Sorry it's taken me so long to post. I had a bit of writers block on this chapter. Plus real life interfered, and I've been sick. Thanks for all the support, though. You have no idea how much it means to me.

Lots and lots happening in this chapter. Hope you all like.

Also, to those of you who have commented on how douche baggy Finn has been in my story, I have to agree. It's just that I dislike his character so much! In the interest of being fair, however, I'll try to take it a little easier on him from now on.

Also, I love Suzy Pepper. What she said to Rachel in that eppy was so true. Rachel does want men she can't have. And the one she could have, Puck, she totally pushed away. I'm hoping that she will realize that and then she and Puck can get back together. Yay! Ok, probably won't happen, but a girl can dream, right?

Ch. 9

You cut me open and I keep bleeding love

"He did what?!?!?! Why didn't you tell me about this last night?" Puck turned from his locker and stared at Rachel.

"I didn't tell you because I wanted last night to be perfect. And it was." He continued to stare at her. Rachel sighed and shook her head. "Puck, please calm down."

"Calm down. Really? Are you being serious right now?" Puck slammed the door to his locker and clenched his jaw.

"Yes. People are starting to stare." Rachel tucked some hair behind her ear and leaned against the locker next to his.

"Yeah, they'll be staring even more when I rip his arm off and beat his head in with it." Puck kicked his locker vengefully.

"What a charming mental picture. I think you're overreacting." She folded her arms and tried to remain calm.

"I'm overreacting? Finn put his hands on you. I'm overreacting to that?" Puck stood in front of her and dropped his hands to her shoulders. He would kill Finn if he put another finger on his girl.

"Yes. You know that things have to be rough with Quinn right now. He's probably looking for a distraction." Rachel knew she had him on this one. She could see the wheels turning in his head.

Puck kinda felt like throwing up. Things would be rough with Quinn right now. Because of him. Oh, God.

"You'll see. Everything will be fine. Let's go to Glee." Rachel took his hand and led him down the hallway.


As they entered the choir room, Puck could sense that things were off. Finn and Quinn were holding a tense whispered conversation in the corner. Santana and Matt were sitting next to each other and whispering frantically to each other while Santana held his arm in a death grip. Santana looked happy and a little scared at the same time, so Puck figured that whatever was going on with them was good at least.

The strangest thing though, was Tina and Artie. They were sitting on complete opposite sides of the room not looking at each other. That was very odd because the two were practically inseparable. Also, add to that the fact that Artie was staring intently at the blank chalkboard, and Tina was looking at the linoleum looking like she was trying to hold back tears and it didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong with them.

Kurt rushed into the room behind them and said in a hushed whisper. "Tina and Artie broke up. We don't know why because neither of them has said two words all day. But Brittany found Tina crying in the bathroom and all she would say was that Artie broke up with her. Which is actually more than two words for her, but you know what I mean. Drama." Kurt slipped past them and went to join Mercedes.

Puck's eyes flew to Santana. No wonder she looked happy and frightened. This was what she had been waiting for. He kind of wondered how she was going to handle this whole thing. Puck's eyes slid over to Matt who was still whispering with Santana, but his eyes were locked on Tina. God, this was like Day's of Our Fricking Lives.

The quiet in the room was suddenly shattered. Everyone's eyes swung towards the corner where Quinn and Finn were standing. Quinn was swinging one of the music stands at Finn's face and cursing loudly.

"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch." The music stand connected with Finn's face and sent him to the floor bleeding and dazed. Quinn brought the music stand up over her head and brought it down on Finn's head again. As she raised the stand again, Puck felt himself unfreeze and he dashed over to Quinn feeling his heart in his throat. He grabbed the stand before she could smash it on Finn again and yanked it out of her hands. She glared at him and raised her hand to slap him, but it turned into a punch that caught him under the eye. Puck could feel his skin rip open under her rings, but he reached out and snagged her around the waist pinning her arms as gently as he could. She was struggling and cursing at him and still trying to get to Finn. Everyone in the room was frozen in position, shocked into inaction by Quinn's sudden outburst.

"Someone call an ambulance for Finn. Now! And anyone else you can think of. Hurry!" Puck continued to keep a hold on Quinn, who seemed unnaturally strong right now.

Brittany grabbed her cell phone and sprinted out of the room, dragging Mike behind her. "Get Mr. Shue," he heard her shout before he turned his attention back to Quinn, who was still struggling in his arms. He began pulling her back away from Finn as gently as he could. As he moved out of the way, he saw Mercedes move to Finn and begin to check the extent of the damage that Quinn had caused.

