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This chapter wasn't planned, but clearly it wanted to be written, and I think it's quite cute, so here it is, hope you like
Chapter 7-Mr. Giraffe:
Eleven days had passed by and Puck and Rachel were still trapped in one another's bodies, doing their best to fool those around them into believing everything was normal. They probably weren't doing the best job at pretending to be one another, but things could certainly have been worse. Although Puck was still receiving concerned looks from Kurt, confused expressions from Rachel's dads and suspicious stares from Santana, he was managing to play the part of Rachel Berry fairly well. The real Rachel had also been working with him on his singing so that he could control her vocals. He was still pretending to have a bad throat whenever they met for Glee but he was becoming more confident that he could sing convincingly as Rachel, just as long as he wasn't asked to sing a Broadway tune.
As for Rachel, although she was trying her best, her impersonation of Puck wasn't going too well. Nobody had guessed she wasn't really Puck of course, but people had been gossiping about 'him' and spreading rumours. Some people, Puck's mother included, were convinced that drugs were the cause of 'Puck's' unusual behaviour. The Cheerio's seemed adamant that either lack of sex or too much sex was the reasoning behind 'Puck's oddness. A few members of the football team had speculated that Puck had gone gay but there were always girls around to dismiss the idea. Jacob Ben Israel had written an article claiming that Puck had gotten another girl pregnant. Brittany had even suggested to Santana that maybe Puck was pregnant while some of the teachers seemed to think the Jewish boy was involved in a criminal gang of some kind.
Still, the two Jewish teenagers were somehow managing to get through the days and nights as each other. While Rachel had taken to locking herself in Puck's bedroom and avoiding the female population as best as possible, Puck found himself spending the majority of his time with Kurt and trying to discreetly avoid being around Finn.
Posing as Rachel was by no means an easy feat, but Puck found himself to be most at ease when in Kurt's company. Although he was constantly aware of his language and making sure to speak in a manner befitting to Rachel, more often than not he was really just talking about himself but changing some of the details to make the conversation relatable to Rachel. One night, Puck had stayed over at the Hummel-Hudson household talking to Kurt until dawn. Kurt had started off talking about his mother so Puck had joined in talking about his feelings towards his old man under the guise of Rachel talking about Shelby.
For whatever reason, it was easy for Puck to open up and talk to Kurt. He'd never really tried talking about 'real feelings' before, always deeming such a thing to be too 'girly'. But as he was pretending to be a girl he decided that serious conversation about his feelings were acceptable and didn't affect his masculinity or badassness. Though in truth, his badass reputation was suffering a great deal with Rachel in his body but he was doing his best not to worry about it. He'd be able to repair the damage to his reputation just as soon as he got his own body back, as long as Rachel didn't dare to shave off his mohawk. And if she did, then Puck was fully prepared to seek revenge and hack off Rachel's dark locks; even if he did secretly enjoy winding the dark strands around his fingers as he gazed at Kurt during their deep conversations.
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That day, Puck had been invited on a date with Finn but rejected Rachel's boyfriend in favour of spending the day at the mall with Kurt, Tina and Mercedes. After visiting a few stores, Tina had left them to meet up with Mike and Mercedes had headed on home as she had to attend a family gathering with her parents. So Puck was left in the company of Kurt, now finding the act of walking arm-in-arm with Lima's resident gay boy completely natural.
As they made their way through the mall, Puck was sorely tempted to enter the video game store but he knew he couldn't do that while in Rachel's body. So instead he steered Kurt into a girly looking shop that held a display of cuddly teddies in the window. The shop was predominantly made up of children's toys and baby clothes, but Kurt immediately led the way to the shelves full of teddy bears so Puck assumed it was a shop Rachel frequently visited. The girl did have a lot of stuffed animals crowding her brightly painted bedroom after all.
Picking up a stuffed toy at random, Puck smiled at the soft-to-touch feeling, his thoughts turning to Beth and wondering if his little girl would like the cuddly giraffe. He liked to think that his daughter would like it as the hair on top of the giraffe's head sort of looked like a mohawk. He was desperate to buy the giraffe and give it to Beth in the hopes that it would make her think of her daddy when he couldn't be around her.
"He's cute," Kurt commented in a whisper. At first, Puck thought the boy was talking about the cuddly giraffe but he soon realised Kurt was discreetly checking out a twenty-something blonde male. Whatever, I'm totally hotter, Puck thought to himself as he stroked the giraffe's hair. "Are you going to buy him?" Kurt asked and this time he was talking about the teddy in Puck's hands.
