AN: I am so sorry for making you guys wait so long for an update. I've been so busy doing absolutely nothing with my best friend the past couple of weeks, I just haven't been home. Hopefully the length of this chapter can make up for some of that. Enjoy! :)


12:35PM

"Babe… wake up"

"Mmphh"

"Love of my life please wake up."

Santana and Noah bit back a laugh as they watched Rachel try to wake Quinn. The blonde was laying on top of Brittany in the back seat of Kurt's car and Santana swore she'd have killed Quinn for being "all up on my woman" if the sight of the two Cheerios cuddling wasn't so adorable. The trio had decided to head into town to kill some energy after spending too many emotion-filled hours up on the roof top of the garage they were in. But of course, Rachel couldn't leave without telling her girlfriend where she was headed. And although Santana wouldn't admit it, she was grateful for the opportunity to let Brittany in on the plans also. It wasn't a smart idea to head into a town filled with zombies but the itch of wanting to get out became unbearable for the group of best friends.

"Ugh move over and watch how it's done Shorty."

Santana moved to crouch down to eye level with the sleeping blondes and brought her mouth up to Quinn's ear. She smirked at Rachel who undoubtedly was worried of her actions before turning back to Quinn.

"Holy shit Q get up! Berry's in trouble!"

At the sound of the faux-worried voice of her friend, Quinn jumped up and out of the car, effectively making Santana fall back on her ass and aimed her pistol at the group of teens through half closed eyes. Where she pulled the pistol from, they had no idea. Noah could barely control his laughter, Rachel looked slightly worried and pissed that the Latina would joke about a situation like that, and Santana stood up grinning while holding her arms up in defense. Her grin was quickly replaced with a look of guilt as she realized Brittany had woken up also, bed head still intact, and was at Quinn's side in a heartbeat.

"What the fuck Lopez?" Quinn growled out at her friend. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and lowered her gun filled hand to her fast beating heart. Brittany, still half asleep, was sporting a frown on her face.

"San that was really mean…" she trailed off trying to stop the tears from falling. It was a known fact that Brittany was emotional when woken up startled. Another wave of guilt washed over Santana as she stepped towards her girlfriend and wrapped her arms around her.

"Shit B I'm really sorry" she mumbled into her girl's shoulder.

"Serves you right" she heard Rachel mumble from somewhere behind her. Noah, not wanting to feel like he was intruding, turned to Rachel and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'll go grab some food and supplies and wait for you guys by the door."

Rachel nodded and turned back to her girlfriend. She couldn't stop the smile that crept onto her face as she stared at a dazed Quinn in sweats and a tank top.

"Where are you guys going?" she asked in a soft voice as she tried to shake the sleep from her body. Rachel jumped onto the trunk of the car and beckoned Quinn over to stand in between her legs. When the blonde was within reaching distance, she pulled her in by her shirt and slowly brought their lips together. Rachel sighed in content and swept her tongue across her girlfriend's bottom lip, causing her to pull back but stay in reach of Rachel's arms.

"Morning breath" she whispered at the sight of Rachel's pout.

Rachel reluctantly nodded and pulled her girlfriend impossibly close to her. She dropped her head on her shoulder and just breathed. Right there, in that perfect position, Rachel almost felt the world around them felt the ache in her heart that had been with her for the past 3 weeks vanish into a darkness that couldn't be explained. Her now lighter heart brought them back to Lima, to a baby blue painted room, to the place where they shared their first kiss. Almost.

"Raspberry?"

"Yes beautiful?"

Quinn literally felt herself swoon and wrapped her arms tighter around Rachel.

"Where are you guys going?"

"On an adventure" Rachel replied while smiling shyly at the blonde. "We're gonna go into town and see what we can find. I just wanted you to know before we left."

"Hmm"

Quinn pressed her lips in a tight line and shot a curious look to the brunette in front of her. Rachel was confused but sported an amused smile anyways.

"What?" she asked her girlfriend.

Repeating the same look from earlier, Quinn hummed another "Hmmm" towards her girlfriend making sure it lasted just a bit longer than the one before.

