Howdy folks. I really intended to get this chapter done and posted much sooner than this, but as I'm sure everyone can understand the last month or so threw me for a bit of a loop and made writing a little more difficult than normal. That said, once I started back up it proved to be a pretty good coping mechanism. I can also think of no better way to honor Cory's life and work than to keep writing Finchel fics, so that's my plan for now.

Thanks to everyone who's still interested in this story despite its slow progress, and especially to Leo (wood-u-like-2-no) and Effy for reviewing and offering edits/eternal wisdom and assuring me that this is headed in a worthwhile direction.

Same disclaimers as usual.

"Hi Bob!" Rachel said the following morning when she arrived at the theater prior to the Wednesday matinee show.

"Hey there Miss B," the friendly security guard replied, barely looking up from his newspaper. Once he noticed Rachel lingering by his stool instead of passing through like he usually did, he put the paper down. "What can I do for ya?"

Rachel looked around to make sure no one would overhear her. "Is there a blogger who hangs around here sometimes?" she asked casually.

Bob wrinkled his brow. "Bushy hair and glasses? Named Jacob? Eager to get 'just a moment of the angelic Rachel Berry's time'?"

She nodded, eyes perking up at the confirmatory description.

"Mmm, no, never heard of him," Bob deadpanned, shaking his head.

Rachel rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. "Bob!"

The man chuckled. "Yeah, I know who you mean. He's here at least twice a week."

She grinned, biting her lip mischievously.

Bob raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is today his lucky day?" He laughed heartily this time. "I won't even ask. What do you need me to do?"

Rachel instructed the friendly security guard to look for Jacob after the matinee show and inform him that she would be available for an interview the following day at 3 PM. On her way out of the theater that night he confirmed that it had been arranged.

"Did he seem suspicious about getting an interview all of the sudden?" she asked, trying not to seem too anxious.

"Not at all," Bob assured her. "He got all starry-eyed and said something about how he'd always dreamed of the day when his years of patient dedication would pay off."

Rachel winced, then tried to do away with the moment of weakness by adding a flippant eye-roll. "Well, thanks for your help. See you tomorrow!"

She steeled herself as she headed out of the theater towards the subway, reminding herself that she was doing this to be proactive and take control of the situation. Surviving an interview with Jacob Ben Israel was a small price to pay for putting the ordeal behind her once and for all.

Or so she hoped.

She arrived at her dressing room a few minutes before he was scheduled to meet her there, giving herself time to mentally prepare. At precisely 3 PM, there was a knock on the door. She took a deep cleansing breath before approaching and answering the knock.

The man in front of her matched the description Finn always used and the photos Santana had taken; but in person his eyes were even more beady and his hair that much more unkempt-looking.

"Hello! You must be Jacob." She made sure to display a bright and inviting smile.

"I am. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance mon cherie," he answered, his attempt to sound suave failing miserably given his horrendous French pronunciation.

Meanwhile his expression was akin to that of a child in a candy store trying to suppress his overwhelming excitement.

"Please, come in," she offered, stepping back and closing the door behind him while he looked around.

Sitting on the small sofa, Rachel gestured for Jacob to take the armchair across from it. After settling in, he set up his voice recorder on the coffee table in between them.

"Testing 1 2, testing 1 2," Jacob said in the direction of the microphone, his voice serious and self-important as though he was attempting to launch a space shuttle.

Despite her urge to laugh, Rachel remained stoic while he played the test back before resuming recording.

"So, Rachel," he began, glancing briefly at the notepad perched on his lap, "I'm so happy to be visiting you here in your private dressing room prior to tonight's performance of Spring Awakening. How's the run going so far?"

"Thank you, I'm glad you could join me. Spring Awakening has been excellent from day one and I'm so appreciative of this opportunity."

"You certainly earned the role of Wendla after your spectacular performance as Anita in West Side Story." After very obviously laying it on thick with the compliment, he paused. "Now, without prying too much, I'd like to address some rumors around the Great White Way that you and your co-star Jesse St. James have a bit of an intimate relationship off-stage as well." There was a hint of salacious undertone to his remark as he tried to bait her with the piece of gossip.

"I'm not sure what the rumors entail, exactly, but Jesse and I do go back many years," she said calmly. "We went to the same high school and dated until college." Thankfully, after their break-up so many years ago she rehearsed this simplistic, canned response in front of her bathroom mirror, just in case the situation ever needed to be addressed.

"So, when you found out he would be starring opposite you in Spring Awakening, were you surprised? Shocked? Dismayed?" Jacob asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rachel offered a light chuckle in response. "I was mostly surprised because the last I'd heard from him he was in Hollywood pursuing roles in movies and TV. But once I learned that he would be playing Melchior I was happy to have him as a colleague. We've established a wonderful working relationship." She maintained her confident smile while answering, attempting to diffuse the situation with her body language as well as her words.

