Next chapter is here! And I've got some Tree Climb for you guys!

Thanks as usual to my lovely reviewers. I know I say this very chapter but you guys deserve t. Also thanks to those who favourite this story or alert it. It means alot to me that people enjoy this, so please dont hesitate to state your opinion! Enjoy

Rachel immediately rushed to her boyfriend, placing two reassuring hands on his shoulder to calm him.

"Finn, it's going to be okay alright? Look at all those harnesses! It's safe, you won't fall!"

Finn still has his eyes fixated on the branches above, trembling at the enormity of the task. Lauren was on the other side of the group, expressing her fear much louder, whimpering and shaking while practically all of Vocal Adrenaline tried to help her. Finn was more content to suffer in silence, gulping every few seconds and refusing to blink.

"Rachel…it's so high," he quietly stated. "I don't think I can climb that!"

"Yes you can!" Rachel once again reassured him. "Look I can't climb either, but let us both give it a shot! I know it's hard but we can both try to do it! I know you don't want to sit out Finn, you tackle every challenge you can. This doesn't have to be an exception!"

Finn finally ripped his eyes away from the pine and down to Rachel's beautiful sparkling brown eyes. "Will you climb with me? I think that's the only way I'll be able to do this Rach."

Rachel smiled, raising her hand to softly tap Finn's cheek. "Sure."

It was at that exact moment Handlan decided to stroll towards them which forced Rachel's hand to drop. He had noticed Finn cringing and his reluctance, so decided to leave Donnell and Sandra to try and handle Lauren.

"You afraid of heights boy?" Handlan asked.

Finn nervously nodded towards the leader, who nodded in return.

"Well that's okay. You are allowed to sit out if you wish. We don't force you to do these types of activities if you feel uncomfortable. Well at least when you're not when you're doing military training."

Finn looked towards Rachel, who comfortably smiled at him. "No," he replied. "I'll do it."

Handlan smiled. "Good boy".

"Don't worry sir I'll make sure he's ok!" Rachel excitedly exclaimed.

However Handlan just shook his head. "Oh no, I'm sorry but that I cannot allow."

Finn began to once again panic, and Rachel was outraged. "What! Why?" Not only did she want to be there for Finn, but Rachel was already tired of being separated. Plus Finn would also calm her as she wasn't exactly skilled in climbing.

"This is still about your team and Vocal Adrenaline. While climbing you guys will be put in an order and connected to each other. So members from each team will not be next to each other. We are going to alternate you."

Matt had his back towards Handlan, but still heard what he said. "Excuse me?"

Handlan sighed, and took a few small steps backward to stand in the centre of the huddle.

"Alright guys listen up!" Everyone's attention was now focused towards him, except for Lauren who was being led away by Sandra. She obviously was not going to participate. "See these harnesses here? Well as some of you have already noticed, there is a rope that joins and connects with the harnesses beside it. So basically what we have lying there is one huge line of connected harnesses."

The students were all confused and perplexed as to why the harnesses were like that. Handlan quickly answered that question for them.

"This means if someone falls or misses a branch, the harness in fact relies on the person in front of it to hold it in place."

The students gasped, horrified at what the leaders were asking them to do.

"What the hell is going to happen when no one can hold on and we all fall?" Marion aggressively asked.

"Well firstly," Donnell answered, "Over four years only three people have ever fallen. You can be quite confident you won't be the forth as those three falls came from Sumo Wrestlers with dendrophobia."

"Dendrophobia?" Finn asked Rachel.

"Fear of tree's," she quickly responded.

"Rachel, how the hell do you know that?"

"Well when I found out my second cousin had a fear of toilet paper I decided to look up other irregular and strange phobias in between dance lessons."

"Wait, why does your second cousin fear toilet paper?"

"I decided to never ask."

Meanwhile, Donnell had continued his explanation. "And secondly, the leaders will be climbing with you. Trust me, we can hold our position if someone, or many people lose their balance. But you girls have a bunch of strong handsome young men here! So why are you worrying?" Donnell joked.

The students began murmuring amongst themselves, however Handlan still had contributions.

"So as I was saying, it's a line of people climbing the trees, and you will be placed alternatively. A Vocal Adrenaline member, then a New Directions member and so forth. And don't even ask why because you are smart enough to know the answer".

Rachel then watched as Finn began to violently cringe, panicking and flinching at the harnesses in front of him. His breaths came in short puffs, eyes wide in fear contemplating whether he could go forth.

"Finn…" Rachel began, but Handlan had made his way back over.

