A/N: Oh, how I wish this would happen on the show. But sadly, Finchel seems to be the reigning pair so I will just live vicariously through fanfiction :D Hope you enjoy your stay in St Berry Lala land...

Timing

She is locked in her room, listening to Barbra as she stretches out on her bed, too downtrodden to cry but unsure what else she is supposed to do. Her entire world had been turned on its head by one single moment and now she didn't have the faintest clue how to proceed. Quinn and Santana had been arguing behind her, per usual, and as Quinn made some quip about stealing Puck from her Santana had shot back, "And I took your precious Finn's virginity."

Finn had walked in a moment later, completely unaware of the figurative bomb that had been dropped on his girlfriend and he sat beside her, laying a hand on her knee. Rachel pushed his hand off her knee and hissed, "You slept with Santana." He looked like a deer caught in headlights. "How could you?"

"Rachel, I…"

She waited for him to defend himself but all he did was stare at her, his mouth opening and closing like some sad guppy.

"We're done," Rachel said, hardly believing the words as they left her mouth. She stood abruptly and left the room, Mr. Schuester's head in her direction as she walked out. She heard him ask Finn, "Is she alright?"

She didn't actually hear the answer. She had stopped just outside of the room, waiting for Finn to follow her. She expected him to come and try to explain. Their relationship was at least worth that. She waited five minutes before heading to the nurse's office. She suddenly wasn't feeling very well.

That is why she is ensconced in her bedroom with The Way We Were on repeat and asking herself why her life is always in such disarray. It was supposed to be easy with Finn. It was supposed to be right. It had taken them so long to get together and she had gone through so much. When they finally found their way back to each other, she had thought he would never hurt her. Turns out, he hurt her the most.

Over the warbling notes of Barbra she hears a commotion downstairs. For most of the day she has been oblivious to everything besides her immediate surroundings but her father Rick is using a tone of voice reserved for the most dire of circumstances (mainly idiotic plot twists on Greys Anatomy and every outfit worn by Tilda Swinton) and even her generally morose disposition cannot squelch her curiosity. She steals from her room and can just see the bottom half of her father standing in front of the doorway, his upper half and whoever is at the door obscured by a bit of wall. She crouches down, her hands wrapped around the railing and she peeks between the posts. She still can't see the person at the door fully but something about him is familiar.

Navy jeans.

A bit of a black sweater.

She gasps into her hands when she recognizes his shoes and at that exact moment her father snaps, "She has nothing to say to you!"

She leans forward and her forehead presses against the posts as she waits for his voice. It has been nearly a year now but it still gives her chills when she hears him say, "I'm not here to cause any trouble."

She rises from her crouched position, half in a trance, and walks down the stairs. Her father turns when he hears her and he says, "Sweetie, just go back upstairs."

She ignores him, glancing at the boy at the door. "Jesse."

He doesn't speak for a moment. "Rachel, I'm here to talk to you."

"No, you are not," her father hisses, but Rachel steps in front of him and lays a hand softly on his arm. Her eyes meet her father's and she murmurs, "I'll be fine."

"Sweetie, you don't have to talk to him. After all he's done-"

"Daddy, I'll be fine." She gives him a reassuring smile and then turns to Jesse, gesturing with her head for him to follow her upstairs. Her father watches them climb the stairs uncomfortably and says, "I'll be right downstairs, sweetie."

She looks back to give him a quick nod and then her eyes settle on Jesse who is just one step away from her on the stairs. She notices he looks a bit less smug than the Jesse St James from before and she thinks this over as they walk into her bedroom.

"Barbra," Jesse notes, recognizing the song immediately. "And The Way We Were. Have I come at a bad time?"

He knows her well, and her mind flashes back to her waiting for Finn outside the choir room. He should have known she wanted him to go after himher He should have known her better.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"College has taught me a lot. It showed me that I was wrong. What I did to you, Rachel, it was wrong."

"Okay," she says slowly. "Is that it?"

He takes a deep breath and tells her, "When you get bit by a snake you're supposed to suck out the poison. That's what I'm doing here, Rachel. I'm sucking all the poison out of my life."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "You took that from Mean Girls."

"It's a good line."

"So, is this the only reason you're here? To ask for me to suck out the poison?"

"I was an idiot, Rachel. All I could think about was winning. It's something that has been ingrained in me since I was born, practically. That's no excuse, though. You were the first person to see past my talent. You got farther than anyone, Rachel, actually made me somewhat human. I cared for something besides myself for once." He is so caught up in his own confessions that he doesn't notice the way her face softens. "You were the best thing to happen to me and I blew it. That's something I'll never forgive myself for."

