A/N: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. The past couple of weeks without Glee left without inspiration, but I'm back and better than ever, I hope. Please read and review. Remember, I do not own Glee, any of the characters, or any of the songs mentioned. Thank you and I hope you enjoy

Rachel and Puck continued their relationship, without a hitch, Quinn still wasn't too keen on her, but then again, after all of that Finn nonsense, Rachel doubted that she and Quinn would ever like each other. Puck noticed that Finn still looked at Rachel, but Rachel, never cast a glance in Finn's direction, unless they were performing a duet. Puck thought that Finn looked like a lost puppy dog, but Quinn, whenever he caught her eye, had a look of anger, in it.

"Alright, lately it seems as there is a bit on dissention in the ranks over who is singing the leads, and although Rachel and Finn do have the strongest voices so far, it seems unfair to allow them to keep singing lead, so we will have another competition," Mr. Schuester announced one day at practice. "Instead of pairing off into the uncanny number of couples we have in Glee now," looking around at Rachel and Puck, Quinn and Finn, Tina and Artie, Brittany and Mike, Santana and Matt, when Mr. Schuester's eye met Mercedes and Kurt, they feigned a make-out session that was over the top, and made everyone laugh.

"Don't be jealous because my man Kurt is the hottest guy in here with the best fashion sense," Mercedes said, getting up and circling around Kurt as if she were one of Barker's Beauties, and he was a new car.

Everyone laughed, and Kurt struck a pose. "Alright, so everyone, writes their name on a piece of paper, and put it in this hat. I will not be dividing you down gender lines, I think that will make it more interesting, and force you to be creative," Mr. Schue said settling everyone down. So, they wrote their names on a piece of paper, Rachel was the last to place hers in the hat, because she couldn't find her stickers to put a star at the end.

"Okay, so I will pick out 6 names, and place them on the piano, the next 6 names I pick will be the first six's partners, okay?" Mr. Schue said while shaking the hat to mix up the slips of paper. He picked the first set of names. "Alright, Mercedes, Kurt, Rachel, Mike, Brittany, and Santana, you will be the first half of our teams," Rachel looked at Puck, and he looked at her and smiled. His smile was nervous, yet seductive. He had been almost 2 months that they were dating and the affect his smile had on her was still the same. She noticed the dimple on the side of his chin, and now that his hair had grown out a bit, she had managed to keep him preoccupied enough to not realize that he needed a haircut, which he didn't because his hair had just started to look normal. He looked ruggedly handsome.

"Alright, here we go, their partners," Mr. Schue said as he put his into the hat. "Mercedes' partner will be, Puck," Rachel heart dropped a bit. She knew that it was unlikely they would be partners, but at least it was Mercedes and not Quinn or Santana. Rachel was confident in her relationship with him now, but she was not immune to feelings of jealousy, especially when barely 2 months ago, Puck had strong feelings for Quinn, and Santana was a former bedfellow of his. Mr. Schue announced that Kurt's partner would be Finn, and Kurt's eyes lit up like there was a sale at Marc Jacobs. Rachel waited with bated breath when it was her turn to receive a partner. Only Artie, Matt, and Quinn were left. She was hoping that she would be paired with Artie. She knew he had good vocals, and it wouldn't be as awkward, because she had spent some time with Artie. "And Rachel, your partner will be," Mr. Schuester pulled out, "Quinn." Rachel couldn't believe her ears. After the verbal lashings they had given each other at the Cracker Barrel a few months before, Rachel and Quinn barely looked at each other. While the rumors stopped, Quinn and Rachel were far from being friends, and this was either going to be good or terrible. Santana and Artie ended up together, Brittany and Tina, and Mike and Matt. "Alright, kids, I want you to pick out ballads to sing, and we will be performing them next week. I want everything, full choreography, costumes, just like the mash-ups. I have a list of songs if anyone needs ideas, but I want you to be creative with this," Mr. Schuester said before having them get with their partners and brainstorm ideas.

