Disclaimer: I still don't own anything

Author's Note: I am so sorry, I haven't had any internet service for almost a month so that's why I haven't updated in a while, but I'll try to have most of it typed up so I can upload faster once I get service back. But please, don't leave me! I know how I want the rest of the story to go, so just be patient with me!

Over the next week, Rachel and Puck started rehearsing at his house. Puck's mom was gone during most of the afternoon, so Rachel wouldn't need to hide her bruises, and also this way, Puck had someone to help with his sister Tamar in the evenings.

It was a few days before their scheduled performance when they were sitting at his kitchen table when Mrs. Puckerman walked in for dinner. She was elated that Rachel had been staying over the past week, she saw how much happier her son was, and figured that he liked her, and was almost positive that Rachel liked him back.

"So how's the song going?" Mrs. Puckerman asked.

"Well, the singing and the choreography is going amazingly well, we have the vocals and the moves down perfectly, we're just having a hard time with the costumes" Rachel started. "Noah told me that you suggested wedding attire, and I agree, I think it's a wonderful idea. For Noah, it's not a problem; he can just wear a suit. We're just having a hard time finding something suitable for me to wear. I don't have any wedding type dresses, and as much as I love Glee, I'm not going to buy a wedding dress. Noah already talked me out of it."

Mrs. Puckerman gave her a questioning look, not sure if Rachel was serious about her considering buying a wedding dress for the competition or not. Rachel saw her look and smiled. "I was kidding, I wouldn't really buy a wedding dress for this competition. But I am getting pretty desperate."

"Well, you can borrow mine." Mrs. Puckerman offered.

"Oh," Rachel started, taken aback. "I wasn't sure if you still had your wedding dress."

Mrs. Puckerman smiled. "I may not be with my ex-husband anymore, but I didn't see a need to get rid of such a beautiful dress."

Actually, that wasn't completely true, she had been saving the dress in the hopes that someday it would be worn again, and not even necessarily by her. She knew the probability that if Noah got married and his bride would want to wear her wedding dress was very small, but she still hoped.

Rachel shared a glance with Puck, silently asking him if he was okay with her wearing his mom's wedding dress. After seeing him nod, she smiled happily at Mrs. Puckerman. "That would be perfect, thank you"

The older woman smiled back. "Here, I have it upstairs, we can see if it fits, although I'm pretty sure it will, I'm not that much taller than you, so if you wear heels, it should be fine," she said, and grabbed Rachel's hand and dragged her upstairs.

Mrs. Puckerman walked in her room and started searching around her closet. "You'll be wearing heels, but let's try the dress on first, and then figure out shoes" she said. Rachel gingerly sat down on the bed and looked around the room. Mrs. Puckerman put pictures of her kids all over the walls. Rachel couldn't resist smiling at a picture of Puck's bar mitzvah. This was during his pre-mohawk days, when his hair was thick and curly, so his kippah was perched very awkwardly on his head.

"Thanks again for letting me wear your dress, Mrs. Puckerman." Rachel said.

Puck's mom came out of her closet, holding a garment bag. "It's my pleasure, and please, call me Sarah."

She set the bag on the bed, and unzipped it to reveal her long white dress. Sarah took it out and held it out for Rachel to try on. "You can use my bathroom, just come out when you're finished and then we can see if it needs alterations."

Rachel did as she said, and came out of the bathroom a few minutes later with the dress on. "Oh, Rachel, you look beautiful!" Sarah exclaimed. "Come take a look in the mirror and see for yourself."

Rachel stood on the little footstool Mrs. Puckerman placed in front of the mirror, looked up and gasped. The dress was perfect, the bodice was made of a satiny material that flared out to her skirt, but not too much that it would be difficult to dance in. The neck of the dress and the long sleeves were covered in lace, so it hid her bruises without looking obvious. It was just the perfect touch of a simple, classic wedding look, without being too old-fashioned, which fit perfectly with the song. "Wow," she breathed out, running her hands over the material. "It's beautiful."

Mrs. Puckerman came forward to look at the hem. "The dress is short enough that it reaches just under your ankles, so you won't need to wear too high heels, probably just an inch or so."

