Note From The Author—Okay, I'm not so happy with the first part of this, mostly because I had four amazingly beautiful pages written when I accidentally pushed an unknown button and erased the entire thing and could not get it back no matter what I did. So I stared into space muttering 'four pages, four pages' for about five minutes, cried for about that long, then sucked it up and tried my best to recreate what I had already written. I know instinctively that what I reconstructed isn't as good as what it originally was, but hey, life happens. Anyway, for the purposes of this story that I couldn't seem to get out of my head Finn and Rachel briefly dated post babygate, but they didn't work out and now she and Puck have rekindled their romance. Hopefully you enjoy; that is if my rambling note didn't scare you off ;)

Disclaimer—I don't own the characters of Glee

How did we get here? How the hell?

The line was playing on a loop in her head, and Rachel found herself wishing that it would just fucking stop. She couldn't even bring herself to scold herself for the language in her inner dialogue because everything was royally and completely screwed up.

The song was just repeating over and over in her head, and along with it came the questions. How could they have been so stupid? How could they have let an argument go so horribly wrong?

There didn't seem to be any answers, but the guilt and the pain wouldn't go away; and despite the fact that she was pressed against an almost feverish body she couldn't seem to get warm. So she nuzzled her face into the crook of Noah's neck and went back over the horrible day moment by moment in the hopes of figuring out when the hell everything had gone so very wrong.

It had started out as a normal day, or at least as normal as things ever were for the kids of McKinley those days. Rachel had gone to the gym to watch Puck at basketball practice like she did every week, basking in the glow of the relationship they had rekindled after a failed try at her and Finn that they had kept going for more than a month by that point. Finn had been at the practice too, of course, and he had spent the majority of the afternoon shaking his head at the looks his former best friend was shooting his girlfriend.

Everything had gone downhill when Quinn had showed up.

At first she had only sat next to Rachel, watching the father of her baby and her ex on the court. Then she had opened her mouth and everything had gone to hell.

"It's not fair," she said quietly.

Rachel turned to the other girl with her mouth open, not sure if she was more shocked by the words or the tears she saw in the blue eyes that looked back at her. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Perhaps, but I'd still like an explanation as to why you seem to be implying that it's my fault."

Quinn shook her head. "You've got it all. I lost Finn because of all of this. He doesn't want me anymore, but neither does the father of my baby."

She looked positively bowled over by her words. "And how exactly would that be my fault?" she questioned, her voice raising with every word. "You slept with Noah, then you tried to keep him from the baby's life and pass her off as Finn's! You lied to everyone and made Noah feel like he was nothing even after he offered to help you! He chose me, and none of what you're going through is my fault."

"You just don't get it!" she cried, rising to her feet and looking down at her.

"Clearly I don't!" she shot back, standing up to restore the balance after Quinn's attempt at intimidation. "Noah gives you money whenever he can, he takes you to your appointments and he does everything he can to keep you and that baby safe and healthy! What else do you want?!" Then her heart broke when she heard the Glee clubber's next words.

"I just want someone to love me again," she whispered as tears slipped down her cheeks.

A heavy silence fell through the room as those words seemed to hang over them. It was only then that either of them realized that the entire basketball team, coaching staff, and the few students present were staring at them and hanging on their every word. For a moment that eerie silence seemed to permeate everything. Then it was shattered with a single sentence.

"Don't you dare blame Rachel for what you brought down on yourself."

Both girls turned their surprised eyes towards Finn, who was clutching a basketball in his hands that looked like it might give under the pressure at any moment. Puck reached out and put a hand on his former best friend's shoulder. "Not here, dude."

Finn just shook him off angrily as she stalked over to the bleachers and up. "Everything that you're dealing with right now is your own fault. You and Puck did this, not anyone else!"

To both of their surprise, Rachel frowned and put a protective arm around the blonde at her side, pulling her protectively against her. "Finn Hudson, don't you dare yell at her that way," she said sternly. "I don't care what you do later but you will not treat her like this in her condition."

"Seriously, Hudson," Puck added as he sprinted up the bleachers to the three of them. "I don't give a shit how much you yell at her in a couple of months, but until that kid comes out you're not doing anything to even sort of hurt Quinn or my kid."

"Noah's absolutely right," Rachel told him primly. "You know I'm sorry that you were hurt by what happened, but you have no right to speak to her like this while she's in an already fragile physical and emotional state."

His eyes widened. "No right?" he cried. "After what these two did to me you're still going to say I have no right? I expected this from you Puck," Finn said as he shot his teammate a scowl over his shoulder. "But from you, Rachel?"

Puck reached out to grip his shoulder in a hard warning. "You had better be really careful about what you say right now buddy. I know you have some sort of misguided feelings for Rachel but if you say a word against her I will rip you apart," he said dangerously.

"Misguided feelings? Do you even know what misguided means?!" he asked cruelly. "In case you didn't notice, Puck." The name was almost spat. "I kissed Rachel first, I dated her first, I sang with her first. You're just picking up my sloppy seconds." He shot a glance at Quinn before returning his attention to the man in front of him. "Again."

He was really lucky that it was Rachel who got to him first. As it was the slap stung like a bitch as it cracked against his cheek and echoed throughout the room. The spectators of their little show watched incredulously as McKinley's very own soap opera played out before their eyes; everyone staying completely silent as they feared a single sound would break the spell that seemed to have fallen over the four teenagers in the bleachers to block out the rest of the world.

