A/N: Hello readers! I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited or alerted this story. I always appreciate knowing that something I write is appreciated. Lol. Anyways onto the story...Rating is for mature themes and Puck's mouth, well and thoughts, which is awful. Haha. Enjoy!

Puck watched in horror as Rachel continued to shriek at the top of her lungs, dumbfounded. Finally he pulled it together and turned to the other two in the room. "Get out."

"But—"

"No buts. Just get the fuck out." Puck herded Jesse and Quinn out of the room, shutting the door behind them before he turned back to the brunette on his floor who had begun to whimper quietly. "Rachel…"

When she didn't respond to him, he slowly made his way across the room until he was kneeling in front of her. Why the fuck did this have to happen at his party? He shook his head. It didn't matter why it had happened at his party. What mattered was making sure that Rachel was okay. He slowly reached an arm out towards her, closing his eyes when she flinched from him.

"Rachel…we have to get you to the hospital." Puck shrugged. He didn't know why they had to go to the hospital, but that was always what people did on TV so it made sense. "But I need you to get dressed. Can you do that?"

Finally she looked up at him, but her face held no comprehension. It was like she was there, but not. Fuck. He wasn't even making sense to himself. He stood quickly and went to his closet where he pulled out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. There was no way that he was going to look for her clothes. He knew that he had to get her the hell out of there and now.

He knelt before her again, holding the clothes out to her. "Babe, you need to get dressed. Can you do it?"

Rachel looked from his face to the clothes in his hand to his face again. She still didn't seem to understand what he was trying to get her to do.

"Fuck," he hissed under his breath. He tossed the pants onto the floor, shaking out the shirt. Moving slowly, he reached over and began slipping it over her head. This time she didn't flinch away from him, but she did nothing to help him.

A few minutes later he had her dressed and then he had to figure out how he was going to get her to the hospital. He hadn't been drinking (much) since he'd been too worried about the idiots he'd invited over screwing up his house so he knew he could drive. But in order to get to his truck he was going to have to bring her through the party and he wasn't sure that she could make it through the crowd without freaking out.

He watched her shaking, her arms wrapped around her legs as she hugged herself and felt like his heart was breaking. Sure Rachel could be annoying, but she didn't deserve this – no one did. He scooped her up into his arms, standing there as she stiffened. He wasn't going to move until she was at least slightly comfortable in his arms.

"Berry – I mean Rachel, I'm going to have to bring you through the party to get to my truck. I need you to not freak out." He almost sighed out of relief when he felt her relax. "It's gonna be okay, babe. I'll take care of you. I'll protect you." Now he would because he hadn't been able to when the fucker, whoever he was, had raped her. And if he got his hands on the guy, he was going to kill him. He was going to beat the living shit out of him and laugh while he did it.

Rachel buried her face in his chest, looking so unlike the Rachel that he knew. Damn it all to hell. He really needed to get her out of there. With a curse, he shoved out of the room.

"Noah Puckerman?"

Puck shot out of his seat, hurrying over to the nurse. "Is she okay?"

The nurse gave him a small, sad smile. "She's asking for you. Come on back."

Puck fought back the growl that he felt building up. He knew that it wasn't the woman's fault, but he wanted to know what the hell was going on with Rachel. When they had arrived at the hospital, Rachel had been swept behind the doors and he'd been forced to wait in the waiting room where he'd spent most of his time pacing the length of it. Well, at least he was going to get to see her.

He followed the nurse until she stopped in front of a door, gesturing for him to go in. He shoved open the door, not knowing what to expect. What he found scared him.

Rachel lay on the examining table on her side, curled up into a ball. She looked so small, so scared. It made him want to beat the living shit out of someone.

"Rachel?"

She didn't turn, didn't even move. She just continued to lay there, arms wrapped around herself. Fuck. What the hell was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to be able to help her? He inched forward, laying a hand on her arm. He frowned when she flinched away from his touch.

"Rach?" He reached out again and when his hand touched her arm again, she didn't shy away, but instead turned towards him. The look in her eyes was so different from what he was used to seeing. There was no life in them; she stared up at him, and it was like there was no one home.

