A/N: Finally! Got myself to write and upload this chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Photograph

For this chapter's flashback, refer to the first three chapters of my other story, NY Puckleberry. It's the story of how Puck ended up as a fashion photographer. It also sheds light on what happened to Kurt and Mercedes after graduation. If you're not interested in reading that story and are willing to settle with "Noah Puckerman became one of New York's most celebrated fashion photographers and has been dating supermodels and heiresses." That's cool too. ^_^

Puck cringed.

Emerald eyes were blazing at him as Matt parked the SUV in front of Puck's house. He knew that he had a lot of explaining to do to his younger sister, Debra, and he was completely not in the mood for it.

"Puck!" she exclaimed as he got off the vehicle.

To his surprise, she ran straight to his arms, hugging him tight. Puck took a step back as he looked at his sister with questioning eyes.

The seventeen-year-old brunette was smiling at him. She looked different… more mature than she did when he last saw her a year or so ago when she and their mom visited him in New York.

"Hey, Deb," he greeted her warmly, genuinely glad to see her.

Debra then turned to Matt, who just got off the car. He nodded her way to acknowledge her. She smiled at him before returning her focus toward Puck. With no warning signs whatsoever, she hit him hard on the shoulder.

"Ow! Deb! What the –" Puck growled. "Schizophrenic much?"

"I'm glad to see you home, Noah Puckerman, because let's face it… it's been ages since you last visited Lima. But that does not excuse the fact that you came home without as much as announcing your presence to either mom or me, snuck into my room, took my car keys and drove off to heaven knows where," she shot at him. "I'm 17… sneaking out in the middle of the night is my job. You're supposed to be the adult here."

"At least I texted you that I had the car," Puck defended, before hesitating. "Wait. You sneak out on mom? Deb…"

"No, I don't sneak out on mom. Unlike you, I'm actually a responsible teen-" Debra scowled. "Wait a minute… no way… you don't get to change the topic and start acting like my older brother."

"I am your older brother," Puck pointed out, an amused smile forming on his face.

She grimaced in a way that Puck found absolutely cute. "Yeah? Well, that's not the point. Anyway, back to your text message… how very thoughtful of you. Thanks for that," she said sarcastically before hitting him again.

This time, Puck only rolled his eyes, muttering the word teenagers under his breath.

"Speaking of my car, where is it?" Debra piped up, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Puck cringed again. The truth was he could barely remember where he left the car. Waking up in that strange woman's house was enough of a shock. He had his jeans on so he figured – or hoped – that nothing happened. She was nice enough to make him breakfast and they had a few awkward exchange of words before she let him make a call. He called on Matt to pick him up, and that's how he ended up back home, wondering how to explain everything to his teenage sister. He scratched his head and looked at Matt for help.

Matt chuckled. "It's in my bar's parking lot. Don't worry, Deb. It's fine."

Debra gave her older brother a scowl, and in response, Puck flashed a toothy grin at her. "Why is it that I can't stay mad at you for too long?" she bemoaned.

"Maybe because your older brother is irresistible, charming…"

Debra rolled her eyes as he listed down his oh-so-wonderful qualities. When he was done, she stared right at him and said, "Uhm, no. It really is just a mystery."

To that, Matt rolled over in laughter. Even Puck couldn't help but grin. "Missed you, Deb."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Before anything else could be said, an old convertible drove to a stop behind Matt's car.

Puck looked at the car curiously before noticing the bright smile on his sister's face. Matt, on the other hand, had "uh-oh" written all over his face as a familiar face got off the car and walked over to them.

To Puck's surprise, Debra gave the newcomer a peck on the lips before looking back at Puck. "Puck, this is my boyfriend, Carlos. Carlos, this is my older brother, Puck. And of course, you both know Matt over there."

Puck wanted to introduce the guy's face to his knuckles, but simply stared at the teenager's extended hand, refusing to shake it just to show his disdain. "You're familiar. Have I met you before?" he asked Carlos.

"Well, you used to date my older sister, Santana," Carlos shrugged.

