Fic: Broken Road, Part 13/? by Sapphire (Rating: PG-13)

[sapphireej]

Title: Broken Road, Part 13/?
Author: Sapphire (sapphiresfic)
Fandom: Glee
Pairing/Characters: Puck, Rachel, Puck/Rachel, Puckleberry
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,720
Spoilers: Up to 1x22 ~ Journey; just to be safe
Series: 'Broken Road' (List of all the parts on my LJ)
Fic Table prompt: #47 - Protection (table at my journal here).
Summary1: Rachel visits her dads in Lima for the holidays, gets pulled over, her ex from NYC stalks her, threatening her life and the cop who pulled her over helps protect her... For fic table prompt #47-Protection. (Story: T/PG-13. Ch. 10-12: M/R for content.)
Summary2: Rachel and Noah begin to really make plans and she talks to a close cousin.
Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.
A/N: I edited this, so all mistakes are mine.
A/N2: Feedback keeps me writing, so please comment or review. :D
A/N3: Title comes from 'Blessed The Broken Road' a song by Rascal Flatts. I do not own it, just borrowing for the fic.

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A/N4: A super-belated, but much anticipated, birthday fic for a good friend of mine, PKteach. I wanted to write her a birthday fic, and this is from an idea she gave me.
A/N5: The Gleeks were Juniors in high school when Quinn was pregnant.
A/N6: AU after 1x22 ~ Journey, but contains a relationship that began in 2x01 ~ Auditions.

~*~

Reminder: The rating of this story as a whole is 'T/PG-13'. Only chapters 10-12 are considered a rating of 'M/R' due to content.

~*~

Rachel was not looking forward to bringing up the events of the day before, but she knew she had to and the sooner she could talk to Noah's boss about what happened, the sooner she could push it aside to plan her and Noah's wedding. She was not going to let it ruin her and Noah's special day.

When Noah's boss showed up, Lieutenant Andy Cross brought along Matt, figuring he'd be another familiar face she'd be comfortable around, since Andy didn't know her as well. When the two officers took seats in the living room, Andy didn't bring up anything right away and wanted to see how Rachel was doing first, but unfortunately he had tough questions to ask.

He started out asking about Daniel and Rachel's relationship prior to Lima and then slowly the events of the past few weeks came up and Rachel explained everything she could think of. She kept calm and was relieved to have Noah, her daddy and Matt there as moral support and managed to get through a lot without crying, but when she started telling Andy about what happened the day before, her emotions got the best of her and she had to stop part of the way through to calm down.

In the comfort of Noah's arms, she relaxed enough to continue, wanting to finish and as she came to the end of what happened the day before, when Noah carried her out of the hotel room, she sighed in relief to be done.

Thanking her for everything she said, Andy stopped the voice recorder he was using to make sure he didn't miss anything and then suggested that he and Noah talk somewhere else, to give Rachel a chance to calm down, because she didn't need to go through that again. Rachel insisted she'd be fine, so Andy began asking Noah questions, starting from him and Rachel meeting up again and the interaction he had with Daniel the night he first showed up at the house.

When Noah got to the details of the rescue, a lot of the questions were more about procedure and how Noah handled the situation as an officer, but they also covered other details that were important to what went on.

Finishing up with his side of what happened, Andy stopped the recording and admitted he had what they needed. Talking with them for a little longer, the two needed to get back to the station, so they said 'goodbye' and Matt gave Rachel a hug and shook David and Noah's hands before the two on-duty officers left the house.

Once they were gone, Rachel plopped down on the couch and sighed in relief, "I'm so glad that's over."

"Me too," Noah agreed, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Now we can focus on the wedding. That's what's important to me right now. I just want this to be over," she admitted.

Noah nodded, "yeah, I feel the same way, babe. I hate to say this, though, but it's not over. He'll be charged and have to go to court. You may have to testify to what happened and I probably will, too. I'm sure he'll be found guilty and then he'll be sentenced to jail time."

