A/N: Just finishing up spring break (Vegas is awesome), so I had time to write up this chapter. I hope you all like it. Don't forget to review.

If I Fell

Jesse walked through silent hallways on autopilot, his shoes scuffing tile as he moved along without registering his environment. His mind was obviously elsewhere. It shouldn't be such a surprise to him that Julia knew how to throw a curveball at him, after all she'd never been predictable to begin with, but he still hated that she could catch him so off guard. He liked to think that he had some understanding of how her mind worked, but she was better than anyone else he knew at thinking three steps ahead.

She was planning out moves and plotting strategies well before most people even realized that there was a problem to be solved, which is why Jesse refused to believe that she had honestly changed her mind about Rachel on a whim as she'd made it appear. Why would she? Keeping her enemies close was the best explanation he could come up with, but even that seemed flimsy to him. After all, Rachel was currently at the weakest she would ever be in the Carmel hierarchy. As far as Julia was concerned, Rachel had no real influence or power outside of Jesse and his friends. Most of their classmates thought of her as some clueless rebound girl who had followed Jesse from McKinley. If ever there were a time for Julia to destroy her it would be now, and Jesse was sure that she was well-aware of that fact.

Keeping Rachel out of Vocal Adrenaline would've cut her off at the knees before she ever had the chance to rise up and pose any sort of challenge.

It made no sense…unless she had underestimated Rachel's abilities, but that was incredibly unlikely as well. Jesse would accuse Julia of a lot of things, but being dumb was never one of them. She'd heard Rachel sing, and he knew that she would've seen the talent there just as clearly as he did.

So why would she vote Rachel in? Was this all some ploy to get him to owe her? He was sure that there were less elaborate and less risky ways of accomplishing that.

Regardless, whether it was her main intention or not, Jesse definitely owed her now. It was absolutely clear to him that Rachel would've never made it onto the team without her help. The picture of Rachel's devastated face if Vocal Adrenaline had rejected her still lingered in his mind, but he tried to focus on the fact that she had made it.

And she would be so happy about it when she found out.

Whatever was bothering her, he was sure that they could work it out, and hopefully once the weight of this audition was off her shoulders she would be able to open up to him. He wanted to be with her when she found out, be the one she celebrated the victory with. He wanted to be the person she always associated this memory with, but he knew that when he got to Shelby's office she would probably call Rachel herself to deliver the news. With that thought he slowed his pace, one hallway away from Shelby's office, and pulled out his cell phone. He could see Shelby's door from where he stood, but he knew that telling the glee coach about the team's decision would be nothing more than a formality at this point. As far as Jesse was concerned, Rachel was officially in, and to be absolutely honest, Jesse was still more than a little pissed at Shelby for preventing him from going after her earlier.

He wanted this moment to be one shared between just the two of them. After the way things had been going to day, they needed to celebrate something good together. So what if he also got to have a bit of harmless revenge on Shelby at the same time?

He heard the phone ring and waited for it to connect.

Rachel watched with rapt attention as her mother's practiced hands floated across the keys in a simple melody. She made it look so easy. Concentrating, she mimicked the motion on her side of the piano without actually pressing down. The notes repeated themselves in a simplistic pattern that Rachel was sure she could play in her sleep, but Shelby had explained to her that the point of this exercise wasn't in learning the song, it was learning the form. Things would only be far more difficult for her down the road if she didn't learn good form from the start, so she watched the coach's hands closely and did her best to follow along.

It was hardly surprising for Rachel to find that her mother worked with the same diligent concentration as she when it came to music. The woman's love for the art was clear in every move she made, including the economy of motion she seemed to utilize gracefully as she fell into the music. Always moving through space with great efficiency, and pressing down on the keys just hard enough to get the sound she wanted, there wasn't a single gesture she made that that appeared uncalculated. For the first few minutes Rachel simply watched her with fascinated awe, scrambling to follow directions as her mother gave them, but once she relaxed a bit and they had developed their own little system and she allowed herself to slip into a silent state of focus. Shelby would repeat the melody five times in order to get Rachel comfortable with it and then lift her hands from the keys in a signal for her daughter to take over. After establishing their rhythm, the only words spoken between them were from Shelby correcting her form and giving small suggestions. After a while even those became fewer and far between. With light streaming through the classroom window, it almost felt like they were in their own little bubble of time, surrounded by music and disconnected from the rest of the world.

