My Guardian Angel
A Glee Fan Fiction
Chapter 1

Noah Puckerman had always been there, looking out for Rachel Berry. He'd been doing that since they were younger, before they'd even started school. From the second they'd started school though, it had been clear he'd be needed to protect her from more than ways that could hurt her physically. From Rachel's first day of kindergarten, it had been clear that Puck would have to protect her from the bullies as well. As they got older, it got worse than him just glaring to get somebody to stop mid-insult. Instead, it started to get physical. And that was when Noah had finally become Puck. He couldn't stand seeing the tears well up in her beautiful, dark brown eyes. He couldn't stand seeing her nervously adjust her long, dark locks of hair. So, he'd decided to become her number one bully and mark her as his target.

From the first time he'd slushied her-starting that trend for every single jack ass in the school-it had become clear that Puck was the only person allowed to mess with Rachel. It had been clear from the first time David Karofsky had tossed a slushy in her face and Puck had pinned him to a locker. It had been clear when Azimio had cornered her in a hallway, tossing insults at her casually as she started to shrink to an even smaller size than she already was and Puck had dragged him away, giving him a swift punch to the face. Rachel had been marked as Puck's from that point on, and though nobody could quite understand the reason behind his desire to be her only bully, nobody bothered to question it. Because nobody messed with Noah Puckerman, after all.

He'd worked hard, defending her from Santana Lopez's constant attacks ("Actually, I sort of like her.") and Finn Hudson's heart breaking ways ("Come on, walk with me,"). And, of course, he'd been there when she'd found out about her mother, being the only one to really care-or notice-that she was missing from rehearsal ("Wait-where's Rachel?") And then there had been that jack ass of a boyfriend she'd found at the library. The one from Carmel back in sophomore year-Jesse St. James. Puck had tried countless times to spare her the heartbreak from that dick ("If you cheated on me with that Jesse kid, your reputation would sky rocket,") but it had all been futile at the end. Jesse had broken her heart and shattered her soul, and Puck had not handled it well. ("It is when the question's what's the best way to mess up that Jesse kid's face!").

Still, that hadn't exactly been enough to keep her safe. While Puck had worked his ass off for most of his high school life to keep Rachel safe from harm-especially from heart breaking ass holes who just thought of her as another conquest-he'd failed her. He'd worked hard throughout high school, trying to protect her, and he'd thought that he'd done an excellent job at protecting her, but in all reality, he'd failed, and he just couldn't figure out why or how he'd failed. He was Noah Puckerman, the school's bad ass, who nobody messed with. And, Rachel's bullying had stopped over the last few years, once she'd joined Glee club, and he'd wanted to believe that that was because of him and his actions to keep her safe.

But he was wrong. The real reason behind her newfound safety at school was not because of Puck. And he would be fine with that if he could safely and honestly say that Rachel's bullying had ended because of a change in personality or a new wardrobe. If he would be able to handle it if Rachel was now safe because the school had realized how talented she was. If it had been caused by a new friendship with some new, popular people, he wouldn't really be too bothered. But, instead, her bullying had ended at the hands of some other boy. And that put his feathers in a tiff, because he was supposed to be Rachel Berry's guardian and protector. Yet, the real reason-the only reason-behind the end of her bullying that had been going on for years, was because of Finn Hudson.

Her new boyfriend. The boy who got everything. Finn, the jerk who had led Rachel on throughout sophomore year, while he was dating Quinn Fabray-who, contrary to all belief, Puck did not love-at the same time. Finn Hudson, the boy who had lied to her about being a virgin, when in reality, he'd slept with one of her biggest tormentors. Finn Hudson, the inconsiderate ass hole who had wrecked her after she'd been healed from the Jesse incident. Finn, who had stopped her from getting a new boyfriend, while he went on top be with another girl-the girl he would always pick over Rachel. Finn Hudson, who had only wanted her back when it was clear that she'd finally moved on and didn't want him anymore. When it was clear she was going to go somewhere in her life.

So, while Puck had managed to protect her from scraped and skinned knees during pre school and torn stockings throughout elementary school-while he'd been able to stop jerks who only liked girls for their bodies and their faces-and how much skin they were willing to show during school and how far they were willing to go after wards-while he'd stopped the jerks from treating her like shit because she wasn't a cheerleader or a member of a club that was deemed appropriate by them-Puck tended to wonder who made them the leaders of the social pyramid, but he'd never bothered to really ask-while he'd been the one to protect her from every little thing that could have possibly harmed her in her life, he had failed her in protecting her from her biggest enemy.

Herself. She loved too much. She fell for people too hard and too fast. Like Finn Hudson. She'd developed feelings for him, and as soon as he'd acted interested in her in response, she'd decided that she loved him. And, when he'd realized that she was going to manage bigger and better things than him in his life, he'd decided to take that chance from her. While getting her pregnant would ruin things for him if he decided last minute that he no longer wanted her and could do better, proposing to her was the perfect way to keep her from leaving Lima-from leaving him. So, he'd asked her to marry him. And when she hadn't said yes right away, Puck had figured that maybe she didn't need protecting from making a big mistake.

But now she was with him, standing by their lockers, with a wide smile on her face as she spoke to him animately. He was nodding, a confused, dopey grin on his face-that was the same smile that made Puck wonder what girls possibly saw in him. Puck stopped, standing a few feet away, listening to their conversation intently as she spoke about her feelings and her future. As she talked to him about things that didn't matter and were quite pointless. And Finn just kept on nodding, before finally blurting out that he needed her answer. THat he wanted to know what her answer was, and he wanted to know soon. And that was when Puck took a small step closer, zoning in on their conversation and hearing the single worst word of his life.

"Yes."