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: Feedback is 3'd :D
...
The first night back at home, Rachel didn't get much sleep. Puck opted to stay home that night, and even though she wanted to stay, she and Quinn caught a ride home with her dads, so he didn't have to make a second trip.
Going to school, she parked close to her boyfriend's jeep and she and Quinn got out and walked inside, parting to go to their lockers. When she walked up to her own locker, Rachel found her boyfriend leaning against them, looking half asleep, but as soon as he saw her, he stood up straight and smiled, "morning babe."
"Good morning, Noah," she returned his smile.
Puck wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, "please tell me you couldn't sleep last night," he murmured, pressing a kiss to her lips.
"It was not easy to stay asleep," she replied moving one hand to unlock her locker.
"Sorry, I should have gone over to your place, it just, I don't know," he sighed.
"It's alright, Noah," she smiled, "you wanted to be home, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Come over tonight," he whispered, "stay over. I don't have to work today and I thought we could start cleaning," he smiled.
Rachel smiled, "I'd like that," she replied sliding her books into her locker and taking out the ones she needed for her first class.
Finn and Quinn were headed their way, so while Rachel was getting her books, Puck turned to them, "guys, you want to come start helping clean?" He asked.
"Sure," Finn nodded.
"I was going to stay over at Finn's tonight, so that works out," Quinn agreed.
"What does that mean?" Rachel asked slightly confused.
"We can walk to his house," Quinn said.
"Wait a second," Puck smirked, "you didn't know that Finn lives on my street?" Puck asked Rachel a laugh escaping his lips.
Rachel shook her head, "no I didn't."
"Three houses down," Finn replied.
Quinn laughed a little, "even I knew that, Rachel."
Rachel blushed, "I suppose it would make sense, but I just never needed to know."
Puck slipped his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead as she closed her locker, "that's what he meant yesterday when he said he probably had a lot of memories stored at the house, too."
It all made sense to Rachel now, though she didn't know she was missing information, but now finding out that Finn just lived a few houses down the road from Noah, the two boys' friendship got clearer and stronger to her. "I'm so glad they worked things out quickly when Finn found out about Abigail being Noah's," Rachel thought as the four began to walk to their first classes.
...
At lunch, Mike and Matt came up with an old yearbook, "what's with the old Thunderclap?" Puck asked, using the book's name.
The two boys exchanged glances and set the book down and slid it towards him, "we thought you'd like to see a picture of the nineteen-ninety and nineteen-ninety-one school year Glee Club," Matt grinned.
"Mr. Schuester was a Freshman, but you should look at the Juniors and Seniors," Mike commented.
Puck raised an eyebrow, but lifted the book so the light wasn't shining on the glossy pages and eyed them. Surprisingly, these pictures were not 'defaced' like some other years had been and his eyes scanned over the group photo and then the four smaller ones, seeing the Freshmen, Will standing with two guys and a girl. His eyes went to the Sophomore photos, not seeing anyone he recognized so he went to the Juniors, "yeah, my mom, I get that," he said, recognizing her right away.
"Look closer," Matt replied.
Puck looked closer as requested, trying to figure out just what he was talking about and then his eyes landed on two guys wearing Letterman's jackets. "No shit!" He stared at one of them, his eyes darting down to the names reading until he landed on "Ethan Ballard," mumbling the name out as Rachel looked over to the pictures.
"He never said anything about being in the Glee Club," Rachel commented.
"That's part of what we wanted to show you. Look at the Seniors before you say anything about being shocked your dad was in there," Matt said.
Puck's eyes trailed to the other photo and felt his stomach knot up, "fuck," he groaned dropping the book and pushing it away. Before anyone could react to him, he was grabbing his backpack and taking off from them.
"What did you guys do?" Rachel exclaimed looking at the two boys, grabbing the yearbook.
"We didn't do anything, we were just pointing out that the chick who came to help is out when you quit was a Senior when his parents were Juniors, so they knew her," Matt said, glancing back in the direction Puck had gone. "I didn't think he'd freak out like that."
Rachel reached over and grabbed the book, her and Finn quickly staring at the Seniors' photo and saw the short blond, "April Rhodes," Rachel muttered, a sigh escaping her lips.
"Oh no," Finn glanced up, "um, Rachel."
Rachel bit her lip and slammed the book shut, "did he... Do you know if..." She swallowed, unable to speak as she looked at Finn for any answer she could get.
"Probably," Finn said, "sorry," he murmured, unsure just what to say.
"What the fuck? Are you two stupid?" Mercedes snapped, standing up and slapping Matt in the back of the head before going around the table to Rachel.
