Ok another one because I love you all so much...REVIEW!

Chapter Twelve

Rachel thumbed through her script. The cast were taking a short break whilst Mr Schue and Miss Pillsbury worked on the scenes they shared together, as the Adult Man and Adult Woman.

'Hey.'

Rachel spun around upon hearing the soft voice behind her. She saw Quinn standing there, looking sympathetic. 'Hey,' she replied quietly.

There was a short pause as Quinn fumbled with her script. 'Rachel, can we talk? About – what happened?' she asked. Rachel nodded. 'Ok. After rehearsal?' she suggested and Quinn agreed.

Rachel walked over to Kurt, who was sitting alone. He was probably still sad after what had happened at Breadstix earlier. Meanwhile, she noticed Jesse going towards Quinn. They greeted each other with a hug and Rachel tried to ignore the ache in her chest. She turned away. Kurt needed her.

'Are you ok?' she asked gently, putting her arm around his shoulders. He leaned into her and Rachel breathed in Kurt's relaxing scent of sweet vanilla, hair wax and Marc Jacobs cologne. 'I don't know', he replied. 'Blaine texted me saying that he didn't feel well, and he was going home,' he told Rachel. She didn't see why this was a terrible problem – unless he'd encountered the Ebola virus or something – but Kurt was clearly upset so she comforted him. 'Well…you'll see him tomorrow. Or, even better, go pick up some soup and take it to him tonight,' she suggested. But Kurt shook his head.

'That's not the problem. The problem is that I called Blaine's mom to ask how he was doing, and she didn't know what I was talking about. As far as she's concerned, he's at rehearsal. I covered for him, but…Rach, he lied to me. About being sick. And I just – I just can't shake the feeling that something terrible is happening,' he said, his voice quivering. Rachel pulled him into a hug and comforted him, told him everything was fine, that nothing was going on. But as she glanced around and noticed that Sebastian was also absent, she found it hard to believe what she was saying.

'Ok guys, we're doing The Word of Your Body Reprise, then Whispering,' Will ordered. 'Jesse, could you take charge of this scene? I have to make a call – or else we don't have a set,' he explained. Jesse nodded as Will left the room. 'Alright then. Puck, Kurt, you're up,' he said. The two boys stood up, Puck a little reluctantly. They sat down next to one another in the performance space. 'I am not down with this,' Puck complained. Jesse sighed and Kurt rolled his eyes. 'Puck, doing this scene, playing this part; it doesn't make you gay,' Jesse told him wearily. 'By being so scared of kissing me, by being so uncomfortable; it just makes it more likely that you're secretly gay,' Kurt said teasingly.

'Whatever, dude. I'm straight,' Puck insisted. 'Well the straightest thing you could do right now would be to kiss him,' Santana said, her eyes glinting wickedly. 'With tongue,' Brittany added. 'I agree with Santana,' Jesse said, trying to stop himself from grinning. A chant started up around the room; 'kiss him, kiss him, kiss him,' everyone thundered. Puck groaned. 'Alright, fine, I'll kiss Hummel. But only if all you other guys do it too,' he challenged.

Rachel watched as the other guys in the room – Mike, Sam and Jesse – all glanced at each other, nodding in silent agreement. 'Ok, cool,' Mike said, going over to Kurt and pressing their lips together. They kissed for a few seconds, once Kurt was over his initial shock at Mike's directness, then separated. A few people cheered, then Mike walked to Tina and kissed her. 'Yep,' he said, pulling his girlfriend close, 'I'm straight,' he said. Rachel liked Mike's easy going, straight-but-not-narrow, chilled attitude.

Next, Jesse strode to Kurt, tugging the smaller boy up to stand facing him, then kissed him. This kiss was longer, both boys not uncomfortable at all. Jesse's hand caressed Kurt's cheek briefly as he broke the kiss. 'Nice tongue action, Hummel,' Jesse complimented, making Kurt blush. 'You looked like you enjoyed that, St James,' Santana said. Jesse laughed, not admitting his sexuality but not denying it either. Rachel figured that this would be a good way for her to handle things in awkward situations in the future.

