Title: Somehow

Pairing,Character(s): Puck/Rachel

Rating: T

Word Count: 2525

Spoilers: Possible spoilers up to 3x02, also contains guessing based on promos and spoiler clips

Summary: Somehow, someday, somewhere...

A.N.: Just a little something I couldn't get out of my head after the promo and the video clip posted earlier this week. Now back to my regularly scheduled "Between the Lines" crafting...

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT WATCHED 3x02, I'm merely guessing and mostly wishing.

Rachel shut the choir room door behind her, tears soaking her cheeks. I really do want everything too much. She sank onto the piano bench, pressing a hand to her mouth.

"I don't do crying." His voice was hoarse. "But I'll kick his ass if you want me to. I could really stand to kick someone's ass right now."

Kick - whose? What? She blinked. "Noah? You mean Finn?"

Puck leaned forward in the seat in the back corner, so she saw his profile. "Yeah. If you need me to kick his ass, I'll do it. He won't send me back to juvie if I'm defending you or whatever. And like I said." He cracked his knuckles. "I really could use a good fight."

"I - it's not Finn," she managed. "I just - I -" She cleared her throat. "I just finished my audition and I'm slightly...emotional."

"Damn." He leaned back. "I was hoping."

For a fight? She frowned. "Noah, what's wrong?"

"Your mother is a bitch." His expression was hard and bitter.

"I don't have a mother." She clapped her hand over her mouth. Rachel, how could you say that! "Do we both have the same problem?"

He chuckled bitterly. "Seems like. You first."

"She can't be my mother, but she can be my career coach." Or she won't be my mother. She swallowed. "That's all I can get from her."

"I have to prove myself to her." He kicked the chair in front of him. "I have to go to class, get progress reports. She's worse than my mother. She says she'll let me know when I'm worthy enough to see my daughter." He scowled. "Quinn just has to give up that stupid skank thing she's got going on."

"Oh, Noah." Of course Quinn would get sympathy from another young mother. Rachel sighed. "If it helps at all, I think you're perfectly capable of being responsible."

He scoffed. "No offense, Berry, but I don't think you have a clue what you're talking about." He kicked the chair again. "I haven't gone to math class in years, plus, all she sees when she looks at me is a Lima loser who knocked up a poor innocent virgin."

Rachel rolled her eyes, crossing the room to sit next to him. The similarity of their situations rears its head again. "You're more than a Lima loser, Noah." She placed her hand over his. "I'll talk to her."

Puck rolled his eyes back at her. "You really think she cares what you have to say?" He frowned. "I can't believe I forgot that when we were giving her my daughter."

Rachel clasped her hands together. Ha, that's not an issue. "Don't chastise yourself about that. I can assure you, Beth is well-loved and well cared for. You can rely on it."

He raised a brow. "What makes you say that? She sent some dude to seduce you to get back into your life, then left, then came back with a baby girl like it was nothing. Sounds like a stone bitch to me."

Rachel winced. "Thank you for that summary, Noah." As if I could forget any of that. She drew a deep breath. "When she left, she told me that's what she wanted - a baby girl. She came back and decided I didn't -" She paused to clear her throat. "She said I didn't need her," she managed. But she is so wrong..."Beth - Beth is what she wanted. What she pictured in her head. A little girl who relied on her completely." A little girl who wasn't me.

Puck rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, Beth does. And that's what scares me."

Rachel shook her head. "I promise you, it shouldn't. You gave Shelby everything she wanted." And I have nothing of what I want. Except a relationship that could be the downfall of my career.

He shrugged. "Whatever. So she wants to be your coach?"

She nodded. "I may be too late to mold you personally, but you still need help professionally, she said." Like her words didn't sting enough. She flushed, ducking her head. "Apparently the T-rex and the Jew makes the rounds everywhere."

"Ouch." He smirked. "Wanna make a video? I'll help redeem you. It'll be two hot Jews making out."

