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: I had planned to make this completely AU after Mash-up, but now that I've seen Wheels and Ballads 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. (11/25/09: Saw Hairography and most of the topics don't pertain to my fic any more, so most of the story will be AU after it; but we'll see what the next two episodes bring.)
A/N3: The feedback is amazing! Thank you all for commenting/reviewing; it means a lot!
...
It took a few days, but the school's gossip mill had run out of news about the baby drama and slowly they stopped whispering in the hallway when one of the four teens would walk past.
Finn took a few days after the 'talk' in Ms. Pillsbury's office to cool off; he was still pissed, but as the week progressed, he started talking to Puck and Quinn again.
Brittany's dad, Dr. Stevens, released Puck from light duty, but told him to take it easy for a while before he got back to any super heavy lifting. Puck past the news onto Kurt's dad and he started work on Saturday.
Rachel and Quinn started out hardly speaking; Quinn spending most of her time at the Berry's in her room, but as the days progressed, the two were talking more and Quinn would watch TV in the living room or the two would bicker about what movie to watch.
Rachel missed her boyfriend. He'd only been working at the garage for a few days, but she had hardly seen him; he'd worked both Saturday and Sunday, with Monday off because of Glee practice after school. She saw him for a few hours before he had to go get Arin, and she hadn't seen him since except during school when he'd walk her to and from class or during lunch.
Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, Rachel felt like she was running a marathon. School had only been a half day, but she had a whole list of groceries to pick up for dinner. Her dad's had given her the list, a lot longer than the lists they usually had for the holiday, but she didn't think much of it, so her and Quinn went shopping after school.
Quinn pushed the basket following Rachel around the store and as Rachel would put something in the basket, Quinn would cross it off the list; the store was pretty busy; half the town must have waited to get their Thanksgiving dinner ingredients that day, too.
She was almost at 16-weeks along and even though the morning sickness was wearing off, the cravings were getting worse. While Rachel stuck to the items on the list, with a few 'logical' extras, Quinn was the one adding the 'looked good' items to the basket.
"I just wish I knew how many people we were having over," Rachel huffed, "this makes me think more than the four of us," Rachel added looking over the basket that was almost full and they had only gotten about three-quarters of the list finished.
"Well, isn't Puck and his family coming over?" Quinn asked.
Rachel stopped and turned to look at Quinn, "I don't know. He won't give me an answer. Every time I bring up Thanksgiving, he changes the subject. I hoped he and his mom and sister would come over, but now, I don't know."
"Oh, well, Finn and his mom are going up to Cleveland to his aunt's house, so I won't see him. If you don't see Puck, I know how you feel," Quinn told her.
Rachel nodded, and the two continued on shopping. Some of the items on the list they couldn't find, so they had to make another stop at the other grocery store in the area to get the last few items. It was close to dinner time, so with the money they had left over, they stopped got Chinese take out and Rachel went overboard, hoping for left overs in case Noah and his family came over that night.
Getting back to the house, the girls made several trips in and out of the house, taking in the groceries. Quinn finally stopped on her last trip and sat down, "I know we usually eat when your dad's get home, but I'm hungry," she commented.
"I am too," Rachel admitted and the set all the take out boxes on the counter and filled a plate each and sat down at the island to eat.
As Rachel ate, she looked around the kitchen and laughed a little. The counters and island were piled with bags of groceries while the turkey her dad had gotten the day before was sitting in water in the sink, "I have no clue where all of this is going to go," Rachel shook her head.
Quinn laughed, "same here. I've never seen so many things for a dinner before in my life."
"We have never gone this crazy over Thanksgiving, but it's usually just my dads and I," Rachel admitted, "I had hoped this year would be different; I mean it is, because you'll be here, just would be nice to spend it with Noah, too."
The other girl shrugged, "yeah, I know, but there's always Christmas," she told her standing up, but paused, "oh wait, you celebrate Chanukah, don't you?"
"Well, we celebrate both. The Festival of Lights is always before Christmas, so we do that, but hold off on the gift giving until Christmas," she admitted.
"What's the Festival of Lights?"
"Oh, that's what Chanukah means," she told her, "thank you for reminding me; I need to ask Noah what they celebrate," she added.
Putting their dishes in the dishwasher, the two girls began to unpack the groceries, hoping to find a home for them so when Rachel's dad's got home the kitchen wasn't a total mess. While they were putting things up, the front door opened and Rachel assumed it was her dads, but when no one appeared and she didn't hear any voices, she got a little concerned and stepped into the dinning room where she had a view of the door. Nothing seemed out of place and she almost thought she imagined the door opening, but then her eyes landed on what looked like a pink blanket rolled up. She stepped further towards the item and realized it was a sleeping bag and saw a purple backpack and a familiar duffel bag.
As it registered that the items belonged to Arin and Noah, she heard someone clear their throat and she whipped around as he spoke, "looking for someone?"
"Noah!" Rachel exclaimed running towards him and jumping into his arms.
Puck laughed a little at her reaction, but gladly accepted her in his arms, "gee, I just saw you at school like what? Six hours ago?" he grinned, pulling away lightly to place a kiss on her lips.
"But I didn't think I'd see you for the holiday! You kept changing the subject whenever I'd ask," she replied.
"Your dads, my mom and I have had Thanksgiving planned since I got hurt," he laughed, "who do you think gave your dad the shopping list? I kept changing the subject because I wanted to surprise you," he told her, a smile on his face.
Rachel smiled brightly and hugged him again, "you're staying the night? You gave them the list? You've had this planned?"
He nodded, "Yes, yes and yes," he pressed another kiss to her lips before moving into the kitchen where his sister was already eating. "When your dads realized I could cook they asked if I knew how to do a Thanksgiving dinner. Told them I'd done the holiday cooking for a few years, so they asked me to do it here. Invited us over, so it'll be the eight of us," he commented.
Rachel thought for a moment; with Quinn, her dads, Noah, Deborah, Arin and herself, that made seven people, "eight people?"
He shrugged, "there's someone coming over tomorrow. We're staying tonight so I can get an early start on dinner tomorrow," he told her.
"You don't have to work?" She asked.
Puck shook his head, "no. Burt closed early and won't be open again until Saturday. We are pretty slow right now," he told her, "I worked for a few hours to finish up some jobs, went and got Arin; showered, we packed and here we are. You've got me until Saturday morning, if you want me," he grinned pressing another kiss to her lips before getting food of his own.
Quinn snickered at his comment, "she misses you."
Rachel blushed and ducked her head.
He slid onto a stool and dug into his food, but glanced over at her, easy to see she was embarrassed. "Hun, I haven't even worked for a whole week yet," he laughed, "and you know I've got to do this."
Rachel moved over to him, "I know; I just got used to you being here that I kind of forgot that it wouldn't always be like that," she sighed, "but I'm glad you're here for a few days," she admitted slipping an arm around his shoulders; giving him a quick hug, "you too Arin," she added, giving the girl quick hug before going back to help Quinn put things away.
Puck finished eating and got up, moving towards the sink and set his plate in it before moving over to where Rachel was standing, slipping his arms around her from behind. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before resting his chin on her shoulder, "aní ohév otákh," he whispered to her.
She stopped what she was doing at his words; not recognizing them, "what?" She asked turning in his arms to look up at him, "what does that mean?"
He smirked, "I guess for me to know and you to Goggle," he laughed stealing another kiss from her before slipping away to the sink again to check on the bird.
"What language is it?" She asked, following him curiously.
"I thought you were Jewish," Arin commented looking at Rachel.
"I am," Rachel said, "but I don't recognize the words."
Puck glared at his sister, but turned to her, "fine, the only hint you get is that it's Hebrew." He moved over to the counter by the phone and picked up a piece of paper and pen and wrote the words on it and handed it to her.
Rachel looked at the paper, her eyes scanning his scrawl before focusing on the letters he wrote, "I will definitely look this up later," she admitted.
"I'm sure you will," he smirked and headed to the fridge, trying to organize it.
"What are you doing?" She asked curiously.
