So, we're rolling right along...

-Chapter Eleven-

***January 2010***

"Stop bouncing so hard."

Rachel looked up from her extra-bouncy mattress and furrowed her brow at Puck as he stared down at her sternly. An extra-mischievous smirk began pulling at the corner of her lips and she rose to her feet on the overly large mattress and Puck shook his head at her warningly.

"I was watching you when we ran through the number," Puck muttered, his voice low and surprisingly stern. "This is a mattress commercial, not a porno. Stop bouncing with so much…energy."

"I don't know what you mean," Rachel shrugged, unable to keep the very flirty tone out of her voice as she began bouncing up and down ever so slightly.

"Dude, you're going to be like that shake weight commercial…fat, balding hairy Star Wars freaks are going to watch this on Youtube and think about you when they're waxing their light sabres," Puck sneered.

"You exaggerate when it comes to what people think of my physique," Rachel scoffed, bouncing with even more vigor. She laughed when Puck grabbed at her shoulders, but he couldn't deter her. They were about to film a local commercial. "The intensity of my bouncing is in direct correlation to my extreme happiness at our very fortunate stroke of luck. These mid-grade, affordable mattresses are our launching pad to success. Just this once, let some of this amazing fortune turn that over-used smirk upside down. BOUNCE with me!"

Puck did his best to remain stationary, but Rachel would not be denied. She bounced with so much force that as she placed her hands on his shoulders, he actually jostled on the mattress as well. This was the happiest he had seen her during the school year. It was a rare treat for her to be beaming that mega-watt grin at him when the date wasn't in the summer or winter break. He pushed down on her shoulders firmly and used her as a mini-launching pad.

"You can't jump as high as me, Berry. I'm going to be the super-athletic star of this piece," Puck chuckled slightly as a look of pure outrage exploded on her face.

"You take that back! I have the speaking lines! And I bounce as high as my shorter stature will allow me!" Rachel bounced in rhythm with him, although he had been correct. His athleticism and taller frame made him appear as if he was flying above the mattress.

"Are you admitting that you're a midget?" Puck teased.

"Are you admitting that you're a buffoon?" Rachel demanded right back.

Puck bounced to another of the mattresses that made up the set and took a pillow up in his hands. He looked at Rachel with one, devious raised eyebrow and asked, "The last time I checked, the Berry/Puckerman pillow fight record stood 78 to 0. You're the zero, remember?"

"Don't do it, Noah!" Rachel shrieked, half bouncing and half running away from him over the multitude of mattresses that had been set up for their commercial shoot.

"Too late, Berry-pants!" Puck shot back maniacally, quickly catching up to her and swinging the pillow at her, catching her on her side.

"I'm defenseless. You're attacking a defenseless girl!" Rachel squealed, rushing to find her own means of ammunition.

"I'm not attacking a defenseless girl," Puck insisted, leisurely following her around and bopping her upside the head with a pillow every once in a while. "I'm attacking a defenseless midget."

"AHA!" Rachel's comical, cartoonish reply echoed around the sterile white walls of the mattress shop. She held her pillow firmly in her hands and rushed up at Puck, who was looking at her without one ounce of respect. She brought the pillow over her head and whacked him as hard as she could over the head, and immediately pulled back to survey the damage she had inflicted. She blew out an exasperated breath as Puck only managed to roll his eyes.

"You suck, Berry-pants," Puck insisted, hitting her again with the pillow.

"You're bigger and stronger than me, not because you're better than me, but because your body is able to sustain larger muscles-"

"Stop staring at my hot body! I feel all creeped out and used," Puck teased. "You could buy me dinner before drooling on my lovely arms."

"INFURIATING TRAINED MONKEY!" Rachel screeched again, hitting him with all the force she could muster, pleased to see that he staggered slightly as a cloud of feathers exploded into the air.

They continued to battle for what seemed like hours as downy soft feathers danced in the air around them, even if less than five minutes passed. At that very moment, they were in sixth grade again, spending a night at the Berry's house, watching too many movies and consuming too much sugar late into the night. Rachel may have been thrilled about her small foray into local stardom, but an entirely different feeling was warming the pit of Puck's stomach at that moment. Happy, warm and fuzzy nostalgia. It made him forget that this last hellish six months ever happened. Nothing could be going wrong when he was having this much fun with this girl who secretly knew him better than anyone.

"O. M. G. Could you guys get a room to get that tension out?"

The pair froze as the feathers fluttered around them. Rachel swallowed nervously and turned ever so slowly to see Santana Lopez, perfectly coiffed and in her pajamas standing at the door. Brittany wasn't far behind and grinned happily at Puck and Rachel.

