Chapter One

New York Kiss

Finally the day had arrived where the New Directions were needed in New York.

They were boarding the plane and were preparing for take off. Mercedes and Quinn sat together, already gossiping and discussing outfits, their girly interests and giggling across the aisle from Mike and Tina. Behind them were Santana and Brittany, their eyes focused on each others and seductive smiles crossing theirs lips – planning to spend most of the flight in the bathroom, if they could – and across the aisle from them were Blaine and Kurt who were talking about two completely different things; Blaine was trying to teach Kurt about the rules of baseball where Kurt was trying to teach him the 'rules' of how to make the perfect soufflés. Finn, Puck and Artie were at the front of the middle section of the plane; due to Artie's wheel chair he had an extra large space and so both boys got to join him, without leaving one of them out. That only left Rachel and Will to sit together.

"Please, you take the window seat." Will offered, putting their things in the overhead locker.
"Are you sure Mr Shuester?" Rachel asked, slipping into the seat.

"Of course." He smiled at her, handing her the book she had asked for and sat down next to her. He tapped nervously on his thigh and tried to keep his breathing calm; two traits that didn't go unnotticed by Rachel. "Mr Shuester are you all right?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing with concern. Will ignored her at first, until she spoke his name again. "Huh? Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You're acting a little jumpy."

"It's nothing." He answered quickly.

"Are you sure? You know what they say; 'a problem shared is a problem halved'." She beamed him an innocent smile, and caused Will to sigh and lower his voice. "Well this isn't really a problem. More of an inconvenience."

"Care to elaborate?" Rachel asked, leaning into him a little more so he didn't have to feel embarrassed.

He gulped and looked around quickly, checking that none of his students could hear him, besides Rachel of course. "I'm scared of flying." He whispered quietly, blushing a little.

"Oh I see." Rachel whispered, being unable to hide her little smirk, that Will always found to be rather cute. He sighed and hit his head against his seat, still trying to calm himself down. But failing miserably. "See, it's nothing." He tried to laugh, but he just got more nervous.

"Well, when I get scared do you want to know what I do?"

"Can I take a guess?" He smiled, rolling his head over to see Rachel.

"With pleasure."

"Do you sing about your favourite things?" He smiled wider, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Well now that you mention it, I don't sing about my favourite things, but I do sing to myself. Or I hum, which is a form of singing if you think about it."

"I guess you're right, and it calms you down?"

"Completely. However, as much as I love your singing voice, I highly doubt the other passengers on this flight would enjoy it if you sang for the entire journey."

"I guess you're right."

"In that case, if you are scared then you can hold onto my hand." She said, taking hold of his rather sweaty hand in hers; the delicate touch and contact of her soft skin made Will take a sharp breath.
"Really?" He said quietly.

"Of course. Daddy's scared of flying so whenever we go on flights, no matter how long or short, he sits in the middle so he can hold onto both of our hands."

"Thanks Rachel, that's very sweet of you."

"You're welcome. Besides if it makes you feel any better, it's only a short flight."

"That's true."

"Now, pay attention the air hostesses are about to go through the in-flight safety routine."

"Oh my God." Will groaned, feeling the plane beneath him jitter and shudder.

"It's fine Mr Shuester, it's just turbulence." Rachel told him, trying to reassure him that he was fine.

"Yeah well it's still kind of terrifying." He told her, his voice quivering.

"Here, hold my hand." Rachel offered, turning her palm over for him to take hold.

"I thought that was just for the take off and landing?"

"No it was for when you felt scared, and right now you look petrified."

"Are you sur-"

Just as he was about to speak, the plane jolt and it felt like it was about to fall out of the sky. Will cursed and gripped onto Rachel's hand harder than he had done before. He closed his eyes and squeezed them tightly closed. His heart rate was sky-rocketing and he felt sick as his stomach did somersaults in time with the shakes of the plane. It jumps and fluttered about the sky, as the captain's voice sounded over the speakers, telling the passengers that they were being instructed to return to their seats and to put on their seatbelts.

"We're going to die!" Will whispered, feeling himself begin to cry. Rachel smiled at him, although he couldn't see it. She moved herself up closer to him and began to rub comforting circles on the back of his hand. "We're not going to die Mr Shuester," she told him soothingly. "We're fine, it's just turbulence." Seeing that he wasn't going to ease up any time soon she did the only thing she could think of to calm him down. It was something her dad did to her daddy when he was frightened on a plane. She pressed her lips to his ear and began to sing softly, a song she knew he loved.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high." She smiled against his ear and closed her eyes to fully melt into the song. "What are you doing Rachel?" Will asked, not daring to open his eyes.

