Title: Broken Road, Part 1/?

Fic Table prompt: 47 - Protection (table at my journal here: ( sapphiresfic . livejournal . com/ 31402 . html ).)

Summary: Rachel visits her dads in Lima for the holidays, gets pulled over, her ex from NYC stalks her, threatening her life and the cop who pulled her over helps protect her... For fic table prompt #47 - Protection.

Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.

A/N: I edited this, so all mistakes are mine.

A/N2: Feedback keeps me writing, so please comment or review. :D

A/N3: Title comes from 'Blessed The Broken Road' a song by Rascal Flatts. I do not own it, just borrowing for the fic.

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A/N4: A super-belated, but much anticipated, birthday fic for a good friend of mine, PKteach. I wanted to write her a birthday fic, and this is from an idea she gave me.

A/N5: The Gleeks were Juniors in high school when Quinn was pregnant.

A/N6: AU after 1x22 ~ Journey.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Eight days before Thanksgiving

Rachel packed her last bag into the taxi and walked back to her apartment one last time to make sure the door and deadbolt were secure before she returned to her taxi, "take me to the airport, please," she requested.

"Yes, ma'am," the cabbie said, pulling the cab from the curb and onto the streets of New York City.

She watched the Big Apple pass by, her emotions on both sides of the fence. She was super excited to be going home to Lima for almost two months to spend Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years with her dads: she is on a break between shows; the production she had been working on 'off-Broadway' had ended in early-November and she didn't start rehearsals for her next role of Sophie in 'Mamma Mia!' until after the new year, so she was taking some time to rejuvenate at home.

On the other side, she was also sad because her boyfriend of eight months, now ex, was supposed to go with her for Thanksgiving, and return to NYC for the other holidays with his family, but just a week prior, she had gone to his office, where he works as an insurance agent and walked in on him and his secretary doing it on his desk. Rachel dumped him on the spot and when she got back home, she tore up his ticket to Ohio, packed up anything of his in her small apartment and put them in a box and left them outside her door, so when he came over, he'd get the hint that she was serious, but to be sure, she left a note on the top that said, "we're over, asshole!"

For two days her cell phone beeped with text messages and voicemails, all from him, trying to say that he had nothing to do with what happened and it was all his secretary, but she ignored every call and message, getting disgusted with the numerous excuses he tried to use to say he didn't do anything, but now she realized that all his late nights 'working' were really an opportunity to sleep with his secretary and 'get some' because Rachel had not given herself to him, or anyone yet and was waiting for 'the one'.

Arriving at the airport, she put the past week behind her, checked her luggage in, and stood in the security line with the rest of the holiday travelers.

...

Six hours after Rachel left her NYC apartment, she pulled her rental car into the driveway of her dads' house. Their cars were gone and she knew she'd arrived when they were still at work. Making two trips into the house with her bags, she dropped them off in her bedroom and got a snack in the kitchen and also saw what they had that she could make for dinner.

It was about two in the afternoon on Wednesday and she knew her dads had to work; they wanted to do that, so they could take off the few days before Thanksgiving to spend with her and she assured them that was alright and it gave her an opportunity to go out to the store and get things for dinner.

After her snack, she realized that they didn't have a lot of food in the house, so she wrote down a list and made her way to the store.

The November day in Lima was clear with blue skies, instead of the usual rain and clouds and Rachel relaxed as she drove to the store.

Walking through the aisles of the Safeway, she picked up what she needed, paid for her items and headed out to her car. Seeing she still had plenty of time before her dads would be home, she took the long way back, taking an opportunity to see what had changed since she had been there last.

Relaxing to the light traffic and small sounds she heard as she drove, she was already beginning to forget the drama she had left in New York and hoped she'd be completely be over him in just a few days, and she knew at the rate she was going, that was totally possible.

Her travels slowly brought her from one side of the town to the other and as she got closer to her dads', she was broken out of her thoughts when she heard a shrill wail of a siren behind her and looked to see a police SUV, so she turned her signal light on and pulled over to the right side of the road and gasped when it also came to a stop behind her. "Oh, you can't be serious!" She exclaimed to the empty car. Biting her lip, she tried to think of anything she had done wrong; she had stopped at all the stop signs, she didn't go through a red light, her cell phone was in her pocket so she hadn't been texting, she kept to the speed limits and remembered to signal every time she changed lanes or turned, so she knew there was no illegal reason for he to be pulled over, but she rolled her window down, turned the car off and reached for her paperwork, nervously waiting for the officer to approach her. She saw the man slowly slide out of the driver's side of the patrol SUV and walk towards her, his right hand resting on his gun, and she noticed the perfect fit of the uniform against his body and blushed at the thoughts she was having.

