I do not own Glee or anything else in this that could get me sued!
The morning of the charity game, Puck stands in front of the fridge at the condo and looks for any sign of beer that the girls said was there that they bought for the game. He huffs and closes the door rather forcefully before he hears the knock on the front door. None of the girls come out of their room since they're getting ready so he walks over and opens it.
A man with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes stares at him with a half smile on his face. "Hawthorne! 'Bout time you got here." He bumps fists with the man in front of him and opens the door wider.
"Good to see you too Puck. Shit this place is nice, way better than barracks." He looks around and walks into the hall leading to the living room.
Puck sits on the loveseat while Connor sits on the couch. "I see you grew your hair out a little bit. And some scruff. How are you not getting chewed out for it?" Puck laughs and leans back into the chair.
Connor runs his fingers through his hair then down rubbing his cheek, landing on his chin and rubbing the area. "They're not too picky about it at the moment. We just got back from the field anyways and we have the rest of the week off. Figured I'd leave it and just cut it all on Sunday when I gotta get back to duty."
"Well we have plenty of available rooms between all of us so if you wanna stay you can. The girls are pretty sweet cooks."
Rachel walks out of her room in her black workout shorts and a purple shirt that's been tied in the back but pulled up to just under her breasts. She runs her fingers through her curls and walks out to the loveseat, bending over to lace up her shoes.
"Dude, stop staring." Puck glares at his friend.
Connor puts his hands up in defense. "Man, I'm sorry. But your pictures of Rachel didn't do her any justice."
Rachel's head snaps up and she looks over to the couch. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize Noah was talking to anyone." She stands up and leans over to shake his hand. "I'm Rachel."
"Hawthorne. Well, Connor but whichever you wanna call me is fine. The guys in my company call me by my last name."
"It's nice to meet you Connor." She smiles, sits back down and continues to lace up her shoes.
"Rach, I don't know if you remember when I was on Letterman, but he showed a picture of us during training. This is the guy that I got pretty close to."
"I helped him pack all his gear since he apparently doesn't know how to pack shit." Connor laughs.
"In my defense, they have a lot of crap that goes into a backpack. Everything has to packed in a precise way." Puck glares at Connor.
"Oh that's right! I remember now." She leans back into the chair and narrows her eyes at him. "Are you the one who talked Noah into getting a tattoo?"
He grins and looks over to Puck and shrugs. "Guilty."
Rachel laughs. "I'll have to find a way to thank you. It looks great on him. Are you staying for the game?"
"Puck said I could stay for the rest of the week and the weekend, so yeah. The guys have been dying to go see a game, but most of them are flying out to see family since we have so much time off this week."
"It's pretty rare for them to get more than two days off babe." Puck shrugs and puts his arm up on the back of the couch.
"Oh, why aren't you seeing your family?" Rachel sets her hand on Puck's thigh.
Connor smiles at her. "I'm an only child so my dad decided to work as a civilian on a base in England and they wouldn't have to worry about a kid here. Since I'm on my own and I obviously have somewhere to live, they decided to move. It'd almost be a waste of a trip to go see them with how long the flights would be, I'd really only get a day or two with them. They get to travel around Europe, so it's not a big deal to me. But Puck and I got close while he was training with us. He's kind of like a bro so he said I could come up down here when we talked the other day. Plus I get to see them when we get extended leave for major holidays."
"Well we're happy to have you here! He's told me a lot about you." She smiles brightly at him.
"Glad to be here. Usually I just hang around on base and sleep." He shrugs and looks down the hall when Santana and Brittany come out wearing identical outfits to Rachel.
"Who's this?" Santana looks at Connor and sits down in the chair while Brittany sits on the couch.
"That would be Connor. A Marine that Noah met when he went to train." Rachel looks over to Brittany and they both smile. "A Marine!" They squeal out and start to laugh.
"Um, what?" Puck looks over to Santana.
"Haven't you ever seen Grease?" The two men both shake their heads no. Santana sighs. "Well during the sleep over scene, one of the girls writes to a ton of guys who are serving in the military. One of them is a marine, and when she tells Sandy that all the girls go "A Marine!" in high squeaky voices." She shrugs. "You'll end up watching it one day now that Rach knows you haven't seen it." She grins evilly at Puck.
"I see…" Puck pulls Rachel into his side and kisses her hair.
"Where's Finn and Sarah? Mike said he'd meet us at the game." Brittany pulls her feet up and sets them onto Connor's lap. He looks down at them then over to Puck.
"She does that to everyone so don't worry. It's like being welcomed into the group. They're getting the photographers squared away. They'll meet us over at the game too. Do you know who you're playing yet?"
Rachel bites her lip and looks over to her friends. "The local fire department."
"Are you shitting me?" Puck pulls away from her and looks between the three girls. "You're playing flag football with a bunch of ripped firemen? How long have you known about this?"
"Will said that they've been to every home game and they're raising money for the cancer society. All the money we make from the game will be given towards it." Brittany tries to cushion the blow a bit. She can tell it doesn't really work since Puck is still upset. "And we only found out about it yesterday."
Connor clears his throat. "Next time you do a charity game we could try and get the guys from my platoon to do it." He looks over at Puck. "You know them and it could go to the Wounded Warrior thing."
"I like that idea better." Puck puts his arm around Rachel again and murmurs a soft apology into her ear.
"We'll talk to Will about it." She smiles up at him.
"It's time to go to the park." Santana stands up and pulls down her shorts from where they had ridden up a bit. Everyone stands up as well and follows her out the front door. "You two being all lovey and ridiculous is going to make me nauseous."
"Aw San, you kill me." Puck moves his hand over his heart.
Puck and Connor sit in the front, talking about football and how the rules are different to lingerie football. Rachel sits in the back between Brittany and Santana who are whispering over her about Connor.
"Did you know that he was so hot?" Brittany looks at Rachel and nudges her arm.
"Well, sort of? We saw a picture of him when Noah was on Letterman, but they were all dirty." She shrugs. "He is more attractive in person." They all look at the back of his head.
"More attractive? Look at what you're saying Rach." Santana rolls her eyes. "He's a hot piece of ass."
"San! We're all taken. Well you're practically taken with Finn. So it doesn't matter." Rachel whispers harshly and glares at the girl to her right.
"Whatever. Doesn't mean we can't look. And that could be an all sorts of hotness threesome."
"She's right Rach." Brittany giggles and looks at Connor out of the corner of her eye.
"You two are shameless!" She sinks into her chair and looks out the windshield, hoping that they get to the park soon.
Connor laughs in the front seat, hearing everything that they just said. "Are they always arguing like that?"
Puck glances over his shoulder when Rachel is 'whispering' to Santana. "Basically. You get used to it and it can actually get really entertaining."
Finn and Mike wave them all over to the makeshift bleachers that have been set up. Once they get there, the girls leave their purses by their feet on the grass then head over to stretch with the rest of the team. Puck and Connor sit next to Finn and knock their sunglasses down over their eyes.
"Hey man, I'm Finn. This is Mike." They all shake hands.
"Hawthorne or Connor. Whichever you wanna go by." He leans on his knees and looks over to the guys.
"Did you know they're playing the fire department?" Puck looks over at Finn, though his friend can't see the glare he's giving him.
"Yeah. But not till a few days ago when they narrowed it down. They didn't confirm until yesterday when the captain said that he could get another group of men to cover." He shrugs.
"They're all more interested in playing actual football with them and raising money. Sure they think the girls are hot, but they're excited over the fact that they know the actual game instead of acting all girly and scared of the ball. We talked to a few of them before you guys got here." Mike smirks over at Puck, knowing that'll calm him down.
"You guys want anything to drink? I see beer and I could really go for one." Connor stands up.
"Yeah, sure." They all grin when he walks off.
"So that's the guy from the tattoo parlor picture?" Finn nudges Puck's arm and looks over to where Connor is grabbing four beers.
"Yep. He's cool, you'll like him."
"He's a Marine and serving our country. He's alright in my book." Finn looks over at Connor. The military has a special place in his heart since his dad died while serving with the Army. He would always donate things to any military fundraisers that he saw.
Puck notices the small smile on Finn's face, knowing he's thinking about his dad. "He actually had an idea. That for the next charity game they do that he could try and get the guys from his platoon to play against Temptation. Give the proceeds to Wounded Warrior."
Finn's eyes light up. "Really? That'd be amazing. I could talk to Will about it and see what he thinks."
Mike laughs. "That would be a game I'd like to see. He seems cool."
Connor walks back and hands them all a beer just as the game is about to begin. Brittany is actually playing on offense with Rachel and Santana. They just broke out of the huddle and they all look over to the guys, sending them a wink. The guys respond with a wink of their own except for Connor. Santana and Brittany pull down their sunglasses, as do Finn and Mike but Rachel is still staring at them. She kind of cocks her head to the side and it's like Puck can read her mind. He nudges Connor.
"She's waiting for a response."
Connor looks at him, pulls up his sunglasses on top of his head and pinches his eyebrows together. "What?"
"She winked at all of us and you didn't respond. She's waiting."
"Aren't you going to beat my ass if I wink at your girl?"
Puck laughs loudly and looks over to Rachel. A small smile is playing on her lips while they wait for the firemen to break out of their huddle. "Nah. 'Cause you're not trying to hook up with her. Rachel just wants you to feel welcome. So just do it before she goes bat shit crazy on you after the game."
Rachel stares at her boyfriend and Connor. Finn and Mike are laughing about something, so she moves her eyes over to Connor. The poor guy has a crease between his eyebrows as Puck explains something to him. When Puck's eyes meet hers she smiles then looks back over to his friend. Connor's eyes snap over to hers and lingers for a minute before he smiles and winks back. Her smile instantly brightens and she looks into Puck's eyes, then blows him a kiss before putting her sunglasses on.
Puck laughs to himself and puts his sunglasses back on. "So who do you think will win?"
"Firemen." Connor comments casually, taking a sip of his beer.
"What! No. You've never seen the girls play. Well actually I don't know if you have or haven't, but I think they will." Finn defends his girls.
"But they're guys. Look at the quarterback for the LAFD, he has way more muscle than San so he'll probably throw it further and harder." Mike leans over at nods at Connor, letting him know he agrees.
