A/N: just so you know, just because Quinn dies in a car crash in this fic DOES NOT mean I want it to happen on the show! Ugh, that would be so unfair! Anyways I purposely made this one not as sad now, hope you enjoy!

Outfitted in the pure white dress that she was to wear the following week at Regionals, Rachel stepped out onto the stage in Vocal Adrenaline's auditorium and took the microphone in her hand.

"If I die young
Bury me in satin
Lay me down on a
Bed of roses
Sink me in the river
At dawn
Send me away with the words
Of a love song…"

"Of a love song, uh oh, uh oh," sang her teammates.

"Stop," said Shelby. "You girls don't join her until the second verse. Now start over, Rachel."

"Listen," said Rachel. "Don't you think it's a little insensitive of us to be performing a song about somebody dying young when a girl on one of the other teams just died?"

"No," said one girl. "They aren't even going to be at our Regionals this year."

"Still!" said Rachel. Secretly she didn't feel like doing the song much herself after having been at Quinn's funeral so recently.

"Well, Rachel," said Shelby. "Do you have another song you'd like to suggest singing instead?"

Rachel smiled. "Actually, I do."

"What is it?" asked Shelby.

"Nobody in here has heard it," said Rachel. "I'll sing part of it for you."

"How do you know none of us have heard it?" said one of Rachel's teammates.

"I wrote it myself," said Rachel. Then she took a deep breath and picked up the microphone.

"What have I done?
Wish I could run
Away from this ship going under
Just trying to help
Hurt everyone else
Now I feel the weight of the world is
On my shoulders
What can you do
When your good isn't good enough?
And all that you touch tumbles-"

"Okay, stopped," snapped one of Rachel's teammates. "You know, I'm starting to think that you've got more than a soft spot for New Directions. I think that they sent you here to sabotage us."

"Yeah, for real," said another girl.

"That is not true!" said Rachel. "How dare you suggest that?"

"Then what is this?" said someone else. "We're never going to win Regionals with a song like that. No way. Vocal Adrenaline is known for taking great songs and finding a way to make them even greater and putting together explosive performances on top of that, not for expressing our feelings. That's just stupid."

"That was a very beautiful song, Rachel," said Shelby almost apologetically. "But I'm afraid I have to agree that it just doesn't suit our team. Please start singing If I Die Young again from the top."

"Yeah, Rachel," said Jesse. "Shut up and sing."

"Jesse, that wasn't necessary," said Shelby softly.

Dejected, Rachel swallowed her pride and resumed the song. She sang it perfectly there and on the stage at Regionals while her female teammates sang backup and the boys sprinkled her with rose petals.

"And I'll be wearing white
When I come into your Kingdom
I'm as green as the ring
On my little cold finger
There's a boy here in town
Who says he'll love me for forever
Who would have thought
Forever would be severed by
The sharp knife
Of a short life"

Rachel carried the note on long enough for the other girls to step forward out of the background so that their voices would be louder.

"If I die young
Bury me in satin
Lay me down on a
Bed of roses
Sink me in the river
At dawn
Send me away with the words
Of a love song, oh
The sharp knife
Of a short life, well
I've had
Just enough time"

Rachel's voice faded as the audience erupted into cheers. "Ladies and gentlemen, Vocal Adrenaline!" she called. Then she stepped off to the side of the stage because she wasn't going to be in the next number as per Jesse's request. He made his way straight to the center of the stage and the other girls began dancing around him while the rest of the guys sang and danced backup.

"I was made for loving you baby
You was made for loving me,"

Jesse sang as he picked up one girl and ran his hand down her back before setting her down.

"And I can't get enough of you baby
Can you get enough of me?"

He picked up a different girl and did the same thing.

"Tonight
I want to give it all to you
In the darkness-"

After Jesse pulled two girls close to him at the same time on the last line, Rachel stepped back further away from the stage and shook her head. By this time next week he would undoubtedly be with one of them. Probably the one who was the greatest singer next to her. Ever since they'd broken up, she'd felt even less welcome at Vocal Adrenaline than she had before.

"You did an amazing job with your song, Rachel," said Shelby, coming up behind her daughter and putting both her hands on her shoulders.

"Thank you," said Rachel.

"If the reaction from the audience to that one was any indication, I'd say we won based on just that," said Shelby. "Although I can't help but wonder if you'd be better off with a show choir that allows for more…" she hesitated. "Individuality." Shelby sighed and squeezed Rachel's shoulders. Then she glanced up. "What the hell? That was not in my choreography!"

