Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.

A/N: I edited this chapter, so all mistakes are mine.

A/N2: Feedback keeps me writing, so please comment or review. :D

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A/N3: Keep in mind, within this AU... There is no Puck/Quinn, no Finn/Rachel, Quinn is NOT pregnant at all, Puck's dad never left when he was a kid and Puck will be OOC so yes, totally AU, though you'll see similarities to the episodes.

...

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Though the goal was to sleep through the night, after just a few hours, Rachel was awake, but for once it wasn't because of a bad dream. This time, it was because she couldn't get comfortable. Her boyfriend, who usually slept on his side, with his arms wrapped around her, had somehow ended up on his stomach, arms wrapped around his pillow, sleeping a few feet away from her instead.

"I wish I could do that," she thought, unable to wrap both arms around her pillow comfortably, because of her cast, "he looks so cute." With a smile, she rolled towards the nightstand and grabbed her phone, snapping a quick picture of him, before inching towards him, trying to snuggle up next to him to stay warm. "You're making this difficult, Noah," she commented softly, smirking as she tried to relax next to him, slipping her good hand under his shirt, resting her hand on his warm back.

Rachel's movements caught Noah's attention, because the feelings didn't go along with his dream, so he slowly pulled himself from dreamland, saw how he was laying and the way Rachel was curling up to him, "hey, sorry. Must have tossed and turned."

"It's okay. I just woke up because I got uncomfortable. My pillow disappeared," she replied with a grin, "did I wake you?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "but it's alright. I can get back to my dream," he added, adjusting himself and returning to his side next to her.

"Oh, really? It's that good?" Rachel wondered, letting him settle where he wanted, before she leaned against him, "wanna share?"

Noah kissed her forehead and slid his arm around her to hold her close, "just getting some ideas we could do for Spring Break this year. I'll tell you more when it gets closer and we have a better picture of what we'll have time to do," he murmured.

"I can't wait," she smiled, "I know some of it will be Nationals, but I'm sure we'll have time to do other things, too."

"We definitely will," he assured her, kissing her forehead.

Relaxing contently against her boyfriend, Rachel settled in, "did we ever find out what time sunrise is?"

"I can't remember. Let's look," he replied, reaching to get his cell phone from the nightstand. Pulling up the internet, he looked for what he wanted and turned the screen towards her, "looks like around seven-thirty," he explained, seeing it was just after one in the morning, "plenty of time to sleep until then."

"It is," she agreed, "are you going to roll away again?" She wondered, glancing behind him to see he only had a few feet to go before he'd be at the edge.

Noah laughed lightly, "no, I probably won't, but just in case, scoot back," he smirked and once she moved closer to the middle of the bed, he followed and adjusted their pillows, "better?"

"Yes. Last thing we need is you rolling off the bed, hitting your head and being unable to perform," she told him.

"Oh, so that's your only concern?" He pouted lightly, "and here I thought you were concerned about my health," he teased.

Rachel blushed at his comment, "of course I care, Noah, but I just can't help..."

Noah leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips, silencing her words, "I know, babe. I'm just teasing you. Relax."

Taking a deep breath, Rachel felt her cheeks continue to flush and nodded, "okay... I'm not really awake to think straight."

Kissing her once more, this time on the forehead, Noah tugged her closer and pulled the blankets back over them, "I get it," he assured her, "now, let's get back to sleep. We've got a big day coming up."

Nodding at his suggestion, Rachel happily settled against him and closed her eyes, "night, again."

Rubbing her back and letting his own eyes drift closed once more, "same to you, babe."

...

Even after checking to see what time the sun came up in Detroit, Rachel and Noah both forgot to set an alarm to wake up in time to see it. Luckily Taylor and Noah had made plans for early in the morning just after sunrise, so he was up and knocking on the Berry's door just after seven-fifteen.

"Morning, Taylor," David greeted, moving aside to let him in, "I know you and Noah had plans, but Noah and Rachel are still asleep."

"Really? Sunrise is in a little bit and they wanted to watch it," he admitted, glancing at his watch, "mind if I go wake them?"

"Not at all. I'm sure they just forgot to set an alarm," David replied, motioning towards the room they were in.

Taylor nodded and moved towards their room, knocking lightly. After no response, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, glad to see they were both dressed decent and contemplated exactly how to wake them up. Rachel was on her back, Noah was laying on his side next to her, with one arm draped over her body and both were still sound asleep. Glancing to the side, Taylor saw Noah's phone and got an idea. Kicking off his shoes, he quietly moved to turn the ringer volume all the way up and knowing what his ringtone was set as on Noah's phone, Taylor carefully laid the phone right between them and called Noah's number.

Within seconds, Noah's phone began to loudly howl repeatedly and Taylor stepped up on the end of the bed and walked up between them, lightly bouncing on the bed, "time to get up," he commented with a grin.

Snapping from the deep sleep he'd been in, to a noisy howling, the bed shaking and Taylor's voice, Noah woke immediately, "what? What's going on?" He asked, glancing up at his friend.

"Good morning! It's almost sunrise!" Taylor replied with a smile, plopping down on the middle of the bed between them and put his phone away.

The howling had woken Rachel, but it wasn't annoying enough to get her moving, though once she heard voices, she opened her eyes. At first, she saw her boyfriend, rubbing his face with his free hand and then she turned her gaze a little and gasped when she saw Taylor sitting between them, "Taylor! What are you doing here?" She wondered, sitting up quickly and instinctively tugging the blankets up around her, even though she didn't need to cover up.

