Hey guys! here is no. 2. Enjoy (:

The day that she pays back Finn and simultaneously gets together and gets rejected by Noah, is the day her life suddenly feels completely and utterly normal.

She gets home, her face streaked with tears as she takes all the things from her locker about Finn. There is no more 'Finn 4 Ever.'

There will be no more Finn.

So, on this particular instance, she acts just like a normal girl and watches 'Letters to Juliet' while she feasts on Ben and Jerry's icecream – she seriously gave up on the vegan front after her egg incident, because she couldn't deal with it. And come on, who doesn't enjoy a nice, hearty steak every now and then?

When her fathers got home they quietly knocked on her door, which brought another round of fresh tears as she finally has someone's shoulder to cry on. She let everything out – what happens with Noah, how Finn betrayed her, how hard she has tried to apologise, and the reality that she knows, just knows that this was her last chance with Finn. They've screwed up so many times and now she's done it – she's the one to blame.

At least, she thinks, that she knows Noah wouldn't hurt Finn again, that he's learnt from his mistake with Finn. He's a better person now, and she knows that the saying is true – people always learn from their mistakes. She hopes that she can learn from this one.

The next day, as she walks down the hall alone, she feels alienated from everything that was a pattern in the previous weeks. There are more snide comments, from girls and guys, now that Finn isn't on her arm, and she spends the day in solitude – choosing to each her lunch in the choir room instead of facing the jungle of the cafeteria.

And then Glee is rearing its head like a charging bull, and oh she doesn't want to go. But she will be strong; she is strong. The show must go on, right?

Too bad today feels like a day she would rather her understudy take over. But this isn't Broadway; she has no understudy. She will face them, even if it kills her.

It does kill her. When she sees Finn's face, and then Noah sitting on the opposite side of the room from him, throwing cautious glances at him every now and then. The win at Sectionals doesn't feel like a victory, it feels like a death march. It started the snowball of doom rolling, and it can't stop now.

It's the first night of Hanukkah and she finds herself alone with Noah at the temple. The ceremonies are over, and her daddies are mingling with the Jewish community of Lima. She didn't feel like acting the whole charade over again, so she slunk out the back.

Noah looks at her softly, giving her half a smile. She remembers previous Hanukkah years when they'd laugh and joke around together after the celebrations, just being themselves. No pressure, no one else watching – it was just Noah and Rachel.

She misses that.

Recently, she had realized that without him, her life was different. They used to converse softly sometimes in Glee when people were dancing or when they turned up early.

"I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how," Rachel whispers, her voice cracking. "I've never heard silence quite this loud."

Noah just sighs, coming to sit by her on the sickly green couch she's occupying.

"I miss you too Rach. You were right, you know?" he says quietly as he looks sideways at her.

"When?"

"I wasn't going to break up with you. I could never break up with you."

She smiles.

Her hand creeps across their bodies to capture his. It's almost as if this moment between them freezes time. Slowly, a warmth blossoms inside her – and she's happy, joyous, and hopeful. She doesn't know when she fell for him, but she fell hard.

"You know, Noah, now that I'm with Finn, you wouldn't be getting with 'his girl.'"

"I know, babe. I just wanted you to make the first move," he winks.

She laughs – a laugh that erupts from deep inside her – because it was a typical Noah statement.

And as his lips gently slide over hers, she decides that she's happy that there will be no more Finn. She's got Noah, and she's better without him.

Because Noah is the only one who has ever captured her heart.

Prompt: "I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how, I've never heard silence quite this loud."

So go on, flame me.
I dare you.