Broken

Chapter 19- Lights Will Guide You Home

A/N: So here's the next chapter guys! I'm not one to normally complain, but I had over 300 views on the last chapter and only a few people took the time to drop a review. I know I haven't updated in a while, but it's very discouraging to see this. I have chapter 20 in the works and am hoping I can have it up by next Friday night or Saturday morning. As usual, I own nothing.

"Are you sure Finn is expecting us?" Rachel asked nervously, holding the plate of freshly baked muffins.

"Yes Rach, I'm sure he's expecting us," Puck sighed, answering his girlfriends question for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

"Noah," Rachel huffed out, "I just wanted to make sure. We didn't exactly leave things on the best of terms with Finn when we left."

"Not like that really matters. The apartment is technically mine. I can come and go as I please." Puck knocked on the door not seeing the look of shock and realization that crossed Rachel's face when she remembered the fact that her boyfriend held the power to displace her brother.

"Right, but Noah, you wouldn't ever just-" Rachel began, but didn't get a chance to finish the question because Finn chose that moment to answer the door. You would never kick my brother out just because we're not living there, right, the question kept replaying over in her head.

Finn scratched his head, looking at that pair standing in his doorway. "What are you two doing here so early?"

Rachel pushed past her brother, "it's ten thirty Finn, it's time to get up! I made blueberry muffins for breakfast." She replied cheerily.

Finn shook his head trying to concentrate on his sisters words. "You baked?" He turned to look at Puck, "She baked?" Puck could only shrug in response. "Rach… You haven't baked in forever."

Rachel shrugged her shoulders at Finn, "I felt like it. It was very exciting last night and this morning. Being in my own apartment with my boyfriend. A place where I can do whatever I want to do. It made me feel a little bit free."

Finn looked back to Puck. "Huh… Well that's good. I mean better than good, that's amazing Rach, I've missed your baking." Finn smirked as he picked up the fresh muffin.

"I hope they're okay…" Rachel trailed off nervously, "I'm not really used to that oven yet. I think I may have left them in a little bit longer than necessary." She bit her lip as she picked up a muffin scrutinizing the golden brown top.

"Babe, seriously. They're amazing," Puck told Rachel, dropping a kiss to the top of her forehead.

Rachel beamed up at her boyfriend, "Thank you Noah."

Finn smiled at his sister, happy to see that she was finally back to her old self, if only momentarily. "For real Rach, these are probably the best muffins you've ever made."

Just as Rachel was starting to relax and feel confident that this little meeting would be somewhat productive, and wouldn't end in a screaming match, she felt her phone buzz. She warily looked at the screen, tensing slightly, when she saw who the message was from.

-Don't get too cozy in that new apartment babe

Letting out a strangled cry of horror, Rachel dropped her phone to the ground and ran to her (old?) room, slamming the door behind her.

"What the hell was that about?" Finn asked in surprise.

Puck picked up the discarded phone and looked at the screen that was still on her last message. Looking at it had Puck seeing red, "I think I know why," he managed to growl out.

Finn snatched the phone out of Puck's hand, looking at the first message from Jesse, as he was getting ready to ask Puck just what the fuck was going on, another message came through.

-I can't wait to see you again. Soon babe, soon

"What the fuck is going on Puck? Why is she getting text messages like this? Are these from who I think they're from...and if they are why haven't you stopped them yet? You're supposed to be protecting her, not letting her get scared to tears. Is this why you two came back from your little vacation to Connecticut so fast? Because of this? How long has this been going on? Why haven't you told me about this? Does anyone know?" By the end of his string of questions, Finn was pacing and yelling so loud, the entire floor could probably hear him.

"Listen dude, Rachel didn't want to tell you. She didn't want anyone to know. We're handling the situation okay? As soon as we get done here, we're going down and having her phone number changed," Puck stated calmly, trying to get Finn to calm down and think about this with a level head.

"Rachel didn't want to tell me?! What kind of bullshit is that? She's never hidden anything from me. She tells me everything. We don't have any secrets with each other."

