Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, but I wish I did.

AN: I apologise for any waffling, this chapter was 3700+ words and now its 5000+ words. I can't help it, I just go on and on and on and on...you get the picture. So better shut me up now or I will go on forever.

Make Me Forget


Chapter 13 – Good News, Bad News

Sectionals were held a town away, so it was a short drive. They had all compiled money to hire a bus that could carry Artie's wheelchair so they could travel together. Mr Shue had a thing about team spirit and seemed to think traveling together made a difference; no one argued with his logic, it made sense. Rachel and Puck snuggled up into two seats towards the back and Puck was doing everything he could to make sure that Rachel didn't feel car sick. Mr Shue and Miss Pillsbury shared a seat which caused a few raised eyebrows, mostly from Kurt who was ready to play another game of matchmaking since his plan to get Puck and Rachel together had gone so well. Miss Pillsbury was still engaged to Coach Tanaka however so that made getting Mr Shue and Miss Pillsbury together a little difficult, plus Mr Shue was wallowing in self pity since his divorce became finalized. The Glee Club half expected him to go through some sort of midlife crisis and buy a motorcycle or suddenly take up skydiving, which hadn't happened yet, but they figured it was only a matter of time. Brittany and Mike sat together, with Santana and Matt behind them. Tina and Artie sat together of course and Mercedes sat with Quinn leaving Finn to sit with Kurt who was delighted with the pairing. So what if Finn clearly wasn't gay? Kurt could still enjoy the view close up and dream. They got to the venue, signed in and were getting ready backstage when Kurt called an impromptu Glee meeting in the middle of the dressing room ignoring the other show choirs that were giving them strange looks.

"Hands in bitches and gentleman," Kurt announced placing his hand in the middle and Mr Shue frowned at him sternly but let the 'bitches' comment slide since none of the girls seemed bothered by it, in fact Santana and Brittany giggled.

Everyone placed their hands in and then waited for Finn. Finn hesitated then placed his hand on the top of the pile careful not to touch Quinn and Puck, like they had some sort of disease. They all raised their hands and cheered then took their places side stage. Rachel and Puck shared a quick kiss just as they were given the okay and the McKinley High Glee Club took their places on stage. Rachel felt her excitement building; this was the moment they had been working for, everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks paled in comparison to this moment.

The lights were shining brightly as the music began and Rachel looked behind her at her team, her family. She was so proud to know them, to sing with them. Puck saw her looking and winked at her and she grinned then looked over to Finn who smiled a real smile for the first time in month's, excitement touching his handsome features. Rachel knew it would all come together as Finn sang his first lines.

"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train going anywhere."

They finished to silence and then the audience rose to their feet clapping their hands enthusiastically. It was a great response to their song. There were only two other teams competing for Sectionals and both were really good, especially the school for girls just out of juvenile detention. Rachel was hoping that the judges would place McKinley's more nostalgic type Glee Club over the juvie Glee Club who did more dancing than singing, while McKinley were more singing focused. When it came time to announce the winner the whole Glee club stood in a row hands clasped and eyes shut tightly. Rachel stood between Puck and Finn, and beside Finn was Tina, then Artie, then Santana, Matt, Brittany, Mike, Quinn, Kurt, Mercedes and Mr Shue. This was their moment. This was everything.

"The winner is McKinley High, congratulations!"

The Glee club were practically dancing out of the bus when it pulled up at the school car park, still buzzed off the high of winning Sectionals. Puck picked Rachel up and spun her around and she was laughing for a moment before she smacked his arm for him to put her down. She promptly fell to her knees and emptied her stomach. Puck held back her hair mentally kicking himself for being so reckless with her. Spinning pregnant ladies is never a good idea.

"Rachel, are you okay?" Finn asked worriedly coming over to her, completely ignoring Puck and Rachel wiped her mouth with embarrassment. This was not the most dignified position to be in. Mercedes handed her a water bottle which she drank from and then spat out to get the taste of vomit from her mouth.

"I'm fine, all the excitement just catching up with me," she assured Finn, her voice shaking. The original Gleeks, Puck, Mr Shue and Miss Pillsbury knew Rachel was pregnant but no one else knew and they wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Quinn and Finn weren't ready to hear Rachel was pregnant, not this soon after losing Sarah.

"After party at my place!" Kurt could always be counted on to diffuse a sticky situation and Mercedes was never far behind.

"You all better show your faces," she threatened the group and everyone laughed. Mercedes didn't bother looking at Quinn, Rachel or Puck since Kurt had driven them here and they wouldn't be able to escape.

