Unfinished Business
Chapter Three: Bathroom Talks

Puck knew shit was about to hit the fan.

Antony Benton... in other words, Puck's hugest rival on the music scene. Before Antony had left for Broadway, he was a very popular singer who's lame and cheesy lyrics made old and young women swoon. Puck's songs, that actually had depth, were also popular, which caused a huge rivalry between the two men.

And now knowing that this idiot, this guy who had tried to ruin Puck's career on several occasions, was the man who had stolen Rachel's heart and fathered her child, only caused Puck to hate him more.

He watched as Antony pulled Rachel into his arms. The way they wrapped their arms around each other, they seemed so familiar, so in tune with each other. Their daughter, Piper, squeezed into the middle, completing the "perfect family" picture. Puck's lip curled, and the feelings of hatred grew stronger for his fellow musician.

Suddenly, a blonde bombshell walked into the room. Rachel's face lit up and she untangled herself from the two and threw herself at the newly arrived girl. "Nat! Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Rachel exclaimed, hugging the blonde.

The girl smiled and hugged her back. "I came to see you and Piper! Tony told me that you just got back and I had to come see you. I've missed you so much!" The girl spoke with a light Russian accent, not as strong as Puck had originally assumed when he first heard about Natasha. Puck became confused very quickly. Why weren't Natasha and Rachel clawing at each other and pulling hair in a hot cat fight over their shared love? Why was Piper so excited to see Natasha? Shouldn't little girls hate their step-mothers and want their parents to be together?

Sam patted Puck's shoulder, obviously sensing his confusion. "Don't worry, dude. We were all like you at first too. Rachel is the maid of honor at their wedding, since she set the two lovebirds up in the first place. And Natasha gets along great with Piper. They're like best friends, sometimes close enough to make Santana jealous and think that the Russian is tearing her goddaughter away from her. And Rachel is so excited to see both of them happy. Her and Piper both keep asking when the two are going to have children. Rachel's heart is just so big that she will accept anyone into her tight-knit family. She's totally over Antony and just wants what's best for him. They're close friends, but no feelings are involved anymore."

Puck shook his head in disbelief. He knew how accepting and forgiving Rachel could be (exampe: slushies) but he'd never thought it would be to this extent. He kept looking between Rachel, Antony, and Natasha as if to sense the underlying tension, but all it looked like were three friends talking. Piper was back in Santana's lap, practicing Spanish with her godmother.

Antony looked around the room full of people, knowing that everyone was staring at them. When Antony made eye contact with Puck, he stepped back, almost in alarm.

"Noah Puckerman? Puck, is that you?" Antony made his way over to a fake-calm Puck.

Puck shrugged and gave a half-laugh. "The one and only. What brings you to my humble beginnings?"

Antony laughed and slapped Puck on the shoulder, as if he were talking to a regular friend. "Just visiting the mother of my child. I never knew you were in Rach's Glee Club!"

Puck's lip curled a bit when Antony called Rachel the mother of his child, but he stayed calm. "Oh yeah, sophomore through senior year. Me and Rach even dated for a bit."

Antony's eyebrows raised in amusement. "Looks like we both have good taste then." Puck let out an actual chuckle and Antony fist bumped him and walked off.

Puck didn't know when Antony had given up his grudge and rivalry, but Puck thought that the dude might actually be cool to get along with. His successful career on Broadway would probably deter him from returning to the music scene, which kind of made Puck happy.

The rest of the reunion passed by in a blur.

That is, of course, until Puck ran into a crying Quinn. He was about to walk into the boys' bathroom when he heard a sniffle coming from the girls'. He knocked lightly on the door and cracked it open. "It's Puck. Can I come in?"

He was surprised to hear Quinn's miserable, "Why not?"

Puck cautiously made his way into the bathroom and sat down next to Quinn. She was sitting on the floor stroking her stomach, tears falling silently down her face. "Is something wrong?" Puck asked quietly.

