Chapter 13

Even in the face of the evidence presented, Noah was still reluctant to concede "Ruben" was, in fact, a man. He decided to accept the situation at face value and move forward; at least, for the time being. He continued to watch for little "tells" that might provide conclusive evidence that he was correct in his assessment. As a result, he found himself spending more time at the club and, as a side effect, more time in "his" company.

For the present, Lucille had apparently grown bored, presumably with them, and was busy pursuing other endeavors. He had heard that she was seeing "that St. James guy", and he thought he had noticed her once or twice with Santana's friends, but she didn't acknowledge him, leaving him in the dark but nevertheless relieved that she was currently in the care and company of somebody else.

Noah and Santana continued to hash out plans for their club; sometimes Blaine would join them, although, lately, he would excuse himself. Noah never questioned his whereabouts, assuming that he was conferring with the band. At least part of the evening was spent socializing with Rachel, and, at some point, Blaine would return. Once his shift was over, Kurt would also meet up with them.

Without the formal constraints of a male/female relationship, Noah's guard was down and Rachel was free from the societal expectations placed upon women. Never having been much of a flirt, she vastly preferred being straightforward rather than coy and relished the opportunity to speak her mind instead of holding her tongue in deference to a man's opinions.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one's perspective), Rachel's feelings toward Noah intensified with each passing day. They bonded over common interests, including both music and baseball; Hiram was a dedicated Yankees fan, and had passed his love of the game to his only daughter and, true to his roots, Noah avidly followed the Detroit Tigers. In addition to a similar sense of humor and their shared heritage, they had both experienced parental abandonment, which somehow seemed to bring them closer.

Underneath Noah's bravado and cavalier attitude, Rachel had discovered a man with an agile mind and a kind heart who was loyal to his friends and protective of his family. She had uncovered "Noah", which was how she had begun to refer to him in her mind, and what she longed to call him to his face. For the first time in her life, Rachel was falling in love, and now found herself between the proverbial "rock and a hard place".

True to Santana's prediction, news about "the Incomparable Rachel" had spread and, notorious or not, she was enjoying real success as a performer, albeit as a "man". The club was literally filled to capacity most evenings, drawing more from the "mainstream" community than ever before. And, true to her word, Santana had raised her pay, providing Rachel a larger income than she had earned as a teacher.

At this point, if she revealed everything, she would lose her job, as would Kurt and Elliot. She genuinely liked Santana and the other performers and didn't want to bring a scandal that would cause a loss of business for the club, and probably a significant one, at that. She valued her easy-going relationship with Noah and was convinced that it would end badly if she revealed herself, now; she was convinced he would feel humiliated and ridiculous, and would probably walk away and out of her life.

So, for the present, Rachel upheld the status quo.

On the other side of this blossoming relationship, Noah's disconcertion grew as he became better acquainted with Rachel, or, from his point of reference, "Ruben". They had become friends quickly, at least, once he dropped his more overt attempts to force a "confession"; that wasn't the problem. All his life, he'd liked girls, then women…a lot. Even though he had yet to open himself to anything more than a casual liaison, he enjoyed a healthy sexual appetite. He felt aroused at the thought of being intimate with a woman and never lacked for female companionship whenever he desired it. In other words, he never had a sexual thought that didn't involve women, and never looked at another man aside from objectively and platonically. Yet, not only did he like this man, he was feeling oddly drawn, as if toward a woman.

Maybe it was the sight of him in a dress; soft and natural, not garishly made up, bejeweled, and feathered, like the other drag queens. Perhaps it was the voice, pure and clear rather than an obvious falsetto. There was a gracefulness in his movement that belied his gender; in fact, he seemed more natural onstage in a dress than walking on the street in a suit. All Noah knew was that his body and his mind were at odds; their night in the brothel had confirmed that this was a man before him, yet his instincts told him otherwise. If he hadn't known better, he would think he was having sexual feelings toward another man, and that was simply impossible…wasn't it?

As much as he wanted to seek out female companionship and affirm his masculinity, he found his thoughts becoming more consumed with this person, pondering over his feelings and the circumstances in which he found himself. In spite of evidence to the contrary, he was more determined than ever to find some way to prove that he was correct in his original assessment as well as allay his fears that he was, in fact, becoming enamored of another man.

Unlike a play that had a set beginning and ending time each performance, Rachel's masquerade was ongoing and, therefore, exhausting. As a result, aside from traveling to and from work and occasional errands, usually job-related, she preferred to stay at home wearing "regular" clothes, i.e. a dress, and performing more mundane, daily activities.

In mid June the Detroit Tigers were in town for three days and Noah had purchased tickets for their double-header at Yankee Stadium. This would mean that Rachel would have to endure her day off in masculine attire, maintaining her ongoing charade, and praying that, on the offside chance that her father was in attendance, he would not spot her in the crowd and possibly recognize her, surely leading to her undoing.

Noah and Blaine were on their way to the flat that Rachel and Kurt shared with Elliot, who was visiting his family for the day, and Sam was going to meet up with them at the ballpark. The plan was to have a quick bite and then take the subway to Yankee Stadium, where they would arrive in plenty of time for the opening game. On the brief taxi ride over, Noah revealed his rationale behind meeting there as opposed to somewhere closer to the venue.

