Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.
Hi, everyone. I know it's been forever since my last update. The problem is that I'm just SO busy at the moment because I'm on a work placement. I really don't have much free time at the moment which majorly sucks. The only reason I could get this chapter out was because I had days of because of bank holiday and polling day (and what a waste of time that was).
Thanks to all those who wished me a pleasant holiday in Rome – I had a lovely time and managed to avoid all that travel chaos. I wrote a one-shot as a present to you all so if you want to read it just check on my bio page.
Also, thanks to those that reviewed, alerted and favourited this story. Love and cookies go your way!
Chapter 11: Babywatch and Bromance
"Papa Bear, this is Elphaba, do you read me?" Rachel stared at the walkie-talkie in her hand, waiting for a response. "Repeat. Papa Bear, this Elphaba do you read me?"
"Plaid Skirt, those aren't the names that we decided on." Noah's irritated voice crackled through the small device.
"Actually Papa Bear we never decided on any names because we couldn't agree."
"Will you quit calling me that; I ain't no fucking Papa Bear! And anyway, I don't see what was so bad with Pucktimus Prime." He grumbled.
"As endearing as it is that you seem to have an attachment to a childhood toy, having 'Puck' in your codename rather ruins the point of having a codename in the first place. We're supposed to be being inconspicuous."
"Okay, first of all, I only have an attachment to Megan Fox's smokin' bod – none of this childhood toy crap. Secondly, although the walkie-talkies are pretty badass they totally don't work as far as being inconspicuous goes. Nobody has walkie-talkies anymore, Berry. The teachers are gonna know something's up as soon as they see you with one. Just call me on your fucking cell before someone actually notices what the fuck you're holding and this whole thing is over before it's even started."
Rachel sighed. She knew he was probably right, even though the walkie-talkie's seemed more fitting for their current activity. But in order for them to fit in and not bring attention to themselves then they'd have to be on their cell's just like everyone else in the school.
"Fine." She muttered. "Elphaba out."
She switched off the device and stowed it away just in time because Coach Sylvester rounded the corner of the corridor a second later. Rachel had it from a reliable source that the Cheerios coach had once been part of the Special Forces and if Rachel was worried of anyone finding out about them sneaking Evie into the school, then it was Sue Sylvester. Rachel tried not to shudder as she thought of what the repercussions might be if the worst should happen but the elder woman strode past in her navy blue tracksuit and Rachel let out a sigh of relief that she'd been left unmolested.
She took out her phone and quickly rang Noah while making her way towards the rear-left entrance to the school.
"So, are we allowed to use each other's real names now, or what?" Noah asked.
"You know, most people use some form of greeting when they answer a call."
"Berry, I just spoke to you like ten seconds ago. The caller ID told me it was you calling. Why would I have to say hi to you?"
"It's just polite, Noah, and in answer to your question I believe it's acceptable for us to use each other's names now. I think we have successfully blended in with the rest of the high school population now that we're using the cell phones. There's no cause for anyone to be suspicious."
"Er, I'm standing at the back door with a baby in a car seat. How many other people have you seen doing that today?"
"So you're here then? Good." Rachel trilled, ignoring his question. "I'll be with you in a couple of minutes. You'll be pleased to know that the halls are pretty empty. I think our plan for Matt to start a food fight in the middle of the cafeteria has successfully distracted the majority of pupils and staff at the school."
"As totally not awesome as it is that I have to miss a food fight, can you hurry the fuck up cos I think Evie's gonna wake up any minute and she'll probably wail the fucking school down before we even get this door open."
"Noah, don't worry, things will be absolutely fine, you'll see." Rachel hoped that her voice was convincing him because she hadn't exactly convinced herself. It was only now that they were actually going through with 'Babywatch' that she had a horrible feeling that this wasn't going to work.
"Well, let's hope so, Berry, otherwise we're going to be in a fucking load of shit."
"What a lovely visual, Noah, thank you."
"S'okay, B. I know you love it when I talk dirty to you."
