Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.
A/N: Thank you so much to my beta, Heather! (Bookgurrrl)
A/N2: This story is mostly AU after Mash-up (1x08), but with some of the topics discussed in the later episodes and music used, I may sneak in a conversation, cover the same topic, or use the same song, but I will put my own twist on it and may use some of the music.
A/N3: Feedback keeps me writing, so please comment or review. :D
...
With a relaxing Father's day in the past, summer work started for everyone and things began to change for the good.
Brian and his team came down the day after Father's Day and started helping gut the house and it only took 2 days for all of the drywall and insulation to be cleared out, so they could pretty much start from scratch.
Before school had gotten out, Burt asked Puck when he wanted to work; if at all over the summer. They came up with the plan that he would work his normal after school schedule 3:30 to 8:30 giving him five hours a day five days a week so he could still work on the house with his dad and had the weekends free for family time.
With less than four weeks before the wedding and six before Ethan started working at Lima PD, there was a lot to do and it took everyone's help. While the guys focused on the house, the girls focused on the reception arrangements and dealing with schedules.
Though Quinn didn't want to 'move out' of the Berry's, she felt since she was spending so much time at Finn's that she might as well move her things, so she packed up her stuff and promised David and Alan she would always stay in touch with him.
In addition to the Glee boys helping out, Kevin (Kegan's oldest son) and Rich (Brianna's oldest son) came down to help with the house renovations, so David and Alan were letting them stay at their house since they had the extra rooms.
Deborah's brother, Ben, and his wife had already purchased a house in the new development that Ethan recognized many months prior in an area that used to be empty, so the house was a short walk from where the Puckerman's lived and when the two moving trucks showed up, the guys went down to help unload.
By the end of June, Ben and his family were completely moved from Dayton and were beginning to settle in, their daughters were coming over to spend time with Rachel, Abby and the rest of the Glee Club girls, as they dealt with arrangements for the reception and trying to pry the guys away from the work on the house to practice the songs for the wedding.
Brian and the construction team helped out as extra hands and as June came to a close, the inside of the house was now ready for paint. They figured by the time they got all the paint and the rooms painted, it would bring them up to the wedding, so after that they could focus on carpeting and flooring for the house before Ethan started back to work. Deborah, Rachel, Arin and Quinn, along with Ben's wife and daughters helped pick out the paint and in just a few days, the paint cans for each room was there, but everyone agreed to take a day off for a big bar-b-q on the Fourth of July, which fell on a Sunday; one week six days from the wedding.
...
Rachel woke first and glanced at the clock, surprised to see that it was nine am and they hadn't been woken by Abby, which worried her, "oh no," Rachel hissed, scrambling up and padding quickly to the nursery to check on Abby to find she wasn't in her crib. Her eyes widened in shock, "where is she? Who has her?" A million worries rushed through her mind as she hurried downstairs, seeing an empty bouncer in the living room. Hearing voices she moved towards them, finding Ethan sitting at the kitchen table, Abby in his arms, feeding her, "oh thank goodness!" Rachel exclaimed her hand on her heart as she calmed down from the shock and worry.
Ethan looked up and raised a curious eyebrow at her, "what's wrong?" He asked.
"I was... I woke up..." She took a deep breath to calm herself, "I woke up and realized what time it was and it surprised me that she hadn't woken us up yet. I got up worried that something had happened and when I didn't see her in her crib about a million thoughts ran through mind," she explained.
"Oh, sorry to worry you," Ethan said shifting Abby so he could burp her, "she was awake when I checked on her before I came down so I didn't see a need to wait until she started crying to wake you guys up," he shrugged
"Alright, um, thank you," Rachel replied, "you don't have to do this. She is mine and Noah's responsibility; we don't expect you or Deborah to be helping us out."
"Rachel, I would think after two months that you would realize that we don't mind helping out. She's our granddaughter and we're happy to," he told her truthfully.
Rachel ducked her head and nodded, pushing some hair behind her ear, "I just don't want you to be thinking that we're expecting you to help. We appreciate all that you and Deborah and my dads have done, but-"
Ethan waved his hand so she'd stop, "Rachel, it's truly okay. Don't worry about it. Just go back to bed and relax for a little while, I've got her," he promised.
"Are you sure?" Rachel asked nervously.
"Yes, Rachel, I'm sure," he smiled at her.
Rachel watched him and then nodded, "alright, thanks," she replied softly before turning around and heading upstairs and passing Deborah in the hallway. "Morning mom," Rachel smiled.
"Morning, Rachel. I didn't expect you up yet," Deborah admitted.
"I woke up and got worried about Abby since she hadn't woken us up and come to find out Ethan already had her," she explained.
Deborah nodded, "I see, well we've got her if you want to relax a bit longer with Noah," she smiled at her and then continued her way downstairs.
Rachel moved back into the bedroom and closed the door, finding her boyfriend on his back, one arm behind his head, the blankets around his waist so his bare chest was showing, "hey baby, you okay?" He asked curiously.
She blushed and slipped back under the blankets, "yes, I am now," she nodded snuggling back up to him.
"What happened?" He questioned.
Explaining what happened, she relaxed, feeling embarrassed since it wasn't the first time one of his parents had gotten up and taken care of Abby for them in the morning.
"I love my parents," he smiled pressing a kiss to her as he shifted to wrap his arms around her securely.
"Me too," Rachel smiled.
"Do me a favor," he murmured.
"What's that?" She looked up at him.
