I made a minor change. Instead of writing this in past tense, I'll be using present. The first chapter is in past tense, obviously, but I'll worry about that later.

Puck and Quinn's conversation takes place on a Friday; everything else takes place on a Saturday.

She knows it's not stupid when she thinks that her head and heart can't hurt any worse than they do right now, because it's just not. She's pregnant and alone and terrified, and she hates it.

It doesn't necessarily help when Mr. Schue pairs her up with Rachel for a duet. She thinks it's ridiculous because she and Rachel have completely different ranges and there's just no way she can work with Rachel and be civil. It's her fault she's sitting there in the first place, completely isolated from the rest of the club because she screwed up just once and is now having the spawn of Satan.

That's not fair to Puck, though, because he's been sweet, really sweet. It's kind of scary, actually, because Puck and sweet don't normally go well in the same sentence, so yeah, she's surprised, too.

(She's still pushing him away, though, and she kind of hates herself for it, but again, she's just scared that she'll screw it up because apparently, that really is what she does best.)

She also realizes that this probably isn't Rachel's fault either(okay, so it's not) because it's not like Rachel forced her to get drunk and have sex with Noah Puckerman.

She groans when Rachel literally skips over to her after Mr. Schue tells the group to get with their partners and start working, but is kind of shocked when the brunette doesn't say a single word to her, which is really, really weird because she's expecting some long speech about song choices and having to be perfect and blah, blah, blah.

"So, uh, are we going to get started on this or what?" she asks, and she thinks that she doesn't mean to sound so rude, but it comes off that way anyway because she's talking to Rachel, and she kind of hates her.

Only, she doesn't, not really.

She thinks maybe she should, but Rachel only did what she and Puck were too afraid to do(okay, what she was too afraid to do, because Puck definitely insisted on telling Finn the truth).

"I, um, well, I was wondering if perhaps you had any ideas for song selections?" Rachel asks timidly, because while it is completely strange for her not to take control over Glee assignments, she does not want to do anything to upset Quinn any more than she already has, and to be fair, this is her first altercation with Quinn since their short 'conversation' in the hallway after the truth was revealed, and before then, Quinn despised her anyway, so she is (almost) positive that Quinn isn't all too happy to be working with her right now.

Quinn's not going to lie, she is kind of shocked that Rachel isn't taking control like she normally does. And she's kind of disappointed, too, because she was looking forward to not having to put much effort into this assignment, which, admittedly, is probably very lazy of her, but she's a hormonal pregnant teenager, so...

"How about Beautiful Liar?" she suggests after another moment of silence has passed(is it weird that she's wishing Rachel would just talk so she won't have to?). Rachel suddenly has this creepy smile on her face(which isn't much of a change from the usual) and Quinn thinks maybe song suggestions is all she needs to get the brunette to talk. "I know it's not normally something you'd be up to doing, but it has a nice beat and it's not a love song, so it won't be strange, and..." She stops herself before she can say anything more, because since when does she talk so much? (She can't help but think maybe she's only talking because for the first time in a month, someone's actually listening.)

Rachel actually smiles, because she can't help but think of how nice it is to not be the one rambling for once. "Beyonce and Shakira do have impeccable talent, in both singing and dancing, so, yes, Beautiful Liar is a lovely choice." Quinn opens her mouth to speak, but Rachel interrupts her. Shocker. "Though, if you don't mind, I'd rather you sing Shakira's portion of the song because I do believe your voice is best fitted within her range, and we may need to adjust the arrangement, only slightly, to best fit my, as well as your, voice."

She opens her mouth to (no doubt) keep going, but Quinn cuts her off. "Okay, Berry, I get it," she sort of snaps, and she actually feels guilty when Rachel frowns at her tone of voice. She realizes that maybe she's being a bit of a bitch, but that's just how she is around Rachel. It's not like she can help it(or maybe she can). "Look, I'm sorry," she apologizes, and she resists the urge to smile when Rachel's frown quickly morphs into a full-blown grin, "I just, that's a great idea. I was going to suggest that, anyway," and she actually was, so she isn't lying.

