...

A Rachel/Puck fic.

...

Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, Mark Salling would never wear clothing of any kind. Ever. Nor do I own Rent.

...

A/N: This is my fourth Glee story, and I can't get enough of this pairing. Thank to everyone who put me on Author Alert after my fic "Who's That Guy With Rachel Berry", I hope you like this one as well.

Alright ... here we go.

As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!

He had practically thrown her into the boys' washroom, and was now looming over her menacingly.

He was on something ... that much was obvious. She didn't know what, though. Whatever it was, not only had it affected his mind/personality, but it had also given him a surprising amount of strength.

"Just let me go," she pleaded. "I won't tell anyone, I promise. Just let me go. Please, Jacob?"

He glared at her, backing her into a sink.

"No!" he shouted. "I have you all to myself, now. I'm not letting you go run and tell your precious Figgins about me!"

She shook her head, leaning as far back away from him as she could manage. "I wouldn't do that," she told him, knowing it was a lie.

He backhanded her across the face and she dropped to the ground.

She saw him begin to unbuckle his belt, heard him say, "You should have just shown me your bra."

She forced her eyes closed, tears welling in her eyes, and opened her mouth to scream. "Somebody help me! Help! RAPE!"

He hit her again, and she fell back to the floor, feeling blood out of her nose and onto the floor.

She sobbed and tried to push herself away.

Suddenly, the bathroom door banged open, and someone large tackled Jacob to the ground. Rachel couldn't see much through her terrified, tear-filled eyes, but she was comforted by the fact that someone had come to her rescue.

Her saviour's fist connected repeatedly with Jacob's face before he threw the smaller teen across the room like a rag doll.

She tried getting up, but her body was still shaking, and she ended up slipping on the blood that had spilled from her nose.

"Son of a ... hang on," she heard him say. She recognized his voice, but couldn't place him right away ... she was too frazzled. He picked her up easily, taking her to the school nurse.

"Goodness! What happened to her?" the older woman asked her hero.

Rachel had barely been able to open her eyes. Instead, she'd tucked her face into his firm chest, gripping his shirt and not wanting to let go, unaware that she was covering him in her blood and tears.

"Jacob Israel just tried to rape her in the bathroom," he explained.

The nurse clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. She tried to ease Rachel away from him, but she wasn't ready to let go just yet. He smelled good ... safe.

The nurse glanced up at the boy. "Stay here with her while I call the police?"

He nodded.

She picked up the phone, asking him, "Where is Mr Israel now?"

He answered simply, "Out cold in the bathroom two halls down."

She nodded with a satisfied smirk, moving into the next room with the phone cradled against her ear.

Rachel was alone with her saviour again, and she found herself wanting to thank him. She leaned back a little in his arm, finally seeing the blood on his shirt.

"You're bleeding," she stated stupidly.

He shook his head above her. "It's not my blood."

She brought a hand to her face, gasping at it came away bloody.

"Oh, no ... I'm sorry," she told him, stepping away to get a towel. Her nose was tender, but it didn't feel broken.

Hooray for that, she thought bitterly.

Once she'd cleaned as much blood off her face as she could, she turned around to thank him for saving her and stopped short, mouth hung open.

"Puck?"

"Don't sound so shocked, Berry," he said, leaning against the closet wall.

"I don't understand," she mumbled. "You hate me."

He rolled his eyes. "And that means I want you to get raped in a bathroom?"

She was surprised at his tone. "No, I just ..."

"Whatever, Berry. Forget I even bothered."

She opened her mouth to reply, to correct him, but he was already out the door

What the hell was that?

The nurse came back into the room, hanging up the phone.

"Oh, Sweetie. Here, come sit down. Let's have a look at that."

The police and paramedics had arrived at the school, and everyone piled out of their classrooms to see what had happened. Rachel had been giving her statement to a female police officer when they'd brought Jacob out on a gurney. His face was bruised and bloody, and it looked like he had a broken arm as well.

She looked away before she started to cry again.

Rachel's face throbbed - she knew she had a huge bruise on her cheek from where Jacob and backhanded her - but her nose had stopped bleeding and she had mostly stopped shaking.

About twenty feet away from her, she saw Puck giving his own statement to another officer. When they were done, the man in uniform clapped his hand on Puck's shoulder, nodding his head at him.

Puck shrugged stiffly before making his way back into the school.

