My Guardian Angel
A Glee Fan Fiction
Chapter 2
Puck was looking for Rachel. He needed to talk whatever crazy idea had been running through her head earlier that day when she'd told Finn Hudson yes to teenage marriage and throwing away her life. It was completely ridiculous and Puck refused to stand for it. He was going to...well, he wasn't sure what he was going to do, because he'd never thought Rachel would make a mistake that was so stupid in her life. After all, she was supposed to be his girl. He'd known her since...well, since she was born, practically. His mother and her fathers had been close, from the day they'd met at Temple when they'd first moved to Ohio. And, since Puck was six months older than Rachel, he'd been there when she'd been born. He was a baby, sure, but that didn't change the fact that he had dibs when it came to Rachel Berry.
He should have expected to find her in the auditorium. It was a little stupid of him not to look there, after all. It was the only place in that entire school where she'd ever felt one hundred percent comfortable with herself and who she was as a person. He wasn't sure why he hadn't looked there first, but, as that old saying goes, everything is always in the last place a person tries to look for it in. And, he picked that stage for his last spot to find her, right before Glee rehearsal during her last period free period. She was sitting there, with her hands folded in her lap, ankles crossed, as she stared down at her lap, singing a song that was one hundred percent un-Rachel Berry in each and every way. But, it was telling him something.
"Baby, what do you say, we just get lost/Leave this one horse town like two rebels without a cause/I got people in Boston/Ain't your daddy still in Des Moines/We can pack up tomorrow/Tonight, let's flip a coin/Heads-Carolina, Tails-California/Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer/Up in the mountains, down by the ocean/Where it don't matter as long as we're going/Somewhere together-I've got a quarter/Heads-Carolina, Tails-California," Rachel sang that old country song that Puck had on an old mix tape in his truck-if anybody ever laughed at his musical taste, he would kill them, not that it mattered what other people said about him, though. Just because it was rude, and Puck didn't take rude people very well.
"We can load what we own in the back of a U-haul van/Couple modern day Moses' searching for the promised land/We can go four hundred miles before we stop for gas/We can drive for a day and then we'll take a look at the map/Heads Carolina, Tails California/SOmewhere greener, somewhere warmer/Up in the mountains, down by the ocean/Where it don't matter/As long as we're going somewhere together/I've got a quarter/Heads Carolina, Tails California/We're gonna get outta here if we gotta ride a greyhound bus/Boy, we're bound to outrun the bad luck that's tailin' us," Rachel sang on, shaking her head as she slowly stood up, pacing back and forth around the edge of the stage, not realizing that anybody was there watching her.
"Heads-Carolina, Tails-California/Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer/Up in the mountains, down by the ocean/Where? It don't matter as long as we're going somewhere together/I've got a quarter/Heads-Carolina, Tails-California/O-oh, California! Carolina! California!" Rachel finished the song, shaking her head as she shrugged, sighing deeply before she dropped back down into a sad little ball on the ground, hugging her knees tightly to her chest, resting her chin on the top of them as her shoulders shook. And that was when Puck realized that he'd failed her as a guardian angel, because she'd said yes not out of love, but out of fear of being alone. Puck hadn't been there so that she knew she was loved by somebody other than her anchor, Finn, so she'd said yes.
And this song was not supposed to tell people that she couldn't wait to be in love with Finn Hudson for the rest of their lives, married to him, sleeping with him and living with him in some tiny little house in Lima while he ran a freaking tire shop and she wasted her talents away, teaching other people who would go on to pursue their own careers, despite the fact that they weren't as great as she was. And, while throwing her life away, she'd be raising little Finn-juniors, aging faster than she ever should have had to. That song was about a conversation she'd had with Puck during the end of their sophomore year, a few days after Regionals had taken place. A conversation that nobody but the two of them knew about.
"Shelby was at the hospital. After you guys all got back from regionals, you know? She was there-I saw her, after I spotted Beth with all the other babies," Puck explained to Rachel as they were lying on the hood of his car on the overpass, right on the outskirts of town. It was in this location where Rachel and Puck could actually be fooled into thinking that they lived in a beautiful town. The overpass allowed the perfect view of the entire town, after all, and from way up there, their small little town in Ohio actually seemed to be...normal. It wasn't New York City or Los Angeles-one of her dream locations-and it wasn't Raleigh or Columbia-one of his dream spots. But it wasn't the ugly speck of nothing they liked to believe it was.