"Great, then my house, or yours?" It takes Rachel all of, say, two seconds for her to realize what she's just said. She's just, albeit unintentionally, reminded Quinn that she doesn't have a place to call home. "I'm terribly sorry, Quinn. I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, Ru Paul," Quinn cuts in, and she feels kind of bad when she calls Rachel Ru Paul, but then Rachel smiles and Quinn realizes that's because she didn't say it in the way she used to. The way she said it mere seconds ago made it sound more like a term of endearment than anything else.

The bell rings, which means rehearsal is over, so Quinn immediately grabs her books and clutches them to her chest and Rachel scurries over to Mr. Schuester without so much as a word to Quinn.

"My home," Rachel whispers quickly to Quinn as the blonde makes her way towards the door, and she just nods her head in response, quickly exiting the choir room in hopes of avoiding any type of confrontation with her baby's daddy.

Of course, she should have remembered that hoping something will happen doesn't mean it will, because the second she exits the room, Puck is standing in front of her, and she wants to ignore him, but it's kind of impossible because, well, he's Puck.

"How's our kid?" he asks so quickly she's surprised she doesn't get whiplash.

"My child is none of your business, now get out of my way," she snaps harshly, though what she wants to say is 'our kid is great, but i could really use your help because i'm scared and i don't want to do this alone anymore', but of course, she can't say that. Well, more like won't.

She thinks Puck looks offended for a moment, and it kind of surprises her when she sees the hurt in his eyes, though it shouldn't because she does realize how harsh she's being and she knows that all Puck wants to do is help. She's just too stubborn to ask for it.

"I have an appointment this Tuesday," she says, and she wants to think that she doesn't know why she said it, but she does know; it's because when she says it, there's a glimmer of hope in Puck's eyes and his lips twitch and all she wants him to do is smirk at her like he always used to so that she knows that she hasn't hurt him so much that the old him is gone completely. "Come or don't come. It's honestly your choice," she says as she begins to walk away, but she halts for just a moment, turning her head to look at him as she adds, "but if you don't show, I'll know that you really are a Lima Loser." With that, she walks away, and she knows it's harsh, but she also knows that she only says it so that he'll show because she wants him to show up and support her so badly, even though she knows she doesn't deserve it.

She doesn't deserve him.

Sometimes, he watches her. She doesn't know it, he doesn't think, but he does. Before school, during, and sometimes after. He sometimes watches her on the weekends, and sometimes, he feels like a stalker, and maybe he kind of is, but he needs to see her and he's too much of a coward to approach her so this'll have to do for now. He likes to think that it won't be forever, that eventually he'll be able to talk to her, but he doesn't know if that's true. He just knows that he wants it to be, but as proven, he doesn't always get what he wants.

He's watching her right now, in the café she frequents with her fathers on Saturday mornings. He just wants to see if she's okay. The logical thing(he only knows what 'logical' means because of Rach - she teaches him things, like how to be smarter, but obviously not smart enough) would probably be to ask her if she's okay(even though he already knows the answer without having to ask), but he can't talk to her without things turning awkward, and lately, he's just had enough of awkward situations. Awkwardness is the whole reason he and Rachel quit talking in the first place.

She looks happy, sitting at her usual table in the corner, laughing with her fathers.

She looks beautiful, actually. She always does, but she's not dressed like she usually is. It's the weekend, and he knows, obviously, that on the weekend she dresses more casually, like a 'normal' teenage girl. She's wearing a yellow tank-top(he likes her in yellow because it always makes her skin looks like it's glowing and that just makes her prettier) and he can see that she's wearing jeans because her legs are sneaking out from under the table, and he can even see that she's wearing flip-flops, and it's nice, seeing her like that, so relaxed. He likes her sweaters and knee-socks, too, though. He thinks he actually likes those more, because they're more Rachel, and he likes that she's not afraid to be herself. He wishes he could one day say the same for himself.

It hurts him when he thinks she could have been his. Maybe she still can be, but he doubts it. He's screwed up too much. He's used her and hurt her one too many times, but he knows that if he hadn't been so dense, so stupid, things maybe could have been a little different. If he could have seen through Quinn, known that Drizzle(or whatever Puck and Quinn decide to name her) isn't his, he would have never used her; he would've dumped Quinn and asked Rachel out like he'd wanted to since he'd kissed her in the auditorium.

