Disclaimer: Nope, just a fanfiction writer. I would be a man, if I owned it, wouldn't I? So nope.
Story: "He's the enemy! You can't like him!" Her lip quivered, but she stared back in resolve. "I can and I will." And she silently said goodbye to the first boy she ever liked.
Set after S1.13 "Sectionals."
Spoilers: Probably for the back nine, and definitely for the first thirteen episodes.
Warnings:
Pairings: Rachel/Jesse, with Rachel/Finn tension, Puck/Quinn, Mercedes/Matt, Brittany/Santana, Kurt/OC, Tina/Artie; Puckleberry friendship, Quinn/Rachel friendship, and Kurt/Rachel friendship…

Meet Me on the Equinox
Chapter Six: Crash Society

"Feeling better?" Rachel asked, watching Jesse pace.

"No, absolutely not."

"Will it be that bad?" Rachel tilted her head to the side, watching her boyfriend freak out.

"Yes," Jesse frowned at the wall. "I don't want you to meet my parents. I never wanted you to meet my parents."

Rachel tensed, "Are you…ashamed of me or something?"

Jesse paused, flinching. He saw her lips trembling and he hurried to her.

"No, it's not you, Rachel. I don't want you with them. Trust me, you're better off not knowing my parents," Jesse grimaced.

Rachel looked unsurely at him, but tentatively nodded her understanding.

He sighed, "My family isn't…normal. I don't mean the 'not normal' nontraditional type of family like yours. I mean I don't think my family can even be considered a family."

Rachel paused, watching him closely as a small bit of understanding reached her.

"What should I be expecting, Jesse?" she asked quietly.

Jesse stared off spacily, not replying quickly. Then he winced.

"You have to wear something nice, but I'll take care of that."

Because 'nice' in his world meant expensive.

"Don't…I love your dads, don't get me wrong, but I don't think you should mention them to others. Except my parents, because they would likely be more upset at not knowing everything. Whatever you do, as much as it pains me to say, be completely honest with them. Even though they might look down on you on a lot of stuff, lying or keeping things from them is the absolute worst thing to do. They're intolerable of it."

Rachel was starting to understand why Jesse was so nervous and was starting to get nervous herself.

"Okay, what else?" she asked anxiously.

"Allude vaguely to your slight wealth, but not too much because they'll be eager to pry. Talk a lot about your ambitions. The older people will be more impressed with that. The more ambitious you are, the more those people are impressed. But if it's with the younger crowd, don't go ambitious. Talk music, gossip about the latest artist or whatever. I know music is your thing, so that's a safe topic for you, right?"

She nodded, listening closely.

"You'll have to, no matter how likeable you become, be used to condescension. Even if they like you, they'll pity you from everything, from your small fortune to not having a mother. They'll have the snide tones, the side comments, and the looks. You'll have to charm them, tolerate them, abide and go along with them. Even accept some of their customs as your own to be accepted somewhat yourself. They're a demanding society, and though I hate to admit it they are handy to be behind you."

Rachel was silent, picking apart what Jesse had advised her and trying to prepare herself to be able to do those things. She really doubted she could and was worried she would quickly offend someone or mess up in some way. She didn't want to embarrass Jesse, but it seemed that was what she was going to end up doing.

"Jesse, what if your parents don't like me?" she asked quietly.

Jesse looked at her apologetically, "In the end, they probably wouldn't. They're harsh people, Rachel."

She gave him a shaky smile, "Well, I guess I'll have to just try hard, won't I? I'll be fine, Jesse. It'll be okay."

Jesse wasn't sure about that, but if Rachel was adamant she'll do it then she would.

Looks like they wouldn't be skipping the annual St. James Winter Garden Party after all.

The time was immediately upon them and Jesse had brought her a classic black cocktail dress that went to her knees, a pearl necklace, bracelet, and earrings set, and matching her with his black Armani suit. Nervously styling each other's hair, it wasn't long until they were in Jesse's home.

"Well, at least I hope Bebe likes me," Rachel muttered, remembering the one good family member Jesse had told her about. He never talked about his family, at least not willingly, but Beatrice had always been an exception.

"Oh, she will, I have no doubt about that," Jesse gave her a strained smile. "Here goes."

Rachel flinched and stared at the manor in trepidation, even more so at the realization that Jesse was richer than her original guesstimations. Jesse led her in, his hands warm and reassuring on her arm and against the small of her back, but even then she could tell he was tense.