"The girls are smaller and faster." Puck adds in, taking a sip of his beer. "Shall we bet?"
Finn eyes his friend, granted no one can see past his sunglasses. He thinks it's just implied. "What are the stakes?"
Mike purses his lips and thinks thoughtfully. "A beer."
Puck laughs. "Are you serious? Let's make this interesting. A hundred and fifty bucks. Winners get $50, so twenty five each, then a hundred goes to the charity."
"What?" Finn and Mike yell out and Connor just laughs.
"C'mon. We're not all hurting for cash. It's for a good cause." Puck smirks at his best friends.
"I'm in." Connor pulls out his wallet, grabs the cash he has and waves it around. "I won't even have to go to the ATM."
Puck pulls out his wallet. "Same here."
Mike sighs. "Alright. So me and Connor against you and Finn." The two put their wallets back. "'Kay man, we're cheering for them. Better hope they don't kill us afterwards."
By the time Temptation has made another touchdown, Connor and Mike have drank three beers and they're having a hard time controlling all the cuss words that are threatening to come out. Sarah sits next to Mike, watching the game with an irritated expression on her face. Artie is running along the field at times to get certain shots, but at other times he's camped out on one end zone to get shots while Bryan camps out on the other side getting his shots. She's glad that Will decided to hire both, seeing how they would be exhausted from running back and forth. All the guys ignore her heated gaze towards the photographers, interested in seeing how the game will turn out.
At half time, Mike and Connor go to get more beer since they're losing. Finn laughs, talking about how dejected the Asian is acting and Puck can't help bend over with his head between his knees because he can't stop laughing. He's practically wheezing when the girls walk up to them.
"Why does Mike look so sad? And Connor too." Brittany breathes out heavily, trying to catch her breath from all the running they've been doing.
"They're upset because he's losing the little bet we've got going on." Finn laughs and hooks his hands behind Santana's thighs, pulling her towards him.
"Oh." Brittany smiles at them and walks over to talk to her boyfriend and their new friend. "Be right back!" She calls over her shoulder.
Rachel smiles at the blonde and looks down to her boyfriend. She bites her lip and sits on his lap. "Enjoying the game?" She wipes the bead of sweat off his forehead.
"Yep. You gotta make sure you win for me babe." He presses a gentle kiss to the bottom of her throat.
"Me too." Finn nudges Rachel's leg with his knee.
"Why do we have to win so bad?" Santana sits on Finn's lap running her fingers through his hair, facing Rachel and Puck.
"So we can win our money." Puck shrugs like it's not a big deal and kisses Rachel's shoulder.
She gasps and looks between the two men. "You bet on a charity game?"
"A hundred bucks goes to the charity." Finn puts up his hands in defense "Then fifty gets split between the two who picked correctly.". He doesn't need Rachel being mad at him. Or Santana. They're both terrifying when they're upset. The worst is when Brittany is upset though.
"Well in that case…" Santana laughs and nudges her knee against Rachel's. "I think we should get the winning money if we win. What do you think Rach?"
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Finn and Puck start to protest but Rachel stands up.
"You wouldn't want us to lose on purpose would you?" She flutters her eyelashes to Puck.
"Shit baby, you can't threaten stuff like that."
She leans forward and brushes her lips against his. "I can do anything I want."
Finn groans when Santana stands up. "Fine. You can have the money if you win. Just don't lose on purpose. Please?"
Santana kisses him on the lips. "Deal." She looks over to Rach. "You're good."
Puck frowns. "Can you two have mental discussions or something that we don't know about?"
"We're like Marshall and Lily. We can talk to each other in our minds and Brittany too." Rachel shrugs. "See you after the game." She winks at Puck.
Will calls all his players back over while the LAFD are huddled together on their side of the field. Sarah, Mike and Connor walk back over. They're wobbling a bit, so it's fair to say that they have contributed a lot to the cancer society by buying beer alone.
"Shit." Puck looks at the makeshift scoreboard not too long after the game started up again. The fire department managed to catch up.
"Haa, who might be the losers now!" Mike slurs and laughs, reaching over to fist bump with Connor.
"That's right!" Connor points to Finn and Puck, laughing and cheers loudly for the fire department, Mike joining in with him.
Puck groans. "C'mon!" He yells to no one in particular. Rachel looks over and catches his eyes. He knows how much she hates to lose.
Santana huffs out angrily. She's having a blast playing against the department, it's the most fun she's had in a game in a long time. But who doesn't like to win money? Especially when she could shove it in Mike and Connor's faces when it's all over with. Either way, they have a hand in getting a hundred more dollars to the charity, which would make her way happier. She breathes in when she gets the ball into her hands and sees the perfect opportunity with Brittany down the field. Completely. Open. She throws the ball and holds her breath. Brittany catches it and falls over into the end zone. She lets out a scream and runs with Rachel down towards the blonde.
Brittany bounces up and hugs her friends tightly. "That was so fucking awesome Britt!" Santana squeals.
Rachel laughs and pulls Brittany in for a kiss. "Amazing."
