I'm really sorry about the wait. I did have this written and then it somehow got deleted off my laptop so I had to write it all again.
A big big big thank you to Sassy26 for being my beta. Go read her fics, they are amazing and I'm so happy to have her as my twitter friend!

This chapter is a little (try alot) shorter than previous. Only because the next chapter will be the last and then the epilogue.
Getting reviews from you all makes me so happy. I also like knowing the things you liked and didn't like, so drop me a line and let me know how I'm doing :)

Thank you for reading this. I hope you enjoy it!


Puck sat idly in his truck in front of the Hummel house. Well, Hummel/Puckerman house he guessed now. He ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath. He could see through the front window and saw Hannah playing Nurse to Kurt who looked like he would be better off without her flittering around him as he lay like a ragdoll on the couch. With shaking hands, he took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. He swayed as he stood on his feet and now understood why the doctor had said not to drive anywhere for the next few weeks.

He made his way up the pebbled path and to the front door. His keys felt heavier and heavier with each step. He looked down at them resting in his palm and inserted the bright red key that Kurt had cut for him into the deadbolt on the door and let himself in. He could hear his sister before he saw her. She had rushed away from Kurt's side in hope of her brother returning. Hannah threw herself into Puck's arms and held onto him tightly. If anyone mentioned the fact that there were a few (MAN!) tears running down his face, he'd deny it till the cows came home… then he'd probably rush to shoot the cows so that they didn't make it home.

"I thought you were never going to come back like him!"

Puck's face covered with confusion as he pulled her head back from his shoulder.

"What are you talking about? I told you I was coming back"

She wiped the tears she had cried away along with some of his before continuing.

"That's what he said as well. He lied."

His jaw dropped.

"You remember that? You weren't even 3 at the time!"

Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Noah, I'm 7 not stupid. Did you really think I would not remember our own fath- …him leaving us?"

Puck frowned before holding her closer to him and moving into the lounge room where Kurt rested peacefully upon the old velvet couch. He grabbed some of her Barbies in one hand whilst still holding her and took her to her room so that Kurt could continue to rest without any interruptions.

As he put Hannah down on her bed and had given her the Barbies, he went to leave, but her small voice stopped him.

"Noah? Can you sing me to sleep tonight? You haven't done it since we moved here and… please?"

She bit her bottom lip as she awaited his answer. Puck nodded and gave her a small smile. He walked back over to her and kissed her forehead before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He tip-toed past Kurt and walked around the house silently, looking for Burt. As he searched it gave him time to think of the big ass apology he was going to have to give him. He'd said some pretty awful things from the day they moved in and was pretty sure that Burt felt like shit majority of the time he was around him. He needed to fix that. After he stopped slushee-ing Rachel he'd promised himself that he'd never do anything to make another person feel like shit unless they deserved it. Burt sure as hell did not deserve it.

After he had searched the entire house, the only place that was left was the back patio. He slid the door open and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. A habit he'd picked up for when he was nervous. Burt's back faced him and Puck watched as he saw a puff of smoke rise above the older man. He scuffed his sneaker on the ground as he slowly walked over to him.

"God, does everyone in this house smoke or am I just special today?"

Burt jumped and quickly threw the cigarette to the ground, stomping on it. He turned to look at Puck, wiping his hands on his flannel shirt.

"Smoking's a terrible habit. Don't smoke! Disgusting!"

Burt avoided Pucks eyes.

"Besides, I thought you weren't coming back till tomorrow?"

Puck sat down on the deck chair opposite Burt and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah, well…"

Puck trailed off. Turns out that the thinking time that he had before finding Burt didn't really help much at all.

"I'm sorry about before and well… everything really. I treated you like crap since day one and… My mom's happy right?"

Burt's eyebrows rose in shock. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Well, I'd like to think she's happy. Why? Has she said something to you?"

Burt swore that he could feel his old heart stop beating for a moment.

"Yeah, I think she is"

Puck smiled at him. A genuine smile. Not his usual smirk that was always planted on his face.

"But really, Burt I'm sorry. I know that just saying that doesn't mean much, but I truly am sorry and if it's alright with you, I think I'll stay the night tonight and maybe for a while?"

Burt stood up and opened his arms as an invite for a hug. Puck backed away from him quickly. He didn't do hugs; in fact the only time he even remotely cuddled was in post coital bliss with his girlfriend… ex-girlfriend.

