Finn was sitting up in bed the next afternoon, looking through the older songs on his iPod, when he heard a knock on the door. His mother had been by earlier that day, so he supposed it might be that girl again – Rachel – which got him nervous. He swallowed. "Come in."

The door opened, and a Mohawk-crested head poked in. "You decent, Hudson?"

"Puck!" Finn relaxed and beamed a smile at his old friend. "Great to see you, come on in!" He breathed a sigh of relief at seeing his best friend still acting like he was, despite Finn's involvement with one of Puck's old slushy victims. Maybe that crap doesn't matter any more.

"It's damn good to see you too. You look great for a guy who spent four days not moving." Puck strolled to the bed and lounged in the chair next to it.

"Guess I scared a lot of people."

"You could say that. I knew it'd take more than that to keep you down, though."

Relaxed by their familiar rapport, Finn took a closer look at Puck. "What the hell is that on your head, Puckerman?"

"It's a mohawk, Hudson," Puck said. "I've had one for years, don't tell me you've forgotten that too."

"No, but you used to mow it more, and now it needs a weed whacker," Finn commented. He took in the changes in Puck: yeah, he's older. And that hair sure wasn't there last week. "Looks like someone taped parts of a dead skunk to your skull."

Puck leaned forward and pointed at Finn for emphasis. "Do not diss the 'hawk."

"Or what, you'll put me back into a coma?" Finn grinned.

Puck laughed and leaned back, sticking his feet up onto the edge of Finn's bed. "Nah, too much trouble. Way too many people who'd kick my ass if anything more happened to you."

Finn laughed. "Hey, quarterbacks get protected. One of the perks, right?"

"High school's over, QB. Didn't you get the memo?"

"Yeah, so I hear." Finn frowned momentarily. "So what've you been up to, Puck?"

"Hey, I graduated, dude. Lots of times I didn't think that was going to happen." Puck eyed his friend carefully. "Did a stint in juvie, decided I never want to go back to anything like that. Made some friends that are actually smart." Finn winced. "Let's see what else... I have a kid."

"What?" Finn couldn't believe his ears. "You actually have a kid? Holy shit."

"Hey, don't be so surprised. I got lots of action, figures at least one time it would take," Puck said. He fished out his phone and fiddled with it, then handed it to Finn.

Finn looked at the picture of a smiling Puck holding what looked like an eighteen-month-old girl. "Wow."

"Yeah, she's cute, huh? Her name's Beth." Puck took the phone back.

"What, like the Kiss song?"

"Yep. The woman who adopted her let me name her." Puck shrugged. "Well, I told her the name and she decided to go with it. Close enough."

"Adopted, huh?"

"Well yeah, not like I could really raise her," Puck replied. "Her mom's cool, though, she lets me see her. And she's Jewish, so Beth's being raised in the faith."

"Are you going to, uh, Jew church again?"

"Temple. No. Being proud to be Jewish doesn't mean I'm going to be bored yet another day of the week."

Finn laughed. "Some things don't change." He paused. "So, who'd you knock up? Anyone I know?"

Puck looked a little grim, and pulled his legs back to sit up in the chair. "Uh, yeah," he said. "Just relax, okay dude? 'Cause you're not going to like this, but it's a long time ago and we worked it all out, okay?"

Finn looked at his friend. Why would – Oh. His jaw dropped. "Quinn?"

"Yeah."

"What the hell, Puckerman!"

"Hey, you and Quinn didn't last very long," Puck said. "Either time. And you finally ended it when you dumped her for someone else."

"Huh." Finn calmed down, thinking. "So... you knocked up the president of the Celibacy Club?"

Puck laughed. "What can I say, dude, I like a challenge."

Same old Puck. Only thing in all of this that seems to make sense. Finn shook his head, still having a hard time seeing Quinn with Puck – he'd thought Quinn hated Puck. Well I already knew we were done, I guess. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "So how have you been staying out of trouble? And how'd you get these 'smarter friends'?"

Puck grinned. "I thought you'd never ask. All your fault, actually."

"My fault?"

"Yeah, you know how you sing in the showers after practice, that old stuff your mom listens to?"

"It's called Classic Rock, Puckerman, and you like it too. Show some respect, those guys could actually write music. And what were you doing hanging around listening to me anyway?"

"Hey, your voice carries. Anyway, you like singing. You... decided to do more of it."

