A/N: All of season one and two happened up until New York and I pick it up during New York. Rachel is dating Jesse. They both audition for an off-Broadway musical while they're in New York for Nationals.
Finn had been watching Rachel, waiting for an opportunity to talk to her alone. When she stepped away from everyone in the hotel lobby, he quickly followed her.
"Hi," Finn said.
"Hi," Rachel replied. She glanced at Finn as he fell into step beside her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Quinn leaning against the counter. To her surprise, Quinn didn't look annoyed that Finn was talking to her. "I'm surprised about how well Quinn is taking the break up. I guess I was wrong about her being a vindictive harpy."
"I guess she just accepted the inevitable." The inevitable being that Finn and Rachel would get back together. Finn looked into Rachel's eyes and grinned.
"Or maybe she's just distracted by the awesomeness of New York. I know I am." Rachel smiled wide. "Hey, do you know why it smells like it's wet here all the time?"
"Nope. So, what's going on with you and Jesse?" Finn tried to sound nonchalant.
Rachel didn't know what was going on with her and Jesse. She went to prom with Jesse as friends, but he kissed her. He wouldn't have kissed her if he just wanted to be her friend. And, he kissed her again on stage in McKinley High's auditorium. They hadn't talked about what they were, but then again they hadn't talked about what they were last year either. They sang Hello, Jesse asked her out, and the next day Rachel told Finn that she was with Jesse. So, Rachel gave Finn the same answer now.
"I'm with Jesse," Rachel replied.
Finn's face fell. She was with Jesse. He would wait for them to break up. He did it once before. He could do it again. He just hoped they would break up sooner rather than later.
Finn, Puck and Sam sat in their hotel room talking about the set list. Finn immediately said that he and Rachel should sing a duet. Puck knew that winning wasn't the only reason Finn wanted to sing a duet with Rachel.
"Okay, can we just talk about the Jewish elephant in the room? Ask her out, dude," Puck said.
"Rachel?" Finn asked.
Puck looked at him as if to say who-else-would-I-be-talking-about.
"But she's totally into Jesse right now." Finn sounded defeated. He knew from experience that Rachel wouldn't break up with Jesse for him. Even when Jesse went on spring break with his friends from Vocal Adrenaline and blew Rachel off completely, Finn didn't stand a chance.
"You're in New York, the city of love," Puck said.
"I thought that was Paris," Sam corrected him.
"Anything's possible here. You need to ask her out. Tonight. Take her on one of those big, awful dates you see in those unwatchable romantic comedies that you grow a vagina if you watch all the way through," Puck said.
"This is your shot, dude. If I was in love with a girl, and I wasn't homeless, I'd totally go for it." Sam agreed with Puck.
When Rachel got Finn's cryptic text message to meet him on the bridge in Central Park and dress up, she came up with a million reasons not to go. The most obvious of which being that Mr. Schue told them not to leave the hotel until they had written two songs, and they hadn't even written one. And then there was Jesse.
Even if they hadn't talked about what they were, she felt like she would be betraying Jesse if anything happened with Finn. If Finn had wanted to be with her before Jesse came back, she would have welcomed him back with open arms. But, now, it was too late.
It felt like Finn only wanted her when he couldn't have her. Their first attempt at dating didn't even last a month. He had Rachel, and he broke up with her to find his inner rock star. When they gave it another shot, he promised that he would never break up with her. He broke that promise when she made out with Puck. She practically begged him to take her back, and he didn't. Instead, he took Quinn back when she'd done the same thing. Quinn cheated on Finn with Puck and lied about it. At least Rachel was honest. But, Finn didn't act one bit interested in Rachel until after Jesse came back. Timing was always wrong for Finn and Rachel.
Despite her better judgment, Rachel met Finn. As soon as she saw him, she knew she shouldn't have come. He was wearing a suit. The only time she had ever seen him wear a suit was at Burt and Carole's wedding. If he was wearing a suit, he had big plans.
"Hi," Rachel said, announcing her presence.
"Hi." When he heard her voice, Finn turned to face her and she saw that he had flowers. She got a knot in her stomach. No, she definitely shouldn't have come.
