Alone
Junior year was supposed to be different, Puck was supposed to be with Quinn, Rachel with Finn, she was supposed to be ruling glee with an iron fist and getting them first place in Sectional's again, the slushie facial was supposed to be occurring less, and the general bullying itself. But of course it wasn't Rachel was still being bullied, the Golden Couple had reconnected leaving two broken hearts behind and glee club still treated her as a useful resource they could rely on but still abuse.
Puck slammed his locker and hefted his actually full bag onto his shoulder; since Quinn had left him for his ex best friend he had made an honest effort to make sure that her parting words to him wouldn't come true. She had left him with the parting words that she couldn't "rely on a Lima-loser", since starting school he had attended every class, had started to complete extra credit to bring up his average and working out harder to make his sports better. It had made him withdraw into himself a lot, he didn't throw anyone in dumpsters and hadn't grown his Mohawk back, he was quiet and rather than strutting through the halls he stalked, inadvertently making himself more sinister and less approachable, probable the reason that he hadn't hooked up in months.
He stalked down the hallway towards math passing Rachel who was leaning against her locker staring at the ceiling, completely oblivious to the bitching Santana standing next to her; Puck ground himself to a halt and hovered behind Santana who was bitching about Rachel's clothes.
"just because you seem to have retired the Pippin Long stocking look doesn't mean anything, though well done you do look more like a manhands in this getup" she smirked gesturing at Rachel's getup, a pair of tight black jeans with a small grey hooded top and black Ugg's.
Puck did his classical up and down look of the girl and smirked, she looked hot, the jeans were tight along her legs and the hooded top wasn't too baggy and conformed to her small but perfect breasts.
"Done?" asked Rachel shortly her gaze dropping to Santana's who stopped mid rant to look at her in shock "good" she laughed picking up her own backpack and swinging it onto her shoulder "got this little thing called class to get to, always a pleasure Santana"
Puck grinned and hurried to catch up with Rachel, he didn't say anything but he knew his presence at her side would deter the people who still decided to slushie her. He had watched her in the last few months and if anything she had changed more than him. Unless she was spoken to she didn't talk, her clothes had changed, he missed the skirts, she had withdrawn into herself as well, and the one fact he couldn't get? That no one but him had noticed.
"How you doing Berry?" he asked as they both collapsed into their seats at the back of the class.
"Good. You?" she asked shortly pulling out her notebook, she may have changed, in fact even her dreams had changed but she still needed and wanted a perfect GPA.
"Yeah" Puck replied, pulling out his own notebook "we got glee today?"
"Nope" Rachel said picking up her pencil as the teacher started.
"Wanna do something after school?" he asked randomly, he didn't know why he had asked watching Rachel as she backed away from everyone had actually hurt him. He was loath to admit it but he loved the bright vibrant girl who never let anything bring her down and now he missed her, he hadn't done anything because he had been dragged down trying to pull himself out of the academic hole two years of goofing off had caused.
"No" Rachel replied shortly but without any venom, just a resigned tone. Puck glanced at her and frowned as something passed across her face, something he couldn't identify.
"You doing something with your dads?" he asked prodding trying to find out what she was hiding, Rachel laughed bitterly and shortly and began to scribble again.
"Ooohhkay" he drawled out "obviously not"
Rachel muttered something under her breath and hunched over her notebook a little more trying to keep up with the teacher who was talking quickly. The bell for the end of school rang out before he could get her to talk again, stuffing their notebooks into their bags they were first out the door, Rachel heading straight out the school gates without stopping, Puck not realising until he was next to his truck, getting in he quickly followed after her, driving slowly he got out and parked following her on foot.
She was hiding something from him, and he didn't like that, despite his distracted behaviour in the last few months he was always the one who she could talk to the most and vice versa, and now she was hiding from him and that hurt when he realised that he had never stopped wanting her. He stopped in a shop doorway as he watched her climb up the stairs towards the second floor of a motel, The Bean Inn, opened a door on the end room and closed it behind her, he waited for a few minutes waiting for her to exit and walk home, but instead the light flicked on and he could see her enter the bathroom and turn the shower on.
Waiting he watched through the upstairs windows until the light turned off past the frosted window and the door opened with Rachel exiting in her pyjamas moving to close her curtains, seeing her move behind the curtains he finally moved, bolting up the stairs to the door and banging on it.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded as she opened the door and he swayed forward on his feet, pushing his way in before she could close the door he grabbed her hips, kicked the door closed behind him and pushed her towards the bed. "Why are you living in a motel?"
"Noah" Rachel moaned as he pushed her down onto the bed "what are you doing here?"
"Don't answer a question with a question" Puck complained, grabbing at her as she moved to stand up, tugging on her to pull her back next to him "Rach what is going on? Why are you living here?"