"Now listen Finn. If you still want to proceed I would be happy for you to go behind me. I'll be leading everyone so that way I'll be able to help you climb and such. Otherwise you just have to be between two Vocal Adrenaline members. They are the only options I can give you."

Once again, Finn lifted his heads towards the towering trunks, this time closing his eyes. It was simple. He did not want to quit. In a way he had felt connected to the camp since his dad was in the army. Finn really wanted to make him proud, as well as himself. Plus he did not want to cower in front of Rachel. He wanted to show her he was strong, and could push through any challenges that were thrown at him. So, confidently, inhaling deeply as he opened his eyes, Finn replied.

"I'll follow you."

He looked towards his girlfriend, who eagerly smiled in return. Handlan mirrored the expression, proudly nodding. "Alright then."

Handlan then walked away from the couple, who had wrapped their arms around each other while the leaders were occupied. Handlan had collected a clipboard from Donnell, updating the list for a final time before handing it back to his superior.

"Listen up!" Donnell shouted. "This is the order so I want you to line up as your name is called out! Private Handlan… Finn… Katherine… Mercedes… Declan… Alex… Santana… Julie… Kurt… Broady… Tina…Andrea…Private Wyatt… Daniel… Matt… Marion… Brittany… Liam… Quinn… Nikita… Mike… Jesse… Rachel and finally Private Sandra".

Finn rolled his eyes, and Rachel gasped. They had NOT put her behind Jesse. Nope...they had…and Rachel couldn't believe her luck. That meant she had to put her life and trust in the hands of the boy who had crushed and ripped her heart into tiny little pieces. Fan fricking tastic.

Artie of course was not present, probably preparing for a jam session, and Lauren was most likely still wiping her eyes in the kitchen sink.

Looking towards Jesse St. James, Rachel noticed him smiling crookedly in return, eyes dancing at some sort of victory. Rachel just couldn't take it.

"Umm excuse me?" She asked Donnell quietly after storming to his side. "Could you please put me somewhere else? I don't think it would be beneficial to place me at the back like so. It fact it would be opposite!"

Donnell however just shook his head. "You climbing in the order we put you in, no questions. Now get in line".

Rachel stared accusingly at the man, but realized she wouldn't convince him. So she grunted in annoyance, sucking in as much air as possible to stop the Rachel Berry express from bursting. Without a word, and after quickly grasping at Finn's hand, she stepped to the end of the line, sighing in frustration as Jesse pulled in front of her.

"Well this is going to be fun!" Jesse exclaimed as he picked up his harness.

Rachel merely closed her eyes and shook her head in return, picking up her own harness.

"Eyes forward Jesse," she demanded after an awkward pause.

It wasn't like Jesse had a choice. Donnell had once again taken the reigns, grabbing a loose harness and demonstrating how to put it on. However Rachel wasn't exactly paying attention. Jesse's occasional glances, followed by Finn's glance's, which was also surrounded by the general churlish body language of all the teenagers really put her off. These different factors caused her to miss most of the demonstration, so when Donnell motioned for them to proceed and secure harnesses, Rachel was completely lost.

Rachel began to fiddle with the metal loops, curling her figures around the firm material all over the object to find whatever she was supposed to be looking for. Thankfully, Shelby had noticed her confusion, and slowly approached her daughter to give aid.

"Forgot to pay attention Rachel?" Shelby teased.

"Well… I'm just a bit nervous about the climb that's all," Rachel replied.

"Haven't climbed much have you?"

Rachel flicked her head up while Shelby grabbed the metal, linking the loops together and then fastening the bands to the appropriate length. She sarcastically smiled at her mother, finding humor in Shelby's ignorance.

"I wear stocking with skirts everyday…what do you think?"

Shelby smiled in return, casually waving her hand and dismissing Rachel's uneasiness. "You'll be fine, don't worry about it."

With one last tug at the harness, Rachel was all strapped up and ready to go. Shelby nodded once reassuringly before walking away; back to take her stance beside Mr. Schuester.

Jesse took the opportunity to once again try and communicate. "Yeah, you have me to help you!"

Rachel eyes darkened. "My confidence has obliterated once again."

Jesse sighed. Rachel was very hard to crack through, but then again he should have expected it. She was after all probably more stubborn than he was.

Before he could attempt again, Donnell had began to address the students. He began to explain a point in the climb which would require the assistance of another. They would have to loop the rope around a thick branch, and pull firmly so that the next in line is securely held and can cross the gap comfortably. The leaders made the students practice in their lines around the fence. Not a word had been said during those five minutes. Basically the whole time the teenagers were trying to remind themselves that up in the trees, they could not drop their opposing member. So in that sense it was probably a good idea to practice.

