Still don't own Glee. Definitely don't own the songs that are mentioned/used in this chapter either. Mistakes are mine
Puck settles down onto Rachel's bed where he's been sleeping the past few nights. Her dresser is painted and aired out now so he folded her clothes and set them in their right places. He's not sure why he's doing any of that, maybe because he feels like he owes her something. Actually, he knows that he owes her much more than folding her clothes and putting them away.
Rachel's show ended a few hours ago, so after dropping Sarah off at his place and grabbing the pile of scripts that's been sitting on his coffee table for the past couple of weeks, he finally sprawls out on his bed. Sighing, he sits back up and looks at all the titles on the top page.
Santana pops her head in and smirks at the sight of him sitting on Rachel's bed in the middle of the room. "Hey."
He looks over his shoulder and matches her smirk with his own. "What's up?"
"Why are you sleeping over?" She sits on the other side of the bed and picks up a script, scrunching her nose up at the title.
"Figured I'd help get some of the shit done that she wanted to do with the remodel. At least the things I know how to do." He motions to the painted dresser. "Everything else I'm not sure about."
She picks up the scraps of fabric off the nightstand and looks at all of them, spreading them out over the bed next to his scripts that he's staring at. The Latina toys with the edge of one sample and sighs. "I know I've been a little bit of a bitch."
"A little?" Puck laughs and looks over at her. She's got a small smile on her face so he knows he didn't piss her off.
"Okay, a big one. But like I told Finn, Rachel is my family. Her and Britt." She shakes her head and looks over at him. "And I'm not going to say I'm sorry."
"Didn't expect you to. I get it, Finn and Mike are mine too. And I get why you were so pissed so let's just," He pauses and picks up a script, "Put this all behind us and fucking move on."
"Alright Puckerman." Santana looks around the room. She motions to the wall. "Rachel really needs a TV in here."
He laughs. "Fuck I know, but I figured it was smart to bring these over here so I'd actually look through them."
"Well have at it. I just wanted to get things straight with us." Santana puts away the fabric and moves towards the door. "Night."
Puck nods to her and looks back down at the scripts, grabbing one and laying back. His hand fumbles around on the nightstand until his hand grazes his cell phone and sends off a text to Rachel, asking if she can talk. He's not exactly sure what all they have to do after a show but it's been a few hours so he assumes it's safe.
Rachel stares down at her phone.
Noah: Can we talk?
She sends him a text back and moves to sit on the porch of their apartment. Bringing her knees up, she sets her chin on them while clutching the device in her hand. It's been weeks since she's turned it on. There's text messages telling her how amazing she is doing from her family. Voicemails from relatives, even frantic ones from the night that her and Puck broke up. There's so much she missed but she's having a hard time caring. A few seconds later, her phone starts to ring and she sits back, staring at Puck's name flashing.
"Hello?" She practically whispers.
"Hi Ray." Rachel closes her eyes and pushes the tears that want to slide down her cheeks away. "How are you?"
"I'm okay. How about you?"
"I've been better if I'm being real fucking honest with you. You were amazing tonight."
"Thank you. It'll be torture to wait until tomorrow night to see if I'm safe. I haven't exactly been the popular choice." Reaching down, she plays with the hem of her sweatpants.
Puck leans back on the bed, setting the script aside while closing his eyes. It feels so good to hear her voice again. "I'm sure you'll move on. Your performance was fucking hot."
She laughs nervously and stares out into the darkness. It's quiet on both of their ends besides the sound of them breathing quietly.
"Look…I'm sorry."
Puck can hear her swallow nervously. "There's no reason to be." His stomach clenches at how broken she sounds. "Yeah there is. Matt left you because of his job and I did the exact thing except ten times worse. He told me not to hurt you, but I fucking did it anyways."
Rachel knows how hard it must be to say that he's sorry. But... "Wait, what? When did you talk to Matt?"
"He ended up showing us around the studios when Finn and I were in Wilmington." Puck stares up at the ceiling. Honesty has always worked out for them. Except that one night. "But I'm really fucking sorry about it baby."
Rachel glares out into the darkness, her eyes narrowing into slits even though Puck can't see her. "You should've told me you talked to him."
"Rachel, there's a lot I should've done differently. Like listened to you when you felt weird about Holly." He sits up and looks at the window. "I fired her."
"Why?"