"The turkey can't sit in the sink all night, so I'm clearing a spot for it in the fridge," he told her as he laid a towel on the bottom shelf of the fridge, drained the sink and carried the turkey to the fridge and put it in the place he'd found for it.
Quinn had moved into the living room with Arin after she'd put her dish in the sink, leaving the couple to themselves.
"Is there anything I can help with?" She asked, seeing he was moving around the kitchen looking at some of the things they'd gotten.
He paused and looked at her, "well, not going to do much tonight, but I'll be getting up kind of early to start cooking, so if you want to help, you can," he smiled.
"I'd like that," she admitted, slipping her arms around his waist, "you're always surprising me, Noah," she replied.
"I hope that's a good thing," he told her, hugging her tightly. He could hide his feelings better than she could, but he did miss spending time at the house with her, but for him; even though they weren't together much, they were always a phone call or text message away. "You know I'll always come over if you ask," he whispered, "if you need anything, I'm there."
Rachel's eyes had drifted closed as she relaxed against his chest, but at his words she opened them to look up at him; he'd never actually said anything like that before, but she knew he meant it, "I do now," she admitted, "I thought so, but it's nice to hear."
Standing in the middle of the kitchen together, they were content to be there, even after her dad's arrived home.
The young couple was inseparable the rest of the night, sitting on the couch together as they watched Grease. Arin had never seen it before and though it was one of Rachel's movies, Quinn agreed it was good, so Arin gave in and sat on the floor to watch it.
"We should all sleep down here," Rachel commented during the movie.
"Where did that come from?" Puck asked from beside her.
She shrugged; the scene where the 'Pink Ladies' and Sandy were having a sleep over had passed and she'd gotten the idea, "well, you're going to be up early, so why not? Watch some more movies, popcorn; come on it'll be fun," she said.
Quinn shrugged, "I guess that would be fun; I'm in," she said.
Arin laughed, "I was planning to sleep down here anyway, so sure."
The three girls turned to look at Puck, "fine," he groaned, "but I swear, no girl talk or I'm going upstairs."
"I never realized how much you two are like Sandy and Danny," Quinn said as the movie ended.
Puck smiled a little and looked at Rachel who had just put it together, "I guess we are," Rachel admitted.
"Except I'd never drive a car like that or race one," he commented, "not my thing."
"So a modern Danny," Quinn replied.
Rachel and Quinn went upstairs to get pillows and blankets and change into pj's while Puck made popcorn and Arin put in one of her movies. That was the deal; if she watched one of Rachel's they'd watch one of hers.
"I actually haven't seen this one yet," Arin said, "but mom got it for me when I saw it at the store a week or so ago," she told them, sitting down on her now laid out sleeping bag.
Quinn was laying on the couch, her comforter over her body and her head resting on a pillow, Puck was sitting on another couch, and Rachel was laying out, so her head was using his thigh as a pillow. "Let me see the case," Puck reached out for it and started laughing as he read it. "Oh this ought to be good," he shook his head.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"Nope, not saying, just going to have to see," he told her tossing the case back to his sister.
The movie started out with a band on stage, playing music, waiting for their lead singer to show up; everyone wondering where he was until he jumped out on stage and started singing. During the performance the crowd loved him, but the other band members were shaking their heads, pissed at him. After the song was over the four members were arguing outside the club and they fired him and his girlfriend, also in the band, broke up with him. A young bubbly girl saw the whole thing and as soon as the band had left him in the alley, she started in on him, trying to get him to join her 'group' as a male lead singer. She talked him into coming to a 'showcase' at the local fair and as he reluctantly arrived, he found a very flashy dressed group of kids singing 'Eye of the Tiger' on the stage. That was the group she wants him to join; her show choir.
"Oh my God," Rachel muttered as they watched the performance.
Puck patted Rachel's shoulder and continued to watch the movie.
