Title: One Hand, One Heart
Rating: T
Warning- indirect mention of rape.
Summary: Rachel Berry never saw it coming. But then it happened. Now, alone and frightened she tries to continue with normal life. Then she meets a certain, curly haired boy. And everything changes.
Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own Glee, if I did Jesse would still be there and St. Berry would be alive and kicking. But he isn't. From this we can conclude that I don't own Glee.
xxx
It wasn't a problem to leave. He called Johnny, just to check he'd be there, got the money from the shiny black card that was the only evidence he actually had parents and drove to the airport. Half an hour later he was on a plane and an hour after that he was landing in sunny California.
Johnny didn't ask any questions, just drove him home, talking about American Idiot and how well everything was going and how pleased Lauren would be to see him.
That's what he needed. Time to think things through without being tormented by the sight of those big brown eyes that haunted his thoughts.
xxx
"Jesse, dude, wake up man."
Jesse blinked opening his eyes slowly. Beneath him was the soft Californian sand and a hot sun was helping him catch up on his tan. He squinted up at the figure above him, fumbling in the sand beside him until he found his sunglasses.
"Hey man," He smiled at his friend as Johnny sat down in the sand next to him.
"How long you been out here?" Johnny asked.
Jesse shrugged, "Maybe two or three hours, I'm not sure. I was asleep."
"Yeah, I realised." Johnny raised his eyebrows slightly.
"How was work?" Jesse joked, pulling himself up.
"Fine," Johnny laughed. "Aren't you missing school being out here with me?"
"Yes," Jesse's tone grew serious. "It's really very irresponsible of you to let me be here." He grinned.
Johnny nodded. "Maybe I should send you home."
Jesse sighed and shook his head. "Not like anyone's missing me." He muttered.
"What about Rachel?" Johnny peered down at him, watching his friend's reaction closely.
Jesse shrugged, noncommittally, careful to keep his expression neutral.
Johnny sighed. "What happened there man? You guys were so close."
"Were," Jesse muttered.
"What did you do?"
Jesse scowled up at him. "Why do you presume it was all me?" He snapped.
Johnny just raised an eyebrow, waiting.
Jesse sighed and lay back, staring up at the sky, unwilling to look at his friend as he spoke. "I messed it up, big time." He sighed again. "I started to feel for her… as more than a friend you know?" He glanced at Johnny. "It wasn't working, not for me anyway. I just felt this strange kind of longing. I mean," He shrugged. "I've been with a fair share of girls, but none of them have felt like this before. It's weird." He sighed again. "But she's dating this guy, Finn. He's a douche." He added. "I don't know, it was never going to work because of… you know… the pregnancy thing. He wasn't going to stay with her when she told him. So I figured I'd just stay until then. But they had this fight and I was there. She turned to me for comfort. And I kind of… kissed her."
He glanced up at Johnny.
His friend pursed his lips before he answered. "What did she do?"
"Well, she was sort of crying at the time. She just pulled away and said she couldn't do this now. But at first she kissed me back, I swear."
Johnny just shook his head. "If you really like her, you should go back. She didn't say not ever right? She'll probably be wondering where you are, you've been sulking on this beach for three days now. If you don't go now they'll make up and you'll never have a chance."
"What?" Jesse shot up.
"Yeah," Johnny seemed unconcerned at the panic in his friends' voice. "They'll make up and you'll never get this chance again."
"Oh my God, you're right, I've got to go." Jesse tore off down the beach and Johnny sighed, heaving himself up from the sand and following at a gentle jog.
xxx
It was raining in Lima. Heavily. Jesse was thankful for his car, which had his stuff from Johnny's in the back and strong headlights. One of his Queen albums was playing and he was driving through the sodden streets of Lima singing at the top of his voice, and rather well he thought.
He only glanced out of the window by chance. He had never seen the park before in his life, but he was surprised to see that there was a figure there, especially when it was raining bullets. Curious he pulled his car up at the side of the road and clambered out, hurrying across the road and into the playground.