"She was using Quinn to try and get to me. Basically made up the whole publicity thing to get you and I to break up." He barely hears her mutter out an well it worked before he moves on "Finn scheduled a meeting with the director tomorrow to tell him that we've called the deal off. Quinn announced it when we were on a talk show the other night that we're just friends. Even apologized and shit for fucking up a lot of stuff."
"That's good. And I'm glad that Holly is gone."
"Finn's got some meetings set up to find a new publicist. I'm going to need one."
"I think she was damaging your career without you knowing it." Rachel sets her legs down on the ground, crossing them and thinking about how Holly acted when they were all around.
"Holly ruined a lot more important things than my career."
"Don't say things like that Noah, your career is important to you."
"Rachel, she ruined us." Puck can feel his throat burning a little bit. He doesn't talk about feelings. "You think I wanted that to fucking happen?"
"I don't know! You made it seem like the easiest decision in the world to leave me. Do you know how exhausting the last few weeks have been? I've barely been able to sleep I'm so stressed out and heartbroken! I swear I have at least twenty knots in my back because I'm so tense." Rachel huffs into the phone, sending her new bangs flying and tries not to cry.
"Baby, you're tense? I can help you relax."
Rachel could practically hear his smirk on her side of the conversation. "Are you trying to hint at phone sex?" She whispers and looks around to see if any of the other contestants are near.
"Uh, yeah. Don't you miss me?"
Her heart clenches. She tips her head back and looks up at the sky. "How can you ask me that?"
Puck lays back down and rubs the heel of his hand over his right eye. When he asked her that, it was supposed to be in a teasing way, but the way she responded… Feeling like a jackass was the only thing that crossed his mind. "Do you?" He asks hesitantly.
"Of course I do. More than you know."
"Then let me help you Ray."
"I really shouldn't. Someone could come out here at any time."
"Fuck Rachel. Just relax, I can feel your tension through the phone."
She stretches her legs out so her feet are resting against the railing, slouching a bit so she's a little more comfortable. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one is in the living room, she shakily lets out a breath. "This is highly inappropriate you know. We're not even together."
"Just breathe baby and slip your hand into your panties."
Letting out a huff, her right hand slides down her stomach over her shirt then down into her sweatpants. Slipping past her panties, her finger slides along her wet folds. Rachel isn't even sure how she can get so wet just by hearing his voice. A small moan escapes her mouth and she bites her lip while Puck laughs quietly.
"Feel good?" His hand runs over his cock while he listens to her irregular breathing. "That's it Ray. Slip two fingers in and curl upwards."
"It does."
"Move them faster." Puck gets up and closes the door before pulling his dick out.
She can't even believe the whine that comes from her throat but as she comes around her fingers, Rachel really doesn't care. Her breathing is labored but then she can hear that Puck is breathing just as hard. "Are you?" Her voice trails off while he breathes heavily in her ear.
"Mhm." He licks his lips. "God Rach, I miss you."
Rachel's eyes look down at the shirt she's wearing, his high school one that she stole when he first went away. "I miss you too," she admits quietly. As soon as Puck is coming in her ear, her posture straightens as she looks around. "Noah…"
He closes his eyes and leans back against the pillows. "Fuck." Puck mumbles quietly. It feels like so much is off his shoulders. The release and being able to tell Rachel how he feels.
"I need to go. We have to wake up early and get ready, then we have rehearsals."
It hasn't even been five minutes but he can already hear the tension back in her voice. Puck sighs and tucks himself back into his gym shorts. "Yeah alright baby." He sits up and runs his head over his shaved head. "Hey, you're doing so fucking amazing up there. And I swear I'll prove it to you that we should get back together. I meant it when I said she ruined more important things than my career."
"That's good to know Noah, but I need to focus on where I'm at right now." Rachel bites her lip nervously while he responds.
"Yeah, alright. Sleep well Rachel. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Noah."
She moves towards her room, ignoring everything that everyone is doing around the apartment. Holly isn't in her bed, so Rachel flicks off the light and curls up in the comforter. Hearing Puck's voice was both amazing and painful. Now she feels like she's back at the beginning of the competition, but with the promise that he's going to work hard to get them back on track stuck in her mind.
