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goldstarlet,
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Jesse St. James

Rachel Berry

WHERE New York City, NY • Broadhurst Theater
Some kind of Into the Woods related shenanigans. WARNINGS None

The theater was bustling with excitement and last minute arrangements that needed to be made before curtain call. There were technical issues to correct, costumes that needed last minute adjustments, and an entire cast of actors that needed to prepare for showtime. While theater had the added benefit of repeat performances that could be adjusted as needed, the first show was often the one that drew in reporters and critics to review and critique. It tended to add an extra layer of urgency to making sure everything was as perfect as it could be. Then in the days and weeks that followed, everyone would settle into a well established and comfortable pattern.

For Rachel, the preshow chaos was something she was used to. What she really treasured though, was the quiet moments alone in her dressing room before a performance. It was a sacred time and as with every opening night, she treated it with care. She and Jesse were sharing a dressing room for the duration of the show, but he’d gone off a little bit ago to speak to the director. It gave her the time she needed to think, process, and imprint the moment and everything that had led up to it, into her mind.

When Jesse had been approached by a good friend and colleague, someone who had helped him with Jane Austen, about it being too long since Broadway had seen a run of the famous Sondheim musical: Into the Woods, he’d eagerly agreed. Though he’d always been a fan of Jack, he’d readily accepted the role of the Baker, under one stipulation; Rachel would be cast as his wife. Her credibility, having won a Tony the previous year made her desirable, and she was more than willing to take on such a challenging and well loved role. It had been awhile since she and Jesse had been on stage together and they always worked off the other flawlessly, making them perfect for any romantic lead.

She was excited to work off her husband again, and the show came at a much needed time. The last year had been spent mostly fulfilling the role of a dutiful surrogate to two of her best friends as well as recovering from the pregnancy. For the most part she was grateful for the opportunity, but it had not come without its challenges. For one, Rachel had not expected how attached she could grow to a life that was not in any way her own. By Jesse’s encouragement and well thought out arguments, she’d agreed it was best that they use a donor egg. Despite that, after the baby was born, her body had been flooded by hormones that only knew it was supposed to be caring for a child. It had left her with an ache she couldn’t understand and emotions that had been difficult to navigate.

Despite all the joy in her life, and how happy she was for Kurt and Blaine, it had been a struggle. Not even the reassurance that they could try for a child of their own soon had been enough to soothe the ache of what her body saw as a loss. It had felt raw every time the baby would seek to nurse or calm only to Jesse’s singing. It made a certain amount of sense. She and her husband had handled all the highs and lows of her pregnancy and its more intimate details together. When she was uncomfortable and the baby was keeping her awake, Jesse would sing to her stomach. It was no wonder by the time she was ready to pop, he was raring for her to carry theirs.

Between hormones and the perceived physical loss, her role in the baby’s life and her best friends lives had been complicated. Not unpleasant, just complicated. A month-long vacation in a small villa in Europe with just her husband had proven to give her the distance she needed to recover. By the time she returned the breast milk had finally dried up, her figure was returning and she was eager to get back to her work while her body fully recovered and she and Jesse could start trying for their own.

The whole situation allowed her to bring an authenticity to the role of the Baker’s Wife that pre-show reviews had called alluring and believable”. Though perhaps ready to start her life as a real mother, the show and everything it entailed had proven to be everything she needed to move forward. It wasn’t always easy, but her hormones were under control, her sex life was back on track and things were really good.

Sitting in front of the mirror, she puts a couple more pins into the wig and smooths her hands over her head to make sure it’s completely in place. She glances over at the clock, and her heart skips a beat, not too long now. They’d been doing dress rehearsals for a week now, but there was nothing like performing in front of a live audience. Glancing at the photos on the vanity, an old picture from Glee Club, a favorite picture of she and Jesse, and pictures of both of them with their Tony awards, she feels a calm wash over her. She was really doing well, and with her hair and make up done, and her costume on, it was only a matter of waiting until showtime.

CODING

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Rachel can tell that they have a full house, and knowing that part of that reason is because people want to see the Tony award winning St. James couple. It does wonders for her ego. It's a far cry from performing at McKinley to an empty audience and feeling under-appreciated. Jesse had never had that problem with Vocal Adrenaline, but it hadn't really been until senior year and the performance of "West Side Story" that she'd actually really gotten a taste of true audience engagement.

The audience is engaged from the start, and whatever hint of stage fright she'd had before the curtain rose is gone. She feels comfortable, like she belongs there, and she knows she does. So she gives them the performance she knows they had paid top dollar for, drawing up from her own vast emotional experiences to bring the Baker's Wife to life. She pays some homage to its original actress, but she makes it her own as well.

It's easy to act in love with the Baker, since she is in love with his actor, and she enjoys every natural touch of a doting or protective husband. The laughter from the audience as they playfully try to figure out how to stop Red from taking everything they've worked hard to bake echoes around the theater. Then as the Witch comes on, the audience goes wild with appreciation. Far less appreciative are their characters and she reaches out to Jesse for protection as the Witch makes threats, and he holds her as she cries out in agony at the realization that they've been cursed. Her eyes are filled with something, that's a little too real, but perfect for the scene.

Rachel shuts it off as quickly when it's an emotion that's no longer needed, as her character focuses on the new goal of retrieving objects from the woods to break the curse. The humor returns quickly, as she and Jesse bicker over whose house it is. There is more depth to that too, because she's had so many arguments with him over silly things, and she's forever reminding him to do something with a roll of her eyes. A roll of her eyes that kept putting him into fits of laughter during the first days of rehearsals, which had only irritated her more.

"You don't remember?" She sighs heavily. "The cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold!" He takes over the lyrics and she throws her hands up in the air, giving a stubborn glare, before walking to the other side of the stage as choreographed to finished up the rest of the choral part of the song. The number wraps in a big group chorus before everyone pauses and the stage goes dark. Then it's just a quiet exit of the larger cast, herself included, to the backstage.

While Jesse had had a hard time during rehearsal controlling his giggles as Rachel had lectured him, he managed to pull out the perfect amount of annoyance for the performance. People clearly found the exhausted sighs and the huffs relatable, given the way they reacted to the interactions between he and Rachel on stage. The laughter was good to hear and it meant that they were headed on the right path. With an equally talented cast to play off of, the interactions with the Witch went just as humorously, and by the time they ended up backstage while Cinderella’s scene began, he was having to stifle his own chuckles over it all.

“Seems like people are really enjoying themselves,” he muttered to her after he’d shut off his mic. They had a few scenes to sit backstage during, the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood the ones who had to worry about not missing their cues next. He gave her a grin. “You’re as amazing as always,” he complimented her, reaching up to gently smooth a few stray hairs from the wig. “I bet the reviews from this are going to be just as strong as the ones from previews were.”

