Author's Note: You guys made me smile so much with all your reviews. I'm so happy that so many of you are loving baby!Finn and all his interactions with Puck. This chapter I did something a little different and we get to see Puckleberry from an outside source. Please welcome Puck's mother everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter and like usual, if you like this chapter feel free to tell me!
Ava Puckerman had noticed a major change in her son over the past few months. He smiled more and he just seemed a whole lot happier than she'd ever seen him. She wasn't sure why that was, and she definitely wasn't complaining but she really wanted to know what was behind his change in attitude. If he was anyone other than her son she'd think that he'd met a girl and was in love or something, but her son was more the love 'em and leave 'em type. He never wanted to get too close to anyone because he had a fear deep down that they would leave him that stemmed from his father walking out on them when he was younger. She'd seen her son push away perfectly lovely girls, women who loved him and wanted to be with him and had been good for him so she was sure his change in attitude couldn't possibly be because he was in love.
"So, Blaine sweetie, is there anyone new in your life?" She asked her son's best friend, watching in mild disgust as both he and her son shovelled her food into their mouths during their typical Sunday breakfast at her house.
Ava loved Blaine like a second son, just like she knew Blaine's parents loved Noah like a second son, and her son had even tried pushing him away, but Blaine had been stubborn and refused to be evicted from his life. She could still remember the time that her thirteen year old son had banned his curly headed best friend from their house, claiming that they weren't friends anymore. Blaine had still shown up every single day to hang out after school and on the weekends, and after three weeks of the two boys sitting on opposite ends of the couch together but not talking, Noah had finally given in and offered a round of some video game. That was that and any time her son tried to push him away again (which would be a lot over the course of their teenage years) Blaine would react the same way.
When Blaine had come out as gay, something Ava had suspected for a long time anyway, she'd been sure that her son would use it to push Blaine awayfor good. She was sure there'd be some sort of homophobic slur from her son and Blaine would decide his friendship wasn't worth fighting for anymore. She'd watched with bated breath, silently mourning the loss of her son's one true and lasting friendship.
"You don't want to jump my bones now, do you? Because you're hot for a guy, obviously or I wouldn't be friends with you because uggos make me look ugly, but I just don't swing that way." Noah had asked calmly, not taking his eyes off of the video game the two were playing. Blaine had snorted and shook his head.
"Oh gross. No way man, that would be disgusting. You're like my brother." Blaine had said with a laugh and Noah had shrugged.
"Cool. Gay guys are the best wingmen." He'd said which Blaine had laughed at and that had been that.
Noah hadn't tried to push Blaine away ever again after that. He saw the way some of their other friends had reacted to the knowledge that Blaine was gay, which had not been good, and how deeply it had hurt his best friend. Instead he clung tighter than ever to their friendship and hadn't looked back since. It had made her proud to have raised such a good man. Now she knew that whatever else happened in their lives, the two boys would always have each other. They just loved each other, it was as simple as that, they loved each other like brothers.
"I've been seeing Rachel's friend Kurt. He's... he's kind of amazing." Blaine admitted once he'd swallowed his food, breaking her from her memories of the past. Ava frowned in confusion, not knowing who this Rachel woman was because she'd never heard about her before. She watched Noah kick Blaine under the table and give his friend a warning look.
"Who's Rachel?" She asked curiously, her eyes on her son instead of the man who'd brought this mystery woman up. It was quite obvious from his reaction that she had something to do with Noah.
"Nobody you need to concern yourself with, Ma." Noah told her, giving his friend a murderous look. Blaine shrugged and went back to eating. He was trying to look innocent but she knew him as well as she knew her son and he was anything but innocent.
"Then why are you trying to kill Blaine with your eyes right now?" She asked and he groaned, throwing a glare his smirking friend's way before looking back at his mother.
"Seriously Mom, drop it." He instructed but she stared at him a moment longer before frowning.
"Are you dating someone, Noah?" She asked curiously and he groaned while Blaine snickered. This was obviously the outcome Blaine had anticipated when he'd pushed the issue.
"They're practically an old married couple. Parents." The curly headed man commented in amusement. "Wait, they're exactly like married parents, there's always a baby around and they're not having sex." He added, laughing at his own observation in amusement. Noah rolled his eyes and kicked him under the table again.
