A/N: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

Guidance

Chapter 1: Well, Hello

Rachel had always loved school, even when she was young. And now that she was an educator, she loved it even more.

The first day of school was a week away and she was, as always, absolutely thrilled. This was her first official day back and she had big plans. After she got her office in working condition, she was planning to spend the rest of the week with the other teachers.

As McKinley's resident guidance counselor/glee coach, she felt it was her responsibility to reacquaint herself with teachers from the year before and introduce herself to the new ones.

She went about her routine of setting up her office, her iHome played her a tune from one of her favorite Broadway musicals.

Rachel smiled softly as she thought back over the last few years and how so much had changed.

Juilliard, as it turns out, did not need her as much as she'd convinced herself they did. They'd accepted her but they hadn't offered her a penny of scholarship money. Without it, her fathers weren't able to afford the lavish music school. They'd offered to take out loans, mortgage the house, whatever it took to make their baby's dreams come true.

Rachel had turned them down. She was many things, but selfish was not one of them. She wouldn't let her fathers destroy themselves financially or otherwise.

Never one to wallow, Rachel had taken the crushing news in stride and instead attended Ohio State and earned degrees in education, music, and shockingly, counseling.

McKinley and Principal Figgins were all too happy to hire one of their own, and her timing couldn't have been better. Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury were married and moving out of state. Rachel was all too happy to take Ms. Pillsbury's job and part of Mr. Schue's.

This was her third year back and she'd be lying if she said she didn't love it. Guiding students through the rough waters of high school, coaching amateur voices to their maximum potential, Rachel was completely in her element here.

"Ms. Berry! Welcome back!" Principal Figgins called from her doorway, startling her out of her reverie.

She turned and offered him a warm smile. "You know how much I love being here. I'm always so eager to jump back into the new school year." She gushed as she arranged her various trophies in the hutch behind her desk.

"I know you are Ms. Berry. Imagine my shock when I discovered you weren't the first one back this year." He replied pleasantly.

She rounded, her curiosity peaked by his words.

"Who on earth came back earlier than me?" She questioned, hands on her hips.

He grinned. He knew this look. She'd been pulling it since freshman year.

"The new Athletic Director."

She wrinkled her brow. She vaguely recalled a mass email to the faculty about Tanaka retiring and they were hunting for a replacement but a formal announcement hadn't been made.

"Who's the new hire?" She asked at last.

He grinned delightfully at her question. There was a gleam in his eye she couldn't place and it unnerved her a bit.

"He's in his office now, why don't you go on down and introduce yourself? I know you like to chat with the rest of the faculty before the school year begins."

He had her there.

Figgins stood and let himself out, leaving her to ponder her next move.

Obviously something was up. The shifty behavior her boss was exhibiting made it perfectly clear that there was something about this new athletic director… Something that seemed to pertain directly to her.

Rachel stepped to her tall armoire in the corner, opened it up and double checked her reflection in the mirror on the inside door.

27 looked good on her. Her hair was shorter now, she kept it shoulder length, with long bangs she swept to the side. Her crazy animal sweater and plaid skirt days were long gone. She favored dark dress pants and pencil skirts. She'd kept herself in shape and had filled out since her final days at McKinley.

She was rather proud of her outfit today. Since there were no students, she'd gone more casual. A teal v-neck showed a bit of cleavage but not too much to be unacceptable, along with a dark denim pencil skirt and a pair of bronze and teal wedges. Despite having grown out of the school girl look, she still loved her skirts and her penchant for color coordination was clearly alive and well.

She brushed her hair behind her ear and headed to the door, locking her office on the way out.

Her wooden heeled wedges clanked loudly along the off white tile floor as she made her way to the athletic department.

As she turned down the hall towards the gym her nose crinkled slightly at the sudden stench of sweat currently invading her nostrils. She was all for athletics and encouraging a healthy lifestyle but the smell of young men after a hot day of football practice? Suffice it to say, it was atrocious.

The door to the Athletic Director's office was slightly ajar. Not enough to see in or hear much, but enough to signify his presence.

She took in a deep breath, raised her hand and rapped twice on his door.

All she got was a vague grunt, which she took as permission to enter.

Rachel squared her shoulders and pushed the door open.

The man in question was facing away from the desk, studying tapes of the McKinley football practices made as of late.

"Good afternoon. I just wanted to stop in and personally and properly introduce myself. I run the guidance department and the glee club. I'm-"

He cut her off.

He spun in his chair and both sets of eyes widened in recognition.

"Rachel Berry."

"Noah?"

Chapter 1! Done! What do you think?