Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
AN: My first posted Glee fic! Yay! LOL. This story pretty much follows the actually Glee storyline up to "Big Brother", aside from the Puck wanting to go to California part. Also, I tried to keep the actual New York geography to a minimum, but I'm not sure what there is of it is probably not right. Please just excuse it and bear with me seeing as I have never been to New York and I am using the limited geographic knowledge I have from obsessively watching Law and Order: SVU. Lol. Also, I'm not a doctor so excuse any misplaced or misused medical terms. Now on with the show! Oh and remember to review please!
It's never a good sign when the phone rings at 1 am. But that's exactly how Noah "Puck" Puckerman woke up one cold March morning.
"Puckerman." He snapped, slipping into cop mode, assuming that was why his phone was ringing so early.
"Officer Puckerman?" a female voice quested. "This is Nurse Williams at the Bellevue ER. A Jane Doe came in a few minutes ago. She's been attacked, and the only item we found on her person was a gold locket with a photo of a man in it. Your precinct responded to the call out, and one of the officers recognized the man in the photo as you. We thought perhaps you might be able to identify her."
"Rachel..." He breathed, bolting upright and realizing the bed next to him was empty and cold. "I'll be right there." He hung up before the woman on the other end could protest. He jumped out of bed and scrambled around in the dark, not bothering to take the time to turn on the light. He grabbed his wallet, phone and keys and stumbled out of the apartment. He bolted off towards the hospital on foot. They lived less than 6 blocks from the hospital, and he ran further than that every morning for his workout. He probably looked strange running down the street at 1:30 in the morning in his blue uniform pants, a red sweatshirt and a pair of beat-up running shoes, but he didn't care.
A few minutes later, he burst through the doors of the ER and ran to the desk calling out, "Rachel Puckerman? The Jane Doe? She's my wife! Where is she?"
An older blonde woman stepped around the counter and intercepted him. "Calm down, Mr. Puckerman. I'm April Williams. We spoke on the phone. We were able to stabilize your wife enough to move her to the ICU. I'll take you to her."
Puck nodded silently and followed the nurse towards the Intensive Care Unit. As the approached Rachel's room, the nurse spoke again. "I don't know the details of Rachel's condition. I will let her doctor know you are here though."
Puck nodded again and entered his wife's room. His breath caught as he took in the sight before him. Rachel was hooked up to several monitors and there were tubes and IV's all over her. He crossed the room and dropped into the chair next to her bed. He reached out to stroke her cheek but stopped short when he noticed the discoloration across her eye and cheek. His eyes scanned down her body and saw a bandage wrapped around her neck, a hand shaped bruise on her left arm and the simple plaster cast encasing her right.
As he sat next to the bed, stroking her fingers and crying quietly, he realized that he was having the night Rachel had always dreaded. She told him when he joined the force that her biggest fear was getting that call saying he was injured or murdered on the job. Now, he was the one woken in the night and holding vigil at her bedside, praying she would be ok.
"Officer Puckerman?" came a voice from the hall. He looked up to see a man in a lab coat standing in her doorway.
"Yes sir." Puck stood up and extended his hand towards the doctor.
The doctor accepted his hand and introduced himself. "I'm Doctor Mason Greylick. I'm your wife's doctor. Rachel, you said?"
"Yes. Rachel Puckerman."
"Well, I'm afraid Rachel is in rough shape. It appears she was attacked. Possibly by more than one person. She has three fractured ribs, multiple bruises and contusions, including a shallow knife wound to the side of her neck, and a spiral fracture of the right ulna, most likely from her arm being twisted behind her in restraint. However, I'm not as concerned about those injuries as I am about her encephalitis. She has severe swelling on the brain and a slow bleeding wound. If the bleeding doesn't stop soon and allow the swelling to decrease, we will have to do surgery. I'm going to give it until 8 in the morning. Hopefully, her body can stop the effects on its own."
It took a few tries before Puck was able to speak, but, when he could, he asked "Was she raped?"
"No, Mr. Puckerman. There was no sign of rape."
Puck breathed a sigh of relief before asking one final question. "What about the baby?"
The doctor raised his eyebrows at this. "We weren't aware she was pregnant. She hasn't regained consciousness and her blood work isn't back yet. But I will send in the resident OBGYN to check her." Something caused the doctor to pause and look over his shoulder. When he turned back to Puck, he said "Some officers are here to ask you a few questions. I'm sure you know the procedure. Should I send them in?"
Once again, all Puck could do was nod. He slipped down into his chair again as the doctor exited and two officers came in.
"Hey Puck," the older, black officer greeted solemnly.