He leaned over to watch Red Riding Hood skip on stage, before going to do the few things he needed to before he was back on stage. Some water for his throat, a quick wipe of sweat away from his skin (he hated how sweaty he got, he’ll forever be envious of everyone who somehow manages to not dump out their body weight in water every night on stage) and before he knew it, the wolf was howling and it was his turn to run to the edge of the stage.

Anyone who had known the more dramatic side of Jesse would likely have never really guessed his natural inclination for humor. It was clear he had it in him the moment that the Witch snuck up behind him to yell for him to get the cape and Jesse let out a small, high-pitched scream in reaction. The two bickered about the cape before she ran off on the cue of Rapunzel’s singing and he lets out a low, tired sigh as he starts to pace.

“This is ridiculous! I'll never get that red cape! Or find a golden cow or a yellow slipper. Or... was it a golden slipper... and a yellow cow? Oh no... I...”

The scenes backstage never felt like that much of a break, especially not with the characters they were playing and how often they had to be on stage. Still, it was always nice to get a drink of water, or adjust, or just breathe. Or in Jesse's case, apparently remind her that she was wonderful, as always. "You too," she whispered. "I hope you're right about those reviews, but the reaction so far is what we want. The energy is there."

It wasn't long after he went onto the stage that it was her time to join him again. She draws up all the exhaustion of a wife whose husband has once again forgot something she'd told him, but isn't letting her help. But she pushes out on stage, ready to force him to accept her help. "The cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold...."

He turns to her in surprise and asks her what she's doing there, before she promptly, and extremely innocently, offers him out his scarf, because of course that was why she was following him. So begins another banter of him telling her that it's on his house and her trying to beg him to let her help by reminding him that the spell in on their house. She's slow and carefully with her words, first begging, but growing more annoyed until she sees Jack pulling the cow onto stage and she quickly slaps her hand over Jesse's mouth, and tilts his head. "The cow as white as..." he joins her on the final word; milk.

Somehow the way that Rachel covers his mouth and forces him to turn his head is that much funnier with him being so much taller than her. It’s not nearly as easy and it sold her being the one in charge of the relationship a bit more solidly, if you’d asked his opinion on it. The director had agreed and it was clear the audience found it humorous given the chuckles that immediately followed the action, even before they spoke in sync.

He clears his throat as he approaches Jack, twisting his hat in his hands nervously. Greeting him and, with a little prompting from his wife, managing to get to the point of the matter, which was how much he wanted to sell his cow for. “Five pounds?” The words come out high pitched with disbelief, before he turns back to wards Rachel, hissing out, “Where am I going to get five pounds?” He digs into his pocket, pulling out the imaginary beans as Rachel talks to Jack, going through her lines, and he rubs his forehead as she comes back, before letting out a very tired laugh and informs her that all he has are beans. Rachel’s particularly good at going from distress to overly dramatic as she tries to pretend they can’t part with their magic beans, and Jesse gives her a look of irritation that he’s clearly done a thousand times when she forces him to join in on the lie by trying to define the magic.

Eventually, they’re given the cow, and Jack’s performance as he sings goodbye to his friend is actually fairly heart wrenching, even with the humor played in near the end. Jesse closes his eyes once he’s left the stage, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a long sigh. “Quickly, take the cow and go home.” He scoffs as she mentions being helpful, shaking his head and pointing in the direction Jack left the stage. “Magic beans?! We’ve no reason to believe they’re magic! Are we to dispel this curse through deceit?!”

One of the things that Rachel loves about Jesse's acting is the way he can turn off that arrogance, which to be fair in some ways was always an act, and showcase the Baker with his compassion. Meanwhile, Rachel draws from understanding that when you want something there are certain costs and sometimes they come at the expense of others. For better or worse, she had certainly stepped on some toes before to get what she wanted.

"If you know what you want, then you go and your find it and you take it." The desperation of wanting a child, and knowing that sacrifices must be made to get that, ring strong as she combines the Baker's wife desire to have a child and the excuses it takes to resign herself to do whatever it takes to get that child, comes through as she belts out the words. Jesse points off stage ordering her home, but she ignores it and rushes forward to take his hands, focusing the next words specifically at him. "Do we want a child or not?"

Immediately she releases him and turns to the audience, continuing. "And you give and you take, and you bid and you bargain." Rachel has always sung with her entire body and she reaches out with one hand in an offer to the audience, before pulling it back in, and turning partially towards her husband. "Or you live to regret it!" The hint of fear she adds to those words, makes clear the desperation she feels.

Justifying her actions to herself, at least, is a well rehearsed action of hers. It's not hard to draw from the countless times she's done it, despite that it seems to always bite her in the ass. "There are rights and wrongs and in-betweens - no one waits when fortune intervenes!" Despite that she knows Jesse believes most of this is true, he does a good job playing the role of concerned partner as he bends down to check on the cow in concern. "And maybe their really magic! Who knows!? Why you do what you do, that's the point, all the rest of it is chatter!"

As Jesse tells her in a guilt stricken voice that the cow is crying Rachel hears the audience laugh. But at this point the Baker's wife is resigned and the guilt is gone from her voice. She wants the baby and if that means lying to get an old cow to have one, well than she'll be damned if she lets the lie stop them.

She bends over to place a hand under Jesse's chin to get him to listen to her again and reassure him that they are doing the right thing, never losing the beat of the song. "If the thing you do is -pure- in intent, if it's just a little bent, does it matter?"

"YES!" He pulls his head back from her hold and Rachel looks at him with an annoyance that quickly fades as she stands up to strongly belt out, "NO!"

She stands up again, what guilt she had felt is gone as if she's convinced herself what she's done is right, and she's solid in her convictions as she sings both to Jesse and the audience. "No, what really matters is that everyone tells tiny lies, what's important really is the size! She holds up her hand when he starts to interject, done with trying to be told otherwise. She holds up three fingers to him. "Only three more tries and we'll have our prize."

She places her hands on her belly for emphasis, and the desire in her own heart to have her own belly filled with his child, gives a strength to her words that has the audience on the edge of their seats. "When the ends in sight you'll realize, if the end is right, it justifies...", Rachel takes a deep breath to hit the high note of the last word, drawing it out for emphasis, power, and depth, "the beans....!" She has a voice that's powerful and can go even higher than the original actress and she utilizes that, and clearly it's a big hit, because when she sharply cuts off the note at the end the audience erupts in cheers and applause. The look of joy on her face isn't even acting at that point.