She smacked his shoulder. "Not helpful in changing Shelby's view of you." Or for anything else, for that matter. She sat up, sobered. "We can help you, you know. Glee. If you need tutoring, if you need help, we can all pitch in." She chuckled. "Look at Mike, he quietly aces everything."

Puck shrugged again. "Like anyone would care enough to help me?"

Rachel sighed. "Stop underestimating yourself, Noah. If you really needed help, I think you'd be surprised at where it could come from." Whereas I am always left foundering on my own.

"So would you." His voice was quiet. "You coulda talked to us, you know. You just get so intense that no one wants to ask you if you're okay."

Her brows drew together. "Is that what it is?" She swallowed and shook her head. "I - it's simply too - " She sighed. May as well just admit it. "I don't like being vulnerable around everyone."

He snorted a laugh. "Megabitch, bossy, sure. Vulnerable and human, no. Got it."

She quirked a brow. "Oh? And you, Puck, you're one to talk to me about that." Pot, kettle.

He held up his hands. "Hey, I'm not sayin' I'm any better. I just think it's funny that you don't mind if everyone hates your guts, but you can't take anyone seeing you less than perfect."

"It's not that." She folded her arms. "I just - I can't take -" It's not about perfection at all. She huffed. "You don't do crying? I don't do pity. I don't ever want anyone to pity me," she hissed.

He cast a skeptical look at her. "Seriously? That's what it is?" He rolled his eyes. "Berry, no one would pity you for being upset that you found your mom and she ditched you. Or that she's such a heartless excuse for a mother she sent some dude to break your heart. He's an ass and so is she. You deserved better than him, we all knew it."

I did, didn't I. She leaned back to consider him. "You did seem rather eager to put him in his place. I don't know if I ever thanked you."

He shrugged. "You didn't, but whatever. No big. I should've beaten him down, he was asking for it." He glanced at her sidelong. "And then he came back as a coach."

How lovely. That, I hadn't thought of. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Don't remind me, Noah." She took a slow, deliberate breath. Leave it to his brutal honesty to show me even more how insane this all is. "I'm sorry she's being so unreasonable to you, but if it helps at all, she's being unreasonable with me as well."

"I don't know if it helps. It definitely proves she sucks as a person." He shook his head. "I should never have let her go."

Rachel laid her hand over his clenched fists. This, I can help. "I trust her, Noah. Do you trust me?"

His frown deepened but Puck turned to look at her directly. "Yeah. I do." He scrubbed his hands over his Mohawk. "I still don't know how to prove myself to her."

If not school, what else is there? She caught her lower lip between her teeth. "Well, if you don't think you can change your academics, how about something else really concrete?"

He raised a brow. "Just tell me, Berry, I'm not a mind reader."

She shrugged. "Child support. Show up with diapers, some clothes, and maybe a toy or two. Give them to Shelby, and don't ask for anything back." Impress her. She smiled shyly. "Be that boy in the bathroom that apologized for the slushies, not the one throwing them."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that much I figured." He paused a moment. "That was - it wasn't bad, right? You and me?" He folded his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. "I'm not the screw-up she thinks I am, am I? Just tell me, you're a fellow Jew, so it's like talking to yourself."

She rolled her eyes. "Noah, I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're not a screw-up. You just -" She shrugged a shoulder. "You just want things too much. I know how that goes." All too well. "And you don't think. That, I do too much of."

He snorted. "No kidding. If you didn't, I could have convinced you to let me touch your boobs." He smacked himself in the forehead. "See? Even when I'm supposed to be thinking about my baby girl, I'm thinking about your girls instead."

She blushed. "I - I'm sorry they're distracting?" She fought against a smile. Maybe. Or flattered.

He wagged his eyebrows. "Always, princess." He smirked. "We could take care of that though."

"Noah!" She shoved at his shoulder. Finn. Always Finn. "Focus. Child support. Material goods for your daughter. Do not ask for visits. Just do it. Maybe once a week." She tapped her chin. "And in front of people."

"In front of people?" Puck cast a skeptical look at Rachel. "What, like, witnesses?"

