My Guardian Angel
A Glee Fan Fiction
Chapter 11

Rachel Berry had had boys fight over her before.

Jesse St. James had challenged Finn Hudson to a sing-off during sophomore year, during Jesse and Rachel's short-lived, pathetic attempt at a romance that had been solely based on trying to crush Rachel and break her heart, while uniting her with Shelby Corcoran, her mother.

Junior year, Jesse had taken her to the prom when he'd been kicked out of UCLA and she'd gone to the Budget-Prom with Sam Evan and Mercedes Jones. While at the prom, her ex-boyfriend, Finn, had decided that he didn't think how she and Jesse were dating, so he'd started a fist fight right then and there on the dance floor, getting them both rejected from the dance and leaving Quinn Fabray and herself alone without a date.

So, she had had boys fight over her before. A fist fight over her was not something new to occur in her life. It wasn't something that she'd grown accustomed to, but she had seen it before and she understood that sometimes it was just a part of being a teenage girl. What she was not used to was seeing Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman tackled on the ground, rolling around as they tossed punches and kicks at one another. The two best friends had never actually fought one another before with both of them playing an active part.

Even during their two battles over Quinn Fabray, one of them had just sat there and taken the blows in. During their first one, when they'd been in their wheel chairs, Finn had just allowed Puck to take him to the ground and punch him, only trying to defend himself by dodging the punches and get the larger, broader boy off of him. In their second battle, after the baby gate scandal, Puck had idly laid on the ground while Finn tossed punch after punch right at his face, getting the shit beat out of him for sleeping with his girlfriend and getting her pregnant. Puck hadn't even attempted to get Finn off of him, even though he could have knocked Finn out easily.

The fight that had taken place in the locker room that day though, had been their worst brawl of them all. Because both boys were playing an active part in it, and even the people watching the fight, who had witness their conversation before hand, couldn't tell anybody who had started the fight. The word spread around the school faster than anything; all the students being shocked that both boys had played an active part in their fist fight, hurting one another evenly, and that the the fight had been over Rachel Berry. Rachel Berry was not the type of girl who would make two best friends forget their friendship and try to kill one another. If Quinn couldn't do it, then there was no way that Rachel had.

Rumors were flying around the school. Some said that Puck had simply gotten angry with Finn because Finn had been bragging about cheating on Rachel. Others claimed that Finn had attacked Puck for talking about Rachel in a negative fashion. There were a few people who believed that they'd been fighting for a reason that had nothing to do with Rachel. Only the boys who had been around during the fight actually believed and told everybody that it was absolutely true that Finn had snapped because Puck had told him that he and Rachel had had sex over the weekend.

And that just started another round of crazy rumors. Some people said that Puck had once again gotten Finn's girlfriend pregnant. There was a rumor saying that Rachel must be crazy in the sack if the two most sought after boys wanted her. There were a few people who said that Rachel and Puck had secretly been dating for years behind Finn's back.

Nobody seemed to realize the truth. That Rachel and Finn had been engaged, and Rachel had had a choice to make. Did she want to give up her happiness and be with Finn to make him happy? Or did she want to finally start caring about what she wanted?

And she'd made the choice that made her be with the person she loved.

"Rachel, I'm sorry, alright?" Noah Puckerman blurted out at her locker before Glee that day.

She sighed as she turned around, raising an eyebrow at him, swinging her locker shut and allowing herself to lean against it, her arms folded across her chest as she stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I know you wanted to be the one to tell Finn, but I just...he's my best friend, and I thought that I should tell him, because I've been a jerk to him before, and I honestly think that a lot of the shit that's happened to him in his life has been because we became best friends. And I felt like I owed him this. It was stupid, but I just acted without thinking everything-"

Rachel cut him off as she pushed away from the locker and took a step towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pulled him close for a kiss, not caring that students were frantically running around the hallways as they hurried off to their after school events. It didn't matter to her who saw her and Puck. Everybody already knew that Finn and Puck had fought, and now they could know the real reason behind their fight. It had most definitely been because of Rachel Berry, and it was because they both loved her.

