Ok, soooo… This isn't the last chapter after all. It's kind of short but I'm going away until Tuesday and I just wanted to make this quick update, because can't promise the final chapter before Thursday. Anyway, hope you have a nice weekend and thanks for the lovely reviews, I'm still amazed that someone reads the St. Berry fantasies I just write down :D

Rachel was sitting in her room, on her bed, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, sipping on water and snacking on chips (which Rachel Berry never does, so this meant she really was feeling depressed), while watching old videos of her performances, trying to get herself into game-shape. Of course, Rachel had a video of every performance she'd ever given. One day those tapes would cost a lot of money, ET would be calling, wanting to purchase them so they could share it with the whole world. And watching herself usually got her feeling confident, plus she could examine every little detail she did and correct a mistake or improve something. Rachel could evaluate her performance, later tweeking it to perfection, which it almost always was, she had to admit.

Rachel had just finished watching her 2006 talent show, where she sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, one of her favorite musicals. Little Rachel Berry was still amazing for her age, the 12 year old had a voice that impressed the judges and scared the other contestants shitless. The next performance up was one from a 2008 local singing competition, where she came in 1st place, naturally. The song she was singing was "Taking Chances" by one of her idols, Celine Dion.

Don't know much about your life.
Don't know much about your world, but
Don't want to be alone tonight,
On this planet they call earth.

But what do you say to taking chances,
What do you say to jumping off the edge?
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay,
What do you say,
What do you say?

Rachel started tearing up as she was watching a younger version of herself sing something she truly believed in. Her performance seemed so true, so genuine, she was actually enjoying what she was doing. She once was so hopeful, so willing to take chances. What happened to this young dreamer? She always had dreamed of meeting someone like Jesse, someone who would make her want to take chances, someone who could make her get excited about the littlest things. And why did nowadays everything seem to remind her of Jesse? Every song she heard, every movie she watched, random things people said got linked to him for some reason.

I just want to start again,
And maybe you could show me how to try,
And maybe you could take me in,
Somewhere underneath your skin?

What do you say to taking chances,
What do you say to jumping off the edge?

Unwillingly, Rachel's tears started to slowly come down her cheeks. What had become of her and why was she so miserable? She had her whole future ahead of her, and a bright one, too. She was about to win her first Regional Championship, leading her on to Nationals. She had people from Julliard schmoozing her to come to their school. Everything was simply perfect. But there was little to no excitement in it, Rachel, being the drama queen that she was, wanted something more to risk. She liked a good challenge.

Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay,
What do you say,
What do you say?

While Rachel was crying and getting lost in her thoughts and dreams, Shelby was passing her room and sensed that something wasn't right. She opened Rachel's door, only to see her daughter sitting on her bed, crying and watching old videos.

"Honey, what's wrong?" She quickly ran over and sat next to Rachel on her bed.

A startled Rachel looked up at her mom and wiped her tears. "Nothing. I'm just, uhh, getting ready for the competition."

Shelby raised one eyebrow skeptically "Rachel, dear, stop embarrassing yourself. What's really bothering you?"

"I just never knew that a broken heart could feel so very dreadful." Rachel finally admitted after taking a small pause.

"Oh, baby, come here," Shelby sighed took a sobbing Rachel in her arms, cuddling her, "I know how you feel, really."

"You do?"

"Of course. Why do you think I've been trying to prevent this from happening to you for so long? You know, my first love was in high school, too. Ricky Andrews…" Shelby smirked, as her mind drifted off in memories of high school.

"How come I've never heard about that?" Rachel asked. What she really wanted to ask was "why the hell have we never had this kind of talk before?" since she was a little surprised her mother was being so soft with her right now.

"Because it's an unpleasant memory. We were so in love…or at least I thought we were. We were perfect for each other, it was like a match made in heaven, both being young, ambitious and talented. My mother kept warning me that he seemed like trouble, which he ended up being. He broke my heart and left me because some boy band asked him to join them in LA. And since then I decided that I wouldn't let myself be heartbroken again, it was too painful. So I devoted myself to my work and was determined to make it big so I could eventually rub it in Ricky's face."

"What happened to him?"

"I honestly don't know, haven't seen him since. I'm guessing that means he didn't really become a superstar." Shelby chuckled.

Rachel didn't laugh but she gave a forced smile.

"I know it seems like it's too much to bear and it's hard a hell but just take it day by day – eventually you'll be yourself again. Look at that girl," Shelby pointed at the TV, where the judges were presenting Rachel with a trophy for 1st place, "she's a star and she knows that she's going to really shine one day. She won't let some boy or anybody bring her down."

