"And the winner is…" the small blonde, popular from some new hit show on Fox, announced as she pulled the name from the envelope. "Jesse St. James!"

The audience clapped as a smile burst out on his face, his heart thumping as he tried to remember to breath. It had been a long and difficult journey to this point, but one he wouldn't have changed-give or take one or two events. But he was here, walking across the stage to receive an Emmy for his character, his first award and it was a huge one. He was amazed his legs didn't turn to jelly as he made his way onto the stage, crossing it swiftly and thanking the girl as he turned to face the audience, his acceptance speech having been prepared for over ten years now.

"This one is for you Rachel Berry," he said with a fond smile as he remembered the petite brunette he had been sure he'd end up with one day. "You're still my number one star." With that, he walked off the stage, sure the reporters would start investigating exactly who Rachel was, sure that there'd be some sort of scandal that he hadn't thanked his girlfriend, that he was cheating or something-but he had decided long ago that Rachel deserved this more than anyone.

Even more than him.

"Are you nervous?" Kurt asked, straightening Finn's tie for the seventh time as Finn let out a hearty laugh.

"Dude, do you know how many times you've asked me that in our lives?" Finn grinned, wrapping his brother in a hug.

"Well, I have to say, I never thought I'd live to see this day," Kurt replied snidely. "The great Finn Hudson getting married?"

"Har-de-har-har," Finn replied, checking his reflection in the mirror once more. "It's not like I'm 23 anymore dude."

"You may not be physically, but your vocabulary seems to negate that," Kurt retorted as he examined his own tie. "Now, where the hell is Puckerman?"

"Right here!" he called out as he walked into the room where the groomsmen were supposed to be getting ready. "And I told you, it's Noah now." Kurt fought the urge to roll his eyes as he nodded.

"My deepest apology, Noah," he emphasized, and the group started cackling.

"I'm pretty sure you'll always be Puck to us dude," Finn shrugged, fiddling with his tie, giving a sheepish grin at Puck's eyebrow raised directed towards us.

"True, there was only ever one of us that called me Noah back then." They fell silent, letting that seep in momentarily. It was a long time since anyone brought up Rachel, a subject almost too taboo for anyone to breach. And while he may have been marrying Stacy-a beautiful girl he had met in college but didn't start dating until a couple years ago-he would never really forget Rachel. The gold star on his tie clip was there as a reminder for the girl he once thought he would one day marry, a gift from Stacy herself, who had been surprisingly wonderful about the whole thing. He was lucky to have found her, and he knew it, which is why he had proposed after only a year.

"Well, the bride won't like to be kept waiting. Are we almost ready?" Kurt asked after a moment of silence, the three of them surely lost in their own memory of the girl who wouldn't attend the wedding.

"Ready as ever," Finn replied with a grin.

"Let's do this!" Puck cried, running out of the room as Kurt and Finn laughed and followed.

Blaine hummed quietly to himself as he waited for his coffee. He hated Starbucks, but it was the closest to his job-not that there weren't 17 other coffee shops on the street, living in New York City pretty much guaranteed that he'd never go coffee-less. He checked his phone, making sure he didn't have any messages from the office that he might have missed. Being a 28 year old big shot at a small advertising firm wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but it paid the bills and kept him busy.

The date caught his eye, January 13th, and his heart stopped for a second, like it always did on this date. He missed Rachel, missed her more than he'd ever admit to anyone. He had, by all appearances, moved on. He had gone to college, had been in several relationships-mostly with guys, because it was easier. Any relationships with girls were kept quiet, indiscretions at most. He tried not to think about those though, tried not to see the same things they all had in common-short little brunettes with deep brown eyes, too talented and assertive for their own good.

"Blaine?" the barista called, and he made his way through the crowd to grab his drink.

"Thanks," he said with a small smile, taking the hot cup before trying to find a spot to sit. He had time to kill, which almost always turned into him showing up for late work, but today he figured he had the excuse of 'it's the ten year anniversary of my friends death' to work for him. He found a small table, towards the back, and sat down, turning his back on the rest of the room as he tried to sort through his thoughts.

He was doing relatively well, on days when he didn't think about it. He had gone through the five stages of grief, and accepted that she was gone and never coming back. What was harder to accept, even still, was the feeling that they never had a chance at something that could have been great, that he had let her slip right between his fingers without ever wanting too.

"Excuse me," a soft voice said, distracting him from his thoughts. "Is it okay if I sit here? Everywhere else is full." He looked up to see a woman around his age, with brown shoulder length hair and eyes that he swore were the same color as chocolate.