Rachel stood and gathered her bag and threw it over her shoulder, "I just..." She shook her head and pushed past everyone, following the direction her boyfriend had taken.
"Did he know? Did he sleep with her? Damn it! I always knew this day could come," Rachel fought back the tears as questions and thoughts ran through her mind, "but why did it have to be her? Really? Maybe he didn't... Maybe he's just pissed because his parents would have known her... It was all before you! If you're supporting him after he was honest with you about Quinn then you have to support him through this... Just... Talk to him, but where is he?" She wiped her eyes and looked around to where her feet had taken her, the front of the school, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
"Looking for someone?"
Rachel jumped his words, but turned around, seeing him leaning against the wall, one of his feet pressed against it with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. "Noah-"
"I didn't sleep with her, if that's what you're going to ask, but it almost happened," he admitted flatly staring at the ground.
Rachel blinked her eyes, taking in what he said before stepping closer to him, "I wasn't going to, but I'm glad you told me," she whispered. "Want to talk about it?"
"I knew someday that I'd sleep with someone my mom knew, I just never expected that person to be her," he said softly, looking up to meet Rachel's eyes, "she... we made out and she... She went down on me... She wanted to meet after we performed, but... I couldn't... I had a feeling something was off and now I'm glad I didn't..." He trailed off, hoping she got the idea, but he looked away, ashamed.
Rachel dropped her bag next to where his backpack was laying and stepped forward, slipping her arms around his waist, looking up at him, "Noah, look at me," she said quietly, but her tone was serious.
At that moment, Puck didn't feel like he had the right to hug her, in fact, he was scared for what she would say, but he did look at her, staring into her eyes, waiting for something.
"I always knew this day would come. A day when somehow a cougar you slept with would appear and we'd have to deal with it. Though I did expect it to be a little further down the road. I figured you, Abigail and I would be shopping in a store and bump into them. There would be that awkward moment when you would try and explain who she was without explaining who she was, so this wasn't what I had in mind, but we're here, we've got to deal with it now," she whispered. Pausing a moment, she smiled, reaching up to brush a hand against his cheek, "I'm still here. I'd be a hypocrite if I accepted you and Quinn sleeping together and not this; it's just as bad, but it's in the past. I love you, Noah, and I knew all this before saying that and I still say it, so don't beat yourself up about this or worry that I'm breaking up with you."
Puck slowly removed his hands from his pockets and wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a tight embrace, "I love you, too, Rachel. Thank you," he murmured gently pulling back enough to look at her and brush a gentle kiss to her lips.
...
"This is going to take forever," Finn muttered, focusing on all the boxes, some cardboard and some plastic.
"With all of us it shouldn't take that long," Quinn admitted.
"But Deborah and Puck have the last say with what goes and doesn't so it's going to take forever," Finn groaned.
"Suck it up Hudson, you wanted to help," Puck pushed a box towards where Finn was.
Finn reluctantly sat down on one of the couches and tugged the box towards him. The rest of them got boxes and started to look through them. Rachel sat on the floor between two boxes and Puck was also on the floor next to a few, when Quinn said, "I've got all photo albums."
"Those are being kept," Deborah replied from across the room.
Puck picked up another box and replaced Quinn's with it before taking the photo albums and setting them aside in an area with the stuff they were keeping.
Quinn pulled the lid off the plastic box and gasped as soon as she saw what was on top, "oh my God," she murmured.
"What, what is it?" "Is it the baby? Are you alright?" "What happened?" Finn and Puck both rushed to her, freaking out.
"No you idiots, I'm fine," she rolled her eyes, nudging both of them away from her and stood up, leaning over to pick up the item that had gotten her attention. In her hands was an old but well preserved William McKinley High School Letterman's jacket.
"You found it," Deborah smiled, "I always knew that was around here somewhere. I never wanted to give it away; which means everything else in there is Ethan's so you probably won't need to go through any more of it. He can look through it when he's here."
"Dad's jacket," Puck said, reaching out to take it from her. He glanced at the size and smiled, slipping his arms into it and pulled it up on his shoulders, surprised that it fit like it was meant to, "wow," he murmured.
Rachel rushed over to her bag and grabbed her camera, "we've got to send these to Ethan," she grinned, snapping one of him standing facing her and then he turned around so she could take a picture of the back with his head turned a little so he was still looking at her.
"You could just use my camera phone," Puck commented, handing his phone to her.