"If you ever so much as think of speaking about me or Quinn that way again, Finn Hudson, I will personally see to it that you reach your demise. In case it's completely slipped your mind you may have kissed me, but you also manipulated my feelings for you to get me to come back to Glee, kissed me while you were still with Quinn, then dropped me like a hot potato when it seemed like someone else was even the vaguest bit interested in you. Noah has done a lot of things, but he has never once treated me the way that you treated me. He may have done some rude, petty things, but he never tried to buy his way out of it with excuses or puppy dog eyes; so you just think long and hard before another word comes out of your mouth, because Noah and I have gotten past whatever issues we may have had, and you've treated me just as poorly as anyone else has."

Finn's eyes widened as her words hit him. He had never looked at it that way, but as he reached out to her she just shook her head and pulled a sobbing Quinn into a tight hug. He didn't quit, and Puck whirled him around by the arm. "Lay a hand on my girlfriend Hudson and I swear to God I will kill your ass faster than you can call for you mother," he growled, his eyes darkening.

"Please just stop," Quinn whimpered against Rachel's shoulder. But they were too far gone to stop now.

"Oh shut it, Puckerman!" The name was almost spat. "You talk a big game but you don't even have the balls to be a real man. You've always wanted everything I've had. You play the same sports as me, you go after the same girls as me, you decided to play an instrument because I did, and you joined Glee club after I did; all because your daddy walked out on you and your family and you couldn't find anyone else in your pathetic little life to look up to other than me."

Quinn and Rachel gasped at the low blow that had just been dealt, and they could both see pain they had never known was there shining through Noah's eyes; but he remained admirably stoic and somehow managed to keep from losing it. "You don't know dick about my family, Hudson; and considering the shit you just spewed you clearly don't know a damn thing about me or Rachel." He punctuated the sentence with a shove. "You're, right. I wanted to be like you because I always figured you were a better guy than me, but obviously I got that completely wrong. I'm not the Lima loser, you are. So do us all a favor and stay the hell away from me, keep the hell away from Quinn, and don't even think for a second about going near Rachel" He was right up in taller boy's face by then, his icy tone of voice brooking no argument. "Because if you even so much as look at either of them, think one more thought against them, or say a word about them I will put you in the ground."

Noah gave him another hard shove, sending him stumbling down a step before he made his way two steps up to where the girls were standing. Seeing both of them crying made him frown and he wrapped his arms around Rachel, his hand coming to rest somewhat awkwardly against Quinn's belly as he asked them both if they would be okay.

Later Finn would wonder what the hell he had been thinking, but in the moment all he could see was the way Rachel tucked herself against Puck's chest even as she held tight to Quinn and the way that the guy who had once been his best friend laid a soft kiss to his girlfriend's temple with a tenderness neither of them had ever known was possible. They looked like one big fucking happy family, and Puck had everything Finn had ever wanted and deserved. He couldn't seem to think, only feel the rage and the sadness that was coursing through him; which was why he did what he did next.

The ball Finn had been unintentionally trying to pop for the past ten minutes was suddenly flying through the air, and Puck thankfully caught it out of the corner of his eye soon enough to turn and take the full brunt of the blow. But Rachel was still tucked against him, meaning Quinn was still attached, and the force of the ball sent them sprawling to the bleachers.

A gasp rose up as Finn helplessly watched the chaos he had unintentionally created. Puck couldn't stop himself falling, but Rachel blessedly had the presence of mind to wrench her body around and take the full brunt of Quinn's fall, cushioning her and the baby. Unfortunately it meant that her head connected hard with the wood and the sound echoed through the room as stars burst in front of her eyes.

As soon as they were able both Quinn and Puck scrambled to their knees, hovering over Rachel, whose eyes were still squeezed shut. As Puck carefully ran his hands over her for any sign of injury Quinn took her hand. "Rachel, please say something," she begged.

"Owww," she moaned as brown eyes fluttered open and her gaze shifted between the two of them. "Tell me that didn't just happen."

"It happened," Noah growled, pushing to his feet and reaching Finn in record time. The shell shocked teen didn't even see him coming, and Puck's punch landed square in the middle of his face. "What the hell were you thinking?! Do you have any idea what you could have done?"

"Noah don't," Rachel pleaded as Quinn helped her sit up. "It's not worth it."

He shook his head. "Oh but it is. Of all the brainless things you've ever done Hudson this one..."

"Shut the hell up, Puck!" Finn cut him off, removing his hand from his bleeding nose. "No matter who you're with or what you do you're no fucking better than me."

Everyone present would have loved to say that they there in time to stop the violence, but everyone was seemed to have been shocked into stillness. Things were way out of hand by the time any of them were spurred to movement, and everyone seemed powerless to stop what was coming down the pike.

Rachel and Quinn made it slowly to their feet once the former's world stopped spinning and by the time they made it things were already completely out of hand. Finn and Puck were in the middle of a brawl that had them teetering precariously on the edge of the seats, arms and legs flying in a crazy melee that nobody knew how to cease.

"Stop it!" Quinn shouted. "Just stop!"

Rachel saw what was coming with stunning clarity, and even with her head aching she managed to surge to her feet. "Quinn, no!"

But it was too late. In her attempt to stop the fight, Quinn only managed to get right in the middle of the two angry boys, both of whom far outweighed and overpowered her. Rachel managed to snag her hand, but all it could do was pull her into the hurricane.

It happened in a split second. A foot caught on a step, twin screams echoed through the room, and when the dust cleared Finn and Puck could only look down in horror at the girls who lay on the gym floor with a sickening pool of blood spreading beneath them.

Note From The Author—Please don't kill me for the cliffhanger! And I promise I don't hate Finn!