A/N: So...this is almost the last chapter...I really hope that you've enjoyed the story so far. Thank you so much for the reviews from the last chapter. They made me smile beyond belief! Love you all! In this chapter we get to see more Pezberry bonding and more kickass Rachel. Would love to hear what you think...

The next few days passed without incident. Puck was constantly by Rachel's side and even Quinn had laid off. Apparently once Rachel (and Santana) had laid into her, she just didn't have it in herself to lash out at Rachel. Puck had spent every night at her house, just holding her. If anyone had told him a few weeks ago that he'd be sleeping in a girl's bed and doing nothing but holding her, he would've laughed at them. But that was exactly what he was doing and the funny part was that he didn't even mind. In fact he kind of liked it.

But it was Friday now and Mike was having a party at his place. The entire glee club had been invited along with the usual suspects (jocks, Cheerios, you name it) and Puck wanted to go, but he knew there was no way he would go without Rachel. He didn't know when it had happened, but the two of them had become one. They didn't get invited to do anything without the other being invited. They didn't go anywhere without the other. It was a weird feeling for him.

He didn't know how she'd react to the idea, but knew that the only thing he could do was ask. So when he met her after her last class before lunch he stopped her before they headed for the cafeteria.

"Babe, I wanted to talk to you."

Rachel looked up at him, a question in her eyes. And fear? What the fuck was she afraid of?

"So Mike's having a party tonight and I want to go."

Rachel shrugged, glancing away. "Well then go. I'll be fine by myself for one night."

He laughed. "Not what I meant, Berry. I want you and I to go to Mike's party tonight."

Her eyes shot to his and this time he did read the fear in them. "Noah, I can't go to a party." She shook her head.

"Why the hell not?"

"Do you not remember what happened to me the last time I was at a party?"

The guilt was instant. Why hadn't he thought of that? Why would she want to go to a party when the last time Jesse (fucking douche) had raped her? But shit, if she didn't start living her life then how would she ever move past it?

"I know, babe, but you know how the saying goes. 'If you fall off a horse, try, try again.'" He took her hand into his, squeezing it slightly to reassure her that he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Rachel laughed, a full body laugh that had her shaking. "That's not quite how it goes, Noah. It's 'if you fall off a horse, you have to get back on.'"

Puck shrugged. "What the fuck ever, you get the point, Berry. You need to fucking go."

"And you still need to watch your language, Noah." Rachel shook her head, but he caught the smile that she was trying to fight. "But if this party is important to you then I guess I'll go."

"Fuck yes!"

Rachel rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact that he'd spoken. "No matter how badly you mess up the saying, the meaning is still there. I do need to get on with my life."

"That's my girl." Puck dropped a kiss on her forehead before leading her towards the cafeteria. He was sure of one thing: he was going to make sure she had a good time tonight so that she didn't dread parties every time he wanted her to go.

"Berry, you cannot wear that."

Rachel looked down at her outfit. "Why not? What's wrong with it?"

Puck snorted, but kept his comments to himself as Santana rolled her eyes at the smaller girl. "Because it's a party, not a fucking funeral."

Rachel had put on a pair of black slacks and a white shirt that buttoned practically to her chin. She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped at Santana's glare.

"Lemme see what I can find." Santana stepped into Rachel's closet. "I know you've got to have something in here. At least we know you've got the skirts."

Thirty minutes later Puck was sitting downstairs in the living room, pretending to listen to her dads because Santana had kicked him out of Rachel's room. Apparently he wasn't allowed to see until Rachel was a "finished product" (Santana's words, not his, and he'd seen Rachel bristle at the words). If they didn't hurry the fuck up they were going to be super fucking late. And he wasn't talking about fashionably late, just plain old fucking late.

He didn't know what drew his attention to the doorway, she hadn't made a noise, but suddenly he was looking and he couldn't stop. Rachel looked fucking hot. He didn't know what Santana had done to her, but damn. She wore one of her little black skirts that left nothing to the imagination, a silver, sparkly tank top (who the fuck knew Rachel would own anything like that?) and instead of knee socks and loafers she had on a pair of strappy heels that had to be Santana's. Her hair was pulled up on her head messily and her eyes were smoky. Rachel was gorgeous no matter what she was wearing, but hot damn.

"Rach, you look gorgeous." Puck stood up from the couch, completely oblivious to the fact that her dad had been in the middle of a sentence.

Rachel pulled at the tank top and the skirt, not meeting his eyes. "I don't know. Don't you think that it's too much?" She laughed. "Or I guess I mean too little?"

"C'mon, Berry. Man up. You look hot." Santana stood behind the other girl, hands on hips as she shook her head.

