A/N: First, I want to thank everyone again, I'm glad you all are enjoying it! Second, to address a couple of things, yes, Quinn is pregnant. You'll actually be seeing a bit of her in this chapter. Up 'till now it's been pretty much exclusively Puck and Rachel, but that's going to be expanding a bit in this chapter. Also, I have to say I really enjoyed this past week's episode. I was half convinced they were not going to make Shelby Rachel's mother because everyone wanted it and because of how much Lea Michele and Idina Menzel look alike. And I have to say that finding out that Rachel was born in December of 94, kind of freaked me out. One, because it made me feel really old. Two because that means she's supposed to be 14 when the show starts. 14! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and remember to let me know what you think!

Chapter 5

The best proof of love is trust. - Joyce Brothers

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. - Anonymous

Monday morning Rachel was a nervous wreck. It had taken her an extra twenty minutes to decide what to wear after deciding the outfit she'd picked out the night before just wouldn't do. As a result her daddy hadn't been able to drive her to school, so her dad had to. She was fidgeting nervously in the seat and could not stop thinking about Puck.

They'd texted a few times on Sunday, but she hadn't seen him and they certainly hadn't spoken. She had no idea how she was supposed to react to him. The last time they had kissed they had ended up dating, even if it had only been for a few days. Were they going to start dating now? She didn't know if that was such a good idea, it hadn't worked so well last time. But this time she actually liked him, they were already friends. There was definitely an attraction; she couldn't deny that, she certainly wanted him. Oh god, what if he doesn't want me.

Shaking her head she decided that that was not the case, she'd felt his reaction to her. Thinking about it now had her rubbing her legs together. If that police officer hadn't knocked when he did we wouldn't have stopped. I'd have lost my virginity to Noah in that truck. Then again if that police officer hadn't shown up at all it never would have started. Huffing loudly Rachel closed her eyes. God, if his hand had been a little further over he'd have been rubbing my…

"Rachel? What is going on with you?" Her dad asked looking at her curiously.

Rachel jerked out of her thoughts, desperately trying to keep from blushing, "Nothing, dad, what would be going on?"

"Rachel, you fidget when you've got something on your mind, and you haven't been able to sit still this entire ride."

"It's nothing, I have a history test first period. I'm just a little preoccupied." It wasn't a lie, not really, she did have a history test, and she was preoccupied. She just wasn't preoccupied about her test.

"Alright, well good luck. And remember, straight home after school. I want you to call either daddy or myself, from the house phone, when you get home."

"There's geometry extra help today, I was supposed to stay after."

"Fine, I'll remind daddy. What time does it end?"

"Around five, I think."

"Will you need a ride home?"

"No, the buses run until six, I'll be fine."

"Alright, pumpkin, have a good day. Daddy and I will be home around six, six thirty, we'll call if we're going to be late."

"Thanks dad, you too."

Smiling to herself Rachel made her way to her locker; she loved school at this time. There was hardly anyone in the halls, everything was peaceful, relaxed. She thought about stopping by Noah's locker first, but decided she wanted to drop her books off before looking for him. She was caught slightly off guard when she saw him waiting for her. "Good morning, Noah. What are you doing here so early?"

"I wanted to see you."

Rachel's heart stopped, "You did?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay after Saturday night."

She smiled hugely, "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"Shit, I almost got you arrested then jumped you in my truck."

Rachel smirked. Puck blinked in response, Since when the fuck does she smirk? "I wasn't complaining."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Puck backed her up against the lockers, hands at her waist. He glanced around, didn't see anyone, and let his thumbs find their way under the waistband of her skirt rubbing small circles.

Rachel simply forgot how to breathe as her head thumped against the lockers. "And that noise you made when I touched you here," his nails scrapped along her hipbones and Rachel let out a choked sob as she felt a rush of heat between her thighs, "that's the one, left me hard for hours."

Dimly Rachel heard voices as more and more students were coming in. Puck let go of her, took a step back, "Have fun in class."

Her breath let out with a whoosh. He had to be kidding; there was no way she was going to be able to concentrate on anything now.

