A/N: First, thank you for all the PM's and sympathies. It was really kind and I appreciate it very much. Also, thank y'all for the great reviews! You have no idea how happy they made me
Chapter 2: Show Me
"I can't believe you did that man," Finn said with awe. He risked a glance in Puck's direction and received a glare – as well as a knifing. "Aw come on! I'm your teammate man!"
Puck threw down his controller and made his way to the fridge. "You deserve it," he replied casually. Their game of Call of Duty had been tense, but the tension had nothing to do with the game itself. "Where's the booze?"
"It's in the back. Kurt uses it to keep his face stuff cold."
"Where is Kurt anyway?" Puck asked as he popped the lid from a beer off.
Finn shrugged lightly as he set up another game. "I dunno. Lately he's been with hanging out with Rachel talking about…whatever girls talk about."
"You mean they're talking about me," he clarified.
"I have no clue dude. It's a don't ask, don't tell situation."
The two guys looked at each other and burst out laughing at Finn's choice of words.
"What about Blaine?" Puck asked when they got their breath back. "Does he hang out with Rach?"
"No," a voice said from the stairwell. "Well, not all the time." Blaine made his way down into the basement/room and took a seat on the couch.
"Why not?" Finn asked.
"That's more up Kurt's alley than mine," he declared. Finn handed him a controller while Puck tossed him a beer. "Though, I'm guessing tonight she's keeping him later than usual."
"It's a good thing he's gay." Puck didn't bother trying to hide the bitterness in his voice. He saw two pairs of eyes looking back at him. "Oh come on, you telling me that you're not relieved when you see Kurt talking a straight guy?"
"Well yeah," Blaine conceded. "Plus, I know you're probably hurting as well."
"Not as much as Puckzilla."
"Yikes," Finned grimaced. "It's been that long huh?"
"Dude, you have no idea. My hand is completely raw."
"Please don't tell me that's what you named your penis," Blaine smirked.
"Of course," Puck scoffed. "Every dude has to at some point."
"I don't," both teens said.
"Well you're both virgins so I'm not surprised."
"I'm not a virgin," Finn reminded him.
Puck sent him a look. "Please, you lost it to Santana. That doesn't count; your dick was the equivalent of a hot dog being thrown in a hallway."
"Equivalent?" Finn asked. "Rachel's definitely rubbed off."
A door slammed shut as Kurt bounced his way down the stairs and gave Blaine a kiss on the cheek. "Hello all," he beamed.
"How's Rachel?" Puck asked.
"You know, there's a really good way to find out. Go see for yourself."
Puck hung his head – partly in shame, the other from resolve. "I can't. I'd only make it worse, if that's even possible."
"Your poor Puckzilla," Blaine scoffed. "It won't be destroying anything anytime soon."
"Really?" Kurt scoffed. "That's all your worried about? Rachel is furious – and that's an understatement." He turned to Blaine and asked, "Is there a word that's better to describe how she feels?"
"Livid?" Blaine offered.
"Perfect." Kurt turned back to the mohawked boy and frowned. "She's completely livid."
"Well so am I!" Puck grunted. "Why does she get all the sympathy?"
"You're kidding right?" the three boys asked.
"Puck," Finn said gently. "How would you feel if the situation were reversed? If Rachel was talking to Jesse and invited him to see their son without telling you?"
"Is she talking to him?" Puck perked up.
"Man," Finn mumbled. "Just shoot some Nazi's will you?"
"Easy enough," Puck shrugged. "This is for all the Jewish people out there assholes."
"I'm scared of him," Blaine whispered.
"Don't worry," Kurt assured. "Just knife him a few times and he'll shut up."
XOXOXO
Rachel heard a knock on her bedroom door. It was quiet, like someone's fingernail gently tapping the wood. "Come in." A smile came to her face as her daddy walked in and sat next to her on the bed. "Hi, daddy."
"Hiya Princess," he grinned. "Your father and I are going out to eat. You want to join?" Rachel's dark locks shook as she negated her answer. "Sweetheart," he said gently, "you can't stay up here all the time. It isn't healthy. I know you and Noah are going through a rough patch but that's no reason to sulk all the time. Think of what you do have and be grateful for it rather than focusing on what's wrong."
