A/N: Here we go... So this chapter was very difficult to type out, some of you don't really like the friendship between Santana and Rachel; this chapter is most defintely not going to improve that. It's angsty- but sorry I love angst! What's life without it?

Anyways enjoy and PLEASE review!

Not beta'd, any mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, not mine.

Chapter 10: The Truth Hurts...

Rachel sat in Artie's office while he looked at the check, he had a surprised look on his face; he held the check in his hands and cleared his throat.

"Rachel, I will turn this into the investor's lawyer right away; but if I may, I'm just a bit curious as to how you were able to attain the money so suddenly?"

Rachel became uncomfortable and chewed on her bottom lip while Artie anticipated an answer; she was at a loss for words.

I made a deal with the devil?

I cannot possibly say that.

She plastered a smile on her face. "While I am very aware that you are my lawyer and I am entrusting you with this… unfortunate obstacle, I am mindful of my rather personal business; not to say I don't ignore the fact that this is a rather delicate situation, but Artie, no, I am not going to say."

Artie bowed his head. "Fair enough; I'll send this right over to the investor's office right away. He won't be expecting it so soon but this should take care of it."

Rachel exhaled, not realizing she was holding it in, and smiled; deep down she was in utter turmoil, she was starting to rethink her actions until Artie handed her a piece of paper. It was a receipt for her check; she gave it a once and pleased with the fact that her studio was saved.

She stood up and thanked him.

She hesitated a bit when she reached the door, having forgotten that Quinn was currently sitting at the receptionist desk; she hated that she was still being intimidated by her, she couldn't help it. Quinn would always hate her without her really knowing why.

She said goodbye to him and opened the door, she peeked around the frame and was relieved to see the chair empty.

"She's gone."

Rachel turned and faced Artie, who had wheeled closer to her.

"I'm sorry it makes you uncomfortable to be around her, but she really needed the job and it'll be only for a few weeks; Ruth left on vacation yesterday and I really needed someone to full in."

Rachel was… Conflicted? She didn't know; Quinn had said she was researching a role but Artie had said different. Who was telling the truth?

She shook her head. "It's your office, I have no say to who your receptionist is or otherwise… I need to go, goodbye Artie."

"Goodbye Rachel."

She walked out and made her way to the elevators, she was waiting for it to come when her phoned beeped. She opened the message. It was from Noah.

See ya soon.

Puck

She became nervous, she was on her way to see him after the disaster at his apartment and well, she was apprehensive of it.

The elevator doors opened, she clambered in and waited to get to the ground floor; she walked out to the curb and hailed a cab. She got a cab and gave the driver the address of the restaurant to him; she was surprised to how quickly she got there.

She got out of the cab and paid the driver; she had made it a little earlier than they had agreed, so she took her time walking in and finding a table.

She asked for the one closest to the window and sat down; the waitress asked her if she wanted a drink, at first she was going to order something alcoholic but she thought that through, instead opting for a glass of water; while waiting she mentally prepared for the conversation.

She was mulling things over when she saw him.

He was waiting across the street to cross it, she involuntarily licked her lips, he looked striking in his suit; a charcoal grey with his crisp white dress shirt, she could see his well-defined muscles bulging against the fabric, she could literally feel those arms wrap around her petite frame and… she shivered.

Rachel, get those thoughts out of your head. NOW!

She took a sip of the cold water, feeling the condensation of it drip down her hand; she wiped the water off of her hand with the napkin and took another sip; she was startled when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up and saw a smirking Noah looking down at her, she stumbled a bit to greet him.

She swallowed before she spoke.

"H-h-hello Noah."

Puck crooked an eyebrow. "Berry."

She motioned the empty chair. "Please. Sit down."

He shook his head but sat down; Rachel looked at the wall avoiding his eyes, she sipped her drink and was about to open her mouth when the waitress appeared. "Welcome, can I get you something to drink?"

Puck nodded. "Yeah, a beer. Thanks."

The waitress wrote it on her pad. "No problem. If you need anything; my name's Kim and here you go," writing something on her pad again and tearing it off, waving it in Puck's face. "Here's my number if you need anything. Anything." Emphasizing the last part.

Rachel narrowed her eyes, while the waitress stood waiting for him to take the paper; Puck had to give her props, she had balls hitting on him in front of Rachel.

