The song Puck sings is Bad Day by Daniel Powter, lyrics have been removed.
Rachel sat up, quickly making a dash to the bathroom. She groaned looking at her reflection in the mirror. She cleaned the dried make up off her face. Making herself presentable she walked out to the living room, where Puck turned the TV off when he heard Rachel come back into the room. She sat on the couch facing him, her left leg tucked under her. Puck turned so he was facing her, he reached out, lacing his fingers with hers, giving her the comfort he knew she needed right now.
"You don't have to tell me, Rach," he whispered. He watched as she gently shook her head, sending her hair flying around her face.
"I need to tell you," she whispered, swallowing the lump in her throat. He nodded, moving his free hand to cup her face, she placed her free hand on tops of his. He waited in silence for her to speak up. He didn't want to ruin this for her and make it any harder than it already was. "The black spot they found, it was supposed to be an easy fix, in and out. She was supposed to be fine, but there was more cancer than they had saw on the X-Ray. They don't know if she'll recover," she told him in a rush, her eyes glistening as she went. She closed her eyes to keep the tears from falling. She was tired of crying over this. Ever since she found out she's been crying non stop.
Puck wasn't sure what it was he could say to make things better for her. He pulled his distraught girl into his arms, his fingers gliding over her back, getting her to relax. His mind drifted off to Beth, what was going to happen to the little girl that he had made, to the little girl that was part him? Rachel had her own life to live, she couldn't look after Beth the rest of her life and he wouldn't want her to take on responsibility that should have been his. He wanted to ask her, but he didn't want to come off as insensitive towards her.
"Rach, I can't tell you that things are going to be okay, because that's not true. I do know that you're going to be okay, that you're strong and that going through this will only make you stronger as a person. I can tell you that I'm going to be right here with you the whole fucking time, I'm not leaving you. Even when I'm not with you, I'm just a phone call away, okay?" He asked softly, pressing a soft kiss to her head. She nodded against him.
"Thank you, Noah," she told him. She pulled away, going to brush her tears away, only Puck beat her to it and his thumbs collected the last of her tears.
"It's nothing really," he replied dropping his lips to hers in a sweet little kiss. He rested his forehead against hers.
"If anything happens to my Mom, then my Dad and Leroy are going to have custody of Beth. They even said that when you leave school and get to place in your life where you can take care of a kid, they will gladly give you custody," she told him. His heart swelled at those words.
"Not going to happen." Rachel frowned looking at him. "Not because I don't want her, I do or I did, she's my baby and I love her, but I can't take care of her now, but your Mom?" He questioned, pulling away to look her in the eyes. "She's going to make a full recovery and you're gonna have her there when you graduate high school, when you make it to NYADA, when you take Broadway by storm, she'll be there when you get married and when you have kids of your own."
"You're the best," she smiled, pulling him for a hug.
"You rubbed off on me," he winked. Rachel giggled, smacking his arm lightly. That one little comment worked, his girl was laughing and for a moment he was able to get her mind off of the family problems going on in her life.
They had moved from the living room to her bedroom so they could lay back and watch movies. He could see that Rachel was getting tired and he didn't want her to be uncomfortable and woken when the rest of her family came back.
The second she passed out on him, he kissed her forehead and moved from her bed, careful not to disturb her. He wrote a note leaving it where she would easily find it when she woke up. He smiled at the Berry family as he headed out the door. It wasn't that he didn't want to stay with her all night, but he needed to get home to look after his sister while his mom worked.
The next at school Puck was surprised to see Rachel walk through the door a smile on her face. He had known her long enough that he could see right through her smile. He could see that she was still hurting, that she would rather be at school than at home where all she could think about was her mother. At school she'd be given the chance to take a break from her personal life.
Puck noticed that Rachel had been quiet all day at school. Brittany and Santana were giving him looks that would strike him dead; Matt asked him more than once what was going on with Rachel. It made him feel fucking ecstatic to know that she hadn't gone to anyone else.
It wasn't until Glee that afternoon when Mr. Shue decided to redo the duets since Kurt had left and Matt had come back. Instead of picking their partners like they were able to do the first time around they were randomly paired together. He lucked out when he was put with Rachel. He did have a feeling that she was going to scrap the first song they planned on doing, not that he minded that at all. Before they broke off into the partners scattered around the school, Puck stood up saying he had a song he wanted to sing. He placed a stool in the middle of the room, getting his guitar ready. He licked his lips, slowly strumming the melody out.
"Rach, baby, we all have bad days," he stated, locking his eyes on hers. She gave him a weak smile, appreciating what it was he was doing for her. If they would have taken the chance to look around they would have seen the confused faces of their Glee mates. Matt sat next to Santana and they shared a look wanting to know what was going on with their pint-sized diva.
He could see the little things in her eyes. He could see the passion she once had for everything around her was dwindling away because she was worried about her mom. Her blues skies were being taken over by the grey clouds that loomed over her head that she couldn't just shove aside.
He noticed as the day went on that she was retreating inside of herself, pulling up a protective front, her fake smile staying on her face, becoming permanent. They believed she was okay, but not him. He knew her better than he knew himself at times. She was slowly falling to pieces right in front of his eyes.
It wasn't uncommon to have a bad day, it was how you were able to pick yourself up and dust yourself off that counted the most. He had heard her in the auditorium when she avoided him earlier in the day during free period, singing her little heart out. He walked away, knowing she needed the moment to be alone, singing the sad song she had in her heart. It was how she coped. She needed something to smile about, to laugh at and to joke with her friends.
He believed in her. She was going to take the world by storm. She was meant for bigger things. She was losing focus on that with her mom being sick. She was letting what she wanted fade away while she dealt with the on goings of her mother's treatment. She needed to come back to who she was and be herself, because she was strong.
"Oh, Noah," Rachel sniffled, launching herself at her boyfriend, a loss for words.
"I know you're having a bad day, but things will get better," he said against her lips.
They were supposed to work on their duets but most of the Glee club was circled around Puck and Rachel wanting to know what was going on. Puck wasn't saying anything because Rachel didn't want it to get around. She had already given looks to Santana and Matt that she would explain later about what was going on to them and Brittany.
"I don't know what's going on, Rach. But you have people that love you and they won't let anything happen to you," she told the smaller girl with a hug. "If you get like really sad, I'll let you borrow Lord Tubbington. He always makes me feel better."
"Thank you for that Britt," Rachel replied, turning to Puck. "We should really find a new song for this assignment." He knew an out better than anyone in Glee and he was going to take it. He didn't want Rachel to get overwhelmed. He held out his arm for his girl. She smiled slipping her arm through his.
"I have the perfect song in mind," he told her. "Walk with me," he winked, getting a blush to creep up her face.
Badass or a pussy, it was worth making his girl smile.