No this is not a mistake...this is in fact an update. Albeit a short one. But an update.
There was something different about waking up on a Saturday morning.
Something...special.
It was as if the house understood that there was no need for structured chaos or crazed commotion.
The halls were quiet. There were no shouted questions on the whereabouts of lost articles of clothing or the shrill cry of a reminder that they were going to be late for school. The doors weren't slamming open and shut. The staircase wasn't groaning beneath stomping footsteps frantically traveling up and down.
Instead, a soft dull humming droned the air.
What exactly is that noise?
Rachel decided to ask Noah about it later. Whatever it was...she found it to be quite calming actually. It was as if the house was lulling it's dreamers awake. She slowly opened her eyes and took in the sights before her.
The room was still dark with only a sliver of light managing to creep in past the heavy curtains. Rachel followed the bright swirling beam and watched as it illuminated the foot of the massive bed she was currently laying on.
Wait a minute...this wasn't her bed. And this definitely wasn't her room.
She turned her head to the side and her eyes landed on a sleeping form that appeared to be scooted into the farthest corner of the mattress. Eyes still closed, body rising and falling slowly and their hands tucked comfortably beneath their cheek.
That was when Rachel realized she was currently spread out across the majority of her moms massive bed hogging all of the sheets.
She couldn't remember how she had ended up here. She quickly scanned through her memory until she finally landed on the dark corner tucked away in the deep part of her mind and a nice sudden smack of realization dropped in.
Nightmare.
Rachel sighed as she raised her head off the pillow and pulled her body up in a seated position. She could never remember the scope of it... just the feeling of waking up terrified, heart pounding angrily against her chest, a layer of cold sweat covering her skin and a looming darkness creeping around her mind.
When are they going to stop.
With one last heaving sigh, the petite brunette maneuvered herself out of the tangled mess of sheets she was lying under. She slipped off the bed and crept around towards her mother's side. Slowly and as quietly as possible, she draped the covers over her mom.
Shelby didn't even stir.
Content with herself, Rachel turned around and began tip-toeing her way towards the door.
She was halfway across the room when the sudden creak of a floorboard made her wince and freeze on the spot.
There was a rustling of sheets and Rachel glanced back over her shoulder.
"NonoElphabano." Shelby mumbled and burrowed further beneath the covers.
Rachel stifled a laugh and continued on towards the door. She slowly pulled it open, stepped out into the hallway and eased the door shut behind her.
It was still fairly early for anyone else to be up.
Especially on a Saturday. Rachel used the hall bathroom across Noah's room and as she passed his closed door she didn't even bother checking to see if he would be awake. Knowing Noah, he would sleep in his cave all day if he could. She made her way down the hall and stopped just outside Santana's room.
That's weird.
Her door was open, which was strange seeing as San usually slept with the door closed. Rachel poked her head into the room. Maybe San's awake.
No. There was definitely something sleeping beneath the sea of dark red covers, something Rachel could only assume was Santana. A tanned arm limply hung out over the side of the bed, a striped sock covered foot stuck out from under the covers and a mass of tangled dark hair splayed across the part of the bed Rachel assumed San's head lay. The mountain of dark red sheets kept rising and falling in beat with a serious series of snores.
It was safe to say Santana would not be waking up anytime soon.
Rachel made her way down to the kitchen, deciding on brewing herself a nice cup of tea.
She figured she'd have another hour or two before her mom got up...three more hours till San woke up and God only knew when Noah would wake up.
She walked down into the foyer and rounded the corner making her way across the main hall, walking passed the dining room.
She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, relying purely on her feet to carry her towards the destination. Her mind was somewhere else entirely...wandering from sleeping schedules to dreams to nightmares to her nightmare and as she rounded the corner and stepped into the kitchen her body collided into a thick wall of muscle.
"Holy Shhhit!"
Rachel's mind snapped back into focus. She gasped and jumped, "Noah!"
"Geez Rach you scared the shit out of me!" Puck lowered his arms which had instinctively gone up to throw a punch, "I came this close to knocking you out!"
Rachel massaged her shoulder and glowered up at her brother with a frown on her face, "Well Good Morning to you too Noah."
"Morning." Puck adjusted his shirt, grinned and made his away around the kitchen.
