Author's Note: Sorry I couldn't get this posted sooner guys. I haven't had much as much free time to write as I would like lately.
Carla L11, since I couldn't respond to you individually, no I do not plan on dropping this story. I would never start writing a fic if I didn't have every intention of finishing it and at least giving the characters a satisfying ending. So no need to worry about me not finishing this one. :)
As always, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. I plan on using some of your suggestions that you gave me a few chapters back in the near future. Keep reviewing and letting me know what you think of the fic!
Rachel awoke the next morning to the sound of her phone ringing. She smiled as she knew exactly who it was that was calling her. The moment she answered it she was greeted with one of the sexiest voices she had ever heard. "Good morning, beautiful," Jesse said. Just the sound of his voice sent tingles of pleasure through her body.
"Good morning," she replied, her voice gravelly with sleep.
"Do you know how sexy you sound right now?" Jesse asked which made Rachel giggle softly.
"I believe we have breakfast plans," Rachel said, sitting up on the bed and leaning against the headboard. "Do you have a place in mind?"
"Meet me at The Surrey in half an hour," he told her.
"But I need to take a shower and get dressed," she whined a little. She couldn't very well go out in public looking like she had just rolled out of bed.
"You have thirty minutes," he insisted. "So if I were you, I'd take a real quick shower and throw your stuff in a bag and get ready later." He paused for a second waiting for her to protest. "Just trust me, okay?"
"Fine," she pouted. "I'll meet you there in thirty minutes."
Thirty minutes later, Rachel walked into the lobby of The Surrey. She looked around for Jesse but didn't see him then she felt her phone vibrate with a text message. She pulled it out of her purse and read what it said.
Go over to the elevator and come to room 1403.
Rachel felt her heart flutter as she walked towards the elevator. Here she had thought that they were just simply meeting here for breakfast, but apparently Jesse had other plans. No wonder he had told her not to worry about getting ready.
It took everything in her not to sprint down the hall as she reached the fourteenth floor and walked down the hall towards the room that Jesse had told her to go to. She saw that he had left the door open slightly so she pushed the door open even further slowly and walked in. Rachel gasped softly as she took in the room. "Jesse," she called, shutting the door behind her.
Then he appeared looking as gorgeous as ever in the doorway of the terrace she hadn't noticed before. "Hi," he said as he walked into the room.
"I thought we were having breakfast," Rachel admonished as she walked towards him.
"We are," he told her softly, reaching up on either side of her face and running his hands through her hair as he placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Rachel felt her heart skip a beat as she looked into Jesse's eyes as he pulled away smiling at her, still holding her face in his hands. "Come on," he took her hand as he stepped back and led her towards the terrace.
Rachel's face broke out into a huge grin as soon as she saw the breakfast spread on the table as they walked out onto the terrace. "Jesse," she breathed out. He pulled out her chair for her so she could sit down and then walked over to his own chair and sat down next to her. "Did you spend the night here last night?" Rachel asked.
"No, I just got the room on the way back to my apartment so we could spend a good part of the day alone together. We have late checkout," he explained. Rachel felt a slight pang of guilt that was becoming all too familiar as she thought about Jesse getting a hotel room for the two of them to have a secret rendezvous in then going home to his wife. She pushed the feeling down as much as she could. She had made the decision the night before that she was in this with him, but she knew that wasn't going to stop her from having certain feelings about what they were doing every once in awhile.
"I love it," she said, looking back towards the suite. "I almost wish it was cold out so we could have a fire in the fireplace," she added as she glanced at the fireplace wistfully.
"Well, we'll just have to come back in a couple of months when it starts getting cold," he replied with a wink as he reached for the pancakes in the center of the table. Rachel just simply watched him contentedly as he filled his plate with food. Jesse noticed that she was staring at him out of the corner of his eye. "What?" he asked, pouring syrup on his pancakes.
"Nothing," she replied, smiling as she began to fill her own plate with food.
"Rachel," he prodded, now staring at her.
"You just make me happy is all," she answered truthfully. She looked up at him as she set her full plate of food down in front of her.
He just smiled and cut into his pancakes before he simply said, "Likewise."
Rachel didn't know how he did it, but just that one word made her heart flutter like she was a sixteen-year-old school girl once again. They ate in companionable silence for a moment before Rachel finally said, "I know we didn't get to talk about it last night, but what you said during our performance last night..."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jesse replied, feigning innocence.
