AN - This is unusual for me to update a single story twice in the same week but since I still have access to the internet on my mums net book and access to Microsoft word on my laptop as well as already managing to reach my usual amount of reviews for this story per chapter I have decided to give you all an early update.

Plus there is some Finchel in this chapter at last!


Chapter Four

It was finally the day of Vocal Adrenaline's performance for the New Direction's in the auditorium of McKinley high school – it was also a week exactly since they had witnessed New Direction's performances at the hospital.

Standing backstage, Rachel felt her stomach twist with nerves. She knew that whilst she was extremely talented and was sure to be the next Barbara Streisand and just as great as some of the other legends of her time there was the smallest chance that something could go wrong.

Jesse could distract her – although that was unlikely since the two of them had barely been speaking since Rachel had gotten angry with him in the changing room because of what he had done to her for the sake of their performances – or someone, a less talented member of their team could fall and completely ruin the dance routine of their second number.

The first number that would be performed was going to be a solo by Rachel. She had picked the song herself and practiced it religiously. She had performed it privately for their coach, wanting to surprise everyone else and Shelby had loved it so much that she had instantly decided that would be the opening number.

As Rachel continued to stand there nervously dressed in the female costume for their performances – a strapless and bold hot pink sequined mini dress with ruffles along with matching pink heels, a very daring outfit she had thought when she had seen it – she didn't hear her boyfriend approach her from behind with an arrogant smirk on his handsome face.

"Nervous about performing your solo, babe?" he asked her and Rachel jumped around. She glared when she saw him there looking smug and confident like he usually did.

"No, I am just anxiously waiting for us to start" Rachel replied smoothly.

"Rachel, don't lie to me. I know you too well. You are nervous but you shouldn't be. Those losers that are going to be watching us wouldn't know true talent if it hit them in their face. Hell, their leads are clearly too lazy and unorganised to actually get some practice in before hand. Both their performances last week and at sectionals were abysmal so don't be worried" Jesse told her firmly, putting one hand on the side of Rachel's face. She fought the urge to swipe it off. She was still angry at him but he didn't seem to get it.

"You are wrong, Jesse. Those guys were good. They had heart. Sure their dancing was off but their singing was amazing" Rachel snapped at him."And if you are not willing to see that then you are not going to help our team do well at Regional's, in fact you might be the reason we will lose"

"Sweetie, we haven't lost in years" he laughed at her before smirking at her."Besides if we lose it'll be on your head, Rachel. You're the one who's waltzed into our glee club and changed everything about Vocal Adrenaline insisting that we sing with more emotion and heart and inadvertently taking all the best things about us and making them into something else"

"I was improving our team. You even said so yourself that we needed to sing with more emotion and you even hurt me just so that I would put on a more 'emotional' performance" The brunette replied, looking at him angrily. Jesse raised an eyebrow at her.

"I believe I only ever mentioned that it was you that needed to sing with more emotion and I was right. You were more magnificent than usual at Tuesday's practice so I don't regret hurting your feelings a little bit to help you improve your talent. You will thank me for this someday" Her boyfriend told her coolly and Rachel felt her temper begin to flare.

She was well known for her diva tantrums but never before had she been tempted to pull one on her boyfriend but he was being so smug and arrogant towards her right now that she just couldn't help it.

"You know what Jesse? I really love you, I do but I can't deal with this anymore. I deserve better. I know my talent and I know that I am an excellent performer without your help, after all I have had years worth of training and quite a bit more than what you have had I believe so don't you try blaming our weaknesses on me. This is a team effort Jesse and I refuse to make this about me. It's all of us including you and until you can admit that I don't think that we should be in a relationship together anymore" Rachel told him simply and felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

As Jesse froze with a stunned expression on his face from Rachel's words, Shelby called her team together.

"Okay guys it's time to start. I just want you know that I'm proud of all the effort you guys have put into this all this week and I know you are going to be brilliant up there on that stage. Now good luck and Rachel go get into position" Shelby spoke to her group and then instructed her favourite student.

The petite diva nodded in affirmation before hastily and confidently striding onto the McKinley stage in the auditorium. Bright lights beamed down above her but it didn't take her too long to adjust to the lightening since she had gotten used to it from her own school's stage and the stages at the show choir competitions.

The brunette forced herself to smile as she looked over at her audience which included only the members of her rival show choir and their director.

"Hello, I'm Rachel Berry" The brunette began to introduce herself and her team."Vocal Adrenaline hope that you'll enjoy our performances today"

After finishing the introduction, the music for her choice of song for her solo began to play and she got into position ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.


In the audience, Finn Hudson had been sitting bored for the last few minutes as he and the others waited for Vocal Adrenaline to start. However as soon as his eyes landed on the petite girl that walked confidently onto the stage he quickly began to pay attention.

He assumed that the short girl with the endless legs (she was hot, he couldn't help himself from noticing) and the long dark hair was the lead singer, Rachel Berry. He listened to her voice eagerly as she began to introduce herself and her team.

The voice that came out of her small body was surprisingly strong but sweet. He had a feeling that she was going to be talented but nothing could have prepared him for what he actually heard when she began to sing.

"Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt you were never here My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer"

The emotion that filled the brunette girl's voice immediately touched something inside of Finn. It was like all of his life he had been waiting to hear the sound of her voice...as crazy as that probably seemed. It was like magic and it felt like it had created a fire inside of him. He couldn't tear his eyes off the beautiful girl or stop focusing on the power and passion of her unexpectedly powerful and emotional voice.

She was amazing.

She was most amazing thing that he had ever heard in his entire life and he could barely believe that something that talented came from a small town in Ohio. Seriously no wonder Vocal Adrenaline had won so many times over the years if they had this girl, Rachel Berry singing for them. She was stunning.

Finn listened to her sing as the song went on and he could hear the emotion in her voice become clearer and he noticed even from where he was sitting that tears had begun to fall from her eyes. It was clear that she was singing this song with someone in mind and was putting her whole heart into it.

"And I told you to be patient and I told you to be fine And I told you to be balanced and I told you to be kind Now all your love is wasted then who the hell was I? Cause now I'm breaking at the britches And at the end of all your lines

Who will love you? Who will fight? And who will fall far behind?

Come on Skinny love My, my, my, my, my my, my, my, my

As Rachel's song ended, the entire New Direction's team sat in a completely stunned silence. Her voice had blown them all away and the emotion behind it was clear. Mr Schuester had said that they had heart and that was Vocal Adrenaline's weakness.

Well it had become abundantly clear that they had improved on their weakness. They were amazing and Finn looked over at their director and saw that even he appeared to have been blown away by her voice.

"Okay she wasn't that good" He heard Santana mutter moodily under her breath.

"I'll admit she has talented but I could have sung that in my sleep" Mercedes added although her expression seemed to suggest other wise. She was shaken by Rachel's talent as well but she would never admit it just as Santana would never admit to it or else they would begin to get nervous and no one wanted that to happen. They needed to remain as positive as possible and that was the girls way of doing it.

"Thank you all for listening. Now let me introduce my team mates and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline" Rachel spoke softly into the microphone and Finn was still startled by the difference in her soft voice and her powerful singing voice. He would never have expected such a strong voice could come from such a tiny girl.

It was magic and Finn for some reason felt a sudden connection to this girl he had never even spoken to before. Her emotion and her voice had connected to something inside of him and he suddenly wanted to know her. He wanted to know who this girl was – well he obviously already knew that she was his rival, a fact that would also make his sudden attraction to her extremely difficult and complicated in so many ways – and what had made her become a member of vocal adrenaline.

As the rest of the team marched on like robots and she stood in the spotlight, Finn suddenly realized that she was different to the rest of them and he felt like he was proved right when he saw their emotionless faces and compared them to Rachel's beautiful and glowing face that was full of excitement and joy and passion at doing something that she clearly loved.

He wondered what she was doing with them when he knew for certain that someone like her belonged with New Directions although if he said that to any of his team mates they would probably punch him for being stupid. Deciding that thinking so much about the lead of his rival show choir probably wasn't a good idea Finn pushed his thoughts of Rachel Berry to the back of his mind and focused as the entire group began to break into a performance of Amy Winehouse's rehab and showed off their amazing dancing skills.

They were definitely way more talented than New Direction's in that area and Finn swore that he saw Mr Schuester swallow deeply. After their performance of Rehab ended, a new song began and a male with curly brown hair stepped forward with a creepy kind of smirk on his face before breaking out into ACDC's highway to hell.

As the male lead sung, Finn suddenly knew what Santana and Mercedes were feeling like – he felt threatened by the powerful and rough voice of the Vocal Adrenaline lead. Although the guy was wearing a really girlie hot pink shirt with his black pants he was still extremely talented and Finn suddenly felt very intimidated and well...not as talented as he was sure he was.

When the song finally finished the douche bag still had smirk on his face but now as well as creepy it was also smug and superior looking as if he knew how good he was exactly and it made Finn angry. He was just as good as that jerk clearly thought he was but he wouldn't be obnoxious about it as he seemed to be.

"Thanks for listening to us. Now you can all go home and bask in the grim chances of you beating us at Regional's. Don't worry; it's not your fault that you just can't measure up to us in talent" The curly haired douche grinned into the microphone resulting in a glare from his coach from backstage.

"And by the way in case you were wondering I'm Jesse St James the star of this team that's going to take you down at Regional's but don't worry I'm graduating this year so maybe next time you will have a small chance of winning"

After that final speech the entire team walked off the stage to meet their director leaving New Direction's in silence in the auditorium.

"Well that was definitely something" was all that their teacher could say when they had disappeared.


When Finn got home that evening he was surprised to find Kurt sitting in the living room of their home. He hadn't seen much of his step-brother lately and Finn was kind of starting to miss him despite the fact that they didn't seem to get along that much these days or talk that much anymore.

He knew that something had been going on with his brother but hadn't wanted to prey especially since he had been so angry with him the last time they had spoken but now he decided that he should take the opportunity to find out what was going on...except before he could speak, Kurt spoke first, surprising him.

