Author's note: To really understand this chapter, it is essential to first listen to O Soave Fanciulla, the lovers' duet at the end of Act I of La Bohème. There are many versions on YouTube, but the one I recommend not only has English subtitles, but also has easily the greatest acting in the role of Mimi I have ever seen. It's performed by the wonderful Teresa Stratas, whose face, voice, and emotionally true portrayal are just a tiny bit reminiscent of a certain Lea Michele. The URL at is watch?v=zf6eo1Dwr1g&feature=related with title: La Bohème (5 de 15). Videos La Bohème (3 de 15) and La Bohème (4 de 15) are where Rodolfo and Mimi introduce themselves to each other. It all begins with a touch of the hands. So yes, you should watch them; if a character played by Cher could love it, so could you.

Dishes came and dishes went, washed down by a full bottle of a luscious Barbera. It was by far the best Italian food Will had ever had. They offered each other tastes across the table on the ends of forks, the recipient touching the hand of the giver, the way women used to suggestively touch the hand of men lighting their cigarettes, in the good old days when smoking was legal and less immoral than extra-marital sex. The great passion of their new love was, along with the great Wall of China, the only man-made creation visible from space.

When the dishes of the last course were cleared from the table, in preparation for the espresso and dessert, Rachel reminded Will that she had asked them to play a recording of O Soave Fanciulla, then sang in a half-whisper Rodolfo's opening phrases:

"O soave fanciulla, o dolce viso
di mite circonfuso alba lunar
in te, vivo ravviso
il sogno ch'io vorrei sempre sognar!"

And translated:

"Oh lovely girl, oh sweet face
bathed in the soft moonlight.
I see you in a dream
I'd dream forever!"

Then she sang Mimi's reply:

"Ah! tu sol comandi, amor!"

"Love, you alone rule!"

"You'd make a great tenor," was Will's genuine praise, out of his mind by now in adoration of her.

"Listen, if Aretha Franklin can sing Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma at the Grammy's, I can sing the intro to O Soave," she replied with a quick kiss of his hand, then nodded to "Giuseppe" who waved to the back and the orchestral strains of O Soave began over the sound system.

In a restaurant with $40+ entrees three blocks from the Metropolitan Opera House, every diner knew the tune and knew it was not only for the beautiful couple, but it was them. Many looked over and smiled, and when the duet ended, a matronly lady walked past their table and whispered in Rachel's ear, loudly enough for Will to overhear, "I would kill to be you tonight."

After thanking the staff profusely in badly-accented Italian, Rachel and Will stepped outside into the slightly chilly night air. Will took off his jacket and put it around Rachel's shoulders.

"But now won't you be cold?"

"You come first."

"Is that your motto?" she mischievously inquired, followed by a lascivious smirk.

He swept her around and against him, kissed her on the mouth with an almost brutal intensity, lifting her heels well off the ground. She responded in kind, her arms tight as a boa constrictor around his neck and her tongue heading for his larynx. Somehow, the reality of their interactions with other humans and the earthiness of the food and wine along with its consumption had brought them back from the celestial to the mortal plane. Their pure, sacred love had become profane, the loftily spiritual had become basely carnal. It was exactly as God intended it, as Darwin explained it - love and sex inextricably intertwined. Two years of foreplay had mercifully ended. The intoxication of their mesmerizing walk and culminating interdigitation in the park had dissipated. They were now dying to fuck. The transformation had occurred at melodramatic opera speed. It happens.

When the earthquake and its aftershocks had subsided, Rachel looked down and then up at Will to suggest with a laugh, "Maybe you should take your jacket back. And button it."

Will almost blushed, turned away to make a quick adjustment, but she hugged him immediately after he turned back.

"Mmmmm, it seems he's still there. I'd have been sooo disappointed if he'd gone away. But we'd better go before we're arrested for disturbing the peace and frightening the horses. My dads and Bohème await. Andiamo!"

Will had always found Rachel to be sexy, but that was in his eye as the beholder. To find her richly sensual was to observe an inherent property, and he was delighted with the discovery. As they traversed the three blocks to Broadway and 63rd, their arms were around each other and they rehearsed the opening of O Soave at nearly performance volume, with Will singing the tenor lines by the time they climbed the steps to the plaza of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in front of the Met, with the theaters of the N.Y. Philharmonic and the N.Y.C. Ballet on the flanks. Thousands of people of all types and in all modes of dress were streaming past the fountain to the various venues. There is no other place quite like it anywhere in the world.