Puck noticed that Quinn's struggles were becoming less and less. Suddenly she sagged against him and let out a sob. "Oh god. Oh god what have I done?" Her legs buckled and Puck lowered her to the floor.

"Shit! What is going on in here?" Mr. Shue came tearing in the room followed by Mike and Brittany.

"Ambulance is on its way," Brittany let out breathlessly and grabbed onto Mike who looked ashen.

Puck was holding on to Quinn on the floor as she sobbed uncontrollably. He glanced over to Rachel and saw her clutching Santana's hand. Matt was crouched next to Tina who looked like she was about to pass out. Kurt and Arite were frozen next to each other. Mr. Shue looked torn, should he check on the pregnant girl or the bleeding boy?

While his inner debate raged Coach Sylvester and Ms. Pillsbury flew in the doorway.

"Oh, Will. What happened?" Ms. Pillsbury breathed with her hand on her heart.

"Ok, Pillsbury, since you're mentally unhinged yourself, you go check on psycho preggers. I'll put my field medic training to use on Frankenteen over there. Sheuster go look for the ambulance that Anna Nicole called." Coach Sylvester began marching over to Finn as she barked out orders. The woman might be cracked, but she knew what to do in an emergency.

Puck let Ms. Pillsbury take the still sobbing Quinn out of his arms and lead her gently to a chair. Coach Sylvester was trying to assess the extent of Finn's head trauma. Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. Thoughts were flying through Puck's head. What the hell was going on with Quinn? What made her go all schizoid like that? Was the baby alright? Should he be doing something to help her right now? Was Finn going to be ok? Yeah, he was mad as hell at Finn but Puck didn't want to see him hurt. What the hell was going on? He could hear the sound of running in the hall outside the door and looked up to see the paramedics burst into the room. Most made a beeline to Finn, but two headed straight towards Quinn. Behind the EMT's were two police officers who headed for Quinn as well. Mr. Shue hovered in the door looking shell shocked.

"Ok folks," said one of the officers, "we're going to need statements from you all about what happened. We'll start with you," pointing at Tina.

Puck made his way over to Rachel and Santana who were now sitting on the floor but still holding hands. He wrapped his arm around Rachel and felt her lean into him, then reached out and snagged Santana's other hand and they all just sat still stunned. Puck kept his eyes on Quinn who was still crying and shaking. He wondered how much sense she was making.

When the police finally called Santana over to question her, Rachel wrapped her other arm around him and let out a small sob. "What just happened?" she whispered to him. Puck just shook his head. The EMT's were getting ready to wheel Finn and Quinn out of the door. He needed to be there with Quinn, but how was he going to do it without being arrested?

"Someone should be there with her until her parents get to the hospital. I'm going to ask." There was no way he was letting Quinn out of his sight right now. He needed to make sure her freak out hadn't hurt the baby.

"Ok." Rachel wrapped her arms around herself and looked so small and lost that Puck hated himself for walking away from her. But he had to protect his baby. He had to.

"Excuse me, but I really think that someone should go with Quinn to the hospital. She's pregnant and the stress that this could cause to the baby…" Puck walked up to the closest officer determined to go with Quinn.

"That's very thoughtful son, but right now Ms. Fabray is dangerous and we can't risk a civilian. She'll be attended by one of our officers on the way to the hospital. Since you're here, I want to ask you about what you saw of the altercation." The officer opened his notepad, oblivious to Puck's determination.

"I wasn't really paying attention. Rachel and I walked into the room and…" Puck trailed off eyeing Quinn on the stretcher.

"Rachel being?" The officer looked up at him. Two of the EMT's began to take Quinn out of the room. Puck snapped back to attention when the officer cleared his throat.

"Huh? Oh, my girlfriend. Brown hair. Anyway Rachel and I came into the room and I noticed that Quinn and Finn were arguing in the corner, but then Kurt came in behind us and told us that two of our other friends had broken up and then…then Quinn just lost it. I have no idea what they were talking about." Puck shook his head. "But look I really think that someone needs to be with Quinn that she knows…"

"I'm sorry son, but no. She's already on her way to the ambulance. Her parents will meet her there. Everything will be fine. Don't you worry." He gave Puck a reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking over to Mr. Shue.