Rachel tried not to look into Jesse eyes as he reeled her across the imaginary space, but Jesse was tugging so hard she felt as though she would be catapulted into his chest. Of course she couldn't let that happen, so aggressively dug her heels into the ground to steady herself. Jesse seemed disappointed.

Then, after practicing, it was finally time to begin the climb.

The first step for Finn was the ladder. Basically there was a short ladder, about eight feet long, which stretched up toward the first branch. Handlan was confidently encouraging and advising him, 'one step at a time', as Finn rose higher and higher off the ground. Honestly the ladder was easy, but after lifting his last foot off the safety of the bar onto the rough wood, he began to panic. Handlan's voice became echoes in his mind, which seemed to be connected to his protesting feet.

"Just duck under the branch there Finn and step over to this one here," Handlan was calmly ordering.

That was another problem for Finn. Since he was so tall, ducking underneath the branch took more effort, and he would lose more balance and security. That meant falling – and he hated falling. If only he had done what Lauren did. But it was too late for that now. If he did want to quit eventually, Handlan had explained that the three thin ropes sliding down the side of each trunk were used to lower someone down if they ever wanted out. This did make Finn feel better, but then he thought of his father and once again felt ashamed. He didn't want to be a quitter. Hell, he was a leader. Through the distracting buzz in his ears, he could here Rachel's shouts of encouragement. There was no way he was quitting.

Stupidly closing his eyes, he gripped the thick branch above him and slid underneath the wood. Then in one quick movement he skipped over the small gap, landing firmly on another thick branch, waiting for his next command.

"Alright, now we just have to walk across the plank."

Glancing towards the centre tree, Finn saw his next obstacle. A plank crossed from his current position towards the centre tree, where it looked as though they would proceed by climbing upwards. Finn sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon.

It had been about fifteen minutes after Finn first stepped on the ladder, and he was only just passed climbing up the centre pine. he was only about five or six branches up, and that pissed a lot of people off. Vocal Adrenaline weren't the patient type. Probably because they were used to always having their way.

"Oh far out!" Jesse whined. "Ironic, there are like twenty four people here and Goliath is the one afraid of heights!"

"You know what Jesse," Rachel retaliated to defend her boyfriend, "SHUT UP!"

"Oh, feisty. Just like I remember you." A wicked smile formed on his lips, his eyes dangerously examining his ex.

Rachel chose to ignore his comment, and just focused her attention to Finn, who was struggling to raise his foot to the next branch.

"Come on Finn! One step at a time remember!"

Each time she called out to her boyfriend, many kids in front of her would turn their heads with creased eyebrows. But Rachel didn't care, since every time she encouraged Finn he would make progress.

"You know you never had to encourage me like that, I was strong enough to do it myself," Jesse said.

"Good, sounds like you don't need me then. Then again you never did…did you Jesse?" Rachel questioned with accusing eyes.

Jesse sighed. "I know it's hard to believe Rachel, but I did. I know because of my initial motives it doesn't seem like it but I was genuinely attracted to you. And I'm gonna prove that. I'll show you that I still am!"

But Rachel only turned her head away. Jesse's sudden appearance back into her life had rocked her enough, but his newly ignited interest in her, which he had not shown for months, was even more confusing. She didn't know if he was telling the truth, and honestly didn't care anymore. So without a word, she merely continued to shuffle her feet forward slowly, getting closer to the ladder with each step.

"So… how was your summer?" Jesse tried once again.

But as usual, he got no response.

Further up the line, Santana had begun her ascent up the centre tree. Progress was slow and grueling, as she was standing in the one spot for minutes at a time, and also the view above her was blocked by some Vocal Adrenaline idiot.

"Hey you! Mind bending back a little! I can barely see the branch above my head!"

Surprised by her sudden outburst, Alex looked down at the cheerleader and decided to lean over, completely blocking Santana's view. He was in such a position that one hand was gripping the branch above, and the other was leaning on a branch beside him as he jokingly smiled and tilted his head down.

"And you call us unfriendly! I'm sure if you ask nicely I'd be glad to oblige!" The edges of his lips curled even further.

"This coming from the guy whose first intention was to egg someone's car."

"Sacrifices must be made!" Once again he was joking, trying to make humor of the situation, but Santana wouldn't have it.

"Like my view? Just lean back you jackass!"

Alex reluctantly surrendered, disapproving of Santana's tone. "Fine, next time I won't try and make conversation."

