Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.
A/N See! Not such a long wait at all!
Thanks for the reviews guys!
Chapter 14 : Busted
Puck stared at the top of his daughter's head as she sat on his leg, refusing to look at anyone else in Figgins' office. He and Berry were in so much fucking shit.
She was sat next to him and he could see that she was trembling out of the corner of his eye but he could think of nothing to do or say to make her feel better.
The door opened behind them and Berry turned round to see who it was but Puck already knew. He'd been in trouble enough times to know that the school were bound to phone their parents.
"Thank you for joining us Misters Berry. I'm afraid your mother has been unable to attend, Mr Puckerman." Principal Figgins said from behind his desk. Puck would be relieved but he knew that his mom would be just as pissed when he filled her in afterwards.
"It's no trouble," One of Berry's dads said. "Now if you wouldn't mind telling us why we're all here?"
"Of course. Coach Sylvester, if you would," Figgins said, indicating the cheerleading coach who was standing to the side with Mr Schue. She was looking at Puck, Berry and particularly Evie with disgust.
"Imagine the scene," Coach Sylvester began and Puck just managed to refrain from groaning because she was going to make it sound a hundred fucking times worse than it really was. "A multi-Nationals-winning cheerleading coach is innocently checking out the choir room for surveillance purposes… when she comes across revulsion."
"I'm sorry," Berry's other Dad said. "What exactly are you accusing Rachel and Noah of?"
"They have been harbouring that little creature here during school time." Coach Sylvester spat and Puck waited for everything to go to hell. "They've vandalised one of the small music rooms and converted it into some sickening student day care centre, stocking it with school property that the hobbit has evidently been using."
"Hey! Don't talk about my daughter like that," Puck threatened.
"I wasn't talking about your spawn, Puckerman," Sue said, giving Berry a pointed glance, which was returned with a sharp glare.
"Rachel, you just left Evie in an empty room for the afternoon, while you and Noah attended classes? How could you be so irresponsible?" One of her dads asked (Puck still couldn't bring himself to face them).
"We didn't, Daddy, we never left Evie on her own." Berry said in a small voice.
"Miss Berry, you and Mr Puckerman haven't missed an afternoon class in the last few weeks. How could you have possibly ensured that the infant wasn't alone?" Figgins asked.
Puck looked at Berry for the first time since they'd entered the office. He felt like such a dick for making her look so fucking miserable and scared. She bit her lip and silently asked him if she should answer the Principal truthfully. He shrugged in reply, because he couldn't exactly see what else they could do.
Berry took a big shuddering breath and said to Figgins, "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say, Sir."
Puck stared at her with wide eyes. She couldn't seriously think that the adults would settle for that.
"Explain yourself, young lady!" Figgins demanded, hitting his hand on the desk. The sudden noise startled Puck's baby girl and he cursed as she started to cry.
"I'm sorry, Sir, but I choose not to divulge that information." Rachel said in a trembling voice, just heard over Evie's cries.
"Now you listen here you little freak," Coach Sylvester spat, moving to stand directly over Berry's chair. "You had better tell us all that we want to know or I'll – "
"You'll what?" A Mr Berry asked his voice low and dangerous.
"Rachel maybe you should tell us what you are willing to tell us," suggested Schue, speaking for the first time. Glancing round at Coach Sylvester and Berry's Dads, Puck figured that Schue's interruption was a good thing seeing as the three adults looked like they wanted to punch the crap out of each other.
Berry nodded at Mr Schue and started talking directly to him. Puck assumed that she found it easier to converse with the glee director rather than the Principal or cheerleading coach, he knew he fucking would. "When I helped Noah bring Evie home from the hospital I directed him to come here. I knew that he had limited monetary funds and thought that he was soon going to regret his decision to become a single parent, so I suggested that he borrow some baby supplies until he could afford to buy his own." She paused and Puck knew that this was the crunch time. The next admission was going to be the big one. Although Evie was seemingly trying to draw everyone's attention to her with her cries, he reached and hand over towards Berry and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him gratefully then returned her gaze to Mr Schue.
