The Road Less Traveled. The easy choice would have been to attend Ohio State, live in the dorms, and go home every few weeks, laundry in hand. Rachel and Noah opted for college in New York, leaving life as they knew it behind, and taking the first tentative steps toward fulfilling their dreams.

Thanks once again to Ryan Murphy, who owns "Glee" and the characters that inhabit that space in the television universe. This story and any new characters are solely mine. Any similarities to people in the real world are coincidental and unintentional; if I accidentally selected "real" names, I apologize and assure that no harm is intended.

Our saga begins a few months after "Why Is this Night Different?" left off. Although it's not essential to have the read the previous story, doing so might help clarify some plot points. (Speaking as the author, I would recommend it ;-)). As the story allows, I will attempt to share some aspects of Jewish culture that are otherwise ignored (or trivialized) on the show.

Chapter 1

Rachel Berry woke up on the 4th of July courtesy of her alarm clock, which she had forgotten to un-set the night before. The luxury of sleeping in late during the summer had been replaced by rising early for her first "real" job, manning the receptionist desk at the dance studio where she had taken lessons for most of her life. As she rolled over to stop the alarm, she felt an arm reach over her and basically beat her to the punch.

"Go back to sleep, Noah," she said, yawning. "It's too early to get up."

He lowered his arm and wrapped it around her waist, drawing her close. "OK, Baby, let's jus' get comfortable," he sleepily replied, and she happily complied, snuggling into him.

Her fathers were currently in Cincinnati, visiting her Dad, LeRoy's parents. Rachel, now a member of the workforce, had sent her love and stayed home, providing an opportunity for her boyfriend, Noah Puckerman, to spend the night. Although her parents were cognizant of their relationship, his sleeping over when they were home would have been taboo.

Since school had ended, the only remaining vestige of "Puck" was that his friends still (and probably always would) called him by that. Gone was the belligerence, contempt, the majority the cockiness (well, he was a stud, just ask his girl), and the Mohawk. In his place stood Noah, the young man that Rachel saw when no one else (including Noah) was able to get past "Puck".

As Rachel relaxed into his arms, she felt his response to her close proximity. "Noah," she coquettishly said, "you're feeling feisty this morning."

"Where you're concerned, always," he teased. "How 'bout a little 'afternoon delight'?" he slyly inquired.

Rachel laughingly reminded him, "Noah, it's 7:00 in the morning, how could that be considered afternoon?"

"It's gotta be afternoon somewhere," he teased.

"Well," she giggled, "since you put it that way…"

By 9:30, Noah and Rachel had showered and dressed and were eating breakfast. Rachel mentioned, "Noah, I told Santana that I'd bring a fruit salad and bake some cookies for her barbeque today."

"Sounds good to me. Your cookies are awesome!" he complimented.

"Thank you, Noah," she pleasantly replied. "While I'm baking, you're making the fruit salad," she advised.

Noah rolled his eyes; he would have rather parked himself in front of the TV and watched a baseball game, but he knew that resistance was futile where Rachel was concerned. "OK, tell me what to do," he conceded.

Rachel laundry-listed the fruit to include with the approximate quantities, and while he was preoccupied, she began mixing her ingredients together. Rachel loved to bake, even though she wasn't a big sweet eater, herself. She had decided to make oatmeal cookies today, replacing the raisins with dried cherries, since chocolate chip cookies might not fare too well in the heat.

As she was in process of removing the first batch from the baking pan to cool, she felt one arm snake around her waist and another reach around her to steal a cookie. "Noah!" she admonished, "those are for the party."

"C'mon, they'll never miss one," he rationalized. Before she had a chance to react, he kissed her on the back of the neck, grabbed a cookie, and took a large bite.

"Wow, Rach, these are really good!" he complimented. "Here, try some." He broke off a small, bite-sized piece and fed it to her. She chewed it thoughtfully.

"You're right; very good," she commented, pleased with herself. Noah had completed the first cookie and had extricated a second one. He broke it in half and offered some to her, which she politely declined.

"Rachel," he teased, "open up, here comes the choo-choo."

Although she found his silliness endearing, she was not about to consume her weight in cookies (or allow him to do the same).

"Noah," she exasperatedly warned, "please stop schtupping me with cookies. Enough is enough!"

Noah grinned; he loved it when Rachel used Yiddish expressions, and more so when they had a sexual connotation. "As long as I can still schtupp you in the bedroom, then I'm good," he conceded.

"That you may do," Rachel affirmed, smiling seductively.

Somehow, they managed to complete their tasks by noon. The fruit salad was in the refrigerator, and the cookies were cooling off, ready to be packed. They sat down in the family room to rest, Noah's arm encircling Rachel's small frame, pressing her against his side. Rachel looked up at Noah and smiled. "Just think, Noah, in six weeks we'll be in New York."

"Yeah, I know," he concurred, "it's pretty friggin' amazing."

"Kurt and I need to decide about furniture pretty quickly," she said.

"Guess I'm lucky," he interjected. "All I need is a bed. The place is all furnished, down to the dishes and pots 'n pans," he explained. "I'll have my own bedroom, and share the common areas with the other three guys," he continued. "Cantor Rosen, he's Cantor Mike's friend, told me that we have to keep Kosher and make sure the place is clean. They have kids, so no loud parties or a lot 'a strange women." Rachel looked at Noah curiously at his last remark, raising one eyebrow. "Baby, you don't need to worry," he reassured her. "I can only handle one strange woman in my life, and that's you." He smirked and began tickling her.

Rachel struggled a bit, and through her laughter said, "Please, Noah, stop. I'm not feeling that well right now."

Noah immediately ceased and apologized, "Sorry, Rach. What's wrong?"

She averted her eyes and quietly said "Cramps."

"Oh…well…" he hesitated; like most boys (and men) a woman's menstrual cycle is rarely a comfortable topic for discussion. "Are you sure you want to go, Rach?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes; Santana would feel hurt if we don't come," she replied. "After all, this is one of the last times we'll all probably be together until Thanksgiving."

Noah felt mystified by Rachel's and Santana Lopez's new-found amity. Apparently, Rachel standing up to her in Macy's had garnered Santana's respect, and she apologized formally shortly after Easter break. The two had become fast friends, along with Quinn Fabray, of all people. He was amazed that Rachel's two primary tormentors throughout high school were rapidly becoming her closest girlfriends, surpassed only by Tina and Kurt (who was really more of a girlfriend, after all).

Noah tried to soothe her as best he could, rubbing her back gently as she rested her head on his shoulder. They sat quietly watching TV until it was time to get ready to go. Rachel packed up the now cooled cookies, and they both went upstairs to tidy up and dress. It didn't take Noah very long to put on a clean pair of shorts and a Hawaiian print camp shirt, and he returned downstairs to watch a baseball game until Rachel was ready. She entered the room about 20 minutes later, and, in his opinion, the time was well-spent. Rachel had pulled her hair into a braid down her back, and she wore a simple red sun dress with white espadrille wedge sandals and a white crocheted shrug.

"You look beautiful, Rachel," he said admiringly, and kissed her.

"Thank you, Noah," she replied modestly. Carrying their contributions to the dinner, they exited the house, Rachel locking the door behind them.

Author's Note: "Schtupp" is a Yiddish word that literally means "stuff". It is most often used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse; hence, the name of Madeline Kahn's character in "Blazing Saddles", Lili Von Schtupp.