Rachel's next few weeks were spent in absolute bliss. It wasn't the fact that she and Puck had been having nonstop sex like they were still teenagers, although that was awesome. Rachel just felt like things were falling into place. She was doing well in school (not that school had ever been a concern), Puck was really impressing everyone at work, and Eli was content. It was so much easier with Puck and Rachel working as a team, rather than two individual players and Eli seemed to benefit from it.

Before Rachel knew it, March was barreling in and it was the Saturday before her Spring Break. While Puck and Eli enjoyed an unseasonably warm day at the park, Rachel picked up an extra shift at the coffee house. She also had two singing lessons scheduled for that afternoon. Since they'd been back together, Rachel had been working less and Puck had been spending more. Although he insisted that it was no big deal (to him, it really wasn't), Rachel wanted to retain her independence. Even though they were back together, there was no reason for Puck to try to take care of Rachel, Eli, and himself. Besides, Rachel had stumbled upon Puck's recent credit card statement. The limo ride and hotel stay had cost him a small fortune, which is why she insisted against a Spring Break vacation. She would pick up a daily shift at the coffee shop and come home (whether it was her apartment or Puck's) to take care of her two favorite guys.

Rachel was chatting with one of the regulars when she heard the door chime. Eli bounded into the coffee shop, running into a chair. Puck followed behind, picking up the screaming toddler. Rachel looked at the scene before her, chuckling to herself. It wasn't funny that Eli was hurt, but Rachel could already see the deterioration of the firm boundaries she'd set for her son. If he was with Rachel, Eli would have never ran into an establishment, especially not watching where he was going. For some reason, Puck corrupting their son made Rachel comfortable. It was like she expected it and was used to it.

"Remember the precious toddler of mine I'm always raving about? Apparently his misbehaving alter ego decided to make an appearance today." Rachel said to Eddie, the loyal customer at the table near the counter. Rachel came from around it and took her crying son from his father.

"Shh, shh baby. It's alright. This is why you shouldn't run." Rachel cooed, rocking Eli back and forth. She couldn't completely comfort him because another customer walked in. Rachel was the only one in the shop while the owner ran to the post office, so she had to handle it. Eli finally calmed down and Puck set him back on the ground while Rachel went back behind the counter. While Eddie made small talk with Puck and Eli, Rachel tended to the middle-aged woman.

"Do you know what you'd like today?" The woman rolled her eyes at Rachel.

"Obviously not. I'm still looking up at the menu." Rachel was used to customers like that—the pretentious customers who were used to big chain coffee shops like Starbucks. She never got offended by it, just stored the experiences. She was sure they'd come in handy for a future role.

"Well, just let me know when you're ready." Rachel said sweetly. She glanced at Puck who was making faces at the woman. Rachel held her index finger up, signaling him to wait before he left. Puck and Eli took a seat. When Rachel glanced back at the customer, the woman was glaring at her.

"I'd like a medium black coffee—" Rachel wondered why it took her so long to decide on such a simple item.

"Since there's no good selection here." The woman continued. "And I'd like a brownie. Slightly warmed."

"Sure thing." Rachel said. She heard Eli giggle and glanced over at him quickly. Eli was entranced by Eddie's pocket watch. Puck was glaring at Rachel's customer.

"Isn't there someone to help you? Are you the only one here?" Rachel wasn't one to lose patience quickly, but the woman was being difficult for no reason. Rachel quickly handed over the coffee and put the brownie in the microwave oven for a few seconds.

"The owner ran to the post office quickly. But we're a quaint little coffee shop and don't need much staff on Saturday afternoons." Rachel explained.

"Hm. I don't see how the owner can run a business with just a girl in charge of the store. I mean, it's a little rid—"

"Hey lady!" Rachel turned to Puck with wide eyes as he addressed her customer. "She made your damn coffee and heated the damn brownie—pay her and leave if you're so unhappy here!"

Rachel was absolutely mortified. She rang up the items and the woman slid her card before Rachel could even give a total. She walked out the door without a word, only a death glare at Puck.

"Noah!"

"Look, she wasn't going to bitch at you like that without me saying something." Rachel could tell he was fuming. The woman was rude, but it didn't really bother her that much. Rachel's boss walked in the door before she could calm him down, but luckily it was her time to get off anyway. She clocked out, hung up her apron, and met Puck and Eli outside the shop.

"Noah." This time she said it softly, grabbing his hand. They locked eyes and Rachel could see how angry he was about it.

