Hi there and hello! Thank you for the feedback, i'm really glad you guys like the approach i'm taking with this story, just wanted to try something a little different i guess. This chapter is solely focused on future Rachel, i think its kind of important to see her frame of mind. Plus i like that i can write how she made her dreams come true

CHAPTER THREE

Rachel Berry didn't get nervous. Nerves were for amateurs who were unsure of themselves and Rachel Berry had been sure of herself and her abilities since the age of five. That was just who she was. Put her on a stage in front of thousands of people and millions more on television and she could take a breath and transform into whoever she needed to be. Even after forty years in the business; the first Tony award, the years in her thirties when people wrote her off, the high of her fortieth birthday when she proved them all wrong with another Grammy and a standing ovation- winning performance, through all of the ups and downs all it ever took was that one breath and she was ready. Not today.

Rachel stood at the crafts table picking at what she was assured were all vegan-friendly snacks. Most of it had a grainy texture that she could only assume resembled cardboard but picking her way through to find what she deemed edible was not only a skill she had become talented at over the years, but also gave her trembling hands an outlet for their nerves energy.

Nerves. Again, there was that word. There was no mask to slip over her features, no character to crawl inside of and hide. She was Rachel Berry playing Rachel Berry. Well, not playing. Being Rachel Berry. It had been so long since she had been expected to just be herself in front of a camera that the concept seemed completely foreign to her. Hence, nerves. One deep breath had turned into three into eight into losing count. Leaning into the table and rolling her head back, Rachel finally exhaled, dropped her shoulders, stretched them back. She found comfort in the normality of her pre-concert routine of stretches. Her body was getting old, tired and she knew it, but doing these things that she had always done tricked her mind a little. She could remember standing behind the curtains, listening to Quinn and Sam sing the opening of 'Time of my life' doing these stretches. Just waiting. For the moment when the curtain would rise to the rest of the Glee club singing and dancing backup. She could picture it like it had happened last week; The radiance of Quinn's smile as she spun into Sam, Mercedes hitting that high note and Rachel herself beaming at Quinn getting her moment to shine and a little surprise at her complete lack of jealousy as she was pushed to the background to make room for her team to shine. And boy had Quinn shone. Radiated. Glowed, but not in a pregnant way, thank God. That was the first time you had looked at her and just thought 'wow'. Nothing could touch her then, she was ethereal and you were just happy to be on that stage with her, in her orbit.

"Miss Berry? How are you holding up? It can be intense in this setting, right?" asked her interviewer, reaching over to grab some of the cardboard-esque snacks.

"Oh yes, just reminiscing about the old days. I would stay away from that section of the table if I were you," she adds, pointing to the area that Barbara had just reached for. The woman immediately retracts her hands and reaches for the safer option of sliced fruit after Rachel's approving nod.

"And you should call me Rachel. It seems strange for you to call me Miss Berry after you've read my book. Oh God, you did read it didn't you? I mean I know sometimes that interviewers just read a synopsis and…"

"Normally yes, I would just get an overview but not with you. I know I have to say it for the cameras to all of my guests, but I am actually a fan of yours. I remember seeing you in this little off-Broadway play that I can't even recall the name of now. Many years ago, before you 'made it' as they say. You had to have been twenty maybe? You had this awful red wig on and were playing an alien waitress I think."

"Oh I'm so sorry you had to sit through that! The Diner From Outer-Space. That was truly a terrible play. We were all so convinced that we would get this huge cult following like Rocky Horror but it was just terrible." she laughed at the starry eyed version of herself all those years ago, excited about her first role. "I hope you got to see one of my better plays sometimes."

"My husband always makes sure to book tickets to your latest show whenever we travel to New York. Its not too often these days, but then again you haven't been on the stage as much as you use to be." The woman almost seems sad for you, her eyebrows knitting above her kind blue eyes.

"Its hard work writing a book, especially one as," she pauses, searching for the exact word she needed. Rachel would never settle for saying something that didn't truly reflect her feelings at that point.

"Intimate?" at Rachel's nod she continues. "I can't imagine how hard those last few chapters were to write for you."

"You should try living them," the brunette adds with a wry laugh, picking at the plate of apple in her hands, dropping her eyes away from the other woman for the first time since she approached the table.

"Oh that's not what I meant at all, I just…" she tries to get out before Rachel cuts her off.

"I know. Its just a major turning point in my life. My own epic love story as people say. It was a life time ago but the memories are still so clear and I guess I'm still coming to terms with sharing that side of me." She smiles up through watery eyes at the suddenly-unsure woman in front of her.

"I remember being eighteen, trying to figure out the rest of my life and just being overwhelmed. High school can be a challenging enough environment without realising you're in love with your arch-nemesis I suppose? Especially when that person is a girl too."

"It was a different world back then. The equality of today was a distant dream that I hoped we would reach one day. Trying to plan the rest of my life at the time was, demanding, I guess. With college, Finn's proposal and then Quinn… She once told me that I couldn't know who I would be or who I would want once I got out of Lima, that women were finding themselves in their thirties and I shouldn't throw my dreams away on a high school romance that wouldn't stand the test of time and distance."

Barbara failed to smother her chuckle, adding "Little did she know, hmmm?"

"Well she was talking about Finn at the time, not herself. She was right about him, but she couldn't have been anymore wrong about a high school love lasting the years after graduation. I mean, look at me - I'm an old woman smiling like a school girl with a crush just talking about her."

"TEN MINUTES PEOPLE!" bellows across the studio, shocking you out of your memories.

"I guess that's my cue to have my makeup touched up. It takes a little longer that it use to, you know." Barbara joined her in a smile

"I've got a few years on you Miss Berr." She pauses at the patented Rachel Berry glare. "Sorry, Rachel. I'll see you back in the hot seat in ten."

"You sure will once I get these old lady lines covered up." You appreciate the reassuring hand the woman places on your shoulder as she turns to leave.

"Thank you," you add. "For being kind to me today. It means a lot to me. And Quinn."

"No, thank you Rachel. Its not every day that a love story like this is told. It's very brave of you, after all of these years hiding it while you are in the limelight. You are just, well you're just…" she pauses, taking a calming breath and you see her eyes glistening. "You are a very brave woman Rachel."

Rachel see's her hand come up to swipe at her eyes as she walks away and it calms the singer down in a strange way. It isn't too often she can say that an interviewer has her back in this business.

"FIVE MINUTES PEOPLE!"

Rachel rushes over to her makeup chair, she wasn't joking about those old lady line and Rachel Berry will never look less than perfect for the camera.