"Jesse… you said you loved me," she told him quietly.
"Ah, that," he said with a small smile before taking a large bite of his pancakes.
Rachel waited for him to elaborate and say something more. "Well?" she asked when he didn't say anything else.
"Well, what?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Do you really love me?" Rachel asked, taking out her building frustration with Jesse's non-reaction on her pancakes and putting a little bit more force than was necessary into cutting them.
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it, Rach," he stated, continuing to eat his breakfast.
"Oh," was all she could manage lamely.
"I didn't say it expecting that you would say the words back to me," he explained, noticing her reaction. "Well, not until you're ready to say them." Rachel nodded as she listened to him. "I hadn't planned on saying that but when we were on that stage and I was kissing you and pretending to be in love with you, I looked down at you and realized that I didn't have to pretend that I was in love with you anymore. I am in love with you."
Rachel knew she wanted to tell him that she felt the same but she just couldn't get the words out so she leaned over and pulled him in for a kiss. She poured all of the feelings that she couldn't say aloud into the kiss, hoping that Jesse would understand that she loved him too. "Let's go inside," she whispered against Jesse's lips as their kiss ended. The food currently sitting on the table in front of them, forgotten.
Standing up, Rachel grabbed Jesse's hand and pulled him to her. They stood inches apart from one another for a moment, just staring at each other as neither of them moved to go inside just yet. Rachel closed her eyes as Jesse cupped her cheek in his hand and ran his thumb along her bottom lip lightly. Her body was humming in anticipation of once again having him touch her and make love to her. A sigh escaped her lips as she felt Jesse's breath on her face just before his lips closed over her own.
Rachel snaked her arms around Jesse's neck as he grabbed her ass and lifted her up. Wrapping her legs around his waist with their lips locked together as they made their way back inside their suite. Rachel fully expected to be deposited onto the bed and to feel Jesse's weight on top of her, but instead her back came into contact with the hardness of the living room wall. They languidly explored each other's mouths with their tongues as if they were trying to burn to memory the taste and feel of the other for the moments that they couldn't be together.
Just when Rachel thought she couldn't be turned on anymore than she already was, the sensation of Jesse rubbing his hard-on against her proved her wrong. She was silently thankful that she had worn a dress to meet him for breakfast as she felt one of his hands move around to the front of her and his thumb drew lazy circles around her nub through her panties.
She missed the contact as he took his hand away and she felt him fumbling with the button his jeans. He set her back down on the floor just long enough for Rachel to discard her dress and panties then she helped rid him of his shirt as Jesse managed to undo the button and unzip his jeans. As soon as their clothes were in a messy heap in the middle of the floor, Jesse picked Rachel up and attached his mouth to hers once again.
Rachel felt the tip of him rub against her extremely wet center before he pushed into her in one quick thrust. Her grip on Jesse with both her arms and legs tightened as she worked to match his movements. She had thought that when he had pinned her up against the wall that he wanted a hard, quick fuck but she should have known by the way that he had kissed her that Jesse wanted to make love to her, slowly and passionately.
Jesse squeezed her ass as he plunged deep inside of her and kissed his way down her neck to her breasts. He smiled against her as she cried out when his teeth scraped her nipple between them. Rachel was on sensory overload as every thrust, lick and nip sent her hurling toward the edge of oblivion. She knew that Jesse was just as close as she was as his once steady and slow movements were becoming uneven and quick.
Hanging on to him as tightly as she could, Rachel thrust against Jesse as she rested her head against his shoulder. She finally let herself go and took him right over the edge with her as she heard Jesse whisper against her skin, "I love you."
Jesse lay against the headboard of the bed with the sheets draped over his waist and Rachel snuggled into his side. "I missed you this morning," Rachel confessed. "Is it crazy that after spending just two nights with you, I missed not waking up in your arms?"
"No," he replied. "If it is then I'm crazy too because I missed you too. It took everything in me to not call you up last night and tell you to come stay with me in this hotel room."
Rachel had wanted to avoid the topic of Isla but it was inevitable. They were going to have to talk about Isla and Donovan sometimes. It was unavoidable. "So how did it go when you got back to your apartment last night?" she asked.
