My Guardian Angel
A Glee Fan Fiction
Chapter 6

Rachel Berry had made her decision. She knew exactly who she wanted to be with. She'd made up her mind about what boy she belonged with, and which boy she was going to pick. She knew exactly what she had to do, now that she'd considered what Tina had had to say about her situation, and she was going to do just that. The only problem that she was finding with her plan, was that she just couldn't bring herself to break somebody's heart and change her mind, hurting one of the two boys. She couldn't actually bring herself to break up with Finn Hudson and call off the engagement that had just been made, to end up with Noah Puckerman, who might just not want to be with her once the chase was over.

She sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest, crossing her legs at her ankles as she sat in the choir room, by herself, debating what was next to happen to her. She shook her head as Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones came walking in, small, guilty smiles on their faces as they stood before her, by the piano, with their arms crossed and their hips cocked. Kurt had that stone-cold, hard ass smile on his face that he typically had when he wanted to tell Rachel something that he knew she wasn't going to like hearing. Mercedes had her rebelous, hell-no, diva smirk on her face as she sighed, shaking her head. That was her face whenever she was telling it how it was, no matter what their opinions would be.

It was true that Mercedes had once been in a situation similar to this herself. She'd been with the hot new football player, Shane at the beginning of the year, after her break-up with Sam Evans who had moved away due to his family's financial situation. But, Shane had been a complete and utter jerk to Mercedes a large percentage of the time, trying to make Mercedes believe she was better than every other member of the club. He had caused her diva-out, making her give up her part in the musical and quit Glee. And when Sam had returned, she'd realized that it was the nerdy, goofy boy who always managed to make her smile and feel confident, without trying to break down the confidence of the people around her.

And that was why Rachel knew that, no matter what Mercedes' opinion was, she was going to have to believe whatever she said. Because Mercedes had had to make a decision that was probably even harder than Tina's had been. Because Tina had fallen for Artie simply due to his personality. Mike was the real deal for her and she knew that. But, Mercedes had had the physical attraction and the emotional attraction for both Sam and Shane. And while Rachel refused to take Mercedes' approach of not picking either boy and stringing Sam along as they remained 'just friends', she knew that Mercedes had made the tough decision, picking to do what was right for her.

"What do you guys have to say?" Rachel asked with a sigh.

"Actually, we've decided that we don't want to tell you what to do. That would be wrong of us, you know? Instead, we're going to give you a little something to think about. Whichever guy you feel the way this song is saying you should feel towards your spouse, is the guy you should be with, alright?" Kurt said.

"I know, you were probably expecting some sort of huge, incredible power ballad telling you exactly what we thought on the engagement and the fact that it's obvious Finn and Puck both love you and you love both of them-especially since I'm the one performing for you right now-but, we figured we can't do that. What was right for me isn't going to be the same as what's going to be right for you. So you have to make your decision yourself. But, we can, however, give you some helpful types," Mercedes said with a coy wink.

"You know that you two are my best friends in the entire world, right? And that, even though we hated each other when we were sophomores, because we were probably the only competition we had in the club, I'm proud to say that we adjusted and matured, becoming good friends. And...thank you guys, for always being there for me," Rachel whispered as they nodded and began their song.

"What a girl wants/What a girl needs/What a girl wants/What a girl needs," Kurt started the song out slowly, causing Rachel to giggle, at the same time remembering the first song she and Noah had ever worked on. She could still remember his gentle guitar strumming from behind her as she'd sung into her hairbrush, staring into the mirror while they'd worked on their mash-up assignment.

"I wanna thank you for giving me time to breath/Like a rock you waited so patiently while I got it together/While I figured it out, I only looked but I never touched/'Cause in my heart was a picture of us, holding hands, making plans/And it's lucky for me you understand," Mercedes belted out the song.

"What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Whatever makes me happy and sets you free/And I'm thanking you for knowing exactly/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Whatever keeps me in your arms/And I'm thanking you for giving it to me/What I want is what cha got/And what cha got is what I want," Kurt sang out, causing Rachel to recall all of the sweet things that Finn had ever done for her. Each one was exactly what she could have ever wanted, but it was clear he was going it mostly to keep her there. Puck's kind actions had been done because he just wanted to see that smile take over her face. It was clear that Puck was doing it to make her happy.

"There was a time I was blind/I was so confused/I'd run away just to hide it all from you/But baby you knew me better/Than I knew myself/They say if you love something, let it go/And if it comes back, it's yours/That's how you know it's for keeps/It's for sure-and you're ready and willing to give me more than/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Whatever makes me happy and sets you free/And I'm thanking you for knowing exactly/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Whatever keeps me in your arms/And I'm thanking you for giving it to me," Mercedes sang the lyrics in her powerful voice, allowing Rachel another flashback.

"You're blinded by him!" Puck snapped over the summer while the two were at their spot-the over pass. It was early in the morning and a few weeks after their loss at Nationals. "You're blinded by him and you're confused, so you think that you actually love him, when you don't! You just like how he makes you feel!" He said bitterly, his angry words exagerrated by his glare and the scowl that matched.

Rachel really just wanted to turn around and run away, hiding from him, because she knew that he was right. He knew her better than she knew herself, most of the time.

