Disclaimer: See parts one & two for all pertinent information.

Note: So, I'm running out of titles to use from the songs "Never Say Never" and "Keep Holding On" so I'll probably start using lyrics from songs that I have on a playlist made specifically for this love square and the KHO universe; now adding Gavin Rossdale's "Love Remains the Same" to the title pool. Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed and/or added this story to their favorites and/or alerts!

Pushing Me So Far

Puck continues cleaning pools, hot tubs, and Jacuzzis on the weekends once he graduates from college and manages to get a "real grown-up job" as an assistant (training to become a junior sales representative) at a car dealership. He manages to turn down every offer to "unclog the pipes" of his female customers, no matter how hot the MILF is or how horny he is. He wants to be a man his daughter can respect. He wants to be a man that could be worthy of everything that a woman like Rachel Berry or Quinn Fabray has to offer.

Rachel only spent about six weeks at home her first couple of summers after starting at Julliard, going back to New York early to participate in various workshops. Quinn was focusing on being a mother and a student and couldn't be bothered when Puck or Finn or any other guy suggested that she go out with them on a more than friendly date. It almost seemed like a race to ask her out when Rachel came home following her sophomore year. She made it perfectly clear that she did not feel that it was the best time in her life or career to deal with the drama that would surely accompany any romantic inclinations but she'd love to spend time with them platonically.

Mostly, it was The Core Four spending time together, sometimes with the addition of Rosie. Puck had already turned twenty-one and if Rosie wasn't with them, sometimes he'd pop for a six-pack for him and Finn and a bottle of wine for Quinn and Rachel.

Rachel regaled them with stories of life in The Big City and students that were bigger divas than she was. She made them promise to come visit her one weekend before she graduated just so that she could prove to them that she was relatively low-key and low-maintenance compared to other students on-campus.

Puck was rather impressed with how well Rachel handled her alcohol consumption. She easily explained that it became the habit of her hall mates to celebrate one of them getting an A on a performance exam by having a couple of glasses of champagne—the real stuff from France, not the sparkling wine produced in the United States.

One night, sans alcohol, with Rosie in attendance and banging away on the piano in the Berry family room, Finn hesitantly mentioned that some girl he works with has asked him out. He had told her no and the others all gave him a hard time, Puck ragging on him for being a "sentimental pussy." Quinn and Rachel both appeared to be genuinely happy that someone outside of their group was interested in him and disappointed that he had turned the girl down; she sounded decent enough. After much prodding, he relented and said that he'd talk to her the next time they worked a shift together and see if she'd like to grab some coffee or go bowling.

A few days later, Puck came over to clean they Berry's pool. He's sure Rachel berated her dads into hiring him the summer that Rosie was born because for the first year or so that he'd come over, they gave him the most disapproving, if lasers could shoot from our eyes you'd be gay or sterile so that it would be impossible for you to knock-up our little girl too looks. She lounged by the pool in a tasteful one-piece and asked if he'd mind rubbing some sunscreen on her back.

He smirked as he put the pool vacuum down. He sauntered over to her, his eyes traveling her body, "Sure thing. I could clean your pipes too."

She rolled her eyes, "That's disgusting, Noah." As she shifted onto stomach she said, "You know this is entirely the wrong way of going about wooing me."

"Who said anything about wooing? I'm just trying to get back into your pants," he said, kneeling beside her and then squirting the sunscreen into his hands.

She sighed and rolled back over before he could start lathering her up, "You and I both know that you're more mature and sensitive than that."

"Yeah, but I'm still me. Can't change me, Rach."

"I don't want you to change. I just want you to conduct yourself like you've grown up. And I know that you have."

"Fuck, Berry, just turn over and let me cop a feel, okay? Sometimes I need to be a douchebag and pretend to not give a damn about all that touchy-feely bullshit, okay?"

She gave him a sad wide-eyed look, pouting, before rolling back over. "Five seconds, Noah."

It was his turn to roll his eyes, "Leave it to you to put a time limit on how long a guy can grope you."

Rachel comes home Labor Day weekend after she graduates from Julliard, the weekend that just happens to coincide with Puck's schedule to clean to the Berry's pool. This weekend she wears a two-piece and when Puck stars to undo the ties of her top while languidly rubbing sunscreen on her back, she doesn't protest, she just pulls her hair out of his way.