Disclaimer: Huge surprise I don't own Glee.
AN: Sorry for the wait! Extra long chapter to make up for it. Get yourself a nice tea and Arnotts Farmbake choc chip cookies, if you don't have access to them I am so sorry for you. Those cookies complete my life, seriously.
Chapter 21 - Flying Fists, Baby Lists and Monkeys at the Zoo
Rachel woke up to find all the girls from Glee crowded around her bed staring down at her. She rubbed her eyes sleepily. They had not been there when she went to sleep, which brought on the question of how they got into the room.
"It's so cute," Brittany gushed and Rachel raised an eyebrow. They so better not be calling her 'IT', she felt fat enough as it was without being referred to as an entity.
"Can I touch it?" Santana asked Rachel who belatedly realized that their eyes were fixed on her belly. Her t-shirt had ridden up during the night and her belly was poking out. Rachel shrugged.
"Touch away."
The girls poked and prodded to their heart's content and Rachel looked over at Mercedes who was reading a magazine and Tina who was reading over her shoulder. Mercedes and Tina had poked her belly enough on the drive yesterday. Quinn too refrained from touching her belly but Rachel could understand her aversion, it had only been nearly three months since she lost her and Noah's baby. Though Quinn seemed a little distracted this morning, in a dreamy kind of way.
"How did you guys get in?" Rachel queried finally sitting up and yawning. All the girls were dressed in their normal attire, except Santana, Quinn and Brittany were wearing normal clothes instead of the Cheerio uniforms. Brittany bounced on the edge of Rachel's bed.
"Miss P let us in, she went down to breakfast already with Mr Shue and the boys," Santana explained her eyes not leaving Rachel's belly.
She had a strange fascination with Rachel's belly; she thought Rachel's belly button was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. It, like, poked out and everything. Rachel looked over at Quinn and grinned
"So," Rachel couldn't resist being nosy. She really did love sticking her nose into other people's business like Noah always told her but she couldn't help it.
"So," Quinn replied purposely being secretive and Rachel was practically bouncing in her bed from anticipation. They had gone through a lot last night to make sure Quinn and Finn were able to get in some 'special cuddles' time, the least Quinn could do was confirm whether or not the mission was a success. Santana seemed to realize that they were now free to question Quinn mercilessly about her night of debauchery with Finn and grinned wickedly.
"How was it?" Santana asked curiously, and then she giggled, "Were there any early arrivals?"
Quinn blushed bright red and shook her head, refusing to answer. Not that the girls would let her get away with that.
"Share girl, some of us are still virgins," Mercedes look over at the other girls for one of them to agree with her but Brittany, Santana and even Tina averted their eyes and Mercedes groaned, "Are you serious? I'm the only single person in Glee and the only virgin?"
The three other girls shrugged their shoulders helplessly, but then Brittany perked up.
"Matt's still a virgin," she blurted out trying to comfort Mercedes and Santana's eyes widened as she nudged Brittany to shut up.
"So you and Matt never...?" Mercedes asked Santana in shock and Santana sighed, wondering how the conversation had swapped from Finn and Quinn to her and Matt.
"Matt and I were good friends before we started dating. We have tried a couple of times but we just end up laughing at each other," Santana admitted shaking her head with a fond smile on her face as she remembered the couple of attempts that all ended in disaster. Santana was beginning to think that she and Matt were better off as friends; not that she was ready to reveal that to anyone just yet. She was uncomfortable with the attention she was receiving so she gazed over at Quinn, "I thought we were interrogating Quinn not me."
"Oh yeah, spill Quinn," Tina was really getting into the questioning now. Quinn sighed giving in.
"It was perfect, a little awkward at first but then...it all just came together and it was good," Quinn finally said knowing she had to give them something or they wouldn't leave it alone and the other girls all squealed excitedly. Tina checked her watch and looked over at Rachel.
"Come on you have to get ready, we need to get breakfast before sightseeing today," Tina encouraged throwing aside her covers and Rachel grudgingly got out of bed.
"Not that there is much to see in Cleveland," Quinn muttered under breath and Rachel turned to her.
"On the contrary, there is a wonderful city tour operated by Lolly the Trolley and..." Rachel was cut off by Tina throwing a dress at her that she had taken haphazardly from Rachel's suitcase.
"Get dressed Rachel; you can lecture us on sightseeing in Cleveland after."
Wearing a printed baby doll dress Rachel was feeling prettier than she had felt in a long time. Being seven months along her stomach was now clearly showing and it was a miracle when she didn't feel like a walking house. They exited the room to head towards the elevator when they heard a conversation between two old ladies who were walking to their room.