"Hello?" He called, over the sound of the rain. "Are you okay?"
There was no response from the figure, so he ran closer, his breath catching when he recognised her. He would know that red and white sweater anywhere.
"Rachel?" He cried, appalled as he sprinted now, skidding to a halt beside the shivering girl who was curled up on the swing. "Oh my God, Rachel?" Her hair stuck to her face in long, wet strands and he pushed them away to see her eyes flutter open.
"Jesse?" She asked; her voice quiet.
"Rachel, thank God, Rachel!" He pulled the girl up into his arms, grateful for the rigorous training sessions Miss Corcoran had made them do at Carmel. It made her as light as a feather.
He carried her quickly back to his car and sat her in the passenger seat, running around to the seat next to her and shrugging off his coat, placing it around her shoulders in an attempt to warm her up.
"Rachel?" He shook her shoulders lightly and the girl clinked up at him again.
"Jesse? What are you doing?" She frowned, her voice weaker now.
"I'm taking you home," He didn't think about it, just drove, plummeting through the streets until they arrived at the town house his Uncle owned. Before transferring to McKinley he hadn't been there very much, but he was starting to prefer it to his own house now. It was smaller, which made it far less obvious that he was there alone. Pulling her into his arms he carried her towards the front door.
"Can you stand?" He asked and she nodded. Gently he set her on her feet, keeping a strong arm around her just in case. Awkwardly he got the key from his jeans pocket and unlocked the door, before pocketing the key and sweeping her up into his arms again, ignoring her protests.
Pushing the door shut behind them he deliberated for a moment, then carried her up the stairs and into his room, lying her down on the bed. He draped the blanket over her and hurried downstairs to make a hot water bottle. When he was done he brought it back and found her sat up in his bed, looking around the room.
"Here," He handed the hot package to her and she smiled gratefully, hugging it to her chest. He grabbed another blanket, draping it around her shoulders.
"How are you doing?" He asked, after a moment of silence.
"I'm good," Her voice was stronger now, and her shivering had disappeared.
"Good," He took a seat beside her and laid a hand on her leg. "What were you doing there Berry?"
She turned away from him for a moment before saying. "What are you doing here Jesse? I thought you'd vanished off somewhere."
"Yeah well, I came back." He frowned. "Don't try and change the subject, what were you doing in the pouring rain?"
"Nothing," She shook her head.
"Well there was obviously something," His voice became gentler. "What was it Berry?"
She bit her lip, refusing to meet his eyes.
"You can tell me anything," He murmured. "You know that."
She glanced up at him unsurely and took a deep breath. "I think Finn and I broke up."
"Okay," Jesse struggled to keep a straight face. "Well, that's too bad, what happened?"
"We were talking, it was the first time, you know, since Glee club the other day." She sniffed a little. "We were going to try and work on it, but he said he wanted us both to be honest in this relationship. So he told me about his dad, about how he died when he was born and that he really misses him. He was opening up to me and I was just too overwhelmed. So I told him about…" Her eyes slid down to her stomach, cradling it gently.
"Really?" Jesse's whisper was shocked.
"Yeah," Her voice cracked as tears began to stream down her face. He reached over to hold her hands in his as she continued to speak. "And he was really angry, he thinks it's yours, he ran off… after dumping me."
Her sobs became heavier now and she leaned forward to lay her head against his chest, sobs shaking her body. He held her tightly, his face twisted with anguish at her pain. After a while her sobs became weaker and finally trailed off. Looking down at her he saw that her eyes had drifted closed and she was sleeping soundly.
Slowly he laid her down on the bed, pulling the blankets over to cover her. He wrote her a hurried note, saying that he would be back soon and to help herself to anything she wanted. Placing it next to her on the pillow he hesitantly reached out and stroked her hair, bending down and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
xxx
The drive to Finn's house was an angry one. He vaguely remembered Rachel once describing where it was and was thankful for having a good memory. He hoped that there would be nobody with him, the last think he needed was a huge punch up with Puck and Finn, or a court case from his mother. However, when he arrived at the small, box like house he recognised only Finn's beaten up old car in the driveway.
