Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. Also, this story involves sensitive topics, so if you can't handle them or don't want to read them, then please don't. See the A/N for further details.
A/N: This story is a departure from my usual stuff. I want to add some warnings here because this story is based on the song "The Night Will Only Know" by Garth Brooks. If you've heard that song, then you know that this won't be a happy story. The story involves both adultery and murder, so if you can't handle that, then please don't read it. This is more like Missing Ending in tone than the rest of my stuff. The Rachel and Puck in this one are not the Rachel and Puck that I usually write. I'll let you guys decide if they're simply bad people or good people who made a very bad, very tragic decision. I'd especially like to know what you think since it's so different from the rest of my stuff. Please read and review.
That night will live forever
Their first time to lie together
They were finally where desire dared them to go
Both belonging to another
But longing to be lovers
Promising each other
That the night will only know
Even though Rachel had failed to realize her dream of becoming an actress, she had at least achieved one of her high school dreams. She had married Finn Hudson, and for the most part, they were quite happy.
When Rachel had finally decided to give up on becoming a star and instead focus on starting a family with the man she loved, they had moved back to Lima. Her dads and his mom still lived in the small town and it seemed like the perfect place to raise their future children. Finn took a job with a local contractor where he could work with his hands, something that he enjoyed. Rachel put her degree (major in music, minor in secondary education, thank you) to good use by taking over the music and theater programs at McKinley High when Mr. Schuester took an administrative position with the district. Between her job, her husband, and her involvement in the community theater, Rachel was satisfied with her life.
She hadn't counted on Noah Puckerman.
Noah worked with Finn on the construction crew. Although they had fallen out of touch while she and Finn were in New York, it hadn't taken long for Finn and Noah to rekindle their friendship once they started working together. Finn's excitement to have his former best friend back (they had officially made up during junior year after the Quinn thing) had brought Noah back into Rachel's life. Things had grown more difficult for Rachel with Noah's reentry.
The problem was that Rachel had wanted Noah ever since he had come back into her life. Sure, she was married to Finn, but that didn't end her desire for the bad boy from her youth. The only man that she had ever had sex with was her husband. Things between them were okay but lacked the fire for which she longed. She was a passionate person, and Finn, while a good man, was simply not enough to satisfy her passionate nature. Plus, their marriage was strained because they'd had no luck conceiving.
Even if Rachel acted on her desire, she was sure that nothing would happen. Noah was living with Santana and had been since shortly after graduation. Rachel knew that Noah would never cheat on her, even if Rachel was willing to cheat on Finn. That may have been the man he was in high school, but he seemed to have matured since then. No, even if Rachel let him know that she would be open to just one time, just to get him out of her system, she was sure that Noah would never go for it.
Or, at least she was until the Memorial Day picnic that she and Finn held for their family and friends.
After a couple of beers, Noah had lost most of the inhibitions that he had developed over the years. Rachel had been in the kitchen, digging ice cream out of the freezer to serve to the others, who were all still outside. She had jumped when a pair of arms had wrapped around her waist from behind. At first, she thought that it was Finn, but she quickly realized that it didn't feel like Finn. The arms holding her gave her the tingles that she had long since lost with her husband. Those feelings told her that Noah was the one with his arms around her.
He had brushed the hair back from the side of her face so that he could whisper in her ear.
"You're so fucking hot, Berry. Do you know how many times I've pictured you, legs wrapped around my waist, perky tits bouncing as I drive into you until you scream my name?"
The words, even though they were crude and he had called her by her maiden name, had gotten her hotter than anything Finn had ever said. When Noah had bit down on her earlobe, she had moaned and leaned into him, enjoying the heat that raced through her. The moment had been brief, though, because the sound of the back door opening had caused them to spring apart.
It had been mere seconds, but from that point forward, Rachel knew that Noah wanted her as much as she wanted him. They could no longer ignore the heat. While it mostly manifested in harmless flirting because their respective partners were always present when they were in the same spot, any time he thought he could get away with it, Noah had his hands on her. He would guide her through doors by the small of her back, brush her hair away from her face, or play footsie under the table if they were sitting across from each other. They never kissed or became more intimate than that, though, so the pressure between them just kept building.
Perhaps it was inevitable that it exploded that October.
ooooo
Parked on some old back street
They lay down in the back seat
And fell into the fire down below
But they would pay for their deceiving
For a deadly web was weaving
Why they picked that spot that evening
Lord, the night will only know
October 7, 2017 would live forever in Rachel's memory. Finn had gone to his mom's house for dinner, but Rachel had claimed a queasy stomach and stayed home. She had somewhere else she had to be that night.
Noah had called earlier that day to tell her that Santana had left town to visit Brittany in Cincinnati. She wouldn't be back until the next afternoon. When he had asked if she could get away from Finn, she had told him about their planned dinner with her mother-in-law. He told her to skip it.
