AN: This is an odd little one shot I had planted in my head, since I re-watched last year's sectional competition. Rachel says that she had been working on Don't Rain on My Parade since she was five, and I figured that there must be some story behind that, as there always is with Rachel Berry! Read and review, please!
Leroy Berry had no idea what he was getting into. If someone had told him five years ago that he would have such an emotional, and dramatic girl, he might not have told him husband that he wanted a daughter. Don't get the wrong idea, Leroy loved his daughter more than anything in the world, but, despite the fact that he was a gay man, Leroy was never very good at dealing with emotions. Music he could handle; the way the constant beat conducted the scale of notes was a comfort to Leroy. The roller coaster of emotions that his five-year-old daughter threw at him, however, was not something the man could handle. His princess had just come out of ballet class, very upset. Leroy did what he always did when Rachel got upset in public (which happened a lot.) Leroy scooped up his daughter, carried her to the car, and got her a glass of water. Usually, this did the trick. Today, it was not working.
"And then, this completely untalented girl named Tina got the ballet solo! Plus, she gets to dance with the really cute boy at the recital! It's not fair. I told Ms. Tarp that the only reason I messed up the solo was because Jessie distracted me, but she completely disregarded it, and didn't give me the solo, even though I was the obviously perfect choice for it!" Rachel cried into her water, as she had been for the thirty minutes.
Leroy Berry wished his husband would get home soon. He was so much better at dealing with this. After countless attempts to comfort his daughter, Leroy gave up, and resorted to the thing he knew best. Music.
"Sweetie, I thought of a song that would be great for you to sing in this kind of situation. Would you like to hear it?" Leroy asked his daughter.
Rachel shrugged. "I don't see how it could hurt the situation." Leroy grabbed his petite daughter's hand and walked her over to the piano. After rifling through a musical theatre anthology book, Leroy found the music he was looking for, and began to play and sing (down the octave) the opening notes.
Don't tell me not to live,
Just sit and putter,
Life's candy and the sun's
A ball of butter.
Don't bring around a cloud
To rain on my parade!
Don't tell me not to fly-
I've simply got to.
If someone takes a spill,
It's me and not you.
Who told you you're allowed
To rain on my parade!
I'll march my band out,
I'll beat my drum,
And if I'm fanned out,
Your turn at bat, sir.
At least I didn't fake it.
Hat, sir, I guess I didn't make it!
But whether I'm the rose
Of sheer perfection,
Or freckle on the nose
Of life's complexion,
The cinder or the shiny apple of its eye,
I gotta fly once,
I gotta try once,
Only can die once, right, sir?
Ooh, life is juicy,
Juicy, and you see
I gotta have my bite, sir!
Get ready for me, love,
cause I'm a commer,
I simply gotta march,
My heart's a drummer.
Don't bring around a cloud
To rain on my parade!
I'm gonna live and live now,
Get what I want-I know how,
One roll for the whole show bang,
One throw, that bell will go clang,
Eye on the target and wham
One shot, one gunshot, and BAM
Hey, Mister Armstein,
Here I am!
I'll march my band out,
I will beat my drum,
And if I'm fanned out,
Your turn at bat, sir,
At least I didn't fake it.
Hat, sir, I guess I didn't make it.
Get ready for me, love,
'cause I'm a commer,
I simply gotta march,
My heart's a drummer.
Nobody, no, nobody
Is gonna rain on my parade!
Leroy finished playing and looked at Rachel for her reaction.
"Did you like it, honey?"
"It's the perfect song to express my feelings! Thank you, Dad! Can I have the lyrics, so that may practice it?" Leroy handed Rachel the lyrics, and began to play again for his daughter.
Every day for the next eleven years, Leroy could tell if Rachel had had a bad day. If her day at school had been bad, the sound of her singing Don't Rain On My Parade could be heard coming from her room. That's why, when Leroy heard his daughter singing this same song at her show choir competition, the father couldn't help but laugh. His daughter, though now a confident, sixteen year old girl, was basically the same five year old who got upset when she didn't get a ballet solo. Really, the only difference was that when Rachel sang this song, and told people that she was going to be famous one day, everyone now believed her.
AN: I know, lame ending. I thought it might be a little bit confusing, since I poorly phrased it. How bad was it? Let me know! Review!