Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.
A/N: Not beta'd; all mistakes are mine. Please mention them if you find any.
A/N2: Alright, I had planned to make this completely AU after Mash-up, but now that I've seen Wheels, I've decided that depending on what comes up in the episodes, I may sneak in a conversation or cover the same topic, just put my own twist on it. I'll mention spoilers above if there are any.
A/N3: Your reviews are loved! Thank you all for reading this! I'm so glad you all are enjoying it! Your words keep me writing :D The reviews hit 100 and I'm so happy! Thank you all so much! :D
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It'd been a week since Puck had regained consciousness and was released from the hospital. His doctor told him no school for two weeks and put a limit on him doing any kind of heavy lifting until he had a chance to heal some more. Deborah, Arin and Puck had stayed at the Berry's for a few nights after he was released, but returned home to get back into a normal routine. His mom had gone to school Friday afternoon and picked up two weeks worth of homework for him from his teachers so he could catch up before he went back, much to his dismay. He spent the rest of the week and weekend at home; Rachel spending most of her weekend there.
Today, Monday, his mom went back to work and he had gotten tired of his house, so he talked to Rachel the previous day when she was at his place and her dad's were okay with it, so he headed over to the Berry's before she left for school, giving him a chance to see some new scenery besides his bedroom and living room and if the need arose, he could do some homework, watch TV or play their piano. This also gave him a chance to spend some time with her once she got home from the school.
Puck started out watching TV, but couldn't find anything on except morning talk shows or documentaries so he headed for the piano. After a playing through a few scales, his head pounded. The concussion was still there, but not as bad as it had been when he first got home. His only problem were the headaches he got if he heard something too loud.
Getting closer to the end of the day, when he knew Rachel would be home, he was laying on the couch, watching TV. He hadn't intended to fall asleep, but didn't fight it when he did.
He faintly heard the front door as he napped, but didn't move until he heard a high-pitched scream enter his ears and then the door slamming shut with a hard crack, echoing through the house. His reflexes kicked in and he jumped up, "what? I'm up!" He exclaimed, immediately regretting his fast movement as a twinge of pain shot through his side. "Damn it," he hissed, grabbing his side, his eyes darting around for something, seeing Rachel leaning against the door. He took in her features and noticed the tears, "Rachel, what's wrong?" He carefully stepped around the couch and over to the door.
Rachel looked up at him, "oh, Noah," she wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, are you alright?" She asked seeing him holding his side.
"I'm fine," he looked at her, "don't change the subject, what's wrong?"
She sighed, shaking her head, "it's nothing. I can handle it," she told him, stepping around him and dropping her bag next to the closet before going into the kitchen.
Puck carefully followed her and took a seat at the island, watching her pace around, "Rachel!" He snapped hoping to get her attention. Once she stopped, he closed his eyes a moment, "talk to me."
Rachel sighed, "it's Mr. Schuester and Kurt!" She exclaimed.
"Whoa!" Puck grabbed his head; he didn't know what bothered him more; his side aching or the dull pain in his head, "keep the volume down."
Rachel slid onto the stool next to him, "Mr. Schuester gave us a new song Thursday," she explained, "it's called 'Defying Gravity' and he gave me the lead. Kurt seems to think he can sing it better than I can. Things were fine, but Kurt's dad came to school Friday and got Mr. Schuester to agree that we both have to try out for it," she huffed, "it's a girl song! And now Thursday we both have to sing it and whoever does it better will get the lead," she huffed.
"All this over a song," Puck groaned standing up and moving to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water.
"It's not just any song!"
"Okay, seriously," he held up his hand, stopping her, "I'm about to retract my request for you to talk to me. Please keep it down. God this is like a week long hangover," he groaned rubbing his forehead.
Rachel stood up and moved towards him, "I'm sorry, Noah," she whispered.
Puck smiled lightly as her arms wrapped around his waist carefully, "it's fine, just keep it down," he replied pressing a kiss to her forehead.
She nodded and sighed, "that's not all of it," she added.
