"So how'd it go in there?" Puck asked Rachel as she got back into the car.

"We start rehearsals tomorrow," she said excitedly.

"Well I'm happy for you baby, and I'm sure you're gonna be great. I'll be there opening night, cheering you on." He gave her a peck on the cheek before pulling off.

So the next day Rachel walked into rehearsals with a positive attitude. This could work. Finn's probably over me anyway, so everything's gonna be fine.

"Well good morning." Finn walked up to Rachel with two cups of coffee in his hand.

"How are you this morning Finn?"

"I'm fine, thank you." He reached out and handed Rachel one of the cups. "Here you go, figured you could use a little pick me up before we start rehearsing.

"Why thank you Finn, that's very generous of you." She smiled at him as she accepted the coffee.

"So how do you feel? Are you ready to get the summer started?" Finn sat down next to Rachel at the edge of the stage.

"I'm thrilled. I can't wait until everyone sees it, although I have to admit, I am a little worried. If I'm not ready by opening night, then it's over for me," she admitted.

"Rachel, you're the most talented person I know. You'll be fine. Besides, you were in the production for two months; you probably know every single line without having to look at a script," he assured her.

"Thanks Finn. " They exchanged a smile.

"See, that's the kind of chemistry I'm looking for." Kaya interrupted. They awkwardly broke their eye contact and stood up.

"I uh, guess we better get started." Rachel put her cup of coffee down and walked onstage to start rehearsing.

"Okay, so we're gonna start at "The Mirror-Blue Night." Finn, boys, go ahead." Kaya directed Finn and the other cast members on where to stand and they began to sing.

Flip on a switch and everything's fine

No more lips, no more tongue, no more ears, no more eyes

The naked blue angel, who peers through the blinds

Disappears in the gloom of the mirror-blue night

But there's nowhere to hide from these bones, from my mind

It's broken inside; I'm a man and a child

I'm at home with a ghost, who got left in the cold

Who knocks at my peace, with no keys to my soul

And the whispers of fear, the chill up the spine

Will steal away too, with a flick of the light

The minute you do it, with fingers so blind

You remove every bit of the blue from your mind

But there's nowhere to hide from the ghost in my mind

It's cold in these bones of a man and a child

And there's no one who knows, and there's nowhere to go

There's no one to see who can see to my soul

Once the boys were finished, they received approval from Kaya.

"Excellent!" She clapped. "Now Rachel, Finn, your scene is next." The next scene was an intense one between Wendla and Melchior. When Kaya called action, Wendla was supposed to find Melchior in a hayloft during a storm. They talk for a while and Wendla gives Melchior his journal back. They kiss and experience sex for the first time. The kiss started slow at first, with Wendla objecting, but eventually giving in. For Rachel, that part was sort of real. She didn't want to kiss Finn, but she had to give in. The chemistry was very clear to everyone. There was no hiding a special something between not only the characters, but also the costars. When they pulled back, they both sat there staring at each other.

"That's exactly what I'm hoping to see opening night. I want just as much passion, just as much intensity, and just as much authenticity. If I didn't know any better, you two could pass off for a real couple." Finn smiled at the thought but Rachel felt uncomfortable.

"Yeah, well I have a boyfriend."

"Interesting," Kaya said, not really paying attention to what Rachel just said.

"It's just acting, got to make it look real right?" Rachel tried to defend herself.

"Mhm," said Kaya before walking away. Rachel let out a sigh.

"Geez Rach, why are you so worked up? Loosen up." He gently shook her by the shoulders.

"Me, worked up? Naw, I'm fine, everything's fine, you're fine, we're all fine," she said nervously. Finn shook his head and laughed.

"Yeah, you're definitely not worked up," he said sarcastically.

"Okay, so maybe I am a little worked up, I've just got a lot of stuff going on."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Oh um, you wouldn't understand," she said quietly.

"Try me, you never know."

"Well I'm just worried about the play and about Noah and…" Finn stopped Rachel short.

"What about Puck? Did you guys have a fight or something?"

"No no, nothing like that, Noah's been amazing and so supportive, and I don't know what I'd without him." Finn had a look of disappointment on his face, and Rachel noticed it.

"So then what's wrong?" Finn asked.

"I, I can't tell you."

"Rachel, I'm one of your best friends you can tell me anything," he said sweetly.

"I'm pregnant," she admitted after a little hesitation. Finn stayed silent at first.

"Puck's?" Rachel shook her head. "Does he know?"

"He knows that I'm pregnant but he doesn't know it's his. I thought I got pregnant by Karofsky, but then I started thinking. The day I found out I was pregnant was the day after he raped me. It's not logical that it would be Karofsky's." Rachel seemed so stressed out and all Finn wanted to do was help her. "I'm sort of glad that it's Noah's, but I don't want to put him through that all over again." Suddenly Finn seemed angry.

"What the hell is wrong with him? First he gets Quinn pregnant and now you? Doesn't he know how to keep it in his pants?!" Finn started pacing back and forth. Rachel tried to calm him down.

"Finn this wasn't just his fault and neither was what happened with Quinn. We were both aware of what we were doing with him." Finn continued to talk.

"You guys should have been more careful!"

"We were. I was on birth control and he used a condom, but sometimes that isn't always effective. Wait, what's with the lecture? I shouldn't have to explain my sex life to you," said an annoyed Rachel.

"You're right. I just thought you'd want to confide in me since I thought we were friends!"

"We are friends, but you don't need to know every detail about my life. You don't tell me every detail about yours and I'm perfectly fine with that." Rachel rolled her eyes and walked away.