"Count us in!" Santana laughed as she, Matt, Mike and Brittany headed to her car. Artie's dad was waiting for him with the special van.

"Us too," Artie vouched for him and Tina after sharing a look with his dad to check it was okay. There was a pregnant pause.

"Finn?" Mercedes asked and Finn looked the ground before nodding.

"Okay."

It was pretty late when they reached Kurt's, around midnight but they hoped the celebration would last till morning. Kurt's dad opened up the front door and hugged his son proudly. Kurt brushed aside his father's praises a little embarrassed and invited everyone down to his basement room. Kurt's dad blocked Puck's entry to talk with him.

"Hello Puck."

"Mr Hummel," Puck greeted him awkwardly remembering the last time they were alone together and Kurt's dad smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Call me Burt," Kurt's dad said in a friendly way although he still seemed kind of awkward, especially when he apologized, "Sorry about thinking you were...you know."

Puck had to laugh, remembering the misunderstanding.

"It's cool," Puck said patting him on the back and Burt relaxed and moved to let him pass.

"You're sure you're not...?" Burt blurted out at the last minute and Puck glanced back at him and smirked. Burt looked almost sad Puck wasn't dating his son. Puck smiled smugly.

"I'm sure," Puck assured him and Burt shrugged his shoulders and moved back into the living room.

The party went all through the night and well into the morning. Kurt put on a CD of the greatest musicals of all time and he and Rachel were singing along while the others drank soda and toasted their success and chatted. Quinn was more quiet than the others, sitting in a corner sipping her drink, ignoring Santana and Brittany's attempted to include her in conversation. Puck noticed that Finn looked at Quinn a couple of times but made no move to talk to her. It was clear to everyone but Finn that he still cared about her, even after everything that happened.

After a while Mercedes was sick of musicals and declared that a rock band competition should take place. The teams were divided up. Brittany, Mercedes, Puck and Matt were the first team, Brittany singing, Mercedes playing the drums and Puck and Matt on bass and guitar. Second team was Santana on the drums, Kurt on bass, Tina singing and Finn on guitar. Last team was Mike on vocals, Artie on drums and Quinn and Rachel on bass and guitar. After a long, loud debate it was decided that Brittany's team were the champions.

It was almost a proper party, except Finn was actively ignoring Puck and Quinn. Rachel knew she should be grateful he was even here; everything else would come in time. And they had time; Regional's was in two months.

They were all coming down from their triumphant high when Mercedes came racing down the stairs.

"It's morning, the sun's about to rise," she said excitedly then she hauled Kurt to his feet, "Let's go watch the sunrise."

It was cold outside so Kurt grabbed a blanket and threw it around him and Mercedes and then the two scurried up the stairs. The others all looked at each other then raced to join them. There were only a couple of blankets so they had to pair up. Puck, Rachel, Quinn and Finn were the last four and there were only two blankets. Puck picked up one for him and Rachel and Finn looked down at the remaining blanket before he started to head up the stairs without another word. That message was clear; he would rather freeze than share with Quinn. Quinn's shoulders started to shake and Puck handed the blanket to Rachel before grabbing the blanket remaining. Rachel kissed him briefly before running after Finn.

"Hey Finn," she called out to him and Finn turned, surprised to see her coming after him alone, "share my blanket."

Finn glanced behind her hesitantly, as though waiting for Puck to come up after her but there was no one else.

"What about Puck?" Finn asked practically spitting out the name of his ex-best friend and Rachel shrugged holding out the edge of the blanket to him, silently offering for him to share with her.

"He will share with Quinn," she said simply and Finn took the edge of the blanket as the two came to the front door walking in step together.

"You trust them?" Finn asked in disbelief and Rachel looked up at him.

"They are different people Finn," Rachel told him softly, and then she looked down at the ground, "And Noah trusts me with you."

Finn didn't say anything else; he and Rachel huddled together under the warmth of the blanket and exited the house to find the rest of the Glee Club sitting on Kurt's driveway awaiting the sunrise. Finn and Rachel took their seats on the driveway, and Puck and Quinn came out and joined them a couple of moments later. Quinn's eyes were red from crying but she managed a weak smile at Rachel and the others. Puck sat next to Rachel with Quinn on his other side and Puck reached out his hand to hold Rachel's from under the blanket. As a family the Glee kids watched the sunrise together.

On Monday morning Rachel asked Puck to take her to school early in the hopes of talking to Finn. Finn had taken to sitting on the bleachers in the mornings before school, enjoying the brisk morning air rushing across his face. Sometimes he forgot all the bad things that had happened when he sat here with his eyes closed, like the wind just blew them all away. A familiar scent of strawberries wafted over him and he turned to see Rachel slowly walking up the stairs towards him.

