Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.
A/N: I edited this chapter, so all mistakes are mine.
A/N2: This story is mostly AU after Mash-up (1x08), but with some of the topics discussed in the later episodes and music used, I may sneak in a conversation, cover the same topic, or use the same song, but I will put my own twist on it and may use some of the music.
...
A/N3: Glee note: This chapter was written in late-March / early-April 2012, before Glee returned from it's hiatus and way before 'Props' and 'Nationals' aired. I had no clue that New Directions would really win Nationals, which aired only a few hours after I posted the previous chapter, where the teens won at Nationals in both my fic and the show. New Directions has been my plan since I wrote the last Nationals in this fic, so I was shocked! Also, when Glee returned from it's hiatus and we learned in 'Big Brother' that the winners of Nationals get $10,000 for their school. I liked that, so I decided to add it in. It's the ONLY thing from season 3 that I've used, so far... I MAY borrow some of the song choices from the finale to include in my 'graduation' chapter, but I don't know if I will... In the show, New Directions, or more specifically Puck and Finn, perform at graduation. For two years, I've had planned, that New Directions would perform at graduation, so again, I was shocked I had similar ideas to the show, but the show's graduation, to me, was unrealistic. I'm going to make it more real, similar to the experience I had when I graduated from high school 10 years ago...
...
A range of emotions washed over the teens of New Direction as they were announced the winners. All of them jumped up from their seats in happiness, but tears came to the eyes of many of the girls, while the guys cheered and fist bumped their friends nearby and some of the teens remained in shock for a long moment, the news taking longer to sink in.
"We won!" Rachel exclaimed, jumping at her boyfriend and throwing her arms around his neck.
Puck pressed a kiss to her lips as he wrapped his arms around her body, holding her close, "we did," he nodded, smiling brightly, "it had to be your duet with Quinn yesterday that did it," he added proudly.
Rachel blushed a little, fighting back tears she knew would start falling soon, "maybe, but it also could have been your amazing routine with the guys on Friday," she replied, "but at the moment, all that matters is that we won as a team... That we were all together for it."
"Agreed," he smiled, "I'm glad the Seniors and I got to be a part of this."
The brunette nodded, tears escaping from her eyes as she stretched up and kissed him, "I feel the same way."
...
When Will returned to the team, everyone crowded around him to get a look at their large trophy, but the teens and their directors were wanted on stage for a few photos, so they all started to move toward the stage. Shelby, Rachel's two friends from Vocal Adrenaline and a few others congratulated them as they walked by and Rachel promised Kelly, Angela and Shelby that she'd get in touch with them in the very near future to talk when they had more time.
Once New Directions and their four directors were on stage, the judges greeted them all and congratulated them before the large cardboard check was brought out, written out to them, for ten-thousand dollars. The prize money wasn't something talked about too much. Everyone had been focused on their performances and the club wasn't 'hurting' for money like they had been when Will first took over. A large portion of the money that used to go to the Cheerios, now went to New Directions, so they had a decent amount of cash flow, to help them out with costumes, bus money and lodging for trips, but they also were happy to have won the money and knew it would definitely help out in the future.
The Show Choir Board wanted to present the judges with the check, so the teens stood off to the side and Will, Ben, Ethan and Deborah stood under the large 'Nationals' banner hanging above the stage. The judges walked up and one of them handed over the check and Will shook his hand, everyone turned to the photographer.
New Directions cheered as their directors got the check and when the photographer had a few photos of them, he called over the teens and they all began to find places to stand on the risers so they could all be seen. Setting the trophy in the front of them and having a few in the front row hold the check, with the Nationals banner behind them, the photographer took a few shorts of just the teens, then their coaches joined them for another few, before the judges stepped into one side of the group for a few final shots. When the photographer was taking pictures, a few of the teen's parents were also doing that, to have extra photos from the trip. Once the official photographer was finished, everyone was free to leave, but the teens and adults stuck around to get more pictures together, groups of friends, couples and families standing together, under the Nationals banner, to keep memories from the competition.
Knowing they couldn't stay forever, reluctantly everyone gave in and gathered their things after a while and made their way towards their bus and waiting cars. Returning to their hotel, the Ohio residents finished packing their bags and by two that afternoon they were checking out of their hotel and driving towards the nearest fast food place to get food to eat on the way home.
...
Leaving Detroit after a stop for lunch, everyone was excited to get home and start their Spring Break. Just like on their trip north, their return to Lima was uneventful and Abby slept the whole way. Even though several parents had brought their cars and their kids were with them, Will still wanted everyone to meet at McKinley first, just to make sure everyone got home, since it was still a school trip. Pulling into the school's lot, the bus stopped by the sidewalk and the car drivers found parking spots near the bus and everyone climbed out to stretch their legs; glad to be home. Several parents were gathered nearby, waiting to pick up their kids, so the group from the cars made their way towards them, and immediately the parents began congratulating the teens as they started getting off the bus.
For a short time, the large group chatted about the trip and the guys helped Ben, Will and Ethan take some of the instruments back into the choir room. Once the bus was emptied and double checked, it left and slowly the members and their parents started leaving the school. Some of them who were going away on vacation wished everyone a fun break and others promised to see each other during the week, most of them attending Carole and Burt's reception in a few days and some were going to help David and Alan move; something they hadn't started yet.
Most of the original members were still there, waiting for the guys to finish their trip into the school and once they joined them, they all got a chance to take a break. "This was a shorter trip than last year, but it was definitely worth it," Will admitted.
"Yes it was," Rachel nodded, "I'm so glad we all could be a part of this win. Next year we'll only have half of our original members and it wouldn't be the same to win without you all," she admitted, knowing all of the Seniors were standing in the group.
"Rachel! Don't jinx us for next year," Tina told her, laughing lightly.
"I'm not trying to," Rachel blushed, shifting Abby in her arms a bit, "I don't know if we're going to win next year or not, but if we do, and hadn't this year, it would be weird knowing that we won without those who had graduated."
