The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday
A/N: Hi there, this is a new story complexly unrelated to my other Story. This is cannon up until the EP: Sectionals, then it's my world. Special note of thanks, the story came out of brainstorms and conversations with EJ Sapphire who is also my editor. So a special thanks for both!
Disclaimer: This is a work of Fan fiction, I do not own Glee I simply want to play with them.
Prologue Let's Get Physical
Crunch, crunch, crunch. The sound of each footstep thudded in his ears. Noah "Puck" Puckerman evened out his gait as his feet crunched into the sand. Breath in, breath out. His heart beat a steady tattoo against his chest. Puck smiled slightly, then picked up the pace. The scenic view of the beach and the endless expanse of the blue water blurred by, accompanied the slap of feet and the rhythm of his even breathing. Puck smiled again, this time with a hint of a leer as he ran past a tanned jogger with gravity defying breasts.
"God I love California." Puck thought to himself as he stepped up the pace and increased his speed once more. His body adjusted easily, as this was his daily routine. He looked up at a mile marker posted on the sign by the sidewalk and slowed. He walked over to the water fountain, gulped down a couple mouthfuls of the cool water and began to stretch. Once he was sufficiently cooled from the run, he dropped into the sand and began to do push-ups. Down, bend, straiten…his body adjusted to this motion as easily as the run. This was his favorite part of the day. Whatever bullshit he was dealing with faded away with the burn of muscle, the scent of sweat and the rush of adrenaline. Over the last six and a half years, adrenaline had become his drug of choice.
With a grunt and a well practiced move, he flipped onto his back and began to do crunches, oblivious to the sand that was clinging to his sweat covered body like a desperate lover. Puck paused in mid-crunch and adjusted the MP3 player attached to the Velcro band around his bicep. The growling rage of Trent Resnor and Nine Inch Nails filled his ears, and caused his blood to rush as he finished his routine.
Several minutes later he was stretching once again and looking out into the beauty that was the Pacific Ocean. He missed his friends back in Ohio, but this place with it's deep blue waters, beautiful beaches and surprisingly laid back atmosphere, had become home. Puck stretched once more, glancing at his watch as he did so. He took one more wistful look at he ocean, wishing he had time for a swim, then took off at a run once more. He left the beach and headed toward the residential section. Three miles later he was running up the sidewalk to a small craftsman style California bungalow. Puck felt a rush of pride as he jogged up the stairs to the porch of his house. He keyed in his code into the keyless entry of his front door (a modification he made shortly after he bought the place so he wouldn't have to take keys with him on his morning run). He grabbed the towel he had left on the porch and began to scrub the sand off his body. With out so much as a glance around him, he kicked off his running shoes and socks, and stepped out of his running shorts, leaving them in a sandy pile on the porch. He walked into the house closing the door behind him and padded naked into the bathroom.
Puck was proud of his small house, but he was absolutely in love with his bathroom. While he had tried to keep the rest of the bungalow as true to the era and building style as he could, the bathroom was a marvel of modern design, luxury and function. The glass walls of the shower ran strait up to the ceiling keeping all of the steam in as several shower-heads were placed strategically around the shower, with a large "rain" shower head in the middle. He had pushed himself on the run and the rest of his work out routine, just so he could take a longer shower. He jumped as the icy spray hit him and goose-bumps spread across his body, once his temperature had cooled from the heat of the run, he turned the water up as hot as he could stand it, adjusted the shower-heads to the massage settings and sighed appreciatively, as he thought about what he had to accomplish that day. Once he was clean, and his muscle reinvigorated, he turned off the water. He grabbed a thick blue bath sheet, toweled off quickly and wrapped it around him.
He padded into the kitchen and began to make breakfast. Fresh fruit, non-fat yogurt and a protein shake; he come a long way from warm coke and cold pizza for breakfast, but that was all part of growing up. He ate quickly, washed the few dishes that he had used and went to get dressed. Another quick glance at his watch confirmed that he was on schedule.
Puck patted his car appreciatively and jumped in. It was a cobalt blue 1967 Mustang GTA convertible and it was his baby. Being able to drive a convertible with the top down was just one more thing that he loved about living in California. He slipped on his sunglasses as he pulled effortlessly out of his driveway. He smiled to himself and admired another flawless California day as he drove the ten minutes to work. Puck pulled up to the gate of Naval Amphibious Base - Coronado and flashed his ID to the guard.
"Good Morning Lieutenant." the sailor said as he saluted smartly.
