[Backstage, post-Sectionals]

"Rachel?"

Rachel spun on her heels at the sound of her name, her dark hair fanning out around her like a halo.

"Jesse." she greeted him, her voice terse.

"You were great out there." Jesse St. James - the boy who had broken her heart - said to her. He looked as handsome as alway. He reached a hand up to brush her hair back behind her ear, and she visibly flinched. He withdrew his hand, his eyes clouding over. "But I'm not sorry we won." He said, the mask coming back over his face, letting the arrogance ring through his voice. "I think we were the better performance."

"You always were very good at putting on a show." Rachel said, pointedly, folding her arms and setting her jaw.

Jesse shrugged, smiling good-naturedly.

They stood in silence, facing each other. Rachel was torn, her conflict clear in her face. Apologise. She willed him. Just say you're sorry and I will hurl myself into your arms as if nothing happened. But the words didn't come.

"Rachel?" Finn's voice this time. Rachel felt his presence as he came up behind her. She saw Jesse square up a little, lift his chin, meet Finn eye-to-eye.

"What do you want, St. James?" Finn asked, his voice and posture shot through with hostility.

"Just being a good sport." Jesse replied with a broad smile. "You were pretty good out there." He said, flicking his gaze back to Rachel. "I couldn't take my eyes off you." She narrowed her eyes, appraising him. Was he telling the truth this time? He was so hard to read, so much of what he said was an act, was what he wanted you to hear…but he actually seemed to mean it. For a moment.

"We're leaving." Finn said, shortly, to Rachel, breaking her reverie. She felt him take her arm, forcefully, and steer her away from Jesse. She resisted the urge to look back. Almost. One tiny glance, so quick she hoped Jesse hadn't noticed. He was watching them leave, his eyes cloudy and distant, his expression unreadable. She forced herself to slow her breathing, and felt Finn's hold on her arm relax a little.

"What did that jerk want?" He asked in a low voice, as they rounded a corner.

"Nothing." Rachel said softly. "I think he honestly did just want to wish us congratulations."

"Yeah right. He just wanted to rub in that they won and we didn't even place. He wanted to mess with your head. Today, of all days." Rachel gazed at Finn's face, set hard like stone. He looked like he wanted to punch something. Like a wall. Or Jesse's face. "Man I hate that guy!"

"Let's just…not talk about it, shall we?" she said, shaking her head to clear the image of Jesse gazing after them from her mind. She wouldn't think about that now. She couldn't think about that now. Not when Finn -

"Did you mean it?" She said, abruptly, finishing her thought aloud.

"What? That I hate Jesse? Of course I do, I'd cheerfully punch him, we all would - Puck, Artie, Kurt - even Kurt would punch him. And after that egg stunt…"

"No," Rachel said, raising her hand up to slow the barrage of Finn's words. "I mean…before. When you said you loved me." She gazed up at him, searching his face with her eyes. "Did you mean it?"

"Of course I meant it." Finn said, softly. He bent down to her, meeting her eyes. "I love you, Rachel." He brushed her lips with his, softly at first and then deepening their kiss.

A loud cough broke the spell and they sprang apart, blushing guiltily.

"Guys?" It was Mercedes. "When you have quite finished, we're heading back." She gave Rachel a sad look. "Nothing worth hanging around here for."

"Well, goodnight." Finn murmured, standing on Rachel's door step and smoothing her hair. "I'm sorry we didn't win."

"Me too." She replied, shrugging morosely. She gazed up at Finn, willing him to hurry up and say goodnight. She couldn't believe the irony: finally Finn had confessed his love for her, finally they were stood in a door-step embrace, on the perfect night, the moon full and a cool breeze around them. It was a moment to cherish…and Rachel was just eager to get rid of him so she could sit down and think. Every time she closed her eyes, she just saw Jesse's face, the meaningful look he had given her when the winners were announced, the dejected way he watched her leave.

Finn bent down to brush her lips with his, and in an instant Rachel found herself imagining he was Jesse. She blinked, hurriedly, trying to clear the image from her mind.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked.

"Nothing!" She said suddenly. "I…I'm just…tired." She smiled, and felt fakeness ring through her voice. She never had been very good at acting. Fortunately Finn didn't seem to notice.

"It's been quite a day, huh?" he said, smiling at her. "Well, I'll let you get some sleep. See you tomorrow?" He kissed her gently on the cheek, and turned to head back to his car. Rachel stood watching until he had left, the same wide smile plastered on her face. Finally she swung the door shut, leaning against it and sighing in desperation. What a night.

"What a night!" Jesse appeared from the shadows of her kitchen, echoing her thoughts.

"JESSE?" She shrieked.

"Shh!" He said, crossing the room in two steps and clamping his hand over her mouth. "You'll wake your dads." He whispered.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel hissed, when he took his hand away from her mouth. "How did you get in?"

"Window." Jesse said, nodding his head towards her bedroom. She always left her window open, because fresh air was so important for her vocal chords.

"So you just broke in?" She asked, watching in disbelief as Jesse stepped away from her and lifted a water glass from the draining board.

