Don’t Hold Your Breath || Puckleberry 

foreverrachelberry:

A rush of relief went through her when she saw him there. He wasn’t going to leave her now. She was afraid, not knowing how the case was going or if they caught the two men who attacked her, but her husband was here now. She was safe. Her and their baby. She smiled through her tears as he wiped her face, forgetting that his mother and sister were there. She kissed him back softly, smiling more when his hand moved to rest on her belly. It explained why her pants seemed a bit snugger than usual and how has was beginning to get a belly. She thought she was slacking off. It turned out, It was their baby. Her eyes met his as she quickly nodded. They finally did it after months of trying. She heard his mother clear her throat and she let out a soft sigh, laying back against the pillows. All she wanted was to celebrate this moment with Noah, but it would have to wait until later it seemed. She smiled up at Ava, taking a shaky breath. “I’m in a pit of pain, but overall, I’m okay. Thr doctor seems to think I’ll recover quickly, although I might end up on some form of bed rest. I don’t really mind though.” She squeezed Noah’s hand, feeling Sarah take her other hand. “The worse part about all of this is probably the lack of pain meds, but if i can handle this, childbirth will be a breeze!” Ava laughed, nodding her head in agreement. She was honestly happy that the older woman was there because she had no clue how to be a mom.

“Rach? Will you finally teach me how to knit now?” She smiled at the fifteen year old and nodded.  ”Sure, Sarah. It’s pretty easy.” She saw the identical bashful look that Noah gets when he makes a suggestion he isn’t sure about, cross Sarah’s features and she squeezed her hand. “I want to make the baby a blanket.” Rachel felt the tears in her eyes again and let go of Noah’s hand. “Come here,” she said, opening her arms for Sarah to crawl in. She hugged her sister-in-law, kissing the top of her head. “I would be honored if you made the baby a blanket, Sarah.” The girl looked up at her with a smile. “Do you know what it is yet?” She shook her head, smiling softly. “Not for another eight weeks. That’s okay though. It gives me time to start getting the basics and the furniture for the nursery. I have no preference on which comes first. Just as long as he or she is healthy, that’s all that matters to me.”

Puck honestly felt like he was in a dream, between Rachel falling victim to his own stupidity, which was more of a nightmare, and the fact she was okay and pregnant. He just couldn’t wrap his head around it all, even after a week. And he was sure it would take him a little while to fully relax again, especially with her court case right around the corner. They managed to find the guys that did it, thanks to a witness from one of the surrounding buildings that he was sure Rachel didn’t know was there. It seemed like it was the last of the group too, so it felt comforting knowing that they were all safe and so were other people on the streets of New York. He wasn’t going to bring that up, not until she asked. He didn’t want to ruin her good mood, the smile on her face told him everything. He didn’t say anything as she talked to his mom and sister for a little bit, a smile on her face the entire one. And he was sure he was sporting one extremely similar and he had no shame whatsoever. He was sure that things could only get better for them after this, there was no way things could go wrong. They were starting a family, finally. And it was just the start of another chapter in their lives, one of many, many more to come. That was for sure. It might be a little while until this one officially started, but he didn’t mind waiting. Especially with something like this.

After what seemed like almost an hour of talking, his mom looked at the clock and then back to Rachel, “I think we’re going to head home now, you need your rest and obviously a little time for both of you to talk. We’ll stop by again soon, sweetheart.” Both his mom and his sister hugged his wife and exchanged kisses on the cheek before they disappeared outside of the room into the hallway, closing the door behind them. He looked from the door, giving a few seconds of leeway time in case his mom forgot something or needed to say something else, but the door never opened. He then turned to Rachel, “Thank god, now I can do this properly.” He leaned forward until he was at the edge of the chair, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek in his hand and leaned forward to kiss. It had been a week since he properly kissed her, the last time before when he got there was when they both left the apartment for the day. And damn, did it feel good to kiss her again, like nothing had changed, yet so much had. He pulled away after a moment, not without nipping lightly at her bottom lip. “I love you,” He whispered before leaning back against his seat, letting out a happy sigh and brushing his thumb over the back of her knuckles, their fingers still laced together from when he arrived. And he just couldn’t stop smiling, there really wasn’t much to say because everything had been said. They were officially going to be a family.