Rachel took a deep breath and nodded, "yeah, I know. I'm familiar with the legal system because of dad. After what he did, he doesn't deserve compassion or freedom, but I know it's out of my hands now," she sighed, then leaned against him, "I want to put it aside and not let him ruin my life anymore. I want to plan our wedding, get married and enjoy life with you. When I'm with you, I feel like I can do anything."

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he smiled, "it makes me feel really good to hear that. It's understandable if you still need time, but if you are able to put it aside, that's great. I'm ready to plan our wedding, too. I'm looking forward to it," Noah said honestly.

"Good," she smiled. "We'll start soon. I just wanna relax for a bit, right now."

"Anything you want, babe," Noah nodded, kicking back on the couch, "kicking back sounds good right now."

~*~

Rachel and Noah invited his mom and sister over to join them for dinner and Arin and Deborah arrived around the same time Alan got home from work. They all knew that Noah's boss would be talking to them that day and though Alan asked how it went, no one asked too much about it, because they didn't want to make Rachel uncomfortable. Rachel appreciated the concern and when they all got a chance to sit down to dinner, she admitted that she wanted to focus on the wedding and was excited to get started on really planning it and not just talking about it.

"You know we'll help anyway we can," Alan said honestly.

"We will, too," Deborah added.

Rachel glanced at Noah and the others at the table, "I do actually have an important question for someone at the table," she admitted.

"Really? Who?" Noah asked, unsure what she was getting at.

Smiling at her fiancé, she took his hand and then looked around the table before her eyes landed on his sister, "would you be my maid of honor, Arin?"

Arin's eyes widened in shock, completely not expecting what she was just asked, "you want me to be your maid of honor?" She gasped, "are you serious?"

"Yes I am," Rachel nodded, smiling at her, "I really want you to be my maid of honor."

"Oh wow... I... I'd be honored," Arin replied, standing up and moving around the table to Rachel, "are you sure?"

Rachel stood up and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug, "I'm definitely sure," she grinned, "thank you."

"You're welcome... So what does a maid of honor do?" Arin asked, looking around.

"Basically you're the closest to the bride in planning and are involved in everything going on, so on the wedding day, Rachel doesn't have to worry about anything, because you'll be taking care of things," Deborah said.

"Exactly," Rachel nodded, "and don't freak out. I'm not going to put a ton of stress on you and I know you still have school and a Glee competition coming up, but on the weekends and evenings, when you can, I'd love if you could help me out. Mercedes, Quinn, Tina and Kurt are going to be big helps for things, too, so we'll all be working together. I just want you there with me," she explained.

Arin smiled and nodded, "I'll help anyway and any time I can," she promised, "this is awesome. Thank you, Rachel."

"You're welcome. I know we've talked about it before, but we've always seen each other as sisters and I really want my sister by my side," Rachel added with a smile.

"I'll be there," Arin promised, hugging her again.

~*~

Talking a little more about the wedding, Rachel got a piece of paper from the den and began writing notes of things she thought of and soon they were cleaning up dinner and finding seats in the living room to keep talking. Rachel gave in and went up to her room to get her notebook she was keeping all her notes in and returned downstairs, "okay, so we've made the guest list, but I want to go over it one more time and we need to figure out a time for the ceremony. That's the biggest thing. We know the date and the location, but once we know a time, we can start letting everyone on the list know about it, so we're not waiting until the last minute," Rachel explained, handing Noah the list.

"You're still going with New Year's Day, right?" Deborah asked, double checking that was still the day they were sticking with and when Rachel nodded, she continued, "a lot of people go to parties on New Year's Eve and will be up late, so you probably don't want it to be in the morning. You also don't want it to be too late at night, so people who live in other cities are not driving home super late, since it still is winter time," she explained.

"Both very good points," Rachel thought for a moment, "how about two in the afternoon? It's late enough after lunch time, that people can go to lunch before it and early enough that the ceremony, pictures, dancing and mingling will be done by dinner time, so people can leave and go to dinner if they want. Then we only have to serve snacks and simple things. We're not going to be serving alcohol, either, as a request from Principal Figgins, plus neither of us are heavy drinkers, so it'll be early enough that people might not want to drink anyway, especially, like you said, they're coming from out of town. I think having sparkling apple cider would be a good replacement for champagne," Rachel said, looking around.