"I couldn't sleep and went onto our balcony early this morning and there was a naked boy on the balcony next to mine!" the first old lady exclaimed, sounding absolutely horrified.
Quinn blushed bright red on hearing this, knowing exactly who it was the old lady had seen. The other girls started giggling behind their hands.
"I saw a girl in her underwear running through the halls," the other lady confessed, her voice a loud whisper and Brittany covered her face with her hand in case the old ladies turned around and saw her recognizing her as the underwear clad teen from the night before.
"This hotel is supposed to be classy," the first old lady tutted, shaking her head with disappointment.
As soon as the two women were past, the Glee girls burst into laughter pressing the button for the elevator. They didn't have to wait very long. The girls all shimmied into the elevator with an elderly couple who must have been staying at the hotel as well. Rachel felt their judging eyes on her and she protectively rested her hand on her rounded belly.
"So young, such a waste," they all heard the old woman whisper haughtily to her husband and Santana spun around sneering.
"Keep your opinions to yourself," Santana snapped and the couple averted their eyes.
Rachel felt tears pricking at her eyelids and Mercedes rubbed her back comfortingly. Rachel knew leaving Lima that she would have to put up with the stares and judgements of people, but actually experiencing it was something completely different. Right now she just needed to see Puck. What she didn't expect to see when they walked into the restaurant was Puck, Matt, Finn and Mike surrounded by a bevy of teen girls at the bread station.
Puck was standing at the buffet with Finn, Mike and Matt and they were surrounded by a group of four girls. Rachel, Quinn, Santana and Brittany stalked over but the boys had yet to see them too wrapped up in their new adoring fans.
"What school are you from?" one girl asked twirling her strawberry blonde hair around her finger, smiling coyly up at Puck.
Puck looked bored, but he was waiting for his toast and refused to leave without it. A gaggle of teenage girls wasn't going to get in the way of him and food. Finn for his part looked uncomfortable at the extra attention he was receiving. Matt was waiting impatiently for Puck's toast to pop out so he could stick his bread in, and Mike was half paying attention to the girls and half considering what spread to put on his toast. To butter or not to butter, that was the question. Or should he go for the jelly?
"McKinley High," Mike informed the girls quickly giving a smile as he decided on peanut butter and the girls giggled thinking his smile was directed at them.
"You don't look like the usual show choir boys," another commented coquettishly pushing right up close to Matt and Santana bristled with rage about to go over there and lay down the Latina law but Quinn held her back with a smile wanting to see how the boys handled themselves.
"We play football as well," Matt informed her taking a step backwards cluelessly, wondering why the girl was getting all up in his space.
"That explains the biceps," the more direct of the quartet commented reaching over and squeezing Finn's bicep, smiling flirtatiously up at him. She had flaming red hair and piercing green eyes that clearly liked what she saw. It was Rachel and Santana's turn to hold Quinn back to wait for Finn's response. Luckily Finn was dumb as a doornail when it came to innuendo and flirting.
"Yeah Coach makes us work out," Finn said shrugging like it was no big deal completely missing the fact that the girl was putting the moves on him and that was all Puck could take. The three guys had no idea these girls were trying to pick them up.
"Ladies, let me do all of you a favor," Puck announced then pointed to Finn, Matt, Mike and then himself adding, "Girlfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend and girlfriend with a baby on the way."
The four girls stared at them in shock. Puck's toast popped up and he grabbed them and swaggered away back to their table leaving a silence in his wake.
As soon as he put his plate down on the table Rachel threw her arms around his neck and kissed him thankful that he was hers. Mr Shue, who was sitting at a nearby table with Miss Pillsbury, cleared his throat and they broke apart grinning sheepishly. Puck left his plate and went off to get Rachel a plate of food and Matt sat down beside Rachel. The other boys came to sit at the table too while the girls and Kurt went to get their breakfast, Quinn, Santana and Brittany dropping kisses on their men as they went. Matt's eyes followed Kurt nervously and when Kurt was out of earshot Matt leaned in towards the centre of the table, gesturing for them to lean in as well.
"Do you think Kurt likes me?" Matt asked the table, his eyes wide.
"Of course he likes you, he likes all of us," Finn stated like it was common knowledge. Mike and Rachel glanced at each other and smiled. Finn was so dense, but it made him adorable.