'Spectacular!' is a movie about a high school show choir who needs a male lead singer to help them win nationals against their rival. The guy, Nikko, joins only because the leader, Courtney, promised him half of the prize money, which is just what Nikko needs to pay for a demo CD. Slowly learning the dance routines, he tries to help the club realize they don't always have to be so stiff in dancing, and gets them to show off some of their talents to create a great dance number to surprise Courtney with, but it backfires when she thinks he is trying to take the club from her and then she tells them he's just using them for the prize money she promised him; even though it wasn't her money to give out. Trying to make amends, the two 'leaders' agree they need a new song and the advisor helps them find a song that the judges might be familiar with, but hasn't been used a lot. They put their heart and soul into the song and just days before Nationals, Nikko gets his chance to record a demo, on the same day as he's supposed to be performing at Nationals, making him choose between two things he wants.
As the movie ended, the three Glee club members were exchanging glances. "If that wasn't the freakiest thing I've ever seen, I don't know what is," Puck admitted rubbing his head as he sat forward on the couch.
"I think it was cool!" Arin grinned.
"You would; but we're living it," Puck told her, motioning between Rachel, Quinn and himself.
"How much like Nikko are you?" She asked.
"A lot," Quinn and Rachel commented.
"Thanks girls," he rolled his eyes and got up, heading for the kitchen.
The three girls began talking about music and Rachel even started writing songs down to mention to Mr. Schuester.
Since the kids had taken over the TV downstairs, Rachel's dad's had been up in their room, but after the movie ended, David came downstairs to find Puck in the kitchen, "forgot to tell you there are going to be two others here tomorrow," he commented.
"Okay, who?"
David leaned forward and whispered who it was, "are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, how much does she know?"
"Everything," David said, "goodnight," he told him and went into the living room to say goodnight the girls before going back upstairs.
Puck groaned and grabbed bottles of water before returning to find the coffee table had been moved and the couch cushions were laid out on the floor, making like a large mattress. Rachel was laying near one couch with room for him between, Quinn was laying closer to another couch and Arin was between the two girls, "this is interesting," he commented.
Rachel patted the cushions next to where she was, "it's comfortable," she told him.
"Hang on, I've got to change," he told her, grabbing his duffel bag and heading upstairs to change into sweats and a t-shirt. He returned to the living room and looked at Rachel, "somehow I feel like this is one of those things your dads mentioned in the whole loosing the key deal," he admitted, crossing his arms over his chest.
It was Rachel's turn to roll her eyes, "Noah, be serious; like anything would happen," she told him.
"Fine, but I'm blaming you if they're pissed about this in the morning," he murmured sliding down next to her and tugging his own comforter over his body.
"They won't be," she told him.
"If you say so," he replied, scooting closer to her and slipping an arm around her waist. "Night girls."
"Night," Quinn replied glancing over at them to see Arin was already a sleep.
Rachel smiled, "night," she replied to Quinn before twisting a little, "love you, Noah."
"I love you, too, Rach, see you in the morning," he told her, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
As the teens settled into sleep for the night, Puck's mind was running a mile-a-minute. His nerves were on high and he hadn't admitted to anyone that he'd had a hard time sleeping the past few week because of dreams he kept having, but he hoped they would go away for a few days so he could get some rest.
Feeling a blanket being thrown over him, he jumped up, seeing Alan standing over him, "oh, hi," he murmured.
"You okay?" He asked noticing the look on his face.
"Uh, yeah, just can't seem to get any decent sleep lately so I've been jumpy."
"I see that," he laughed a little; "go back to sleep. It's only four."
"Oh, um," Puck glanced at Rachel and back at her dad.
Alan rolled his eyes, "it's fine," he said heading back upstairs.
Puck watched him walk away and scrubbed his hands over his face before tugging the blanket back and settling where he had been, his arm around Rachel's waist, his head sharing the pillow she was using. He closed his eyes, hoping to get a few more hours in before his phone's alarm went of.
Feeling like he has just closed his eyes, the annoying beep of his alarm went off and he reached up and grabbed his phone from where it was sitting on the couch arm and turned it off. The three girls continued to sleep, so he carefully slipped from beside Rachel and got up, heading upstairs to shower and get dressed before returning to find them still in dream land. With a smirk he went into the kitchen, now about 7:30 in the morning and he got started.
