A/N: I got the urge to write Puckleberry. the show is making me weep with all the Finchel so this is my outlet. probably about 4 chapters in all so, if it sounds good do please let me know and i'll post the rest!

Disclaimer: there's no way i would own Glee and keep giving Finn solos. sorry Cory, you're a sweetheart and a doll but you can't sing.

There's a buzzing noise and she can't deny she jumps a little. The whole place makes her feel on edge and very much over her head. Still, she's Rachel Berry and she's a performer and if nothing else she can give him a bright smile when he wanders into the room scowling. He doesn't look smaller or sadder or anything like what her research told her to expect. In fact he looks a little angrier, his eyes seem darker and his arms flex threateningly under his grey shirt as he slouches down into his seat and picks up the phone.

"You doin' here Berry?"

"I came to see how you were Noah." He snorts and looks around, "were you hoping for someone else?" She tries to ignore the flutter of disappointment that unfurls in her stomach.

Noah shakes his head, smirking, "nope, just lookin' for the cameras."

She feels foolish for not following but- "the paparazzi? I wasn't aware they would have an interest although I suppose one must expect the unexpected after Regionals-"

"Berry for chissakes, I was talking more about you attempting to film some compassionate Hallmark crap about visiting the needy or something for your Myspace page. Well you can definitely forget that, I am not reading from a script."

She blinks, swallowing down on her hurt, she has to remember he is in a much worse position right now, he is allowed to be angry and defensive. "No," she says in an unusually small voice, "I just came to see you."

He seems to deflate a little and his eyes (still lovely as ever she must admit) widen in surprise, "you serious?"

"Yes," she shakes herself briefly and attempts to regain her composure; he seems to be doing the same thing. "No-one at school had been able to tell me how you were doing and I wished to check for myself."

"You worried about me Berry?"

"Of course! We're team mates."

Noah scoffs, "yeah well, you're the only team mate who's bothered to drop by."

Rachel is shocked, Finn's been reassuring her all week that he went last weekend and that Puck was fine. "I'm sorry," she says finally, "if I had known I would have tried to encourage a group trip or-"

"Forget it," he says shortly, "it's not like there's anyone there to give a crap about anyone. They don't bother about me," he shrugs, "then I'll just extend them the same courtesy."

She can't help but raise an eyebrow and he rolls his eyes, "yeah sometimes I can be articulate too Berry- quit with the surprised act."

"I apologise," she says lightly, "your over use of words such as dude or chick must have incorrectly implied otherwise."

He blinks, "you do that shit on purpose?"

She kinks her eyebrow again and he barks out a laugh, "holy shit, Rachel Berry's kinda hilarious if you listen real closely."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment from you."

"Do that," he says, his eyes flashing with something as they meet hers through the glass. She suddenly feels far too close and not close enough to him all at once. To compensate she leans back against the chair, crossing her legs and ignoring his pointed glance at the thigh she reveals as her skirt slides up.

"Is there anything you would like me to do for you Noah?" His smirk widens and she flushes, cursing herself, "please refrain from saying anything lewd."

He holds up his free hand, "hey, you're the one who set me up for it with that offer."

"Even so, it would be beneath you."

Puck snorts, "babe I ran my car into a fuckin' store, I'm in juvie and I'm talkin' to the only person from my school who even bothered to visit, nothing is beneath me."

"Don't be ridiculous," she says briskly, "this is not permanent Noah. And when you get out you will resume your normal activities- football, gl-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," he interrupts suddenly, glancing nervously to either side of him but the dudes he's in with really don't give a shit. One of them looks like he's about to make out with the screen while his girlfriend sobs down the phone and the other one is blinking apologetically while his mother yells a whole lot of angry sounding Spanish at him.

Rachel rolls her eyes, "very well, I will tell you about the rehearsal to the glee club which I and I alone attend."

He can't help but chuckle, she's so damn obvious.

They sit and talk for the next ten minutes, or rather she realises later, she rambles on about rehearsals and homework and he nods and grunts non committedly. When the guard comes over she stands and Noah lifts an eyebrow appreciatively, "glad you wore the pink one today Berry, gives me something to think about later."

