Title: Bring Her Home
Pairing, Character(s): Puck/Rachel friendship
Rating: T
Summary: When Rachel hits the panic button before opening night, Kurt calls the one person who has always managed to get through to her...A/U, of course, because really...
[Sentences in italics amid regular text are internal monologue.]
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, nor do I like the writers much anymore. That's why I write fic.
"We need a Puckervention."
Puck frowned at the text from Kurt. What the - He took a deep breath and glanced around before picking up the phone and calling.
Kurt jumped as his cell phone rang, his eyes lighting up. "Blaine! It's him, I'll be right back. Just keep her -" He shook his head and moved into his bedroom. "Puck?"
Puck frowned at the desperation he heard in Kurt's voice. "Hummel. You need a what?"
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Remember the Barbravention? We need that. Again. Now."
Puck chuckled. "Uh, yeah, no way I can get out there. What's going on?"
Kurt raised a brow. "You know Funny Girl is about to open, right?"
Puck looked at the tiny ticket stub stuffed into a program in the corner of his dresser. "After the Boston run, yeah."
"Yes, well, apparently our Rachel is still a fragile flower, and she's in a funk." Kurt snorted a laugh. "And not the good kind."
Puck snickered. "Yeah, okay, but what does that have to do with me?"
"She cut Sam's guitar strings, Puck." Kurt shook his head again.
Puck winced. "Okay, no good. But what am I gonna do from here, dude? In case you forgot, it's not really like I can just pick up and go."
Kurt shrugged. "I know, but...you're the only one who's able to get through to her without pissing her off. We're looking for our Rachel, not the Diva who threw Santana out."
Puck sighed, rubbing a hand over his head. "Yeah, I get that." He blew out a breath. "Wanna hand your phone over or should I call like I don't know anything and I just wanna wish her luck?"
Kurt bit his lip. "Would she believe you just called?"
Puck swallowed. When I've done it before, yeah. "Yeah, she would."
Kurt nodded. "That, then. Leave us out of it but...please, any help would be greatly appreciated."
Puck inhaled slowly. "I'll do what I can." He hung up before Kurt could reply.
Kurt shook himself and joined Blaine on the couch. "He's calling."
Blaine raised a brow. "You really think it'll work?"
Kurt nodded and tucked his head on Blaine's chest. "I think it's our best shot."
Rachel glared as her phone rang. I don't want to speak to anyone, damn it. She grabbed it to ignore the call and froze at the caller ID. Noah? "Hello?"
Puck smiled at the sound of her voice. "Hi, I'm calling from the Lima News, looking for a Ms. Rachel Barbra Berry? You know where I can reach her?"
Rachel snorted. "You better not be from the News or I'm hanging up right now."
No press? Seriously? Puck raised a brow at the phone. "Hey, Rachel."
"Hello, Noah." She frowned. "Did Kurt call you?"
"What? Hummel?" Puck scoffed. "Dude, you think I'd let him have my number? He'd be stalking the Puckzilla, no thanks."
She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Considering the lovefest on the couch in the living room, highly unlikely, but far be it for me to wound your ego."
"Ouch, you already did." Puck blew out a breath. "Just wanted to call, pretty sure Opening Night is what, tomorrow?"
Rachel frowned. "Don't remind me."
"Don't remind you?" He rolled his eyes. "You've been waiting for this since you were six and in the talent show at the JCC. I remember 'cause you tried to convince me to be in it with you."
She blushed. "I did, didn't I."
He snorted. "Hell yeah you did. You have no idea how much crap I got from my ma about that."
She giggled, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Sorry?"
He shrugged. "Whatever. What's up with you though? You should be like dancing on rooftops and sh-" He chuckled. "You know."
Rachel tugged her pillow over her head. "I'm just full of these doubts...and all these people are..."
"Whoa, hold up. Doubts? Rachel Berry? The chick who required her boyfriend to be brave enough to sing a solo before getting anywhere?" Puck frowned. What the hell is wrong?
She pressed the pillow tighter to her face. "That was - that wasn't -"
He chuckled. "Relax, okay? I'm teasing. What people? What's going on, Rach?"
She sighed. "Coach Sylvester is here to watch me fail. NYADA part two, as it were."
Puck shook his head. "Sylvester is there because it burns her ass to think someone else could be bigger than her. And you're gonna be, Rachel, you know that. You do."
She scoffed. "Not now, I don't."
"Yeah, well, right now you're freaked 'cause it's right there." He smirked. "Wanting everything too much didn't stop in high school."
She gave a short laugh. "Not even close." She moved the pillow aside and sat up. "And you're right. I want this more than I've wanted anything in a long time." She toyed with the necklace she wore. "And the last thing I wanted didn't...it didn't..."
