The next few days went by with no problems. Puck started the job at the garage. Puck was able to get insurance for Beth and himself. He and Burt got along well together, and Burt seemed impressed by Puck's ability to learn and retain things quickly.
Rachel and Quinn had been taking care of Beth all week. Quinn was reading all of the parenting books that she had found in Puck's room. She found it incredibly sweet when she found highlighted pages in each one. She also had been watching Puck and Rachel. She knew exactly what Mercedes was talking about now. It was hard to be around them and not see it. She was waiting on a chance to talk to Puck about it, since she had gotten nowhere with Rachel.
The first problem came on Thursday night. Brian had come home from work in a bad mood. Mark had pulled him aside, and after talking for a few minutes, they had asked Quinn and Rachel to come sit in the kitchen for a family meeting. The girls could tell the news was bad, so they sat in chairs beside each other and held hands, bracing themselves for whatever it was.
"I went to see your parents today, Quinn." Rachel felt Quinn's grip tighten. "They refused to sign. Well, actually, your father refused. Your mother didn't say a word."
"Of course she didn't. True to form." Rachel scoffed.
"What now?" Quinn asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Hey, look at me." Rachel waited until Quinn looked up. "We will file for emancipation. We'll talk to them again. We'll do whatever. But I promise you, you are staying with us. We will not give up on you."
Mark and Brian sat down and put their hands out on the table face up, and Rachel linked hers with Brian. They stared at Quinn until she nodded, and linked her hand with Mark.
Rachel went up to her room. She was furious. Why hadn't they just signed the papers and left Quinn alone? This whole thing would have been over, and Quinn could start moving on. Rachel got out her phone and texted Puck.
'U awake?'
'Yeah, its 9:00. What's up?'
'Q's parents didn't sign"
Rachel felt her phone vibrate, but instead of a text, it was an incoming call. She answered the phone, knowing it was Puck. "Can you believe these people Noah?"
"No. How is Quinn taking it?"
"She's upset, but she didn't break down or anything."
"And you?"
"I'm absolutely livid. Why do they keep doing things that make Quinn's life more difficult than it already is? She's their daughter! They are supposed to love and support her no matter what."
"I can't imagine ever treating Beth that way. I mean, if she came home pregnant, I would be fucking pissed, but I wouldn't just throw her out of her home and turn my back on her."
"Of course you wouldn't. No decent human being would."
"Aww, Berry. You think I'm decent?"
Rachel could almost see the smirk that accompanied his words through the phone. "Eh, you're alright." She smiled when Puck laughed. "I'm gonna make dinner tomorrow. Well, to be honest, I'm gonna get Quinn to do it while I offer suggestions and sneak bites of food when she's not looking. My dads are going out of town for the weekend, so I'm going grocery shopping for food so Quinn and I won't starve while they are gone, and I'll just pick up stuff for dinner then. I'll drop Quinn off to spend time with Beth."
"Dinner sounds good Berry. My mom is off tomorrow, so get enough for her too ok?"
"Of course, Noah. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Night Berry."
The next afternoon, Rachel dropped Quinn off at Puck's, then headed to the grocery store. After shopping, she stopped by her house to drop off all the groceries she bought before heading over to the Puckerman house with dinner. As she drove down her street, she saw an unfamiliar car parked in front of her house. Parking in the driveway, she got out and looked around for the owner of the car. Not seeing anyone, she got out the bags of groceries and headed for the front door.
She stopped when she saw a man sitting on the porch swing with his head down. Before she could do anything, he looked up and noticed her. Rachel was relieved when she recognized the man. Then, she got angry. It was Richard Fabray. Quinn's father was on her porch, smiling at her. Rachel's hold tightened on the bags she held, wanting nothing more than to slap the smile off his face.
"What are you doing here?"
Richard held his hands up in front of him. "I just want to talk to Quinn."
Rachel shook her head. "Well, that's not gonna happen. You need to go."
"Look, this has nothing to do with you. I want to talk to my daughter."
"I don't really care what you want! Everytime you talk to Quinn, it upsets her. She is my best friend, and since I don't like seeing her upset, and since this is my house, you need to leave. Now."
"I saw her car. I know she's here. Go in there, and tell her to pack her crap, and get out here! She's coming home."
"This IS her home, and she's not going anywhere. And, I think it is absolutely ridiculous that you are even here right now, acting like you give a damn about her when we both know that you don't. So, just do the honorable thing here. Sign the papers and then leave her alone."
"You think I'm gonna sign those papers and give my daughter away to two gays? Cause it ain't happening. No daughter of mine is going to embarrass me like that. She's coming home. Go get her!"
"She isn't here! I'm going to go put these groceries up." Rachel unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Setting the bags down in the foyer, she turned back around to face Richard. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes, and if you are still here, I'm going to call the police. So, please, be here."
He moved so fast, she didn't even see it coming. But then, his foot was in the door and she couldn't get the door closed no matter how hard she pushed. Richard braced himself against the door and started yelling. "Quinn! Get down here! Now!"
Rachel was pushing, but the door did not move an inch. Richard kept yelling for Quinn, and even though he wasn't exactly trying to get inside, Rachel was panicking. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep him out if he decided he wanted in.
"Mr. Fabray, I swear, Quinn is not here."
"Listen, you little bitch. Get. Out. Of. My. WAY!"
