Author's Note: Alright, ladies and ... gentleman? Maybe. That would be cool ... I'm having "one of those days" and am in serious need of a pick me up. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs, so this is what I do. I write and then post and then demand feedback with big, pouty, quivering lips. LOL! Because I'm approaching the 100 review mark (wha?), I might be convinced to do something crazy for the lucky reviewer of the sacred slot (like, a prompt oneshot fic ... not a hit on anyone). Maybe. Point is, please read and enjoy and then review. And I'll thank you all in advance for that. *dramatic pause* Thanks. (:oP


Puck shifted uncomfortably in the overstuffed red-velvet theater chair, his eyes open but scowling toward the stage. Rachel was the lead ballerina and could no doubt see him in all his pissed off glory, but he didn't care. When he'd agreed to come to this stupid tutu festival, he'd been trying to be the good boyfriend. He didn't know he'd be sandwiched between her two dads and his mom and sister for two hours of a long ass time. She also left out the minor detail that he would need to dress up for said event, so not only did he look uncomfortable but he felt it, too.

"Bravo!" His mom was the first to cheer, standing up with everyone else once the show ended. Rachel's dads threw roses onto the stage and demanded an encore, which even Puck knew wasn't protocol for these types of things. Still, he clapped along with everyone else because Rachel had been pretty awesome. He didn't know what story the dancing was supposed to be telling and he sure as Hell didn't know the names of any of the moves she did, but fuck if she didn't look hot up there doing them. And he'd never admit it to anyone, but her wide, enthusiastic smile at all the applause was what usually tipped the scale in her favor. She was gorgeous.

Not, however, gorgeous enough for him to forget the evening of doom was far from over. But he was sure they could work out something to make up for the third and final blow to why he was pissed. In fact, if she even uttered the words "coat" and "closet" in the same sentence, all could easily be forgiven.

"Did you like it?" She asked eagerly when she came out of the back room. She'd changed out of her ballet outfit into something more suited for the after party. That's right. He spent two hours watching 19 other people he didn't a flying rat's ass about dancing around on stage and now he had to go to some stupid party and talk to them all about it.

"You were amazing," he said in a way of misdirection.

That he could handle. He wasn't worried about not being able to look in the other people's eyes and tell them the recital had made him a believer or whatever bullshit they wanted to hear. Puck was fairly good at lying. But he couldn't lie to himself, and he knew the after party was going to a total snoozefest. He'd taken Rachel to a few of her practices and he'd actually talked to a few of the other dancers. And, yea, maybe he'd singled out the dudes to make sure they knew Rachel was his girl, but that wasn't the point – turns out they were all gay anyway; like, made Kurt look macho in comparison kind of gay. The point was they all sucked. Seriously. All of them.

"Oh, Daddy." Rachel giggled appreciatively at the line of praise her father had let slip, her hand softly swatting at his chest. "I know."

Puck chuckled, hearing a patent Rachel response and unable to find it anything but adorable. Most people would bypass blatant compliments with a little modesty, but his girl wasn't most people. She'd certainly had learned some humility since he'd met her, but she was never going to turn down praise. It was like air to her; she needed it to live.

"How long do you expect the after party to last, dear?" Rachel's other father asked. He was the stricter of the two, the one Puck tried to avoid whenever he was over at the Berry house. Her dads were pretty cool about him being there, trusting their daughter enough to let the door stay closed (and locked, but they didn't know that) and not really setting a curfew. But Puck knew better than to assume they wouldn't hire people to kill him if he ever did anything to hurt their little girl.

"I'm not sure, but I'll call when we are on the way home." Rachel kissed her dad on the cheek and her daddy on the other cheek. Then she thanked Mrs. Puckerman and Sarah for coming out to support her. Puck's mom made a huge deal about being invited, and then finally everyone was gone and it was just the two of them. Well, the two of them and all the ballet losers.

