January seemed to fly by pretty fast for Sam and Rachel. They continued to give each other space, finding new things to try to keep their minds off each other.

Sam joined a new club called the God Squad started by Mercedes. The club pretty much spread the word that being a Christian was not just about reading the Bible. It was a small club only consisting of him, Mercedes, Quinn and Joseph. One of their first orders of business was to figure out to raise money. Sam came up with the idea of singing Valentine-Grams because he knew everyone would definitely want one. It was agreed with a unanimous decision.

One day after Glee, he saw Mr. Schuester whisper something in Rachel's ear that made her nod and giggle. That instantly made Sam jealous.

Wait...why should he be jealous? Mr. Schuester would never flirt with a student!

It got even weirder when Rachel left the choir room with Brad the pianist after they were all dismissed.

All right, he thought. Something was definitely up. Brad never spoke a word to any of them and now he was leading Rachel to who knows where?

He decided to follow them just in case. Sneakily, he ducked behind them in between hallways like a ninja and followed them into the auditorium. He saw them walk up on stage to a peculiar looking purple piano. He ducked in between the seats and hid behind the curtain in the wings off stage.

Rachel sat down at the piano and Brad started taking his sheets out.

Wait a second...Rachel's taking private piano lessons from Brad?

She smiled up at him. "How was your day today, Brad?"

He sighed and chuckled. "Horrible, you Glee kids sure do stress me out."

She rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him. "Oh you kidder. Admit it, you love playing for us."

He put his hands up in mock surrender. "All right, all right...you kids are a joy to play for. But at least I get paid and your Dads are paying me good money to give you private lessons."

She opened the lid of the piano and played a few keys.

"Have you been practicing River Flows in You?" Brad asked.

She nodded and sighed. "Yes, I've been practicing but I don't have it all the way. The left hand keys are super easy but the right hand keys are what I'm having trouble in."

Brad shrugged. "All right, no problem. We can work on that." He started digging through his piano sheets and looked confused when he couldn't find it. "Oh now I remember! I think I accidentally got the sheets mixed up with Mr. Schuester's. Let me run to the choir room real quick to look for them. In the meantime..." He picked up one of his songbooks, picked a song and set it in front of her. "play this song as a warm up until I get back."

She smiled and called after him. "Don't be too long! Pretty girls like me shouldn't be in a lonely auditorium for too long!"

Sam heard Brad chuckle as he exited out the other wing. "Don't worry, you'll probably deafen that person with a high pitch wail or something. I'll be back."

He watched her study the notes for a second and began playing. There was something strangely...familiar bout the song.

Pride can stand
A thousand Trials
The strong will never fall
But watching stars without You
My soul cried
Heaving hard is full of pain
Oh, oh, the aching

Ah, now he remembered why that song was familiar. It was in that Romeo and Juliet movie with Leonardo DiCaprio she made him watch. The song was in the scene where they met each other through a fish tank...weird way to meet your soul mate.

'Cause I'm kissing you, oh
I'm kissing you

He thought back to when they had their first kiss. They were at the park: he taught her how to play Frisbee and she taught him how to fly a kite. By night time, they sat on a hill and rested while fireflies danced around them. They leaned their heads on each others shoulder and then it just...happened. When the kissed, it was like he was soaring through time and space...which is what he always wanted. Actually, it was like a mix of frollicing through candy land and floating through time and space. He never felt like that kissing Quinn or Santana.

As she finished the rest of the song, it made him want to kiss her again. But he knew he couldn't...he had to give her some space first.

When she finished the song, he accidentally sighed loudly. It startled her and she jumped up leaning against the piano, her eyes wide. "Who's there? Don't come near me, I have a rape whistle!"

Sam clapped his hands to his mouth and tried to quietly back farther into the wing, but for some reason the sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the auditorium.

Rachel gripped the piano tightly and pulled out her whistle in the other one. "Brad! Brad, is that you? Where are you? I'm frightened!"

Brad was still nowhere to be seen.

Sam didn't want to scare her anymore than she already was so he stepped out on stage and put his hands up in surrender. "All right, all right. Don't be scared Rachel, it's only me."

She lowered the whistle and leaned more back against the piano. "Sam, you scared me! Where you watching the whole time?"