With that, he raised his foot to the next branch, pushing down hard then hauling himself upwards. Some people were just so difficult.

Jesse had tried. Over and over again he asked friendly questions or made pointless observations about the camp. But Rachel simply wouldn't respond. They had finally reached the tree about twenty five minutes or so in, and now were not so peacefully making their way among the entangled formations of branches. After a while, Jesse gave up. Above his he could see Finn had disappeared from view, and there was still a long procession of students to follow. There was just so long to go, and Jesse knew it. He didn't want to spend his whole time just attempting to talk to Rachel. So he decided to go with different tactics. After all, bad attention was better than no attention at all.

"You know I get why you don't wanna talk to me. I mean losing at Regional's…I can understand how that can be intimidating. Talking to a superior and all…"

Even though Jesse was in the process of hauling himself upwards, with his eyes directed in the opposite direction to Rachel, he could still sense her head whip and up eyes throwing a spear through his chest.

"Just because you won doesn't mean you deserved it! I mean there was sabotage going on in that room!"

Jesse had finished his momentary movement, and focused his attention back downwards.

"Oh, now you're talking to me are you?"

An unexpected voice can from below Rachel, making both of the teenagers jump.

"Can you guys please talk to each other nicely? Or just stop talking. Really, I'm getting distracted down here."

Rachel had been too focused on Jesse's annoying and meaningless chatter that she had almost completely expelled Private Sandra's existence from here mind. However, she still didn't acknowledge the officer and just continued to snap at her ex.

"And you know what? I would prefer to have lost and have a heart, then to have won and not have one at all! Our performance was touching, and we showed everyone what it truly meant to be a performer!"

"Oh really?" Jesse questioned. "So you actually think you would have beaten us after watching our performance?"

Rachel began to speak, but then snapped it shut when she realized what Jesse had said. It shocked her to hear that he actually saw her watching his performance, and Rachel was unsure how to respond.

"Well, I…I mean…"

Jesse eyed her meaningfully, causing Rachel to snatch he eyes away from his stare towards the trunk that obscured her vision. She grunted rudely, and quickly pulled her foot off the thick branch to rise another level. However, at that exact moment she spotted something crawling up the tree. A spider had made its way up. It wasn't huge, but then no spider had to be to distract Rachel Berry. And that's where it all went wrong.

While carefully trying to place her heel onto the think branch above, her momentary distraction cause her foot to slip on the branch, falling into the mid air and completely throwing Rachel off balance. Suddenly, her other foot jerked into the air, causing Rachel to completely slip off and dangle by her hands. She felt her foot knock something hard, realizing it was probably Private Sandra. But then, Rachel didn't exactly care at that point in time.

"AAH!" She screamed as her feet were walking below her, trying to find some sort of security.

Jesse reacted immediately to her scream. Rachel was only a couple of feet below him, so Jesse was confident he could bend down and offer Rachel a hand. But her panic was growing quickly, yelping and screaming every second.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"Hold on Rachel!" Jesse called out. Turning his head upwards he beckoned to Mike above him. "Oi Mike give me some slack!" As Mike bent down, Jesse quickly extended his arms in order to get a grip of Rachel's hands. He could hear Private Sandra yelling below, encouraging Rachel to try and lift her feet. But Rachel's grip was loosening too quickly.

"Rachel, do you trust me!" He yelled as his hand fully extended as if they were being ripped off by a wire.

Rachel's eyes widened. "What!"

"Do you trust me!" he repeated.

"NO! What type of question is that!"

Jesse couldn't believe it. The girl was gripping on for dear life, and she still found the time to insult him. With one final groan, he pushed his body down, just being able to curl his fingers around Rachel's wrists. After securely holding on to it, he began to pull as hard as possible, which caused Rachel to slowly rise. She then was able to place her other hand onto the branch above, and assist Jesse in her ascent, while he also began to stand to make the pulling easier. With a last effort, Rachel pushed off the main trunk with her feet and threw them over Jesse's current branch, safely being able to sit on the thick wood.

Panting violently, Rachel gripped onto the thick bark, thanking it every second for being available. Private Sandra was a few feet below her, begging for more slack as she was being yanked by Rachel, but then again she wasn't paying attention. So Sandra had to get up on her lonesome.

Rachel finally was able to advert her eyes from the branch towards Jesse, who had practically just saved her life. Well, in reality her life was never REALLY in danger, but then again this was Rachel Berry, and everything was overdone.