She blinks once, twice. It's like he is speaking the exact words that she had wanted to hear since he broke that egg over her head. She is completely in her own mind and she doesn't know how long she is there. It could be thirty seconds, five minutes, however long she is there it is enough to catch his attention and he steps forward a bit asking, "Are you okay?"

He is three, four feet from her but she still finds it too close and she steps back, knocking into her bed. She sits down shakily, feeling all the stress of the day boil over. She shakes her head and says, "Why did you have to come today? Of all days, why today?"

He shrugs. "It's the first day of Spring Break,"

She frowns. "Any other day I would throw you out without a second thought but today…"

"What about today?"

She sighs. "Today I can't." She looks up at him. "Remember when we almost slept together?"

His lips twitch into something resembling a smirk and he says, "Yes, Rachel, I remember. Happened right here, if I remember correctly."

She ignores that last party and says, "Well, that night Finn was with Santana. I was, well, I was jealous and the next day when he asked me how our date was I told him that we did it."

Jesse takes the seat in front of her vanity and thinks of how strange it is to be back in her room, even with all the space between them. The attraction he had always felt had not disappeared and when his eyes travel from her form to that bed memories fill his mind of that night.

"He told me they didn't sleep together," she says, her voice hard. "Today, though, I overheard Santana talking about taking his virginity." She looks over at him. "He didn't even try to deny it. Or defend himself. Or defend us!" She is getting increasingly frustrated and she kicks her foot irritably against the floor. "He didn't do anything! I was so upset I stormed out of practice."

"Did he at least come after you?" Jesse asks, thinking that was the obvious thing to do. She shakes her head and he know then that this Finn guy really was an idiot. He had someone great like Rachel and gave up that easily? He had told her once that she deserved epic romance, and she still does. She deserves someone who will run after her, who will fight for her.

"He didn't deserve you," Jesse tells her, leaning forward in the chair. "He never did."

"He was what I always wanted," she says, knowing that Jesse St James is the last person she should be talking about this with but her pickings were slim and he was there. If anything, it is his own fault that he is hearing this.

"But he's not what you need." He moves from the chair and sits beside her on the bed, making sure there is still a respectable space between them. "You need a leading man. Finn is supporting material at best, Rachel."

He sees that tears are rolling down her cheeks and he hates Finn for doing this to her. He hates Finn and even hates himself a bit because he knows he did even worse last year. Finn had only broken her heart, he had done that and more.

She wipes at her eyes and shakes her head, making this little noise that he knows she makes whenever she feels vulnerable. Her feet brush against the floor like a little kid who barely reaches the ground and she tells him, "I forgive you, Jesse. You can go now." She glances in his direction and hastily adds, "If you want."

"Have you told your dads what happened with Finn?" he asks. She shakes her head. "Well, then I'm staying. You need someone to be with you."

"Someone like my ex-boyfriend?" she asks with one expertly arched eyebrow. It is something that he recognizes she picked up from him and he smiles. "Yes Rachel, someone like your ex-boyfriend. Come on, we'll put something on your laptop. Maybe some Singin' In The Rain?"

She smiles because that is the exact movie that she watches when she needs cheering up but she knows that he can't stay. Despite his apology she isn't ready for this. Too much happened. "I think you should go, Jesse."

He hesitates for a moment and then admits, "I don't want to."

"I forgave you didn't I?" she reminds him. "Isn't that enough for one day?"

His lips curl into a grin and he nods, running a hand through his curls. He nods again and says, "Yeah, I guess it is." He stands up and turns toward her as he somewhat awkwardly says, "Um, thanks for hearing me out."

"I'm glad I did," she answers truthfully.

"I want to see you again," he tells her. "I'm here for the next two weeks-"

"Then you should stop by," she interrupts.

He is surprised by how easily this is all going. It seems too easy. "Really?"

She nods. "Yeah, really."

He looks at her for a moment and asks, "Not planning some grand revenge scheme, are you?"

He expects some clever retort back because if they ever excelled at anything it was repartee but instead she looks away from him, her hands now planted on either side of her and playing with the candy pink comforter. When her eyes slide back to him she says softly, "No grand revenge schemes. I could just really use a friend."

He wants to kiss her right there, make those dull eyes bright again, but he keeps himself in check. It is a miracle she spoke to him at all and he won't abuse her kindness. If she needs a friend then that is what he will be. He will be whatever she needs until she is ready to let him back in.

A/N: Let me know what you think!