Afternoon all! We wanted to thank you all again for all of the lovely reviews/comments/feedback. (please keep them coming). There are only 2 more chapters after this one. Thanks for sticking with it and well, be prepared for more bumps and remember rollercoasters are the best kind of rides! This chapter was inspired by the Andrew Belle song, Signs of Life. A special thank you to our lovely beta's!

Disclaimer: We do not claim to own Glee or any of its characters. We simply own our insanity!

"Puck."

The fucker's name was the last word he uttered before his fist came in contact with Puck's face.

"You wanna do this here?" Puck replied, wiping at the blood on his lip with his thumb.

It was amazing how the one question squashed all his confusion and left only flat, hard anger behind. He kinda wished he'd had that clarity yesterday; he could've walked away from this entire mess without… well… whatever.

"Yea, I kinda think I do," Finn spat before he punched Puck in the stomach, stepping back a little and shaking his hand as Puck doubled over. He kept his eyes on said former best friend, just waiting for the sucker punch or something else that could make him feel any better. Justice wasn't supposed to feel empty.

"I'm not gonna fight you back," Puck sputtered as he tried to take in shallow breaths.

"Why…because you think you already won?" Finn growled angrily. Why the hell was he out of breath?

"Won? What the hell did you think this was…a contest or somethin'? I didn't win shit. If anything, I took on more heartbreak than one person can fuckin' handle!"

Finn balled his hands into fists to control his anger. "It wasn't your heartbreak to bear, now was it?" He hissed and Puck snorted in response.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" When Finn rolled his eyes Puck made a scoffing noise and jumped back to his feet, "She almost died. Did you know what?"

Finn looked away, unable to handle the scrutiny. He was the victim in all of this, not her, right? It was a shaky house of cards, but it was about all he had at this point.

"No, fuck you man. You better Goddamn well listen. It's high past time you heard all this."

"Or what?" Finn spat, whipping his head back in Puck's direction.

"Or you're gonna lose them forever because you're a stubborn jackass. Once that happens, I'm not gonna feel guilty about trying to make her mine," Puck growled, stabbing his finger hard into Finn's chest.

"Don't touch me." Finn swiped at his wrist, slapping it away with sharp force.

Puck just laughed humorlessly. "Or what? You gonna punch me again? 'Cause I gave you two free shots already. I have no idea where your head's at right now 'cause this situation is all fucked up, but no more freebies."

Finn threw his hands in the air. "I don't need this shit. I… you took my life. You fucked my wife and apparently raised my kid."

Puck shook his head and ran his hand over his head. "You honestly believe that?"

Finn swallowed; he didn't know what he believed anymore, really.

Puck seized on the moment of silence and the flash of doubt in Finn's eyes. "You don't, do you? You know she didn't cheat on you. She…did she tell you about that night? Ya know, the one where you freaked out and got drunk off your ass after you found us?"

"She told me enough."

"Nah, man; you need to hear everything 'cause you fucked up…not her. I came home that night and, well…"

"Finn? Dude, you home yet?" Puck shouted as he entered the tiny two-bedroom apartment. "Rachel, you here?" He shrugged and went to the fridge to get a beer, which he needed after the hell night he had at the club. He popped it open and meandered through the apartment, flipping lights off as he headed to his room.

Kinda weird since Rachel was such a pain in the ass about leaving lights on. That's when he noticed the light coming from Finn and Rachel's room. He knocked lightly on the almost-closed door and it swung open. He always made it a point, not to go in their room unannounced cause he never knew what he was gonna stumble in on, but something about this whole thing made him feel really uneasy.

"Rach? You there babe?" He asked as he peered into the dark room to see the light was coming from their bathroom. He cleared his throat loudly in case she was in the shower or something, but there wasn't any response. He decided to go for broke and quickly walked in the small room to find Rachel curled in a ball, pale, shaking and obviously exhausted from throwing up. He didn't do the whole 'taking care of a chick' bit, but she was different. She and Finn were his best friends. So he tossed his shirt off, 'cause he was not getting any puke on it, and knelt down next to her.

"Shit Rach, what's wrong? You've been sick for weeks, but…you look like death."

She opened one eye which was blood shot. "I…call Finn, please," she squeaked weakly before shutting her eyes again. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. Normally she would have put up a fight, but tonight she just was limp in his arms.

"I think I need to get you to the hospital. There is that crazy flu thing going around and…" Rachel shook her head as much as she could and then rolled onto her side.

"Not the flu…please call him. I…I need to tell him."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit Finn's number.

"It went to voice mail."

Rachel nodded against the pillow. "Office number on my phone," she sighed and then lurched and began to dry heave.