Smirking at her reaction, Taylor motioned towards the windows, "sun's coming up. Don't think either of you set an alarm," he explained, "I came over to get Noah for our workout and your dads said you guys were still sleeping, so I came up with a creative way to wake you up. And you don't need to cover up. I can't see anything," he promised, seeing how tight she was holding the blankets to her chest.

Blushing lightly, Rachel let the blankets slip down a little, "sorry, it's a reaction," she told him, "thank you for the wake up. We did forget to set an alarm."

"Yeah, and we were even awake several hours ago and double checked the time and we still didn't think to set one," Noah added, "so thanks, man."

"No problem. It's kinda overcast today, but you can still see the light and some of the colors," he explained, crawling off the bed to move towards the window and pulled the curtains apart, so they could see outside.

Seeing what Taylor was talking about, Rachel shrugged, "it's okay. We're still here," she pushed the blankets off her and crawled out of bed, reaching for her boyfriend's hand, "come on, Noah."

Noah followed Rachel's path to get out of bed, and then took her hand as they walked over to stand next to Taylor, looking outside, "definitely not much to see, but it's cool we're here," he draped his arm over her shoulders and kissed her forehead, "and I get to spend it with important people in my life."

Rachel smiled at him and slid her arms around his waist, "exactly."

Contently the three watched as the light filtered through the cloudy morning, giving orange and pink reflections to the clouds as the sun slowly appeared. Rachel definitely understood what Taylor meant and after a few moments of seeing the little bit they could, Rachel looked to Taylor and then back to her boyfriend, "if you guys want to go down and work out, I'm alright with that. Taylor's right. There isn't much to see, since it's mostly behind the clouds."

"You sure, babe? We can wait a bit," Noah replied, glancing at her.

"I'm sure. You guys go hang out. Just don't forget to tell your dad, Tim and Alex that you're going, remember?"

"I won't forget," he promised, kissing her gently, then looked at Taylor, "give me a few minutes and I'll change into some workout clothes."

Taylor nodded, shrugging lightly as he pulled his phone from his pocket, "take your time. We've got all morning."

"Well, not 'all' morning, but a large portion of it," Rachel corrected, then blushed, "sorry," she murmured.

"Don't be," Taylor smiled, patting her shoulder, "you're right. We do have other things going on this morning, but it's not for a while. We probably won't be gone too long anyway. I'm sure Noah doesn't want to do a huge workout, in case he gets tired for later on and I know that wouldn't be good."

"Oh, definitely not!" She agreed, "be careful and take it easy down there," she warned.

Noah smirked and nodded, "of course I'll be careful and won't overdo it," he promised while he changed, "just relax, babe."

"I'm trying, but today is a big deal. If we make it through the first round of Regionals, it shows that we can make it through something like this," she said, holding up her cast, "I know this only physically hurt me, but it affected everyone and we missed a lot of practicing because of it. Today will tell us if we managed to have enough time to put things together."

Listening to his girlfriend, Noah finished changing and walked over to her, resting his hands on her shoulders reassuringly, "we've had plenty of time. Yes, it did affect us, because we were worried about you, but we practiced as much as we could while you were gone. Once you came back, we focused on what we needed to do and you're an amazing singer and dancer. You've been able to almost pick up where you left off and with a few changes here and there, you were able to catch up to and pass us with our choreography. We've got this, babe. Have faith in yourself, in our friends and in me. We'll make it to Nationals," he promised, kissing her gently as he hugged her.

Rachel smiled happily as his words sunk in and she tried to push her worries from her mind, focusing on all the positive things that could happen, instead of dwelling on all the negative ones, "I'm trying," she murmured, "but... you're right. We will make it. I have faith in us."

"Good," he smiled, brushing his hand over her cheek, "and I know you're trying. You've been dealing with a lot lately and it's not easy to just forget the bad things that 'could' happen. Trust me, I'm like that a lot, too, but with good friends and family around, for me, it's easy to think of the positive. You'll be there, soon, too. It just takes time."

"Yeah, it does," she nodded in agreement and leaned up, pressing a kiss to his lips, "thanks."

"No problem," he replied happily, hugging her tightly and kissing her once more before they parted, glancing at his watch, "okay. Taylor and I should get going. We'll be back soon."

Rachel shared a quick hug with Taylor, before nodding at her boyfriend, "okay. See you soon. Have fun."

Noah smiled at her as the two walked towards the door and nodded, "we will."

...

With Noah, Taylor, Ethan, Taylor's dad Daniel, Tim and Alex all going down to the hotel's gym to work out, Taylor's mom, sister, Deborah and Arin, joined Rachel and her dads in their room to talk and have breakfast. Deborah had also brought over all the passes that Rachel and her dads would be handing out to the club, the band and all the chaperones for New Directions and they sorted them out a little bit, so it'd be easier to hand out later.

Also during the morning, Rachel began texting with Quinn and Carly, finding out that the bus left Lima a little after seven-thirty and they'd be arriving around ten. Rachel made sure to keep any 'Taylor' related comments from her texts, because she didn't want Carly to know, until she arrived, that she'd be seeing Taylor, though it was hard for Rachel to keep quiet, after Taylor had woken her and Noah up in an interesting way.

...

