A/N: First off, you guys are AMAZING. I posted that first chapter as a one-shot, thinking I would get 3 or 4 reviews. I never expected this level of feedback and I am just delighted! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as the first. There is a little Finn. A little Kurt/Mercedes. And, of course, Jesse St. James. Enjoy!

The First Encounter

There was no easy way to tell her parents that Jesse was back in her life but she knew she had to do it eventually. The issue was how to tell them. She went back and forth between easing them into it and just letting all hell break loose. She reckoned it was similar to removing a bandaid. It would be better for them all if she simply ripped it off. From her and Jesse's history, she did not expect her parents to react in a kindly matter to his returning to her life, but when she finally tells them, they are surprisingly levelheaded.

"Sort of figured it would happen eventually," her father sighs.

"You did?"

"I pegged it from the beginning. You two are Luke and Laura, really, you are. But remember that for all the happiness there was also a lot of pain."

Rachel does not know entirely where her father is going with this, but she moves her head up and down anyway, and it suffices. "I will remember that."

"Does this mean things are done with you and that Finn boy?" her father asks, sniffing a bit as he adds, "Never thought he was right for you, might I add. Not the brightest bulb, that one."

"We're finished," she agrees, but is quick to add, "I'm going to stay on my own for a bit, though. Jesse is just a friend now."

Her father steps forward and gently lays a hand on her shoulder. His eyes are pitiful and she shifts her own to his shoulder as she tells herself to keep her emotions in check. She slipped up showing Jesse just how much Finn's betrayal had shook her and she won't make that mistake again. "If having Jesse back in your life will make you happy, then I support it completely." She looks up at him, already feeling tears trickle down her apple cheeks. "That's all I want for you, sweetie."

ST BERRY-ST BERRY-ST BERRY

She was the one to call first. It was the same night that he gave the final apology and she was sitting in her room, feeling the events of the day pull at her again. She hadn't planned on calling him. In fact, at first she had been completely against the idea. She had made him enough of an accomplice in her isolation and she didn't think it was right to involve him anymore. He always had a way of finding the light, though, and as she sat in her room everything was dark. She was thinking of Finn and how he had been everything she wanted and yet in the end meant absolutely nothing. She thought of all the little moments that had made her feel safe and content. Now, she felt nothing.

She reached for her phone blindly and scrolled down to his number, happy in that moment that Mercedes had convinced her not to erase his number.

"This way if he texts, you get to be all "bitch please" and not respond," Mercedes had told her.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Rachel." His voice alone was enough to pull her partially from her funk and she sat up straighter in her bed and mumbled, "I really shouldn't have called you."

"Why?"

"Because I am supposed to be taking this slow."

She didn't know how her words sent a chill all the way to his toes. "What is there to take slow? We're friends."

He had a point, although parts of her body at the sound of his voice were hinting toward just how beyond friends her mind had taken them. "You're right. And friends call each other."

"Yes, they do. Meaning you should feel comfortable calling me."

"You're right," she repeated, settling against her pillow.

They had spent a good part of that night talking then. They talked about everything and she felt herself fall deeper and deeper. It was easy with him, though. There were no pregnant girlfriends or staggering personality differences.

She thinks of this as she sits in the choir room, the sound of Mercedes and Kurt's conversation a constant buzz beside her. She wonders if the club knows that her and Finn broke up. The latter hasn't shown up yet but she notices then that his usual seat is not available. Kurt is seated firmly beside her, with his legs crossed and hands folded gently on his knee. She looks over at him and when his eyes slide to hers he gives her a small, conspiring nod.

Finn comes eventually and he shows the mark of his enviable wits as he stops in front of his occupied chair and stares at it for a moment. She pointedly ignores him, even as his gaze shifts toward her. After a long moment he moves over and takes a spare seat beside Sam.

Kurt sniffs beside her and leans over as he says, "We've got your back, girl."

She feels a certain sort of warmth spread through her and she gives him a small smile. Maybe she does have friends.

ST BERRY-ST BERRY-ST BERRY

"Rachel."

She winces in front of her locker, her hand grasping the door tightly. She had thought that his silence during glee had meant he was respecting her desire for distance but she sees now that was wishful thinking. She doesn't turn toward him but this doesn't hinder him. He moves in beside her and lays his hand on an empty locker.

"I don't want to talk to you," she tells him, eyes planted firmly on the contents of her locker and not his face. She still doesn't know if she can really look at him anymore. She's too afraid of what his puppy dog eyes and familiar smile will do to her.

"We need to talk eventually."

