It Should Be Me, Part 14/15

Apr 25, 2010 01:35


Title: It Should Be Me
Chapter: 14/15
Pairing: Puck/Rachel
Rating: NC-17
Words:  4671
Summary:  When Rachel's driving everyone crazy before Regionals, the glee club recruits Puck to relax her.  Will he succeed or will he make everything worse?  And what will Finn think of this?
Spoilers:  Only up to 'Sectionals' though stuff from the back 9 may pop in if I think it fits with my plot line.
Disclaimer:  I own nothing but the plot.  Also, some of this is from Puck's viewpoint, and he's kind of an offensive guy, so I'd like to point out that his viewpoints don't always reflect mine.  I don't own either of the songs included.
A/N:  Okay, this is the penultimate chapter.  It is shorter than normal and perhaps the one I'm least happy with out of the whole story, but it gets everyone where they need to be for the final chapter, which will hopefully be better than I feel this one is.  Also, thank you to everyone who's reading and reviewing the story.  As always, please read and review.  Reviews are a much healthier form of crack, I swear.  Thanks!

"Dad!  I really think you're overreacting!"

Puck was sitting on the couch in the Berrys' living room well after midnight.  Luckily, despite Charlie's request for his shotgun, he was still bullet free.  Darren had interfered and protected Puck from the worst of Charlie's rage.  He had very calmly instructed Puck and Rachel to get dressed and come downstairs before dragging Charlie out of Rachel's bedroom.

Now, they were downstairs and Charlie and Rachel were apparently trying to see who could scream the loudest.  So far, Puck had stayed out of the line of fire simply because Rachel hadn't let Charlie's attention drift away from her.  The guy was putting up a good effort (he kept trying to say that Rachel was forbidden to see Puck), but there was no doubt that Rachel had the lung capacity in the family (fuck yeah, she did-he knew that from firsthand experience now-okay probably not the best time to think about that).  From Darren's long-suffering expression, Puck knew that shouting matches between Charlie and Rachel probably happened on a regular basis.

"I am sixteen years old.  I am old enough to make my own decisions and if I want to have sex with Noah, then I will.  There's nothing you can do to stop me!" she argued with him.

A vein started throbbing in Charlie's forehead and Puck wondered if he could get Rachel out of the house before her dad's head exploded.  She was Jewish, so he was pretty sure his mom wouldn't complain if he just moved her in.

"I can ground you for the rest of your life, Rachel Barbra Berry!  You won't see this...this hooligan for the rest of the summer and only at school after that," he threatened.

That was fucking unfair.  This guy didn't know a fucking thing about him.  He would have said so, but Rachel was already talking again (it had nothing to do with the fact that the dude scared the shit out of him because he didn't.  Really).

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest.  "You don't know anything about him!  Maybe if you'd stop judging him you'd learn that he's a really good guy."

Puck smiled slightly at that, but the smile was wiped off his face with Charlie's next words.

"You think we haven't heard the rumors that go around the temple?  We know his history with the middle aged women in town.  How can you ensure that he's not just using you and now that's he's gotten what he wanted he won't leave?  How do you know that he won't give you something?  How do you know that he won't get you pregnant like he did Quinn?" Charlie shot the questions at Rachel so quickly that it nearly made Puck sick to hear all of his faults listed at once.  Her dads had liked Quinn so much so quickly that he has thought that they didn't know about the baby.

Rachel was silent for several moments, and Puck worried that her dad had succeeded in breaking them up (and that would be a fucking shame because they had just learned that they were as good together in bed as they were everywhere else).  Finally, Rachel spoke up quietly.

"I don't know that he won't leave," she started and Puck felt his heart break a little.  "But I trust that he won't; he's not the same guy that he was in the past.  I know that he's going to stick around.  He won't give me anything; he got tested and the results came back today.  In fact, the paper is upstairs on my desk.  I'm on the pill; I have been since I started dating Finn months ago.  And, if that fails, then Noah and I will face it together.  He won't abandon me; he didn't abandon Quinn and they weren't even dating like we are."

The fact that Rachel had that much faith in him to stick around and that she would defend him to her scary dad meant more to him than he wanted to admit.

"Rachel, you're letting your heart..." Charlie started to say.

Puck turned his face to Rachel so quickly that he felt his neck crick.  Rachel's heart?

