A/N: bold-Puck; italics-Rachel

Ah yes, we have finally gotten to the end of the main pairs, and of course I saved everyone's favorites for last. However, there will be an epilogue after this, in which we see the characters sing 'A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes,' find out the winners of the contest, and we see what happens to all the different pairs. So, I do hope you enjoy this last bit.

'so, this is love'

chapter five:

i simply didn't see

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."

-Peter Ustinov

Rachel Berry never admitted defeat, no matter how hard or impossible the challenge may present itself, there was always a solution. However, being partnered with Noah Puckerman seemed to be a rather nasty dealing of fate's hand. She didn't think that she had been a bad practicer of the Jewish faith, so why was she being punished? Her fathers said that she wasn't being punished, but opened up to new things that she might not have seen on her own. That was the excuse she went with.

She knew that Noah had things to hide in his life, and she didn't want to pry, but she wanted to know why he was so angry all the time. Why he had been so angry at her. She wanted to help him, but she knew that he didn't think that he needed help at all, ever. However, she could see through his tough guy facade, and she knew that he was lonely and vulnerable under the surface. That had all shown itself after the whole mess she had caused with Quinn.

Puck didn't want to be partnered with Crazy Berry because he was afraid that his stupid good-for-nothing heart would get away from him and reveal how he truly felt. Then he would be up shit's creek without a paddle, which just really sucked for him. Why of all the girls, did he have to end up with feelings for Rachel freakin' Berry? She was just too crazy, and Puck was used to crazy. He just didn't know how to shake the chick.

It didn't take him too long before he started realizing that he actually gave a shit about she felt. He hated seeing her upset in glee over something completely dumb, like losing a solo. He hated how she looked at Finn, still hoping that the golden boy would come running back to her. News flash! She had ruined any chance that she ever had with Prince Charming. Puck refused to believe the reason he was bitter about this was that it had anything to do with the fact that he wished the small Jewish girls would look at him in the same way she looked at Finn.

He heard a knocking at the door and gritted his teeth, knowing by the short taps just who was standing on the other side of the door. His Spidey senses could tell whenever her crazy was in a one hundred foot radius, and his senses were going crazy. He sighed and walked to the door, pulling the damn thing open to reveal a very small Rachel, wearing jeans and a t shirt, looking almost normal. In her arms was an enormous plate of chocolate brownies, and Puck reasoned with himself that he should let her in so she would share some of her awesome brownies with him.

"Can I help you, Berry?" He asked, moving out of the way so she could come in his house.

"I know that you have no interest in participating in-" He slapped a warm hand over her small mouth and growled, "What the fuck did I tell you about talking like a human?" He asked with an irritated tone. She huffed.

"Fine. I know you don't want to be my partner." She said slowly, as if testing how it tasted on her tongue.

"See, wasn't that easier, Berry?" He asked, smirking at her whilst taking the plate of brownies from her small outstretched arms.

"But, we still have to practice for the performance." She said, ignore his comment.

"Noah? Who's here?" Noah turned quickly towards the familiar small voice.

Rachel turned half a second later and was taken aback. Standing in the middle of the living room in front of them was a small girl, around eight years old from the looks of her. She was pale, with a pink handkerchief tied around her hairless head. She was looking at Noah, who was looking back at his sister with such care that Rachel felt like she was intruding on the moment.

"This is Rachel, Sarah, she's a friend of mine. Rachel, this is my younger sister, Sarah." He said slowly, in a forced tone of patience. Sarah smiled up to Rachel and walked up, placing a hand on Rachel's hair.

"You have beautiful hair, Rachel. I remember when I had pretty hair too. My momma used to brush it, and sometimes when she was busy, Noah would." She said, smiling sadly as she removed her hand from Rachel's locks.

It was the first time in her life that Rachel could remember being speechless.

"Th..Thank you, Sarah." She stuttered, taking in the small sickly girl.

Puck quickly stepped in between the two before something even more weird could happen in font of him. He wished Rachel hadn't seen his sister; the only person that knew about her at school was Finn, and that had been an accident anyway.

"Is she the partner for the show you're doing at the hospital for me?" The small girl asked, and Rachel's eyes flicked towards Noah's who was smiling at the little girl.

"Yeah, she is, squirt." He said.

"What're you going to sing?" The little girl asked, turning to Rachel with curiosity. Rachel looked at Noah with uncertainty.

"I don't know, that's actually what I came to talk to your brother about." She said slowly, looking at the teenage boy.

"Will you sing the song from Beauty and the Beast? The one where they're playing in the snow and she falls in love with him? That's my favorite!" Sarah said, pleading at both Rachel and Noah to say yes to her.

"Yeah, midget, we can sing that. I'll make the Beast look badass." Rachel frowned at his poor use of the English language but nodded at Sarah.

"Yes, of course, that is well within both of our ranges." She said, causing the small child to squeal in excitement.

"All right, all right, but you gotta go upstairs so we don't ruin it for you." He said, picking the child up and shuttling her up the stairs. "And no peeking!" He yelled on his way back down. He didn't make eye contact with Rachel at first.

"I had no idea-" Rachel began but Puck cut her off.

"That my little sister's dying? Yeah, Berry, it ain't public knowledge." He said bitterly pushing his way past her into the living room.