"Next time you get out of bed and I'm sound asleep, leave me a note," he replied softly.
"What? Why?" She looked at him confused.
"While you were freaking out about Abby, I was freaking out about you," he explained, "I... I still have all these worries that everything good in my life is just a dream and one day I'll wake up and you and Abby will be gone and things will be like they were before school started last year," he sighed, "I know it's stupid to think, but I never thought I could be this lucky or ever deserve you and when you weren't here, for a split second I thought it was a dream, that was until I heard you talking to mom."
"Noah, I don't know how many times I need to tell you this, but I am never going to leave you. I love you, so you better get used to it, because you're stuck with me," she threw an arm over his chest, "and I know you don't mean it this way, but sometimes when you tell me that, it makes me feel like you don't trust me," she added softly.
Puck shook his head, "no, baby, please don't think that. I do trust you," he murmured tightening his grip on her, "I love you so much and I can't stand the thought of not having you in my life, but sometimes I still feel like I'm the 'Lima Loser' that others saw."
"I can tell you one thing right now, Rachel Berry would never let herself get involved with a 'Lima Loser', therefore you're not one, Noah Puckerman, not by a long shot," she clarified pressing a kiss to his lips, "got it?"
He nodded, "I got it," he smiled rolling them over so he was gently pinning her to the bed, "and you don't know what that means to me to hear you say that," he whispered, "I love you, Rach."
She reached up and brushed a hand along his cheek, "I love you, too, Noah, always."
Leaning forward, he captured her lips with his, hoping to convey just how great he felt when she told him that.
Rachel's arms wrapped around his neck as she held him close while they kissed, the two starting the Fourth of July off with their own private fireworks show.
...
A hour later, the two were both laying on their backs, the blankets pulled up to their necks as they took deep breaths to help calm their racing hearts; the fireworks still going off like snaps and crackles in their minds, "I love you," Rachel murmured, turning her head to look at him.
He smiled, "I love you, too," he replied, slipping his arm under her and tugging her close to him.
Rachel rolled to her side and draped an arm over his chest, making sure the blankets were covering her.
Hearing a knock on the door, Puck sighed, "yeah?" he called out, hoping whoever it was would take the hint they weren't decent.
"Guys, it's ten-thirty and normally I wouldn't care if you guys stayed in bed, but our families will start arriving around noon, so you guys might want to get up, get showered and have something to eat before they get here," Deborah called through the door.
"Alright, mom, we'll get up," Puck called.
"Arin and I are going to the store to get some ice and a few things, do you guys need anything?"
"No thank you," Rachel replied.
"Okay," Deborah responded.
Hearing her footsteps going away from the door, he sighed, "well I suppose we better get up."
She shifted and pushed herself up on her elbow, "yes we should. I can't believe we stayed in bed as long as we did."
He eyed her and smiled, "I can. With you like this, I'd stay here forever," he admitted.
Rachel blushed, ducking her head, but leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips before sitting up the rest of the way to get out of bed.
...
Rachel took a shower first and her boyfriend after her, the two made it downstairs and managed to get a light breakfast down before their families started arriving.
Kevin, Rich and Rachel's dads were the first to come down, soon followed by Finn, Quinn, Carole, Burt and Kurt.
In Ohio, fireworks were only legal with permits for shows, so around the state the Fourth of July was a great way to have a summer bar-b-q, so with Kevin and Rich staying at the Berry's, the rest of Ethan's family came down from Sandusky and Cleveland and since Ben and his wife Susan and their girls were in Lima, Ben and Deborah's sister Carmel and her husband and their two boys came up from Columbus.
By two in the afternoon, the Puckerman's house was full of family, but the adult guys and migrated over to the new house with beers; others stayed in the backyard. The teen boys and Kevin, since he wasn't a teen, got out a soccer ball and started kicking it around the backyard with the younger kids to keep them occupied, while the adult women and teen girls sat around the were kicking it around the backyard with the younger kids, keeping them occupied and gave them 'cousin' time since most of them were related.
"I still don't understand why you don't want to get a wedding dress," Kurt commented staring at Deborah.
Deborah shook her head, "Kurt, I wore a wedding dress when Ethan and I got married before. It just doesn't seem right to be wearing a wedding dress when we're getting married at the courthouse and we want it to be casual. That doesn't mean I'm not going to dress up, I'm just not going to be wearing a wedding dress."
Kurt sighed, "fine, but you should still go look for something special; it's a big day," he told her.
Deborah eyed him, "okay, how about tomorrow, you, the girls and I go to the mall and you all can help me pick something out," she suggested.
Kurt grinned brightly, "excellent!"
With the topic of the wedding slash reception, soon they were talking about other details of it, "is there going to be dancing?" Kelly asked.
"Yes," Rachel nodded, "we've rented the cabin on the parks property that we had the big birthday party at. It has a hardwood floor and that's were the tables will be set up also, but there will be room for dancing."
"Do you need music? Because we've got a ton," Laura offered.
Rachel shrugged, "Noah and I have compiled a list, but more music will be great. Some of the members of our Glee Club will be performing, but not the whole time, so we're setting up our iPod to play the rest of the day," Rachel explained.
"Can we see what you've got?" Kelly asked.
"Sure," Rachel nodded.
Rachel, Kelly, Laura, Jessica, Quinn and Kurt moved into the house and Rachel brought her laptop down from her and Noah's room and they sat down in the living room to go over the music selection.
