Sorry for the delay, the very very long delay. I never meant for it to be pushed to the side but I wrote the first part and the first fourth or so of this chapter really late/early before bed one night and couldn't get back into it to finish until now. I was definitely astounded by the support and love for this story. You guys are all amazing but if I reply to every review like I do in most of my stories, it'll take up more than the story does ;) so I just want to say to all of you, I love you all and you guys encourage me more than you could ever know. Thanks so much.
Special Thanks to Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon, CherryPower, RavenWolf2089, allielovesyou, kikky, Kkaty, stardust923,aussietasha, angel JJK, Opinionated1234,Gingergleek and lwrnld for always being some of the first to let me know how you feel and for making writing so much fun for me. (As well as reading your wonderful stories ;) ) love you guys! :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the show, sadly
When she woke up, she freaked out, as predicted, storming into Noah's room "Noah! We're late! First periods already over and second is halfway there. Get up!"
He sat up sleepily and noticing the blush that crossed her face looked down and saw that his boxers weren't very good protection for the morning. Especially after the dream he'd been having.
Instead of covering up however, he smirked at her and patted the bed beside him. She glared at him then, "School" She reminded him.
"Mom wanted us to stay home today. When she gets up she wanted to meet you before going to work tonight."
"Oh." She said, quietly, "Why didn't you say that last night?"
He shrugged, "This is more amusing"
She marched over and hit him in the back of the head, "You jerk"
He grabbed the hand that was poised to hit him again and pulled her down next to him. Pulling and shoving until they were cuddled together, despite her struggling, Noah said, "Shh, sleep time now. You can yell at me in a few hours"
She glared at him and moved to get up but he held on tight, "Let me rephrase, sleep and cuddling time which means you need to stay right here."
"Noah, let me go, this is highly inappropriate and your mother could walk in at anytime."
He shrugged, "She'd be ecstatic if we were actually together, told you, she's planning the Jewish wedding already."
She tried to cover the yawn that came out, then but he saw and said, "Sleep, Rach. I gottcha"
For some reason those words seemed to comfort her and she found herself moving to make herself a little more comfortable before closing her eyes and doing just what he asked.
Next time they woke up it was to Debbie Puckerman yelling loudly on the outside of his door for them to get dressed and get out there for breakfast.
Rachel immediately turned red but Noah just scowled at being woken up again. They got up and he got dressed.
They walked out and down to the kitchen only for Rachel to immediately be swept into Debbie Puckerman's arms, "Oh you poor dear, Noah told me all about you and I cannot believe any parent would do that to a child."
She was going to go on, still clutching Rachel to her, but Noah stopped her, "Ma, she has to breath and I doubt she wants to talk about this right now"
Rachel was released with a last squeeze and a sympathetic look. "Thank you for allowing me to stay here last night, Mrs. Puckerman, it was very kind of you. I don't want to impose on you and your family thought and really I've been doing just fine at the dance studio…."
She was cut off by both Noah and his mom: Noah "You're staying" His mom, "Don't be ridiculous, you're staying right here"
Rachel didn't know how to take the two and before she had a chance to figure out how she was going to respond, Sarah spoke again, "Call me Debbie, dear, or Mom or Ma or anything but Mrs. Puckerman really. You're part of the family now and family isn't so formal."
Rachel felt tears pricking behind her eyes again at being called family, Debbie saw them and pulled her to her again and for once, Rachel let herself be held and cried without fighting it. She cried for the family she lost and the childhood she wouldn't get back. All of the hurt from the past four years came out in those tears as she was held by a woman she just met but strangely felt like home to her in a way.
When the tears finally slowed and she pulled out of Debbie's embrace, she saw that the older woman had tears in her eyes as well.
She heard Noah clear his throat so she turned and was surprised to see his eyes looked a little shiny too. He didn't say anything, just held his arms out and this time she went into them willingly, not pulling away as she did the night before. He held her tight and whispered, "I've gotcha, Rach and I'm not letting go"
She held him a little tighter, hearing those words and felt his return squeeze.
After the very emotional session with the Puckerman's, Rachel felt like she needed to burn off some energy so she told them that she was going to go for a run. Noah offered to go with her but she waved him off saying she needed some alone time. He didn't look like he liked it but he reluctantly agreed, saying he'd be here when she got back.
She smiled at him for that before turning to get her shoes on and shoot out the door. She didn't know where she was going, she just ran and ran. She wasn't use to sleeping that much so she had plenty of energy.
She ran down the street and made a turn, not really paying attention to where she was going until she looked up and realized her feet had taken her to her old house.
She wasn't surprised to see that her fathers no longer lived there. There was a for sale sign in the yard and looked like it had been empty for a while.
Sighing she turned back and headed towards Noah's not paying attention to where she was going and ran straight into someone.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" she immediately started, before seeing who it was. "Matt?"
"Hey Rach" He said, ruffling her hair, "Nice bumping into you" he winked at her then.
"I'm sorry, I should have been paying attention it's just...I just went past my old house for the first time...they're gone"
Matt looked at her confused, "You're dads?"
