Within a week, both Rachel and Kurt were back at McKinley and back in the Glee club. The Warblers had come over and serenaded both of them, Kurt because they would miss him and Rachel because they knew Vocal Adrenaline would only give her grief. And to celebrate, Kurt insisted that they all perform Born This Way by Lady Gaga.

"That's a great idea, Kurt!" said Mr. Schuster. "In fact, I think we should all wear a T-Shirt with one thing about ourselves that we're accepting and are not going to change."

"What are you putting on yours, Rachel?" asked Mercedes.

"Shrimp?" said Kurt, jokingly jabbing her with his elbow.

"No, I'll probably put the one thing that I know everybody here hates about me," said Rachel. "Bigmouth."

"Besides, she can't put shrimp," said Sunshine. "I'm putting that."

"I bet I'll know what Sam will put," said Santana. Sam glared at her.

And yet the day they were performing the number, Sam showed up in a shirt that said, "Trouty Mouth," just like Santana had predicted. Puck and Lauren were shirts that said, "Bad Attitude" and "Badass". Artie and Tina were wearing shirts and said, "Brown Eyes" and "Four Eyes". "Hey, said Artie, "We match!" Tina bent over and kissed him.

"We match too," said Sam, turning and smiling at Rachel.

"Yeah," said Rachel. "Sam Evans, right?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "I know who you are. I've heard lots about you."

"Nothing too horrible, I hope," said Rachel half-jokingly.

"Just that you're the diva to end all diva's," said Sam.

"That's true," said Rachel.

"You think you could give me a few tips?" said Sam. "I'm kind of new around here, and I never seem to get any solos, duets, anything."

"Sure," said Rachel.

"Okay everybody, in your places!" shouted Kurt as he stepped out onto the stage followed by Sunshine and Tina. "It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M…M…M…"

The next morning, Finn came to school and heard Puck talking to Lauren about going out to Breadstix before prom. "What, is that our official dating spot now?"

"I guess so," said Puck. "That's everyone's official dating spot actually. Artie and Tina, Santana and Brittany, Rachel and Sam…"

Finn froze. "What are you talking about? Rachel and Sam aren't dating."

"Maybe it is a stretch to say they're "dating"," Lauren agreed. "But we did see them there last night."

Without saying anything else to either of them, Finn marched off and headed straight for Sam's locker. "Hey, Finnster," said Sam. "What's up?"

"I'm about to give you some tough love, man," said Finn. "Rachel Berry is not into you."

"Really?" said Sam. "She seemed to have fun last night."

"Did she kiss you?" said Finn.

"No," said Sam. "And all we talked about was music, how to get prepared for a competition, stuff like that. But we really clicked."

"Don't kid yourself," said Finn. He lowered his voice. "I know Rachel. She was just using you to make me jealous."

"I don't think so," said Sam. "Wait…is this making you jealous?"

Finn froze and didn't say anything. Was this making him jealous? Should this be making him jealous? Was it really okay for him to be over Quinn yet? Maybe. It had been three months, not to mention that they'd already broken up before she died. Plus, this wasn't just any girl. He'd kissed Rachel before he found out Quinn was pregnant.

"You know what I think?" said Sam. "I think you're talking to the wrong person about this. If you think you might have feelings for Rachel, you should be telling her before there's another guy involved. Because if it's not me it'll be somebody else."

Something very bizarre was going on. Kurt had worn that exact jacket last year, and Mercedes knew it. That jacket just wasn't Sam's style, so there's no way he would have asked Kurt to borrow it unless…

"Oh my god," whispered Mercedes. She bolted for the choir room, where she knew Rachel, Brittany, and Santana were rehearsing.

"Rachel, there's something I've gotta tell you," said Mercedes.

"What?" said Rachel.

"Your boyfriend is gay," said Mercedes.

"Okay, first of all, Sam is not my "boyfriend"," said Rachel. "We just had a business dinner."

"And second, he's not gay," said Santana. "I dated him, remember?"

"Yeah?" said Mercedes. "Look at you now."

"Mercedes, trust me," said Rachel. "If Sam were gay, I would have noticed it by now."

"How?" said Mercedes. "You just met the guy!"

"Because I would have," said Rachel. "I never told you guys this, but I'm just a little psychic."

"I think it's pronounced 'psycho'," said Brittany.

"Very funny, Brittany," said Rachel.

"Sorry, grammar confuses me," said Brittany. "My English teacher says I might get better grades if I skipped class more often, but I don't know if she means for me to skip fast or slow so I just end up doing nothing."

"Excuse us," said Mercedes, taking Rachel by the hand and pulling her out into the hallway. Then she whispered to her that she had seem Sam wearing Kurt's jacket.

"No way," said Rachel. "There's no way that Kurt would do that to Blaine."

"Apparently there is," said Mercedes sadly. "I can't think of any other reason why Sam would walk around in a jacket like that. Besides, I was here when Sam first arrived and Kurt wanted to sing a duet with him."

"That was then, this is now," said Rachel. "Sam is not gay, and Kurt is not cheating with him, and I'm going to prove it."

"Good luck with that," said Mercedes as Rachel marched down the hall.

Rachel had her binoculars and her camera ready as she snuck off of the school bus after Sam, staying just far enough behind him that he couldn't see her. She saw him walk past the gated community she had expected him to enter and into…a motel parking lot. What was this? He didn't even bother to check in, he just headed for a room very purposefully. He'd clearly been here many times before.

"Sam?" said Rachel, stepping closer, shoving her camera into her pocket.

