New week, new chapter!

Gina your comments always give me strenght to keep on writing! things will start to move up a bit between those two, so yes hints of romance, just remember it's a slow burn.

Same disclaimer as always!


The next time Rachel felt her baby flutter, she was in the midst of her 17th week when Jesse and her were in her loft after rehearsals practicing some new lyrics that Steven and Duncan recently added to "There Once Was a Pirate" when neither Kurt nor Santana were there. The week the Hummels visited her, the baby was silent and she didn't feel anything, not even a tickle in her belly.

But Jesse's soft and clear tenor voice had the baby swimming like fish inside her abdomen. As she had told Jesse some weeks before, she tried to explain it as a result of it continually feeling Jesse's and her voice's vibrations because it coincided with the start of the SA workshops when they began to work on their duets endlessly and barely shared their company with anyone else that wasn't' either of them. Now in her 17th week, as Jesse had predicted, the baby could start hearing them and that could explain why now, that they were perfecting the song for Steven and Duncan to hear them the next day, made the baby move so much. It was barely there, but since she was adamant of feeling that giddiness and pure love again, it was all she could think of.

Jesse noticed how much she was caressing her baby bump and was intrigued. It was something that during rehearsals Rachel refrained herself of doing too much since she didn't want to reveal her pregnancy just yet to the crew. Now in the safe enclosure of her loft and being just the two of them, she did it subconsciously anytime they were singing. And it made his heart skip a beat every time he casted a glance at her. She was able to always knock the air out of him whenever he looked at her, and not only when she opened her mouth to sing, but those peaceful eyes were his new favorite look on Rachel

She was finally starting to come to terms with her pregnancy and Finn's death, and that made Jesse feel relief, those first months were scary for him. Witnessing the girl, who you loved with all your heart because of her bluntness and firecracker personality and contagious laugh, as a shell of herself and passing out every now and then because she had to be reminded to eat, was not something he ever envisioned himself having to endure.

That selfless and deep care for her took him by surprise, knowing she was pregnant with that beanstalk's baby (may he rest in peace, but he wasn't going to change his personality and personal feelings just for Rachel either) had stung. He wasn't going to deny that it had been like rubbing salt on the wound. But watching her so lost and lifeless made him forget the bile that rose to his throat anytime he realized whose baby it was. He could have hung the moon, or even performed those hideous Wiggle's songs that she liked so much during high school, just for Rachel to laugh again and look at anything without that lifeless gaze.

He wasn't going to fool himself; he knew she still missed him and still had nightmares because he could see the mild swelling under her eyes some mornings when they walked to their morning rehearsals. But he could also notice more color in her complexion and every now and then more real smiles. When she thought of Finn her first response no longer was bawling her eyes out but look to the sky and a melancholic smile bloomed in her face. Little details that he noticed but never made a comment because he knew this was her process and he just was a support.

"The little blob is starting to move?" he pried during their water break in her kitchen which broke Rachel out of her reverie and he felt a little bit guilty of startling during her moment of connection. Her attention again focused on her surroundings and she nodded as she shyly drew near to him which caught Jesse's attention.

"Can I make a confession?" she said as she grabbed his hand and placed it over her bump, she didn't wait for his response though "Whenever you sing it makes the baby flutter, obviously when I sing too, but I've noticed that from the moment we have been practicing the new song for SA"

That made Jesse's heart swell and a feeling he didn't quite comprehend flourish inside of him, that's why he remained silent and tried to feel something, he didn't know what came to him but a sudden surge rose in his chest to sing. He began to hum the lullaby that he sang to Rachel whenever they were in Dr. Green's consult to console her whenever she remembered Finn wasn't there. And when she didn't pull back, he gained more confidence and started to sing.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Way up high

And the dreams that you dream of

Once in a lullaby, oh

But this time he wasn't singing to her, he was singing to the baby that was inside of her. He still couldn't feel anything but from Rachel's reaction he knew it must have begun to move again and that encouraged him to keep on singing the next verses.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Bluebird fly

And the dreams that you dream of

Dreams really do come true-ooh-ooh

Someday I'll wish upon a star

Wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

High above the chimney tops that's where

You'll find me, oh

Almost hypnotized, he kneeled in front of her and continued to softly sing a lullaby that never had that much of a meaning to him before, but now was starting to make sense and was rapidly becoming an exclusive song reserved to the baby he referred as the "little blob".

