a/n: Hi everyone! This is the last chapter (well the epilogue is next so it's not completely over yet) so I hope everyone enjoys it. I don't know what else to say except I don't own Glee, please review, and I love you guys! Thank you!

Why did adults have to be so damn complicated? Anna glared at her reflection in the elevator doors as the question roiled in her mind. The doors had barely opened a crack before she slipped through and headed towards the door marked 4G. This time, when she burst through uninvited and unannounced, it was not gonna be an accident.

Anna stopped in front of Rachel's door. She reminded herself that until she got to the bottom of this, Rachel wasn't her friend. Rachel was currently the woman responsible for the ridiculously bad mood her dad had been in for the past two days. It was getting out of hand. Before her brain could convince her that this was a terrible idea, Anna put her hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath.

Rachel was in the kitchen when she heard her front door open. She wasn't expecting anyone so a small sliver of fear shot through her. Mentally chastising herself for forgetting to lock the door when she'd gotten home earlier, Rachel cautiously poked her head around the doorway. The relief she felt when she saw Anna standing there instead of a hulking burglar diminished slightly when anger flashed in the younger girl's eyes. So this was it, Rachel resigned. This was where Anna would finally tell her how she really felt about what had happened days ago. Rachel steeled her nerves and took a deep breath even though she knew the teenager was likely to be quite hostile towards her. As she stepped into the living room and cleared her throat, Anna turned to face her, a fire in her eyes so much like her father's it nearly knocked her back.

"You," Anna spoke, "what did you do to my dad? What did you say to him?" Rachel's brows furrowed. That certainly hadn't been what she'd expected to hear from the girl.

"What are you talking about?" Anna's eyes narrowed a bit at not having her question answered immediately.

"My dad came down here to talk to you a couple days ago and ever since, he's been in a crappy mood. I wanna know what you said to him that's made him all pissy." Anna crossed her arms in a defiant stance, once more reminding Rachel of Noah.

"Sweetie, I think that's a conversation best kept between adults." A sneer unfurled across Anna's face that caught Rachel by surprise.

"Bullshit," the girl snapped. Rachel's eyes widened but Anna took a deep breath. "You've never been condescending to me before Rachel. Don't start now." Anna paused and fixed her gaze on Rachel. "Look, I know what happened the night of my bat mitzvah. You and my dad had sex. And I'm cool with that. But then, this mood of his started and I'm pretty freaking positive that it's connected to you. Tell me what's going on because if I ask my dad about it, he'll just change the subject and I want answers."

Rachel let out a sigh. Some of the anger in Anna's voice had faded but she knew the girl wouldn't leave without the answers she'd come for. She moved around and sat down on the couch, motioning for Anna to do the same. When Anna got situated, she faced Rachel and waited. "Anna, you know I love you. Since the moment you first accidentally walked through my door, I knew you were an amazing girl. And the friendship we have is very dear to me. And although I've managed to develop feelings for your father, I was scared that if I pursued a romantic relationship with him, you would possibly feel slighted."

Anna almost laughed out loud at the irony. Her she was, doing her damnedest to plot and scheme to bring the two adults together and the whole time, Rachel assumed that she wouldn't like her anymore if they did get together. "That's so stupid," Anna stated, holding in a snicker. Rachel smoothed a hand over her pants leg and gave a small huff of annoyance.

"Your dad said something of the sort as well." Rachel looked over at Anna with a soft sigh. "You have to understand, I was worried that you would think I was trying to replace your…" She trailed off at the end but Anna heard her loud and clear. Anna nodded her head.

"My mother," she finished. Rachel lowered her chin in a gentle nod and Anna cleared her throat. "Rach, I never knew my mom. My dad's told me stories about her before but it's not like she was the love of his life or anything. He's never just come out and told me before but I'm pretty sure they didn't even like each other that much. It's sad but, sometimes, she's just a picture of a woman who looks like me. You can't replace something that was never there." As discreetly as possible, she flicked a stupid tear away before it could roll down her cheek. This crap was way above her maturity level. "Stop worrying about that, okay?" Rachel smiled at her and nodded her head again.

