again (Part 4/9)
Author: inanawfulmess
Rating: PG-13
Length: 18,750
Spoilers: Season 1.
Summary: There's something going on between Lea and Dianna that could lead to Glee being canceled. Can Rachel and Quinn help them work it out in order to save their own existences?
Author's Note: Well, here's my entry for the gleefsbigbang . Special thanks goes to my wonderful beta, jo_eva and artist, insidethetimes . It gets a little crazy, but I hope you enjoy!
Finn entered the real world in a way similar to how he walked through life: stumbling and confused. After glee rehearsal let out, which it quickly had once Rachel was no longer there demanding they practice, he’d rushed home to turn on the TV just in time to catch the end of a The Real World: Hollywood rerun on MTV. He hadn’t really intended to end up where he was now, which, he could only assume, was somewhere in Hollywood. He had just been standing a little too close to the television set, eating a sandwich, and he’d tripped. At least, that’s what he was planning to tell Rachel when he found her, because she had made them all promise to stay behind until she sent for them after all, and he couldn’t avoid her forever since he didn’t know how to get home. Truth was, Finn was curious. Send two hot girls into a world with two equally hot girls because, duh? Evil-but-not-really-evil twins? He was so there. Plus, Rachel was hopefully going to be his girlfriend someday, and as Santana pointed out, the chances of Quinn inflicting some kind of bodily harm were probably too great to risk sending them away together without reinforcements.
So as Finn wandered the streets of Hollywood, he formulated a plan. And thinking made him hungry. With his luck, however, despite the fact that there were cafes on every street corner, he happened to amble into the one that his favorite short brunette was stopped at, drinking a tall mug of some fancy tea that smelled kind of like the candles his mom lit at Christmas. Maybe he didn’t have enough time to think up a better story to explain his appearance in the real world after all.
“Hi, Rach,” he said sheepishly, raising one hand to wave. “I’m really sorry I, uh, followed you here.”
“Why are you being weird, Cory?” Lea asked, standing from her seat as she sipped her chai. “I’m on the way to the set now, want to walk with me?”
Finn nodded confusedly, but followed the shorter girl out the door. “Listen, Rachel,” he began. “I know you said not to follow you and all, but I really just wanted to protect you. I know Quinn can be difficult sometimes, and I just, well, I really like you and, I know I’m rambling but…”
“Cory!” Lea snapped. “I don’t know what your deal is, but you’re weirding me out. Did Ryan give you a script he’s working on?”
“Um, no,” Finn responded, looking at her oddly. “You’re the one who’s being weird, Rach. I know I wasn’t supposed to come here, but I just thought you might need me.”
Lea shrugged and shook her head, opening the door and stepping onto the sidewalk. “Whatever. Not like today can get any worse.”
Finn followed the girl down the street until the realization dawned on him a half a block later. “You’re Lea Michele!” he cried, slapping his palm to his forehead.
Lea stared back. “Um, yeah, I am. What’s with you today, Cory?”
“My apologies, Lea, umm….I mean, Ms. Michele. All this time I thought you were my future girlfriend Rachel Berry. But it turns out you’re not! And I’m not Cory either, by the way. The name’s Finn.” He awkwardly extended his hand for her to shake. “Finn Hudson.”
Lea ignored his outstretched hand and laughed. “I finally get it, I think,” she said through her giggles. “Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Cor. It’s been a rough couple of days. You’re a really great friend.”
Finn smiled sweetly despite his confusion, and didn’t resist as the small girl who so closely resembled his girlfriend pulled him into a tight hug and stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. Unfortunately, however, real world Finn was still plagued with TV Finn’s problems and his cry of “Mailman!” could be heard a full block away.
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It had not been Lea Michele’s day. Really, it hadn’t even been Lea Michele’s week. She’d spent the morning in her publicist’s office denying accusations and explaining that not only did the media distort her words, but also that what they claimed she felt actually couldn’t be further from the truth. Lea loved her cast with everything she had. They were truly a family, and Lea loved that feeling. That’s why she was missing it so much now. She didn’t want to stay on the show because leaving was the only way she could think of to get her family back.
So when she ran into who she thought was Cory at the coffee shop a few blocks away from the studio (she refused to return to that Starbucks after yesterday’s events), Lea was so excited to find out that not only did everyone in the cast not hate her, but at least one of them was willing to attempt to cheer her up. So excited that she almost didn’t care that Cory was acting ridiculous and his Finn charade was really starting to get annoying. It was sweet, really, until he chose to reenact a mailman moment on the corner in front of the lot. Just what she needed, Lea figured, was even more bad press for being involved in that ridiculous exchange.
