AN: Thanks for all the amazing readers who have stuck with me and my lack of constant updates! There is a little surprise in this chapter (one you've all been hoping for) so I hope it makes up for it!

Also, I just want to point out that I'm keeping most of the talk about Will's condition brief because I don't know much about medicine. I watch General Hospital and Grey's Anatomy and that is the extent of my knowledge. So if something is incorrect or just out there, just go with it please.

Sorry about the confusion yesterday! A reviewer brought to my attention that the chapter wasn't edited anywhere near up to par! So I looked over it again, so hopefully its better now!

R&R please! :D

Rachel met with Principal Figgins before McKinley was dismissed for the winter holidays. She was informed that when they resumed classes in just over two weeks, Will would be back and she would then be co-directing the club. Of course, she wanted Will to join her but she couldn't deny that the last couple of weeks with the club, between sectionals and the holidays, had been fun. She chose one of the local children's charities, and just as they had done during Rachel's junior year, New Directions went caroling from classroom to classroom collecting toys and money. However, this time there was no need to duck from shoes that had managed to become airborne. But she knew that once school resumed, it was time to focus on regionals and she wanted, no, needed Will there for that. She knew she could do it on her own: come up with dance routines, song choices and the such. But she knew that she was never meant to lead New Directions. It was always supposed to be Will's achievement, his brainchild; and there was no way that he couldn't be part of this.

Her parents exchanged a few gifts with her during Hanukkah but not long after that they disappeared one of their annual vacations. It wasn't that they love being away from their daughter, but this was the one of the few chances that they had to escape during the year and Rachel insisted that they not pass it up. But despite the fact that she didn't celebrate the holiday, Rachel turned up at Sam and Quinn's Christmas morning because really Christmas, to her at least, wasn't about the religion of it all, but being around family and friends. She wasn't surprised that all the other original members of New Directions (with the exception of Puck and Mercedes) arrived through out the day and into the evening. It had only been a few months since everyone had seen each other, but there was much catching up to do. Including the plethora of gossip that Kurt had brought back with him from Los Angeles. Mercedes sent her love but she had a deadline for a new line she was creating and insisted that she work through Christmas in order to guarantee she would be in Lima for the New Years Eve celebration that Brittany was holding before her parents sold their house (and of course, why they were out of town).

Everyone exchanged gifts and Rachel fell in love with the handbag that Mercedes had sent with Kurt (black with a big gold star clasp. Some things never changed) and the pink scarf that Tina made herself. But the biggest surprise came later in the evening when the doorbell rang. Quinn had told Rachel the day before that Puck wasn't coming home for the holidays and that his mom and sister were going to New York for a couple of days instead. Rachel wondered for a moment if Puck remembered to clean underneath the rug because his mom always checked to make sure the apartment was in the best condition (or she would start to clean it herself) but pushed it away because it didn't matter anymore and the front door was opening and Will, Emma and Eric crossed the threshold into the house.

It was the first time she'd actually seen Will since before she'd taken over glee club. He looked well, he was still thin and his eyes held a bit of tiredness but otherwise he had a smile that extended from ear to ear and Emma didn't look so bad herself. So Rachel told herself over and over that he was all right. When it was her turn, she hugged him tightly as he whispered a millionth 'thank you' in her ear that caused her to hold onto him just a little tighter and offer the millionth 'you're welcome'. They hung out and played games (they were Sam's idea and the only other person who was actually excited for them was Rachel) and drank alcohol and just enjoyed the togetherness before most of them disappeared into their real lives again. Rachel managed to forget about the giant cloud hanging over the head of not only Will, but also everyone in the room. It wasn't until Kurt got up and said he had to go because of an early flight the next morning, that it started to rain. Will called everyone's attention and stood in front of the group, as he had as their teacher many years before, and told everyone of his condition. Granted Tina, Mike, herself and Quinn already knew but Will stood in front of them, strong and brave and told everyone his story and how Rachel was helping him out with glee. He made sure that everyone knew that none of what was happening to him meant that they had to treat him any differently and that it shouldn't be allowed to disrupt any of their lives. Afterwards, with tears in their eyes, those who were currently in the Evans' living room shared a group hug, as well as individual ones, before the group started to dispersing across the country once more.