"Yeah, I could tell. I've talked to Mr. Schuester, though," he said, "but this isn't about me. What happened in Glee?" He asked.
She sighed, "not only the song, now we have to have a bake sale and no one knows how to bake. I mean I can pull together some cookies, but other than that, I don't know the first thing about it."
"A bake sale for what?" He eyed her curiously.
"The school can't afford to rent a handicap bus to take Artie with us to competitions, so we have to come up with the money or he has to go with his dad," she explained.
Puck was silent at her explanation. He hadn't even thought about getting to the competitions, or that Artie couldn't ride a regular bus. "Oh," he nodded, moving to sit down again, "so on top of a song you think you should sing, even if Kurt wants it, and a bake sale, nothing new?" He asked.
"See, this is why I was going to handle it myself," she crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him.
"Rachel, it's one song. You're the lead on all the other ones, aside for a few. Why not give up just one?" He asked. "You don't see me and the guys fighting over the lead," he added.
"The guys and I," she quickly corrected him.
Puck rolled his eyes, "whatever, you get my point."
Rachel sighed, "some supportive boyfriend you are," she muttered.
"What do you want me to do? Throw Kurt in a dumpster?" He asked, getting defensive, "I'm stuck out of school for another week; doctors orders, and you know I can't lift anything over twenty pounds until he clears me," he commented.
"No, I don't want you to throw him in a dumpster," she shook her head and moved closer, "I just want some support."
Puck turned slightly and reached for her, tugging her between his legs, "you know I'll support you, but I don't even know the song, so I'd pick you just because you're my girlfriend," he admitted, letting his arms wrap around her waist.
"Thank you," she smiled, leaning down to press a kiss to his lips, her hands snaking around his neck, "that's what I wanted to hear," she whispered.
Puck smirked, running a hand through her hair before pulling her close for another kiss, this one lasting slightly longer before she pulled away.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"Better," he admitted, "and going a little stir crazy."
"Have you done any of your homework?" She asked.
Rolling his eyes, he shrugged, "some." He really had worked on the homework he'd been given for the two weeks he'd be off, but he was no where close to being done.
"Noah, um, there's something else, too," she said sliding to sit on his knee.
"What's that?" He asked, shaking from his thoughts.
She took a deep breath, "considering your relationship with Quinn isn't the greatest, I figured you wouldn't know yet, but I over heard her talking to Santana and Brittany. Apparently she's gotten a bill for her doctor visit and has no way of paying it and she has to intercept the mail so her parents don't find the bills if more come," she commented.
Puck looked at her, trying to figure out the meaning of her words, "oh, I wondered how long it would take," he commented softly, figuring it out. "I'll take care of it," he added.
"How Noah? I didn't think you had any money right now," she said softly.
He shook his head, "technically I don't, but I never spent all the money from cleaning pools this summer. What I had left I put in savings for an emergency," he admitted.
"Oh," she ducked her head, unsure how to feel about the new knowledge she gained.
Puck noticed her body language change, "Rach, look," he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I know this sucks, but I'm willing to take care of things. Even if all the money I have left has to go to her, it's for my daughter," he told her, his arms wrapping around her waist.
Rachel leaned her head against his shoulder, sighing, "let me help," she whispered.
He let his eyes drift close for a moment, hearing her request, but shook his head, "I can't and won't ask you to do that, babe, it's my problem and I'll be the one to take care of it."
"You're not asking, I'm offering. Noah, let me help," she told him.
He sighed, he wasn't used to asking people for help; especially if it involved money, but he knew Rachel was determined and persistent, so he nodded, "fine, but as soon as I get better I'm going to look for a job," he told her.
"Until then, we'll figure out a way to help Quinn," she said standing up, taking his hand and guiding him towards the living room.
"Hold up," he paused and headed back to the kitchen, turning on the oven before joining her on the couch.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I made dinner while I was here. I'm sorry, but there is only so much take-out I can eat in a week," he admitted. He'd only had simple meals at their house, and most of the time it ended up being some sort of take-out.
