Author's Note: First off, I am so sorry that it has been forever and a day since my last update. Hopefully, I haven't lost too many of you guys by my lack of updates. My absence was two-fold. Life has been a bit hectic and unfortunately, I just didn't have the time to write. And then there my issues with Rachel in the second half of the season that basically made my muse go into hibernation. That is until Nationals. :) So, I'm back and I definitely plan on finishing the story properly. I can't tell you how many chapters are left but there's a ways to go.

Thanks to northstar61 for being my beta for this chapter. ;) I always love getting your feedback.

So enough about me, and onto Jesse and Rachel. I hope you guys will think this was worth the wait!

After Rachel had taken a shower the morning after the cabaret, she padded into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee and make something for breakfast while Jesse took his own shower. Toasted bagel with cream cheese in one hand and a full mug of steaming hot coffee in the other, she went into the living room and turned on her laptop to check the New York Post website to see if there were any stories about the night before. Sure enough, on the home page there was a link to a story about the cabaret. Clicking on the link, Rachel drummed her fingers impatiently on her laptop as the page loaded.

She felt her stomach drop as she began to read the story on her computer screen.

The stars were out last night for the Broadway Cares cabaret, but the buzz wasn't all about some of Hollywood's A-listers who came out to show their support for the charity event. It was two of Broadway's hottest stars that had everyone talking. The place was all a-buzz afterwards with talk of Rachel Berry and the soon-to-be-single again Jesse St. James, and not just about their utterly fabulous show-stopping, chemistry-filled duet. Many are wondering if perhaps there is a bit of a love connection happening between the two stars. Not since Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs have we been this excited about a possible Broadway hook-up.

As she read the article, Rachel was slightly stunned by the mere mention of one of her idols in a story about herself, even if it was just a gossip column. Re-reading the last sentence of the first paragraph again, the tension that she had initially felt when she began to read the article began to dissipate. The fact that the columnist seemed to be excited by the idea of her and Jesse made Rachel begin to think of how many other people might feel the same way. She began to read the next paragraph.

While they came and left separately, rumors have been swirling of a possible romance between the two since their show first opened this past summer, but have recently gained steam since Jesse filed for divorce in early November.

Our source who was backstage said that they were definitely affectionate with each other and seemed to be much more than simply co-stars and friends. Perhaps we've just found Broadway's new power couple.

"Broadway power couple," Rachel mused aloud. She would be lying if she said that being branded a power couple of any kind didn't appeal to her. Glancing at the screen again, she read the last line of the article.

Both of their reps have been contacted, but they have not gotten back to us yet.

"I'm not freaking out. Why am I not freaking out?" she wondered out loud. Surprisingly, she wasn't hyperventilating and panicking like she thought she was going to when she had first seen the story. She bit her lip as she thought about why it didn't bother her. Did it make her a horrible and shallow person if part of the reason was because of the positive light that it painted her and Jesse in? Granted, it did mention the rumors that they had been having an affair, but they weren't calling her a homewrecker either. Her eyes made their way back to the second-to-last paragraph. It was just a gossip column, but to have someone even throw out the idea that they could be Broadway's new power couple was just… a little exciting. After the conversation that she and Jesse had had the night before, there was a sense of relief at having it all possibly come out in the open.

Granted, the Page Six article was still just unconfirmed speculation but maybe this was a good time for them to start living their lives like a normal couple. Maybe they didn't need to be concerned with trying to maintain the charade that they weren't together when they went to the theatre or events and places that they would be sure to be recognized. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize Jesse was out of the shower until she heard him call her name from the bedroom.

"Yeah?" she called back, continuing to stare at the article on her computer screen.

Poking his head out of the room he asked, "Have you seen my navy sweater?" Immediately, she snapped her laptop shut like she had been caught doing something that she wasn't supposed to be. Jesse eyed her curiously as she jumped off the couch and practically bounced towards him. "What were you doing?"

"Just checking my e-mail," she lied easily, smiling up at him as she breezed by him. She had no idea why she hadn't told him the truth but something was holding her back. Going straight to the drawer where she had put the sweater that he was looking for, she pulled it out and handed it to him.

He thanked her before pulling it over his head. Turning to look in the mirror and fix his hair a little bit, he smiled warmly at Rachel in the reflection as she watched him.

"What are you doing today?" she asked, leaning against the foot of the bed.

"I have some errands to run and I'm meeting Thomas for lunch," he lied, knowing that the moment she knew he was meeting with Kurt that any birthday surprise would be ruined. There was no way that she would rest until she found out every little detail.

She pushed off the bed and went to stand in front of him, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. "Want some company?"

"Only if you want to know what I'm getting you for Hanukkah," he replied, running his fingers through her still damp hair.

Shaking her head, she grinned up at him. "Make it something good."

