Part 7
Rachel woke up early for the first day back to school. She was very nervous as to what the day would bring. Her fathers and Mrs. Puckerman had worked very hard on rearranging their schedules so that both she and Noah could still go to school and participate in their extra curricular activities. They had only hit one snag. Everything was covered except the Monday after school New Directions practice. She and Noah needed to see Mr. Shuester first thing in the morning to discuss options. Hopefully, Mr. Shue would allow them to bring Beth and Hannah to practice. Then Hannah could 'babysit' Beth while they practice. If that couldn't happen then she and Noah would have to alternate Mondays of practice. Anyway this worked out, however, the other members of glee club would be finding out about Beth.
Rachel had hoped the baby reveal could have been postponed a little longer. Everything was still so new. She didn't think this would go well. Quinn would in no way take this well. Even though she was the one who decided to give Beth up, but Rachel was not naive enough to think Quinn wouldn't care that Beth was now in Rachel's custody. Finn would also probably take this badly. The rest of the club was up in the air. They could easily go either way.
Rachel sighed and shook her head to clear her mind. She then got out of bed and began her routine. She wanted to get everything done before Beth woke up so she could watch her while Noah got ready. Halfway through the week Rachel offered to move Beth's crib into Noah's room. She knew he wanted to be as close to her as possible as much as possible. She also realized that her normal morning routine was not conducive to having a baby in her room.
Once Rachel had finished her elliptical routine and gotten a shower she headed to Noah's room to see if they were awake. As she neared the cracked door she heard talking and smiled to herself. In the last week she found that Noah just loved to talk to Beth. He would tell her stories, about his day, about how crazy his mom was. Rachel edged closer to hear what the topic was this morning.
"…and you know I will see you at the end of the day," she heard Noah's voice. "You're going to spend the day with Savta then I will come and pick up you and Hannah and you'll get to meet some of mommy and daddy's friends. Now, some of the people you are going to meet aren't our friends, but I am not going to let anyone say anything to upset you or mommy. If you're lucky, you might get to see daddy get a little badass on some people…"
"Noah!" Rachel couldn't help but giggle as she entered the room. "You will not be going badass on anyone today, especially in front of Beth!"
"You're words say no, but your tone says you love when I go badass on people," Puck chuckled.
"Regardless of the badass appeal," Rachel responded and then blushed when she realized what she said. "Your daughter doesn't need to experience that yet. Now I need to get her dressed and fed while you get ready. Remember, we need to drop Beth off with your mother then get to school early to talk to Mr. Shue."
"Gotcha Berry," Noah smirked as he placed Beth in her arms. "I'll meet you two downstairs for breakfast."
Rachel took a deep breath as she entered the choir room. The talk with Mr. Shuester had gone well and he agreed that Hannah and Beth could come to rehearsal. Now Rachel just had to explain this to the members of New Directions before Puck returned to school with Hannah and Beth. After everyone arrived, Mr. Shue called everyone to attention and gave the floor to Rachel.
"Thank you, Mr. Shuester," Rachel began, her eyes scanning the people in front of her. "I have an announcement that I need to make…"
"Finally going to quit school and join the freak show?" Santana cut her off.
"Santana!" Mr. Shuester admonished. "I gave the floor to Rachel and you will all sit and listen to what she has to say without commentary."
"As I was saying," Rachel continued, "something happened over winter break that is going to affect glee club slightly. My mother came to visit."
Rachel immediately noticed Quinn perk up at the news and it also seemed to get everyone else's attention too.
"It would seem that motherhood didn't agree with her," Rachel continued.
"Where is Beth?" Quinn suddenly demanded.
"I am getting to that," Rachel went on. "She came to my house and was an absolute mess. She demanded that I take custody of Beth or she would put her into foster care. So I did. Shelby brought all the legal papers with her and once they were signed she took off and we haven't heard from her since."
"She gave YOU custody of MY daughter?" Quinn demanded.
"Actually, she gave me custody of her daughter," Rachel corrected. "You gave up rights to Beth when she was born and then you didn't change your mind in the first 3 months of Beth's life."
"Where's Puck?" Santana suddenly asked.
"He is picking up Beth and his sister Hannah," Rachel explained. "He and I have decided to raise Beth together. Our parents are helping and we have a schedule worked out to watch Beth so Noah and I can still attend school and our extracurriculars. The only snag is this Monday rehearsal. Noah and I talked to Mr. Shue this morning and he agreed to let us bring Hannah to help watch Beth so both Noah and I can attend."
To say everyone was stunned was a bit of an understatement. Quinn looked like she might explode and Santana's face was bright red. Everyone else seemed to look confused as they processed the information.
"Puck blew me off all vacation because he was playing fucking house with you, Manhands?" seethed Santana.
"No," Puck's voice sounded from the room's door. "I blew you off because I had no interest in seeing you. Now lay off the language in front of my sister and daughter."
He entered the room carrying Beth in her car seat with Hannah trailing behind him. He walked to where Rachel was standing and surveyed the group in front of him. From the looks he was getting he knew this was going to take a bit of a heavier hand then Rachel had.
"Berry," he looked at the petite brunette beside him, "why don't you take Hannah and Beth to the bathroom and do a diaper change. I'll handle it in here."
Rachel looked like she might argue, but instead took Beth from Puck while he handed the diaper bag to Hannah. She headed out of the room having a good idea what was about to transpire.
As soon as Rachel had the girls out of the room Puck turned his attention back to the group in front of him.
"I'm sure Rachel was all polite and shit with what she said," he began, his voice low and threatening, "but that's not me. A lot of crazy shit went down this week and we are doing the best we can to cope. You guys can either be supportive or you can fuck off, up to you. You will not, however, give Rachel any crap about this. From what she and her dad's said, Shelby was batshit and threatened to dump Beth off somewhere if she didn't take custody. She has given me a second chance with my daughter and I will not let anyone in this damn school do anything to upset her."
On the last sentence, his eyes were fixed on Quinn and Santana.
"Rupaul is not raising my daughter!" Quinn growled as she stood and moved towards Puck. "She deserves better then that!"
"What Beth deserved," Puck retorted, "was a better incubator then you. All you ever wanted was to get rid of her. You did that so back the fuck off. Beth isn't your responsibility anymore."
"She is MY DAUGHTER!" Quinn yelled.
"You gave up that right," Puck angrily replied. "You handed her over to that nut job, though I don't know why that is so surprising. You had been willing to let Mr. Shue's ex pretend to be pregnant and give her Beth. You didn't care about her then so you don't get to pretend you care about her now!"
"That is enough," Mr. Shuester intervened. "This is getting out of control and isn't helping the situation. I know this is difficult for many of you, but this is the way it is."
"This is far from over," seethed Quinn as she went back to her seat, grabbed her things and left the room. Finn quickly got up and followed.
"Does this mean I get to be Aunt Britney?" Britney asked happily from her seat.
TBC….