Chapter 3:

Quinn wiped the steam of the mirror as she began to run her fingers through her wet hair. She looked out through the window at the busy New York night that she used to call home. She felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu being here, at Jesse's same apartment and more importantly being in Jesse's same apartment with Jesse.

Quinn was glad she felt this déjà vu, it meant to her that she could pretend. She could pretend the last year and a half didn't happen and that she had been here all along, with Jesse, where she belonged.

If Quinn ever thought about a possible relationship with Jesse St. James in high school she would have scoffed and laughed hysterically. In high school she had planned everything out, a plan that the much younger and less broken Quinn believed would play out exactly how she wanted. She would go to New York University and major in literature, whilst attending the university she would met a young man, maybe a little older than her, majoring in some sort of law or medicine. After having a string of creative boyfriends in high school the last thing she wanted was to date another creative type but that was exactly what it was to her, a type – her type.

She recalled the day she had first met Jesse here in New York. It was a Sunday afternoon, a sunny one and the start of her very first semester was closing in. She never would have known that walking into a music store would turn her world upside and make it a doppelganger of a cliché romance novel.

She remembered walking in smiling and leaving shaking her head in disbelief, of course her fresh start turned out to be not so fresh.

"Quinn?"

She whipped her head around to see who owned the voice that had just called out her name. She spotted the curly hair boy – now a man – who had once attended her high school. She closed her eyes, sighed and shook her head, this would only happen to her. She opened her eyes again within seconds and tried her best to form a smile as he walked towards her.

"Hi Jesse," she breathed. It was when she saw Jesse smiling – well smirking – down at her that she decided not to judge him. He had never shot her judging looks in Glee Club when she had been pregnant with Beth. She'd also promised herself to become a better person ever since her sophomore year ended and she'd been on the opposite side of negative remarks and judgements. She took a deep breath and decided to give Jesse a second chance to change her judgement of him. "What are you doing here?"

Quinn had been in the middle isle searching for a new record to accompany her back to her dorm room. Jesse reached up above her to grab a CD from the top shelf.

He smiled at her, "I actually help manage this place."

Quinn was actually impressed. The reason she had chose this place was for two reasons, the first being that she hated the big music stores in the malls, they had music pumping through speakers like Kesha (Quinn wondered why she had lasted this long...) and the second, was being the fact that the people worked there had no idea about real music. So that is why she was impressed. Quinn was impressed because Jesse helped manage this store, which was exactly the type of store she adored.

She nodded her head and smiled, "Impressive, but what I meant was why are you here, in New York. I have had a few unpleasant conversations with Rachel about you and when I say unpleasant I meant she ended in tears or telling me over and over that she wanted you to get eaten by a lion," she paused and released she was babbling. "What I mean is you're supposed to be in California."

He looked at her curiously for a moment and finally replied. "I transferred over to NYU in my sophomore year. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse," he smiled, "And since when did you have conversations with Rachel?"

Quinn thought about what Jesse had just asked. He was right, when did she ever have conversations with Rachel? Well it all started in her senior year, too much of Quinn's displeasure Schue had paired her up with Rachel for a Glee assignment and their friendship had shortly began after. It was a shock to everyone, especially Rachel and Quinn.

Quinn smirked and decided she would play a little smart and honestly her formed friendship with Rachel had meant she had some loyalty to her and she was in no way going to discuss her with Jesse.

"Jesse, honestly, I'm trying to say this as nicely as I possibly can, I don't think it's any of your business. I mean, well it's Rachel's business as well as mine which means I don't think you have the right to know."

He pondered for a moment and then breathed out, "You're right, I have no right to ask." He smirked, "Only about Rachel, right? I can ask about you, since we've never held a conversation that didn't involve you calling me a spy. So tell me Fabray, why are you here? College? Trying your hand at a career in Broadway?"

Quinn scoffed and laughed, "Me in Broadway?" She shook her head. "Nope. I'm here attending NYU, I'm studying literature." She smiled proudly. Quinn had worked hard for her scholarship and was extremely happy when she received one.

Someone called Jesse's name from the front of the shop. He excused himself, smiled and went towards the source of the voice. Quinn shook her head. Why must Jesse be so nice when she knows he's an arrogant ass? She spotted a record she must get; a Radiohead album she'd been searching for over the past month. She headed towards the counter and saw Jesse behind it. She placed the CD cover on the counter and began searching for her wallet in her purse. She saw Jesse go into the back room to get the CD to place in the cover. She handed it back to Quinn and smiled.

