Title: Always Love

Pairing: Rachel x Mike and minor Puck x Quinn.

Warnings:Will contain bullying, mentions of such and some profanities. This fic is set in an AU which means that a lot of things may not go according to the show and the characters may be somewhat OOC because I haven't really gotten a grip around them yet. But I will do my best to keep them in character. I apologize if I missed anything. Enjoy!

Characters: Rachel, Mike, Quinn & Puck.

Word Count: 3, 239

Chapter one: Goodbye Glee

Michael Chang was really good at blending in. Unlike Puck or any of the other people in Glee he didn't feel the need to get attention from people unless it was about something he felt strongly about. Like dancing. Mike loved dancing and when he danced he wanted people to see him. Because he was never as much in control over things as when he was dancing and that he wanted to be recognized for. The control.

Mike also prided himself in being extremely observant. That didn't say much in the current company. Granted, his fellow friends in Glee were extremely talented but none of them could claim that they were even the slightest bit observant. If they were they would have noticed that someone was missing.

When Mike stretched his hand up in the air Mr. Schue looked like he was going to choke on the air he was breathing.

"Yes, Michael?"

Even his friends looked as if him speaking was a miracle on its own. Mike ignored them and fought the impulse to sigh deeply.

"Where's Rachel?" he asked.

It took a few seconds before people reacted and then their only reaction was to look around in the room. It took a lot for Mike not to roll his eyes again. It was as if they didn't know Rachel Berry at all. If she had been there then she wouldn't have been quiet. They wouldn't have been able to miss her. Also, how could they not have noticed that the most brightly and uniquely dressed person in the room wasn't there? Every eye in the room turned to Quinn when the blonde slowly raised her hand.

"Yes, Quinn?"

"I was going to tell you guys…" she started and took a deep breath while fiddling with the skirt on her dress. "Rachel has decided to quit Glee."

Laughter. That was the first reaction. And it came from various places across the room. Kurt Hummel, Santana Lopez and Mercedes Jones laughed the loudest.

"As if…" Mercedes managed to say while still laughing.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed and struggled to breathe. "That would be too good to be true."

"Besides, why would man hands quit? That would mean that someone else would get a solo for a change." Santana added before continuing to work on her nails. Brittany nodded from the chair next to her. Mike wasn't entirely sure that she knew what was going on. The ditzy blonde, as loveable as she was, rarely did.

Mike could tell that Quinn was getting more aggravated by the second. Her knuckles were slowly turning white as her grip around the dress tightened and that famous ice queen expression took its place on her face. It was an expression that only meant one thing. Run.

"It doesn't matter why she quit." She stated and glanced at the people in the room ending with him and Puck. "She had a decision to make and she decided to quit. There's all there is to it."

Puck leaned over towards Mike. "Something's not right."

Mike nodded in agreement. Not only was it a shock to find out that Rachel had quit Glee but it was a shock that she had chosen Quinn Fabray out of all the people in the world to pass the message to the rest of the club. None of them seemed to believe what they were being told. Not even Mr. Schue who every now and again looked at the door of the auditorium as if he was expecting Rachel to walk in.

"You didn't know about this Mr. Schue?" Mike asked. This time hardly no one reacted when he spoke.

"This is the first time I've heard about this." He said and shrugged. He must have realized that there was a lot of confusion and discouragement in the group because he forced a smile on his face. "I realize this isn't optimal guys but we'll make it work. With or without Rachel, we can win this year too. There are a lot of strong voices who can take the solos until I figure out what's wrong here."

Puck laughed out loud and that earned him several glares from the likes of Mercedes and Mr. Schue. Mike put his hand in front of his mouth to hide the smile that broke out.

"Are you kidding me?" Puck asked but didn't wait for anyone to answer. "Without Berry, we are fucked. She is the most talented of us and she is the only reason we got to the finals last year. Hudson's horrible dancing could only be carried up by the pipes on that girl."

The protests came within seconds and amongst the upset voices Mike made out Mercedes saying hell to then no, Santana cursed in Spanish and based on the expression on Mr. Schue Mike was more than grateful that he didn't speak the language good enough to understand what she was saying. Kurt was one of the few who didn't bother speaking but the way he rolled his eyes said more than enough. Puck glared at them with his stone face set firmly on place and didn't look as if any of it was bothering him.

"Settle down guys," Mr. Schue spoke and the attention were effectively pulled away from Puck. "I realize that this isn't looking good for us. You have every right to feel disappointed about this but Puck is wrong. Rachel Berry is a talented girl but that doesn't mean that we depend on her to win. We can do it on our own, am I, right?"

The shouts lacked some serious enthusiasm Mike thought as he watched his friends. Not that he didn't understand why. Some of them, just as Puck, realized that they were going to lose and without Rachel they probably as he so beautifully had put it were fucked. Mr. Schue didn't seem to notice.

"Great job guys," he said and clapped his hands together. "It was nice seeing you and I will see you again after school for our first practice."

Puck leaned towards Mike again on the way out of the auditorium.

