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 keeps me writing, so please comment or review. :D
...
The first night at home, Abigail woke up twice. The first time; Puck only woke up when he felt Rachel leave the bed, within thirty seconds of Abigail starting to cry. It was one-seventeen in the morning and she was hungry. The second time she woke them, just before three, Puck was the one to get up, this time she needed to be changed.
Feeling like he'd just gotten back to sleep, the five-thirty alarm was going on off and Puck hit the snooze button, wanting to ignore it. "Noah, we have to get up," Rachel whispered, pushing herself up.
School didn't start until eight, and they had plenty of time, but he knew she wouldn't let him sleep much longer, so he forced himself to get up and turned off the alarm. "You go check on Abby and I'll shower," he muttered. "I never did my homework this weekend, so I gotta get on it."
Rachel slid from bed, moved around to his side and wrapped her arms around his waist, "I'll take care of things," she pressed a kiss to his lips, "you shower and do your homework."
Puck smiled and returned the kiss, giving her a hug, "thanks," he whispered, before moving away to grab clothes and head for the bathroom.
As soon as he was out of the shower and completely dressed, he grabbed his backpack and went downstairs to find Rachel had set up the baby bouncer and was sitting on the floor with Abigail. Seeing him, she smiled, "mind watching her while I shower?" She asked.
He shook his head, "no, it's fine. Go shower," he replied, smiling at her as he plopped down on the couch to get to work on his homework.
By seven, Puck's homework was done, Rachel was ready for school and Deborah and Arin were both up, too. Finn dropped Quinn off just after, carrying her backpack since she couldn't lift too much for a few weeks and then after a brief conversation with everyone, he left, saying he'd see Puck and Rachel at school.
"Thanks for doing this, Quinn," Puck told her, "I kinda feel bad you are."
Quinn shrugged, "it's fine. I had two options, sit at the Berry's and do my homework alone or do it here and help you guys out while I can't do anything else. It's okay," she assured him.
Rachel was holding Abigail and didn't want to leave, "is this going to get easier?"
Puck shook his head, "probably not, babe," he leaned over and pressed a kiss to their daughter's head and then stepped towards the door, "we gotta get going."
Rachel looked down at Abigail and shifted her just enough to kiss her, "see you in a few hours, be good for Auntie Quinn," she told her gently before passing her off to Quinn.
"Deborah will be here for the week, so we've got it," Quinn smiled, holding Abigail for really the first time, aside from the few minutes at the hospital after she was born.
...
Once at school, the entire club was waiting for them at Rachel's locker, asking questions and some were surprised they were even there, "Deborah is staying home for the week to make sure Quinn knows what she's doing and we don't want to let our grades reflect how busy we are," Rachel explained.
Rachel's calm assuring demeanor changed to nervous by the time second period rolled around. Half way through class, in the middle of writing notes and listening to their teacher, Rachel wrote down, "do you think she's okay?" and lifted up the page to show her boyfriend who sat next to her in class.
Puck noticed Rachel lift the paper and glanced at it, reading her question and then nodded. She didn't seem to be convinced, so he wrote down 'yes' on his paper, circled it and then pointed to it.
She stared at the three letters for a moment and then wrote, "are you sure?"
With a smirk, he pointed to his circled 'yes' and nodded before writing down a few more notes that the teacher had put up on the board. As the clock ticked closer to the end of second period, their teacher finished up his lecture, giving them the last few minutes to pack their stuff before the bell.
"Are you sure you're sure?" Rachel asked biting her lip as she stood up from her desk.
"Babe, she's fine. If you're this worried, call the house when we're on our way to third period," he said calmly.
"But I have to go to choir and you've got to go to Mr. Schuester's class," she replied.
"So? I always walk you. We've got plenty of time," he promised her, heading out of the class as the bell rang.
Rachel's third period was choir so once he got his books for Spanish, he met her back at her locker and she was already on the phone, "she's alright? Okay, good. Was she fussy when we left? She was? Do you think she misses us?"
Puck slipped his arm around her shoulder and guided her in the direction of the choir room.
"I don't know if I'm gonna be able to leave every morning if she does that, I don't want her to think we're leaving her... I know... I trust you, Quinn... Okay, talk to you later," Rachel replied and closed her phone, "Quinn says she's fine and was fussy for a few minutes after we left, but she calmed down once she had been fed again and fell asleep just after."
"See, I told you she was fine. She's going to be upset when we leave, but once we get home, she'll realize we came back," he replied pressing a kiss to her lips as they reached the choir room, "I'll see you at lunch."
Rachel nodded and after sharing a hug, they parted; she went into her class and he turned around and went towards his own.