The girls suggested a few more songs that Rachel had on her laptop and then when she minimized her iTunes program, the others saw her desktop background, her and Noah up close, taken not too long ago with water behind them, "where was that taken?" Laura asked, pointing to the screen.
Rachel smiled as she looked at the screen, "it was taken on a dock over looking Elliott Bay in Seattle, Washington. We were watching the sunrise that morning not far from our hotel."
"When were you in Seattle?" Kelly asked curiously.
"Um, the Glee Club went to Nationals and that was where it was held this year; it was over this past Spring Break," Rachel explained her eyes flicking to Quinn, realizing they'd never showed her the pictures.
"Do you have the rest of them on your computer?" Quinn asked, "you guys never showed me them."
"Oh, um, yes I do," Rachel nodded, "are you sure you want to see them?" She asked softly.
"Yes, I'm sure," Quinn nodded.
Rachel moved into her pictures folder and opened up the correct one, and adjusted the pictures so they were taking up the whole screen and began going through them. "It was a two hour drive to the airport, then once we got on our flight and it took off, it was an eight hour flight. Some of us slept, some didn't. When we got to Seattle it was just starting to get dark, so I didn't get many pictures, but our hotel was on the waterfront and as another gift to me and Noah, the club let us have our own room away from everyone else, and," Rachel looked at Quinn, "if I remember correctly I was told you had something to do with that, so thank you," she said.
"You're welcome. I suggested it because you two weren't sure if you'd be able to get the time to go away before Abby was born," she explained.
Rachel smiled and continued with the pictures. "Our room was on the third floor and it had a view of the ferry that comes into dock there and we got to see it come and go several times during the daylight and also at night. That night, Noah, Deborah, Finn and I went to dinner down at one of the restaurants on the waterfront and when we came back, we decided to go see the sunset in the morning," she flipped to the pictures of that morning and the one she had as her desktop was there, "we went to Starbucks and then went and watched the sunrise from a pier just down from where we were staying," her pictures went from them together to the varying ones she'd taken of the orange and pink morning colors mixing with the light of the sun, illuminating the buildings of downtown Seattle. They then flipped to water pictures from the bay, "these are just looking out over the water from the pier, where we were seeing the buildings from," she explained, blushing as they landed on the one of her and Puck kissing.
"Oh, Noah isn't as badass as he claims," Jessica laughed.
"That looks so romantic," Laura grinned, "you guys are so great together."
"Thank you," Rachel smiled at her and then it flipped to the ones of the cruise ship, "this was docked just down from the pier we were on and when we went back to our hotel room we had a nice view of it."
"It's huge!" Kurt commented, "I never saw that when we were there!"
"I think it came in when we were sleeping and it was gone when we got back from the Space Needle, I think," Rachel admitted, flipping to the picture of the Space Needle she'd taken from their hotel's parking lot.
"Did you get to go up to the top of the Space Needle? I hear it's pretty awesome," Jessica said.
Rachel nodded, "yes we did."
She flipped through the pictures of them dressed in their costumes for the performances and the pictures then went to them at the Space Needle, one of her and Noah standing at the base, the person taking the picture knelt down so they could get not only the couple, but also the whole Needle in the background. The pictures then bounced to the view from the top along with pictures with their friends and chaperones who were there as they walked around to see the whole view.
"That does look awesome," Jessica said, "I would love to go there. Furthest I've ever been is Detroit."
Quinn remained silent as she watched Rachel flip through the Space Needle pictures, seeing some of Finn and Puck standing with Rachel between them and a few of Finn leaning against the railing just looking out over the view, her mind beginning to flood with the memories of just what was happening at the same time and she bit the inside of her lip, hoping she could through the rest of the pictures.
"So the next day we had an early performance because we placed second, so we went on to the next round, so after our performance we had the rest of the day free, so we had our bus driver take us over to the Ballard Locks, well they're technically called the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, but they're in Ballard, which is now part of Seattle, but used to be a town. The boys and Burt, Kurt's dad are big Deadliest Catch fans, so we went over there. The driver even knew where some of the boats docked, so we got to see them kind of up close," she flipped to those pictures.
"Wow! Dad would love to see these," Laura admitted, seeing the boats in the background of shots with Rachel and Noah and then some of their friends.
She flipped through the pictures of the locks, "wait! Go back to the last one," Kurt said.
Rachel went back, "why?"
He leaned forward and pointed to someone in the background, a guy with a baseball cap on, talking on a cell phone with his hand over his mouth, "that's my dad."
"That must have been when he got the call," Rachel said softly.
Kurt nodded, "yeah."
Rachel continued to the last few pictures of the restaurant, the Lockspot Café, that they had eaten at, and then a few of the hotel from where they were. "Um, after we left the locks, we um, well, we got some bad news so that night no one was really in a picture mood. We found out the next day we took second at Nationals and we forced smiles as we posed with our trophy, and kind of just spent the afternoon shopping at the waterfront to pick up some souvenirs for family members. I just took some pictures of the places we'd gone to and our hotel, before we had to pack and leave," she admitted.
"What bad news?" Jessica asked looking at them.
Rachel and Kurt's eyes flicked to Quinn, who had tears in her eyes, "um, I can't... I'm... I've gotta..." She shook her head and got up, dashing from the living room and leaving through the front door and jogging towards the sidewalk and headed down the street.
"What just happened?" Laura asked concerned.
"Um, Ethan and Quinn were kidnapped by Will's ex-wife and McKinley's former football coach. It happened when we were in Seattle. I think we never showed the pictures to her because we were worried they would bring up what happened, and I guess it did," Rachel said softly.