"No I mean, like likes me," Matt said meaningfully wiggling his eyebrows and Rachel and Mike exchanged glances again before busting into laughter as Matt added indignantly, "I'm serious!"
Rachel and Mike couldn't stop laughing to answer him. Finn was just frowning in confusion wondering what was so funny. Finn was sure Kurt like liked everyone because Kurt was such a nice guy. Everyone returned to the table and Kurt sat opposite Matt who couldn't look him in the eye, worried that Kurt had a huge crush on him.
"Matt sorry about the 'kiss' last night, it was the best diversionary tactic I could come up with at such short notice," Kurt said absently as he took a dainty bite of his food and Matt frowned at him.
"Uh," Matt clearly had no idea what Kurt just said. Kurt sighed. His teammates were adorable, but so very, very dumb.
"It was the best way I could come up with to distract Mr Shue," Kurt explained himself in simpler terms and Matt smiled widely with relief.
"Oh, okay, cool man," Matt held out his fist over the table and Kurt returned the clenched fist punch. Matt frowned a little at Kurt then he asked hesitantly, "I was good right?"
"Magnificent," Kurt replied a little sarcastically but Matt was too busy looking proud to notice.
"Hear that San, I was magnificent," Matt nudged his girlfriend confidently and Santana rolled her eyes and shoved a hash brown into his mouth.
After breakfast, they met again in the lobby and Mr Shue called their attention by clapping his hands together.
"Anyone who has to go to the restroom, I suggest you go now," he reminded them and all the boys decided it was probably a good idea and Miss P, Tina and Mercedes made the move as well. Mr Shue saw Rachel hadn't moved and since she was the main perpetrator of the need to use a toilet on the trip to Cleveland he specifically reminded her, "Rachel you don't need to go?"
"As surprising as it may seem I do not need to use the facilities," Rachel replied, a little offended that he thought so little of her bladder control.
Mr Shue held up his hands in surrender and hurried to the toilet. Santana and Quinn boredly inspected their nails while Brittany played with Rachel's belly when they realized that there were four girls standing in front of them. Rachel recognized them as the four girls who had been accosting their boyfriends at the breakfast buffet earlier. The red head, the strawberry blonde, and two brunettes; all pretty and all looking at them like they were tiny little insects. The red was inspecting them with distaste.
"So you're the 'girlfriends' Mohawk guy was referring to," she commented rudely and Santana placed a hand on her hip, her head waggling from side to side.
"Yeah we are, so I suggest you lay off, they are taken," she spat back at the girl well used to bitch talk and the strawberry blonde gave a chilling smile and shrugged.
"People change their minds, especially teenage boys," strawberry blonde said sweetly glancing at her friends, and Quinn snorted at the silent message. There was no way their guys would fall for any of them.
"Don't make me laugh, you don't stand a chance with any of them," Quinn snapped, amused by them and one of the brunettes looked at her friends grinning wickedly.
"That sounds like a challenge doesn't it girls?"
Rachel had had just about enough of them. She recognized them as members of Vocal Adrenaline from Carmel High, so not only were they rivals personally but professionally as well and she was not about to let them try and walk all over McKinley High.
"Though I detest these childish displays," Rachel interrupted them all, glaring, "stay away from my boyfriend."
"Bet he's only with you because he knocked you up," the redhead retorted snidely, sneering at Rachel, her eyes resting on Rachel's belly. Rachel felt like someone had slapped her. In the darkest recesses of her mind she worried exactly that and to have someone say that to her; it hurt.
Someone's fist lashed out and punched Red across the face. Rachel expected it to be Santana or even Brittany but it was quiet, innocent looking Quinn who had thrown the punch. Red dropped like a sack of potatoes. Her followers rushed to her aide screeching loudly and Quinn winced and shook out her hand.
"Damn Quinn you throw down like a black girl," Mercedes screeched running over having seen the exchange and the group who had gathered outside the bathrooms turned around. Finn immediately ran to Quinn asking her what happened and Puck raced over to Rachel making sure she was okay.
"What happened?" he asked worriedly looking at the girl moaning on the ground then to Rachel and Quinn and Rachel grinned.
"Quinn punched that girl in the face," Rachel announced gleefully ignoring the moans coming from the girl behind them. Finn gaped at Quinn, not believing that Quinn of all people would punch someone. Santana was smirking approvingly while Brittany was just smiling, thinking it was amusing.
"My hand is killing me," Quinn groaned painfully and Mr Shue quickly ushered his group away, eager to avoid any repercussions.
