Worth the Chance, a glee fanfic

Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 40th cycle. Now cycle 41!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 42 CHEAT SHEET ** (this afternoon)

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: The Troubletone Incursion, chapter 10 (marked as 7).

"Worth the Chance"
AU!Jesse/Quinn, AU!New Directions
Berry-St (following 'Woke the Dragon')
(but it's a sequel to 'Power Couple',
the AU!characters in the AU!world...)

She wasn't deluded about the whole situation. She knew he had a thing for her; it wasn't the first time she'd seen something like that from a guy, but that in no way meant that she would think anything of it or let it influence her. Except now here she was, in Glee Club. To Santana and Brittany she had said it was in order to be near and supportive to Finn. To Coach Sylvester she had said it was in order to be near and supportive to Finn. To herself she had said… She didn't know if Santana and Brittany had believed it, same to the coach… Except now she wasn't sure if she believed it for herself. And if it wasn't because of Finn, then what for?

It was probably a good thing that the news of her 'crossing into enemy territory' hadn't prompted her coach kicking her off the squad. And now she was there, a spy… There could be worse things, she supposed. So she went with it. The first attack plan had been to target Schuester's skills as a choreographer. Ideally she would have honed in on a linchpin, one person to carry the charge, but she couldn't see any of them fitting the bill, for a number of reasons. So instead she had went with a tactic that brought along a sort of contagion. Plant the seeds here, there, and wait for them to spread, and tangle, and then the rest would take care of itself. The only others she didn't pull into this, beside Santana and Brittany, were Finn – his skill set would probably make this complaint go over his head – and Jesse, because… well, because.

Whether or not Quinn had included him in her word of mouth campaign, once it had started he wasn't exactly indifferent to the whole subject. He didn't know Schuester that well yet, but it hadn't been smooth sailing either, so he had to wonder if maybe she was on to something. And as much as he knew who she was in the great big scheme of things at McKinley High, to him she was still that girl, the one that sent his whole system off its axis, and for no reason he could put a name to, he trusted her. Then one afternoon, Finn had come to him. The two of them had really bonded as friends now, no way around it. So when he'd come to him, Jesse listened.

He didn't feel right going behind Mr. Schuester's back, going to this Dakota Stanley guy, and he was hoping to get some back-up in the form of Jesse, to convince the girls not to go through with hiring him. Jesse heard him, and he was seeing Finn's point as much as he was seeing Quinn's… That was happening a lot more than he'd care to admit, to be torn between the two. He couldn't say that to either of them, of course… That would only complicate things. So usually he'd try and find the compromise in between.

"Look, it doesn't hurt to check him out, right?" Jesse shrugged.

"Right… I guess," Finn slowly agreed.

"And if they really want to get him, then we should see what we're up against. He could be good for us and we have no idea."

"But what about Mr. Schue?"

"I like the guy, too," Jesse promised. "Compared to what I had before, he's miles above. But I can't ignore potential when it comes; that's just not how I work," he shook his head. "For all we know the whole thing will flop and that'll be that."

"But he works with Vocal Adrenaline, aren't those guys the champions?"

"Doesn't mean he'll be the right fit for us. I'll keep you posted, alright?" Finn thought, then he nodded.

"Alright," he agreed, and Jesse breathed; why did getting through a conversation without mentioning anything about Quinn feel like a victory? All he'd won was another lie to his new friend.

He tried to ignore it, to tell himself she wasn't worth it, that he'd get over it. But then he'd see her again and he couldn't see how she wasn't absolutely perfect. They'd gone off to Carmel, him, and Kurt, and the girls. They'd all been focused on what they would see; except Tina, for some reason, who kept looking at Mercedes with Kurt with something like concern in her eyes. So they'd seen Vocal Adrenaline perform, and not unlike the first time, they had been properly floored by them. Then there was the small shrill man. Even from their distance, by no means in his line of fire, Jesse could feel his own stomach drop, same for the others… except the Cheerios. He tried not to sneak glances at her, but he couldn't help it, and the smirk she shared with Santana… It was the first time he felt distant from her, like something more than Finn stood between them.

In the end he hadn't fought their desire to at least try and get a session with Dakota. He was kind of ashamed to say it, but the moment the words 'car wash' had been spoken, he had zero resistance.

The day of the car wash, he'd been there, bright and early along with the rest of the Glee Club… and the Cheerios. He'd been prepared for uniforms, or maybe for once they'd be in regular clothes… What he got instead was almost too much for him to bear… When he saw her, he almost bit into his sponge. He was being punished, that was what it was. He was being punished for maintaining these thoughts about his friend's girlfriend. He could rationalize it in his head, that he'd had feelings for her before he and Finn had become friends, but they were friends now, so it should have taken precedence, right?

So he got to cleaning the cars that came. They'd never seen a washer so dedicated to his work. If his eyes stayed focused, then he had no problem, no…

"Need a hand?" a voice – her voice – came, and his hand fumbled with the soaked sponge, which thumped back against his chest and arms before he caught it, leaving more or less his whole front in water and soap. "Need several hands?" she amended, smirking. He looked at her – big mistake, not look at her eyes… bigger mistake, how about looking… No, there really was no safe place.

"I'm alright," he promised, looking back to his sponge and the car in front of him. "But… thanks," he nodded. There was a moment of silence.

"Okay then," she replied, and then she was walking away. He closed his eyes, cursing himself under his breath. The punishments just kept on coming.

"Hey…" another voice – Finn's voice – arrived, and Jesse did his best to return his face to a regular look before he could turn to him. "So I guess you decided to hire him?" They hadn't really spoken since the trip up to Akron.

"Yeah, well, for now."

"How much do you have to pay him?" Finn asked.

"Eight thousand."

"Are you kidding? That's insane," Finn shook his head, his voice saying it all.

"I know, but…" He could hear her laughing with Santana nearby; he was destabilized, as much as he tried to block her out… Even her laugh was perfect to him, how did that happen?

"I just have a bad feeling about this. And paying him all that money… We could really use it for other stuff, couldn't we? Like… costumes and all that?"

"I know," Jesse repeated. He took a breath. "You'll still be there, right?"

"Yeah, I need to see what this guy's like."

When they'd found themselves in his presence though, it didn't take long for Dakota Stanley to make himself outspoken enemies out of most of the club. With those of them on the verge of walking out, there had been a moment, a look amongst friends, an understanding. Jesse had looked to Finn, and Finn had looked back to him, and they knew… Yes, hiring Dakota had been a mistake, and it was up to them to root out the problem. They could overpower him, no problem, and when he just kept mouthing off, they weren't going to hear more. Like a pest, Jesse had taken to one arm, and Finn to the other, and they'd lifted and carried him out, kicked him out – figuratively – from their choir room, never to be seen again. The New Directions were declared to Will Schuester, but more importantly they weren't going to let themselves get tossed around by someone like Dakota Stanley. The gesture had not gone unnoticed.

After her report to Coach Sylvester along with Santana – a complete disaster – Quinn had returned to the choir room for rehearsal. Schuester was back, everything was back to normal. She took her place, eyes briefly drawn to Jesse at her side, who gave her a small nod in greeting.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!