Under the older woman's tutelage Rachel felt herself improving bit by bit until the shape of her fingers and angle of her wrists became almost natural to her, and she completely lost track of how much time they'd spent working together. Rachel watched Shelby play the melody one more time before her mother stopped playing, and she took over the melody in a higher key, almost seamlessly. She kept her wrists up, fingers curved, and shoulders relaxed, allowing the music to flow through them without too much effort. She felt her mother's critical gaze on her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Shelby nod her head just in a barely perceptible motion, without making a comment. She felt her confidence soar at the mild show of approval from the notoriously hard-to-please coach, knowing that the woman wouldn't have spared her feelings if she wasn't doing a good job. With more confidence she let her fingers travel over the keys in that practiced pattern until a jarring noise caused her to jump, throwing off her rhythm and breaking her concentration. She looked around the room with startled eyes, and saw Shelby doing the same for a moment.

"Your phone," Shelby declared, locating the source of the disturbance quickly.

Rachel dug into her backpack and pulled it out, glancing at the screen with annoyance. The feeling faded as she saw the name, and realized what it must mean. "It's Jesse," she told Shelby with a clear anticipation in her voice.

"Jesse?" Shelby asked with incredulous confusion, but Rachel was far too caught up with her own thoughts to notice.

Before the glee coach could say another word Rachel brought the phone up to her ear and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hey. We just finished up the voting…" His voice held no trace of emotion either way and Rachel felt her heart thundering in her chest. Despite everything she'd said to Shelby about dealing with rejection and staying at Carmel, a part of her still thought that she might die if she didn't make it onto the team. If nothing else, she knew that she couldn't handle making that resignation speech again with anything approaching grace or acceptance.

"And…?" she asked breathlessly. She was very aware of Shelby's presence beside her, rigidly still and watchful, waiting to see her reaction.

After a dramatic pause long enough to make Ryan Seacrest cry, he finally said, "It was unanimous," and Rachel felt her heart stop for instant. "You're in." Rachel gave a sharp gasp, and heard Jesse laughing happily over the phone at her reaction. She heard him on the other end of the phone continuing to explain the details of the vote, but she didn't register a word of it. She was in. Her eyes started to water, and beside her Shelby laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. Rachel turned to look at her with unseeing eyes.

"I'm in…I'm in!" she said, feeling as though there was no air in body. Already her mind was million miles away, the tranquility of a few seconds ago forgotten in favor of the frantic splintering of her thoughts into more directions than she could count. She'd have to make changes to her schedule to fit around the Vocal Adrenaline practice schedule, change her McKinley red paraphernalia to Carmel blue (something she'd already intended to do anyway), learn the team's set list, do further research on her new teams past performances and legacy in order to be fully informed of the vast history surrounding her. She'd have to learn all the of their songs and routines and be able to perform them to perfection, and figure out the strengths and weaknesses of her teammates and— If Shelby hadn't been with her she probably would have passed out from oxygen deprivation.

"Rachel, Breathe!" the older woman ordered in a firm tone that refused to be denied, and Rachel sucked in air through her nose and held it there as though she had forgotten how breathing works. "Again," Shelby ordered with exasperation filling her voice.

Feeling a little dumb, Rachel forced herself back into the moment at hand and looked at her mother with wide, amazement-filled eyes as she followed the woman's instruction until her breathing returned to its normal cycle. It was only as she began to come down off of her sudden adrenaline high that she noticed the unguarded warmth in her mother's eyes and the unconscious smile that pulled at her lips as she watched her daughter's excitement. It was a look Rachel was sure few people were ever allowed to see on the glee coach's face, which only made the moment that much better. The young singer realized that she had been smiling back all along without realizing it, and before she could gain another scrap of self-control, she felt her smile devolve into uncontrollable, body-raking laughter that destroyed all of the progress they had just made on the breathing front.

Seeming to understand that getting her daughter back under control was a lost cause at the moment, Shelby reached out and removed the still connected cell phone from her unresisting fingers. Even from a distance she could hear Jesse's voice on the other end, "Rachel? …Rachel, calm down!" he said laughingly, "Where are you?" After a few more seconds of no reply he asked, "Rachel, are you still there?"