The rest of the day progressed just the same as the morning had; before lunch was over, Rachel called to check on Abby and Quinn told her the same thing she had that morning. At the end of Rachel's final class of the day, Mr. Schuester passed back the tests they'd taken on Friday and he looked at Rachel, "I was pretty surprised at this," he told her handing her a paper with a 'C' written in red ink on the top.
Rachel's eyes widened, "what? This never happens! How is this possible?"
"I'll explain it after class," he told her going on to pass out the rest of the papers. Once all the tests were handed back, Will looked at them, "I'm surprised that everyone did poorly on the test, so because of that, Wednesday I'll be giving a make-up test. Whatever grade you get that is better I will put in as your official grade for this exam."
Rachel stared at the letter on her test and when the bell rang, she nodded at Kurt, who was next to her, "I'll see you in Glee," she replied calmly.
Kurt nodded and left, but Rachel knew who he'd go tell, so she gathered her stuff and walked up to Mr. Schuester's desk. She had already glanced at the paper and saw the same mistakes over again, "I don't understand," Rachel said.
Will leaned forward, "you've got the vocabulary and you're getting the right verbs, but you're missing the conjugation. The words in this last lesson were all out of the norm of any other conjugations and it takes longer to pick up. You weren't the only one who didn't understand," he assured her, "that's why I'm giving the make-up exam on Wednesday and I'll take the better of the two grades."
"But I just don't get it. I knew them," she muttered, leaning back against the table she was near, staring at the pages with red circles all over them.
"I'm sure you do, but don't feel terrible. This isn't that big of a deal. You're grade was the highest out of all of them, and yours was a 'C', Rachel. It's one thing for a few students to do bad, but when my best student does just as bad, and everyone else is below her, I knew it's only fair to give everyone a second change to retake it," he told her.
Rachel sighed, "but I don't know... How am I going to study more than I did? I had them down then!"
Will nodded, "I've asked one of my third year students to help you and Kurt. Neither of you need the vocabulary; it's just the specific words and how they are changed."
"Me and Kurt? Who's going to want to tutor us? This is just crazy!" She exclaimed.
"You might be surprised," Will said standing up and gathering up his things, "Rachel, don't get upset about this. The retake is Wednesday so you have the rest of today and tomorrow to study. I'm sure with a few hours of help from my third year, you'll do just fine," he assured her, throwing his bag over his shoulder.
"Who is it?" Rachel asked with a sigh.
Before he could answer, Puck came into the room with Kurt right behind him, "hey, Rachel, Mr. Schue," Puck said entering the room. "You okay, babe?"
Rachel huffed, turning the paper to him so he could see the grade. "I take it Kurt told you?"
"Yeah, and sounds like he didn't do so hot on his test either," Puck admitted, glancing back at Kurt before looking to his girlfriend, "babe, it's a 'C'. It's not the end of the world," he took the paper from her hands and skimmed it over. He held out his hand to Kurt, but Kurt just looked at him, "let me look at your test," Puck said.
Rachel narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend in confusion as Kurt handed him his test. Rachel noticed he had a 'C-' on his test and with both of their tests in Puck's hands, Mr. Schuester motioned for all of them to head out of the class, since there was Glee practice after school. Will and Puck took the lead, "oh, Mr. Schue, this will be easy. Couple hours tops and I'll have them knowing this stuff backwards and forwards."
"You'll what?" Rachel gasped.
Will glanced back at them and smiled, "do you really think I'd have asked someone you didn't know to help you guys out?"
Puck turned around and handed them back their tests, "Spanish comes easy to me," he shrugged, "I'm getting an 'A' in it, and same with Criminology and Math," he added.
Rachel took her test back and looked at him, "for someone who thinks the Navy is the only option, you sure could fool me," Rachel commented harshly, "if you're getting an 'A' in at least three of your classes there is no way you couldn't get into OSU," she snapped.
Puck stopped, "Mr. Schue, Kurt, can we have a minute?" He asked calmly.
Will and Kurt exchanged glances, but nodded, "of course," Will replied. Kurt glanced at Rachel, who had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at her boyfriend, so he chose not to say anything and followed Will, leaving Rachel and Puck in the middle of the hallway.
"So what is it Noah? Tell me why you have to join the Navy? And don't give me the excuse of 'it's my only option' or 'it's a good way to take care of my family' because we both know that's not true!" She exclaimed once Kurt and Will were out of earshot.