"I get what you mean," Quinn admitted, "we see it every year on the Cheerios. It sucks losing members and then taking a higher place at competition than the year before and wondering just what changed. Trying to figure out of it was the people or the routine or a little of both that gave us the upper hand," she explained.
"Exactly," Rachel nodded.
Quinn was about to say something, but was interrupted by her phone beeping. "That's odd," she admitted, pulling her phone from her pocket to stop the noise and then gasped at what was on her screen.
"What's wrong?" Finn asked, trying to glance at it over her shoulder.
"I... I set the alarm almost a year ago, because I didn't want to forget, but I guess with all the emotions from winning today I did," she whispered, glancing at Abby and then to Ethan, "today's that anniversary."
"What?" Rachel asked and then her eyes widened, instinctively holding Abby a little tighter.
Puck wrapped an arm around Rachel's shoulders, his hand gently resting on Abby's back, where she was snuggled against Rachel, "I remembered a few days before we went to Nationals."
Rachel looked at him, "why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't want you to be distracted," Puck admitted, "it was already a big trip and I didn't want our last competition together to have a dark cloud hanging over it."
"That's the same reason why I didn't bring it up. It's one thing to know and remember it happened, but it's in the past and we're all okay now," Ethan explained, "we've also all moved on and don't need to dwell on the 'what ifs'."
Quinn bit her lip and nodded at Ethan's words, then took a deep breath, "yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed, "but I still want to thank you. You held me together and saved my life and Abby's," she said, motioning to Abby in Rachel's arms, "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there."
Ethan walked over to Quinn and wrapped his arms around her in a friendly hug, "and I'd do it again in a heartbeat," he promised. "And you don't need to think about that 'what if', because I was there," he added.
Accepting his hug, Quinn relaxed for a moment and nodded, smiling at him when he pulled back, "yeah, I know. I appreciate it," she told him honestly.
"We all do," Rachel said softly, kissing Abby's forehead.
"You're all welcome," he said, unable to hide the blush growing on his cheeks, "I honestly don't know if it was my training that took over more, or parenting instincts that had just resurfaced, but whatever it was, I'm glad that Quinn and I are home safe and that Abby ended up where she belongs," he moved towards Puck, Rachel and Abby and rested his hand gently on Abby's back, "I wasn't going to let anything happen to any of us."
...
Everyone knew Ethan was right. What had happened was in the past and they were home safe, so they settled to be thankful things worked out and pushed any worries they had aside. After a few moments of watching the family moment between grandpa and his granddaughter, the larger group began to say their goodbyes for the day and head home, knowing they'd see each other during the rest of the week.
When Alan pulled his and David's SUV up to Puck, Rachel and Abby's house, the teens were glad to be home. It had been a big trip and as much as they enjoyed the time away, they also enjoyed being at home, too. Rachel took Abby out of her car seat and headed inside immediately, while her dads and Puck started unpacking their bags and was greeted by a very happy Kona as soon as she pushed the door open. Abby was even smiling and reaching out for Kona, so Rachel moved into the living room and put her down on the floor, "you missed Kona, didn't you?" Rachel asked, watching Abby walk towards Kona, who was sitting nearby, wagging her tail.
Digging out her camera from her purse still over her shoulder, Rachel snapped a few photos of Abby hugging Kona, her little hands gripping onto Kona's soft black and brown fur and the dog's tail continued to wag happily, "sorry we had to leave you at home, Kona," Rachel admitted, moving to kneel in front of her.
"Kona!" Abby grinned, now leaning against Kona a little.
Rachel grinned brightly, "yes, Abby, that's right, her name is Kona," she replied, patting Abby's back and petting Kona.
Puck walked into the house with their suitcases and smiled seeing Abby and Rachel kneeling down with Kona. Pulling out his own camera from his pocket, that was still there from that morning, he snapped a few pictures of them before Kona realized he was there. "I'm guessing she missed us," he commented as she turned her head to him and wagged her tail, getting up and moving away from them to go greet Puck.
"I think so," Rachel agreed, watching him kneel down and scratch behind her ears a few times. "And Abby even said her name," she added with a smile.
"Really? That's awesome! I was wondering when she'd pick it up," he admitted, standing up as David and Alan entered the house with the rest of their stuff from the trip.
"Thanks, dad, daddy, I could have helped," Rachel admitted, standing up and keeping an eye on Abby wandering around the living room with Kona right by her.
"It's alright. Noah brought the most of it in with your bags, so it was just the car seat and the playpen and some other things," David shrugged.
"And even if you left something in the car, we can always bring it back over," Alan added.
"That is true," she agreed, "are you guys going to stay for dinner?"
"Nah, I think we're gonna go home and relax, too," David commented, "been a fun, but long trip for all of us."
Rachel nodded, "I'm glad you guys came with us."
"We are, too," Alan smiled.
...
David and Alan stayed for a short time to make sure that Rachel and Puck were settled and things were okay at the house before they left, leaving the teens to relax and do what they wanted. When her dads left, Rachel put Abby in her playpen and the couple took their things upstairs and changed into comfortable clothes, looking forward to just kicking back for the night.
After finding something to eat and getting Abby fed and things taken care of, they put in a movie they'd seen before, but enjoyed, and settled in to watch it. Both were glad for the change of pace and knew the rest of the week would be hectic, so they soaked in all the time together that they could get and once they had gotten Abby into bed for the night, they finally got a chance to be alone. Having stayed in a hotel room with her dads, it was not possible for the couple to be intimate and both missed each other, so they found themselves turning in early to really have some time to be together.
...
The next day, Monday and the first official day of Spring Break, the teens spent most of it unpacking and doing laundry from their trip. Puck also went to check-in with his recruiter, like he'd been doing once a week for the past few months, while Rachel, Quinn, Deborah, Susan, Jessica and Carole talked about last minute details for the next day; the day Burt and Carole were getting married.
