The Life of a Psychic
Summary: Rachel has been secretly psychic all her life. But after winning Regionals Junior year a violent vision comes to her that not only scares the Glee Club but also makes her decide to change things
Puckelberry
Other pairings will come and go and will definitely be side dishes for the story. The whole Puck chasing Lauren thing didn't happen for the purposes of this story.
SO HERE'S WHAT YOU MISSED: Rachel gets a vision of her death on a Broadway stage. New Directions has no idea about her psychic abilities and Puck is determined to be the one Rachel completes her Bucket List with.
Chapter 3
Rachel eyed her current bodyguards suspiciously. The last few weeks the glee club had been acting very strange around her. She knew it was mostly because of her injury and even though none of them were ever really classified as her friends before Regionals it was nice to know that their team spirit was strong enough to cause this behavior. However she also knew that they were suspicious about the events at Regionals and rightly should be, but she was going to stick to the script. There was an assination attempt that went awry and that was IT, end scene.
Rachel was also not going to let this opportunity to try to make friends pass by. While Quinn walked beside her with her bag and Puck and Finn talked ahead of them she turned to Quinn with a beaming smile. "Thank you for assisting me to school Quinn. I'm sure it does not help your popularity to be associated with me but I really appreciate it."
Quinn looked at Rachel with a raised eyebrow. "Ru—Rachel...right now no one in Glee cares about that highschool heirarchy crap. What happened at Regionals was very serious and it kind of opened everyone's eyes a bit to what's been going on with you."
Rachel was baffled. "What do you mean?"
"Well...none of us have been nice to you for any reason but to get something from you. And really even though your ridiculous sense of honesty got me into a mess last year you WERE still there for me with the Beth and Shelby thing...I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe we should start over."
"Start over...like as friends?" Rachel asked in surprise. The blonde rolled her eyes.
"Yeah something like that." Quinn gave Rachel a lopsided smile and Rachel grinned but just as she was going to ask Quinn about their budding friendship a bulky jock in a letterman jacket bumped roughly into Rachel pushing her against Quinn.
Just as Rachel was beginning to get her footing by clasping her hand onto Quinn's forearm she heard the familiar rushing in her ears and her eyes glazed over. 'No...not right now...'
Rachel stood in a small backyard of a small house. This vision was not like her most recent two but it was a type of vision she was familiar with. She was not seeing her future in this vision. She was seeing a future that she existed in spirit in. In visions of her own future she was trapped within the actions of her future self but when her spirit was viewing a future that she was not a part of then she could walk freely through the landscape like a ghost.
She stood in the backyard and looked around wondering what had triggered this vision. She had figured out that the stage at Regionals had triggered her Broadway vision and Noah's body had triggered the vision of her wedding. Even from a young age she knew objects could trigger visions and she was able to control those object related visions but these visions that were coming from people and places were new and fast, unable yet to be controlled.
She quickly discovered the cause of the vision as the back sliding window door of the house snapped open and a young voice shrieked in delight. "Mommy! Mommy! Come play with meeee!" The voice pleaded woefully up at the giggling woman. A little boy with brown hair and brown eyes pulled on the forearm of the woman.
An older Quinn Frabray was pulled from the house by her son. The young boy of maybe 5 was insistent to get his mother out to the sandbox near the patio. Rachel walked over slowly and for a minute watched as Quinn doted on the small boy fondly and the boy babbled about his day at school.
A laugh sounded from the house and Rachel looked up to be shocked at the sight of Finn Hudson standing in the open doorway to the patio. He was grinning so broadly down at his little family and the small child shrieked with joy. "DADDY!"
Rachel watched Finn catch his son and pick him up into his arms. Quinn joined the pair and smiled lovingly up into the face of her husband. "How was the shop today hun?"
Finn quirked a smile that reminded Rachel of the boy she knew in her present. "Burt was kind of stressed about Kurt not showing up for work again but other than that it was great. Q you should have seen this new model Mr. Berry brought into the shop today!" Finn whistled appreciatively and then the couple and child moved back into the house.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Present~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Rachel felt her vision returning and found herself sitting propped up against a row of lockers with Puck and Finn crouched in front of her worriedly and Quinn standing behind them worrying her full bottom lip.
"What-?" Rachel murmured disorientedly.
"You just fainted or something. Is it your stomach? Does it hurt?" Finn asked anxiously.
