Still don't own anything. Mistakes are mine.
Interesting thing I saw: An LFL player is going to be on Survivor this upcoming season. Thought that was pretty cool : )
Puck's sitting in his trailer, feet propped up on the desk, while strumming his backup guitar he likes to take on sets with him. He's been on set since four this morning and it's already nearing seven at night. He's ready to go home. Holly walks in and sits by his feet, smiling and flicking her pony tail off her shoulder.
"What's up?" He sets his guitar aside and looks up at her.
"I've got fantastic news." She claps her hands together and drops them onto her lap. He quirks up an eyebrow and ignores the buzz from his phone, indicating he has a text message. "I got you a guest spot on How I Met Your Mother. They want you specifically for a love interest for Robin. You'll film in January, which means you'll be done doing this movie and you'll have work before you do the press needed for it in April. Well that's when all the traveling would start anyways. You up for it?"
"Um, yeah." He smirks and drops a foot on the ground. "That'd give me plenty of time to go watch Rach and Mike on their shows."
She glances at him warily. "I'm not sure how long they plan on having you, so that'll be decided later. Also, Cosmopolitan wants to do an article on you. They'll do the shoot and interview in January also. And I'm sure I can get you on a few talk shows. We can make an announcement about you doing the show. Or the network will. Either one."
"That's fucking awesome."
Holly shrugs up her right shoulder. "Not a problem. It seems like it's easier to get you these things than it is with Quinnie."
"I think we know why with that one." He laughs and moves into the bathroom to change out of his costume uniform and into gym shorts.
"People just like handsome men more." She looks at him appreciatively while he's pulling his shirt over his head.
Puck eyes her and moves to tie his tennis shoes on the couch away from her. "Yeah, sure. 'Cause guy hosts don't like beautiful women." He rolls his eyes.
She stands up and moves in front of him, tracing her finger along his jaw. "We really did look great together Puck. You can't deny it."
"Look, I'm really not okay with this shit. You're my publicist, start acting like it." He stands up and moves back to the desk, opening up the drawer to retrieve his keys and wallet.
"What do you even see in her?"
"This isn't cool anymore. You need to back off. Rachel is my girlfriend and she's going to come first over you any damn day of the week. You may have just booked a lot of great gigs for me, but you have got to stop this flirting shit and making my girl uncomfortable. Quinn's done filming so you don't even need to be on set. You can call me for anything you want to discuss about my job. So don't think I won't fire you in a heartbeat. I don't want to, because you've been there for me since the start, but shit's over between us."
"Have it your way Puck." She smiles coolly and walks by him, caressing his cheek.
He rubs his hands over his face and picks up his phone.
Rachel: At your apt, Sarah went out to dinner with San and Finn. She's going to stay at the condo. See you soon?
Puck doesn't bother to respond. He moves out to the set and makes sure with the director that he can leave, before jumping into his car to go talk to Rachel.
When he pushes into his apartment, she's sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and salad in front of her. "Hi! You didn't text me so I didn't know when you'd be back. I've got manicotti in the oven and salad on the counter."
"You're amazing." He leans over and kisses her before sitting down in front of her on the coffee table. "Look, I gotta tell you something."
"Good or bad?" She sets the glass down and moves her knees in between his legs.
"Well both actually." He scratches his forehead and sets his hands on her smooth thighs.
"Good first." Rachel smiles and moves closer to him.
"Holly got me a guest spot on How I Met Your Mother, but she's not sure how long it'll last. I'll start filming in January."
She gasps and grips his knee. "You get to meet Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris? I'm so jealous!"
Puck laughs and nods. "I'm also doing an article for that chick magazine you like to read. The sex one."
"Cosmo?"
"Yeah, that one."
"That's amazing Noah. You have GQ in December that comes out in January too. I'll have to get copies to keep me company while I'm on the show." She winks at him and rubs circles on his hand with her thumb.
"I'm pretty stoked." He grins but then looks down at her hand nervously. "Anyways, the bad news… Holly hit on me."
"What?" She pulls her hand away and stares at him until he explains further.
"I told her she needs to back off and to stop making you so uncomfortable. Even said that if she keeps it up that I'll fire her."
She's upset, but her expression softens. "Really? You'd fire her?"
Puck pulls her so that she's sitting on his lap. "You're way more important to me than her and I told her that. So yes, I'd fire her." He pushes her hair back while she looks at him all teary eyed. "Don't cry baby, but you could get me some food." He grins and kisses her noisily on her cheek. "It's been a long ass day."
