Title: Take A Chance

Spoilers: General, some for season 3

Warnings: Mature themes

Summary: Rachel looked at Noah's retreating back, completely baffled as to why he had just put a pebble into her hand.

Word count: 4,755 words
A/N: I don't own anything. This is a fill for a prompt at the PuckRachel drabble meme by shadowkitty22. I thought it would be more funny, but somehow I don't seem able to do that.

Take A Chance

Rachel was so proud of Noah. She was so proud of him for proving everyone back home wrong. It had been six years since they had graduated high school and she had left for New York – still in love with Finn and thinking that she was the most talented person out there – and Noah had followed her a couple of weeks later. It had been a hectic time, but she would not change it for the world.

Rachel was sitting in her dorm room going over some of her notes for the lecture she had had that day on musical theory when a knock startled her out of her study mode. Since her roommate was out with some guy she had met that day – that girl really reminded her so much of Santana – there was no other way than actually getting up and opening the door. Her Jedi mind tricks, which she had practiced with Santana and Brittany after Puck had made the whole glee club watch Star Wars, did not yet work and she had absolutely no idea why.

Opening the door she saw Noah standing there, guitar case in one hand and a duffel bag in the other. "Noah? What are you doing here?" Her mind was swarming with questions,what was he doing here in New York, here at NYU, here at her dorm door. She was startled out of her shock when he nodded at her indicating that she should let him in and then she finally remembered her good manners. "Come on in."

The first couple of minutes were spent in an awkward silence where Rachel returned to her bed and Noah settled on her roommate's bed. He still had not answered her question as to what he was doing there. "Noah?" She asked him again softly.

"I needed to get out." He suddenly blurted out and looked at her with a small frown. "I just couldn't stay there and prove everyone right that I'm just some fucking Lima loser."

Her heart was breaking a little; she had always wondered how no one else could see all the potential Noah had. Everyone always saw the delinquent that set things on fire and stole ATMs with his mom's car, but he was so much more than that. He wanted to take responsibility for his mistakes, but instead he got no say in the matter whatsoever when Quinn decided to give Beth up. Rachel had never told anyone this, but she had actually heard the conversation between Noah and Quinn in front of the nursery and the defeated look he had had on his face that moment when Quinn had rejected his wishes would forever haunt her. Of course, their decision had been right, but that did not make it any less painful for them.

"I… Just, can I stay here for a couple of days? Just until I find something else."

"Noah, of course, you can stay here." She did not even think of her roommate; she would have to deal with it. "What are you planning on doing here in New York?"

"Fuck, I don't know. Find a job, take some evening classes, play guitar, that kind of shit." Rachel smiled a little at his language and his complete lack of a plan. Sometimes she wished she could be more like that and would not always worry about what was coming next, but then she also liked her plans and timetables and her color-coded charts.

"What did everyone say about you coming here?" She asked him because she was honestly curious how everyone had reacted to Noah Puckerman taking initiative and trying to make something of himself, but when she saw his shoulders tense she knew she had said something wrong.

"I didn't tell anyone that I was coming here, well, of course, my mom and my sister know that I'm here, but no one else does. They don't know shit about me, so they don't deserve to know this." He answered her forcefully.

Just then Rachel's phone vibrated on her nightstand with a message from Finn which broke the conversation she had had with Noah. It was a meaningless text telling her what exactly Finn was having for dinner. She wondered if he even knew yet that his best friend had left Lima and that he was currently sitting on her roommate's bed. Probably not; after all Finn was not known for his perception skills and there were a lot of things he did not notice. For example, he did not notice that she did not even remotely care about what he was having for dinner.

That was the reason why Noah Puckerman had spent his first few weeks in New York in Rachel Berry's dorm. It had taken Finn two weeks to call her and tell her that Puck was gone – he had just noticed it. She had not told him that Noah was with her because it would have only led to tears and a bad break up she really did not want.