Rachel glanced up and nearly went into shock when she saw Jesse grabbing the girls and kissing them on the lips at complete random during the chorus.

"There's no way we're going to win with him behaving like that!" said Rachel.

"No, there's not," said Shelby in a voice that suggested that she was about to break something. "Don't tell anyone, but he may get expelled for this. Guess he may have to get his GED after all. You know he couldn't graduate last year like he was supposed to because he was suspended during the last month of school for egging the principal's car."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "He never told me that."

"Not surprised," said Shelby. "Well, as long as we're about to lose, I might as well not have anyone in the audience thinking that it's my fault."

Before Rachel had a chance to ask her what she was doing, Shelby marched out onto the stage, where Jesse was now belting out, "Tonight, I wanna make it all come true," while holding a girl up with his face pressed against her chest. He looked a little worried when he saw Shelby out on the stage and was too shocked to protest when she grabbed him by the hand and yanked him off the stage, giving him just a split second to put down the girl he was holding and for his understudy to step in and resume the song. Rachel ducked into the dressing room to avoid the shouting when Shelby lectured Jesse and threw him out of Vocal Adrenaline.

"Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show em what you're worth
Make 'em go oh, oh, oh
As you shoot across the sky, eye, eye…"

Rachel sat in the audience at the New Dirctions and Warblers's Sectionals smiling proudly at her former teammates. They were doing an amazing job with the current number, but she had liked the first song, Blackbird, even better. She was sure Finn had chosen to sing it in honor of Quinn. Definitely more individuality, she thought.

Nearby, Carole Hudson was sitting with Lily in her lap looking at the same thing Rachel was looking at-not the singers on the stage, but Kurt's hand reaching for Blaine's two rows in front of them. When Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand back and kissed him on the cheek, Rachel almost squealed. All the texts she's gotten from Kurt the previous afternoon weren't just jokes or wishful thinking, this was officially really happening! Finally! Took them long enough!

Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw Carole take her cell phone out of her pocket and sigh. Then she gathered Lily on her hip and began making her way to the middle aisle. Rachel tucked her legs in so that Carole could get past her, but instead Carole plunked Lily down on Rachel's lap.

"Take her to him, will you?" she whispered.

"Uh, sure," said Rachel. As Carole disappeared, Rachel sat Lily up in her lap and prayed that she would do anything noisy. She wasn't sure if Lily even remembered her. The last time she'd really spent time with the baby was two months ago when she came over to help Kurt babysit and they'd sang her a lullaby. Thankfully, the only noise Lily made was to point to Finn and yell, "Dada!" at the end of the song. Finn looked to her and waved and seemed slightly startled when he realized Rachel was holding her. He pointed to the back room, indicating that Rachel should bring Lily there.

"Hi, Rachel!" squealed Mercedes, giving her a big hug as soon as she walked into the green room.

"Hi!" said Rachel. "How are you guys?"

"We're doing okay," said Puck with a smile.

"Better than okay," said Tina. "I think we won!"

"Except that I'm starting to think Lord Tubbington is smoking again," said Brittany.

"Guess what? Tina and I are running for prom king and queen," said Artie. "I know we're probably not going to win, but it's fun."

"Of course you're not going to win," said Lauren. "Puck and I are. Vote for us or you'll be Zised."

"Be glad you're not a part of this," mumbled Finn as he came over and plucked Lily out of Rachel's arms. "Competition is getting pretty fierce."

"It's really good to see all of you, actually," said Rachel. "Surprisingly good. How are you holding up?"

"Things are getting better, thanks for asking," said Finn. "Did anyone tell you Brittany and Santana are apparently dating now?"

Rachel's eyes widened in surprise. "It's true," said Santana, grinning as Brittany leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Well, congratulations," said Rachel, still a little in shock by the fact that the former school sluts were apparently not even straight.

Just then, the judges called the teams out on stage and Rachel had to stay off to the side while the New Directions received their trophy.

Finn's life had become decidedly easier as he started spending most of his time at home. The only times he left the house anymore were to go to Glee practice and help Burt at the tire shop. Everywhere he went, Lily went. All of his friends from New Directions doted on her, especially the girls. Sunshine and Mercedes in particular would take her aside and play games with her and sometimes refuse to give her back to Finn until she needed a diaper change. Even Sam would hold her sometimes and sit around pretending to have serious conversations with her. "I just don't know, Lily. Do you think I'm biting off more than I can chew with two jobs, football, glee club, and school?" Lily would make a random noise, and Sam would nod. "I thought so." The only one who had never come near her or held her, Finn noticed, was Puck. As much as Finn still resented Puck, that didn't seem right. "Um…do you want to hold her?" said Finn one day.

