Just randomly thought of this after watching a Glee Marathon. I own nothing.


Story Time

Rachel stared back at Jude, brown eyes meeting identical brown eyes. She thought about how she was once in the same situation, staring Shelby down in the Carmel auditorium. Jude tapped her fingers on the armrest of the couch, obviously waiting for Rachel's tale to begin. Rachel took a deep breath, not sure where to start. Should she begin with Jesse's jackassery before he fled to UCLA? No, that wouldn't do.

"Uh, I guess I should start after graduation. Mr. Shue had invited talent scouts to Nationals that year," she began.


Rachel Berry was on the fast track to becoming a star. Her she was in New York, ready to wow the world with her talent. Mr. Shuester had arranged for talent scouts and agents to be at Nationals, hoping for some of his more talented glee-clubbers would get an opportunity to head to the Big Apple. Inevitably, she had led New Directions to the title. Her rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade" was flawless and despite already having sung it at Sectionals two years prior, the emotion and delivery was amazing, if she said so herself. A talent agent, Jennifer Douglas, talked to her right after the win, expressing her desire to get Rachel onto Broadway. After a few meetings with Rachel, Hiram, and Leroy, a contract was signed. Rachel Berry was en route to NYC.

Her fathers were, of course, wary about their precious daughter. They set her up in a nice end of town, withing walking distance of the Gershwin Theatre on West 51st Street. At the time, Wicked was playing. The Eugene O'Neil Theatre which would shortly become her second home, was located on West 49th St.

She settled into her one-bedroom apartment easily enough. She had painted the walls a soft, soothing green. She painted her bedroom a light, airy rose pink. She had outgrown the dark pink of her younger years, but she liked the color a great deal. She kept her bed and bedding from home, as it offered a great deal of comfort for her.

"If you need anything, just call," Hiram said as he and Leroy prepared to leave their baby girl alone in the crutches of a big, bad city.

"I know, daddy," Rachel replied sadly, twirling a curl around her finger nervously.

"We're just a phonecall away," Leroy offered.

"I know dad. Set up your Skype soon, yeah?" Rachel asked.

"Of course," Leroy confirmed.

With final hugs, Rachel was lone. She stared around her apartment, a slight smile gracing her features. She sat down on her couch, crossing her arms over her chest. She took out her phone, noting she missed a call from Kurt. She dialed his number.

"Hello?" his voice rang over the line.

"Kurt!" Rachel started.

"Hey Barbra, you settled?" he asked, glad to hear from his friend.

"New York is fabulous Kurt. You must visit me sometime," she enthused.

"Blaine, Mercedes and I will definitely see anything you're in," he assured her.

"And how is Blaine," she asked teasingly.

"Fabulous," Kurt replied, grinning broadly.

Rachel chuckled. She was so glad she had friends. To think, had she and Finn never broken up, she wouldn't have become friends with Kurt and Mercedes. Hell, she might've stayed in Lima. For Finn. She shuddered to think that she would've given up Manhattan. She was bigger than Lima.

"Rachel, I got to go. We'll talk soon," Kurt interrupted her thoughts.

"Bye, Kurt."

Rachel shut off her phone, left to her own devices. She yawned, tired. She decided to go to sleep. After all, tomorrow would start a never-ending round of auditions.


"So, there's Chicago, they need a new understudt for Roxy, the other one got pregnant, Fat Pig, The Merchant of Venice, Billy Elliot, La Cage Aux Folles, Wonderland, Mary Poppins, and Spring Awakening," Jennifer passed Rachel some papers as they sat in her office.

Rachel sifted through the papers, scanning them. A lot of them were open-ended shows that were recasting as the current casts were in the process of moving on. One, though, she had never heard of before.

"Spring Awakening is a new show. It's gone through workshops in California. That's when they cast Melchoir. The Wendla, they found though, couldn't take the stress, so they're re-casting a few parts," Jennifer began to explain.

Rachel nodded, taking in the information. Her hopes of there being Les Miserables had been dashed, but she was bound to find a role, any role.


"Stay awake, don't go to sleep," Rachel let her voice flow through the audition room. The producer and director sat in front of her, looking bored. Rachel would be impressed with their show faces had she not been shaking in her boots.

"We'll get back to you."

"We'll get back to you." She heard that too many times over a two month period. She would go to her apartment dead tired and weary. She knew stardom didn't come quickly, but so far her road was too rocky for her liking. She knew it sometimes took actors years to get noticed, but she was Rachel Berry, dammit.

"Dad, daddy," Rachel stared at her computer screen, greeting her parents.

"Pumpkin, what's wrong?" Hiram asked, seeing his daughter's blank face.

"I don't know if I can do this. I was the most talented person at McKinley, but here, there are so many brilliant actors and singers," Rachel started.

"Stop right there Rachel," Leroy said sternly, "you are brilliant. Never forget that."

Rachel offered a small smile.

Two weeks later, she received a callback for the part of Wendla. Needless to say, she was thrilled. The producer and director had shown a liking to her, and cast her a few days after that.

"I got it, I got it!" she jumped up and down. She was simultaneously on the phone with her fathers and on Skype with Kurt.

"Congrats!" Kurt grinned.

"Sweetheart, that's wonderful," Hiram and Leroy chorused.

Rachel's road wasn't as rocky anymore. If only she had known who would play opposite her.


Jude stared at her mother, chin resting in her palm. While Rachel had been rambling, she had been analyzing her. She noticed that her way of speaking was similar. She noticed they both scrunched up their noses when something bothered them. Other than that, she knew very little about her own mother. Now she knew that she had two gay grandfathers. Jesse had told her in passing when she asked about her grandparents, but she never paid much attention.

"Do you want tea, or water, or food?" Rachel stopped suddenly, standing up.

"I hate tea. If there's coffee," Jude replied.

"Jesse hates tea, too," Rachel tried to plaster on a soft smile, but she suddenly felt awful.

"I know. I've been drinking coffee regularly since middle school," Jude rolled her eyes.

Oh yes. Rachel and Jesse's child would have an attitude.


Please review. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts.