Hi again! I'm working on the updates to both "Daddy" and "Reuniting" but I got this idea and couldn't keep writing the other stories until I wrote this story down. It's based on the idea of what would have happened during "The First Time" episode if Rachel had chosen Jesse instead of Finn at the end of season 2. Thanks for reading and please review.
It is the opening week of McKinley's production of "West Side Story" and the final rehearsals are taking place. Artie, Ms. Pillsbury, and Coach Beiste are watching Blaine and Rachel perform "Tonight". As the song comes to an end, all three directors applaud.
"That was great you two," Shannon says, wiping her tears.
"Are you going to cry every time we sing this?" Blaine asks her, in slight disbelief.
"I'm such a girl," Shannon says to him.
"My only note is more teeth," Emma adds. However, Artie seems to have more issues with the performance.
"Can I be honest? This song is about sexual awakening, as is the entire musical. You two lack passion. Have either of you two actually…" he begins to ask the two leads.
"Wow, okay. I have to go because I have…" Emma mutters out hastily making her way off the stage.
"Those footballs aren't gonna inflate themselves," Shannon quickly excuses herself and leaves as well.
Artie, although confused by both teacher's reaction, turns his attention back to the teens.
"I remember the first time and how it made me feel. How about you guys?" he asks them.
Both teens stumble with their words.
"Um… uh…" Rachel says speechless and trying to figure out what to say.
"I'm… I'm waiting for the right time," Blaine quickly shoots out when his costar is unable to say anything.
"Yeah. Yeah, me… me too," Rachel agrees before turning slightly towards Blaine. "I'm so glad that you're my Tony," she whispers to him.
"Look, as your friend, I support your strange aversion to fun. But as your director, I'm concerned. I mean how are you going to convey the human experience to the audience when you haven't done it? I need you two to try to figure it out," Artie says to them before rolling out of the auditorium and leaving them alone to think.
The entire day, Rachel keeps turning Artie's words in her head. After school she makes her way to Carmel to meet up with her boyfriend, who has recently been hired as the head coach of Vocal Adrenaline. She finds him yelling at his team.
"You've got to be kidding me! We have been working on this for days now and you still can't get it right!" he yells at them; his voice being over amplified by the microphone in front of him. "This is Vocal Adrenaline! This is inexcusable!"
She starts to walk towards him and he turns to look at her when he hears her footsteps. His entire face relaxes and the anger he had vanishes in that instant. She can tell that the team as a whole sighs in relief, knowing that with her being there their coach's anger tends to disappear. Jesse takes a deep breath before turning towards his team.
"You all just got extremely lucky. I'm calling it a night and I expect that tomorrow you all can perform at the standards I'm demanding of you. Now go," he says through the microphone and the whole team starts walking off the stage.
As they walk past her they give her thankful looks and smiles before leaving her alone with their coach.
"You're making me seem weak in front of them," he teases, smiling as she goes and sits on his lap.
"Not weak. They're still terrified of you, they just see me as their saving grace," she teases back, causing him to laugh whole-heartedly.
"That they do," he answers. "So to what do I owe your visit?" he asks.
"Nothing. I just wanted to see you," she tells him before, leaning down to kiss him. The kiss starts to feel more heated as it progresses and Jesse pulls away to look at her.
"What has gotten in to you today?" he asks with a smirk.
"Just the confidence of success. I've sold out three shows, am tied for first in the presidential race at McKinley, and have the hottest boyfriend ever," she explains, kissing him again.
"Well we have to celebrate then. How about we go over to my place and have a date night together?" he suggests to her. "My parents are still out of town and we'd have the place to ourselves."
"Tonight?" she asks and he nods. "Okay. My dads are out of town too, so they won't be expecting me back."
Jesse smiles before kissing her again. They both stand up and together make their way to his home. He leaves her alone for a bit while he goes to the store to buy the things for their dinner. When he's back he makes them dinner and they enjoy the evening together.
"I swear; I think I've hit the jackpot when it comes to my boyfriend because your cooking is incredible. And this meat substitute is amazing, it tastes really close to the real thing," she claims.
"I know. My parents thought that I had gone mad the other day when I bought almost every brand I could find," he explains, causing her the laugh at the thought of his parent's reaction. "It was only when I explained to them that I was trying to find the best one for you that they dropped the idea of taking me to a doctor."
"Well since you've tried so many maybe…" she starts.
"No way Rachel. I love you but I'm not going to go vegan. Eating all the different substitutes just helped me realize how much I really like meat," he says with a chuckle and she can't help but laugh as well.
