Fic: Out of the Blue, Part 81a by Sapphire (PG-13)

[sapphireej]

Title: Out of the Blue, Part 81a
Author: Sapphire (sapphiresfic)
Fandom: Glee
Pairing/Characters: Rachel, Puck, Rachel/Puck, the Glee clubbers
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 11,127 (Part a and b)
Spoilers: Up to 1x22 ~ Journey; just to be safe
Series: 'Out of the Blue' (List of all the parts on my LJ)
Summary1: When Puck admits something to Rachel 'out of the blue;' what happens? Now both will face the ups and downs of his admission and find a little bit about each other along the way.
Summary2: More holiday enjoyment with friends and family
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.

~*~

Monday morning, though Puck wanted to sleep in, he and Rachel were both awake by seven and neither got to stay in bed too long; they had things to do that day. Their fellow Glee members would be over to discuss songs for Regionals, since they couldn't at school because of the snow days and the sooner they decided on songs, the more time they'd have to get ready for the competition.

With Abby still asleep, since she usually slept until about eight, Puck and Rachel first took care of getting themselves ready for the day and then had breakfast, before they got to work. Taking all the dinning room chairs into the living room, along with the ones from the table in the kitchen, the two organized and picked up the living room, giving everyone plenty of places to sit.

Rachel knew that at least the original members of the club, along with Jessica and her boyfriend TJ, Ryan, Mandy and Travis would be there. It had been short notice when Rachel invited them over because of the holiday break, but she had heard from one of the new girls, Kris, who asked for directions and said she and her sister, Andi, and her sister's friend, Mel, would be there since they were all members. In addition to the teens, Will, Deborah and Brad, the directors would be there, only missing Ethan, since he had to work, but he'd be checking in throughout the day.

Since her sleep schedule had been a little off, Abby slept until about nine, which gave her parents a chance to organize and mostly clean up the house mostly. While Rachel was getting her changed and dressed, Deborah and Arin came over, having only just gotten up themselves, because Deborah wanted to talk to Rachel and Puck before they went shopping. While talking, Rachel decided she should go along, and since Arin didn't want to go, she stayed at the house with Puck, Abby and Kona.

A little after ten, Quinn, Finn and Kurt came over, wanting to hang out for a while before everyone else arrived. "No offense, but you and your dad are spending a lot of time at the Hudson's," Puck commented, looking at Kurt as they sat around in the living room, watching Abby crawl around on one of her blankets and play with a few toys.

"None taken," Kurt assured him, "and yeah, we are," he shrugged, "I kind of like it. It's nice to be back and forth, actually. Kind of like when you were spending a lot of your time at Rachel's," he added.

Puck nodded, "very true."

Quinn laughed, "I've told them they'll be step-brothers one day, but they don't believe me."

"You might be," Puck replied, nodding in agreement, "they're spending nights together and you guys are moving back and forth... If not officially, you could be living together soon," he told them.

Kurt and Finn exchanged glances and then looked at Puck and Quinn, "do you guys really think it's that serious?" Finn asked.

"I don't know. You guys know your parents more than we do, but from what I know about their relationship, this is the first one they've had since the passing of their former spouses and I don't think mom would stay with someone that long, spend nights with him or have him and his son spend nights at your place if things weren't serious," Puck told them.

"When you put it like that, it does make sense," Kurt agreed, "I haven't seen my dad this happy in a long time. I also know that their house," he motioned to Finn, "is a lot bigger than mine and dad's, so that's why I stay at their place, but Finn and Quinn usually don't stay at ours. I guess it wouldn't be bad if we lived together, but it still would take some getting used to."

Finn nodded, "yeah. I guess it wouldn't be any different than when you guys stay for a few nights at our place, but it'd be permanent," he shrugged. "I don't know, I guess it's just weird to think that at eighteen my mom's gonna get remarried, but she does seem happy."

Puck looked around a little and laughed lightly, "tell me about it. That's the last thing I thought would happen to my mom, but I'm glad she and dad got remarried; she's happy."

"Burt hasn't proposed yet, so it might not happen, either, but I just mention it sometimes so you can think about it, because Burt probably wouldn't do that unless you were both alright with it," Quinn added.

