Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Summary: Puck gets a phone call that just might finally break him. FutureFic
"What do you think?" Santana asked, peeking out of the window to see Puck still sitting in his truck, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "He's been out there for almost an hour."
"He's really upset." Tina noted.
"Wouldn't you be?" Mike asked, looking at his friend from beside Santana. "I think he needs his girlfriend." Mike, Tina, and Santana all turned to look at the short, brunette girl standing wide-eyed behind them.
"Why am I always the one that has to deal with him when he's in these moods?" Rachel asked, her eyebrows rose as she questioned her friends.
"You're the only one he actually listens too." Santana pointed out. "You're the only one that can actually get through to him."
"Besides…" Tina glanced out of the window again. "You've dealt with this kind of thing before."
"No, I haven't." Rachel crossed her arms.
"Shelby." Mike said pointedly.
"Fine." Rachel sighed. "But next time one of you have to talk to him. I just know this is going to cause a fight between us and I hate it when we bicker." She grabbed her coat from the rack and slipped it on before hurrying out into the snow towards her boyfriend's truck.
She shut the truck door loudly and scooted over beside him, sparing a glance over at her friends through the window and then over at Puck.
"Noah?" She asked softly but he didn't seem to respond. "You should come inside. It's freezing out here and I don't want you catching a cold. You know how you get when you're sick."
"It's been fifteen years." Puck spat the words out. "Fifteen years since he walked out and didn't even look back and now he wants to stop by and 'see how I turned out'." He shook his head.
"Noah." Rachel gnawed on her bottom lip and then reached out to take his hand. "You don't have to see him. This is your decision. You don't have to call him back. You can just delete the voicemail and move on with your life. You don't have to contact him. He doesn't deserve to see how amazing you are now when he didn't stick around to see you grow up."
"You're only saying that because you know I'm going to call him." Puck looked over at her.
She smiled sadly. "You love him. He's your father. It's okay to still love him even after everything he did you to you and your family." She gripped his hand tighter. "It's okay to love him, Noah."
"He has a new family. Did you know that? He left me and Ma and Becs to get a new family." Puck shook his head. "Why…?"
Rachel scooted closer to him, seeing the tears he was trying to wipe away before they spilled out of his eyes. "It's okay." She whispered.
"Why weren't we enough for him?" He asked. "Why wasn't I enough for him?"
"Maybe you should ask him that." She pulled his phone out of her pocket and slipped it into the palm of his hand. "That question is just going to eat at you until you get the answer straight from the source."
"What do you think is going on?" Mike pressed his ear up against Tina's bedroom door.
"Get away from the door, Other Asian." Santana rolled her eyes, flipping through the CD collection on Tina's dresser. "I knew it was a bad idea to room with you two, Puckerman, and Berry." She sighed and gave up trying to entertain herself and instead flopped back on Tina's bed. "I wish Britt was here. At least she could give me some pleasure while I waited out whatever the hell is going on downstairs."
"Puck's father is coming." Tina bit the inside of her cheek. "We should leave. This is kind of a personal moment between family and we're just going to be in the way."
"This is my house, too." Santana raised her eyebrows. "I'm not going anywhere."
There was a knock on the door and then Rachel poked her head in, banging the door on Mike's head before he could step back. "Sorry." Mike walked to the other side of the room sheepishly.
"You guys can come downstairs." Rachel told them. "Robert will be here soon but Noah said you three didn't have to hide out up here."
Santana just shrugged and flounced out of the room, following Rachel back downstairs. "How is he holding up?" Santana asked.
Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Is that concern I hear laced in your voice, Santana?"
Santana rolled her eyes. "He's my best friend's boyfriend and my roommate, of course I care about him." The Hispanic girl leaned back against the counter in the kitchen and watched as Rachel stuffed her vegan dish into the oven.
"He was seven when Robert left." Rachel sighed. "It's been fifteen years so obviously he's nervous."
"About what?" Santana questioned.
Rachel lowered her voice. "He's afraid he's not going to impress his father. Noah's scared that if he lets Robert walk back into his life that he's just going to leave again." She shrugged. "It's a legitimate concern and I just wish I could reassure Noah about how great he has turned out."
"He has grown up a lot." Santana nodded. "But that's mostly because of you."
