Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

A/N: Continuing thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome! Again, this turned out longer than expected.

Enjoy.

Chapter 5: Talking Time

'Gone home to clean the house to put my Mom in a good mood. Keep your fingers crossed.' Rachel read as she tried to rub the sleep out of her left eye. She couldn't believe that she'd fallen asleep while Puck had been here; a hostess should always be prepared to serve her guests! And it wasn't as though the rest had made her feel any better either; her head pounded, her eyes were exceedingly heavy and her mind felt quite muddled.

She read through Puck's note again and chuckled. That boy was going to need all the luck in a leprechaun's pot of gold if he was hoping his mother wouldn't slap him into next year.

Rachel yawned and then stretched her arms high above her head before getting up to the look at the sleeping girl in the Moses basket. Rachel was not an overly maternal person and she had been completely honest when she'd told Noah that she found holding young babies uncomfortable. As a trained dancer she had good balance and poise so she knew it was unlikely that she would drop the baby but she couldn't help the nerves that settled in her stomach when she was required to hold her. Anyway, despite her lack of enthusiasm for everything baby related she couldn't deny, as she looked down at Quinn and Puck's daughter, that she was very cute. She had a few tufts of dark hair, a snub little nose and Rachel remembered her eyes being a deep greeny-brown when she'd sung to her earlier. She wondered if Puck had managed to think of a name for her yet.

She was startled from her staring at the baby by the sound of the front door opening. She turned and was surprised to see her Dads entering the room.

"Dad! Daddy! What are you doing back so early," she asked quietly, checking her watch; it wasn't even six o'clock yet.

"We thought you and Quinn –" her dark skinned Dad started saying before she shushed at him to be quiet.

"Pumpkin," her bespectacled Daddy started quietly, "why is there a Moses basket in the lounge? Where's Quinn?"

Rachel sighed. This was going to take a while to explain.

By the time his Mom had gotten in from work and picked up his sister from a friend's house on the way, Puck had managed to vacuum and dust the entire downstairs, clean the bathroom and make the kitchen immaculate. In the remaining minutes he'd had left he'd kicked some butt on Call of Duty to get him masculinity back in gear.

When she'd seen what he'd done his Mom looked at him in a way she hadn't done very much recently – proudly. "You can be a good boy when you want to, Noah," she told him, reaching up to give him a kiss on the cheek. He allowed her to, considering that she was likely to use a different part of her body to make contact with his cheek in a couple of hours; namely her fist.

He really hadn't thought about his Mom's reaction to all of this when he'd decided to raise his daughter. Don't get him wrong; if he had considered his Mom's feelings he wouldn't have changed his mind about bringing her up, but he might've asked the hospital to keep her there for a little bit longer, till he'd figured things out better. He'd just wanted to get her away from the hospital before some adoption person came and took her away. He knew it was like impossible for that to happen but he wanted to claim her as his own as early as possible.

His sister distracted him from his thoughts as she entered into the room singing some teen-pop crap severely out of tune (not that he knew the tune… He did not listen to Demi whats-her-name through choice, but bullying from his sister). Ever since she and his mother (against his most desperate wishes) had travelled to see him perform at Regionals a couple of weeks back she had not shut up. She'd cried when they'd placed second because she was so convinced that they were the best. He'd called her a silly idiot and she'd cried even more.

"Jem, seriously, remember that deal we had about your singing?" he asked her in a slightly gruffer voice than she deserved.

Jemima paused her 'singing' and gave him a nasty look. "You mean the one where if I don't sing, you don't hide my toys?" she replied.

"Yeah, that one."

"What about it?"

"Well, unless you want your favourite Barbie doll buried in the yard somewhere, I suggest you stop your terrible attempt at singing."

"Mom says she won't let you, so you're just gonna have to block your ears." Jemima grinned at him and then resumed her singing in a much louder voice.

Damn. He'd been outsmarted by a fucking eight-year old. He left his crazy sister and went to offer his mother some help in the kitchen.

"I'm fine, thank you, Noah," she said, a little shocked at this sudden change in attitude. "Did you have a good time at Finn's last night?"

He tried not to wince at the lie he'd told her to explain why he'd been out all night when he'd really been waiting for the birth of his daughter.

"Uh, yeah, it was cool."