"Afternoon, ma'am," the officer greeted politely.

At his voice, Rachel's eyes widened and she turned to look at him straight on, "Noah?" She gasped.

"Well, hello Ms. Rachel Berry," Noah grinned.

Rachel's smile grew, but she also blushed a deep shade of read, "I can't believe this... You're a cop... And you pulled me over."

"Yep, I'm a cop," he smirked, "I've been one since I turned twenty-one and don't freak out. I only pulled you over because you have a break light out and you wouldn't know unless someone told you," he explained.

"What?" She exclaimed, "that rental company will be hearing from me!"

Noah smirked, "I'm sure they will. I'd love to be around for that; I've missed the Rachel Berry rants in my life," he winked.

Rachel blushed, "Noah..."

He shrugged, "hey, we just lost touch. I mean it's not like we stopped talking because we hated each other, right?"

"You do have a point," Rachel agreed, smiling at him, "I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"Thanks. I think I am. Still single and all that, but yeah, life is cool for me right now. How are you doing?" He asked, pulling out a notepad that he kept in his pocket along with a pen.

"I've been doing okay, but the last week has been rough. I... I'm sure you don't want to hear about my troubles right now," she said, trying to pass off the question.

He wrote his number down, "why not? We're still friends, aren't we? I know I still want to be."

She took his number and set it on the passenger seat by her purse, "thank you... I... I caught my boyfriend cheating on me with his secretary and obviously I broke up with him. I'm glad I'm done with him, but I'm just upset with how it happened," she explained.

"Whoa! What's his name and where does he live? Sounds like he needs a taste of the Guns of Puckerman," he commented, "no one cheats on Rachel Berry and gets away with it."

Rachel giggled lightly, "thank you, Noah, but you don't have to beat him up for me. I would not want you to get in trouble defending me."

"Hey, I have a badge now. I can do it legally," he winked at her and motioned to the paper he had given her, "call me and we'll hang out while you're home. I'll make you forget about the little cocksucker."

"I'd love that," she smiled, feeling so much better now that she was talking to him again; she even ignored his foul term and agreed she could use someone to take her mind off of him. "I look forward to spending time with you... How time has changed. Noah Puckerman is a cop, but you look amazing in that uniform," she commented, not bothering to hide how she felt about his look.

He smiled, "thanks, babe," he grinned, "you're lookin' pretty hot from this angle, too," he added, looking down between her 'assets' that were being revealed by a lower V-neck undershirt, showing a lot more skin than he was used to seeing of her.

"Noah!" She blushed, "I don't think my boy-"

"Ah, see! You need me to get your mind off of dick-face. We're going for drinks tonight; my treat," he said.

She nodded, "I'd like that, but how about some other time? I just got home a few hours ago. How about you come over for dinner tonight instead?" She offered, "I'm making chicken Parmesan and spaghetti."

"Sounds good to me! Same house?"

"Yes it is," she nodded, "as long as you're okay with seeing dad and daddy."

"It's cool. No complaints here. My shift is over at five-thirty, so I can be over by six," he said.

"Perfect," she smiled and picked up her phone, putting his phone number in and sent a message to him to give him her number, "I'll see you in a few hours."

"You will," he promised, nodding at her one last time and with a wave, he headed back to his patrol SUV with a smile on his face, "oh how I've missed you, Rachel," he thought.

Rachel watched him slide into his car and pull away and she couldn't ease the bright smile and warm cheeks she had, "I've missed you, Noah, and I think you're just what the doctor ordered."

Focusing on getting back, she started her car and continued on, her mind full of thoughts. She was still shocked to find he was a cop, but was really glad he seemed to have grown up, yet some of his comments still reminded her of the seventeen-year-old Noah 'Puck' Puckerman at McKinley.

...

Returning to her dads' house, she put her groceries away and immediately called the rental car company and after being bounced between one representative to another, she finally talked to a supervisor, who was extremely apologetic for the inconvenience the situation had caused and noted on her account that a week would be taken off her total time the car was rented as compensation, along with paying whatever the cost was to fix it.

Content with what she had gotten accomplished, she moved onto making dinner and was getting into things when she heard the front door open and close, so she knew one of her dads was home.

"Smells amazing in here. My daughter must be home," Alan commented, entering the kitchen.