"I know," Rachel sighed. "She told me, at Regionals, when she was talking to me, that she didn't want a teenage daughter. She didn't want me. She wanted that little girl that she gave up, and then she asked where everybody was, and I told her that Quinn was in labor. She told me...when she asked what Quinn was going to do with the-I told her you guys were giving her up, and she said...she said she wanted her." Rachel said softly, and Puck could hear the tears beginning to fill her eyes. "She didn't want me-her own flesh and blood-but she wanted Beth because she was a baby. I wasn't good enough for her..."Rachel said softly, pushing herself into a sitting position as she wrapped her hands around her knees.
"I wasn't good enough for Quinn. She didn't want me to be the father, that was why she lied. It wasn't because she loved Finn, or because she thought that by some twist of fate that Finn could actually be the real father. It wasn't for any noble reason, like the immaculate conception or something like that. No, it was because she thought I was a Lima Loser and that me being the father of a baby that she wasn't even keeping, would make her trapped in this town forever. She didn't even ask me if I wanted to keep her...Beth, that is. And, you know what? I kind of did. I mean, I know that it was stupid, but I can't help but feel like my dad a little bit-being too young and just abandoning my own kid," He sighed, propping himself up on his elbows.
"You aren't a Lima Loser, Noah, and Quinn's just a bitch. I guess we've both been having some shitty lucky, though," Rachel said, swiping her hair from her face. Puck smirked. He loved this side of Rachel-the one who wasn't afraid to swear and who wore those tiny little shorts that barely counted as clothes with tight tee shirts or tank tops. When she was alone with him, she was a totally different person. She was somebody that he could actually see himself falling in love with-somebody he wouldn't mind being friends with at school. "What if we ran away? We've gotta be able to escape the bad luck that we keep getting tossed at us, if we go fast enough, you know?" She asked him turning her head slightly, her hair blowing loose around her face in the wind.
"We could load everything we own in the back of a U-haul. I'll drive," He said, playing along with her crazy little plan. "My dad's out in Des Moines-I know, who would ever assume I'd want to be with him, right? But, it's a start. And..well, you've got family out in Boston, don't you? We'll take off tomorrow-start packing up," He grinned at her as he laid back down against the warm metal of his truck, putting his arm over his eyes to block out the bright sunset that was before him. Their last day of school had been that day, and this was how they'd always spent their first summer night. This was just their first year with a car and somebody who was actually capable of-legally-driving them there, rather than their bikes.
"We'd be like a couple of modern day Moses, wouldn't be?" Rachel giggled. "Look for that promised land we were promised! What's your truck get? Think we could get four hundred miles before stopping for gas? We'll drive an entire day, and then look at our map. And then we'll figure the rest out," She was grinning brightly when he leaned up into a sitting position, his legs dangling from the truck as he stared at her in shock. This was the Rachel who took everything seriously and meant what she said. She actually wanted to run away with him-at least, in the heat of the moment, she did. "Driving might be stupid though, with the price of gas. But we've gotta get out of here, so what if we sold your truck and took a greyhound? Then we could get a car when we needed one," She went on.
"Rachel...where would we even go?" He asked. He didn't want to spoil her fun. He didn't want to ruin it by asking about Finn. He didn't want to ask her if she was really considering this and he didn't want to bring up what would happen after wards, if they actually ran away together. The rumors that would start to circulate afterwards. What could happen if they were caught. HE didn't want to bring up any of the problems that would be serious or could pause their plans. So, he asked a question that was safe-one that made him look like he was actually playing along, without making him seem to be taking it too seriously. Because, deep down, he wanted to know for a fact that she was serious about running away with him.
"Somewhere greener? Oh, I know! Somewhere warmer. We could go up in the mountains if you wanted to...or maybe down by the ocean? Where? It really doesn't matter, as long as we're taking off and going somewhere together, you know? I've got a quarter, okay? Let's flip a coin. Heads-Carolina. Tails? California." She said boldly, reaching into her pocket. He reached out and took her arm, stopping her. She frowned at him. "Well? What do you say? ME and you, running away like a couple of rebels without a cause?" She asked him, her eyes sparkling with that look that showed she was ready to stop being perfect and start being utterly bad ass. And it turned him on in ways that he shouldn't be by his best friend's girl.
"I think you're crazy," He shook his head, pulling on her arm so that she was brought into a laying position, right on top of him. "And you're ruining our tradition with this silly little conversation you're making me have about running away with you. Let's watch the sunset, alright? We'll sit back and relax together for a little while, and then-"He was cut off by her finger setting on his lips as she giggled and rolled from his stomach and onto her back, right besides him, her tiny little hand playing with his large, broad one in the way she always did when she was tired. "But, Berry? If you ever really do want to get away, just let me know, alright? Because I'm always going to be here for you, no matter what happens-we're best friends forever," He promised her, wrapping his hand around hers and basking in her smile for a few seconds longer than he should have.