It took me a little too long to write this chapter. I just wasn't really happy with it and continuously changed things around.

Still, hope that you enjoy reading it

Out of habit, Rachel woke early the next morning, around 7am, and managed to have a cold shower before the task of finding the right clothes dawned upon her. It was her first official day of work in over a year and, naturally, she was determined to set the right example and to hopefully avoid any further encounters with that horrible woman Hilda. She felt the need to be impressive, to impress Finn. After all, he was the one who'd hired her, despite her having a lack of qualifications and she really needed to prove that his generosity wasn't a stupid idea that would cause him endless trouble.

At around eight, she dropped off the promised brownies at Noah's apartment and then headed to work. She couldn't deny that she was thrilled to be back at work, even if it was a trivial day job and not singing her heart out on the Broadway stage like she'd always dreamed. Maybe this is what she needed to get herself back up on her feet, the beginning of her come back to…well, everything.

The day was beautiful, only increasing her cheery mood and, as she took the lift up to the eight floor of the building, the smile showed no sign of growing smaller. "Someone's happy," a woman said next to her, "good day?"

Rachel looked toward her, still grinning, and soaked in the woman's appearance. Her skin looked dark and soft, highlighting her own wide, bright smile which was bared cheekily at Rachel. The sense that the woman gave off was one of ease and happiness, making her feel quickly relaxed, "wonderful actually."

"Must be some guy to make you look that pleased," she smirked.

Rachel faltered, blushing, "oh, well…it's not like that. He's just a friend. Someone who's helped me out a lot. I made him some brownies to say thank you. I don't mean to brag or anything but my brownies are excellent." She realised that her words had been extremely rushed and cleared her throat nervously. Why hadn't she just said no?

The woman just smiled, "damn, for such a small girl you sure do talk a lot, and quickly too." There was a moment of silence before she said, "I'm Mercedes."

"Rachel," she smiled, "Rachel Berry. I'm new here."

"I know. I saw you leaving Fi- Mr Husdon's office yesterday. Enjoy your tour, did you?" the way that it had been said made Rachel wonder whether there was anything implied by it.

"Why yes," she nodded, "his office is very nice. A great view." The lift doors opened slowly and they stepped out at the same time into the spacious series of offices. There must have been over a hundred people working in that particular floor, some actually working whilst other gathered around a desk discussing things in hushed voices. Rachel noticed Mercedes waved at a small group in the far corner. It consisted of an Asian woman, with dark blue streaks in her dark hair, wearing a long black dress that stopped just above a pair of boots. Her arm was wrapped around a man's shoulder who, like her, looked Asian. His tight shirt highlighted his well-toned body and his own dark hair had been spiked up in small spikes. The blonde beside them was laughing, but the slightly confused expression between the laughs implied that she didn't exactly know what she was laughing about. She leant so that her face was next to the man who was sitting down, the one who was also staring straight at her. His face was hidden by a pair of large glasses and the light brown fringe sweeping across his forehead. He wore a shirt similar to the other man's, but it was baggier on his body and tucked into his trousers.

They all waved back at Mercedes, huge smiles on all of their faces, mirroring hers. Rachel felt them looking at her and immediately turned her head to face straight ahead.

"So what job have you got?"

She focused on Mercedes once more, "I'm Finn's receptionist."

"Finn?" the woman smirked.

"Oh," she frowned, "I mean Mr Hudson. "

"Uh huh, sure you do," she said in reply. Rachel felt her cheeks redden slightly and turned her face to hide it from the woman. They had now reached just outside Finn's office and Rachel lifted her hand up slowly to knock on the door when Mercedes said, "You don't need to hide anything from me Rachel."

She glanced at her, feeling herself smiling, "I don't?"

With a smile equally as big, Mercedes told her with an assured tone, "nope. I'd find out anyway. Gossip is my thing."

Slightly confused, Rachel asked, "What gossip are you talking about?"

She wasn't given an answer, instead a knowing smile. "You can sit with us at lunch break if you like. Have fun." Mercedes grinned and headed off to her friends, leaving Rachel frowning to herself. After what felt like forever, she finally tapped the door slightly three times and entered when she heard the familiar voice of Finn shout, "come in!" He was on the phone as she closed the door behind her, so she tried to be as quiet as possible. Finn greeted her with a smile and held up a finger to signal that he would only be a minute which meant that she had to wait there awkwardly to wait for him to finish. She felt the tub of brownies loosely in her fingers and tightened her grip on it.