Rachel knew what would happen if she did, but she couldn't resist his allure. That was how she found herself walking five blocks in the cool night air so that Noah could pick her up. She didn't want the neighbors to see.
He had pulled up in the classic Camaro that he and Finn had spent so many weekends restoring, and she had hesitated to get in. Infidelity was a sin, and Finn was a good man. This was wrong. But when Noah took her hand to tug her into the car, Rachel couldn't resist. She slid in and buckled her seatbelt. Smoothing her short black skirt over her thighs, she caught sight of the diamond on her wedding ring winking up at her. She removed it and slipped it into her purse. If she was going to do this, she needed to be able to pretend that she wasn't married.
Puck drove them into one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in Lima, the same one she had sent Sunshine to all those years ago. He said that there was little chance of running into anyone they knew. They couldn't go to his house because of the neighbors or to a hotel because of Lima's small size. No, if they were going to do this without either Finn or Santana catching them, the alley behind the Blue Fish bar was one of the safest locations.
Rachel was uncomfortable; she had always avoided this part of town. She trusted that Puck, given his vast experience – much more than she had, knew what he was talking about though. So, despite her misgivings, she followed Noah over the console into the back seat.
ooooo
Well, within the innuendos
Just outside the steamy windows
The night was shattered by a woman's scream
Motionless and frightened
The grip of fate had tightened
And with trembling hands they wiped away the steam
The instant Rachel was in the back seat, Noah pulled her onto his lap and took her lips with his. The fire that rushed through her veins at his touch burned away any remaining doubts. She had never felt like this with Finn.
The passion had been building up for so long that Rachel was already wet from the contact she had with Noah's growing erection under her. While he lifted her skirt up around her hips to slide a finger into her and test her readiness, Rachel moaned and undid the fastenings on Noah's jeans. Her hand came into contact with bare skin, velvet-covered steel, and he let out a hiss against her lips. Shoving her panties aside, Noah lifted Rachel up so that she could sink onto his shaft. She began to ride him at a frantic pace, unable to go slowly now that she was where she had wanted to be for so long.
As she moved, Noah trailed his lips down her neck. He pulled her shirt and bra down so that he could free her right breast. When he suckled on her nipple, she could feel the tugs all the way to her clit. She knew that she was close, so she slid her hand into her panties and began rubbing circles over the nub of nerves. It only took three passes before she tightened around him, biting lightly (so she wouldn't leave a mark) into his shoulder to keep from crying out, even though she knew she wouldn't have been heard over the thumping music of the Blue Fish.
"Oh, fuck, Berry," Noah groaned as the tremors running through her triggered his orgasm.
Rachel felt his warmth flood through her, the most satisfying thing she had ever felt. Exhausted and very much sated, she rested her head against his chest. When Noah set his chin on top of her head and wrapped his arms around her waist, she felt like she could be happy never moving from there.
Their afterglow was short-lived, shattered by a scream in the alley outside of the car. Heart racing, Rachel crawled off his lap. Noah wiped a hole in the steam on the back window and they both peered out onto a horrifying scene.
ooooo
They saw a woman pleading
Stumbling, begging, and retreating
'Til she became the victim of her foe
And they watched her fall in silence
To save their own alliance
But the reason for the violence
Just the night will only know
Rachel was terrified to see a gun-wielding man advancing on a woman. She and Noah watched as the woman stumbled backward, pleading with the man not to shoot her, until her back was pressed against the wall of the bar.
"We have to do something," Rachel whispered, turning to face Noah.
But he had already quietly climbed back over the console into the driver's seat.
"Noah, what are you doing? We have to help!" she insisted in a low voice, peeking around the seat to look at him.
He scowled at her. "The bastard has a gun. I'm not going to get myself shot just to help some woman I don't know."
"We can't just leave her here," Rachel murmured quietly. "We need to…"
Noah cut her off. "We don't need to do anything. If we go out there and that guy doesn't kill us, we'll have to talk to the police. Do you want to tell Finn that we fucked? Because if we interfere, he's going to find out."
Rachel was torn. She didn't want anyone to know that she had cheated on her husband, but it went against her nature not to help that poor woman. She hesitated a moment too long, because a shot rang out, not quite completely muffled by the music from the bar.
Peeking out of the car, Rachel saw the woman slumped in a sitting position against the wall. She watched as the gloved man who had shot her hurriedly wiped the gun on his shirt and placed it in the woman's limp hand. Then, he turned and ran to the other end of the alley.
"We have to get out of here before someone comes out of the Blue Fish and finds her," Noah announced from the front seat.
