Chapter 35

Rachel slid the cake in the oven, just as the doorbell rang. She closed the oven and quickly made her way to the front door. She opened the door to find Puck standing before her with a large shopping bag.

"Noah! How are you? I've missed you!" Rachel smiled as she pulled her friend into a hug. She hadn't seen him in over a month since he started college in New York. "How's New York?"

"It awesome. Definitely a Rachel Berry city." Puck laughed as Rachel pulled out of his arms. "How are you? Where's the birthday boy- well belated birthday?"

"Good. He's upstairs with my dads getting ready for the party." Rachel replied, letting him inside and shutting the front door. "Why are you here so early?"

"Finn told me the people canceled," Puck began, reaching into the shopping back and pulling out a Spiderman costume. "So I figured I could do it instead."

Rachel threw her arms around Puck again. "Thank you so much, Noah. You are the best. You didn't have to do that."

"But I wanted to. You'd know I would do anything for you and those two munchkins." Puck smiled. "How are you feeling since the…surgery?"

"Oh I'm fine. I have a giant scar, but I'm used to those." Rachel shrugged, glancing down at the floor.

"He's lucky he died. Otherwise I would have hunted him down and have him wishing he was dead." Puck growled furiously.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but a whine interrupted her. She started for the kitchen. "Sorry, I left Lily in her high chair."

Puck followed Rachel into the kitchen and waved to the little girl. He lifted her up from the high chair and ticked her stomach, causing her to squeal with delight. "I missed you, Lily! You've gotten so big since I saw you!"

Rachel couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips. "I love how you are so badass around my kids."

Puck smirked at her sarcasm, but was shocked at her word choice. "Did I just hear Rachel Berry use a bad word?"

"I only used it because that is what you claim you are. Plus Lily is only three months old; she won't be repeating that right now."

Puck laughed. "I'm still badass. But consider yourself lucky that I show my soft side to you. Only the people I love see my sensitive side."

Rachel smiled, watching as Puck tickled the little girl again and made her erupt into laughter. "You're really good with kids you know."

"Thanks." Puck smiled sadly.

"You miss Beth, don't you?" Rachel asked.

Puck nodded. "Yeah I do. It was the right thing though. I honestly didn't get my act together until last year and I may have been good with kids, but I wasn't ready to be responsible for another life. I could barely take care of myself."

"Sometimes doing the right thing hurts." Rachel said. "I saw Shelby just three days ago."

"She's back in Ohio?"

"Yeah. She stopped by because she wanted to talk to me. Things took an ugly turn."

"What happened?" Puck asked curiously.

"She had only known partly of what happened from the news and one of her students. She started making excuses for Jesse and I got angry. I told her everything that happened and even after that she kept making excuses for Jesse and asked me if there was anything I did to make him do this. So I kicked her out and I haven't heard from her since." Rachel explained while she began to cut three different blocks of cheese into perfect small cubes.

"That's because Jesse pretended to be her perfect little student, that bastard. She was stupid enough to fall under his spell." Puck said with a hint of anger. "Don't listen to her. She's wrong and we all know that."

"It's kind of hard to believe it's not your fault when your own mother tells you it is." Rachel mumbled as she kept her eyes glued to the knife that sliced through the hard, rubbery block repeatedly.

"Rach," Puck began, watching her carefully. He thought she had been past blaming herself, but he was wrong. "You still think what happened was your fault?"

Rachel pursed her lips, pausing her actions. "I…yes. Yes, it is my fault! Maybe not entirely, but there has to be something I did that made them do this. I just…"

"That's not true at all."

"Then why me? They could have chosen any other girl, but they chose me. If I had ignored Jason when he walked into the Lima Bean or left earlier. Or if I didn't date Jesse. There were so many things I could have done to prevent this." Rachel's voice cracked mid-sentence as she struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to erupt.

Puck slipped Lily back into her highchair and gently grabbed Rachel's arm. He pulled her close and she collapsed against him, sobbing into his chest. "Rachel, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this. You had no reason to not talk to Jason when he came over to you in the Lima Bean. You were fourteen and he was acting sweet. Anybody would fall for that. And even if you left early, he still would have done it. Or if you turned him down, he probably would have gotten angry and done it anyway. And dating Jesse, again how were you supposed to know. He acted sweet and you're a teenage girl. And they would have done it anyway. There was no preventing this. They're sick and twisted and they have an obsession with you. But this is not your fault in anyway."