Rachel inhaled a deep breath when they entered the main room of the party. She always felt more confident on Puck's arm, but a lot of the other girls in the class seemed to have it out for her. Plus, they were the types of girls who went to prestigious private schools and whose mother's doted on their every wish and dream. Rachel had gotten by just fine with her determination and her fathers' encouragement, but it was times like these when she yearned for a mother. Someone who could tell her the outfit she chose was perfect for the evening, accentuating her features and hiding her flaws – while simultaneously mentioning that Rachel had no flaws.

"You look quite dashing tonight, Noah," she complimented, her fingers splaying over the black material of his dress shirt as her arm encircled his. He wore black slacks and a black vest but no tie, and Rachel was pretty sure the outfit was something he'd worn for glee one day – missing a fitted hat, perhaps. It was very Frank Sinatra of him, but it was also purely Puck.

"And you look edible," he leered, his eyes running appreciatively over her outfit for the first time now that he didn't need to worry about the backlash from the parental units. The dress was simple enough, just a pale pink spring dress with a black sash at the waist that tied in the back. But paired with the strappy black heels that almost put her at eye level with him (like he was looking at her eyes), he really did want to eat her up.

"Noah," Rachel chastised lightly when she felt his flat hand on her back, moving over the bare skin and sliding down to covered but much more dangerous territory. "This is hardly the place."

"Well let's go somewhere else then."

"While it is for entirely different reasons, you know I don't like these people anymore than you do. So, why don't you go get us a couple of drinks while I congratulate the male lead?"

"By congratulate do you mean point out again that he almost dropped you during one of the lifts?" He asked comically, not taking demands even from his girlfriend without a little bit of a fight.

"I was going to say that after I speak with him and a few other people we could leave, but if you'd rather we can stay here and …"

"Really?" He coughed, backing away quickly with a wide grin. "Sweet deal."

Rachel rolled her eyes and made her way over to Joel, offering her sincere adulation to the male lead and accepting his genuine praise in return. One of the other dancers asked everyone to gather around so she could take a picture, and Rachel rarely turned down the opportunity to be photographed. When she came back, there was a sea of people between her and Noah, but she still caught his eye all the way from the makeshift bar. It was like any scene in a romantic comedy, his stare too intense for her to ignore – which is why Rachel didn't see the director of the program waving her hand in front of Rachel's face until it was obvious she'd been caught.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Powers."

Puck grinned as he watched Rachel try to recover from her lapse in social conduct. He might be leaning against the wall nursing a water (seriously?) at the lamest party ever, but at least he could make his girl stupid with just a look. She was still apologizing to that old bitty when suddenly she stopped talking and completely paled. He almost thought she was choking, but her eyes kept staring out straight past the director. And that's when he saw the same thing she did.

Jesse.

"You were breathtaking," Jesse said before leaning forward and kissing Rachel softly on the left cheek and then the right. She didn't even have time to thank him, Puck's voice booming inside the large room.

"The fuck?" Puck stormed up to the curly-haired boy, stopping his advance only when they were face to face.

"Noah!" Rachel admonished on a hushed growl, trying to grab at his arm and pull him away from his confrontational stance but Puck just shrugged out of her hold. Rachel quickly glanced at the director, whose frown deepened before she walked away to likely distract the other guests. "Noah, stop!"

"No way. This guy was lucky he ran away like a little bitch that first time." Puck squared his shoulders, staring down at Jesse with nothing but rage in his eyes. "Egg my girl again, St. Jackass. I dare you."

"Noah!" Rachel finally stepped between the two boys, forcing herself into the tight space. "This is completely unnecessary." His glare moved down to her. "Jesse apologized for his wrongdoing and I've forgiven him. Please, just …"

"What?" He asked, and Rachel didn't respond because she wasn't sure which part he was questioning. "You've talked to this asshole since …"

"You're making a scene, Noah. Can we please just …"

"Screw this. I'm outta here." Rachel watched aghast as Puck turned to his left and pushed open to two side doors that led out of the theater. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she mumbled her apologies to everyone she could before running out the doors to the lobby. By the time she grabbed her coat from the closet, she remembered she didn't have a way home. She sank onto the plush couch in front of the front doors, staring out into the night while willing herself not to lose it until she was away from prying eyes.

