Chapter 6

Monday morning found Rachel in her kitchen humming (random Neil Diamond melodies) as she prepared lunch. It was a beautiful day, and she had decided to surprise Noah with a picnic. She had made a beautiful vegetable salad and had included lentils to ensure that there was an extra protein source. She cut up fruit and baked poppy seed muffins, as well as a large batch of chocolate chip cookies for the crew at the firehouse. She had even made dressing from scratch, storing it separately. A lightweight insulated cooler was packed with the food, paper plates, napkins, plastic flatware, and two bottles of sparkling water. She grabbed an old blanket that she used for picnics and beach parties, and, after crating the dog, was on her way.

Rachel walked into the firehouse shortly before noon, smiling at Sergeant Chang as she placed the cooler on the counter. "Hi, Sergeant! Is Lieutenant Puckerman here?" she asked.

"I'll go get him; just a minute," he replied, looking inquisitively at her baggage. "Mr. Lynn, please watch the phones," he requested, turning behind him and speaking to the other firefighter at the desk who was (apparently) doing paperwork.

Mike went into the back where the men were cleaning the truck and making sure it was properly and fully stocked. "Hey, Puck! Your date's here," Mike teased, which was greeted with a variety of cat-calls and kissing sounds from the other men.

Noah looked up from what he was doing, pretending to scowl and proclaiming, "Can it, you pussies. You're just jealous!"

"'Scuse me," Sam Evans retorted, "but I've got a hot wife at home, how am I jealous?"

"Can Brittany bake awesome cookies?" Noah retorted.

Sam looked a bit deflated, replying, "Well…no, she can barely fry an egg; I do most of the cooking."

"I rest my case," Noah smugly concluded. "Now, if you ladies will excuse me…" he announced, making his way out of the room and walking hastily toward the receiving area.

In Mike's absence, Rachel had removed a tub of cookies from the top of the cooler and re-zipped it. Noah approached her and their eyes met, he placed his hands gently on her shoulders and they kissed (chastely), both grinning happily once the brief kiss ended. "These are for the guys," Rachel announced, handing the container to Noah. "They're chocolate chip," she explained.

"Thanks, Rach, they'll love these," he happily acknowledged. "Hold on, I'll be right back," he explained, lightly touching her forearm before exiting with the cookies and placing them in the break room. He poked his head in the back where the firefighters were working, announcing "Cookies in the break room! Save some for me, or asses will be kicked!" and returned to Rachel.

"What's this?" he inquired pleasantly, nodding at the cooler.

"It's such a beautiful day, I thought it'd be nice to have a picnic," she explained.

"Sounds great," he agreed. "Chelsea Park's pretty close, 'bout a half mile; allow me to lead the way." Noah took hold of the cooler with his left hand, taking Rachel's left hand in his right, and they exited together walking toward the park.

Mike turned to the other man at the desk, observing wryly, "In all the years I've known him, I have never seen Puck hold hands with a woman. Rider, I think this may be the first sign of the apocalypse."

Noah led Rachel to a shady spot under an old maple tree, and she spread out the blanket she had brought. "So, what's for lunch?" Noah asked, eyeing the cooler hungrily.

"I made a huge salad," Rachel explained, describing: "there's a ton of different vegetables, lentils, chopped eggs and feta cheese…"

"Sounds great, Rach!" Noah acknowledged.

"I baked poppy seed muffins, and there's some cut up fruit, too."

"This is so thoughtful, Rachel; thank you," Noah replied appreciatively, and leaned in for a kiss, which momentarily became (a little) heated. When it ended, Rachel blushed demurely, clearly distracted (to Noah's amusement). She quickly refocused and began unpacking the food. "Here, Noah; please help yourself," she offered.

Soon they had full plates and began to eat their lunch. Noah motioned over to Rachel to move next to him, and she sat down, adjusting herself to lean against his muscular chest. "I could definitely get used to this," she mused.

He kissed her on the cheek, echoing her sentiment with a quiet "Me too." They munched on their salads, each momentarily quiet, enjoying the lovely spring afternoon. Rachel had added some fruit to her plate, and Noah picked off a grape, feeding it to her. Giggling, she returned in kind with a piece of melon, which he gladly took from her fingers. Between fingers and forks, amidst giggles and teasing, shy smiles and furtive glances, they fed each other pieces of fruit and bites of muffin.

"Say, Rachel," Noah tentatively began.

"Yes, Noah?" she asked hopefully.

"I just found out today that our band…ya' know, the one I told you about…"

"Yes, I remember," she acknowledged.

"We have a gig for this Saturday, and I was wondering…I mean, I'd really appreciate it…d'you think you'll be able to come?"