Burt and Carole liked how Ethan and Deborah setup their wedding the year prior, so they decided to do something similar; getting married at the court house with a few of their adult friends and sons as witnesses and then joining their friends and family someplace for a small reception. Because it was Spring and the weather was untrustworthy to be outside, they rented the banquet room at Breadsticks, since they wouldn't have a whole bunch of guests and Breadsticks would supply the food and drinks.
When Tuesday morning arrived, everyone seemed to be going in different directions, but it was really only two places. Rachel, along with Burt, Carole, Finn, Kurt, Rachel's dads and Puck's parents would be going to the court house for the ceremony, while Puck, Abby and Arin headed to Breadsticks to help Quinn and the others get ready for the reception. Rachel was only going to the courthouse with them because the couple had asked Rachel to be their photographer, giving her an opportunity to get experience working during a wedding.
...
After a simple yet meaningful ceremony, including exchanging rings in front of everyone, Burt and Carole were officially married and Rachel tried to capture as many moments as she could. When they were done with the ceremony, they took some time to get some nice photos taken of the new Hudson-Hummel family with and without their additional guests, before everyone piled into cars and headed to Breadsticks for their reception.
Since Rachel was there as a family friend, she balanced her time between wandering around and snapping photos of guests and the newly married couple, while also enjoying seeing Puck carrying around their eleven month old daughter in her little lavender dress and matching shoes. Rachel made sure she got pictures of them, and Jessica was kind of working as Rachel's assistant, helping her with taking pictures of the reception, so Rachel didn't have to 'work' the whole time. It also gave Rachel an opportunity to be in some of the pictures with Abby, Puck, their friends and family and each other, so neither one was behind the camera all day.
After the reception came to an end and guests began to leave, Burt and Carole also left, heading south to Columbus for a few days for a small honeymoon, leaving Finn, Kurt and Quinn alone at home. The teens were glad their parents were getting some time away and promised they'd be good and Ben, Susan, Ethan, Deborah, David and Alan all assured them they'd keep an eye on the teens to make sure they didn't have any 'wild parties' while they were gone.
Abby had lasted several hours past her usual nap time, curious about everything going on, but finally fell asleep around three, in her dad's arms. Puck found a quiet corner to sit down, and gently settled her into her car seat so she could sleep and he could kick back for a while.
Once the newlyweds left, their close friends and family who were still there began to help clean up and Rachel moved towards her boyfriend, who also had her camera bag, and took a seat next to him, "thank you, Noah," Rachel said softly.
"For what?" He wondered, slipping an arm around her shoulders.
"For watching Abby all day," she explained, motioning to her camera, "and for pointing out how much I enjoyed photography."
"You're welcome, babe," he smiled, kissing her gently, "and don't worry about me with Abby all day. She's our daughter and I love hanging out with her," he explained, before continuing to respond to her other comment, "sometimes people just need an outsiders opinion. You were amazing today, and always are with this. I'm really proud of you. Are you happy?" He asked honestly. He could tell that day she was, but he still wanted to ask to be sure.
Rachel smiled, "yes I am. It was so fun today. I'm happy for Burt and Carole, but I also really enjoyed being able to be a photographer and help capture important moments for someone," she admitted, "and Burt and Carole are letting me use the pictures in a portfolio of my work to show people."
"That's awesome, baby," Puck replied, "and I'm sure before you graduate high school you're going to have a ton of different events to add to it, too."
"I hope so," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder to relax for a moment.
Puck smiled at her rubbed her back a little, "I gotta admit, I thought about our wedding today," he said softly.
"Really? You did?" She asked surprised, sitting up a little to look at him.
"Yeah," he nodded, "wondering who's gonna be our photographer, because I don't really think you can be in two places at once."
Rachel blushed at his comment, "I never thought of that. I suppose we'll have to hire someone. I mean, if we have one because, you know, you haven't proposed yet," she said with a wink.
Puck smirked, "very true," he kissed her gently, "I will one day."
"And you already know my answer," she smiled.
"Yeah, I do," he returned her smile and held her close to him, "but I'm gonna make sure I surprise you, so even if I know your answer, you won't know when it's coming."
The blush on Rachel's cheeks continued and she nodded, "okay... You know I'm not a huge fan of surprises, but for that, I'm willing to wait. I know you'll want to plan something special and I definitely want to be surprised."
"Good, I'm glad you agreed," he smiled brightly, "because I'm gonna figure out some way to make it epic."
...
With the wedding behind them, Rachel, Puck and their families and friends had agreed to help move David and Alan into their new house. For the past few weeks, the two men had been slowly going through belongings, sorting out what to move into their new place, what Rachel should have in her's and Puck's and what to get rid of. They'd moved some boxes and clothes over to their new place, but knew they couldn't move all their furniture alone, so Ethan, David and Alan took the kids' whole Spring Break off for the big move. Puck and Rachel asked the club if anyone would be willing to help and they knew that Puck's relatives, Finn, Kurt and Quinn would, and Matt, Mike, Tina, Mercedes, Ryan and TJ offered to join them, so Wednesday morning around nine, everyone met at the Berry's to get to work.
Rachel was still a mix of emotions about their move. The house held a lot of wonderful memories for her and her family, so she hated to let go, but she was also excited that her dads would be living within walking distance to where she, Puck and Abby now lived. She'd gone through the house a few months prior, taking pictures of each room as she remembered it before they began packing, so she could have a 'keepsake' to jog her memories in the future.
David and Alan had only boxed up their den, which was their office, and their bedroom, so while the guys started moving out couches, other furniture and already packed boxes, the girls worked on packing everything they could into cardboard boxes and plastic storage containers. Rachel went through the living room with a box and filled it with her things like trophies and plaques; what she wanted to keep and took it up to her room. They had been filling her room with all of the boxes that were hers, knowing she'd want to move most to her and Puck's place.