"…yeah, yeah. I'll call you back," Finn eventually said, lifting his head up to smile at her, "hey Rach."

"Hi," she replied, confidently taking the steps towards his desk and holding out the tub for him, "I baked you some brownies. Vegan brownies so you can be safe in the knowledge that no animals were harmed." Her brilliant smile shocked him.

At first, he seemed slightly taken aback by the sudden presence of the chocolate treats, but he eagerly accepted the present, "you didn't have to go through all this trouble."

"I wanted to make it up to you." More like needed to.

"Well, thanks," he said warmly, opening up the tub and taking in a deep breathe, "they smell great." This made Rachel practically beam with happiness and more so when he took the first bite, exclaiming that they were "awesome". Still with a huge chunk of it in his mouth, he began explaining the day's tasks. "…and then I need you to post all of these letters and to give each of the staff a copy of this memo." He held out the piece of paper for her. "And that should be it. Oh, lunch is at one for an hour," he smiled, "have a good day. Your brownies are probably the best I've had by the way, but don't let my mum hear me say that."

She laughed and gave him a mock salute, "you have my word." Carrying the paperwork she'd been handed, which was hard with her petite form, she made it to her desk (just outside Finn's office) and set them up neatly. Naturally, things always had to be organised but lately she hadn't cared as much and she found it nice to return to old habits. Happy with the desk, she took a seat in the comfortable padded chair and turned on the computer. On the screen, she noticed that a note had been left for her. 'Good luck on your first day Rach. Ps- I take my coffee with one sugar.' Once she had made and delivered his coffee, finding him in a business meeting, she set to work quickly. Her typing was a bit rusty but she soon got the hang of it again.

Before she realised, it was the lunch break and she found herself standing reluctantly in the canteen area. For her, it felt like High School all over again, wondering where she could sit without being noticed or getting in anyone's way. Whilst scanning the room, she noticed Mercedes waving over at her and gave a sigh of relief, remembering that she'd been invited to sit with her for lunch.

"Guys," she announced when Rachel had reached the table, "this is the girl I was telling you about. Finn's new receptionist. Her name is Rachel and it's her first day so you better make her feel welcome." Rachel noticed that Mercedes had called him Finn rather than Mr Hudson and the reaction that she'd gained for doing the same thing only this morning.

"Hi," she put on her best smile, taking a seat between the man with glasses and Mercedes. Casually glancing to her side, she saw that he wasn't in a seat, but a wheelchair. She was about to ask him about it when Mercedes began to introduce the others.

"So Rachel, time for introductions! You obviously know who I am, but this is Tina and Mike," she pointed to the two Asians who were presumably a couple as their hands were tightly locked together. "That's Brittany," she gestured toward the blonde, who in return gave an absent smile, "and that's Artie." The man gave a tiny wave towards her, clearly a bit more nervous that all the others.

She tried to be as friendly as possible, "it's nice to meet you all. I was worried that I'd be eating alone today."

"No one eats alone here," Artie told her, "even the losers have friends."

"What do you mean?" Rachel frowned.

There was a pause, one which consisted on the smiles decreasing and more serious faces appearing. Tina spoke up in a high, sweet voice, "well, everyone fits in some group. Like, there are the 'popular' people who eat over there." She pointed to series of tables by the windows, "and then there are workaholics, who choose to eat in the office so that they can get more done."

"Don't forget the slackers," Mike chimed in, leaning closer slightly.

"I was getting to that!" she said, "like he said, the slackers are another big group. They like to stay furthest away from the door, so that it takes them longer to get back to work. Over there are the Asians. They keep themselves to themselves and that's it."

Mike looked down, "I wanted to be in that group."

"Mike!" Tina nudges him quickly.

"Sorry," he mumbled back.

Artie began again. "It's just like back in-"

"High school," Rachel finished off.

"And then there's us," Mercedes took charge, smiling widely again," we work, but not to the extreme and have fun whilst we're doing it."

