LiveJournal Prompt: I'm about to give you three Jewish babies in one go. Happy Mother's Day, Ma.
Rachel and Noah Puckerman had been married for only a week when they found out she was pregnant. They had taken their honeymoon before the wedding due to Rachel being in a show that was immediately starting two days after they got married. When it was a week and she started throwing up constantly, he started to get worried. Every morning at five o'clock sharp, she would be dashing out of bed and into the bathroom to completely empty her stomach of any food that was left in there. She took three pregnancy tests that all confirmed that was impregnated with Noah's spawn. She didn't realize then that three was about to become their new lucky number.
After rejoicing in the news of the hopes of the new life that was going to be brought into the world with their genes and looks, Rachel made an appointment at the OBGYN's office at the hospital in downtown Manhattan. When they arrived to have her first ultrasound, they expected to see their child on the screen. Well...There child was on the screen, but then there was another, and another.
They were having triplets.
Mrs. Puckerman, or Mariam as she kept insisting Rachel call her, had been pushing for kids ever since she had learned of their dating. They had started dating when they were seniors in high school after everything had cooled down from Babygate and the whole debacle of Finn cheating on Rachel continuously with Santana. Noah had been the one to be there to pick up the pieces so someone was there for her at a time that no one else was.
Ever since that dinner with Mariam telling her that she was dating her son, it was serious, and yes, she was Jewish, Mariam had been hinting at grandchildren, even though they were only seventeen. When they had announced their engagement at the age of twenty, Mariam had been more insistent on having a grandchild to make their family feel fuller than it was at that point. But Rachel was still going through Julliard and Noah was finishing up NYU, they both shared a small apartment in lower east side Manhattan. They had finally both graduated May of their senior year and both started to work full-time. Rachel was an actress in several off-Broadway productions and then she finally got her first part in a Broadway production. It was a supporting role, she had lines, and she was going to make the best out of it.
The show would only last two months and by that point, the doctor had said, she would be around four months along, and she should be fine for the next two months for dancing and singing, but she had to take it easy. Noah, however, became one of New York's finest. He was a police officer of the NYPD. He entered into the Police Academy immediately after graduation, exited the Academy with flying colors, and now had friends in the force who knew him as Ark. This was all Rachel's fault; he would accuse her, because she consistently called him Noah and his partner picked up on it and started to call him Noah's Ark. But over time it got shortened to just Ark.
When they had found out about the triplets, Rachel knew that they would have to find a special way to tell Noah's mother. They couldn't just call her and tell her, they needed to figure out something unique. It was Mother's Day coming up soon, so they were planning on flying back home to surprise her for the annual holiday. They also had bought a house in Lima to raise their family in their old hometown to be around family. The house was right down the street from the old Puckerman house and Rachel was taking over for Mr. Schuester as the Glee director and the music teacher for another person. On the day that they were flying back, they were in the gift shop waiting for their flight to be announced from La Guardia Airport while Noah was reading the Mother's Day cards and Rachel was looking at the snacks for the plane ride and determining which ones were vegan appropriate.
All of a sudden, Rachel hears her name being called by her husband over to the care aisle. When she approached him, he had the look on his face that showed that the light bulb actually went off in his head that didn't go off very often. "What," She said, surprised.
"We can tell her through a card," He said, a proud look on his face. "It's great! We can tell her about the mini-Pucks through a card!"
Rachel suddenly broke into a laugh that made him glare at her. "Don't glare at me, Noah Puckerman. I think it's a great idea," She said, "I was just laughing because I can picture her face in my head right now. Her reaction will be priceless."
"That's a good plan," He smiled down at his wife with his famous Puckerman smirk.
After the two-and-a-half flight from New York to Dayton, Ohio, she and Noah drove the hour-and-a-half drive from the airport to Lima, they arrived, finally, right outside Noah's old house. "Are you ready to do this," Rachel smiled at her husband from the passenger's seat and grabbing his hand in a vice grip.
"Definitely," He said, excited and got out of the car to grab their bags from the trunk. Making their way up to the front door, they paused on the stoop. Noah went to ring the doorbell, but Rachel just grabbed the door knob and pushed it open.