"You can't ignore them forever you know," Rachel reminded him taking a set beside him and Finn sighed. He knew that. He wasn't as dumb as they all thought...well maybe he was but not when it came to Quinn and Puck, not anymore.

"I can ignore them until it doesn't hurt to look at them," Finn replied tightly and Rachel placed a hand on his arm. Finn looked down at her small hand not saying anything else.

"I'm sorry Finn," she whispered feeling horrible that he was in this situation. She would not have wished this on anyone.

Finn shrugged not really in the mood to talk about what happened. He looked over at her fondly brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. They stared up at each other for a moment.

"You and I never had a chance did we?" he asked her almost sadly and Rachel looked down at her hands uncomfortably as he continued staring off into the distance, "You were single and I was with Quinn. Now I'm single and you're with Puck. It's like you and I never had a chance, we were never going to end up together. In another time and another place we could have been perfect together but not here, not now."

Rachel sighed and rested her head against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They stayed like that for a while and just for a moment each imagined what would have happened if fate had been on their side rather than against it. But...things were what they were and even though Rachel's life was now nothing like what she had planned when the year began, she wouldn't change it for the world, not now that she had Noah and her baby and wonderful friends.

"We will always be friends," Rachel promised him squeezing his hand and Finn bent his head and kissed her cheek in a friendly gesture.

"I can deal with that," he agreed giving a chuckle and Rachel pulled away from him and held out her hand to officiate the moment. Finn gazed down at her hand then shook it firmly, a grin coming to his face. They smiled at each other with complete understanding and Rachel decided to push her luck just that little bit further.

"Will you please try to forgive Quinn and Puck?"

"Not yet, I need more time," Finn replied gruffly, a mask of coldness falling over his face. Rachel regretted pushing him when she saw how hurt he became at the mention of their names. She opened her mouth to apologize but was interrupted.

"Rachel!"

Rachel turned to see Puck standing at the bottom of the bleachers pointing to his watch and she realized that it was time for school to begin and she didn't want to be late.

"I have to go," she said to Finn, and then she placed a hand on his shoulder, "Please try."

Finn grunted at her and she knew it was the best she was going to get. Rachel squeezed his shoulder once more for good luck then carefully descended the stairs into Puck's waiting arms. Puck didn't ask her to tell him what she and Finn talked about instead he took her into his arms and held her. Rachel hugged him tightly, wishing there was something she could do to fix the broken friendship between the two men she adored and mend Finn's broken heart.

The next month passed by quickly. Now that she was dating Puck, Rachel had taken to going to football games. She didn't understand anything that was going on, such as why the strangely shaped ball was so very important to the boys and why they had to beat eachother mercilessly to acheive a goal or whatever it was called, but she knew Puck appreciated seeing her there every week, cheering him on even though their team was awful and barely won any games. He was so protective, making sure that she was wrapped up and covered properly at all times. The other Glee kids who weren't in Cheerio's or football accompanied her and it became a weekly Friday night ritual. She started to enjoy going to the games and cheering the team, and she waited for Puck during football practices as well. Slushie attacks had ceased on Rachel and most of the Glee Club, Finn must have taken a stand against the hockey team, but Quinn and Puck must have been excluded because they got hit at least three times a week. Rachel spent a fair bit of her day cleaning them both up in the bathroom but she didn't mind looking after them. After all, cleaning off slushie was her forte. Puck was working hard at his job and saving all the money he earned for when he would start looking for an apartment to move into after Rachel had the baby and he graduated. They still had a pretty huge problem considering they hadn't told their parents yet.

Mr Shue asked them to stay behind after Glee one Wednesday afternoon. Once they were sure the others were gone Mr Shue put on his concerned 'teacher' face. He had actually been doing better since his divorce, he smiled a lot more now, and seemed more relaxed.

"Have you told your parents yet?" he asked them sternly and Rachel looked down at her hands and fiddled them nervously. Puck looked at the ground awkwardly.

"No, not yet," Rachel admitted softly and Puck took one of her hands in his and linked his fingers with hers in an effort to calm her down.

"We are going to tell them on Friday; tomorrow Rachel has an ultrasound where we find out the sex," Puck told him what he and Rachel had agreed earlier that week and Mr Shue gave a small smile. Hearing about babies wasn't exactly a happy occurrence for him, but he was a teacher first and foremost and wanted to be there for his students.

