A/N:

This is an idea that came into my mind at the start of season 5 when we first encountered the diner; it gives such an exciting and interesting way to introduce new characters into the show and i think that they could done a better job of it.

There is going to be set towards the end of season 4 to start with, Rachel has had her callback to funny girl but has yet to find out about it. I really caught onto the line from s5e1 where Rachel talks about making it on her own without her Dads support and I think this is just like Rachel to be like; Hey this guy says I rely on my fathers to support me and is determined to prove that she doesnt need them. That Rachel Berry can work, go to NYADA AND make it on Broadway all at the same time.

I'm going to explore Rachel's possible love story with an OC, James (A completely different James to my other story!), that she might happy to meet at the diner. I don't really want to write Finn as dying, but I'm going to try and approach Rachel finding love in a different way; she and Finn aren't together as of the end of season 4 and what if she meets someone who makes her feel special?

Dantana and Klaine are going to exist and I might write in Samcedes.

The story is M rated because I want to try and write some smut scenes. There probably won't be a lot but there will be some in the story so be prepared! I will mark the top of the chapters with a warning if you dont want to read them!

I hope you enjoy this!.

Chapter 1

The sound of an alarm rung through the air in an apartment in Bushwick. Rachel groaned as she rolled over in her large bed, pushing back the covers from over her head and wiped the sleep from her eyes, adjusting to the early morning spring sunlight peaking through the curtains of the apartment she shared with Santana and Kurt.

5:00 am

Rachel moaned again, throwing her phone back down on the bed and collapsing backwards throwing her head against her pillow. Of course, Rachel was used to getting up earlier than most people in the morning, part of the routine she had developed for herself while she had lived at home in high school; the routine that would one day help her when she was on stage performing on Broadway. What she wasn't adjusted to was working until midnight the night before at the diner Santana had gotten her a job at a couple of weeks previous, and she definitely wasn't adjusted to getting less than eight hours sleep before she had to get up to start another shift.

A lot of her classmates at NYADA were enjoying their Spring break, but not Rachel. Instead thanks to this new job she had at the Spotlight Diner, and really she was thankful to Santana getting her this job as it would give her something to do to keep her occupied while she waited to hear back about her audition for Funny Girl as well as providing some extra income on top of that which her Dad's were providing her. It wasn't even that bad working there, apart from the late finishes and early starts involved in the job. The Starlight Diner was located close to Broadway, like right around the corner from the Gershwin Theatre and Rachel loved being able to walk past them on her way to work and during her breaks. The pay was even averagely decent enough for the work she was doing, working as a waitress serving customers all day; some of which were incredibly rude and seemed to enjoy sitting in her section every time they visited just to torment her, but the large majority of which were generally nice people who treated her with respect. Rachel had never even thought about getting a job before, instead she had always planned on letting her Dad's fund her way through college, which she knew they would be more than happy to, and when she got out college she had expected to be funding herself by starring on Broadway.

Since her breakup with Brody nearly three weeks prior, her attitude on the matter had changed somewhat. Rachel had spent a few days trying to get over the fact that the first relationship she had in New York ended up falling apart drastically. It had all gone to hell when she had gone home for Mr Schuster and Miss Pillbury's wedding and ended up sleeping with Finn. When she had returned, things between her and Brody had been stretched and she spent several weeks feeling as though there was something big between them, not only her withholding the fact she had slept with her ex but also on his end. That secret had come out spectacularly with the revelation that he was a gigolo. She hadn't expected that at all; maybe that he slept with someone else, she found herself thinking that she could have gotten over that fact; because afterall she had cared about Brody, he made her feel beautiful and made her feel like she was deserving of the attention of this incredibly handsome guy. Rachel didn't have any idea how she was supposed to deal with him being a gigolo, that he had slept with countless...scratch that she didn't want to know how many woman he had slept with while they had been an item. The idea of it sent a shiver down her spine, and she wished she could look past it; but in the end it had ended with them both in tears. Rachel did have feelings for Brody, and she was deeply hurt by the whole saga; not knowing what to do next, knowing she couldn't forgive him but also knowing that she was still attached to him and didn't want to move back to Finn, despite the romantic gesture he had made to come and tell Brody to get out of her life. She wasn't completely over the fact that Brody had pretended to care about her but then gone behind her back and done something so horrible, and starting something with Finn wouldn't be fair to either of them; just as it had been over the years they had tried dating before. Right now, she had to focus on herself. Ugh, when did life get so difficult.

