Summary: The good news? Puck and Rachel are totally in love. The bad news? They both think the opposite. The worst news? Sam and Santana have a plan to get them together. And exactly what are Quinn and Blaine up to?

Pairings: Oblivious!Puckleberry, Brittana and Klaine. Featuring Puck/Sam friendship, Faberrtana friendships, Samtana friendship, Pucktana friendship

Warnings: It's a future fic but is pretty canon up to the most recent episode, 'Original Song'. I've obviously spun things my way so it'll most likely be AU once the show returns. So it's probably safe from spoilers.

Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own Glee despite my continued efforts. I also do not own any movie, magazine or television show mentioned in this story except for the awesomely bad Second Time's the Charm.

Author's Note: Wow. I'm so amazed by the outpouring of support. Thank you all so very much. I'm glad that people like the story so far. I hope that this chapter continues to entertain. But to answer a few questions, yes, Quinn and Kurt are in New York with the crew. They're also in this story, more Quinn and Blaine but Kurt does play a role. Well enough with that enjoy this chapter.

Phase 2: Research

It was a simple plan. It honestly required little real thought or effort on his part. Hell, even Finn in all his limited cognition and drunk out of his mind could manage this feat. That pretty much summed up every Saturday night when they were in high school and he was pretty sure that continued in college for Finn as well. So if Finn, drunken Finn at that, could manage it, there was no reason in the world why an infinitely more intelligent and sober Noah Puckerman could not go to the bathroom. All he had to do was walk out his bedroom door, go down the hall and there it was. So why was he still sitting there even though it felt like his bladder was about to burst?

Oh yeah, because the room next to the bathroom just so happened to be the room of the one person he was trying his damnedest to avoid. He groaned as once again his thoughts drifted towards Rachel. The point, he reminded himself, of avoiding her was to keep from going crazy thinking about her. But apparently, the old saying was true: absence really does make the heart go fonder.

"Fuck!" he lifted the pillow over his head and screamed in frustration. "I've got to get over this stupid crush! It's fucking killing me!"

Even as he said, he knew he was wrong. He wasn't crushing on Rachel. He was in love and that hurt even worse. If it was just a crush, then it would have been even easier to get over her but he was in love with everything that made Rachel Berry, well Rachel Berry. He loved her determination, her intensity, her passion, her smile…. he crushed the pillow against his face. This was clearly not working.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Puck sat up straight looking at the wooden object as if he could see through to the other side. Out of the six individuals currently staying at the house, only two of them knocked. Sam, because he claimed to walked in one too many times on things he claimed could not be unseen, and Rachel, because she was actually polite and respected people's wishes for privacy. And because she was smart enough to realize that she would probably be walking in on something potentially mentally scarring especially while living with Santana, Blaine and Puck.

Puck's heart thundered in his chest as he climbed to his feet. As he knew for a fact that Sam was out because Santana had dragged him off on some scheme that she had cooked up, that only left one possible person. He called out for the person to come in. The door opened hesitantly and then there she was. He frowned at the sight of normally bright and cheery Rachel.

There were bags under her eyes like she hadn't been sleeping well. He loved her eyes but they were suspiciously red-rimmed. Had she been crying? And if she was, why? Was it over one of those guys she had been seeing before they left for the summer? Or, a small part of his mind dared to hope, was she crying for him? Then again he really didn't want Rachel crying because that would imply that she was sad but if she were sad for him… maybe she felt the same way after all? Wait, her lips were moving. Puck stopped his train of thoughts to tune into what Rachel was saying.

"Puck," Rachel started. It was weird hearing his nickname coming from Rachel. She'd been calling him Noah since they met. She was pretty much the only one who could get away with it consistently. So to hear Puck coming from her lips caused a small flinch. "I just wanted to clarify about what happened last week."

Puck swallowed and he knew he had to have paled slightly because he definitely felt dizzy at the moment. Yet he nodded anyway. "Go ahead."

