Saved By The Music
Glee AU Fan Fiction
Chapter 6: After Math
A/N: I didn't mean that the entire show was cliched. Glee isn't cliche-d in every aspect. If you understood what I meant when I said that, you would know that I meant the CHARACTERS were cliche-d in their personalities, and not even all of them. While some of their characters were over done in movies and TV shows, at least they were people that were realistic. Like Quinn-the popular, blonde, captain of the cheerleading team who made one mistake and messed up her life. Puck, the bad-boy rebel who feared he'd be just like his dad, and out of that fear, started down a road that would make him exactly like his father. They're overdone, but not cliche. Rachel? She was cliche-d and a stereotype. Just because she was a 'loser' who was constantly mocked by the popular kids, it didn't mean she had to have no friends until Finn came along. I at least expected when I started to watch the show that Kurt and Mercedes would accept her, but that wasn't the case. My friends all agree that pretty much, the cliche part of the show were the friendships. The popular blonde cheerleader, the airhead blonde and the slutty cheerleader? The golden boy and the bad boy? The teen gay and the only black female in the school? They just took most things too far when writing it for dramatic effect and while it worked for the story, it made the characters hard to relate to. So you people can review saying that all I'm doing is making it so Rachel had friends, but that was pretty much the entire purpose of the story, so I'm not getting your frustration. And explain to me how I could write a puckleberry story without the cliche-d plot line of the popular bad boy falling for the unpopular good girl? I wasn't changing their personalities completely-they wouldn't be Puckleberry anymore if I did something like that. All in all, I pretty much wrote this story because my best friend and I thought it was UNREALISTIC that Rachel had no friends before Finn came along. It put her into a cliche-d loser girl type of character which made the entire Puckleberry relationship overly cliched. The changes I made were the ones my friend and I talked about when we were saying ways that RACHEL'S CHARACTER ALONE could have become less of a cliche. We were not talking about the show in general and I don't think that the show is cliched overall. Full of stereotypes? Definitely, but not a giant mess of cliches.
A/N2: As for my putting Babygate in the story. It's overdone, because it's something that's ON THE SHOW. I'm not taking it out, and personally, I feel like my story would have had Puck and Rachel get together within one or two chapters without it, which would have led for a boring story without any drama. I like reading a story with drama and I make my fanfictions something I would want to read. I also like Santana and Rachel being friends-I think they bring out the best in one another. And I'm not going to have them not be friends just because Santana said something that was completely in character for her to say in regards to Rachel moving on. Seriously, one of my best friends told me a similar piece of advice one time. You don't have to listen to it or follow through with it. I didn't. I put babygate into my stories because honestly, I don't think it's fair to make Beth cease to exist merely because Puck had the baby with Quinn. I'm writing this story and it's going to include babygate. Rachel's going to get over the initial hurt. It's overdone, yes, but it's just a part of the show and, personally, it was a part of the show that I actually liked, despite there being a heavy focus on Quick because of it. It showed a softer side of Puck and a change in him that carried on throughout the series.
A/N3: I seriously hate wasting all this time in my story to reply to reviewers, but when the people who have something negative to say that I feel compelled to reply to are guest reviewers, this is what I have to resort to. I'm sorry to people that read this entire thing and had none of it apply to what they've been thinking about my story. I just like to make sure my readers feel answered, and I know that came out as snarky and rude, but that's just me. I'm confident in my story and I won't be changing it. These stories are something I created and I'm proud of them. I will not be changing them for anybody. I'm sorry if you don't like where it's going, but it's going to be Puckleberry Endgame. There just has to be some bumps in the road. Once you make it through struggles, you know you can get through things together. It's the way that people learn how to have a healthy relationship. It shows that they can fight, argue, but love one another enough to talk it out and work through their problems. It's a sign of real devotion to a relationship, and, in my eyes, it's a sign of true love. I base my views of love, friendship and pretty much everything, on what I have in my life. Maybe they don't agree with your own views, but they are what my opinions are. Sorry for the endless author's note. Moving onto the story now.