Rachel blushed, "you're spoiling us... you're spoiling me. I like having you here. Is it wrong to not want you to go back home?" She asked softly.
He slipped his arm around her shoulders and tugged her close to him, "wrong? No," he shook his head, "and I'd love to stay, but if I did, then it wouldn't be as fun to come over and surprise you," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her lips before letting her settle against his chest.
Rachel smiled, content to stay right where she was, but hearing a couple beeps from the kitchen, Puck shifted carefully to stand up and disappeared into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with an idea, "come here."
She eyed him from the couch, but reluctantly got up and went into the kitchen, watching him move around the room tugging things out of cupboards and setting boxes and bags of items on the counters. "What are you doing?" She asked.
"We're going to bake cupcakes," he told her grabbing a bowl.
"What? I don't know anything about -"
Puck smirked, "when you have a sister and a mom with a sweet tooth all the time, you pick up a few ideas. I cook, why not add baking to the list?" He asked with a laugh.
Though the news that he could bake was a shock to her, she happily joined him, measuring out things as he told her. Puck set up the mixer on the counter and once the ingredients were measured out, he leaned against the counter, "see not rocket science," he admitted.
Rachel blushed, "I underestimated your ability, Noah. I'm sorry."
He shrugged, "don't be. If the bake sale hadn't come up, I probably wouldn't even have mentioned it; ever," he told her motioning to two things she needed to put in the mixing bowl first.
"Why not?" She asked, watching him turn the mixer on.
He scoffed, shaking his head, "oh yes, that would go over real well. Jocks don't cook or bake."
Rachel sighed, pouring in some flour and sugar, watching the ingredients mix up before looking at him, "you're not a jock," she said softly.
"Oh yeah? How is that?" He asked her adding the last few items into the bowl and putting the dirty dishes in the sink.
"If you were still a jock, you'd be throwing slushies in my face, you wouldn't talk to me, would give Finn a hard time for joining Glee and we probably would not be dating," she told him, "Noah, you're not Puck anymore, don't you see that?"
"I'm Noah with you, your family and mine, but I can't be Noah at school. I'm not ashamed of dating you and I enjoy eating lunch with everyone, but I can't be like this when I'm there. God, if they saw me baking, they'd be throwing me in the dumpster," he shook his head, turning off the mixer and removing the bowl.
Rachel sighed; the topic of conversation was one they had many times and though he did open up to her more at home, he still acted like Puck to some people at school, but the bullying had been cut way back.
He was digging in the pantry for something, "damn it, I know I saw those things," he muttered.
"What are you looking for?" She asked moving towards him.
"Cupcake papers," he told her, "I saw them in here this afternoon. I remember them because they had musical notes on them," he laughed, "there they are," he reached up a shelf from where he was looking and grabbed the box he had been talking about, showing her the cupcake shaped parchment papers with small black musical notes on them.
"I didn't even know those were there. I guess it's a good thing you found them," she admitted.
Puck moved back over to the cupboard with the pans and got out the two cupcake pans, "yeah, was looking for cream of chicken soup," he smirked opening the oven to check on what he'd made for dinner.
Rachel got the hint about the papers and pans, so she opened the box and started putting a paper in each pan while he took care of dinner. "Um, now what?" She asked looking at the pans and mix.
He laughed, turning around, "fill each cup up half way," he told her.
It was getting close to six and he knew her dads would be getting home soon, his mom and sister were also coming over, so while she took over the cupcakes, he set the table for six. Coming back into the kitchen, he saw her staring at the cupcake pans and shook his head, "those metal things go into the big thing with heat; it's called an oven," he said sarcastically.
"Oh," she shook her head and moved to the oven, opening it again and sliding the two pans into the warmth. Closing it she stepped over to the counter, avoiding his gaze.
He could tell something was up; usually his sarcasm got her riled up and he knew that she knew where the pans went, so he stepped closer, resting his hand on her shoulder, "hey Rach, what's wrong?"
Her mind was struggling with thoughts of her life, when she turned to look at him, "I never had a mom to do this," she whispered.
