Hey everyone! All you need to know is that Puck is the only Gleek that didn't go to McKinley. In fact, he has no relation to anyone who did.
Plus, I don't own Glee, The Voice or any of the songs mentioned here.
This was it. The moment Rachel had been waiting her whole life for.
Well, that wasn't exactly true. What she had really been waiting for had been Broadway, but Broadway hadn't wanted her. After countless auditions and months waiting tables at Dino's Pizzeria, probably the dirtiest hole in the wall in all of New York City, Rachel had given up. She had decided that her 30,000 dollar education from Juilliard was all for nothing and she was moving back to Lima. Mr. Schuester was retiring or becoming at stay-at-home dad and he had offered Rachel his position as the music teacher/Glee coach. If she couldn't make it on Broadway, she'd go back to where it all started. As soon as she decided she had given up on her dreams of ever gracing a stage again, she had come home to a very excited roommate.
She and Santana had hated each other in high school. Then they had both ended up in New York City and they had formed a tentative friendship. Being the only ones out of their Glee friends to get out to the East coast seemed to isolate them, and both girls reached out to each other for some hometown comfort. After four years, they were now the best of friends. Unlike Rachel, Santana's financial situation had been flourishing. Santana graduated from Fordham law school at the top of her class and worked in one of the top firms in the city. She had a reputation of being cutthroat and getting exactly what her client wanted. Because of Santana's financial situation, the girls managed to snag a premium apartment on the Upper East Side. Rachel paid her rent in home cooked meals since Santana couldn't cook.
Santana was entirely responsible for the predicament Rachel now found herself in and Rachel didn't know if she should hug the girl or suffocate her. Rachel had come home with a speech prepared, ready to break the news to Santana that she was moving back to Lima. Instead, Santana had flung a flyer in Rachel's face and run out the door for a date. That night Rachel had spent hours staring at the flyer, contemplating her options. It was a flyer to audition for a new talent show called The Voice filmed out in Los Angeles. Rachel wasn't sure if she even wanted to audition. She had put all her hopes and dreams into Broadway and that had been such a terrible letdown. What if this was the same thing? In the end, Rachel mailed away her audition tape, the one with her rendition of "On My Own," and went to bed with a heavy heart, sure that nothing would come of this new attempt.
It took three weeks to get the notice that Rachel would advance to the filming of the shows audition round. When they had gotten the letter both Rachel and Santana had screamed for a solid twenty minutes. Then they had proceeded to go out and get drunk. The only catch was that Rachel would have to live in Los Angeles for the duration of the show. She was sad to leave Santana, who had to work, but Mercedes had agreed to let her stay in her extra room. It would be great to see and hang out with her again. They hadn't seen or talked to each other since graduation.
Finally, the day of the audition came. The way this round worked is Rachel would sing in front of four judges (Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Augielera, and Cee Lo Green) who would all have their backs turned to her. If one of the judges wanted her on his or her team they would turn their chair. If more than one judge wanted her Rachel would get to decide who she wanted to coach her. She was so nervous she had patted her down a million times. Mercedes and surprisingly Kurt were waiting for her in the family support room. All she had to do was nail this.
"It's your turn, sweetie," the overtan woman said with a smile. Rachel took a deep breath and walked out on stage, where she proceeded to nail her rendition of "Rolling in the Deep." As it neared the end of the song, Rachel was sure that this last attempt at stardom was futile, and then almost as if in silent agreement every single judge turned their chairs. Rachel barely finished she was grinning so hard. Everyone made their arguments of why she should be on their team, but Rachel remembered how much fun she had when Ms. Holiday had sung Forget You that one time in Glee and Rachel picked Cee Lo.
After that everything was a whirlwind of activity. She vaguely remembers hugging Mercedes and Kurt so hard that she thought her arms were going to fall off, and one of them had dialed her dads and they all had squealed some more about the whole epicness of the situation. Only much later when she's curled in bed with her Miss Piggy pajamas on does she dial Santana.
"I knew you could do it diva," she says immediately upon answering the phone. Rachel grins because only her best friend could imagine this amazing future for her. Even if Rachel doesn't win the battle rounds, she still had this brief moment of victory. In the next hour, Santana and Rachel talked about everything that Rachel felt she couldn't say to Mercedes; all about her nerves and her hopes.
As the weeks went by Rachel waited in anticipation to battle it out with one of her fellow team members, but what she did not anticipate was that all this time waiting would lead to this exact moment, her eventual downfall. The only thing that could put a stop on her path to stardom was love. It had stopped her in high school with Finn, and it could stop her now.
