Author's Note: I'm extremely sorry this took so long. It's because I've been hoping to find a beta for it because I didn't want it to go up without a second opinion. I had to edit it myself now though so all faults are my own. Plus I had a hard time with this one, it doesn't flow so well and I would appreciate every honest opinion on this chapter!

Thank you so much for your patience!

Chapter Ten

Contrary to what Rachel had expected, the three weeks until their flight to New York went by in the blink of an eye. While time had seemed to stretch out like a rubber band before, the weeks it took from Sam telling her about the internship to standing at Heathrow with two gigantic suitcases snapped by as if they were nothing. She knew it was mostly because she was so excited and that packing up most of her life in London while taking care of getting her visa and squeezing in as many meet-ups with her friends as possible, filled her days with constant action.

After all six months were a long time to be away from everything…and who knew if she would even come back after that. The airport was stuffed with tourists and unlike the last time she'd been there, crushed and annoyed with every happy face she saw, now she beamed at everyone and everything as she checked her bags in, Sam by her side and her friends and family standing by to bid their farewells.

They had another hour to spare before they had to get through customs so they went to have dinner at a Thai Deli in the mall area, Mercedes and Sugar toppling over with things Rachel absolutely had to do when she was in New York and Kurt gushing in stereo about all the great designers that had exclusive shops there and that Rachel better make some good money to do serious shopping.

Tina, however, nibbled on her noodles, her whole posture hunched, like she was a deflating balloon. "I'm sorry," Rachel whispered, so that only she could hear.

"It's alright, you got a big chance there and Blaine, I get it," Tina replied. "I'm just gonna miss you, you know?"

"I'm gonna miss you more, you're my Panda Princess after all. I don't even know what to do without you," Rachel said and affectionately brought her arm around Tina's shoulders, quite helpless faced with her friends glossy eyes. If Tina started crying, she would cry too, so much was sure.

"I'll visit, I promise," Tina vowed, swallowing hard and doing her best to compose herself.

"You have to"

With Rachel's best friend so distraught, the others seemed to pull themselves together. Kurt, Mercedes and Sugar were very collected, her Dads seemed happy that she was getting work experience in a "solid" work field and her Mom, well, she was over the moon and going on and on about Broadway and that Rachel should try to see as many shows as she could.

Where, in the past, everyone had been on Rachel's case about finding something economically wiser to do than acting, Shelby had been the only one encouraging her to go for her big dreams, learning lines with her, singing and helping tirelessly. Rachel knew she hadn't directly disappointed her when she chose to study Publishing but she knew that her Mom still thought she should keep on working towards the stage, to follow in her footsteps, joking that the part of Elphaba at the West End was practically sitting there, waiting for Rachel Berry to take it on. To embody the role that had made her mother famous. As they all finished and went to walk Rachel and Sam to customs, Rachel stuck to her Mom, feeling a wave of sadness about leaving her. She realized that – although she would dearly miss everyone else – she would actually be pained with not being close to her Mom.

Growing up, she didn't see her all that much, just when her Dads visited the theater and when Shelby would bring her to rehearsals. Still when they'd been together, her Mom was like her best friend, she didn't discipline her like her fathers did, she took her out to do all these girly things which were just awkward doing with her Dads. She remembered going bra shopping with her Dads once, a memory so excruciatingly embarrassing she flinched just thinking about it. Shelby had taken over after hearing about it. When Shelby excited the active stage work and started teaching, she made more time for Rachel and quickly became her biggest confidante.

Her Mom was her compass, the one she could always run to, the one person in the universe that would always have her back and leaving her behind was decidedly the hardest thing about her move to NYC. She hugged her the longest, after everyone else, smelling her hair and the familiar whiff of Betty Barkley perfume, wishing she could just tuck the woman into her handbag and bring her along.

"Call me anytime, Honey," Shelby said, definitely feeling her daughter's reluctance to let her go. "No matter what time, no matter how often, okay?"

Rachel nodded, not trusting her voice to speak anymore and they parted, Shelby bringing both her hands to her shoulders, squeezing encouragingly.

"You'll be just fine," she promised, grinning with what Rachel read as beaming pride. "Just look at you, heading out into the big, big world."

Rachel's Mom nudged her daughter's chin up with her thumb, her golden arm rings rattling familiarly and it took Rachel back to a million little moments when she had done the same. Ballet recitals, school productions, Rachel's fist time as an Extra in theater, school tests and every last acting audition, every time her Mom had been there, nudging her chin up so she would stand tall and proud.