An elongated moment is taken as the audience begins to calm. Jesse holds off on his line, giving her that moment, and finally when it's quiet enough, he tells her to take the cow and just go home. The Baker is not as impressed as she's sure Jesse is. She lets her shoulders fall from the emotional distance between the two characters, but she nods and goes to take the cow off stage, stopping to give her husband one last look as he heads off stage, before she exits herself.

Then overwhelmed and thrilled by the response she'd gotten, she makes her way around back to meet up with Jesse. By the time she gets to him she's practically jumping up and down she's so excited by the audience reaction.

Jesse constantly was in awe of Rachel’s talent and watching as she belts out her final note is no different. It takes a great deal of strength to watch her with agitation instead of admiration as the audience cheers, continuing to carry on his tired annoyance while she beams in the aftermath of her solo. Watching her sing always filled him with such a pure, raw love that he had often been overwhelmed by it. It was hard to not to have it come through in his acting. When the audience finally calms, he directs for her to go home, before exiting in the opposite direction of the stage on his own cue.

He wraps his arms tightly around her when she gets to him, knowing he didn’t have a very long time before the Witch, the Prince, and Rapunzel would be done their short scene and he’d be expected back on the stage. He puts all the love and pride he feels for into the hug, burying his face against her neck and breathing in deeply. “I think that was your best delivery yet,” he mutters as he pulls back. He doesn’t get much more of a chance to delve into compliments before he hears Rapunzel’s Prince boom out his line in his deep bass voice and he gives her a quick kiss before he’s rushing on stage after Little Red Riding Hood.

“Hello there, little one,” he gets out in an awkward and totally not creepy voice. Was there a way to greet a random girl in the woods without sounding a little weird? He’s not sure there is. Jesse goes back and forth with the girl about her cloak, letting his fingers trail over the edges as he admires it, before the witch’s voice booms across the stage like it’s echoing in his head. Forget the little girl and get the cape! He snatches it off her shoulders, dashing off the stage quickly before Red Riding Hood starts to scream and stomp her feet, sobbing over her lost cape, and he comes running in from off stage just as quickly as he’d left, throwing the cape back around her shoulders, and pausing as the audience laughs.

“Shhhh, there, there. I uh... I just wanted to make sure you, uh, really loved this cape! Now, you, uh—you go to your Granny’s, haha, and be careful no wolf comes your way!” He pats her back awkwardly before Red stomps on his feet, insulting him before she runs away as he hops up and down like he’s trying to make his toe stop hurting. He gives a small growl of frustration as he tosses his hat on the ground.

“If you know what you need then you go and you find it and you take it.” He sighs, rubbing his forehead, as he speaks; “Do I want a child or not?” in frustration, drawing on his own desires for a child to emphasize the struggle and pain that the Baker is feeling in that moment when he has to choose between hurting the feelings of a girl who he’s helped in the past over his own future family. He scoffs, rolling his eyes as he strengthens his resolve. “It's a cloak, what's a cloak? It's a joke. It's a stupid little cloak. And a cloak is what you make it.” He bends down to pick up his hat, gripping it tightly in his fist. “So you take it. Things are only what you need them for. What's important is who needs them more!” He gives a nod to assure himself, before he goes to run off stage after Red Riding Hood.

He has enough time to give Rachel another grin as he grabs some water, wishing he could dump it over his head instead of just drink it at the moment. Even if it was made of linen, with the jacket and the hat, it was hard not to feel hot on the stage in al the layers. It’s only a minute or so before the Narrator’s lines cue him back on stage and he comes running up to the cottage, leaning in to listen to the snoring wolf inside. “That Grandmother has a mighty snore,” he says with an impressed tone. “Odd.” But no matter. “Now where is the little one?” He snorts. “Eating no doubt...” And as the belch echoes through the theater, he freezes, turning back towards the cabin and placing a hand on his head. “Or eaten!” He digs the knife out of its sheath, running in and announcing the sign of the red cape before he goes to cut the child and grandmother out of the wolf’s belly. He steps aside as they yell and threaten, and when the Granny starts to talk about filling him with stones, he gags and starts to try and walk away.

“I’ll just... leave you to your task.”

“No, no, no! Wait, wait! Don’t you want the skins?!” The Granny asks as she grabs his arm.

He lets out an awkward laugh, trying to pull free. “Oh... No... Please, keep them!”

“What kind of hunter are you?!”

He yelps as she tightens her grip on his arm and starts to drag him back inside the cottage, loudly objecting; “I’m a baker!” He waits behind the cabin with Granny as Red goes through her own revelation, the two of them shutting off their mics as they quietly chuckle over the whole scene. He switches his mic back on as he comes stumbling out of the cabin, doubling over for a moment like he might get sick, resting his hands on his knees, and only looking up when he hears her shout, “Oh, mister Baker!”

As she hands over the hood, Jesse’s face turns struck with awe and uncertainty, emotion filling his features as he holds it delicately in his hands. “Are you certain...?” Her confirmation that she is makes him swell with joy and he holds it close to his chest. “Oh, thank you. Thank you!” He quickly leans in to kiss her cheek, hugging her tightly, before he goes to run off with his newly claimed prize and to the backstage.

What the audience often didn't know was that the flow of the backstage was often as rehearsed as what was going on stage. Actors had to be in certain places at certain times to make sure they could smoothly transition past each other as one scene ended and the next began. That was especially true with a cast like the one needed for Into the Woods, where the characters were constantly coming and going. It was less rigid, but when Rachel watched Jesse from backstage, she had to make sure she allowed plenty of room for the necessary actors to get by.

Both Rachel and Jesse played characters that were almost continually on stage, so they had to be ready to go almost as soon as they got off. She still appreciates that she can use that excuse to watch him and enjoy his performance, as well as the fact that she can get a quick kiss between takes if he's feeling so inclined. Other actors often noted that the two of them seemed to be tethered in one way or another, and they looked for excuses to touch in any small way.

She particularly loved the scene with the Grandmother and Little Red for its humor. She's also been quite impressed with the teen who was playing the role tonight, and she can see a strong future for her. She's the stronger of the actresses playing the part, but that was why she was chosen for opening night. Same with the Jack. Tom, the director had chosen to go with casting more than one for the part so that he could use an overall younger cast for his vision of the play.

She nearly laughs at the way the girl responds to Jesse, acting disgusted, when in fact she was completely attached to him backstage and during rehearsals. Jesse just had a way with kids, she'd come to see. It's a funny contrast when she knows that Carrie has no issue with hugs or cheek kisses from him.