He nodded and rubbed his neck nervously. "Yeah...sorry about that. I saw you coming here with Brad and it looked kind of suspicious. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spy on you."

She rolled her eyes. "You really think Brad would hurt me? He's giving me private piano lessons."

"Piano lessons? Why?" He asked.

She sighed dramatically. "The voice is a wonderful instrument but I would like to learn the instrument that triggers the voice. I do like a challenge."

He laughed. "If you say so. And really Rachel, I never meant to scare you."

She clutched her heart. "Dear me, I nearly had a heart attack!"

The auditorium door opened and Brad frantically came running on stage. "Rachel, I heard you scream for me! Are you ok?" He noticed her still holding the whistle and raised his eyebrows. "I see you've taken care of it already."

Sam chuckled. "It was me, Brad. I got worried when I saw you led her here so I waited in the wings. I kind of scared her though, but we're fine."

Brad looked confused. "You think I'd hurt her?"

Sam shrugged. "I know, I know...sorry about that."

Brad laughed and shook his head. "It's fine, Sam. I know, I don't talk to any of you during the day and seeing me lead poor Rachel away definitely looks suspicious. But don't worry, her Dads are paying me to give her private piano lessons."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks for looking out for me, Sam. I really appreciate it."

Sam rubbed his neck again. "So...I guess that's my cue to exit off stage right?"

Rachel shook her head. "Oh no, you can stay! You can watch, I don't mind."

Brad shrugged. "I don't mind if you stay. But just don't distract her or this lesson won't end very well."

Sam smiled and nodded. "All right, I'll stay. I'll go...sit in the audience."

She squealed and clapped her hands. "Great! I could do with an audience!"

As Sam exited off stage, Brad took the piano sheets he found and placed them in front of her.

"Did you practice the warm up song?"

She nodded. "Yup, it was pretty easy."

He nodded. "Ok, good. Now you said you had trouble with the right hand notes of this song?"

She scratched her head. "Definitely yes. The left hand is super easy but the right hand notes are so fast, I just can't keep up."

Brad patted her shoulder. "It's all right, it took me a while to learn those notes too. But when you learn both hands, the song is really beautiful. Here, why don't you play the right hand notes that you already know and I'll play the left hand. You can take your time on them."

Brad slowly led her through the song. She finally finished after five minutes.

Brad nodded approvingly. "All right, now let's try again and pick up the tempo just a tiny bit."

She did it again and then Brad made her try it out slowly with two hands. Then she repeated it again and again until Brad felt that she was ready to perform it in front of Sam.

"Are you ready?"

She looked over at Sam. "Are you ready, Sam? Please don't laugh if I mess up."

Sam crossed his heart. "I won't. No matter how bad it is, I won't laugh."

She began playing, and Sam literally felt like he was sitting in a peaceful place. The song just seemed so calming and peaceful...just like her. It also had a bit of a sad, melancholy tune mixed in making the song absolutely perfect.

As he watched her play, he noted her facial expression change as the song progressed. Her face looked so focused and concentrated...yet calm. Her fingers seemed to dance on the keys like ballerinas twirling each other around.

The song somehow seemed to make all the happy times they had together flash before his eyes: Prom, their first kiss, dancing in the moonlight, cuddling by the fire, the hurtful cry they shared the night before he moved, the comforting voicemails...

Those were long gone now, only to be brought back by this song made from her magic fingers.

The song was made perfectly clear: they couldn't live without each other. They needed each other and the time apart was killing them. The whole thought process made him want to cry.

When she finished the song, both she and Brad looked at him. "What did you think, Sam?"

He rubbed his eyes. "I thought it was...great."

Rachel's face fell. "You didn't like it, did you?"

Sam shook his head frantically. "No no, it really was great! I was...astounding, it was...beautiful."

She gave him a small smile. "Great, I'm glad to hear it."

Brad put his hand on her shoulder. "That was absolutely magical. You did a great job today."

They both got up from the piano and stretched. "That was a great lesson, Rachel. I'll teach you another song next time."

She jumped and squealed. "I can't wait."

While he packed up his sheets, she met Sam at the bottom of the stage. "Oh, I forgot you were still here.