"Okay." Anna quickly went over the other things Rachel had said and her brows knitted together.

"Wait, you said you had feelings for my dad. Then why has his mood been horrible ever since he talked to you?" A slight guilty look crossed Rachel's face which made Anna worry.

Rachel warred with herself over whether or not she should tell Anna what really happened. The fact that Anna would most likely be able to tell if she was lying made her decision. "When Noah came over the other night, he wanted to get things cleared up between us. But before we really got a chance to talk, we started to," Rachel paused, suddenly very aware of who she was talking to, but swallowed her nerves and continued, "we started to kiss. But I knew that if we kept doing that, we wouldn't get much talking done. When I told him we should stop, he responded by storming out. He thought I was rejecting him but I honestly wanted to get everything out in the open before we allowed distractions to get in the way."

It all made so much sense. He really liked Rachel and because of his whole stupid man-pride thing, her rejection had hurt him more than he wanted to admit. Anna fought the urge to roll her eyes. Were all adults this dense or had she won some lottery? "So, if you weren't rejecting my dad, why haven't you tried to fix it? I mean, this happened two days ago. You said you had feelings for him. What are you waiting for?"

"I wanted to go after him as soon as he left the other night but I thought he might want some time to cool off. But for the past couple of days, I've been in casting tests for the musical and they've taken up all of my time. This isn't exactly a matter to be discussed over the phone so I was trying to wait until I had some actual free time before going to him. Of course, I wasn't expecting this little confrontation when I got home from the grocery store either." Rachel gave the girl a light smile and found herself relieve when Anna returned it. She felt much of the tension and worry she'd been carrying around over the whole situation ease out of her body. Anna scooted closer to her on the couch and wrapped her arms around Rachel's shoulders. Rachel immediately returned the hug as she realized that all of her worries and fears had been pretty pointless.

Anna exhaled quietly before she pulled away. "Okay, enough being sappy. You like my dad. My dad likes you. Fix this. It's pretty simple." She laughed softly, meeting Rachel's eyes. "I love my dad more than anything and I want him to be happy. I want him to find someone who will put him first, because that's what he does for the people he truly cares about. That's the kind of man he is." Rachel nodded her understanding and watched as Anna stood up. "I should go before he realizes I'm not doing my homework. This seemed more important though." Anna strode to the door with sure, confident steps. When she opened the door, Rachel opened her mouth to tell her goodbye but Anna turned around and smiled. "Oh and Rachel, love you too." Then she was gone before Rachel could form a reply.

Noah let the knife slice easily through the tender eggplant in time with the triplet beat going through his head. He could hear Anna and Kurt arguing about the movie night movie in the living room as he checked on the meat sauce. Though he had no idea what their choices were, he hoped his kid won. Kurt was shit at picking movies.

After a few minutes of more arguing where Noah figured he'd have to physically break them up, they finally quieted down. He'd finished slicing the eggplant when he heard a knock on the door. The familiar sound of a woman's voice made the muscles in his neck tense up. He knew that voice. It was the same voice that had been stuck in his head, his dreams, for the past week. Carefully, Noah put the knife down and walked into the living room to see the object of both his frustration and desire standing in the doorway talking to his daughter.

"What are you doing here," Noah interrupted them, his voice cold. Rachel looked up at him and for just a second, he thought she looked happy to see him. She stepped into the apartment and he had no choice but to look at the pink wrap dress she had on. The bow on her hip didn't appear to be tied very tight. One good tug and…fuck!

"I had hoped we could talk, alone." Noah turned one side of his mouth up in a sneer and motioned to Kurt.