"She was sound asleep when I got back so we didn't have to continue the discussion, but I'm sure she'll want to tonight after the show. By the time I woke up this morning she had already left for work," Jesse explained. He thought about how he had been surprised when he had gone into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and found that Isla had left him a fresh pot of coffee before she'd left. She had obviously taken his off-hand comment from their argument the night before, about him being an afterthought even in the simplest of ways, seriously. He hadn't been quite sure what to make of it.
Before Rachel could say anything else she heard her phone start ringing. She knew exactly who it was just by the ring.
Jesse felt her body tense up the moment she recognized the ring of her phone. "Is that Donovan's ring tone?" he asked, doing his best to keep his voice even.
"Yeah," she told him quietly.
"Do you want to –" he began.
"No," she cut him off quickly. She felt him simply place a light kiss on top of her head as he wrapped her more tightly in his arms.
"So I heard a song when I was listening to my iPod before the show yesterday and it got me thinking," Jesse said, changing the subject. He felt Rachel relax against him in relief.
"Uh oh, that's not good," she teased, leaning back and looking up at him with a twinkle in her eyes.
"I'm going to ignore that little comment," he replied, poking her in the side and making her giggle. "Anyways, I've decided that I'm going to ask you a question about yourself every day. Something that I don't already know."
"Hmm, do I also get to ask you the same question?" she asked with a smile.
"Sure, why not," he said, causing Rachel's smile to get even bigger.
"So what do you want to know about me?" Rachel wondered, looking at Jesse as he decided on what he wanted to ask her. He wanted to ask her a serious question but given her mood from Donovan's phone call he decided that he would keep it on the light side today. He would get the answers that he wanted eventually.
"What was your favorite Halloween costume ever?" he finally asked.
"That's what you want to know," Rachel said with a laugh. Of all the things he could have asked her, that was one that that she was not expecting. Rachel thought about it for a moment as she recalled her Halloween costumes as a kid. It was actually harder than she thought it was going to be then she remembered her costume when she was six-years-old and began laughing.
"What?" Jesse smiled as she continued to giggle over what she had apparently just remembered.
"When I was six I told my dads that I wanted to be little orphan Annie so we found the dress and fake dog and they even got me this big curly, red wig to wear," Rachel explained, still giggling as she remembered seeing the pictures of herself. "So we go to the first house and my dads were just expecting me to say trick-or-treat like every other kid does, but instead the moment the first person opened the door I broke out into song and started singing 'Tomorrow'," she told him, laughing harder now at the memory.
The image of a tiny little red-headed Rachel with her fake dog singing "Tomorrow" at the top of her lungs to some stranger made Jesse start laughing right along with her. It was so perfectly Rachel.
"So my dads thought that maybe it was a one-time thing that I had to do at the first house, but I sang to every person that opened the door for me," Rachel managed to get out as she continued to laugh. "I'll have to show you the pictures sometime," she added as she tried to catch her breath and stop laughing. "What about you?"
"Funnily enough, it's sort of in the same vain as yours," he said, remembering his costume from when he was eight-years-old. "My parents had a big blowout Halloween party every year for their friends and usually I would go trick-or-treating with the rest of the kids, but when I was eight I talked my parents into letting me stay at the party because I wanted to perform for all of their friends. So I dressed up like Michael Jackson in 'Thriller', complete with red leather jacket, and recruited some of my friends to do it with me. We learned all of the choreography and performed for all of my parents friends," Jesse recalled. "That was my first real concert. The first time I sang for someone other than a vocal coach."
"Please tell me there's a video of this somewhere," Rachel teased with a chuckle.
"Maybe," Jesse said, tackling her and pinning her underneath him. "But obviously I'm not going to show you now because you'll tease me mercilessly," he continued before he began tickling her, making her laugh harder.
"I can still give you a hard time," she managed as she laughed loudly, squirming as he continued to tickle her sides.
Rachel laughed as she sat in the back of a cab talking to Jesse on the phone as she headed to Kurt's after the show. She and Jesse had spent nearly the entire day in the hotel suite together, mostly in bed, before they'd had to check out and head over to the theatre. Late check-out was a beautiful thing.