The fire department groans, and not because of the kiss though they did like that too, but because they lost. The teams walk and give each other high fives. Bryan pulls both teams together to get a picture together before he packs up his gear and leaves. Artie sticks around to take pictures of the Temptation team signing autographs and posing for pictures with everyone who bought tickets to watch the game. The firefighters actually manage to go over to Puck and talk with him, getting him to sign a few things as well.
Brittany walks over to Mike and Connor who are sulking as Puck and Finn talk to the group of men. "Are you guys okay?" She wraps her arms around both of their waists, kissing Mike's shoulder.
"We just lost a hundred a fifty dollars." Connor looks to the ground, sad.
She smiles. "But it's going to a good cause."
"We're not sad about that hun, we just don't like how they're bragging about it." Mike shrugs. "It was honestly a great game."
"It really was. They did a great job." Connor smiles.
Santana and Rachel walk over, hands on their hips. "We'd like our fifty dollars." Santana holds out her hand, wiggling her fingers around.
Connor looks at Mike and half smiles. "Here ya go ladies."
Rachel takes her money and walks over to donate it. Santana groans and follows her, donating her part too. When they get back Rachel looks up to the two men. "Now you won't have to feel completely shitty about losing."
Mike rolls his eyes. "I'm not sober enough to drive and I have contributed a lot of money to this game. You owe us some real good food soon."
She looks at her friend then over to Brittany. "He's drunk so he's not even making sense anymore."
Puck and Finn join them, putting their arms around the girls. "Great game ladies." Finn laughs at Mike babbling to Brittany while Connor looks like he's ready to go to sleep.
"Thank you Finn. But I think we're all ready for a nap." Rachel yawns and leans into Puck.
After the game, Mike, Finn, Santana and Brittany went over to their respective apartments in Puck's building while him, Rachel, Connor and Sarah went over to the condo. It was decided that Connor could stay in Santana's room since she and Finn wanted to figure out where their relationship was headed. Puck wasn't too sure since he wasn't paying that much attention.
Sarah is currently dragging Rachel to the door so that she can grab a beer out of the fridge after the day she had. "C'mon Rach, hurry up!"
Rachel inserts the key and pushes the door open, letting Sarah dart to the kitchen. She turns around and huffs at Puck then moves towards her bedroom. "I'm taking a shower then taking a nap."
Puck sighs and moves into the kitchen. "The room at the very end of the hall is San's if you wanna drop your bag off in there." Connor nods and walks down the hallway while Puck stares at his sister. "What crawled up your ass and died?"
"That Bryan guy yelled at me!"
Sarah takes a big gulp of beer and leans against the counter, tears forming in her eyes. "Well you gonna tell me what he said?"
Sarah takes a deep breath. "So Will wanted both photographers there to do the charity game. And let's face it, we obviously needed them both by how much was going on in the game. When Bryan saw that Artie was there, he got really offended. He was going on about how it's highly unprofessional to have two different photographers there, especially one that is less experienced than him. Anyways, so I'm trying to explain why we got both him and Artie and he's going on and on yelling at me. Will comes over and of course when he explains it, Bryan calms down at walks off to do his job. Why wouldn't he listen to me?"
"He probably doesn't trust you because you're Finn's assistant." Puck says calmly.
"I was just doing my job! He shouldn't have yelled at me. That's unprofessional."
"Well how hard could it be to do your job?" Connor cuts in. Puck and Sarah both look over to him, not noticing that he walked back into the kitchen. Her jaw drops. He rolls his eyes at her. "If you were just doing what you were told, you could've just ignored his attitude."
"Excuse me, we're not all ignorant boneheads. You don't even have a degree." She lands a hand onto her hip while the other holds her beer.
"The fuck did you just say to me?" Connor walks in further into the kitchen. Puck stands up a little straighter and looks over to his friend. "I don't see you with a fancy degree under your belt sweetheart. And I know plenty of Marines with a degree who still want to defend their country. And they're some of the smartest guys I know. They have great instincts and they're not afraid when someone yells at them over something stupid. And he probably didn't want to listen to you, because Finn is your boss and Will was the man who wanted him there, so he'd rather hear it from someone higher up. Would you want some guy's assistant trying to talk to explain shit to you? No, you'd probably want to talk to their boss to get better answers. That's how the real world works sweetie."
"You're going to let him talk to me like that Noah?" Sarah looks at him and puts her beer down on the counter.
Damnit. "Sarah, you know I love you. And for fuck's sake, I really wonder why sometimes. Ma and I worked our asses off to give you anything you wanted when we could and honestly I think we spoiled you a bit. You didn't have to work for anything in your life. Shit, you dropped out of college. I gave you some place to live while you're here trying to figure out what you wanna do and Finn was crazy enough to just hand you a job. But I have to agree with him on this one. Hawthorne here gets yelled at every day, sometimes even multiple times a day. But if he doesn't do his job right, people could die. He's seen shit that you can't even imagine." He scrubs his hands over his head. "Fuck now I'm ranting . Just grow up Sarah and handle your job like an adult." He turns to Connor. "I'm sorry man." He shakes his head. "I gotta go lay down." Connor nods understanding completely. He slaps his shoulder and walks off towards Rachel's room.