"Wait, why is there a baby? Oh Noah, did you get some woman pregnant?" She asked sadly. She wondered how long he'd known for and why he hadn't brought his child around so she could meet her grandchild. (And she was honestly surprised that it hadn't happened sooner. When her daughter had come home pregnant at sixteen she'd been surprised that it was her baby girl that had fallen into the statistics of teen pregnancy instead of her son.) He groaned again and shook his head.
"No Ma, no." He assured her. "Rachel's... She's… I met her in my cab when she was in labour. I got her to the hospital and she was all alone so when they thought I was the father I let them think that I was and I went in with her so she'd have someone. But she doesn't know I was in with her, she thinks I was an intern." He explained and a smile came to her face.
"Oh, that's so sweet, Honey." She told him and he shrugged. "But where was the real father? Remember when Sarah had Michael and Stewart wasn't there? They're both going to regret that in the long run." She told him seriously and he frowned, looking like he didn't want to say the next thing.
"There is no father." He said finally and her eyes widened. "She was artificially inseminated." He explained.
"He's been babysitting her son for her." Blaine added happily, earning another kick in the shin for his effort which he just laughed at. Ava rose her eyebrows in surprise.
She'd never pictured her son willingly babysitting, he'd always complained when he'd had to look after his sister when he was younger, though she knew he'd enjoyed it more than he let on. And he did have fun whenever he looked after his sister's children, even if he called them demon spawn afterwards. It was always said fondly and she could understand the term because they did act like little demons most of the time, taking after their mother and uncle and their grandmother as well.
"If you need a little extra money, I have some saved up." She offered him but he frowned and shook his head.
"Keep your money. It's not about money." He explained. "She's doing something for me so I'm doing something for her in return. No big deal." He added. Ava grimaced.
"I really don't want to hear about you exchanging babysitting services for sexual favours, Noah." She told him. Blaine cracked up laughing at that while Noah groaned.
"We're not having sex, Mom." He said slowly, trying to make her understand. "At all." He added, his tone a little grudging.
"Oh but he'd love to be bumping uglies with her." Blaine said with a smirk on his face, jumping out of his seat and taking off running. Noah practically growled and took after him.
"You think you're funny? Come here you shit." He bellowed as he followed his prey.
Ava rolled her eyes at their antics as Noah caught Blaine and the two boys began grappling. If she had a dollar for every time those two boys had interrupted a Sunday breakfast (or any meal or gathering for that matter) in this manner she'd be a very rich woman. They wrestled around for a while, Blaine laughing his head off as he continued to tease his friend about wanting to see this Rachel woman naked and calling out his name. Finally they stopped and made their way back over to the table, both of them guzzling down the juice she'd poured for them knowing they'd be thirsty after their horsing around.
"So this Rachel..." She started once they'd both got their breath back and Noah groaned, dropping his head onto the table. If he'd thought she'd forgotten about her questions because of the two boys play fighting he was sorely mistaken.
"Look, this is Finn, her son, the kid I'm babysitting. How could you say no to that face?" He asked, taking a picture out of his wallet and showing her. Her eyes widened at the fact that he carried this picture around with him before looking down at it. There was a completely gorgeous woman in the picture holding an adorable baby, their cheeks pressed together and huge smiles on their faces. The baby's hand was raised in a wave and the woman was pointing at whoever was taking the picture, presumably Ava's son. She looked up from the picture and found her son looking at it as well, his head bent at an angle so he could see and a smile on his face.
"That's Rachel?" She asked and he nodded, taking a picture out of her hand and staring at the woman in it, his smile brightening.
"Yeah." He confirmed before carefully tucking the picture back in his wallet. She looked up at Blaine and found him grinning in amusement. "That's an awesome kid." Noah added proudly and she could see that he was in love with this child as though he was his own.
"His mother's very pretty." She said, trying to see how he'd react to that.
"Yeah." He agreed softly, staring off into the distance. Suddenly he shook himself and stood up. "Um, I'm gonna go take a leak." He told them, clearing his throat and heading down the hallway to the bathroom. She stared after him in surprise before turning to look at Blaine.
"He keeps their picture in his wallet." She pointed out and Blaine nodded. "He loves them." She added in surprise and he chuckled and nodded.
"Oh yeah. He just won't admit it." He agreed and she couldn't help but smile. All she ever wanted was for her son to be happy and this woman and child obviously made him happy. But she knew her son and she knew how he reacted to feelings.