The next morning, Finn walks into Rachel's room and eyes his best friend reading through a script. There's a cup of coffee on the nightstand that is moved next to the bed in the middle of the room, while his cell phone is opened up to an email on top of a bunch of other papers on top of the quilt.
"Hey man."
Puck looks up and smirks at Finn. "Sup?"
"Meeting in half an hour. Are you ready to go?"
He nods and marks his place in the script while scooping up his phone. They make their way to his car and Puck's not even pissed when Finn messes around with the radio stations. Traffic isn't awful and they make it to the director's office with five minutes to spare. But what he saw when they got into the waiting area outside wasn't anything he expected.
"Puck. Finn." Quinn stares at them and looks around nervously. "I didn't know the two of you were going to be at the meeting too."
"We didn't know you'd be here either, so I guess he wanted us to both be present." Finn returns coldly.
The door opens and they all sit down in front of Quentin. The man takes a deep breath and stares at them quietly. They're all honestly too scared to say anything to him. Puck assumes that Holly called and talked trash about himself and Quinn, but he's not even sure what's going to happen.
"Well, everyone knows that you two are just friendly co-workers."
Quinn sits up and looks at her director. "It's all my fault. Puck has been under a lot of stress and I don't think that a fake relationship would've been a good idea for much longer."
Puck glances between the two, ready to speak up before his director speaks.
"To be honest, the whole thing seemed very odd when Miss James brought it up. But I went with it because too much publicity for the movie is never a bad thing. However, she kept insisting that it's a good idea then told me that you and your girlfriend had broken up so I didn't think anything of it. Tell me Puck, when did you two call it off?"
He glances down at his shoes. "That afternoon after the meeting. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the decision."
Quentin blows out a breath before bringing his hands together and leaning on his desk. "I am very sorry for the distress this may have caused you. Obviously trusting her opinion wasn't very smart. The good news is, we did receive great publicity for the movie. If it's alright with the two of you, I'd still like for you two to hang out in public as friends." He emphasizes on the last part, glancing between his actors.
"I think that sounds reasonable. Puck? Quinn?" Finn turns towards them. The two of them nod their heads.
"Great! That's all for now. The press junket is in a few weeks so please be prepared for that. Have a great day."
They all leave the office and walk towards the door. Finn leaves to give them a few minutes alone.
"Look, I meant what I said Puck. I'm really sorry about everything that happened."
"Don't worry about it. Shit happens and-" he hesitates. Even though Holly is out of the picture, Puck's going to have a hard time trusting Quinn. But this is the most emotion he's ever seen her give since the beginning of hers and Finn's relationship. "I talked to Rachel last night." He shoves his hands deep into his pockets.
"Really?" She smiles. "That's great. How is she?"
"Stressed out." Puck shrugs.
"I see." She smiles and looks down. "I've been voting for her."
Puck laughs. "That's awesome. Look, I gotta go to some meetings with publicists, but hey, if you showed everyone this side of you then it wouldn't be so bad."
"Thank you Puck." Quinn smiles gently and hugs him awkwardly. "I'll talk to you later."
"Hey, Brittany and I are getting lunch tomorrow. You can come with us."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Our director wants us to continue to be seen together as friends and you could show Brittany this new side of you. It's a fucking win-win."
"Okay thanks. See you later." Quinn waves and walks towards the front doors.
Puck pulls into the parking garage of his PR building and looks over to his friend.
"We've got two interviews. You'll need to make a decision today, but I think it's a good idea if we stay with the same company." Finn stares at him pointedly.
"Yeah, whatever. Let's get this shit over with." Puck gets out of the car and walks towards the elevator with Finn trailing behind.
After stepping out from the elevator, Finn leads the way to an office where the meetings are supposed to be held. Puck glances around, wondering if Holly is going to secretly pop out of nowhere and make his life a living hell even more. But as they turn around a corner, he can see her yelling at her father in his office. The older man catches Puck's eyes and gives him a sympathetic look before looking back at his daughter. That made him move faster next to Finn.
The two of them move into a conference room where a woman with dark brown hair is sitting, staring intently at her phone. Finn moves to sit while Puck takes a seat directly across from her. He tilts his head while looking at her. And the fact that she looks oddly familiar is unsettling to him.
"Hello." She looks up and moves to shake both of their hands. "I'm Shelby Corcoran."
