When she stood there for a moment and still couldn't hear anything she checked the bedroom, but Cassandra wasn't there. Rachel left her bags next to the bed and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Pretty." Cassandra just sat there, with a glass of wine, reading a book. Thank god the glass was standing on the counter, because Rachel's smile grew from one side of her face to the other and, before Cassandra could see it coming, Rachel ran towards her and caught her in a hug. Rachel started kissing her, not sweet as usual, but passionate and almost animistic.

Cassandra even had to stand up to not lose the balance. Rachel's hands touched Cassandra everywhere, she started with her neck and moved up to her hair, but quickly changed her direction. Cassandra was a little confused, because there was nothing left of Rachel's hesitation. Rachel moved her hands over her shoulders, down her back and when Rachel reached her ass, she did the same to Cassandra's front. Slowly, but still without hesitation, she felt Cassandra's abs. Cassandra thought Rachel would stop there, but after her abs Rachel slowly touched her breasts. Cassandra gave Rachel the time she needed, even though she'd like to rid off Rachel's clothes right now.

They'd stopped kissing, they needed air and Cassandra wanted to concentrate on Rachel's hands on her body. Cassandra had her eyes closed and her breathing was shallow.

"Cassandra?" Rachel's voice was barely a whisper.

"Yah..."

"You're beautiful..." Cassandra had to smile.

"So are you."

"I wanna..." Rachel moved her hand along Cassandra's arm until she reached her hand, which held Rachel's face. Rachel didn't need to move much to kiss Cassandra, because their foreheads were leaning against each other's.

Cassandra moved her hand to the back of Rachel's head and went through her hair with Rachel's hand cupping hers and Rachel's over hand resting lightly under her décolleté between her breasts. She could feel Cassandra's heartbeat. Eventually they broke apart, because they needed oxygen.

"...what do you want?" She took a few deep breaths before she looked at Rachel and Rachel needed a moment to talk too.

"Can we go to the living room?"

"Yah...we can." Cassandra laughed lightly. She kissed Rachel again, waited a moment to deepen the kiss and lead her. Rachel didn't quite know what Cassandra was doing to her, she just had the feeling they were spinning around and got a little dizzy, but Rachel thought that could be the insufficiency of oxygen.

Just a few seconds later. Rachel actually thought she was about to lose consciousness, because she felt the floor under her feet disappear.

"I gotcha." It was just a whisper, but Rachel trusted Cassandra. They broke apart and she opened her eyes, she looked directly into Cassandra's green eyes. She didn't fell, nor did the floor disappear, Cassandra somehow managed to get them to the couch in the living room, but she did it so smoothly Rachel didn't remember how they got there.

"How did we...?"

"I got skills." A smirk appeared on Cassandra's face, but it wasn't her usual sarcastic smirk, it was tender and sweet. They laid on the couch and Cassandra was on top of Rachel.

"Your eyes are..." Rachel just stopped talking, she was amazed with Cassandra's eyes and Cassandra just ended the sentence for her.

"Green."

"Beautiful." Rachel leaned forward and left Cassandra no choice than to back off a little. She changed their positions so much that Cassandra was now sitting on her lap, Cassandra was kneeing on the right and left side of Rachel's legs. Again she was thankful, that her couch was big enough.

She watched Rachel staring at her. It was like Rachel was noticing every pore and every wrinkle, as small as it might be, so she would remember them. When Rachel reached her lips, Cassandra saw Rachel's pupils dilate and tried not to smirk, because she didn't want Rachel to notice, but Rachel did anyway. When they looked right into each other's eyes, Rachel's pupils dilated again and she leaned forward. It felt like time slowed down, while Cassandra waited for Rachel to kiss her and her heart was pounding. She wasn't usually the one to let things happen and let the other one take control, no, usually she took what she wanted. Somehow everything was different with Rachel. It took a lot of Cassandra's willpower not to fall over Rachel right now.

Eventually Rachel pressed her lips on Cassandra's, but because of the passion of their kiss and Cassandra's already boosted heartbeat it didn't take her long to break apart to catch her breath again. This time Cassandra eyed Rachel's assets and there were enough to look at, her body was small but sublime and even though Rachel didn't look like it, she was in a very good shape and strong.

At the time she looked into Rachel's face again, Rachel gave had an alluring smile on her face.

"You seem so...breathless." Only then she realized she was heavily breathing, she knew it was because she was trying not to push things.

"And you're untamed."

