AN: Sorry for the wait. I'm really struggling on my Puckleberry stories; my muse is getting distracted by other shows and stuff and I'm trying really hard to keep her on track. It doesn't help that there's no on-show inspiration anymore to keep me going. I've been getting lots of ideas for different fanfics for other shows, but I want to finish up at least two of my Glee fics before starting any of those so again sorry for the slowness. Anywho, the song used in the title and in the chapter is Good to You by Marianas Trench, who if you didn't know is a fabulous band. The lyrics are from the music video version featuring Jessica Lee, which I prefer to the version featuring Kate Voegele. Not that they're not both good cuz they are. Anyway on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the song.

Chapter 4-I'd Be Good to You

Quinn sat in the hospital bed flipping through the channels, groaning when she couldn't find anything. Rachel couldn't visit due to her dance class, Puck was watching his little sister, and she wasn't really sure what any of her other friends were up to. So she was pleasantly surprised when Artie entered the room. Quinn smiled at her visitor who had unknowingly saved her from her boredom. "Hey!" she greeted with a smile.

"Hey, how's it going?" Artie inquired as he wheeled to her bedside.

"Alright, just a little bored." The boy nodded and seemed a little unsure on what to say. It was no secret that the two of them normally had little interaction outside of glee club. Quinn sensed his uncertainty and continued speaking, "My doctor says I should be okay to go home in a few days."

"That's good. Will you be coming back to school right away?"

"It depends on how quickly my arm heals; I want to be able to wheel myself around rather than depend on someone to push me everywhere." Quinn explained. She let out a little laugh, "I never thought I'd be happy to be back in school, but I'm sick of doing nothing. Plus I miss everyone."

Artie laughed, 'Yeah, you're missing out on Brittany's Operation Puckleberry 2.0."

"Oh, I know," she pouted slightly. The only time she could help on Brittany's mission to get the pair together was when they came to visit her.

The sight of Quinn Fabray pouting was enough to make Artie laugh more. "We have a pool going, if you want it," he joked.

Quinn rolled her eyes before getting serious, "So they told me the basics about my recovery and using a wheelchair."

Artie gave her a small smile, "You'll get the hang of it, and you will have me to help you. I'll even teach you how to do the fun stuff. Plus you've already had some practice when we did Proud Mary." He demonstrated by spinning around, making the blonde smile.

"Oh, good. Puck mentioned we could have races," she laughed.

"He would suggest that. And you know if you ever need to talk about it…" he trailed off.

Quinn grinned, "Thanks." The two talked about various topics over the next hour or so, including nationals. They both agreed that their best chances of winning were with a Rachel Berry solo or a Puck and Rachel duet. Artie finally left after getting a call from his parents, leaving Quinn alone again.

The rest of the week passed without much incident, other than a couple of Finn tantrums. Neither Rachel nor Puck had made a move much to the chagrin of their friends. Brittany and Santana made plans on grilling Rachel on the subject during their sleepover. And Blaine, with a little push from Kurt, resolved to talk to Puck about it.

Blaine waited until they were in the workout room on Friday afterschool. He didn't bring it up until he was sure no one was around. He was spotting his mohawked friend and in between lifts he spoke, "So anything new with you and Rach?"

Puck slowed in his actions to send him a suspicious glance, "No, why?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because the tension and obvious chemistry between you two is becoming almost unbearable. I know Kurt and Brittany are about to just lock you guys in a closet until you get together."

Puck rolled his eyes at the dramatics of the plan, but he wouldn't put it passed the pair to follow through with it, "It's only been a week since her and that douchebag broke up; not even that."

"True, but some of them have been hoping for this for a long time."

"Yeah will, so have I and I don't want to mess it up."

Blaine nodded in understanding, "You should just ask her to hang out and see how it goes from there. It's obvious she feels the same even if she doesn't completely realize it."

"Sure, whatever," Puck quickly changed the subject and continued with his workout.

Later that night Rachel, Brittany, and Santana were hanging out in Rachel's room. Brittany was braiding Rachel's hair while Santana painted her nails. The three girls had been talking about a bunch of random things when Brittany asked seemingly innocently, "So Rachie, when are you and Puck gonna get back together?" Santana briefly froze in her nail painting, gauging Rachel's reaction.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Rachel answered.

Santana rolled her eyes, "She's talking about the crazy amount of sexual tension between you guys; it's practically making everybody else horny." Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but the Latina cut her off, "And none of this stuff about him not liking you like that because let me tell you he does. I think you're the only one that doesn't notice the way he looks at you or the dopey smile he gets when you're around."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I'm sure you're exaggerating."

"Nope, San is right."

"Even if I did have feelings for Noah and he happened to return those feelings, I just got out of a pretty serious relationship. I thought the whole point of this new and improved me was to be single for a while, to be free."