"Shouldn't we go after her, she headed down the street," Kelly asked.
Rachel looked out just as she saw Ethan headed in the same direction, "no, I think there's only one person who could calm her down."
...
Ethan, his brother, brother-in-laws, Burt, Alan and David were standing in the front yard of the new house when they heard the front door of the other one open and they watched Quinn dash out, wiping her eyes and jogging towards the sidewalk and down the street.
"What happened?" Brian asked.
Burt, David, Alan and Ethan exchanged concerned glances with the other guys and Ethan got a feeling he knew what was going on, so he pushed his beer into his brother's hand and took off in the direction she had gone, hoping to catch up to her before she got too far away. "Quinn!" He called out as he saw her at the corner of the road, "Quinn, wait up!"
Quinn stopped at the corner, but didn't turn around, but she could hear his footsteps getting closer so she realized he was there. "Seattle," was all she said before she started sobbing, trying her hardest to stop, but her shoulders shook when she tried to take a deep breath.
Not wanting to frighten her, he reached out and laid his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently to tell her he was there, "you're fine," he whispered, "you're doing great."
She whipped around and stared at him, tears falling from her eyes, "this is not great! What is so great about it?"
"Because in the last three months you have only had a few issues. The problem at school, a nightmare that I know of and now this. That's pretty great for a seventeen year old girl who went through a severely traumatic experience," he explained softly, taking a step towards her, "you are doing great, Quinn, and I don't know what happened to get you like this, but every time you hear about Seattle it will get easier and one day it won't bother you anymore," he promised.
Quinn took a few shaky breaths and fell against him, holding onto him tightly, "the girls saw a picture Rachel had on her computer of them in Seattle and she started showing her pictures of the trip. At first I was okay, but then the memories came flooding back and I kept thinking that they had no clue what was going on to us back here and I just... I held off as long as I could, but when her pictures kind of stopped, she said they'd gotten some bad news and no one was in the mood for pictures anymore. They wanted to know what happened and I couldn't explain," she said softly.
He rubbed her back and let her talk, "I think you did great," he said again, "you held off as long as you could and eventually you'll hold off long enough that you won't have a problem at all," he explained, trying to keep positive.
...
Puck had noticed his girlfriend, the girls and Kurt were not in the back any longer, so he moved into the house, curious where they were. Stepping into the living room he saw Laura, Kelly, Jessica and Kurt, but no Rachel or Quinn; but Rachel's laptop was sitting on the coffee table, "where's Rachel and Quinn?" He asked curiously.
Jessica got up and moved to her cousin, who she'd know all her life and hugged hugged him, and soon Laura and Kelly joined in, too; putting a very confused Puck in the middle of his cousins. Looking over to Kurt for some sort of explanation, Kurt turned the laptop around so he could see the picture on Rachel's desktop, "Rachel was showing us the pictures she'd taken in Seattle. Quinn got upset and took off down the street, but Ethan went after her and Rachel told them the brief summary of what happened and then she said she had to go check on Abby, but you probably should go check on her. She didn't look okay," he said softly, closing her laptop.
Puck's eyes widened at Kurt's explanation and then looked at his cousins, "I'm fine," he told them, "please let me go check in my girlfriend," he almost begged.
The three girls nodded and stepped away from him, giving him the opportunity to go upstairs, taking the steps two at a time and as he reached the door he heard his girlfriend sobbing. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he stepped in and saw her sitting on the rocking chair with Abigail against her chest, both her arms wrapped around their daughter, as her shoulders shook and tears were falling from her eyes. Stepping further into the room, he closed the door and then knelt down in front of her, "Rach," he said softly, resting his hands on her knees.
Her eyes sprang open and she gasped, "Noah!" She bit her lip nervously, "I can... I can explain," she whispered, trying to calm herself.
He shook his head, "Kurt already did," he said gently, one of his hands reaching up to wipe her eyes while his other joined hers against Abby's back, "talk to me."
She took a shaky breath and leaned her head against his hand as she started shaking with sobs, "we could have lost her," she cried, "we would have never gotten here," she refused to let Abby go, but was being careful not to hurt her, "it just hit me when Quinn got upset that... that if things had been different, we could have lost her forever."
"I know," he said softly, moving his hands to rest on her hips, "we could have, but we didn't," he murmured.
"And then this morning when she wasn't in her crib; the first thing I thought of was what if Terri had found us and taken her!" She exclaimed a little louder and it startled Abby, causing her to start crying lightly. Rachel bit her lip, "I'm so sorry sweetie," Rachel said softly, gently rocking her so she'd calm down.
As she calmed down, Puck stood up, "Rach, let me take Abby," he saw her shake her head 'no', "babe, I'm just gonna lay her in her crib, we can stay in here, but your crying is gonna scare her," he said softly.
Her eyes went from Abby to him and she saw the worry in his eyes and she nodded, gently passing of to him.
Puck cradled his daughter in his arms for a moment, kissing her gently and hugging her before laying her back down in her crib. Looking at his girlfriend he sat down on the floor and patted his lap, "come here," he said softly. When she slid into his lap, he wrapped his arms around her protectively and he kissed her, "let it out. I've been waiting three months for this," he whispered.