"Did that asshole hurt you?" Puck demanded his head whipping around again to find if the jock that had pushed her was still near by.
"Umm I just got dizzy. Maybe from not eating enough." Rachel fished for an excuse.
Quinn reached into her own bookbag and rifled around before coming up with a granola bar. "Here! Eat something already. You shouldn't starve yourself like that!" And though it was totally hypocritical given the Sylvester shakes that the Cheerios were required to drink without supplement food Rachel smiled thankfully.
The warmth she had felt in that vision gave her a slightly new perspective on what Quinn had told her prior to Regionals about Finn. In her vision Finn and Quinn had obviously never left Lima but they were undeniably happy. Maybe that was the big reason Rachel and Finn could not work out. Because Finn could be happy here and probably perferred not leaving the small town of Lima for more than vacations while Rachel couldn't bare the thought of not leaving. She HAD to. Finn was a big fish in a small pond here in Lima and he liked it. While Rachel was a fish the size of this small pond, desperate to find an ocean. This thought process invariably led to another big fish that desperately wanted to leave Lima. Her eyes strayed to Puck briefly.
She gave him a small smile as she stood up and he cocked an eyebrow at her.
Rachel started munching on the granola bar and smiled at Quinn. "You'll make a great mother one day." Quinn blinked in surprise and Rachel noticed the way her eyes couldn't help but stray to Finn who of course wasn't paying attention. Rachel winked when Quinn looked back at her and Quinn's shoulders slumped in relief. They'd reached an understanding about Finn.
The morning flew by and Rachel was surprised when she was greeted before lunch by only Puck. He stood by himself at the door of her English class...a class he shared but rarely attended. "Hey wanna go off campus for lunch?" Puck asked already taking her hand and leading her towards the exit. Rachel frowned disapprovingly.
"Noah we are not supposed to leave campus until the school day has ended." she chided.
"Aww Cm'on Berry I'm craving Micky D's just go with the flow this once?"
Rachel sighed in defeat as he lifted her into the cab of his truck. "Fine but if we are caught I am singing like a bird and no one will believe that you did not kidnap me."
Puck chuckled and pulled into the parking lot, they got out and went inside. At the cash register Puck ordered a large Angus Bacon and Cheese with fries and a Coke. When Rachel ordered two fruit cups he did not bother to hide his eye roll.
While Rachel burst into a critique on his "abhorrent" eating habits they got seats at a booth and Puck started to dig into his meal. "So didn't your list say something about try at least all the major fast food chains at least once?"
"Yes..." Rachel answered tentatively.
"Why would you put that on your list?"
"Because I've never eaten here before...or Burger King...or any of the other places our peers eat regularly." Puck's jaw dropped and he stared incredulously.
"Your shittin' me!"
Rachel's eyes widened at his shouting. "Uhm no I am most certainly not! My father's believed it was very important that I always eat a healthy balanced meal. While we order in a lot it is always from vegan friendly establishments and—."
Rachel's speech was cut off when Puck pushed a french fry into her mouth. Rachel stared at him in shocked horror. The NERVE of this boy! Woah...that's actually really good...Rachel tentatively chewed the french fry and Puck's face was splitting into a slow grin. And he full on laughed when Rachel stole about half his fries the rest of the meal.
Towards the end of the meal Rachel pulled out the familiar pink list and wrote McDonald's next to the fast food item on the list and placed a gold star next to it.
She was smiling in accomplishment when Puck made a very loud and rude buzzer sound. "Wrong midget! You can't count this meal! You had a few fries and a cup of FRUIT! If you wanna count this meal you gotta take at least one bite of this burger." He held out his burger to her and she stared at it in horror.
"There's MEAT in there! No way!" She crossed her arms and turned her face away from the burger.
Puck felt a smile quirking his lips. 'Why's she gotta act all fuckin' cute?'
"C'mon Berry I'm not counting this otherwise."
"It isn't your list to veto decisions on Noah! And my name is RACHEL!"
"Okay okay! If you do this fast food shit right and take a bite of this sandwhich I promise to start trying to call you Rachel." Noah placated.
Rachel hmmed like she was considering and eyeing the burger with distaste. Puck sighed. "If it makes you feel any better I payed for this burger so you aren't supporting Big Meat or whatever you crazy veggie heads call those monsters who kill those poor cows." Puck smirked lasciviously. "But I've got another kind of Big Meat that I bet you'd love to get that mouth around..."