Wishing he had organized everything the night before, he took almost a half an hour to find everything he needed. He started out with a few things that took several steps to get done and was glad that they had enough cookware for a large meal because he'd need them to make sure dinner was at a normal time. While he was in the middle of something he turned to see Arin walking into the doorway, "hey sis."
"How long have you been up?" She asked.
"Couple hours," he shrugged.
She nodded, still half asleep, but this time didn't ask for breakfast. She went to the fridge and got the milk and cereal from the pantry that they kept there now and once she took the bowl and spoon from her brother, she took a seat at the island and ate, watching him dash around the kitchen.
Puck liked to make some things from scratch, so he was busy. Things were working out and as the oven preheated, he headed to the freezer. He had the girls pick up some frozen pies that needed to be cooked early so they could set and cool, so he slid those into the oven on cookie sheets while he continued cooking.
He didn't realize his sister had gone from the kitchen, until she returned dressed for the day with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, "what can I help with?" She asked.
He eyed her like he didn't know her, "you want to help?"
She shrugged, "well, it's not like you're cooking for just you, mom and me, so I'm sure it'll be harder, so I want to help."
Puck smiled and her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "thanks. My other help is apparently still asleep," he commented.
Arin nodded with a laugh and accepted the two bags of corn he wanted her to clean and headed for the garbage to start work on them.
In between cooking, he'd thrown on a pot of coffee, surprised it was now after nine and the rest of the house was still asleep. Focusing back on dinner, he continued cooking, glancing at Arin to keep an eye on her while he worked. She was used to her brother cooking dinner, but he never acted as jumpy as he was at that time, "Noah, are you alright?" She asked.
Puck stopped moving, "huh?"
"You're not acting normal, which is saying a lot because you didn't even act like this when you were high on pain killers," she commented.
"Oh," he shrugged, "I'm fine."
"Sure you are," she said looking at him, "I'm ten, not stupid. I know you."
Puck sighed, sitting down next to his sister, "I'm just tired. I'm having a hard time sleeping."
"Tell mom," she told him.
"No," he shook his head, "it's nothing, I'm just having a rough couple weeks, it'll go away," he told her getting up and stepping into the dinning room to see into the living room. Rachel was laid on her back, still asleep and Quinn was curled up, also asleep and he shook his head, "we all went to sleep at like the same time last night, right?" He asked his sister trying to change the subject.
"Uh huh," she nodded, glaring at him. "Noah, don't change the subject."
"What do you want me to say?"
"Talk to mom," she told him.
"Fine! If I'm still having a hard time sleeping I'll talk to her," he said heading to the oven to take the pies out before getting ready to put the turkey in.
He dug out a broiler pan and set it on the counter, spraying it with non-stick cooking spray before getting the foil and a pot out of the cupboard and added it to the counter where he'd be working. Cutting open the bag, he let the juices drain out.
"Ewe, that's gross!" Arin exclaimed seeing his hand inside the turkey.
"Well, how else am I going to get this out?" He asked, tugging out the insides the company always bagged up and put inside.
Arin jerked away from him, "Noah!"
He rolled his eyes, putting the insides into the pot and then lifted the 25-pound bird onto the tray. With it on the pan, he took a second to wash out the sink and his hands before continuing; covering the turkey with foil, filling the second layer of the tray with water and sliding the pan and turkey into the oven.
With the turkey in, some of the dishes done or in the middle of being done, he headed into the living room and was surprised both girls were still asleep. He debated on being mean, but chose to be nice; it was a holiday after all, so he laid down between them on the cushions and brushed a strand of hair from Rachel's face and then put that hand on her shoulder, "Rach, it's after ten, when are you getting up today?" He asked softly.
Rachel's eyes flew open at his words, "oh my God!" She exclaimed sitting up quickly.
Hearing Rachel freak out, Quinn stirred with a groan, so he moved to Rachel, "calm down, babe, just a question," he told her softly.
"What time is it?" Quinn asked softly.
"After ten," Puck said standing up, "while you two have been snoozing, Arin and I have been cooking," he commented with a grin, heading off to the kitchen again, checking on Arin and picking up where he'd left off.