"Because I do, I moved out of my father's house" Rachel said shortly, tugging herself out of his hold and moving up the bed, lying down in exhaustion "I got sick of knowing they didn't care, so I left and charge them for this room"
Puck pulled himself up next to her and lay down "they pay?"
"Because they are guilty they do" Rachel admitted yawning a little, and instinctively rolling onto her side and backing into him as he spooned her from behind.
Sighing a little she cuddled further back as his arm came around her from behind and held her closer "your parents don't care?" he whispered.
"No one cares about me"
"Not true" Puck insisted holding her tighter.
"Want to watch a film?" Rachel asked, not bothering to ask what he meant as his grip tightened and his meaning became obvious, neither one of them were particularly good at speaking about their feelings, actions always spoke louder to the both of them. His grip tightening was him saying I care about you, I always have and I always will, I know I make it difficult to let people in but you always were Rachel.
Her asking about watching a film meant I know you care, I'm sorry, I want you to stay because I trust you and like that you care about me.
"Sure" Puck agreed and picking up Rachel's laptop to search her hard drive for a good film, finding Casino Royale he clicked it on and pulled her back against his chest as the opening song started.
Gleeeeeeeeeeee
"Hey" he greeted the next morning leaning against her locker, finding himself missing her skirts again, her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail again, and she was wearing blue jeans with a black hooded top.
"Morning" Rachel said smiling at him briefly before gently pushing him out of the way to open her locker as Quinn marched up to the two of them, Finn trailing after her.
"What the hell is this?" Quinn yelled at the two teenagers who looked at each other and shrugged before turning back to the Golden Couple.
"Dude your taking Rachel now?" Finn demanded of his ex best friend
"Taking Rachel? Taking Rachel?" Rachel repeated "taking Rachel from who exactly? From you? Because you threw me away, discarded me as the piece of trash you treated me like, so as far as taking Rachel? Piss off"
Puck laughed harshly and dropped back against the locker as Finn paled and Quinn turned red with anger.
"You know I could get him back" Quinn smirked at Rachel
Making Puck laugh harder, moving over to Rachel and tossing his arm around her shoulders as she packed her bag "thanks Q I needed that laugh" he eased Rachel away from the stunned couple and herded her towards her class. "She's wrong" he whispered as she pulled away.
Rachel turned back and smiled before moving to back away.
"Wait, can you do me a favour?" he asked "tutor me?"
"Tonight, come to mine" Rachel said with another smile.
Despite the Golden Couples belief they hadn't jumped into a physical relationship last night, Rachel was to wary for that, time and again she had let herself be sucked into a situation that controlled her heart, and the person she had given it to broke it. That didn't mean Puck didn't have a healthy appreciation for her and didn't want that, he was just going to be careful about how fast they moved, seeing her living in a motel scared him into making sure he treated her right, despite how much he wanted in her pants.
Walking into her motel room after school they perched themselves on the bed, Rachel against his chest, him with one arm around her, another holding the book he had been assigned in English. In almost complete silence they completed their homework, Rachel showing him how to complete something if he was stuck but not talking much other than that nothing was said.
Finishing they packed everything back into their bags before Rachel cooked herself some soup and got back into bed beside Puck who wrapped an arm around her and put another film on.
"I miss you talking at me" he said randomly as the opening started.
"I thought I made you want to light yourself on fire" Rachel commented again without venom.
"Well I did, but then I got to know you"
Rachel smiled and looked up at him cuddling a little closer into his chest and his grip tightened again, her eyes falling closed she felt his chest move underneath her cheek, his chest shook with laughter at the film, his smooth deep breaths easing her into sleep as he watched the film. Easing her away as his curfew approached, he dropped a kiss onto her head, and pulled the blankets over her tight, wincing as her eyes fluttered open "sleep" he breathed out pressing another kiss to her head, smiling as Rachel tugged his lips down to her mouth with her small insistent hands on his neck "I'll pick you up in the morning"
Rachel smiled up at him sleepily and nodded tugging the blankets up as he closed and locked the door behind him. It became a pattern for them for rest of the month, he picked her up took her to school, and the two of them spent the day being quiet going to class sitting in the back at glee, before he drove her back to her room, that her parents without pair each week with an envelope of cash for her room and living expenses. They would sit together quietly doing their homework before he would put a film on and make sure she ate before she would fall asleep splayed across his chest and he would ease her away waking her up in the progress and press the only kiss he allowed himself everyday to her lips.
"Noah Elijah Puckerman! Where have you been?" his mother demanded as he opened his front door on Thursday night, just over a month since his and Rachel's evenings had started.
