Summary: Five years in the future, Rachel and Puck indulge in Christmas cheer.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Too poor to lay claim on Glee – all credit goes to Mr. Ryan Murphy. And the title is a line from Olivia Olson's 'All I Want for Christmas is You', from Love Actually's soundtrack.
Author's Note: A Christmas piece was something I've always wanted to write, but never found the time to do it. So, I'm doing this more than 3 weeks before Christmas itself, because my muse has decided it was time to make this little dream of mine a reality.
This is a sequel (of sorts) from my story Never Gonna Be Alone, so there might be some spoilers to it, but not many since I don't have it all planned (I kind of let the story take its own course, more or less like a Brazilian author, Jorge Amado, used to do with his).
Please be generous in your reviews. The next chapter of Never Gonna Be Alone is at works and it'll bring a long-delayed and well-deserved lesson for the glee kids, courtesy of Puck.
Presents Underneath The Christmas Tree
A single-chaptered Puckleberry story
By Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon
Rachel
Snow is falling gently from the sky, turning the frozen grass white. While most of people in Lima, Ohio, are sleeping, Rachel Barbara Berry is wide awake, still wearing her light yellow plaid pajamas and curled on the windowsill while she stares outside, the only light coming from the Christmas tree all lit up on the corner of the room, the tiny lights reflecting on her mocha-colored skin, her long jet black hair curled at the ends and messily held back on a ponytail.
She smiles fondly as her eyes come to rest on the empty plate of cookies and glass of milk that had been capriciously fixed the night before by the child she loves and sees as her own daughter from the moment she and Noah came to an agreement about their level of commitment to each other and to their relationship. Said child is peacefully sleeping on the bedroom down the hall, blonde curls fanning over the creamy pink pillow.
Rachel giggles, remembering how she was at sixteen. She had started that school year believing that she and Finn Hudson were meant to be: both were extremely talented, and their voices blended well together. By this time, five years ago, however, she already is in a loving and committed relationship with the one she knows she is going to spend the rest of her life with.
The brunette stifles a gasp as strong arms wrap themselves around her waist, and sharply turns around, brown eyes meeting clear green ones. She smiles softly, relaxing against his embrace. "Sorry if I woke you up", she says quietly, sliding a bit on the windowsill so he can sit down behind her. He does so, and she settles in between his legs, her back against his shirtless chest. He drops a kiss on her nape and she giggles, her reaction making him chuckle – after five years, she is still ticklish.
"You should've stayed in bed", he says softly, head resting against the wall as he, too, looks outside at the snowy yard.
"Lune is going to be up any minute, you know she loves Christmas", she remembers him, her voice also quiet. She feels him nodding against him, before he chuckles and whispers seductively against her ear, "We're still a couple of good-looking Jews, even if we're bad ones".
She giggles as she remembers the first time he said those words, they had just begun dating and he was a cocky seventeen-year-old wanting nothing more than being a father to the little girl his best friend's girlfriend was refusing to let him take responsibility for. "We can't be blamed, Quinn's not Jew and when Lune is with her they celebrate Christmas", she says with a fond smile. "Lune's too young to understand her Jewish heritage, but believe me, daddy will sit us down today and tell her why we're bad Jews by allowing our child to 'worship Santa'", she laughs quietly and feels his chest shake quietly with his chuckle.
Noah intertwines his fingers with her, caressing the soft skin. He opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by a loud squeal. "Santa came, daddy!"
The blonde girl skips down to them, with a big smile, dimples and excitement. Rachel remembered how it felt, that wonder, that joy, that utmost belief in a kind-looking old man who brings gifts to the good children. Before Lune, she had stopped to absorb the joy and the hope the holidays bring – she had become all too focused on becoming the next big Broadway thing to find time for such little details. "Santa came, mommy!" Lune squeals and jumps into her arms.
But now she has a little girl, who is like a daughter in every way, to remember her that family came first.
*
Noah
His heart warms up at the scene in front of him – his little girl and the woman he has loved since he was a seventeen-year-old boy with a mohawk, cuddling together and watching the snow fall outside. He blinks, and basks in the warmth. Lune begins babbling about how it is better that Santa hasn't forget her doll, because he'll be in trouble if he did, Rachel nodding along and looking the adoring mother to the end.
Her skin glows with the tiny lights they had put up on the Christmas tree Lune made sure they had, and she begins to talk very seriously with Lune, brown eyes sharp and focused as they lock with Lune's soft green ones, the woman and the little girl discussing how Santa is able to go all over the world in the span of a night. Rachel's lips are full and rosy, her hair slightly messy and all curly (he thinks it's sexy as hell).
"Alright, baby girl", he says as the sun rises marking the beginning of a new day. "Time to check out if the big old man brought you that pesky doll, uh?" He blinks and Lune squeals, hurrying to the big pile of gifts. It's a tradition on their house that, early Christmas morning, they open one gift and leave the rest to be given away with the rest of their big, blended family. Rachel's fathers come over, and so do his mother and sister. Finn and Quinn also tag along, and when the four young adults are together, Lune calls Rachel 'momma' and Quinn, 'mama'. (Puck is 'dad', and Finn is 'daddy').
