The next day Puck was annoyed with himself, he had to talk to Rachel. Hopefully her and Finn didn't fall back in love last night, because he really needed to apologize to her. Maybe he overreacted a bit when he saw them rehearsing together, but when Quinn had said "First Finn... now you.", he realized that probably meant Finn was still smitten with Rachel. That's probably why Quinn had been so distant from Finn and came on to Puck... again.

He saw Rachel at the end of the hallway, their eyes met and he smiled, he saw her tense up, and clench her fists, stomping right over to him. She stopped in front of him, and before Puck could even think of something to say she spoke up

"How could you?" she stated very loudly. He looked around, she was making a scene and he had no idea what she was talking about.

"You are lucky I don't slap you right here, Noah Puckerman." she glared at him, and he still stared at her speechless, so she looked past him and stomped away.

Puck looked around, he just realized everyone was looking at him funny... and not only because of the scene with Rachel.

He ran up behind her and pulled her over,

"We need to talk!"

"Do we, Puck? Because I'm pretty sure I have nothing to say to you."

He pulled her into the empty music room

"What the hell is up with you?"

"Are you kidding me, Puck?" she sounded angrier than he had ever made her before.

"First that stupid list you decided was needed to give yourself the pleasure of humiliating me, and now.... now this."

"I already told you that list doesn't mean anything to me... and what now?"

"Last night when Finn and I were rehearsing,"

"You actually took him back to your house to rehearse?" She ignored him, and continued. This was no time to change the subject!

"I got an interesting call from Kurt. Turns out now the whole school is going to know Finn isn't the father" SHIT! He was panicking now. What the hell did she mean? The whole school is going to know??

"Quinn was a little emotional on the ride home with Brittany last night and let it slip that ... you," she looked away from him.

"are the father.... now the whole Cheerios squad knows, and they do enjoy good gossip every once in awhile. I'm pretty sure it's already on that stupid blog"

"Rachel, I was going to tell you all of this"

"Yeah, that would have been really nice to know!" she said sarcastically and continued

" And what about telling Finn? He has been dragged along in this lie with this huge burden put on his back, and it isn't even his!"

"It wasn't my idea! I wanted the baby! I wanted to own up to it, but it was Quinn's decision..." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"You boys are always bending over backwards for that girl."

"You know, she said almost the same thing about you." Rachel didn't say anything to that, what was she supposed to say?

"Rachel, please. I picked you over Quinn! I don't want to be with her..."

"The fact that she was even an option to you, while we were still dating, let's me know what kind of person you are Puck..." He looked at her sadly, this couldn't be it.

"That's not what I mean! I can explain!"

"You seem to need to explain a lot of things lately, and frankly... I'm not even interested in what you are going to say. I think.... I think the last couple of weeks were a mistake" She looked down, and she was sure he could tell it was a lie. She loved being with Puck, but she didn't want him to hurt her more. As they say; once a cheater, always a cheater,... right?

"You don't mean that..." No she didn't... and maybe she regretted saying that but instead of fixing it she turned around

"...I'm late for Math." and with that she stalked out of the room. Her and Puck were over, she was sick of all of his games, and she needed to stop forgiving him just because she liked the attention she got from him.

----

20 minutes before Glee rehearsal started, and Rachel was looking for Finn. She had saw him in the halls earlier, getting laughed at and pretty much running to all of this classes. But he hadn't shown up to rehearsals yet. She called his name through the locker room door, walked past his locker, she eventually found him sitting outside on the bench she normally sits on to wait for her dads. The parking lot had thinned out except a couple of teacher's cars, and the Glee students' cars.
She walked over and sat down on the bench next to him.

"Hey" he spoke up first.

"Hi Finn... are you coming to rehearsal?"

"I don't know... I feel like I don't want to go back to school.... ever" She sat back, letting him know she would listen.

"It was the worst day, I walked around with everyone staring at me. You wouldn't believe how stupid people think I am now"

"You're not stupid Finn... you just trusted Quinn, and you didn't think she would be someone that would lie to you." he nodded his head and looked down.

"I'm sorry Rachel, I don't think I can go. I don't think I could face Quinn... or Puck. I feel like they both just played a horrible joke on me. It doesn't seem real... you know?" She knew exactly what he was talking about, maybe her situation wasn't as serious as Finn's but they were definitely similar.

"Yeah... I know...I don't think I want to face them either" he looked at her and smiled a little. She scooted closer to him, and he slid his hand into hers. She squeezed his hand softly, and then they sat there silently, until they noticed Glee rehearsal was about to start. They knew someone would come looking for them since they were both at school earlier that day,

"Do you need a ride, Rach?... Now that I know where you live and all," he smiled at her,

"I would appreciate that"

-----

Rehearsal was about to start, and Finn and Rachel were no where in sight. Her backpack was sitting next to her usual chair, but she wasn't and Finn being gone didn't help. He lost her. He lost fucking Rachel Berry to Finn. How could this have happened? It was all his fault, and he knew it. Now she was off with Finn, still thinking Puck was an asshole and he never got to explain himself.

He was so angry that he felt like he could punch something, the first thought that came to mind was Quinn when she walked through the door. She was the one who started all of this... luckily Puck didn't hit girls, especially pregnant ones.
She saw him and looked down ashamed.

"Did you hear?"

"Uhm, yeah... I heard. Thanks for ruining my relationship with my girlfriend."

"It's not like I did it on purpose! I just got left at the school by you and my own boyfriend who went chasing after some freak. I didn't think Brittany would tell anyone... besides, I thought you wanted people to know... you were the one who was always bitching about it." She snapped angrily.