"For you? Anything." He placed a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back slightly.

"Do you mean that?"

His brow furrowed a bit as he looked at her quizzically. "Of course, I do."

"Then what do you say to the two of us arriving at the theatre together tonight?" He became even more puzzled by her words considering their conversation the night before. Before he could say anything she continued, "I thought about what you said last night and I think it's time we stop hiding." She ignored the little voice in her head that told her to tell him about the Page Six article.

He thought about it for a moment before finally nodding his head. "Okay," he agreed. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand behind Rachel, he released her from his grasp. "I have to go, but I'll see you later on this afternoon." Grabbing his coat out of the closet, he gave her a quick peck on the lips before heading out of the bedroom. She followed behind him and stood in the living room watching as he put his coat on. As he began to open the door, he turned back around with a smile on his lips. "I love you."

"I love you," she echoed.

As soon as he shut the door behind him, Rachel ran back into the bedroom for her cellphone. Finding Kurt in her contact list, she hit the screen to dial him.

It rang a couple of times before he picked up. "Good morning," he answered pleasantly.

"Have you seen it?" Rachel asked.

"Seen what?"

"The Page Six story about last night," she replied like it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," Kurt said, his interest piqued. "What did it say?"

"Hang on, I'll read it to you," she told him as she rushed into the living room to look at the webpage still on her computer screen. Opening the laptop, she read the story to Kurt, not pausing until she reached the end of it.

"You're not panicking, so which was it?" he asked, knowing his best friend all too well. "Them calling you and Jesse 'Broadway's new power couple' or the Idina Menzel mention?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied haughtily.

"What did Jesse think about it?" he asked ignoring her attitude. There was silence on the end of the other line. "So he doesn't know."

"I didn't know what to tell him," she defended.

"Um, for starters there's always 'Look at this Page Six story about us'." Silence again came from Rachel's end. Kurt sighed. "What did you do?" When she continued to stay silent, he pushed a bit more. "Rachel…"

"I told him that we should go to the theatre together tonight," she admitted feeling a little ashamed for not being completely upfront with Jesse about her change of heart. Before Kurt could say anything she rushed out, "It's not like I told him I want to make an official statement or anything."

Kurt shook his head as he listened to her. "You know he's going to be pissed. And he's going to find out. Did you forget about that little snippet at the end where it said that they've contacted your reps?"

Rachel felt panic swell within her. Why hadn't she thought about that? "He doesn't have to know that I knew about it this morning." She began thinking of how she would sound surprised when he asked her about it.

"Well, I'm just going to go ahead and say I told you so," he quipped.

Jesse scanned the restaurant for Kurt and smiled when he saw Kurt wave at him from one of the corner tables. "Sorry I'm late," Jesse said as he removed his coat and placed it on the back of the chair. "I had some stuff that I had to get done this morning and lost track of time."

"Birthday stuff?" Kurt asked excitedly.

"Well, yes and no," was Jesse's cryptic reply. Kurt looked at him expectantly obviously needing more of an answer than that. So without a word, Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, dangling them in mid-air with a little smile.

Kurt's brow furrowed as he looked at the keys. Then it hit him. "The apartment?"

Jesse laughed, nodding his head as he put the keys back in his pocket. "I just signed all of the paper work, so it's official."

"Jesse, that's fantastic," Kurt exclaimed before taking a sip of his water. "Great birthday surprise, by the way. It is part of her birthday, right?"

Nodding his head, Jesse took a sip of his own water. "I'm going to need your help with that part too."

Pulling out his iPad, Kurt set it on the table and looked back up at Jesse. "So, ideas?"

For the next half hour, Kurt and Jesse planned the perfect birthday for Rachel while they ate lunch. Jesse did his best to ignore his phone that kept vibrating on the table. Finally, after the fifth call from his publicist, he sighed as he picked up the phone. "It's my publicist again. Let me get this and see what's so urgent," Jesse explained before answering the call. "Hello?" he said into his phone.

Kurt continued to make notes on his iPad while he did his best to nonchalantly listen to Jesse's conversation.

"What Page Six story?" Jesse asked. "No, I haven't had time to read…" Kurt wished that he could hear what Jesse's publicist was saying on the other end of the line. "I don't think so… Of course not… No, no statement… Okay… Yeah. I'll talk to you later."

"Everything okay?" Kurt winced slightly at the overly high pitch of his voice.

"Apparently, there's a story in Page Six about me and Rachel and the cabaret last night." Jesse looked down at his phone for a moment. "Maybe I should call Rachel and let her know about it." Glancing up, he noticed the expression on Kurt's face. "Or… she already knows about it." He thought back to her request before he had left the apartment earlier. "She knew this morning, didn't she?"