She eyed him suspiciously, "What?"

He smiled turned into a smirk. "Nothing. The CD's on me. Think of it as a welcome present to New York."

"That's not going to happen. Jesse, we know each other, granted, but we aren't friends. Friends buy friends stuff and we aren't so it's not fair."

He sighed heavily and shook his head. "Quinn, stop being stubborn and just take the damn record."

She sighed and reached out to grab the Radiohead CD cover, she looked him in the eye and sincerely said thank you. She headed towards to door and stopped when she heard Jesse's voice.

"Nice choice by the way," he stood there smiling at her. She smiled back, nodded her head and walked out the door. Jesse liked Radiohead – Nice.

Quinn started to feel a smile come to her face when she remembered what happened when she got back to her dorm. She popped the CD into her stereo, she remembered cursing and saying something along the lines of, 'you've got to be kidding me'. Turned out that Jesse had given her a CD full of Jesse St. James originals.

It was the next day she returned to the store to demand an explanation – she didn't get one, she gained a regular shopping stop and more surprisingly a friend. It was a knock on the door that pulled Quinn out of her thoughts.

"Quinn? You okay in there," Jesse asked through the door, always soft, caring and never pushy.

"Yeah, I'm coming out, just give me a sec," she replied. She heard his footsteps fade into the lounge room. She looked at herself one more time in the mirror and examined the bruise that was already fading – thank God. She looked herself over once more, her eyes still red from the day long cry she had in Jesse's arms. She looked down at the top Jesse had given her to wear to bed, the one that seemed oversized on her it was the Queen one she used to wear regularly. She ran her hands over the bed shorts she was wearing to straighten them out and turned to face the door.

She found Jesse cleaning up the food they had eaten earlier – comfort food, no doubt. He heard her enter and Quinn saw the smile he gave her, it made every inch of her body feel warmer. Quinn stood there just staring at him for a while as he continued to clean up the mess. For the first time in a while Quinn felt a genuine smile on her face.

He finished cleaning up, moving almost as if he was dancing, towards the couch.

"Quinn?" she could hear it in his voice, here it came, he was going to ask her if she was okay. That's all everyone ever asked her – well the people who actually cared enough to recognize what was going on in her life.

But instead he surprised her. Instead he said the last thing Quinn expected him to say.

"I've missed you," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice but Quinn almost thought she heard a hint of hope in his voice. Hope for a future with her perhaps? Quinn thought about all the times she would dream of Jesse. She dreamed she never left him and that they got married and had kids of their own. She dreamed that he would be the famous Broadway star he always wanted to be and more importantly the father and husband he wanted to be even more than his dream to be a Broadway star. Quinn believed with every inch of her being that one day he would be that amazingly kind and beautiful dad and husband, but with her she didn't know. She knew that she wanted to be with him more than anything but she also knew what she did to him. Quinn felt she didn't deserve him. She hoped he would forgive her and they could have their happy ending but Quinn wasn't one for forgiving and she was not going to let Jesse forgive her this easily.

She smiled and moved to sit towards him. "I've missed you more than you'll ever know."

He smiled at her, "So what did you want to do? Watch a movie?"

She shrugged, "Honestly Jesse, I'm exhausted," she paused, "I'm sorry," Quinn knew what she was saying sorry for but Jesse didn't.

He touched the side of her face, "Hey, don't be sorry, I understand, you must be absolutely exhausted. You take my bed and I'll have the couch."

Quinn shook her head fiercely. "Nope, that's not going to happen, I'll take the couch," Quinn watched as he rolled his eyes and let out a light laugh.

"Quinn, stop being stubborn and just –

"Take the damn bed?" Quinn smiled a small smile as she looked into his eyes.

"Hey, that's my line,"

"I know," she smiled, he kissed her on the forehead and said their goodnights. She walked towards his bedroom and sank down into his bed covers. She loved the way this room smelt, just as she remembered. Just as she remembered how in sync they were together, always knowing what each other's next sentence would be.

For the first time in a long time Quinn fell to sleep feeling safe.

A/N: I'm not going to apologize because I know it's no good. But I've got a lot of time off from school, it's my big holiday break so I'll have plenty of time to write!

Please review! I was so pleased with everyone favouriting the story – It means the world to me but maybe review this chapter? Just to let me know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Thanks for all the positive feedback you've been giving me!