He could tell she was getting upset, so he moved towards her and rested his hands on her shoulders, gently guiding her into a classroom nearby and closed the door so they could have a little privacy. "Rachel, " he ran his hand through his hair, since he had shaved off his mohawk, he was letting it all grow out a bit, "do you... do you know how hard it is to tell my girlfriend, who has big dreams and major plans for school, that I don't want to go? To tell her that I hate school with a passion and can't wait to finish high school because I can't wait to be done with it?" At her wide eyes and shocked expression he could tell she never realized it, "yeah, that's hard, really hard to say," he whispered, moving to lean against one of the desks in the room. "I know my grades are better than I let on; only in Math, Spanish and Criminology. They come easy to me, where as the others, I hate them. You, baby, have the potential to be great in school and you know what you want to do. I don't have a clue; I've got no idea what the hell I want to do, but the only thing I know for sure is I don't want to sit in a classroom once I finish here at McKinley. Hell, I don't even want to be here, but I refuse to be a high school drop-out. I learn better by doing things, not reading about them in a book and wondering if I'll ever be able to apply it to real life. In the Navy, in less than a year I could be doing a job, already have skills, and in just a few years after that, I can come back home and have training in something. It didn't dawn on me until last night that money wouldn't be an issue, because I truly had not thought of dad having the money to send me to school, but I just... It's a waste of money for me to go to school because I have no clue what I want to do, so why spend another four years in school; doing something I hate, just to go?" He asked softly.
Rachel listened to what he said, but to her, now it all made sense. She knew from his math tests and some of his other homework or tests in other classes that she'd seen that he was better in school than he let on, so she didn't understand why he kept using his grades as an excuse, "so... why didn't you tell me in the first place? Why use grades as an excuse? Money, I can understand because you're right, you hadn't thought of it, but why didn't you just tell me that you didn't like school and you didn't want to continue?" She asked moving closer to him.
He looked up at her, "because no matter what I do, every time I want to mention it, I feel like a failure. I feel like I don't deserve you, and you could do so much better than me and I don't want to lose you over this," he whispered, "I love you and Abby more than anything, and I know I'm leaving you with a lot to carry if I go, but... I can't, Rachel, I just can't stand another four years of school. Tests... Studying... Homework... I hate it... I just want to be done," he added, blinking his eyes as he felt tears well up in them.
Stepping towards him, she rested her hands against his cheeks, "Noah," he was looking down so she pressed a kiss to his forehead, "look at me," she whispered. He slowly lifted his head, and she smiled at him, kissing his lips gently, "it all makes so much more sense now," she replied. "I always have felt that there was something else you wanted to say that you never did. I just don't want you to sell yourself short, because I think you would do amazing in school, but if you... if you don't want to go, then I can't and won't force you. And you're not going to lose me over this. You have every right to make that choice and you alone need to make it. I can't make it for you, your parents can't... Sure we all can make suggestions and talk to you, but you have to make the final decision for your life. You have to be happy with what you choose to do. Sure, you have Abigail and I to think about, too, but we're not going anywhere," she murmured, kissing him again, "can I ask you something?"
He nodded, "yeah, anything."
She bit her lip nervously, "have you put yourself in my shoes and thought about what it's going to be like for me?"
"I think about it every day," he replied, wrapping his arms around her, "at the time I go, I'll be leaving my almost eighteen year old girlfriend with our daughter, who took on the responsibility of being her mom, even when she didn't have to and by some miracle has stuck by me no matter what. You'll be here to deal with everything, while I'm away, we'll be missing each other; not having our other half beside us physically... I hope you know I'm not doing this to get away from you, you know that, right?" He asked softly.
She nodded, "I know you're not," she agreed. "But I just wanted to make sure you'd thought of my role in our relationship. Going to school and taking care of our daughter; it's a big deal and not an easy one."
"You're right, it's not. But I also know that you're a very determined young woman who makes thing work, so I have faith that you'll figure it out," he assured her.
A smile tugged at her lips, "you do?"
"Oh yeah; I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it, baby," he smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips, "but why do things have to be so complicated?"
She sighed, "I don't know," she admitted, "but, you know I support you. You know that school is an option, but you don't want to go, and the Navy is there, so now you've got more options than you thought you did. Nothing has to be decided right now and I think... I think we should hold off on these major conversations until the summer when we have more time to discuss them," she admitted. "I have a Spanish test to study for."
"My determined girlfriend," he smirked, "so you're... you're not pissed at me?"
"No," she shook her head, "no, I'm not pissed at you. There are a lot of things to think about and no one ever has their life completely planned out and they are free to change their mind at anytime. You're undecided, and so is most everyone in this school. It's alright. If the Navy is what you make as your final choice, then I stand by what I said; I'll be by your side," she replied, "and if you change your mind about school, I'll still be there." She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips, "now come on. We're going to be late for Glee and Kurt needs to come over so you can help us get a better grade on our Spanish test on Wednesday," she said taking his hand and guiding him towards the choir room.
...