She rolled her eyes when it happened, grabbing Cory’s arm and pulling with all her strength to get him at least into the relative privacy beyond the lot’s gated entrance. “You’re disgusting,” she muttered, walking quickly in the direction of her trailer.
“Is Rachel here?” Finn asked after a moment, almost too afraid of the Rachel-like diva storm-out he was observing. “And Quinn too?”
Lea bit her tongue to refrain from making any stinging remarks. “I’ll be in costume in a half hour, Cory, and then you can call me Rachel if you must. And I have no idea where Dianna is. It wasn’t my day to watch her.” And she probably isn’t talking to me anyway, Lea added silently.
“Oh, yeah, right. Because you’re fighting.”
Lea spun around, the anger visible in her features. “That’s not true and you know it, Cory. How can you say that? I thought you understood.”
“I do,” he answered, perplexed. “Or, at least I thought I did. That’s what Rachel told me, and she’s never wrong, not that she admits anyway. But that’s why we’re here. To fix you and Dianna’s relationship and save the world!” He grinned proudly. “That was in the powerpoint.”
Lea’s eyes narrowed as she considered what to do next. There was a powerpoint? Was everyone plotting against her? Deciding to just ignore him and lock herself in her trailer, she turned around again ready to storm away, only to run face first into a taller blonde.
“Jeez, treasure trail. Watch where you’re walking, will you?”
Lea blinked once, then again. She had never heard Dianna speak that way, not to her and not to anyone. “Listen, Di,” she began. “I am so, so sorry. You have to know that that’s not what I meant. That’s not even what I said! I’m really sorry, please, Di. Please understand.”
The blonde simply raised an eyebrow before moving her gaze to Finn. “Finn, is that you? I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said, her voice changing to a sweet and gentle tone.
“Hey, Quinn,” he answered, raising his hand a few inches to wave.
“You’re in on this too, Di? God, what is wrong with you people? Don’t you understand that I’ve been through enough?”
Quinn rolled her eyes but ignored the outburst. “Does Man Hands know you’re here?”
Finn shook is head. “Where is she? Rachel, I mean.”
Quinn pointed behind her. “In the trailer with that chick who looks like me. She totally passed out when she realized who we were.”
Lea raised herself to her full five feet and two inches and put on her most commanding tone. “Excuse me, but I demand that you explain what is going on right now or I’m going in that trailer to find out for myself.”
Quinn didn’t bother to answer, but stepped aside and motioned the shorter girl through.
There were a number of things Lea expected to see when she peeked in the open window to Heather and Naya’s trailer. Perhaps the cast was all in there poking holes in Lea voodoo dolls or throwing darts at a board with her face on it. But to see Dianna sitting there talking to her, wait a minute, me? Lea stepped backward so quickly she tripped and fell to the pavement. “What is going on here?” she asked nervously, quickly getting up and returning to peer in the window.
“Oh, that’s just Rachel and Quinn.” Finn squints and puts his hands up to the window to shield the sun. “Or Ms. Agron, I mean. It’s confusing sometimes, they look alike, you know.” Lea shot him a glare and pushed him aside to get a better look in the window, standing on her tiptoes to see while Finn looked above her head.
The pair stood silent for several moments and just watched as Rachel fluttered about the room looking for something, before finally locating a box of tissues and handing them to the blonde. In response, the blonde wiped her eyes before standing and giving Rachel a quick hug. “Nope, definitely not Quinn,” Finn mused.
“Definitely not,” Quinn agreed, speaking up from where she was standing behind them. “Finn,” she said sweetly again. “Treasure trail two-point-oh. I have to ask, what are you two doing together? Actually, what are you even doing here, Finn? Didn’t we leave you in Lima?”
Finn blushed and looked at the ground. “I uh, well, Rachel’s kinda gonna be my girlfriend and I thought...never mind. I just ran into Ms. Michele down the street - “
“Lea, please,” she cut in, offering a smile and placing a gentle hand on his upper arm.
“Right, Lea.” Finn blushed harder and smiled at the girl until he heard Quinn clear her throat. “Right. Uh, what was I saying?”
Quinn rolled her eyes. It was hard enough that she had to compete with Rachel to get back what she thought of as rightfully hers (she was the head cheerleader and he was the quarterback and there was some kind of unwritten rule that didn’t leave room for pint-size divas with otherworld connections, wasn’t there?), but now Lea Michele was after her man as well? No, this just wouldn’t do. “Finn,” she snapped, grabbing his attention away from her new rival. “There’s a table over there with food on it.” She gestured behind herself, pleased as she saw Finn’s eyes follow in the direction her hand indicated and didn’t stray back to Lea. “You should go eat, or something. Lea, you’re coming with me. I want to get in and out and back home where there aren’t two of your ugly mug floating around.”
