A/N: This is only really part one of chapter 14 but I had to get something out to you guys. Additional AN at the end (:

Rachel

I spent the rest of the week in Will's apartment, sleeping and watching TV. I hadn't been to school since Tuesday, still annoyed with the glee club for butting into my personal matters. My phone constantly rang and my text inbox was quickly becoming full. I ignored most attempts the glee club had made at contacting me, but told both Puck and Brittany that I was fine, just taking some time off. Brittany constantly sent me odd messages, detailing the most obscure incidents - most of which I assumed were fabricated - and I found that they did cheer me up on occasion.

By Friday, I was sick of doing nothing and decided to return home. Although I loved Will's apartment and the comfort it offered, I did miss home and the apartment was slowly becoming less comforting and more upsetting. I decided that going home around lunchtime was my best option; neither of my dads would be home so I wouldn't have to face them for a few hours.

Checking I had everything I had brought into the apartment and making sure every electronic device was off and unplugged, I left. I tried distracting myself on the ride home by singing show tunes, figuring out ways to alter them simply to occupy my mind, but I knew it was useless. The confrontation that was sure to happen when my parents got home was not something I was looking forward to.

I rushed into my house when I arrived, eager to get as much done as I could before my parents got home. Realizing that I was going to have to go back to school on Monday, caused me a lot of stress over the school work I had yet to complete. I walked into my kitchen to make some coffee and noticed a neatly folded piece of paper on the island. My name was written neatly on the side facing me and I picked it up, curious.

Rachel,

We're very sorry to leave again like this, but we don't think we can be of much to help to you with your problems when ours are becoming worse. Your father and I have decided to go on a couples retreat to get some help. We haven't been honest with you, sweetie, and things are not smooth sailing for our little family.

We want you to get better, but we don't think that will happen if we can't support you, and we can't do that without fixing our own problems.

After you left on Monday, your dad and I had an argument and we both discovered some unsettling things. I found out your dad has been cheating on me for a few months, and I came clean about stealing from the bank account. I never steal much but taking anything without telling your dad and spending it on myself is stealing, and it can get out of hand quickly. It already has. Your dad has broken things off with that other man but feels the things that led him to cheating need to be addressed, so we are seeking help. We love each other very much and don't want to split, but we've realized that is where we are heading if we don't identify and solve whatever is causing these problems.

We're so sorry to leave you again, but we believe you are in capable hands while we are gone. We spoke to Noah and he said that while he didn't know where you were, you had told him multiple times you were safe and he is looking everywhere he can think of for you. We know you're a responsible girl and that you'll come home, so when you do please tell Noah and allow him to help you. We trust him, and we're very sorry for how we acted towards him on Monday. We have told him however, that if you leave more than 24 hours between your texts to contact the police and report you missing, unless he is contacted by us.

We'll ring the house phone or your cell phone as often as possible to speak with you, but until we talk next, know that we love you so much and we can't wait to come home and get started on helping you with your problems.

We love you, baby girl.

Dad & Daddy.

X

I stood looking at the note after reading it for the fourth time. I was so confused. They were leaving me alone without knowing my exact whereabouts… to help me? Their judgment was very warped. At least they appeared to have forgiven me for my outburst on Monday. I folded the letter back up and put it in a drawer, deciding it was better to forget about it. They hadn't been here the last couple weeks - they rarely were - so being alone in the house was nothing new.

Halfway up to my room, coffee forgotten, the newly replaced house phone rang shrilly from it's perch on the kitchen wall. I rolled my eyes and kept going, not wanting to speak with anybody, but I stopped dead in my tracks for a split second when I heard the machine pick it up and flew back down the stairs when I recognized the voice slurring almost incoherently through the house. I pressed the phone to my ear, eyes swimming.

"Will?"

"Rayyy…" I couldn't believe my ears. It really was him.

"Will are you OK? Where are you? I miss you."

"Ray, I… I 'unno where I am." He ran the last two words together, making them sound like one, and I realized he was wasted. More wasted than I first thought at hearing his voice. "But it dun't matter… 'cause I not comin' home. Everrr." I realized this could be a short conversation, so I scrambled to find a pen and paper, jotting down the number showing on the tiny digital screen of the phone base.

"Will, what do you mean? You have to come home; your whole life is here. You can't just disappear forever."

"Yeah I can, that's wha' I'm doin'. Never have to deal with stress no more. It'll be totally… totally awesome. You should move on, Rayyy. Never comin' home!"

