Disclaimer: Don't own Glee.

Author's Note: I absolutely adore Glee so I thought I would try my hand at a Glee fic. This is inspired and named after the Everclear track Local God – it's a pretty good track so if you haven't heard it before you should give it a listen. The ending of this chapter is not the greatest in the world, but I hope that you guys enjoy it. Review and let me know what you think!

Noah Puckerman did not seem the type to cry in his bedroom let alone a public place, yet here he was, sitting on the floor in the corner of the music room, his legs splayed out in front of him. His eyes were red and despite his best attempts to remove the evidence, his cheeks still glistened with tears. Mercedes would never have walked into the room had she known he was sitting in there. Despite being the only person he ever told about the big secret, Puck and Mercedes were about as close as they had been before either of them had joined Glee.

"What?" he asked defensively. Mercedes could tell it was meant to sound menacing and slightly nonchalant, but before he could even finish the word his throat caught.

"Are you crying?" Stating the obvious perhaps, but at that moment Mercedes didn't know what else to say.

"No," he grumbled, turning away from her slightly as he tried to scrape his cheeks dry with his palms. Mercedes flashed him her best don't-bullshit-me look.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked somewhat impatiently. She didn't sound very caring but the sentiment was there.

Before he could even open his mouth to tell her to get lost she was dragging a chair over to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding almost worried by her actions.

"You obviously need someone to talk to."

"I'm fine," he mumbled.

"Your best friend just found out you knocked up his girlfriend. Things are obviously not fine."

"Finn will get over it," Puck said dismissively.

"You and Finn have been friends forever…aren't you even a little worried?"

"He doesn't love Quinn. He'll be talking to me by the end of the year."

Puck sounded so confident, like he believed what he was saying. Mercedes wanted to tell him it was bullshit but she could tell by the way he skirted over the issue that that wasn't really what was bothering him.

"So what's the problem?" Mercedes asked. Unsurprisingly Puck didn't answer. "The other day you couldn't wait for Finn to find out," she probed, "all you wanted was to have Quinn and that kid to yourself. Don't you have that now?"

Puck didn't say anything but his jaw tightened and he swallowed, hard. Mercedes quickly put two and two together.

"Finn knows but you still don't have Quinn," she concluded. Puck bowed his head, a small acknowledgement that she was right.

"I'm…not quite daddy material," he mumbled, "I've got the money and the stability but…well… Finn would never sleep with my girlfriend, no matter how much he liked her."

Mercedes decided not to voice her agreement, but her silence spoke for her anyway.

"She doesn't need me anyway," Puck continued, only slightly disheartened by Mercedes' failure to reassure him. "The kid'll get adopted as soon as it pops out and she'll be back with her parents in no time."

"She does need you," Mercedes

Puck gave a hollow laugh, "it's okay, you don't have to say that."

"But she does," she protested, "she's got nowhere to live, no money to pay for doctor's fees…no shoulder to cry on…"

"She can go to Pillsbury for that," Puck muttered.

"Don't be stupid. She's probably just thinking about Finn's feelings…it is a little soon for you two to get together."

"But we don't have to be together…I just wanna help out."

"Puck listen to me. She's homeless…homeless! By tonight she'll be knocking on your door, asking if she can just stay for a while."

"She's sleeping at Brittany's tonight."

"Yeah," Mercedes said slowly, a little thrown by the fact, "but she can't stay there forever. Sooner or later she's gonna have to find somewhere a bit more permanent and who better to turn to than her baby daddy?"

"You really think she'll change her mind?"

Mercedes gave a little laugh, "she doesn't have a choice." It took her a few seconds to realise her point had not been the most complimentary. Seeing Puck's slightly crestfallen face she quickly added, "believe it or not, she likes you. Maybe you two thought no one was looking, but everyone in glee saw the way you two would whisper and look at each other. She's probably just…punishing herself by rejecting you or thinking about Finn."

"She doesn't like me that much," Puck said dismissively, but there was an edge of hope to his voice.

"Did you see her face when you used to sing to Rachel?" Mercedes asked, smirking as Puck winced at the memory of his short-lived relationship with the ambitious starlet. "We thought she was gonna jump you after you sang Sweet Caroline."

"Seriously?" Puck asked, the faint signs of that cocky smirk returning to his face. Mercedes knew at this point that she was just inflating his ego, but continued anyway.

"Seriously," she confirmed, "sure things are a little messed up right now, but as soon as Finn gets together with Rachel, so will you two."

"Finn and Rachel?" Puck echoed. Mercedes frowned slightly at the jealous tone in his voice.

"Yeah," she said slowly, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Why do you care if Finn and Rachel get together?" she asked warily.

