Bed Time
A one-shot with the Puckerman family in the future of the Beginning Our Life/Never Forgotten Past universes.
Ages: Nathan-17 / Rose-12 / Andy and Belle-7
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
Sarah leaned down and kissed Andy's forehead, "Goodnight, baby."
"When's the storm going to stop?" he asked quietly.
She smiled and straightened up, "Soon."
Nate pulled the covers over himself, "Don't worry, little bro, I got your back. No storm's gonna hurt you."
Andy blushed and hissed, "Mom."
"Just close your eyes," Sarah whispered before going over to Nate and kissing his head. "Be nice," she warned under her breath.
Nate smirked, "Aren't I always?"
Sarah raised her eyebrows accompanied by her own smirk. She walked over to the door and turned around once in the hall, "Goodnight. Love you."
"Love you," Nate waved.
"Night," Andy squeaked just as another bang of thunder shook the house.
Sarah gave a sympathetic smile and switched off the light. She closed the door and went down to her and Noah's room.
Noah looked up while pulling on his t-shirt. He smirked, "Hello."
Sarah laughed and closed the door, "Did the girls go to sleep?"
Noah sighed and slid under the bed sheets, "No. They were scared." The room lit up and a clap of thunder made both parents wince. "But who could blame them?" he continued, "It's scary."
Sarah nodded and put her own pajamas on before climbing on the bed and against her husband. She set her head on his chest, "I don't like this."
Noah kissed the top of her head, "You're scared too?"
"A little," Sarah breathed.
Noah grabbed the remote and flicked on the tv, "How about we take your mind off of everything?" He set the remote on the side table and flipped over to face Sarah, "Come on, there's noway the kids can hear us between the storm and the news," he breathed.
Sarah blushed, but shook her head, "No, we can't. One of them is bound to come in here."
"Doubt it," Noah smirked and pulled Sarah closer.
"Noah, no," Sarah said sternly.
"Fine," Noah sighed dramatically.
"Noah," Sarah laughed, "Stop."
He smiled and looked at the tv, "Alright, I'll stop."
"Thank you," Sarah cuddled closer to him.
Noah was half asleep and Sarah was in the middle of watching a news story when there was a particularly bright flash of lightening and loud clap of thunder. Noah's eyes shot open and Sarah jumped as the tv flicked off.
"Did the power go out?" Sarah whispered.
"Yeah," Noah moved to sit up when Sarah grabbed his hand.
"No, don't leave," she begged, "It's the storm, there's nothing wrong with the house."
Noah slowly nodded and settled back down, "Alright. Now I think we're going to-"
The door opened, "Mom? Daddy?"
"What is it, Belle?" Sarah asked softly.
"I'm scared," Belle cried.
Noah ran a hand over his face, "Get in. Come on. Get up here."
Belle ran and jumped on the mattress. She crawled over Sarah and dove right into Noah's chest, "It's so scary! The whole house is shaking!"
Sarah tried to comfort her as Noah stroked the young girl's hair, "Baby, everything's ok. Daddy and I are here. We'll protect you."
Belle's arms tightened around Noah's neck as she openly sobbed into his shirt, "We're going to die!"
"We're not going to die," Noah whispered, "I won't let that happen."
There was a sudden scream, "Mom!"
Sarah threw the covers off and hurried down the hall to the boys' room. She opened the door, "What's going on?"
Nate was rolling around on his bed laughing as Andy hid sobbing under his covers.
"Nate's being really mean," Andy cried.
Sarah glared at Nate through the blackness before crossing the room to Andy's bed. "Andy, do you want to come in my bed for the night with Dad? There's enough room," she said softly.
He stuck his head out, "I don't want Dad to call me a baby, too."
"Nathan," Sarah snapped and spun around, "You did not."
"I'm sorry," Nate chuckled, "He was crying and I just wanted him to shut up, I didn't think he'd cry."
"Alright, we're done here," Sarah stood and put her hand out, "Come on, Andy, you're coming with me and we're going to sleep with Daddy and Belle."
"Belle chickened out too?" Nate muttered with a smirk.
As Sarah and Andy passed him, the mother turned and stated, "Funny how you're making fun of your brother for being scared of a thunderstorm when you can't even look at a cat without whimpering."
Nate's jaw dropped, "I could be allergic like Dad! That's nothing to kid about!"
"Mhmm," Sarah smirked while leading Andy to her room. When she walked in, her eyes widened, "What's going on in here?"
Rose looked up from Noah's chest and Belle's head popped up. Noah glanced over his girls' heads from his phone call.
"Hey, B, I gotta go, your mom's here," he stated, "I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Call me in the morning. I love you."
Sarah helped Andy up on the bed. She settled down and looked towards Rose, "Care to explain?"
The preteen blushed, "I was kind of scared being in my room all by myself."
A bright flash and a loud bang went off. Sarah and Noah tried comforting each of their kids who were now cowering in the blankets.
"It's ok, it's ok," Sarah whispered.
"I'm right here, nothing's going to hurt you," Noah added.
"I'm never going to fall asleep," Rose whimpered.
"I just want it to end," Andy cried.
