Disclaimer: I own nothing. I would really like to borrow Mark Salling for a while though.

AN: Sorry I was slow on the update. I've been nursing a cold and a sick kid. Also, I will probably be slow on Chapter 11, because I have tests and finals all this week and next week. Cross your fingers for me.

We can't have Santana reappearing without a little controversy now can we? So without further adieu here is …..

Chapter 10

Rachel walked down the hall towards Glee. As she walked she had a sense of déjà vu. Something wasn't right. She could feel it in her stomach. As she walked to the door of the choir room she could see that the light was off. She tried to shake the awful feeling she had and reached for the light switch before stepping fully into the room. As she reached for the light she could hear the unmistakable sounds of two people making out. She looked towards the sound and her eyes narrowed, trying to focus on the dark figures at the back of the room. Flipping the switch she never blinked as the dark silhouettes of Noah and Santana came into view. She gasped and Noah jumped back immediately, the look of guilt already spread across his face and Santana smirked at her.

"Rachel." He said quickly standing.

She couldn't make herself move. She was frozen to the spot staring at him in shock, mouth agape.

"Rachel." She heard again, this time the shape his mouth took did not match the sound of her name coming out of it.

"Rachel!"

Rachel jerked awake and blinked her eyes rapidly, tears burning the back of her eyes. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and threw her arms around Noah.

"It's ok. It was just a bad dream." He whispered.

Rachel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She could feel the baby moving in her belly and Noah rubbing her back to calm her. It was just a bad dream.

"You wanna talk about it?" Noah whispered still trying to comfort her.

Rachel just pulled him closer and shook her head against his chest.

It had all seemed so real. It was like she was reliving that awful moment so long ago all over again. Rachel laid her head on Noah's shoulder breathing in his scent and staring at the wall. She didn't want to talk about it. She knew that it would only reveal her insecurities and she was nothing if not the epitome of the most secure person to other people. She knew Noah loved her, but the illogical side wondered if, since Santana was back, he would chose to be with her again.

Noah held Rachel until she had drifted back to sleep. He sighed and kissed her temple, then snuggled behind her wrapping her in his arms. He knew what she had been dreaming, or had a good idea at least. Rachel was a talker in the day time and it seemed to follow her in her sleep as well. Noah had heard her mumble something about him and Santana, but he couldn't make it out. He figured she had probably been dreaming of what had now become known as "the incident".

The next morning Rachel was a little slow at getting up and moving around. She was tired and the bulk of her belly made it difficult to move around sometimes. Only a few more weeks to go and she would get to meet her son face to face. As thrilled as she was about the impending birth of her child, she was scared to death. Her nervousness was starting to affect everything, her voice, her studies, now her dreams.

Rachel yawned and pulled on one of Noah's many hoodies and walked slowly down the stairs. Like DMX said on that cd Noah had made her listen to once, "Same ol' shit Dog, just a different day."

Rachel and Noah made it through the first part of the week as usual. No drama, no surprises, just class as usual with a smattering of doctor's appointments and hanging out with friends thrown in for good measure. Rachel had seen Santana walking through the halls, but neither had acknowledged the other with more than a nod of the head.

Then Thursday came…

Noah was the first in the choir room that day after school. He started pulling out the chairs to set up in front of the small makeshift stage. He heard someone walk through the door and looked up expecting to find Rachel there, but instead found Santana in her Cheerios uniform. He nodded his head at her then turned back to finish the chairs.

He felt her hand on his shoulder before he heard her words, "Can we talk for a minute.?"

"Um, sure. I guess." He said standing at full attention. He didn't really want to stand here and listen to her. He had only been nice last weekend and let her stay at the party, because he was afraid that if he made a scene that it would ruin Rachel's day and she deserved to have her day.

Santana drew in a quick breath. She had forgotten how tall Noah was, and just how frighteningly big he seemed when he was standing tall like a sentinel. His arms were crossed and pulled his t shirt across his biceps. She shook her head clearing her mind; this is not why she wanted to talk to him.

"Look. I'm really sorry about everything." She said staring at the floor. "I moved away for a while to live with my dad. After we got caught….well, after Rachel found us…."

"Spit it out San." Noah said clearly frustrated.

"Well, everyone quit talking to me and I felt like an outcast." She said on a sigh, "I left because I didn't want to be the person that I felt like I had become. I went to my dad's to clear my head. After a while, I realized that it's not so much that I wanted you back, as I was jealous of the happiness that you found."