"I still have in my possession a key that Coach Sylvester gave me in order to prepare for the school's Cabaret production. She neglected to retrieve it from me when I quit." Puck looked at the cheerleading coach and was slightly worried that she looked like she'd spontaneously combust with anger. "I broke into the school, showed Noah the props room and we took what we needed."
Although the adults in the room were surely clever enough to realise that that's where the explanation was heading, there were still a number of gasps echoing around the room at the admission that Rachel Berry had broken into a building and stolen numerous items. Sure, they fucking expected it of him, but Berry was a completely different matter.
Puck took a look around the room to gauge everyone's feelings. Mr Schue looked very disappointed in them, Coach Sylvester seemed strangely angry and triumphant (which could not be good), Figgins looked fairly pissed off and Berry's dads were staring at her like they'd never seen her before.
So, as stated before, they were in the shit.
"We were planning to bring it back when Noah could afford to buy his own but…we haven't got to that point yet." Berry continued.
"And the room?" Mr Schuester prompted.
"Well, when we discovered that Noah would only be granted limited paternity leave we had to find a way that Evie could be cared for while he attended afternoon classes. We could afford no day care and so we came up with a solution."
"Which was?" Schue asked but Berry's lips remained firmly closed. He turned his gaze towards Puck, "I don't suppose there's any chance that you're going to tell us?"
"Not a chance in hell, Mr Schue," Puck replied, proudly. He could see no way out of this shit storm for him and Berry but if they were able to keep their friends out of it then he reasoned that things weren't as bad as they could be. The gleeks didn't deserve to get in trouble for doing him a favour.
"They can't have been acting alone," Coach Sylvester pointed out. "I'll bet it was the rest of those glee kids. I've always said that club is a hotbed for criminal activity. I demand the expulsion of these students and the disbandment of glee club immediately!"
Half a dozen different voices started speaking at once, each fighting to be heard over the other, but, of course, Evie was the loudest.
"Order! Order!" Figgins bellowed, banging his hand on the desk like some sort of judge.
"Can't someone shut that little gremlin up?" Sue howled, "I think it's trying to call a bunch of mutants here to destroy us all."
"Are we really going to be expelled?" Berry asked in a small voice, completely ignoring Sue. "I know what we did was wrong but I was only trying to help Noah."
"Miss Berry you have committed a number of illegal acts," Principal Figgins informed her. "And your lack of cooperation does not help your situation."
"Rachel, sweetheart, are you sure you won't tell them about how you looked after Evie in the afternoons?" the Mr Berry with glasses implored.
Tears trickled down Berry's cheeks as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Dad."
Puck clenched his teeth. There was no way he could let Berry get expelled because of trying to help him. "Look, we all know this is my fault. I'm the one with the baby, you should punish me and leave Berry out of it."
Berry gasped, "No, Noah!"
"We both know you've wanted to expel me since I first stepped into this joint," Puck said to Figgins, ignoring the way Berry was clutching at his arm.
"No! This is all my fault. I'm the one who broke into school, showed Noah where the baby things were located in the props room and modified the school's security cameras. I came up with the solution to watching Evie and I redecorated the room and changed the lock on the door. Noah was only a minor accomplice in my crimes." Berry finished, forlornly.
"Is there anything else either of you would like to add?" Figgins asked and to Puck the moment felt kinda like they were being asked for their last words before they were executed.
"No, wait, I deserve to take some of the blame for this," Mr Schuester said and Coach Sylvester rolled her eyes.
"Anyone else fancy stepping forward to take the blame? How about you, pygmy?" She sneered at the still bawling Evie. Puck moved his daughter further away from her, worried that merely being near the cheerleading coach would somehow damage her.
"I knew something suspicious was going on a couple of weeks ago." Schue told Figgins. "A student informed me that they had seen Rachel with a baby in the choir room. I interviewed both Rachel and Puck – "
" – And you saw no reason to report this to the rest of us?" Sue scoffed.
"It's not Mr Schuester's fault," Berry explained. "We misled him into believing something that was incorrect."
