Seven Years Later
"I still don't see why you're doing his show," Puck muttered, walking into the studio, hand in hand with Rachel.
"Because Jesse is my oldest friend and he's the only reason I'm out here. Without him, I don't know where I'd be," she said. "So be nice."
"I will if he is," Puck mumbled under his breath, earning a glare from Rachel.
"Look, I have to promote my movie. Jesse has one of the most popular talk shows on TV right now, plus he's a friend. So stop this stupid male jealously thing you have going on before I send you home."
"Fine, fine, I'm shutting up now," Puck said, dragging an invisible zipper across his lips. Rachel smiled, standing on her toes and kissing him once.
Puck smiled down at her, putting an arm around her shoulders as he walked her towards backstage so she could get ready for the show. He left her, promising he'd be in the audience watching the whole time.
Rachel walked back alone, taking a seat in makeup and hair, staying quiet. It had been a good seven years in LA. Puck had been at school for one year before he transferred to UCLA, unable to be that far from Rachel.
The movie about the plane crash turned out to be a huge hit. Rachel even ended up with an Oscar nomination, but not a win. After that, she had offers from every studio to do movies for them, putting her New York dreams on hold. She still hadn't left the west coast, but she was planning to soon—she'd just been cast in a revival of Funny Girl that was set to open in six months on Broadway. Her dreams were finally coming true.
"Finally she's here!" Rachel looked up, seeing Jesse strolling over to her with a smirk on his face. "Better late than never," he teased.
"I was five minutes late, Jesse," she laughed, aiming a kick in his general direction.
"It's good to see you, Rach. You've been so busy with that damn movie that we've barely even talked."
Rachel smiled at him, patting his hand. "I know, I know. But I finally have some time off. Maxwell doesn't start shooting for another few months, and The Valley of the Daisies has been put on hold for the time being."
"Then we're doing lunch next week. I need to hear what's going on in your life."
Rachel bit her lip, looking up at him. "I have a favor."
"A favor?" he asked. "I'm intrigued. Ask away, my dear."
"You know I can't lie for shit, right?"
"Not only do I know, I exploit it," he teased. "I'm not sure where this is turning into a favor, however. If you committed a murder, I refuse to lie to the cops for you."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't commit a murder. I just need you not to ask personal questions, especially those concerning about potential living things in my abdominal area."
Jesse seemed confused for a moment before it hit him. He looked at Rachel, then her stomach, then back at her face. "You're knocked up."
Rachel's face went red as she nodded. "I found out last week."
"Rachel, this is big news! You have to break the news on my show today! Tell me ev—"
"Noah doesn't know yet."
"And why not? Is he not the fa—"
"Jesse, of course he's the father. He's the only guy I've ever slept with. I'm not cheating on him."
"Well, were you two trying to get pregnant?"
"Of course not. We're not even engaged, let along married. We've never talked about kids or anything like that."
"So what are you going to do?"
I don't know," she admitted. "This is just too much to take in. I don't know if he's even going to want this baby. He'll probably break up with me as soon as he finds out."
Jesse sighed, taking a seat beside Rachel. "No, he won't. Puck loves you more than anything else in the world."
"How would you know that?" she asked, running her fingers through her hair.
"Because when you were here and he was in San Francisco that first year, he called almost every day to make sure you were okay. He cares about you more than anything, and he'll care about that baby in your stomach too." Jesse leaned over, kissing Rachel's forehead. "You need to relax about this. It's all going to work out okay."
Rachel nodded her head, watching him walk away. She hoped he was right.
"…I'd like to introduce my next guest. You all know her as the star of Into Your Arms, the movie about the worst time of her life. My good friend, Miss Rachel Berry!"
Puck grinned, leaping to his feet and applauding as Rachel walked out onto the stage. She looked as beautiful as she always did, dressed in the blue dress he had picked out for her that morning.
Rachel smiled, giving Jesse a hug before sitting down in the chair next to his. "So you decided to come back," he teased.
Rachel laughed, crossing her legs. "Only because you blackmailed me."
"You look good, especially taking into account that you were late getting here. Hair and makeup must have really been working overtime." That earned a laugh from the audience.
"I was five minutes late, and that was only because Noah hated the first dress I put on. He was okay with it until he found out it was your show we were going on. Then he tried to force me into a parka." Another round of laughs.
"Ah, well I suppose I can't blame him for that. Though for future references, parkas are a major turn on for me," he joked as Rachel laughed.
"You never told me if you're coming or not," she said, leaning in a little closer to Jesse.
"Coming to what?" he asked.
"Noah and I are having a barbeque on Sunday. I need to know if you're coming or not so I make sure we have enough food. You eat as much as three grown men do," she teased.
"Do not, I eat enough for two. And anyways, you never sent me an invitation."
"Yes, I did. I sent you an e-vite."
"What the hell is an e-vite?" he asked, giving her an odd look.