Rachel took another picture with his phone and Puck took the jacket off, studying the extra patches. The numbers '1992' were there; the year he graduated, the black 'M' had a hockey stick patch on top of it, and there were a few pins there, one was a musical note and the other was for honor roll. "They stopped giving us these," Puck commented, "not like I would have gotten an honor roll pin, but the small patches and pins to say what we lettered in," he admitted, turning the jacket around, seeing the back was the same as his own. The top said 'Titans,' their mascot; the middle had a picture of a Titan and below it had his last name, "how come you guys gave me 'Puckerman' as a last name?" He asked looking at his mom.
Deborah shrugged, "well, we weren't married when I had you and though we could have given you Ballard we knew we wanted to raise you Jewish, so we chose to give you Puckerman because it's part of my Jewish heritage, which is also why I never changed my last name," she explained, "and your dad wanted to distance himself from his family as much as he could. At one time he even thought about changing his last name to Puckerman."
"What?" Puck narrowed his eyes at her, "why?"
"You may want to ask him, but his parents loved me until they found out I was pregnant and told him if we planned to keep you they expected us to move into their house as soon as we graduated and get married before you were born, and they wanted you and I to become Catholic. Your dad refused and over Spring Break of our Senior year, he moved in here with grandma and I and started the process to convert to Judaism," she said softly.
Puck had taken a seat on the couch as she spoke, his mouth falling open as she finished her story. "That's why you didn't flip out when you found out about the baby," he said softly.
Deborah nodded, "yeah. I saw what it did to him. When I heard, I was shocked, but I knew I'd never turn my back on you like they did him."
"Wow," he muttered, glancing across at Quinn, who knew first hand what it was like.
"Thank you," Quinn looked over at Deborah, "for accepting this. I don't know what I'd do if you hadn't," she whispered looking at Puck. "I'm also thankful that Rachel and her dads were willing to let me stay with them," Quinn added, glancing at Rachel.
"We're friends, Quinn, that's what friends do. Just promise me that after Abigail is born you won't go back to treating me like you did, and we'll continue to be friends," Rachel requested, ducking her head as the blush grew on her cheeks.
Quinn nodded quickly, "I promise, Rachel. I could never do that to you again. I am truly sorry I ever did treat you like crap. You didn't deserve it."
Rachel smiled, "thank you, that means a lot."
Puck smiled, standing up and folding up his dad's jacket, placing it back in the box and moving it to the side so his dad could go through it when he visited, "I'm glad you two are getting along," he said turning to look at the girls, "it'd be weird for us if you weren't," he said motioning between him and Finn.
"If I hadn't gotten pregnant, but everything else stayed the same; joining Glee, you and Rachel getting together, I think I would have put up a fight at first, but would have come to see she is a really good friend," Quinn explained, looking at Puck and then smiling at Rachel.
Rachel smiled back at Quinn, "I feel so much better now. I've been worried she would try and go back to her old self or at least try and distance herself from Noah and I so she wouldn't have to be around Abigail. I just hope she stays true to her word," she thought.
...
Rachel, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and Artie were sitting in the choir room waiting for the rest of the club to join them.
"So, I hear that Mr. Schuester and Ms. Puckerman already have someone picked out for Quinn's replacement," Mercedes said.
"What, already?" Kurt gasped.
Rachel nodded, "of the girls that need help in Spanish, there is only one that was willing to help out. She's a Sophomore and she idolizes Quinn, so she jumped at the chance, from what I can gather," Rachel explained.
Just then, Puck, Matt, Mike and Finn walked in, followed behind by Santana, Brittany, Quinn and another blond Cheerio. Puck took his normal spot next to Rachel, slipping his arm around her shoulders and greeting her with a kiss. The girls and guys took seats, everyone passing around greetings, now just waiting for Will; and Deborah if she chose to come by that day.
Both adults appeared a few minutes later, right at three-thirty, "hey everybody," Will greeted them, setting his bag next to his office door.
"Hey, kids," Deborah said taking a seat by the piano.
"Amanda, you're here, excellent," Will smiled, "Amanda come on up," he motioned to the girl and she nervously stood from where she was sitting between Quinn and Santana and moved to stand next to him. "Everyone, this is Ms. Amanda Taylor, Amanda, this is 'New Directions'," Will motioned to each one that she didn't know and said their names, the members nodding at her or waving their hands in a greeting, "Amanda will be helping us out for Nationals, and you're welcome to join next year if you'd like," Will smiled, "so why don't you tell us a little about yourself and then we can get going for today."
The girl nodded, "um, hi. I'm Amanda, but I prefer to be called Mandy. I've been dancing different styles since I was six and was a cheerleader at my middle school and then my parents and I moved here just before I started my freshman year, so I've only been here in Lima for a little under two years," she paused, "I like to sing, but I've never sang and danced before so this is going to be new to me, but I'm usually a quick learner, so I hope I can keep up," she shrugged, "I guess that's it," she said. "Oh, and if you ever need another guy, my boyfriend wants to join," she added.
