A/N not entirely sure if I am going to continue this, guess that's up to you reviewers :D Anyway this is the one shot for Marinka :D

Dad

"Rachel can you stay behind for a minute please?" asked Mr Schuester as he dismissed them from glee practise, Rachel nodded and finished putting her music sheets in her backpack. The rest of glee left saying goodbye to the brunette and the teacher, exiting as a large group, Puck stuffed his hands in his pocket

"That's like the fiftieth time he's asked her to stay behind" he noted, trying to look like he didn't care.

"Miss Broadway has been very quiet lately, especially for her, maybe he's just trying to find out why, glee isn't the same when she's not interrupting him every five seconds" Mercedes commented, linking arms with Kurt.

"I don't like it when she's quiet" Finn muttered, taking Quinn's hand. Quinn scowled and gripped his hand tightly and pulled him close.

"Who care's" she sniffed dismissively "It's only Manhands"

Puck scowled and glared at the blonde, he couldn't believe that he had ever wanted her, after giving up the baby last semester she had gone back to her usual behaviour; even if she wasn't head cheerio anymore she still channelled the persona.

"I care" he stated bluntly, relishing in the lock of shock on everyone's faces Hell yeah I can admit it out loud bitches, and I'm still a baddass.

"Me too" Mike said, Matt nodding "we're friends with her, we should care"

Rachel waited mutely by the piano as she waited for her new guardian to collect his briefcase, she felt numb, but it was preferable to the crushing grief she could feel in comparison.

"Rachel?" Will questioned, she smiled tightly and picked up her bag, falling into step with him "Now that your father's estate has been settled we can get you your own car"

"I would rather concentrate on moving right now" Rachel replied her voice flat and monotone, Will looked worriedly at Rachel

"We can start the house hunting then and put your house on the market" he said, wondering if it would actually help Rachel to move, but she seemed determined to move out of her family home. Rachel nodded and kept walking, thinking of the hundreds of times she walked down this same corridor on her way home to her dads and had never appreciated it, now they were gone ripped away from her in an instant, leaving her alone.

Three weeks ago her father and her had been driving home from Chicago when their car had been forced off the road by a 18-wheeler, the car had gone off the road into a lake, Rachel had managed to get herself free and smash her window to swim to the surface, her father's hadn't.

Will had been a good friend of her father's from college, hearing about the accident he had immediately driven to the hospital and taken custody of Rachel having known her since she was born.

It had been difficult to make the transition from family friend and teacher to seeing each other all the time, but Rachel had accepted it easily, spending too much time alone in her room to really care who was putting a plate of food in front of her or holding her as she cried at night.

Rachel went through the motions of practising her dancing in the basement and running through her vocals before dinner, after completing her homework it was the same as ever before, she felt at a complete loss of what to do. Sitting on the sofa with Will, she let him wrap an arm around her shoulders as he watched the television, it was such a simple thing, but it meant the world to a girl who felt like she had no one to love her.

Puck leant against his truck with Mike and Matt early the next morning, having turned up for a basketball meeting that had been cancelled, they watched as Will's car pulled into its usual parking spot, but gasped in surprise as Rachel climbed out of the car, dressed in her usual outfit but her eyes were red and sore, from what looked like almost constant crying.

"Shit something really bad must be wrong" Mike said "I've never seen her cry, even after all the crap that she has gone through"

"I knew something wrong was going on, but why is she coming to school with Schue? And why has she been crying? Fuck!" Puck swore loudly

"Dude I thought you two were like friends now since baby gate?" asked Matt, mentioning how Rachel had been the only one to support him through all of his mistakes of the last year, and it wasn't an uncommon sight to see the two of them talking anymore.

"We are, but the last like 3 weeks, I don't know she just shut down, doesn't answer the phone, doesn't text back, isn't on MSN, and hasn't posted a MySpace video either, I would have gone over to her house but she left my a facebook message asking me not to" Puck explained kicking his tyre.

"Come on that girl has her phone attached to her; she seriously hasn't answered any texts or calls?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"Look" Puck said taking out his phone, pressing the green button twice for his last dialled, pressing call it connected and went straight to voicemail "I've tried hundreds of times, and it always goes to voicemail. That's it though, now she has to talk to me, I'm worried about her" he declared, grabbing his backpack off the floor, marching after the small brunette he had serious like for, but was to worried about telling her.