With that, he pushed the door open using all his strength, and Rachel flew back into the little sofa table right behind the door, hitting her back hard. The vase that sat on the table fell off as she hit, and shattered when it hit the leg of the table on the way to the floor. She could feel little cuts on her hand and her back was throbbing. She could hear Richard upstairs, opening and closing doors as he yelled for Quinn.
She stood up and started to climb the stairs, when he came down. They locked eyes, hers with tears welling in them, and his slowly filling with the realization of what had happened. He rushed down the stairs, and as he ran past Rachel, she lost her balance and before she could catch the rail, she fell from the fourth step. She cried out when she heard a sickening crunch and felt a snap in her wrist.
She rolled over, and looked toward the door. The door was still wide open, but there was no sign of Mr. Fabray. Getting up, Rachel sat on the steps, cradling her wrist. She waited till her heartbeat slowed, then slowly got to her feet. She closed the front door, and grabbed the bags one at a time and took them in the kitchen. She sat them on the counter, got out a trash bag, and went to pick up the pieces of glass from the foyer. It took her awhile, and although her wrist hurt too bad to sweep it up, she had been able to wet several paper towels to get up the small pieces of glass.
After that, she grabbed her keys, locked the door, and went to Noah's, using her good hand to steer the car. When she got to the Puckerman's, she took a deep breath and got out of the car. She quietly walked into the house, and hesitantly looked around, making sure that she didn't see Quinn or Adri. Then, she made her way to the living room, where she found the person she was looking for.
"Rebecca, I need your help."
Noah pulled into the driveway and smiled when he saw Rachel's car. He had got off a little early and had not known if she would be there yet. Walking into the house, he noticed that it was really quiet, and he assumed that Beth was asleep. Trying not to make any noise, he walked into the kitchen to get a drink, then went to the living room.
He saw his mom pacing back and forth while talking on the phone. He noticed the top of Rachel's head over the back of his favorite chair. Walking around to the front of it, he leaned down to hug her, but pulled back when she tensed up. Looking in her eyes, he knew that something was wrong.
"What is it, Rachel?"
"Noah, sit down." His mother had hung up the phone, and was looking at him. Rachel didn't say anything. He sat down sideways on the ottoman in front of where Rachel sat and looked back and forth between Rachel and his mom. "I'm gonna tell you what's going on, but you need to remain calm. Beth and Quinn are upstairs taking a nap, and Rachel doesn't want to wake them up."
Noah nodded, silently promising to be calm, but thinking it was not going to possible, because it had to be bad if his mom was asking him to stay calm. He waited.
"Richard Fabray was at Rachel's today to see Quinn. Rachel told him that he was not welcome and that Quinn was not there, but he didn't believe her. Rachel went inside after telling him to leave or she would call the cops, and he forced his way in. Rached was knocked into a table when the door flew open. She has bruised on her back and cuts on her hand from a vase that fell. Richard went upstairs, and Rachel started to follow him, but he came down before she got all the way up. As he ran down the stairs, Rachel lost her balance and fell, landing on her wrist."
"What the fuck?" Noah hissed as he stood up. "I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!" He thinks ht can force his way into a girl's house, hurt her, then leave without even making sure that she is ok? I swear, he will pay for this!"
"Noah?" Rachel's voice was soft. She sounded tired and traumatized and Noah immediately stopped talking and squatted down in front of her. 'Noah, please don't do anything. I said things he didn't want to hear. I made him mad and because I'm so small, I flew into the table when he shoved the door open. I honestly think that he didn't mean to knock me off balance on the stairs. He just wanted to leave cause he had realized what he had accidentally done. So you can't do anything. It would only upset my parents and Quinn more."
He stared down at her. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Rachel was hurt, and all she cared about was making sure that he didn't do exactly what he wanted to do to Richard Fabray, and cause more problems for everybody. She was really amazing.
"Rachel, I called my friend from the hospital. He called in some pain medicine to get you through the weekend as a favor to me, but I had to promise him that you would go see your doctor for an x-ray to check your wrist."
"Wait, you didn't go to the emergency room?" Puck looked at Rachel and then at his mom.
"I checked her out, cleaned up her cuts. I think her wrist may be broken, but she will need an x-ray to confirm it. I tried to take her, but she wouldn't go. She wants to wait until Monday and go see her own doctor."
"Bullshit. She won't go because she hates hospitals and her dads aren't here." He saw Rachel shake her head. "And its stupid." He looked at her when she caught his eye. "Get up, you're going."
"Noah, I'm fine. It can wait until Monday. You're mom checked me out, and her friend called in some pain pills for this weekend, and I promise that I'll get an x-ray on Monday, ok?"
"Hell no. Not ok. You'll get the damn x-ray now. Let's go."
"Noah –"
"Rachel, this is not a discussion. Now shut up and get in the car before I call Quinn down here so you can explain it to her while I call your dads."
"Fine! Ugh!" Rachel stood up and stomped out to the car.
"I'll be back, Ma."
"Alright. Noah, take it easy on her, ok?"
"I will. But Ma, trust me, that was the only way I was gonna get her in the car." He waved to Rebecca, turned around, and followed Rachel out the door.
A/N - I wanted to apologize to everyone for taking a while to get this chapter up. I had an extremely busy week which included things like helping my best friend find a place for her wedding, my daughter getting sick (she's better now), and trying to get into a new routine now that I am going to class three nights a week. Thank you all so much for bearing with me. I promise you that I will not be giving up on this story. I have most of Chapter 11 finished, and will try to get it typed up and posted tomorrow. I really appreciate everyone that has been reading and reviewing! The response I have gotten for this story inspires me. Thank you all!