He words opened the flood gates and she clung to him as sobs wracked her body, work escaping her lips every few months, but he couldn't make them out, so he just held her and let go, his own mind wondering what would be different if Terri had succeeded. "Our entire relationship has been based on her supporting me in keeping Abby and her being Abby's mom and if Terri had succeeded and took Abby... What if... Would..." He stared down at his girlfriend, "no, I wouldn't have broken up with her. She's the only person aside from my family who ever saw me as me. Baby or not, we would have gotten through this together. Sure things might have been rocky and we might have had some fights, but she's it for me. There is no one else I would ever want to be with; no one," he thought smiling and pressing a kiss to her forehead. He noticed she'd calmed down; her sobs were now just tears and some deep breaths, "I've got you," he promised, "I'm here. We're okay and Abby is safe with us," he murmured.
She nodded slowly, "I know," she exhaled and relaxed against him, her right hand resting against his upper arm to steady herself, his muscles a sign of strength to her at the moment, while her left hand pressed against his heart, her eyes staring at ring she still wore on her hand, "Noah, can I ask you something?"
He looked down at her and saw the intense look she had on the ring, "I wouldn't have broken up with you," he said softly, "if she had succeeded, we would have gotten through this together. You're the only person aside from my family who has ever seen me as Noah and I would not have let you go; it would've been hard, but we'd still be together," he whispered, knowing what she wanted to ask him.
Rachel looked up at him and smiled brightly through the tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss, "I love you, Noah Aaron Puckerman," she murmured.
Smiling, he nodded, "I love you, too, Rachel Marie Berry," he said, "someday Rachel Marie Puckerman," he added, then pressed another kiss to her lips.
As their kiss ended, she sunk against his chest and took a deep breath, "I'm so sorry for doing this, I feel so embarrassed," she admitted a blush growing on her cheeks.
He shook his head, "don't be. You needed to get this out and I'm glad you did, do you feel better?" He asked.
Rachel took a deep breath again, assessing herself, "yes, I think I do, but I should not have needed to. I know Abby is here, and Terri didn't succeed, so there is no real reason for me to be upset about this."
"Babe, I knew some day you would crack and the worries of the 'what ifs' would come out and you needed to do this. You needed to get it out and now that you have, you can move on," he explained gently.
She contemplated what he said, "you're right, I suppose the worries were building and I needed to get it out," she glanced over at the crib and saw Abby was asleep, "I feel so bad I scared her."
"Don't worry about it," he told her, "see, she's fine and she's asleep again, so no harm done," he added. "Come on, lets let her sleep," he told her and his eyes flickered over to the baby monitor transmitter and his eyes widened, "where's the receiver?" He asked quickly.
"Um, probably outside where I left it-" her had flew to her mouth as her eyes widened, realizing their entire conversation could have been heard by everyone. She jumped up from him and pulled the door open and once he took the hint, the two left the room. He closed the door behind him and followed her into the bathroom, "they could have heard everything," she whispered.
"You think I care?" He asked softly reaching for a wash cloth and soaking it with cold water, then rang it out and pressed it to her very red forehead, "about all they would have gotten out of it was that we're in it for the long haul no matter what," he told her with a smile, "and I think most of them knew that already, anyway."
Rachel blushed, but already felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and then she felt the sparks inside of her as he took care of her. She reached up and took the washcloth from him and glanced at herself in the mirror, her eyes were red and puffy, and so was her nose and her whole face was covered in a light, non-blush pink, "thank you, Noah," she said, "I can finish if you want to go downstairs."
He slipped his arms around her waist from behind, looking at themselves in the bathroom mirror, "nope, I'll stay," he said casually.
Nodding, she soaked the cloth again and rubbed it along her face and neck, but then leaned over the sink and threw some cold water against her face, hoping it would help take the redness away.
...
Rachel had gotten her shirt wet while in the bathroom, so she went to change tops and her boyfriend took her hand, guiding her downstairs and back outside where everyone was, minus two people, Finn and Quinn.
Ethan and Brian were at the grill fighting each other with the grill tongs when Ethan noticed them, "hey, everything okay?"
"Yeah, all good," Puck responded, "uh, how much did you guys hear?"
Ethan shook his head, "none of it. Well, they might have heard the beginning of your conversation, but Deb turned it off," he said.
Rachel sighed in relief next to her boyfriend, but still blushed, "I can't believe I didn't think about it; Noah mentioned it after we talked," she said, "where's Quinn and Finn?" She asked concerned.
"Finn took Quinn home for a while so she could calm down," Ethan replied, turning back to swat his brother away from what he had on the grill, "and don't think it's your fault," Ethan added looking at Rachel.
"But I should have known they'd upset her; she told me she'd be fine and she wasn't," she replied.
"She tried to be, and that's what's important. It's only been three months and we can't all tiptoe around the subject. The longer she holds back from getting upset, eventually she'll be able to get through without getting upset, so she's making progress; it just takes time," he explained.
Rachel nodded, "time, I suppose you're right," she admitted.
A ringing echoed from Ethan's pocket and he reached for his phone, digging it out and answering it, "hello... oh hey Nate... Yeah... He is... Thanks..." Ethan held out the phone to Puck, "Nate wants to talk to you about tomorrow," he said.
"Tomorrow?" Rachel looked at her boyfriend confused.
"I'll tell you later," he promised kissing her cheek before taking his dad's phone and moving into the privacy of the house. Putting the phone to his ear, he took a deep breath, "hey Nate."
"Hey Puck, how are you?" Nate asked from his apartment in Detroit.
"I'm okay," Puck nodded, "no offense, but how do you know about tomorrow?"
Nate laughed, "your dad and I have been talking about the Navy for a while. I wanted to talk to you before you go in; I would have called sooner, but work and all," he admitted.
