Chapter 8 Speed of Sound

A/N: Sorry once again for the posting delay, Thank you for patience. I hope you enjoy. Also I want to say a special thank you to my editor EJ. You Rock!

Rachel woke up slowly, basking in the warmth that radiated from the body next to her. She turned on her side and began to study him; while she obviously knew what he looked like, she rarely got the chance to admire Noah with out him noticing. She gently traced her fingers down the angular planes of his face. 'He looks so beautiful and peaceful when he is asleep.' She thought, mesmerized by his handsome face. The angelic expression changed to a smirk as he opened his eyes.

"You were totally checkin' me out," Puck said with a leer.

"I was simply making sure that you were still breathing," she said defensively, then laughed, "you caught me. I couldn't help it. You looked so peaceful."

Puck grinned up at his girlfriend, "that's me, Peaceful Puck. But seriously, I feel better after last night. I don't like keeping shit from you Rach." Puck turned over and wrapped his arms around Rachel. "We OK?" He murmured into her hair.

"More than." She replied softly. "We still have a few things to discuss, and we need to make a plan of attack, but I told you last night, I'm not going anywhere. We have plenty of time to talk on the way home, but I need to call my dads, and we need to get on the road." Rachel kissed Puck, then jumped out of bed. "Besides, I am famished."

Puck watched Rachel as she buzzed around the room, picking up clothing and make up and such, something she did when she was nervous. He noticed that her cheeks were pink and figured that the embarrassment of spending the night with him had caught up to her.

"Hey Rach." He called, smiling. She turned, her hand clutching a bra. The flush of pink, turned tomato red as she looked at what she was holding. "Come here for a sec." Rachel shoved the offending article into her suitcase and walked over to Puck. He patted the bed, motioning for her to sit down next to him. Puck took her hand and smiled at her gently. "I know that my 'stud' status bothers you sometimes, but you are the only woman that I have ever actually slept with. And I am gonna totally sound like a chick here, but spending the night with you in my arms is way more intimate or whatever, than sex, ya know."

Rachel kissed him deeply once again amazed that he continued to surprise her. As horrible as the Quinn situation was, she couldn't deny that the whole thing had brought them much closer. "Thank you, Noah."

"Whatever" He replied blushing, this time it was his turn to be embarrassed.

--- ~ ---

The drive home was uneventful. In an unspoken agreement, they both kept the conversation light, in fact for most of the drive they just listened to music and enjoyed a comfortable silence. The previous evening had been very emotional and they both just need time to process. They checked in with their respective parents; Rachel's dads had excused them both from school, Rachel was sure that the gossip mill was going to have a field day with the fact that they were both absent from school, but she was getting to the point where she didn't care. Puck had also spoken to his mom. Both of his grandparents were officially out of danger, and the doctor's were sure that they were both going to have a full recovery. Puck had to pull over the car, after he got off the phone with his mom as he felt a surge of relief. The congratulatory hug turned into an impromptu make out session, that was interrupted by honking cars. After that, the rest of the drive home passed smoothly. It was only one o'clock by the time they got back to Lima, but neither one was ready to have their private bubble interrupted.

"Noah" Rachel said softly as they drove into town. "Would it be okay if we drove though Sonic, and ate lunch by the lake? We still have to talk about what you are going to next with Quinn, and it would be nice if we could talk somewhere where we won't be interrupted."

Puck nodded in agreement and turned the car toward the restaurant. Twenty minutes later they were sitting on a blanket in front of the lake, eating their lunch in comfortable silence. Rachel turned to the boy, realizing that she would have to be the one to broach the silence. "What is it that you hope to accomplish Noah, with Quinn I mean? You keep saying that you want to take care of your daughter, but what does that entail?"

"I don't want to be a deadbeat dad." Puck replied tersely.

"I understand that." Rachel said gently, "But I need you to be specific, that way we can formulate a better plan. In a perfect world, what happens? Do you get custody? Do you share her with Quinn? What exactly do you want?'

Puck started to speak, then stopped. "I don't know," he said honestly.