Puck sighed. "Yeah. Figured." He rubbed a hand over his head. "But you did get it, you know that. He loved you more than Quinn, more than any girl I ever saw him with."
She took a deep breath. "I know."
He quirked a brow. "So why let anyone get in your head about this? No one could stop you and Hudson. Why do they get to stop you now?"
"Because he..." Rachel collapsed into herself, voice barely above a whisper. "I lost him, Noah, he's gone and I just..."
Puck closed his eyes, his chest tight. "It wasn't your fault, Rach. You know that. It wasn't you."
She bit back a sob.
Puck winced as he heard the choked noise on the other end of the line. "Rachel. It's not your fault. He wouldn't want you thinking like that. And he sure as hell wouldn't want you to give up on your dreams."
"He wanted to be in the front row," she whispered. "He made me promise to buy him a ticket to my very first opening night, no matter what."
"So then do it. Buy him a ticket, and sing right to that seat if you want to." He shook his head. "But you gotta do it. You gotta show up. That's what you told me to do. My turn to say it back to you."
She smiled softly. "Worked out, didn't it? I knew Quinn wouldn't be able to ignore you."
He smirked. "So take your own advice. Show up. See what happens."
She raised a brow. "How are you guys doing, anyway? I haven't heard a peep from Quinn."
Puck rolled his eyes. "Makes two of us. You'd think I'd be the impossible one but she's always busy."
Rachel frowned. "You okay?"
He rolled his eyes again. "This is about you, don't worry about me. I called to tell you to break a leg but it sounds like I need to come out there and break both of Sylvester's instead."
Rachel exhaled shakily. "I just...it's under my skin and I'm just...Noah, I'm so tired. Weary to my bones." She closed her eyes. "I've never felt this awful in my life."
He pursed his lips. "Well, get one of those weird green drinks and get on your elliptical. You're Rachel fucking Berry, act like it."
A laugh escaped before Rachel could stop it. "Noah! You cursed!"
He rubbed a hand over his forehead. "Yeah, well, I'll do the push-ups if anyone says anything. This is important."
"I don't..." She swallowed hard. "Noah, I don't think I know how to feel okay."
He rolled his eyes. "How about you don't worry about okay and work on getting out of bed?"
She snorted. "Well, that would probably help."
"Baby steps. Right? Just show up and let her see me. Well, I did and it got me further than we thought it could." He chuckled. "Thanks for the applause by the way, I was afraid I was gonna get some T-Rex retaliation."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous. First, not appropriate for several reasons. Second...I knew how much you wanted a chance with her. I wouldn't embarrass either of you like that."
Puck ran a hand over the back of his neck. "Yeah. You know, it's kinda awesome that I get to sound so wise when I'm just telling you what you told me before McKinley."
She giggled. "You would enjoy that."
"Is that a smile?" he teased. "Pretty sure I heard a smile."
She blushed and rolled her eyes again. "Maybe."
"Good." He smiled at the change in her tone. "Look, I'm not saying you can't be nervous, but you can't let it keep you off that stage. Lay in bed for a day if you want to, sure, but tomorrow, you get up and you kick ass, you hear me?"
"Sir yes sir," she teased. "I can take orders. Not well, but..."
He chuckled. "That's my girl." He caught his breath and shook his head. "You know what I mean."
Rachel swallowed and smiled tightly. "I know. I just...if I don't...if this doesn't work, Noah, if it's awful...I don't -" She took a shaky breath. "If it doesn't work, I don't have any dreams left," she whispered.
Puck blew out a breath. "Rachel..."
"I dreamed of this, of Broadway, for so long." Rachel shook her head. "Leaving Lima, being a star...and then I dreamed of Finn and being with him, dreamed of him with me on this journey and now he's gone and I have half a dream left and I just can't - I can't take the chance I lose this one too, Noah, what do I have left? Who am I without him?" She closed her eyes. "Who would I be without the stage?"
"Whoever the fuck you want to be," he challenged.
"Noah -"
"Don't. I don't even wanna hear this, Rach." Puck started to pace. "Bad enough when you thought you had to go mess with your nose - you have cute hands and a cute nose, damn it, just leave 'em alone - but to think you'd be nothing if this first thing doesn't work? It's not all in your hands, you know. Weren't you the one always telling us to pull our weight, that you couldn't just do it alone? Same goes here, babe."
She sighed. "But - I'm the star here, Noah. Top billing, main stage star. That's a lot different than Glee club. I'm not fighting to make a winning team, I'm working to make my name."
"And if this isn't the way to make it, you'll make it another way." He paused. "You can't tell me that you didn't have any other dreams when you were little, dreams that you moved on from."
