A/N: La, la, la, Chapter 5 :) Hope you are all enjoying so far, I'm loving all your reviews & will love you even more if you continue to review. I think most of you have picked up the plot by now, but nevertheless, I continue to write and hope you enjoy anyway.

I still don't own Glee. If I did, Lea would always be on screen & have more duets with Darren. So would Joey Richter.

Enjoy :)

"Alright, you guys, our first competitors are up. Quinn, Finn and Brittany, take it away!"

Quinn stood at the front, smiled falsely as per usual and said, "We've chosen the Pointer Sisters' classic Jump for some enthusiasm and whole hearted fun!" She laughed insincerely and took her place next to Finn.

Puck let out a small bark of a laugh and Rachel smiled slightly, knowing exactly why he was laughing. It was a generic song, overdone, ordinary. He had been right all along. As they sang she realised how boring it sounded. Not only that, but contrary to what Quinn said, there was a severe lack of enthusiasm from both her and Finn. Brittany on the other hand was jumping around until her heart was content.

At least she was having fun, thought Rachel, glancing over at Noah. They'd not spoken about the incident in her bedroom but she knew his mind was playing on it. She could practically hear the cogs whirring in his head. She'd finally come to understand what he meant when he told her she was 'thinking so loud he could hear'.

She did really like him and she was sure, sure he liked her too. The almost-kiss was proof of that. As Quinn half-heartedly entered the second verse, Rachel leaned over to murmur in his ear that he was totally right and she was proud of him for picking them a better song.

Just as she was about to tickle his ear with her hot breath, she noticed Santana out the corner of her eye, looking evil daggers at the pair. She flashed a warning glance to her and Rachel drew back, sitting low in her chair.

Puck glanced at her; he was sure Rachel was about to whisper something to him. He loved the way her low whispers grazed his ear, stirring something in his stomach. Somehow when Rachel used her lower register it always sounded seductive to him and he couldn't help a sensation that he knew was inappropriate in class. Particularly when his ex-girlfriend who he'd also knocked up was singing a song about jumping for her love.

And also particularly when his other ex-girlfriend (though he seriously wondered whether he could really call them this. In reality he'd just had sex with them; did that qualify for girlfriend material?) was glaring at him angrily. Or was she glaring at Rachel who was sat next to him, looking very interested in her nails?

He glanced between Santana and Rachel. Santana was hot; he had to give her that. But so too was Berry, in her own little way. With her ridiculously short skirts that should be illegal in his presence, not least because they showed off her tanned long legs, and the way her hair fell around her shoulders, framing her beautiful face. But what Santana didn't have was Rachel's heart and passion and soul.

It was then that he made a decision to confront Rachel with his feelings. But it would have to be as soon as Satan stopped glaring at him.

xxx

Santana seemed to pop up all day. Just as Puck was approaching Rachel, she would slide in with something 'really urgent' to tell him. As truth would have it, it was never anything very important and consequentially he would brush her off sooner or later. By then, however, Rachel had disappeared and Puck was once again left with words unsaid and pains unresolved.

He knew that if he didn't do it soon, he never would. It wasn't that Puckasaurus was a chicken, hell no. It was that in this moment, right now, there was some kind of tangible energy in the air between him and Rachel and if he didn't grab it with both hands and tell her how he felt, that spark might disappear and he would be, in Santana's words, up the creek sin una pala, back at square one, being Rachel Berry's friend.

He swallowed deeply and made a decision to do it tonight at rehearsals for their song. But as Santana swept up to him again he remembered that she would be there and there was no way he could admit his love for Berry with her snarky ass in the way. She marched towards him and put a hand possessively on his chest.

"Puck, baby, we need to talk."

"What do you want Santana?" He couldn't help the irritation creeping into his voice but he did stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"Nothing like that silly," She hit him playfully in the chest and laughed gratingly, "Just wanted to tell you that sadly I won't be making it to rehearsals tonight."

It was as though fate had finally paid off for him.

"Why?" He said in a strangled mixture of joy and curiosity.

"It's one of my bake sales tomorrow for Save Sam and I've got a ton of buns to make. I really need to get them done."

"Fine, whatever. See you tomorrow."

He walked away feeling elated until he bumped straight into Berry.

"What was that all about?" She asked, looking over his shoulder at Santana waving some badges in some kids' faces.

"Santana won't be coming tonight. It was something about baking buns for her Save Sam thing."

"So that means…" Rachel trailed off, looking him in the eye.

"It'll just be you and me." Puck finished looking back at her.

"Great."

"Great."

"See you then."

"See you."

xxx

They ran the song a few times before Puck could wait no longer.

"Rachel," he murmured, putting his guitar down and patting the spot on the bed next to him, "Come here."

"What's up?" asked Rachel, sitting beside him and smoothing her skirt down.

"We need to talk…" Puck furrowed his brow, searching for the right place to start.

"What's up?" repeated Rachel, narrowing her eyes, placing one hand on his thigh to say, "You know you can tell me anything."

"That's just it though. This isn't anything."

"Noah, you're scaring me, what is it?"

He breathed in deeply and said, "I'm just going to say it. I've been, I've been having all these feelings lately, Rach, and I don't know what to do with them. I think I love you. No, I know I love you. Because I can feel it, aching and jumping and, shit B, I don't know what to say."

There was silence for a moment before Rachel whispered,

"I think you said it all."

Puck looked at her warily but she had not finished.

"I think you said it perfectly. So typically Noah… and," she sighed deeply, "I love you too."

He took her face in his hands and kissed her hungrily. He ran his hands through her hair passionately and she in return traversed his back and chest with her hands. They allowed each other breath momentarily as Noah gently kissed her neck and she clutched at his shaven head with her nails. Before long however they were kissing again: fighting, pushing, pulling, attacking each other eagerly and tempestuously.

"What is this?"

A sudden screech tore the pair apart. They gawped at the Latina girl standing furiously in the doorway.

"Lopez? What the hell are you doing here? What about your stupid buns?"

"I finished baking them, Puckerman," she replied angrily, "and hurried straight over. I thought we were rehearsing tonight to try and win, you know to save Sam. Obviously not." She finished eying Rachel, a livid face crossing her beautiful features.

"We were rehearsing, Santana, we just…" protested Rachel, but to no avail.

"I don't want to hear it Berry, I warned you." Santana turned on her heel and marched out the door.

Rachel left Noah on her bed and chased the girl out of her house.

"Santana, wait, it wasn't like that!"

"Eurgh, save it. You are so irritating Berry, with your 'oh-so-innocent' demeanour. I'm not buying it. You were just using this competition to get your dirty hands on my man." Santana spun around in the middle of the road and spat the words at her.

"Firstly, he's not your man. He doesn't belong to anyone Santana, he's a free man. Secondly –"

But before she had a chance to continue Santana had interrupted.

"Regardless, how could you do that? You're meant to be working on a song to win a competition to help Sam. Remember your friend, Sam? Remember the sight of his mangled body lying here, in your driveway?"

Rachel paused for a moment, about to argue back until…

"Santana, nobody knows where Sam was hit. Noah and I weren't allowed to say. Nobody knows. How do you know?"

Want more? R/R x