Chapter 5: You've Got the Love

Jesse's POV

Jesse tried to read Rachel's face after he finished talking. He left out the last bit about Rachel's crush, simply unable to bring himself up to tell her just yet. She was not sitting on his lap anymore, having moved to rest next to him on the sofa in Shelby's apartment. She was in shock, that much was crystal clear to Jesse.

Jesse himself was fed up with his sister; she had no respect for any of them: their parents, Jesse, not even Rachel as it turned out. For a few days after those revelations, Jesse was ready to stop giving a fuck about Becca – he considered just telling his father about all of this and letting the man take care of that in his way. It would be the last straw for her, Jesse knew. Keeping up his good face was the most important thing in his father's life for many years; while Jesse was a poster baby for success so far, Becks had long ago decided to stop trying to impress them, constantly edging on the verge of complete disaster. This stunt would definitely force his father to take up harsher means of assuring discipline. Especially that, obviously, his first attempt when he cut her off backfired so spectacularly.

But to be honest, Jesse's thoughts were running in slightly different direction more than often. It wasn't everything that Becks had revealed that day.

"Do you know why I never told Rachel when you fell in love with her last year? You deserved to learn how it was like to look at someone like that without reciprocity."

Jesse swallowed hard, reminiscing Rebecca's harsh words. Knowing that Rachel had been in love with him in the past – long before he even started developing his own feeling for her – was devastating. He felt a wave of nausea hit his stomach every time his memory would go back to these days. He could remember just what he was doing – how he was behaving – back then. It was like going through hell back when Rach was dating Hudson. His misery, jealousy and frustration at the mere sight of the moron with her were still fresh in his head.

And that was just one guy.

Every hour of this week Jesse spent trying to find some way of telling Rachel, apologising to her for being an insensitive dick, and trying to make up for it. It didn't matter that it wasn't really his fault (just like it wasn't Rachel's fault when the roles were reversed last year); Jesse felt he needed to do something.

More, I was the one to tell her to go for the quarterback last year. Funny how she quickly jumped from crying over you to making out with the most popular guy in the school.

Saying that Becks' confession about pushing Rachel into Hudson's arms last year made him really angry would be a serious understatement. His own sister was responsible for something that drove him mad for months. Something that had almost destroyed their friendship.

She knew exactly what she was doing and had done that only to spite him? If she was so good and helpful friend to Rachel, she could've just told him to stop being a jerk with Rach around. If she felt so sorry for Rachel, why wouldn't she just have told him Rach was in love with him?

The last thing he has ever wanted was making Rachel uncomfortable or miserable. It was Becca's opaque sense of justice that let him be the oblivious cause of Rach's silent misery – even if seemed to be long forgotten.

A movement to his left brought Jesse back to reality. Jesse glanced sideways at Rachel who simply raised his arm and snuggled under it. Jesse smiled with love.

"I'm really trying not to judge her right now," she confessed quietly. "But at the same time, I can't simply imagine anyone being so desperate to go to such measures."

Jesse shook his head.

"Don't think about it anymore," he whispered into her ear, kissing it fleetingly. "I shouldn't have told you about it in the first place. I feel like that's all I've been thinking about for the past few days and you don't need another thing on your mind either."

"No, I'm glad you have," she protested. "You seemed so worried it made me worried as well. You feel better by telling me now?"

Surprisingly, her question brought about a wave of sudden realisation – he did feel better sharing it with someone. He chuckled and placed a short kiss to her lips. She leaned in for more when the door opened and Shelby appeared with a bag in her arm.

She smiled and waved her hand when Jesse stood up, ready to leave as it was almost fifteen minutes after the "curfew" that Shelby has established. Much to his surprise, she waved her hand and told him to sit down.

"I've brought you something to eat. You haven't had any dinner and I don't suppose you've spent the last three hours cooking."

She turned to open the fridge and Jesse felt Rachel hiding her face in his arm. He suppressed a grin; earlier she had no problems basically throwing her own mother out and now she was the one not daring to look the woman in the eye. She was one of a kind, really.