Both teen girls moved into the kitchen to see just what was going on and realized they had missed a lot. Quinn headed upstairs to shower, but Rachel hung back, looking around. Pies were done; she knew the turkey was in from the remains of the bag in the garbage, there were dishes sitting aside waiting to go in the oven and they were both working on something, "oh my God, Noah, Arin, this is incredible," she murmured moving over to hug Arin briefly before going over to him and wrapping her arms around him.
"Thanks," he smiled returning her hug.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Rachel asked.
"I assumed since you got up early every morning that you'd be up early today," he shrugged, "no big deal, but didn't figure you or Quinn would want to sleep all day. Besides, I'm sure your dads will want their living room put back together before guests arrive around two," he told her.
Rachel's eyes widened, "Two?" She exclaimed, not waiting for confirmation before running upstairs to get ready.
Puck laughed at her reaction and went back to work when David came downstairs, "oh, it smells great down here," he commented, entering the kitchen.
"Thanks, David," Puck commented sitting down at the island for a break.
"Alan forgot to set our alarm. Sorry we didn't get up earlier to help," he told him.
Puck shrugged, "it's alright. Arin and I had it covered. Rachel and Quinn just got up," he laughed.
"They slept in too?"
"Yeah, but it's all good. Things are getting there," Puck promised looking up to see Alan come into the kitchen.
After greetings, the men found something to eat and the girls came down shortly after, everyone settling into coffee and a late breakfast. Puck had turned on the TV in the living room to the Dallas Cowboys football game, listening to it from the kitchen while he cooked. Everyone started to help, once he passed on jobs to them and Deborah arrived about 1:30, and just after two the doorbell rang and Alan moved to get it. He returned a few moments later with Mr. Schuester right behind him.
"Mr. Schuester," Rachel hopped up, "I didn't know you were coming over."
He laughed a little, "I know. It's Will outside of school," he added, glancing at his three students, surprised to find Puck at the stove and oven.
"It's easier to just leave him alone," Deborah commented to Will.
"I heard that," Puck turned around and waved at him briefly, "I knew he was coming, so not so surprised; hey Will," he added going back to what he was doing.
"Hey everyone," Will nodded to the rest.
The adults moved into the living room, leaving Quinn, Rachel and Arin in the kitchen with Chef Puck. He had taken the turkey out and was in the process of making gravy and putting things into the oven to warm them before he looked at the girls. "Are there places on the table for hot stuff?" Puck asked.
"Yeah, why?"
The girls had already set the table, so Puck, between watching the gravy, took a few things out of the oven with mitts and headed for the table, finding spots for them so he had more room. The rolls were already on the table, he'd just put the stuffing and green bean casserole on the table, the mashed potatoes went next and so did the squash and yams; returning to the kitchen as the doorbell rang again.
None of the girls moved to answer it, but as the door opened, he assumed someone got it, knowing their last guests had arrived. "You probably want to go to the door," he told Quinn.
"Me? Why?" She asked.
Rachel looked up just as Puck said that and tapped Quinn on her shoulder, pointing to where Finn was entering the house, his mom with him. Quinn's eyes widened and she hopped up and ran to him, almost knocking him over since he didn't expect it. Rachel watched the scene and moved over to her boyfriend, looking at him, "you knew?"
"Yeah, well your dad told me last night. I'm assuming he's had that planned for as long as he had planned to have Mr. Schuester, eh, Will coming over," he replied with a grin.
She smiled brightly and hugged him, not caring if he was busy. Puck laughed a little, but hugged her back with one arm, his other hand busy with the gravy, "Happy Thanksgiving, Rach," he whispered in her ear.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Noah," she replied stepping away.
Quinn and Finn entered the kitchen and Finn stopped short of the sight; it wasn't Rachel and Puck hugging that surprised him; it was Puck cooking. "Don't say anything," Quinn told him, "or he'll blow a gasket," she said.
"I heard that Quinn," Puck commented turning around to his friend, "hey man, what's up?"
"Not much," Finn replied. "So I found out like last night, apparently my mom has had this planned for a while," he commented.