Will eyes widened, shocked, but happy all the same, "why don't you have him come see me tomorrow and we'll talk," he told her.
After Mandy was finished, she took her seat again, already feeling more comfortable there.
Once she was seated, Will brought up needing to pick out new music and everyone just groaned; in less than two months they had to come up with three new songs and dance routines for each one.
...
Friday morning, just after Deborah arrived at work, she heard a knock on her door and looked up to see Mercedes standing on the other side of the glass, so she motioned for her to come in, "Mercedes, is everything alright?" Deborah asked, immediately concerned.
Mercedes eyed her for a moment and then she laughed, "oh yeah, Ms. P., I'm fine," she said, "Kurt, Tina and I were thinking about throwing a baby shower for, um, well I guess Rachel, but Quinn is the one pregnant... Anyway, I wanted to ask you about it, see if you had any ideas, since you're gonna be Abigail's grandma," she commented with a smile.
Deborah laughed, "don't remind me, but yeah, that sounds like a wonderful idea. I know baby showers are usually for the ladies, but you could always throw one for Noah and Rachel to get the guys involved, too," she suggested to the teen.
Mercedes smiled, "that sounds like a great idea. Thanks, so, um, we're just starting to come up with ideas, but can I put you down as a planner?" Mercedes asked.
"Of course, thank you," Deborah nodded, a smile on her face.
Mercedes nodded, "great, I'll be in touch," she told the woman before leaving her office.
...
Travis, Mandy's boyfriend spoke to Will on Friday and after a long talk with him, Will welcomed him to Glee Club and asked him to join them on Monday, when they would all be discussing ideas for new songs.
Monday, after Travis introduced himself to the club and was welcomed, Will and Deborah accepted the lists of songs the kids had brought in, making lists of potential songs and ballads, discussing each song briefly with the members before it was either added to the list or thrown out completely. After an hour of work, they came up with eight possible songs as well as three different ballads and Will told them he wanted them to vote on the songs Thursday, so they had a chance to 'seriously' think about what songs they'd be alright singing and working on for several weeks.
As Thursday rolled around, everyone was ready to vote. Voting separately for the ballad and the other two they needed, each kid handed Will their choices on a piece of paper and he shuffled them up and started tallying the results with Deborah.
"Alright," Will smiled turning to the kids. "And the winners are... Drum roll, Finn," Will requested since Finn was sitting at the drum set. Finn rolled the drumsticks on top of the snare for a moment before hitting the cymbal. " 'When You Believe' for our ballad and 'I'll Be There For You' and 'Umbrella' for our other two," Will announced.
Though most were happy with the results, a few groaned at the choices, "come on, guys, these are great songs," Will encouraged. "Or we could have Puck sing 'Sweet Caroline'," he commented with a grin.
"No, Mr. Schue, these will be fine, 'Sweet Caroline' was for Rachel only," Puck responded from where he was next to her.
Rachel blushed, but smiled at him at his words, silently sending a 'thank you' to him.
"Alright," Will moved into his office off the choir room and came back with stacks of sheet music and passed them out. "We already know Puck and Finn have leads for 'I'll Be There For You,' but girls, you need to come up with who will be singing lead on the other two," he explained.
...
Friday night, Puck stumbled into the house like a zombie just after nine. He hadn't sleep well the night before since Rachel had slept at her house and he at his, school felt like it would never end and work was stressful. When he did finally get home, he dropped his backpack by the door, kicked his shoes off and headed towards the kitchen, hearing the TV, but didn't bother to look at who was there; figuring it was one of the women in his life.
Pulling open the fridge, he saw a plate covered in plastic wrap so he slid it into the microwave and grabbed a bottle of water, "oh, that beer looks good," he thought going to close the door, "wait, when did mom start buying beer?" He shook away his thoughts and looked up to see Rachel walk into the kitchen, "hey beautiful," he smiled, placing a kiss on her lips before pulling the microwave door open as it beeped and headed for the table to sit down, where Rachel was holding out a fork, "thanks," he mumbled, taking it from her.
Rachel smiled, sitting down next to him, "you're home pretty late," she commented.
Puck grunts, "yeah, stupid shop."
"What happened?" She asked, reaching over to rest her hand on his as he ate.
Dropping his fork to his plate, he rubbed his face with his hands, "Tim quit," Puck muttered, "so Burt had to come in at five to help me out because that dip-shit just walked."
Standing up, she moved behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders and gently began to massage them, "I'm sorry."
"Not your fault, but damn that feels good," he murmured, letting his eyes drift closed.