"Are you the only four?" Rachel asked, looking around the canteen further.

They were quick to defend their group. "We're better off like this. Occasionally, we'll have more, but they either get downgraded or upgraded. Like that Jacob guy, he left us for the computer geeks, who you will find over there, looking at pictures of naked robots on their computers." She peered around to look, squinting her eyes at the very familiar face.

"Jacob Ben Israel!" she gasped loudly, realising that he was turning to see where it came from. Frozen to the spot, she knew that he'd seen her and panicked when he smiled, getting up. "I've…erm, gotta go. Thanks. Bye!" She grabbed her things and dashed from the room, hearing him call after her. Back in the office, she hid behind a large screen in hope that he wouldn't be able to see her. "Not here, not now," she whispered to herself, or more prayed.

She heard footsteps going past. "Rachel, where are you?" His voice was just as she remembered, still maintaining the shaky quality that she'd always found creepy. Rachel didn't want to deal with him here, not after so many years of him during High school. It just wasn't fair at all. Her breathe was slow and quiet, but he could still hear. "There you are!"

Now, he could be seen even more clearly that before: his large, uncontrollable head of hair was worse than ever; his beady eyes stuck on her body; the glasses were still strange and creepy and he leered at her for over a minute before she said, rather angrily, "what do you want Jacob?"

"I missed you Rachel."

Hearing this, a shiver ran down her spine. "Ju-"

"I moved after you left, to a place near Julliard. I couldn't bear the thought of being far away from you and even when you moved back home, I followed. After that terrible accident with your dads, I thought that I could help you out, but you were gone again. You ran to New York. I didn't realise until you were gone and I came after you, looked everywhere but you'd vanished. Even my inner city ties couldn't help me to locate you. So I stopped searching, and now you've walked right back into my life. Coincidence or fate?"

"More like extremely unlucky," she sneered, moving to leave, "now get away from me or I swear I'll call the cops.

"What have I done?"

Shaking her head, she ignored him and began to walk away. How dare he ask such a question, when he fully well knew what he'd done to her, ruining her whole time in High School? She was absolutely fuming, wanting to scream and shout but also, she was upset. She didn't just dislike him, she hated him and he was the only person who she could truthfully say that to.

His footsteps could be heard behind her, though almost instantly they stopped. She couldn't help herself: she had to see why. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jacob looking far right, the look of panic now on his face as he stared at Finn, who didn't look too happy. Rachel let her whole body spin now, unsure of what was the right thing to say. Finn was now glancing at Jacob like you would a child, a stern glare on the man's face. Though it was unfamiliar to her, Jacob's terrified squeal was something she recognised from his run-ins with Coach Sylvester in High School. Without another word, he'd scurried off back to the canteen, leaving Rachel to give a sigh of relief.

It probably didn't look to good, what with her on the verge of tears and Jacob having ran without an explanation. "Is everything okay?" Finn asked, giving a rather strange glance her way.

"It's nothing…I'm fine," she replied quickly, not able to look him in the eye.

It was quiet, very quiet.

She felt his hand rest softly on her back. "You're shaking," he almost whispered.

"That's because it's cold in here."

"Rach," Finn said knowingly. Although he couldn't see, she shook her head slowly and hugged herself tightly, her fingers cold and tense.

"Who was that man?" he questioned her, as though she was a fragile child.

Rachel shrugged, finally turning to face Finn who stared back at her with an intense look. She didn't want it to be this way, people feeling that they needed to protect her when she could do everything herself. Ever since she was younger, she hadn't liked depending on people for things, no matter how small. The only person who she admitted to doing so with was Puck, as he was basically family to her and she could trust him with almost anything. She didn't want Finn to think that she was incapable of looking after herself, though suspected that he thought so already. "He was just someone I knew from High School. We never really saw eye to eye," she told him, hoping that it would be enough to keep him happy. If only Finn knew of how far Jacob could go…

She felt his hand slide from her back, the movement causing a light tingling on her skin, "makes you glad that it's all over, huh?"

"Life is exactly like High school though," she told him, muttering more to herself, "just without the slushies'."

"The what?"