"He claims that he's not dating her, is that true?" She asked curiously. She knew that her son was always reluctant to bring the women he got involved with home to meet her. There hadn't really been all that many women that he'd been that serious about, but still. She knew she had herself to blame. When he was in high school there was a girl who went to their Temple that he had a major crush on. He'd said that he didn't like her time and time again, but the way he looked at her every time they saw her spoke differently. So Ava had made a comment about how he never seemed to date any Jewish girls and pleaded with him to try to, thinking she was being clever and he'd want to try to make her proud. She honestly didn't care what religion anyone he dated was, but since then he'd been scared to bring home any girl that wasn't Jewish for fear of disappointing her, and scared of bringing home any Jewish girl he might date because he thought she'd turn into a stereotypical Jewish mother and start planning their wedding right away. She would do neither of those things but he didn't believe that.
"No, they're not dating." Blaine explained, a frustrated look on his face. It was clear that he thought they should be. "But Kurt told me that she told him that Puck tried to kiss her one day. Twice." He added excitedly and Ava rose her eyebrows. She wanted to meet this girl who could resist her son. She hadn't yet met a girl who was strong enough to resist Noah's charms and good looks (that he'd inherited from her, thank you very much) and that made her very curious about this woman.
"So she's not interested? She asked, a little anger creeping into her tone. She was fiercely protective of her children and didn't like hearing that someone didn't think one of them was good enough. Blaine snorted.
"Kurt's positive that she is." He contradicted, making her raise her eyebrows in surprise. "He says that Rachel's damaged and she's in denial. That she's not ready to open her heart to someone." He told her and Ava couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that her son had managed to fall in love with someone as damaged as he was.
"With Noah's habit of pushing people who care about him away and this woman's apparent fear of letting anyone get close they're likely to never get together." She pointed out. She wished for her son that the time he actually fell in love with someone had been easier than it was.
"I don't know, he's sticking around even though she rejected him. Twice. When have you ever seen that from him?" He pointed out and she realised he was right. This woman really must be something special.
"I have to meet this woman." She told him, making Blaine laugh. "You have to organise a dinner or something with your boy-toy and invite this Rachel woman along and I'll just happen to be at the same place." She schemed and he laughed harder.
"And people wonder where Puck gets his deviousness from." He said with a shake of his head, giving her an impressed look. She chuckled and shrugged.
"He learnt from the best." She said cockily, making both of them crack up. Puck walked back in from the bathroom and saw his best friend and his mother cackling madly.
"You'd better not have been talking about me." He told them but that just made them laugh harder because they had been.
Blaine went through with Ava's plan after she made it completely clear that she hadn't been joking. Not even a little bit. He didn't want to come right out and tell Kurt what was going on but the other man already knew him so well that he'd been able to tell that he was up to something. So Blaine had shared Ava's plan and told him how badly she wanted to just meet this woman who was strong enough to turn her son away. Kurt was immediately on board, wanting to see the fireworks that he was pretty sure would follow this meeting.
"Blaine? Oh hello darling. It's so good to see you." Ava said when she 'just happened' to run into him while he was out to lunch with Kurt, Santana (who'd also wanted to come along and witness the meeting between Rachel and Puck's mother as soon as she'd gotten word about it) and Rachel and Finn.
"Ava. Hey, what are you doing here?" Blaine asked, getting up and kissing her cheek, giving her a warm hug.
"Lunch, my dear boy." She told him, turning to look at the other people at the table. Her eyes lingered on Rachel for only a moment before zeroing in on Kurt. "And this must be your latest boy-toy." She said with a grin, making Blaine groan.
"Ava..." He moaned in embarrassment. He should have known better than to think she'd let him get off scot-free.
"Hush you." She ordered, swatting at him. "You must be Kurt, I've heard a lot about you." She told him, shaking his hand. Kurt rose his eyebrows, surprised that he was the centre of attention right now instead of Rachel, like he'd thought she'd be. "Oh Honey, he's just as cute as you said he was." She stage whispered to her honorary son, making him groan in embarrassment. Kurt's cheeks were tinged pink and he looked completely embarrassed but pleased by the whole thing. "Cuter maybe." She added and Blaine blushed.
"Oh God." He muttered, wishing she'd just move off of his love life and onto her actual son's
"You better hang onto my boy here. He's a keeper." She said to Kurt with a beaming smile and he blushed, staring down at the table before looking back up at Blaine, a smile on his face.
"I agree." He added, reaching across the table and taking hold of his hand. Blaine's whole face lit up and he squeezed the other man's hand, giving him a love struck look.
"Now, who are your other friends?" She asked, looking between the two other woman, making sure not to linger on Rachel too much and give away the fact that she knew who she was.
