A/N: Hey everyone, sorry I've been neglecting this story - I ran out of steam, but I'll always come back to Faberry! Anyway, here's the next chapter - enjoy :)

26. You Can Do Better Than Me

She walked straight in not bothering to knock. Reading a book on Theatre Theorists (seriously who reads a book on theorists in their spare time?) Rachel didn't bother to look up until Quinn slammed the door. That got her attention. The look on Quinn's face said everything Rachel needed to know.

She snapped the book shut. 'I…I'm sorry Quinn…' she stuttered, not sure of how to start.

'Are you out of your mind?' Quinn hissed. 'Did you not think of warning me first before he came to my dorm and ambushed me…? I looked like an idiot!'

'We got into this whole thing because of you, Quinn.'

'Don't you dare try and pin this all on me.' The blonde glared.

'You kissed me first…'

The blonde scoffed. 'What are you, five? It's not like you kissed me back or anything…'

'Now is obviously not the time for your sarcasm, Quinn.' Rachel chastised the girl standing across the room from her. She shook her head. 'I didn't know what I was doing, I wasn't thinking straight.'

'Oh so you didn't know what you were doing every other time we fucked? Seems to me like you did…'

'You knew I was with Noah.'

'I was with Lexie. That's irrelevant and you know it.'

'It's perfectly relevant because I'm still with Noah.'

'Could you have not at least told me you were thinking about telling him?'

Rachel rubbed her forehead with her palm with an exasperated sigh. She could feel one of her stress headaches coming on. 'I couldn't warn you because I didn't tell him.'

Quinn stopped in her tracks. 'What…? Then…who did…?'

Rachel paused for a second before answering, weighing up the weight of the two words on her tongue. 'You did.'

'Rachel don't play fucking dumb with me. I think I would've remembered telling him something like that.'

She looked down at the beige front cover of her book. 'Daddy called me. I was in the shower and I left my phone on the table next to Noah. He shouted to me to ask if he should answer it.'

Noah's fingertips mashed the buttons on the controller so hard they were probably going to malfunction soon; but he had to K.O. The Joker before Rachel finished her nightly routine, cutting his gaming time short. He loved her, but he knew that she often got bored quickly if she had to watch him obsess over his video games.

As soon as Batman delivered the final blow to The Joker, Rachel's pink bedazzled cellphone began to vibrate against the side table next to the couch. He looked at the display reading 'Daddy'. The Berry men were both familiar with Noah, and he knew that they would recognise his voice, but he respected Rachel's privacy.

He heard that the shower was no longer running and picked up her still buzzing cellphone. He quickly moved to the bathroom door and knocked twice.

'Rach, your dad is calling…'

He always forgot which of the Berry men was dad or daddy, but Rachel would figure it out as soon as she took the call.

He heard a muffled voice from behind the beige panelled door. 'Could you get it honey? Tell him I'll be out in a minute.'

He walked away from the bathroom door, and as soon as he went to press the accept button, the incoming call had been abandoned. His thumb clumsily slipped over the middle button and he found himself in Rachel's inbox.

A message from Quinn Fabray popped up, illuminating the screen.

Hey baby, you still coming over tomorrow night? I have a little surprise for you ;) (and before you try and guess, no it isn't our little pink friend!) xxxx

His mind went blank. He understood them being friends, he liked that the two most important women in his life were friends. But this? Casual friends don't call each other 'baby' or leave winks. He didn't even want to hazard a guess at what their 'pink friend' meant.

His fist gripped tightly around the pink bedazzled phone and stared hard at the ground, his mind reeling. Rachel walked casually into the living room towelling the wet ends to her hair. She looked up at his face and her easy smile dropped. He was sickly pale, and her mind began to race.

'Noah…? Noah what's wrong? What's happened? What did dad say…?'

He scoffed, snapping out of his trance. 'Are you fucking Quinn Fabray?'

His eyes rose to hers, and she looked like a rabbit caught in Noah's headlights. 'What…?'

He dropped her cellphone onto the couch between them, the message on the screen. She looked down at it as if it would burn her if she touched it. She carefully retrieved it from the couch cushion, her tiny tanned thumb breezing over the screen.

He watched her face drop, realisation flicker in her deep brown eyes. She looked back up at him. 'I…'

He shook his head looking down and ran one hand through the tip of his mohawk. 'Do me a favour Rachel…' he almost pleaded. '…Don't lie to me…Just do me that one thing…'

'I don't know what to say.' She responded quietly.

He nodded to her cellphone dangling from her hand. 'I think it's pretty obvious, don't you?'

'Noah I…'

'Y'know if it was some stranger I didn't know I could…' he sighed sharply. '…But my best friend Rachel? Quinn Fabray…? Of all the people?'

'I can't…'

'You can't what Rach…? You can't do this…?' His voice wavered. 'You already did Rach. Don't you see that? Both of you. You already did.'

'Noah…'

He held on to the top of his head and raised his left hand towards her to stop her. His chest constricted at the way his name fell from between those perfect lips.

'Don't say my name.' He begged, his voice emerging quietly. 'Please, just…don't say my name.'

He walked slowly towards the door. He heard her voice speaking softly behind him.

'Please don't go…' He stopped in his tracks. 'Please don't do this, please don't go…'

He closed his eyes, her words encasing his whole body in a messy tangle. He turned back to face her and opened his eyes once more.

She stood in the middle of the room, tears tumbling over those soft tanned cheeks that his lips loved to kiss and caress. His feet began to move of their own accord, pulling his body into her consuming force field that he'd always been powerless against, ever since that varsity basketball game.

He found himself standing in front of her, his hands wrapped around the nape of her neck underneath her still wet hair. The moisture felt cool and slick against the back of his knuckles. He had her hugged against her chest, her arms holding onto his waist. Her tears seeped through his light grey t-shirt.

'Please don't walk away.' she pleaded again through choked sobs. 'I can't let you go. Please don't let me go.' He felt her tiny fists bunch up the material of his shirt at the bottom of his ribs.

His lips rested against her damp bangs. He sighed and finally spoke. 'But I have to.' He felt her eyes clench at his words, tears falling rapidly down her face, muffled by the material covering his chest.

He lifted his lips away and she looked up at him, her large brown eyes framed in red blotches. Their lips collided and he breathed in her soft skin and the way she felt pressed against him. He breathed in the light scent of coffee and vanilla scented fabric softener radiating from her. He took one last lungful of her and pulled away.

He stepped away from her and turning his back; he walked out the door.