Author's note: First off, let me apologize for being a crappy updater as of late. Do you ever have days when you don't feel like doing anything, and when you do, you mind draws up a complete blank? Yeah, well, it's been a few weeks for me. So hopefully I've got that out of my system for awhile and I can get back to posting regularly again. Okay, now that that is out of the way, here's where I start to deviate from the TV storyline. Well...really start to, anyway. Again. Yep, I sort of merge and mash around some of the scenes from the "Furt" and "Special Education" episodes. And, I downplay Rachel and Finn's relationship (not completely ignore. I know, I'm terrible) but as you will see near the end of the chapter, their barely there relationship won't be lasting much longer. Also, as a sidenote, I could not resist the Harry Potter reference.

Music suggestions: 'Out of my head' by Theory of a Deadman, 'And I am telling you' by Glee Cast, 'This love' by The Veronicas.

Disclaimer: Don't own glee. Just a great bulk of their songs.

All glee girls with boyfriends meetings and marriage proposals

It wasn't until a few weeks before Sectionals that Rachel noticed that the situation between Kurt and his bully Karofsky was exponentially more dire than she'd originally speculated. For reasons she couldn't possibly fathom, he plagued Kurt like a disease. And not simply be because Kurt was gay. There had to be more to it.

Being so much alike, she and Kurt had never been best friends. She was sure that if the circumstances had been different, they'd be attached at the hip. Much like he was to Mercedes. However, considering it was high school, they were barely sociable acquaintances. So, she was aware of the situation, but not up on the details. Also considering the tumultuous triangle she had going on between Noah and Finn, she regretted to admit that it had barely registered on her radar. Until she witnessed with her own eyes one of Karofsky's harsher slights against Kurt, one that had resulted with Kurt sliding to the floor with his shoulders shaking and his head in his hands.

She knew something was seriously wrong concerning him. Kurt was in trouble, and there was nothing she could physically do about it.

If it had been a hair or singing emergency, she'd have been at his side in a heartbeat, calling Mercedes in for backup. Karofsky was almost three times her size, with the attitude of a raging bull and the empathy of a tree trunk. Putting it in simple terms, he had the emotional range of a teaspoon.

And he had a singular focus: terrorize Kurt.

The urge to run to Noah and curl up against his side, to seek comfort and help from him was almost overwhelming in its need. But she couldn't, for multiple reasons.

So, she did the next best thing she could think of. She called an all glee girls with boyfriends meeting.

Brittany, Quinn, and Tina had only just settled on their stools in front of her, and she barely had a chance to speak before Santana barged in, demanding to know what was going on. How she found out about the secret meeting was unknown, but she couldn't stay. Especially when Santana would undoubtedly claim Noah to her defense.

And Noah would not, under any circumstance, be involved with what she was about to suggest.

She knew for a fact that Noah hadn't been with the beautiful Latina in any Biblical sense for a very long time, so that boyfriend claim couldn't possibly hold any water. Noah had told her so, and he didn't lie to her. He may withhold the complete truth from time to time, but not about delicate matters. The thought that Santana might even try to suggest otherwise made her blood boil.

"This is a glee girls with boyfriends meeting. We're going to make them stop Karofsky from bulling Kurt." Rachel said assertively, one hand going to her hip as she faced Santana.

And, sure enough, Santana did exactly as Rachel had predicted.

"But I'm dating Puckerman." Santana claimed with her usual superior-than-thou bravado.

"No...you're getting naked with Puckerman." Quinn corrected tartly, glancing at Santana with her usual icy stare.

"I believe that should have been past tense." Rachel added succinctly, meeting the Latina cheerleader's caustic glare.

"And besides, Puck can't mess with Karofsky. He's on probation. If he gets in a fight with him, he'll get sent back to juvie." Tina concluded matter-of-factly, briefly glancing over to look at Santana.

That had been the main reason why Rachel hadn't gone to Noah about this. Because, no matter their relationship status, he had a tendency to stand up for her and her beliefs. If it hurt her to see a friend hurting, he would make plans to "take care of" whoever was the source of that pain. Regardless of whether or not she wanted him to and what it might cost him. She adored his deeply hidden chivalric personality trait, along with everything else about him, but sometimes he needed protection from himself when it concerned those closest to his heart.

Humming in agreement with Tina, Rachel then took back the reins and dismissed Santana. "So, if you'll excuse us..."

"You are so going on my list, dwarf." Santana declared scathingly in parting.

Of that Rachel had no doubt. At the present, though, it wasn't her physical or emotional safety that she was concerned about. She had three reluctant girlfriends to convince.

ooowooeooo*oouooocoooo*

After the glee girls with boyfriends meeting had adjourned with overwhelming success on her part, Rachel had scouted the halls for Finn, without catching even a glimpse of him. She'd found Noah on multiple occasions, adding to her guilt at withholding her plan from him, causing her to duck his gaze every time.

It wasn't until after lunch that she was able to track Finn down. Cornering him at his locker, she'd made her proposition. Rachel could honestly not believe her ears when he blatantly turned her down. Chasing after him once he stepped around her, she pleaded with him to listen to reason, that this was Kurt being viciously bullied.