"This is Santana and Rachel and her son. They're friends with Kurt." Blaine introduced.
"Wait, Rachel?" She asked, putting a surprised look on her face. Blaine had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. She really was an amazing actress because it definitely wasn't obvious that she already knew who she was. "Is this Noah's Rachel?" She asked. Rachel's eyes widened and she peered up at the older woman.
"Excuse me?" She asked in surprise. She didn't know how she was Noah's but couldn't deny that those words made a tingle go up her spine.
"It is, isn't it? And this must be Finn." Ava said with a smile, bending down to peer at the baby. She had to agree with her son, he really was an adorable baby. "Hello there little man." She cooed to him.
"S'up."
"I'm sorry but... I'm a little confused right now." Rachel said to everyone. She didn't know who this woman was or why she'd referred to her as Noah's Rachel.
"Oh he talks about you all the time. How pretty you are, how amazing you are, how cute Finn is, how good of a mother you are." Ava lied easily, waving her hand around. The only time her son had even talked about Rachel with her was the time he was forced to and he'd only said a few of those things.
"He... he does?" She asked, looking and sounding hopeful. She nodded.
"All. The. Time." She lied again.
"Rachel, Ava is Puck's Mom." Blaine explained and Rachel blushed.
"Ms. Puckerman. It's nice to meet you. Noah has said some lovely things about you." Rachel told her and Ava snorted.
"Oh he has not. If he's said anything about me it was to say I was batshit crazy, am I right?" She asked and Rachel blushed because that was true. Admittedly it hadn't even been to her, she'd overheard him telling Finn that he was lucky to have her as his mother because his own mother was batshit crazy.
"Well you did raise an amazing son so obviously you're not crazy." She told her and Ava chuckled. She really liked this woman and it was clear to her that she liked her son just as much as he liked her, especially because she'd called him amazing. Ava loved her son to death but few people would describe him as amazing. She just wished that they'd get their act together and admit that they were crazy for each other.
"Well it was lovely meeting you all. I'll see you later, Blaine." She said, kissing his cheek again before walking away, shooting one last look back at Kurt and Rachel.
"Puck talks about you. Oh, my theory is getting more and more obvious." Santana teased, shooting a wink at Blaine. Rachel's two best friends and Puck's best friend had already discussed their friends relationship and had all agreed that their friends were stupid and in love and probably going to ignore it for much too long.
"Hmm?" Rachel asked, a faraway look in her eyes. "You know what, Finn looks a little tired. I'm going to take him home." She told them all, getting up and gathering her things together.
"What? I'm not tired, woman. What are you talking about?"
"You okay, Rachel?" Kurt asked worriedly. He wondered if their little game with Puck's mother had gone too far for her. She was in a delicate state after the whole Jesse thing and she really wasn't ready for anything else. It was a shame too because Kurt was certain that Puck could be something amazing for her.
"I'm fine. I'll see you guys later." She said distractedly, kissing all of their cheeks and handing over some money for her lunch before turning and pushing Finn out of the restaurant.
She headed down to the same corner she'd first met Puck on. She knew he took his break there at that time every day, which was when she'd first met him, so she just hoped that he'd be there. She didn't really know why she was so set on going to see him right at that moment but she really felt like she had to.
"Mommy, look, it's Puck!"
Rachel spotted Noah, leaning against his cab and finishing off a hamburger. Finn started babbling excitedly and wriggling in his pram, having spotted him as well, and she couldn't help but smile at how he reacted just seeing Puck from a distance. Puck seemed to hear Finn, even over the sound of the city and despite the fact that they were still a fair way away from him, and looked up. His eyes widened at first before a huge grin spread over his face. He pushed himself away from his cab and started towards them, meeting them halfway. Rachel felt her heart speed up when he was standing directly in front of her, looking down at her with that look in his eyes, the one she couldn't identify (or didn't want to).
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" He asked, bending to unclip Finn out of his pram and lifting him into his arms.
"Puck, let's go for a drive, okay? But this time I'll drive. Seriously, I could do it. Let me show you and Mommy that I could do it."
"We just came from lunch." Rachel told him with a smile and watching him with her son, not exactly answering his question. She didn't really know how to explain what she was doing there because she didn't really know why she was there. "And you were obviously eating as well." She added with a chuckle, reaching up and wiping the smear of sauce off the corner of his mouth. His eyes darkened and he couldn't help but lick the part of his mouth that her fingers had just been rubbing, almost as though he was chasing her touch, her taste.
