Disclaimer/Prompt: See Part One.
Rachel spent the rest of their dinner keeping the conversation on a lighthearted track as they traded "remember when" type stories from high school. She carefully avoided any more serious topics as she didn't want to break down in the middle of a restaurant and if anyone could cause her to do that it would be one Noah Puckerman.
She still couldn't believe how easily she had admitted to him one of her greatest secrets. Half the reason she had waited almost two weeks to tell Finn she was pregnant was that she had honestly weighed the pros and cons of "pulling a Quinn" on him; only, she supposed, in reverse. She had debated it for weeks until she realized that as much as she had wanted to be in Noah's arms for the rest of her life, she refused to saddle him with someone else's child. She had made her choices and she would have to live with them; it was with that acceptance that she had told Finn about their baby.
The fact that his first reaction had been to frown before asking what she was going to do about it probably should have been Rachel's first clue to go running to the Puckerman's. Abigail Puckerman would have taken her in with open arms as they waited out Noah's twelve week boot camp at Parris Island; when he got home they could have decided what to do. She knew at the very least he would have been a supportive friend. She had deferred school for a year in New York; she could have done the same in Lima.
Instead she made Finn keep their secret until they could get married in New York City and almost as soon as they told their families she was disowned by parents who were supposed to love her. Shaking off her morbid thoughts Rachel finished her coffee and watched as Noah signed the receipt and left a tip for the waiter before helping her out of her chair and leading her out of the restaurant and into the humid Manhattan evening.
"Fuck, I've been here for six years and I still forget how hot it gets in the summer," Puck mumbled, loosing his tie and rolling his shoulders.
Rachel laughed a bit and shook her head as they started walking down the sidewalk with no real destination in mind, "It's only the beginning of August Noah. You know it'll be bad until October."
"Yea, I know. Believe me I know. I just bought a place on the sixth floor of a six floor converted brownstone walk up in Chelsea. It's nice but completely lacking anything resembling central air. The place is all mine but they won't let the tenants do any major renovation for historical purposes."
"Wow," Rachel mumbled quietly, imagining just how nice his apartment probably was while thinking of her own small two bedroom in Bayridge. "Annnnyway, I can't believe you've been here this long and we only just saw each other."
"It's kind of a big city Rach," he joked back. "But I also know what you mean. I should have looked you up, let you know I was in town. That's all on me."
"Phone works both ways Noah," she replied, shrugging. "Except no one told me you were in New York."
"Speaking of which; does my Ma even know what you're up to? 'Cause, I've been wondering since I saw you again why she hadn't been yapping my ear off more often all about how I was an idiot for letting you go."
"I'm not sure," Rachel admitted, a shy smile gracing her face at his words. "Honestly, unless Carole told her I doubt she knows. I haven't really kept in touch with too many people in Lima beyond the Hummel's and since Carole's not really keen on letting the world know Finn's an asshole I don't think she's been spreading it around."
"Yea; but, your Dad's and my Mom are constantly seeing each other at Temple."
Rachel smirked a bit at that and chuckled, "If anything my Dad's are telling your mother to keep you away from me before I destroy all your potential as well. They haven't talked to me since I told them Finn and I got married and explained why. Well, no, that's a lie. They rubbed in my face how they were right all along and how stupid I had been when I called to tell them he had left."
"Seriously?"
"Yes; doesn't really remind you of my Dad's does it?" she responded dryly.
"Not at all, what the hell was that all about?"
"Broadway was more their dream," she explained, looping her arm through his and leaning against his shoulder as they turned north on Bowery. "I loved performing, don't get me wrong. But it would have been nice to try other things as well. I found that I really loved teaching when I would give the music classes at the JCC. So, I sort of planned on doing a double major in theatre and music no matter what and possibly down the line do my masters in music education if I didn't immediately get a role; they just didn't know that was part of the plan before I left Ohio."
"I don't understand why that's bad," he responded, looking down at Rachel with an honestly confused expression on his face. "If anything, it was smart. Gave you something to fall back on, just in case something happened."
"Which it did," she pointed out needlessly. "And I really do love teaching. I think, possibly, more then I loved performing," she added a wistful tone creeping into her voice.
"Well, that's good I guess," he responded, trying to force down the unjustified guilt he felt over her losing a job she had obviously loved. "But still, before all that, it seems like you had a solid plan. I don't get their problem with it. You messed up, but you were dealing with it responsibly."
