Disclaimer: I don't own. I just write.
A/N: WOW, this chapter took forever to write. Sorry for the lapse in updating, but I just could not make this work the way I needed it to, unless I did what I ultimately had to. There's a scene in this chapter that wasn't in the last one, but it helps explain the previous chapter anyway.
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Rachel ran to her locker after her first period Chemistry class let out. She tried not to get her hopes up too high, after all, it wasn't like she knew why she had been getting little trinket gifts in her locker for the last few days.
Since Tuesday, there had been a little gift in her locker after first period everyday. Twice now, it had been a stuffed animal (a bear and a giraffe) and Rachel rather hoped that it would be the cookies again. Whoever it was who was putting the surprises in her locker was an excellent chef, and the cookies that they made were addicting. Plus, whoever it was had put more on her doorstep, so hopefully, there would be more food, because even though it required another hour or so on the elliptical, she couldn't resist eating them, and she was almost out.
She opened her locker, hoping despite herself, and sitting on top of her books was a pink rose, in a small glass vase, accented with baby's breath. It certainly wasn't much, just small, dainty and beautiful, but Rachel couldn't help but feel amazed at how perfect this gift was. She pulled it out to look at it, and gasped as a card fell off the bottom. She picked it up and read it, almost crying at the sweet message written there.
"You are amazing. Not just your talent, or your beauty, but everything about you amazes me. Don't ever let the world change you. Love, your Secret Admirer." So it wasn't just anyone, but someone who had a crush on her. Rachel smiled to herself and put the card in her pocket, so that if by chance something went wrong today, she had something to cheer her up.
She stopped at her locker before Glee, and retrieved the rose so that she could show off her latest gift to the club, since she'd made a habit of bringing them with her. Sure enough, as she walked in, everyone looked up and made appreciative noises as she set the rose on top of the piano.
"That's not all this time guys." She let the anticipation build before continuing "This time, there was a card." And she pulled out the card (she must have read it herself twenty times already) and read it to them. Everyone in Glee was smiling, Rachel noticed, except for Puck, who seemed disinterested. Rachel almost let that ruin her good mood, knowing that she was possibly responsible for his bad mood as of late, but Tina was talking to her, and Rachel took a seat next to her.
"A rose? That's even better than the cookies!"
"Oh no, those cookies were to die for. And what's weird is more just showed up later that evening," Tina made a scared face, and Rachel laughed, "No, it was nice. They just appeared. My dad's came in from the airport, and I thought that they had brought me the cookies as a gift, but they said that they found the plate on the front porch."
"Who were they from?" Tina asked.
"I don't know, that's the thing. But I think they were the same cookies from my locker, because they had those melting chocolate pieces like the other ones." Rachel smiled, and continued, "Whoever it is, I wish I could tell them that as yummy as the cookies are, if he wants me to still have my girlish figure, he'd better find some other food to give me. I won't hold up if I keep getting them. They're too good."
Tina laughed, and waved as she got her things to leave. Rachel went to grab the rose off the piano, but a big hand got there first.
"Who's it from?" Finn asked her, examining the flower he held.
"I don't know."
"You seriously don't have a single clue?" He looked at her, and she could tell he would be laughing if he thought she wouldn't kill him for it.
"Sure, I have my suspicions." Rachel tried as best she could, "I mean it's probably a guy."
"That narrows it down." Finn said, putting the rose back on the piano.
"Let me finish?" Finn motioned for her to continue, "And if it's a guy, it's someone who's charming or witty enough to trick someone into giving him my locker combination. Also, there's a distinct possibility that it's someone I'm familiar with, because they mention my talent in the card I got this morning. And they knew that I would have none of those delicious cookies left after Glee practice, so they left more at my house." As Rachel worked through her thoughts out loud, she noticed Finn smiling more and more, and what had been an errant thought before now became a sneaking suspicion.
"Well, seems like you've got this all figured out." He said, almost smirking at her. Rachel blushed but pushed forward.
"It's you, isn't it? You've been leaving the gifts. It makes sense; you always seem to know subconsciously what would make me happy the most. Plus you're in Glee; you would know all sorts of things that you would need to. You're my secret admirer!" As she spoke, Finn's face drained of color.
