Chapter 2

Puck showed up a few minutes before six and parked next to an older model sedan in the driveway. The house still looked the same, he noticed, right down to the sturdy oak tree not far from Rachel's bedroom window. He'd had fantasies of climbing that thing late at night during the week they'd dated. And some nights after that.

He rang the doorbell and told himself he wasn't nervous. He was just curious, that's all. No way Berry would give up New York without a good reason, and he was curious to hear this "long story" she spoke of.

She opened the door and he saw she hadn't changed out of the red t-shirt with The Flash logo on it. He, on the other hand, had showered and changed into a nice polo and jeans. What a reverse.

"Noah, right on time," she said, smiling up at him. "Come on in."

He entered the house and she shut the door behind him. He could hear music coming from the direction of the kitchen and he heard a rhythmic thumping noise from somewhere else in the house, gradually coming closer.

The thumping turned into the sound of someone running and a small blur ran into the room. It wasn't the little boy with the dark eyes that shocked Puck so much as the bald head.

"Mommy, who's that?" the child asked, pointing a chubby hand at Puck. He waited for an answer as he munched on a gummy worm.

"Christopher, this is- Christopher, I told you no gummy worms until after dinner," Rachel said, hands on her hips.

"Grandpa said I could," the little boy said immediately, turning to point at his grandfather, who had followed him into the room.

Rachel glared and Richard Berry managed to look sheepish. "Sorry, darling, I haven't seen him in so long, I just can't help but spoil him a little."

"You'll spoil his appetite, is what you'll spoil," she said, anger and heat lacking in her tone.

Puck watched the scene in front of him numbly. He was still stuck back on the kid calling Rachel Mommy.

The little boy marched up to Puck and stuck out his hand, the one not occupied with the gummy worm. "My name is Christopher Andrew Berry and I am four years old," he announced proudly.

Puck blinked before reaching out to grasp the little hand. "Noah Puckerman," he murmured, staring into the eyes, the little face that was all Rachel.

Christopher giggled. "Pucker man? Like pucker up?"

"Christopher," Rachel scolded.

The child moved back to his mother, free hand pulling at her leg. "Pucker up, Mommy," he giggled.

She laughed too, bending at the waist to receive the kiss from the little boy. "Thank you, Christopher."

He repeated the gesture with Richard before returning to stand before Puck. "Who are you?" he asked, and Puck smirked at his forwardness. Definitely his mother's son.

"I'm a friend of your mom's, we went to high school together."

"When she was in glee cub?" the little boy asked excitedly.

Puck grinned. "Glee club," he corrected.

Christopher rolled his eyes. "That's what I said."

Puck chuckled. This kid was all Rachel. "Yeah, we were in glee club together."

"You can sing and dance too?"

"Well, not as well as your mom, but yeah," Puck admitted.

"Noah plays guitar," Rachel chimed in before turning to Puck. "Do you still play?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I manage to get some time in every now and then."

Her eyes sparkling, she said, "Do you still know Sweet Caroline?"

He grinned at her over her son's head. "Of course. Though I'd never play it for anyone else."

Even as he said it he was wondering why he did. He was standing in her father's house, for crying out loud, flirting with her in front of her son.

"What's Sweet Caroline?" Christopher asked his mother curiously, glancing back and forth between the two friends.

"It's a song Noah sang for me once, a long time ago," she told him. "Christopher, did you get your clothes set out for tomorrow? We're leaving very early."

"I think so," he said, squinting his eyes, thinking hard. He turned to Noah. "We're going to a rainbow tomorrow!" He turned back to his mother. "Maybe I should go check again."

She nodded, and Puck could tell her smile had turned sad. "Ok, you go do that."

Puck raised his eyebrows at her. "Going to a rainbow?"

Her smile was tight as she answered him. "Rainbow Babies and Children's," she told him.

He blinked and glanced over her shoulder at Richard before glancing back at her. "The hospital in Cleveland?"