Quinn chuckled darkly. "That's the thing. Nothing should be. I have a successful husband, I'm pregnant with a daughter that I can actually raise this time, and I'm decently famous enough that if things don't work out with Sam's successful job, I could make money in the music industry. But, it's just..." Quinn sobbed, before covering her mouth with her hand to stifle the sounds. "Sam loves Rachel more than he loves me."

Puck turned to face her, an incredulous look on his face. "Why do you think that?"

Quinn laughed, wiping the tears away. "I see the way he looks at her. The way he hugs her. The way he talks to her. But I love him so much that I couldn't bear losing him, so I don't say anything about it. When Rachel got pregnant, Sam said he would be a father to her child. This was when Rachel wasn't sure if she was going to tell Antony about her pregnancy since they weren't in a relationship. They were more friends/co-workers-with-benefits. But she told him no. She said that he shouldn't have to do that and that she was going to talk to Antony and see where they went from there. I was friends with him at the time, and I saw how broken he was about Rachel being pregnant. I think it's because he wanted to actually be the dad of Piper."

"You honestly believe that?"

Quinn and Puck looked up, both looking startled, into the hurt eyes of Rachel and Sam.

Rachel took a step forward, tears in her eyes. "Why would you... How could you think...Quinny?"

Sam stared from the doorway, his eyes locking on a crying Quinn. He moved forward sluggishly, and slowly squatted in front of Quinn, putting them at eye level. "I'm not in love with Rachel."

Quinn flinched. "You act like you are."

Sam sighed and looked down at the ground. "Rach is my best friend in the whole entire world. She's awesome, she's amazing, she's wonderful." Quinn slightly flinched at every compliment he gave Rachel. "But she's not you."

Puck silently stood up and walked over to stand next to Rachel. He took her tiny hand in his, and she squeezed it tightly.

Quinn began to cry openly. "I'm sorry Sammy, I'm sorry Rach, I don't know what's gotten into me lately. It's just that every time I see you two hug or interact in any way, I feel like you two seem more in a relationship than you and I are." Quinn locked eyes with Sam, doubt still in her eyes.

Sam took her hand and held it up to his heart. "You're my wife, baby. And I love you so much. I'm so sorry that I haven't made my love more clear for you. You should never have to doubt my love for you. I love you, Lucy Quinn Evans. And yes, me and Rachel are close, but we don't have those feelings for each other. We're just really comfortable with each other, and I'm sorry you mistook that as romantic love."

Rachel let go of Puck's hand and squatted down next to Sam. "You married an amazing guy, Quinny. He offered to be Piper's father because he's an amazing person, not because he was in love with me. If you, or Santana, or anyone else had fallen pregnant, he would have probably done the same thing. That's just who he is. And he loves you and your child so much. His heart is overflowing with love for both of you. And yes, Sam and I love each other, but we're not in love with each other. Sam's my best friend-" Rachel paused and reached out to take the hand of Quinn's that Sam wasn't holding. "-but so are you. I would never do anything to ruin your relationship. We're not in high school anymore, we're not pining over the same guy anymore. Okay?"

Quinn sat up and pulled them both into a bone-crushing hug. "I love you both so much, and I'm so sorry for doubting either one of you for a second."

At the same time, Rachel and Sam said, "I love you too."

Puck and Rachel made their way out of the bathroom to leave the married couple alone. They began to roam their old high school campus, and ended up at the bleachers. They sat in the spots they were in when they broke up sophomore year. Puck frowned when he began to relive the bad memories.

"Noah? Thank you for listening to Quinn. She really needed a shoulder to lean on." Rachel lightly placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it affectionately.

Puck chuckled. "I have a lot of experience with a pregnant Quinn. She used to go on a lot of hormonal rants. It's kind of nice to see that her second pregnancy is almost the same as the first. At first, I thought it was just because I was the one that knocked her up the first time around."

Rachel rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him. "So how do you know Antony?"

Puck's laughter died. He really didn't want to talk to the girl he might still have feelings for about the guy who fathered her child. "We had a bit of a rivalry a few years back when it came to our music. This was after he left Broadway and after Piper was born, even though I didn't know she existed. I stopped thinking about him when he returned to Broadway a few years ago."

