A/N: I sort of forgot about this story due to my other one. Luckily, I have not forgotten about it entirely! Hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

The Next Four Days

Rachel sits in the choir room, tugging awkwardly at the scarf wound around her neck. She is sitting alone in the row, Santana and Brittany chatting behind her. Her eavesdropping floats in and out, generally on the outs when Brittany makes some inane remark. Mostly, she just can't stop thinking about last night. They had decided to take things slow.

"Let's not rush things," Jesse said, sitting down on her bed. "I leave in less than a week, so I think it's best if we don't take things too far."

"I agree," she said, sitting beside him.

"It's not that I don't want to, well, you know-"

"Of course," she told him quickly, nodding her head. "I know."

"Good, so…"

"Slow," she said gingerly, leaning toward him. "We can take things slow."

He nodded, face serious. "It's for the best."

"Exactly." She leaned in closer. "So…"

Their mouths met, a clash of teeth and tongue as she pressed on the back of his neck, drawing him closer. Her eyes drifted closed as he dragged his mouth down to her neck.

She tugs at the scarf again, crossing and uncrossing her legs. She can feel her entire body burn at the memory and her palms itch. She looks back hastily to see if the two cheerleaders have noticed anything remiss, but they ignore her per usual. Santana catches her looking, though, and snips, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Rachel says, turning back toward the front of the room. Clearly they have noticed nothing and if those two active girls are oblivious, than surely the rest will be. Kurt walks in, hand grasping the strap on his messenger bag, and he takes on look at her and says, "Take off the scarf."

"Wh-what?"

He sits next to her. "It is sixty degrees outside, Rachel. Meaning that it is much too warm for that fashion statement. Not to mention that you rarely make fashion statements. So, come on, let's see the damage."

Rachel sets her face into what she hopes is a neutral expression and tells him, "I don't know what you're thinking about."

He doesn't say anything and she is about to applaud herself for fooling him when he reaches forward and rips the scarf off. She yelps out in surprise, grasping at her neck before he can see.

He smirks and tells her, "Not helping your case much."

"What are you two doing?" Santana demands from behind them.

"Rachel has a hickey," Kurt answers. "And I am assuming it's from Jesse St James."

"He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Remove your hand, Berry," Santana taunts. "You're going to have to eventually."

"I will sing like this," Rachel huffs.

"No you won't," Kurt says knowingly. "Come on, Rachel, we all know you two are back together. We were at your house with him, remember? And not one of us was buying that platonic stuff."

Rachel sighs and drops her hand, blushing as both Santana and Kurt examine her neck. Kurt lets out a low whistle as Santana appreciatively remarks, "Not bad."

"What are you doing?" Puck says, his eyes travelling to Rachel's neck. "Whoah! You and Finn back together?"

"No," Rachel says weakly.

"Wait-St. Douche did this to you?"

"No more talking about this," Rachel says quickly, grabbing her scarf from Kurt and wrapping it around her neck again. "There, conversation over."

"You never let me give you hickeys," Puck gripes. She rolls her eyes and tells him, "That was because we were both using each other to get back at our exes. "

"So?"

She shakes her head and turns back to Kurt who is looking at her with a knowing grin. She frowns and snaps, "What?"

Mockingly he sings, "Reunited and it feels so good,"

"Oh, shut up."

ST BERRY-ST BERRY-ST BERRY

When she leaves practice she is surprised to find him waiting for her outside of McKinley, leaning against his car. He doesn't see her when she first walks out, his face turned down as she scrolls through his iPhone, and she takes the moment to unabashedly admire him. He looks disarmingly handsome in his leather jacket, dark hair a mess of curls.

"Guess this really means you two are dating," Kurt remarks beside her. "Picking you up from practice? Definitely makes it official."

"We aren't dating," she says. "We're-well, I don't know what we are. But he leaves in four days and-"

"Stop making excuses and go to him. You have a hot guy waiting for you. What are you waiting for?"

For once, she can't argue the validity of his advice. She gives him a little smile and walks to Jesse. He looks up from his phone and grins, stuffing the phone into his pocket. She stops in front of him somewhat awkwardly and says, "You didn't have to pick me up. There's a bus for that, you know."

"I wanted to," he answers easily.

"Oh, well, thank you."

She tugs at the scarf again as she climbs into his car and he smirks. As he slides in beside her he nods toward the scarf and says, "Sorry about that."

"They all know," she says. "Kurt made me take it off. And told me I didn't have fashion sense."

"Now that is a complete lie." He looks over at her. "So, what did they say?"

"They had fun with it, of course. Puck characteristically made it all about himself."

"What did you tell them?"

"Nothing, really," she says, shrugging.