"Yes."

"What's…what's wrong with him?"

"Leukemia," Rachel said softly.

The bald head, he thought. That explained it. "Wow. That's…I'm sorry."

She shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "It's ok," she said. "We've known for awhile."

Her father glanced at her in concern before going back into the kitchen, murmuring something about checking dinner.

Her back was to him now and he could see the tension in her movements. "Rach," he said softly.

She paused but didn't turn around. "What?"

"Come sit down," he said. "Come talk to me."

She sighed softly before turning around and he gestured to the couch. She sat and he sat beside her. "What do you want to know?" she asked softly.

"Is that why you're here?"

"Yes," she said. "Rainbow is a really good hospital, one of the best in children's diseases there is."

"How long have you known?" he asked, watching her face in concern.

She shrugged and his heart broke a little at the sadness in her eyes. "He first got sick just before he turned two. He had always been an active child, he could always entertain himself and was always playing with something. But then he got very lethargic, didn't want to play with his toys or anything. And then he started developing random bruises all over his body. They were large and took forever to go away. We took him to the doctor and they thought it was something we were doing."

"Something you were doing?" he asked in confusion. "Like what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Hitting him? They were never specific, not really. They called Child Services though, and the police were brought in to question us. I was livid. I had brought my sick child in for care and they thought it was something I was causing. Do I look like a stupid individual?"

He shook his head, hearing the anger in her voice. "Not at all. What happened?"

"They separated us," she said. "They interrogated us separately, and they told me they thought that Jason, that's his father, was hitting him, being rough with him. I told them there was no way." She paused and he could see the tears welling in her eyes as she wiped them away. "And then when the diagnosis came back with leukemia, I actually wished they had been right. I actually wished Jason had been hitting him." She chuckled and wiped at her eyes again. "That sounds so horrible, I know, but that was something I could have fixed. I could have just packed Christopher up and left and the problem would have been solved. But that wasn't the case."

He knew she wasn't married, he had clocked her ring finger the second he'd seen her in Drug Mart, but he couldn't help asking. "Where is Jason now?"

Her jaw tightened and he could hear the bitterness in her tone when she spoke. "He took off shortly after the diagnosis. Christopher was hospitalized right away and a week later Jason was gone. He said it was too hard for him, that he'd never been around sick people before and he didn't know how to handle it."

"What an asshole move," Puck muttered, unable to believe someone could willingly choose to walk away from Rachel, from that little boy.

"It was hard for me too," she said, eyes flashing. "But I stayed. I'm his mother and I stayed."

"Of course you did," he said, taking her hand. "You love him."

"He's the best thing that ever happened to me," she confessed. "Despite this, despite everything, and I wouldn't change that for the world."

"You're a great mom," he told her seriously.

She laughed, breaking the tension of the moment. "Listen to you. You've known me as a mom all of, what? Half an hour?"

He waved her off. "So? I can still tell." She said nothing, just offered him a small smile and squeezed his hand. "So he was hospitalized?" he prompted.

"Yes. He started chemotherapy right away. It was brutal. He was sick all the time, throwing up and lethargic. But it worked. About eight months later the doctors proclaimed him in remission, cancer free."

"That's good."

"It was," Rachel agreed. "Things got better, normal again. I never tried to get in touch with Jason, and he never contacted me. It was just me and Christopher and things were wonderful."

"And then?"

She sighed, shifting on the couch. "And then it wasn't. He started coming home with bruises about six months ago. I dismissed the first few as roughhousing in play group, they weren't bad and they disappeared fairly quickly. But they kept popping up more and more frequently and I got scared and took him to the pediatrician. They did some tests and discovered the cancer was back, and more aggressive than before."

Puck shook his head absently, his heart going out to Rachel and that little boy. "So you brought him here?"

She nodded. "The hospital in New York wasn't as equipped for children. They've been treating him but they haven't been able to help him and Rainbow has one of the foremost medical programs for children in the country. Daddy pulled some strings and got him a consultation with a doctor there tomorrow."