Rachel continued a moment, letting her hands work out some knots in his shoulders and back, already feeling the tension disappear from just her touches, "you're still off tomorrow, right?" She asked softly.
"Yeah, but I might have to work all day Sunday; Burt's gonna try and rearrange the schedule with one less guy. He's looking for another person, but he doesn't think he'll have any takers, so we'll see."
She nodded silently and continued, but gradually stopped, "eat, I'll continue when we can get more comfortable," she smiled sliding back into the seat by him.
He groaned a little and looked at her, "you're evil, Rachel, pure evil," he laughed, "I'm holding you to that," he added glancing at the plate of food in front of him. "Cabbage, potatoes, carrots, corned beef... Is mom trying to impress dad?" He thought, a smirk on his lips.
"It's corned beef," Rachel said, "I like it. I had never had it before and I was told it's traditionally eaten on Saint Patrick's Day and though it is not actually eaten in Ireland, it's part of the Irish-American traditions now."
Puck nodded, "I know, babe, I'm half Irish. Dad might have been gone, but I do know my heritage... I also know what this is," he motioned to the plate, "I'm just wondering if its safe to eat. Last time mom tried to make corned beef, it was more like beef jerky."
Deborah entered the kitchen with her arms crossed, "I heard that."
Puck laughed, "I'm sure you did," he replied glancing up to see someone behind her.
"Hey Noah," Ethan commented moving around Deborah, "I made it; I heard all about your mom's adventure," he added heading towards the recycling can to throw away his empty beer bottle.
"Guinness; should have known; an Irishman's taste doesn't sway far," Puck thought, seeing it was an Irish beer. "When did you get here?" Puck asked, taking a bite of food.
"Uh, three-thirty, I think," he told him leaning against the counter.
"He almost beat me here," Deborah laughed, "I walked in the door and he pulled up."
Puck nodded and continued to eat, "food, that I didn't cook that's good! I haven't had this stuff since I was a kid; oh the good times... Wait... It's good times now. Mom and dad are back together and I've got Rachel... Damn, I was so out of it earlier, I must have been hungry... Rachel's wearing my clothes and she looks fucking hot!" Puck glanced over at Rachel who was sitting next to him, talking to his parents.
"You want to go, Noah?" Rachel asked.
"Go where?" Puck asked.
"Jogging," Rachel commented.
"Now?"
Rachel rolled her eyes, "were you even listening?" She shook her head, "I said, Finn, your dad and I are going jogging in the morning, do you want to go?" She repeated.
"Oh, I didn't hear the first part," he laughed a little, "sure I'll go."
"So we'll see you in the morning," Ethan said, "I need sleep," he added.
"Good night," Puck nodded at them.
Deborah gave Puck a hug and kiss on the forehead and then the same to Rachel before she and Ethan headed towards the stairs. Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but Puck held up her hand in a 'wait a second' motion and grinned, leaning a little so he could yell out the door, "I have condoms if you need them!" He smirked, laughing lightly even after Rachel shot him a death glare.
"I hate to break it to you, Noah, but you could already have another sibling on the way," Ethan responded.
Rachel watched the grin disappear and the color drain from his face. "Wow Noah, someone to finally keep up with you."
"He's not serious, is he?" Puck's eyes got wide, "please tell me he's not serious."
Rachel shrugged, "honestly, I don't know. They are still in their mid-thirties which is a prime time to have a child. As far as I know your mom doesn't have any health issues to complicate a pregnancy, so if they have or are going to be unprotected, there is a good chance that Abigail will have an aunt or uncle that is younger than she is," she said calmly, watching her boyfriends face go from blank to something else.
"No, I don't need to know this! This isn't helping!" Puck shook his head, picking up his now empty plate and going to put it in the dishwasher, the same time he heard laughing from the stairs. "You better be kidding!" He yelled knowing his parents were still there.
"Wouldn't you like to know," was all his dad responded before their footsteps continued upstairs and to her, no, their room.
...
The following morning, Rachel woke first, the six-forty-five alarm getting ready to go off, so she reached over and turned his alarm clock off, "Noah, time to get up," she whispered turning onto her back with his arms still around her.
Puck stirred a little, "good dream, g'way," he murmured.
She reached up and brushed her hand across his cheek before leaning in to press a kiss to his lips, "I know, but we're going for a jog, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," he rolled onto his back and wrapped his arms around her, his lips capturing hers for a brief, yet loving kiss, "okay, now I'll get up," he grinned, reluctantly releasing her from his grasp.