"Thanks for stopping them, Santana. My dad said he wasn't going to increase my allowance because of the minotaur I ran into with his car. I was only trying to help the bunnies though, so I think that my dad is being unfair," Brittany stared at Puck and Rachel blankly as Mike and Matt rushed up behind them.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE IT WOMAN!" Matt screeched at Santana.

"You call me woman, one more time, and I swear, I'm going to make out with you," Santana glared at Matt severely, causing the boy to shrink away from her. "Leave the whole woman shit to your actual woman."

"Wha-you're…crazy. And don't know what—HEY! Look, Rachel and Puck are totally friends!" Matt pointed at a blushing Rachel and an unconcerned, bored Puck.

"Wow, you sell out your friends faster than Santana sells her dad's Vicadin," Brittany remarked.

"Please, I'm unimpressed," Santana rolled her eyes. She turned a smirk towards Puck and said, "I've known about Puck and Rachel since we were eleven."

Rachel looked to Puck incredulously and swatted him with the pillow again. The young man brought his hands up defensively to block her attack and swore, "I never said anything to her! I never-"

"You guys always seem to forget that I'm the one in charge," Santana reminded them, her tone bored and unaffected. She shrugged and muttered to Brittany, "And also, saying her name a couple times when we were fooling around didn't help either."

Mike and Matt shrugged and hopped onto the mattresses with Noah and Rachel, immediately full of energy. Mike smirked at Puck and said, "Guess we can drop the charade. Half the Glee club knows."

"Mike, please, what charade? Noah and have gotten closer through Glee…" Rachel immediately went into cover mode. "I'm sure that whatever Santana thinks she knows is due to her overactive and highly creative imagination."

Mike looked to Puck curiously and mumbled, "How do you deal with this, dude?"

Puck swung his pillow at his friend, feathers exploding in the air once more. He shrugged as Rachel climbed off the mattress to fix her appearance again and admitted, "I act out. A lot."

***June 2006***

"I don't understand why you care so much…I've become perfectly accepting of the fact that the people who can be the most expressive are usually the most hurtful. For every insult on my profile, there have to be at least ten to twenty followers who think nice things."

"Did you eat your demented-Wheaties this morning?" Noah scoffed, checking the camera once more before fiddling with his guitar.

"I ate granola this morning, Noah. You were here," Rachel reminded him. "You ate your body weight in turkey bacon."

"Whatever, I just wanna try something," Noah insisted. "If the bitches on Myspace think that this is lame? Then they're totally lying and lame…"

Rachel smiled in front of the camera, she always missed this during the school year. The way that Noah thought of her…thought about her. He was supportive. He knew that she was talented. He had told her that he thought she was more talented than the whole rest of Lima combined, although he had used far more colorful, inappropriate language. He was a very caring individual when it came down to it. And that was her little secret. No one else knew this Noah, and although she mourned the thought of forcing him to be a different person at school, that essentially selfish part of her couldn't help but adore the fact that this Noah was only hers.

"Ready?" Noah asked as his fingers hovered over record.

Rachel beamed at him and nodded, and he began the video camera before going back to his guitar, softly strumming a song they both knew very well. She smiled wistfully at the camera before sweetly singing the words to their favorite song.

##"So denied
So I lied
Are you the now or never kind
In a day
And a day love
I'm gonna be gone for good again

Are you willing, to be had

Are you cool with just tonight?

Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well…"##

Noah smiled at her slightly, always slightly in awe at what she was able to do with her just her voice and the emotions flickering on her face, in her eyes. He wished he could be half as good at just one thing in the world as she was at singing. He took a deep breath and softly sang a harmony to the chorus.

##"Here's to the nights
We felt alive
Here's to the tears
You knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye
Tomorrow's gonna come too soon
"##

Twenty minutes after they posted the video, they got their first comment. Rachel sighed and Noah rolled his eyes as he recognized Santana Lopez's myspace login.

"God damn, Man-hands…you actually have a man in your room? Slut."

"She's twisted," Noah assured Rachel, who was not to be deterred by Santana's comment. "She just gets her kicks from trying to push you down. Don't ever let her get to you."

"She won't even be able to catch me. Much less get to me."

***January 2010***

Rachel lingered in the choir room as the photographer packed up. The other Glee kids were slowly filtering out of the room, all thoughts of photo-vandalism completely gone as they instead focused on Schue's disbarment from Glee. Rachel shuffled her feet as she approached the piano and began to plunk out a few keys, flittering her fingers around until a soft melody began to play through the room. The photographer left and she began singing softly, not using her performance voice, but rather her softer, gentler voice that she had never once used inside the Glee practice room.