Rachel finished telling the officer what had happened, brushed off her consoling looks, and made her way back to the school entrance, intent on finding Puck to thank him properly.

She'd only made it half-way through the crowd, however, before Mercedes and Kurt found her.

"Are you okay, honey?" Kurt asked, drawing her in for a hug.

"Who put the smack-down on that fool? I wanna shake his hand," Mercedes commented, glaring at the ambulance that was pulling away.

Rachel hugged her arms around herself. "That would be Puck."

They both looked at her in shock, but then Kurt's expression softened. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" Rachel asked.

Kurt shook his head. "Nope. Can't tell you if you don't already know. Wouldn't be fun that way."

Rachel eyed him. "I'm not really in a "fun" mood. What are you talking about?"

Kurt ushered her inside. "Oh, it's nothing, really. I haven't the faintest idea what I was talking about."

Despite Mr Shuester and Miss Pilsburry's recommendations, Rachel stayed for the rest of her classes that day, including glee rehearsal. She wouldn't let what Jacob had tried to do ruin her life.

Plus, she was hoping to get a chance to talk to Puck.

Unfortunately, since saving her in the bathroom, he'd been avoiding her all day, and when she tried to catch him at the end of glee, he brushed past her, hurrying out the door with his guitar slung over his back.

Quinn and Finn walked up behind her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Finn asked her.

For her part, Quinn looked almost as sad and sympathetic as Finn.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"If you need anything ... someone to talk to, I'm here," Quinn told her.

Rachel smiled softly. "Thanks, Quinn. That means a lot. But really, I'm fine. I should be getting home though. My dads won't be happy."

"No doubt," Finn commented.

As suspected, her dads were furious when they found out what had almost happened to Rachel. They attached an ice-pack to her cheek, hugged her a dozen times, made several phone calls to the police as well as the school, but overall were thrilled that Puck had stopped anything more from happening to her.

They'd even called his house to thank him, but his mother had informed him that he hadn't come home yet.

Rachel finally extricated herself from them, making her way up the stairs to her room. What she wanted more than anything was to lay in her bed, listen to songs from "Rent", and forget the entire day had ever happened.

However, when she opened her door she found her room wasn't empty.

"Puck?" she whispered, closing her door. "What are you doing here?"

He turned to face her, his hands in his pockets. "I just ... wanted to make sure you were alright."

She moved to her computer, turning on music and hooking it up to her speakers.

"You could have called," she told him. "Your mom said you hadn't been home yet."

He nodded. "I've just been ... driving around."

She stepped closer to him slowly, wondering why he'd come into her room. ... How he'd gotten into her room.

She saw her window open, and figured he must have climbed the tree beside her house.

"I don't hate you," he told her.

She glanced back over at him, surprised.

"What?"

He looked down at her, his eyes hard. "You said you thought I hated you. After what happened with us before ... I know I was an ass, and I pushed you away, but I don't hate you."

She nodded slowly. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," he told her. "Maybe if I hadn't, then he wouldn't have had the chance to ... I would have been there sooner ..."

She shook her head, cutting him off. "What he did was so not your fault. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't shown up when you did. Thank you."

He looked away, so she brought her hand to his cheek, making him look at her. "Thank you," she repeated, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and neck for a long hug.

He slowly responded, bringing his arms around her waist and holding her tight, pulling until she was completely pressed against him.

She wasn't exactly sure how long she'd been in his arms, but they had reached the song "Light My Candle" when he pulled back.

"I'm sorry I was an ass," he told her.

She felt the corners of her mouth turn upwards slightly. "You're forgiven."

He traced a finger lightly over her bruise, grimacing and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. He did the same to the other side, and then leaned forward to press his lips lightly against her forehead.

She leaned into his touch, craving his body heat.

When he leaned back, she cradled her head into his chest, breathing deep and basking in his scent. Slowly, purposefully, she lifted the hem of his shirt, bringing it over his head.

He still had an undershirt on, and glanced down at her, looking into her eyes. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, pressing a kiss to his shirt-covered chest. "Make me forget what happened today?" she asked him, wanting to be close to him in every way possible.

He nodded, bending down to capture her lips before guiding them over to the bed.

The end.

Short, I know. I might add more some time in the future, but I'm satisfied with this ending.

Hope you guys liked it!

Reviews are appreciated, positive or negative.

Until next time ...!