A/N: I am overwhelmed at the amount of people adding this story to their alerts. You guys are awesome. But would it kill you to review, seriously reviews are amazing, they're addictive. You don't HAVE to review, but I will love you if you do :) Also, I probably won't be adding chapter 5 until Sunday; I have 2 exams on Saturday that I really have to study for. Sorry in advance, but I'll make it an extra great chapter because I feel bad.
Disclaimer: Puck hasn't moved to Canada to sleep in my bed so I guess I still don't own Glee
Puck watched her car as it drove down the street, turned a corner, and disappeared from view. Dragging a hand over his head he headed back inside. Grabbing his coffee mug off the counter he headed over to the nook Rachel had been sitting in just a few minutes ago. He curled up onto the side that had the window seat and wished he had something a hell of a lot stronger than coffee right now. But he knew he had to deal with this without ending up on a three day bender like he had when Rachel had first left New York.
He really hadn't wanted to argue with her again this morning, but he was a little (very) pissed off. Clearly she wasn't doing anything to get over what had happened to her. She had just run, away from her life, away from him, and she was so far from dealing with it.
Puck contemplated going to look for her for a second before dismissing that idea. Despite your recent actions to the contrary, you're still a stud and you don't go chasing after anyone Puckerman!
Or at least that's what he told himself, because the truth that it was because Rachel would really not appreciate it made him wonder when he'd lost his balls.
_
After driving around Lima aimlessly for an hour, Rachel found herself in the parking lot at McKinley. She's not really surprised that she ended up here. Since moving back to Lima, Rachel spent almost all of her time either here, or at her house. Since going back home is not an option right now, not with her infuriating husband around, the high school is really the only other place she knows.
She ends up walking the halls, reliving her high school days. As a freshman and even a sophomore, Rachel had been an outcast, completely misunderstood and mercilessly picked on. Things changed after the glee club settled down towards the end of sophomore year. For the most part everyone became pretty good friends, they all hung out outside of school, and it had been fun. She missed those sorts of carefree days.
Walking into the auditorium, Rachel climbed the steps onto the stage and looked out at the rows of empty seats. Feeling the tears as they start to track down her cheeks, she wipes at them furiously and lay down in the center of the stage.
The first day of senior year Rachel. One more year and you'll be off in New York, taking Broadway by storm in no time.
Rachel lay in the middle of the stage humming Taking Chances and dreaming of her final year at McKinley and of her future that was almost within her reach. She was so lost in thought she hadn't noticed that someone had come into the auditorium until Puck was lying next to her.
"Do the beams hold some sort of mystical meaning Berry?"
Rachel rolled her eyes and turned her head to face him "No Noah, I'm just thinking, right here is where I do my best thinking"
"Thinking about what?"
"Taking Nationals this year, and then heading off to New York in the fall. I've been waiting 17 years to get there." Her voice wavered a little, giving into the nerves she'd been ignoring, wondering if she were good enough. She acted like she was confident, but she had doubts like any teenager.
As if reading her mind, Puck looked her in the eyes and said "You're going to do great out there Rachel, they don't stand a chance"
That moment in the auditorium was when they had become inseparable; best friends from that point on.
_
When Puck went back to the counter to refill his coffee mug for the third time that morning, he noticed a piece of paper hanging on Rachel's refrigerator door. Putting his mug back down on the counter, he grabbed the paper of the fridge to take a look. Reading it he realized it was her to do list for fixing up the house; things she had finished neatly crossed out.
Figuring he needed something to do to keep himself occupied until Rachel decided she was ready to talk to him again; Puck scanned the list to see if there was anything he could work on. He finally decided to strip and stain the kitchen cabinets, providing she had already bought the supplies.
Finding the paint stripper, sand paper and stain in the separate garage, Puck grabbed some tools and headed to the kitchen to start taking down the cupboard doors.
When he finally got the doors down and was busy stripping the old green paint off of them, Puck tried to tune out the rest of the world and focus solely on the work. He also failed miserably.
Rachel always got a little bit crazy (well more so than usual) whenever she was about to begin a new role. He loved her but she was driving him nuts, practicing songs and dialogue at all times. This time however seemed even worse than her previous bouts of pre show nerves. She was extremely fidgety, and he would find her awake in the middle of the night staring at the ceiling of their bedroom biting her cute bottom lip in worry. He'd chalked it up to this being her first lead role.
After a particularly rough day in the department, Puck offered to stay behind and finish off some of the paperwork that needed to be done; partly because he was the new guy and he wanted to work his ass off to prove himself, but also because this way he wouldn't have to listen to Rachel singing all evening long. He wasn't a jerk though, so he called her and let her know he'd be running late, he didn't want her to worry about him as well.
He lived with the guilt every single day. Puck knew that if he had just gone home that night like everyone else, he could have protected Rachel, nothing would have happened. She wouldn't have left him alone in New York.
Puck hadn't rushed after her when she left because deep down, he was punishing himself for not being there, for not recognizing the signs that there was something truly wrong.
Fed up with his trip down memory lane, Puck grabbed his iPod from his rental parked in the driveway. Putting the ear buds in, he put the volume up as high as he could stand it, hoping it would drown out the vision of Rachel gagged, tied to their bed and bleeding from the slashes on her left side.
_
Rachel woke up disoriented, unsure of where she was, and extremely sore. Sitting up she realized she'd fallen asleep on the stage in the auditorium, dreams of the better days in high school letting her sleep better than she had in a long time.
She glanced down at her watch, it was 3 in the afternoon, and she'd left the house almost 5 hours ago. It was past time to head back and deal with Noah.
When she arrived back at the house, Rachel noticed the door to the garage open, closing her car door she walked up to the garage, inside was Noah, furiously sanding down her kitchen cabinet doors. He was shirtless and covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Rachel was stunned; he was even more muscular than he'd been when she left New York. The muscles in his arms flexed as he sanded down the wood cabinets, his back tightening and flexing with each move he made. Rachel stood transfixed in the doorway.
She felt a rush of heat to her core, and knew she was flushed from head to toe. Damn it, why did he still have this effect on her! She was furious with him; she didn't need to feel like she wanted to jump his bones at any minute. Oh hell. Rachel finally snapped out of her trance and turned to head into the house; she did not need Noah realizing she was staring.
_
Puck had this squirming feeling that he was being watched. When it didn't go away after a minute, he turned around to see Rachel heading for the front door. He yanked out his head phones and jogged up behind her.
"Rachel"
She turned to face him and he saw she was pink, he wondered if she'd been outside this whole time, it looked like she'd gotten a little sun.
"Hi Noah" she finally replied back.
"I guess we have to talk don't we?"
Rachel just nodded in response. Puck gestured for her to go ahead of him. Walking up the steps of the porch, Puck was jolted with a shot of pure lust at the sight of her ass in a pair of tight blue jeans swaying enticingly in front of him as she walked. He was so distracted he almost walked into her when she stopped abruptly.
Looking over her shoulder towards the house, Puck saw the piece of paper taped to the door.
Becky's mine. I love her.
"Fucking hell!"
