A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? Okay so you are not impressed, I understand, but real life got in the way, sorry! On the bright side I have the rest of the chapters all planned out and more free time coming up over the next 2 weeks so I hope to finish (or get close to finishing at least) in that time period. I have since I last updated this added Part 2 to A Familiar Face in the Dark and published Beached Desire and Unlocked. Unlocked is part of a round robin I'm doing with sassy26, jlz, and 2looney based on prompts from Texts From Last Night (link to the LJ community is in my profile)

Disclaimer: Is Glee on 24/7? Is Mark Salling banned from wearing shirts on screen ever again? No? Then I guess I don't own Glee.

When Puck gets back from the garage with a large piece of plywood to use as a make-shift ramp for Artie to get inside Rachel and Quinn are sitting on the porch swing laughing and crying and hugging. "Women" he comments to Artie who just nods, looking just as perplexed as he feels.

When the guys make it into the house Artie heads for the table in the kitchen while Puck goes to the fridge grabbing 2 beers before joining him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Puck absentmindedly picking at the label on the beer bottle.

"Where are the boys?"

"They're with my parents, but dude we're not here to discuss my life" Puck sighed, lifting the bottle to his lips and taking a long drag of beer before looking at Artie again.

"I know"

Puck downed half his beer before placing it back down on the table and starts talking, he spills the whole story to Artie. He starts with what happened after Rachel left (He spent the first two weeks in the bar closest to the apartment until his Supervisor dragged him out of there one night, he went from drinking his problems away to spend every spare hour he had in the gym, sweating his problems away) and goes on to tell him all about what brought him to Lima. He also tells Artie about the other night in Rachel's room when he saw her wearing her wedding ring and how much he wants to put their marriage back together.

"But I don't know man, she's not ready. I don't know if she'll ever be ready"

Out on the porch Rachel and Quinn stopped crying long enough to discuss everything that was going on in Rachel's life. So just like inside in the kitchen the whole story came spilling out. Rachel's panic attacks, her fears and her insecurities about her relationship with Noah.

"What can I do Quinn, I don't want to lose him but I'm just not ready yet"

Later that night at Artie's parents house Quinn and Artie were lying in bed when Quinn suddenly turned to face her husband.

"I know interfering in our friend's lives is not a great idea, but they need our help"

Artie chuckled at his wife "Normally I don't approve of your meddling, but this time I think you're right, they won't talk to each other"

Puck and Quinn were sitting in the kitchen at Artie's parents' house the next day watching through the window as Artie wheels Daniel around on his lap and Rachel is playing with Christopher on the jungle gym.

It's become a bit of a recurring habit this weekend so far, sitting at a kitchen table discussing his non-relationship with Rachel. But as he watched Rachel with Christopher his heart clenched; she had a huge grin on her face and was running around happier than he'd seen her since he arrived in Lima. He'd always known Rachel would make a great mom when the time came, she'd raise their son or daughter to be strong and sure and to always dream big. That future seemed so out of his grasp these days and that must have shown on his face.

"She thinks you'll leave once this mess is over, she believes that you don't want her anymore"

"What! How could she ever think that?"

Quinn looked at him with an amused expression on her face before answering, "Because you're the idiot who went running from her room when you saw she was wearing her wedding ring on the chain around her neck"

Puck groaned, rubbing his hand over the back as Quinn just started laughing, "You two are such a mess, talk to her Puck"

"I will, but I left because I wanted her too much, and she's not ready for that Q"

Quinn nodded her head in agreement "I know Puck, Artie told me but you really have to talk to her; you're right she's not ready, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want you too"

As Puck watched Rachel pushing Christopher on the swing he thought back to when Rachel had had a pregnancy scare back in college. They'd only officially been a couple for a little over 4 months when he showed up at her apartment after class to have her open the door, turn around and walk over to the couch where she had sat down staring straight ahead. After sitting down beside her he noticed the white stick sitting on the table in front of her the word "PREGNANT" glaring up at him. Puck stopped breathing; his first reaction was panic. He'd been through this once before and despite the fact that he and Rachel were together and happy he still had insecurities a mile wide from back in high school.

His second reaction, the one he had barely even acknowledged to himself, had been calm. While the thought of having a kid scared him senseless, the thought of having a kid with Rachel hadn't really scared him at all. He hadn't thought too much into it at the time but looking back now he could point to that moment as the one where he realized she was it for him.