"Thhhh…aaaannnkks," she managed to squeeze in to her routine of exhaling and inhaling. Jesse smiled warmly, rubbing circles into her shoulders to calm her.

"Am I forgiven?" he dared to ask.

Rachel considered his statement. "For winning Regional's. I'll offer you that."

Jesse was about to negotiate more, but stopped himself when he realized Rachel was rising again. She was already embarrassed enough, being in army uniform and climbing, but now falling because of a spider had to be added to the list. However she wasn't going to stop and Jesse knew this. Rachel never stops, and that could be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the situation.

"Well, onward then," he said. And so they pushed forward, but this time, after a couple of minutes, Rachel began to actually compromise and tell him minute details of her summer. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Finn was just in the process of curling around the reachable peak of the trunk when he heard a quiet scream. Of course it was only quiet because he was high up, but he would recognize that voice anywhere.

"RACHEL!" he called out.

"Finn, she's fine ok? I need you to concentrate...we've been here for a while now!" Handlan said.

But Finn was too distracted. He could still hear unnerving sounds coming from beneath him, and more than ever did he just want to jump down and see what's going on.

"But... I mean what if…"

"There is no tugging on your harness Finn, and everyone else seems stable so I'm sure she just saw a spider or something. After all she is a girl!"

Finn wasn't totally convinced, but after a few seconds he could not hear Rachel anymore, and focused his attention back on the branches. He was at the highest point of the tree now, and very proud for making it that far, but this was one of the worst spots. He could see quite well below him, staring into what seemed to be an abyss. But that was the fear talking.

And this time he couldn't shut his eyes, so instead he thought about Rachel. He thought about what would happen if she was in trouble somewhere ahead, and what he would do. The imagination tactic was very effective, and Finn began to proceed like lightening.

Before he knew it, almost two hours had past, and his feet were firmly back on solid ground, awaiting his girlfriend.

The rest of the climb was much more peaceful for Jesse and Rachel. Sure Rachel still didn't talk as much as he wanted, but because of a tiny spider, Jesse's luck had turned and he felt he had a foothold in the game. It wasn't over.

Rachel was just trying to avoid contact after a while and thought of Finn as they progressed. She could no longer see him, only spotting him for a moment through many twigs and battered leaves quite a few yards away. At that point he was on the left tree, while she was placed on the right.

Eventually they got to the point where Jesse had to looped his harness around the branch and pull Rachel in by the reeling technique they had practiced. Just like on the ground, Rachel felt the tug was overpowered, so was able to stop herself from landing in his arms. Jesse may have helped her, but in no way was he in the clear. Besides, she wished Finn was the one that was there to help. Then at least it wouldn't be as hard to thank him.

However Jesse didn't try anything for the rest of the climb, only asking casual questions. When they began their decent down the centre trunk, Rachel kept a keen eye for her boyfriend. About two thirds down she spotted him, waving eagerly from below and standing proud. She smiled in return, and when she lifted her last foot off the ladder, she quickly jumped into Finn's chest, burying her head in the warm clothing. Sandra was slightly knocked off balance behind her, but recovered like a professional.

"You made it!"

"Yeah well I must admit you helped a lot Rach!"

Rachel was so happy in that moment, that she grunted angrily at Donnell when he split the two up.

"Remember guys, my rules."

They nodded bitterly, but understandingly, and Finn then proceeded to help Rachel undo her harness.

"Hey what happened by the way? I heard you scream at some point!"

Rachel switched her gaze for a moment to Jesse, who had been eavesdropping on the couple. He rolled his eyes in return, and decided to join his friends in whatever they were discussing rather than contributing negatively in the other subject.

"Oh, just a minor setback, but I pulled through it fine!" Rachel confidently responded.

Before Finn could reply, Donnell had addressed the students.

"Alright guys! That's all the activities for today! Get out of those harnesses and back to your dorms. We will be meeting with you in about a half an hour about your afternoon schedules so don't waste this time!"

Rachel smiled at Finn, and together they walked back towards the camp. Rachel began to ask about how he went - the scariest and most exciting points. Finn eagerly responded, just happy to be with his girlfriend again, and they remained together for the next half hour.

The important thing was they both pulled through, and the first day was almost over.

The first day is indeed almost over! Only one chapter left, and this will be one of the longest days so dont worry the other will take less. At least at this point they will.

My next update could take a while. I will be VERY busy on the holidays, and will be going way for a while. I hope the wait is worth it though!

So tell me your thoughts. Good? Bad? Should I just stop typing these enormous amounts of words? Please tell me, its the greatest reward. Till next time!

CeciltheGleek