Give Me Strength, a glee fanfic

Puck and Rachel have always been close. And when Puck says always, he literally means always.

Not a lot of people know, but he and Rachel have been friends for, pretty much, their entire lives. He's always said it was because of the whole Jewish thing, how they go to the same temple so he kind of has a duty to look out for the Drama Queen. He knows there's much more to it than that, though.

Puck mentioned about a year or so ago that the first time he gave another kid a wedgie, he was four years old. Nobody had even bothered to ask why; they'd just assumed that it was Puck's attempt at getting himself some attention, or power, or just to be feared by the other pre-schoolers. No-one would ever have made the connection that four year old Noah Puckerman beat up another kid for making fun of Rachel Berry and her two gay dads.

Puck's often felt like an extended member of the Berry family. Since his Dad walked out on him, his Mom and his new-born baby sister eight years ago, Puck took to viewing Leroy and Hiram Berry as the dads he never had, but would give anything to have had.

Puck knows that he and Rachel are pretty similar. They both know just how awesome they are, and neither of them are afraid of expressing it. He knows they're both 'hot Jews'. They're both excellent singers, and once again, neither of them are afraid of expressing that either. They both kicked ass during their performance of "Need you now", and they were great together in "Run, Joey, Run". Well, in the parts that didn't feature that Jesse St. Jackass kid and Finn's "how did I get here" expression.

It almost killed him to give Hudson advice on how to win his girl while they were in New York. You're in New York! The city of love! He'd pointed out, ignoring Evans' attempt to correct him through a mouthful of cool ranch Doritos. Finn had dressed up nice, taken her out to dinner where she'd met her idol, gone for a moonlit stroll through possibly the greatest city ever – and she'd still turned him down. Puck, despite feeling bad for his friend, had been secretly thankful. Of course, that was thrown out the window when Finchel decided to make a reunion during their Nationals performance. Not only had Puck lost his chance to reclaim his Princess, but they'd lost the competition. Sure, he had Zizes now, and they had a great portmanteau: Pizes, but that was nothing to him. Puckleberry was the way to go.

Puck knew that Rachel was probably his best, and at times only, friend. The summer directly after Quinn had had Beth was difficult for him, but Rachel had made time between her endless hours spent with Finn to be there for him. He'd even persuaded her to play the Xbox with him more than once, and even had to deny that she beat him bad on more than one occasion.

That was why Puck felt the need to say thanks. Puck wasn't usually one to thank anybody. He was Puckasaurus, for crying out loud. He needed nobody, he didn't care about anybody. Well… except for maybe Rachel. To prove how unique an occasion this was, Puck broke his tradition and chose to perform a song to her not by a Jewish artist. Of course, he made sure to get her alone in the choir room so no-one else would know, but the point still stood. He picked up his guitar, stood a few feet in front of her and started strumming.

I choked back tears today because I can't begin to say how much you've shaped this boy,
these last ten years or more.He met her eyes and grinned.

My friends we've seen it all, triumphs to drunken falls and our bones are broken still,
but our hearts are joined until,
time slips its tired hand into our tired hands we've years 'til that day
and so much more to say.

You give the strength to me, a strength I never had, I was a mess you see,
I'd lost the plot so bad, you dragged me up and out,
out of the darkest place, there's not a single doubt when I can see your faces. Rachel was positively beaming. If he'd known she'd have had this reaction, he'd have sung her Snow Patrol months ago.

My friends we've seen it all, when it made no sense at all,
you dare to light my path and found the beauty in the aftermath.

Let me hold you up like you held me up, it's too long to never say this,
you must know I've always thought,

You give the strength to me, a strength I never had,
I was a mess you see, I'd lost the plot so bad,
you dragged me up and out, out of the darkest place,
there's not a single doubt when I can see your faces.

Puck held the last chord and slowly moved his eyes back up to hers. She slowly got to her feet and made her way across the room until their faces were only centimetres from each other. He stared into her brown eyes, as she gazed silently into his hazel ones. Then, she stood up as tall as she could and pressed her lips to his.

Puck and Rachel have always been close. And now, they're even closer. Puckleberry was reunited, and this time, Puck was going to do everything in his power to keep it that way.