"You lied to him." Figgins stated, flatly.
"No! We just twisted the truth. Noah and I made sure that nothing we said to Mr Schuester was a lie."
"I should've investigated more thoroughly and reported it to you," Mr Schue admitted to Figgins.
"I knew glee club was the root of all evil!" Sue cried. "Disband the club, expel these two and call the police on these criminals!"
Fuck. Puck knew that he and Berry had kinda broken the law by breaking in to school and stealing and stuff, but he'd totally hoped that the cops weren't going to be involved in this.
"No!" Schue said forcefully. "Look, what they did was wrong, they know that, but they did it for good reasons. Can you imagine trying to bring up a kid at their age? Terri and I thought we'd struggle to make ends meet and that's with two incomes. Puck has nothing. What was he supposed to do to look after his daughter?" Coach Sylvester opened her mouth to make some smart reply but Mr Schue carried on before she could. "As educators, these kids' futures are in our hands. We can't cast them aside when they need us the most. They're good kids, Figgins and I know they're capable of the most amazing things if you just give them another chance."
The room was silent as the Principal reached a decision that would affect the two teenager's lives forever. Even Evie seemed to sense the seriousness of the moment as she finally stopped crying. Berry reached over to grip his hand and he was so fucking nervous that he gripped hers back. Badass be damned; this was some terrifying shit.
"You can return the stolen property?" Principal Figgins asked the two teenagers.
Berry nodded. "Yes, Sir. Every last item."
"Fine. You're both suspended for two weeks; Mr Puckerman because he is a repeat offender and Miss Berry due to the seriousness of her first offence. At the end of the two weeks I expect all the borrowed items to be returned along with $3000 to be paid to the school for damages. I must insist you give me the key you possess before you leave and obviously Miss Puckerman is not to be on school grounds. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," they both replied, relieved that their punishment hadn't been too severe.
"What? That's it?" Coach Sylvester barked. "I demand justice for the crimes of these delinquents!"
"Sue, I have made my decision and that's final," Figgins snapped, hitting the desk to emphasise his point.
Berry rooted in her schoolbag for something and retrieved the set of keys that had been letting them into the school. She stood up and placed them on Figgins' desk. "Thank you, sir. We're sorry for what we did but we honestly didn't feel like we had any other choice."
"Yeah. Thanks, sir," Puck chipped in. "We really appreciate you not busting our asses too much."
"Eloquent as ever, Noah," Berry muttered.
"Just don't make me regret my leniency, children," Figgins warned, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
Puck and Berry turned around to be met with a livid Coach Sylvester. "You may have gotten off lightly this time, convicts, but when you get back from your suspension I will be on your asses, every hour of every day." Then she stormed off, slamming the door so hard on the way out that Puck was sure it was going to break.
"Er, maybe we'd better go before she comes back and tries to perform a citizen's arrest," Puck suggested and Berry nodded because, seriously, that was a real possibility.
They thanked Figgins once more before turning to Mr Schue. "Ah, maybe we'd better talk outside," the glee director suggested and Puck and all the Berrys complied.
As soon as they were in the main corridor Berry cried, "Thank you, Mr Schuester!" and somewhat inappropriately wrapped her arms around Mr Schue's middle. Schue glanced nervously at her Dads but they didn't seem upset or anything so he awkwardly patted her on the head.
"Yeah, you did us a proper solid in there, Mr Schue." Puck admitted, slapping the Spanish teacher gently on the back. "Thanks."
"I did what I could," he replied, carefully removing himself from Berry's embrace.
"We knew we shouldn't have misled you but we felt like we had no choice," Berry explained, looking like she was going to cry again.
"Yes, well, what's done is done." Schue shrugged. "There's no point dwelling on it. When you both return to school we'll draw a line under the whole affair and start anew."
The Mr Berrys both shook Schue's hand before he departed. "Come on kids," Hiram Berry said putting an arm around his daughter's shoulder, "let's go home."