"Blaine, you hafta do this for me," Noah pleaded, "I'll owe ya' big time." Blaine shook his head, rolling his eyes. Noah had been relentless in his pursuit of "the truth"; although Blaine was satisfied that Kurt and "Ruben" were men engaged in an open relationship, he realized that Noah was desperate to prove otherwise. Maybe this would finally convince him to drop this and face reality. "OK, Puck; I'm in. Tell me what you want me to do…"

The men entered the little flat greeted by Kurt, alone; apparently, "Ruben" had left to pick up fresh bagels. Noah grinned; everything was falling into place, better than he had anticipated.

"Say, Kurt, would ya' mind showing us around?" Noah politely inquired. Kurt was taken a bit aback; after all, the place was pretty small. "Sure, no problem, Puck," he agreed. "This is the living room," he pointed toward the kitchen, continuing "that's the kitchen." He then pointed to the other rooms in turn as he ticked of "Down that hallway to the right is Elliot's room, the bathroom's, in the middle, and then, R…ah…Ruben's and my room."

Noah glanced around, nodding as Kurt spoke, mentally gauging the distance between the bathroom and Kurt's bedroom. "Thanks, Kurt," Noah acknowledged. He glanced at Blaine before announcing, "Well, if you fellas will excuse me, I'll be back in a minute," after which he headed directly for the bathroom, closing the door behind him. This was Blaine's cue, and he walked next to Kurt, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist and kissing Kurt on the cheek. Although this was most likely not what Noah had in mind when he had asked Blaine to "distract" Kurt and Ruben, it worked for Blaine.

"Blaine, nix," Kurt quickly admonished him, pulling away and glancing over his shoulder, "Puck'll be back in a minute." Blaine smiled, suggesting, "Then why don't we take this into the kitchen? We'll stop when we hear him coming." Blaine took Kurt's hand, and together they walked toward the kitchen.

Having found nothing particularly incriminating in the bathroom, Noah stealthily opened the door, quickly glanced out to make sure he had no witnesses, and moved directly to the doorway of Kurt and Rachel's room, peeking inside. Although his original intention was to search the bedroom, as well, his conscience momentarily intervened. He hesitated at the doorway, unsure as to whether or not to so blatantly invade their privacy.

As he considered his next move, his eye was drawn to a vanity with a matching chair directly facing the doorway. The thought occurred to him that a man's bedroom wouldn't ordinarily contain this piece of furniture, compelling him to go in for a closer look. He entered the room, partially closing the door behind him, and walked over to the vanity, taking in the contents of the room once he reached his destination. Their bedroom was a model of simplicity: a double bed neatly covered with a moss green chenille bedspread stood beside the vanity, and on the far wall were a chifferobe and a chest of drawers.

The top of the vanity was relatively barren, save for a hairbrush, a hand mirror, and a framed 8 X 10 black and white photograph, which he picked up to examine. Two people were standing together; a tall man with glasses, his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a petite younger woman wearing a light colored dress. She had long, thick dark hair, evidenced by the braid that cascaded over her right shoulder. It appeared to be a candid shot rather than a more staid, professional setting, and they were both smiling and appeared to be extremely happy. The girl had a quiet beauty; her dress was understated and her face was fresh and natural and looked for the world like…Ruben.

The realization suddenly hit Noah like a ton of bricks; he'd been right all along! "Ruben" was a woman, after all. Relief immediately flowed through his body; he hadn't been harboring a physical attraction toward another man. His mind raced as he considered how to best expose her charade; would he do it here and now, or string her along, waiting until her next performance?

He studied her face in the photograph, and the realization that humiliating her would serve no purpose beyond the momentary thrill of personal vindication struck him like a clarion call. The kind, intelligent, person he had come to know must've had an extremely good reason for doing…this. Where a moment ago he was hell bent on, well, if not revenge, at least publicly disgracing her, he felt a surge of compassion.

For his own peace of mind, he wanted to understand what had precipitated the hoax; now that he was certain of his sanity, he also wanted to know her better…as a woman. His original challenge suddenly seemed crass and menacing, and although his desire was stronger than ever, he realized he would never suggest engaging in anything that she didn't want, as well. As "Ruben", she had been guileless and (aside from concealing her femininity), free of artifice; finally secure in the knowledge of her true gender, latent feelings regarding commitments and families that he had all but stifled were now rising to the surface, ready to be explored.

Noah gingerly replaced the photograph on the vanity and quietly edged his way out of the room. He had just made it to the door and was in process of sneaking out to join the others when he heard the front door open.

"Hey, guys!" Rachel called into the apartment, "I've got fresh bagels! Kurt, would you please take these into the kitchen; I need to step into the bedroom for a minute."

Author's Note: A chifferobe is a piece of furniture that contains a place to hang clothes; it may also include drawers and/or a cabinet area. It was used to supplement closet space, back when the majority of residences were constructed with very small closets.