"Rach, I didn't mean to yell at her. But tell me she wasn't a b-i-t-c-h?" Rachel laughed and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"She was a miserable woman, but I've already forgotten about it honey. I've got to run so I can make it home by my lesson." Rachel reached down to pick up her son. "See you soon Eli, and stop running so much sweet boy."

"We'd been running the whole time in the park. The running may have been caused by me." Rachel eyed her boyfriend and tossed him one of his own signature smirks.

"I guess I'll deal with you later Puckerman." She winked and walked in the opposite direction to her car.

The trip back to her apartment was quick and Rachel had enough time to change out of her work clothes and into some jeans and a relaxed top. She had a great relationship with both of her singing students, so Rachel felt comfortable being casual with them. Besides, the lessons were in her home—things didn't get any more relaxed than that.

Her 3:30 session was with a 9-year-old named Ellie. She was of the beauty pageant circuit, and Rachel spent most of their sessions prepping Ellie for songs that she would sing in future pageants. The little girl was talented, but Rachel had learned Ellie's heart wasn't in singing nor pageants. Ellie loved art. So even though Ellie's mother paid Rachel for vocal lessons, Rachel always wrapped up their session with Ellie drawing something for her.

Ellie's session came and went and soon her 5:30 student, Bryce, was walking through her door. Rachel adored him as well. Bryce was 15 and his voice was just changing, but he had one of the strongest, most soulful voices Rachel had ever heard. She constantly begged Bryce to join his high school's glee club, but wasn't surprised to learn that glee club still wasn't the popular thing to do. Rachel respected him for at least trying to hone his talent, even if it meant lying to his friends about visiting his grandmother for an hour and a half every so often.

"What are you gonna do when you graduate Rachel?" Bryce asked her. She hated that question more and more with each passing day.

"Not sure yet. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"Not really. Guess I'm just kinda hoping you won't skip town or anything. Then I'd have to join stupid glee club to get my singing fix." He said grinning. Rachel hit his shoulder playfully.

"I bet you'd like glee club if I taught it." Rachel had toyed around with the idea of becoming a teacher before.

"You'd be pretty kickass too. You're hot so the guys would dig you and you're awesome so the girls would dig you too. Pretty win-win." Rachel eyed the teenager for his inappropriate comment.

"You are a trip. And your mother is outside. Think about glee club seriously and I'll see you next time." Bryce went home and Rachel put up the sheet music and art supplies from Ellie. She heard her phone ring in the bedroom and ran to get it. She was surprised to see Hannah calling.

"Hey Hannah Banana." Rachel answered.

"That's lame, first off. And secondly, you sound pretty chipper Rach. Is Noah making you that happy?"

"Noah is actually doing a pretty great job, which is no surprise. Your brother is an awesome man."

"Yeah, we'll see how awesome he is when he hears this. Are you with him?"

"No, what's wrong?" Rachel was thinking the worst. Had Peter really hurt Rebecca like Puck had been expecting?

"Peter just asked me if he could marry mom. And he's planning on asking Noah too. Of course I said yes but—"

"Oh God." Was all Rachel could say.

"Seriously. Peter thinks Noah is an angel. Mom has been laying on all the good stories about him so Peter doesn't really know how shitty Noah really is—or at least used to be. So… I'm thinking Peter thinks the whole asking Noah thing will go over as smooth as dinner went in January. That was dinner, this is—"

"Marriage. Okay, I've got a plan." Rachel hoped it would work.

Rachel would have Rebecca, Peter, and Hannah come up for the weekend. The three of them could stay at Rachel's apartment while she and Eli stayed with Puck. The weekend would give Puck and Peter more time to get to know each other, so Puck wouldn't be so off-guard when Peter asked for his mother's hand in marriage. And besides, Rachel would love to see the proposal in person. She wondered if Peter would up the ante and propose it that weekend.

"Are we talking about the same Noah here? He's not going to like Rebecca Puckerman coming to town for an entire weekend, especially without like a month's notice." Hannah said. She knew her brother well. Rachel knew him a bit more though.

"Well, relationships are about compromise Hannah. He'll understand." Meaning Rachel would make him understand after a few rounds of sex.

"Gross Rachel. I can understand innuendo. I'm not an idiot like Noah." The teenager sounded insulted. Rachel knew to end the conversation quickly then. She was relieved that Eli wasn't at the age where she had to explain anything about sex. She'd leave the responsibility to his father even if Puck's track record wasn't the cleanest.

Before she and Hannah ended their call, Rachel told Hannah to get Peter up to speed. It was easy to get the rest of plan in motion. Rachel called Rebecca and explained how she would be free all week and would love for Rebecca, Hannah, and Peter to come visit. That was the easiest part. The hardest part would be getting Puck to agree to it, even though it was a done deal. She would leave out the part about Peter's announcement, but she still knew he'd be a hassle.