"I get what you mean," Finn nodded, sitting back on the couch, "I guess we'll see."

The other teens in the room nodded, letting the conversation settle and Puck moved to sit in front of the tree to keep Abby from heading that way while she was crawling around.

"I didn't think you would put a Christmas tree up," Kurt commented, "you guys are Jewish."

"Yeah, we are, but we want Abby to experience both holidays, like Rachel and I did when we were kids. Mom and dad bought a new tree for their place, so we decided to put this one up to have our first family tree. We're going to decorate it in a few days," Puck explained, motioning behind him.

"That's a cool idea and time for more presents," Finn smirked.

Puck laughed a little, "we did most of our present exchanging at Hanukkah, but yeah, we'll still exchange some. When Rachel and I decided to put this up, dad mentioned it's the perfect time for us to start making our own traditions and he's right. We're doing the actual holiday stuff at my parent's house, you know? Dinner and presents, but we still want our own tree, decorated with things we had up on our family trees growing up. Maybe one day we'll host Christmas here, but right now I'm totally cool with it just being the tree and some decorations," he admitted, "and like Rachel said, the holiday season is about being with family and friends."

"It definitely is," Kurt agreed.

Before anyone could respond, Kona began barking at a noise outside, which startled Abby and made her start crying. Puck slid closer to where she was sitting, rattle still in her hand and picked her up, "it's okay, kiddo, Kona just hears mom and grandma outside," he murmured, holding her close and gently rubbing her back. Kona stopped barking when she saw Rachel and Deborah and as they walked in, both Abby and Puck turned to look at the door, "see, mommy's home," he grinned, kissing her cheek, "nothing to cry about," he assured her, her emotions changing quickly when she saw Rachel.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, hearing what Puck was saying.

"Kona's barking scared her," Puck replied, "but now that she sees you're home, she's alright," he replied.

Setting her bags down out of the way, she waved at their friends and moved over to Puck, reaching to take Abby from her dad, "hey sweetheart. I missed you," she murmured, pressing a kiss to her cheek and holding her close, "everything's alright. Nothing to get scared about; Kona is just protecting her family," she told her.

Puck smiled and stood up, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend's lips, "hang out here. I'll help mom with the groceries."

"Thanks," she returned his smile. "Mom and I didn't bring in the bottles of water and cans of sodas, so you could do that," she added.

"Sounds good," he nodded, "Finn, you mind helping?"

"Nope," Finn shook his head and got up, following Puck outside.

Rachel kissed Abby, "daddy will be back," she told her softly, taking a moment to focus on her daughter before turning her attention to Kurt and Quinn, since Arin had gotten up to take the groceries into the kitchen, "hey. I didn't think you'd be here this early."

"We thought we'd come over and hang out before everyone showed up. Also wanted to see if you needed any help with preparations," Quinn explained.

"Oh, okay, that's cool," she smiled, "I don't think there's too much preparation. We picked up some snacks, chips and drinks. We'll order pizza once everyone gets here, since we don't know what everyone will want or like on theirs and have it delivered," she explained, "so we've got plenty of time to hang out."

"Has anyone really thought of songs?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Honestly," Rachel shook her head, "I've had a few ideas or suggestions, but specific ones, no. We've had other things going on, so we've got a lot of work to do."

Quinn nodded, "yeah, same here. We may be here a while."

~*~

When all the groceries were put away, the kids and Deborah sat back and relaxed for a little while, and around eleven, Ben, Susan, Hannah, Jessica and TJ showed up and joined those who were already there. As time ticked closer to their scheduled time, more of the Gleeks arrived and by noon, all of the original members were there, along with TJ, Ryan, Mandy, Travis, Kris, Andi, Mel and Will, giving them three out of four directors and nineteen members, a large enough majority to come up with and agree on songs for Regionals.

Since Abby was normally had her nap at noon, while Deborah was taking pizza suggestions, Rachel got Abby down in her crib and returned downstairs and joined everyone. Once they all had drinks and found places to sit, they got down to business, knowing it may be a long process to figure out music.