Watching her daughter's glee, Shelby couldn't quite suppress the affection she felt for the girl as she said, "I'm afraid Rachel is indisposed at the moment."

A surprised pause greeted her, and it gave Shelby time to regain control of her emotions before Jesse's voice came back through the phone. "Shelby?"

Turning her body away from Rachel she allowed her usual sarcasm to replace the warmth that her daughter had caused. "No, it's Angela Lansbury." Before Jesse could form and intelligent response she pressed on with an ever-sharpening tone, "Perhaps my memory is a little foggy, but for some reason I don't recall giving you the authority to invite people to join Vocal Adrenaline."

Jesse sounded rather flustered by this unexpected turn of events. "W-we, um, just got finished voting," he hurriedly explained, "I was just about to head to your office. It was entirely unanimous," Jesse assured her.

"It's also entirely irrelevant until I say otherwise." Shelby could count on one hand the number of times she'd gone against her team's decision about a candidate, and never had it been a unanimous vote, but it still irritated her that any of her students would presume to make such a decision without consulting her first. Especially in this case.

"Are you going to rescind the offer then? Tell Rachel she's off the team in order to teach me a lesson?" Jesse rolled his eyes, knowing that Shelby wanted Rachel on the team just as badly as he did. She was just picking a fight over a technicality, probably because she was upset that she hadn't been the one to tell Rachel the news.

Shelby felt a flare of anger at his impudence, but one glance over at Rachel quelled the feeling into something more manageable. The girl was making a valiant attempt at regaining some of her self-control and Shelby sent her a small smile of reassurance, before returning to the conversation. Instead of lashing out at him with the sharp words that had been on the tip of her tongue, she answered with a more measured tone. "Of course not. As a matter of fact, since you're so invested in seeing Rachel succeed as a member of Vocal Adrenaline, I'll leave it up to you to make sure she gets up to speed on the Queen Medley."

She'd become quite adept at handling Jesse's arrogance over the years. Whenever the boy stepped out of line she learned it was best to give him just enough rope to hang himself with.

"Um, O-Kay…" Jesse agreed, expecting harsher response from her. It was an odd request. Shelby knew that he'd never been particularly good at teaching others, despite his own dance skills, but he certainly didn't mind the idea of spending extra time with Rachel. If this was the best she had then she must be going soft now that Rachel was around.

"Excellent." Noticing that Rachel was calm enough to re-enter in the conversation she addressed them both, "Rachel, you're coming into things later in the year than I would normally allow, but I trust that you'll put in the necessary effort to catch up. I expect the two of you to stay on top of this. Jesse, it's your job to have her ready to go with this routine by Monday."

Rachel's effusive excitement momentarily caused her to forget about her current troubles with Jesse. "Not to worry Coach Corcoran, I have been taking dancing lessons since I was four years old, and participated in quite a few competitions. I'm sure that with Jesse's assistance and my previous experience I'll be caught up with the rest of the team in no time. Jesse and I can get to work right away!"

Shelby found it interesting to hear the enthusiasm coming from Rachel, in direct contrast to the silence coming from her boyfriend. "Jesse?"

In a low, cautious, tone he slowly said, "I have my solo on Monday…"

"Oh, that's right," Shelby feigned forgetfulness. "Jesse has his solo on Monday," Shelby informed Rachel helpfully. Speaking to Jesse again she said, "Well if you can't handle them both I can always assign one of the tasks to someone else. With all of the initiative you've shown lately, I suppose I must trust your judgment, so whichever you decide to do will be fine by me. You choose."

Halfway across the school on his way to the coach's office, Jesse's steps faltered and came to a stop, realizing that Shelby had just set him up beautifully and cringing at his own stupidity for his flippant remark earlier. He should know by now that Shelby was not one to be trifled with, especially when she was in the mood to make a point. She was better than any other teacher in this school at coming up with artfully cruel punishments when the feeling took her, and apparently she was in that sort of mood right now. Instead of simply taking away his solo, as most coaches would have, she was allowing him to choose between it and Rachel, knowing that his girlfriend would be well-aware of his decision.