Rachel didn't answer; she couldn't stop staring at her reflection. She suddenly had a lump in her throat, watching Mrs. Puckerman fussing with the dress. It felt like all those stories she had read of little girls playing dress up in their moms' wedding dresses, or her friends recounting how their mom helped the shop for prom dresses. She had never had that before, and having it finally done with her by someone else's mom brought tears to her eyes. Mrs. Puckerman noticed, and straightened up and turned Rachel toward her. "What's the matter sweetie?" she asked kindly.

Rachel sniffed, trying to hold the tears in. "It's nothing, just, um…" she trailed off, unsure about what to say next. "I-I just had some dust in my eye, I'm fine now."

Mrs. Puckerman knew Rachel was lying and discreetly looked away so Rachel wouldn't think she saw her crying about the mother-daughter moment. As it was, a few tears escaped Rachel's eyes, which she hastily wiped away. "We should go downstairs, see how I can dance in this, she said and started to walk downstairs. But before she could open the door, Mrs. Puckerman put her hand out to stop her. "You can't go down in the dress! It's bad luck if the groom sees the bride in her dress before the wedding!" she said, trying to lighten the moment. Rachel blushed deeply, but it worked, she was no longer crying. "Okay, I'll change, and then we can figure out shoes and hair and makeup."

Meanwhile, downstairs, Puck sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. He knew his mom's thoughts about her wedding dress, and the idea of Rachel, the girl he liked, upstairs, with his mom trying on her wedding dress both elated and terrified him. He really liked that Rachel felt comfortable with his mom, especially because he knew she didn't have a relationship with Shelby- which reminded him that he hadn't updated Shelby on Rachel's situation in a while and made a mental note to call her soon.

But the idea of Rachel in a wedding gown? Specifically the gown potentially meant for his future wife? Did he really want that? Puck thought about it, and thought of how he had been trying to protect her these past months, and how he wanted to always protect her, he knew that on some level, he did want to be with Rachel. Not now obviously, they were still so young, and they still had to deal with her abuse, but yes, he thought that somewhere down the line, he really couldn't imagine being with anyone else. And this thought scared him more than anything. Mainly, he was scared that Rachel didn't feel this way also. He thought she liked him, but he couldn't be sure if her actions were out of gratitude for helping her, or because she really liked him.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard Rachel and his mom coming downstairs. At first he was a little upset that Rachel wasn't in her wedding gown, but then again, maybe seeing Rachel for the first time in a wedding gown in front of his mom would be a little awkward; seeing her alone would already be hard on his feelings, he didn't want to say or do something that he would later regret doing in public. But then he looked at her face and the thought flew from his head. He could tell that she had been crying and he wanted to know why. He sent a questioning glance at his mom, but her expression told him they would talk about it later, in private.

"Okay, we have the dress, it fits perfectly. Now we just need to see the height difference so we know how much of a heel Rachel will need."

"Okay, but if the dress fits, why isn't she wearing it now, won't it be easier to tell that way?" he asked.

His mom smiled wickedly. "As I already told Rachel, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in the dress beforehand." At these words, both Rachel and Puck blushed at the thought of this being a real wedding.

Still silently laughing to herself, Mrs. Puckerman straightened up. "Okay, Noah go get your dress shoes, they add extra height so we need to make the heels the same height difference while you're dancing." Puck did as she asked, and raced upstairs to get his shoes, and then raced right back down once he had them. He was a little wary to leave his mom in a room with Rachel alone, especially after the bride-groom comment.

As soon as Puck had the shoes on, Mrs. Puckerman had Rachel stand in front of him, in the first dancing position. "Okay, now Rachel, I want you to stand on your toes until you're at a comfortable height". Puck put one hand lightly on Rachel's waist and held her hand with his other one.

"Okay, now Rachel, look Noah in the eye, and raise up until you're both at comfortable dance level." Clearly, Mrs. Puckerman was having fun at their expense, but Rachel did as she said. As she and Noah held on to each other and looked into each other's eyes, she slowly raised herself higher and higher until she could see him perfectly. Staring at each other like this, it became a little hard for both of them to breathe.

"Okay, that's perfect," Puck's mom said. She examined the area between the ground and her feet and estimated it to being an inch and a half. "Do you have shoes with a 1 ½ inch heel?"