"What are you talking about, dude?"

"You became the first person to be part of the most popular and least popular groups at McKinley. At the same time."

Finn was bewildered. What the hell is Puck talking about? Least popular group? – Shit, really? "I joined Glee Club?"

"Yep. And what's worse, you got me to join Glee Club."

"Did you carry a knife to keep Ryerson off you?"

"What? No, Ryerson got canned, Mr. 'roving hands' finally got ratted out. Mr. Schue took over."

"Mr. Schue... from Spanish class?"

"Yeah, that guy. And he likes Classic Rock too so the music got a lot better. So did the club." Puck winced ruefully. "Not much more popular, but a lot better. And... it's hard to admit it, but it's been a lot of fun. I like music."

"Huh."

"Still your fault I joined."

Finn smiled. "Bet it's not my fault you stayed."

"Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, yeah, it's the loser club, even with a few football players and cheerleaders added, but those guys are one smart bunch of losers. So it got me into one kind of trouble but kept me out of a whole lot more, probably." Puck shrugged. "And I really like working with music. We've had a good time."

"Huh."

"And..." Puck checked his phone for the time, and nodded to himself. He got up. "You mean a lot to these guys. You won't recognize most of them, but they sure know you, and..." he went to the door, opened it a crack, and looked out. He nodded again, then turned back to a curious Finn. "We did up a piece for you." Behind him the door opened, and a stream of older teenagers came in. Finn recognized a few of them: Santana, Brittany, Mike. That wheelchair guy, and the skinny pale boy who dresses weird. Puck hangs around with these guys now? Three others, a black girl, a Chinese girl and a dark-haired boy, were complete unknowns. And he saw Rachel, who gave him a big smile as she went to stand at the edge of the group. Finally Mr. Schue closed the door and stood by it, nodding at Finn with a smile.

"We thought you'd like this one, Finn," the guy in the wheelchair said, smiling. "Feel free to play along." Puck pulled out a pair of drumsticks and handed them to him, then went to stand in front of the group. They all lowered their heads. After a moment they started chanting the beat, daa, daa, daa, daa...

Puck raised his head as he began singing slowly: (*)

Standing in the rain with his head hung low
Couldn't get a ticket it was a sold out show
Heard the roar of the crowd he could picture the scene
Put his ear to the wall then like a distant scream

He heard one guitar

Puck put more energy into it and pointed at Finn, who grinned and started drumming along on cue, hitting various parts of his bed. He knew this one better than the back of his (older looking) hand.

just blew him away
Saw stars in his eyes
and the very next day
Bought a beat up six string in a secondhand store
Didn't know how to play it but he knew for sure
That one guitar felt good in his hands
Didn't take long to understand
Just one guitar slung way down low
Was a one-way ticket, only one way to go

The rest of the guys now joined Puck:

So he started rockin' ain't never gonna stop
Gotta keep on rockin'
Someday he's gonna make it to the top

On the chorus they all came in, except Rachel:

And be a Juke Box Hero

Rachel powered in with her line:

got stars in his eyes

Wow, quite the voice.

He's a Juke Box Hero
He took one guitar
Juke Box Hero
stars in his eyes
Juke Box Hero
he'll come alive tonight

The group resumed chanting the beat, with Puck solo in front.

In a town without a name in a heavy downpour
Thought he passed his own shadow by the backstage door
Like a trip through the past to that day in the rain
That one guitar made his whole life change

The guys joined in:

Now he needs to keep rockin' he just can't stop
Gotta keep on rockin' that boy has got to stay on top.

And finally everyone, with Rachel taking her line as before:

And be a Juke Box Hero
got stars in his eyes
He's a Juke Box Hero
got stars in his eyes
Yeah Juke Box Hero
stars in his eyes
With that one guitar
he'll come alive
Come alive tonight

They finished suddenly, lowering their heads again.

Finn stared, awestruck, and a moment later clapped, echoed by the teacher at the door. The group raised their heads and smiled at him, then came to cluster around his bed. Rachel came close to him, standing at his right, and he could see a slight flicker in her eyes as she took a quick look over him. The guy in the wheelchair rolled to his left, with the teacher next to him.

"Hey Finn," the teacher said. "You look good."

"Mr. Schue," Finn replied. "From Spanish, right?"