"I know," Rachel replied, trying to hide the disdain in her voice. "I'm not mad at Puck. I'm really not. I'm mad at what he did. I just need time to think about things and sort them out."
"Just promise me you won't be like a zombie."
A shadow of a smile ghosted over her lips as she gave her daddy a kiss on the cheek. "I promise. Everything will get better soon." She made sure the door was closed and locked before stripping down to her birthday suit for a nice hot bath.
The tub beckoned for company and she was more than willing to oblige. She slipped in some bubble bath while the water ran. Her mind drifted toward Quinn of all people and why the two girls hated each other. In truth, Rachel actually admired Quinn. It took a lot of courage to come back the way the blonde haired girl did after what happened. "When did our lives become a soap opera?" Rachel wondered aloud.
She turned off the faucet and gingerly sunk into the water. Despite the steam that was filling the room, Rachel had never felt colder. She missed her boyfriend – his wit, immaturity, his hard body rolling around with hers. A smile broke out as she remembered their intimate times in New York, especially when she finally let a man touch her in the most intimate and sensual way someone can touch another. There was no else but her and him. She missed the way his arms would slip around her body, reassuring her that everything would be okay as long he was around.
A tear started to roll down her cheek as she remembered everything about her first time. She hastily brushed it away and dunked down beneath the bubbles.
XOXOXO
"Rachel?" Mercedes snapped her fingers in front of the brunette's face, waking her. "What's wrong, you've been walking in a haze all day today."
Rachel peeled her eyes from a Cheerio talking to Puck down the hall. The short blonde was definitely flirting, but Rachel couldn't tell if Puck was flirting back. "Nothing, I'm fine. Honestly. I'm just really hungry."
"Well we still got a long way to go before lunch," Mercedes quipped.
"By the way, how are you and Shane?" Rachel felt a slight twinge of guilt at not asking before now. Surely she wasn't the only one with relationship problems.
"We're great!" the dark skinned girl beamed. "Couldn't be happier!"
Rachel put on her show choir smile and feigned delight. "That's great! I'm really happy for you."
"Rachel?" A voice called out.
The petite girl spun around to face Shelby and held her breath. "Yes Miss Corcoran?"
"May I have a word with you in private?" The tall woman spun on her heel and headed for a vacant classroom. Rachel followed hesitantly, but quickly. "I just wanted to apologize for not giving you a heads up. I understand how difficult this must be for you."
"I highly doubt that Miss Corcoran," Rachel smiled. "I don't care that you're here and I definitely don't care about your problems with Quinn, Puck, Beth or any combination of them. You're a woman who happens to give birth to me and then decided she didn't want me. I get that and you don't need to apologize for living your life."
"That's not quite what I was expecting, but I just want to say that if I had the choice, I never would have given you up."
"Okay, this is a little too much for me right now so I'm going to go and hope you have a pleasant day." Rachel scooted out of the classroom, but could feel Shelby's eyes on her as she walked away. She saw Noah up ahead looking concerned, but quickly put her head down.
"Rachel?" Brittany's concerned voice echoed through the girl's bathroom. She brought her hand on the stall door and gently pushed it open to see Rachel crying. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Brittany," the brunette sniffled. "What can I help you with?"
"I saw you missed lunch so I came to find you. And I was hanging up my posters."
Rachel let a smile form on her lips as she sat on the counter. "I'm so mad at her."
"Shelby?"
The dark locks on Rachel's head shook. "Quinn."
"What'd she do now?"
"She's so…so...ugh! I'm so mad I can't even find a word to describe it."
The cheerleader gently leaned into the tiny diva and hugged her tight. "It'll be alright," she soothed.
Rachel wiped the tears and studied Brittany's poster. "You're running against Kurt for president?" Brittany nodded with enthusiasm. "Why would you do that? Kurt's your friend."
"So?"
"Kurt really wants to change things that matter; you're implementing shirtless Thursday."
"Does this mean I get your vote? If I win, that just means that you can see your boyfriend's body all day at school."
"Yeah, so can every other girl," Rachel fired back.
"Well it's not like we've never seen it before."
Rachel scoffed and handed Brittany back her poster. "I got to go."
