A/N: This will progress through time, jumping a month in some cases, up to a year or more in others.

Chapter 10: Blast From The Past

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.

May 2014

Rachel's face flushed with unbridled excitement as the curtain closed in front of her.

She couldn't have asked for a better opening night, especially considering it was her first one.

Her dream of starring on Broadway was now a reality. The lead role in Rent belonged to her.

The crowd roaring their approval, her dads and Finn clapping proudly from three rows back, she'd pinched herself several times to make sure this wasn't a dream.

She hurried backstage, happily accepting the congratulations of her co-stars as she made her way to her dressing room. After washing her face of her heavy stage makeup she re-dressed in more casual clothes and reapplied much lighter makeup,

Her fathers and Finn were going to meet up with her at a little bistro around the corner after the meet and greets were done.

She grabbed her purse and put on her brightest smile and stepped out the backdoor, prepared to greet her newly acquired, yet highly adoring, fans.

Instead, she froze.

"Hey Rach."

Her heart froze in her chest. Her hands clenched at her sides. Her breathing stopped.

He snapped a finger in front of her face. "Rach? Still with me?" He asked, his hand on her arm.

She exhaled slowly and focused on him. "What are you doing here?" She choked out, her tone a bit harsh and very disbelieving as she gulped for air.

Noah crossed his arms over his chest. "Great seeing you too Berry." He shot back sarcastically.

She inhaled and fixed her gaze on him. A moment later, recognition crossed her face.

"You came to see my show."

He gave her a small nod.

"I ran into your dads. They told me." He explained nonchalantly, as if his flying to New York, paying for a ticket to her show and a hotel was no big deal at all.

There were so many responses swirling in her head at that moment, she didn't know which to go with so she played it safe.

"It's great to see you Noah." She told him softly.

His hands ached to touch her. It'd been two years since he'd seen her and over a year since he'd talked to her.

She'd broken it off because of Finn. Her longtime boyfriend didn't want to be apart anymore, and since she'd had no reason to stop him, he moved to New York.

The email he'd received from her had been brief and to the point.

Noah,

I hate that I'm writing these words and not speaking them. Truth be told, speaking them to you would be the honorable thing to do. But well, honor hasn't exactly been a cornerstone of mine as of late.

I couldn't call because the moment I would've heard your voice I'd have lost my nerve.

Finn's moving to New York. I didn't suggest it, I didn't ask him to, but I also didn't ask him not to.

I can't do this anymore, not with him here. This has to be over. As much as it pains me to ask this, I need the texts, the calls, the emails to stop now. I'm making every effort to stay straight, I can't do that whilst still talking to you.

I'm so sorry.

Rach.

He'd not bothered to respond. He'd wanted to, he'd had a lot to say, but he knew her well enough, he could text/talk/write her until he was blue in the face, the girl always got what she wanted.

And he'd respected her wishes. She had asked him to stay away and he had.

But when her dads told him their baby girl was going to be making her Broadway debut, something inside him had snapped. He couldn't ignore it anymore. He wanted to see her, talk to her, gain some closure.

Everything had been going exactly according to plan, until he came face to face with her outside the back door. The moment his eyes fell on her, everything he wanted to say melted away.

"You were awesome Rachel." He replied quietly, taking a step closer.

She should have taken a step back, put some space between them.

Instead, she found herself leaning into him, her nose just barely inhaling his scent, the one she'd know anywhere.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" She questioned, her voice softer now, the harsh tone gone.

He shrugged. "Would you have responded? What would you have told me?" He countered, eyebrow raised.

She blushed at his blunt questioning. He knew what her answer would have been.

"I'd have told you not to come." She admitted sheepishly.

"And that's why I didn't tell you." He shot back, stepping even closer to her.

His closeness was starting to make her dizzy. Her brain screamed at her to take a step back but quite honestly, she really didn't want to.

"I miss you, you know." He whispered quietly, his breath whooshing across her face, his finger trailing lazily down her arm.

She gulped heavily. The words were on the tip of her tongue. She knew that saying those words would unlock the past, and it would start up all over again.

Finn flashed through her mind. She waited for that feeling, the one that would remind her that this was wrong, she'd ended it once, don't start it up again.

She waited. But it didn't show. She lifted her deep brown eyes to his.

"I missed you too. " She quietly agreed.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The phrase was small and largely unimpressive, at least from the perspective of an outsider, but he knew what it meant. It was a big deal for her to admit such a thing. To admit to missing someone is admitting you care.

He gave her a small smile and fished his wallet out. He quickly extracted a credit card sized piece of plastic. It was a room key.

"I'm staying at the W. I'd like to spend a little time with you, but if you aren't comfortable with it, that's cool." He informed her, pressing the key into her palm.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "It's been 5 minutes you're already propositioning me? Wow." She shot back, her tone half teasing and half cocky.

"Actually, I'm not, I'd just like to talk to you, be around you. Sex was not on the agenda." He replied honestly. He supposed he should have been upset by her assumption, but he wasn't. He knew the facts. He knew they'd largely been nothing but secret fuck buddies for the majority of their "affair" as she liked to put it, so he didn't take offense to her words.

"Oh." She replied, obviously taken aback by his desire to simply be around her, his want was to only be in her presence, and he expected nothing more.

He was about to turn to head towards his hotel when he stopped and turned back to her.

"Though, for the record, if I was propositioning you, I doubt you'd say no." He shot at her, his tone teasing and sly.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. It was odd, but she took comfort in the fact that not everything changed.

He stepped back to her side and brushed a lingering kiss across her cheek. "See you soon." He whispered in her ear before turning on his heel and heading in the direction of his hotel.

She wanted to protest, to tell him no, he wouldn't see her soon.

Instead, she pulled out her phone and dialed her dad.

"Hi dad, so I just found out they're doing a cast-only dinner, I guess I never got the memo but as the star it's imperative that I be there." She informed him as she slowly made her way towards the front of the theatre to grab a taxi.

"Of course, thanks for understanding, I won't be too late. I'll see you later. Send my love to daddy and Finn." She told him as she held up her right hand to hail a cab.

She ended the call just as a car pulled up.

"Where to?" The cabbie asked, glancing in his rear view mirrow.

"The W."