What was more was that during the weeks Noah had stayed with her she had noticed that it was not Finn per se whom she missed but rather her old life in Lima. Also, Noah made her see that she did not need a boyfriend in order to be fabulous and make something of herself; she just needed some good friends.

Rachel entered a small café to get the coffees Noah, Santana and Mike had ordered when they had called her earlier to get out of bed and come over and help them with a couple of last minute things.

The first couple of months that Noah had been in New York he had tried to get her to hang out with Santana and Mike, who had gotten into Columbia and Juilliard respectively, with him, but she and Santana just could not leave their past behind; they had always been at each other's throats even though they had once tried to learn Jedi mind tricks together, but that was more for Brittany than anything else. All of that changed, though, when Santana had returned from Lima after spending the holidays with her family whereas Noah, Mike and Rachel had decided to stay in New York – Noah had not had enough money to go home and he had needed to work, Mike's relationship with his family had still been strained due to his decision to pursue dance and Rachel had not wanted to miss her first holiday season as a New Yorker.

Rachel was spending the last day of the holidays with Noah and Mike in Noah's apartment, just lounging around and playing idly with the small charm on the necklace Finn had sent her as a Christmas gift. It was a beautiful necklace and she liked that he had thought of getting her something even though it was for the wrong holiday.

She watched as Mike and Noah played some kind of violent video game, but she did not mind in the least because she liked these quiet times she could spend with the two best friends she had in the city. She was roused from her quiet reminiscence by someone knocking at the door and since the boys surely would not get up to open the door and she was the closest anyway she got up to let whoever it was in. She was shocked when Santana was standing on the other side of the door and pulled her outside before even saying so much as hello.

"Santana, what are you doing?"

"We need to talk, hobbit." Was the answer she got. Yeah, Santana still refused to use her given name even after Rachel had repeatedly asked her to call her Rachel and not man-hands, hobbit, or something else completely derogative. When she had pushed Rachel into one of the many nooks you could find in Noah's apartment complex, she drew a deep breath and Rachel had never before seen Santana this nervous; not even when she had walked the hallways at McKinley after Finn had outed her to the whole school.

"Finnocence is cheating on you with Q." How could such a simple sentence feel like a slap in the face? Rachel could not form one coherent thought and did not even notice when Santana, after she would not get any reaction from the smaller girl, led her back to Noah's apartment and settled her on the couch. She knew that Santana had said more, but she did not need to hear more. Instinctively, she knew that he was cheating on her with Quinn; he was just following the pattern they had established in high school.

What surprised her was the way Santana sat beside her and held her hand the whole night and devised plans with Noah and Mike on how to destroy Finn Hudson. That night they spent at Noah's tiny apartment, all of them sharing the bed that was definitely too small for four people and the two boys complained a lot about almost falling of the edges, but they would all do it again. They were all telling her Finn's most embarrassing stories and tried to make her laugh at his expense and sometimes she would even smile through her tears.

Rachel and Santana had been best friends ever since because if there was one thing Santana could not tolerate it was cheating after being cheated on herself and knowing that hideous feeling. What was more, none of the four talked to Finn again unless they were at a Glee event in a group and even then they did their best to completely ignore him. Rachel was the only one who actually did not say a single word to Finn Hudson, but that did not mean that he did not try. Especially, after he had found out that she and Noah had become a couple did he try to engage her in conversation every opportunity he got. Anytime this happened, though, one of her friends would swoop in and rescue her.

A few months after the final Finchel breakup, Noah had, as Santana put it, "finally found his balls" and asked her out. At first, Rachel was hesitant to enter a relationship with Noah; he had become such a good friend to her during their time in New York and she just did not want to jeopardize that. Santana and Mike had always thought that she did not trust Noah because of his history with girls, but that had never been the case. When he had said that he wanted her, and for more than just sex, she had believed him, however, she was scared that she would never be enough for him; that she would make the same mistakes with him she had made with Finn, but Noah had told her she was even more crazy than normal if she for one second believed that.