"Do you want to raise her yourself?" She asked gently.

"I could." Puck said defensively. "I can take care of her." His voice almost desperate. "I helped raise Ali."

Rachel scooted closer to Puck, needing the physical contact. "I believe in you Noah. I really do." She leaned over and kissed him sweetly. "You are a good guy, despite your persona and I honestly believe that you are going to be an amazing man, but you are forgetting one very important thing."

"What's that?" He asked confused.

"It's not about you." Rachel gently put her finger across his lips to silence him. "It's not about Quinn either. It is about your baby girl. I know that you can take care of her, but should you? What is best for her?"

"I don't want to abandon her Rachel, I can't do that." He said his voice choked with unshed tears."

Rachel pulled him into her arms and held him for a long while. "Considering adoption isn't abandoning her Noah. You are not your father. At only 17, you are already a hundreds times better than your father will ever be." She said fiercely, hugging him tightly. She kissed his forehead, than held his face gently between her hands. "I think that adoption is the ultimate mitzvah ~ a good deed that is also a blessing, a gift from Him. It is worth consideration, but first we need to find out what your rights are, so we know what to do next."

"And I need to tell Finn." Puck said suddenly. "I know that Quinn is used to people doing what she wants them to, and I know that this will probably annihilate my friendship with Finn, but he needs to know the truth. I love Baby Puck already, but so does he and the longer this goes on, the more that he is going to love her, too."

Rachel hugged him again, then kissed him fiercely. "I'm proud of you." She whispered into his ear. Puck responded by holding her tight.

--- ~ ---

Rachel closed her eyes, and tried to will away the headache that was stabbing her in the eye. The last 24 hours had been a roller coaster to say the least. First, she had the most amazing date in the history of dates, then there was the bombshell about the baby, another car trip, another emotional conversation with Noah, topped of with a two hour discussion with Noah and her dads. They had been understanding, but then again, that part didn't surprise her. Both had dealt with enough prejudice and hate, that they were a lot more patient and nonjudgmental.

Rachel knew that her dads first reaction was to ban him from the house and lock her in her room, but they also knew how much she cared about Noah. They trusted their daughter, and despite the recent development, they were both fond of Noah. After a brief period of shock, they were supportive of Puck and offered to help in any way they could; even if Rachel's daddy did take Puck into the other room and give him a long lecture on safe sex. They now had a lot more information on what Puck's parental rights were. Puck was going to tell Finn the next day, and then they were going to deal with Quinn. She sighed as the headache started to fade. As much as she cared about Noah it was nice to have a little time to herself. Noah was going to spend the night in the guest room again, but he had some lawns to do before it got too dark.

"Pumpkin," her dad called from downstairs, "you have company." Rachel flipped the lamp on and got up to answer her door. She was surprised to see Tina on the other side.

"Hi Rachel, I hope it's okay that I stopped by." Tina looked around nervously, not really sure how to act around her. "Um, I like your room."

"Thank you, have a seat," she said politely and gestured to the chair. "You are welcome to come by anytime, but why are you here. I don't think you have ever been to my house before."

Tina sat down and began to nervously play with her hair. "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I mean I got your e-mail on Saturday, and I knew you weren't going to be at school today or be able to go to the mall with us, but I still feel bad that we left you out of the sleep over and I just wanted to make sure you're okay, but I said that already."

Rachel smiled at the Gothic singer. "It's okay Tina, really. I meant it when I said that I wanted to start over and try to be friends. You know I think this is the first time we have ever had a conversation without the others around. How was the mall?"

Tina smiled then rolled her eyes. "It was a mall. But both Kurt and Mercedes live to shop, so that's where we go."

"Where would you go, if you got to pick?" Rachel asked curiously.

Tina tried to think of where she would like to go, but couldn't really come up with anything. They never asked her if she enjoyed the mall, they were teenagers who loved fashion so where else would they hang out. "I draw." Tina said suddenly, blushing. "I guess I would rather listen to music, hangout and sketch or whatever."

