A/N: Reviews are golden - I read them all and I definitely take them into account when plotting the next chapter. Thank you for all the alerts and I certainly hope you'll like what I've got coming up for our two good lookin' Jews. Continued thanks to my busy beta, Nicole (nicolasmaria) because she's doing a lot of hand holding with this first story and she probably doesn't realize how I much appreciate her notes and her help. Go check out her stories, her pen-name is above!

Chapter Four

The slamming of the suite door caused Puck to learn several things very quickly that next morning. The first was that he had certainly consumed much too much alcohol the night before, as his head pounded as he slowly woke up. The second was that alcohol and early mornings were a bad combination and despite years of experience with each of them, he had not yet perfected the mixture. The final thing was that there was a sleeping redhead in the hotel bed alongside him. With all those things added up, he wanted to groan but he avoided doing that so as to not wake up the the chick sleeping next to him.

"Is Noah awake?" he heard a small voice ask from close outside the door and panic gathered in his stomach. Of course Rachel would be here to see him fuck up royally once again. She was the only one to ever push him to be more and he was basically spitting on that. And what the fuck, where the hell had Mike and Matt been? Some friends that they were to let him bring some random girl back to the suite that was on Rachel's dime.

"No," he heard Mike answer. "He was kind of exhausted last night. We were gonna let him sleep a little more. Once he gets up, we can go for coffee." Goddamn Chang…his friend really needed to work on the lies he told. Especially when it was needed to save his ass. He could have said he went to the gym, that he had run out and would meet them to get coffee – basically anything other than what he had gone with. His lie did not get Rachel out of the room. In fact, it kept Rachel there and he needed her gone for at least a few minutes to tell this chick to hit the bricks.

A chorus of profanities and what quickly negated plans on how to get this chick out of his room played through his brain. He slipped out from under the covers, pulled his boxers on and then scrubbed his fingers over his face. Grabbing his phone, he sent a text to Matt and prayed his friend was able to distract Rachel in order to get … whatever her name was out of here without Rachel seeing. He heard Matt clear his throat and Puck could almost see the boy scratching his head as he thought of a diversion.

"Rach, wanna go get the paper with me downstairs? I have to get the finance section, gotta stay on top of the industry while I'm away."

"Why don't you just call room service?" she asked and for the moment Puck prayed that she would not be a diva and go with spontaneity.

"Girl, you've gone Hollywood on us this fast?" Mike asked and he heard Rachel chuckle.

"Never. Let's go Matthew."

The door opened and closed loudly and the redhead finally stirred. Sleepily, she smirked and looked up at him. "Hey tiger," she greeted.

"Listen, I'm going to bite the bullet and sound like a dick. I really need you to leave. My boss is here and if she sees you, I could get fired."

The redhead quirked an eyebrow disbelievingly – it was 9 am on a Saturday, who is up and working at this hour? In Manhattan, no less. Seemingly, she didn't even care that he was trying to get rid of her but rather that that was the story he was going with. Puck could see where she wouldn't easily believe him and searched for a better way to get her out of the room. Chang finally inherited the gift of good timing and burst in his room. The redhead made sure she was properly covered and scowled. This was not how her Saturday morning should be going.

"Rachel's here," he announced

"No shit Sherlock, I got that one when the door to the suite slammed and I heard her voice. At least Rutherford was able to get her outta here for a few." The redhead, whose name Puck still did not know, finally took the hint and started getting dressed. When she was nearly together, he ushered her to the door even as she only had one shoe on.

The rest felt like it happened in slow motion. The suite door opened and in walked Rachel and Matt, New York Times in hand. The redhead (whose name he would learn was Casey based on the cocktail napkin she left on the dresser), gave Rachel a once over before telling Puck to call her and leaving the newly convened group behind to deal with the apparent fall out. Puck looked at the reaction on Rachel's face – a mixture of incredulity, anger and acceptance. The latter, was the worst, as it felt like a knife to see that she really thought he hadn't changed much since high school. And this was just another instance of proof to back up her case.

"I'm going to wait in the car with Cooper," she said mentioning the new driver that Quinn had hired. Without so much as another word, she left the hotel suite and with Puck desperately needing something to hit.

"Where were you guys?" he hissed, "How did you let me take some girl home?"

"You snuck out with her when we went to the bar to close the tab. By the time we got back here, you two were making noises that neither of us were going to disturb."

"Damn it," he groaned. "She's so pissed."

"You just have to apologize. And not some shit attempt either," Matt said. "You're going to have to explain to her why you were upset. And we know, as your friends, that it's not just because of Quinn's mandate. It's something else. And if she knew, I think she could overlook this morning's little … issue."

"Rutherford, what the fuck are you babbling about?"

"Chang, am I the only one that thinks that Puck still has a thing for Rachel?"

"No sir, you are not," the lanky Asian said, crossing his arms.

"Psssht," Puck said dismissively.

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," Mike said taking a seat on the couch. "Get showered and quick. We're taking Rachel on her errands today by ourselves. Quinn said to consider it our probation."

