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: Sectionals was amazing! I loved it! This story is mostly AU after Mash-up, but with some of the topics discussed in the later episodes, I may sneak in a conversation or cover the same topic, but I will put my own twist on it.
A/N3: With all the stuff I'm going through right now, it's so wonderful to see all the positive feedback; it's keeping me going, so keep the feedback coming. Thank you all so much! :D
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A/N4: Last chapter, I had this line: Quinn scanned the screen before speaking "Finn says, 'be back in a while. Puck promises not to drive us off a cliff.' That's not very comforting," Quinn murmured glancing up at Rachel.
Someone asked me who sent the text, so to clear that up if anyone else had the same question ~ Finn sent the text to Quinn. Deborah had taken Puck's phone to talk to his dad on, so he didn't have his phone.
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"Does it seriously have to snow every time I'm here?" Finn asked with a sigh, looking at his mom as if begging to stay.
Carole laughed at her son, but turned to Quinn, "Quinn, would you like to come over for a few nights?" She asked knowing why Finn didn't want to leave.
Quinn looked at Carole and then at Rachel's dads, "can I?"
"Of course, if you'd like to," Alan nodded.
"Um, yeah," Quinn smiled, "let me go pack some stuff," she said, heading for the stairs.
The next day would be quiet, even though it was Christmas Eve and Finn and his mom were coming back over on Christmas morning for brunch and then dinner, so Quinn leaving the Berry's for a few nights would give her some alone time with Finn and she wouldn't miss anything.
While Quinn packed, everyone found seats on the couches, relaxing from the eventful day, "mom, where's my phone?" Puck asked remembering he had left her with it.
"Oh yeah," Deborah reached in her pocket and tossed the phone over to him. "I had to turn it off, it almost died when I was talking to your dad," she said causally.
"You say that like you've talked to him before," he commented looking at his phone before slipping it into his pocket.
Deborah bit her lip, "well, that's because I have," she replied softly.
"WHAT?" Puck exclaimed as his blood began to boil, "and you didn't tell me? WHY?"
Arin, who was sitting next to her mom on the couch, jumped at his outburst and Deborah glanced at her before turning back to her son, "because I knew you'd react this way," she calmly stated, "he found me on MySpace a couple years ago and wrote to me. I added him as a friend so he could look at my pictures to see his kids. He is living somewhere up north and has been sending some money when he can. Where else do you think I got the money to buy your jeep when you turned sixteen?" She asked carefully.
"Wait a second!" Puck snapped, standing up and beginning to pace, "you're telling me for the last, what? Two years you've been talking to our dad and never once thought you should tell me? Us? How in the hell did you manage to keep us from finding the money from him?" He stopped his pacing to glare at her.
"It doesn't come to our house," she commented, "I gave him Mrs. Morgan's address to use, so that way I got it and you wouldn't see it," she explained, "he never calls the house, only my cell phone, but I gave him yours in case he couldn't get me on my cell or at home. I turned my phone off today so I didn't get interrupted by someone from work, and when he couldn't reach me at home, he got worried, so he called the last number he had. He was going to just ask for me and say he was friend, but when he heard you, it startled him."
"My voice startled him? How the fuck do you think I felt when I realized who I was talking to?" He hissed.
"Noah, sit down," she was staring at him, but when he didn't move, she stood up, stepped towards him, "SIT DOWN." She said again, this time her voice thick with emotion. She never commanded him to do anything, but hearing her tell him to sit, Puck realized she was not in the mood to argue, so he quickly sat back down next to Rachel.
Deborah calmed down and sat back in her seat, continuing with her story, "when he found me on MySpace, I added him, but didn't do anything else. He wrote me several times and all the messages were telling me how sorry he was, how he had grown up and thought of us daily and wished he could just talk to me to know we were alright. After the fourth message in less than two months, I finally got the courage to write back. I told him we were alright, but things could be better and that's when he told me he had job and could send us money. I didn't want to accept it, but I did, putting it away for emergencies and I knew you were getting close to needing a car, so it worked out. He's still single, no kids, just working," she shrugged, "he loves you both and would like to someday be able to meet you guys," she paused seeing Quinn had entered the living room, "and his granddaughter," she added softly.