"Sit down," Shelby ordered, not bothered by Rachel's reaction.

Jesse shook his head with an amused smile. It was kind of refreshing to hear the woman, who had spent the last four years yelling at him, do it again. She put a plate with a burger on it in front of him and Jesse dig into it almost immediately. Indeed, he was hungry.

Next to him, Rachel failed to hide a yawn. She covered her mouth with shame.

"Go to sleep," Jesse pecked her cheek. "I'll come to say goodnight before I leave."

"No, I..."

Jesse threw her a serious look and she coveted. He's kept her busy for two hours, unable to resist her closeness and taking a selfish chance to devote his attention to her instead of everything else. The best he could do now was to grant her a good night of sleep.

Shelby watched her daughter enter her bedroom and close the door. Jesse followed her with his eyes as well, thinking that he would give everything for being able to spend the rest of the night with her.

"Jesse?"

Jesse looked up at Shelby's face. The woman folded her arms.

"Is it something serious?" she asked. His bad mood must've been still surrounding him like a bad aura. He shrugged.

"Family issues," he told her. "Me and Rachel are perfectly fine, if that's what you're asking about."

Shelby relaxed. Jesse resisted another comment. Shelby cared about Rachel's well being more than she was ready to admit. If his brooding mood in any way affected Rach, Shelby was bound to be the first one to notice.

"You better tell me how she is doing?" Jesse asked back. "I know she wouldn't tell me much not to burden me with anything more."

Shelby sat across the counter from him and split her fingers.

"She really seems good. Happy," Shelby admitted making Jesse's shoulder relax. "Most of her attention is focused on the team lately. I think that she tries to show the rest and me that she can do it without you and that she isn't there just because she's my daughter or your girlfriend, you know."

This time, Jesse frowned.

"That's ridiculous," he noticed. "No one expects her to be my copy."

And yet, Jesse couldn't stop thinking about her careful choice of people for auditions, her decision to talk to Mike Chang despite her personal disagreement with their methods, and before all, her own words from a conversation a while ago:

You sound as if you don't think I can do it.

Shelby took her time before she answered:

"No, but she doesn't see it yet."

Thinking about those words, Jesse started to agree with her. He finished his burger. As promised, he went to Rachel's room to say goodbye, only to find her fast asleep on her bed. Smiling to himself, Jesse sat at the edge of the bed and covered her tighter; she's been complaining about the chilly morning temperature in her room lately. She turned to the other side, when he caressed her cheek but didn't wake up.

Jesse raised to his feet. It was late but he had another place to be.

With heavy heart, Jesse opened the front door to the St. James residence. He almost hoped for the door to be closed but no – they let go without problems and Jesse was met with a stunned expression of his mother.

Showtime.

"Jesse! What are you doing here?" Marianne asked jumping to her feet. Politely, but with distance, Jesse hugged his mother and looked around.

"Is dad home?" he asked dryly.

His mother pulled out of the embrace and looked up at him with surprise. She shrugged.

"Yes, he's in his study. Why are you asking? Something happened?"

Jesse opened his mouth to let everything out; his fight with Becca, her stupid idea and his fury at his father who was once more responsible for his another child's bad decision. But then he couldn't. Not to his mother who had nothing to do with the whole mess; Jesse could deal with it without resorting to telling her.

As simply as that, Jesse just shook his head and stepped away. Just then, his father appeared in the room with them, probably alarmed by the voices. He stopped mid-step when he noticed Jesse.

"Please, don't tell me you flunked out after a month," his father sighed with resignation.

Jesse ignored the comment.

"We need to talk," Jesse barked glaring at his father.

"Oh," Jesse's mother hummed to herself. "Fine, I'll leave you two alone."

Jesse took off his jacket and threw it on the sofa, passing his father without a word, waiting for the older man to follow him, which he did with a displeased expression.

He waited for his father to enter the study, before shutting the door closed with a loud thud.

"What is going on, son?" his father asked calmly.

