Author's Note: This chapter probably would've been posted a week ago if I wouldn't have gotten sick when I went out of town last week. Oh, and a big thanks to jandjsalmon for giving me my 400th review. :) As always, I love hearing what you guys think so leave me a review. Enjoy!
The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Jesse, Rachel and her dads sat in a corner of a bustling restaurant just a couple of blocks away from Rachel's apartment enjoying breakfast together. "I wish that you guys could make it back to the city for the cabaret next weekend," Rachel remarked before taking a bite of her spinach and feta egg white omelet.
"We were hoping that we could make it work, but I have a major case that I have to prepare for and I'm going to have to work next weekend as well as put in some late nights this week," Bruce explained, reaching over and giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Do you think you can get Kurt to make us a bootleg?" he asked with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Daddy!" she admonished, slightly appalled by his request of having Kurt illegally film their performance. "I can't ask Kurt to do that." She shook her head firmly.
"Don't act like you don't watch a bootleg of at least one of your favorite Broadway shows once a week," Jesse piped up next to her. He raised his eyebrow at her as she opened her mouth to retort and she quickly shut it again with huff. "I'll ask Kurt," he told her dads.
"Suck up," Rachel muttered under her breath which only made Jesse smile.
"Thank you, Jesse," Bruce replied, winking playfully at Rachel who merely rolled her eyes and dramatically stabbed her fork at her omelet once again. "Rachel's already told us what your duet is going to be and what song she chose for herself, but she never divulged what you're going to sing."
"That's because I haven't told her what song I'm singing," Jesse smirked as he looked over at Rachel. She had tried to get it out of him many times over the last couple of weeks but nothing had worked. She had tried the direct approach of just asking him. That hadn't worked. She had tried to be subtle about it by casually throwing out how great he would sound if he sang a certain song just to gauge his reaction to the song that she named. That hadn't worked either. She had even tried to coax it out of him post-coital once or twice, hoping to catch him off guard in a lust-filled haze. Nothing had worked.
"It's that big of a secret?" Samuel asked.
Jesse shrugged. "Not really. I just don't want to tell her," he said, nodding his head towards Rachel who had a slight pout on her lips. "I can tell you guys though." He leaned over and whispered his song to Samuel who then told his husband.
"You know, Jesse, I like you more and more every day," Bruce told him.
Rachel sat there, her eyes darting around to look at the three men sitting at the table with her waiting for one of her dads to tell her what Jesse had said. "Well…" she finally said to them expectantly. Both of her dads shrugged in response. "You are really not going to tell me what he just told you?"
"Honey, it's not my secret to tell," her dad replied unable to keep the smile from his face.
She turned to Jesse. "Aren't you concerned that you're building my expectations up too much," she said pointedly. "It could end up being a huge letdown. I could hate the song."
"Oh, no, you're going to love this one," he reassured her, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Trust me. I picked it especially for you." He leaned over and kissed her on the temple.
Watching his daughter visibly soften at Jesse's display of affection made Samuel's heart swell with happiness. Seeing them together over the last couple of days had made some of his doubts about them living together dissipate. Granted, he still had some reservations but he was starting to realize that maybe he had been wrong. "So are you two going to be able to make it back to Lima for Hanukkah?" he asked.
"We had talked about maybe flying in Sunday night and flying back here Tuesday morning," Rachel responded looking up at Jesse who nodded in affirmation. "I know it's only a couple of nights and it's not the last night of Hanukkah but we've always spent Hanukkah together and I don't want this year to be any different."
"So Jesse you just spent Thanksgiving with the Berry family, are you sure you can handle a Berry family Hanukkah?" Bruce asked.
"I can't think of a better way to spend my very first Hanukkah," Jesse told him, a smile lighting up his face as he looked around at all of them.
"How was it being back in Lima?" Rachel asked Kurt as they looked at dresses in Bergdorf's the next day. Rachel had recruited Kurt to help her find the perfect dress for the cabaret and they had decided to meet up at Bergdorf's to see what they could find before grabbing lunch. She knew that he could help her pick something completely flawless that would look perfect on her.
"It was good," he told her. "It was nice to see my family for a little while, but I'm so glad to be back in New York." Kurt and Rachel both shared a knowing look. "I like visiting but the mere thought of still living there is suffocating."
Rachel understood exactly what Kurt was saying. The first time she had come back from Ann Arbor for the summer after her first year at Michigan, three weeks in she had wanted to head back to school already. That had been her last entire summer in Lima. The longest period of time that she had spent in the town that she had grown up in since then was a couple of weeks for winter and summer breaks.
"And how is your family?" she asked, pulling the skirt of a dress out that was on the rack so she could get a better look at it.