"Well as you can see, it's movie night and we have company. Plus I'm making dinner. I don't have time to talk." When Rachel bit down on her lip, he almost took it all back. Almost. But then Kurt stood up and grabbed Anna's arm.

"Actually Rachel," Kurt started, purposely ignoring the death stare Noah shot at him, "Anna and I were just about to leave so we could get some popcorn for later since Noah doesn't have the kind I like." Noah crossed his arms and glared at his friend.

"I have popcorn. I know for a fact that it's the brand you like because you left the shit here last time." Kurt's eyes went wide for a split second but then he shook his head and waved a dismissive hand.

"I don't like that brand anymore," he said as fast as possible. "Come on Anna, let's go find some popcorn I can tolerate. There you go Rachel, you two can talk. See you guys!" Kurt was gone so fast, he almost caught Anna's hand in the door in his rush to close it. Noah had no choice but to stand there, mouth agape, staring at both Rachel and the front door. After a minute, he just turned on his heel and stalked back to the kitchen.

Rachel followed him into the kitchen. Seeing the way his shoulder blades stretched the fabric of his grey Henley shirt made her mouth water. Absently, she wondered if he still had the mark from her heel right above the waistline of his jeans. With his back turned, she took a little time to admire the way the denim hugged the subtle curve of his rear. The man had a great ass. Realizing that her brain was straying off topic before the conversation had even begun, Rachel cleared her throat. "It smells wonderful. What are you making?" She figured she should start simple.

"Moussaka," he grunted. Then his shoulders slacked a little, like a bit of tension left them, and he added, "I took Anna to this Greek place for her birthday one year and she got hooked on the stuff. I make it every once in a while." Like a switch, he tensed up again. "Can't imagine what you'd want to talk about. Got your point loud and clear the other night. You're not interested. I get it. No need to come into my home and have a discussion just so you can hammer the point in a little more." The acid in his tone made Rachel bristle.

"Well if I remember correctly, I made no such statements and you left before any discussion of any sort could be had!" At that, he whirled around and fixed her with a gaze so fiery, she felt the temperature in the room go up a few degrees.

"You told me stop," he shot at her, curling his fingers into the countertop as his jaw set in fierce determination.

"Yes, I told you to stop, not to get out," Rachel fired back. "You came to my apartment so we could talk, not to make out with me. I knew that if we continued kissing, we'd never talk about anything and then nothing would've gotten solved. So I told you to stop in order for us to talk. But you stormed out and by the time I realized how you'd taken my actions, I figured you needed some time to cool down." He visibly deflated. It seemed as though whatever argument he'd prepared no longer applied.

"Is that why you're just now coming by? You thought I'd finally cooled off?" Rachel nodded as she moved a little closer.

"That's not the only reason. I got busy with the musical and for the last couple of nights, I've been getting home too late for it to be appropriate to seek you out for any conversation." She paused when she stood right in front of him, got caught in his eyes for a moment, and had to clear her throat again. "But just so we're clear, I did not tell you to stop because I'm not interested. Get that through your head right now." In spite of himself, Noah snorted a laugh at her demand. "When I first considered getting involved with you, I didn't think it was a good idea because of your family." Noah rolled his eyes and interjected,

"That's stupid."

"I agree," Rachel answered, pleased at the look of surprise on his face, "but I was scared that I would be intruding on a relationship that both you and Anna have worked hard for years to achieve. I was scared that Anna would think I'd become just another woman after her father. And I was scared that you were only interested in a sexual relationship with me. While I realize that being opposed to a relationship with you contradicts my fear of you only desiring sex from me, I can't explain it. Sometimes, I'm quite irrational. The truth is, all of those fears are ridiculous. I probably would've realized that a lot sooner if I'd just listened to you but what's done is done. Right now, the only thing I'm afraid of is you telling me to leave."