They were only renting a small U-Haul, so after a few hours, some of the guys piled into cars and the truck and headed over to the new house to unload things, while others stayed at the house. Rachel decided that all the furniture in her room should go over to her dads' place, so she, Tina, Arin and Hannah helped clean out everything from drawers, shelves, her closet and all the other spaces she'd kept things in, filling several boxes and bags full of items to go through at her and Puck's home.
...
With all the extra hands to help out, by the end of Wednesday, most everything had been moved and that evening, everyone who had helped gathered at David and Alan's new place for pizza as a thank you, just like they had done for lunch. They were far from done; they still had several storage rooms to clean out along with Rachel's room and other places in the house, but they were getting there.
Thursday and Friday were spent doing much of the same thing, but not all of the Glee members who'd helped the first day returned, having other plans and Deborah stayed home with Abby. She couldn't do a lot of lifting and even though Abby wasn't in the way, because she'd been in her play pen, someone had to keep an eye on her most of the day, so Deborah offered to stay home and watch her, letting Rachel and Puck focus on their tasks.
By the end of Friday, if it wasn't cleaning supplies, or attached to the house in some way, it had been packed up and moved. David and Alan were surprised, but happy that they'd gotten things done in just a short time and knew their new house had a lot of work before it'd be organized, but they had time now and really appreciated everyone who helped them.
With Friday being the last 'day' of Spring Break, the kids only had the weekend left before they'd be back to school. Even though they'd been busy during most of their break, Puck and Ethan still had one more project they wanted to take care of: the nursery for the soon-to-be new addition to the Puckerman family. Back in March, while the guys were still working on the garage, they'd taken a night off and painted the nursery the shade of pink that Deborah wanted, so now all that was left was to put together the furniture and organize everything.
...
Wanting it to be a surprise, Deborah agreed to not 'snoop' at what her son, daughter and husband were doing, and spent the days over at Puck and Rachel's. Rachel still hadn't gone through the photos from Burt and Carole's wedding and with Deborah's help, they picked out the best photos of the couple, their family and close friends to print out. Once Rachel did some minor editing to remove some red eyes and crop out additional people in some of them, she printed out a few copies and compiled a disk of all of the photos, along with a back-up for her. Soon, she, Deborah and Abby were walking down to the Hudson-Hummel home to drop them off Sunday afternoon.
Rachel, Deborah and Abby hung out for about an hour with them, looking at the photos, talking about their trip and catching up in general, because they'd been gone for the past week and had only gotten back the day before. As they left, Rachel couldn't believe that Carole and Burt insisted she take two-hundred dollars from them for all her work.
"I can't believe that," Rachel admitted, when they were about halfway home. "I really shouldn't have taken the money from them."
Deborah smiled, "that's understandable and it's wonderful that you would have done all that for free, but it's a lot of work. I mean between the hours you spent taking them, gathering them, sorting them out, putting them onto one disk, picking the best ones, editing the ones you printed out and all the other things you did. It's definitely worth something," she explained. "You took some amazing photos at the wedding, and Jessica helped, I know, but look at how much it cost us for just two hours and some family photos together last year. Then think about a wedding and all the additional things."
"You're right. I guess I'm just used to doing most of that for myself, so I didn't really think it was a big deal, but I'm gonna have to figure out what to charge for that," she blushed, "thank you, though. I really enjoyed doing all this, but I didn't expect payment because they're like family," Rachel admitted.
"Yeah, but they trust you and can see your work is worth it. I'm very proud of you," Deborah smiled, slipping her arm around her shoulders and giving her a partial hug.
"Thanks mom," the teen smiled brightly, "that really means a lot. I'm far from putting myself out there to the public, but I'm getting close. I'm going to take the photography class next year at McKinley. It teaches us the program I already use, but also other aspects, so I thought it might be a good class to take to get some more experience before OSU."
"That's a great idea, Rachel. If you want to take it and it fits into your schedule, I say go for it," Deborah agreed, "and I have a job for you, too."
"You do? What is it?" Rachel wondered, pausing on the sidewalk outside of her house.
"We've been taking photos all during my pregnancy, so I have a lot, but with it being so close to the birth, I was hoping we could do some geared towards that and also some family photos of Noah, Ethan, Arin and I. Of course, after her birth I'd like some newborn ones of her, some of the family and definitely ones before Noah leaves, and well, you get the idea," Deborah grinned.
Rachel giggled lightly, but understood; she could tell she was excited and also wanted to help her get experience, so it worked out for both of them, "I can definitely do all of those. I'd love to, actually. I'd also like to get some family ones of all of us, too, so that will work out perfectly," she bit her lip, "I can't believe Noah's graduating and leaving in a little over two months."
Deborah nodded, "I know. It seems like just yesterday he was talking about it. Now it's almost time for him to leave. My little boy is graduating high school and joining the Navy, that's tough to believe," she admitted, wiping her eyes as tears built up.
"Oh, mom, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry," Rachel admitted reaching to hug Deborah with one arm, while still holding onto Abby with another.
"It's okay," Deborah waved her hand, "I'm sure it's gonna happen a lot between now and then."
Before Rachel could respond, Puck came out of the house and started walking towards them, "hey! You ready to see the nursery?"
"It's done?" Rachel asked surprised.
"Yeah, well, mostly. Some things dad said you might want to put where you want, but yeah, we want to show you now," he explained, glancing between them, "everything alright?"
"Yes," Deborah nodded with a smile, "just hormones and nerves about you leaving."
"That's not for a while," he reminded them, slipping his arms around their shoulders, "and it's not for good," he added, "let's go show off the nursery."
"I need to get my camera, so I'll meet you over there," Rachel replied, passing Abby to him.
"Okay, we'll wait until you join us," Puck smiled, letting Abby settle against his chest and then kissed his girlfriend.
...
It only took a few minutes before Rachel was joining her family, including her dads, who had gotten there while Deborah, Rachel and Abby had been at the Hudson-Hummel house. Now that everyone was there, Ethan guided Deborah into the nursery with her eyes closed and once the couple had stepped inside, the others gathered by the door, "you ready?" Ethan grinned.