Down in the gym, the guys did a simple workout, using light free weights, the treadmills and the exercise bikes, none of them wanting to overdo it. Deciding to finish around eight-forty-five, the guys headed to the hotel's café for a quick breakfast, because they knew everyone was already eating upstairs.

Getting their drinks and food, the guys sat down by nine and Noah checked his phone, finding a message from Finn about when the club had left Lima. Returning his message, Noah didn't get a response back, so he slid his phone back into his pocket and returned talking with the guys while they ate. As they finished up, they realized what time it was and decided to head back to their rooms to get ready for the day.

A little before ten, everyone was ready to go and the Puckermans, Lautners, Tim and Alex headed off to the venue, leaving the Berrys to wait for New Directions to arrive. Rachel had continued her conversation with Carly and she knew they were close, so she and her dads went down to the lobby to wait for everyone.

Just after ten-fifteen, the bus arrived in front of the hotel and everyone began filing off to stretch their legs, so Rachel and her dads went over to greet them, "welcome to Detroit!" She exclaimed happily.

"Oh my God! We're staying here?" Carly gasped as she hugged Rachel.

"We are. We actually have an entire floor upstairs," Rachel admitted, pulling away from Carly to hug Quinn and motioned towards the higher up floors as they stepped apart.

"Hey Rachel," Will nodded at her, "Emma and I will go in and check everyone in, if you want to tell everyone about the passes," he suggested.

"Okay, we can do that," Rachel replied as David gave Will and Emma their passes.

While Will and Emma headed inside, Rachel explained the reason for the passes and warned them not to lose them. Thankfully, they had a pass for everyone and when Emma and Will returned, they began passing out room assignments and soon the teens and chaperones were heading up to their floor. It took a few trips to get everyone upstairs, and the security guard was getting a workout, checking all the passes they had on, matching the picture on the ID to their face.

The new arrivals took some time to drop their bags off in their rooms and check out their views, all definitely wanting to thank Noah for the hotel upgrade from what they expected.

It wasn't long before, Rachel and the teens were gathering up their costumes for the competition and began collecting in the lobby with their chaperones. Once Will was sure everyone was there, they piled onto the bus and headed towards the venue.

...

It was no secret that Noah would be there that weekend, but no one knew when he'd be arriving. As he, Taylor, their families, Tim and Alex got to the venue, they were able to get up to the main entrance without being noticed. There was a small crowd of parents and relatives for the day's performers outside, moving into the building and for the teen celebrities, it wasn't surprising to hear whispers of curiosity as people wondered if they really were 'Puck' and 'that guy from the Twilight movies'. Both Taylor and Noah had baseball caps on and ignored the comments, so no one could tell for sure and once they were inside, Tim and Alex guided them to an upper balcony of the venue, where a portion was specifically marked off for Noah, Taylor, and everyone there with them, including the club and their chaperones.

Venue security was nearby to make sure no one got in the sectioned off area who wasn't allowed, and Tim and Alex stayed nearby to keep an eye on the people passing by. The lower level was where most of the performing schools were, waiting for their turn to use one of the practice rooms, while the upper level seemed to be more family members, friends and the general public, so people were walking around. Everyone knew Noah would be there and they quickly figured out he was in the area sectioned off, and some also recognized Taylor.

The guys were thankful everyone was thus far respecting their space, but they didn't hesitate to wave or turn every once and a while towards a fan who was waving at them for a picture, but they never got up, because they wanted watch the few schools performing, while waiting for everyone else to get there.

The school that went on at just after ten-thirty was the one Taylor would have gone to if he and his family had stayed in Michigan, so he and Noah, along with their families cheered the school on, along with others who were there to support them.

...

Noah and Rachel had been texting a little, while he was at the venue. Telling her who had performed and she was keeping him posted on when the club arrived and when they were heading to the venue, which gave Noah time to tell Tim and Alex, so they could head down to meet the club when they got there.

A little before eleven-thirty, New Directions arrived and once Will checked the club in, Alex and Tim guided them to where Noah, Taylor and their families were.

Carly and Rachel were walking together and Rachel had been debating on how exactly to surprise Carly with Taylor being there. Noah had told her through text messages that morning if she wanted to drop hints to Carly, she could, but Taylor wanted to see the look on her face when she saw him, so Rachel did her best to keep quiet, but she was having a hard time, "okay, so I have a confession," Rachel admitted, looking at Carly as they headed to the upper level.

"Okay..." Carly eyed her, "about what?"

"I haven't been totally truthful with what we did last night," Rachel replied.

"If it's about... well, we already know that you two..." Carly commented, keeping her words vague in case someone overheard something they shouldn't, "you guys were before."

Rachel narrowed her eyes in confusion, trying to figure out what she was talking about and then she realized what she meant, "oh, no... Well, yes, we did, but that's not what I mean," she explained, assuming she was talking about the sleeping arrangements.

"Oh, well, if it's not that, what is it?" Carly responded.

"Not what..." Rachel blushed, "more like... who..." She trailed off again and glanced at Quinn and Finn who were next to her, "I..."

"Rachel is everything alright? You're not making sense right now," Carly smirked, seeing her blush and trying to figure out what she was saying.

"I'm alright. I'm just... I can't tell you everything," Rachel told her, glad to see they were nearing the area her boyfriend was in.

"Oh, I get it," Quinn smiled, seeing through the group to the familiar guys and immediately knew what Rachel had been hiding.