Don’t Hold Your Breath || Puckleberry 

foreverrachelberry:

The light was blinding as she tried to open her eyes. Then, she felt the sharp pain course through her body as her eyes finally fluttered opened. It took her a moment to focus when she noted she was in a hospital. She pressed the call button calmly, finding she had something obstructing her throat. She was still foggy, not knowing what exactly what was going on, but she was alone in the room, she knew that. She thought Noah was there and yet, she was alone. The nurse and the doctor came in, both of them smiling at her. “Your husband is going to be happy youre awake, sweetheart. You’ve been out of it for over a week. We had to send him home earlier because he was beginning to smell.” Rachel would’ve laughed, but she couldn’t. She pointed at her throat and the doctor nodded, putting on his gloves. “Cough on the count of three, okay? One… two… three.” She let out a cough as they pulled the tube from her throat, continuing to cough a bit. They put the tube of oxygen on her, making her rub her nose. “Not to be rude,” she got out hoarsely, “But could someone explain to me what happened? All I remember was getting hit on the side of the head with a warning for my husband.” And so the doctor and nurse stood there and told her everything that has happened. By time they were done, she was crying softly, putting  hand on her stomach. She was pregnant.

Somehow, she fell asleep for a little while, due to the fact she was still recovering and that they couldn’t give her any pain medication due to the baby. She woke up instantly when she heard the door open and there stood Noah with his mother and sister. “Noah,” she whispered before he came rushing over. She reached up, covering up her wince, to wrap her arms around his neck, holding him as he stood over her, peppering her face with kisses. “Its okay, Noah. Its okay. We’re okay,” she kept whispering, feeling the tears come back, falling freely down her face. 

The past week was hard, sitting there and watching Rachel be lifeless on a bed while their baby thrived as if it wasn’t aware of what was going on. He stayed for five days straight, work obviously understanding the severity of the situation and his partner promised they had the stuff for the court case covered as well as all the new evidence in regards to Rachel’s case. He wanted the assholes who did it behind bars, and he knew his team could do that. Without a doubt. Eventually they sent him home though, not without him fighting about it first, but by the end of her first week in the hospital, he headed home. He showered and got changed, remembering that he called his mom and sister and they flew in. He didn’t tell them about the baby until they got there, he wouldn’t tell them over the phone. And considering the circumstances, she was extremely excited when he told them Rachel was two months along and the baby was healthy. And so was Rachel, well she was going to be at least. Everything was going to fall into place, he could. Now all that was left to happen was Rachel waking up, which he knew was going to happen soon.

He finally let his mom and sister come to the hospital with him, wanting them to wait a few days until the first initial constant-watch hospital days for Rachel were over. What he wasn’t expecting, was to walk into the room and watch her wake up. It was almost like his mom and sister weren’t even there, rushing to her side and doing his best to not hurt her as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed kisses all over her face. He pulled back a bit, bringing his hands up to wipe her face, “I know we are, baby. All three of us.” He smiled down at her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips as he gently slid his hand over to rest on her stomach. He could practically hear his mom’s smile and his sister’s eye roll from where he was across the room. He didn’t care though, right then he had everything he needed. “We did it,” He whispered to her, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before he heard his mom clear her throat. It was his turn to roll his eyes, standing up and looking over in her direction. She walked over to stand on the opposite side of the bed that he was standing on, a hand resting on Rachel’s forearm, “Rachel, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” He sat down in the chair, finding Rachel’s hand and lacing their fingers together.

