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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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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."

Jesse watched as Rachel and the Steward struggled for the slipper, trying to help pull when he could, as the Mysterious Man urged him to give it over, and how the Prince eventually said to do as the man said because he was clearly a spirit of some sort. He celebrated briefly with Rachel as the slipper was handed over to them, hugging her tightly now that they had all four objects in their possession.

The celebration is cut short as Jack's mother comes running in screaming and it takes a great deal of his own self control to keep the amusement off his face as she bows during her scream in an attempt to keep respect towards the royals. It doesn't take long before she begins to say what's wrong; "There's a dead giant in my backyard!" She goes on with her tale of Jack chopping down the beanstalk, of the giant falling and crushing her land, with no sign of her son to be found. When she begins to sob, they all look around awkwardly at one another, before Prince Charming steps forward and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Worrying will do you no good."

Jesse pinches his nose at the speech as it goes on, the obvious irritation and embarrassment clear in his stature. He doesn't exactly step in to help, though, and as she asks if no one cares and the Witch shows up to see the things they've collected, he completely ignores her, stepping forward to hold up, "The cape as red as blood!" And Rachel beside him with the hair as yellow as corn before patting the cow to prove it's truly white as milk and the Witch is able to see it's been covered in flour.

"No, no, no, we had a cow as white as milk! We did but..."

"Then where is she?!"

"She's dead," Rachel says with a sigh.

"We thought you'd prefer a live one, so I..."

"Of course I prefer a live one! So bring me the dead one and I'll bring it back to life!"

"... You can do that?"

The Witch gives him a look, before rolling her eyes, and giving a sarcastic, "Noooo..."

He and Rachel run off to the side, gone for only a moment before they drag the cow back onto stage together. "She's too heavy!" There's a puff of smoke as the Witch brings the cow back to life and he and Rachel lift it onto its feet together to show that it is alive again. Jack is elated and the Witch demands them to feed the cow the objects, which they do as fast as possible, watching as it gulps down each thing. It's then that the Witch hands Rachel a goblet telling her to fill it, but Jack intervenes.

"I'll do it. She only milks for me."

"Quickly!" Jesse shouts as he looks at his pocket watch to show that midnight is clearly approaching soon. Jack milks the cow, but nothing comes of it, and the Witch shakes her head, going to leave.

"Forget about a child!"

"Forget about a child!"

She had been standing by Jesse, holding tightly to his arm while waiting with bated breath, but as the Witch declares their struggles have not been enough she lets go and moves towards the other woman. Rachel pulls on that moment when Kurt and Blaine came into the room to see their daughter and she'd been holding her, and known she had to give her over and how her body had ached from a pain she hadn't even known she could feel and Tracey wasn't even hers. She's called on that desperation at all the rehearsals and she uses it now to show the audience a woman whose world has just been ripped from her.

"No! You wait!" She moves on her. "We followed your every instruction!" Her tone adds an edge of anger that has given Rachel and outlet for her own frustrations and confusion. "That cow was as white as milk!"

"Yes," the Witch agrees, but waves it off.

"That cape was as red as blood!"

"Yes!"

"And that slipper was as pure as gold!" Rachel is following behind the Witch, arms out and begging for reason or mercy, or maybe both.

"Yes!" The Witch repeats the word again, her own frustration mixed into her words as if she's trying to figure out why it's not working for her own reasons.

Jesse steps forward then to add that he compared the hair to the ear of corn to make sure of it's color, but Rachel interrupts him, continuing to offer up her defense. "I pulled that hair from a maiden in a tower!" It was questionable whether the audience would see it but there were tears running down her cheeks.

"You what!?" The Witch stops and immediately turns on them. "What were you doing there!?"

Rachel really admired the actress they had chosen to play the Witch, a long time Broadway actress about ten years older than her who had won two Tony awards, and her ability to switch her emotional range. Her acting was so flawless that Rachel never has trouble pulling back in fear. She gasps and takes several steps back, Jesse hurrying forward to protect her. She shakes her head. "Nothing! I swear! I was just passing by!"

