Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry it's been awhile. unfortunately, school gets in the way of writing sometimes :(
Thank you all for the reviews and adds! They mean so much!
Enjoy!
"I'll be in your room if you need me." Noah told her. Suddenly she felt panic rise within her. A fear that made her stomach churn and her throat burn. On instinct, Rachel reached out and wrapped her smooth fingers around Noah's callused ones. Even though she felt him turned back to look at her, she couldn't take her eyes off of their intertwined fingers. 'Have his hands always swallowed mine like that?' Rachel thought, 'they're too big, but somehow they fit perfect. When did Noah start to make me feel so safe?'
"What is it Rach?" Noah asked, interrupting her thoughts. The small brunette looked up at the boy who had a way of always making her smile. After he had joined Glee club, Noah had always been there for her. When Finn went back to Quinn, Noah had just held her while she cried and watched her favorite musicals with her. Rachel had started to fall for Puck when he sang Sweet Caroline for her, but the moment when she fell head over hills in love with this hazel eyed punk was when he sang Beth for his unborn daughter. Rachel would never forget Noah's shaking body in her arms the night after Shelby had taken Beth home. Rachel had gone to his house to check on him and he had only been able to maintain his tough facade until she hugged him. After that he had lost himself in her arms, telling her how badly it had hurt to watch someone take his daughter away.
Rachel and Puck, they had been there for each other. She knew that he would be there for her now. That was the only thing that gave her the strength to ask him to stay, "Noah, please. I- I can't be alone. Please don't leave me."
Waiting for a response, Rachel refused to look at him. She felt embarrassed, but she knew Noah, he wouldn't make a move until she gave him consent with her eyes. So begrudgingly, Rachel raised her big brown eyes to meet his. She felt a sensation of comfort wash over her as his thumb began to draw circles around her palm and he gave her his sweetest smile, "Alright just give me a sec."
Rachel panicked when Noah started to withdrawl his hand from hers. 'What is he doing? Don't leave me!' She was screaming in her mind but for some reason her lips wouldn't move. Reacting out of instinct, Rachel squeezed Puck's hand and refused to let it go. The room felt fuzzy, what was talking? Noah?
"Babe," Noah's soft voice finally broke through her haze, "just let me get out of these clothes real quick." He was smiling at her. 'He isn't leaving,' Rachel waited for the fear to subside then nodded her head and released Noah's fingers.
Without thinking, Rachel spun around to give him privacy. She notice her bathroom lights dim. That right there is one of the reasons she loved Noah: he would do something she didn't even ask for just to make her comfortable. He respected her enough to dim the lights making it less awkward.
After waiting a few moments in silence, Rach heard the glass door click closed behind her and then felt two very large hands resting on her shoulders. Without her consent, her body jumped in terror. She knew in that second that she had more than likely scared Noah to death, and right she was. "Rach baby!" Noah exclaimed in a whisper (who knew that was even possible), "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"
Tears rushed to her eyes at the pain in his voice. "No, Noah," Rachel finally turned to look at him, "I don't know why but, but my body just seems to react on its own." Rachel watched as he nodded his head slowly, then cautiously stretch his arms out toward her. Noah never moved his eyes from hers, waiting for her to react as his hands fell on her elbows and gently pulled her to him. Rachel stepped forward without a moment's hesitation and all but collapsed into his arms bawling.
Rachel listen to Noah's soft voice as he whispered words of comfort in her ear until she felt the sobbing subside. Slowly pulling away from him, she offered him the tiniest smile she could muster up and turned to the shower head. She relaxed as the water covered her body from the top of her head to bottom of her feet. Sighing, she stepped out of the water flow to reach for her Shampoo. Rachel's shower was enormous, simply put. When you opened the stained glass doors the was a 6x4 feet rectangle with stone walls and and floors. Against the far wall was a cut in area where she kept her showering items.
By the time Rachel had located her shampoo through her blurry vision she felt her legs start to give way. Turning around to shoot Noah a warning look, she felt her knees give out from under her and the shampoo bottle fly across the shower. Before her already beaten body was able to hit the floor, Noah's arms were around her. Rachel looked up into his face and his "it's okay" smile made her want to cry again. Noah gently lowered them to the floor of the shower and backed up into the corner with her facing away from him, his legs on either side of her. Not even having to think about it, Rachel fell back against his perfect chest and closed her eyes.
After the most traumatic day she would ever experience, Rachel ended up in the one place she felt safe: his arms.
