Author Note: I was lost for ideas so someone suggested a Fuinn fic, and as I haven't tried them before, I thought I'd give it a go. It starts off Finchel, but I needed to sort that out first. Also, at the end, there's a surprising reunion for Rachel. This is the longest one shot I've done, so please enjoy, I'm quite proud of it. R&R please.
Rachel looked at the bulletin board on her bedroom wall. She had lined it with stars, and, in big, cut out letters she had tacked the word GLEE CLUB at the top. She looked at the various photos she had pinned to the board. In prime of place was a photo of her and Finn after their performance at regionals. That had been a great moment. She looked at their faces in the photograph. They looked so happy, so loved up. She sighed.
Her eyes moved across the board and landed on another photo. The clubs performance of U2's One. She was dancing with Noah. She smiled, remembering the time that they had dated. He had been so open to her then, more open than the bad ass Puck that everybody else knew. He was so different, not what she'd expected before she'd had him.
Rachel continued examining the memories, avoiding one space on the board. Finally, she forced herself to look. In the centre, Mercedes was performing Christina Aguilera's Beautiful. Her heart tugged as she saw herself happy in the arms of Jesse. The only guy who it still hurt to think about.
Why though? She had Finn. She'd spent so long chasing him, nearly a year of her life running after the cute footballer, but all the time she spent wishing she was with him, she'd never thought about what she would do when she finally was. And anyway, he wasn't exactly a great match for her. His voice needed a lot of working on, unlike Jesse's, and however cute it made him he was a little dense. Nowhere near as sharp as Noah. Nowhere near, she couldn't help herself thinking, good enough for her.
Rachel felt torn. She spent so long loving Finn, and no doubt that she did, but it wasn't like she'd expected. She'd been so happy in the carefree time they'd spent together before, as friends. She realised, looking at the other guys she had loved, that Finn wasn't her true love. He was her best friend, but no the guy she wanted to be with.
As the bell went, Finn arrived at Rachel's locker.
"Hey Rachel" He beamed.
"Hello Finn" Rachel put on her showface, smiling at him. But it was only a showface. Inside, she was freaking out. She needed to tell him what she'd realised. But how?
Finn took her hand as they walked to glee together, smiling dopily at her as he did. A few months back that smile would have had Rachel's insides twisting. Now it just made her smile, the same way she smiled at Mercedes or Kurt when she saw them.
They arrived at Glee club, taking seats next to each other. Finn put her arm around her, but Rachel shifted uncomfortably. They watched the various performances by other members of the club, before Mr Schue dismissed them. As they left the room, Rachel hung back.
"Finn, wait." She told him. "I need to speak to you."
"Sure Rach." Finn gave her another dopey smile, causing her heart to flip, but not from love. It was guilt that was tugging at her heart stings now.
"Finn. I'm sorry. But, I think we should break up." Rachel didn't dare look up, knowing he'd be giving her one of his classic confused and hurt looks. "I don't think its working out. We've spent so long trying to be together, and get over the obstacles, that I feel that we're only together because it's the first chance we've had properly, even if our hearts aren't in it."
"But Rachel… mine is. Please, don't Rachel. We are working. Please." Finn said, sounding slightly pathetic. He couldn't believe it. First Quinn betrayed him with Puck, now Rachel was rejecting him again. Another girl messing with his heart, leaving him hurt again.
"Finn, we've spent too long trying to be together that now, by the time we've finally worked it out, I'm over you." Rachel bit her lip, sorry for what was happening.
"Wait." Finn began. "I get it. You like someone else. Or, you're not over Jesse or something."
"No Finn. I got over Jesse the day he broke that egg over me. But I'm also over the idea of us. It's just, I don't think that what we have now is what we hoped we would have, and what we expected we would have. It seems that the chase was more fun that the catch. I think we should just be friends, like before. I'm sorry Finn." Rachel patted his arm and gave him a sad smile, before turning and walking away.
Finn stood there, too shocked to speak. She'd done it again. When they had the chance to be together, she told him that she didn't want to be with him. Rachel left the building, and the banging of the door behind her jolted Finn out of his shocked trance. He pounded the wall, tears welling up.
Finn turned and went back into the choir room, closing the door, and leaned his head against it, closing his eyes to squeeze in the tears that threatened to over whelmed him.
Quinn Fabray had been sitting in the choir room, reading a letter from Shelby Corcoran. Well, she had been trying, but the tears had taken over, blurring her sigh and consequently the letter. She looked up as she heard the door open and close.
Finn opened his eyes. He saw Quinn, teary eyed, sitting staring at him.
"This is the place I usually go to cry" Quinn told him, her voice sounding as if she had a cold. "I didn't know it was being turned into a room for everyone to come sob."
Finn looked at her sceptically. "What could there be to cry about in the world of Quinn Fabray?" He said harshly. "Back on the Cheerios, having the biggest bad ass in the school as your boyfriend, what can be wrong?"
Quinn just gave him a small smile. "Puck isn't my boyfriend. He's just someone who I had a baby with. And anyway, I got this in the post today. From the mailman who glares at me." Quinn held up the letter.
Finn almost laughed. The mailman had taken quite a dislike to him and his then girlfriend after he accidentally hit him with his car.
"What's the letter about?" He asked her.
"Its from Shelby. Just an update on Beth." Quinn said with a sniff.
"Why does that make you cry? You didn't want Beth, did you? You gave her away." Finn knew he was probably being mean, but right now he didn't care.