The witch storms around the stage, obviously emulating her own distress, as she tries to think of some way to get control of the situation. She yells at Rachel about how she can't have touched any of the ingredients before the Mysterious Man interrupts the tense scene by running onto the stage and in his own desperation suggests that they feed the corn to the cow, as it's touched the hair and should work for the magic.

Jesse gives the ear of corn over to Jack, telling him to hurry, while the Witch argues with the old man, asking what his angle is. She then glares at him. "This had better work old man before the last stroke of midnight or your son will be the last of the flesh and blood!"

"Please not now!" The old man begs as Jesse and Rachel turn to him. Rachel looks back and forth between the old man and her husband, while this new piece of information settles over them.

There are plenty of times in Jesse's life that he's found out he's been lied to, shocking reveals from family that have made his life more than a little difficult from time to time. It's easy to draw on them as the Witch announces the Mysterious Man is his father and he looks at him with a mixture of shock and uncertainty, as though he must have misheard the whole thing, as he blurts out, "Son?"

He swallows roughly as the Witch confirms it, telling him to meet his father, and he shakes his head in disbelief, his forehead wrinkling as he tries to put the pieces together. "Father... How could that be you?" He takes a step forward, like he might go to embrace him, before stopping and shaking his head, holding his hand up like he's telling him to stop. "I thought you died in a baking accident!"

His father is apologizing at the same time that Rachel shouts in celebration that the items are working and Jack proclaims the cow is producing milk. But he isn't focused on that, still standing in front of the man who is supposed to be his father and unable to think of anything else for a moment, the words clearly not even registering. "I don't understand..." His father collapses and he goes towards him, shouting for him, before he hesitates and the words from Rachel sink in. He turns back towards her, cautiously asking, "She's milking...?"

"Yes!"

His face looks more hopeful, more filled with joy. "It's working! We did it! We did it!" He embraces her tightly as the Witch drinks, but when she starts to choke, he notices that the Mysterious Man has fallen over, and he quickly runs to his side, grabbing his hands. The man who plays the two roles of the Narrator and his father was someone Jesse had known from his early performances, back when he was still getting his feet on the ground, and it's easy to show the care and concern for him because of that connection. He squeezes his hand tightly in his own. "Father!"

"Son... All is repaired..."

"Father!" He goes motionless and Jesse goes to lay his head against his chest, his eyes shut tight as he pretends to hopelessly search for a heartbeat. It only takes him a moment before he pulls himself up, looking dejected, his shoulders slumped as he chokes out, "He's... He's dead..."

As the Witch reveals her true, beautiful form, they all freeze before the lights go out and he pulls away from the old man so he can run off and get changed into his Narrator costume. He pulls a few of the set pieces off with him as he goes back stage, readying it for the final scene, which he doesn't have much of a part in save for walking with Rachel on stage as she thanks Cinderella for the slipper. The end of the first act is the first real bit of breathing room either of them are going to get and as soon as it's over, he's going for his water bottle to down the rest of its contents.

Edited 2021-05-04 04:19 (UTC)

The end of the first act is always a rush. Her only real costume change was adding the fake pregnancy belly under the dress, but that meant getting underneath the layers of her costume and getting it properly adjusted. Jesse had made plenty of jokes about it when she'd first been getting fitted and he still sometimes teased her. Not even a year ago she'd actually been that round and it always felt a bit weird to see herself in the mirror that way.

There was rarely time to think about it, because then she was back on stage again for the act one finale and dancing around on stage participating in the joyful ending. While the second act was more bittersweet and tragic, it also held the true depth of the show. It also had her make out scene with the Prince, one of Jesse's close friends. It didn't bother her, but she tended to need the intermission to regroup so that she could shift the gears from the happily ever after of the first act, to the more complicated reality of what happened when getting your wish wasn't everything you wanted.

She sees Jesse drinking down the rest of his water and she makes a note to grab another bottle before they went back on, one for each of them. The thrill of a successful first act was thrumming in her veins, but she's eager to get the fake belly off of her. She blows Jesse a kiss, not sure of what his intermission plans were, before heading up towards their dressing room. Whatever his plans were, she needed to change and touch up her hair and make up if it was needed.