"Noah is an amazing person and if his father can't see that then it his loss." Rachel wiped her hands on a towel and nodded curtly. "Robert is going to be here any second. I should go check on Noah."
Rachel found Noah sitting on the porch swing outside, watching the street in front of the old house the five friends rented together.
"He's going to be here." She said quietly, taking the seat beside him and pushed them lightly with her feet.
"I know." Puck nodded, not at all convinced.
"You have nothing to be nervous about." Rachel assured him. "You're amazing, Noah. You have nothing to prove to your father."
He nodded again and reached out to grip her hand. "Let's talk about something else." He told her softly and she nodded.
"Santana asked about you." Rachel smiled when he snorted. "She's not as heartless as you think. She cares about you; all of us, actually. She just has a funny way of showing it."
"Like shaving off my mohawk when I was sleeping." Puck smirked.
She laughed. "In her defense, I had been asking you to shave it off for months and she was just doing me a favor. Plus, she was kind of drunk."
"Or by bringing some guy home and then sleeping with him on my bed." He rolled his eyes.
"She was drunk." She pointed out. "I know it's not a valid excuse, but it's Santana. You do stupid stuff when you're drunk as well."
"Well, I have done one thing when I was drunk that was really smart." He glanced over at her.
"And what would that be?" She asked.
"I kissed you at that New Year's Eve Party sophomore year of college." He smiled, a genuine smile that reached his eyes, but it was gone just as quick when an unfamiliar car pulled into the driveway.
Rachel's grip tightened on his hand and they both stood as a man got out of the car. Puck was about to step off of the porch when a woman stepped out as well, followed by two kids. Rachel felt Puck stiffen beside her and she was actually afraid of what was about to happen.
The woman kept the two kids with her, standing in front of the car as Robert, Noah's dad, walked forward, stopping in front of Rachel and Puck.
"Hi." Rachel smiled at Robert and then looked over to Noah, who was looking intently towards the car, his eyes zeroing in on the 'replacement' family, especially the young boy that stood beside his mother.
Puck swallowed thickly. "You brought them?"
Robert nodded. "I thought it would be a good idea. For you to meet them, I mean."
Puck's eyes flashed with anger and his glare turned on his father. "You thought I would want to meet the family you chose over me?"
"Son?" Robert took a step forward, trying to explain but Puck wasn't having any of that.
"Don't you fucking dare." Puck boomed and Rachel's hands went to push against his chest so he couldn't get any closer to his father. "You don't call me that. I am not your son and you sure as hell aren't my dad. Dads don't leave there sons when they're seven. Dads don't walk out on families."
"That's not what I did." Robert said.
"Really?" Puck shook his head. "You left us. You walked out on your eight month pregnant wife and seven year old son. You were a deadbeat dad to me and to Becca and an even worse husband to Ma."
"I was wonderful to your mother." Robert defended himself. "I was young back then. I was overwhelmed. Your mother and I got married young. We were seventeen when we found out we were having you. We got married right before you born and then everything happened so fast. When she got pregnant again I couldn't handle it. I couldn't deal with the stress of two kids and a wife at 24."
"You couldn't deal with it so you just dumped it all on Ma." Puck shook his head. "I used to look up to you. Hell, I spent all fucking day worried that I wouldn't impress you; that I wasn't enough for you. You know, what, fuck you. I grew up just fine without you. I didn't need a father then and I don't need one now."
"Noah." Rachel searched his eyes but was uncertain what she found there; the one thing she was certain of was that Noah was just getting started. He had fifteen years of pent of feelings to get out and Robert would just have to stand there and take it.
"I thought we could work through this." Robert shook his head. "Obviously, you're not as into this reunion as I envisioned you would be. I thought we could respect each other enough to talk like men, but apparently that's not happening."
"Damn straight." Puck growled. "You think I would just forget everything you put Ma through when you left and just forgive you. You think I would laugh along with you and invite you in for a beer as we watched a game. You don't know shit about me. You… you're a pathetic excuse for man. You don't deserve my respect. Ma put herself through hell for years working two jobs just to help us barely scrape by. She raised two kids on her own because you weren't man enough to stick around. That kid back there looks like he's about seven." Puck looked over at the little boy. "That's how old I was when you left. Are you going to warn him before you leave or are you just going to walk like you did with me?"
