A/N Forgive me? Please? Last Year of Uni is a good excuse right?
And I'm sorry that I haven't replied to reviews but I will I promise!
Nate 11
After a relaxing honeymoon in the Caribbean away from all of their problems and only the two of them the newlyweds returned to the City determined to make Finn and his family go away as quickly as possible. Puck especially wanted Finn nowhere near Rachel during her pregnancy and in reverse Rachel nowhere near any stress. She was carrying his child now and unlike Finn he was going to protect her in any way possible for the next nine months.
"Hey Sammy" Puck grinned as he opened the apartment door his son in his arms as he had been from the minute they had picked him up from his grandparents.
"Sup married man?" Sam said with a grin and a ruffle of Nate's hair stepping into the apartment.
"Thanks for coming over so quickly" Puck said with his own smile, loving the reminder that he was now a married man.
"Any time" Sam shrugged it off as Nate slipped away to play on his games console "I'm here for you two anytime"
"So you have guessed why I want to talk to you then" Puck drawled leaning forwards to rest his elbows on his knees "we want to take you up on your offer of your firms family lawyer"
"Already started talking to her" Sam admitted "sorry, I know that is over stepping my mark but I thought it would be a good thing to get the ball rolling. Especially considering that Carole has been trying to get in contact with your mother and Rachel father's"
"Wait what?" Puck demanded his eyes widening in wonder and anger
"Oh you didn't know that?" Sam backtracked quickly "so I guess you didn't pick up Nate"
"No Rachel got him and then had to go to the theatre. We didn't get time to talk. Explain please"
"The entire two weeks you were gone Carole was calling around trying to find where Nate was, saying stuff like Rachel said she could spend a few days with Nate overnight during the honeymoon"
"No she didn't"
"Which we all knew" Sam assured him "and we all told her to go away, after the wedding drama we knew to keep Nate safe and away from that family and make sure your dad stayed away as well. Which leads me to another question...?"
"Why was my dad at the wedding in the first place? Yeah Rachel demanded to know that as soon as we got on the plane"
"Well?"
"He got in contact with me a few months ago, almost a year now. Out of the blue he sent a message through my Nana Connie asking to meet me for dinner"
"Surprised you went"
"Rachel said that I would never be able to put it behind me if I didn't confront him"
"So basically she mind-fucked you"
"She's my wife, are you surprised?" Puck laughed before he explained what had happened when he met his dad.
"So exactly why did you want to meet me Eli?" Puck demanded as he sat down in the booth opposite the man who looked an almost mirror image of him just thirty years older. Looking closer though he could see the small signs of a life of excess, the dark bags, the bloodshot eyes, and the slight quiver as he reached for his coffee cup.
"I wanted to see my son, that so surprising?"
"Seeing as the last time I saw you was a decade ago as you packed up your car and drove away from me, my sister and mom, and any responsibilities. Yes it is surprising that you want to see me suddenly"
"How have you been?" Eli asked his eyes darting around the diner they were sat in, studiously ignoring what his son had said.
"Great, thanks for asking. That all?"
"Noah..."
"What? You want me to exonerate you of everything you did? You abandoned your family and lost any and all respect I had for you. I'm here because my fiancé thought it would be a good idea for me to face you. Now I have and I'm leaving unless you have actually got something important to say to me"
"Fiancée? You are 22!"
"Really? This is what you are jumping on? Not explaining why you left in the first place, or asking me why I'm in New York? No the thing you care about is that I have a fiancée at the age of 22. Yes I am engaged, to someone I have known for years, her name is Rachel and we are getting married next year"
"Wow married at 23" Eli whistled "that's not stupid at all"
"Thanks for that judgement" Puck drawled rolling his eyes before getting to his feet "I have to go pick up Nate anyway. Nice seeing you Eli"
"Nate?"
"My son"
"I thought you had a daughter? Not a son?"
"I'm not even going to pretend to know why you know that. But yes I have a son, non-biological but he is still my son in all the ways that matter. Thanks for this illuminating interest in my life. Now get back out of it. Please"
"I didn't think you would be as stupid as me" Eli lamented shaking his head at his son as he slipped out of the booth to walk away again "marrying at a young age, tying yourself to a women who already has a kid at the same age. At least you gave away your mistake! I'm not going to let you make this mistake Noah"
"You don't get a choice Eli" Puck snapped "keep your nose out of my business and out of my life" sneering at his poor excuse for a father Puck stormed from the diner.
"And as far as I was concerned that was the end of it" Puck shrugged "obviously he didn't think so and when the wedding was covered in the papers he must have seen it and decided to try and do what he threatened"
"Douche"
"Douche" Puck agreed with his friend "so you said that you started up proceedings with your firm?"