"Fine with me," Noah replied, handing the list over to Deborah, "to it all and the list. I can't think of anyone else to add."

"Okay, good," Rachel nodded, "once mom, Arin and my dads look it over, it'll be settled and if you guys are okay with a two-pm time, then we can start letting people know."

"How do you want to announce it?" Arin asked, "I mean, I'm friends with most of our family on Facebook, so it's as simple as creating an invitation on there to let them know."

"It is pretty short notice for printed invitations, so I was thinking of doing that myself, for my family and for those who don't have Facebook or some sort of online contact, we can call them. I still want to call some of my relatives or at least have dad and daddy do it, because it may come to a huge shock to them," Rachel giggled.

When Arin and Deborah had glanced over the list, they handed to Alan, and then Deborah laughed lightly, "oh yeah it will be. I've already told my brother and sister that Noah's getting married. I didn't go into details and they're shocked, but happy for you guys," she explained.

"Our family is the same," Alan agreed, glancing over the list and passing it to David.

"You've already told them?" Rachel gasped.

"Well, we told them you got engaged just after Thanksgiving and were planning for a wedding soon. We didn't want to tell them the day until we'd talked about it more," David explained, "none of your cousins have gotten married yet, so it's a big deal for our family. We didn't want to call them up on a weekend and be like 'oh by the way, Rachel's getting married on Sunday', so we figured if they at least were prepared, when we told them the date and time, it wouldn't be as big of a shock."

"Same with ours," Deborah nodded, "and now that my siblings know that Noah's getting married, when Arin does do that on Facebook, they won't freak out."

"Oh, wow, well, that is true, I didn't think about it that way," Rachel agreed, retaking her seat next to Noah, "I'm glad you've told them... Wait!" Rachel gasped, "that mean's Anna knows. I wanted to be the one to tell her, because I want her to be one of my bridesmaids."

"Who's Anna?" Noah asked.

"My cousin. She's my age, she looks a lot like me and we were close growing up and still are. She's a high school English teacher in Columbus, and has been busy, so I haven't had a chance to talk to her much, other than a few text messages and one phone call since I've been home... Oh, she's going to be so mad," Rachel groaned.

"I told my sister not to say anything to Anna, so you could tell her yourself," David admitted honestly. "I know you two are close."

"You did?" Rachel looked at him, "that's good... I suppose if she would have found out I would have already heard from her," she admitted, "I'll call her tonight. I don't want her to hear from anyone else."

"Good idea. The sooner you let her know the better," David nodded.

"Yeah," Rachel agreed and took a deep breath, "so the list and time works?"

"Yes it does," Alan agreed.

"I think it's fine. Though, I do think there may be people from Temple, my office, and I'm sure David and Alan's, too, that may be interested in coming, since they've know you guys a while, too, and some may bring their kids. Plus since you're having it at school, maybe some of your former teachers will come. By this list you've got about seventy-five guests, so I'd plan for maybe an additional twenty-five to fifty, just to be on the safe side," Deborah explained.

"That makes sense," Rachel nodded, "and others are welcome to come. I just want to make sure these guests," she held up the list, "are invited. The rest can come if they want. We'll have room. It's not like we'll be in a place that only holds a certain amount of people."

"Yeah, but we need to have an idea for size, so we know how much food we need, drinks, that kind of stuff, too," Noah told her.

"I know," Rachel replied, "when we plan the wedding, we'll tell the caterers and Finn's mom, who will make the cake, I hope, that we're looking at about 125 people. That way, if we have extra, it's better than running out."

"Okay, that works," Noah nodded, sitting back.

"This is awesome. We've got a date, time, place and the guest list is finalized. We're going with red and white as our colors and Kurt is making my dress. I was thinking that if Noah and I can go through some of this and figure it out tomorrow, maybe Friday night, we could host the party, like Matt and Mercedes hosted a few weeks ago, here and it would be a good time for the girls and I to discuss wedding plans. To see who is up for helping with what," Rachel admitted.

"Sounds like a good idea," Noah shrugged, "I'm open for anything."