"Who says I care?" Puck's dismissive tone sounded genuine, but he quickly changed the subject, "You...you're not gonna tell anyone about this are you?"

"Of course not," Mercedes replied, letting the quick subject change slide.

"Cos last time you told the whole of glee and while I kind of appreciate that they all kept their mouths shut, this shit could kill my image."

"I won't tell anyone, not even Kurt."

"You swear?" Puck asked dubiously.

"Don't slushie me," Mercedes said suddenly, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"What?"

"I said don't slushie me. If I stay slushie free, your secret's safe." Puck's eyes narrowed but there was a slight smile on his face.

"I can't guarantee the team won't slushie you."

"Fine…but I want you to promise to stop doing it to me…and throwing Kurt in the dumpster!"

"Don't push it."

"I'm not the one with a reputation on the line," she said warningly.

"Fine…no slushies and throwing Kurt in the dumpster… by me," Puck reluctantly promised.

"And you'll try and convince the others to leave us alone?" Mercedes pushed.

"They won't listen to me."

"Just try."

"Alright fine, I will."

Mercedes flashed him a triumphant smile, "then your secrets safe with me."

Rachel Berry cared very little for what other people thought of her. You had to have thick skin if you wanted to make it in show business and Rachel often saw the scorn of her peers as practise for the eventual cruel dismissal she would face from casting directors. The close-minded few who would be reluctant to cast anyone who didn't have several Tonys under their belt. Besides, her peers didn't really get her. They didn't understand the importance of ambition, how all those extra-curriculars and lead roles would eventually fall in her favour.

They all thought it was part of her plan to steal Finn from Quinn - only partly true. She told because she had to. It wasn't fair, that Finn was stressing himself out and pretending to be a wheelchair just so Quinn Fabray could salvage some of her reputation. Neither Quinn nor Finn seemed angry with her, but the rest of New Directions had looked at her as if she had been the one to cheat on her boyfriend with his best friend. The one that had then tried to pass off her bastard child as that of her boyfriend's, though they had yet to consummate their relationship thanks to her role in the now disbanded chastity club.

She knew she had to do something – she had just potentially destroyed that child's life. She hadn't thought much about what she was doing until she overheard Mercedes and Tina ponder Quinn's living arrangements in the bathroom. Quinn was homeless. She was pregnant and homeless. Furthermore, New Directions was now missing a twelfth member; without Finn they could not compete and it did not look like Finn was coming back anytime soon.

That was why she was standing outside the music room eavesdropping on Puck and Mercedes' conversation. It was, of course, accidental. She would never disrespect someone's privacy like that unless she suspected something was going on. Of course Mercedes didn't believe that.

She rose one eyebrow when she opened the door to see Rachel standing on the other side. Ignoring Rachel's apologies and protests she had walked off with nothing but an eye roll.

Puck wasn't so quiet.

"Berry," he said coldly, as if he were greeting an arch-nemesis.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know you were talking, I swear I wasn't listening-" he cut her off.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, his stare slightly unnerving her.

"Not long, I swear." Translation – I heard everything. Rachel may have been a great actress, but her flustered face gave everything away. "Have you been…crying?" she asked, suddenly noticing Puck's red eyes, at least she could pretend she hadn't heard the whole conversation.

"No," he mumbled, brushing his cheek self-consciously.

"Noah I am so sorry-"

"Save it Berry."

"No I'm serious. It wasn't my place to say anything and I know I should have kept my mouth shut but I couldn't. It wasn't fair. What you were doing just…wasn't fair on him," she explained earnestly, her eyes getting bigger and bigger as she went on.

"And of course you wanted to be the shoulder to cry on, the one who looks out for him, the only one he can trust," he said scornfully, too miserable to fully enjoy her horrified expression.

"No!" she protested, " I would never do something like that for personal gain."

"Sure." Rachel winced at his sarcasm.

"Noah please don't be angry. I'm sorry!" she wailed.

She was crying now. They looked like real tears but Puck had heard her boast several times that she could cry on demand. Nevertheless her tears were making him feel uncomfortable. Whilst he knew he should really be revelling in her guilt, he had often wished this day would come; things were just not going according to plan. Puck was not about to apologise and he did not quite feel like telling her that he did not blame her, because he did. Things would have gone so much better if he and Quinn had told Finn themselves.

Rachel did not try and stop Puck when he walked away from her. She wiped away her tears as she watched his retreating figure, suddenly embarrassed by her outburst. Rachel looked up and down the now empty corridor, half expecting to see someone clutching a slushie, after all her day could not get any worse.

She waited for a few minutes, still anticipating a slushie. Rachel had always felt that they were unfair, motivated by jealously over the talent that would one day get her out of Lima, but today she knew she deserved one.

When no one appeared with a big cup she knew it was time to go home.