"Oh, god no," said Puck quickly. "I might drop her."

"No you won't!" said Sunshine.

Santana grinned. "I think you should do it."

"I can't!" said Puck.

"Come on, Puckerman!" said Lauren, jabbing him gently in the ribcage.

"Yeah!" said Mercedes.

"But she looks so fragile…" said Puck.

"She won't break," said Finn. "I promise. Well, she might break you. The other day Kurt was holding her and she kind of punched him in the eye out of nowhere."

"Aww, poor Kurt!" said Brittany.

"Wish we could have him back here," said Puck.

"Don't we all?" said Finn. Then, before Puck could change the subject further, he put Lily down on her biological father's knee.

"Um…hey there," said Puck softly. Two big green eyes twinkled back at him as he held her in place with his hands as carefully as if she were made out of glass. All the girls watched and cooed at the big jock with the mohawk holding the tiny baby girl.

"Hey guys," said Mr. Schuster, stepping in. "You'd better come out here and see this!"

Finn paused to retrieve Lily from Puck before making his way out into the hall with the rest of the club only to see that about half the school was crowded out in the hallway. He could just barely make out the figures of Azimo, Karofsky, Sue Sylvester, and two cops standing right out in front of the school.

"What did we miss?" asked Puck.

"They broke into her house and raided the trophy cabinet," said Will. "Which, basically, is the entire house."

"What did they do with the trophies?" asked Sam.

"I think they broke windows around town with them or something," said Will. "In any case, if Sue has anything to say about it, those two aren't getting off easy."

"No, you don't understand!" shouted Sue loud enough for the whole school to hear. "Not only do I know plenty of teachers and students who can attest that these boys are the most destructive and obnoxious students in the entire school, but they have now damaged about THREE MILLION DOLLARS worth of my personal property! Don't think that even if these cops let you off easy your parents aren't going to hear from all my lawyers by tomorrow morning, and believe me, if you try to convince anyone that you're innocent, this fight will get uglier than the secrets revealed after the 1945 Watergate scandal involving the extramarital affairs of one president John F. Kennedy and a prostitute named Marilyn Monroe."

"That did not make any sense," said Mike.

"And since when does Sue have a problem with destructive and obnoxious?" said Tina. "She tried to legally change my name to Tina Cohen-Loser!"

"Who cares?" said Santana. "No more slushie facials!"

"Which should make the Night of Neglect benefit all the more appropriate," said Will. "Let's all go to the auditorium for one final dress rehearsal."

"Absolutely," said Sunshine. "I'm closing it, right? If I don't all my Twitter followers may just leave before the end."

Mercedes rolled her eyes as Mr. Shu said, "Of course, Sunshine. Of course."

"This is awesome," said Rachel as she, Blaine, and Kurt entered the front door of William McKinley High. "Are you sure I'm not being a third wheel or anything?"

"Of course not," said Blaine. "Just because we're dating each other now doesn't mean we don't love hanging out with you."

"Besides," added Kurt. "If Karofsky shows up, I'll need all the reinforcements I can get."

"Why would he come?" said Rachel. "He hates the Glee club."

"Hey, guys!" said Artie, coming down the hall with Tina. "Did you hear what happened to Karofsky?"

Kurt froze. "Is he here?"

"No," said Tina. "He's gone forever!"

"What?" said Rachel.

"He and Azimo went to Juvi," said Artie. "They'll get out in three years, two with good behavior, and then be transferred to a halfway house."

"Regardless, they won't be coming back here again," said Tina. "We'd better get backstage, the place is crowded but we saved three VIP seats for you."

"Great," said Kurt. As soon as Artie and Tina started talking away, Kurt yelled, "Yes!" and threw his arms around Rachel and Blaine. They laughed and began cheering with him.

"Wow," said Rachel. "So what does this mean, Kurt? Are you coming back?"

"Maybe," said Kurt.

"Maybe?" said Rachel and Blaine in unison.

"I have one condition," said Kurt, taking Rachel's hand and squeezing it. "You have to come with me."

"Kurt, I…" Rachel began. Then she paused. Would that really be such a bad idea?

"Come on, Rachel," he said. "This is where we belong."

"I…I…" stammered Rachel. "Yes!"

"Alright!" said Kurt. "Let's go tell everyone after the show."

"Perfect!" said Rachel.

And it was settled: Kurt and Rachel were coming home.