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
...
It was just after eight in the morning when Abigail woke for the third time, but when Rachel moved to get up, Puck tugged her back to bed, "I'll get her," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her lips before crawling out of bed and padding to the nursery. "It's Mother's Day. I hope they enjoy it," he thought, a grin on his face as he picked up his daughter and removed her night gown to change her diaper and to get her ready for the day in one of her new outfits he'd gotten her the day before.
"How's that feel? You like that?" He asked seeing her eyes looking around as he finished tugging on the shirt with the phrase 'I love mommy and grandma' on the front. Picking her up, she settled against him, her eyes now focused on him, "hey cutie," he smiled and leaned over, pressing a kiss to her forehead before moving out of the nursery and into their room, "hey, look who's come to say hi," Puck grinned sitting back down on their bed.
Rachel sat up, "good morning, sweetie," she replied, leaning towards him to brush her hand along Abigail's head and kiss her forehead before holding her arms out. Puck gently passed her over and Rachel got her settled in her arms before her eyes focused on the words of Abby's shirt, "I love you, too, Abigail," Rachel smiled, looking at her boyfriend, "did she have this in her clothes?" She asked curiously.
"Nope, bought it yesterday," he smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips, "Happy Mother's Day," Rachel," he whispered, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
Rachel gasped, tears springing to her eyes as she stared down at their daughter, but then looked up at him, "today is Mother's Day?"
He nodded, "yes, it is."
Her tears fell quickly at the realization that she'd never celebrated a 'Mother's Day' before that very moment, "I didn't... I've never..."
Puck pressed a kiss to her cheek and then her lips, "I know," he murmured, wiping her eyes with the pad of his thumb, "but now you get to celebrate it with us as a mom yourself."
"Wow," she murmured, unsure just what to say. "This is... wonderful," she grinned, "and she's only a week old, but I feel like I've been her mom for so much longer."
"You have," he smiled, "since Quinn moved in and she agreed to let us have her."
Rachel nodded and leaned against his chest, the two taking the time to just soak in what that moment meant, but the time was short lived when Arin appeared in his doorway, "morning. Happy Mother's Day, Rachel," she said moving over to Rachel's side of the bed.
"Thanks, Arin," she replied, smiling at her.
Arin looked at her brother, silently asking if they could give her the first gift and Puck figured it out, "yeah, it's in my desk drawer," he motioned towards it, "second one down, in the black bag," he finished.
"What is?" Rachel asked, watching Arin dig through his drawer, producing a black velvet bag and opened it, pulling out several jewelery boxes.
"Which one is which?" Arin asked.
"The black one is a few of my rings, so you can put that back; the two white boxes are the gifts," he said.
Arin put back what he said and then moved over to her brother and handed them to him. He laughed a little, opening them both up, "I should have marked these," he admitted until he found Rachel's and handed Deborah's to Arin. "What do you think, Rach?" He asked turning the box around to show her the sapphire heart with the smaller emerald heart next to it.
Rachel gasped as she looked at the charm, the sapphires and emeralds standing out brightly from the white gold of the heart base and necklace, "I think it's beautiful," she whispered, "it's for me?"
"Yes it is," he grinned, "you might have to retire the heart that I gave you, though, or switch off," he shrugged.
Rachel nodded, "I'd hate to take this one off," she admitted, brushing her hand along the heart charm around her neck, "but this is just as special. Thank you."
"You're welcome," he grinned, "you want to see mom's? Sorry we didn't get original, but we liked the design," he admitted, holding out his hand for the one Arin was holding, this time, showing her the larger emerald heard with the smaller peridot heart sitting together.
"She'll love it, Noah, it's beautiful. And it is special because you picked it out and had it made for her," she assured him, "besides, it'll give your mom and I something to share, too," she smiled.
"Arin and I picked these out. We went online and found them, so I went to the store and ordered them," he explained handing his mom's necklace back to his sister.
"All without us knowing," Rachel grinned, "you two have some talent at keeping secrets."
Arin grinned, "we wanted to surprise you and mom. Can we give it to mom now?"
"Sure," Puck nodded, looking at Rachel, "you want to come?"
"Um, sure, but are you sure they're awake? Don't you want to wait until you know they're up?" She asked.
"It's kind of a tradition to wake mom up on Mother's Day," he laughed shifting from the bed and tugging on a pair of sweats.
"Wait, I want to put this on," Rachel said picking up the box next to her with her free hand.
Puck motioned to the floor next to him, "come on over and I'll put it on," he smiled, taking the box from her hand and removing the necklace from it.