Before Puck could answer, he heard a delighted giggle, a sound that he was sure he'd recognise anywhere. Turning on his heel, his face split into a wide grin as he saw Shelby heading their way with Beth in the pushchair.
"Hello, Rachel, Kurt," Shelby greeted politely with a warm smile, though there was a sense of awkwardness, as though she wasn't entirely sure how to behave around 'Rachel'.
Barely even looking at Shelby, Puck crouched down so he was at eye-level with Beth and made cooing noises to her as he showed her the giraffe. Giggling and blowing raspberries, Beth applauded her pudgy hands together before reaching her arms out to Puck like she always did. Without even asking permission, Puck removed the straps that kept Beth safe in the pram and lifted his baby girl into his arms for a much needed cuddle. Straight away, Beth pressed a kiss to his cheek before giving him a playful head butt. She knows it's still me, Puck thought in wonder balancing her on his hip.
"She likes you," Shelby commented with a genuine smile.
"Clearly as a future star in the making herself, she recognises and admires my own incredible talent," Puck gushed without pulling his eyes away from Beth who was babbling to him in baby jargon that he didn't understand but found to be completely adorable. "Hey there Mr. Giraffe, isn't Princess Beth the most beautiful girl in the world?" Puck asked then pretended to listen to the imaginary words the toy was speaking into his ear. "Yes, Mr. Giraffe says you are the most beautiful girl in the world," Puck declared moving the giraffe in to nuzzle Beth's face in a semblance of a kiss. Giggling happily, Beth wrapped her arms around Mr. Giraffe and prodded at the fluffy hair on the toy's head before tugging on her daddy's long hair with a bemused expression. I swear she's asking where my mohawks gone. "What do you think, Miss Beth, should we buy Mr. Giraffe to add to your toy collection?"
"Oh Rachel, honestly, you don't have to do that," Shelby said.
"It's ok, I want to," Puck insisted and Beth was already clinging to the giraffe as if she owned it. "Come on, let's go buy it, Bethy," Puck said setting his daughter on her feet and holding her beneath her armpits to help her walk along.
"I had no idea Rachel was so good with children," Kurt commented to Shelby merely for something to say.
"I think she must get it from me," Shelby replied with a sad kind of smile accompanying a fond pride that sparkled in her eyes, "she managed to get a lot of my best qualities. I just hope she's different enough from me to not repeat my mistakes."
"She misses you," Kurt said softly and Shelby tore her eyes away from her two daughters queuing at the cash register to look at him, "or at least she misses the relationship you two could have had. She loves her dads, but growing up without a mum isn't easy; trust me I know."
"I have a lot of regrets with Rachel," Shelby admitted, "but her dads were able to give her a life I couldn't. Not back then, I was far too young. I'm her mother, nothing will change that, but I'm not her mum. It's too late for that."
"Why is it too late?" Kurt asked. "You get to start over and be a proper mum to Beth, but what does Rachel get? She might be lucky to have two incredible dads, but she still doesn't have a mum. How is that fair?"
Shelby cleared her throat awkwardly and began looking at random toys on shelves for a distraction, obviously not knowing how to respond. Before anymore could be said, Puck returned carrying Beth who was happily chewing on one of Mr. Giraffe's legs.
"Thank you for the giraffe, Rachel," Shelby smiled holding her arms out to take Beth back and Puck gave the girl a quick kiss before handing her over, "it was nice seeing you but I have to get going now."
"Ok, bye, Bethy," Puck said waggling his fingers to his daughter who had just been placed back in her pushchair.
"Dada," Beth replied blowing kisses to Puck who felt his heart swell.
"Dada?" Kurt repeated in confusion.
"It's one of the few words she can say," Shelby explained, "ever since she met Noah she's thought the world of him. In fact I think he's her favourite person."
"That's… sweet," Kurt offered.
"Bye, dada," Beth called again and Shelby made a final goodbye to the two teens before pushing Beth away.
"Rachel, are you ok?" Kurt asked waving his hand in Puck's face to gain his attention.
"Oh, of course, I was just having a little fantasy about accepting my first Toby award," Puck answered.
"Tony," Kurt corrected with a quirked eyebrow.
"That's what I said," Puck replied with such conviction that Kurt actually believed he'd simply misheard.
To Be Continued
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Love and Hugs, IceQueenRia xxx
