A/N: So I want to say thanks to everyone who took the time to review. I really appreciate the feedback. The response is really more than I could have hoped for, so thanks again! And definitely let me know what you think of this chapter!

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. –Walter Bagehot

A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything. –Laurence Sterne

Chapter 4

Rachel walked down the stairs at exactly seven fifteen the next morning, she'd already had her protein shake, had already been on the elliptical, and was showered and dressed. She'd overreacted last night, she could see that now. She shouldn't have yelled at her parents, she should have reasoned with them, compromised.

She'd come up with a plan while she was exercising: first she'd apologize for her behavior, second she'd ask to meet Noah at the library to show they were serious about studying, third she'd ask to have Noah over after she was finished being grounded and while her dads were home so that they could meet him. It was perfect; there was no way that it couldn't work.

Smiling she stepped into the kitchen to see her dad on the phone. Thinking nothing of it Rachel sat down on a stool at the kitchen counter. "Alright, Ms. Carlson, thank you. No, we'll be back this evening. Yes, we'll see you this afternoon. Thank you again."

"You and Daddy are coming home tonight? I thought you were staying in Columbus?"

"There was a change of plans we'll be coming home tonight. Ms. Carlson will stay with you during the day."

Rachel blinked at him, sure she had heard him wrong. "Wait, what?"

"Ms. Carlson will be here at eight, she'll stay until Daddy and I get home tonight."

"You got me a babysitter?" Her voice had gone shrill at the end. "I haven't needed a babysitter since I was eleven years old."

"If you're going to act like a child, Rachel, you will be treated like one."

Rachel could feel the tightness burning low in her belly, but restrained herself from speaking. Nothing that could come out of her mouth would help matters. Pressing her lips together tightly and breathing heavily through her nose Rachel nodded her head twice and spun on her heel.

Stomping up the stairs as loudly as she could she didn't respond to her dad calling her before slamming the door as hard as possible, locking it behind her.

"Rachel!" She heard through the door.

"Sorry," said insincerely, "I'm being a child." So much for not making things worse.

"Rachel, open this door."

"No." Stalking to her iHome Rachel set her iPod to random and turned it as loud as possible. Picking up her phone Rachel typed, Meet me at the library at 12:30.

Shit, ur dads bought that

Not exactly.

?

I'll explain later. Can you be there?

Yea c u then

Rachel rolled her eyes, why was it so hard to type full sentences?

At twelve fifteen Rachel ventured down the stairs again. "Hello, dear."

Rachel turned toward the older woman, smiling, "Hello, Ms. Carlson. How are you?"

"I'm doing well, dear, how are you?"

"Okay. Ms. Carlson, do you think that you would be able to bring me to the library?"

"Rachel, your dad said that you were grounded."

"I know, it's just that I have an English paper on Macbeth. It's a literary analysis, so we have to use some of the reference books at the library. We have to have at least three sources that are not from the internet."

"Well, I suppose if it's for school your fathers wont mind."

"Thank you Ms. Carlson, I'll go get my books."

Pulling up to the library twenty five minutes later Rachel breathed a sigh of relief after experiencing one of the most terrify events of her life. "I'll be back in two hours, Rachel."

"Okay, Ms. Carlson. Thank you." Rachel replied, already thinking of ways that she could avoid getting back in the car with Ms. Carlson.

Walking into the library lobby Rachel spotted Puck, leaning against the wall, an armful of books under one arm. She took a moment to study him before saying anything. "Hello, Noah."

"Hey, Berry." He replied, "You know you're like ten minutes late, right? And I'm here on time."

Rachel scowled at him, "Yes, I'm aware. How was I supposed to know it would take twenty five minutes to get here or that I was going see my life flash before my eyes no less than six times?"

"Dude, don't you live like five or six miles from here?"

"Eight."

"How the fuck could it take you that long to go eight miles?"

"I'll tell you in a minute, let's go find a quiet room."

Puck shook his head slightly as Rachel grabbed his hand and pulled him in he direction of the front desk. "Excuse me?"