They spent the morning on Lolly the trolley as Rachel had planned. Everyone grudgingly took part, not wanting to anger Rachel who had been scary enough when she wasn't pregnant and now she was absolutely frightening. Even Mr Shue seemed a bit wary of her. Once the mandatory sightseeing was over they had split off into two groups. Kurt, Brittany, Tina, Santana, Rachel and Quinn decided to go shopping at The Avenue, followed by some time at the Marengo Luxury Spa.
Artie, Matt and Mike wanted to head to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Finn and Puck figured that the zoo was better than shopping so they decided to join the guys. Mercedes seemed undecided and Puck wandered over to her. Puck liked Mercedes, she was a really cool chick and she was the first girl friend that Puck ever had, and that made her special to him.
"What's wrong my dark chocolate momma?" Puck asked her jokingly nudging her when Mr Shue and Miss Pillsbury were organizing what time to meet back at the hotel for dinner.
"Shopping again, it's always shopping with them," Mercedes huffed with annoyance. Mercedes loved her friends but they all had one track minds. She liked shopping, but she wasn't a fembot, she did have other interests.
"Come with us then," Puck offered shrugging turning Finn who nodded happy to have another member to their zoo team.
"You guys don't mind?" Mercedes asked hesitantly and Puck grinned.
"Hell no we don't mind," Puck slapped her on the back and Mercedes grinned happily.
"Okay, well let's meet up later," Mr Shue waved to Miss Pillsbury shyly while the guys said goodbye to their girls and each other then Mr Shue called a cab for his group while Miss P's group headed towards the shops giggling with anticipation.
After a great debate it was decided that they would visit the African Savannah area first because Matt really wanted to see the monkeys. Puck noticed Mercedes seemed to be hanging behind the rest of them, walking with Mr Shue. Puck frowned and slowed down so that he was walking with her and Finn noticed and slowed his steps too. Mike and Matt were completely oblivious as they ran into the nearest merchandise store and started doing sexual things with the stuffed toys, placing them in promiscuous positions and making them hump each other. Mr Shue sighed deeply and Puck swore he heard Mr Shue curse under his breath as he raced after them.
"What's wrong?" Puck asked and Mercedes shrugged a little embarrassed.
"The only guy I've ever hung out with is Kurt and he's lady fabulous, and you guys are like...real guys," Mercedes tried to explain why she felt so left out and Puck placed an arm around her shoulders confidently.
"You mean manly and dead sexy?" Puck suggested other words to describe himself and Mercedes gave him that look that said 'you're an idiot', but he just grinned.
"Yes that's exactly what I mean," Mercedes deadpanned and Puck chuckled, which turned into a cough when Mercedes elbowed him in the guts. Man, when would Puck learn not to put an arm around Mercedes? She always ended up getting him with that elbow of steel.
"Mercedes, we're your friends, just act like you normally do, we all like you as you are," Finn assured her smiling charmingly and Mercedes seemed to relax more at his words. Puck looked at Finn's face and shook his head. Puck was sure Finn could charm the panties off a nun if he tried, too bad he didn't know how to use his 'gift' to his greater advantage.
"Mike, put the giraffe down!" they heard Mr Shue cry out warningly and they turned to see Mike making out with a giraffe while Matt was in the display window humping a giant hippopotamus much to Mr Shue's embarrassment and the three dissolved into laughter. Mercedes relaxed a little more.
After Mr Shue had apologized to the souvenir store clerk he led them to Monkey Island.
"Look, monkeys!" Matt crowed with delight, pointing at the nearest monkey excitedly. Mercedes had to laugh at the look on his face. He looked like a kid on Christmas.
"That one looks just like you Rutherford," Puck commented grinning wickedly and Matt flicked him the finger in response.
"Bite me Puckerman."
"Hey Jones, come see this," Mike yelled at Mercedes waving her over and Mercedes had to smile at the fact he used her last name, the way all the guys did when they spoke to each other. Mike pointed out a couple of monkeys and they chatted about the different types on display. Turned out that Mike had a huge interest in animals and he shyly told her that he wanted to be a veterinarian.
"Don't tell the others, I don't want them to know that I'm smart," Mike said with a wink and Mercedes crossed her heart that she wouldn't tell and Mike smiled at her, "Glad you came with us Mercedes, it's nice to have someone to actually talk to."
"You could always talk to me Chang," Puck interrupted letting loose a loud burp in his face and Mike punched his arm.