She shrugged. "I suppose, but more like, humbling yourself." Rachel allowed herself a small, brittle smile. Or prostrating yourself. "She likes being in control of a situation and so do you. If you do it that way, you're accepting your responsibilities, looking for nothing in return, and not ashamed or concerned with who knows it."

He nodded slowly. "Makes sense. Like in the wild. I'm showing her I know she's superior. Even if I don't really think so."

Her smile widened. Now you're getting it. "Exactly. It'll be our secret."

He quirked a brow. "Like that spot on your neck right -" He leaned into her, nearly nuzzling her skin.

"Yes, like that," she interrupted breathlessly. Sometimes you're worse than Brittany. She leaned away. "I think it would work."

He nodded again. "Me too. So what about you?"

"What about me?" Rachel shrugged. I'm not worried about myself. "There's nothing to be done, Noah, she's not interested in me." She bit her lip. Maybe not precisely that. "Not as a daughter. But I can be a pet project, or a mentee."

"Like the candies?" He grunted. "I mean, I guess like, a quick sweet little thing, but -"

She giggled, pressing a hand to her heart. "Like a mentor and a mentee, Noah, she wants to tutor me on my career. That will just have to be enough for me." Yet again, I'm left to adapt to what someone else is willing to give.

"But it's not." He frowned at her. "You know that, right?"

Rachel sighed. "Yes, Noah, I know. It's not at all enough, and it makes me sick to my stomach." It does. Oh, how it does. She winced, squeezing her eyes shut. "I cannot believe I said that out loud."

"What's so tough to believe?" He snapped his fingers in front of her closed eyelids. "It wouldn't be enough for me either, but it's what she wants to make me do. She's keeping me away from my daughter, she's making it like I abandoned her."

"Oh, Noah." Her eyes flew open, fixing on his face. How could I not see? "I didn't realize that's how it felt."

Puck gave a jerky nod. "Yeah, well, it is. So if I gotta go shopping to prove that I want to be something, be someone in her life, I'm gonna do it. And if I have to clean more pools, Berry, I don't wanna hear it if I can't make it to your third rehearsal of the day -"

I would never. She held up a hand. "You won't. And actually, if you want to go shopping, I'm free. I don't - I could help. If - if you don't want to go with Quinn, that is, who would most certainly be -"

"No." He shook his head firmly. "I'm not gonna let her tell me what she'd like or wouldn't like. I'm her father, I'll figure it out on my own." He cleared his throat. "Or with you, maybe, 'cause I'd probably pick crappy colors."

Rachel arched a brow. "And you're certain you want to rely on my taste?" I'm not exactly the fashion plate of the class.

"Sexy school girl? Yeah, I think I can take you." He smirked. "Well, only so far. The rest of the way is up to you. But I'm up for it."

She blushed again. Rachel, you have to choose your words carefully with him, you know this. "Stop it. No..." She waved a hand. "No innuendo while we're shopping for a baby, Noah."

He nodded. "Yeah. But we're still at school."

She rolled her eyes. And now he has a head for minutiae. "Let me get my bag."

He gestured towards the door. "Go for it." He stood, brushing his pants off. "I'll meet you at the truck." Puck rubbed the back of his neck. "And, um...thanks."

She paused. "Honestly, there's no need to thank me. It's a way for me to be a part of Shelby's life as much as it is for you to be part of Beth's." As twisted as that may be.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that's true. You sure you wanna sign on for this train wreck?"

Rachel took a deep breath.

Shelby shook her lightly. "These people, these relationships...all the things you think you want here? Don't. Don't want them. Don't think that you do. Be ruthless, Rachel. Ruthlessness combined with talent is virtually unstoppable. Don't make my mistakes."

Good thing you aren't anyone who I need to listen to. She held her head up. "Yes, Noah, I'm sure."

He nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. "See you in ten then. You can ditch your underwear if you want. Makes for a better drive."

"Nice try, Noah." Rachel rolled her eyes. Maybe in another life. "I'll see you in the parking lot."

Puck gave a sarcastic salute before setting off down the hallway.

A.N.: And, better now.