"What Q?" Rachel asked with a small laugh.

Once more Quinn hummed another "Hmmmm" to her girlfriend making sure it lasted longer than the first two.

"Babeee" Rachel whined while giving Quinn her infamous pout.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh at the adorable look on Rachel's face.

"Ok." Quinn said as she placed a quick kiss to her girlfriend's lips. "But I'm coming too."

Rachel watched the blonde skip away towards the sink in the back of the garage to brush her teeth. She couldn't seem to wipe the goofy love-struck grin off her face as she watched Quinn go. Maybe, Rachel thought to herself. Maybe, with Quinn by her side of course, Rachel could stay sane during all the madness the world had to offer as of lately. Maybe they really could beat the odds and survive this zombie invasion. Maybe… just maybe.


1:24PM

"Switch to channel 5 guys. Let's not wake the group up at the garage."

Somehow the group of 3 turned into a group of 5 by the time Rachel, Noah, and Santana had left the garage. Now as they slowly drove through the semi-abandoned streets of Cloves, New Mexico the group of friends were accompanied by Brittany and Quinn. Rachel and Brittany were standing on the bed of Noah's truck, being deemed too 'hyper' to ride up front with the other three.

"Who gave Rachel another red bull?" mumbled Quinn from the passenger seat of Noah's truck as she switched her handheld to the appointed channel. Behind her, she heard a shot fire off followed by Brittany and Rachel hi-fiving and Brittany yelling "20 points for taking down the granny with a walker Rach!" She shook her head and sighed, allowing her head to fall back against the headrest of her seat.

Noah smirked as he quickly glanced up at the rear view mirror just catching Brittany give Rachel another hi-five. Directing his eyes back at the road, he bit his lip while trying to hide his smile. Feeling eyes on him, he looked once more and saw Santana sporting a knowing smirk from the backseat. She imitated the act of zipping her lips shut and throwing the key away in his direction, and he sighed in relief when she leaned her head against the headrest behind her and closed her eyes. Quinn did not need to know that he had packed a few red bulls in a duffle bag full of ammo and snacks that he had left with the girls in the back. Because seriously… it didn't get any better than Rachel freaking Berry hyped up on red bull. She was like a kid in a candy store and he wouldn't have it any other way right now.

"Puck can you stop driving like that granny Rachel just took out and step on it?" Brittany asked into the handheld radio belonging to her. The mohawk sporting teen had been driving at a steady speed of 20mph since they had left the garage. It had allowed Rachel and Brittany to stand while shooting at the zombies but it had also allowed a group of 'runners', as Rachel had named them, to follow the teens quite closely. Noah looked down the street behind them through the side mirror on his door and cursed at the group of zombies that had formed.

"Santana wake the fuck up."

Noah shifted between staring through his rearview mirror waiting for the Latina to wake up and staring out at the road as he kept driving at the same speed as before. How the hell the Latina had fallen asleep in the last 3 minutes was beyond him. Chancing a side glance at Quinn, he realized she was also asleep.

"Lopez!" Noah screamed as his right hand reached behind him to smack the girl in the leg. Santana awoke with a jolt and stared angrily at the reflection of Noah's face in the rearview mirror. Ignoring her glare he lightly shook Quinn's shoulder in an attempt to wake her while keeping his gaze on the road.

"Noah please speed up."

Noah's attention snapped back to his side mirror at the sound of Rachel's worried voice. He groaned in frustration as he realized that the group of runners had easily doubled in number and where now at about 60 from what he could see. Thankfully Santana and Quinn had woken up and had also focused on the group of zombies behind them.

"Puck what do we do?" Quinn asked as she looked through the side mirror on her door.

"Rachel," he called out through his handheld to his best friend. "Grab the gun tripods from Santana. Britt there's a few rifles at the bottom of the red duffle bag. Grab one for you and Rach."

Santana opened the back window that led to the bed of the truck and handed Rachel two gun tripods as Noah had instructed. Glancing down at her own riffle that laid on the seat with her, Santana decided to join the two teens. She picked up the riffle and handed it to Rachel before pulling herself through the window that led to the bed of the truck.