"Get in, loser," Santana was honking on the horn when Rachel exited her house the next morning, dressed in one of the outfits they'd picked out the previous night.
Her black, pleated mini skirt with the thin lines creating a plaid design swayed around the top of her legs as she moved. A red, zipper front cropped tank top stretched out across her chest. Black, thin, knee-high socks covered most of her legs while a pair of red, double-strapped Mary Jane heels added a few inches to her short demeanor.
She held a red satchel bag on the crook of her arm, holding a red wallet and red make-up bag, with her sunglasses case and her Busy Talking Shit phone case as well.
her freshly ombre-d hair hung in loose curls around her face, blunt bangs fluffed to land just a few inches above her eyelashes. Red feather-drop earrings hung from her ears and her gold Star of David necklace hung from her neck. A black rose belly ring bounced against her flat torso as she slid into the passenger's seat of the car, smiling at her friends.
"Did I do alright?" She asked.
"Alright? Girl, you're smoking," Santana laughed, tossing her head back as she broke out into a fit of her usual cackles. "Don't be so self conscious, got it? Guys can detect it like dogs detect fear," She instructed, suddenly serious.
"Especially high school boys. And Coach Sue, and if she thinks you're self-conscious. it's going to affect you getting on the team," Brittany spoke up from the back seat.
"Do you guys seriously think I'l make it?" She wondered, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.
"I'm as sure that you're going to make the team as I am that Mike's going to drape his sweatshirt around you as soon as he sees you," Santana said, eyes located on the road ahead of her.
"And I'm sure that you'll make it-as sure as I am that Puck's going to be unable to speak as soon as he spots you, because he thinks your look good in animal sweaters. With this much skin showing? He's going to be in a lot of pain today," Brittany shrugged.
Rachel found herself smiling at the thought, even if she knew it was wrong.
Puck was having a child with Quinn. He was the father of the child that was in Quinn's stomach. They had to be together-he couldn't have another girl offering him any distractions. His focus needed to be on her, because he needed to give his child all of his attention and devotion. It wasn't fair to Quinn or the baby for Puck to be worrying about a new girlfriend.
It would make him like the father he was always swearing he wanted to be nothing like.
Maybe-just maybe-if Quinn decided not to keep the baby, the two of them could try again after their child was born. But, as long as that baby was in Quinn's stomach, Puck was not supposed to worry about any other girl.
Still, the idea that he had called her and let her know the truth, before anybody else-even Finn-had learned the truth, showed that he did care about her. Maybe he had made a stupid mistake before they had been anything more than a bully and victim, but that didn't mean his feelings towards her afterwards were all a lie.
She could remember that, but she couldn't focus on it anymore than she could wait around for him, hoping that when this scandal was over and they had decided if they were keeping the baby or not, that Puck would want to try again with Rachel, rather than taking the easy route and returning to his adventures with every member of the cheerleading team, or staying with Quinn out of mere guilt, or because of the love that he would only feel for her because of the baby.
The baby that would always connect them to one another, no matter who Puck claimed to love or what he said.
They would always have that special connection, and Rachel would do well to remember that.
She wasn't going to be that girl, the one that was a high-school home wrecker. She refused to be the other woman in a relationship, even if Puck didn't seem to have the same concerns about being the other man in a relationship. '
She could count, and she knew that relationships were meant for two. That meant she wasn't going to try to get involved with somebody in a relationship, no matter how badly she might want to be involved with Noah Puckerman.
And she had to stop thinking that, because she couldn't want to be in a relationship with him. A relationship with him wasn't going to do any good for anybody. It wasn't going to be good for her, because she'd have to share him with Quinn. It wasn't going to be good for Quinn, because she was the mother of his child and needed all of his attention. And it wasn't fair for him to have to add another person to where his attention needed to be when he already had to focus on school, work, Quinn and a baby.
No, whatever she had started to feel for Noah Puckerman-it was all to be forgotten about.