He was driving her crazy. Rachel sighed heavily as she sat in her seat in biology. She wasn't sure how she was going to make it through this class. All day he had been popping up unexpectedly, just to touch her. Any time they had seen each other he had made a point of brushing up against her, placing his hand at the small of her back, grabbing her hand, anything really. And her body was on fire; every time she thought she had herself under control he would do it again.

He was smirking when he walked into the class and plopped down in the seat next to her. He threw an arm around her shoulder as she scowled at him. He watched her suck in a breath as he ran his thumb lightly from her shoulder to her neck. Trying to look as innocent as possible he smiled at her, without stopping the movement of his fingers, "What?"

"You know what." She tried to sound stern, but his hand just felt so good.

"Explain it to me."

"Noah, I can't think when you touch me." His hand stilled. Rachel, who had been looking forward, to give the appearance of paying attention to the teacher, looked at him.

"That's a dangerous thing to say to me, Rach." His eyes had gone dark, Rachel swallowed heavily.

Heat flooded her body. It was ridiculous, they were in a room full of people and all she could think about was the way his body had pressed hers into the seat of his truck, how close his hands had been to where she'd really wanted them. She knew pressing him now was a bad idea, logically, but she couldn't help herself. "Why?" She asked breathlessly.

His hand tightened on her shoulder, almost to the point of pain. He looked into her eyes; she knew what she was doing to him. He raised an eyebrow; Two can play at that game. "Because," he whispered, his eyes never leaving hers, "it makes me want to bend you over this table and take you from behind."

Her eyes went glassy, her pen slipped from her grasp, and she gasped, audibly. A couple of people around them turned around briefly to look at them. "Oh." She offered weakly.

Ms. Scott shot them an annoyed look. "Mr. Puckerman, Miss Berry, eyes up here if you would."

They walked out of the classroom together when he bell rang. Thankfully people had stopped staring at them months ago. "I'm gonna stop by my locker. I'll see you in math."

Rachel stopped, "Wait, why are you going to math? We don't have a test I don't know about do we?" Vaguely she heard David Karofsky and a few other jocks laughing down the hall.

Puck snickered at her panicked eyes, "Chill, no, there's no test." He shrugged, "I just figure if I'm gonna be tutoring you I should at least go."

"Okay, I'll see you there." Blowing out a breath Rachel ducked into the bathroom, if she was going to spend another forty minutes in class with him she needed to compose herself.

She was halfway into the bathroom when she heard the quiet sniffling. She stopped dead, not quite sure what she should do, turn around or continue into the bathroom. She had just made up her mind to leave, after all she hated when people walked in on her crying, when Quinn walked out of one of the stalls.

"Perfect. What do you want?"

"Nothing, I was just going to leave." Rachel replied. She turned to leave, but turned back to Quinn, "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's nothing, just Karofsky being an asshole and these stupid pregnancy hormones."

Taking a deep breath Rachel continued, this was one of the longest, mostly civil, conversations she and Quinn had ever had. "He's an idiot who gets pleasure out of embarrassing others."

"Well he's not exactly wrong, is he? I'm sixteen and pregnant. I am a whore."

Rachel shook her head, "No, you're not." Quinn stared at her, "You're not. You made a stupid mistake, yes. But it's not a defining personal characteristic."

Quinn stared at her again, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Rachel replied digging through her purse. "Here." She said handing a small tube to Quinn. "Eye makeup remover. To help with the mascara."

Quinn swallowed, "Thanks." Rachel turned to leave, "You know you could have told me that Karofsky was right and called me a whore too. No one would blame you. I've been really awful to you."

"Yeah, but I've been where you are, Quinn." At Quinn's raised eyebrows she continued, "Well, not exactly where you are. And like I said, Karofsky's an idiot, why would I agree with him on anything?"

They grinned at each other for a second before Rachel turned to leave. Huh, she thought as she exited the bathroom, I might have just made another friend. Who'd have thought?

She'd barely made it out of the bathroom when someone grabbed her arm roughly, "So, Freak, whatcha up to? Or I guess, since I've seen you around with Puckerman I could ask what you've been down on."

"You're disgusting. I'm going to class. And if you do not unhand me I will make sure that my dads have the full force of the American Civil Liberties Union down on you."

