Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. If I did, Jesse would be one of the leading characters. Please enjoy this fanfiction! Comments are appreciated.

~ Your authoress, Melody of Perdition


Get it right


Rachel Berry sighed tiredly as she tried to find the right words for the song which will make them win Regionals. She tapped various keys on the grand black piano in front of her, yet no sign of inspiration came to her mind. After Finn had destroyed her first song, My Headband, she found herself doubting on her capability of composing a wonderful piece.

It shouldn't be hard... Just a couple of notes and some Barbara-like theatricality...Right?

Minutes turned into hours and soon, Rachel found herself still in school at dusk. She hurriedly grabbed her bag and books from the floor, closed the piano in front of her, and ran off towards her home. My dads are going to kill me! She continued running towards the exit until she realized she had forgotten her jacket at the Auditorium after the glee rehearsal they had that same day. She sighed and went back through the familiar corridors until finding herself right in front of the Auditorium's door. The door stood slightly open, allowing Rachel to take a peek at her sacred place and listen to a familiar, yet aching song accompanied by a bittersweet voice Rachel Berry knew so well.

'Cuz you know just what to say

and you know just want to do

and I want to tell you so much... I love you...

Rachel rested her back on the wall next to the door, trying to ease her rapidly beating heart. Her hand found itself resting on her chest, right on top of where her heart was, as if trying to sooth her heart's fluttering. What is he doing here? He should be at UCLA...

She continued listening to the slow and beautiful song Jesse St. James sang by his own this time, unlike their moment at the music store. Her heart's beating interrupted every coherent thought from her mind. Rachel Berry found herself annoyingly dumbstruck by Jesse's talented voice.

Soon, her feet started moving on her own towards the door. Her hands took the door's handle and slowly pulled the door towards her, interrupting every sound coming from McKinley's Auditorium stage. Brown eyes found blue for a few seconds which turned into an eternity for both old lovers. Jesse was the first to move. He turned his eyes away from the familiar petite figure, closed the piano, and stood up, ready to walk away without a word.

"Jesse, wait!" - her voice spoke out loud without thinking.

The young man in question halted every movement and slowly turned towards the young woman who had turned his world upside down last year. Jesse couldn't help but notice Rachel's change during their time apart. She had grown to be a beautiful young woman (more beautiful than before, he thought), yet had the same expressive brown chocolate eyes.

He smiled softly and jumped from the stage, standing right next to it, gazing at Rachel who stood a few stairs above on the same corridor.

"It's been a long while..." - he muttered, yet his voice resounded in the walls of the empty auditorium.

"I guess..." - muttered Rachel slowly. Soon, before her heart betrayed her mind once more, she looked up at him with accusing eyes and said a little louder: "What are you doing here? This is McKinley in case you were looking for Carmel High."

Jesse laughed softly in such a way that seemed he had missed Rachel's voice, as angry as it was. "I know where I am, Rach..."

"Don't call me that!" - she angrily said, crossing both of her arms over her chest and fuming mad at his cocky attitude. How dare he call me Rach! After all he's done!

He realized that, after all those months apart, Rachel still practically hated his guts. He walked a few steps towards her, yet made no move to rush to her side and hold her in his arms as he wanted to do so at the moment. Jesse stood a few meters away from the girl who had turned his world upside down and slowly said:

"Don't worry... I'll go soon. "

His words managed to confuse Rachel Berry for a moment, making her drop her defenses quickly and stare at him with wonder. What does he mean by leave? Is he already going away? Jesse cleared his throat and sadly smiled at Rachel. He just felt like he had to do what he had convinced himself of or else he would always regret it. She really is listening... after all I did to her.

"I just came here, hoping to find you Rachel." - he said. The young brunette tried to dismiss the fact that he had stopped calling her Rach, as he used to. "I am here to truthfully say I'm sorry for everything I did." - he said, his eyes full of regret and sorrow that Rachel had never been able to seen on those beautiful blue eyes of his. What if he's tricking me to fall into his arms again? It won't be so easy this time! Wait... who ever said I would be giving him a chance?

Rachel nervously crossed her arms over her chest once more and looked at Jesse straight in the eyes, only courage and determination could be seen on those big brown eyes of hers. "Sorry for what? For egging me? For winning Regionals... For breaking my heart into thousand pieces? How can you believe that I'll forgive you after all that? I would be a fool to believe in you after all you've done to me!" - Rachel exclaimed, her eyes fiercely engaged on her victim.