"And smile," her Mom would say then and she did now in a way that Rachel couldn't help but obey. "There you are!"

They lingered for as long as they could after that, Rachel hugging everyone once again, before Sam got too impatient and urged her on. She could hardly pry herself away but finally Sam won and dragged her away, accompanied by well-wishes and very many promises to keep in touch.

Hardly noticing her way through customs and boarding the plane, Rachel's head was still with her family and friends. However, when Sam took her hand as the plane was set into motion and headed to the runway, she snapped out of it, hit by a whole new array of emotions. The most prominent was blind excitement, seeing Blaine again was the silver lightning to all of her endeavors, even when she hadn't known that she would see him again at all, just the thought of being close to him again had done wonders to lift her mood. It had been daydreams then, mindless thought constructs and scenes she'd made up in her head stemming from desire and yearning and fueled by their tragic fate. Now everything was different. Knowing, that she was mere hours away from seeing, from feeling him again for real sent her into a tailspin.

She wanted to hug everyone near her with pure joy, screaming from the top of her lungs that she was so close, so so close to the most wonderful guy of the planet. Surely, in the back of her mind she worried a bit because, although Blaine was amazing on all her accounts, she had never, in fact, spent a longer portion of time by his side and they were supposed to live together, just like that. Sleeping in one bed, living each day like a married couple and that scared her but she chose not to think about it. She preferred to be excited, to look forward to feeling his arms around her again. If there was reason to worry, she would worry then. Now was not the time.

Now, she looked out the window, watching the ground shrink underneath her, and she felt reminded of the game Risk, where you saw everything from way up above, and thought of what she left behind and what was ahead of her. First of course, Blaine and then the job at the Publishing House. She wasn't really sure what to make of that yet, she was excited, yes, because she liked publishing, her studies, albeit something of a second choice, had been interesting and she could see herself working in that field. But a sense of unease lingered. She heard her Mom in the back of her head, telling her she was too good not to try out for acting schools but what was she to do? This internship meant New York and New York meant Blaine and she couldn't have let that opportunity pass. Maybe she was sacrificing a big shot at home for this new adventure but she refused to regret the choice she made. Meeting Blaine had turned her whole neat world upside down and that had to count for something. She needed to try it, she owed it to her heart.

She nodded to herself in resolve when Sam put on his headphones and selected a movie to watch. Rachel thought about doing the same but she had Blaine on her mind – and a particularly sweet memory that she wanted to linger on for a while. Every other kind of distraction faded, pale in comparison to the scene playing in the back of her mind. She closed her eyes, snuggling deeper into her seat and thought back, making the images come back to life from recollection.

A week after Rachel had learned about the internship, she had opted to stay in on a Friday night when Sam was out and skyped with Blaine instead. He was happy as a clam and told her about a multitude of New York activities he'd had in mind for her, he had so much planned for them that she had to slow him down a bit and remind him that she was going to work 9 to 5 most days. This didn't quell his enthusiasm by much though, she doubted anything could at this point. She felt exactly the same way so she couldn't blame him.

"Are you going to pick me up at the airport? With flowers and all that jazz?" Rachel quipped, grinning as she hooked one leg under to sit more comfortably on her chair.

"Of course and when I see you get out of arrivals, I will run to you in slow motion and twirl you around in the cheesiest possible way," Blaine declared with a glint in his eye.

"It's gonna be so epic," Rachel laughed light heartedly. Everything was so much easier these days, laughing, joking and simply getting through the day. With an impending reunion rather than the sting of separation over their heads this wasn't a surprise.

"Totally RomCom," Blaine agreed with a smirk, as easily happy as she was.

"Oh, I don't care for these kinds of movies," Rachel interjected, chin high with the most superior Oxford accent she could produce. "I much prefer foreign art films, with lots of black and melancholia."

"You hate art films," Blaine stated with certainty, even though they had never really covered that topic before. He just knew.

"I do," Rachel admitted with a defeated wobble of her head. "I absolutely loathe art films. I will never not wonder how can people enjoy them? They confuse me and in the end everyone dies and I'm depressed. Call me crazy but I watch movies to make me happy not miserable"

"Hey, I'm not judging you," Blaine promised.

"Yes, because you like car chase movies," she scoffed, remembering his feverish hymn on The Fast And The Furious 1 to 4 some earlier conversation.

"Well, I'm a guy, I'm all about hot cars and fast women – I mean…," Blaine joked and Rachel guffawed joyfully.