"You're one of the best publicists here right?" Finn puts his phone away and leans forward, setting his elbows on the table. "We need the best from now on because I don't need someone trying to fuck up Puck's career. Again. I don't know what type of mess that Holly would have or has caused."
"That won't be a problem. The best publicists here include myself and Emma. So you'll have no issues with anything like with Holly." Shelby smiles and leans back in her chair.
Her and Finn start to discuss business but Puck takes a good look at her. That's when it hits him. "Hey Finn, mind if I have a minute to talk with Shelby?"
Finn looks at him oddly before nodding and heading out the door. "Ten minutes till our next appointment."
Puck sits back in his seat and narrows his eyes at her. Shelby looks at him a little uneasily, sitting up straighter. He licks his lips and lets out a deep sigh. "How long have you been in LA?"
"A few years. I moved here from New York. The company I was working for before was getting a little too dramatic for my taste."
"Are you sure it has nothing to do with Rachel Berry?"
She freezes and stares at him. "How did you know?"
"You two could practically be twins if people looked hard enough. Does she know you're here?"
"No, and I'd like to keep it that way." Shelby looks at him with her jaw tense and arms crossed over each other.
"I take it you know that we've been dating?"
"Not from what I've seen in the tabloids lately." She lifts an eyebrow at him and smiles.
"Look, I love her. And this isn't the shit I need when I get a new publicist. Especially when our relationship could affect Rachel."
Shelby hesitates before meeting his eyes. "She doesn't know what I look like. We've never met even though the contract stated that we could when she turned eighteen."
Puck frowns and leans forward on the table. "But you do."
"Yes."
"Well that'll be on her terms. But because if I could easily tell who you are, then she probably will too. I'm sorry, but I can't hire you."
"That's understandable. It was lovely to meet you. Big fan." Shelby grins and shakes his hand.
"Thanks. But if you decide that you want to be a part of her life, make sure you're going to stick around. Because I can't stand the thought of you coming around just to leave her instantly."
Puck stands up and nods at Shelby before walking out into the hallway. "Hire Emma."
"But you haven't even interviewed her. What's wrong with Shelby?" Finn tries to keep up with his friend while they walk towards the front of the building.
"Just do what I say Finn. Fuck." He gets into the car and gets ready to head back to the girls' condo.
The morning of Valentine's day, Rachel wakes up and stretches. She hates to admit that ever since she talked to Puck last week, sleeping has become so much easier since the first night she got here. Holly is sitting on her bed with her laptop open, a towel on top of her head while she goes through entertainment news. Reaching idly for her phone, Rachel pulls it in front of her face and smiles.
Noah: Happy Valentine's Day. I love you. Kick some ass tonight.
Since today is Valentine's Day, they figured going for a romantic theme this week would be a good idea, so they had a bunch of love songs to pick from to perform tonight. After sending out a quick text back to Puck, Rachel stands up and yawns, moving to sit next to Holly.
"Um…" Holly glances at Rachel before trying to close her browser.
"Wait, is that…" She looks at the screen to see pictures of Puck, Brittany and Quinn all eating at a restaurant with Puck's arm hanging off the back of Quinn's chair. Her heart aches, thinking she let him back in but he's still with Quinn even though he's fired Holly.
"Rachel, it could be something else. I mean, your friend is there. Don't you think that's weird? You told me that they don't like Quinn."
Pushing the tears away, Rachel stands up and grabs some clothes from her dresser. "I was an idiot for focusing on something other than the competition."
Holly sighs. "You're jumping to conclusions."
"Do you blame me?" She moves towards the bathroom, running into Blaine on the way there. "Sorry."
"Hey." He puts his hands on her shoulders, looking at her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing Blaine. But that kiss was a mistake…" Rachel licks her lips and shifts to her other foot. "We can only be friends."
"Yeah, that's fine Rachel. But are you sure you're okay?" He squats slightly so he can look into her eyes. Blaine doesn't care if she just wants to be friends but she has the same expression on her face that she had when they first got to the apartment.
"I'm fine Blaine. I just needed to get that off my chest." Smiling at Blaine, she steps to the side to go into the bathroom to get ready for the rest of the day.
He watches her move into the bathroom before walking into her and Holly's room. He sees the blonde laying against the headboard with her jaw clenched. "What's with Rachel?"
With a roll of her eyes, she opens the laptop and turns it so it's facing the man next to her. "I told her she's probably overreacting. But you know she doesn't listen to a damn thing I say."
