AN: Hey guys! I'm glad you're as excited about the introduction as Puck as I am. Enjoy chapter 4.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rachel sat crossed-legged on her bed as Finn packed his suitcase. She was working up the nerve to tell him about her meeting with Noah. This was the best time for her to tell him. The boys were at the Central Park Zoo with Kurt and Blaine. Finn was leaving for Atlanta tomorrow, and the boys' birthday was the next day. She had to do this now.
She took a deep breath before she began to speak. "Finn, we need to talk."
"Can it wait, Rach?" he asked. "I need to finish packing."
"It really can't wait, Finn."
Finn sighed and took a seat next to her. "What's going on?"
She bit her lip. "I met with a divorce attorney yesterday."
Finn's eyes widened. "Rachel, I didn't think you were serious about the divorce. I just thought you were in one of your moods."
"Finn, I am extremely serious about the divorce. This is not one of my moods. This divorce has been a long time coming."
"No, Rach. Please," Finn breathed out.
"I'm sorry, Finn. You should probably hire your own divorce attorney."
"You can't do this, Rachel. What about the boys? Think about them."
Rachel snapped. Of all things he could say, he accused her of not thinking about the boys. She had slowed a very successful Broadway career to take time to care for the boys. She was the one who was home the long week that they both had the stomach flu. She broke up their fights, cleaned their rooms, always found Collin's favorites of the day.
"I am thinking about them. I'm thinking about how they don't deserve a part-time father. They deserve a father who is always there for their birthday. They deserve a father who loves to come home every night and tuck them in. They deserve everything you won't give them, Finn."
"Rachel—"
"No," she interrupted. "You aren't changing my mind. Find yourself a lawyer, Finn."
"Fine! I'll find a lawyer so he can tell your lawyer that I am not agreeing to a divorce!"
Rachel threw Noah's business card at Finn. "Fuck you, Finn. When you find a lawyer to represent your pathetic ass, have him call my lawyer."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Puck sat at his desk reading through a file. The case was a 25-years-old woman divorcing a 55-years-old man. Puck was pretty sure that she just wanted the man's money, but it wasn't his job to judge. He looked through his research, hoping to find ammunition against the husband. He felt bad for the guy. He seemed like a good guy. The man, Lucas, was an accountant. His first wife had died in a car accident, and he had waited ten years to remarry. Lucas has a daughter who is a freshman at NYU. Puck ran his hand through his mowhawk. It was a Friday afternoon, and he wanted to get the fuck out of the office so he could start the weekend. He groaned as he picked up the phone.
"This is Noah Puckerman. May I ask who's calling?" he said.
"Hi, Puck. It's Jesse St. James."
Puck sighed. Jesse was a prominent divorce attorney from another firm. He was extremely cocky, but he was not as good of a lawyer as Puck. He was still pretty good, though. Puck really hated the prick. "What do you need, Jesse?"
"Don't sound so excited. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm going to be representing Finn Hudson."
Puck's heart skipped a beat. He should have known that Finn would hire one of New York's top attorneys. He didn't mind the competition, but he had hoped Finn would hire a dud attorney so the divorce would be quick and easy for Rachel's sake.
"Finn comes back to town on Tuesday, so I was thinking we could all meet on Wednesday," Jesse continued.
Puck checked his calendar. "That works."
"Great," Jesse said. "How about 3:30?"
"Sure. I'll confirm with Rachel Hudson and give you a call."
"Great. I'm looking forward to it," Jesse said in his usual cocky tone.
"Bye, Jesse." Puck rolled his eyes and hung up before Jesse could say something else.
Puck vaguely remembered Rachel saying that Finn was leaving town today. He didn't want to make her day any crappier than it already was. He decided to give her a call tomorrow.
He looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:00. He gathered his things and walked out of his office. He stopped at Santana's desk.
"Let's get a drink."
Santana raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I'm usually the one to ask you that. Rough day?"
Puck shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really want to talk about it.
Santana understand what he meant and didn't push him any further. She put on her jacket. "Let's go."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rachel woke up early on Saturday morning. She had a lot to do. She wanted to make the boys a special breakfast for their birthday, and she had to finish setting up for the party. She also had to get herself ready as well as the boys. Rachel quickly put on a black dress with three blue buttons on her chest. She brushed her hair and applied light makeup. She wandered into the kitchen to make breakfast. She made waffles and added chocolate chips to the batter. She was usually against chocolate for breakfast, but it was the boys' birthday. She also cooked some bacon. Since she was a vegan, the smell nauseated her. She tried to ignore the smell as she placed the food on the table.
Rachel tip-toed into the boys' room, and sang Happy Birthday to wake them up. Collin was the first to open his eyes. He gave his famous lopsided grin when he realized what the day was. He turned to look at his brother who was still asleep. Collin threw a stuffed animal Nathan.
"Nathan, wake up! It's our birthday!"
Nathan rubbed his eyes and sat-up. "Presents," he shouted.
"Not until your party," Rachel said. "But, I made chocolate chip waffles and bacon for breakfast."
Nate and Collin raced to the kitchen to eat the treats they rarely got. Rachel followed them into the kitchen. They were already sitting at the table, devouring the food.
"Slow down," Rachel laughed. "We don't want tummy aches on your birthday."
