Author's Note: Hey, people. So… Yeah – a new story. Still working on my other ones, I promise. And this time, I have a co-author! Give it up for Ellie (aka MissElliexXxXx)! She's my amazing beta and we're writing together for the first time!
Hope you guys enjoy the first chapter of 'and I owe it all to you'! Don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: Nope... St. Pucktanerry would be abundant if Glee belonged to us.
and I owe it all to you: one
He really shouldn't do this. He had no right to be concerned about her. He had been the one who threw eggs at her and left her in the dust. Surely if there was someone who she would want to talk to, it would never, not in a million years, be him. So why was he so uneasy about what he'd seen on stage? He feared he already knew the answer. It had simply not been the girl who charged down the aisle of the very same auditorium, belting out a song with emotional depth to put Barbra Streisand to shame. It had been a meek, broken little girl he hardly recognized. There were traces of that girl who'd he become mesmerized by the year before, but the rest of Rachel Barbara Berry seemed to have been lost.
Jesse dialed the number on his iPhone, slowly exhaling before lifting the device to his ear. It rung three times before he heard a click.
"Hello?" A deep, gruff voice came through the gadget.
"Puckerman", Jesse sighed, glad that he'd finally reached the person he wanted to speak to.
"St James", Puck seemed to recognize his voice right away; there was a rustle in the background and a female voice asking who it was. Puck answered briefly to the woman's call before readdressing Jesse "I hope this is important. I was kind of in the middle of something". He muttered. There was a clatter, a crackle and a voice over the phone, a voice Jesse recognized.
"Listen, St Jerk, Puckerman and I were just about to get it on, so this better be a life or death situation".
"Hello again, Santana", Jesse murmured, half-icily, half-amused by the Latina's frankness. "If you could just pass the phone back to Puck, I'll just take a couple moments and then you can get back to whatever I interrupted".
"Puto pendejo", Santana muttered before Puck's voice came back onto the phone; Jesse chuckled when he heard Santana shouting in Spanish in the background before a door slammed.
"Thanks a fucking lot. You've angered her, man". Puck said sarcastically, with a slight scolding tone in his voice. "Santana bites".
"Okay, too much information". Jesse wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I'll make this quick. I need a favor".
"I don't know man; you just turned a smoking hot hookup into a fucking dangerous one. Why should I help you?" He questioned smarmily.
"Because it's about Rachel". Jesse stated firmly.
Puck was silent for a moment before saying coolly, "Man, if you're gonna try something with B again, then I'm out. I want no part in it unless if I need to kick your ass. B's had enough to deal with the last couple of weeks".
"I'm not going to try anything with her", Jesse assured him, leaning back in his office chair. "It's just that I saw Rachel yesterday and I'm worried about her". He admitted.
There was an intake of breath. "You were at Sectionals?" Puck asked curiously.
"HE WAS WHERE?" Santana shouted from the other end. "Don't you fucking try to shut me up, Puckerman!" She screamed after a few seconds. Jesse chuckled.
"Dude, I'm putting this conversation on speaker phone before Santana castrates me", Puck said hurriedly, and the other boy chuckled.
"We wouldn't want that, would we?" Jesse retorted.
"Okay, we're all on conference call now" Puck announced after a couple moments. "And I just felt like I'm on a fucking chick flick". There was a pause, then a thumping sound, and Puck groaning, "The fuck, San?"
"You're such a little bitch sometimes, Puckerman-"
"Anyway", Jesse interrupted before the two could get their fight going, "as I was saying, When I saw Rachel yesterday, she was not herself".
"Well, I couldn't expect anything less from Man-Hands. She found out about me and Finnessa sexing it up last year a couple days ago", Santana said bored down the phone.
"Wait, what?" Jesse startled, shocked. Finn with SANTANA?
"You didn't know about that?" Puck asked, surprised. "Wow, you and Rachel are pretty oblivious for smart people".
"Maybe it's their egos", Santana suggested with a teasing tone, and Puck chuckled.
"Anyway", Jesse interrupted again, impatience coloring his voice, "even though that may explain part of what I saw, there was something else. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was very wrong". Jesse explained, his voice turning serious.
"I kind of get where you're coming from", Puck admitted after a moment.
"Where is this going, St Douche?" Santana quipped loudly. "I haven't had sex in sixteen straight hours and I don't have fucking time for your cryptic shit", She muttered.
"I need you to keep an eye on her, Puck", Jesse explained, choosing to ignore Santana's input. That… didn't quite sit well with the Cheerio.
"Hey! What about me? Am I invisible or something?" The Latina screeched, and Jesse winced at the volume of her voice, distancing the phone from his ear a couple more inches.
"You're many things, Lopez, but definitely not invisible", Jesse retorted. "I just thought you'd be uninterested seeing as you were the one who Finn slept with". He added.
"Yeah, so? I'm the real HBIC of McKinley, I know everything and, if I don't, I'll damn well find out" Santana told him in her bitchy, I-know-everything, you-don't-wanna-mess-with-me tone.
"So you'll help?" Jesse asked skeptically.
"I'll consider it", she muttered.
"And you, Puckerman?". He asked; there was silence for some moments.
"You're right. Something's up with B. I'll see what I can do".
"What are you gonna do anyway?" Santana put in. There was a creaking of bed springs in the background and Puck sighed.
"I'm still working on it at the moment; a lot of it will depend on what you guys manage to dig up", he explained, running a hand through his curls, a signature trait of his.
"Good to know this plan is well thought out", Santana retorted ironically.
"I'm doing what I can", Jesse replied hotly, anger colouring his voice. There was a snort on the other line. "What would you suggest?" Jesse asked coldly.
"Pin RuPaul down and interrogate her", Santana suggested matter-of-factly. "Maybe threaten to rip some of her stuffed animals to shreds. Or threaten her precious Broadway stuff", she added.
"You're awful", Jesse hissed.
"Why, thank you, Jackass", Santana replied, a smile in her voice. "It'll probably get better results than your little search and survey mission". She put in.
"It's the best I've got for now". Jesse explained, there was a male sigh.
"Why the fuck is this so important to you anyway?" Puck asked curiously. "I mean, Rachel's hardly any of your business anymore, I think you lost that right last year". He added coldly.
"Says who? Rachel's the only girl I've ever loved. I know I messed up with her but I'll still try my goddamn best to protect her and look after her, even if she doesn't want my help".
"You're fucking whipped", Santana muttered. "How did Man Hands manage that without even putting out?" She questioned loudly, groaning in frustration.
"Jealous, Santana?" Jesse asked, amused.
"No fucking way, St James!" Santana screamed in fury. "Pendejo de mierda, voy a cortar a pedazos de basura!" She began to curse in Spanish.
"I gotta go, talk tomorrow", Puck promised, a rare tone of nervousness in his voice.
"Yeah, cool, man, good luck with Satan!" Jesse told the boy. When the tell-tale click of a phone being hung up rung in his ear, He leant back and opened up a drawer on his desk. He slowly drew up his most cherished picture of Rachel. It had been taken during Mercedes' performance of 'Beautiful' at last year's Cheerio assembly, and he had his arms wrapped around her waist, singing and smiling, and she had her head thrown back, lips curled in a blissful smile. She looked so happy, so full of life back then.
"You're going to be fine, baby", he whispered, sliding the tips of his fingers over her smiling face. "I promise".
