Stick Together
A one-shot with the Puckerman family in the future of the Beginning Our Life/Never Forgotten Past universes.
Ages: Beth-21 / Nathan-18 / Rose-13 / Andy and Belle-8
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
"We're finally free!" Belle yelled while jumping from the car.
Noah chuckled while closing her door, "It was only an hour and a half."
"Of torture," Beth muttered as she stood from her own car.
"Agreed!" Rose smiled.
"Come on," Sarah urged, "It'll be fun, we're at the zoo!"
"Oh, it'll be fun," Beth nodded, "If someone stops moping." She shot a glare to the back of her father's truck where Nate was still seated with his headphones plugged in.
"Hey, Nate!" Noah stuck his head in the car, "Come on, we're here."
"Yeah, I get it," Nate groaned, "I just don't want to be spending my first weekend of freedom at the zoo."
"But we can see the lions," Andy begged, "Please, dude."
Nate sighed and scooted out the door, "Fine." He shoved his hands in his pockets, "I'm missing a huge party tonight," he muttered to Noah.
Noah patted him on the back, "Your uncle Finn told me about that party, apparently a whole bunch of guys that got held back are planning on getting drunk and impregnating all the freshman cheerleaders. Real cool."
Nate blushed and kicked the ground.
"I'd rather you're here, with us," Noah said quietly, "I know you're not exactly excited about this, but you're not the only one who deserves to celebrate. Beth just turned 21 and your siblings finished school like you. At least try to be happy, for your mom."
"Ok," Nate whispered.
"Yay! Nate wants to go in!" Belle jumped on her older brother.
Nate laughed and set her down, "Yeah, yeah, now come on, we have some gorillas to see."
"And lions!" Andy yelled.
Beth smiled as her brothers and sister ran past her. Rose looked up at her, "Why are you smiling?"
Beth shrugged, "I like when they're happy."
Sarah wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Don't we all?"
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
Noah held open the door as everyone filed into the small aquarium.
"Thank you, sir," Andy bowed.
"Oh, get in," Sarah laughed and pushed him.
Noah chuckled and followed his family inside. He walked over to where Beth and Rose were trying to count the number of fish in one of the tanks. He leaned against the wall and counted off, "50, 63, 92, 14."
"Dad!" Rose laughed and shoved him, "Now we have to start over."
Beth laughed, "Just leave him. He's teasing."
"I know," Rose tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and set her hand on her hip.
Noah raised his eyebrows at her, "You ok?"
"Yeah, why?" Rose asked.
Noah chuckled, "You have a twitch in your neck or something? What's going on?"
Rose rolled her eyes, "I'm going to see what Mom's up to." She stalked past her dad and sister.
Beth smiled at Noah, "It's just a phase. She told me in the car she wants to be popular."
"Yeah, well, as long as she doesn't act out, we'll be ok," Noah shook his head.
"Dad," Andy ran over, "Guess what?"
"Hmm?" Noah leaned against the wall.
"Octopuses are really smart," Andy stated, "Isn't that cool?"
"Yeah," Noah nodded, "Real cool."
"I want one," Andy continued.
Beth laughed and began walking away, "Good luck, he wouldn't even let me get a dog."
Noah rolled his eyes and turned to Andy, "No."
"But Dad," he begged, "You don't get. It could feed itself."
"But we'd have to buy the food," Noah reasoned, "Do you see that thing over there? It's huge. There's no way we could fit that in our house."
"I'm sure they have smaller ones," Andy whined, "Please."
"Let me think about it," Noah said, "No."
"Dad!" Andy stomped his foot.
"Andy," Noah warned.
"Alright, what's going on over here?" Sarah walked up, "Beth said something about a pet octopus?"
"Andy wants one," Noah said.
"And Dad said no," Andy muttered.
Sarah nodded, "That's right."
Andy's jaw dropped, "Come on, Mom, please."
"Look around," Sarah said, "There's like a billion fish in here and you want an octopus. What about a fish? I'm sure fish are smart."
Noah shook his head. He knew Sarah'd cave somehow. He also knew that tomorrow they were going to get a fish and then throw a funeral for it in the bathroom next weekend since Andy wouldn't feed it.
"They're not," Andy grumbled, "But I guess they're a close second."
"Good," Sarah smiled, "We'll go to the pet store tomorrow."
Andy gave her a quick hug before running off towards Nate.
Noah stepped up and smirked, "You just couldn't say no, could you?"
Sarah shrugged, "I want my kids to be happy."
Noah wrapped his arms around her, "You never change."
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
"Alright, who wanted what?" Sarah asked while unpacking the lunches, "I can't remember."
"I put all the lunchmeat we had on mine," Nate raised his hand.
"And that's disgusting," Rose laughed.
Sarah smiled and tossed Nate the sandwich, "Here you are."
"Peanut butter for me," Beth said.
"Me too!" Belle yelled.
