This is not the dream I dreamed - Rachel faces up to the fact that her Broadway career could be over before it had chance to begin.
Rating - T
Character -Rachel (Also features her fathers, Finn, Will, Shelby, Beth and others)
A/N - Reviews/concrit are loved, and if there's anything you'd like to see happen the let me know and I'll try my best to work it in somehow.I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.
I'm going to try and get my updates hapening on a more regular basis so I'm aiming to have the next part up within a fortnight.
Rachel was laid on the floor with Lyla the next morning playing with some large farmyard animals when there was a loud knock at the door, startling Lyla and causing her to cry. "Hey" Rachel scooped Lyla into her arms and the crying stopped almost instantly as she snuggled her head into her mother's neck, "let's see who it is."
"Hey" Puck smiled as Rachel opened the door, "my ma sent me round, she said she'd spoken to you about some baby stuff, my truck's pretty much full."
"Yes, she called me before her trip, did she have a good time?" Rachel asked.
"Dunno" Puck shrugged, "all she said to me was that I needed to take all the stuff out of her car and bring it round here for Lyla."
Rachel laughed, "just let me put Lyla down and I'll come help you."
"Nah, I'll be fine" Puck told her, "just tell me where you want it and I'll bring it in."
"If you could put it in the living room that will be fine thank you Noah." She smiled again as he winked at her and turned to get the stuff from his truck. He couldn't help but smile as he made several trips into the living room only to find Rachel sat on the sofa with Lyla on her lap as she read from a cardboard story book, pointing out various items in the large pictures as she spoke.
"That's the lot" he told her as he propped the pink and white high chair up against the wall.
"Thank you Noah, would you like a drink or something to eat?"
"A soda would be good." He grinned as he made himself at home on the sofa. Rachel nodded and carried Lyla into the kitchen with her, returning a few minutes later with his soda, a pink cup of juice for Lyla and a handful of carrot sticks which she passed one by one to the baby who now sat on the floor surrounded by various toys. "Hudson's a d-o-u-c-h-e" he spelt out the word knowing how angry Rachel got if anyone swore in front of Lyla. He saw Rachel's face fall and tried to cheer her up, "well, now he's a d-o-u-c-h-e with a broken nose but that doesn't make him any less d-o-u-c-h-e-y"
"Noah" Rachel gasped, "tell me you didn't"
"I didn't" he said dryly.
"Now say it without lying to me." He was silent, "Noah! You know I don't condone violence in any situation."
"Look, the j-e-r-k deserved it, even his mom agreed."
"What?"
"I went over there when I heard what happened, his mom saw how angry I was and told me if I promised to do no lasting damage she'd turn her back for one punch so I took my chance. If I'd not have promised his old lady I wouldn't do any lasting damage I'd have aimed a lot lower" he said smugly. "You'd think after all the crying he did after I boned Quinn he'd know better."
Rachel shook her head, "I can't believe you Noah".
They sat in silence for a while before Puck spoke again, "Why Lyla?" he asked, gesturing to Lyla as she sat on the floor chewing on the head of a plastic horse, "I mean I know a Lola and I think my sister goes to school with a kid called Layla but I've never heard of Lyla."
"When she was born they took her straight to the neonatal intensive care unit" Rachel began to explain, "I didn't see her but the doctors bought me a photo of her, she didn't have a name then so my fathers bought me a baby name book. I flicked through it one day, I didn't even see the name I just saw the meaning and I knew that whatever that name was it was going to be hers. The first thing I saw when I looked at that picture was her hair, it was so dark, almost jet black and Lyla is a Persian name, it means dark haired beauty."
"It's perfect for her" he smiled, "I always expected your kids would have Hebrew names though."
Rachel shook her head, "Lyla Faith" she smiled, "I couldn't imagine her being anything else"
"Y'know if you'd have been Quinn or I'd have been Will, whatever, I'd have made you call her Caroline."