Puck walks into Rachel's room and sees her laying on her left side with wet hair against the pillow. He strips off his clothes and crawls onto the bed, putting his arm around her, spooning her.
"What's wrong?" She asks in a small, tired voice.
"Connor and Sarah. She called him an ignorant bonehead."
She turns in his arms and looks into his eyes. "Why would she say that?"
"She was complaining about Bryan yelling at her. I don't really understand what just happened, but I'm sick of her acting like a spoiled bitch. I didn't realize that I fucked up by babying her all these years."
Rachel puts her hand on his cheek. "You're a wonderful brother and you did what you thought you had to so she could have a better future. I think Sarah just took you for granted."
"I agreed with him you know. He takes it when someone yells at him over something stupid. You, San and Britt don't yell back at your coaches when you do something wrong. She has to act like an adult. She's 21 now."
She rubs the crease in between his eyebrows. "You're getting a migraine, I can tell. Get some sleep baby." Rachel kisses him on the lips and strokes the back of his head until he's asleep.
Sarah stands there with her jaw dropped. Connor leans against the counter where Puck was. "Anything else you'd like to get off your chest?" His jaw ticks from where he's trying not to grind his teeth together.
"He's never talked to me like that." Sarah looks down to the ground, tears building up in her eyes.
"What?" He breathes out, shocked by how defeated she sounds.
"I've never wanted to disappoint him and I have. He's never sounded like he's resented me before." Sarah walks over to the patio and sits on one of the chairs outside.
Connor follows her out and closes the door. He leans against the small wall with the railing on it and looks down at her. "I'm sure dealing with snobby people must suck and I'm sorry I judged you, but my job isn't exactly a cakewalk either. Actually, it's quite a lot of pressure. It's because of guys like me that let you work with assholes in the first place." She looks up at him, slightly shocked like she just realized something.
"I know." She cries out. "God, I'm such a brat."
"No, you're not." She looks at him like he's crazy. He laughs lightly. "You just need someone who'll challenge you and help you make the right decisions that you need to make. No one here is going to want to do that because of Puck. As your brother, he just wants what's best for you. He didn't get to be carefree like you did. He just knows what it's like to work hard. You just haven't found something that you think is worth the effort."
"You don't know anything about me, but you managed to talk down to me and encourage me at the same time." She laughs dryly.
"Sarah, you don't know how lucky you are. I wish I had an older brother or sister to push me in the direction that I needed when I needed it. But I luckily got that by enlisting. They encouraged me to try and push to make myself greater. That's why I joined Recon." He nudges her foot with his, making her look up at him. "Puck and Finn love you, that's why they just handed you those things. They don't want to see you fail, so just work harder."
She bites her lip and takes in his appearance, his arms crossed over his chest. "I do like being Finn's assistant. I don't know if I necessarily love it, but seeing clients happy is a good feeling. Will was really happy when both Bryan and Artie were showing him a few of their shots after the game."
"Looks like you're on your way to finding what you love." He smiles at her. "C'mon. I haven't been down to a pool in forever that wasn't used for some sort of training. I saw one before we came up. You can vent a little more if you like."
"Actually, could you tell me about your job?"
"Sure. Well what I can of it." He winks and pushes her through the patio door.
Mike walks into his apartment, wobbling into his bedroom and collapsing face down onto the bed. Brittany giggles and walks in behind him, stripping off her shirt and changing into one of his.
"Mikie?"Brittany sits down next to him, running her fingers along his spine.
"Yeah?" He says out, muffled by the pillow.
"Can I ask you something?"
He turns so he's laying on his side and looking up at her. "Of course baby." He reaches out and tangles his fingers with hers.
"How do Holly and Quinn know each other?"
"Quinn is a client of hers, along with Puck. Why do you ask?"
She crosses her legs and sits in front of him. Looking down at their fingers, she squeezes them then looks back into his eyes. "You know that we went to the studio to see Puck working when you had a full day of classes to teach the other day?" He nods. "Well Holly came over to ask him something and when we were leaving to go order food in his trailer, I looked back and noticed that they were talking together."
Mike sits up and tilts his head. "Holly was at the studio? What'd she want?"
Brittany is taken aback by the way he seemed so shocked that she was there. Isn't that something agents do? "Asking him if he wanted to go to a premiere next week. But then she said that she had only gotten him a seat and Quinn one, saying they had to go together or something like that. I don't really remember but he wasn't too happy about it. Finn wasn't either."
"But Holly knows that he's in a relationship with Rachel, so why would she do that? It's her job to do it." He furrows his brows together and looks down at his comforter.
"I don't think she knows how to do her job." Brittany mumbles and lays down, pulling Mike with her. "Okay, so Quinn is Holly's client. How did her and Finn start dating?"
He blows out a steady stream of air before he talks. "Well…two and a half years ago, she wasn't too popular. I don't know if you really checked in on her and Puck's career or not. I was busy doing ballroom competitions to try and build up my resume so I could eventually open up my own studio, and to get better jobs in movies and what not. Finn was helping with Puck, trying to get him any role that he could get an audition for. There was one that Puck went to and Finn went along with him. Finn saw Quinn and she was struggling with something pertaining to her audition so he asked if she had an agent. Obviously she didn't, or else she wouldn't have been so confused with whatever her issue was. So he helped her out. Eventually that turned from her being to his client to being his girlfriend. I guess the rest you pretty much know from there."