She nodded, and for some reason felt tears coming to her eyes, "I don't know why, after four years, I even care but... I didn't know they weren't still here, it's just..." and she couldn't even think of the words to describe how she was feeling. Matt seemed to understand what she meant though because he just wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as she pulled herself together, not allowing another breakdown like she had earlier.
After a few moments, she pulled back, "Thank you Matt, I'm sorry about that, it was just a shock."
He rolled his eyes as he said, "Rachel, we're friends, you're allowed to be upset sometimes around your friends so stop apologizing already"
Thinking that besides that time all those months ago when he told her about why they were now her friends, that was the most she had heard him say at once, she just nodded, "Thank you. But if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in school?"
He shrugged, "Puck said you two weren't coming today so Mike and I skipped too. I felt like a run so here I am"
"You live around here?" Rachel asked, having lived here all her life and realizing that she never knew where he lived.
He nodded, "Actually my house is right there," He pointed at a house a little ways down.
"Wow, I never knew we lived so close to one another. Strange huh?"
He nodded, not really knowing what to say to that so instead he said, "Want me to walk with you back to Puck's?"
Rachel shook her head quickly, "Oh no, I wouldn't want to interrupt your run. You go on, I'll be alright."
"Rach!" He yelled to stop her continuing words of not wanting to be a burden and what not, "I want to. I should have asked if you minded me walking with you. It's not like we've been able to hang out much outside of school."
Effectively shut up, she cocked her head at him, "You want too?"
He nodded, sighing that she hadn't caught on by now that they were friends and therefore he wanted to hang out with her.
She shrugged, "Sure, I guess that would be nice." She gave him a small smile and they both started the trek back to the Puckermans. Neither of them said much but that was alright, they were each just happy to have the other one by their side.
When they got back to the house, Matt said "Well, I guess this is it. I'm going to head back."
"Oh, you don't want to come in?" Rachel asked, confused by his sudden need to leave after saying he wanted to hang out"
He shook his head, "Debbie's home. If she sees me she'll tell my mom I skipped and that won't end well for me or Mike so I better not."
Rachel nodded, understandingly, "Alright. Well thank you for walking with me over here. It was nice."
Matt grinned hugging her, "Definitely. We'll have to go running together sometime."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll probably be running every morning so whenever."
"Ok. Tell Puck I said hey. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Bye, Matt" Rachel smiled up at him before walking into the house.
She was surprised at how after walking with Matt, even without talking about it, she felt better about her fathers and everything and also she was surprised how comfortable she felt just walking in the front door of the Puckerman's without knocking first.
"I'm home" She called into the quiet house.
"Hello" She called again when she didn't get an answer. Walking into the kitchen she saw it was cleaned up and empty so she looked into the living room and there was no one in there either so she walked upstairs only to hear voices coming from Noah's room.
"We have to call social services or something, Noah. They can't get away with neglecting their daughter for four years, whatever she said."
"Mom, if you call social services, they'll put her into a freakin' foster home. There's no way they'd let her stay here and you know it" She heard Noah answer angrily.
"Noah… You don't know that. I'm sure if we explain the situation, they'll be fine with her staying here besides she's sixteen so she'll get her own choice where she stays."
"Are you sure?" He asked, and Rachel smiled a little at the question in his voice, glad to hear he actually wanted her here and wasn't just saying it because it was the right thing to do.
"I promise, honey. If I thought for one second she wouldn't be allowed to stay with us, I wouldn't do it no matter the fact the bastards deserve to pay."
She was taken aback by the barely concealed anger in Debbie's voice and at what she called her fathers. She hadn't known her long but she seemed like a laid back easy going woman that didn't get shaken easily but she sounded positively furious when talking about her fathers.
"We need to talk to Rach before we do anything. It's her life and she's been running it by herself for years, she needs a heads up that mama Puckerman plans on taking control" Noah told her firmly.
That earned him yet another smile though he didn't see them.
"We'll talk to her when she gets back, but I'm telling you now, Noah, I'm going to talk to Social Services whatever she says."
"She'll be ok with it, I think, as long as she can stay here and not get sent away to some stranger."
Deciding she heard enough Rachel called again, "Noah? Debbie? I'm home."
"Oh Rachel, dear, I didn't hear you come in. Did you have a nice Run?" Debbie asked.
"It was lovely thank you. I was going to clean up the kitchen but I see you already did that. Is there anything else you'd like me to do around here?"
"Do you hear that, Noah? A child in this house asking if she can help. I don't know how to handle that, seeing as you lazy bums never lift a finger."
Rolling his eyes at his mom, he looked over at Rachel with a smirk, "Already working on becoming the favorite child, Berry? Don't worry you're a lock for the part." He winked at her to show he was playing and she just gave him a small smile in return.
"If there's nothing you needed, I think I'm going to go take a shower." Rachel said, unsure what else there was to say.
"Go ahead, Rachel and when you get out, I need to talk to you alright?"
Rachel nodded, before turning to what was going to be her room for the next two years and dug through trying to find something to wear finding nothing and calling for Noah.