The day before McKinley was scheduled to resume classes, Rachel met with Will inside the choir room to discuss how they were going to run the club and what the plan was going to be heading towards regionals. Glee had not been co-directed since Sue Sylvester in 2009 and Rachel was determined that this not be a repeat of that experience. (Not that she was anything like Sue Sylvester or out to get destroy the club). So, with two cups of coffee in her hands she walked into the choir room and found Will sitting on at the piano. Rachel said hello and offered him one of the cups in her hand, which he graciously accepted, and then moved towards Will's office and when she emerged she was pulling his desk chair behind her. She set it in front of the piano, sat down, and crossed her legs.

"How are you?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel, we aren't going to have this conversation every time we see each other."

"Mr. Shuester," Rachel started, "I am uncertain as to where your apparent agitation is coming from. I was simply using a greeting that has been established in our society, and from what I understand it is usually rhetorical or at least the greeter has no real desire to know the answer to the question. I am not asking you for an in-depth report on your health. A simple 'I'm fine Rachel, how are you?' would have sufficed."

It took nothing more than an old school Rachel Berry rant to make Will smile, "I'm fine Rachel, how are you?"

"Great. Now let's get to work. I was up late last night coming up with a selection of material that I'm expecting you to veto but I will present to you nonetheless."

"I'm sure I won't veto it all," Will said with a tiny laugh, "And you are co-director now Rachel. You have a say in what we do."

"Actually," Rachel said, "this is my binder from senior year, so I doubt you're going to want any of this. It was just a prop. I've got a few ideas but nothing like the list I had when I was a member of the club myself."

"What happened with that Rachel? Why aren't you inviting us to parties to celebrate your hundredth Tony win in your luxurious New York apartment?"

Rachel hesitated for a moment. They were supposed to dealing with business not digging into all the failures of Rachel's life. But he meant her no harm she knew that, so she answered honestly, "Because I lost the correct path. I knew what I wanted but I tried to take a different path to get it when really I probably should have taken the path I knew was right all along."

"And that was?"

"Straight to Broadway, no detours, no fall backs. If I didn't have the PR gig to fall back on I would have tried harder, I wouldn't have had any other choice."

"You got comfortable?" Will questioned.

Rachel cringed at Will's ability to explain her failures better than she could, "Among other things. I was comfortable, busy, trying to make ends meet at home. A girl can't live off of her daddies forever. "

"And what about Puck?"

Rachel hesitated on weather to broach into this subject but decided as long as it didn't go too deep it would be all right and she could handle it, "What about him?"

"Did he persuade you not to try and make it?"

"Absolutely not. Noah has never been anything less than supportive of what I wanted to do. He understood that I was doing it to make sure we had money and I was hoping one of the casting directors my firmed worked with would be able to help me out. But nothing really ever came of it."

"So if he was supportive, why aren't you guys together?"

Rachel took a moment to compose herself. They were there to work and, to dig at the festering wounds that surrounded her heart, "Will let's make a deal. I don't ask you to volunteer any information regarding your health and you don't ask me questions about my relationship with Noah."

Will looked at her for a moment and she wondered what could have possibly been going through his head at the moment. Then he nodded, "Deal."

As much as Rachel enjoyed directing the club, when Will returned, she allowed him to have the most control. Because it really was Will's club, and Rachel wanted him to feel like it was his club. Therefore, Will made most of the decisions regarding song selection (he actually chose one from her binder) and arrangements. Nevertheless, he gave Rachel her own number to direct with little intrusion on his part. And when the subject of hairography came up, Rachel couldn't help but laugh remembering Brittany's demonstration of hairography her sophomore year. Will offered to let Rachel demonstrate for the class but she settled on finding a youtube clip and then made it a clear point to everyone in the room that it was never to be done while she was around.

Just a month before regionals, Will had a new song idea for the club. He told Rachel that he was certain that this song would be perfect for their set list. He also told her that he wanted to perform it for the class. Rachel cautioned Will against it. But he offered a guarantee that he would be fine and Rachel couldn't say no to the excitement in his eyes, and in his smile. He hadn't done much physically since coming back, and that was because he wasn't supposed to. Nevertheless, he was feeling better and better lately, and he even offered reports on his health to Rachel voluntarily. So Wednesday afternoon, Will brought the group into the auditorium and got up on stage in front of everyone for the first time in a very long time and gave a performance that put not only a tear in Rachel's eye, but a smile on her face. When she was in the very club she helped run now, she usually hated when the man in front of her now would break into random performances (most of the time because he was rapping). But now, she was proud; because as much as Will wanted life to go on without the constant reminder of his illness, Rachel knew that it was always taunting Will in the back of his mind, and watching him do something so brilliantly, and have control over it made him happy, so in turn it made Rachel happy.