It still hurts him, knowing that the little girl isn't his. It hurts more than knowing that Quinn cheated on him, because he loved Quinn, but he realizes now that he didn't love her enough, not enough to not want to cheat on her with Rachel, and yeah, he did cheat, and he feels bad about that, but he never went as far as Quinn did. That's the difference.

All he can think when Rachel catches him staring is 'crap', because she's never caught him before, but it doesn't really bother him. The mixed emotions he can see on her face are enough to break his heart, enough to make that knot form in his stomach again and that lump in his throat grow bigger. He's tempted to go speak with her(he kind of always is), but just like the day before, and the day before that, and all the days before that, he stands up, turns, and walks away, not bothering to approach her and say something to her because he he doesn't know what to say.

(Only, he knows that's not true. He's just too scared to say what they both know she wants to hear.)

It's the unlikeliest of friendships - he's the pigheaded jerk, and she's the high-strung(he thinks she's insane) diva who makes him want to light himself on fire, but oddly enough, their friendship kind of just works. They click. They're so completely different that they're practically the same(it makes sense if you actually take the time to think about it). She's the only girl that's ever actually listened to him(aside from maybe Quinn, but he doesn't like to think about her because it's just not badass when he realizes how hurt he is when he does let himself think of her).

It all started about a week after Sectionals. Rachel had been feeling guilty for opening her big mouth and telling Finn the truth, so she'd shown up Sunday morning with Puck's favorite type of slushy and cupcakes that had 'I'm sorry' spelled out in black icing(see, she totally had listened to him that week they'd dated because black was so his favorite color).

Puck had, of course, accepted the cupcakes because one, they were food, and two, because he really saw no reason to be angry with Berry.

He'd invited Rachel inside for whatever reason(okay, so, it was because he was kind of sick of being stuck home alone, but he was a badass and he wasn't about to admit that to anyone, let alone Rachel frikkin' Berry), and it hadn't been as awful as he'd expected. They'd watched movies all day(after arguing for like, a million hours, Puck decided to just compromise with her because it got her to shut up - they ended up watching two musicals and two 'badass' movies) and he'd acted like Noah(which Rachel says is the side of him that she likes because Noah isn't an ass - okay, maybe she doesn't say ass, but it'd be pretty fucking sweet if she did). She'd left some time in the middle of the night, and out of the blue, the next day, after school, he'd invited her over for Pizza, and they'd had another movie night. And well, as they say, the rest is pretty much history.

The Glee kids, of course, drilled them about their new found friendship at first, but Puck told them it was none of their fucking business while glaring menacingly at the two gossip mongrels known as Kurt and Mercedes, and they'd all kind of just backed off. People still aren't used to it, but he thinks it's none of their business, anyway.

"Noah." Puck groans, because he knows Rachel's whiny tone means she's about to complain or go on a rant, and after his weird exchange with Quinn the previous day at school, he really isn't in the mood for Rachel's babbling. Besides, it's a Saturday night - he should be out with the guys, but instead, he's inside with Rachel freaking Berry, and it's really not all that weird anymore because Saturday nights are kind of their nights now(he refuses to tell her that because she'd probably break out the crazy and he's good without it), and besides, he would have felt a little bad leaving her alone after she called him earlier saying that Finn was being a fucking creeper and staring at her again(not her words, of course, but he does think it's kind of creepy that Hudson stares at her all the damn time). She'd just sounded all sad and shit, and he cares about her(though, he will die before he ever admits that), so he just invited her over.

"I normally don't have any objections to the movies that you choose, I'm sure you're aware of that by now." He just nods when she looks at him expectantly because honestly, he's just preparing himself to tune her out because he does that a lot(though, he finds himself listening to her a lot more than he used to, which is weird, but whatever). "Most of them are as lovely as you say they are," for the record, he does not use the word lovely; he calls them 'badass', "but I cannot bring myself to believe that this," she waves his Inglourious Bastards DVD case in front of his face and he simply rolls his eyes, "and do not roll yours eyes at me, Noah Puckerman," she huffs, and he just rolls his eyes again. "This movie just sounds absolutely, positively ridiculous!" she shouts, getting to her point a lot sooner than he expects. "It sounds vile and juvenile and the previews make it look rather immature. I'm losing brain cells just thinking about it, I'm sure."