"And I want you both over, too," Rachel added, looking at Deborah and Arin.

"I'll be here," Arin promised.

"If you want me to be, I will," Deborah replied.

"Great! Then just come over Friday after school and work. I'll call my cousin tonight and see if she wants to come up, too. I don't know if she'll be able to, but if not, we can meet with her later. I know she's gonna want to pitch in," Rachel explained.

"She's a teacher?" Noah asked and when Rachel nodded he went on, "well, you might want to call her soon. It's like seven-thirty. If you wait much longer it's gonna be kinda late to call, since tomorrow is a school day."

"Oh, yeah. I should go do that now," Rachel agreed.

~*~

Admitting that she still had homework to finish, Arin and Deborah decided to head home since it was getting late. The two said 'goodnight' to Noah and the Berrys and once they were gone, Noah and Rachel went to change into comfortable clothes and returned to the living room. David and Alan had gone into the den, giving Noah and Rachel some time alone in the living room and when the couple was seated on the couch, Noah picked up the TV remote, while Rachel reached for her phone.

"You mind if I watch TV while you call?" He asked.

"No, just keep it low so I can hear," she said.

"No problem," Noah nodded, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. Once he leaned back a little, he settled in and turned the TV on, lowering the volume a little like Rachel asked.

Seeing how he was sitting, Rachel shifted so she was leaning against the arm rest of the couch, with a pillow behind her back for support and then draped her legs over his lap. Settling in, she pulled up Anna's number and hit the 'call' button, feeling nervous butterflies in her stomach as she waited for her to answer, but was also excited to tell her the great news. On the third ring, Rachel heard a click and some rustling, before a familiar voice greeted her, "hey cousin! How's your vacation going?" Anna asked.

"Aside from a few issues, it's been great!" Rachel grinned, "how are you?"

"I'm alright. Reading through some research paper rough drafts right now," she admitted, "so I'm a little frazzled."

Rachel laughed lightly, "I do not envy you one bit."

"I know," Anna joined with her laugh, "but it's not like a writer can really make money until they actually publish something, so until that happens, teaching is what I can do to make money," she explained. "So what's up? I'm sure you didn't call to tease me about what I'm doing. I haven't heard from you since your 'Happy Thanksgiving' text. Are you and Noah still denying your feelings for each other?" She asked with a grin, knowing that Rachel had met up with him the day she'd returned to Lima and they had been spending a lot of time together. She also knew her cousin always had feelings for Noah.

"No we're not," Rachel smiled, "we actually made it official on Thanksgiving."

"Really? You finally did? That's awesome!" Anna said happily.

"It is. And that's not all," Rachel started, taking a deep breath, "you know my break-up with, um..."

"Oh yeah, I remember," Anna sighed, still pissed about Daniel cheating on Rachel and not knowing what happened the day before.

"Well, I've done a lot of thinking since I've been home and put some things in perspective and Noah helped me realize that I need to do what I want to do in life and not let someone else tell me what to do," she started.

"That's great, Rachel. You need to. It's your life. Only you can control it," Anna said honestly.

Rachel smiled, "so I proposed to him and he said 'yes'."

"You did what?" Alan exclaimed loudly, "you proposed? As in asking him to marry you?"

"I did. We got engaged Saturday," she explained calmly, but couldn't help laugh lightly at her reaction.

"So you're engaged? Is this some kind of joke?" Anna asked, unsure if she was serious.

"It's not a joke, Noah and I are really engaged," Rachel replied, reaching out to take Noah's hand in hers.

"Oh wow," Anna sat back, "that's just... wow. Congratulations, Rachel. I am happy for you. I'm just really shocked."

Rachel smiled, "thanks and you're not the only one that feels that way. That's the general consensus. Noah's partner is one of our friends from Glee at McKinley, and he's married to one of the girls we knew, so on Sunday, after we went to get an engagement ring and wedding rings, we invited our friends over from high school that Noah hangs out with the most and we let them all know. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to let you know, though," she admitted, feeling bad she didn't let her know sooner.