"Well it's a shock to me," Rachel admitted giving Finn a quick hug before digging out the salad and deviled eggs from the fridge to put them on the table.
Puck was almost done and put the last few items aside from the turkey on the table and returned to the kitchen. He took the punch bowl he'd set aside and got some things out. He set two bottles each of 7-up and Hawaiian Punch soda on the island next to the punch bowl and then got the two ice cream boxes from the freezer. "Ice cream in first, then pour the bottles over it; just go slow so it doesn't fizz up too much and you may want to break the ice cream apart a little," he commented motioning towards Quinn and Finn.
He was almost done with things and put the last bowl on the table, knowing there wasn't enough room to cut the turkey there, so he turned to everyone, "alright. There isn't enough room to carve the bird at the table so I'm just gonna cut the thing up now," he told the adults, waiting for any objections, "hey Mrs. Hudson," he smiled at her.
"That's just fine," David told him.
Puck nodded and headed back into the kitchen and got Rachel to help him with the turkey until it was finally taken apart enough to take the serving platter into the dinning room. It was the last thing to go on the table and he finally turned to them, "alright, dinner is ready. Drinks in the kitchen," he said heading for the kitchen. He put glasses on the table and had Quinn get the bottles of sparking apple cider out in case anyone wanted some. He filled up his glass with punch and headed for the table, taking his usual spot.
Everyone else began to filter in, taking seats at the table, until everyone was seated. Though they usually didn't say a prayer over a meal, it was Thanksgiving, so they all joined hands and David lead a simple prayer before everyone started passing around what they could or dishing out things to everyone. Puck felt successful as he got compliments from everyone about his dinner and he was proud of himself as he tasted things; everything turned out great.
Partially through dinner, David suggested they all mention something they were thankful for. Puck listened to everyone; Will was thankful to be teaching, Rachel's dad's were happy for their daughter being happy, Quinn was glad her and Finn were able to make up, Finn's mom and Deborah both were thankful for their children being happy and Arin was thankful to have her mom and big brother.
Finn and Puck had avoided speaking, but they were suckered into saying something, so Finn just said, "my friends and family," he shrugged looking around at everyone and squeezing Quinn's hand.
Puck hadn't thought much about answering that question, but he'd found a lot of things in the past few months to be thankful for. "You want the whole list or just one?" He asked glancing around.
"As much as you want to say," Rachel said looking at him.
He smiled and took a deep breath, "being alive is probably on the top of the list," he admitted, "mom and Arin for being there for me and supporting me. Rachel, for knocking some sense into me and being an amazing girlfriend and friend," he smiled at her and squeezed her hand, and then looked to Alan and David, "I'm thankful to finally being able to say I have fathers to look up to and for letting me date your daughter." Alan and David silently nodded at him, smiling. Puck returned their smile and glanced around, "Mrs. Hudson, you've always been like a second mom to me. Mr. Schuester, thanks for talking to the football team about needing guys in Glee club, because if I hadn't joined I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now," he glanced at Rachel and then turned to Finn and Quinn, "Finn we've been brothers for 12 years and I'm thankful we still are and Quinn," he paused and looked at her, "we've had our differences, but I'm glad you finally see who I am and are letting me be a father," he finished.
Deborah and Quinn both wiped there eyes, affected by his words. He has said many times that he wasn't one to talk about his feelings, but given the holiday and the events of the last few weeks, he was very thankful for the nine people sitting around him who would be there for him every step of the way, supporting him and eventually his daughter.
...
A/N4: Yep, the movie they watched is Spectacular! It's put out by Nickelodeon and is pretty much Glee in movie format; with a few extra things added in there. It came out back in February and I got it a few weeks ago, but didn't watch it until the other night; it's great!
A/N5: What Puck told Rachel, in Hebrew, is a real phrase, but it's written out phonetically because I couldn't use the Hebrew symbols. For now, it'll be a secret, LOL, because I have plans for that in the next chapter.
A/N6: My dad just got home a little while ago from being in the hospital for 9 days. He's doing better, but weak; so it's still a battle, but things are looking up. :)