"That's good," he said, recalling that Richard was a surgeon at a hospital in a neighboring city. "Can they help him?"

"I hope so," she admitted. "Christopher's fifth birthday is coming up at the end of next month and he's so excited. He wanted a big party, with lots of presents and all of his friends, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm hoping they'll admit him to Rainbow."

"Why wouldn't they?" Puck asked.

"There's a waiting list," Rachel admitted. "Such a prestigious hospital, everyone wants their children to be there. There was a waiting list just to see a doctor, but Daddy was able to get by that. Normally I'd feel horrible for taking someone else's chance, especially someone who had to wait for it, but this is my baby, you know? I'd do anything to get him the treatment he needs, even if that means cutting in front of someone else."

He nodded seriously. "Of course you would, any parent would."

"He needs to be here," she said softly. "This is his best chance. He needs this."

"He seems to be in good spirits," Puck said.

"He is, mostly. I haven't told him they might admit him to this hospital. But he's still sick. He was exhausted when we got here last night and spent most of today sleeping or just watching movies. It breaks my heart to watch him just laying there, not out running around. He was the most active child I have ever seen before all this happened."

"I'm sure they'll take him, Rach," Puck said softly. "Your dad can put in a good word with the doctor tomorrow, tell him how important it is that he be treated there."

"Oh, Daddy's not going," she said absently.

"What?"

"He's not going. He has back-to-back surgeries lined up all day. He was going to cancel them and come with me but I refuse to let him. It's just a consultation, and his patients need him more than I do in this instance."

"What about your dad?"

"He's in Chicago, at a legal conference," she explained. "It's been scheduled for months and he was unable to get out of it."

"So you're going by yourself?"

"Yes." He gaped at her and she laughed softly. "It's fine," she told him. "I've been doing these things by myself for years."

"Doesn't make it right," he told her.

She shrugged. "Nevertheless, it is what it is."

He shook his head. "Nah. I've got tomorrow off, why don't I go with you?" It was a lie, of course, tomorrow was Tuesday, he was supposed to work, but he wasn't going to seriously let Rachel drive hours to this hospital and then deal with all this on her own. No way in hell. He felt the anger surge through him as he thought about what kind of asshole just abandons his son and his mother to years of this kind of thing.

"Noah, don't be ridiculous," she was saying. "We'll be just fine."

He shook his head. "Nope," he said simply. "I'm going."

"Noah, we're leaving very early in the morning," she said. "We'll likely be gone most of the day. Long car ride to and from. Who knows how long we'll be at the hospital? Really, it's ok, you don't have to do this. Christopher and I will be fine."

The child in question came bounding into the room before he could respond. "Everything's ready, Mommy," he said, slightly out of breath.

She pulled him onto her lap, cuddling him close. "Good. Dinner should be ready soon."

Puck smiled slightly, watching Rachel and Christopher snuggle on the couch. "Hey, Christopher," he said suddenly. The little boy turned to him. "How would you like some company tomorrow?"

He noticed Rachel narrow her eyes as the little boy grinned. "You're coming with us? He's coming with us, Mommy?"

Rachel opened her mouth but Puck beat her to it. "I sure am, buddy," he said. "If that's ok with you."

Christopher nodded. "Yay!" he said. "Mommy, Noah's coming too."

"I heard that," she said tightly.

Puck sent her his trademark smirk as Richard came back into the room, announcing that dinner was ready. Christopher followed his grandfather into the kitchen and Puck hung back, sure Rachel had a thing or two she wanted to say.

"Noah," she said, eyes flashing, "why did you do that?"

He grinned. "Because you're stubborn and would have said no."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," she said wearily.

"Rach?"

"Yes?"

"Just shut up and say thank you."

She blinked once before offering him a small smile and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Thank you, Noah," she said softly.

He held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head. "You're welcome, Rach," he whispered.