Rachel smiled and sat up with him and slid off his bed, going over to her bag. Puck watched her for a moment before moving over to his closet and dug out a pair of red WMHS sweats and stepped into them, tugging them on over his boxers and then threw on a sleeveless football shirt before heading to get his socks and shoes.
"Noah, it's not even March yet, don't you need something over your arms?" Rachel asked standing up from his bed and throwing a gray tack jacket on over a pink top, both matching her gray yoga pants with pink stripes down the sides.
Puck smirked and slid his shoes on, before standing up, "I might, but usually I warm up within in the first quarter of a mile so I'm not cold," he admitted, slipping his phone into his pants pocket. Watching her pull her hair back, he shook his head, "that's very Cheerio of you," he laughed moving towards his bedroom door.
"I just want it to stay out of my face," she defended.
"Nothing wrong with that," he smirked pausing to glance at her, his head trying to picture it, "yeah, I could see it if we're playing, but I don't think I could see you as a real Cheerio."
"What are you getting at? Us playing?" She asked curiously.
"You know, the hot badass football player celebrating with his hot cheerleader girlfriend after a big win, or his girlfriend cheering him up after a depressing loss," he murmured stepping closer to slip his arms around her.
Rachel blushed, looking up at him, "would you like that Noah; me dressing up as a Cheerio for you?" She whispered her question and at his silent nod, she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, "rah, rah, rah," she grinned, slipping away from him and opened the door, stepping into the hallway.
...
Meeting Finn outside, the four joggers started out and took a mini-tour of the area, Puck and Finn pointing out places to Rachel and Ethan where Puck and Finn would hang out or get in trouble at. Ethan got a kick out of the stories and was surprised at how much the neighborhood had grown up since he had been there; literally the day he and Deborah had finalized their divorce, he packed up and left, not looking back, so almost eleven years later, things had changed. New houses were filling formerly vacant lots, existing homes were looking more worn than before, but still had character and Puck smirked as they turned down one street, "Rachel, need anything?"
"What?" She looked around, confused.
They got closer and he motioned towards the two story house, "your house; you need anything?" he asked.
Rachel's eyes widened in surprise as she saw them coming up on her house, "wow, I didn't realize that I could get to your house from that way. No, I don't need anything," she said.
Picking up their pace, they jogged past the house, seeing it quiet, and headed for the shorter way back to the Puckerman's. As they turned onto the right side of the street, Finn said 'bye' and crossed to jog home, Rachel and Puck followed him across to the house. Puck glanced back at noticed his dad was reading the 'For Sale' sign in front of the house across the street from them, so he got Rachel to stop and they waited for him to finally cross the street, glancing at the paper in his hand with information on it about the house, "wow, that old couple finally decided to sell," Ethan commented stepping up onto the curb. "How long has the house been for sale?"
"Uh, couple months. Why?" Puck asked.
Ethan shrugged going inside their house behind them, "I flip houses in my spare time," he explained.
"Huh?" Puck looked at him oddly.
"Oh I love watching those shows!" Rachel grinned, "you know, Noah, the shows were a young couple, friends or sometimes just one person, buy a run down house for a really good deal, then put several thousands of dollars into it and turn around to sell it for a lot more than they bought it for, making a profit from what they originally paid for it and put in to fix it up," she explained, "how many have you done?"
"I'm living in the fifth one," Ethan said setting the paper on the small table by the stairs. "Mind if I shower first?" He asked.
"Nope, Rach and I can shower together after," Puck commented.
Rachel's mouth fell open at his words, just as her cheeks got redder from embarrassment.
Ethan raised an eyebrow at them, "I heard nothing," he laughed, climbing the stairs.
"I'm surprised mom and Arin aren't up yet," Puck commented casually, as if the last conversation didn't take place.
Rachel shook from her shock and looked at him, "Arin had a sleep-over at her friends house down the street," she said, "she won't be back until this afternoon, so we were going to work on cleaning out the garage. My dads, Quinn and Finn are coming over to help, too."
"Oh," Puck plopped down on the couch and kicked back for a moment, "didn't know."
Sliding into his lap, she nudged him in the shoulder, "what was with that, Noah Puckerman?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Fair is fair," he smirked, but seeing her stern look he sighed, "fine. Look, I remember something your dads said to me. If our parents try to keep us apart so we don't do that, then we'll just do it to spite them. We tell them we're doing it and they haven't fought against us, so we've got the chance to do things at our pace and not rushed, just because our parents don't want us to," he commented softly, his hand brushing against her cheek.
Rachel expected him to come up with some snide comment or typical 'Puck' remark, but was shocked at what he did end up saying, "Noah," she murmured breaking her arms apart to wrap them around his neck, kissing him.
Puck gently returned the kiss, his hands slipping around her back, "see, I'm not always a jerk," he whispered.