"I know you are probably wondering why I've been avoiding everyone lately" he said and Finn didn't bother denying it.

"I'm worried about you Kurt and so is everyone at glee. We want to know why you haven't been coming" he informed him joining him on the sofa.

"I'm moving schools, Finn" Kurt said shocking his brother. Finn looked at him with a mixture of shock and anger.

"You're moving schools? Why? Is this all because you couldn't get a solo because it is then I think you are being ridiculously over dramatic about this"

"No it's not about the stupid solos although I have to admit it will be nice to be able to get a chance of getting one at my new school" Kurt snapped with annoyance before deflating."I'm moving because I am so sick of the bullying and being treated like filth because I am the way I am. I'm moving so that I can have a fresh start somewhere in a place that someone will actually be able to understand me and people will respect me"

"Is this because of Karosky and the football team?" Finn asked sadly, knowing how badly the idiots on his team treated his brother daily but he had never been able to put a stop to it permanently.

"I'm sorry that they've made you feel this way, Kurt" his told his brother when Kurt nodded in reply to his previous question.

"I am going to miss all of you guys at glee but I need to do this before they make my life even worst than it is. I need to go so that I can feel safe and so that I can be happy. I'm sorry for lashing out at Mr Schue, that was wrong of me and I plan to apologise before I leave but I really have to go. Karosky is getting worst and it's scaring me" Kurt confessed to the bigger boy sadly.

"So where do you plan to transfer to? Please don't tell me Carmel because we have enough competition as it is with them" Finn told him with a smile and also trying not to think of the brunette singer when he brought up Vocal Adrenaline. Kurt gave Finn a small smile in reply before shaking his head.

"No I'm going to be going to an all boys boarding school nearby. I don't know if you've heard of it" he informed Finn who looked at him confused.

"I wasn't aware there was a boarding school for boys nearby. What it called?" he asked him and Kurt grinned at him.

"It's called Dalton and it also has a show choir there. I'm going to be the newest member of the Dalton Warblers"


Meanwhile Rachel was elated after her solo performance. The rest of her team mates had congratulated her and told her how amazing she was – although it was hardly necessary to inform her of what she already knew. She knew that she had been incredible and it was just further prove that Rachel Barbara Berry was destined for Broadway.

However there was only one person that had criticism and not surprisingly that was Jesse, her now ex-boyfriend who was apparently not at all happy about their break up.

"Rachel, I know that this past week has been confusing for you but I hardly think that we should break up. You are being a bit melodramatic not to mention you are only hurting yourself. It was obvious you are hurting over me because of your solo which while emotional was hardly your best performance" he had ranted to her as she followed the rest of their team and coach out of McKinley. She stopped in her tracks and turned to give him a pitying look.

"Jesse, I love you but you are never going to get it are you? That's why we can't be together because you just don't seem to understand a thing about me and a future star of my calibre simply cannot allow a boyfriend to treat her so badly especially not when it's inevitable that someday I am going to a role model for all the future generations to come" Rachel sighed and he looked at her with frustration.

"Have you always got to put yourself first? Why can't you understand my feelings?" he demanded looking hurt and Rachel came to a realisation right then and there.

Whilst Jesse and Rachel should have been compatible in every way they just didn't work on the same wave length and maybe on paper they were very similar creatures but somehow they seemed so different when it actually came down to their relationship. Jesse didn't seem to get that now like Rachel did but she knew someday he would thank her for this.

"Jesse, we keep hurting each other. Let's just end it now whilst we can still be friends" the brunette said softly but Jesse merely glared at her before storming off. Sighing Rachel got into her car and began driving away from McKinley.

As she drove home she thought about what her life would have been like if she'd gone to McKinley and not Carmel. It probably would not have been filled with so much Jesse drama or boy drama unless it was with some other guy. When the brunette pulled up outside of her house she noticed with surprise that her show choir director's car was parked right outside.

Frowning, Rachel wondered what it was that she wanted. She got out of her vehicle before walking into her house. When she stepped into the living room she was surprised to see Shelby sitting on the coach in between both of her fathers. Shelby and Hiram both looked a little teary eyed whilst although Leroy seemed more composed than the two of them even he looked a little emotional.

"Director Corcoran what are you doing here? Dad, daddy what's going on?" Rachel asked with concern as she sat down on one of the loveseats.

"Rachel baby we invited Miss Corcoran to join us for this" Hiram said softly and Rachel looked confused.

"Why would you invite my show choir director over?" she inquired. It did seem a little random and weird to her that they'd invite her director over for no reason.

"Because there is something important that we think you should know and no matter what you have said in the past we know this is important to you and it's unfair for us to allow you keep protecting us from this" Leroy explained to her before glancing at Shelby."Shelby would you like to tell her?"

"Rachel" the older brunette woman sighed and glanced at Rachel wearily."I'm your mother"

Suddenly the entire room began spinning as everything began clicking into place for Rachel. All of the weird glances, the apparent favouritism and Shelby saving her a seat next to her at every performance they went to, it all added up. Shelby was her birth mother. Rachel sat frozen completely stunned by the news she'd just received.