He didn't waste time in the shower – no sense in making Berry madder than she was. But he knew if he entered the vehicle smelling like eau de One Night Stand, his future option to have children would be removed.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

They found Rachel sitting in the third row of the Navigator, headphones in ear. Her face showed no emotion as they got in the vehicle. The car pulled away from the curb and into the punishing traffic of the city.

"Berry, listen..." he started. There was not a flicker of acknowledgement from the actress so Puck changed his approach. "Rachel," he continued, "Can we talk?"

She pulled an earbud out of her ear and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'd rather we forget the matter completely. I'm not in charge of your personal life as long as it does not interfere with your job. Whatever the reason is for you having sex with some stranger, it will not change the fact that you are still the same person from high school."

Whipping out her phone, she sent a quick text to Kurt. This may not work out. Kurt responded quickly. NP? Biting her lip, she answered yes.

"I'm sorry," he apologized and when it got no response, Chang punched him in the thigh. Puck scowled at his friend who was urging him to continue with the apology. Clearing his throat, he went on. "I'm sorry that you had to see that...back there and...I don't really care if you don't want to hear it. That's too fucking bad, you're going to have to listen."

Rachel scoffed and got out of the car as Cooper pulled up to a surprisingly quiet Starbucks in NoLita.

"Nice," Matt said, sarcastically complimenting Puck's attempted apology before they followed her into the store.

The barista saw her and asked if she wanted her usual. Rachel happily answered yes asking for an additional shot of espresso in the beverage. Puck didn't like the stupid tension and told Mike to grab her drink. Inconspicuously, he grabbed her by the waist and towed her into the bathroom, which was 10 feet away from the counter. He locked the door despite her protests.

"Unhand me!"

He laughed at her thinking was some Roaring 20's movie set before getting serious. "We're not leaving this bathroom until we get over this morning. We can't work together with you all pissy."

"I'm sorry that you're uncomfortable with my emotions, Noah, but I won't just forgive you. I stand by my convictions. Now, let me out!"

Puck leaned against the wooden door and despite Berry having years of routine exercise under her belt, there was no fucking way she was making him budge.

"You were wrong, I have changed since high school. I know that statement seems shot to shit based on this morning but I am...I'm different. It's not all about me and I get that now."

Her glare softened and she wanted to know more. Truthfully, it had hurt seeing him this morning with some whore sneaking out of his room but she didn't want to throw away this never-ending faith that she had in his ability to be more.

"How do you mean?"

"Kurt probably didn't tell you this but I work paycheck to paycheck. Not because I don't make money, but I don't keep it all. I pay the bills and keep enough to live on but the rest I send home so my mom doesn't have to bust her ass to make sure the house doesn't get taken away."

"And the girl?" Rachel questioned

Puck could sense that his one night stand was the eye of the storm. He didn't know what Rachel's issue with Casey was – Berry was a shit ton more successful and possessed effortless beauty. As fuzzy as the memory was, he knew Casey was a bartender at the St. Regis and the redhead had been seriously made up last night.

"First time, I've had sex in months. Last time was my ex, Annie."

Rachel raised an eyebrow at this admission. Puck had declared himself someone who did not do monogamy in high school and she wondered where that proclamation had gone since then.

"What happened to 'I'm a sex shark. If I stop moving, I die?'" she asked expertly quoting what he had told Mercedes during their sophomore year.

"Where did you hear that?" he asked his eyes growing as wide as saucers, clearly embarrassed.

She could count the number of times she had seen Noah Puckerman embarrassed on one hand but every time it happened, it was semi-amusing. It was like he forgot everything he preached about being a stud and a badass and he reverted to an awkward teenager. Truthfully, she just wanted to hear the words that this girl was a mistake. Not because she had a thing for him (as much as it was nice to have him around, she most certainly did not have romantic feelings for him. At least she was 96% sure of that.)

"Mercedes told me. That genius line is not exactly one that I will be letting slip from my memory," she said with a giggle. Hearing her giggle made the desire to sink into the ground a little less. Maybe there was progress being made. "So you're telling me that the red head was a mistake and nothing more?"

"Yes, I already yelled at the others for letting me do something so stupid. I was just so pissed at Quinn for being a hypocrite and like doubting me or whatever. So I went to alcohol."

It was true. On one hand, Rachel was making him feel like a hero and then there was Quinn, who made him feel like the felon, complete with a villainous black mustache and Rachel tied to the railroad tracks. Her lack of faith didn't help keep his head clear.

"Noah, it was my decision to hire you and the others. Next time, talk to me if you're feeling that way okay? I'd rather you sort through how you're feeling rather than…"

"I gotcha."

She encircled his torso giving him a small hug. They left the bathroom finding Mike and Matt waiting with rapt attention.

"You two good?" Matt asked taking a loud drink of his blended coffee drink

"We're good. Onto the next errand," she announced with a smile.

A light was in her eyes as she smiled and Puck knew for the moment that things were okay.