I don't own Glee or its original characters.

Chapter 4

Rachel zoomed back into the present – or rather, Quinn's elbow connecting with her ribs brought her back to the present.

"What?"

Not being able to hear, Rachel noticed, made it sometimes easier to mentally withdraw herself from a situation. Not that it happened willingly this time, she'd just let herself be distracted by her own thoughts and with no acoustic input or interruption, it was easier to "get lost", if she didn't keep her eyes on the group of people around her.

Where have you been the last couple of minutes? The blonde asked with her hands.

"Oh, just… reminiscing about the past, I guess," Rachel smiled. "Just thought about the final scene we shot," she added and squeezed Quinn's hand slightly after she finished signing.

Quinn waved at the group of friends. They are craving for your attention.

Rachel looked at the expectant faces of Lauren and Max.

"Sorry, got carried away."

Lauren sat up and looked at Rachel. C'mon, do tell us about the prank Tom mentioned, she requested by signing.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "You've heard it a hundred times already." She commented with her hands in parallel.

"I haven't," Max piped up from his spot on the floor, his hands raised into the air.

Their whole conversations were conducted this way. Those friends, who knew how to sign well, always did it in parallel or helped out for those who were not as firm in signing as the rest yet. But everyone was very patient with the beginners. Tom had learned a few things while working with Rachel, but since Peter was present almost all the time during the filming, it was easier and quicker for him to interpret. Still, Rachel was grateful and happy about every try and every sign someone addressed to her.

Santana caught her attention with a little peanut that came flying her way and hit her on the arm.

"Gee, Santana, stop throwing things at me. Can't you get my attention just like everybody else?" Rachel asked slightly annoyed.

The Latina shook her head. "Nah, that would be just too boring. Come on, Berry, tell the story about the prank on set already. Or wait, maybe Tom should do it! He was part of the evil doers," the Latina smirked and wagged her finger at him.

Quinn grinned while Rachel threw her hands over her face and groaned. Then Quinn pulled the brunette's hands away so she would see her hands.

"Face it honey, it happens to everyone. And it's not like you didn't know it from your previous Broadway experiences. Artistic people are always playing pranks."

"Ugh, yeah true. Once they poured vodka into a glass instead of water and when I took a sip on stage I almost had a coughing fit. But I had to keep singing." Rachel laughed, remembering. "My partner later asked me, why I was sweating like a pig during that scene."

They all had to laugh. "Did you find out who the culprit was?" Lauren asked, signing and speaking.

"I just knew from the look on my partner's face who exchanged the drinks."

"Did you take revenge?" Teresa, Santana's girlfriend asked excitedly and Kurt interpreted, because Santana was busy pouring some more wine for her friends.

"Yes I did. I poured the tiniest bit of itching powder on the costume he had to wear during the last scene. Really, it was just on a very, very small part of the clothing, but after the last scene he practically ran from stage and started scratching like a dog. He missed the first curtain call and through the rest he squirmed all the way." Rachel laughed again at the memory. She hoped that little story would distract them from the trick they played on her during filming. It wasn't that it had been embarrassing for her, not necessarily, but it had involved a huge, not so very nice picture of her, a lot of squirming and some very bad singing – which luckily she had been oblivious of .

"Did your partner ever talk to you again?" Kurt asked after he had recovered a bit from laughing.

Quinn grinned a knowing smile. "Oh yeah, he did. So much in fact that he talked Rachel into making a movie with him." She threw her thumb in Tom's direction.

"No!" Lauren exclaimed.

"Yes!" Tom laughed. "Oh, yes." Then he leaned forward and rubbed his hands together with glee.

"If Rachel is not keen on telling the story, I'm very happy to do it!"

Rachel sighed and gave a weak wave in defeat in his direction after she saw Quinn's translation.

"Ok." He looked around and Kurt nodded to signal that he would interpret for him.

"This was about two weeks after we started shooting. On that day we were working on a particular scene where Rachel's character had to have a conversation - still as a hearing person -with a friend. The problem was that she didn't see the person she was talking to and we had to work out how to give the conversation the right flow."

"Cut!" Tom got up from his chair and walked over to the set where Rachel and her acting partner were currently positioned. Rachel had noted the flash of the light and turned around.

Peter, the interpreter, followed Tom and placed himself next to him. This way Rachel would have the person who spoke in her line of vision as well as Peter's interpretation.

Tom always looked directly at Rachel when he spoke with her, which she greatly appreciated. This way she was also able to read his lips while seeing the signs out of the corner of her eye.

"Rachel, your interruption of Matt's comment always comes a bit too late. The conversation starts to sound unnatural then." He thought for a moment. "We need to find a way to get your action on the point." He tapped his chin with his finger.

Rachel bit her lip. "The problem is that I have no idea when Matt is saying something. I have the dialogue in my head, but I need a visual cue. I have my back turned towards him, because I'm preparing dinner and he sits behind me on the other side of the counter. I don't know exactly when he says the cue word where I have to interrupt him." Rachel turned towards the director.