Kurt's attempt at wide-eyed innocence was not quite as convincing as he had hoped it would be as evidenced by the way Jesse was currently staring him down waiting on an explanation. He had warned Rachel that this might happen but he certainly hadn't expected that he would be a part of the drama. He was about to say something when Jesse spoke again.

"You know what, I don't need you to tell me. I already know the answer. Unbelievable," Jesse exclaimed, his jaw clenching in irritation. "I should've known her sudden change of heart was motivated by something more than just a simple conversation."

Before Jesse even had the chance to ask, Kurt slid his iPad over to him. Jesse typed in the web address so he could read the story himself. After he was done, he handed it back to Kurt.

"What about that made her want to suddenly start appearing in public together?" Jesse asked. Knowing Rachel, she would have loved the fact that somebody had called them a Broadway power couple but for that to be what made her want them to go public with their relationship seemed ridiculous.

"I think she sees this as some sort of validation that you guys could be open about your relationship and not be crucified for it in the media," Kurt offered.

"But it's just one gossip column writer," Jesse countered.

"Doesn't it make you wonder how many more people out there feel the same way?"

Jesse considered Kurt's suggestion. He would be lying if he said that when he had read it, he hadn't thought that very same thing. But why couldn't Rachel have just been honest with him?

Jesse had wandered around the city for the past couple of hours, debating on what to do. Finally, he grabbed his cellphone and called Rachel.

"Hey, are you on your way?" she asked, her tone light.

"Actually, you're going to have to head to the theatre without me," he told her. As much as he wanted to have it out with her, he didn't want to have an argument before the show.

"Really?" The disappointment that she felt was evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I've still got some things to do but I'll see you later," he told her, making it clear that he didn't want to be on the phone any longer.

"O-okay. Love you."

"You too," came his short reply before he pulled the phone away from his ear and hit 'End'.

If Rachel not seeing Jesse until just before the show wasn't a clue that something was wrong, the fact that his dressing room door was locked afterwards definitely confirmed for her that he was upset about something. Reaching up, she lightly knocked on the door and waited patiently for him to open it. By the look on his face, she knew that he was definitely mad and what it was probably about but she had to be sure.

Following him inside, she softly shut the door behind her before turning towards him again. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, unsure of what to say. "I feel like you've been avoiding me ever since this morning. A-are you upset with me?" she asked.

He tugged his navy sweater over his head before answering. "What do you think?"

"Why?" She knew why but she asked the question anyways. The only response she got was his jaw clenching and nostrils flaring as he glanced at her agitatedly. "Is this about the Page Six story today?" she offered, knowing full well that it more than likely was.

"I don't give a damn about some fucking gossip column, Rachel. This is about the fact that you lied to me," he exclaimed as he sat down to put his shoes on.

She thought about objecting for a moment because, well, technically she didn't lie outright, she just hadn't told him about the story which was kind of a lie but not really, and judging by the look on Jesse's face that was just semantics. After all, a lie of omission was still a lie. "I'm sorry," she rushed out. "I should've told you this morning."

"But you didn't," he countered, standing up. "Instead, you pretended like you had some epiphany after last night." He shook his head in disgust as he walked around her towards the door.

Turning as he moved past her, she tried to explain herself. "I-I don't know why I wasn't honest with you..." She watched as he grabbed his coat off the hanger near the door. "Where are you going?" she asked, unable to keep the desperation out of her voice.

"I'm going to grab a drink with Thomas and some of the guys," he replied as he wrapped his scarf around his neck before putting his coat on.

"Jesse, you can't just leave," she implored, doing her best to rein in the anger that she felt at his flippant response. "We need to talk about this."

Buttoning up his coat, he looked at her for a moment and took a deep breath before saying anything. "I'm too fucking pissed off to talk to you right now, Rachel. We'll talk about it when I get home." And before she had a chance to respond, he opened the door and walked out.

Jesse was lost in his own thoughts as he listened to Thomas and the other guys joke and laugh. He'd been trying to not think about Rachel, but ever since they had sat down at the bar his every thought had been consumed by her.

He knew that it wasn't fair that he'd been avoiding her all day. Earlier it had taken everything in him to keep his anger in check at her deceit and not yell at her, but he'd held back because the last thing he had wanted to do was say something that he couldn't take back. Something that she would remember every time they got upset with each other from now on. He knew that he was capable of it. Hell, he had thought some not so nice things about his girlfriend all day that if she had heard would have cut pretty deep. The thing was, he didn't truly believe any of the hurtful thoughts that he'd had about Rachel.

Maybe that was the reason that his anger had ebbed completely since he had left the theatre and had been replaced by hurt. He imagined her lying in bed wondering where he was and when, or if, he was coming home. She didn't deserve the silent treatment that he was currently giving her. It was easy to fall back into old patterns and this was exactly how he had handled most of the fights that he'd had with his soon-to-be ex-wife.