"I didn't take you for the 'taking-it-slow' type." Rachel didn´t want to take it slow, but she was too shy to ask Cassandra.

"I'm not."

"I'm not stopping you."

"Well..."

"I didn't mean to."

"Yah, figured that and-" She leaned over and kissed Rachel tenderly, but before Rachel deepened it, like she intended to, Cassandra stopped it. "I love you and as hard as it is, we will stop here." She smoothed away from Rachel.

If Rachel wouldn't have been too startled that they just stopped, what she was hoping was going to happen, she would've admired how elegant Cassandra managed to do it. Instead, she watched Cassandra leave into the kitchen and a vexed feeling started to build up in her.

Cassandra came back with the bottle of wine and two glasses, she wanted to give Rachel one, but saw her pouting. It was not her intention to break things off like that and leave the both in that very frustrated state, but Cassandra had a feeling Rachel wasn't ready yet and she wanted to be sure first. "Want some?"

"No." Rachel shook her head, so she poured just herself a glass and sat next to Rachel. "Why?"

Both of them knew exactly what Rachel meant and Cassandra wanted to answer her question honestly, so she took a moment to find the correct words and just stared at her glass. She heard Rachel's frustrated sigh for her not answering promptly.

"What did you want to happen?"

"You know what."

"I can think of a few things yeah." She chuckled. "But what did you have in mind when you came to me and started."

"I missed you today." That was so sweet she almost leaned over to Rachel and kiss her, if that wouldn't ruin her point.

"What did you want to happen?" No respond from Rachel, and now it was Cassandra's turn to sigh. She took a sip before she asked again. "What did you-"

"I understood you."

"Then tell me." Rachel didn't say anything, so Cassandra wanted to continue.

"Why? I mean, what do you want me to say and what difference would it make? It's not like either of us is in the mood anymore."

"I want you to say it. Out loud. And the difference is I might consider you as ready."

"I've done this before."

"No. No you haven't."

"I'm not a virgin."

"Yah, but you haven't done this-" She pointed back and forth between them. "-before."

"Well, no, not this." Rachel mimicked Cassandra's pointing back and forth between them and had a very sarcastic tone in her voice. "You just stopped me."

"I don't mean us. I meant...with a woman. Or your teacher for that matter."

"Okay." She wasn't mad anymore and less frustrated, because Cassandra had only Rachel's feelings in mind when she stopped.

"Okay?" Cassandra assumed Rachel would make a big deal and tell her how that doesn't make a difference and stuff and when she didn't Cassandra felt caught off guard.

"Yes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I get it. What now?"

"I think we should talk about it, obviously you want to go to the next level." "

"You don't?"

"Oh yeah, I do." The one thing that Cassandra thought about, because it confused her was how Rachel could so easily change the meaning of her own words.

"What do you want to talk about then?"

"When you can actually tell me what you want, I'll give it to you."

"You sure you can keep up to this promise?"

"Yep."

"Alright then. What now?"

"Well, you could tell me what you and Daria did, or where you cast is." Rachel made a short version and told only the interesting stuff, so it didn't take long.

"Why did you tell Henry to follow us?" Since Cassandra asked about her day, she thought about that question.

"I didn't really tell him to follow you and if you'd taken my car you wouldn't even have known."

"But I don't want to take it." Rachel sounded offended and Cassandra couldn't get why.

"Something wrong with my car?" The annoyed sound in Cassandra's voice was absolutely clear and Rachel didn't answer right away, she took a few moments to consider what she should say.

"Let's just pretend I haven't asked, okay?"

"That's not going to settle it for good."

"Yes, it will, if you let it go."

"Okay."

"What did you do today?"

"You know, the usual, terrorizing my students." Rachel frowned a little. "I thought about you. I missed you. Oh, and Brody asked about you."

"What?"

"About your well being."

"Why would he ask you?" And 'you' was the operative word, even though Rachel didn't mean to let it sound like she did.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"What did you tell him?"

"'How am I supposed to know?´."

"I should call him!"

"Yah? Are you sure-?"

"Yes."

"-, because if he knows something, your call would make him even more suspicious and if he didn't suspect anything, this will make him suspicious."

"But I should call him anyway." Rachel stood up and for a moment she looked disoriented, but then Cassandra watched her walking into the kitchen. It wasn't clear to Cassandra why Rachel left, but she didn't mind anyway, she got her book from her nightstand and sat back on the couch.

