Author's Note: I am back with another update. I'm going to try to get back to regular updating but if I lag behind again please forgive me and know that I don't have any plans to abandon this story. I want to finish this story for myself and for all of you. On to the story.
Rachel was completely and utterly embarrassed. It was the first cast read through of the script and she was running late. Massively late.
Ava had come down with the flu so had gone home until she could shake it off and not infect the kids, leaving Puck and Rachel to look after the kids in the middle of their busy schedules. The reason she was late was because Puck had been out all night at the studio working on the recording of his album. Because she was working during the day it was easier if he worked overnight, and he'd gotten in later than the agreed time so she could get ready and leave on time. She'd had to have a bath with Brittany in with her and Finn playing with his toys next to the bath so she could keep an eye on the both of them, she'd had to do her hair in between chasing Finn around the house and convincing him to give Brittany her socks back after he'd stolen them off of her to make her cry, and had to get dressed as fast as possible while Brittany laid in the middle of her bed and Finn sat in his bedroom thinking about what he'd done. And after all of that was done, Puck still wasn't home.
She was already twenty minutes late by the time he'd walked through the front door. He was exhausted after being out all night and it was obvious that all he wanted to do was crash into bed and go to sleep, but that just wasn't possible. She'd shoved Brittany into his arms, sparing a smile for the way she lit up at seeing her father and latched onto him excitedly, and pointed to where Finn was sitting on the couch ignoring his father before rushing over and kissing Finn's cheek and then kissing Brittany and Puck at the front door before leaving.
Finn had been angry with Puck since he'd left to go work with Holly instead of staying behind and playing with him. Puck had tried everything he could to think of to get him to smile at him again, to want to spend time with him again, but unfortunately every time he felt like he was getting somewhere, he had to go to work on the album again and that put him right back to square one again. It sucked for all of them and Puck and Rachel could only hope that he'd get over it quickly.
"I am so sorry I'm late. My husband got home late to look after the kids, but I promise it won't happen again." Rachel said in a rush when she walked into the building they were doing the read through. Everyone was spread throughout the room and she frowned when she realized that her understudy was reading her part. Not a great start.
"Nice of you to join us, Rachel." The director said, not sounding impressed. "Please, take a seat." She added and Rachel nodded, looking around for somewhere to sit. Matt Rutherford, her Fiyero, offered her a bright smile and nodded to the spot next to where he was spread out over the floor. Though she wouldn't usually like sitting on the floor for any reason other than playing with her children or stretching before dancing she headed over and sat next to him anyway. He seemed to be the only person who wasn't angry that she'd come late and she needed someone to like her on this show other than Santana who'd gotten hired as a dancer and wasn't there for the read through. It was her first lead role and she needed her castmates to like her at least a little.
They read through the script a couple of times, trying to get comfortable with it and with the way everyone was reading their part. Rachel had known every line in this play for a long time so she could do this in her sleep, but it was good to have someone else to work off of instead of the other characters just being in her head. After they finished going through the script they were all allowed to go. Most people barely even looked at her as they walked past, angry that she'd almost ruined their first big meeting, and she didn't blame them. If someone else had done what she'd done she'd be angry at them as well.
"Don't feel too badly. Most of those people don't know what it's like to juggle family with this career." Matt said from next to her, getting up from his spot and dusting his pants off. "My wife's a doctor so I get how hard it is to raise children when both you and your partner are busy." He added, giving her a knowing look.
"You have children?" She asked, giving him a smile. She was happy that someone obviously didn't hate her for being late and that she had something in common with her costar.
"Two. They're three and five." He told her proudly, pulling out his wallet and taking out a picture of his children. He had two boys that looked a lot like him.
"They're gorgeous." She cooed, taking out a picture of Finn and Brittany to show him. Finn was trying to stand in front of Brittany to block her from the picture and Matt chuckled, shaking his head.
"Sibling rivalry?" He asked and she nodded, a glum look on her face. All she wanted was for her son and her daughter to get along; she didn't think that was too much to ask. "Yeah, Simon got jealous when Eric was born." He told her. She turned hopeful eyes up to him.