She can't stop herself from staring at him for a bit as he pours more sparkling cider into their glasses. It's moments like these that make her realize that she made the right decision four months ago. Even after the "kiss that missed", she was sure that the person she wanted to be with was Jesse, not Finn. And although she knew it hurt her teammate, she had followed her heart and chosen the person that she truly loved and loved her in return.
"I want to make a toast," she announces, taking him a bit by surprise.
"Alright," he says with a soft smile, lifting his glass as she does the same.
"To four months of us being together, with nothing or no one getting in our way, and being completely happy and in love," she says. He leans in to kiss her and gently tap their cups together before taking a sip.
"I would like to add something if that's alright?" he asks and she gives him a small nod. "I want to make a toast to you; for giving me a second chance, loving me as much as I love you, and for agreeing to start on our inevitability with me," he expresses to her.
Her eyes water at hearing him and at seeing all the emotions he has laid out before her. This was her Jesse, the one that only she knew about. She leans in and kisses him. After a moment he separates and speaks softly against her lips.
"Let me go get the dessert. I got that vegan chocolate cake you like."
"Okay," she breathlessly agrees as he gets up to get the cake.
This alone time lets Artie's comments come back into her head. She knows that the person she's going to give her virginity to is going to be Jesse, that much she has known for a while. The when has been and continues to be the issue. Part of her wants to keep things as they are and wait for her Tony as she had planned to do. The other part however, wants to do it if not now then soon.
She's so lost in her train of thought that she doesn't realize Jesse has come back into the room until she feels him take her hand.
"What's going on? You've been kinda pensive all night," he asks.
"It's nothing," she quickly claims, putting a smile on her face. "Can we… um… go cuddle in your room?"
"S…sure," he stutters out, suddenly feeling nervous.
He takes her by the hand and they both make their way to his room. They can both feel a lot of tension as they lay down on his bed and cuddle like they normally do. Rachel, to her own surprise, makes the first move and begins kissing him. Things quickly begin to heat up and before she loses her nerve, Rachel tries to undo Jesse's pants. He however immediately clamps down on his own desires and stops her.
"Rachel…" he warns.
"I want to Jesse," she explains breathlessly.
"Not tonight," he says trying to put some space between them, however he immediately notices her face fall and the hurt in her eyes. "Rachel, please talk to me. Tell me what's going on."
"Do you not want me?" she asks with a trembling voice.
"Of course I do," he assures her. "Since I've met you I've never not wanted you. But why are you doubting that? What brought this up?"
"During rehearsals today Artie asked Blaine and I if we had, you know done it before," she begins to explain and she sees him tense up. "You haven't brought it up since we've been back together… I mean you seemed so eager when we first dated and now… I'm wondering if you're even interested in doing it with me anymore."
"Of course I want to be with you Rachel, but apparently you only want to be with me because of the musical," he says, hurt flashing in his eyes. He sits up and moves away from her. She quickly sits up as well.
"No! No, I want to be with you Jesse, not just because of the play, alright, it's just that Artie's comments brought this to the forefront. But I want to be with you, I just need to know why you haven't brought it up," Rachel tries to explain.
"Because I still remember the first time we tried this and that you weren't ready," Jesse sighs, moving towards her to caress her cheek. "I promised you that I would give you epic romance for your first time Rachel. And now that you've given me a second chance, I'm not going to mess it up, because this is going to be a first for me too. This is the first time I'm going to make love to someone Rach, and I want that to be special," he explains to her.
She smiles at him and gives him a quick kiss and hug.
"I want it to be special too," she says into his ear within his embrace.
"Then we wait," he says as he pulls away. "We wait until you're really truly ready."
They spend the rest of the night just in each other's embrace, just enjoying their company. The next day Rachel gathers all the girls to have an "emergency meeting".
"I realized that right now we're a house divided but I need the advice of my girls. The last time I called a meeting like this was during our Madonna lesson, and all of you were wildly unhelpful. But it's been two years now and we've all grown up, so I'm optimistic," she pauses to take a deep breath before continuing to explain, "I…I want to be intimate with Jesse but I'm not sure if it's the right time or how to even know when that right time will be."
"Look if you want my advice just wait," Quinn says.
"Well I also kinda agree with Quinn, but at the same time I would so do your boyfriend," Santana adds.
"So I should just wait?" Rachel asks, ignoring the rest of Santana's comment.
"I say you should do it when it feels perfect. Losing my virginity with Mike was a wonderful experience and I know I will remember it for the rest of my life. We talked about it and when it happened we both knew it was right," Tina shares with her.
Rachel smiles, knowing that her situation is more like Tina's than the other girls.
"Thank you all for your opinions, I really appreciate it. I'll take them all into account but there's one more person I need to talk to before I make a decision," she tells them.
After school she goes over to Shelby's house and surprises her with her visit.