Puck let out the breath that he had been holding and looked over at Rachel. She was talking to the other officer and looked like she was about to cry. Damn it! He should be comforting Rachel, but he should also be with Quinn making sure his baby was alright. The two most important women in his life were in trouble and he was failing them both. Until he could work up a plan to help his little girl, he would have to take care of Rachel. He could do this. He could.

Puck walked over to Rachel when he saw the cop leave. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "You ok?"

She nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah. It's just. What happened? I don't understand. I don't"

"I don't know. We should go check though. I mean to make sure she's ok. Not that we can do anything, but…" but I need to check on my baby!

"I agree. Quinn really needs friends right now. And we should check on Finn too." Rachel began gathering up their things.

"Yeah." Puck looked towards the door way and saw Ms. Pillsbury lay a hand on Mr. Shue's arm before leaving. Coach Sylvester followed her muttering about cheer practice and hormones.

"Everyone, I know that this has been very traumatic for everyone involved, but the best thing we can do right now is to take some time to process. I'm cancelling glee for the rest of the week, but if any of you need to talk about what happened please know that my door is always open as is Ms. Pillsbury's." Mr. Shue shook his head and hurried out the door after his colleges.

Mercedes, Kurt and Artie moved towards the doorway holding a quiet conversation.

Brittany turned to Santana. "C'mon. We still have to go to cheer practice. Coach Sylvester will kill us if we don't." Santana nodded, still visibly shaken. She followed Brittany from the room.

Matt was still talking to Tina, trying to comfort her.

Puck looked at Rachel. "Let's get out of here." She nodded silently and moved closer to him. Puck wrapped his arm around her as they left the room.


"This is so frustrating! We can't see Quinn since she's in the psych ward and we can't see Finn because he's in the emergency room! I could scream right now!" Rachel dropped down in one of the hospital chairs with a huff.

"I might join you." Puck sat down as well and leaned his head against the wall.

"What are we going to do now?" Rachel looked over at him.

"Wait, I guess." Puck sighed. This was going to be a long night.


Santana knew something was wrong the minute she was thrown into the air. She could feel that the basket was off. It was fortunate that she didn't have much time to think or she would have been scared. As it was, all she really had time to think was, Well, fuck. Then she had an extreme moment of pain and then nothing.


"Ugh, that was awful!" Rachel flopped back on her bed and reached out a hand to pull Puck down beside her.

"It was." Puck still felt sick that he couldn't check on Quinn, but there was no way that was happening. He wrapped his arm around Rachel and held her close.

"At least Finn is going to be ok." Rachel dropped a kiss on his nose and continued, "It's really nice that you two made up. Things are going to be so much less awkward." She sighed and snuggled into his chest.


Tonight had been awkward enough, that's for sure. They had finally managed to track Finn' mom down when she stepped out to have a cigarette. Puck knew Mrs. Hudson and in times of stress, the woman smoked like a chimney. They just hung around the parking lot until they found her. She told them that Finn was pretty banged up, but the worst he had was a broken nose and a concussion. They were moving him upstairs for the night and would be discharged tomorrow.

Puck and Rachel had followed her directions up to the second floor and peaked into Finn's room. He still looked pretty rough. Quinn had done quite a number on him. As they stood awkwardly in the doorway, Finn opened his eyes and looked over at them.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey Finn. We wanted to check on you. Are you ok?" Rachel moved into the room and took Finn's hand

"Yeah. Who knew I could piss off someone so much? "Finn let out a painful chuckle at his lame joke.

"Finn, what happened?" Puck was still watching from the doorway unsure if he would be welcome in the room or not.

"I don't really know." Finn shook his head and winced slightly at the pain. "We were arguing. About her mood swings. Quinn's been really out there for the last week. I was trying to get her to go to the doctor to get things checked out and I don't know what happened."

"Have you heard anything about her condition?" Rachel let go of his hand and sat down in the chair by the head of his bed. She inclined her head slightly silently ordering Puck to enter the room completely.

"My mom talked to her parents. They want to kill me, by the way. But all they know is that she's fine and the baby's fine. They're going to keep her for a while to figure out what's going on with her, though." Finn leaned his head back and watched as Puck made his way over to the bed.

"Thank goodness they're both alright though. I imagine the risk to the fetus would be enormous given the amount of stress that Quinn must be going through." Rachel took Finn's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah. No thanks to me. I've been a complete ass lately. And I want to apologize to you. To both of you. I've been so out of line. I'm happy for the two of you. Really. I just got so caught up in my own drama that I guess I was just jealous of seeing the two of you so happy. I hope we can maybe still be friends." Finn was looking down at his blankets and appeared to be holding back tears.

