AN: Can't believe this story has over 100 alerts already, wow! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and favouriting! I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 10 – Falling in Love

Rachel stood in the twilight by the fountain, the fountain where Kurt had met her when he'd arrived in New York, the fountain where Brody had taken their first photo together. She was quite fond of the fountain.

"Rachel!" Brody called.

Rachel spun around to see Brody walking quickly towards her, wearing a pair of trousers and a dark blue shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looked so effortlessly suave and sexy.

Brody likewise was impressed by Rachel's appearance.

"Wow Rachel, you look amazing," Brody said sincerely.

Rachel was wearing a strapless black dress, it fell to her knees, and the skirt was big and poufy. The dress was covered with embellishments, and was rather different to the plain and simple dresses Rachel usually wore. Her feet were encased in a pair of high black heels, also embellished, and they had little straps around the ankles. A light weight black blazer was around her shoulders to ward off the cool, fall air.

"Thank you," Rachel replied. "It's part of the Kurt and Santana makeover, Kurt snaffled the dress from work. And I've got to say, I think I love Kurt's new job."

"Everyone deserves a New York makeover, and you look wonderful, and sexy, in yours," Brody told her. "Now, shall we go?"

He took her hand and they started to walk off.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked.

"To dinner, then I have a surprise," Brody answered her.

"A surprise?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, so you'll find out later. But I will tell you where we're going for dinner. It's a place called Candle 79," Brody told her, as they hopped in a cab.

Brody gave the driver the address, then Rachel said, "But that's a specialist vegan restaurant, I've heard of it, it's supposed to be amazing."

"Exactly, you're a vegan, I'm taking you out, so we're going to a nice, vegan restaurant," Brody said matter-of-factly.

"But you're not vegan. I can just as easily eat a salad or something off a normal menu," Rachel protested.

Brody chuckled and said, "Rach, we're going to Candle 79, I can cope with a vegan meal every now and again, I mean, you eat vegan every day."

"Okay, thank you," Rachel replied. "I really appreciate it."

When they were seated inside the restaurant and had both been given their meals, they fell to talking about the upcoming musical.

Rachel swallowed a mouthful of her zucchini enchiladas then said, "So, do you have any idea what the musical will be this year?"

"Well not really, except it won't be Phantom, we did that last year," Brody replied. "Tibideaux likes to do the classic Broadway productions though, like Cats, Evita, Guys and Dolls, Les Miserables, Rent. The school did Rent about five years back I think. But it could be anything, there are so many amazing musicals out there."

"I know, and I love them all. I memorised so many songs from so many parts I want to play, even parts I don't really want, just in case I get offered any role," Rachel admitted.

"I know," Brody replied.

"How do you know?" Rachel asked, puzzled.

"You're one of those people, Broadway is everything, so of course you know lots of songs, just in case. It's what sets you apart, what will make you great," Brody explained.

Rachel waited until Brody had swallowed his mouthful spaghetti and wheatballs then asked, "I know we don't know what the musical will be yet, but are you going to try for the lead role? I mean, you should have a good shot at it."

"Rach, it's not uncommon for lots of students at NYADA to have had minor chorus parts on Broadway. The competition for the lead role is always fierce. Actually, the competition for any part is fierce. Yeah, I'll try for the lead, I know I'm capable of it, and whatever experience I can get I want, but I'm certainly not guaranteed it," Brody replied.

"What do you think I should try for?" Rachel asked.

"Do you really need to ask that?" Brody countered.

"No, I don't, I just like your advice," Rachel admitted, smiling widely.

"That's what I thought, and believe me, flattery will get you most places Miss Berry," Brody returned playfully. "How about you tell me which role you want and think you can play."

"The lead, I always want the lead. I want the incredible solos, to play the amazing parts, to show great emotion, to have an audience hang on to every word I sing and say," Rachel said promptly. "I'm only a freshman, and maybe it's bold to want the lead, or to plan to try out for it, but I will."

"It's not bold at all. Well maybe it is, but it's you, and it's your drive to succeed that will help you to do just that," Brody told her. "Don't worry too much more about the musical for now, there'll be time enough for that after Monday."

"What do you want to talk about then?" Rachel asked.

"Anything, tell me anything about you, well something I don't already know. I mean, we've talked about Broadway, sexy versus not sexy, we attend the same school, tell me something new," Brody replied.

"I have two gay dads," Rachel offered. "And I didn't meet my mom until my sophomore year. It's actually a pretty weird story. Her name is Shelby Corcoran, she was the coach of our rival glee club, the then six times national champions, Vocal Adrenaline. She made this guy called Jesse St James pursue me and date me, all so that he could make me find out about her. You see, she couldn't contact me until I was 18, but it was alright if I sought her out. Anyway I did, and we had some nice bonding moments together, then she told me she couldn't be my mom, and she dropped me like a hot potato, as did Jesse St James. He betrayed me, broke an egg over my head, crushed me essentially. Then to top it off, Shelby adopted my frenemy's baby, she didn't want me, but she wanted that baby. So that kind of was pretty upsetting for a while."

"Wow," Brody said. "That's some story."

"Yeah, and that's not even really the end of it, Shelby, Jesse and the baby all came back to play various parts in my life again. It took some time, but I'm okay with it now," Rachel said sincerely. "But enough about that now. Tell me something about you."

"Well, apart from singing and dancing, I love taekwondo, I learnt it for a long time. It's quite useful for adding tricks into my dancing, actually," Brody informed her. "So, that's not quite as exciting as your story."

"It doesn't have to be," Rachel said with a smile. "Normal is sometimes better than exciting."

"Well, if you want exciting, I can tell you about the time I got arrested," Brody suggested.

"You got arrested?" Rachel asked in shock.