"But he grew out of it, right?" She asked and he snorted shaking his head.
"Not yet." He told her, making her frown. She really wanted her children to get along, wanted her little boy to be the sweet little thing she was used to instead of the little brat he was turning into. "That's not to say that he hates his little brother. I just think he picks on him so other people won't now instead of hating him." He told her, making her sigh. "So, what does your husband do?" He asked, walking her to the door and out of the building.
"Well he's working on an album right now." She explained proudly. No matter how much working on the album took Puck away from her and their children she wouldn't feel anything but proud of him. He was living his dreams and she definitely wanted that for him, just like he wanted her to have her dreams come true. "I know it's nothing like being a doctor..." She said, trailing off. He'd said his wife was a doctor so obviously her hours were worse than Noah's were so she felt a little silly to be comparing her situation to his.
"Hey, don't do that. It's different in some ways but if it's taking him away from you and your kids, we're in the same boat." He assured her. "Do you have a nanny or something?" He asked curiously and she shook her head.
"My mother in-law is staying with us to help out a bit, but she has the flu so she went home for a couple of weeks so she doesn't get the kids sick." She explained and he nodded.
"My mother in-law stayed with us for a while. Complete disaster. I don't know how anyone could possibly live with their in-laws." He told her with a grin. She couldn't help but laugh. She'd always heard horror stories about in-laws but the truth of the matter for her was that her mother in-law was the sweetest person she'd ever met. She hadn't grown up with a mother and Ava was an amazing woman that felt more like a mother than simply an in-law.
"Well I must have an extraordinary mother in-law if that's the case because she's amazing." She told him and he gave her a smile, clearly pleased that she didn't have his bad luck when it came to in-laws.
"So, coffee?" He asked, giving her a grin. She bit her lip, knowing that Noah probably really wanted to get some sleep so she should be getting home. She would like a chance to get to know her costar better though and a cup of coffee sounded heavenly.
"My husband probably wants to get to sleep." She told him apologetically.
"Hey, he was late so isn't it only fair that you get that extra time as well?" He asked with a smile. "One coffee." He added, stopping on the sidewalk and facing her. "I'll throw in an offer to have my nanny look after your kids with my kids for the rest of the week." He offered, sweetening the deal. She couldn't help but smile at him, really needing that help at the moment.
"Just let me see if Noah's okay with it." She told him, not wanting to leave her husband stranded with the kids if he couldn't handle it. She took out her phone and sent off a quick message to her husband, asking if he'd mind her getting a cup of coffee with one of her costars before coming home. He answered back quickly, telling her that it was fine and to have fun. She knew he could handle the kids, even on little sleep, so let Matt lead her into a coffee shop, a smile on her face as he asked her more about her children. She could never get sick of talking about her children or his husband.
Back at the apartment, Puck was sitting on the couch next to Finn, Brittany sitting on his lap playing with her own feet. Finn was still ignoring him. The only time he hadn't ignored him was when he'd made him lunch. It completely broke Puck's heart that his son was acting this way to him. They'd always had the best relationship, from the day he'd first come into his life, and Finn ignoring him and being angry at him was just too much to take. He'd loved Finn since the day he'd met him and he wanted his little boy back.
"Hey, this is a cool cartoon." He said, his hand falling to Finn's shoulder but the two year old shrugged it off. "You know, I get that you're mad at me." He told him, making Finn turn his head a little towards to him but didn't look at him yet. "And I know what it's like to not have your dad around, even if it's not the same thing because my dad walked out but I'm really trying to be here for you while juggling work, Finn. I love you, you know that. I've loved you since the first moment you gazed up at me, even though some other dude is the reason you're here. I just want my little boy back." He explained. Finn let out a huff and focused on the TV again.
"Sorry dude, some sob story isn't going to cut it. You suck."
"So you're this mean to everyone? Not just me?" Brittany asked curiously, making him turn to glare at her. He really didn't need her input, she was the reason all of this was happening in the first place, he was sure of it.
