A week after Finn arrived in California, he and Amy finally left the state in a small plane, determined to continue the search for her brother and his wife. Judith Puckerman and Hiram had left a few days earlier for Lima, deciding to let Amy and Finn continue the search. Judith had wanted to come, but Amy practically begged her to go to Ohio. She could only handle her mother in small doses.
Judith had agreed to leave with Hiram only if Amy checked in with her every day and reported the progress they'd made. Amy had gladly agreed, just to get her mother out of her hair.
Amy and Finn were now flying over the Pacific Ocean, heading back to where Amy had spent three weeks trapped on a rickety boat. She and Finn weren't able to land the plane, but Amy was going to mark on the map which places they'd need to search. Then, the two of them were going to take a boat and search those islands—Amy was going to insist on a nicer boat so she didn't get sick every day like she had on the previous trip.
"So you really think they're alive?" Finn asked, dipping the plane down a little so they had a better view of the land below them.
"I don't know," Amy admitted, looking out the window at the miles of ocean below them. "My mother seems to think so, but she's living in a fantasy land where everything's perfect and my brother isn't planning on leaving Rachel."
"Wait, back up. What are you talking about?" Finn asked, jerking his head to the side to look at Amy.
"They've been having problems for a few years. And since they both love me, I hear both sides of the story. Puck's convinced Rachel's cheating on him with Jesse, Rachel can't stand how my brother never trusts her. I told both of them to talk to the other one about their issues, but neither of them did. The day before the crash, Puck told me he was asking Rachel for a divorce. They've been faking things for a while and he's sick of it. He wants to be happy and all that shit, you know?"
Finn nodded his head. "Yeah, I get it, but I don't feel like he's right. Out of anyone I've ever known, I always thought they'd make it. They're so different and so the same at the time. They just get each other in a way I've never seen two people get each other. Plus he saved her life like, a thousand times when they crashed the first time."
"How do you even know that?" Amy asked.
"We went to a bar and got hammered after I got out of the hospital when I got home from Iran. He told me everything that happened while they were there—he'd refused to even talk about it until then. I mean, we haven't really talked that much since we graduated, but he called me when he heard I lost my leg. But from what he told me, there's no way he and Rachel would ever break things off."
"Well, he told me he was filing for divorce because he wanted a 'real wife'—his words, not mine," she added. "Though I don't know why he'd leave a Jewish woman my mother loved. She'd start booking dates at temple behind his back like she's been doing with me every time I say hello to a boy in temple. She's going to arrange my whole wedding for me then get me to temple by claiming there's free chocolate or something, I guarantee it."
"And that right there is why I'm glad my mother isn't crazy or obsessed with marrying me off. She seems content with her role as grandmother. I suppose maybe in a few years she'll ask me about getting remarried, but I think right now she's just glad I'm alive."
Amy smiled at Finn. "I'm glad you came back alive too, Finn. I'd have been really upset if you died overseas. I always liked you when I was a kid."
"Really?" he asked.
"Well, yeah. You were my first crush. I mean, you were Puck's best friend and you were over at our house so often. It's only natural that me as a young little girl would fall for you," she teased, elbowing him in the side.
"I'd like to say the same applied to me, but then I'd be a pervert. Plus, you were a pain when you were younger. You're still a pain now," he teased. "Though a lot prettier," he added.
"Keep your eyes on the sky, Hudson. We don't need another plane crash," she said, though her cheeks were pink.
xxxxx
A week after Puck had gotten injured by the boar, he still wasn't getting any better. He wasn't getting worse, but he was still spending all day lying in their hut, drinking Rachel's morphine concoction every few hours to keep the pain away.
Rachel would spend all day hunting, collecting food, and taking care of Puck. He seemed to stay in a constant state of delirium, not really sure what was going on—Rachel blamed the pain killers for that. Though, he didn't complain of pain or anything else for that matter, so she let it go.
That day, however, when Rachel walked into the hut to bring Puck food and another dose of the island-made morphine, she knew something was wrong. The hut reeked something awful, and Puck was different. He'd been out of it for the past week, but somehow he was even more out of it.
He was lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling with glazed-over eyes. At first, Rachel thought he'd overdosed on the morphine, but when she leaned down to touch his forehead, she felt how hot he was. His body was covered in sweat and he was burning up.
"Fuck," she cursed, dropping the tray she was carrying on the ground carelessly before sprinting out of the hut. She grabbed a few pieces of clothing from the ground before heading into the ocean, soaking them in the water.
Draping them over her shoulders, she ran back into the hut, watching Puck's chest rise and fall in an unnatural manner. She draped one of the shirts over his head, then placed the others over his neck and chest.
"Rach, what are you doing?" Puck asked, his voice weak. "I'm cold."
"No, you're burning up, Noah. You've got a fever—I need to cool you down."
"But I'm cold," he complained, shivering as he laid in the sand.
"Noah, you're wound is infected. I don't know how, but it is." She moved to his side, gasping when she saw his side. The area where she'd stitched up his side was red, swollen, and oozing green pus. "No, this is bad," she whispered, not knowing what to do. She didn't know how to cure an infection. She didn't know anything about medicine, but she knew Noah was going to die soon if she didn't fix this. "Okay, we're getting you up," she said, placing her hands underneath his back, sitting him up.
"Ow, that hurts, Rachel. My head hurts. I want to sleep," he complained.
"You sleep, you die," she warned, pulling him to his feet. She draped his arm over her shoulders as she got him out of the hut, walking with him towards the jungle. "We need to get you in the lake to help cool you down. You're so hot, Noah."
"No, you're the one who's hot," he muttered, his head lolling down, his face burying into her neck.
"Noah, stop!" she ordered. "Now isn't the time. You're really sick, and I don't know what to do!" she said hysterically. "I don't have antibiotics or anything to help. All I have is a bunch of useless plants and some homemade pain remedy that keeps you high all day."
"Hey, I like the pain stuff. It makes life suck less. I need it."
"Oh god, you're addicted," she groaned, walking faster. "You're a drug addict to homemade morphine and it's my fault," she sighed, shaking her head. "This is a mess." She saw the lake in front of them and took a deep breath. "Oh thank god," she said, coming to a stop at the edge of the water.
She started pulling Puck's shirt off. He seemed confused but didn't have the energy to push her away. "What are you doing, Rachel?" he slurred.
"You need to cool down, something that won't be easy to do with all your clothes on," she explained, undoing his shorts after his shirt was off.
"Does this mean you're taking your clothes off too?" he asked, pulling her close to him. Rachel could feel how weak he was and moved her hands quicker, riding his body of all his clothes.
"You stop that nasty talk, mister. I don't care how out of your mine you are, you will still treat me like the lady I am." She bit her lip before pushing him off her and into the water. She heard the splash as he fell in then saw him surface. He was gasping for air, looking around slowly. His face was still flushed, something Rachel knew wasn't good.
"Rachel, I'm cold," he complained. "Why won't you let me get warm?"
"I'm so sorry, Noah. This is going to help you get warm, I promise. Just stay there while I try and find something to help fight off that infection. And try not to drown," she added.
Rachel turned on her heel and ran into the trees, looking for anything that could possibly help him. She grabbed a few different flowers and leaves from plants, putting them into half a coconut shell. She ran back to the lake, finding Noah relaxed against the edge of the lake, his eyes closed.
"Noah, wake up!" Rachel shouted. His eyes opened slightly as he gave her an annoyed look.
Rachel jumped into the water, fully clothed. She added water to the flowers and leaves, mashing everything up. She prayed to god this worked. She turned Puck around so she could see his wound. It was peeking out of the water, still as red as it was ten minutes ago.
Rachel dipped her hand into the mixture that had become thick like pudding. She spread it over his wound, massaging the mixture into the skin, watching it grow a little thinner until the whole thing had dried. Rachel watched Puck relax in the water and let him stay there for another half an hour before she helped him out of the water and walked him back to camp.
She helped him back into the hut and covered his hips with a shirt. He fell asleep and Rachel prayed this worked. If not, she was going to be left alone on this island.
xxxxx
Rachel didn't know when, but at some point during the night, she fell asleep beside the fire in the sand. She'd been checking in on Noah every hour to make sure he was still breathing, but at some point she grew too tired and couldn't stay awake any longer.
It was Noah who ended up waking her up. He walked out of the hut all on his own and shook her shoulders, waking her up. "Rach, open your eyes," he whispered.
Rachel opened her eyes a little, seeing him kneeling beside her. "Noah?" she asked sleepily before sitting up and falling back. "Noah! You're alive!"
"Yeah, looks like I am. Whatever you put on the wound yesterday seemed to work. I feel like my old self. It must have pulled the bacteria out."
Rachel threw herself into his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck as she buried her face into his chest. "I thought I was going to lose you," she whispered, tears falling down her face. "I thought you were going to die and I was going to be all alone," she gasped.
Puck rubbed her back lightly, holding her close. "Hey, it's okay," he promised. "I'm all better now. Well, almost all better. I think I just need to put a little more of that mixture on my side a few more times and I'll be fine," he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "Rach, calm down."
Rachel was crying uncontrollably at this point. She was holding onto Puck tightly, refusing to let go. "You don't know what it was like not knowing if I was going to find you dead in an hour. I wasn't going to be able to live without you, Noah. I—I—"
"You what, Rachel?" he asked, pulling back a little so he could look at her. Her face was red, her eyes puffy. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her chest was rising quickly as she gasped in between sobs.
"I still love you. I can't live without you. I don't want to lose you, and I thought I was going to last night. I thought this was it. You were going to die and I wasn't going to get the chance to tell you how much you mean to me!" She dropped her head as a fresh round of tears started.
"Hey, no more tears," Puck said, taking a step closer to her. He placed a hand below her chin, tilting it up so her eyes were looking into his. "I don't want to see someone so beautiful crying." He placed a kiss on her forehead. "This past week, you've taken such great care of me. I know you wouldn't do that unless you still cared for me. Just like I wouldn't be trying to calm you down now unless I cared about you being upset."
Rachel wiped her eyes, trying to stifle a sob that threatened to erupt from her lips. "What are you saying?" she asked, her shoulders shaking with the silent tears still coming from her.
"I still love you too, Rach. I never stopped. You're everything to me, and even if we had a rough time, that didn't mean I stopped caring about you. You're the love of my life. Always have been and always will be. Nothing's going to change that. I'm—I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry for not trusting you and for leaving you. I want you back, Rachel. I don't want to get divorced. I want to stay together. What do you say?"
Rachel blinked her eyes a few times before jumping into his arms once more. This time, however, her lips found his and she kissed him like she hadn't kissed him in years. Her lips moved quickly with his in a deep and intense kiss. Her arms were wrapped around his neck tightly while his found their way around his waist. Eventually, she pulled away, taking a few deep breaths as she tried to force air into her lungs. She looked up at him, her cheeks bright red.
"Does that answer your question?"
Puck chuckled, dipping his head down, answering her rhetorical question with another kiss.
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