"God, Rach! I just wanna be with you!" He was getting frustrated with her and she knew it. It was not her intention to aggravate him, but she wanted to be honest about feeling insecure about everything that was happening between them.

They had been out with Santana and Mike and then there had been this guy grabbing her ass and he was immediately pushed aside by Noah and Mike while Santana stepped in front of her in a protective gesture. She had not been able to hear with what Noah and Mike had been threatening him, but that guy had looked absolutely terrified. And then there had been Noah standing in front of her, his hands cupping her cheeks and asking her if she was okay. She had not even been able to nod before he had kissed her right there with their friends and a whole pub as an audience. Everything after that had been a blur until she had stormed into the apartment they all shared and Noah had been hot on her heels. His outburst had finally made her stop in her tracks and look at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What if things don't work out? I need you!" Rachel yelled back and she worked hard to keep the tears at bay. She really did not want to cry right now.

"So, what? You never gonna fall in love again just because you're fucking scared?" She had never seen him as serious as in that moment and the fact that he expected them to fall in love made her heart clench tightly. Suddenly, she felt calm and a warm fuzzy feeling was spreading in her belly. Slowly making her way over to him, she took his hand in hers and did not dare look up at him. "Fall in love, huh?" She smiled when she felt him lean his forehead against hers and his breath on her lips.

"Rach, we've known each other for years and I can honestly say that I'm half in love with you already, so yeah, fall in love. We're gonna rock that shit, babe." His lips were so soft on hers and she never wanted this feeling to stop.

The flash she perceived through her closed eyelids were not the fireworks she had always wished for when she had still been with Finn, though they were definitely there this time, but rather Santana's phone with which the Latina was taking a picture of the two of them kissing. Reluctantly ending the kiss, Rachel turned her head to look at her two friends standing in the doorway to their apartment. "Santana, may I ask you why you are taking pictures right now?"

"Bitch, please, I need to document this. Britt will absolutely lose her shit that Puckleberry is finally on again." Rachel more felt than heard the chuckle Noah could not hold back at that and feeling her cheeks turn red she burrowed her face in his chest and giggled. It had been a very long time since she had felt this way, to be honest she had not felt like this since she was sixteen and she and Noah had spent that ridiculous week dating. Afterwards there had only been fleeting moments of this feeling whenever she would hug him or spent an evening doing nothing with him, just the two of them. She felt like she was finally home again.

Actually, she should not have been so afraid, there had not been that many changes to their everyday life after they had become a couple; the only thing that was different was that Noah had abandoned his old room and moved into hers. And that Santana was complaining about their apparently obnoxious sex life.

They were lying in bed and watching this crappy movie on TV. Mike and Santana had decided to go out with some of Mike's Juilliard friends because Santana had said she needed to 'get out of this fucking apartment and just let go.' So, Mike had proposed they go dancing, Rachel did not know how Mike got all his energy. She was dancing a lot in workshops and things like that and was always exhausted when she got home, but he was like the energizer bunny and just kept going. It did not mean that it was not nice to have the apartment to themselves, that way she and Noah could spend an evening just the two of them, she was just wondering.

His chest was warm against her back and she could feel the deep even breaths he took as she played with the fingers of his hand that was resting on her stomach. That was also why she immediately knew when something was up, his heartbeat quickened and his breathing became much quicker. "Noah?" She slightly turned her head to where he was skimming his lips over her right shoulder and felt something cold being slipped on her left ring finger. Rachel immediately stiffened and looked at her left hand where a beautiful ring found its place on her finger. "Marry me, baby." Noah whispered against her ear.

To say she was shocked was the understatement of the century. Never in her whole life would she have expected this when she had decided to stay in that night. Not being able to stop staring at the ring, she was very much aware of the fact that he was holding his breath behind her, waiting for an answer. It was not really a question he had asked, he more like ordered her to marry her and even though the feminist streak in her was screaming at her to say no just because of that, she could feel the actual answer running through her every fiber and every vein until it suddenly burst forth from her: "Yes!"

