Rachel sat at the piano idly running scales and arpeggios in the Glee Club music room. She really was talented, Puck thought absently as he entered the room. And hot - if you liked that schoolgirl librarian look she tended to favor - he added to his thought with a smirk before sitting down with his guitar. He liked schoolgirl librarians very much, almost as much as he liked young librarians, like that one at the library in town, she'd seemed to like his muscles, getting out of tearing a few pages from an encyclopedia had been a pleasure for both of them that day…

She watched Puck covertly from the corner of her eye; she still quietly mourned the loss of the Mohawk. She really quite liked the Mohawk, it had been surprisingly soft when they had … no don't think about that she told herself sternly. Every time she thought about making out with Puck in her room 18 months ago she tended to forget her plan. The plan involved Finn Hudson, a nice college with a better than average music program, graduation, a ring, a cake and a fair amount of frothy tulle. She choose to ignore the way her insides seemed to heat up and twist as she caught the end of a particularly satisfied smirk as Puck sat down to start quietly strumming his guitar.

Was it wrong to only think of Finn in terms of a wedding? Another thing she didn't like to think about was the fact that since she and Puck had, well, you know, her fantasies had become less about the physical side of things with Finn and more about the personal standing and potential earning side of things. As she was a sensible girl she filed this away as being a sensible attitude towards relationships and love.

There was no need for either of them to say more than the short 'hi' that both murmured. This early arrival for rehearsal had become something of a habit. Rachel because she had a free period beforehand and she suspected Puck had only just come back from ditching his last math class. She wondered sometimes whether he'd ever manage to graduate from high school let alone get into college.

What tended to happen as they sat was Puck would pick up on the chords Rachel randomly played and most days they ended up 'finding' a song to sing. Today Puck seemed to be in a bright kind of mood Rachel thought with a giggle as she sang the chorus to Britney's "Baby One More Time".

Will smiled as he entered the room; sometimes his 'kids' could brighten up his whole day. Recently Rachel and Puck had been doing most of the brightening. The teacher recognized the gleam in Puck's eyes as Rachel danced and sang in front of him. Will was pretty sure it was a gleam that Puck was unaware of, as unaware as Rachel was of the glow and unusually calm air she wore any time Puck was around. He'd seen his fair share of high school crushes and this one had all the hallmarks of a grand romance, if only one of them was brave enough to say it out loud to the other rather than singing, or dancing around it. He clapped as the song came to an end.

"So guys, any plans for Prom?"

"Yeah, the usual sex, sex and more sex Mr. Shue." Puck said with a laugh. Rachel huffed as Noah clearly expected her to. "Rachel's decided that she'll do the usual girl thing of cry, dance in a circle with her friends, cry."

"Ooh!" Rachel barely managed not to stomp her foot, as always Puck had her going from happy to outraged in less than 2.1 seconds, "If I were going to Prom with you Noah Puckerman I probably would be crying all night!"

"Tears of happiness miss snooty-pants!" Puck grinned and watched in amused delight as Rachel huffed, turned red and then stormed off to a seat across the room. "She digs me, plus her skirt swirls up and out when she turns like that." Puck said with a final wink at and gliss on his guitar.

"At least it will be my only senior Prom." Rachel finally managed to get out as the rest of the Glee crew filled up the room. She instantly regretted saying it as Noah's eyes flashed up once to meet hers and then down to his guitar. She knew some people might be a little embarrassed if they were not eligible to graduate and the number of classes Noah seemed to miss would suggest to anyone that he would not be graduating with the rest of their class. High school would probably be Noah's glory days and Rachel shouldn't belittle that. She resolved to bake him some sugar cookies and apologize tomorrow when Noah slipped out of rehearsal before she could stop him.

Rachel sighed and took one more cookie from the plate she'd carefully arranged a minute ago, now she wouldn't be able to make the cookies form a complete number 20 so she pushed them into a rough circle instead and took a large bite from her own as she climbed the stairs to her room. She'd had the perfect number a few minutes ago, but that was before her baby sister had demanded one of the bright glittery red cookies.

Rachel, as ever, could not resist the warm hazel eyes that pleaded so earnestly, the little chubby arms reaching from beyond their Dad's embrace towards her big sister. It was a killer. Half the time Rachel battled with typical older sibling jealousy, the other half of the time she couldn't get enough of their little Sunshine. Sunshine had seemed such an odd choice for a name when her Dads had told Rachel about her new sister, but now she thought it matched the little cherub's deep strawberry blonde curls and cheerful smile perfectly.

Plus Sunny seemed to love hearing Rachel sing, the one year old always silent as her big sister sang.

At least that was the way it had been until tonight. Maybe it was the red food coloring in the cookie icing, maybe it was a tooth, whatever it was Rachel was close to crying herself after almost an hour of Sunny's mournful cries. The crying had started about fifteen minutes after their Dads had left for a long weekend trip. Her bed and sleep seemed an age off to Rachel as she walked with Sunny in her arms up and down the lounge room floor.