She fidgeted nervously, chewing on her lip absently. "It was an accident." She shoved her hands in the pockets of her shorts and continued to fidget. Not that Puck was observing any of this as her words echoed in his head. He stared at his fellow Jew blankly. "I promise it won't happen again."

'I disgust you that much?' Puck wondered. He started to back away from the door when Rachel's hand shot out and held onto his. Unconsciously, his hand curled around hers. "I don't want to lose your friendship, Noah."

Puck smiled wanly and looked down at their joined hands. His friendship. If any of those tears were for him, they were for his friendship. But that's not what he wanted. He wanted more. He wanted her. But if that was the only way to have Rachel, then so be it. "Of course you won't, Rach," he choked out before looking down at her. "I'm glad you clarified that."

"Yeah," Rachel let go of his hand. An awkward silence passed between them as they stood in the doorway watching each other. "So I'm going to go now. I've got, um, work. Reading to do for classes in the fall. I want to get a… head start."

Yet another awkward silence. When did the silences between them become awkward? This was the same woman that showed up at his door the morning after his breakup with Shelly with two buckets of paint and helped him repaint his bedroom in the apartment he shared with Blaine and Sam because he needed a fresh start. They then laid down in the middle of the room, enjoying the peace and quiet and doing nothing more than just watching the paint dry. But it seemed those days were gone and Puck was starting to think that they were never coming back.

"I guess I'll see you later then."

"Sure," Rachel nodded. "Later."

She then turned on her heel and walked away from the door as quickly as possible, obviously glad to have gotten the whole miserable affair over with. Puck flopped back on his bed. Sam was wrong. This clearly was not going to be okay. He contemplating writing a song about it but that felt way too much like a Rachel move. He decided he would do the opposite and get wasted. Nothing like a few bottles of Jack to make you forget everything.

Rachel stopped a few feet away from Puck's door in an effort to calm her frayed nerves. She pulled her still shaking hands out of her pockets and took a deep shaky breath. That had gone about as well as she expected it to when she first had the idea an hour ago. It took her the entire hour to gather her nerve and bury her heart deep enough to lie to the person she loved. Then again, it wasn't nearly as hard as she thought it would be once she saw the frown on his face upon opening the door. Once she saw that look, it wasn't so hard to tell Puck what an accident the whole thing was. But now the adrenaline that had been fueling her thought the confession was wearing off and reality was settling in.

She told him it didn't mean anything and that it would never happen again. The worst part was the tense smile that had spread across his face like he didn't believe her and couldn't wait to be rid of her. Rachel ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Santana was wrong. This wasn't going to be okay. How could it be when a little piece of her felt like it just died?

She took another moment to compose herself and then started the short distance back to her room. Suddenly the semi-peaceful environment of the house was shattered as the front door slammed open. "Santana and Sam are back," she muttered. She shook her head and opened the door to her room just as she heard Puck's door open. She glanced over her shoulder to see a look of confusion pass over his face. A smile pulled at her lips. She heard his protesting grumble as she slipped into her room leaving him to deal with the fuming Sam.

Puck only had a second to enjoy seeing Rachel smiling at him before he was very suddenly reminded why he sometimes hated that he was sharing a house for the summer with people he saw every day during the school year. Less than a few seconds after the front door slammed open, a very red Sam was stomping up the stairs. He stopped short upon seeing Puck standing in the hall.

"Come on, you big baby!" Santana yelled from downstairs. "It wasn't that bad!"

"What did you let her talk you into this time?" Puck asked with an amused smirk.

Sam rolled his eyes. "If you only knew," he mumbled under his breath.

"Trouty Mouth! Get your shit together. We have to do this before those two find out!" Santana continued to yell as she came up the stairs carrying a plastic bag that was bursting at the seams. She grinned sheepishly upon seeing the two men standing together. "Oh, hey there, Puck."

"What are you two up... this time?" Puck asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "This better have nothing to do with what we talked about, Sam."

Sam flushed but managed a look of mock offense. "Noah Aaron Puckerman, I cannot believe that you think so little of me to even suggest something like that."