"So you like your women fast, huh?" she asked, raising her eyebrow playfully.

"I'm very much open to any pace, my love," Blaine replied, lowering his voice to a husk, playing into her sexy tone.

"Will you take me right when I touch down in New York?" Rachel asked seductively, nibbling at her bottom lip and looked up to him with what she hoped was be a sultry glance.

"If you want me to, I'll strip you down on the runway," Blaine replied but he didn't sound as jokey as he should, a raw edge to his voice giving Rachel sudden, unanticipated goosebumps as their flirty banter turned into something more. She liked and welcomed this direction.

"Let's say you took me straight home instead," she began, she didn't want to creep him out but maybe he would be into what she felt like doing, it was worth a try, at least. "What would you do to me?"

On her screen, Blaine's eyes widened as he undoubtedly caught her drift but he didn't respond right away. He took a deep breath first and licked his lips, she could see him think about how to play it before he spoke again, "I would lay you down on this bed..."

Blaine was leaning closer toward the camera so it would still pick up on his lowered voice, Rachel mirroring his actions on her side of the connection, "And I would take off your pretty dress and your underwear, slowly stripping you out of all this unnecessary fabric"

"Ah-huh," Rachel nodded breathlessly. "Go on"

"I would make you watch while I take off my own clothes, so you could see how much I missed you," he whispered.

"Let's see that," she commanded. "Let's see how much you're missing me."

Blaine complied, freeing himself of his shirt swiftly, sitting there bare chested. He looked up at her and made sure she saw that his hands traveled south. After a bit of shimmying he held his jeans and briefs into the camera with a smirk.

"Now you," he ordered and Rachel's top was gone in a heartbeat. "The bra too."

She did as he asked, but not before locking her bedroom door, you never knew. This was hardly a scene she would want her brother to walk into. Not that she was really sure what scene this was going to be. She was topless now, her nipples hard more from the chill in her room than the heat she felt. It was sexy, so much was sure but admittedly it was also a bit weird. Still Blaine's eyes scanning her hungrily quickly became the only thing she really noticed. He swallowed hard and his voice broke when he spoke, moving things along. "I would touch you, run my hands over you."

Rachel licked her lips involuntairly and closed her eyes at the image, feeling her goosebumps buzz, sending shudders up and down her body.

"Do it," he huffed, almost a growl. "Touch you where I would."

Without even a second of hesitating, Rachel's hands flew to her breasts, grabbing herself, watching him closely when she felt her nipples harden even more under her fingertips. Blaine breathed a little deeper on the other side.

"I would go lower," Blaine whispered and she did this too, her hands trailing down her stomach, down to her skirt, under the hem, underneath her slip. This was fast and naughty and there was not an insignificant amount of self-consciousness making her blush but she was too hot to stop now.

He gasped as her own fingers found her heat, imagining it was Blaine and she started padding lazy circles around her flesh, going slowly while she held his gaze. She'd done this so many times within the last couple of months, the thought of Blaine alone usually enough to make her finish in record time and record numbers.

Now he was watching her hungrily and she worked hard to slow down the pace – it was a daunting task, him watching her this way almost sent her coming undone but she held back, clenching her muscles tightly together, biting down on her lips harder.

"Talk to me," Blaine ordered now and Rachel nodded, seeing that Blaine's own hand disappeared out of the frame, between his legs where she couldn't see.

"I want you so badly," she forced out through gritted teeth, running her fingers, soaked now, through her folds. "I need you."

Blaine merely growled in response. His arm moved faster. Rachel could feel herself so close to the edge watching his muscles tense and loosen, roll rhythmically under his tanned skin.

"Blaine," she whispered. "Let me see you."

It took him a second to find his way back to her, emerging from his own daze with cloudy eyes but then he nodded and she saw him shift, using his free hand to move the camera lower. His erection came into frame and she saw it proudly pointing up. He didn't stop pumping while he showed himself to her and while she couldn't see his face anymore, she could hear him breathing heavy and fast. He didn't talk, he just took deep huffs, dotted with growls and moans.

It was electrifying all by itself but seeing him so hard and firm, withering under his own grasp was so deliciously dirty, Rachel couldn't breathe at all anymore. Watching him pleasure himself like that made her whole body tense, all senses set to overdrive and when he called her name loudly, blaring through her speakers, she lost the brittle grip she'd had on herself.