He was Quinn Fabray's baby-daddy. She was his baby-mama. Rachel didn't have a place in their little family, whether it was happy or not. Rachel belonged on the outside, with her friends, and eventually, with another guy in a different relationship. She couldn't concern herself with Puck and Quinn, no matter how hard it was to make sure she didn't worry about them.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Mike asked, walking towards Rachel, Brittany and Santana, already shrugging out of his jacket. "You look cold-here, wear my jacket," He insisted, holding it out to her.
"Michael, I'm fine. I'm not cold, and this is an appropriate outfit choice for school. I'm as covered up as Santana is, and even more so than some of the other girls at school." Rachel sighed, shaking her head as she refused his jacket.
He frowned, glaring at Santana to signal that he blamed her for this change in Rachel's wardrobe, before putting his jacket back on and pulling the tiny brunette into a hug.
"I don't like the way the guys are looking at you-like you're a piece of meat," he sighed.
Mike had always been protective of Rachel. That was how their friendship had began-Mike not liking the way people judged her so quickly without giving her a real chance.
They decided that a girl who loved Broadway just had to be a freak, because they didn't even know what Broadway was. They branded her as a loser because she had talented, believed she would make it out of Lima, and was constantly making sure everybody knew about how amazing and incredible she was.
Mike didn't think that those were bad qualities to have. He thought that confidence was a good thing, and he found it a sexy quality in any and all girls. Believing in yourself was the first step to success, in his eyes, and he was proud of Rachel for not allowing the simple minded people at their school to allow her to change her ways.
Rachel was a strong, independent woman and she didn't need anybody by her side in order to succeed.
The last thing that she needed in her life was a man-but if she had one, it was just going to be an addition to everything else she had. It wasn't a necessity, but it was a pleasant change.
Rachel's confidence and her self-empowerment gave Mike faith for how she would be able to last with seeing Puck and Quinn together, once the entire school found out about the truth father of the baby. Which he was sure was going to happen soon, as Finn had broken up with Quinn as soon as she'd told him that she was pregnant.
Clearly he wasn't as big of an idiot as everybody had always thought he was, since he didn't even give her a second to come up with some lie about how she could be pregnant without them having had sex. He told her she was a cheating bitch and that she had gotten what she deserved before he'd hung up on her, refusing to answer any of her other phone calls. Then he had called Puck and complained to him about Quinn's cheating, claiming he would punch in the face of whoever this guy was.
Mike wanted to make sure he was there when Finn learned the truth, because he wanted to get a few punches in himself. The only thing stopping him from kicking Puck's ass was the knowledge that Rachel wasn't angry at him. She wasn't heartbroken. She wasn't even broken. She was just sad.
She didn't even doubt that Puck had meant what he'd told her about how he'd felt. She just thought that Quinn needed him all to herself for the time being and she was going to step aside for the girl that had tormented her most of her high school existence.
"Hey, man-hands! Would you mind moving so that I can get through? Some of us have people to see and places to be," Quinn Fabray's queen-bitch voice rang out from behind them.
Mike rolled his eyes. He should have known that Quinn was still going to be acting like the queen of the world, at least until she had a reason to believe that her popularity was truly gone with the loss of her Cheerio's uniform and her quarterback boyfriend there to defend and protect her.
She was popular because she was blonde, pretty, smart, hot, a cheerleader, and a bitch. People feared her and respected her. She had Finn Hudson wrapped around her finger and that offered her protection and a relationship people were jealous of.
She seemed to be perfect and flawless.
Nobody really liked her, though, and at the first sign of a weakness, everybody was going to turn on her. They had all been waiting for the day when she would fall and crumble to nothing since the second she'd first walked through the halls of McKinley, after all.
Dressed in a denim tank top dress, cinched at the waist by a yellow belt with all yellow accessories and her hair pulled back by a yellow bow, she looked like the essence of innocence. Especially with the golden crosses on her wrist, neck, and ears. But, the purity ring was missing and that meant she must have told her parents-unless she was just expecting the entire school to know and had slipped it off before entering the building. Either way, it was a sign that her innocence and purity were gone.
"Preggos, did you really just call my girl man-hands as if she's the one who needs to be mocked?" Santana asked, crossing her arms as she glared at the blonde.
"Are you taking Rupaul's side over my own?" Quinn asked in her holier-than-thou voice that Mike was sick and tired of hearing.