"Of course I am," Deborah laughed lightly, preparing for tears as Ethan uncovered her eyes and she opened them, gasping as she focused on the room around her.
The crib, changing table, dresser and shelves had all been put together and set up around the room, the dark cherry wood contrasting nicely with the light pink wall and neutral tan carpeting. Bright colored toys and accessories were filling shelves and some of the baby clothes and blankets were hung up in the closet, while others were folded up in drawers or around the room, wanting Deborah to be the one to put them away where she wanted.
"This is absolutely amazing," she choked out, turning around to hug and kiss her husband, "you all did a wonderful job. Thank you," she smiled, pulling back and moving over to her son and daughter to hug them.
"You're welcome, mom. It was fun," Puck smiled, kissing her cheek.
"I'm so excited to meet her!" Arin admitted, hugging Deborah and resting her hand on her stomach.
"We all are," Ethan agreed, slipping his arm around Deborah's shoulders and for a moment the four Puckermans shared a family hug before Rachel, Abby, Alan and David moved inside the room to join them.
"I also have an addition," Rachel opened her bag and pulled out a picture frame, "I had to hide this earlier so you didn't see it," she admitted, handing it over.
"Oh wow," Deborah grinned, "I haven't even looked at our photos from the trip yet," she admitted, seeing the photo of the seven of them on the stage at Nationals after they'd won, "this will be great."
"Really? Awesome! I wasn't sure if I should use the one of just you guys or if you'd be okay with that one. Noah suggested I use that one," Rachel motioned to the one in the frame, "with all of us. It's the most recent family photo we have of all of us together."
"And we already have a spot for it," Puck motioned to an empty nail on the wall.
Deborah moved over and carefully adjusted the frame and hung it up on the nail, stepping back and smiling, "perfect."
...
With the nursery complete, except for some things Deborah needed to find a spot for, the close-knit Puckerman and Berry family looked forward to meeting the new addition. In the last year and a half, the two families, because of Puck and Rachel's relationship had grown close and the term 'in-laws' never was used, unless making an official introduction to explain their relationship to someone new.
Having dinner together, the family kicked back in the living room afterward, "David, Alan, we have a question for you guys," Deborah admitted.
"For us?" David asked curiously.
"Yeah," Ethan nodded, "we've been talking," he motioned between him and Deborah, "and we realized that you guys don't have a title."
"What kind of title are we talking about?" Alan wondered curiously.
"We know you're Rachel's dads, but ever since we've known you, you've been more than just family friends. We were wondering what you'd think about being uncles to Arin and our new baby?" Deborah asked, "you've helped us out a lot and given that we're all close, we'd like you to have a more family title, because you're part of our family."
David and Alan exchanged glances and smiled, "we really appreciate that and we'd be happy to be their uncles," David replied.
"Awesome," Ethan smiled, "we hoped you'd be okay to that, but we wanted to ask to be sure. We know it's nothing official, but it means something to us."
Alan nodded in agreement, "it does and we're happy to be a part your family."
...
With no more competitions for the rest of the year, New Directions was all glad to have ended their 'season' on a high note and when they returned to school from break, the school actually welcomed them back as winners; recognizing what they'd done and raised them a little further up the food chain of the school, so they weren't completely 'losers' anymore.
During the first week back, the Glee Club received their money from the competition and also found out the pictures taken of them would be used in an end-of-the-year newsletter from the the Show Choir Board to announce them as winners, and their photos would also be posted online for the time being in honor of their win. The school district was also proud to say they had a winning team among them and assured Will and the club that they'd continue to keep the club around and even offered more funding and support, in hopes that the club would continue to win in the future.
Because of their win, the district also invited a writer from the Allen County Herald to visit that week. The club performed Rachel and Quinn's duet from Nationals, to show what they could do and afterward, the teens and their directors posed for some photos with their trophy. The writer also did a brief interview with the directors, Puck, Rachel, Kurt, Ryan and Quinn; the only ones who didn't mind being quoted in the paper. By Saturday, their congratulatory article made it into the the paper and the entire club loved that they were finally getting recognition for what they were doing. Rachel made a trip to the store to pick up several copies of the paper to keep and some to send to relatives, because she and Puck had both been quoted, and because they were the president and the vice president they also got a picture of just themselves in the paper, so it was a big deal for them.
Though the celebrations had come to an end and almost everything was back to normal by the beginning of the new week, the teens did notice, though, that the school didn't see them as the 'losers' anymore. They'd moved up a little higher on the 'food' chain; something they'd always wanted, and it was all because they'd finally brought a big win to McKinley.
Once things got back to normal, the Glee Club began preparations for their end of the year concerts. Like the year before, the first few days of June, the club would travel to the middle schools in the area that had students who would be attending McKinley in the next school year, to try to bring in new members in and they hoped their win would also help the member count. They were also going to do a concert during the school day at McKinley, as well as one that night for their friends, family, and the public, and decided that would be the time they did the big show, because they wouldn't have a lot of time at each middle school to do a long list of songs.
The club also had their performance for graduation to work on. Figgins had asked them to sing at the ceremony, so everyone began trying to come up with good songs for that. They didn't know how long they'd have, so they decided on a handful of songs they could learn. Most of them weren't too upbeat, so they could stick to simple choreography, yet they still could show off their vocal talent and keep with a traditional commencement ceremony.
April continued uneventful and the teens continued their work on their music. They came up with a good set list for the middle schools, McKinley and the evening concert, they'd picked the songs for graduation, learned the familiar vocals and harmonies quickly and came up with a simple choreography to go along with them. They were still meeting Mondays and Thursdays after school, but had added in some lunch practices, because some members had other after school activities going on and they didn't want to miss Glee practice.
Since school was getting closer to the end of the year, some teachers were starting to cut back on homework, while others piled it on and everyone had to work to keep their grades up. The Seniors were close to the end and knew they had to be extra careful that their grades didn't drop; the last thing they wanted to do was slack off the last few months and then find out they'd failed a class and wouldn't be able to graduate on time.