"That's where you're wrong," she says. "I'm very good at ignoring people. I've had lots of practice on both sides of that equation."

"I was going to tell you."

She turns toward him sharply and demands, "When?"

"Well, I don't know the exact date," Finn stammers. "But I was going to tell you."

"See, that's the problem. You don't know when, Finn, because you were never going to tell me. You were going to let me go on thinking we were this perfect couple." She sighs and closes her locker, the click playing the final note of their ridiculous conversation. "I loved you, Finn. And now you've made a fool of me."

"We can get past this," Finn urges. "It's not like I betrayed you by breaing an egg over your head or something."

There is no way for Finn to know that Jesse is back in her life, but she still takes offense at his words. He is using it as an obvious cop out for his own actions and she won't allow him to use Jesse's mistake as an escape from his own. Who is he to criticize Jesse, anyway? It's not as if he hadn't pummeled her with eggs, too. Sure it had been before they knew each other-some childish football prank-but it had still hurt. "You will never be able to fix this," she hisses. "Never."

Finn is taken aback by the firmness in her voice, and thus does not follow her as she walks away. While Rachel had hoped he wouldn't follow, she still marked it in her head as yet another time that Finn Hudson had neglected to fight for her.

As she heads to her next class, her phone buzzes and all her irritation toward Finn is pushed to the side when she finds a text from Jesse. She flips open her phone and it reads:

You, me, and Barbra's One Voice.

You in?

She smiles to herself and replies:

Only if there is popcorn.

Moments later her phone buzzes.

Haven't you heard that Barbra and popcorn go hand in hand?

I'll be at your place after dinner.

ST BERRY-ST BERRY-ST BERRY

Over a meal of tofu and a mixed salad, her fathers lay down the rules for her and Jesse's burgeoning friendship.

"I know that things are platonic, but I still think it would be best if you two did not go up to your room," her father Rick says.

Jay nods his head in agreement and says, "I know I let you do that last time he was here, heaven knows why since I was in such a mood that afternoon, but bygones be bygones, for whatever reason I did. Anyway, I just don't think that is proper now."

Rachel looks between her two fathers and thinks to herself, when in the world did these two men begin to worry about what was proper? She respects them, though, and acquiesces. "Alright, I will not bring him to my bedroom."

"It's not that we don't trust you," Jay says. "Or him, for that matter."

"I don't trust him," Rick supplants.

"Alright, well I trust both of you," Jay corrects, sending his partner a look. "I just know that you two are teenagers and hormones are going crazy…"

"He will not come up to my room," Rachel says, wanting to stop her father before he got to whatever the end of that thought was.

"Good," Jay says. "Pass the tofu, honey?"

ST BERRY-ST BERRY-ST BERRY

Jesse and Rachel sit on the couch, both of them acutely aware of the men sitting in the kitchen, who seem overly interested in their shared magazine. Rachel cannot see them but knows from the hushed silence that they are listening into whatever conversation flows between her and Jesse. Both of them can feel the undercurrent of tension, the two of them feeling as if they are on some over-chaperoned setup.

Jesse leans in toward her and whispers, "This is kind of awkward."

The close proximity and his breath on her neck, make her feel all sorts of vulnerable but she doesn't show it. Instead she looks at him levelly and whispers back, "They're still a bit suspicious. They'll warm up to you soon, though. Just don't do anything stupid."

He grins. "Noted." They're quiet for a moment while Barbra sings People and then he leans toward her again and says, "I won't, you know."

"Won't what?"

"Do anything stupid." His eyes are warm and she leans in toward him instinctually. "I messed up once, Rachel, and I won't do it again."

She notices her movement toward him and pulls herself back, clearing her throat before saying, "Well, that's good."

He grins. "Besides, I like this whole being friends thing."

"Me too."

"Oh, this is my favorite song," Jesse says after a moment, the opening notes of Send in the Clowns playing. "So much emotion in it."

She tries to think if she ever told Jesse that the song was her favorite, but she can't remember any such instance. It really isn't that surprising that her song would be his favorite, though. It is only one more thing to add to the growing list of things they have in common. And that list is getting pretty damn long.

He shifts beside her and his knee brushes hers. As she steals a glance her eyes meet his and both look hastily at the screen.

Send in the clowns

Don't bother

They're here

A/N: Do you all like her dads? I think they're a hoot.

I am going to do a little selfish self-promotion here and ask you all to go and read my fic: Sit In My Corner.

It is a story detailing the St Berry reunion and then how they function as a couple. If you like St Berry-you will enjoy it. Or at least I think you will. So..please do go check it out!

And for those of you already reading it: you rock :D