"I'd rather light myself on fire," Mike quipped smartly which resulted in he and Puck engaging in a wrestling match. Mercedes watched them shaking her head before going to join Matt who was trying to entice a monkey to come to him with a Mars bar he had been carrying around in his pocket.
When lunch time swung around Mercedes, Puck and Matt offered to grab everyone food while Mr Shue, Finn and Mike saved them a table and seats since it was pretty crowded. Mercedes was standing in line waiting while Puck and Matt got some slushies from the machine a couple of feet away and she was aware of someone standing indecently close behind her. She twisted her head around to see a young guy standing behind her grinning. He was handsome enough, pretty tall; looking behind him Mercedes saw a group of teens so she guessed he was part of yet another show choir. The competition must be doing wonders for the local tourist economy.
"Hi," he greeted her and Mercedes smiled.
"Hi," she replied softly. She had never had a guy come up to her like this before; it was flattering and ego boosting.
"I'm Corbin," he introduced himself holding out a hand and Mercedes shook his hand introducing herself.
"Mercedes."
"Like the car?" Corbin was quick to clarify and Mercedes knew what was coming. She had heard every joke about her name; in fact a lot of them had come from Puck.
"Yeah."
"I'd like to take a ride with you sometime," Corbin gave her the best line he could come up with while placing a hand on her bottom and Mercedes narrowed her eyes dangerously. Oh hell no was this dude touching her goodies without her permission.
Matt gasped with outrage when he saw the tall, African American guy standing behind Mercedes place a wandering hand on her ass.
"Let's get him. He's touching her," Matt growled stalking towards them but Puck grabbed the back of his jacket, taking a leisurely sip from his slushie wanting to see how this panned out.
"Down Killer, Mercedes can take care of herself," Puck assured him, knowing from personal experience the beastly arm Mercedes had on her, and that she also had a wicked way with words. Mercedes half spun and cocked her head the way she did when a big speech was coming. Puck grinned in anticipation, oh this would be good.
"Firstly, if you think that line was suave you better think again because my two year old brother could come up with a better line than that," Mercedes snapped loudly and Corbin looked like he wanted to sink into the floor with embarrassment but Mercedes wasn't done. She looked pointedly down at the hand that was still attached to her lady hump, "And secondly, boy you better be taking your hand off my behind before I kick your ass into next year."
"Yes Ma'am," Corbin said quietly removing his hand and Puck and Matt walked back to Mercedes and both offered Corbin a glare. Corbin shuffled back to his friends in shame and humiliation.
"The nerve," Mercedes huffed tossing her head back and Puck couldn't resist teasing her.
"It's all that dark chocolate Mercedes, its irresistible," Puck whispered, his voice purposely deep, and Mercedes laughed and nudged him.
Mercedes decided that she liked having guy friends, especially ones like these.
Rachel's feet were killing her by the time they returned to the hotel later that afternoon. They met back up with the other group at 6pm at the hotel and decided to have an early dinner, as they all wanted to get to sleep early to prepare for the competition the next day. They were seated in the restaurant talking and laughing as they shared moments of their day when an official from the competition approached their table, a disapproving frown on his features.
"Are you William Schuester, Glee director for McKinley High?" the official asked sternly and Mr Shue frowned before getting to his feet.
"Yes."
"Come with me," the official turned his back and started walking but Mr Shue didn't follow him.
"What's going on?" Mr Shue demanded standing his ground and the official turned back to him, his gaze bored.
"The organizers want a word with you about the fact that your student punched another student from Carmel High," the official informed them briskly and Mr Shue looked over at Miss Pillsbury worriedly before following after the official. Conversation ceased at the table.
"Don't worry, Will...uh, Mr Shue will work everything out," Miss Pillsbury tried to alleviate their fears but the kids didn't relax.
They hadn't considered the consequences of what happened at breakfast. As one they all got up and raced after Mr Shue. Well, those who didn't have to waddle raced after Mr Shue. Rachel slowly got to her feet and she and Miss P followed the others at a leisurely state.
Outside of the conference room where Mr Shue had been taken they could all hear some of the conversation taking place inside.
"...unacceptable behavior....punishment..." came from a stern female.
"....lucky...didn't...call police...assaulted..." came a male voice this time, also not impressed.
"...ridiculous...my kids...protecting...bullying..." that was Mr Shue, always there to protect them and stand up for them.
They knew they were lucky to have a teacher like Mr Shue. Rachel was nervously gripping Miss P's hand and Miss P was breathing in deeply so that she didn't freak out. She was getting a lot better with the germ phobia after having spent so much time with the Glee club and having Quinn living with her.