"Yeah." He agreed, staring into her eyes.
"Come on, let me drive."
Finn put his hand on Puck's cheek, babbling at him again, and the two of them chuckled. Puck leant in and pressed a smacking kiss to his cheek before blowing a raspberry there. Finn giggled uncontrollably, clutching at Puck's shirt.
"You're funny, Puck."
"I ran into your mother at lunch." She told him finally and he froze, turning to face her. He was absolutely shocked that she'd met his mother, that she even knew who she was.
"Weren't you going to lunch with Blaine today?" He asked, putting two and two together, and she nodded. "Those crafty bastards." He muttered but she didn't hear him. He knew exactly what his mother and best friend had done, they'd planned that 'impromptu' meeting. The timing was just too weird, a few days after his mother had found out about Rachel and Finn, there was no coincidence there. He knew his mother and his best friend way too well to believe that it had all merely been an accident.
"She said... well she said you've told her some truly lovely things about me. I just wanted to thank you." She told him and he cocked his head curiously. He wondered what his mother had told her he'd said. He'd pretty much only agreed that Rachel was pretty and he'd said that Finn was an awesome kid. Both of those things were true but he knew his mother and what a meddler she was so there had to be something else. Besides, she'd said that he'd said some truly lovely things, plural.
"Um, what'd she say I said?" He asked trying to sound casual, swallowing heavily. His mother was a complete meddler and she could have come up with absolutely anything to tell her.
"Oh, just that I'm pretty and amazing and a good mother and how cute Finn is." She told him, giving him a coy smile. He shrugged because at least all of that was completely true.
"Well it's true." He told her matter of factly and she smiled up at him.
"Of course it's true. I'm adorable."
Puck's watch beeped and that meant that his break was over, that he needed to get back out there and pick up some more fares. But Rachel was standing there and Finn was in his arms and he didn't want to see them go yet. He loved spending time with them way too much to just send them on their way.
"Get in the cab." He instructed and she rose her eyebrows.
"What?" She asked curiously and he grinned.
"I'm gonna take you for a little ride and then I'll take you home." He told her and she nodded, following him back to his cab. She set up Finn's car seat in the backseat while Puck held Finn for her and kept a hold of the pram. Once the car seat was in properly, she clipped him in while Puck folded up the pram and put it in the trunk of the cab. It occurred to her that they were a well oiled machine by now and couldn't help but smile. He was definitely very good at all of this, much better than she'd ever thought he could be.
"Yay, I'm going to drive now. Wait, if I'm going to drive shouldn't I be in the front seat? Puck? Mommy? Hey, why aren't I driving? I can drive, I swear!"
Puck took them for a drive down Broadway and couldn't help but smile at the way Rachel's face brightened up when she looked at all of the marquees for all of the plays. She chattered on and on about all of the ones she'd seen and which ones she hadn't, about which parts she wanted to play. He couldn't give two craps about Broadway but hearing her talk about it wasn't so bad. He knew that if she ever did get any of these roles she was talking about that he'd be first in line to buy a ticket to see her. He'd heard her sing a few times and she was the most talented person he'd ever heard, even more talented than he was, so he knew she'd be amazing one day, that her name would be up in lights. He'd probably still be a cab driver who taught guitar lessons on Saturdays while playing gigs to try to get his big break and the only thing of Rachel he'd have would be the claim that he'd once been her son's babysitter. That knowledge hurt a little because now he had them in his life and didn't want to think about the day they weren't anymore. Finn would only need a babysitter for so long and he'd only be in Rachel's debt for so long.
After their drive, he took them back to Rachel's apartment. Rachel insisted that he just drop them off but he rolled his eyes and parked, helping her get Finn out of the car and get his things into her apartment. She tried to pay him for the trip but he refused to take her money, promising her that it was on the house. She thanked him, leaning forward to press a lingering kiss to his cheek and he had to clench his hands into fists to stop himself from reaching out and grabbing her to haul her against his body so he could kiss her properly. He forced himself to take a step back from her and gave her a smile before blowing another raspberry into Finn's cheek and saying goodbye.
Later that night, after his last fare for the day, Puck went to his mother's house. He absolutely could not believe that she'd gone to see Rachel like that. Although thinking about it he realised that he shouldn't have been surprised. She'd been curious about the woman as soon as Blaine had opened his big fat mouth about her and he knew his mother, knew how devious she could be, so he should have expected it. And Blaine was a little shit disturber so obviously he'd want to get in on the action as well. But at least Kurt had been there too and he knew his mother well so knew that she wouldn't have been able to leave that situation alone either. Hopefully his best friend would think about that before he went meddling in his life again. Karma was a bitch.