Rachel eyed him, "What are you doing up at this hour? And why do you have to speak that way. It's vile and repulsive. Think about what your saying...defecating on yourself. That's disgusting!"
Puck laughed as he scraped a bar stool back away from the counter and sat down in front a sprawling pile of what Rachel considered to be junk. "I am thinking about what I'm saying! I'm thinking... that my sister is a sneaky little creeper-"
"Noah-"
"Who likes to walk around the house scaring the sh-crap out of people and talks like she's reading from a dictionary always saying these weird words."
He clapped his hands together before picking up a sandwich that was plated before him and taking a giant bite.
"Noa-"
"AND! Willingly wakes up at the ass crack of dawn on a Saturday morning." Puck spoke with his mouth full, "And gets mad when I say things like shit." Puck smirked. "That's what I'm thinking."
Rachel rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air, "I give up." She hoisted herself atop the counter and grabbed a mug from the cabinet and all the things she needed to make her perfect cup of morning tea.
"I'll have you know it's not that early. It's a perfectly acceptable time to wake up. Besides... apparently I'm not the only one who likes waking up early anymore!"
"Trust me I'd rather be sleeping." Puck took another mouthful of his sandwich. "But I have to be up."
"And why is that?"
There are only two things in this world that would keep Noah away from his precious sleeptime on a Saturday morning...Girls and-
"Football game." Puck chewed. "Burt scored tickets to the OSU game today and we're tailgating! It's gonna be epic. Didn't I tell you this yesterday?"
Rachel shook her head.
"No? Hmm you must've been sleeping already. Anyway...Burt said something about beating traffic and getting the best spot so we all had to wake up real early and now here I am. Finn said he'd be here in like twenty minutes."
Rachel tried her best to remain calm under the watchful gaze of her brother and act as non-chalantly as possible.
"Oh. Finn?"
"Yup." Puck slowly drew out the word, popping the 'p' at the end and carefully searching his sisters face.
"So..He's coming here?" Rachel poured the tea into her mug and made her way over towards the seat Noah was patting with his hand. "As in...Now?"
Puck smirked. "Yup." Pop. And bit into his sandwhich.
Rachel pushed away the packet of cold cuts and glanced around the counter, eager to change the conversation.
"Mom's going to be so mad at the mess you made...what are you eating!" Her face contorted with disgust as she watched her brother happily bite into a colossal sandwhich.
"It's a Puckaroni Breakfast Sandwich. Wanna bite?"
Rachel fiercely shook her head.
"Your loss midget"
"Pucka what?"
"Puckaroni! It has bacon, egg and cheese, some funny looking thing mom had in the fridge but it tastes good, um pepperoni, a little bit of salt and pepper, some maple syrup, sausage, onions tomatoes and green peppers all topped with Puck Sauce."
Rachel gagged. "What's 'Puck Sauce'?"
"A secret." Puck grinned and bit into his creation. He nudged Rachel's shoulder, eliciting a small smile to form on the tiny brunette. Her brother was always inventing something in the kitchen... using Santana and herself as his taste testers. She learned long ago, to steer clear away from a Noah invention.
"So..." Puck grabbed his glass of OJ and chugged it down, "Ahh thats good," He wiped his mouth and pressed on, "Can I ask you something?"
"Mhm" Rachel sipped her tea.
"Why have you been sleeping in moms room?"
Noah eyed his younger sister carefully, noting how she suddenly found the inside of her mug fascinating.
"Rach...are you having those nightmares again?"
Rachel put down her mug and looked her brother in the eye. There was something hidden behind them. What was it exactly? She couldn't tell but she didn't like seeing this look appear on his face...It reminded her of ...it reminded her too much of the past.
"Rach..."
Rachel slowly nodded her answer.
Noah put down his sandwich, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and took a deep breath. He pressed both palms flat on the counter and exhaled.
"I know. I'm sorry Noah. It's dumb I know. I feel like such an infantile, immature, incompetent little child because I go running to moms room just because of a dream."
"Rachel."
"I promise I'll be stronger next time. I know it's not real and-"
"Rachel!" Puck interrupted his little sister mid rant. "Stop okay. Just...stop." Her eyes were so big and expressive. They had always been so big and expressive. He could always tell whatever she was feeling at any given moment because of her eyes. And right now...he wished her eyes weren't so dam expressive...because all they were expressing at the moment was pain.
