A/N: Chapter #2 of my first time writing Glee. Hope you all enjoy and thanks for the reviews!
(All my errors are my own)

She thought about texting Jesse a few times during his leave. She never actually had because she figured he was busy and needed to spend time with his friends, but she missed him. Although she wanted him to have a great spring break, she wanted to be with him, especially now. Rachel sat waiting for glee to begin again. Her stomach had been in knots hoping the scene she made yesterday wouldn't be brought up.

I miss you was the text Rachel was debating to send to Jesse. Her finger hovered over the enter button, about ready to do it. Why not? She thought. What was the worst he could say or do? Not respond?

"Hey Rach," Finn said coming to sit next to her. Startled, she closed her phone. The decision was made for her apparently, that she wouldn't send the same text she had pondered over for days, again. Rachel put her phone in her bag and then watched as most other members filled in too. "Hey Finn."

"How's the voice?" He seemed to be the only one who cared. He had offered to take her to the doctors and even did some research about sore throats for her when she was scared. She knew he was a really caring guy, but she also knew a lot of his actions were because he still liked her. He had told her before when he gave her a ride home that there was more to her than her voice. He had said she was a really great person and showed more passion than anyone he's ever met – granted Lima's population was bigger than McKinley High and he didn't know many people outside of there besides his mom and Kurt's dad.

Rachel couldn't seem to understand Finn. They had been together before Jesse came along but when they were a couple Finn barely was there. He broke up with her because he said wanted to focus on himself – so then why did he now begin to suddenly fight for her?

"When are you going to realize he's not into you like I am? You think he's going to stick around if you can't sing? If you're a vocal cripple?" Finn asked her frustrated the one-day he drove her home.

So she set things straight. "Look, I know you've always been jealous of Jesse. And even though we haven't spoken since he's left for spring break you just have to accept the fact that I still care about him deeply and I know he feels the same way about me." Her words were what brought herself to constantly feel like she needed to text Jesse. Neither of them had say anything to each other after he left and she wondered if Vocal Adrenaline got to him. No he's out having fun, she scolded herself. She couldn't doubt Jesse. Not now. They needed each other.

"Its okay, getting better," she noted to him with a slow smile. Before they could say much more to each other, Mr. Shuester walked in and began talking.

"Finn, you said you had a song you wanted to share with us?"

"Yes Mr. Shue," he said getting up from his seat. Giving Rachel a wink, he waited for the band to begin before opening his mouth to sing.

"Jessie is a friend,
Yeah I know he's been a good friend of mine
But lately something's changed
It ain't hard to define
Jessie's got himself a girl
And I want to make her mine
And she's watching him with those eyes
And she's lovin' him with that body, I just know it!
And he's holding her in his arms late, late at night

You know I wish that I had Jessie's girl
I wish that I had Jessie's girl
Where can I find her, a woman like that?"

Rachel had been stunned and mortified. He was making everything so public. Singing to her like that and coming up to stand in front of her singing Jesse's girl! She was surprised that the glee clubbers didn't say anything afterwards. Instead he got praise and then they listened to what Puck wanted to sing.

"Come meet me after school. I want to take you somewhere," Finn told her.

"I-…" but before she could say anything else, the bell had rung and Finn left smirking, thinking they had plans together. Rachel was lucky enough that she didn't have her first round of chemo until 5 o'clock when her dads usually came home, so she sighed and went with it. Sticking out the rest of her day, she looked up to see Finn waiting for her at her locker when the day was done.

"Ready?"

"Sure, but where are we going?" she asked following him to the parking lot.

"You'll see. I want you to meet a friend of mine. I think he'll put things in perspective for you."

"Things?" she asked climbing into his truck. Please don't tell me he knows, she thought. "What types of things?"

"You know how you said you didn't know who you would be without your singing voice? Well I have something to say about that problem."

"You're very expressive today Finn," she stated, referring back to glee club. He went to reply to that but Rachel's phone buzzed. Checking the message, she saw it was from her dads, reminding her about later today.

"Everything okay?" he wondered. He had peered over to see a small frown on her face.

"Yeah, just my dads reminding me that I have to be home by 5," she said smoothly, telling herself it wasn't a lie.

Accepting it, Finn continued to drive with the radios music filling in between them.

They rang the doorbell, both standing in front of a two-story house, waiting for someone to answer. A woman came along, about Rachel's height, opening the door.

"Uh hi, Mrs. Fretthold, this is Rachel," Finn introduced.

"Pretty," she stated making Rachel blush as they stepped in. "I'll tell Sean you're here."

