Don't own Glee.
One shot for SiReN-pRiNcEsS1 for being #150 on my reviews. Hope ya like it!
She's wiping down the counter of the bar that she works at part time. Bartending wasn't in her five year plan but she needed the extra money if she was going to keep going from interview to interview without landing any potential teaching jobs. She's lucky that her fathers pay for a nice apartment, even if she is 23, completely renovated to get rid of the atrocious pink tile that was there before and put in hardwood floors instead of letting their baby girl breathe in the smoke that seemed to seep from the carpet. But other than that and money to keep the electricity on, everything else fell on her.
So Rachel tucks the rag into the back pocket of her shorts and leans onto the counter, looking out into the crowd. For a Saturday night it's not extremely busy and everyone who is there, is watching some sort of game that the manager has up on the screens. She doesn't really care about sports. The other bartender, Brittany, comes up beside her and mimics Rachel's position.
"It's so slow tonight."
"Maybe Chris will let one of us off early." Rachel looks at the blonde. A little braid going down her hairline and disappearing into her straight locks, bright blue eyes and easily a few inches taller than her. She feels completely dull in comparison.
"I love this shirt. So have you had any luck with interviews?" Brittany tugs on the sleeve of the off the shoulder shirt she was wearing over her work tank top. Their boss really didn't care what they wore as long as they looked good. Rachel shakes her head and sighs when the door closes. The blonde flicks her brown pony tail before looking at the two guys who sit in front of them. "What can I get you guys?"
Rachel just looks down, trying to get a string off her shirt while the guys order and then moves to open two beer bottles, setting them on the counter. She looks up to see two men, a pair of hazel green eyes and a pair of brown eyes, staring at her. Instinctively, she looks down at her shirt. "What?"
"You're really beautiful." The man with brown eyes says.
Brittany giggles. "I'll be back after my break Rach." She winks and moves towards the back door.
"Hudson…don't fucking embarrass yourself." The other man stares at him then shakes his head, looking up at the TV above her head.
"Thank you." She blushes and tucks a strand of hair that fell out of her pony tail behind her ear.
Rachel busies herself as they make small talk with each other about the game, tossing away any caps off beers, tidying up, just to keep from looking at them (more like from leering at the man with hazel eyes) and rambling like she normally would. It's all a part of acting like the concerned bartender when they both had serious faces and switched to a different, more serious topic about work. Not that she was eavesdropping or looking at their faces. But she noticed the one with hazel eyes has shaved down hair, a tattoo peeking out from his short sleeve shirt that seems a little too tight considering all the muscles she can see, and a very attractive jaw line. His friend has brown hair and brown eyes, an FDNY shirt on, and a lopsided smile that she'd usually find very attractive. And he's really really tall.
However, she glances at the first one and he has this infuriating smirk on his face. Then she notices that his bottle is almost empty, so she walks back over and leans on the counter. "Need another one?"
"Yeah, sure." He pushes the bottle forward. He realizes that she probably doesn't notice that he could see down her tank top if he really wanted to. And hell, who is he kidding, she's hot and he wouldn't mind to get a glimpse of her tits.
"Puck, you could be a little more polite. Sorry about him." He grins and pushes his bottle forward too. She laughs and pops off two more caps of the same beer and moves them forward. "So what's your name?"
Eyeing him, she smiles lightly and leans against the counter. "Rachel."
"I'm Finn, this is Puck." His friend nods.
Her nose scrunches up and she looks into his eyes. "That's your name?"
"Nickname."
Just like his smirk, it's rather infuriating to hear his short comments. "What's your given name?"
He chuckles and takes a pull from his beer. "I'm not drunk enough for that baby."
She hates the throb that immediately forms between her thighs and all because he called her baby. Lots of men do that when they're drunk, but there's something about his eyes that make her want to be wild and just crawl into bed with him. She notices that Finn is staring between the two of them and opens his mouth to say something but Brittany walks up and says that Rachel can take her break. She smiles and walks off, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Puck looks her up and down. But she does have great legs. He looks up at the blonde and smiles.
"I'm Brittany, so if you guys need something let me know." She moves out of the way to clean up another part of the bar.
Puck turns towards his friend and gives him a pointed look. "Dude, don't even try to go for that chick. She looks like the kind of girl who will eat you alive."