"That's what I tried telling them. Then they cut me off and I had to pick one of the majors because I didn't have time for both. I chose music; Finn had also been accepted to Brooklyn College and decided to attend there because they had a Physical Education major and he thought that would be easier then anything at NYU. We had this whole plan and my father's just didn't want to hear it. My point is that they certainly weren't spreading it around Temple that their only daughter got knocked up by a Gentile, married him in a government building and then proceeded to get dumped a few years later. That would be scandalous. I might have beaten you and Quinn with that one."
"That's us. A couple of badass, good-looking Jews," Noah muttered, laughing when Rachel smirked.
"Well, it is natural," she drawled back, rolling her eyes and slapping his arm. "I've missed you Noah."
"Right back atcha babe," he whispered back and took the chance to kiss the side of her head softly. "So, you are divorced right?"
"I'm pretty sure you've got a whole file on me in your office Noah."
"Hey, I'm trying to be polite here and get the information from you. I'm trying not to remember why he met again."
Rachel smiled brightly at the words and nodded as she replied, "Then yes, in answer to your question, I am divorced. Thankfully New York has no fault, which you should well know Doctor Puckerman being that you work for the Family Courts, so I managed to get it pushed through after about a year and a half on grounds of abandonment. They just had to wait to make sure he didn't pop back up and try and demand custody and I didn't really look very hard. I have no clue if Finn knows we're divorced or not; I literally have no idea where he is. But legally, I'm totally free."
"So wait, he didn't run back to Lima and marry the Queen bitch?"
Rachel snorted a laugh at the comment and shook her head quickly, "You think your mother wouldn't have known that Noah? Be serious for a second."
"Very true. If Finn had married Quinn my Mom would have been at my throat to go and find you and, I quote, 'fix your idiotic mistake and give me Jewish grand-babies.' She really loved you."
"I loved her too," Rachel whispered and then shook her head to get back on track. "Quinn was actually my third call after Kurt and Carole 'cause I'll admit, my thoughts went exactly where yours just did. Except, I didn't know it at the time but a year prior to Finn leaving Quinn had married a man she met in college. She did tell me that if he showed his face anywhere near her she'd kick it for me and tell him to get his ass back to his child or at least start sending me money. Ironically, Quinn's one of the few people I still talk to on occasion as a result." Rachel jerked to a stop as Noah froze in place as she spoke, "What? Noah?"
"You're telling me that not only did he leave you and basically disappear; but he hasn't been paying child support? At all?"
"I thought that was the definition of "disappear" Noah. I really don't know where he is. I don't care to know; Elyse even calls him her sperm donor."
"Shit Rach, I really wish you had called me. I could have helped you out! I thought the fucker was just, you know, gone. There are ways of sending money without the recipient knowing where it was coming from. Shit, even my asshole father used to send my Mom a check every month."
"Noah!" Rachel snapped, turning him to face her. "What's done is done. I don't even want to think about Finn anymore. My kid likes you after only talking to you twice. Believe me, I know other single parents, this is a miracle. She practically shoved me out the door to go to dinner with you."
She watched him closely as a bevy of expressions played over his face and waited for any reaction to hold. She recognized each of the emotions in his eyes even after years of not seeing him - anger, frustration, guilt, sadness and one she had never thought she'd see again, love. It was the presence of that intermingled with the others that made her continue before he could speak, "And I know Finn said something to you at some point after we broke up and somehow you're feeling guilty about him leaving because of it. But you shouldn't. He's the one who left Noah. You had nothing to do with that."
"He told me that he was going to NYU and that he could take care of you better then I could. I thought he was right. So, I let you go."
Rachel blinked in surprise at the words, because that was the one thing she hadn't been expecting. She had been shocked, and hurt, at Puck's lack of reaction when she and Finn had started dating again but had attributed it to the fact that they had promised each other they wouldn't lose their friendship. To hear that Finn had gone to him and somehow convinced him to end things was like being kicked in the stomach. When he had told her at dinner that he had let her go for Finn; she thought he meant it as an analogy of some sort, not a literal statement.
"You broke up with me because Finn convinced you too?" she choked out.
"No," he immediately replied and turned her to face him, squeezing her upper arms tightly to hold her in place. "No. I told you the truth. I didn't want you to lose your dreams to be stuck following me around for eight years. What Finn told me only made it easier. Hell, it made sense! It might have been stupid of me, but it also made it easier. I knew you wouldn't be alone here."
The irony of the last sentence hit her hard and Rachel felt herself almost collapse as Puck pulled her close to him. She immediately relaxed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her forehead over his heart, settling into a long remembered position that felt exactly like coming home, and in the middle of a crowded Manhattan street she cried.