Before Rachel or Carly could respond to Quinn's comment, Tim and Alex nodded at the guards and they stepped aside to let the teens and chaperones file into the private area, which caught the attention of Noah and the others. Standing up, Noah moved towards his friends, "hey everyone. Glad you guys got here alright," he waved at them as he slipped his arm around Rachel's shoulders.

"We did. Got some sleep on the bus," Finn admitted, nodding at him as most everyone began to find seats.

As everyone started to arrive, Taylor, who'd been sitting next to Noah, got up and moved around the seats, coming up another aisle nearby, passing Carly, so she hadn't seen him yet. After most everyone was seated and Noah, Rachel, Finn, Quinn and Carly were standing in the middle of the aisle, he moved towards the small group. Some of the club members saw him, so he held a finger over his lips, so they'd keep quite for a moment as he came up behind them and simply slipped his hands over Carly's eyes.

Carly jumped in shock, not sure who the person was, and her hands came up to rest on the stranger's, trying to figure out who it was.

"Can you guess who I am or should I give you a hint?" Taylor asked with a grin.

Immediately, Carly recognized his voice and gasped, whipping around, "oh my God, Taylor! You're here!" She exclaimed, her voice jumping an octave as she threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

Taylor smiled and returned her hug, "I am. Surprise!"

"Definitely," she agreed, excitement building as she tried to contain herself, "I didn't expect you to be here."

"I know. That was the point. I wanted to spend my birthday in my home state and when I found out you guys would be here this weekend, I knew it was perfect timing."

"It definitely is," she nodded, smiling at him as her cheeks flushed, "so you're gonna watch the club perform and be here all weekend?"

"Yep," Taylor replied, returning her smile, "I'm looking forward to hanging out together."

"I am, too," she ducked her head and pushed her hair behind her ears nervously, and then looked at Rachel, "so this is what you were hiding?"

"Yeah. Taylor wanted to be the one to surprise you, so he asked us to keep quite," she explained, motioning between her and her boyfriend, "or I would have told you when I found out, or this morning."

"It's okay," Carly smirked, "I kinda liked the surprise. Just didn't expect it. I should have, but I had other things on my mind, like getting out of the house for the weekend."

"Hopefully you'll enjoy your weekend, so it'll be worth it to get away," Taylor told her with a smile.

"I'm sure I will enjoy it," she grinned, "so, um, should we sit down?" She asked, noticing that Finn and Quinn had taken seats already, so she, Taylor Noah and Rachel were the last ones standing.

"Oh, we should. I think the next school is about to go on," Rachel nodded, glancing towards the stage.

The guys led the girls towards where they'd been sitting in the front row, their parents and sisters sitting behind them and as Rachel and Noah sat down, Taylor motioned to his mom, "mom, this is Carly. Carly this is my mom, Deborah and my sister, Makena," he commented, "you remember my dad from when we were in Lima, right?"

"I do," Carly nodded at Daniel and then waved at Deborah and Makena, "hi! It's nice to meet you both."

"You, too," Makena replied.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Deborah admitted, leaning over the seats to hold her hand out, "Taylor's talked a lot about you recently."

"Really?" Carly shook the woman's hand and looked at Taylor, as his cheeks started to flush, "you've been talking about me?"

Rubbing his neck nervously, from being put on the spot, Taylor nodded, "yeah, I have," he said honestly, watching her cheeks began to turn a light shade of pink, "have you been?"

"A little," she agreed as the two turned around and took their seats, Carly next to Rachel, "we're just getting to know each other, so I haven't said much, but I've definitely enjoyed our conversations and I feel comfortable with you."

"I feel the same way," Taylor smiled.

Listening to the whole conversation, Rachel couldn't help turning to look at her boyfriend, smiling brightly, but before she could say anything, he leaned over and kissed her, "I already know what you're thinking," he whispered, seeing real happiness written all over Taylor's face, a look that Noah hadn't seen for a while, so he added, "anything's possible. Never know what this weekend will bring."

Rachel nodded in understanding and snuggled up to him, "that is so true."

...

Once everyone was seated, they tried to get into the school performing, but not many of them were interested in the music they were using, so most of them started talking to each other. Their conversations continued until the school was over and some of the teens and adults decided to go get something to eat, because it'd been an early morning and they still had a few hours before they'd be performing.

Ethan, Daniel, David and Alan offered to go get things for their families, so Noah and Taylor didn't have to venture out with Tim and Alex, in case they got rushed by fans. Soon the four dads were standing in line at one of the food court restaurants, while teens and adults milled around, some were eating, some just wandered through and while the guys waited to get to the front of the line, David glanced in the direction of a newly arriving school and saw an older brunette woman with them, "no way!" He gasped, resting his hand on Alan's shoulder, "tell me I'm seeing things," he muttered, motioning towards the woman.

Alan followed his eyeline, catching a glimpse of the woman David had seen, "you're not seeing things. It's her," Alan confirmed.

"Who is she?" Ethan asked curiously, unable to resist looking towards the woman they were talking about, "do you know her?"

"You could say that," David nodded, pulling out his cell phone and typing the words 'it's Rachel's surrogate' and turned the screen so both Daniel and Ethan could read it.

"Oh," Ethan nodded, "small world?"

"Yeah, it is. I don't know why she's here, but I'm sure we'll find out at some point today," Alan replied.

"Just keep this between us. We have a lot to figure out before they meet," David murmured, seeing the woman and the group of students she was with taking seats around some of the tables nearby.

