AN: This is it. One more chapter and then it's all over. I'd like to thank all those who've stuck around. All those who reviewed and hit the alert button. You all are awesome. I hope you guys like this chapter.

Chapter 10: A Quick Life (II)

"Trick or Treat!"

"Mario, my brother! You are here!" is Finn's excited welcome to Puck.

It's Halloween, and as a result Rachel has thrown a costume party. Finn, who is currently dressed as Luigi, hugs Puck who is dressed as Mario. The two had ordered their costumes online and were super excited to get to use them.

"Luigi, where are the Princesses?" Puck asks in a somewhat Italian accent.

"Why, they are upstairs finishing getting ready!" Finn answers. "Talking like this is hard. Do we have to do it all night?" he asks legitimately concerned. Puck seems to think it over before answering.

"Nah, man. Only sometimes." With that they fist-bump and head downstairs. Quinn and Rachel had also coordinated their costumes together, and for that reason Quinn had gotten ready at the Berry Home.

Once the boys reach downstairs, Puck goes about saying hi to everyone. He spots Mercedes and Sam first. They are dressed as Princess Leia and Han Solo, from Star Wars. Sam spots Puck's costume and high-fives him. Next, he sees Artie and Tina. They both are sporting Tron-like costumes. Artie's wheels are even decked out in what seem to be some sort of glow stick attachments. All Puck knows is that they look awesome.

He walks over to Santana and Brittany, who are dressed as cowboys. "What are you guys supposed to be?"

"Brokeback Mountain. Duh." is Santana's succinct answer. Brittany smiles up at him with hazy eyes. It seems these two have already hit the drinks. He's too sober to even begin to think why the lesbians dressed up as gays. He shrugs and walks over to Mike and Sophia. It's been a week since the bowling date and these two seem to be going strong. Puck is proud. He's also very impressed with their costume choice. Mike is dressed as Magneto, while Sophia is dressed as Professor X. Puck can't help but laugh. He asks Mike how he got Sophia to dress up as that, to which she answers: "Oh! It was my idea." Mike has hit the jackpot.

Puck spots Kurt, Blaine, Karofsky and Lauren all talking together so he heads over.
The lovebirds are dressed in fancy suits. When questioned on what characters they are, Kurt's answer still slightly confuses Puck: "We're the character from Inception." It takes a minute for Puck to fully grasp which characters, before he says: "What is this a gay subtext costume party?"

"I take it you already saw Magneto and X, then." Blaine says with a laugh.

"Yeah." Puck answers.

"Your Princess is in another Castle, Puckerman." Lauren suddenly adds. She's dressed as a ninja which Puck finds hilarious. Next to her, Karofsky is dressed as a Pirate. Lauren had told him that the two of them had coordinated to be the World's Biggest Debate: Ninjas vs. Pirates. With those amusing thoughts in his head, Puck turns around to look for Quinn.

His heart skips a beat as he finally sees his princess. Literally. Quinn is dressed as Princess Peach and looks the part better than he ever imagined. He'd gotten the idea back when he saw her Bad Romance Lady Gaga-inspired outfit. But now, with the actual princess costume, she looked amazing. He goes over to her and plants a kiss on her lips.

"See something you like?" Quinn asks with a smirk.

"Definitely." he adds. "Looking awesome, Rach." he adds looking over at Rachel who is dressed as Princess Daisy and is rocking the part. Puck takes one more look around the room and sees everyone's amazing matching costumes. As Quinn's hand takes a hold of his, he thinks this might be his favorite Halloween Ever.

A couple hours later, and a few drinks along the way, the party's in full swing. Thankfully, the Berry Men are out of town again, so the kids have full control over the events. Most of them were planning on crashing at Rachel's for the night, so that should be interesting.

One of Rachel's party rules was that everyone had a fifteen minute dj-ing set. This meant everyone brought their own playlists to play for the time they had control of the music. This was meant to be so that a variety of music would be played throughout the night. Puck thought it was an awesome idea as he started his playlist. Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO starts blaring through the speakers.