Rachel made an exasperated noise at the back of her throat. She did not like it when he made obscene comments and swore in front of Evie, but she knew better than to try and tell Noah how to act in front of his child (she did know, honestly, but sometimes it was difficult to stop from giving him…advice.). However, in the two and a half days that they had been fighting she had found that she'd missed his company. A lot. Although he purposefully said comments that he knew would annoy her and he'd moan about everything under the sun, he would also make her laugh and she felt inexplicably comfortable in his presence. It truly did not make sense that in just over two weeks the boy who used to throw slushie's in her face was now such an important part of her life.
"I'm hanging up on you now, Noah. I'll see you in approximately ten seconds."
Eleven seconds later Rachel arrived at the rear-left entrance. They'd chosen this door because it was really just a glorified fire exit. It led to a small fenced in area and you had to squeeze a path between the edge of the building and the fence in order to get back to the car lot.
Noah nodded at her when he saw her and once she'd checked that the hallway was empty she unlocked the door using her key from the failed 'Cabaret' production.
"Has anybody seen you?" Rachel asked him.
"Nope."
"Are you sure?" she asked nervously.
"For fuck's sake, Berry! I parked like the furthest away from the school I could get and then I skirted around the edges of the lot to make my way here. If someone saw me, then someone saw me. There's not a lot we can do about it now."
Rachel bit her lip and nodded. She was supposed to be the confident one – this was her plan after all.
Noah carried the sleeping Evie over to the canteen trolley she'd spent the last few minutes manoeuvring over to this entrance.
The trolley had two levels and a large purple cloth lay on the top shelf, its sides reaching down to the floor, thus completely shielding the lower part. A number of musical instruments rested on top of the cloth and the plan was to place Evie on the lower shelf so she'd be hidden from view. Hopefully, it would just look like herself and Noah would be delivering the instruments to the music room. It was a simple plan and hopefully it would be an effective one too.
Rachel glanced at Evie and saw that the little girl was still sleeping soundly. As long as she stayed that way then everything should work.
"We'd better hurry," Rachel said. "The teachers will be trying to restore order in the cafeteria now and soon everyone will be rushing to change out of their soiled clothes."
"Sure," he replied, brushing the cloth away to place Evie's car seat on the shelf. "Now, be a good girl for your dad and stay schtum." He whispered before letting the cloth fall back into place. "Let's get this shit over with then."
Rachel let Noah push the trolley and she fell into place next to him. They walked in silence for a minute, both anxious that they not draw attention to themselves.
"Did you have a productive morning?" Rachel enquired, trying to act like her normal self.
"I finally finished that chapter on trig," he replied keeping a firm grip on the trolley, "but I don't know if I got all the questions right."
"We can go over them tonight, if you…" she began but instantly fell silent as another student walked in their direction down the hall.
"Fucking hell, Berry, just relax," Noah hissed at her, which she thought was rich coming from him because he was gripping the handle of the trolley so hard she thought he might snap it.
Rachel held her breath until the guy had passed them by. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"You're supposed to be an actress, Berry, so fucking prove it. People are going to know that something's up if you go silent whenever anyone goes near you because you're normally talking for fucking Ohio." He snapped at her.