He smirks, noting the sarcasm at the end of her little tirade. She's picked up on his sarcasm and he's pretty proud of that fact because hello, anyone who can make Rachel Berry use sarcasm and be all snarky deserves a fucking award of some sort.

"Berry, you made me watch Funny Girl," he argues, though it actually isn't that awful of a movie, though Rachel did cry at a lot of it, but he'd expected that, so, it's whatever. "This is pay pack, so shut it and watch the damn movie."

She scoffs, balling her small hands into fists and placing them directly at her sides. "I most certainly will not shut it, as you so nicely put it. I simply deny your request to watch this juvenile movie and I am afraid there is nothing you can do about it."

Puck opens his mouth to say that there are plenty of things he can do about it, but Rachel, of course, cuts him off before he can get a single word in. "Don't you dare protest, Puckerman, or I will walk out that door and never return and you will be completely and utterly alone for the remainder of the night and the weekend until your mother and sister return from their trip."

Puck's gaze hardens upon hearing her words. He knows she's right(isn't she always?). He will be alone if she doesn't stay, and it doesn't make him particularly happy to know that Rachel Berry, of all people, is the one to remind him of that. She's supposed to be his friend or whatever, and here she is throwing his loneliness in his face. He can't blow her off or anything, though, because again, she's right, he has no one else; not really. He can't go to Finn because like hell, his once best friend is going to speak to him, and he sure as hell can't go to his baby mama because she doesn't want a damn thing to do with him(she's made it pretty clear that she wants to do this alone, but Puck doesn't give up that easily, and she's loco if she thinks that's the case). He can always go to Mike or Matt, but chances are, if Mike and Matt are around, then so is Finn(they're apparently the only two Finn will actually speak to now, which surprises the hell out of him because he thought Finn would have at least gone running into Rachel's arms, but obviously, that hasn't happened - stupid douche bag needs to suck up his damn pride and just talk to the crazy already), and it is a given that his once best friend doesn't want to be anywhere near him.

"My apologizes, Noah. I wasn't meaning to be harsh. It's just-" Puck clasps his hand over Rachel's mouth, effectively shutting her up.

Rachel sighs as Puck removes his hand from over her mouth. She isn't stupid, she realizes that her words may have hurt him just a little, but she honestly had not meant for them to come out such a way. "I didn't mean it in that way, Noah."

"I know you didn't, Berry." Puck smiles, reassuring her that it's fine. "Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

"Did you just quote Gibbs from NCIS?" Rachel asks, and she has to keep herself from laughing at the expression on Puck's face after she speaks those words. He looks as though someone has just told him vampires are real(which, Rachel gathers, would make him ridiculously excited).

"You know about NCIS?" He looks kind of shocked and everything, because it's Rachel, who listens to Streisand and rants on and on forever about Broadway and stupid shit like that.

"Yes, actually, I do, and I'm offended that you seem to think otherwise," Rachel says, because she actually kind of is. Her peers seem to think that because she's into Broadway and can be very dramatic at times, it's near impossible for her to like anything non-dramatic, and that is simply not true. She happens to enjoy cop shows very much, actually.

Puck can't really tell if Rachel truly is offended or not, so he just apologizes because he isn't ready to screw up their friendship just yet, or ever, really, not that he'll ever admit that because he's a badass and badasses don't need anyone.

"How about we watch that, then?" Puck suggests, and he kind of has no idea why he even suggests it because Noah Puckerman does not compromise, but he seems to do a lot of things around Rachel that he isn't used to doing with other people, not even the Jolly Green Giant formerly known as his best friend.

Rachel smiles that brilliant, albeit creepy, smiles of hers that shows all of her freakishly white teeth and he decides that's why he compromised, because he really isn't as big of an ass as he comes off and if he has to choose a totally awesome tv show over a stupid movie that Berry doesn't want to watch in order to prove that, then so he'll do it because it feels good to have someone other than his mother believe in him.

Do they think she can't hear the whispers? Do they think she can't see the way they stare at her with judging eyes?