"She's our friend, Quinn. You're just mean, all the time. And you cheated on Finn." Brittany spoke up.
"Guys-just drop it. She has enough going on right now. Let's just...go, okay?"
"Are you seriously telling us to walk away after she just insulted you? Are you going to defend her after all the hell she's put you through, just because she's suddenly going through a hard time?" Santana asked, turning towards Rachel in disbelief.
"Well, it would be unfair of my to allow you two to insult her for my revenge when I forgave the both of you for your own part in my own personal cycle of hell, wouldn't it?" She asked innocently, hooking her arms through the two cheerleaders. "Let's just go," She insisted.
And Mike was only a little bit shocked when Santana allowed herself to get pulled away by the girl that was much smaller and so much weaker. After all, Rachel had a way of getting whatever she wanted, all of the time.
It was something he had learned after their many years of friendships. Rachel was always going to come out on top, because she would always get her way. She was so stubborn that it made her seem like a bit of a brat. But with two fathers who spoiled her rotten, buying her whatever it was that she wanted, it was hard to imagine her coming out as anything other than a princess.
Even Mike had taken to just giving in and allowing her to have her way. It was easier than trying to fight with the genius of a girl who had the largest vocabulary out of anybody he'd ever met.
"What the hell just happened?" Quinn screeched.
"You got defended by a girl that you make fun of whenever you get the chance. While your so-called best friends were ready to tear you a new one just because they never really liked you, the girl that you've tormented for years stood up for you and said that your life was hard enough at the moment, and that she forgave you. Even after you entered the school and insulted her twice out of the two sentences you managed to get out before they walked away. You know, Quinn, people might feel bad for you, if you weren't such a god damn bitch all of the time," Mike shook his head in disgust before turning on his heel and taking off after Rachel.
He had talked to Brittany and Santana the previous night and they had decided that while Rachel was being mature and strong about the entire ordeal, they couldn't guarantee that Puck would handle the situation with the same grace.
So, they had decided that she was not to be left alone while at school, until it was clear to Puck that Rachel would not be talking to him. They had made up a schedule to ensure that she was never alone, and Mike was late for his first shift, because he'd gotten caught up in telling off Quinn and in his amazement at the way Rachel had managed to befriend the biggest bitch in the entire school.
When he reached Rachel's locker, he was stuck with the sight of Puck talking to Rachel.
He cursed under his breath, walking towards her and stopping behind her, opting to listen for a second before making himself known and taking her away from the conversation.
"Rach, can we talk? Please? I just...I'm sorry, okay? But everything I told you? That was all true."
"Noah, I understand that you meant what was said between the two of us for these past couple of days. Whether or not you meant it, is regardless in this situation. The problem at hand is that you got Quinn pregnant, and that means your responsibility belongs with her. You need to focus all of your attention on her and your baby, because she needs you, alright? Maybe, depending on how things work out after your child is born, there will be a chance for us. But we can't even think about that possibility until this situation is over and done with. Now, you should go and find Quinn. She wasn't wearing her purity ring, and something tells me she'd only take that off if her father insisted that she was no longer fit to wear it," Rachel cut him off form his speech.
"She hasn't even told-"
"She needs to tell Finn, and I believe that you should be there with her when she tells him. He's going to come looking for you anyways, so you might as well handle things right then and there, without causing some big scene that is unnecessary and uncalled for. You made your bed, and now it's time for you to lie in it. I'm not angry with you for what you did, as I have no right to be mad. However, I am disappointed at how you're acting about this entire ordeal. You need to grow up and handle things maturely. You're the one who made the mistake, forcing you to grow up sooner than needed," She shrugged, slamming her locker shut.
She didn't wait for an answer as she turned around, coming face to face with Mike.
"Michael! Perfect-would you mind taking me to my first class?" She asked, looking up at him sweetly.
"Sure, Rach-anytime," He smiled at her, flashing a warning look at Puck, that he hoped got the message across that that would be the last time he talked to Rachel for a very long time, with the exception of when it would be necessary in the Glee club-and Mike was going to make sure that it wasn't necessary very often, to ensure that Rachel didn't fall under Puck's spell once more.