"Um, okay, how do you know about the Navy?" Puck asked curiously.
"Because I was in for four years as a master-at-arms," he said, "I went in, got the experience, came back home to Detroit and joined the SRT."
"You were in the Navy?" Puck asked sitting down on the couch.
"Yeah, I joined fresh out of high school because I didn't want to go to college, didn't have a girlfriend, there wasn't much money in my family, so I signed up about six months before I graduated and about a week after graduation I left for basic," Nate explained. "I went to A-school in Texas for a master-at-arms and spent a little over three years traveling wherever they needed me, got out, came home and with the experience that I got, I had a chance at the SRT."
Puck knew a little about the members of his dad's former team and Nate was the newest guy, only been with them for a little over two years, "dad never said you were in the Navy."
"I know. When he first told me you were thinking of joining I told him not to tell you. I didn't want you to make your decisions based on what I told you," he said, "but when you dad called me the other day and told me you were meeting with a recruiter tomorrow, I wanted to talk to you before you did."
"Why are you telling me now?" Puck asked.
"Because it sounds to me like you've pretty much made of your mind that you want to join, and I wanted to warn you about the recruiters," Nate said.
"Warn me?"
"Yeah, the military is always in need of people so when a recruiter gets a hold of a young guy or girl who has thought of joining, they will say anything, promise you anything, just to get you to sign up. They are not much more than a used car salesman. They'll throw out these big numbers and tell you you'll get these amazing sign-on bonuses, you have the pick of anywhere you want to go... It's a bunch of bull shit... I'm not knocking the military because it was a great four years, but I was promised things that weren't true."
"Like what?"
"A big sign-on bonus if I joined, that I never saw. Pick of my first duty station; nope. I got to pick my top three choices of where I wanted to go, but none of the places I picked is where they sent me."
"Shit," Puck shifted in his seat, "so they lied to you?"
"Oh yeah. But I joined, so they did their job. Look, every person is going to have good and bad stories to talk about. You have to make the decision on your own, which is why I didn't want your dad to tell you I had been in. I didn't want you to make your choice based on what you knew of my experiences. You might luck out, get out of A-school and be stationed someplace close to home or just an hour or so flight away, so you could go home on the weekends or something," he said. "I guess right now my point of calling is to tell you to be careful, don't listen to them if they start promising you things right off the bat and don't sign anything," he said.
"Okay," Puck nodded, "that makes sense. I'll be careful," he told him.
"Good. Feel free to email me after your meeting if you want to talk. Your dad has my email address. If you're serious about starting the process to join and stick with it, you'll want someone to talk to who's gone through it. I'll be glad to listen."
"Thanks man, I appreciate it. I'm pretty sure I'm joining, so I'll be in touch," Puck replied tugging his phone out.
"Cool."
The two exchanged phone numbers and ended their conversation, the two texting each other to make sure they had the right numbers before Puck headed back outside and handed his dad's phone back to him. "Thanks dad," he said before taking a seat next to his girlfriend.
Ethan nodded to his soon, "you're welcome."
...
Quinn and Finn returned to the house in time to eat and Rachel and Quinn had a chance to talk; Rachel was still feeling guilty for what happened and Quinn assured her it was not her fault and Rachel eventually accepted that it wasn't.
As it got later into the evening, those who had come from further away started to leave until it was down to just the ones living in Lima. Burt and Kurt left a little later, since he had to get up early the next day and then Ben, Susan and their daughters headed home. Alan and David had to work in the morning, so they left, taking Rich and Kevin along since they were staying with them, leaving just the Hudsons and the Puckermans at the house.
As it got darker out, the mosquitoes came out, so they soon moved their conversations into the house and sat in the living room. Quinn was falling asleep against Finn, so Carole, Finn and Quinn headed back to their house and Arin went to bed, leaving Deborah, Ethan, Puck and Rachel in the living room.
"What is going on tomorrow?" Rachel asked. She'd been dying to know since the odd phone call from earlier.
Puck glanced at his dad and then looked at his mom and girlfriend, "I have an appointment with the Navy recruiter," he said softly.
Rachel's eyes widened, "so soon? You have a whole year," she gasped.
"I know, but it's a long process. There are a lot of factors involved, so it could take up to a year to get everything sorted out," he explained. "Nothing is being decided tomorrow, but I have to start somewhere and the summer is going to be over before we know it and when we get back to school, the next thing we know Abby's having a birthday and I'm graduating," he whispered. "If I'm serious about this, which I am, I need to start now," he added.
Rachel nodded reluctantly, "yes, I guess that does make sense. What was the phone call about, then?"
"It was Nate, he's on dad's old team. Nate was in the Navy for four years and did the same thing I'm looking at doing. He wanted to talk to me before I went to the recruiters," he explained.
"Oh, well, I see. How did he know you were going to see a recruiter?" Rachel wondered.
"I told him," Ethan said. "I've been talking to Nate about his time in the Navy to get an idea of what he did and Nate suggested that I didn't tell Noah he had been in, until Noah had made a decision on his own; that way he wasn't making the choice from Nate's experiences," Ethan explained. "When Noah and I talked on Friday and he told me he had the appointment, I called Nate and told him and he said he'd call and talk to Noah before Monday."
"Which I appreciate you doing, dad," Puck said softly, "I think it's going to be a big help to talk to someone who went through it, so I can ask him what he thinks about all the stuff the recruiter tells me."