Parking roughly, he jumped out, stalking up the path and to the front door, banging angrily on the wood.
It was a moment before the door was opened, by a startled Finn.
"What do you-" Finn started, but Jesse barged past him, slamming the door behind him before turning to the taller boy.
"You," Finn looked astonished, which didn't seem unusual to Jesse.
"Me," Jesse agreed.
"What do you want?" Finn growled, scowling angrily at him.
"You are such an idiot, you know that?" Jesse snapped.
"What?"
Jesse shook his head, exasperated. "I didn't sleep with your girlfriend Finn. Or should I say your ex- girlfriend."
"You must have done," Fin frowned. "She's… you know." He made a vague gesture to a rounded stomach.
"No, Finn. When I met her she was pregnant."
Finn's frown became confused. "Then she must have been with some other dude."
"Not by choice Finn," Jesse scowled at him, waiting as the cogs turned slowly in Finn's head, fitting together. He could almost see the light bulb over the top of his head.
"Over Christmas…" Finn gaped. "She was… Oh my God."
"Yeah, over Christmas." Jesse took a step towards him. "But I swear Hudson, if you say anything about this to anyone," His voice turned icy and sinister. "I will make sure that you will never play another game of football, or do another dance move ever again, you have my word on it."
Finn shivered slightly at the menace in the older boys' voice ad nodded hurriedly. "God," Hew shook his head. "I had no idea…"
"Of course not," Jesse spat, the anger in him allowing no sympathy for the boy. "You just blindly jumped to conclusions."
He stepped around him, going for the door before turning and saying. "And Finn, I never break my word." Turning he slammed the door shut behind him as he left the house.
xxx
Over the next few days the tension of the Finn and Rachel relationship slowly petered out. They didn't give each other a second glance and Mr Shue, noticing their discomfort when singing with one another, gave more of the leads to Jesse. Which suited Rachel fine. Everything was suddenly going quite smoothly.
Rachel started pushing the group even harder for Regionals, which surprised none of them. She would suggest a number and then discard it, all in the space of five minutes.
Jesse worried about her and about the strain she put on the baby. He didn't show it, of course, she would only berate him if he did.
Finn had kept his distance so far, saying only as much as he needed to. Jesse had heard nothing on the grape vine that suggested that Rachel was pregnant and no one treated her any differently.
Well, that was a lie actually, they did.
Now that she hung out with him people seemed more inclined to be nice to her, or at least talk to her, which was better than before. There were no more slushie facials, that he knew of anyway and the jocks didn't harass her as much anymore.
He had only once been approached with a slushie. He had explained to the carrier, a rather large, thick sculled jock, that he was only feeling the need to do this because he had no confidence in himself and that there was a small little girl deep inside him and all he needed to do was unlock that inner girl and that he would have a lot more success with the opposite sex. Although the wording had been a lot more complicated, rather Rachel Berry-esque he thought.
He hadn't been approached after that, and the jocks and Cheerios even looked at him with a small ounce of what he would call respect.
So things were going well.
For now anyway.
xxx
The semester seemed to have flown by, so Rachel was surprised when Jesse informed her that they were nearing the last day before they had a holiday. He had asked lightly if she had any plans and she had had to admit that no, she hadn't.
He had only laughed, pulling her into a sudden hug.
Never in her life had she imagined that he would be planning something, that that seemingly innocent questioning was not innocent at all.
So when she found the envelope containing the tickets on her doorstep, the morning before they broke up, she was shocked.
In Glee club she confronted him.
"What is this?" She had asked, frowning at him and waving the envelope in front of his face.
"Our plans, Berry, you not pleased?" He cocked his head to one side, something he did when he was confused.
"You organised all of this?" She asked, incredulously.