Rachel smiled, turning to face Noah, and replied, "Thank you for asking me, Noah. I don't remember the last time I took a Saturday night off, and as long as Summer doesn't have any plans, I would love to see your band perform."

"Thanks, Rach, it'd mean a lot if you're there," he admitted with a relieved grin.

"You're welcome, Noah; thank you for the invitation. May I bring a couple of friends?" she inquired. "Kurt and Santana would love to meet you." (Translation: dying with curiosity and mercilessly haranguing Rachel with "when are we going to meet him?")

"Sure, Rach, bring 'em along," he gladly encouraged.

After lunch, Noah walked Rachel to the subway station, his arm protectively around her shoulders. She held the now significantly lighter cooler in her far hand, blanket folded neatly and draped over that arm, with her arm closest to Noah also wrapped around him. They waited together for the train; when it arrived, he bent down to kiss her, very sweetly (albeit chastely). Releasing Rachel from the kiss, their foreheads met tenderly, both wearing matching silly grins.

"I'll talk to ya' later, Rach," Noah affirmed.

"Until later, then, Noah" she replied shyly, boarding the train that would take her home.

A lighthearted Noah returned to the station while, an increasingly enamored Rachel sat on the subway train, mulling over the events of the past five days.

Rachel had arranged for Larry (the dog walker) to take care of Maisie's afternoon walk. She dropped off the cooler and left immediately to run her "usual" Monday errands (i.e. marketing) and also managed to call her understudy and confirm that she would be available to assume the role of "Elphaba" for Saturday night. As Rachel anticipated, Summer was beyond excited to comply, and Rachel would be free to attend Noah's (band's) performance.

Rachel had fed Maisie her dinner and was just plating her own when her phone rang. Noah was grabbing a quick bite before his evening class and had thought it would be a good time to call Rachel, resulting in an unorthodox yet amenable dinner "date". Rachel let Noah know that she would be present on Saturday, and he described the afternoon's "cat rescue" mission, leading to a discussion of the film "Pleasantville" and what it meant to each of them. One topic flowed into another, and 45 minutes later Noah excused himself to attend class. It was very shortly thereafter that Santana called.

"So, B, how was your date?" Santana asked, skipping the polite amenities (i.e. "Hello", "How are you?", etc.) and coming (as usual) right to the point.

"It was…very sweet," answered Rachel, choosing her words carefully.

"Sweet?" Santana replied incredulously. "Seriously, Berry, what the fuck is up with that? I want details," Santana insisted. Rachel smiled at her girlfriend's bluntness; she knew it was off-putting to some people (at times, herself included), but it was also who she was, and Rachel wouldn't have her any other way.

"Details? Well…" Rachel began. "I brought lunch and we had a picnic in Chelsea Park. I made a fruit salad, which we ended up feeding to each other." Rachel paused, smiling at the memory. "It was sweet and silly and romantic and…oh, San, I just don't know…"

"Know what, Rach?" Santana prodded her.

"I've only known him five days; it's too soon to have these feelings."

Santana grinned, gently retorting, "You're fallin' for him, aren't ya', B?"

Rachel sighed, before confiding, "Yeah, I am. It really scares me, San."

"That's awesome, Rach. Why be scared?" Santana queried.

"Because every time I let my guard down and open myself up, I inevitably get screwed over."

"True, your track record isn't all that good," Santana mused, "but there's a first time for everything. Maybe he's the exception to your sorry-ass string of 'players' and 'posers' and 'losers'…"

"Oh, my!" Rachel interjected comically, and she and Santana laughed.

"Berry, only you could tie that back to 'The Wizard of Oz'," Santana sardonically commented.

"Well, after all, I am 'Elphaba'," Rachel teased.

"If you'd like to meet him, his band is playing this Saturday night…" Rachel continued, but before she could say where, Santana interjected, "Hells yes! I wanna check out this dude…make sure he's on the up-and-up."

"Thanks, Santana…I think," Rachel cautiously replied. "I'm going to call Kurt and ask him and Blaine to join us."

"Sounds like a plan, Rachel. Definitely lookin' forward to it," she confirmed. "Well, I gotta run, girl; talk to you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight, Santana," Rachel replied. "Have a good night."

Author's Note: In case you haven't seen the movie "Pleasantville" (which I highly recommend), the fire department's primary purpose was to rescue cats from trees, as there had never been a fire there...until after Tobey Maguire's and Reese Witherspoon's characters appear. The cause of the fire will not be disclosed here; however, the fire department didn't respond to cries of "Fire!". Once Tobey Maguire cried out "CAT!", they raced to the scene, only to be baffled by the fire.