"There's one very intimate scene at the end of the first act. Is that awkward at all? Difficult to remain strictly professional?" Her interviewer continued to try to egg her on with rapid-fire compound questions, his eyebrows still raised with intrigue.

"After performing that scene day-in and day-out it becomes routine and almost... mechanical. So it's not hard to keep things professional," she answered matter-of-factly. "Jesse and I realize that it's a powerful scene and work towards conveying the discourse between the characters. It's certainly not an exchange between the two of us as individuals."

"I see," Jacob nodded, glancing down at his pad. "But is there anyone else who might find it unsettling? Say, someone in your personal life?"

Rachel was impressed that he managed to find a roundabout way to broach the subject of her relationship. "I am presently dating someone, if that's what you're asking. But he understands that it's part of the job description and not intimate at all." She silently thanked Barbra for the fact that she and Finn had indeed come to such an understanding after his initial trepidation.

Confronted with a dead-end to his desired line of questioning about her personal life, Jacob looked back down at his notepad, then up at Rachel with a nervous grin... and then at his notepad again. She had wondered if he would let on that he knew Finn from high school, but he couldn't very well do so if she didn't mention his name and closed off any further inquiries on the topic.

Clearing his throat, Jacob looked up from his notes, the glint of curiosity in his eyes. "Since this is our first meeting, I'd like to go back to the very beginning. What first inspired you to pursue a career on Broadway?"

Pleased that he was changing the subject to a more relevant, innocuous topic, Rachel grinned easily. "Oh, well I was raised by my two dads, who met through their love of musical theater and instilled in me a profound love of performing," she began. At this point she had done a few other interviews asking about her background and could give that information as a canned speech (another one she might have rehearsed in front of the mirror at one time or another), but she always made a point to elaborate off the cuff so that her response came off as genuine. As much as she wanted to give Jacob a bare-minimum interview and get him the hell away from her dressing room, it was in the interest of her mission that she went on in detail about as many positive facts as she could.

Nonetheless, she remained wary that he could deflect the conversation back to more controversial topics at any moment. She was careful to surreptitiously study his expression while she regaled him with tales of her youth. His eye perked up and grin widened at the description of her fathers singing around the piano every night, exposing her to old movie musicals and staged performances of Broadway classics, and eventually encouraging her participation in dance classes, singing competitions, and theatrical productions.

As she spoke, something that could only be described as reluctant delight crossed Jacob's face. "My Nana was the same way, always playing her piano and singing and watching old musicals with me," he said wistfully. "She always wanted me to perform in some way but my asthma and chronic allergies made it difficult for me to sing. Just the idea of being on stage made me so nervous I was prone to hyperventilation."

"Well, it's wonderful that you're involved in Broadway, through your blog," she offered with encouragement. "These days the websites promoting the theater community are essential to the popularity of the shows themselves."

Jacob grinned, seemingly elated that his work was getting what he felt to be its due recognition. "I'm also a copywriter for Playbill," he added with a confident cock of his head, clearly trying to impress her further.

"See! I'm sure your Nana would be very proud." Rachel continued with the compliments, figuring it couldn't hurt her cause. "Theater wouldn't function without its technical and production aspects. It's a shame that performers get such a disproportionate amount of attention when everyone works so hard." At the very least, he couldn't write about her being a spoiled, unappreciative diva.

"How humble and complimentary coming from such a fine young ingénue as yourself."

As much as Rachel wasn't thrilled about Jacob fawning over her, he wasn't as overtly creepy as she'd been led to believe. She was getting the sense that he wasn't a bad guy, but simply... misunderstood.

"So, back to you. With your parents' support, you skyrocketed to fame on the local community theater circuit?" he went on. "Snagged all the lead roles in the high school plays before taking off for New York and never looking back?"

"Not exactly," Rachel chuckled at the insinuation that it had all been so easy. "I was fortunate to attend a high school that valued performing arts and allowed me to compete with other talented students for roles and recognition. Going in, I had assumed that I would easily rise to the top, but I had to earn my keep just like everybody else. That included being knocked down a peg or two by upperclassmen who thought I was too ambitious for my own good and not willing to work cooperatively with others."

Jacob nodded in understanding. "Certainly that prepared you for the more competitive collegiate environment, though."

"Oh, Tisch was even more overwhelming since my classmates were mostly East Coast-ers who had exposure to what they considered more 'serious' theater companies." She smirked. "I'm sure everyone there assumed I was from some Midwestern cow-town with one traffic light; a few even told me as much. It was another uphill battle of working to prove myself, but dedicating myself to overcoming those challenges has made me who I am today."

"And that hard work has certainly paid off, it seems," Jacob said, genuinely, before asking about her first audition experiences and early roles. Discussing those trials and helped to put her prior answers into context with her current position.

"So, now that you've graduated from major-supporting role to leading lady, many observers predict that the sky is the limit for Rachel Berry. What do you hope to achieve as your career continues?" Jacob asked eagerly.