'So I guess it's my turn?' Sam asked. Everyone nodded. 'Ok then,' he said, trying to appear calm as he approached Kurt, who actually looked a little nervous now. Sam stood in front of Kurt, and the two stared at each other for a moment. Then Kurt slowly leaned upwards to brush their lips gently. Sam pulled away for a tiny moment. Rachel heard Kurt murmur something just for Sam to hear, and then Sam put his hand on Kurt's cheek and kissed him. This was the longest kiss of all. The rest of the cast watched as Kurt's hands tangled in Sam's hair, and Sam's hands drifted south to rest on Kurt's waist. The kiss deepened and became more intense. Then they seemed to realise that they were in a room full of people and stepped apart. The room was silent, everyone staring at the two of them. 'Well,' Jesse said after a long moment. 'Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get on with the scene,' he said. Sam quickly exited the performing area and sat with Mike at the edge, who looked curiously at his friend. Sam stared at the ground, not meeting anyone's eyes. He was clearly gay; Rachel could see it plain as day.

The scene was fine. The two boys actually worked well together, playing off each other brilliantly. The kisses went off without a hitch. 'That was great, guys, well done,' Jesse said. 'You ok, Puckerman? Still straight as an arrow?' Santana teased. Rachel was expecting Puck to make a sarcastic comment that he'd just pictured Kurt as a Kardashian or something, but what he said surprised everyone. 'It's different. When you're doing the scene. Cos, I was Hanschen. And Hanschen wanted to kiss him. It felt right, in the moment, because we weren't Puck and Kurt; we were Hanschen and Ernst, you know? I have no desire to kiss you now – no offence,' he said to Kurt. 'Likewise,' Kurt replied. 'Well,' Jesse said, glancing at his watch, 'due to our little homo erotic detour, we're out of time. We can do Whispering tomorrow,' he told Quinn, who nodded. The cast gathered up their things to leave.

Rachel went to Kurt. 'Are you ok? Four guys in one afternoon,' she said, grinning. Kurt smiled. 'Yeah. It was…interesting,' he murmured. At that moment, Jesse walked towards them. 'Nice work today, Kurt. Sorry you had to put up with Puck's demands,' he said, Kurt shrugging in response. 'I'll see you guys tomorrow,' Jesse waved goodbye as he left.

'I'm going home, too. I need pasta and I need ice cream and I need Moulin Rouge,' Kurt said. Rachel hugged him goodbye. 'I'm sure there's nothing to worry about,' she said for the umpteenth time that day, but still not convincing anyone. As Kurt left, Rachel's heart sank as she realised it was now time for the thing she had been dreading all day. Quinn.

-x-

The two girls sat in a quiet café, close to where Quinn lived. There was silence as they sipped their lattes. Rachel finally spoke. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything to you', she began, but Quinn cut her off. 'God, no. Don't keep your feelings hidden. It's no different to a guy telling me he loves me,' she told Rachel. 'Well I shouldn't have kissed you,' she apologised to Quinn. 'First of all, I kissed you, I initiated it. And I'm not sorry we kissed, but I do need to apologise – for the way I handled things afterwards,' Quinn said. Rachel nodded. 'It hurt, Quinn. I'm not gonna lie. But I get it. Don't beat yourself up about it,' she assured her. 'I'm sorry. You were so brave,' Quinn told Rachel, giving her a small smile.

'Alright, enough with the depressing talk! Tell me about you and Jesse,' Rachel said, forcing herself to look happy. Luckily Quinn couldn't see through her façade – no-one could – and she proceeded to tell Rachel everything. 'Well, I can't tell you everything he told me – it was kinda private – but let's just say that Jesse has some skeletons in his closet that make me uncertain about dating him,' Quinn confessed. Rachel nodded. 'And it's not like my past is flawless. Pregnancy. Adultery, more than once. Being a total bitch to just about anyone. I've changed, it's in the past and everything, but still. It's no wonder he says he's still thinking,' she continued.

Rachel sighed. 'Look, Quinn. If he really likes you, he'll be able to see past all of that. I know I could. And if you really like him, you'll be able to look past his faults too,' she told her bluntly, before continuing, 'and besides, he was at my place last night and from what he said to me – I think you have a pretty good chance it will work out,' Rachel said. Quinn nodded and they sipped in silence for a few minutes. 'Thanks, Rach. This was really great,' she said, smiling. There was still awkwardness between them; of course there was. This time yesterday, they'd been rolling around in their bras making out. But, like most things, Rachel knew that time would make it better.