"Oh, but you could handle her?"
He smirks and turns towards the TV again. "Probably."
Finn sighs and looks at the clock. "Fuck, I gotta go. I have an early shift tomorrow but I'll see you afterwards." He throws some bills onto the counter and heads out.
Brittany moves over and puts the money into the cash register then looks at Puck. "So what's your story?" She nods to the door where Finn just left out of.
"That's my best friend, knew him since we were kids." She nods for him to continue. He hesitates, he's used to picking up girls not trying to have a conversation with them. But she's frowning and she looks like the kind of girl who always gets what she wants just by giving the wounded puppy look. "I'm a Marine, technically. Finn's a firefighter."
Her eyes brighten. "I love firefighters. I get the calendar every year. Is he in it?"
Huh, they might just be perfect for each other. He laughs and shakes his head. "Nah. He's too chicken to do shit like that."
Rachel walks back out and leans next to Brittany. "Where did Finn go?"
"He's got work in the morning." He looks at her flushed appearance, curious about what she could've done during her fifteen minute break. "Disappointed?"
"No, why would you say that?" She looks at him curiously before Brittany laughs and walks away.
"We close in half an hour!" Brittany calls out to the bar and winks at Rachel.
She makes small talk, asking if he's visiting and technically he is. The other patrons are leaving and he closes his tab, finishing his drink while she's counting the cash in the register before putting it in a zippered bag for her boss. Brittany already finished cleaning everything up so once he's done, he sends Rachel a wink and heads outside.
Rachel locks up the bar and waves goodbye to Brittany. Luckily her apartment is right down the street, a couple of blocks away. Her hand digs through her purse, searching for her keys. Where are those damn things? A man steps out in front of her and she gasps, her hand instantly finding her pepper spray and sprays it into his eyes.
"Holy shit, what the fuck Rachel?" He rubs his eyes and leans against the brick wall.
"Oh my God! Puck I'm so sorry!" She puts it back in her purse and moves her hands to his biceps. Wow, he's got a lot of muscle. Rachel shakes her head and looks up, seeing the hazel eyes filled with tears. "Come on, my apartment isn't too far from here. I'll help you wash your eyes out."
Puck willingly follows her, mostly because she's dragging him and he can't see. He nearly falls down the stairs as they're walking up to her apartment, but she holds his hand and tells him when there won't be another step and they're in front of her door. She pushes it open, tosses her purse onto the floor before dragging him to a little hallway on their right into a bathroom. Rachel pushes him onto the side of the tub, leaning his head back and holding his eye open while she pours water slowly into it. She's straddling his thighs, so his hands just reach to her hips, holding on just in case she decides to just move and he falls over, he'll at least bring her down with him. So he does what she says and blinks when necessary.
She leans against the sink and buries her face in her hands. "I am so sorry about that."
"S'alright." He wipes his face with the towel she gave him and then rubs his eyes. He looks at her legs, all tan and going on for miles that end with her converses that are all dirty. Probably from working in a bar.
"Do you want something to drink?" He nods. "Follow me."
He follows her through the hallway and down another hallway to the living room then a door into her kitchen. Puck looks as she opens the fridge, peeking in to see what she has. "Water s'fine."
She hands him a bottle of water then moves back into the living room, only to go out another door and onto her patio. They both stare out at the New York skyline. "What do you do for a living?" She turns to him. "We didn't exactly talk…"
He cuts her off. "Before you assaulted me with pepper spray?" She ducks her head and bites her lip. "I joined the Navy with the sole purpose to be a corpsman so that I could work with Marines. When I'm done I plan on finishing up medical school. I'm stationed down at Quantico. I'm here visiting Finn."
Rachel blinks at him with her jaw dropped. "That's impressive, but you're so young."
Puck smirks, thinking her panties are probably already wet. "Yeah. How about you?"
"I'm full time at the bar while I'm trying to find a teaching job." She blushes.
"What's wrong with that? Teachers can be cool, but your students would probably want to bend you over your desk." He laughs when she gasps and pushes at his arm.
They talk for a few hours until Rachel yawns. He stands up. "Well I better get back to Finn's so you can sleep." Normally he would make a move, but she's barely staying awake.
"Would you like to stay the night? I know it's late and I can sleep on the couch."