I could barely understand what he was saying, he made no sense. "Will, you… no. No, Will, you have to come home. I love you. You can't do this to me!" I sobbed, "You can't do this to the glee club… what about the glee club, Will? What will they do without you?" I was desperate. I had to find something that would make him come home.

"Mmmm… they'll be fine. Emma'll figure somethin' out for 'em. And you'll be fine with Puck. Good 'ol Pucky boy. He'll make ya forget me. You should fall in love with some'un else. I'm no good for ya… couldn't keep ya safe…" He was mumbling to himself, and I could tell he was slowly forgetting he was on the phone with me.

"No, Will. We need you. Please come home! I don't want to fall in love with someone else. I love you, damn it!"

"Naaaawww… naw, Ray, that's no good. Kay well I'll be leavin' ya so…""No, Will, don't you dare hang up this phone!"

"Bye, Ray."

"Will!" The line went dead. "Will?" I slammed the phone back into it's cradle and dropped my head to my arms, sobbing loudly.

It wasn't until I'd cried myself half to sleep that I remembered the number I'd hastily scrawled onto a piece of paper. The police would surely be able to track it. No, they definitely would; if I had a number, all they had to do was look it up in the database of national numbers I'm sure they have. Oh God, they could find Will!

I let out a slightly hysterical laugh as I picked the phone back up to dial the station's number. They would find Will and everything would be fine. Even if he didn't come home, I'd know where he was and I could go to him and drag him back.

"Lima PD" A bored sounding cop answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Rachel Berry. Is Officer Callaghan on duty? I need to speak to him immediately." My voice wavered gently, and I prayed that Officer Callaghan was available.

"One moment please." And elevator music started to play. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms impatiently, switching from foot to foot before pacing around the room.

"Ms. Berry? Officer Callaghan speaking."

"Oh thank God. I'm calling about Will Schuester. He just rang me, and I managed to jot down the number he called from. I was hoping you'd be able to trace it?"

"Oh. Well, that's a surprise. Yes, if you give me the number I can look it up and contact the local police station."

"Awesome. Do have you a pen?"

"Yes, go ahead."

I gave him the number and hung up after he promised to call me as soon as he had any information. Hopeful, I went to my room to get on with schoolwork.

I awoke on Monday to someone beating on my door. God, I just couldn't get a break. I glanced at my alarm clock and started when I saw it was 2pm. I didn't even remember falling asleep…

I pulled myself out of bed and stretched on my way to the front door. My back cracked satisfyingly, and I flung the door open to see Puck standing on my porch, fist raised to knock again.

"Seriously, Puck? Did you have to knock so loudly? You've probably dented the door."

He sighed, "Oh, thank God. I didn't know where you were! You haven't texted me in two days! Next stop after here was the cops. I figured you'd stay here after you realized your dads bounced again, though."

He stepped into the house and pulled me into a firm hug. I hugged back with a smile and asked "Guess what?"

"What?"

"Mr. Schue called me yesterday and the police are tracing the number." My smile grew and I bounced lightly on the balls of my feet.

"That's awesome! Do you think they'll find him?"

"Yeah, I'd say so. I hope so."

"Righteous. But that's not why I'm here. Babe, where have you been? Everyone's worried sick, especially me. You haven't come to school; you've barely texted and never called. What's up?"

Nothing could wipe the smile off my face. Will was going to be found. "Nothing! Everything's fine, love. Will and my parents are going to be home soon and, I think, things will start looking up."

"Oh. Well, I just thought after you bolted from the choir room an' all… seemed you were really upset. I was worried. You seem really excited about Mr. Schue."

"Mm-hm. The glee club can officially stop blaming me when he comes back."

"Babe, we don't blame you! He's a monster screw up; it's no one's fault but his own that he left."

"Be nice, Puck. Will has helped me a lot."

"Ch'yeah right!" He snorted, "Bolting really helped."

"Puck! Why do you hate him so much? He has helped."

"And why are you defending him so much? Can you not see what he's done to you?"

"No, I can't, but I'm sure you're going to tell me!"

"Ugh! You just don't get it! You're so blinded by love for him that you can't even see his faults! You can't see how bad he is for you, what an unhealthy relationship it would be!" He clearly saw the shock on my face because his eyes narrowed and he leant back slightly. "Oh yeah. You think I don't know that you love him? That the only reason you're dating me is for someone to fill the gap? I know that, Rachel, and I'm fine with it! I love you, and I know you. I know you'll eventually realize that you two wouldn't work out and that we're so much better! I'm hoping you'll realize! He's a good for nothin' schmuk stuck in Lima with no future but teaching. You'd be stuck here with him. He's a complete tool, and you deserve so much better! I'm better for you, Rach. We could follow our dreams together. Why can't you see that?"