"Back then," the man said, smiling. "These days it's Glee and History. Well, actually these days it's nothing since it's summer. But these guys, even those who have graduated and never have to do what I say ever again, wanted to let you know they'd been thinking about you, and this is how we do that."

"Well that was really great," Finn said enthusiastically. "Not what I remember about glee club, that's for sure. And some of you guys – I didn't know you could sing like that!"

"Or at all, I bet," Mike commented.

"Well, yeah." Finn shrugged ruefully, then smiled. "I'm finding out a lot of things. So I do this too, huh?"

"Ah, yes," Mr. Schue said. "You're actually really good."

"Wow. I mean I know I like to sing – never really thought about doing it in front of people." He was disconcerted at the chortle that came from Santana. "I'm more used to sitting behind the drums."

"Looks like your drumming's fine," the teacher commented, nodding at the sticks in Finn's hands.

"Yeah, well, I practice this piece a lot. Just the thing to get me going." Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Rachel smile happily.

"That was the idea," Puck said.

"Thanks." Finn flashed him a grin, his mouth curving up in his trademark half-smile. Yeah I don't know a lot of these people, but it's comfortable. It's not so crazy even if it's strange. "So, I'm sorry I don't remember a lot of you," he said, looking around at the group. "I know Puck of course, Mike, Santana, Brittany... and I met Rachel yesterday..." he saw her wince but quickly bring back her smile. It seemed a bit brittle, so he glanced apologetically at her before looking back at the others.

"I'm Artie," the guy in the wheelchair said, waving up at him.

"Tina," said the Chinese girl, standing close to Mike.

"Mercedes," said the black girl.

"Blaine," said the dark-haired boy.

The pale boy swallowed and exchanged a glance with Rachel next to him. "Kurt." He swallowed again. "So how are you doing, Finn?" he asked.

"Okay, I think," Finn answered. "Actually I feel great. Don't know what's wrong with me though, they've stuck my head into a couple of machines but so far they haven't found anything."

"I see."

"Wish I did. And I'm getting a little stir crazy stuck here. At least they're letting me wear my own clothes now. But there's not much to do." He exhaled. "I've got my iPod, not that I recognize it but it looks like it should be mine. There's some strange stuff on there, but I guess I must've been doing some of that with you guys."

"Probably," Mr. Schue said.

"But there's only so long I can stand just lying around, and I think I'm past that already. And they say it could be a few more days. Observation. Whatever."

"I'll talk to your mother and see what we can convince the hospital to let us bring in for you," Rachel said.

"Thanks." He flashed her a quick smile, which she tentatively returned.

"We should go, though, guys," Mr. Schue said, looking at the others. "The hospital's really stretching the visiting rules as it is, especially considering the noise. Finn, it's really good to see you. We miss you."

"Take care of yourself," Kurt said.

"I'll try," Finn replied. "Thanks for coming by, everyone. And thanks again for the song, it was great. Puck, can you stay a minute?"

"Yeah, sure dude," Puck answered. The others filed out and closed the door. "So what do you think?"

"It was great, really," Finn said. "Hell, you were great. I've never done anything like that." He caught Puck's amused look. "That I remember. I just sing to myself, drumming or in the shower. Never for an audience."

Puck laughed, and had a hard time stopping. "You have sung in front of thousands of people, dude," he said, still cracking up. "And it's not like you have a hard time performing with an audience, we get them for football."

"That's not the same."

"No. But you still got what it takes to do it."

Finn smiled a little, then frowned. "Puck... what do you think about Rachel?"

"Berry? What do you mean?"

"It's just that – I just remember seeing her at school, didn't even know her name, just that she got picked on a lot and she was supposed to be really annoying, then I wake up and I find that three years have gone by and we're engaged. It's freakishly weird. And she's not the kind of girl we used to go after, you know? I mean, she seems nice, and she's pretty..." Finn trailed off, not really sure what he was trying to say.

"Well who we used to go after were bitchy cheerleaders," Puck said. "And we used to bully half the kids that were just here, or ones just like them."

"Yeah." Finn was uncomfortable.

"Hell I used to throw Kurt into dumpsters, push Artie down stairs, and throw slushies in Berry's face. Those were the bad old days. I hope you don't miss them much, 'cause they're gone. Come on, I know you weren't all that comfortable with the sorts of things we used to do back then to maintain our image in the school. I was, kinda, but I was an asshole."

"And now?"