The tiny blonde hops in between the wrapped packages and picks up one that has double her size. Noah's heart swoons at the sight, and Rachel laughs before pulling out the camera from somewhere and takes a picture. Lune then begins searching between the gifts one to give Rachel, but he stops her. "I already have one to give mommy, baby girl", he tells her, and her eyes light up with excitement and curiosity.
Rachel is also curiously looking at him, and his smile is soft as he produces a small, worn red velvet box from between the larger brightly wrapped packages. She gasps quietly, eyes tearing up as she realizes what's going to happen, and he locks eyes with her. Lune is watching them, confused (Mommy has tears in her eyes, but a big smile in her lips).
"Rachel, we have come a long way from being a diva-wannabe and the Lima loser", his voice is thick with anxiety and he can't believe how cheesy this is, but he wants to do it before their family comes over. "I remember I promised you, one day when Ben-Israel had told the world that I was the daddy, that I'd put a huge rock on your finger as soon as I could". He pops the tiny box open, and she gasps, hands flying to cover her lips as her eyes tear up. "It took me five years, but I did it. Rachel Barbara Berry, will you marry me?"
Rachel
Tears spring from her eyes as she looks at Noah and the engagement ring he's showing her. It's simple but beautiful, a single white gold band with a small, square-cut diamond snuggled into the metal. Noah's eyes are warm and loving, and his voice is rough with a hint of anxiety. She can't believe this is happening, it's so romantic that he's proposing to her in Christmas morning! (And she's a romantic at heart, even though Noah is the only one she'll admit it to).
Lune is looking at them, interest and confusion mixed into her young face. Rachel hastily wipes her tear-stricken cheeks and nods, a big smile in her lips (for the first time in a very long time she's speechless, but she believes her affirmative head gesture and smile are more than satisfying answers of her agreement to his marriage proposition.
Noah smiles widely and slips the engagement ring on her finger. As he does it, he whispers, "It belonged to my mother. My father gave it to her at happier times, and she wanted me to give it to you for a long time now". She giggles because it's so like his mother to pressure him into proposing to her.
"Mommy, why are you crying?" Lune's voice is tiny, fearful and thick with tears, and Rachel and Noah break away from their little bubble to wrap themselves around their little girl.
"Mommy is crying because she's very happy, baby". Rachel smiles as she picks Lune into her arms and kisses the strawberry scented locks. "Lune, guess what? Mommy and daddy are getting married!"
The little girl squeals and hugs her, before looking at her with serious eyes, her tiny hand going up to Rachel's humid face. "Don't cry, mommy. Come on, let's play with my new doll!"
"You go ahead, baby, mommy and daddy are going to watch you", Noah says, and Lune nods and runs to the huge package, whose wrap paper she eagerly tears into. It's the doll she had asked Santa for, and she squeals in happiness as she rushes to Noah and Rachel's side.
"Look, mommy, daddy, Santa brought me my doll!"
Rachel smiles and kisses the tiny nose. "It looks like he thought you were a good girl this year, little one", she says, and glances quickly at Noah before turning her attention back to the energetic child. "Lune, honey, do you know Santa next year is going to come early for mommy and daddy and you?" She stage-whispers conspiratorially, smirking at the young child who looks at her with big eyes.
"Wow! Really?" She sees Lune is excited, but Noah is confused, and her smirk softens in a smile. "Why's that, mommy?"
"Well…" Her smile is enigmatic, and she straightens up to look at Noah. "You're having a baby brother or sister, Lune. I'm pregnant".
Noah
Lune screams with wild happiness, thrilled that she's going to be a big sister. She bolts to the living room, going to the telephone and dialing madly Quinn's telephone number. He takes the opportunity to approach Rachel, wrapping his arms carefully around her.
"You sure?" He asks quietly, and she nods, a big smile curving her full lips.
"My period is late for more than a month now, and I took a pregnancy test with Quinn last week. Home pregnancy tests being bound to fail more frequently than to have it right, I was not quite convinced, but Quinn told me that particular brand of home-taken pregnancy tests is quite accurate, she took one of those when she found out she was with Lune".
He is sure his face is going to hurt because his smile is so wide, and he kisses her passionately as his hand comes to rest over her still flat stomach, under her pajamas' shirt, softly caressing the baby bump Rachel doesn't have yet – joy arises in him for knowing he is having a child with the love of his life – a baby to raise as Jew, making them, from a couple of good-looking Jews, a beautiful Jewish family.
He listens to Lune babbling and squealing on the phone in the living room, and Rachel's skin is warm and silky smooth under his calloused hand. "I love you", he whispers, and she smiles with happiness and love.
"I love you too".