"Nothing that happened to Finn was your fault, except for what happened with you and Quinn, alright? And none of it was solely your fault. I'm the one who provoked what happened on Friday night, alright? I wanted you and you know that. I was practically begging you, I'll admit it. I probably seemed very desperate. But that's because I love you and I was absolutely sick of settling for anybody else. You can't blame yourself because of Finn's misfortune. If he had known from the beginning what he'd wanted, I wouldn't have felt the way I once did about him. I would have stayed with you sophomore year and never would have been with him. Or he and I would have been together from sophomore year, because I never would have dated you," She said.

"So, what you're saying," He told her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he rested his forehead against her own, locking eyes with her as best as he could as he spoke in a low, soft, deep little growl sound coming from the back of his throat as he spoke. "Is that it's a good thing Quinn and Finn stayed together sophomore year and Finn led you on, because if not, we might not be standing here right now, with you in my arms, as my girl? Because you might have picked him? Because, if that's what you're saying, I'd like to go thank him and Quinn both for staying together," He said playfully, leaning in and giving her a quick peck on the lips. "Because I couldn't live without doing that," He sighed.

Rachel giggled as her arms wound around his neck, grinning up at him. She loved being in his arms. It was the one place where she always felt safe. As long as he was holding onto her, no slushy facials would come her way. If they were together, she didn't worry about the names that other people called her. The bullying just didn't seem as bad when she was with him, because he made her feel smart, funny, talented, and completely beautiful. She felt perfect in every way when she was with him.

"See? Sometimes one person's trash really is another person's treasure. Now, as much as I'd love to just stand here and kiss you all day long, we really do have to go to Glee, alright? I don't want anymore rumors starting up about me. That's not exactly something I look forward to. They'll probably be saying I skipped because I had a doctor's appointment for the baby," She giggled, unwrapping her arms from him.

He tensed up as she forced his hands from her waist and started to walk down the hallway, towards the choir room. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned at him in confusion.

"What's the matter?" She wondered.

"I didn't use a...you know," He frowned.

"It's okay," She shrugged it off.

"What do you mean it's okay?"

"You never do."

"That makes it even-"

"I'm on the pill, alright?"

"That doesn't protect you-"

"I trust you."

"What?"

"You told me once that you hadn't slept with anybody since you and I broke up."

"Yeah."

"That was over the summer."

"So?"

"So, I believed you. And I doubt you've slept with anybody since then."

"That doesn't mean I'm-"

"People would have known. You would have found out. Now stop worrying and let's go," She rolled her eyes.

"I'm leaving," Finn announced as Rachel and Puck entered the choir room, hand in hand. "I refuse to be around him when he's with my girl."

"Finn, she's not your girl and she's never been your girl," Kurt sighed, rolling his eyes from his seat in the front.

"She's always been in love with Puck. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out," Quinn sighed.

"And I think it's been just as obvious that he's always loved her," Mercedes Jones pointed out.

"Honestly, he dumped me so he could be a little worthy of her," Santana Lopez replied bitterly.

"They've always been into each other," Tina Cohen-Chang said simply.

"They only broke up because she thought she wanted you," Mike Chang said.

"And that was mostly because she thought he didn't want her," Artie Abrams brought up.

"And he only looked at Quinn the way he did because of the baby," Brittany Pierce shrugged.

"How the hell did Brittany say something so smart?" Blaine Anderson asked.

"She can be smart when she wants to be," Sugar Motta defended.

"Can we get back to the Puck and Rachel conversation?" Rory Flannigan wondered.

"Why do you care so much?" Sam Evans questioned.

"Guys, none of this matters," Rachel reasoned.

"You're right, it doesn't," Puck spoke up, shocking every member of the club with his calmness. "It doesn't matter who Rachel belongs to, because she's not property. And it doesn't matter whether I love her or Finn loves her. We both do, that much is obvious." He shrugged.