Rachel stopped as they rounded the fountain to return Will's jacket. "Button it sweetie, just to be safe. I make men crazy. I can't help it, now can I?" she teased, then continued, "This is a very special place for me and, as it turned out, for us. Two and a half years ago, my dads brought me here during Christmas break to see a revival of South Pacific at the Beaumont Theater over there behind the Met. As you know, there are two couples in the show, Nellie and Emile, Lt. Cable and Liat, each with an older man. That made a big impression on me. And when the Lt. Cable took off his shirt for Younger Than Springtime, whoa!, I had just turned fifteen but I knew I wanted some of that. Then I remembered there was a young Spanish teacher at McKinley who resembled him, and the rest, as they say, is history. Are you ever going to take off your shirt for me? Are you, Will? Huh, are you?" she pretended to wonder, smiling up at him with a hand under his lapel squeezing the flesh over his left pec.

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" He kissed her lips tenderly, warmly, sweetly. As he did so, his mind involuntarily travelled south down her body, over hills and into valleys, so he made doubly certain his jacket was buttoned before he led her inside, past the ticket taker, past the many pairs of eyes that glanced and even stared at their youth and beauty, onto the red carpet, up a short flight of stairs, and down the aisle to their tenth row center, $245 plush orchestra seats below the enormous gold stage curtain.

The huge chandelier rose to the ceiling, the house lights dimmed, the conductor strode to the podium, gave the downbeat, and Puccini's familiar strains filled the air. Rachel and Will held hands, and when the O Soave duet began, they turned to each other to silently mouth the lyrics. They heard a quartet in their heads. As Mimi and Rodolfo sang the final words, "Amor, amor, amor" from offstage, Rachel cried and laid her head on Will's shoulder. He felt his heart swell with love for her.

At intermission after the second act, Rachel pulled him up from his seat, said "It's time to face the music, buster," and led him out to meet what Will now considered the two scariest gays on the face of the earth. He'd met them before, of course, at various competitions, but this was a whole new ballgame. He was soon to become her lover, and dads of all sexual inclinations are prone to be very suspicious of any man even halfway into their daughter's bra, let alone pants. When that man is their teenaged daughter's teacher and fourteen years her senior, gelding knives are sharpened and it's defcon 1. So, like Kipling's Light Brigade, Will Schuester bravely rode into the valley of death, at the end of which he found two handsome, smiling, tuxedoed men waiting for him in the opera house's lobby, ready to love whomever she loved. They embraced their daughter, marveled at her beauty, and warmly shook his hand. These were educated, cultured, and tasteful men who'd seen a ton of Bohèmes, and could and did offer detailed critiques of the evening's performance down to the last legato phrasing and orchestral blooper. They congratulated Will on his success with New Directions and its importance, and invited him to dinner the following Saturday. Will thanked them for the restaurant meal and wine, thanked them for giving the world Rachel, thanked them for the sun in the morning and the moon at night. He promised to love and obey Rachel as they did, and asked whether, living with her since birth as they had, their sense of amazement at her ever leveled off.

"No, not in the least. But we know how you feel," one replied, "our sweetheart can be overwhelming at times. But after a few early crises when, we were told at the time, you were hell bent on destroying her career, you've been a steadying influence in her life, and we both appreciated it. Well, there's the five-minute bell. It's time to get back to the cheap seats. Enjoy the rest of the opera. We'll see you back in Lima, Will." They shook his hand again, hugged and kissed Rachel, and headed for the stairs as seemingly carefree as can be, as though he were a harmless dorky nerd taking their daughter to the prom. Will wasn't sure whether to be relieved, flattered, or insulted. Thinking about what Rachel and he appeared set to do later, he decided to go with relieved.

"See? I told you they'd love you."

"I only hope I'll be at least half as good for you as they've been."

Rachel hugged him, and they returned to their seats for the last two acts. At the very end, when Rodolfo cried "Mimi, Mimi" under crashing cymbals at his recognition that his lover had died, it was Will's turn to shed a tear. Rachel saw it and kissed his cheek as the last orchestral chords floated away and the final curtain slowly fell.

They left the theater holding hands, with Will's jacket back around Rachel's shoulders, and stopped again at the fountain in the plaza.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"I loved it, I loved you, I loved your dads, I loved our day. O soave fanciulla, o dolce viso. It was one of the great days of my life, maybe the greatest." He held her against him with an arm around her waist, touched her cheek, and licked and kissed behind her ear.

"It's about to become even better, darling. Let's take a cab back to the hotel. You're making me extremely anxious to finally see you with your shirt off."