Crime and Passion Chapter 2, a glee fanfic

a/n so chapter two. i was majorly surprised- happily so- at the response I received from the first chapter. so please continue! just to clarify i dont own glee and none of the characters in the show (except maybe jesse and rachel) know each other yet. so read and review please

songs used are I'm a survivor by Reba and Lucy by Skillet amazing songs.

Chapter 2

After finishing the small mountain of paper work taking an undercover assignment caused-i.e. delegating any other open cases she might have and other miscellaneous work- Rachel went back to her tiny one room efficacy apartment and began to pour over the file.

The New York City's Modern Acting Company recently had openings for both a male and female positions. Rachel had to admit she was impressed with the company. Not only was it one she had heard of and seen before but back when her dreams had been to be an actor it was one of the companies she looked into as a possibility. She even had gone to seen several of the companies shows. Admitably that was several years ago and she knew their actors had changed over recently. The current director William Schuester was one she had heard of and admired. He was a visionary director. Rachel dug in the back of her closet finding the old books of show tunes and sheet music she kept from her old performing days. She spread them across her desk looking for the perfect song to sing. None of the Broadway Musicals she once loved seemed to be right. That was from a different part of her life. Sighing and thrusting the sheet music aside she reached for the second box. She started flipping through the new music in front of her. An hour later she found the perfect piece. She smiled to herself, she had completely forgotten she owned this piece of music. She hadn't sang it sense her high school days. She walked over to the piano in the far corner of the room opposite of the area she dubbed the kitchen and kitty corner to the bed. Opening the music she ran through the once familiar set of vocal warm ups.

In his own slightly larger apartment Noah Puckermen sat in his living room strumming on his guitar. Damn the show choir he did in high school. Course he really couldn't complain to much he did get the girl that year. God she was hot. Red curly hair, breasts the size of grapefruits and a little dancers body she could twist in so many ways. Yep, no reason to regret that at all he smiled to himself at a particularly hot memory of Maggie O'Niel and her leg hooked over his shoulder as he drove into her. Singing and dancing had been deffinatly worth it. Turned out even he wasn't half that bad. He got a good portion of the solos and much to his own surprise he wasn't a bad dancer as long as someone showed him the steps first. Singing was even what managed to get him out of his one stop light no-name town. He'd gotten a partial music and football scholarship which sent him to New York where after a year of having no clue what he wanted to due he settled into law enforcement. And he was damn good at his job if he did say so himself. So to be perfectly honest he didn't mind this assignment as much as he might gripe about it ruining his rep. After all A) his rep was so BA nothing could ruin it and B) he kinda owed singing a lot. That didn't mean he wasn't gonna chose a totally bad ass song for his audition, he had to get the part and not look like a pansy after all.

He flipped through some of his old rock albums looking for something that was bad ass enough to make him look good yet touchy feely enough to get to what ever artsy director he had to impress. He had flipped through the file at the office earlier so he had a few ideas about what he wanted to sing. He plopped in the CD that he held in his hands and started the work of stripping the already simple sound down to just a guitar and his voice.

A week later at the ungodly hour of eight am Noah at in the theater with about twenty other hopefuls. He'd sell his left nut before he admitted he was nervous. He used the fact that this case could make his career as an excuse for. The audtion was evenly mixed between men and women. Noah found himself scanning the female half of the crowd wondering which girl was his potential partner. The higher up's decided to refrain from sharing that until after the audtions. That way if only one got in the other could pretend to be the girlfriend or boyfriend. If they both got in they could say they met at the audition. The other week Puck had moved into a low rent apartment that a bunch of the areas theater folks called home, all part of his cover story. He knew his partner would be moving in sometime soon or already had, he wasn't sure.

The first name was called and a young girl, she couldn't be older than nineteen, sang a rather poorly done version of RENT's Out Tonight. After her another woman did a fairly decent performance of Kelly Clarksons Break Away.

After the first two girls Puck began to tune them out and focused on his own song, he wanted to nail it. Puck came out of his concentration when the director came back on the stage and said "Ok, our final female performer is Rachel Berry, Rachel, you here?"

