T H A N K S T O A B B Y
Disclaimer- Oh puh-lease if I owned Glee Mark Salling would never put his shirt on.
Chapter One:
Rachel walked slowly along a path in Central Park as she attempted to even her breathing, one hand on the back of her neck as the other held tightly onto Roxie, her dog's, leash. Pulling her iPod headphones out of her ears she stopped at a water fountain to get something to drink. She loved running in Central Park. It was a catharsis for her; a way to purge herself from her usual stressors, to clear her head of the nagging that she faced everyday from her fathers and her coworkers.
The muffled sound of someone crying nearby drew Rachel's attention away from enjoying the beautiful day and after looking closely she found the source. A little girl with strawberry blond hair that was pulled into pigtails out of her face and bright green eyes that were glistening with tears was sitting, half hidden in one of the small bushes that surrounded the trail.
Perching down so she was face to face with the small child she spoke softly so she didn't scare her. "Hi sweetie, where are you supposed to be?"
The little girl looked up at her, worrying her lip between her teeth as tears fell down her face. Finally she spoke in a sad voice as she tried to wipe the tears off of her face. "I don't know where my daddy is."
With a sad smile Rachel reached her hand out to help the little girl up, leading her towards a bench, "Well why don't you tell me what happened? I'll try to help you find him okay?" The little girl nodded and Rachel felt horrible, knowing how sick with worry her father must be as he tried to figure out where she was. "What's your name sweetie?"
"Abigail…but everyone calls me Abby."
"Hi Abby, I'm Rachel. Now do you know your daddy's phone number so I can try and find him for you?"
With a small smile the little girl nodded her head fiercely as she quickly rambled out a number while Rachel thumbed it into her phone as fast as she could.
Rachel looked out over the river as she listened to the phone ring twice before a harried voice picked up, "Noah Puckerman."
"Um… hi Noah. I'm Rachel Berry and I found your daughter Abby in Central Park."
Puck felt himself breathe a huge sigh of relief hearing his daughter was safe, albeit with a stranger, "Oh thank god! Is she okay?"
Rachel looked down at the little girl who had moved from her spot on the bench to sitting on the ground next to it, playing with Roxie and giggling softly. "She's fine. She seemed really shaken up when I found her but now that she knows I've got you on the phone I think she's calmed down."
"Thank you, thank you so much. Um…where are you?"
"We're actually quite close to Heckscher if you'd like to just meet us there."
"That'd work great. I'll be there in ten minutes. And seriously thank you again."
Hanging up her phone Rachel looked down at the little girl who was smiling and laughing as she played with Roxie who was lapping up the attention, "Come on Abby, we're meeting your daddy on the playground. If we beat him there I'll push you on the swings until he gets there."
With a bright smile gracing her face Abby took Rachel's hand as the two of them starting walking towards the playground. Quietly the little girl looked up at Rachel, "You're really pretty."
Blushing slightly Rachel looked down at her, "Thank you Abby. You're really pretty too."
Smiling Abby swung their hands together as the kept walking, "Did daddy sound mad?"
Rachel looked down at Abby's face, seeing the worry that was etched into her features, "No sweetie. He was just really scared. He loves you so much I'm sure he was just really worried about losing you."
"Oh." Abby looked ashamed as she averted her eyes away from Rachel, "What's your puppy's name?"
As they reached the swings the two girls sat down next to each other, "Her name is Roxie. She really likes you too."
The two girls rocked slowly on the swings next to each other in silence until they heard a deep male voice calling over to them. "Abby!" Looking up Rachel saw a man running towards them, his hair cut short and his green eyes lighting up at the sight of his daughter.
"Daddy!" Abby ran towards her father and let him scoop her up into his arms, twirling her around as he laid kisses into her hair. Rachel thought she heard him murmuring to her about never running off again and scaring him half to death in what she was sure was meant to be a scold but came off more relieved that he was holding his little girl in his arms again.
After a minute or two he finally put Abby down, averting his attention to the woman who was still sitting on her swing attempting to act as though she hadn't just watched an entire heart warming scene unfold in front of her.
Noticing her father's attention sway to Rachel Abby started talking a mile a minute, "Daddy, daddy I want you to meet my new friend. Rachel this is my daddy. He's the best daddy ever. And this is her puppy Roxie. Isn't she cute?"
Smiling at his daughter who had knelt down next to Roxie once again and was rubbing her between the ears Puck extended his hand to the woman who had quickly become a godsend. "Hi, I'm Noah Puckerman. Thank you so much for taking care of my little trouble maker. When she ran off I thought I was going to pass out."
Puck couldn't lie and say he wasn't enamored by the beautiful girl who was sitting on the swing in front of him. She was breath taking (what badasses could still think things like that as long as they didn't say it out loud and the person they were thinking it about really were smoking.) and he really would do anything to repay her for taking care of Abby. Sometimes she reminded him too much of him when he was younger, the only difference being that he grew up in a small town in Ohio and on the occasion that he wandered away from his mother it wasn't as big of a deal, but here in New York it took everything he had in him not to think of all the terrible things that could happen to his baby.
"It's really no big deal. I'm just glad that she was okay."
"No seriously, I'd love to repay you for this. Anything you want."
"Honestly it's really not a big deal. She's wonderful. I was actually wondering if you thought she'd be interested in seeing Wicked?"
"The musical?"
"Yeah, I'm part of the cast and I'm sure I could scrounge up three tickets for you two and your wife."
"Oh, umm I'm not married. It's just the two of us, but I'm sure she'd love to see the show. Are you sure it's not a big deal because honestly I feel kind of terrible. I mean you found my daughter for me and here you are giving us something."
"Actually it'd be my pleasure. She's a really great girl, it's the least I could do."
Puck smiled at the beautiful girl in front of him as she rattled of the date of the show and told him that she'd leave the tickets for him at the ticket booth.
"Thanks again." Puck looked at the beautiful women in front of him as she gave him another breathtaking smile. Turning his attention to his daughter who was still completely absorbed with playing with Roxie, "Come on squirt; let's get out of here."
Standing up Abby gave Rachel a quick hug around her waist, throwing her off guard for a second before she snapped back to the moment and wrapped her arms around the little girl.
"Bye Rachel!"Abby waved as she took her father's hand and the two began to walk away and the only thing that Rachel could think was wow so much for getting everything off my mind.
A/N- Alright so what do you guys think? This is totally AU so they didn't go to school together and Abby isn't Quinn's daughter. Let me know what you guys think. Should I keep writing it?
Review please!