Rumor Has It

[ineedapplause]

Rachel had finally had enough. Thanks to stuffing the ballot box she now had an unforgivable stain on her perfect permanent record. She had been suspended and banned from competing in Sectionals when the New Directions needed her most to fight their traitors. Sam, sweet Sam, had been dancing for ladies in Kentucky and while it was true that she and Finn had saved him she couldn't help but keep thinking about his dire circumstances alone and in need of money so far from Lima. She would be in that boat soon, especially if she couldn't get into NYADA, and even if by some miracle she still did Kurt would not be going with her. She needed her best Gay. She was destined for New York and she would get there no matter what it took, but the truth was the closer that her time at McKinley came to an end the more that she realized she didn't want to go alone. She was terrified. Sure she was the star here, but what about New York? Her conversation with Shelby had haunted her for days. Shelby's talent hadn't been enough when it was pitted against the accomplished girls who had been from programs like NYADA. Her dreams, her life, was hanging in the balance and as much as she'd tried to hold her head high, breathe deeply and soldier on there had been one thing that had sent her over the edge.

Quinn. No, not Quinn. Quinn had only been the insane and slightly scary messenger. Puck was the one that was to blame for sending her over the edge. As if she didn't have more than enough to deal with she now had the knowledge that he was sleeping with her biological mother. It was so wrong. So gross. And yet somehow she wasn't surprised at all by his actions. How many times had she heard him brag about the MILFs his pool cleaning had serviced? She should've seen it on her own, really. What with Hot for Teacher and the intent way that he'd stared at Shelby when he sang I'm the Only One. Still she had never imagined in a hundred years that he would seriously throw himself at her biological mother. How had he managed to break through the cool exterior that Rachel had tried to hard to break herself in the past? If what Quinn had said was true - and Rachel wasn't entirely sure it was - then he had somehow seduced her and lowered her to his ways. The adopted mother of his child!

The longer she stood just outside the choir room with her arms crossed angrily over her chest the more stewed over the situation she became. She had messed up by stuffing the ballot box. She had fallen to a new low and she knew that, but this? She had never done anything as low as this. What was Puck thinking? How dare he think that he could take advantage of Shelby like that? Who did he think he was?

She looked up as he sauntered down the hallway, the last to arrive before Sectionals. She narrowed her eyes as he approached, reaching out and grabbing the lapels of his white tux and tugging him into the nearest empty classroom. She moved to block the door, crossing her arms over her chest, her tone terse. "Tell me it's not true."

Comments

[countpuckula]

Puck was in a good mood. No, scratch that. Puck was in a great mood. Sure, Shelby had tried to dump him, and yes, Quinn had tried to get herself another dose of his super sperm, but that was all just so last week. This week was better. This week was Sectionals where he got to rock a suit that made him look dead sexy, and he was actually getting an opportunity to show off his talent in a competition for once. Even better than that, Shelby was going to be in the crowd, and as soon as she got a load of his moves she would be begging for him to give her another shot.

Okay, so she’d claimed their little romp had been a mistake, but she’d said that about their first kiss too, and that hadn’t stopped her from going back for more. Then, of course, there was Beth; there was always Beth. Clearly the single parent thing was too much, they both needed him around, and soon enough Shelby would realise that.

Strutting down the hallway, ready to get this show on the road, Puck gave a bit of a cocky smile when he saw Rachel standing just outside the room. She didn’t look very pleased, but then that was understandable considering she wasn’t able to perform with them. That must have really been eating her up inside.

“Come to cheer us on, I - hey, what gives?” he suddenly yelped when she grabbed his coat and hauled him into a nearby classroom with surprising strength for her size. “Watch the suit!”

Finally free of her death grip, Puck attempted to smooth out the wrinkles in his lapels, but before he could interrogate her, or come off with some off colour remark, she said five words that no man liked to hear. Looking up at her in surprise, it took him all of two seconds to reply with “Of course it’s not true.”

It was instinct. Whenever someone says something like that with that expression and in that tone of voice, always deny the accusation. If they don’t want it to be true then always claim it isn’t. What isn’t? It didn’t matter, because clearly she didn’t want it to be, so that’s what he was going with.

[ineedapplause]

Rachel paused her face temporarily lighting up with a look of complete relief. Oh, thank God. Quinn had been exaggerating or misled and Puck and Shelby weren't having a completely inappropriate relationship. She gave a small sigh, feeling some of her rage fade away, but then something in his expression caught her attention.

Her eyes narrowed at him as she stepped closer. "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe it meant that he had nothing to hide. "I'm talking about you and Shelby. Is it true you're sleeping together?"