Rachel had just managed to get Sunny to that half asleep hiccupping stage, half passed out on the couch when deep voice behind her said, "Dude, you too? I thought Quinn was the only Glee baby-momma in town." She whirled and looked at Noah in astonishment, Sunny seemed to be just as shocked because she blinked for a moment before starting to cry again, only louder this time. "Whoa this one definitely inherited your vocal projection skills Rach." Noah said with a wince.

"While I applaud the fact that you finally seem to be grasping the basics of vocal theory Noah, what are you doing here and how did you get in?" Rachel asked with a tired sigh as she got up from the sofa and bounced Sunny a little on her hip.

"Spare key, not very safe hiding it under that pot plant." Noah said absently as he studied both the baby and the interesting way the infant pulled on the already low neckline of Rachel's Snoopy pajamas. "So who is this? And nice boo…jim-jams by the way." Damn he hadn't planned on saying that Puck thought to himself as Rachel shifted uncomfortably, clearly not missing that fact that he'd almost said 'boobs'.

"This is my sister Sunny who you just woke up! I've spent hours trying to get her to sleep and you decide to break into my house, with your guitar, and wake her up and talk about my boo...pajamas" Rachel said with a loud sniff and to her horror started crying, which set Sunny off even more. She'd fully expected Puck to back off and slink back out the way he'd come, and he didn't disappoint. What she hadn't expected was that he'd only slunk as far as the kitchen and brought her back some Kleenex which he proceeded to wipe her eyes with.

"Sit down" Noah said and when Rachel didn't he sighed and said it again "Sit down; I'm going to try something which worked for me last time I baby sat."

"You baby sit?" Rachel asked incredulously as she sat, really he was quite forceful in a gentlemanly way when he wanted to be, some small voice in her mind reminded.

"You take money when and where it comes in my world Rachel." He shrugged as he swung his guitar up and started playing a quiet lullaby. Sunny seemed to be trying to resist and he was just playing the final chords from On My Own when her eyes started to close and finally quiet snores interrupted Puck's strumming. Rachel heaved a quiet tired sigh and readied herself to get up and carry Sunny up the stairs to her nursery room. She was surprised again as Noah carefully pushed his Guitar onto the familiar place at his back and reached out to gently take Sunny from Rachel's arms. She got up to follow as he climbed the stairs.

"Which room?" he whispered as they neared the top of the stairs.

"Second star to the right," Rachel answered, she wasn't kidding, stars decorated both her own and Sunny's bedroom doors. She watched as Puck walked into the room which was lit only by a small night light and he gently placed the sleeping baby into her cot and tucked her in securely. She was surprised when he brushed the soft curls from Sunny's forehead and kissed the baby gently.

As he stood up their eyes met and Rachel found it suddenly hard to breathe. She turned and walked quickly back down stairs, trying to catch a breath before Puck joined her in the kitchen. How could she have forgotten? He'd spent weeks, maybe months with a sad wistful expression in his eyes which made every female over the age of seven want to comfort him after Quinn had given their baby girl up for adoption.

She knew for a fact thatnPuck had taken advantage of some of the 'comfort' that had been offered, and Rachel didn't blame him, she'd read that touch could heal a deep pain much faster than words could. In fact she'd been tempted to touch him in a 'special way' on more than one occasion. She looked up and couldn't stop the blush that rose as he walked into the room.

She pushed the plate of cookies towards him and took a deep breath before answering the silent question in his eyes. There was, after all, a large note saying "I'm sorry Noah" propped up in the middle of the plate.

"I was out of line in Glee this afternoon. I don't know what your plans are after high school, if you are leaving school, I mean if you graduate…" She risked a quick look up at Puck to see what he was thinking. She was surprised when she saw his frown and the disappointment in his eyes.

"You still think I'm a Lima Loser Rach?" He looked more hurt than insulted. Rachel felt another sharp pang of remorse. This was the guy who let her talk to him for hours about things he didn't care about, and if she did ask him something or complained about something that happened in school or at home he'd offer no frills totally unsweetened advice. And the advice was usually spot-on. Rachel had a recurring suspicion that Noah was more than just an average jock who sang in a show choir. But she pushed that thought aside to answer his question.

"No I don't mean that, I mean you don't spend a lot of time in class and I… Well are you going to graduate and if you do what are your plans?" Suddenly she felt like it was vitally important to know what his plans were. "And how do you know all the words to On My Own?"

"Beyond asking you for a favor, I had no plans, at least not tonight. And I've heard you singing that song often enough when you make goo-goo eyes at Finn to know the words by heart." He pulled out a stool and sat down before leaning his guitar against the breakfast bar and snagging a cookie from the plate. "Why do you want to know about my plans anyway? Like everyone else in this cow town I want out."

"But ditching class to…to…what do you do?" Rachel was distracted by the crumbs caught on the edge of Puck's chin; she had an overwhelming urge to brush them off with her fingertips, just to touch his skin. That was a bit odd, she normally handed Finn a napkin when he ate, just out of habit - he was a messy eater. Unlike Noah, who seemed to keep himself clean, cleaner than most high school boys anyway. But those crumbs… "Uh ditching class won't get you anywhere."