"You're welcome. That's why I wanted you two to talk. I don't know that much about the military, so it will be a benefit to know someone who has been in. I'll help you out with whatever I can, but the details of the military; that's gonna be Nate," Ethan explained.
Puck nodded, "yeah, I get you. You'll be the first one I talk to, but Nate will be our go-to guy. And of course, you two will be involved in any decisions I need to make, too," Puck added looking at his girlfriend and his mom.
Rachel snuggled against her boyfriend, "I'm still nervous about you joining, but I'll help you make decisions," she murmured.
Deborah nodded in agreement, "I feel the same way."
...
When Puck stepped into the recruiting office for the United States Navy, he quickly noticed the US flag was set up in the corner by the door, the room was littered with pictures of men and women working in different jobs, painted on the walls words like 'courage', 'honor', and 'loyalty'; words that anyone in the armed services lived by.
He knew he had a place with his family, but he never felt like he belonged anywhere else; that was until he walked into that office and felt like he was meant to be there.
Nate's warning was fresh in his mind when a guy dressed in a white uniform walked up to him, "good morning, can I help you?" he asked.
Puck glanced at his name tag, "I'm Noah Puckerman, I have an appointment to talk with you," he explained.
"Oh yes," he held out his hand to him, "nice to meet you. I'm Petty Officer Jack Keystone; come have a seat," he motioned to his desk and the two moved towards it, Puck taking a seat across from him. "From your email, it sounds like you've pretty much decided you want to join, right?" He asked.
Puck nodded, "yes, I've been thinking about for a while. I'm going to start my Senior year of high school in the end of August, and I'm not going to college after," he explained.
Jack nodded, "I get that. Your story is not much different than most of the others I see come in here," he admitted, "have you thought of what job you would like once in?"
"Master-at-arms," Puck replied.
"Good choice and there is room for advancement and has a lot of opportunities in and out of the military. Are you from here?"
"Born and raised."
"Are you thinking of coming back here after to work as a cop?" He asked curiously.
"I am coming back here to work as a cop," Puck clarified, "my dad is one."
"So why the Navy then? If your dad's a cop, then why not stay until you can become a cop here," he suggested, wanting to know his reasoning.
"It's a long story, but I have a kid. The job I have now is okay, for a newborn, because she's only a few months old, but it's not going to last once she gets older, and I know that it's going to be a tough four years, and I'll be away a lot, but the Navy will give me the experience I need and it is a steady job that guarantees money every month. I've thought of doing an internship somewhere or just staying with the job I'm at for a few years, but internships with say an electrical company doesn't always guarantee that the company will have jobs, so money could be tight and in Ohio you have to be 21 to be sworn in as an officer, so I figured if I can get into the Navy at nineteen, get a few years experience under my belt, I can come home when I'm twenty-three, have experience and join the police department here, I'll be further along than some guys who just join the department and there are few jobs that will give me full benefits and health insurance for me and my family at nineteen years old," Puck explained.
Jack listened to what he said, shocked that he had done so much research, "wow, you're further along in this plan than I thought you were. Are you and your daughters mom, um, together?"
Puck held up his left hand, "yep. Only waiting until we both have graduated to propose and get married," he replied.
"What does she think of all this?"
"She's nervous, but she finally sees my reasons and she and our daughter are staying here close to our families and friends, so while I'm gone, she'll have a lot of support," he replied.
"What about your parents? Siblings?"
"My mom's also nervous, my dad, I think is too, but both are supportive. I have a little sister who is seven years younger than I am, and I practically raised her, so she's going to miss me, but she understands and is supportive."
"You raised your sister? Where were your parents?" He asked.
Puck debated this conversation, but knew telling him the truth was the easiest, "when my dad found out my mom was pregnant with my sister, they got divorced. After that, dad moved to Detroit, became a cop there, and got on the Detroit SRT, which is their SWAT team. He and my mom got in contact a few years ago, but it was only back in December when I started talking to him, because up to that point, I hated him for leaving, but we've worked through that now. My mom was a single mom, so she was working a lot. Dad knows he screwed up by leaving. I was born like two months after they graduated from high school, so they were young and he didn't have a plan in life, so after he grew up and got a real job and became more stable, he looked my mom up and they started working on patching up their relationship and in fact, they're getting remarried in a little over a week," he said happily.
"Wow, that usually doesn't happen," Jack admitted, "but I'm glad it worked out for them. He's lucky she took him back."
"Yeah," Puck nodded.
When Jack realized just how must research Puck had done and how he pretty much was only missing the actual joining, they talked more about details of what the next year would be like. There was a written test that Puck would have to take and it would place him where they felt he would most be suited, but Jack figured he would not have any problem getting high enough to be an MA, which was the term for a master-at-arms.
Puck told him he was in really good shape, playing football and basketball for a long time and was constantly in the gym working out at school, so Jack wasn't too concerned that he wouldn't make the it, but told him that daily working out would be essential to make it in boot camp, so Puck knew that his dad would play a big role in keeping him working out after basketball season got over.
Jack suggested him going through the Navy officer program at OSU, but Puck turned it down quickly because he knew he'd have to move to Columbus, and Rachel was staying in Lima to go to Lima's campus, so he'd be away for four years, then would still have to be in the Navy for another four, so it'd be a lot longer away from his family.
Seeing that Puck was pretty sure he was doing the right thing, Jack gave him some informational packets and suggested the name of a good study guide for the ASVAB test; the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, that would be the beginning step in joining. Once he got through that they could really focus on a contract and other details of his enlistment.
