A/N: Okay so it's not the fastest update, but here is the next chapter. I'm glad that everyone seems to be enjoying it and I do appreciate the reviews, favorites and alerts. Enjoy!
Puck spent most of the night pacing his room wondering what exactly had happened between him and Rachel. Well obviously they'd had sex, but why? And would it mess up the progress that they'd made? It had been the first time that they'd talked about the past since she'd walked back into his life and he'd ended up fucking her. Was he always going to be a fuck up?
He didn't know when he'd finally fallen asleep, but when he woke up he was in his bed and the sun was shining through the windows. He pulled himself out of bed and headed towards the joint area of their suite. He needed coffee and he needed it now.
He drew up short when he saw Rachel standing next to the coffee pot as it brewed. She glanced up at him once before glancing back towards the pot.
"Morning." His voice was gruff from sleep as he spoke.
"Mmmm," was her only response.
Was she fucking kidding? What was she going to do? Just ignore him? Yeah that shit was not going to fly.
"So last night—"
Her eyes flashed up to meet his as she cut him off, "Last night did not happen Noah."
He laughed. "Ya know, I'm pretty sure that it did happen. I mean I was there and all." He leaned against the counter, leaving just mere inches between them.
"Can we just drop it please?"
"Why? What's wrong, Rachel? You afraid you're going to ruin your good girl reputation? That was ruined years ago when you dated me." He was mad. He didn't want to act like last night hadn't happened and he hated that she was trying to. So he did what he did best – he poked. "You afraid to admit that it was just as good as you remembered?" He inched closer to her.
"Back off, Noah!" Rachel stepped backwards, but he kept advancing on her.
"You can't ignore me, Rachel. I'm part of your life now. You'll have to deal with the consequences of your actions." He reached out to grab her wrist, but she pulled back her arm and slapped him across the face. "What the fuck, Berry?"
"I told you to back off." Her eyes were blazing with anger and he couldn't help but notice how much hotter it made her. "I don't know what you want from me. I was upset, we fought, and then we had sex. End of story. Now leave me alone." She turned her back to him and headed back towards the coffee pot.
"Not end of story, Rachel. Even if you don't want to admit it, hell I don't really want to admit it, there's still something between us."
"Yes, there is and his name is Nathaniel. But besides him there is nothing between us." She poured her coffee and headed for her room, calling over her shoulder, "I'm going to the hospital in an hour if you'd like to join me."
He watched her walk away and couldn't help but think how this was becoming a pattern. She was constantly walking away from him. And no matter how hard he tried he couldn't help but be hurt by her words. There was something between them besides their son and he was damn well going to show her that. He just had to figure out how to get past the wall she'd put up.
Rachel sighed a sigh of relief once they reached the hospital. At least once they were with Nathan then she didn't have to worry about Puck needling her about what was going on between them. She didn't have an answer for him because she didn't know. She'd told him that the only thing between them was their son, but that wasn't the truth, even if she didn't want to admit it out loud.
But what was she supposed to do? He'd broken her heart five years ago, made it so that she was leery of all men. He still to this day denied that he'd cheated, but how was she supposed to just take his word? He'd lied and cheated before, although never with her. But didn't they say that a leopard could never change its spots? It just made sense that he had cheated. And if he hadn't, well, where did that leave them?
When she pushed open the door to find Nathan sitting up in bed, she smiled. When he spotted her and Puck his face lit up. He was the only thing that mattered in her life.
"Mama!"
"Hey baby boy." Rachel swooped in and kissed his head lightly. "How are you today?"
"I'm great! I made a new friend today."
"Oh? Why don't you tell me about them? Are they sick, too?"
Nathan shook his head. "No, mama. She was old, older than you and dad. But she looked a lot like you."
Rachel's eyes shot up to meet Puck's and saw that he'd had the same thought. Shelby. Oh God, why had she come here?
"And she said she'd be back soon!" He clapped his hands. "She went to get me jello!"
"Well that was nice of her. When did she leave?"
The door swinging open stopped her son from answering, but not from squealing when he saw who it was. "Shelby!"
Rachel felt like her whole world was spinning out of control. She'd never expected Shelby to show up at the hospital after making it adamantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with Rachel or Nathan. So why was she here?
"Hello again, Nathaniel." Shelby smiled as she set the jello in front of the boy. "Jello as ordered." Her eyes slid to Rachel. "Rachel, may I please talk to you and Noah in private?"
Rachel looked first to Puck and then to Nathan before nodding. "Why don't we go down the hall? We'll be right back, baby." She squeezed Nathan's hand before leading the way out of the room.
They'd barely made it out of the room before Puck spun on Shelby. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Shelby didn't even blink. "I was under the impression that the two of you wanted me to meet my grandson, was I incorrect?"
"No," Rachel's voice was quiet and she knew it was shaking. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but why else would Shelby be here unless she was going to agree? "But we were under the impression that you wanted nothing to do with me or my son."
"I did a lot of thinking last night after the two of you left and you were right. I was being selfish and I do want to know my grandson." She turned to meet Rachel's eyes. "And I want to do this for you. Not because you threatened to take Beth away, but because that's what a good mother would do." She turned to Puck. "I don't appreciate you threatening to take her away from me, but I understand." She paused. "But I don't want her to know that you're her father."
Puck's laugh was bitter. "Then how are you going to explain this to her?"
"I'm going to tell her that she's going to help out her nephew."
