Broken A/N: Chapter 2
7 weeks later
Things had been tense in the Berry/Puckerman household since the incident. Finn was hyper-aware of every time Rachel wasn't smiling, and Puck was teetering between handling her with kid gloves and making her feel like she was going to suffocate. The three were sitting on the couch, flipping mindlessly between TV shows when Rachel sighed. Finn and Puck both looked at her with worry in their eyes. "Guys," Rachel began, "can we please start acting normal again?" She stood and crossed the room, planting herself in front of the TV that was playing a F.R.I.E.N.D.S. rerun. "This whole making sure Rachel is okay gig is getting tiresome. So I had a little setback. A momentary freak-out. A slight flashback. It was bound to happen. We knew it would at some point, and I don't know why any of us deluded ourselves that everything would be sunshine and roses all the time." Rachel glanced from Finn to Puck with a sad smile on her face. "I love the two of you, but you're suffocating me. Now Santana is picking me up and we're going to get lunch. I'll have my phone with me. I'll let you know if we decide to do anything else. I'm going to get ready." She strode down the hallway into her bedroom and closed the door. Listening at the door to make sure neither boy had followed her, Rachel pulled out her phone and called Santana.
"You better not be calling to cancel on me, Rach. Tell the wardens to let you out," Santana chuckled.
Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed, "No Santana, I'm not canceling. I have a favor I need from you though," she sat at her vanity and bit her thumb nail nervously.
"Sure. Anything. What's up?"
"We need to, um, we uh need to," Rachel stammered before taking a deep breath. "We need to stop by a drug store."
"Oh shit," Santana mumbled. "Okay, not a problem. I'll be at your place in ten. But Berry, are you sure?"
Rachel nodded and then remembered that Santana couldn't see her. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm late. I'm never late. I just don't know how this is even possible. God, Noah is going to kill me." Rachel groaned and roughly ran her brush through her hair one-handed.
"He's not going to kill you, Rachel. But Finn might kill him. Jeez, that boy should know better," Santana chuckled. "Anyways Rach, don't panic, talk to Puck. I'll be there soon and we'll figure it out."
"You're right 'Tana. I'll see you soon." Rachel hung up the phone and took a deep breath. She walked over to the bedroom door and opened it a crack, "Noah," she called, "Can you come in here please?" She only had to wait a few seconds before she heard Puck walking down the hall and into their room. Before she could say anything however, he started talking.
"Baby," Puck sighed, "I'm so sorry. So is Finn. Neither of us ever meant to coddle you, or make you feel trapped. We both love you so much and just want to make sure you're okay. I'm sorry if I've been stressing you out or making you feel like you're stuck here. That's not what I want. I know we haven't done much but hang out here the last couple months, and I promise I'll fix that. I promise. I love you and I just want you to be happy." He hugged Rachel and kissed the top of her head. "Is there something you needed to ask me?"
Rachel shook her head with tears in her eyes, "Um, no." She walked over to the closet and pulled out a dress at random, "I was just wondering if you could zip me up."
Puck chuckled, "Sure babe, but that dress doesn't have a zipper on it. So what's really going on?"
Rachel sighed, "Look Noah, I just-" she was cut off from Finn yelling that Santana was there. "I just am really glad that you care so much about me. I love you." She kissed his cheek and walked out to greet her friend. Santana looked at her and Rachel subtly shook her head. "Well," she glanced at Finn and Puck, "I'll see you guys later."
...***...***...***...***
"I can't believe you didn't tell him Rach." Santana shook her head as she pulled her Range Rover into traffic. "You need to tell him tonight. What're you planning on doing? Taking the test at the restaurant?"
Rachel hung her head and looked at her hands, "Santana, I'm sure there's not going to be anything to tell. Honestly it'd be a complete miracle if I was-" she was cut off by the sound of tires screeching and looked up, "Santana look out," she shouted just before she heard glass shatter around her and felt something slam into her side.
...***...***...***...***
"Everything okay with you and Rach, dude?" Finn looked at Puck.
Puck nodded, "Yeah. I think she's just feeling a little trapped right now. Hopefully this day out will be good for her." He grabbed his phone, "I'm gonna text the guys and see if they're down to play some football in the park. You in?"
"Yeah that sounds like a plan, Sam was actually heading here right now."
Puck nodded and walked over to the window texting Mike and Matt. "Hey should we invite Art-" before he could finish he heard a crash and saw a black Range Rover get t-boned. "Shit! Finn! Call 911," he shouted running towards the door.
"Why? What happened," Finn questioned.
He threw the door open and turned to Finn with tears in his eyes, "Santana's car was just hit."
...***...***...***
Sam walked towards Finn and Puck's apartment listening to All Time Low on his phone. He was humming lyrics to himself and smiling. Things had been going great lately. Finn got his head out of his ass, Puck got his head out of his ass, he had a new job. Everything was going great. Just as he was getting ready to cross to Puck and Finn's street his phone rang. He looked down and saw it was Puck calling him. "Dude," he said as he answered, "I know you miss my pretty face but chil-" he was cut off by Puck shouting his name.
"Sam! Are you almost here? Where are you? You need to get here!" Puck yelled frantically.