"Something is really fucking wrong. I'm going to talk to Quinn. We need to find out why the fuck Berry quit Glee." Puck looked for the blonde but she was already by the door out of the auditorium and didn't look as if she were planning on slowing down.

"Do you care about why she quit?" Mike asked as he followed Puck out.

"Fuck no! I don't care about crazy Berry. I just think that I deserve to know the truth if I'm going to go up on stage with these fuckers and make an idiot out of myself." Puck rolled his eyes and aggressively pushed Kurt out of the way so that he could leave the auditorium first.

Mike followed just behind. He would never tell Puck but he didn't sound convincing at all.

GLEE

Rachel Berry walked into school a whole fifteen minutes later than normal on the first day back. And she did it on purpose. She held her books close to her chest and managed to look at the clock only two or three times during the short time it took for her to get to her locker. By now the cat was probably out of the bag. The news had been shared. The truth had been revealed.

Rachel Berry had quit Glee-club.

That was a sentence Rachel never thought she'd hear or even think. But there she was. Not only was it a thought in her head it was the truth. She had after a lot of thought just up and left without telling anyone. Oh well, hardly anyone. Quinn Fabray, out of all the people, knew that she was quitting. If anyone would have told her a year ago, that she would have quit Glee by now she would have laughed them straight in the face. That wasn't an option. Yet there she was by her locker while the others were still at the meeting.

It had been a hard decision, Rachel thought. She had thought about it for months before deciding that she was going to quit. Despite the hours, she spent thinking about it Rachel was shocked that she had actually gone through with it. Almost as shocked as she was about the support Quinn had given her. It was Quinn Fabray, she thought several times, the girl who bullied her relentlessly for years and all of the sudden she was Rachel's biggest supporter. Not only that but she had told Rachel to wait for her by Quinn's locker. Apparently, she wasn't dropping her like a stinking fish because summer was over.

Rachel walked with her head facing downwards, hoping that she wouldn't run into any of the members from Glee, and almost walked into several people on the short way to Quinn's locker. Her head was spinning with thoughts. Mostly she thought about Glee-club and what kind of reaction her leaving would get from the rest of the members. Quinn's first reaction had been shock. She had resembled the famous painting 'The Scream' when Rachel told her about her thoughts. But the resemblance became smaller the more Rachel explained and when she was finished Quinn seemed to understand.

"Hey Rach," Quinn's voice had the girl look up from the floor and see a small but existing frown on the Quinn's face.

"Hello Quinn," Rachel responded and tried her best to ignore the looks people were giving her. She thought about asking how it went but couldn't seem to get the words out. One part of her was sure of the fact that she didn't want to know and knowing would only make things worse. The other however was too curious to care. "How was Glee?"

Quinn gave her a look and sighed deeply. "Dramatic. Schue didn't even give us a theme for the week. He was too busy trying to create order out of the chaos that erupted when I told everyone you decided to quit."

"Oh."

"You haven't changed your mind, have you?"

"No," Rachel shook her head. "Absolutely not! I've made my decision and I'm going to stand by it."

"That's good, Rach. I'm proud of you." Quinn picked up her books and held them with one arm when she slammed her locker shut. "So, as we agreed I didn't tell anyone why you decided to quit. I just told them that it didn't matter."

"Good."

"But you may have to come up with a good lie." Quinn continued. "And you need to do it fast."

"Why is that?"

Quinn looked at a point over Rachel's shoulder making the girl turn her head around. What she saw caused her to give a tiny shriek and without another word she hurried down the corridor. She had just enough time to tell Quinn with a shout that she was going to their first class and they would see each other later. Quinn didn't know if she was going to laugh or cry at the sight.

"Where did Berry go?" Puck asked the moment he and Mike arrived at Quinn's locker.

"She said she was going to class." Quinn eyed him. He was always good-looking but nowadays she knew there was more to him than just good looks. "Is there a reason you're looking for her?"

"Cut the crap, Fabray." Puck didn't snarl at her anymore and that annoyed voice, almost whining, was about as far as he would take it when she made him irritated. "I think we deserve to know why she's leaving us hanging with this bunch of losers. If we're going to make complete idiots out of ourselves then we should at least know why."

Quinn's cell phone vibrated and she began frowning from looking at the screen. "Yeah sure!" she said sounding distracted. "Look Puck… Mike… I've got to go. But I will see you guys later."

Neither of the two boys had time to object before she was walking down the hallway tapping away on her phone while she held the books in a tight grip underneath her arm. Puck glanced at Mike who still looked as confused as he had when it had first been announced that Rachel was quitting Glee-club. Puck didn't blame the guy. Other than himself and Quinn, himself because he was all-knowing and Quinn because well who knew, no one could have guessed Rachel was even thinking about quitting.

"Are we going to give up?" Mike asked.

"Of course, not," Puck answered as they headed down the hallway to their first class. "Like I said, I want answers and I'm going to get them some way."