Her glass was almost empty, that's why she drank the last but all at once and refilled it. With the book in one hand and her wine in the other, she made herself comfortable on the couch and read. She heard Rachel talk in the kitchen and laugh now and then. After a while she returned to the living room.

"What are you so happy about?" Cassandra didn't even look up from her book, so Rachel was confused how she could tell.

"What do you mean? I'm not happy."

"If you say so."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Uh huh." Cassandra kept reading and Rachel stood there, watching Cassandra not moving or showing any kind of mood.

"I'll go home now, I need to do my laundry."

"Okay." Rachel was about to make a fuss, but she changed her mind and just walked into the bedroom to get her clothes. While she walked around, grabbed her stuff and put it all back in her bag she ran against the end of the bed.

"Argh!" She stifled her expression well, but it hurt pretty much, so she limped over to the bed and sat down. "This is just perfect!" Rachel moved her foot a bit and, because it didn't hurt too much, she took her bag and walked back into the living room. Cassandra was still sitting on the couch with her book and poured herself another glass of wine.

"I'm heading home now."

"Okay." To Rachel's surprise, Cassandra actually looked up this time. "I know you don't like Henry-"

"I never said I don't like him."

"I'd appreciate it, if you'd take my car." There was no room for arguing, because she just stated, she had nothing against Henry and didn't want to tell Cassandra why she would rather not take her car. Cassandra stood up and walked over to Rachel. "Something wrong?"

"No." Rachel sounded honest, because she was. She just forgot that she actually was, kind of, mad, right now she just couldn't remember why.

"Okay." Cassandra opened the door and when Rachel walked outside, she grabbed her wrist. Rachel turned around when she didn't let go and Cassandra kissed her. It felt amazing, just like the first time when they kissed and it felt like forever.

Rachel wanted to jump into Cassandra's arms and continue where they left off earlier that day, but knew this was not going to happen. When they finally broke apart, Rachel wondered, is she really had to leave to do her laundry, she probably could do it at Cassandra's place.

Then again, she wanted to stay independent and since she already said that she would leave, she had no other choice.

"Bye." Cassandra didn't respond, she just kept looking into Rachel's eyes and Rachel turned around and left. In the elevator, she already missed Cassandra. Outside, the first thing she saw was Cassandra's car and Henry opening the door for her. She forgot that she actually didn't want to drive with Henry, but when he smiled at her, she smiled back.

"Good afternoon."

"Hey Henry." He waited for her to get into the car. "Thank you." Inside the car, she realized she'd forgotten her shopping bags in the kitchen, but she didn't want to go back now and she had an opportunity to go back sooner or later.

Henry got into the car and waited for Rachel to tell him the destination, when Rachel realized what he was waiting for she rolled the window between them down. "Can you drive me to my apartment, please?"

"My pleasure." He immediately started the engine.

"Thank you."

"So, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" By the look he gave her trough the rear view mirror, she knew that he knew something.

"I didn't mean to imply anything. I'm sorry."

"How do you know?"

"The way she asked me to drive you home."

"What did she say?"

"It was more how she said it, I know her for a long time now and she sounded different."

"Hm."

"Can I speak honestly?"

"Yes, of course." Rachel was shocked he even asked her; she thought she never gave the impression he had to lie to her for any reason.

"You're different."

"Then what?"

"Previous relations."

"Different how?"

"She's changed."

"That certainly does not sound good."

"You didn't let me finish." He gave her a smile through the rearview mirror. "I think she cares about you and whatever it is she did today, consider giving her a second chance."

"Actually, she didn't do anything wrong, I was just...disappointed."

"I think she loves you." Rachel couldn't hide a smile, when he pulled over and stopped the car in front of her building.

"Thanks Henry." She was thanking for the drive and for the talk, his respond was a smile and a nod. "Have a nice evening."

"You too."

She got out of the car and walked into her building, Rachel realized that he waited for her to walk into the building, before he drove away. It made her smile and wonder, if it was what Cassandra told him or if he was worried himself.

She got up to her apartment anyway. Kurt wasn't home, so she went to the laundry room in the basement.

Back upstairs she didn't really knew what to do, so she figured she could try the new stereo. She looked through her CDs, when she finally decided which one she wanted to listen to, Rachel put it in and sat down on the couch.

Eventually she found a note from Kurt on the table.

-Rachel, it is amazing! You should've told me, we could've split, I mean this must've cost you a fortune!

Anyway, THANK YOU! It really was a surprise. Almost forgot my lunch date witch Isabelle, because I was so immersed.