When she focused on his face, it was one of half amusement and half confusion. "A slushy," she explained, "the popular kids would usually drench their victim in it. I had more than my fair share."

Finn winced, "that's horrible." Deep down, he knew that it was no better than what he did to "losers" back then.

"So are the people throwing them," Rachel was quick to reply. He eyes met his, gazing into them for a little too long, "I'm sorry, you have work to do. I should really get back to the canteen, I'm really hungry."

"Oh," he frowned, "it'll be closing around now." She inwardly sighed, knowing that it was all Jacob's fault. Thankfully, Finn was there to her aid again, "but I still have some brownies left, if you want some? I mean, you did make them yourself, so you may as well enjoy 'em, right?"

Despite her prior bad feelings, she smiled toward Finn, "Yeah, you're right." She followed him back into his office, where it was much messier than when she'd left it this morning.

As she shared this with Finn, he smiled nervously, "I was busy with work. I didn't have time for cleaning."

She shook her head. "There's always time for cleaning," she eagerly replied, her smile increasing.

"You're weird," he laughed. At first, she'd thought that he'd meant it in a malicious way and had turned away from him, but soon understood that it was just him teasing her. Reaching his desk, he picks up the box, only with a few brownies left in, and hands it to her, "I'm afraid that there isn't many left, but it's your fault for making them taste so nice!"

Laughing, she took a bite of one, "I'm glad that you enjoyed them. My friend Noah says that my brownies are the best in the world."

"Noah?" Finn scrunched up his face.

"Yeah," she smiled, "but he likes people to call him Puck. I insist on using his real name though. I think that Noah's nice. "She noticed that Finn's smile faltered though was quickly hid. Taking another bite into the brownie, she cherished the rich taste, knowing that it was one of the largest "meals" she'd eaten in days. "You were right," she told Finn, "these are good."

"Too bad you didn't make anymore," Finn said.

With a sly smile, she replied, "maybe I'll make more one day…if I feel like it." As she laughed along with him, her eyes drifted along to wall to settle on his clock, which now read 2pm, "don't you need to get back to work now?"

"I could say the same for you," he said softly, "but before you go…" She watched as he opened the top drawer, routing through a pile of papers and equipment to finally pull out a large, overstuffed envelope. She felt her heart stop: he'd actually got her the money. As they exchanged the crinkled envelope, their fingers brushed, sending a shock of energy through her entire body.

"Thank you," she said in disbelief, "you don't know how much this means to me… I can't be grateful enough."

"No, just…forget about it," he had suddenly become shy. Rachel hesitated before catching Finn's large frame in a tight hug, her head only reaching his chest. She could feel Finn awkwardly standing, his whole body tensed, and pulled away.

She managed to make herself look at his shocked face, "I'm sorry. I just…" As she thought about it, she realised that she had no reason to justify. All she could say was that it felt right and that sounded a little strange. Though he didn't say anything, he stood completely still, his hands placed stiffly in front of his trousers. Embarrassed, she turned to walk away, almost colliding with smartly dressed man who seemed to have appeared from nowhere. His hair was neatly combed to one side, his skin smooth and perfect, and his clothes definitely designer.

"Finn," he began, not really acknowledging that she was there, "we have to go. Get your wallet and hurry up. The store closes at three."

Rachel took this as her cue to leave, giving him a final glance over her shoulder. "Miss Berry," she heard him call. When she turned, he smiled, "have a good night."

Noticing Kurt giving Finn an impatient glare, she kept it quick, "you too sir."

Once out of the room, she returned back to her desk, where there wasn't much work to do at all. She could spot Jacob in the far corner and avoided looking at him for the rest of the day, though it couldn't make her feel better about having to be in the same room as him. Still hungry from the lack of any real food, the next few hours felt like days to her. She was more than glad when she could go home, enjoying the cool evening air on her skin. Rachel couldn't wait to get home, but first she had a little detour to take.

She arrived at her landlord's door not much later, freezing her butt off in the cold street. Warmth radiated from inside when he opened the door and she could see him sigh, "look, I told you. You can't have an extension on the rent…"

He was about to go on when she thrust the envelope into his face.

"What's this?" he frowned.