"I'm trying to calm you down." She whispered and she began to run her fingers through his curls. "Well it's working." He told her, starting to feel his breathing regulate again. Rachel managed to almost sing the whole song to him, until this time the plane really did feel like it was falling out of the sky and Will cried out, leaped up wrapping his arms around Rachel and buried his head into her chest. He sobbed into her breasts, his face heating up with fright and his muscles tensing. Rachel was now a little scared, not just because of the turbulence but because of where her teacher's head was. Not only was he her teacher, but she had been harbouring a secret crush on the man and was afraid that she wouldn't be able to control herself in telling him during the turbulence.

They stayed like that; Rachel rubbing large circles on his back and humming into his ear, until the plane steadied and continued to fly smoothly for the rest of the flight. It took Will a while to realise they were safe again. He continued to take deep breaths with his head against her chest and his mouth between her breasts. He didn't realise until he then could feel Rachel's hear thumping against her chest. His eyes opened and he saw darkness. On the back of his head he could feel an odd comforting presence. Clearing his throat, he lifted his head up and saw Rachel's face smiling down at him.

"Welcome back." She giggled, letting him go. He blinked and leaned back into his seat. They were quiet for a little while, Will just trying to calm himself down again. He couldn't believe he had spent however many minutes with his face in between her breasts. His student's breasts! Well, the fact wasn't that she was just his student, it was the fact he had developed an unfortunate crush on the girl and had now probably sent her bizarre, odd signals. He cleared his throat and turned to face her. "Rachel," his voice was a little husky from the tears he had embarrassingly cried. She faced him, putting her book down and giving him her full attention. "I.." he tried to think of what to say without sounding lame. "I want to apologise for..um..for leaping on you. At you!" Rachel smiled and giggled, placing her hand on his shoulder and giving him a friendly squeeze. "It's okay Mr Shuester. When we're scared our bodies just react in ways we can't control. Fight or flight mode, right? Don't worry about it." She nodded at him, making sure he wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Will sighed and returned the smile. "Thanks Rachel, for being so understanding."

"No problem, now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to finish this chapter before we land."

"Of course. Sorry." He blushed, and bowed his head so he could read his car magazine, that had somehow slipped off his lap and ended up on the floor. As he bent down to pick it up, he heard Rachel laugh once more. "What did I just say? Stop apologising Mr Shuester. Enjoy your magazine, I hope it's a good read." Will sat up and stared at her one last time. Her eyes were focused on the pages before her. "Yeah," he sighed, "I hope you finish your chapter."

For the remainder of the flight, both of them were thinking of nothing but the contact they had just shared. No matter how inappropriate it was, it made them feel something. The touches made them throb in ways that Rachel had never felt before and Will hadn't felt since he himself was a teenager. They refused to give into their bodies wants and look at each other for the rest of the flight, instead pretending to focus on their reading material; with Rachel squeezing her legs together to try and get rid of the pangs and Will trying to focus on his cars to get rid of the sensations going on inside his jeans.

The night of the competition had arrived and The New Directions were beyond nervous, however their nerves were balanced out by their excitement, and their talent more or less over took their fears and anxieties. They were ready and couldn't wait to get on that stage and sing their hearts out.

Will gathered his kids around in one last group huddle; like they were all the school's football team the 'Titans' and were preparing for their biggest game of the season. "All right guys, here's the plan," Will began as he smirked at the real football players and then beaming at them all in turn, "You're going to go out there and sing and dance to the best of your abilities and you are going to knocks the socks off those judges and wow that audience." The kids all cheered and agreed with his words. "And hey, it's not the winning that matters. It's the taking part that counts."

"Yeah but Mr Shue we didn't come all the way out here just to lose!" Puck commented, earning himself a smack on the head by Mercedes and Tina. Will chuckled at his comment; "That's true, so I guess there's only one last things for me to say." All the kids held their breath and widened their eyes at him. He smirked as he shouted at the top of his lungs; "Go out there and have fun!"

All the kids broke out of their huddle and cheered, high fiving each other and cheering as they made their way to the stage. Rachel was the last to leave the green room, as she turned around to see Will, her lip nervously between her teeth. "You'll be great Rachel." He assured her. She smiled at him, too nervous to speak.

From the wings, he watched as his favourite little diva sang and certainly wowed the crowd. She may have only been just over five foot tall, but that voice was bigger and better than any other in the whole world. Every time she hit a high note, Will's eyes filled up with tears and every time she smiled as she felt the emotion of the song run through her veins sent his legs quivering and threatening to drop him to the floor. Of course he was proud of all of his students. They had all come such a long way since joining the club. But Rachel was by far the best singer in the group. She may not have been the prettiest girl in the school; Quinn held that spot followed by Santana according to Jacob Ben Israel's online postings, but him she was just breathtaking.

