Here it is. I'm so sorry that it took so long to update. I caught the world's nastiest flu bug and haven't really felt up to writing until last night. I made the mistake of watching Glee before writing and the episode's cliffhanger just threw me for a loop. So I wrote a quick one-shot so that I could focus and I hope that you guys enjoy this update. It's longer than usual if that helps. Enjoy!

I own nothing.

Santana had just pulled into the parking lot of Lima General and Puck was out of the car before she had stopped the vehicle. The other three friends hastily clambered out of the car and took off after him. Sam was amazed by his speed. In another life Puck would have made a hell of a track star. They caught up to him in the Emergency Room where he was yelling at a stern looking nurse.

"Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson. Where the fuck are they?" He yelled aggressively.

Sam walked forward to talk to the nurse as Santana and Quinn did their best to calm their friend. Ignoring the furious look on the nurse's face he turned on the charm.

"I'm sorry about my friend. His brother Blaine called and told us that he and our friend Rachel were in a car accident. He's just really distressed, as are the rest of us. If you could just tell us how they are or point us to their rooms it would be really appreciated. I promise he's only about half this hostile normally." Sam shot her a flirtatious smile as Puck growled behind him.

"Brother?" She said doubtfully as she surveyed the angry teen.

Sam just nodded as he continued to block out the panic in his stomach.

"Alright. Well they have temporary rooms side by side down the hall. 4H and 4J. Make sure that the patient's 'brother' keeps his temper controlled." She said wearily as she pointed down the hall.

Puck ripped out of Santana's grasp and shot down the hall like a bat out of hell. Sam sent the nurse a grateful smile before running after him with the girls trailing behind.

Blaine was leaning back on his makeshift bed when he heard Puck's voice yelling down the hall. He shot a glance over at Rachel. He had asked the nurse to leave the curtain open so that he could keep an eye on his friend. They had done a good job of stitching her up. Blaine looked up just in time to see Puck tear back the curtain that shielded them from the hall. His eyes met his own for a moment before looking him over for damage. Blaine may have lied about the seriousness of his own injuries. His left wrist was definitely broken and his concussion was making things uncomfortably fuzzy. He nodded his head in acknowledgment and Puck nodded back before his eyes landed on Rachel's bed.

Rachel certainly looked worse for wear than Blaine did. She had a black eye and some serious bruising along the right side of her face and down her neck. A bandage covered a pretty deep gash along her hairline. A strangled sound escaped Puck's lips just as his friends caught up with him. Rachel's eyes fluttered open and Blaine heard his friends sigh in relief. She glanced around at her surroundings as if searching for the sound before her eyes settled on Puck. Surprise crossed her injured features as she examined the man in front of her.

"Noah?"

Puck just continued to stare at her as if she might disappear. Sam finally shoved him towards the bed. He walked slowly towards her, just stopping at the foot of her bed. She could clearly see the tears that were threatening to fall down his already tear-stained face.

"Noah what are you doing here?" She asked him gently.

Rachel was vaguely aware of her friends closing the curtains to give the two of them some privacy. She continued to examine the speechless boy in front of her. He looked so tired and weary. He didn't look like he'd eaten a decent meal in weeks and his eyes looked so sad.

"Noah?" She tried again.

"I-" He started before shaking his head and closing his eyes for a moment.

Rachel decided to just wait for him to gather his thoughts. It was the first time that he'd really looked at her in what felt like years. She didn't want to push him away again. She watched as he took a deep breath and opened his eyes again.

"I don't know what to say." He said with some frustration.

"That's alright." Rachel said as she tried to understand.

"No, it's not alright. Everything just fucking sucks. And I really tried to hate you. I wanted you to just leave me alone so that I could get over this thing between us. But you wouldn't leave me alone and I acted like such an asshole and made everything worse," He scraped his hand over his face before looking at her again. "You chose Finn and I wanted to hate you as much as I hated him but you wouldn't let me."

Rachel felt tears pooling in her eyes but blinked them back and tried to focus on what he was saying.

"You've spent so much time chasing after him and he's just a fucking idiot. And I really wanted to hate you for it."

"Noah, I-" She stopped when he held up a hand.

"Please just don't. I need to get this said." She nodded her head. "I tried to hate you but you were everywhere that I went. You were in the auditorium singing my song and you were dancing at my sister's studio. You were in the halls and in my dreams and I couldn't get away from you no matter what I tried. You chose Finn and I knew that he would never share so I tried to walk away from you." He gritted his teeth before continuing. "But the truth is that I've been so fucking in love with you since we were seven that I can't walk away from you. I've sat back and watched you chase the wrong asshole for years and I helped you break my heart by not telling you how I felt sooner. The last two weeks have been the worst of my life. The truth is that I was one day away from either begging you to just love me back or throwing myself in front of a fucking bus Rachel."

Rachel just stared up at the man in front of her in amazement. The tears were running freely down her cheeks now but he didn't seem to notice. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard him say so much in one go before and it caused her to smile.

"When Quinn told me you were hurt I thought I was going to die. I was praying that you'd live just so I could talk to you again. So I could see that fucking smile of yours again. And yeah I see the irony and I think irony is a sadistic nasty bitch." He finished with a smile that didn't quite touch his eyes.