"You're not a jerk, Noah, you're my sometimes jerk," she giggled a little, slapping playfully at his chest.
Grinning brightly, he nodded, "good to know, babe, good to know."
...
The end of February was just a day away and while Ethan was only there until Sunday, with his help, Alan, David, Finn, Quinn, Deborah, Puck and Rachel had enough hands to get to work on the disaster they called the two-car garage. Puck had gotten a weight bench and set it up a few years back in the garage and he and Finn used it, but aside from a few tools and car stuff, the garage was hardly used; most of it piled with mountains of boxes covered in a thick layer of dust.
Ethan hadn't expected the garage to look almost the same as he had left it almost eleven years ago, aside from the mass of boxes added, but he pushed aside his feelings and moved into the space. He had a reason he wanted to be the first to go in there. He still had something there; he thought about it every day and now he could take care of it.
While Puck and Finn gathered up the weights and moved them into the driveway, giving them a little more room to move around, Finn noticed Ethan climbing up on a workbench next to one of the shelves and motioned for Puck to look.
Puck looked at his dad, "dad, what are you doing?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
At Puck's question, everyone else stopped what they were doing to watch him curiously.
Ethan focused and ignored the questions, "good, it's still here," he smiled and tugged what he was looking for down from the very top of a shelf he knew no one would find unless they were looking for it or they moved the shelf and it fell off. Setting the black security box on the work bench, he hopped down, pulled his own keys out and dug through them until he found a small worn key. Blowing some of the dust from the keyhole, he slipped the key in and turned it until the lock clicked so he could lift the lid. He knew no one had touched it because the dust was so thick and the contents were unmoved, so he picked up the three white envelops and closed the lid again, stepping through the boxes to get out of the garage and into the cool outside air. He knew everyone was watching him, but the quicker he did it the better, so he pulled a lighter from his pocket and flicked it, waiting for the flame to appear before holding up the three envelopes together and let the flame touch the papers, the papers catching on fire quickly, starting to burn on their own.
"Dad, what the fuck are you doing?" Puck snapped seeing the flame in his dads hand.
"The morning before our final court hearing I came in here and filled that box with something I wanted you guys to find after I left. I also left three letters. One to my soon-to-be ex-wife, one to my son and one to my unborn daughter. They were from me in case something ever happened and I never got a chance to return," he explained, dropping the burning papers onto the cement as the flames continued their job. "The day your mom started talking to me again was the day I wanted to come here and burn these, but I held my tongue because I knew she didn't know these were here and I didn't want you guys to read them; they were to be read only if I was no longer among the living," he finished, kneeling down to relight a few papers that had stopped burning and once the only thing left was the dark charred remains, he stood up and stomped lightly on the ashes, breaking them up to make sure they wouldn't catch fire again.
Puck and Deborah exchanged glances before moving over to Ethan, who was staring at the ashes as if he expected what just happened to be undone. Ethan looked up and wiped his eyes as they walked towards, "so, now that they are gone, I can show you what I left," he smiled throwing his arm around Deborah's back and his sons shoulders, guiding them towards the garage again.
Rachel, her dads, Finn and Quinn hung back, confused, yet curious at what was going on.
Puck and Deborah stopped at the entrance of the garage since it was so full and waited while Ethan walked back in to the workbench, "I rebuilt a nineteen-seventy Ford Mustang with the money that I was getting from the little jobs I had and from the junk yard that I knew someone working at who could get me parts. Just before we divorced, I sold it to a collector for fifty-grand. I knew I was leaving so I took half and put it into a new car and paid our court costs and left with the rest of the twenty-five grand," he explained as he reached them, the closed box now in his hands.
"What did you do with the other half?" Puck asked, but as soon as he did, he knew the answer.
Ethan looked down at the box, his mass of keys attached to the single small key in the lock, "so if something happened to me, I made sure I put it in my will so you guys would find the box and in turn, have the other half," he said softly, opening the box, allowing them to see inside, bills of different denominations neatly placed inside.
Deborah gasped as her hand flew to her mouth and Puck's eyes widened, "so this has been here the whole time?" He asked calmly.
Ethan nodded, "yeah." He paused, glancing at Deborah, "we don't need this," he told her softly, closing the lid again so he could take the key from the lock and remove it from his keys. Once the small key was free, he pocked his mass of keys, but set the key on the lid and held the box out to his son, "but you do."
Puck's mouth fell open as he took the box, "what am I going to do with this kind of money?"
