A/N This is a 3 part (plus Epilogue) Mini Fic that will eventually loosely crossover with ABC's Lost.
Part One
The Past
Fate: the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.
Do we really get a say in the way the events of our lives turn out? Are there just some things that were meant to happen to you that you can't escape no matter what? You may believe that we make our own luck. In many aspects, this is true. But if you take a closer look into the lives of the average person, you'll find that certain things will happen and as though they were meant to be.
Jesse St. James didn't believe in that sort of thing. As far as he was concerned, he was destined to be a Broadway star because he had the talent and drive to get himself there. But he wasn't aware that fate had been playing a role in his life from day one.
How was he to know that his babysitter when he was a toddler was none other than a pregnant Shelby Corcoran who was picking up the extra job to save up to move to New York after she gave birth to the Berry's future daughter? Shelby would teach him very simple children's songs and he'd sing them to her belly every time she came over.
That wasn't even the only "coincidence".
When he was only eight, for instance, he walked into his first dance lesson in Lima, Ohio. It was one of the many summers that he would spend with his aunt and uncle in the quaint town while his parents were off vacationing on some tropical destination their choice. His parents thankfully paid for him to continue his lessons in Lima whenever he was forced to stay.
How was he to know that he was taking more than one steps to fulfill his destiny that day?
With his aunt and uncle sitting in the corner with the other parents, Jesse walked up to the barre with the rest of the class to warm up. He was of course the only boy in the class, but he didn't really care. When he was a star one day, this would all pay off. Not to mention, he absolutely dared anyone to taunt him for taking dance. They wouldn't know what hit them if they did.
He stepped up behind a smaller girl with long dark hair pulled up into a neat bun. She wore a bright pink sparkly tutu that would normally be reserved for real performances instead of actual lessons. She seemed much too young for the age group in the class. Despite being the smallest, she seemed to be the most confident as she held her head high while she stretched. She seemed to sense him watching her and whipped herself around to face him.
"Hi, I'm Rachel," she introduced herself brightly, placing her small hands on her hips. "Who are you?"
"I'm Jesse," he replied, smiling down at the smaller child.
"I was placed here with the older kids because Mrs. Pierce says that I've got a natural talent. She's right," she explained, bending down to touch her toes.
"Oh yeah? Well Mrs. Pierce says I've got a natural talent too and placed me in this level after ten minutes of seeing what I can do," he replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Rachel shot back up and crossed her arms just as he did.
"Yeah? Well I've already taken first prize at three pageants this year with my award winning singing and dancing," she snapped, shoving three fingers in his face.
Sensing a competition, Jesse stood tall and towered over the small brunette fiercely.
"I've starred in every show Akron's Children's Theatre has put on for the past two years," he gloated proudly.
"I played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz!" she shouted, trying to stand as tall as she possibly could.
"I played Danny in Grease!"
By this point the rest of the class was starting to get sucked into the confrontation going on before their eyes. They began crowding around the two children with intense interest.
"Oh yeah? Well… well… I'm going to be on Broadway someday!" the brunette shouted.
"Me too! And I'll bet I'll get there first!" he shouted back.
"Will not!"
"Will too!"
By this point the two children were within an inch of each other, shooting each other the fiercest of glares. Two men in the corner with the rest of the parents shot up immediately.
"Not again…" muttered Hiram Berry.
"Rachel Barbra Berry, stop that right now!" ordered his husband, Leroy.
Jesse's aunt and uncle stood up and glanced between the children and Rachel's parents in shock.
"We're so sorry. He does this all the time whenever he senses that someone thinks they're better than him," explained his aunt apologetically.
"That's exactly what our Rachel does. I can't begin to tell you just how many children she's scared away this way" explained Leroy, turning back to look at the arguing children. "…and oh dear, we should break it up now."
"Well there's only one way we can settle this is there?" growled the curly haired little boy.
"SING AND DANCE OFF!" she exclaimed.
"BRING IT ON, MUNCHKIN!"
"YOU'RE ON PUFF HEAD!"
"Stop fighting!" shouted a blonde girl in a kitten leotard hiding behind the dance instructor.
Before either of them could even begin, they were pulled apart by Hiram and Jesse's uncle.