As suspected he found her at the piano in the choir room, plucking at the keys but not making any real effort to play a tune, he plonked himself down on the piano bench next to her and pushed her lightly with his shoulder.

"I'm not good at this feeling shit" he told her

"Really?" Rachel laughed, not realising until now how much she missed having Puck around, seeing as she had been avoiding him.

Puck smiled at her little joke before his face fell back into the lines of worry "What's going on Rach?" he asked "why are you coming to school with Schue? Why have you been crying? Don't brush me off, I'm worried about you" he muttered

"That so hard to admit?" Rachel teased him trying to distract him, smiling weakly

"No now answer my questions" taking her hands twisting her to look at him

Rachel looked away from the intense look in his eyes "Mr Schue is my guardian" she said quietly "three weeks ago do you remember me and my dad's went to Chicago for the weekend? On our way home we were forced off the road, I survived the crash my dad's didn't" Rachel said bluntly, bursting into tears.

Puck paled and took Rachel into his arms, letting her sob, he usually hated crying women, but he couldn't deny how protective he was of Rachel, and the need to protect her stretched to emotional pain as well.

Minutes passed as Rachel cried on him "I'm sorry" she sobbed; Noah rubbed her back in soothing circles

"Nothing to be sorry for" he told her "nothing, I just wish you had told me sooner, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what I did wrong. Why didn't you tell me or at least text me or phone? I've been calling you for days trying to get you to talk to me"

"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed pulling back, putting her hand to mouth "my phone was in the car, I don't have one anymore"

"Well that's going to change; I can't look after you if I can't get hold of you we'll go get you a new one after school, if you want to stay in school that is"

"Course I do, I can't let this affect me, everyone will see and use it against me, I'll be a diva if I do, I'll be making a spectacle of myself trying to be centre of attention. No its better if I just go on as I have been"

"Not exactly, I'm going to be there from now on" Puck declared taking a deep breath to continue "I need and want to be there for you, man this feelings stuff is hard, I want to be there for you however you need me, but I need you to know that I like you like you and one day want to be more than my friend"

Rachel looked stunned at Noah's confession, thinking how long she had been waiting to hear him say that he liked her, she smiled a little, causing Puck to grin in relief he had half been waiting for her to snap his head off.

Leaning forward a little she kissed him lightly on the lips "Ok" she agreed quietly "we should go to class" she said getting up.

"I spill my fucking guts and that's all you say!" Puck moaned, Rachel laughed loudly, her laughter as musical as her voice, grinning that he had succeeded in making her laugh, he took her hand, tangling their fingers together to lead her to class.

In Emma's office Will sat on the chair opposite her "I wish that I could help her Em, but every night she wakes up crying and all I can do is hold her, she refuses to tell anyone in glee what has happened and has pushed her one true friend away" he glanced out of the glass of Emma's window and saw Rachel and Puck pass, holding hands tightly.

"Guess she didn't push him away completely" Emma said spotting them as well "I know you want to help her Will, but you need to let her heal herself on her own as well, holding her as she cries is actually a very large concession to Rachel. She is a ferociously independent person who refuses to let people see the real her, you and Noah Puckerman might be the only two people in the world who can actually help her, simply because she has let you in"

Will smiled "you always explain things so clearly, thank you Emma" Emma smiled happily in return "I am sorry that we haven't had time together since this all happened, I just need to be there for Rachel right now"

"I understand she does need you" Emma assured him "let her know I'm here if she needs to talk though"

Will nodded and hurried to his class, happy that Rachel seemed to be letting Puck back into her life, even if he couldn't understand why out of everyone in the school she had to close to the resident bad boy of McKinley, something he was sure would cause him a headache later on.

Rachel glanced at Noah again, ever since his small confession she had been unable to keep her eyes off him for more than a few minutes, she found herself not wanting to wait for one day to claim Noah as her boyfriend, when they had walked down the corridor even hand in hand the girls of the school had glanced at him flirtatiously.

"What?" Puck muttered out the side of his mouth, catching another of her glances at him, he smiled as Rachel blushed and looked away "come on tell me" he prodded, poking her in the side as they sat at their bench in chemistry.

"Let's skip" Rachel said impulsively, Noah glanced sharply at the brunette searching for the truth in her statement, she smiled shyly and nodded at him, stuffing her sheets into her notebook, grinning puck did the same, picking up both of them, before taking her hand to guide her out of the back door of the classroom as the teacher turned to the board.

