Unchained Melody (One-Shot?)
Rachel had known it was a dream. She had a lot of dreams, and she remembered most of them, but this one was . . . unlike any dream she had had, ever. Now, this dream started out like a dream she often had about Finn: She was standing alone in the middle of a dance floor, all around her couples were slow dancing to the end of an unrecognizable love song and there she was all alone. This was where it got weird. See normally, Finn would step through the crowd of people and ask her to dance as "Can't Help Fallin' in Love" began to play. However, it wasn't Finn who stepped through the crowd, dressed in a 50's war uniform, hat and all, looking more dashing than Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain". No, this time, it was Noah Puckerman who had made his way across the hardwood floor of the base gymnasium to gather her up in his arms and dance their first and final dance together.
She felt like crying as a he held her in his arms, and swayed slightly to the music. From there she knew how the rest of the dream would play out, but asleep, Rachel didn't know how to stop it from happening. She knew what part was coming up, and though she wasn't saying it to Finn, it still hit her like a train hit a brick wall.
Rachel stopped dancing to stand back so that she could properly look Noah in the face, "Promise you'll come home?"
"Isn't the ring on your finger enough of a promise?" Rachel knew this is what he would say, so she responded: "Yes, it's enough of a promise – but it's not a guarantee. I don't want to lose you," She clutched at the front of his uniform in pleading urgency, "not after everything that has happened." Hot and heavy tears started welling up in her eyes, "Not before –," Her breath caught and she choked on a sob, "Not before everything that hasn't happened."
Noah pulled her close to his chest, neither one caring about Rachel's unraveling curls or Noah's tear and mascara stained uniform jacket. This was the part that Rachel really hated, because she had that feeling in the pit of her stomach even before he opened his mouth – like watching a car crash into another car: you see it happening, but there's nothing you can do to stop it, and all you can do is stand there and watch in horror.
The music changed and Noah began to sing, "Oh, my love, my darling. I've hungered for your touch a long lonely time and time goes by so slowly and time can do so much are you still mine? I need your love. I need your love. Godspeed your love to me."
Rachel and Puck had started dancing again, but the feeling never left Rachel, and the tears fell faster and faster as he continued to sing, "Lonely rivers flows to the sea, to the sea, to the open arms of the sea lonely rivers sigh 'wait for me, wait for me'. I'll be coming home wait for me."
Puck twirled her, spun her out and pulled her back in. Then the band chimed in as Puck continued the song: "Oh, my love, my darling. I've hungered for your touch a long lonely time and time goes by so slowly and time can do so much are you still mine? I need your love. I need your love. Godspeed your love to me."
As the song was ending Puck swung her out and pulled her back in one last time. Rachel knew what was going to happen next, and tears spilled rapidly down her cheeks. Noah dipped her and when she was as far back as she could go without falling, he leaned in to kiss her. And, just like always, right when their lips were about to meet, that feeling in the pit of Rachel's stomach wrenched her to awake in a sweat.
She looked over at her alarm clock. 4:26. She let out a huff of frustration, and tried – unsuccessfully – to go back to sleep. Every time she has that dream, the more real it feels. Add to that the fact that this time it was Noah Puckerman who stole the role of leading man in her little fifties fantasy. Rachel rolled in her bed so that she could lie on her side. What did all of this mean? Did it mean she should let go of the torch she'd been carrying for Finn and go after Puck? Or did it mean absolutely nothing at all, and it was just one of those one-time-only deals?
Rachel got up long before her alarm clock was set to go off and hopped onto her elliptical. Maybe some morning exercise would help sort out the substitution of Finn for Noah. When she went to get breakfast, in stead of having her normal breakfast, which usually consisted of at least a banana, an apple, a protein shake, a health cereal and a glass of orange juice, this morning she had grapes, an instant breakfast, and apple juice.
When she saw the replacement of her normal breakfast Rachel complained to the father that had not yet left for work, "Why, daddy? Why should I have grapes over a banana? Or apple juice over orange juice? What's wrong with those things?"
Sensing that his daughter wasn't just talking about breakfast items, her father said, "Well, what's wrong with grapes? Don't you like them, too? Or are the grapes bad?"
Rachel played with the small purple fruit on her plate. "No, there's nothing wrong with the grapes. Yes, I like them as well, if not more than I like the bananas."
"Oh, I see. So, why were you so distraught by them replacing the banana? I mean, bananas will always be there if you decide you prefer them to grapes, but why not try the grapes – if only for a little while – see how you like them, see if you wouldn't mind adding them into your diet semi-permanently."
"I don't know. I really, really like the bananas though. I mean, the grapes are okay, they're sweet when you get them at the right time, but sometimes they can just be bitter."
"Name one fruit you've had that you haven't eaten either too bitter or too ripe."
Rachel stilled her toying and thought about all the fruits she'd had. Not one of them had she ever had perfect every time she'd eaten them.
Rachel saw Puck in the school parking lot the next day and burst into tears when Unchained Melody came on the radio.
A/N: Well, I wrote this a while ago, like during the first season ^.^ so it's a bit OOC. Um, it's definitely AU, in case I didn't already make that clear...um, so yeah, read and review please because I need to be critiqued to become a better writer. Thank you so much for reading :D