He quickly tried to sum up his options. There was a chance that Rachel would understand, after all, he'd been working to reclaim his place as lead male vocalist ever since he returned from McKinley, and this would be the first full solo he had gotten. He'd worked so hard for this, and ambition was something she could relate to. On the other hand, there was very real possibility that Rachel would see him choosing the solo over her as an insult and a comment on what their relationship meant to him, and there was too much up in the air between them right now for him to risk the misunderstanding. With a slightly bitter taste in his mouth, knowing that Shelby was winning either way, he told her, "I'll help Rachel learn the routine."

"Well, all right…if you're sure?" The question was met with cold silence. "I'll just give the solo to Dominico then." She shot Rachel another smile and saw the girl was still just as eager as ever, having completely missed her mother's maneuvering.

"Great," Jesse said with forced cheerfulness. "Where are you two? I'm at your office now."

"We're in my classroom."

"I'll be there in a second." Jesse hung up without saying goodbye, and Shelby had to fight to keep the satisfied smirk off her face. She knew he wasn't a bad kid; in fact he was generally a pretty good kid. It was just that sometimes he needed to be reminded who was in charge.

Looking over at Rachel again, she felt her smug satisfaction change into something softer. "He said he'd see you in a minute. He's on his way over," she told the girl in answer to her unasked question.

Rachel nodded her head quickly and let out a deep sigh of relief, as though she was expelling ever piece of doubt she'd felt over the last week in a single breath. "I did it."

"You did it," Shelby agreed lightly, as though there had never been any question of whether she would make it or not.

She considered the girl in front of her for a minute, and thought back to the audition she had given. At some point between rushing out of the auditorium to check on her and sitting down at this piano bench Shelby had forgotten her main motivation for going after her daughter in the first place. That phone call from Jesse had brought the real world rushing back in to infringe on the peaceful moment they'd found. Shelby sighed.

"Rachel," she paused, trying to find the right way to phrase what she was going to say next. It wasn't her place to comment on her daughter's love life. They had not established rules in their relationship yet, but Shelby knew that this was deep into parental territory, which she did not feel she had the right to enter yet. She couldn't just ignore the turmoil she had seen on her daughter's face up on that stage though, could she? Pushing on, she asked, "Is everything all right? Before your performance, you seemed upset…"

Shelby saw Rachel tense up a tiny bit, but didn't make any move to comfort her. Allowing her daughter to have some space as she decided exactly how much she wanted to share.

"I was just nervous," Rachel finally said, feeling the rest of her high drain out of her as she remembered the conversation she had overheard just before heading out on stage. She had allowed herself to forget her troubles as she immersed in Shelby's piano lesson, but now it all seemed to flood back in now. It wasn't as overwhelming as it had been when she first walked off stage though. Now that she had some distance from it, she was able to reign in her thoughts and emotions a bit more easily.

"Oh?" Shelby pressed, even though she knew she shouldn't.

"Yes, I allowed myself to get swept away by my own doubts, and started over-thinking things. It momentarily threw me off my game, though I think I recovered well." Rachel offered her a smile that was much more restrained than the previous one.

Shelby's surveyed her quietly, and Rachel couldn't hold her gaze for long. She felt the hesitation that had been absent from their interaction for the last thirty minutes suddenly returning in full force, and wished that things between them could be a stay the way that they had been. Rachel had felt completely at ease with the woman as she listened to her play and took all of her helpful instruction, but now the small bubble that they had cohabitated for the past half-hour had burst, inviting in the reality of their relationship.

The Vocal Adrenaline coach probably had no interest in hearing about her relationship woes, and Rachel would only feel embarrassed talking to her about them. What was she going to say? That she'd gotten upset because people apparently thought she'd transferred to follow around her boyfriend like 'a lovesick puppy'? Or that she'd just found out that her boyfriend had been in a long-term, sexual relationship with a girl in Vocal Adrenaline right up until a few months before they got together, and failed to ever mention it to her? She realized as she really thought about it, that Shelby must've already known about their relationship; after all, Jesse and Julia had dated for over three years. It must be common knowledge that they'd been together. Rachel remembered that feeling she'd gotten while watching the two of them in the hallway, like she was intruding on something private.

"Well, sometimes it's best to just go with your first instinct," Shelby intruded on her thoughts quietly.

"What?" Rachel asked, slightly startled.

"When performing a song," Shelby reminded her of the conversation they were currently having. "Sometimes it's best to trust your gut instincts; it is usually the right in most situations."