Jesse snorted.

"You tell me. Why is my sister's trust fund off?"

From the momentary flinch of Alexander St. James's face, Jesse knew he has caught his father off guard. He used the advantage and stuck the finger into his father's chest.

"I need you to restore it."

Jesse's father glared at the finger pointing into his chest and snorted. The man straightened his back proudly and stepped away in the direction of his desk. Wanting or not, Jesse watched him as he sat behind it and gestured for Jesse to take a seat as well. He ignored the suggestion bluntly.

"Jesse, sit down," this time Alexander St. James's voice betrayed a tinge of impatience.

"I'll stand," Jesse was resistant.

His father stared at him for a few seconds but gave up eventually.

"How do you know about this?" he asked silently but trying to keep his voice calm. Jesse scowled – his father was always like that; cold and evaluating. He was rarely allowing himself to get riled up or nervous. Jesse and Becks took their personality over from their overly emotional mother. When Jesse only raised his eyebrows in silence, his father let out a breath. "Of course, Rebecca told you."

"Of course Rebecca told me," Jesse repeated sarcastically. "I need you to reinstate the account immediately," he repeated.

"Why?"

For a moment, Jesse just stared at his father in shock.

"Why?" Jesse laughed dryly. "Because she's your fucking daughter, whether you like it or not. You can't keep on treating her like some second-rate citizen in this house. What in the earth did she ever do to you, huh?"

"She wouldn't be hanging upon this trust fund if she hasn't flunked out of college," Jesse's father pointed out matter-of-factly. "If she had any sort of education and normal job she wouldn't be worried about losing it before she'd twenty-five. I've told you this once before; I'm not stupid. I can see what's going on in both of my children's lives. Rebecca chose to continuously disregard our help, your mother's pleads and requests in the past. She more than once made a fool out of me, your mother and herself. Why would I pay for her parties for the rest of my life?"

Jesse balled his fists but didn't respond.

He considered his chances in silence. Jesse decided not to tell anything about Becca's moronic wedding idea just yet. He flew over to Ohio to try to convince his father to change his mind in the financial matters – hoping for Becca to find her reason when she is financially stable again.

It was smarter to try out all his options before starting a regular war.

Finally, he took a deep breath and approached the desk, sitting down at the chair in front of it. He cleared his throat and put his hands on the wooden surface, dropping his angry voice completely.

"Dad, please," he murmured silently. "If you can't do it for her, do it for me. You can cut the sum in half. Or take half of my money and transfer it on to her account if you don't want to spend any extra money on Becks. But, please, don't cut her off completely."

Jesse rarely asked. He was used to getting everything he wanted and begging was way beneath him and his parents knew this. That's probably why his father's eyes widened slightly at the request. It lasted for less than five seconds, though, before Jesse's father's eyes narrowed and his lips pursued a thin line.

"She asked you to come here and convince me to change her mind? She wasn't even brave to come here personally?"

Jesse shook his head.

"She doesn't even know I'm here and I want it to remain this way," he said truthfully. "We had a fight a few days ago and she'd rather kill me herself than let talk to you."

They were interrupted by the soft knock at the door. Jesse straightened his back and closed his mouth obediently when his father threw him a warning look. Jesse got the meaning of that quickly: his mother had no idea about Becca's trust fund. It wasn't surprising, Jesse thought: the woman never tried to interfere in the family finances in the past. His father was basically running it all on his own. Realising that he could use this to his advantage, Jesse raised his head; if his angle wouldn't work, he could always try to pry his mother onto his side in the conflict.

Jesse's mom entered the small room with an uncertain smile.

"Sweetheart," she looked at Jesse. "Can you finish whatever you were talking... yelling... about later? I need your father to help me with something before the dinner party tomorrow."

Jesse glanced up at his father who nodded his head with a warm smile. That old bastard would do anything to spare his wife nerves and stress. Ironically, Jesse remembered Becca's words to Rachel last time they spoke and simply had to admit the rightfulness of her observations – their parents were really an 'oddly well-matched' couple.