"Morning." Puck replied as he saluted back.
He pulled into his parking lot, locked his car and walked into work; painted on the wall as he entered the building were the words, The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday... The SEAL motto.
Chapter 1: Proud To Be An American
It didn't matter that he had walked through these doors hundreds of times before; every time he walked in and saw those words, an electric current ran down his neck. He looked around the building, at the men that he fought, played and served with and felt a flush of pride. These men depended on him, and he on them. 'Not bad for a Lima looser' he thought a little bitterly, frowning a little as he thought of his hometown, and the name that Quinn had labeled him. He had maintained a sort of strained truce with Finn and Quinn after Sectionals. Thanks to the meddling of Rachel (and her lawyer father) he was allowed to have some say in what happened to his daughter. They found a nice couple who agreed to an open adoption, despite the fact that Quinn wanted a closed adoption. In the beginning Puck received pictures and letters on holiday's and birthdays, but over the years he had built a real relationship with Eva and with Lilly and Erick, Eva's parents. He visited them in Georgia at least two or three times a year, and was considered Uncle Puck. Puck smiled wistfully as he thought of the curly blond haired girl with green eyes. He tapped his wallet in an unconscious gesture, knowing that there were ever present pictures of his "niece" in there. Eva was the reason why he joined the Navy in the first place.
After she was born, pretty much everything went back to status quo. Quinn joined the Cheerios again, and had even gotten back together with Finn again. She did everything in her power to forget that she had ever been pregnant, and high school being what it was focused on the next scandal and that was that; except for Puck. It is one thing to be told that sex can lead to teen pregnancy, but to actually experience it was an eye opening experience. He hated that he had to give Eva up, but in the end he realized that he was doing what was best for her, he was also determined to never put himself in that position again, he was going to leave Lima and make something of himself.
One day after football practice, a Navy recruiter approached him. He liked the idea of being able to start over somewhere else and the military seemed like an ideal solution. Much to his surprise, he rocked the ASVAB's and breezed through basic. Puck, being the bad-ass he was decided that if he was going to be in the military, then he was going to be a Naval-Badass, and what was more hardcore than being a SEAL? The year or training was the hardest of his life, but it was worth it. For a guy could only count on himself, it was a heady feeling to realize that he now had eight brothers that he could trust with his life. It was what he had always wanted from being on a football team, but never realized. His mom and Arin moved to San Diego shortly after he finished SEAL training, and for the first time in his life, he was happy.
He started taking college classes on his downtime because his buddy was, and three years later he graduated; he and Sam went to Officer Candidate School (OCS) together. That was two years ago, now he was the OIC (officer in charge) of his own squad. He had his family, a job that he loved and his own place, ironically the only thing that was missing was a girl. He had yet to find a woman that he wanted to spend more than a few months with.
"Hey Puck." a deep male voice called from behind him. "Stop day dreaming man, your supposed to be in Op's in ten."
Puck shook himself out of his reverie and smirked at his friend. "Keep your shirt on man, I'm coming." He punched the man in the shoulder and went to work.
A/N 2: I've been asked to take part of the 'Support Stacie Author Auction' to help raise money for 'Stacie' an avid fan fic reader 'truelovepooh' who is battling ovarian AND breast cancer without medical insurance.
Starting March 26 and going through March 29, members of the forum (anyone can join) bids on an author and at the end of the auction, the winning bidder (after their money is sent), gets a fic written by me, for them.
Several fellow Glee authors are partaking in this auction...
(remove the spaces to use the links)
Myself (Bookgurrrl):
( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2063)
SapphireEJ / SapphiresFic:
( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2047)
GoingVintage:
( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2031)
Mag721:
( http :// www . supportstacie . com / phpBB3 / ? f=25&t=2068)
The main forum:
( http :// www. supportstacie . com / phpBB3/ )
This auction is listed under the '2010 April Author Auction' thread and we, specifically, are listed under the 'Glee Auctions'.
If you would like any of us to write a fic for you and you're willing to bid on us, hop on over to the forum and check it out, see our auctions and see what it's all about. It's totally worth it!
Having a grandma who had a double mastectomy and my twin sister having ovarian cancer, this is a great cause to support because it hits close to home for me.
Thanks for reading!
(Thanks to SapphireEJ / SapphiresFic for writing this note for me and letting me use some of her message!)
A/N 3: I am almost done I swear. This is a new story, so please tell me what you think, should I continue? As always thanks for your time and don't forget to tip your waitress (review).