"Ok, one, you do have feelings for Puckerman. Two, he does happen to return those feelings. You guys are just insanely blind to the obvious," Santana retorted.

Brittany continued, "And three, the point of this is for you to be happy."

Santana nodded at Brittany's addition, "Britt's right, you are free; free to do whatever makes you happy and I'm pretty sure that includes being with Puck."

Rachel sat there for a moment taking all of this information in, "I'll think about it."

The other girls smiled and went back to their previous tasks. Once they were finished, the trio watched some movies and didn't fall asleep until late into the night.

Rachel had thought that school would be a distraction from the thoughts that had been plaguing her since her talk with Brittany and Santana. But come Monday morning, she walked through the halls oblivious to the stares she was getting; preoccupied with thinking of a certain badass. The stares weren't because she had something on her face or something else embarrassing; in fact, everyone was surprised by her outfit, thinking that the normal clothes she had worn the other day were just a fluke. They were looking because once again Rachel Berry was wearing a stylish outfit and looked good in it too. She wore a black formfitting top that had lace long sleeves, a neon yellow/green skirt, some black pumps, and some matching neon jewelry.

Puck was walking and talking with Blaine and Kurt when he saw her, "Damn." He stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face, while the other two followed his line of sight. Neither was surprised by who it was, although Kurt practically squealed when he saw her outfit and ran to compliment his friend.

Blaine watched his excited boyfriend run off with a smile before turning to the still silent teen, "If you're going to ask her out I'd hurry before someone else does."

This seemed to snap Puck out of it as he composed himself and walked over wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "Morning Rach, you look nice."

Rachel smiled up at him, "Thank you, Noah." The four of them stood and talked before the bell went off. When it did, Puck once again offered his arm and walked Rachel to class, discreetly glaring at any male that dared to stare for too long.

A few classes later the pair was at Puck's locker with Rachel leaning against the lockers with a pensive look on her face. Puck noticed and questioned her, "What's up, Rach?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Puck lifted his eyebrow and gave her a speculative look. Realizing he didn't believe her she sighed, "I was just thinking. More like, wondering. If Quinn hadn't gotten in that accident would I be married to Finn right now? And if I was, how long would it had taken to realize what a terrible mistake it was?"

Her nose wrinkled in distaste and Puck stared at her for a moment before answering, "Well, I think that regardless of Quinn's accident, you wouldn't be married to him."

Rachel quickly turned her head to look at him, searching for some sort of explanation, "What makes you say that?"

Puck chuckled remembering the looks on her fathers' faces before the ceremony was to take place, "I think you're dads or maybe even Carole or Burt would've objected and if none of them did I'm sure me or one of the others would have." They looked into each other's eyes for a moment before Rachel looked away to think over this new information.

Before either of them could say anything else Quinn came over to them. "Hey guys."

"Hey Quinn, how does it feel to be back at school?" Rachel asked.

Quinn smiled at them, "good. It's better than lying in a hospital bed and now I don't have to wait for everyone to come to me with all the juicy gossip."

"What gossip?" Rachel and Puck asked in tandem while the blonde had a knowing look on her face.

"Oh you know, possible couple updates, glee drama, the usual." The mention of potential couples made Rachel blush and Puck glare. "Anyway I'll see you guys in glee; Artie and I are singing a song."

After Booty Camp, the glee club finally got to meet Blaine's big brother. And pretty soon Blaine wasn't the only one slightly annoyed with his presence. To Puck he seemed like an okay dude and his and Blaine's duet was pretty awesome, but when he overheard Rachel and Kurt whispering about how hot he was, Puck decided that Cooper needed to leave soon. The only reprieve he got from talk about the elder Anderson was the meeting about Senior Ditch Day. Quinn suggested Six Flags even though she had something else planned with Artie and Puck declared it perfect.

Ditch Day finally arrived and Rachel was thrilled. Everyone met in the parking lot before heading into the amusement park. After handing in their tickets they all gathered to decide what to do first. "What first?" Mike asked.

"That," Rachel pointed at the nearest roller coaster before grabbing Puck's hand and running towards it. Everyone cheerfully followed behind, with Santana, Brittany, and Kurt giving each other smiles at Rachel and Puck's still connected hands and Finn glaring at them. All throughout the day, their hands always found each other, neither knew who reached for whom first and sometimes didn't notice until they caught one of their friends glance at their linked hands. As it reached towards the end of the day, they passed the games and Puck saw Rachel eyeing some of the prizes and started tugging her over to them, "Noah, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna win you some prizes." He answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Puck won her several stuffed animals, one of which Kurt stole to give to Blaine, and another they gave to Brittany since it was a cat.