"Of course, love," Alexander St. James jumped briskly to his feet. Then he turned to look at Jesse with a stern expression. "Jesse, you've heard your mother. We can finish it tomorrow."

"Great," Jesse replied shrugging. "Then I'll see you tomorrow as well."

They looked at him in surprise.

"What?" his mother sounded concerned. "You've just come home, Jesse."

Jesse shrugged again. He moved to leave the room but his father's voice stopped him before he reached the exit.

"Not so quick, Jesse," the man threw. "Where are you going?"

"I'll stay over at a friend's place," he said matter-of-factly. "Bye."

"You can bring Rachel here tomorrow," Jesse's mother smiled hopefully.

Jesse grimaced slightly.

"We actually have plans." He protested. "I promised to take her out to a restaurant she wanted to try out. We'll eat out, maybe see some movies or go to visit her dads in Lima. I don't know yet."

"Jesse, your mother asked you to do something," his father said pointedly.

Jesse cursed silently, knowing this tone that there was no point in arguing. He grimaced but nodded his head. Without another word, he escaped the room and his parents.

Grabbing his jacket and bag on his way to the exit, he ran up to his Range Rover that he 'borrowed' from Rach. He pulled out his phone and saw the he had a few texts and a voice message from Becca. He read through them quickly but they all contained only a 'call me' and 'where are you?' messages. Jesse scrolled over his contact list until his sister's name appeared on the screen. His thumb hovered over the green button but something stopped him. Jesse threw his phone to the passenger's seat and started the engine of the car. He would help Becca with money to stop her ridiculous plans but he had no intention of bragging about it.

Right now, he had a few places to visit and few things to organise before presenting his girlfriend with the best date night she will ever experience. True, he's promised to step by his house – but he never promised to stay at his mother's party longer than few minutes.

For the third time this evening, Jesse was facing someone's door. He knocked three times before someone finally opened it. He was exhausted and hoped it would turn out to be the last freaking door her was to face that evening. He grinned at the sight of Justin's stunned face.

"St. James, man, what the hell are you doing here?" his friend asked with astonishment.

Jesse pulled his bag off his shoulder.

"Can I crash at your place tonight?" he asked. "I came home for the weekend but I can't stay there right now and Shelby told me to stay away from Rach tonight."

If Justin was surprised by any of that, he pushed any potential questions aside and let him enter.

"Be my guest. My mom's asleep so just keep it down."

Jesse nodded in silence, following Justin to his room. Inside, he looked around and with a dose of surprise, he saw Briana. The girl gaped at him and blushed like a rose, clearing any sort of doubts about her late visit. Jesse muffled a smirk – he just threw Justin an impressed and questioning look before greeting his old teammate.

Briana was as surprised to see him as was Jesse, apparently.

"Jesse, what are you doing in Ohio?" she asked jumping to her feet and hugging him shortly.

Jesse hugged her back.

"Family business," he replied vaguely. "Sorry, I didn't know Justin was... busy?"

The other boy rolled his eyes.

"Back off, St. James," he barked. "I'm giving you a considerable portion of my floor tonight so you better keep whatever you have to say to yourself. And I mean it – not even Berry."

Jesse raised his hands in surrender. To be honest, Jesse wasn't that surprised to find Briana with Justin. He could see that the two of them had it coming for a few months now. Briana never belonged to the close circle of Jesse's friends but she wasn't annoying or problematic so Jesse could only congratulate them.

Glancing around the darkened room, Jesse realised that he probably interrupted something more than a late date between Justin and Briana. He felt the slightest pang of guilt but quickly chased it away. How could he know that she'd be there, in the first place? Besides, she didn't seem angry – more like embarrassed to be caught red-handed.

"You're going to show up in the auditions tomorrow?" Briana asked while Justin opened his closet to take out some spare blankets. "If I remember correctly, they were your favourite activity at the beginning of the year."

"Yeah," Justin interrupted her, turning to smirk at him. "You were free to give some poor kid a slanting and irrevocably crush their dreams. Classic Jesse St. James."