Sooner than it began, the competition was over and the results were in. Much to everyone's surprise and horror, they hadn't made it. The judges just didn't think they were good enough to make it to first place. The kids were, of course crush. Finn was angry and retorted to punching the wall, hurting his hand in the process, and some of the girls were crying. Rachel walked up to Will in the green room with a sad smile on her face.

"You okay?" He asked, sighing as he tried to smile at her.

"I am, do you want to know why?" She told him, trying to stretch her smile out further.

"Of course." He beamed, thinking that she would be the most upset out of all of them.

"I'm sad that we didn't win, of course. But I'm not sad because it meant that we still had the chance to come here, to New York, and perform on one of the world's greatest stages!" She smiled so brightly that it made her eyes twinkle. She rose on her tiptoes to reach his ear. "Best of all, we got to do it together. All of us! And I couldn't have asked for anything more than that." Will smirked as he felt Rachel place her lips gently against his cheek and then resting back on her feet. "Well I can think of what could have made the evening better." Rachel raised an eyebrow at him. "Wining!" He laughed, taking Rachel by the shoulder and guiding her over to the rest of the team.

"Come on guys, I think we should all go out to celebrate!" He announced, meeting the faces of eleven very confused teenagers. "Celebrate what Mr Shue?" Finn asked, making Will smile and pat him on his back. "Getting to New York! And performing as a great team!"

After a little persuasion, within half an hour, the whole Glee Club were sat down at a fancy restaurant eating and laughing and talking, still dressed in their red and orange costumes. "To the New Directions!" Will announced as he raised his beer up in the air. The Glee Kids all chorused and cheered as they chinked their sodas together.

"Goodnight everyone, make sure you don't stay up talking for too long. Our flight is at nine in the morning, so you all need to be up and in the lobby at six okay?" Will told them all as they headed off to their rooms. "Damn it Mr Shuester, why couldn't you have booked a later flight?" Mercedes complained as she dragged herself to the girls' bedroom. Will shook his head and laughed at her. "Well I'm sure you all want to get home to see your families, am I right?" He was then met with grumbled responses and waited for them all to get into their rooms, without them sneaking off into each others rooms.

He'd made it clear that the boys weren't allowed in the girls room and the girls weren't allowed in the boys rooms after nine. Seeing as it was now ten o'clock and the last night, he was sure that someone would try to sneak in. Of course, he didn't mind if Kurt went into the girls' room, but he did have a problem if any of the other guys went in. Especially now that most of them had coupled up with each other. The guys all went into their room; pushing and shoving and fighting over who was going to pick the show they wanted to watch – apparently there was a car chase special but there was also a wrestling match on – it was going to be a fight to the death, and Will made a mental note to check up on them later. The girls also made their way to their room, discussing outfits and the other guys at the competition. Rachel was the last one to enter. She turned around, flickering her hair back over her shoulder. "Goodnight Mr Shuester." She smiled. Will waved at her and smiled too, "Goodnight Rachel." They both blushed a little, and went into their rooms.

Two o'clock in the morning and neither could sleep.

Rachel was still reliving her moment in the spotlight as she sang her heart out.

Will was still thinking about Rachel's kiss on his cheek.

Soon, the pain of not being able to drift off was getting too much for the both of them and they got out of bed and both headed for the roof.

Rachel arrived there first, staring out at the night and city beneath her.

Will saw her, and smiled to himself as he watched her watch the world.

"Can't sleep?"

"Oh, Mr Shuester you startled me."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. In answer to your question, no I can't sleep."

"Me either. So, what are you doing up here on the roof? I know it's nearly summer but it's freezing!" He commented, wrapping his robe around him tighter, wishing Rachel would do the same to hers; her sating pink robe flowed around her and she looked more like an angel than before. Her brown locks also floating around. She stared out to the city again before speaking.

"Back home, whenever I can't sleep, I open my window and stare at the stars trying to count them all until my eyes just can't stay open and I just have to go back to my bed and fall asleep. The reason I'm up here, is because it's so beautiful out here, and I didn't want to disturb the other girls." She face Will, who had walked up to her and stood next to her, mirroring her position of leaning over the wall slightly, resting their elbows on the concrete. He gave her a quizzical look and Rachel chuckled. "Well, Santana!"

"Yeah she isn't a girl to disturb in the middle of the night!" Will chuckled also.

"Unless you're Brittany."

"Yeah, those two are inseparable."

"You're right." There was a gentle pause as they both looked over at what they assumed was Times Square. Rachel looked over at Will. "So, why are you up here on the roof?" Will glanced at her, before resting his eyes on hers. "Probably the same reason as you; it's so beautiful out here I couldn't just sleep away my last night of New York."

"That's true."

"What is?"

