Chapter 4 – Cash Flow

School was alright now that he was preggers, Puck supposed, as long as the teachers left him and his ginger tea thermos in peace. Glee club took up his elective hour, and it was sorta the best part of his day, now that he couldn't play sports anymore. And Finn was actually being nice to him for once.

"How ya feeling, dude?" Frankenteen asked softly in Puck's ear before Schue arrived.

"Alright," Puck shrugged. "I told my mom the other day."

Scrunching up his face, Finn asked, "How'd she take it?"

"Grounded forever," Puck replied, "but otherwise okay."

"Shit, that sucks," Finn sighed, clapping Puck on the shoulder a few times before leaning back in his seat.

What really sucked was how difficult it was to get an after school job. His record may have been sealed or whatever when he finished his community service, but everyone in town seemed to recognize Puck as the kid that stole that ATM. What was he supposed to do for cash? Mooch off his mom? Weak.

One day after school, Puck's mom sat at the kitchen table, yelling into the phone, "I don't care what you think, Missy! It's a legitimate claim! Yes! My son, Noah, is pregnant. No, don't you dare put me on h-" She shook her head in frustration and sighed, covering her eyes with one hand.

"Everything good?" Puck asked on his way to raiding the fridge. Man, he was starting to get really hungry, when he wasn't puking his guts out.

"No," his mother replied, still covering her eyes. "I don't think our insurance company is going to pay for Dr. Wu."

"But he said," Puck remembered, "that I have to come see him every month, to make sure I'm not ... what was it again? Oh, yeah! Bleeding to death internally!"

"I know!" Puck's mom sighed again. "We might have to end up paying him out of pocket. This 'miracle' of yours is gonna cost me a fortune."

"I'm trying to get a job, Ma," Puck replied, completing the build on his triple-decker sandwich. "But Sheets and Things won't even hire me."

The woman disconnected her call and stood up then, going to stand next to Puck and putting her arm around his shoulders. "Noah, baby," she said, "I know you're trying. We'll get through this somehow. Have you thought about finding the ... well, the other boy? Maybe he could help..."

"I told you," he sighed, taking a bite of his sandwich and leaning his head down against his mom's shoulder as he chewed it, "I don't know who he is."

Using her best passive-aggressive tone, she said, "You haven't exactly gone looking for him..."

"Ma," Puck explained, turning free of her arm and taking his sandwich with him toward the stairs, "if I go looking, you know people are gonna find out. I don't want to end up on the eleven o'clock news! It's bad enough that I had to quit the basketball team! Do you know how much shit I would get over this?"

"Ten applications a week," she insisted as he climbed the stairs. "Ten job applications a week or I go looking for him!"

"Sure, Ma!" Puck shouted back as he got to his room, knowing she would follow through with the threat.

Midterms were fast approaching and Kurt couldn't concentrate. He had to know whether or not Puck was actually carrying his kid. But how? Talking to Puck directly was out of the question, since he was such a jerk. Maybe Kurt should talk to Finn about it? Puck had told Kurt's stepbrother even before telling his mother. Finn had to know what was going on, right?

For not the first time, Kurt appreciated having his own dorm room. It was ridiculously small, with hardly enough room for his school things, much less the copious number of products he used on a daily basis, but it was private. He waited until after dinner before calling Finn as he sat nervously at his stiff desk chair, trying not to fiddle too much with the pens on his desk.

After a few rings, the line connected and Finn answered, "Hey, stepbrother! What's up? You don't usually call me. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Kurt insisted. "I just wanted to talk to you about something... Are you alone?"

"Why?" Finn asked. "You aren't gonna tell me you're a super secret undercover spy, are you?"

Shaking his head and wondering how Finn came up with these ideas, Kurt replied, "No, Finn. I want to talk to you about Puck and his ... situation."

The other boy didn't respond right away and when he did, he was obviously lying. "What situation? What are you talking a-"

"Puck's pregnancy," Kurt insisted. "I have to tell you something, but you can't repeat it to him. Please?"

"He's not pregnant, Kurt! Guys don't get pregnant. Geez, and you were the one who got a better grade in biology than I did!"

"I heard him tell you, Finn," Kurt replied, doing his best to keep his voice level. "I talked to him the next morning when he was vomiting profusely. I know."

"Oh," Finn said simply.

"Yeah."

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I just-" Kurt sighed, not believing he felt so bad about the jock. "I just wanted to know how he's doing. I'm worried."