Jesse smirked; he remembered those times very well, indeed. But unfortunately, he wasn't a part of the team anymore; Rach has made it very clear when she initially refused to seek his advice on the files. It was her time to shine.

"I'll pass," he shrugged. "Rach took over, Shelby introduced a new policy. My era is gone – and with it, my sharp evaluation."

"Fair enough," Briana admitted. She looked around the room and her eyes stopped on Justin whose face fell in disappointment when she went on: "I think I'll be going. It was good to see you, Jesse. We miss you."

Jesse winked at her and jokingly; he missed his team as well.

Briana stood up. Justin stopped his search and followed her outside and over to the main door. Watching them, Jesse saw how Justin leaned in and planted a kiss on Briana's lips before smiling like a love-struck fool. For a moment Jesse wondered if it was the same look he had been giving Rachel all these months before and now.

No wonder everyone seemed to read through him in this one case.

Not wanting to look like a creep, Jesse turned immediately, seeing that Justin was about to return to the room after Briana left.

"Now, spill," Justin closed the door to his room. "How's the city? Berry says you live like a prince."

Grimacing slightly at the choice of words, Jesse forced a small smile.

"I work my ass off," he admitted. "One could've thought that singing held no secrets from me. Guess who needs to redefine his entire perception of music."

Justin laughed.

"That good, huh?" he asked with a knowing smile.

"Awesome," Jesse admitted truthfully.

He loved Julliard; it wasn't easy but it was exactly how he had imagined it to be all these years he'd spent dreaming about it with Rachel. The atmosphere, people, teachers – all that was amazing, demanding and it was fascinating to actually learn that many thing he'd thought he knew were something totally different. But the best part of it was that it posed a considerable challenge – and Jesse St. James loved being constantly challenged. He couldn't imagine what would happen if he didn't get his chance for the second audition.

"I'm thinking more in terms of NYU," Justin announced out of the sudden. "Not necessarily performing arts but definitely Big Apple."

Pleasantly surprised at the piece of new, Jesse nodded his head with appreciation.

"It'd be nice to have someone else there," he admitted. "I love the city but I sometimes miss the team, Shelby and, hell, even my crazy parents."

Justin laughed.

"I imagine being away from Rachel is a drag, too, huh? You don't have to tell me. Rachel's playing it cool but she's even more neurotic than ever. God knows, she was bearable when you were close enough to hold her hand... if you know what I mean."

"I'll make sure she hears about it," Jesse threatened him half-heartedly. "But, seriously, I started hating my right hand after two weeks."

Justin burst into laughter.

"Luckily, Shelby was kind enough to leave us the apartment earlier," Jesse added.

That piece of information grasped Justin's attention.

"Wait, Shelby Corcoran left you two alone in her apartment, knowing that the first thing you were going to do was jumping each other's bones?" he asked with disbelief. "Mother of the freaking year."

It was Jesse's turn to laugh. The advantages of dating his best friend and daughter of the coach who at the same time knew him enough to trust with her daughter were plentiful – and included no parental advisory twenty-four hours a day.

Jesse closed his eyes and his head fell back against the wall behind him. He was glad he decided to stop at Justin's place instead of going home. He felt like having a relaxing evening with someone who had no idea what was going on and wouldn't just start asking questions which he wasn't sure he wanted to answer. Besides, it was good to have a guy to guy talk from time to time. In fact, he could use a piece of advice right now, Jesse thought.

"Hey," he spoke up after some period of silence.

Justin looked up at him questioningly. Jesse hesitated; not sure what exactly he wanted to ask about. Justin was looking at him patiently while Jesse tried to come up with the best way of putting his question into words.

"Do you remember, my sophomore year, how Shelby lost it after I've brought some girl to the auditorium before a rehearsal? She's caught us making out in the wings."

If Justin was surprised at the topic of Jesse's inquiry, he did a great job of keeping it to himself. Frowning uncertainly, the boy nodded in agreement.