Giggling Rachel ran towards Noah's truck, hand in hand with the boy in question, who smiled at her antics, happy to see a smile on her face, after it had been so sad for three weeks, even if he hadn't known the reason for its sadness.

"Schue is going to have a cow when he realises your gone" he noted as they buckled up

"I think the whole, my father's just died is a fantastic excuse really" Rachel replied "now let's go get me a phone" she said.

Noah put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking spot, heading towards the mall "hey!" he suddenly shouted "you distracted me, you didn't keep looking at me because you wanted to skip, so come on tell me, why were you staring?"

Rachel blushed again and glanced away "um well it was nothing" she fabricated "I just was thinking about what you said in the choir room"

"Why? Are you freaking out about it now? I'm sorry, I knew it was too early to say something, but I just wanted you to know what I was thinking. Fuck I messed up!" he snapped hitting the steering wheel.

Rachel grabbed his thigh and squeezed it hard "you didn't mess up" she assured him "I was thinking that I didn't want to wait for one day, I've lost to much already to lose you to some asinine cheerleader"

"You're not going to lose me to a whatever cheerleader, I told you I'm here"

"Except you're not exactly known for your patience, Quinn told me that unless she put out you would play around on her, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I'm just being honest, you are not Mr Monogamous Noah"

"Do you know why me and Quinn didn't work out?" he asked her, Rachel shook her head "she cheated on me, look I'm a douche of epic proportions but when I say that I want you, it means in the right way, I'll probably say the wrong thing a lot, and I'll make you angry a lot, but I will never cheat on you. Quinn was the only relationship I tried and shit it hurt when she cheated on me, now I really hate her, I never realised just how much of a bitch she actually was until now. But you have been there so much in the last year, your my friend and I know we are right for each other because you are my friend, we I don't know mesh well"

"I'm sorry about Quinn Noah; I can't believe she did that"

"Fuck her don't give a shit anymore, but you just said you didn't want to wait, you mean that now that you know I will mister monogamous, and yes I do know what the word means"

"I do mean it" Rachel told him "I'm weary of watching life pass me by because I am so determined and narrow minded in my goals for fame, if my father's deaths have taught me anything it's to take pleasure in life a little more"

Puck pulled the car over, jerking them to a stop, grinning like an idiot he pulled her to him, unbuckling herself Rachel straddled his lap, kissing him hard, as his hand settled on her waist, rubbing the sliver of skin that showed where her jumper rode up a little. Puck kissed her back with relish, his lips moving against hers felt right; as if it was predetermined that this was the person he should kiss.

Rachel pulled back "can we move slowly though?" she asked hesitantly

"Course" Puck answered helping her back to her side of the bench "as slow as you want, I know you're probably feeling weird right now, because like you're happy at the same time as being sad"

"It's odd to see you so perceptive, but you are right, I am finding it very unsettling" Rachel told him, taking his hand as he started the car again.

"I'm here for you baby, always" he promised as he pulled away from the curb.

Will smiled as he entered the house later that day, he had received a text from Puck the moment they had left school, and had been glad that Noah had been able to convince Rachel to take some time to herself. Now he smiled as he saw the two teenagers cuddled up together on the sofa watching a film, Puck soundlessly waved to his Spanish teacher with one hand, his other wrapped around the sleeping body of his girlfriend.

"How is she?" asked Will "it doesn't take long for her to start crying after she falls asleep"

"It's been about an hour and she's been fine so far" Puck said smiling down at her "I guess I should tell you that you'll be seeing me a lot, your kind of her dad figure now so you deserve for me to be straight with you, so I'm her boyfriend and stuff"

"And stuff?" Will questioned walking to sit in the armchair opposite, trying to channel calming thoughts, surprising himself at how much he wanted to kill Puck.

"Yeah that feeling to murder me right now is normal" Puck said smirking "it's your dad behaviour is kicking in, I will treat her right, and I promise despite all of my very bad past mistakes I have learnt my lesson"

"Don't hurt her" Will said "is it really normal to want to kill you?" he asked desperately, trying to resolve the feelings he felt coursing through him.

"Yeah its normal, it's got to be tough for you, you aint had any of the preparation for having a teenage daughter, you have been tossed n the deep end really"

"Yeah I have, it's an awful situation but I'm so glad that I can be here for her"

"You're her dad now" Puck said