But once again, she was blindsided by the fact that Finn's popularity mattered more to him than his friends. Finn may have an amazing voice and be kind of adorable, in a tall kind of way, but every time she gave him even the slightest of chances, he let her down. Every. Time. He may not know the definition of the term, but Finn was the most hypocritical person she had ever met.

Kurt was his soon-to-be stepbrother, and yet, Kurt's well being mattered more to her than it did to him, and she had no ties to Kurt whatsoever.

Instances like this were why she hadn't really taken him back as her full-time boyfriend. And why she really wished his best friend would get up off his Jewish bad ass and, in a fit of jealous possessiveness, reclaim her back off the market.

Boys could be extremely taxing and frustrating. She didn't know how much longer she could put up with either one, with their bullheadedness and ignorance.

Noah wasn't being assertive enough, even though she knew without a doubt that her being with Finn in any romantic fashion seriously irritated him. In turn, that irritated her, because that was the only reason she'd agreed to date Finn again. And then Finn had the audacity to argue that Kurt would be fine if Finn didn't get involved and stayed quarterback.

She had never been more disappointed by anyone in her entire life when he finished talking. As she walked away from him, she silently vowed that if Kurt was ever came to harm, and Finn wasn't there to defend him, she would never forgive him. Or date him. For any reason.

And then she would tell Noah that Finn was responsible. As well as make sure there weren't any witnesses.

oooozoooo*ooowooooeoooo*ooocooooo

When Sam leapt in to tackle Karofsky, Puck had never felt more useless. He felt like an invisible force was holding him back, and it was his own damned fault that he couldn't get involved. He'd sworn to both his mom and to Rachel that he wouldn't violate his probation, for any reason. And he hadn't had any trouble or cause to break that vow.

Until he had to stand by and watch as Karofsky shoved Mike into Artie and tossed Sam around like a rag doll. Sure, he and Sam were approximately the same size and Sam had gotten in a few good punches. However, Sam hadn't spent most of his high school career bullying people. He didn't know how to utilize his strength, because he wasn't a violent or cruel person by nature. Not like Puck. He may be reformed, but he could still kick Karofsky's ass if he really needed to.

All he could do, though, was rush over to Artie and Mike and find out if they were alright.

As Coach Bieste charged in and broke up the fight, the wheels started turning in his brain. This couldn't have been a coincidence. For the most part, guys didn't really care or care to get involved on other friend's behalves. Until they were ultimately asked to by said friend. Or, as he was more inclined to believe, their girlfriends "politely" asked them. And there was only one girl that could have orchestrated such a play.

Her name started with an R and ended with an L.

There was only one question unanswered: where the hell was Finn?

oooaooooo*ooouooooo*ooocoooxoooo*

"Where were you, Finn?" Santana questioned acrimoniously.

As Finn turned to defend himself to Santana, he was met with four sets of accusing eyes, two with eerily similar expressions accompanying them. It was almost spooky how often Rachel and Puck echoed each other's expressions without even realizing it. Of that, he was extremely jealous. They'd been together as a couple for almost a year before Puck had been sent to juvie, not including the other two times they'd dated before that.

He'd never had anything like that with Rachel. It was like he wanted her, and was happy to be with her when they were together, but then she would get really clingy and smothering and he'd have to break up with her.

He'd been really surprised when she'd agreed to a date with him shortly after they performed their version of Rocky Horror. Even more surprisingly, she hardly ever nagged him at all since they started dating again. In fact, it was a totally un-Rachel-like characteristic, but she was almost like a normal girlfriend. She waited for him to ask her out, she didn't plan out any activities, and she didn't seek him out every second of every day. The only downside was that she'd only made out with him twice, and even then, it was barely a few open-mouthed kisses before she pulled back and called it a night.

That was something else that he was jealous of. He couldn't be completely sure, but they couldn't have been together for as long as they were, especially with a guy like Puck, and not have sex. On some level, he was almost disappointed in Rachel. She tended to have poor taste when it came to the boyfriends she slept with. It certainly didn't help that when he'd sought her out before practice, to attempt to patch things over, she'd confessed to making out with Puck multiple times since Ms. Holliday had substitued for glee and that if it had been an option, she'd have asked for Noah's help instead of his.

He kind of blew up at her for that one. He might have even broke up with her. Again.

And now this thing with Karofsky had to happen. Seriously, why couldn't they have just let it be? Now Rachel was pissed at him for not doing anything, he was pissed at her for cheating as well as Puck for stealing another one of his girlfriends, and now the rest of the glee club was upset along with everything else for his not getting involved. How was he supposed to know that all the other glee boyfriends had been convinced to gang up on Karofsky? He'd still been on the football field at the time.

He felt really guilty when Kurt defended him in that tired, defeated tone, telling everyone to lay off.