He'd consoled Rachel while she had freaked out about her future, about their lack of parenting skills and severe lack of money and once she'd calmed down enough he had picked up the phone and made a doctor's appointment for later that week. At which point Rachel had proceeded to attack him with her lips, thanking him for proving he cared and was taking responsibility.

It was at the doctor's appointment that week that things changed; they'd taken another pregnancy test and had an ultrasound done and were waiting in the doctor's office when they came back with the news that Rachel wasn't pregnant, it had been a false positive. Rachel had been relieved to not have to change her dreams of making it big; Puck had ignored the burning in his chest at hearing the news.

"She would've been a great mom"

He hadn't realized he'd said that out loud until Quinn placed her hand over his on the table, giving it a gentle squeeze and said "She will be a great mom, and you will be a fantastic dad"

Sitting in the Abrams kitchen that afternoon Puck allowed himself to think about a future with Rachel, a family, for the first time since she had left New York running.

That evening after dinner at the Abram's Puck and Rachel headed back to her house. Walking up the front steps to the house Rachel saw the dark black marks covering on her front door in the fading sunlight.

"Please stop interfering! We're meant to be together."

Quickly pushing the panic aside, Rachel focused instead on the rising anger over seeing her newly painted front door ruined. Jerking her keys from her purse she stomped over to the door, shoved the key into the lock and slammed into the house shoving the door closed behind her out of habit she heard the muttered "Shit!" break through the haze of anger.

She turned around quickly to see Noah rub the tip of his nose before smirking at her, "Easy there killer"

"I'm sorry Noah! I'm just livid at the thought of that creep coming onto my property whenever we're not around, and now he has the guts to mar my beautiful new front door"

He chuckled, rubbing his nose again and Rachel started to worry she'd really hurt him "Are you sure your nose is okay?" she asked stepping closer to get a good look at it.

When they were face to face he nodded before his gaze dropped to his neck. Despite her misgivings she had not been able to take off the chain with her wedding ring on it; it had kept her calm these past few days, like an anchor to reality, to a future where things were better and safe. Now she wasn't so sure that was a smart idea.

Noah reached his hand up and gently pulled on the chain until it was out from underneath her shirt; grabbing the ring he twisted it around his finger with a pained expression on his face. Rachel tried and failed to suppress the shiver that wracked her body or keep her breathing even. She missed him so much, she missed them so much but she had to wonder if they could ever get back to that place again, she wondered if he even wanted too.

Before she could comprehend what was happening his lips were on hers, warm and gentle. She fell into the kiss, letting her body feel for the first time in too long before pulling away and leaning her forehead against his.

"Sorry"

Rachel pulled back slightly and grabbed a hold of his arms, relishing in the muscular definition under her palms she felt her pulse quicken again.

"You don't have to be sorry Noah. Let's go sit in the kitchen"

Puck followed Rachel to the kitchen table silently berating himself for kissing her. It had been amazing, and it had cemented for him that he would do anything he could to get them back on track, but he didn't want to push Rachel too far, not yet at least.

After sitting down at the table Rachel reached over and grabbed his hands in hers, it was the first time she had initiated any physical contact between them and he couldn't help but feel a tiny beam of hope at that.

"Rach, I need you to know that I want you, I've always wanted you and I will always want you. You're my wife and even though we haven't been acting like husband and wife lately I still want us to work"

Puck took in a deep breath after his mini speech, it was all new to him to be talking about his feelings in such depth, Rachel had always been good at interpreting his "Puck speak" but since she had left he'd grown up and he knew with how fragile she was he needed to be straight forward.

Rachel fought back tears as she listened to Noah pour out his feelings for her, she just wanted him to sweep her up in his arms so they can go back to being normal. But she knew better, she couldn't rush this. Depending on him was an entirely new concept to her.

"I feel the same way Noah, I really do. But I can't rush into this again; I need to find myself again before I can give us a shot. That doesn't mean I don't need you or that I don't want you around, but it does mean that we can't just fall back into being husband and wife easily"

Noah nodded, seeming to understand where she was coming from. She hoped it wouldn't be too hard for him to be around her without being with her, she hoped the same thing for herself if she were being honest.

"About the door, I'll call Reid in the morning. I think we need to step things up"

Rachel gave his hand a tight squeeze before standing up. "Goodnight Noah" she said as she turned and walked towards her bedroom.