Her orgasm sent shock waves through her body and she called out his name as her head fell into her neck and her eyes flew shut. She was trying to breathe evenly but that was nearly impossible. When she regained her composure, setting her eyes on the screen again, she found Blaine wide eyed and blazing. "I can't wait to get you here." She couldn't agree more.

Rachel sat in her seat on the plane and smiled stupidly to herself, resisting the urge to touch her body right there to relieve some of the tension her memory had brought on but she reminded herself that it was just a couple of hours until Blaine could do that for her. So for the lack of further pg activities, she chose a movie from the menu, a romantic comedy of course, and lost herself in the fictional world, feeling all the feelings the protagonists felt.

Just this time, she could understand the scope of their feelings, the essence of those movies, to show a love larger than life, so all-consuming you could easily get lost in it – she'd always longed to feel like that and had never quite believed she could. But now she did, now it all made sense.

She felt this way about Blaine. It was silly really, she hardly knew him but the fact alone that she was on her way to another continent to live with him after spending one day together proved how deep her feelings ran. How crazy she was willing to get. What a chance she was taking.

After two movies and a Bloody Marry, Rachel descended her seat and tried to sleep. Eventhough it was impossible to find a comfortable position at first, she eventually did fall into a dreamless slumber, gently rocked past consciousness my the slight rumble of flying.

By the time she opened her eyes again the monitor at the end of the row of seats showed the flight time countdown and to her surprise Rachel learned that they had less than an hour to go until touchdown at JFK. She wondered how she had managed to sleep so long but she welcomed it, beaming. She swallowed hard to keep the butterflies in her stomach in check and shook her brother awake.

"Wha-?" Sam started blinking a couple of times and seemed to recover where he was. "Are we there?"

"Almost," Rachel grinned excitedly. "About forty minutes until were at JFK."

"Oh boy, did I sleep all this time?" Sam asked, rubbing his eyes.

"You've been out for at least six hours," Rachel laughed. "You missed a meal…I helped myself to it, didn't think you would mind."

"Of course you did," Sam's eyebrow went up while the corners of his mouth went down, mourning the loss of food to his sister.

"I can't breathe," Rachel said then, unprompted, and felt her eyes ready to pop. It started to sink in slowly that her journey was almost over. She was so close. So close to Blaine and suddenly the whole thing seemed so much bigger than her, than anything really. If she were honest, she'd have to admit that she was terrified. But she refused to even think this thought.

"Relax," Sam told her with an easy and reassuring nod and took her hand. It was a sweet and encouraging gesture which he had used to calm her down back when they were little and it didn't fail this time either.

Rachel nodded bravely and swallowed, leaning back into her seat one last time, taking deep breaths to brace herself. For her life, for absolutely everything, to change. From now on she would just go with it. Just see where it all went. No pressure. Everything could happen and she opted for fatalism. She wasn't going to fight change or maybe even disappointment. The important thing was to take that step. To risk something. For Blaine. And for herself.

Going through customs took the two of them almost another hour, mainly waiting in line to get the stamps into their passports, meaning that they're work visas all checked out. The man behind the counter was friendly enough yet Rachel was out of patience and answered him a little less wordly and a little more cold than she normally would have. But it was late and time just wouldn't pass – Blaine was so close but she felt like she was walking through sticky goo, where everything moved excruciatingly slow. Eventually though, she got her stamp and the green light to go on to the baggage band where Sam already waited for her. She was now officially an American for the time being. Six month-work visa and permit with everything neat and in order, she joined her brother and waited for her bags to appear on the band. This was the last thing keeping her from Blaine.

Still, of course, their luggage was about the last to appear on the band and when it finally did, Rachel had a hard time getting her suitcases down. Her arms felt like jelly from sitting in a cramped space for over eight hours on the plane and she was tired and allergic to physical exercise at this point. She took a deep breath to man up and lifted her trunks off the thing with a sigh of exasperation and several bones making unpleasant cracking sounds. Well, all's fair in love and war, they say, right? Even breaking bones.

"Ready to go?" Sam asked her when she let herself drop down on her biggest suitcase, almost wishing to put her head between her knees but that seemed a little too dramatic. Plus it would only drag out meeting Blaine and she wasn't a fan of that. So Rachel nodded, the nervous feeling to her stomach flailing right up again anyway. She suddenly needed to go to the bathroom and immediately knew why – stage-fright. Or something of the like.

She felt just like she did when she was about to go on stage, all the symptoms were there; she couldn't breathe, couldn't really walk and she felt like her tummy was bloating up, all the butterflies mutating to fire dragons, sending rumbles and shivers through her body. It was rather miserable really. But that didn't matter now. It couldn't.