Burt walked closer to his with his arms still wide. Puck stood up from the chair and attempted at manoeuvring away from him to quickly rush inside with a salute, but Burt grabbed him from around his shoulders and pulled him in with such force that surprised Puck. For an old guy, he sure did have some muscles!

After a few moments Puck relaxed into the hug and realised how long it had been since someone had hug him like that. Burt hugged him like a father should hug his son. Puck wrapped his arms around the mans back and tried to keep the tears (he was hugging a guy, there was no way he could man-ify that!) from falling.

"You can stay here till you're as old and shrivelled up as I am!"

Puck let go of him and let out a laugh while wiping his eyes.


It had been a few days now since Rachel had broken up with Noah and she refused to dwell on it. She had to focus on herself and her voice, which at the moment was tickling! Not a good sign for a future Broadway star. She rubbed her throat in an attempt to sooth it and continued down the high school corridor into the Choir room. As she opened the heavy wooden door and cleared her throat, for once it wasn't to gain the other members of the Glee clubs attention. Her eyes watered as a sharp pain shot through her throat, but it was gone as soon as it came.

She continued into the room and sat down on one of the plastic chairs and noticed that Noah had yet to show up. She shook the thoughts from her head and opened up her backpack in search of throat lozenges. After discovering the packet, she popped one into her mouth and sat there silently sucking on it not noticing the original Gleeks staring at her, mouths dropped open in shock.

"Rachel, are you-" Tina began.

"DEAR GOD AND EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY RACHEL BERRY IS GETTING SICK!"

Kurt clutched at his head and winced as he touched a sore spot. He breathing became quick and came out in short breaths while Mercedes tried to comfort him. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"You guys, I'm not getting sick. I've just had a bit of a long weekend."

She rasped out. The Choir room door opened and all the Cheerio's and Football players strutted in. Puck came in last, walking slowly and looking at his shoes. Finn came and sat next to Rachel, giving her one of his goofy smiles. She tried to give him one back, but it turned out to be a grimace.

Mr. Shue walked in and commanded everyone's attention. He asked them to warm up their voices and nodded at Brad, at the piano, to begin. As Rachel opened her mouth she could see Kurt in the corner of her eye taking in a deep breath, but as a smooth note flew out of her mouth, he relaxed. After running through the scales once, she realised that majority of the room wasn't singing. She looked around and saw that none of the Cheerio's or Jock's were singing. Noah didn't even pretend to sing. He just sat there sullenly with his mouth closed, still looking at his shoes. Rachel looked to their teacher hoping that he'd put a stop to this, but let out an internal groan seeing him going through one of his books filled with horrible 70's power ballads.

After class Rachel rushed out of the room. She was called "intense and crazy" for as long as she could remember at this school and never really believed it until now. She knew that she couldn't just say to Mr. Shuester that she was sick of picking up everyone else's slack. He would think that she was just being diva-ish. She needed hard proof, which is why she had met up with Lauren, the president of the A/V club.

"Just tell me if you can do it, Lauren! The microphones would have to be hidden."

Lauren nodded and rushed away into the empty hallway and Rachel continued up the stairs.

The next day at Glee, Rachel looked around the room not noticing any microphones, cameras or any of the other equipment she'd asked for. She looked to the door briefly and noticed Lauren giving her a thumbs up and walking away. Rachel let out a coy smile and continued her warm-up. Noah was singing today. She could hear his deep voice behind her. Her voice cracked and she brought a hand quickly to her throat. She cleared it and began again. She could hear Kurt faltering in his notes as he stared at Rachel hoping that her voice would not crack again.

After the warm ups had finished they all sat back down in their chairs awaiting their lesson from Mr. Shuester.

"Rachel, are you ok?"

Mr. Shue grabbed one of the stools and perched himself upon it placing his notebook in his lap.

"No, I'm losing my voice because I have to keep on picking up everyone else's slack!"

The curly haired teacher began to roll his eyes before Mike spoke up.

"Mr. Shue… there's a microphone in my chair…"

Rachel let out a frustrated groan.

"I had a source put them around the room with camera's to show you, Mr. Shue, that every week at the most there is only 5 of us who actually sing. I can't handle it for much longer. My throat is killing me"

The last bit of her sentence came out as more of a whine than an actual sentence. She went to continue on, but nothing came out. Her eyes widened and Kurt started to pray nonsensical things about Regional's to Whitney Houston. Finn shifted next to her uncomfortably.