Finn replied much happier this time, "Oh! He's doing good. Had an ultrasound and everything! He's looking for a job, you know to pay for stuff. Can you believe he doesn't remember who he did it with?"

"No," Kurt sighed, kicking himself for not realizing earlier how much financial strain his mistake was putting on Puck. Kurt had to do something. He might not like the 'mother' but there was no way he could just leave Puck alone in paying for their kid. "I can't believe it. Hey, Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"You'll watch out for Puck? At school? If anyone finds out..."

Sadly Finn said, "Yeah. I know. I got him covered, Kurt."

"Oh, and don't tell Puck I asked after him," Kurt insisted. "He's not very happy I know and I don't want to be on the bad end of a mood-swing and get my ass kicked."

"Alright," Finn laughed happily before changing the subject. "How's school?"

"Fine," Kurt replied, wondering how he could make some extra money between school and the Warblers and going home to Lima on the weekends. "I've got this test tomorrow…"

"Are you sure you can keep working like this, Kurt?" Burt asked, watching the boy slide out from under his tenth car of the day. "Don't they give you a lot of homework at that school of yours?"

"Don't worry, Dad," Kurt sighed as he crossed the garage for a new gallon of oil. "I get all my homework done during the week. Going to a fancy school has made me really excited about college. I figure it wouldn't hurt to start saving up in earnest."

Kurt hated lying to his dad, but he knew as difficult as the not-a-virgin-anymore talk had been, the I-got-someone-pregnant talk would be a million times worse, and his dad just wasn't ready to handle that yet. Not until Kurt figured out how to help pay Puck's medical bills. Plus, if he stayed busy at the garage all weekend, Kurt wouldn't have to run into Puck visiting Finn at the house. Come to think of it, he wouldn't have to run into Rachel either, which was a bonus. Kurt liked her just fine, but only in small doses, and spending all afternoon with her and Finn at the mall was not a small dose. Especially not when Kurt couldn't even buy anything to make himself feel better about the way she self-aggrandized incessantly.

"Alright, kid," Burt nodded, going back to his paperwork. "Just let me know if you need to back off on hours to study for midterms or something. I spent enough money on that school, I can't have you failing out."

"Got it," Kurt nodded, waiting for the last of the oil to drain into the pan before he could replace it with the new stuff. God, it was going to take him all week just to get all this grease and grit out from under his nails.

"No, Sarah!" Puck's mom called as the girl ran down the grocery store aisle and out of sight. Turning to Puck, she said, "This is what you have to look forward to, Noah. Only it's ten times worse when they're too small to understand rules and common courtesy. Or when they're too old to care anymore. Get your hands out of your mouth, Noah! We're in public!"

"I can't help it," he insisted, complying with her request anyway and pushing the cart down the aisle after his mom. "Ever since I started working at the theater, I've had popcorn stuck in my teeth."

"You could just not eat the popcorn," his mom suggested, taking two boxes down from the shelf to compare them. "I swear, you're putting on more weight than you need to."

Rolling his eyes and thinking she really shouldn't be ragging on him for eating free food at this point, Puck sighed, "I'm gonna go find the little twerp."

"Get some milk while you're over there," the woman insisted, choosing one of the boxes and putting the other away. "And for God's sake, go get some floss if it's bothering you so much!"

Puck removed his hand from his mouth again and searched the aisles for his sister, finding her not in the candy aisle, like he expected, but in the organic aisle, talking to someone. Someone who looked like a lot like Kurt from behind.

"...and this one," the boy was saying, handing Sarah a small jar, "makes your skin really smooth. Like a baby."

"Duck fat?" Sarah read from the label. "Gross!"

Kurt laughed and took the jar away, putting it back on the shelf as he said, "Yeah, you're probably right. How about the almond butter one? It's about ten times cheaper."

"Is that the one you're getting?" she asked.

Kurt nodded and grabbed another jar off the shelf. "That's definitely the one that fits my budget, too."

"Hey," Puck said as he approached the pair, rounding Kurt to put a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "What's up, punks?" Snatching the jar out of his sister's hand, he read the label, "Almond Body Butter. That sounds kinda advanced for you, mouth-breather. Like you shouldn't need this until you turn thirty and start dating!" Puck caught Kurt's eye for the joke, but the boy didn't seem to get it. What a shame. His best dirty joke of the day, and it had been wasted on two innocents.