Rachel became annoyed and decided to do something about it. She placed her hand on the table, flashing her ring; it had been a last minute thing, but she had decided to wear it; she was engaged now.

Puck laughed. 'No thanks. Just the beer."

He turned his head from her and took Rachel's hand in his, giving it a squeeze; Kim became red faced and hurriedly walked away.

Rachel felt a proud that she had defended what was hers- wait what? She shook that thought out of her head, this was nothing like that; they had deal and she was defending that, nothing more.

She removed her hand from his and placed it on her lap; the other one went under her chin, then back to the table, Puck made a face; he wasn't expecting her to do that.

Finally she spoke. "Why?"

He looked into her eyes and couldn't help but feel his gut clench; he inhaled. "I don't know. It didn't seem important; she wasn't in New York and wouldn't be for a while. I have no fucking clue what she's doing here. I was gonna tell you but not till she came; a few months from now."

He rubbed the back of his neck and his leg started bouncing up and down; Rachel clicked her tongue.

His beer came (brought by another waiter) and he took a swig of it. He gulped and wiped his hand across his mouth.

Rachel handed him a napkin, their fingers came into contact and he felt a jolt of electricity course through his veins. She snatched her hand back and cleared her throat.

"Anything else, like another child? Are you married or are you engaged to someone else? I would rather you tell me now as to avoid being embarrassed from now until this is over."

She said in a tone that made him wince; like when Quinn told him he was nothing and would always be a Lima loser.

She noticed his reaction and felt a pang of guilt; not my intention she thought.

"I'm sorry if I came off hostile but you must understand Noah; it's not easy finding out you have a child and I be in the dark about it. So please, is there anything else I should know before we proceed?"

Puck sighed. "No, nothin' else; Quinn has full custody of Beth and I see her every other weekend and holidays, I don't like it but I gotta take what I can get."

He said it in such a hopeless way that her heart went out to him, she took his hand in hers again and caressed it; he gripped it harder and her breath hitched.

She sighed and spoke in a soft tone. 'I'm sorry. It must difficult to not see her when you want. Thank you though, I just don't want any more surprises to pop up and make this… agreement fall apart. Your mother would not be thrilled; have you told her yet?"

Puck grimaced. "You crazy women? If she knew, she'd be here planning the wedding; she's already itchin' to marry me off to someone in her temple. She's legit cracked, I'll leave her last; I don't need any more crazy. That's what you're here for."

Rachel smiled. "It's been toned down plenty. I realized that I had to settle myself down; especially since well, you know, I ended up going to OSU instead o-of NYADA."

He gripped her hand tighter and gave her a weak smile. They stayed like that until the waiter came back to take their order; they quickly pulled apart and ordered.

They waited in an awkward silence; Puck decided to change tactics and asked her about her studio.

She took a minute to answer; he semi-panicked in his head, of all the things he could ask, that shit was the worst one.

She flicked something off the table and finally answered. "Well it's better now; I gave Artie the check this morning and he said he'd send it right over," she sighed. "I truly hope no other problem arrises. Thank you. You can't imagine how grateful I am to you."

She said the last part with a shy smile on her face.

He turned his head and was going to answer when something, or rather someone, caught his eye.

He looked a little closer and his eyes sprang open; Santana was walking towards them, talking to someone right beside her. She crossed the street and kept walking; he looked over at Rachel, whose mouth was hanging open, and internally winced.

Shit he thought, this is about to hit the fan.

Rachel was dumb-struck, when she happened to look over at the same spot Noah was looking at the last thing she expected was to see Santana walking with the last person she wanted to see.

Rachel became angry and stood up; she stormed out of the restaurant and walked directly behind Santana and called out her name.

Santana froze and aburptly turned around to a red faced Rachel. She looked over at Shelby who had a sheepish look on her face and her hand became a fist.

Santana held up her hands.

"Wait, let me explain Rachel, I-"

"EXPLAIN?" She screeched it so loud, that the people walking around them stopped to stare. She cringed and toned down her voice. "Why are you talking to her!? Shelby?! Shelby?!"

Shelby spoke. "I-"

"WHY ARE YOU WITH HER?" Rachel was breathing hard and tears were streaming down her face. She could feel all her emotions swirl around her body and she couldn't quite grasp what she really wanted to feel.

