"Accidentally in Love" - Ch. 11: Landslide
Summary: Quinn wakes up after the accident and thinks it's sophomore year. She's dating Finn and Rachel's dating Puck. After some coaxing, they play along for the sake of Quinn's mental stability. A Puckleberry Fuinn fic.
Rating: M
Author's Note: So over a year ago I disappeared because I moved, got a new job, lost interest in Glee for a bit, and then a bunch of crazy stuff happened. But I was cleaning out files and came on across this, and decided I'm going to give you all what you wanted and finally finish this out. Expect the last few chapters over the next week or so!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters. Seriously, or we would've had a Puckleberry + Santana and Kurt take NYC spin-off.
Quinn woke-up from her nap Friday afternoon exhausted. She had spent the entire week being "babysat" by members of the original Glee Club, watching mindless television and doing memory exercises. Yesterday morning, Hiram and Santana took her to the hospital for her check-ups. The prognosis was that she was doing well, but it'd probably take another week for her memory to fully come back which meant another week of being "babysat". But Quinn wasn't going to worry about that at the moment. Rachel had promised they could have a fun, low-key double date night tonight with no memory exercises or anything.
Rachel walked into Quinn's room twenty minutes later wearing denim shorts and a black lace top she had borrowed from Santana.
"Someone's looking sexy for their man tonight," Quinn said from the bathroom.
Rachel smiled, that was the reaction she was going for. She had absolutely no idea which man she was dressing for, but she felt sexy.
"So Noah and Finn are bringing Breadstix because I'm lazy and didn't want to cook," Rachel said making Quinn laugh.
"Great, so I have a little extra time to show you what I made Finn," Quinn said, heading for the bed. Rachel followed, sitting on the edge of the bed wondering what Quinn was talking about.
Quinn grabbed a folder from the night stand and handed it to Rachel, "So remember how I told you Finn didn't seem sure about what he was going to do post-graduation?"
Rachel wanted to comment that of course because she had been living with his dilemma which is partially probably why they moved up their wedding date. Instead Rachel just gave a nod and opened the folder.
"Yesterday Santana helped me research some different ideas and then I made pro/cons lists for each," she said. "I know it sounds crazy, but I just wanted him to know that I fully support whatever he wants to do."
Rachel swallowed hard and guilt hit her like a ton of bricks. Suddenly Rachel felt like the worst girlfriend in the world, and not just because she almost slept with Puck. She told Finn that they would build new dreams together, but instead she's been completely focused on NYADA prep and the stupid wedding. She hadn't even really noticed that her fiance was so lost. She had just assumed he'd find a dream in New York too, and they'd ride off into the Broadway sunset. Could I be any more naive, she asked herself.
Rachel fought back the impending tears, "This is really great Quinn. He's going to love it."
"I hope so," Quinn said with a sigh. "I guess I've been really hard on him about all this, he seemed really happy and shocked that I told him I'd be okay with any of the choices."
More guilt lumped up in Rachel's throat, followed by sheer and utter anger at Quinn's next words.
"I feel like maybe that's why the sex was so good that night, he was finally feeling confident," Quinn said.
Rachel jumped up, causing Quinn to look at her questioningly, "Shoot, I think I left my hot iron on upstairs. I better go turn it off before the boys get here and I forget!" Rachel rushed out the door before Quinn could say anything else, or see the tears threatening to fall.
...
By the time Rachel got to the stairs tears were rolling down her cheeks. By the time she got to the top of the stairs her sadness turned to anger and she decided that this was all Santana's fault. She closed her bedroom door, then walked into her closet and closed that door too before dialing up Santana.
"What's up Berry?" Santana answered.
"How could you let her make that present for him? Did you not realize that it would hurt me or was that your intention? And how, oh how, could you not mention once last night when we were hanging out that they slept together?" Rachel asked, trying to keep her voice down.
"Whoa, hold up! I did not know they slept together, when did they sleep together? And how didn't that end badly?" Santana asked. She tried imagining in her head how sex could be not completely uncomfortable when you had two casts on. But then she end up with images of Finn naked in her head and she quickly shook the thoughts away.
"I don't know, but she said it was amazing. And now she get amazing girlfriend points because you helped her make that damn folder," Rachel said, kicking a pair of shoes and trying to not let Santana hear her cry.