Rachel carefully stood up and made sure Abigail was settled in her arms before she moved around the side of the bed to stand in front of him. He pushed her hair to the side, "you want me to take the other one off?"
"No, leave it for now," she blushed.
"Okay," he pressed a kiss to her neck before slipping the chain around her and clasp it together, his hands being as gentle as possible with the delicate item. Once the two ends of the necklace were together, he let her hair fall back and then moved around to look at her, "you might be able to leave them both on, the new one is a tad shorter. They look great babe," he pressed a kiss to her lips before motioning towards Arin to lead the way.
Arin moved down the hallway and paused at the closed door, knocking lightly and hearing a faint, 'come in.' Moving inside, Puck was the one to speak, "geez, we've been up for a while and you two are still asleep. It's Mother's Day," he grinned.
Deborah lifted her head up and brushed her hand through her hair as Arin headed for her, "good morning," Deborah smiled sitting up a little.
Arin hopped up next to her mom and wrapped her arms around her, "morning mom! Happy Mother's Day."
"Thank you," Deborah hugged Arin tightly before letting her pull away.
Puck moved over towards her and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek, "Happy Mother's Day, mom," he said.
"Yes, it is a very happy day," she agreed, a smile on her face. "And Happy Mother's Day, to you, too, Rachel," Deborah added seeing Rachel standing next to her boyfriend with their daughter in her arms.
"Thanks, you too. I was pretty shocked when Noah told me what today was," she admitted with a blush.
Deborah nodded, "that's totally understandable," she replied, "my first Mother's Day I was still pregnant."
Ethan had been half asleep, his arms wrapped around his pillow as he laid on his stomach, but had turned his head towards everyone, "talk about waterworks," he laughed, "I remember that."
"Oh be quiet, it was the hormones," Deborah defended.
"Okay, sure, we'll stick to that," he laughed, sitting up a little on his side.
Puck glanced at his dad and smirked, keeping what he saw to himself, "now's not the time to mention it," he thought nudging Arin, "show her," he said.
"Oh yeah," Arin held up the small white box, "from Noah and me."
Deborah looked up at her son and then to Arin before taking the box and opening it up. Gasping at the contents, she smiled, "this is beautiful," she murmured looking back to her kids. "Thank you."
Puck leaned over and hugged her, "you deserve it," he whispered.
Deborah smiled at him and took out the necklace and managed to put it on without help, "I love you all, so much," she said, hugging Arin and smiling at her son, "you, too, Rachel, Abigail, I mean it."
Rachel felt the tears well up in her eyes and she nodded, "thanks, mom," she replied, unable to say much more without crying.
Puck slipped an arm around his girlfriend and pulled her close, hugging her gently with their daughter in her arms. "Okay, we'll go and let yo guys get up. I'm gonna go shower and get breakfast going so come down wherever," Puck said guiding his girlfriend towards the door.
...
After breakfast made by Puck, Arin and Ethan, the guys stayed in the kitchen to clean up, so Puck had a chance to talk to his dad, "dad?" Puck was unsure just how to start that topic.
"Yeah?" Ethan paused at the counter near his son.
Puck bit his lip, looking at him, "I saw your scar," he whispered.
"I'm sure you did," he admitted with a nod, his hand moving rest by his left shoulder, "that's what inspired the song," he said softly.
Puck nodded, "um, how did it happen?"
"There was a hold up in a bank; routine; we'd done it before. Mike and I were going in and we were told there were two guys, turns out there were three and the third guy surprised us. I got shot in the shoulder, but Mike managed to shoot the guy before he could get another shot off and the rest of the team rushed in when they realized I was hit. Through and through, but it did a number on my shoulder. Two months of healing and another four of physical therapy before I could go back to full duty. Not something I want to have happen again; once was enough," he admitted, shrugging.
"Wow," Puck muttered, staring into the sink, before looking back at him, "it's so close to your..."
"My heart?" At his son's nod, Ethan nodded in agreement, "yeah. Had I not been wearing a bullet-proof vest and the guy had been more accurate," he paused, waving his hands around, "I wouldn't be here."
"I'm glad you are," Puck said, moving closer and wrapping his arms around him in a hug.
Ethan blinked his eyes in shock as his son hugged him, but returned his hug, "I am, too, and it's really good to hear you say that," he whispered.
As the two pulled away, Puck remember something his dad said in an email when they first started talking, "do you think you could teach me how to shoot?"
Ethan raised a curious eyebrow at him, but grinned, "yeah, I can do that," he agreed.
"Good," Puck smiled, "I know we can't make up for the lost time, but there's a lot of things I don't know that I'd like my dad to teach me," he said softly.