The dark haired women at the desk turned towards them, "Can I help you?"

"Can we have one of the quiet rooms? I know that you normally have to reserve them, but we have to review and I don't want to disturb anyone." Rachel said in a rush.

The woman blinked at Rachel, "I think we have a couple, but let me double check." The woman clicked a couple of keys on the computer, "Okay, guys you can take room seven. I just need one of your library cards."

"Thank you." Rachel said handing over her card.

Puck didn't say anything as she tugged him down the aisle to their room. "So, care to explain why it took you so damn long to get here?" He asked as soon as she shut the door behind them.

Rachel sighed dramatically, "You know how I told you that my dads didn't want you to come over when they weren't there?"

"Yeah, about that, didn't you say that your dads didn't agree to your crazy plan?"

"I never got the chance to ask them." Rachel replied sitting down at the desk. "I had it all worked out, I was going to sit down with them and reasonably explain my behavior."

Puck snickered, "What?" Rachel asked.

"You told your dads that you hoped they were 'fucking happy,' did you really think that a clam morning chat was going to make everything okay?"

Rachel shrugged, "It's worked anytime we've had an argument before."

"Have you ever said fuck to your parents before?"

"Okay, no," she conceded, "but in theory it should have worked."

Puck laughed again, "Noah, it's not funny, I've never seen them so mad before."

"Rach, it's a word, one I still haven't heard you say by the way, I think that they'll get over it."

Rachel blinked at his use of her name, but continued on, "I don't curse, especially not at my parents."

"Obviously you do. Come on say it, say 'fuck.'"

"I will not, as you've seen it's worked so well for me thus far."

"I'm going to get you to say it, don't you worry, but since it's not happening now, tell me how you got here if your parents grounded you."

"Right, well, when I got up this morning my dad was on the phone, talking to the woman who used to babysit me when I was little…"

Rachel trailed off when Puck let out a loud bark of laughter, "Your parents got you a babysitter?" He started laughing again, "That's the funniest fucking thing that I've heard in a really long time."

Rachel shot him a dirty look, "I'm glad that my humiliation serves as fodder for your entertainment."

Still laughing Puck responded, "I only caught some of that, but come on, you're sixteen years old and you have a damn babysitter. How is that not funny?"

"Alright, yes, I can see how the fact that someone our age has a babysitter is entertaining, but I don't find it funny."

"That's because you're the one with the babysitter." Puck's snickers stopped with the dark look that Rachel shot him. "Okay, continue with the story, so how is it that you got here?"

"Well, of course Ms. Carlson knew that I was grounded, but I told her that I needed to do research for that Macbeth paper we have due Friday, I just neglected to mention that I was already finished with it."

"That's fucked up, we're definitely going to need to work on the normal teenager thing. Step one: procrastination, step two: cursing."

"That's ridiculous, anyway," Rachel interrupted, "I asked Ms. Carlson to drive me here. As a side note, do not get into a two thousand pound vehicle with a ninety-year-old woman who can barely see. We almost got into six or seven accidents. It was absolutely terrifying."

Throwing an arm around Rachel's chair Puck smiled, "Well since you risked your life to get here, we might as well make it worth your while."

"I'm not demonstrating my lack of gag reflex."

"That's not what I was talking about, but I like where your mind's at. I was thinking geometry, but if you wanna switch subjects I'm up for it."

It was Rachel's turn to snicker, "I bet you are."

"I let you have that one. Are you're dads gonna be okay with this?"

Rachel sighed, "I don't plan to tell them."

Puck snickered, "Rachel Berry, midget badass."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Little person. Anyway, lets get started, Ms. Carlson should be back in about an hour and a half." She continued opening her math book. "Can we start with indirect proofs?"

An hour and twenty minutes Puck was incredibly frustrated, "Come on, the lady's flipping the fuck out about her hands being dirty."

Rachel blinked, "It's not about her hands being dirty." Puck looked at her expectantly. "When Lady Macbeth says, 'Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?' She doesn't mean that her hands are actually dirty; it shows her descent into madness. She's just manipulated her husband into killing the king and now her guilt is overwhelming."

