CHAPTER 5:

"Rachel?"

"Hi, Daddy." she smiled softly and lowered her head. "May I come in?"

"Of course, honey." Hiram said, wrapping his arm around his daughter and leading her inside. Looking around the house, it was significantly less tidy than Rachel remembered it to be. The older man started folding papers into piles and clearing off the couch. "Why didn't you say you were coming? I would have cleaned up more…"

"I just wanted to get home." Rachel replied, taking a seat. "Is Dad at work?"

"What?"

"Dad..." Rachel repeated. "When is he coming home? I need to talk to you both."

Hiram stopped moving papers and looked over to his daughter, tears forming in his eyes. Rachel noticed his long pause and her focus went past him to the mantel. Sitting in the center was a beautifully decorated vase with pictures of her fathers on both sides. Looking back to Hiram, Rachel shook her head violently as she jumped up from the couch and ran to her room.

Opening the door, she sobbed harder. Her room had been turned into a storage area with boxes and more stacks of paper.

Hiram came up next to his daughter and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her back and forth.

Rachel pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. "When?"

"What do you mean, when?" he returned, confused.

"When did he-"

"Rachel..."

"I need to know!" she yelled. Rachel didn't care if the neighbors could hear her or that she startled her father, she needed to know what had happened to her dad.

"I-I guess it's been almost ten years now."

"Ten years…" she repeated. "How?"

Hiram sighed and rubbed his forehead. "We were driving home from visiting you in NYC. He was going on and on about how well you did and he…" Hiram paused. "About halfway home from the airport, a truck swerved into our lane and ran us off the road."

Rachel fell against the wall as she listened to her father recall the night.

"Before we hit the trees, he looked at me." Hiram whispered, holding his hand up to his chest. "I can still feel his arm going across me…"

x

Rachel tossed and turned on the couch that night, unable to believe that her dad was dead; even worse that she hadn't been home to take care of her other father since. As soon as she entered the house, she could tell that something was wrong and he wasn't the same man she remembered. Staring at the ceiling, she thought about how much time she probably missed with her dad before he passed away. She got up from the couch and walked quietly to her fathers bedroom. Pulling back the covers, she crawled in next to him and buried her face in her dad's pillow. When she realized that she wouldn't be able to breath in his smell anymore, her eyes began to fill with tears and she drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Hiram had gotten up early and started to cook breakfast. Once the aroma reached her fathers bedroom, she decided to get up and join him.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Do you ever wish you could go back, like, to another time?"

"What do you mean?" Hiram asked, furrowing his brow.

"If you could get one do over with your life, what would it be?"

"Nothing." her replied simply.

"N-not even for… Dad?"

Hiram paused for a moment and studied his daughter. "Your Dad and I spent 26 amazing years together before he passed away and while I wish I could have 26 more, I know that I can't… So I try to do what I know he would want me to do. Remember all the good times, forget the bad, and live every day as if it were my last."

Rachel looked down at her plate and then back up at her father. He looked so much older than she remembered. "I'm sorry I haven't been home."

Reaching across the table, Hiram placed his hand on Rachel's. "I know you've been busy, honey. Just never forget you're always welcome here, no matter how long it's been."

Smiling at her father, Rachel squeezed his hand. Even though she knew her older self probably thought her Dad's death was caused by her, there was no reason why she didn't go home more, especially since New York wasn't a kind place for her. Suddenly, Rachel broke down in tears.

"Honey?" Hiram said, moving a seat closer to Rachel. "Really, it's okay. You're here now…"

"It's not that, Daddy." she sobbed. "I hate my life in the city. No one likes me, Cassandra wants to fire me from Broadway for the rest of my life, even my best friend hasn't spoken to me since high school!"

"How could someone not like you?" Hiram said as he wrapped his daughter in his arms and began to rock her back and forth. "And who's Cassandra again?"

"She's a butthead!" Rachel blurted out, taking Hiram back a little. It had been a while since he heard someone call another person a butthead.

Thinking quickly, Hiram straightened his arms and looking into his daughters eyes. "How about this… Your old high school is performing their musical tonight and I think it would be good if you went."

"McKinley?"

Hiram smiled and nodded.

Rachel thought about it for a moment and decided to go. After all, for as much as she knew, she hadn't been back to high school since her graduation.

x

As the cast took their final bows on stage, Rachel finished giving them a loud round of applause before picking up her program and heading for the door. There was no way her father wasn't aware that they were doing the same musical that she was preparing for, and as soon as she got home she was going to call him on his cleverness.

Just before she reached the exit doors, she heard someone call her name from behind her. Turning around, she saw a tall gentleman running toured her with a large smile on his face.

"Rachel Berry!" he said finally as he caught up to her.

Arching her eyebrow, she tried her hardest to remember who he was so she didn't look like an even more horrible person than she already was.

"Jesse." he said with a smile. "Jesse St. James."

Rachel's eyes grew wide and she threw her arms around to hug him. He embraced her tightly, almost as if they hadn't seen each other in years. Of course, that was completely possible.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him quickly.

"I'm in charge of the music program here now." Jesse replied. "Actually, I'm in charge of all the schools in the county."

"Wow!" Rachel exclaimed. "How do you do all that?"

"It's just the musicals and plays, really. Sometimes music teachers get me to help with fall and spring choir performances, also."

"That's awesome!" she beamed. He was just as handsome as she remembered him to be, but in a mans form. "Well, it was good seeing you…" she finally said, but Jesse touched her shoulder lightly.

"C-Can I ask a favor of you?" he paused. "If you're not in a hurry…"

"Oh, I'm not. What is it?"

"Well, the whole reason why I chose to do Les Mis this year was because I heard you were performing it again on Broadway…" he began. "It would mean so much to the kids if you took a few minutes to say hi."

Rachel's eyes shined at the idea. "I'd love to!"

x

Two hours later, Rachel got back to her fathers house. Hiram was waiting up, reading a book on the chair in the living room. "How was the musical?"

"It was perfect!" she gushed, plopping down on the couch. "Those kids were so into it and their voices… Simply. Amazing."

"I'm glad you had fun." he smiled as he looked over his book at his daughter.

Rachel sat up slowly. "I ran into Jesse St. James after the show."

"Oh?" Hiram replied, this time, not looking up from his book. Rachel narrowed her eyes.

"You knew he was going to be there, didn't you?"

"Yes." he closed the book and rested it on his lap. "I called him this afternoon while you were in the shower and told him you'd be there tonight."

"Daddy!" Rachel gasped. She felt like she had been set up.

"After this morning, I could tell you needed to be reminded that you're an inspiration to so many kids…" he began, standing up. "And here you were, the happiest I have seen you since you've been home."

Rachel knew her Daddy was right. She hadn't been this happy since her assistant told her that she had found Quinn's address.

She spent one more night at her fathers house and left for New York early the next morning. During the trip, she thought hard about the fact that she may never be 13 again, and she might actually have to live the rest of her life from this point on. With new found determination, she vowed to make her first, and possibly her last, performance on Broadway her best.

x