When Jesse finished his song Rachel had tears in her eyes of the joy and elation after feeling her little baby moving so much. Her hands had found its place in his soft curls, where at some point during his interpretation of the lullaby when he kneeled down in front of her, she begun to stroke him gently.

They both broke from that moment of trance and profound connection and didn't question it, Rachel removed her hands from his hair and Jesse stood up swiftly before anyone could catch them.

Rachel didn't want to address it because she didn't feel uncomfortable and since she didn't bring it up, Jesse complied and just reeled in the feelings of attachment to the bump that he was beginning to identify while returning to their practice time with the new song.

From that moment on Jesse took it upon himself to sing to that baby whenever they found themselves alone without prying eyes. It was a moment of connection between him, the baby and Rachel and they knew that it would raise red flags to any outsider outside their bubble. Rachel and Jesse were comfortable with this dynamic that had developed between them and that was enough for them, they didn't want to think it too deeply and even less explain themselves.


By the end of the 18th week where Rachel and Jesse spend most of their free time together singing to the baby, since unless Jesse sang to it, the baby didn't move. Jesse wouldn't admit it to anyone but that made him feel special in a way that he didn't quite comprehend, he knew it wasn't his baby to love but he almost wished it was, then he wouldn't be feeling so guilty and out of place of feeling so devoted to a baby that wasn't his.

He was still trying to come to terms with all his feelings on the matter so he preferred to not think about it and just kept on making Rachel smile and giggle when the baby fluttered.

Kurt and Santana were in dates with their significant others so that's why they had the loft to themselves that particular night, and they used these moments of peace and quiet for their newly discovered favorite activity while watching a bootleg from RENT.

Rachel's head was reclined over his shoulders and Jesse's arm was on his usual place above her shoulders, their free hands were over her bump and they were focused on watching the bootleg. The thing about Spring Awakening was that it was a very physical play so even if they were doing mostly readings; these past weeks, now closer to the last week of the workshop where they would run in it by the public, they had been starting to navigate through the hayloft scene and the last 2 weeks they had even practiced the the sequence of movement of that scene. Not the choreography per se, but at least the main cues with a lot of grabbing and rubbing. Mostly to prepare material for the next workshop.

By the end of that week, Rachel and Jesse had pretty much felt each other up at least 6 times just this week. Of course, they were professionals and didn't think much of it but that made their friendly relationship a little bit more… touchy but without feeling awkward. They even had begun to intertwine their fingers over her bump and didn't feel any negative feelings about it so they just went with the flow. Both reluctant to pay any thoughts on the matter and bursting their bubble.

The cast began to sing "Seasons of love" on the screen and Rachel and Jesse followed their lead, that's when they both felt it clearly. They looked at each other and the brightest of smiles morphed in their faces, something that Rachel couldn't be more grateful. Up to this point, only Jesse, who had been by her side every step of this pregnancy, could understand how she felt and that made her feel that she wasn't alone in all of this, that she could share this with him, even if Finn wasn't by her side.

Jesse rewinded that last song and started to sing it again with Rachel, wanting to reproduce those blissful moments from some seconds ago.

"I have a feeling it's going to be a kicker Rach" he said affectionately gazing at her friend after the hype simmered down a bit and words returned to him.

She agreed with him with happy tears in her eyes.


The baby began to kick more regularly, now not so necessarily when Jesse sang them lullabies. On the contrary, something had changed and Rachel had noticed that Jesse's voice calmed it. It went from ninja out of the blue kicks with a jab at her ribs to a more bearable flutter, that's why she insisted that he had to keep on singing to her belly as much as possible to give her a bit of rest by the fifth night it kept her awake.

"I tell you Jesse, this baby is not even 5 months and is already so angry, please could you come to the loft, it doesn't respond that well to the sound of my voice" she pleaded desperate while trying to soothe her baby by caressing her now more notorious bump. "Mama needs her sleep"

He snickered proudly and conceited.

"Fine but you owe me Berry, it's a Saturday" he said through the phone.

"Oh! You are right, it's fine Jesse I'll try to put on some RENT or something, I'm sure you had plans" she said apologetically noticing it would be the 2nd Saturday in a row that he spent it with her.

"Mne it's fine, wasn't feeling it either way, they are going to get wasted as always and I can do it anytime I want" he answered dismissively trying to calm her nerves. He really was unable to say no to her. "I'm on my way, tell the blob to behave till I get there"

Thirty minutes later he was knocking on her door. And to his bad luck Kurt opened the door.