"Clearly," Puck mumbled under his breath, "Because she totally told you about her asshole boyfriend." Really, Puck didn't mean for Finn to hear him, but he did mean what he said. If Rachel and Finn were so close, and didn't hide anything from each other, no matter what, why didn't he know? Why didn't he realize something was wrong with her sooner?

"Dude, that's different. That's not the same and you know it."

"How is it different? I'm just confused Finn. I get that Quinn tried to tell you, but if you and Rach have always been so close, how come you didn't believe Quinn when she told you her suspicions? Why didn't you, her own brother, see what was going on right under your nose, practically in your own house. You put a lot of shit on me for not handling this right now, but you didn't handle it for how many fucking years Finn? You basically ran away because you couldn't deal with it, deal with her. Do you know how scared that had to have made her? The one person who gave her comfort left her to deal with this big, scary ordeal all on her own. Now, I'm going to check on your sister, who you clearly love so much, because she's probably having a panic attack about all this yelling right now. But, you'd know that, right?"

…***...***...***

In her old room, Rachel could hear Puck and her brother fighting, and it just made her chest tighten even more. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen today. She didn't want any fighting. She just wanted to be able to talk to Finn about what had happened before they left to visit Puck's grandparents, and the text messages she had been receiving. She didn't want any yelling, or Finn accusing Puck of anything, or Puck accusing Finn of anything. Even if what Puck said to her brother was mostly true. That was how she felt when Finn left for New York. She was so scared, and barely keeping her head above water, and then her life saver that was keeping her afloat just left her without warning, and she could feel herself drowning more and more every day, constantly worrying that one day she wouldn't be able to fight back to the surface.

She heard a soft knock on the door and let out a quiet sob, trying to hold it in, not knowing which of the two most important men in her life was on the other side of the door. For either of them to see her like this was simply heartbreaking to her.

"Rach, it's me. Can I come in, please," Puck asked quietly.

"It's unlocked," Rachel whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes when she heard the door slowly creak open and Puck walk in. "I heard you two yelling at each other. I hate that you're losing one of your best friends because of this, because of me. Sometimes I think if I never would have come here, none of this would have happened. I mean, clearly, Jesse never would have gotten my phone number, because I wouldn't have a phone. Finn and Quinn wouldn't be fighting all the time. You wouldn't have had to leave an apartment that you clearly love. I just feel like this is all my fault, and I don't know how to stop any of it Noah. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm so scared about this. I'm afraid that one day he'll just show up at our door, and what if I'm alone? I can't protect myself from him.

"I never meant for Finn to get so upset for us keeping this from him. I was doing it for his own good. I didn't want him to have to deal with this stress on top of everything else he has going on right now. I was trying to be a good sister and protect him for once. He always tries so hard to protect me; I just wanted to do this one thing for him."

"Rach, deep breath. You're going to send yourself into a panic attack. It's all going to be okay, none of this, and I mean it none of this is your fault. If anyone is to blame, you could blame it on me. I said we'd sort everything out when we got back to New York. We'll change your number, if he knows our new address we'll have him brought up on stalking charges. As for the being alone? I would never leave you by yourself if that's how you feel. You know the guys will protect you…" Puck trailed off, not sure how else he could make her feel better. Puck gathered Rachel in his arms, rubbing her back soothingly as she continued to cry. He could still hear Finn pacing the floor.

"I…just want to feel safe. I want to feel like I don't have to constantly look over my shoulder. Do you know how it feels to constantly live in fear? To think what will happen when all this catches up to you and you have nowhere to hide? No one to run to..."

"But I'll always be here for you. I'll always hold your hand and stand beside you. Just because some crazy, abusive ex is stalking you, doesn't mean I'm going to run in the opposite direction. Just because you're used to people turning the other way and playing blind eye to shit doesn't mean I will."

"That's sweet Noah, really, but you can't be there, next to me, holding my hand every single day of every single minute. You have classes and friends. Things I've never experienced." Rachel sighed softly, burying her head further into Puck's chest.