She started fidgeting a little, "You know, no girl wants to feel like she is forgotten, and maybe I was hoping that you would pine a little over me. Instead you moved on and found something really great. I'm sorry I was a part of messing that up for you."

Noah just nodded his head acknowledging her apology and let her continue.

"Quinn is the only person who even tried to stay in contact with me. She tried not to talk about all of you guys at first, but the closer you all became the more she would slip up. The more she talked about how much your friendships meant the more I realized that I wanted to be a part of that. I realized how much I missed everyone, Rachel included. I just hope you can forgive me."

Noah sighed and looked at the sad girl and reached over and gave her a quick hug. He looked up just in time to see Rachel round the corner and stop, betrayal written across her face.

Rachel turned quickly and stalked off down the hall. Noah growled, "Damn it!" and punched the wall on the way out, which on second thought wasn't such a great idea now that his knuckles were throbbing.

Kurt came to an abrupt stop as Noah had come barreling out of the doorway. Finn and Quinn walked up only seconds later to see Noah jogging down the corridor calling out Rachel's name. They all three looked into the class room and saw Santana sitting in a chair with her head in her hands.

"What did you do?" Kurt questioned harshly, just as Finn mumbled, "Not again."

Noah chased Rachel down the hall towards the auditorium. It wasn't that difficult to catch up to her as the extra baby weight slowed her diva like escape down significantly.

"Rachel, its not what it looked like." Noah said as she flung open the door to the auditorium.

"Go away Noah." Rachel mumbled as she walked up on stage.

She wasn't sure what she was doing up there on stage. She didn't want to sing, she wanted to scream. She wanted to yell at Noah about all her insecurities that had been culminating over the past few months. She wanted to cry out about how she was scared to have this baby. How she was afraid that she was losing her dreams of becoming a star. She wanted to tell him that she was so scared that the only reason he was with her now is because Santana had left the city. How she was terrified that he wouldn't want her anymore now that Santana was back. How she loved being pregnant, and the feel of her child growing and moving in her, but she was afraid everyday that Noah was going to turn her away because she was too fat and ugly.

So she did.

She stood center stage and poured her heart out. She yelled, she cried, she whispered, she shouted. She let out everything and by God it felt good. Everything that she had held in trying to keep up her perfect façade spilled from her lips in an unstoppable stream of consciousness that she wasn't sure was even understandable.

Noah stood and listened to it all, shocked that she could hold so much in for so long. He never thought that Rachel was one to hold things in, she talked so damn much, but he had never been one to talk about feelings or ask if there was anything more on her mind. Once she was on a roll he would let her go, but when she stopped he didn't want to probe, his ears were already burning from the first go round.

When she finally slowed she banged her tiny fists against his chest and Noah grabbed her hands, holding them to his chest. She leaned her forehead against his chest and rolled her face to the side. Noah let her hands go and wrapped his arms around her small body. She hiccupped on a sob and slid her arms around his waist. She needed the comfort, the feel of warmth against her body.

"I'm not going anywhere Rachel." He whispered into her hair. "You know that right?"

Rachel nodded her head against him afraid that he would disappear if she let him go.

"What happened between me and Santana a long time ago was a mistake Rach. I knew it as soon as it happened. It won't happen again. I'll never do anything like that to hurt you again. Ever. I promise." He said softly.

"You don't have to stay with me just because of the baby Noah." Rachel said trying to hold back the sobs, biting her bottom lip, the muscle in her chin twitching rapidly.

Noah grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him. Rachel wrapped her arms around herself and looked at the floor.

"Look at me Rachel." He said, "I want you to look me in the eyes when I say this."

Rachel slowly looked up and when their eyes connected they could see each others pain.

"Baby or no baby, I am with you because I wanna be." He said while staring in her eyes.

"Besides, I'm a stud. I can have any Cherrie-ho I want. Have you seen these guns? He asked striking a pose.

Rachel looked at him shocked at his last comment, and then realized by his smirk that he was joking. She let out a whisper of a laugh and Noah put his arm around her shoulders, "Are you questioning my badassness?"

Rachel laughed. "Any ol' cheerio, huh?"

"Any of them." Noah said matter of factly, "They are all the same though. You've had one, you've had them all." He smiled at her and said, "You though…There is only one of you."

AN: I am still trying to decide on a badass / possibly Hebrew name for the baby.. Any ideas? Please throw them out there. I will reveal the name of the baby in the last chapter of the story.

Also, don't forget to review. Please review, this is very important to me. I want to know how you guys feel, what you like and don't like. I can only become a better writer if I learn how to please my audience.