"Hello?"
"Oh, Noah!" At the sound of Rachel's voice, Puck grabbed onto Quinn's arm. They heard a dull thump and a small whimper.
"Rachel, baby? Where are you? Are you okay? Please, baby, tell me you're okay."
"Puck, I'm fine. I was just calling to tell you I'm leaving. Don't try to find me. You'll always be in my heart, but I just can't do this, us, anymore. IDK where I'm going, but I'm not coming home. You and I aren't meant to be. JBI: Just believe it. Please tell Danny and Seb that they can return to New York, and that they should officially let my fans know I won't be returning. Also, give Quinn my love. I'm sorry I won't be there when the baby's born. She wanted to keep it a secret though, so don't tell anyone about her being pregnant. Especially Sue. I have to go now, but please, Puck, take to heart everything I said. Please respect my wishes and don't try to find me. I'm sorry."
"Rachel, baby, please don't go."
"Goodbye, Noah."
The line went silent. Nobody moved until Puck spoke.
"Quinn, are you pregnant?"
"No, I don't know why—" She fell silent as Puck grabbed a paper and pencil. He began to write furiously as Quinn read aloud over his shoulder. "Puck, heart, IDK/JBI, Quinn's baby/Sue. Puck what is all of this?"
"Inconsistencies. Rachel never calls me 'Puck' and it's 'in my eyes' not 'in my heart.' She hates text speak, and you're not pregnant. And why Sue?"
"Did Sue take her?" Finn asked apprehensively.
"No, she wouldn't have said it. That phone call was obviously forced." Tina gave Finn a sharp look. Everyone began to speak rapidly. When Seb spoke quietly, almost no one heard him.
"I know who took her."
"What, babe?" Everyone fell completely silent as Danny spoke to his boyfriend.
"I know who took Rachel. I recognized him. It was that guy who came looking for Rachel that one day she was sick. He runs the stalker blog; Benjamin Palestine is his name. He took her."
"Benjamin Palestine? Oh. Oh! Jacob Ben-Israel! It all makes sense now!" Quinn jumped off the couch. "Finn, love, call the detective and tell him to come quickly. Oh, wait, you already did that."
"Who's Jacob Ben Israel?" Danny asked Quinn.
"JBI! Jacob Ben-Israel! He's this creeper who was obsessed with Rachel, well, any girl really, but especially Rachel. She's Jewish, you see. And it sounds like he's still obsessed with her. But he's the one who told our Cheerio coach, Sue, that I was pregnant! She was giving us clues! Oh, when is that detective going to get here? Oh, Puck, isn't this wonderful? We're going to find her! We know who has her!"
Puck sat, looking fearful, and within a few minutes the police were there. As Mercedes explained the phone call to the police, Puck watched the minutes ticking by on the clock. While he knew that Jacob Ben-Israel would not want to kill Rachel, he was worried about getting her back before Jacob did something to her, like rape her. The guy was obsessed with loving her, and Puck was afraid that he would stop at nothing.
The police got the satellite location of Rachel's phone call from the cell phone company, and within the hour, they were all piled into vehicles, heading up the highway to a small industrial town in Michigan. By the time they got there, Michigan police had already set up surveillance and were ready to move into the large warehouse. The detective set Puck and the others up behind the van with the television screens, and on the thermal camera Puck could make out Rachel tied to the bed with Jacob standing over her, hitting her with what appeared to be a gun. He got up and walked to the other side of the room, and that was when the police entered, silently. Through the images on the screens from the police cameras that some of the officers were carrying, Puck was able to see them storm into the room. Puck watched as Jacob pointed the gun at Rachel, who was struggling against the ropes on the bed. Finn, Matt, and Mike had to subdue Puck who was struggling to run into the building. Puck watched as Jacob quickly raised the gun to his own head and shoot. Jacob fell to the floor and some of the officers surrounded him. Rachel was released from the bed and carried out of the building by the officers.
Puck broke away from the boys and ran to Rachel's side. She reached out to him and he quickly took her frail body into his arms. The police hurried them over to the ambulance that was waiting and the paramedics put her onto a gurney. Puck held tightly to her hand as they were rushed to the hospital. An IV was pushed into her arm, replenishing her fluids as she had become severely dehydrated. Several compresses were applied to her body where she had been beaten. She was given a dose of heavy sedatives.
As soon as Rachel was in his arms, time seemed to fly by. What felt like moments later, Rachel was curled up on a hospital bed in Puck's arms. Her x-rays and CT scans had all come back clean, with only some minor bruising on her ribs. She had needed a few stitches for the cut on her head, but all in all, she wasn't in bad shape. Puck was just extremely grateful that they had gotten there before any serious damage could be done.
"Noah?"
"Yeah, baby? Are you okay? Do you need some water? A nurse?"
"No, I'm fine. Everything's just fuzzy."
"That would be the sedatives. They have you on an IV drip of them to keep you from going berserk. Did you want something else, though?"
"Please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone. I'm scared."
"Oh, baby, that'll never happen. I'll be here. I love you, okay? I'll always be here for you."
"You love me?"
"Rachel, yes, I love you. These past two days without you have been hell. I never want to be apart from you for the rest of my life. You are my everything, and I love you. I love you so much."
"Noah, I love you too. You were the only thing that kept me going during this incident. Just hearing your voice on the phone gave me so much comfort. Every time he hit me, I just kept thinking of you, and how you would rescue me, and how I'd be in your arms again. And when he talked about raping me, I knew that you were going to be my first, so I'd be okay, because he couldn't do that to me if you were going to be my first. Noah, I love you. And thank you for being with me, and putting up with my craziness. Without you, I don't know what I would've done, or what I'd do now.
"You know, when I was on Broadway, we had this thing called rose kisses. We'd always get these big bouquets of roses at every performance, and sometimes when you smelled them, you'd get this little drop of rosewater dew right on the tip of your nose. We thought it was lucky, and so we'd leave it there until it dried, and then you'd keep smelling the roses all through the night. I always loved rose kisses. They were my splash of color on the otherwise gray existence of my life without you. I missed you, Noah. While I was on Broadway, my life wasn't complete, but now that you're here with me, I feel like this is where I belong."
"Baby, I love your craziness, and your loving heart, and your hot body, and your eyes, and your smile, and everything else about you. I love that you left rosewater on your nose just so you could smell the flowers. I love that you are the one person in the world you can deliver a dramatic and romantic monologue while under the influence of sedatives. I love your metaphorical way of looking at life. I don't have to 'put up' with your quirks because they are what makes me smile and get out of bed every day. I love you. You wouldn't be my Rachel without them. Having you near me is all the home I need, because I belong with you. And you belong in my life. I love you, Rach, so much."
"Noah, I'm tired."
"Just sleep, love. We'll be back home soon, and then I'm never letting you out of my sight again."
"Sounds good. G'night, Noah."
"Good night, love." Puck gently brushed through her silky locks as she snuggled up against him in sleep. In that moment, Puck knew that he could never go to bed alone again. Her deep breathing signaled that she was officially asleep, and Puck began to drift off himself. Before he finally closed his eyes, he whispered softly into her hair.
"I love you Rachel Anisa Puckerman."