"Right," Rachel nodded, moving her train of thought away from Jesse and her relationship drama. She would have time to deal with that soon enough. Right now, she would much rather focus on her new spot in Vocal Adrenaline. "Speaking of performances, will we be performing this Queen medley at Regionals?"

"Possibly," Shelby said, allowing her to steer the conversation back into safer territory without protest. She would not force Rachel to talk to her about her relationship if she didn't want to. "I haven't chosen what our performance will be yet, but the entire team should be familiar with every routine, just in case. You're going to have a lot of catching up to do."

Rachel nodded again, and decided now was as good a time as any to broach the topic. "I'm not sure what the proper protocol is for this, but I have some ideas for potential song choices and routines that I think would be brilliant additions to the Vocal Adrenaline repertoire, and maybe even potential contenders for future competitions." So it begins, Shelby thought wryly, allowing the young diva to continue on speaking for a few more seconds before interrupting. "Ever since I accidentally snuck into your practice session last week I've been absolutely inspired. Every time I close my eyes I picture all the new choreography we could do, and the amazing harmonies I wouldn't have even dreamed of attempting with New Direction…with due respect to my former teammates at McKinley, Vocal Adrenaline is clearly on operating on entirely different level as performers. I understand that I am currently the low person on the totem pole, as it were, but if I could just propose a few of my ideas I truly think you'll appreciate my vision and—"

"Rachel." The girl stopped talking immediately, and Shelby was pleasantly surprised by her responsiveness until she saw the look in Rachel's eyes told her that the girl fully expected for her enthusiasm to be reprimanded and her thoughts to be shot down. She shook her head at the remnants of Will Schuester's 'coaching techniques'. "Everyone on the team is encouraged to contribute their thoughts and ideas, and I'm glad that you've already put so much thought into this." Rachel blushed with pleasure, "You can introduce a new idea to the team during our practice sessions, or come and talk to me during my office hours whenever you feel like it." Rachel nodded, and Shelby took on a more cautious tone, trying to gauge the singer's reaction to her next words. "That being said, I think, for the moment, you might want to take things slowly. Watch, listen, get a better feel for the team, and then start making suggestions. You don't need to do everything right this instant. Trust me, you're going to have more than enough work on your plate over the next few weeks."

Rachel took it in stride. "All right, but I feel I must say, I think it would be a missed opportunity if you didn't at least consider performing a Beatles medley at regionals."

"I'll bear that in mind," Shelby said with amusement, having considered exactly that many times. Before either one of them could say another word the door opening on the others side of the room broke up the congenial atmosphere. Rachel saw Shelby's demeanor change right in front of her eyes, from being open and happy to something far more closed off and distant. Within seconds she'd fully shifted back into Coach Corcoran mode. If Rachel hadn't been watching her as it happened, she didn't think she would have noticed the seamless transition. "Jesse."

"Coach Corcoran." He offered Rachel a soft smile, "Rachel…" he walked forward, ignoring Shelby's presence, to pull his girlfriend into a tight embrace, kissing her softly on the lips for a long moment. He felt her melting into the kiss, right up until she abruptly pulled away. Jesse opened his eyes, trying to meet hers and figure out what was wrong, but she ducked her head with something like embarrassment coloring her features. She refused to look Jesse or Shelby in the eyes, and Jesse had to wonder whether it was simply because her mother was present or something more. Trying to break the discomfort between them he said, "So, how does it feel to be a member of Vocal Adrenaline? Didn't I tell you that you could do it?"

"You did, I was just telling Shelby – Coach Corcoran – some of my ideas for the team."

"And I was explaining to Rachel that she ought to take it slowly. Get to know the team a bit better before she dives in with both feet."'

"She's right, Rachel. Things are going to be hard enough without you trying to come up with new routines on top of learning the old ones. Besides, the team will probably be more receptive once they've gotten to know you a bit better—"

"Speaking of the team, you said that the vote was 'unanimous'…?" Shelby asked with just a hint of disbelief in her voice. She'd been certain that the vote would be split, at least a little. Rachel's audition had been better than most, but there were always those who hated new competition. Shelby knew her students. They are in high school though, she reminded herself. She understood the influence of peer pressure well, and realized that it held power over even the most independent of kids. If they saw their friends voting for Rachel they wouldn't have wanted to be left out, but still, Shelby didn't think that Jesse still held enough influence over the team to sway the vote so much.