She remembered he had stressed out over this even before he had told her about it.

And all of a sudden, she was meeting Jesse's parents and they were tall, chin-held proud kind of people. For once, she was actually intimidated. Jesse's mother had beautiful golden hair that was pinned up into an extravagant bun, lips painted a startling red, and cold gray eyes. A couple shades darker and they could be Jesse's. Jesse had told her that he had inherited his blue eyes from his grandmother on his father's side, but she thought it could have easily belong to Mrs. St. James, especially with the iciness. Though Jesse still had the icy blue eyes she loved so much, she knew him enough to be able to see passed at the more hidden emotions of his.

Mr. St. James was just as handsome as his son, if not more from an air of experience and aged beauty that makes one differenced from a boy to a man. She had always thought that Jesse was much more mature than boys their age, but Jesse was still young enough to still be a youth whereas Lucas was definitely mature. She wondered if that was what could be said of her and her mom –

Rachel inwardly shook that thought away, going back to observing her hosts for the party. Jesse was definitely a mix of his parents, with his mother's slim jaw, his father's nose and hair (though Lucas had straighter hair than Jesse's curls that were inherited more from his grandfather, and was slightly longer), a slighter build like his mother's, only Jesse wasn't quite that effeminate and more had his father's muscled build that was made lean from his mother's genes. Both of them were tall, with Adrienne slightly shorter than her husband, and Rachel could see that Jesse had gotten that from them. He was his mother's height, but if he wasn't done growing he could even reached his father's height if not taller.

But then they started grilling her and she had to stay focused, lest they catch her off guard. She wasn't used to this subtle, disguised kind of interrogation –she was quite used to being blunt and people beating around the bush –but this kind of questioning was so deceiving and such a delicate maneuvering that she couldn't understand how anyone could stand it. Using the method or dealing with it!

If she hadn't been forewarned by Jesse about this tactic, she might have been deceived into thinking that they really were interested in what she was saying, not that they were carefully storing away information for use later (as blackmail, useful knowledge, using it against her, etc.) or that this was just a casual conversation! They were so good at acting normal and polite (though it was obvious the friendliness was just borderline, enough to be useful and passing), that Rachel at times had thought Jesse was overreacting. That is if she hadn't of caught the occasional calculating glint in their eyes, or the tightening of their lips, and similar things like that. And she had a feeling that they normally wouldn't have been so careless with their reactions (small though they were), if not for her and her role in Jesse's life.

And when they were done, she had a feeling that she had failed and they hadn't approved of her. At all.

Rachel wanted to cry.

The Garden Party went on the way, and she went around with Jesse, casually introducing herself and trying to act like everyone there, having decided before she came not to mention her Broadway ambition, lest they think she was trying to take advantage of them or something (just her school ambitions will do). The grownups smiled and politely put up with her, but she sighed in relief as the younger crowd more easily accepted her and was even curious, after a bit of a wary beginning. It was so funny that she got along with the more upscale teenager crowd than she did with the McKinley kids and others of her age around where she lived and hung around with.

"How are you enjoying the St. James' Garden Party, darling?" Mrs. McCartney asked ("No relation to Paul, unfortunately," she had said, and Rachel genuinely laughed because she was amused, seeing the older lady smile approvingly and cheerfully to that).

"It's not as bad as I'd thought it would be," she said honestly, gaining another amused laugh from the other. "I rather thought I would be entering the proverbial lion's den."

Mrs. McCartney laughed again, "Well, don't be too assured, darling. You should keep that mind thought, because technically you still are in the lion's den and you might not be leaving or be safe until a while. Especially with some of these others out here. They wouldn't hesitate to get close to you and use you to get closer in any way to the St. James family. The St. James family is very old, powerful, and rich and they would use your connection to them to try to get close to the family or take advantage of your connection for their own gain. You're connected with the St. James now, you're in with them. You'll have to be more careful, Miss Berry."

Rachel faltered, smiling hesitantly. "I-I see."

Mrs. McCartney looked over to her side, "Oh! I see my husband! I'll see you in a bit, darling. I simply must have Gerry try the shrimptini!"

She walked over to Jesse, murmuring that she had to go to the bathroom, and left him to continue entertaining some of his father's business clients. She finished up quickly in the marble bathroom, warily looking around and hoping she didn't cause any damage as she was there. She had just entered a hallway when she caught sight of Lucas St. James gazing outside of the window of the ground floor, swirling the liquid in a martini glass idly.

"Um, Mr. St. James?" she tentatively called out.

Lucas stopped swirling his drink, but took his time to look over at her. His gaze was blank and unrevealing, but he was observing her closely and she had the urge to fidget.

"How long have you known my son?" he finally asked.

She swallowed harshly, estimating a number in her head before telling him. He nodded slowly.

"Jesse hasn't spoken of you," he murmured. "But he never speaks much to us, much less of girls he dates."

Rachel gave in to the urge to just scuff the toe of her shoe against the soft carpet of the manor.

In a blink of an eye, Lucas had crossed the distance and had pinned her to a wall as he towered over her. Rachel froze up, face gaping in shock and eyes wide with fright. She felt like a rabbit in the jaws of a wolf.

"Do you think I'm handsome, Miss Berry?" his voice purred, eyes alight with a strange sort of curiosity.

Rachel blinked. "Guh?"

Okay, she was usually more literate than that, but this was not a normal situation and she quite frankly wasn't working her mind correctly right then.

"Would you rather the father than the son? Would you like me to take you into one of the many rooms in this house and show you how a real man takes care of a woman?" a wolfish grin seemed to be playing across his lips and Rachel was quickly getting into a daze.

'He'sgorgeous. Jesse's gorgeous. This whole damn family is gorgeous –'

Then she forced herself out of it.

Now, her first reaction and what she would normally do would be to be rash and abrasive, probably slapping him and running away. Or slapping and then yelling at him. But he was still Jesse's dad and she realized she had to reign in her reactions and hold it in to get along in that world. She couldn't be as blunt as she wanted, like she was used to with others, not in Jesse's society. There was…a way of doing things in that society that she had to get used to doing.

Since he hadn't been expecting it, she used surprise to quickly push his arms away and slip away from him. She cleared her throat nervously, avoiding looking at him.

"Um, I'm really sorry, Mr. St. James. You are handsome, but Jesse is the one I want. I really care for him and I don't want to hurt his feelings, especially not like this."

She finally glanced at him and saw he was looking at her speculatively. In fact, there also seemed to be approval in his gaze.

"So you really like my son, do you?" he hmmed.

She nodded in confusion.

"You're really here for my son…and not for money or connections," he suggested and then she again forgot to monitor her reaction, gaping at him. He chuckled, "I'm glad. I wasn't sure about you, but you have my approval now, Miss Berry. I'd only wanted to make sure you were here for Jesse and not the St. James' fortune. A commoner, huh…if it'll be like this, perhaps more commoners should be let into the family more."

"Um…"

He chuckled again, "It's your job to convince Adrienne how worthy you are now. But I'll give you a clue. She'd been a commoner herself."

He turned and left her behind to stare after him, and she joined the party again a little after. The party went on without any more mishap, though she was still a bit dazed from her encounter with Lucas. Jesse noticed, but she just waved it off and smiled weakly at him. He hesitantly left it alone.

Near the party's end, she saw Adrienne disappear into the manor and she thought quickly. Maybe this was her chance…or maybe it wasn't. Well, she couldn't stay there, fighting herself about it. So she hurried in and tried to trace Adrienne's steps, finding her in the ground study and looking pensive at something on the desk.

"Mrs. St. James, are you okay?" she called out anxiously.

Adrienne looked up, replying coldly, "I'm quite fine, Miss Berry. Is there a reason you're here?"

Rachel inwardly grimaced, and decided that being blunt here would be the best option.

"I don't know what I did wrong or why you don't like me. I'm not here for money. There's no point in me building any connections here, I'd think. I just want to be here for Jesse, and I genuinely care for him. I have no ulterior –"

"What would you have to offer him?" Adrienne asked softly, tilting her head as she gazed coldly at her.

Rachel bit her lip. What did she have to offer Jesse? These were all gorgeous people –from his father to his mother and to his little sister who had accepted her easily and was eager to get to know Rachel, with a bright smile and a huge hug to accompany her sing-songy greeting.

"N-nothing," she answered miserably. "Nothing at all. But I may not have money, or be prettier than those girls out there, or from an influential family…but I truly, honestly care and like Jesse."

Adrienne just hmphed dismissively and turned away from her. Undeterred, Rachel continued in desperation.

"And I'll fulfill my dreams and go Broadway, and I'll drag Jesse with me –"

"Broadway?" Adrienne interrupted in amusement.

Rachel flushed red, "Yes, so? I love Broadway and I'll do whatever it takes to get there and be on top."

Adrienne laughed lightly, gaze less cold. "I used to be in Broadway, Miss Berry. Your aspirations are quite new?"

Rachel blinked in surprise at this turnout, and thought she should've forced more information out of Jesse about his parents sooner. She wouldn't have had less work to do. If he did mention it, then she forgot and needed to remember everything about his family because now she found it really important to know every detail to avoid any more trouble on her part. Damn it, she's rambling and still nervous about this…

"Um, no. I've always wanted to be on stage since probably from the day I was born," Rachel confessed, laughing hesitantly.

Adrienne nodded, looking at her in a new light.

"You're not as pretty as most girls, your lips a little too big, your forehead almost too wide, and your nose almost too big on your face. And yet you are pretty in your own way. Jesse, if you've noticed, seems a bit lacking in his motivation towards his career nowadays. You love music, I can see, so if you can reignite Jesse's passion for it, we'll have a better understanding of each other."

Rachel mumbled, "Um…okay."

"Don't say 'um'. And don't mumble. Never mumble," Adrienne ordered.

Rachel straightened hurriedly and cleared her throat. "Yes, ma'am."

"Better," Adrienne smiled like shark. "And you may call me Adrienne."

Rachel wanted to sigh in relief, but didn't outwardly since that probably wouldn't be acceptable. She would save it when she was safe with Jesse…and preferably as far away from there as possible.

"Do you know My Own Best Friend?" Adrienne asked curiously.

Rachel smiled, "Chicago?"

Adrienne smirked at that and Rachel finally felt like she was going to be okay in this family.

"There's only one person who can help you now, Roxie," Adrienne sang.

"There's only one person you can count on now, Velma," Rachel echoed.

"One thing I know
One thing I know
And I've always known
And I've always known
I am my own
I am my own
Best friend," they both sang together.

There was a knock on the door and they both turned to see Lucas there, another martini glass in his hand as he leaned against the doorway with a smirk on his face, gazing at them in amusement.

"Am I interrupting something?" Lucas drawled.

Adrienne came over to Rachel's side, draping an arm casually around her shoulders as she echoed her husband's smirk.

"No, not at all. Rachel and I were just sharing our love of Broadway," she said innocently, smirking.

"I see," Lucas laughed. "Well, you should return Rachel back to the party. Jesse's having a minor panic attack at her disappearance and is subtly, frantically ready to go searching for her. Oh, and Mrs. McCartney is insistent on telling Rachel about the Belmont incident before she leaves. She seems to have taken a liking to Rachel."

Adrienne rolled her eyes, "Not that again. Ah well. Come along, Rachel. We've been gone too long, it seems. You can go settle down Jesse, and I'll see about distracting Mrs. McCartney."

And suddenly, Rachel wasn't worried.

When she reached Jesse's side, calming him at seeing her fine and safe, she realized she wasn't tense any more.

"I think I like your family," she declared.

Jesse looked at her in disbelief.

"I can't believe April is letting us use the roller rink to practice for Glee," Rachel executed a twirl.

"How are you guys going to get any practice in?" Jesse asked dubiously.

Rachel shrugged and Jesse took her arm, and twirled her again.

"We're singing, aren't we?"

Jesse snorted, but a smile played on his lips.

As to why Jesse's presence was at their Glee practice, even if it was in a roller rink…well, Rachel brought him along and after the Garden Party, neither of them really cared what anyone else thought since the party had made them completely official and public in a binding way (as was that society –you don't just casually break up and date sporadically; you make a debut, you make a debut…especially as a couple). Well, Jesse with Rachel there just revealed to the McKinley kids that they were still dating, but after grumbling a bit, the others were told off by Mr. Shue, who told them that it wasn't any of their business who was dating who and after that he was assured that Jesse wouldn't be spilling any secrets to Vocal Adrenaline.

And that was how the two of them were just skating with their hands holding each other, and occasionally a twirl or other move to mix in as they skated lazily.

"Well, I can't believe you got along with my family," Jesse muttered. "How did that happen anyway?"

"It's a secret," Rachel chirped.

Jesse pouted at her.

"I'll tell you. When I feel like it."

Jesse just huffed and she laughed at him.

Later on in the week, she got a call from Quinn, who upsettingly told her about Mercedes and the other girl trying to slim down for the cheerleading team. Rachel winced as she listened to her friend, knowing that it got to Quinn personally because she used to have to go through the same thing.

"Hey, Quinn. It's okay. Talk to Mercedes, tell her everything you're telling me. She'll listen. She's a smart girl," Rachel reassured the blond.

"Why don't you come with me to talk to her?"

Rachel winced, "Um, I'm pretty sure Mercedes doesn't like me. It'll go over better if it was just you."

Quinn sniffed on the other line, "…Okay. Hey, let's go out for ice cream later. I'm really craving right now."

"Alright. Is it just us girls or a couple thing?"

"Just us girls."

Rachel drove over and picked her up, Puck staring worriedly after them. Her phone vibrated and she peeked at it quickly, seeing a text from the boy.

Take care of her, please?

She'd text him an affirmative at the ice cream parlor.

And after Quinn, it was Kurt calling her to sulk about Finn taking his dad away from him. He told her about his plan to hook his dad up with Finn's mom, so he could get closer to Finn and maybe even move in together.

It had backfired on him and now he was left feeling left out and like he was losing his dad.

"I'd always wanted to connect to my dad, but I couldn't because I was gay and he likes all this guyish stuff and it's so not fair," Kurt ranted.

Rachel nodded, even though he couldn't see her. This wasn't exactly something she knew what to say about, but she figured that Kurt just wanted to get this off his chest.

"Thanks for listening, Rachel," Kurt winded down, speaking quiet now. "I just really wanted to talk to someone…I mean, I would talk to Mercedes, but I don't want to hear anything or…"

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.

"No…I just wanted to talk," so she didn't say anything and let Kurt continue to talk.

In the end, Mercedes sung Beautiful, drew in the crowd and everyone sung along. Rachel and Jesse sat together in the stands with the crowd, their voices mingling together as they were amongst the first to start singing along. And they were amongst the first to travel onto floor level and stand with Mercedes, singing with her. But then Jesse whispered into her ear, still holding her from behind as they swayed to the music and the joined voices around them.

"Let's go," and she followed him curiously outside, where he pulled her into his arms and twirled her into the air happily.

"I think I love you," he grinned at her, and she froze in shock.

Then he kissed her soundly, wiping all thought from her head, even as complete and utter joy filled her throughout her body.

Started 9/10/10 –Completed 9/13/10

A/n: Haha, the episode was like an afterthought in here, eh? I'll try not to do that (I definitely won't with "Bad Reputation"), but like I said, it's been awhile since I saw the episodes and I don't feel like rewatching them. The summaries sort of bring it back, but it's not as crystal clear as I'd like, like as if I'd watched the episode fresh and knew what the chapter would be written out as. Get it? Thank you all to those who gave me websites and stuff, and thank you all for reviewing and your continuing support! I love you all!

So, the St. James family is a little more explored here and they'll become even more complex as I get into them, and don't expect everything to be fine and happy with them either.

Also, sorry to those who love the Quinn/Mercedes friendship…but I really hate it and will not be working with it here. It is the most undeveloped friendship I've seen in television; it was just sprung on us in one episode and given us a bare ass explanation about why it works, using a cliché and overused medium of racism and translating to bullying (and don't you dare start accusing me of being racist, listen to what I'm actually saying here). I'm not undermining racism (although where I live, there are plenty of black kids and who are popular, but that's off topic here), but what I'm saying is that it is a very used medium in television and I feel like the writers copped out to make this friendship work using it, and being very unoriginal and uncreative because of it.

Whereas, they had the perfect setup to make a friendship between Quinn and Rachel work, that they seemed to be developing throughout the first half of the first season, and the added creativity and tension of resolving the line because of how Quinn used to bully Rachel herself (not to mention the Finn equation) and how because of it Quinn could now potentially see how she treated Rachel and see a kindred spirit there. They scrapped that and the potential of it and I hate the crap writing. Tell what makes more sense: Quinn relating to Rachel because of similar bullying being inflicted on them, or Quinn relating to Mercedes in regards to deal with racism? There was no buildup in the Quinn/Mercedes friendship, and I will not support it or poor quality writing.

Thank you for putting up with my rant (is sheepish)…