Quickly, she turned around and threw her arms around him and without giving him any time to adjust to the new position before she was kissing him with all of the love she felt at that moment. Her kind of answer seemed to amuse him as she could feel his smile in his kiss and when she wrenched her lips away from his she could see him grinning at her and the butterflies that were fluttering around in her stomach were going crazy. Lifting her hand she ran her fingers over his cheek and could only smile when he leaned into her touch and kissed the palm of her hand.

"I love you so much, baby, you know that right? You must know, this is it, there's no one else out there for me in this fucking world." He told her. Straddling his hips and getting a little more comfortable in his lap she leaned her forehead against his. She just wanted to breathe him in and hold him tight and never let go and this beautiful, beautiful ring on her finger was his promise to her that he would let her. "I love you, Noah."

The kiss started out soft and gentle, but when his hands found their way to her hips to pull her closer she could not stop the moan from escaping and her own fingers tightening in the short hairs at the nape of his neck and tugging slightly. Neither could she help the way she rolled her hips against his and how much she liked that she felt him hardening beneath her. The vibration of his subsequent groan raced through her body and made her tingle all over. "God, baby, I need you!" He whispered hotly into her ear after he had wrenched his lips from hers and dropped kisses along her jaw and then flicked the lobe of her ear with his tongue.

His fingers were skimming her skin along the edge of her shirt until he pushed his hands under the material and let his hands wander up until he was cupping her breasts through her bra. His warm skin on hers made her shiver and she desperately needed to feel more of him. Her back arched when he rubbed his thumbs over her nipples and pressed kisses to her throat, sometimes nipping at the skin. She was digging her fingers into his shoulder because she needed something to hold onto while he was slowly driving her crazy. The whine she let out when his hands left her turned into a groan as he grabbed the hem of her shirt and when he told her "Up!" she could do nothing but obey and lift her arms almost immediately. Her bra was quick to follow her shirt on the floor.

She seemed so eager to get her clothes off that he could not stop the chuckle, but when she was sitting in his lap, her chest right in front of him with a slight pink flush and heaving with the deep breaths she was taking he just stopped and gazed at her. Rachel let out another whine when he did nothing but stare at her for almost a minute and that sound seemed to pull him out of his trance and his lips were back on hers as he pushed at her shoulders to get her to leave his lap which she reluctantly did.

Lying on her back she watched him as he stood up from the bed to take off his own shirt and to push his sweatpants down. A giggle burst forth when she saw that he was going commando. It was just like him to not wear any underwear while proposing, but she loved him for being himself and not going out of his way for a proposal that should be something between them.

She shrieked a little with delight when Noah pounced on her with this little smirk that always made her melt and drop her panties in an instant, though in this case she did not need to drop them herself because he hooked his fingers into her panties to pull them down while he kissed the skin right under her navel. "Noah…" She needed more, so much more and when her panties dropped to the floor she let out a small sigh. She wanted all of him, for the rest of her life, and now that it seemed to really come true it made the heat between her legs grow even more.

"Baby, you're soaking." Another moan escaped her at that and when she felt his hot breath washing over her she involuntarily lifted her hips towards his face, knowing what would happen and wanting it so much that she could not wait a second longer. And yet she was surprised when she felt him gently kissing her and jerked slightly when his tongue flicked her clit.

The heat spread from her core to the very tips of her fingers and toes and she wanted to hold onto that feeling for the rest of time, but when she felt him push first one finger and then a second into her she quickly changed her mind. This new feeling was even better. It was ridiculous to even think like that because Noah had made her feel like this every time they did this and she supposed he always would and yet it was different to the times before. Rachel probably would have to start a new chronology: 'before Noah proposed to me' and 'after Noah proposed to me.'