Rachel rolls her eyes and stands up. "Only because you had a long day and threatened Holly." Once she gets to the kitchen, she pokes her head out over the breakfast bar. "Maybe you'll get some really good dessert later."
"God you're hot." He leans back into the couch and watches as she moves around in his kitchen.
After dinner, Rachel lays on the couch with her head on his lap before she rolls over and looks up at him. "Thank you for sticking up for our relationship. I shouldn't have gotten so upset when your mom was in town. That's not me."
Puck smirks. "I know it's not baby. Just know that you are more important than her."
"She hit on him?" Brittany stares at Rachel.
"Please tell me he threatened the bitch. I'm not scared to go cut her. I have razorblades hidden in my hair. Tons. Just all up in there." She motions to her dark wavy hair.
"No you don't, I just did your hair an hour ago." Brittany looks over to her confused.
"That's beside the point. She needs to back the fuck off."
"That's what he told her." Rachel smiles. "He told her that I come before her and he wouldn't have a problem firing her. I'm really falling for him."
Her best friend's 'aww' at the same time, Santana a little more sarcastically than Brittany. "I can't believe we're all so happy. Then the conference game tomorrow. And then Thanksgiving! Mike and I said I love you to each other, Rachel is falling in love with Puck, and Santana is actually in a relationship. Guys!" Brittany wipes her eyes and stares at them both.
"You and Mike said I love you to each other?"
"Yeah, it was by complete accident but that just means we meant it even more instead of planning something complicated."
Rachel looks over at Santana. "So cute."
"Yeah, gushing the 'L' word is wonderful. Let's go to the spa so that we can fully relax and be lazy tomorrow before the game." She moves towards the door before she turns to Brittany. "I am happy for you though."
He's staring at the elevator buttons while it lurks up to the appropriate floor. It dings and stops, so he moves out down the hall towards the door. Knocking three times against the door, he leans against the frame until it opens, revealing Sarah.
"CONNOR!" She grins widely and hugs him tight.
"Hey kid." Connor squeezes her then follows her into the living room and flops down onto one of the chairs. "Where's Puck at?"
"Work." She rolls her eyes. "I just hope he'll make it in time for the game. I can't believe it's the weekend before Thanksgiving. At least they were smart enough to have the conference game beforehand."
He laughs. "Yeah. I'm just glad to be on leave. Day after Thanksgiving I'm headed out to London."
"Time flies." She looks down onto her lap. "Feels like mom was just leaving the other day. It's been so quiet."
"That's what Puck said. I think he misses the home cooked food."
Sarah snorts. "Cause we had so much of it when we were younger. But I guess since she doesn't have to take care of us it's a lot easier."
"You gonna help with Thanksgiving dinner?"
"I'd probably burn down their kitchen, so no. I'll let them handle that one."
"So I found out we're probably leaving around Christmas time." He looks over at her, catching her off guard.
"Oh." She bites her lip. "Are you nervous?"
"It's my fifth deployment so kind of, but once I get there I'm really focused. So you know." He shrugs.
Sarah stands up and nods. "Well be better get going to the game. Finn and Mike are going to save us seats. They usually like to get there early and stare." She laughs and moves to get her purse, worried about Connor leaving.
Sarah and Connor sit down in the front row next to Finn and Mike. They nod to Connor, glad to see that he actually made it there in time for the game. The girls are warming up on the field, doing lunges down to the 15 yard line before turning around and going to the end zone. Rachel looks over and sees Connor, waving and smiling brightly, but frowns when she doesn't see Puck.
"I feel so bad. He should've been here by now." Sarah looks over to Connor.
"He told me he was leaving the set not too long ago." Finn looks to Mike who shrugs.
"I've been at the studio all day. Haven't had a chance to talk to him. Maybe he's just getting everyone beer."
"Do they sell food here? I'm starving."
"Yeah, up near the entrance."
Connor grins and walks away to go get everyone something.
Rachel looks back at the stands and sees that Connor is gone now. She sighs and bends over, reaching down towards her toes.
"Hey Rach!" Santana waves her over. "We gotta get back in the locker room. They're going to start showing the videos up on the screen. I know you want your man here, but I need you focused."
"I am focused." She glares at her team captain and walks down to the locker room.