"Do you guys want to hear a story?" Sarah asked softly.
Soft whispers replied that could barely be heard over the roar of the rain. Noah smiled and nodded at Sarah to continue.
Sarah smiled, "Every time it rains, the angels go bowling and whenever they get a strike, that's the lightening and thunder. So the angels are very good at bowling, which is why the thunder is so loud. Today, since it's extra loud, that means the angels are having a bowling tournament." She caught the smirk from Noah and returned it.
"Are the angels Jewish too?" Belle asked quietly.
"Of course," Noah nodded.
"Well," Sarah interrupted, "Angels can be anyone that goes to Heaven. Like Grandpa, he's not Jewish, but he went to Heaven."
"Nate said he killed himself," Andy muttered.
"Hey!" Noah snapped, "Your grandpa was a great man who made some wrong decisions, we've all done the same."
"What have you done wrong?" Rose asked her father.
Noah's mouth gaped for a second, "Well, ok, there are some of us who never made any wrong decisions, like me."
Sarah laughed, "Oh, come on, don't lie. Your dad is not the man of perfection he likes to pretend he is."
The three kids turned to Noah with expectant eyes. He sighed, "Alright, fine, I may have made some mistakes a couple times."
"Like what?" Belle questioned.
Noah sighed, "Ok, you guys really want to know some of the mistakes I've made?"
"Yeah," the twins and Rose nodded.
Sarah stifled her laughter in her hand.
Noah groaned, "How about I just tell you guys one thing? So I was in high school, Nate's age, and one day I was pretty mad at everything while I was driving my mom's car and I ended up running into an ATM and being arrested and going to jail."
"Was it scary?" Rose asked.
"Yeah," Noah nodded, "It was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done."
"Did you get hurt?" Andy spoke up.
Noah and Sarah exchanged a glance, "What do you mean?" Noah apprehensively asked, not wanting to give out the details of juvie to his seven year old son.
"Like, when you crashed the car," Andy clarified.
"Oh, well, yeah," Noah answered, "Just bumps and bruises, but it still hurt."
"I think that's enough," Sarah stated, "How about we all try and sleep now?"
The kids grumbled, but settled down against the pillows and their parents. After a couple minutes filled with tears and whining, they managed to fall asleep.
Sarah reached out a hand to touch Noah's shoulder, the only part of him she could reach through two kids, "That was really brave."
Noah turned his head, with a little trouble from Belle's head under his chin, and smirked, "Really?"
Sarah shrugged, "Of course. You hated it there and barely talk about it. Out of all the mistakes you've made, that's the one you chose."
"Am I one of those mistakes?"
Sarah and Noah turned to the door where Nate was standing. "What are you doing?" Noah asked.
Nate shifted where he stood, "I...um...I came to say sorry to Andy."
"Well, he's asleep," Sarah stated, still a little mad at him for how he treated Andy.
Nate nodded, but didn't leave, "I figured since you guys were talking like that."
"You wanna know the truth?" Noah asked, "None of you were planned. Plain and simple. Your mom and I were careless three times, but you're all the best mistakes we could have made. We don't regret any of you."
Nate silently nodded and stared at the ground. There was a flash of lightening and he jumped. Sarah and Noah watched in amusement as their oldest seemed to fight himself in front of them.
Finally, Nate muttered, "Can I sleep here?"
Sarah laughed, "Of course."
Noah glanced around the bed, "You'll have to sleep at our feet, though, there's no more room up next to Mommy and Daddy."
Nate blushed, but smirked while walking over to get up on the mattress, "You're so mean."
"And so are you," Sarah pointed out, "You know you're still in trouble for how you treated Andy earlier."
"What'd you do to Andy?" Noah asked.
Nate shrugged, "Scared him a little." He set his head on Noah's leg, "I'll apologize in the morning." Sarah and Noah watched as he fell asleep within seconds.
"Do you remember when he used to come in every night because of nightmares?" Sarah eventually recalled quietly.
Noah chuckled, "Yeah. What when he wet his bed for the first time and was too scared to tell us, so I ended up finding him crying in his wet clothes at one in the morning when I got up?"
Sarah gave a small smile, "He was so embarrassed, he couldn't even look at me."
Noah laughed slightly louder, "And now here he is, in all his glory, sleeping in his mom and dad's bed."
Sarah broke her gaze from Nate to look at Noah, "He grew up too fast."
Noah shrugged, his eyes still locked on Nate, "It was fun."
Sarah nodded and smiled, "It really was. But hey, we still have one year left."
"We're gonna make it count," Noah said determinedly.
"Yeah," Sarah smiled.
Noah finally turned with a smirk, "Love you."
"Love you too," Sarah sighed happily.
"I'd kiss you, but," Noah gestured to everyone surrounding him.
Sarah laughed, "It's ok."
The tv flicked on with life, as did the rest of the house with the air conditioning.
"Well, I'd be darned," Noah shook his head.
"I don't want them to leave," Sarah said softly.
Noah turned off the tv and looked at his wife, "Then they won't. That is, until the morning when we're too hot and kick them out."
Sarah laughed and settled down to finally go to sleep, "Goodnight."
"Night," Noah smirked.