Puck felt like he'd just been punched in the gut. "You're Santana's brother? You were asking me for tips on how to pick up girls when you were like 11 or something…"

Debra's mouth dropped open.

Carlos blushed. "You sure that was me? Not my older brother, Eli?"

"Oh, that was you… Santana's other brother was much more…" Puck tried to find a substitute for the word geeky and settled with "studious. You didn't try the tips that I gave you on my own sister, did you?" Puck crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look as intimidating as he could, which was easy for him to do considering how well-built he was.

"No, sir," Carlos shook his head.

"We met at glee club actually after ignoring each other for most of our lives," Debra explained. "And as much as we love explaining ourselves to you and as thrilling as it is to watch you intimidate us, we have glee practice to go to." She turned toward Carlos. "Let's go?"

Glad to escape the rather awkward situation he found himself in, Carlos willingly obliged.

Before Puck could object, Debra was instructing him to have her car back home (or else) and that Carlos will drive her back home that night. Puck shot a glare at Matt when the couple was finally gone. "Have I been away from Lima that long? When did this happen?"

Matt shrugged, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I am staying out of this," he declared.

"Whatever. If that kid does anything to hurt Deb, I swear…" Puck couldn't hide how much it was bothering him that his sister was dating his ex-girlfriend's brother. "Damn it. Santana and I have got a lot to talk about."

Matt grinned. "Oh yeah… A lot… so much more than you think."

Puck looked pointedly at Matt. "What exactly happened last night?"

"I'm meeting up with Mike and Brit for lunch. Think you can gather yourself together in fifteen minutes so you can join us? I'll fill you in on what exactly happened last night on the way to the restaurant, and if you're still interested in talking to Santana, I'll tell you where you can find her after lunch."

Puck debated with himself if he was going to choose this over sleep, and finally decided. "Fine."

Lunch was fun to say the least. Puck had to admit that he enjoyed catching up with his high school friends.

He found it quite interesting that Mike and Brittany were still going steady after all these years. They were a fun couple to watch just because neither one of them was afraid to make total fools out of themselves. They were who they were, and made no apologies for it. Puck liked that.

Of course, lunch could not go by without the group teasing Puck over his coyote ugly moment. Puck tried to avoid having to explain why he was in Lima, why he was carrying around that much cash – thankfully refunded by Matt – and why he was so drunk. With the group being in such a fun mood, that was easy to do as they were all very much willing to avoid talking about anything similar to angst.

Puck also had to admit that Matt was right when he said that he had a lot more to talk to Santana about than he thought.

"It's Santana… It's not like I haven't acted like a total jerk around her before," he had defended himself.

Only to receive a concerned look from their friends.

"You might be surprised at how much Santana has changed, man," Matt said.

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "She's certainly not the same Santana you knew back in high school."

Brittany nodded as she continued to take a long sip from her strawberry shake.

Puck sighed. "Fine. I'll go see her and apologize. But come on… it's Santana… not the virgin Mary."

To that, the three of them only grinned at him.

Which Puck found weird.

When he parked Debra's car in front of the address that Matt gave him, he blew out a sigh. He really didn't know what he was going to say to Santana. If she has changed as much as they say she did, then she would now be a total stranger to him.

Expecting to find a house when he looked out the car's window, he was surprised to find a dance studio, evidenced by the large sign in front of the structure. Ana Lopez - Dance Studio.

Grabbing his camera (which was now filled with goofy pictures of Mike, Brit and Matt), he got off the car and went inside the studio. There was no one to greet him and the place seemed relatively empty except for the sound of soft music playing..

Following the music, he saw Santana from the clear glass window that separated the hall from a dance studio.

The sight of her as she danced to the soft music, with her eyes closed, just letting the music carry her, took his breath away.

Never before had he seen Santana Lopez looking so peaceful, so serene, so graceful... so beautiful.

Without a moment's hesitation, Puck took hold of his camera and began snapping pictures of her.

Puck thought that he already knew everything about Santana Lopez. He realized at that moment that he was wrong.

A/N: Do leave a review. For one, suggest a better name for the dance studio. O.O

Or message me on what you like (or don't like) about the story so far. Thanks!