Sorry for the half chapter it's mostly just a lead in to the next one.
"Jesse?" she says in almost a whisper. Her face is hard to read, he can't tell if she's happy to see him or simply shocked. "Oh my god! Jesse!" she says, throwing her arms around the blue eyed brunette. Damn it, she's definitely happy. "What are you doing here, how did this happen?"
"Rachel you know this young man?" Carole says confusedly while Finn simply looks confused.
"Yes, he's my friend… from Atlanta," she says in a way that suggests she hopes he knows to just go with it.
"Jesse St. James," he says, reaching out to shake Carole's hand.
"Well I didn't know we were so popular with the Atlanteans," Carole says, shaking Jesse's hand.
"You have no idea," Jesse says knowingly.
"Rachel can we talk privately?" Finn finally says. "All of us?" he continues with a none too subtle groan.
"Don't you want to hear Kurt and Blaine sing?" Carole says.
"I'll make it up to him," Finn says, taking Rachel by the arm while Jesse follows suit.
Once they get far enough out of earshot Finn prepares to unload his numerous questions.
"So let me get this straight, you're a mermaid too?" Finn says, starting with the obvious one.
"Merman," Jesse corrects "and wait just a minute, he knows about you?" he continues. "Him, he's the one?"
"He's known for awhile, let's just say I broke some very big rules a long time ago," Rachel explains.
"I can't believe it, he looks so… inconsequential," Jesse says, looking him up and down disapprovingly.
"Jesse not that it isn't amazing to see you but why are you here?" She says before Finn can find out exactly what he meant by that last sentence.
"Isn't it obvious? I came to see you. And I came to bring you home."
"Wait, what?" Finn says, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"But I'm human now, I can't go home, what about the myth?" she says hesitantly.
"The myth is exactly what the name entails, a myth, you can go home," Jesse says.
"Wait but… how?" Finn says, a hint of dejection present in his voice.
"Unfortunately I can't tell you just yet, it's part of the rules."
"What rules?" Rachel says. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you have the power to change back," Jesse says happily. "Isn't that fantastic?"
Finn bites his lip hard and tries to wrap his mind around what's happening, is it true? Can Rachel go home? And if she does, can she ever come back? For the first time in seven years it feels like Rachel is actually a part of his life, and he wouldn't trade that for anything, but he knows that it's not his choice. That he can't just keep her if she says no.
"So if you turn back into a mermaid that means…"
"This little thing, whatever it is, is over," Jesse says, finishing Finn's sentence and pointing between the two of them.
"But couldn't I turn human again if I wanted to?" Rachel says.
"That's not the way it works," Jesse says. "We can only turn human once, once we change back it's for good."
"Wait, how do you know so much about this stuff?" Finn says. "Rachel didn't know any of this."
"My history is what you would call… complicated, let's just leave it at that," Jesse says.
Finn looks at Rachel, trying to figure out what she's thinking, what she's feeling. She seems conflicted. Conflicted is a good thing right? He thinks to himself, it's better than her automatically making up her mind to leave.
"Jesse, I'm sorry but… I don't want to go home," she says carefully, taking Finn's hand. "I like it here."
Yes, in your face! Finn thinks to himself, squeezing her hand back.
"Come on, be serious," Jesse says, "You know you don't belong here."
"She belongs with me," Finn says.
"Oh really?" Jesse says spitefully. "Does his family even know what you are?"
"We don't have to tell them that, I have what you call a backstory," Rachel says proudly.
"It's not safe for you here, you know that," Jesse says putting his hands on her shoulders.
"I can protect her," Finn says. "And you may not believe this but she's learning to protect herself, I mean, you saw how she came up with a fake name for you right off the bat."
"Jesse St. James is my real name," Jesse corrects.
"Why do you have a human name?" Finn asks confusedly.
"Like I said, it's complicated, but were getting off-subject here, you need to come home with me," Jesse says, turning his attention back to Rachel.
"I'm sorry, but I want to stay with Finn," She says, moving in closer to him and letting him put his arm around her.
"Wait, your name is Finn?" Jesse says. "Well that's precious."