The proud smile was glued on her face, "the money. Every last bit of it." He took the envelope cautiously, looking as though he didn't believe her. What was she going to do? Put monopoly money in instead? He took out the large wad of money, quickly counting through all of it. Rachel couldn't remember ever seeing so much money at once and the sight made her feel happy but also guilty. She knew that she was going to have to pay Finn back for every dollar she'd borrowed.

Her landlord glanced up at her, "there's two hundred too much."

"What?" she pulled a confused face. She'd told Finn the right number, hadn't she?

Still, she felt two hundred dollars being thrust back into her hand. The door was closed in her face without as much as thanks. Her head was spinning as she walked back home, the money feeling heavy in her jacket pocket as she tried to think of any reasons why he'd put too much in. She must have said the wrong number to him: that is the only possible explanation.

She was positive that she'd got it right.

Maybe, though it was unlikely, he'd put it in there intentionally.

But why?

It didn't make any sense.

Finn was a nice guy, but he didn't have any reasons to do it. She truly didn't understand him.

When it began to rain, she sighed, "great…just great." Her coat was only thin and she protected the money by keeping her pocket covered at all times, meaning that her head was allowed to become absolutely soaked. Now cold and wet, she walked a little faster to her apartment.

"You look like you need some assistance," she heard behind her. At first, she'd hope that it would be Finn, as he always seemed to miraculously appear whenever she needed him, like a superhero or something, but instead she found Noah appearing beside her.

"Not from you," she said. He smiled, pulled off his leather jacket and placing it over both of their heads. Rachel was more than grateful. She remembered that she owed him some money and managed to pull it from her pocket, waving it in front of his face, "for you."

He took it from her, "oh thanks. Ten dollars."

She nudged his side, "hey, that's a lot for some people."

"Not for me," he said, nevertheless pocketing it in his damp jeans. "You off home?"

"Yeah," she replied casually."

Noah nodded, "good. I'm coming too."

"What?" she asked, "you can't just invite yourself into my apartment."

With a cheeky grin, he said, "I just did. My roommate's got a date over tonight and he wants me out of the way." Though she didn't exactly feel glad about it, she couldn't exactly turn him away and, like her fathers had always taught her, accepted him graciously into the apartment. He'd been many times before, normally only when he was waiting for her or dropping something off.

Before she'd had the chance to sit down, he lay fully across the sofa, stretching out his legs and arms, "Mmmm, I'm in the mood for a nap."

"Not here," she swatted at his legs so that she could sit down herself. He threw a cushion at her, in the process knocking her coat off the end of the sofa. "Well done," she said sarcastically.

"I'll get it," he told her, leaning over her body to reach for it.

She sighed, rolling her eyes, "get off me."

"Oh, you know that you love it," he flashed a smile. Leaning back, he refolded her coat, not before nosily looking through the pockets. "Have you got any more of those brownies in here?" he asked, licking his lips.

"No, I- Noah, give that to me now!" she panicked when his hand was suddenly bulging with the money. A little shocked by her rather loud outburst, he passed it to her, but still glared suspiciously. "I didn't steal it, if that's what you think, "Rachel told him, finding her purse and stuffing it inside.

He raised an eyebrow, "oh?"

She sighed, "you know that I have a new job."

"Yes, and a boss that you like to bake for," he teased.

"Well," Rachel carried on, ignoring his jests, "he gave me my pay early, so that I could pay my landlord back but he gave me too much money. So, I'll be giving him this back tomorrow morning."

"You've known this guy for what? A few days? And he's already giving you money. He must really like you," Noah commented, trying to get comfortable on the sofa once more.

She shook her head, "no, Finn's just being a gentleman, unlike you."

"Hey, baby, I've saved your arse more times than I can remember."

"Likewise," she said dryly, "who helped you out when that guy wanted to beat you up for sleeping with his girlfriend? Oh yeah, me."

Without even bother to reply, he just began to laugh heartily at the memory and then turned to Rachel, "that was fun. And she was very hot." Just to clarify, he let out a long, low whistle.

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I'm pretty sure that there isn't one girl who you haven't slept with in this city."

"I haven't slept with you," he faced her, suddenly smirking and said "want to help me complete my record?"