The thrusts of his fingers were slow but with the way his lips and tongue were working on her it would not take long for her to come. The way she rolled her hips to meet his mouth and fingers and how she scraped her nails over his scalp must have been more than enough indicators for him to know that she was close and he just started assaulting her clit with his lips and nibbling slightly on it until her felt her walls contracting around his fingers and Rachel letting out a long moan while she pushed his head ever closer to her. Noah just kept going, his fingers shallowly thrusting inside her and his tongue lapping at her juices. When she could not take anymore she pushed his face away and lay there panting, trying to catch her breath.

A smile spread across her face when she felt him kissing his way up to her face and in-between those kisses mumbling "I love you." over and over again. God, she loved him too.

Rachel moaned at the taste of herself as he kissed her on the lips and settled himself between her legs. She loved the way he felt hot and hard against her center and she wanted nothing more than for Noah to enter her and make love to her but he took his time sipping at her lips and just holding her. She wondered for a second where he suddenly got his patience because he really was not known for having it, but it probably was just that he wanted to stay as long as possible in this moment as much as she did.

She could feel his fingers brushing against her cheek, so softly and so gently that it was a stark contrast to the harsh pants coming from him. "Baby…" He whispered to her and when she did not immediately open her eyes at him calling her he repeated it: "Baby, look at me." When she did she saw his eyes, more green than ever, and then she felt him slowly pushing into her and it was so much more intense than any feeling she had known before. His thrusts were slow and deep and never once did he break eye contact with her. This was not the first time they did it like this, it had been just the same when he had told her he loved her for the first time and yet she was completely unprepared for the orgasm that was quickly approaching.

"You close, baby?" Noah asked her and all she could do was nod; she wondered how he was able to form words right now. Rachel let out a guttural moan when she felt his thumb rubbing her clit, but she did not close her eyes; she rather kept her gaze locked to his. It was as if she just could not close them even if she wanted to. And then he was kissing her and as soon as his lips touched hers she fell apart and clenched tightly around him triggering his own orgasm. He shallowly thrust a couple more times until he was completely spent and she was coming down again from one of the top five orgasms in her life. He stayed inside her and nuzzled his nose against hers. He told her "I love you, future-Mrs.-Puckerman." and a lone happy tear escaped her. "I love you, too, Noah Puckerman."

That had been six months ago and they had decided to have a long engagement as they both first wanted to get their feet on the ground. Rachel was part of the chorus of an off Broadway musical and she had good chances of moving into a better role if she kept up the good work and she had every intention of doing that and she also kept on going to open castings for more promising roles on Broadway itself.

Noah was also pushing his career, but he also had a lot more risk with his endeavor. After taking some business classes and playing some smaller gigs he had decided that what he really wanted was his own bar, a space where he could do whatever he wanted and be his own boss. Rachel was actually on her way to meet the other three at the bar to get some last things in order for the opening that night.

Almost as soon as she entered the bar she was assaulted by her fiancé and Mike wanting to show her something and Santana taking the coffee from her. She could not stop the loud laugh that escaped her when she saw what they had done. Right over the shelves over the bar there was a sign hanging on the wall and it read: "Danger. Ninjas and pirates and lasers and shit."

"What is that?" She asked them and was surprised at the answer she got from Noah.

"Santana had it made for me." When Rachel looked at the other woman, Santana just shrugged her shoulders and her lips were forming a small smirk. "What? This place needed something unique. Anyway, Mike's the ninja, Puck's the pirate, you're the laser and I'm the shit. Everyone from Lima fucking Ohio should beware because they've all been talking shit and we're really gonna make something of ourselves and prove them fucking wrong." Rachel went over to the Latina and hugged her. She whispered a quiet thank you in her ear because she knew that that speech was more for Noah's benefit than anyone else's. He was the one who had the most trouble with letting go of what other people said about him.

"D'you like it, baby?" Noah whispered into her ear as he came up behind her and wound his arms around her waist. Taking a good look around and finally settling on the sign above the bar again she smiled at their two friends behind the bar goofing around and then turned around in his arms.

"I love it and I'm so proud to one day have you on my arm and everyone call me Mrs. Puckerman." She replied before kissing him softly.

"I love you, too."