That had led to the thinking that she needed to get a better outlook on the world, interact with other people in New York rather than limiting herself to the ones at NYADA; despite how at home she felt around her fellow students; Rachel Berry needed to broaden her horizon. So she had asked Santana to get her a job at the Starlight Diner, where the Latino former cheerleader had been working for around a month since her arrival in New York. It honestly wasn't that bad of a job, and the one thing that was attractive and interesting enough that she took it was the fact that the waitresses and waiters were all singers and dancers who got the chance to perform songs and dance routines at several various intervals during the day. Rachel Berry could interact with the wider, non-NYADA related world as well as doing the one thing she loved to do; Perform.

Another benefit of the whole, job experiment was that she got to work with Santana essentially everyday. Gunther, the slightly racist owner of the diner had assigned their shifts to cross over practically of every single one of the shifts she had worked for the past few weeks. Spending time with Santana would have been something Rachel would have hated a year ago, but now she found herself actually becoming good friends with her. Santana's involvement in the Brody breakup affair had made Rachel realize that there was some form of closeness between the two girls. It was nice having Santana living with her and Kurt, giving her someone to talk to that didn't have the same dramatic outlook on life as she did and generally the three of them got on really well.

…

Half an hour later, Rachel and Santana were sat on a bus on their way to the spotlight diner; just as they did every time they had an early shift together. Neither of them tended to talk much, something Rachel was fine with considering how little sleep she had gotten, simply sitting there enjoying the quiet company of the other girl.

...

She was sat on bus, on her way to her first shift at the spotlight diner she would be working at with Santana. Rachel Berry was actually nervous. Of course, that was being fought with for control with heartache and betrayal as the major thing that she felt; but she was fiddling with her fingers in the way she noticed that strange homeless people did as she walked past them on the streets of Manhattan. Turning her head to glance at Santana, she saw the girl was sat with her headphones in idly tapping his hand on her leg. Smiling to reassure herself, Rachel sighed and slouched in her seat, waiting for this terrifying ordeal to be over.

As the bus came to a stop in front of a bus diner, and busy was an understatement; there was actually a queue to get in that bent around the corner of the street. Her eyes flashed to Santana who was standing up with a calm expression. Jumping to her feet, Rachel gulped before she followed of the bus.

"This was a mistake" The words left her mouth before she even realised it.

"Ok no, Rachel you are not backing out. I basically had to show Gunther my left side boob to get you this job." Santana replied, leading her through the diner doors, which were opened for them by a pair of handsome guys wearing red shirts.

As she stepped in Rachel gulped, what had she gotten herself into; Rachel Berry didn't work, certainly not in a diner that was packed full of people. Glancing around she saw that every table was full, and there were several girls and guys running around wearing the same uniform she was. Looking to her left, she saw Santana heading towards a counter and quickly followed her; taking her lead and removing her coat, placing it in Santana's hand who quickly placed it behind the counter and swapped her for a piece of white cloth.

"Here put this on" Santana said, as she walked off again; causing Rachel to hurry after her, dodging a someone who was carrying a tray full of dishes.

"Look Santana, while I really appreciate you freely prostituting yourself for me that was before my world came crashing down in the few weeks not hearing about my funny girl audition." Rachel moaned, following her friend to the door to the kitchen, watching as she picked up a tray and started to walk off before a male with a new York accent called out to them.

"You're late Lopez"

"Yes, Yes I know…sorry Gunther" Santana replied, and Rachel tried not to smirk at the eye roll she saw the girl give her boss.

"Is that Her?"

"Yes, this is her, Rachel that's Gunther"

Rachel waves nervously and mutters a Hi softly

"Don't tell him if you're Jewish or Black" Santana whispered to her before heading off carrying the tray, and Rachel glanced nervously at the man who was eyeing her suspiciously before chasing after Santana.