In other scenes she could read her acting partner's lips or see a certain movement which also served as a cue. Sometimes Peter would stand as close as possible to the other person without appearing in the picture, interpreting in parallel. But in that scene neither was possible.

Having a "normal" conversation without being able to see the person was much like asking a person to walk on a white line with their eyes closed – without her being able to feel a different texture in the ground or have any other guiding support.

Rachel felt frustrated and had the feeling that Matt started to get a bit impatient. She could understand him a little. How hard can it be to have that stupid little conversation and not mess it up? They had practiced it in several dry runs before, but somehow, as soon as they were on the set, either Matt would change the pace of his part of the conversation or Rachel would inadvertently change the speed of her physical action, which also brought her out of synch with the conversation.

"Would it help if someone stood sideways to you with a little flashlight? We could quickly turn it on and off. You think you could see that out of the corner of your eye? We just have to make sure that it's not seen on screen."

Rachel shook her head once Peter had finished signing. "No, I don't think that would help me to be precise enough." She narrowed her eyes and looked at Tom.

"What?" He asked.

"I have a little device that translates spoken words into written text. I also have this kind of software on my phone if someone leaves a voice message. If I place the device in front of me, I could see what Matt says. Maybe it will work quickly enough. I don't necessarily need to read the whole sentence, it's enough to just see it and know that my part is up. You know what I mean?"

Tom nodded. "Does it only display whole sentences or does it start relaying the text while someone is still speaking?"

"Usually it starts displaying the text very close to the spoken word, so almost in parallel," Rachel answered. "There is maybe a two or three second delay. But if I see him mentioning my name, then this could fit if I interrupt him then instead of waiting until I see his whole part displayed. With the slight delay this might just be the right moment for me to speak up."

"Does the thing pick up my voice from the other side of the counter, if I'm sitting here and you are standing over there at the stove?" Matt asked sensibly.

Rachel shrugged. "Good point. I don't know. Let's try."

"Shawn!" Tom called one of his technicians over and explained the problem. "If Matt is too far away, can we enhance the reception of this thing somehow?" He held out the device that Rachel had retrieved from her bag.

Shawn turned the the small piece of equipment over once or twice and then nodded. "Yeah, might work. I can add a better microphone via this little connection jack." He pointed with his finger at the spot he meant. "I think that is what it is actually made for. It also has a microphone sign right next to it. Guess it has already been designed for places that need a stronger reception or wider range because of background noises or distance."

Rachel's eyes flicked between Peter and Shawn back and forth to understand the explanation.

"Oh." Rachel looked more closely at the electronic translator. "I actually forgot. I hardly use that thing," she shrugged apologetically.

"Give me a minute, I'll be right back." The young technician quickly walked towards his gear trunk. He came back a couple of minutes later and they found a spot where to place it so Rachel could actually see it, but the device did not appear on screen too prominently. After running a couple of test runs, it worked out to Tom's satisfaction and Rachel's comment came on cue, giving the conversation a natural flow.

"Yes, that works, let's get this on celluloid guys." Tom waved his crew back on their positions and soon they had the scene completed.

After that Rachel was scheduled for a break and she was happy to have two hours to relax. The days before had been long and exhaustive, and she still needed to do quite a lot of organizating to deal with certain situations. Even though they had discussed many things beforehand with her and the crew and how to handle things, often something came up they hadn't anticipated before.

None of the crew had worked with a deaf actress, who at times was portraying a hearing person before. It was a challenge for all of them, but whenever they got stuck, everyone pitched in with ideas to find a workable solution.

After wrapping up that scene, Rachel walked towards her trailer and reached for the door handle. When she touched it, she felt a short vibration and snatched her hand back. What the hell? She turned and looked around, but there was nobody near, there was no construction going on close by so what had caused this vibration?

After casting a suspicious look across the front of the trailer, she shrugged and cautiously reached for the door again. She pulled it open and stepped back quickly. In the same instant she made the step back, the sickening feeling in her stomach intensified and a fraction of a second later, a big banner rolled down in front of her. Rachel thought her heart stopped for a moment. She felt a squeak escape her and she clamped her right hand over her mouth.

Then her eyes landed on the writing.

GOTCHA!

Below the word was a hand that pointed at her. It reminded her of the hand on the old army advertising "We want you".

Her eyes dropped lower. Below the hand was another description:

(There is currently a rendered version of "Rain on my parade" playing at full volume sung by Matt)

And there was a photo-shopped picture of her holding her ears and scrunching up her face in disgust. She exhaled when the first shock ebbed away and ran her hand across her forehead.

A couple of days ago she had a conversation with Matt about that song exactly and which female artist had sung the best version. Matt had kept on insisting that no one sang it better than him. Even though Rachel didn't know if Matt could really sing, she doubted that his version was any close to 'good'. She had teased him about it and Matt kept on insisting until the playful conversation ended up in Rachel pointedly sticking her ears in fingers, singing "Lalalala I can't hear you, I can't hear you."