"Um, sure." He rubs the back of his neck nervously. Why is he nervous?
A few hours later, Rachel wakes up and goes to the bathroom. Afterwards, she moves towards her bedroom and curls up against her pillow. Puck feels the warmth of her body and rolls over, throwing his arm over her waist and pulls her in close. He sighs, content with the smell of vanilla and strawberries that's coming from her hair. She snuggles closer to his chest and soon both of their breathing evens out.
The next morning, she rolls over and stretches before feeling the weight of something over her stomach. Her eyes open to see Puck, the man from the bar last night in her bed. His eyelashes are fanned out along his cheekbones. Her finger traces along his jaw until his eyes open, squinting at her. She barely knows anything about this stranger, but she really wants to.
Her face has no makeup on and he can't help the words that come out of his mouth. "You're gorgeous."
Besides the fact that she knows practically nothing about him, other than he's a corpsman and is stationed at Quantico working within the unit he's attached to, he's been with a lot of women (he accidentally blurted that out when she asked if he had a girlfriend), and he is built like a god. But he has this pull on her. She even dreamt about him last night. His hand reaches out and pushes back her bangs, leaning in until their lips are touching.
Puck can't believe how soft her lips are. He's not an angel and this isn't the first time he got someone that Finn was interested in. But he was smoking last night, a terrible habit that he needs to get rid of (he's basically a doctor, he knows the nasty shit that it does), and he saw her leaving the bar. He figured he would say goodnight, properly because his ma didn't raise a completely rude bastard, until she pepper sprayed his face and ended up in her apartment. They talked and he learned a few small things about her, mostly from observing her actions, like she would pick at something on her clothes when she's nervous or she'd motion with her hands when she was talking about something she particularly loved.
They both deepen the kiss at the same time until he's pulling her to straddle his lap. His hands land on her ribs, his thumbs just under her breasts and he's not trying to cop a feel. That in itself feels weird, but he just doesn't care. She's different and he's totally into it. Her hands cup his face and she pulls away, looking into his eyes but her lips are still against his.
"I'm not sleeping with you."
Yet, he adds in mentally. "S'fine." He kisses her again and brings her down against his chest, kissing her lazily until they need air before they start up again. "Name's Noah." She look into his eyes and smiles, moving in to kiss him harder.
They've been texting for a month and a few weeks after that night when they went out with Finn and Brittany, after she pepper sprayed him. Yeah, he won't let her live that down. But he's usually talking to her whenever he gets off duty. He may be a corpsman and only five and a half hours away, but he's constantly busy. He just got back from California for training with the unit he's attached to like a week ago. Plus he's getting ready with his deployment and getting his leave all ready. She comes to the base for a weekend and he gets a hotel room since she can't exactly come sleep in his barracks. He still hasn't slept with her, but he's actually completely fine with it.
He's in the hotel lobby in his Marine cammies with the sleeves rolled up when she walks in and spots him, her duffel bag and purse on her shoulder. His hat is in his back pocket while he signs something the receptionist hands him. Rachel moves behind him and wraps her arms around him, causing him to glance over his shoulder.
"Hey baby." He puts his arm around her shoulder and kisses her lightly. "How was the drive?"
"Long." She pouts and he laughs, accepting the room key.
Puck leads them up to their room, pulling her bags and dropping them onto the bed before he pulls her to him.
"Missed you." Rachel looks up at him and he smiles, leaning down to kiss her. She begins to pull off her shirt, but he pushes it back down. "What's wrong?"
He chuckles. "It's going to take a little bit longer to get me out my clothes sweetheart." She blushes but he sits down and pulls her between his legs. His thumb brushes across her lower lip. "Don't do that."
She straddles his lap and sits back on his knees. They've done this before when he came down to visit her and Finn before he left for California for a month, staring at each others eyes in complete silence, neither of them uncomfortable by it. "Did you get your leave all figured out?"
Sighing, he lays back and puts his hands on her thighs. "Yeah, I'll be in Ohio for a week and a half before I come back to see Finn then back here."
"Oh." She looks down and plays with his belt.
Honestly, he's been thinking about this a lot. When he gets back, he wants to come back to her. "Do you wanna come with me?"
Rachel's head snaps up. "To Ohio?"
