Chapter Two: I Dreamed A Dream.

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of these characters they all belong to Fox and the very lucky Ryan Murphy.

"I Dreamed a Dream in time gone by.

When hope was high and life worth living.

I dreamed that love would never die."

"Okay! Thank you very much… Miss…" The Director looked down at the name on the sheet.

"Berry, Rachel Berry." Rachel called from the stage she was standing on, in annoyance.

"Of course. We'll be in touch." The balding man said with a slimy smile plastered across his shiny face.

Rachel rolled her eyes as she stormed off the stage in the small Broadway playhouse. They wouldn't be in contact, none of them ever were. She'd been in New York for five and a half years. She'd been auditioning for Broadway and every other play she could fine for five and a half years. And if she was truthful, she would tell you that slowly her dream that she was so passionate about in high school. So determined to get to, that dream was finally dying. When she was alone and usually at night she would think of all the things she gave up for that dream; her family, friends that she could have made and Finn. His name barely a movement on her lips and yet the effects were forever on her restless heart.

She arrived back home at the apartment on the cold January afternoon slamming the door shut loudly. "Fucking Directors and Producers and their fucked up idea of what they think is beautiful." She muttered angrily to herself. She barely noticed the two girls standing in the Kitchen discussing something intently but quietly.

"Berry! What are you moaning about now?" Santana Lopez said as her roommate slammed her way through their shared apartment.

"Just another audition I've failed to get." Rachel said, trying not to make a big deal about it. Santana knew though, she'd been with Rachel through every single one of those failed auditions and the tears that streaked down her olive skin after the first few declines. She'd been with her during the wailing tantrums and the quiet sobs in the middle of the night that weren't really about the auditions at all but about a tall dark haired boy in Ohio that still had her heart clasped tightly between his fists. In the darkness of those particular nights, Santana would curl up in Rachel's bed with her and draw slow circles into her back. "It'll be okay, Berry." She would whisper soothingly as Rachel sniffled into her pillow and drew her knees close up to her chest.

Moments like that occurred fairly often after Rachel and Santana moved to New York. Rachel was surprised when she was setting up her College apartment just days after she had moved in and a week after being in New York. Still broken hearted, she was shocked when a knock on her door came from Santana Lopez with a sympathetic smile and several sarcastic comments to make about Finn's man boobs. It wasn't a perfect situation but it worked, Rachel never expected them to be friends and never expected them to move in together after Rachel had finished College. Their relationship was tense at times, due to their strong difference in personality, but Santana had managed to dress Rachel up without making her look like a sad stripper clown and Rachel had managed to develop a mischievous sense of humour due to Santana's sarcastic quips.

However, on that particular January afternoon Rachel was not in the mood for Santana's rude comments and sarcastic one-liners nor was she willing to hear the truth.

"Berry, just stop doing all these auditions and join me working at the Publishing House. I know it's not all our dreams coming true but we're barely living off what you earn at the Coffee Shop and we need a more substantial income." Santana said as she opened a can of diet Coke and handed it to Tina Cohen-Chang.

"Look I'm sorry, I'm really not in the mood to talk about giving up Broadway yet. I have another audition tomorrow so we'll see after that." Rachel replied, throwing her jacket onto a chair in their cramped living room and tying her long dark hair in a ponytail to get it out of her face. Today was one of those days where everything would annoy her.

"Rachel you said that last time! Come on just have an interview with the Publishing House okay?" Santana offered.

"Fine, if it makes you happy I'll go to an interview." Rachel called back in annoyance as she walked towards her bedroom.

"Maybe you'll even meet someone" Santana offered with a smile that was desperately trying to put Rachel in a better mood.

"Don't be ridiculous Santana, I don't meet people you know that. I don't date; it's bad for my career. I mean can you believe that I nearly gave up all this for the love of my life. But wait before I could he dumped me and packed me off to New York so I could be rejected again and again for roles I am perfect for." Rachel said sarcastically as she walked towards Santana with a false look of happiness on her face as she mocked the life she could have had with Finn and compared that life to the life she had now. On days like this, Finn came out on top every time.

Santana looked at her with no sympathy, this is what Rachel did when she was having a bad day or something annoyed her. She always seemed to come back to the hurt she hadn't dealt with properly over Finn. "Still not letting that one go yet?" Santana asked just as sarcastically back at her best friend. The best friend who she had supported for five years now, she needed to go out; meet good looking men, go on dates, get some sex. But Santana had said this, repeatedly, as Rachel ignored her. Every time.

Rachel took a breath and looked up at Santana and Tina through her thick eyelashes. "Fine, I'm sorry for being a class A bitch." She muttered so both of her friends could just about hear her. If it was any other time, Santana would tease her and make her say sorry louder. But she had something to tell Rachel. Something she really didn't want to have to tell Rachel.

"Look Rach, Tina and I have got some news for you and you're probably not going to like it." Santana said lightly, desperately trying to think of a way to soften the blow.

"I can guarantee you won't like it." Tina chipped in from behind the counter of their tiny kitchen, for that comment she got an angered look thrown her way and soon ducked back into the kitchen to let Santana deal with Rachel's reaction.

"What?" Rachel asked with tiredness in her voice, nothing could possibly be as bad as today had been. Or as bad as this past week had been; three auditions and no calls backs and her yoga class got cancelled and she knew she wouldn't get her money back.

"This came for you in the mail, we all got one." Santana said, handing her a crisp, white envelope. Rachel opened it and inside was a square piece of card with beautiful silver calligraphy and light pink flowers decorating the cream paper.

Rachel read the invitation aloud as her heart sank and the panic began to set in.

"Mr Sam Evans and Miss Mercedes Jones, Invite you to join us at the celebration of our marriage.

On Saturday 14th April

At 2 P.M

At the Ohio Plum Orchard,

Lima, Ohio

Dessert and dancing to follow."

There was a silence in the room as Rachel took in that wedding invitation, all the memories that were pinned to such a small piece of card. It should have been her; it should have said Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson. She knew she should be over it by now but she wasn't. Most days she could pretend and sometimes she would go days without thinking of him and then she would see a guy at the store with three freckles on his face, or a woman would past with a man and the height difference could be laughable. And just like that all the memories would come flooding back and she would feel like a teenager again. She was meant to be the first to marry, a union of love and commitment. She didn't want to always be the girl that got engaged at high school. It wasn't her. She wanted Finn and the white wedding and vowels and promises which last a lifetime. Not an old wedding dress wrapped in a plastic coat and put as far away to the back of her closet as possible.

As these thoughts whirled through Rachel's mind, she realised Santana and Tina were both staring at her; waiting for a reaction and an answer. They would have to go back to Ohio; Rachel knew that because she wasn't going to miss her best friend's wedding. But he would be there, wearing a suit and his smile and just the thought of him made her a fool for that dark haired boy. Although she knew he wouldn't a boy anymore.

It had been over five years since she'd last seen him, waving him away and all the friends she had made in Glee Club. The family she would never truly have back. Five years and Six Months and what had she gained from it all? The only things she truly had was her friendship and her ability to hail a cab without being scared of the taxi drivers.

Rachel looked up at her two best friends and took a deep breath. "Santana, you know that bar you're always talking about?" She asked the dark haired girl standing in front of her who nodded, looking ever so slightly nervous.

"Good, take me there." Rachel said, grabbing her jacket off the chair she had thrown it on half an hour before and walking towards the front door.