"An email invitation. You just click yes or no. It's so much easier than sending out actual invitations."
"Well, I still didn't get it."
Rachel let out a sigh and rolled her eyes to everyone's amusement. "Well, then this is me inviting you now. Jesse St. James, will you please come to my house on Sunday for Noah and mine's barbeque?" she asked.
Jesse laughed and nodded his head. "Of course I will. Am I allowed to bring Dianna or is it a no-date kind of thing?"
"No, you can bring her. Are you actually going to show up this time?"
"Of cour—why wouldn't I show up?"
"Well, when Noah and I invited you to dinner two weeks ago, you said you'd come and then didn't show up. Do you know how much extra food we had?" she laughed.
"Fair enough," he conceded. "Though I thought you were on here to talk about your new movie, not harass me about going to barbeques and not showing up for dinners?" he teased.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So I'm in this new movie called We Own the Night. It's about this girl named Charlie—played by me—who drops out of college right before her senior year and goes on a journey across the country with her best friend. It was a lot of fun to make, actually. Lindsay Pulsipher plays Sara, my friend."
"And what was working with her like?"
"Oh, it was a ton of fun. She's the nicest girl I've ever met, actually. We always tried to get the other one to mess up while filming, though. That was fun."
"So, what's up next for the talented Rachel Berry?"
"I have a movie that starts shooting in a few months, and next year I'm headed to New York!" she said, letting out an excited squeak.
"New York?" Jesse asked.
"Yes. They're reviving Funny Girl and they've asked me to play the lead!"
"Oh, Rach, that's so exciting! Congratulations. What about Noah—how does he feel about the move across the country?"
Rachel looked over at him and smiled, giving him a wink. "He's okay with it. We talked things over and he agreed to follow me so I could pursue my dreams. He's the best."
"So, any wedding bells in the future for you two?"
Rachel blushed, laughing quietly. "As my dad always said: if it's not broke, don't try and fix it. We've been together for eight years and that seems to work out great for us. I don't see the need to get married anytime soon." She placed her hands on her stomach, feeling butterflies.
The truth was, she wanted to get married. She was going to have a baby, an actual baby. She wanted to be married to Noah before she brought a child into the world. He, however, had made himself clear when they were younger—no marriage.
Jesse showed a trailer of Rachel's new movie before giving her a hug goodbye. She waved to the audience, heading back stage.
Puck was there waiting for her, her coat in his hands. "Let's get out of here."
Rachel nodded, taking his hand and walking outside the studio. The two of them were greeted by flashing cameras. Rachel stepped closer to Puck as he tried to clear the paparazzi away from them.
It was getting close to dinner, so Puck led them towards the car that was waiting for them, telling the driver the restaurant they were planning on eating at.
Puck took her hand when they arrived, leading Rachel inside the restaurant. He gave the host their name and the two were led to their table, one all the way in the back, away from prying eyes.
Puck kissed Rachel's cheek, telling her he'd be right back. Rachel nodded, watching him disappear towards the bathroom.
She bit her lip, placing her hands on her stomach. There was a baby in there, an actual baby. The doctor said she was close to three months along, though she had just found out she was pregnant. She knew this would affect her New York plans, but she supposed she could get the producers to try and postpone the show by a bit. If not…well, there were always other shows.
Puck stood by the front, watching Rachel at the table. He smiled as she watched her stomach.
Of course he knew she was pregnant. He knew her body better than the back of the hand. Her breasts were slightly bigger, her stomach a bit more round. When he first realized it, he started freaking out. Rachel was pregnant with his child. He'd been through this once before, he wasn't sure if he wanted to do it again.
But that was high school with his best friend's girl. He was older now, and the mother this time was the girl he had fallen head over heels for. Of course, they weren't married, but who cared.
His mom, that's who. She'd be furious when she found out he knocked Rachel up without marrying her first.
So he started looking for rings online when he was supposed to be working. It didn't matter—he was the boss. He could do anything he wanted.
Finally, he found the perfect one, the one he knew Rachel would love. So he bought it. And he was going to ask her to marry him.
Tonight.
Puck reached into his pocket, grabbing the small velvet box. He wasn't sure if he was ready to make this leap, to actually marry someone.
But then he looked at Rachel, cradling her flat stomach in her arms, beaming at it. He knew he was making the right decision then.
Smiling, he walked over to the table, smiling at Rachel as he did so, ready to finally take the biggest step of his life.
AN: Oh, I'm so sad it's over I hope you all enjoyed this story. I loved writing it so much. It was such a silly little idea, I never thought people would like it as much as they did.
I'm planning on writing another multi-chapter story—I already have the idea in my head, I just have to put it down on paper. It's going to be a future-fic, Puckleberry, of course!
I also posted a little one-shot today that if anyone's interested in reading it.
I want to take this time to thank all my readers who stuck with this story from the beginning. You're what kept me writing this story. I love you all.