"Yes. Every single person on the team voted Rachel in." He said it with a smile at Rachel, who preened at his words, but Shelby could tell that there was a bit of a strain behind it. She looked back and forth between them and decided that it was probably time for her to make her exit.

"I'll be quite interested to hear that story, but for the moment I have some other work that needs attending to." She stood from her place at the piano bench. To Rachel she said, "If you have any problems or questions let me know. Jesse. I'll see you both at practice tomorrow. Don't be late." They both nodded and with a final look at Rachel, to which the girl gave a small smile, she turned and walked out the door, leaving the two of them in silence as they watched her go.

The silence lingered after she left and Rachel straightened her spine, deciding that the best course of action in the instance was to simply cut to the heart of the matter. "We need to talk." Jesse looked at her like she'd just slapped him in the face, and she quickly clarified, "I didn't mean it in the cliché pre-break-up-speech kind of way, I'd like to think that I would never be quite to unoriginal when ending a relationship, I just meant talking in general, about…things… I'll start!" she offered before he had the chance to say anything. "Why don't you take a seat?"

"All right, sure," he sat down on the vacated piano bench and looked up at her expectantly. Her directness could be considered abrasive at times, but one of the things that he liked most about being with Rachel was that he always knew where he stood. That was part of what made her behavior today so strange for him, but hopefully she was about to rectify that situation. Like a pro, he had his shocked 'oh-my-god I-can't-believe-it' face on standby, ready to whip it out the moment Rachel made the big reveal about her relationship with Shelby. He knew she would be worried about his reaction, so he would only sit there in stunned silence for a few seconds before shaking it off, asking a few uncertain questions (How long have you known? How are you handling all this?), and then offering her his support. He was a big enough person not to hold it against her that she hadn't told him about it straight off, and he was sure that she would be appreciative of his–

"I know about you and Julia." His surprised face slid into place just a planned, but that's about where the plan went off the tracks.

"What?" he asked with real shock.

"After your rather abrupt departure earlier, I was left to walk to the auditorium for my audition alone, and I'm sure you can imagine my surprise upon stumbling across you and Julia standing in the middle of the hallway having a rather heated argument about your past relations—"

"Rachel—" Jesse stood up, trying to interrupt.

She ignored him, getting to the heart of the matter. "For the record, it's not so much the fact that you dated her that bothers me, I mean, she seems smart, and she clearly has her physical appeal, and I'm sure that there are friendlier aspects of her personality that I simply haven't been exposed to as of yet. My point is I understand that you've had other girlfriends before me, and I am honestly fine with that. We both know that I've had other boyfriends before you, and my relationships with Finn and Puck, though clearly misguided, will always be special to me. It would be ridiculously hypocritical of me not to accept the fact that you have a bit of baggage as well. What bothers me, is that for some reason you didn't see fit to tell me about it—"

He took a step closer to her and she stepped back, not wanting to be soothed or distracted. "I didn't want—"

"I've told you about every boyfriend I've ever had. You've met all of them. So, what is it that made you think I'd be incapable of handling the idea that you used to date Julia?"

"I didn't… I just…" Jesse ran a hand through his hair in complete frustration. He couldn't believe that this was happening. "I wanted to protect you."

"Protect me? From what?"

"Julia can be really mean, and manipulative, and—" he wouldn't put it past her to have somehow arranged for Rachel to overhear their conversation, and he tried to recall exactly what they had said.

"And you thought that if I didn't know why she had it out for me I'd somehow be better off?" Jesse didn't have a good reply so he said nothing. "Words cannot begin to express how tired I am of people keeping things from in some ill-advised attempt at protecting me." She would never say it to her fathers, but that comment was aimed just as much at them as it was at Jesse. "She's a member of Vocal Adrenaline. You couldn't have seriously thought that I wasn't going to find out one way or another. Everyone here knows that the two of you were together, don't they? Do you honestly think that no one was ever going to mention it?"