GLEE

Rachel had received a text message from Quinn, short after running away from now Noah and Mike, telling her that they were determined to find out why she was quitting Glee. That in combination with the possibility of being cornered by the other members of Glee put Rachel on her toes when it was time for lunch. And really who could blame her? Rachel chose a table at the corner of the room. Her eyes were glued to the floor while she walked. She knew she couldn't avoid them forever but she could at least lessen the anxiety that came with the confrontation by not seeing them until it was too late. She recognized that was faulty logic but didn't really care that much.

I'm on my way! – Quinn

Rachel sighed. She had her headphones in her pocket and longed to put them in so that she could disappear into her own little word if only for a moment. She looked at the entrance of the cafeteria. At some point, she was going to have to face the other member of Glee. Rachel knew that. She was hoping it would happen when Quinn was with her. One could say a lot of things about Quinn Fabray but she was more than capable of standing up for herself and the people around her. Rachel was normally very good at that too but at the moment her mind was pointing in another direction.

"Hey Rachel,"

She looked up from the spot on the table to which her eyes had been glued to. "Oh, hello Michael." The girl who had never suffered from stage fright or being nervous in general suddenly felt her mouth go dry and her palms were sweaty. "How was your summer?" she asked to push the inevitable question to another time.

"It was good. How was yours?" Mike leaned his hands onto the chair and tilted his feet back and forth. Rachel had always thought he had a nice smile. He was one of the few football players who never did anything to her – well her and Matt – and because of that Rachel was a bit sweet on them so to speak.

She shrugged. "It was acceptable."

"That's good." Mike nodded and when he was looking the other way Rachel threw a glance at the entrance again. "Can I sit?"

She could see Quinn standing there with Noah. Though Rachel wouldn't say they had been friends for very long she could still see the look of pure annoyance on Quinn's face. It wasn't up to her normal standards of glaring because it was Noah standing in front of her but it was scary enough.

"Yeah sure Michael," Rachel said somewhat distracted. "Be my guest."

Mike swallowed several times but didn't speak until he noticed where Rachel was looking. "So, Quinn told everyone you were quitting Glee. But she didn't tell us why."

Based on the look on Quinn's face she was winning and Noah would soon enough move out of her way. Maybe then they could go somewhere else. Rachel, who prided herself in being good at improvisation, had no lie to tell. The only thoughts that existed in her mind at that time was the truth. And she wasn't ready to reveal it.

A hand on her hand made Rachel look away from Quinn and she turned her attention to Mike. The expression on his face could only be described as waiting. Maybe some part of him thought that he could convince her to tell him the truth but Rachel wasn't sure.

"Uh, that's because I asked her not to tell you." Rachel said and saw out of the corner of her eye how Quinn and Puck made their way across the room. Quinn were still arguing with him but her words didn't seem to make any difference. He rolled his eyes a couple of times but that was it.

"Why?" Mike spoke again and caught her eyes.

"It doesn't matter." Rachel answered and pulled her hand away from him just as Quinn and Noah stopped by their table and she became silent.

Noah looked at her with wide eyes as if she was some kind of cartoon or even a ghost. People had looked at her in many different ways but never like that and for a moment Rachel wondered if she had something between her teeth. That was of course impossible since she hadn't had her lunch yet. Quinn didn't look happy and shot daggers at Noah with her eyes. As brutal as she could since it was him.

"Berry, what are you wearing? Where's the crazy colors and the ugly animal sweaters? Where is your skirts?" he asked loud enough to earn the attention of many in the cafeteria.

"I'm wearing clothes, Noah. As for the pieces of clothing you mentioned I believe they're home."

"What the fuck? Why are you talking like that?" if they hadn't been standing in the middle of the cafeteria then the situation would have been hilarious. Judging by the way Noah reacted it was as if someone had come back from the dead. "I can understand you. Why aren't you using big words?"

Mike pushed his chair back and looked at her with a frown that made Rachel squirm. "I'm going to get some studying done. I'll be in the library."

"Rachel, come on…" Quinn said. "Ignore them and stay. You need to eat something."

"I'm okay, Quinn." Rachel gave her a smile. "I'm not that hungry anyway. I'll see you in class later."

"Rachel…" the brunette didn't stop but headed out of the cafeteria with her food still on the table. Quinn turned around to glare first at Puck and then Mike. "Why did you have to do that? I told you it didn't matter why she chose to quit in Glee today."

"It matters Fabray."

"No, Puckerman! It doesn't matter why she chose to quit. Rachel Berry quit Glee and you should respect that." she snapped and showed him that having a baby didn't in anyway make her less of an ice queen if she was needed to. "No if you excuse me, I need to do some damage control."

Quinn glared at them one last time before heading out and Mike almost fell off his chair from the pure anger that shone at them. He had never been stabbed but Mike was sure that was pretty much how it felt. Metaphorically speaking of course.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Mike asked. "I think we should let it go. She obviously doesn't want anyone knowing."

"Let it go?" Puck scoffed and sat down next to Mike. "The Puckerone isn't about to let anything go. Especially not this."