Jesse couldn't remember that day very well; he couldn't even recall the girl's name or whether she was a blonde or not, a cheerleader or maybe just a former teammate. If he was totally honest with himself, Jesse has forgotten about this whole situation at all – until Rebecca's words made him re-evaluate entire months of his life.

"Yeah, Giselle has been singing lead for a week after that," Justin reminded him.

What he remembered, though, was Shelby's incredibly harsh reaction. As Justin said, she had taken away all his solos for the week, including the Invitationals performance. It was the only time that Jesse was stripped off his leading spot in Vocal Adrenaline. It was Shelby's way of punishing him for his "stupidity and irresponsible behaviour", as she had put it in her long and an elaborate scolding that took place soon after the incident. But now Jesse wasn't interested in his past punishment at all.

"Why, do you think, she'd lost it then?" Jesse asked again. "I mean, it wasn't the first time it happened with either me or any of the guys from the team."

Thinking for a moment about a possible answer, Justin kicked the leg of the armchair he was sitting in. He reached out to grab a bottle of water. Finally, he shrugged and shook his head.

"Because she had a PMS? I have no idea, man. Why the sudden trip into the past, anyway?" he lifted his head to throw Jesse another questioning stare.

Jesse touched the side of his face.

"Because I'm ninety-nine percent sure that she did it because of Rachel who was with her."

There was a moment of silence before Justin grasped the true meaning of Jesse's words; he choked on the water he was drinking, spilling some of the drink on himself.

"Dude, you don't mean that..."

Feeling like slapping himself hard in the face again, Jesse nodded his head with a grim expression.

"That's exactly what I mean," he murmured and chuckled humourlessly. "My sister told me recently that Rachel used to have a crush on me back then. And I had no idea until she spelled it out for me."

"But... How? I mean..." Justin seemed to have equally as much trouble imagining this as Jesse; it somehow lifted Jesse's spirits. "She was, like, fourteen back then. Or less."

"Yeah," Jesse nodded his head.

"And you had no idea?" Justin made sure he understood correctly. When Jesse confirmed, he whistled: "Man, I start to respect Berry's acting skills even more. We've seen through you the first time you've laid eyes on her two years ago."

Despite his mood, Jesse laughed at the last remark. True, his teammates almost immediately figured out what was going through Jesse's head at that time. Some of the girls teased him about being too blind not to have realised it sooner, even. Could it be that they had known about Rachel's crush and it was their way of giving him a hard time for being an asshole?

"Man, if I knew about it, I would have made sure to keep her away from you," Justin whistled again. Jesse looked up but wasn't surprised at Justin's comment. The guy liked Rachel, almost all his friends from Vocal Adrenaline took to her the moment they had first met her. Eventually, even Giselle discovered some warm feelings towards his girlfriend.

"So the team had no idea?" Jesse asked hopefully. For the past week he's been beating himself over being too blind to notice her – but it would seem that she was simply too good at hiding them. "It wasn't just me?"

"I think so. We've never talked about it, you know," Justin answered flatly but still slightly in shock. "But I think that Andy would have tried to make you stop behaving like a manwhore with Rachel around, should she or any of the girls had known. She's had a soft spot for Berry from the beginning; she wouldn't have let you make her uncomfortable or something."

"I still feel like a complete moron, though," Jesse noticed with poorly hidden frustration.

He wondered if it had been the same for Rachel.

"I don't know what to say, Jesse," Justin shook his head again before standing up and good-mannerly patting Jesse's shoulder. "But I think that you're just too focused on the negatives, while ignoring one huge highlight of this situation."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked in confusion. What good could have possibly arisen from this?

"If it's true, then you've been Berry's first love, right?" Justin smirked.

Jesse's eyes widened when he suddenly realised that Justin was right. Rach was crushing on him all those years ago – and judging from Shelby's rage when she thought he's been insensitive in the face of those feelings, the crush must've been something more than just a fleeting infatuation (Rach was unable of such, Jesse knew). If it was true, then Jesse, unknowingly, has always been bound to have that part of Rachel.