After practice, Puck invited Kurt over for dinner and to study and Kurt said that he would, but would be over about five, needing to stop at his house first. As soon as Puck parked his jeep along the sidewalk by the house, Rachel jumped out and grabbed her bag, heading up the walkway before he could even get out of the jeep and grab his stuff, "excited much?" He called out with a laugh as he walked up the sidewalk and followed her steps to the house.
Stepping into the open door, he found Rachel was already picking up Abigail from her bouncer and cuddling her, so he moved over to his mom to greet her, "hey mom, hey Quinn," he said nodding at Quinn who was sitting across the room.
"Hi, how was Glee?" Quinn asked.
"The normal, and Kurt's coming over in a little while to study," he said.
Deborah raised a curious eyebrow, "study? I didn't know you two had a class together."
"We don't, but Rachel and Kurt do; Rachel, babe, why don't you tell them," Puck asked moving towards her, who was holding Abigail and pressed a kiss to his daughter's head.
Rachel blushed a little, "Kurt and I are in Spanish with Mr. Schuester sixth period," she said. "We took a test on Friday and no one did well, including me. I got a 'C' on it and Kurt did worse, so Mr. Schuester asked Noah to help us study since he's in third year Spanish and knows what we got wrong. Mr. Schuester is giving us a make-up test on Wednesday so we only have a few short days to learn what we missed."
Hearing a knock on the door, Puck moved over and answered it, seeing Finn on the other side, "hey dude, come in."
Finn stepped in, "thanks," he smiled and him and moved right to his girlfriend, greeting her.
"So how was Abby today?" Puck asked looking at Rachel still holding her.
"She was great and Quinn got a first hand experience in dirty diaper changing," Deborah laughed.
"Oh my God, that was the grossest thing I've ever seen!" Quinn exclaimed. "I might have to start charging you for this babysitting deal we have," she added with a grin.
Puck shrugged, "you want money for doing this, I'll pay ya."
"We'll talk later," Quinn assured him, "Kurt's here and we should get going so you guys can study," she said seeing Kurt's SUV pull up in front of the house.
When Kurt knocked, Puck answered the door and let him in. He went right to Quinn to greet her and the two spoke briefly, before she and Finn left, so the couple could go spend some time together. Rachel, still holding Abigail, moved over to Kurt, "Kurt, meet Abigail," she said with a smile.
Kurt grinned, "oh wow, she's so tiny," he admitted, staring down at her. He gently touched her hand with his and she latched onto his finger, "she's so cute," he gushed, "can I hold her?"
"Sure, just make sure you support her head," she said gently passing her to him.
Kurt took her into his arms and looked down at her her, "hello there Abigail, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm you're Uncle Kurt and I'm sure I'll teach you all about fashion, I mean it never is too early to start and your mom, well, lets just say that her fashion sense is very lacking... Oh and when you're older we can talk about boys," he grinned.
"Bull shit; she ain't datin'," Puck muttered plopping down on the couch.
Deborah stood up, "you say that about Arin, too," she laughed as she headed out of the living room to check on dinner.
"I know how teenage boys think!" He called after his mom, "I am one!"
Puck's deep loud voice scared Abigail and she started crying and Kurt freaked out, unsure what to do, so Puck got up and moved him, "my bad," he muttered, "I'll take her," he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her forehead, "sorry, baby girl, I didn't mean to scare you. It's alright, daddy's got you... Shhh..." He gently rocked her as he walked around the living room and sat back down on the couch, continuing to rock her in his arms until she settled down, "that's a girl, you're alright," he cooed.
Kurt's mouth fell open as he looked at Rachel, "am I... Is this... Where's Puck?"
Rachel smiled, "you're seeing the real Noah, not the mask he puts on at school to be the badass," Rachel replied, "welcome to the Puckerman's."
Kurt got to see a whole new side to the McKinley High badass who was a teddy bear at home. Over dinner in the living room, with Abby asleep in her bouncer, Puck started helping them with their Spanish, while he worked on his math homework between showing them how to write the words correctly and pronounce them. It took them a few hours, but finally Rachel and Kurt both got what they were missing about the verbs and Kurt left just after nine with a message to Burt that Puck would return to work the next day at his usual time.
...
The next couple of days passed much the same as the first one had; except after school Tuesday and Wednesday, Puck was working, so he didn't get home to be with his family until eight or nine, and by then, they were all tired and going to bed. Abigail was waking up at least twice a night, to be fed or changed, but both young parents were able to get enough sleep, by splitting the work, but they were already feeling the loss in sleep in just a few days.
Thursday afternoon, while Puck leaned against the lockers, waiting for Rachel after school was out, his phone vibrated and he found a text message from his dad, "Noah, I just realized what Sunday is." Puck thought for a moment, unsure what he meant so he replied back with, "what's Sunday?"