Rachel nodded, this making friends business was hard, but they were both trying and that was what counted. "I like going to museums. We go to a lot of them when I go to New York for the summers, even the smaller ones. I'd like to see your drawing sometime. So, how are things with Artie?" Rachel asked, knowing boys were always a good conversation topic.

"Strained, but getting better," Tina said softly, "he is not ready for us to start dating yet, but we are getting there, I hope. What is it like to have Puck for a boyfriend?"

"Wonderful, exasperating and absolutely terrifying all at the same time." Rachel said with a smile. She sat down next to Tina, and began to relax around the girl.

"Do you love him?"

Rachel thought about that for a moment, before she answered. "It's funny because I thought that I loved Finn. But it was nothing but a crush. He flirted and flattered but I didn't really know much about him except that he was my idea of a leading man, but Noah; it's completely different." Rachel's face softened as she thought of the mo-hawked boy.

"Over the summer I read the Twilight Series because I wanted to see what all of the hype was about, and while I enjoyed them, I thought that maybe they were overly romantic and unrealistic. How could someone our age possibly care for someone so intensely. Enough to fight for, enough to die for?"

Rachel closed her eyes and thought back to the night before, when Noah told her all of the reasons why he wanted and needed her in is life. "I understand Bella better now." Rachel said almost to herself. "I think that maybe it is not so unrealistic after all."

Tina looked at her new friend with wonder and amazement. "Puck is totally your Edward." She said with awe.

Rachel flushed beet red, embarrassed that she had confessed these things to Tina, before she even realized herself. "Tina," Rachel said suddenly, her voice deceptively calm. "I am really glad that we are becoming better friends, and sincerely hope that our friendship will continue to grow," Rachel smiled at the Asian girl, but it was a sharp, devilish smile. "But if you breath a word of our conversation to anyone, I will sneak into your room one night, rend you unconscious and bleach your hair Paris Hilton Blond, then I will leak it to Jacob that you did it on purpose because Paris Hilton is your secret idol."

Tina gulped visibly, believing every word that her friend said. "I've activated the *cone of silence, I swear."

"Good," Rachel said smiling her normal bubbly smile. "That's all settled then."

Tina got up and hugged her new friend, for all that Rachel was a little scary, she was fun to be around. "You and Puck are freakin' perfect for each other."

"We really are."

The door knocked and the boy in question walked into the room. "Hey Goth Spice." Puck greeted.

"Hi Puck." Tina turned back to Rachel. "Your boy is here now and three is a crowd, so I'm gonna take off, but I'll see you tomorrow." Tina reached over and hugged her friend once more, and whispered in her ear. "Totally Edward."

--- ~ ---

A/N 2: I've been asked to take part of the 'Support Stacie Author Auction' to help raise money for 'Stacie' an avid fan fic reader 'truelovepooh' who is battling ovarian AND breast cancer without medical insurance.

Starting March 26 and going through March 29, members of the forum (anyone can join) bids on an author and at the end of the auction, the winning bidder (after their money is sent), gets a fic written by me, for them.

Several fellow Glee authors are partaking in this auction...

(remove the spaces to use the links)

Myself (Bookgurrrl):

( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2063)

SapphireEJ / SapphiresFic:

( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2047)

GoingVintage:

( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2031)

Mag721:

( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2068)

The main forum:

( http :// www. supportstacie . com / phpBB3/ )

This auction is listed under the '2010 April Author Auction' thread and we, specifically, are listed under the 'Glee Auctions'.

If you would like any of us to write a fic for you and you're willing to bid on us, hop on over to the forum and check it out, see our auctions and see what it's all about. It's totally worth it!

Having a grandma who had a double mastectomy and my twin sister having ovarian cancer, this is a great cause to support because it hits close to home for me.

Thanks for reading!

(Thanks to SapphireEJ / SapphiresFic for writing this up for me and letting me use some of her message!)

A/N3: I just started a new Puckleberry fic that I will start posting this week so check it out. It is future fic, Puck wears a uniform but that's all I'm saying. As always don't forget to tip your waitress (review). Thank you.

*Cone of silence is barrowed from Grey's anatomy.