But it were Justin's next words that made Jesse seriously want to hug him:

"Which made Hudson a rebound guy."

Rachel's POV

Rachel woke up with a smile. Like, literally, with a smile on her face. She had the most amazing dream that Jesse came to town as a surprise. Only after a few seconds and the sight of his T-shirt on the chair by her bed, did she realise that it wasn't a dream. Rachel fought the urge to jump out of the bed to drive over to his place. Instead, she simply silenced her alarm clock and lay in the bed for another few minutes. She deserved a minute or two to herself.

Today she will have to get through the auditions, pick out people who she would probably spend most of her afternoons with, and try to manage until the evening and her date with Jesse.

She couldn't wait; she loved their dates – Jesse was always looking handsome and was on his best behaviour, picking up some of the tricks he'd seen in different romantic movies. Secretly, Rachel loved when this side of Jesse surfaced during their nights out. The first time he took her out as his official girlfriend, they had dinner in the best restaurant in Akron and after that he took her to see her favourite ballet. The whole time, he was just the amazing boyfriend any girl could ever dream about: handsome, charming and funny, focused solely on her throughout the entire evening.

This never changed, no matter what they did on their date nights and it was probably what made it all the best. With Finn, she was never sure how much of what she'd been saying actually would reach his brain, while Jesse seemed to constantly read her mind.

Stepping on the elliptical, Rachel tried to stop daydreaming about Jesse; she had a day full of events before her and her attention should be focused solely on the auditions. Shelby has been trying to tell her everything there was to know about today; the way it was supposed to be conducted, what to look for in the candidates, how to speak to them, and what to do to make them realise that it was not a joke. Rachel felt ready to face the day and the crowds of people awaiting their fate. She knew that the day would bring a bunch of surprises. She wondered if Mike Chang would show up.

Shaking her head, Rachel stepped off the elliptical. She needed to stay focused – thinking about so many things at once was distressing. And she would rather prefer spending the day with her boyfriend rather than in the dark auditorium.

She wondered if it was normal in the case of long-distance relationships – daydreaming about Jesse instead of focusing on what was at hand whenever he was visiting. She laughed to herself. A little bit of distraction was not a sin.

She was surprised to see a familiar figure waiting for them at the parking lot of Carmel High. Grinning like an idiot, Rachel jumped out of Shelby's car to be greeted by Jesse's lips on her. Standing on her tiptoes, she embraced his neck and giggled against his lips when he tried to return the hug, awkwardly due to two cups of hot coffee in his hands.

Shelby raised her eyebrow.

"You again?" she threw instead of hello. Rachel frowned at her mother who shrugged simply in response.

Jesse handed Rachel one of the cups of coffee and the other passed to Shelby. The woman took it from him and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I you might need that today," Jesse smirked. "It's one large black coffee, no sugar for my favourite showchoir coach."

Rachel snorted into her own soy latte. Shelby only shook her head and started walking away. Jesse looked at her back expectantly. As if sensing his glare, Shelby raised her cup of coffee.

"You're not staying over tonight, Jesse," the woman threw over her shoulder.

Rachel giggled at Jesse's displeased expression. She pressed her cheek against Jesse's chest and hugged him again with one arm. Her boyfriend let out a frustrated groan.

"That would be four bucks for the coffee!" he called after Rachel's mother before she disappeared behind the corner of the building.

Rachel was still laughing softly when Jesse turned to look at her small figure. He rolled his eyes and kissed her temple.

"I told you, she won't budge," Rachel noticed sipping at her coffee. Shelby might've been a "cool mum" when it came to Jesse but that one rule she had established in June was final: Jesse was not allowed to stay overnight when Shelby was around. "But nice try."

"It was worth giving a shot," he shrugged. "How's your coffee?"

Rachel grinned. She let go of his waist and leaned against the Range Rover.

"Exactly, what I needed," she said pleased but her expression fell slightly when she thought about the following couple of hours. "I'm nervous."