Blaine sighs and sits next to his other competitor on the bed. "She's stubborn as fuck. But you know Puck is her weak point."
"Yeah, I know." Holly sighs and tosses her towel away.
Puck wakes up and moves to the kitchen in the condo, seeing Brittany and Santana sitting at the table drinking coffee. Pouring his own cup, he sits at the head of the table and drops a script in front of him before rubbing his temples.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Brittany grins and moves to hug him. "We know Rachel isn't here, but we pulled our money together and we might have taken some from Rachel's emergency stash so that it could be from her too." She hands him a small box and smiles.
"You guys didn't have to do anything." He stares down at the box.
"Oh stop. We know how tough everything has been for you and we've been bitches. So just take the damn thing or else I'll take it and give it to Finn or Mike." Santana raises her perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him then drinks her coffee.
He opens up the box, a shiny white gold watch staring back at him. "Britt…San…Thank you." Puck looks up at them with a genuine smile on his face.
"Do you like it?" Brittany's smile instantly brightens when he nods and puts it on. "I'm so glad! We have to get ready to go on our dates with Mike and Finn before we go watch Rachel, but we'll meet you back here okay?"
"Yeah sure." He watches as Brittany runs to her room but Santana stays and stares at him. "The fuck are you looking at me like that for?"
"Are you alright?"
"Is the Santana Lopez asking if I'm okay?" Puck laughs and stares at the watch. "I'm alright."
"Look I'm a bitch, but today is the day of love or whatever and since I can't take care of my best friend, you're the next best thing."
"Gee, thanks San." Puck rolls his eyes.
"New script? One for an audition or production?"
"This one is an audition that Finn thinks I'd be good for. But I think I just want a project to work on. Be here when Rachel's done with her show and tour." His finger traces the rim of his mug. "Can I tell you something? Knowing that you'll keep it to yourself."
"What? We're having some sort of heart to heart or something?" She laughs and tips her mug back to her lips.
"I saw Shelby."
Santana stares at him, unblinking. "Shelby, as in…"
"Yep."
"Rachel told you her name?" She says uneasily, looking over her shoulder to make sure Brittany isn't near. "Where the fuck did you see her? Why did you see her?"
"It turns out she works at my PR firm. She moved here a few years ago, probably when Rachel joined the team. I could see where Rachel got most of her looks from." Santana stands up and starts to pace. "I told her to stay away from Rachel unless she decided she wanted to be in her life for real."
"You said that to her?"
"Uh yeah." Puck stands up and moves to the kitchen to rinse out his mug.
"You really care about her."
"Haven't I made that fucking clear by now?"
Santana holds her hands up defensively. "Sorry, that's my bitch coming out." She sighs. "She'll realize that you're all she wants, regardless of how bad you fucked up. Just don't lose hope."
Puck smirks at Santana before she moves down the hallway towards her room. He sighs and looks around the living room then back at his script. "Some fucking Valentine's Day." Grabbing the script, he pads down the hall into Rachel's room then looks around. It's such a mess with clothes still laying around along with his duffel bag in the corner in her chair. Then there's all the scripts he's been looking through on what's usually his side of the bed.
Brittany walks into the studio where Mike has been rehearsing for the show. He's got his head phones in while moving to what she can only assume is their routine for the week. When he makes a turn and sees her, Mike grins then takes her hands, leading her into a waltz. Her head tilts back and she laughs.
"Mikey." Brittany hugs him close then kisses him chastely on the lips.
"I miss seeing you all the time." He pulls her in close then sits down by the mats in the corner of the studio, grabbing a small box out of his bag. "Happy Valentine's Day Britt."
"You didn't have to get me anything." She opens it and sees a shiny bracelet. "It's perfect! Can you put it on?"
"Sure. How's everyone doing? I swear I only have time to sleep nowadays. Do you think Rachel feels this way too?"
Twisting her wrist in the air, the blonde grins before holding his hands. "Good I think. It helps that we're all talking to each other now. She probably does." She sighs but nods. "Where's Chelsea?"
"She went to go take a break and get lunch with her boyfriend. It is Valentine's Day. I'm not that much of an asshole." Mike laughs and moves to pull out the lunch he made them earlier that morning. "It's not much. I'll have to make it up to you whenever I'm done with the show."