She scowls, that cute little frown she gets when he's driving her nuts at rehearsals appearing- he knows it's his own personal frown cos it just screams furious sexual tension and makes him think of all the things he'd do to piss her off, get her riled up and then see what she'd do about it when he's got her up against the lockers or something and oh yeah- she's still frowning at him.

"Like I said earlier Noah, just because you're in less than perfect circumstances right now does not give you permission to make comments about my wardrobe."

He shrugs, grinning suddenly, "what you gonna do, spank me?"

"Don't tempt me," she retorts warningly and his laughter follows her out of the room.

She can't help but feel a little pleased that she's managed to make him laugh, to hopefully help brighten his day in some small way. And she has to admit; she's proud of managing to make him laugh more than once- and not just at her expense or because he thinks she's shrill and fun to poke fun at- but because she was funny, hilarious even. She doesn't think anyone's ever laughed at any of her attempts at jokes, ever, unless it was to imply how very un-amusing it was. And obviously she's relieved to see he hadn't any bruises on his face and that he wasn't being threatened from across the room by some burly looking inmate and yes- her expectations are probably a little clouded from viewings of The OC. She wasn't a serious follower but Ben McKenzie had a wonderful presence about him and she did like to watch on occasion; if only for the ahem, wardrobe he used.

She's feeling much better now that she knows Noah is at least surviving in the centre and she knows she's smiling when she climbs back into the car. It has nothing to do with having spent all that time laughing and teasing with Noah; she's just glad her friend is as well as can be expected.

Nothing more.

The only thing marring her quiet contentment is the nagging reminder that Finn lied to her. He lied to her quite easily in fact, and to her face, about his best friend. The tiny box of doubt she keeps locked away that occasionally pushes through to the front of her conscious and screams that Finn will never be right for her, lurches forward as she turns the key in the ignition. Finn lied. She hates dishonesty in any form and she knows how angry Finn was when he felt the rest of the Glee club had lied to him about Quinn. Why is she being treated any differently to how he would like to be treated himself?

This trip has been eye opening in many ways; and not just about how much better Noah wears his uniform than Ben McKenzie ever did.

When he crashes onto the lumpy ass piece of crap they call a bed three hours later Puck's willing to admit, at least in his head, that he hasn't gone five seconds without thinking about her since she left. She's messed with his brain or something. He wouldn't put it past her; he would totally not be surprised if she turned out to have freakish ninja angel powers or something. He doesn't even feel that pissed about no-one else turning up- ok yeah he's a little pissed and he's gonna kick Mike's ass come Monday, heh, come, but he still can't bring himself to get massively outraged. Outraged? Fuck he's even using words like her. Brain fucking. She is fucking. with. his. brain.

And he's not complaining.

He doesn't really know why he changes his mind before the turning for the interstate and goes back up the road he's just driven. He's actually pretty fucking pissed at himself; muttering under his breath about what a stupid idea all this is the whole time it takes to pull up the fairly familiar road and stop outside the house last on the left. Some part of him knows that he wouldn't ever forget the directions for this particular drive because they're burned into this brain.

But still, this is a fucking stupid idea.

And yeah ok, so maybe she was the only person to even bother coming to visit him at juvie and maybe, just maybe before that she was something more. But it doesn't really explain why he's sitting in his truck outside her place. Which has a really fucking neat front garden by the way. All trimmed hedges into the shapes of swans and shit; it's kind of tempting to drive into them but you know; recent history and all, it's probably not the best idea. His mom doesn't even know he's got the car now. She's probably on the phone to their Rabbi again, asking him to fix her son. He doesn't need fixing. He needs to get the fuck out of here.

Clearing his throat and rolling his eyes at how lame he's being, he drops out of the car and saunters up her drive. The first week back at school had been a blast, once again fear had returned to the eyes of the nerd brigade and he'd laughed his ass off at the idea of Sam and Quinn, seriously dude, they look like brother and sister. Still she looks all weird and happy and he guesses he wants her to be happy or some shit. It's not like he ever really considered what his life would be like, being with her, it was never option when she was Finn and then when she wasn't... he didn't want it anymore. She's not what he wants. She's the perfect, preachy choir girl he thought was awesome from afar and then she sort of, opened her mouth and he, well, he wasn't so entranced.

