Noah Puckerman could feel his eyes closing as he stared at his computer screen. It was nearly two in the morning, Quinn, his mom, and his sister were already in bed and realistically he should be too. His face expressed the level of exhaustion he felt as he rubbed his eyes after doing the research to find a black Jewish singer and now sifting through hundreds of songs to find the right one was driving him completely insane. He had begun at about eleven to wonder if the hot black chick was even worth this level of exhaustion but one pass of his hand over his bare head and the smell of his dumpster clothes had re-motivated him.
He paused form his internet perusal to stretch out in his bed his eyes catching his guitar propped up by his dresser. He smiled lightly; a smile that only three people in the world knew he had, one of pure enjoyment. He picked up the instrument running a hand over the neck with an almost worshipful air. The guitar fit perfectly against him as he played a few chords the frustration slowly leaving his body and a feeling of relaxation filling his body. He simply plucked at the chords for a few moments before he actually paid attention to the Christina Aguilera song his fingers had played without his consent. The familiar feeling of betrayal he felt toward his guitar whenever that happened filled him and he tossed it back on the bed with a sigh of frustration rubbing his temples.
His eyes shifted back to the computer where the next set of lyrics waited for his review. He pulled the laptop toward him and closed out the screen with the lyrics and pulled up his MySpace. It was under another name of course because if anyone knew what he did with it, let alone the person he followed using it. RBFAN was his name, it was not subtle but he knew she had yet to figure it out he missed talking to her more than anything. For some reason he could talk to her. Not the way he talked to Quinn, or used to talk to Finn and the guys, hell some of the things he admitted to her behind the safety of his computer he couldn't even tell his mom.
He looked for her name on his list of friends and saw she was not logged on and hadn't posted anything new in the past few hours. "Probably sleeping like most normal people." He told his laptop, he was finally out of ways to procrastinate and pulled up the lyric screen again clicking on a random title.
She gets too hungry, for dinner at eight
She loves the theater, but doesn't come late
She'd never bother, with people she'd hate
That's why the lady is a tramp
"Fuck!" he cursed out loud putting a pillow over his face and screaming again. He couldn't get away from her no matter how hard he tried she was always in his head in his fingers and now apparently living in his computer. He looked up again and began to catalogue the similarities, he remembered when he was dating her he went through her bag looking for gum and found three candy bars two bags of chips and some jerky. When he asked why she had so much food she informed him that she was almost always hungry and since her dads worked late she had to eat throughout the day to hold off until they got home. He sat going over the rest of the lyrics and even listened to the original version played through the speakers of his laptop. It was only her face that he saw in his mind, not glee club black girl. He sighed and printed the lyrics out sending an e-mail of the music to the jazz band before falling back against the pillows. "Whatever" he muttered before putting his pillow back over his face.
"Very impressive Noah." She said popping up from behind his truck with a broad smile on her face. "I knew you had it in you." She informed him as he unlocked the door for her so she could lift herself into the vehicle. He wasn't entirely sure when him giving her rides home became a part of his day, let alone the best part but it happened.
"Thanks" he muttered hiding his pleasure at the compliment, despite being rather irritating sometimes and a bit irrational when it came to glee but her compliment was the best he could receive. Mr. Schue even coated the negative in positives so it was hard to tell if he really liked something, Rachel however was almost too quick to jump to the negatives so when she had something positive to say you knew it was perfect.
"What made you pick that particular song?" she asked as he started the truck. The first day they drove together was before he even joined glee. He had seen someone walking along the side of the road in the middle of a snow storm and pulled over. The next day when he had seen her by her locker bundling up to attempt it again he had informed her that if he caught her walking home again he would skin her alive and pointed at his truck since then she had been his companion every day on the way home.
"First one I found." He replied. Their rides always went the same way. She would ask him questions and he would answer with the least amount of words possible, in the beginning it had been an attempt to get her to run out of questions but as time went on he came to thirst for the little tidbits of her life she let slip when she asked him questions.
"It was a wonderful choice I honestly believe it expressed your talent and vocal range quite well and pulling Mercedes in was helpful to the performance as well." She told him then fell silent the soft sounds of the radio the only distraction in the car.
"That's it?" he asked surprised by her silence.
"It's been a long day." She replied, "Plus I'm sure you're sick of listening to me talk after all this time.
"Never stopped you before." He answered back as he pulled to a stop at the red light and turned to face her.
"I have to rest my voice anyway; I don't want to lose it you know."
"Still think that's all you have?" he asked, she looked over at him in surprise. "What it's not like you and Finn were the only people in the hallway when you were talking there Tinkerbelle."
"Finn took me to see someone who helped me. Singing may be all I'm good at but I'll find something some day."
"Bullshit." He answered, "You didn't come up with that Finn did and you're agreeing because you think he won't like you if you do."
"I'm smarter than that." She replied twisting a curl around her finger. He pulled the car over and reached over grabbing her hand that was tangled in her hair suppressing a shiver at the softness of it brushing against his hand.
"Maybe about some stuff but Hudson is your kryptonite." He informed her. "I know that you're lying because you mess with your hair, it's your tell."
"My tell?" she asked furrowing her eyebrows.
"Poker thing, it's how you tell someone's bluffing, stop trying to change the subject."
"I have too much integrity to let what some boy thinks affect my thinking in any way, especially Finn." She answered pulling her hand out of his and looking out the window.
"He's not good enough for you. Neither is that Jessie kid you're too good for the both of them."
"What is this about Noah?" she asked curiosity coating her tone.
"The fact that both of them let you believe that all you have is music to make you special." He replied.
