It had started when she had felt tired and when she didn't have her period when she was supposed to.

Rachel stared down at the blue line, feeling her hands shake. She looked at the three pregnancy tests she had purchased earlier that morning and flinched at the three azure spots.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Glee, Julliard, Broadway, maybe a movie role or two, perhaps a best-selling album if she felt inclined. Being a teenage mother had not been part of the Venn diagram Rachel had drawn up when she first started high school.

I'm having Noah Puckerman's baby.

It had been one night. They had ridden the high of Sectionals and Kurt had demanded an after party to commemorate their success. Rachel had never really had alcohol before. She had read about the scandals lowering your inhibitions would inevitably entailed but someone had scoffed, saying how she would never be a normal teenager without experiencing what it felt like to be intoxicated. So she had accepted the flute of champagne Kurt had pressed into her hand and welcomed the heady sensation a few sips had brought.

Puck had been there, though the scowl he had on his life was tempered by the easy posture he had adopted. For some reason they had found themselves side by side and Rachel had spoken to him as if he hadn't spent the last year throwing flavoured ice at her, as if he were a friend. The next thing she knew, his lips had been on her and she remembered feeling fireworks exploding behind her eyes. And then…and then…

She couldn't believe she had done an Amy Juergens.

Her fathers were going to be disgusted, disappointed. She could already imagine what everyone would say as her stomach grew larger and her feet swelled. Rachel instinctively felt her hand go to her belly. There was a life growing inside her, a tiny fetus that was going to pop out of her in approximately nine months and change her life forever.

Rachel went to school and walked around in a daze. Puck didn't acknowledge her – he hadn't since the party. Instead, she thought he had made it a point to ensure he wasn't within touching distance of her. Hugging her books to her chest, Rachel bit her lip and stared into her locker. Resting her chin on her chest, she looked down at her stomach. When had she become another statistic?

Glee was spent sneaking looks at Puck. She thought she had caught him looking at her a few times, or that could have just been her mind playing tricks on her. Finn had asked her if she was alright when she missed her cue during their duet. She had told him she was perfectly fine.

Sucking in a breath, Rachel fisted her hands and watched as Puck spoke with Artie as they both stowed away their guitars. Hearing him laugh, she shivered as she recalled the way hi voice had rumbled from deep within his body when he had whispered things into her ear.

'Puck?' It came out as more of a squeak. He barely lifted his head in acknowledgment. 'Could I speak with you?'

'I'd rather you didn't,' Puck said matter-of-factly.

'It's important,' she insisted, pulling at the hem of her shirt. She shot Artie a pleading look and the other teen must have seen something in her face because he bid them both a short farewell.

'What do you want?'

They were alone now and Rachel didn't know what to say. Puck wasn't looking at her and his eyes jumped from her left ear to her right, and then over her shoulder.

The silence between them stretched and grew taunt. Puck resisted the urge to scratch the back of his neck as he casually settled his eyes on Rachel's face. He took in the tense set of her shoulders and the way her fingers couldn't stay still.

He'd slept with Rachel fucking Berry. And he had liked it. Puck had always been able to hold his liquor so it had been interesting to see the normally uptight self-proclaimed diva of the Glee club cut loose. She had done something with her hair that made it loop and curl softly at her shoulders and the red lipstick she had donned for their last hurrah on stage hadn't budged. The effect had stirred something inside Puck, though at the time had had chalked it up to her being a good-looking Jew.

Watching her laugh and smile and talk, he had given in to the urge that had been lingering in the back of his mind. Sealing his mouth over hers, hearing her moan and whimper as he traced his hands over her small, small frame, Puck had never wanted someone so bad in his life.

'You sure about this Rachel?' He asked her, hands resting on the edge of the hem of her skirt. Her hair fanned out on the pillow of Kurt's bed and he could hear the bass thumping overhead.

In the back of his mind, he could picture the horrified expression on the kicker's face if he ever found out what Puck and Rachel were going to do on his sheets.

'More touching Noah.' His name fell from her lips like a song, short of breath, and then her arms were around his neck.

One night stand, that's all it was, Puck had told himself the next day. Rachel hadn't mentioned anything, but then again Puck had deliberately made sure that she didn't have a chance too. Puck had never thought he would be hiding from a girl, least of all from a girl he had never really thought about for more than two seconds, but when he couldn't get her out of his head – well, he didn't want to hear her say it had been a mistake.

'I'm pregnant.'

Two words that made everything around him shatter. Rachel was biting her lip and looking down at her Mary Janes, arms wrapped tight around herself like a shield.

'What?' Puck asked, his voice hoarse.

'I'm with child,' Rachel repeated shakily. 'With your child.'

'Are you sure?' Rachel fixed him with an incredulous glare and Puck summoned up the feeling of her biting his shoulder as he tried to ease the pain somewhat.

'I have only ever had one sexual partner,' Rachel hissed through her teeth, Puck wincing.

'I…I…fuck,' Puck finally choked out, feeling his legs wobble. He collapsed into one of the hard plastic chairs, cradling his head in his hands. 'Fuck.' He looked up at Rachel.

'You're sure?'

'Yes,' she sounded about as tall as she was. Puck swallowed the lump in the back of his throat, numbly tracing the lines on his palm.

'Have you told anyone else?'

'No.' The defensive tone made his hackles rise.

'What? Ashamed you slept with me?' Her features tightened.

'I'm pregnant you imbecile! I'm sixteen and…and I'm not equipped to deal with this! You can walk around and pretend that everything's the same but everyone is going to take one look at me and know.' Her eyes were glassy and the last word ended in an octave so high Puck was surprised she had managed it at all.

'Everything's not the same Rachel.' He saw her startle when he said her first name.

Rachel's mouth trailing down his neck, her tongue laving that spot behind his ear and then breathing slow and soft on it.

Puck shifted in his seat. He got to his feet and tried to ignore the hurt when she inched away from his outstretched hand.

'I can take care of it you know.' Rachel's mouth formed an O as her brown, doe eyes met his green ones. 'You and the baby. I'm not going to just ditch you and make-believe.'

'You are?'

I'm not a deadbeat like my Dad.

'I have my pool business and we can…we can figure this out together.' This time she didn't move when he laid a hand on her shoulder. Instead, she threw herself into his arms and he tried to ignore the fact that she fit him like a jigsaw puzzle.

Hell I'm just a kid myself. How am I gonna raise one?

'I'm not ashamed I lost my virginity to you,' she mumbled into his shirt.

'What?' Puck blinked, though he pressed her closer hearing her words.

'I don't regret what happened between us. Maybe that sounds crass and unbecoming, especially considering how I'm a young ingénue, but…' She trailed off but he felt her arms around his waist tighten. Puck knew it was wrong to smile but he did anyway.

'Then why did you avoid me?'

'Because you were avoiding me,' Rachel pointed out.

Puck couldn't believe they were having this conversation.

'We'll get through this,' Puck promised. Rachel laughed wetly.

'If you had told me yesterday that I would be pregnant with Noah Puckerman's baby, I would have thought you were insane.'

He wasn't sure what to say so he kept quiet. They stood there, Puck didn't know for how long, both suddenly aware that they were bound by more than anything they could ever comprehend.

She's going to be the mother of your child Puckerman. This crazy, midget-sized drama queen is it.

The thought didn't upset him as much as it should and that scared the crap out of him. Looking down at the crown of brown, shiny hair, Puck couldn't resist pressing his cheek against it. Rachel sighed.

They were strangers starting out on a journey. He didn't know what was going to happen or how. But he wasn't his father and Rachel Berry…well, he didn't know what she was.

She isn't a one-night stand.

Of that, Puck was certain.