"This seat taken?" Rachel sniffled and shook her head, moving a few inches to her right just so there would be extra space between the two of them when he sat. It wasn't like when she was dating Finn and purposely put distance between herself and Noah. She wasn't worried about losing control with Jesse. She just really didn't want to be close to him.

"What are you doing here?" She didn't mean for it to sound breathless, but after Puck had left it sort of felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"It's my spring break. I'm in town visiting my friends from Vocal Adrenaline." Jesse crossed his right leg over his left and clasped his hands together at the knee. She couldn't help but wish Noah were there if only so they could share a look and laugh later about how silly Jesse looked right then. "They told me you guys won your region this year with an original song." Rachel nodded in affirmation, but didn't offer anything more than that. "You've sort of got them shaking in their designer shoes."

She let a small smile slip, but knew better than to give him any details on what they had planned for nationals. Rachel was expected to write another song for her to perform as a solo, and then the club might try to do another one as a group if they could find something to go along with the other three songs they were starting to learn in preparation for the big event. Nationals meant they had more time to perform, but continuity was important and if it didn't all have the same underlying theme, it wouldn't matter how hard they'd worked to get there.

"I have to say, I'm surprised to see Puck on your arm this evening. I would have expected Finn."

Rachel turned her head to face her ex-boyfriend, digesting his words one thought at a time. She noted that it was strange that he said Puck came on her arm, when she considered it the other way around. While she was certainly embarrassed about how he had lashed out in front of everyone, and she knew what some of the girls said about him after they remarked on how attractive he was (cute but poor was the consensus of many of the prissy girls), Rachel was never ashamed of Puck. He'd put a lot of effort into changing his image, and no one rewarded him for all that hard work. No one saw him for who he is, only for what he was.

And she knew she should just ignore everything Jesse said and tell him to mind his own business, but she couldn't form the words. She was alone and not quite ready to go looking for Noah, who she knew wasn't gone. No matter how mad he was, he wouldn't just leave. It wasn't him.

"Finn and I broke up a few months ago." She sighed. "We dated for about six months. It didn't work out." She shrugged, not wanting to go into the details, especially not with Jesse.

"So you settled for Puck."

"Noah," she corrected quickly then shook her head, "and no. I didn't settle for him." She bowed her head, feeling the tears start to well back up behind her eyeballs. Rachel wasn't sure why she was telling him any of this, but she was unable to hold the rest in. "I love him."

She knew he would be shocked. In fact, she was kind of surprised she said it, too. She'd thought it a lot lately, wondered when exactly she went from falling to fell. But she hadn't said it before. Not to anyone. And then it came out so easily that she suddenly worried it would be harder to keep in now. But Jesse didn't say anything. Wordlessly, he moved from his seat and left through the front doors. Rachel wasn't sure why, but she couldn't bring herself to care either. He was probably just uncomfortable with her crying, which was fine. She wanted to be alone anyway.

"Hey," Puck said, sagging his head when Rachel's jolted up. He'd spent the past twenty minutes alone outside. The first five were spent pacing around, trying not to destroy or vandalize anything. The next ten were spent muttering to himself about how stupid it was that she yelled at him and how he didn't even want to come to this stupid thing and how Jesse was a big, flaming loser. After that, he'd calmed down enough where he started to think he might have overreacted, thought maybe he didn't handle the situation like her should have. Then he had come back inside and heard Rachel and Jesse talking.

Honestly, his anger immediately flared up again. He couldn't help it. He was Puckasaurus and there were things about him that could never be changed. He was always going to curse. He was always going to like football more than musicals. He was always going to want to solve problems with his fists instead of his words. And even though he wasn't ready to say it yet, when he heard Rachel say she loved him, he knew he would always, always love her.