"Okay, you're still mad at me." Puck said, shaking his head. "Okay then, I'll leave you alone." He told him. "Brittany, how about we play dancing toys and leave Finn here alone to watch TV and sulk?" He said to his daughter, getting up and placing her on the floor in front of the basket of stuffed toys that sat in the corner of the room.
"Oh, you're trying to make me jealous? Not gonna work." Finn shook his head, prepared not to fall for it. Still, he turned and watched as his daddy started making the toys dance around, Brittany cracking up laughing at the sight.
"Why don't they ever do that for me? You're, like, magic Daddy." Brittany clapped her hands together excitedly and Finn couldn't help but smile and shake his head. He'd learnt a long time ago that it was his daddy who made the toys dance like that, he'd realized that when they wouldn't dance for just him no matter how much he tried, and it was kind of cute to see Brittany thinking it was real. She was such a baby.
"You sure you don't want to play, Finn?" Puck asked with a grin towards his oldest, laughing a little when Finn quickly looked away from them as though he hadn't been watching in the first place. He could see the little guy's walls crumbling a little, knew that he wanted to join in and play as well, and knew that he'd give in eventually. "Okay, you keep watching TV then." He told him with a smirk, bending to pick Brittany up off the ground and holding her under his arm so her stomach was to towards the ground. "How about a little Super Brittany?" He asked his daughter, laughing when she squealed happily and squirmed in his arm.
"You always play Super Finn not Super Brittany. Yay Daddy, let's fly!"
Finn watched with a frown on his face as his daddy flew Brittany around the room making flying noises. Super Finn was his absolute favorite game and he hadn't played it with his father for a while. It wasn't that his daddy hadn't tried to play with him, he had, but Finn was just so angry at him for never being around and for spending all that time with that stupid blonde lady to play with him. But watching his daddy playing with his sister like that, watching the way Brittany laughed at the feeling of flying made him want to play again. He knew that feeling, like butterflies were dancing in your stomach every time you dipped and rose. It was one of the best feelings in the world.
Puck watched as Finn clambered off the couch and took off for his room. He felt bad, wondering if he'd gone too far. He didn't want his son to be upset, he just wanted him to look at him the same way he used to, with love and happiness in his eyes. He was just about to put Brittany down to go find Finn when Finn came back from his bedroom, the blue blanket he used as a cape when they played Super Finn around his neck and a defiant look on his face.
"Ah, you want to play too, buddy?" He asked with a huge grin on his face. Finn nodded once, sharply, before taking another step towards him.
"Come play with us Finn. It's fun!" Brittany told him, a huge smile on her face. He looked over at her and gave her a small smile, thinking she looked cute with that look on her face. It wasn't often that he thought of his sister as anything another than annoying or took the time to think of her as cute. She was cute, he had to admit that. He decided it was because she took after her big brother and he was awesome and cute.
"It's my game anyway." He told her, stepping even closer.
"Come here, Super Finn." Puck said happily, scooping him up effortlessly and holding him underneath his other arm. Finn giggled, a huge smile on his face, and Puck smiled as well. "Oh no, Lord Tubbington has been kidnapped. This is a job for Super Finn and the Amazing Brittany." Puck said dramatically. Finn grinned and put his arms out in the 'flying' position.
"We'll save him!"
"Who took Lord Tubbington?" Brittany asked her brother worriedly.
"No one. It's part of the game. You have to put your hands out like this." He told her, reaching over and grabbing her arms, moving them in front of her, so she could see how to hold her arms to fly because she hadn't been doing it before. Puck grinned at seeing Finn teaching his sister how to hold her arms for flying, hearing them babbling at each other. He wished he had his camera to capture this moment because no one would believe him that it had happened. But then again he didn't have his hands free to be able to hold the camera so what he really wished was that Rachel was home so she could see this. And film it.
"Like this?" She asked, holding her hands out in front of her by herself when he let go.