Rachel hadn't been sure if it was because they were both so blissfully happy after spending the day together, but she felt that they had never performed better together. Rachel had been hoping that maybe Jesse would break character again and she would win their little wager but that hadn't happened so the bet lived to see another day. They had even left the theatre together, taking pictures with the fans, posing for pictures for the fans with each other and of course, signing autographs.
One fan in particular, a young boy, had apparently been feeling very bold as he had taken a picture with Rachel and Jesse was currently teasing her about it. "It's not funny," Rachel cried out, unable to contain her own laugh.
"You have to admit that it's a little funny that a ten-year-old little boy was bold enough to try and cop a feel," Jesse said, unable to even attempt to be contrite. "If you could have seen the look on your face when you felt his hand brush across your ass… You looked like you were about to spank him."
"I wanted to smack that shit-eating grin that he had on his face right off after he'd done it," she told him, still laughing. "But I'm glad you found it so amusing." Rachel heard her phone beep but saw that it was Kurt and figured that she would just talk to him when she got to his place in a little bit.
"You have to tell Kurt about it," Jesse laughed.
"No! He'll give me a hard time about it, just like you're doing right now," she retorted.
"As he should. Speaking of Kurt, are you at his place yet?" Jesse asked.
"Just pulled up to the building," Rachel said as she handed the taxi driver the money and stepped onto the sidewalk. "How are you not at home yet?"
"I am. I've been standing outside the building for a little while so I could talk to you," he explained, glancing up towards his apartment where he knew Isla was.
"Jesse…" she said quietly as she walked towards the entrance of the building.
"What? I like talking to you, is that such a bad thing?" She could hear the smile in his voice. "Even more after today."
"Today was a good day," she agreed, a smile gracing her lips as she remembered the time they'd spent together earlier in the day.
"Maybe we can do it again soon," Jesse suggested. When Rachel didn't respond or say anything, he got worried. "Rachel?" He heard her gasp.
"I have to go. I'll explain later," she rushed out before hanging up the phone.
Jesse just stood there dumbfounded as he looked at his phone. His first instinct was to rush over to Kurt's and make sure that she was alright, but then he realized how stupid that plan was since she clearly hadn't been in trouble as she wouldn't have told him that she would explain whatever it was later. After a moment, he realized what would have caused her to have a reaction like that. Or rather, who. Donovan.
Meanwhile, Rachel stood motionless in the lobby of Kurt's building just staring at Donovan who had gotten up from the chair he'd been sitting in and was now walking towards her. "If Mohammed won't come to the mountain…" Donovan said as he stopped in front of her.
It suddenly dawned on Rachel why Kurt would have been calling her when she was talking to Jesse. "Why are you just sitting in the lobby of Kurt's building?" she asked.
"Well, I tried to convince Kurt to let me wait in his apartment, but he said that he'd already told me once that when you were ready to talk that you would call me or come see me," Donovan explained, stepping closer to Rachel.
"So instead you decided to sit down here and ambush me in the lobby rather than in Kurt's apartment," Rachel quipped, walking around him towards the elevators.
"I've been trying to call you since last week and you won't answer my calls and I know how it pisses you off even more when I apologize in a text. So I didn't know what else to do to get you to talk to me," he replied, following her. "Rachel, just talk to me." He reached out and grabbed her arm, effectively preventing her from walking away.
"Fine," she sighed, turning around to look at him.
"Can we sit down?" he asked, motioning towards the area he had been sitting in previously. Rachel just nodded and led the way over to the chairs, plopping down in one as he sat down in the one next to her. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to do the talking. "I'm sorry," he simply said, leaning towards her with his arms resting on his knees. "I was an ass and I feel terrible for the way I acted on opening night."
Rachel shook her head in agreement with his statement of him being an ass, but didn't say anything as she waited for him to continue. "I've been really stressed out over the last few weeks. More than usual anyways and I took it out on you. I know it wasn't fair, but you know when I'm stressed or angry I lash out at the people closest to me."
"That's not a good excuse Donovan," she hissed.
"I know it's not," he conceded. "I'm just trying to explain myself, Rachel. Just please give me the chance to do that."
"Fine, what's had you so stressed out that you've been acting like a complete jackass," she questioned.