About to ask what she meant, he figured it out on his own and tugged her to him, wrapping his arms around her protectively, "don't let this upset you," he told her. "I'm glad I could be your first," he added, trying to lighten the mood, but the reaction he got was slightly different than he planned.
Alan had gotten home to smell dinner mixed with vanilla and as he stepped toward the kitchen, he heard his daughters boyfriend tell her, "I'm glad I could be your first." His eyes widened and he dropped his briefcase along with all the mail he had in his hands.
"Dad!" Rachel exclaimed moving to help him pick up the letters from the floor, "I didn't hear you come in."
Puck had turned to watch them knowing exactly why he had dropped everything, but calmly waited for Alan to say something.
"Uh, well, you were busy apparently. Just what first are you two talking about?" He asked eying her and then looking at Puck.
Rachel narrowed her gaze in confusion trying to figure out what he was talking about and then her eyes widened when she remembered what Noah had said, "first time baking," she told him, "Noah is showing me how to make cupcakes from scratch."
"Really, Mr. B. She's never done it before," Puck added, motioning towards the mixing bowl and some ingredients that had been left out.
"Oh, thank God," he muttered stepping aside and moving towards the den.
Both Rachel and Puck started laughing at his reaction, "I'm the one who should be thinking about sex; why does everyone assume that's what we're talking about?"
Rachel giggled and shook her head, "I don't know; maybe because we know you've had sex in the past, given the current situation," she shrugged, snuggling up to him again.
Puck smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips, wishing he could pick her up and set her on the counter. Hearing the front door open, he stepped back a few steps and saw his mom and sister come in with David right behind them, "dinners almost ready," he called to them as Arin skipped into the kitchen.
He greeted his sister and hid the remains of the batter, knowing she'd try and get into it. Now that the house was full, the couple realized their chances of being along were long gone, so they got back to work. Puck took dinner out and set it on the table, getting the salad he'd put together out of the fridge and added it to the table.
Rachel checked on the cupcakes and took them out when he told her they were done and let them cool on the stove while they ate dinner.
In the middle of dinner, Puck excused himself to take care of putting in another batch of cupcakes. He'd doubled what he usually made, so there would be a lot of monotonous work until they were all baked. Dumping out the cooked cupcakes on the counter, he refilled the pans with papers and batter before putting them back in the oven. He set the cupcakes on a plate and returned to everyone.
"What are you baking?" David asked looking at him when he sat down.
"Cupcakes," he told him.
David raised a curious eyebrow at him, "okay, why?"
Puck opened his mouth to reply, but Rachel jumped in, "the Glee club has to raise some money for a special bus to take us to competitions because one of our members is in a wheelchair," Rachel explained, "well Mr. Schuester said we're doing a bake sale, but no one seems to know anything about cooking or baking except Noah," she motioned to him.
After the dinner dishes were done, the parents took over the living room to watch some TV, while Rachel, Puck and Arin worked in the kitchen. "Don't we have to put frosting on these?" Rachel asked.
Puck laughed, "yeah," he shook his head and headed for the bowl the batter had been in and transferred it to another bowl so they could use the mixer again. This time he added what was needed to make the frosting and in just a few minutes they had white icing. Adding a few drops of red food coloring, he set a bowl of red icing on the counter between Rachel and Arin, "easy," he shrugged, getting the cupcakes for them.
"You're quite amazing, Noah," Rachel smiled, picking up a spoon that was on the flat surface.
He smiled, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "thanks, I try," he smiled. "They don't have to be fancy, but that should be enough for the amount of cupcakes, so keep the snacking to a minimum," he looked at his sister with the last few words and went back to the counter.
While they decorated the cupcakes, Puck looked for a container to put them in and found one deep enough to get two layers in, but knew it wouldn't be enough, so he dug out a second one about the same size. Laying some parchment paper at the bottom, he filled up one layer and then stuck them in the fridge so the frosting could cool. The girls continued to frost them and when they finished, he was taking out the last batch. He let them set on the stove for a moment while he transferred the ones he'd been cooling to the girls.