Pucks head jerked up. Where did he know that name? Ah shit! His friend James did a case with another precients organized crime unit and told him all about an annoying tiny bombshell of a dectective. He took a good look at the women climbing on the stage. She was dressed in a skirt barely the width of a headband and wore what the gals he worked with would describe as sensible heels. There was nothing sensible about them. They were at least three inches tall. Plus she didn't look old enough to be on the force, hell the kid that went first looked older than her.

Rachel stepped on to the stage and took the mike from the director. She nodded to the sound booth to start playing the instrumental CD she brought with her. She closed her eyes as the familiar chords washed over her.

I was born 3 months too early
The doctor gave me 30 days
But I must have had my mama's will
And God's amazing grace
I guess I'll keep on livin
Even if this love's to die for
Cuz your bags are packed
And I ain't cryin
Your walkin out and I'm not tryin
To change your mind
Cuz I was born to be

Rachel ignored how good it felt to be on a stage again. That was her past. This case was her future. Instead she put on her best acting smile and belted out the lyrics with all she had.

The baby girl without a chance
A victim of circumstance
The one who oughta give up
But she's just too hard headed
A single mom
Who works 2 jobs
Who loves her kids and never stops
With gentle hands
And the heart of a fighter
I'm a survivor

For the second verse Rachel looked directly out on the stage and started walking forward punctuating each word with a step.

I don't believe in self pity
It only brings you down
May be the queen of broken hearts
But I don't hide behind the crown
When the deck is stacked against me
I just play a different game
My roots are planted in the past
And though my life is changing fast
Who I am is who I wanna be

Oh a single mom
Who works 2 jobs
Who loves her kids and never stops
With gentle hands
And the heart of a fighter
I'm a survivor

But I must have had my mama's will
And God's amazing grace
(I'm a survivor)

She belted out the last note with everything she had satisfied she nailed the song. She bowed to the slight applause and handed the director the mike back before going to her seat. She paid close attention to the male performers. Several of them were quite good but one stood out better than the others for her.

The man took an old wooden stool and set it in the center of the stage putting on his guitar. He was quite physically attractive, slightly tanned skin and very muscled broad shoulders. Yes he was very attractive.

He began to strum a rock sounding song from his guitar before starting to sing.

Hey Lucy, I remember your name
I left a dozen roses on your grave today
I'm in the grass on my knees,
wipe the leaves away
I just came to talk for a while
I got some things I need to say

He sang quietly but strongly his fingers flirting over the guitar strings.

Now that it's over
I just wanna hold her
I'd give up all the world to
see that little piece of
heaven looking
back at me
Now that it's over
I just wanna hold her
I've gotta live with the choices I made
And I can't live with myself today

He would look up every now and then but for the most part he kept his head bent down over the guitar appearing to sing to someone not in the room as if his words would fly to her.

Hey Lucy, I remembered your birthday
They said it'd bring some
closure to say your name
I know I'd do it all different
if I had the chance
But all I got are these roses to give
And they can't help me make amends

Here we are
Now you're in my arms
I never wanted anything so bad
Here we are
For a brand new start
Living the life that we could've had

Me and Lucy walking hand in hand
Me and Lucy never wanna end
Just another moment in your eyes
I'll see you in another life
In heaven where we never say goodbye

Here we are, now you're in my arms
Here we are for a brand new start
Got to live with the choices I've made
And I can't live with myself today

Me and Lucy walking hand in hand
Me and Lucy never wanna end
Got to live with the choices I've made
And I can't live with myself today

Hey Lucy, I remember your name

After he sang the auditon when fairly quickly for Puck. He knew he rocked his song and the dancing and line reading they did went well to. Now all he had to do was wait to see if he was in and finally meet his partner. He hung around after the audition while chatting with a few of the other people there. He than went home to pour himself a cold beer and wait.

Rachel to went home right after the audition. Pouring over the case file once again she tried to connect any dots that would make this trip back into the world of music and theater any shorter. After all she was Rachel Berry, if there was a way she'd find it.