"What's so important?" Rachel asked.
"Uh, these are for you," Finn said, giving her the bouquet of flowers. "I thought since we're both captains and all, we should write a duet for Nationals."
"The tie? The flowers? Central Park?" Rachel asked. They both knew this wasn't just about writing a duet for Nationals. They could have done that back at the hotel.
"It's, uh, a work date. Totally professional," Finn assured her.
Rachel decided to go along with it. If she didn't, things would be awkward between them. Even if she wasn't with Finn the way she was with Jesse, she still wanted to be friends with Finn.
She was glad she went along with it when she saw where he was taking her. He'd made reservations at Sardi's, the birthplace of the Tony Award. As they ate, Rachel talked animatedly about New York, the restaurant and the competition. She hoped if she didn't give him an opening, Finn wouldn't tell her that he liked her. She didn't want to hurt him. They were almost done eating when Rachel saw Patti LuPone. At the mention of show choir, Patti warmed up. She was in show choir when she was in high school.
Even in her wildest dreams, Rachel never imagined she would be in New York meeting one of her idols. The whole night had been surreal. It didn't feel like real life. It felt like they were in a movie. Without thinking, Rachel told Finn that their "work date" was like on of those dates in cheesy romantic comedies. Finn stopped walking suddenly. He slowly turned to face Rachel.
"Wait. This is the moment in those romantic comedies where I kiss you," Finn said.
Rachel swallowed hard. She should have kept her big mouth shut. They made it through dinner without Finn telling her he liked her or making a move, and she ruined it. "I thought this was just a work date."
Finn stared at her in disbelief. "Really?"
Rachel hoped he would drop it, but he wasn't going to. She shook her head. "No."
Rachel felt a sense of dread. It was like she knew he was going to kiss her. Sure enough, next thing she knew, Finn leaned in to kiss her. A part of her wanted to kiss him. She still had feelings for him. She would always have feelings for him. He was her first love. But, she also had feelings for Jesse. Was it possible to have feelings for two people at the same time? The closer Finn's lips came to hers, the guiltier Rachel felt. She stopped him right before their lips met. "I can't. I'm sorry, Finn. I can't."
The next time Rachel was alone with Finn, they were backstage, waiting to sing their duet. Rachel pretended like Finn's failed attempt at kissing her never happened. She smiled at him and gave him a compliment. She was trying to be nice. She hoped they could still be friends after what happened.
"You wrote an amazing song, Finn. I didn't know you had it in you," Rachel told him.
"Who cares about the song?" Finn brushed off her compliment. "What I don't understand is all you've ever wanted is for us to be together, and I'm basically standing here begging for you, and suddenly you're not interested." He sounded frustrated, but Rachel knew deep down he was hurt.
She did want them to be together. Finn's the one that didn't want that. He chose Quinn. Did he really expect Rachel to wait around forever? She was done waiting. She was with Jesse now. "Look, Finn, I still care about you, but you're too late. I finally moved on. I'm with Jesse now."
Finn didn't have time to argue. It was time for them to go on. He had to sing a love song he wrote for Rachel with her right after she shot him down. His heart wasn't in it.
Rachel looked at Finn as she sang. She sang every word like she meant it. Finn didn't think she was acting. He'd seen her act before, and this wasn't it. Everything they were singing about, she felt. She loved him. And, he loved her. He had to give it one last shot. When the song was over, he leaned down and kissed her firmly.
This was the last thing Rachel was expecting. Last time he tried to kiss her, she told him she couldn't. This was not the time or place to try again. Rachel's instinct was to push him away. But, she didn't because they were on stage, in plain sight of the audience and judges. She wanted to win more than anything. She knew the judges didn't want to watch a PDA. At this point, she didn't know what would be worse: an on stage kiss, or the female lead pushing the male lead away after singing a love song. Maybe if she kissed him back, they would think it was scripted instead of unprofessional. So, she let her lips touch his for a moment before she pulled away.
Unbeknownst to Rachel, Jesse saw the whole thing. When he recovered from the initial shock, he turned to Mr. Schue.
"Was that scripted?" Jesse hoped Mr. Schue would say yes, but Mr. Schue looked just as stunned as Jesse felt.