"Wow, I didn't realize that mermaids could be dicks just like humans," Finn says.
"Merman," Jesse seethes.
"Look, it's good that you're here," Rachel says, once again keeping the fight from escalating. "You can send a message back to my father."
"Rachel this is crazy, I'm telling you that you can come home and you're not even going to think about it?" Jesse says.
"I've made up my mind, I love him," she looks at Finn then and smiles up at him warmly.
"And I love her too," Finn says.
"I don't get it," Jesse says, "You would think if you were going to go for a human you would at least pick someone with actual talent, I mean, I'm not surprised that he can't compete with a mermaid, no human can, but you'd think he'd be able to give at least some humans a run for their money."
"Look she's made up her mind okay, why don't you go find your tail and get lost?" Finn says angrily.
"There's no reason to fight you guys," Rachel says. "Look Jesse, you know that I care for you a great deal, I always have, but my heart has always and will always belong to Finn."
"Look, this isn't about me," Jesse says unconvincingly. "But I know a little something about the world and I know how hard it is to survive here even if you weren't born with a tail. I don't want you to realize too late that you made a mistake by trying to be something you're not."
"But this is who I am Jesse, don't you see?" Rachel says. "I've always felt like something was missing and now I don't anymore, surely you understand that?"
"Of course I understand, but that doesn't mean I can accept this," Jesse says. "I'm not leaving without you. I hope you know that. And Finn? We'll have words later," at that he turns on his heel and walks away.
"Wow, that was really… weird." Finn says.
"He looked so upset. Maybe I should go talk to him," Rachel says.
"I don't like this, if he stays here we don't know what kind of damage he can do. What if he tries to expose you?"
"He wouldn't do that, besides it's like you said, nobody would believe him."
"I know but…" he trails off at that point. "Maybe I should talk to him, man to fish."
"I think that's a good idea, maybe if he can see what I see he'll understand why I made my choice."
He looks into Rachel's eyes and cups her face, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb. "You know I'd understand right, if you wanted to go home, I would be sad and I would miss you like crazy, but I would understand."
"Finn," she says, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I am home."
"So Quinn," Puck says as he bounces the basketball on the concrete. "If I make this shot, you go out with me, what do you say?"
"I say you're wasting your time," Quinn says coolly.
"Come on, we both know you have a thing for Finn for whatever reason, but he's hooked up."
"With that freak, I know," Quinn says.
He shrugs one shoulder before shooting the basket, sinking it effortlessly. "I don't know, I kind of like her."
"Trust me, I know her kind, and Finn's in for a world of trouble with that girl."
"Well, like it or not he's into her."
"Yeah, I know," Quinn says. "But believe it or not it isn't just about Finn."
"What do you mean by that?"
She shrugs, "Why don't you win one of these skanky girls a teddy bear, I think I'm going to take off," Quinn says before walking away.
She takes off her flip flops and heads down the beach, enjoying the feel of the sand beneath her bare feet, it reminds her of her mother, who would always take off her shoes for her before they went on their walks, back when things were happier. She heads for the rock, the same one she always sits on when she likes to be alone with her thoughts. But she has to do a double take when she realizes that there is already somebody there.
"Um, excuse me," she says tapping him on the shoulder.
He turns to face her and she has to take a step back.
"Is there something wrong miss?" He says.
"Um no it's just… your eyes."
"Oh, yeah," he says sheepishly, "Color contacts."
She narrows her eyes at him and before even taking a few moments to think about it she opens her mouth to speak again.
"Do you by any chance know a girl named Rachel?"
He perks up a bit at the question. "You know Rachel?"
"Yeah, she's a… friend."
"Yeah, I know Rachel from way back, hey do you think you can do me a fav—
Before he can finish his question she turns away. She thinks she hears him say to wait, but she can't wait another second. As she runs she reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone, dialing frantically.
"Hello Quinnie, are you having fun," He says among answering his phone.
"Dad, you're not going to believe this," she says giddily.
"Try me."
She takes a deep breath and readies herself.
"There are two of them."
Ooh cliffy, stay tuned folks!