While they waited, Rachel and Finn looked around. Noticing pictures, Rachel stepped forward and asked Finn if that was him.

"Uh yeah, we met at football camp a few years ago."

The guy in the photo was taking a knee for a football picture, wearing a blue and white numbered jersey. He had dark black hair like Finns and a found face.

"He's ready for you," Mrs. Fretthold called.

"Fab- five- Finnster," the guy called.

"Fretter," Finn called, walking over towards his hospital bed and lifting his wrist acting like they gave each other a knuckle touch.

What was going on? Rachel thought to herself as she started to become overwhelmed.

"Is this the hottie you've been telling me about?" he questioned to Finn.

"Yeah! Sean Fretthold, Rachel Berry, Rachel, Sean."

"Got a boyfriend Rachel?" Sean questioned.

"Um…yeah sort of," Rachel answered with her arms around herself tight, looking to Finn to understand what this was about.

"Sort of? Sounds like I've got a shot," Sean joked, smiling to Finn.

"I-I don't understand," Rachel said quietly. "This isn't funny," she whispered to Finn.

"Sorry," Sean said catching the words. "They make me see a shrink. He says I compensate with humor."

Rachel and Finn both stood there, Rachel more mind boggled than anything. Why was she here? What was Finn trying to achieve by bringing her here? Did this have to do with her and Jesse again?

"It was the third game of the season, right after I met this Finnster, " Sean explained to help the situation, "This Yeti of a fullback breaks through the line. I hear a crack, next thing I know I'm laying on the ground saying to myself 'get up, get up', but nothing was working."

"Sean was a C4," Finn added.

"Paralyzed from the chest down," Sean clarified to make more sense.

"I'm so sorry," Rachel said breathless. She couldn't believe what had happened. It was just a game and his life had changed forever because of it.

"Finn says you've lost your voice. Is it going to come back?"

"I-I-I don't know," Rachel replied unsure of anything anymore. Sure it would come back. It was coming back. Her doctor had told her it was most likely temporary, that the chemo would help and it wasn't anything to worry about.

"Pissed off about what you lost?" he wondered to her, breaking her thoughts.

Rachel stared at him and thought about it. Yeah she was, but not about her voice, rather her life and her leukemia.

"I was, like real rage. I used to lie in bed and just scream," he stated. And that was when she lost it. Because it was exactly how she was feeling. She wanted to scream.

"Finn shouldn't have brought me here, I-I'm so sorry," she said and went to leave the room.

"Wait, wait, wait," Finn said trying to catch her. "Just…tell her about what happened when they gave you the chair," he said to Sean. Rachel turned to him, watching as Finn sat down to hear the story himself.

"They were all excited," Sean stated, "because I could drive it myself by blowing in that tube. The second they left me alone…I drove it into the swimming pool."

"His mom pulled him out when she heard the splash," Finn added.

"I-I don't understand," Rachel said trying to get a grasp on things. "Are…are you trying to tell me that you're happier now?"

"Hell no," Sean replied. "I'm miserable. I miss my body. I miss my life. I miss my friends. I miss girls. But realized, over time, that I've got other stuff going on, more than just one thing. Did you know I'm good at math? Seriously," he told them when Finn smiled. "I flew through calc one in like two months. And I can sing."

"He's actually pretty good," Finn said with a smile.

"I used to sing in the shower, in the car…I didn't have the balls to try out for my school's club like Finn did. That pissed me off more than anything. What the hell was I afraid of?"

"Sorry guys, time for physical therapy," his mom interrupted them.

"I'll come by in a few weeks," Finn said getting up from his chair. "See you soon dude."

"I'll be here," Sean called back.

"Thanks," Rachel murmured.

"For what?" Sean asked as she went to leave.

"Just um…thanks," she said unable to say more. He was giving her a reason to fight for her life without even knowing it.

Rachel did a lot that night after Finn dropped her off. For one, she went to chemotherapy. Her dads had been waiting for her inside. They had been unpacking their work things and packing anything she might have needed for the hospital trip. When they sat down with the needle underneath her skin, she told them about her day, who she had met and al the little details in between. She tried to fight down the nausea and only lost the battle twice, letting her dads hold her hair back while she vomited.

When she got home, tired and exhausted, she made a new goal to look at in her room for every morning when she woke up. Instead of it saying something about making it to regionals or becoming a big Broadway star, she wrote, 'to make every day last'. It was cheesy and totally dramatic but it was for her. She had her own reasons to live life in the best way possible everyday.

