A/N: So how about this week's episode. What a huge pile of suck, huh? With exception of Puck singing to Beth and the introduction of Rory it was just a huge pile of crap on top of Finn being a douche to Blaine because he feels threatened. You may all rest assured that there will be no Puck and Shelby kissing whatsoever in this story.
Fun fact that I realized tonight...Kenneth Choi, the actor that plays on Glee, plays in Captain America. I was amused to learn this because it's always fun finding people in Glee in other movies and tv shows.
It's a little over a week later since Puck found out that his girlfriend is having a boy and even though he's not entirely sure if the baby is his (he's pretty certain it's not despite her current dreams because he wants to believe that he would remember having sex with Rachel even if they were broken up at the time) he's completely ecstatic about it. A little boy means trucks, sports, rough housing, getting dirty, getting into trouble and trying to weasel your way out of it, talking about girls and all the things that he never had a father around to teach him about. Like being responsible and respecting women. Fucking up with Quinn has beaten that lesson into his head rather firmly.
He's just walked through the front door of his house after dropping Rachel off from Glee practice when he hears his mother scream his name, "Noah Aaron Puckerman!"
Puck tries to turn back around and run out of the house but he isn't quick enough before she's grabbing onto the back of his collar and dragging him into the kitchen. His mother can be incredibly strong when she wants to be. He briefly thinks that it has to be that whole adrenaline thing that allows moms to lift cars off of their babies that enables her to overpower him when he outweighs her easily by at least 50 pounds.
"What are these?" she demands, flashing him the ultrasound pictures from Rachel's last appointment.
"Fuck," he mutters. He can't believe she found them since he knows he didn't leave them just laying around in his room. Puck remembers that after the appointment they went to the nearest Fedex so that he could make copies of the pictures since he wanted to have them as well. The profile and gender picture are currently tucked safely into his wallet."Where did you find those, Ma?"
Miriam Puckerman puts her hands on her hips and glares at her son. "It doesn't matter where I found them, Noah. What matters is why you have them."
Sighing, he rubs his hand over the short bristles of his hair before saying quietly, "Rachel's pregnant. I went with her to her appointment a few weeks ago and then made copies of the pictures for myself since it was an experience that I was denied when Quinn was pregnant."
His mother just kinda deflates with this news as she sinks down into the chair next to him. "Oh Noah, my wonderfully stupid boy," she says in a way that only a mother can that lets him know that she still loves him even though she isn't happy with the knowledge that yet another high school girl is pregnant because of her son. "Of course you would want to do things differently this time around."
If you only knew, Puck thinks. He knows that he should probably tell her that the chances are really high that the baby isn't his but he wants to stick with his decision to support Rachel by claiming to be the baby's father so he doesn't bring it up.
"I thought you and Rachel broke up over the summer?" she suddenly asks, breaking him out of his silent musings.
He nods quickly and tells her, "We did but when we found out about the baby we decided to get back together."
"How far along is she?" Miriam asks as she glances down at the pictures in her hands.
Doing the math in his head, Puck says, "She's 21 weeks now."
"What?" she shrieks as her hands slam down onto the table.
He waves his right hand in the air in a noncommittal gesture as he answers, "It's a long story. But basically Rach's body is slightly abnormal and so she didn't realize that she was pregnant and then she tried to reason and rationalize the whole thing away until she just couldn't anymore and had to accept the fact that she's having a baby."
Miriam's head bobs up and down slowly as she takes this information in and sighs in resignation before telling her son, "Well alright then. So you're back with Rachel and you're having a baby. And you're going to invite her and her father's over here for dinner this week for Thanksgiving and I don't want to hear any complaining about it."
"Yes, Ma."
Handing him the photos back, says, "Now be a good boy and go to your room and do your homework. You're going to have to keep your grades up with a baby on the way so that you can get into a good college."
Puck nods his head in silent agreement before leaving the room and bounding up the stairs towards his bedroom. Once he's safely behind his closed door he sends Rachel a text message that says, Mom knows about the baby and she wants you and your dads over for dinner on Thanksgiving.
So Puck thinks that the family dinner can't really get any more awkward than it already is. He's sitting next to Rachel while her dads sit across from them at the table. They've already managed to exhaust all of the polite conversation topics about school and work when his mom opens her mouth and asks him and Rachel, "So are you two keeping the baby?"
Before either of them can answer, Rachel's Daddy says, "Well I'm not really sure what Noah's part is in all of this but the last time we talked about it as a family, Rachel was still set on keeping the baby."
Miriam Puckerman looks slightly bewildered as she asks, "Noah's part? Well he's the father isn't he? And as the baby's father I would hope that he would do the right thing and be around to help out whenever Rachel needs him."
Puck just groans and drops his face into his hands just confusing his mother some more.