His name was Noah Puckerman. He was Jewish, which made the Rachel swoon just a little inside because she knew that his religion would win him major brownie points with her daddys. Noah had the vocal range to keep up with Rachel and he played guitar and piano, which was amazing to Rachel since she herself had never mastered playing an instrument. He had a body made for a football player, which is exactly how had gotten it. He was everything her high school boyfriend was not. Where Finn went along with every decision Rachel made, Noah argued everything. The entire eight weeks they dated, patiently waiting there turns to battle it out on the show, they fought. They fought on what movies to see, what take out to get, what their ideas about marriage and kids were. It seemed for every detail they agreed on, there were a million others they didn't. And yet if anyone had noticed or even asked about their relationship, both of them would have said that it was the easiest love they had ever experienced. Noah had quickly snuck his way into her heart and become one of her very best friends. He was passionate and kind. Noah had never hid the fact that he expected to win the competition. He had the cocky stage show presence that would get him far in the music industry, but he also had the talent. When it was announced that she and Noah would be battling it out with each other, neither was surprised. The numbers had been dwindling down and they were the only two left for the battle rounds. Still the whole situation presented a huge hurdle in their relationship, one that Rachel wasn't sure they could surpass. All week leading up to tonight, they had fought. Neither wanted to give up on the relationship, but if Rachel won Noah knew that he would go home resenting her just a little for taking the spotlight from him and vice versa. All the fighting in the world couldn't give them a solution to their predicament.
Now here she was. Noah standing next to her doing that nervous tapping with his foot she'd grown so fond of. Rachel had smoothed the pleats of her skirt a million times and taken a billion deep breaths. Rachel wished choosing between love and her dream wasn't so hard. Noah hadn't looked at her since their last fight. The fight had lasted all night and neither had gotten much sleep or practice in since then. She wished she could tell what he was thinking. Did he love her as much as she loved him or would he give her up for the dream?
As the first notes of the song started Rachel closed her eyes and poured everything she felt for Noah into the beautiful melody. She hoped he would understand all the emotions she held behind each word.
Rachel: When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love
Rachel opened her eyes to find Noah's soft brown eyes watching her.
Noah: When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love
He sang as if he was answering her back.
Rachel: I know you haven't made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I've known it from the moment that we met
No doubt in my mind where you belong
Noah: I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling down the avenue
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love
Both: The storms are raging on the rollin' sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing like me yet
Noah: I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Rachel: Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love
By the end of the song, they both had tears in their eyes and Noah's hand softly caressed Rachel's cheek. Could she really give up her dream to spend the rest of her life with this amazing man?
The judges began to talk about their performance. Rachel remembers Adam briefly mentioning something about their acting abilities; their ability to convey such raw emotions towards each other. What no one knew was those raw emotions were real. What they were all watching was Rachel's heart fall apart because any minute now she would lose one of the two great loves of her life; music or Noah.
As Cee lo started making his decision Rachel turned to Noah and caught his gaze this was the moment that would define everything, and yet. Rachel would lose something either way.
"Noah Puckerman!" the judge yelled and Rachel let out a breath of air. Carson went to ask Noah how he felt about the win and Rachel was quickly escorted off the stage, but as she got to the corner of the stage, mike still in hand, she heard,
"No, I'm sorry, I have to decline. Rachel should have the spot. She's far more talented than I am and she wants this more." Noah said.
Rachel heard the collective shock ringing from the entire room. Why would he do this; fight so hard for something just to give it up?
"Are you sure about this?" Carson asked Noah and looking at all the judges Rachel could see that no one understood. She wasn't even sure she understood what Noah was doing.
"Like the song says, there's nothing I wouldn't do," Noah said and got down on one knee.
"Rachel, I fought you so hard about this competition because I didn't want to give something I've been working my whole life for, but you are worth more than anything I could possibly get out of this competition. Losing you would be the biggest tragedy I'd ever go through. I know this is crazy, but you've quickly become my best friend. Be my best friend forever, Rachel? Be my wife?" he said.
It was official, Noah Puckerman was certifiably insane, and Rachel was going along for the ride.
"Yes," she said and the crowd went wild.
Please Review Tell me if you guys want a sequel. I might do the rest of the competition.
Plus, if you read Attacking the Wild Animal. I will get another chapter up sometime early next week. Hopefully more than one. I'll work on it all weekend.