A stricken expression appeared on her face and she cut her dad off, laying a hand on his arm.  "You've always said that you trust me.  You still do, don't you?  Or has that changed?"

Puck watched Charlie frown and some of the anger left his face.  "Of course I trust you Rachel."

She moved back to stand next to where Puck was sitting and took his hand, twining their fingers together, but she never took her eyes off Charlie.

"Then please, let me make my own choices.  You've already ruined one of the best nights of my life by acting the way you have.  Tonight was my very first time and it was marred by you threatening to shoot my boyfriend.  Noah doesn't deserve that and neither do I.  Just give him a chance like Daddy has.  He might surprise you."

Puck tried not to smirk (trusting Rachel or not, he was pretty sure Charlie would shoot him if he showed any happiness right now).  His girl was ferocious when she wanted something; he was just glad Charlie was on the receiving end of it this time.  He also knew it was pointless to fight and he could tell the instant Charlie realized it because that was when he turned his gaze to Puck.

"Fine.  If you're going to be around, then I should make the effort.  So, you're going to come to lunch tomorrow before Rachel's first show."

Charlie still looked completely pissed at him, so Puck knew better than to argue with his demand.  It wasn't like he had anything to do tomorrow anyway.

He nodded.  "Yes sir."

Charlie stormed out of the room, still clearly pissed.  Darren, who had been silent throughout the confrontation, stood up from his chair.

"It's past curfew; does your mom know where you are Noah?"

Puck shook his head.  "She doesn't, but nobody's home tonight.  She's working the night shift and my sister's at a friend's house."

Darren looked thoughtful.  "We don't want you to get in trouble with the cops for being out after curfew, so you can stay here tonight.  You'll be in the guest room and if you don't want to ruin your chance to get into Charlie's good graces, then you need to stay in the guest room.  Rachel's bedroom is off limits.  And, don't argue Rachel," he added sternly.

Puck watched with amusement as her mouth snapped closed.  Apparently she had no trouble fighting with Charlie, but Darren could easily shut her up.  He had to get Darren to teach him how to do that.

Rachel led him upstairs to the guest bedroom and kissed him goodnight before retreating to her room.  As Puck laid down on the large bed, he realized that even though he had been caught multiple times before with other girls, this was the first time he had stayed and faced the dad.  It hadn't even occurred to him to run for it.  Shit.  Rachel was right; he had changed and he was pretty sure it started when she reentered his life for good.

He didn't leave the guest room once that night; he didn't want to test Charlie's restraint (or Darren's for that matter-he'd never seen the dude mad, so he was pretty sure the guy would scare the shit out of him if Puck ever made him mad).

ooooo

The next several weeks passed by quickly for Rachel.  The show was running every weekend through the end of August, so she performed twice every Saturday and Sunday.  Noah was in the audience for every Saturday night show and she always felt that was the one she did the best in simply because he was there.  The director continued with their practices throughout the week, though the schedule was never as harsh as the week before they opened.

Her free time was spent with her friends and Noah, of course.  She and Brittany continued to go to the baseball games and cheer on Puck and Mike.  In fact, Britt had embarrassed her terribly the first game after she and Noah had sex.  Rachel had sat down next to her, only to have Brittany take one look at her and yell 'Oh my God!  You had sex!'.  Everyone in the immediate vicinity had turned to look at her and Rachel knew that her entire face was red.  Brittany had also turned pink and apologized before asking her, very quietly, how it was.  Rachel had just as quietly responded that it was wonderful and left it at that.  Britt hadn't pushed her on the subject, merely beamed at her.

Quinn had actually joined the two of them at the games so that she could cheer on Matt.  Apparently the two of them had been dating since mid-June, but they kept it quiet because they wanted to make sure that what they had together was real and not just because the two of them and Santana were the only ones not dating someone within their group.  According to Quinn, what she had with Matt actually was very real and she was happier than she'd been in a very long time.  She was also terrified of how her parents would respond when they found out that she was dating Matt.  According to her, they weren't too big on interracial couples and she was scared that they would throw her out again (they had taken her back in after she gave her daughter up for adoption).  She knew her dads were very fond of the other girl because they always fawned over her when all the girls were over (according to Daddy, they could tell that she lacked the true, unconditional love of a parent in her life), so Rachel expressed Quinn's concerns to her dads.  They told her to let the blonde know that she could have the guest bedroom at their house if her parents did kick her out.

