Thanks for reviewing. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Seriously.

Soooo...I realized that I set this fic after Rhodes Not Taken and before Vitamin D, but in this chapter I reference a conversation between Quinn and Rachel that takes place in Vitamin D. Oops?

I also realized I'm a freak that talks her dialogue out, making it seem like she talks to herself at what seems to be the most inopportune times. It's pretty sad. Also, I found the video of Puck singing "Sweet Caroline" Saturday night, and I've already become addicted to watching it. Woah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or Rachel/Puck would have already happened.


Rachel jumped at the knock on her bedroom door. She sighed and got up to answer it. Upon finding Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and Quinn staring back at her, she blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"You cannot drop a bomb like that without expecting us to follow up," Kurt said with barely concealed excitement.

She sighed and motioned for them to come into her room before returning to her perch on her bed. "I assume Daddy let you in?" Mercedes took a seat next to her and nodded. Rachel waited for Quinn and Kurt to get comfortable on her keyboard bench, and Tina to get situated on her desk chair before she spoke again. "So what do you want to know?"

They smiled, and Tina answered, "Y-you and Puck were f-friends?"

Rachel nodded even though she herself made a clear distinction between Puck and Noah. The others might not get that.

"Why didn't you tell us that?" Mercedes said, frowning.

She looked at her lap. "You may have noticed I am very socially ostracized. I like you guys, and I even enjoy hanging out with you. You are the closest things I have to friends, but that doesn't mean I trust you. At least, not with something this big."

The room was silent for a moment. Quinn broke the silence. "I've been thinking about what you said, Rachel, and I want to be your friend."

Rachel nodded slowly. "Okay. Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning, of course," Kurt said, eyes gleaming at the prospect of new gossip.

She cleared her throat. "Some people go to their church's preschool."

Quinn, Mercedes, and Kurt all nodded. "You t-too Kurt?" Tina asked, surprised.

He nodded. "It's why I was so...uncomfortable about my preference." Quinn reached out and took his hand.

Kurt smiled at her, and they all turned back to Rachel, who smiled briefly before continuing. "Noah and I attended a non-religious preschool. Even so, we were the only two children in our class that did not celebrate Christmas. I'm sure some of the families didn't celebrate Christmas for its religious values but because it is the modern cultures acceptable norm. Anyway, we bonded over the fact that we were different. We got closer after we found that we went to the same park everyday, and our houses were relatively close to each other. We were best friends before we ever went to kindergarten."

"You and Puck seem so different. How did that work?" Mercedes asked, brow raised.

Rachel's lips quirked into a half grin. "I honestly don't know. Despite my precocious and intelligent nature, I was a rather sheltered child. I was a bit more innocent than most children at that age whereas Noah was always rather...jaded, for lack of a better word. He was mature for his age even though he did not often show it. He was also a guy's guy from the beginning, and I have always been girly. It shouldn't have worked, but it did. I'd hold his hand after his parents fought, and he beat up the people that made fun of me."

"We're still talking about Puck, right?" Quinn asked. "Because this kid seems sweet, and Puck is an asshole."

Kurt looked to Quinn, intrigued. "I thought you two were friends."

She shook her head. "No. Just because we're both popular doesn't mean we like each other."

"Yes, Noah is still the boy that I'm speaking of," Rachel interjected.

They all turned back to her. "W-what went wrong?" Tina asked.

Rachel shook her head. "He came to school one day and said he didn't want to be friends anymore."

Mercedes furrowed her brows. "Just like that?" Rachel nodded. "Why?"

Rachel looked away. "That question has haunted me since the words fell from Noah's mouth. I have my theories, but I have no way of knowing for sure. You know what the sad part is?" She didn't give them a chance to answer. "I miss him."

"It's okay to miss having a friend," Tina said, now confident enough in Quinn's presence to stop stuttering.

"That's not it," Rachel refuted. "I miss him. I miss Noah. I miss him making try things, whether it was playing sports or whatever he attempted to make in the kitchen. He taught me to ride a bike. His dad taught him one weekend, and Noah knew I wanted to learn. So one day he spent a few hours teaching me just so we could ride our bikes together..."

Kurt cleared his throat. "I have one last question. Why now? Why after nearly seven years of silence did you decide to blow the top off this secret?"

Rachel bit her lip. "I never wanted to steal Finn away. I liked him, don't get me wrong, but I think it was more that he was the first person to be nice to me in such a long time. After Glee yesterday, we were conversing, and I told him to choose: me or you, Quinn. He chose you. I just snapped. I was sick of being used by people like Finn and abused by people like Puck. Earlier, it just hit me that I really do miss him...so much."

Mercedes reached out and wrapped an arm around her, and Rachel sniffled. Kurt and Tina went to place supportive hands on Rachel's back, and Quinn uncomfortably stood in front of them before she spoke confidently, "You don't need him. You have us."

Rachel smiled at everyone, but deep down, she knew she did.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Puck glared at his steering wheel. The other door to his truck opened, but he didn't move an inch. The intruder settled in and spoke, "You want to tell what that was about?"

Puck looked up at Finn. "Not really. I gotta say I'm surprised. I figured all of the gleeks would be out here."

"Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and Quinn just left to go after Rachel. Mike, Matt, Santana, and Brittany were all confused. Artie wanted to come, but we figured someone needed to stay to explain to Mr. Schue," Finn explained.

Quinn was going after Rachel? What kind of alternate reality had he stepped into? "Hunh."

Finn looked at him closely. "So, what was that?"

"That was Rachel Berry growing a spine," he answered flippantly.

Finn rolled his eyes. "She's always had a spine. She just never used it. Try again."

Puck groaned. "I don't know, okay? She's never acted like that before."

