Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

A/N: For Raven-fan14

After the third store, Rachel still had not found a dress that she could wear to Finn's party. Either it wasn't colorful or stylish enough for Kurt, wasn't tight enough for Santana, or wasn't modest enough for Noah. She was seriously starting to worry about the choice of shopping companions Kurt had picked. However, she was starting to realize how much fun Santana and Noah were. The two of them were like siblings with how similar their humor and styles were, respective to their genders of course. They both enjoyed cussing, but Noah noticed, even when they dated back in Sophmore year, that she preferred others not to cuss. So, when she was around, he avoided it as subtly as he could. Noah seemed to be acting particularly strange while shopping with the group. Sometimes, especially when Kurt and Santana would walk off into a section by themselves, Noah would hold his breath, and then leave her quickly. He wouldn't leave the store, but he just would go to a nearby section without a word to her. Fianlly at one point, she caught up to him, looping her arm in his.

"I know what you're doing. And I'm sorry."

"What?" Noah seemed on the verge of panic. "What am I doing?"

"You feel just as guilty as I do about cheating on Finn. And you are avoiding me. I'm so sorry. I feel so guilty too. I understand why you don't want to be around me." She looked at her feet, missing Noah's intense gaze. "You can leave if you want. You must be so bored by now!" She laughed a bit at the end, subtly appreciating how Noah had stayed so far in the afternoon.

Noah slightly nodded. "I do feel guilty. But, that's why we stopped what we were doing."

They walked around another corner of the clothing store they were wandering in.

Rachel heard Noah's strong sigh. "But, even so, I don't want to leave. I'm..." Rachel looked up at his hazel orbs. "I'm not avoiding you. I'm just avoiding being alone with you. You know Finn..." He dropped his gaze at that point.

Rachel nodded. She did indeed know of Finn's jealousy, especially when it came to Noah. However, to Rachel, it still seemed like Noah wasn't telling the whole truth. Thankfully, Noah noticed the terrible two coming back with a tight red strap of fabric. "You both agree on that then?" He accused.

"Yes, and now Rach has to try it on, now!" Kurt agreed.

Once she had it on, Rachel took a look in the mirror. Most of the dresses weren't her. They were either Santana or Kurt. But this, this was intense, but interesting. There were darker marron roses printed throughout, showing a sweet side. The fit and the sweetheart neckline allowed for a bit of sexiness to pour through. It was a study in contrasts and she was hopeful.

As Rachel stepped out of the dressing room, she asked the group, "How is this?"

Santana wolf-whistled at her. Kurt clapped with a huge grin. Noah's eyes grew to a dark shade of emerald. Rachel nervously ran her hands over the satin material. No one had these reactions to any of the other dresses. "Do you think it looks okay? I mean, do you think Finn will like it?"

Rachel knew her insecurity shone through her face. Kurt and Santana vehemently nodded.

Noah took two steps towards her. "If I was your boyfriend, Rach, you wouldn't even be going to that party. You would wear that dress for the two minutes it took to get it on, and then the two seconds it would take for me to rip it off you." He took a deep breath, looking her over once more, then he gave her his signature bad-ass smirk.

Rachel's heart beat louder than even before. Somehow the idea of Noah ripping the dress to shreds off her body was the most arousing thing she had heard of all week, even including Finn's song. "Oh," was all she could respond. Noah's smirk grew wider.

"If you don't buy that Rach, I'm buying it for you," he said louder, as he turned to stand next to Santana.

Kurt smiled his all-knowing smile. "Me too."

Rachel nodded, still mostly speechless and headed back to the changing room.

"Kurt, I gotta leave." Puck said, as he turned to the two left standing next to him after Rachel went back to change.

"What?! Why?!"

Puck swallowed. The past five minutes greatly distrubed his calm. He had been staying in the general area of Rachel all day, trying not to delibrately drown in her scent. However, with her holding his arm like they used to when they dated, and her in that dress, he almost couldn't hold his Veela inside.

"I can't.. " He paused, not knowing how much Santana knew about his condition. "I can't be here anymore. Too much at one time, you know?" He hoped Kurt understood his dwindling self-control.

"Ohhh.. ok, sure. But just say goodbye to Rachel. She'll be disappointed if you leave without saying goodbye."

Puck's heart was racing out of control. Just the thought of another hug with her almost made him hard.

"No, can't. Just tell her I think she's beautiful in whatever she picks, and that I got a sudden call from my sis. Ok? She'll understand." With that, Puck hurried out of the store.