Ethan patted him on the shoulder and nodded, "that means a lot, Noah. I'll teach you whatever I can," he smiled, the meaning of their conversation filling an empty gap in his heart. Ethan knew he'd lost a lot of time with his son and wasn't able to teach him a lot of things during his childhood and early teen years, but Puck was right. There were still a lot of things he didn't know and Ethan would be happy to be the one to teach him.
...
The moms, Abigail and Arin were in the living room when Ethan and Puck came in, but Puck disappeared upstairs for a while, needing to finish putting a few things together. The gifts they got were simple, yet they had a lot of meaning. Even though they were celebrating the day with both moms, it was a big one for Rachel; who had never celebrated Mother's Day at all, and now not only is she celebrating it with Deborah, she's also now a mom herself.
Taking out a glass plaque with etching on it, he sat on his bed and stared at it for a moment; it was for Rachel and it seemed to fit perfectly. The etching on it made it look like a postcard and the phrase on it was 'Special Delivery... to a new mom who is already glowing with unconditional love, always yours, your baby girl."
He gently buffed it with his sweatshirt sleeve and placed it back into it's gift box and set it to one side, and then pulled out the other gift box, taking out a wooden plaque with a mother poem etched onto it that was for his mom. Smiling at the poem, he set it back in the box, he moved over to his laptop and went online, needing to get to Rachel's Facebook page. She'd posted pictures on there that he hadn't gotten on his computer yet.
It didn't take long to find the photos he was looking for and pulled them up and printed them out. Once he was satisfied they were dry he pulled out the three frames. Into the 'World's Best Grandma' one, he laid a photo of Deborah and Abigail from the night she was born. In the 'Mommy and Me' frame, went a photo of Rachel and Abigail that he had taken a few nights before and he loved it; Rachel was holding Abigail, while sitting on the couch in the living room, Abigail's hand was wrapped around Rachel's finger and Rachel was leaning over, kissing her on the forehead. Setting that aside with Rachel's other gift, he looked at the last photo and smiled, it was the first real family photo taken after Abigail was born. Rachel was sitting on the couch at her dads' house, he was on one side, Arin on her other and Ethan, Deborah, Alan and David were standing behind the couch, crouched down so they were at the level of to be in the photo. The frame it went into was one that said 'Our Family' and was for both Rachel and his mom.
With the photo in place, he set them with the other gifts and then dug out two envelopes from the final bag. He knew they were the same, but opened them up to make sure, and then glanced at the certificate inside. They'd opted to get his mom and Rachel a spa package at Jewel's Health & Beauty Spa, a local spa in town, giving them a chance to have some girl time in the near future. Setting them with the gifts, he stood up and picked everything up and headed back downstairs, finding everyone in the living room still, Abigail asleep in her bouncer.
"There you are," Rachel smiled, "was wondering where you had disappeared to."
He smiled at her, "went to get these put together," he held out Rachel's gifts to her and then passed his mom's to her, "the rest of your gifts," he added. "One of the photos is for both of you."
Deborah and Rachel took their gifts and Deborah smiled at the family one, "that's a great photo of all of us," Deborah replied passing it to Rachel.
Rachel took the offered photo and nodded, "that was just after we brought her home," she said smiling as she looked at all of them before setting that frame on the coffee table. Glancing down to the frame in her lap, she saw the photo of her holding Abigail. Tears sprang to her eyes as she stared at it, before looking up at him, "Noah-"
Puck sat down next to her on the floor, where she'd been sitting by Abigail, and slipped his arms around her, "wait until you see the rest," he smiled looking over to see his mom opening up the envelope.
Wiping her eyes she picked up the envelope and opened it up, seeing the certificate for the day at the spa and smiled, "oh this will be fun."
"Yes, it will be," Deborah agreed with a grin on her face.
As the two finally got into the gift boxes, neither one knew just what to say as the tears fell from their eyes, staring at the plaques. Rachel wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and held him tight as Deborah hugged Arin. "I think today was a success," Puck thought as he kissed Rachel on the lips, his hands moving to gently wipe her eyes.
"I love you," Rachel whispered against his lips.
"I love you, too, babe," he grinned holding her against him.
At a knock on the door, Ethan got up from the couch and went to answer it, seeing a delivery man standing on the other side with a large vase of brightly colored roses. He took the vase and signed for it, before moving into the living room, "I think these must be for you two," he commented setting them down on the coffee table.
Deborah reached for the card and read it out loud, " 'To two great moms, Happy Mother's Day, Alan and David' these are beautiful," she said with a smile, wiping her eyes. "Thank your dads when you talk to them next," she added, looking at Rachel.