"Great, now we're going to have to switch her to another dance school, again," groaned Leroy, grabbing Rachel's dance bag and following Hiram and Rachel out of the studio.
Jesse pried himself from his uncle's grasp and shook a few stray curls from his face.
"Girls…" he growled in frustration as he made his way back to the center of the room to begin his lesson.
He turned back to watch Rachel's fathers drag a kicking and screaming ("NO, DADDY! NO!") Rachel out of the room, secretly admiring the little girl and he wasn't quite sure why.
Not very many summers later, Jesse was spending yet another holiday at his aunt and uncle's house. He was eleven years old now and took to sneaking out of the house every now and then for long walks around town. On this particular day, he was furious with his aunt for making him get his hair cut because the barber had cut it too short for his liking. His curls were practically gone now because of it.
He picked up a stick from the neighbor's backyard and began hitting it against the fences he walked by. He was about to cross the street when he heard the sound of a little girl crying a in the yard next to him. Turning back curiously, he leaned against the fence to see the source of the tears.
"What's the matter?" he asked, looking over at the little brunette a few years younger than him.
Rachel was sitting in her pale yellow dress on her backyard swing by herself with her head low. This time her dark hair was much shorter and pulled back in pigtails with pink ribbons. She poked her head up and looked over at the older boy with tear-filled red eyes.
"Who are you?" she asked, too young to have remembered their encounter the first time.
He ignored that question, unable to remember the first time they met either, and walked into the yard to sit next to her on the adjacent swing.
"What's the matter?" he repeated.
Rachel sighed and looked across the street at the neighbor's house.
"I went over to see if Sanny and Brittany wanted to play and then Sanny called me a Smurf and pushed me to the ground. She said that I wasn't cool enough to join her club because I wasn't pretty enough," she explained as a new wave of tears overcame her.
Jesse frowned in the direction of Santana's house before turning back to her sympathetically. He reached over and wiped a few tears from her cheek with one hand.
"I think you're pretty," he muttered, wiping another tear from her other cheek.
"Really?" she sniffled, poking her head up.
He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, and if they don't want you in your club, then who needs them," he shrugged, swinging slowly next to her.
Rachel smiled weakly and nodded. "Someday I'm going to be a star, you know. Then they'll be sorry they were ever mean to me."
Ignoring the sense of déjà vu he was feeling, Jesse smiled at the brunette and continued to swing next to her.
"Me too," he replied, holding his head up high.
"Maybe we can be stars together," she said brightly, smoothing out her yellow dress.
"If you're good enough," he teased playfully.
"I am too good enough!" she pouted, sending him a glare.
"Oh yeah? Prove it," Jesse replied, bumping his swing into hers playfully.
"Only if you do," she smiled, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet with her.
After an intense debate, they both decided to settle with singing a duet of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. Despite their young age, they could already appreciate each other's natural talent was already highly evident in their acapella performance. When they finished, they sang a few more songs before crashing down to the grass to watch the clouds.
"You're really good," said Rachel, reaching over to grab Jesse's hand.
"I know," he replied smugly. "But so are you."
They shared a brief smile before Rachel sat up and pulled him up with her.
"Let's play something. We can play the parts in our favorite movies," she suggested, smiling brightly at the boy.
"Okay, what movie?" he asked with interest.
"Snow white?"
"No."
"Sleeping Beauty?"
"No way," he shook his head.
"Why not?" she asked, crossing her arms in frustration.
"Because in both of them I'd have to kiss you for you to wake up," he explained.
"What's so wrong with that?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "The prince always has to kiss the princess!"
"I'm not going to kiss you," he said flatly.
Rachel giggled and covered her mouth.
"What?"
"You're scared!"
Jesse's eyebrows furrowed in frustration at her accusation.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
He shot her a glare and shook his head, refusing to give in.
"I dare you," she continued, edging herself closer. "You can't refuse a dare."
Jesse sighed and leaned in and hovered his lips near hers, closing his eyes. He quickly pecked her lips and pulled away. Both of them quickly looked away so the other wouldn't see just how much they were blushing.
"Okay, let's play," he said quickly to change the subject.
"I want to play Beauty and the Beast, then. You can be Beast," she declared.
"I'm way too good looking to play The Beast," he frowned.
"But you get to become the handsome prince at the end," she said in a sing song voice.
"Okay, you're on."