She smiled at him, "That's good, sweetheart." She didn't know that he and Finn were no longer best friends since the paternity of Quinn's baby had been revealed. He missed his best friend a lot and yes, he knew that sounded as though he'd grown a vagina. He was also aware that he deserved to loose Finn's friendship after sleeping with his girlfriend. He regretted his actions of that night nine months ago but he couldn't regret the outcome because then he wouldn't have his daughter.

"Why don't you watch some TV while you wait for dinner?" she suggested and he shrugged his shoulders. He had nothing better to do until after dinner when he was going to change their lives forever.

He settled on the couch and flicked through the channels while keeping an eye on the clock. He wasn't sure whether he wanted time to speed up or slow down. While he was dreading actually telling his Mom, he also couldn't wait for it to be done out of the way so he could see his daughter again.

Said daughter was still sleeping peacefully in Rachel's lounge while she explained about Quinn's leaving and Puck's decision to keep the baby. She left out the part about borrowing baby items from school; her Dads probably wouldn't approve of that bit.

"So he should be here in a couple of hours to pick her up and take her home," she finished quietly. Her Dads had been silent throughout her retelling and she wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing.

"So, Quinn's really gone?" Dad asked and Rachel nodded.

"I haven't seen or spoken to her since she left the hospital; by the time Noah and I arrived back here, all her stuff was gone." She reached for her phone. "I should really ring or text her to make sure she's ok."

"Hold on, sweetie," her Daddy reached out a hand to stop her and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Let me get this straight, you threatened to take the baby away from this boy?"

Rachel sensed a disapproving quality to her Daddy's voice. "Yes, but only because I felt that it would be the best outcome for both the baby and Noah. He's too young to bring up a baby by himself and she'd have a much better life with her adoptive parents. I was being cruel to be kind."

"Peanut, it's not really your place to decide whether this boy can look after his daughter." Her Dad pointed out, gently.

"But it's through my actions that this situation has come about. I can't help but feel responsible for what happens to her. What if I've ruined both of their lives?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"I think you're over-reacting a little bit, sweetheart," her Daddy said, placing an arm around her shoulders. "We know that you did what you did because you care about the two of them but the truth is that you're not going to see whether this young man will be a good father in two weeks; it takes years to figure how to become a parent and even then you're still learning. This boy is going to have to grow up an awful lot, very quickly."

"He definitely needs to," she grumbled. "a lot."

"I think you just need to back up a little bit," her Dad supplied. "Taking care of a baby is hard work – we found it hard enough and there were two of us. If he's got any chance of seeing this through then he needs someone to believe in him. But, if this does turn out to be too much for him to handle then let him decide for himself, don't push him into it."

Rachel bit her lip and nodded. She wasn't totally convinced of their argument; she knew how stubborn Puck could be and maybe he wouldn't want to admit that he was struggling. She'd back off a little, or at least make him think that she had.

Puck waited until his mother was seated comfortably on the couch before he turned his body towards her, his heart pounding and his palms sweaty.

"Mom," he said quietly and then cleared his throat to try and again. "Mom, I need to talk to you about something."

She looked over and frowned at him, concerned. "What is it, Noah?"

"You remember at Regionals, one of the girls was pregnant?" he asked.

She thought for a moment then nodded. "Yes dear, the poor girl was nearly due from what I could see."

"Yeah, well, she had the baby this morning."

His mother smiled. "Oh, how lovely! Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl."

She nodded, still smiling. "And both mother and baby are well?"

"As far I know," he bit out, feeling his heart beating even faster.

"Poor girl, having a child so young." His Mom shook her head sadly and Puck took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was time to man up.

"Mom, the baby's mine." He said quickly, possibly a little too quickly. She was staring at him, her expression blank, just staring. It was starting to majorly freak him out.

"What did you just say?" she whispered. Puck's mouth had suddenly gone dry and he didn't think he could say it again.

"I'm the father of the baby," he rasped. He looked down, not wanting to meet his mother's gaze.

"You…you're…you've got," his Mom stuttered and then she stood up quickly. He looked up to see her standing over him with a pained expression on her face and he winced. "Oh, Noah," she moaned and then walked quickly out of the room.

"Mom, wait!" he called, hurrying after her into the kitchen. She started rooting through one of the cupboards and Puck blanched. "Mom, don't," he breathed as she withdrew a bottle of whiskey. He grabbed the bottle and wrenched it out of her hands. "Don't," he repeated.