Rachel felt really quite numb as she stepped into her home. Today had been the worst day of her life – worse even than coming second in the third grade talent show. First, she and Finn had broken up and now she, along with Noah, had been suspended for two weeks. She, Rachel Berry, had been suspended. Rachel had been perfectly aware that this was a possibility when she'd taken the baby supplies but somehow, she'd been sure that they'd get away with it.
She desperately wanted to disappear into her room and sob her heart out (like Evie appeared to be doing somewhere upstairs) but her Dads were standing in the hallway waiting for her and they looked rather angry. She looked at the floor and said quietly, "Dad, Daddy, I'm sorry that you had to come into school and, and see Principal Figgins about what I've done. But…I'm not wholly sorry for helping Noah. He and Evie needed me and I did what was necessary for them. Of course, I wish it hadn't involved any illegal activity…" she trailed off and risked a glance at their faces. Thankfully, they looked slightly less angry but she knew that they had by no means forgiven her.
"Why didn't you talk to us about this?" her Daddy demanded.
"I knew you'd make us give the things back and Noah couldn't afford that."
"Of course we'd make you give the stolen property back, Rachel." Her Dad sighed. "But we would've found a way to support Noah and Evie if you'd let us know there was a problem to begin with."
"We know you're getting older and beginning to become a young lady but, how are we supposed to trust you if you lie to us?" Daddy said, shaking his head slightly.
A couple of tears snaked down her face. She was normally quite a well behaved daughter and her parents hadn't had to tell her off this sternly in years. "Are you going to confiscate my musical collection?" she asked, referring to how they used to punish her.
She saw her Dad's lips twitch slightly but he spoke in a serious tone. "I think you're old enough now to realise that just reflecting on your actions and living with the consequences is worse than any punishment we can give you."
The words stung terribly and the disappointment in their expressions made her feel physically sick.
The doorbell rang and Rachel eagerly turned to answer it so that she wouldn't have to look at her Dads.
"Mrs Puckerman!" Rachel said in surprise upon seeing Noah's mother on the other side of the door. "Um, come in." Mrs Puckerman gave a tight nod and stepped inside. Rachel introduced her parents before heading upstairs to retrieve Noah.
Evie's cries had subsided by now but Rachel knocked gently on Noah's door in case the little girl was asleep. "Come in."
She peeped her head round the door and saw that he was just finishing changing Evie's diaper. "Your mother's here."
He looked up at her. "Shit. This is going to be messy." He gave a laugh containing no humour. "And we thought Coach Sylvester was tough…"
Mrs Puckerman listened to their story in silence, her face rigid. All she had to say at the end was, "I see." Rachel glanced at Noah nervously and he seemed to be surprised that she was taking this so calmly.
Noah's mother turned to Rachel's Dads. "I'm sorry that Noah's presence here has caused such trouble for you."
"Mrs Puckerman, this whole situation is my fault," Rachel insisted. "It was all my idea."
"Nevertheless, I think it would be best if Noah and Evie moved back home with me and Jem." Mrs Puckerman replied.
Rachel gasped, a cold flush running through her body.
"That's really not necessary," Rachel's Daddy said.
"I think it would be better, for everyone." Mrs Puckerman said.
Now, Rachel didn't like to think unkindly of Noah's mother but she really couldn't understand how she'd come to that conclusion. Noah going back home most definitely wouldn't make things better for Evie, Noah or even Mrs Puckerman herself!
"Yeah, thanks for everything you've done, Mr Berrys," Noah shot a glance at her, "Rachel, but it's time I went home. You can have your quiet house back again."
Rachel opened her mouth and closed it again, not sure what to say.
"Are you sure, Noah?" her Dad asked. "You know yourself and Evie are more than welcome to stay for longer."
"Thanks, but I had to go home at some point. I've got the next couple of weeks to sort myself out."
"Well, you can't leave immediately," her Daddy pointed out. "Why don't you stay for dinner and then you can take some of Noah's things back with you afterwards. The rest of your belongings can go over the weekend."
"I need to pick up Jemima from a friend's house in a moment," Mrs Puckerman said.