"No Quinn... I mean, yes I wanted people to know. But that is not how it should have happened, you should have told Finn straight out, and I... I should have told Rachel" Quinn rolled her eyes

"Well it's a little too late for that now" She crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at him.

"I don't think it is... it might take me awhile, but I'm going to fix this."

"You can't fix this, Puck. It's a baby, you can't just make it go away... at least not in a way that I would agree to."

"I don't mean the baby, Quinn." she opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out. He turned and grabbed Rachel's pink backpack, and rolled it out of the room before Mr. Schue would notice he was ever there.

----

Rachel had invited Finn in, and after sitting around in sad silence for awhile, Finn was now laying over the couch constantly flipping channels. Rachel was eyeing Finn, he looked so defeated, and helpless. She wanted to make him happy again, she felt like she owed it to him for some reason. So Rachel offered to make chocolate chip cookies to make them both feel better.
Their hands and arms were covered in flour, listening to music and singing as loud as they could, she hadn't had this much fun not making out in a long time it seemed like. The thought of Puck was still on her mind, but she was trying to ignore that sinking feeling she got when she thought about what she said to him.

"What's going to happen now?"

"What do you mean, Finn?" he looked down, trying to find the words.

"I mean... Quinn and I broke up, Puck and you broke up... I don't know" he shrugged, still not meeting her eyes.

"I'm not sure what will happen next, I wish I knew though" she replied honestly. She didn't know exactly what he meant, but she wish she knew what the future held

"Me too" he grabbed a piece of dough and popped it in his mouth. She looked at him oddly, and he shifted his gaze. Did he have chocolate on his face or something?

"What?"

"That can't be good for you!"

"Uh..." he was still confused

"You just ate raw cookie dough! It's got raw eggs in it, Finn!" he stared at her for a second and started chuckling, she almost had him worried there for a second

"It's just cookie dough, Rach! You've never licked the bowl clean before?" she looked at him in almost disgust after he said this.

"That sounds very unsanitary, I'm not sure I would be okay with that." he laughed again, and picked up a piece of dough. He held it up to her mouth, and smiled

"Come on, try it! It's good!" She opened her mouth and took a bite. If she died from food poisoning, he would be hearing from her lawyers. She closed her eyes at the taste, it was like heaven! Who knew that eating the dough could taste better than eating the cookie itself?

"See, it's good right?" she nodded her head in agreement, not able to talk from the sticky dough that was still in her mouth.

"It's delicious!" she stated once she swallowed

"I told you!" they both laughed. She loved that she could just have fun with Finn. Being with him definitely made her feel safe

She was about to turn around to check on the cookies but as fast as Rachel blinked, Finn's lips were on her own, giving her a soft kiss. It was so sweet and caring, nothing like her numerous make out sessions with Puck. The thought of Puck made her pull away from him.

"I... I hope that was okay." he looked down sheepishly. She nodded shyly because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. Besides, this is what she always wanted, right?

"Uhm.... is it okay if I kiss you again?" he asked, she looked down, not sure how to answer. She should say yes, this is how it was supposed to happen. Her and Finn together in the end, it was like her dream come true... then why did it feel so wrong? Luckily she was saved by the doorbell,

"Uh, I should get that," she pulled back fast

"I'll be right back!" she said as she jogged out of the kitchen.

She opened the door, surprised to see Puck standing in front of her, her pink backpack in hand.

"I forgot I left that at school, thanks" she said, avoiding his glance and reached for her backpack.

"Not until we talk... can I come in?" he started to take a step in, when she shook her head.

"Now is a really bad time, Puck"

"Now is better than later right?" he started walking in farther

"Uh-"

"Rachel, I think the cookies are burning!" they both heard Finn shout from the kitchen. Puck's soft expression turned into a glare.

"I thought that was Finn's car parked in the street... I should have known. What the hell are you doing, Rachel?"

"What I'm doing is none of your business, Noah. Thank you for my backpack, but I think you should go." he looked at her defeated, and handed her the bag.

She was about to close the door, when he held out his hand to stop it.

"Rachel..." he sighed and she melted.

"... I promise I'll explain everything. Please?" she looked at him, wanting to shout yes from the mountain top, but she knew she shouldn't. Everything was so confusing!

"...I'm sorry, Puck" she said sadly. He took a hint and dropped his hand from the door.

"I'm the one that's sorry." her heart stopped as he turned to walk back to his car.

If he was a chick, this is where you would insert the part about him crying. But he wasn't a chick, and he didn't cry over chicks. He was going to get her back, and there was nothing she nor Finn could do about it.

Rachel walked back into the kitchen to see Finn with potholders on both hands, trying to pick up a cookie from the sheet without burning his fingers. She chuckled a bit, which startled him and he turned around.

"I think I saved them just in time!" he smiled

"Oh good, I hate burnt cookies" she smiled back, and then turned to look through the drawers for a spatula to help him.

I have to admit, I do like Finn/Rachel [not as much as I love Puck/Rachel, obviously] so for me it would be hard to get Finn and Rachel together just to break his heart in this end. So don't worry, this is the closest that Finn and Rachel get to being a 'couple' in my story.
Pretty much, Finn sees the doubt in Rachel's eyes when he asks if he can kiss her again, even though he still wants her, he knows she doesn't feel the same about him anymore, so they just forget about the kiss and become closer.

I know the drama kind of weighs on the humor, so I'm sorry if it's a bit too much. I will just keep promising it gets better, and the next couple of chapters I really like.
They won't get back together for a couple of chapters, but there are still some cute scenes with them together.

As always, thank you!!!!