Moments later the response came back as, "Mother's Day," and he read it just as Rachel came up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her for a kiss. Shocked at the sudden public display of affection, he wrapped his arms around her, "hi beautiful, what's that for?" He asked, "not that I mind, or anything."
Rachel grinned and held up the paper in her hand, and saw the large letter 'A' in red ink on the top, "you helped me get an 'A'! Thank you!"
Puck smiled and nodded, "that's great babe. Glad to help. How did Kurt do?" He asked, glancing at to Kurt, who was digging in his locker.
"An 'A' as well. Though I do not share in Rachel's way of thanking you, I do appreciate your help," Kurt said holding out his hand.
Puck shook his hand, "you're welcome."
Once their things were stashed in their locker, they headed towards the choir room for Glee. Puck remembered the text from his dad, so he pulled his phone out and responded with, "that's this Sunday? I thought it was two from now."
Ethan's response came moments later, "no, it's this one. Do you have anything planned for your mom and Rachel?"
Puck paused in the hallway, in thought, and Rachel noticed he was staring off in space, "Noah, is everything alright? What's wrong?"
"Everything is fine, dad just sent a message to me about something and I forgot about it. I'll meet you in the choir room; I'm gonna call him instead of texting," he replied.
"Oh, alright. Tell him I say 'hi'," she smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek before making her way to class, leaving him in the hallway.
Puck slipped into a classroom and called his dad, hoping he'd pick up and moments later his dad answered with, "I take it you didn't realize that, did you?" Ethan laughed a little.
"I did, actually, but I thought it was two Sunday's from now. I have something for mom and something for Rachel, but I didn't think it was this soon; also they're just necklaces so we should get them something else," he admitted.
"I was gonna see if you and Arin wanted to go out shopping on Saturday for something. What did you get them?" Ethan asked.
"Well, it's the same style, I liked them," he laughed a little, "I actually picked them out when I got the rings Rachel and I have," he explained, "anyway, two hearts joined together; one is bigger than the other. The larger one is covered in the mom's birthstone and the smaller one is the child's... Since Arin and I were both born in August, it worked out perfect. The girl I bought them from thought I was getting mom's for Saint Patrick's Day."
"Why? What's your birthstone?"
"Peridot. It's a lighter green, and mom's is emerald."
"Oh yeah, that's right, it's been so long since I've looked at birthstones I forgot," Ethan laughed. "Well, so still want to go out Saturday?"
"Yeah, totally, but how are we going to get out of the house on Saturday without them figuring out?" Puck asked with a grin.
Ethan laughed, "I can say I want to spend some time with my kids, but I don't think it'll be a big deal," he admitted, "they'll be surprised we remembered in the first place."
Puck laughed at that, "yeah probably. Um, I really want to make this special for them... Rachel's never celebrated Mother's Day... And I didn't realize that until now, but that's probably why Burt gave me the weekend off," he admitted.
"Oh that's right... Father's Day must be pretty big in the Berry house," Ethan agreed with a smile, "we can come up with something. Your mom will love anything you and Arin get for her, and I'm sure Rachel will be pretty emotional, but they'll enjoy it. We can talk about it Saturday, I just thought I'd mention it; I thought it was later in the month, too."
"Oh, okay. Are you going back Sunday night?" Puck asked.
Clearing his throat, Ethan kicked back in his almost empty desk, "actually, about that... My paperwork is finished. Tomorrow is my last day here, thank God," he grinned.
"What? That's awesome!" Puck exclaimed, "does mom know yet?"
"Nope. I was gonna tell her Sunday, so keep it a secret until then, okay?" Ethan requested.
"Yeah, totally," Puck smiled, "I should probably get into Glee... See you tomorrow night, then."
"You will, later, son," Ethan replied.
Puck closed his phone and headed towards the choir room, a smile on his face, "dad's home for good and Rachel has her first Mother's Day, this is going to be a great weekend."
Stepping into class, he headed for the seat next to Rachel, "hey."
"Hey, what's your dad up to?" She asked.
"Working, paperwork," he admitted, "well, kind of. I think he's board."
"In a job like that I would think that he'd like the down time; it must be stressful."
"I think the most action he's getting is when he gets a paper cut. He has to finish all his reports before he leaves."
"Oh, that makes sense," Rachel giggled, "so yes, I can understand being board."
Seeing that everyone was there, Will walked in from his office on the side of the choir room with a stack of papers, "alright, how is everyone?"
With 'fine,' 'okay,' and 'tired' as some of the responses, Will laughed a little, "okay, Travis, Mandy, how are you guys coming on the dances for the songs you don't know yet?"
"It's getting there, Mr. Schue," Mike commented, "Brittany and I have been working with them."
