Chapter One: The Memorial
Summary: "You're like a modern day Batman….but you're a chick. Which instantly make you more badass." If Puck had known just how deeply Rachel would take those words, he'd probably have kept his mouth shut. But there's too many questions in Hiram and Leroy's murder, and Rachel Berry was never one to back down from a challenge. This was no different.
A/N: Hey there readers! Welcome to a new fic that I've been working on, it's different from anything I've done before, but I'm very excited for it. I always want to hear your thoughts, and love seeing new followers so here's hoping that I keep everyone's interest! Inspired by my girlfriend playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, this fic is going to go through quite a bit. Faberry is endgame, but it's definitely more so going to be a slow burn for the two of them. That doesn't mean they will be ignored for the plot, just that I want to take my time with their development.
A/N 2: I currently have the first nine chapters planned out, however not all nine are already written. I'm hoping to keep a steady flow of updates going for my faithful readers, as I know I'm not the most wonderful at doing so with Anything for Glee Club.
The rain was fitting, giving the house a dramatic touch as people gathered in black, passing around their condolences, sharing stories of Hiram and Leroy's wonderful past; each one huddled in the kitchen, or the living room, hardly anyone having gone near to Rachel after their first introduction. Her chocolate eyes lacked life, and it unsettled even the strongest and most heartless of people. They couldn't see the forced smile and not feel like breaking down themselves, simply because Rachel Berry had never had to force a smile. In the eighteen years that friends and family have known the girl, she was always so bright and happy; but when they looked at her now, that sunshine behind her eyes had vanished, died along with her fathers. So yes, to everyone in the house, the rain matched the feel of the Berry home, and fit very well with the girl that sat alone at the far end of the living room, staring out the windows as if expecting to see someone drive up. As if expecting to see a car pull in, windshield wipers clearing off the rain.
The soft pitter patter had really been the only thing Rachel was capable of focusing on all evening. despite the words that she'd been offered in comfort. Despite her friends being there to support her (though she wasn't exactly sure as to why a few were there. Santana and Brittany namely). She had family giving out sorry's and prayers to her left and right. But her fathers were gone, and people telling her that they were in a better place, that the cops would find out who had killed them, that they would keep her in their prayers, they didn't matter. Rachel had lost everything. She lost her ability to believe in any kind of faith; not when the two men she loved the most had been ripped from her. The police had called it a random act of violence; Rachel knew better. The Berry's were hated for their sexuality in the small town of Lima. What happened was a hate crime if anything. Someone wanting to send a message, though to whom Rachel didn't get. It was the final piece of the puzzle that she simply couldn't put together. Who, after living in Lima for so long, still hated the men enough to kill them? It didn't add up, and the question had consumed her as she watched droplets spill down the glass window.
Only the sounds of buzzing voices nearing had captured her attention some, the reason being that they were drawing closer, closer than anyone had come to her for some time. And as she saw Kurt, Mercedes and Tina draw from behind (their eyes sad and wounded despite them not having been the one's to have lost two wonderful fathers), Rachel turned from the window she had been spacing out at and walked through the living room, turned towards the kitchen and reached the back door; sneaking out easily. She didn't care if she got wet from the rain, all that mattered was the fact that she didn't feel suffocated out here. Inside it was like everyone's worry for her had been so palpable that she quite literally couldn't breathe from it all. The looks and whispers, the cloud of sadness had been absolutely draining; and rachel didn't have the energy for it. She didn't have the strength to face anyone any longer. She couldn't hear another damn apology, or another prayer for her. She didn't want to be prayed for, she wanted some answers. Real answers. Not whatever the press and the police force would feed her.
Her palm found the glass table she and her fathers would play Go Fish at, and it was as if the very table was hot to the touch; her hand retracting the moment the memory came to mind. She winced at the thought; their smiling faces, their accusing words that always wound up in Rachel being tackled and hung upside down over one of their shoulders. She couldn't handle the memories while so many people were here. Even Leroy's parents, that hadn't spoken to him since he married Hiram, had decided to show up as if they cared all along. Rachel didn't call that love. Rachel could barely call that family. To show up only when your son was dead? Only after someone had murdered him and his lover? That was cruel. And the very idea boggled Rachel more than she cared to think about. How anyone could abandon a child, be it an adult or not, had completely thrown the girl.