Once in his car, Puck had to take a number of deep breaths. His car was free of her intoxicating scent, but his mind was overflowing with all he had seen today. All of Rachel he had seen today. His dreams were going to be very vivid indeed.

The next week at school prompted Mr. Shue to make another attempt at living vicariously through the students. The assignment was "Dreams" and Rachel just had to find the perfect New York song to sing to everyone. On Tuesday, Mr. Shue asked everyone where they believed they would be in five years. Rachel of course responded immediately detailing out her ten year plan of getting on Broadway. When she was finished, she turned to Finn. His face had gotten a bit more pale than before.

When prompted to answer Mr. Shue's question, he responded, "I guess I'll just follow Rachel." The rest of the room was silent. Rachel smiled at her boyfriend, proud that he would allow her dreams come before his own.

"I'll probably be dead. Or in jail. Maybe both." Puck spoke from the back of the room. Some of the students chucked, thinking he was trying to joke.

Rachel whipped her head around at him. The worry in her mind was displayed on her face. "Oh, Noah," she sighed. She knew he had so much musical talent, almost more than Finn because of Noah's ability to both play guitar and piano. To hear him talk so depressingly was painful.

She decided to show her confidence in him before he allowed the subject to drop. "Noah, you can do so much more! You could easily go to college to learn how to develop your musical talent. Who knows? Maybe if you joined us in New York, you could be part of a band! Or even a record producer! Does that sound interesting to you?" She had so much hope for him.

Noah scoffed. "Whatevs, Berry. It's not like it matters."

"Of course, it matters. You have such talent Noah, if only you applied it! You have such great potential!" Rachel was standing at this point, clenchinng her fists while facing the infuriating boy before her.

"What the hell, Rach?!" Finn stood up with indignation. Rachel looked at her boyfriend with utter confusion. "I just told you that I basically have no idea what I want to do, and now you're telling Noah he has great potential? I'm your boyfriend, you are supposed to be encouraging me!"

Rachel gave a single guffaw. "Finn, you have good grades, strong supportive family, and me. I really didn't think you needed encouragement to pursue something, just time. Noah needs to hear that he can do anything he sets his mind to."

Finn's anger only rose with her justification. "Are you cheating on me with him again? Did you two really just kiss?!" Rachel's eyes grew wide.

"Finn Hudson. If you do not take that back right now, we are going to have a serious discussion outside this choir room. Noah and I are friends. It is perfectly acceptable for a friend to encourage another." She stated lowly.

Finn rolled his eyes. "Friends, right."

At this point, Noah could hold back no longer. A slight growl eminated from the back of the room seconds before Noah shouted, "What's your deal dude? Are you seriously going to blame me for every one of your relationship problems? I'm not the one making Rachel angry right now. You are. You keep jumping to stupid conclusions becuase you don't even trust her anymore. Like she even has reason to trust you." The room almost seemed more shocked at Noah's use of Rachel's full first name without mockery than his actual statement.

At this point, Quinn decided to speak up. "Puck, sit down. You're not helping. Finn, go outside and talk to Rachel about the fact that you both have cheated on each other mutliple times, yet somehow and for whatever reason you decide to stay together. Like thats even a really good idea. You two are such children." Quinn rolled her eyes at the general immaturity in the room.

Finn and Rachel went outside as Quinn suggested. Puck very, very reluctantly sat down. He only did so after Brittany mumbled, "The beasty can't always have his way. Have to wait for the princess to be in the tower first."

Once the couple were out in the hallway, Finn turned to Rachel. "I'm sorry Rach. You know how it gets me when Puck is always around, stirring up trouble. He's fun to hang around, when its just guys, but girls make things complicated with him. I just got angry hearing you tell him he has talent. It made it sound like you think I don't."

"Oh, Finn, of course you have talent. It is just something so obvious, I didn't think you needed any reassurance." A memory, or three, occured to Rachel of all the times Finn did indeed need her reassurance. He contastly asked for her help or her suggestions, but only in private. Only when no one else was around did he actually appreciate her opinions. Otherwise, he just needed to hear how strong, or considerate, or popular he was. Who was the immature one here? Noah needed to realize that he had good options, whereas Finn had too many options. Why was she encouraging him again?