Rachel's face flushed crimson and she snatched the burger from Puck. She opened the burger and removed the piece of bacon left in it. "You are a BAD Jew Noah Puckerman." She chided and Puck wasn't expecting it so he laughed hysterically as she took a bite of the burger. She sighed, it did taste good but she still had nightmares of those poor baby chicks being smashed on her head. She slid the burger back and Puck grinned.
"I can't wait to turn you into a bad Jew, my Jewish-American Princess." Puck smirked. Rachel gulped nervously as Puck's hand reached across the table to brush her left hand, unconsciously running over her ring finger.
Puck watched Rachel's face heat up as she picked at her fruit cup. Puck had always wondered about Rachel Berry ever since she broke up with him last year. She'd always come back to him in one form or another to make Finn jealous and at first he thought his reason for agreeing to her silly schemes was to be an asshole to his ex-best friend who'd always throw the Quinn thing in his face when he'd offer an olive branch. But ever since that day when he'd had Rachel in her bed again and had to pull away cause he couldn't deal with being a consolation prize to Finn again, he'd realized it was never about Finn it was about getting her to just...just fuckin' SEE HIM.
He'd continued to go along with her duet ideas to make Finn jealous with barely restrained eagerness because it meant more time for her to wake up and see he was way better than Finn fuckin' Hudson. And now that her and Finn were in an off period he has his chance again. He's gonna show her how much better he is through this Bucket List.
"So how are you healin' up?"
Rachel beamed. "Very well thank you! Last week the doctor said it probably wouldn't even leave a scar and that I can go back to dance classes next week!"
Puck smirked. "Can't wait to see you in those skimpy tights. When do you have dance class?"
Rachel blinked in confusion. "You will no longer have to escort me around after next week, Noah. I can drive myself to dance class."
Puck frowned. "I don't have to "escort" you Rach. I want to because then I get to see that hot little body of yours...Sides...I gotta make sure you don't get crackin' on that list without me."
"Well I've already started teaching myself how to sew, that is one of the things on my list. I'm not sure how you can help with that..." Rachel furrowed her brow, and Puck resisted the urge to kiss the crease between her brows.
"If I find some clothes that need sewin' you can practice on them. I'm here to help Ber—Rachel." Puck winked.
"Thank you Noah. I'm glad for your help." Rachel beamed that wide smile at him that others thought was kind of creepy but reminded Puck of how awesome it was to be the object of Rachel's sole attention.
"So let me see that list again..." Rachel hesitantly handed the list to Puck who scanned his favorite list with a smirk then looked back up at the more boring list. He frowned at some of the activities.
"Go to a state fair? You've never been to the fair?" At Rachel's head shake he shook his in disbelief. "Ice skating...bake a cake...play a sport? You want to play a sport? But you're like...tiny."
"Well I do not have to engage in an organized sport like a highschool team I would just like to learn more about sports and to actually play one once." Rachel explained.
"But you played on McKinley's football team a couple months ago." Puck got a lecherous grin thinking of Rachel all geared up and in those tight pants and screaming excitedly "Let's kick some ass!"
Rachel smiled at the memory of that night too, though not lecherously like Puck. "Yeah but all I did was drop to my stomach and covered my head. I want to learn the rules and protocol of a sport and then engage in a friendly scrimage."
"Well it's basketball season right now which I think is more likely your game than football. Less tackling. Though I'll tackle you anytime you want baby."
Rachel blushed but decided to not respond to the shameless flirting. "Well you could tutor me in the rules of a few sports and we could maybe watch a few games or something and I can tutor you in English."
Puck smirked his mind already plotting all of the things he could get her to do INSTEAD of tutoring him in English. "Sure babe. How about we start tonight. You come to the basketball game tonight and cheer us on and afterwards if you've got questions or something I'll explain what happened to ya."
Rachel hesitated. "I don't know. I usually get drinks and food dumped on me at games."
Puck scowled and mentally counted to ten before responding. "Anyone tries that shit you come tell me. But I doubt they will as long as you leave your Team Finn shirts at home...and don't accidentally cheer when the other team gets a point."