"So basically she's batshit crazy and is imagining blood on her hands because she conned her pussy of a husband into killing the king so they could rule."

Rachel opened her mouth, but closed it quickly. "I wouldn't use those words, but pretty much." She glanced down at her watch. "I guess we should be going, Ms. Carlson is going to be here in a couple of minutes."

"I think I'm gonna stick around for a little bit longer, I still have to work on my paper."

"Okay, call or text me if you need any help."

Puck ginned lecherously, "Well, actually, I could use some help with…"

"With your paper, Noah." Rachel interrupted. "Also, your disgusting."

"You offered."

Rachel shook her head and smiled, "I'll see you on Monday."

Just as she turned to leave the room Puck grabbed her by the wrist, "No, seriously. Thanks. I have to show everyone that I'm not just the guy who got his best friend's girl pregnant, you know?"

Rachel looked down at his hand, felt butterflies in her stomach. She resisted the urge to bring her hand to his cheek, barely. "Um, sure, don't worry about it. I mean you're helping me out too, so I should say thank you as well. In actuality you're the one that came up with the idea, so really you shouldn't be thanking me at all."

"Uh, okay." Puck responded, unconsciously rubbing his thumb once up the inside of Rachel's wrist before letting it go.

"Goodbye, Noah."

"See ya, Berry."

That night Rachel was just climbing into bed when her phone beeped. Brows furrowing as she read the message, she just shook her head in confusion.

What sound does a rock make when it hits a window?

Before she could reply Rachel heard a knock at her door. She turned the sound off and slipped the phone under her pillow (her dads had neglected to take her phone away and she didn't want to temp them) before opening the door.

"We wanted to say goodnight, Rachel."

"Goodnight."

"Rachel, pumpkin, can we come in?"

Rachel stepped back, allowing her dads to enter, "Okay."

Her dads sat next to each other on her bed, leaving the desk chair for Rachel, "Sweetie, we know that you're unhappy with us, but there are consequences to unacceptable behavior."

Rachel sighed, "I know that. It's just…" She trailed off, took a deep breath, "It's just, you don't know Noah. He needs help in a couple of classes and we're friends so he asked me to help him."

"Rachel, we may not know him personally, but that boy has a reputation in this town. We don't want you to get hurt. We're trying to protect you." Alan said.

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"Pumpkin, he got that Fabray girl pregnant."

"And you think that he's going to get me pregnant as well?"

"Rachel, he's a hoodlum."

Rachel couldn't help herself, she started to giggle, "A hoodlum, daddy?"

"It's not funny." Richard replied, but he was smiling. "I've seen the way he looks at you, pumpkin. We both have."

That gave Rachel pause, "There's nothing… We're not… He doesn't think about me like that. We're just friends, dad."

"Sweetheart, we've been sixteen year old boys."

"There's nothing there." The way her heart had sped up that afternoon when Puck had held her wrist flashed into Rachel's mind. "And he's not a hoodlum. There were two people there that night, people seem to forget that. Quinn had as much to do with what happened as Noah did. He knows that he made a mistake, but he's trying to make up for it. That's why he wants me to tutor him, he wants to better himself."

"Okay, how about this, after you're done being grounded, we'll call Sharon and invite the Puckermans over for dinner so we can get to know your Noah. Then we'll think about the tutoring."

Rachel grinned, "He's not my Noah, but thank you."

"You're welcome." Richard replied, standing. "We love you, you know that, right. We only want what's best for you."

"I know. I love you too." Rachel answered rising to her toes to kiss each of her fathers goodnight.

Rachel locked the door as she shut it behind her fathers, feeling twinges of guilt as she pulled her phone from under her pillow. Looking down she had two more texts.

Come on what kinda sound does a rock make when it hits a window

I know u know

Laughing a bit to herself, Rachel thought for a moment before typing a reply.

Click?

It took u 15 mins to come up w click?

Rachel was about to type her reply when another text came in.