Soon enough it's back on stage for her scene with Cinderella, who was played by a woman her own age, Audrey. Audrey had been in Jesse's play Jane Austen Sings and they'd become great friends, so they work perfectly off each other as Rachel goes to help her from the fall. They sit on the set together, Rachel pulling out the hints of envy over the dress and the ball, and the prince. They flawlessly transition from song to speaking throughout their scene. Then in a moment of desperation and dramatics, Rachel realizes that the shoe is made of gold and she has to have it. But Audrey is already focused on other things and rambling on about beanstalks.

"I need your shoe!" She calls out after Audrey as she dashes off needing to return home as midnight begins to strike. She goes to chase after her, but at the point the cow moos and starts to wander off and it becomes a choice of which to go after, but she chooses the cow desperately calling for it to come back, as she moves off the opposite side of the stage.

The scene transitions quickly into the actors giving moral lessons on what they've learned through the course of one day, as they perform One Midnight Gone. Her own defeat is shown as she comes back from chasing the cow, having given up the chase. "You may know what you need, But to get what you want, Better see that you keep what you have." The group wraps up the scene with another chorus of Into the Woods, which she harmonizes on. Then they are all quickly off stage so that the boy playing Jack can sing, Giants, In The Sky, which she knows Jesse has a love/hate relationship with, and as she catches his eye backstage she gives him a humored smile.

Even if the brief moments backstage only allowed for him to quickly squeeze her hand as she passed, Jesse would always take it. Ever since they were teenagers, he'd always felt the need to be in constant contact with her. He wasn't sure what it was about, but it was like they had a gravitational pull to one another that neither had ever been able to resist. Something as simple as walking down the street usually had his arm around her or her hand in his pocket and he remembers sitting in the choir room with her fingers gently rubbing his thigh. It had been extremely hard to concentrate, but he wouldn't have pulled away if someone had paid him.

He kept himself out of the way as watched Rachel's performance with Cinderella. She and Audrey had been an amazing duo when he'd directed them as well and it's impossible to take his eyes off of either of them as they go back and forth through their scene. He manages to stifle his chuckles as Rachel shouts for her shoe and goes to run after her, and then he's running out on stage, repeating the song's title, "One midnight gone..." each time his character is in the forefront.

As they rush off stage in time for Jack's solo, Jesse's jaw clenches slightly as he watches the boy belt out the notes he had always dreamed of getting to do in front of an audience. Much as he'd desperately wanted to talk Tom into letting him play Jack after all, he was willing to admit defeat in being too old for the part, particularly when they could cast such talented youth and make the Baker and his wife a more relatable set by placing them in the age most were starting to have children. He rolls his eyes when he sees Rachel's smile, though the amusement is pretty clear on his face to anyone who knew him well enough. Most of his jealousy these days is just for show and he's relatively sure the Baker actually shows more of his talent than Jack ever would have. If only he'd thought of that when he'd auditioned for NYADA all those years ago.

As the boy finished, Jesse walked back on stage, and the two began to bicker back and forth about whether or not he'd really meant it when he said he could buy back his cow. He feels the bag of coins thrust into his hands, and then Jack is running off for more money, as Jesse shouts after him; "Oh no, no, no! Wait! Wait! I didn't say that I would..." He trails off, staring at the bag in his hands, before he gives a little dance of victory, tossing the coins into the air and catching them again with a grin.

Jesse had never been poor, but he certainly knew what it was like to daydream about something you've always wanted but only just now realistically thought you could have. It makes it easy to relate in the moment, even more so when the mysterious man jumps in to try and take it away. While the Baker may not know yet, the knowledge that it's his father running up and taking the five gold pieces away is something that Jesse has had an easy enough time playing up. His parents had often praised his successes, but there were also plenty of times that they had decided something Jesse loved wasn't worthwhile or wasn't what he needed to make it to his ultimately goals, and so they'd snatched it away from him quickly so he would keep his eye on the prize. It had always been hard to go through and the disappointment and anger is easily pulled up on his face as he watched the man run off, and he quickly goes to take it out on Rachel as she walks onto stage, as he had many times before with his own misplaced anger in their relationship.

"What are you doing here now?" he snaps, but he relaxes as she points out his successes in getting the cape. Grinning, he holds it up victoriously. "Yes! Yes, I've the cape! I've only two items left to locate!"

"Three."

"Two! I've the cow and the cape!" He continues to beam, even as Rachel delivers her line flawlessly saying he only has the cape. He holds it for a moment as the audience laughs before he deflates and looks at her accusingly. "What have you done with the cow?"

"She ran away," Rachels all but sobs out, "I have been looking for her all night."

The exhaustion that both the Baker and his wife must have felt by then was easily touched on. There had been so many arguments that she and Jesse had had when they were both exhausted from endless hours of rehearsals and performances. As much as they loved the theater and the work they did, it could easily become grueling. When it took over every aspect of their lives and they were tired and especially when it got in the way of making love, they often were reduced to petty arguments that left hurt feelings.

The bickering that ensues after he tells her that he never should have entrusted the cow to her isn't dramatized certainly, but for the audience it's a small window into the relationship she shares with Jesse. Rachel drew from a more recent argument the defensiveness she'd felt and utilizes it for the rising banter as they waste precious time fighting over something rather than solving the problem.

Still, when the booming voice of the woman playing the Witch rings out. "Whooooo caaaares! The cow is goooooone, get it back!"

Rachel immediately hurries to the protective comfort of her husband. It's just as it should be. The two characters love each other so much that as soon as there is a bigger issue, they need the other for safety. It shows that their love is stronger than the exhaustion and the fight.

Edited 2021-03-17 01:06 (UTC)

Jesse is quick to put himself in front of Rachel as she hurries behind him, both turned towards the balcony as the Witch makes her entrance. Despite the nerves he shows in his speech, he is sure to keep his body strong and still, showing the loving nature that the Baker was always meant to have for his wife. No matter how deeply they may have argued, he would do anything to keep her safe, even at the cost of his own well being. It was an easy emotion to capture for him.

Stammering out apologies, he offers the cape up to placate her, only for the witch to magically toss it away before she can touch it, yelling at him for his ignorance. Her voice changes as Rapunzel sings and she coos about her to one of the audience members before she turns back on them telling them to get the cow back and deliver the items by the third minute. The magic she tosses at them is meant to hit low and Jesse doubles over, giving out a low groan of pain to emphasize it. He waits a moment after she leaves, before he gets out in a breathy, rough voice that only someone who has absolutely been kicked in the balls would be able to nail;

"I don't like that woman."

Clinging to her own belly from the pain that's been inflicted by the Witch, Rachel has her character recover quickly to check on Jesse. She moves around to the front of him and kneels down in front of him. She looks at him sadly, "I'm sorry I lost the cow."