"Oh yeah. It's not our place to say anything," Ethan assured them and Daniel agreed.

...

Reaching the front of the line, the guys returned their focus onto getting the food they'd come for, but David and Alan were worried about the woman they hadn't seen since the day Rachel was born. Because Rachel had never shown any desire to meet her surrogate, the two men had pushed her memory to the back of their minds, knowing one day Rachel would ask about her, or she'd return to their lives; they just didn't expect it to be at a show choir competition.

Once they'd gotten all the food they'd come for, the four men began walking towards the balcony where their families were. The guys all had to walk past the woman and the students she was with, and just as David and Alan looked at her, she looked up and the three froze, sharing silent gazes as she realized who they were.

The brunette haired woman's eyes widened in shock and stood up, as if she was going to walk towards them, but before she could go any further, a few students asked her a question, distracting her.

David and Alan looked at each other, "we should go. I'm not ready for this," David muttered, motioning towards Ethan and Daniel's backs, the two men having continued on when David and Alan stopped.

"Yeah, we have to talk," Alan agreed, and before the woman looked up again, both guys continued walking, catching up with Daniel and Ethan, "we have the legal hand. We agreed she couldn't look for Rachel until she was 18, but that doesn't mean Rachel can't look for her. Granted we never talked about bumping into her in a public place, but it'll be up to us if we let Rachel see her."

"Rachel is gonna know somethings up and even if she's still a minor, she deserves to make her own decision," David reminded him.

"I know that, but I just mean if we tell her that Rachel's not interested, she has to respect that," Alan explained as they came to the sectioned off balcony, "when are we going to tell her?"

"Tonight. I don't want her distracted before performing. She's got enough going on, worrying about if they'll make it through the first round or not. At least wait until after they perform," David told him.

Alan agreed silently and decided it was best to stop talking about it so someone didn't over hear something they shouldn't. Moving towards Rachel and the teens they'd gotten things for, they handed over the items, before retaking their seats next to Ethan and tried to forget about the sighting for the time being.

...

Eating and watching a few more schools perform, another hour passed by and soon New Directions was able to go into their practice room to change and get ready for their performance. Gathering up their costumes and getting ready to leave, they briefly talked about who would go or stay where they were, but after a few suggestions, everyone decided to hang out in the practice room and once it got closer to performance time, some of them would return to their seats to watch New Directions.

No one wanted to see Noah or Taylor rushed by fans, so as they began to file out of the sectioned off area, the teens and adults surrounded their famous friends and the girls with them, so they not only had the protection of Noah's bodyguards and the guys' dads, they also had their friends. As expected, new arrivals, other performers and people there for the competition recognized Noah and Taylor, and started calling out their names or snapping pictures as they walked by. The guys smiled and waved in the direction of the people calling out, but the two kept walking, not having time to stop to sign autographs and it wasn't the best area for either of them to be in, because there were so many people around.

Thankfully, New Directions made it to their practice room without any problems, and immediately began to change. As expected, the guys didn't take as long as the girls and after just a few minutes, Finn, Noah and Mike were walking out of the changing area, mostly ready except for tying their shoes, which they did once they weren't in the crowded changing area.

Taylor couldn't help laughing, "I'm sorry, guys, but you look like you just walked out of a 'Grease' movie," he grinned, snapping a picture of Noah.

"We are singing a song from the show," Noah replied with a smirk, "and these costumes are not what I'm used to changing into, but I can deal with them for a little while to perform today," he added, looking down at his clothes. All the guys were wearing black T-shirts, with blue jeans. Their jeans were rolled up so they touched the top of their low-cut black and white Converse and each of them had on a black sweater with a red 'M' on it, much like what Danny wore at the end of the classic movie.

"I think you guys look great," Carly smiled.

"Thank you, Carly," Noah replied.

...

Matt, Ryan and Artie joined the rest of the guys, now all waiting on the girls and Kurt to finish, so they could practice their songs one final time.

The girls finally began to emerge from their changing area, wearing knee length black dresses, decorated with red polka dots. A white belt wrapped around their waists as an accent and over their arms was a black sweater, matching the guys' sweaters. They also had on low-cut socks and matching shoes to the guys, so they were more comfortable to dance in. Though most of the girls wanted to wear their sweater sleeves pushed or rolled up, they all went with them down, so they matched Rachel, who was keeping her cast covered with her sleeve and was glad it didn't stand out too much from the costume.

Santana and Brittany were the first girls out of the changing area, followed shortly by Quinn and Rachel. As soon as Noah saw his girlfriend, he walked towards her, "hey beautiful," he smiled, holding out his hand to her.

Rachel returned his smile, a light blush growing on her cheeks, "you like?" She asked, taking his hand and moving closer to her boyfriend.

"Definitely," he nodded, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"You look amazing, too. Kurt's dressed, so I knew what you guys were wearing, but," she smirked, reaching up to play with his sweater's neckline, "I didn't know what you'd look like in it."

"Oh yeah?" He looked down at his clothes, "what do you think?"

Rachel moved her hand to rest on his upper arm, feeling his muscles under the sweater he had on, "I really like the view," she grinned, feeling her cheeks getting warmer as she blushed.

"Thanks," he winked, reaching up to rest his hand on her cheek, "definitely not something I'd wear every day, but to be your Danny, I'm in."

"And I feel the same way about being your Sandy for a short time," she smiled, hugging him once more, "but I like being ourselves more."