"Excellent. And you guys are alright with the songs that Rachel and Puck came up with, right?" At their nods, he smiled. "Alright, well, lets run through the vocals of each song again." Taking his request, the group followed along as they sang the songs once more and when they finished with the last song, Will grinned, "excellent. I think starting next week we will be meeting in the auditorium so we can get going on the dance routines. And also, before you guys go, I have a song I'd like us to perform at the showcase here at school," he began to pass out the packet of papers to each student.
" 'Come So Far' isn't this from Hairspray?" Tina asked looking at the title.
"Yes, it is from the movie Hairspray. In the most recent movie, it was played during the end credits," he explained. "Considering the words, I think it's a perfect song for us," he admitted.
"For the leads, I've got Puck, Rachel, Mercedes and Finn, but at the actual performance, you all will be singing background."
"What?" Rachel exclaimed.
"I can't say why, just trust me. For practicing purposes you'll be the leads, but at the actual one here at school, there will be others," he said.
"Mr. Schuester! Who is singing?" Rachel asked.
Will just smiled, "that's for me to know and you guys to find out that day."
Her mouth fell open at his words, "but... What?"
"Just trust me, Rachel, you'll like it. I just have to work out some details," Will replied.
Puck shrugged, "don't matter to me. You must have something up your sleeve," he laughed, glancing up to see the door of the choir room open.
Everyone gasped as Quinn came in, with Deborah right behind her, Abigail's car seat in hand, and a sleeping baby in it. Puck smiled and got up, moving over to them, "hey mom, hey Quinn," he said greeting his mom with a kiss on the cheek before looking down at the baby, "hey Abigail," he smiled and unbuckled her, gently taking her out as Rachel walked over.
The two greeted their daughter before they stepped over to their friends, "everyone, we'd like you to meet our daughter, Abigail," Rachel smiled.
"Oh my God, she's so cute!" "She's so small!" "Look at her hand! She can already do that?" Someone asked as they saw Abigail's hand wrapped around Rachel's finger.
Camera phones quickly came out to snap photos of them, and Deborah handed Rachel her camera and before too long, Will was holding her, then Tina and Mike got to hold her. Santana, Artie, Mandy, and Travis chose to just look, too afraid to hold her, so Mike passed her over to Matt and then he handed her to Mercedes before she finally got back to her parents; since Kurt had already held her a few days prior when he went over to study. The rest of the time spent was full of congratulations to the new parents and new grandma, before everyone began to leave, since Glee was now officially over for the day.
...
Puck was surprised that his mom and Rachel didn't ask too many questions when Ethan said he was taking his kids out for the day; both women just said 'have fun,' and let them go.
Deborah was in the kitchen about noon that day; after they had been gone. She was writing a few things on the calendar to remember, when she noticed the words written on Sunday, 'Mother's Day'. "I wasn't going to ask, but now it all makes sense," Deborah thought as a grin crept onto her face.
Rachel walked into the kitchen, so Deborah played cool and turned around, "hey, how's Abby?" She asked.
"Great," Rachel smiled, "she just fell asleep," she admitted, "and I finished with my homework."
"That's good. You hungry? I was going to make something for lunch," she said.
"Um, sure. I really appreciate you cooking, I mean, I really need to learn all this stuff. Noah tries, but it's hard to keep up and understand and there is so much to learn," she sighed, sitting down at the table.
"Cooking is not rocket science, and if you follow recipes it's easy. I'm sure you've seen us just throw things together, but that comes from experience," Deborah moved over to the shelf where her cookbooks were and pulled one out that was well used and handed it to her, "look through here and find something you think sounds good and we'll go get what we need after lunch and then you can make dinner. I'll help," she smiled.
Rachel took the book, "really?"
"Yeah, invite your dads over, too, for a family dinner. I'm sure you heard that my mom died when Ethan was still here the first time," she said, "and she was usually the cook. I helped out a lot, but with me working, and Ethan working when he could, my mom basically took care of Noah and kept food going," she laughed a little, "so when she died, we were kind of thrown into having to learn to cook," she grinned at the memory, "that was a fiasco."
"I'm sorry," Rachel said, biting her lip.
"Don't be," Deborah shook her head, "she knew she was sick the last six months of her life which is when she took care of things, like making sure the house would be paid off upon her death, that my family and I could continue to live here, even though I have an older brother and sister, things like that... She helped us out a lot to make sure we were taken care of when she was gone, which I think was part of the issue Ethan had," she said sitting down.
"What do you mean? You don't know why he left? What happened?" Rachel paused, "um, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."