"No," Mr. Schue replied.
Mr. Schue looked around the theater. No one knew what to do. No one was clapping. It was dead silent. He slowly started clapping, and the audience eventually joined in.
Jesse had a feeling something like this would happen. It was the main reason he bought a plane ticket at the last minute. He didn't trust Finn any further than he could throw him. He wanted to see Rachel sing, but, more than that, he wanted to be there to fight for her. He wasn't going down without a fight.
As soon as New Directions exited the stage, Jesse jumped out of his seat and hurried out to the hallway. He wasn't going to give them time to reenact the kiss off stage. As he burst into the hallway, he bumped into a woman.
"I'm sor-" Jesse started to apologize, but the apology died on his lips when the woman turned to face him. "Shelby?" Jesse gasped. He knew she was living in New York, but New York was a big city. He didn't think he'd run into her.
"Jesse?" Shelby looked just as surprised to see him. The last she heard, Jesse was going to UCLA in Los Angeles. They kept in touch through email up until recently. She hadn't heard from him for probably about a month. "What are you doing here?"
Jesse looked down. Shelby wrote him a glowing letter of recommendation for UCLA, made a call to someone she knew in the School of Arts and helped him with his audition piece. He knew he owed his scholarship in part to her. He didn't want to tell her that he lost the scholarship and flunked out. "I'm New Directions' show choir consultant." He left it at that.
Shelby frowned. She had just talked to a friend that worked at UCLA the other day. Her friend was busy because it was finals week. "I thought you had finals this week."
Jesse sighed. Of course she knew that it was finals week. He would have to tell her, whether he wanted to or not. "They kicked me out. Well, I flunked."
"What?" Shelby said. She couldn't believe this had happened to Jesse of all people.
"How was I supposed to know that I was actually supposed to show up to those other classes at school? I was majoring in show choir. I just assumed it would be like at Carmel, and the school would get some Asian kid to take math and English and scientific for me," Jesse explained.
Jesse expected her to lecture him, or yell at him, but she didn't. She just looked disappointed, and that was worse. She exhaled deeply. "Look, I'm teaching at the Professional Children's School. One of my students is auditioning for the male lead in an off-Broadway musical tomorrow. You're better than him. You should audition. You belong here. You can't go back to Ohio." Instead of a lecture, she was helping him. She'd already done so much for him.
Jesse's eyes widened in surprise, and a grateful smile came across his face. "What musical?" Jesse asked.
Shelby didn't remember all of the information, but she had it in her email. "He emailed me the information so I could help him get ready for the audition. Do you want to meet for coffee tomorrow morning? I can print it out and bring it."
They arranged to meet at the coffee shop by Shelby's apartment building, and then took off in opposite directions. Jesse wanted to find Rachel, and Shelby wanted to avoid her daughter. When Jesse found Rachel, she had just seen the results and was yelling at Finn.
"Your behavior was completely unprofessional!" Rachel yelled.
Jesse stepped forward and draped an arm around Rachel.
"She's right. That kiss was too vulgar. It cost you Nationals," Jesse agreed.
Rachel turned to face Jesse. He was supposed to be in Ohio. Why was he in New York? "Why are you here, Jesse?" Rachel asked.
"For you," Jesse replied.
Surprising her like this was so Jesse. He surprised her by transferring to McKinley High last year, and now he surprised her by coming to Nationals. She probably would have been happy to see him if Finn hadn't kissed her. She couldn't tell if Jesse was angry. She slowly stepped towards Jesse and hugged him. Jesse quickly returned the hug.
Even though New Directions didn't place in the top ten and move on to Showcase the next day, they weren't leaving for two more days. Mr. Schue thought they had a good chance of winning and had planned on them staying until the championship was over.
No one really felt like going out after losing, so most of them just went up to their room. Finn "hid" in the hotel restaurant because everyone was mad at him. Rachel went to Jesse's room instead of the room she was sharing with the other girls because they were mad at her, which she didn't think was fair since Finn kissed her. If anyone should be mad, it should be her. She wanted to win so badly, and now she would never know if they would have won had it not been for that kiss. She thought they would have at least moved on to Showcase. Vocal Adrenaline placed in the top ten, and Rachel was as good as Sunshine, if not better.