"They're coming over for dinner tonight," Puck said, "though I'm sure you'll talk to them before hand, you can thank them in person," he added.
"I will," Rachel nodded, "I... I didn't think they'd know," she admitted softly.
"They did have moms or sisters, right?" Ethan asked curiously.
Rachel blushed, "yes, they do. Daddy's mom lives in Cleveland and his sister is also around there. Dad's family lives in Indianapolis. I guess they do send them flowers, I just never... we never made Mother's Day a big deal," she admitted. "But this year, Father's Day is going to be fun!" She grinned.
...
Ethan and Puck kept up on the chores, leaving the women in their life to do 'nothing', but they ended up watching movies. The guys went to the grocery store briefly to pick up what they needed for dinner and returned an hour or so later to find the dinning room table filled with three more vases of flowers.
"Wow, who's all the flowers f-"
Puck's question was cut of by his girlfriend, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss, "like you don't know," she murmured.
"I don't know. Maybe you could remind me again," he replied with a grin as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
Rachel blushed and pressed another kiss to his lips, "they're beautiful, Noah, thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied, holding her against him.
The flowers that he had picked out for her, were red roses mixed with pink carnations, knowing she loved both flowers. The flowers from his dad to his mom were more roses, but they were only yellow and red, for the meaning of friendship and love. "Okay, so I know what I got you, and what dad got mom, but who are the other ones from?" He asked.
Rachel giggled, "Carole, Finn, Quinn, Burt and Kurt," she said, "and Carole says she loves her flowers from you guys," she added.
"Good," he smiled, "I'm glad. They are cool, the ones they sent," he motioned to them. "They're from Burt and Kurt, too?" He asked with curious eyes.
Rachel nodded, "yes, and the five of them are going out to dinner tonight."
"Wow, that's a big step, but I guess now that they're open with Kurt and Finn it's probably easier to do stuff as a group," he admitted.
...
Rachel's dads came over around four and they helped cook with Puck and Ethan, the guys refusing to let the girls help at all. Rachel found some time to arrange the flowers that they had gotten; decorating the entire downstairs with them. Around six, everyone finally got to sit down to a great dinner. The conversations were light and happy; no one worried about anything; life was good, but at the tail end, Deborah glanced at her fiancée, "Eth, when do you have to leave?" She asked softly.
He smirked, "are you trying to get rid of me?"
She nudged him playfully in the shoulder, "no, I'm not and you know it," she replied, "I'm just curious."
Ethan smiled, "I know," he took her hand, "um, actually, I'm not going back."
"What?" She gasped.
"Friday was my last day," he shrugged, "so no more leaving."
Her eyes widened in shock, but the smile on her face brightened the room, "for good?"
He nodded and slipped his arms around her in a tight hug, "for good," he repeated, pressing a kiss to her lips.
Rachel wiped her eyes and noticed her boyfriend didn't seem shocked at all, "Noah, did you know?"
Puck smiled, "yep. I've known since Thursday and we told Arin and your dads yesterday," he commented.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Rachel asked him.
He shrugged, "never thought to mention it until yesterday, but we were out and I forgot when we got back; got sidetracked," he replied honestly.
She blushed as she took his hand, "I suppose I'll let you off the hook for that."
Puck smiled, "cool, thanks," he leaned over and kissed her gently, "so what did you two think of your day?"
"It was amazing; thank you, all of you," Rachel said, "for having never celebrated a Mother's Day before, this was a great way to start," she admitted, squeezing her boyfriend's hand.
"Honestly," Deborah looked at her kids, "I have had some pretty awesome Mother's Days, but this one has to be the best thus far. Today was amazing; the flowers, the gifts, all of you being here, spending it with my kids and my granddaughter, it's a big deal, and Ethan's home for good; it's perfect. I couldn't ask for a better day," she smiled wiping her eyes.
Arin leaned towards her mom and hugged her tightly; Puck got up and moved around the table to them, his arms wrapping around his mom and sister, "we wouldn't trade you for anything," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
...
Having gotten Abigail settled in her crib, Noah moved into his room, noticing the lights were off. Reaching for the light switch, the door shut behind him and once his hand flipped on the light, he turned around and saw Rachel leaning against the door dressed in what she'd taken to Sandusky a few weeks prior and never wore. Her hair was down and the black lace and sheer garment hid nothing, but threw his imagination for a loop, "wow," he gasped, moving closer to her to rest his hands against her forearms, "you look hotter in this than in my dreams," he murmured pressing a kiss to her lips.