"You'll be fine, Rach," Sam promised and nudged her on, away from the claim, through a narrow corridor, along with a sea of people and finally, finally into the arrivals hall. Rachel bit her lip and swallowed her fear, once more reminding herself to let the dice fall as they may and go with whatever happened next.

She looked around, across the busy hall and, pushing past Sam, she gained speed even though she was pulling her two suitcases which were packed to the brim and a lot heavier than his. She couldn't have cared less. Nothing mattered now but finding Blaine, super human strength seemed to be a by-product of the reunion-thrill she was feeling.

When the masses around her wouldn't part fast enough, Rachel huffed impatiently, navigating around people, becoming more and more agitated by the second because she couldn't make Blaine out anywhere. Groups of happy travelers were huddled together at all sides but Rachel's very own seemed to have to wait. Where was he?

Then, suddenly a family of four stepped to the side as if on some secret cue and revealed a sight that made her heart stop short. There, a very familiar strand of hair, striking up in an odd curl, waves of hair falling over a forehead, dominated by thick eyebrows and the hazel golden eyes below that looked so much brighter in real life glimmered in the artificial light, all the way at her. He had found her. And just like that, the whole world around her disappeared, narrowing down to just Blaine Anderson. She had him back.

Sam Evans was well aware that his baby sister froze next to him when he saw her Blaine in the flesh for the first time. He'd been waiting in the middle of the arrival hall, sporting a giant wide grin and a sensible, colorful bouquet of Gerbera flowers, Rachel's favorite. He was tiny. A lot smaller than Sam but the latter could tell why she felt attracted to him. Blaine looked just like the guys Rachel would point out in the telly or from some band; the dark haired, olive skinned type with the obligatory 5 o'clock shadow and a certain boyish charm.

What made him honestly happy was how this guy looked at Rachel. They stood a couple of paces away from each other, soaking each other in, just studying each other and Sam felt like he was invisible to either of them. Looking at the scene like this he could almost forget that what they were doing was totally nuts. Sure, not half as nuts as getting married would have been but still nuts. Yeah, you could say he'd arranged the internship in the first place but that had been just to keep them from doing something immeasurably more stupid. Like getting married.

Blaine still stared at Rachel like she was the only solid thing and very much like he would still not be opposed to marrying her on the spot and when he closed the distance between them, Sam felt almost like he was intruding, just by watching them. It was just a hug at first but so close, so tight and intimate it immediately triggered his brotherly protective instinct.

He knew it was primal, he could see how close they already were, how tethered together just by one night and some skype calls and it scared him because he knew how crazy it all was. Should it all go to pieces eventually, Rachel would be heartbroken, even more than she had been with Finn or Jesse or anyone.

It would tear her apart. Knowing this and watching them start to make out made him uneasy but he wasn't a caveman, so instead of ripping his baby sister off of the guy and threaten his life should he ever hurt her, he busied himself with looking around, inspecting the airport. He'd just decided to get a coke from a kiosk when the two lovebirds regained consciousness of their surroundings – and him with it.

"Sam, this is Blaine," Rachel grinned, totally oblivious, her pupils so dilated he thought she might pass out any second. The lip gloss she had so hastily applied before was smeared all over Blaine's face and from the looks of it, it only occurred to the guy just now that he had frenched a girl in front of her bigger brother. He obviously realized that Sam wasn't too amused and held his hand out not just politely but also somewhat apologetic.

"Hey, it's really nice to meet you, Rachel tells me great things about you," Blaine smiled and to Sam's chagrin, he found himself unable not to smile in return. The guy was a charmer. Defyingly so.

"She exaggerates," Sam promised and Blaine offered Rachel to pull her trolleys a second before he could, proving to be a gentleman which at least pleased Sam. Together, Sam a few paces behind Rachel who'd started bombarding Blaine with questions, they made their way out of the airport.

By the time they reached the car, he was somewhat reassured that he wouldn't have to kill Blaine right away. He was a nice guy, seemed honest and sincere. But Sam would still keep an eye on him.

His little sister deserved the best, so much was sure. And Blaine still had to prove without a doubt that he was. His trial run for a place at Rachel's side was just beginning and Sam would keep close watch. Just like the scientists in the labs.

Updates will come slower on this one from now on since Uni has started again and Spring Awakening (my uni musical this year) has just gone into overdrive-rehearsal mode, so bare with me. I won't neglect this story more than I absolutely have to, promise!