"Yeah, just like that." Finn told her proudly with a smile before looking up at their father.
"Fly Daddy! Fly." He said excitedly. Puck grinned down at him and nodded, singing the Superman theme as he started gliding them around the room. The sound of both of his children laughing, together, because of him made him light up inside. He'd missed the sound of Finn's laughter and it was very rare to hear both of the kids laughing at the same time. Usually if Finn was laughing around Brittany it was because he'd just done something mean to her, not because he was having fun with her.
He kept dipping from side to side, letting one be higher and the other lower alternately, as he flew them around the room. He spun in circles but stopped doing that when it made him too dizzy, even though the kids had definitely loved it. After a while of flying them around the apartment he put Finn down and held Brittany in front of his chest facing outwards and told them that they had to find where the dastardly super villain Grandma Evil had stashed the kidnapped Lord Tubbington. His mother had taken Lord Tubbington to be washed just before she'd left to go home because Brittany had tried to feed the toy cat and got juice all over it, so he knew it was in the washing basket. It wasn't the first time he'd used his mother as the bad guy in these games and he knew it wouldn't be the last time either but it was just a game so he couldn't feel too badly about it.
Finn nodded and took off in search of the stuffed cat, zipping around the room and flinging his cape around. Puck made sure to stay hot on his heels, darting around behind him so Brittany could be involved. He bobbed and weaved, making his daughter laugh and Finn grin at him and copy what he was doing. Puck led them to the laundry basket and together they all dug through it, Puck cheering in triumph when Finn found the toy at the bottom of the basket. Brittany had gotten distracted looking through the basket by a pair of socks that she then started chewing on, she had a real obsession with socks at the moment, it was cute.
They were all tired after their game, Puck especially because he'd been up all night and now most of the day as well. Brittany started falling asleep; her face half in the laundry basket where they were still sitting because Finn had decided he wanted to try to dress Lord Tubbington in the clothes from the basket, and Finn was playing with Lord Tubbington's fur the way he played with people's hair when he was tired. He swept them both up and carried them into his and Rachel's room, laying on the bed with them and holding them close.
"We're all going to have a little nap now, okay?" He asked through a yawn, even though Brittany was completely dead to the world already and Finn's eyes were starting to droop.
"Daddy, still be here when I wake up, okay?"
Puck smiled down at Finn, seeing his big round eyes staring up at him, and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Go to sleep, bud. I'll still be here when you wake up." He told him soothingly, just knowing that's what his son was worried about. Finn nodded and cuddled up to him, his hand reaching out and playing with Brittany's hair.
"Love you, Daddy." He told him and Puck felt his breath hitch.
"I love you too, Finn." He told him happily, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, kissing Brittany's head as well so it was balanced, and letting his eyes drift shut.
Rachel walked into the apartment a while later, a happy smile on her face. She'd gotten to know Matt pretty well and she really liked him. He was a sweet guy who seemed really talented and he very obviously loved his wife and children. It was nice to know that she wasn't the only person trying to have this type of career and have a family at the same time.
They'd both talked about their partners and their children a lot. She learnt that his wife's name was Mercedes and they'd known each other since high school but had lost touch when he'd moved away with his family and then had met up again after college. It was a sweet story and she told him that. He'd laughed when she'd told him the story of how she'd met Noah, saying it was cute that he'd started off as an annoying cab driver taking her to the hospital to have her baby but ended up the love of her life, and told her that he absolutely had to meet him. She promised him that she'd try to set up a dinner with him and his family around Puck's schedule and he'd laughed and told her that he'd have to make sure it fit in with his wife's schedule.
As she walked around the apartment she realized she couldn't see Puck or the kids anywhere but that there was a mess in the corner of the living room, toys flung out all over the floor and the washing basket was on its side for some reason, with clothes spilling out of it. She figured that the kids must be having a nap while Noah was catching up on some much needed sleep so headed to the kids' room to check on them. They weren't in there but she could hear Noah snoring softly from their room so headed in there instead.
