AUTHOR'S NOTE: HI ALL! MY NAME IS KRISTINE AND THIS IS MY FIRST EVER GLEE FIC. I'M IN LOVE WITH THE IDEA OF RACHEL AND PUCK. I'LL ADMIT AT FIRST I WAS LIKE OH MY GOSH RACHEL FINN, BUT THAT WAS BRIEF. TO BE HONEST I OFTEN FIND FINN'S CHARACTER TO BE JUST A TADBIT PAINFUL. THIS STORY IS DEFINITELY AU/AR/WHATEVER YOU CALL COMPLETELY MADE UP. RACHEL AND NOAH MAY BE OUT OF CHARACTER. I'LL DO MY BEST BUT MY VERSIONS OF THEM ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE SHOWS. I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS. IT'LL START SLOW. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT. THANKS. OH AND EMMA IS PROBABLY OUT OF CHARACTER TOO. HAHA. I MADE HER A LITTLE LESS GERMAPHOBIC MOSTLY BECAUSE I THINK HER PHOBIA MAKES HER A BIT CREEPY. THANKS AGAIN. - KRISTINE.

RATING: PG (IT'LL GO UP BECAUSE MY CHARACTERS USUALLY HAVE POTTY MOUTHS)

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NOAH, RACHEL, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS ON GLEE, BUT I DOWN ON HANNAH AND SHE'S PRETTY COOL.

CHAPTER ONE: A SHARED SECRET

Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman shared a secret. A deep, but not so dark one that would have blown the minds of all their peers at McKinley High School. In fact it was so crazy that if even someone had told you their secret, more than likely you would have laughed in their face and told them they were crazy. You see when they weren't in school surrounded by their peers, Noah Puckerman and Rachel Berry were best friends and if they were being honest with themselves probably even more than that.

They'd known each other since birth. Lima, Ohio was a small town with an even smaller Jewish population. Their synagogue was around 200 people. The majority of the members were older. There were only 8 kids their age and all of them attended the small Jewish private school in the next town. Puck had gone there until 8th grade when he moved across town and realized his ticket to getting out of Lima was football. Rachel had gone until 9th when the school was forced to cut it's drama program. They went from graduating with potentially 50 people to around 350.

When Rachel got McKinley she found out that Noah Puckerman did not attend the fine public institution she was now attending, but rather a boy known only as Puck. Puck and Noah were two completely different. An opinion that she would stand by even with a grape slushie dripping down her face and people openly mocking her. Noah didn't throw slushies in her face. Puck did. Noah didn't talk about his guys, or how he was a badass. Puck did. Noah didn't call her a gleek and a freak. Puck did. Noah would have never done that to her. She was sure of it. Still when she got to McKinley she found that unlike at their old school her and Puck were in very different social circles. It had been her idea for them to act like they didn't know each other at school. He, after all, had been the one with a reputation to protect. And this way people weren't always in their business. And the slushies? Well she got him back for those. What people didn't know is that Rachel had actually slushied him first. It was embarrassing, but she always got him back one way or another. Rachel Berry and Puck were enemies, but Rachel Berry and Noah were best friends.

- - -

"I wish you would join glee," Rachel replied before taking a long sip of water. It wasn't the first time she had made her wishes clear. Rachel wasn't known for keeping her opinions to herself. They were sitting in her den, working on their homework and watching True Life. Despite what people at McKinley High thought Rachel Berry did in fact watch MTV.

Noah laughed just like he always did. "You know that's not for me. I like performing, but-"

"But what? You're talented Noah. You're a way better singer than Finn. Hell you're a way better dancer on top of that. If you were my male lead I know we could be almost unbeatable." Rachel thought Finn was a decent singer and probably would have impressed her more if not for Noah. Once you'd done a duet with Noah there was no going back. What he lacked in range he made up for in sheer desire. She had this theory that if he started singing for a group of girls to remove their clothes, no matter what age he could make it happen. "It could be your ticket out of Lima."

"Football is my ticket out."

"Not with Tanaka at the helm. What scout is going to look at a team as bad as ours?"

"Rach-" Noah hated having this fight with her. They'd started to having it the moment Schuester had taken over glee. It only got worse when Finn decided to join the club.

"Finn does football and glee. You could do it too. I know you could." She knew she sounded a bit like a whiny child. She didn't care. She just wanted him to cave.

"I just can't."

"More like you won't. Imagine how happy it'll make Hannah."