"Good. Good. Just wanted to make sure, you know. Hey, you know, Quinn's right. We do kinda keep coming back together. We always overcome every hurdle because we love each other so much. Hey, how bout we get married? That way we can be sure to stick together in New York, and I won't have to be jealous of anyone because you'd be mine for sure, forever. No more rubberbanding." Finn chuckled a bit.

Rachel wanted to give the issue more thought, but the puppydog lookin Finn's eyes and the sweet way he was apologizing made her forget her insecurities, like always. "Really?" He nodded. "Yes, yes! Ok!"

After Mercedes song describing how she was going to LA to become a famous singer, the wonder pair came back to the room. They both had huge smiles on their faces, and Rachel's made Puck's heart skip a beat. Until they spoke. Finn said, "We are getting married!" Jaws all around the room droppped.

MINE. NOT HIS. GOING TO KILL. Puck almost agreed wholeheartedly with his Veela. He stood up, seething with anger while the rest of Glee reacted to the news. He walked over to Finn, grabbing him by the throat, and tossed him into the nearby drum set. As the cacophony of sounds filled the room, Mr. Shue, Mike, and Blaine, ran over to hold Puck back from continuing his work against Finn. Puck heard Rachel's shocked shriek, which forced his Veela to shrink back. Kurt ran over to Rachel, to calm her down, checked over Finn to make sure he was still breathing, then faced Puck.

"Puck, PUCK. Calm down. This isn't going to change her answer. Stop. Look at her tears. She doesn't want Finn hurt by you." Kurt's strong-willed words reminded Puck that he needed to be in control right now. It was defintely not the right time to expose his Veela.

Taking long, deep breaths, saturated with Rachel's stench of fear and worry, Puck completely calmed down. The chaos he created was stilled by Mr. Shue's shout.

"OK, EVERYONE, let's just calm down! Puck, you and I are going to Figgin's office. Rachel, you and Kurt get Finn to the nurse, just in case. Ok?"

They did as they were told. Puck hung his head in shame. Halfway to Figgin's, Puck realized the only way out of going back to juvie was to tell Mr. Shue the truth. "Mr. Shue. I'm really not sorry. But the only reason that I reacted is because I'm part Veela. Rachel's my mate. I lost control there for a second."

Mr. Shue's shook seeped into Puck's nose. "Oh, Ok. Well, Puck maybe you should stay away from Glee for a while if you need time to learn to control it. This is a rare circumstance, but know that if something does happen, the law will be on your side. Veelas are extremely rare these days, so most would approve of a Veela protecting its mate." Mr. Shue sighed in resignation of the difficulty of the situation.

In the nurse's office, Rachel stood next to the table Finn was laying on, hugging herself. Finn was unconscious for the majority of the time it took to get him here.

"Oh, Rach. I'm so sorry. I can't believe you two decided to get engaged!" Kurrt screeched, while holding onto Finn's hand. The nurse had already checked his vitals, and without any major head damage, the two students were now just waiting for him to wake up.

"It was Finn's idea. Something to curb the jealousy, I guess." Rachel could hardly think straight with all that had happened.

"Do you ever wonder if you two have just too much history of betrayal, on both sides, to really make it work. I know you will always love each other, but is it a good idea if its always this much trouble?" Kurt sounded exasperated.

"Love isn't always easy."

"But shouldn't it make you happy? When are you happy with Finn, Rachel? Half the time you are holding him back or fighting because of his jealousy and the other half you are walking around in a daze while he makes fun of you to his football friends. Yes, I read his facebook and email. His passwords aren't that hard," Kurt rolled his eyes at Rachel's shocked face.

"He really makes fun of me?" Rachel's dejected voice wafted through the empty hallway outside.

"Sorry, Rach. Its not kind to tell you, but getting married is like a huge deal. Its an eternal bond between two people, forever. Do you really want Finn to be your eternal mate?" Kurt scrutinized his best friend's reaction to the Veela phrasing.

Rachel sighed. "I don't really know. I mean, I do love him. I guess the boyfriend/girlfriend thing always worked for us because it was so easy to breakup and get back together. Maybe Quinn was right."

"Does this mean you are going to Finn's birthday party this weekend? I mean you did already pick out the dress.."

Rachel softly laughed. "Oh, Kurt. If Finn will give me some time to think about us, and he approves, then yes, I will go." She laughed again. "Kurt, what will we do with you?"

A/N: Ok, not trying to bash Finn here. I just find him overly immature in the series, and was hoping to bring it out here to evidence why he is not the best match for Rachel. Let me know how I did! Thanks!