Karofsky tightened his grip on her arm. Rachel fought the urge to wince. "I could tell you what you could go down on." She pulled her arm from his grasp. "Unless you're too tired from your little meeting with Quinn in the bathroom. I can make sure it's all over school in the morning. The freak and the slut."

"She's not a slut."

"She's knocked up at sixteen, that's exactly what she is."

"She made a mistake, once. How many girls have you slept with?"

"Why, you looking to be one of them?"

Rachel ducked under his arm to head to class, turned, "Not in the slightest."

"You're loss, I guess I can go back to Quinn. I mean everyone knows how easily she gives it up."

Rachel, without being fully aware of what she was doing, dropped her books and took several steps in his direction. A look of confusion crossed his face, but it lasted only a moment, before being replaced with a look of pain as Rachel kneed him in the groin. As he doubled over, cupping himself with both hands, Rachel slammed her fist into his face.

The crunch of bone on bone brought her back to herself, I really hope that's his nose and not my hand. Picking up her books she left Karofsky in a heap as she bolted down the hallway. There's no way I can go to class right now. She made her way to the auditorium and took out her phone.

Come to the auditorium.

She waited for several minutes, but received no response. She was gathering her things when she felt hands encircling her waist. She let out a yip of surprise and raised her hand to smack her attacker.

"Whoa." Puck said grabbing her wrist right before it made contact with his face. "Did you ask me here just so you could smack me around." He paused for a moment, "Although."

"Noah." She said with a half laugh. "You scared me. I thought you were… Never mind, thank you for coming."

"Oh, anytime." Rachel snorted in response. "I have to say my mom is going to be really disappointed, she thinks you're a good influence on me, but here you are asking me to ditch class with you."

Rachel's face darkened, "I'm sorry, you're right. We should get back."

"Hey, I thought we were over this?" Puck looked at her for a moment, "What's up? Are you okay?"

"David Karofsky…" She started.

Anger flashed across his face. He grabbed both her arms, noticing the way she winced slightly, "Did he touch you."

"What, no. Well, he grabbed my arm, but not the way you're thinking."

"Let me see."

"Noah, it's fine, it's nothing."

"It was enough that you winced when I touched it. And you freaked the fuck out when I came in here."

"You startled me."

"Rachel, let me see your arm." Watching her face he took a step closer. He nodded at her button down shirt, "You have anything on under that?" She just stared at him with wide eyes, shook her head. Sighing he picked up their books, grabbed her hand, "Come on."

They were stopped at his locker when she was able to speak again, "What are we doing?"

"We're getting the hell out of here."

"But, what if we get caught?"

"Rach, we almost got arrested for nighttime b 'n e, and we're already skipping class. Are you really afraid of getting caught?"

"B 'n e?"

"Breaking and entering."

"Oh, and I guess not."

"Cool, now lets grab your crap and bust this taco stand."

She snickered as she spun her lock, "'Bust this taco stand?'"

"What? It's awesome."

Rachel shook her head, shoved books into her backpack, "If you say so."

The stopped suddenly when they heard Mr. Shuester's voice. "Em, what am I going to do? You should have heard her, it was heartbreaking."

Puck and Rachel looked at each other, shrugging.

"I don't know, Will, but you can't keep treating her differently." Miss Pillsbury replied.

"I know that, but every time I see her I think about Terri. I know it's not logical, and there is no actual resemblance, but I look at Rachel and I see her."

"You do realize that Rachel telling Finn that he was not the father of Quinn's child is nothing like what Terri did to you, right?"

"I know that, it's more the manipulation part. Terri wanted me to stay so she put on this elaborate scam to keep me. Rachel told Finn, not because she wanted to be a good friend, but because she wanted him to leave Quinn so they could be together."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I overheard her talking to Quinn after it happened."

"Whatever reason she did it, Will, you have to stop treating her the way you have been. We're educators, and regardless of how we feel about our students we have to treat them all fairly. Even if they are as annoying and abrasive as Rachel."

Rachel looked stricken as she bolted the rest of the way down the hall. "Damn it, Rachel, hold up."

"He really does hate me."