Jesse sighed and shook his head. He knew that by coming back to Rachel's life he should expect such accusations. But he couldn't tell her the truth. He would never tell her the truth as to why he behaved the way he did, even though he loved her. He loves her. St. James cleared his throat and walked a few steps forward until finally being right in front of the girl's face. He held her by the shoulders and slowly said:

"Please listen to me, Rachel... I'm trying to do this right. I just want to fix this between us. I know I don't deserve to be here or even to talk to you for that matter, but please listen to me... at least this one time. Please..." - he begged, something Jesse St. James would never do in his lifetime, except for one Ms. Rachel Berry. Rachel stood dumbfounded at the hint of a plea that could be heard on the arrogant and cocky Jesse St. James's voice. Jesse smiled softly and walked towards the stage and sat down right in front of the piano once more, pulling it wide open and testing a few keys once more. One last song... Just for her. Just this one last time...

Rachel followed Jesse unconsciously, her feet moving her whole being just to be next to him and hear his soothing voice. She stood right next to the grand piano in front of them, glancing through the corner of her eyes at the young man who sat gracefully right in front of the piano. Jesse smiled and played one key after another in a soft tune as he said:

"I just came to say I'm sorry, Rachel."- he said, his eyes completely focused on the piano keys right in front of him. "I never meant to harm you personally even if you believe that. You are something amazing. Out of this world. Your voice and your eyes enchanted me last year, confusing me completely. I had never felt so... vulnerable with someone, except with you. I realized how much I cared for you after the Run, Joey, Run incident."

The petite brown eyed girl slowly sat right next to Jesse, never taking her eyes away from him, mesmerized in the words he was saying to her. So he cared? He always cared?

"I ran away from you at that moment and I had made up my mind to never come back to McKinley... guess I couldn't keep myself away from temptation." - he snickered in such a bittersweet way that made Rachel wonder if she ever really understood the person who was right behind the mask that Jesse St. James was. "So I came back, trying to do the right thing, yet it was late. I had realized that we couldn't be, especially with the path we've forged for our own lives. "

Jesse sighed tiredly and turned his eyes to stare right into Rachel's brown eyed ones. He softly cupped Rachel's right cheek with his right hand and stared right into her eyes. "I will always be sorry for what I did, Rachel, but I have to face what I did, especially to you. So that's why I'm here..."

Rachel looked down to her lap, biting her own lip nervously, before whispering softly, something quite uncharacteristic from her - "Then why? Why did you left me like that?" As she whispered the last question, she felt a slow and almost unnoticeable flinch coming from him. He slowly removed his hand from her cheek and started playing random piano keys as if trying to distract himself from the reality.

"It was childish of me. I was stupid. I... I really have no explanation for anything I did, Rachel." - he said, tightening his fists and biting his tongue. One more step and he would've broken the pact he had done with Shelby. It's my weight to carry... not Rachel's...

Even though Jesse was telling her that everything was his fault, she felt something was missing, like if he was holding back. He ran his hand through his hair once, his hands stopping every single movement as his eyes slowly moved to meet hers. And that's when she saw something flicker in his eyes.

It was regret.

She finally saw the real Jesse, the one she was supposed to have met that day at the stage of Carmel High Auditorium. Rachel Berry finally saw behind the mask of Jesse St. James and what she saw only made her heart drop. She saw a scared, and lonely child, whose only escape was his voice and talent. She saw someone who was scared to love and be left alone. She saw herself reflected in his deep blue eyes. Unconsciously, Rachel enveloped her first official boyfriend in her arms and cried her heart out right on his chest.

Finally, after a whole year apart, both of them received what they had longed for since the day they broke up.

Understanding.


Rachel's POV

Jesse was here for a full week before returning to Los Angeles. After finally being able to keep our past away from us, we became close friends. At least just for now. I can't deny that I felt utterly and completely dazed by his complete presence in Lima. We were together most of the days, especially after I was done with high school. We agreed that he should keep away from McKinley for a while since Finn and Puck and mostly every guy in Glee club hates his guts. During that wonderful week, Jesse came by my place every afternoon to help me with my real "Rachel Berry" original song that I wanted to show my fellow glee clubbers and make them appreciate having me in their glee club. Jesse was the best choice to help me with the production of that song, especially since he understood the passion and life I wanted to give to my song.