"This is more than enough." She moves closer and kisses him. "I get to see you actually awake instead of just sleeping next to you."
As they start to eat their food, Mike swallows and stares down at the ground. "How's Puck?"
"This morning he actually looked like himself again. I think he talked to Rachel last week after her show. Me and San gave him a watch for Valentine's Day. Well most of the money came from Rachel's emergency money." She grins and pulls out a box, handing it to Mike.
"You didn't have to get me anything babe." He opens the box, revealing a brand new video camera.
"I figured it could help Chelsea with her routines or something."
"Thanks baby. So he's been sleeping better?" Mike looks up at her. He's been really worried about Puck but he hasn't had time to talk to anyone about it.
"He's been sleeping at the condo in Rachel's room."
"What?" He laughs.
"I know it's weird. Lord Tubbington sleeps on the floor by the bed in there. He's been really worried about Puck and he misses Rachel a lot." She pouts.
"Tub will be fine. I promise Britt."
"Oh I know. I just want Puck and Rachel to be happy again. Together. Do you think they will when she gets back from the show?"
"God I fucking hope so. He's never been a wreck like this over a girl."
"That's good news!"
Mike stands and laughs, holding his hand out. "Want to work on the routine with me?"
Brittany jumps and grins. "I miss dancing with you."
Puck walks towards the studio with Brittany, Finn, Santana and Sarah. Rachel's best friends giggle and run up to Rachel's dad, Nathan, who is leaning against the wall. As they go inside, Puck stops and holds out his hand.
"Sir."
"Puck, it's Nathan. Please." The older man retracts his hand and pulls out some cigarettes. "Want one?"
"Yeah." Puck takes it willingly then lights it up. "Just so you know, I never smoke unless I have to do it for a movie."
"You wouldn't look bad even if you did. Look at me, Rachel and Allen want me to quit. Honestly, they make me sound like I smoke a pack every day."
He laughs and flicks his ashes. "She cares about everyone."
"More so for you." Nathan flicks his ashes off too. "I know my daughter pretty well."
"And I love her. More than anything and I hate to think that the first time I met you and Mr. Berry that I completely fucked it all up. Everyone hated me."
"Rachel can be a very forgiving person. Just give her time."
Puck smirks. "We talked after her show last week. It felt so good to hear her voice." He keeps his eyes trained on the ground.
"You've fallen for the Berry charm." Nathan laughs and elbows Puck in the ribs before putting out his cigarette. "Allen did the same."
Laughing along with Rachel's dad, Puck puts his cigarette out too. "Yeah, I guess I have." He smiles and holds the door open for the man.
Nathan slaps his hand against the younger man's shoulder. "Don't worry son, she'll forgive you."
He stands and watches the man walk inside towards their seats. Son. That shouldn't sound as good as it does, considering he should be scared shitless of her dads right now. Puck follows him in quickly, being forced to sit between Nathan and Brittany. There's an obvious love theme going on inside and on the stage. All the judges are wearing something that has red on it, including the host.
Shortly after they're all seated, the show starts and the nine contestants that are remaining come onto the stage. His eyes are instantly drawn to Rachel in a red sequence dress and black high heels, moving around and singing on stage. It's mostly a bunch of sappy love songs that he doesn't care about and it's really clear to him what the 'theme' is for this week, song wise. Now he's extremely nervous about what Rachel will be singing when it's her turn to go.
Half an hour into the show, Santana's getting a tad impatient. The best thing that could happen right now, in her opinion, would be for Rachel to come on stage before she can go back to Finn's apartment and give him the rest of her present. And luckily, a few seconds after the commercial break, Rachel walks onto the stage. Her eyes lock with her best friend's as she anxiously looks over before licking her lips and smiling at the judges. Up on the screen, her video is playing that she recorded earlier in the week. Santana notices that in the video she looks way happier than she does on the stage. Glancing to the right, she can see that Puck notices too.
This song is traditionally sung by an amazing man, but I'm going to put my own feminine twist on it. I might have had to change some lyrics. Hopefully it'll all work out.
Puck looks at the screen as it plays and she talks. Her smile reaches her eyes again and he wants to think that he has something to do with it. But now she's on stage, getting ready to perform and her smile is tight. The crowd starts to clap and he realizes that the host just announced that she's about to perform. As the band starts up, Rachel looks down at the ground and licks her lips. Puck honestly can't recall what the song is (especially since he didn't hear the host say the title) until she sings the opening verse. His heart clenches instantly.