"Um… no, it's not me." Rachel felt her stomach sink down to her toes, and she mentally kicked herself for jumping to crazy conclusions. "Not because I don't like you or anything, that's not it!" He walked towards Rachel and hugged her, and she felt the tears start falling. "It's just, with Quinn and the baby, and… She's my girlfriend. And I live with her. So even if I wanted to buy you these things and be romantic, I couldn't. I didn't mean to make you think that I was him, and I'm really really sorry I did! I just… I don't want to see you get your hopes up that your prince will come along in shiny armor, and it's really some loser in tin foil."
Rachel pulled away from him and grabbed the rose. "Whoever it is," she said, "it's someone who cares about me. And that's enough."
"What if it's just a prank? What if it's someone who is doing this just to hurt you?" Finn said, catching her arm as she started to walk out. She turned back to him, her resolve stronger than it had been in quite awhile.
"I believe it's real. So I'm going to continue believing that until I have a reason to believe otherwise." Finn was shaking his head, but she continued, "You don't have the full story of why I've been so not myself lately, and you're not going to. But trust me when I tell you that I need whatever this is, because after what happened last weekend, I'm a mess."
"Rachel, I'm not trying to say what you're going through isn't tough, but everyone makes a fool of themselves now and then. It will go away in two weeks when someone else does something weird. This isn't a life changing kind of thing. And if you're talking about the rumors with Puck, trust me when I say that I'm surprised they've lasted this long. Puck almost has a flavor of the day, there are so many him-and-a-girl rumors." Rachel felt her face go pale.
"What did you hear? About me and Puck?"
"A hundred different things, but I know they're not true. He told me the truth – that he took you away from the party and then to your house. So I don't bother listening to the rumor mill, and you shouldn't either." Rachel caught herself before she betrayed her relief that Puck hadn't told anyone about their last conversation.
"Oh. Okay, yeah." Rachel saw Quinn standing in the doorway, and Finn followed her stare.
"Yeah, I'd better go. Have a good weekend. And think about what I said – that maybe this person is just trying to get to you."
"Yeah. I will." She watched him walk out, have a conversation with Quinn, and then the blonde came into the choir room, her look murderous.
"You think that Finn would buy you these things?" Her tone was icy, and Rachel was still reeling from being denied by Finn.
"I thought… maybe… but obviously not. I'm sorry." Rachel had learned that with Quinn's hormones in the state they were, the appropriate action was just to duck and cover. Her wrath was even worse than normal.
"Maybe you should stop thinking. Because Finn wants nothing to do with a girl who dances and strips at parties." Rachel felt her eyes prickle, but Quinn continued, punctuating every word. "He doesn't like sl-"
"Salami sandwiches right, Q?" Quinn looked over Rachel's shoulder, and Rachel noticed her face pale as she took in whoever it was behind Rachel. There was a pause, and Quinn turned her face back to Rachel.
"Stay away from him. He needs to be focusing on his priorities now, not some little tramp that's flitting around the edges." With that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Rachel standing stunned, holding onto the vase for dear life.
"You alright, Berry?" Suddenly Rachel realized who it was that had defended her.
"Yes, I'm fine." She turned to face Puck, who was standing in the doorway with a look on his face she had never seen him have before. He almost looked curious. Rachel realized then that her cheeks were wet, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand.
"Tears generally mean not fine, at least that's what I've heard."
"Well, I will be okay, anyway. This whole week has been odd, with the random gifts and what happened between…" Rachel stopped herself as she saw pain flash across his face. She decided then that she was indeed responsible for his surly mood earlier. Well, now was as good a time as any other. "Noah, I'm sorry that I just assumed, and then accosted you. I should have come to you, and I apologize for hurting you that way." She figured that he would shrug it off, but still it was important that she said it. When he didn't move, Rachel went over and bent to grab her backpack. Maybe this mistake would never be able to be corrected, but she had done everything she could, and it was up to him to forgive her or not. When she turned around, he was gone, and Rachel felt another tear slide down her cheek.