Puck felt his chest seize as he heard the sobs Rachel was trying to muffle and thought that the whole night had possibly been too much at once. They should have eased into getting to know each other again instead of just dragging the past back up in one dinner.
When her tears didn't appear to be quieting he tightened one arm around her as he raised his other to hail a cab. When the familiar yellow car pulled up to the curb Puck quickly steered Rachel towards the vehicle and climbed in, barking his address at the driver distractedly as he was caught somewhere between amazement at having Rachel literally in his arms again and fear that she was going to tear into him once she was done crying.
Her tears finally stopped on the drive but he didn't speak; instead, he revelled in the silence and stroked her hair while keeping his lips pressed tightly to the top of her head. And as they turned onto West 24th Street before pulling up to his apartment building he finally broke the silence and whispered, "You still smell the same."
When she giggled slightly he felt the pressure in his chest loosen and quickly tossed a few bills at the driver before helping her out of the cab and gesturing grandly at his building.
"Presumptuous aren't you? Taking me home on a first date?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow for a second before breaking out a sly smirk that sent a flash of heat through his body and dispelled whatever remaining tension he had.
"I'm being totally innocent here," Puck informed her. "I don't know your address and I wasn't letting you go home alone that upset."
"Uh-huh," Rachel muttered, rolling her eyes but still following him up the stone steps and through the main doors. "Top floor huh?"
"Unfortunately," Puck replied shrugging. "Let's get climbing."
They climbed the stairs to his floor quietly, with only a few annoyed grumbles from Rachel, and he didn't break their silence as he unlocked the front door of his apartment located at the very top of the stairs. He gently turned her to the right, since upon entering she would only see a closet door.
The apartment had three bedrooms and one bathroom down the hall to the left of that closet; while the large living room was directly to the right. His kitchen and dining room were separated from the living room by a set of oak sliding doors on the far wall at the back of the room.
"You didn't tell me you had the whole top floor of a brownstone Noah," she breathed out and he almost laughed when he realized her gaze was locked on the black baby grand piano he had in the corner next to a, non-working, fireplace and in front of three large nearly floor to ceiling windows overlooking the front of the building.
"I didn't exactly have a ton of bills to pay in the Marines so I saved a lot," he admitted. "They paid for my bachelors. I decided to buy this place about three months ago, moved in last month."
"Well, that makes me feel better about my crap place in Bayridge," she muttered, walking into the living room and laughing slightly. "As does your distinct lack of furniture; at least my place is decorated."
"I have a couch, a tv, an xbox, a piano, a bed in the master bedroom and a kitchen table. I don't really need much else."
"Then why all the space?"
He shrugged at the question, not really wanting to tell her that the three bedroom apartment had been purchased with the idea of possibly starting a family if the right person came along, and scratched the back of his head, "I spent eight years living in tiny base apartments or barracks. Then while I was finishing school I lived in a really shitty studio in China Town. I wanted something that didn't scream transient. Plus the mortgage on this place is cheaper then monthly rent on a place the same size in this neighborhood would be."
"I guess I can understand all of that," she replied, dropping down onto the couch. "Oh good lord, I could never move again."
"Comfy right?"
"Uh-huh," she groaned and left him shifting uncomfortably like he was sixteen again as his pants tightened. He immediately shook that thought off and tried to remind himself that he was going for slow; he was not going to scare her off.
"So," he began, thinking a subject change might be best. "You want a drink? Coffee? Beer? Wine?"
When she asked for a glass of wine he mentally gave himself a high five and slipped his suit jacket off, hung it up in the closet and told her he'd be right back before heading into the kitchen. He came back in and handed her the long stemmed wine glass, settling the bottle of the floor next to him and sat down next to her on the couch.
"Noah Puckerman with wine and real wine glasses like a real live grown-up. I knew you could do it."
"Gee and here I thought it would be the doctorate that would impress you," he responded, picking up on the teasing note in her voice and giving it right back, mentally high fiving himself once again as she giggled.
"That did impress me," she insisted. "I'm very proud of you Noah," she added, sipping her wine and leaning back further into the couch as she kicked off her heels.
"That really does mean a lot Rachel," he admitted, lightly tapping his glass against hers before taking a long swallow of his wine. "So, are you seriously friends with Quinn?"
He smiled at the bright laughter that his question evoked and leaned forward in honest curiosity as to how that had come about.
"Yes, I'm friends with Quinn. It's weird, we never see each other 'cause I send Elyse to visit Burt and Carole once a year by herself, but we talk on the phone at least once a month and email constantly. I think we bonded over the fact that Finn fucked us both up so much over the years. Though, Quinn maintains that I won that contest in the end."