Rachel ignored the fact that Puck had thought about having children with her, "are you planning on naming all your children after songs?"
"Yep" he grinned, "gonna call my next one Peggy Sue"
The pair chatted easily for almost an hour before Puck said he had to be going and Rachel began to settle Lyla down for her mid morning nap. "Come on Lyla" Rachel sighed, bouncing the child in her arms as she grizzled loudly, "it's nap time." She laid Lyla on the sofa only for the child to begin screaming as she sat up, reaching out towards her mother, "you're warm aren't you?" Rachel asked, lying the back of her hand across Lyla's forehead before stripping her down to her vest, "are those teeth hurting?" She carried Lyla through to the kitchen and pulled one of numerous teething rings and some teething gel from the fridge, applying the gel liberally to Lyla's gums before handing over the gel filled ring, "oh darling" Rachel sighed as Lyla chewed on the ring for less than ten seconds before throwing it on the floor and beginning to scream again, arching her back and wriggling in her mother's arms. It took half an hour, three failed attempts at feeding and a dose of an infant pain killer before Rachel was able to lie a sleeping Lyla on the sofa and begin looking through all the bags Puck had bought over.
"Rachel" Shelby called as she walked into the house, "I'm ba-"
"Shh" Rachel bolted into the hallway, "Lyla's sleeping, I think she's teething again, she had a bit of a temperature earlier and it took me a while to settle her, I don't want to wake her."
Shelby nodded and followed Rachel back into the living room, "her cheeks do look a bit red" Shelby said, walking over to the sleeping child. "What's all that?" she then asked as she noticed the bags and boxes by the door.
"Mrs Puckerman went to visit her sister, she called me to tell me her sister was having a clear out, and as she's got a 4 year old daughter she had a lot of baby things to get rid of. I offered to pay her for them but neither of them would take a cent. There's a lot of clothes, I was just sorting them out into ages" Rachel pointed to several neat piles of clothes, "I'm going to ask dad to put the ones that she won't need for a while, like this" Rachel picked up a dress, the label telling her it was age 2-3years "in the attic until she needs them. There's a couple of things I don't need like the playpen and a changing mat and stuff but I thought Will could have them and some of the toys if he has her."
Shelby nodded, "he called me earlier" she said as she picked up a pink flowery dress, "Beth had this" she smiled before continuing, "he told me he wanted to see Beth, I said if he felt like he could handle it he could see her when he saw Lyla but he'd have to sort that out with you."
"Okay. I'll call him later" Rachel told her mother before changing the subject completely, "what did you do for Beth's first Birthday?"
"We were in New York, I took her to the zoo why?"
Rachel shrugged, "I want to do something special for Lyla's birthday, I don't know what though. Her birthday's on a Saturday so I thought we could all go to the aquarium or something, but would I have to invite Will?"
"Invite who you like Rach, if you want Will to come that's fine, I'm not going to ruin Lyla's day and I'm sure Will won't either, but if you don't want him to come we could always have a little party here when we get back, you could invite Will and Burt and Carol and the Puckerman's, just do something little, she can't have a cake at the aquarium." Shelby smiled, "and it's not a real birthday without cake!"
Rachel and Shelby spoke about Lyla's birthday as they sorted out the things Mrs Puckerman had sent over for almost half an hour before Lyla woke and began to scream. "Oh baby" Rachel sighed as she rocked the screaming infant in her arms trying to settle her, "I know it's not nice is it" Rachel had only recently had a wisdom tooth of her own cut through so she could completely understand why Lyla was grumpy. She turned to Shelby when her phone began to ring, "it's on the side in the kitchen can you get it please."
"It's Will" Shelby called as she picked up the phone.
"Let it go to voicemail" Rachel told her mother, "I'll call him back when Lyla's settled."