"How's she doing?" The second officer asked, placing a comforting hand on Puck's shoulder.
Puck looked up at the men with tears in his eyes and both men felt his pain. Officer Hall had come through the academy with Puck and had been a groomsman in his and Rachel's wedding six months ago. Officer Manion was a mentor to both the young cops.
"Hi, Rick. And she's not so great Jake." He rattled off her injuries to the two men, and Officer Manion copied them into his notebook.
"We need to ask you a few questions Puck. You know how it goes."
"Sure. Of course. I'm just glad it's you guys. Crying like this to any of the other guys would kill my badass rep." The other men laughed quietly, knowing his attempt at humor was just a coping mechanism.
Officer Hall pulled up a chair next to Puck's and began. "So what was she doing out so late Puck?"
"She was at class," he whispered, looking back down at his wife's bruised and battered face. "She goes to NYADA full time during the day for her drama degree, but, a few months back, she decided she wanted to get a teaching certificate as well. So she could have an option other than Broadway. So she enrolled in some night classes at NYU to get prepped."
"Can you give me a rundown of her schedule for today? We don't know yet if this is a random attack or not-"
"It's not." Puck interrupted. Officer Manion raised his eyebrows questioningly, and gestured for Puck to continue. "I was in court today. They sentenced Antony Berrelle on his drug and abuse charges. As they lead him from the courtroom, he looked me dead in the eye and said 'No one is out of my reach'. I assumed it was a threat on my life. Not Rachel's."
Both officers' eyes widened at this new information. They both knew that Anthony Berrelle was a dangerous drug dealer Puck had managed to collar 3 months earlier.
"Well, based on that information, we will look into everyone Anthony has had contact with since court and follow those leads. We'll see where this goes then investigate other avenues if nothing comes of it." Officer Manion said, giving Puck a reassuring smile.
Officer Hall patted Puck's shoulder as he moved to leave. "Try not to worry, Puck. I know it's hard to see right now, but Rachel's a fighter. She'll pull through this."
Puck didn't respond. He just reached out and stroked Rachel's hair gently. Once he was alone in the room, he reached out and fingered the simple gold locket hanging around his wife's neck. He slipped the clasp open and stared at the picture of himself on graduation day. He looked so happy. And he had every reason to be. He smiled and let his mind drift back to that day nearly 3 years earlier.
FLASHBACK
"Noah Eli Puckerman" Principal Figgins announced. Puck smiled hugely for the graduation photographer as he took his diploma, shook hands with Figgins, and crossed the stage. He could see his mom crying in the family section. She didn't think she'd ever see this day, and, quite frankly, there were times he wasn't sure he'd make it either.
As he walked off the stage, his eyes met Rachel's in the front row (salutatorian to Quinn as valedictorian). She was clapping for him as well. They had become close friends after Finn broke up with her just before nationals. She had showed up on his doorstep an hour after it happened with a gallon of chocolate ice cream and a bottle of vodka.
"I know we aren't exactly friends," she'd said, "but when I thought about not wanting to get drunk alone, you were the first person that came to mind."
They had eaten the ice cream, watched a violent movie, and she had cried on his shoulder for hours before falling asleep in his lap on the couch. The next morning she thanked him for not letting her drink her pain away. She hadn't noticed it until morning, but he had surreptitiously hidden the vodka bottle before they settled in on the couch. While he was usually all for any excuse to get drunk off his ass, he knew Rachel well enough to know she would regret it in the morning if she had gotten drunk. After that, they became best friends. They were practically inseparable, which shocked everyone. However, most agreed that it was a change for the better.
Rachel calmed down quite a bit under Puck's laid back influence. While she was still highly opinionated, she learned to keep them to herself and she stopped forcing herself into the lead on every glee song. That didn't stop her from being given all the leads anyway, including the solo that won nationals, but the club didn't resent her nearly much for earning them rather than demanding them.
Puck changed as well. He stopped fighting in the halls, aside from one incident in which a certain Finn Hudson may or may not have accidentally come into contact with his fist for calling Rachel a whore. He had started showing up for class every day and actually doing his homework. Perhaps the most shocking change though was that he was spending every weekend, and several nights during the week, with Rachel instead of in the bed of random women.
But here they were. Graduating. Puck zoned out for the short remainder of the ceremony, until it came time to toss his cap with everyone else. Then, before he knew what was happening, he found himself in the crushing grip of his sobbing mother.
"I'm so proud of you, Noah!" She choked out between sobs.
"Calm down, Ma." Puck replied, hugging her back. Seeing Rachel headed his direction from over his mom's shoulder, he leant down to his mom's ear and said, "Hey ma, I'll catch up in a minute. I need to talk to Rach."