"That it is beautiful out here. I mean, excluding the few stars you can see; the general New York lights and colours, the sounds and the atmosphere...it's beautiful. It's truly mesmerising and you'd think by looking deeply into all of these lights would make you want to go to sleep but, but how could you when there's just so much of this beautiful city to see and..Mr Shuester why are you laughing? It's rather insulting." She faced him, and sure enough Will was trying to hide a smirk by covering his mouth with his hand. Little giggles still came out. "I'm not laughing at you, honestly Rachel."

"Then why-" He cut her off before she could speak, resting his hand on the concrete wall, separating them from falling down. "I'm laughing because your enthusiasm and love for this city is remarkable!"

"Then why are you laughing? Surly you should be applauding?"

"Oh I think you'll have plenty of applause in your life, I think you can hold off from me this once."

"All right. I suppose I can." Rachel shrugged, turning her attention back tot he city's lights.

"Would you like a drink?" Will asked as he held out the bottle of red from behind his back. He had no intention of drinking it all, just one glass but he felt that he had to offer Rachel some. Rachel raised her eyebrow at him. "You brought a bottle of wine to the roof?"

"Well alcohol helps you get to sleep too."
"Does it now?"

"Well it helps me."

"Surely brandy or whiskey would be more suitable to send you off to sleep."

"Well aren't we the expert!"

"I'm not, it's just from what I've seen in movies."

"Fair enough. So, would you like a glass?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go on, it's your last night in New York for a long time, you might as well celebrate actually making it here in the first place."

"Well...okay, I guess one glass won't hurt."

"And I promise I won't tell your fathers."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, to the city that never sleeps?"

"To the city that never sleeps!"

Soon they were flat on their backs, staring up at the sky, laughing and rolling around with drunken stitches.

"What time is it?" Rachel asked through her laughs. Will looked over at his watch and fell back on the ground. "Just gone half past four."

"Oh my God! We've been out here for...what, two and a half hours?"

"Wow! You really do talk a lot."

"Hey you talk a lot too yourself."

"What?"

"I don't know! I'm drunk!" Rachel giggled.

"Lightweight!"

"Quiet Shuester!" She hit his chest playfully.

"All right Berry." He tapped her arm and helped her get up. As they stumbled to find their feet, they continued to giggle a little and then looked back at the city.

"Can you believe we're actually here?" Rachel gasped, amazed at where she was.

"What on the roof?"

"No! Well, yes, but I was referring to the fact that we're in New York. New York City! NYC!"
"Yeah I think we've gathered where we are Rachel!"

"No, I mean don't you see Mr Shuester? This is the greatest city on Earth and we're here."
"And it sucks because we're leaving here tomorrow. Well, technically in a few hours."

"Way to kill someone's high, Mr Shue!"

"Sorry. But, hey it won't be long until you're back."

"I guess."

"I mean it Rach; you know all those posters and billboards they have up in Times Square and dotted all over the place?"

"Yes."

"Well, someday that'll be you. They'll have your face up there, being the leading lady and singing your heart out and inspiring more girls like you to follow their own dreams."

"You really think so?"

"Sure I do, don't you?"

"I don't know." Rachel dropped her head and shrugged. "Sometimes I do but...if I'm honest, sometimes I think that my dream is too big to accomplish."

"Now you're being ridiculous. Sure, if you couldn't sing or act or dance and you had the face of a troll then yeah, your dreams are too big. But you're Rachel Berry! You have the best most beautiful voice in the whole entire world and you're the best actress and the best dancer and..and you don't need me to tell you just how beautiful you are, Rachel." Will had dropped his voice and was now looking deeply into Rachel's chocolate brown eyes. She lowered her voice too, sounding relaxed but shocked all the same. "You really think I'm beautiful?"

"Like an angel." Will whispered, taking the back of Rachel's head in his hand and bringing her face closer to his. Rachel closed her eyes and allowed her teacher to kiss her. It was soft and gentle, but over all too quickly. Will pulled away, suddenly sobering up. "Rachel I..I'm sorry I don't-"

"Don't." She whispered, holding onto his shirt.

"What?" He whispered, disbelieving what he heard.

"Don't apologise."

"What do you mean?"

"I..I liked it. A lot."

"Rachel-"

"Don't. Just..do it again."

This time she was the one to pull him closer to her. They kissed for the second time. Their hands remaining still. Rachel's on his chest, and Will's in her hair. Once they pulled away, they panted softly and locked eyes with one another. "I guess we'd better get back to bed." Rachel whispered.

"You're right. I'll walk you to your room."

They made it back to their bedrooms in silence. Just as Rachel was about to walk into her room, she felt Will take hold of her hand. She looked back at him and looked into his eyes. He smiled a shy sideways smile at her before letting go of her hand. "Goodnight Rachel."

"Goodnight Mr Shuester." She smiled and headed back into her room.