Puck looks around the room to see how everyone's holding up. Mike and Sophia are currently shuffling on their makeshift dance floor. Once again, Puck is amazed at how awesome this chick is. He's starting to think she might be an alien or something. Next to them, Sam and Mercedes are sort of dancing. Mostly they're laughing and clinging to one another as they try to sing along. He thinks they look cute. And drunk. Definitely drunk.

One look to the couch and he spots Brittany straddling Santana. Brittany is shirtless and Santana's hands are squeezing her jean-clad ass. Their make-out session is starting to hit x-rated territory. He wonders where Rachel is and why she hasn't put a stop to it. He looks over to the small stage and he gets his answer. She's sitting on Finn's lap, her hands around his neck while the two of them softly kiss. Puck's so happy these two finally managed to fix their shit. It was horrible seeing Rachel constantly heartbroken and Finn constantly clueless. It's about damn time these two had some smooth sailing.

Puck looks over to the mini bar to see Dave passed out cold. Lauren is doing shots by herself while she draws on Dave's face with a marker. He can't wait to see Dave's reaction when he wakes up to that in the morning. Another sweep of the room, and he notices Tina and Artie are nowhere to be found. That's slightly scary considering the only way out of there is through the stairs and he hasn't seen anyone help Tina carry him out. And Artie's wheelchair isn't there either, meaning he wasn't just dragged away. A small laugh draws Puck's attention to the stairs. There he spots Kurt and Blaine giving Quinn enough room to pass.

As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she heads over to Puck.

"Alright?" she asks. She's slightly tipsy.

"Yeah, definitely." He answers with a smile.

"Oh, I love this song! Let's dance!" Quinn says pulling Puck to dance with her as Usher's DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again plays. He totally didn't put that song in his playlist because Quinn likes it. Nop.

As they reach the dance floor, the sudden movement seems to have made Puck a bit dizzy. Guess I drank more than I thought.

Quinn stands with her back to Puck as she loops her hands around his neck and begins to grind into him. Puck places his hands on her hips and his lips on her neck. The room just got ten times hotter.

"Get it Puckerman!" is Lauren's holler from where she's sitting.

"Daaaamn" is Mercedes reaction to seeing the two of them moving so sensually against each other. "I didn't know my girl had those kind of moves."

"Trust me, Quinn does." is Sam's reply. His eyes take a bit of a far away look, as if he's remembering exactly which moves Quinn has.

"Man, I think you need to cool down." is Mike's response. He gestures to Sophia's drink and then she catches on. She laughs along and hands Mercedes her drink. Mercedes proceeds to spill the drink over Sam's head, making him focus again.

"Oh, you're going to get it now!" Sam says. He promptly chases Mercedes to the couch Santana and Brittany are still making out on. Mercedes falls into it, followed by Sam, who then shakes his beer-filled hair in her direction.

"Watch it Trouty Mouth!" is Santana's response as he gets beer over her as well. Brittany, completely unaffected by Sam's antics, begins to nibble and suck on Santana's neck. "Britt.." is Santana's moan as she feels Britt's lips and tongue on her neck.

Mercedes and Sam have taken to sloppily making-out next to them, so they barely notice how the girls slowly get closer to having sex on the couch in front of everyone.

As Pitbull's rap blares through the speakers, Quinn turns around in Puck's arms and shoves her tongue into his mouth. A battle of dominance takes over. Puck's hands move to cup Quinn's ass under her dress. He squeezes causing Quinn to moan. Their tongues begin to sensually caress one another as their grinding -front to front- continues. Puck feels his hard on begin to take over. He's getting so turned on, his alcohol clouded mind is actually starting to think that taking Quinn upstairs might be a good idea.

Suddenly, Quinn pulls back with a smirk. Puck removes his hands from under her dress just as Finn steps behind her. "Rachel wants to dance with you, Puck." With that Quinn completely disentangles herself from Puck and grabs onto Finn's hand and leads him to dance with her. She blows him a kiss on the way.

T-Pain's Best Love Song comes on as he reaches Rachel who is sitting on the stage. He extends his hand to help her up. As she stands, she gives him a goofy smile. Puck can't help but smile at her adorableness. He thinks maybe in another life, he and Rachel could have been something. He glances back to see how Quinn's graceful dancing manages to even make Finn look good. In another time, those two might have worked out as well. He's oddly okay with that, because what matters is where they are now; not where they could have been. And right now, they are all happy and that's what really matters.