His mother burst into tears and slid down to the kitchen floor. Puck placed the bottle on the side before sinking down next to her. "You idiot," she sobbed and tried to push him away from her.

"Mom, I'm sorry." He muttered. He hated seeing his mother cry, especially when he was the cause of her tears. "I would've told you before but I didn't want to hurt you. Quinn wanted to give the baby up for adoption and I thought it was better if you didn't know."

She stopped crying long enough to say thickly, "You didn't want to take responsibility for your actions, is that it?"

"No, Mom –" he tried to say but was cut off.

"You're just like your father," she whispered and he felt as though she'd stabbed him in the gut.

"I'm nothing like him," Puck spat, trying to keep a hold of his anger. "I told her I'd take care of her – take care of them both, but she didn't want anything to do with me, I swear."

She made a derisive sound.

He grabbed her hand and made sure she looked at him. "Mom, I swear on Jem's life, that I did all I could to help Quinn. I paid for a load of her bills and went on craving runs when she needed them."

His mother sniffed loudly and looked away, taking her hand with her. "So why tell me now, huh? You said it'd be better if I didn't know.

"Quinn left the baby at the hospital. I'm taking responsibility for her, Mom. I'm gonna bring her up on my own."

His mother sucked in a huge breath and looked at him with wide eyes. "You what?" she gasped.

"I'm not going to sign the adoption papers. I'm going to take care of her."

Another uncomfortable pause.

"Oh, Noah, you're a bigger idiot than I thought," she hissed, pushing herself away from him.

Puck gazed at her, puzzled. "But you were just angry at me when you thought I wasn't being responsible. Now you're annoyed that I am? That doesn't make sense!" he cried. Why did women have to be so fucking confusing?

"You think the responsible thing is to try and raise a baby on your own with no income?" she nearly yelled. "Noah, you can't possibly provide for this baby and maintain attendance at school. There's not a lot I can do to help; I can barely support you and Jemima as it is and that's only because I'm working all the time."

She took a few breaths to try and calm herself while he sat in stony silence. "Things would be different if the two of you were raising her together; there'd be less of a burden on you…" She gazed at him and placed a hand on his cheek. He flinched but didn't push her away. "Sweetheart, you…we can't do this. That little girl is better off being adopted."

He tensed. His own mother didn't believe he could do this. Was he that much of a screw up? He shuddered as he thought of his own father. That douche had abandoned him and Jem, and Puck would never forgive him for it. How could he do the same thing to his own child?

"You're wrong," he said firmly, taking himself away from her.

"Noah," she began but he cut her off.

"No! Look, I know you think that I'm just some dumb kid that's screwed up but I'm not a kid anymore, Mom. I know that this is going to be the hardest thing – "

"No, you don't know! You have no idea how hard this is. Everyday you're going to wake up tired, you'll have to think about what you're going to have to go without this month, think about how you're going to make basic food last for a week. You're going to have to say no when your child wants a new toy and you won't be able to let them go to parties because you can't afford to get the other kid a present!

"I know, Noah because that was me. When your Dad left after Jem was born I went through the same thing. I was lucky because I had you to help me out."

"But I've got you and Jem, haven't I?" he asked, hopefully. "Mom, I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't think I could do it."

"Noah," his mother's voice was quiet and very close to breaking. The tears poured down her cheeks. "I'm not asking you to do this for me, for Jem, or for you. I'm asking you to do this for your daughter."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"No."

His mother started sobbing again and he winced. "Mom, just let me bring her home. Let me show her to you. You'll understand…"

"You think I can really go to the hospital right now?" she choked at him through her sobs.

"She's not in the hospital." He said, simply.

Her head snapped up to look at him and she stopped crying. "Where is she?"

"A friend's looking after her."

"Finn?"

"No, not Finn. Someone else from Glee; a girl. She's clever and stuff." There was an awkward pause so he decided to push on. "It'll only take a few minutes to bring her over."

"Noah, I don't think now's the best time," his mother mumbled, not meeting his eyes. "I'm not ready, this has all been a bit of a shock."

"I know, Mom. I'm sorry. What about tomorrow morning? I can bring her over and we can really talk things through, you know, after it's sunk in."