##"Put your name
On the line
Along with place and time
Wanna stay
Not to go
I wanna ditch the logical

Here's a toast
To all those who hear me all too well

Here's to the nights we felt alive…"##

Rachel stopped singing abruptly, shocked into silence as the familiar, rich sounding baritenor voice joined her for a harmony. She looked at the doorway and saw Puck standing there watching her with a sad smile on his face.

"Here's to the tears we knew we'd cry"

He sang the next line alone before stopping and nodding. "Forgot what time of year it was. We don't sing together. You sing with Finn now."

Rachel sighed sadly and patted the piano bench next to her, inviting him to sit down next to her. Puck gradually made his way over and began slowly playing the bass line to "Heart and Soul". Rachel smiled softly and tapped the melody out on the piano keys. They didn't even get to a second verse when Rachel stopped abruptly.

"Do you think that Santana was telling the truth?"

Puck shrugged and said, "She's always said that she's like…a puppet master or some shit like that. Wouldn't surprise me."

"But…the whole point of pushing you away was to make sure that you would be happy at school," Rachel said softly. "And Mike and Matt have known forever…"

"I think Brittany knows. She's always spouting off about some metaphor or something when she hears you made cookies," Puck smirked.

"Brittany? Wait-what? What metaphor?" Rachel furrowed her brow, blushing slightly as her mind began to comprehend Brittany's thought process. "Oh my."

"Berry-pants…this is twisted. I mean, I get that you were trying to take a bullet for me…be all noble and shit. Can it end now?" Puck asked softly.

Rachel pursed her lips softly and said, "We've hurt each other a lot in the last six years."

"Yeah…sorry," Puck nodded.

"You didn't do anything I hadn't asked for, Noah," Rachel conceded. "Although the continued slusheying and your-forgive me for saying this, constant whoring around…"

"I'm telling your dads you just said whore," Puck smirked. She pushed against his shoulder with her fingertips and he pretended to be injured. "And I'm telling them you hit me."

"You were always the tattle-tale," Rachel shrugged. "We have to ease our way into this, Noah. But if Santana has truly known that we've been friends all this time and hasn't tried to eliminate you from the high school's upper echelon of popularity…"

"Like she could," Puck scoffed. His badassness melted slightly at Rachel's knowing look. "Yeah, Santana could probably explode the sun if she wanted it enough."

"We can do this," Rachel said softly.

"Yeah," Puck nodded. He swallowed and reached for Rachel's hand impulsively, squeezing it tight. For months he had been feeling as if he couldn't force a set of words out of his mouth. For months he thought he knew without a shadow of a doubt that one certain secret would never reach Rachel Berry's ears. But in Rachel's soft declaration of hope for their future friendship, something broke within him. He couldn't stop the words now. "I need your help. And you have to forgive me. Promise."

"I promise," Rachel said quickly, not hesitating for a moment.

"No, pinky swear," Puck insisted, holding her pinky with his. She squeezed as hard as she could and he took some strength from it. "Finn's not the dad."

"Oh!"

Silence consumed the room and Puck stared at Rachel with an inordinate amount of fear on his face. Sure, he could face down nearly anything in this life, but pushing her away with his mistakes…he was scared to death.

"Oh…"

She whispered, recognition taking effect. She didn't pull away. She just sat there and stared at him, tears simmering ever so slowly in her eyes as she stared at him.

"Oh, Noah."

Silence enveloped them again, and Rachel controlled her watering eyes with surprising quickness. Puck, however, wasn't having the same success in stopping his tears. They slowly slipped from the corners of his eyes as he continued looking at her. His expression begging her to forgive him.

"Noah, you have to tell Finn," Rachel insisted, her voice soft, but her declaration leaving no room for argument.

"Can't," he shook his head. He shrugged and said, "Quinn won't ever let me see her. Ever. She refuses to even…"

"Then I'll figure it out. The truth is killing you, Noah. I can see it. It has to come out."

***June 2007***

"You're late!"

"Huh?"

"You are over thirty minutes, late, Noah! We're due to leave for New York any minute now, and being even the slightest bit behind schedule will throw our entire itinerary off wildly. And if you make me miss Wicked, I will end your life. Then I'll resurrect you. Then I'll smother you to death AGAIN. Where is your bag?"

"In the car already. Chill, Berry-pants," Noah rolled his eyes. "Your dads bought the tickets for two days from now. It doesn't take two days to get to New York."

"Yes, but I planned the overnight stop for halfway. Just for you, and we need to get there before dark," Rachel grinned. "Come on, Daddies are outside waiting, let's go."