"Me, too," he agreed, kissing her cheek before the two pulled apart to join the rest of their friends.

...

As the last girls finally finished getting ready, the club gathered together to get a few group photos taken, getting some with their directors and some with the others in the room. A few of the couples posed for some quick pictures before the club moved onto practicing their songs for the day.

After getting through each song twice, the club shared some words of encouragement with everyone as it got closer to their performance time. Carly was even nervous, though she wasn't performing this time, because she kept thinking about performing at Nationals in the coming weeks. Rachel, Noah and several others, including Taylor, quickly assured her it was normal to be nervous and now that she'd gotten a taste of the competition, Nationals wouldn't be as stressful.

The pep talk calmed Carly down enough to relax and she agreed they were all right and she admitted she wasn't sure why she was so nervous, but was glad she was having that feeling, so she had time to 'prepare' for Nationals.

When it got closer to their performance time, the teens needed to get to the backstage area, so Taylor, his family, Deborah, Arin, Rachel's dads, Carly and some of their club's other chaperones headed back to where they'd been sitting, while 'New Directions', Noah's bodyguards, Ethan and Will headed towards the stage, passing the club that had just finished performing. New Directions was given their ten minute countdown and found places to stand near the curtains, doing some last minute stretching and relaxing before they went out on the stage.

Noah happened to glance out to the judge's table and saw Josh and Olivia there, confirming what he already knew was true; they were two of the four judges for the competition.

Rachel noticed her boyfriend's gaze and took a deep breath when she saw the two celebrity judges, "it seems more real now, doesn't it?" She asked, sliding her good arm around his waist.

"Yeah, it does. I knew they'd be here and I saw the earlier, but now they'll be judging us, so it's a different feeling. Even I'm a little nervous now," he replied honestly.

"So am I," she agreed, nodding in understanding, "but this is another step in getting back to my old self and I'm ready."

Noah smiled and slid his arm around her shoulders, "I'm so proud of you, babe."

"We all are," Quinn added, moving to Rachel's other side.

Leaning against her boyfriend, Rachel smiled and turned to Quinn, seeing a few of her friends nodding in agreement to what the blond said, "I'm really glad to have you all as friends. I couldn't have gotten through this without you all. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Rachel, and we're glad to have you back," Tina added with a smile.

Before the teens could say anymore, the stagehand came over to tell them they had a few minutes until showtime. Will, Ethan, Tim, Alex and the rest of the teens gathered together and Will looked around at all of them, "no matter what happens out there," he motioned to the stage, "I want you to know that I'm so proud of you," he beamed, holding his hand out to the center of the circle they were standing in and without hesitation, everyone added their hands to the center, piling them together.

On a count of three, the teens threw their hands up in the air and shouted 'Go New Directions', before cheering and walking to the side of the stage to wait to be introduced.

"...and now, from McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, under the direction of Will Schuester and Ethan Puckerman, please welcome 'New Directions!'"

The band immediately moved out to the stage and took their places, while the teens shared a final look with each other. Once the band was settled, Mercedes signaled them to start 'Beautiful' and on her cue, she moved out on the stage, immediately beginning to sing the familiar and meaningful Christina Aguilera ballad.

The other girls, minus Rachel, slowly moved onto the stage at the right time and all followed the choreography exactly like during their practices, singing the chorus as backup to Mercedes, while the guys and Rachel watched from the side of the stage.

Noah stood behind his girlfriend and slid his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder, "you are beautiful no matter what they say. Words can't bring you down. You are beautiful in every single way. Yes, words can't bring you down, oh, no..." he whispered to her, as he followed the girls voices.

Rachel turned her head a little to smile at him and rested her good hand on his, "thank you. I love you."

Pressing a light kiss to her cheek, he returned her smile, "love you, too, babe. Always will."

...

The couple remained close, everyone huddled behind the curtains to watch their friends. The girls' performance was spot on and as the band played the final notes, the audience cheered and clapped for them, while the girls bowed briefly and waved in thanks to the large crowd. "Thank you!" Mercedes smiled, "we're only a part of New Directions. I'd like to welcome our club mates to the stage for our final number."

The clapping and cheering continued for a long moment and as some fans caught a glimpse of 'Puck' for the first time, the noise got louder from excitement of the ones who were there just to see Noah. Normally Noah would have waved to the fans, but he chose to wait. He wasn't there as Puck; he was there as an equal part of New Directions and he didn't want to take away from his friends' moment on stage.

Taking their places, Noah glanced at his girlfriend and when she nodded, the band began to play the opening of 'You're The One That I Want'. Immediately, the teens began to follow their choreography and Noah started out the song with his vocals, earning another applause from the fans and he was thankful he was used to the screams and cheers, so he didn't get distracted by them.

At first, the guys and girls danced apart, but as Rachel got through her part, they all joined together for some partner dancing, Noah and Rachel leading their friends during the song. With practiced ease, they followed their steps without missing the beats. They had chosen to use some of the familiar steps from the movie, to make the song more recognizable, but they also modernized it and made it their own dance, not following the exact set up the 'Grease' movie used.

As practiced, towards the end, the club gathered closer together on the risers and when the band played the final notes, they all stopped dancing, lowered their heads and folded their hands in front of them, ending the song completely.

The venue erupted in loud cheering, the club earning a standing ovation as they all moved towards the edge of the stage to bow together, waving at everyone in thanks. Lingering for a few moments while the applause continued, the teens slowly walked towards the side of the stage and slipped behind the curtains as everyone began to settle down and once behind the curtains, Rachel jumped into her boyfriend's arms excitedly, "that was amazing! We did it!"