"Bring her back here too." Mr Berry decided but Rachel had tuned the adults out in disbelief at the news that Noah and Evie were to leave her home. She wanted to cry and stamp her feet, demand that they stay, but it was Noah's choice and he probably did want to go back to his own home to be with his family. Looking at him, she decided that he didn't look particularly happy at the idea but he could still be upset about the events of the day and the susp…no, she couldn't even bring herself to say the word.
"I'll go and start getting some stuff together," Noah mumbled before shuffling up the stairs.
"I'll give you a hand," Rachel called, her voice wavering slightly. She followed his soft footfalls into his and Evie's room.
Noah had sat on the bed, his head in his hands. When he noticed her presence he sat up straight and started looking around the room. "Huh, I think I'm gonna need some boxes from somewhere. I hadn't realised how much shit I'd managed to bring over here."
She was silent in response and eventually he looked her way. She blinked quickly to try and clear away the tears that were threatening to spill over her cheeks but, evidently, he saw them because he said, "Fuck, Berry, please don't cry. I'm really sorry about the suspension thing, I'll try and make it up to you."
"I'm not upset about that!" She cried and then shook her head slightly, "I mean, yes, I am upset about that but that's… not what I'm," she gestured to herself, "for."
Comprehension dawned on his face. "Oh, well, aren't you glad you're going to be getting your quiet, normal life back? No 3am wake up calls from a baby who wants their feed, or, you know, not having the place stink of diapers or that baby smell…"
'Of course I still want all that!' She screamed inside her head but instead just shrugged.
"You don't need to worry about me, Berry. I'll find a way to make things work; I have so far, right?" He pointed out.
"But only because of me," she whispered so quietly that he didn't even hear her. Although she was sure that Noah would do everything in his power to be a good father to Evie, she couldn't help but feel that he wasn't going to be able to manage without her being there to support him.
"I'll still watch over Evie when you're at work, if you like," She offered and he smiled.
"Thanks, that'll be great. I think I'm still gonna need all the help I can get." He sounded exhausted and Rachel wasn't particularly surprised given how he was working his behind off at the moment. But looking into his eyes she could sense something else…Noah didn't want to go.
She didn't know how she knew – it was probably her sixth sense, but she was certain that it was true. But she was also sure that he was unlikely to admit that he didn't want to move back to his home. He was quite a proud young man and still had trouble asking for a arge amount of help. Plus, his mother had suggested he come back – it would sound rather rude if he told her that he didn't want to.
"Um, I'll go see if we have any boxes," she suggested and turned out of his room. She wasn't really going to hunt for boxes. She was going to convince the adults that Noah remaining in the Berry household was the best thing for everyone until Noah had more money and child cover for Evie and, most importantly, when both he and Mrs Puckerman were ready.
There were no parents in the foyer anymore and she searched the house until she found her Dads in the kitchen preparing dinner for everyone.
"How's the packing coming along?" her Dad asked.
Rachel sighed, ignoring the question. "Daddies, do you think Noah can stay for longer?"
They looked at her in surprise. "Has he said that that's what he wants?"
"Well, not vocally, but I can tell from his body language that he doesn't want to leave."
"Rachel…" her Dad began.
"You know as well as I do that Noah's life is too hectic at the moment for just himself and his mother to cope with and she needs to look after Jem as well. They're not ready for this."
"If Noah's mother wants him to come home and Noah says that he wants to then there's not a lot we can do about it, is there?" Her Daddy pointed out.
"But if I managed to get them to change their minds then you wouldn't have a problem with it?" Rachel enquired.
"Of course not; we told the boy as much earlier." Her Dad said.
Rachel beamed and gave each of her Dads a hug. "Thank you! Right, where's Noah's mother?" she asked, eager to move onto phase two of her operation.
"She's picking up Jem," Her Daddy said as he turned around to slice some vegetables, "and then bringing her back here for dinner."
"Oh," Rachel sighed, put out that her operation would have to be stalled for a little while. "Well, I'll go tell Noah that he doesn't need to pack his things anymore." She bounded out of the kitchen and up the stairs and was appalled to find that she quite out of breath by the time she reached Noah's room. She was going to have to up her fitness regime immediately.