Click

"What?" Rachel muttered at the phone confused.

Click click

Rachel looked from her phone to her window with realization. She walked to her window looking out at the backyard, smiling when she saw Puck with a grin on his face.

Go to the back door, I'll let you in. And be quiet!

She opened her bedroom door slowly, creeping down the stairs so her dads wouldn't hear. Quickly opening the back door she ushered Puck inside, "What are you doing here?" She asked.

Puck didn't answer, couldn't, she was wearing some sort of loose pink tank top with holes cut out into flower shapes and ribbons which showed more skin than he'd ever seen from her. The matching pink boyshorts were barely longer than the tank top and he was pretty sure were meant to be panties. He just stared at her for a moment before saying, "Holy shit."

"What?" She asked self-consciously.

He gestured to her silently, "Holy shit." He repeated.

"Yes, you said…" She trailed off as a creak sounded from upstairs. "Oh god, they'll be so angry if they find you here." Then, much to Puck's surprise, Rachel grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs.

She put her finger to her lips as they passed her fathers' room. Like I need to be told that. They'll fucking kill me if they see her dressed like that sneaking me into her room in the middle of the night.

Sighing in relief Rachel locked the door behind her. "Now, what are you doing here at," she glanced at her iHome, "ten forty five?"

"You have to get dressed." Puck blurted.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked in confusion, glancing down at herself.

She blushed furiously as Puck continued. "Clothes. See I had a plan, but now you're here, damn near naked, and I can't remember the plan." Rachel crossed her arms over her breasts, drawing Puck's attention down, and confirming his suspicion that she was definitely not wearing a bra. Not that he was looking. "Fuck. Clothes."

Puck crossed the room to Rachel's dresser opening a drawer at random. What he saw had him choking. "What are you… Get out of there."

"Holy shit. When do you wear this?" Puck asked pulling out a hot pink, lacey bra with a tie up front. Tie up front! Was all he could think.

Rachel slammed the drawer shut with her hip, "Noah! Give it to…."

"You do not wanna finish that sentence." Puck interrupted handing her back the bra.

Rachel blinked, holding the bra in both hands behind her back. "Jesus Christ." Puck said turning around and heading towards her closet. "Please tell me you have pants in here." He said as he heard her drawer slam again.

"Why am I getting dressed? I was almost in bed."

"Right, we're going to St. Katherine's." Rachel stared without making a sound. "You know, that abandoned hospital from like the thirties."

"I know what St. Katherine's is, but I'm not going there."

Puck grabbed her by the arms, pulled her to her toes, "It's awesome." He dropped her as he pulled a pair of jeans from a hanger.

"It's illegal." She replied as he grabbed a black tee shirt.

"Not if we don't get caught." He answered throwing the clothes at her. "Go put them on."

"That doesn't even make sense. Of course it's still illegal if you don't get caught. You just don't get in trouble if you don't get caught."

"Exactly. Besides, there's like seven or eight different buildings and only one security guard. What are the chances that we'd be caught?" Puck spun her around, marched her to her bathroom and slapped her ass. "Hurry up."

With wide eyes Rachel whipped around causing Puck to snicker. "Come on, I've been there a dozen times, it's the shit." His hands settled on her hips, "Come on, Rach, there's all this ancient medical shit, it's sick."

The grip on the clothes in her arms tightened and her breath sped up. Looking up at him Rachel chewed on her bottom lip, "Fine, but if we do get caught I'm blaming everything on you and telling everyone that you kidnapped me."

A half-hour later Puck and Rachel were walking quickly towards an eight foot tall chain link fence, flashlights in hand. "I still don't see why you had to park so far away."

"Because if I parked any closer it would be like a neon sign saying we were in there."

"I understand the need not to park in front of the building, but four blocks?"

"Trust me."

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Puck grinned at her, "Now you're sure you can climb the fence?"

"I'll have you know that I am in fantastic shape."

"Oh, I remember."

Rachel punched him in the arm, "Shut up."