"Fuck mom!" Puck jumped in shock "I was at Rachel's you know that"
"You spend every day with her, her parents must have a problem with you continually being at her house, are you impregnating another girl?" Eden asked in worry
"No! I was with Rachel" Puck insisted again "and her parents don't care that I am over there so much ok so don't worry"
"Of course they worry, you are a seventeen year old teenager who spends every waking moment with their seventeen year old daughter don't you dare pull the wool over my eyes Noah Elijah!"
"Mom they don't care ok! Because for them to care there would actually have to you know live with their daughter" he snapped in anger, he knew he wasn't the greatest kid in the world but he thought he had proven to his mom that he had changed "and not support her with an envelope stuffed full of cash underneath her motel bedroom door once a week"
"Noah what on earth do you mean?" Eden asked in worry this time not anger as she eased her son to the couch.
"She moved out mom, she got sick of them not caring so she moved into the Bean Inn and because her parents are being overwhelmed with crushing guilt they pay for the room and her living expenses with an envelope of cash once a week"
"Oh Noah that poor girl" Eden said clapping her hand over her mouth in shock "well that just won't do go back right now and get her to come here"
"Mom?"
"Well I will not let that poor thing grow up thinking no one cares, she needs a real family...Noah what are you not saying?" she asked suddenly
"I'm pretty sure I'm in love with her" Puck said bluntly looking up at the ceiling "and the only way I am able not to blurt it out and tell her is because I leave every night"
"Noah you don't have to leave" Eden said gently knowing how difficult it was for her son to admit loving anyone, and that he didn't mean physically leaving her he meant leaving in general "I know you worry about being your father but just by proving you love her is better than he ever did to me"
"You don't think I'm too young to fall in love?" he asked in shock, shouldn't his mom be freaking out right now?
"No because I know you, you have been in lust plenty of times but never love, not even Quinn held your heart, so go get your girl and bring her home" she ordered standing up and brushing a hand over her sons shaven head pressing a kiss onto it quickly before he bolted.
Yes most parents would think she was being an idiot right now, but she knew her son his blunt admission had healed the rift in her heart that his mess up last year had broken, she knew finally that her son would be ok.
"Noah?" Rachel asked rubbing at her eyes as she finally answered the door after he had been banging on it for ten minutes "didn't you leave like an hour ago?"
"I love you" he blurted out, his heart melting at her tussled hair and sleep filled eyes "and you are moving in with my family"
"Um..." Rachel tried to catch up as he pushed into the room and grabbed her bag from the closet, putting it on the bed to start packing everything up "I love you too" she finally answered as her brain caught up.
"I know" he said looking at her and smiling, continuing to pack "now get your perfect arse in gear and start packing, my mom already knows"
Rachel opened her mouth to protest at his high handed manner, but Puck used the opportunity to sweep down and kiss her open mouthed, his tongue sliding into her mouth opportunistically, grinning inside as she moaned and clutched at him.
"Hurry up" he ordered swatting at her ass and pushing her towards her bathroom "we have school in the morning remember" he reminded her smiling as it finally got her moving to pack her toiletries.
Arriving at Puck's house a little under half an hour later Puck carried everything out of the truck and up to his room, he wasn't going to let her sleep in the spare room when he had finally admitted loving her aloud, while Rachel was swept up into Eden's arm as she already began fussing over the petite girl insisting that she needed a little more meat on her body.
"Ma lets allow Rachel to get some sleep" Puck finally intervened as Rachel's eyes fluttered close again and again, Eden smiled and nodded as her son swept down and picked up the girl carrying her up to what forever would be their room, even in Eden's eyes as she finally saw the two of them together. Her son was looking at the women in his arms with all the love in the world, unable to let go of the sight of them she followed silently behind them and watched as Rachel was placed gently in his double bed and he climbed in next to her, holding her tightly as he flicked the light off.
This started another cycle for the young couple, returning to a home had completely changed Rachel's outlook she realised that life was too short to avoid something that made her feel good, and Puck did made her feel good. Shocking Puck completely she had walked up to him at the kitchen table the next morning and pressed a morning kiss to his lips, before accepting hugs off Eden and Hannah.
Less than a week later Puck found himself almost continuously watching his girlfriend as he was allowed to call her now, he thought he had watched her before but now he was obsessive, he had stopped all the bullying from outside glee, reverting back to his old ways to lay the smack down, he was possessive he knew it but he didn't care. She walked around school with her perfect silky hair up in a ponytail showing off the, in his mind, delectable curve of her neck that he loved running his lips down, and her jeans tight in all the right places, and he knew the only thing that would make him happy was property of Noah Puckerman stamped across her in some way.
Dwelling on that thought he watched her in the kitchen on a Friday night two weeks after she had moved in as she tied up after teaching Hannah how to make chocolate chip cookies, he loved this the domesticity of the situation, she had cooked them dinner because Eden was working and now she fussed over him as he watched her.
