So I wasn't sure whether I was going to make this into a two-parter, but after I re-read the first chapter, this kind of just came to me. Nothing really needs to be explained, so just read it, and hopefully, enjoy. Reviews are very much appreciated. (Hours to write, seconds to review)

Three years, and two moderately successful shows later, Jesse finds himself back where it all started.

He actually finds it comforting how Carmel High has stayed so unchanged. It's almost as if he could just walk right back through those doors and be 17 again.

If only it was that easy.

-o-

He drops his bags off at his old house, his parents are so excited to see him. He gives them a brief greeting before telling them he needs to do something quickly before dinner.

He knows it's probably the worst idea he's ever had, but he can't help himself. He has to see her.

And the drive from Akron to Lima isn't that long anyway.

-o-

He pulls into the parking lot, and waits. He knows it's a long shot. She might have practice after school, or she might leave through the front entrance; she could be sick and have not even come in today. There are so many thoughts running through his head as he searches the sea of students. His heart begins to race when the crowd begins to wane, and less and less students are coming out. Had he missed her?

Surely he hadn't. He could spot her a mile off; Rachel Berry didn't blend in. He taps nervously on the steering wheel, disheartened when the door opens and it's just another pimply faced teenager.

Then he sees her.

She's laughing, her face is lit up as she listens to whoever's talking. Jesse strains his neck to try and get a better view of her through the a group of students who had come out before her. However, it's not really the random students around her that are in the way. It's some giant dude that's walking next to her.

Jesse feels his grip tighten on the steering wheel.

Finn Hudson.

He's not surprised, but he can't help but feel a little disappointed. A small part of him had hoped that he had been wrong. That his suspicions about Finn had been misguided.

Jesse watches as they reach her car and Finn opens her door for her. She laughs at him before playfully slapping him on the butt as he runs around to get in the passenger door.

Clearly he had been right all along.

-o-

She drops Finn off first and Jesse gets this sinking feeling when they kiss, before quickly looking away.

He realises that this has now become borderline stalker behaviour, but he isn't ready to not see her just yet.

When she finally reaches her house, he's hesitant at first. What is he doing?

He takes in a few breaths as he reminds himself why he has to do this - needs to do this.

He parks on the kerb and walks slowly down her driveway. She's facing away from him, grabbing her bag out of the backseat. He starts walking a little faster, the gravel shifting noisily under his feet. She'll hear him before she sees him.

Sure enough, she stops reaching for her bag and looks curiously through the back window for the cause of the sound.

He's only about ten feet away from her now, and he watches as she quickly removes herself from her car and stands to face him.

"…Jesse?" Her voice sounds unsure, but her eyes have already hardened.

"Hello Rachel." He stands up a little straighter, trying to feign some sort of confidence.

"What are you…?"

"I..uh, I came here to say something."

She still looks confused, and a bit shocked, but besides that her face stays rather void of emotion.

"I'm sorry." It sounds stupid all on it's own.

She sighs. "It really doesn't matter anymore Jesse."

"Yes it does. It matters to me." He says, taking a few steps towards her, and frowning when she involuntarily flinches.

"Let me clarify, I meant it doesn't matter to me." She says severely before closing her car door.

He winces slightly. "Please don't be like this."

"Like what?" She crosses her arms tightly against her chest.

This time he lets out a sigh. "I wish I could do it all over again Rachel. Honestly I do."

"Everyone says that Jesse. But we both know, if you got the chance, you'd do it all exactly the same." This time she readjusts her bag before turning and walking towards her house.

"No I wouldn't." He says, a little too quickly in response, hastily following after her. He mentally berates himself before slowing down. "I just, I didn't realise it then, okay? I needed the perspective that only the last few years have given me."

"And what perspective is that?" She suddenly stops and turns on him. He's surprised but quickly recovers.

"That none of it matters. None of it." He pauses. "….without love." He finishes, watching her closely.

"What we had wasn't love Jesse." She shakes her head before reaching into her purse and grabbing her keys.

"Don't say that. You know it was." He's willing her to look at him. She doesn't.