She gave a soft smile as a vision of a tiny badass and budding diva flashed in her minds' eye. "Maybe. A long time ago."
"Well, you survived that changing. You'll get through this too." He shook his head slowly. "You're like, the strongest person I know, Rachel. Don't sell yourself short."
She huffed out a laugh. "Isn't that what I'm supposed to tell you?"
He grinned. "Well yeah, but you told me enough that it's starting to stick."
She exhaled roughly. "But I can spend today moping?"
He rolled his eyes. "If you wanna. Wallow in it, throw the covers over your head. But when that alarm goes off tomorrow, be the Rachel I know you are. Deal?"
She took a deep breath. "Deal."
He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and let his shoulders drop. "So. Too early to tell you to break a leg?"
She smiled. "Not even at all."
"Well then break a leg, Berry." He grinned. "Broadway isn't gonna know what hit it."
"Thank you, Noah." She bit her lip and glanced at the curtain separating her from the world. "You really think I should buy him a ticket?"
"You do whatever's gonna make you feel right. Buy him a ticket, buy him a row, whatever. Just don't let anyone keep you from getting on that stage. Including you."
She blushed. "I hear you, I promise."
"Good, 'cause I can't come out there to pull another dance mob on you on such short notice, okay? I'm counting on you." He shrugged. "I wish I could be there, you know."
She smiled. "I know. Don't think I didn't catch a familiar smirk in the audience in Boston."
He flushed, ducking his head. "Yeah, well...I was visiting Q and I heard there was a show in town I should check out."
She laughed. "Why didn't you say hello?"
He bit his lip. "I didn't wanna bug you, I was - I kinda wasn't supposed to be there, I, uh…"
"Did you -" Rachel shook her head, smiling wryly. "Noah, did you ditch Quinn to see the show?"
"Don't tell her, okay? It was some lame dinner with some Biff clones. I could barely stand that guy, why would I want to hang around with a bunch of them?" He shrugged. "So I said I had to check in with the base and that she should go without me. I beat her back to the apartment so…"
Rachel shook her head. "Some things never change?"
Puck snorted. "Something like that." He shook himself. "Not like, not that things aren't -"
"Noah, you never have to justify yourself to me, not anymore." She smiled. "We're way past that now."
He blew out a breath. "Good. 'Cause I don't want any of the doubts in your head to sound like me, okay?"
"Not even close," she assured him. "Not in ages."
He smiled. "All right, cool." He glanced at his watch and winced. "I gotta - I gotta go, but you sure you're good?"
"I am, Noah, thank you." She toyed with her necklace and snuggled back down into bed. "I'm going to hide for a bit longer, but...I'll be ready for tomorrow."
"And if you think you're not, call me. You promise?" He raised a brow.
She grinned. "I promise. You make a good friend, you know that?"
He rolled his eyes. "Before you ruin my rep, I'm gonna go."
She only smiled wider. "Thank you, Noah. I'm glad you called."
He chuckled. "I am too. Catch you soon, Fanny."
"Goodbye, gorgeous," she teased.
"Damn right I am," he replied. "Later."
"Bye, Noah." Rachel hung up the phone.
Puck blew out a breath and texted Kurt. Give her tonight, she'll be ready. He hit send and went to the browser on his phone, Googling for florists. Gotta cheer her on, if I can't be there...He browsed the search results, pausing over one with a thoughtful smirk..
Santana stormed through the next day, startling Rachel from her cocoon. Rachel let her storm out before smiling and throwing back the covers. Enough of that, time to be the Rachel I should be.
"What are you all moping around for? It's my Opening Night!"
Puck sat at the computer, smirking as his girlfriend filled him in on the latest over Skype.
"Oh, and it's Rachel's opening night, so I'm sending her a bouquet," Quinn said. "Do you want me to sign for you too?"
Puck froze, darting a glance at the email confirmation on the other half of his screen. "Uh, nah, it's cool. She knows I'm rooting for her."
Rachel squealed as the crew left her dressing room, looking over the flowers collected along the wall. She smiled as she read each card, pausing at Quinn's bouquet. Not from them both? She shook her head and continued down the line until she reached Puck's flowers. She bit her lip and plucked the card from the envelope.
Rachel -
Break a leg or two, and remember what Fanny said: "the whole world will look at you and be stunned."
Puck
She flicked a finger over the white lilies and smiled.
A.N.: From the Language of Flowers: "LILY, WHITE: Purity, modesty, virginity, majesty, it's heavenly to be with you." Best I can get from the quick shot of the flowers in the ep is that Puck's flowers were white lilies, and I'm choosing to make it so. Hope y'all enjoyed.