After the adrenalin ebbed away, the brunette let out a long breath and felt a smile form on her lips. She placed a hand on the door and felt it vibrate against her skin. 'It must have come from the music,' she mused, shaking her head slightly. The back of her neck started tingling and she turned around, finding most of her cast mates and crew standing around, laughing. Then her forehead started itching and absentmindedly she started to rub it. After a moment it dawned on her. She lowered her hand and smelled it.

'Oh no. He didn't!' She thought. But denial was not an option. After inspecting the door handle Rachel had confirmation. Someone had dusted it with itching powder.

The skin started tickling again and despite herself she had to laugh. "You creeps! Where have you all been hiding?" She looked around and glanced at grinning faces. "Yeah, all right! You got me!" She stated still laughing and rubbing her forehead. "And I know whom I have to thank for itching powder," she grumbled playfully in Tom direction.

Someone shouted something at her and Peter stepped forward interpreting.

Busted! We told you we'd get you with the worst imaginable scenario! Be happy you can't actually hear it!

"Haha, veeeery funny. There is at least a good part I can feel. Wait for my revenge!" With that, Rachel plastered an evil grin on her face and glared at her colleagues. With the itching powder still sticking to her hand, and Rachel forgetting not to touch any of her bare skin with it, she soon started squirming and wiggling around, when she spread the evil stuff across her bare right arm as well.

"Uuuuuh, this is hell," she whined under her breath and immediately wanted to bite her tongue.

You look like you're doing a devils dance up there. Need some help getting it washed off? Tom ask politely, wiggling his eyebrows.

Rachel just threw her hands in the air with an "Ugh!", forcing herself not to scratch anymore and spread the damn stuff further on her skin.

Secretly she was still laughing about the little prank. She had heard before that it was common to play tricks on each other on set. It was also a kind of "welcome to the team" ritual. They did the same on stage productions. Give you the wrong dress, messing up his lines or whatever.

It was also nice to know that they didn't treat her differently and playing that prank proved that the team accepted her as equal in their middle. It made Rachel's heart warm. And secretly she had been waiting for the itching powder revenge from Tom, even though she had hoped he had forgotten about it.

The only person who was missing was her co-star, Rachel noticed.

She looked at Peter and threw a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at her trailer. "Is that really Matt singing?" She asked.

He made a face and nodded. Yes! For god's sake, will you turn it off already? This is torture!

"Actually I should invite the crew into my trailer to enjoy the music a little longer," she said with an evil grin.

She raised her voice, feeling the vibrations grow stronger in her throat. This was the only way she could tell that she was speaking louder than normal. "Why don't you come all inside? And can someone get Matt please? I'm sure he must be proud that everyone can enjoy his beautiful version of that song!"

All of a sudden a burst of activity ran through the congregated group. Partly reading their lips, partly guessing from their body language and gestures Rachel figured that they all had sudden excuses why they needed to get back to their posts urgently.

"Traitors!" Rachel shouted at the backs of the crew. Tom grinned over his shoulder and waved, before ducking into the next building.

With her foot she carefully nudged the door open and disappeared into her trailer to wash the offending powder off.

"Little did we know that Rachel's revenge would hit all of us," Tom groaned and leaned back in his seat. "She bribed the facility manager to crank up the heat during one of the shoots while she wasn't on set. The guy claimed that it wasn't his fault and that he was doing his best to repair the heating system. Usually it is hot enough on set due to all the lightning and the electronic equipment, but this turned the whole sound stage into a sauna. Only when Miss Fresh and Shine waltzed into the room, looking as cool as ever, was Raymond all of a sudden able to find the 'fault' and the cooling system came back on."

Max laughed. "I didn't know you had such a mean streak."

Rachel grinned and shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, a diva's gotta do, what a diva's gotta do!"

Then she got up in a fluid motion, threw her back hair over her shoulder and sailed towards the bathroom.

Santana snorted at her friend's theatrical departure. She was happy that Rachel had found her groove again. Even though she wasn't one to easily let others into her world, Santana had suffered over Rachel's misfortune. It had hit her hard when she first had learned about what had happened. But she had known, that no matter what, she needed to help Rachel get back her bearings. Seeing her now, having worked so hard during the past two years to get her life back on track, made her very proud of Rachel and very glad to count her as a friend.

Over the course of the past years, she had come to value Rachel's opinion on more than one topic and often she had a wise word or two for Santana when the Latina was stuck. This didn't happen often and only with very few people, but with Rachel Santana shared some rare moments of truth.

The Latina glanced over to Quinn who caught her gaze. They both smiled, knowing they shared the same thoughts.

Quinn lifted her wine glass and toasted in Santana's direction.

"To friends!" She said.

"To friends and family!" Santana answered, looking around the room, taking in the sight of her friends she considered family by now.

© by Phoenix2013, 2015