-x-

The next day, only Rachel and Blaine were needed for the morning, to work on Don't Do Sadness and Blue Wind. Rachel had texted Blaine the previous evening, telling him to meet with her at the Lima Bean for breakfast. They were friends, after all, so Blaine would have no reason to suspect that she was actually intending to grill him about Sebastian.

'Hey Rach,' he said upon his arrival. 'Hello Blaine,' she said coolly. 'What's up?' he asked her. 'Well Blaine, let me put it this way,' Rachel said, placing her cup on the table. 'It is one thing to look at other men and fantasise about them, but it is quite another to cheat on your boyfriend,' she said firmly. Blaine shifted in his seat, his eyes flickering all over the café, and Rachel knew that she was right; he was, indeed, cheating on Kurt.

'You have several options, here. You can tell Kurt everything, and see what happens. But I know for a fact he'd take you back as long as you apologised properly, and stopped this little affair you're having. You can end things with Kurt and do whatever you want, but that will break him. Or you can leave Ohio and run away but that's a little too dramatic for you. But, Blaine, the one thing you can't do is to do nothing. You can't let things carry on the way they are. Kurt's unhappy. And I'm pretty certain you're unhappy,' she told him gently. 'Come on, Blaine. Are you really willing to lose Kurt? Sebastian's not worth it,' Rachel coaxed. 'How did you know it was Seb?' he asked her, eyes wide in shock. 'It was blatantly obvious,' she told him. Blaine sighed.

'I guess you're right,' he told her. Rachel nodded. 'I'm always right,' she murmured. 'So. What are you going to do?' she asked him. Blaine replied after a moment. 'I have to break up with Kurt. We've been drifting apart for a while now. Things haven't been good for a long time. I know you're his friend and everything so you probably hate me – but I can't do this with him, not anymore. I know that cheating on him is inexcusable but I…I can't be with Kurt. Besides,' Blaine said, 'He's been staring at Sam one too many times, I mean, not like he has a chance with him, but still. It's not fair to either of us when we are both preoccupied with other men,' he explained.

There was a long silence until Rachel broke it. 'I agree with you. Neither of you should stay in this unhappy area. Maybe you guys just aren't meant to be,' she said. 'Are we still friends?' Blaine asked hesitantly. Rachel nodded. 'Of course we are,' she said, and they smiled at one another. 'So you missed a pretty interesting rehearsal yesterday,' she said, and proceeded to fill him in on yesterday's events.

-x-

'That's great, Blaine, but you're not detached enough. You need to be, like, as if you're not really here,' Jesse explained to him. Mr Schue was absent – again – so Jesse was directing this scene. Blaine nodded thoughtfully as Jesse continued, 'hold it all in until it becomes too much to bear, then let it rip when the music starts,' he told him. 'Ok,' Blaine said.

'Great. And Rachel, you need to act more chilled out, more free. Hold yourself more loosely – Ilse's a Bohemian, she's pretty liberal. She doesn't agree with the strict standards set by society; I mean, come on, she's wearing a shirt – a man's shirt – and nothing else. In another generation, she'd be a hippy running around in her underwear, having sex and getting stoned,' Jesse tried to explain to Rachel, who was Ilse's polar opposite. She nodded. 'Think more like Santana,' Blaine whispered to her, making Rachel laugh. 'Ok, ok. From the top, guys,' Jesse said, grinning.

'The top? I couldn't agree more. After all, that was your favourite position,' drawled a voice behind Rachel, a man's voice. She had her back to him, but this man had made Jesse's mouth drop open in shock. She turned around. 'Johnny. What are you doing here?' Jesse asked, his voice shaking.

There was a tall man stood in the doorway. He wore an Indiana Jones t-shirt. His hair was tousled. His lips were curled into a teasing grin and his eyes were flaming with lust as he stared at Jesse. Rachel and Blaine looked at one another, confused. 'This rehearsal is over,' Jesse said, storming out. Johnny followed him. Rachel heard shouts in the hallway, then silence, then quiet talking, then finally the slam of the door. They'd left.

Ok so you'd better REVIEW if you want to find out what happens next!