Finn and his mom had witnessed the whole exchange and Finn knew what his friend was thinking, "remember what I told you in the car? Just be lucky he can call, because if I had the chance, I'd take it in a heartbeat," he said.
Puck met his friends eyes and studied him, but nodded in understanding. He then turned to look at his mom, but just rubbed his hands over his face, unable to come up with anything to say.
"Noah, I know you're hurt by what he did, and you have every right to be, but the reason I never told you is because I didn't believe he would keep talking to me. I figured he'd find out what he wanted and then be gone, but he's steadily kept money coming and he truly is sorry. He wishes he could take back what he did, but he can't. He knows you hate him and his daughter doesn't even know him, but he does want to have a relationship with both of you, even if it's just an e-mail here and there. I've been stalling because I didn't know how to talk to you about this without you blowing up and running off, but now it's out in the open. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
In all the years since his dad left, Puck never once thought about his dad coming back into his life; he literally had written him off as dead, just like he had told Finn in the jeep earlier that night. Now that he was being offered a chance to know his father, he was stunned and confused; he hated him for what he had done, but his mom seemed to think he deserved a second chance. "If he wants to talk to me it'll be on my terms," Puck finally said with a sigh.
The entire room turned to stare at him, but Deborah nodded, looking at him hopeful, "what are your terms?" She asked calmly.
He took a moment to think and then replied, "we can email first and see how things go, then I'll maybe talk to him on the phone and I'll think about meeting him in person."
She nodded, smiling at him, "he'll be happy to hear that," Deborah said softly, "that's a great start."
Puck nodded, "yeah, I guess," he shrugged. Finn would never get a chance to meet his dad since he was really gone and Puck finally got the clue that he was lucky he could have a chance to know his father, but he was nervous about what would come from this. "I'm going to bed," he said standing up and nodding at everyone before going up to his room; he needed to think and relax.
As he went upstairs, Finn, Carole and Quinn gathered up their jackets and said goodbye to everyone, promising to be back around ten Christmas morning. Quinn offered her room to Deborah so she didn't have to sleep on the couch while she was gone, and Deborah accepted the offer. Arin went up and got ready for bed while Deborah, Rachel and her dads cleaned up a few messes from the party before going upstairs for the night.
Arin was already in her sleeping bag for the night when Rachel came into her room, so she carefully walked to her closet and got her pajamas and changed quickly in her bathroom. Putting her dirty clothes in the basket, she sat on the edge of her bed for a moment, wondering if she should check on Noah. She hadn't spoken to him since their hug and she wanted to, so she quietly went into his room without even knocking and saw him fully clothed, laying on his bed, his wallet out next to him with a piece of paper in his hand. She stepped closer and realized he was asleep, but curiosity got the best of her and sat down on the edge of the bed to look closer at the paper he seemed to have griped in his hand. As she focused in the dim light, she realized the paper was actually a picture.
He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until he felt the bed dip under someone sitting on the edge and he opened his eyes enough to see Rachel, "hey."
Rachel's attention turned to him, "hey. I didn't mean to wake you up."
He shrugged, glancing down to see how he was laying, "it's alright. Needed to get into bed anyway," he said.
"Noah, are you alright?" She asked quickly.
He shifted to sit up a little more noticing the the photo in his hand, so he passed it to her, "I don't know how I am right now," he admitted.
Rachel took the photo and studied it. The edges were worn and the color was starting to fade as if it had been in his wallet for some time. Her eyes focused on who was in the picture, the woman she recognized immediately as Deborah, but the other two, she didn't know right away. The boy between the two adults had a mass of brunette curls, but his eyes gave him away; Noah. She smiled up at him and looked into those same eyes staring back before she turned back to the photo looking at the last person, now realizing he was his father. If she was shown just the older man, at first glance, she would have thought her boyfriend; the man looked just like him with the broad shoulders, muscular arms and a shaved head, but studying him more, she saw that even though their build was the same, he had more of his mom's facial features and the same eyes.