Part 5
Author: inanawfulmess
Rating: PG-13
Length: 18,750
Spoilers: Season 1.
Summary: There's something going on between Lea and Dianna that could lead to Glee being canceled. Can Rachel and Quinn help them work it out in order to save their own existences?
Author's Note: Well, here's my entry for the gleefsbigbang . Special thanks goes to my wonderful beta, jo_eva and artist, insidethetimes . It gets a little crazy, but I hope you enjoy!
Finn entered the real world in a way similar to how he walked through life: stumbling and confused. After glee rehearsal let out, which it quickly had once Rachel was no longer there demanding they practice, he’d rushed home to turn on the TV just in time to catch the end of a The Real World: Hollywood rerun on MTV. He hadn’t really intended to end up where he was now, which, he could only assume, was somewhere in Hollywood. He had just been standing a little too close to the television set, eating a sandwich, and he’d tripped. At least, that’s what he was planning to tell Rachel when he found her, because she had made them all promise to stay behind until she sent for them after all, and he couldn’t avoid her forever since he didn’t know how to get home. Truth was, Finn was curious. Send two hot girls into a world with two equally hot girls because, duh? Evil-but-not-really-evil twins? He was so there. Plus, Rachel was hopefully going to be his girlfriend someday, and as Santana pointed out, the chances of Quinn inflicting some kind of bodily harm were probably too great to risk sending them away together without reinforcements.
So as Finn wandered the streets of Hollywood, he formulated a plan. And thinking made him hungry. With his luck, however, despite the fact that there were cafes on every street corner, he happened to amble into the one that his favorite short brunette was stopped at, drinking a tall mug of some fancy tea that smelled kind of like the candles his mom lit at Christmas. Maybe he didn’t have enough time to think up a better story to explain his appearance in the real world after all.
“Hi, Rach,” he said sheepishly, raising one hand to wave. “I’m really sorry I, uh, followed you here.”
“Why are you being weird, Cory?” Lea asked, standing from her seat as she sipped her chai. “I’m on the way to the set now, want to walk with me?”
Finn nodded confusedly, but followed the shorter girl out the door. “Listen, Rachel,” he began. “I know you said not to follow you and all, but I really just wanted to protect you. I know Quinn can be difficult sometimes, and I just, well, I really like you and, I know I’m rambling but…”
“Cory!” Lea snapped. “I don’t know what your deal is, but you’re weirding me out. Did Ryan give you a script he’s working on?”
“Um, no,” Finn responded, looking at her oddly. “You’re the one who’s being weird, Rach. I know I wasn’t supposed to come here, but I just thought you might need me.”
Lea shrugged and shook her head, opening the door and stepping onto the sidewalk. “Whatever. Not like today can get any worse.”
Finn followed the girl down the street until the realization dawned on him a half a block later. “You’re Lea Michele!” he cried, slapping his palm to his forehead.
Lea stared back. “Um, yeah, I am. What’s with you today, Cory?”
“My apologies, Lea, umm….I mean, Ms. Michele. All this time I thought you were my future girlfriend Rachel Berry. But it turns out you’re not! And I’m not Cory either, by the way. The name’s Finn.” He awkwardly extended his hand for her to shake. “Finn Hudson.”
Lea ignored his outstretched hand and laughed. “I finally get it, I think,” she said through her giggles. “Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Cor. It’s been a rough couple of days. You’re a really great friend.”
Finn smiled sweetly despite his confusion, and didn’t resist as the small girl who so closely resembled his girlfriend pulled him into a tight hug and stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. Unfortunately, however, real world Finn was still plagued with TV Finn’s problems and his cry of “Mailman!” could be heard a full block away.
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It had not been Lea Michele’s day. Really, it hadn’t even been Lea Michele’s week. She’d spent the morning in her publicist’s office denying accusations and explaining that not only did the media distort her words, but also that what they claimed she felt actually couldn’t be further from the truth. Lea loved her cast with everything she had. They were truly a family, and Lea loved that feeling. That’s why she was missing it so much now. She didn’t want to stay on the show because leaving was the only way she could think of to get her family back.
So when she ran into who she thought was Cory at the coffee shop a few blocks away from the studio (she refused to return to that Starbucks after yesterday’s events), Lea was so excited to find out that not only did everyone in the cast not hate her, but at least one of them was willing to attempt to cheer her up. So excited that she almost didn’t care that Cory was acting ridiculous and his Finn charade was really starting to get annoying. It was sweet, really, until he chose to reenact a mailman moment on the corner in front of the lot. Just what she needed, Lea figured, was even more bad press for being involved in that ridiculous exchange.