Old habits were hard to break, but now was as good a time as any to start. He gulped down the rest of his beer and threw some cash on the bar. "I have to take off," he told his friends as he stood up. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Rachel's blood had been boiling after Jesse had walked out of the dressing room. She understood that he was pissed that she had lied, but walking away rather than having a conversation was not the way they needed to solve their problems. On the way home, she wondered if every fight they had for the rest of their lives would be this muted silence.

They had fought before when Jesse had told her that he had slept with… well, she didn't like to think about that, but this was different especially since they were now living together. Although, she had the very same thing to Jesse when they had fought months before.

She hated that he was shutting her out.

Deciding that pacing back and forth in the living room was only making her even more restless she took a hot shower in the hopes that it would ease some of the tension.

It didn't work.

Once she put her pajamas on, she contemplated trying to sleep but in the end all she ended up doing was staring at Jesse's side of the bed while she held her phone in her hand. Finally, she went back out to the living room, turning off the lamp before she curled up on one end of the couch. She thought about turning on the TV or some music to occupy her thoughts, but instead she sat in the silence and darkness of the apartment.

Her fingers touched the screen of her phone as she went to her text messages. Please come home so we can talk, she typed out then let her finger hover over 'send' on the screen. But instead she moved her finger and touched the screen to delete the message.

The minutes ticked by as she typed out text after text and then just as quickly would delete said text. She had just finished typing and deleting what must have been her fifteenth text message when the front door opened. Immediately, Rachel flipped on the lamp beside the couch to illuminate the living room a bit. They were both frozen in place for a moment, just staring at one another in the dim light of the lamp.

Finally, shutting the door and locking it behind him, Jesse walked over to the couch and took a seat on the opposite end from Rachel. The space between them feeling more like an ocean rather than just a couple of feet. Rachel was the first to speak. "Are you still mad at me?" she asked, her voice soft as she crossed her legs Indian-style and turned to face him.

Jesse sighed before answering her question. "Why did you lie to me this morning? You let me believe that it was something that I said or did that made you re-think the idea of being open about our relationship. Do you know what it was like to hear about Page Six from my publicist only to realize that you knew about the story all along but intentionally kept it from me? That it was nothing that I had done, but some random gossip columnist who called us 'Broadway's new power couple'?"

She scooted a bit closer to him on the couch. "I really did think about last night. Not just what we talked about but the way the audience reacted to us." She paused for a moment to play with the lace on the bottom of her pajama pants, and also to find the words to explain…why. "There's this part of me that will always be that girl that wants people to like her. To be popular," she explained sheepishly. "And I know that's all part of what we do because if nobody likes us then we're not going to be very successful, but it's like I need it so badly sometimes. Do you remember back in high school when I triple-cast you with Finn and Puck in the 'Run Joey Run' video?"

"God, how could I forget that humiliation?" Jesse groaned. It may have been years but the memory of that day was still fresh in his mind.

"I know you probably don't remember the reason I told you for why I did it, but there's this piece of me that is still that same insecure girl. As much as I wish it wasn't, it's just a part of who I am." She hung her head slightly ashamed to admit something like that despite the fact that she was living the life that she'd always dreamed of. "And I know that it was just some gossip column, but to read that we," she gestured between them, "were what everyone was talking about and that there are people that think the two of us being together is a good thing just got me excited. I know that it's silly but it did."

"You know I loved that girl," he told her, closing the space between them on the couch and reaching out to cup her cheek. "I love the woman you've grown to be even more, but we're partners Rachel. You and me." He reached up and cupped her other cheek with his free hand. "You should've just told me and been honest."

She closed her eyes and sighed at the gentle way his thumbs were caressing the apples of her cheeks and the softness in his voice. "I really am sorry."

"I know," he replied, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry that I've avoided you all day," Jesse apologized. He knew that it was unfair to Rachel to just ignore her and not try to sort through their issues. "When I was with Isla that was how we both operated. We would avoid the problem until we either exploded or it went away completely."

Reaching up, Rachel rested her hand on top of his as she spoke, "I'm not her."

"I know," he told her softly.

She looked into his eyes before continuing. " I don't want to avoid talking when we're mad at each other. Even if we do end up screaming at each other. Deal?"

"Deal." He closed the few inches between them and kissed her lips softly. "You know it's inevitable that you and I are going to be a Broadway power couple."

"Oh, really?" she asked, a twinkle in her eye as she pulled away from him a little and leaned back against the arm of the couch.

He nodded in response. "Do you want to know something else?"

Rachel's entire body felt like it was on fire at the look in Jesse's eyes. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to her. "What?"

"We are about to have fantastic make-up sex," he told her, in the sexiest tone that Rachel had possibly ever heard, just before their lips came crashing together.