"Noah!" Sarah cried, jumping up at him and trying to reach the jar. "Give it back, or I'll tell mom!"

After keeping it away from her for a few seconds, Puck crouched down and pressed the jar into Sarah's hands, saying, "Mom's in the cereal aisle, Boo. You gotta ask her about this first."

"Fine!" she cried in exasperation, taking the jar and sticking her tongue out with a little smile at the edges of her lips before she ran off again.

When he stood up again, Kurt was staring, and not in the way that made Puck feel like he was way to hot to touch. No, this was an open-mouthed, surprised, almost impressed sort of staring.

"What?"

Kurt turned to watch Sarah clear the end of the aisle before looking back to Puck and asking, "That's your sister?"

Geez. Kurt didn't have to sound so astounded. "So?"

"You're actually kind of … nice to her."

Puck shrugged. "She's family, you know? See you around, Kurt." Leaving the fairy to his body butters and other organic shit, Puck headed for the dairy aisle, wondering if his mom would notice him sneaking in whole milk in place of that skim crap she normally bought. He needed all the nutrients he could get, right? Absently, Puck patted his stomach where Wu had found the heartbeat. Puck couldn't feel anything there yet, but his belly was starting to bulge a little bit, just under the waistline and off to the left side a few inches. Hopefully the little guy (or girl) was going to be okay for the long haul.

One Monday morning, about ten weeks into his pregnancy, according to Dr. Wu, Puck opened his locker and noticed a fat envelope that hadn't been there before. Inside was a stack of seven hundred-dollar bills and just as Puck was starting to suspect he was being set up to take the rap for something he didn't do, he saw the note at the back. It was written on a plain piece of notebook paper with green ink, and it said, "For our baby." And that was it. No name, no phone number, no email address. Just, "For our baby."

Hiding the cash in the back of his locker, Puck took the note, slammed his locker shut and went across the hall to where Finn and Rachel were kissing. "Beat it, Barbara," Puck growled, prying the two lovebirds apart. "I gotta talk to Finn for a minute."

Rachel opened her mouth to give him what looked like a whopping piece of her mind, but closed it again when Finn gave her a look. Sending a significant glance Puck's way, Rachel nodded and bowed out. Pissed off, Puck punched Finn on the arm and demanded, "You fucking told her?"

"I didn't mean to!" Finn cried, putting his hands up defensively when Puck hit him again for good measure. "You know she has that psychic thing going on! She guessed!"

Pissed off, Puck pushed the note into Finn's face, saying, "Someone else knows, dude! This baby thing got back to the guy I slept with!"

"'For our baby'," Finn read, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What? A piece of paper?" The dumbass turned it over like he was looking for a fucking treasure map, or something.

"No!" Puck poked at the note. "It was with an envelope full of cash. In my locker! How the hell did it get in there, anyway? Do you recognize the handwriting?"

Finn studied the note for a moment, his eyes eventually widening in surprise before he schooled his expression and shook his head. "Nope, no. Don't recognize it at all. Maybe it was one of the guy's from Lima West? We hosted them for the game Friday night. Maybe he did it then?"

Puck was about to call bullshit when someone pushed him from behind and into Finn, slamming them both into the lockers. It didn't hurt, but Puck was hella pissed and pushed himself away from Finn, trying to run after what turned out to be Karofsky and one of his goons. However, he got about two feet before Finn hauled back on his arm, practically pulling it out of the socket, and said, "You can't, Puck! Think! If you take just one wrong punch to the stomach?"

"Yeah," Puck snarled, punching the bank of lockers instead. "You're right, bro. Thanks."

"I got your back," Finn insisted, grabbing Sam by the back of the shirt and leading him after the two jocks. Infuriated that he couldn't even fight his own battles any more, Puck stalked the other way, toward the choir room, where he could sit and think (and probably puke once or twice) in quiet.

Whoever Puck had been with remembered the night of Rachel's party better than he did, and somehow he knew about the baby. But he didn't want Puck to know who he was. That sucked! Who the hell was it? This kid under the bump in Puck's belly deserved two parents, didn't it? Not just a stack of cash whenever the dude felt like slipping it into Puck's locker.

Finn seemed to recognize the handwriting, so Puck vowed to stick to his friend's side until Finn gave up the mystery fucker. There was just too much at stake not to know.