Rachel set the spoon down and moved towards him, "hey dad!" She grinned, giving him a hug, "you know you two should not eat take-out all the time; it's not healthy, so while I'm home, I'll make us dinner," she kissed his cheek, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, sweetheart," he hugged her tightly, "and when we encouraged you to come home for some time off, we didn't mean you need to be our cook."

"I know, dad, but I want to. I'm used to cooking for myself and having healthy options around; I couldn't eat take-out every day," she reminded him, "dinner is at six-thirty and we have a guest," she said moving back to the stove.

Alan's eyes raised in curiosity, "we do? Who is it? I thought you and Daniel broke up and he wasn't coming home with you..."

"Please don't say his name," Rachel begged, "and no, it's not him. It's the officer who pulled me over today."

"What?" Alan exclaimed, "Rachel! Did you try and get out of a ticket by offering him dinner?"

"Dad! I did nothing of the sort!" She promised, "I was pulled over because one of the taillights on my rental car is out, so he was warning me to get it fixed. The officer was Noah Puckerman, you know, Noah from high school. He's a cop now. He didn't know it was me until after he pulled me over and we got talking and I invited him over for dinner. I hope that's alright."

"Oh! Of course it's alright," Alan nodded, "what a coincidence! I'm surprised I didn't know he was a cop, but he must not have had dealings with any of my legal clients," he explained, "I haven't heard you mention him; when was the last time you spoke with him?" He asked.

"Um, it's been a while. I'd say probably after my second year of college. He said he's been a cop since he was twenty-one and he's only two weeks older than I am. I didn't know he was a cop until today, so sometime around then; three years or more," she replied.

Alan nodded in understanding, "does he... well, have you mentioned..."

Rachel nodded, "yes, I did tell him briefly that I caught him, but did not go into details. In fact, that's how I invited him over for dinner. He offered to take me out for drinks tonight to talk, but since I had just gotten home, I figured I'd be tired early tonight and I wouldn't be good company for long, so I invited him over instead," she said. "And can you please stop bringing him up?"

"Of course, sweetheart. I'm so sorry," he added, moving over to her and hugging her again. "No man should do that to the woman he claims to care about. I have half a mind to go beat him up for hurting my little girl," he commented.

Rachel giggled, "dad! Not you, too! Noah offered the same thing. I'm glad he is out of my life. If he can't respect me enough to wait for me, then he wasn't worth keeping around."

"I don't disagree with you, but still; he hurt you and as your father, I should hurt him, but as a lawyer I won't," he commented with a sigh.

"Just knowing that you and daddy are supporting me is enough for me. I don't need you to fight my battles, too," Rachel told him.

"I know. So you're waiting until you get married to go all the way?" He asked curiously.

"I can't believe I'm having this talk with you," she blushed, "and no, but I don't want to give myself to just anyone. I thought he might be the one, but he wasn't. I'm glad I found out before I decided to give myself to him."

"Me too," Alan agreed.

"Me, three," David commented with a smile.

"Daddy!" Rachel grinned and dashed over to her other dad and wrapped her arms around him, "hi! How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know you're glad that 'he-who-must-not-be-named' is out of your life and thankful you found him cheating before you gave yourself to him and you wanna save yourself for the one and just not some guy, which is a very wonderful thing to do," he said kissing her cheek, "welcome home, sweetheart."

Rachel smiled, "thank you and it's really good to be home. That pretty much sums up our conversation, but you missed the part about me getting pulled over..." Rachel trailed off, going back to the stove to continue cooking while she explained her story of the past few hours to him.

David was just as welcoming as Alan was for their dinner guest and as both men went to change out of their work clothes, Rachel continued to bounce around the kitchen, setting the dinning room table for four and making sure things were cooking well; she wanted it to be a nice relaxing family dinner, and she hoped it would be.

...

Just after six, while her dads were sitting in the den reading over the daily newspaper and catching up on the mail, Rachel heard the doorbell ring, so she headed for the door, pausing by the mirror in the hall to fix her hair a little before moving to the door and pulling it open.

On the other side of the door, she saw the man she remembered from high school, jeans, t-shirt, skater shoes, sweatshirt jacket and short hair, just an inch or so long, but this time there was no mohawk. "Noah, welcome! Come in," she smiled, stepping aside to let him in.

"Thanks, Rachel!" He smiled and stepped inside, "how are you? Been pulled over by any cops lately?"

She blushed, closing the door behind him, "you know I was today and it was my first time ever being pulled over."

He leaned forward to press a kiss to her cheek, "so I was your first, huh? Nice!" He grinned and held out his arms, "these are for you."