"I didn't break anything." He said. "Soda?" He waved the glass at her. Rachel shook her head, and he reached into a cupboard, pulling out a half-empty bottle of coke. "I had to see you, Rachel. We need to finish our conversation from earlier."

"I have nothing to say to you." Rachel said, folding her arms, and narrowing her eyes at him.

"That so?" Jesse asked, draining the contents of his glass and placing it gently on the counter-top. He walked over to where she stood, leaning so close that his face was just inches from hers. Rachel breathed him in, feeling her resolve weaken. She moistened her lips, her mouth suddenly dry.

"Well, fine. We don't have to talk if you don't want to." Jesse murmured, a hand snaking onto her hips and pulling her close to him. Rachel felt her eyes flicker closed as Jesse's lips came closer to hers. The image she hadn't been able to shake all evening finally played out, as she felt him kiss her - softly at first, then more insistently. She felt herself yielding to him, and gave up to the kiss.

"Wait!" Rachel pulled back.

"What?" Jesse murmured, tracing his thumbs in circles on the small of her back.

"I can't do this." Rachel put her palms on his chest and made a half-hearted attempt to push him away.

"Oh, I assure you you can." Jesse said, pulling her closer to him. "You can indeed "do this." He nuzzled her neck. "Very well in fact…"

Rachel sighed, closing her eyes again and feeling her insides turn to jelly, the way they always had when Jesse kissed her. She felt him trace soft kisses along her jaw line until his lips found hers again. This time she kissed him back. Just for a moment, she didn't care, didn't stop to think about Finn-

"Finn!" She said, pushing Jesse away with force this time.

"No, I'm Jesse." He replied, laughing softly at her. "Jesse. Remember? Your boyfriend."

"My ex-boyfriend." Rachel said archly.

"Certainly didn't seem like that a moment ago." Jesse replied. He folded his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at her in challenge.

"Well - I - that was…" Rachel spluttered. "I was confused." She finished lamely.

Jesse reached a hand up to her face. This time she didn't flinch. "What are you confused about?" He asked, softly.

"Finn. Finn and I. We're sort of…seeing each other." She said. Jesse let his hand drop to his side.

"Oh." He said.

There was silence for a moment. Rachel searched Jesse's face with her eyes. His gaze was fixed on the floor. She couldn't believe it, he actually looked hurt.

"It's not serious." She blurted out. "I mean, it's only just happened, like, today. And well you and I weren't even going out any more." She paused, mid-stream. "Wait a minute, why am I explaining myself to you? I'm not your girlfriend any more, Jesse. You dumped me. You broke an egg on my face, remember?" She noticed her voice was raising and heard rumblings upstairs, dropping the volume suddenly so as not to disturb her dads. Though they were pretty liberal parents, they probably wouldn't look all too kindly on midnight liasons with an uninvited boy in their kitchen.

"An egg." Rachel repeated, in a whisper.

"I know." He replied quietly. He jammed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans and lifted his gaze to meet hers, a sheepish look on his face. "I'm not proud of how I acted."

"So why did you do it?" She countered, blinking back hot tears. In an instant she felt the way she had when she'd run out to the McKinley High parking lot expecting to meet and make up with the love of her life, only to be pelted with eggs by Vocal Adrenaline. She'd only just stopped having nightmares about those poor dead chicks.

"I don't know what to say." He began. "I felt betrayed…hurt. After that whole Run, Joey, Run stunt…I got in touch with a few people from Vocal Adrenaline and they told me things about you…things I know now couldn't possibly be true, but then…I don't know. Anyway I was hurting. And I just wanted to hurt you, to show you how it felt." He stepped closer to her again. "But I didn't mean it, really I didn't. I love you, Rachel."

Rachel's breath caught in her throat. The second time she had heard those exact words today.

"Well." She drew a shaky breath. "I'm with Finn now. You're too late. I've moved on."

"Really?" Jesse raised his eyebrows at her. There was a smirk playing about his lips, his perfect features relaxing into a smile.

"Yes." Rachel said, tossing her hair. She began to feel her confidence coming back.

"Ok." Jesse said, affably.

"What?" Rachel was surprised. She hadn't expected him to accept being knocked back quite so easily. Her stomach turned over. She was sort of disappointed he hadn't wanted to fight for her.

"I said "Ok"." Jesse repeated.

There was a moment's silence.

"You're being very mature about all this, Jesse." Rachel said, trying to keep the wounded tone out of her voice, and only partially succeeding. "I mean, I half-expected you to be at least a little upset that you missed your chance to get back with me-"

"Oh I haven't missed my chance." He said smoothly.

"Uh…what?" Rachel asked. He stepped past her towards the door.

"I haven't given up on you, Rachel. I'm going to get you back. Finn's not right for you, you know he's not." He leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear. "You and I were made for each other." He pulled her front door open. "Just you wait and see. I'll get you back, Rachel. We belong together." He gazed at her hypnotically for a moment, before breaking into an easy smile and blowing her a kiss. "Now get some sleep." He commanded, strolling confidently out into the darkness. "It's been quite a night."