"Don't be. It's what? Four days? I think I can get over it. I am really happy for you. You've gotta send me a picture of the ring," Anna grinned, "and you bought wedding rings so soon?"

"Well, there's a reason for that. You know how I'm home until the first week in January and while I'm here I pretty much don't have much planned?" Rachel asked.

As soon as Rachel asked that, Anna had a feeling she knew where this was going, "yes."

"We've decided to get married on January first," she explained, "then we'll go back to New York for a few weeks while I start practices for 'Mamma Mia!' and we'll figure out living arrangements later."

"January first?" Anna gasped, "wow... are you pregnant?"

"No, I'm not pregnant," Rachel laughed, knowing her cousin was just teasing her, "we just really want to get married and since I'm home, I've got time to plan for it. We already have the guest list done, the time and place and a few other details starting to get worked out," she explained. "We decided to get married at our high school and the principal is letting us use McKinley for free, since it's during winter break, and it's great because we can have the ceremony and reception there."

"You're getting married in your high school? Wow! I don't think I've ever heard of that, but if your principal is letting you have it for free, that's awesome," Anna replied.

"It is," Rachel agreed, "and there's more."

"More? Like what?" Anna wondered.

"I'd like you to be a bridesmaid. It'd really mean a lot," Rachel said with a smile.

"Oh, I'd love to be!" Anna said, then sighed in relief, "for a moment there I thought you were gonna ask me to be your maid of honor. I honestly don't have the time to devote to this, like you deserve in a maid of honor, but I can definitely be a bridesmaid, as long as you're okay with me not being around much, at least not until school is on break."

Rachel nodded, "I totally understand. I know you have other things going on and I want you there, so that's why I picked you to be a bridesmaid."

"I'll help however I can, just let me know," Anna replied. "Who else is going to be up there with you?" She asked.

"I'm going to ask Tammy to be a bridesmaid and I've already asked Arin, Noah's sister, to be my maid of honor. She's like a little sister to me, too," Rachel explained.

"Oh yeah! That's a great idea. I remember you mentioning her last week when we got a chance to talk on the phone. You said you both had talked and admitted you two were like the sisters neither of you had, right?" Anna asked.

"That's it exactly," Rachel smiled. "Wow, I don't remember everything that we talked about last week and you do. That's great!"

Anna laughed lightly, "we talked on the phone like Tuesday, so it hasn't been too long ago, but sounds like you've had a lot going on the past week, so I understand."

"That's an understatement," Rachel murmured, sighing a little.

"What's wrong?" Anna wondered.

"You know how he was sending me flowers and had showed up here?" She asked softly, knowing she'd told her about them.

"Yeah. And the reason why Noah has been staying at your dads' place is because of him showing up, why do you bring it up? Did something else happen?"

"This really isn't a conversation for the phone, but yes. He showed up yesterday... He," Rachel took a deep breath and squeezed Noah's hand she was still holding, "he had a gun and he forcibly took me from here. Then took me to a hotel and was going to... He tried to rape me," she explained as calmly as she could, feeling tears in her eyes, but really get it out so she could know.

"Oh my God," Anna gasped, "are you alright? Do you... This happened yesterday?"

"Yeah it did," Rachel took a deep breath. "I'm... I'm okay... Still shaken up and it upsets me, but Noah and his team saved me before he could do anything serious. I'm just trying to put it behind me so I can live my life and plan our wedding. Noah's been amazing and his boss actually gave him the rest of the week off so he could take care of me. His boss also came over this afternoon to get our statements about what happened. It's tough to talk about, but Noah, dad, daddy, Arin, Noah's mom have helped out and our friends came over last night to help cheer me up. It's definitely not what I wanted to deal with while at home."

"Of course it isn't, but I'm glad Noah and his team was able to stop him before anything happened. I can understand it being difficult to talk about, especially since it just happened yesterday, but you sounded fine earlier, so you seem to be dealing with this pretty well. It also sounds like you have an awesome group of friends and a great guy, who I can't wait to meet and thank in person for saving you," Anna admitted.