"That was taken just before I started kindergarten. Before everything happened," he explained softly.
She glanced at the photo one last time before setting it aside and moving his wallet so she could lay down next to him, "a lot has happened today," she started.
"That's the understatement of the year," he murmured slipping his arms around her body.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.
"What is there to say? I still hate him, but if mom is willing to talk to him and she seems to think he's cool, I trust her. I never once thought about him coming back into my life; he was dead to me until a few hours ago. It's just a lot to deal with," he whispered.
Rachel nodded, "I understand."
Puck looked at her, his eyes burning, "how could you possibly understand what I'm feeling right now?" He didn't want to be mean, but he didn't think she could.
She knew why he said that, so she didn't take it to heart, but calmly explained, "the surrogacy contract my dads signed means I can't look for my birth mom."
His eyes widened in shock, "I thought you were adopted."
She shook her head, "no, one of my dads is biologically my father, but we don't know which one. They chose to have a surrogate, which meant once I was born, she was gone and I'll never know her. They know about her, but I don't want to; as far as I'm concerned she is dead to me," she paused, "this is a big deal, Noah, and I hope someday that you will be able to have a relationship with him."
"Someday, maybe," he whispered, shifting to stand up and undress. Rachel slid off the bed long enough to pull the blankets back and as she settled under them, he joined her, laying on his back before turning his head to her, tears filling his eyes as he looked at her, "I'm so confused," he murmured, breaking down again; this time he wasn't a seventeen year-old with a child on the way; he was the six year-old boy in the picture, confused at why his dad left.
Rachel's heart shattered as he broke apart in front of her, but she shifted closer and wrapped her arms around him as he cried, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek, "it's going to be alright, Noah, we're going to get through this together; you're not going to be alone," she promised.
His arms tightened around her body, and though his sobbing started to subside, he still hurt, but having her with him made things seem better, "Rachel, I love you, so much. I don't know how I deserve you, but I'm never letting you go," he murmured through tears.
She reached up and wiped his eyes before pressing a kiss to his lips, "I love you, too," she replied, grinning, "and I'm also holding you to that, Noah Puckerman," she whispered against his lips before kissing him again.
As she deepened the kiss, he couldn't help the thoughts that flashed through his mind, "did I just propose to her? Did she just accept?" Puck grinned against her lips as they pulled away, one of his hands reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her eyes, "Rachel Puckerman," he smiled, "I like it."
"Rachel Marie Puckerman," she corrected, a grin on her face.
Hearing her add in, what he assumed was her middle name, he eyed her, "your middle name is Marie? Damn, so is my sisters; well she got it from my mom, but I didn't know you had the same one," he laughed lightly at the discovery.
"I was shocked when Mr. Schuester called your mom by her first and middle name," she replied, laying her head on his chest, "you feel better?" She asked softly.
He brushed his hand through her hair, "yeah, a little. It still hurts, but maybe this is a good thing," he shrugged gently so he didn't disrupt her, "I do miss him."
Rachel lifted her head and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "it is a good thing," she replied.
Nodding at her response, he shifted, trying to fight sleep, but with the events of the day he was exhausted both physically and mentally and all he wanted to do now was sleep.
"Good night, Noah," she whispered reaching for the blankets to pull them over their bodies.
"Night," he murmured, his body already drifting off.
Rachel glanced up at him as his eyes fell closed and she waited until his breathing had evened out before she rested her head back on his chest with her hand over his heart, letting herself nod off to dreamland.
Puck could faintly hear his mom asking for him to get up, but he just turned to his side and wrapped his arms around Rachel's warm body and drifted back to sleep, ignoring his mom's request.
Deborah moved further into the room and sat on the bed next to her son, "Noah, wake up."