"Isn't this the kind of question you usually save for Finn, when he isn't with Quinn?" Noah brushed away the crumbs with the back of his hand and looked Rachel in the eye. He hated that she still seemed to do everything for Finn; it was like he was some weird yard-stick for excellence in her eyes. Which was stupid. Finn was cool and all, but not the brightest bulb in the box, which was part of his charm as a friend, but someone as smart as Rachel claimed to be should have gotten totally exasperated with Finn's naiveté by now, surely?

"Maybe, but you're my friend too. More of a friend than Finn really." Rachel couldn't believe she'd said that. Did she mean it? Or were her hormones getting the best of her as she watched the play of muscles under his shirt as he plucked other cookie from the plate. Distracted she said the first thing that entered her mind, "Finn and I have a stage romance, its wonderful while we sing, but as soon as the music ends he goes back to being that guy who changes his mind more often than he changes his shirt. But you and I seem to talk, really talk and you know what I mean when I say things like 'stream of consciousness'…"

"Like what you're doing now?" Noah was looking confused. He honestly had no idea where all of this was going, he'd just come over to ask Rachel for a favor and been distracted by the baby and those ridiculous pajamas. He hadn't been insulted at all by Rachel's assumptions about graduation or a lack of graduation, in fact he totally played on that dumb-jock perception other kids at school had of him.

"Sort of, you know I'm starting to think Finn might not be my intellectual match…"

"Y'think?" Puck rolled his eyes and Rachel frowned at him.

"Well I mean he doesn't even like show tunes at all, doesn't get opera…" Rachel got up from her stool and opened the refrigerator, taking out a large slab of chocolate cake.

"Well it is pretty weird the way they sing the whole time." Noah interrupted, thinking that if this was going to be another conversation all about Finn he was going to bail. Unless of course she was going to share the cake, the cake looked good and he hadn't had dinner yet. He was hungry, and the way the light from the refrigerator had silhouetted Rachel's curves had stirred a different kind of hunger. But the cake looked awesome. He realized Rachel was still talking and tried to catch up.

"…And he clearly doesn't appreciate the importance of homework. Do you do homework Noah?"

"Of course." Okay that one slipped out, maybe she'd assume he was lying again. He'd been dazzled by the glow in her warm chocolate brown eyes. "I mean it's totally cool to spend time putting in the research into working out which babe…" Rachel frowned at him and he sighed, "I really do, do homework." He reached for the fork Rachel had got herself and stole a bite of cake.

"Look, football scholarships are actually pretty hard to come by…"

"You could try for a music scholarship now, that is, if your grades are good enough" Rachel added with a wince and Puck shrugged. "Most scholarships require a certain level of…literacy at least. I could help you if you like, maybe tutor you a little I have some time between dance class and Glee and music theory and…" she stopped talking when Puck started laughing. "What?"

"Rach, I'm the last person at McKinley who needs tutoring." He stole another bite of cake before leaning over to get a better look at the frosting, the writing on the frosting to be more exact.

"Why? What do you mean exactly?"

"Well the cemetery is hiring, or I could go for this…" he retrieved a crumpled letter from the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to Rachel before pointing at the cake and asking, "Did this cake used to say 'Happy birthday Rachel'?"

Rachel almost missed her stool, luckily Puck caught her arm and steered her back on course as she read what was in his letter. She nodded absently before pinning him with her patented Rachel-Berry-has-a-question stare.

"You have an early entry offer from Stanford? Stanford!"

"Uh-huh, is this your birthday cake?" Puck swiped at the frosting with his index finger.

"Yes, back to Stanford…"

"When?" Puck looked at the cake, licked his finger slowly and looked back at Rachel.

"When What?" Rachel was getting a little frustrated by now.

"When was your birthday? This is really good cake, great frosting, you should try some Rachel…" Puck took another dab of frosting from the edge of cake and held it in front of Rachel's mouth. She looked down and he watched in awe as her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips before she enveloped the tip of his finger in her mouth.

Their eyes met again and the awareness that always hovered at the back of both their minds leapt to the forefront. Rachel let Puck's fingertip slip from her mouth and sat as far back on her stool as she dared. His eyes had gone an intense shade of green instead of hazel. Oh boy, she was virtually alone in the house with a guy who set off alarm bells in her brain and fireworks in her hormones. Rachel needed to gather herself or in five seconds Noah was going to lose his shirt and possibly pants…

"Tomorrow." She said and was surprised by the breathiness of her answer.

"Tomorrow?" Puck's confused question was huskier than she'd ever heard him.

"My Birthday is tomorrow; we had cake earlier because my dads went away for a long weekend…"

"So we're alone and your 18th birthday is in half an hour?" Puck asked slowly with a quick look at the clock on the wall behind Rachel's head. "You know I totally dig older women."