'How does this sort of thing happen?' Noah had tried repeatedly to push those thoughts aside, but he just couldn't. He had caught Rachel just as her knees gave out and her body headed straight for the shower floor. Now he had her in his arms, resting against his bare chest. As Noah felt Rachel relax against him, he let his mind wander. Sure, he had been a complete jerk to Rachel when they first started high school by giving her a weekly slushie to the face, but that had all changed. When he had joined Glee club, she had just driven him crazy. But after a few weeks, Puck got to see who Rachel really was underneath that cheery, in-your-face, the whole world revolves around me disposition. She was kind and soft. She wore her heart on her sleeve, which is why he couldn't tell you how many times he had held her while she cried. She loved making him smile and would do just about anything to make him happy. The weird thing though, is that she didn't have to do anything. Rachel made him happy just by sitting next to him or talking his ears off about stupid chick stuff. He wasn't 100% positive, seeing as how he had never actually experienced this, but if you asked, he would tell you that he was in love with Rachel Berry. Sure they were only friends, best friends, but they were so much closer than that. They had kissed on occasion and they never watched a movie without it ending in a cuddling session. They had never actually told each other that they were in love, but they knew it. It was just one of those unspoken things.
Now, holding his best friend, the girl he was in love with, holding her beaten body made his heart break. He wanted nothing more than to kiss away every bruise and make her forget what happened, but Puck knew that the only thing he could do right now, was to take care of her and be there for her. So Noah reached around Rachel for the bottle of shampoo that had been sent tumbling a few moments earlier. He poured some in his hands then began to massage Rachel's hair. He paused when she let out a small groan, but after she told him it felt nice he continued to work it down her long brown locks.
Now, on any other day, having a completely naked Rachel in the shower with him would have him hard within moments. But not today. Its not that he wasn't attracted to Rachel, hell, he was in love with the girl, and no amount of bruises could change that, but somehow he was able to focus on what Rachel needed from him right now, and that definitely wasn't his member poking her in the back.
After thoroughly working the shampoo through Rach's hair, Noah gently spun her around to face him. It took all his effort not to chuckle at Rachel's confused look, but Noah simply rest his hands on either side of her face and gently leaned her head back into the streaming water. It took a few minutes to rinse out all the shampoo from her thick hair that Puck loved so much. He reached for the conditioner next and repeated the actions that he had performed with the shampoo, only now Rachel was facing him, looking him dead in the eye. Puck tried to swallow the lump in his throat that Rachel always seemed to give him. "Hey," he whispered.
Rachel smiled at him and offered him a simple, "Hi."
"Are you okay?" He whispered to her. 'Great! Nice question Puck! 'are you okay?' What the hell do you think!' As Puck continued to mentally scold himself, Rachel dropped her eyes.
"No," she said simply after a few moments, "Not yet." Looking back into his eyes and offering him thankful smile.
Sighing, Noah pulled Rachel's naked body against his own and just held her. "I'm so sorry Rach," he kept repeating the words as Rachel began to tear up again.
After a few minutes, Rachel's breathing smoothed out and Puck relaxed his hold on her. Rachel leaned back to rinse the conditioner out of her own hair as Noah reached for one of her wash cloths that she kept in the shower and ran it under the now lukewarm water. Taking it, Puck ran it over her body from head to toe, washing away all the blood and dirt. Rachel gasped and groaned when he ran the cloth over her thighs. This was the first time Noah noticed the hand shaped bruises on the inside of her thighs. Rage ran through his body like fire and just before he lost it he heard her voice, "Noah?" She whispered, "Noah?"
It took all his effort to jerk his head up to look at her and what he saw surprised him: sympathy. Why the hell did she feel sorry for him? He opened his mouth but no words would come out. He tried again and again, but nothing happened. He felt himself break down and lose it. Noah nuzzled his face into the crook of Rachel's neck trying to catch his breath. 'Get it together Puckerman,' He told himself, 'Your girl needs you right now.' Taking one last ragged breath, Noah pulled back to look at his girl (he could definitely get used to that term.) He caressed her face then gently gave her a peck on the forehead before continuing his job of removing the blood and dirt.
About three minutes later, Puck was turning off the water and leaving a naked Rachel on the shower floor to find a couple of towels. Finding two light pink towels in her cabinet, Noah grabbed them with a chuckle and returned to Rachel. She was attempting to stand, but her legs couldn't hold her. "Hey," he scolded with a whisper, "Hold on baby, I got ya." She offered him a smile as he shook open the towel and wrapped it around her shoulders. Scooping her up like a baby, Noah took her back to her bedroom and gently place his girl underneath the covers. After he had succeeded in tucking her in, Puck wrapped the other pink towel around his waist, covering his soaked boxers. He secured his towel and then he laid down next to Rach.
With no amount of small effort, Rachel turned over on her back and looked at Puck. He smiled when she reached for his hand and just held it. "Thank you," he heard her whisper as she closed her eyes.
Puck waited a few moments, unsure as to how he should respond, but then he decided to respond the best way he knew how. He threw his arm over Rachel's body and snuggled close to her, and before kissing her temple he promised her: "I'll never leave you Rach. Never." Noah felt her sigh and her body relax.
Puck had a plan. It probably wasn't a great one, but it was all he had. He just needed to wait for Rach to fall asleep so he could call in the troops: their family (a.k.a. The Glee Club).
So? Thoughts?
The paragraph on little puck (if you know what I mean), that part felt awkwardly placed, and written, but I couldn't leave it out. It just felt like an obvious issue. So if you hated that part, I understand.
Hope you enjoyed the rest.
-Lace