Many hours later, Puck wakes up. Owl City's Meteor Shower quietly plays through the speakers. Apparently some sort of sleeping playlist is playing. Puck looks around. He's laying on the floor. Quinn is cuddled up to his left side. He can feel her breath tickle his neck. Rachel is also cuddled up to him. She's on his right side as Finn spoons her from behind. His arms are so long they cover Rachel and reach almost all the way to Quinn.

He's got his girlfriend and his two best friends next to him. Definitely, best Halloween Ever.

Sunday afternoon, Puck helps Quinn understand some Calculus exercises she's having trouble with. She can see now why he barely attended math classes the past couple of years. He's incredibly good at it. Puck says the teaches would give him the work and all he had to do was show up on test day. It was a win-win situation for all of them: Puck got to have a free period were he could nap and the teachers didn't have to worry about losing control of the class due to his antics.

"There you go! You got it. Awesome job, Q." is Puck's praise for finally getting the exercises all right.

"Thanks." Quinn answers quietly.

"Everything okay?" Puck asks concerned at Quinn's tone. Sure, she's usually quiet, but he knows her well enough to be able to tell when the quiet is due to something bothering her.

"Do you ever think about your future? Like, what you're going to do after we graduate." There, she's said it. The question that has been burning a hole in her mind ever since last year.

"Mom wants me to talk to Burt Hummel about working at his garage. Says the pay should be good enough I can move out and start supporting myself." Puck answers honestly. It's not a bad idea, it's just an average idea. He's setting himself up to be a Lima Loser and he knows it. "What about you?" he asks, completely curious as to what Quinn's plans are. He knows she's smart enough to get out of here, it's all a matter of her having the confidence to believe in herself enough to do so.

"I used to think I would stay here. Marry Finn and become a successful Real Estate Agent while he worked for Burt." That was always the plan.

"And now?"

"And now.." She thinks it over for a few seconds before continuing " And now, I want more. I don't want to just settle. All my life I've been afraid and just doing what was expected of me. For the first time in my life I want to do what I want. I want to go out there and conquer the world." She says. The medication, the therapy, her friends; they've all helped her finally defeat the fear she constantly lived with. She feels free for the first time in her life. And it feels damn good.

"You sound like Rachel." Puck points out amused. He's so happy to see Quinn finally doing what she wants, not what others demand of her.

"Well, Rachel's been filling my head with ideas that I can be something greater than what I think since last year. For the first time, I'm actually starting to believe her. Can you believe that? Me, Quinn Fabray, trusting and believing Rachel Berry's Words of Wisdom." They both laugh at that. It's something neither of them would have thought was possible a couple years ago.

"Next thing you know, you'll start talking about living in New York." Puck says chuckling. He sees Quinn blush and then something clicks. "You want to go to New York?"

"Rachel said it wasn't exclusive." Quinn replies with a small smile, remembering Rachel's pep-talk all those weeks ago. "Why not? What's stopping us? We have the grades to make it. There are plenty of scholarships we could try to get."

"You said we." Puck points out. He has no doubt in his mind Quinn can make it in New York, and he's willing to try anything. It's just the fact that she said we, like it's not just her plan, but their plan that made his heart start beating faster. Like, she's planned it as their future, rather than herfuture. Like she believes they have a future past graduation.

"Well, yeah. You might act all badass, but I know you get straight A's Puck. There are plenty of scholarships you could apply for. I read that there's even one for being Jewish. I mean, can't you just picture it. A crappy apartment, horrible part-time jobs that we complain about every night, and us studying our butts of. Trying to figure out New York with Rachel and Finn, Kurt and Blaine. It's a whole new adventure. What do you think?" They haven't even said I love youyet, but there is no doubt in Quinn's mind that when she pictures her future, it's Noah Puckerman whose standing by her side.

"I think it's perfect." Puck says as his eyes water. A future with Lucy Quinn Fabray by his side. He couldn't think of anything better.