"Noah is amazing. I can't wait for you two to meet, also," she squeezed his hand and smiled at him, "we're inviting some people over Friday evening for dinner and to start really planning the wedding and I was hoping you could come up, so you could meet him then. I know it's short notice, but maybe? You can even stay here the night, if you're worried about driving home late."

Anna thought for a moment, "I can leave as soon as school is out on Friday. I'll be up there about five. I also will take you up on the offer to stay the night. It'll be great to catch up and hang out; we haven't done that in a long time."

"I know," Rachel agreed, "so you're coming up?"

"I am," Anna replied with a smile, "I'll see you Friday."

"That's great!" Rachel grinned, "do you remember how to get to our place?"

"Yeah, I do," Anna nodded, "and with that, I should let you go. I've got papers to continue looking through and it's getting close to bedtime," she admitted.

"Okay, talk to you later and see you Friday," Rachel replied.

"You will. Love ya, cousin," Anna said.

"Love you, too, cousin," Rachel replied, smiling at their words and then pulled the phone from her ear and hit the 'end' button.

"Wow, you two are close. I would never tell a cousin I love them," Noah smirked.

"We are close," Rachel nodded, closing her eyes and relaxing a moment.

Reaching to her, Noah rested his hand on her cheek, "you did good talking to her about what happened."

Rachel rested her hand on his and smiled, "thanks. It still is hard to talk about, but I did want her to know and I know she doesn't need to know every detail. It would have been a whole lot harder if you hadn't been here," she added.

"You don't have to worry about me not being here, because I'll always be," he assured her.

"I know," she smiled, sliding closer to him, with her legs still over his lap, and kissed him, "I love you."

"I love you, too, baby," he replied, wrapping his arms around her to hold close, "always."

~*~

Relaxing on the couch for a while, Rachel's dads soon came in to say 'goodnight' and headed up to bed. Noah and Rachel stayed downstairs for a little longer, but went up to her room by ten and got ready for bed, "you know what I was thinking?" Rachel asked, crawling under her blankets.

Noah smirked, "hard telling, but I bet it has something to do with the wedding," he admitted.

"You'd be right," she nodded, giggling lightly.

"What were you thinking?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her when she got settled.

"Remember the shoes we wore a lot during Glee performances? The black Converse ones?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, what about them?" Noah nodded, raising a curious eyebrow at her.

"I think our entire bridal party should wear them instead of dress shoes. They'd be more comfortable and it'd be something from our past that meant something," she explained.

Noah eyed her for a moment, at first wanting to laugh at wearing tennis shoes to their wedding, but then as he thought about it, he nodded, "that's a really good idea. I love it," he smiled.

"Really? You don't think it's crazy?" She asked surprised.

"I never said that," he smirked, "it is crazy, but it's a good crazy. It makes us original and you're right, they will be more comfortable than wearing dress shoes. I say let's do it. Though I don't know how we'll be able to find like eight pairs of matching ones in a month," he admitted, "especially because," he nudged her leg with his foot, "the guys and I kinda have big feet."

Rachel thought for a moment and nodded, "well, I don't know about Columbus, but I know there is a Converse retail store in New York, so it could mean a trip there. It actually might be a good idea to go there anyway. I can go see Kurt and he can get all the measurements he needs for my dress and you can meet my friends. I'm sure they'll love to meet you before they show up for the wedding," she explained. "I'm assuming you're having Matt, Mike and Finn as your side of the bridal party, right?"

"Yep," he nodded, "Finn will be my best man and Matt and Mike will be groomsmen. That's easy... As for a trip to New York... When?" He asked, "because I've got weekends and the rest of this week off and that's it."

"I know," Rachel nodded, "it's only a two hour drive and a two hour flight there. We could leave Saturday, spend the night and come home late Sunday," she explained.

"So you're serious about this; a trip to New York in two days?" He wondered, "tomorrow is Thursday, right?"

"Yes it is. And Anna is going to be staying Friday night, so she could drop us off at the airport on her way home. We'll have to make sure that we manage our time while we're in New York, and find someone to pick us up on Sunday, but it'll be fun to go on a trip together. And like I said, we can see Kurt so he can get all the measurements he needs to make my dress. I was only able to give him a few and promised to get him the rest later, but if we go, he can take the ones he needs," she explained.