Anger? Sadness? Jealousy?

Santana looked at Shelby, then at Rachel, and sighed.

"You really wanna know?"

Rachel managed to laugh. "If you could be so kind."

Santana knew she was in some deep shit, this was gonna sting like a bitch. She looked over at Puck standing a few feet behind from Rachel, who also had a confused look on his face.

This is it.

"I've been meeting Shelby to talk to her about you," She stated. "I found out she moved here after leaving Lima and I ran into her one day. She asked me about you and we talked."

"Behind my back? All this time? How? Why? When?"

Santana winced a little at Rachel's somber tone. "If I woulda told you, you woulda gone shit crazy. I'm sorry. But you never talk about her, never mentioned that you met with her after you moved here; she wants a relationship with you. I was trying to help."

Shelby had been staring at Rachel and after watching practically break down she spoke up.

"I'm so sorry Rachel. It's my-"

"NO!" Rachel shouted at Shelby interrupting her; she blew out a shaky breath and lowered her voice, she was vibrating with rage.

"You are not allowed to apologize. You always, always apologize but it doesn't cancel out the fact that you ruin my life. You strip away the little confidence I posses and stomp on any hope I have for us. I am not gonna stand here and take it from you any longer. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Rachel was crying and Puck placed his hand on her back; she turned around and cried in his shoulder, Puck wrapped her into a hug and consoled her.

Shelby tried to reach out to Rachel, seeing her like that broke her heart.

She let out a few tears and bit her lip.

"I should go now. I'm sorry. I won't bother you anymore. Good-bye."

With those final words, she left. Santana stood motionless and watched her walk away; Rachel cried harder, how was it that someone who supposedly wanted a mother-daughter realtionsip, never fought for her place?

She cried for herself and for the sad fact that Shelby would never be her mom, but just someone that had been paid to give birth to her.

She didn't turn around to watch Shelby walk away; it had been too painful to watch the first and second time, why relive that all over again?

She stood for a while on the sidewalk, with Puck, and cried until she heard Santana whisper her name; Rachel sniffed and wiped her cheek before turning around and facing her.

Santana had tears in her eyes; she didn't really consider the consequences when she started this.

She never meant to hurt Rachel; she just wanted her best friend to have a relationship with her birth mom.

She inhaled sharply when she felt the slap to her face.

Rachel let out a small and gasp drew her hand back quickly; she didn't condone violence but she had done it without thinking.

Puck flinched at the slap; he had seen Rachel mad before, but never like this.

She felt Puck hold her by the waist in hopes that she didn't start a full-on brawl in the middle of the street.

Rachel stood still in Puck's arms, comforted that had decided to stay and take her side.

Santana cupped her cheek while Rachel gathered herself, she opened and closed her hand, the sting of the slap lingering and shook it; she didn't apologize to Santana.

She looked around before she decided to speak.

"What you did was one of the lowest things anyone has ever done to me. You lied, hid things from me. You talked to Shelby without letting me know. I'm so confused by all this. Aren't we friends? I trusted you Santana, with every fiber in my being. You were my sister; you know what I've been through, with my Fathers and now Shelby? What possesed you to speak to her? To form a friendship with someone that wanted to have nothing to do with me years ago? You knew she looked for me when I was 16, but she didn't want me; she wanted a little girl that was defenseless, that would need her. I wasn't that, I was already too old for her. And just so you know, I did meet her once when I moved to New York, but did she tell you that even then she rejected me? She was disappointed I majored in Business and had let Broadway slip away from me. She was anticipating introducing me to directors, producers, anyone in the business that could help be a major star. I never told you that because I knew that you would probably look for her and tell her off."

Puck heard the hurt in Rachel's voice but said nothing. He gripped Rachel's waist tighter as if saying I'm here, I'm not going anywhere.

Rachel paused. Santana was about to say something when Rachel started talking again.

"I truly hope that that friendship you had with her was worth it because ours is done. This time you really fucked up. Don't bother apologizing."

With that, Rachel walked away. Puck had been standing behind her but followed her, leaving Santana alone in the middle of the sidewalk.

A/N: Very minor Puckleberry but next chapter! I promise. Anywhoo, Please review!