"Then Shue's an idiot. Rachel you are one of the most awesome people I have ever known. Who else would have gone a trip to St. Katherine's with me."

"I'm sure that you've been there with a number of your friends Noah." Her voice was hollow.

"Okay, I've been with a couple of people, but no one else that would have made nearly getting caught so enjoyable. Plus, you're willing to help me out with some of my classes. And you make sex jokes, which is possibly the most random thing about you."

He could see the tears forming in her eyes, "Please don't cry."

"I'm not going to cry."

"You sure?"

She nodded as they hurried out to his truck, "So, where are you taking me?"

"Your dads home?"

"Not now, but they will be."

"What time?"

"Sixish."

"There you go, we'll head to your house."

"No!" He glanced over at her curiously, "My neighbors will probably tell my dads that I had you over and then I'll be grounded for even longer."

"Okay, we'll go to my house then. My mom's working a mid shift today and Eden's going to a friend's house after school. They wont be home until seven, at the earliest."

It wasn't until Rachel was surveying his room that he brought up her arm again. "Okay, let's see it."

"See what?"

"Berry."

"Noah, we've been over this, it's nothing."

"Just let me see your arm and I'll leave it alone."

"I thought we already established that I don't have anything on under my shirt."

"Don't care."

"Noah!" She sputtered scandalized.

He smiled at her, "I just want to make sure that you're alright."

"I'm fine."

He took a step closer to her, "Let me see." He breathed softly.

"Fine." She raised her hands to the top button of her shirt.

"No." She looked up quickly, confused. "Let me." Her hands dropped. Slowly Puck unbuttoned the top button. Her breath stuttered out when he reached for the second button, the one between her breasts. His eyes stayed on hers as he grasped the third and her bra was exposed to him. Her breath sped up as he undid the fourth and she moaned softly when his fingers slipped, ghosting along her stomach with the fifth.

Once all of the buttons were open he slowly pushed the shirt from her shoulders, her breath caught as he started at her. Then his eyes darkened when he saw the bruises already forming on her upper arm. "Noah?"

He raised her arm, placing soft kisses over the bruises, "I'll kill him."

"I…" Rachel sucked in a breath, looked at his concerned face, "I think I already broke his nose."

His thumb rubbed back and forth along the inside of her elbow, causing her break out in Goosebumps. "No shit?"

"None."

He grinned down at her, "How's your hand."

She looked down at it; her first two knuckles were swollen. "A bit sore, actually."

His hand moved from her elbow to her wrist, pulled her hand to his lisps as he placed a soft kiss on each one of her knuckles. "So, I'm gonna do something. Don't kick me in the balls, okay?"

"Huh?"

He grinned at her, slid his hands into her hair, and pressed his lips gently to hers. "Feel better?"

"Mmmhmm."

He grinned picking up her shirt, "Here, you need to put this back on." She looked up at him in confusion. "Rach, you're here, in my bedroom, half naked, and my mother isn't home. I'm about three seconds from tossing you down onto my bed."

She swallowed, but didn't put the shirt on. "What if I want you to?"

"I don't know that I'll be able to stop."

"I trust you."

The words had hardly left her mouth when his mouth was on hers again. She sighed as he backed her towards the bed, giggled as they fell onto it. "This really isn't the time to be laughing."

She kissed her way along his jaw, "Sorry." Her hands made their way to the hem of his shirt and pulled. She sighed in approval as his shirt hit the floor. His hands were running up and down her sides, he paused for a moment, before moving to cup her breasts, "Oh, god." She moaned.

He grinned against her neck, then bit, causing her to moan again. He found a particularly sensitive spot at the crook of her neck that caused her to dig her nails into his back. The little pricks of pain fueled him on.

He was more than a little surprised when Rachel rolled them so that she was straddling his hips. She kissed her way from his mouth to his neck, then lower. "You have a nipple ring?" She asked breathlessly.

He grinned at her, "It's badass." He said sitting up.

The change in position caused his denim-covered erection to hit her center. Rachel cried out; her hips snapped forward, "Again."

Puck grabbed her hips directing her movements so that she was grinding against his erection. He moved his hands to her breasts again, rolling her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers.