Puck nods and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah. My ma's been on my ass about finding a nice Jewish girl to bring home anyways. You fit the criteria." She glares at him. "Plus I'd just like to be able to spend some damn time with you that doesn't involve a phone or sexting."
She pushes at his chest and captures his lips with hers. "I'd love to Noah."
He rolls them so she's on her back and he pulls off her shirt, revealing a tank top underneath. Puck takes off his uniform blouse and leans over her, taking turns between nipping at her lips and kissing her deeply. He sits up and pulls his tan shirt off and her eyes go straight to his dog tags. Smirking, he reaches down and kisses her deeply as the metal moves in between her breasts, before moving down and kissing her taut stomach. He knows she used to take ballet classes and she works out every day. His fingers work on the button of her skinny jeans, pulling them down until she's just laying there in a tank top and her panties. No bra. Awesome.
Looking up at him, her chest is moving up and down quickly, waiting for him to finish getting undressed. A whine comes out and she quickly realizes that it's her, practically begging him to hurry up. His lips curve up and he sits on the bed, his back facing her as he unlaces his boots. Quickly pulling off her shirt she moves and wraps her legs around his hips, nibbling on his neck while her right hand finds his tattoo on his bicep. The snakes that wrap around the insignia should bother her, but knowing what he does, it turns her on even more. Rachel kisses down his shoulder until her lips find the tattoo.
Puck closes his eyes and toes off his boots, raises his hips and pushes his trousers, boxers and socks off. He stands up and turns around to face her, pushing her back down before his fingertips trace up her legs until he hooks them into the elastic of her lace panties and pulls them down.
"Noah…" She whines and grips the comforter with one hand, using the other to pull him to her by the chain around his neck.
He's teasing the shit out of her, but it's been weeks since he's had sex and that was before he met Rachel. Before they became an unofficial couple. But as he slips into her for the first time (of many, many times that weekend, seriously they don't really leave the hotel and he bought the biggest box of condoms he could find) she calls out his name all sexy and he just blurts out that he wants her as his girlfriend. She just nods and asks him to 'please do something.' He complies and does whatever the hell she asks him to the rest of that night.
Later that night, when she's running her fingers along the chain of his dog tags and occasionally along his chest, he thinks she just might be a game changer.
He's got her pushed up against his bedroom door in his childhood home, his mother and sister right downstairs. She's wearing this little lace shirt with a tank top underneath that he can nearly see the dip in her cleavage and these tight little shorts. They were watching TV and she bent over to get her drink off the coffee table and he could swear she wasn't wearing panties. So when his mom and sister go into the kitchen to finish cooking dinner, he drags her upstairs.
"Noah!" She gasps when his fingers undo the button on her shorts and he pulls them down, forcing her to step out of them. He grins when he's right about her wearing no panties, which is weird considering she never goes without them. His fingers run up her slit and her head falls back against the door.
"You're so wet baby." He pulls her back to the bed and pushes her down, pushing her shirts up over her boobs.
She reaches for his belt then pushes his jeans down. Puck pulls his shirt off then hovers over her, nipping at her lips. They both know that this will have to be quick and dirty because dinner was pretty close to being finished. He licks between her breasts.
"Noah, do something." She whines and pouts, bending her knees and letting him move between her easier.
He kisses up her neck until he's right by Rachel's ear. "You're so fucking beautiful." She whimpers when he enters her and arches into him. Rachel starts to moan loudly when he thrusts into her that she throws her forearm over her mouth and bites down hard. Puck moves and looks into her eyes. He gently pulls her arm away and kisses her. Moving her arm down, she presses her fingers against her clit.
He pulls away and mumbles against her lips. "Jesus Rach." She moans into his ear and tilts her head to the side, so Puck can kiss her collar bone. He moves into her faster, feeling her walls clamping down on him.
"Fuck me harder baby."
He growls against her neck and pushes himself up with his hand on either side of her face, pushing into her faster. She gasps and wraps her legs around him, pulling on his dog tags so he'll kiss her. Her back arches underneath him and she tenses before she moans loudly into his and kisses harder. Two more hard thrusts and he empties into her, nearly collapsing on top of her.
"NOAH! Dinner is ready." His mother shouts out and he groans.
"Thank God we're done or else that would've just killed everything."