"Shit, I don't do this," Puck whined as he called Finn's office number from her phone.

"Hello, Finn's phone."

"Who the fuck is this?" Puck growled when he heard the unfamiliar female voice.

"Margo. And you are…?" Puck looked over at Rachel, who had passed out on the bed, and then he snuck out into the living area.

"Where is Finn?" He spat when he heard her giggle. He knew that kind of fucking giggle.

"He's busy."

"I don't care if he's rescuing babies from a burning building. You give him his fuckin phone now. This is an emergency." He heard her jabbering to someone and then come back on the line, "I'll tell him someone called. Bye."

"FUCK!" He tossed the phone on the couch and went back to their bedroom. "He must be in a meeting or something. I…do you want me to get you something?"

Rachel held out her hand. "Just stay with me please? I…think something is wrong with the baby…I…" She sighed before slipping back into unconsciousness. He stood there for a second with her hand in his, unable to move because he was choking on his disbelief.

She was pregnant and her husband, his best friend couldn't be bothered.

"Couldn't be bothered? She never told me!"

"Yea, 'cause you fucking threw her out. Didn't you see how sick she was that night, or don't you remember anything?"

"I remember you jumping to her aid like I was going to hurt her—like I could ever hurt her. I loved her."

"Right. That's why you could believe the worst about her, huh? You assumed the worst and I don't even know why! We never would have done that!"

"It wasn't just that night! You…you were always together. She confided in you when I was her husband…I am her husband. You went to her shows and took her to dinner. You bought her gifts—like, real and familiar gifts for no special reason—and shit. Combine that with what I saw and what the hell was I supposed to think?"

"I think you should think you're an ass. I only did any of that because she was your wife and you weren't around! She confided in me about you, dumbass. She kept asking me if I thought you might have found someone else." When Finn let out a ragged breath Puck continued in a rush, growing more obviously agitated with every word. "Yea, she thought you were involved with someone else. She didn't think you wanted her anymore and then she got sick and could barely take care of herself, but you didn't even seem to notice. You with your new job and fancy parties…you just left her behind. That's what it looked like anyway."

"Left her behind? I asked her to go to every one of those lame parties with me but she was always busy with her show or school. I was the only guy whose wife was too busy for him. How the hell did you think that made me feel? I finally started making it and she didn't want to share it with me. So yeah, I was pissed at her, but not wanting her? Not loving her? That's total garbage and it was never the way it was."

"You ever tell her that?"

"I shouldn't have had to. She and I …we were just always on the same page," Finn argued as he ran his hand through his hair.

Was this all just one big fucking misunderstanding? If he'd misjudged that…well…

At the very least it changed everything. Again. He didn't know how much more of this he could handle.

"Look, I get it. It was a hard time for both of you, but dude, we never had an affair. Ever. "

"It doesn't matter anymore. I…I don't want anything to do with her. I just need to see my son," Finn said solemnly.

"You don't mean that."

"Yea, I really fucking do. She kept my son from me! You both did. I'm done with both of you."

"Who're you trying to convince: you or me? 'Cause honestly, if you give her the divorce like I hope you do, she and I have a shot."

"She doesn't love you."

Puck shrugged. "She hasn't even let herself because of you. She's hung up on the future or like the possibility of one with you 'til there's an actual divorce."

"I find that hard to believe since she was hiding my son!" Finn's yell garnered the attention of several families and nurses. He shrugged and sighed, mouthing an apology to the apparently offended world-at-large, and sat down.

"Man, look…you have really have no idea what the hell has been going on. He's sick; like really sick and Rachel's so focused on all of it that nothing else matters to her anymore. After a year of that and a year of you ignoring her and making her feel like shit on top of all that, she kinda didn't try anymore 'cause she didn't need the extra worry. Yea, I knew you needed to see him; that's why I sent you the text."

Finn's head snapped up. For the first time, he saw the exhaustion, sadness, and guilt on his ex-friend's face.

"How…how sick is really sick?" It sounded like someone else entirely asking the question. It felt like his voice but not his voice because he didn't even recognize the words when they were put together in that order. Words like son and feelings like worry weren't…he couldn't catch up to everything that was going on. He was so far behind.

"He…well, they don't think…he isn't gonna las…last much longer and…and…" Puck stammered, slowly breaking down in front of Finn. "…and I love him…he…he's my…"

Finn couldn't say anything about it and he wasn't sure he even knew how to deal with any of it as Puck raised his hand to his bowed face and tucked his thumb in the corner of one eye with the rest of his fingers hiding the other eye entirely. In all the years Finn had known Puck, he had never seen the guy show any deep emotion but here he was now, bawling like a hurt child.