Noah thought about her offer and weighed their options, "babe, I get it, but I'm thinking of how much it's going to cost. The flight alone is going to be what? Eight-hundred dollars for two round-trip tickets?" He asked, unsure of the price off the top of his head, "I'm not saying I don't have the money, but that's a lot to be dropping on a thirty-six hour trip, especially to buy shoes. I'm sure we could find them online or in Columbus and my mom or one of the girls should be able to help you and Kurt get your measurements, right? I wouldn't mind the trip to get out of here for a while, but we should think about this and talk to our families a little before we do, you know?"

Listening to what he said, Rachel realized she was definitely getting ahead of herself, "you're right," she nodded, "I guess I just got excited about it. Actually, another part of the reason why we should go there to get them, is because one of my old roommates, Brooke, is the manager of the Converse store," she told him, "I thought if we went there, she might be able to get us a better deal than if we ordered online or went to a store around here."

"That I didn't know," he agreed, shifting a little, while still keeping his arms around her, "that is a good idea and I'm not trying to talk you out of going, because I know we have a short time to plan our wedding, so we have to do things quick, but we've been through a lot this week and I know you seem like you're doing alright, but I just wanna make sure you're thinking this through before we jump into that trip. Are you really ready to go back to NYC so soon after what he did to you, with all the memories you still have?" He asked softly.

At his question, Rachel thought about what he meant and took a deep breath, really thinking on the answer, then nodded, "yes I am. Like we talked abut earlier today. I need to 'get back on the horse', so I shouldn't hide from going back there. Besides, I'll be with you and we'll only be seeing my real friends, including Kurt," she told him, "but you're right. We need to think a little on this before we jump into anything. One or both of us should get up to talk to my dads before they go to work and then catch your mom sometime before she's off work tomorrow, so by tomorrow night we can make flight arrangements, if we do still decide to go," she paused, "I was also thinking of calling Rabbi Goodman in the morning, or having you do it, so we can set up a time to meet with him; maybe on Friday morning, if he's available, too," she added.

"I can do that before my appointment. He knows me better than you, I think. As for the trip, what you said sounds good. I don't mind meeting your friends, but I just don't wanna jump into it until we talk it over some more," he pressed a kiss to her forehead and then her lips, "right now, I think we should just sleep and then talk in the morning."

Snuggling closer to him, she nodded and kissed him lovingly, "sounds like a good idea to me. I need to stop planning in bed, but thoughts just pop into my head when I'm relaxed."

"That's what I figured," he rubbed her back gently and kissed her again, "love you, babe. Sleep well and I'm here if you need me."

"I know you are and thanks. I love you, too, Noah," she smiled, feeling safe in his arms as she let her eyes drift closed to settle in to sleep.

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A/N7: Hope you all enjoyed! I'm excited to start writing them getting into wedding plans, but I promise I won't go into every detail. I think the next few chapters will be mixed with summary to get them closer to the holidays and the wedding. Lots of fun stuff coming up!
A/N8: When my best friend's little sister got married a few years ago, she, her now husband and their entire bridal party, wore Converse shoes with various colored laces. Her favorite color is orange, so she wore orange with navy blue laces. Her now husband wore navy blue with orange laces and and the rest of the bridal party wore brown Converse with various colored laces. I thought it was the best idea ever and knew I wanted to use it in this fic! So, thanks to her for the idea!
A/N9: I'm sorry it took so long to update. Between the holidays, 'Starlight' being stolen, getting sidetracked with a soon-to-be posted WIP, personal things going on and then my other laptop having issues and just recently crashing, it's been a long few months. I promise I did not mean for it to be over two months since I last updated and it won't be that long again. I have not forgotten you guys! Thank you for all the support and hope you guys stick with me!

Family note: My mom finished her cancer treatments back in December 2010. Today, she had her one year check-up and her doctor said everything is perfect, she's completely cancer free!!! WHOHOO!!! And this month is cervical cancer awareness month, so she gets to say she's cervical cancer free in the same month... Awesome!!! :D

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