Rachel tilts her head back and laughs, giving him an in to kiss her pulse point. She moans and squeezes her thighs tight around him.
"There's plenty of time for that later baby." He leans down and kisses her, pulling out. Puck puts his forehead against hers. "I'm so damn glad you're here Rach."
Rachel hums her agreement against his lips and kisses him. "Me too, but I'm really hungry."
Puck knows he can make a completely dirty joke out of that but he just pulls her shirts back down and stands up to get dressed, pulling her gently with him.
Puck finally gets a chance to get on the internet when he's done with his patrol with the unit he's attached to. He waits for his email to load then he sees something with the subject line 'PLEASE READ SOON' on it, only to see Rachel's name next to it. He clicks on that first, ignoring ones from his mom, sister and Finn. She's clearly panicked in it, so he gives up his internet time to go find a phone to call her.
"Hello?" She answers shakily. He thinks she figured it was him, she usually never answers for unknown numbers.
"Rach, I just got your email. What's wrong?"
She instantly breaks down crying on the phone. "Noah, I am so, so sorry!" She mumbles out a bunch of words that don't even make sense.
"Baby, shut up and take a deep breath." She does what he tells her and only sniffles a couple of times. "Now, talk slowly and tell me what's going on." He sits down and leans back in the chair.
"I'm pregnant." She chokes out. "We were always so careful when we got together. I don't understand but I'm so sorry." She starts to cry again.
His shoulders slump forward as he tries to breathe. He's going to be a father? But then she's talking in his ear again. "I can go get a…an…" He knows she can't even say the word, "or I can do this by myself. I understand if you want to break up." Puck thinks back to the last time they had sex and it was during his leave, three months ago. It's too late to 'fix' it, not that he wants her to. All he can think about is getting home to her and his baby girl or boy. This is his last deployment anyways, medical schools actually look at age and shit.
"Rachel." He calls out sternly so that she quits rambling. "I don't want you to fix it. I love you and I love our baby."
She gasps into the phone. "You love me?"
He laughs lightly. "Yes baby, I love you. So stop freaking out. You should probably tell our parents so you have some help."
But he's really upset that he's got about six more months to go here and she'll be giving birth around the time he'll be heading back stateside. There's a chance he might still get to see her give birth to their baby if she's past due, but he'll be stuck in Quantico for a few weeks before he gets leave again. He leans his head down and closes his eyes.
"I love you too Noah."
Those five words make the wait worth it, especially when he'll be going home to two really important people.
Rachel is sitting in the delivery room, Brittany by her side squeezing her hand while their families are in the waiting room. Puck manages to be on Skype while she is in labor, four hours after her contractions started. She looks over at the laptop where he's sitting with a headset on his head. His hands are clenched so tight that his knuckles are turning white, much like hers.
She starts to cry and leans on Brittany, shaking her head. "I can't do it."
"Rach, baby you can. Just push a few more times."
"I need you here!" Brittany smoothes down her dark, wet hair and Rachel looks over at the laptop. She sobs and wipes her tears.
"Okay Rachel, one more big push." The doctor looks over at her from in between her legs. She squeezes Brittany's hand and pushes as hard as she can, sighing when she hears the crying of a baby. "It's a girl!"
They clean her off and bring her over in a light pink blanket that has little ducks all over it. Rachel looks down at her little girl, crying and brushing the dark curls on the top of her head.
"She's beautiful."
Rachel looks over to Puck and lets out a watery laugh. "She has your nose." The little girl opens her eyes, hazel green ones that are starting to form, that are looking back at her then over to the screen. "That's your daddy."
Puck looks at his baby, sitting with Rachel in bed while Brittany moves past the screen to get her dads, his mom and sister, and Finn. Someone must have moved the laptop closer because it's right next to her and he can see his baby girl better. She's looking right at the screen, his eyes staring back at him. Her chubby little hand reaches out towards him and he laughs. Tears are swimming in his eyes but he doesn't even care. The guys behind him are cooing and saying that he has a beautiful daughter. Rachel laughs, pulling his eyes from his daughter's to Rachel's.
"What do you want to name her?" Rachel looks down and looks at the tiny hand that's wrapped around her finger, biting her lip.
"Lea. She looks like a Lea." He looks at them both, wishing he was there to hold her.