Hiram looks at his husband before glancing at his daughter and her boyfriend before saying, "The last we heard, and granted this was back when we first found out about the pregnancy a few months ago, Rachel didn't know who the father was." He gives the petite brunette a pointed look.
She bows her head and rubs her right hand over her belly in soothing manner as she is suddenly struck mute, while Puck just frantically wishes that he could shove those words back down the other man's throat. He didn't want his mom to find out that he is most likely not the father of the baby because he feared her reaction.
"Noah, is this true?" his mother asks, surprisingly calm. He's kinda thinking that she might strike when he's not looking. You know that whole silent but deadly thing. "Are you or are you not the father of Rachel's baby?"
"I don't know," he mumbles as he pushes his food around his plate.
Miriam just stares at her son before yelling, "What do you mean you don't know?"
Slamming his fork down onto the table, he glares at his mother with heat in his eyes. "Exactly what I said, Ma, I don't know," he says forcefully. "It was months ago and we were both really drunk that night so it's entirely possible that I could be the father."
"Yes and it's a much higher likelihood that you're not, Noah," she says to him, speaking to him as if he were a little child. "Why would you want to get yourself involved in yet another teen pregnancy that this time you are most likely not responsible for? Why would you want to throw away your future for this?"
"Because it's what you're supposed to do," he tells her simply. He doesn't notice the curious looks on all three of the Berry's faces.
Gazing upon her oldest child with a slightly sad expression, Miriam asks quietly, "What do you mean, Noah?"
Puck closes his eyes briefly and lets out a huff of air as he says again, "It's what you're supposed to do. When you care about someone you're supposed to be there for them."
She reaches out and puts her hand on his arm and tells him, "I understand that, but why do you have to pretend to be the father?"
He reaches out and grabs Rachel's hand and threads their fingers together before speaking. "Because I have to protect her. I couldn't let those punks at school think she'd gotten herself knocked up from a one night stand. Do you know the kind of shit they'd say about her? Do you know how hard her life would've been without having a guy to name as the father of her baby? So yeah, I manned up and took on the responsibility because if there's anything your husband taught me, it's that you don't abandon the people that you love and that you're there for them no matter what. That you protect them in any way possible, even if it means lying for them."
Only at the end of his little speech does he realize that Rachel is sitting incredibly still next to him and that all of the adults are staring at him with wide eyes. He hears Rachel's breath hitch as she says his name, "N-Noah?" He turns to look at her and sees the curiosity and wonder filling her chocolate orbs. "I think we need to talk."
Puck nods before glancing at the three adults and saying, "We'll be right back," as he leaves the table, still holding on to his girlfriend's hand as he leads her up to his room. Once they were settled, sitting next to each other on his bed he asks, "What did you want to talk about?"
Rachel gazes at her boyfriend for a little while longer before asking, "Did you mean it?"
"Mean what, Babe?"
"What you said at the dinner table," she prompts and when he looks like he doesn't have any clue what she's talking about she says, "You said that you don't abandon the people that you love."
He nods his head in agreement before telling her, "Well it's true. The shit my old man pulled was fucked up. You just don't do that to the people you love."
"You love me?" she asks quietly.
Puck freezes when he finally understands what she was trying to get at the entire time. "Fuck." When he sees the flash of hurt across her face and the way she flinches from him he recovers quickly. "No no no no no. Baby, it's not like that. I do love you, it's just that's not the way I had ever planned on telling you; sitting at a dinner with our parents while my mom is yelling at me about wanting to be your baby daddy."
"Oh." Rachel still isn't sure what she should be feeling. Her heart wants her to be overjoyed that her boyfriend is in love with her even when the chances of him being her actual baby daddy aren't that great. But the logical side of her brain wants to hold out for more explanations. So she stares at him with her big brown eyes, silently imploring him to continue.
He runs his free hand over the short bristles of his hair as he says, "Shit, Rach, I don't know. I've been in love with you for a long time now actually," Puck tells her as he tries to look everywhere but at her and winds up failing as he eventually gets held captive by her intense gaze. "I knew I was in love with you while we were together but I just didn't know how to tell you and then we broke up so I just kinda figured there was no point in trying to tell you anymore."
Rachel closes her eyes and chuckles quietly before shoving at his shoulder lightly. "Well I'm pretty sure that telling me you loved me while we were breaking up would have been a rather compelling argument as to why you would want us to stay together, Noah. You should've told me."
"Would it have made any difference?" he asks as he stares at the cluttered floor of his room.
"Of course it would have," she tells him and when he looks back at her she can see the unasked question in his eyes and all over his face. "Because I would've told you that I loved you too."
"Well damn. You still could've said it then," he tells her gruffly.
She giggles, "Yes but I was silly and wanted you to tell me first."
Puck rolls his eyes and takes her hands in his as he says, "Well it looks like you still got what you wanted."
Leaning in she whispers, "I always do," before capturing his lips in a sweet kiss. "And this Thanksgiving, I'm so glad to have you back in my life."