"I didn't know how to tell you! Okay? I'm sorry. I just…" Jesse took a ragged breath and paced in the opposite direction a little before turning back to face Rachel. "Since she and I broke up everything has just been so…" he took another breath, and seemed to calm down a bit, zoning in on Rachel. "You're the first person I've met in a really long time that I've really cared about. I mean, you're smart, and talented, and kind, and funny, and so incredibly beautiful and, I think it makes be a better person, just being around you. I know it's stupid, but I felt like bringing her up would somehow ruin things between us…I wanted to keep our relationship as far away from her and my past as possible. It was stupid of me." He let out an exhausted sigh. "I'm sorry."

Rachel saw nothing but genuine regret on his features, and slowly let her own hurt and insecurities drain away. She couldn't fault him for not knowing how to tell her something, when she was currently facing the exact same problem telling him about her relationship with Shelby. He was staring down at the floor, looking clearly agitated, so she stepping forward, back into his reach, and took his hand in hers. He looked down into her eyes questioningly and she leaned up to kissed him lightly, before pulling away just far enough to say, "Okay."

"Okay?" he repeated in surprise. She kissed him again, and this time he kissed her back happily, falling into the kiss with an abandon brought on by relief. She pressed against him in a way that only made him want to pull her closer, and he saw a vision of their future in his mind, standing together on stage in front of an enraptured audience, cheering for the two of them as they took Regionals, then Nationals, then Broadway by storm. It was so real in front of his closed eye lids he felt like he could reach out and touch it. He allowed his hand to slide down her back, lower and lower, too lost in the kiss to notice Rachel stiffen until he crossed into the danger zone and she pulled away. His lips tried to follow hers, but she wouldn't allow it.

"Jesse." Rachel watched him lazily open his eyes halfway and look at her with clouded eyes that made butterflies do aerial flips in her stomach. She took another step back to put more space between them, and she saw disappointment take the place of lust for a few seconds before hurriedly being replaced by an understanding look, which may or may not have been entirely genuine. It was enough to make an annoying little voice in her mind wonder how far he would have gotten if Julia were here instead, and if they had ever gone that far in this room. That caused an uncontrollable blush to rise on her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" he asked, catching the strange look on her face, and stepping closer to take her back into his arms.

She blushed harder. "It's nothing, I just…" she pushed away her thoughts and grasped for something – anything – to change the subject. "There's something I need to tell you!" She grabbed on to the first thing she could think of.

He looked at her warily, wondering what other surprises she might have in store.

Rachel figured now was as good a time as ever if they were being honest with each other, and took a deep breath. "Shelby Corcoran is my mother," she told him, looking straight up into his eyes in order to see his reaction.

For a second it looked to Rachel like he might start laughing, and she was afraid he might think she was joking, but then his face filled with surprise and she guessed that he must be putting the pieces together. Her resemblance to Shelby was obvious once you knew that they were related, and she imagined that Jesse was comparing the two of them in his mind right now.

"Coach Corcoran is your… Oh my god!" he looked stunned and Rachel moved them both over to the piano bench, where Jesse sat down quickly as though his legs weren't strong enough to hold him up. Rachel watched him with concern. "I thought you said you didn't know who—"

"I didn't," she jumped in, eager to supply answers to the undoubtedly overwhelming number of questions he must have. "I just found out when I transferred here. Shelby went to my dads after what must've been a surreal experience of having me in her music class that first day, and they decided to finally reveal the truth to me about my birth mother. I know exactly how you are feeling right now! You can ask me anything." Jesse nodded his head slowly, looking shaken.

"When did you find out?"

"Monday night, right after our 'research' session. I should have known something was amiss when I arrived home to find both of my fathers' cars in the driveway, but I figured that they had simply gotten home early to lend their love and support after my first day at a new school. I must say, there can be little doubt of where I inherited my acting skills from, given that both my fathers are abysmal actors. I knew there was something going on the moment I saw them, but I had no idea that they were planning on finally telling me the truth of my origins. When we sat down for dinner they began to ask probing questions about my feeling towards my mother, something I assure you they have never done before. For most of my life they've avoided the topic like the bubonic plague, so I was of course immediately on guard. They told they got a call from Shelby that day, which I thought was a particularly strange segue, but it occurred to me what they were going to say just before it left Papa's mouth. I was just as stunned as you are now."

"So you've known since Monday? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was overwhelmed, and confused, and lost… Pretty much everything you're feeling right now multiplied by a million."

"But I could have helped you!" He sounded really upset by this and Rachel felt her stomach clench nervously. "I've known Shelby for almost four years now. I could've made it easier for you to get to know her."