Rachel's doe eyes batted at him confused and he felt the almost uncontrollable urge to reach across the table, sink his fingers in her hair and pull her mouth to his. "Then what should I wear Noah? Should I make some Team Noah shirts?" Puck groaned in approval at the mental picture but shook the thought of her splayed across his bed in just a Team Noah shirt out.
"Nah what you're wearing now is fine. And you can wear my letter jacket." He was already shrugging out of it before Rachel could protest.
"Oh no! I couldn't possibly!" she squeaked but he had already thrown it in her face and she huffed indignantly. "What if someone dumps soda one it?" she asked concerned.
"Then I'll kick their ass. But they won't cause they'll fuckin' know better." Puck shrugged.
Before anyone had entered the gym for the game that night Puck brought Rachel into the court and showed her the lines on the court and explained how the points worked and the times on the scoreboard. Rachel dutifully took notes and nodded her understanding. Puck smiled at all the cute Rachel-isms that she displayed as she drew diagrams in her notebook of the court and used a bright pink hi-lighter to outline important sections of the court.
When she smiled up at him and showed him her notes to double check her work he grabbed her into a hug and kissed her temple. Rachel's face flushed and afterwards she pretended it was totally normal for friends to do that. And her heart was just beating fast because of her excitement for the game.
Rachel stood in the stands with the rest of the McKinley supporters and cheered on the team but her eyes followed Puck's progress around the court exclusively. And when Puck made a lay up he glanced over at Rachel to see her catch his eye and wave two fingers in the air ecstatically "TWO POINTS NOAH!" She shouted excitedly and he couldn't stop the grin that split his face.
Finn noticed Rachel's behavior, who wouldn't? She's kind of loud. He gave Puck a "What the hell, man?" look and Puck just shrugged and winked at Rachel. He noticed that she didn't notice Finn staring at her and it made a possessive part of him gloat that for once she was looking just at him.
McKinley was still down though and Rachel noticed now that she understood the significance of the scoreboard better. She frowned thoughtfully and glanced around nervously to see if anyone was looking at her. She sat down in her seat and made a snap decision. She clasped one hand onto the sleeve of Puck's jacket and the other she grasped the riser seat to anchor herself to this location. She started focusing her mind on a time. The rushing and the nosebleed came and she forced the vision to progress fast so she would not waste time. Her concentration was broken by the buzzer for half time.
"Rachel!" Puck shouted taking the riser stairs three at a time and when he grabbed onto her shoulder and she looked up into his face she felt the trickle beneath her nose. "Rachel are you fuckin' okay? Your nose..."
Rachel nodded with a smile and then hopped down from the audience dragging Puck by the arm.
"Puckerman!" Coach Bieste hollared from the team huddle. He waved for a minute and looked down at Rachel.
"Rachel, what's going on? What's with all these nose bleeds and—."
"No time Noah! You have to listen to me! I've got a very strong feeling that the other team is going start using a guy with a number 30 jersey he is going to start shooting three pointers Noah." she explained while Puck stared at her like she'd just grown a second head. "Noah! Are you listening to me?"
"Yeah Rach." he reached into the purse over her shoulder and routed around until he produced a napkin he ignored her protests as he wiped her upper lip and nose. "You just be careful. I don't know what caused this nosebleed but you have explaining to do. I gotta go Rach." He gave her a half hug to reassure her then jogged back to the team.
Rachel went back to her seat holding the napkin to her face. Some of the audience had noticed the exchange between her and Puck and were eyeing her curiously and whispering.
When the second half began Rachel almost started screaming at Puck about not listening to her when she saw the ball make it into #30's hands but then Puck jumped to intercept the ball and McKinley was making a fierce comeback. Puck couldn't help glancing at Rachel who was back to cheering. How she knew what the other team would be doing was a mystery to Puck and the more he thought about the strange nosebleeds the more he realized that something was definitely up with Rachel Berry.
Rachel was amazed that warning Puck about the future had actually worked. Perhaps the reason she could not alter the future was because of her psychic powers but if she informed another person of what they would need to do to avoid the future maybe they could change it. Could she stop her future death this way? And then she realized that her future seemed to have some connection with Noah Puckerman. Nothing was set in stone yet but the tactile weight of a ring on her finger still tingled whenever she absently rubbed her left ring finger. There was no guarantee that Rachel would marry Puck but she began to wonder if he was the person she should finally tell the truth about her powers to.