"No, that's not true Finn." Quinn looked up at him. "I didn't want to have my baby with Puck as the father. It's why I tried to hold on to you, because you would have been such a better father than Puck could be, and it would have had two loving parents who loved each other too. I mean, Puck wanted to name her Jackie Daniels."
"I wanted her to be called Drizzle though." Finn pointed out, still slightly numb from Rachel's rejection.
Quinn just looked at him sadly. "So, now we know what's up in my life, why are you crying?" Finn felt his face. He hadn't realised the tears had spilt over. "You're life must be better than mine. You have a steady girlfriend, a sure future."
"She dumped me. She said it wasn't working." Finn's voice cracked slightly, wondering why he couldn't seem to keep up a stable relationship with Rachel.
Quinn patted the seat next to her. Finn crossed the room and sat down, watching her expectantly. Quinn sniffed and shuffled slightly in her seat.
"Finn." She began. "You know, you were my first love. Well, my only really" Quinn gave a small sniff. "I never really loved Puck, he just told me I wasn't fat and got me pregnant. It was a mistake, a mistake that ruined the best thing I had." She spoke quietly, still sounding like she had a cold.
" I'm sorry for hurting you Finn." She looked up at her ex boyfriend. Quinn had never wanted to hurt Finn, the lies had started and she couldn't stop them, because they were best for her and best for her baby. "We were good together."
Finn looked down at her tear stained face, and they were both reminded of the moment where Quinn had first revealed her shameful secret. Quinn had the same look of shame and upset on her face, and Finn was still looking at her in the concerned way he had before.
"Finn. If it wasn't for Puck and Rachel, would we still be together?" She whispered.
Finn looked at her and slowly nodded, encouraging her to keep speaking.
" Please Finn, can we try again. Can we be in love again?" Quinn stared into her first love's eyes.
Finn nodded, wrapped his arms around Quinn and held her to his chest, forgetting all former heartbreak. Maybe, Finn reasoned, all the heartbreak I felt over Rachel was really just hurt over Quinn resurfacing. He kissed the top Quinn's head, and closed his eyes as he held her. Quinn smiled into Finn's chest. Things were nearly back to the way they were before. Except, they were going to be better. They had both grown up a lot; they were both better people now. They would both try to make this work. And they both hoped they would succeed.
Epilogue
Rachel felt bad over hurting Finn. Even worse, she felt bad about having to lie to him too. Well, she hadn't lied as such. She had told him the truth about her feelings, but there was one part she had denied that had been true, but it was easier for Finn not to have known that.
Rachel picked up her phone, and dialled a number she knew well. It was answered on the third ring.
"Rachel?" The voice down the phone came.
"Yes. How did you know it was me?" Rachel was surprised. "I thought you would have deleted my number by now."
"Oh, I have." She could hear the smirk in his voice. "But, you know me, I have a good memory, for numbers, song lyrics, notes etcetera. So, what's the reason of your call Miss Berry?"
Rachel rolled her eyes at his smug comments. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet up. A lot of things have gone unsaid between us that I feel need to surface now."
"Ok, tomorrow, music store, 5pm."
"I'll see you then."
"Bye Rachel."
"Bye Jesse." The phone hung up, and Rachel smiled to herself. Inside, she didn't know what she was doing or why, but she knew it was right.
Rachel arrived at the music store at 5pm sharp. As she entered, she saw Jesse talking to Andrea Cohen, Vocal Adrenaline's lead singer. She stopped abruptly, a seed of doubt growing inside her. Jesse saw her, and gave her a slight nod of the head, unnoticeable to Andrea, who was obviously mid rant. Rachel watched as Jesse cut in, then disappeared, leaving Andrea looking confused. Andrea walked after him, calling his name, but Rachel saw Jesse ducking and weaving between the shelves of the music store.
Rachel smiled to herself, and began walking through the store, knowing where he'd be. As she arrived, she saw a figure holding up a Lionel Richie book, covering their face. She went up to them, and pulled the book down.
"Lionel Richie, huh. One of my favourites" Rachel said, with a small smile.
"Oh my god! You're Rachel Berry!" Jesse smirked at her, raising his voice as he mimicked their first meeting.
"And you're Jesse St. James. I saw you perform at regionals. Your rendition of 'Bohemian Rhapshody' was flawed. You totally lacked Freddy's emotional depth… but you're talented." Rachel quoted him.
Jesse grinned at her, putting the book down. "So, Rachel, how have things been? I hear you finally got with Finn. It's not like you weren't fawning over him all last year."
"Oh, things didn't work out with Finn really. It's kind of why I wanted to come and see you. Things haven't been sorted out between us, not properly."
"Obviously all you want to do is talk to me." Jesse smirked at her.
Rachel looked at him and sighed. " All right. You're right Jesse. I didn't come here just to talk. Now that we aren't in opposing clubs and that there no one between us, I was wondering… well, you know…" She trailed off, embarrassed.
"No, I don't know. I think you should say it." Jesse looked smug. "Actually, I do know. But I'm still going to make you say it."
Rachel glared at him before having to smile. "Alright. I was wondering if you wanted to get back together, try again at our so- called 'epic romance'. I think things will work better now you're out of Carmel."
"Even though I'm at UCLA?" He pointed out "Oh well, I'm sure we can work something out. Although, before we sort out dates, we haven't given our impromptu concert yet. You know how important it is to get back" Jesse grabbed Rachel's hand and dragged her over to the piano, and started playing, smirking all the while.