"That's not true, when we were at the doctor Finn said I had more than music." She protested.
"Like what?" he asked. She stared at him blankly, "Couldn't come up with anything could he. He couldn't tell you how beautiful you are, how smart and driven, how nothing could stop you from achieving any dream you set for yourself no matter what some stupid doctor says."
"Noah." He turned back onto the road ignoring her; he hadn't meant to say all that. She was silent for a few moments before she spoke again. "How was Becca's birthday party?" He turned to her and she smiled knowing he was uncomfortable and bringing them back to the status quo.
"Fine" he replied she had opened her mouth to ask another question. "My mom hired a clown, kinda freaked me out thought he might be a pedophile or something watched that fucker like a hawk don't trust people with my baby sister you know." He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye; it was the most he ever shared when she asked a question. "When is your birthday?" he asked in return noting her smile growing bigger at the question.
When their relationship started it was nothing abnormal, it was the natural progression of their friendship. Three months after baby Beth had been born and adopted they had been in his truck as he listened to her finish describing the musical her father had taken her to see as a congratulations present. He had been watching her mouth move as she talked and it took only a second for him to reach across pull her to him and kiss her gently. She had stared at him surprised but only for a second before she moved back toward him and kissed him back.
They moved in together shortly after college, the pair of them had rented an apartment that was equal distance from Julliard and NYU where he was studying to be a teacher, remembering how his own high school glee teacher had shaped his life and hoping to touch another's like that. The move was slightly more climactic than anything else they had done before between her harassing one of the movers to where he wanted to either shoot her or jump out the window of their fifth floor one-bedroom and Kurt who had come to support the move with his boyfriend Carl spilling grape juice over their carpet Rachel was in a right mess once the place had cleared out. "This was a stupid idea" she informed him plopping down next to him on the couch carefully positioned to hide the large purple spot on the carpet.
"How do you figure?" he asked running a hand through her hair as he laid back pulling her with him so she was sprawled out over his chest.
"It's been a disaster and I'm not entirely sure that mover isn't a serial killer." She replied propping her chin up on a throw pillow she grabbed.
"I'll protect you nobody's going to get ya." He smirked at her over exaggerated eye roll but that didn't stop her from making him double check the doors and windows were locked and accompany her almost everywhere for the next two months.
His proposal had been so out of the blue, so random even for him that he had to say it seemed almost unplanned. Kurt and Quinn, who had finally dumped Finn after he decided being the night manager at the local McDonalds was the furthest he was going to get in the world had helped him plan an elaborate dinner at a five star restaurant, he was supposed to give the waiter the ring once she went to the bathroom and have him put it in her drink but she had yet to go anywhere. He was completely panicked as the waiter deposited their dinner on the table and shot him a helpless look. "Pass the salt please Noah?" she asked holding out her hand for the shaker.
"Only if you marry me!" he blurted out loud enough he had caught the attention of the entire restaurant.
"What?" she asked looking around hesitantly at the people watching them.
"I want you to marry me, you're insane, you talk too much, you don't know when to let things go, you're so OCD it drives me up a wall but you're my psychotic midget and I want everyone to know it." He blurted out he heard an older couple to their right chuckle at his announcement while everyone else watched wide eyed. He fumbled in his jacket for a moment his eyes staying locked on hers opened wide and shocked. He pulled the small black box out of his pocket and opened it the platinum band shining in the light of the candle between them.
"You think I have OCD?" she asked after a moment.
"Are you serious, everything I just said and all you got was the OCD thing!" he hissed the chuckles of the entire restaurant making him nervous.
"Well of course I'll marry you but the OCD thing seems to be an issue." She smiled at him and the entire restaurant applauded as he picked her up in his arms and kissed the hell out of her.
"I hate you!" she shouted nearly breaking every bone in his hand. It was a whopping nine months after their honeymoon and now she was ready to kill him for what she called his 'super sperm'.
"No you don't" he informed her swapping hands and throwing an ice chip at the doctor who looked up exasperated. They were having their first child and he was desperate to meet his son but the doctor was not telling him how it was going and he was irritated.
When they had found out she was pregnant it had been the happiest moment of his life, the little pregnancy test was the most beautiful thing he had seen save his wife on their wedding day. When they found out it was a boy. (After a two hour thirty minute argument over why Tony Award Puckerman was not an appropriate name and it would not persuade the judges in any way of her dedication.) His mother had sent them a crib and her father's a promise to pay the down payment on a house of their choice leading to their new home with a fully furnished nursery in honor of the glee club. A loud cry not coming from the sweat-soaked woman beside him woke him from his memory as a tear ran down his cheek at the first sight of his son.
"Ladies and gentlemen Miss. Angela Rachel Puckerman singing On My Own the Tony award winning first Broadway musical of her mother Rachel Barbra Berry-Puckerman!" the announcer moved off stage as their oldest daughter began singing the song that Noah was convinced made his wife the star that was winning a lifetime achievement award that day. He wrapped an arm around her as she smiled up at him watching their daughter perform. She had aged so had he but he still saw that same girl who had changed his life, made him a high school teacher who also coached the school's champion glee club using his wife for advice and inspiration. Despite the time gone by he still loved her and always would and their four children were a testament to how much he still loved her.
"Hard to believe huh." Quinn spoke from his right side as they watched Angela take her bows to a standing ovation. "How far we've come" she gestured to Artie, her husband who was chatting with their fourteen year old daughter in his arms to the rest of their glee club friends who were scattered through the audience.
"Not really" Rachel informed Quinn over his shoulder. "We were always destined for greatness."