Song Title: Her Tea Leaves by Iron and Wine

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, its character, or the song – but oh my, if I did, Finn would be gone and my two lovers would be together.

Come the evening of my days
The dark birds in the trees and in her garden
I think I'll be there somewhere too
The yarrow by my head where I have fallen

And she will lick her thinner thumb
And ringless finger too, and douse a candle
And though she never gave a thing
The way she said my name, we'll be together

When autumn comes, she'll be there
Jasmine still in her hair
Her tea leaves dry by the sea

Many men behind her door
Have heard the bathtub run and longed to love her
And though she doesn't wait for me
We never ask the time when we're together.

Year 2060 - "Present Day"

Jesse poured another mug of warm tea and added a small drop of honey, knowing that the combination of flavors was Rachel Berry's preference. He had known the brunette for nearly fifty years, and although parts of his memory may be fading, he could still recall the very first time he saw her face – heard her voice – lost himself in surrender to her. She had always held the power, he thought as a wrinkled smile crept on his face. As he walked to the veranda of their house to deliver the tea to his beloved, he paused for a moment in the hallway to gaze at the trophies that lined the walls, the still shots that filled the photo frames of the house they chose for their own personal retirements.

There were Tony awards for Best Leading Actress in multiple plays and musicals, Golden Globes and Emmys for Jesse's guest stints on television programs, and separated from all of them – in their own glass case – held Rachel's Grammy award for Female Vocalist of the Year and Jesse's Oscar for Best Male in a Leading Role. He smiled once again as he remembered the reward shows, the countless after parties. Through all the years they'd spent together and separated, they always somehow managed to find one another again.

Year 2012

Rachel stood tapping her foot impatiently as she peered through the clothes in her closet. She knew that her high school graduation gown would most likely cover the majority of her outfit, but she still felt it important to wear something professional underneath, something that would show her peers how far she was going to make it in life. As she fingered through the rows of brightly colored sweaters so neatly hung in a row, she huffed and cursed herself for never purchasing any black dresses.

"You know it doesn't matter what you wear, Rache. You're going to be the star regardless." Rachel turned around as she heard her boyfriend enter her bedroom, silently thanking him for always having the ability to calm her nerves.

"That's easy for you to say, Jesse. You've already been through graduation – you know what to expect." She sighed again as she grabbed the solid burgundy dress, hoping that the outfit would suffice for her performance at the assembly.

Jesse came up from behind her and kissed her temple, wrapping his arms around her waist as she tried to pat out invisible wrinkles from the material she was holding. "I don't know why you're so worried," he whispered. "You know as well as I do that you're gonna knock them dead."

She leaned back into his shoulder as a sad smile crept onto her face. She knew what would have to take place directly after the ceremony, and she hadn't slept in days at the prospect of it. She'd even made a list of pros and cons, but there was one pro that stood out above all the rest – that trumped the entire list of cons by itself – success.

"So have you decided what you want to do afterwards? Dinner at Breadsticks? Or just come back to your dads' house and chill for the evening?" Jesse had already made plans of his own – and they included their favorite little hide away, the hotel near the interstate that had cheap rates and a very comfortable king size bed, but he was willing to do whatever Rachel wanted… it was her night, after all. He felt her muscles tense as she stepped away from him, avoiding his gaze.

"Actually, I was wanting to talk afterwards, if that would be okay."

He sensed her tone immediately, as she so rarely held it in her voice. Normally, her personality was so bubbly and contagious that he'd found himself laughing audibly just at the twinkle that would shine from her eyes, and that factor did nothing but make her melancholy that much stronger when it shown through. "What's wrong?" he asked, caution in his voice.

"We'll discuss it later, Jesse." She started pulling the curling iron through her hair again, trying to perfect tresses that had already been shaped and held with spray.

"We'll discuss it now. What's going on?" It was his turn to become tense, and he followed her into the bedroom and sat down on her bed, a location that had become all too familiar and comfortable since they had consummated their relationship nearly a year ago.

"Jesse, I don't want to talk about this right now. Can we just drop it until tonight?" She met his gaze in the vanity mirror, and Rachel let a tear fall as she noticed his expression. Raised eyebrows and hurt in his eyes. It was the expression she liked least of all on his features, especially when it was due to her own actions. She inhaled deeply as she dropped her gaze, refusing to look into his eyes. "I'm leaving, Jesse."

"I know you are. In thirty minutes, to be exact. I told you I'd drive you there." His heart was racing, confusion overtaken by doubt as he tried to understand where his girlfriend was coming from.