The woman's face, bloody in the harsh glare of a streetlight, was the last thing Rachel saw as Noah started the car and pulled out of the alley.
ooooo
And every paper ran the story
She was stripped of all her glory
And they told exactly how the woman died
Abandoned and forsaken
Too many pills were taken
And they ruled the woman's death a suicide
Rachel had nightmares about what she had witnessed. Finn didn't understand why she would wake screaming and sobbing at night, but he held her all the same. His sweetness just intensified the guilt that she tried to keep buried inside. It was eating her alive so badly that her health eventually began to deteriorate, with constant nausea and exhaustion.
The fact that the news was covering the story as a headline made everything worse. The violent death had shaken Lima. The media completely dissected everything about the woman's life. Her name was Mia Lancaster, a 25 year-old single mother to two children. Rachel's guilt grew worse at knowing who the woman was. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she had helped deprive those two kids of their mom.
The police, unable to find any signs of foul play, had ruled that her death had been a suicide. Her family and friends swore that she was happy, but there were no signs of a struggle, no distinguishable genetic material on the victim, and Mia's prints were the only ones on the gun, which she owned according to her parents. Suicide was the only thing that the evidence pointed to.
By the time the media reported the results a month after the death, Rachel had learned that she was pregnant.
ooooo
Bound by their behavior
They could have been her savior
Now guilt becomes the endless debt they owe
"You have to let me be a part of the baby's life. She's mine as much as she's yours," Noah demanded.
"No, I can't. I won't do that to Finn. That night was the worst mistake that I ever made," Rachel declared. "I'm trying to rebuild my relationship with Finn, but I can't do that if you keep sniffing around me and the baby."
Noah lost his temper. "She's my daughter!"
"She's Finn's daughter! Even if she comes out with your eyes, I will go to my grave swearing that she's Finn's," Rachel unwittingly repeated Quinn's words of so many years before, only slightly altered. "Please accept that. You can be her Uncle Noah, but that's it. She already has a dad."
"How can you possibly keep that a secret from Finn?" Noah questioned sharply.
Rachel smiled bitterly. "I'm already keeping our affair and our part in Mia Lancaster's death a secret. What's one more?"
Over the last seven months, Rachel had slowly grown able to bear the massive guilt that she felt about the events of that night, but not without it altering her. She was icier than ever before, the only warmth in her reserved for her husband and unborn daughter. She couldn't stand to be around Noah; his presence only reminded her of the terrible night that she helped someone get away with murder. She knew that Finn had noticed the changes from the way he looked at her sometimes, but he never said anything. He was too happy that he was finally going to be a dad. Rachel couldn't bring herself to break his heart by telling him the truth.
Because in her soul, she knew that her daughter was Noah's.
ooooo
But another crime was committed
And it's never been admitted
"Lacey's not mine, is she?"
Startled, Rachel straightened from placing the candles on the princess cake and met her husband's eyes. "What?"
"Do you think I don't know?" he asked in a harsh tone.
Finn wasn't looking at Rachel, so she followed his gaze. Noah, still Finn's best friend and now married to Santana, was swinging her three year-old daughter through the air. He had a bright smile on his face and Lacey was giggling. Not for the first time, Rachel was struck by the resemblance between father and daughter. Uncle Noah was one of Lacey's favorite people, behind only her mommy and daddy. Rachel, although she was civil, could barely stand to look at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel stated, trying to play innocent. Internally, she wondered when Finn had figured out the truth and why she had never noticed the fury in his eyes when he looked at her.
"I'm not as stupid as you think I am, you know," Finn said angrily. "I see the way Noah looks at her, and she has his eyes."
"If you know, then why do you stay?" Rachel questioned softly. "Why don't you leave me? I'd deserve it."
"I love Lacey. And for some reason that only God knows, I still love you. " Finn smiled viciously. "Did you know Santana can't have kids? They just found out. I like the fact that Puck will spend the rest of his life knowing that his daughter thinks I'm her daddy. So I'm not going anywhere. Smile, Rachel. Your life will stay perfect. You got away with cheating."
With that parting shot, Finn joined Noah, Santana, and Lacey, a false smile on his face. As Rachel watched her cynical husband, so different from the man she had married, walk away, she realized that she had gotten her wish. She was an actress. She would get to spend the rest of her life pretending that she and Finn had the perfect marriage. She would pretend that her and Noah's daughter was his. She would pretend she didn't break her husband's kind spirit. She would pretend that she didn't see a dead woman's face every night in her dreams - a woman she let die for no reason since Finn knew the truth anyway. She would pretend that she didn't shatter eight lives in one night.
She would pretend she was happy.
Lifting Lacey's birthday cake, Rachel fixed a smile on her face. It was time to play her part.
Have the guilty been acquitted?
Lord, the night will only know
A/N 2: I had to change the method of death because I've never understood how she could have been killed by an overdose if she was terrified of the person who killed her. The way that verse of the song was written always implied a violent death to me, and overdosing someone with something that wouldn't be traced as murder seems like something that would take out the victim before she realized what had happened. Sorry, I just wanted to include that little explanation. Please let me know what you thought.