Title: Red Meets Blue
Author: Kate (heartsmash)
Rating: Overall, M
Pairing: Brooke/Lucas
Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, among others. I am just taking the characters out to play - I'll put them back when I'm done.
Summary: Who do you turn to when you need protection? P/R, future fic.
Chapter 2
Kurt did not waste any time the next morning. He called Brittany, his momentary former flame from many moons ago and got passed to Matt Rutherford and then to Mike Chang who finally had the information that he needed to confirm. Now, he was on the subway- much to his displeasure – after all, his outfit was Philip Lim and it did not deserve to be tainted by public transportation. But it was Rachel and he would do a lot for that girl despite their petty disagreements in high school. She had given him reason to leave behind retail and start his own styling business, which was slowly taking off.
Getting off in Brooklyn, he used his phone to get him to the exotic car dealership and shop that had one grease monkey in particular that was of interest to him. The metal door to the shop was open and he took a cautious step inside. He wrinkled his nose at the crude rap music that blared, the pictures of half naked women and celebrities on the walls.
A loud guffaw escaped his lips when he saw a picture of Rachel from US Weekly in the black French Connection dress at the MTV Awards. The cast had just finished filming and flew back the day of for the awards show and Kurt had less than two hours to put an ensemble together. The dress was tight and left little the imagination – if he was straight he could see why the picture was posted.
The laugh attracted the attention of one of the staff and he asked if he could help Kurt.
"Puck!" he shouted and Kurt saw a buzzed head pop out from behind a cherry red Maserati.
Puck spotted Kurt and the stylist waved daintily, the former baritone narrowed his eyes and threw down his wrench.
"Mario, I'll be back in 5," he shouted grabbing a rag and wiping off his hands.
Puck jerked his head towards the exit and Kurt followed. "What are doing here Beyonce? Other than making my co-workers think that I play for the other team."
"We haven't seen or spoken to each other in years and yet you're still a crabby mother effer," Kurt snapped. "But I'm here because I have a proposition for you."
Noah Puckerman did not like where this conversation was headed.
"No way Hummel, I've got my fair share of woman troubles. I don't need boy troubles too."
Kurt rolled his eyes and buffed his nails on the linen of his pants.
"How much money are you making here? Probably enough for a crappy studio and Ramen noodles? And you think its fine because it's out of our stupid cow town."
"Yeah, so?"
"What if I had something better? Something that paid extremely well, something that would allow you move into Manhattan and work with Matt and Mike."
Puck sucked in a sharp breath. More money would be great – he made enough to live on, sending the rest to his mother so she could stop working so damn much. And getting out of his shoebox apartment with his extremely noisy upstairs neighbors? Hell yeah.
"This isn't some escort thing right? It's legit?"
"It actually involves Rachel."
Rachel Berry. Now there was one person from high school who found her way into his thoughts from time to time. If only because his mother brought her up often enough in their phone calls to not fuckin' forget the midget with killer legs and voice.
"Rachel Berry is about to be the next Scarlett Johansson, only with better acting skills and well…Jewish."
"Yeah, I heard she's gonna be in the next Batman. S'fuckin hot."
Truth be told, the minute he had heard that news he had Googled the shit out of that. He saw pictures of her on the set and pictures of her in this tight little leotard that made his mind go to dangerous places.
"Yes, well, Diva B has already attracted some pervs. Studio has asked Quinn to hire some muscle to keep her safe."
"Quinn?"
"Yes, Quinn. She's Rachel's publicist and manager. I'm her stylist. Keep up." Puck glared but Kurt continued.
"I think you and the other two would be perfect for this gig. Rachel would be comfortable and you three would make some good money helping a friend. So what do you say?
& ! & ! &! & ! &
"Thank you, we'll give you a call," Quinn said, walking Big Todd to the door.
The studio had gotten them a room in their New York satellite office to conduct interviews. So far, Rachel was not enthused by any of the choices. Quinn, on the other hand, saw qualified candidates in all six that had come in.
"Rachel, come on…this is not like picking a life partner. They're just protecting you. Can't you see any of them keeping you safe?"
Before Rachel could answer a light rap on the door came and Kurt walked in, looking like the cat that had swallowed the canary.
"Thanks for joining us at the end of things," Quinn said sarcastically.
"Rachel, I've found a solution. What if I told you that I found people you knew that would protect you?