"Understatement," Puck muttered rolling his eyes a bit. "So what's she up to anyway?"
"Quinn is married with two lovely children. Her son is four and her daughter is six," Rachel continued explaining and Puck waited for his instinctive flinch; a little surprised when it didn't come. It wasn't that he wanted Quinn; he just wanted what she had. And he was well aware that the possibility was sitting in front of him on his couch watching him curiously. "You okay?"
"Hmm?"
"I know it has to be hard to hear that she's got kids."
The concern in her voice brought a smile to his face and had him reaching over to brush her hair from her eyes before he explained, "It's not so much that Quinn has kids with someone else. It's just that, she has a family. I just think about Beth sometimes and news like that brings it back."
"Believe me Noah. I understand completely. More so now that I've got Elyse."
"You always did," he told her quietly, pulling her hand up in his and kissing the palm lightly before releasing it. "Okay, continue. I want to hear the gossip."
"Riiiight," Rachel drawled back. "Alright, so, she's an English teacher at McKinley and she replaced Coach Sylvester as Cheerio's coach three years ago once she was back at work after her maternity leave from Bradley."
"Q's the Cheerio's coach? Is she as psychotic as Sue?" he asked Rachel incredulously. "I mean, like, track suits and shit?"
"Noah Puckerman!" Rachel snapped and glared slightly, though he was fairly certain it wasn't seriously. "Quinn might be a very different person then she was in high school; but, do you think for even one second that she'd put on one of those horrendous suits?"
He smirked when she finished speaking because, he was right, she was completely not mad at him.
"Hey, people change over fourteen years," he pointed out needlessly. "I mean, shit, Santana's been a married woman now for almost ten years."
"Really?" Rachel replied, looking truly shocked. "To who? I know it's not Brittany."
"Nope. This really insane defense attorney named Linda. They live up in Albany with their four year old son. Ironically, Santana is an assistant DA with the Northern District Court. So, you can imagine what dinner at their house was like before they made a rule that if work comes home it goes right to their private offices and stays there. I thought they were going to get divorced about five years ago when Lin got stuck defending this guy who apparently embezzled all this money from a retirement community upstate and Santana was prosecuting. It got to the point where I was ready to block both their numbers from my phone for a while. Santana kept telling me that since I was studying to be a psychologist I had to be their freebie marriage councilor."
"Oh I bet you loved every second of that."
"Yea," he responded in a dry tone. "It was amazing. They obviously worked it out and that's when the 'no work at home' rule went into effect. They even keep separate offices in their house."
"I'm a little surprised Santana's not in the private sector."
"She was going to, but then she clerked for this super liberal judge after she graduated from Harvard and she fell in love with, what she refers to as the "light side" of the law, like it's Star Wars or some shit, and now she's intent on putting scum bags behind bars."
"Good for her. And considering you're basically doing the same thing, I don't think you can cast any stones at the Star Wars, light side, 'shit'," Rachel replied, smiling. "You two were the only Gleeks I had no idea about. So, it's nice to hear that she's doing well."
"Yea, she is. On the other side of that coin, she's the only Gleek I had any info on. We sort of both cut ties when we graduated. What are the others up to?"
"Keep in mind all of my info comes from Kurt and Quinn, since they're the ones that are in touch with the others. And even then they only really talk to Mercedes and Sam respectively. It's basically like a Glee phone tree; some people are still friends with others and the info trickles down that way."
"Gotcha. Now hit me with it. What are our singing and dancing brethren up to?"
"Brethren? Just how drunk are you?"
"Not even a little bit. The doctorate expanded my vocabulary and I'm trying to impress you. Is it working?"
"You had me at the grand piano in the living room," she teased back, poking his leg with her foot. "Okay, here's the rundown of what I know. Sam's a physical therapist working at OSU with the Buckeyes. He's married and just had his first child. Mercedes is teaching in the fashion department at the Savannah College of Art and Design and has been trying unsuccessfully to launch her own line since she graduated from the same school with her bachelors. When that didn't work she got her masters and started teaching there. She is not married because according to Kurt, she's too bitter to hold onto a man. Before you ask, if you even care, no I have no idea what their falling out was over...this week. They go back and forth between 'friends' and 'not friends' and I gave up keeping track years ago."
Puck blinked at that and shook his head, motioning for her to continue and keeping all comments to himself for the time being.
"Artie's working for some production company in LA as a film editor. Mike and Tina broke up in college and she's doing the starving artist thing in Portland, Oregon while he is teaching dance and working as a for hire choreographer in Chicago. That's all I know about those three."