Nathan quickly swallowed a bite of his waffle. "It's sooo good," he exclaimed.
Collin nodded as he wiped his chocolate-covered hands onto his shirt. Rachel was glad she decided to leave them in their pajamas until after they had eaten. She grabbed a napkin and wiped the chocolate that was smeared on Collin's face.
"When you guys are done eating, go wash your faces and brush your teeth. I need to finish setting up for your party."
Rachel wandered into the living room as the boys continued to eat. She finished decorating the living room with football banners. She set up a card table and set it with a football tablecloth, football cups, football plates, and football napkins. The boys requested a football themed party this year. The irony stung. The boys had chosen the theme to impress their father who ended up bailing out on their party. Rachel sighed as she sat up the games. Rachel had searched almost every party and athletics store in New York City, and she finally found football themed games. She purchased pin-the-helmet on the quarterback and corn hole with football bean-bags. Rachel went to check on Nate's and Collin's progress. They were both brushing their teeth, shoving each other for better access to the sink. They finished and wiped their mouths, Nathan wiping his mouth on a towel and Collin wiping his on his shirt.
Rachel laughed. "Guys, I have a surprise for you." She motioned for them to follow her to their room.
She opened their closet and pulled out custom made New York Giants jerseys for them. They had their names and the number "6" on the back. The boys squealed and grabbed their jerseys. They quickly tossed aside their night-shirts to put on the jerseys. Rachel handed each of them a pair of freshly pressed jeans.
"Do we look like Daddy?" Nathan asked.
Rachel smiled. "Just like Daddy." While Rachel was mad at Finn, she couldn't penalize the boys for their unwavering loyalty. They were little boys, and little boys look up to their dads—even more so when their dad is a star quarterback. When the doorbell rang, Rachel followed the boys to the living room as they rushed to greet their first guest.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Puck sat on his leather recliner and swallowed two Advil. He was a little hung over after drinking with Santana last night. He didn't have the stamina he used to have. Puck took a cold shower and made some coffee to bring him out of his fog.
He opened his planner on his phone to see what work he had to catch up on. He had been working much slower this week, undoubtedly due to Rachel Hudson. He couldn't help but to go back to her file, research her, research Finn. Santana said he was being a borderline stalker. Puck preferred to think it was dedication to his job, but he knew his diligence was more than just his work. It was Rachel. That one meeting with her had made him feel the passion that originally put him in his line of work.
Puck started out like most lawyers: gung-ho, over-involved with clients. However, case after case drained the zest to emotionally connect with his clients that he had when he started the job. Sure, he poured all his effort into the each case and all of his energy into each trial, but that's all his work had become. Cases, contracts, court, and some trials. Rachel brought Puck back to the days where each file was a client, not just paperwork. He wanted to know everything—why she wanted the divorce, what went wrong in her marriage, and the personal stuff that lawyers shouldn't concern themselves with when it comes to clients.
He couldn't help it. He hadn't felt this passion in a while, and it was too startling and consuming for him to push aside. The passion wasn't exactly what startled him. He knew he had the passion in him. What startled Puck was that his passion for Rachel ran deeper than the passion an attorney has for helping their client. His passion for Rachel was not just for Rachel the client but for Rachel the person. And what more than startled him, even downright scared him, was that he felt this way after only one encounter with her.
Puck took a sip of his coffee and looked at his planner. He had to call Rachel to tell her about the meeting with Finn and St. Jerk. He found her number in his address book and pressed dial.
"Hello?" His heart beat sped up at her sweet, melodic voice. He couldn't help but to wonder if she had been thinking about him as much as he had been thinking about her.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rachel began cleaning as the last guest left the boys' party. Most things had gone without incident. Of course, there were the usual juice spills and little scuffs, but Blaine and Kurt had helped Rachel run interference. Rachel put down the trash bag she was filling as her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. Noah. Her heart fluttered, and her breath hitched. She knew she shouldn't react like this to simply a name, nonetheless the name of her lawyer. Rachel called out to Kurt that she had take a phone call and walked into the hall.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Rachel. It's Noah. How are you?"
"I'm fine. I'm just cleaning up from my boys' birthday party."
"Cool. Tell them I say 'happy birthday'."
"Thanks. I will. Now what are you calling about?"
"Oh, I got a call from a lawyer named Jesse St. James. He's going to represent Finn."
Rachel bit her lip. "Is he good?"
"Yes, but I'm better."
Rachel didn't doubt it. "What did he say?"
"We scheduled a meeting for Wednesday at 3:30. Does that work for you?"
Rachel paused a moment and thought about her week. "Sure, that works."
"Great," Puck said. "I'll see you then. Have a nice weekend, Rachel."
Rachel loved how he said her name. She heard her name hundreds of times a day, but the way he said it made her name sound interesting. She really had to pause to make sure he was saying "Rachel" and that he was talking to her.
"Thanks, Noah. Same to you," Rachel said, his name tingling her tongue.
Rachel walked back into the apartment. Her lawyer's face was in her head as she continued to clean.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AN: Sorry there wasn't Puckleberry face-to-face interaction in this chapter. I'm still trying to build their relationship, but they will become closer as the divorce escalates. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks! Read and Review please!