Will and Shannon walk into the room, their black LA Temptation collared shirts on, looking around at all the girls sitting down. They look to each other before Will crosses his arms. "Now I know all of you hate my pep talks, so I'm not even going to bother. But I will say one thing. Las Vegas. When we win this we're at the championship game. I don't even need to tell you how much pressure is on us since we won it last year." He looks them all over again and walks out of the room. Shannon just gives them a smug smile before following him out.
"That was weird." Brittany looks around while everyone else nods.
Santana stands up and walks down to the opening where the field is. Everything is dark and on the screen it's showing the commercial they filmed before the season started.
"Will really went all out for this didn't he?" Rachel tilts her head and watches as the teaser for the league ends and the real commercial begins.
"Sure did." Santana smiles and stretches her hands above her head. "Game time."
Puck flies down the steps towards the front row as the lights start to die down. God he hopes he doesn't miss a step and end up on the field dead. That would be his shitty ass luck. He moves down the row and sees an empty seat. Once he gets into it, he slams into the person next to him, which is thankfully Connor, as the teaser commercial pops up for the other team.
"Dude." He rubs his right side and glares at Puck. He grabs a beer and shoves it at him along with a bag of popcorn.
"You fucking rock." Puck shoves a handful into his mouth and moans.
"Why are you so damn late? Rachel was looking up here during warm-ups."
"We were going over the travel plans and where we'd be staying once I get to Wilmington. Director decided he'd take his sweet time. Oh, you coming on set with me tomorrow?"
"Yep. But right now I'd like to watch the commercial for our team." He winks at Puck and looks up at the screen.
The music plays and smoke starts to fill the stadium. Rachel shows up on the screen, with eye black under her eyes, walking towards the camera then cuts off to another member of the team. Santana shows up on the screen looking at the camera and tilting her head up then to the left, also with black on her cheeks. A few other women show up on the screen, wearing lingerie and posing in seductive ways before the words 'bored with halftime' show up on the screen. A few clips of their plays from games last year show up on the screen. Then it cuts to a few more other players before showing Rachel leaning up against a wall in her full uniform, making Puck's crotch twitch a bit. Brittany runs down the hallway towards the camera before stopping and showing the left side of her face, smiling. It moves into alternating between clips and players before showing Santana flipping her hair back and smirking at the camera, winking before it cuts out again. The words 'wanna play?' pops up before it shows Rachel again, tossing up the ball and catching it, laughing then looking at the camera and winking.
Mike, Finn, Sarah and Connor all lean over and look to the right at Puck.
"I think he's drooling." Mike laughs and crumples up a napkin before throwing it at his friend. "Dude, your popcorn is gonna be nasty if you keep getting spit into it."
"Fuck off man. Finn is probably two seconds away from thinking 'mail man' over those clips of Santana."
"Mail man?" Connor looks between them all.
"I'll tell you later." Sarah laughs and looks at the other team running onto the field, causing the smoke to swirl around them.
Finn looks between them all angrily. "No, you will not tell him later. That's personal information that I don't need anyone else in the world knowing! Especially Santana."
"Oh shit, she doesn't know? Oh God, we're telling her after the game." Mike grins.
"No you're not!" Finn moves to punch Mike's arm, but the other three shush him when the lights go dark.
An announcer comes on and introduces them. The strobe light starts to go off with a spotlight on the entrance for their team. Santana, Rachel and Brittany lead the team out of the tunnel and onto the field, pumping their fists in the air while they have their helmets tucked under their arms. The music dies down and the lights come back on in the stadium while the teams go to their respective sides and get ready for kickoff.
The day of Thanksgiving is completely chaotic in Puck's opinion. He got to the condo with Sarah and Connor around twelve and the girls were bumping into each other in the kitchen trying to get everything organized. His mouth was completely watering with the smell of turkey and pie cooking.
"It smells so fucking good in here." Connor sniffs the air then drops down onto the loveseat.
"That would be my cherry pie in the oven." Brittany grins over the counter.
Santana scoffs. "Oh please, that would be my huge ass turkey that I've been basting every freakin' hour since ten o'clock." She grabs the baster and opens the oven.
Rachel looks at Puck with a frown on her face. He nods his head towards her room and she takes the mixing bowl with her. He closes the door to her room and looks down at the bowl filled with an orange mixture in it. "Why the hell did you bring that in here for?"