"You sounded great," Jesse told her.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Rachel asked.
Jesse furrowed his brow in confusion.
"You should hate me. I kissed Finn," Rachel reminded him.
"You shouldn't have kissed him. I kind of thought we were getting back together." Jesse sounded more hurt than angry.
"I know. I told Finn that we were together, but he didn't give up. Last night he told me to meet him in Central Park. He said it was a work date, but it wasn't. It was a real date. He tried to kiss me, and I said no. I can't believe he kissed me when we were on stage. I didn't know what to do. I thought it would look kind of weird if I pushed him away when we just sang a love song," Rachel explained.
"You lost Nationals the second he kissed you. It wouldn't have mattered if you kissed him back or pushed him away," Jesse told her.
"I could kill him," Rachel said. "I wanted it so much."
"I'm sorry, but you'll get another chance." Jesse sounded so certain.
"If I do, I'm not singing a duet with him," Rachel muttered.
Jesse chuckled, but his expression quickly sobered. He didn't think he should tell Rachel that he was meeting Shelby, but she'd been honest with him about Finn and he felt he owed her the same honesty. "Um, I saw Shelby today." He looked at Rachel to gauge her reaction.
Rachel was shocked. She hadn't seen or heard from Shelby in over a year. To the best of her knowledge, Shelby was still living in Ohio. It took her a few seconds to snap out of the initial shock. "What?" It was all Rachel could muster up.
"She was at the competition," Jesse told her.
"Why?" Rachel asked. "I mean, she's not coaching Glee anymore."
Jesse shrugged. "She probably wanted to see Vocal Adrenaline. Anyway, when I told her that I flunked out of UCLA, she said I should audition for this off-Broadway musical. I'm meeting her tomorrow to get the information, but auditions are tomorrow."
"Oh." Rachel forced herself to smile and act excited for him, but her smile didn't look natural. She wanted him to do well, but she passed up her chance to get back together with Finn because she thought she and Jesse were getting back together. If Jesse got this part and moved to New York, she'd be alone again. "I'm happy for you."
Jesse picked up on the hint of disappointment in her voice. "No, you're not. You're voice is amazing, but you need to work on your acting skills. You don't look or sound happy." Jesse lifted a brow and smirked.
"It's not that I'm not happy for you because I am. It's just that I want you to stay in Ohio," Rachel explained.
Jesse smiled. She wanted him to stay in Ohio. She wanted to be with him. "You're not going to stay in Ohio. You're going to come to New York as soon as you graduate. We'll both be in New York. Together."
"I have another year of high school." Rachel made the year sound like an eternity. Her full lips formed into a perfect pout.
"Drama queen." Jesse chuckled. "A year is not that long."
He closed the distance between them and kissed her. Her lips parted in welcome, and he deepened the kiss. Their kiss soon turned into a heavy make out session.
"We can't do that if you're in New York and I'm in Ohio," Rachel said when they finally broke apart.
Jesse just laughed. Rachel didn't give up when she wanted something. He was glad she wanted him.
When Jesse woke up, Rachel was lying next to him. He shifted onto his side and smiled at her. She hadn't wanted to go back to her hotel room because everyone was mad at her, so she slept in his room. If anyone told Mr. Schue that Rachel wasn't in her room, he would be angry, but Rachel didn't think they would. They didn't want her there any more than she wanted to be there.
"How long have you been awake?" Jesse asked.
Rachel glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "About two hours. I usually get up early to work out. I was going to go down to the gym, but I didn't want to wake you up." She'd never slept with a boy before. Not sex. Just sleeping. She worried that any movement or noise would wake Jesse up.
"I gotta get ready to meet Shelby," Jesse said. "Do you, um, want to come?"
"I don't think she would want to see me." Rachel tried to keep her tone even, but she sounded sad. When Shelby told her that they should be grateful for one other from afar for a while, Rachel didn't know how long "a while" was. It had been over a year with no word from her mother.