Will had brought along the list the club had come up with the previous Monday at school, the songs everyone had liked, but not enough of them could really make a solid choice on any of them, which brings them to the reason for the 'emergency' meeting over break.

Starting with the list they had, everyone gave Will suggestions to add to it and after a bunch more were added, pizza arrived, so they took a quick break to get lunch and then returned to their seats to get back to work. With a list of about sixty songs now, they definitely had a lot of work to do, so they started by going through the list and people gave reasons why they shouldn't use a song, including too much work for vocals, intricate band music or no sheet music available; Will had his laptop with him, checking the website he purchased music at to see what was there.

With the list finally down to under forty, they were getting close, but time was ticking by. Knowing they needed at least one ballad, they focused on that one first and by two-thirty, they'd settled on a ballad and everyone nominated Puck and Rachel to sing it, since it was a love song. The two agreed and were glad to at least have one song chosen, even if it took almost three hours.

Abby woke up about three and while the group continued to talk, Puck went up to take care of her and they came downstairs a little bit later. Puck retook his seat next to Rachel and Abby was curiously looking around the room at all the faces, but stayed snuggled to her dad, a little shy and not fully awake.

Refocusing on what they were doing and trying not to get too sidetracked, by the time Ethan got over there around four, a Rachel and Quinn duet had been chosen; the two girls thought it would be fun, because they hadn't really done one together and everyone was okay with their choice and were close to being done.

Because of their limited time and being a mom, Rachel was concerned about practicing. She knew she and her boyfriend could work on their duet anytime, and the same with Quinn, but she suggested that others take the leads on the other song.

Agreeing with Rachel, Will looked for more volunteers and Kurt and Tina stepped up. Liking the combination, the two each picked a few songs they'd like to sing, of the ones on the list, and having one in common, they looked to the others and when almost everyone agreed on it, a sigh of relief echoed around the room as they finally had their three competition songs.

It was now close to five and darkness began to settle over the town. Most of the guests thanked Rachel and Puck for having the meeting at their house and then said 'goodbye' before leaving, the group quickly being cut down by half.

When David and Alan arrived around five-thirty, the 'usual' people were still there, all of the Puckermans, TJ, Finn, Quinn, Kurt, and Ryan. Though Kurt had come over that morning with Quinn and Finn, Ryan invited him out to dinner and to hang out afterward, so they left just after Alan and David got there.

Sticking around to help clean up, Finn and Quinn returned to the Hudson's home, Rachel insisting they take some of the pizza with him, because they had a lot left over with toppings the family didn't eat. Just after they left, TJ, along with Ben, Susan and their daughters went back to their place, leaving the close Puckerman and Berry family.

Snacking on leftovers from the day for dinner, the family sat around and talked, discussing going to David and Alan's house the next day to decorate. The guys were taking a half day off work and would be there around one, but Rachel assured them she, Noah and probably Deborah, Arin, Quinn and Finn would be over there before then. They didn't mind that and by eight, everyone headed home, giving Rachel and Puck some time with Abby, before they got her ready for bed and laid her down.

~*~

"Wow, what a day," Rachel sighed, finally crawling into bed around ten.

Puck nodded, "yeah, tell me about it. I really didn't think it'd take almost five full hours to pick three songs," he admitted, joining her, "but I'm glad it's done with. Now we can focus on our break and worry about that next year," he added, slipping his arms around her.

"But Noah, we should..."

"No," he shook his head, "I know what you're going to say and I'm saying 'no'. I want to spend my last high school winter break with my family. It's bad enough we've got homework to do," he told her, "I love you, but please, don't say we should practice."

Thinking about what he said, Rachel noticed there seemed to be more to what he was getting at, especially the way he said 'high school winter break'. "Um, alright. I won't. Why do I get the feeling that you mean, what you said, differently than what I think you did."