He heard the change in her breathing about a second before she climaxed, shuttering in his arms. The look on her face, the way her thighs tightened around his hips, the pricks of pain at the back of his neck where her nails dug in, and the way his name spilled from her lips caused him to come as well.

"Shit, Rachel." He muttered when he had the breath to talk.

"Wow." She looked dazed. He was more than a little proud of himself for putting the look on her face.

"Was that your first?"

"No, of course not. First time with someone else though."

His eyes glazed slightly at the though of her touching herself, holy shit! "Listen, Rach, you have to move. I need to change."

Her brow wrinkled, "What?" As she didn't appear to be moving he simply gripped her hips and lifted her next to him on the bed. He looked down at himself; she followed his gaze and seemed to catch on. Her eyes widened and she grinned, "Oh."

"It's not funny. I haven't come in my pants since I was thirteen." He replied disgruntled.

She grinned again, kissed him softly, "I wasn't laughing, I just like knowing that I could have that effect on you."

He walked back into his room ten minutes later with a pair of sweats on, and yeah he took time to rub another one out. "Hey."

She looked up at him shyly, "Hi." She'd put her shirt back on, but he wasn't going to complain, watching Rachel Berry come was one of the hottest things he'd ever seen. Besides, she left the top two buttons of her shirt undone. "Noah, what is this?"

He sat down next to her on the bed. "I don't know." He saw a brief flicker of disappointment cross her face. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before continuing. "Rachel, you're, like my best friend, and fuck if I could tell you when that happened."

She jumped off the bed, "Noah, I should really be going."

"Shit, don't freak, okay. Just listen." He jumped up after her, sat her back down. "It's just, after everything with Quinn and the baby, everyone just kinda gave up on me. I was just this asshole that knocked up Quinn Fabrey. I didn't have anyone. Then all of a sudden you were there and you didn't treat me like an asshole. And then we started hanging out, even if your dads do hate me. And you just sorta became the person I wanted to spend all my time with. I really don't want to fuck this up, I really good at that."

She blinked at him, "I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much at once."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it. Mouth diarrhea is your thing not mine."

"That's not very nice." Rachel sighed, "Although, it's not inaccurate. However, I don't want to mess this up either, Noah, I just…" she paused, "I've never… I don't know how to do this, especially since I don't know what this is. Am I your girlfriend? Am I just some girl that you can get off with? Am I…"

He stopped her with the most efficient way he could think of, he kissed her. "First, you're not just some girl, not to me. Second, I think I'd like you to be my girlfriend, but I think we should wait…" her eyes narrowed, "cool down a sec, I'm not done. I think we should wait until your not grounded anymore, so that way we can, you know, go out and shit."

"You know, I think, under all the vulgarity, there is a true romantic in there, Noah."

"Shut up."

"There is. I have one rule that I want to add." He raised an eyebrow, "Until then I don't want you to see anyone else."

"Not a problem."

"Really?"

"Did you not here the shit I said about wanting to spend my time with you?" She grinned at him, "Now let me go get you some ice for your hand, Rocky."

Walking into glee the next day Rachel was stopped by Quinn, "Karofsky's got a broken nose."

"Yes, I heard that."

"People are saying you broke it."

"I heard that as well."

"Did you?

"Yes."

"Really?"

She looked at Quinn curiously, "Why would I lie about something like that?"

"Fair enough. Why?"

"He deserved it." Quinn raised her eyebrows, "He was saying some particularly vile things. They were mostly about me, but there were some about you as well. I didn't plan to do it, it just sort of happened."

"I heard there was a crotch shot as well." Quinn giggled.

Rachel's eyes lit up, "There was."

Much to Rachel's surprise Quinn hugged her, "Thanks."

Everyone looked on curiously when Quinn and Rachel walked in together. Though, the whispering only started when Quinn sat next to Rachel. Puck frowned at them, not that he didn't want Rachel to have friends besides him, but the idea of his sort of girlfriend and the girl who was pregnant with his kid together just didn't sit right with him. It's all sorts of wrong, unless of course they're together. He grinned at the thought.

"Alright guys, up here. I've got a new number I want to try out." Mr. Shuester started as he handed out the sheet music. "Want to give it a shot, Rachel?"

