A/N: I feel like these chapters are just dripping in angst…I like it…but don't worry there is some lighter stuff coming…until then: this chapter turned out almost entirely different than I had planned, so hopefully it isn't too bad. Please read and review and let me know what you think. And because its easier this way: I don't own Glee, the characters or the songs used in this chapter.

The one thing Puck missed most about missing so much school was sneaking into the auditorium during lunch and listening to Rachel sing. So now as he took his spot in the wings of the auditorium, he was eager to listen.

While he had finally managed to get through a school day, he found that it wasn't as simple getting back into the routine he once had. With football season over, he chose not to participate in any other sports right now. He showed up to Glee, but with Mr. Shuester still absent and Rachel in charge, there seemed to be more yelling and less singing going on.

Puck heard someone enter the auditorium and peaked around the corner at Rachel who had settled herself down at the piano bench. Puck watched as Rachel just stared at the keys, running her hands across them so lightly they made a barely audible sound. He watched her for a long time, but she wasn't playing anything. He watched as she wiped at her face and realized that she isn't singing, because she's crying.

Guilt surged through Puck, and he couldn't help but assume this was all because of him, in one way or another. Despite their talk in the choir room earlier in the week, Puck had gone back to avoiding Rachel; well he was avoiding everyone really. He spent most of his time with Quinn and he couldn't stand all the looks of pity and judgment that he got from most of the student body. And despite the motivation that her speech caused, he still saw all that pity in her eyes, and couldn't help but think she was only there for him because of what happened. Deep inside him, somewhere, Puck knew that wasn't true. But the other part of him had full control right now, so he was making all the wrong choices. She had called the morning after their talk, and again Puck didn't answer. Quinn continually berated him, but he just rolled his eyes at her. Puck had forgiven her for the whole Terri Shuester incident. He understood that she was scared, and that no one was really thinking clearly about the whole situation. There was no way Puck could turn his back on her, he was the only person she had left.

Although Puck was determined to keep that he listened to Rachel a secret, he couldn't help but feel compelled to go to her, to try and make everything alright again. But he couldn't he just sat there, and watched. Rachel had been the one person to believe in him, but one person doesn't make it true. Inside his head, with all of Rachel's words of encouragement were Finn's of hatred. He was right, he had always been a screw up and he sure as hell wasn't going to take Rachel down with him. So going to her right now wasn't the best idea. Puck heard the door of the auditorium open and Rachel look up.

"Finn?" Rachel said trying quickly to cover up that she had been crying.

Puck heard footsteps and then saw Finn as he moved through the dark auditorium into the light on the stage.

"Rachel, were you crying?" Finn said going to sit next to her on the piano bench, too close if you asked Puck.

"No,"

"Yes you have Rachel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing,"

"Rachel-"

"Finn! Let it go!" Rachel snapped. She hardly ever got angry, especially with Finn. When it came to Finn she had the patience of a Saint, but today, she just didn't want to deal with it. She was also still mad at him for his comments towards Puck and Quinn the other day during Glee.

"Did you need something Finn," she said after calming herself.

"Uh, yeah. I-I was wondering if you wanted to go bowling tomorrow night?"

"Oh, um, I don't think so Finn."

"Another night then?"

"Finn, I -I'm not sure going out with you would be a good idea."

Puck couldn't see Finn's face right now, but he knew his former best friend well enough to know that he was probably extremely confused.

"But, I thought you liked me?"

"I did Finn," she paused looking straight at him, "But a lot has changed since then."

"You haven't changed Rachel."

"No, maybe not. But you have, and our situations have changed drastically."

"I'm over that."

"No, you're not. Or you wouldn't have made those comments in Glee the other day."

"You can't expect me to just accept what happened Rachel."

"I'm not. It was a lot for all of us to process. My reaction wasn't the best when I found out either, but-"

Rachel paused when Finn jumped off the bench like it was on fire.

"What do you mean when you found out?" Finn said puzzled.

"I mean when Noah told me everything, I freaked out on him."

"You knew? That's why you pushed him away? How long did you know?"

"Finn, I'm sorry. But-"

"How long Rachel?"

"About two weeks before sectionals."

"And you didn't think that you should tell me? I thought we were friends."

"We were, and we are," Rachel said standing up from the piano bench walking to stand center stage, "It wasn't my secret to tell."

"Was everyone just lying to me? The people I trusted the most, were keeping something so important a secret and some how I was the fool who couldn't see what was going on."

"Finn, it wasn't like that."

"I just-I just can't take this anymore," Finn said before turning around and practically sprinting out of the auditorium.

Puck watched as Rachel struggled to keep the tears from falling. She stared at the exit to the auditorium for a moment before walking over to the piano. Sitting down Rachel only had one song in her mind and her fingers played a long the keys until she found the melody she began to sing:

"Driving away from the wreck of the day, and the light's always red in the rear-view. Desperately close to a coffin of hope, I'd cheat destiny just to be near you. If this is giving up, then I'm giving up, If this is giving up, then I'm giving up, giving up on love, on love"

Puck watched as Rachel sang her pain away and felt for the first time, that being apart from Rachel was good for everyone, especially her. He had caused her to cry so many times in the last few weeks, he couldn't keep hurting everyone around him.

"'Cause love doesn't hurt so I know I'm not falling in love, I'm just falling to pieces"

As much as Puck was looking forward to listening to Rachel sing today, it wasn't the same as it had been before. Normally, despite the song she sang, Puck was able to clear his head for a brief moment. Today, Puck was only filled with more pain, nothing was calm inside him, nothing, it seemed, could be resolved.