"Puck, I… I think you should leave. I think we need to split."

"No. No we don't , Rach. You just need to let me in. You need to let me help."

"Yes we do, Noah! We don't communicate. Our relationship is built on a fantasy! How are we ever supposed to work if we know nothing about each other? If we don't communicate and have chemistry? It isn't going to work, Noah, now get out of here."

"Rach - "

"OUT!"

He turned after a moment and left, slamming the door forcefully behind himself. I turned and walked to the living room, intending to relax and forget about everything.

Puck

I slammed the door to my truck closed and gunned the engine. I was devastated, but I wouldn't let it show. I'd get Rachel back, or at least find a way to help her. No matter what she thought of me, I still loved her and wanted to help. If she fell to pieces, I would too.

Driving around town, I passed her favorite vegan diner, and an idea struck.

After standing around the liquor store looking depressed for twenty minutes, someone caved and bought me booze. After handing over the money and taking the gin, I drove back to the diner, picked up Rachel's favorite dish and something for myself, and headed back to her house.

Walking up the steps to her door, I hoped she wasn't too pissed at me. Plan Save Rachel Whether She Wants To Be With Me Or Not wouldn't really go ahead if I couldn't get her to talk to me.

I knocked three times and waited for her to open the door. When she did, she groaned and tried to slam the door in my face. I winced as I jammed my foot in it, for a girl her size she sure knew how to slam a door with force. "Rach, wait. This isn't me trying to get you to take me back, I just thought we could maybe be friends? I know you don't want to be with me, whatever, but I love you, and I don't want to lose you completely. I brought take out. Vegan friendly." I held up the bags of food and watched her face.

"Fine, Puckerman. Only cause you brought food and I'm starving."

"There's a surprise." She moved away from the door to let me in and shot me a filthy look for my comment. "Obviously not back to the joking stage yet then."

I went to the kitchen and put the food down on the table before pulling the gin out of my coat pocket.

"Puck?"

"What? You deserve a relaxed night in, why not throw a little gin in to the mix?"

Rachel sighed but shrugged and I counted it as a win. I poured us drinks while she served the food onto dishes. The dynamic we had going was really annoying. How could she say we couldn't be together and had no chemistry or communication when we moved around each other perfectly? Knew what the other needed without words? I shrugged it off and helped her carry everything into the living room.

We watched the TV in a slightly awkward silence for twenty or so minutes before the phone rang. She jumped out of her seat to get it

She spoke quietly for a few minutes before I heard the click of the phone being set back into it's holder. I looked to the door into the kitchen when she didn't come back in after a minute. When she did, she had tears in her eyes and her head hung low.

"Who was that?" She looked at me, startled, and sniffled.

"Lima PD."

"Oh." We were both silent for a few seconds. "What did they say?"

She shrugged awkwardly and walked to the couch slowly. "They couldn't find Will. They traced the call back to a police station in Iowa, but they said there hadn't been any sightings of him anywhere and they couldn't find him."

Tears started falling down her face slowly and I opened my arms to her, not sure of her reaction. She looked at me warily for a moment.

"Puck…"

"It's ok, Rach. I know you're upset, I just wanna help." She sat into my arms slowly and I handed her a drink, holding her tightly. "Let's just relax, ok? Drink up and we'll chill out for the evening."

"What if he doesn't come back? I love him, Puck."

As much as her saying that killed me, I loved her enough to reassure her, even if I don't know if my words are true.

"He'll come back, Rach. Don't worry."

A/N: Um. Is sorry enough? No? How about I'm really, really sorry? I've been so busy you guys, you probably don't even know what this story is about anymore from the lack of updates. Writer's block on top of my schedule didn't help, but I'm trying to get back into this. I hope you can all stick with me for a little while longer! My Leaving Certificate results came out on Wednesday and they were not good. College offers come out tomorrow, they also aren't looking good. I'm so unbelievably sorry for not updating in forever but I'm trying my best to get back into this.

For those of you who are interested, I have a Klaine story called "Forever Limited" in the works right now too and the first few chapters of it are up on my page (: It should also be updated ASAP

-Beaut x