"Of course," he said with a charming smile, aware in the back of his mind what was going to happen. Here we go again.

Quinn nervously stepped into the ballroom that had been rented out for their reunion-their ten year high school reunion. She was amazed they had made it this far, amazed they had all made it past graduation. She spotted Finn, arm wrapped around a blonde as he talked animatedly to what looked like Mike Chang, Tina walking up to them and holding out a cup for Mike.

She briefly debated running back out, she wasn't even sure why she had come in the first place. She had barely come to Ohio since college graduation six years ago, much preferring her quiet life in Texas to all the memories that came with Ohio, Lima specifically. When she turned around to see Mr. Schuester talking to Ms. Corcoran, she was definitely on the verge of slipping back out, convinced no one had seen her yet.

"Fabray!" Santana Lopez's voice called out as she crossed the room to greet her old friend, Brittany trailing quietly behind her. "We were wondering if you were going to show up."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure but-"

"Come, tell us all about-where is it? Texas?" Santana asked, linking arms with the two blondes.

"Yeah," Quinn said, offering a small smile. Brittany grinned at her, and Quinn visibly relaxed. She could manage this one evening, she had been doing well in moving on with her life.

She spent the night listening about how Brittany had convinced Santana to move to New York with her, "Upstate though, the city is too hectic," Brittany confided as Santana endearingly rolled her eyes, showing off her own wedding ring as Brittany yelled about hers. They listened as she told about her life in Texas, how she was married now to a lawyer, how she was expecting a child-a child she was excited about instead of dreading.

"Things have a way of coming full circle," Brittany mused, and even though Santana shot her a confused look, Quinn kind of knew what she meant. So much had changed since high school, and yet so much was the same.

Kurt stood on the stage, coughing into the microphone to gather everyone's attention. He looked out in the crowd, at the people who had made him who he was in a span of only three years and over the next ten continued to shape him. He saw his step brother and his wife, his ex boyfriend with his girlfriend, the 'Unholy Trinity', the 'Asians', Mercedes and her husband, so many familiar faces that for a second he was sure it was a flashback to junior prom, to winning prom queen, before Finn yelled 'Get on with it!' and he remembered what he was doing.

"Right, sorry," Kurt laughed and the crowd just kind of shuffled, looking around as if they were waiting for him to get on with it. "I just wanted to give a quick speech, and then I'll let you get on with your night." He cleared his throat, steadying himself on the stage before starting the speech he had been planning for months now. "I know that in the past ten years, we've loved, lost, found, hurt, and raged. We've moved and disappeared and lost contact and reacquainted. We've been through a lot, and we've grown up." He cleared his throat again, smirking a little at Finn quoting along with him in the crowd.

"Ten years ago, we lost a member of our class before we even made it to graduation. Rachel Barbra Berry was, what we all thought, destined to go farther than anyone else in the McKinley Class of 2012. We were sure that she would shine above the best and the brightest, sure that she would be the one who everyone would scramble to brag about how they knew her. Ten years ago, she took her own life, and it altered so many others and left a wake of loss and devastation that McKinley is rarely used to dealing with. She left behind a boyfriend, a best friend, a mentor, a group that thrived purely on her talent, on her personality. It's been ten years, and she still comes to mind anytime I watch Funny Girl, or anytime someone mentions Barbra Streisand-which, you'd be surprised to learn, happens a lot in the world of fashion." He paused for the few chuckles that went through the crowd before taking another deep breath, remembering to keep steady.

"Rachel Berry used gold stars as a metaphor for the star she'd one day be. And while her life ended, tragic at 18 instead of in old age as a retired Broadway star, she'll always be a star to those she loved, to those who knew and cared for her. She'll always be someone I brag about, even if she never made it to her dreams. I count Rachel as a graduating member of 2012, simply because it seems like a shame not to." He raised his glass, waiting for others in the room to do the same. He saw Finn raise his, Blaine following shortly after, Quinn and Santana raising them high above their heads as Mike and Tina joined in, the rest of the class doing so relatively reluctantly. "To Rachel Berry," he finished, taking a sip of his drink.

He watched as everyone else did the same, "To Rachel Berry," surrounding the rooms, and thought of how pleased she'd be that she was well known enough to be remembered ten years later. To Rachel Berry indeed, he thought as he moved back into the crowd, knowing that there was no amount of years that could pass where he'd ever forget the girl who once shined brighter than any other star ever could.