"No thank you. I know that we've kissed in the past but now it would be really weird. Don't you think?" she asked him, "wouldn't it feel like you were kissing your sister or something?"

"Oh, thanks for ruining it for me," he threw his hands up in the air, "now I can never think of you as hot again."

She placed her hand on his, "Noah, that's a good thing."

He decided to change the subject, "so…what do you want to do? Apparently I'm not allowed back until eleven."

"We could do anything," she suggested, instantly regretting it when he smirked at her, "but that."

"I want to hear more about this boss of yours," Noah suddenly perked up, looking her straight in the eyes, "Finn, was it?"

She smiled, "yeah."

Noah grinned, leaning closer to her face. "You like him."

"He's a very nice person," she agreed.

"No, like as in, fuck worthy like," he explained.

"You're disgusting."

"And you," he pointed, "are a terrible liar."

"I can lie. I'm an actress Noah," she frowned at him, "I would like to talk about something else."

He now moved away from her, a smug smile appearing on his lips, "that's it princess. Avoid the truth."

Rachel knew that he'd just meant it in a joking way and it wasn't to be taken serious, as were most of the things that he came out with, but it still make her stop and think. Why was she constantly being reminded that she ran away, doing anything possible to ignore the obvious? She liked Finn, though she didn't fancy him. Noah was clearly just teasing her on that. It was hard not to like Finn: he was sweet; liked her baking and willing to help her with a lot of things. And, honestly, he wasn't that bad looking either. He was different to the other kinds of guys she'd been with, mainly as he fit the description of 'good guy' whereas many of her previous boyfriends had fallen short at that point. She didn't have any deeper feelings though. After all, she only known the guy for what, three or four days?

"You okay Berry?"

She didn't hear it at first due to thinking, but when she did answer, she did so quietly, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"That's girl talk for no," he pointed out.

"How would you know what girl talk for anything is?" she raised her eyebrow, a smile teasing her lips.

"When you're me and around the ladies all the time, you can't help but pick a few things," he shrugged casually, causing Rachel to roll her eyes. Sighing, she tied back her wet hair and pulled her knees to her chest. Noah smiled when she looked his way, "we should watch a movie, or is your electricity still being weird?"

She liked his suggestion, "it'll last a few hours. Ooh we should watch Funny girl!"

"God no! Something with explosions, guns and naked chicks," he grinned.

"Noah! Please, be sensible and realise that those sorts of films are solely for your interest. Maybe we could compromise?" she questioned, peering across at him. At first, he scrunched up his face at the idea before sighing, showing his defeat.

"I want to watch a zombie film," he insisted.

Thankfully, she didn't own any films like that, "I have pirate films."

"How do pirates and zombies relate to each other?" he pulled a face at her.

"They both smell bad," she replied.

"Fair point. We'll watch one of those then," he said, reaching over to turn off her lamp, "it's cold in here."

Rachel sighed loudly at his complaining, before finding a blanket in her bedroom. When she returned to the room, he was sprawled across the sofa again, the film already starting and then he had the nerve to shout at her for taking up too much room. In the end, she lay down next to him, finding that her petite physique fit perfectly. The blanket covering the both of them, she smiled at him before returning to the film. She thought of her relationship with Noah and how it may seem strange to others. She considered them to be closer, best friends almost, but he'd never say so to anyone but her and still, all the feelings were platonic. When had they become like this? She didn't remember. At one point, they'd almost gone all the way, but thankfully hadn't. Otherwise, it would be awkward between the two and they both knew it.

People often thought that they were an item, something that didn't really bother them too much, but normally she'd lie and say that he's her brother because that would explain how comfortable they were around each other. In this modern world, a man and woman couldn't be close without something going on, or so everybody seemed to think so. She loved Noah, just not that way.

As the thoughts ran through her mind, so did Finn. She felt rather guilty about the money now, wishing that she could return it all tomorrow morning rather than a quarter of it, but she knew that she'd be out of the streets otherwise. She remembered hugging him. Although it had been a spare of the moment choice, and slightly uncomfortable, she'd enjoyed it more than she have, which was worrying. She didn't want to fall for another guy who could potentially break her heart.

But she was afraid that she might be doing so already.

Please review. I love to hear what you think.