Ethan shrugged, glancing at the five others, his eyes landing on Quinn's pregnant belly, "I don't know, pay doctor's bills, buy a car that's safer to have a child in, take a trip with your girlfriend before you become parents," he paused and looked at him, "I could go on, but Rachel figured it out this morning when I said I flip houses, your mom and I are set for a while, so we don't need this, but this would be a great start for a family. Just promise me you won't blow it on stupid stuff like a new XBox unless you have thought it through and talked to your girlfriend first," he requested. Turning a little to look at the rest, as well as them, "and please don't mention this. I know it's a shock, but the last thing we need is someone breaking into the house to steal this kind of cash," he told them.
Everyone nodded, "oh yeah, we won't say anything," Quinn agreed.
Finn nodded and so did Alan and David. Rachel stepped forward to stand next to her boyfriend, her hand resting on his arm, "I won't say anything," she assured him.
Ethan smiled at her, "I'm sure you guys wont, but I just don't want you guys making comments. Normal nice people can get real greedy and do stupid things like try and break into a house just to see if they can find it," he commented.
"Oh yeah, we'll keep quiet," Finn admitted.
"Noah, say something," Deborah asked having calmed down enough to slip her arms around her fiancée.
Puck blinked his eyes, but shifted slightly. Balancing the box in one hand, he picked up the key and turned to Rachel, "make sure I don't blow it," he said softly, handing the small object to her.
Rachel's eyes widened at his words, but slowly took the key, glancing at his parents before looking at him, "Noah, are you sure?" She asked softly.
"Yes. This is a lot to take in right now, but we're in this together and you've got a leveler head than I do, so yes, I'm sure," he nodded a smile tugging at his lips.
...
Their cleaning adventure started emotionally, but after Puck put the safety box in his room out of sight, the large group of friends and family started to go through the boxes. The guys would move a few boxes into the driveway where Deborah, Quinn or Rachel would glance through to see what was inside and then set them in certain piles before really going through them. Once all the boxes were out of the garage, everyone started going through the contents of each box, sorting out the stuff to keep from the trash. Arin got back from her sleepover and helped go through some of her boxes, but as it got later, the lighting in the garage was not good, so they started putting the boxes back inside, in a little better order so on their next attempt they could just focus on one set first.
As they finished up, Ethan called the local pizza place and ordered some pizzas to be delivered and they all headed into the house, waiting on dinner. Once it arrived, they set the boxes on the kitchen table, grabbed plates and headed into the living room to eat.
"So, I know you guys have only been engaged a short time, but have you talked about a date yet?" David asked.
Ethan and Deborah exchanged glances with a grin, but they responded together, "July seventeenth, two-thousand-ten."
Puck laughed, "I should have figured that one out myself," he admitted.
"Why that date?" Rachel asked.
"It would be our seventeenth wedding anniversary," Deborah smiled, "and it was a Saturday in nineteen-ninety-three and just happens to fall on a Saturday this year also."
"That is like fate," Rachel grinned, "it falls on the same day of the week! That doesn't happen that often."
"No it doesn't, so when I found that out just after he proposed, I suggested it," Deborah commented.
"And it seemed right; a second chance on the same day as our seventeenth anniversary and also on the seventeenth day of the month," Ethan commented, a smile on his face.
...
A/N4: LOL I'm a numbers girl and I had planned that Ethan and Deborah would have gotten married in July 1993, so I just went back on the computer's calender, and picked a Saturday, because all the weddings I've been to have fallen on a Saturday. I picked the 17th at random and then looked to see when it was in 2010 and OMG it's also a Saturday, so it works out great! Fate, I tell ya, fate. :D
A/N5: Here is part 30... Hope you all like it. :D The part with Ethan leaving that box at the house was something I thought of and I didn't know until I was writing it what it could be. Reminded me of like a time capsule.
A/N6: I think I'm done with Part 31, which will bring things up to Nationals, and I'm off the next few days so I'll hopefully get it finished and updated Monday or Tuesday before I go back to work. Thanks again to each and every one of you who is reading this, I really am so happy at all the great feedback I'm getting.
A/N7: OMG Did you see HOTTIE Mark Salling all dressed up on the SAG awards tonight? That suit looked amazing on him! *DROOL*
...
A major shout out and thank you to Ilyssa (elbbubniaevili) for the help with music! Her suggestions opened me up to some songs I didn't know or had forgotten about. Though the lyrics were not mentioned in this part, the names will be mentioned through the next few chapters until their performance at Nationals. The songs are:
~ "When You Believe" From the 'Prince of Egypt Soundtrack,' but I'm using the Celtic Woman version that was just released in December 2009.
~"I'll Be There For You" by The Rembrandts (AKA the theme song to 'Friends')
~"Umbrella" by Rhianna
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