"Babe stop it" he said gently "you don't need to fuss over me"
"I know" Rachel said leaning down to press another kiss to his lips "I like fussing over you, I feel like I should, and it's not that you don't care for me"
"I was just thinking how right this all feels" Puck admitted tugging her down onto his lap sideways "it's like the perfect set up, and I can't even say it's because we are in the honeymoon period or whatever because it just doesn't feel like that. Rachel I can honestly say that I love you and never want to let you go, this is surprisingly I know it for me"
"I feel the same" Rachel smiled at him pressing another kiss to his lips and moving to get up but he gripped her hips tightly.
"Marry me" he blurted out suddenly
"Careful Noah someone may take you up on that one day" she laughed, inadvertently making him smile as her peeling laughter filled the house "you really do have to stop blurting things out like that"
"No Rach I mean it, Marry me"
"But...we can't...Noah we are 17...and..."
"Stop thinking" he ordered putting one his hands over her mouth "and listen to this" he pressed a hand to heart "what does this say about marrying me?"
"It says yes" Rachel breathed out in shock after a few minutes, practically falling out of his lap as he pulled her up into his arms and bolted for the front door, shouting a command to Hannah to not open the door and to keep it locked. "Noah where are we going?"
"To tell my mom and get married"
"Noah!"
"Nope Rach you agreed, and if I can't have property of Noah Puckerman stamped across your forehead a wedding ring proclaiming your mine is just as good, plus if I get you to marry me now you can't back out"
"I won't change my mind" Rachel promised as he pulled into the diner parking lot and tugged her out towards the counter where his mom was serving.
"I know, still need it to be now. Mom?
"Noah, Rachel!" Eden said looking up in surprise "well hello"
"I'm marrying her mom, right now in city hall any objections?"
"Um...well not really I suppose" Eden stuttered "I mean you are both young...but..."
"But I love her and want her to be mine forever" Puck said tugging the stunned Rachel as close to him as he could.
"Rachel you are being quiet" Eden noted
"In shock I suppose" Rachel smiled up at her fiancé "this isn't exactly how I pictured it but in my heart I do want to marry him"
"Give it a few years baby and we can do the big white wedding" Puck promised "tell me right now is this want you want to do?"
"Yes"
"That's good enough for me" Eden smiled "go get married then, but I get to help plan the big white wedding, and as much as I want grandchildren let's wait till after high school ok?"
"Actually I need you to sign this form" Puck said pulling out a crumpled piece of paper "we are under eighteen we need our parents consent"
"Thought about this for a while have we?" Rachel laughed, suddenly paling as she realised she would have to talk to her fathers.
"Yep now just your dads" Puck said as Eden smiled and hugged them both tightly ushering out of the diner "now you just wait in the car and I will deal with this" Puck promised as they drove up to Rachel's former home.
After a whirlwind of papers and parents, Rachel blushed as she realised she was standing in front of a clerk of the court in her school uniform holding onto a bouquet a kind women in the waiting room had pressed into her hands, Puck holding onto two plain silver wedding rings he had happily spent most of his savings on.
After they repeated the vows, Noah slid the ring onto her hand and waited for her to do the same before the clerk declared them man and wife and told them kiss, after tossing the bouquet in the waiting room. Rachel and Noah left the court house in a fit of giggles, completely in shock that they had taken the plunge and gotten married in less than six hours, shaking his head the clerk watched the teenagers leave, he had seen a lot of these rushed marriages at a young age, and he knew most of them didn't work, but that one that one he had a good feeling about.
"We are crazy" Rachel moaned happily as they enjoyed a celebratory meal at a restaurant courtesy of her parents most recent guilt trip induced envelope of cash.
"Well I did marry you" Puck smirked leaning over to press a kiss to her lips, before picking up his glass, grinning as the ring clinked against the glass, if there ever was a powerful aphrodisiac it was the idea that Rachel and him belonged to each other.
"School on Monday is going to be a hoot" Rachel smiled
"You know what? I have more pressing issues on my mind, such as the consummation of our vows" he waggled his eyebrows before picking her up again for the second time that night and carrying her out of the restaurant as she squealed n embarrassment.
Gleeeeeeeeeeee
"Rachel Berry" Mr Schue said for the second time as he looked up on the risers and saw Noah and Rachel reacquainting themselves with each others mouths before glee started, but now everyone was here.
"Oh sorry Mr Schuester" Rachel said pulling back a little, surprised that despite an entire day in school no one had noticed the matching wedding rings but decided to give the glee club with their disapproving glares a thrill "but actually it's Puckerman now"
"Excuse me?" Mr Schue asked in confusion
"It's Rachel Puckerman"