After the shop closed on Saturday night, Kurt showered and changed before reclaiming the keys for his Navigator from Finn and driving to the mall. The blessed, blessed, oh-god-I-missed-you mall. Just inside the food court, Kurt met Tina, Mercedes, and Quinn. "Hey, girls. I have no money to spend, but I can't wait to help you burn through yours."

"Sounds great, baby boy," Mercedes replied, taking his arm gleefully. "Which way should we turn first?"

"I need to visit the make-up counters in Macy's," Quinn spoke up, walking behind Kurt and Mercedes with Tina. "But otherwise I'm open to suggestion."

"Towards Macy's it is!" Kurt cried, glad to have a chance to just shop and relax with his girls. "I feel like I haven't seen you ladies in forever!"

"I know!" Tina cried. "You've been working like a mad man. Aren't you worried about your cuticles?"

Kurt shrugged and looked down at his poor, neglected hands, which had only Almond Butter to keep them soft and supple. "To tell the truth, I've about given up. No one at school even appreciates how lovely my hands used to be."

"That's 'cause they're boys, sweetie," Quinn replied with a chuckle.

Kurt was about to pull them into a store just up ahead, because that scarf in the window would look fantastic with Mercedes' skin tone, when his best friend stopped short and cried, "What the hell?"

"What?" Kurt asked, following her gaze into the children's clothing store across the way. There, in a uniform that looked like it probably belonged to the movie theater attached to the end of the mall opposite from Sears, stood Noah Puckerman. And he was fingering baby clothes, almost like he was in a daze.

"Oh, my god…" Kurt breathed, pulling on Mercedes' arm to keep her from going over there. Puck did not need everyone else knowing, Kurt knew. It was enough of a curse living in this town as someone just fabulous to stand out as much as Kurt did. If people found out about Puck? He'd go from middling-status bad boy to freak-of-the-century in exactly no time flat.

"What's he doing in there?" Quinn asked, her brows all scrunched up painfully.

"I heard," Tina said softly. "That even though he got a vasectomy, Puck managed to get another girl pregnant. No one's sure who."

"I know who," Kurt sighed, feeling it as inevitably all eyes turned to him, "but I've been sworn to absolute secrecy. Don't even try getting it out of me."

"But, Kurt-"

Shaking his head, Kurt handed Mercedes' hand to Quinn and said, "You girls go on ahead. I'll go talk to him."

"Don't you think," Quinn broke in, catching up to him after two steps, "that I should talk to him? I've been through this with him before."

"And you think that'll make it better?" Kurt asked, trying to temper his words with a soft tone. "Thanks, Quinn. I'll mention you asked after him, but I've got to do this."

"Okaayy," she drawled, going back to Tina and Mercedes, yet looking at Kurt like he was a little insane. "Call us if you need rescuing."

Kurt chuckled and waved them off.

Taking a deep breath, Kurt hitched his bag further up his shoulder and, clutching the strap like it was a lifeline, walked into the store. He really should tell Puck, shouldn't he? It's not like he could avoid this forever, and Kurt knew that money couldn't solve anything. But as far as he could tell, Puck still hated him and he wasn't overly fond of the jock, either. Why try to force something that wasn't there?

Carefully stepping up beside Puck, Kurt asked softly, "Isn't it a little early for this?"

Puck looked up quickly, recognizing Kurt and shrugging. "Store doesn't close until nine."

"No, I mean," Kurt huffed. "You're not even at three months. So much could still go wrong…"

"What the fuck do you know about it?" Puck asked angrily, rubbing at one of his eyes like he had something in it.

"I know you're supposed to be taking it easy," Kurt insisted, using knowledge gleaned from a month's worth of incessant Google searches. "I know that about half of these pregnancies don't end well. I know it's way too early to start buying baby clothes you might not need, Noah."

"You don't get to fucking call me that," Puck hissed, punching Kurt sort of off-hand in the shoulder and turning away with one hand pressing into both eyes now. Was he crying? "I gotta get back to work."

Kurt knew he should have offered to walk with Puck. He knew he should have told Puck the truth, but all he could do was rub his bruised arm and slowly trail in the opposite direction towards his friends. Kurt knew that Puck needed the money, but he had this sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. It made him think that unless he made even more money, Puck would have to keep working and the stress would make him lose the baby.

As emancipating as that might be, Kurt just couldn't let it happen.

Keep those suggestions coming! They're really helping me flesh out this beast (or should I say Beiste?)