Making quick work of turning all of the stove eyes off, Noah turned back around with a soft smile on his face. "You know, when I first decided that I wanted to start dating, you were the first woman I thought of. And not just for the convenience of you living right downstairs." Both of them chuckled, glad for the light joke and the way it melted the remaining remnants of tension. "But at the time, I still thought you were dating that douche bag. Then Kurt was setting me up on dates from Hell. Every damn time I saw you, I wanted to ask you out but my brain wouldn't come up with the words. And then the night of the party happened and I figured, 'hey, so what if we skip a few steps'. When I woke up that morning and realized you'd snuck out, I was kind of pissed. I promise, the other night when I came to your place, I only wanted to talk, kinda like we're doing now, but it felt like you were shutting me out. So I kissed you. It was my dumb attempt to remind you that we could be good together. When you told me to stop, obviously I took it the wrong way. Thought you meant 'stop everything'. As you can see, I revert to a pitiful teenager when rejected by the girl I like." Even with the funny way he put it, Rachel felt her heart swell just a little at being referred to as 'the girl he likes'. She shifted on her feet as a nervous giggle escaped her throat.

"So what do we do now?" Rachel looked up at him and the ghost of a smile that came across his face made her shiver.

"Well, we could do this the middle school way." Noah ducked his head and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He raised one foot and nudged it against her leg. "So uh, Rach, you wanna, um, go out with me?" Rachel immediately found herself laughing at his antics but he continued the act. "No for real, I could take you to the movies, you could let me get to second base, we'd have a cool time. Then I'd tell everyone you were my girlfriend so they could leave you the fuck alone." Rachel couldn't stop giggling. He was too cute for his own good. She placed her hand on his chest to help keep her balanced and tried to regain some semblance of self-control.

"And what about the adult way?" By the way she'd phrased her question, the gleam in his eyes shouldn't have been much of a surprise.

"Oh that's a lot more fun. Come here." Rachel gasped when his arm came around her waist and pulled her flush against his body. His mouth descended on her neck and she moaned at the contact when he nipped at her collarbone. Before she knew it, Noah had her hips firm in his hands, lifting her up on the counter. His kiss seemed especially designed to drive her insane with desire. When he stepped between her legs, she could feel a very prominent bulge pressing against her. Rachel swallowed all of the sounds that threatened to burst from her chest. Kissing him just felt so right. His tongue caressed hers with a gentle precision, making her insides clench. They both knew where this would lead. Rachel couldn't deny that she wanted him, wanted to be with him, in every sense of the word. He pushed her legs a little further apart and her breath caught in her lungs.

"Noah," Rachel gasped softly, even as her tongue darted out against his earlobe, "considering how new the relationship is," she paused as she felt him tugging on the belt that held her dress together, "don't you think that it might be a better plan for us to take things slow?"

The deep throaty chuckle he gave in response shot straight to her core. It barely registered when he pulled his shirt over his head because suddenly all of her senses were being assaulted by pure man. His bronzed skin was everywhere and perfect. When his voice sounded in her ear, she half-expected to come on the spot from the intense vibrations that licked through her body. "I think I should fuck you slowly while you attempt to think of a different plan."

Before she knew it, he'd pushed a condom into her palm and her dress was open, dangling off her shoulders. Considering that he'd placed her on the end of the counter a safe distance away from any sharp utensils and food, (coupled with the fact that she didn't think they'd be able to make it to the bedroom if they tried) Rachel bit off the side of the condom wrapper as he quickly unzipped his jeans. The sight of him made her mouth water all over again. Noah hissed through his teeth as she stroked his penis, readying him for the condom. In no time at all, he was rigid as steel. The second she had the condom in place, he captured her mouth again. His fingers easily pushed the barrier of her panties out of the way and she gasped when his thumb brushed against her clit. As he moved closer, Rachel arched her hips in hopes of getting contact as soon as possible. Her body was on fire and it was all his fault.