Both eyebrows rose as Puck continued to stare down his best friend. "Samuel Michael Evans, get over it. I know you, remember? Look, I don't care if you told San. I probably would have gotten around to doing it anyway. There was a reason I told you first, Sammy."

Sam let out a sigh of relief as Santana let out of outraged squeal. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"He means that obviously I'm more mature than you and wouldn't go blabbing his secret to the first available person," Sam said smugly. Santana glared at him, very tempted to tell Puck that was in fact exactly what Sam had done. But that would involve telling him about Rachel, which was not part of the plan. So she settled for continuing to glare at the blonde.

"So what are you two working on this time?"

"We're trying to get even with Blaine."

"For what now? Wait, you know what, I don't even want to know. Just leave me out of this one, alright?"

"Done and done," Sam grinned. He pulled a still glaring Santana with him into his room. Puck shook his head at his friend's antics. His gaze flickered to Rachel's closed door. Suddenly, that bottle of Jack was looking less appealing. Maybe he'd just look over those plans his professor sent him again. He was really hoping to make a good impression with his professor this semester. It might lead to a possible job after graduation. He walked back into his room, quietly marveling over Rachel's continued influence over him. Damn, he was so beyond whipped. But he had been since the tenth grade.

"That was close," Sam said as he flopped back onto his bed. He looked up to see Santana still glaring at him. "What?"

The Latina didn't reply, instead choosing to fling a pillow at him. "Better now."

"Freak," Sam muttered. His previous anger was starting to make a comeback as he looked at his partner in crime. "I still can't believe you made me buy all these chick flicks!"

"Why? It's not like you don't secretly love them," Santana shot back snidely. "I seem to remember finding a copy of Love Story in your room last month."

"Shut up," Sam grumbled. "It's a classic."

"Whatever. What the hell did he mean he told you first for a reason? I'm his best friend. He should have told me first!"

"You're also the same person that has decided that chick flicks, Cosmo and the first three seasons of Grey's Anatomy are the answer to how to get Puck and Rachel together."

"What's your point?"

"That for someone with a nearly 4.0 GPA, you're kinda slow. Now let's just get this over with. Put one of those crappy movies and pass me my notebook. If we're going to research, then we're gonna do this right."

"Oh, I got the perfect one, Second Time's The Charm."

Sam dragged the bag closer and pulled out the stack of magazines and DVDs. "I don't think we bought that one."

Santana pulled out the receipt and checked it before handing it over to Sam. "Yeah, we did. See, its right there."

"We really spent a hundred dollars on chick cancer?"

"It's for Puck and Rachel," Santana replied in a singsong voice, still rifling through the pile of DVDs and magazines. "If we bought it, then where the hell is it?"

The pair sat in confused silence for a minute contemplating the answer. Finally, Sam's eyes landed on the bag. "Was the bag broken before we got up here?"

Santana pursed her lips. "Yeah. You don't think…."

"No, not thinking is your thing," Sam snapped. "Dude, it probably fell out downstairs when you were walking upstairs."

"Oh, shit," Santana hissed. "Blaine and Q are down there. They see that and they're going want to watch with us. And that's so not conducive to researching."

Sam blinked. "Really, San? Really."

"Look, one of us just has to go down there and get it back before either one of them can see it."

"Who says they didn't already?"

"Well then I guess you better hurry, Sammy."

Sam sat up. "Me? Why do I have to be the one?"

"Because I said so, Trouty Mouth! Now go!"

With a long suffering sigh and an overwhelming feeling that this was all going to explode in his face, Sam reluctantly climbed to his feet to retrieve the missing DVD. "I hope you know that I hate you, San. I hate everything about you."

"Three Days Grace sang it better and hotter. Just go get our chick cancer back!"

Sam groaned. The things he did for his friends.

Blaine tapped his legs restlessly as he waited for something to happen. He wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting to happen but he just felt like something should be happening. Of course this could be attributed to the fact that was missing his boyfriend. Kurt was still in the city working a summer internship at a major fashion line. Blaine was happy for him, he really was. And he knew it was for a good cause but he couldn't help but wish that Kurt was here with him enjoying the sun, the beach and the absolute lack of anything to do.