Rachel looked down, 'Bleeding Love,' she grinned, jumped up, "Sure, Mr. Shue."

"Oh, hell to the no."

Rachel stared at Mercedes, "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. Mr. Shue why does she always get the solos? What about the rest of us?"

"She's right, last time I checked there were twelve people here." Kurt added.

Rachel could feel the anger building again, how dare they!

"Well, I suppose we could have tryouts." Mr. Shuester supplied. Kurt and Mercedes looked please with themselves.

Not again. Rachel took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm her, however each breath brought a new wave of anger. "No."

Everyone, including Mr. Shuester looked at her in surprise. "What?"

"I am not giving up another solo after you've given it to me."

"Rachel it's only fair."

She snapped, "Fair?" She cried shrilly. "Why is it only fair if you're taking solos away from me. When you wanted to give me 'Defying Gravity' and Kurt whined about it…"

"I did not whine about anything." He interrupted.

Rachel shot him a death glare that had him shrinking back into his chair, "I'm talking now. After Kurt whined about me getting the solo you took it away from me to make me try out for it."

"It was a special song for Kurt." Mr. Shuester supplied.

"When you gave Tina Maria's solo in 'Tonight' you told me I had better learn to be a better team player. Then you made me believe that I could have the part, only to give it to Tina. And you" she said looking at Mercedes, "what other solos are you talking about? Because the last solo I remember doing was during Sectionals. And that was only, as Kurt so wonderfully said 'as much as he hated to admit it' I was the best one to pull a solo out of thin air." Her face was turning red, as the words flew from her mouth. "And you know what, you don't work as hard as I do and you don't want it is much as I do. And frankly you're mean, self absorbed, and cruel."

"Calm the hell down, Rup…" Santana started.

"I said I'm talking now, was there something you did not understand in that?" The fierce look she sent Santana and the tone in her voice had Santana closing her mouth.

"Fucking awesome." Puck muttered under his breath.

"So help me if you call me 'RuPal,' 'manhands,' 'treasure trail,' or whatever other god awful names you've come up with over the years, again." She was pointing between Brittnay and Santana. "What have I ever done to either of you? Have I ever called you awful names, tripped you, drew pornographic pictures of you on the bathroom walls, told you your parents should sent you back, told you to get sterilized? No, oh, wait, those are all things you've done to me. Even with all of those things, who was the first to believe you when you said you weren't a spy for Coach Sylvester? Right, that was me."

She rounded on Matt and Mike, "And you two. You don't even look at me outside glee. It is too much to ask for basic human decency? You could say, 'Hey' once in a while. But, god forbid, you wouldn't want anyone to see you talking to Rachel Berry."

Tina and Artie were next, both cowering from the look she sent their way. "You guys are just as bad as Kurt and Mercedes," Artie opened his mouth to protest, but another angry look from Rachel had him shutting it. "You pretend to be nice to me when it's in your best interests, when you want something." Tina squirmed in her seat, Artie looked down, "What? Is something about my personality a bit too 'terrifying' for you?"

"And you." Rachel said, voice full of contempt, as she rounded on Finn. "You're the worst. You made me believe that you liked me. You've used me over and over again. You kissed me, twice, made me believe that you were going to leave Quinn so that we could be together. You used my feelings for you to get what you want without caring about what the repercussions were for me. The only person you care about is yourself, well that, and your precious reputation. I told you about the baby for selfish reasons, yes, but you needed to know. If you're going to be angry with anyone it should be Quinn and Noah, who you just seem to pretend don't exist. Or you could be mad at everyone else in this room, who knew for weeks that the baby wasn't yours, but let you go on believing it anyway."

She rounded on Mr. Shuester again, "And if you want to talk about how annoying your students are with the other teachers you should make sure that said students are not in the school, or at the very least you could close the door."

Breathing heavily Rachel turned on her heel and stormed from the room. "Crap." She muttered as she marched to her locker. How am I supposed to get home? The late busses don't start for another forty minutes, Noah's in glee…

"Ow." She cried, surprised when she was pushed back into the lockers, the lock of one digging painfully into her hip.