Not right now of course though he will obviously have questions after tonight. She noticed the three cheerleaders slash glee clubbers eyeing her curiously and she waved to them.
She was going to truly give up on Finn like she probably already had over this past month and instead focus on this new relationship with Noah, whatever this relationship might be called.
McKinley won the game, barely, but a win is a win and Puck was happy to see Rachel jump into his arms. He swung her around being careful of her stomach and then set her back on her small feet. "Wanna come with me to the after party at Davidson's house?" Puck husked into her ear. Rachel pulled away in surprise and then beamed. She pulled out her list and a gold star.
"Get invited to a highschool party and go? Check!" Rachel placed the star on the paper and then linked arms with Puck who rolled his eyes at how silly the pint sized diva was.
They arrived at the highschool party after Rachel texted her Dads that she would be home by curfew, Puck promised. Rachel slid out of the cab of the truck carefully and followed Puck into the party.
"Puckerman! Good job with the heads up on that 30-douche!" one of the basketball jocks hollared the moment they entered the big house.
Puck slung an arm around Rachel's shoulder. "It was all this chick, man! She warned me at half time."
When a few people looked at Rachel skeptically she stood straighter and raised her head. "My father played basketball for Ohio State. I had a feeling about what they would be doing and I went with it." A few jocks near by invited Rachel to high five them and she did daintily while Puck smirked proudly at the girl under his arm.
Santana burst through the crowd and spotted Rachel. "Man Hands! Come get bombed with meeee!" Santana grabbed Rachel's hand and began dragging her away from Puck who glared at her. "I promise to bring her back in once piece asshole so stop lookin' at me like that." Puck gave her the finger and followed them into the kitchen where Santana mixed drinks for Rachel.
The rest of the jock and cheerleader gleeks entered as well as Tina who was pressed into Mike's side. They gathered around the kitchen and Puck loudly bemoaned his DD status as the group did shots. Santana eyed Rachel after the first round and then set up five glasses in front of her.
"Bet you can't do all these in a row Rach." Santana challenged poking Rachel in the side. Rachel squeaked away from the poke and then met Santana's challenge with a determined look.
"Watch this..." Rachel did all five shots in under a minute and smirked at Santana who looked impressed. Though Rachel was now not able to stand up straight she leaned against a shocked Puck.
"How'd you do that babe? That was awesome!" Puck praised though he was concerned that Rachel would be throwing up soon.
Rachel turned towards the group and threw out her arms. "NO GAG REFLEX!" she screamed and the group busted out laughing in hysterics while Puck stared dumbly down at her then grinned lecherously.
"You think maybe you wanna prove that babe?" Puck growled against her ear and Rachel looked up at Puck confused.
"But I just did! You wanna see me do it again?" Rachel slurred as she started lining up the glasses but Puck quickly stopped her.
"No no lush that's enough. I think you need some air babe." He started pulling her away from her precious alcohol and out the back screendoor to the backyard. He found a hamock set up between two oak trees and he plopped in it and then pulled Rachel in with him.
"Oh my GLEE! I've never been in a hammock before~~! I should add this to the list!" Rachel slurred and started to feel around her pockets. Puck chuckled and petted her hair.
"How about you do that tomorrow when your vision isn't swimming?"
Rachel considered this and then nodded in agreement. "You're right. Thank you for invitin' me Noah." Rachel snuggled her face into his toned chest and sighed.
A smile tugged at his lips as he lightly massaged her neck. "No prob babe."
They relaxed in the hammock for a few minutes when Puck blurted the question that had been bugging him all night. "What's with the nosebleeds Rach?"
Rachel shifted to rest her chin on his chest so she could look up at him and then the soft pad of her finger pressed to his full lips. "sssshhhhh! It's a secret!"
"What's a secret?"
Rachel cuddled back to his chest and started to tap her fingers like she was playing the paino on his abs. "I can't tell you cause it's a secret!"
"Why can't you tell me?" he prodded and tried not to squirm, not a good idea to let a drunk know you're ticklish.
"Cause then you'll think I'm a freak." Rachel pouted and Puck snorted.
"Who doesn't think that?"
Rachel burst into giggles and smacked Puck in the chest. "Your so mean!" Puck laughed with her and decided to let the interrogation go for now.
Chapter 4: Rachel is all healed up and she and Puck start working on that list while her visions get her into a world of trouble.