As it got later, Deborah left with Arin after Puck promised to be home soon so he could get some sleep, but wanted to finish the cupcakes before leaving.
Rachel's dad's came into the kitchen while they were cleaning up, "Noah," David started and when the two turned to them, he took a deep breath, "we've been talking," he motioned between him and Alan, "and we've decided to, well, we trust that you won't abuse the privilege, and we'll rescind it if we notice it's a problem."
Alan pulled something silver from his pocket and tossed it across the kitchen to him and Puck reached his hand out to catch the silver object, now seeing it was a key. He studied it a moment and then looked up at them, "seriously?"
Alan nodded, "yes. There is no need for you to get up extra early just to get here before Rachel leaves so you can be here, so this way you can come over when you'd like to, but," he paused looking at both of them, "if either of you do something to loose our trust, we will ask for that back," he motioned to the key.
Puck held it tightly in his hand and nodded; he'd never been given something that important before and he knew he'd have to hold up his end of the deal, "I won't give you any reason, I promise," he told them, and meant every word.
The two men nodded, "good. Goodnight you two," David waved at them before heading upstairs, Alan following right behind him.
Puck stood with his hand clenched around the key like it was a precious stone and then looked at her, "did your dads just give me a house key?" He asked looking at her, "I mean, that just happened, right?" He looked down in his hand.
Rachel nodded, "they did and I didn't even ask them to, so you must be doing something right; they would never do something like that if they didn't trust you," she smiled.
Puck pulled her close, their lips locking in an intense kiss, while he held her against him, the key still held firmly in his hand. His mind was spinning in many directions at this gift, but what surprised him the most was that he wasn't thinking of sex with her as a major bonus to having her house key, though it did cross his mind as an option, but he quickly pushed it aside. Neither of them were ready for that and he was keeping his word to her fathers.
When they pulled away from the kiss, he pulled his keys from his sweatpants and found a good spot for it next to his house key and slipped it on before sliding them back into his pocket.
Rachel smiled as he put the key with his, both getting back to what they had been doing; cleaning up their mess from dinner and the cupcakes. He figured the last batch was cool to frost, so they quickly did that and added them to the second bowl in the fridge, now with two full bowls ready for the next day. He headed for the living room where his sweatshirt jacket was laying over a chair and put it on, "I should probably get home," he told her zipping up his jacket to see her frown, "I'll be back tomorrow," he added with a smile.
She nodded, slipping her arms around him, "call me when you get home," she said, "I want to know you got home alright," she whispered.
He held back a sigh and nodded, "alright, I'll call you when I get home," he muttered kissing her. "Good night Rach," he whispered as they pulled away.
"Goodnight Noah," she smiled, "will you be here before I go to school?" She asked.
"I don't know. Depends on how I sleep," he admitted, "I'll try, but if I don't, don't forget to take the cupcakes," he told her.
She nodded, "I won't."
With another kiss and hug, she let him go, waiting on the porch for his jeep to pull away from the curb before going inside and locking the door for the night.
As promised, when Puck was walking into his house, he called her, letting her know he'd gotten home safely. He knew why she was concerned about him getting home, and thought it was funny since they didn't live too far from each other; the chances of him getting into a car crash between her house and his were slim to none, but with some small dizzy spells he still got from the remains of his concussion, the chances were slightly larger that he could get into a crash. Rachel knew this and made sure she explained it to him before he started driving the first time since he had gotten hurt.
Hanging up his phone after a brief conversation with her, he went to his room and got ready for bed, replaying the days events over in his mind before drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face.
...
A/N4: When I started this chapter I didn't have a clue what I'd do and this is what came out. Wheels was a great episode, but I could have done without the Puck/Quinn stuff, but that's just me. Though I won't discuss everything that happened, look for a few surprises next chapter. :D Thanks again for reading!
A/N5: My brain has at least three chapters of a future-fic ready, but I haven't had the chance to type it up. I'm not quite sure if I want to post it while I'm still working on 'Out of the Blue,' but I'll figure it out once I get a chance to type it up.