"Mike and Tina broke up?" he choked out, actually surprised because they had been engaged when they all graduated high school.
"Yep, Quinn said that Tina freaked out when Mike's mother started trying to plan a wedding during their sophomore year of college and she broke the whole thing off. It apparently got a little insane for a while and from what Quinn told me we should be very thankful that we were far removed from that insanity."
Puck shook his head and then frowned, "Wait, what the hell kind of starving artist is Tina being in Oregon? They have much theatre up there?"
"Oh no, supposedly she "found" herself in college and decided to be a painter. Quinn said she's not very good. Thus, the starving thing."
He barked out a laugh at the comment and once again found himself liking this more relaxed and open Rachel even more. High School Rachel would have found a positive spin on things; this Rachel saw the humor in the situation and was rolling her eyes and laughing right along with him.
"Go on, who else went a little nuts after high school?"
"I'm going to assume Lauren since no one has heard from her."
"She got some wrestling offer and took off to Canada after grad. That's all I know," Puck supplied shrugging. "She didn't want to tell anyone 'cause her parents were pissed that she was blowing off school."
"Huh, okay then. Alright...oh! Ms. Pillsbury finally told Mr. Schue to take a hike about two years after graduation. She married some lawyer in Lima and has two kids. Apparently Mr. Schue helping her get over her OCD sort of screwed himself in the process."
"Well, maybe he should have focused more on his own issues instead of hers," Puck pointed out, draining his wine and grabbing the bottle to refill both of their glasses. "What's he doing?"
"Well, Quinn says he's annoying her daily over helping out with Glee; but I think a better explanation would be, he's doing the exact same thing he was doing when we were at McKinley."
"Poor Quinn," he commiserated and then eyed his wine glass carefully before setting it on the floor and reaching to take Rachel's away. "We're getting drunk. That's bad."
"Probably," she agreed and surrendered the glass without an argument. "New Directions hasn't won a National title since we did Senior Year either. Which is apparently why he's been annoying Quinn."
"He should be annoying you then," Puck responded nudging her with his elbow, which had him noticing the fact that somehow they had wound up pressed side to side on the couch.
"Funny you should mention that," Rachel mumbled and he noticed she was studying her hands, one of which had been entwined with his since he took her glass away.
"Schue got in touch with you?"
"No," she admitted. "But I've been seriously considering getting in touch with him."
"Why?"
"To see if there are any open teaching positions for music at McKinley or one of the elementary or junior high schools. I really need a job Noah," she explained, still avoiding his gaze.
"Well I mean, I guess I could see if I could transfer to Ohio; but if I did I'd probably be in Columbus," he responded instinctively as he thought of Rachel moving back to Ohio and then froze cursing the two bottles of wine at dinner before the one at his apartment. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Yes," Rachel whispered and stared back at him in shock. "Why would you even think about that?"
"You should know why," he replied, staring down into her eyes before lowering his gaze to her lips which were inches away from his. When she licked her lips and he saw her own gaze settle on his mouth all thoughts of slow flew out of his head as he quickly leaned down, brushing their lips together softly until she let out a quiet whimper that had him deepening the kiss.
He gently nudged her lips with his tongue, begging for entrance and wrapped his arms around her as her mouth opened under his. The kiss, which had been intended on his part to be soft quickly became passionate as he tasted Rachel for the first time in years. The flurry of grasping hands and moving bodies almost confused him as he lost himself in the headiness that always overcame him when he was with her.
When they finally pulled away for air, his lips trailed down her throat and he groaned when she gasped out one word into his ear, "Bedroom."
"Are you sure?" he managed to ask, pulling back slightly to meet her eyes.
"Yes," she answered both with both her words and actions as she straddled his waist and wrapped her legs around him. Puck didn't waste any time over thinking the situation and immediately stood up to carry her to his bed.
They could talk more tomorrow.
A/N: Like that wasn't inevitable. These two still have some things to get out into the open but I think they're well on their way to realizing that over a decade apart or not, they never really left each other. Also, to clarify, Puck's not like super rich or anything. He was just smart about his money and did what a lot of early-30s professionals do, he bought a house with a mortgage and bills and everything.
Up next - Smut. Puck meets Elyse for real. Santana gets a phone call. And much more. (And no, I didn't forget about Brittany, they just got distracted).
sidebar: I am never one to whine about reviews, but since I got such a small amount vs what I got on the first part it threw me a little bit...do you guys like where this is going? Did I take it in a direction you weren't expecting and disliked? Lemme know 'cause it helps me gauge the temperature of my readers and lets me know where to expand on things.