Rachel reached for his hand and pulled him to stand next to her bed. She idly played with his fingers as she tried to form her words coherently. The doctors had told her that she had a rather serious concussion. She would be very upset if she woke up tomorrow and this all was just a lovely dream.

"I should have told you before we announced the engagement. The truth is that I knew it was a bad idea and I really just didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to tell anyone really so I couldn't imagine your reaction." She looked up at him for a moment and her chest warmed at the affection she saw in his eyes. "The truth is that there aren't enough apologies in the world to make up for the way that I've treated you in the past few years."

"Rach, I should be apologizing. I'm the one who should be sor-"

"You can apologize after. Noah, everything you did was all in reaction to my actions. I've ignored the way that you felt about me because it complicated my life. I have thoughtlessly pushed you into the background of my life for years. You have always been there. The slushy incidents weren't pleasant but we moved past it and you have been amazing ever since. You have been there for me every step of the way. You've always supported my decisions and been there to catch me when they don't work out. You are kind and thoughtful and loyal. You're talented and smart and hilarious. You take care of the people that you love and you have always taken care of me," She looked down at the blanket she was playing with in her other hand.

"I'm so sorry that I've spent the last few years trying to find those characteristics in someone else. I have hurt you in so many ways over the years and I am so incredibly sorry. What I am most regretful of is that you thought you could be so easily replaced. Finn said he knew that the engagement would hurt you and that you'd sever ties with me, but he didn't think it would hurt me. My father said it was foolish of him to think that, but you thought I didn't care as well. I'm so sorry that any of my past actions would cause you to think it wouldn't matter to me. I never equated saying yes to Finn with saying goodbye to you Noah, or I would never have said yes." She squeezed his hands gently. "Nothing in my life has hurt more than the realisation that I had lost you forever. Not losing Finn or losing at Nationals. Not even the drama with Shelby. You are so important to me. You are the most important person in my life apart from my fathers and I hate that you didn't know that Noah!"

She wasn't in the habit of talking to the floor but this conversation was hard enough to have without looking at him. Rachel took a breath and looked up at Noah's face once more. She smiled when she saw that the sadness had left his eyes and was replaced by something that looked like hope.

"I shouldn't have slushied you." He said quietly.

"Noah, the careless way that I've treated you over the last three years more than justifies every slushy you've ever thrown at me." She answered with a grin.

Puck sat on the bed next to her and continued to play with Rachel's fingers. The two of them sat there for a few moments and enjoyed the moment.

"Noah? Please just talk to me next time? The last two weeks 'fucking blew'." Rachel enunciated with a grin.

"Deal." Puck agreed as he heard Santana snort with laughter from the next room.

"About fucking time." Santana said as she threw back the curtain with a wide smile on her face.

"Longest two weeks ever." Sam sighed dramatically.

Quinn just walked up to the bed and dropped a quick kiss on Rachel's forehead.

"I'm really glad you're okay Rachel." She said quietly.

"Yeah about that!" Santana yelled as she turned on a guilty looking Blaine. "You had us all panicking Hobbit! You made it sound like she was dying!"

The group turned their attention to Blaine who looked torn between pride and guilt. He shifted uncomfortably in his bed for a moment before answering.

"Well it was just so weird that we got into an accident in the first place considering the plan-"

"What plan?" Rachel and Puck asked in unison from their bed.

"We were going to say that Rachel got hurt somehow and then you were supposed to freak the hell out and show up at the hospital. You know drop to your knees and beg God and Rachel for a second chance or whatever." Santana said with a wave of the hand.

"The dramatic nature of that plan sounds like Kurt's doing." Rachel said through her laughter.

"Apparently Kurt's rubbing off on Blaine. Speaking of Blaine; spill!" Santana threatened.

"Well the plan was only in the planning stages. We hadn't figured out how she'd get hurt or how to get her up here for some reason or another. We were kind of stuck." Blaine said.

"Blaine if you say that you purposely swerved into traffic I promise you won't ever be leaving that bed." Puck growled menacingly from beside Rachel.

Blaine just shook his head in horror at the accusation.

"No! I had sort of given up on my brilliant plan and I was just trying to keep Rachel's spirits up. The accident was in fact just an accident. But it was such a weird coincidence that I decided to go with it. I wasn't lying about the blood you know. Rachel's little head wound was bleeding enough to freak me out. I may have exaggerated on the phone but I didn't want to leave the fate of Puckleberry in the hands of these three."

"Hey!" Sam yelled in mock outrage.

"Come on. I know that Quinn is going to Yale for acting but I figured genuine concern would do the trick better. I felt pretty damn guilty about it for the record. But I figured that I may as well take the hand that was dealt and make it work. I'd apologize but it worked." He said before pointing at the other bed.

Santana rolled her eyes and she tried to hide her grin.

"Well apparently Jew-God wanted Puckleberry talking again." Puck muttered from the bed.

"No-ah!" Rachel laughed when he shot her a grin.

"Well maybe we can get Jew-God in on my next plan." Santana said as she shot a wicked glance at Sam and Quinn who were standing together by the bed.

I hope you enjoyed it. I kept you all waiting far too long. I hope it didn't feel rushed, this was sort of how I saw them resolving things from Chapter 1. Something huge had to happen for Puck to get out of his own head. Let me know what you think please.