After Glee practice, Rachel and Puck walked to his truck together, "So what song has you and Mercedes decided to sing?" Rachel asked him, despite the fact that they were dating; her competitive nature still took over during anything musically related.

Puck knew this, so he decided to mess with her a little bit, "Rachel, now if I told you, where would the surprise be in that?" he said putting his arm over her shoulder. "Plus, this is me and Mercedes; let's have a little friendly competition between the two of us, okay?"

"Competition and friendly should never been in a sentence together, Noah, much like ironic and show choir," she said. "Please tell me what you're singing." She asked sweetly, but he could hear the demand in her voice.

"What are you and Quinn singing?" he asked trying to get the topic off of him for once. He knew that it wasn't a big deal to Mercedes if he told her, and it wasn't even a big deal to him, he just liked annoying her. Her cheeks flushed, and he could tell that she was close to full on meltdown.

"'Tell Him' by Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand. We are mixing old and new, it will be hard to condition Quinn's voice to perform such a vocally challenging song in such a short period of time, but as long as she practices everyday, and now without Cheerios to distract her I'm sure she will have enough time to commit to my practice schedule I have drawn up for us," she said taking a piece of paper out of her bag.

Puck took the paper out of her hand, "Hmmm...," he said rubbing his chin, "that's strange, I don't see 'spend time with my boyfriend,' written on here, are you trying to tell me something, Rachel?" he said, wrapping his arms around her, once they reached the truck.

"I've left some time free, and I can pencil it in if you tell me what song you are performing," she said staring into his eyes, she tried the smoldering look he always managed to give her, but she just burst out into laughter.

"Fine, Rachel, we're singing 'All Cried Out,' but the Allure and 112 version," he told her. "Are you happy now? You ruined my surprise for you," he said hanging his head down.

"That's a very good song, I'm glad to see that you're catering to Mercedes' request to have a less Broadway song, and more something of R&B, but it is a cover of an 80's classic, so it suits both of you very well," she said, and she could tell by that glazed over look in his eyes that she was starting to lose him. "Well, I hope that the choice of that song isn't a reflection on our relationship, Noah Puckerman, I couldn't bear the thought of imagining you laying face down on your bed crying over me every night, thinking about how wonderful I am and how lucky you are to have me in your life," she said laughing and tickling him.

"I cry so hard," he said, rubbing his eyes and making his best sad face. She just laughed and got into the truck. As he was walking around the truck to the driver's side, so noticed him fish something out of his pocket. She realized it was his phone and he gave her the "just a moment" sign, and she knew it must be a personal call. She sighed. Some times when his phone would ring, he would leave the room, so that way she couldn't hear what he was saying. She knew that they were still getting to know each other, but she couldn't help but feel there was something that he wasn't telling her.

"I feel like there is something that he's going out of his way to hide from me," she explained to Mercedes later that night. Puck had gotten off the phone quickly and drove her home. Explaining that his and Mercedes' first practice would be the next day after school, and while in the past 2 months they have had made leaps and bounds in the trust department, she still felt the need to express her concerns to Mercedes.

"I'm sure there isn't anything to worry about, this is just the old Rachel Berry creeping back in. You need to calm down, how about I do a little poking around at practice tomorrow? We're working on our song after school, so when we're going over choreography, it's not going to be all work and no play, it won't be," Mercedes' voice trailed off.

"What won't it be? Pray tell, my dear friend," Rachel said, almost daring her to say it. Unfortunately, she knew Mercedes far too well.

"It won't be like one of your practices," Mercedes said defiantly. Yet another time when Mercedes was simply joking around and still her words stung.

"Well, don't pry too much, I'm just worried, I've seen him talking to Quinn quietly lately, too, that worries me. I know he had feelings for her before we started dating. I know I'm probably looking too deep into things, they are friends, maybe they are planning a surprise party for Finn, I don't know, but I just have a weird feeling in my gut, the kind of feeling I used to get when I would see a slushy coming my way, I just don't know how to describe it, it makes me physically ill. I could scream or cry, I don't know," Rachel blathered on.

