Written for my fellow Samchel shippers on tumblr. I have nothing against Jesse St James, I'm sorry if I kind of made him a douche bag of the highest order.

-Prologue-

Lima 2014

"Hey"

"Hey"

Rachel glanced up from her position in front of the piano in the choir room at McKinley, and smiled when she saw Sam, her current boyfriend, smiling at her in the doorway. "Still no word from NYADA?"

"No but I'm not giving up. Carmen is going to take me back even if I have to squat in her office for the next year".

"That's a bit drastic, don't you think?" Sam smirked as he sat beside her on the piano bench. "But I'm sure that she will take you back. I mean the others don't but I know that if you really want something you'll make sure that you get it. I have faith in you Rachel".

"Thanks Sam, that means a lot. Actually you're opinion matters the most to me out of everyone's. You've become really important to me. I hope you know that".

"I do. And you're important to me too" he replied and placed a hand on the small of her back before gently rubbing circles causing her body to relax under his touch.

"This has become more than just some fling to me" Rachel admitted. "You're the first person I could actually see myself with after Finn".

"I will always remember this time we had together, Rachel".

"I know but maybe you don't need to just remember what we have now?"

Sam looked at her, his brows furrowing as he frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean why don't you come back to New York with me?"

"I have a job here, Rachel" he sighed. "You know that I can't just give that up".

"You can get a coaching job anywhere, Sam. I bet Sheldon will be more than happy to recommend you to people. We could be together, Sam. We don't need to end things when we could be so much more".

Sam was quiet for a moment before his hands moved from Rachel's back to her face as he cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Look, Rachel. I'm really touched that you care enough to ask me to go back with you but I can't. I hated living in New York and I didn't really fit in there. I'm happy here in Lima where it's quiet and I can walk down the street without constantly getting rammed into by some other person. It's nothing against you, it's just that I finally found my place here and I can't leave. I don't want to leave".

Despite the fact that he had said it was nothing against her, Rachel still felt a pang of hurt at his words. He obviously didn't feel that strongly about her if he didn't think she was worth following even to a place he didn't like. But then again did she feel strongly enough about him to give up her New York dreams? She couldn't really hold it against him but it did mean that the special connection that they had built in such a short time would be ending really soon. Something that she didn't really want to think about.

"Rachel" Sam's voice broke the silence that had fallen. "I think that we should end things between us right now before one or both of us gets really hurt by this. I don't want you to give up your dreams and I can't go with you when you leave. Let's face it, this was never going to work out between us. You're made for the city and I'm a small town boy. We're just too different. I really do like you, Rachel and I think you're great. I just think you should find someone who's great for you and I don't think that's me".

Rachel's doe brown eyes sparkled with water but she refused to let herself cry in front of Sam. That would be ridiculous right? They hadn't even been dating that long, there was no way she was going to let herself fall apart over him especially in front of him. "You're wrong. I think you've been great for me but if this is how you really feel then I respect you're decision".

"This is how I feel".

"Okay" she took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face. "I guess that this is it for us then?"

"I guess it is".

"We still friends?"

"Of course we are" Sam told her as he pulled into his arms for a hug. "You are one of my best friends and nothing is going to change that".

New York 2021

"How could you do this to me?" Rachel screamed, picking up a photo of her and Jesse on their wedding day and chucked it at her husband who narrowly ducked as it came his way. "You knocked up you're assistant?!"

"It just happened" he replied as he fell to the floor as a giant teddy bear he had won for her on one of their first dates in New York almost hit him directly in the face. "You were out with Kurt and Blaine again and Kirsty was there for me".

"What do you mean I was out with Kurt and Blaine again? What are you taking that tone for? I'm the only one who's got the right to be angry here, not you!"

"Kristy gave me the attention that you weren't! You spent so much of your time with lady lips and his bride that you three may as well have been in a polygamous marriage to each other. You even had their baby!"

"So that's what this is about? That I carried their child?"

"Not just that but you were more in love with them than you ever were with me. Face it, Rachel. You never loved me, not like you loved Finn".

"Finn was the love of my life!" the tony winner growled. "You told me a thousand times that you understood that. Nobody will ever replace Finn and that includes you. That never stopped me from loving you and from giving you my whole heart! I never gave Kurt and Blaine any more attention than I did before we got married. You're just looking for an excuse to ease your guilty conscience of what you've done to me and to our marriage".

"I'm a superstar, Rachel. You would be nothing without me but you treated like the just another of your random, low class romantic interests like that Evans guy".

At her husband's words, Rachel's face was practically turning purple with rage. "Sam is twice the man that you'll ever be! Don't you ever call him low class ever again! It's you who has no class going behind my back and having an affair with your assistant like you're in some typical cliché TV show and getting her pregnant".

"Well at least she's actually having my baby and not the child of two fashion-challenged, overrated failures".

"That's enough" Rachel yelled. "You can keep this stupid apartment and all you're stupid things. I'm leaving. I'll send you the divorce papers in the post. I never want to speak to you ever again".

With that said, she stormed out of their bedroom and grabbed her bag that she had packed up ever since Kristy had called her cell phone to tell her what they had done and sent her photographic proof in a picture text. She had since blocked Kristy's number off her phone. She could have Jesse St James all to herself for all she cared. On her way out, Rachel slammed the front door before leaning against the wall outside and bursting into tears. A year ago everything had seemed so perfect and wonderful. What the hell had happened?