"Great. My dad and Carol are the happiest grandparents in the world. And parenthood definitely agrees with Finn and Quinn which is kind of strange because I've always kind of thought of Finn as a big kid himself," he replied before taking a dress off of another rack and holding it up. He obviously thought that it might look great on Rachel as he kept the dress in his arms and walked over to the Alice + Olivia rack that Rachel was currently perusing.
"And your nephew?"
"He's adorable," he beamed before adding, "Granted, he doesn't do much more than eat, sleep and poop right now."
Rachel giggled as she looked at Kurt who scrunched his face up as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. "I take it you experienced the last one first hand," she teased.
"Don't remind me," he replied dramatically. "It was awful. I was gagging so much that I literally almost threw up on him." He shook himself as if to rid himself of the memory which only caused Rachel to laugh harder.
"And people think that I'm the drama queen." As she pushed the dresses apart she stopped at a black, ruched mini-dress. "I love this. I have to try it on," she told him, excitedly. The clerk came over and took the two dresses that Kurt and Rachel currently had in their hands to put them in a dressing room for Rachel while they continued to browse.
"So you haven't told me, how did everything go with your dads? Did you and Jesse manage to keep your hands and eyes off of each other long enough for them to not suspect anything?" he asked as they went to look at some Donna Karan cocktail dresses.
"I thought we had been subtle and that they wouldn't notice anything, but after Thanksgiving dinner my dad went with Jesse to the roof to 'smoke cigars'," she explained, using air quotes.
"Divide and conquer, huh?"
"Yep," she nodded while she continued to look at the dresses. "I should have known what they were up to."
"Since you're not in tears as you're telling me this, I'm guessing that they were perfectly fine with you and Jesse being together."
"Well, they were until I told them over dessert that Jesse and I are moving in together," she groused.
"Were you off your meds because that's the only reason that I can think of where that might have seemed like a brilliant idea." She shot him a dirty look, so he grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Honey, you're supposed to ease your way into the deep end, not dive headfirst into it. You should have let them get used to the idea of you and Jesse being together before dropping that little nugget on them."
She shrugged him off and wandered over to look at some dresses on another rack. "Well, they may have had their reservations at first, but they're fine with it now," she told him haughtily.
"No need to get all bitchy," he said in a light tone that contrasted his words as he bumped his hip into hers.
Rachel couldn't keep the smile off her lips as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Your bed is very comfortable, by the way," she quipped.
"Please do not put the mental image of you and Jesse having sex on my bed in my head," he quickly interjected before she could say anything more.
"But Thanksgiving night was–" Whatever she had been about to say was muffled as Kurt put his hand over her mouth.
"Rachel Barbra Berry," he admonished in a low voice. She rolled her eyes and he heard her "fine" even though his hand was still over her mouth. Finally he took his hand away but let it linger near her face for a moment so he could be sure she wouldn't say something just to mess with him. He should have known better than to think that she wouldn't want to get the last word.
"Your sheets should smell nice and clean," she said.
"Really?" he asked in an annoyed tone. Cocking her head to the side, she smiled a not-so-innocent smile and shrugged her shoulders.
"By the way, thank you for letting Jesse stay at your apartment for the holiday," she told him, her tone sincere.
He waited a beat to see if she would add something sexual to her thanks but as he looked at her, she just smiled up at him warmly. "You're welcome," he replied, returning her smile before he turned back to the rack that they were currently looking at. Suddenly his hand shot out and snatched a dress that was hanging towards the end of the rack that Rachel hadn't got to yet. "Oh my God, this Marchesa is gorgeous. You have to try this on," he gushed as he held up a red mini-dress.
She looked at the dress he was holding in his hands and tried not to fall in love with it. "Kurt, don't you think it might be a little too much for a cabaret?" she asked, reaching out to touch the bottom of the skirt.
"No," he stated bluntly whilst giving her what Rachel thought looked decidedly like the stink eye.
"Fine, I'll try it on but I'm not making any promises," she agreed, taking the dress from him. She noticed the impatient look on his face as if he knew that he had just found the dress and she might as well not even try on the other dresses that they had already picked out. So they both headed towards the dressing room so she could try on the dresses.
As Rachel came out to model the first dress a few minutes later, a Naeem Khan shift mini-dress, Kurt eyed her approvingly.
"What do you think?" Rachel asked as she looked at him in the mirror.
"I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would." He stood up and walked over to her, coming to a stop behind her. "I just think a more fitted dress would look better." She watched as his hands came up to taper in the sides of the dress at her waist. She had to admit that he was right about the dress looking better if it hugged her curves a bit more.