"She's right, babe. You look hot." He paused. "But if you're not comfortable then maybe you should change." What the fuck? When the hell had he turned into a fucking pussy?

Rachel looked up at him slowly, a smile forming on her lips. "You really like it?"

"Hell yes," he hissed quietly, hoping that the words wouldn't travel to her dads.

Rachel shrugged. "I guess I'm fine then. Let's get going. Bye, Dad! Bye, Daddy!" she called over her shoulder as she led the other two teens out of her house.

When they got to Mike's house, the party was in full swing. Music was blaring and from the stumbling people it was obvious that the booze had been flowing. As Puck led Rachel into the house he felt her step closer, her hand gripping his tightly. When he glanced down at her he saw that her face was drawn tight. She was so tense and he could tell that she was anxious.

Why the fuck had he brought her here again? What the fuck had he been thinking? He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her more securely against him. "You okay, babe? We can jet if you want."

Rachel looked up at him for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I need to be here. You were right. I can't just assume that bad things are going to happen because of that one night."

Puck leaned down, kissing her lightly before leading her further into the party. They wandered around, mingling and getting drinks (beer for him and a soda for her). Before long they had settled onto one of the couches, Puck with his arm around Rachel.

They were talking with Brittany and Santana when he felt her tense under his arm. He turned to look at her and she looked terrified. He followed her line of sight and almost jumped out of his seat. Jesse St. James was across the room, making out with a blonde who looked vaguely familiar. He thought she might be a Cheerio, but couldn't place her name.

The only thing that stopped him from jumping up and beating the shit out of the douche was Rachel's hand on his arm. She'd felt him tense and was now looking up at him, her eyes gleaming with tears. "No, Noah. This is something that I have to take care of on my own."

He watched as she stood, straightening her shoulders and pulling herself up to her full (still super short) height before stalking across the room. Both he and Santana trailed behind her, not wanting to miss what was about to happen.

Rachel reached over and tapped Jesse on his shoulder. He broke away from the blonde, a snarl on his lips. "What the hell do you want?"

Rachel just ignored his question, instead turning to the girl. "I just thought that I'd take the opportunity to let you that this boy here, Jesse St. James, is a rapist. He doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'no.' So if you were thinking about not sleeping with him then I might recommend that you leave him now because you'll regret it later."

The girl looked from Rachel to Jesse, her eyes wide before shoving Jesse off of her and heading away from them. "This is so not worth it."

After watching the girl walk away, Jesse turned to her, his eyes wild. "What the hell is your problem, Rachel?"

"My problem?" Rachel laughed, a bitter sound so unlike her usual laugh. "I told you no, Jesse, and you didn't stop. You didn't listen and you should have. A woman has a right to change her mind, to say no and have a man listen to her. A woman shouldn't have to worry that a man who had supposedly loved her once upon a time wouldn't stop when she said no." She paused, tears falling down her cheeks. "You stole my virginity from me, you ripped the choice from me. You're a monster, Jesse St. James, and that night will haunt my dreams forever."

Jesse scoffed. "You're a liar. You're a whore who asked for it and then changed her mind."

Rachel looked like she was going to go for him, but Santana beat her to it. Santana stepped around Rachel, her fist flying into Jesse's face before shoving him down onto the floor. "Rachel is not a whore and she would never lie about anything like that. Fucking douche." She kicked him once before looking back at Rachel. "Sorry. I know you said you could handle it, but I lost my temper."

Rachel sent her a sad smile before looking down at the fallen boy. "You can try to spin it however you want, but you raped me, Jesse. And I won't let you do it to anyone else."

"You can't prove that it happened. It'll be your word against mine."

"And that's where you're wrong," Puck said as he stepped forward. "I took her to the hospital and there was a kit done. All she has to do is tell the police it was you and the evidence is right there. Try to weasel your way out of that one, douchebag."

He stepped up next to Rachel, wrapping his arm around her when he noticed her shaking. He nodded his head to Mike who, with Finn's help, lifted the boy from the floor. "You're not welcome around here anymore. Come back again and it won't be a girl kicking your ass next time." He began pulling Rachel from the room, trying to shield her from the staring eyes. "C'mon, babe. Let's go outside."

He'd just settled them both onto Mike's back porch when Santana wandered out. "How are you, Rachel?"

Rachel looked up from where she sat snuggled against his body and sighed. "I'm okay." She paused. "Better than okay I think. It felt so much better to get that off my chest." She swiped at the tears that still fell down her face. "What if he'd done the same thing to that girl?"