[countpuckula]

Seeing Rachel’s obvious relief caused something akin to it to pass over Puck’s features... and that was his mistake. Why should he be relieved that she was relieved about something he didn’t do? If he truly hadn’t done it, and he had any idea what she was talking about, he probably would have been offended that she would accuse him of such in the first place. As it was, well, he was just so taken aback by the sudden stealth attack that he couldn’t even feign offense.

And, of course, Rachel noticed.

“Of course I do!” Puck tried to recover, but she was advancing on him now, and even as tiny as she was she still somehow managed to be intimidating. Or just plain scary.

Wracking his brain to try to come up with anything that she could possibly be so upset with him about, he could only assume it had something to do with Finn. She hadn’t actually accused Puck himself of doing anything, after all, she just demanded he tell her the truth. Damn it, was Finn cheating on her again? Best friend or not, if he was, he was about to get his ass handed to him and - oh.

This time Puck didn’t recover so quickly, and there was no denial instinct. He had to say something quick, anything! “Do your mother/daughter conversations always include me?”

Alright, so maybe not that.

[ineedapplause]

It took every bit of self restraint Rachel had not to reach out and slap him. Not that he didn't deserve it, and not that there would be any witnesses, but the last thing she needed was another spot on her record. He so wasn't worth all of that trouble, and yet the instinct was there and screaming at her anyway. Stupidity like this deserved some kind of dramatic way to mark the end of it.

But without her satisfying go to of the dramatic, open handed slap she was at a loss and so she just stared at him for a moment, her mouth parted as if she was at a loss for words. Then abruptly she straightened up, snapped her mouth closed and moved forward, poking him in the chest with her finger.

"That is disgusting," she said, in a scarily calm voice. "The fact that you would seduce a lonely mother of one and then tell your ex-girlfriend is detestable. The fact that you would imply that we talk about you when we have so many more important things we should be talking about, or thinking we would be talking about you at all is ridiculous!"

She poked him again, harder this time. "What is this? Some kind of weird daughter/mother fantasy on your bucket list? If you had to seduce a teacher and I have no idea why you would want to, especially when you're so immature by our age group's standards, why did it have to be her? She's the adoptive mother of your baby, Noah! You've put her and your daughter at risk."

[countpuckula]

While Rachel just stared at him, Puck wasn’t sure what to expect. What were the chances that he had stunned her so much that he could just sneak out while she continued to glare into space, all open mouthed and shocked? Apparently slim to none. Looking down at his chest where she viciously poked him, he rubbed at the spot. She really was freakishly strong, and he would have protested it, but the words she was throwing at him did more damage than any physical contact could. All surprise, confusion, and worry instantly drained away, and when he brought his eyes up to meet hers again they had suddenly become dark and intense.

“Newsflash, Rachel, and I know this might shock you, but the whole world doesn’t revolve around you!” he shot back, ignoring the second poke even though it hurt more than the first. She was just so full of herself! And talking about her and Shelby like they actually any sort of relationship was ridiculous! No, he didn’t believe they had more important things to talk about because as far as he could see Rachel just wasn’t that important to Shelby, so either the girl was delusional or just a liar. “This has nothing to do with you. And alright, so I put the moves on her, but she wanted me, she needed me.”

Her accusations and admonishments were still catching up with him. It took him a moment to figure out that the ex-girlfriend she was referring to was Quinn and not herself. Of course it was Quinn. Why had he told her? She had seemed to vulnerable and he’d wanted to confide in her, but he had selfish reasons as well. He had just wanted to tell someone. Clearly he’d put his trust in the wrong hands.

“There’s no risk. I’m eighteen, that’s legal, so what’s the problem?”

[ineedapplause]

"Nothing to do with me?" Rachel repeated incredulously. "She's my mother!" The moment she said it, she knew how crazy it sounded. She certainly hadn't thought about Shelby in that capacity for a very long time, but now she suddenly felt very protective over her. And okay, so maybe the thought of Noah spending intimate time with her made her feel things she wasn't entirely ready to admit to.

"Yes, it's legal but it's hardly good for her. Do you honestly think that parents are going to want a teacher who sleeps with her students working here? They don't know you like I do. And they don't know her. She will get all the blame. You know that don't you?"

"It has to end." Before Quinn did something that would ruin Shelby's life and probably that of her perfect, blonde adopted sister. Not that Rachel liked thinking about Beth. It just seemed petty to be embarrassed of someone who wasn't even two years old yet.

[countpuckula]

It was almost laughable how shocked Rachel seemed that this just had nothing to do with her. In her mind, everything was about her, and if it wasn’t then she was damn determined to make it about her. Well if that was what she wanted, then fine!