"Yep, down to every last detail." He grinned at her.
"Really? We're really going?" A slow smile grew on her face.
"Sure are, are you not happy? I thought you liked Johnny?" He frowned at her, worried, but she ran to him, launching herself into his arms.
Laughing he hugged her gently, careful not to squish her.
"Lauren and Johnny won't mind?" She checked, glancing up at him.
"I don't expect so, they're out of town."
"What?" She frowned, confused.
"Yeah, they're going off to Canada to see Lauren's parents." Jesse shuddered a little. "So Johnny said we could use their house if we wanted to."
"Wow," Rachel's smile widened. "Seriously, that's so great!"
Jesse smiled too. "Glad you approve."
"Good because I do." Rachel poked her tongue out at him.
He pretended to sigh, rolling his eyes. "Maybe you're too immature to be doing this."
Rachel laughed aloud. "You love me for it."
Jesse shrugged, looking sheepish. "Guilty as charged."
Rachel giggled again, burrowing into him and walking with him to their seats, where Jesse slung his arm around her shoulders.
"What are y'all doing for the holidays?" Mercedes asked, glancing around the group.
"I'm gonna go visit my Aunt in Kentucky," Kurt sighed, flicking his hair away from his face. "Yet again."
"Why would I tell you?" Santana spat, before turning to Britanny, who said, vaguely.
"Have we got a holiday?"
Jesse shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Well, Rachel and I are heading out."
"W-where?" Tina asked.
"California, we're staying in the house owned by a friend of mine."
"Really, just you two?" The group seemed to turn as one to look at Finn. Jesse seemed unconcerned, but Rachel nibbled nervously on her bottom lip, refusing to meet her ex's eyes.
"Yeah, for a week, should be good right Berry?" Jesse glanced down at Rachel.
She nodded, "Yeah, looking forward to it," A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. "Except from having to spend a week with this idiot," She jerked her head in his direction.
Jesse took on a wounded expression. "You hurt me in so many ways it's a miracle I'm still standing."
"It takes more than a few comments from me to hurt the St James ego," Rachel laughed.
"Ah," Jesse held up a hand. "But it's a well deserved ego."
Rachel raised an eyebrow, then just shrugged, "Maybe, if it was I wouldn't want to say it, it'd just inflate it even more." She giggled and Jesse's eyes widened, his mouth forming an 'o' shape.
"You'll pay for that, you little scamp." He started to tickle her and she giggled, squirming away.
"No," She gasped, still giggling. "No stop it."
"Say sorry!" He commanded, continuing to tickle her.
"Okay… okay!" She laughed. "Sorry, sorry!"
He released her, laughing. "You should be ashamed; you just gave up your cause to a few minor tickles. Shame on you Rachel Berry, shame on you."
She purely poked her tongue out at him.
He copied her, laughing.
"Now who's the immature one?" Rachel laughed.
He adopted a whiny tone. "You started it."
"Did not," She laughed.
"Did so," He replied.
She opened her mouth to reply, but Mr Shue walked in, halting what could have been a never ending conversation.
Xxx
Thank you so much for the reviews! They were so great! Make my day XD
Anyone heard 'Get It Right' yet? Wow, how great is that song? I was blown away when I heard it. I mean, it could be more powerful, it isn't exactly another 'Don't Rain on My Parade' but the words… wow, they just fit exactly to my image of how Rachel is at the moment.
Gorgeous.
The other song I think is good, although it starts off a little bit too HSM for my tastes, but again, the words fit so well :)
Okay, so finally Finn and Rachel have broken up *mini happy dance*
We're still awaiting Jesse's return on the show. Sigh.
Okay, that's probably all I have to say for now, oh and I love 'Blame it on the Alcohol'.
Oh! I just saw 'I Am Number Four' its very good, go and see it if you can!
I think eight or nine reviews before I update guys. I'm already considering a sequel to this story.
Lots of love
Ray
xxx