Jesse looked really surprised.

"About what? The auditions?"

Looking down, Rachel nodded. She couldn't get rid of the ball of anxiety that was forming in her stomach with every passing minute. She had read all the files all over again and realised that many of the girls there seemed to be very talented. Maybe even as talented as her. How could she know if among the list of names she hadn't crossed out immediately, there wouldn't be someone... better than her? The mere thought terrified her but wasn't that impossible. She might've been the best singer in Lima but Akron... It posed a challenge.

As if reading her mind, Jesse shook his head. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. Then, he leaned in and lowered his head so that he could look straight into her eyes. She smiled despite herself.

"Rachel Berry you are the most incredibly talented person I've ever met," he assured her seriously. "There's no one, especially in this god-forbidden school, that could ever think of trying to reach your level of artistic perfection."

"But what if..."

She was silenced by Jesse's lips on her. Rachel closed her eyes, relaxing. Jesse's words worked miracle on her mood. He pulled away and Rachel gulped.

"Now," Jesse spoke up again. He grabbed her arms and turned her around, pushing slightly forward. "Go and crush as many spirits as you can."

Rachel giggled and caught Jesse's hand one last time. She pushed him close and pecked his lips, saying:

"I'm so glad you're here."

It was true. Jesse in Akron, coming to Carmel so early just to see her and wish her luck was something she really needed right now. She hoped that he would change his mind and stay with her throughout the auditions but Rachel knew better. Besides, she and Jesse had a date in less than eight hours; she would manage to somehow get through the day.

Jesse laughed and pinned her back to the hood of his car.

"You're in a good mood today," Rachel noticed, pleasantly surprised.

Last night he tried to hide from her that he was tense and anxious. Nevertheless, Rachel, who could read him like an open book, was the first to see through his seemingly calm facade. But today, Jesse was smiling at her without any hidden concerns, simply taking in her presence. Briefly, she wondered what has happened to change his attitude over night.

"I am," he admitted, interrupting her inner wonderings. "And because of that, I'm going to make today all about you."

Rachel's lips spread in a huge grin at his words. He kissed her on the lips.

"And me," he added, planting another kiss. "And I am planning on making both of us forget about everything else: my sister, the auditions and even Kurt."

"Just us?" Rachel whispered.

"You and me," Jesse confirmed. She responded by leaning in for another, passionate kiss.

"Now, that's the picture I was hoping to never see again."

The couple jumped in their spot, glancing around to locate the owner of the voice. Their task was easy as the group of people gathered few meters from them didn't try to hide.

"Are you kidding me?" another person jumped in. "Catching them making out in the wings made an awesome bet game."

Rachel blushed when she received an evaluating look from her teammates. Jesse released the grip in her waist but his arms didn't leave her as he wrapped his arm around her back.

The hasty and happy greeting began. Rachel stepped aside to stand closer to Justin while the rest of their team talked with Jesse, asking him about college, New York and the purpose of his visit.

She observed how people, who she still sometimes barely known outside the rehearsals, crowded Jesse and how he himself interacted with each one of them so easily. Silently, she wondered if in two years her teammates will react the same way to her visit.

"We really need to go," Justin reminded her throwing a quick glance at the door to the auditorium. "Or Shelby will make us audition again."

Rachel blinked. She stepped away to gather her thoughts. Deciding that Justin was right, she moved forward to grab Jesse's hand and pull him away from the group, smiling at the rest and throwing over her shoulder:

"Shelby's waiting in the auditorium," she ordered. "Adam, Paula and Briana, you are on the list duty. Meg, you go to the wings. The rest of you, follow Justin."

Few seconds later, they were alone again. This time, however, Rachel kept a healthy distance from his traitorous hands and the cocky smirk she loved so much.

"Call me when you're done, okay?" Rachel reminded him. "You'll pick me up from here or we'll meet at Shelby's place."

He nodded and, eventually, started walking away towards the Range Rover. Smiling to herself and drinking her soy latte, Rachel marched to the auditorium.