“Okay fine, you got me! I know I can never have you so I thought I’d just go bang the next best thing!” It was said with much sarcasm and eyerolling, because she had a big enough ego that she would probably believe it otherwise. And Puck was just too angry right now to wonder about the strange pang the words caused, so he easily brushed it off.

It was also easier to ignore when Rachel started making sense, even though it just wasn’t what he wanted to hear. If their relationship was discovered Shelby would probably lose her job... but love was supposed to conquer all, right?

“Oh, you mean they don’t know that this is all my fault, or how irresistible I am, and that they would never blame her if they really knew me?” He wasn’t sure why this accusation bothered him. Wasn’t that what he wanted everyone to believe? That he could get any girl he wanted without even trying? But this was different, there was more to this than just sex, but Rachel just couldn’t see it.

“Look, nobody has to know, alright?” Puck finally tried to speak through the anger, and be a bit more reasonable. “She’s letting me see my kid, and I’m helping take care of her, that’s all.”

[ineedapplause]

His outburst only made her expression that much more stony as she regarded him. Nevermind that when he said it that way it did sound pretty absurd. After all her and Puck were on mostly good terms and there hadn't been any hard feelings after he'd turned down her down when she'd broken up with Finn. There was no reason that he would have a vendetta against her or any evidence that he had any feelings for her. Still, why did he have to have gone after Shelby? Of all people.

She swallowed when he went on to clarify what she'd meant. That was exactly what she meant. She herself had fallen for Puck's charms more than once. She knew how irresistible and persuasive he could be when he wanted to. Surely that was what had happened to Shelby. Why else would she have risked her job? She'd believed that Puck had real feelings for her when he clearly did not. Right?

"Is this about Beth?" She asked, her tone still tight, but not quite as hard as it used to be. "You know you don't have to seduce her to see Beth. I understood it that she wanted you and Quinn to see her. That's part of why she moved back here." She wanted to tell him that he didn't have to make it gross by throwing sex into the mix, but the more she thinks about it, the more she wonders what her biological mom must have been thinking to even get in this kind of a situation.

Puck is certainly to blame, but he might not be the only one. "Helping her take care of her, how?"

[countpuckula]

Rubbing his hands over his face and then back over his mohawk, Puck took a deep breath. In her own way Rachel was trying to understand. He had never pulled any punches with her in the past, so why should he expect the same from her? To be honest, if he had wanted to confide in someone, he was probably looking at the person he should have picked. He had always respected Rachel, even admired her at times, and as many times as he had stood up for her he should have hoped she’d be on his side with this... but then she was rarely there when he defended her, and this was her mother.

Damn, when did his life get so complicated?

Honesty. He could do honesty, right? If he was going to be with an older woman like Shelby, and he was going to be a good dad, then he could have this conversation maturely without all the accusations and yelling. Sure he could. This was the perfect situation to prove himself.

“It wasn’t like that,” he said, unable to keep from at least giving Rachel a glare for her opinion of him. “Okay, so it started out being about Beth, but it’s not anymore.”

Of course it had started that way. He had never wanted to give up his baby in the first place, but he’d had no choice in the matter, so of course he was going to jump at the chance to be a part of her life. “You’ve always had two parents, you have no idea what it’s like taking care of a kid on your own.”

Puck had watched his mother do it for years, struggling to take care of he and his sister while working full time on top of it. And sometimes while she was working he’d had to take care of his little sister instead, so he felt like he at least sort of knew how hard it was.

“Beth needs a daddy, and Shelby needs a man. Why shouldn’t they both be me?”

[ineedapplause]

Rachel listened as Puck went on to explain, her expression steadily becoming more troubled. While it's true that she had fallen prey to Noah's charms in the past, she also knew he didn't play vulnerable without an immediate reward and never about something like this.

She let out a slow breath, her shoulders relaxing the tiniest bit. "I understand what you were trying to do," Rachel said slowly. "But Noah, you have to realize that you're hardly in a position to be either right now. You're just a teenager. Not to mention that a relationship with one of your teachers is high inappropriate for both of you."

She swallowed and stepped closer to him, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. "I think that your feelings for wanting to be there for Beth are getting in the way. I know this seems like the easiest solution, but it's not really a good one for you or Shelby."

She sighed. "I don't want you to get your hopes up, because this isn't a permanent solution."

[countpuckula]

Puck rolled his eyes at Rachel’s condescending little speech. “I’m eighteen. I graduate in a few months. I have my own business, I make my own money; I’m hardly a kid anymore. Let’s face it, Rach, I’m a catch.”