The second week of August, Quinn moved in.

Living with Quinn was a little weird at first; Rachel was so used to being the center of her dads' attentions that it took some adjustment before she was used to no longer being an only child.  Luckily, she and Quinn got along really well now, so that helped.  The blonde spent the first couple of days after she moved in crying and Rachel couldn't blame her for that; it had to be difficult to have your parents kick you out twice within a year.  It made her even more grateful for her dads and the love they showed her.  On her third day at their house, Quinn grew more comfortable, and Rachel was delighted to find that she secretly loved musicals every bit as much as Rachel.  She knew that no one would ever take Britt's spot as her best friend (she was Rachel's very first real friend after all), but Quinn was in a close second.

That wasn't the only change around their house.  Both Matt and Noah had become permanent fixtures.  In addition, Daddy, who was always quite handy, installed a lock on her door.  Noah had worried about Dad's response to that, but according to Daddy, they had decided that if they couldn't prevent the two of them having sex, they could at least ensure that they had somewhere safe to do it.  Her fathers didn't want the two of them to get caught by the cops because they were having car sex somewhere (she kept the fact that they had truck sex frequently out by the lake to herself).  That had been a mortifying conversation for them to have with Daddy and she was very glad that Dad hadn't been there for it.  He still had a tendency to look like he wanted to kill Noah anytime they were in the same room, though he was also clearly trying to give him a chance.  Noah and Daddy had a great friendship now though; she often caught them in serious discussions (she was glad too; she knew Noah needed a male influence in his life who he could trust).

Her relationship with Noah just kept getting better and better.  She knew she loved him of course, but with each day, she grew more and more sure that he loved her just as much.  He was still a complete jackass with everyone else for the most part, but he was very sweet with her.  The sex also seemed to get better with each time.  Sometimes it was playful and sweet like their first time; other times it was hot and hard.   Either way, it was always fantastic.  At one point, he had told her that his goal was to get her to say 'Oh, God Noah please fuck me harder'.  She felt like her life couldn't get much better (though he still hadn't gotten that sentence, or the f-word, out of her yet).

ooooo

"Noah," Rachel moaned out.

Noah's house was empty, so they were in his bedroom.  His hands were gripping her hips and he was guiding her movements on his cock.  As he guided her back down, he drove his hips up to meet her and she let out another moan.  Her breath was coming faster and she knew that she was getting close.  When he lifted his torso so that he was sitting up, it changed the angle that she was riding him and he started to hit her g-spot with each thrust.  He leaned forward and took her lips with his, meshing their tongues together as she dug her nails into his shoulders.

He let out a strangled sound as he came and the feel of his warmth flooding her set her off, his mouth catching her cries.

"Noah, I got off a litt...Noah!"

The high of her orgasm rushed away as quickly as it had come when Rachel glanced at the door and saw Noah's mother standing there, a shocked expression on her face.

"Shit!" Noah grabbed the blankets and pulled them up over Rachel as she buried her face in his chest.

She hadn't actually met Noah's mother yet; she merely recognized her from temple.  Noah had wanted to introduce them, but she and his mom were never available at the same time.  She had thought that when she did meet Ms. Puckerman, she would be fully dressed though!

"I'll just let the two of you get dressed.  Noah, I expect both of you downstairs in five minutes."

When the door shut again, Noah lowered the blankets back off of her.  Rachel lifted herself up so that he slid out of her and climbed off the bed.  Grabbing some wet naps from her purse (she always carried plenty), they both cleaned off and redressed.  Noah came over and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's gonna be okay Rach," he said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

Rachel could feel her cheeks flaming as she buried her face in his chest again.  "I don't see how; she just saw me naked.  At least when Dad caught us, we were asleep and covered by the blankets."

"Just trust me on this babe.  The instant she recognizes you from temple, she'll be so happy you're Jewish that she'll ignore that we were having sex.  Hell, she'll probably start planning a wedding," he reassured her, pulling back to grab her hand and lead her downstairs.

