Title: Patience Is For Amateurs (sequel to At Least She's Jewish by cleanslate)

Characters: Rachel/Puck, OC, Gleeks

Rating: M - Puck is a potty mouth and Rachel/Puck are married and totally do married stuff.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I only own the CDs, DVD and a McKinley Football sweatshirt I got on eBay.

A/N: A huge cyberhug for cleanslate for letting me play with her fanfic and being a great Beta Babe!

Warning: Puck rears his ugly head and cusses like a sailor.

"Whoever said patience is a virtue is totally full of shit." Noah A. Puckerman, Sr.

Chapter 2

Asher's school bus pulled away and Noah could now turn his attention to his wife. She waved for a little longer as the big yellow bus vanished from sight. He contemplated tapping his foot to punctuate his feelings but instead grabbed her hand to walk back to their apartment in silence. They would follow the plan for the day and then talk. His heart was racing as he thought about what Rachel was hinting at. When she was first pregnant with Asher he had woken up in the middle of the night to find her gone from their bed and loudly retching in the bathroom. He still couldn't believe that someone so small could throw up that much! He had crawled out of bed to see how she was doing and found her kneeling on the floor with her head resting on the toilet. He kissed her, held her close, did what he could to comfort her and let her know he was there to stay. He also couldn't help but think about the baby they had lost because of the car accident. Rachel was walking quietly beside him having very similar thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four years earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last time Rachel was pregnant it was over before it began. She was feeling poorly the afternoon of the big glee graduation party but wrote it off to not enough sleep and too much excitement. Noah buckled Asher in his car seat and started the car while he waited impatiently for Rachel to come out of the house

"Come on, Rach! All the good food is going to be gone by the time we get there! Get a move on!" Noah yelled out the window.

He couldn't understand why she was in the bathroom again. How many times could that girl brush her teeth? Shit. Both of them were more than a little tired and crabby due to their less than stellar evening. Asher had been up most of the night because of teething. They had done everything they could think of to make him feel better. He had been rocked, given some pain reliever, left to try to cry it out, and his GrandPapa had even wrapped a hot water bottle in a blanket to try to comfort him. In the end, they discovered he just wanted to nurse and fell asleep after feeding lustily. Noah had commented to Rachel that his son had the right idea but decided to quit while he was still intact after a glare from her. He growled as he rolled back to his side of the bed to let her know what he thought of her response. She had been running so hot and cold lately it was hard to tell how she was going to respond. Rachel seemed to be either so focused on Asher she hardly noticed him or she was trying to get him horizontal.

A few minutes later Rachel ran out of the house and got in the back seat of the car next to her son. She was definitely ready to get to the party to see her friends, eat some food, and socialize. It had been a difficult senior year for her trying to juggle all her activities, friends, her relationship with Noah as well as doing her best to be a good mother. It was such a daunting task some days she found herself crying for hours feeling overwhelmed and wishing she had a mother to consult. Noah's mother Ruth did her best to try to mentor her son's girlfriend , and Rachel loved her dearly, but there were situations when it wasn't enough. She also knew that as much as her Dad and Daddy loved her beyond measure, they weren't a mother and sometimes that just plain sucked. Rachel hated to use such crass words but they definitely summed it up. She did her best to put her frustrations out of her head - today was all about her academic achievements over the last four years and she was going to have fun.

"I apologize for taking so long, Noah. I'm still feeling a bit out of sorts because of last night and my stomach seems to hate me." she said quietly. She hated it when they clashed. The guilty feeling she got just sat like a lead weight in her belly and she had to make it right. They wouldn't have any fun at the get together if they were snapping at each other the entire time so she got up the nerve to tell him she was sorry.

Noah turned around and winked at her. "Rach, I know we're both running on negative sleep and cranky as hell but don't worry about it. We're going to meet up with our friends and have a blast today. It's your day, babe! You graduated with honors and I'm so proud of you. I know there's a whole shitload of people who will be at this party who think the same thing so let's get going, okay?" He placed his hand to her face and gently traced her jaw line with his thumb. They had both worked very hard to finish high school after Asher was born. It sucked most of the time but because of his experience in auto shop he had gotten a job at Mr. Hummel's garage restoring cars. It brought in enough money to support their little family and put some aside for college courses they might want to take. Noah had taken more automotive classes at the University annex in town to further his knowledge and had done so well Burt had recently given him a raise. He was optimistic about actually having a career and getting them out of Lima. Rachel needed to get to New York some day to try for her dream.

Rachel buckled herself in and reached over to hold Asher's hand. "Are you ready to go see the gleeks baby boy? They're going to be so surprised at how big you've gotten. You're almost ready to walk by yourself now aren't you? I love you Ash." She kissed his chubby hand and he babbled back a response. "Mamamama."

As they drove across town to Mr. Schue's house they talked about their plans for the summer and how they wanted to move into an apartment of their own. Rachel was very excited about the prospect of starting school at the Lima campus of O.U. in the autumn. She wasn't sure what her major would be but she knew it would involve music and performance in some way. Noah was glad to see her excited about something and hoping she didn't feel like he was holding her back. He told her how he wanted to take some business classes so he could impress Mr. Hummel with this drive to succeed. This was definitely a much better conversation than the one they had in the middle of the night! Both of them felt much better than they had earlier in the day.

They were about a block from the party when they approached a stop light that was turning from yellow to red. Noah slowed to a stop and waited for the light to change while he looked through some cds and put one in the stereo. As the music started to play the light turned green and he stepped on the gas only to hear Rachel screaming for him to stop. His head turned in her direction to see a pickup truck running the red light and plowing into the side of the car where his girlfriend and son were seated. He reached for them and let out a bloodcurdling scream when he saw that there was nothing he could do but watch everything happen in slow motion. The sight of their crumpled bodies was the last thing he saw until he woke up in the hospital several days later still screaming.