Letting his eyes drift closed, Puck gathered his thoughts, sighing, "getting time off for the holidays are slim to none for the first few years of being in the Navy," he whispered, "it's another reason why I want us to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah," he admitted sadly. "I'll be the low man on the totem pole and others above me will get the luxury first. It also depends on exactly what I'm doing for a job, where I am and what day the holiday falls on, too. That's what my recruiter and I talked about the last time I saw him. He kind of warned me and thought I should let my family know," he paused, tugging the blankets up over them, "I know I should have talked to you about it then, but I was going to wait until after the holidays, so we could just enjoy them, then talk after the new year, but when Quinn, Finn and Kurt mentioned they were surprised we put up a Christmas tree, I started thinking about this and I haven't been able to shake it."

Rachel leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, "I know," she said softly, "about missing holidays. I've been to many military family support forums and that was one of the biggest gripes they had," she slid closer and hugged him, "I hate that you may miss one, but I get why. It's one of the reasons why I want to celebrate both, too. If you miss one, we've got the other, but we'll figure something, Noah. We'll be together for the holidays somehow."

Puck sighed in relief, glad she understood, even if the situation sucked, "I love you so much," he murmured, "I know we'll figure something out, too. I'm just really glad you get it. I've been worried about how I could bring it up because I know it's an upsetting topic."

"Oh trust me, I've been preparing for almost a year," she assured him, "as soon as it came up and you started talking serious about joining the Navy, I was looking things up about having a family with a military spouse," she told him honestly. "I know it's going to be rough and I don't like that we'll be apart, but thankfully we have technology that gives us a lot more connection than even five years ago did, so we'll work through this. It will be hard, but we'll make it," she told him honestly.

"We will," he nodded in agreement and held her close, "I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Noah," she smiled, kissing him again, "you're right, we should just enjoy our last winter break before you join the military. I can't wait to see you in a sailor's uniform," she added with a wink.

Puck smirked, "oh really?"

"I can't help thinking about it. I've seen pictures of guys wearing them and just imagining what you'd look like in one," she blushed, "I think you're going to look amazingly handsome."

"Amazingly handsome?" Puck smiled, holding her close, "that's a new one. Hopefully reality is just as awesome as your imagination."

Rachel pressed a kiss to her lips, "I'm sure it will be. You're always handsome to me."

~*~

Because of the year before, Finn and Quinn had become part of the Berry family and David and Alan wanted the two teens to join them in decorating and celebrating the holiday. They had already agreed to help out, but hadn't stayed long enough the night before to find out the 'when' details, other than knowing the next day, so when Puck and Rachel got up they messaged their friends to let them know the time.

Though David, Alan and Ethan would be taking a half-day off and not getting home until after noon, Rachel, Puck, Abby, Deborah, Arin, Quinn and Finn, headed over to the Berry's home around ten in the morning to get an early start.

The two men had put up their artificial Christmas tree in the living room where they wanted it and boxes of decorations had been set around the living room, so once they arrived, they started sorting and putting some things up, not wanting to wait until the guys got there.

"This feels right," Quinn commented after a while, sitting in the living room helping sort out decorations from ornaments and other items.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked curiously.

"My parents and I always went to my sister's place in Columbus for the holiday, so we never decorated here. Last year was the first Christmas that felt like I was a part of the family and this year feels the same. Like, even though I'm not biologically related to you all, I'm still part of your family and we're celebrating part of Christmas together. I know living arrangements have changed a little over the past year and we have our own families to be celebrating with, too, but I still feel like being here is a home, too," she explained.

Rachel smiled and moved to sit next to her, "I know how you feel. You are part of the Berry family and always will be. I like to think after how close we got, we're like sisters, so I'd hope you feel like family here, too."

"I definitely feel like we're sisters," Quinn agreed, returning her smile. "We've come a long way in a short time and I know I've said this before, but I really appreciate you guys taking me in like you did. I don't know what I would have done, but unfortunately I don't think I'll never be able to really repay you," she said honestly.

"You don't have to," Rachel assured her, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug, "that's what friends and family do for each other," she smiled, "and if we had to do it all over again, we would."

Quinn accepted her hug and nodded, "thanks. I'm really glad things worked out the way they did."

"We are, too," Puck agreed from across the room, where he was going through Christmas lights for outside. "And the holidays are supposed to be happy times, so let's not bring up all the not so happy stuff and focus on the fact that we're all healthy and we've got awesome family and friends to be around," he suggested.