Now he was going to have to do something to make up for it all. Being a leader really sucked sometimes.

ooowoooooo*ooomoooooo*

After the "let's gang up on Finn" practice let out, Puck reached out and gently grabbed onto Rachel's arm, holding her back as the classroom cleared out. Mr. Schuester looked back at them from the doorway with a questioning stare. Puck waved him off.

"Just a glee question, Mr. Schu. We won't be long." Puck said in a clear, reassuring tone.

Tapping his watch with one finger, Mr. Schuester sent him a warning look before turning and exiting the room. The door closed behind him with a loud snick.

Puck crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Rachel without saying a word. Rachel narrowed her eyes and attempted to appear menacing.

Rachel knew the reason behind his displeasure. Well, maybe there wasn't just one reason. He'd obviously been displeased at the lineup for Burt and Carol's wedding intro. Added on top of the fact that he'd probably guessed her involvement in Karofsky's intervention, it would be physically impossible for him to not confront her about either matter.

Besides, his interrogatory stare always cracked her in record time. Rachel cut right to the chase.

Hands on her hips, Rachel returned his glare. "Noah, we are not going to argue about this. I'm not changing my mind, and I'm not going to ask Mr. Schuester to change the lineup. We're already pressed for time as it is."

"Rachel," Puck said in that usual husky tone that meant he was attempting to smother overwhelming emotion. He uncrossed his arms and mirrored her action, taking a step closer. "We're always doing the same thing in glee...putting the same people together. Why can't we mix it up once in a while?"

"Noah, sweetiepie, Finn and I are...sort of dating right now." Rachel confessed, internally wincing at Noah's flinch and darkening expression whenever she brought up her and Finn's casual dating relationship. He didn't need to know that they'd just broken up. Again. "Besides, and I don't mean this in any derogatory way, but Finn's the established leader of glee. It makes the most sense for him and I to go down the aisle for Carol's and Burt's wedding march."

He didn't argue that she was his girl, not Finn's. He didn't have that right anymore. They may have made out...along with a few other more in depth activities just short of sex...a handful of times since that encounter in the broom closet a few weeks back, but she'd emphasized time and time again that she was holding to his declaration of remaining separated. Unable to completely resist his charms–her own begrudging admittance–she wanted to continue on with a friends with benefits deal. But, she told him that she respected his decision. Just as he was starting to change his mind.

He'd never before had the opportunity to realize that he didn't just want the "no-strings" arrangement with Rachel. Unlike all the other girls he'd been with and was perfectly alright with similar circumstances, it felt weird having only certain parts of Rachel, having her be in the moment with him, yet forcefully remaining emotionally distant. It was as unfamiliar a feeling as being hit with a slushie in the face for the first time.

The song that Mr. Schu had forced them to sing during their Madonna week had never made much sense to him until this point. It was quite the reversal in roles for him, and he didn't like the sensation much at all.

When did he become such a girl? And when did Rachel start rationalizing like such a guy?

"You are walking down that aisle with me, Caroline. There's no question to it." Puck stated firmly, holding her gaze squarely.

"But, what about Finn?" Rachel asked in a quiet tone, still slightly stunned by Noah's assertiveness. It was about time.

"Let Finn walk by himself for all I care." Puck replied in a disinterested tone. "Satan can have him. She's already slept with him anyway."

"What?" Rachel asked in an incensed tone, ripping away from Puck's grasp on her shoulders. "When?"

"Remember when you told him you'd done it with Jesse, and he told you he'd chickened out?" Puck asked in explanation, walking up behind her and pulling her flush against his chest. "Well...you weren't the only one lying."

"You can't be serious!" Rachel exclaimed, fury snapping in her eyes as she tried to storm off, most likely to locate Finn and do some damage. Puck tightened his arms around Rachel and she huffed indignantly. "And to think I came clean with him about you, and he snubbed me for being unfaithful and gullible! Let me go! I'm going to walk right up to him and slap him in the face, repeatedly!" As she finished speaking, she began to struggle in earnest.

"Whoa, now, babe. I doubt he even knows what gullible means, and in any case, you aren't. And as for unfaithful, well that's his own damn fault for not being able to take care of you properly." Puck said in a relaxing tone, kissing the top of her head. "Besides, he doesn't have much room to talk."

Sagging against him, the fight leaving her, Rachel tilted her head back to look up at his face.

"I knew there was a reason why I chose you over him." Rachel commented dryly with a small smile, one of her hands patting the steel bands he had circled around her. She then carefully turned in his embrace, squeezing her arms up between them to circle them around his neck as she pecked him lightly on the lips. "You always take my side."

ooosooooo*oooaooooooo

I'm pretty sure that was the first time I attempted Finn's POV. How'd it go? Being that self-absorbed, yet turning a 180 to caring by the end of every episode really isn't as easy as it looks. I honestly don't know how they do it so often. Don't get me wrong, Finn isn't all that bad (meaning I don't hate him), and when I wrote that scene I didn't start out with the intent of hating on him, but he can come off as a real dense jerk from time to time and I couldn't help myself. As for the confession, I'm not talking about the one in "Furt", but rather the one at the end of "Special Education", when Finn blows up at Rachel.