"Well, I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that I would jinx it but I auditioned for a fairly substantial role in a musical revival recently. It's not a lead role or anything, but it's bigger than anything I've gotten a callback for so far," he told her pausing for a moment before continuing. "I'd gone back for my second audition a couple weeks ago and hadn't heard anything from them. I figured this was just another failed audition until I got the call a few days ago that I got the part." He was smiling at her excitedly, waiting for her to congratulate him.
Even though she was still upset with him, she couldn't deny that she was happy for him. "That's fantastic. Congratulations," she said with a small but genuine smile.
"I wanted to share the good news with you and tell you how much I regretted the things I said to you," he told her, taking her small hands in his. "I haven't had a good night's sleep since you left. I miss you, Rachel." Rachel felt like she was being crushed by guilt again as she looked into his eyes. "Please come back home with me."
What could she say to that? If she said no, the guilt would slowly eat away at her. Hadn't she told Jesse the very night before that she needed to be sure that Donovan was not who she wanted to be with? That she didn't want any doubts?
"Please," he begged once more.
"Alright," she acquiesced. "I just need to go get my stuff from Kurt's." She stood up, pulling her hands from his grasp.
"Great, I'll come with you," Donovan said, standing up next to her, ready to follow her to the elevator.
Rachel put her hand against his chest to stop him. "Kurt is still pretty upset with your behavior so you should probably just wait down here for me," she told him. "I'll just be a few minutes." Donovan nodded in understanding, his dark curls bouncing slightly and sat back down to wait for Rachel.
Once upstairs, Rachel let herself into Kurt's apartment with her key. "Oh my God, why haven't you answered your phone or checked your voicemails? I called you to warn you that Donovan was here," Kurt bombarded her the moment she walked in the door.
"I was on the phone with Jesse and didn't think that that whatever you needed was urgent," Rachel replied, setting her messenger bag down next to the door.
"Donovan wanted to stop by but I told him that there was no way in hell that I was letting him come up here and wait for you after the way he's treated you," Kurt rushed out.
"Actually, he was waiting down in your lobby since you denied him entrance into your apartment," she told him.
"Really?" he asked. "What happened?" He pulled Rachel over to the couch and made her sit down so she could tell him the story.
"He apologized for the way he's been acting and told me that a large part of it was because he was waiting to hear whether he got a role he had auditioned for," Rachel explained.
"Did he?"
"Yeah, he got it. He seems really happy, Kurt. Like whatever chip he had on his shoulder has been brushed off," she told him, looking away as she was unable to look her friend in the eyes.
"Rachel," Kurt pressed. "Look at me. What else?"
"He begged me to come back home," she squeaked out. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time but now under Kurt's disapproving glare she wasn't so sure.
"And?"
"And I told him I would come get my stuff and go back home with him," she managed to somehow get out. She looked down at her hands.
"So did he say he was sorry for acting like a dickhead for more than just last week? Because he's been a jerk to you for awhile, Rachel," Kurt said, irritated that Rachel would just so readily forgive Donovan. "Is it because you feel guilty about Jesse? Because Rachel, Donovan was behaving like a complete asshole long before Jesse came back into your life."
"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "Maybe a little, but I owe it to him to give him a chance."
"Ask yourself this. If Donovan hadn't got the part, would he have come crawling back this week?" Kurt asked.
Rachel wasn't going to lie, the same thought had crossed her mind as Donovan had explained himself downstairs. "I don't know," she replied. "But I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here. He wasn't always the bitter, angry person he's been recently."
"Well, for his sake, I hope that he doesn't let you down," he finally said. Rachel nodded and smiled at her friend.
Standing up, she walked to Kurt's extra bedroom that she had been staying in and got all of her things together, zipping up her duffle bag. When she got out to the living room again, Kurt was standing there waiting for her. "Thank you for being such a wonderful friend," Rachel told him, wrapping her arms around his waist in a tight hug.
"Give me a call tomorrow," he said quietly, squeezing her lightly.
"I will," she replied as she let go of him and grabbed her messenger bag by the door before she opened it. She waved good-bye as Kurt shut the door behind her, Kurt's question about how things might be very different right now if Donovan hadn't been cast in the role he so desperately wanted was running circles in her mind. She tried to push the thought to the back of her mind as she pressed the button for the lobby to meet Donovan.
Author's Note: I know some of you didn't want Rachel to ever go back to Donovan, but it had to happen and I figured it was better to have it happen sooner rather than later to keep the story moving along.