"No, I mean I'm leaving town. I'm leaving my dads and, because of that, I'm leaving you." She dropped the last word to a whisper, but it could have been shouted from Yankee Stadium for all Jesse knew. She turned around to meet his eyes as he furrowed his eyebrows, still not understanding the situation at hand. "I got accepted into a summer program at NYU," she explained, "and it starts next week. I only just found out about it a few days ago. I had been waitlisted at the beginning of the year so I never mentioned it, but another girl ended up dropping out a few days ago to travel with her boyfriend. I've already ironed out all of the details with my dads. They're going to pay for an apartment through the summer, which will give me enough time to save some money and handle my own bills by the fall. I'm not coming back here, Jesse. I can't." She lost her voice at the end of her statement as tears began flowing from her eyes. She never broke contact with Jesse's face, but his own eyes had been averted to the floor.

"And I suppose I get no say in this?" he whispered, standing up from the bed. "I stay here and support you for nearly two years and you don't even have the decency to warn me that you're making other plans? I thought we were in this together, Rachel!" He was shouting, but he didn't care. He knew it was only a matter of time before her dads came upstairs to find out what was the matter, but he needed answers before he was willing to comprehend the circumstances.

Rachel was sobbing by her vanity, no longer caring that her face was covered with mascara. She was too busy trying to keep hold of the numerous pieces of her heart that were crumbling inside of her. "I'm so sorry, Jesse. I can't turn down this opportunity. Maybe after the summer we can discuss the idea of you moving up there and finding a job. Or maybe even enrolling in school as well."

"Like hell, Rachel! I'm supposed to change all of my plans when you had the audacity to go right ahead and plan your future without me?" His face was contorted with all of the emotions he was feeling. Stay? Go? Stay? In the end, he knew his pride would win out above all else. As he turned to march through her door, he looked back at her once more as she crumbled on her vanity chair. "I loved you, Rachel. I hope this is worth it." He was already halfway to the driveway and stomping through the Berry's yard before he let his tears fall. He'd lost her yet again.

Year 2021

Jesse and Rachel were lounging on their oversized recliner, snuggling their bodies against one another although they were both overheated by the heavy blanket Rachel insisted on using. As she heard the tea kettle whistling from the stove, she stood up and paused momentarily by the window of their twenty-fourth story window.

"Manhattan is so beautiful this time of night," she stated, enjoying the view that they had both longed for so desperately in their teenage years. She had been naïve when she moved up here alone, nearly ten years ago, but her heartache and struggle through her adolescence was worth it. She was currently starring in the revival of Funny Girl, and she had already won her first Tony award for her role as Maria in West Side Story a few years ago. She squinted as she took in the colors bursting from the Empire State Building, the location of her reunion with her fiancé sitting a few feet away. "I'm so happy we chose this building last year. I just don't think we would have been as happy in Chelsea."

"That's because you're obsessed with the lights of Broadway," Jesse snickered as he walked up from behind and wrapped his arms around Rachel's waist, a habit he had kept long after they stumbled upon each other in the building that they were both unashamedly gazing at that evening. He'll never forget seeing her in the lobby that day – standing with her dads on their first visit to the city. Jesse already had one successful film under his belt at the time, and he was on location doing shoots for his second. The area of the lobby he was in was closed to civilians, but he heard Rachel's laughter above the calls coming from the director, and he'd walked out of the scene without a second thought. It was only a matter of weeks before they knew it had to be fate, and when Jesse had proposed to her atop the building a year later, she had smiled and accepted with tears in her eyes. They were due to walk down the aisle in two months, and both were anxiously awaiting their future together.

"Will you get the tea?" Rachel asked, pulling him back from his walk down memory lane. "I'll pop in the movie while you're doing that." She moved to grab her nearly worn out copy of The Way We Were, their combined favorite of all of Barbra's classics. As she slipped the DVD into the player and switched on the television, she could hear Jesse's phone ringing from inside the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, Rachel was tapping her foot impatiently against the recliner as Jesse rejoined her in their living room, a look of solemn on his face. She furrowed her eyebrows as she took in his expression. "What's wrong?"

"That was my agent," he replied, trying to find the words to explain the sudden change in course his life was about to take. "I got the lead in that Vietnam War movie I told you about."

"Congratulations!" Rachel yelled, jumping to her feet and wrapping her arms around Jesse's neck. "That's a role of a lifetime!" She smiled larger than she had in her entire life, and she was so giddy that she didn't notice the change in the atmosphere as Jesse's back tensed.

"Rache, they want to start shooting in four weeks. On location." Her body stiffened as she suddenly took in his demeanor, understanding now why he hadn't shared in her joy over the news. She stepped back to look him in the eye as she asked the question burning at the tip of her tongue, threatening to shoot flames as she opened her mouth.

"What did you tell them?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Rachel, you just said it was the role of a lifetime. You know what this could mean for my career."

"What did you tell them, Jesse?" she repeated, although she already knew it was unnecessary. The answer was written on his face.

"I'm leaving in two weeks." He noticed her exhale as she turned away from him and began pacing the floor of the living room. For a minute, he wondered if it were possible to leave tracks in the rug they had chosen as their center piece. "It's a ten month shoot, Rachel. We can just push the wedding back a year."