"What are you talking about? Puck, you're not making any sense at all," Quinn shook her head, her short, wavy blonde hair fluttering around her pretty face. "Are you high or something?" She wondered.

"I'm not high. I'm saying that it doesn't matter what Finn or I feel about Rachel, because that's already clear-we both love her. All that matters in this situation is what she wants. If we really loved her, we'd just want her happy," Puck shrugged.

"Okay, fine. We'll let her decide who she wants to be with. Yeah, sure, jolly fun and really fair. She freaking picked me over and over again. Why would she suddenly change her mind?" Finn glared, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Finn, what are you getting at?" Kurt sighed. "Please don't further humiliate yourself by saying what I believe you're about to say, because that would embarrass you more than it would anger Puck," He said.

"Well, if she's not pregnant, then why else would she suddenly decide that she wants to be with Puck? He must have gotten her drunk enough to make her want to sleep with him and then he got her pregnant," Finn said.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. You've got me. But, you forgot that I made sure we did it in the hot tub to make sure she got pregnant, just so she'd definitely pick me," Puck said sarcastically.

"Shut the hell up, man. And you know what, the last time you got my girlfriend pregnant, she still picked me over you. So I don't know why you'd just assume Rachel was different," He said.

"I didn't think that! I wouldn't sleep with Rachel unless I was absolutely positive she wanted it, because I love her and I want her to feel happy and comfortable all the time!" Puck snapped.

"You love her? You don't even know her! You've bullied her and thrown things at her. You've made her feel like shit since freshman year. You don't know her so how can you even think you love her?" Finn wondered.

"Do you know how many times you've made her cry? Do you know how many times she's come to me in tears, thinking she wasn't good enough because of something you said? Do you know how many nights I sat with her, listening to her cry and complain about how you treated her, wanting to tell her how I felt, but not doing it because I knew she wanted you, despite what you did to her?" Puck asked darkly.

"He's right," Kurt said, standing up. "Rachel used to call me crying, asking me to give her a make-over, or if I thought she needed a new hair style or if she should die her hair. She was going to get that nose job last year because she thought if she looked more like Quinn, she'd have a chance of getting you back. She may have felt something towards you, but she was never happy," He said.

"Rachel's supposed to be our star. Our beautiful, talented star. From the second she entered this room, she was full of confidence and we all hated her for it and thought she was cocky and arrogant, but we also secretly respected her for it. We were all a little envious of her confidence. But, then you came into the picture and made her question everything about herself," Mercedes spoke up.

"And, frankly, I don't think that's love. Love is when you feel at your best, no matter what. It's not pushing yourself to be more than you can be to try and please the other person. You barely even answered her when she asked if you thought she was hot even though she didn't look like Santana. I mean, how low can you get?" Quinn wondered.

"Why are you all taking his side? Puck stole my fiance. He slept with the girl I was supposed to marry and then had to rub it in my face. He couldn't just let Rachel let me down easy. He had to make sure I knew that she slept with him, while she and I were still together. He had to make sure I was hurting," Finn said, lowering his head.

"That's not what happened at all." Mike Chang spoke up, shocking everybody around him. He never got involved in the stupid drama of the rest of his club. It wasn't something he did. And he never joined in the arguments that came with any of the drama, rumors, or secrets that were a part of the glee club that he enjoyed being in so much. "Puck told you because he wanted you to hear it from him. He wanted to make sure you knew, because in his sick, twisted mind, he thought that made it right for lying about Quinn," He said.

"Finn, honestly, it doesn't matter what happened or why. I love Noah, alright? Do you care about me? Do you care about my happiness? Do you want me to live my life always asking what would have happened? Do you want me to constantly live in regret? No, I didn't think so. Well, I want to be with Noah, and I don't have any doubts in my mind about it. So, please, just stop trying to make this hard on us. We all only have a few more months together before we graduate and I don't want to spend them arguing. I want to spend them being friends," She whispered.

"Fine, Rachel. I'll do it for you. Because I'll always love you," He sighed, lowering his head in defeat.