"Right. The one that she has no blood relation too? That makes no sense, Shelby." Rachel shook her head. "She's old enough to realize that would be unlikely. Eight-year-olds are not stupid."
Shelby's eyes were glassy with unshed tears as she looked between the two. "I just don't want to lose her. What if she meets you and wants to live with you and not me?"
Rachel was shocked. This was the most emotion she'd ever seen from her mother. But this did explain why she hadn't wanted to have Beth tested. She was afraid of losing her little girl. Rachel got that.
Forgiving and forgetting the years that had passed with no contact and the last few weeks where she had refused to help her son, Rachel took Shelby's hand and squeezed. "I know what it's like to worry about losing your child. But Beth loves you. Even if she decides she wants to know Noah or even Quinn, she'll always love you. In your heart you know that."
Shelby looked up at her, the tears finally falling down her cheeks. "Isn't it supposed to be the mother comforting the daughter and giving her the advice?"
"We've never been a normal family." Rachel smiled at her once again and as she looked over at Puck, she knew he understood.
"So, ummm...I'm gonna go hang out with the kid. You guys talk or whatever," Puck muttered before turning and heading back into Nathan's room.
Once Shelby had agreed to have Beth tested, things started moving very quickly, maybe a little too quickly for all of their tastes. Within just a few weeks Puck had been introduced to a child he hadn't known he had, and now he was going to be introduced to the child that he'd given up when he was little more than a child himself. And shit, he was nervous. Which of course he knew was dumb because he'd already seen her at Shelby's house, but she hadn't known that he was her dad.
Quinn and Sam had driven up with their brood after they'd all agreed that it would be best if Beth met both him and Quinn at the same time. They were all meeting at Shelby's and then heading to the hospital so that Beth could meet Nathan and be tested. And he was scared shitless.
"Noah, it's going to be okay." Rachel squeezed his hand.
He turned to look at her and saw that she truly believed that. They had been sitting in the car outside of Shelby's house for the last ten minutes and this was the first time that she'd spoken. He knew that they needed to go inside, but he hadn't been able to talk himself into it.
"Come on, let's go inside. You can do this, Noah. You know that."
She had more confidence in him than he had in himself, but she was right about one thing: they needed to go inside. With a sigh he pushed open the door and waited for her to exit the passenger side before they headed up to the door together.
He stood frozen, unable to bring himself to knock so Rachel leaned forward and did it for him. It was only moments before the door swung open to reveal Shelby.
"I was wondering how long the two of you were planning on sitting in the car."
Puck shrugged. There wasn't anything that he could say. He didn't want to explain to her why he'd been so afraid to come inside.
"Well come along. Quinn and Sam are in the living room." She led them to the room that they'd sat in the last time and he hoped that the welcome would be better than the last time they'd been there. Not that it hadn't worked out in the end, but they hadn't known that.
"I'm just going to go grab some drinks for everyone. Juice okay?" At everyone's nod, Shelby headed out of the room, leaving them alone.
"Hey baby mama. Sam." He nodded at the two who quickly stood. He wrapped his arms around Quinn, pulling her close. He could tell she was just as worried as he was by how tense her body was. "It's going to be okay," he whispered before pulling away and bumping fists with Sam.
Rachel cleared her throat causing the group to turn to her. She was looking shyly on and Puck knew that she felt like an outsider. He reached over and pulled her over to them. "You guys remember Rachel, my other baby mama, of course."
Sam swept her into a hug which Puck could tell shocked her. She and Sam had never been close, but that's just the kind of guy he was. He wanted everyone to be comfortable and happy and to him that meant hugs. Which yes, Puck gave him so much hell for. Then she and Quinn uncomfortably embraced. Things had never been overly good between them even when they'd tried to be friends.
"So where are the munchkins?" Puck asked as led Rachel to the loveseat and they sat.
"Outside." Quinn smiled. "Isabelle is so excited to have another girl to play with that she won't leave Beth alone." Quinn rolled her eyes. "But I guess that's what happens when you have two little brothers."
"We'll try for a girl the next time." Sam laughed as Quinn shoved an elbow into his side.
Puck turned to Rachel. "I don't know who all you've kept in touch with from Glee, but Sam and Quinn got married the year after graduation and had Isabelle later that year. She's almost six, right?" At Quinn's nod he continued, "Then they had Blake and Avery a few years later. They're three. And all blonde little angels." He snickered.
"Puck, do not try and say that my children are badly behaved." Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's your fault that they get riled up when you come to visit."
Sam laughed with her. "It's true, Puck. You know how to rile up children."
After that there was a pause in the conversation before Shelby stood up. "I guess I should go get Beth. Do you want me to have your little ones come in?"
Quinn shook her head. "No, keep them outside. It's going to be harder to explain to them and I'd rather wait until we go back to the hotel room."
Shelby nodded before turning and heading from the room. And just like that the dread was back. What if Beth hated them? What if she wanted nothing to do with them? Could he deal with that? His eyes shot up to meet Quinn's. Hell, could Quinn handle that? In all the times he'd imagined meeting his daughter it had never been like this. Never.
And then she was there, standing in the doorway. Nine years old and such a beautiful little girl, looking around at them all in confusion. "What's going on, Mom?" She spoke to Shelby and Puck saw Quinn flinch. He had to guess that it was hard for her to hear her daughter calling someone else "Mom."
"We need to talk to you, baby. Why don't you come in and sit down?"