But once Will finished, his demeanor changed. He was suddenly paler than before as he stood in the middle of the stage practically gasping for air. Rachel rushed up onto the stage but he just pushed her away as he attempted to control his breathing. Rachel watched horrified, her hand on her phone, hoping she didn't have to use it as she waited for Will to regain himself. Rachel let out a semi-relieved breath when Will stood up a little straighter and dismissed everyone else back to the choir room and then ordered Rachel to go with them and rehearse one of the other numbers they were planning for regionals. When Rachel argued Will looked at her sharply.

"I'll meet you in there Rachel," he said before taking another large breath, "Just get them working and I'll be in shortly."

He didn't make it back there. Instead, Emma sent her a text that said she brought him home. Rachel dismissed rehearsal shortly after that.

Will didn't make it to rehearsal the next day and Rachel went over to the Shuester house immediately after she left the school; but no one answered the door. She called Emma's cell and then Will's, with no answer from either. Immediately Rachel called Quinn who sounded off but instructed Rachel to go over to her house. When Rachel begged for information over the phone, Quinn refused and told that was watching Eric and had gotten off the phone with Emma short while ago and would fill Rachel in on everything once she arrived. So Rachel, who had always been one to obey all traffic laws to the letter, ignored all the smaller details on her way to Quinn's. She didn't hesitate to not stop completely at the stop sign nor did she really pay much attention to the speed limit. Something was wrong, she knew it, and the suspense that was building just on the short ride over to Quinn's was driving her insane. She parked in the driveway and the car was barely off before she was nearly running towards Quinn who was waiting at the door with Eric in her arms. There was evidence of tears in Quinn's eyes and Rachel immediately though the worst. She looked at Quinn, questioning her without words (she was too afraid to make them), pleading for her to tell her whatever it was that she knew as Quinn directed her to sit.

But she didn't want to sit; she wanted to know. She needed to know what was going on.

"You spoke with Emma. What did she say?" Rachel said unable to keep from asking questions any longer.

"Will's in the hospital."

Rachel wasn't sure if it were right but knowing that Will Shuester was still alive brought relief to her. But it was only for a moment until her heart began to ache for her ailing friend.

"I shouldn't have let him perform yesterday. I should have told him that it was a bad idea even if it would have made him angry. I could have prevented this," Rachel rambled.

"He thought you would say this so I am to relay to you that none of this your fault," Quinn said, "But whatever the doctors have been doing since Will got back from Chicago, it's stopped working."

"He's dying," Rachel said softly thankful that Eric didn't understand the situation around him.

It was quiet for a beat between the girls until Quinn spike, "Emma didn't say what the prognosis is. But he's resting now and we can see him tomorrow. Right now it's just family."

"We are family," Rachel whispered.

Quinn just nodded. There wasn't a point in arguing, it was true.

"Should we call everyone else?" Rachel asked filling the silence that had overcome the girls.

"Emma said not yet. For right now, we'll keep it to those who are in town. No use worrying the other until we know more."

What am I going to tell the kids?" Rachel questioned though she wasn't sure if she was asking Quinn or herself.

"You're done with rehearsals for the week. Take the weekend, see Will and see what he says."

Rachel nodded. She knew that she was most likely going to have to tell the club everything but she also knew that she needed to get them through regionals. They were just a month away and even though right now their leader was going through so much, they needed to go on. That was the show biz motto right? 'The show must go on.' Rachel was helpless in making things right for Will, but she had no other choice but to go on with those kids and pray for the best in both situations

Over the next few weeks, things fell into a routine. Every day Rachel would visit Will in the hospital and fill him in on the latest going on with the glee club. They had decided that they were going to tell the group everything. Rachel waited until the end of rehearsal to tell them and by Wednesday the entire group came together, ready to work and Joey told Rachel that they were going to work harder than ever, and win regionals, for their teacher. But while glee club kept moving, things with Will continued to stay the same. He was on medication to help with pain but there wasn't much more they could do for him.

The week before regionals, Rachel had just arrived at the hospital with a bunch of gifts from the club members when she found Emma, Quinn, and Sam gathered outside Will's hospital room, Emma holding tightly to Quinn while Sam held onto Eric.

They almost lost him, but he was now in a coma and after Will had failed to regain consciousness a few days later, the doctors were beginning to feel that the end was coming rather quickly. It was time to worry everyone and Rachel followed Quinn and Sam back to their place to start making the phone calls to all of the original gleeks. Rachel took those in LA, Sam called those locally, and Quinn called everyone else and by the end of the hour, everyone, including Matt Rutherford, were on their way to Lima with the unfortunate task of having to say goodbye to their beloved mentor.