"That's wonderful, what are you hoping for?" Mr Shue asked and Rachel grinned placing her free hand on her stomach fondly.

"I keep changing my mind," she said giggling and Puck looked over at her adoringly before his eyes drifted to her stomach.

"I'm happy as long as he or she is healthy."

Mr Shue got to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets. Rachel and Puck got to their feet as well.

"Okay well if you need my help at all, you know how to reach me," Mr Shue offered and Puck and Rachel were grateful to have him there as a friend and teacher.

"Thanks Mr Shue," Puck said, meaning it. Mr Shue had been really great, especially with the not telling their parents and keeping it from Finn, Quinn, Mike, Matt, Santana and Brittany. They didn't like keeping it from the other Glee kids but they just weren't ready to tell everyone yet.

"We really appreciate your support," Rachel assured him and on a whim leaned over and hugged Mr Shue. Puck wrapped his arms around her and slowly walked her out to his car.

Mr Shue watched them go and couldn't believe his eyes. If you had told him a couple months ago that he would be watching Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman walk away from him with arms wrapped around eachother, he would have asked you if you were sure they weren't actually trying strangle one another. At the beginning of the year Puck was throwing slushies on Rachel and she had thought he was a brainless Neanderthal and now midway through the year they were in love and having a baby. They were proof that people could change for the better.

Puck and Rachel were strolling into the near empty parking lot when they heard an argument taking place. They paused and hid behind Puck's truck as Miss Pillsbury and Coach Tanaka came striding towards Miss Pillsbury little white car. Coach Tanaka looked upset.

"Why won't you set a date for the wedding Emma?" Coach Tanaka demanded, his spit flying everywhere and Miss Pillsbury cringed away from him as he continued accusingly, "It's because of him isn't it?"

"I just don't think it is appropriate for us to have our wedding while Will is mourning the breakdown of his marriage," Miss Pillsbury told him in a very calm voice, taking a wet wipe from her hand bag and wiping her cheek discreetly. Coach Tanaka eyed her silently, his dark eyes looking down at her.

"Or are you just putting it off in hopes he will want you?" Coach Tanaka asked her darkly and Miss Pillsbury shook her head.

"Ken, I said I would marry you, and I will," she told him firmly and Coach Tanaka stared down at her intently before he turned and stormed off. Miss Pillsbury turned away from him and leaned against her car sighing deeply. She sure didn't look like a woman happily engaged to the man of her dreams. Puck and Rachel waited until Miss Pillsbury got into her car and drove off before getting into Puck's truck in silence.

"They are completely wrong for each other," Rachel stated when Puck pulled out of the car park and Puck frowned, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Rach, this is the one thing you have to keep your nose out of, we don't need any more problems between Glee and football," Puck told her seriously. If Coach Tanaka got pissed off again and changed any practices he would have troubles not only with fitting in Glee but with his job as well and he needed that job to support Rachel and their baby. Rachel sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Congratulations, it's a boy."

Rachel's mouth dropped open and Puck's grin widened.

"A boy," Rachel breathed in disbelief, staring up at the doctor who nodded with a warm smile.

"We're having a boy," Puck repeated grinning like an idiot. He wanted to swing Rachel up into his arms but since she had the goo all on her belly he settled for kissing her forehead gently. Rachel was speechless; delighted and for once in her life absolutely speechless.

They drove home in comfortable silence, both thinking of the baby boy Rachel was carrying. Puck kept his hand resting on her belly for the entire drive. He pulled up to her house and Rachel looked over at the house hesitantly, not getting out of the truck. Two men were standing on the porch, waiting for her.

"My dad's have been asking me who the boy is that picks me up and drops me off from school every day. I finally told them you were my boyfriend and they were quite adamant that they want to meet you," Rachel said quickly turning to him and Puck was immediately nervous. Rachel's daddy was dark and tall and a little intimidating. Her dad was shorter with glasses and didn't look quite so scary but still Puck was pretty much shitting himself. There were two of them and only one of him. He managed a calm smile for her though, not letting on.

"Okay."

"Be back for dinner at five," she ordered punctuating her request with a kiss and Puck realized what it was she was saying, why her hands were shaking a little.

"We're telling them tonight?" Puck asked for confirmation and Rachel looked back up at her dad's then at Puck.

"Yes," she confirmed, then she kissed him goodbye and slid out of the truck. Puck didn't think he had ever driven as fast as he did all the way home.

