Hello everyone! So sorry for the long wait. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

The next morning, Rachel woke up to the sound of music and smell of bacon being cooked. When she went downstairs, she found Puck and Beth dancing around the kitchen while making breakfast. When Puck noticed her, he turned the music down.

"Hey, good morning. I hope we didn't wake you up."

She shook her head. "No, music just has that effect on me. I have to wake up when I hear it."

"Understandable," he nodded.

"Good morning Rachel," Beth smiled. "Want some breakfast? Dad says I'm a pretty good cook."

"Uh don't worry about it. I'm a vegan so I'll just find something else."

"We have pancakes," she suggested.

Rachel smiled at the little girl's efforts. "That would be perfect."

"Beth why don't I get Rachel's breakfast while you go finish getting ready for school?" Puck suggested. As she nodded and went upstairs, he looked at Rachel. "Vegan blueberry pancakes sound ok?"

"Great." As he started making them, she sat on the stool at the counter. "So where did Quinn and her boyfriend go for vacation?"

"Cancun. They wanted to take Beth but I wanted her to stay with me so she'd still be able to go to school. Plus I never get her for more than one night so I wanted to take advantage of this."

Rachel looked at him, confused. "You're her father, why can't you have her more often?"

He shrugged. "According to Quinn, I'm a shitty father who constantly has women running in and out of the house when his daughter is around. I'll admit, I was like that before but when I realized I wanted to be better for Beth, I stopped living that kind of life."

"Well good for you. And if Quinn can't see that, then forget her."

"Thanks," he gave a grateful smile as he stirred the mix. "So what are you going to do while we're out of the house? No wild parties I hope."

She laughed. "Of course not, I'm a good house guest."

"Great."

When Beth came back downstairs, she went over to Rachel. "Rachel are you going to pick me up from school today?"

"Um, I don't think so. That might attract a lot of attention."

"What if you just stayed in the car or something?"

"Beth I'm going to pick you up," Puck told her. "Rachel will be here when you come home now get your backpack so we can leave."

She sighed and walked away as Rachel looked at Puck. "I really wouldn't mind picking her up, I just-"

"Relax Rachel, I know. I don't want you taking the risk of someone finding you so it's okay. I'll have Santana pick her up and bring her to me then I'll bring her back here so you guys can hang out while I finish up work. Okay?"

"Okay," she nodded as she finally observed what he was wearing. "You're a cop?"

"Yeah. I guess you didn't notice the cop car out front?" he smirked.

She shrugged. "I thought it was a neighbor's car. Isn't that a tough job?"

"Yeah but I like it. Keeps me on my toes, plus it's not like Lima has a lot of crime anyway."

Rachel nodded as Beth came back. She looked at her. "Have a good day, Beth."

"Thanks. Bye," she waved before walking out the front door.

"I'll see you later," Puck told her before following Beth. After she watched them drive away, Rachel sighed to herself. She knew it wasn't going to be easy staying in hiding but if it was what she had to do to get some space from the people who tried to control her, it would be worth it. But she did need to talk to one person.

She dialed Marley's number and after two rings, she answered.

"Oh my God, Rachel. You have no idea how happy I am to hear from you. How are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry. What's going on?"

"Well Brody's pissed. He said he talked to you and you refused to tell him where you are so he's determined to find you. And Mom's freaking out. She's wondering when you'll be back and if you're okay but she's also worried about how many public appearances she'll have to cancel."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Not surprised."

"I think you made your point, now you really should come home before you make a lot of people mad."

"Marley I can't. I'm finally at peace with no cameras, no one telling me what to do or what to wear and no boyfriend to try and control me. I need this time on my own."

"I just can't believe you up and got on that plane without saying goodbye. I thought I would be the last person you'd do something like that to."

"I wasn't trying to be cruel Marls, I just needed to get out of there before that interview. I'm sorry."

There was a long pause and Rachel had been afraid that Marley had hung up on her but finally, she heard a sigh. "Look just be careful. I don't want you staying with some crazy person."

As she looked at a photo of Puck holding a baby Beth up in the air, she smiled. "Trust me, I'm in the safest place in the world."

They talked for a little longer before hanging up. As much as Rachel missed her sister and felt guilty about not saying goodbye to her, she knew Marley understood. She needed space and this was the only way to get it. Hopefully she wouldn't make a lot of people upset.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Puck walked into the police station, he was greeted by all of his co-workers before he got to his desk.

While he was looking over his paperwork his friend, Mike, came over to him. "Morning Puck. How's your morning going so far?"

"Um pretty good. I have Beth for the week while Quinn's out of town."

"Oh that's great. You should bring her by one day, you know she loves seeing everyone."

"I don't know, I'll see if it's something she'd want to do," he told him but he knew that with Rachel there, the last thing Beth would want is to spend time at the station instead of spending time with her.

He sat down and logged onto his computer. When he was searching the internet, he noticed there was a news article about Rachel. As he read it, he frowned when he realized it was about how everyone knew she was missing because she didn't show up for an interview. Now that everyone knew she was gone, he wondered what would happen. Rachel was a big star so of course everyone is going to want to know where she is.

"Since when do you care about stuff like that?" Mike's wife, Tina, asked interrupting his thoughts. "I would be expecting Beth to look up stuff like that."

"Well it just popped up on the computer and I was curious."

"Uh huh. Whatever you say," she smirked before walking away as Puck closed the window. He knew he should be focused on work right now but he couldn't help but wonder what Rachel was doing at the house by herself or if she was okay.

After a few hours, he decided to calm his worries and call Rachel. After a few rings, she answered.

"Puckerman residence," she said.

He laughed. "Keep answering the phone like that and someone will think I hired a maid or something."

She giggled. "Sorry the caller ID said it was the police station but I wasn't entirely sure if it was you. But what's up?"

"I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay. I know being in the house all day by yourself can be boring."

"Actually it's the most relaxed I've felt in a long time. It's been great."

"Good I'm glad to hear it. If you need anything I left my cell phone number so just call me."

"Got it."

"Well I have to get back to work. I'll talk to you later," he said. After hearing her say goodbye, he hung up and went back to work.

Later on that day, Santana brought Beth to the police station. When she walked over to Puck, she smirked.

"You're lucky I didn't really have anything to do today. Besides, I thought Q didn't really want me around your precious angel?"

"Well luckily Quinn is far away. If only it was for good."

Before Santana could respond, Beth ran over to them. "Daddy!"

Puck picked her up and hugged her. "Hey baby girl. How was school?"

"Good. Can I go home so I can see you-know-who?"

Santana raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

He quickly thought of a lie. "My mom, she's visiting." He looked at Beth. "But give me a little bit and I'll take you home okay? Why don't you go say hi to everyone?"

"Okay," she said before he put her down.

Santana looked at Puck. "Since when does she get so excited about seeing your mom?"

"Well she hasn't seen her in a while. But thanks for picking Beth up, I appreciate it."

"Anything for my favorite little girl. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm meeting Brittany for a late lunch. See you later," she said before walking out.

After a while, Puck took Beth home and as soon as he pulled up in front of the house, Beth ran inside to Rachel. As much as Puck wanted to see Rachel, he had a lot of paperwork that he had to catch up on so he would have to wait until later that night to see her. But he couldn't deny that part of him was excited to be coming home to her.

Next chapter we'll see more of Rachel interacting with Beth. Let me know your thoughts. Bye for now :)