Sorry, sorry, sorry about the late update! I was working on another story and was planning on posting this chapter on July 4th but then an impromptu visit to see some relatives prevented that from happening. SORRY! –hides behind chair- Please don't hurt me!

As always, thanks for the reviews :) And I hope everyone from the US had a great Fourth of July! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee –insert witty comment here-

Chapter 9

"A tumor? Are you sure?" Rachel repeated incredulously, waiting for the news to really sink in and hit home. It didn't.

The rest of Glee club had already headed back to school; they thought it would be best for Rachel to mull things over by herself and not with all of her classmates looking over her shoulder. She had muttered a small "thank you" before her friends left. She felt really bad that they came all this way just to leave again but she did appreciate the gesture. They had all waved goodbye as they exited the room, all except Finn. He had grabbed Rachel's hand, shaking it gingerly, and smiled at her. She had grinned back, feeling her cheeks go hot, and hoped no one had noticed.

Rachel's fathers, however, remained by her side, explaining to her how they found out and what this all entailed.

Hiram answered, "Yes, the doctor said the tumor was a large one to boot. It was pushing on his brain. That combined with the alcohol spells disaster."

Rachel nodded, looking down. She sat in silence, thinking things over in her head. Jacob wasn't in his right mind. The tumor, the alcohol. Yes, he was held accountable for making the decisions that he did but it didn't mean his parents were too. Rachel thought back to the time when Jacob's parents had left her room, clearly upset and hurt by her words. Jacob made his choices but his parents didn't exactly have a say, did they?

Once she finally thought she had a handle on the situation, she turned to her dads.

"Can I ask you guys a favor?"

"Sure, honey," Leroy replied gently.

"Anything. What is it?" Hiram asked.

"I want to make a phone call in private."

Jacob's parents, still mourning over the loss of their son, were at their home, which resembled a little cottage in the woods. Jacob's mother sat at the table in the kitchen, picking at her meal uninterestingly. Her husband sat directly across from her, scanning through a newspaper in order to keep his mind off of things. His eyes scoured through all of the articles, stopping when he saw a picture…of his son.

Jacob was part of the obituary.

Trying to hold back the sobs he felt were coming, Jacob's father hastily flipped the newspaper to a different page altogether. He didn't understand how his son could be so insensitive. Did he ever think what would happen to his family if he died? Why didn't he think of the repercussions? Sighing, Jacob's father tried to brush away the ill feelings towards his son; how could he hate his own son? He just wanted Jacob back.

A faint ringing could be heard in the distance and Jacob's dad realized that his phone was buzzing. After walking towards the source of the ringing, he held the phone up to his ear and said, "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Israel?" a tentative voice asked, "It's Rachel Berry. I wanted to talk to you and Mrs. Israel about something…that is…if you would care to listen."

"Of course, Rachel," he said, putting the phone on speaker phone so his wife could hear as well. He flailed his arms at her, motioning at her to come over. She quickly wobbled over to his side, intent on hearing what Rachel had to say.

"First of all, I want to apologize for earlier. I never meant to hurt your feelings in any way. I've had some time to think and I've realized that you aren't responsible for your son's actions." Rachel took a deep breath before continuing, "I heard about the tumor."

No one talked on the other end so Rachel decided to keep on rambling in order to fill up the open air, "I know you must be grieving and I know I probably haven't made it easy on you but I want you to know that…I forgive you. And I forgive Jacob. What he did to me was terrible and no one should ever have to go through that but this whole experience has taught me a valuable lesson: Life is fragile. I don't want to spend the rest of my life harboring any ill feelings. I don't want your lives to be filled with even more grief so I forgive you."

Jacob's mother piped up, "You really mean it?"

"I do."

Rachel sighed, putting down her phone on the table next to her, and lay back on her pillow. She knew she had done the right thing by forgiving Jacob's parents. They were already going through so much and she didn't want to add more misery onto heartbreak. She couldn't live with herself if she knew that another person was suffering on the inside because of her. Rachel could appear to be self absorbed and selfish at times but when it really came down to who she was as a person, Rachel did care about the feelings of others. She was relieved that she had finally achieved some closure with the whole Jacob situation.

She heard a light tapping at the door and looked over just in time to see Finn's large figure peer into the room. She chuckled and welcomed him in with open arms. He bent forward, leaning towards her body to give her a gentle hug. He looked all sweaty and Rachel deduced that he must have come back from basketball practice judging from all of the perspiration dotting his forehead and the basketball jersey he was sporting. Finn seemed to be slightly out of breath, probably from hurrying from school to the hospital. Rachel couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the fact that Finn had rushed over just to see her.

"How are you doing now?"

"Better, thanks. The doctors say I can go home in a few days."