As soon as she closes the door to the room, she takes a deep breath to calm herself down. While she loved the excitement and getting caught up in it, she'd learned that she needed to make sure she didn't get so caught up in it that she overwhelmed herself. Most of her mistakes happened when she couldn't properly process everything that was going on around her.

Moving to the mirror, she takes in her appearance. Her wig was still pretty firmly in place and the make up looked good too. She didn't sweat under the spotlights, at least not to the extent that Jesse did, so she didn't have to worry too much. They'd managed to not even smudge her lipstick during their kissing scene. The image of herself pregnant is always one that gets her, and she places a hand over her stomach as she visualizes for the hundredth time what it will feel like to carry Jesse's child. She lets herself have an indulgent moment to fully fantasize, but as soon as she hears the door start to open, she flushes with embarrassment and tries to quickly start to take off the belly so she won't be caught thinking about it. She's unsure why she is embarrassed, but for some reason she wasn't sure how to talk about what it all made her feel.

Not able to get it off, she straightens back up as the door opens. "Hi," she says too quickly, her flushes cheeks all to clearly suggesting she's embarrassed by something. "Can you...uh...help me with this?"

Once Jesse had finished getting himself hydrated again and had discussed a handful of notes with the director, he'd made his way back to their dressing room, sure he would have plenty to clean up before the next act. He was used to having to get himself prettied up all over again, given the way his hair would stick to his forehead and the sweat would drip down his face. Thankfully stage makeup was some of the most resilient things in the world and he was keeping his hair shorter than it had been when he was a teenager. It made for a little more ease when it came to making sure he didn't have to completely reapply his face between acts.

He arches a brow as he sees how flustered Rachel is, but gives a nod at her request for help and closes the door behind him as he makes his way in. Going over to her, he goes to undo the back of her dress first, so he can get better access to the fake belly underneath.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd ask if I'd interrupted something with how out of breath you are," he says with a chuckle. He lets his fingers slide over her skin as he removes the straps and once it's loose enough for her to pull off, he rests his hands against her waist. "Something on your mind?"

Rachel is quick to pull off the belly and sets it on the table to the left of the mirror. She doesn't pay much more attention to it because she's enjoying having his hands on her skin. It provides her with a steadying feeling, and she takes another deep breath. She can see him in the mirror and she watches his face. She knows that look because it's one he gives her when he knows she's up to something. Smiling at him in the reflection, she gives a soft laugh. "Well, just don't look in the wardrobe, I've hidden my secret boyfriend there."

Of course, he'd find no men in the wardrobe, but it's always fun to tease him. When the joke subsides she leans back against him, wanting to be completely wrapped up in his arms. After another moment, she moves towards honesty. "You just caught me fantasizing. Pretending, I guess." There wasn't really any reason to hide it from him. He had really just caught her in a moment of surprise and she'd floundered because of that. Even if they both thought about starting a family, they didn't always talk about it and she wasn't always sure how to bring it up. The last thing she wanted was to get lost in the idea night after night.

The role tugged at her in a lot of ways and she had to pull herself out of her own headspace so that she could go on stage with a doll and pretend to be a mother. Rachel loved drawing from real life experiences to pull out the rawest emotions of her characters, but when it hit closer to home it could be hard to process it all.

"Fantasizing?" He pressed his lips against her neck as she leaned back into him, his hands moving from her waist down over her stomach. The motion is what makes him realize what she would have been picturing, and he lifts his head enough to look at her through her reflection as his touch stills against the muscles of her abdomen. It wasn't as though he hadn't felt his breath catch the first time he'd seen her in the fake belly, when he'd been reminded of what she looked like when pregnant and the knowledge of how badly he wanted to see her that way with their own child.

He smiles a little softly, before deciding to venture a guess. "About starting a family?" He lets his hands press a little more firmly against her stomach, leaning in to put another kiss against her throat. While they had avoided the topic mostly since her surrogacy, he had still felt that same way as he had the night of the Tony's. He couldn't wait to start to try for one of their own.

"I can't say as I blame you."