It's stupid but he likes the feeling he gets when Rachel talks to him or when he's saying something to her. Like whatever he says, she's listening; not judging or planning what she's gonna pick on him for next. And he gets hypnotised by her voice; her thoughts are like, well they're intense. They all pour out and he picks on the ones he catches and gives his own opinions back and sometimes it pisses her off but sometimes, sometimes he gets that fucking glorious smile he saw back at juvie. And then it's like he's got the basketball court all to himself on a Saturday morning; it's the best fucking feeling in the world. Look shut up, she's just different ok?

Crazy. But different.

And awesome.

The doorbell plays a ridiculous Broadway theme tune when he rings it, different to the last time he was here which was Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again- he got a forty minute lecture on its poignancy afterwards so that's how he remembers ok? But this time it's something else he doesn't recognise. Sounds kind of... sad. It matches the way she's looked all week. Her big, gorgeous eyes looking all glazed and glossy with tears all the freaking time and her head ducked low, even in Glee club. It made him want to go kick Finn's ass because just when he thought his ex best friend couldn't get any more fucking stupid, he hurts her even more. Finn, for anyone who's curious, is a total dick.

After a couple of beats he hears her footsteps, don't ask him how he recognises them, and she opens the door. He probably should have been prepared because she's wearing this ballet outfit that is like, skin tight and her hair is pulled into a messy bun thing she rocks so well and she's all flushed and breathless and he... can't fucking breathe. Rachel Berry is almost too hot, it's lucky he's extremely badass or he'd be on the floor about now. Shit like that ballet skirt should be illegal with her legs.

"Noah?"

"Uh," he blinks a couple of times before coughing roughly, "you got a second?"

"Of course," she frowns like maybe she's a little bit confused as to why he's on her doorstep putting demands on her time but he doesn't care; they're doing this. "Do you want to come upstairs? I've just finished my practice so I have a moment before I have to start my homework."

"Yup," he jogs up to her bedroom without any further invitation and once inside looks around for a bag.

When Rachel joins him a few seconds later he's found a purple canvas bag, probably big enough for her to fit inside of and is pulling it out of the closet.

"Noah, what on earth are you doing? And put that down!" She exclaims as he reaches for the pink Care Bear on her bed.

"You're gonna need it," he says, ignoring her complaints and throwing her pjs- some black and lacy shit that he really can't concentrate on right now because fuck- and scoops all the toiletries on her dresser into the bag.

"Noah-"

"We're goin' on a trip," he interrupts firmly. "Put a sweater on and do not even think about going outside without some jeans or something and then we're going."

The cute little frown he knows so well has morphed into a proper, what the fuck are you talking about eyebrow raise and she puts her hands on her hips, "I'm not going anywhere with you! What has gotten into you?"

"Look," he shoves the bag down for a second when he realises in his haste to pack up her homework he's trying to get her duvet in there too. "You keep wondering around school lookin' like someone beat up your puppy in front of you and I'm sick of this place so we're blowin' the joint for a bit.."

"I don't-" before she can respond properly he zips up her bag, grabs the nearest pair of shorts he can see- jeans, what was he thinking? Rachel probably doesn't even own a fucking pair- and then easily picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. "Noah! Put me down this instant! What do you think you're doing! You're crazy! You're kidnapping me! I'm sure this assault of some sort. Why are you ignoring me, Noah?"

The tirade continues down the stairs and across the yard until she's safely deposited in his car. When he straightens from dropping her in the passenger seat he takes a breath and stops, inches away from her face as he leans on the doorframe.

"You're the only person that gives a crap about me Berry and I happen to have noticed you're not exactly thriving at the moment so I'm doing you a favour."

She stares at him incredulously for a moment, mouth open wide and he smirks, "attractive."

Almost immediately she shuts her mouth and then opens it again, "but I have homework!"

He shrugs, "do it later."

"I hope you packed a pen of some description- and I certainly hope you didn't crease any of my papers- you should have let me do it myself!"

He knows she's in right there.