For a moment she stood in the doorway, watching her family sleep all tangled up together. Noah was lying on his back with Brittany curled up to his side, his arm around her protectively, and Finn was lying on his stomach. It reminded her of all the times she'd come home from a dance class to find Noah and Finn in that exact position when he was still just her babysitter. Obviously Puck had managed to get Finn to forgive him if Finn was sleeping cuddled up to him like that, that was good. She let out a happy sigh and just watched them for a moment; taking in how beautiful they looked sleeping all together.
"Hey Baby." Puck greeted tiredly when he woke up and saw her standing there. He smiled down at Finn and pulled Brittany a little closer to him before looking up at her again. "How long have you been home?" He asked curiously, rubbing at his eyes.
"I just got home." She explained, kicking off her shoes and walking towards the bed. "How long have you guys been sleeping?" She asked curiously, sitting on the edge of the bed. He craned his neck back to look at the time and groaned.
"About twenty minutes." He told her. It definitely wasn't long enough and he obviously needed a good sleep, he looked a little wrecked. "You should have seen it, baby. I got Finn to play with me and he was actually playing and having a good time with Brittany. It was awesome." He told her happily, a little smile on his face. She smiled and nodded even though she was sorry that she'd missed it. It was such a rare sight to see Finn having a good time with his sister so she would have liked to be there.
"That's amazing." She told him proudly. "Why is Lord Tubbington wearing a pair of my panties on his head?" She asked in confusion, seeing the stuffed cat clutched in her daughter's arms. Puck chuckled, giving her an innocent look.
"Well we were playing Super Finn and the Amazing Brittany and Grandma Evil had kidnapped Lord Tubbington so we rescued him from where she'd hidden him in the laundry basket." He explained, making her chuckle and shake her head at him. He was always using his mother as the villain in those games, Rachel just knew that Ava would find out about it one day and not be impressed.
"That doesn't explain why he's wearing my panties on his head. Or why his tail is in one of your socks. That looks like it's been chewed on." She pointed out.
"Well after we found him Finn decided he needed some clothes and we were in the laundry basket already..." He explained, trailing off. "Everything's clean so it's all good." He assured her. She laughed at him, shaking her head. He really could have stopped their son from using a pair of her panties as a hat for his sister's favorite stuffed toy but obviously he'd found it too funny to do so. It was cute but she just wished it had been his underwear instead of her own that Finn had used. She didn't even want to think of all the dirty jokes he'd most likely thought of when Finn had put her underwear on the stuffed cat.
"So you had fun today?" She asked with a smile, trying to head off him telling her those jokes like she could see he was gearing up to do, and he nodded, looking down at the kids fondly.
"We had fun." He agreed happily. "I'm exhausted now but we had fun." He amended.
"I'll put the kids in their room so you can sleep." She offered, reaching out to lift up Finn, but he tightened his hold on him and shook his head.
"Nah, leave 'em. They'd probably just wake up if we tried to move them." He told her, not wanting to be away from his babies at the moment. She smiled at him and shook her head, seeing right through his story. It wasn't that he was worried that they'd wake up; he just didn't want to be away from them after being away from them so much. It was sweet. It was one of the reasons she loved him so much, was definitely one of the reasons she'd fallen for him in the first place.
"Okay, we'll leave them here." She told him, going to get up so she could leave them to sleep but he reached out and grabbed her arm, keeping her right where she was. He'd been away from her just as much as he'd been away from Finn and Brittany and he wasn't ready for her to leave his side yet.
"Stay here." He told her, pouting up at her and making her laugh. She'd love to just stay and curl up with her husband and their children but there were so many things to do.
"The house is a mess." She told him but he shrugged.
"We'll clean up later." He told her, making her roll her eyes. He always wanted to worry about cleaning up later instead of doing it now. He continued pouting at her, wanting her to stay with him, so she nodded and lay down next to him. This time she could let it slide so she could spend more time with her family, all together in the same place for a change.