She looks down at the bowl and places it on the nightstand. "I've been grating three pounds of carrots for an hour. My hands are orange!" She pushes them into his face. He laughs and kisses her fingertips. "And I still have to make peach cobbler that Santana wants so bad, but she's been staring at the oven ready to go with that stupid thing that you baste turkeys with. And there's still so much to be done."
He stares at her. "What else do you have to make?"
"I have to get the carrots in the oven at some point, then we have to do the potatoes and green beans. Then we have to bake more. I mean…it's a twenty pound turkey and we have to make a lot of the side items to go with it. We've seen how much you, Finn, Mike and Connor can eat. We're not even going to have leftovers."
Puck pouts. "No turkey sandwiches?"
"Probably not."
"Fuck." He sits on her bed and pulls her between his legs. Puck lifts her shirt and kisses her tan stomach, making her giggle and shove his shoulder. All she's got on is shorts and a tank top, her hair pulled up in a messy pony tail. "You're gorgeous."
"I am not having sex with you right now." She cross her arms over her chest, making her cleavage show a little more.
Puck smirks. "Wasn't askin for it babe. Just telling ya."
"Who would have thought Hollywood's bad boy is so sweet." Puck scoffs and rolls his eyes. She leans towards him a little bit and sets her hands on his shoulders. "I hate that you're leaving next week. I'm making Santana call you while I'm in my audition."
"Yeah, I know babe. I'll be there for the championship game though. We can go crazy in Vegas." He winks at her.
"Don't ask me to marry you when you get drunk." She leans forward and kisses him, forcing herself to pull away when Santana screams her name. Rachel pecks his lips one last time before grabbing the bowl and walking out of her room.
Marriage? Who said anything about marriage? The thought never even crossed his mind. So yeah, she meant it as a joke but still. Most all girls want to get married eventually. He's 26, so not exactly getting younger. His ma has been on his ass for years about getting married to a Jewish girl so she can have her 'perfect Jewish grandbabies.' The thought isn't exactly awful. A little girl with Rachel's eyes and hair, basically a mini Rachel. Or a boy with a mohawk like his old man that he can teach how to swing a bat or throw a football. Shit, this kind of thinking is going to get him in trouble.
Hours later, Santana pulls out the turkey and stares at it proudly. "My twenty pound baby." She coos at the meat in front of her while Rachel and Brittany put everything on the dining room table. When they're done, there's literally no place to put any place mats.
"Um, how are we gonna eat around the table?" Finn looks around confused then back at the table.
"Finn, baby, we're making our plates in here then going in the living room. We're watching all the slap bet episodes of How I Met Your Mother until we get to 'Slapsgiving 1 and 2.' We started to do this last year."
He looks at Santana then gets a goofy grin on his face. "Okay cool. Puck has some good news for you guys later too." He winks at Puck and picks up a plate.
"Wait. Who's carving this thing?" Puck looks down at the turkey.
"Santana. She feels like she's the only one who can mess with the perfection that is the turkey." Rachel rolls her eyes and hands her the carving knife then picks up her own plate.
"Look at it, would you want to ruin that beautiful bird?" Santana looks at all of them pointedly then down to the turkey. "Am I right or am I right?"
All the guys' stomachs growl. "Actually yeah, we kinda could. So do ya think you could just…you know, carve into it?" Mike stares down at it and all the other food. "I'm really hungry."
"Fine!" She mutters under her breath while she starts to carve the meat. She grabs her pieces before moving around the table and settling onto the love seat.
Everyone gathers around and settles into chairs with Sarah and Brittany on the floor with their plates on the coffee table. Everyone moans when they eat the turkey and Santana eats up the compliments. Brittany grabs the remote and hits play, excited that they finally got all the episodes onto one disc just for this occasion.
The girls ate two plates each while the guys settled for three to four plates each. All the guys laughed when Rachel, Santana and Brittany knew all the words to 'Let's Go To The Mall.' But towards the end of the night everyone was getting sleepy, Puck decided to give everyone the good news.
"So guys, the good news I have is that I'm going to be a guest star on How I Met Your Mother."
Brittany frowns and looks at Rachel. "He gets to meet Jason Segel?"
Rachel nods. "I know Britt. But maybe he could get us his autograph or something." She nudges Puck.
He laughs. "Yeah maybe."
"Anyways, besides that we all got some presents." Sarah sits up and looks at Connor.
"Presents?" He looks around at everyone. "Um, did I not get a memo or something?"