The entire house was eerily quiet except for the television playing in the living room. Sam and Santana had left a few hours ago on some mission that he decided to stay away from for sanity's purposes. Nothing like a restraining order from the Aquarium to give you a much needed reality check. Rachel and Puck were in their rooms last time he checked. Quinn was sprawled on the sofa next to him watching the screen with a glazed over look in her eyes. Apparently she was waiting for something to happen as well.

Suddenly the front door slammed open and Sam burst through the door. Without even sparing them a second glance, he raced up the stairs, presumably towards his room. The commotion had the desired effect of waking Quinn from her boredom induced stupor as she sat up. "What was that about?"

"Oh come on," Santana yelled as she walked in the house a few seconds behind Rob. "It wasn't that bad, you big baby!" she paused to give a nod of acknowledgment towards Quinn and Blaine before following in the blonde's path.

"Okay, what the hell was that?"

"Just San and Sam being weird again," Quinn shrugged, turning her attention back to the television. Blaine could see that she was still thinking as her jaw tensed. "Although, they've been acting weirder than usual lately."

"How so?'

"Well for the past two days they've been doing everything together and holing up in a room with the door closed and locked."

"Wait, how do you know that the door was locked?"

Quinn gave him a look. "That's so not the point of the story, Hogwarts. The point is that they've been weirder than usual. I think something is going on with them."

Blaine nodded slightly. He had noticed that there was definitely something going on with them. While it wasn't uncommon to find Santana and Sam together, the amount of time they had been spending together, alone, lately was interesting. Blaine was about to reply when he noticed something by the front door.

"What's this?" he got up and walked over to where Santana had been standing earlier. "Second Time's the Charm?" he flipped the DVD over and stared up at Quinn with wide eyes. "They're watching chick flicks?"

Quinn joined him in staring at the DVD as if it were an alien entity. "What? I could never get Sam to watch that kind of movie with me when we were dating. He would always whine about it being 'chick cancer'."

Just then they heard footsteps on the stairs. They dropped the case and scrambled back to the couches. Sam crept down the stairs and checked quickly to make sure that neither of his friends was paying him any attention. Satisfied that they were watching television, he quickly scooped up the fallen DVD and ran back up the stairs. As soon as they were sure he was gone, Blaine and Quinn turned to each other.

"That was a chick flick, right? Like I didn't just make up the fact that somehow or another Santana Lopez got Sam 'I don't do chick flicks' Evans to watch chick flicks?"

"No," Blaine shook his head. "You didn't make that up. They definitely are watching chick movies together. Without us I might add."

Quinn chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Blaine… I think that Santana and Sam might be… together… again."

"But isn't Santana with Brittany?"

The blonde former cheerleader scoffed. "One thing you need to learn about Santana is that for her sex and gender is fluid. She and Brittany are together as long as they're under the same roof. Look around. Do you see Brittany?"

Blaine raised an eyebrow at the slightly bitter tone but wisely chose to let it go. "So what are we going to do about this?"

"What is there to do about that?"

"Confront them in a non threatening manner and assure them that no matter what we're still their friends even if they break poor Brittany's heart?"

"How long until Britt gets done with that dance program?"

"About a month."

"I say we follow them and wait to catch them in the act."

Blaine frowned. "We're really bored aren't we?"

Quinn shrugged. "It's something to do."

"Hmm, potentially damaging not two but three of our friends for our simple pleasure and amusement," he mulled the idea over in his head. "When do we start?"

Sam felt a shiver run down the back of his spine. He was suddenly and inexplicably filled with terror and dread. Though the more he thought about it that probably had something to do with the almost seven hours of movies and magazines he and Santana had poured through.

"Okay, San. We've watched like three more episodes of Grey's Anatomy than I would ever care to watch, read more issues of Cosmo than I care to think about and have watched what quite possibly could be the worst movie ever. What the hell have we learned from all this and make it good."