"Rachel? What are you doing here?" Shelby asks, concerned.
"Um… I was wondering if we could talk?" she asks timidly.
"Of course. Come in," she says moving over let her walk in.
"How's Beth?" Rachel asks walking in.
"She's doing well," she answers. "Do you want something to drink? I could make you a coffee or a tea."
"A tea would be nice. With all the rehearsal for West Side Story, my throat probably needs it," she says.
Shelby nods and goes into the kitchen to make the tea while Rachel looks around the living room. She recognizes a picture that's on the mantel and can't help but pick it up.
"That's the only picture I had of you," Shelby reveals, walking into the living room with the tea. "I've made many mistakes in my life Rachel. The biggest of which was treating you the way I did two years ago."
"You're not the only one who's said something like that to me," Rachel says.
"I'm assuming the other person was Jesse," she states and Rachel nods. "I'm sorry for my part in your relationship ending," Shelby apologizes. "But things are alright between you two now, right?" she asks and Rachel nods.
"They are and that's actually the reason I came. I know you said you couldn't be my mom but I really need one right now," Rachel admits.
"I shouldn't have said that. I let my nerves and fear get the better of me. If you want me to be your mom, I'll be a mom for you, Rachel," need to talk about?"
"I… we want to…" Rachel stumbles with her words and begins to blush.
"I'm assuming that you and Jesse want to be intimate?" Shelby asks.
"Yes. It's just that I'm so nervous and scared and I'm not sure when the right time should be and…" she begins to rant.
"Shh. Breathe, don't worry, I'm here to help you out," Shelby interrupts, placing a calming hand on Rachel.
They spend most of the afternoon talking not just about Jesse but their own issues as well. At the end, Shelby gives advice similar to that of Tina.
Opening night finally arrives and Rachel and Blaine are putting the final touches on their makeup.
"I'm not sure if this is going to disappoint you Blaine but I'm still a virgin," she admits to him.
"To be honest I am too. How are we going to do this as virgins?" Blaine asks.
"Look before Artie's comments I focused on the fact that Maria and Tony were soulmates and they found each other. You found yours in Kurt and I found mine in Jesse. And we both love them more than anything so that should be the only thing we need to tap into as actors," she says.
"Speaking of which," Blaine says gesturing behind her. She turns around and sees Jesse standing there with a smile on his face. "I'm going to look for Kurt," he says standing up and leaving them alone.
"You came," she says, smiling brightly.
"Of course I did. There's no way I'm missing an opening night of you performing," he says softly. "I just wanted to tell you to break a leg out there and remind you that you're perfect for the role."
She stands up and hugs him.
"Thank you for believing in me so much," she says softly.
"I always have and always will," he vows and steps away from their embrace. "Now go out there and show that entire audience how amazing you are and I'll be there watching my girlfriend proudly."
A small kiss is shared between the two before Jesse begins to leave. However, before he can, Rachel grabs his hand and stops him.
"Wait," she says.
"What is it?" he asks, walking back towards her. She takes his other hand as well.
"Could we meet at my house after the show? I would really appreciate hearing your full critique of my performance," she asks timidly.
This makes him laugh wholeheartedly and makes her smile.
"You're going to be perfect and I highly doubt there's anything I can critique," he points out. "But if you really want me there, who am I to refuse the company of my gorgeous girlfriend?"
She gives him one final kiss before he leaves to find his seat. The show is a complete success and afterwards both Rachel and Jesse meet at her house.
"It's too bad that your dads weren't able to come see your performance," Jesse says as they come into the house.
"Yeah, they were really upset when that business trip was sprung on them last minute. They'll be back before the final performance though," she explains, taking her coat off.
"That's good, they deserve to watch their amazingly talented daughter perform," he says wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Speaking of, what's your verdict on the show?" she asks wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Overall the show was great, the leading man stumbled on one of the dance moves but performed well. The rest of the cast was good and the direction was on point. But the leading lady stole the show," he says.
"Really," she says with an almost seductive voice and leaving a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
"Of course. I couldn't take my eyes off of her," he answers in the same tone.
She looks into his eyes and sees the love he feels for her, the honesty of his answer, and the desire he has as well.
"I'm ready," she tells him, causing his eyebrows to rise, shocked by what she said. "And I really mean it this time. I've realized that I want to share that moment with you, to take that step in our relationship with you. And I want to do this because I love you."
She watches as a bright smile forms on his face before he takes her in his arms and spins her around. He puts her down but doesn't let her go.
"I love you, Rachel. I love you so, so much," he says against her ear.
"I love you too," she says back, smiling brighter than she ever remembers doing.
She pulls back slightly and kisses him and it slowly begins to build. Jesse then picks her up, takes her to her room and they have their first time together.