Jesse spun back to the audience to sing out his final note then backed away to let Cameron sing her verse, then the embalmers stepped forward for their last verse. Then the stage went dark and he walked with the spotlight to the centre of the stage "Money was raised for a tomb, a monument to Evita, only the pedestal was completed and Evita's body disappeared for seventeen years." All around them rang applause as Jesse ran to the wings to await his curtain call. Opposite him, he saw Cameron smiling at him and at last the two of them rushed towards each other. He took her hand and they ran through the chorus line to the front of the stage, embracing their standing ovation with a bow. He went through the motions mechanically, group bow, honour the band, group bow again and the curtain comes down.
"Another standing ovation," Cameron smiled, flipping her golden hair and going up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek "We're good together."
Turning the swagger on easily, Jesse flung an arm around Cameron and laughed "I know." The tiny blonde beamed up at him and his heart should have accelerated, butterflies should have bounced around his stomach, he should have felt something but all he saw was that she had Rachel's eyes. All he felt was that he shouldn't be there, he should be anywhere but here, holding Cameron.
"Are you all right Jesse?" Cameron stared up at him with those brown eyes.
That was why he dated her, for Rachel's eyes, he felt like such a jerk "Look Cam, I... I have to go and... I've got to go, don't wait up, okay."
"Yeah sure," she looked stunned as he walked away from her, trying to ignore her when she shouted "I love you!"
Walking out of the stage door, he ignored the fans asking for his autograph, he just didn't feel like people telling him how amazing he was today (he was really feeling like a jerk today). So he kept walking out into the streets of New York. All his life this city had been the only place he had truly felt at home but now he longed for Ohio. His Ohio, when his home had been the corridors of Mckinley high school and the arms of Rachel Berry. Somehow he didn't feel like going back to the flat he shared with Cameron tonight. He found his way to a cheap hotel and paid for a room with an autograph. The wardrobe mistress would kill him for leaving the theatre in costume but he didn't care, nothing seemed to matter any more.
The morning light streamed through the window and Jesse rubbed his temples to relieve what sort of felt like jet lag. He looked down at his wrinkled clothes, the wardrobe mistress was definitely going to kill him, he cared a bit more this morning, but not much. It was Monday, he had a matinee today and he thought about ringing saying he had a "sore throat" but eventually pulled himself out of bed and checked the clock, it was only seven 'o'clock in the morning, what the hell was wrong with his body clock? Despite his better judgement, he skipped breakfast and went for a walk (still in costume, the wardrobe mistress was going to burn him for heresy if he kept on like this!).
Walking without really registering direction, Jesse strolled through the city streets and lost track of time. Eventually he came to an elementary school where the students were beginning to file into the building. He took a minute to lean on the fence and remember a time when he was that sweet and that innocent. Somehow a voice pierced his reverie...
"Dakota!" a young mother told her child "Be good or else, all right and listen to your teachers and..."
The little girl put her hand on her hip "I know mum, can I go now?"
"Yes but remember..." the woman never got to finish, the little girl had all ready run off.
Swallowing, Jesse walked towards the woman stood at the gate. The woman facing away from him, the woman with Rachel's hair, the woman with Rachel's figure "Cute kid."
"Yeah," the woman with Rachel's voice replied, without turning to face him "She was cuter before she could talk."
He stopped about a metre away from her, took a deep breath and said "I doubt that, I bet she comes out with really stupid and cute stuff. Just like her mum."
The woman with Rachel's everything turned to face him, and whispered "Jesse?"
"Yeah," he nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets "It's been a long time Rachel." Afterwards, Jesse would go over this moment in his head, wondering why he did it, maybe it was the years of musical theatre and show choir getting to him but he sung "I heard that you're settled down."
"That you found a girl," she sung back, looking just like the Rachel Berry he had known in high school.
He gestured around at the other parents "And you're married now."
"I heard that your dreams came true," Rachel sort of smiled at the costume Jesse was wearing.
Shrugging it off, he sung back "Guess he gave you things
I didn't give to you." She looked back over her shoulder, looking as though she suddenly realised that she was singing outside her daughter's elementary school.
Delicately he moved a strand of hair from her face but she flinched away from his touch "Old friend
Why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back
Or hide from the light."
She started to walk away from him but he grabbed her arm and sung "I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over."
"Never mind," he shook his head "I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too."
Rachel sung back to him "Don't forget me, I begged
I'll remember, you said."
"Sometimes it lasts in love," he reached out for her again.
Once again she stepped away "But sometimes it hurts instead."
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead," he nodded.
Half-smiling she sung back "Yeah."
"You know how the time flies
Only yesterday
It was the time of our lives," this time, when he reached for her hand, she didn't pull away.
Rachel looked up with begging eyes "We were born and raised
In a summer haze
Bound by the surprise
Of our glory days."
"I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it." he pulled her a little bit closer "I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over."
As she pulled away again, Jesse looked up at the sky "Never mind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
"Don't forget me," I begged
"I'll remember," you said..."