When he says the words out loud, she swallows the lump that's suddenly lodged in her throat and gives a small nod. She brings her hands to lay over his where they rest against her abdomen, only the fabric of her dress between them. "Yeah. I know it's probably ridiculous and it's a little embarrassing to admit that every time I put it on I feel...something." She didn't really know how to describe it, which was probably because it didn't come with only one emotion. Sometimes it hurt from all the wanting she'd done after Tracy was born and sometimes it made her feel hopeful for the future children that they would have.

With her waiting to get her body fully back together, so she'd be in good shape for a second pregnancy and the contracts of the play, it wasn't going to happen immediately. The belly however, and the trials of the Baker and his wife, were a constant reminder of everything she felt around having children.

She catches his eyes in the mirror and looks at him longingly. "Hey. Do you remember the first time little Tracy moved? It was in the middle of the night and I woke you up so you could feel it and she stopped. You waited and waited, and just when you were ready to roll over and go back to sleep she moved again? I remember you got more excited than I even expected you too and I just remember thinking about how much I loved you. How happy I was to share that moment with you, even though I felt a bit guilty because it wasn't really our moment. I still haven't told Kurt or Blaine that we felt her move for a month before I told them." She swallows again, her thumb smoothing over where his hand was. "I guess I can be a little selfish. She was never ours." The moment had been theirs though, sharing in the truth of what was happening within her body. While she had been glad to carry Kurt and Blaine's child and to see them have the child they desired and deserved, she hadn't always been immediately ready to share the changes her body was going through with them.

Her chest feels tight and she knows she doesn't have time to process it all out before the second act. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to drag it up." She'd been convinced it would be easier because it was someone else's egg and so she'd have no attachments to the child. She hadn't been prepared for the power of creating life, no matter how it came to be within her. "You probably have to touch up your make up, so don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Hey. Come on." He goes to pull his hands out from under her dress so that he can turn her around to face him, giving her a look that shows she should know better than to try and just brush things off with him. "We're supposed to be able to talk about anything, right? That includes the hard stuff, even if we've hashed it all out before." He reaches up to brush away some of the strands of her wig, not worrying about his own appearance just yet. He still has time.

"I don't think the body knows the difference between yours and not yours when it's growing a kid. It was hard sometimes for me to even remember that. We've got instincts. It doesn't make you selfish to keep those moments to yourself while you sort through the emotions of it." He would be the first to call her out on her flaws and so he hoped that she took his reassurance seriously because of it. "And I bet it'll be ten times more exciting when it is ours. When we can celebrate those things without any guilt attached to it all."

He leans in to press a kiss against her forehead, before pulling back to look down at her affectionately. "I think about it, too. When I see you with the belly on. It brings everything back and all those... I dunno, urges that I get to start a family with you. It's hard to not connect the two."

It was true that the body didn't have any way of differentiating between a biological child and one simply implanted. It went through all the same motions and required all the same things. It hadn't been Kurt or Blaine who had held her hair back while she was vomiting every morning or rubbed her back and feet every evening. He'd been so loving and caring and put in a lot of work for a child that wasn't his. She was sure that he'd be every bit as much so when it was theirs they'd made. Especially when it came to the fact that he'd have to have sex with her until she got pregnant, whereas they'd had to abstain while she'll was trying to conceive a child that wasn't theirs. The thought makes her smile, just as his words do.

"And this time you won't have to abstain." She voices that thought out loud as she closes the distance between them so that she can lay her head against his chest. Her arms wrap around him and she breathes him in deeply. Sure he's a little sweaty, but he smells of the deodorant she loves and slightly musky in a way that is completely him. It feels safe and comforting. His words go the rest of the distance to reassuring her that everything she's thinking and feeling is okay.

After a few long moments of taking him all in, she lets out a contented sigh as she pulls back just enough to look up at him. "I'd like that," she tells him tenderly, leaning up to press her lips to his. She did think it would be even more exciting if it was theirs, and she was ready emotionally to go there with him, even if she had to wait physically and financially a little bit longer.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, taking a step back but reaching to hold his hands. He still has to touch up his make up and she's certain their little moment is starting to eat into the time that will take. "Thank you, I feel better." Hopefully they wouldn't have to go through this every night, but she doubts it. Opening nights always brought up the most heightened emotions because they were just so full of everything that was going on.