"You can have that. You have the first half. You have friends, you can take classes…"

Rachel laughed humorlessly, "With a crazy ex stalker after me? No thanks."

…***...***...***

Finn couldn't stay in that apartment a moment longer. He felt a little too constricted, like he couldn't think properly. He couldn't believe he let this get so far, how did it get this far? Jesse was stalking his sister and he didn't even know about it. He could've helped; he could've tried to put a stop to this whole thing. Had his father's contact all the lawyers that dealt with this a few years ago?

Finn walked down the side walk, bundled in his jacket, kicking a random stone in his way. He was so angry with himself. He had failed again. He looked out over the calm cinerary of the park, as he turned back to look at the side walk he thought he could see a mess of brown curly hair way off in the distant. "Great, now I'm hallucinating." Finn thought warily to himself. He turned back towards his apartment and did a quick double take as he caught that same brown curly hair off in the distant. All Finn wanted to do was go back and apologize to Rachel. For everything, not just for this morning.

But when Finn walked in a little later it was eerily quiet in the apartment. There was no movement in the spare room, they weren't on the couch and he couldn't hear them in the kitchen. Walking slowly towards the kitchen, he spotted a note under the plate of blueberry muffins. It simply read to give them a call when he had cooled off. Crumbling the note up and tossing it in the trash, he decided to leave it until later. Grabbing another muffin, Finn was ready to go back to bed.

…***...***...***

Rachel was still silently crying as her and Puck walked back into their apartment. "Baby? How about you go lie down and I'll bring you a cup of your favorite tea." Puck told Rachel as he ushered her into their bedroom.

"Lemon zinger? With a lemon wedge? Oh and maybe some of those tea biscuits your mom gave me?" Rachel gave him her best puppy dog expression.

Puck could only chuckle at his girlfriend as he tucked her into the bed, "Sure babe, anything else?" Rachel thought for a moment before shaking her head.

As Puck exited the room, Pixie followed closely behind stopping at the front door barking to get attention. Hearing the commotion, Puck turned to look in the direction of Pixie's bark, "What's the matter girl? Do you want to go outside?" With another bark and a scratch at the door, Puck took that as conformation and set about getting Rachel's tea first.

Entering the bedroom once more, this time tea and biscuits in hand, he set them both on the night stand. "Are you seriously watching this movie again?"

"Yes I am and you should know by now this is my favorite movie." Rachel scolded, turning her attention back to the TV, "Babs speaks to me and The Way Were is by far is one of her best."

"Whatever you say babe. Hey listen, I'm going to go check the mail and take Pixie with me. I have my cell and I promise I'm only going to be a few minutes, ten tops." Puck leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, okay, and then come snuggle?"

"Sure, only if I can pick the next movie." Puck smirked thinking of what he wanted to watch.

Rachel cringed, "Okay, but no Sharknado."

"Awe babe, mood kill." Puck laughed as he left the room, "C'mon Pixie, let's find your leash." Pixie yipped excitedly, following after Puck. Going to the small, square side table Rachel insisted they put next to the door so they wouldn't lose their keys. Or Pixie's leash, which Puck had already done once. Hooking Pixie to the leash, the pair headed out.

…***...***...***

After taking Pixie on a quick jaunt to the park, which consisted of men laughing at Puck and the tiny dog and women fawning all over him and his tiny dog, he finally was able to get the small dog tired enough to go home. On the way up the stairs, he stopped and checked the mail. Staring at the envelope in his hands in shock for a moment, he opened it with slightly shaking hands; reading what the letter said.

Mr. Noah Puckerman,

We are sending you this letter to invite you to the reading of the will belonging to Miriam Barbara Puckerman. The reading of the will is set to take place on March 15, 2013 at The Law Offices of Capucio and Capucio…

A/N: So that is it for this chapter. I promise the next one is in the works. Does anyone love Pucks rant to Finn as much as me? Let me know! Xoxo