Love you, Kurt

A huge smile appeared on her face, when she read it and she was glad Kurt already checked it out. She closed the eyes and listened to the music. First she was deep in thoughts, but after a while they disappeared. Since she knew the CDs backwards, Rachel knew that, when the song that was playing now was over, her laundry was done and she could get it.

About thirty minutes later, she had all her laundry folded and placed back into her dresser. Rachel sadly admitted to herself, that she missed Cassandra and would rather be with her, than being mad at her. But these thought were interrupted, her phone rang. "Hello."

"Hey, it's me, Brody. I don't know if you remember me, but we used to go to school together." Rachel laughed, he said almost the same thing earlier today and it made her laugh both times.

"What's up?"

"I was wondering, have you had dinner yet?"

"Nope."

"How about I come over to your place and bring something?"

"Sure." Distraction. That's what Rachel thought about, distraction would be good.

"Is Kurt there?"

"No. Why?"

"If he was I would have to bring more food."

"Oh, yah, but he's not."

"Okay then, see you in...twenty minutes?"

"Sure, bye." They hung up. Rachel cleaned up a little, but actually, there wasn't really anything to clean up, she wasn't home the whole week and it seemed like Kurt wasn't either. A few minutes later, her doorbell rang and she opened the door.

"I actually was in the neighborhood, but I thought it would take me longer." Rachel laughed, because it didn't even take him fifteen minutes to get to her.

"Come in." They hugged when he stepped in.

"Thanks."

"You can put it on the table."

"Hey, you guys got a couch!"

"Yep, Kurt bought it and I just love it. Try it out, it's utterly comfortable."

"Okay." He places the bag with takeaway on the kitchen table and walked towards the couch. "It sure looks cool."

"Yeah, it's Kurt's style, but it fits in."

"Oh my! You're right, that might be the best couch I ever sat on."

"I don't know about that," Rachel had one particular couch in mind, which became her favorite just a few hours ago. "-,but I told you it's great." She grabbed two plates and the silverware and put them on the table, before she put the food on the plates and walked to Brody with them.

"Thanks."

"I've to thank you, I probably wouldn't have eaten dinner, if you hadn't asked."

"Well, then it's a good thing I asked you."

"Yeah." They ate mostly in silent, because they hadn't much to talk about.

"Where are your crutches?"

"Hm? Oh, I went to the doctor and he said I can walk, not practice, when I wear bandages, but I shouldn't exaggerate it."

"Good for you, when do you return to school?"

"Monday, I guess."

"It's too bad you've missed the week."

"Yeah, why?"

"Cassandra was weird, I told you, she was nice." Rachel then realized, that was the only thing they really talked about. School and Cassandra. She wondered a little why she was attracted to him and if she even was really attracted to him, or if he was just the one person who could help her through the bullying.

"What do you mean?"

"She wasn't as bad as usually, nobody left her class crying this week."

"That's..." Rachel couldn't find the right word, Brody just told her the same thing Henry did.

"Yah, everybody is talking about her."

"What are they saying?"

"She's in love." The one thing, Rachel hoped nobody would find out, was, of course, Cassandra actually was in love. She almost choked. "Or that Madam Tibideaux had a little talk with her. Wouldn't surprise me, considering how many students she treats like you and how many have complained about her."

"Yah. What do you think happened?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we'll see in time, if Madam Tibideaux had a talk with her I think it will last longer than some fling." Then again Rachel choked, because Brody didn't realize he was talking about Rachel. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." He told her more about the Chaney in Cassandra's behavior and about school, but Rachel wasn't really listening and she was glad when they finished dinner. "It was delicious."

"Yes it was." Rachel smiled a bit. She stood up to put their dishes in the sink.

"No, no. Let me."

"Okay. Thanks." He even washed the dishes.

"You didn't have to-"

"I know, but you're welcome anyway." He smiled his bright smile at her, the one that made her wish, last week, something more could happen between them. Now, it made her only miserable, just one week ago, they were almost in the same situation, but back then, Rachel wanted to. The problem was he just stood there and kept smiling at her.

"Hey, come here. Sit down, we bought a new stereo system, it's amazing, you need to check it out."

"Okay." Only then Rachel realized she asked him to sit next to her, she knew they sat next to each other before, but it seemed to be in another context now. He sat down next to her and she turned the music on.