His mom gave him one of those creepy, omniscient, Jewish mom smiles before nodding and leading his little sister away.
"We did it, Rach!" He smiled, pulling Rachel into his arms.
She laughed as she felt her feet leave the floor as Puck spun her around. "Yes we did."
He sat her down on and looked into her eyes. 'It's now or never Puckerone..." He thought. Then aloud, "Hey Rach, I was wondering... Since we are both going to New York in the fall, I thought, maybe... Ugh. Listen, Rachel, I want you to be my girl. What do you say?" God he sounded like a wuss getting all tongue tied like that.
Rachel beamed at him. "I wondered when you'd finally admit your feelings for me. I'd love to be your girl, Noah."
END FLASHBACK
"Mr. Puckerman?" A female voice asked.
Puck pulled himself from his thoughts and turned towards the doorway, just in time to see a young, red-haired doctor entering the room.
Puck didn't even bother to stand up this time, just nodded his silent nod.
"I'm Dr. Perry. I'm the resident OBGYN. I need to check on the baby."
"Of course," Puck rasped, his voice weak from crying and disuse. He made a move to stand from the chair, but the doctor stopped him.
"No need to get up." She smiled a comforting smile and pulled a cart from the hallway up beside Rachel's bed. After a few moments of adjusting Rachel's gown and attaching a fetal heart monitor, the slow, steady beat of a tiny heart filled the room. Puck let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "That's a good sign. Now, let's do a quick ultrasound just to make sure everything looks alright."
Puck directed his eyes up to the computer monitor on the doctor's cart. Soon, the black and white image of his tiny child appeared on the screen. Puck was entranced by the image. This was the first time he had seen his child.
"Everything seems to be fine… It's amazing how resilient a woman's body can be when it is protecting a child." She smiled again. "I'd like for her to see her regular OB once she is out of the hospital, just as a precaution, but it looks like you have one strong baby there Mr. Puckerman."
"It's a badass like its dad," Puck joked with a small smile. His first smile all night. At least he knew one of them was alright.
The doctor laughed as she packed up, readjusted Rachel's bedclothes, and headed out of the room. "I wish your wife a speedy recovery."
As the doctor left, Puck reached out and placed a hand on his wife's still flat belly. She was only around 8 weeks along. She had only told him about her pregnancy a week before.
FLASHBACK
Puck pushed open the door to their apartment after a long shift. "Rach? You here babe?" It was only 8 pm, so he figured she would still be up.
"I'm in our room, Noah," she called from the bedroom. Puck immediately caught the needy edge to his wife's voice. As he rounded the doorway into their room, all traces of fatigue left his body.
Rachel was sitting up on her knees in bed in a pale pink baby doll top that cinched under her breasts and fell just past her hips. The sheer material revealed that only had a matching pink thong on underneath. Her hair was curled around her shoulders and she wore a wickedly innocent look on her face. Without a word, she beckoned him forward, and he moved as though under a spell, equally silent.
When Puck reached the bed, Rachel leaned up and locked her mouth onto his, while her hands skillfully stripped off his uniform shirt. Thanks to months of practice, he was shirtless in seconds, and Rachel was running her nails up and down his chest. He growled quietly at the feeling before grabbing her hips and tossing her back onto the bed, quickly crawling on top of her.
"Do you know what you do to me, woman?" He rumbled into her ear. He ground his hips against her, so she could feel his erection against her thigh through his work slacks. "Fell what you do to me. Only you." Rachel moaned loudly and bucked her hips against him at his words. "Who do you belong to? Huh? Whose are you?"
"Yours! I'm yours!" she gasped. This was not her original plan. She was supposed to seduce him, not the other way around. She was fine with the way this was progressing too though. She loved when Puck took control like this.
"Later, I am going to make slow, sweet love to you, but, right now," he pulled back and smirked evilly, "I am going to fuck you senseless. It's been two fucking days, Rach. That's like a record apart for us."
Rachel just moaned in anticipation as Puck stripped off his pants and shoved her thong out of the way. "Damn, Rachel. You're soaking!" He moaned.
Then, without any more foreplay, he thrust into her hard and fast. Rachel cried out in pleasure as he kept up the furious pace, not even pausing to let her adjust to his size. Even after all these times, she still wasn't used to how big her husband was. After a few moments, both partners were close. The two days they had been apart truly was longer than they were used to. Puck reached down and stroked his thumb against her clit, and, within seconds, Rachel was tumbling over the edge. He moaned out her name as he came with her.
He collapsed on the bed next to her, sighing contentedly as Rachel curled up to his side and began idly tracing patterns on his chest.