Deborah shrugged, "it's no secret, Rachel. According to court papers 'irreconcilable differences,' but there were a lot of things going on. Ethan couldn't keep a job, which frustrated him, he felt like he couldn't do anything good to help us out. When my mom died, he got mad at me for telling him I didn't want to go to school anymore; he told me I could be something, unlike him, who couldn't even hold down a job... My mom basically became his mom after he had the falling out with his parents and when we lost her, Ethan lost part of himself. We started bickering a lot about stupid stuff, school, jobs, Noah, our future, everything and when I told him I was pregnant with Arin, one month later, he's handing me divorce papers. He told me he didn't feel like he was needed anymore and as much as he wanted to continue to be around, he was scared to ruin our lives, so he was going to leave and let us have a better life without him. The only reason we had to go to court was because of custody. By June of that year, he was gone, I was a single mom, pregnant with a second child, and in August Arin was born," she explained softly, twisting the ring on her finger.
Rachel felt tears in her eyes, beginning to see a similar pattern, "Noah's doing the same thing," she whispered.
"No, he's not," Deborah side firmly, but gently, "I know where you see the similarities just like I do, but instead of him sticking around here and doing jobs he'll hate or go to school and not enjoy it, he's choosing the Navy right out of high school. He's doing something to take care of his family in the very near future, where as when Ethan left, I didn't know where he went, who he was with, what he was doing... I had nothing, no money from him, no letters, no contact at all... I still loved him, I never stopped and he never stopped loving me, but Noah," she took a deep breath, "he doesn't want to be his father and walk away, and yes, it seems like he is, but he's not. He's bettering himself for his family, and he'll be gone for a while, but he's going to be around and he's not leaving you guys. He's just not going to live here permanently for a few years. Unlike when Ethan left, you'll still have money from him, he'll be here when he can and you'll be in contact," she explained.
Rachel bit her lip, "but he's got the grades to go to OSU, to any university and he says that he doesn't want to go to school... He wants to join the Navy..."
Deborah smirked at that, "Rachel, if you haven't noticed, Noah is stubborn, a lot like his father, so no matter what you do, once his mind is made up, you either support him or fight against him. I don't like the idea of him joining the Navy and being gone, for the same reasons you see, but he's made his choice and I'd rather support him and be there for him and his family, rather than be pushed away because I didn't like his choice. I know you're scared, we all are, but you and Abby are part of this family now and we're going to be there with you. Noah knows that and he also knows things will be different than when Ethan left because you two love each other and Abby will know him and when she gets older and knows he's gone, she'll know he'll come home in a few weeks or a month, or she'll get messages from him, gifts, unlike with Arin, who knew nothing of Ethan until the day she met him in Detroit, other than seeing a few pictures I showed her from his MySpace and Facebook pages after she found out about him," she told her softly, "so as much as it hurts to think of Noah being gone, if he changes his mind, it has to be his choice. I heard what Ethan told Noah the other night about if he wanted to go to school to let him know... Ethan has the finances to do that, if that's what Noah wants, but he's got to make that decision. We can talk to him until we're begging him to stay, but that will only make it worse on him."
"Even if he's only gone for four or five years, he's going to miss so much... I mean... He'll see her firsts whens he's a baby, but if he leaves right after high school he might miss her first words and everything," Rachel wiped her eyes.
Deborah moved closer to Rachel and took her hand in hers, "he may, and as much as he thinks you're crazy for all the pictures you're taking, that's what is going to be his link to you two while he's gone; pictures and videos from home. And besides," Deborah smiled, "Ethan won't let his son repeat his mistakes. It's one thing to repeat the good things between him and I, but Ethan has told me he will not let Noah walk away from his family, like Ethan did, so Ethan's got your back."
Rachel smiled at her words and squeezed her hands, "thanks. I think I needed that," Rachel admitted, "I didn't know your whole story and I didn't feel it was right to ask and Noah and I had another discussion at school the other day..."
Deborah wiped her own eyes and nodded, "it's alright. You're a part of this family and have every right to know, but it's in the past now. Ethan's back and Noah is not leaving either of you; he's just temporarily going to be gone for a while to make some money to support you guys, instead of going to school," she assured her, standing up. Motioning towards the book in front of Rachel, "come on, pick," she grinned, "while I make lunch."
Rachel nodded and wiped her eyes, "okay, mom," she laughed a little; she had needed a chance to talk to her about this and now was glad she had asked about Deborah and Ethan's history. She knew now that Deborah was right; Noah wasn't repeating his dad's mistakes by joining the Navy and leaving, he was doing it for them, and would be there as much as he could and his daughter would know him, and Rachel knew he loved her, and would never leave her like Ethan had left his family; "I'll never leave you, Noah. I'll always be here for you and with you," she thought with a smile, glancing at her own ring before turning her eyes back to the book in front of her.
...
When dad and kids got home around five that afternoon from their trip with shopping bags in hand, David and Alan were sitting in the living room with Deborah, the three playing with Abby.