Feeling the bed shift under her weight, Puck groaned and turned to her, "what?"
"I need you to move your jeep. I would, but I don't know where your keys are," she said.
Puck sighed and sat up, "what time is it?" He asked rubbing his eyes and turning to look at the clock. The red numbers displayed a time just before seven-thirty in the morning, "it's too early," he murmured.
"Not for me. David, Alan and I have been up since six," she explained standing up.
"Give me a few minutes," he groaned.
Nodding, Deborah left his room and disappeared, giving him a chance to get up.
Fully intending to go back to sleep after, he pulled the blankets back, which startled Rachel, "what's going on?" She asked quickly.
"I've got to move my jeep so mom can get her car out to go to work," he replied, looking for the jeans he wore the night before, knowing the keys were in one of the pockets.
Sitting up, Rachel nodded, "guess I'll get up, too," she whispered.
Puck shrugged as he found his keys. Slipping them into the pocket of the sweats he had on, he moved over to his Vans and slid them on and then grabbed a hoodie, "I'm probably going back to bed when I come in," he commented, moving around to her side of the bed, "you're welcome to stay," he added, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She smiled up at him and nodded, leaning back against the pillows to wait for him to return.
Smiling back at her, he silently left the room and trudged downstairs, still half asleep, but as he pulled open the front door, he was immediately hit with a blast of cold air, kick starting his senses. With a groan, he stepped outside; the grass had several layers of snow piled up on it and the sidewalk that he had cleared after the last snow fall was now covered with another six inches of snow, so he followed his mom's footsteps along the path and reached the driveway where his jeep was. Getting in he quickly started the engine and backed it out of the driveway and kept turning until he was lined up with the curb. He reversed until he was by the path to the front of the house and then parked, turning off the engine. Stepping back out into the cold, he locked his door and shut it, carefully walking along the slippery street until he climbed back up on the sidewalk and headed for the house. His mom was standing on the porch, "thank you, Noah," she said.
He nodded, "uh huh," he murmured, pausing to kiss her on the cheek, "see you tonight," he said before heading back inside. His shoes and sweats had snow on them, so he kicked off his shoes at the bottom of the stairs and went back up to his room. Rachel was right where she had been when he left, so he removed his sweats and tugged off his hoodie before sliding back under the blankets with her, "hey beautiful," he smiled laying on his side next to her, purposely slipping an arm around her body, making sure his cold hand teased the hem of her pajama shirt.
She gasped, "Noah," she shifted, giggling as his other hand found more bare skin on her stomach, "your hands are ice cold!"
"Stop squirming so I can warm them up," he smirked, leaning closer to press a kiss to her lips. "And it's warming up something else entirely," he groaned.
She gasped at his words, quickly realizing what he meant, "I'm so sorry, Noah," she froze, biting her lip nervously.
"Don't be," he murmured tugging her close to him, "it's a good thing, a very good thing," he whispered in her ear.
Relaxing slightly, she settled against him, feeling his reaction and couldn't help the faint groan escape her lips.
"Someday, Rach... Someday," he promised letting his eyes drift closed. He really wanted to be with Rachel that way, but he was also scared. Quinn's first time ever was with him and he got her pregnant; the odds were not in his favor, and the thought of getting Rachel pregnant, in high school, scared the crap out of him. He could see them having kids together later in life, but not in the very near future, especially now that she'd agreed to be mom to his daughter.
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A/N5: Another emotional part to write, but I hope everyone likes it. Some of this had been at the end of Part 20, but I wanted to get something posted, so I split up the chapters. Sorry it has taken so long to post something new, but the holidays have kicked my rear; so much to do and not a lot of time, so I'm writing as fast as I can, LOL. Let me know what you think. I struggled a lot with the conversations in this chapter. My best guy friend has been faced with Puck's dilemma so I'm trying to remember the conversations, and I hope it works.
A/N6: I hope to get 'Christmas Eve (Part 22)' and 'Christmas (Part 23)' posted before or just after the holiday, so look out for it. :)