"Finn, of coarse we can! There's no maybe about it." Rachel shot a death look at Puck, willing him to say the same.

"We're cool dude." Puck was almost limp with relief that the doctor's said that the baby was ok. Thank God. At the same time he felt like shit that Finn was apologizing to him. He didn't deserve and apology.

When they left Finn's room, they had made another failed attempt to see Quinn.

"Family only. You should go home. You can call tomorrow and check on Ms. Fabray, though." The nurse at the desk gave them a sympathetic smile.

Since they had no other options, Rachel had insisted that they head back to her house and call the other members of Glee to give them an update.


Puck sighed and lay back on Rachel's bed. He could hear her talking to Tina from downstairs.

"Matt's still with you? How sweet of him. Ok. I'll see you tomorrow." Interesting. Matt was still with Tina? He was going to have a little chat with Matt soon. When he wasn't completely exhausted and emotionallydrained.In addition to having a chat with Matt, he was going to have to reopen the subject of the baby situation when Quinn was out of the hospital. He didn't care what she had to say, he was going to take care of his baby girl. And then he was going to have to figure out how to tell Rachel.

Puck glanced over to the door when he heard it open. Rachel was standing there wearing a sexy smile. God, she was beautiful. She could make everything in his world seem perfect just by smiling. He started to smile back when she launched herself at the bed.

"Puck! Your eye. God! With everything going on, I completely forgot." Rachel's smile disappeared.

"What?" Puck could feel his brain struggle to keep up with her change in mood. Rachel's smile was replaced by a concerned frown. She hovered over him and gently touched his cheek directly below his eye. He winced at the sudden sting. Oh, yeah. Quinn had clocked him.

"Don't move." Rachel bounded off the bed so fast he didn't have time to stop her. He didn't care about his eye. He just wanted to hold her. He needed her right now.

As Puck was raising himself up on his elbows Rachel flung herself back in the room holding some antiseptic and salve.

"Ok. Hold still." He closed his eyes and felt her soft fingers applying medicine to the cut. "All better." Her breath fluttered over his skin and Puck had to hold back a groan. The girl could turn him on with one touch.

He felt her lips gently caress his check and then his jaw before coming to rest on his lips. When she darted her tongue out and ran it over his bottom lip, Puck felt himself going under. He was drowning in Rachel, and he didn't want it to end. His arms tightened around her and he pulled her down onto his chest.

Puck felt like he could die a happy man. Rachel was pressing her soft body into him and he was hardening in response. When he felt her fingers undo his belt, he heard a voice very faintly in his head. It's not time. Shut up, he tried to tell himself. No, the voice went on firmly, this is not what you want. You want all of her, not just a part. If you do this now everything will be ruined. There is still too much to be resolved. Stop it now.

"We have to stop." Puck managed to gasp this out as he felt Rachel lower his zipper and slide her hand under his boxers.

"I don't want to. Make love to me." Rachel's voice came out in a sexy pant and cured her fingers around him. He nearly lost it again as she bean to stroke him.

"Rachel, this is going to be your first time. It should be special. You should be with someone that you love." He placed his hands on hers, stilling them with a groan.

"Noah, I care about you. I want to be with you. I want you to be my first. It's enough." Rachel ran a hand over Puck's scalp sending tingles down his body. It would be so easy to give in. But he couldn't.

"Not for me. It's not enough for me. When I make love to you, I want to know that you love me back." He had to move. Touching her was started to erode his self control.

"Noah…." Rachel was cut off by the ringing of Puck's phone. He tried to ignore it, but then it occurred to him that it might be Quinn. He had to answer.

"Noah, get it. What if it's about Quinn or Finn?" Rachel sat up and he lunged for his phone.

"Hello? Mike? What? What's wrong? What! Dude where? Ok, we're on our way!" Puck jumped up from the bed, zipping his pants

"Noah, is it Quinn?" Rachel's arm snaked out to grab him.

"No, it's Santana." Puck turned towards her and he could feel the panic building in the pit of his stomach.

"What?" Rachel was staring at him, worry beginning to show in her eyes.

"Mike said Britt wasn't making much sense. Something about Cheerio practice and an accident. We need to get to the hospital."