Lastly, before she crawled into bed to preserve the rest of her energy, she made sure to write a list of all she would have to accomplish as a 'just in case' for her future. Even though Sean made her believe again that she could survive this long battle, she had to be realistic and possibly prepare.

Settling underneath the covers she turned off her lamp and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a new day.

School and glee club was about the same. Neither her nor Finn brought up Sean, but he could tell she was grateful for the visit. She stuck to her same routines of the school day and went home when everything was finally over. Her intent was to sleep until her dads got home so they could make dinner together, but instead when she walked into the house. She had other ideas.

Mrs. Fretthold allowed her in their home again, surprised to see her without Finn. They walked down the hall and into Sean's room, seeing him covered up bare chested with a blanket over him.

"Mom," he said embarrassed that he wasn't decent enough for him.

Walking over there, Mrs. Fretthold lifted the blanket higher while Rachel looked away to make him less uncomfortable, and then was left with the two of them alone.

"Finn with you?" Sean wondered.

"No. I-I came by myself. Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

"I um, I just wanted to say thank you, and for showing me that just because I'm not good at anything other than singing doesn't mean that I'm not any good if I can't sing. That sounded like a really bad greeting card," she chuckled.

He laughed too, shaking his head. "No. It was cool."

"Well…anyways," she shrugged, "I thought I could at least return the favor. I thought I could give you singing lessons. It sort of seemed like an area of interest for you. I'll come by like once or week or something? And we can see how it goes? I've helped almost every one in our glee club," she stuttered out nervously. "Some by brute force, but…"

"So your voice came back," he said.

She nodded. "Turns out if you become patient enough and let the doctors take care of it, it does work out. I-I'm not scared anymore."

He laughed softly and then stared at her. "There is something else going on though, I can tell."

Rachel paused, clearly nervous and jittery. "You don't have to tell me," he stated kindly. "Its just written all over your face."

She let out a nervous laugh, brushing some hair behind her ear. Could she tell him? What would he think?

"I relapsed with leukemia," she spoke before even her mouth could register what was spilling out of it.

"I'm sorry," he spoke.

Shrugging, she explained herself. "I had it when I was younger and fought it off, I can do it again."

"Do you truly believe that?" It was like he could see the real her – the real Rachel Berry even though he had just met her. Only a handful of people could do that, those being her parents and Jesse. How could he?

"I'm trying to," she admitted. "I want to survive this and live, but a part of me knows my chances aren't good."

"Seems like that's holding you back."

"More than you realize," she confessed, thinking the negativity was going to swallow her whole.

"So uh…" he said in the silence. "Do you want to give it a spin now? The singing lessons I mean," he told her when she looked at him puzzled. Letting a smile grow on her face she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I would be honored."

Smiles on both of their faces, he gestured with his head. "Come here."

She wasn't afraid per say, rather embarrassed and blushing when she took the steps to meet him. She wasn't sure how to take his responsiveness with seeing right through her and she didn't know what to expect from him now that he knew.

"Take my hand," he told her watching carefully. Uncovering the limb from the blanket, she touched him carefully. "Can you feel that?"

"No," he said sadly and slightly frustrated. He wished he could, so much so. "But its weird."

The anger melted from his eyes when he stared into her innocent ones. "I remember what it feels like, and I can see it, so its like I can."

A moment stirred in between them – not sadness or pity, but understanding. "I-I um…" She said clearing her throat from the heavy moment, "I though we'd do a little classic rock today. Finn said you might like that."

He nodded, watching her and waiting for her to being.

"Is it getting better?" she wondered with her singing voice. "Or do you feel the same?"

"Will it make it easier on you now
you've got someone to blame?"

"You say," he began.

"One love, one life.
When its one need, in the night

One love, we get to share it
leaves you baby, if you don't care for it"

And so they sang the rest of the song together, each had great voices complimenting each other. She felt such an emotional connection to him on so many different levels. It wasn't anything like her and Jesse had, but it was stronger than a friendship she could ever have with someone else.

When they were done and breathless, she smiled at him with a tear running down her cheek. Cupping his face, she said her goodbyes and a quick "I'll see you next week".

She had brought this song up to Glee. It was a strong one she felt that needed to be honored. Her friends had thought wasn't anything other than another song for Regionals, but to her it was something more.

Her and Finn were leads of course, but to her it didn't mean anything to her other than a reminder to what her and Sean shared. The song was for him. It was for his strength and a part of him giving to her. She put her whole body into this song, feeling that Sean deserved it.

"Amazing guys," Mr. Shue said after practice. Dismissing them all, Rachel gathered her things and set home.

A/N: Next chapter is when Jesse returns! Stay tuned!