"Yeah, Rach?" He asked from across the hall.
"Can I borrow a shirt and some shorts or something? I need to do laundry"
He chuckled before saying, "Sure, Ray, hold on a sec." he walked into his room and found the smallest shirt he had and a pair of basketball shorts, knowing both would be way too big for her but throwing them to her anyway.
"Thank you, Noah" She beamed at him.
"No problem. I'll get mom's credit card and we'll go shopping for some clothes after she goes to work."
"Oh no I couldn't…"
"Don't argue, you know you won't win" He interrupted her, "now go on" He waved her on and she rolled her eyes at him but knew he was right, as soon as he told Debbie she needed clothes she would probably hand him the card and force them out the door, there was no fighting it.
She shut the door and got ready for her shower, thinking about the talk she was about to have with Debbie. She knew she would agree with her calling social services as long as she was sure that they wouldn't take her away. With her fathers' gone, she doubted they'd even get in trouble but she didn't really care either way. Debbie was right, they did deserve it.
She also was trying to figure out how she got so lucky to stumble onto great friends like Noah, Matt and Mike. Without them, she'd still be struggling to do everything alone and though she was Rachel Berry and she would have made it just fine, it was nice to not have to do it alone anymore.
When she got out of the shower, she dried off and tied the shorts as tight as possible, which still made them loose, and put the shirt on that, though she was sure it was too small for Noah, was also incredibly too big for her. She brushed her hair and threw it into a messy pony tail and then looked at herself in the mirror.
Frowning, she realized she had lost a lot of weight this year and even with all the sleep she had gotten the night before, she still had black circles under her eyes. 'Oh well, nothing I can do about it right now, might as well get out there and get this talk over with so I can get some clothes that fit me' she thought to herself before walking out, grabbing a load of her clothes and walking downstairs where Noah and Debbie were waiting in the living room.
"Do you mind if I start a load of laundry before we talk?" Rachel asked Debbie, who immediately looked up and saw the clothes in the girls hand and shook her head.
"No, that's fine go ahead. Noah go show her where everything is" Debbie ordered her son, who immediately jumped up and grabbed the clothes from Rachel, who protested she could carry them herself but he didn't listen just walked off leaving her to follow, which she did.
He showed her where the washer and dryer were and the cabinet that had the detergent and everything and then dumped her clothes in the washer and got it set up to go.
"Mom said to take you shopping for a couple outfits today and that she had a day off tomorrow so she was going to take you on a girls' day tomorrow."
"Oh, I don't want to take up her day off…." Rachel shook her head as she said it.
"You have no clue how happy she is to have you here do you?" Noah asked, not all that surprised, she seemed to be oblivious to those kinds of things.
"Why? I'm just another mouth to feed and body to house. Why would she be happy to have me here?" Rachel asked, "Not to say she hasn't been incredible, she has. I've never met an adult so nice before but still….I hate being a burden."
Noah reached out, putting his hands on either side of her face to make her look at him, "Listen up because I'm only going to say this once, alright?"
She nodded, looking confused but he continued, "My mom is happy to have you hear because you're an amazing girl. Anyone who has the privilege to actually get to know you can see that. You're not a burden at all to any of us so stop apologizing or saying you don't want to burden us because you're not. You're our friend and now family and family isn't a burden. They help each other; they look out for each other. I promise you that everything my mom and the rest of us are doing or offering to do isn't because we feel like we have to or that we should it's because we want too. I for one know for a fact that if the situation was reversed you'd be doing the same for any of us right?"
She nodded, slowly, tears prickling her eyes again but not coming out, "Then do me a favor and quit apologizing or trying to turn down the things we're offering and just know that it's what family does. I know you haven't had the best of examples of family before but you're not alone anymore so get used to it."
She sniffled, but nodded, slightly, since he still had a hold of her face. He moved his hands down to her shoulders and she hugged him tightly, "Thank you, Noah," She whispered.
"Anytime, Rach, I told you, I gotcha. I'll always be here" He promised, kissing the top of her head before pulling back, "Now come on, we have a mama Puckerman to talk to then a shopping trip to go on and then after that a little monster to watch because Dani's coming home tonight."
She grinned at that, "That'll be fun. Does she like to sing?"
Rolling his eyes, he groaned, "You two are going to be like best friends or something and I'm going to be outnumbered for the rest of my life aren't I?"
She nodded, "Yes, I'm sure that's true. Don't worry Noah, I'll let you win every once in a while" She winked before leaving to go to the living room, him staring after her, trying to figure her and her changing moods/personalities before shaking his head and figuring he had two years to figure her out so there's no need to rush it and followed her.
Alright I know I said two shot but I believe it's going to be longer than two chapters now because I couldn't possibly get everything I wanted to say into this chapter let alone in to even two more chapters so now that I am back on bored with this story, I'll get the next chapter up soon and that will have the talk about social services, shopping trip, meeting Dani and possibly the actual conversation with Social services. Matt and Mike will be back in the story as will Rachel's fathers farther on down the road. I want to thank you all again for the support I had in this story and I hope that I continue to work to your expectations. Have a great week!