Another Note; I have to once again thank Amanda for helping with the Kurtana part of this scene. Could not have finished this without her. And thank you guys so much for all the reviews! I'm so glad you're enjoying (:

It hadn't been Rachel's idea to follow Noah and Santana back to the house. It hadn't been her idea to enter after she and Kurt watched Noah carry Tana in. But Kurt insisted, and Rachel really didn't have the words to argue. If she did, she would not be standing in the kitchen of the Puckerman-Lopez residents, waiting impatiently for the pot of water she put on to boil.

Since her accident, Rachel found herself drinking more herbal tea that she even thought possible, and thought it would be best to stock the houses she often visited with an endless supply. Her foot tapped against the tile floor soundlessly, and as she looked up Rachel found herself face to face with a rather depressed looking Noah.

Swallowing the lump that was preventing her from speaking, Rachel tipped her head to the side just slightly. "What's wrong, Noah?" Her voice was still hoarse and she knew speaking was only causing more damage to her vocal chords, but what did it honestly matter now? Her career was gone. She would never get to see her name in lights on Broadway, and the world would never know the strong voice that was once Rachel Berry.

Pushing her thoughts from her mind the brunette focused on the boy in front of her, trying to read his expression. It was never this hard. Over the years Noah had learned it was just easier to be honest with Rachel, and he rarely kept things from her. This was different from all their other conversation. Whatever it was that he was hiding, it was serious.

"You didn't cheat on Santana, did you?" Her eyes went wide as she spoke, her voice clearly laced with worry. "I love you both but I would be forced to side with Santana if you did something so stupid."

Patience was not something that God had blessed Rachel Berry with. As her the water for her tea began to come to boil, Rachel found herself wishing she was still holding out for it, and that she had received an answer from Noah. Yet as the tiny girl moved to fill up the mug she had pulled out of cabinet, the mow hawked teen simply rested back against the counter, his arms folding tightly over his chest.

He said nothing yet his facial expression spoke millions. He was hurting. It wasn't guilt or a shameful sort of pain. It was longing. The same kind of longing Rachel had felt since she heard the news that Finn was gone. But this was different. Rachel could clearly see that his longing was not for his best friend. It was deeper than that.

"Noah, if you don't answer me I am going to have to go question Santana and then I am going to have to come back out here and yell at you for hurting her, again." Her words were spoken as she settled her tea bag into the water.

"Why does everyone worry about me hurting Santana? It's always 'Don't hurt, Tana.' 'What did you do this time, Puck?' Doesn't anybody care about the pain she's put me through?"

His words were louder than she had heard them in a long time, and the anger behind them caused Rachel to jump just slightly in her spot. Whatever this was, it was serious.

"You know, I get it. She's the girl. Everyone except me to be the fuck up, but this whole thing is her fault! She gave up that beautiful, fucking precious little girl and didn't blink a damn eye. But let's all make sure that Puck doesn't do anything wrong! Because apparently Santana's the only person in this house capable of being in pain!"

As he spoke, Rachel's ears were met with the sound of his fist coming into contact with the marble countertop. Which was followed by another curse word flowing from his lips as he cradled his hand closer to hide body.

The words that had just been spoken to her played through Rachel's mind once more. And as she analyzed them carefully, her eyes grew wider. "Wait," she began pausing only briefly to take a sip of tea and ease her vocal chords. "You didn't want to give up Valerie? I was made to believe the decision was a joint one."

Rachel set down her tea and made her way over to the freezer. She knew it wasn't the first time Puck had punched something, and she was almost positive they had a form of an ice pack in their freezer. Upon opening the freezer she realized she had been wrong and instead pulled out a bag of peas, throwing it at him and motioning for him to keep it on his hands.

"She told you that?" His voice was a mix of shock, pain and anger. And for that moment Rachel almost wanted to swallow her words. "Sometimes I can't believe her."

Her shoulders simply shrugged as she made her way back to the other side of the kitchen. Rachel brought her cup of tea back up to her lips; trying to process her knew found information. It completely changed her view on things. She had always been under the assumption that Noah didn't want the little girl. That he had been in agreement with Santana to give her away to Shelby.

"I wanted her, Rach." The pleading in his voice caused Rachel to look back up at him. "I wanted to hold her. I wanted to be the last person to see her before she went to bed. I wanted to be there when she took her first step. And when she said her first word. I wanted Tana, me, and Val to be a family."