"Listen you said it yourself a bazillion times, if you wanna get to broadway you have to pay your dues"

Rachel sighs listening to Santana, letting out a yelp as she has to duck to dodge a guy who is carrying a tray full of food. Walking after Santana she had to admit that she could see what the girl was talking about.

"Well I guess that's true, I mean Patti LuPone was a waitress pre-Evita. And you know this is the spotlight diner, and it's on Broadway and waiters get to sing and dance plus my dad's will pay my rent until I die, but I don't want that anymore, what happened with you know who, I realized I want to be grown up, living and making it on my own." She replied, coming to a step in the middle of the diner as Santana handed her the tray full of empty dishes.

"We're basically working actresses" Santana said with a smile before she disappeared off leaving her in the middle of the diner with no idea what she was doing. Glancing around she sighed heavily. Yep this was going to be hell.

…

That had been her first day at the spotlight diner, a shift full of running around cleaning up after the disgustingly messy tables as people vacated them. Okay, it hadn't been that bad; in fact she had actually begun to enjoy working there over the past few weeks. She found herself getting along with most of the people that worked there, something she was both happy and surprised about; because Rachel Berry did not make friends with strangers quickly. She had also been pleasantly surprised at the quality of performers there, while they weren't as good as she was vocally, their dancing was incredible and she felt like she was on the set of one of those cheesey tv musical shows with how they broke into dance at least once every hour singing anything from music from Broadway musicals to classic rock.

One of the benefits about working this early shift; and it was the only reason she could manage the sleep deprivation, was the fact that it was also quiet at this of the morning. It didn't really tend to get busy to at least 10am, leaving her a good three hours to work at a leisurely pace before things turned into a hectic mess. Opening the doors of the diner, Santana just behind her, she walked in and smiled as she saw a grand total of five customers seated around while the five waiters already working were stood around at the counter chatting to one another. Rachel felt herself smile again as she spotted Dani sitting swinging chatting to a guy with short black curly hair, James.

"I'll see you in a bit" Santana whispered to her before heading over to where the over girl was sat; and Rachel bit her lip as she watched the two embrace.

She was giddy at seeing the sight, knowing that Santana had a crush on the girl with blonde highlights in her hair; and Rachel enjoyed watching the two interact. Santana in high school had been confident when she flitered and interacted with guys, but watching this Santana was a completely different sight; she seemed nervous whenever she was alone with Dani and Rachel had been trying to set them up over the last week or so. Heading over to join them, Rachel smiled at Dani who sent her a wink.

"Hey Rachel" Dani's soft voice spoke, and Rachel hugged her.

"Morning Dani" She replied smiling, before turning to the guy was stood with his body angled so he could lean against the counter.

"Hi Rach" His deep voice spoke to her, flashing her his trademark grin, but it was a voice with tenderness in it.

"Hey" She said, moving to hug him and pulled back blushing slightly.

That was James, Dani's best friend and the two of them seemed close; they lived together in a two bedroomed apartment and from what she gathered they had known each over since before high school. He was at NYU studying a business degree and was a very handsome guy; with a strong jaw and beautiful brown eyes.

He would alternate between teasing her and being this sweet guy that she was beginning to grow close to. Rachel especially liked it when he called her beautiful, in the past it might have made her feel uncomfortable and in the past it had been associated with when guys were trying to hit on her but with this guy it was different. He didn't use it flirtatiously, he simply used it as a greeting similar to "Hey Buddy"; and thus Rachel never felt uncomfortable around him over the past few weeks since she had met him. He worked in the diner, and seemed to spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking with the other guys who worked in there. It was refreshing to spend time around a guy who she could talk to as a friend and not have to worry about them being romantically interested in her; since he had shown no interest in being anything more than a friend to her, and at this point with how confusing her love life was, Rachel was eternally grateful.

The four of them spent some chatting to one another about their night before Gunther came out of the back and in his typical friendly manner told them to get back to work because he didn't pay them to stand around talking. Sighing, she flashed James a smile before he disappeared into the back, finding herself walking around with Dani making conversation while the two of them appeared to look busy.

…