When Jesse looks up to her as rehearsed they hold the moment, before he swallows and nods. "Yes, yes...I shouldn't have yelled." He recovers and stands up, offering her a hand and she takes it. Then she brushes off her dress, delaying the moment in hopes that he'll change his mind and let her go with him. Of course, he doesn't.

"Please let me stay," she begs, wanting to help him, and certainly not wanting to be separated for any longer in woods. She drops her hopeful look when he asks he to return to the forest. "But..." She stands at the edge of the stage on the freshly put down tape marker.

Rather than frustration or anger, it’s worry that Jesse let’s come through in his tone when he asks her to go. And it continues to be worry as he states, “Quickly. Please.” While they’d been arguing before, Jesse liked to believe that the Baker became more concerned for his wife’s safety as the nights wore on. The wolf having eaten the Grandmother and Riding Hood, the Mysterious Man stealing from him, the Witch popping up to threaten them at a drop of a hat... It was that which drove him to beg her to go home, not a lack of belief in her being able to help. He’d said it from the start. The woods were too dangerous. He had to go at it alone.

“I will make things right!” He desperately calls it out to her before she can leave. He hesitates, swallowing, shifting slightly in place as he looks at the ground. The guilt of his father having done something to curse the family must have been a hell of a burden to bear, to feel as though it was his fault that his family couldn’t grow. He gives a small smile, a hopeful one, as he keeps his eyes on the ground for the moment. “And then, we can just go about our lives. No more hunting in the woods for strange objects!” He looks up to her as she agrees and his voice slowly becomes more confident, even as she shushes him. “No more witches! Or dim witted boys!” He grins as she laughs, the way he always had off stage when he managed to make Rachel chuckle at one of his jokes. “Or hungry little girls!”

But then she starts to say she’ll stay and he shakes his head, looking serious again. “Go!” He shouts before they both turn to run off opposite sides of the stage. He shuts off his mic as soon as he’s behind the curtain, going to head father towards the back so he can meet Rachel half way. He knows she has to be on again before him so that the Baker’s wife can overhear the princes discuss Rapunzel, but the energy of the scene leaves him aching to kiss her. Which he does, quickly, and he grins as he pulls back.

“Somehow I always forget how invigorating it is to perform off of you.”

She has only a moment, so she's glad that she can meet Jesse halfway as she hurries to another entrance onto the stage. She's almost surprised by how much she'd needed that kiss amidst all the emotion of the scenes they share. She wants to linger with him, but the princes are already on stage. "I feel the same way, I'm so glad to be back here with you." She pecks his cheek quickly. "Gotta go."

Then she heads back on stage, looking as if she's heading in a particular direction. She walk with purpose, assuming that the Baker's wife might actually be willing to listen after the last scene. Except that the prince mentions Rapunzel and the color of her hair and she stops in her tracks, hiding behind a grouping of trees from the set.

She stays a moment, inching her way backstage again, for the princes' to sing about the woes of their existence as they compete for the role of most victimized. Jesse had filled in during a rehearsal where Rapunzel's prince was home sick and he and Adrien had had a blast singing off each other. He truly would have done that role justice too, but that was Jesse, he had a wide range of vocal and acting abilities.

When they finish and she heads out to her hiding place, she emerges from behind the tree, gazing in the direction of where they had left. "Two princes! Each more handsome than the other." She stares off in their direction, before remembering what's important. "No...get the hair." And she turns herself to start walking in the opposite direction.

She's stopped by Jack's mother, who comes onto stage to ask her if she's seen her little boy. They have a well timed moment of humor as she asks if Jack's mother has seen the cow.

"No, and I don't care to. Children can be very odd about their animals. You be careful with yours."

Rachel visibly deflates, and she thinks about Kurt and Blaine telling her all the news about the daughter she carried for them. Whatever loss is in her heart as she tells Jack's mother that she doesn't have any children is softened brilliantly as the older woman stares out into the audience with her own thoughtful consideration.

"That's okay too." The audience erupts in laughter, or at least every single parent out in the audience, which she can guess also means that Kurt and Blaine are laughing.

"Yes, well..." Rachel emphasizes the awkwardness. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen your son today." Jack's mother finishes the scene up talking about the beanstalk and quitting while you're ahead, before running off like an eccentric old woman. Rachel stares off after her, like it explains a few things about the boy and his cow. With a shrug of her shoulders, she shakes it off and exits the stage to await her next scene.

Jesse had watched her performance from backstage with a mixture of laughter and heartache. It was far too easy to connect to the pain that came with wanting a child, particularly around those who were already blessed with them. Sure the line had been funny to parents and non-parents alike, but when you were so desperate to start a family, sometimes the humor of it hit a little roughly at the edges. The fact that Rachel can deliver that feeling in her tone speaks volumes for her talent and Jesse would be the first to crow about it.

If he hadn’t had to be on stage immediately as she came off, anyway. He clicks his tongue as he starts to slowly walk across the stage in search of the cow, a low pitched, “Moooooooooo!” coming out of him a few times as he tries to call for Milky White. Apparently he sounds as ridiculous as he feels given the laughter from the audience, especially when he finally gets a moo back.

“Where did you find her?!” He cries the line out with glee (hah) as he wraps his arms around the fake cows neck, hugging it tightly. “Hello?” He looks up to see the man has disappeared, his forehead wrinkling as he calls out a little more panicked; “Hello??”

But there’s no answer and so he picks the cow up and rushes off the stage with her.

Like a tag team, she's back on stage the scene after, in search of the maiden in a tower. Everything with Rapunzel is a running joke throughout the show, even down to the poor girl's trauma really. The audience finds it particularly funny as Rachel looks around the tower, trying to figure out what to do. Finally she asks for her to let her hair down.

"Is that you my prince?" She young girl sounds confused.

Rachel makes a show of trying to figure out just what to say before deepening her voice. "Yes." She looks out towards the audience who is chuckling and shrugs, which causes the laughter to grow. By the time she's tugging on the strand of long hair, and Rapunzel is wailing in supposed agony, the audience is in a fit. Rachel takes the hair as the tower disappears, celebrating the triumph.

She brings to it the joy of having another item, but also the joy of proving her worth. This will mean that she can show her husband that she's not a damsel in distress and she can participate in their quest, or at least she hopes. No matter what, she winds the length of hair around her neck.

Her celebration is cut short by Cinderella running through again. She trips and falls, and Rachel glances over at Audrey. "Well, my goodness, you do take plenty of spills, don't you."