"Hi," Puck said curiously, noticing his girlfriend absent, but hearing sounds coming from the kitchen he raised a curious eyebrow. "Where's Rachel?" He asked.
Deborah laughed, "she's making dinner," she replied standing up and moving to greet them, "how was your afternoon?" She asked pressing a kiss to Ethan's lips.
"Successful," Ethan admitted, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.
Puck nodded at David and Alan in greeting, "hey guys... I'm gonna take these upstairs," he said holding up the bags in his hands, then he glanced towards the kitchen, "my Rachel is cooking dinner?"
"Yes. She's doing great actually," Deborah replied trying to glance towards the bags in his hands, "where did you guys go?"
Puck tugged the bags back and laughed, "not telling," he said climbing the stairs to go hide the gifts until morning. Returning to the living room Rachel was still not in there, so he moved towards the kitchen and paused in the doorway, watching her for a few moments, moving between the stove, counter and table, where a worn cook book sat. Smiling, he stepped in and over towards her, slipping his arms around her waist, "hey beautiful," he whispered pressing a kiss to her neck as he stood behind her.
Rachel melted against his chest and smiled, turning to face him, "hey handsome," she replied, "did you have a good day with your dad and sister?" She asked leaning up to press a kiss to his lips.
"Yeah, it was fun," he smiled, "got what we wanted, had lunch out, then went shopping."
"Shopping for what?" She asked curiously.
He shook his head, "not telling," he grinned, "you'll find out later."
"Noah, you know I don't like surprises," she told him.
"Nope, not budging on this and you'll find out soon, so it'll be fine," he assured her, "and for someone who doesn't like surprises, you sure have enjoyed the ones we've had in the past few months," he smirked.
Rachel blushed, "yes, but," she paused, unable to find an excuse, so she giggled, "alright, fine, I'll wait."
...
With a successful dinner under her belt, with only minor assistance from Deborah, Rachel felt accomplished that night as she laid down in bed with her boyfriend. Everyone thought dinner was great, which assured her she could learn to cook and be decent at it, "I might not be a famous chef, but at least I can cook for my family," she smiled as the thought crossed her mind.
"What's on your mind?" Puck asked gently as he wrapped his arms around her, seeing the smile on her lips.
She turned to kiss him, "I was just thinking that I can do this whole cooking thing."
"Yes, you can, babe," he nodded, holding her against him.
"It also gave your mom and I a chance to talk and... It's... I never knew what having a mom was like, you know, not really until the last few months," she whispered. "It's nice."
"True, but you have two pretty awesome dads," he told her, "just because you didn't have a mom doesn't mean you were raised any differently, but I get what you're saying. I suppose I could share," he sighed dramatically, but grinned, "my mom's awesome."
"Yes she is," Rachel agreed, "thanks," she added, "for sharing."
"Welcome," he pressed a kiss to her lips, "just wait until morning, babe," he thought.
...
A/N4: As I finish this chapter, I'm in tears... So this was written and finished about a week ago, but I just edited it now (before I post it)... Reading over the conversation Rachel and Puck had after she found out about his grades... I realized that Puck is me when I was in high school. I was ranked #44 out of a class of about 350 students and I hated school with a passion, could not wait to get out; after I graduated I wasted 5 years worth of time and money on going to a community college and now the degree I have... Not worth anything. I can't get a job with it, so now another 3 years later I'm stuck with nothing. Had no interest in going to a 4-year university after school; hell I didn't even want to go to community college, but I couldn't find a job and my parents didn't want me sitting at home all day, every day doing nothing, so I went to community college. Insert where Puck is coming from. Because that's me. I always had a feeling about him, and it didn't dawn on me until just now when I'm editing it that I put part of me in him. If I had been medically able to join the Navy I would have, but I wasn't able to.
A/N5: Speaking of the military... With some good, some not so good reviews / comments about it, I'm curious where you all stand, so I created a poll on my FF author's profile; if you click on my name, it'll be at the top of the page. Thus far, you guys have seen how I've discussed the military, but now I'm torn. The poll won't be a deciding factor, but I want to know. The entire end of 'Out of the Blue' and it's sequel are based on him being in the Navy (for a total of 5 years) and IF I don't put him in it; I've got nothing... Drawing a total blank on anything for him besides this, and it's been discussed so much, it will sound weird if I change at the last minute, even though there are new avenues coming up that hadn't been discussed before now... So I'm pretty sure he's going to go in, but I still want to know where you all are, so if you could vote, I'd appreciate it a lot. I guess what I'm saying is that I appreciate all of your reviews and comments, but those of you who don't like him joining the Navy; I hope I don't loose all of you because of the choice I make.