Rachel knew that his harsh tone was due to his nervousness but that didn't stop the sting she felt at his words. She was a brilliant actress, actually, and if it was a talking Rachel Berry that Noah wanted, then it was a talking Rachel Berry that he was going to get…
"Did you know that in 2006 the 1952 musical, Singin' in the Rain, was voted the #1 movie musical in American film history by the American Film Institute? I'm not sure that I agree with their decision as there are a few other musical motion pictures that I would place above it, but it's still an absolute classic. During the filming of the title sequence Gene Kelly had a 103-degree fever and the director wanted to send him home but Gene Kelly wouldn't hear of it. He eventually convinced the director that the huge preparations into prepping the scene would be wasted, and to allow at least one take. That's all it took - one take - and Kelly went home to recuperate. The rain in the scene was actually water mixed with milk so that the cameras would pick it up and it caused Gene Kelly's wool suit to shrink. But he wasn't the only one to suffer during the making of the film; Debbie Reynolds had to be carried to her dressing room after shooting 'Good Morning' because she had burst some blood vessels in her feet from all the dancing and Gene Kelly insulted her dancing at some point, which I think was very rude, and apparently Fred Astaire found her crying underneath a piano on the set somewhere and gave her a hand with her dancing. And after his demanding performance in 'Make 'Em Laugh' Donald O'Conner had to go to bed for a week to recuperate from exhaustion and carpet burns but somehow the footage got damaged and, because he was such a professional, he agreed to do the difficult number all over again." She let out an impressed sigh and glanced over at Noah, expecting to see an annoyed or frustrated look on his face like he (and most others) normally used when she started sharing her knowledge of musical trivia.
He was staring ahead somewhat blankly but he said, "That running-up-the-wall-flip thing was kind of awesome."
Rachel stared at him. Not only had Noah not got angry at her for talking a lot but he'd actually listened to what she'd said…about musicals! He seemed to notice that she wasn't talking again and saw her staring at him.
"What?" he asked, defensively. "My mom fucking loves that film, okay?"
She was prevented from making a response as a voice called out Noah's name. They both turned to see a pretty brunette Cheerio walking down the corridor towards them. Rachel didn't really know who she was; she tried to keep away from the Cheerios.
"Puck, I thought I heard someone say that you were supposed to be back at school today. I've missed you." The brunette pouted in what Rachel thought was quite a pathetic way. The other girl was completely ignoring her which Rachel found mildly insulting.
"Uh, yeah. I start classes again this afternoon." Noah replied.
Rachel really wasn't sure what to do. She had forgotten that she and Noah had only ever appeared around school together when they had been going out. Ever since then they had pretty much ignored each other in the corridors of McKinley. She knew that he valued his reputation at school, particularly with the female population. It was perfectly obvious to her why this Cheerio had approached him and as far as Rachel knew he wasn't seeing anyone at the moment. Would Noah want her to go away so that he could arrange some sort of date (although she doubted that dating would be what they would actually do) with this girl? She probably would have left if it weren't for the fact that Evie was hidden mere inches from where she was standing.
"So you'll still be in my history class then?" the Cheerio asked, grinning at him.
"Well, I have history fifth period, is that the same for you?" Noah asked and Rachel nearly laughed that he obviously couldn't remember whether this Cheerio was in his class or not.
The girl's demeanour shifted and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I've been in your class since the beginning of the year, remember?"
Rachel found Noah's blank expression quite amusing and had to hide her smile behind a hand but the action attracted the Cheerio's attention.
"Can we help you, nose-job?" the brunette asked in a scathing tone.
"Actually, Berry and I were just taking this stuff to the choir room." Noah said coldly before Rachel could respond. "And we've gotta get going."
The Cheerio raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. "Whatever. I'll see you in history, Puck."
"Yeah, maybe, um…" Rachel saw Noah's forehead crease as he tried to remember the girl's name.
"Kelly," the girl seethed, balling her hands into fists at her sides.
"Whatever," Noah mumbled and started pushing the trolley again. Rachel glanced at the girl once more and would have felt sorry for Kelly if the Cheerio hadn't just ignored her before insulting her nose.
"You didn't have to blow her off," Rachel told him after a few moments of silence. "I could have gotten Evie to the choir room on my own."
"S'okay, Berry. She seemed like a bit of a bitch anyway."
"Since when do you care?" Rachel asked before she could stop herself. She'd been thinking of Santana and Quinn (although Quinn hadn't been so bad recently). "I'm sorry," she said, quickly. "It's none of my business who you date."
Noah chuckled. "That's true. But, I dunno, I'm just so fucking busy at the moment that I can't be bothered to put up with a bitchy girl. They're too much hassle."
They'd managed to reach the choir room without anyone discovering Evie and they both visibly relaxed as they shut the door behind them.