"Hey," she answered back, wiping underneath her eyes and exhaling a shaky breath. "I-I'm sorry, Noah. I …"

"No, don't." Puck shook his head, coming to kneel in front of her, his hands on her knees. "You have nothin' to be sorry for. It was me." He sighed, one hand lifting to drag over face. "We weren't together when that jerk dumped you, but … I wanted to kill him. And then you said that you've talked to him since …"

"It was during the summer. Before he left for college. He just …"

"It doesn't matter. It's not my business." Puck lifted his eyes back to gaze up into hers. "But seein' him reminded me that you don't have to be with me and … well, I don't like being reminded of that."

Rachel cocked her head to one side, looking through him as he refused to lift his gaze. He just placed delicate kisses on her knees, pleading with her to forgive him without actually groveling. She knew why he reacted the way he did, but she'd never understand his thought process behind his actions. How could he honestly look in the mirror and not see the wonderful man she did?

"I don't have to be with you, Noah. I choose to be." Rachel let her shoulders drop as she lifted her hands, one coming to rest over the two of his on her knees and one moving to caress his cheek. She wasn't sure what he had heard, but she knew it was too soon to tell him how she really felt. Not unless she wanted to see a large Puck-shaped hole in the wall across from them that would no doubt match the giant hole in her heart afterward. "Understand?"

"I just think you deserve better," he finally admitted, though to be fair it was exactly what he told her months ago at the championship game. And, just like she did that time, tonight she rolled her eyes at him and then shook her head from side to side, silently disagreeing before verbally doing so.

"Well you need to get over that."

Puck grinned at how matter-of-factly she said it, inhaling the first full breath he'd had since seeing Jesse. "That's it? No big speech?"

"I figure as long as I know who you really are, eventually you'll start to believe I'm right." Rachel placed her other hand on his face, forcing him to keep her gaze. She bit her lip self-consciously, inwardly noting the similarities between the two of them before she voiced her own fears out in a way he would understand. "Instead of your father."

Puck knew his eyes widened, but other than that he did his best to hide his shock at her words. Rachel, similarly, was ignoring the fact that she said them out loud, standing up to put on her coat and adjust her gym bag over her shoulders. All the sounds and motions around him were drowned out by the sound of blood rushing by his ears. Here was this girl, this woman, and not only did she admit (not to him, but still) that she loved him, but she knew him. She knew he had a past as a womanizer, knew he slept with and impregnated his best friend's girl, knew he'd seen the inside of a jail cell almost as much as the inside of a classroom, and she still loved him. She could still stand there and tell him he was better than even he knew, and she believed it.

"Wait." Puck grabbed Rachel's hand just in time to swing her body back toward his, effectively stopping her retreat. His fingers intertwined with hers and he lifted his other hand to cradle her chin and jaw before slanting his lips over hers. It wasn't overly aggressive nor was it publicly unacceptable, but he made sure she could feel his passion in the kiss. He made sure he poured every ounce of emotion he had for her before he pulled away. He wasn't prepared to tell her how he felt yet, but he wasn't opposed to showing her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she answered softly, though she couldn't for the life of her think for what he was saying thanks. But, if it ended with a kiss like that, she wasn't going to complain either. Nor was she going to point out the fact that he was still holding her hand as they walked out of the theater. Instead, she just rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her other hand around his bicep.

"Well thirty minutes is unacceptable. I'm a very important person and there are places I need to be."

Rachel knitted her eyebrows together as her and Puck passed Jesse on the way to Puck's car, her eyes widening when she saw all four tires on Jesse's car looked flat. She didn't know a lot about cars, but she figured the odds of something like that happening were pretty slim. Especially with the car parked.

"Noah!" She hissed quietly, tightening her grip on him. "Did you slash his tires?"

"What?" He asked innocently, opening her door while looking back toward Jesse, his grin widening uncontrollably. "This is a bad neighborhood, B. It could have been anyone."