Not for the first time, Rachel felt a pair of eyes on her, and with a turn she had caught Noah's gaze, his hand coming up to awkwardly wave to her. They hadn't spoken, Puck knew that words wouldn't help her, and Rachel was grateful for that. She was grateful that at least someone understood she didn't need words; she just needed mooments. Moments where she didn't feel so lost, or alone, or vulnerable. She didn't want to be vulnerable in front of these people, particularly glee club. Because as much as they had grown together, the members had always tore her down when they could. They'd called her names, pretended to be her friends for their own gain, humiliated her, hated her. She didn't trust them, not when it came right down to it. And then came thoughts of Noah, who had at least apologized for the majority of the things he'd done wrong.
Rachel was both glad and sorry that Puck knew what to do in this situation. She doubted she'd ever ask how he knew, and instead live with the fact that he'd suffered like this before. It wasn't like her to intrude on something as intimate as this. Not really. At least not now when she understood the pain. So when he took it upon himself to join her outside, his tie loosened over his dampening white collared shirt, Rachel was surprised to say the least. "The food sucks," He stated bluntly, hands deep in his pants pocket while he looked out at the backyard. He hadn't been here since he was a kid and hanging out with Rachel wasn't totally lame. Of course, it wouldn't have been if he just stuck by her; a fact he tries to forget so he doesn't have to live with it. Knowing he abandoned a perfectly good friend to conform. In reality, he was the lame one out of the two of them. Rachel stuck to her guns and faced everything that came her way, Puck ran and hid behind his popularity; not that he wouldn't still be totally awesome without it.
Of course it didn't ever work, ignoring it to forget, no matter how many slushies, or how many names Puck still saw that little girl in the dinosaur costume that would trample over his lego city when they were kids. It sucked, but high school somehow worked that way. Friends came second to status. At least they did at McKinley. "It's some recipe that Aunt May made." Rachel shrugged, not exactly knowing what had been put out to eat in the first place; just that her aunt had taken over the kitchen. She didn't ask, she didn't say anything, just went on ahead and began cooking, kicking anyone that dared enter her domain right back out.
"Yeah well, keep her out of it next time. It just makes everything more sad cus you can't compliment the food." The silence that comes over the two is almost unbearable, but Rachel sticks it through, fighting back the tears that have been threatening to fall since this morning. She didn't want to cry in front of these people. Not when so many of them were here out of obligation. Not when so many of them could so easily hurt her the moment they saw the first tear fall. There had been only one person that didn't come; and oddly enough it was like fresh air. While deep down Rachel was very aware how much it hurt, Quinn constantly denying Rachel's offerings of friendship, she found it nice that someone wasn't here because they simply didn't want to be. Not seeing Quinn at her house, knowing it was because of her religious beliefs and the fact that neither one of them were exactly on speaking terms or friendly to one another, was the most honest thing Rachel had felt all day. And God was it refreshing. Everything had felt fake today, her smile, the one's she was given, the words, the hugs; all of it except for Quinn not showing up to her house.
"Rachel," a voice neither one recognizes calls from the sliding glass door, and it isn't until Rachel see's her cousin Amy's face that she understands why she doesn't recognize it. "People are leaving."
For a moment Rachel has half the heart to blatantly voice how she hadn't cared. The ones leaving were without a doubt not anyone she cared to have there in the first place, so why should she see them off? All she wanted to do was go back to her parents graves and sit for a while longer. Her goodbye was forced short, 'family' needing to return home or wanting to get out of the Lima cold.
She hated them.
God she hated them so much.
And that moment of having half the heart turned to being completely sure of that being exactly what she wanted to do."If I gave a damn about who was coming in and out of my house I would have locked the door before anyone arrived." The words come out with such venom, so much so Puck even stepped back away from the brunette, before turning to face the girl he'd never met before. Her face is something along the lines of shock and anger before she turns to storm back into the house; and while Puck turns to face Rachel again, he catches the hot tears trailing down her cheeks.
He gets it.
It's why he doesn't move from his spot, but instead goes back to the food issue. It's something small, something Rachel can fix. Something that doesn't feel like the end of the world. "You wanna get some Taco Bell?"