...
Deborah's mid-May due date was approaching quickly. Because both Arin and Puck had been early, everyone expected their sister to be, also, so they were making plans, arrangements and having bags packed for when the time did come.
Puck, Rachel and their families were spending extra time at David and Alan's new place, helping them get things organized. Most everything had just been moved into the room they wanted it in, but not much had been unpacked, except things what they used daily.
They had taken a weekend to do the family pictures Deborah had wanted before the baby was born; some ones geared towards her pregnancy, featuring her, Ethan, Puck and Arin, mostly. Jessica, David and Alan also came over to help out, and Jessica took the pictures of the close Berry and Puckerman family. Rachel was gland for the help and once she had a chance to look at all the photos from that day, she was happy to see how they turned out and looked forward to adding those types of photos to the list of ones she did.
In addition to everything else going on, Rachel, Puck and their family and friends were also planning Abby's first birthday party. They decided that even though her official birthday fell on a Sunday, they'd do her party the day before, the last day of April, giving everyone a chance to recover the next day, before returning to work and school.
...
When the last day of April finally arrived, Puck wasn't surprised when he woke up and found Rachel wasn't in bed. It was just before eight in the morning and he could faintly hear her voice coming through the baby monitor. Smiling, he slowly crawled out of bed and after tossing on a shirt and a pair of sweats, he padded into the nursery and leaned against the door frame, watching Rachel in the rocker, holding Abby, who was just waking up and content to snuggle against her.
"Hard to believe she's a year old," Puck commented softly.
Rachel glanced up when she heard his voice, "yeah," she agreed, "she's growing too fast."
Moving towards her, he nodded, "she is," he murmured, greeting each of them with a kiss on the forehead, "it sucks, but I can't wait until she starts learning and doing more."
"Yeah, but not for a while, right? I mean, she's walking and talking a little and is picking up more and more. She's already a year old and this year has gone by so fast," she murmured.
"She's not going to be starting school tomorrow, babe," Puck replied gently, resting his hand on her shoulder, "she has tons to learn and she'll grow a little each day. It may seem like she's growing fast, but she won't be. Just a day at a time. She'll be picking up more words and colors, she'll be steadier on her feet, and slowly will be catching on to other things. I definitely don't want her growing very fast," he admitted kneeling down and brushing his hand over her Abby's cheek, "cause I'm gonna miss a lot."
"No you're not," Rachel shook her head, "I'm going to be taking pictures all the time and I'll get videos when I can. When you're settled wherever you're going to be working after boot camp, we can video chat and talk online. You're not going to miss much," she promised.
Puck smiled at her, "thanks, and I'm going to be back as often as I can. You know, I hate to say this, but sometimes I think that being apart a little might actually be a good thing for us," he said softly.
Rachel nodded, "I was thinking that, too," she admitted honestly, resting her hand on his cheek. "It's going to hurt to have you gone, but it will give us an opportunity to be a little independent. I know many couples, if they're together all the time, like we have been, can sometime cause strain on their relationship and I don't want that to happen to us."
"Same here and the time we do have together, will be even more special," he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips, "I love you both, so much," he replied.
"Love. Dada," Abby said, in a soft voice, reaching out to him.
Even so young, there was no mistaking the words she said and Puck grinned brightly, taking her into his arms, standing up and holding her close, "that's awesome, baby girl. You said a new word and it's a perfect one. I definitely love you," he murmured, kissing her cheek and snuggling her, one of his hands resting gently on her back.
Rachel returned Puck's smile and felt just as proud as she knew he was for the new word she said. Standing up she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest, looking at Abby, "I love you, too, sweetheart."
Puck shifted his arm so he could wrap it around Rachel, while still holding Abby against him, "hopefully we can help her understand exactly what it means," he said softly.
"Yeah, but it's a start," Rachel replied looking at him.
Abby reached a hand out and rested it on Rachel's cheek, "love mama," she said simply.
"Or maybe she gets it," he smirked, seeing Rachel's wide eyes.
Rachel gently took Abby's hand in hers and kissed it, then tickled her tummy a little before kissing her cheek, "I think she does," she admitted happily, "and I'm so proud of you, little one."
"Me too," Puck agreed, kissing Rachel's cheek and relaxing, "ready for today?"
Taking a deep breath, Rachel nodded, "ready as I'll ever be."
...
For the next few hours, the couple worked on finishing up preparations for the party, though most had been done the night before. The four dads had even helped clean up the backyard so people could be outside, since the weather was warm and they hoped it'd stay that way for the party.
Their parents and Arin came over about eleven to help finish the set up, and a little later Ben, his family, including Jessica, along with Quinn, Finn and Kurt arrived. Burt and Carole were going to pick up the cake and would be there a bit later and the rest of their family and friends wouldn't be over until closer to one.
Just before noon, Rachel put Abby down for a nap, knowing she wouldn't be able to make it all day without one and figured it'd be better she sleep until a little after everyone got there and when she got up, they'd be ready to open presents and cut the cake.
"How does it feel to be the parents of a year old baby?" David asked as the small group sat around the living room.
"She's not one until tomorrow, officially," Rachel grinned.
Puck smirked, "close enough. It doesn't feel any different than it did yesterday. Day by day it's okay; ask me when she's starts school. Then I'll be freaking out about how much she's grown."
Rachel blushed, "yeah, I guess you're right. I don't even want to think about her starting school; that's too far off from now. Can't we just enjoy now?"
"Very good idea," Deborah nodded, "enjoy the time you have now, because as soon as she gets older, you'll be wondering where time went."
"That is very true," Alan nodded in agreement.
Before anyone else could respond, Carole and Burt arrived with the cake and Rachel jumped up to go greet them, "hey! Thanks for bringing over the cake," she admitted.