"Yep, they pulled me over, hauled me down to the station, freaked me out to no end, then in the end they finally established that it wasn't me they wanted. I looked like the guy they had a warrant for, and my license plate was just one letter different," Brody said with a laugh.

Rachel laughed and said, "What did your parents say?"

"Not much. They were like, 'Oh, where have you been? The police station? Anything we need to know? No, wonderful. Sleep well, son.' My parents are rather laid back, they're not disinterested, they're just fans of independence," Brody said with a chuckle. "It certainly made for an interesting childhood."

"My dads are so different from that, they're not uptight, but I'm their only child and I guess they were very interesting in helping me to become everything that I could become, and give me everything in their power," Rachel remarked. "I miss them sometimes, and the fun singing sessions at the piano before dinner. I can't wait to go home and visit them."

"And I bet when you get there you'll be longing to get back here," Brody replied.

"Probably," Rachel agreed.

"Well, are you done? We should probably head off to the other part of our evening," Brody said, and called for the bill.

Brody paid the bill, and they walked out onto the street, and Brody called for another cab.

"Times Square," Brody told the driver.

"Great, that doesn't give anything away," Rachel grumbled. "There's so much going on there, or it could just be a ruse."

"You'll just have to wait and see," Brody said with a smile. "But it won't be too long."

They got out in Times Square, and Rachel looked around in delight. Even though she lived in New York now, she never got tired of it's wonders. Times Square and the theatre district thrilled her to her core, the lights, the billboards, the posters for various Broadway shows. One day, she'd be up there.

"This way," Brody said, taking her hand as they walked on.

They walked for almost ten minutes then Brody said, "Well, here we are."

"The Gershwin Theatre?" Rachel squealed.

Brody produced two tickets.

"You got us tickets to Wicked?" Rachel exclaimed. "Oh, you shouldn't have, but I'm so glad you did!"

Rachel reached up and kissed him then said, "Come on, we don't want to miss any of it."

Brody chuckled, and let Rachel drag him inside.

Almost three hours later the audience poured out of the theatre, Rachel and Brody among them.

"I loved it, it was amazing. Jackie Burns was stunning as Elphaba. And Chandra Lee Schwartz was wonderful, I think she graduated from AMDA you know, I should tell Santana that," Rachel gushed.

"I'm glad you liked it, I did too," Brody said, enjoying Rachel's bright eyes and flushed cheeks.

"It was the best first day, ever," Rachel said softly, reaching up and giving him a thorough kiss, which he participated in whole heartedly.

They stood there, in the throngs of people, kissing, as young love is wont to do. Some people passed by without a moments glance at the pair, others stopped and looked on with gentle amusement at how absorbed the young couple were in one another.

"Let's get you home," Brody said eventually. "It's late."

"Which is why I'll just take myself," Rachel told him. "We've been over this before, you know."

"It's not right," Brody protested. "I should walk you to your door, and kiss you goodnight."

"Well, you can walk me to the Subway, and kiss me there," Rachel said. "I'm a big girl Brody, and I won't be taking chances. There are thousands of people around, and I'll call you when I get home."

"Fine," Brody agreed. "This would've been so much easier if you still lived in the dorms."

On their walk back Rachel had been rather silent, it was clear to Brody that she was thinking, so he just let her, confident that she'd voice her thoughts in the end.

"Brody," she began tentatively. "I know it's not right to mention it, but tonight was fairly expensive, especially for a college student. I mean, I don't really have that kind of money to spend."

"Don't worry about it Rach. Even if I didn't have much money to play with, I'd still want to spend that on you. But I do have a bit more money than some. I don't like to flaunt it, but I have a scholarship. Plus, I also have occasional shifts at a bar near NYADA. It brings in a bit of money without taking up permanent amounts of my time," Brody explained. "The bonuses of being twenty-one."

"Okay," Rachel said quietly. "Thank you, and thank you for telling me."

"I don't want to have any secrets from you. If you want to know something, ask," Brody offered.

"Thanks," Rachel said. "I'm pretty much an open book anyway, I have a habit of talking a lot about myself, so you probably won't need to ask me any questions."

Brody chuckled and said, "I like it. You're not afraid to show who you are."

"One day you're going to find something you don't like about me," Rachel said ruefully, "and I don't quite know how I'm going to feel about it. Most people aren't overly fond of me for me."

"Well they're stupid," Brody said confidently, pulling her close and kissing her quickly.

In the Subway, Brody spend quite some time kissing Rachel, in fact, she missed the first available train, but she didn't care.

She did however make an effort to get on the next train, and was soon on her way home, reliving her evening in her mind.

When she got off and her stop, she started walking slowly towards their apartment, unconcerned at being alone. It was a beautiful night, she'd had a beautiful night, and she streets were well lit.

"Settle down with me, cover me up. Cuddle me in. Lie down with me and hold me in your arms. And your heart's against my chest, your lips pressed in my neck. I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet, and with a feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now," Rachel sang tenderly, not noticing the looks that the odd passer by gave her. When she sang a song for herself, she never noticed anyone else.

"Kiss me like you wanna be loved. You wanna be loved, you wanna be loved. This feels like falling in love, falling in love. We're falling in love. Settle down with me, and I'll be your safety. I'll be your lady," Rachel continued, the lyrics of Ed Sheeran's Kiss Me, suiting her feelings perfectly.

Rachel sang all her short walk home, reaching the last lines as she stood on the sidewalk in front of the apartment.

"Kiss me like you wanna be loved, you wanna be loved, you wanna be loved. This feels like falling in love, falling in love. We're falling in love," she finished softly, then she walked upstairs and let herself inside.

AN: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed all that Brochel goodness :) Up next, Finn makes an appearance, and there might be one last Finchel duet in there... Anyway, love hearing from you all in your reviews, you guys are the best!