"You like?" She asked with a grin, leaning into him.
"Love," he replied, "I love it," his hands moved down to her hips and guided them backwards, towards the bed, "to what do I owe this beautiful pleasure?"
Her hand reached up and brushed against his cheek, "as a thank you for today, Noah, it was amazing."
Feeling the bed against his legs, he stopped, "though thanking me is not necessary, feel free to thank me any way you'd like," he grinned.
Her hands silently moved to his hips, and slipped under his t-shirt, pushing it up so she could tug it off and toss it to the floor. Her lips pressed against his chest, connecting with the tiny metal ring, a groan escaping his lips as her hands moved down to tug at the waistband of his jeans. She looked up at him, "thank you for today, Noah, it was the-"
He cut her off with a kiss and pulled her against his bare chest, "you're welcome," he whispered against her lips, "you deserved it."
...
Ethan left his and Deborah's room briefly to go downstairs, hearing Rachel say 'oh Noah' as he passed their room. He paused briefly to look at the door, "I did not need to hear that," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he continued downstairs. Grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge, he slipped his phone into his pocket that he'd left on the coffee table and climbed the stairs. Pausing at Arin's room, he peaked inside to see her sound asleep, so he step towards the nursery, knowing he'd need to be quiet or they'd hear his voice over the baby monitor. Abigail was asleep, so he crept quietly out of the room and closed the door. Laughing in his head at what he heard, knowing exactly what they were doing, he continued back to his and Deborah's room and slipped inside, closing the door behind him and let a laugh escape his lips, "okay, it's official. I heard them," he commented, moving towards his side of the bed.
Deborah raised a curious eyebrow at him, "that's the first time?" She asked with a laugh.
He nodded as he handed her a bottle of water, and then set his and his phone on the nightstand, tugging off his shirt and slipped out of his sweats before slipping into bed, "yeah. I know they sleep together, in all forms of the phrase, but this was the first time I actually heard them," he replied.
"I've only heard them a few times, and same as you, it was when I walked past their room. I think they understand that they're very lucky that we, as parents, don't try and keep them apart, so they don't want to test us, so they're pretty good about keeping it quiet," she explained.
He pressed a kiss to her cheek as they settled in under the blankets, "we could, you know, have a repeat of an hour ago, to drown them out," he murmured.
Deborah groaned lightly, "at this rate I will be pregnant before we get married," she laughed, "you make feel like we're in high school again," she whispered.
"What's wrong with that?" He asked curiously, tugging her closer to him.
"Nothing, but unfortunately we're not in high school, Eth, no matter how much we want to be," she laughed a little, pressing a kiss to his lips.
He laughed as they pulled away, "alright, point taken. Guess I kinda screwed myself over on that one," he muttered.
"Are you going to continue to kick yourself every time something like this comes up? Ethan, we talked about this."
He sighed, "I know, but it still pisses me off just thinking about what I did-"
Deborah pressed her index finger to his lips, "stop. Just stop. Your hurt us, but you're here now. Don't keep blaming yourself for something you did more than ten years," she whispered. "I got over that when we started talking again. It's time for you to get over it, too."
Blinking his eyes at her words, he tightened his arms around her and kissed her lovingly, "you're right," he replied as they pulled away, "it feels really good to be home, for good," he added.
Deborah pressed another kiss to his lips and settled against him, "so help me if I tell you I'm pregnant sometime and you walk, you're a dead man," she grinned.
Ethan laughed, "you don't have to worry, Deborah. You're stuck with me 'til death do is part," he whispered.
...
A/N4: Wow, it's been over a week since I updated; so sorry about that! I've had work stress and then been sick, so haven't had as much time to write. I have most of 46 done, so I'm a little more ahead of where I had been; hopefully I can keep up now and this won't happen again. Also going to try and keep the chapters a little shorter; closer to 10 to 12 pages instead of almost 20 (some of them have been that long), so the editing is easier and I can get them out faster.
A/N5: I hope I did Mother's Day justice... I'm an only child, so Mother's day was a big deal, but as I got older, my mom started gardening that day; because it usually was the first nice weekend around here (Washington State Weather... Rain...) so after breakfast she'd go out in the yard, so she wasn't much on the whole idea of taking it easy and relaxing, LOL.
A/N6: I realized, now editing this, that I should have mentioned something about Arin, since she is an aunt, but I totally spaced on that part of it, but I think given her age, she'd be more focused on being a daughter and not so much an aunt, even though she is... I will have to revisit that later...
A/N7: At my LJ, on the post for this chapter is a picture of Deborah's and Rachel's necklaces.
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