"What about Holly and Puck?"
Mike wasn't too sure why she was asking all these questions but he figured it was important to her since she's probably worried about Rachel. "She's the daughter of some guy who owns a pretty big PR company. She just graduated from UCLA and Puck was her first client. Then they introduced Quinn shortly after she and Finn became an item, thinking she probably needed a publicist since her career was growing. The two hit it off immediately. So Holly decided to take Quinn under her wing too." He laughs. "Now they're two of the company's biggest clients. Anyways, Holly and Puck were…fucking around. It worked out for them. I would be out of town doing my own thing and the four of them would go on dates. But Puck didn't want that type of relationship anymore, wanting to focus on his career. It made sense really. Holly just never really got over it." He yawns.
"They wouldn't do anything to jeopardize Rachel and Puck's relationship would they?" She cuddles up next to Mike, kissing underneath his jaw.
"Of course not." He pulls her in close until they both fall asleep.
Rachel wakes up to the sound of her phone ringing. She reaches over and accidentally knocks a few books over until she finds the offending object. "What?" She mumbles out. Puck tightens his grip on her, snuggling his face into her hair.
"I need you and Britt to meet me. Mall. ASAP."
The line gets quiet and she pulls it back to see that Santana hung up. Is she supposed to call Brittany? What was the emergency? She groans and puts her face down into the pillow when her phone chirps with a message. She glares down at the object.
Brittany: Did San just call you?
She sighs, types out a response and gets out of bed. Puck is lightly snoring, so she goes to her closet and pulls out the first items she finds. Walking over to the chair, she grabs her purse and stuffs her feet into some boots. There's no one in the living room, so she opens Brittany's door first. Lord Tubbington runs out and towards the bathroom where his litter box is. She shakes her head and looks in to see Sarah is fast asleep. Rachel closes the door and heads down to Santana's room. Connor is laying on his stomach with no shirt on, a tattoo in between his shoulder blades, but he's looking at his phone. He looks over to her and smiles.
"What's up?"
"San called with some sort of an emergency." She yawns. "I'm going to meet her and Britt. When they wake up, tell them I'll bring dinner back when I'm done. Do you have any allergies?"
He looks at her like she's crazy. "No, and I'll eat anything you put in front of me." She laughs and turns to walk out the door. "Hey."
"Yes?"
"Drink something cold before you drive. You look like you're still waking up and that'll help at least a little."
"Thanks Connor." She smiles warmly at him and closes the door.
Santana sits in the food court where they normally meet, holding her coffee tightly and looking around for her friends. She spots the long blonde hair and brown wavy hair walking towards her. She takes in the appearance of her best friends, sleepy but Brittany is dressed in shorts, boots and a shirt. Rachel looks a little less put together, dark jeans with brown boots and a black shirt.
"Did you get dressed in the dark Rachel?"
"You said to get here ASAP. I grabbed the first things I saw. So why do you need us here so fast that you didn't even stay on the phone for one minute to explain." She takes the coffee out of Santana's death grip, taking a sip and passes it to Brittany before it's back and clenched in her fingers.
"Finn wants to go out to dinner tonight."
"And?" Brittany leans her elbows on the table.
"We're going to discuss…feelings." She whispers and looks around.
They both laugh and fall over each other. "Oh no, big scary feelings." Rachel teases.
"What if he wants me to be his girlfriend? I need something good to wear."
"Wait wait wait. Santana Marie Lopez wants to have a special outfit to go to dinner. With a man. To discuss their relationship?" Brittany stares at her friend confused.
"Not a special outfit. The perfect outfit."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Rachel stares at her, willing her mind to just shut up so she can hear it from Santana's mouth.
"Finn could be it for me you guys. He just gets me. If this dinner is going where I think it is, then I just want it to be perfect." Santana squeezes her cup so hard that it collapses within itself and coffee spills everywhere.
Brittany and Rachel jump up, grabbing their purses. "So what do you think she should wear? A dress or like a really nice pair of skinny jeans?"
Rachel purses her lips. "She might look amazing in a skirt if we can find the right one. Where do you think he'll be taking her? That might make the decision for us."
"I'm thinking boots. Oh, what about those black ones you have? She looks amazing in ankle ones and black knee socks."
They start to walk away towards the stores and Santana sits there with her jaw dropped. They just left her. "GUYS!" Both of them spin around and grin at her.
"Are you coming?" Brittany has her arm linked with Rachel's and they both smile innocently.
She laughs and follows after her friends, getting between them both and linking her arms with theirs. "I love you guys."
"We love you too." Rachel and Brittany kiss her cheek.
His eyes open slowly and he pulls back instantly, seeing the green eyes of Brittany's cat staring at him. "Jesus." He rolls onto his back and notices that Rachel isn't in the bed. Puck gets up and gets dressed but when he gets to the door, the cat is just staring at him all sadly. He vaguely remembers that Brittany carries it around like a damn baby.