The next day, just before the sun had completely disappeared from the sky, Rachel was busy getting her guest bedroom ready for Brittany and Santana's arrival the next morning when the doorbell rang. She wasn't expecting anyone so she hesitated before heading towards her visitor. The doorbell rang again and Rachel quickened her steps since whoever was on the other side of the door was getting impatient. She couldn't see a shadow of anyone but she could hear the sound of footsteps on the front porch as she reached the bottom of the staircase.

Rachel opened the door enough to see who it was she immediately shut it again. Or at least she tried, but her visitor seemed to have lodged himself between the door and the doorframe in the quick moment that Rachel reacted.

"What are you doing here Noah?" Rachel asked still trying to push the door closed as if she could actually push him away.

"We need to talk," Puck said as she tried to shimmy the rest of the way into the Berry house.

"I'm pretty sure 'get your shit' made it pretty clear we don't have anything to talk about," Rachel said still trying to shut the door on Puck and if she actually looked she would find the door knob digging into Puck's abdomen, "And I've done enough talking."

"But you're not talking to me," Puck said trying to push the doorknob away and get the rest of the way in the house, "Come on Rachel."

Puck gave the door a quick shove, not too hard so it wouldn't knock Rachel over, but it gave him enough room to get completely inside the house and the door to slam shut with Rachel still attached to the knob. She managed to stay standing but once she regained her composure, she gave Puck a look that had many times meant 'I hate that you've won'.

"What do you want?" Rachel asked crossing her arms across her chest and walking past Puck moving herself into the living room. She was grateful when he kept his position next to the door.

"I want you to talk to me."

"About what Noah?" Rachel said shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"What the fuck is going on with you. You leave for a vacation or whatever to get away from me, but I find out, weeks later, that you're not back in New York instead your coaching glee and Quinn calls and says I need to get my ass to Lima now. So why did I need to rush here?"

"Not to talk to me."

Puck let out a frustrated growl, "If you're just going to run me in circles, I'm just going to go. Forgive me for actually trying to save our relationship you seem to have checked out a long time ago."

"Go ahead. Just leave. Avoidance seems to be your strong suit."

"You're recollection of events seems to be a little off Rachel. Because if you remember, you left me."

"You let me go!" Rachel shouted and the silence that filled the room was suddenly the loudest thing either of them had ever heard.

Rachel immediately wished that she could pull those words back into her mouth. She immediately regretted saying them not because they weren't true, but because she didn't want to show this side to Puck. She wanted him to think that she was doing all right and she wasn't falling apart. She wanted everyone to see her like that. So she threw herself into working with the glee club and with Will but the truth was, she still hurt tremendously. She hurt so bad that it was a struggle just to get out of bed in the morning. And she didn't want her dads, or Quinn or especially Puck to know that. But here she was in the middle of her living room in the house she grew up in in the tiny town she tried so desperately to escape showing that part of herself to the man she still loved with all of her heart.

They just stared at each other. Neither of them refusing to break their gaze from the other because this was really a fight for dominance; a fight for their individuals beliefs and for Rachel, an unspoken plea for Puck to show that he loved her enough to change for her.

It dawned on her then that it was completely ridiculous to ask him to change for her when part of what she loved about him was that he knew who he was and he didn't hide it and if you didn't like it he'd show you where the door was.

"Why am I here Rachel?" Puck asked pulling Rachel from her thoughts and Rachel struggled not to focus on the fact that Puck had yet to comment on her accusation that he let her walk away.

Rachel worried her bottom lip between her teeth. He wasn't here for her; she knew that. But she wanted him to be so much that it hurt.

"It's Will," Rachel said answering his question. He hadn't come home for any of the holidays and taking in the confusion that now covered his face, it Quinn hadn't told him anything about what was going on here, "He's sick."

"Like a cold? What kind of sick?"

Rachel swallowed hard before choking out, "It's C-cancer."

His expression suddenly changed. All the anger that had been held in his body moments before seemed to have disappeared in seconds.

"How long?"

"I find out right before I was meant to go back to New York," Rachel explained.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Will told everyone over the holidays. You didn't come to Lima. I figured Quinn or Sam would have told you by now."

"He's been sick for months and no one thought that maybe I should know."

"I'm sorry Noah, like I said, I thought you knew."

"How bad is it?"