"You don't think they will disqualify us do you?" Kurt gasped horrified at the thought. He and Mercedes had worked hard on their new costumes and if they didn't see the light of day he would be devastated; absolutely devastated. Mercedes patted him on the back to comfort him as Kurt looked like he was going to hyperventilate.
"I'm so sorry you guys," Quinn apologized, her eyes glistening with tears thinking that she had ruined their chances. Finn wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple lovingly.
"Don't be sorry Q, you defended my girl's honor," Puck spoke up holding out his fist to her and Quinn gave a small smile and punched his fist back with hers. The others murmured their agreement. If they got kicked out now it would suck, but they wouldn't blame Quinn, if any of them had a chance to do it over again, they all would have punched the girl...well the guys would have done something less violent but equally as memorable. After a couple more tense minutes Mr Shue finally emerged from the room running hand through his curls.
"What happened?" Tina asked hesitantly not really sure if they wanted to hear the answer and Mr Shue gave them a comforting smile.
"We got a stern warning, anymore funny business and we are out," he informed them, his eyebrows furrowing at his kids. So far they hadn't been angels so he was hoping for some sort of reassurance that they would actually make it to Regional's tomorrow. They had come too far to screw it up now.
"We will be on our best behavior Mr Shue, we promise," Artie spoke up, and the others voiced their firm agreement.
Competing at Regional's was everything they had dreamed it would be, if not more. The lights, the music, the crowd, the excitement; it was the culmination of all their hard work. To Rachel, the feeling of being on a stage singing her lungs out was the greatest moment in her life. When Puck took her hand and they locked eyes Rachel was sure she had never had a moment as perfect as this one right here, win or lose, this was their moment. Vocal Adrenaline and a lot of the other show choirs were great as well; they knew it would be a tough battle. The winners were announced and the McKinley High Glee Club clung to each other as their result was read out.
"Second place goes to McKinley High!"
The twelve teens all turned to each other.
"Second place, I can deal with that!" Mercedes cheered loudly and the others whooped their agreement as they pushed Quinn and Finn forward to accept the trophy.
Puck took Rachel's face between his hands and kissed her leisurely; ignoring the fact that Alan was probably in the audience and death staring him right now. Matt, Mike and Artie all made catcalls but Rachel and Puck completely ignored them. Quinn and Finn hugged each other awkwardly around the huge trophy. Tina threw herself into Artie's lap showering him with kisses; Brittany grabbed Santana and kissed her full on the mouth, much to Matt and Mike's delight. Mercedes and Kurt gave each other cheek air kisses, and then Mercedes was tucked into a bear hug with Matt and Mike. The kids barely registered Vocal Adrenaline winning first place; somehow it didn't matter to them. All that they cared about was that they did their best. The night was over and the teens flooded into the lobby of the theatre where they attacked Mr Shue and Miss P into a group hug cheering loudly. They handed Mr Shue the trophy and he smiled proudly.
"Guys, I cannot tell you just how proud I am of you; of all of you, to think at the start of this year we barely had enough members to compete and now look at us, second place at Regional's. For a newly started Glee Club I'd say that's a pretty good effort," Mr Shue gave his speech and Puck raised his fist to the sky in salute.
"Hell yeah!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and the others all raised their fists as well to echo his sentiment, even Rachel.
"Noah!" Hannah screeched, barrelling across the lobby and then attaching herself to Puck's legs.
She was followed by the rest of the parents of the Glee club. Dianna, Alan and Richard congratulated Rachel and Puck with hugs. Burt Hummel was well out of his element in this place where men and women sang and danced. He held back behind the rest of the parents who were coming forward to congratulate their children. Finn's mom was giving Quinn and Finn a dual hug bawling her eyes out. When Kurt saw Adam he practically jumped on him. Burt cleared his throat loudly and the two boys pulled apart grinning at each other as they let Burt tell Kurt how proud he was of him.
The Berry's had driven with Puck's mom and sister and the other parents had car pooled together but the surprise audience member was Principal Figgins. He approached Mr Shue with a smile on his face.
"So I guess you are going to cut Glee now?" Mr Shue said to him a little down heartened and the mood of all present dropped slightly.
"Why would I do that?" Principal Figgins asked in disbelief and Mr Shue frowned reminding him of their deal earlier in the year. Principal Figgins had said that if the kids didn't make it to Nationals then Glee was over.
"We didn't make it to Nationals."
Principal Figgins gave a small chuckle.
