I woke up to find Noah gently stroking my cheek with the back of his fingers. I stirred in his lap and peeked up to find him looking ahead at the television. He glanced down at me and found I was waking up and shot me a sweet smile.

"Hey pretty girl. Feeling better?"

"Mmm…" I said as I stretched awake. "A little bit."

"Good, good. I don't want you to be bummed out. Anything else I can do to cheer you up? Maybe get ice cream or something?"

"Thanks but I'm okay right now. Being with you is all I need." I sat up and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Let's go for a drive," he suggested.

"I don't know Puck. I don't really want to run into anyone from school."

"I promise you we won't. I just think you could use some time out of the house." I didn't respond, unsure of what to do. I really didn't want to leave the house but part of me felt like he might be right. I remained quiet and he added, "Trust me." I looked into his gentle eyes and knew he just wanted to help. I slowly nodded my hand and he helped me up off the couch. He led me to the car, holding my hand the entire way. As he opened the door for me he kissed my temple, causing me to smile slightly.

"There's that smile," he grinned at me. I tried to prevent the smile from growing but was unsuccessful. The way he was looking at me was making me blush and I wasn't quite sure why. Just something about him, I guess.

We took off down the road and Noah allowed me to adjust the radio station to my liking. I was pretty quiet until my curiosity finally got the better of me and I spoke.

"Any chance you're going to tell me where we're going?" I asked.

"Where's the fun in that? I like building up the suspense and surprising you." I wasn't at all surprised with his answer.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you at least tell me how close we are?"

"We should be there in about two minutes."

"You're not gonna blindfold me this time, are you?"

He chuckled and said, "You lucked out this time, I left my blindfold at home. Although I could always cover your eyes with my hands if you really want to be surprised."

I let out a small chuckle before saying, "Tempting offer but I think I can live without that."

"Whatever you say dear, let me know if you change your mind."

By this point we had turned into an empty parking lot surrounded by trees and grass. I spotted a pavilion across the way with small standing grills for barbecuing at picnics. The tables in the shaded area seemed to be overtaken by ivy and weeds which led me to believe this place didn't receive many visitors. I followed Noah's lead and let myself out of the car. He put an arm around me and turned me around, walking in the opposite direction of the deserted pavilion. I saw a playground in the distance, painted purple, yellow and teal colors. Several murals were painted on freestanding pieces of wood on the outskirts of the playground, adding more bright colors to the mix.

"What is this place?" I asked. I took a seat on one of the nearby swings and Noah came behind me and lightly started pushing me.

"This is the secret park."

"Oh the secret park. Of course. And what's the story behind said secret park?"

Puck stopped pushing me and found a spot on the swing next to me. "Well, I found this place a while ago by accident. When my dad was still living with us, he used to fight with my mom a lot. One day I was lying in my bed, trying to sleep and I just got sick of the screaming and the fighting. I couldn't handle it any more so I snuck out my bedroom window and just ran with no destination in mind. My feet brought me to this park and ever since then it's been my safe place. I can come here to think about life or escape reality and whenever I leave, I always feel better about everything. It's magic in a sense. And I wanted to share that magic with you."

I was speechless. This silly little park was a safe haven for him and he wanted to share that with me. He gave me a piece of something very personal to him just as I had done a few hours earlier, although his was much more voluntary.

"I…I don't know what to say…" was all I could manage.

"Well do you at least like the place?" he asked.

"I love it, especially since it means so much to you."

"I'm glad you like it. Now come on, I want to take you up to the top of the slide."

I jumped off the swing and followed him to the playground. We climbed up the jungle gym until we reached the platform that led to the top of the long, yellow curly slide. Instead of going down the slide, he took a seat pretzel-style on the platform and motioned for me to join him.

"Why aren't there any kids here?" I asked. I realized it was strange this place was completely empty on a Monday afternoon.

"That's why it's the secret park, because no one knows about it. The location is pretty hidden and it's at the end of a road that doesn't lead anywhere, so you kind of have to find this place by accident or know it's here."

"Have you ever brought anyone here before?"

"Nope, you are the first." I smiled at that. He showed me once again how much he cared about me by bringing me to his special place. "Which reminds me, I was hoping you'd want to christen this visit…" I gave him a confused look as he pulled out a black Sharpie from the pocket of his jeans.