"It's these slippers!" Audrey defends herself falling into a heap of dress and frustration to take a moment break. Rachel joins her again, and they reprise their first interactions, with new questions about the ball. Really, she knows she should be asking about the shoe, but the Baker's Wife is obviously momentarily distracted with daydreams of fancy parties and presumed chivalry.

By the time she gets to what's important, she's missed her opportunity to talk to her about the shoe. They start to argue over it briefly, with Rachel trying to get her to stay so that she can convince her to hand it over, but ultimately Audrey makes an escape from her and dashes off the stage away from her pursuers. She drops to her knees when the Prince comes through and their brief interaction leads to the stepsisters and stepmother running away from none other than her husband. They stop to ask her where the prince when and she points to the stage, complaining about her "mongrel" of a husband, who is chasing them with an ear of corn.

It's their big romantic scene, one Rachel particularly likes, and one that people who have watched preview performances and rehearsals had thoroughly enjoyed too. The grin on her face is completely authentic as she stays seated on the ground, only going to stand when he confronts her about going home.

Jesse manages to stifle his own laughter as he listens to her joke attempt at trying to sound like Rapunzel's Prince. Her comedic timing has always been something he was personally impressed by and he had never understood how few people had seen it before she'd been in Funny Girl. Rachel had always been able to make him laugh, whether it was intentional or not, and he had known she would be the perfect Baker's Wife because of it. Everyone else was seeing that now, too.

When it's finally his time to go on stage, he comes running in, waving the ear of corn as he begs for them to let him compare the color, deflating visibly when they run off. He lets out a sigh, before turning to Rachel, putting the cow down so he can place his hands on his hips for a moment as he blurts out, "I thought you were returning home." But then his hands drop as he goes to sit down next to her, resting his chin on his hand as he pouts. "I've had no luck."

They bicker back and forth for a moment about how he's managed to get the cow back, that they have two items—no three—no two—and then she's handing him the hair and his eyes light up like Christmas. "Oh, where did you find it!" he exclaims as he holds the hair to the corn, and he has to bite on his lip when she says she pulled it from a maiden in a tower so nonchalantly. He takes a second to let the audience laugh over it before he shouts, "Three!" and goes to hug her tightly while she laments about letting the golden slipper get away. When he pulls back, he waves it off, the grin still on his face. "We've an entire day left! Surely we can find the slipper by then."

"We...? You mean... You'll allow me to stay?"

Jesse looks over at her, his face a mix of emotions. The way she'd delivered the line with such hesitancy was a tone he'd heard in Rachel's voice often enough. That hopefulness that she'll get to be of help instead of being pushed away, that brief glimmer that maybe she wasn't a nuisance after all. It always made his heart break when he heard it off stage and it has the same impact now. He swallows, looking away from her, holding the hair close to his chest as he stares at it with contemplation. And then, with all seriousness, and not a glimmer of irony, he delivers his line.

"Perhaps it will take the two of us to get this child."

There were always small adjustments that happened through performances. That was one thing that made theater so special, each performance was ultimately unique. This time, Rachel watches him and the authenticity she knows is in his eyes, she bites her lower lip. She hadn't done that before, and it's a response that's less acting and more her own heart leaping into her chest as he acknowledges that it will take the two of them to have a child.

When Rachel truly feels accepted it changes her, and she uses that experience for the Baker. To showcase the delight and adoration towards her husband's acceptance of her, of her ideas, of her abilities. It's an easy place to go, Jesse has become the person with him she feels the most accepted and adored.

With the laughter from the audience quieting, and the first notes of their love song starting, Rachel feels herself flow naturally into her character. She looks at Jesse like she's seeing him for the first time. It's a look he's familiar with. She knows exactly how the Baker's Wife feels, looking at the Baker. This man that she's known and has loved, but then life happens and you sometime forget what you have had, it gets lost for one reason or another. This moment is them falling in love all over again.

Rachel moves towards him, a tenderness building as she reaches out to touch his cheek. "You've changed. You're daring. You're different in the woods.." She reaches down now to take his hand and lifting it up to her own cheek. "More sure. More sharing. You're getting us through the woods.." Next she takes that same hand and clasps it against her chest, before continuing the choreography and reaching out to place her other hand against his chest as she sings out the next words. "If you could see, you're not the man who started, and much more open-hearted than I knew you to be." Words, that held a certain truth to their own romance, and she sang with a depth of feeling that echoed through the theater.

Rachel partially liked this number because it allowed them a moment almost to themselves. So much of the play incorporated the audience, but this was a more intimate song. It's meant to be between the two of them as she they reaffirm their love, giving just the right amount of inclusion to the audience in the character's private moment. It was all about striking the perfect balance between the way they felt about each other and the scripted romance they were portraying. Thankfully, the scene and the characters allowed them a bit of romantic indulgence.

Edited 2021-03-20 05:12 (UTC)

Jesse has to swallow the small lump in his throat at the lyrics, the way he always has had to, even in rehearsals. It’s funny how much one song can reflect the emotions of an entire relationship, and the impact it has always feeds the intensity of the moment between the characters, something he’s sure that the audience picks up on and appreciates.

He reaches out with his other hand to tuck some of the wig hair behind her ear, smiling softly at her as he sings. “It takes two. I thought one was enough, it's not true. It takes two of us.” Jesse had often tried to go at the world alone through his life. His parents had forced him to take his entertainment aspirations as seriously as possible and made nothing short of perfection acceptable. It had meant blocking out everything around him, including actual relationships. It had taken rather large, regretful actions for him to realize that that wasn’t what he really wanted from life. That love was far more important than fame could ever be. That Rachel was far more important. “You came through when the journey was rough. It took you. It took two of us.”

He pulls his hands away from her, the choreography calling for him to turn himself more towards the audience, as though he’s introspecting rather than singing directly towards Rachel. He understood the Baker’s need to process, the realization that changing himself was a difficult path, one not easily taken on your own.

“It takes care, it takes patience and fear and despair to change. Though you swear to change... Who can tell if you do?” He turns back towards her, giving her another grin. “It takes two.“

When Jesse had returned to McKinley to check in with her during her Junior year, and apparently to take her to prom, she'd been nervous and unsure. It hadn't taken long for her to remember just how much fun they had always had together. She had wondered though what had caused his turn around, beyond what he'd said. At this point she understood but the song brings her back to how much they've both changed in ways that led them back together.

As he steps towards the audience, slowly letting hand her hand drop, she watches him. There is a contemplative look on her face as she listens to her husband sing about his realizations in regards to himself, her, and the situation they are in. Her hands go to her heart as he sings to the audience. "You've changed." She starts into her verse again, a playful look on her face as she expresses the warmth that's growing inside of her. "You're daring. There's something about the woods!"