They both look over to him and he swears he hears the little girl giggle. Rachel's eyes fill with tears and she looks at him. "It's beautiful."
"How 'bout her middle name?"
She looks down at the baby, really wanting to honor Puck's first name in some way. "Nicole?" He's just staring at the baby. "Lea Nicole Puckerman." His eyes snap up to hers.
He looks over at their family that has just gathered in the room. They all wave at him then look down at the baby. Finn grins sheepishly and pulls Brittany into his side, kissing her forehead. Their parents and Sarah coo at the baby and pull her out of Rachel's arms, moving across the room so she has a minute with Puck.
"I gotta go baby." He sighs and looks down, wiping at his eyes.
"I love you and I'm so glad that I could have you on the screen." She cries a little and wipes at her cheeks.
"Love you too. Kiss her for me and I'll see you guys soon."
Rachel nods and blows him a kiss before it goes back to the desktop screen. She closes it and buries her face into her hands. Finn walks over and wraps his arms around her while she cries. Puck's mom, Rebecca, brings Lea back to her and the baby puts her hand onto her wet cheek then looks at the laptop. She's just been born and she's already smart as hell.
"You'll get to meet him soon sweetie."
They're all back in Ohio, getting ready for Puck's welcome home party, but Rachel is at the Dayton airport with Lea bouncing in her lap with a little sundress on and a happily sucking away on a pacifier. His flight is in, but she doesn't see anyone going to the carousal where their luggage is supposed to be coming out on. Rachel taps her foot until she seems him walking towards the baggage claim in his uniform until he looks around and spots her.
She stands up, holding their baby in her arms with tears running down her cheeks. "There's your daddy." Rachel points towards Puck.
The little girl's head perks up and looks at the man jogging towards them. Her hand reaches out and he closes in on them, picking up the little girl into his arms once he drops his bag. Tears build in his eyes as he kisses her forehead and cuddles her close.
"Holy shit she's beautiful." Rachel looks at him pointedly before laughing and hugging him. He leans down and kisses her, cupping her face with his free hand. Puck pushes his tongue in and massages hers with his. He pulls away and rests his forehead against hers. "I missed you so much."
She rubs her hand along his back, only to be interrupted by their daughter laughing, her pacifier sitting between her body and his uniform. They both look at her and she's the happiest looking baby in the airport. "We missed you too."
Later that night, Puck is asleep on his bed when Rachel comes in to check on him. Their daughter is laying on top of his chest, her hand laying against his collar bone. She crawls onto the bed and rubs the baby's back, leaning her head onto the pillow as his chest moves up and down slowly. Her eyes close and she moves her hand so it's across Lea's but her fingers are stroking the side of his neck.
Puck wakes up to the flash of a camera and he looks up to see his sister grinning but pulling her finger up to her mouth and closes the door quietly. He looks over to Rachel and nudges her. She looks up at him sleepily and smiles.
"Marry me." His hand lands on top of theirs and he squeezes hers tight.
Her eyes search his, seeing if he's joking. But when she sees nothing but love in his eyes. "I would love to be your wife."
Rachel moves closer and kisses his lips tenderly before moving her head into the crook of his neck. His free hand plays with her hair while he looks down at his daughter. A year and a half ago he never would have imagined that he would be asking a girl he met at a bar to marry him and that he'd have a daughter but he wouldn't change it for the world. He won't be a shitty father to her like his was. This may be the first day he's had with her, but he can't ever imagine leaving her for any reason.
"We gotta get you a ring tomorrow."
She laughs and their baby stirs, quickly starting to cry. Rachel sighs and sits up to take her, but he pushes her down. "Let me."
Rachel leans back against the pillows, breathing in the scent from his pillows as he moves across the room and cooing at their baby then disappears into the bathroom. Her life is perfect.
The prompt was: a military Puck at the airport meeting his newborn daughter for the first time/ Puck and Rachel meet in New York for the first time at a bar and instantly drawn to each other.
Holy crap, I did a lot of research about going from a corpsman to a doctor and it just get me a headache haha, but I'm leaving it at that. There's programs and what not to do it but I'm not going to go into detail. Hopefully that won't offend anyone!
Also, I know Marines aren't allowed to wear cammies in public but…I had to. Haha, it wouldn't have fit the same.