"Will, I didn't expect them to make it through Sectionals, but you've proven that Glee overcomes expectations, plus; we have been garnering support all year, if you are happy to keep running Glee, I look forward to seeing them win Nationals next year," Principal Figgins recanted his deal and the mood lifted again. Glee was safe for another year.
"Thank you so much," Mr Shue gushed shaking Principal Figgins hand eagerly and Principal Figgins grinned a little evilly.
"Between you and me I look forward to seeing Sue Sylvester squirm when I tell her I am cutting her Cheerio budget next year," Principal Figgins admitted and that made Mr Shue laugh even harder.
Miss P started edging to the end of the crowd where Coach Tanaka was waiting for her impassively at the doors. He didn't come in to congratulate anyone; word was, he was pissed off at Miss P for coming to Regional's in the first place. Mr Shue turned to Miss P and started walking towards her. Rachel elbowed Puck in the side with, thankfully, less force than Mercedes possessed and Puck grabbed Finn, Mike, Adam and Matt and they all walked over to Coach Tanaka, blocking his view of his best friend and his fiancée. Rachel, Kurt and Quinn watched excitedly as Mr Shue engulfed Miss P in a tight hug the three teens sure that this was the moment that Mr Shue would realize exactly how he felt about their school counsellor.
"Thank you so much Emma, we would never have gotten this far without you," Will said to her just loud enough for the three eavesdroppers to hear. They committed each word to memory so that they could recount the tale on the bus ride home. Mr Shue pulled back from Miss P and their lips were mere centimeters apart. Mr Shue swallowed with difficulty as his eyes stared down into Miss P's dreamily and he breathed, "Emma..."
"Will," Miss P whispered his name back and the two locked eyes for a long moment.
"Emma!" Coach Tanaka roared over his football players and Mr Shue and Miss P pulled apart guiltily much to the disappointment of those standing around them.
"I better go, Ken is driving me home," Miss P apologized and there was another moment with eyes locking and Miss P was gone.
"Damnit Mr Shue, must we rent you every romantic comedy so that you know how to win a girl?" Kurt demanded in exasperation and Mr Shue turned to Kurt with raised eyebrows while Rachel and Quinn shook their heads at him with disappointment. Mr Shue felt himself flush red when he realized that his students had seen, whatever it was just happened between him and Emma.
"Seriously Mr Shue, my little finger has more game than you do," Artie added shaking his head.
Mr Shue looked in the direction Emma had run off to. Soon, he promised himself, soon he would know exactly what to say, he just hoped that he wouldn't be too late.
"All right kids, let's get on the bus," Mr Shue called out the next morning and the kids started loading up the bus ready for the long drive back to Lima.
Mercedes watched as all the boys helped their girls with putting their bags on the bus and she sighed deeply, reaching for her own purple suitcase. Not for the first time she cursed being the only single person in Glee. Even Kurt had Adam who had caught a ride down with Mr Hummel the night before. Adam had stayed in the room with Puck and Mr Shue so that he could ride back with the team today. His grand gestures sent Kurt swooning like the leading lady in a movie and Kurt hadn't stopped talking about him. Mercedes would have paid money to shut him up last night, all she heard with Adam this, Adam that. Seriously, Mercedes knew more about Adam than she ever cared to know.
"Mercedes I'll get your bag," Matt interrupted her thoughts as he flashed her a friendly smile. He reached over to get her bag and Mercedes felt herself blush a little. She sighed adoringly as Matt hefted her bag onto the bus. Too bad he belonged to Santana. Mercedes turned when she heard someone say her name.
"Mercedes, like the car," Mercedes was surprised to see Corbin from the Zoo standing in front of her. He looked a little sheepish but he had a friendly smile on his face. His team had come in fourth.
"Corbin," Mercedes greeted him hesitantly wondering what was coming and Corbin looked down at the ground a little shyly.
"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for being inappropriate and I hope that we can hang out some time where I promise not to make any lame jokes and keep my hands where you want them," Corbin gave a laugh that Mercedes found incredibly charming and then he handed her a piece of paper with a phone number on it, "Here's my number, I hope you call me."
Corbin turned and walked off before Mercedes had a chance to respond. Mercedes stared down at the number in awe. She had never received a phone number in her life; she secretly wanted to sing out loud like they did in musicals expressing how incredible this moment was.
"Are you going to call him?" Matt appeared at her side glaring at the piece of paper in her hand and Mercedes laughed a little embarrassed that everyone had seen the exchange.