He wasn't taking anymore chances when it came to the safety of her heart. He'd messed up once, and he wasn't planning on doing so again. This time, he was going to be a real best friend who did what was best for her. This time, he was going to do things right.
"I need a place to stay," Quinn said as soon as Puck found her that morning.
Puck was under the impression that she was going to be throwing curve balls at him whenever he came to talk to her for the next nine months, since this was the second time she had done so in the past two days. It had been less than twenty four hours, actually, and she was already telling him something else that he'd need to take care of.
"I told my parents, because they asked why I wasn't wearing my uniform. When I explained I was kicked off of the team, they were ready to call Sue. I needed to tell them, because Sue would tell them anyways. My dad kicked me out. I packed my stuff last night. It's all in my car now. My mom convinced him to let me stay home last night because it was too late for me to be out on my own when he told me I was no longer his daughter." Quinn said, lowering her head.
"You can come stay with me," He said, awkwardly reaching back to rub at the back of his neck.
He and Quinn had never been friends before, but now they were suddenly having a kid together. They were going to be living together. They had gone from hating one another and putting up with one another for the sole purpose of her dating his best friend, to having a child together and having to act as if they cared about one another.
"We'll need to tell Finn," She went on, as if she had figured he'd give her that offer.
Knowing her, she probably had assumed that.
"Alright. Do you want to go and tell him now?" He asked her.
"We might as well. The school isn't that stupid. Somebody's bound to have figured it out by now." Quinn sighed, running a hand through her hair. It wasn't as sexy on her as it was when Rachel did it.
But Puck couldn't compare the blonde to the brunette. He was having a baby with Quinn, and that meant he needed to focus on her. He couldn't allow himself to get distracted.
Rachel had told him so herself-he needed to grow up and be mature, facing his mistakes like a man.
So, he followed Quinn down the hallway like a mindless puppy, until they came to Finn's locker.
"What the fuck do you want?" The taller boy asked when he turned around, glaring at the blonde who was standing before him. "I'm not talking to her Puck-I know you're trying to be a good friend and all, but she-"
"Puck's the father," Quinn blurted out, no emotion to her tone as she quickly said the words.
And just as fast as the words had left her mouth, Finn's fist was crashing into Puck's face as he informed him that he wasn't talking to him, ever again. Finn told Puck that their friendship was over-that he was done with the both of them-before he stormed off down the hallway, not even bothering to look back at the pair.
"Well, that went better than I expected," Quinn said with a dull cheerfulness to her tone.
Puck just looked at her and shook his head as the bell rang. He couldn't be around her any longer. He wasn't sure how he'd deal with her for nine months, and probably longer, since he doubted her parents would take her back after the baby was born. He didn't want to deal with her for the next nine minutes.
So, he muttered something about having to get to class and took off towards the auditorium.
Maybe Mike didn't want him to talk to Rachel, but he could still hide out in her favorite place and watch her sing. That wouldn't be acting like an immature playboy. He was just watching a performance, after all. There was nothing wrong with that. It wasn't doing anything inappropriately when he had a pregnant...whatever it was that Quinn was to him.
It was innocent, he decided as he slid into the back row of the dark auditorium. Sure enough, Rachel was on the stage, sitting at the piano as she played a few notes on the keys. Brittany was sitting in the front row, her blonde hair barely visible from where Puck was, as Rachel started her song.
"Don't look at me, you've got a girl at home and everybody knows that-everybody knows that/Don't look at me, you've got a girl at home and everybody knows that/I don't even know her, but I feel a responsibility/To do what's upstanding and right/It's kinda like a code-yeah/And you've been getting closer and closer/And crossing so many lines/And it would be a fine proposition, if I was a stupid girl/ But honey, I am no one's exception, this I have previously learned," She sang out.
And, as every other time she sang, there was so much passion in her voice that it made Puck feel everything that she was feeling as she sang.
He knew the song was about him-any idiot could have figured that much out.