Sam whipped around and his face turned bright red when he saw Rachel. "Rachel. What are you doing here?"

"I think the real question is, what are you doing here?" Rachel snapped. "If you're gay, you can just come out and tell the Glee club. Kurt's safe at McKinley now, so you can be, too." More than anything she was feeling disappointed in Kurt for having cheated on Blaine.

"What the hell are you talking about?" said Sam.

"Mercedes told me she saw you wearing Kurt's jacket," said Rachel.

Sam sighed. "He gave it to me, okay?"

"I know how that happens," said Rachel. "Sometimes if Jesse left his coat at my house I would wear it to school the next day. There was one he even let me, keep, but I'm pretty sure he has it back now that we're…"

"Kurt only gave me his jacket because my old one wore out, and I need one to work my night job," said Sam.

Rachel rolled her eyes in annoyance. Just how dumb did this guy think she was? "All I'm saying is that I don't want you using me as a beard, okay?" she said. "As is everyone's convinced that our dinner we had at Breadstix last night was a date. You know how people talk."

"I couldn't afford another jacket, okay?" said Sam. "I live here."

"You don't have to lie to me," snapped Rachel.

"I do!" yelled Sam, grabbing Rachel's hand and leading her to the door of one of the motel rooms. He opened the door, revealing two adorable little blonde kids, one boy and one girl, sitting on a bed.

"Hi, Sammy," said the little girl. "Mommy had to go to work early, so she told us we had to stay on the bed until you got back."

"Can I go to the bathroom now?" said the little boy.

"Go ahead," said Sam. He turned to face a mortified Rachel standing in the doorway. "My dad lost his job, and the only job Mom could get was a waitress as a restaurant. Dad's pounding the pavement all the time looking for work, so Mom and I watch the kids in shifts."

"I'm sorry," whispered Rachel.

"It's okay," said Sam. "I just…" He sat down on the bed and started to tear up a little.

"Don't cry, Sammy," said the little girl, wrapping her arms around Sam's shoulders.

Rachel blinked back a few tears herself. "I won't tell anyone," she said. "Promise."

"Thank you," said Sam. "That's the first time I've cried."

"First time you've cried about what?" said the little girl. When Sam didn't answer, the little girl looked at Rachel and said, "Hi, I'm Stacie."

"I'm Rachel," said Rachel.

"Are you Sammy's friend?" said Stacie. "Sammy hasn't brought a friend home from school in a while."

"Yes," said Rachel. She could see why. The motel room only had one bed in it and a sleeping bag on the floor that Rachel guessed was either for Sam or his dad. "Yes, I'm Sam's friend."

"Wanna watch Powerpuff girls with me?" said Stacie. "Sammy's kind of boring right after he gets home from school cause he has to do his homework, so you won't want to hang out with him."

Sam laughed a little. Rachel looked at him. "You can stay for a while if you want," said Sam. "I'll walk you home on the way to my night job."

"Sure," said Rachel. She sat down on the bed next to Stacie and watched TV and played with the kids until Sam finished his homework and his mom came home.

"I need to ask," said Rachel once she and Sam were outside walking. "The other night when we went out to breadstix…that wasn't supposed to be a date, was it?"

"Kind of sort of," Sam admitted. "You're not really my type, but I was feeling a little down about the fact that I can't really afford to have a girlfriend, plus my last girlfriend leaving me to become a lesbian kind of shook my confidence a little."

"I understand," said Rachel. "There's someone I'm trying to get over and it's not working so…"

"No harm, no foul," said Sam. "Thanks for promising not to tell anyone."

"Of course," said Rachel. "That's what friends are for." She and Sam both smiled. "Maybe I could come over again sometime. You don't seem to get a lot of visitors."

"That would be awesome," said Sam. "If you don't mind getting roped into checkers or Powerpuff Girls or something whenever you come in.'

"Of course not," Rachel assured him. "Stevie and Stacie are great kids."

"Yeah, I think so too," said Sam. "I just wish there was more I could do for them. We had to sell most of their toys before we moved."

"They seem pretty content though," said Rachel. "Almost as if they're too young to really know what hit them."

"Thank god for that," said Sam.

"That's my Dads' house over there," said Rachel. "Goodnight, Sam."

"Goodnight."

Rachel smiled at her new friend as she walked away from him, knowing that even though she would do anything to help him, they would never be more than that.

"How could you think that?"

"Because I SAW HIM WEARING IT!"

"He could have gotten it somewhere else?"

"Like HELL! How could you do this?"

Rachel bolted around the corner as she heard her two best friends yelling at each other. "He didn't!"

"Still in denial, are we?" snapped Mercedes, standing next to Kurt with her hands on her hips. She had Santana and Tina on either side of her.

"No," said Rachel. "Sam was just over at Kurt and Finn's house rehearsing and Sam forgot his coat." Kurt looked over at her in surprise.

"Finn was with them and everything?" said Mercedes. Rachel nodded. "Wow, why didn't you tell us all that in the first place?"

"Because I'd rather that you just trusted me," said Kurt. "I've never cheated on Blaine and I never will." Then he glared at Mercedes, grabbed Rachel's arm, and walked off with her.

"You know, don't you?" said Kurt. Rachel nodded. "I can't believe you actually fooled the three of them."

"Me neither," said Rachel. "This could be a sign that I ought to get back into acting."

"Back?" said Kurt.

"Of course," said Rachel. "I starred in The Sound Of Music when I was in preschool and Swan Lake when I was in Kindergarten."

"Really? What have you done since then?" said Kurt.

"Um...yhere's the bell," said Rachel. "Gotta go!"