He kissed his mother when he got home and stood there through her usual questions. How was school, how was Rachel, how was football, how was Glee? Puck was so distracted he gave her a quick couple of answers then went straight to his room and opened up his closet. He pondered what outfit would be suitable for telling your girlfriend's parents, whom you had never properly met, that you got their only child pregnant. He had a nice pair of jeans that he wore when they did that number with April Rhodes, they looked good on him. He quickly pulled on the jeans then peeled off the t-shirt he was wearing since he didn't think his usual t-shirts would cut it for dinner with his baby mama's parents.

He was in the process of trying to pick out a shirt when his cell rang. Puck put it on speaker so that he could keep looking for a shirt while talking, not even taking note of who was on the other line. In hindsight he probably should have checked if he didn't want to be ambushed.

"Hey big daddy, how'd the ultrasound go?" Kurt's voice came through the speaker and Puck paused what he was doing and turned to stare at the phone.

"How did you know about that?" Puck demanded knowing that he hadn't told anyone except Mr Shue. Rachel probably told Kurt, she told Kurt everything now which Puck kind of felt weird about but couldn't do anything to stop it. The worst part was that Kurt always told Mercedes, Tina and Artie everything Rachel told him, so all four of them knew embarrassing things about Puck with which they could one day blackmail him with.

"Please, I know everything, I'm like a super gossip ninja. Only I have much more sense than to wear that black atrocity all the time," Kurt declared proudly and Puck rolled his eyes returning his attention to the closet and his quest for a shirt that said 'I know I knocked up your daughter but please don't kill me'.

"Ultrasound was good, the baby is healthy," Puck said quickly, not letting it slip that they found out the sex, but he should have known that Kurt would know they were finding out the sex today. It would be the only reason he called, although Puck wondered why he hadn't just called Rachel. Rachel was probably smart enough to not pick up her phone now that Puck thought about it.

"And is it a boy or a girl?" Kurt pressed him for answers and Puck picked up a dark green buttoned shirt and held it up against himself in the mirror. He tried the shirt on but it didn't fit him, the damn thing wouldn't even button up. He threw it to the ground in disgust. He hadn't worn a button down shirt since he was a freshman, and he had bulked up a lot since then.

"I think Rachel would really prefer to tell..." Puck tried to avoid telling their news and there was the sound of a scuffle coming from the phone. Puck started rummaging for the blue long sleeved shirt he had worn with the jeans originally for that Glee number from the Invitational. That shirt was sure to fit him, if he could find the darn thing.

"Puck, so help me you better tell us the sex right now or I will come over there and beat your white ass with the collectors addition Star Wars figurine you have in your closet of Anakin Skywalker," Mercedes threatened him impatiently and Puck rolled his eyes, mentally making a note to tell Rachel to stop telling the others about his geeky habits. Like comic book collecting and Star Wars obsessing.

"It's a boy," he said wanting to get rid of them. In the background he could hear Tina, Artie and Kurt making excited noises, squealing and such.

"Congratulations!" the four of them chimed loudly and Puck successfully found the shirt he was looking for although it was crushed. Puck checked the time, he had fifteen minutes to be at Rachel's, and now he had to iron a shirt as well.

"I gotta go guys, I gotta get ready for dinner, we are telling Rachel's parents tonight," Puck told them hoping to get them off the phone and Kurt gasped.

"Oh crap," he squeaked in alarm and the others fell silent. That was a little weird.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Puck asked hesitantly. They were really starting to freak him out.

"Alan Berry is a lunatic," came Artie's ominous voice from the speaker.

Puck laughed but stopped abruptly when none of the others laughed with him. Holy shit they were serious, Alan Berry was a crazy person. Puck should have known Rachel got her craziness from somewhere. Puck was a dead man.

AN: Back when I was in high school (a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) me and my friends always used to have sleepovers where we ended up wrapped with 2-3 of us in blankets on the driveway watching the sunrise, so this was a bit of nostalgia for me. At 5am in the morning a peace settles over you, especially if you pull an all nighter. For the Glee Club this was the moment where everything was at peace, if only for a moment.

OMG I didn't realise Glee has 9 more episodes of Season 1 to film...YES!!! Bring on Puck and Rachel. I heard that the producers or whatever were surprised by the Puckleberry response from fans and were going to incorporate that more. Hurray! Puckleberry fans unite! If there is a petition or if someone knows how to create one to send to the Glee producers/writers to get Puck and Rachel together let me know because I will sign it and post it in my story to make everyone vote as well!!!!

NEXT CHAPTER: Puck and Rachel tell the folks their news, living arrangements are changed, and Rachel and Kurt decide on yet another intervention to get Quinn her 'groove' back.

As my Kurt would say REVIEW BITCHES! LOL I love Kurt.