She spends three weeks trying to stay above water and it all comes crashing down around her in a matter of minutes. Noah refused to talk to her. At first it was hardly noticeable but when glee practise came around it was all too obvious. She was able to catch his eye as she walked in and he barely managed a grimace before resuming his conversation with Mike. It continued this way for longer than she would have like but there was nothing she could think to do. When Shelby invites her to dinner one night she accepts immediately, not only would she like to nurture the relationship but she also needs a girl talk. Her anxiety skyrockets the minute she walks through the door and noticed his shoes next to Soph's but not two seconds later he's in her face with Sophia in his hands greeting her in that voice her uses only around his daughter. She smiles and quickly falls in to step with his game. The night progresses much in the same way. Rachel and Noah and her mom dancing around each other, playing with Sophie and being… just being. It relaxes her so much that the next day at school nearly knocks her on her ass. He treats her like she has the plague and the only thing keeping her up right is the memory of them reading Sophia to sleep the night before. She lets it continue for as long as she can but by the time glee rolls around again she's hanging on to her sanity by a string. When she lies to Finn about needing to talk to Paul their pianist she can see him finch out of the corner of her eye. What was once a leisure routine is now a mission from hell as he quickly begins to pack up his guitar. She blocks the door the best she can and at her size it isn't very well at all. He won't look at her, she`s the only thing in the room and he would rather stare at his feet than look at her. She tries desperately to keep the tears at bay. His treatment of her shouldn't hurt so much, but it does. It burns and she`s beginning to feel as though her skin is two sizes too tight. "Are we still friends Noah?"

He hates himself. He hates himself for so many reasons but the number one is for what he is doing to her right now. He can feel her as she shakes. He knows that it is by sheer force of will that is keeping her on her feet. He wants to be her friend. He wants to be whatever she needs him to be, just to be around her. He looks up, allowing himself seconds to hope that maybe he's wrong but he instantly knows he isn't. Finn is standing by the main doors, waiting patiently for his girlfriend and it's Noah's job to send her on her way. He doesn't care about many people but he cares about Rachel, and Finn wouldn't take their friends well at all. He takes a breath to centre himself and all it does is cause an ache in his chest. For the second time in his life Noah will do what needs to be done, regardless of how badly it burns. "No, Rachel we aren't friends," he tries to walk past her but she grabs his wrist. He ignores the momentary reprieve it provides and stands completely still.

Her dad says it isn't over until it's over and Noah may be saying the words, but his tone and his eyes prove he doesn't mean them. So she stops him. She stops him because it hurts to watch him leave and when she looks up she sees the reason why this hurts so badly. Standing several metres away is the reason Noah is willing to break them both. It is a cold day in hell when Noah Puckerman cares more about her boyfriend than she does but as it stands she couldn't care less about Finn Hudson. "Maybe not here, for everyone to see, but where it count's Noah. Where it counts, you are my best friend," and she lets him go, ignoring how heavy her hand now feels by her side. She's said all she has to say, and that was really all she had in her to give. When he places a kiss to her temple, and then another on her forehead repeating her words back to her it all ends. She isn't strong enough for this. She wasn't built to withstand this kind of agony. The thought of him walking away is so damaging that she crumbles before the actual sight of it. She drops to the floor and she can feel the tension between his desire to pick her up and his apparent need to leave her behind. As she feels arms lift her from the ground she knows instantly that he is gone.

He's half way out the door by the time Finn reaches her. Noah knows by the sound of her sobs that she knows all too well whose arms she is in, and whose arms she isn't. He wanted to stay, he wanted to tuck her hair behind her ear and just stare at her. And when she blushed, which she always did when he inspected her for too long, he would kiss her just behind the ear. Right next to her tattoo of an eight note that every few people knew she had. Then she would smile at him, in the most infectious way and she would giggle and he would chuckle and the world would be perfect. In that moment it would be just the two of them and they would be happy. But life doesn't work like that. Rachel has plans, starting like yesterday and mapping her life out for the next ten years. Noah has goals. No plans on how to achieve them just end games. He knows he's going to provide for his daughter, knows he's going to get a scholarship to whatever school will accept him. Noah knows he's going to get the hell out of Lima but still somehow be a father to Sophia who won't be leaving with him. All objective but no plans, there's no stability in his life and that suits him just fine but Rachel deserves more. Even if he had plans, she deserves someone who can at least relate how he feels about her. Because aside from she makes him happy; he doesn't know how to classify any of his thoughts. So in the end it's pretty safe to say that he doesn't walk away because he wants to. He walks away because that moment, that single perfect moment is just that. A moment hidden between here and there, between the life he wants and the life he actually lives. He may want Rachel, in whatever capacity available. And he may even be able to achieve that if not for that fact that she already has that, with Finn. And Noah ignores the feelings associated with coming in yet again as Finn Hudson's runner up. So yeah, he walks away, out of the space that was never his, replaced by Finn like he always is.

Finn was not as clueless as people may think he is. He saw the chemistry between Rachel and Puck, he say how they flirted and how they pushed each others' buttons. He saw a lot more than he wanted to, but he also saw things he knows other people don't. He saw that Rachel needed someone stable, someone loyal and reliable. He saw that Puck had chemistry with everyone, in spades whatever that meant. Finn saw that a lot of people have dreams, dreams that lead them out of Lima and the real world that leads them right back. He was reliable, he was loyal and while he and Rachel lack chemistry they didn't lack a connection. She believed in him, and he supported her and that was what made relationships last. So he had no problem picking her up, no problem with her clinging to him as if she wanted to crawl inside and disappear from the world. He wasn't upset that his shirt was probably ruined by her tears and running make up. He wasn't mad that this was because of Puck. He was content because the sooner this happened the better. He didn't like sharing, Rachel especially and now he was sharing her with one less person. And when she came back from New York ready to settle down into the real world he would be done sharing her with the World.