XOXOXO
The day passed in a blur and even Glee felt miserable as Puck sat in his chair. Rachel was sitting in the first row and not even bothering to look behind her. In fact, she hadn't looked at him all day. He'd kill for even a glare.
"Still no luck huh?" Finn whispered.
"None," he replied.
"Okay guys," Schuester announced. "Your assignment this week is to pick a song that you think others would say about you." The teacher glanced around at his student's blank faces as they tried to comprehend the assignment.
"I understand Mr. Schue," Rachel interjected. "We take a song that we feel reflects how we think other people see us – good or bad. For instance I would probably pick out a song about being a drama queen because that's probably how other feel about me."
"Exactly," the teacher smiled. "I expect the songs by the end of the week."
Kurt leaned over as Mr. Schue began to ramble about something. "What are you going to pick?" he whispered to Rachel.
"Oh," she smiled. "I've got the perfect song."
XOXOXOXOXO
Rachel stood in her doorway, waving goodbye to her dads as they set off for a business dinner. Thunder rolled above her as the lights started to flicker a bit. Rain was definitely on the way.
She headed back up the stairs when she heard a familiar song playing on her stereo. "Noah," she gritted. He had a habit of knowing exactly when to sneak in unexpected. It was the Neko Case song that reminded her of that special night when she finally let Noah in every way – and vice versa. "What are you doing here?" she asked softly.
Puck was leaning against the window as the first sounds of rain started to hit behind him. "I missed you," he admitted.
Rachel should've been upset, but he was looking just far too sexy for her to be angry. "Good," she replied flippantly. She blinked a few times to dull the sexy effect he was producing and pushed her finger against his chest. "You've seen me. You can go and fuck Quinn now."
"I don't want to fuck Quinn," he said indignantly. "I wanna fuck my girlfriend!"
A snort escaped from Rachel's body. "Girlfriend? This is how you treat your girlfriends? Yeah thanks for the Princess treatment Puck."
"Hey!" he snapped. "You're not exactly perfect here either Miss Diva! You think you can just bat those brown eyes at me and then I'm blinded to your flaws. Well, I'm not and you got a lot of them."
"Such as?" she scoffed.
He had to think for a moment. "You wear those god awful dresses instead of those skirts you used to wear for starters. You- you lick your lips when you think and it distracts me. You are impatient and overly ambitious and think your perfect!"
"Really Noah? My dress?" she had a look of scorn on her face. "I'm sorry that I have more respect for my body than to go around dressing like a common whore you're used to fucking! I know, why don't we ask that cheerleader you were flirting with earlier if I'm dressed to impress or if I look like a prude."
"What cheerleader?"
"The one in the hallway," Rachel softened her tone to a whisper. "The short, blonde one with the legs."
Puck let out a half sigh and half snort of derision. "Babe," he said smoothly. "There's only one girl I see that has legs worth looking at."
A blush, as well as a smile, crept up Rachel's tanned cheeks at his sincerity. "You better be talking about me."
Puck walked toward the brunette and engulfed her in his arms. "Of course I am. Rachel, I love you and nothing will ever change that."
"I was just so mad at you for telling her to come here to school and-"
"I didn't tell her to do that," he interrupted. "I just wrote to her and said that if there was any way Quinn could see Beth over the summer it might help her out."
"So," Rachel blinked. "You never said that there was a teacher's position open?"
He gave her a look. "Babe, I never even go to class much less pay attention to who the teachers are."
Rachel buried her head in his chest and fisted her hand around his black shirt. "I'm so stupid! I should've known you wouldn't have said that."
"Who told you that anyway?"
Rachel stared at him. "It doesn't matter. I'll take care of it."
There was no way in hell Puck was gonna ask more questions. He had just gotten out of the doghouse. "I'm sorry and I promise I will never do anything like that again."
"Good," she smiled. "Because I hate fighting with you."
"You know what's good about it though? The making up." He scooped her in his arms and put her on the bed, following suit. He hovered over her, kissing and familiarizing himself with her body again. He took one leg in his hands and caressed it as she smiled at him. "You have no idea how much I've missed these too."
"You know what my favorite saying is?" She replied. "Don't tell me. Show me."
And he did.