She spent an hour or so getting her things ready for Puck's that night and tidying the apartment some. When she was about to leave, she called Puck to make sure they were at the house. They weren't.

"Noah, is that a dog in the background?" Puck just told her that they were over at Finn's house, but Finn didn't have a dog.

"Yeah, Eli's trying to name Hudson's new best friend. Where the hell does Eli get these names from?"

"Finn has a dog now? What if Eli gets attached and wants a dog too? I can't have any pets in my apartment. I can't afford to even take care of a pet, nor do either of us have time!"

"Chill out babe. Eli and Finn have some sort of agreement, so I guess it's kinda like Eli's dog too. And before you flip out, the chick at the pet store said that dogs teach kids responsibility and compassion to other beings, or some shit like that. So it'll be a learning experience for Eli." Rachel rolled her eyes, but didn't worry about it. The dog situation would be up for Puck to handle, not her.

"Well, just give me a call when you guys get back to your place. I'll be ho—"

"Look at your keyring." Puck interrupted. Rachel noticed that the background was quieter, so he must have stepped into another room. She picked up her keys and noticed an extra key on there (and it did occur to her that she'd been handling her keys all day and never realized).

"A key—to your house?" Of course, she knew it was a key to his house but she had to make sure.

"Yeah. And it's not a big deal or anything, I just—"

"Thank you Noah. This will be useful on dog nights, I see." Rachel kept the mood light, even though the key was such an important gesture.

"Exactly. So yeah, you can head on over there. Make dinner for a hungry man and a hungry toddler if you'd like. Hm… and you may wanna run Eli a bath. Kid's a mess." Puck laughed at Rachel's responding growl. Sure Eli was a boy, but Rachel knew that sometimes Puck got him dirty just to annoy her.

"Well I had homemade pizza in mind and Eli could help, so hurry home." Rachel said. The words rolled so easy off her tongue, as if she and Puck were already living together.

"Love the sound of that babe. See you soon."

Puck and Eli came bounding through the door not long after Rachel arrived. Eli ran straight into her arms, smelling like a wet dog.

"Hi mommy! Uncle Finn has a dog! I named him Patrick!" Rachel had to smile at his enthusiasm, even though she was holding him far away from her nose. Puck laughed.

"Come on kid, your mom looks like she's gonna blow chunks if she has to smell you like that any longer." Puck gave Rachel a peck and carried Eli to the bathroom. Soon, the clean toddler ran back into the kitchen, ready to help with dinner.

"Is daddy taking a shower now?" Rachel asked. Eli nodded. She let Eli help her with the first pizza—half veggie for her and the other half was whatever Eli decided he'd like. She'd fix Puck's pizza when he got out the shower.

"So, I was thinking we'd go out of town this weekend. You know what's only three hours from here? Pittsburgh. It'd be kinda fun and—"

"No."

"You didn't even let me finish Rach." Puck even looked a little upset.

"I'm sorry Noah, but we're not going anywhere. One, because you spent entirely too much for Valentine's Day and two, your mom is coming to town." Rachel winced, waiting for the complaints to start. She didn't have to wait two seconds.

"WHAT? Oh HELL no, that's not going down." Rachel watched him throw toppings sloppily over his pizza, not even paying attention because he was so irritated.

"Noah, it's honestly ridiculous that you're so upset. Your mom has Peter to pay attention to—she hasn't even been in your hair as much as she used to."

"Fuc—freak. So he's coming too? And are all three of them supposed to fit into my apartment because I just can't—" Rachel hugged him from behind and kissed the center of his back.

"Your son is looking at you like you're insane." Rachel turned him around so that he'd face her. "Rebecca, Peter, and Hannah will stay at my apartment. I'll be here full time from Friday until Sunday."

"My mom will go through your stuff."

"There is no stuff to go through Noah." Rachel bumped him out of the way with her hip and tried to even out his pizza some.

"Oh yeah? What about your t-o-y in the top drawer of your nightstand?" Puck pressed Rachel into the counter, saying the words in her ear.

"Hm, that little thing? I guess it should probably come here with me. Maybe you can find a use for it?"

"You're badass babe. Never knew that screwing you after Santana's party a few years ago would have you in my kitchen talking about me using your vibrator on you." Rachel elbowed her boyfriend.

"Don't say things like that in front of your son!"

"Don't tempt me then Berry."

So... this is the last chapter I have prewritten. Any ideas you guys wanna throw at me? Leave a review! I do have a few things in the works... we'll see!