"Vandalism!? I didn't realize I was dating such a bad boy," I joked. He rolled his eyes at my sarcasm as I knew full well that he was proud of his badass persona. "I've actually always wanted to do this," I added.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I remember seeing names and initials etched on the playground growing up and I always wondered who those people where and what their story was. While it was probably just some stupid middle schoolers who dated for a week and decided to write their initials inside of a heart as a way of declaring their love for one another, I always felt like there could be more to it than that. I like that we can be that story for some little girl like me."

"You're such a softie."

"Am not!" I said as I gave him a playful smack. He laughed at me yet again before uncapping the Sharpie to leave our mark.

"Wait, wait, wait…is this where we're writing it? Here at the top?"

"Uh…yeah. Is that okay?'

I simply shook my head and said, "Follow me." I took the lead and slid down the slide, picking up acceleration before landing on my feet at the bottom. Noah was there a moment later and I walked underneath the slide. "Here," I said pointing to a spot on the underside of the slide.

"But no one will see it here."

"Well if this is such a secret park, no one will see it out in the open either."

"Touché."

"But this spot is better because it won't fade away here. It's covered from any rain or snow and no one will try to wipe it off because it's a bit more hidden."

"Why are you always right?" he joked.

"Oh you know you like it," I said, sticking my tongue out at him. I snagged the Sharpie from him and went to work. I considered a few different options before finally writing something that didn't seem completely cheesy. It read "Noah + Kate 10.15.14" and for the date I placed a small heart in between each number. "What do you think?" I asked him.

"I think it's almost as perfect as you," He stepped closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist as he drew me in for a kiss.

"Thank you for doing this for me," I whispered as we pulled a part, "I was a little skeptical at first, but I do feel a lot better."

"I just wanted to get your mind off of everything."

"Well you succeeded. And thank you for sharing this special place with me. I can tell it means a lot to you."

He merely nodded and gave me a small smile, unsure of what to say next. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked again at the words I had written, his smile growing even brighter. "This park is even more special to me now."

I rubbed his back softly and let him have his moment. Soon he turned to me and said, "What do you say we grab some food and then get you back home. I don't want your parents to worry."

I nodded and we walked back to the car, hand in hand. We drove through Chikfila, one of my favorites, for chicken nuggets and milkshakes before we returned to my house. As always he walked me to the front door and left me with a soft peck on the lips and a kiss on the forehead. I went inside to work on the homework I had piling up in an effort to forget the events of today. I didn't dare tell my parents and let them think that Eva screwed things up for me even worse. In fact, I wasn't even planning on telling her. I didn't want her to feel guilty for this whole situation when she had already gone through so much. I just tried to act like everything was normal.

I woke up the next morning and immediately felt nauseous upon the thought of going to school. I considered faking sick until I realized that would make this feeling worse. And on top of that, skipping school would be exactly what Santana would want me to do. I slowly started to get changed and get myself prepared for the day. I was still slugging along when I made my coffee when suddenly I felt a set of arms around me.

"Surprise," I heard from a familiar voice. I turned and found Noah standing there with a stupid smile across his face. "Almost ready for school?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Figured you could use a ride to school today and I wanted to support you so you didn't feel so alone."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that." I grinned at him. I gathered my things and followed him into the car. I couldn't help but notice that he seemed tense. It was a little off-putting and it definitely made me worry. "Everything okay?" I asked once we were seated in the car.

"Uh, yeah. Everything's good." I could tell he was lying. He started the engine and I rested my hand on his knee. He gazed over at me with his hazel eyes and I said, "I can tell something's bothering you and you don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to. But I'm always here to listen if you want to talk."

He let out a deep sigh, "I just don't like seeing you hurt and it pisses me off that Santana would do this to you. I should've never told her to back off, then this never would have happened."

"Hey, it's not your fault. Please don't blame yourself. I wanted you to talk to Santana because I didn't want you to suffer for me. Don't be upset about this."

"I can't help it. I feel protective of you and I don't want any one to think they can mess with you and get away with it."

"I love that you care about me so much, that really means a lot to me. But I feel so much better about this today. Yesterday was tough but you did a great job cheering me up and making me realize there's more to life than high school. You don't need to be tense today because I already feel better about the whole situation." He was quiet and didn't have much to say. I could tell he was still frustrated with everything. "I know you're frustrated and you can't make that completely disappear, but could you please just smile for me? I'll be happier if you're happier." He turned to me and gave me a small smile. In return I flashed him a winning smile and said, "That's better." He chuckled at my enthusiasm as we pulled into school.

We got out of the car and he said, "You ready to face the day?"

"Only with you by my side." I grabbed his hand and we walked into the building, untouchable.