"Don't you have anything else better to do St. Jerk?" said Kurt as his face fell as he took a sight of who was at the door, Jesse guessed that he expected Blaine. As much as he wanted to blow off Doll-face and his Mean Girl attitude, he knew that he wouldn't gain anything by antagonizing him and only would cause further stress on Rachel and that couldn't be good for the baby so he decided to not take the bait and be the bigger person.

"Rachel called, I just happened to have an open schedule, now if you'll excuse me Kurt" he said with a cocky grin and moving past him towards her room.

"What a surprise you not having any plans on a Saturday night, you must be Mr. Popular in whatever campus you are terrorizing" he said sarcastically under his breath, but audible enough for Jesse to catch it.

"And yet Rachel calls me" he retorted with a haughty smile. At the end of the day, he was human not a saint, and he did try to be the bigger person in the room. If Mrs. Lady face didn't play nice, he wasn't going to be pushed over either.

"Oh, you got here! Thank God" Rachel appeared out of nowhere and startled both men in the entrance. "Come, this baby is driving me crazy" She grabbed his hand and yanked him towards her room where she closed the curtains to give them at least of sense of privacy and proceeded to jump in her bed and leave a side for him to climb on.

"Do your magic please St. James" she said with pleading eyes while patting the open space in her bed. He hesitated a bit, they usually stayed in her couch in a common space, this would be his first time in her "room" (he refused dignify it by calling it a room per se, it didn't even have a door). Even with them being so buddy-buddy in all these months, he felt this was breaking a limit in his careful distance - to avoid falling for her again - that he had imposed on himself, and yet one look into her puppy eyes and the word "no" was erased from his vocabulary. With one resigned sigh, he sat next to her.

"Let's see what seems to be the problem, little blob. Thought we had an understanding of not making your mother lose her mind since I'm the one that will be taking the short end of the stick" he said warmly as he was accommodating in a more comfortable position while rubbing delicately her baby bump. He began to hum a new song as he was level headed with Rachel's abdomen while she was sitting looking at Jesse with a soft quiet smile. When he felt the incessant kicking subside a smile infused with pride and wonder appeared on his lips. "There you go blob, and just like that you went from Allegro to Adagio" he finished his humming.

"Your voice is like catnip for the baby Jess" she chuckled "Since I made you cancel your plans, want to order some pizza and judge the new "Les Miz" movie, it's on me" she flashed him a big sheepish grin waiting for him to meet her eyes.

"Sounds like a plan" he agreed and then gave her a devilish smile "Love Hathaway but I predict it will be a flop, can't wait to criticize it"

They played the movie after the pizza arrived, and midway through the movie a curious thought formed in Rachel's mind that she wasn't able to put it to rest. Jesse had told her about his NYU friends before, but she began to wondered if there was any female friend perhaps in that group, not that she felt jealous or anything but she felt pure and honest interest, she thought as she tried to justify her line of thought.

"Hey Jess?" she said in a forced relax tone pretending to sound distracted even if she was on the verge of anxiously biting her nails.

"Hmm?"

"Did you had any big plans for tonight?" as she began to ask it, she felt a bit absurd. He was there with her and he didn't need to explain himself to her.

"Nah, just some plans at a bar to get wasted with the usual" he answered aloof wolfing a slice of pizza, without really paying attention to Rachel's question since he was too focused on Eponine's "On my own".

"Who are the usual?" she pressed on while nervously playing with her hair, she didn't know what she was doing but she was a girl with a mission and she wasn't going to stop until she got her answers, which again weren't fueled by jealousy but by pure and innocent curiosity.

"Uhm, I think I've mentioned Jonah and Christian at some point, so them, and also Nicole, Joe and Cara" he answered still focused in the movie.

"Oh" she muttered.

Nicole and Cara do sound like girl names she thought a bit grimly. Not that Jesse wasn't allowed to have female friends, we are not together of course he is allowed to have female friends…maybe even more than friends and she felt her stomach drop. She wasn't ready for any relationships since Finn's passing and she did make herself clear on that subject to Jesse but something about Jesse seeing other girls didn't sit well with her either.

"I prefer to spend my Saturdays with you Rach, it's ok" he added sensing her quietness and inner turmoil. "This movie is actually quite good, it exceeded my expectations I must say, now shush and eat a slice of pizza" he stuffed her mouth with said slice and she felt giddy replaying in her mind the "I prefer to spend my Saturdays with you".


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