"Set those rifles up against the end of the bed" Noah instructed once more as he continued to drive. "Whatever you do, don't stand up. Just shoot as many as you can."

"Try to save ammo. Remember, a bullet to the brain is all you need" Quinn added as she watched the trio on the bed of the truck. Santana had taken to kneel by the now closed window with her rifle raised and pressed against her shoulder. Much to Quinn's surprise, Rachel and Brittany had their own rifles mounted on the gun tripods and soon enough the three were firing away as Noah took off down the road.


2:15PM –Garage

Mercedes ran into the small office of the garage they were currently occupying with her phone pressed tightly to her ear. Her hands shook and her mouth went dry as she listened to the voice on the other end. Artie, having been the first of the remaining eight teens to wake up, looked up from the map in front of him to see the shock in his friend's eyes. When the tears began to pool in her eyes, Artie wheeled himself forward so they were just a few inches apart.

"'Cedes? What's going on? Talk to me" he begged the girl in front of him.

He watched as she opened and closed her mouths a few times, obviously trying to say the right words but always coming up short. When she finally gave up on forming proper thoughts, Mercedes shoved her smart phone into Artie's hand with pleading eyes. He looked down at the lit up screen, eyes widening in surprise as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Uh.. Damian?"

"Artie? Oh thank God!"


2:29PM –Gun Shop

"Noah, you need a fucking mattress for the back of your truck" Rachel stated as she rubbed her right knee.

"Seriously, I've spent some time on my knees but fuck that. Remind me to thank you when my knee is sore for a week Puckerman."

Noah shook his head and laughed lightly at his two best friends as they all exited the truck. The group of 5 had driven around for about an hour trying to eliminate the group of zombies that had started to follow them. As bodies dropped, more joined the pack causing the group to use more ammo than they had intended to. So now, the group of teens found themselves walking into a gun shop looking for ammo and guns that were automatic.

"Yeah I mean isn't it called the bed of your truck Puck? It's not a very comfy bed" Brittany said with a shrug of her shoulders as they neared the entrance of a gun shop. Noah laughed whole-heartedly and threw an arm over Brittany's shoulder as he pushed open the glass door.

"You are absolutely correct my blonde goddess. Tell ya-"

"Don't make me kill you Puckerman."

"-what. You help me find a badass gun, and we'll get something for my truck once we're outta here. Sound good?"

Brittany nodded her head enthusiastically and rushed to the back wall of the store while pulling him along with her. They searched through rows of guns, skipping the ones they already owned and picking up all sorts of automatic guns. Santana, Quinn, and Rachel found themselves searching every cabinet and storage space for ammunition that would fit everyone's guns. In less than an hour, the group had collected 3 duffle bags worth of supplies. Looking around the now emptier store, Noah grabbed a duffle bag and motioned for Santana and Rachel to do the same. They headed out of the gun store and loaded up the truck before they all climbed in. Santana sat behind Noah in the backseat of the truck with Brittany to her right and Rachel behind Quinn who was in the passenger seat.

"So where to now babes?"


2:47PM –Garage

"Ok so how's the place you're at now?"

For the past half an hour Artie had stayed on the phone with Mercedes' brother. He was, for now, safe in a house he had found a few blocks away from his uncle's house.

"It's good. There's a fence surrounding it so I mean I kind of feel safe. It's pretty big too" Damian explained. "There's a barn in the back. No horses though. Everything in there is solar powered. I might stay there until you guys get here. This house is too big for just me."

Artie nodded although the voice on the other end of the phone couldn't see him do so. His eyes wandered beyond the glass walls of the office he sat in and landed on his group of friends. It was decided everyone deserved to know about the phone calls from Damian so Mercedes was currently filling everyone in over breakfast. Artie stared down at his own plate of pancakes and he wondered what the hell they did to ever deserve this fate.

"Hey… is Mercedes in the room with you or are you alone?"

Artie's attention snapped back to the younger boy on the phone.

"No it's just me. What's up?" he questioned.