"You're…staying," she panted and Noah looked at her in confusion.
"Er, what?"
"My Dads and I think its best… that you and Evie remain here… for a little longer," she explained, still panting.
He sighed. "Look, Berry, I totally appreciate what you and your Dads have done but, you know, maybe it's time I started standing on my own two feet."
"Noah, do you honestly think you're ready for that?" she enquired, trying to get him to meet her gaze.
"I dunno…maybe," he mumbled.
"You visited your mother this morning, didn't you?" He nodded. "Did you moving back home come up in the conversation?"
"…Yeah."
"And what was said?"
He frowned at her. "I could see that my mom wasn't ready to have me and Evie back there. I told her I was happy here." He admitted.
"Are you?"
"What?"
"Are you happy here?"
"Yes."
"Noah, the suspe…," she swallowed and tried again, "the suspension shouldn't change anything. Yes, we won't be attending school for two weeks but all that time will have to be spent preparing for our finals seeing as we will be sitting them on our first day back. Not to mention the fact that we need to raise $3000 dollars to give to the school and buy Evie new baby things to replace the ones we need to give back to the props department. The timing is all wrong, Noah."
The tension vanished from Noah's body and he sank onto his bed again. "Fuck, Berry, you're right. My mom really shouldn't have to put up with this shit right now, not that your Dads deserve to put up with it either," he added on quickly, before lying back and covering his face with his hands. "My life is so fucking messed up right now," the words were muffled thanks to his hands.
Rachel picked the stirring Evie up from her cot and sat next to Noah with her. "I don't know, Noah." She said, softly. "I think your life could be a lot worse at the present." He spread his fingers slightly and peered through the gap at her and Evie. He sat up and pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead.
"Yeah, that's true." He acknowledged. "But you gotta admit that today's been a fucking shit-fest of a day."
She frowned at his language but nodded nonetheless. "Probably the worst of my life." First Finn, the suspension and then she'd nearly lost Noah and Evie too. She found it quite daunting how hard she'd been fighting to keep Noah in her life but she was glad. He was truly her closest friend.
They were silent for a while, just watching Evie play with Rachel's fingers.
"You can still make me watch a musical if you want," he said.
"I expect we'll have to stop the film when your Mom arrives with Jem." She informed him.
"Thank fuck! I don't think I'd be able to sit through one in a single sitting." He joked.
"And we need to tell your mother that you're staying. I hope she won't be too upset."
"I think she'll be relieved more than anything, Berry."
Rachel bit her lip and hoped so. She really didn't want to cause Mrs Puckerman any consternation. "Come on, we can watch 'Chicago' in my room."
"Chicago?"
"It's the musical I would like to watch. It's set in a women's prison and I think it's one that you will find least objectionable."
"Do any of these women get it on with each other?" Noah asked as he followed her into her room.
"No."
"Shame." Rachel rolled her eyes.
She set up the film and then settled onto the bed with Noah. They were silent as the various credits and trailers flashed by and an uneasy question settled itself in Rachel's brain.
"Noah?"
"Hmmm?" he replied.
"Where are we going to get around three and a half thousand dollars?"
"No fucking idea, B."
A/N The flow of writing stories is weird. Puck's pov was okay, the beginning of Rachel's was hard and the rest was supremely easy.
Anyway, next chapter starts a new story arc that I'm really excited about because I've been planning it for, like, a year!
Not sure when it'll be up because lucky old me is taking a trip to New York City on Saturday! SO excited and yet it doesn't feel at all real even though I got my dollars today. Those of you who have read my oneshot 'Aviophobia' may be aware that I have a somewhat bizarre fear of flying that's come out of nowhere so I'm not looking forward to that part…
So, yes, let me know what you guys thought of the chapter. I don't really know if Figgins is allowed to make Puck and Rachel give him damages without getting police/legal people involved.
Hope to hear from as many of you as possible!
Love,
Lil Drop of Magic
xXx