Part 5

Sela Puckerman's reaction to the news that her granddaughter would now be in her life was not so surprisingly positive. She had initially been shocked, as anyone would, but that quickly morphed into that of joy and excitement. She had been horrified to hear how Shelby had just abandoned her child, but was so grateful to Rachel and her father's for deciding to take custody. After spending some quality time with her granddaughter, she was ready to help in anyway she could.

"So the kids have off school for the next week," she began, "so that's covered. When I go into work tonight I can ask to have my schedule permanently changed to second shift so I can be with Beth while the kids are at school."

"Ma," began Puck before she cut him off.

"Do not 'Ma' me Noah Puckerman," she said in a clearly 'do not mess with me' voice. "While I am so proud of Rachel fro saving Beth and for you stepping up to raise your daughter, I will not stand by and let your schooling fall to the wayside. You both will continue high school until you graduate and then something will be worked out for college. If I can fix my schedule to watch my granddaughter rather then sending her to daycare I will do it."

"We couldn't agree more," Hiram nodded. "Leroy and I have been talking and we are going to try and tweak our schedules so that you don't have to give up any of your extracurriculars. We want you both to stay in New Directions and we want Noah to continue with his athletics."

"I'm going to need to get a better job," Puck added. "I still have pool cleaning, but after Finn and I paid off our debt we quit Sheets n' Things. Maybe I can get that job back"

"Maybe I should work too," Rachel piped up. "The care of an infant is exceedingly expensive and that doesn't diminish as they get older. I am sure I could handle some entry level dance classes at the local studio"

"Nonsense," Leroy Berry interjected. "As Hiram mentioned, we have talked about this extensively. We both feel your priorities should be to Beth and your schooling. Trying to add jobs to that would be too overwhelming. Though we didn't talk about it until later, I think we both knew the minute that Rachel agreed to take Beth that we would take financial responsibility for her. We are not trying to take anything from you, Noah, as her father. We have no doubt that you could financially take care of her, but if we can help we will. You are both so young to take on this kind of responsibility and we are aware that both of you would do whatever is necessary to make it work, but if we can ease your burden to get you both a better start for caring for her in the future that is what we are going to do. Hiram called our HMO today and verified that since Rachel is still a minor that Beth would still be covered under our insurance so that is taken care of. Hopefully everything will work out to avoid daycare so all we have left to discuss is living arrangements."

It took a minute for everything to process in Puck's mind. He had been thinking all morning about getting a job and how he was going to work his schedule to allow time for school and spending time with Beth and Rachel. This was like a dream to him, maybe even a fairy tale. His life was not a 'happily ever after' thing where things worked out like this. He wanted to both argue with Rachel's dads about what he felt was his responsibility and at the same time hug them for being the kind of guys they were.

"Legally speaking," Hiram spoke up, "Rachel is Beth's legal guardian. There are steps that can be taken to include Noah in this such as a paternity test. Since Quinn didn't list him on any of the paperwork when Beth was born he does have some legal rights. I am not sure, however, how that outcome would effect Rachel's guardianship. I have some calls into some friends who specialize in family law and they should be able to clear some things up about all this."

"I would like to legally prove she is my daughter," Puck finally said. "I don't want to mess anything up, but…"

Rachel grabbed Puck's hand as he trailed off and she saw tears forming in his eyes. "There isn't anything to mess up," she assured him. "I would never keep her from you and I know that this isn't what that is about. She is your daughter and you want her to know that you are her father in every sense of the word. I won't do anything to stand in the way of that."

At this point everyone at the table seemed to have tears in their eyes. Sela watched the two teens with a smile. She knew that Rachel Berry was the best thing that ever happened to her son. She noticed how they looked at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking and she saw such an immense change in Noah's behavior the last 9 months since Beth was born. She knew without a doubt that if Rachel hasn't been there for him her son would have self-destructed after that Quinn girl gave Beth away.

"We were thinking," Leroy began after a few minutes, "that Noah could move here since this is where all of Beth's things are. We have an extra bedroom."

"That would be fine," Sela agreed, "though I do want to have a family dinner once a week. Also, Noah will need to help with Hannah when a sitter is unavailable."

"Not a problem," Rachel smiled at how easy everything seemed to be going. "And if Noah can't watch Hannah, I would be more then willing to."

"Should this be so easy?" Puck wondered aloud before realizing he was speaking. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but this is just going so smoothly."

"We all have the same goals," Hiram answered. "We all want what is best for Beth, Rachel and you. I am sure some bumps will arise along the way, but it is nothing we won't be able to handle."

Before anyone else could say anything, a soft cooing could be heard through the nearby baby monitor. Puck wasn't sure he had ever seen his mom move so fast and she jumped up and headed for the stairs.

"I've got her," Sela said over her shoulder.

TBC…