Don't Say You're Sorry, Just Apologize - Rachel
Rating: T - Because Puck is a grown up and cusses because he can.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own glee but I do own all the CDs, the DVD and a WHMS hoodie I got on eBay
A/N: Thank you to knkykty for being a great Beta Babe at such short notice! You rock my mismatched socks off.
A/N 2: The next four chapters are four potential marital outcomes for Puck so take your pick! I hope you enjoy them.
Rachel tries to show him another stack of wedding magazines in the middle of a fantastic post-sex breakfast. It seriously ruins the appetite he had worked up making his fiancee scream his name. Best. Morning. Ever. And now it's gone.
"Rach," he says in-between bites. "I'm trying to get my energy back up after that workout we had this morning. Please can I eat my french toast, drink a little coffee and then you can attack me with questions? Not that you'll listen."
She just pouts at him with the perfect percentage of lip accompanied by the exact eye batting she knew would make him feel guilty - she was an expert after all. After almost ten years together, a recently purchased house and now a baby on the way she knew how to twist him around her little finger.
"Fine," he concedes. "You show me the sixty-four new dresses you like then we'll call the dressmaker my Ma knows and sees if she can make any of them a little bit bigger around the middle. You know we gotta tell her, like yesterday."
His mother had been asking for years when to expect a daughter in law and grandchildren when he was promoted to manager at Hummel's garage, so the day they moved in to a newly purchased house she cried with joy. After which Rachel got the worst case of babyfever on the planet. He didn't fight the idea as much as she thought he would. Why? It actually made sense. That's what you did when you knew it was forever, right? He didn't need a Powerpoint presentation or charts and graphs to tell him that a family was their next step. Marriage, for some reason, took some tooth pulling.
He moves his chair closer to hers so he could rub her newly showing belly. The pregnancy hadn't been too much of a shock to them after an entire summer dedicated to "trying". Rachel was teaching music at their temple yeshiva during the school year so she had the vacation months to spend exclusively on private vocal lessons. It was a fantastic setup for their "little project" that they took advantage of as much as possible.
"Are you sure you still want to get married, Noah? We don't have to simply because we have a child together," she murmurs. "I've always said we didn't need a piece of paper to validate our relationship. I just want to be with you and I don't need anyone else's approval."
He kisses her forehead as he chuckles. "I'd be happy just to be with you and as many punks as we are blessed with," he sighed. "Hell, is the reason we're doing this is because everyone wants us to get married to make them happy? I just wish we could do it at the courthouse with two witnesses. Everyone knows I fuckin' love you, why do we need to do it in front of a herd of people to prove it?"
When he sees her eyes start to sparkle he knew she had made a new decision. He also knows that his mother is going to have an absolute shitfit when she hears what it was.
"Your mother is going to be so mad if I take this away from her, Noah!" she gasps. "She and I have been planning every minutiae of the service and we even found a caterer who could do a half vegan half carnivore buffet for us!"
"Who is this wedding supposed to be for? Her or us?" he asks. "I'm still not sure why we're doing this if both of us agree we don't want to? That so didn't come out right. You know what I mean!"
Rachel frowns as she twirls a strand of her hair. "Noah, I don't like to think the only reason we're doing this is to appease our parents. It will be nice to file our taxes jointly and have the same last name. Won't it?"
He grabs both her hands and kisses them. "What do you want baby?" he says quietly. "We're already a family; you, me and this kid. Got it? No piece of shitty paper is going to make it realer to me."
She laughs because he knows what he says was gramatically incorrect. He just doesn't care. This is one of the reasons she fell in love with him. He knows that he's wrong sometimes and he's doesn't even care. She quickly sit on his lap then wraps her arms around him.
"You're right, Noah," she mumurs. "About everything. Let's just get married at the courthouse. We were already going to have the reception at my dads' house so..."
"Now we just have to call everybody who's coming and let them know the wedding has been cancelled!" he interrupts. "Easy. How about we start that after lunch?"
She tries to laugh but is overwhelmed by a tidal wave of nausea and rushes to the bathroom. As she retches into the toilet he holds her hair as he sits on the floor next to her. They sit there silently until she nods to let him know she's finished.
"Ew," she whispers. "I'll be glad when that over with. I don't know why they even call it morning sickness! That's a horrible misnomer. It hits at such random times I swear we're having a boy because this baby seems to enjoy being contrary like his father."
She swigs the mouthwash he hands her then swishes and spits in the bowl. After almost five months of this they've got it down pat.
He shakes his head as he helps her up, "Nope. Gonna have a girl that likes to argue just like her Mama and is always right."
"I'm always right?" she purrs. "I think I might need that in writing, love."
"How about we have a shindig, invite everyone who matters and I'll do just that?" he counters.
So they do. It takes a lot of phone calls, a lot of apologies but they get it all arranged with only a few tears.
Before he realizes the time has flown by and he's standing at the courthouse waiting for his fiancee. She's late because she and her dads can't stop crying so he has time to think. He is trying to remember what events and people brought him to this day - his wedding day. There are so many things in his life that have made him the man he his - good and bad. One constant throughout his life has been his mother's words: "Noah, saying your sorry is too easy. It has no soul or meaning because people say it every day and don't really mean it. When you mean it you apologize. Do you understand? Apologize."
I also had requests for Santana and Quinn as options so I'll be posting those soon. Let me know what you think!