"Which is what we've been saying for two years, Jesse!" Rachel was furious as hot tears threatened to spill from her eyes. They had already changed the date of their wedding three times in support of their careers, but luckily they had all been before the invitations went out. When they had chosen August 3rd this time around, they both promised that nothing would stand in the way – that that was the day they would begin their lives together. "You're not going," she said, coming to a standstill in front of him as he ran his hands through his curls.

"Excuse me?" he replied. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but how many times have you chosen your own life and your own career in front of us?" His blood was boiling directly below the surface. No, he hadn't understood her actions before, but now they made perfect sense. This could be his chance at an Oscar. Rachel, of all people, had to understand that.

"I was a kid, Jesse! A selfish teenager! How dare you throw that back in my face!" Once again, she was standing in front of Jesse as uncontrollable sobs overtook her body. She was eighteen all over again, yet this time – it was his decision to break her heart.

"We don't have to decide this right now, babe," he responded, trying to calm her nerves. "Let's just watch the movie and discuss it at another time. We can compromise, I know we can. We can figure something out."

"Get out," Rachel whispered, avoiding his gaze.

"What?" Jesse was stunned. They were in the middle of building a life together – a life he so desperately wanted to be a part of. How could she so easily remove him from her equation?

"I said get out. You're nearly thirty years old, Jesse. If it's not happening for us now, it's not ever going to happen. This is over." She stood firm in her statement, meeting his eyes to showcase her stubborn and haste decision.

"And I get no say in this? This is our wedding, Rachel. This is our life. You can't keep making all of the decisions!"

"You're the one that made the decision when you agreed to leave on the phone just now. Get your Oscar in Vietnam, Jesse. Become the huge star we all knew you would be. I'm not going to walk in your shadows." And with that, she turned away from him. She knew she was selfish, and under any other circumstance, she would have shied away and stayed in his shadow forever, but deep in her heart, she knew it was the last straw. They couldn't keep doing this to each other.

She heard him sniff before he turned for the door, pausing for a moment before stepping into the hallway. "I loved you, Rachel," he whispered, but she made no move to acknowledge that she'd heard him. "I'll be back around to collect my things," he stated more firmly, and she heard as his own cries broke through before the door shut behind him.

"Goodbye, Hubbell," she whispered into the empty apartment.

Present Day

Jesse ran his hand through his thinning curls as he took the rocking chair next to Rachel, sighing at the feelings his aching body was experiencing. Age has a funny way of sneaking up on a person. Through the years, Rachel and Jesse had rejoined countless times, only to end their relationship once more when things weren't going easily for the both of them. Although they'd spent years apart, and had countless relationships of their own, neither ever married… both knowing that eventually, one day, their lives would stand still and they would be able to have their happily ever after.

"You may want to water that plant, Rache," Jesse noticed, observing the strong beams of light hitting the flower pot on the porch from the setting sun. "It'll wilt if kept out in this sunlight with no water."

"That's a yarrow plant," Rachel responded, as if that was enough of an explanation. She turned her head slowly and noticed her lover's raised eyebrows, a habit Jesse had never broken from his adolescence. She smiled softly at the memories they shared before she clarified. "Yarrows don't need special treatment, they don't need the tender, love, and care that other plants require to survive. They thrive in bad soil and poor situations. It allows them to grow stronger."

She peered out to the open yard they had shared for nearly ten years, taking in the scenery of the pond as Jesse reached his arm out and linked his fingers with hers. They both began rocking their separate chairs to the same rhythm, a wordless song they both knew by heart. "Legend has it," Rachel continued, "that the yarrow plant was the flower of Achilles that he would take with him into battle – because it was the strongest herb of all. It would take the pain and suffering away from a wounded soldier."

They sat quietly for the remainder of the sunset, wishing to keep the moment peaceful as the sky turned from blues and greens to yellows and reds - before finally settling into darkness. The cool breeze skipped along Rachel's long grey tresses before finding its way into Jesse's curls, and they both smiled into the gentle wind as they kept their hands intertwined, wishing to stay in contact for as long as the outside world allowed them. Out in the yard, fireflies danced among themselves and illuminated the night sky, oblivious of the two soul mates that had lost their bodies to slumber on the veranda.

Two depressing songs in a row… that was not intentional. Although some people see Her Tea Leaves as a sad piece, I've always found it to be so beautiful and inspiring. Especially the last line – We never ask the time when we're together. I've always considered the song to be about soul mates that couldn't always make it work, but still somewhere knew they would always have one another. To me, that is the very definition of St. Berry and I'm stoked the song showed up on my iPod today.

Anyhoo, I cannot thank you guys enough for the reviews from the first song. Honestly, they're so unbelievably sweet. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the next song chosen is a bit more… uplifting?