Title: Pudding Fixes Everything
Characters: Noah "Puck" Puckerman/Rachel Berry, OC
Rating: PG-13 since Puck likes to drop the F-bomb LIEK WHOA.
Disclaimer: I do not own but continue to dream. I do have a really cool WMHS hoodie, some CDs and a glee keychain, though.
A/N: This ficlet is a sequel to "These Days Fly By" by missphenix. Please read that first. While you're there, read her other stuff. She rocks!
It's now late autumn and Rachel is starting to show. She went through four outfits this morning before she found something that fit her burgeoning belly, which is not the way she wanted to start her day. She was already running late for work at her dance studio so the addition of her wardrobe issue is not helping her mood.
"Noah!" she calls, "I'm going to need to go shopping tonight for some new clothes. I can't believe I've even outgrown the stuff I wore with Leah. You know I blame your son for this development, right?"
Her husband steps out of the bathroom with their daughter on his hip. "Sorry babe. I was giving this dirty little piggy a bath. What did you say?"
He had heard everything she had said but it's way too much fun to tease her when she's all hormonal. Like seriously hormonal and just three points away from complete flipout hormonal craziness. It's obvious he's whipped but with her deviously sexy mind, it's so worth it.
Leah starts to flail as she wiggles out of the towel her father had wrapped her in. She locks in on Rachel and reaches out her arms for her mother.
"Mmmmama! Up Mama!" she babbles.
Rachel laughs at the little girl, "I won't be able to pick you up much longer Miss Bunnyboo! Your little brother is growing so fast I won't have any room for you on my lap either."
He sees her rub her belly with both her hands while her eyes get all big trying to imagine what she'll look like in a few months. She was over the top excited about every detail of her pregnancy with their daughter, but their son seemed to be wearing her down. He was much more active than Leah and seemed to make Rachel live on chocolate pudding. It was one of the few things she could keep down this time around.
Puck hands the little girl to her mother then starts to get himself dressed. He winks at Rachel as he slowly pulls down his shirt and jumps into his jeans.
"See something you like, Mrs. Puckerman?" he purrs with his back side pushed up against her.
She replies by sticking her tongue out at him with a small scowl on her face. "I obviously do Mr. Puckerman or I wouldn't be in this predicament! Oh! Ow! He's kicking again Noah."
Puck rushes over to feel his son's movements. He gently takes Leah's hand and pushes it against her mother's belly. "Baby, Leah. Can you say 'baby'?"
"Baybee, Papa! Baybee," she tries.
Rachel scrunches up her face while Puck and Leah laugh at the youngest Puckerman's antics. They all place their hands together on the spot that he likes to kick the most to wait for him to calm down. It doesn't take long before Leah gets chilly so her parents take her to her room to get her dressed.
Puck glances at his wife as they wrestle their daughter into a diaper and some warm clothes. "Babe, what are we gonna do when we have two of these little monsters to deal with?" he wonders out loud.
He hears a sniffle a few seconds after the words leave his mouth. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck!
"I-I-I don't know, Noah." Rachel whispers. She watches her daughter toddle around the room throwing toys where she pleases with a wicked grin. Now Rachel tries to imagine two children doing the same thing a year or so in their future and she starts to weep uncontrollably.
Puck slides over behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her to try to make up for his verbal diarrhea. His hands settle on her belly where he starts to rub in circles. He knows that he's fucked up majorly and he'll have to make it up by buying out all the chocolate pudding at their local grocery store. Fuck.
He nuzzles into her neck, "Rach, you are a Tony award winning actress who is a fucking amazing mother. You got that? We're also a great team."
Rachel starts to calm down and soon her sobs become quiet staccato gasps. Their daughter is toddling around the room singing to herself while she throws toys in long arcs from one side to the other. Leah walks over to her parents when she sees her mother is upset and finds it necessary to pat both of the grown ups' backs.
"Okay Mama?" she asks. "Tiss Mama? Tiss?"
Rachel's hand quickly covers her mouth as her eyes flick to her husband. He can see she's so proud of Leah that she's tearing up again because of their daughter's display of empathy.
"Mama is okay, sweetie," he nods then continues in a whisper, "and I think she'd love a kiss from you. Your kisses are magic, right?"
The little girl scrunches up her face then peppers her mother's face with drool-laiden kisses followed by a similar attack on her father. Rachel scoops her up to snuggle her close, for as long as her daughter would allow, that is.
Puck exhaled loudly, "As much fun as this is, babe, we really need to get you to work. I know how much you hate having to do the bookkeeping but it has to get done."
Rachel curls her lip then huffs loudly as she stands up. "I know you're right, Noah. It doesn't mean I have to like it. The one thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that we'll be having a family dinner tonight, just the three of us."
He thinks she's ridiculously sexy most days, but when she pouts that way he almost can't control himself. Puck pulls her back down to kiss her senseless until she pulls away from him gasping for air.
"If this is what you do to say goodbye Noah, I expect my hello tonight to be even bigger," she giggles.
He wiggles his eyebrows and growls his reply at her. "Baby, just you wait. I'll knock your argyle socks off!"
Rachel spends the day at her dance studio working on boring paperwork. She's the boss, so when it comes to being responsible for everything running smoothly it's up to her. It took a few years to get to the "running smoothly" part but it's been worth the effort. Leah doesn't have to be in daycare more than once a week and they get to have family meals every day; some days it's breakfast, some it's lunch and occasionally dinner. Puck and Rachel don't really care which one it just matters that they're together. This is one of the days that she has to keep reminding herself of that fact so she buckles down and gets things finished.
She arrives home to find the table set, dinner cooling on the countertop and the two people she missed the most playing in the living room. It takes Leah a minute but she lights up the moment she sees her mother standing in the doorway.
"Mama!" she yells. She hurtles herself across to room to attach herself to her mother's leg. "Up Mama. Up!" she pleads.
Rachel sits down so her daughter can sit on her lap. "I apologize sweetpea. Your little brother is making me so tired today that my lap will have to do," she sighs.
"C'mon, Leah. Let Mama get up so we can go eat some dinner. Are you ready for some spaghetti?" Puck says to the now happy little girl.
He knows his wife is grateful for a night off from cooking when he looks back to her and she smiles weakly at him. He offers her a hand up which she gladly takes.
They all sit down at the table to enjoy a meal together that flies by far too quickly. Soon enough it's time for a certain little girl to have a bath to get the spaghetti mash out of her hair as well as her nose. Puck washes her then hands her off to Rachel who gets her snuggled into pajamas. The pair tuck her in then walk back downstairs to sit down on the couch and enjoy the quiet.
"Thank you for making dinner, Noah," she half yawns. "It was beyond delicious. You definitely know how to treat a woman."
"Whoa! Was that a yawn I saw?" he questions. "I don't think so. We still have dessert to enjoy."
He runs into the kitchen and retrieves two chocolate pudding cups along with two spoons. He gestures with his elbow to the stairs followed by some rather inventive eyebrow moves. Rachel blinks a few times, her eyes going wide when his message finally sinks in. They both run upstairs laughing the whole way because, as they know, pudding fixes everything.
A/N: Please take a moment to comment/review. It's what writers live for!