She opens her arms up, motioning towards the trees that surround them, before following the choreography in which she steps up next to him and takes his hand again, like she's going to pull him somewhere. Instead, she lets go, and dances over behind one of the trees. "Not, just surviving, you're getting us through the woods!" As he hurries after her, she comes out from behind the tree and taps him on the shoulder. As he turns to her, she slows her words a bit. "At home, I'd fear, we'd stayed the same forever..."

Rachel understood the importance of change. For the Baker's Wife, the Prince is sort of the idealized version of the perfect man, and for Rachel she had spent her high school years looking to Finn as such. The prince is that far away ideal of romance and she can't help but think about how there were ways in which Finn had always been this idea of what her romantic life was supposed to be. Towards the end, they'd become more complicated and though Rachel had been devastated by his loss, she'd gained clarity over the years. When Jesse had returned to her life, she'd found out that what she'd really wanted from her life aligned so much better with Jesse and all the dream traits she'd desired from a relationship she'd found with him

"But then out here...you're passionate, charming, well mannered, considerate..." Rachel steps back and stretches her arms wide, one towards him and one towards the audience, as she belts out the same words she had sung a few songs back with Audrey. As she sings, she fills the Baker's Wife's words with the realization of being so fixated on a fantasy that it had blinded you to the fact that what you wanted and needed was right in front of you all along.

As she belts out words that compare him lyrically to the Princes, Jesse grins, going to grab one of her outstretched hands and using it to tug her towards him, pulling her into his arms and letting his other hand move to trace the edge of her face. “It takes one to begin, but then once you've begun, it takes two of you.”

He pulls back, going to hold up the red cloak in his hands, like he’s thinking of the wolf he had to cut open to save the little girl that was eaten inside, just to get one of the many ingredients they needed for the Witch. It was a good show of how messy things could get when trying to do the right thing, how many seemingly awful deeds you could have to do in order to get on the path you were meant for. Things that hit close to home for someone who had once been so ruthless. “It's no fun, but what needs to be done you can do...” He looks back at her, daring to give a small smile, his eyes almost watering with the emotion of it. “When there's two of you.”

Jesse rushed back to her side, grabbing her hand to twirl her as the choreography had dictated, the playful and flirtatious nature of the dance easy to get into with Rachel. “If I dare, it's because I'm becoming aware of us...” He stops to hold her again, leaning in to press his forehead against hers, his lips hovering just a little too far for a kiss, but close enough that he can feel her breath on him. “As a pair of us, each accepting a share...” His hand goes down to her belly, fingers brushing over it protectively. The idea of her pregnant with their child isn’t hard to picture and it makes him swallow roughly before he can get out his final solo lyric. “Of what’s there.”

Rachel loves this part of the song and dance. Playing around on stage while he spins her and flirts with her brings her back to their Glee days and bouncing off each other on stage, the few times they got to. Singing duets with him were one of her favorite things, and it's a dream come true to be singing and dancing with him on stage.

As his lips move in close to hers her tongue licks her lips, which isn't the choreography but often a subconscious reaction that isn't scripted. Thankfully it works for the scene and the characters, so she never tries to stop herself. The next move feels even more intimate as his fingers move against her belly and she looks up at him hopefully. Everything that involved them wanting a child felt deeply personal, and with luck they'd keep enough of their own wanting balanced with the characters.

The rest of the song is sung with him and she turns to join him in the lyrics, beginning the choreography as they once again create a playful dance to the words. "We've changed. We're strangers." Rachel moves away from him again, going to hide behind one of the trees again, and as he turns away from her she sneaks up and taps his shoulder. "I'm meeting you in the woods." He spins her around. "Who minds what dangers, I know we'll get past the woods! And once we're past, Let's hope the changes last."

He goes to grab her hand before she can run off from him again. "Beyond woods, beyond witches and slippers and hoods, just the two of us." As the song starts to refocus and come to the last of the lines she moves in a little closer to him, and he lifts her arm and moves his own around to hold her back against his chest as they face the audience, still managing in keep the mood intimate.

Edited 2021-03-25 04:09 (UTC)

The flirting as though they were brand new lovers is something Jesse knows he's done with Rachel on numerous occasions. Every time they met after being apart for too long, their relationship had always picked up with the same spark, no matter how complicated that made things between them at times. When they'd finally gotten to be together again, it had been like starting fresh and getting a real chance at truly being with one another. The way the Baker and his Wife likely felt as the woods changed them both to better understand and desire each other than they ever had before.

As his arms wrap around her and he pulls her close, he continues to sing in unison with her, his chin resting against her shoulder. "Beyond lies, safe at home with our beautiful prize..." He brings their joined hands down to rest on her stomach, his eyes closing for a moment as he imagines the way her belly would grow if she were actually with child; the way she had grown when she'd carried Kurt and Blaine's, but this time with their own family. The one they want so desperately, just as the characters they're portraying do. "Just the few of us."

He pulls back slightly, making her lean back in one of those sort of classic trust fall poses as they continue, making sure to never let her drop. "It takes trust." He helps her back to her feet, letting go of one of her hands and going to spin her again. "It takes just a bit more and we're done. We want four, we had none." Together they hold up the hair and the cloak with grins of triumph. "We've got three, we need one! It takes two..."

As the final note drags out, he motions for her to give him a kiss on the cheek, just as they had in the classic musical, before he turns to wrap his arm around her waist last minute and pull her in for a deeper and much more passionate kiss. He holds it as the crowd erupts into applause for their performance, happy to kiss her for as long as they felt like cheering. It's easy to get lost in it. It's not until the last clap has died off and the background music of the play has started up again that he finally breaks away, leaning his forehead against hers and giving a bashful chuckle.

The moment is interrupted as Jack runs in, yelling at them to grab the hen, and Jesse goes to quickly scoop the remote controlled chicken toy up into his arms before it can zoom by. He gives a shout of surprise a moment later. "Look what this hen just dropped in my hands!" he yells in excitement as he holds up a solid gold egg for Rachel to examine with her own eyes.

The art of an on stage kiss could be a particularly difficult thing to craft. The actors always needed to have chemistry, but they always had to be careful with the chemistry. There were also usually limits to which the actors were comfortable taking kissing scenes. With any other man that Rachel was acting opposite of, she was willing to open her mouth, but drew the line at allowing her cast mate's tongue into it. Acting opposite Jesse was a different story, and it would have been as easy to get lost in his kiss on stage as it was to get lost in it at home, and she does for a moment as she feels his tongue slip past her lips.

As far as she's concerned it's over far too soon, and between that and the excitement of opening night she's pretty sure she won't be able to let him go to sleep without making love to her. The way he kisses her suggest he's feeling the same way. When he lifts her back up, she's giggling and acting as if she's delightfully shocked by a less than typical kiss.

