I'm so sorry about the long wait but I'm bearly keeping my head above water in exams. Who ever came up with bachelors and midway exam in October? Anyways, it's also short but least it's here. I promise you that Puck wil be in the next chapter! (I'm writting it already). Enjoy :)

She didn't feel bad about it all much to her own surprise. She felt an odd sense of liberty and freedom. Joey was gone and not because he left her in a lurch sitting crying on the floor for days waiting for a sign of life. No, because she told him to. And it was kinda funny she'd thrown up in his mouth. She had stood in her kitchen for at least 15 minutes after he'd left letting the feelings of it all wash over her. She wanted to call somebody but remembered Sid had been mean and Kurt she wasn't sure she was on those kinds of terms with.

Instead she took a shower and washed it all off as she sang along with the radio. By the time she was done she had only half an hour left till she had to go. She picked out her outfit with care. The small bump was small but it was still there and with her tiny frame it could be seen easily unless she dressed just right.

On the way, she felt the excitement like she'd had when she first moved here. The possibility of making it. Every audition had been laden with that and she had always felt drained after them but not in a bad way; tired with giving it all she had but left with hope. Hope. When was the last time she'd actually hoped?

She couldn't remember but she welcomed the feeling with a tiny smile she was unable to wipe from her face.

Kurt received her with the enthusiasm of a school girl on her first date. He had told the director all about her and all she had to do was to be as awesome as she'd been the last time he'd heard her. She wondered if that was last night or back when she'd been actively singing to be in a musical. There was no time to ask as she was rushing into a piano room where Kurt started to play scales and even had her sing Do-Re-Mi to get her in the mood.

She had decided to sing "My Man" with Barbra. She knew she rocked that song and even if she'd up till lately been somewhat rusty, she knew she'd kill it. Kurt nodded in agreement when she told him.

"I cried the first time I heard you sing that song." She smiled shyly remembering her own confidence in high school. It had been blown to the moon now. She knew that life wasn't a dream but she also gathered that she was a more wholesome and broken individual now; making her more interesting and also more apt to understand the leads in most shows.

Taking the stage, she looked around. The seats in front of her and the two men sitting half in darkness watching her intently. She felt tiny and the lights were burning in her eyes.

"Hi, I'm Rachel Berry. Here for the choir part," she stated as calm as she could only barely managing to conceal her nerves.

"What are you going to sing?"

"My Man by Barbra Streisand." A grunt of bored acknowledgement was a go and she took in a deep calming breath as the piano started. This was it. She closed her eyes and pictured Noah in front of her. She wanted him to hear her but there was no way he could. But she didn't care, she sang with everything she had for him. She forgot where she was and lived and breathed the song. She might have had an inkling of the feelings back when she sang it to Finn but now she really did understand. She wanted the man to be Noah but she knew that mainly it had been Joey. She had been like that and not in a good way. She had wanted to do anything to make it work and today she puked in his mouth. It was all a bit tragic-comic when she thought about it.

As she ended the song out of breath and only just managing to hold back her tears, she looked at the two men. They were off the edge of their seats looking intently at her. She blinked and found her best smile for them. She was waiting for them to say something but it seemed she had either terrified them with being horrible or dumbstruck them with being awesome. At that moment she wasn't sure which of them she had pulled off. She was used to people getting up and cheering or a few times throwing things at her. It was an eerie silence until finally one of the men opened their mouth and with a slight cough spoke;

"Do you dance as well?"

Please leave your - hopefully - kind thoughts :)