"I let you go, because I was always told that if you love something, you should set it free, and then, if it comes back to you, it's for keeps and it was really yours all along, but apparently I never thought have done that! I know that you love me, Rachel-I'm sure of it and I know it's real. But...I can't keep waiting for you to be ready and willing to admit that you love me. I can't keep giving you everything that you want and everything you need, just to get rejected by you over and over again while you continue to pick Finn Hudson over me!" He snapped.

"Noah...are you drunk?" Rachel asked softly.

"Yeah, because I'm actually talking about my feelings-because I'm being honest and real and truthful...because I'm actually right for once in my freaking life, I must be drunk, right? Well, you know what Rachel? I'm not drunk. I'm just pissed. I'm angry that you keep picking Finn over me. And I thought that I wasn't supposed to tell you that I liked you, because you never tell a girl you like her, because it just makes you look like an idiot, but I can't help it anymore. So tell me that I look stupid because I'm telling you I love you. I don't freaking care anymore, alright? I just want you to be with me!" He snapped, but she just stared at him, shaking her head sadly as tears filled her eyes.

"Oh baby, oh darling, thank you-thank you, yeah, yeah/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Somebody sensitive, crazy, sexy, cool like you/What a girl wants/ What a girl needs/Somebody who can't come and go, nobody like you/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/You let a girl know how much you care about her, I swear/You're the one who always knew/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Whatever makes me happy and sets you free/And I'm thanking you for knowing exactly/What a girl wants/What a girl needs/Whatever keeps me in your arms/And I'm thanking you for giving it to me/Thank you-thank you/For giving me what I want/Oh, I turn around and stare/Whenever you're not there," The two sang together, finished the song as Rachel stood up and walked towards them, wrapping her arms around them in a tight embrace.

"Thank you guys...I'm sure of what I need to do now. I really am," She whispered as the three divas enjoyed their little group hug.

"And it better be the choice that we had in mind for you when we decided to sing this song, alright? Because, if not, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do," Kurt told her as the three teenagers broke apart from their hug. They stood in their little group, sad smiles on their faces as they realized that this might be the last time they got to be that way together again. But, that wasn't the point of this meeting, and it wasn't supposed to be upsetting and sad, so Rachel hurried up to quickly lighten the mood.

"What happened to allowing me to decide whatever I thought was best for me?" Rachel giggled, giving the very flamboyant boy a fake stern look as she contorted her face into a slight frown.

"Oh, you know that we were just pulling your leg on that one. We've got everything planned out, and if you ruin our big plans, we will never be speaking to you ever again, and we know how upset you'd be if that happened. Of course, we'd be grateful to get rid of you, because you tend to get a little annoying, but that's another story in general," Kurt teased her.

"You two really are the best friends that I could ever wish for. Cedes, when you're California, becoming a big time record label holder and winning awards at the VMAs, do Kurt and I a favor and-invite us to award ceremonies-and thank us in all of your speeches, all right? And, Kurt, when we get to New York, you have to swear that nothing is going to change between us. We still have to be the very best of friends, all right? Because I'll die in New York without you around. And we all need to agree to keep in touch, because we can't lose what we have. We're the Quinn, Santana and Brittany of the New Directions, you know?" Rachel explained to her friends with a smile.

"Am I Santana or Brittany?" Kurt asked with a watery, tear filled laugh.

"Wait a second-am I Quinn, because I'm not so crazy about being the spare. You know what happens when you're just the spare guy who nobody really needs around. I can't just be that spare guy who's always there when they're not needed or wanted, you know? Because Voldemort always ends up killing the spare, and that doesn't work for me. Dead is not a good look for this diva," Mercedes decided.

"If we're going to bring the Dark Lord into this, can we just be the Golden Trio and call it a day?" Kurt asked, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Because when it comes to Mercedes and her tots, I'm always reminded of Ron and his crazy food obsession," He laughed.

"Where the hell did the Harry Potter references come into this mess? And I know what's going to happen if we're the golden trio and I absolutely refuse to allow you two to make me be Hermione, because that's just totally uncool and how dare you just assume that you're the glue holding us all together, Kurt Hummel!" Rachel scolded him teasingly. "You know what? There is no analogy you can make about us. Kurt, you're the Will to my Grace, and Mercedes, you're the Monica to my Rachel. But together? Well, there will never be another Mercedes, Kurt and Rachel and there has never been one before us. One day, little girls and their gay best friends are going to long to have a friendship just like ours," Rachel declared.

The other two agreed, before nodding and gesturing for Racehl to head off and make her decision. What neither of the two knew was that Rachel wasn't going to go and break the news just yet. She needed to wait. Because she wasn't absolutely sure yet, especially now that she knew that they'd had their own plan in mind the entire time. Because she was sure that the one she was going to pick was not the one they'd had in mind. There was no possible way they'd been expecting her to pick Finn.

Because, while Finn had always, openly, been the best guy for her-showering her in attention, love and gifts from the moment he'd realized his attraction towards her-Puck was the one who had always been there on the sidelines, looking out for her. Puck was the one that Rachel had first been with. He was the one who she kept going back to. But every time she realized she wanted him, it was out of anger towards Finn. And every time their relationship started to get serious, one of them called it off because of Finn. Finn would always stand and act as a barrier between Puck and Rachel, and that meant that the wide decision for her was to go right ahead and pick Finn. Because he really was sweet, and he did love her. And, Rachel loved him as well, despite her feelings towards Puck. She needed to be with the safe choice, anyways, and that had always been Finn and always would be.