Forever Has to Start Somewhere
Chapter 19: A Very Glee Christmas
"I am so glad the door was already open," Rachel said as she entered the choir room. "I'm not sure I could have opened it by myself. Noah, come here please."
Puck was seated on the floor peering into a green plastic container. Mike was sitting next to him, pulling strings of lights from the box. He didn't look up as he questioned, "Why?"
"Because I've got something for you."
He looked up now. When he spotted the two tupperware containers in her hands, he pushed himself to his feet. "One of those mine?"
"Yes. The top one," she answered. He made his way across the room and plucked the top container from her pile. As he peeled the lid back to look inside, she added, "I would have given them to you on the first, but I was so caught up in Sectionals and Jesse being here that I didn't have time."
"Fuck yes," he hissed when he caught sight of what was inside the container. "Berry cupcakes."
"Please make sure you let your mother and Dani have at least one," Rachel added as he lifted one of them aforementioned items from the container. The cupcake in Puck's hand was wrapped in a shiny metallic silver cupcake linear. It was covered in a swirl of bright blue frosting with white sprinkles dusting the top.
Puck groaned as he shifted the container under his arm. He peeled the paper back, revealing the chocolate cake. "You're handing me the whole tub and telling me I have to share the shit with the twerp? That shits not kosher, Berry."
"I wish you would stop saying that," Rachel said with a soft sigh. "Your family doesn't even eat kosher, Noah."
"Semantics." He took a bite of the treat in his hands. The sound that left his mouth could only be described as a moan. "Fuck, Berry. Your present is in my locker. I'll get it to you soon. I promise. You fucking deserve it for making something this good and sharing it with me."
"Isn't it a little early in the season for gift giving?" Quinn questioned as she and Santana entered the room. They were carrying more green tubs like the one Mike was pulling lights out of. "We're not even on Christmas break yet, Puck."
Puck and Rachel stared at her for a minute.
"Are you for real right now?" Puck questioned. "Because I'm pretty sure Berry and I mention all the time that we're Jewish. You couldn't possibly have missed that tidbit about us."
"Oh." Mike glanced between the two of them through the row of lights he had wrapped around his head in his attempt to keep them untangled. "Hanukkah's this week?"
"It started last week," Rachel said. "But as I said before, I was too caught up in Jesse's visit to prepare cupcakes for the first day."
"It's cool, B," Puck said. He swiped his tongue along his bottom lip, cleaning up a bit of frosting sticking there. He gestured to the container in her hand. "Who's that for?"
"Shelby. My fathers told me once that one of the reasons they picked her for their surrogate was because she shared their faith," she answered. "It would have been rude of me not to extend some sort of present to her. Though, I didn't include nearly as many in her batch. Only three and then a much smaller one for Beth."
"Mm..."
The two of them went quiet.
Rachel watched the members of the glee club coming through the doors with boxes in their hands while Puck stared at his cupcake. Rachel supposed he was thinking about his daughter.
"So, hey," Puck said after a few minutes. "You've probably pieced this together yourself, but Finn found this Christmas tree on the side of the road and Santana flinched some decorations from the dead lady next door. Wanna help us put it all together?"
She gave him a small smile. "I'd love to. Though I must admit, I'm not really sure how to decorate a Christmas tree."
"I'll teach you," Puck said. He bumped their shoulders together. "I spent years helping Finn and his mom put theirs up."
"It's just weird because I'm in a totally different mind set than everyone else," Jesse explained. He was walking towards his next class with his phone pressed against his ear as he spoke to Rachel. He could hear a piano playing softly in the background. "Like, everyone else is running themselves completely ragged studying for their finals. I'm just here like...not concerned at all considering I spent all of last week studying while I waited for you to get out of school."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Rachel questioned. "Wouldn't you rather be prepared for your finals than running yourself into the ground?"
"Yes, but that's not the college thing," Jesse argued. He darted forward in order to slip through the doors before they closed behind the student in front of him. "It just makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong."
"Jesse, you have never felt like you were doing something wrong in your life," Rachel answered. He could practically hear her rolling her eyes at him. "And you practically thrive on doing something different than your peers."
"Normally, you would be right. But it's a bit different when it comes to something as important as my final exams." He fell into step behind a group of girls he recognized as being in the class he was headed to. He heard the sounds of the piano again. "Aren't you on your lunch?"
