This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Mothers Know.

"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"

9. And Children

Rachel and Puck had followed the sounds of Luke's cries, which had also roused the girls from their argument upstairs. They came down, following after their mother and uncle, as far as they knew.

"I had nothing to do with it!" Alex promised.

"Feeling nervous, Alex?" Haley teased her.

"Hey, one thing at a time," Puck turned on them, and the girls looked startled. Rachel gave him a look, just as they were nearing the door heading into the yard. They could hear Lily now.

"Save him! Save him!" she was calling out, while Luke ran around the yard. It wasn't until they got outside that they saw the boy was chasing after a small bird half running and trying to fly off. He had given a sudden surge, and he had finally scooped up the bird.

"Got him!" he cried out. Rachel found the abandoned box and ran up to the boy.

"Get him in here, you could catch diseases."

"What if he bites me, maybe I'll grow wings," Luke put the bird in the box.

"What?" Rachel frowned.

"It worked for Spiderman," he shrugged.

"You won't get wings. The only thing you'll get is an infection." Looking back over her shoulder, she could see Puck had picked up the girl again. He had always been great with kids, no matter how unlikely it seemed. As far as little Lily was concerned, this was her father, and she only cared about that.

"I found him on my way home from the park. I think his wing is broken, but I can fix it."

"They have doctors for that, Luke," Rachel told him.

"I can do it. Felix already trusts me. Do we still have the plaster from my science project last year?"

"Luke, we are either taking… Felix… to the clinic, or he's going to die."

"Don't kill Felix!" Lily cried out.

"She's not going to kill him," Puck promised her, looking to the boy and waiting. He frowned, looking at the box.

"Fine, let's go to the clinic. Can I hold the box?"

X

Leaving the house had required for Rachel to once again play mother, making sure the two girls they left there would not tear each other apart when unsupervised. They had then gone, the two of them along with Luke and Lily, and they had found the animal clinic. Once they had convinced Luke to let the doctor examine the bird, their heads had been invaded by the now familiar tone that told them they were skipping off from this world into another. After the variety of shows they had landed in so far, they didn't know what to expect, but they were all but certain they weren't going home.

Puck knew from their previous jumps that the best thing to do after the noise went away was not to try and move so fast, to wait until his head stopped spinning before opening his eyes, or else it would spin even faster. So far, with his eyes closed, what he was able to gather of where they landed was that he was on a couch. As landings went, this was pretty much the best that he could hope for besides a bed.

There was music, something, he wasn't sure. He opened his eyes slowly, and he didn't know what had done it, but even before his vision had settled he knew where he was.

"No way…" he spoke to himself. They'd done reality before, so it wasn't unreasonable that it could happen, but even then this was different from Idol. Over there they had not been anyone that could be so easily recognized, but here… They'd have to be one of a very particular group. There was part of him that was absolutely curious to know which one he was, but then there was the other part of him that didn't see this one working out and just wanted to get out as soon as possible with Rachel somehow… He had to find her and soon, he…

He heard a scream and that sent him bolting immediately. He wasn't sure if anyone else was around, but if there were, then they would have heard her and come running as well, he guessed. So maybe it was just them… which was a good thing.

"Rachel?" he tried not to speak too loud.

"In here…" an uncertain voice emerged from through a closed door.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"No!" she responded immediately. "I'm not doing this one."

"Rachel…"

"I can't!"

"You faced off against some seriously messed up ghosts, you solved a murder, what's so bad about t…"

"I'm Snooki!" she cut him off. He didn't mean to laugh, and he tried his best to hide it. "Noah Puckerman you stop that right now!" It didn't take much to realign her with authority.

"Sorry…"

"I'm not doing it," she maintained.

"Look, I'm not exactly looking forward to it either, believe it or not. But if we don't do it, then we can't go home. You'll have to be her for the rest of your life."

"I'd like to see them try," she sounded like she wouldn't budge, and he wasn't liking the sound of it. "I'm just going to sit right here until they send us… home, or to another show, anything."

"Rachel… Can you at least let me come in?"

"It's not locked," she responded after a beat. He opened the door, let himself in and closed it again. When he locked it, she blinked. "What are you…"

"We've had each other's backs this whole time, I'm not about to drop you now." He stopped when he caught his reflection in a mirror, and he chuckled. "Figures I'd be him." He looked back to Rachel, who was staring at him like she didn't know if he was playing her so she'd come out and play it out or if he was actually sincere. "I'm not doing anything if you're not," he sat next to her. "So let's see how that goes." He crossed his arms before himself, and that was it, he wasn't backing down either. They were refusing.

"Thanks…" she told him, and he turned to smile at her. "Do you think it's…" She was interrupted by the onset of the high pitched noise in their heads.

"Looks like they're listening…" He closed his eyes and he waited.

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)