A.N. – Can I just say that I love you all?! Thanks for the reviews everyone! Good to see people like the concept, and thanks also for the constructive criticism. This week's title is a song called It's a War by the Dukes of Windsor, another AMAZING band whom I recommend to everyone. Once again, I own nothing; please R and R again :D

P.S. Spoilers (well, what I assumed from the two promos) for 1x08 "Mash-up" and of course for the Sweet Caroline clip.

IHeartTennant.

Chapter 2: We fight for love, and never fall.

It had been nearly two weeks since Puck had asked Rachel out, and it had been two weeks since he last threw a slushie in her face. He knew that it would at least prove that he was changing and would help gain her trust. Puck's mom had nearly cried with joy when he had told her about Rachel, and immediately asked when she would be coming over for dinner. But it was way too early to be thinking about that. Sure, he and Rachel were talking now but he still had a way to go yet.

He was sitting in Glee club one day, listening to Mr. Schue talking about chords and something else when it hit him: music. The way to woo Rachel Berry was with music. He couldn't believe that he didn't think of that before – she was completely nuts about anything to do with music, and surely a serenade would make her want to jump him right then and there. Puck couldn't believe that he had been so stupid – because, contrary to popular belief, he wasn't stupid. He could get really great grades…if he tried.

Mr Schue continued talking for what seemed like hours and then everyone around him started getting up and putting their books away. Puck looked over at Finn sitting beside him, who had a strange look on his face.

"What?"

"Are you OK man? You seem a little…distracted…"

Finn shifted his gaze to where Puck was just looking. They both looked at the now empty seat that was previously occupied by Rachel Berry. Oh, Crap Puck thought. He had been sub-consciously staring at Rachel during Glee practice. Probably drooling, too. And Finn had noticed. Puck quickly went into damage control.

"Yeah, man, I'm fine…I just…uh didn't get much sleep last night."

It was true. He had kept waking up in a cold sweat. But for the life of him, Puck could not remember what it was he had been dreaming about.

"Huh…if you're sure that's all it is…"

Finn, clearly still sensing that something was up, looked over at Rachel, who was talking loudly to Mr Schue about their mash up for Coach Tanaka and Miss Pillsbury's wedding dance, which the Glee cast was asked to sing for. Quinn must have seen Finn looking at Rachel, and screeched his name across the room, gesturing for him to follow her.

"Listen man, I gotta go…I'll see you at practice…"

Finn grabbed his bag and followed Quinn out of the room. Rachel finished talking to Mr Schue, grabbed her bag and headed after him. Puck stuffed his music into his bag, waved a quick goodbye to Mr Schue and followed her. Damn, she could walk fast.

"Hey Berry! Wait up! Rachel!"

She finally turned around at the end of the hallway, and he gave himself a mental high-five when he saw the smile break out onto her face.

"Hello, Noah. How are you? Great job in practice today."

"Thanks Berry. You weren't too bad yourself!"

Rachel began to blush. Cue mental high-five number two.

"Well thankyou, Noah, that's very sweet of you."

Their relationship had improved remarkably in the past two weeks. They were talking a lot now, and Rachel's popularity had risen slightly (not that she would admit that it mattered to her). Puck had also found himself actually enjoying her company. Maybe this dating high school girls business wasn't so bad after all…

"So, Berry, I was wondering…are we going out on that date anytime soon?"

Rachel giggled. Mental high-five number three. God he was good.

"Come on Noah, we have discussed this. Let's just be friends for a while and see how that goes, alright?"

The bell rang and Rachel almost jumped out of her skin.

"Oh no! I'm late for history! I'll see you in Glee practice tomorrow, alright Noah? Goodbye!"

She flashed him a smile and ran off down the hallway. Puck smiled to himself and walked off in the opposite direction.

Puck had just finished football practice and was putting on his clothes in the locker room. He noticed Finn was hanging around, and he kept opening and shutting his mouth as if he was going to say something and then decided against it. Puck had a fair idea what he wanted to say. He shoved his football jersey into his bag, slammed his locker, and practically ran to the parking lot to avoid the lecture he knew was coming.

"Hey Puck! Puck, wait a sec, I gotta talk to you!"

Puck stopped in his tracks, groaned and turned around, a fake smile on his face.

"Hey man, what's up? Make it quick though, I gotta get home, Mom's making me cook tonight…"

"Yeah, look it's about Rachel…"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Well, you two have been spending heaps of time together lately, and I was wondering what's going on with that? Are you two, like, dating or something? She's a really awesome girl and I don't want her to get hurt is all…and come on, man, we all know about your history with women…"

OK, that made Puck angry. Sure, he slept with a lot of women and dumped them very soon afterwards, but that didn't make him a total douche, right? And yeah, he wasn't the nicest guy to Rachel and the other glee clubbers before, but he was changing that now, right? Didn't that count for anything? Especially with his best friend?

"Right, and just cos we are hanging out that means I want to do her? Look bro, what Rachel and I do is none of your business! Jesus, just cos you have a thing for her, doesn't mean you have to get all chick crazy on me…"

Finn was clearly uncomfortable at that.

"I don't…have a thing… for her…"

"See you tomorrow, man."

Puck turned and got into his car, and drove away, leaving Finn standing in the same spot he had left him in.

At Glee practice the next day, Puck was ready to put his plan into action. He had bribed Artie with 50 bucks to get the jazz band to play in the background of the song. And he had picked the perfect song – Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. He knew it would win her over, especially when he turned on the charm. So, when Mr Schue asked if anyone had ideas for the mash-up, Puck said that he had one.

"OK, let's hear it."

Puck began the first chords of the song, and turned around to see Rachel sitting up straight in her seat with a small smile on her face.

"Where it began, I can't begin to knowin', but then I know it's growing strong…"

Puck saw Rachel smiling, and knew that his plan was working.

"Was in the spring, and spring became the summer, who'd have believed you'd come along"

He could see Finn's jealous looks out of the corner of his eye. Even better.

"Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you…"

"Sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good…"

Puck had never felt anything like it before. It seemed like he and Rachel were the only two people in the room. Little did he know, Santana was in the room. And she could see everything that was going on.

"I've been inclined, to believe they never would, oh, sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good, oh, I've been inclined, to believe they never would, oh no no…"

Rachel began applauding, as did the rest of the Glee club. He had never felt anything like it in his life – it was a new kind of high. Mr Schue loved his performance, and said that it would most likely be used in the mash-up. Puck could hardly concentrate for the rest of Glee club, and when they were dismissed he happily bounded out of the room. Still on his adrenalin high, he barely heard Rachel calling after him. He turned to face her, a smile on both of their faces. She shoved some newspaper into his hands.

"I'll meet you at 7:30 sharp. Your choice."

She threw him a smile over her shoulder and walked down the hallway, with an intentional sway in her hips. He looked at the newspaper in his hands. It was the movie session times for that night.

A.N. Oh, one other thing: I'm still a little rusty on the limits for the T rating…could someone tell me how much language/sex/violence etc is allowed? (Don't worry, there's nothing too extreme in the pipe line, it's just my curiosity kicking in :D) Thanks everyone!