"Yes, we did," he smiled, hugging her tightly, before pulling back and kissing her on the lips, "we all were awesome!" He added, looking towards the group of their friends just a few feet away, "I say that was a very successful performance."

"I agree with Rachel and Noah. You all were amazing," Will smiled clapping for them as the teens shared hugs of excitement with their friends. "I hope you all are ready to perform tomorrow, because I'm very sure you're going on to the second round!"

...

With confidence high from their performance, the teens and adults returned to their practice room to change. Getting into their own clothes didn't take as long as earlier, and soon the large group was walking back towards where they'd been sitting to meet up with the others.

As they were walking, Ethan was next to Noah. Noah's arm was draped around Rachel's shoulders and Tim and Alex were walking just a few feet away from Noah, there 'just in case' a fan decided to rush at Noah, but the guys were happy to be there to support the club, too.

"Are we staying here until they announce the results or are we going to leave for a while?" Finn asked curiously.

"We haven't really talked about it," Will admitted, glancing at his watch, "there are a few more schools performing before they give the results at about six or seven. We wouldn't have too much time if we left and wanted to come back."

"It makes more sense to just stay a few more hours until we find out if we're going on to the next round," Noah commented.

"Noah's right. Besides, I think now that we've done our performance, watching some of our competition won't be as nerve-wracking as it might have been earlier," Rachel explained, glancing around at everyone.

"Admit it, Rachel. You just wanna see more of our competition," Quinn teased lightly, looking at the brunette.

Rachel's cheeks flushed, looking at the blond a few feet away, "yes, I would like to see some other clubs. If anything, it will give us a chance to see others we could be competing against at Nationals."

"Yep, Rachel's definitely back," Kurt grinned, reaching out to pat Rachel on the shoulder.

"Yes, she is," Noah nodded in agreement as he looked at his girlfriend, "I'm glad."

"I am, too," she replied with a smile, feeling like another weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

...

Shelby Corcoran had been a little distracted since seeing two familiar faces from her past earlier in the day. She hadn't seen either of them since she'd been their surrogate and had given birth to their daughter over sixteen years ago. She thought about Rachel often, wondering where they were living, what she was involved in, curious if she wanted to know her, but the last thing she expected was to see the two men at a show choir competition. She knew they recognized her, but because of one of her students, she was unable to approach them to talk. Ever since she saw them, she couldn't stop thinking about the two men and the daughter she gave them.

She'd wondered about the baby over the years, since she'd given birth. She knew she'd been named Rachel and the two men planned to stay in Ohio, both having good careers to support their family. By seeing the guys at the venue, she assumed Rachel was involved in her high school's show choir and during the time she was there to watch the performances, she tried to pick out which Ohio show choir she was in.

While thinking about Rachel being somewhere nearby, Shelby remembered she had a while before she could 'seek out' the child she gave birth to, having promised and signed a contract that kept her from looking for Rachel until she was eighteen. She figured once eighteen years had passed, she would try to find Rachel, or hoped sometime Rachel would look for her, but bumping into them while Rachel was still in high school, at a high school show choir competition, was unexpected to Shelby, and she had a feeling it was a shock for them, too.

Being the director of Vocal Adrenaline from Carmel High School, Shelby had a winning streak going and wasn't concerned about her club's chances of making it to Nationals, but wrangling many students and chaperones was not an easy task, especially when she was distracted with other things on her mind. Her show choir was currently running through their numbers for the first round of Regionals when she realized she'd left her bag, with her team roster in it, under the chair she'd been sitting in, so she excused herself and returned to her seat to get her bag.

Thankfully, her items were still where she'd left them, and as she was walking back, she could see a group of students and adults walking towards her. She immediately recognized 'Puck', protectively flanked by bodyguards and a few other adults. She knew all about Puck returning to his hometown and joining his school's show choir, one of Vocal Adrenaline's newest competition in the Ohio area, so she wasn't surprised to see him. What did make Shelby do a double take was when she saw the young girl Puck had his arm around. The petite brunette gave her a blast from her childhood, "Could it be?" She thought, freezing in her steps as she heard someone refer to the girl as 'Rachel'. "Rachel?" Shelby gasped out loud, "Rachel Berry?"

Upon hearing Rachel's name, the whole club stopped. As Rachel turned to look at the person saying her name, Ethan, Tim and Alex all moved to stand between Rachel and the older woman.

Ethan had been told earlier who the woman was, and he knew the deal David and Alan had with Rachel's surrogate, so he was not thrilled to have her reaching out to Rachel, even if she hadn't said anything except her name. The father in him, protective of Rachel like she was his own daughter, immediately wanted to guide Rachel away or say something to the woman, but Tim stepped up first, "Rachel, do you know this person?" He asked simply.

"Um, not really. I know of her. She's Shelby Corcoran, director of Vocal Adrenaline, but I don't know her personally," Rachel explained.

"Why don't you guys head on back to our seats. I'll speak with Ms. Corcoran about what she'd like to talk to you about," Ethan told Rachel.

"Alright," Rachel nodded, completely confused, but thinking it had something to do with Noah being out in the open for a long period of time, so she didn't mind waiting to find out why Shelby wanted to talk to her.