"I don't want to worry Mercedes ya know?" Damian asked in return. Artie nodded once more even though he couldn't be seen and wheeled himself to the door to close it.

"I barely have enough food to last me a few days. Maybe 3-4 if I try to really stretch it. I'm doing ok but I mean… I just… I need you guys to get here."

The fear in the 15 year olds voice was as clear as day to Artie. He reassured him that they would be there soon and made sure to get a promised phone call later that night so the group could know if he was ok. As the phone call disconnected, Artie reached over and grabbed his handheld radio off of the desk in front of him. For the umpteenth time that morning, he tried to reach the group of 5 that was off wandering through the zombie infested city.


3:23PM –IKEA

Noah walked down the aisle carefully with his new weapon, a silver Uzi, held tightly in his hand. Rachel was at the other end of the store, both making sure it was clear. While they were being cautious, the three cheerios were aimlessly walking around looking for things to take with them.

"Puck, can we get a water bed?"

"I think it'll break B. Maybe when we get to California, ok?"

Noah and Rachel stopped walking when they heard the Latina's reply to Brittany's question. They shared knowing glances from the aisles they were each in and shook their heads as smiles crept on to their faces. They continued to scan the large store, satisfied when they realized they were alone. Passing Santana and Quinn in the kitchen department, they made their way towards Brittany. The blonde was scanning through different bedroom sets, losing herself in the multiple rows of beds.

"Puck, can we get the one with the leprechaun people in it?" Brittany asked through her handheld.

The excitement in her voice caused Noah and Rachel to stop in their tracks. They bolted in the direction of the blonde, calling out to her.

"Hi, I'm Brittany."

"Britt no!"

Rachel heard the sounds of metal hitting the floor as she raced towards the blonde girl. As she reached to where she was, Santana sped past her and pulled Brittany back by the elbow. Noah wedged his way in front of her as he raised his weapon to the two bodies lying in the bed in front of them. The two teenagers who Rachel thought could be no older than 17, raised their hands in defense at the group in front of them.

"Names" Santana demanded as her expression turned cold.

When the teens stayed quiet, Quinn decided to step in next to her.

"Did she stutter or did your tiny brains just skip? Answer her!"

Brittany pouted from her spot behind Noah and Santana. Rachel who was now standing to her left, mirrored the expression as they watched their girlfriends turn into the scary head cheerios they once were.

"I'm Sugar" the short girl said after swallowing down her fear. "This is my best friend, Rory."

"Sugar?" Brittany asked with a smile on her face. "I love sugar. Except my girlfriend doesn't let me eat a lot of it cause then I get really hyper and it annoys people. Well besides her. She loves me too much to get annoyed with me. Right San?"

Sugar and Rory relaxed at the kindness in Brittany's voice. Rory's eyebrows shot up as he watched the Latina lean over and give Brittany a quick peck on the lips.

"Problem Lucky Charms?" Quinn asked as she stepped closer to the bed. Rachel pulled her back and wrapped her arms around Quinn's waist while shooting the boy a questioning look.

"No! Uh… no problem. I swear."

Sugar stood up from the bed and looked to Rachel with pleading eyes. Rachel pulled away from Quinn and moved to face Sugar and Rory waiting for either one to say something.

"We don't want any trouble" Sugar stated. "We'll be out of your way in a few minutes. Rory lets go."

Noah, Santana, and Quinn stepped aside to allow Sugar and Rory room to leave. Brittany looked on in remorse and turned to Rachel with begging eyes. Rachel sighed and turned away, not having the heart to disappoint Brittany.

"Wait…"


4:04PM –Garage

Noah, Santana, and Quinn all walked in to the garage with skeptical looks. Soon after, Rachel and Brittany walked in with their arms intertwined followed by a nervous Rory and Sugar. They headed towards their group of friends who were sitting in the middle of the garage on a makeshift table.

"Listen up bitches."

"Noah..." Rachel warned. She turned to her friends and giggled at their shocked expressions. "Guys, this is Rory and Sugar. They'll be joining us from now on so make 'em feel welcomed."