"Fuck me." He picks up the cat and cradles it in his arms, walking into the living room. "Well Tubbington, where's Sarah and Connor? Did he manage to kill her and make her body disappear?" The cat stares up at him and yawns. "You questioning me? It could totally happen." He looks down at the cat then walks towards Brittany's room. When he opens the door, he sees that Sarah is sleeping on top of Brittany's quilt. "Okay, so if she's alive, did she go bat shit crazy and kill Connor?" The cat meows. "That answer worries me Tub." He goes down the hall to Santana's room and opens the door. "You couldn't have just told me they were both alive?" He glares at the cat. Lord Tubbington hisses at him, but manages to get more comfortable in his arms.
"Why the fuck are you talking to a cat?"
Puck looks up at Connor and rolls his eyes. "Lord Tubbington here, Brittany's cat, loves to be carried like a baby. As to why I'm talking to it…" He pauses and sets the cat down on the bed. "Anyways. So you and Sarah didn't kill each other." Puck says shockingly.
"It was just a misunderstanding. She just needs someone who can push her to be better." He shrugs.
"Whatever. She doesn't need to fuck up this job with Finn."
Connor sits up and pets the cat that moves into his lap. He assumes he's just like Brittany, that he's just welcoming him in his own weird way. "Do you resent her?"
"The fuck?" Puck grabs the chair at Santana's desk chair and rolls it over by the bed. "Why would I resent my own sister?"
"I don't know. Maybe because you didn't get to fuck around like her."
"Oh I did plenty of fucking around, if you get my drift." He winks.
"Nice, but no." Connor laughs.
"That was the way I was carefree. I still got to have fun, but I took care of my family too. Sarah just needs to find her own way like I did. But I guess it's a good thing you were there to set her straight. I probably would've kept giving her whatever she wanted, same with everyone else most likely."
"That doesn't make you a bad brother Puck."
"Anyways. Enough of this. Where's Rach?" He pets Lord Tubbington when he moves over to Puck's lap. "Cat is crazy." It looks up at him with sad eyes. "Fuck, I take it back."
Connor laughs and moves to put his shirt back on. "She had to meet Santana and Brittany at the mall for something. She didn't really explain. Oh, but she's bringing back food." He shrugs.
"Weird. Let's go drink some of that beer in the fridge and watch TV till she gets back." Puck picks up the cat and they move into the living room.
Rachel stands in Finn's bathroom, wrapping a piece of Santana's silky hair around the curling iron while Brittany hums and does the makeup on their friend.
"What are you guys doing in there? Should I be worried?" Finn asks on the other side of the door.
"Holy shit Finn, go sit down on the couch. She'll be ready soon for dinner." Brittany huffs and goes back to applying the shimmery eyeshadow on Santana's eyelids.
"But it's been a long time since you guys disappeared in there."
Rachel moves towards the door and opens it slightly. "FINN HUDSON! Go sit down, now!" She points down the hall and Finn stares at her before running down the hall. "Jesus." She mutters and goes back to Santana's hair.
"Oh my God Rach." She tries to hold it together and stop laughing.
"Stop it San! I just applied your mascara and you're going to make it run if you don't stop laughing." But Brittany leans against the counter and laughs. "You're going to be the craziest Jew momma."
"I'm not crazy!" Rachel pouts and goes back to finishing the last few strands before sitting on the edge of the tub and glaring at her friends.
"We know you're not Berry pie. You and Puck will be great parents."
"Who said anything about me and Puck having kids? It's way too soon to tell any of that."
"Rachel…" Brittany finishes the makeup and they both turn to look at their smaller friend. "You said you were in love with Matt, but we haven't seen you look at anyone the way you look at Puck. You're falling for him."
"Am not!" She spits out defensively.
Santana stares at Rachel like she's crazy. "Whatever you wanna tell yourself. If I can see it, then I know you can." She stands up and looks in the mirror. They picked out a cream colored sweater dress that hangs off one shoulder and has sleeves that go down to her forearms. Her hair is curly and her makeup is natural looking. Cute black heels that Brittany found that were miraculously in her size. "You guys are amazing."
"You look so beautiful San." Brittany smiles and wipes away a tear.
"Why are you crying?" She wipes Brittany's cheek then looks over to Rachel that's also swiping at her cheek.
"You're all grown up." She giggles and moves to the door. "Have fun on your date. Don't come out till you hear the front door close."
They both blow kisses to their friend then walk down the hall. Finn stands up but frowns when he doesn't see Santana following them. "Where is she?"
"She'll be out in a minute. Hurt her, and we'll hurt you." Brittany looks at Finn with narrowed eyes.
"Um. I won't." He looks nervous and it makes Rachel smile. "She won't hurt me though, right?"
"I don't think so." Rachel smiles genuinely. "Well we better go. Everyone at the condo must be getting really hungry. Let's call Mike and head over there. Have fun tonight!"
As soon as they're out the door, they stand on the other side to hear Santana walk into the living room.
Finn looks over and looks her up and down. "Holy shit."
Santana bites her lip and looks up at him. "Do I look okay?"
He's never seen her look so nervous before. Finn walks over and wraps his arms around her waist. "You look so beautiful. Fucking gorgeous really." He leans down and kisses her softly on the lips.
