Return To Sender

When Noah Puckerman had left her sitting on the bleachers after telling her in very few words that there was no chance in hell of them being friends, Rachel Berry vowed that she had done the right thing and that she shouldn't regret breaking off their sham of a relationship. Yet, no matter how much she convinced herself that it was the right thing to do, she still couldn't get the injured expression he had worn out of her mind. Did she make a mistake in breaking up with him? Maybe he wasn't using her, and he had actually developed feelings for her? Whatever the case was, Puck had made it perfectly clear that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with her. So why shouldn't she have been surprised when he approached her in the halls the next day and fell into step with her and walked to Glee practice with her? After the first few times of him accompanying her to her classes Rachel realized that it was Puck's contorted attempt at an apology for his hurtful words, he was letting her know that he did want to try and have a friendship with her. Their friendship grew slowly and produced feelings that may have been a little more than "friendly" in Rachel, not that she would ever let Puck know.

Puck hadn't ever thought that his fling with Rachel Berry would have been anything but what it was, just a fling. She was a gleek for fuck's sake! She was a hot gleek that was for sure, but she was scary as hell at the best of times and was always annoying and persistent, except for when she sang. When she sang she was gorgeous and almost normal. Well, what could be defined as normal when dealing with the overbearing starlet. How was he to know that when she broke up with him that it would hurt so bad? How was he to know that he would actually care a little more for the singing freak than he thought and want to be friends with her? He had followed her around starting the day after their break-up and she eventually realized that his escorting her to her classes and to Glee was his version of an apology, hell, it was the best she was going to be getting. Puck wasn't really known for his riveting words, he showed his thoughts and feelings through actions more, which was probably why he started flirting with her again almost as soon as she had forgiven him for being harsh.

Neither teen expected the truth of Quinn's baby's daddy to come out in the way that it did. Rachel had been oblivious to the truth, just like everyone else had been until one day, shortly before school got out for the summer, and shortly before Quinn's due date, Finn had rushed up to his best friend and punched him hard in the jaw. He screamed at Puck for being such a douche and asshole, he wanted to know what he had done to Puck that had even made the left tackle go behind his back and sleep with Quinn and knock her up. It was the first day Rachel had to choose between two boys that she had prayed she wouldn't have to choose between. In the end she stayed in the neutral zone along with Mr. Schuester, trying to calm Quinn down so that the baby wasn't injured and trying to make sure that Puck and Finn stayed as far away from each other as possible. She had been given the job of handling Finn once things had cooled down, they had sat in his car for a few hours just talking. Finn going so far as to admit that even though Quinn had slept with Puck, Finn still loved her. He told her how he had thought of Puck like a brother, but now he was unsure what to think of his friend. Finn had cried and Rachel found herself wondering how anything would ever go back to the way it had been before.

Quinn found her way to Puck three days after the incident, her eyes red and puffy from crying so much. Finn had been ignoring her for the most part and it was starting to take it's toll on her, her life as the perfect American girl were shattering around her and Puck felt responsible for it. Sure the sex had been consensual, but he should have known better than to have not used the proper protection, he had been an idiot and both he and Quinn had paid for it ever since. When she suggested they leave, go somewhere where no one knew them he found himself agreeing, if only because he would be able to help raise his little girl, because he was sure he would be able to convince Quinn to keep the baby and raise her. They made the plans and pooled all their money together and, on the last day of school, took off, heading south to North Carolina to live with a cousin Puck had there, he knew the woman would take care of them and help them out until they could find a place of their own and get on their feet. Two weeks later Quinn went into labour and gave birth to a tiny baby girl, later named Delilah Lea Fabray. Puck wrote a letter to Rachel everyday since he had left, but never got a response.

He never sent them. They went into a shoebox in their bedroom closet. Time passed and Puck wrote more letters, describing everyday life with his daughter and her mother. Every one went into the shoebox.

Junior year was slowly winding to a close for the student's at McKinley High. For Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson the end of the year marked a milestone for them, they had survived a year without Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman, sure they still thought about them and missed them, but they had survived. They had supported each other and had received support from the other members of the Glee club as well, bringing the club closer together, moulding them into a close knit family. Santana and Brittany were no longer the bitches they had once been to Rachel, in fact, they had slowly found themselves becoming the starlet's friends. Rachel had found many possibilities stemming from her new found friendship with the two Cheerios, possibilities such as the open spot on the cheerleading team. Santana had been the one to pressure Rachel into trying out, surprisingly Sue had loved Rachel's performance and had accepted her onto the squad, bringing Rachel's non-existent popularity up drastically. Rachel had found it easy to walk around the school throughout her junior year in the revealing Cheerio uniform, it changed everybody's views on her, and it gave Rachel a confidence she never knew she could have. She had found something to do where she was respected and pushed to her limits, being on the Cheerios was rewarding. Of course she stayed in Glee, but now her life wasn't ruled by the club and she had become more humble, not lashing out at the person who got lead female instead of her, she had grown up, and Sue made her realize what she had been like before she had dated Puck.

It was on the last day of school for Junior year that Rachel got the surprise of the year. The day had been like any other day, wake up, exercise, shower, eat breakfast, say good-bye to Dad and Daddy and head to school with Finn, Noelan and Davita, the latter two were twins and had joined Glee club at the beginning of the year when they had transferred to William McKinley, it was an added bonus that they were also Jewish and saw Rachel every week at the Synagogue. Rachel's classes had gone by quickly, all they had been doing was getting their marks from their exams, then after lunch they would get their report cards and be able to go home. The kids of Glee had planned for a party at Rachel's house once they all got their report cards, six would ride with Kurt in his obnoxiously large vehicle, three would ride with Rachel, and Artie would meet up with them with another person with him. Rachel vaguely noticed the package addressed to her on the kitchen counter with all the bustle that followed her home, she had taken Santana, Brittany, and Davita with her. They were going to set up and start making the snacks and food, Rachel's fathers were out for the day, so the Gleeks had the large house to themselves. Davita and Santana cooked the food while Rachel and Brittany got the downstairs rec room ready for the party, it wasn't long before the others came arrived, and any thoughts of the odd package were driven from her head.