"I'm... less of an asshole," Puck said. "Hope so, anyway. And why the hell any of those guys put up with us after all the crap we pulled – okay, mostly me -" Puck shrugged. "Things have changed. Anyway, as for Rachel, the two of you have -"

Finn cut him off. "No, I want to remember myself, as much as I can," he said. "It's bad enough having a girl I don't know. But this has to be hard for her and she's hard to read, she's been so quiet."

"Berry? Quiet? Now there's something I never thought I'd hear," Puck said, laughing again. "She's not usually that quiet, hey you heard her sing just now, she's got one helluva voice." He sobered. "Look, yeah, this is hard on her, she's crazy about you, probably has been since she first heard you sing. And she's trying not to come on too strong. She's trying hard. That song – it's not the sort of stuff she normally does but she picked it out for you and got me to lead it, because she knew you could get into it. You should probably just accept that you're going to say the wrong things without knowing it, and not worry about it too much. Otherwise it gets nuts, you're worried, she's worried that you're worried..."

"And it's a big mess," Finn finished for him.

"The whole thing is a mess, just accept that and you'll be better off. Plus you should take a closer look at her. Berry's more sneaky-hot, not in-your-face-hot like people like Quinn and Santana, but hey... take a look at her in that cute sundress and then try to tell me you wouldn't want to tap that."

Finn stared at his friend. "I'm pretty sure at this point I should be kicking your ass for having dirty thoughts about my fiancée."

"Your fiancée that you don't remember and that your fifteen-year-old memory doesn't even feel old enough to have," Puck said, smirking. "Actually I'm encouraging you to have dirty thoughts about your fiancée, which I'm pretty sure puts me in the clear."

"I shouldn't be having dirty thoughts like that about a girl I don't know. I'm sure just 'tapping that' isn't what she's looking for from me."

Puck shrugged. "So get to know her. Hey, it worked both ways, you were crazy about her too."

"It's not that easy, how do you get to know someone that already knows you?" Finn rubbed his hand over his hair in frustration. "I don't know her and I've never even had that serious a relationship. I feel like I'm hurting her when I talk to her, she wants something from me that I just can't give."

"Bet she still likes that better than you not talking to her."

"I guess." But it's hard. All these people expect me to be that guy but I don't feel like him or really get him. "Anyway, thanks Puck."

"Any time," Puck said. "I'll drop by tomorrow after work if you're still stuck here."

"Thanks." I'm not going anywhere.

While Finn and Puck talked in his room, most of the others had left the hall outside, leaving only Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine.

"I hope I never have to go through anything like that again," Kurt said, his face pained.

"Hey..." Blaine tried to comfort him.

"I'm serious. Having to introduce myself to my own brother because he doesn't know me."

"I know, it's awful," Rachel said softly, giving him a hug.

Kurt hugged her back. "At least he's been told about you. Carole's got to tell him about me and Dad soon, this is just too hard."

"It's about what's best for Finn, not us," Rachel insisted.

"I don't see how not knowing his family is supposed to be good for him. Carole's being overprotective."

"Maybe. But brace yourself," Rachel said. "Once he knows, and you know he knows, and you can tell he's trying to deal with it and cover up how strange it is but it's Finn so his face is an open book..." she choked up, then looked at the floor. "That's hard too."

Kurt hugged Rachel again as she tried to recover her composure. "Well it's not going to get any better waiting for it," he said. "Since it looks like we're not getting lucky."

"He liked the song," Rachel said, momentarily forcing a small smile.

"Yes, good choice," Blaine responded encouragingly.

"And you were going to see what else you could bring in for him," Kurt said. "What else, he's got clothes, his iPod... he's not exactly a big reader."

"Except for drumming magazines," Rachel stated. "He has some favorites that should seem brand new. Some sports retrospectives should be good too, to catch him up on the last few years, especially baseball since it's on, so I'll see what I can find. And I don't know if the hospital will allow his xBox, but I'll try to convince them. We should be able to hook it up to the TV in his room, and it's not like his body is injured at all so there should be no danger in him using it. I didn't want to get his hopes up in case they won't allow it, but I need to get something in for him or he'll be climbing the walls by the end of tomorrow."

Kurt smiled at the determined look on her face. "Well I pity the hospital administrator who tries to tell you no." He sighed. "Let's head back home," he said. "I think Carole's there, Dad made her rest at least a little."

* "Juke Box Hero", as performed by Foreigner, written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones.