Hello everyone! I'm so sorry for the long wait. Because I procrastinated on a 15 page paper for my English class, I've been in a race against time to hurry up and get it done. Because you all have been so patient, there will be more interaction between Puck and Hailey in this chapter and Puck will have a revelation. Again, sorry for the long wait. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
It's been a week since Rachel and Puck finally saw each other and since then, Rachel has been trying her best to forget that he now lives close by. She was grateful that Hailey didn't stick around them for too long so that Puck wouldn't notice any similarities between the two. Now she just had to figure out how she was going to keep Hailey away from him.
While she was thinking, she heard a knock on the door and when she opened it, Quinn was standing there. "Hey, come on in."
Quinn and closed the door behind her. "Where's Hailey?"
"Sam came and took her out for a few hours. I decided to stay behind to get some errands done."
"You're not afraid of him bringing her around Puck? I mean, they do live together now. He's bound to be around somewhere."
Rachel shook her head. "He said they were just going to go to the park then to get some food. The good thing about her going with him or Finn is that there's always a guarantee she'll come back fed and ready to take a nap."
Quinn laughed. "Well she tires the boys out with all of her energy. Finn's grateful that she's not a complete girly girl like you so he can feel like he has a nephew or something. I swear, the more time he spends with Hailey, the more he starts thinking about us having kids."
"Have you two talked about it?" Rachel asked her friend.
Quinn shrugged. "A little. We just say that we'd make great parents and move on. But I don't want any kids anytime soon."
"Yeah, not unless you're ready to deal with the never ending, 'Mommy can I have this?' or 'Mommy can I stay up a little longer?' That will get tiring after a while."
"Speaking of that, I've been thinking. When are you going to tell Puck about Hailey?"
"I was thinking never."
"Rachel," Quinn frowned. Rachel sighed and started walking away.
"Look, I've done perfectly fine on my own for five years. I don't need help from some manwhore who left me the morning after I lost my virginity to him. That just screams 'I don't care' so he doesn't need to have anything to do with me or Hailey."
"Rach, I understand your reasoning but that doesn't change the fact that he's Hailey's father. He has a right to know."
Rachel groaned in frustration. "I know but I'm just not ready. I know I should expect him to be upset with me but I'm hoping it's not as bad as I'm expecting."
Quinn just shook her head, not believing Rachel was being this difficult. "You won't know unless you try."
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Sam smiled to himself as he watched Hailey try to catch the ball he threw to her. He loved spending time with her. While she could be girly with Rachel, she was able to be kind of a tomboy with him and Finn. Ever since he became 'Uncle Sam', he couldn't imagine life without the little girl.
"Uncle Sam, can we go feed the ducks?" she asked, breaking his train of thought. He looked at her.
"Yeah sure." He nodded as they started walking. They went to the bridge and bought pellets then began to throw them to the ducks in the pond below them. Soon, they ran out. "Hang on Hail, I'm going to get more. Stay right here."
Hailey nodded and Sam walked away to the dispenser. While he was getting the food, Sam heard someone walk up to him. He turned and saw Puck smirking at him. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
Puck shrugged. "I figured I'd take a walk around New York City to see what all the hype was about. Why are you getting bird food?"
"I'm here with Hailey and we're feeding the ducks." Sam answered, motioning to Hailey who was looking down at the ducks. Puck smirked to himself. This could be his chance to get to know Hailey without Rachel hovering. Maybe the kid will let him know who her father is. But first, maybe he could get something out of Sam.
"Hey, isn't her dad around?" he asked his blonde friend. "Why isn't he here, doing this bonding crap?"
"Her dad's not around. Rachel and the guy broke up after their one night stand happened after graduation."
Puck watched as Sam walked back over to little girl. He decided to hang out with the duo a little longer to talk to Hailey. When he walked over to them, Hailey looked up at him.
"Hey, you're the man from Auntie Quinn's house." She pointed.
"Yeah, the name's Puck."
Hailey laughed. "That's a funny name."
"Oh yeah? Hailey's a funny name," he joked. Hailey laughed again while Sam watched with amusement.
"Okay children," Sam smirked at Puck, who rolled his eyes. "Now that the ducks have eaten, I think it's time that we do the same. Hailey what do you want to eat?"
"Pizza," she jumped up, excitedly. Puck smiled at the girl's enthusiasm. It reminded him of how he was when he was a kid.
"Hey, I love pizza." He told her.
"Alright pizza it is then," Sam nodded. "Let's get out of here."
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Thirty minutes later, the three of them were sitting in a pizza parlor, having fun and enjoying each other's company. Puck couldn't get over how much he and Hailey had in common. They both loved pizza, she had a thing for a few video games, and the thought of doing martial arts interested her. She wasn't as girly as her mother and he loved it. Everything was going great until Puck got a really good look at Hailey's eyes. They were hazel, like his. And when he thought about Rachel sleeping with guys, it didn't make sense because she wasn't the type to sleep around. The only person he knows for a fact she slept with was him. Suddenly, it hit him. Maybe he was Hailey's father. But he couldn't be. Rachel would've told him. Wouldn't she? She wasn't the type to keep big secrets like this.
Sam's phone rang, bringing Puck out of his thoughts. Sam looked at it and started to get up from the table. "Hold on, I got to take this. I'll be right back."
After he walked away, Puck turned to Hailey. "So Hailey, can I ask you a question?" Hailey nodded. "Have you ever met your dad?"
Hailey shook her head. "I don't have a daddy. My mommy said they broke up before I was born."
That was all he needed. He was most likely Hailey's father and he didn't know what to feel. He felt furious that Rachel kept this from him but he also feels happiness that this amazing kid shares half of his DNA. When he thought of Finn and Sam, Puck wondered if they knew about this. They couldn't have, they would've told him. They were his best friends, they wouldn't do something like that to him.
Hailey tapped him, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Now can I ask you something?"
He nodded. "Shoot."
"Did you know my mommy when she was younger like Uncle Sam, Uncle Finn, and Auntie Quinn?"
"Yeah. In fact, we were all friends. We were a part of glee club, did she tell you about that?"
Hailey nodded. "She said she was one of the best singers and she was always singing with Uncle Finn. And she said that Auntie Quinn had a nice voice even though she was a bit sharp sometimes but that was only because she lacked Mommy's years of training."
Puck laughed. That definitely sounded like something Rachel would say. Figures she would tell that to her daughter. But he wondered. "Did she ever mention me?"
Hailey thought about it and shook her head. "No. She mostly talks about Auntie Quinn, Uncle Finn and Uncle Sam."
Puck nodded as she continued eating her pizza. Of course she didn't talk about him. After walking out on her, he deserved her acting as if he never existed. But that doesn't mean that he deserved not knowing he had a daughter.
When Sam came back, he looked at Hailey. "Well your mom texted, she said to meet her somewhere because she has a special surprise for you."
Hailey smiled. "What is it?"
"Well we got to get out of here to find out." He turned to Puck. "You want to come with us?"
Puck thought about it. He couldn't confront Rachel about him being Hailey's father with Hailey and Sam being around. But it would most likely piss Rachel off and right now, that's all he wanted to do. He looked at Sam and nodded. "Sure I'll come."
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Rachel stood outside of the building looking around for Sam and Hailey. She decided to surprise Hailey with dance lessons that she's been asking for, for a long time. She felt great that she could finally give her something she really wanted. When she heard footsteps approaching, Rachel turned and saw Sam and Hailey. She smiled until she saw the person behind them. Why was Puck here? With Hailey. This couldn't be good.
"Mommy!" Hailey yelled as she ran to her and jumped into Rachel's arms.
"Hi angel. Did you have fun with Sam?"
"Yes and look, Puck came." She pointed at Puck.
Rachel tried to smile. "I see." She turned back to Hailey. "Well do you remember how you kept asking for dance lessons so you could be as great of a dancer as Mommy?"
Hailey nodded. "Yes."
"Well here is where you will be taking your lessons," she smiled. Hailey squealed and hugged her mom.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Rachel laughed and hugged her daughter back. "You're very welcome my love."
Puck watched the two in awe. They had a great relationship since it's only been the two of them but he wondered if he and Hailey could ever have that type of relationship. The first step would be Hailey finding out that he was her father but that's a lot to take in for a five-year-old.
As they went inside so Hailey could meet her new teacher, Puck decided to have some time to talk to Rachel. He walked over and stood next to her as she watched Hailey interact with her dance teacher.
"You know if I didn't know any better, I would think that you're trying to avoid me." He said, still looking straight ahead.
"I have a five-year-old to take care of, I don't have time to try to hang around you." Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, shouldn't you be looking for a job so you can get out of Finn and Sam's place?"
"Well I'm not in a rush. They love me being there. Even Hailey loves me. I mean, why wouldn't she? I am her father."
Rachel froze. Did he just say what she think he said? This can't be happening. He couldn't have figured it out. "What are you talking about?"
"Cut the crap, Rachel. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Hailey's five, which would mean that you had her at eighteen. Around this time, I remember we were graduating from high school and we had sex."
Rachel tried to stay calm as she turned to Sam. "Hey, could you watch Hailey for a minute? I have to talk to Noah about something." Sam nodded and Rachel pulled Puck outside. She stood in front of him and looked at him. "Okay, how'd you figure it out?"
"Well in addition to what I just said, it's also the matter of Hailey's eyes and the fact that she's just like me when I was a kid. Why the fuck didn't you tell me? I have a right to know that I have a kid."
"You walked out, you didn't have a right to anything. That was the day where I began my life on my own."
"Oh but you allowed Quinn, Finn and Sam to know about her. Do they even know that I'm the father?"
Rachel looked down. "Quinn does. She found out when I told her I was pregnant. Finn and Sam don't know so don't be upset with them. They just think it was some guy from another party I went to."
Puck became confused. "How the fuck did you convince them to believe that? We all know that you didn't have a lot friends in high school."
Rachel shrugged. "I don't know but I'm grateful they believed it. But listen to me, you cannot tell Hailey."
"And why not?"
"I don't want to confuse her. I just think it's better if she doesn't know."
"That's bullshit and you know it. You don't want to tell her because you're still mad at me for leaving you. You're punishing me."
"Call it what you want but I have custody of Hailey and as far as she knows, her father left. And it's going to stay that way."
Rachel walked back inside of the dance studio while Puck tried to control his anger and figure out how he was going to get closer to Hailey. Now that he knows she's his kid, he's not going to let Rachel take her away. Not again.
And there we have it. Puck finally knows the secret and don't worry, Finn and Sam will find out too. I know Rachel is being difficult right now but we'll see where she's coming from next chapter. Reviews make me happy so please review. Bye for now :)