"Hell no, the crazy bastard touched my lady hump without my permission, there ain't no going back from that faux pas," Mercedes told Matt laughing and Matt looked somewhat relieved.
"Oh...cool," Matt said shyly, giving a happy smile. Mercedes liked the fact that Matt always had smiles to spare, he had a way of making people smile just like Brittany, it was endearing.
"Matt," Santana yelled for him and Matt flashed her another smile before running after his girlfriend. Mercedes looked down at the paper in her hand... On second thought; Mercedes pocketed the number just in case.
Puck and Rachel were snuggled into the seat together when Kurt peeked over the top of their chairs.
"So have you thought of any names for Puckleberry?" Kurt asked with feigned innocence and Puck shrugged.
"Not really."
He and Rachel had thrown a couple of names around but they had been so caught up with school and preparing for Regional's that it had honestly kind of slipped their minds.
"I'd like a Jewish name obviously," Rachel added into the conversation and Kurt grinned.
"How about Kaleb or Kobe?" he suggested hopefully and Puck rolled his eyes catching onto Kurt's plan. It was kind of freaky how well the Glee kids all knew each other.
"We are not giving our kid a name that starts with K just because yours does," Puck told Kurt in no uncertain terms and Adam had to hide his laughter behind his hand knowing Kurt would be angry if he saw him laughing at him. Mercedes giggled silently nudging Brittany and Santana to listen in.
"You suck," Kurt pouted folding his arms across his chest. The other kids and Mr Shue all leaned in to join the conversation. Puckleberry kind of felt like he belonged to all of them and they all wanted a say in his official name. Deep down they all knew they would call him Puckleberry regardless of what they actually named him.
"Elijah," Artie suggested proudly and Mike scoffed at the name.
"Sounds like an old man," Mike yelled out and Artie flicked him the finger that Mike happily returned.
"What about Eli?" Matt suggested and Brittany nodded.
"I like Eli," Brittany added her approval.
"I don't mind Eli, that's on the list," Puck said to Rachel who sighed and pulled out a notebook writing down Eli as a possible baby name.
"Artemas."
"Michah."
"Samuel."
"Can I just remind everyone that we will not be picking names that have the same first letter as anyone here? So stop suggesting names just because they start with the first letters of your names; Artie, Mike, Santana," Rachel said eyeing the three who all smiled innocently.
"Are there any modern names?" Tina asked, liking the traditional name theme Rachel was going for but finding the ones suggested so far a tad too old fashioned.
"Jaden," Mercedes piped up and Puck paused to consider.
"I like that one too, put that on the list," Puck tapped Rachel's book authoritively and she dutifully wrote it down.
"Nathanial," Quinn suggested, though secretly she wanted to keep that name for when she had her first son and Finn smiled at Quinn as though reading her mind.
"I like that name."
"I always thought Darius was a nice name," Mr Shue through out there and everyone paused to appreciate how awful the name was before ignoring his suggestion.
Rachel chewed on her pen lid thoughtfully.
"I was thinking a name that means something, I've been researching and I quite like the name Levi, it means united, I thought it was symbolic in a way, of how we all came together," Rachel proposed her choice and they all fell silent to absorb the name and what it meant to their little group of misfits.
"Levi Puckerman," Puck said liking the way the name sounded together.
"Levi Kaleb Puckerman," Kurt interjected grinning and everyone in the bus rolled their eyes.
"No way Kurt!" Puck got up and leaned over the pack of his seat to try and punch Kurt in the arm playfully and Kurt shrieked grabbing Adam and puling Adam to cover him.
"Save me!"
AN: Seriously, I reckon I would turn lesbian for Lea Michele, she is a sexy bitch. My poor husband LOL. Every time I hear Lea Michele sing I just melt like a school girl hearing the backstreet boys when they were popular hahaha.
It's so funny, the more I write the extra characters like Matt and Mike especially the more I like them and want to make my own side stories from them in this one. And I think I am getting a little more comfortable with Mercedes, although I really don't know any African American women and I don't want to stereotype so I hope I am doing okay with that. I seriously haven't really met any African American women, how odd is that?
NEXT CHAPTER: Who knows..Certainly not me. I'm pretty sure it's Prom actually and Mercedes gets her some love FINALLY!!!
P.S. I don't want to offend anyone named Darius or anyone who knows someone called Darius, I personally like the name, reminds me of Sailor Moon, "Oh Darian" and I loves me some Sailor Moon. It's just a kind of odd name and I couldn't be bothered finding another one to make fun of.