Rachel let the teens introduced themselves and made her way over to Quinn who was sitting next to Artie. She stood behind her girlfriend, not wanting to interrupt her and Artie's conversation but also wanting to be close to the girl. After a few moments, she smiled when Quinn reached behind her and pulled her onto her lap without breaking eye contact with Artie. She wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck and snuggled in to her girlfriend's body.

"Rachel! Just the girl I wanted to see" said Artie. "Can we talk?"

Rachel nodded in agreement and turned to look at Quinn.

"Think you can go make nice with Rory and Sugar?"

Quinn mumbled out a response, causing Rachel to smirk, before she lifted the girl off her lap and walked away. Rachel wheeled Artie to the office before stepping inside and sitting on the computer chair by the wall.

"Where were you guys today?" Artie asked as he closed the door behind him. "I tried to radio you guys in like 20 times."

Rachel cringed and looked down at her hands, hoping that guilt wouldn't be written all over her face. "We didn't want to wake you guys up, so we switched channels on the handhelds." She couldn't understand why it was they had forgotten to switch back to their regular channel when it was a more appropriate time.

"Rachel" Artie said with a sigh "Mercedes' brother called today."

At that, Rachel's head snapped up and she met his gaze. Artie knew the girl had a million questions playing at the tip of her tongue so he answered them before she had the chance to ask.

"He's ok" he began. "But he's running low on supplies." Artie sighed and rubbed his temples. "He's so scared Rachel."

"Ok" Rachel said with determination in her voice. "We'll get to Flagstaff and just rest up a little and then head out to find him. Don't worry about it Artie. We'll get to him in time."

"What if we don't?" Artie fought back.

Rachel shook her head from side to side in disagreement.

"We will. We have to."


5:21PM –Garage

Noah stood against the car entry door of the garage watching his friends interact with the new additions to their group. Rory, the new Irish teen who Brittany swore was a leprechaun, walked away from the guys and headed towards the bus where Rachel, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were located. For a quick second Noah thought of the possibility that Rory may be gay but quickly dismissed the thought. "A bus full of lesbians, yeah he's straight as an arrow" Noah thought to himself. Mercedes and Tina were standing next to Sugar, showing her how to use the handheld radios the group had acquired just a few days ago. His smile grew at the sight of Mercedes, and he pushed himself off of the door, heading straight for the bus filled with his best friends.

"I was here as a transfer student."

Noah stopped to lean against the driver's seat of the bus as he heard Rory's thick accent fill the bus. The usual group of 4 was sitting in the seats located at the middle of the bus with Rory lying on a blanket on the floor in between them.

"I'm from Ireland. I was supposed to be here for my junior year of high school and then go home but then all of this happened. The day that it happened, I called my parents and told them everything. They didn't believe me at first. And then later that day I get a call from my mom, who by the way was completely hysterical, and she told me everything she knew. I guess word spread to different countries and they were airing it on the news. I guess the military doesn't know what to do because they don't know how many people are still alive."

"So we're basically fucked?" was Santana's dry reply.

Rory laughed off her tone and shook his head.

"They're working on it. They know Sugar and I are alive and that's enough to get me through the night. I know my mom is fighting for us. And when she calls me tonight at 10 like every other night, I'll tell her about you guys. And then she'll fight for you too."

Noah smirked as he heard the collective round of 'awwws' come from every girl besides Santana. Still, she leaned against Brittany with a small smile on her face.

"Oh he's good" thought Noah with his smirk still intact. When he locked eyes with Rory he shook his head and offered the boy a knowing smile. A blush rose to the cheeks of the new boy causing Noah to laugh a bit louder than necessary. At the sound of his laugh, Rachel's eyes darted to his direction and she immediately knew he wanted to talk. Gesturing to the now empty office of the garage, he turned on his heel and exited the bus. Excusing herself from her friends, Rachel grabbed her girlfriend's cheerleading jacket and tossed it on as she made her way out of the bus. She looked around the garage before spotting her best friend sitting on a chair in the office fidgeting with the pens on the desk in front of him. Frowning slightly, Rachel made her way towards the office and leaned against the door watching Noah stand and pull her in before locking the door.