Noah's mother leapt up from the chair she had fallen asleep in next to his bed. She tried to calm him down while she pushed the call button for the nurse to come and remove the breathing tube they had inserted down his throat. The monitors he was hooked up to started to beep furiously with their lights flashing on and off. Ruth could now hear footsteps approaching quickly to see what the emergency was.

"Noah! You need to calm down! You were in a car accident and they needed to help you breathe. If you don't quit thrashing the ivs are going to come out and that'll hurt like hell! Calm down." she pleaded. She knew his temper wouldn't let him comply but she did her best to keep him from hurting himself more. He was already pretty banged up with a broken collarbone, badly bruised face along with cuts from the flying window glass. His mother was also worried about what he would do when he was well enough to see Rachel and Asher in I.C.U..

The doctor assigned to Noah's care was quickly in his room and carefully removed his breathing tube. Ruth heard her son sputter as he tried to speak. She handed him a cup of water with a straw in it so he could get some liquid to his dry throat. He slowly began to find his voice and started asking questions.

"What the fuck happened to us and where the fuck is my family?" he croaked. "The last thing I remember is Rachel screaming and then the truck hit us and then I'm here. Where are Ash and Rachel?"

It was explained to him that considering the damage their car had been subjected to it was amazing he was alive. The driver of the truck was drunk and only got a few scratches but his car was also totaled. The doctor didn't reply to the heated questions; he continued speaking and listed all of the injuries and how they were healing but Noah wasn't listening.

"I said, where the fuck is my family?" came the young father's demand again.

"Mr. Puckerman, you wife and son are being taken care of in our I.C.U and making improvements each day. I am sorry to say that the baby didn't make it. We tried everything we could, but in the end the pregnancy couldn't be sustained due to your girlfriend's extensive injuries. I am sorry." he said with regret.

Noah understood the first part but the baby? What baby? Rachel was pregnant?

"Rachel was pregnant? If she knew, she didn't say shit to me." He hung his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. It should have been obvious that something was off with her but he had missed it. Noah knew he seriously needed to work on his listening skills. The girl he loved had needed him and he had been clueless. Idiot.

A few days after Noah woke up in the hospital Rachel had improved enough to be no longer sedated. Her injuries, like Asher's were quite extensive because they were sitting in direct line with the truck's path. The pediatric specialists had let Noah know that it would be a while before his son would be going home since he would have to go through multiple operations and be a common fixture in the physical therapy department for quite some time. Whatever would get his son better he knew he would do it; he had promised Rach that he was there for the long haul and he meant it. It was going to be an exciting day and also definitely difficult. He would have to tell her that she had been pregnant at the time of the crash and that she had miscarried.

Noah slowly walked into Rachel's room being careful to not knock the sling his arm was in. It was difficult to walk with all the bruising but he needed to see her. He knew her worried mind would be racing and creating scenarios while she lay in her bed unable to do much. He hoped that he could find the right words and be able to comfort her ; she was going to be in for a rude shock.

Rachel gasped when she saw his black eye, cuts and what she correctly guessed was a immobilizer for his broken collar bone. He knew he looked bad but he almost felt guilty he didn't look better the first time she saw him.

"Oh Noah! Look at your eye, and your arm and… Are you limping?" She was so shocked to see him banged up her only response was to put her hands on the side of his face and cry. It broke her heart to see him like this.

"Have you seen Asher yet? I'm so worried about him! I asked them over and over today how he was doing and they just kept saying that you'd be in to talk to me." She paused when she saw the tears rolling down his face and his downcast eyes. Her hands quickly went up to her gaping mouth and she started to sob.

"No Noah! No! You're not going to tell me that our son is dead, I won't let you!" she bellowed. She balled her hands into a fist and started hitting his chest and weeping uncontrollably. Noah put his arms around her , held her close and started to quietly speak.

"He's not dead, baby. He's hurt pretty badly like you but he's doing better every day. They said we can go see him in a day or two when you're feeling better, okay?"

Rachel looked up at him with her tear streaked face and kissed him deeply. "You scared me, Noah. Why didn't you say anything and make me think he was dead?"

Now was yet another time in Noah Puckerman's life when he would have to man up and find his spine. He was going to have to tell Rachel about the miscarriage. Fuck. Double fuck. He held her hands as he looked into her eyes and started to speak slowly; choosing his words very carefully.

"I talked to your doctors a few days ago and when I asked how you and Ash were doing they said that the baby didn't make it." He was trying to give her a chance to tell him that she had known she was pregnant. From the puzzled look on her face, she hadn't known.

"I don't understand. Why would they say that Asher didn't make it if he did? That doesn't make any sense." The moment she heard herself finish the sentence the realization hit her and she put her hands to her belly.

"I-I-I was pr-pregnant? Noah, I-I had no idea! I'm so sorry, Noah. I'm so, so sorry!" she wept as she lay down on Noah's lap.

Over the next few months while the family healed, some in more ways than others, they decided they need to move out of the Berry house and into their own apartment. While Rachel's Dad and Daddy were sad to see them go they let them know that they were welcome any time and that they were expected to visit as much as possible. The young couple knew that they needed to work on their relationship; patching up the cracks that had formed after the accident. The hurt from losing a baby they hadn't known about had driven them apart only to bring them closer together. The idea that Rachel might be pregnant again terrified them but they were in this together and if they were blessed with another baby they were ready for that adventure.

A/N: Please comment/review - concrit is glady appreciated.