"No Connor, they're for you! Sarah said that you might be deploying around Christmas so we wanted to give you your gifts now. Well considering three of us are Jewish, but we all get our friends Christmas presents anyways." Rachel smiles and pulls out a box. "This one is from Noah and I."
"You guys really didn't have to do this." He eyes the package warily and looks back at Puck.
"Just open the damn thing Hawthorne. Damn."
He pulls off the shiny wrapping paper and looks at the knife he wanted and a few accessories to go with it, a Marine Recon lighter and hand warmer made by Zippo, then an extra can of fluid. There's a few other items from Zippo that he assumes Puck picked out. "Rachel, Puck, thank you. This shit is awesome."
Rachel smiles brightly and moves into Puck's side. "We're glad you like it."
Finn pulls out a bag and pushes it onto the coffee table. "It's from me and San." He smiles sheepishly and throws his arm over her shoulders.
Connor pulls out the tissue paper and a box, seeing that it's a webcam. "Thanks." He grins.
"Now you can chat with any of us when you get a chance. We're all going to get one tomorrow during the sales. Well we aren't sure if you'd be able to talk to Rachel once she gets on the show but she likes to write letters anyways." Rachel nods and smiles while Santana admires her nails after she finishes talking.
"Us now!" Brittany shoves a big box towards him. She helps him tear off the wrapping paper then sits back against Mike's knees.
"Oh cool." He pulls out warm clothing for the winter nights, music gift cards, stationary, envelopes and stamps. At the very bottom is a new camera. "You guys really went out for this didn't you?"
"I have a cousin in the military and these are things that he really likes when he goes overseas. So I know all the best places to shop." The blonde sits up straighter and smiles.
"Yeah, plus we know it's stuff that you'll want or need." Mike shrugs.
"Thanks a lot you guys."
Sarah clears her throat. "I forgot my present at home, so whenever we leave I'll just give it to you then."
"Sure. I'm leaving early in the morning though."
Puck shifts Rachel on his lap. "Well we're all staying here since the girls are dragging us shopping in the morning. Sarah can just give you a ride home."
"Yeah, of course."
"Just call us or text us whenever you get to the airport. We want to make sure you're safe." Rachel yawns and stands up to hug him. "But I'm going to be now."
"Thanks again for the stuff Rachel. It was really awesome of you guys to do this for me. I'll have to send you guys something."
"No worries. Just focus on being safe." She kisses his cheek then hugs Sarah and moves down the hallway.
Everyone says their goodbyes and Sarah helps Connor carry everything downstairs. When they get into the apartment, she sits on the couch and helps him pack all of it into the duffel bag he has.
"I might need to leave this here and pick it up on my way back to base."
"We kind of forgot that you were leaving the next morning so we didn't really plan that part. Noah won't care if you leave it here though." She shrugs and pulls out her box. "This is mine, obviously." She laughs nervously and looks down at the floor.
Connor glances at her out of the corner of his eye then opens it. Inside is a camouflage quilt and some DVD sets. "Sarah, this is really nice of you to do."
"Oh, God, I didn't make that. It would've been a pile of fabric if I did." She laughs. "I had it made for you. They said it'll be really warm in the winter and cool in the summer."
"Thanks kid."
She smiles and moves to hug him. He squeezes her tight and pulls away. Sarah leans in and presses her lips against his hesitantly until he starts to kiss back. Connor's hands find her hips, moving until he's hovering over her on the couch and traces his tongue on her bottom lip. She moans and arches into him, wrapping her leg around his waist. His right hand moves up her side, cradling her face and she tenses under him, moving to grind against him. Connor instantly freezes and pulls away.
"Shit, Sarah…" He stands up and backs away. "Puck would kill me."
Sarah nods shakily and runs her hand through her hair. "Um, you can stay in my room. I'll stay in Noah's. Come say bye to me before you leave in the morning." She smiles then runs down the hall, slamming the door shut.
"Fuck." He runs his hand over his hair before retreating into Sarah's room.
This is shorter than expected, but if I put in everything that I wanted to in this chapter, it would've been way long with way too much going on. But don't worry! I have the outline for the next chapter already done. I really hope you guys can get past the sucky chapters, but the good stuff is coming up! I promise.
Also, the commercial is based off the 2011 Season LFL Commercial I found online. So all credit to the LFL & LA Temptation.
Coming up in the next chapter: Rachel's Audition! (Finally, right?)