"I…I need to see him." He finally choked the words out, the plea and the certainty rolling together after what felt like a hundred years had passed.

Puck kept his hand on his face but flipped a thumb over his shoulder. "In there; Rachel's with him. Don't…don't give her shit right now…she's literally hanging by a thread."

Finn turned to walk towards the door but stopped short.

He didn't even know Caleb's full name.

"What is his name?"

"Who, Caleb?" Puck asked, spinning around.

"His whole name. Does he have a middle name?"

"Yea; it's Frederick. Rachel was gonna put it as his first name, but I told her he'd get his ass kicked every day, so she agreed to change it up."

"Caleb Frederick," Finn breathed out. It took him a second, but he let out a strangled laugh. She had given their son his initials. He looked over at Puck, who just gave him curt nod. "We aren't done here, you know."

"Yea, I know. Just go now and we'll..." Puck shrugged, his shoulder just sagging more than anything else.

Finn let out a deep breath, one he didn't even realize he was holding in, and stepped into the cool room. It was darkened, making the various colored lights on the machines along the wall stand out a little more. It was virtually silent and still, too, the only sounds the beeping of machines. He felt his heart slam against his chest when he saw Rachel curled on the bed next to a small, pale little boy attached to monitors and breathing machines. He wanted to cry, to scream, to kick or hit something, but his heart was lodged in his throat. He wanted to run over and pull them both into a tight embrace and never let go, but he felt like another step would be his last and he would just fall.

She either sensed him or heard the door shut behind him because her eyes immediately opened and locked onto to his.

"Wh…what are you…do…" She stammered softly before glancing down at her sleeping son the said in barely a whisper, "I…I'm sorry. So, so sorry…I…" She climbed out of the bed and stepped towards him as her eyes filled with tears and her face crumbled.

He wanted to be angry but he couldn't seem to find it. He deserved to be angry at the very least. She'd kept his child—his sick child—from him. He wanted to remember what he'd felt like when he figured it out: the feeling of betrayal that had been a million times more painful than when he thought she had cheated, the uncertainty and disbelief she had actually done it. Then he saw her so utterly broken and terrified, and he couldn't remember. There wasn't any anger or betrayal or suspicion. There was just pain and sadness and a deep, sinking feeling turning into a hollow ache. He was getting his wish to feel numb again just when he was looking to feel something. He needed the guidance so he would know what to do with the heartbreak etched on her beautiful face. He wondered why he hadn't noticed her exhaustion before. Why didn't he see the pain in her eyes?

If he was being brutally honest with himself, it was because he hadn't cared to look. He'd been too busy trying to mask his own issues to see hers, even though they were woven into the way she moved.

He shook his head and walked toward the small bed, blinking several times to clear his eyes of the standing water. Where exactly had that come from? He had tears rolling down his cheeks once he reached her and cupped her face in his hand.

"Stop, we…we will deal with all the apologies and our crap later, but…but right now…I…I need to see him."

Rachel nodded and blinked back her tears. "He…he ummm, they gave him something to sleep, so he wouldn't exert himself. His…his heart isn't strong enough anymore, even though I know it's capable of more love than I ever thought humanly possible and... He…he…he needs a new one and I can't give him mine…I tried, I told them I didn't need it if he wasn't…but…but they wouldn't do it. I begged them Finn, I really did. I…offered to do it myself, because…I don't need it without him. He…he is my heart and they don't understand. Why? Why don't they understand?" She asked imploringly.

He shook his head, blinking back the burning tears, swallowing the words he couldn't find, unable to answer her question. He wasn't even sure he could speak.

"He's just the most amazing…and…and perfect little boy and he deserves to live a hundred years and I… don't want to without him. I can't…I can't live without him. Why doesn't anyone understand?" She cried and he couldn't do anything but kiss her forehead and pull her against him, their son lying silently behind them.

He didn't even know the little boy, but somehow…somehow he kind of got what she was saying. This sweet child meant everything. He was everything good between them. And Finn would never even get to talk to him. He got what she was saying even if he didn't understand what this was going to feel like when the shock and the numbness wore off.

"I…I understand. God…I…" He breathed into her hair, holding her as tightly as he could while she sobbed and trembled in his arms. His own breath jerked from his body irregularly, at this point just another thing that was out of his control.

He didn't know how to do any of it, didn't know what the next minute or hour or day could bring any more than he knew what the last five years had actually done to any of them. He knew there was a lot to figure out and to feel, but he couldn't even go there. It was just not possible. There was only one thing in his hands right now, and that was literally the pieces of Rachel that were clinging to his shirt and begging him to do something he couldn't do because he had no idea what was coming. He only knew that no matter what happened next, they needed each other in this moment.

The rest would just have to wait.