Santana wiped a hand over her blank face and looked up at Sam from her reclining position on the floor. "Apparently women really like to cry… a lot. Doctors are all incredibly attractive and have way better sex lives than all of us combined."

"Besides that, genius. What did we learn that can actually help Rachel and Puck? Or are you finally willing to admit that there was no point to this other than to annoy me?"

"Not everything is about you, Trouty Mouth. As a matter of fact, I did learn something useful."

"That is?" Sam asked, skeptically.

"Women love a hero. For some stupid ass reason, women seem to want to be saved. So we need to set up a situation where Puck saves Rachel."

Sam blinked. "You're purposely going to create a situation that places the woman you've claimed as your best friend for the past five years in danger on the off chance that the man you've claimed as a best friend for the past eleven years will save her and they confess their feelings for one another?"

"You're leaving out the part where there will be soft, romantic music swelling in the background," Santana added, dryly. "Listen up, this is the plan."

It was then that Sam learned a very valuable lesson in keeping his mouth shut. If he had only learned that lesson earlier and kept Puck's secret to himself, he wouldn't be sitting here on his bed listening to what had to be one of the stupidest ideas ever uttered. And that included the time in high school when he got so drunk that he actually believed Mike when he said he could fly. That douche. He was grateful that Puck was sober enough to realize that best friend on roof could only lead to badness and had called 911. Otherwise he probably would have frozen to death waiting for Mike and Finn to come back with the promised ladder.

Come to think of it, Puck was really always the one that was there for him. For someone who was a self proclaimed badass, Puck really was a pushover when it came to his friends. There had been plenty of times when Sam needed him and his best friend was there. And after everything that went down with Shelly, it was way past time that Puck got what he deserved out of life. So even though there were a million holes in this plan and it would inevitably go horribly wrong, Sam couldn't help but smile at Santana.

"What?" she asked, warily.

"Nothing. I just figured it was time I stopped bitching and started helping. We both want the same thing."

Santana blinked and a soft smile appeared on her face. It had been awhile since he'd seen that smile. She looked like a different person when she smiled like that. She looked happier. "You know, you're not so bad sometimes, Trouty Mouth."

"Thank you, Satan."

"You're welcome. Now back to Operation: Endgame."

"Endgame?"

"Everyone knows Puckleberry is Endgame," Santana rolled her eyes. "Just like Klaine and Chang-Squared. It's just something everyone knows."

"What about you?"

"I'm with Brittany," she reminded him absently. "Another thing that was just assumed."

Sam nodded his head but he felt the change in the room. He thought that Santana was happy in her relationship with Brittany. True, they'd barely seen each other this summer between Brittany's dance programs and Santana's internship, but Sam thought they were happy. They always looked disgustingly adorable whenever they were together at any rate. Not that he spent a lot of time looking at them. Actually he tried to avoid it. If he focused too long, he got sick from the cuteness. But there was no sign of that right now. Santana just looked... lost. He poked her on the shoulder causing her to look up from the Cosmo article that she was only pretending to read.

"Want to take a break from the plotting and watch some more movies? Some of them are okay in that so bad they're good kind of way."

Santana smiled once more before nodding her head. He put one of the movies on and lay back on the bed. She lay down on his other side and rested her head on his chest as they watched the movie. Midway during the movie, his free arm slid up around her shoulders. As he started to drift off, lulled by Santana's quiet breathing and the ridiculous plot of the movie, he wondered why they never did anything like this while they were dating. He lost track of how many movie nights ended like this once they broke up. But he wondered why they never had moments like this when they were actually together. It was nice.

He took a deep breath and enjoyed this moment. Because once they woke up, Phase Two of Operation Endgame went into effect and he was pretty sure that was going to end with him getting his ass kicked by two angry Jews.

*And now Blaine and Quinn are officially involved. Will this help our favorite couple get together any faster? Or will this just create even more obstacles in the path of Puckleberry. I'll give you a hint: there are at least three more chapters left in the story and this is Quinn and Blaine we're talking about. Till next time!