It wasn't until after everyone had helped clean up and left that Rachel took the package, which was surprisingly light, upstairs to her room to look at. The return address was in North Carolina but there was no name, only Rachel's. Rachel cautiously opened the package, eyebrows furrowing in confusion at the sight she beheld. There were twelve wrapped bundles of letters, the top of each marked with a month of the year, beginning at the previous June. Rachel picked up the only loose envelope and opened it and pulled out the letter contained inside.

Dear Man-Hands,
You probably don't want to see these, but it started to kill me seeing him just stuff them all away in a shoebox in our closet. Please read them and think that even if he didn't send them, he did write them. It's the thought that counts, right? And plus, I'm just helping him out. Read them in order, this is three-hundred sixty-five days of him missing ,
Q. Fabray

Rachel frowned at the letter, three-hundred sixty-five letters from Puck? She didn't know what to think about that, so instead of thinking she just picked up the bundle marked 'June (last year)' and began to read. Rachel's eyes hungered for more of Puck's writing, her heart ached for more sweet words and silly worries. It was almost as if she could hear him her her head as she read some of his problems.

"It's kinda sad really, that I won't be able to raise Delilah as a Jew because Quinn isn't Jewish."

"Puck, that's just foolish. They won't turn away a child of a Jewish man just because the mother isn't Jewish, this isn't the 1900's anymore after all. Faith is much more lenient these days, they'd welcome Delilah with open arms." She whispered to the letter in her hands, shaking her head gently at Puck's foolishness.

She reached the last letter in the box around midnight. Her hand hesitated over it before her hunger for his final words drove her forward and had her ripping open the envelope and pulling the paper out of it.

Rachel,
Damn, I've been writing letters to your for an entire year now. I've never sent a single one of them though, it's stupid, cowardly, deplorable as you'd say. I don't know why I never sent you these letters, it would be better than having three shoeboxes full of them, Quinn gets angry at me too and yells. She doesn't scare me like she did when she was pregnant, she doesn't scare me nearly as much as you would when you'd yell at me for messing up a note or for my voice cracking when I'd try to hit the high notes. Pregnant Quinn was a force to be related to you, now she's a cute little kitty cat compared to you.

I still miss you. Did you know that? Maybe if I wasn't so stupid and called you or sent these letters I wouldn't so much, but I do. And it's all my fault because I was too much of a coward, thinking that maybe you had found your senses and had taken Finn's side and didn't want to have anything to do with me. Or maybe you'd be calling me an imbecile for even thinking of something so stupid. I won't know, what I do know, though, is that this will be the last letter I write to you. It's too stupid if I'm not going to send them, and I can't send them. So this is pretty much good-bye, or maybe just a see you soon? Quinn, Delilah and I are moving, maybe we'll move back to Lima and I'll see you in school. Who knows.

(Who'd have thought that the girl I used to throw slushies at would turn out to be such a good friend, not to mention a fuckin' smokin' hot Jew that I'd totally bang?)
Noah

Rachel shook her head and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks as she read Noah's final letter. She gathered up the letters and placed them all back in their box before she sat at her desk and pulled out some paper and began to write.

"Quinn? Quinn!" His voice sounded panicked as Quinn walked into their room too lean against the door jam and watch him in amusement with a letter addressed to him in her hand.

"Where are they? Where are my letters?" Puck demanded from the blonde ex-Cheerio.

"Those letters to Rachel? Why I sent them of course, thought I'd take the task off your shoulders." Puck seemed to only glare at her as he muttered something about her meddling in his affairs too much. Quinn laughed and tossed the letter at him.

"Here, it's for you." She told him and walked out of the room when she heard Rebecca calling her name. Puck picked up the letter and examined the neat, almost perfect, cursive on the white paper. He looked towards the return address and his heart almost stopped; "Rachel Berry," it said. Puck tore open the envelope, and with unsteady fingers smoothed out the letter and drank in the few short lines she had written for him.

Dear Noah,
Could you be any more of an imbecile than you already are? How could you even think that I would jump over to Finn's side as soon as you had gone? I never would, I never have and I am appalled that you would even think of that. I would have loved to receive your letters, they would have at least told me that you cared enough to think to keep in contact with me. I guess I have Quinn to thank for the fact that I ever got any of your letter, so please, pass on my gratitude to her. I'll have you know that I will look for you in the new year, but I won't strain myself over it, and you'll have a lot of making up to do, so you better start thinking now.

How could you be so stupid?
Rachel

Despite the muted anger he could read in the letter Puck smiled. Rachel would look for him, and she didn't hate him, nor did she diverge to Finn's side in his absence.

"Rachel Berry, come September you'll be in for a surprise." He whispered as he folded the letter up gently and placed it in the top pocket of his suitcase. He would make her realize how much he had missed her when they came face to face again.

A/N;; This has 2,597 words in it. The word count alone is something that I was incredibly happy with, one of the longest pieces I had written to that date, still one of the longest pieces I have written. If anyone wants a sequel, I can try and find the notes I had for where I would take this. I haven't watch Glee in about a year, since the end of season two, so if I do write another bit to this you can expect everyone to be out of character and for me to have almost no knowledge of what's been going on.