"I am," Rachel answered.
"Did McKinley suddenly install a piano in their lunch room?"
"No. I'm not in the cafeteria. I needed to practice something so I'm spending the hour in the choir room."
"What could you possibly need to practice?" Jesse asked. "You go on break at the end of the week."
"Christmas carols. The whole glee club is in the holiday spirit," Rachel responded. "Seeing as I don't celebrate the holiday, I don't have much experience singing them."
Jesse gave a soft hum. He requested, "Sing whatever you're practicing for me?"
"Why do you always ask me to sing for you when you're on your way to class?"
"Because walking is boring without something to listen to."
She gave a soft hum before beginning to sing, "When the snow comes down in Tinseltown, you'll be dancing in Hollywood. Slippin and a slidin and a sleigh ridin' all over the neighborhood. You'll be rockin' with a stockin' on your head, so the cold won't get to you. On Christmas eve, you can believe that wishes do come true."
"Rachel." She stopped, having been moving towards the doorway with the rest of the club, and turned to see Shelby. The woman was standing in the doorway leading to the choir room office with Rachel's tupperware container in her hands. "I wanted to give this to you before you left. Since today's the last day before break."
"Oh, yes! Thank you."
Rachel broke away from her friends, making her way over to take the container.
"They were delicious," Shelby complimented as she handed the container over. "Beth couldn't stop trying to shove them in her mouth. It took a few baths to get all the blue off her mouth."
"I didn't think about the way they would stain skin," Rachel mused. "I'm sorry."
"No, no." Shelby shook her head. "It wasn't a bad thing. Actually, my sister thought it was quite funny when I sent her the pictures."
Her fingers curled a little tighter around the dish at the mention of another thing the little girl her mother had chosen over her had. She hadn't feeling this much resentment towards a child, especially when Rachel had her own aunts on her Daddy's side, but she couldn't help it.
"What are your plans for the break?" Shelby asked.
"Nothing too exciting," Rachel answered. "Jesse's last final in on Tuesday next week so he'll be back on Wednesday or Thursday. We're waiting to see if Brody is going to come down with him as well."
"I see. Are you spending Christmas with them?"
"Yes," she said. "I was invited to spend the night Christmas Eve."
"What about New Years?" Shelby questioned. "Do you have plans for that as well?"
"We've been talking about having a small party at Jesse's. He's got more room than I do. But nothings been decided yet."
"Oh." There was a hint of disappointment in Shelby's smile as she said, "Sounds like a busy holiday."
"Yes."
There was a moment of silence before someone said, "Rach, if you're coming with me to meet Blaine at the Lima Bean you need to hurry up."
Rachel let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding in.
She craned her head back, spotting Kurt standing in the doorway with his hands wrapped around the strap of his messenger bag. There was a look on his face like he knew exactly what he was saving her from.
"I'm coming," Rachel promised. She turned back to Shelby and gave her a small nod. "I'm glad you enjoyed the cupcakes. Thank you for returning the dish before the break."
Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked away from her mother.
When she reached Kurt, she linked their arms together. As they walked out, she whispered, "Thank you."
"No problem," Kurt answered. He patted her hand. "I really am going to meet Blaine, though. You're welcome to join us if you'd like."
She thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Hanukkah ended yesterday and Jesse's studying so it's not as though I'm in any hurry to get home."
Kurt let out a relieved sigh. "You don't know how relieved I am to hear that. Blaine's got a performance coming up and he's had me singing Baby, It's Cold Outside with him constantly. At least with you around I can take a break."
E/n: One of glee's biggest disappointments was that it's Christmas episodes completely ignored Rachel and Puck's faith. I would have mentioned Hanukkah in the chapter before this but I had to google when Hanukkah started in 2010 and it turned out to be way earlier than I thought.
Not a whole lot of Jesse in this one? I hope that's okay with you guys considering how much Jesse was in the last four chapter and how much Jesse will be in the next one! I'm only planning one chapter for Christmas Break but I might end up doing more? I'm hoping not to do another three parter.
On that note! Did you guys completely hate the thing with Special Education or did you think it was okay?
Also: i know it may look like Rachel has walked away from Shelby in this chapter. And she has. But I think that's vital to them building a relationship. Both of them have to get rid of the expectations left over from their last encounter and build on a new foundation.
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