The joy and delight she portrays in that moment in regards to having three of the ingredients, a newfound romance and partnership with her husband, and the financial security of the egg, start to slip as Jack starts to get frantic over the cow. "You took five gold pieces?" She joins in on the confusion following Jesse as he moves around the stage bargaining with Jack. The chaos climbs until the speakers blare out the sound of a dying moo from the cow and the cow falls over. Jack rushes to her side and lays his head against her chest, before looking up at them and with a heartbroken sob declares Milky White to be dead. Jesse catches her as she goes to nearly faint and helps her to her feet, holding her steady, before they hold up the two remaining items and in a defeated unison shout, "two"!

The scene goes dark, and she moves off stage momentarily before joining into the number that announces the passing of another midnight. The whole cast moves through the choreography while singing about the lessons that have been learned by spending another day in the woods. She and Jesse remain on stage as the narrator discusses that another midnight had passed and tells the audience about how she and the Baker had buried the dead cow. As the narrator exits, they act out the exhaustion and tension between the two characters. Jesse tells her that she has to go into town and try and find another cow.

"And what shall I use to buy this cow?" Where they had been so freshly in love a few minutes before, she sounds tired. He hands her over the remaining bean suggesting she tell them its magic. She lets her mouth drop open, and expression on her face earns the laughter of the audience. "No one, with a brain larger than this is going to exchange a cow for a bean."

"Then steal it!" He proclaims, exasperated.

This raises the frustration level as the Baker's Wife calls out the hypocrisy. "Steal it!? Not two days ago, you were accusing me of exercising deceit in securing the cow!" Rachel calls on the tension she can feel with Jesse when they don't see eye to eye and there is always a certain level of discomfort in even pretending to fight with him, but she knows that there is so much love under the surface, so she makes sure to let the pain of fighting with a loved one come through too. As he states that her other option is to resign herself to childless life she lets the pain show even more strongly on her face. A moment later, she brings up the resolve as she begins to problem solve.

The Baker's Wife is actually the one who leads them as a couple and so she takes control of the situation. Rachel tells him that it would be better if he goes to get a cow, because she knows where the slipper is and she feels confident that she can get the shoe if he gets the cow.

"Fine," Jesse tells her, once again having to submit to what his wife wants.

"Fine," she snaps back at him.

"Fine, this is just fine!" Jesse tries to one up her in this little argument.

"Fine," she states simply, and they go back and forth as such a couple more times until they have to separate and go off the different sides of the stage on their individual pursuits. Rachel meanwhile, with a short break before her next scene goes to where her water bottle is backstage and finishes it off, before opening Jesse's and drinking about half of his to satiate the thirst she's built up.

"Help yourself," he mutters with amusement as he comes up beside her backstage. He had taken a bit more time to get over to his water bottle since he had stormed off on the opposite side and he goes to take it from her once she seems to have had enough. He had to be back on stage before her, so he doubted he would have drank it all anyway, and a little light teasing after the tension of an onstage fight seemed like a good way to release some of the mood that could sometimes linger after.

He does take a few fairly large gulps of his water, though, before he screws the cap back on and places it back where he'd been storing it to begin with. He leans over to place a kiss against her forehead, offering her a small smile while he listens to the sounds of the Witch singing Stay With Me so he knows when to go line up by the edge of the stage.

"I don't think I realized how much I missed being on stage with you," he said finally, his voice filled with the usual adoration that he saves only for her. "I can't imagine doing this with anyone else." He goes to steal a quick, actual kiss, lingering for a moment, before he hears a chattering through his earpiece that tells him he's going to have to be on shortly. When he pulls back, he lets out a sigh. "Even if it means I barely get to see you off of it."

He doesn't sound too put out though and he flashes her a grin before he runs off, going to line up the way he's supposed to. As Rapunzel screams and the two leave the stage, he makes his way on, frustrated by the need to figure out how to get a cow. The Mysterious Man makes him jump as he asks one of his riddles; "When is a white cow not a white cow?"

Jesse lets out a frustrated huff as he tries to storm by. "I don't know! Leave me alone!"

"Haven't I left you alone long enough?"

"Your questions make no sense, Old Man! Go away!"

The man shakes the bag of coins at him as he asks if he's in need of another cow and Jesse manages to catch them when they're thrown his way. He stares after the man as he retreats before grasping the bag tightly in his fists and quickly running off stage, back to where Rachel had been waiting.

It was true that their moments alone off stage were few, it provided a chance to check in and little else. Still, she wouldn't trade those small moments for anything. Besides, they had intermission, and they could always leave early or skip the after party entirely. Some of their colleagues had mentioned that they were so adorable in their need to be close to each other that it almost made them want to puke, but it was true, they liked being close to each other, and she welcomed to lingering kiss no matter who might see.

When he's backstage again, she was quietly chatting with her friend before she went on stage to sing "On the Steps of the Palace", which she had to be prepared to join her for immediately after she was done singing. Rachel gives her a thumbs up for good luck before she goes to do her big number, before turning to Jesse.

"I've really missed all of this too. It feels so right to play opposite you, no one has ever made me feel quite so comfortable. Though, I'm starting to want that alone time with you." She smooths out his shirt as she gives him a suggestive look. She was looking forward to getting him home and making love to him. The energy of a new show always put her in a good mood and she wanted to share it with him. Sex seemed to be an after show ritual between them and she didn't want tonight to be any different.

As Cinderella's song comes to a close, Rachel gives her a minute to allow the applause to calm down before she walks onto stage to tentatively approach the other woman. Not surprisingly, though much to the Baker's Wife's dismay, Cinderella wants nothing to do with her. They go back and forth with their lines, Rachel digging up the desperation as she loudly proclaims: "I need your shoe to have a child!" Cinderella halts where she is, considering how nonsensical that sounds while the audience laughs, before declaring verbally that it makes no sense.

"Well, does it make any sense that you're running from a prince?" Rachel answers with a certain indignation that hadn't been present in the original performance and it goes over well with the audience. Rachel finally manages to get the slipper after offering her own shoes in exchange. Cinderella rushes off with the Steward joining her instead on stage. She drops to a bow again, and tells him that she doesn't anything about the young woman. She swears it's true when he threatens her. She lets her relief and excitement show again only when Jesse comes back on stage with the new cow. Forgetting about the Steward, she jumps up to run to her husband, holding out the shoe. It's stolen by the Steward, as he grabs for the shoe and she turns around.

"Please, please I need that shoe!" She cries out and turns back to him, looking between her husband and the steward. "Please...I beg you."