Rachel lowered her feet back to the ground and looked away from Noah so she would be able to answer Sarah's question. "I have silver pumps about that height, I could bring them tomorrow." She said, dropping Noah's hand. Her hands now feeling slightly empty, she made a show of pushing her hair behind her ears.

Sarah smiled. "Good, now for the hair and makeup. You should keep up with the simple wedding feeling so I think you should put half of your hair into a bun, with the bottom half of your hair in light curls. And don't use a lot of makeup, just some mascara and light eyeshadow. As for jewelry, some people have the custom that the bride gives away some of her jewelry for the actual wedding part to their single friends for luck, so I say you should go without jewelry entirely. You don't need it, and it will simply detract from your natural beauty."

Rachel blushed at the compliment, but was pleased at the same time.

"Well, I think that covers the costume issue, right?" Mrs. Puckerman asked.

"Yeah, mom, thanks, you helped a lot" Puck said.

Puck's mom pretended to look shocked. "A compliment from my son? Wow, I must have helped a lot. Rachel, please stick around, you seem to be teaching my son some manners. Maybe you can get Tamar to stop listening to that Justin Bieber music"

"Oh, please," Puck said, rolling his eyes at his mom's sarcasm. "Rachel would go right along singing with Tamar, making harmonies to that Bieber crap."

"Oh, Bieber crap Noah? I'm sorry, who was it that put on a wig to sing along to Somebody to Love?" Rachel teased

At that moment, Tamar Puckerman walked in. "Noah! You know Somebody to Love! Why didn't you tell me? Can you play it on guitar? Oh, hi mom, Rachel" she said all this very quickly, finally acknowledging the other people in the room.

Puck mock glared at Rachel. "Now look at what you've gotten me into! I'll never hear the end of this!" he exclaimed overdramatically to go back to a relaxed feeling; he could tell Rachel was feeling awkward, so he wanted her to get comfortable again.

Rachel smiled at him. "Don't worry, I have it covered. Tamar," she said turning to the girl, "how about if you and I sing a Miley Cyrus song, we only make Noah do Baby once, and that's it."

Tamar thought it over. "Okay, but I get to make him do Justin Bieber songs for my birthday or when he gets in trouble and needs me to cover for him"

"What kind of trouble?" Mrs. Puckerman asked, suspicious of her children.

"Wow, it's getting late Ma, shouldn't you be on your way to work now?" Puck interrupted. He picked up her coat and keys. "You don't want to be late, especially since Dr. Rodriguez is setting up a new schedule, maybe he'll get you off the graveyard shift."

Puck's mom smirked at her son's poor distraction tactics. "Okay, I'm going, but don't think I'm going to forget this conversation. Don't forget to clean up from dinner, and make sure that Tamar goes to bed on time."

Puck smirked. "Don't worry Ma, I'll take good care of her."

Mrs. Puckerman poked him on the arm. "Be nice. Have a good night, Rachel, you can stay as long as you want."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks Mrs. Puckerman, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Noah and Tamar called out their goodbyes as Mrs. Puckerman left. After locking the door, Puck turned to Tamar with a mock angry look in his eyes. "Tamar…" he started, but Tamar shrieked and raced up to her room. Laughing, Puck turned back to Rachel. "She's good. Do you want to watch a movie or something?" he asked her.

Rachel smiled. "That's sweet, but I should get home, I'm a little tired and I want to rest up for tomorrow."

Actually, it was sort of a lie. She was tired, but not physically, she had been used to running on little energy. She was emotionally drained though. Between the moment with the wedding dress and seeing how the Puckermans all interacted with each other made her realize that her childhood was different. She loved her dads, but they were working a lot or going on extravagant trips. Rachel wasn't upset with them, she knew they loved her, and they worked hard and deserved the vacations they took, but a part of her wished that she had a "normal" lifestyle.

Puck accepted this, and walked her to her car. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, you're coming over after dance rehearsal right?" he asked.

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I'm coming. I'll see you in the morning Noah, and thanks for tonight. Especially your mom." She paused for a second here. "She's a great woman, I hope you realize that."

Puck smiled. "I know. I'm lucky to have her. But you know, she's willing and able to be a mom to three kids."

Rachel smiled at his implication that Mrs. Puckerman could be a maternal role model for her. "Thank you Noah, I appreciate that. A lot."

Puck smiled and waved as she drove home.