At the end of the day Puck gave Rachel a ride back to her house. When they reached their destination Rachel began gathering her prizes before handing him one, "You should give one to your sister."

Puck chuckled, "Thanks."

Rachel smiled at him and looked down at her hands, "Anyway thank you for all the prizes and the ride. I had a lot of fun today." She smiled shyly and quickly kissed his cheek before exiting the truck, not giving Puck a chance to reply. He watched her walk to her front door with a grin on his face and waved back when she waved before disappearing into the house. Only when she was completely inside did he pull out of her driveway and make his way home.

Once she shut the door she yelled out to her dads, "I'm home."

"We're in the kitchen," one of them yelled back while the other asked if she had a good time. When Rachel appeared with an armful of stuffed animals they chuckled.

"Noah, won me some prizes," she said answering their silent question with a bright smile.

"Some?" Hiram teased.

Leroy joined in, "Did they have any prizes left after you guys were gone?"

Rachel blushed, "It's not that many. I'm just gonna go put these away and get ready for bed. Goodnight." She kissed each of their cheeks and went to her room. Once she finished her nightly routine, Rachel laid wide awake in bed. Her thoughts again wandering to Noah and she thought about what made her happy. She smiled as she remembered the way it felt to hold his hand all day. Rachel carefully compared the way she acted with him to how she acted when she was with Finn. With Finn he had always been slightly embarrassed by her, subtly trying to get her to be someone else. It wasn't like that with Noah; he had never tried to change her. In fact, it was the opposite; he always tried to make sure she stayed her, as evidenced by the Barbravention. That's when Rachel realized that Noah really did make her happy and even though she was just newly single she wanted to be with him. But despite her friends' reassurance she wasn't completely sure he felt the same. With all these emotions surfacing and swarming her, she felt the urge to sing it out like she normally did, but after checking the clock Rachel realized that wasn't an option. Before falling asleep she decided to spend her free period or lunch period in the auditorium. Normally she would just perform in front of the glee club, but this time she felt like she needed to be alone first.

Just like she had planned Rachel grabbed her packed lunch and set off to the auditorium. Her friends had all wondered what was she was doing. It wasn't until Santana had caught the pensive look in her eyes and silenced the rest of them. The diva had sent the Latina a grateful look before leaving for her locker. Once Rachel got onto the stage she sat in front of the piano and rested her fingers on the keys, thinking of the song she wanted. She smiled when she thought of one; it was normally a duet, but for now it would do. If everything worked out, it would be a good song for her and Puck.

Speaking of Puck, he had immediately been suspicious when Rachel decided to skip lunch with them. He had a pretty good idea where she would be going. When he left the others they gave him a knowing smirk, at which he rolled his eyes. Not wanting her to know he was there, Puck stood listening in the shadows as Rachel started to sing.

Everyone's around, no words are coming now

And I can't find my breath, can we just say the rest with no sound

And I know this isn't enough, I still don't measure up

And I'm not prepared; sorry is never there when you need it

And I do want you to know I'll hold you up above everyone

And I do want you to know I think you'd be good to me

And I'd be so good to you

I would

I thought I saw a sign, somewhere between the lines

Maybe it's me; maybe I only see what I want

And I still have your letter, just got caught between

Someone I just invented, who I really am and who I've become

And I do want you to know I'll hold you up above everyone

And I do want you to know I think you'd be good to me

And I'd be so good to you

Woahh ohh (6x)

And I do want you to know I'll hold you up above everyone

And I do want you to know I think you'd be good to me

And I'd be so good to you.

I would

I do want you to know I'll hold you up above everyone

And I do want you to know I think you'd be good to me

And I'd be so good to you

I would

I'd be good to you,

I'd be good to you,

I'd be good to you,

I'd be so good to you

I'd be good to you

Woahh

So good to you

A grin was on Puck's face as he listened to her song. He was pretty sure he knew what she was singing about and it gave him a little confidence boost. Before she could see him, he walked away towards the cafeteria to find Blaine. He needed help coming up with the perfect way to ask Rachel out and Blaine was the only one he trusted enough not to tell anyone else or give Rachel hints.

A small smile graced Rachel's face as she ended the last note of the song. She thought she saw movement from the corner of her eye, but when she turned there was nothing. Rachel shrugged and thought about the song and the feeling that accompanied it. And in that moment she decided that she was going to tell Noah how she felt soon.

AN2: Oh yeah the black & neon outfit that Rachel's wearing when she's back at school on Monday can be found at www dot polyvore dot com /cgi/set?id=71137768 or found on my profile if you don't feel like taking out all the spaces and changing the word "dot" to actual dots :) Hope you liked the chapter and sorry again for how slow it's taking me to update any of my stories and sorry for any mistakes or typos.