"Okay, next dress," she said before heading back to the dressing room once again. Moments later she came out of the dressing room and was in the black ruched Alice + Olivia mini-dress. This time Kurt let out a low whistle. It was nice to know that she obviously looked as good as she felt.
"You look hot," he told her.
Rachel beamed at him in the mirror as she ran her hands down the sides of the dress and turned from side-to-side to get a good look at her silhouette. "I just love this dress," she sighed. "I feel beautiful."
"That's because you are beautiful," he said, smiling at her in the mirror.
Without a word she walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." Heading back towards the dressing room, she turned around at the doorway and leaned on the doorframe. "This is definitely a strong contender."
A few minutes later, she finally came out in the red Marchesa mini-dress that Kurt had picked. "Wow," was all Kurt could say as she came out of the dressing room to show him how the dress looked. "That is just…wow." If the Alice + Olivia dress had made her feel beautiful, then this dress made her feel perfect. "It fits you like it was tailor made for you."
Everything from the sweetheart neckline of the strapless dress to the way it hugged all of her curves to how it hit just high enough on her thighs to show off her well-toned legs. "You were right. It's gorgeous," she said doing a little twirl in front of the mirror. The soft draped chiffon of the dress was contrasted perfectly with the applique on the skirt that just made it look fuller which in turn made her look voluptuous. She then remembered that before falling in love with the dress, she really should have looked at the price tag.
"What's wrong?" Kurt asked, walking over to her.
"I'm sure the dress is expensive and I just don't know that I want to spend that much on a dress," she explained in a hushed tone, bummed that she wasn't going to be walking out of the store with the gorgeous piece of clothing adorning her body at the moment.
"Have you ever bought something like this for yourself?"
She knew that he knew the answer to that question, but decided to humor him anyways. "No."
"Can you afford it?"
"Yes."
"Then why are we having this discussion?" Rachel shrugged her shoulders slightly. "You're getting it," he commanded. "Now go change out of it so we can go grab some lunch. I'm starving."
When Rachel walked back into the dressing room, she looked at the Alice + Olivia dress that she had loved so much as well hanging there and made a decision. If she was going to indulge then she might as well do it right.
"How was your day?" Jesse asked as Rachel walked into the apartment later that afternoon with a garment bag draped over her arm.
"Wonderful," she told him, walking over to where he was sitting on the couch with his laptop resting on his lap. Leaning down, she gave him a quick peck on the lips before heading towards the bedroom so she could hang her dresses in the closet. Once they were hung, she walked backed into the living room where Jesse was still working on his laptop. She lifted his arm up, wrapped it around her shoulders and curled into his side as she sat down next to him, leaning her head on his chest. "What are you looking at?" she wondered, her hand rubbing absentmindedly across his abdomen.
"I was checking into flights for next weekend," he answered. "You're okay with us getting to Lima kind of late Sunday night, right?" She nodded in affirmation. Closing her eyes she relaxed into him as he gently ran his fingers through her hair while he booked their flight back to Ohio for Hanukkah.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he closed his laptop, tickets purchased. "Are you going to show me what you ended up buying?" Jesse asked softly.
Immediately, Rachel's head popped up excitedly. "Do you really want to see?"
"Of course I do." That was all it took for her to practically leap up off of the couch like she hadn't been completely relaxed and about to fall asleep just moments before. As she walked in front of him on her way to the bedroom, he smacked her on the butt playfully.
Turning to look at him, she gave him a flirtatious grin before disappearing into the bedroom. An internal debate waged within Rachel as she looked at both dresses, unsure of which one to show him first. Finally, she opted to try the Alice + Olivia dress on first. Once the dress was on, she looked around the closet for the platform pumps that she had known would look perfect with this dress and put them on to complete the outfit.
The moment she walked out into the living room, she knew that she had made the right decision in purchasing the dress based purely on the look on Jesse's face. "So…" Rachel trailed off as she stood in front of him and watched his eyes travel up and down her body, taking her all in. She couldn't hide the smirk as she saw him lick his lips. "You like?"
Wordlessly, he reached out and ran his hands up the sides of her thighs and over the short hem of her dress. He still said nothing as his hands ran over the curve of her butt to the sides of her waist before pulling her closer to him so she was standing in between his legs. Finally, he looked up at her with a look of wonderment coloring his features. "You are breathtakingly gorgeous," he murmured, his hands rubbing lightly against the fabric of the dress.
"Why thank you, Mr. St. James," she coyly replied, running her fingertips along the side of his jaw. "Do you want to see the other one?"
"Does it show off every curve like this one does?" he asked, his hands moving to rest on her butt.