"You're welcome. We figured you had enough going on, so it would be one less thing to worry about," Carole replied.
Taking the smaller box from Burt, Rachel and Carole moved into the kitchen to set the cakes on the counter and Carole showed them to her. They hadn't gone with a specific theme, but Abby loved the large stuffed Tigger she'd gotten at the holidays, so they decided to get the cake decorated with the Disney character, while adding in some purples and pinks to keep it 'girlie'. The second and smaller cake was just for Abby. It was common at first birthday parties for the child to play with their cake, so the smaller one was covered in only white icing, so it didn't have any of the colorful food coloring that the other cake had; perfect for her to reach into without getting dye all over her clothes.
With her camera, Rachel snapped several photos of each cake at different angles so she had less to do later and then she and Carole returned to the others, settling in to continue talking until the rest of their guests arrived.
...
As friends and family of Puck and Rachel began to arrive, the house was filling up, so the adults moved outside, leaving the kids in the house. Most of Puck and Rachel's extend families had joined them, including cousins, aunts, uncles and grandmas, and most of their Glee friends were there, Will and Emma also attended and even Rachel's two friends from Vocal Adrenaline and Shelby came up for the party.
By two, everyone was there and they were all trying to keep the noise to a minimum, because they knew Abby was napping. Hearing her fuss over the baby monitor around three, the teen parents knew she was awake, so they headed upstairs to get her ready for her party, finding Kona laying outside the nursery doorway. They quickly realized having everyone there was a big deal for Kona, but she'd rather protect Abby, than inspect everyone, and Rachel couldn't help getting some pictures of her, before they all moved into the nursery to Abby.
Puck and Rachel had settled on a cute Hawaiian print dress with pink and purple flowers and once she had it on along with leggings, shoes and socks, they took her downstairs and she quickly became the center of attention. Her relatives all tried to get some time with her around having dinner and afterward she was walking around the living and dinning room where Puck, Rachel and their friends had been hanging out. It wasn't long before she discovered the brightly covered gifts and was trying to reach for them sitting on the table, so they decided it was a good time to open them. Everyone piled into the house and found places to sit or stand and once they got Abby settled on the floor, they began handing her one gift at a time. Rachel and Puck were sitting with her to help her, thankful to Jessica and Anna for taking pictures and David for filming, so they could focus on enjoying the time with their daughter.
Abby definitely enjoyed ripping into her gifts and even though they could tell she loved her new gifts, she also enjoyed the brightly colored wrapping paper, ribbons, gift bags and tissue paper they all came in. By the time the gifts had all been opened, the living room floor was covered in all the wrap and several of them started to help clean up, while others went to take care of getting the cakes out and set up at the dinning table.
Puck brought Abby into the dinning room after a few minutes and they tried to get her to sit on the table next to the big cake so Rachel could get a few pictures, but she kept trying to reach for the toy on the top. Getting a few partial shots, Puck sat down at the end of the table to help prop Abby up and with a number '1' birthday candle sitting in the middle of the baby cake, they got it closer to her and she was fascinated by the flame flicking from it.
The family and friends all gathered around and sang happy birthday to her, and she looked around in curiosity. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but Puck and Rachel got her attention, pointing to the candle and coaxed her to blow it out at the end of the song. She took a deep breath and blew out, the candle flickering a little so Puck and Rachel leaned in and helped blow it out for her, earning claps and cheers from everyone there.
"Now you can dig in," Puck smirked, taking large wax candle out and setting aside before pulling the cake closer to them.
Abby turned her head to look at him and Rachel and when they nodded, Abby tentatively reached out and rested her hand on the top of the cake. Some of the frosting got stuck on it, so she pulled back, immediately tasting the sticky stuff and liked it, so she went back for more and Puck helped her dig down in to the cake. She got both hands into it and soon everyone was laughing and egging her on as she tried to bite into the handful of cake she had in her hands.
Both father and daughter played in her cake for a few moments while the other cake was being cut up and once the room thinned out, Puck glanced down at him and Abby. She had frosting all over her face, hands and dress, cake crumbs were stuck in the same places and between playing with, eating and holding Abby, Puck had cake and frosting on his pants, hands and a few places on his face.
"You guys need a bath," Rachel laughed, moving over to them with a damp towel.
Puck licked his fingers, "nah. Just a few towels," he smirked, swiping some frosting from what was left of the cake and acted like he was going to lick it off, just as Rachel was reaching in to wipe Abby's face. With a grin, he reached out, pressing the frosting into her skin, "uh, babe you have some frosting on your cheek."
"Noah!" Rachel exclaimed, pulling back with a huff, using the towel to wipe it away.
"I was gonna lick that off you, but I guess not," he commented, unable to hide the smirk.
Rachel felt her cheeks flush, "oh."
With slightly sticky fingers, Puck reached up and rested his hand on her cheek, "you need to relax a bit. You've been bouncing around a lot today."
Taking a moment to lean into his touch, she nodded, "I just want things to go well."
"They are," he assured her, "so why don't you pull up a chair and enjoy some cake with us?"
"Could we at least get Abby cleaned up a little?" She asked, pulling the nearest empty chair over to sit next to him.
Holding his reply to her question, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. He could feel her melt into it. If Abby wasn't in his lap, he'd continue it, but he gently broke apart and rested his forehead against hers, "it can wait a few minutes."
...
Taking his advice, Rachel relaxed for a few moments. The brief break was a nice contrast to the busy day she'd had, but it was short lived. Abby was starting to fuss, so the young couple, along with Deborah helped get the mess cleaned up. Once most of the cake and frosting was wiped off Abby and her clothes, Rachel took her up to change and Puck and Deborah finished cleaning up the mess, finding the stuff on Puck's pants was easy to wipe off, so he didn't have to change.
Once the messy, but fun, cake was cleaned up, and Puck actually ate some of the birthday cake for the 'adults', his family from Northern Ohio began to get ready to leave. They had the longest drive home and didn't want to get home super late. Before they actually did leave, Rachel talked them into staying long enough to get some family pictures and Ethan's entire side of the family, along with Rachel, Abby, Puck, Deborah and Arin, all gathered together and Jessica took a few photos of them.