Rachel's gaze moved to the floor and focused intensely on the carpet as she thought about what imaginably was happening at the hospital just a few miles away. When she spoke, she didn't look up at the man in front of her, just kept looking at the white carpet.

"He was alright. And then he was good. And then the treatments stopped working. He's been in the hospital for a few weeks. But, um," Rachel tried to fight the quiver in her voice and the tears welling up in her eyes but to no avail, "he's in a coma and they don't really think he's going to wake up."

Rachel pushed the falling tears from her cheeks as she tried taking deep breaths to regain her composure. Waited a moment and looked up to find that Puck's eyes, the ones that normally insisted on holding only anger, lust, and love, held pain and a few tears.

"Come here," he said.

Rachel looked at him bewildered but when he repeated his words and extended his hand out to her, it only took a moment before Rachel was moving forward towards the spot Puck had occupied since he'd gotten in the door. She reached her hand towards his and when they linked, Rachel immediately felt as Puck pulled her towards him until their chests were touching and Puck's other hand was settled on her hip. She wasn't sure what this meant, and she wasn't about to question anything now, but she rested her head on Puck's chest and cried as he held her tightly.

An hour later, Puck and Rachel were laying on her couch, Puck's arms still wrapped tightly around Rachel as her head lay on his chest. Rachel found a strange sense of comfort being this close to Puck, listening to his heart beat beneath her, the steady rise and fall of his chest, lulling her into an almost sleep like state. They're quiet. The things that needed to be said weren't important right now, or so Rachel told herself. None of their problems meant anything while their friend is dying in a hospital.

"Can we see him?" Puck asked breaking the quiet.

"She looked up at the clock above the television."

"The hospital still has visiting hours for a few more hours."

"Have you seen him?"

"I was there earlier. I brought Emma lunch and let her know Eric was all right."

"Is it strange? Seeing him like that, I mean."

"It's heartbreaking. I still don't believe it's real. I keep hoping that I wake up and everything is different and everything that's happened is just a really bad nightmare."

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course," Rachel said reaching over and grabbing onto Puck's hand, linking their fingers together.

When Rachel looked up to gather Puck's reaction she found him looking back at her. There was no protest to the action and Rachel just shrugged to his questioning gaze. No one should have to experience what Puck was about to experience alone and Rachel was glad that she had Quinn with her when she saw Will for the first time since he was given a short time to live.

"This isn't fair!" Puck shouted once he and Rachel got back into the car after seeing Will.

"I know," Rachel whispered because she felt she needed to answer him, but there were no words that rationalized anything in this situation.

"Are you going back tomorrow? Can I-Can I come with you?"

"I can't go tomorrow. New Directions have regionals. Finn and Brittany are coming with me.

"You're going somewhere with Finn?"

"And Brittany. I need more than one chaperone for twenty five kids."

"Twenty five?"

"Twenty five."

"That's a lot."

"It is. So I need chaperones and since Quinn and Sam are watching Eric, they can't go with me. And Brittany and Finn offered."

"If you need an extra person, I can come with you."

"Now Noah, this is not the time to play jealous."

"Who said anything about playing?"

"I don't want to take anymore people away from Lima, in case Will," Rachel said and then let the rest of her sentence hang unspoken the air.

"My mom doesn't even know I'm here," Puck said when they arrived back at the Berry house, "Maybe Rebecca isn't home yet and the front door is still open."

"You can stay here, on the couch, if you'd like. My dads are away for the weekend so you won't have to worry about them."

"You don't mind?"

Rachel shook her head as they walked inside the house then dismissed herself to go get some blankets. It was early but Rachel had an early and long day tomorrow and Puck was no doubt tired for traveling and dealing with the many emotions of the day.

When Rachel came back downstairs she had changed into a pair of pajama pants and a long sleeves t-shirt. She smiled at Puck as she handed him the pile of blankets and pillow that sat on top.

"Santana and Brittany will be here early and then Britt and I are leaving around eight. We're stopping to see Will before we head to the school. Santana will probably still be around when you get up, so be nice."

"Aren't I always?"

Rachel gave him a look, "Britt and I should be back sometime before midnight."

Puck nodded putting the pile of blankets on the couch.

"Goodnight, Noah." Rachel said as she made her way back up the stairs.

"Night Rach," Puck responded turning towards her to give her a smile.

Rachel stopped at the top of the stairs but she didn't turn around, "And Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"You really don't need to be jealous of Finn. I've met his girlfriend and she's really lovely. I think he's going to ask her to marry him."

Puck laughed and Rachel smiled as she made her way to her bedroom.