She twisted out of his hold and looked back at him playfully. "You'll just have to wait and see," she told him, practically skipping back into their bedroom. Carefully removing the dress and hanging it back up in the closet, she took the Marchesa dress off the hanger and gingerly put on the designer dress. It was the most expensive piece of clothing that she had ever owned. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she adjusted her cleavage before she headed back to the living room. She heard what distinctly sounded like a low growl as she came into his vision.
"You look…stunning," he breathed. "My God, did they make these dresses for you or what?" He reached out for her once again but she stepped out of his reach quickly.
"Uh-uh," she told him, wagging her finger at him. "No touching this dress."
"Oh, really?" There was a mischievous glint in his eye that should have told her he was up to something, and before she knew it he had popped up off the couch just enough to grab her by the waist and twist her around so that she landed on his lap. "You didn't think that was actually going to work, did you?"
She tried to muster up some aggravation for the fact that he had done exactly what she didn't want him to, but the look on his face was just so adorable that she couldn't find it in her. "It was worth a shot," she smiled, reaching up and scraping her nails lightly across the nape of his neck.
His rested his right hand on the curve of her hip and squeezed gently. "You really do look amazing." Rachel thought that they were way past the stage of him still being able to make her blush but the tone of his voice and the way he was currently looking at her, did exactly that. She ducked her head in embarrassment.
"Are you blushing, Miss Berry?" he teased, the smirk evident in his voice.
"No," she lied as she continued to avoid his gaze and began playing with the buttons of his shirt.
He reached up with his left hand and cupped the side of her face to get her to look up at him.
"You are," he accused, his tone still light and teasing. "Good to know that I have that effect on you still."
"Oh, shut up," she admonished, smacking his arm before getting up off of his lap. When she turned to walk away, his arm circled her waist, effectively stopping any forward movement. He pulled her back onto his lap before laying her down on the couch, which only caused Rachel to giggle in amusement.
"Where do you think you're going?" He hovered over her with an impish grin, both hands lightly gripping her waist.
"Jesse…" She completely lost her train of thought as he pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth.
"What?" he whispered huskily against her skin.
"The dress," she warned in a slightly breathy voice.
"What about it?" he asked, dipping his head and placing an open-mouthed kiss on her neck.
Rachel rolled her eyes slightly at his clueless ness. They might be attuned to one another in just about every way, but he was still a guy and he just didn't always understand things like not wanting to mess up your makeup that you had just perfected or not wanting to put even a wrinkle in a designer dress that you just bought or not wanting to do anything that might mess up perfectly coifed hair. She smiled to herself as she thought that maybe he understood the last one more than she gave him credit for. "I don't want to do anything to ruin the dress," she clarified for him.
He leaned up to look at her, an eyebrow raised. "Rach, I don't think a good, old-fashioned make out session is going to damage the dress." Before she had a chance to protest, his mouth was on hers but as he moved to deepen the kiss she pushed against his shoulders which caused him to pull away and sigh. "You know that you're really killing the mood right now."
"Just let me take the dress off and we can make out the rest of the night if that's what you want to do," she suggested.
"Well, why didn't you say so, I can help you with that," he told her, a lustful growl in his voice. He sat up so that she could do the same and reached around the back of her to find the clasp and the zipper. Once the clasp was undone, he slowly pulled the zipper down and it wasn't until the bodice fell open slightly that Rachel remembered that she wasn't wearing a bra. She saw Jesse's eyes color with desire as he noticed it as well. She stood up as he undid the zipper the rest of the way so she could pull the dress over her head.
It took all of the strength in Jesse to not immediately pull her back down on the couch with him the moment the dress was off of her body, but he patiently waited as she carefully laid the dress across the back of a chair. Holding out his hand, he beckoned her back over to him silently. A small smile graced her lips as she walked back to him, taking his hand she let him tug her a little bit before he had her fully in his grasp and flipped her onto the couch underneath him.
As he looked down at her, he couldn't seem to pull his eyes away from her breasts. It didn't matter that he had seen them at least a hundred times already. He raised his eyes up to gaze at her face again, only to see her watching him intently. His hand might as well have had a mind of its own as he gently reached out and palmed her breast causing her to arch into his touch. "I might have lied about that good, old-fashioned make out session."
"Oh?" was her breathless one word response.
Leaning in close, he let his lips brush against hers just a little before speaking again. "I'm thinking make out and heavy petting session," he half-groaned, breaking away from their almost-kiss as Rachel wrapped one of her legs around his hip and rubbed herself against the obvious bulge in his jeans.
She pulled his head closer to hers once again before darting her tongue out to lick his lips which elicited a low moan from Jesse. "Even better," she purred. Their mouths finally melted together in a deep kiss.
Author's Note: Up next: the cabaret. Finally!