"Driving away from the wreck of the day
And it's finally quiet in my head
Driving alone, finally on my way home to the comfort of my bed
And if this is giving up, then I'm giving up
If this is giving up, then I'm giving up, giving up
On love, On love "

Rachel finished the song just as the bell alerting everyone that lunch had ended rang. Defeated Puck grabbed his things and left the auditorium. The door shut heavy behind him and inside Rachel looked up, as the door slammed shut, but saw no one. Rachel packed her things into her bag feeling overpowered by the emotions that still ate away inside her. She was so confused about everything in her world, but she felt that if singing couldn't help, the only thing to do now was to wait it out, and hope everything fell into place.

~~~~*~~~~

"Puckerman, if you don't stop being such a damn mope, I'll have to stop hanging out with you, and then you will be alone." Quinn yelled walking into Puck's bedroom before school Monday morning. When she called, he informed her that he wasn't going to be attending school today,

Puck was laying on his bed, not moving as Quinn stood in front of him, her hands on her hips.

"Fine, you want to do this? What happened to living for her Puck? What happened to everything we decided to do when we came back to school?"

"I did it, I went back to school," Puck said still laying there.

"Yes, but you've been absolutely useless otherwise. "

"What's new?"

"What is wrong with you Puck?"

"Nothing, "he said rolling over to avoid her.

"Oh no you don't," Quinn said moving to the other side of the bed, "You're not running from this."

Puck flipped over on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh my god! You are being absolutely ridiculous. This is all because of Rachel isn't it?"

Puck was silent. So maybe it was, but not entirely. Quinn had to understand what he was going through right. Losing Finn, and then the baby. Losing the person you love and your child, that had to be the same as him losing Rachel and the baby, right? Puck stopped for a moment to think of what that comparison meant in terms of his feelings for Rachel. But had he lost Rachel? She pushed him away, and then held him in her arms, but then he pushed her away. His life was becoming a month's worth of drama from that General Hospital show his mom tivoed and watched on her days off. He missed Rachel, and that was his reason for the bad mood, but he knew he couldn't go back to her, he couldn't ruin her too. It was times like this that Puck wished he was still Puck. Puck wouldn't give a damn about all of this, he would just focus on the cougars and the cheerios; and not worry about Rachel Berry. While Puck got lost in his thoughts, Quinn had continued to ramble on, none of which it Puck heard.

"You're obviously not listening to me today. So you stay here, and drowned in your self-pity. I'm going to school, and I'm going to Glee. Because Mr. Shuester is coming back today. And I think it would be a good idea for all of us to be there. So if you can get your pathetic self out of bed by 3:30 that would be good, for everyone." Quinn said before storming out of his room.

~~~~*~~~~

At 3:30, everyone filed into the choir room, except Puck. Mr. Shuester was standing in front, in front of their trophy from sectionals.

"Alright everyone. I want to thank you all for your patience while I was gone. Thank you Rachel for running things during that time. We have a lot to get through before regionals and we are going to have to get started right away, it'll be a fresh start for us. Where's Puck?" Mr. Shuester said.

"He really wanted to be here, Mr. Shue," Quinn said, "but he really wasn't feeling well."

Mr. Shue nodded but continued, "Well let him know I hope he gets well soon, because we are going to need him. I'm going to need everyone if we are going to even place at regionals. We've all been through a lot, but we've gotten this far, and underneath all the dirty stuff, we are still a team, a family, and we will have to start acting like it. Also, I have convinced Principal Figgins to let us have another showcase, and this time, every single one of you are going to be able to display your talents. So keep an eye out for any pieces you might want to perform and we can try some out. But for now, I don't want to start anything with Puck missing, so I will see you all here tomorrow, ready to go."

Everyone got up and began walking out of the choir room. Rachel just passed the threshold before she heard he name being called behind her.

"Rachel, wait up," it was Quinn and Rachel paused for the blonde.

"Yes Quinn?"

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, "It's important."

Rachel nodded and the two waited for Mr. Shuester to leave the choir room before going back inside and sitting down in the front row.

"It's about Puck, "Quinn started, "He hasn't been himself lately."

"I don't see what you'd like me to do. He has barely said anything to me in the last week."

"He won't talk to me about this, and he has talk to me about almost everything since our daughter died. Everything, except you. He barely talks to me about you, but I know that he still feels something for you."

"Look Quinn, I'm just as worried about him as you are. But this can't be because of me. Like I said, he has hardly spoken to me."

"When was the last time that you talked?"

"Quinn, I don't-"

"Rachel, just tell me when it was?"

"The beginning of last week. After Finn made those very inappropriate comments."

"The ones about Terri Shuester?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, Rachel this is definitely about you."

"Then what am I suppose to do about it? I made it clear that I was sorry for walking away from him the day that he told me about his daughter. And since he won't talk to me, it's kind of hard to fix anything."

"What if I told you I could take care of that if you just show up?"

"Quinn, we've never gotten along, so why would you do this?"

"Because, losing my daughter has made me realize a few things. And one of those is that I care about Puck, and not in a romantic way. He's really important to me and if he's not happy, its harder for me to be happy. And I think that you make him happy, and I guess I can be happy with that. But first, I have to get him happy. So are you in or not?"

Rachel nodded as she listened to Quinn tell her the plan she had. Both girls work intensely working on the plan that would finally pull Noah Puckerman back into normalcy.

A/N: The song is "Wreck of the Day" by Anna Nalick. I don't own it, except on CD.