This Juliet is bleedin'
But you can't see her blood
It's nothing but some feelings
That this old dog kicked up
It's been rainin' since you left me
Now I'm drownin' in the flood
You see I've always been a fighter
But without you I'll give up
I can't sing a love song
Like the way it's meant to be
I guess I'm not that good anymore
But that's just me
Santana watches as Rachel sings, but only looking towards the cameras. Glancing to the right again, she notices Puck's jaw is clenched and his eyes look pained. She whispers into Brittany's ear and quickly changes places with the blonde before taking his hand into hers. He looks at her out of the corner of his eye then looks down quickly before looking back at the stage. Something has to be going on with Rachel because she hasn't looked their way at all. Santana knows her best friend pretty well even though they have barely talked since she left. His hand squeezes hers tightly as Rachel belts out the last verse. During the last line, her eyes dart over to theirs then down to their joined hands before the song ends. Santana's heart clenches as Rachel swipes away a tear then grins at the judges. All she wants to do is storm up on that stage and hug her. Everyone around them is standing up and cheering loudly. It's hard to believe that Rachel is always towards the bottom of the pack when it comes to revealing who gets to move on to the next round.
Both of them stand up and clap while the judges try to quiet everyone down. As always, she gets amazing comments from each of them and a compliment from the host before she's off stage and out of their view. There's only a few more songs that they have to listen to. Blaine singing Silly Love Songs, Sunshine singing some Celine Dion song, and Jesse singing Your Song. Puck and Sarah are the first ones to say goodbye quickly before going to his car.
"That must've been torture to listen to." Allen grabs his husband's hand before looking at the car leaving.
The Latina sighs and wraps her arm around Finn's waist. "Probably. But she was singing with all her heart. I could tell."
"Rachel always sings with her heart San. She just must still be hurting. Lord Tubbington told me so." Brittany smiles before glancing at the clock on her cell phone. "I need to get home. I was going to make dessert so that Mike could have some before bed when he gets home from practice." The blonde moves and hugs Rachel's dads before heading to her car.
"They'll work it out San." Nathan smiles before leading his husband away.
"They're right baby. Plus they're both adults and they can work it out once she gets done with the show." Finn tucks her hair behind her ear and gives her his lopsided smile.
"If they don't, then we're getting involved. You owe me anyways." Santana smirks as they move towards his car.
His brows furrow. "What do I owe you for?"
"For thinking she was stupid to be that upset over everything for Puck's job. Since it was the plan to get them to break up all along."
Finn sighs and opens her door. "I feel like I'm making a deal with the devil. On Valentine's Day."
She laughs and leans over to kiss him once he's in the driver's seat. "That's because you did baby. There was a reason everyone called me Satan in high school."
Sarah follows Puck into their apartment, him flopping onto the couch while running his hands over his face. Her cell phone starts to ring so she fishes it out of her purse before perching on the arm of the couch next to her brother's feet.
"Hello?"
"Is this Sarah Puckerman?" A feminine voice floats into her ear.
"Yes it is." She pushes at his shoes and smiles.
"This is Elizabeth Hawthorne, Connor's mother."
Her eyebrows furrow and she looks over at her brother. "Oh, hello Mrs. Hawthorne."
"Listen, my son has told me about you and I feel that it's important that you know this…"
She sits up and reaches out for Puck's hand. He glances at her before sitting up. "Is something wrong?" Sarah asks quietly, chewing on her bottom lip afterwards.
Sarah hears his mother sniffle. "Connor is being transported to a hospital in Germany."
-Song, Always by Bon Jovi. Made some changes so that it fit with a woman aspect.
Ugh, you guys I'm so sorry that this took forever and it's all sorts of sucks. And I know the thing with Shelby seems way random, but I wanted to show that Puck still has Rachel's feelings on his mind and that he's protective of her.
Anon- Ha, I didn't even bother to think of where they shot those shows! I just kind of thought of who I could probably write the best. But thank you for mentioning that! I'll def keep that on my mind. And I like your suggestions, so I'll def have to keep them on my mind. Thank you for reviewing!
Mika- Your email address didn't show :( but thank you so much for the review. I'm glad you like it!