"I couldn't think of a reason to say no that would've made sense. I'm sorry, but I mean, at least it may help Finn figure out what he's doing next year. It sucks to have no idea what you're doing," Santana admitted.
More guilt hit Rachel when the realization hit that she was mad at herself, and her new friend had just admitted that she was just as lost about post-graduation life, "I'm sorry I blamed this all on you." she started when an idea struck, "You and I are having a full-out figuring out Santana's future over Breadstix soon, with no Quinn, Finn, or Puck talk!"
"You don't have to do that Rach, I'll figure it out," Santana said.
"No, I feel like I owe you, and it'll be fun. The futures bright for you Santana Lopez," Rachel said with a smile, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. It'd be nice to talk about something else and someone else for a change. And Santana had been surprisingly nice to her through this whole ordeal, it was the least she could do.
"Well, thank you Berry. Now, do you feel better, more rational maybe?" Santana asked hesitantly.
"There is nothing rational about this situation," Rachel said, letting out a defeated laugh, "I mean I can't even really be mad at Finn when I wanted so badly to sleep with Noah last weekend. Why are boys so infuriating?"
"Because hun, you're in love with both of them," Santana said, "You're going to have to decide which ones your future, if either. You know your future's bright Rachel, you just have to figure out if either guy can fit into it while following their own dreams and not just being your lap dog."
"Santana," Rachel started, but she knew the girl was right. So she let out a laugh in disbelief about what she was saying this to a girl who had pretty much bullied her repeatedly over the last three years, "You're ability to tell people how it is without any sugarcoating, that ability is incredibly underrated."
"Aww, thanks!" Santana said giggling. "Now go freshen up for your date slut and text me all about it tomorrow. And smack Hudson if that'll make you feel better!"
Rachel sat on the floor for a few minutes after hanging up, letting all the revelations that had happened over the last 15 minutes soak in with two important points standing out. One, she was in love with both of them, but neither of them may fit into her future. Two, even if she and Finn were destined to end up together they should obviously not be getting married yet when they're both bedding their exes when given the chance.
...
After the four finished eating Quinn gently kicked Rachel under the table signaling that she wanted to be able to give Finn her present in private. Rachel took the hint and grabbed Puck to go out on the porch.
"Here we are again," he joked once they got outside.
"Yeah, well she wanted to give Finn something, and I wanted to talk," Rachel said, taking a seat on the railing.
Puck sat over on the table. It was never a good thing when girls wanted to talk, he had many years of antidotal evidence to back him up on this so he braced himself for what he was sure was about to be the "I pick Finn" speech.
"Noah, if we get together and I get into NYADA, what happens next year? I mean your dream is moving to LA," Rachel asked looking down at her sandals.
Puck sat in shock for a minute before answering, "Babe, my dream is to write music and find other things I'm good at to pay the bills. I can make that happen anywhere. And New York seemed like a pretty cool city when we were there."
"Really?" Rachel said looking up at him. "Because if I take a guy into my future I don't want a lap dog that just follows me wherever I go, I want a partner."
Puck slid off the table and walked over to Rachel. He gently grabbed her hands before starting, "That's exactly what you deserve Rach, and if you don't get into NYADA, which they'd be stupid as fuck to not accept you, but if you don't, I'd hope we could decide together on a city."
"Agreed," she said. This all sounded so adult and mature, Rachel mused to herself. She was impressed with how she decided to handle all of this, thanks in large part to Santana.
Puck interlaced their fingers and gave Rachel a hopeful smile, "So does this mean..."
Rachel shook her head, "No, not yet."
Puck dropped her hands and started back for the table, "Oh."
Rachel looked up at him and grabbed his hands back before he could walk away, "Noah, it's just, we're graduating, and this whole situation is so confusing. And...and I love both of you."
Puck looked right into Rachel's brown eyes, he had to have heard that last part wrong, "What was that?"
Rachel gave him a soft smile, "I need time to figure this all out and what to do, but I'm in love with you Noah. I'm pretty sure a part of me always has been since you took that slushie for me."
Puck smiled and leaned in to kiss her like he hoped he was going to get to do for the rest of his life. She loved him, she just needed time to figure it all out. He could definitely work with that.