"Well, you can work out and then shower in here if you don't want to go back to your room." Jesse knew she didn't want to go back to her room, and he knew she wouldn't feel comfortable showering when he was in the room, too.
When Jesse got in the shower, Rachel went to her own hotel room to get her stuff. She slept in one of Jesse's shirts and a pair of his boxers, but she needed to get her clothes. She hoped the other girls were still asleep. She knew they were still mad. She wanted to get in and out without a confrontation.
They were still sleeping, and she managed to get her clothes and toiletries without waking any of them up. She took her stuff to Jesse's room and changed into work out clothes while he was still in the shower. She told Jesse she was heading down to the gym before she left.
When Jesse was ready, he got in a cab and gave the driver the address Shelby had texted him. Shelby was already in line when he got there. She ordered black coffee, and he got tea. He told the cashier that they were together and got his wallet out.
"Are you sure?" Shelby asked, taking her wallet out as well.
Jesse nodded. "It's the least I can do. I really appreciate all of your help."
Shelby smirked. "I should be paying. You're an unemployed college drop-out," Shelby teased.
Jesse looked insulted for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. "Hey. I didn't drop out. I flunked out."
"You might not want to tell everyone that," Shelby said.
They sat down at a table, and Shelby pulled a piece of paper out of her purse. It was the email from her student with all of the information: the name of the musical, the theater, and what time the open auditions started. She gave it to Jesse.
"What song are you thinking about for your audition?" Shelby asked.
Jesse had thought about it the night before and knew what he wanted to sing. "Something's Coming from West Side Story."
Shelby nodded in approval. "Good. I want you to come back to the school with me. You can practice in the auditorium."
Jesse frowned. He knew what that meant. It meant Shelby wanted him to practice until it was perfect. It's not that he didn't want to be perfect. He did. Any other time, he would have been more than willing to practice for hours at end, but he wanted to spend the day with Rachel. It's not every day he was in New York with the girl he was nuts about.
"Something wrong?" Shelby asked.
"It's just that I wanted to do something with Rache-" Jesse stopped suddenly when he remembered who he was talking to, but it was too late.
"With Rachel?" Shelby asked. She sounded a little too interested.
Jesse nodded.
"I didn't realize that you guys were still friends," Shelby said.
Jesse looked at her and sighed. He knew that look. It was calculating. It was a look that said she was up to something. He didn't want Rachel to get hurt. "We got back together. Look, I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't want her to get hurt."
"Neither do I," Shelby said quickly. "How...how is she doing?"
"She's good. She's upset that they lost, but she'll get over it," Jesse replied.
"Yes, well, that kiss was completely unprofessional," Shelby muttered. "Wait. Why was she kissing the male lead anyway when she's dating you?"
"He kissed her. He has a thing for her," Jesse explained.
"Oh," Shelby said. She shook her head, and got back to the subject at hand. "Well, you can do something with her later. I think an audition is more important."
Jesse reluctantly agreed. He texted Rachel to let her know he wouldn't be back anytime soon.
Jesse was grinning ear to ear when he stepped out of the theater. He felt good about his audition. He knew he sang perfectly, and everyone involved in the decision was smiling. He also found out that they were holding open auditions for the female lead the next morning. If Rachel auditioned, they could get out of Ohio together. He walked to another theater and bought tickets for Wicked that night, and then he got a cab back to the hotel. Rachel was propped up on his bed watching TV.
"How'd you do?" Rachel asked.
"I was outstanding," Jesse replied. "You know, auditions for the female lead are tomorrow. You should audition."
"I can't. I'm going back to Ohio. I'm still in high school," Rachel said as though the suggestion was completely ridiculous.
"So? If you get it, you'll get out of Ohio that much sooner. You can finish high school out here…get a tutor or something. This is your career. Your dream. Your destiny. Make it happen," Jesse said.
"I guess it can't hurt to audition," Rachel said.
They spent a few minutes discussing songs before Rachel decided on Barbra Streisand's Don't Rain on my Parade.
"Do you want to practice?" Jesse asked.
"No," Rachel replied. "I've been working on it for years. I could do it in my sleep."
Jesse chuckled. "I'm sure you could."