"I wasn't sure that I wanted to get to know her. At least, not at first. That's why I didn't tell you. I know how much you respect her and I knew that if I told you then you might try to sway my opinion about her, and it felt like something I need to figure out by myself."

"But what about today?" Jesse demanded, then backtracked a bit, reining himself in, "I mean, um…I'm guessing that you made your decision before you auditioned, so why did you wait until now to tell me?"

Rachel shrugged. "It just never felt like the right moment I guess and, well, you have been acting a little strange today," Rachel told him earnestly.

"I've been acting strange today?" He sounded outraged by the notion. "Are you—" Jesse cut himself off, opened his mouth to say something and then snapped it closed, taking a deep breath through his nose and then letting it out slowly. "I thought you were the one acting strange," he told her in a more measured tone. "I mean, you changed you're audition piece after all that work we put into finding the perfect—" Jesse cut himself off again as he saw Rachel duck her head and realization dawned on him. "…You overheard my conversation with Julia…"

"Yes," she said without looking at him.

"Rachel," he once again tried to recall the exact words they had said out in the hallway. "She and I are over. She has trouble letting go, but you have to trust me. I'm done with her." He said it with sincerity.

Rachel nodded her head, "I do trust you, Jesse. It's just that, some of the things she said…"

"Like what?"

There were so many answers to pick from. Julia had called their relationship a fling, implied that her switch to this school had been Jesse's idea instead of her own and that people thought Rachel had followed him home like a lost puppy, casually mentioned that Jesse preferred real sex to phone sex (the thought alone made Rachel blush), and made it seem as though their relationship was completely doomed a few months from now when Jesse went off to college. She chose none of those answers though, instead asking, "You two were together for over three years?"

Jesse, who apparently hadn't expected that one, shifted slightly on the bench, restless. "Yes." When Rachel didn't say anything he went on, "We met in freshmen year. We were together – off and on – since then. I felt, I don't know, connected to her or something." Reluctantly Jesse told her, "I used to think she and I had a lot in common."

"What happened?" Rachel asked gently.

"I was wrong." Jesse stood up and took a few steps away, clearly indicating that he didn't want to talk about this, and Rachel didn't know whether or not she should push him for answers. It wasn't really in her to walk away from an issue without getting the answers she wanted, but maybe sometimes that wasn't such a good thing. She'd been down a similar road with Finn, and Rachel remembered the way he had withdrawn from her when she started to get overly clingy or demanding. She did not want to make the same mistake with Jesse by pushing him or acting as though she didn't trust him, when she honestly did.

He took a deep breath and then turned around to face her again. "Rachel, I promise you, you have nothing to worry about."

"I know." She stood up and walked towards him, putting her arms around his neck. "No more secrets between us, alright?"

He looked so relieved, he probably would have agreed to anything she asked at that moment. "No more secrets."

Smiling contentedly she shifted the conversation back to their original topic. "So…about the Shelby thing…are you sure you're okay with this?"

He brought his hands up around her waist, staying in her comfort zone. "What do you mean?"

"I've decided that I want to have her in my life, as a mother figure, and I understand that it may be a bit strange for you given that she is your – our – coach and all, and technically you'll be dating the coach's daughter—"

With a slight smile Jesse asked, "Does that make ours a forbidden love, once again?" Rachel's heart missed a beat at the word love, but he kept going without seeming to notice it, "Will we have to meet in secret? No more kissing on the middle of the stage after hours?"

Rachel thumped him on the shoulder lightly. "Of course not. Shelby knows that we are in a committed relationship."

"Then she must know that intend to spend most of the weekend doing this." He moved in and kissed her, dipping her backwards and then slowly bringing her back up.

Rachel giggled, feeling a little dazed by the move. It didn't stop her from saying, "We'll have enough time for that later. This weekend will be solely dedicated to you teaching me the Queen routine."

"I can multitask," he whispered to her, deliciously close to her lips.

Knowing that this was a fight she didn't mind losing, Rachel whispered back, "We'll see…" and then closed the distance between them.

Thank you all for the reviews. I can't believe this story has upward of 600 reviews now. That's just mind blowing to me. Thank you all for the support.

Also, today is my mom's birthday, she won't read this, but I'll say it anyway, happy birthday Mom!