525,600 minutes

chapter 3

She had been grilled by her well-meaning best friend on their way home about her chat with 'Christopher Reeves Light'; she had been cagey with her answer and had immediately taken off with Beth once they were through the door.

"I can't watch another Wiggles DVD, I had Big Red Car stuck in my head all day yesterday." Indi declared throwing the remote at the floor. "Can we take her for a walk or something?"

Rachel considered the suggestion, it was a nice evening and a long walk usually helped clear her mind.

"I think that's a great idea. I'll get her stroller together and we can leave in a few minutes."

Indi cheered and ran upstairs for her shoes, Beth watched happily as the two girls ran around laughing whenever Indi bumped into something cursed and Rachel would yell 'Language!'

"This really is Pleasantville." Indi looked over at the park, which was filled with kids running around and parents watching over them. "An ice cream van just went by!"

"I don't think they have slushie facials in an idyllic town." Rachel replied pushing the stroller, Beth was gurgling away playing with the care bear she had gotten her. This was one thing you definitely could not do in New York, walking was a way of getting somewhere not for just because.

"I still can't believe that girl Mercedes, I swear one hour with Mr Mandell and she'd be rendered mute which I think would be a blessing instead of having to put up with her attitude."

"Mercedes is actually quite talented, she has the strongest voice in the school after me. I would assume most of my solos would have fallen to her. It's no wonder she is less than thrilled by my reappearance." Rachel explained, focusing her attention on Indi and not the path in front of her. "Mr. Schue usually relegated her to long notes of wailing at the end of a number."

"The girl's a diva and not in the Divine Miss M sense of the word." Indi argued, she too was looking at Rachel and not the jogging teen who was staring at his iPod. Beth was the only one who noticed but lacked the necessary skills to point this out.

"She always resented-"

The teen who had been jogging was now partially under a stroller that was carrying a crying baby. Rachel yanked the stroller back quickly pulling Beth out quickly and singing softly to hush her.

"Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky you'll get by
If you smile through your pain and sorrow"

Beth settled easily, her head lolling against Rachel's shoulder, while Indi checked over the stroller and the teen for damage, in that order.

"I am so sorry, I didn't see you." Rachel apologized her eyes travelling up over the worn grey McKinley High hoodie and to the boys face. "Finn."

"Finn?" Indi's eyebrows shot up, eyes raking over the tall teen. "As in Finn 'Douchebag Extraordinaire, Asshole, Bastard of epic proportions' Finn?"

Rachel had come a long way over the last year but Indi knew that the scars from Finn Hudson still ran deep, and she had always wanted to meet the asshole that had screwed over Rachel.

"Indi, language." Rachel muttered still staring at Finn who was staring back at her.

"You're a real creep you know that?" Indi told him taking advantage of Rachel's shock. "It takes a special kind of jerk to not apologize because his insecure bitchy slut of a girlfriend told him he couldn't. Did she return your testicles when you broke up or are they still bronzed on her shelf?"

Finn managed to tear his eyes away from Rachel to look at Indi in confusion.

"What?"

"That was my fault I forget to translate into jackass: You're girlfriend was a bitch and you should have apologized to Rachel." Indi said slowly making sure to enunciate every word and roll her eyes.