Noah let out a harsh groan as he slid into her with ease. When she wrapped her legs around him, he pushed in deeper. How did she manage to feel so perfect? Rachel angled her hips again, just right, and Noah almost felt his legs go out from under him. There was that home feeling again, the same one he'd gotten the first time they'd slept together. This time, instead of ignoring it each time he sank into her, he let it wash over him. He trailed his fingers around to her backside and lifted her off the counter. Rachel held on to his shoulders as her knees clamped down on his hips, mimicking what her body was doing to his dick. He walked over to the wall beside the kitchen's entrance and propped her up, bracketing his hips against hers. When their gazes met, she had this sexy smirk on her face that made him just want to pound into her so hard and fast, there'd be dents in the drywall when they got done. But he'd said slow so damn it, slow was what she was going to get.

He began an agonizing pace, slow enough to drive them both insane with need, of pulling out as far as he could with her knees locked on him before sinking back in one inch at a time. When Rachel bit at his lip and then soothed over it with the tip of her tongue, he thought he was going to explode. Using the grasp she had on his shoulders, Rachel pulled him closer. Every inch of their bodies, from where they connected all the way up to their foreheads, was pressed together. It was so easy, yet so intimate. He felt her hands on the sides of his face, maintaining eye contact, and then her lips were on his again.

Rachel felt it building, like a slow burn, in the pit of her stomach. Something changed in Noah's rhythm, something small that you wouldn't expect to make a difference, and she suddenly felt like every nerve was shooting off sparks. No words came out of her open mouth but the sparks kept tingling all throughout her body. It was amazing.

Noah knew that if he really tried, he could coerce another orgasm from Rachel's body. After everything they'd been through over the past couple of days, and with what promised to be a fun and bumpy relationship ahead of them, he figured they should start it on a really good note. Preferably a high note that would sound like his name.

He cupped her cheek in one hand as he thrust hard, turning the tables on her. He had to smile at the way her breath came in time with his thrusts. She was still riding the waves of her first orgasm when the second, more powerful, one crashed over her. When she did say his name, it wasn't a scream, but a whisper spoken through kiss-swollen lips. It still sounded as sweet as he'd been imagining it in his head.

He dropped his head on her shoulder and the feel of her delicate fingers carding through the short hair on his head was almost as good as when he spent himself inside her. Rachel's body continued to pulse around him so he held her until she relaxed in his arms. It was kind of cool how just having her in his arms made everything melt away.

As Rachel stood again on her own two feet, tying her dress back up, she watched Noah right his own clothing. She was positive that she looked thoroughly fucked while he looked like his usual gorgeous self, sinful smirk and all. After he'd zipped his pants back up and made sure that his shirt wasn't on backwards, he walked back over to her. With the most tantalizingly chaste kiss to her lips, he smoothed a hand over her hair and smiled.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Rachel grinned and placed her arms around his neck.

"I would love to stay for dinner." Suddenly, she felt a light swat on her butt cheek right before Noah backed away.

"Good, so get over here and help me finish making it since you distracted me in the first place." She let out a playful scoff but moved to the sink to wash her hands as Noah turned the stove eyes back on in order to reheat the sauces.

A little bit later, the moussaka was in the oven and Rachel was seated in between Noah's legs on the couch. They'd gone ahead and started the movie since they'd practically given up hope that Anna and Kurt were coming back at all. Emma Stone was singing "Pocketful of Sunshine" at the top of her lungs when the front door opened.

Anna walked in, followed by Kurt and Blaine whom they'd picked up in case they needed reinforcements, and all three of them stared for just a second. Anna wanted to squeal just a little bit when she saw the way her dad's arms were wrapped around Rachel's midsection. Right then, she just knew everything was okay.

Nobody mentioned that they didn't bring back any popcorn.

Turning to the two men behind her, her cohorts, Anna triumphantly placed her hands on her hips and declared, "See! I told you everything's better when my plans work out!"

Rachel inclined her head to see that Noah's expression matched hers and they both exclaimed, "Wait, what!"

Next up, the epilogue!