Puck glanced around, "Oaky, remember, up and over as quick as you can. You want a boost?"

Rachel bit her lip nervously as they approached, "No, I'm fine. Lets just get this over with."

"It'll be awesome. Now!"

The both scrambled up and over the fence. Puck made it to the ground first, but just barely. "I told you I would be fine."

"Yeah you did." Puck grabbed her hand, linked their fingers, "Come on, let's take a look in that building to the far right. I've never been in that one. I heard that it's where they kept the real crazies."

Rachel shivered; she tried to convince herself it was from the cool night air and not Puck's hand. "Scared?"

"No. It's a bit cold."

"Uh huh."

"I'm not scared." And to prove it Rachel quickened her stride, pulling the heavy iron door open and walking in before Puck. "Oh my god." She muttered as Puck slipped in behind her.

"Whoa, creepy." He said. They'd entered a long hallway, the faded green paint and plaster peeling from the walls. Across from them someone had painted what he thought might be an alien. It went floor to ceiling, had the body of a woman, but with four arms, and a skull for a head. Two of the arms were outstretched with fisted hands; the other two were raised next to the head, both holding skulls.

Puck pulled her along, sidestepping a rusted bed frame and two overturned wooden wheel chairs. "Come on."

Walking down the hall they peered into open doors, most were the same. Peeling plaster and paint, some had decrepit furniture, but most were empty. At the end of the hall they came to a winding metal staircase. Most of the steps were rusted, a good portion had gaping holes in the center where the metal had been weaker.

"Think we should go up?" Puck asked looking at Rachel.

She looked carefully at the stairs, "I, I don't know. Those stairs don't look particularly safe."

"Yeah, but I was really kinda hoping to see, like chains on the wall or something, for when they had to deal with the super crazies."

"I have to admit, though the possibility was unlikely," Rachel paused as Puck looked down at her, "I was hoping we'd see something of the sort as well, not that this hasn't been fascinating."

"Yeah," Puck looked longingly up the stairs, "probably shouldn't risk it though. Come on, let's head down this way." He said turning to the left.

"This must be a children's ward." Rachel murmured studying a painting of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Puck continued down the hall, stopping at the first open door. "Holy hell. The fuck you think this is?"

Rachel followed him slipping inside the small, windowless room. It was approximately ten feet by ten feet and unlike the rest of the hospital the cinder block walls had not been painted; the only furniture was a single rickety wooden chair facing the far corner. There was a large splattering stain on the concrete floor, somewhere between maroon and brown in color. On the wall written in the same substance was the phrase, 'The mind is it's own place, and in itself can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.'

"My god." Rachel muttered, growing pale.

"What the hell is that?"

"I have no idea, but that," Rachel inclined her head to the wall, "it's a quote from Paradise Lost. Satan is speaking to Beelzebub just after Satan and his minions have been cast out of heaven and into hell."

"Shit's fucking weird. Let's get out of here."

They'd just turned to leave when a light from down the hall zeroed in on them. "Hey! You kids, what the hell are you doing in here?"

"Shit, run!" Puck muttered sprinting down the hallway, dragging Rachel behind him. "When we get outside turn your flashlight off." He panted.

The raced passed the alien and onto the grounds, clicked off their flashlights, and plunged themselves into darkness. They took off in the direction of the fence, desperately trying to put distance between themselves and the security guard.

The vaulted the fence, Puck jumped from the top and attempted to catch his breath while Rachel shimmied down. "Come on. Walk as fast as you can without running."

"B, b, but we're not on the property anymore." Rachel panted.

"Just in case he calls the cops, we don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves."

They both breathed a sigh of relief when they made it to Puck's truck without incident. Climbing into the cab Rachel broke out in to a fit of giggles. "Are you seriously fucking laughing right now?" Puck asked incredulously sticking the key into the ignition.

"I can't help it." Rachel managed in between giggles, "It must be a nervous reaction."

Puck shook his head and turned the key. The truck sputtered a few times before being reduced to a series of clicks. "Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, sometimes it takes a few tries to start up." He turned the key again, but got the same result. "Fuck." He smacked the dashboard a few times. "Start you piece of crap."