"Girl! Hold on! You need to calm down, I will figure everything out. I'll talk to him, just don't have a meltdown, when are you and Quinn practicing?" Mercedes asked, trying to draw her thoughts to the competition rather than to the worry that the Puck lines of questioning lead her down.

"I guess since Puck is practicing tomorrow, I'll run it by Quinn to practice at the same time, are you practicing in the glee room or in the auditorium?" Rachel asked.

"In the room, all of the instruments are there; I thought that Puck could bring his guitar, could you ask him?" Mercedes inquired.

"Not a problem, I'll ask Mr. Schue for the auditorium then, it shouldn't be a problem, and then I can still get a ride home, rather than having to take the bus, or worse, asking Quinn for a ride home." Rachel said, shivering with the thought.

"Oh yeah, I can just imagine you getting into her beetle, you two, listening to Britney Spears talking about the latest trends in pregnant fashions," Mercedes said laughing.

"That sounds a lot more like what you and Kurt do every day after school," Rachel said, finally getting a dig in.

"He listens to Lady Gaga, and it's more like his fashions, not Quinn's, but no worries, I'll get it out of Puck, if there is anything to get out of him," Mercedes said reassuringly.

Rachel sighed, "Thanks a lot, I'll talk to you tomorrow, Noah should be calling soon." Rachel hung up the phone, every night for the past 2 months Puck had called her at 10:15 every night. They talked about everything. He knew it made him seem like a pansy, but they talked about a lot of stuff that he only ever thought about, and it wasn't even dirty things. They talked about their futures, and where they see themselves in 10 years. They talked about their childhoods. It wasn't all serious; sometimes they just talked about movies, music, homework, or classmates. Rachel was never a gossip, but Puck seemed to bring it out in her. He didn't ever use any of the information against any of the people she talked about. Except Jacob Ben Israel, he creeped her out, and Puck wanted to make sure that he made it known that Rachel was his girlfriend now, and that no one should harass her about anything. Puck broke into his locker, and took back the panties she had given him to keep, when she didn't want the news to get out that Quinn was pregnant.

Rachel punched the bed. There were times when she wanted a truce with Quinn. When she wanted to be friends, she wasn't sure why Quinn was so against being a good teammate. I'm sure there were people on the Cheerios that she didn't like, but they all were always so buddy-buddy. She didn't want to sleep over Quinn Fabray's house and do each other's hair; she just wanted them to be able to be civil to each other; to be able to stand being in the same room together. This was going to be trial by fire, Rachel decided. She felt her phone vibrate next to her, she looked down and the caller id read Puck's name.

"What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" he asked her without even saying hello to her.

"Peanut butter, but not like peanut butter cup. Peanut butter ice cream, with chunks of peanut butter in it, that's what I like. I don't like it when there's chocolate, just straight up peanut butter. The more the better," she said. "What about you?"

"Rocky road," he answered, not as excited she was.

"Noah, what's wrong, you don't sound like yourself, plus you called a little late. Is everything okay?" she asked, worried about him.

"Everything is great. I was just in the mood for ice cream," his voice trailed off, and she heard a knock at her door.

Rachel opened the door, and there he was with two bowls, one of rocky road, and one of pure peanut ice cream, with peanut butter sauce and peanut butter chips. She took the bowls from his hands, and jumped on him and gave him a huge hug. "Thank you, I was feeling a little down after glee today, and ice cream is exactly what I needed," she said kissing him lightly on the lips. She sat down on the bed and patted the space next to her, inviting him to sit on the bed. He closed the door behind him and took the place she indicated on the bed.

She put in a movie, this time it was something he was bound to like, Blow, with Johnny Depp in it. She decided that any Johnny Depp movies were good choices, because he appealed to both men and women. She nuzzled into his arms, and they were lying back on the bed in no time.