"Let me show you the room we picked," Rachel said and Noah pushed the trolley over to the door she was heaving open. It was dark inside the small room so he flipped the switch to turn the lights on. She heard him gasp and failed to suppress the grin on her face.
She, Mike and Matt had managed to covertly smuggle some more of the baby stuff from the props room into Evie's new hiding place. There was a cot, a baby bouncer, a mobile and supplies such as diapers and a few changes of clothes. The walls had been bare before so they'd pinned up posters of puppies, Winnie-the-Pooh and other cute things to make it feel more homely.
"This is fucking sweet," Noah said and Rachel felt her grin widen. "I can't believe you got the room ready like this. But if someone walks in when we're not here then they're going to know something's up."
Rachel pulled a key from her pocket. "We changed the lock on the door. Obviously we're not going to lock anyone in when they're looking after Evie because that's ridiculously dangerous, but nobody else will be able to get in here when we're not babysitting Evie and we already know how highly unlikely it is that someone will want to come in when we are watching over her."
Noah laughed and he pulled her against his side in a one armed hug. "You're a fucking nutjob," he said, but in such an affectionate tone that she really didn't mind that the words themselves were somewhat insulting.
A snuffling sound came from the trolley and Rachel leant down to retrieve Evie's car seat from behind the purple cloth. Evie hadn't woken up yet so Rachel carried her carefully into the room.
"Finn should be here soon," Rachel said as she placed the car seat onto the floor. She felt herself blush as she recalled the last time that she, Noah and Finn had all been in the same room.
Things with Finn had been somewhat frustrating since Thursday evening. He'd sent her small smiles all throughout Friday but he hadn't actually talked to her. Nor had he contacted her all weekend. She was more than a little confused about what he felt for her; what he wanted them to be.
She wanted to be his girlfriend and she'd made no secret of that but did he want to be her boyfriend?
And, just as though her thoughts had summoned him, Finn walked into the room.
"Hey," he said in greeting. "You managed to get her in all right then?"
"Yes, everything went according to plan." Rachel replied. "Evie has been asleep the entire time. How did the food fight go?"
"It was pretty epic. Nearly everyone got covered in food. I had to watch through the door though cos I didn't want to show up here with a load of sauce on my face."
They spent the next few minutes reassuring Finn that he knew what he was doing and that he could text she or Noah if he had any questions.
The bell rang to signal the start of the afternoon lessons and Rachel and Noah gently kissed Evie goodbye on the forehead.
Rachel placed and hand on Finn's arm and squeezed it reassuringly. "You'll do brilliantly, Finn, don't worry."
He sent her a grateful smile and she and Noah shut the door behind them. Operation Babywatch was officially underway.
Puck had survived fifth period history (with that Kelly girl glaring at him the entire time. It wasn't his fault that he didn't remember her and then the stupid bitch had made it worse by insulting Berry. What, was he just supposed to ignore what she'd said? He had in the past but it wasn't cool to do so when she was breaking like a hundred rules to help him out with Evie and, you know, they were…friends.) and it appeared that Finn had survived his fifth period free too because he walked into the biology class and sat heavily next to Puck.
"Was everything okay?" Puck asked. He didn't want to seem too worried but he hadn't really been able to concentrate on what his teacher had been telling him about Robert E Lee because his mind had kept wandering to the small room that Evie and Finn were in.
"Yeah, it was fine." Finn replied, sounding relieved. "She just slept."
Puck nodded. He'd be relieved too but there were still 2 periods left til the end of the day; only at 3:15 would he properly relax before tomorrow. "Did Tina turn up?"
"Yeah," Finn began and Puck thought he was going to say more but then their teacher arrived and started the lesson.
Forty-five minutes of learning about mitosis later, Puck started dragging his ass to math. That's right, math. Berry would be proud.
He felt a hand on his arm and saw Finn walking next to him.
"I just wanted to talk to you about last Thursday," Finn said, looking nervous.