Son of a bitch. He was for real going to have to kill someone. He shook his head, scooping her up into his arms before sitting down on the table. He held her close and let out a sigh of relief when she snuggled in closer to him.

A sudden knock on the door caused Puck to jump and Rachel to tense in his arms. Her hands tightened their hold on his arms and her back was straight as a board when Puck looked up to see who was entering the room. Great, pigs. He really hated cops.

"Miss Berry, we understand that you've been through a rough time tonight, but we need to know what happened. We can't do anything if you continue to refuse to give us any information." The cop's voice was gentle, but Puck still wanted to reach across the table and belt him. How dare he talk to her like that?

Rachel just shook her head as she pulled her feet into the chair, wrapping her arms around her legs. They were in a room at the hospital and the two cops were trying to get information about her rape, but she hadn't spoken since they'd entered the room. Puck realized that he hadn't heard her utter a word since they'd arrived at the hospital. Damn. She really was in bad shape.

"Miss Berry, we want to catch the guy who did this to you, but if you don't talk to us, then we have nothing to go by." The other cop, this one a woman, didn't piss Puck off nearly as bad. She spoke quietly and calmly but not condescending like the other guy. She seemed to truly want to help.

Rachel just once again shook her head, refusing to look any of them in the eye. Puck shook his head as he reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. "Rach, they're just trying to help. You've got to tell them what happened."

She slowly looked up, meeting his eyes, and he saw the fear in them. But what was she afraid of? Of the guy that had hurt her? Or of something else? He just didn't know.

"No."

"What?" Both the cops spoke at the same time.

"No, what babe?" Puck leaned closer, but she wouldn't speak again. She just shook her head over and over.

"Look, she obviously can't tell you guys anything now. Can't you do this later?" Puck couldn't stand the haunted look in Rachel's eyes and he knew that he needed to get her home. "You already have my statement so that's something?"

The male cop looked like he was going to speak, but the female held up a hand to stop him. "That's fine. We have your contact info, Miss Berry. We'll give you a call in a few days, or if you want to contact us sooner please give me a call." She pulled something from her pocket. "My card. Please call me." She slid one across the table to Puck. "Just in case you need to get a hold of me as well."

Puck picked up both cards, sliding them into his pocket before standing and lifting Rachel into his arms. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I should've known that you weren't ready to talk," he whispered to her as they headed down the hallway and towards the exit. "I just don't know how to deal with this shit. It's intense, and you know I'm a real simple kind of guy."

Rachel just looked up at him, her face blank and her eyes haunted. Her eyes were something that he didn't think he'd ever be able to forget – or how quiet she had been since the "incident," as he was liking to call it because the word rape just made him see red and he needed to stay calm. Calm was the only option for him because he was about to bring Rachel home and have to explain to her fathers what had happened at his home. Fuck, they were going to hate him even more than they already did. He was fucked and he'd be lucky if they didn't kill him.

"How the hell could you have let things get out of control so much that you didn't notice that someone was being raped in your house?" one of Rachel's dads hissed at Puck.

When he'd arrived at Rachel's house, they'd both been waiting up for her, probably worried because she wasn't answering her phone. When he'd carried her inside, one of them had taken her into his arms while they both glared, wanting to know what he had done to her. It had taken a few minutes to convince them that he hadn't done anything, but that she'd been raped by someone (not that he knew who, because if he did he would have killed them already) and he'd already taken her to the hospital.

The dad that held her made soothing noises, rushing upstairs while the other stayed downstairs to lay into him. Surprise, surprise. Everything was his fault.

Puck just shrugged, his head dropping so that he could stare at his feet. He'd been asking himself the same question all night and still hadn't come up with an answer that wasn't complete and utter crap. He blamed himself for Rachel's rape, no matter how weird it sounded. It had happened in his house, at his party. Who else was to blame?

"You're right, sir. There's no excuse. There's nothing that I can say except that I'm sorry." Puck shrugged. Who knew? He actually could apologize. He'd have been proud of himself had it not been for the situation. With a shake of his head he turned, leaving Rachel's dad to stare after him while he exited the house and climbed into his truck.

Fuck he needed a drink – and to hit something. He turned the truck on and turned towards home where he knew he could find a drink and a punching bag to take out some of this anger.