Her headed nodded along with every word that Noah spoke and when she finished Rachel allowed the smallest of sighs to pass from her lips. She turned to simply place her mug down on the counter before turning back to Noah.

"Noah," she began, straightening out the bottom of her black dress. "While I do appreciate your brutal honestly, I must remind you that it is not necessary for you to use such foul language. And before you make comments about me sounding like your mother, allow me to finish." The brunette paused her semi-long winded speech to swallow thickly in a desperate attempt to sooth her vocal chords.

"You love Santana, correct?" She waited until the boy finally nodded in her direction. "And you love Valerie?"

"Of course I fucking lov-"

Rachel held her hand in the air, cutting off his sentence, and shooting a glare at him for his language. "Then do everyone a favor. Stop brooding because you are not Edward Cullen, and spend as much time with your little girl as possible. If, and when I decided to allow Shelby to move in with me, Valerie is going to be at my house all the time. Use the time to your advantage and get to know the beautiful girl you and Santana brought into the world."

"How can you both even call this a bedroom"

Unfolding his hands from his knee she straightened out his designer pants and stood up off the bed. His nose up still looking around in disgust over the conditions around him. They dared to call this a bedroom? It was simply a cluttered mess. For crying out loud where you slept should not have been on the floor. They invented beds for a reason. Shaking his head to himself he walked back to the door and very carefully with two fingers he pushed it till it finally clicked shut. Suddenly he wished he had swatches to run by the pair, maybe if they added a better Feng Shui to their surroundings they would have been brighter people. He'd have to bring all of that up another time. As he looked over at Santana and the light hit her face he could see the makeup that had run down her cheeks. This was his newest issue right in front of him. She looked like something that belonged on the bad streets of New York City rather than in SoHo where she had the potential to belong. What was he going to do with the Latina on the bed. There was such a large part of him that wanted nothing more than to lecture her right there and then for how she looked.

"Where do you buy your makeup Santana? The drug store? No don't answer that, you'll make me sick. At least lie to me and tell me you invest in a good moisturizer."

Even if she'd been in the mood to listen to his criticism she wouldn't have had the patients to listen to his nonsense babbling about this or that. She was content with their bedroom and she liked her makeup just fine when she didn't have a reason to let it pour down her face. She was pretty sure that after the day she'd been through she deserved to let out a few tears. They all had their rights to for different reasons. That still didn't give her the patients with Kurt to listen to him moan an complain for things he had nothing to do with. Lazily she picked up a pillow off of the bed and wiped it out, letting it fly across the room and nearly hit Kurt who let out the slightest of yelps at her actions. He wasn't going t be very amused with her.

"Really Tana? Who knows what you and Puck have done to that pillow. I'd rather not be the one to find out either. …Come on Santana you need to stop moping around. There are bigger tasks at hand here."

His comment made her sit up abruptly finally, a glare in her eyes and a scowl on her face. He was lucky he'd just lost his brother or she might have gone off on him for just being plain rude and insensitive. She really didn't have the patients to listen to his picking and complaining. There was a bigger part of her that rather he just left the room than listen to his voice anymore. But she knew she needed to be good, she'd done enough wrong and it was the night after his brother's funeral. That and she just didn't have it in her to snap at him like she normally would have. Instead she let her head lull back and she softened her expression at him. Still partly unamused by him.

"You do realize that if Shelby moves in with Rachel that little girl is always going to be around a lot more than you're used to. You're going to have to get used to it because you can't turn your back on Rachel right now Santana. That would be rude and just plain unacceptable. I don't care if you're used to backing out of things when they get difficult. You're not going to do that to Rachel."

Kurt was up again and beginning to pace as he spouted off the things she was to do and the things that she wasn't to do. He was Kurt Hummel and everyone should have known to listen to him. At least that was what he'd decided anyway. They'd all learned to humor him so he'd shut up. Santana watched him as he slowly paced the room examining things here and there, things that she could tell just by his body structure he wanted to change. Maybe this was the reason she and Puck kept everyone out of their bedroom.

"You know Hummel, you're annoying as hell but you do have a point."

Looking proud of himself then he nodded his head and looked back at the Latina with an almost sincere look about him. It was then that he sat back down on the edge of the bed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be like Shelby. Don't not know you're daughter just because you're not the one she calls mommy."