Rachel had wanted to get group shots of the various friends and family members there that day, so just before the rest of the out of town people got ready to leave, Rachel, or Rachel, Puck and Abby posed with them, before saying 'goodbye'. David took a few photos of the Glee club members and their directors and spouses, and some of them headed out while others stuck a while and Rachel and Jessica traded taking pictures depending on who was in them to finish them up.
Those who stayed, started to help clean up the house and Puck and Rachel were thankful to have all the help. Only making a small dent in the clean-up, Puck and Rachel took a break to get Abby bathed and once she was settled in her crib for the night, the couple returned to their friends and family to continue cleaning. It wasn't long before the house was clean enough to put the rest off until the next day and after everyone left, Puck and Rachel finally crawled into bed around eleven, exhausted from the day.
"What a day!" Rachel groaned, snuggling up to him, "it was amazing to have everyone together, but sometimes I worry the house will explode with so many people in it."
"Yeah," Puck laughed lightly and nodded, "I was thinking that, too. We gotta come up with something else. I think we need to just keep doing parties for our families at a park, like we're doing mom and dad's at the end of the month, like last year."
"That's an idea, or we could rent Breadsticks like Burt and Carole did," she suggested.
"I forgot about that. That's actually a really good idea," he admitted, "because with all the money we'd save on buying food and drinks, we could put that into the rental and catering fee. It's something to think about for the future."
"It is," Rachel agreed, "and I honestly thought we'd be celebrating your sister's arrival, too," she added with a grin.
"Really?" Puck wondered for a moment, "I guess it could have happened."
"Yeah, since mom's due in two weeks, and we've all said that she's going to be early, I thought she might have her, but she didn't. She's coming soon, though," Rachel commented, "I can't wait to meet her."
"Same here," Puck smiled, "I just hope Arin doesn't get jealous," he added softly.
Rachel was about to ask 'why', but she quickly figured out the answer, "because dad missed her growing up, but now he's gonna be here for the baby?"
"Yeah," he took a deep breath, "dad wasn't around until last year. Now he's gonna get to go through all the baby stuff with the new one. She's done well so far with him coming back, but now mom and dad will have a baby, too. Things are gonna change and I just don't want her to think that he likes the baby better than her, or something like that. I know he'd never feel that way, but she might not fully understand that," he explained, "I've been thinking about this a lot lately."
"I get it," she nodded in understanding, "and mom and dad will be busy, but they're still going to make time for her; they're not going to ignore her or ever make her feel like that," she assured him, resting her hand on his chest, "I honestly think she's going to be okay. She's learned a lot from being around Abby and now she can help your parents with the baby; she's gonna be a big sister, too. Just like when your mom had her. You were no longer your mom's only kid and you helped her out with Arin."
Puck smiled at her words, getting what she was saying, "I hope you're right. I can't help worrying, though. I'm not gonna be around like I am now and I just don't want her to think she's losing everyone."
"She won't," Rachel promised, "we're all going to be here for her and just because you're not here, doesn't mean she won't be able to call her big brother if she needs him; after you're out of boot camp, at least," she explained.
"Thanks," he took a deep breath, "I've been thinking about taking her out one day, so we can just hang out on our own; some sibling bonding time. I haven't talked to her much about me leaving; she seems to know what's going on, but she's never really said much about it. She's also almost done with elementary school. Next year, she'll be in middle school, so I want to see how she's feeling about that and also see how she's feeling about the new baby... Do you think it's a good idea?"
"I think it's a wonderful idea. You two should go out and spend time together," she replied honestly, "and if I was in your shoes I'd do the exact same thing."
"Cool. I'll figure out when we can. Maybe some Saturday or Sunday this month that's free," he replied with a smile, settling further into his pillows to relax.
Rachel snuggled up to him and took a deep breath, "that works. Time's going too fast and June will be busier for all of us," she murmured.
"Yeah, I know. It feels like we just had Valentine's Day and now it's almost graduation," he agreed, remembering something that was coming up, "hey, babe?"
Looking up at him, she raised a curious eyebrow, "yes?"
"Would you like to be my date to prom?" He asked with a smile. He knew prom was still weeks away and given their relationship it could be assumed they'd go together, but he still wanted to ask her officially.
Rachel smiled brightly and leaned up to press a kiss to his lips, "I'd love to be."
...
A/N4: Yay! I updated! I hope you guys enjoyed! Please let me know what you think! Also, thank you so much for all of your reviews. It really means a lot and I appreciate you all sticking with me. You're awesome!
A/N5: It's been suggested I use a time jump to help progress along the story. It's a great idea and I plan to do that soon, but right now there are some things I want to incorporate into the fic before Puck's graduation, so I'm going to hold off on the jump until later. I promise you guys will love the stuff I have planned!
A/N6: Please excuse the extra mistakes I have in here. It took me 3 days to edit this chapter to post. I might have missed some things, though. It'd been so long since I'd worked on it that I'd forgotten some things had to be rewritten, so I had extra work this time around.
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Health update - for those of you who don't follow me on Tumblr or Twitter (EJ8302 on both!). I've also mentioned in my author's notes on a few my other WIPs, but to update you all, I had my gallbladder removed on June 12th. The surgery went very well - I was home 2 hours after I came out of surgery! I'm recovering well. My incisions are sore, and my abdomen is still tender in spots, but I'm getting better. I have my good days and bad days, but I'm definitely on the road to recovery... The draw back is, I think, because of some of the meds I had to hold off on and not take regularly because of the last few weeks, I've been having a hard time focusing on anything for long periods of time. That's why it's taken me so long to update. I'm so sorry about that. I feel like I'm still trying to play catch up with being away from the computer for a few days... Please bear with me. Updates may be slow going for a while, but I'm getting back into writing.
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