"What do you mean?" Rachel asked nervously.
Puck's eyes never left hers. "I mean you've barely said two words when we've talked on the phone the past two days, and let's face it, Berry, you never shut up." Her eyes narrowed but he just kept going. "I'm talking about the fact that you've never broken the law your entire life but last night you decided to get drunk off your ass and cried and apologized when I held you; and now Quinn and Finn are in that room finally talking and you're sitting out here on the floor looking like someone kicked your puppy. So spill."
She found herself quite taken aback by his speech, though it was worded in a very Puck way. Still more she was amazed by how well he seemed to have come to know her and the nuances of her personality. But she still didn't know what to say, and with those eyes unflinchingly holding hers she just couldn't keep the floodgates from opening. Her eyes filled and she shook her head. "Noah, I'm so mixed up."
"Jesus," he said on an expelled breath, making his way to sit next to her. "I hate it when you cry. I don't know what to do with you. You don't have to tell me anything, okay?"
"You're sweet," she told him, finding his panic at her tears kind of endearing. "But I do have to tell you. Everything." Rachel didn't know how to do this kind of thing. Her relationship record was less than stellar and she couldn't seem to find the right words; but she knew she had to take this leap. Though not looking him in the eye made her feel a bit of a coward, she laid her head on his shoulder with a shaky sigh and turned her gaze to their hands which he had just laced together.
The silence was making him beyond antsy, and the way she was staring at their hands and avoiding his eyes was freaking him the hell out. "Rachel?"
She didn't raise her head; wouldn't actually. "I thought… No," she amended. "I was convinced that you wanted to be with Quinn, and that hurt so much more than I ever thought it would."
Well hell, Puck thought. But wait…. "Past tense?" he questioned.
"I told you I'm mixed up, and that would be where the issues started," she whispered. "I thought when you turned to me in the hospital after they took Annabelle that I had been wrong, but then there were all of these doubts nagging in the back of my head. You and Quinn have this bond that can never be broken and I'm just….. I'm just the freak in the show choir who used to get slushied all the time. I'm not tall and blonde and gorgeous or anything she is; and I never had a problem with that until I thought that was what you wanted. "
Noah was shocked to the core. For a moment he lost all powers of speech, though that wasn't new with her. But then he turned to face her, and gently tipped her face up so that their eyes could meet again. "Okay, I'm a dude, so I can only handle one thing at a time in this whole big scary feelings issue or I'll explode. So let's start with what would ever make you think you needed to change for me to like you. Have you missed the past like six months?" he asked incredulously.
"I don't know!" she cried. "Mixed up, remember? I thought you wanted Quinn. There was this moment in the hospital…"
"Point two," he interrupted. "I don't want Quinn. Annabelle will always bring us together, but on a good day we want to kill each other. We almost did in the delivery room, actually."
Rachel's eyes widened. "I thought… Oh God I'm an idiot," she lamented, covering her face with her hands.
He reached out to tip her face to his again. "Babe, you're like the last person on the planet anyone would ever call an idiot." One thumb stroked idly over her cheek as he spoke, comforting her more than he knew. "What you saw in the hospital was all about the baby. That's it." He cracked a smile then. "I like your ridiculously short plaid skirts and the fact that they give me an excuse to stare at your legs all day and your knee socks and your crazy grandma sweaters and shoes. I like that you're so damn short that I practically have to pick you up to look you in the eye."
"Noah…."
He shook his head as he scooted closer to her. "I'm not done. I love that you use words that nobody else can pronounce and that you actually stomp your foot when you don't get your way, and that you sing Avenue Q when you get drunk." He was a breath away from her now. "I love that you constantly kiss my forehead and tell me that everything's going to be okay even though it's like the least manly thing ever to like, and that you stood by me even though I did something my own mother can barely forgive me for and that you went all Martha Stewart and made me hot chocolate and held frozen food against my face when Finn beat the shit out of me."
The tears were happy now, and once again she tried to break in. "I…"
"Nope," he told her, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "Still not done. I love that even though you thought that I wanted to be with her you stood by Quinn all day and stayed with her and took her mind of all of the heavy crap that went down this morning. You're such a freaking good person and for some reason you stick around even though I'm basically just an ass hole who just got lucky enough to find someone like you."
She was pretty sure it was the most he had ever said in one sitting; and the fact that he had opened up and laid it all out on the line for her? It made her heart sing. So without a word she leaned in and kissed him.