"He'll just hurt you again. You're just a toy to him. He'll use you until he gets bored and then he'll find somebody else." He ran after Rachel.

"You don't know the first thing about Noah or my relationship with him so don't act like you do. And what's with you today, you're sounding like a jealous ex-boyfriend or something." If Finn thought she was worked up before, he hadn't seen anything.

"Fine, you're right. I'm sorry okay, can we just forget about this?" He seemed to cool down a little now.

"You expect me to just forget everything you said? Noah's my boyfriend Finn, and I don't appreciate the things you said about him." Rachel also seemed a little calmer.

"I'm sorry about the things I said. So can we just forget everything and go get something to eat? All that fighting made me pretty hungry." He patted his stomach and Rachel couldn't help but smile.

"Fine," she playfully rolled her eyes.

"So are you going to tell Puck that the kid is actually his?" Finn asked Rachel as they walked around outside.

"In due time, I just really want to figure out what I'm gonna do without anyone forcing me to make a decision, although I know he wouldn't ever do that," Rachel said after taking a bite of her fries.

"Do your father's know?"

"Not yet, I'm gonna tell them soon. Like I said, I just need time."

"I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I don't know what came over me. It's just when you told me that, I freaked. I really care about you Rachel and I hate seeing you get hurt. You've gone through so much and I don't think it's fair to you. But no matter what, I'm here for you." Finn stopped walking and turned to look at Rachel.

"That's very sweet of you Finn and I appreciate that very much." She looked up at him. She couldn't quite make out the expression on his face. It was a cross between hope and maybe hurt? She found herself just gazing at him. He started leaning in closer. She didn't lean in, but she didn't back away either. Just as their faces were an inch apart, he pulled back and laughed.

"I'm just kidding, but it looks like you totally wanted to kiss me," he teased her.

"Pfft, never in a million years Hudson, but you probably wanted to kiss me." She softly nudged his shoulder.

"I can't argue with that." She thought he was joking but there were no signs that made it apparent.

"So what about you and Quinn?" she changed the subject. "Do you think she'll come to visit you this summer?"

"What about us? We've been over for a while now. And I don't know why she would visit me, we're not together anymore." He seemed a little testy when talking about Quinn.

"I remember how in love you were with her, that just doesn't go away," Rachel said carefully. She didn't want to make him go off like he did earlier. While Rachel did want to see them back together for their happiness, she also thought it would make her whole situation easier if he wasn't single.

"I did, and I still do, it's just that after finding out it was Puck's baby, everything changed for me. I got over it, but there was still something inside of me that made me mad every time I would see her. Everytime she kissed me I thought about how she lied to me all of those times and it hurt. I didn't feel the same way about her like I used to anymore and I was tired of forcing myself to, so I just gave up. Besides, she doesn't get me like you do Rachel." Rachel's eyes widened at that thought.

"Finn," she started sympathetically.

"No, let me finish. Rachel, you're amazing. You don't get frustrated if it takes me a while to figure something out, you encourage me instead of beating me down, your forgive me even after everything that I've put you through and I don't deserve it. You're beautiful and there aren't many girls out there like you. The truth is I didn't come out here just for the experience. I came out here for you. I couldn't just sit back and let you spend a whole summer falling even more in love with Puck. And maybe that's a little selfish, but I can't stop thinking about you. I had to see if there was ever a chance we could be anything more than friends." Rachel didn't know how to react to the admission that Finn had just made. She stayed silent for at least a good 5 minutes. "But maybe coming out here was a mistake? Maybe I should just leave…" Rachel interrupted him.

"Don't say that," she said grabbing his arm.

"Tell me that it wasn't a mistake? Tell me that I'm not just making an idiot out of myself by thinking that there's something more here?" Rachel was speechless. "Exactly. I know you feel something. Before you'd always tell me 'I'm in love with Noah' or that you don't feel anything, but now you're not denying anything I just said. You know what I think? I think you want to be with me too, you just don't want to admit it. Because if you do admit it, then you'll lose Puck and you don't want that to happen because you can't trust me." Rachel was going to interject, but she let Finn finish his thought. "I've hurt you before," Rachel stopped him right there.

"So has Noah."

"But you believe he won't do it again, whereas you're not sure about me. You want to be with me too but you'd rather stick with somebody who you don't think will hurt you again over somebody you think will." He's not right is he? No, of course he's not. I love Noah, that's why I'm with him. He's supportive and treats me right and he's everything I could ask for. I feel comfortable with him, why would I want to change that?

Rachel noticed that Finn started walking away, so she caught up to him.

"I can't do this to Noah; it's not fair to him. He's been here for me through everything and he needs me. I can't just give up on him. I'd feel like a terrible person for hurting him."

"That wasn't exactly a rejection. Why don't you deny everything I just said and then I'll believe you." He stood, staring at Rachel with his arms laying across his chest.

"Finn, please don't make me choose because you won't like my choice." Rachel why can't you just tell him that you don't have feelings for him and get this over with; that would solve everything.

"Since you're too much of a coward to actually admit it, then I think it's best if I leave. Josh can take over as my understudy and that would be the best. Would you want that?" Rachel knew Finn really didn't want to leave; he was just doing it to make everything easier.

"I don't want you to leave," she said quietly.

"I can't be here and listen to you talk about Puck and how much you say you're in love with him and I definitely can't be here and watch you be with somebody else. It hurts too much Rachel." Before giving Rachel time to gather her thoughts and say anything else, he walked away leaving her standing on the sidewalk dazed and confused