Rachel finally had a sincere smile on her face.

"Now come on, we have practice in an hour, and I have some inside information about the judges." Shelby said, as she got up and left.

Rachel realized that her mom wasn't really that bad, she was just trying to protect her from making the same mistakes she did. She really admired her mother's determination, and that was what gave her that little nudge to get up and get ready for practice. She turned off the TV and took a look at her trophy shelf and smiled. Rachel Berry would shine one day, big and bright.

Jesse was sitting alone in the McKinley choir room after glee practice, playing the piano. He needed to clear his head, it was full of thoughts about Regionals, school, his teammates, Saint James and worst of all, Rachel Berry. He was already getting tired of thinking of her, of dreaming that they could get back together and act as if all of this never ever happened. He was sick of wishing that it was Rachel singing in glee club with him, not Quinn. Singing with Rachel now had completely ruined singing with anybody else ever again, no way would the chemistry be there and no way would anybody's voice sound as good as hers did together with his. And it was her own fault that she let him in so far, he was a part of her now, whether they liked it or not. He could trigger a part of Rachel Berry that no one else could, and vice versa.

Jesse had unconsciously started playing "Hello", when he was interrupted by 3 Vocal Adreninites – Giselle, Paul and some other girl that he recognized but had no clue what her name was.

"Hey, St. James! We need to talk." Giselle said, as she skimmed the room, as if she was expecting some kind of pig to start running free or something, it was clear she was trying to make herself look as if she found this place horrendous and thought she would get swine flu.

"What are you guys doing here? Aren't you trespassing? And what could you possibly have to say to me?" Jesse replied.

"Listen, if you think you still have some kind of shot with Rachel, forget it." Paul said.

"And why is that?"

"I really can't understand how you still don't get it. SHE WAS PLAYING YOU! It meant nothing, and now we all laugh about it in practices. She tells us your lame little stories and it's absolutely hilarious. So stop drooling over her and accept that you got owned." Giselle said and the three of them turned around and headed off.

Jesse just continued sitting by the piano, he didn't even do them the courtesy of getting up, and also, he was a bit baffled.

"Oh, and say hi to your Care Bear collection for me." Giselle gave a last remark and they were out the door.

Ouch, that hurt. No, really. And not just the Care Bear part. Sure, it had hurt when Rachel said it herself, but now she had her teammates do it for her, too? Was she really that determined to get him out of her life? Jesse suddenly felt so stupid for even thinking that they might be able to work things out, because there was nothing to work out. Rachel had been using him and now, finally, he had confirmation of that – Vocal Adrenaline had been behind it all along.

What Jesse didn't know was that they actually hadn't been behind it at all. Shelby had sent Giselle, Paul and that other girl, who no one even bothers to call by her name, to McKinley High to speak to Jesse. Shelby was feeling a little anxious about this whole situation – she couldn't afford having Jesse ruin Regionals with some romantic gesture to get Rachel back. The three of them really weren't sure why they had to do it, but they did agree with Shelby that something was wrong with Rachel, she just seemed off her game and they could have none of that, especially now, right before Regionals.

"Jesse, sorry for taking so long. You ready to go?" Mr. Schue said, as he came in the choir room, ready to go home. Once he saw the look on Jesse's face he continued questioning him, "Hey, everything alright?"

"Uhh… Yeah. I was just having an epiphany. People really are ruthless when it comes to winning, sometimes."

"Are you talking about our team or a certain brunette from Vocal Adrenaline?"

"No, I don't think anyone on our team could ever be that cruel. Ok, if anyone, then maybe Tina. But even she has a heart deep, deep down."

"Well, you know son, that's what the world is like. Somehow some people have come to the conclusion that success is everything and they don't care who they have to crush to get it. All we can do is play fair and hope for the best. What good is it making it to the top if you don't have a clear conscience?"

Jesse didn't reply but it was clear that he was lost in thinking about this. He did agree, though he usually said that aside from nudity and cruelty towards animals, he was willing to do anything to break into the business. But now he realized that this wasn't true, he could never use someone so terribly, if he were to win, he would win fair.

"What Rachel did was wrong, I'm sure she knows it, too. But I don't want you to try and get revenge on her, take the high road. Show her she missed out on a good thing and leave it at that." Will Schuester remarked, before turning to the door.

Jesse agreed and they both went home, with Regionals only 42 hours away. What Mr. Schuester didn't know was that Jesse had decided that he would personally confront Rachel one last time.