It was something akin to coming home; like how well they fit together had never occurred to them until they had come back to each other after months apart. The world dropped away, and suddenly the only things in existence were Rachel and Puck; his hand at the small of her back and hers twisted in the soft material of his shirt. It was the most intense kiss either had ever had the pleasure of being involved in, and he pressed his back to the wall to keep them from falling as bones seemed to have turned to jelly. Rachel let out a little noise of satisfaction and it made him feel irrationally happy. So he deepened the kiss, his hands skimming up her back…. And then he was flat on the floor.
Evidently in his Rachel fogged state he had actually backed them against the door, which Finn had opened and sent them falling in a rather shocking tangle, much to the surprise of Finn and Quinn.
Finn just looked down at Puck with Rachel tumbled against his chest and smiled. "Wow, nice entrance guys."
Neither had any idea why it was so funny, but Quinn's eyes met Rachels, and for some reason Finn's statement seemed to be the funniest thing ever said. It started out quietly, and before long they were practically roaring, and it didn't take long for the boys to join in. Soon they were all giggling hysterically, Quinn and Finn sliding to sit against the doorway so they didn't fall; all of them taking the catharsis that laughter seemed to be giving them.
The noise drew Puck's mom and sister from their hotel room, and when she saw them his mother only shook her head with a smile and turned around with a chuckle. His sister, however, was staring at them and clearly praying that she too didn't lose her mind when she got to be a teenager.
"You guys are sooooooo weird," she told them seriously.
For some reason it only made them laugh harder.
Noah's mother agreed to let Finn stay the night as long as the boys shared a bed in her room and stayed out of the girls', and Finn agreed to drive back to Lima with them as Puck's truck wouldn't fit them all.
When they were both in bed that night, Quinn told Rachel about her and Finn's brief talk, and it seemed that though it was going to take a very long time for them to get back to where they had been, they were both more than willing to give it a shot. Between that good news and the fact that Rachel and Puck had finally given in and gotten back together some six months after their failed attempt at romance lulled them both to sleep with grins on their faces.
Back in Lima, Mrs. Puckerman insisted that Quinn stay with them while she recovered from the ordeal of giving birth, and Santana brought over a bunch of her things and stayed for hours while to two talked and Quinn showed her pictures they had taken of the baby in her first days of life. The whole situation weirded Puck out a bit, as Santana was his ex and Quinn was his baby mama, but he had a sneaking suspicion that his mother may have actually planned it that was as a stern warning to treat Rachel well so that he didn't have the same problems with women ever again. Plus no matter how they tended to fight, Santana was Quinn's best friend; and he decided to get over his crap when he walked past the guest room and heard the latter crying over the fact that her parents still hadn't said a word to her and the former cursing said parents creatively to high heaven. Clearly they needed each other, even if it made him twitchy.
He and Rachel returned to school mid week with the rest of the Glee club to find Principal Figgins helping Mr. Schue hang massive banners emblazoned with the words "New Directions, Regional Champs 2010!" Of course most of the school's population couldn't have cared less, and they actually got more compliments on their awesome victory party than they did on the win, but it was still a huge victory.
The new lovebirds didn't get to see much of each other that day as Rachel had a full schedule of academics including a private lesson during lunch hour that day, and Puck had a very busy schedule of avoiding his teachers like the plague and sleeping in the nurse's office. They didn't get any real time together until the extra Glee meeting Mr. Schue had called to talk about their performance and win and get the update on Quinn.
As usual, Rachel bounced through the door right on time; humming quietly to herself; and for once Noah was actually there on time as well. Mostly only because he wanted to ambush his girl and see if he couldn't get a mini make out session in before Mr. Schue got there, but he figured he got points anyway. When Rachel got within arm's distance he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap.
"Why hello, Noah," she said with a grin, her fingers automatically finding their way to the soft hair of his mohawk. "Miss me, did we?"
He snorted. "Please, dudes don't miss people."
"Don't they?" she asked, rising from his lap. "Well I guess I can just get up then and go about…"
She was cut off abruptly by her own giggle as he pulled her back. "Okay, so maybe I may have missed you, like the tiniest bit."
Her eyes took on a devious glint as she smiled at him. "Prove it."
Never one to back away from a dare, he did indeed prove just how much he had missed her; and he kept on proving it until Mercedes and Kurt started pelting them with writing utensils and making jokes about what their couple nickname should be. Only then did the pair of them part to throw back the gleeks' chosen projectiles.
Then he went right back to proving it.
Note From The Author—We've reached the end, ladies and gents! I certainly hope that you enjoyed it, and rest assured that if you're wigged out about the end of The Young and the Hopeless there will most definitely be more Puck and Rachel goodness from me in the future. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed the cutesy funny end of our journey.