Leaving the office, Puck felt like he was doing the right thing. Jack told him to pick up the study guide and come talk to him in a month and he'd give him a practice test to see where he stood, so once Puck was on his way, he went right to the Barnes & Noble bookstore and picked up the study guide Jack had suggested and headed home for a few hours before he had to go to work at Burt's.
Puck knew Rachel, his mom and the girls had gone out shopping, so she wasn't home, so he dropped his stuff off in their room and wandered over to the new house and found his dad, cousins and Finn in the master bedroom painting.
"Hey guys," Puck greeted them as he walked in.
Ethan stopped what he was doing, "hey Noah, how did it go?"
"Great, actually. He realized I had thought about this and had done my research, so he didn't try to BS me too much. I went and got a study guide for the test I have to take, so I'm gonna go back in about a month and take a practice test and see where we stand. Oh and you and Finn are gonna have to keep me working out after basketball season is over," he added.
Ethan moved over to him, "after all the talking to him and Nate, are you sure you still want to do this?" He asked.
Puck nodded, "yeah, dad, I am. I'll miss a lot with Rachel and Abby, but it won't be forever," he replied.
"Okay, that's all I wanted to know. You know I'll help you out anyway I can," he said.
"Me too," Finn added.
"Thanks," Puck smiled at them.
...
When Puck got back home that night after work at Burt's, he and Rachel talked in bed about his trip to the recruiter and she promised to help him study and 'ace' the test. Puck was really glad she was supporting his choice and with all the talk of marriage and a reception, he silently made a decision on the exact day he would propose to her. He selfishly wanted to marry her now, but he knew that they were still in school and would have the rest of their lives to be together; they were already married in his eyes, but legally he decided to wait a while to propose, letting them both finish high school; and from there, it would be up to her on the actual wedding date.
Between painting the new house, the Glee guys that came over to help also met a few times with the rest of the club to practice at the Hudson's, so Deborah and Ethan wouldn't hear the songs they were doing, and as it got down to just a few days away, Rachel was sure that they were ready for their performance.
Content that all the details and issues had been worked out, the Puckermans went to sleep on Friday night ready for the next day to celebrate the marriage of Deborah and Ethan, who had gone through so much since they'd started dating and now after all the fears and worries were in the past, they could finally be together forever.
...
You are cordially invited
to a reception in celebration
of the rejoining of two parents
Ethan Michael Ballard
and
Deborah Marie Puckerman
on the
Seventeenth day of July
Two-Thousand-Ten
Schoonover Park, Lima, Ohio
Noon to Six-pm
...
A/N4: RSVP by reviewing ;) (lots of notes; please read them)
A/N5: Wow! Long and it only took me 3 or so days to write this. Posted 'Starlight' Chapter 9 this week, and am posting '49' this week also. Next week hope to have 10/50 done and posted by the end of the week, too. I'm excited to start working on my fic for my highest bidder in my Support Stacie Author Auction, but I promise 'Starlight' and 'Out of the Blue' won't be forgotten.
A/N6: I'm on Twitter, so feel free to follow me... Just let me know who you are if your names are different than on FF or LJ. ( http :/ twitter . com / ej8302 )
A/N7: So I wanna share a squee moment with all of you... I was at the other day and I thought I'd see just how many Glee fan fics are out there that are as long as mine. Going into the 'Glee' section, I searched for 'all characters', 'all ratings' and a length of '100,000 words'. 'Out of the Blue' 1 of 7 fics above 100,000 words... MINE IS THE LONGEST by far! OMG So shocking, but so cool! 'Out of the Blue' is nearing 330,000 words... And I'm not even half done! The break down that I saw... None of the other fics were over 150,000 words; of the total of 7 fics, 5 of them are Puck/Rachel, 1 is Emma/Will and 1 is Puck/Quinn... 3 of 7 of them are complete... For just Puck/Rachel fics, mine and one other are not complete... Chapter wise according to I have 50 chapters, but since two of them are two parts, it's technically only 48 + 2 part 'b' chapters, but a total of 50... The rest of the 7 fics are 30 and under in chapters... One of the complete Puck/Rachel ones is my friend GoingVintage's 'All Roads Lead To You'; which if you haven't read it; I recommend it! It also now has a sequel!
A/N8: This moment reminded me of the Glee Fan Fiction awards that I ran across the other day... Do you like 'Out of the Blue' or 'Starlight' enough to nominate them for an award? If you do, head on over to: ( http :/ community . livejournal . com/ gleeawards/ ) and find out how you can nominate them. You have until May 15th to submit your nominations.
A/N9: *hides under rock* I know I brought up the Navy again and I haven't in the past few chapters, but out of 87 of you that voted in my poll on my profile: "In 'Out of the Blue' do you think Noah/Puck should join the Navy?" ... 57% of you (51 total people) told me that it 'doesn't matter; will support whatever decision the author makes,' or 'yes, continue with my (the author's original plan) where he will be gone at most 5 years,' or 'yes, but only gone for a short time.' Each and every one of you who did vote; thank you; it means so much that you took the time to make a choice and tell me how you feel. The poll was open from March 3rd and is now closed as of April 16th. As I said before, this was not to pick what he does, I just wanted to see where all of you stood. The entire post-Puck graduation (in 'Out of the Blue' and the sequel) is based on him being in the military and if I did end up changing it, I probably would never finish this because I wouldn't know what to do. That being said, I'm sorry to those of you who didn't want him to join, but he will be.
...