Rachel stared at the bouquet of a dozen pink carnations and smiled, "Daniel never got me flowers; not even after a performance," she thought, taking them from him and smelling their scent, "they're lovely, Noah, thank you," she stepped forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"You're welcome," he paused, pulling out a package of lights from his pocket, "and to make sure you don't get pulled over again, before I leave I'll fix your light," he promised.

"Thank you," she smiled, "dad and daddy are in the den relaxing. Dinner isn't quite ready, so I'm going to put these in some water. You're welcome to hang your jacket up in the closet if you'd like," she offered as she moved back into the kitchen.

Noah took a moment to hang his sweatshirt jacket up in the closet and followed her steps into the kitchen, plopping down on one of the stools next to island, "need any help?"

"No, I'm good," Rachel replied, getting a vase from a cabinet and filling it with water, "so I gotta ask, how did you end up becoming a cop?"

He smirked and shrugged, "nothing really big on the story; I mean, you know how I wanted to high-tail it out of here once we graduated and Burt talked me into staying and continue working at the garage, right?"

"Yes, I do remember that," Rachel nodded.

"Well, I had driven past the police station and saw a sign that they were accepting applications for new recruits, so I went, got the information and found out to be sworn in you have to be twenty-one, but to apply you could be twenty... Anyway, I applied and they called me a few weeks later to come in for an interview and it all started from there," he shrugged, "I started training in like June and at the end of August I was sworn in, just like a week after I turned twenty-one. It was awesome. Mom was of course freaked out, but she's all happy that I turned my life around and am doing something productive and I still get to be a badass; now I get to be a badass with a badge," he grinned.

Rachel laughed lightly, "some things will never change."

"Oh, hello, Noah, we thought we heard you two talking," David said as he and Alan came into the kitchen from the den.

Noah stood up, "sirs, good to see you again."

"You, too, Noah, and please call us David and Alan; 'sir' is just too formal," Alan laughed.

"I look at it as a sign of respect, but I'll use your names," Noah commented, "and thank you for letting me come over for dinner."

"No problem at all. Happy to have you," David said. "It's not every day we actually have a home cooked meal and would love the company."

Rachel took the vase of flowers and set it on the dinning room table for a centerpiece and then returned to the kitchen as her daddy had said that, "that's only because you two never cook unless it's macaroni and cheese or TV dinners," she laughed, "you two cook like bachelors."

"Hey! What's wrong with that?" Noah asked with a grin, "I make a mean macaroni and cheese."

"Does it come from a box?" She asked.

"Of course, where else would it come from?" Noah asked walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her from behind as she stirred the sauce on the stove, "let me guess; you make it from scratch?"

"Though I don't eat a lot of pasta, yes I do make it from scratch," she said calmly, trying not to show how good she felt with his arms around her like that. "This is a good and bad idea, Rachel. If he keeps this up and you don't stop him, you'll be falling in love with him and then you'll leave again, and then what?" she thought. Stepping aside to reach for something, she felt him let go and sighed at the loss of contact, "for the last eight months you never felt like this, Rachel. What gives? Noah makes you feel safe and warm; Daniel never did."

"Rachel? Are you okay?" Noah asked, seeing her staring at the spaghetti sauce intently, completely out of it.

Snapping from her daze, she turned to him, "oh, yes, I'm fine," she said, "sorry, I just spaced out thinking about something."

He smirked, "I could tell. You've been trying to stir air for the past few minutes."

Rachel looked at what she had been doing and blushed, "whoops," she murmured and put the spoon into the pasta sauce to check it once more, "sauce is done, so once the pasta is finished we can eat," she said checking on the pasta.

"Noah, would you like something to drink?" David asked.

"Sure," he nodded.

"We don't have any hard alcohol, but we've got water, soda and some wine," Alan commented.

"Water. I don't drink when I'm driving," he explained.

"Oh, right, yes, that is true," Alan agreed handing him a bottle of water. "I should have known that.

"It's alright. I probably could have a few glasses of wine and be fine, but after having to arrest drunks behind the wheel, I decided to stop drinking if I'm driving," he explained.

"That's very admirable, Noah," Rachel smiled following them into the dinning room with some of the serving dishes.

"Thanks," he shrugged, "I guess I've grown up a lot since I became a cop."

"It's not so much the job, it's your age. You've grown up and realized some of the things you might have done when you were younger were not maybe the smartest or safest, and you've grown up and seen that," Alan told him.