It took almost half an hour for Rachel to calm Lyla, but eventually she was able to hand her over to Shelby and call Will back. The phone call was brief, she told him he could pick Lyla up the next morning, Saturday, she warned him Lyla was teething but he told her he didn't mind, she checked with Shelby before agreeing that he could take Beth out too before ending the conversation as Lyla began screaming once again.
Rachel's day carried on in much the same way it had began, Lyla would scream for a while before she settled, only to begin screaming again less than an hour later. "Rachel baby" Leroy had been home from work for less than an hour and could already see how stressed Rachel was, "go upstairs, take a break, Shelby and I will watch Lyla for a while."
Rachel shook her head, "she won't settle, Shelby's been trying for most of the day, it seems she only wants me."
"I'll take her for a walk round the block, you need a break Rachel."
She knew better than to protest, Leroy had already got Lyla in her buggy, "Okay" she sighed, "will Daddy be home for dinner?"
Leroy shook his head, "he's going to be late home, it's someone's retirement party, he's gone out for a" the man made air quotes, "few drinks and a meal."
"Okay, I'll make a start on di. . ."
"No you wont" Leroy interrupted, "you'll sit down and order takeout for us all, and then you'll only move if you need to use the bathroom understand?"
"Yes Sir" Rachel mock saluted.
"Right" Leroy began to rock the buggy, I won't be long." True to his word Leroy returned almost 45 minutes later, right before the delivery from the Chinese takeout, "she's sleeping" he told Rachel, "I'll leave her here for a while."
"I think I'm going to try and get Lyla settled upstairs" Rachel told Leroy and Shelby after they'd eaten dinner and watched the news. She knew as she walked towards the buggy that something was wrong. "Lyla" she called as she tried to rouse the baby, "Lyla, wake up baby."
"Rachel?" Shelby and Leroy walked into the hallway, "is everything okay?"
"I can't wake her" Rachel's voice was frantic, "she feels a bit floppy too."
Leroy instantly reached for Lyla's tiny wrist, sighing in relief when he felt a strong pulse, he held his hand infront of her nose for a minute, "you need to get her to hospital" he told Rachel when he was sure Lyla's breathing was still steady, "she feels like she's burning up. Do you want Shelby to take you or would you like me to come?" he tried to stay calm.
"Mom" Rachel sobbed, "will you. . ."
"Of course" Shelby moved forward and lifted a blanket from the buggy before lying it over Lyla, "you're okay to watch Beth?" she asked Leroy.
Leroy nodded, "of course I am. Call me when you've seen the doctor" he passed Lyla's changing bag to Shelby and stood in the doorway watching as Shelby drove off into the distance. He waited until the car was out of sight before going back into the house and calling Hiram, "Shelby's taken Rachel and Lyla to the hospital" he told his husband, "Lyla's sick" he didn't go into details, he didn't need to, Hiram had already made his excuses and left the party.
Lyla seemed to come round in the car but Rachel knew something still wasn't right. She was out of the car almost before Shelby had stopped, "my baby's sick." She told the receptionist in the emergency room and almost right on cue Lyla's eye's rolled back into her head and she began to tremble violently in her mother's arms.
"Dr Wayne" the receptionist stood from her desk and called the first doctor that she saw, "this baby needs to be seen right now." The doctor ran over and took one look at Lyla before scooping her from Rachel's arms and racing down a corridor with her shouting orders at various nurses he passed. "He'll be taking her to the room on the left just before the double doors" the receptionist told Rachel kindly, "you can wait outside, she's in the best hands."
"What about the insurance forms?" Rachel asked, her voice shaky as she tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.
The receptionist smiled sympathetically, "we can sort them out later, I'll bring them over when you've had chance to speak to the doctor."
Shelby had to half carry Rachel to the plastic seats outside the room where a team of doctors were working on Lyla. "Will" Rachel sobbed, "can you call him, he should be here."
Shelby nodded, "I can't use my phone here, will you be okay while I go outside?"
Rachel nodded, "please, don't be long."
Shelby bent down to kiss Rachel's head, "I'll be as quick as I can baby."