Rachel smiled. "He always shines the best when he's on a Broadway stage."

Puck coughed uncomfortably. "Yeah, I guess so."

Rachel turned to face him, staring him straight in the eyes, a serious expression on her face. "I have a very important question to ask you, Noah. Be totally, and completely honest with me."

Puck gulped and nodded. He was starting to sweat, thinking the worst.

Rachel gave him a bright grin. "Will you, Noah Puckerman, sing a duet with me?"

Puck reared back in shock. "Wait, what?"

Rachel shrugged. "My manager wants me to put out a single, so I was thinking of ideas. Then I remembered Need You Now and realized that what I really wanted to do was a duet. With you. You're a very popular artist, we have great musical chemistry and compatibility, and we're a couple of good looking Jews. So why not?"

Puck stared at Rachel, making sure she was being serious. "You want to sing a duet with me?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes, Noah, I want to sing a duet with you."

Puck lost control. He wrapped his arms around her quickly and hauled her so that she was sitting in his lap. He pressed his lips against hers desperately, and grinned when she began to kiss him back.

A few minutes later, he reluctantly pulled back to gasp for breath. Her lips were swollen, and her eyes were still closed. Puck began having flashbacks of them rolling around on her bed when they were dating sophomore year. He forgot how amazing she was at kissing, and how much he enjoyed kissing her.

Rachel's eyelids fluttered as she opened her eyes. She let out a wide grin when she saw Noah's awestruck expression. "Is that a yes?" she asked jokingly.

Puck smirked. "That's a hell yeah, baby."

Puck pulled her in for another kiss, but was interrupted by a light pitter patter of feet coming up the metal stairs.

"Mommy?"

Rachel sat up from Puck's lap and made her way down to her daughter. "Piper? What are you doing out here in the dark? You were supposed to stay with your daddy and Natasha."

Piper giggled. "They started kissing and I came to find you. Who were you kissing?"

Rachel took a step back in disbelief. "What? How? I just- huh?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Mommy, your mouth is all puffy. Remember in that movie you were in when you had to keep kissing that guy and your lips were always puffy afterwards? You look like that."

Puck made his way down to the mother-daughter duo just in time to glimpse a blushing Rachel Berry.

"Piper Arya Benton. You better not go spreading this around to the others. Deal?" Rachel held out her hand for a handshake, which Piper accepted.

Piper squealed when she caught sight of Puck. "Oh my gosh, Mommy! You were kissing the guy who you're obsessed with?" Rachel's face became an even brighter shade of red.

Puck grinned in delight and held out his hand to the little girl. "I'm Noah Puckerman, and I'm the guy who's totally obsessed with your mom."

Piper shook his hand and smiled. She turned to face a still-blushing Rachel. "I like him. You should get married and have a lot of babies." She smiled one last time at Puck and made her way back to the school.

Puck faced Rachel and shrugged comically. "I mean, if it's what she wants." He began to lean in to kiss her again, but she only pecked him chastely and smiled at him.

"Slow down, Casanova. I'm not in the position to be in non-serious relationships. I have a daughter to worry about."

Puck took a step closer to her and recaptured her lips with his. "What if I don't want to be in a non-serious relationship? What if I was in this for the long haul? What if I haven't stopped thinking about you since high school?"

Rachel looked shocked. "Wait, what?"

Puck shook his head in exasperation and smiled. "I want to sing that duet with you, Rach. But I also want to be with you. I want to take you out on dates and have you on my arm at award shows and I want all the magazines to know that you're with me. I want to get to know your daughter and get to know you all over again."

Tears glistened in Rachel's eyes. "You do?"

Puck nodded enthusiastically. "I do. I really do."

Rachel laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Okay." She kissed him passionately, pulling him closer, and yet, not close enough.

A/N- Not the end, but the final chapter might be coming soon. Isn't it a good thing that Puck made the decision to come to that reunion after all?