About halfway through the movie, they weren't watching anymore. This was how things usually went between them. Rachel always had the best intentions when it came to Puck. She enjoyed their phone conversations where she learned things about him and his past. The good and the bad both were topics of conversations. She remembered back to the night that she learned how good he was at getting into trouble, and that he was even better at getting out of it. She also learned that he gained a bad reputation, that when things went wrong that he had nothing to do with, he got blamed. What was even more amazing was that he never disputed it. Even when it wasn't his fault, he took the fall.

"I've done a lot of bad things, not like, I should be in jail, but most of the pranks are my ideas. When other kids are trying to prove themselves, they feel like they can get away with it because they know Figgins will most likely blame me. So they really aren't trying anything new, they are just as cowardly as they started out because they couldn't fess up their deeds." He explained to her.

"So, some of those things that you did to me, like the mice in my locker and the pee balloons, weren't you?" she looked at him hopefully.

"No, that was me, but if it makes you feel better, I wasn't the one throwing the balloons, I was just driving the car," he said. "Rachel, I'm really sorry for all of that. I hope that you can forgive me. I didn't know what a wonderful, nice, sexy, compassionate, talented, and sweet person you were," he said to her cooing into the phone at her.

"I know that it was you, but I was just making sure, and I think that I have forgiven you, I think some of the things we have done have proven that, Noah Puckerman," she said saucily. She always tended to use his full name when she was been flirty or teasing him.

"You really need to come up with a new name to use, when you call me Noah Puckerman, I feel like you're my mother and you caught me trying to cut my sister's hair," he said.

"Well, you don't really have a nickname for me either, I say we put our thinking caps on and start thinking about it," Rachel said, bidding him a farewell for the evening.

Now, they were on the bed, no nicknames in sight. They were kissing, and he was no longer shy with his hands, they were roaming over her body as if none of it were uncharted territory anymore. Well, some of it hasn't been charted, he thought, but those thoughts which were troubling in the beginning, did not seem to plague him as much anymore. He was happy that she let him close to her that she trusted him enough to be in her bedroom, alone. He was happy that he wasn't uncomfortable around her father's anymore, that he was able to talk to Gabe and Brian about sports, and even music, which was weird. Rachel led most of those conversations, but he was an active participant nowadays. She was most definitely an active participant now. Her fingernails dug into his back, and she ground her hips into him while she was on top kissing him. Usually they did when they were watching movies, and right around this point was when he stopped, because he didn't want to take advantage of her. Today, he wasn't in the mood to stop. He knew that he would eventually, and that he wasn't going to force her to do anything that she didn't want to do. He just wasn't done to detach his lips from hers. He wasn't finished enjoying the way her lips were cold from the ice cream, but her tongue was warm on his. He was enjoying the contours of her body, and loved how well her body, her hands, and her mouth fit perfectly against his. He cherished these moments with her, but he constantly felt guilty when he was with her.

He was never a relationship like this before. He knew relationships were give and take, mostly the girls gave it up and he took their virginity. It was something he was used, and he wasn't going to lie, something he liked. Rachel was different. She elicited feelings inside of him that he wasn't sure if he would ever be capable of feeling. She went out of her way to make him feel good about himself. She had never been to a football game before she dated him, and he was sure that if they broke up, she would never go again. She hadn't been to games to cheer on Finn. That meant something to him. Finn had never been in her room, and he was sure that Finn had never been on her bed. Sure, he heard a rumour that they made out a couple times, it may have been teenage embellishment, but he was sure that she had never let Finn touch her the way he was touching her now. Now that she was his and he was hers, he was going to make sure that was never a possibility that ran through her mind. He grabbed her and turned her over so he was now on top. This wasn't one of those times he was going to stop. He was full steam ahead, but he had to know in good faith that this was what she wanted to do, as well.

He crushed his lips against her, and she clasped her hands around his neck to pull him into her. He parted their lips, and breathlessly asked her, "do you want me to stop?" Barely giving her time to answer, his lips were on hers again. She shook her head, "no," while still kissing him. She broke the kiss.

