Hitting the books

Rachel Berry hummed as she sank into the couch. It was nice to have a little time to herself. Jesse was at his show; Book of Mormon, tonight and both kids were in bed. As she sipped on her glass of wine, her gazed wandered to the mantle. Pictures of her and Jesse's lives separately were there as well as their lives together. Her eyes flickered from picture to picture of her family. She stopped at a picture of Alexander. He had to be at least 7 months in this particular shot.

She had come home to find Alexander sitting on the floor, her Tony clutched in his hand. As he watched Jesse who stood across from him practicing a complicated dance step. She had stood in the entryway for a few minutes watching her son pick the award up and giggle as he let it fall to the floor.

"Hi boys." Jesse turned with a smile. Zander on the other hand had continued to play with his new toy. "Zander." She had cooed. He had looked up and grinned as he shoved the award into his mouth. Jesse had laughed forever, telling her that her shriek had scared several other occupants of the building. For good solid couple months after that, her Tony had been her baby boy's favorite toy, often sitting and chewing on it thoughtfully.

Rachel rapidly blinked against the tears that had gathered in her eyes. Alexander was no longer a baby, he was four and starting preschool tomorrow. Suddenly she heard a loud crash from Alexander's room. She bolted upright and moved quickly to his room. Pulling open the door she saw Zander jump from his bed on to a stack of books. Her eyes widened as he picked himself up and began to restack them.

"Zander." The little boy jumped and flashed her a grin she was well accustomed with. Considering it was identical to Jesse's.

"Hi." He replied sheepishly. Rachel walked to the room fully and began to gather the books and put them back on their respective shelves. When all the books had been put back she turned and scooped Alexander into her arms. She sat on the bed as she looked at him.

"What were you doing Zander?" He looked at her and played with the star necklace Jesse had gotten her.

"Well…." Rachel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Aunt Elizabeth told me to be smart I had to hit the books. And I thought that if hitting the books made you smart, jumping on them made you really really really smart!" A grinned tug on the corners of her mouth.

"Really now?" He nodded. As she tucked him back into bed she said.

"I don't think Aunt Elizabeth meant it like that." She kissed his forehead as Alexander snuggled into his blankets. As she reached the door Alexander spoke.

"Momma? What does hitting the books mean?"