Noah groaned. They both knew that was a low blow her bringing Hannah into this. Hannah was his grandmother and also the woman he would do just about anything for. If Hannah asked him to walk across hot coals he'd do it. He never could deny her anything. "Hannah's happy enough with our performances at her home and while yes she would tell me to join glee if she knew it was an option the only way she'd find that out is if you told her and you wouldn't do that. Please just drop it Rachel. I'm not going to join glee. I can't. I won't."

"For me?" She asked her voice barely above a whisper. "We can't win without you. I can't do this without you. I need you. I need Noah to be at McKinley High for me. We're good right now, but with you we could be great."

Noah could see just how desperate she was. Normally she said she wanted him to join glee, but she dropped it pretty quickly. And he knew she was right about everything. There wasn't a scout in this country who would look at him when they were struggling to even score a single touchdown. Finn wasn't a good enough quarterback. Tanaka wasn't a good enough coach. And to be honest he wasn't a good enough wide receiver. On top of that he did owe this to her. He had made a name for himself off of her. He had stepped on her to get to the top of the food chain. If people at their synagogue could see the way he treated her they would be ashamed. Hannah would be ashamed. She'd say he wasn't living up to his grandfather's name. Noah Cohen was a great man. He'd lost his entire family in the Holocaust, but had used his faith to guide him through the hard times. He'd be disappointed in his namesake. He looked at his best friend and knew then and there that he would do anything to help the glee club be better. Not because he cared about glee, but because he cared about her. "Fine."

"What?" Rachel faces contorted in surprise. It sounded a lot like Noah had just said fine.

"I said fine as in fine I'll do it."

Rachel thought her heart was going to explode. "You mean it?"

"Set up the audition with Schuester and you better do it quickly before I change my mind." Noah couldn't believe he was doing this. He was joining the glee club. He was going to have to sing and dance in front of an audience full of people. It was one thing to sing at Hannah's home with Rachel. Most of them were hard of hearing anyway and easily impressed.

"Thank you Noah." She hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me yet. Schuester has to deem me good enough to join." Noah pointed out.

Rachel scoffed. "Oh he'll take you. If he doesn't I'll quit."

"Are you sure I can do this?" He asked quietly. Normally he wasn't this vulnerable. Neither Noah nor Puck showed emotion very well. In fact the most emotion he showed was the occasional longing stare. He wasn't like Finn who broke down pretty regularly. But there was a part of him who worried that Rachel was biased because she was his best friend. That the people at Hannah's home loved him was because he was her grandson and they just like to be entertained. What if he was mediocre at best?

Rachel gently squeezed his hand. "As sure as I was that Kurt Hummel was gay and you know I've got the highest powered gaydar in the state of Ohio."

- - -

Will Schuester watched quietly as Puck took the stage. He'd been surprised when Rachel had told him that Puck was interested in trying out. He was even more surprised though that Rachel had been the one to know about Puck's interest. Wouldn't it have made more sense if it had been Finn or one of the Cheerio's? "What'll you be playing today Puck?"

"Tiny Dancer," Puck replied before strumming the familiar chords on his guitar. He willed his heart to stop pounding in his chest. He tried to pretend that Mr. Schue was the audience from Hannah's home.

Will was first impressed with how well Puck played guitar, but was almost floored when Puck opened his mouth. He would have never guessed just how good Puck's voice was. Was this really the same guy who spent a better part of his days torturing glee club members? He allowed Puck to finish before letting the young man know his decision though he knew after the first verse of the song what his answer was, "Welcome to glee club Puck. Bring the guitar with you tomorrow."

- - -

Emma Pillsbury thought her jaw was going to hit the floor when she saw Rachel Berry jump into Noah Puckerman's arms. She had been on her way to the teachers lounge when she saw the young girl squeal and jump into her nemesis' arms. She waited for them to disappear from sight before rushing into the auditorium where Will was grading papers. "You'll never guess what I just saw."

"You'll never guess what I just discovered." Will countered. "You go first though."

"I just saw Rachel Berry jump into Noah Puckerman's."

Will's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It did make sense though. I mean Rachel was the one who said Puck was interested in joining glee. "You don't think…"

"That they're secretly dating?" Emma supplied for him, "Maybe. Crazier things have been known to happen."

"Puck just joined glee club. He can sing Emma. And I mean sing. He's Paul McCartney to Finn's Ringo Starr. Rachel is the one who set up his audition."

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this." Emma loved mysteries. She knew she could crack this one. Plus things at the guidance counselors office had been mostly slow.

"Keep me posted."