He didn’t even bother to comment on her claim that the relationship was inappropriate... mostly because he didn’t have an argument against it. It was probably against some teacher’s code or something, and his mom sure as hell wouldn’t approve, but the path to true love was never easy, right?

There was a moment there that he wanted to lean into her touch, to accept the comfort he hadn’t known he’d needed, but in true Rachel Berry fashion she just kept talking, eventually saying too much and, more importantly, the wrong thing. His expression growing angry again, he abruptly shook off her touch.

“Who says it can’t be permanent?” he said, but there really was no question in his tone. “I love her, and I know she’s feeling it too.”

[ineedapplause]

Rachel had to swallow hard in order not to laugh at Noah's comment that he was a catch. She wasn't sure if he actually knew how absurd what he was saying and he was joking with her, or if he actually believed that he could support a family on a pool cleaning business. Sometimes with Puck it was hard to tell.

For a second, Rachel thought he might be seeing reason, but then she saw the dark cloud come over his expression and she sighed, withdrawing her hand and crossing her arms.

"Has she told you that she loves you?" Rachel asked, knowing that with Shelby the answer was probably no. There was no way that Shelby would've led on one of her students, was there? "I think you need to make sure that she's coming from the same place you are," Rachel said slowly. "Catch or not, I don't see her throwing away her reputation to be with an eighteen year old."

She sighed, studying his face. "You're serious about all of this aren't you? You really love her."

[countpuckula]

Puck’s anger and confidence faded visibly at Rachel’s words. Damn, why did she have to go and make sense? Shelby was a stand-up woman, and it was true she probably wouldn’t risk her rep, something Puck knew all too well about. He’d been all about his rep for a long time... though he had almost thrown it all away by choosing Glee over football two years ago, something that he’d done for the girl standing right in front of him. Now here he was, going all in with her mother. Good thing he wasn’t one to think about such things. Or think about much of anything, period.

Still, back on the predicament at hand, just because Shelby hadn’t admitted it didn’t mean she didn’t feel it.

“She’s just being practical,” he replied, trying to sound like this was an obvious fact, but failing quite miserably. His own feelings, though, those he was sure of, those he knew. “Serious as a heart attack, Rach. And I know this is probably weird for you, since she’s your mom and all, but I’ll make her happy. Her and Beth.”

He meant it, too. He was happiest when he was with them, and he knew Beth was happier when he was around. They could make this work.

“I should probably get in there before the show starts...”

[ineedapplause]

Shelby was being more than practical. Rachel thought she was playing with fire. How could she not see the look on Puck's face and wonder if Shelby realized just how much he was reading into their tryst? She had been certain that Puck was the one taking advantage of Shelby, but now she wasn't sure.

Rachel wanted to tell Puck that he was being delusional, but when he said he would make Shelby happy the words were so genuine and sincere that she felt her resolve crack instead. She lets out a frustrated sigh and drops her hands to her sides in defeat. "Noah..."

She paused, not sure what to say. She could argue with him until she was blue in the face, but she couldn't say that he didn't love Shelby when it was clear he did have feelings for her. Even if she suspected that those feelings were a mix of physical attraction and wanting to be a dad for Beth. They were still entirely blameless and Rachel knew that trying to tell Puck that he should step down from an opportunity to be there for his daughter was pointless. If anything, it was the last thing he needed to disregard her completely.

"Break a leg," she said after a long moment, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. It was clear that she was going to have to talk to Shelby about this one. Which, talking to Shelby was hard enough already without feeling annoyance at the fact that she couldn't see how deep Puck was into all of this.

"I'll be cheering you guys on from the audience."

[countpuckula]

Puck was waiting for it, practically holding his breath as he waited for Rachel to launch into another tirade, so when she gave in and wished him luck he let out his breath in an audible puff, looking relieved. This time he didn’t brush off her touch, instead reaching up to take her hand in his for a moment.

“Wish you were out there with us, but don’t worry, we got this one. Even without the great Rachel Berry, they don’t stand a chance,” he said, grinning widely now that the hard part was over. Sure, there might have been some sarcasm in there, but he doubted Rachel would pick up on it. Besides, while she might be overbearing and try to outshine all the rest of them, nobody could claim she had no talent.

Giving her a wink, Puck released her hand and strutted out the door. Only once he was safe in the darkness of the auditorium did everything rush back at him, threatening to tear him down. It took the entire set of the Retards or whatever their name was, and half of the Troubletones’ performance for him to get himself under control again, but by the time he hit the stage he was back to plan A, and speaking of A’s, his A-game was what he brought.