Ok everyone! This is the last "official" chapter of my story. I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far, and I really hope I didn't mess it all up with the ending. Thanks for all the support and I really hope you enjoy the ending! Once again, I do not own the characters or songs used in this story.
…
Back when Rachel had still been with Puck, constantly paranoid of someone discovering her secret, she had constantly imagined different scenarios of what would happen when she came clean. She had come up with multiple situations for everyone; her friends, Finn, Puck, and her dads. She had imagined best case and worse case scenarios. Her friends would be shocked that there was someone else in Rachel's life, but seeing the stress she was under, they would help her through it and stay by her side no matter what. Puck would hate Rachel for what she did, but at the same time, he wouldn't know what to do with himself after the best thing in his life was gone, and would proclaim his love for her as well as his confused pain inside in a dramatic suicide letter found days later in his bedroom. Each one was more melodramatic than the last. In either case, though, they were all either very happy-ending or extremely dramatic, dark worst-case scenarios.
When she imagined what would happen when she told her dads, the two most generic scenarios were of course, one positive and one negative. In her most positive scenarios, of course her fathers were a bit disappointed with Rachel, but at the same time they understood the hardship and stress of a teenage love-triangle and gave her a deep, heartfelt speech about having to listen to her heart to make the right decision and how they would accept her either way. The negative situation usually ended with Rachel being kicked out of the house.
Rachel had to admit, the way her parents had treated her in the moments before she confessed, she had honestly believed their reactions where going to be a little similar to the more positive reaction.
And it was that exact belief that made her all the more shocked when they found out the truth.
…
"And that's why I've been acting strange lately. I'm really sorry. I know what I did was wrong, and I deserve everything I got. I know it was wrong, but I'll never do it again. I've learned my lesson. Do you…do you guys understand?" Rachel had half-choked out through her sobs.
Her dads sat and stared at her in dead silence. They did not move a muscle.
"Well?" Rachel said anxiously.
Slowly, Hiram and Leroy began to clap.
"That was brilliant, Rachel." Hiram said in shock.
"The emotions…it all felt so real, so sincere. Whatever role you're trying out for, you have it in the bag, Hun." Leroy said.
"What? No!" Rachel said. 'No, you don't understand."
"Understand what? That was amazing." Hiram said. He almost looked…proud.
"No. No, you…that wasn't a performance." Rachel stumbled over her words, not quite sure what to say. She had never been thrown into such a random situation in her life.
"What…what do you mean?" Leroy said, smile fading.
"You're not serious…are you?" Hiram said. "Are you?" The two of them seemed unable to process the information.
"Well…" Rachel said.
"No. No, you're not serious." Hiram said. Rachel gave him a confused look. "You're not serious, because no daughter of mine would cheat on her boyfriend. I did not raise any children that deceived everyone they loved over foolish teenaged secrets."
"No, it's not like that! Well…maybe a bit…. Okay, I'm sorry! Truly, I am. I never meant for this to happen. I was being a selfish, foolish drama queen and I'm sorry. I was being stupid, and now I've messed everything up. Everyone hates me, and I deserve it. Everyone hates me but Puck. You don't even know how bad I feel about putting him through this. He doesn't deserve this. He may put on a bad boy image, but when you get to know him, he's actually a very sweet, kind boy who really cares! He's better than any boy in McKinley could ever be if they tried."
"Oh, you're sorry for putting him through all this? What about us? We sit around with a depressed, secretive daughter who refuses to talk to us for weeks, and when she finally opens up that she's been all weird lately because she's a two-timing little…!" Hiram managed to stop himself before he said something he would regret. Of all the times Rachel had felt like she was going to cry over this mess, this was the worst. This was her dad. Her own dad was sitting here, yelling at her and basically calling her a slut.
"You know what, though, this isn't my fault," Hiram said, "In fact, Rachel, it probably isn't even your fault. That boy probably just seduced you into doing this. I've seen that boy, he's bad news. But you still let it happen. I can't believe you. I thought you knew better than this." He looked disgusted and started to walk out. Just before he closed the door, he turned around and looked in. "Oh, and if I haven't made this clear, you are never to speak to that boy again." He slammed the door.
Rachel had never felt so disgusted with herself in her whole life. Hiram had every right to react like that, what she did was wrong.
She looked up at Leroy. "I'm sorry."
"I know Rachel, I just…I don't know." He looked at her with tears in his eyes, "Don't even ask me what that means. I love you but…I never expected this. I can't believe you…" he sighed. "I have to go."
Rachel had imagined a lot of situations. But none of them felt this bad. Hiram's anger made her feel disgusted with herself and Leroy's confusion made her feel so disappointed with herself she felt sick. It would have been a lot easier if they just kicked her out.
…
Rachel managed to somehow continue on with life. She didn't know how. Hours, days, even weeks began to slip by without her noticing. Her grades slipped to an all time low. She isolated herself from her peers. She showed up to glee club less and less, until she almost stopped showing up altogether.
One day, she was called into the guidance office. She and Miss. Pillsbury had a long talk, which ultimately ended up with one clear solution: she had to pick up the pieces of her broken life and move on. And she had the perfect first step.
…
"Rachel, what are you doing here?" Quinn asked as Rachel entered the glee club.
"Yeah, you haven't shown up to glee club in weeks," Mercedes said.
"Well, I've decided to stop moping around and to pull my life back together. And if it's not to much to ask, I was wondering if I could sing a song today?"
"Sure, Rachel, take it away." Mr. Schue said.
