A/N: Huge time jump, hope you don't mind! Also, there will be one more chapter and it will have an even larger time jump soo..I REALLY hope you don't mind. If you like it, please review. If you don't like it, feel free to tell me that as well. Anyway, that's all I have to say here so. Enjoy!


"Do you know how they work?" Rachel asked softly, looking at the sky that was littered with random stars. How constellations existed, she didn't know, because it looked like somebody just had a box of little white things and tossed them up there. Like there was no rhyme or reason.

'No, not at all." he answered honestly. It had been two years since he met Rachel, two whole years of getting to learn all about his soul mate and finding out that maybe your soul mate isn't somebody you expect. Their personalities clashed, a lot. And even though they never officially said they were dating, nights like tonight made him wish they official, just for the sake of the label. All their friends had boyfriends and girlfriends and you know what they had? Soul mates. And it sounded so serious, like they were supposed to be planning their life together, settling down, not looking at the stars on a Saturday, worried about how close her arm is. About how he could feel it brushing against his own when she shifted, but didn't dare to grab her hand.

They'd only kissed twice after their first shared kiss. One "accidentally" he claimed on her birthday last year. Her friends and family had finished singing for her, she blew out the candles and then looked over at him. She looked so immensely happy, he really couldn't help himself, and the blush she acquired afterwards only made him want to continue. But, they had a lifetime to kiss, they decided, so they wanted to do things right and surprisingly, for a teenage boy, Mike was okay with that.

"Do you think anybody will every figure out?" She asked another question he certainly didn't have an answer to, but this was like a game they played. He was just here to listen to her doubts and worries and instead of in lecture form it was questions upon questions about life, and herself, and their inevitable future.

"I don't know." Once more, an honest answer, but he felt like there was more. "And now it was his turn to ask questions. "Are we supposed to figure out? Is it supposed to make sense to us? Aren't there things we just aren't supposed to, or don't need to understand?" It was now her turn to reply.

"I don't know," and glancing over at her, under the stars, he could see her smile shining brightly, as if the fact that she got to be on his end was so much better than the other way. It was small things like that, that assured him the watches were right.

He shifted, the grass rustling the slightest bit and she looked over at him and noticed his eyes, the way they had been trained on her, it was with so much care and so much…love. Overwhelmed she looked back up to the sky.

"You know, Quinn's watch still hasn't stopped. Even with everything with Puck and her baby…I always thought that's how it should work." Mike nodded, but baby didn't mean love, he had come to realize. Baby didn't mean forever and baby certainly didn't mean a healthy relationship, as Quinn and Puck had their ups and downs more than any other couple he'd seen and even though Beth needed a father, Puck's watch nor Quinn's watch had stopped for each other. Sure, if he wanted to, he could be there for now, but the idea that somebody would eventually replace him…Mike had no clue how that felt. He didn't want to ever feel that way.

"Have you ever thought that maybe the watches don't mean we're supposed to grow up and marry each other? Or fall in love or something? Maybe we're just supposed to be best friends." At that suggestion he though for a moment. Could you really find your soul mate, the person that was supposed to be in your life forever and not want to marry them? Was that physically, emotionally possible? Your soul mate is your perfect match, not only on the physical aspect but everything else as well was supposed to fall in place around you. Why separate more than necessary? Mike wasn't a religious guy, but at that moment he prayed. He prayed to the stars that she wasn't talking about them, that she meant for everybody else to live that way, because he knew for a fact he couldn't. Every part of Rachel was appealing to him. Literally, and if that didn't mean something, he didn't know what to think about…life, anymore.

"Maybe." He assured her, as there was always still that chance, that small part of unpredictable things that nobody could really expect. And with that was the one person who probably had expected it all along. Before she knew what was happening his hand was around her's and a heat shot up her arm and comforting warmth spread over her chest. This was who was always supposed to be in her life. Be it her best friend, boyfriend, husband, he would be there. And that was the only thing she was for sure of.

"Hey, bear?" She asked softly, using a nickname she had developed for him. He was taller than her and cuddly and he always seemed warm, so she decided on bear. She moved over closer to him, messing up her hair in the process, she was sure of that, but not caring because she knew that he didn't.

"Yes?" He replied just as quietly, like tone louder than that might break the glass that incased this situation.

"What do you think is going to happen to us?" She said quietly, not feeling nearly close enough, so she moved over, sort of getting on top of him and crossing her arms on his chest, chin resting on her arms. She liked this much better, being able to meet his eyes and yet, still feel the warmth of his arms around her.

"Well," he started and his arms naturally made his way around her, keeping her close, in a simple way. It was almost like a hug, but much warmer and so much easier than any action he could remember. "I'll remind you this is based purely on my prediction." She nodded with a smile, already having a thought about where this was going. Mike liked to tell outrageous stories, to make her smile and she could only believe that this would result in a similar response.

"Seeing as you are the prettiest girl in all the land," he started. "You will most likely become queen, maybe princess so you don't have to do any work and you can hang out with the jester all day." he winked and she giggled, blushing and hiding her eyes by burying her face to his chest behind her arms. "Everybody who passes the princess will by in awe of her splendor!" He gushed and she shook her head now, embarrassed by his extremely ridiculous story, that somehow made those butterflies in her stomach flutter.

"Well, the jester, that's me, he'll be the luckiest guy on the planet. You want to know why?" She looked up and he swore he heard a muttered, "Why?" In response. "Well, because he gets the princess, you see. Even though it doesn't make sense sometimes, because he's not worthy of her, and way below her, somehow she always wants to be with him." He could see her smiling, the darkness causing her features to stand out more prominently when his eyes trained on them.

"Even if it's just hanging out at the top of one of the towers, looking at the stars, making her laugh, because that's what he's really good at. Or singing and playing piano, reading, or even riding horses," he grinned and that once more elicited a laugh from her. "Well, I think that's how it always will be, until she becomes queen and has her own prince or princess to take care of," he pointed out. "If, she ever has a prince or princess."

"You think the jester and the princess end up together in the end?" She asked softly, moving forward to bury her heard next to his neck, letting her arms move away. He ran his hand up and down her back gently and could feel her breath against his skin as well as his own chest rising and falling.

"I think they do. In fact, I think they live happily ever after."

So, that night it changed to they had kissed three times since their first kiss.

What difference did one more make?

And there was their mindset for weeks upon weeks. Well, it's just one more kiss, it's been a couple days since the last time we did. What's the big deal if I use my tongue now? And they increasingly became more comfortable with that aspect. Kissing didn't seem like something they should put off, or save, anymore. It was something they savored and took advantage of while they had the time.

Needless to say, Mike asked Rachel to be his girlfriend. And through a fit of giggles; she said yes.