~*~

Agreeing with Puck's words, the girls let their conversation settle and everyone returned to what they had been doing. Abby was crawling around on the floor near Rachel and Quinn, checking out what they were doing, and came up to a large stuffed penguin wearing a blue scarf with silvery snowflakes on it and a matching hat. Seeing the animal, she first stopped and looked at it and then reached out to touch it, giggling when she felt the fur.

Abby's giggle caught everyone's attention and Rachel jumped up to get her camera, wanting to catch the moment and managed to get a few pictures of her crawling closer to it and wrapping her arms around the animal, greeting her new friend.

"I think we may need to bring Mr. Penguin home with us," Puck commented with a grin, watching Abby snuggle into it's soft body.

Rachel nodded, "that's definitely a good idea. My grandma gave him to me several years ago and we kept him with the holiday decorations because of his hat and scarf. He was one of those holiday toys that was made specific for the year she got it."

"She's a sucker for stuffed animals, and I know if we tried to take him away from her she'd cry, so I'm just saying now, it comes home with us," he smirked.

"Wow, Puck's a big softie for his daughter," Finn grinned, trying to tease his friend a little.

"Of course I am. She's daddy's little girl," Puck smiled, knowing Finn's tone was to tease, but he didn't care; he'd spoil his girlfriend and daughter as much as he could and wouldn't hide it. "I want my girls happy," he added, moving to take a seat on the floor next to Abby and the penguin, lifting one of it's wings and teasing her nose with it.

At her giggling, Rachel smiled and took another picture, before getting up and sliding into his lap, "I can tell you that we are definitely happy," she assured him.

Puck grinned and kissed her, enjoying the family moment, "good. I'm glad."

~*~

Getting back to work after a few moments, it wasn't long before Alan, David and Ethan were arriving after their half day of work. Having a simple lunch, they got back to decorating and the guys turned their attention to the lights outside.

Deborah had started dinner while they were outside and the girls decorated the living room, kitchen, dinning room and other rooms the guests would be in during the party and also added the lights to the tree.

When the guys came inside from putting up the lights, it was close to dinner time, so while Rachel fed Abby, they warmed up a little with hot chocolate and coffee, before everyone sat down to eat.

Talking lightly and relaxing together, they all enjoyed the family time and when dinner was over, like they had the other night, they put their focus on decorating the tree with ornaments. As decorations were pulled out to use, Rachel picked through them, taking her ornaments and others she wanted on her, Puck and Abby's tree and used other ones to put up and in a few hours they had the tree finished, with Rachel having many set aside for the other tree.

"Thank you all for helping out decorating. I know with everything going on the past few weeks it's definitely been the last thing on our minds, but it's been a great day," David admitted, smiling at everyone.

"It's always fun," Rachel grinned, holding Abby on her lap with the penguin next to her.

"Yeah, and we weren't freaking out like last year because it started snowing," Puck added, sitting next to his girlfriend with his arm around her shoulders.

"And I wasn't miserable being pregnant," Quinn added, then blushed, "sorry Deborah."

Deborah laughed lightly, "it's alright, Quinn."

"Decorating next year is going to be different though," Alan said softly.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, looking at him and David.

The two men exchanged glances with each other and then looked around, "we've got something we want to tell you guys," David admitted.

"Rachel, Quinn, you know you'll always have a place in our home," Alan started, "but David and I have decided that it's time for us to move."

"What?" Rachel exclaimed, her tone raising an octave.

Rachel's outburst started Abby, so Puck reached over and pulled their daughter into his arms to calm her down, letting the Berrys talk for a moment.

"We always knew when you moved out, we'd downsize at some point. This house is way too big for us. Now that you've got your own home and we're hardly here, it's just not sensible for us to live in such a large home," David explained, "we're not leaving Lima; we're just going to get a smaller place," he added, wanting it to be clear they were not leaving town.

Learning that they were staying in Lima, Rachel relaxed a little, but her eyes still filled with tears at the news, "but what about all my stuff? My room? All the memories we have here?"