They quietly moved into the house, deposited their suitcases silently by the staircase, and made their way to the kitchen where they heard his mom softly singing to himself and the smell of a stew wafting into them. As they walked into the kitchen, they saw Mariam Puckerman dancing around the kitchen, a spoon in her hand, and stirring the stew that was on the stove. Her back was towards them as them leaned up against the entryway to the kitchen.
Elia, Noah's sixteen-year-old sister, was sitting at the kitchen doing her homework and when she saw a movement she looked up and saw her brother and sister-in-law standing there in the doorway. Her face perked up and she softly nodded her head as Rachel put a finger over her mouth to make sure she didn't say anything.
Just as Mariam turned around to grab a spice from the cupboard full spices behind her, her eyes drifted over to her son and daughter-in-law standing in the doorway and stopped in a dead halt. Then she screamed.
"Oh, my," She says and then says something quietly under her breath in Hebrew that Rachel did not quite catch. Mariam puts her hand over her heart and walks over to Rachel and Noah. "Noah, you know better than to scare someone of such old age," She chastises, smacking him lightly on the shoulder.
"Ah, Ma, you're not that old," Noah said, smiling at her and bent down to gather the small woman into his arms and gave her a tight hug. After releasing her from a long, tight, and warm hug, Mariam made her way over to Rachel to give her a hug.
"My daughter, how are you," She asked, holding Rachel at arm's length to look at her from head to toe. "Are you pregnant yet," She questioned, looking into Rachel's eyes.
"I am fine, Mariam, and no, I am not pregnant, yet," She said, pulling out all of her best acting skills to lie to her mother-in-law.
Sighing, the older woman nodded and pulled Rachel into a tight hug. "I will pray for you two," Mariam said, patting Rachel on the back and moved back to the stove towards her stew.
Rachel glared at Noah, motioning towards his mother to give her the card. He shook his head vigorously and pointed at the calendar, motioning to the day of Mother's Day, which was tomorrow.
After Mariam had gotten over the initial shock of her children having surprised her for the motherly holiday, they all sat down and started eating the stew with kosher meat in it. They both rested in Noah's childhood room which had been turned into a guest room and no longer looked like his brooding, teenager room. The room had been painted a light beige, had a queen sized bed now, and a white comforter.
The next day, Noah and Rachel were taking Mariam and Elia out to breakfast to the nicest restaurant in town to celebrate the annual holiday. They arrived at Maurice's and when they were seated, had their breakfasts that consisted of crepes, French toast, eggs, and pancakes. After they had finished their breakfast, it was time to give Mariam her Mother's Day gifts.
Elia went first and gave her mother a basket filled with lotions, shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and candles that had various scents. Mariam kissed her daughter on the cheek in thanks and gave her a hug.
Rachel looked at her mother-in-law and started speaking, "Now, our present is not as beautiful as Elia's is, but we thought you would like it."
Noah handed his mother the card that they had bought for her at the airport. She opened it and on the card read, "Happy Mother's Day, Grandma!"
"Noah, did you get me the wrong Mother's Day card again," She said, looking at her son with the look only a mom would give a child.
"Just open the card, Ma, and please read it out loud," Noah chuckled, looking at his mother.
She sighed and started to read, "Happy Mother's Day, Grandma," She opened the card and read, "We hope you enjoy the present we gave you! Happy Mother's Day, Love, Noah and Rachel. And now, in Noah's messy handwriting, I'm about to give you three Jewish grandbabies in one go. Happy Mother's Day, Ma." Mariam paused after she read this and then all of a sudden let out a shriek that made the whole restaurant turn around and stare at her.
Noah and Rachel looked at her with big smiles on their faces. "Are you serious," Mariam said, bouncing up and down in her seat.
Rachel nodded, and put her hand on her stomach, "We're expecting triplets on September thirteenth. We found out a couple months ago, but we wanted to keep a surprise until we saw you today."
Mariam flew out of her chair and around the table to hug her children and gave an especially hard hug to Rachel and whispered in her ear, "Thank you so much, my daughter." Rachel smiled and she felt a tear fall onto her bare shoulder. This made Rachel release her own tears. Noah rolled his eyes at the hormones released from the women next to him.
It was three months later on August 13th, a month earlier than expected, when they were finally born. Each was born within a minute of each other, two boys and a girl. Caleb Asher Puckerman was born first, then Joshua Leon Puckerman, and then the last, in honor of his mother, Lena Mariam Puckerman, was born last.