She's laying naked in his arms at three in the morning when his phone rings, the only reason he even answers it is because it's the fifth time in a row that it's went off. Whoever it is trying to get a hold of him is pretty damn insistent. He answers the phone voice gruff and angry from the interruption. The pissed off expression on his face though softens immediately she can hear who ever it is talking fast telling him he needs to get to Lima Memorial as soon as possible. When she looks him in the eyes all she see's is terror.
It reminds her so much of the eight year old who showed up at her door step after his father left him that it made Rachel's heart break into a million pieces. He gets up and she fallows him rushing to find her clothes that were thrown around the room in a haste, her panties are dangling off of his t.v. while her skirt is closer to the door. He looks at her and tells her she doesn't need to come, for her to get her sleep because they have school the day after tomorrow and they've already been up all night as it is. But she shakes her head and fallows him out into the freezing winter air climbing into the cab of his truck without a word.
They are in the hospital parking lot, Puck's cut off the engine and is now just sitting there staring at the steering wheal as if it hold all the answers. "What if…" he asks trailing off and giving her the same look he was giving the steering wheal. He wants answers from her, he wants to know what he's supposed to do.
"Whatever happens Noah, whatever we find in there I'm here with you always." Rachel said kissing him once on the lips and scratching lightly at the base of his scull like she knew calmed him down. He nodded once and got out of the truck taking her hands in his immediately.
A man in blue scrubs met them in the lobby and launched into an explanation full of medical jargon that neither of them understood. What Rachel did get from it however was that a truck came out of no where and hit the drivers side, Mrs. Puckerman died on impact. Adriana however had a mild concussion and a broken arm that needed surgery. They needed Noah to sign the papers to give them permission to perform the surgery. He does it robotically and then asks to see her, demands actually it's the only thing he's really reacted to at all.
Puck nearly yanks her arm off as he rushes past the doctor and into the room that he was clearly headed for. He drops her hand and they each go to opposite sides of the bed replacing one another's hands for the broken looking little girl laying unconscious before them. At first she thinks she's imagining it possibly going crazy from sleep deprivation and the deep sadness that had stolen over her heart. She hears Noah whispering softly into his sisters hair.
"I'm so sorry." Over and over again a mantra probably meant more to sooth himself than her. She decides to give him some alone time, when Noah is showing his deepest feelings he would rather not be watched so she silently steps out of the room and pulls her cell phone out. The voice that greets her is groggy with sleep.
"Mr. Shue?" Rachel questions because she's not sure if it's him on the other end.
"Rachel." He says back and she can hear the sheets rustling as he sits up in bed there is a soft groan but from a woman and Rachel gasps.
"Oh no Mr. Shue I'm so sorry I interrupted something. I… um I'll call you back later." The last word was broken and lead to the crying.
"Rachel are you okay."
She explains it all to him, everything that happened and how she's not sure what she's supposed do in this situation how is she supposed to take care of him when she's never lost anyone close to her. How was she supposed to stay strong when she herself was devastated she loved Noah's mom, adored her, looked up to her even and now she was gone just like it didn't feel real nothing felt real.
"I'll be there as soon as I can Rachel hold tight everything is going to be okay."
She finds herself wishing that she could believe that as she calls her dads and they too are on the way. She means to go back to the room that Adrianna is in but her feet take her to the cafeteria. Maybe Coffee will help Noah feel better.
In the week fallowing Arianna's release from the hospital everything is a blur of world wind activity. The siblings move in with the Berry's 'temporarily'. Adrianna sharing a room with Rachel and Puck in the spare though somehow in the middle of the night they all end up together in her king size bed. It's better that way she tells herself, because she doesn't know how to deal with an fourteen year old little girl who wakes up screaming in the middle of the night every night.
Noah always seems to know how to calm her down even if it's just a little because Adrianna never stops crying it's as constant as her breathing is. The doctors eventually put her on pills for the anxiety. In that sense the two of them a polar opposites because besides the long brooding silences you wouldn't have known that Noah Puckerman was essentially just orphaned a mere week ago. He hasn't reacted what at all since that day in the hospital. It unnerves Rachel to no end.
They are in the middle of making out on her bed in the hour they have before Adrianna get's home from school when she asks him about New York, the plan had been to take the first flight out of this town to their new lives together, Rachel getting an early start on auditioning and Noah doing summer classes to become a paramedic and them when he was twenty one a fire fighter.
He jumps away from her like she burnt him or something and starts pacing the floor saying fuck over and over again.
"It's a simple question Noah if you detest the idea of living with me so much then just say so!" She yells at him because she needs to goad him into feeling something even if it is anger directed toward her, he was starting to scare her.
"Fuck Rachel I can't go to New York with you okay!"
"Why?" She demanded no goading this time she really wanted to know, just because his mother was gone didn't mean he had to stay here.
"I go to New York with you and then what? Leave Adrianna to fend for herself? Our mother just died Rachel! She died!" He yelled kicking her desk hard, the vase sitting close to the edge fell to the ground with a crash of breaking glass. She had never been afraid of Noah until that moment it wasn't that she thought he was going to hurt her at least not purposely but his eyes had this kind of crazy look in them like he didn't know what he was doing.
He starts turning things over in his anger and she doesn't stop him because he needs this. He needs to get this out. So she just stands there and flinches when he knocks down her first singing trophy, a picture frame of them together and all of her books off of her desk. Her rooms a mess now and it's going to be hell to clean up but she doesn't care. She'd do anything for Noah. He drops to his knees without warning his face in his hands as his body shakes with sobs. All Rachel can do is pull him to her so that he's resting his head in her lap while she sings quietly to him.
After a while he calms down and looks at her with wide fearful eyes, "She just… she abandoned us just like that." he snapped his fingers. "She gave up without a fight and left me with a mess, I'm never going to get out of Lima."
An idea struck Rachel rather suddenly and before she could stop it the word were tumbling out of her mouth. "The apartment has two bedrooms Noah, bring her with us. She'll love New York and besides staying here with all these memories won't be good for the healing process so we bring her with us."
"No." He said simply shaking his head and rubbing the tears from his eyes. "I'm not letting you be drug down by the two of us."
She know what she's about to say next is cheesy as hell and she's almost disappointed when he doesn't call her out on it. "You could never drag me down Noah Puckerman if anything you lift me up."
It's totally worth the first real smile she earns from him in weeks.
The first couple of months are kind of hard on the three of them. Neither Rachel nor Puck really know how to tend to a fourteen year old but for the most part Adrianna is pretty independent, she helps out with all the house work and plays Nintendo with her brother when he's not in classes during the day. When he is though she goes with Rachel to her auditions. Always going on and on about how well she did that day. It helps Rachel not get discouraged that she wasn't called back for her very first audition. It's also nice to have a girl around even if that girl is four years younger.
She understands how annoying it is when Noah leaves spit in the sink or the toilet seat up. They have movie night every Saturday night and switch out who gets to pick the movie. Noah always picks the typical guy flicks, Rachel the musicals, and Adrianna is so random with her picks they never know if they are going to be watching a chick flick or a thriller.
It's nice what they have here in their own little world, their a family. Sure it's not perfect or even how Rachel saw herself after graduation. But she loves her Puckermans more than anything else and she wouldn't change a thing about how her life turned out.