Thankfully, no one said anything about Ethan's suggestion, so the teens, Will, Tim and Alex continued to head towards their seats, while Ethan stepped towards Shelby, both staying silent until everyone was out of earshot.

"Hi," Ethan started, looking at the woman. He could definitely see familiar features that Rachel had, and he wasn't denying who she was, he just didn't think Shelby should even be speaking to Rachel without her dads permission; or at least have them around. "I'm Ethan Puckerman," he added, introducing himself briefly.

"Shelby Corcoran, but I think you already know who I am," Shelby stated, easy to see he was contemplating what to say.

"Yes, I do. David and Alan told me. I'm her boyfriend's dad," he explained, stepping towards the wall so they weren't in the middle of the walkway, "and I'm a bit surprised you said anything to her."

"I didn't mean for it to happen that way, so I am sorry," she admitted honestly, "I saw Alan and David earlier, but I didn't get to speak to them. I had a feeling she was here and when I heard someone call her Rachel, I couldn't help saying her name."

"I get that, but I know the agreement you have with her dads, too," Ethan told her.

Shelby took a deep breath and nodded, "yes, there is that. I know my restrictions, but we never expected to cross paths again, so we didn't talk about what would happen if we did. I'd like to speak with Alan and David at some point while you're here and maybe meet her, if they're alright with it. Is your son Puck?"

"My son is Noah. His stage name is Puck, yes," Ethan confirmed, "I can give your information to David and Alan. If they're interested in seeing you, they can contact you. That's how it's supposed to be, right?" He asked, holding out a small tablet and pen to her.

"It is," she nodded, taking the offered items. Quickly writing her name and cell phone number on a piece of paper, she handed the items back to Ethan, "I... I've thought about her a lot. Is she..."

Holding up his hand, Ethan stopped her and shook his head, "with all due respect, I'm not saying anything about her, other than that she's my son's girlfriend. It's not my place to tell you anything about her without her dads' consent," he explained, wanting to be clear where he stood.

While upset that he wouldn't tell her anything, she also understood what he was saying, "you're right. It isn't your place. I'm sorry I asked," she glanced at her watch, "I need to get going. My team is going to start performing soon."

"I'll give David and Alan your information, but I'm not making any guarantees," Ethan warned, "it's all out of my hands."

Shelby nodded, "I know and I understand. I appreciate you even giving my information to them."

...

Lyrics mentioned; don't own, just borrowing for this work of fiction:

'Beautiful' sung by Christina Aguilera, as well as Amber Riley in Glee, season 1.

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A/N4: Hope you all enjoyed. Please let me know what you think! And be gentle! I've been dealing with a lot, so I'm sure there are a few mistakes while editing. I'm so sorry it's been so long since an update on any of my WIPs (though I did update 'Out of the Blue' recently) and it may seem like I've almost disappeared, but I promise I haven't. My family medical issues got really bad and for the last 3-4 months I really haven't had a lot of free time to sit down and write. This chapter took 2 months to write, I just finished it about a week ago, but I've been busy, so it took some more time to edit it before I could post it. Hopefully as things get back to a semi-normal, I can have some more time to write. I miss it and I miss you all!

A/N5: I have lots of ideas for the upcoming chapters. I think you all will enjoy them! So many ideas that I'm trying to write a lot of them out, so I don't forget.

To explain my family medical issues: my dad and mom's issues flared up in late-February. Dad ended up having his left foot amputated in mid-March, so he was in the hospital and then a rehab center for about a month total, so we were dealing with a lot of things with him. He's doing alright and got home in early-April. Then about 2 weeks later, my mom had to be rushed to the ER for abdominal pain and a ton of other things. They couldn't figure out what was causing the pain, exactly, so she was admitted and 2 days later had exploratory surgery to find out what was wrong. We knew she had a cancerous mass in her pelvis (her cancer from a few years ago is back), which was putting pressure on some of her organs, so they had to take out some of the mass and she had an abscess that ruptured, so it gave her sepsis. After surgery she was in the ICU for 8 days, she had a lot of problems and we almost lost her, but with prayers and love, she thankfully pulled through. After a few more days in the hospital (in a regular room), she was released to a rehab center and spent a while there, so she was gone from home for a month; she got home in late-May. I'm hanging in there, but I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, because I've been doing the work of 3 people and dealing with everything. I've had like no free time, I'm an only child and it's so scary right now. I've started seeing my psychologist regularly again and my mom still has a 9-inch long incision that's still healing that I'm changing dressings on daily and taking both her and my dad to various appointments... My dad's sister was here, but she left on the 5th of June. My mom started chemo on the 29th of May, but they had to hold last weeks dosage (she's getting it weekly) because counts were low and she's getting a special port put in so they can give her chemo through it instead of giving her an IV each time, because the chemo can do damage on the veins... She'll start back up this week (Thursday) with chemo and in another week or so she's gonna start losing her hair. She didn't lose it the last time she was on chemo and plans to shave it off before it starts falling out... So far she's done okay with the chemo, but that's only one dose and she has several more months of it weekly, so things may change in a few days/weeks... As you can see I have a lot going on, but I'm still trying to write when I can and hopefully I'll be able to get some more updates out soon. I really miss you all and I appreciate your support, understanding and prayers for me and my family. It really means a lot. I promise I'm still around and still writing Puckleberry, just please bear with me... You can keep in touch with me on LJ, FF, and as EJ8302 on Twitter and Tumblr (I get emails when you message me on them.).

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