Rachel sung so quietly, Jesse was sure that only he could hear it "Sometimes it lasts in love,"
But sometimes it hurts instead."
"Nothing compares," they both sung together, finding a perfect harmony so naturally it was almost unreal "No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
They are memories made.
Who would have known
How bittersweet this would taste?"
Now she reached for him, and he wrapped his arms around her as they both sang "Never mind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
"Don't forget me," I begged
"I'll remember," you said
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"
Never mind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
"Don't forget me," I begged
"I'll remember," you said
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead""
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead," Jesse finished on his own. The sound of applause rang around them and then Rachel bolted. Jesse didn't even need to think about it, he ran after her. He followed her all the way to her flat on the fifteenth floor of an apartment building, and the lift was out. Despite him having better fitness levels, Rachel somehow managed to get there fast enough to slam the door in his face.
"Rachel!" he knocked on the door as loudly as he could "Rachel I'm sorry!" Then he realised something, Rachel probably hadn't locked the door. Swinging the grey door open, Jesse shouted "I'm sorry Rachel!"
She was curled up on the sofa with tears running down her face "Go away Jesse."
"I would if I could Rachel," he shrugged, delighting in hearing her name on his tongue again "But if I left you now I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
Staring up at him with those brown eyes, she shook her head "Those people know me Jesse, they know the single mum who's a child minder and struggles to get by. They know Rachel Hudson, Dakota's mum. I have a reputation, I know where I stand. I don't need you right now, I... I..."
"Those people don't know you Rachel," he shook his head, closing the front door and wandering towards her "If they know Rachel Hudson then they've never met my Rachel, they've never met Rachel Berry."
She leapt to her feet and screamed at him "Rachel Berry doesn't exist any more! Rachel Berry died when I said "I do" to Finn Hudson! Rachel Berry died before Rachel Hudson divorced her husband! Rachel Berry was dead by the time Dakota Hudson was born! Rachel Berry!"
"Was a dreamer," Jesse shouted back "Rachel Berry was one of the most talented girls I've ever met! Rachel Berry was different and proud! Rachel Berry didn't care what other people thought! I loved Rachel Berry! No, scratch that, I never stopped loving Rachel Berry!" They stood there in silence for a few moments before Jesse said quietly "What happened Rachel? Why did you give up?"
Desperately, she shook her head "I didn't give up Jesse, I grew up. I married Finn straight out of high school, thinking he'd follow me anywhere but all I got was five more years in Ohio. We got a divorce before I knew I was pregnant. I decided to keep my name and moved to New York. I was going to pursue a career on Broadway but raise Dakota at the same time? No, I just couldn't do it. This is me now Jesse, deal with it."
"I could if I thought you were happy here," he replied "But Rachel you're not."
Folding her arms and raising her eyebrows at him, Rachel shot back "How would you know?"
"You just sang a duet with me in front of your daughter's elementary school," Jesse smiled at her "I'm playing Che on Broadway, what's your excuse?"
With a glance at the ceiling, she tried to claw back the tears "What does it matter?"
"It matters because..." he trailed off without an answer, catching her eyes. It didn't occur to him what the consequences might be, that she might slap him or knee him in the groin or use many other acts of violence upon him, he just took her face in his hands and pulled her towards him. He crushed her lips with his. It took her a moment or two but eventually she began to move her lips against his. Then her hands snaked around his waist, pulling him closer and making him gasp and deepen the kiss. One of his hands wove into her hair while the other pressed against the small of her back. She leapt up and wrapped her legs around his waist, moving her arms to wrap around his neck. Running his tongue over her lips, he carried her to the couch and laid her down, climbing on top of her.
Suddenly she pushed him back, shaking her head "No Jesse, this is wrong, I read the papers, I know you have a girlfriend."
"Damn it," he sat back on the sofa, crossing his legs and cocking his head to one side like a child "Cameron."
Rachel nodded and got to her feet "Yeah, exactly."
"But the thing is Rachel," Jesse looked up at her, keeping eye contact with her "I only ever went out with her because. Well she's got these brown eyes..."
Walking towards the kitchen, she sighed "No offence Jesse, but I don't want to hear you moon over your girlfriend."
"You didn't let me finish," he stood up, walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist "She's got these brown eyes, and they're just like yours."
She froze in his grasp "Oh Jesse!"
"Hm," he put his head on her shoulder.
Slowly, she turned in his arms "Why do you have to make things so difficult?"
"Because I love you Rachel Berry," he stroked her face gently "And I'll change my world for you if you want me to."
With a smile, she asked "So you'll break up with Cameron?"
"Yeah," he sighed "I've been meaning to for a while anyway."
Then she grinned and kissed him lightly before saying "Jesse, don't you have a matinee to get to."
Checking the clock, Jesse's eyes widened "Daaaamn!" He ran for the door, shouting over his shoulder "Maybe you should be glad your not on Broadway!"
"Get gone Jesse!"
"Yes mam!"