"I'm very much enjoying my role as Wendla and the attention that the show has received. If and when they come along down the road, I'd definitely like to tackle whatever challenging projects I can get involved in and achieve the ultimate dream of winning a Tony."

She paused momentarily, before continuing as if on auto-pilot.

"It would be extremely gratifying to prove the adage that 'it's not where you start, it's where you finish,' but I don't necessarily expect things to be easy from here on out. It's an unfortunate reality that in this business people try to elevate their own status or gratify their own egos by bringing others down, stringing someone along for as long as their selfish purposes demand it. The only way to get through it is to stay true to yourself and remember that you're better than anyone attempting to use such shortcuts to get ahead."

Thankfully she was able to keep her narrative generic, even though she had one particular person in mind. It felt oddly therapeutic to share those thoughts, and she hoped that the honesty had made enough of an impression on Jacob to distract him from the salacious material he was supposed to include in his article.

As much as she didn't necessarily want to end the interview on such a heavy note, a glance at her watch revealed that she needed to excuse herself and start getting ready for the evening's performance.

"We should do this again sometime," Jacob said as she showed him to the door. "Here's my card." He flicked it out towards her with two fingers in a (failed) attempt to be suave.

"Uh, of course," Rachel offered, determined to remain in his good graces. "I'm so glad we could sit down and talk about everything."

"Au revoir, mon cheri," he said awkwardly as he stepped out into the hallway.

"Bye, Jacob."

She closed the door and exhaled, glad the experience was over with. Taking a quick moment to check her phone, she saw she had a text from Finn.

{Hope the interview is going well. Sure you're doing great. Break a leg tonight.}

Her lips turned up in a smile automatically at seeing his kind words of support, especially considering his initial disagreement with her decision to grant Jacob the interview.

Slipping her phone back into her purse, she stepped out of her dressing room. She was about to make her way down the hall to the cast buffet area for her customary salad when she heard voices coming from Jesse's dressing room.

"What do you mean she granted you an exclusive interview?!" her co-star was saying.

"I, uh, she..." Rachel heard Jacob stammering as she surreptitiously approached the closed door. "The other day the security guard told me that she was sorry for not being available during the other times I asked for an interview and invited me to meet with her today," the reporter said hurriedly, in a tone that indicated he was cowering in fear.

Rachel felt almost paralyzed by her own trepidation. What if her efforts were all for naught now that Jesse had intercepted Jacob? She had assumed that the blogger would escape the theater undetected since at this time her colleague was usually immersed in a secretive pre-performance meditation ritual that he insisted left him "centered" and ready for a show.

She resolved to remain calm and continue listening in on the conversation going on the dressing room.

"Well, okay..." she heard Jesse say, his voice evening out a bit. "So, what did you get out of her? Anything good we can use for the article?"

"Oh, we talked about everything – her inspiration for her career, overcoming initial obstacles, her earlier roles, Spring Awakening..."

"But nothing about her relationship with Hudson? And his raging jealousy about her working with me?"

"No," Jacob began cautiously, "in fact she said that he understands the professional nature of the sex scene and that it isn't intimate or anything."

"Okay, well..." She heard footsteps and imagined that Jesse was pacing back and forth. "You'll have to be vague, but you can still write about his past relationship troubles and the fact that he can be a loose cannon when it comes to—"

"No!" Rachel stiffened, surprised by Jacob's defiance.

"Pardon?!"

"Unlike you, I believe in preserving the integrity in what I do. Rachel gave me a wonderfully comprehensive interview about her background, her initial struggles, and her career aspirations, and that's what I'm going to write about for my site."

"You insipid little twit! You think I don't know that you only agreed to get involved here so you could try to woo Rachel once she was single again? What happened to that part of your plan, huh?"

She craned her head a little closer to the door, eager to hear what Jacob had to say in response.

"Maybe that was my intent at first," he conceded. "But all I've ever wanted out of my website is to interview young Broadway stars and promote their projects. Having talked with Rachel... she doesn't deserve to have her name dragged through the mud and her career jeopardized all at the same time."

"So you're suddenly fine with her being with that oaf Hudson?"

There was a pause, and Rachel held her breath in anticipation.

"We may have had our differences in high school, but I can't change that now," Jacob said firmly. "And it doesn't seem right to exploit my knowledge of his past for my own personal gain, or to help a sleazebag like you."

Rachel was struck by the fact that the reporter had taken her words so closely to heart, as well as his growing confidence as he and Jesse conversed.

"What if I double the money?!" Panic laced Jesse's voice as he obviously felt his plan crumbling before his eyes.

"I was never in it for the money," Jacob scoffed. "And here's an idea: You're lucky you even have the opportunity to work with someone as talented as Rachel Berry. Maybe you should take advantage of that and try to improve your performance legitimately, instead of creating a scandal out of her personal life for your own benefit."

Sensing that the dig was Jacob's final point on the matter, Rachel quietly but hurriedly retreated to her dressing room and pressed her back against the closed door, her heart racing as she tried to reconcile the consequences of what she'd heard.

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