For a while, they just pestered to the music. Brody just stood up, without a word, and offered her a hand. It was a dance invitation. They danced for the rest of the song and they had fun, because they both loved music and Brody was a good dancer. The next song was slower and they ended up in a slow dance

Rachel hadn't thought she would be uncomfortable with Brody, by just dancing, but she did and she knew why, she felt she's betraying Cassandra.

"Hey." It was a familiar voice and it made them stop immediately.

"Hey Kurt." Brody casually smiled at him, but Kurt gave Rachel a weird look and it made her feel guilty. "How are you?"

"I'm great, you?"

"Can't complain."

"And you, Rachel?" Kurt was still staring at her, Rachel was sure that Brody must've noticed by now.

"Me? Uh, sure."

"Okay then." Kurt turned around and walked into the kitchen.

"Rach, what's up? You two are fighting or something?" And of course he did notice.

"No, no it's... I better go talk to him."

"Okay. I should leave anyway, one of us has to get up early in the morning." He chuckled a bit and they walked towards the door.

"Cassandra is going to kill me if I'm late."

"Probably."

"See you on Monday?"

"Yes."

"Let's hope you won't miss her mood change." They smiled and he gave her a goodbye kiss on the cheek. "Bye."

"Bye Brody." She was still smiling at him, but as soon as she closed the door, turned around and faced Kurt, that quickly changed. Kurt stood there, in the kitchen, with a glass of water in his hands and said nothing. He just looked at her, without any sign of anything on his face, but Kurt knew Rachel would crack, if he gave her the silent treatment. Rachel took it almost two minutes. "Kurt!"

"Yes?"

"Why?" No respond. "Talk to me, please?"

"I'm not sure what we should talk about."

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad, I'm disappointed."

"That's the same! Just tell me, why, please."

"Why did you dance with him?"

"Just because."

"Yah."

"We just had a good time."

"I saw that." His voice was full of sarcasm.

"It's not like I cheated or anything."

"Yah? Then why do you feel guilty?" Both of them knew, he was right, didn't matter, if Rachel admits it or not. She turned around and walked into the living room. "Rachel!"

"What Kurt?"

"You can't just walk away. You know I'm right."

"Your point?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." If they weren't discussing a serious matter, Rachel would've started laughing. Kurt stood in front of her, his hands on his hips; with a 'seriously?' look on his face. It really did look hilarious. "Fine. I feel guilty. Happy now?" She let herself fall on the couch.

"Not really."

"I... He just called and asked to come over, so I said yes. What's the big deal?"

"You two dancing like that. You are in a relationship. Why aren't you at Cassandra's place?"

"Do I need permission to come home?" He glared for a moment. "I needed to do my laundry." Kurt still didn't respond, because he knew there was something else and Rachel would crack eventually. "We fought."

"Finally." Rachel couldn't believe what he just said. "I didn't mean you two fighting. Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Oh, so she was right?"

"No! It wasn't a right or wrong discussion."

"Then what did you fight about?" Rachel hesitated to answer.

"Well, we were...let's say, we were watching a movie and we both liked it, but suddenly in the middle of the first half she stopped it. I wanted to watch the whole movie, but she said it was too... Or let's say we were taking a walk through the park and I wanted to continue our walk, she stopped and told me, I wasn't fit enough to continue?" He gave her a confused look. "God Kurt! I'm not good with metaphors."

"Obviously."

"We were about to do something and she stopped."

"Oh." It was obvious he didn't know what she meant, until a moment later. "Ooh!"

"Yah."

"That's why you fought?" Rachel didn't nod or say anything, but her look told him he was right. "What did she say."

"I'm not ready, because I can't say what I want."

"Are you?"

"What?"

"Ready?"

"I don't know, I mean I wanted to go further and we were pretty-" Kurt quickly raised a hand to stop her from talking.

"Please, no details."

"I initiated it."

"If you want to get what you want, maybe just give her what she wants?"

"I don't really get what you mean."

"What did she say why you're not ready?"

"Because I don't say what I want."

"And she means that literally?"

"I guess."

"Well, you're stupid." The simple stated it, like it was obvious.

"Excuse me?"

"If you want to sleep with her and she wants to hear it, not much of a question what you should do, right?"

"And what exactly am I supposed to say? Hey Cassandra, let's have sex?" She got angry, but she knew it wasn't Kurt's fault.

"I don't know. If it works." He just shrugged.

"Can we talk about something else, please?"

"Just don't juggle between her and Brody."

"Okay." The annoyance in her voice was clear, but she knew Kurt was right.