"Maybe, you should see a doctor, Rach? I mean maybe he can give you some, like, super medicine that could stop you from getting sick. I can take you after, if you want?"

Rachel nodded and searched through her bag for another packet of throat lozenges. After finding none she sat back into her chair with her arms crossed over her chest with a scowl covering her face. A small foil packet dropped into her lap and she turned around to find the culprit. She saw Noah giving her a small smile as he began to get ready to get into his dance position.

"Don't say I never gave you nothing"

He got up and walked into the middle of the room with Artie. Lifting up the packet of throat soothers, she smiled.

I never did.


Rachel and Finn were now on their way to Lima's only doctor's office and with the way Finn was driving she would defiantly need a doctor… and a hospital because she honestly feared for her life right now! She closed her eyes and rested her head on the door and concentrated on her breathing.

I'm going to do a Charlie's Angel's roll out of this car in 3…2…

"Hey, Rach. Wake up. We're here."

She opened one of her eyes and sure enough, the sign in front of her said "Lima Health Clinic" she launched herself out of the car with force and took in the feel of solid ground beneath her feet. Finn came around to her and placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her inside. When Noah did that he made her feel safe and cared for, not some toddler that didn't know where she was going. She took a few large steps forward and sure enough Finn's hand dropped away.

After letting the receptionist know why she was there she was told to go and wait a few minutes in the waiting room and the doctor would be right with her. She sat down and grabbed one of the magazines flipping through it impatiently. She was sure that her voice was just stressed because she had spent the better part of the weekend crying her eyes out about Noah and making sure that she'd made the right choice.

"Rachel Berry?"

She looked up and saw an older doctor in his white coat and holding a clipboard. She smiled at him, threw her magazine onto the coffee table and grabbed Finn who was enthralled by a children's toy that he'd discovered on the ground.

After the doctor had taken a swab of the saliva that had coated her throat, he checked her hearing and eye sight before taking the swab into the lab room leaving Rachel and Finn in the cold, white room. The taller boy busied himself by wheeling himself around the room in his chair and Rachel was left with her thoughts. She hadn't realised she'd voice them out loud.

"What if he says I'll never be able to sing again?"

Finn stopped wheeling around the room long enough to console her.

"So what if he does, there are so many other awesome things about you!"

She smiled. It was the nicest thing anyone, not including Noah, had said to her in a long time.

"Really? Like what?"

Finn's face became blank before the goofy smile replaced it.

"Look, he's not going to say you'll never be able to sing again!"

Rachel frowned. She couldn't believe that she had ever liked him.

The doctor came back into the room checking his clipboard one more time.

"Bad news Rachel, you'll probably never be able to sing again."

Tears sprung to her eyes and fell freely as she let out a sob. Finn placed a hand onto her back and attempted at rubbing soothing circles onto it. She shrugged him off with a small whine.

"I'm kidding. You have severe tonsillitis which has developed into an inner ear infection. From the looks of things its not the first time, you should have had them out years ago. This is a very serious infection. Start by taking these antibiotics and if your throat isn't any better in 2 weeks, it looks like you're going to have to have the surgery. I'm sorry Rachel."

She took the prescription out of the doctor's hand and nodded. He left the room to go get his next patient and Rachel picked up her bag and searched for the lozenges that Noah had given her.

Finn waited until they were in the car to talk to her.

"Are you ok?"

Rachel continued to stare out the side window.

"I don't know"

"What are you going to do if you need the surgery?"

"I don't know"

"Do you think the surgery is a good idea?"

"I don't know, Finn! I don't know anything at the moment! I just…"

She let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding and squeezed the throat soothers Noah had given her in her hand.

"Can you take me to Kurt's house? Please?"

Finn took his eyes off the road to look at her and Rachel resisted the urge to scream at him to keep his eyes on the road at all times.

"Rachel are you sure that's a good idea?"

She nodded and wiped away a tear that had fallen. Finn checked his mirrors and pulled a u-turn that would make Kurt proud. As he pulled up outside the Hummel house Rachel collected her things and before she exited the car, she stopped.

"Finn, you were really nice to me today and I was horrible to you. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve it. Thank you for driving me around everywhere. You're a good friend."

She reached over and hugged him tightly before getting out of the car. As she walked up the pebbled path she gave Finn one of her real smiles, not a forced one. He gave her a goofy one back before driving away. Rachel raised and fist and knocked on the Hummel/Puckerman front door.