She rolled her eyes when it happened, grabbing Cory’s arm and pulling with all her strength to get him at least into the relative privacy beyond the lot’s gated entrance. “You’re disgusting,” she muttered, walking quickly in the direction of her trailer.
“Is Rachel here?” Finn asked after a moment, almost too afraid of the Rachel-like diva storm-out he was observing. “And Quinn too?”
Lea bit her tongue to refrain from making any stinging remarks. “I’ll be in costume in a half hour, Cory, and then you can call me Rachel if you must. And I have no idea where Dianna is. It wasn’t my day to watch her.” And she probably isn’t talking to me anyway, Lea added silently.
“Oh, yeah, right. Because you’re fighting.”
Lea spun around, the anger visible in her features. “That’s not true and you know it, Cory. How can you say that? I thought you understood.”
“I do,” he answered, perplexed. “Or, at least I thought I did. That’s what Rachel told me, and she’s never wrong, not that she admits anyway. But that’s why we’re here. To fix you and Dianna’s relationship and save the world!” He grinned proudly. “That was in the powerpoint.”
Lea’s eyes narrowed as she considered what to do next. There was a powerpoint? Was everyone plotting against her? Deciding to just ignore him and lock herself in her trailer, she turned around again ready to storm away, only to run face first into a taller blonde.
“Jeez, treasure trail. Watch where you’re walking, will you?”
Lea blinked once, then again. She had never heard Dianna speak that way, not to her and not to anyone. “Listen, Di,” she began. “I am so, so sorry. You have to know that that’s not what I meant. That’s not even what I said! I’m really sorry, please, Di. Please understand.”
The blonde simply raised an eyebrow before moving her gaze to Finn. “Finn, is that you? I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said, her voice changing to a sweet and gentle tone.
“Hey, Quinn,” he answered, raising his hand a few inches to wave.
“You’re in on this too, Di? God, what is wrong with you people? Don’t you understand that I’ve been through enough?”
Quinn rolled her eyes but ignored the outburst. “Does Man Hands know you’re here?”
Finn shook is head. “Where is she? Rachel, I mean.”
Quinn pointed behind her. “In the trailer with that chick who looks like me. She totally passed out when she realized who we were.”
Lea raised herself to her full five feet and two inches and put on her most commanding tone. “Excuse me, but I demand that you explain what is going on right now or I’m going in that trailer to find out for myself.”
Quinn didn’t bother to answer, but stepped aside and motioned the shorter girl through.
There were a number of things Lea expected to see when she peeked in the open window to Heather and Naya’s trailer. Perhaps the cast was all in there poking holes in Lea voodoo dolls or throwing darts at a board with her face on it. But to see Dianna sitting there talking to her, wait a minute, me? Lea stepped backward so quickly she tripped and fell to the pavement. “What is going on here?” she asked nervously, quickly getting up and returning to peer in the window.
“Oh, that’s just Rachel and Quinn.” Finn squints and puts his hands up to the window to shield the sun. “Or Ms. Agron, I mean. It’s confusing sometimes, they look alike, you know.” Lea shot him a glare and pushed him aside to get a better look in the window, standing on her tiptoes to see while Finn looked above her head.
The pair stood silent for several moments and just watched as Rachel fluttered about the room looking for something, before finally locating a box of tissues and handing them to the blonde. In response, the blonde wiped her eyes before standing and giving Rachel a quick hug. “Nope, definitely not Quinn,” Finn mused.
“Definitely not,” Quinn agreed, speaking up from where she was standing behind them. “Finn,” she said sweetly again. “Treasure trail two-point-oh. I have to ask, what are you two doing together? Actually, what are you even doing here, Finn? Didn’t we leave you in Lima?”
Finn blushed and looked at the ground. “I uh, well, Rachel’s kinda gonna be my girlfriend and I thought...never mind. I just ran into Ms. Michele down the street - “
“Lea, please,” she cut in, offering a smile and placing a gentle hand on his upper arm.
“Right, Lea.” Finn blushed harder and smiled at the girl until he heard Quinn clear her throat. “Right. Uh, what was I saying?”
Quinn rolled her eyes. It was hard enough that she had to compete with Rachel to get back what she thought of as rightfully hers (she was the head cheerleader and he was the quarterback and there was some kind of unwritten rule that didn’t leave room for pint-size divas with otherworld connections, wasn’t there?), but now Lea Michele was after her man as well? No, this just wouldn’t do. “Finn,” she snapped, grabbing his attention away from her new rival. “There’s a table over there with food on it.” She gestured behind herself, pleased as she saw Finn’s eyes follow in the direction her hand indicated and didn’t stray back to Lea. “You should go eat, or something. Lea, you’re coming with me. I want to get in and out and back home where there aren’t two of your ugly mug floating around.”
Part 5