"If it's getting too heavy for me, I'll let you know," she said, and picked up where they left off. Besides his shirt, no clothes were taken off. Despite being a football player who had a bad boy reputation, his skin was surprisingly soft and smooth. She ran her hands along his chest. Her skirt, though still on her, wasn't covering much up, as his hands ran along her inner and outer thighs, feeling the smooth skin that she usually only gave him glimpses of when she flounced around school, and her skirt was blown by the breeze she created for herself.

She felt his hands all over her body, and she was comfortable with him. When he held her in his arms and kissed her with the passion he had exhibited in this session, all of her fears of the afternoon had melted away. He wasn't there because he knew he was going to "get some," he was there because he wanted to be. There were tons of girls at the school was would love to be in her position, and they weren't shy of letting her know it. There were mean letters in her locker for the first couple of weeks after they started dating. Girls spread rumors about her, and told Puck flat out that she was a transvestite. She still couldn't figure out why Quinn was so mad that she was dating Puck. Quinn had her own football player boyfriend, what was she afraid that Rachel would want to hang out with them and join the cheerleading squad now? Rachel didn't think so. So instead, she arched her back and enjoyed the kisses that her boyfriend, Noah Puckerman, was littering down her neck and collarbone. He felt his hand slide higher up her inner thigh. She knew this was the line that they had been dying to cross. If she let him continue, there was no going back. She felt him fumbling with the elastic of the pale pink silk panties she was wearing. She sucked in her breath, and he stopped.

"Is everything okay, baby?" he asked with his face nuzzled in her neck. "Do you want me to stop?"

"Noah, everything was perfect, but since you stopped, I think its best," she said resigning herself to the fact that at this rate she may never lose her virginity.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pressure you, it's just a natural inclination for me," he said getting up to leave.

"Noah, its fine, I'm not upset at all. I think we're both not sure if we're ready for that step, I know you have made it seem like you are always ready," her eyes fluttered to the front of his pants, "and I think right now that may be true," she said with color flushing her cheeks. "But right now, I think it's best that we just finish the movie. Is that okay with you?"

"It's a great idea, should I sit on the chair?" he asked starting to get up.

"Only if you really want to get into trouble," she said kissing him.

The next day after school was Puck's first practice with Mercedes for their ballad. He was hesitant to show up, but he knew that his commitment to Glee club was in some strange way connected to his commitment to Rachel, it was the same way that his commitment to football tied to his commitment to Finn. Mercedes was waiting for him in the Glee room. She had the karaoke track for the song ready to go. As he was walking up to the Glee room, Quinn was on the opposite side of the door and she motioned for him to come closer. As he walked past the door, he gave Mercedes the sign that he was just be a minute. "I forgot something in my locker," he yelled into the room to her. Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Quinn?" he asked.

"What do you think I want? You didn't answer any of my calls last night, sure Finn has a job now, but this baby is yours. I still need help, he's just getting minimum wage, and while it helps, it's not everything; I have 6 more months of doctor's visits and sonograms that I will need help paying. Noah Puckerman, don't think just for one second that you are off this hook for this. You got me into this mess, and you will help me out of it, and that will help me take some of the pressure off of Finn," she said in a hushed yet urgent tone.

"First you tell me that I'm the father, but you don't want me to do anything, now you want money from me?" he said shaking his head in disbelief. "Do they take you off your bi-polar meds when you're pregnant? Because you are talking crazy! Either I'm the father or Finn's the father. For some reason, the great, Quinn Fabray, it's a choice of who is the father of her kid. You sleep with me, and then put the responsibility on Finn. You find the way to pay for it, like you said; Finn's the father, not me. You figured that out, now you figure this out." He said. He turned to go back towards the music room, and in the door way he saw a bright magenta flash. He put his head down, and cursed to himself. "This is going to be awkward," he said and entered the room, where a waiting to practically burst Mercedes was waiting for him.