She looked at him, her hand covering her mouth. Whether or not that was to stop her from saying something she might regret, he wasn't sure. "I'll try." She whispered.

"I'd better go and ask Berry if she can keep the baby at hers overnight." He said and his mother nodded.

He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. He took a step back but she reached out and held him tightly to her. He was a little stunned at first because she hadn't held him like that in years, mostly because he hadn't wanted her to. A couple of seconds later he relaxed and hugged her back. It was comforting to have her hold him like that and he wasn't afraid to admit it (at least not in his head) because he'd had a shit day and needed a little cheering up.

They let go of each other and she stroked his cheek. "I'll be back a bit later," he said softly and left to go plead his case to Berry.

"How'd it go?" she asked, as she opened the door.

"Y'know, most people start with a simple, hello," he said as he walked into her house.

"Yes, hello, then." She said, irritably. "How did your mother take the news?"

He waited until he'd checked that his daughter was sleeping peacefully before he turned around to face her.

"Not great," he admitted. "She kind of freaked out and told me to go through with the adoption."

He saw her face battle with different emotions and was glad that she managed to end up expressing sympathy rather than smugness. "I'm sorry, Noah." She said.

"No, you're not," he shot back at her, but then shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be rude to her. "But it doesn't matter. I'm not going to listen to her; I'm keeping my daughter."

"Oh," Berry said, her brows creasing. "Ok. Well, did you want me to help you pack everything into the truck?"

"Ah, actually, Berry, I need to ask a favour of you." He wasn't sure why asking her for help didn't seem like as much of a big deal as it did a few hours ago.

She shrugged. "Sure."

"Is it ok if you look after her tonight? My Mom isn't really up to seeing her yet and there's not really anywhere else for her to go."

"Um, let me just go and ask my Dads," she said and disappeared to another part of the house. He turned back to his daughter and just watched her sleep for a couple of minutes.

He turned around when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Berry was back with her two Dads in tow. Ok, so this wasn't going to be awkward.

"Noah, these are my Dads, Leroy," the tall dark skinned man stepped forward to shake Puck's hand, "and Hiram Berry." The shorter bespectacled man grasped his hand next.

"It's nice to meet you Mr and Mr Berry," he said, trying to ignore how weird that sounded

"You too, son," Leroy said. "But call us Leroy and Hiram – the Mr Berry thing gets a little confusing when there are two of us."

Puck nodded.

"My Dads say it's ok for her to stay," Berry informed him and he relaxed slightly.

"Oh, thanks," he said. "That'll really be helping me out."

"You're more than welcome to stay over as well," Hiram said. "I know it's going to be hard to leave her so soon."

Puck glanced over his shoulder at his daughter. On the one hand, it would be decidedly creepy to stay over at Berry's house. Not because of her gay Dads, but more to do with staying in the same house as Rachel. He knew he could trust Rachel to look after his daughter but her second Dad was right. He didn't want to leave her.

"Are you sure that's ok?" he asked and all three Berry's nodded.

"Of course, Noah. We can move her into the guest bedroom if you like?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great." He agreed. "I just need to let my Mom know."

"Ok, no problem. We can move her upstairs," Berry Dad number one said and her two Dads carefully carried the Moses basket and the rocker upstairs.

"Thanks, Berry." He said to her and she gave him one of those ridiculously big smiles.

"I'm glad to help, Noah."

"You're a good friend." He was acting like a girl and he knew it. But Berry had helped him an awful lot that day.

"I thought you said we weren't friends?" The hopefulness in her voice was really quite sickening.

"Yeah, well, just shut up before I change my mind."

A/N: Quite an angsty/dramatic chapter. Believe me, I totally prefer writing more fun ones but the problem with doing a semi-serious story is that you've got to include the serious bits.

Anyho, the names for Rachel's Dads were stolen from Wikipedia. Such is the case with Wikipedia, I don't actually know if they're right.

Ok, question time! You guys know that it's your favourite part of my update. What question about American culture is she going to ask next???? I'd just like to know when school breaks up for summer. Over here it's about mid-July but I don't know if it's earlier/later/the same in the US.

Next chapter hopefully won't be quite as serious as this one and if everything goes according to plan you should get the baby name! I just hope you like it!!!

So feel free to review (pretty please!).

Lot of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

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