Every day I couldn't help but to smile at the thought of seeing Jesse every afternoon. Even Finn noticed that something was wrong with me. Whenever he asked, I just smiled and shrugged it off. My smile grew wider after one Wednesday afternoon were we kissed after that long year apart. Apparently it had been an accident, but I know deep in my heart that he longed to kiss me, especially after we broke into our song. (Which will always remain as Hello by Lionel Richie of course). That time he tried to back away quickly, but, as I said, we couldn't resist being apart.

Soon, our musical sessions also turned into a passionate make out session. He was always aware of my feelings and cared enough to keep himself controlled, even though our make out sessions always seemed to run our hormones out of our minds. Well, what can we do... we're a couple of passionate stars.

End of POV


Rachel suddenly noticed she had been staring inside her locker for five full minutes, her eyes out of their sockets as her mind flew back to the week before. She smiled happily as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and closed her locker that contained a few pictures of herself and Jesse. She grabbed her bag with confidence and walked down the corridor to show the glee club what she was really made of.

She was ready to show them once more that Rachel Berry was the golden star of the club.


"Ok, guys, enough! Let's all sit down!" - Mr. Schue said and immediately everyone stopped their loud chatter. He sighed tiredly when he saw Rachel's hand shut up in the air before he could even start talking about the week's assignment. "Yes, Rachel?" - he asked politely.

"Well... First of all, I would like all of you to shut up during this performance." - said Rachel proudly and full of confidence as she strode down to the front of the classroom and stood right in front of her friends with her hands on her hips. She could feel everyone rolling up their eyes or looking around in boredom, but she didn't care. "As all of you are aware, I've been seeking the perfect, original song that will make us win regionals..."

"Oh, please not again, Rachel... that song of yours really won't make us win Regionals." - sighed Finn full of embarrassment and worry evident in his eyes. Santana snickered from where she was sitting with her head resting on top of Sam's chest.

"Excuse me Finn, but that song is old story. I'll show you the real deal now. Shut up and listen to the real star. Hit it!" - she said, exclaiming to the band and Brad to play the music sheets she had given them at the start of the glee club session. Soon, the room was filled with the song that she and Jesse had composed during that whole week together.

What have I done? I wish I could
Away from this ship going under
Just trying to help, hurt everyone
Now I feel the weight of the world is
On my shoulders

What can you do when your good isn't good enough
And all that you touch tumbles down
Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things
I just wanna fix it somehow
But how many times will it take… oh how many times will it take for me
To get it right… to get it right

Both of them had pushed something of themselves deep into the song, giving each other a closure and the ability to start again after all the pain they had caused each other. Jesse had smiled sadly at the words they had written together, words that expressed their lives so well and managed to convey all those unsaid emotions that were stored deep in their hearts.

Can I start again, with my faith shaken Cause I can't go back and undo this
I just have to stay and face my mistakes but if I get stronger and wiser
I'll get through this

What can you do when your good isn't good enough
And all that you touch tumbles down
Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things
I just wanna fix it somehow
But how many times will it take… oh how many times will it take for me
To get it right…

So I threw up my fists, threw a punch in the air
And accept the truth that sometimes life isn't fair
Yeah I'll send out a wish, yeah I'll send up a prayer
If I lead, someone will see, how much I care

Both of them had always sought for someone to understand them, at least a little bit of themselves. Neither had found someone to talk to or relate to until they crossed each others paths at the music store. After that they became forbidden lovers until they finally broke apart. Their relationship had been a real roller-coaster, but both of them had decided to take their lives in their hands and carry on. After their week together, Rachel finally understood the real words behind the words of Jesse's Bohemian Rhapsody at Regionals. No matter what, I'll keep going on. Those were the real words Jesse had wanted her to understand, but Rachel was too hurt to listen to them carefully. Her ex-boyfriend had carried on and continued fighting against life and the hurt one faces when your love is away from you.

What can you do when your good isn't good enough
And all that you touch tumbles down
Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things
I just wanna fix it somehow
But how many times will it take… oh how many times will it take…
To get it right… to get it right

Slowly, the music drifted off to an end, leaving the entire choir room in silence. Rachel slowly opened her eyes to stare at a wide eyed Finn and the unbelieving faces of the rest of the Glee Club. Even Mr. Schue seemed surprised at her original performance. No noise was heard from the choir room, but Rachel didn't care. She knew she would kill at Regionals with their song, and that Jesse would be there with her. He had promised.

The End


Thanks for reading! Not much to say at 3am...