"Oh hello Noah." His mother greeted him as soon as he entered her house. She didn't look surprised in the least to see him and he rolled his eyes.
"Did you get your dirt? Are you happy now?" He asked and she nodded.
"I'm very happy." She agreed, making him roll his eyes. He knew his mother was well versed in sarcasm so she definitely knew he was being sarcastic.
"Rachel has nothing to do with you. There was no need to go scope her out." He told her, pacing around her living room. She watched him in amusement, her arms folded over her chest. She had no idea how he couldn't see that the woman he was in love with had a hell of a lot to do with her.
"Honey, you know that's not true." She told him, making him frown. "I'm not going to make you talk about it, because I know how much you detest talking about feelings, but you know as much as I do that I had to go scope her out." She told him and he frowned. He wasn't even going to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. "Besides, Blaine's Kurt was there as well. Two birds with one stone. Our boy's not too bright if he didn't know exactly what I was up to." She added flippantly and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"You're evil, woman. He hasn't even introduced Kurt to his parents yet." He told her and she grinned and shrugged. In her mind she had as much of a claim to be scoping out Blaine's boyfriends as his parents did. Although now that she thought about it she realised that maybe she should have invited Jenny Anderson, Blaine's mother, along with her. That definitely would have been fun, they could have scoped out their son's love interests together. Plus it definitely would have made Blaine squirm even more than he had if his mother had been there as well.
"She seems like a lovely girl, by the way. She lied and said you'd told her some lovely things about me. And she stroked my ego by saying that I raised an amazing son so I'm obviously not crazy, like you keep telling people I am." She told him, shaking her head at him with an amused look on her face. She stared at him for a moment, realising that he hadn't noticed her gentle teasing and was instead fixated on something else entirely. She thought back, trying to figure out what she'd said to have distracted him.
"She said I'm amazing?" He asked finally, a smile spreading over his face, and she bit her lip to keep from smiling as well.
"Yes, she did." She confirmed and she hadn't thought it possible but his grin got even wider.
Oh, her son had it bad.
"And it was quite clear that she meant it as well." She added and his grin got even wider, lighting up his whole face. "Am I off the hook now that I gave you some gossip?" She asked in amusement and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Just leave the chick alone, okay Ma." He told her, bending to kiss the top of her head.
"I will if you will." She told him with a smirk, the same smirk he'd inherited. He rolled his eyes again and shook his head.
"I don't know what you think is going to happen between me and Rachel. She's way too good to slum it with a guy like me." He said, sounding upset by that fact, and she frowned. He'd always had a low opinion of himself, because of the way his father had just walked out on them without a second thought, and she'd always hated that. As soon as his father had been out of their lives she'd been a hundred times happier than she'd ever been with him, plus it was better for her children. She leant forward in her seat and tugged him until he was sitting next to her.
"You listen to me, Noah Elijah Puckerman. You are an amazing man that any woman would be lucky to have. And that includes Rachel." She told him and he scoffed.
"Ma, she's so talented, you have no idea. She could blow me out of the water with her voice when she's not even trying. One day she's gonna be this big star and I'm just going to be this guy who can say that I knew her when. She deserves someone worthy of her, some Broadway guy or something, not a jerk like me who's probably going to be driving a cab for the rest of his life." He told her and she sighed.
"You are talented, Noah, and I know that you're not going to be driving a cab for the rest of your life. And I'm pretty sure that as long as you don't just sit on your ass and let her slip through your fingers you're going to be a lot more than some guy who knew her when." She told him, kissing his cheek and hugging him tightly. "You just have to go for her." She added.
Puck sighed and thought about it. He knew there was no point denying that he had it bad for her, it was pretty obvious. And it wasn't even just about her, he was absolutely crazy about her but he was also crazy about Finn as well. That little kid could melt him with just one look or one hug or one smile. And yeah, he pictured a future where Finn called him Daddy and Rachel wore his ring but no matter what his mother told him, he still didn't think he was good enough to deserve a girl like Rachel. If he ever got her he'd treat her like a princess but there was some guy out there who could afford to do it better, who she could look at and not just see the guy who'd stolen her address for some silly little reason and blackmailed her into helping him. He was pretty sure he'd never be that guy for her.
No matter how much he might want that.