She pulls back and looks down at his dark jeans, light blue collared shirt under a black sweater with the sleeves rolled up. He's so adorable and sexy at the same time. "You look handsome."
Brittany and Rachel squeal lightly on the other side before running down the hallway so they can get food as their reward. She dials Mike and tells him to get over to the condo while Rachel texts Puck that they're on their way with Chinese.
Mike walks into the condo, still sweating from his dance rehearsals that he's doing in order to prepare for Dancing with the Stars. Touching up on ballroom dancing wasn't exactly fun, but Brittany was helping him out when she could. Everyone is sitting around the coffee table, eating out of cartons of Chinese with beers.
"Mike!" Brittany jumps up and runs over to kiss him.
"Hey babe. Did you guys save me some food?"
"Of course we did Mike! Though Connor and Noah look really hungry still, so you better come get it while you can." Rachel smiles over at him and leans against Puck, kissing his cheek.
"Baby, you know we eat a lot. I don't know why you didn't get more. We're going to have to order a pizza or something."
"Dude, can we? I'm fucking starving." Mike sits down in his chair while Brittany loads up a plate for him then leans back against his legs.
"Are dance rehearsals not going well?" Sarah looks over at him concerned.
"It's fine, I'm just having to brush up on some techniques for the ballroom dances. I'm using muscles I haven't necessarily used in awhile. And I'm getting used to my ballroom shoes again."
"My poor baby." Brittany cooes and rubs his calves.
"It'll be worth it dude." Puck mumbles around his fork.
"Yeah, yeah. Where's Finn and San?"
"Mikie! They're out on a date. Talking about feelings." She winks at him.
Later that night as they're all sitting around and playing a board game, Rachel leans against Puck, starting to fall asleep. It's been hours since she and Brittany left so that they could go on their date. Sarah's head is on the table, fast asleep while Connor stares at the board while waiting for Puck to roll the dice.
"Where are they?" Mike mumbles, shaking his head to try and stay awake.
"Fuck if I know." He leans against the couch and throws the dice.
Connor lets out a snore. Mike looks over and sees that he's leaning against the wall with his head down and his arms crossed over his chest. "How can he sleep like that?"
"Dude, you should've seen how they could fall asleep when I was training with them. That looks comfortable compared to some other positions I've seen."
Just then, the front door slams shut and everyone jumps. "Hey guys." Finn walks in smiling, holding Santana's hand.
The girl in question is blushing. "We have something we'd like to share with you."
"Are you pregnant?" Brittany looks up with her eyes sparkling.
"No…" Santana stares at the blonde with her eyebrows pinched together. She shakes her head and smiles.
"He didn't propose did he?" Mike looks over to Puck. "I totally get best man."
"What?" Puck stares at the Asian with wide eyes.
"Definitely did not propose guys." Finn pulls Santana in front of him and wraps his arms around her waist. "I did ask her to officially be my girlfriend though."
Rachel, Brittany and Sarah jump up and scream loudly, running over to Santana. All the girls are hugging each other while Finn moves over to the loveseat. "Holy shit they're loud."
Mike covers his ears and winces as the screaming continues. He's half yelling over them. "What took you guys so long?"
"Had to make it official?" Puck winks at Finn.
"Basically. Her decision." Finn blushes.
"Yeah, I'm sure she really had to force you to have sex." Connor laughs but holds out his fist. "Good job man. You two make a good pair."
Finn gives his lopsided smile. "Thanks man, that means a lot. You two cool with it?" He looks over to Puck and Mike.
"We've been waiting for this for awhile." Mike laughs. "Anyways, I need to get back to my place. I have a really early morning. Congrats on the relationship."
"Actually we do too." Puck motions between himself and Finn then stands up and pulls Rachel over into his arms. "You girls can talk about how he asked and shit. I'm gonna head home to sleep. I have to be on set in a few hours."
"I'm so sorry Noah. I didn't know." She frowns and looks up at him. "I wouldn't have made you wait for them to come over if I did."
"It's okay baby. We all wanted to be here for this." He pecks her lips. "Connor, you can come stay at my place. Britts and Sarah don't mind sharing a bed whenever she crashes here."
Finn and Mike say goodbye to their ladies while Connor hugs Sarah goodbye. Puck kisses Rachel deeply then all the guys are out the front door. Rachel locks the door and turns around to a smiling Santana. "Spill!"
So Connor is here! Do you guys think he should be around more or what? And the idea of someone setting Sarah straight came from tomfeltonlover1991. I kind of imagine Connor looking like Ryan Kwanten. I'm going to be starting school again next week, so the chapters will be a little less frequent. I have the next 2 chapters planned out, so be prepared for some fun stuff in them.
Also, should Sarah stick around? I think she'll be easier to write after the whole confrontation thing. Thanks again so much for the reviews. You guys are awesome!
Edit: Oh! And LA Temptation actually did a charity game. And the local fire department came, saying they had been to all the games. I forgot where I read the article, but it gave me the idea :) And another thing I wanted your guys opinions on: Should Connor & Sarah date? Kind of like how Puck and Rachel balance each other out, could it work with the other Puckerman? Let me know!