"That's great!" He exclaimed, "You sure you can't come back sooner? Everyone's really missing you at school."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. "Well, I might be more motivated to heal faster," she began jokingly but then grew more hesitant, "If there was someone worth coming back for…" She tried to egg Finn on, hoping to hear the answer she desperately wanted to hear.

"Well, there's Tina, Artie, Mercedes, Kurt…even Quinn said Glee club wasn't the same without you."

"Anyone else?" She inquired timidly.

"Yeah, um, Puck, Mike, Matt, Santana, Brittany..." Finn rambled, naming off his fellow classmates one by one, totally oblivious to Rachel's tip-off.

"Is that all?" She asked softly again, praying Finn would catch her drift. How obvious could she get?

"There's also Mr. Schue and Ms. P and oh..." Finn stopped suddenly.

"Ummm…" Finn uttered, looking down, finally realizing where Rachel was going. He reprimanded himself for feeling so embarrassed. God, suck it up and tell her for heaven's sake!

He took a deep breath, still titling his head down, unwilling to look her in the eyes out of fear for what her reaction would be. "Erm, there's always me…" he started to say tentatively.

Then feeling the courage build up inside of him and looking up so he would be able to see Rachel's expression, Finn stated in a firmer tone, "I want you to come back for me."

Finn was relieved to see Rachel with a cute little smile on her face before him. She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to say something, but let out an enormous yawn instead. She turned red almost immediately.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a bit worn out," she admitted.

"No worries. Get better soon okay?" he said, nodding at Rachel, ruffling her hair some. Finn felt a tiny object in his hand and, upon looking down, realized it was Rachel's hand.

She murmured softly into her pillow, "I'll try…"

Rachel tried desperately to keep herself awake; she thought it would be rude to fall asleep in front of company but she couldn't help herself. She felt her eyelids droop, the drugs in her IV obviously doing their job. A yawn escaped her lips one more time but this time she couldn't even muster the strength to excuse herself. The last thing she felt before succumbing to sleep was someone softly giving her a peck on her forehead. Rachel smiled for a brief second and then nestled her head farther into her pillow, consciousness fleeing from her body.

Meanwhile, in another house on the other side of town, a young boy sat down at his wooden desk with a letter clutched tightly in his hands. He had rather messy light brown hair that covered his green eyes and freckles around his cheeks. He was a gangly sixteen year old kid who was used to being labeled as a loser at his high school. All of the abuse had transformed him into a stony-faced and jaded person, sick of the way he was being treated.

The sky was pitch-black and rain could be heard pitter pattering on his window. A bright flash of light streaked across the sky as a loud crack of thunder resonated through the air, startling the boy. He flattened the letter on his desk and could barely read the writing that seemed to have been hurriedly scrawled in ink. He read it silently and slowly to himself. It said,

Dear Seth,

I guess this is it. I've hatched a genius plan in order for me to get the girl I want. I'm going to go for it on Friday when her parents aren't around. I hope it all goes according to plan. I can't let you in on all of the details but I just wanted you to know that my plan might have some flaws. It could be potentially life threatening. You're my best friend; you've been my best friend ever since we were little. Remember that time at my house when we were ten? We made a pact that we would be like brothers. Brothers stick by each other when things get rough. They would do anything for each other. I'm asking you to do something for me now. Like I said before, I could potentially die trying to get the girl of my dreams; there is a gun involved. If I do die during my quest, I have only one request. Kill Rachel Berry. Please don't tell anyone about this. No one can know. This is just between you and me. She has to die. Trust me. It'll be the only way for me to find peace.

Jacob

The boy quickly crumpled up the letter and tossed it into his trash can. He started to think about Jacob, his only friend, his best friend...no, his deceased best friend. They were inseparable ever since they were born. They would hang out at each other's houses on the weekends. When school and the bullies were too much to handle, they knew they could count on each other for strength and support. Since they went to different schools, they didn't have to opportunity to stick up for each other in the hallways. Instead, they were forced to suffer during school and vented all of their frustrations out on each other later either over the phone or face to face. Jacob had really helped Seth out in times of trouble. Jacob was his savior. If it wasn't for him, Seth would be completely lost and confused.

Seth looked up with a new determination sparkling in his eyes.

It was now his turn to repay Jacob for all of his past kindness. He had mourned over Jacob's death but was now reinvigorated to do what Jacob failed to do. He was going to carry out Jacob's dying wish.

He would make sure of it.

PLOT TWIST! :D I hope it was worth the wait. :) I know it's kinda short (I've set a goal to make my chapters longer) but I hope you guys enjoyed anyway. I ended the Jacob twist earlier in order to get some closure with that plot. Now onto a new phase!

-pokes you- Review please? Pwetty please? ;) I'd really appreciate them! :) (Can you tell I'm obsessed with making smiley faces? Ha!)