How can you mend a this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart
And let me live again.

-How Can You Mend a Broken Heart by Michael Bublé

His question was met with silence.

Most of his friends' faces scrunched up in confusion, while Finn and Quinn exchanged quick, guilty glances.

"Oh yeah, I almost didn't notice. Where is Rachel?" Brittany asked. "I haven't seen her since…I don't remember."

Noah turned to Finn. "She wasn't even at the wedding, was she?"

Finn shook his head. "Rachel was supposed to be Quinn's maid-of-honor, but she couldn't make it. But it was cool. We saw her a few days later and hung out with her on our honey—"

Quinn elbowed her husband in the ribs, knocking the breath out of him and making him gasp for air. Clearly something was amiss, and it was something that all of the Glee clubbers were not supposed to find out.

"On your honeymoon?" Noah urged. He racked his brains, trying to remember where his friends had gone on their honeymoon four years ago. "You saw her in London? What was Rachel doing in London?"

Right then the oven pinged. With an expression of relief passing over her face, Quinn announced, "I made my famous snickerdoodles! Artie was nice enough to let me use his kitchen so that they would be fresh and piping hot. You should go get 'em." When no one made a move, she curtly added, "Now."

Everyone scrambled to the kitchen except for Noah, who stubbornly stayed seated, and Finn, who almost left until Quinn grabbed him and hissed, "I didn't mean you."

"Well?" Noah asked impatiently. "What's going on?"

Quinn carefully handed Debbie to Finn, who was steadily avoiding Noah's gaze. The female half of the golden couple then folded her hands and placed them in her lap. "Well… Rachel lives in London. She's been there for the past five years."

"Oh? And why is it such a big secret?"

"She's embarrassed, though she really has no reason to be. But that's Rachel for you," Quinn sighed. "It's kind of a long story, and it's not really my story to tell…"

"Just tell me, Quinn. I've been worried about her for the past however many years it's been. I was hoping to see her tonight, but I guess she's not home for the holidays."

Quinn laughed bitterly. "Yeah, she refuses to come back to the States for any reason. Rachel just usually flies her dads out for the holidays, and I think that they prefer to spend Christmas in London than in Lima."

Finn stopped bouncing Debbie and turned to his wife. "Babe, I think we should just tell him. It's not that big of a deal anyway…I'm sure that Rachel wouldn't mind if we told Puck."

Before Quinn could get a word out, the group of cookie eaters came back into the living room, laughing about a joke that Mike had told. She motioned to Puck and Finn to move with her to a more secluded area of the house where they could get a bit of privacy.

After seating herself at the kitchen dining table, Quinn nervously rubbed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her slacks as she searched for the right words to say.

"Puck, did Finn ever tell you the real reason for why he wanted to leave the Pats?" she asked.

"He said something about the weather and coming back home," Noah replied.

Seeing that his answer was the wrong one, Quinn continued, "Well, the real reason was that they were bringing in Dean Matthews to play wide receiver. You know the one?"

Noah nodded. Of course, he knew Dean. He tried to get him as a client, but lost out on his representation to a bigger and better agent. He wasn't sore about it, and Matthews was nice about it. He was a pretty good guy, easy to get along with and generally charming.

"Well, Finn and Dean don't exactly get along well anymore because of Rachel.

"See, they both played football for SC. Finn as quarterback, Dean as wide receiver. They instantly became best friends because they worked so well together. Subsequently, Dean always hung out with Finn, Rachel, and me.

"After a couple of months, Dean asked Rachel out. They were incredibly adorable together, practically inseparable but not too much, you know? Everyone thought that they were perfect for each other, even Finn and I.

"They were together all four years of college, later earning the name incredibly lame name 'Deachel.' Dean was so in love with Rachel and proposed during our sophomore year on their one-year anniversary. Rachel, of course, turned him down saying that it was too soon and that they both needed to focus on the future. But she told him that if they were still together when they both graduated, he could propose again and she may have a different answer.

"Rachel and I both went up to New York for the NFL Draft a couple of years later to support Dean and Finn. The day before the draft, Dean took Rach to Radio City Music Hall, where the draft was going to be. He proposed to her there, saying that his life was going to change the next day and t. hat he hoped that she would take on a bigger role in the new life. She said yes.

"They were engaged for a year. Everyone was excited, including Dean, and Rachel was bouncing off the walls happy. But a month before the wedding, Dean ended the engagement and didn't give Rachel a reason. All he told her was that he didn't think that their marriage would work out. So she cancelled all of the wedding plans, tied up some loose ends, and moved to London with a broken heart. She couldn't handle staying in the States because she felt like she wouldn't be able to avoid seeing him everywhere.

"Finn, I think, was almost worse off than Rachel was. Dean was his best friend—after you, of course. He even threw a few punches to defend Rachel's honor. Dean has tried to mend their friendship, but Finn refuses. Ergo, he decided to leave the Pats when the news broke of Dean coming in. End of story."

Noah stared blankly ahead of him. He couldn't really believe that anyone would just dump Rachel Berry, that anyone would give up the chance to be happy with her. Matthews had a good thing going for him, and he just gave up. Noah wondered about how Rachel was holding up, hiding away in London to avoid all of the pain.

"How is she now?" he asked quietly.

Quinn gave him a small smile. "She's doing better. A lot better. I think that London's been good for her."

An idea popped up in Noah's mind. "I'm going to London in a few days, actually, for a client of mine. Think you can give me her address? I want to see her again and to catch up."

"Of course. Send her our love."

Author's Note: Here it is! Sorry it's late. I meant to get it up right after Christmas, but other things got in the way (Writer's Block + Visiting Family + Homework + Holidays + Everything else = VERY distracting).

It may kind of suck (especially the ending), and for that I'm sorry. I'm not even sure if I should continue this, since the interest has kind of gone down (Hint: I adore reviews). Anyway, writing this kind of gave me an idea for another story that I may want to write—Puckleberry, of course. But we'll see. If this story gets a really good response, I may just consider it.

Also, I hope to get the new chapter up soon! I want to do it before New Year's, but I just have so much going on that I may not be able to. So forgive me if the next chapter (which takes place before and on New Year's) is late.

Anyways, enjoy! Have a Happy New Year!

Too-da-loo,

Me