"Learned from my mistakes, more like, but I get what you're saying," Noah grinned, taking a seat across from the two men.

Rachel brought in a few more trays and sat a bottle of water next to her plate, next to Noah, and with the final trip in, she took a seat, "okay, I think I have everything. Let's eat," she said with a smile.

Passing plates and dishes around, everyone took a serving and for a bit, the only thing that could be heard was silverware clicking against the plates.

"Rachel, this is amazing," Alan smiled.

Rachel blushed, "oh, it's nothing special. Chicken, pasta, sauce and some other ingredients," she shrugged.

"Sweetheart, it is special and you did a wonderful job. Thank you for only being home a few hours and doing this; it wasn't necessary," David replied.

"Babe, this is awesome. Thanks for the dinner invite. I might just make this a nightly plan if you're cooking," Noah commented with a grin.

"You're more than welcome to come over, Noah. In fact, I'd love if you did," Rachel smiled, "we can catch up."

"I'm in. I'm off everyday at five-thirty, so expect me by six, unless something comes up."

Getting back to dinner, they spoke about the holidays and Rachel asked what Noah was doing for Thanksgiving.

"Having dinner with my mom and sister. Thankfully I get it off this year; last year I had to work, so instead of me and my sister taking dinner to my mom, mom and Arin brought me dinner," he said.

"Noah, would you three like to join us? It's going to just be Rachel, Alan and I and we know your mom and sister from a few brief times we met and from Temple. We'd love to have you all over," David said.

Noah smiled, "thanks for the offer. I'm not sure, but I'll ask them."

"Awesome," Rachel smiled.

As they finished eating, Rachel's phone began to ring and she got up to see who it was. "Not a chance," she commented, hitting the ignore button and tossing the phone back into her bag which was on the island.

"Who is it, Rach?" Noah asked taking some of the dishes into the kitchen where she was and setting them by the sink.

"Daniel; my ex. I thought I was done hearing from him," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the island.

Noah walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, "you want me to take care of him?" He asked with a grin.

"Noah, I do not condone violence," she commented.

Her phone began to ring again, so she reached for it, and as expected it was Daniel, but before she could hit the ignore button, Noah pulled the phone from her hands and answered it, "hello? Who am I? It's none of your fucking business... She's right here; in fact, she just got through making an amazing dinner for her, her dads and I... You could say that..." Noah smirked, moving away from Rachel as she was trying to reach for the phone, "once you get a chance with Rachel Berry, you see that she is the best thing that ever happened you and hate to see her go. Oh that's right, you had a chance with her, but you decided to disrespect her by fucking your secretary, didn't you? ... I'm an asshole? Bullshit douche-bag! You're the fucking asshole! Rachel deserves better than a dick-face who cheats on her... Like me? Hell yeah! I'm a lot better man than you are! I may have made mistakes in my past, but I would never cheat on her and she knows that... No, you can't talk to her! So stop calling and let her move on, asshole," Noah snapped pulling the phone from his ear and ended the call, handing the phone back to her and taking a deep breath as he noticed David, Alan and Rachel were all staring at him, "sorry for the language."

Rachel wrapped her arms around him, holding him close for a long moment until she pulled away, tears in her eyes and smiled at him, "no one has ever stuck up for me like that before. Thank you!"

"You're welcome," he hugged her, "I've always got your back," he added, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She nodded and relaxed in his arms for a long moment before looking at him, "um, did you... what you said about me being the best thing that ever happened..."

"I meant everything I said. You are the best thing that ever happened to me; when we were in high school and now. I know I've made mistakes in my life, but I'm a better person now and I would never cheat on you or disrespect you like he did and I'm not just saying that because you're dads are standing here."

Rachel nodded, "I know," she smiled.

Before Noah could respond to that; glad she got it, someone knocked on the front door.

"That's odd. Are you expecting anyone?" David asked.

No one knew who was there, but Alan moved to the front of the house, while Noah, Rachel and David stayed in the kitchen.

As soon as Alan opened the door, he wished he hadn't. On the other side was Daniel, "I don't think you should be here."

The six-foot tall twig with brown hair and green eyes glared at him, "I don't fucking care what you think! I'm here to see my girlfriend and I'm not leaving until I do!" He exclaimed.

...

A/N7: Thank you all so much for reading! This is a work-in-progress. I don't know how long it will be, but probably between 5 and 10 chapters. I hope you all enjoyed; please review to let me know. I'm an author of several other Puckleberry fics, listed on my LJ and FF accounts, so feel free to check them out, too!

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