Sam was alarmed at the frustration in his friends voice. "Yeah dude. Like 3 minutes what's up?"
"There's been," Puck sobbed, "Oh God. It's bad, Sam."
Sam picked up his pace at Puck's cries. "What's bad, Puck? Where's Finn? Where's Rachel?"
"Finn's with me. Rachel was in an accident. There's glass everywhere. And blood. Just get here."
...***...***...***
Finn, Sam, and Puck sat in the waiting room at Mount Sinai anxiously. They could hear Santana refusing medical care and Finn sighed, "I'll deal with her and see if they know anything about Rachel." He stood and walked to the room Santana was in.
Sam looked at Puck and almost cried. His friend sat there hunched over, gripping his hair and his shoulders shaking. "She'll be okay Puck. I promise. She's a fighter." He clapped his friend on the back and stood. "Do you want me to call anyone?"
Puck shook his head and sniffled, "No. Finn called their parents. I texted my mom and dad." He looked up, "Actually, could you text the guys? We were supposed to play football, but obviously that's not happening." Puck stood and started pacing "Fuck, man. Why did this happen. Things have been so good lately. Shit." He heard footsteps and looked up to see Finn standing there with tears in his eyes. Puck felt himself falling and then felt Sam holding him up. "Finn? Is-is she?"
Finn shook his head, "No. She's awake, but you should go see her. There's something she needs to tell you. I wasn't even supposed to know but uh," he roughly wiped tears out of his eyes, "I heard her crying and ran in as the doctor was talking to her."
Puck nodded and ran down the hallway until he found Rachel's room. He saw a doctor come out and gently close the door. "Excuse me, I'm Rachel Berry's boyfriend. Am I allowed to see her?"
The doctor nodded. "Yes, however she's been through a very traumatic few hours. I must ask that you don't push her or stress her to much."
Puck waited until the doctor had walked away and then gently knocked on the door before opening it. "Rach, baby? Can I come in?" he waited until he heard a mumbled yes before he entered. Puck fully opened the door and stumbled back at what he saw. Rachel was sitting in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of her arms, a bandage on her forehead, stitches on her collarbone and bruises on her legs. "Oh baby, are you okay," he whispered before sitting in the chair next to her bed and grabbing her hand, kissing the back of it.
Rachel shrugged, "I will be, according to the doctor and nurse. No lasting damage." Rachel bit her lip. "Noah, I have to tell you something," she sobbed, looking from him to a monitor near her bed.
Puck nodded, "Anything baby. Anything at all. I love you, no matter what."
Rachel shook her head and looked away from him, "Part of why Santana and I didn't just walk was because I needed to go to a drug store." She glanced at Puck and saw the look of confusion on his face. "I'm not sick, but I- I missed my period last month. At first I thought it was nothing, just stress, but then I calculated dates in my head. I honestly didn't even think it was possible, really. That's why I never told you. I figured it was just a weird coincidence, but I guess not," she plucked a stray thread from her blanket.
Puck felt his stomach drop, "Rach," he croaked out, "you gotta stop talking in riddles baby. I'm sorry. I'm not following you."
Rachel nodded, "I uh, I had Santana bring me to get a pregnancy test. I obviously didn't get it, but she told the EMT when they took me. The doctor ran tests. I'm pregnant," she sobbed.
Puck swallowed, "Okay. Is this supposed to be a bad thing? I mean, we talked about this and we both agreed that we'd make it work if anything happened." He was confused, did she not want the baby?
Rachel took a deep breath, "Noah, the accident was really bad. I suffered a lot of trauma. The pregnancy-" she started and shook her head, "the baby won't-" she groaned and sniffled, "God, this is so hard to say. I'm in the process of having a miscarriage. In a few hours, there won't be a baby. Or a pregnancy."
Puck nodded stiffly and stood. "Right. Okay. I'll just, I just need to take a walk. I'll send Finn in and Santana if they'll let her." He looked at the bed and saw the crushed expression on his girlfriend's face. "I'll be back. I just need a couple minutes." With that, he left the room closing the door and walking somberly down the hallway. When he was far enough away that Rachel couldn't hear, he sank to the floor and cried. He sat there for what felt like hours until he felt two people sit on either side of him. He looked up and saw Finn and Santana. He cleared his throat, "Hey guys. Where's Evans?"
Santana rolled her eyes at Puck's show of acting tough, "He went in to see Rachel. We all figured she could use a laugh and he's the best one for it. How are you Puck? You okay?"
Puck shook his head, "I don't know. I mean, on one hand I'm pissed she didn't tell me, but I'm also sort of glad I didn't know because this would be harder than it already is." He looked at Finn, "This is what you heard?"
Finn nodded, "Yeah. She was gutted, Puck. She always wanted kids, but after the attack it didn't seem possible. Something about scarring, I think? I don't know. That's her story to tell. I saw her face. I watched it go from elated to crushed in less than half a second. I can't imagine what she's feeling. What you're feeling."
Puck groaned, "Right now I'm feeling numb, that's what I'm feeling. But I know she needs me, and I have to be strong for her."
A/N: Please don't hate me. Like I said, this story has been planned out for ten years. This was always part of the plan. Just go with me.