The two teenagers climbed into the backseat of Jerome Berry's gas efficient car. Noah smirked at the two adults in the front seat and said, "Transform and roll out, Berry's."

Rachel squealed as her traveling CD began filtering through the car stereo and Noah groaned.

"I'm not listening to Wicked the whole way!" Noah insisted.

"Of course not. This is an Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth mega-CD. It has all of the songs they've ever recorded, in addition to a quite a few bootlegs," Rachel grinned. She turned to him and demanded, "Why were you so late, anyway?"

"I was half an hour late. Barely," Noah scoffed.

"Answer the question, or I'll sing along at full volume!" Rachel demanded.

Micah and Jerome exchanged a look in the front seat and Micah quickly plugged the both of them into their separate Mp3 player and cranked the volume, drowning out the sounds of hormonal teenagers arguing.

"Look, I just had this thing. I'm done with it now. We're all good…heading to New York and the mystery pit stop I'm going to love," Noah assured her.

"Where were you?" Rachel wondered softly. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it as hard as she could. "Tell the truth."

"I had a date. With this Cheerio up at the high school," Noah mumbled, barely audible. "Don't worry…it totally sucked and I told her there was no way that I'd see her again."

Rachel still held onto Noah's hand as she stared at him silently. She seemed to forget about it as the minutes passed. Noah squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

"You never have to worry, Berry-pants," Noah assured her. "My ma would kill me. You're end game."

"Huh?" Rachel furrowed her brow. She scrunched her nose in distaste as Noah laughed his head off. "Please tell me what's so funny, Noah Puckerman!"

"You said huh with a dumbkid look on your face. That's awesome!" Noah laughed. He settled down in the backseat comfortably, his conscious eased at having confessed to Rachel. "So, where we going for my pitstop? A Music store to get new CD's?"

"I'll have you know that My Philosophy was an absolute star maker for Ms. Chenoweth. Her career sky-rocketed after-" she yelped as Noah squeezed her hand again, which she realized was still firmly held in his. She blushed slightly and said, "We're stopping for the evening in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I thought that for a reward for singing the Wicked duets with me, you could hit a few rollercoasters at Hershey Park…and of course the bumper cars."

"Sweet! You're the best, Berry-pants," Noah grinned. He kicked Micah's seat and declared, "I'm owning you in bumper cars Mr. Berry! It's on!"

***January 2010***

They hadn't spoken since the flood waters of Babygate had come rushing out. They had shared one look in the hall. Rachel had done his dirty work for him. The secret was out and he was implicated in no way at all. But it was still awkward. He tried to tell her thank you without words. But there weren't enough thank you's in the world that he could give her.

She had put the Glee club in jeopardy. Finn had quit. The other kids probably hated her even more for yapping the secret. But she had done it anyway. Because he had needed the truth. So she had given it to him.

Luckily, Finn managed to make it to Sectionals regardless of the Baby Daddy drama. Sure he was sulking in a corner as Mike tried to teach him the simple choreography, but he was here and they were going to win. Puck walked out of the room, heading towards the end of the empty hallway where he knew she'd be, preparing for her ballad.

"I vote for Hit me Baby One more time," Puck smirked.

Rachel took a deep breath and threw a hesitant smile towards him before nervously chattering, "You know that the only Britany song that I find acceptable is Toxic. And I would change everything about it."

"I know, we've practiced it," Puck nodded. He smiled and said, "What are you going to do?"

"DROMP," Rachel said with a droll smile. He had always insisted on abbreviating the extra long song titles into acronyms.

"Killer," Puck nodded. They were silent for a moment before Puck mumbled, "Break everyone's legs."

"That way they can't run out," Rachel smiled back.

Puck nodded and looked back to the room where the rest of their Glee club was slowly walking out of, a bundle of nervous energy. He reached out and squeezed Rachel's hand slightly and asked, "We're going to be okay, right?"

Rachel bit her lip and thought about it for a second. Puck took her silence as his doom and he slowly began backing away.

"Noah?"

He turned to look at her, all the hope in the world on his face, his expression identical to his eleven year old face.

"End game."

####

Song credit: "Here's to the Night" by Eve6

Blame Pandora. They put this song on my station like, two months ago, and from that song, this fic was hatched.

So, an announcement of sorts. The next chapter is the second to last, that should be posted Monday. Which means the finale chapter, Lucky number 13, will be posted by next Thursday. And it's going to twist the premise I've been using a wee bit, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.

And to all the lovely people who have favorited, reviewed or messaged me, thank you. As a gift, I'm totally doing a cracked out sequel that I'm planning. Title?

#######berry Saves the Blank. See you Monday!