"You will always have a bedroom at our place, no matter where we live, Quinn, the same goes for you," Alan said honestly, "and yes this place does have a lot of memories, but we'll be able to make new ones in another place. We know this is hard news and we're sorry to drop it on you after a great day like today, but we've finally made the decision and by the first of the year we'll be putting bids in on a few places we're interested in."

David got up and moved to sit next to Rachel, wrapping his arms around her tightly to comfort her, knowing she'd take it the hardest.

Rachel leaned against him and tried to relax, completely understanding their logical reasons for wanting a smaller place, "I... I know," she cried, "and you're right and I get it, but it's just... It's just so hard to think about leaving this place... I've got so many good memories here and I won't have a physical reminder of them."

"We know and we feel the same way. Nothing is going to change overnight and you'll always have your memories; those aren't going to go away with the move. And besides, home is where your heart is; your heart is with Noah and Abby," David told her honestly, "and yes, we know you love us, but where we live doesn't change that."

Taking a deep breath she nodded, "I know and I'm sorry for getting all emotional, but it's just so sudden and nothing I even expected," she paused, pulling back from him a little, "I get it, I do... It's just a lot to take in."

Puck reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder, "I'm here, babe. We all are."

Turning to look at him, she smiled, taking his hand in hers, "I know. Thanks," she smiled, "so, um, where are you going to move? I mean, you said you're staying here, but what part of town?"

"Well, we're not making any promises, but we have found a place within walking distance of where you guys live," Alan commented.

"Really?" Rachel asked, calming down a little when she realized their place could be even closer than it already was.

"You know the new homes where Ben and Susan moved to?" David asked, and when she and the others nodded, he continued, "well, there's a few homes that hadn't been completed when they bought theirs, and we're looking at one of them on the street; you actually walk or drive past it every day when you go drop Abby off," he explained. "We're not the only people looking at it and as soon as it's open to bid on, we're going to put one in on it, but like dad said, we're not making any promises because it might not go to us."

"But there's still a chance, right?" Rachel wondered hopeful.

"Oh yes, there is," Alan nodded, "but we just don't want you to get your hopes up and then find out we don't get it. It's definitely what we're looking for and we'll be in the office the day we can bid on it, so hopefully our offer will be accepted, but if it isn't, then we'll have to keep looking or fall back on some other choices."

Rachel nodded, biting her lip, "and those are where?"

"Further away," David said, "but let's not worry about those right now. We're hopeful that we'll get the one near you, but we do have back-up options, just in case."

Taking a deep breath, she nodded, "well, then, I'll hope for the best, because it'd be really awesome if you guys lived closer," she said, settling from her emotions to hope they'd get the place.

"Yeah, it would be," Alan and David agreed.

~*~

Though David and Alan's announcement was shocking to Rachel, Quinn, who was like another daughter to them, was okay with it; appreciating they'd still give her a place to stay if she needed it and assured them she understood their reasons for wanting to move.

As much as Rachel didn't want to leave right away, it was getting late and they had to take care of Abby and check on Kona, since she'd been home alone all day, except for the brief time Ethan had gone to let her out and check on her for them, so they started to gather things up to get ready to go.

The guys helped put the storage boxes away and Puck took the box of stuff Rachel wanted, out to their car, and others helped make sure the house was cleaned up and presentable, talking about plans for a few days later, when they were having the actual party.

Quinn and Finn were the first ones to say 'goodnight' and then Deborah, Ethan and Arin left, leaving Rachel, Abby and Puck. The three only stuck around a short time longer, Rachel assuring her dads she was fine and was still upset, but was hopeful they could be closer, so it was helping her keep positive about the move.

When the young family finally headed home, Rachel was emotionally drained and wanted to get to bed, so she and Puck took care of Kona and Abby and once Abby was settled into her crib, Rachel crashed in bed. Puck didn't blame her; he understood major news like that was hard to take, plus they'd had a long day, so he settled just be close to her and there if she needed him.

~*~

Link to Part 81b
(Had to split the chapter up because it was just a little too long to fit in one LJ post.)

~*~