"Jesse, look, I just…what's the point in rehashing the past? It's been three years. I've moved on and so have you." She's half turned as she begins to open her front door.

"Because I did love you Rachel. And I know there's a part of me that still does." At this, her hand falls from the doorknob to her side. She still doesn't look at him though.

He waits for her to say something. Silence falls over them.

"I'm with Finn now, Jesse." She says eventually, finally turning back and looking up at him. "And I'm happy."

He tries to swallow down the growing lump in his throat. "I know it's too late for us. I didn't come back here to try and win you back." Although, he thinks, maybe a part of him did.

"Well good, because you'd be wasting your time." She doesn't mean for it to sound as harsh as it does, but she's feeling a little on the defensive right now.

"Look Rachel. I'm sorry. That's all I really wanted to say. I guess I'm here to offer you some sort of closure…I don't know..."

"Fine. I forgive you Jesse." She doesn't sound very convincing. He eyes her warily.

"Look I have a heap of study to do and I'm already feeling tired. So…" She says it quickly, her eyes looking expectingly at him.

"Rachel... Please."

"There's nothing left to say." She says, an edge in her voice.

"So this is goodbye?" He asks disheartened. This can't be their goodbye, forever. This wasn't how they were supposed to end.

For one tiny moment, he sees a shard of emotion flicker across her face. "Goodbye Jesse." Her voice sounds strained. She's already inside her house.

"Wait!" He lets out, a little louder than he intended.

Rachel looks surprised at his outburst, but he feels relieved because it has stopped her from closing the door on him, literally and figuratively.

She puts one hand on her hip, the other resting against the door.

"This doesn't feel right Rachel. I can't leave like this." He motions between them, his eyes frantically searching hers.

Her shoulders kind of slump and she clears her throat. "I'm not sure what you expect from me Jesse? You dumped me, remember? You egged me in the school parking lot with all your team mates, remember?"

Instinctively he wants to wrap his arms around her and take away all the crap he put her though. But she's too far away, and he thinks she'd probably slam the door in his face if he tried anything. So he forces his arms to stay by their side as he watches a few stray tears roll down her cheeks and all the hurt that he put her through resurface.

This was all his fault. And now he was making her relive it all over again.

"…You just left me Jesse. Without warning or even a conversation. Nothing. So why do I have to talk to you now, huh? I owe you nothing." The tone of her voice was getting angrier.

"Rachel I know I was fucking idiot, okay?" She's taken back by his strong use of language. He doesn't mean for that, but she has to know. She has to know that he knows how much of a selfish jerk he was, and how he regrets, so much, taking her for granted. "You didn't deserve any of it. And maybe I was stupid in thinking we could get past it-"

"-Yeah, maybe you were." She interrupts, but her voice isn't angry anymore.

"Rach…"

"Goodbye Jesse." She says it to him again, and it isn't any easier to hear the second time round. She doesn't even look at him as she closes the door.

-o-

He stands out on her porch, frozen. He feels a rush of emotions surge through his body and for second he thinks he might fall over. He never should have come back. He should've just left her alone.

When he reaches his car, he pauses to look back one last time. He wills the door to open, for her to come running back out and into his arms. And for her to forgive him.

But the door stays firmly shut.

-o-

That night, he's in his old bedroom, lying on his old bed. The memories they shared in this room float in and out of his head as he allows sleep to overcome him.

Jesse doesn't know if it's a moment later or hours later, but he's woken to the sound of his phone.

Reaching blindly over his bedside table, his hands finally find the cold vibrating plastic.

"Hello." He answers, his voice laced with sleep.

There's no response. He holds the phone lazily to his ear. "Hello?" He repeats, rubbing his eyes as the veil of sleep slowly lifts.

Just as he's about to hang up, he hears her voice. It's like a soft whisper in his ear. "I loved you too."

The words leave him speechless, and he's already sitting up, clutching the phone to his ear.

Before he can even think of something to say, the line goes dead.

She's gone.

And for the first time in three long years, Jesse's heart breaks all over again.