To her immense surprise, it went every bit as smoothly as he had predicted it would.  When Diana figured out that she was Jewish, she had beamed widely and immediately invited Rachel to dinner the next night.  Rachel quickly learned that she loved Noah's mom and his little sister Leah.  They came to her play and gushed over her talent and they were just generally wonderful people.  Plus, Noah was clearly terrified of his mom and that amused her to no end.  Even though Rachel had met Diana for the first time after she caught them having sex, Diana never brought that up again.

A brand new lock did appear on Noah's door shortly after though.

ooooo

Before Puck knew it, it was the first day of school.  He was fucking depressed about it, but at least it was his senior year and he wouldn't have to come back next year, unlike Rachel.  He picked her up that morning, waving at Quinn who was sitting on the porch waiting for Matt.

"Do you think Mr. Schuester will call for a glee practice tomorrow?" she asked excitedly while he drove them to school.

"Hell, Rach, how should I know?"

He let her chatter wash over him as he drove, as they walked into school, an arm around her shoulders, and as he followed her to her locker, miraculously void of graffiti (she was in a very fucking talkative mood; he didn't mind though because he was convinced it was why her tongue was so damn flexible).  When she followed him to his locker, they found Kerie Lochlin waiting for him.  Ignoring Rachel, the blonde smiled at him.

"Hi, Puck.  What are you doing free period?" she asked seductively.

He opened his mouth to turn her down, but Rachel caught him by surprise first.  She moved against him and wrapped her arm around his waist, slipping her hand into his front pocket (he was fucking glad her present was in the other pocket).  She hadn't said a thing, but from the look on Kerie's face, she got the point.

"Are you and Berry dating?" she questioned, her eyes wide with shock.

He smirked smugly.  "Yeah, we sure as hell are."

"We've actually been together since July, so if you could just spread it around to all of your little friends that I'm the only one who will be having sex with him from now on, that would be great," Rachel piped up in a sweet voice next to him.

He looked down at her.  She had an innocent smile on her face, but the look in her eyes was fucking scary (it was also fucking hot that she was claiming him for all to see).

Kerie stuttered out a yes before taking off.

The instant she was gone, Rachel let go and stepped in front of him.  Her arms were crossed as she glared up at him.

"I want to get one thing straight.  Just in case you don't already know, this thing between us is exclusive so there will be no sluts this year for you."

He moved forward and backed her against his locker.  "Babe, you're almost too fucking much for me.  Where in the hell would I find the energy to fuck anyone else?"

She was still frowning up at him, so he sighed.  "I don't want anyone else; you should fucking know that by now."

Her frown turned into a smile.  "It's just nice to hear it."

When she pulled his lips down to hers right there in the middle of the hall, he decided to tell her more often (though he shouldn't fucking have to, he thought, running a finger over the item in his front pocket).

ooooo

Rachel had split up from Noah when the final bell rang after math (they had somehow wound up in the same math class again) so that they could both hit their lockers and leave the school earlier.  It had been an interesting day.  The girls loathed her even more now than ever before and the boys were curious about her.  She knew they were wondering what she had done to get Noah Puckerman, the school manslut, to commit exclusively to her.  Honestly, sometimes Rachel wondered that herself, but she was so happy that she preferred not to question it.  She also noticed that everyone was giving Jack a wide berth.  When she saw him get slushied after lunch, she felt momentarily upset for him, but then she remembered the fear that was only just now fading and knew it was no more than he deserved.  Rachel was also excited because Mr. Shuester had found her after fifth period and told her that the glee club was meeting for the first time that year after school the following day.  She couldn't wait to start working on their brand new material for Sectionals.  They were in a short four months after all.

She was completely absorbed in the list of songs that she was going to suggest to Mr. Schuester so at first she didn't notice that Kurt and Mercedes were at Noah's locker with him.  When she did, she wondered what they were talking about; she didn't think that Noah had talked to them all summer.  As she walked up, she could see that not one of them had noticed her yet.  She quickly found herself within hearing range and came to a stop when she heard her name.

"...Rachel.  I'm just trying to point out that when we asked you to sleep with her back before Regionals, we meant for that to be a short term arrangement," Kurt was saying.

Mercedes nodded.  "You don't have to keep spending time with her anymore.  Regionals are long over."

"Although if you could have sex with her near Sectionals, that would be great.  I'm sure she'll need to relax again as they draw nearer," Kurt added.