Rachel's eyes momentarily lit up before growing confused. Who did he speak of? Finn was teaching in Detroit and Jesse St. James was a distant sour memory. Unless…
Kurt opened the door and whistled. "I'm not some fucking Bichon, Hummel. Whistle again and see what happens."
Rachel knew that voice and yet shock was still written all over her face as Noah Pucker sauntered through the door.
"Sup Berry, Baby Mama, "he greeted.
Quinn scoffed at the greeting, seeing the boy who had gotten her pregnant at 16 didn't exactly give her butterflies. For Rachel, he was the world's most unlikely friend seeing as how high school had started with him chucking slushies in her face. But after time spent together in Glee and the mere week they had dated, things were different. He wasn't Puck, he was Noah and he was certainly someone that Rachel could see taking on this job.
"We'll let you two have a minute," Quinn muttered, getting up and shoving Kurt out the door roughly.
Noah took the seat that Big Todd had occupied a few minutes before.
"Hit me with your best shot," he said with a wink. He knew that she couldn't outright give him the job without at least a pseudo interview. It wasn't right and he was positive that the Powers that Be would feel similarly if Rachel couldn't give them a reason as to why he was hired other than he was a friend.
"So um, why do you want the position?" she asked, shy at doing this without Quinn's strong guiding hand
"Hummel said you've got some Ben-Israel type creep on your case and you need these guns to help you out."
Rachel smirked and Puck felt himself mimicking the expression. "And what unique skills or talents could you bring to the job?"
"Well, first there's dealing with your specific type of crazy which seems to have dialed down significantly since high school. Not to mention my own brand of badassness and then there's my skills," he said waggling his eyebrows for emphasis
"You're incorrigible!" she cried, her cheeks flushing a light pink. "You certainly haven't changed much since high school."
"Bad thing?" he asked
His intense gaze made her squirm a little. "No, I'm still comfortable around you which is something all the other candidates were missing. But I'm legally bound to tell you that this may be dangerous. It hasn't pointed itself that way yet but I've done extensive research on stalkers and celebrities and in the past, even the non-harmful presentation can turn…"
"Berry, I got this. No guts, no glory right?" he told her
He could not imagine anything hurting her and him not having a say in it. Rachel gave a mega watt smile and ran to the other side of the table, giving him a giant hug. Pulling from the embrace, she took a seat on the table's edge.
"I'm very happy with this decision. Kurt definitely did not waste any time in finding a solution."
"Gotta say, this is probably the best idea Hummel's had in a while. Well at least since sticking you in that little black mini thing at the MTV awards."
She flushed bright red and Puck loved every minute of it. Not even if she was about to be the hottest search on Google once everyone saw the new Batman movie, it was still the easiest thing in the world to make her blush.
"You saw that?"
"Saw it? Babe, the guys at the shop have that shit pinned up. Gotta say, they definitely don't believe me when I tell them I let you go in high school."
Rachel didn't bring up that slightly bitter memory from both of their pasts – when both thought they had such intense feelings for another (Puck's just outside in the hallway) and they had just been kidding themselves with their momentary romance.
"I'd like to think that I earn with my talent, not how I look in French Connection."
"You will," he said seriously
And in that moment, despite any past teasing or sexual innuendo, she believed him.
& ! & ! &! & ! &
"Do you honestly think this is a good idea?" Quinn asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Rachel Berry was her business and the plan was security detail. Not security detail with a side of sexual tension.
"Why are you in such a tizzy about this? Rachel wanted someone she was comfortable around."
"Yeah, but if we're going off of Puck's track record this could very well end with Rachel heartbroken and without security detail. We could avoid all this by just hiring a stranger for the job."
"Quinn Elizabeth Fabray, I trust that you are not saying this from a place of pain or personal experience but based on your beliefs that Puck would not be good for the job."
Quinn hesitated and Kurt waited for her to answer, knowing he had found the source of her irritation. "I don't want Rachel getting hurt. I know how he is and sure, it did cross my mind that there could be a baby-gate redux. But I guess if there was anyone that could do the job of threatening presence well, it would be him."
The two looked through the blinds to the office and saw Rachel embrace Puck.
"I think you made the right choice. I think she's going to be happier with someone she knows rather than someone that she doesn't"
Quinn let herself ease up a little bit about the decision as the foursome returned to Rachel's apartment.
But she didn't show that soft side of her to the boy who got her pregnant when she read him the Riot Act – he was to sleep in the guest room of Rachel's apartment and there was to be no funny business. It didn't shock her when Puck smirked and closed the apartment door in her face.