"What's wrong?" were the first words to escape her lips as she sat in the chair previously occupied by Noah.

Noah pressed his back into the door Rachel was just leaning on and let his eyes look out past the glass walls of the office they were standing in. As usual, his gaze landed on Mercedes who was setting up a bed in the back seat of her car.

"I like her" was all he said as his eyes landed back on Rachel. She nodded her head at him although her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"And that's bad because…?"

"It's not" Noah said as he sat on the desk next to Rachel. "I just don't do this normally you know? I'm not used to feeling shit for people even though I've liked her since like sophomore year."

Noah let out a humorless laugh and shook his head at himself. "Pathetic huh? Badass Puckerman tripping over his own feet for a chick."

Rachel was about to retaliate when a knock on the door interrupted their conversation. They both turned their heads to find a smiling Santana standing at the door with 3 bowls of chicken noodle soup resting on a tray. Noah opened the door to usher her in and then proceeded to lock it once more.

"What's up?" Santana asked as she jumped up to sit on the table, a bowl of soup already in her hand.

"Noah likes Mercedes" Rachel said with a shrug of her shoulders. She reached over and grabbed her own bowl of soup before handing one to Noah and then propping her feet up on the side of the desk next to her.

"Rach! What the fuck? Break the lesbro code why don't you" Noah said with a pointed glare.

"Noah" Rachel deadpanned "it's only Santana. Calm your tits."

Santana laughed as she watched her two best friends argue. If she was to be honest, she'd admit that she already knew this piece of information about Noah. It wasn't very hard to catch onto his feelings when any chance the boy got, his eyes would be fixated on Mercedes. Thinking this over, Santana began to wonder if Mercedes had any idea about this.

"So when are you gonna tell her?" Santana asked in an attempt to stop the argument still happening.

"He's not."

"Once we find her brother."

Santana stared at the both of them with wide eyes. Her plan to stop the arguing had obviously backfired on her. She watched as Noah backed away from Rachel to stand closer to her instead. She bit back a smile because it was actually quiet cute how this badass former football player always sought out comfort from one of his best friends.

"I'm telling her when we get to California. I can't now. It'll just be too much, ya know?" Noah rhetorically asked the two girls.

"Noah you can't tell her" Rachel answered as she placed down her bowl of soup. Appetite completely forgotten, she stood up from her seat and took a step towards him. "This shit can easily blow up in both of your faces and it'll get awkward. We're all we have left. You won't be able to just walk away if something happens."

"Shorty…" Santana warned as she saw the look on Noah's face. She knew the smaller girl had a point but she was trudging in dangerous waters.

"What if you guys get together and it ends? Then what? Then we're all screwed because like I said, you can't walk away Noah."

"I won't wanna walk away Rach!" Noah blew up at her. He bit back the three words he was dying to confess to anyone who would listen. "I won't walk away because-" He loved her. "I get that we're all we got left. I get it okay? But this is fucking bullshit. You're with Q! You don't see me telling you to break up with her."

Rachel sighed defeated and looked down at the ground obviously fed up with their arguing. She never was one to feed off of situations like this, especially when they involved her best friend. Unspoken thoughts tried to force themselves past her lips but Rachel just brushed past him and headed for the door.

"That's completely different" she whispered back to him before stepping out of the office and closing the door gently.

Santana turned her attention away from the door Rachel just left through and looked at Noah with an apologetic smile. She watched the way his chest rose harshly at the intakes of air he was putting himself through and just waited for the other shoe to drop.

In a matter of seconds Noah spun around and brought his foot up affectively kicking the office chair that Rachel had been sitting in not even a minute prior. The chair zoomed across the small office space and bounced against the wall just to roll back across the floor and stop in front of Santana. She eyed it carefully before pushing it back to him and watched as he repeated his previous actions.

"Do you remember what you did sophomore year when Rachel told you that she and Quinn were gonna go on a date?" Santana asked as she watched Noah raise his foot to kick the chair once more. He halted his movements and turned to her with an icy expression.