"I didn't even know you guys were ever friends," Finn said, sounding confused.

He fidgeted. "It's not my fault no one ever noticed."

"I guess not. So why aren't you friends anymore?"

Puck could have laughed at the absurdity of having this conversation if it weren't actually happening. "I don't know." That was a lie, but Finn didn't have to know it.

Finn stared at him again, seemingly looking for something. "Not a clue?"

He heaved a sigh. "My dad had just left. Rachel was always too perceptive for her own good. I didn't want someone that could tell just by looking at me for a second that something was wrong with me."

"So you pushed her away."

Puck nodded.

"So why have you treated like shit since then?" Finn asked softly.

He looked past Finn at the nearly empty parking lot. "I didn't at first. It wasn't until middle school that I made fun of her, and things like the slushies didn't start until high school. I guess I resented her. She's this walking, talking reminder that I used to be happy and have two parents, that my mom and I weren't good enough for my dad."

It was quiet in the truck cabin for a few minutes. "You do realize none of that is her fault." Puck nodded again. "And you know that you need to apologize to her, right?"

"Why?"

"Because she's a good person, and you hurt her, and I think deep down, you still care about her. Why else would you hate her so much?" Finn said.

Puck stared at his friend, wondering how he could be so smart yet dumb at the same time. Ever since he had fled the choral room he had been thinking about Berry and how much he hated her. The only problem was that the deep well of hatred he always drew upon wasn't there. Sure, she was still annoying as hell most of the time and way too obedient for his tastes, but he didn't hate her. "Why are you pushing this so hard?"

"Because you've been my best friend for practically forever, and I want to be there the way you've been there for me," Finn answered, and Puck felt guilt eat away at his insides.

He shoved aside the feeling and sighed. "Alright. I'll apologize, but I have no idea how I'm going to get her to talk to me."

Finn grinned. "Leave it to me."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Puck felt jittery. He was waiting outside the choral room for Rachel Berry of all people, and he was going to apologize to her. Rachel Berry. Holy hell, what was happening with the world? He fought the urge to walk away when he saw her approaching.

Rachel stiffened the slightest bit when she saw Puck. "Where's Mr. Schue? Finn said he needed to talk to me."

Puck stared for a second. "Uh...actually, it's me that needs to talk to you. I'm...sorry."

"For what?" she said, looking directly at him for the first time since she'd come out of the choral room.

He looked down. "For making fun of you. For throwing slushies at you. For everything I've done the past six and a half years."

Rachel stared at him. "So this is an apology for everything that's happened since your dad left?"

He flinched at the mention of his father. "Uh, yeah."

"Why apologize now?"

"Because you stood up for yourself for once, and Finn helped me realize that my reasons for dropping you were in no way related to you. It was me being stupid. I guess I just didn't want to lose anyone else important to me, so I pushed you away," Puck answered, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

She let out a huff of bitter laughter. "I knew it. Abandonment issues."

"What?" Puck growled, face a picture of anger.

"I've spent the last four year trying to figure out why you didn't want to be my friend. The only plausible answer I could come up with for you abandoning me was that you didn't want me to abandon you," Rachel explained softly.

The anger left Puck as quickly as it came. "I'm sorry."

She looked at him for a moment longer. "I accept your apology."

"Really?" he asked, blinking in surprise.

"You didn't expect me too?" she responded, cocking her head to the side.

"Not really. I figured I'd have to apologize everyday for the next few months."

Rachel nodded, a smile curling the corners of her mouth. "If you hadn't been sincere, I wouldn't have, but I could see Noah and Puck in this apology. And I really miss Noah."

Puck nodded and watched Rachel head back inside. He felt the tension bleed away from his body and stuffed his hands into his pockets before following her. Maybe he wasn't crazy for making the distinction between Noah and Puck if Rachel did too. Or maybe they both were.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next few days were awkward. Puck and Rachel had ceased to antagonize each other in the halls of William McKinley high school before his apology, but the school wasn't quite prepared for this. Not only were Puck and Rachel trying to be friends, but Quinn had almost fully assimilated into the glee club, almost never without one of the original members.

There had been backlash, mostly from the cheerios and football team, but it wasn't as bad as anyone thought it would be. Quinn actually wasn't that bad once you got to know her, and Puck...well, he was a lot easier to like when he wasn't ruining her clothes or her reputation.

Still, after all the changes, Rachel wanted to do something normal, so she got ready to do some myspace videos. She searched through her normal lists of things she had yet to cover, but showtunes and Celine Dion weren't working today. Finally, she found a song. She'd had it for awhile, but could never figure out why she identified with it so well.

She set up the camera and started the music. Then, she performed.

The sun can't remember how to shine
And the colors all have faded into shades of gray
There's no life in this hollow heart of mine
Ever since you went away

Close your eyes and feel me hold you
Can you lead me through this ordinary world
Let the sky cry, restless rain to wash away the miles
Between us, 'cause without you it's just an ordinary world

If time could find a way to turn around
I would walk along the stars, till I was back at your door
Every word, every word is spoken but without a sound
And I found out what my heart is for

Close your eyes and feel me hold you
Can you lead me through this ordinary world
Let the sky cry, restless rain to wash away the miles
Between us, 'cause without you it's just an ordinary world

Hold your breath, here I come
Time to roll on mine
Take back, to your arms
Till we melt
Underneath the blinding sun

Can't remember how to shine
You're the life in this hollow heart of mine

Close your eyes and feel me hold you
Can you lead me through this ordinary world
Let the sky cry, restless rain to wash away the miles between us
'Till love can come redeem us 'cause without you
It's just an ordinary World

Rachel finished, feeling lighter. It wasn't about Noah. Not at all.


The song is "Ordinary World" by Katharine McPhee.

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