"Rach...first of all you're not immature or incompetent." He stared into her big brown orbs, "Com-pren-day." And spoke in a horrible spanish accent as Rachel nodded, her eyes droopy and slanted. It reminded him of those dam little puppy dolls Santana loved so much as a kid...what were they called again? Hush Puppy? Ugly creepy sad looking little things...
"Your the most mature person I know, Hell your more mature than me!" He placed his hands on his pecs, trying to get the point across. "And not to mention your strong! There's nothing weak about you. Those nightmares that you have...you don't have to go through them alone you know. It's good to talk about them Rachel. It's good to talk."
Rachel's eyes were droopy again as she nodded.
"It's not good to keep things bottled up inside...cuz then one day your bottles gonna get so full its just gonna explode...and you don't want that. I know I don't want that."
Her eyes were starting to get round again. Good no more droopy.
"Rach." Noah's tone of voice dropped. "You don't have to worry about Dad. He can't and he won't do anything."
"I know." Rachel spoke in a soft voice. " I know Noah. It's just...I don't..."
"And what could he possibly do all the way from New York? We're in Ohio...Lima Ohio. Far as fuc-... Far away from New York."
"Not really." Rachel mumbled.
"Yeah. It's far enough."
"It's just-"
"Dad screwed up! Like major big time-effing screwed up." Puck didn't realize he kept interrupting. "Wanna know what I think..I think he's just regretting everything. He wants us to feel sorry for him. He wants us to forgive him...and little does he know he's kinda eight years too late." He stood up from the stool, loudly scraping it back across the floor with a deep frown etched onto his face.
This is exactly what Rachel didn't want. She studied her brother's scowl and watched the way his muscles dangerously tensed up as he threw away his mess and dropped the plate into the sink.
"Noah...Please don't be mad."
Puck snapped his head over towards the expressive eyes.
Dam hush puppies
"I'm not mad Rach...not at you at least. Why would I be mad at you?" He stepped forward and leaned his elbows on the counter, his frown ever present.
"Because..."
"I promise I'm not mad at you munchkin. Just please...don't let Dad get to you. Please. And next time you have a nightmare come let me know. I'll make it go away okay?"
The tiny brunette nodded. She looked smaller somehow. Puck had to pull strength from deep within to keep his anger at bay and muster up a smile just for her. "Good." His eyes softened and he eased himself up off the marble countertop.
"Wanna know what else I think?" He grinned and waited for his sister to nod, "Nightmares shnightmares." Puck poked her in the side causing Rachel's body to spasm. Her mouth hung open in shock. He poked her again only this time on the left side and Rachel's body jerked in the opposite direction. "Noah!"
She was extremely ticklish and moments later Rachel was thrashing on the floor, howling with laughter as Puck tickled her sides.
"C'mon help me go wake mom up. She'd kill me If I left without saying bye." Puck didn't bother waiting for an answer as he effortlessly scooped his sister off the floor and swung her over his shoulder. "Plus now that our punishments officially over I can have my cell phone back."
The two siblings laughed as Puck made his way up the stairs. He held a firm grip around his sisters waist, careful not to drop her. Rachel was smiling and she swung out her arms, watching as her hair cascaded down away from her and towards the floor. The floor was suddenly positioned in a way where she had to look up at it...or down depending on...oh nevermind. She let out a deep belly laugh as Noah almost tripped over the carpet on the top landing and the two were barely breathing when they heard a loud grunt of a snore come out of Santana's room.
All thoughts of nightmares and absent fathers were completely gone.
Like Noah said...
Nightmares Shnigthmares.
A/N: I officially fail. It's been forever and a day since the last update. It took a random cab ride in the city, an impromptu performance held in the back of a very pissed off cab driver's car who just so happened to pass by a restaurant by the name of Breadstix at the exact same time my friends and I were gleeking out singing along to Journey (which only caused us to gleek out some more) for me to come up with an update. Anyway. My mind did this running thing where it jumped from thoughts of glee to thoughts of Mark Salling then the stupid hiatus then back to Mark and then I remembered my story and realized It's as if I left the Corcoran's world on pause. I don't even know if anyone is reading this right now. But I am finally back and am determined to finish this for anyone who is willing to read.