"So you didn't say we we're…"

"We're what?" she asks immediately, turning toward him. "I mean-what are we doing?"

"Making the most of our time, right?" he says flippantly.

She turns away from him in disappointment and nods, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, that's what we're doing. Making the most of our time."

"You don't sound happy."

"I'm fine," she says, a bit too defensively. "Why wouldn't I be fine? You're leaving in four days, Jesse." Softer she adds, "What else would I expect?"

"We can stop," he offers, looking over at her for a reaction. "You know, yesterday doesn't have to happen again."

She furrows her eyebrows together and asks, "Is that what you want?"

"Rachel," he sighs. "I'm trying to figure out what you want."

"Well, I don't want to want something that you don't!"

Jesse stops at a red light and looks over at her. She is turned toward him, looking at him so intently that it nearly makes him laugh. If he had his way he would tell her that he wants to hold her and never let her go, but he can feel time slipping away. Four days. That isn't enough time to create a relationship strong enough to survive the distance. That is hardly enough to time create anything.

He shouldn't have kissed her. That was where he went wrong, and he knew it. He should have blamed the night before on her being distraught over Shelby and then slowly pulled away. It would have made things easier for both of them.

He is in now, though. He is in deep and he doesn't know if he can really get out. He wants her, craves her. That mark on her neck is his and he wants to mark her more, claim her as his own.

"Jesse," she urges, interrupting the war raging in his mind. "Do you think yesterday was a mistake?"

"Yes," he says, his voice sounding forced. Her face crumples and he says, "I mean no. I mean-God Rachel, I don't know."

"I don't think it was," she says softly. "Look, I may not be the smartest in relationships and my experience is not too extensive, but I feel something when I'm with you. I feel safe. You-you understand me. You don't try to change me or make me into someone else. You let me be myself."

He looks to her, eyes hard to read, and says, "I wouldn't want you any other way."

"So, what now?" He stalls and she says, "Come on, Jesse, don't make me say it."

"I leave in four days, Rachel," he says with some difficulty. "I just don't know if it's a good idea to start anything."

"UCLA isn't that far away."

He snorts. "It's across the country, Rachel."

"You'll be back for breaks."

"Yeah, the next one being in three months."

"And there's this thing called a phone," she presses. "I hear it can even make calls cross-country."

He chuckles. "I think I have an idea of what you want now."

"Only if you do," she says.

"Rachel, of course I do," he sighs, parking in front of her house. He turns to her. "I just think we need to consider everything that comes with that step. I don't want to act rashly and get our hopes up, only to realize that it is too much."

"Then let's talk," she says, smiling wide.

"So much for no high hopes," he murmurs.

"Give me an issue and I'll refute it."

He grins. "I don't know if four days is enough time to build something strong enough to handle the distance."

"One year plus four days," she corrects. "It's not like we just met."

"You've never been in a long distance relationship."

She narrows her eyes and says, "Neither have you."

"It won't be easy, Rachel."

"It never is," she says. "And from what I've heard, that is particularly true with my involvement."

He smiles slightly, reaching forward and brushing her cheek with his fingertips. "I don't want to risk hurting you."

"Sometimes you have to take a risk, Jesse." She covers his hand with her own and brings it down to her lap. "I'm not a kid, either. I know the risks. I know that this might not work out, but I'm willing to take the chance." She pauses, her eyes greedily taking in every facet of his face. "I don't want to have to spend another year without you."

"It won't be easy," he repeats.

"I know."

"And you'll have to buy a few more scarves."

She laughs, nodding. "I'll let you pick them out."

"So, we're doing this," he says, leaning toward her. She nods her head, leaning forward and closing her eyes as he leans his forehead gently against hers.

"No talk of the future for the next four days," she murmurs, brushing her lips against his.

"Live in our own little world?"

"Why not?" she asks with a small smile. "We'll have lots of time to focus on reality. I think we can take a four day vacation."

"Okay," he murmurs softly, cradling her face in his hands and kissing her softly. "No talk of the future."

He pulls away and she watches him pull the keys from the ignition and climb out of the door. She gathers her things and he swings the door open, helping her out. When he takes her hand, she can't help but smile. Together they walk to the house, leaving all the issues and worries behind.

Is she scared? Of course, she is. She is terrified of what will happen in four days. She is worried about all the other girls at UCLA and if her team will ever accept them together. She can only worry so much, though. And she would have the rest of her life to worry, so for today, for the next four days, she will pretend. She won't think of the future or the mounting odds against them.

She will focus on now.

On him.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed their chat. And the cameos from other New Direction members! I love putting them in here :)

Anyone else excited about the cast of Glee seeing Deathtrap tonight? I'm sort of embarrassed to say how excited I am for the forthcoming Lea/Jon pictures. haha