Forever Has to Start Somewhere

Chapter 2: Laryngitis

Mr. Schue put his arm around Rachel. He murmured, "Rachel, I think you've lost your voice."

Jesse saw the fear in her eyes at the words.

He was out of his seat in an instant. He shoved Schuester aside and pulled her into him. Her arms came around him immediately, her fingernails digging into his shoulder.

He pressed his face into her hair, pressing kisses against it. "It's okay, baby. It's probably just a cold."

"I've never had a cold in my life, Jesse," she said. Her voice sounded so sad and broken that he felt like his heart was going to shatter in his chest.

"I know, I know."

He smoothed one hand over her back.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the rest of the glee club still sitting in their seats. They looked equal parts uncomfortable and confused. A few of them managed to look at least somewhat worried.

Jesse wished they would leave. This wasn't something they needed to see.

"I have to go to the doctor once glee club ends," Rachel said.

"I'll take you."

She shook her head. "You have vocal lessons."

"I can call and reschedule."

She shook her head again. "No. I want you to go. Just because I can't sing doesn't mean you shouldn't."

He took a deep breath to steady himself.

He understood where Rachel was coming from.

They were so connected, so alike, that he could hear all of the unspoken worries tumbling around her head. The ones that involved her voice never coming back and their shared dream never coming true.

There was a part of him, though, that was absolutely livid that his girlfriend wanted him to leave her when she was going through this.

"How are you going to get there?" Jesse asked. "I drove you to school this morning. And I don't want you to be alone if it's not good news."

He felt her fingers dig further into his shoulder.

Feeling a stab of guilt at having voiced her fears, he pressed another kiss to her hair.

"I'm sure there's someone else in the club who can take me."

There was a moment of silence before, "I'll take you, Rachel."

Jesse stiffened. His grip tightened on Rachel's waist. He turned his face away from Rachel, glaring at Finn who had his hand held up. "Absolutely not."

"Jess," Rachel whispered.

"I don't want him there with you," Jesse hissed. He didn't look away from Finn as he spoke. "I don't want him to take advantage of the emotional state you're in."

"I wouldn't do that!" Finn objected.

"Wouldn't you?" Jesse snapped. "You've manipulated her feelings before."

"Stop," Rachel insisted. When he felt her pulling from his arms, he turned to look at her again. His heart clenched when he saw tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. He felt a stab of guilt at having let his feelings about Finn take over when she was like this. "Jesse, I know you don't like him, but Finn is the only one in this club who likes me. The football players don't care about me either way, the cheerios hate me, and the original gleeks would probably be happy if my voice never came back and they could have my solos."

The silence that settled over the room was uncomfortable.

Jesse could see a few of them shifting in their seats and it was enough to bring at least a little satisfaction to his chest.

"Fine," he snapped at last. "Finn can take you, but I want you to call me the moment you know what's happening. Regardless of whether the news is good or bad."

"I will."

"And I'm staying at your house until you get better. Or your dads come back. Whichever comes first."

"Okay."

He tightened his hold on her for just a minute before relaxing. He dropped his hands from her waist, moving them up to hold her face. He tipped their foreheads together, whispering, "It's going to be okay, baby. I swear."

"You can't know that," she murmured back. Her hands fell away from his shoulders, laying over his own instead. "But thank you."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead before stepping away completely. He jerked his head in Finn's direction, "Get her to the doctor."

By the time Jesse arrived at the Berry household, the sky had gone dark

He dropped the tupperware container and white pastry box he carried onto the kitchen. He tossed his duffel bag into the living room before making his way up the stairs.

He didn't knock on Rachel's door before opening it, not wanting to wake her up if she was asleep. Her light was off and from the doorway he could just make out her figure curled up on her bed.

He was about to leave when he saw her shifting. She called out a soft, sleepy, "Jesse?"

"Yeah, it's me." He didn't make a move to leave the doorway. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I just wanted to let you know that I was here now."

"What took so long?"

"I had to get clothes from my Uncle's place. When I told him why I was staying over, he insisted on making you chicken noodle soup."

"I'm a vegan."

"And when I told him that, he insisted on looking up looking up a recipe for vegetable soup. There's a tub of it in the kitchen for you along with some pastries I picked up from that bakery you like. I thought you could use some comfort food."

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome." He glanced at her alarm clock, noting that it was only nine o'clock. Rachel had always went to bed a little early for a high schooler, but nine o'clock was odd even for her. He supposed the illness was taking more out of her then she was letting on. "I'm going to let you get back to sleep."

Instead of wishing him a good night as he expected, Rachel requested, "Stay with me?"

Jesse hesitated. They'd slept together before, cat naps after dance class had quickly become one of his favorite things, but this was different. He didn't want to freak Rachel out while she was sick and he couldn't guarantee his body wouldn't respond to having her pressed up against him.

"Please?" Rachel said. "I'm not contagious-"

"I wasn't worried about that," he assured. "I wouldn't leave you alone just because I was afraid of getting sick."

She continued as if he hadn't interrupted, "-and I don't want to be alone."

"Never." He let out a soft sigh before nodding, "Okay. I'll sleep in here."

He stepped into her bedroom, shutting the door softly behind him. He could feel her eyes on him as he tossed his jacket onto the floor before shimming out of his jeans.

When he slipped onto her bed, she turned so they were facing each other. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer, and she pillowed her head against his chest.

They laid in silence for a while before she murmured his name.

"What?" he questioned.

"I'm glad you stayed this week. I'm glad we worked things out," she said. His fingers curled tighter around her hip. "I can't imagine going through this without you by my side."

"I'm glad I stayed too." He bent down, brushing a kiss against her forehead. "Go to sleep. You need to rest if you're going to get better."

E/n: Jesse and Rachel both seem a little ooc to me. I could blame it on it being because Rachel is sick in this episode and they're both obviously thrown by it, but I'm not sure how the next chapter will go? They're definitely missing some of their drama and divaness but it could just be because they aren't necessarily in scenarios where it would be relevant. Let me know if you think they're too out of character or if you think it's fine.

It was nice to write something a little fluffy since the next few are going to be a bit emotionally charged with the whole Shelby situation. It's going to be quite the dramatic beginning for this story, I only hope I can keep it up as the chapters go on.

I'm also going to just say right now - I am not a Finn Hudson fan at all. I'm going to try not to outright bash him, but the fact of the matter is that he likely won't have a lot of positive interactions in this fic. Especially not in the beginning when Jesse is still in high school and hates his guts.