"Yeah Emma Stone, that's the family lawyer in my firm, has started up everything. The courts have mandated a mediation session first before we go to court"
"We?" Puck asked with a knowing arch to his eyebrow "thought you were concentrating on criminal law in your internship"
"I don't know, sounds like a good way to go really. Helping kids? My type of law really. Anyway the mediation session is booked for three weeks today and will be at my firm"
"And our chances of this making them fuck off?"
"Pretty good from what Emma told me"
"Then I am looking forward to it" Puck said with an evil grin and a waggle of his eyebrows.
Gleeeeeeeeeeeee
So it was three weeks later when the newlyweds entered the conference room at Stemson, Barnes and Partners. Holding Puck's hand tightly Rachel glared across the table at Finn and his mother before slipping into the chair indicated by Emma their lawyer and placed a hand on Pucks thigh as his arm snaked around her shoulders to stand united against those who would break up their family.
"Seeing as this is court order mediation we have a mediator here" Emma started as she swept into the room immediately commanding it as she took her executive chair and rolled forward placing her paper work on the table and waving in the general direction of the man who was sitting silently at the head of the table.
"My role is only to step in if the law is being abused" the man said stoically as he tapped his pen against the pad of paper in front of him "I want you to take this opportunity though to really try and resolve your differences"
"I'll start" Emma injected swiftly as the mediator finished "the fact of the matter is that this is a complete farce. We have started proceedings simply to stop your completely and utterly ridiculous threat of seeing the Puckerman's in court."
"It's not..." Finn interrupted
"Still talking Mr Hudson" Emma snapped "the fact is you have little to no chance of ever getting custody of Nathanial and you have been informed of this fact I am assuming by your own lawyer" she nodded to the man who nodded gravely.
"I have informed Mr Hudson and Mrs Hummel that they have little chance of gaining full custody like they want"
"Full Custody?" Rachel gasped "what!"
"I was under the impression that this was common knowledge" Mr Franks said hesitantly glancing at his clients "Mrs Hummel informed me that she wanted custody of her grandson"
"Not happening" Puck said flatly "and the fact that you even entertained that idea is hurtful and traitorous. You promised us that you didn't want to break up our family and now you are trying to take our son away from us?"
"On that note we would like to inject to the mediator and to Mr Franks, just to make sure he has all the facts" Emma added spitefully "Mr Puckerman has officially and legally adopted Nathanial Sam Berry, and a change of name petition was admitted and accepted by the courts two weeks ago" handing over the relevant paperwork and the copies to the mediator and Mr Franks. Rachel and Puck taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in Finn and Carole's face going white at the knowledge, they had known that Puck had adopted Nate not the change of name petition.
"The fact is that this is completely ridiculous. You are never going to get full custody and any petition to that effect will be laughed out the door of any court"
"Excuse me?" Finn demanded "I'm his biological father!"
"And as I am sure your lawyer has tried to explain to you many times, that doesn't give you automatic right to Nathanial. To be allowed into a child's life requires certain criteria to be met. Those criteria don't entail abandoning the child before birth, while ordering the mother of said child to get rid it of I might add, and also having nothing to do with the child before your mother orders it"
"But...I wasn't ready" Finn said quietly, only earning himself scathing looks from his opponents and Mr Franks.
"And that is yet another reason why even joint custody is beyond you" Emma jumped on it gleefully "how can we legitimately put a child at risk by allowing you to come into his life only to hurt him again one day? I won't allow it"
"Miss Stone an agreement can be reached" Mr Franks finally tried "perhaps visitation rights?"
"I won't let this child be put through hell and back by a father who isn't one hundred percent committed to be a good father to a child. Especially when he has a father and stable home already" Emma promised, knowing she was by far the better lawyer and if this was going to go to court she would win.
"Rachel" Carole said desperately leaning forward to try and show how earnest and truthful she was being "ok to ask for full custody was wrong, but please don't stop me having any contact with him"
"You have no right to ask me for anything" Rachel said quietly staring at Carole intently "I gave you a chance to be in Nate's life and you threw it back in my face. We want you out of lives for good. But..." she started glancing at Puck who nodded gravely at his wife
"We want this over as quickly as possible, with Rachel's pregnancy we don't need the stress a long drawn out court battle is going to entail" the married man took up the story.
"Rachel's pregnant?" Finn asked his eyes widening in shock, only to be ignored by everyone again.
"So we are willing to give Nate the choice, not any time soon. He is too young to fully comprehend the situation but we are willing to let him make his own choice when he is a teenager"
"And until then?" Carole asked glancing at her son and knowing that he would want to take her offer if it meant he would keep away from responsibilities for a little longer.
"Until then you stay away from Mr and Mrs Puckerman, and their family and friends Mrs Hummel. Because your stalking of the family would break this deal."
"I wasn't stalking them"
"Yes you were" Emma declared with conviction that broached no argument "you have one week to make your decision or we will see you in court, and you will lose all and any access to Nathanial Puckerman"