The words had hardly left his mouth when they saw the red and blue flashing. "Oh god, they're going to know it was us." Rachel whispered horrified.

Going on instinct, and knowing they had a minute, minute and a half if they were lucky, Puck pulled off his shirt, tossing it behind the seat and unsnapped his jeans. "What are you doing?" Rachel asked voice about two octaves higher than normal.

"Trust me." Puck said grabbing her legs, pulling her across the bench, and turning her so one leg was bent and resting against the back of the seat and the other was planted on the floor.

Bracing herself on her hands behind her Rachel nodded. "We have to make it look like we're you know, in case they come over." He whispered quickly, reaching for the button to her jeans.

He'd just finished unzipping them when the movement of the flashing stopped somewhere behind them. Puck tangled his hands in her hair as she fell back with an "unf," as all the air rushed from her lungs.

"Sorry." He muttered a second before pressing his lips to hers.

Rachel had a moment to think, We're going to be in so much trouble, before Puck's hands made their way from her hair slowly down her body anchoring themselves at her hips, and all thought flew from her mind.

She threw herself into the kiss, her arms wrapping around Puck's back, pulling him closer. Puck felt the change and couldn't help himself from responding. He tore his mouth from hers nipping at her jaw, reviling in each sound of pleasure pulled from her mouth.

His left hand moved slowly from her hip, up her side, pushing her tee shirt up with it. Her breath caught and her nails dug into his back when he stopped just below her breast, without touching it. Rachel moaned softly when he rubbed his right thumb along her hipbone. He grinned as he made his way back to her mouth, filing away the spot for future reference.

The second time Puck ran his thumbnail along the inside curve of her hipbone. Rachel moaned again and bucked her hips into his. Puck went wild. He jerked her arms above her head pinning them there with his right hand. With his left he jerked the foot she had on the floor of the truck around his waist and ground himself into her.

Rachel cried out and arched herself into him just as there was a knock at the window. They looked at each other with wide eyes and breathing heavily. At the second knock Puck pulled himself away from Rachel.

He was pretty sure he was going to remember the way she looked right then for the rest of his life. Her messy hair, flushed face, bruised lips, her shirt bunched up right below her breasts, pants open, and panties showing. White with gold stars. He mentally snickered as he turned to the officer at his window and tried to look sheepish.

"Um, hello officer." He muttered to the late middle-aged police officer catching Rachel attempting to straighten herself out from the corner of his eye.

"You kids been out at St. Katherine's?" The officer asked.

"What?" Rachel asked dazedly.

The officer directed his flashlight at Rachel, took in both of their appearances and chuckled softly. "I guess not, as you two have been up to other things. You're parents know you kids are out this late?"

"No, sir." Rachel said softly.

"Her parents…" Puck started.

"No need to explain, son." The officer interrupted, "My wife's parents still don't like me. We've been married twenty two years, got three kids."

"Um." Puck replied, not really sure where this was heading.

"Point is her parents are going like you a lot less than they do now if they find out what you two've been up to. I suggest you take your pretty girl home."

"Uh, yes sir." Puck mumbled as the officer backed away. Praying to all that was holy he turned the key and nearly kissed the steering wheel when it started.

The drive back to Rachel's house was quiet, with Rachel rooting around under his seat. "The hell are you doing?"

"Trying to find your shirt."

"Don't worry about it. I'll find it in the morning."

Fidgeting as Puck pulled to a stop around the corner from her house Rachel nodded. "Sorry I can't pull up closer."

"No, I get it. Harder to get caught this way." Rachel leaned over, after debating for a moment, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

Puck looked at her incredulously, "For almost getting you arrested?"

"For bringing me. That was the most fun I've ever had." She replied, hopping out of the truck and walking quickly towards her house.

Also, the whole abandoned hospital thing is something kids used to do when I was in high school. I, however, was always too much of a wuss to ever go. So, I guess I got to live vicariously through Puck and Rachel. =)