She squeezes his hands before letting him go and moving to her side of the mirror. "But I am glad to know that seeing me like that every night gives you...urges," she teases playfully shifting the mood.

He lets out a small hum when she lays her head against his chest and quickly returned the kiss when she leans in for one. "In fact, I'm pretty sure the point is to do the exact opposite of abstain," he says with his usual tone of arrogance that was just a signature of his at this point. He leans in like he's tempted to start trying right then and there, his lips hovering over hers, before he lets out a small sigh and nods as she lets him go first. She's right to do so. He does need to get his makeup fixed.

Jesse goes to grab his makeup, carefully dabbing the sweat from his face before he starts to patch up the places that have smudged during the first act. He glances over at her out of the corner of his eyes, smirking slightly when she mentions his urges, and gives a snort.

"I think you know full well it doesn't take much from you at all to get urges out of me." He carefully blends the fresh concealer with the old and goes to add a bit of blush, before he pulls back, seemingly satisfied with it, before he goes to look for other patches. "You've always made it hard to keep my hands off of you."

She laughs, "and I am looking forward to your full involvement this time." She would have been lying if she'd said it hadn't been a little weird to get pregnant without any involvement from her husband, and actually required them to abstain. It filled her with a sense of contentment that she'd been able to pass on the gift of carrying a child for a couple like her dads who couldn't have kids of their own. However, she intended that any other children would be her own, it wasn't something she'd be able to do a second time.

As much as she'd enjoy the act of trying, there is no way he can give her the emotional attention she's needing, and they are running short on time even for a quickie. "I'm like a siren," she teases. "I sing and you are lured right to me." She begins to put a fresh layer of mascara on. It's not necessary needing, but it's something to do while he fixes himself up. "And believe me, if you are up for it, I'm perfectly willing to lure you in later tonight when we get home."

In the meantime, they only have about five minutes before they need to be back on stage.

He lets out a hum when she calls herself a siren, clearly in agreement with her on that one, but unable to say it right away as he's busy fixing the makeup near his mouth and doesn't want to mess it up. Once he's finished, he puts the caps back on his bottles, giving himself a solid once over, and a nod of approval. He turns to look at her, giving her a smirk.

"I don't know how you haven't had more men falling at your feet with a voice like yours," he says simply, before he leans in to press his lips a little firmly against her own. He pulls back after a moment, reaching up to fix a few stray hairs of her wig, unable to hide the love in his eyes as he stared at her.

He sighs when he starts to see the lights flicker, frowning slightly at the moment being interrupted. "We should probably get ready to get back on."

Their playful flirting makes her feel much more grounded and she's relieved she'd let herself open up to him rather than to bury it until later. The second act was always the tougher act and though she's sure she'll call on some of those emotions to properly play her role, she's glad for some lightness before it.

His comment about her voice and men falling all over themselves over it makes her laugh and she stays still as he fixes the wig hair. "Oh, I don't think my voice is the problem. I've had several propositions over the years, you should have seen my fan letters while I was playing Fanny. It's more the personality that sends them away, apparently I can be kind of bitch." Not that it was always a bad thing, she'd been able to chase off a couple of stalkers by be willing to give them the full Rachel Berry scolding.

She nods when he says they need to get back and she grabs a fresh water bottle of her own to set backstage. When they are both out the dressing room door, she slips her hand into his and makes her way down the steps in front of him. "If your stalker ever comes back, I am happy to do the same." She probably would even if he didn't want her too. "I'm told I can be very scary."

"Oh, you're absolutely terrifying," he says with a laugh to his tone, his hand gripping hers as they move towards the stage. It felt nice to joke and flirt while they waited for the intermission to end. It was one of the bonuses to getting to play off of his wife, he thinks. "Since I love your bitchy side, I certainly wouldn't be opposed. I find it to be a hell of a turn on." He gives her a wink, before he goes to take his place on the stage by their bakery, just before the music starts to swell again.

As the opening wishes went through, lamenting the things they still wanted that mostly came as consequences to their original wishes, Jesse can't help but resonate with the feelings behind it. It's a very human concept, of course, but he can feel his throat threatening to tighten when he sings, "I'm going to be a perfect father." He's never had a very easy time singing that line, even in rehearsals, able to relate too deeply to the Baker's fears of failing his own children due to never having a decent example, but yet again he manages to get through it, the emotion simply adding to the performance.