Santana shook her head. "He won't be able to do it to anyone around here for a long time because of you."

Rachel nodded. "I need to report it, don't I?"

Puck stayed silent. He'd tried to talk to her about this once before and it had not gone over well, so he figured he could let Santana handle this one.

"I think you should. He needs to be punished for what he did. Don't you think?"

He felt Rachel nod against him and couldn't help the sigh of relief that slipped from his lips. When she looked up at him questioningly, he just shrugged. "I'm just glad that you finally decided to go to the police. You haven't listened to me before this when I tried to tell you, but I didn't want to push you."

Rachel nodded. "Will you take me to the police station, Noah?"

He just nodded before helping her stand. Hell yes he'd bring her to the station. Anything to help get the douche what he deserved for hurting Rachel.

They spent hours at the police station while Rachel told her story over and over again. Puck wanted to rip into all of the motherfucking pigs who kept asking her question after question that tore her apart. He didn't know how she could keep it together as well as she had. She had cried, tears rolling down her cheeks and they'd had to stop, but she just kept going.

He on the other hand got kicked out of the fucking room because he couldn't keep his temper under control. But really, what the hell did they want? How was he supposed to listen to her explain time and time again how that fucking douche had forced himself on her? Fuck that shit. So he'd gotten angry and thrown a chair. Was that really a reason to kick him out of the room? Well, yeah, he guessed it was. But it drove him fucking crazy as he paced the length of the room that they'd put him in. Made him wait there until she was done.

When she'd appeared in the doorway all he could do was sweep her into his arms and hold her close as she cried, clinging to him. After calming her down a little he'd walked her to his truck and headed to her house. His intention had been to just walk her to the door and head home, but when she'd looked up at him with those big eyes and begged him to stay, what the fuck was he supposed to do? Tell her no? Yeah like that shit was going to happen.

He followed behind her as she led the way to her room while he texted his mom to let him know that he'd (once again) be staying at the Berrys'. The funniest thing about that was that his mom (even knowing that he'd gotten Quinn knocked up just two years ago) didn't care that he stayed alone with Rachel. Actually she loved the idea. He bet she was planning their fucking wedding cause that's the kind of crazy she was. But apparently he had a thing for crazy women, so it was all good.

While she was in the bathroom changing, he pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it onto the floor before sliding his jeans down his legs. He'd just laid down on the bed when she walked in. He had to close his eyes and open them again to be sure that he wasn't imagining things. Nope, he sure wasn't.

Rachel stood in the doorway wearing a flimsy, silky nightgown that barely covered her ass. She looked at him shyly and he didn't know what the fuck was doing on. He remembered sitting up and suddenly she was there, straddling him. Her lack of clothing must have been causing his brain to shut down because he had totally missed how she had gotten there.

Her hands were all over him, her lips on his. And it was almost too much, too desperate. What the fuck was going on? What was up with her suddenly throwing herself at him? And holy shit, was that her hand on his dick? Fuck him.

He gently pushed her back, stilling her hands. "Rachel, what's going on?"

"I just want to forget." Her lips ran a trail up and down his neck causing him to lose focus. "Make me forget."

"No." He knew that he was as shocked as she was when the word spilled from his mouth.

"What?"

Puck gently pushed her off of his lap. "We're not going to do it this way, Rachel."

Puck would've laughed at Rachel's face had it not been for the seriousness of the situation. Her face was almost comical. "Are you turning me down for sex?"

He once again felt like he was going to laugh. She was right. Since when did he turn down sex? Well since now, he guessed. "I'm not turning you down for sex, babe. I'm turning you down for sex right now." He paused. "When we have sex it will be because we want to have sex. Not because you just want to forget what that douche did to you. Do you understand?"

Rachel started to struggle to pull out of his grip, but he wouldn't let her go. "Let me go, Noah!" Tears spilled down her cheeks as she refused to look at him.

This time he did laugh. "You weren't listening to a word I said, were you?" He cupped her face in his hands. "I love you and I don't want our first time to be tainted by him and what he did to you."

She looked up at him suddenly, her eyes wide. "You love me?"

"Damn, Berry. Haven't you been listening? Of course I fucking love you. Do you really think that I'd keep putting up with your crazy ass if I didn't?"

A fresh batch of tears slid down her cheeks. "I love you, too, Noah. So, so much." She fell into his arms. "When did you turn into such a nice guy?"

"What the fuck ever. I'm still a fucking badass stud."

"Mmmm...okay." And with that Rachel fell asleep in his arms and he knew that it might mean he was turning into a big fat pussy, but he couldn't help thinking that she felt just right in his arms. Like she was meant to be there.