Now that Quinn thinks about it, they probably already know that she can hear the whispers and that she can see the judging glances constantly being sent her way, and gosh, she hates it. Going out for a drive is supposed to be relaxing, but everyone in Lima knows that's she pregnant and she knows they're all silently judging her. They probably feed off it, too, feed off the fact that she's vulnerable and their stares are clearly bothering her. The teenagers that she passes probably know, know that she isn't Queen Bee anymore and that Santana Lopez, of all people, runs the school now.

And again, she thinks about how it's all because she got drunk and had sex with Noah Puckerman.

Puck. Her heart aches at the thought of him. She'd been so rude to him earlier, and she feels awful about it. She called him a Lima Loser, again, and she doesn't like calling him that. She doesn't like seeing the flicker of hurt in his eyes, but she doesn't want to be susceptible to vulnerability by letting him in. She thinks maybe she already did when she told him about her appointment on Tuesday, but there's no guarantee that he'll show, though a big part of her wants to believe that he will(an even bigger part of thinks that she knows he will).

She needs to get away from all these stares, but she refuses to return to the Puckerman's right at this very moment because she isn't exactly ready to face Puck after their 'talk' at school(the previous night, she'd stayed at Mercedes' because she hadn't wanted to face him so soon). Besides, she knows that Rachel will be there and she still doesn't know how to face her after everything, even though she knows, because of their glee project, she'll be spending more time with Rachel than one will even deem necessary because Rachel has to have everything perfect. She knows she won't have much patience when it comes to working with Rachel, but she's at least willing to try because she sometimes says things to Rachel that she really doesn't want to say, but that bitchy cheerleader side of her always seems to come out around the brunette and she hates it. She's tired of being mean to people because that isn't who she is and she's tired of trying to be something she isn't just to please the others around her.

So, instead of returning 'home'(it feels weird to think of Puck's house as her home, because it just doesn't feel like home to her), she ends up driving to her home, or rather, what used to be her home before her father had kicked her out for getting knocked up. She's a Christian girl and Christian girls aren't supposed to screw up.

She sits in the driveway, staring up at the place that she finds herself missing more and more with every day that passes. Neither her mother nor father are home; she would have never shown up if they were, because her father probably would have her chased away and she probably wouldn't blame him.

"I am so sorry," she whispers, her voice cracking as tears form in her eyes. Not even one minute passes before the tears start falling, and she just lets them because she's so tired of fighting it. She's scared, and she's hurting, and she's so alone, and she needs to cry because she's so fed up with trying to be strong all of the time.

She isn't strong. She's broken, and she needs someone, anyone, but she pushes away anyone that ever tries to help her because she doesn't want to let them down.

She feels like such a failure, and she just wants it all to stop... the pain, everything, she wants it to disappear, but life isn't that simple, not for her. Not for anyone.

Puck isn't entirely positive how much time has passed since he and Berry started watching television, but she's curled up in a fucking ball(he honestly has no idea how one girl can be that tiny) on the opposite end of the couch and her eyes are closed and she's breathing really softly, so she must be sleeping, so he figures it must have been at least a couple of hours.

He probably should be driving Rachel home right now, but honestly, he doesn't care about that because he enjoys having her there, and neither his mother, or his little sister are around so he needs someone to be there because he doesn't like being alone much these days since when he's alone, he thinks a lot and his thought process flips him the fuck out because he's always thinking about his feelings and shit and that shit just doesn't fly because Puck is a badass and badasses don't have feelings - 'least, he doesn't think they're supposed to, anyway.

He is kind of worried about Quinn, though. She's normally home by now, but he tries not to be too worried because she's probably just avoiding Rachel, and it's such a Quinn thing to do, but he's still a little worried because she's carrying his kid and she's out there all alone(probably, he's assuming) and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to her or their kid.

And to be honest, he kind of like, cares about her(a lot more than he's willing to admit to himself, actually, or to anyone), so yeah, maybe he is a little more than just a little worried.

"Puck?" Puck turns his head and looks up, wondering how on earth he'd missed the sound of the door opening. Oh well, that actually isn't important. Quinn's home now, so he can stop his worrying and that's kind of a relief.