"You broke my fucking nose, you crazy bitch." She looked up into the furious eyes of David Karofsky. "What do you think we're going to do about that?" He muttered as he caged her in against the lockers.

She was terrified, but she looked him straight in the eye, spoke calmly, "You're going to let me go and you're not going to touch me again."

He snickered, ran a finger under her chin, "Is that what we're going to do?"

She batted his hand away, "Don't touch me." She hissed.

He grabbed both her arms, pulled her away from the lockers, slammed her back into them. Her hip cried in protest as the lock hit bone and a cry of pain escaped her lips. He raised his fist and she was sure that he was going to hit her when she heard footsteps.

"The fuck you think you're doing Karofsky?" Santana yelled from the other end of the hall, Brittany steps behind her.

"Teaching the freak here a lesson. You'd appreciate that Lopez."

She could feel the hot tears in her eyes, but she wasn't going to let them see her cry, she wasn't. "Back off."

Rachel's head whipped towards Santana, she looked furious. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Karofsky, get the fuck away from her." When he didn't move she continued. "Unless you want me to tell the whole school that you're a limp dick asshole who couldn't get it up with both hands. Brittany'll back me up on that."

"Yeah." Brittany said.

"You glee freaks all fucking suck." He muttered as he stepped away from Rachel.

"You're going to want to be very careful with what you say to us Karofsky. And I see you near her again I will make sure that the entire school knows about how you didn't even get 'excited' when Brit and I went out with you."

As soon as he was out of eyesight Rachel's knees gave way and she slid, boneless, to the floor. "Brit go tell Puck that we found her and that I'll bring her out to his truck."

"Okay. Hope you're okay Rachel."

Rachel looked blankly at Brittany's retreating back, then over to Santana. "Why did you come after me?"

Santana raised an eyebrow, kneeled next to her, "You're welcome."

Rachel blinked, "Thank you. But why? You hate me."

"I don't hate you." At Rachel's look of disbelief she continued, "I just don't like you all that much."

"Okay." Rachel said confused. "But you still came after me. You stopped Karofsky from… doing whatever it was that he would have otherwise."

"Quinn asked Brittany and I to look for you. She and Puck are doing the same. I have to say the way you shot Hummel and Mercedes down was pretty cool." Santana conceded. "And Karofsky is a giant douche bag. Guys shouldn't hit girls, especially ones half their size." Rachel was still looking blankly at her. "Come on, get up, let's get your shit and get out of here." Santana got up, held a hand out to Rachel.

Rachel accepted the help, hissed in pain as her hip protested the movement. Santana looked at her questioningly, "He shoved me back into the lockers a few times, the lower locks are apparently at my hip level." She rubbed a hand over her left hip.

Santana's eyes darkened as they walked the rest of the way to Rachel's locker. "If you tell anyone I'll deny it." She said as Rachel opened her locker, pulled her bag out. "Before my mom got the balls to kick my dad out," She started as Rachel closed her locker, stared at her, "he used to beat the hell out of us."

Rachel blinked in surprise, "I'm sorry."

They walked towards the exit, "It was a long time ago. But when I saw Karofsky…"

"It reminded you of your father."

"Exactly." Santana waved at Puck as they walked across the parking lot.

"Whatever the reason, thank you." Rachel said stopping.

Before Santana could reply Puck was jogging around his truck. He grabbed Rachel's face, softly, in each of his hands, "Brittany told me what happened; you okay?"

"I'm fine." Her hands came up to grip his wrists.

He brushed his lips softly against hers. "Check her left hip." Santana told him. Rachel looked at Santana with wide eyes, Santana just shrugged.

Puck took a step back from Rachel, "You guys need a ride?"

"Nah, I have my car, I'll take Brit home."

"Cool. Thanks." Puck replied grabbing Rachel's bag and tossing it into his truck.

"Here, I'll help you climb up." Brittany said looking at Rachel.

"Um, okay."

"Puck?" Brittany asked as Rachel was buckling her seatbelt.

"Yeah?"

"Is this a Volvo?"

"What, no."

"Oh," Brittany said, looking vaguely disappointed, "it smells like one."

"Okay." Puck said confused, "See you guys later."