"That's why you're so upset all the time. Why you don't want Quinn giving up her baby. You don't want to lose anyone else." Rachel said calmly, putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together in the most logical fit.

Puck stared at the girl in front of him, his anger building up by the second before it exploded and began pouring out of him as he advanced on her.

"Don't you dare pretend you get what me or my sister are going through. You don't know jack shit about my baby, Berry. You may have told everyone, but that doesn't mean you can talk to me about it. Yeah, my sister's going to die, and I face that reality every time she throws up, or when she cries because she can't have pretty hair like all the other girls. I face it every time I remember how much I hated having to brush her hair, and how I wish I could do it every night now. When I remember how we used to go out on picnics, and now she can't hardly climb the stairs without vomiting. I remember it every time my mother cries over my dirtbag father who left when he found out his daughter had leukemia when she was five years old. I remember it, Berry, because I have been Sarah's dad since I was thirteen, and soon I won't have her anymore." He said, tears welling up in his eyes, and a few slipping down his nose.

Rachel was soaking all of his pain and anger in, tears running down her cheeks. There was barely six inches between the two Jewish teens, and she closed that gap wrapping both arms around him and pulling him against her. He didn't respond at first, but after a moment he sagged into her embrace and hugged her back.

"I would never have judged you for this, Noah. Your sister is a beautiful little girl, and she is so lucky to have you, just as you are lucky to have her." She said softly in his ears, causing him to release a strangled sob.

"I love her." He said softly, and Rachel nodded against him. "I know, Noah. And so does she, I promise." He pulled away to look at her.

"Can I ask you something, Berry?" She nodded.

"Am I horrible person, after all I did to you, and Artie, and Kurt?" He said, not looking her in the eye, but she lifted his eyes to her level.

"Maybe you were once," She said calmly, thinking before she spoke again, "but, we forgave you a long time ago, because we saw that there was more to you." She said, taking a hand in her own, and squeezing gently.

"All it takes is forgiveness, Noah." She said softly, and he nodded with her. Rachel gasped slowly.

"You asked Figgins to ask Mr. Schue to host this show, didn't you!?" She said excitedly, but he just looked away before tugging on her hand.

"Alright, Berry, enough talking, we've got a competition to win." He said, causing her to smile and nod in agreement quickly, hoping to see him smile at some point that night.

He was nervous, and badasses never got nervous. He was shaking his hands as Rachel placed lip gloss on her perfect lips. He watched her, wishing he could reach out and hold her, just to make himself feel a little more safe about what they were going on to do.

"Noah?" He turned to see the small tan girl behind him.

"Yeah, Rachel?" She smiled at the use of her first name.

"It's all going to be okay, I promise." She said, before hugging him to her quickly. He held on until he heard Mr. Schuester's voice drift over the thumping of his heart.

"Our last pair today are Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman!" With that Rachel had drug Noah out to where they would perform.

Noah switched on his mic and stepped forward, smiling at his sister, sitting front row in her pink wheel chair.

"This song is dedicated to my little sister, Sarah Puckerman, so that she'll know that I'll love her, no matter what." He said simply, leaning forward to kiss said girl on the cheek.

"I love you, squirt." He said, and she smiled back at him. "I love you too, No." He straightened then, ignored the surprised looks on all the other gleek's faces and turned back to Rachel.

"Let's do this." He said, handing her a mic, and she stepped forward.

"There's something sweet

And almost kind

But he was mean

And he was course

And unrefined"

She began, winking at Noah, who stuck his tongue out at her as she spun circles around him, landing in front of Sarah, and reaching out to brush the little girl's cheek with her fingertips.

"And now he's dear

And so unsure

I wonder why I didn't see it there before"

She said looking at Noah watching his sister sing along happily in the audience, and she wished she had noticed this side of him sooner. He was truly someone else, and it was such a shame that no one had ever seen this piece of him before. He stepped forward, and raised his mic to his soft lips and began to sing.

"She glanced this way

And I thought I saw

And when we touched

She didn't shudder at my paw"

He said, placing a hand up and Rachel laid hers against his, the two loving the feeling of touching the other.

"No it can't be

I'll just ignore

But then shes never looked at me that way before"

He sang, looking at Rachel. To his surprise she was staring intensely back at him in a way that he might have once found creepy. Now he loved the way her eyes watched him now. He found himself hoping, and he couldn't stop it.

"New and a bit alarming

Who'd have ever thought this could be

True that he's no prince charming

But there's something in him that I simply didn't see"

She sang, stroking the tan boy's face with her soft hand, as he placed a hand on her waist and picked her up, spinning her around the room, dancing to the music of the song. The melody changed slightly and Puck began singing this time to Rachel.

"Tale as old as time

Tune as old as song

Bittersweet and strange

Finding you can change

Learning you were wrong"

Rachel grinned at him, and picked up from where he left off.

"Certain as the sun

Rising in the east

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast"

The two spun back to the middle of the room, eyes locked on each other as they twirled to a stopping point, listening to the song begin to end before they both raised up their microphones hands interwoven.

"Beauty and the Beast"

The clapping that ensued was tumultuous and Rachel and Noah were beaming with happiness, and before he could help himself, he had her face in his hands, and had kissed her once softly on her small mouth.