"Uncle Noah!" Liam shouted as the pitter-patter of his feet approached quickly.

Rachel pulled out of Puck's arms quickly and wiped at her eyes. Liam darted into the kitchen and dove into Puck's arms. Puck laughed and lifted him in the air, swinging him in his arms. "Hey, little man! Happy birthday!"

"My birfday was actually not today." Liam said matter of factly. "My birfday is in August. It September."

Puck chuckled at the little boy's intelligence "I know, I called remember? But today is your birthday party."

"Where are grandpa and papa?" Rachel asked her son, as she brushed back is hair.

"Uh…upstairs." He said, eyeing the cheese on the marble counter. "Can I have cheese?"

"One piece and that's it." Rachel said, handing her son a cut cube. She turned her head towards the entrance as the front door opened and closed. Finn entered the kitchen shortly after, holding a large bag of ice and another bag filled with a variety of items. "Hey."

"Hello beautiful." He smiled, pecking her lips. He placed the bags down and nodded his head at Puck. "Hey Puck."

"Daddy!" Liam shouted, diving into Finn.

"Hey buddy." Finn said, bending down to kiss his head.

"Come see my decorations!" Liam said, grabbing Finn's hand and pulling him towards the living room.

"You okay?" Puck asked Rachel quietly.

Rachel nodded, turning to continue slicing the cheese on the marbled counter. "Yeah. I'm fine. Would you mind playing with the kids while Finn and I finish doing things for the party?"

"No, I'd love to." Puck said, concern in his eyes as he watched Rachel. He knew she wasn't fine, but he didn't want to make her cry again. He would be sure to mention it to Finn later.

Rachel, Finn, and the Berry men finished decorating and preparing for the party, while Puck played with the kids. Everyone began to arrive shortly before two.

The entire glee club came, as well as Rachel's grandparents, and three friends of Liam and their parents. Liam met the kids at his tumbling class. The parents of these kids were the only ones who weren't cruel to Rachel for being a teen mom. They didn't judge her and after a few weeks she told them what had happened. They had only become more supportive and offered her help. After she was kidnapped by Jesse and Jason, all of the parents knew from the news. Once she returned to the classes with Liam, only a few more parents became compassionate. However, she chose not to become close to them because they only pitied her.

Shortly after everyone arrived, Puck disappeared to change into the Spiderman costume. Everyone was sitting in the living room when he darted in the middle of the room, extending his arms out as if he were shooting webs. The glee club burst into laughter at the sight of their friend dressed as a superhero character.

Liam squealed with excitement and jumped up and down ecstatically. "Mommy it Spiderman!"

"I know. I see." Rachel smiled as she turned on her camera to take photos.

Puck- or Spiderman- gathered the four kids around to play a game. Finn grabbed Rachel's hand and whispered in her ear. "Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?"

Rachel burrowed her eyebrows, but nodded her head. She stood and handed the camera to Quinn, before she followed her boyfriend into the kitchen. "Is something wrong?"

"Puck was talking to me before and…"

"Stop." Rachel interrupted. "I just got a little upset, okay? I'm fine."

"Obviously you're not. Even if it came out by accident, it still means that you blame yourself."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter." Rachel shrugged her shoulders, casting her eyes on the floor.

"Yes it does. I thought we were passed this, but clearly not." Finn said, keeping his voice low so no one else heard.

"Noah shouldn't have even told you." Rachel's voice contained a hint of annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"He's trying to help you. He's worried about you. And so am I. You act like you're okay, but you're not."

"I'm fine." Rachel exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.

"No you're not. You…"

"We're not discussing this now." Rachel interjected through gritted teeth.

"Well then when? Because every time I try to talk about it you tell me not now." Finn raised his eyebrows, becoming frustrated as well.

"Sorry for not wanting to discuss this during my son's birthday party, something that supposed to be happy, when my friends, grandparents, parents, and Liam's friends parents are in the next room!" Rachel whispered furiously.

Finn took a deep breath. "You're right and I'm sorry. But you do keep making excuses about talking. So tomorrow morning we are discussing this."

"Fine." She sighed.

"I'm sorry for upsetting you. I love you." Finn said, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head.

"I love you too."

Thanks for reading! I'm not too proud of this chapter, but hopefully you guys like it. I forgot to tell you guys last time that that was not the last time you will see Shelby. She will be back!

Next Finn and Rachel have their discussion and we find out more about Rachel's kidnap.

Thanks for reading! Review!