"Quiet," Noah chuckled as he handed his oldest and youngest their sandwich.
Andy jumped up and tried to grab half the food.
"Back off," Noah smirked and gently shoved Andy back.
Andy stumbled and ran into a young girl. She shrieked when her tray flew back into her shirt. Everyone turned to watch the two of them.
Andy's jaw dropped, yet there was a hint of a smile on his face as he muttered, "Sorry."
"Ugh!" the girl looked up from examining her ruined shirt, "Stupid kid!"
Nate's eyes widened as he recognized his ex-girlfriend, "Jaime?"
Her eyes flashed to him, "Nate."
Nate stood and offered her a napkin, "Here."
She angrily took it and started wiping the nacho cheese from her blue t-shirt, "This is completely destroyed."
Sarah was still in shock as she watched Nate with Jaime while Noah was more interested in how Nate was handling the situation.
"You could at least say thank you for the napkin," Belle spoke up.
Jaime rolled her eyes, "It was probably Nate's fault anyways. I bet you're still hooked on me despite our breakup."
Nate's face blushed, "Uh-no, absolutely not."
Jaime smirked, "That's what I thought." She turned to Andy, "Alright kid, fork it over. I want money for the shirt and my lunch."
Andy shook his head and was going to reply when Nate stepped between them, "Don't talk to my brother like that."
Jaime set her hands on her hips, "You can't tell me what to do."
"When it has to do with my family, I think I can," Nate stated dangerously, "Now apologize to Andy for running into him."
Jaime shook her head and turned to leave when Beth stuck her hand out and grabbed her arm, "I'd do as he said."
Jaime scoffed, "Who are you? Nate's new girlfriend?"
"Worse," Beth stood, "I'm his sister and those are my brothers you're pushing around, so you should apologize for being a bitch and then run to the bathroom where you'll clean off your disgustingly cheap shirt and cry your eyes out because Nate's the best boyfriend you could have asked for, but you lost him."
Jaime jerked from Beth's grip, "Fine." She looked at Andy, "I'm sorry, I should have watched where I was going." She turned to Nate, "And Nathan, I'm sorry you're still a loser virgin who gave up the hottest girlfriend in Lima."
"That's it!" Rose jumped up and lunged at Jaime.
"No, you don't," Noah grunted while grabbing her.
Jaime rolled her eyes once more before stalking off.
"I want to kill her," Belle hissed.
"I'm with ya," Andy nodded.
"No one's going to be killing anyone anytime soon," Sarah scolded. She pointed to the table, "Now, everyone sit."
Everyone returned to their seats in silence.
Nate glanced at Beth, "Thanks," he whispered.
She smiled, "No problem."
"I'm proud of you guys," Noah said. He looked at Rose with an amused expression, "Even you stepped in."
Rose shrugged, "No one messes with the Puckermans."
"That's right," Sarah smiled.
"We're awesome!" Andy yelled.
Nate high fived him, "Yeah, we are."
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
Noah helped Rose out of Beth's car before sticking his head in, "Have a safe drive home."
Beth smiled, "I will."
Noah smiled back, "And I just wanted to say that you were great today, stepping up for Nate like that."
Beth shrugged with a smirk, "It was nothing."
Noah chuckled, "Alright, I'll see you later."
Beth nodded and started the car, "Love you."
"Love you, too," Noah patted the top of her car and stepped back as she drove off.
"Noah, I think you may need to get Belle or Andy," Sarah whispered in his ear.
Noah nodded and opened up the truck door where Belle was sleeping. Across the truck, Nate was unbuckling Andy and gently picking him up. Sarah ran ahead and held open the front door for them.
Nate followed Noah upstairs and stopped in his room to set Andy on the smaller bed. Sarah watched from the doorway as Nate carefully slipped Andy's shoes off before tossing a blanket over him.
Noah joined her and kissed the back of her neck, "We have awesome kids."
Sarah smiled, "We do."
Nate looked up and smirked, "Hey."
Noah waved, "Hey."
"I'm just gonna change then head to sleep," Nate said quietly.
Sarah nodded, "Ok."
"So if you two could leave...," Nate suggested.
"Oh, right," Sarah stepped back into Noah.
Noah laughed and reached around her to close the door, "Night, kid."
"Night," Nate called just before the door shut.
Rose snuck up behind her parents, "Mom, Dad?"
They jumped and spun around, "Yeah?" Sarah asked.
"I love you," Rose smiled and hugged them tightly.
"Love you too," Noah breathed. He stepped back, "Want me to tuck you in?"
"No, I got it," Rose said while walking backwards into her room, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Sarah and Noah said at the same time.
Rose shut the door with a smile.
Sarah grabbed Noah's hand, "Come on, I want to show you something," she dragged him to their room.
"Yeah?" Noah laughed.
Sarah quickly shut their door, "I think I owe you for giving me such a great family."
"Really?" Noah smirked and shut the lights off.