"Why does it have to go back to them again?" he shouted

Santana sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Puck sit your ass down and answer me because I really don't have to be fucking doing this. I can go be with my girlfriend instead of helping your sorry ass. So stop bitching like a little girl and answer me."

"I don't know Santana. I went to Quinn and told her not to fuck with Rachel" he answered as he threw himself down in the abused chair.

"Why?" she pressed on.

"Cause I wasn't gonna have her break my Jews heart. It was obvious Rachel was fucking in love with the girl. What the fuck does this have to do with me?"

"Ay Dios mio… THINK PUCKERMAN!" Santana hopped off the desk and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "You wanted to make sure she wouldn't get hurt because you and I both knew that she was in love with Quinn!"

Noah stared at the girl in front of him as everything began to suddenly click in his head.

"So…" he slowly began not wanting to upset the Latina anymore. "She doesn't want… Uh… All that shit she said was what then? A lie so she didn't have to call me out?"

"No. She meant that shit. But she also knows that if that really did happen, we'd all be able to move passed that. It's just easier to use that as an excuse."Santana dropped the anger she still felt and leaned against the desk. "Think about it Puck. I love Britt-Britt and we all know Shorty loves Q. But everyday that we go out there we put them over ourselves. Always making sure they're safe before we are. She's trying to protect you from all of that. Whether you and Aretha get together and then break-up or some zombie ass motherfucker tries to have her for dinner, she just wants to protect you. If you were to get your heart broken, we could overcome that with time. But if you lost her completely, we wouldn't be able to go through that. You wouldn't be able to go through that."

Noah nodded slowly suddenly feeling at a loss for words.


11:37PM –Garage

Noah leaned against the driver's door of Santana's car after a long eventful day. The group of now 15 was getting ready to head to their next stop in Flagstaff, AZ. From his position he could see Mercedes talking to the new girl Sugar and he couldn't help but smile at her kindness.

"Yo Puck"

Noah turned around and came face to face with his blonde best friend.

"Got your eye on Sugar huh?" Sam asked with a smirk on his face.

"Close but no cigar" Noah mumbled as he scratched his chin.

"You suck at lying. Well I need to talk to Mercedes so how about you go talk to her anyways?" Sam asked with a smile.

"Bro" Noah firmly stated to Sam. "I don't like Sugar and I'm definitely not fucking playing wingman. Back off and leave Mercedes the fuck alone."

Sam didn't allow the firmness in his best friend's voice to make him back down and still had a smile on his face.

"Ok."

He patted Noah's back and took off in the direction of the school bus. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Noah turned on his heel in search of his Jew. He saw her sitting on the hood of Kurt's car with her arms wrapped tightly against Quinn as the later stood in between her legs. Pushing aside their disagreement from earlier, he forced himself over to the two girls in a painfully slow pace. When he finally reached Kurt's car, he looked up from the ground and found a smiling Rachel standing by the driver's door alone.

"I'm sorry."

The statement rung through the silence that surrounded them and Noah would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised. He thought he was the one that needed to apologize even though he didn't really know what to say sorry for. Grateful for the apology and the breakthrough of the tension, he wrapped his arms around the smaller girl and exhaled slowly.

"Noah?" Rachel pulled away and looked at her best friend with a worried expression. "What's wrong now?"

When Noah didn't answer, she turned around in his arms and saw Mercedes and Sam standing by the door of the garage laughing. Not understand what he saw, she turned her head up to look at him, a question already threatening to spill from her lips.

"Do you think Sam likes Mercedes?" he asked her without taking his eyes off the duo.

Rachel turned her head to examine Sam and Mercedes once more. She watched the way they spoke openly to one another. The way they were comfortable around each other and the friendly smiles shared between them.

"I think" Rachel spoke while still staring at the two, "that you are kind of obvious about your feelings to the people closest to you. So you shouldn't worry about it. He probably knows but doesn't want to say anything."

"He asked me if I liked Sugar" Noah stated after a moment of silence had passed between the two.

"Must be the lemon juice getting to his head" Rachel mumbled in response.


AN: Opinions in the reviews? Please & thank you! :)