Her sad chocolate eyes look up to him, and before she can stop it a bubble of a laugh comes from her. She knows it's too early to be laughing; it's too early to be smiling even, but this was Noah. And he always knew what to do when she needed someone. Even if it was always from a distance. "I'd love to get some Taco Bell." She said with a sad chuckle and nod, her bangs bouncing near her eyes. Moving to walk in close to her friend, the one from their childhood days, not Puck the manwhore, Rachel can't help but feel the smallest bit of comfort. And while Rachel and Puck are eyed as they leave the house, neither one gives a single person the time of day. They simply grab their coats and walk to Puck's truck, driving off while Finn, Kurt, Mercedes and Tina just stand and watch, completely confused and overall completely lost as to what they were supposed to do in Rachel Berry's house without a Rachel Berry.
Not that it mattered to the brunette. If things had gone missing then so be it; her Barbra collection was safely under lock and key in her closet, and really the only person that would even consider going there would be Santana, and well somehow Rachel felt the girl would show her mercy.
She watched as random houses passed by them, houses with people she'd never known before. While there were never any outwardly obvious hate crimes in Lima (if one doesn't count the recent murder of her fathers of course), no one ever attempted to actually get to know the family. There had even been some that had actually spoken to Rachel, finding it unfair that her fathers forced this lifestyle on her. And every time Rachel would be polite, smile her way through a long rant about how her fathers loved her more than they could ever possibly love their children. Of course she never elaborated past that, simply walked on with her head held high. She didn't need to say anything more than that, she knew she was right.
If Rachel could smile at the memory, she would; unfortunately it just hurt. Because those two men did love her more than anything. Hiram and Leroy treated Rachel like an angel and now they were just...gone. No one was going to love her the way they did. No one. And the thought alone had finally cracked the brunette. Her first sob coming out as a hiccup the next few filled with so much sorrow and pain; sounding just as they pulled into the Taco Bell. Puck parked the car as immediately as he could so he could hold her. This was what he'd been waiting for; standing at a distance, but always close enough to be at her side to help her if she needed his arms. He'd lived through the passing of his nana, and while it couldn't possibly compare to losing two loving parents, he knew that there were moments when someone was needed and moments when someone wasn't.
As Rachel's body shook violently with sobs, her heart shattering into pieces as thought after thought of her fathers attacked her, Puck just leaned over as far as he could, the center console getting in his way and making the overall position increasingly unomfortable, to wrap his arms as securely as he could around the brunette.
He hated what she was going through, he hated that she felt this loss. But even worse was his hatred for Quinn right now. Yeah, it seemed pretty out of place but he knew that Rachel needed people. She needed actually friends and you'd have to be an idiot not to see why Rachel fought so hard for Quinn's. Course he figured most of glee club were exactly that. All Rachel ever wanted was one damn friendship with her, and the girl couldn't even show up to her dads funeral. Fuck her. At least Puck showed up, at least he was here now. Sure he cut her off as a friend out of the blue, and yeah he'd thrown slushie's at her but he'd never abandon her like that. Glee club was supposed to be a family, and Quinn couldn't even support Rachel in her darkest moment; despite Rachel doing it for Quinn.
"I can't stop," Rachel wailed, her hand moving to cover her mouth as she tried to control herself. Tried to compose herself. She tried so hard and it wasn't happening. Her body had had enough; it couldn't hold together any longer. But this wasn't the time or the place. This was a damn Taco Bell for Christ Sake! And still the tears fell, still her chest tightened against her heart, constricting it further and further until she felt weak. Her head grew light, and then suddenly heavy as she cried in Puck's arms. She was going to lose consciousness soon; she was sure of it.
But as time went on, and Rachel wasn't lucked with passing out, she felt her abdomen grow tired, muscles aching from the flexing of her sobs and cries and wails. She had fought these tears for so long, and she wanted to badly to have waited to let them out when no one was around; but now that it was happening she was so grateful that Puck was there. If she'd been alone during this...she wasn't sure she wouldn't do anything stupid. Her entire life was with her fathers; they were her biggest support, her best friends. They were all she had for so many years and now she had nothing. If everyone turned their back on her, she'd have no one. Absolutely no one.
"I don't want to be alone." She admitted aloud, unaware of the words until Puck assured her he wasn't going anywhere. That he'd always be with her.
"Promise."