The music comes to an end and Rachel still comforts their baby as he tries to reassure her they will have room, only to be met with the option of moving. He waves his hand in dismissal of the very thought. "No. We will not move this was my father's house. And now it will be my son's." They continue to argue about the witch for a moment as she hands the baby over to him and Jesse holds him far from his body, cradling him like a glass sculpture he needs to find a place for rather than an infant.

"Oh, why does he always cry when I hold him?"

The audience laughs as Jesse acts like he'll break the baby, and Rachel tries to reassure him that he's just a baby and baby's cry, pressing that he doesn't need to hold like he's so fragile. In reality, she knew Jesse to be extremely good with children. He had a young niece that they'd taken care of due to he and his girlfriend's struggles with drug addiction issues. It wasn't a good situation, but he'd stepped in whenever it was needed all the way back to when she was still a new baby and clearly suffering from withdrawal. And she'd seen him so often with little Tracey, calming her down and rocking her, so it's pure acting when he pushes the baby into Rachel's arms and tells her that he needs his mother.

Rachel sighs, playing the role of exhausted wife and mother as she begins to rock the baby while Jesse reassures her that he'll take care of him when he's older. The prop of the doll was more realistic than it had been back in the original Broadway performance, better weighted to hold and just as the audio calms down the fake cry, Rachel slows the rocking. She takes a seat in the prop chair looking content as she sings sweetly to the newborn, "We had to go through thick and thin."

She looks up at Jesse with all the love in her eyes as the entire cast sings in unison of their happiness, trailing off as the sounds of cracking and crashing break out around them and set pieces fall in a well rehearsed way. She lets herself fall from the chair, pulling the child against her and holding him protectively until the noise and set settle down. The baby starts to cry again and she looks frantically up at Jesse, before telling him that they are both alright.

Edited 2021-06-03 02:17 (UTC)

Jesse falls to the floor with everyone else, though on the opposite side of the house so he's farther from Rachel and the baby than he'd imagines any father would ever want to be. He scrambles to his feet, going over to them as she reassures him they're fine, gripping her arms firmly as he helps her to her feet and tries to shield her from the wreckage their home has become. He opens his mouth to ask another question when the Witch enters instead, and Jesse waits for the applause to quiet quickly before be tenses his shoulders and storms over to her accusingly.

"You! Have you done this to our house?"

The Witch gestures to her own garden which is destroyed and the three begin to ponder over what could have happened, listing mythical creatures that could have destroyed the place like dragons and griffins, before Jesse finally offers, "Giant?" and the Witch goes still before agreeing. A Giant. Rachel proclaims they have to tell someone and Jesse has to bite down on his cheek to keep a straight face as the Witch looks around in confusion.

"Who're you gonna tell?"

The audience roars with laughter before Jesse is able to shout, "The Royal Family, of course!" The Witch goes on a rant about the uselessness of the family and how giants are too hard to fight anyway. She crushes the bug under her foot before pulling it off, eating it, and leaving. They stand in silence for a good moment, before Rachel turns to him.

"We are moving."

It takes his all to not laugh with the audience, but he shakes his head, going to grab his scarf and hat so he can make his way to the castle. He stops by Jack's house to check on the family and ask for any aid. Jack's Mother reasonably refuses despite his begging and eventually he leaves for the castle once more. He is presented to Cinderella and while the stewards repeatedly try to remove him, he manages to get the Princess's attention as he finally gets on his knees in front of her, clinging to his hat tightly.

"We have a young child! Princess, please... Our child was very difficult to come by. And his safety is of great importance to me." He can feel the tears burning in his eyes and knows it is coming through in his voice and on his face. When the steward asks if he's done, he hesitates for only a moment, before nodding and pulling himself to his feet. There's a glimmer of hope as the Princess promises to tell the Prince when he returns, and his voice is full of emotion when he responds. "Thank you."

He goes to walk back towards the bakery as the other scenes unfold their own stories.

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