Rachel came to a halt.  What were they talking about?  They had asked Noah to sleep with her before Regionals?

"Back off guys," Noah said.  Rachel could see that he was frowning.  "Sure, when I started spending time with her, it was just because you asked me to relax her, but..."

Rachel tuned out the rest of what he said.  She couldn't believe what she had just heard; all that time he spent pursuing her before Regionals was only because Kurt and Mercedes asked him to?  She suddenly remembered her conversation with the girls from oh so long ago where Brittany had declared a new plan.  She had felt like they were hiding something from her, and now she knew what it was.  She was sure the entire glee club, all of her friends included, must have been in on the plan although it appeared that Kurt and Mercedes had instigated it.  She could feel the tears prickling at her eyes.  Had her and Noah's entire relationship been nothing but a lie?  Because it was clearly built on one.

She focused on Noah at the same time that he looked over and saw her.  When their eyes met, she saw the panic that flared to life in his and he was at her side almost instantly, shoving Kurt out of the way.

"Shit babe, I didn't want you to find out like this.  Their plan was the whole reason I started talking to you at first, but that hasn't mattered since you stopped dating Finn," he explained.

She stared up at him.  She could see all of the emotions in his eyes, but she wasn't ready to deal with them right now.  She needed to sort through her own feelings first.

"Babe, please, say something," Noah pleaded with her.

Rachel gazed up at him and quietly said, "I just...I just need some time.  I can't be around you right now, okay?  I'll get a ride home with Matt and Quinn."

She turned and walked away, her heart heavy, while he stared after her, his own heart in his eyes.

ooooo

When Matt dropped her and Quinn off at home, Rachel excused herself to her bedroom.  She knew that Quinn was worried about her, but she didn't want to talk to anyone yet.  She needed to deal with this in her own way; she needed music.  As soon as she was in her room, she dug her I-Pod and docking station out of her bag and hooked them up.  She scanned until she found the song she wanted and after the short intro, she started singing.

What you see's not what you get
With you there's just no measurement
No way to tell what's real from what isn't there
Your eyes they sparkle
That's all changed into lies that drop like acid rain
You washed away the best of me
You don't care

Rachel sighed and stopped the music.  The song wasn't working for her because the truth was that she knew Noah cared about her no matter why he had started talking to her to begin with.  She started scanning through her songs again, not looking for anything in particular.  She figured that the right song would just pop out at her when she saw it.  After a few moments, one song caught her attention and, although she wasn't sure if it fit her current situation, she went ahead and hit play.  As she sang, she let all of her thoughts shut off while the music washed over her.

So pretty
So smart
Such a waste of a young heart!
What a pity
What a sham
What's the matter with you, man?

Don't you see it’s wrong
Can't you get it right?
Out of mind and outta sight
Call on all your girls
Don't forget the boys
Put a lid on all that noise!

I’m a satellite heart
Lost in the dark
I’m spun out so far
You stop, I start
But I'll be true to you

I hear you're living out of state
Running in a whole new scene
They say I haven't slept in weeks
You're the only thing I see

I'm a satellite heart
Lost in the dark
I’m spun out so far
You stop, I start
But I'll be true to you

I’m a satellite heart
Lost in the dark
I’m spun out so far
You stop, I start
But I'll be true to you
No matter what you do

Yeah I’ll be true to you

When the music ended, Rachel realized that singing that song actually had helped her out.  Did it really matter why Noah had asked her out the first time?  If he didn't truly care about her, he never would have asked her to his first baseball game.  He wouldn't have worked so hard to break her and Jack up.  He certainly wouldn't have attended Grease six times just to support her or faced down Dad, shotgun threat and all, the night he caught them in bed together.  She loved him and she knew that even if she broke up with him over this, she wouldn't stop loving him.  She would always want him no matter how much distance there was between them.  So she would move past the truth of why he pursued her in the beginning because it was completely irrelevant now.

She did wonder why he agreed to relax her in the first place though.  She'd have to ask him tomorrow.

A/N 2:  The song that Rachel sings the first verse of and then aborts is Kelly Clarkson's 'Gone'.  The second song that she sings all the way through is 'Satellite Heart' by Anya Marina.

Chapter 15 

puck/rachel, glee

Previous post Next post
Up