Puck had to think for a moment. Last Thursday? And then he remembered that was the day that he walked in on Finn and Berry.
"What about it?" he asked gruffly. He wondered if Finn knew that he and Berry had fallen out for a couple of days because of that night.
"I just wanted to like, apologise, if you had a problem with it."
"What, you mean, you trying to suck Berry's face off? Why would I have a fucking problem with it?"
Finn actually blushed. What was he; a fucking girl?
"Well, you guys are ex's and you're living at hers. And we were supposed to be looking after Evie." Finn shrugged. "You seemed a bit pissed when you came in."
"I was just tired from work. I don't give a shit about what you and Berry were doing." He lied. He knew he shouldn't have a problem with the two of them making out but he just…did. It was weird.
"Really?" Finn asked and Puck gave his friend a speculative look. Was Finn asking his permission to continue things with Berry? Is so, then that was fucking stupid; he had absolutely no claim on her whatsoever. He and Berry had dated for a few days, like, six months ago. That was it. Yeah, he was living with her at the moment but that was because of Evie. It's not like they're romantically interested in each other; she's totally into Finn and he…he's got a newborn baby to look after.
If Berry wasn't interested in Finn then he doubted that things would be different. He'd established that she was a hot Jew back in October and just yesterday he'd realised that he liked Berry as a friend too. But while she was still helping him with Evie there was no way that he'd try something more (unless, you know, she seduced him or something) because, while things weren't great in his life at the moment, Berry was making things a lot better than they could be and he didn't want to lose that.
But all this was irrelevant because Berry liked Finn and that was all there was to it.
"Dude, you should just grow a pair and fucking ask her out already. Everyone knows you want to."
Finn nodded, looking embarrassed. "Okay, cool."
Puck hoped the conversation was over. He didn't really want to talk about Finn and Berry dating anymore. It wasn't over.
"And I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you." Finn murmured and Puck stopped dead.
"The fuck did you just say?" he asked, staring at Finn in horror.
Finn rolled his eyes and turned back to him. "I just…everything you're doing with Evie, you know, getting a job, going to classes. You're taking responsibility for something and I didn't really think you could do it. I'm just saying I'm proud of you."
Puck groaned. "Dude, that's the most homo thing you've ever said. I seriously suggest that you check that your balls are still attached to your body."
"Can't you just be serious for once?" Finn asked in irritation. "I'm trying to pay you a compliment here."
Puck sighed. After the whole 'Quinn thing' he really should try and be a better friend to Finn. It wasn't going to kill him to have a proper conversation with him. Be cool he told himself, be nice.
"I'm sorry," Puck muttered.
"That's okay, I guess." Finn shrugged, moving to walk away again.
"No, dude, I'm sorry about everything. About Quinn." Puck found it slightly odd that he'd gone from not really saying sorry at all, to making two big apologies in two days. He blamed Berry. And no, he'd never actually gotten round to apologising to Finn for what had happened.
Finn held out a fist and Puck only just stopped himself from flinching before he realized that Finn wasn't going to punch him.
"Start over?" Finn asked and Puck grinned, bumping his fist against Finn's.
"Sure."
A/N Awww Bromance!
Many thanks to the IMDB for providing me with the Singin' in the Rain trivia (I have major Donald O'Conner love in that film even though I've only seen it once).
So, next chapter, I'm hopeful, will be out in 3-4 weeks time because that's when half term is (so I have a week off) which sucks cos it's so long away L
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was going to have the different perspectives of the glee kids when they take it in turns to watch over Evie in the next few chapters but I wanted the story to move on a little quicker.
Hope we're enjoying the new episodes of a certain TV show (I totally wish I hadn't put an embargo on you guys talking to me about it! I don't physically know anyone who is as obsessed as me, so reviews can refer to anything that happens up to and including Ep 117)
Please let me know what you thought of the chapter!
Love,
Lil Drop of Magic
xXxXxXx
PS 'The Mummy' was on TV in the UK today. Yay for the name Evie!