"Noah?" she questioned sweetly. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Noah realized that the tone of her voice meant she wanted something and the whole sexy seduction was probably a ploy, but, in his post-coital state, he couldn't muster the energy to care. He merely hummed in acknowledgement. At this, Rachel continued, "Are you happy with our life?"
This caught his attention. Puck reached an arm up and tilted his wife's head up so he could look into her eyes. "Of course I am Rachel. Why would you think I wasn't?"
"It's not so much that I think you're unhappy… More like, would you be happier if our family got a little bigger?"
Puck raised his eyebrows. "Rachel, are you saying you want to have a baby?"
"Yes… But only if you want to."
"Rachel, my star, you know I want to have a whole brood of beautiful little Jewish babies with you. I was just waiting until you brought it up. I mean, we haven't even been married six months yet. I didn't want to push too early."
A smile lit up Rachel's face. "Well that's good then because… well you remember a couple of months ago? When I got food poisoning?" She paused as he nodded before adding, "Well, during all that puking… I must have thrown up some of my birth control pills…"
As she trailed off, Puck's eyes grew wide. "Rachel. Are you telling me that you're already pregnant?"
His wife nodded up at him, eyes wide. Instead of saying anything, he pulled her face up to his and kissed her passionately. As he did so, he let his hand drift down to caress her still flat stomach.
END FLASHBACK
As he finished reminiscing, Puck glanced up at the clock, amazed that it was after 6 in the morning. He must have dozed off while he was thinking. He glanced over at Rachel and saw that she was still unconscious, the monitors beeping lazily.
Remembering what the doctor said earlier, Puck whispered "Come on baby… You need to come out of this. I can't live without you. I need you. I have since high school." Then, he began to sing their song.
Where it began
I can't begin to knowing
But then I know it's growing strong
Was in the spring
And spring became a summer
Who'd believe you'd come along
Hands
Touching hands
Reaching out
Touching me
Touching you
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would
But now I
Look at the night
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when holding you?
One
Touching one
Reaching out
Touching me
Touching you
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would
Oh no no
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
Sweet Caroline
I've believed they never could
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
As soon as he sang the last note, Rachel's body began to convulse, shaking the whole bed. Then after a moment, she began to seize fully. The monitors screamed and wailed wildly. Puck was pushed away from her bed as Doctor Greylick and a team of nurses rushed in. Puck watched them closely, his eyes wide with fear. He couldn't lose her.
After a few moments, the monitors quieted and Rachel laid still. The doctor spoke quietly to the nurses, and then they began wheeling Rachel and her monitors out of the room.
Dr. Greylick turned to Puck and said "We are going to take Rachel up for an MRI to see what caused the seizures. It could be any number of things with a head injury like she suffered. I'll let you know when we know more."
At this, Puck collapsed back into the chair next to where her bed had been. And then he waited. And waited. And stared at the clock. An hour ticked by before doctor Greylick returned, Rachel's bed wheeling in behind him.
"Well Mr. Puckerman, I have some good news." The doctor smiled encouragingly as Puck perked up in his chair. "It seems that the bleeding in her brain has stopped and the swelling is going down. I believe that her seizure was her nervous system's way of restarting itself. Getting used to working again, so to speak. Her brain activity is picking up, but I won't know if there is any damage until she wakes up. Which could be any time now." With that, the doctor smiled and left the room.
Puck scooted his chair back against Rachel's bed to wait for her to wake up. He rested his head on his arms and before he knew it he had dozed off, the stress finally getting to him.
A few hours later, Puck began to stir. It took a moment for him to realize where he was and what was going on. Then, just before fully woke up, he realized someone was stroking his hair. He opened his eyes and shot up off the edge of the bed. There, sitting across from him, resting against a stack of pillows was Rachel, wide eyed and alert with one hand rubbing her belly lightly.
"Hi baby," she whispered.
"Rachel. Oh god, Rachel." Puck threw her arms around her and began to sob. "I thought I was going to lose you!"
"Shh..." She soothed. "I'm not going anywhere."
From the doorway, Nurse Williams smiled at the couple as they embraced. She always was a sucker for a happy ending.
AN: Ok, so upon rereading, I noticed that I kinda left some hanging ends like what actually happened to Rachel, who did it, is she fully healed? Things like that. I just wanted to let you know that I realize this and am seriously considering a sequel or a second chapter to finish this story off. However, as of right this second, it's not in progress. I will work on outlining it and see what I can do, but I make no promises on when or if because, as any good author knows, you can't force a good story! Otherwise, I hope this is enough of an ending for now, so please, no flames about unanswered questions! But do review! I would love to know your opinions and suggestions on/about a follow up story.