Sam looked confused. "Where would I go?"

Brad finished packing and exited the auditorium. "See you tomorrow, Rachel."

When they heard the door closed, she blushed. "Did you really like my performance?"

He nodded. "It was amazing, Rachel. I nearly cried because it was so...powerful."

She giggled. "Oh, I know! I cried too when I first heard Brad play it. It's so...bittersweet, don't you think?

They stood awkwardly silent for a few minutes.

"So who's taking you home today?" He asked.

Before she could answer, the auditorium door opened again and Mr. Schuester's voice floated in the room. "Rachel? I just passed Brad in the hallway, are you ready to go?"

He appeared from stage right and met them at the bottom of the stage. "Oh there you are! I saw Brad and got worried thinking that something happened to you." He noticed Sam there and smiled. "Oh hi, Sam. Are you taking lessons from Brad too?"

Sam suddenly felt his face turn red and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. He surely couldn't admit that he was secretly watching her because he thought Brad was going to harm her. "Oh...um...uh..."

Luckily Rachel jumped in. "He wanted to stay and watch my lesson."

Mr. Schuester looked back and forth between the two of them and clicked his tongue. "Ah, I see. Well...if you're ready to go..."

"Wait, you're driving her home?" Sam asked.

Mr. Schuester nodded. "Yup, I live in the neighborhood right next to hers so her Dads asked if I could drive her when they can't. I think it's a smart idea...saves plenty of gas and all."

Rachel looked at him. "All right, well...shall we head off?"

He shrugged. "If you're ready. Sam, do you have a ride home?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I have my truck. I'll walk out with you guys."

When they got to Mr. Schuester's car, he and Sam high-fived. "Good work today, Sam."

Sam gave them a thumbs up and left for his truck. "See you guys later."

The drive home was kind of quiet. Rachel kept fiddling with the hem of her skirt and Mr. Schuester wondered why she was so nervous. Then he realised how awkward her confrontation with Sam must have been.

He cleared his throat. "So...did you have a good lesson today?"

She nodded without looking at him. "Indeed, I did. I learned a new song today. I nearly cried when I first heard it."

They sat silently again for a while. Suddenly, he remembered the thing about Sam. "Hey Rachel, do you remember two years ago when I gave you that pep talk about finding a boy who will like you for who you are, especially the parts you don't like about yourself?"

She whipped her head and glared at him. "I know where you're going with this, Mr. Schuester. Please stop patronizing me."

He shrugged. "All right, we don't have to relive that. But I think I can offer you some more friendly advice."

She crossed her arms. "And what could that possibly be?"

He focused back on the road. "Everyone deserves a second chance, even if you don't think they do. But if you don't give that person a second chance, you're going to wind up missing an opportunity to move on."

When she didn't answer, he continued. "I know that Sam hurt you over the summer and you're upset about it. But ever since he came back, he's been trying non-stop to show you how sorry he is and that he wants to try again. Whether or not you want to is entirely up to you, but you never know what will happen if you stay stuck to whatever is past. Maybe things will be better this time...or maybe he'll break your heart a second time. Only time will tell along with that second chance."

She looked up at him again. "How do you know all this?"

He shrugged and smiled. "I'm a teacher, it's my job."

She sighed and nodded understandingly. "Thanks for the advice, Mr. Schuester."

He patted her knee. "No problem. If you choose to take it, that's up to you. I just thought you might need a little more guidance."

She stared at her shoes. "But I'm not sure if I'm ready to forgive him yet."

"It doesn't have to be right here, right now. I know you still maybe debating but you need to decide when the right time is before it's too late."

They got to her house and she noticed that her Dads weren't home again. She sighed. "Looks like it'll be dinner for one again tonight."

Mr. Schuester frowned. "Do you want me to stay with you until your Dads get home?"

She shook her head. "No, it's all right. I'll be fine."

He nodded. "Okay, well if you don't feel like being alone just call me and I'll be right over. See ya later, Rachel."

She smiled and waved. "Good-bye, Mr. Schuester!"

Yikes, it's been a while since I gave Mr. Schuester any dialogue. But I enjoy his help getting this train moving. See you cats later!