Though, he still kind of is worried because she normally goes out of her way to avoid Rachel, so showing up when she knows Rachel is going to be there is totally not normal Quinn behavior. Not that he's complaining because he isn't, and he's glad to see her there, though his worry kind of intensifies when he sees the way her eyes look all red and puffy and he knows she's been crying, which isn't like Quinn at all because she normally acts all strong even though Puck knows it's really just an act but never knows how to say so 'cause he just doesn't do crying girls.

Berry and Quinn seem to be the two exceptions(aside from his mom and sister, of course), because well, shit, Berry is his best friend(which is really fucking weird to think about, but it's there and it isn't going away anytime soon and he really doesn't want it to) and no one messes with Puck's best friend(plus, when she cries, her big, brown eyes look all sad and shit and it's like looking at a wounded puppy dog), and Quinn's his baby momma and the girl he maybe, possibly loves, and he'll be damned if anyone's going to hurt her(he thinks maybe he's hurt her enough already). Plus, he isn't going to run away from the girl he may possibly be in love with, even though the idea of being in love scares the hell out of him because Noah Puckerman is not supposed to become attached or whatever, but Quinn's different. She's like, the exception to the rule, and not just 'cause she's pregnant... she's always kind of been the exception because she's Quinn Fabray and he always swore if he ever got a girl like her to notice him, he'd make pretty damn sure that what he has with her is different. Of course, not everything goes as planned because he'd gotten her drunk on wine coolers because she'd felt fat(which he will always think is ridiculous because doesn't she realize that she's kind of fucking perfect?) and had sex with her and knocked her up while she was dating his best friend.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She looks kind of shocked that he's even asking, which probably would have annoyed him in the past, but not so much anymore. He never really tries to talk to her about how she's feeling. Yeah, he's promised to be there and support her and all that other stuff that his father had never done for him and his sister, but he never actually asks how she's doing because he really does hate talking about feelings and Quinn's a girl and as mentioned, he doesn't know how to deal really well with crying girls.

"I don't think we should. Not with her here," she says, pointing towards the sleeping girl on the couch and Puck doesn't really know what to say to that because he isn't about to just wake Rachel up, but Quinn's willing to talk to him, and Quinn is never willing to do anything with him these days, so he isn't about to turn her away, either. Besides, from what Rachel said earlier, he's assuming that Quinn will have to get used to having Rachel around, anyway, so why not start now?

"She's harmless," Puck insists, but Quinn just shakes her head 'no' and he sighs, but he's not giving up that easily. He's still Noah Puckerman. "We'll go upstairs," he says, carefully jumping up from the couch and uncharacteristically taking Quinn by the hand, which seems to shock her enough for her not to protest. "She could sleep forever if someone let her, trust me. We'll be fine."

Quinn seems to trust him on that, which feels pretty fucking good because that means she trusts him, to some extent, and he sometimes feels like maybe she hates him a bit(and she has every right to, he thinks), so it feels nice to know that maybe isn't as true as he thinks. She smiles and lets her lead him up the stairs to her guest bedroom and Puck finds himself thinking that maybe, just maybe, they're finally getting somewhere.

Before anyone says anything about it, which I'm sure someone will, I know that Christian girls can make mistakes(I am one, after all). I know no one is perfect, but thinking like the teenage girl that Quinn Fabray is, you have to realize that she's going to think she has to be perfect.

Oh, don't be surprised if, should I find the inspiration to continue, Quinn and Rachel's song choice for their duet changes to something entirely different.

Not a lot of Finchel in this chapter, I know, but this story doesn't focus solely on them. I think, you know, they all need a bit of fixing. I wish Ryan would have delved deeper into the aftermath of 'babygate' because I don't feel like Quinn and Puck could have just gotten over it as easily as it seems they have. Glee definitely disappoints when it comes to continuity.

As for Rachel and Finn this season, they're annoying me. At least, they were for the first few episodes. My faith in Glee was restored with the previous night's episode, 'Duets.' Oh, and Sam and Quinn look very pretty together, though I'm all for Quinn and Puck.

Anywho, review or don't review, I don't really care either way, but if you do review, be constructive, not harsh.