"Later." She agreed, curling up next to him, smiling happily when he wrapped his free arm around her and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. He loved just laying with his wife and it had been way too long since either of them had done anything other than collapse into bed and fall asleep.
"How was rehearsal?" Puck asked tiredly. He was completely exhausted but because he'd woken up he couldn't get back to sleep yet. He really did want to know how her day had been, loved hearing her talk about things she was passionate about.
"Oh, once everyone stopped focusing on how mad at me they were for being late it was okay." She told him. He hummed in response, kissing the top of her head in apology. He hated that he'd made her so late for her first big cast thing but it couldn't be helped. He'd been all ready to go but Holly had told him that the sound for the song they'd recorded the day before had been messed up and they had to do it again. He'd tried to put it off until his next session but Holly had said that it would be better to get it done right away, seeing as though he was already there and the sound engineer had agreed so he'd had to stay. If he could have gotten out of it he would have.
"Well you're awesome; no one could stay mad at you when they saw how good you are." He told her proudly. She smiled brightly, loving how much confidence he had in her. "I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen again for the rest of the week." He added apologetically. If she kept being late to things like that it could get her fired. He didn't want to be the reason she was missing out on this amazing opportunity. He'd known for almost as long as he'd known her that she belonged up on stage, even more than he did, so if either of them deserved to be living their dream it was her, not him.
"Don't worry about it. Matt offered his nanny to look after Finn and Brittany as well for the rest of the week." She said happily. They absolutely needed all the help they could get. She'd been planning on begging Kurt or Blaine or even Santana's girlfriend Quinn to look after the kids for the rest of the week but she didn't have to now. Puck nodded, his eyes drifting shut.
"That was nice of him." He told her, nuzzling against her. "Wait, who's Matt?" He asked in confusion, turning his head to face her.
"Matt Rutherford. He's playing Fiyero." She explained and he stared at her for a moment.
"That's your love interest, right?" He asked and she nodded. "That's who you went out with for coffee?" He asked and she nodded again. She really hoped he wasn't going to get jealous of Matt because that would be absolutely ridiculous. When you spent any time with Matt at all it was obvious that he was absolutely crazy about his wife. If anyone had the right to be jealous out of the two of them it was her. She could be jealous of Holly, and while she was jealous of all the time the other woman got to spend with her husband she wasn't actually jealous of her because she didn't feel threatened by her so he definitely shouldn't be either. He had no need to be jealous.
"Is that a problem?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him threateningly and sitting up slightly. Puck chuckled and tugged her back down, kissing the side of her head. His wife was possibly the most adorable yet sexy woman in the whole entire world.
"Calm down baby, I don't have a problem with it." He assured her through his laughter. "I'm just glad that the dude you're gonna be making out with on stage isn't a total douchetard." He told her, making her roll her eyes. "If someone's going to be making out with my woman he'd better not be an asshole to her. So it's good that he's being nice to you." He told her, making her roll her eyes. "And the guy has a nanny so he has kids. He married?" He asked and she nodded. "See, everything's chill. I know you're my woman, just as much as you know I'm your man." He told her. She smiled happily and nodded, cuddling up to him again.
"Good. Because otherwise I would have had to hurt you." She told him with a grin. He couldn't help but laugh, picturing his tiny wife trying to hurt him.
"Wouldn't want that." He agreed, a smirk on his face. "And knowing you, you'd get the kids to turn on me as well, your own little army of tiny people." He added. She rolled her eyes and elbowed his stomach, Puck laughing the whole time at the image of his tiny wife and tiny children attacking him. They both froze as Finn mumbled something in his sleep, shifting on top of his father, before settling back down again. They stayed silent for a little while longer, wanting to make sure that neither of the kids was going to wake up, before laughing quietly together.
"We should go to sleep so we don't wake up the kids." Rachel whispered. Puck nodded, agreeing with that completely.
"Night Baby." He kissed her quickly, pulling her closer again and closing his eyes.
"Sleep tight Noah." She echoed, letting her own eyes drift shut.
Just before they both fell asleep they both had the same thought. This had been a good day.