He knew that she was saying he shouldn't be looking at her when he had Quinn, even if that wasn't what he wanted. Everybody knew that he was the father-or, they would soon enough-and Rachel wouldn't be the girl who stole Quinn's baby daddy.
Maybe Rachel didn't like her, but she still was going to do what was right. She always had to do what was right. It was who she was. It was some kind of code that she seemed to live by-to always be the responsible one.
But, Puck was tempting her, getting her closer and closer to crossing the lines she had drawn for herself to know her limits. It might be the type of thing any other girl would go for, but Rachel wasn't stupid. She was smarter than most girls. And she knew that she wasn't going to be anybody's exception. She felt like she had learned that lesson from the one guy who would be the exception to that fact.
"So don't look at me, you've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that-everybody knows that/Don't look at me, you've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that-everybody knows that/I see you, turn off your phone/And now you've got me alone/And I say, don't look at me/You've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that-everybody knows that/I just wanna make sure, you understand perfectly/You're the type of man who makes me sad/While she waits up, you chase down the newest thing/And take for granted what you have/And it would be a fine proposition, if I was a stupid girl/And yeah, I might go with it/If I hadn't once been just like her," She went on with her song, unknowingly letting him into her emotions.
She didn't want to be the girl that he went to because he wanted a taste of something knew. She didn't want to be the escape he had from the stress of his serious relationship.
She didn't realize that she wouldn't be that to him. She didn't realize that she was so much more than she thought she was, at least, when it came to him. She didn't realize the love that he had for her and how it killed him that he had ruined things, just as much as it killed him that he was starting to develop feelings.
He had never been the feeling type of person. Normally, once he started to feel something, he got out of the situation. He hated that he suddenly had feelings and he hated that they were for her even more, because she had always been his biggest weakness, even before he knew what love was. Before he had fallen for her and decided that one day, he was going to prove he was worthy of her.
She had always had a way of bringing out the best in him.
"Don't look at me/You've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that/Everybody knows that/Don't look at me/You've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that/Everybody knows that/I see you, turn off your phone/And now you've got me alone/And I say, don't look at me/You've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that/Everybody knows that/Call a cab, lose my number you're about to lose your girl/Call a cab, lose my number-let's consider this lesson learned/Don't look at me/You've got a girl at home and everybody knows that/Everybody knows that/Don't look at me/You've got a girl at home/And everybody knows that/Everybody knows that/Wanna see you, turn off your phone/And tell her-you're coming home/Don't look at me/You've got a girl at home and everybody knows that/ Everybody knows that/Don't look at me/You've got a girl at home and everybody knows that/Everybody knows that," She went on.
It killed Puck that she really was going to throw away everything she had because she felt like she owed Quinn something.
Quinn had never been anything other than a bitch to Rachel and he was sure that she was still going to treat Rachel like crap. But here was Rachel, making sure it was known that she had no interest in Puck, even if the brunette didn't know that Puck was there, listening to her.
As long as Quinn was pregnant, Puck was not supposed to look at Rachel, because he had another girl. He needed to be there for Quinn, so he had to stop whatever it was he was doing with Rachel. No more staring. No more cornering her for conversations. No more phone calls. No more excuses to talk to her.
He had to focus on Quinn, because that was what Rachel wanted, and he'd do anything for her.
"It would be a fine proposition/If I haven't once been just like her," Rachel finished the song.
Puck wasn't sure-but he felt like that ending was a signal.
She had thought she was Puck's girl, just unofficially, without the labels having been officially given out yet. And then she had learned that Quinn was the one who had truly won him.
At least, that was what Puck hoped she meant, because it gave him a little more faith in the future of the two of them, then if he thought she was just singing the lyrics or if she had once been in Quinn's position because she'd been in another relationship with a guy who had cheated. And since he knew she had never been in a relationship before, it was between her singing empty lyrics, or finding an emotion she had felt to suit what she was singing.
And Rachel never just sang a song to sing a song. It was always something that she could feel emotion to with every single lyric that left her mouth. With all the songs she knew, she could pick a song that described her exact situation. There was no reason to settle for one that sort of understood what she was going through. She never did anything half-ass.