Author's Note: I don't even know where this story came from, but it stuck with me. Hope you like it. For this to work, consider that Rachel lost her virginity to Jesse after 'Bad Reputation', but everything else happened exactly like it did in canon.
I'll let you guys know that this chapter, with Jesse in all his St. Jerk-ness, was incredibly difficult to write, that's why the big St. Berry talk is so short and abrupt. Lots of Puckleberry fluff to make up, though!
To my reviewer Kate: Voilà! The story is now very much a Puckleberry. St. Berry has one of their one and it's called fatherhood.
Disclaimer: No. Unfortunately. You think I'd let Finchel stick after Puck or Jesse?
Summary: When Rachel is pregnant with the enemy's baby, Puck steps up to care for them. Sometimes your father isn't the man who made you.
To Be a Father
Two
She wakes up the next morning and the smell of pancakes and waffles makes her stomach churn. Unable to hold any longer, she rushes to her bathroom and empties the contents of her stomach on her pristine toilet. She heaves and heaves until there's nothing left on her tummy, and she leans against the cool tiles of her wall, feeling weak and tired. She hears Noah calling, and she forces herself to stand up. She brushes her teeth, washes her face and then nearly drags her feet back to her room.
Noah takes a look at her and passes her a packet of crackers and a bottle of water. She looks at him funny, and he shrugs. "Quinn always said the crackers and the water kept her from fainting because of the morning sickness. Since you're early on your pregnancy, you still have two or three months of vomiting ahead of you", he says and settles in the bed next to her. "He called?"
Gulping down the juice and nibbling on the crackers, she shakes her head negatively. "I don't think so, he probably went partying last night with the other members of Vocal Adrenaline and I would have heard if he had called". She yawns and stretches and looks shyly at him. "Thank you, Noah. For everything. You have your own personal issues to deal with and yet here you are helping me out".
He shrugs her off and steals a cracker, munching on it distractedly. He's silent for a long minute before admitting quietly, "It helps. Focusing on someone else, I mean. It helps because it keeps my brain away from what Beth is doing right now, who should be caring for her instead of her new mother".
She nods in understanding, wrapping her arm around his broad shoulders and squeezing them once, softly. He gets up and says he needs to make a call for his mom, and she nods again, getting up to shower and get dressed. She takes her cell phone with her to the bathroom, because she wants to hear when Jesse calls.
And call he does, when she's halfway done with her shower. She has the shower off (to save water) when she hears 'Hello' coming from the tiny speakers, and she rushes out of the washing area, picking it up breathlessly. "He… Hello?" She stammers nervously.
"Rachel". Jesse's voice is cold and makes her shiver in panic. "You called me last night. What is it?"
"Jesse…" Her heart is clenching nervously inside her ribcage, and it leaves her mouth before she can carefully choose her words. "Jesse, I'm pregnant. We're having a child".
There's a long silence from the other side of the line, and she clutches desperately at her phone, shivering from cold and fear. Her heart is thumping loudly in her ribcage and she fights back a wave of nausea. Jesse's stunned silence is not exactly the reaction she was hoping from him. "Is that some kind of sick joke, Rachel?" He asks harshly, and she blinks in shock.
"I… I beg your pardon?"
"Is this some sort of revenge you came up with to get back at me for what I did on the parking lot? 'Hey, let's tell Jesse I'm pregnant so he can feel bad!' Guess what, sweetheart, it didn't work. Forget you ever met me. Believe me, that's what I'm doing. Goodbye, Rachel".
Then he cuts the call.
Rachel stands naked in the middle of her bathroom, stunned into silence, before breaking down in quiet tears. Jesse just did the unthinkable – he turned his back on her and their child, but why? It's not possible that he thinks it's not his baby, she was a virgin before they slept together and she hasn't been intimate with anyone since him.
She loses track of time, but Noah barges in the bathroom, panic stricken. "Rachel? What's wrong?" He kneels in front of her and puts his hands in her shoulders, and she falls into him, crying and hugging him tight, and he's lost for a moment before taking charge of the situation. He reaches out and picks a fluffy towel, wrapping it around her carefully that her naked body is covered from his view before he picks her up in his arms and carries her to her bedroom. He places her in her bed and rummages through her dresser before chucking at her a white summer dress and panties. He stays with his back turned at her as he hears her moving. Once he figures out she's dressed, he picks up her brush and sits down on the mattress behind her, proceeding to brush her hair carefully.
"Jesse called", she whispers quietly, and he freezes for a moment before returning to his task. "I told him about the baby". Her voice is thick with tears and she doesn't need to tell him the rest because he knows exactly what happened. St. Jerk went ahead and fucked it up. That son of a bitch.
He puts the brush aside and wraps his arms around her, and she cuddles against him, her body turned to the side so she's pressed against him, her face resting against his shoulder. "Oh, Noah, what am I going to do?" She whispers brokenly, and he rubs her back affectionately, comfortingly. They stay silent for a long time, and she's so emotionally exhausted that she falls asleep in minutes.
He puts her back on the bed and picks up his truck keys and cell phone, marching determinedly out of the bedroom. While crossing the way to his truck, he calls Santana. "Satan", he says before she can bitch at him, "I need you to come to Berry's house and keep an eye on her while I take care of some shit. I won't take long, I guess. And, San?' He's silent for a long time, thinking carefully. "Berry is in some fucked up situation. Please, be human for once in your life and stop treating her like shit".
Santana is silent for a minute and then asks him quietly, "Puck, what's going on?"
He knows he can trust her – they've known each other for a very long time – and so he breathes heavily. "Rachel's pregnant". He hears her shocked squeak and he nods, tired. "Yeah. It's St. Jerk's. And he doesn't want to have anything to do with them".
"That bastard!" Santana hisses furiously, and proceeds to curse angrily in Spanish. "B and I are on our way. And don't worry, Puck – we have her back". He hears Brittany's confused voice filtering in from some point behind Santana. "Later, Puck", she says, and ends the call. He turns on his ignition, and drives off.
St. Jerk and I are in need of some serious fucking conversation, and he has postponed it long enough.