"I will." She started to leave but hesitated. "I like your sweater."

Will looked down and smiled. "Thanks Terri bought it for me."

Of course she did, Emma thought miserably. "Well she certainly has good taste. See you later Will. I'll let you know if I find anything out."

- - -

Noah walked into the practice room and wanted nothing more than to go sit beside Rachel. It was terrifying being in a classroom full of people who he had spent a great deal of time torturing. He sat down beside Santana and tried to ignore all of their stares. He did manage to quickly catch Rachel's eye. He frowned when Finn walked in and she turned all of her attention on him.

"So as you all can see we've got a new member today." Will announced to the class. "And because of that I thought we would switch things up a little bit. Today we're going to pair up into duet groups." He allowed that information to sink in before continuing. "Artie and Mercedes, Tina and Matt, Santana and Mike, Kurt and Quinn, Brittany and Finn, and finally Puck and Rachel. You can pick the songs. You'll present them at the next glee meeting."

Finn looked at Rachel and expected for her to be furious, but was surprised to see that she seemed pleased with the pairings. Well he sure as hell wasn't. He was the lead. He was supposed to be the one singing with Rachel. Not Puck. What the hell was Puck even doing here? When did he start singing? He couldn't remember a single occasion when he'd heard Puck he even mumble a song let alone belt one out. He scrambled over to where Mr. Schue was looking at some sheet music. "Mr. Schue I think you've made a mistake."

"What do you mean Finn?"

"You put me with Brittany."

"I know I did."

"But you put Puck with Rachel…" Finn stammered.

"I know that too. We're just trying something new out Finn."

Noah watched Finn whine to Mr. Schue and did his best to suppress the smirk that desperately wanted to play on his lips. Finn Hudson wasn't used to not getting what he wanted. Well other than getting in Quinn Fabray's pants. "I hope you aren't too torn about not getting paired with Finn."

Rachel was surprised by the venom in Noah's voice but chalked it up to him playing the part. Just because he was in glee didn't mean the world needed to know about their little secret. For the time being it would remain theirs and just theirs. She figured if he was going to stay in character then maybe she should too. "I think I can make do."

If you watched closely you would have seen him flinch just a little. He knew Rachel hadn't noticed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well we could do Ain't No Mountain High Enough and then Lilah Tov. You know it's everyone's favorite. What do you think?"

"Sounds good," Noah began to gather his things. He couldn't stand being there. It was one thing to know that she fawned over Finn. It was another thing be forced to see it. "If that's all then we'll meet at your house later to practice."

"Um okay," Rachel didn't understand why he seemed so distant. This guy sitting next to her wasn't Puck but Noah was never like this. "Is everything okay?" she dropped her to voice to barely above a whisper.

"It's fine. Go console Finn about getting paired with Brittany. See you later Berry." He snatched his things up and strolled out of the classroom.

Rachel stood there in shock and watched him go. Finally after a few moments and when she realized that people were probably staring and turned on her heel. "I guess Puck's a bit of a Barbara Streisand," she joked.

- - -

Finn gently grabbed Rachel's arm as she started to leave the practice room. "Can you believe Mr. Schue?"

"What?" She was busy thinking about why Noah had acted the way he had. She was sure of one thing. He wasn't acting. He was mad at her and she wasn't sure why. And it was definitely Noah who was mad at her and not Puck.

"I said can you believe Mr. Schue?" Finn repeated. He looked at her with interest. He would have thought Rachel would be more upset. Her and Puck hated each other after all. Puck did do everything he could to torment the petite girl. And she was crazy about him. Shouldn't she have been just as upset as he was. "Why would he put you with Puck and me with Brittany?"

"Like he said he was just trying to shake things up a bit. I think he wanted to test us out with other partners. And Puck really is quite good."

"How would you know that? I'm his best friend and I've never even heard him sing before."

Rachel froze. She hadn't thought of that. She smiled and cleared her throat. "I heard his audition. I was waiting to talk to Mr. Schue about a costume idea and saw it. He was really quite good." She was happy that Finn was a bit dim or he would have seen through her lie. He would have noticed the way her eye twitched just slightly as she told it.

"Oh," Finn mumbled, "Still I'm the male lead."

Rachel started to say for now, but stopped herself. Normally Finn could have said how now brown cow and she would have swooned but right now all she wanted to do was go home and wait for Noah to come over. She had to know what was wrong with him. "Well I've got to be going Finn. Good luck on your duet."

Finn stood there shocked as Rachel Berry was the one who left him standing there.

- - -