"You can't talk to me like that." Robert frowned. "I'm still your father."
"You are not my dad." Puck yelled. "You lost the right to call yourself that the second you walked out of that door. You left for a new family and just completely forgot you had a perfectly good one waiting for you come back."
"I didn't mean to hurt you. I just… I wasn't thinking." Robert tried to explain. "I didn't realize I had hurt so much."
"I was seven." Puck spat. "Did you know I use to run home after school and just sit… just sit on the front steps and wait for your truck to pull into driveway until Ma finally called me in for dinner? Did you know that I used to hope that you were lost; that maybe you were trying to get back to us but you just couldn't find the way? I used to blame Ma for you leaving; hell, I used to blame myself. I thought that maybe if I had been better; if I hadn't misbehaved so much that you wouldn't have left. I thought that if I had been a better son you would have wanted me." He felt his chest tighten and Robert pursed his lips, letting this all sink in. "I was seven."
"I'm sorry." Robert choked out.
"I don't need an apology, I don't want one." Puck told him. "I want… I wanted you to stay. To actually care that you were leaving us behind. You deserted us and I will never forgive you for that."
"I…" Robert glanced back at his car and then at Puck. "I should go. I'm sorry this didn't go quite as planned. I just hope meeting your sister go a little more smoothly."
Rachel's head jerked towards Robert and then she moved to plant herself in front of Noah because she could already feel him moving to step forward.
"You leave Becca alone." Puck shouted, pushing himself forward anyway, just moving Rachel with him. She should have known she couldn't stop him from getting to Robert. "I got past the fact that you were a deadbeat and didn't want to be part of our family. I accepted that you were never coming back and I got tough. But her… do you know how many times she would come home crying from school because the other kids taunted her for not having a father? Do you know how many times she would ask where you were and when you were coming home? She used to ask me if she had done something wrong to make you leave. I could deal with people talking shit about you leaving but it got to her. She's never met you and I swear…" Puck took a deep breath and Rachel gripped his hand. "If you walk into her life and hurt her…"
"I'm won't leave her, not again." Robert assured him.
"I worked hard to protect her and bring her up right the best I could. I was dumbass kid but I did my best to be like a father-figure to her. She's only fifteen." Puck squeezed Rachel's hand. "Don't hurt her."
Robert nodded and turned to walk back to his car. He scooped up his daughter and turned to wave goodbye but the front door was already slamming shut behind Puck and Rachel.
When Robert's car pulled out of the driveway, Rachel turned and followed Puck into the kitchen.
"I wanted to hit him." Puck told her. "So bad. I just… I thought it would make me feel better but then I saw that boy. His son and daughter… and I just… I couldn't do that in front of them. Robert may have been a deadbeat to me but he's stuck around for those kids and maybe he'll stay. Maybe he'll actually be a good dad to those kids and I couldn't hit their dad in front of them, no matter how badly I wanted to."
"And that's why I love you." Rachel pulled him towards her into a hug. "You're already a much better man than he'll ever be. And tonight when he goes home he'll realize how much he missed out by not seeing you grow up. He'll realize how stupid he was for leaving."
"When we have kids I'm going to be a fucking awesome dad." Puck promised her.
"I believe you." She smiled. "So how many kids are talking?"
"I was thinking around five." He watched her eyes grow wide and she raised her eyebrows. "Four?" He paused for a second and blew out a breath. "Three?" She shook her head. "Oh come on, Rach." He pouted. "Two?"
She smiled and nodded. "I think two would be perfect." She smoothed out the wrinkle on his forehead with her thumb. "A boy and a girl."
"We could name them some nice Jewish names." Puck smirked. "The boy would play football."
Rachel shook her head again. "Baseball would be safer."
"Fine but when you sign our daughter up for dance classes they have to be hip-hop, not that ballet shit." Puck rolled his eyes. "I have my hands full with you. I couldn't deal with a mini-Berry. I get scared just thinking about it."
She rolled her eyes and smacked his chest playfully. "You're amazing, Noah."
"You're pretty awesome yourself."
"I know." She smiled and leaned up to kiss his lips. "I love you, Noah Puckerman. Have I ever told you that?"
"You might have mentioned it." Puck smirked and rested his forehead against hers.