It's only been a day
But it's like I can't go on
I just wanna say
I never meant to do you wrong
And I remember you told me baby
Something's gotta give
If I cant be the one to hold you baby
I don't think I could live
Now I'm so sick of being lonely
This is killing me so slowly
Don't pretend that you don't know me
'Cause that's the worst thing you could do
Now I'm singing such a sad song
These things never seem to last long
Something that I never planned on
Help me baby I'm so sick of being lonely
The stuff is in my house
So many things I cant ignore
Your coats still on the coach
Your photos on my freezer door
And I remember you told me baby
Something's gotta give
If I cant be the one to hold you baby
I don't think I could live
Now I'm so sick of being lonely
This is killing me so slowly
Don't pretend that you don't know me
That's the worst thing you could do!
Now I'm singing such a sad song
These things never seem to last long
Something that I never planned on
Help me baby I'm so sick of being lonely
I am so lonely
And I remember you told me baby
Something's gotta give
If I cant be the one to hold you baby
I don't think I could live
Now I'm so sick of being lonely
This is killing me so slowly
Don't pretend that you don't know me
That's the worst thing you could do!
Now I'm singing such a sad song
These things never seem to last long
Something that I never planned on
Help me baby I'm so sick of being lonely
I am so lonely
I am so lonely...
…
Later that night, Rachel heard voices downstairs. It sounded like her dads had people over. She knew it probably wouldn't be the best idea to go visit, but her curiosity got the better of her and she crept downstairs.
When Rachel peeked downstairs, what she saw surprised her. A group of the glee kids were talking down, and judging by the pleading tones in their voices, they were asking a favor of her dads. A favor they were denying.
"But please, Mr. Berry's, she's really been through a lot she…Oh, hi Rachel."
"Um…hi," Rachel said. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. Go back upstairs, Rachel." Hiram said, Rachel did as she was told, and retreated to her room. From behind her, she could hear broken pieces of her fellow glee clubber's pleading sentences.
After a while, it sounded like a lot less voices where downstairs, so Rachel figured the crowd had left. However, she still stayed upstairs, working on her homework. She figured that it would be better to let her parent's have their space.
Rachel finally finished her homework and began to practice doing some runs while brushing her hair. The glee kids had been gone for a while. She still didn't know why they were even here in the first place; they still hadn't gotten over what she had done to Finn and Puck. She figured she would find out tomorrow, anyways.
All of a sudden, there was a knock on Rachel's door. "Yes?"
"Could you come downstairs for a second, Rachel?"
"Yes, one second."
Rachel put her brush down and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She took a deep breath and walked downstairs.
Rachel was walking downstairs, lost in though about what exactly it could be that her parents wanted, when she stopped. Out of everything she had been prepared to see, and after everything she had been through, nothing had left her this speechless. In fact, Rachel did not think she had been so surprised in her whole entire life.
Her dads were not alone, and the glee club was no longer there with them either. No, standing right there with her fathers at this very moment was the last person she had ever expected to see.
"…Noah? What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Berry."
"What's going on?" Rachel asked her dads. She had managed to make it down the stairs, but now it was as if she was now frozen to the floor at the bottom.
"Well, Rachie, some of the glee kids stopped by earlier to convince us to let you see Puckerman here again." Leroy said.
"It took a little convincing, but when they saw your performance in glee today, and heard about how you were trying to pull yourself together, it moved something in them. And they would not leave until they had us convinced that we should at least talk to Noah, see what he was like and see if we should let you guys have a second chance," Hiram said. "And they did. So we got him over here and had a little chat. And what do you know? He actually sounds like a more decent guy that Finn ever was."
"And yes, before you ask, they have informed us about the low quality standards of McKinley boys." Leroy smiled.
Rachel stood there in utter silence. She didn't know what to think.
"I…But…Really?" Rachel managed to splutter out.
"Yes, really," Puck answered for them. "C'mere, Berry." He opened his arms out for a hug.
Rachel ran forward and hugged him tighter than ever before, with no intention of ever letting him go again.
"I think she should give them a minute, don't you, Leroy?" Hiram said.
Leroy nodded and the two of them headed upstairs. Not that Rachel even noticed. She was too busy sobbing into Puck's shoulder.
"You…you actually came back for me? You don't hate me after what I did?"
"I told you, I still love you. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I understood why you did what you did," Puck explained. "You were in a bit of an interesting situation."
"There was no reason for me to do what I did," Rachel said sadly, "I was being stupid."
"Hey, were only human. We're all stupid at one point or another."
"But…"
"No buts. What, the way you're protesting, its almost like you want me to hate you!" Puck laughed.
"No! No, its just…everyone else hates me. I don't get why you don't. I treated you the worst," She gulped, "and I truly am sorry."
"Don't be so sure about that, the glee kids that stopped by today didn't seem to upset, and your dads seem fine now."
Rachel looked up at him. Their eyes made contact. When she looked into his eyes, at that very moment, when she saw absolutely no trace of hatred or sadness, that's when she finally felt the change. Puck's eyes only reflected the love she felt for him. And it was the first sign things were about to get better. Honestly, either way, things could only get better where she was, which was pretty much rock bottom.
All of a sudden, after all the times over the past month she had spent crying over the past few weeks, even though she thought she had no tears left to cry, she realized she had a few left to shed. And no force on earth or heaven could stop them.
"I'm so happy you're back!" Rachel cried out, letting the tears fall freely and pulling Puck close.
"Same here," Puck said, before pulling Rachel into a deep, passionate kiss. They stayed there fore a while, kissing and enjoying each other's company. Rachel had not intention of letting Puck out of arm's reach any time soon. This reunion was everything she could have ever asked for, and it was beyond the best-case scenarios she had been dreaming up recently. It was the perfect way to mark the beginning of a new time for Rachel. Where finally, after all the mistakes she had made, and all the ways she had paid for them, things were finally going to be okay. It was the beginning of a time where things could only get better for Rachel Berry.
…
Songs:
Lonely by McFly