Don’t Hold Your Breath || Puckleberry 

foreverrachelberry:

The men left Rachel bleeding in the middle of the sidewalk, bleeding out. One of her students found her and immediatelt tried to put pressure on a couple of the knife wounds while another called the police. It seem like time stood atill as more and more peole appeared, just watching tbe scene in front of them. There were witnesses, and maybe the men did that on purpose to really rile Noah up, but they would go down for this eventually. The first responding officer was Noah’s old partner, Maggie. Immediately, the crime became top priority and as the paramedics were working on Rachel, there was already cops out looking for the men who attacked Rachel. The paramedics did everything they could to help Rachel, but her injuries seeked immediate attention from suregons. Upon arrival, she was whisked away into surgery where doctors rushed to try and fix her. The room was chaotic. No one knee how bad her wounds were until they began to repair her and discovered more problems. Maggie and the nurses were having trouble getting ahold of Noah as Rachel fought for her life, and it turns out, not just her own life. She was pregnant. Finally, she was out of surgery and being place in ICU because she was going to have a long and painful recovery. The doors opened with a hiss as the doctor walked in, seeing Noah there, clinging onto his wife’s hand.

“She’s a fighter,” he stated, starling Noah. “I’m Dr. Montgomery. I was the head suregon on your wife’s case. She came in with multiple knife wounds, blunt trauma. One of the knife wounds hit her lungs, but we repaired everything, so she will be fine.” He walked over to read the fetal monitor and smiled. “The baby is fine as well. It’s also a trooper. I’m going to have our OB come in a little later to do a sonogram for you as well.” He clasped his hand on Noah’s shoulder in a comforting manner before walking out, leaving the couple alone. Rachel wouldnt wake for a while, so all Noah could do was wait.

When she didn’t wake up, didn’t even move, he had to suck in a deep breath to keep himself from breaking down. This was his fault, all his fault. If he hadn’t taken the proper precautions, even doing a little something about the warning the guy gave him about watching his back and everyone else’s. He wished he could go back in time and save her, protect her from the men that attacked her. He just couldn’t even believe this was happening, after everything seemed to be going okay, finally.  He turned his head as soon as he heard the doctor’s voice, not even hearing him enter the room. He nodded when he had said that Rachel was a fighter, he knew she was. He froze when he heard the doctor mention something about a baby, looking up from Rachel to the man and then to the monitor he was standing by. He just blinked at it as the doctor continued to talk, not paying attention what they were saying. She was pregnant, finally. And god, he wished he could’ve found out another way, but he was happy. And he knew that Rachel had to wake up, she had something else worth fighting for now.

He pulled a chair over as soon as the doctor left, his eyes still on the screen that was monitoring their baby. “A baby,” He breathed out, a small smile appearing on his face. He squeezed Rachel’s hand, bringing it to his lips and then looking at her. “Rach,” He said to her, even though he knows she couldn’t hear him, but he did it anyways. “We did it. Baby, you gotta wake up. We’re gonna be a family.” He pressed a kiss to her forehand before sitting back in the chair he was sitting in. He couldn’t take his eyes off the screen, a little blob, basically, displayed on it. It took them so long, after so much trying. But they did it, and they didn’t even know it. And god, he was just happy both of them were okay. He could’ve easily lost both of them, and he honestly had no idea what he would do then. After a few hours of staring, he could feel his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, but he tried to fight sleep. He wanted to be there when Rachel woke up, so he could tell her. He could finally tell her she was pregnant, something both of them have been waiting to hear for a long time. But just after the fourth or fifth hour, he lost count, his eyes fell completely closed and he succumbed to sleep, hoping that if Rachel did wake up she would wake him up too. He just wanted things to go back to normal, that way they could start their life as a family.

Don’t Hold Your Breath || Puckleberry 

foreverrachelberry:

Teaching was something Rachel never considered before in her life. Broadway was always her number one goal, her main dream. However, when NYU asked her to come back on Monday nights and teach for four hours, she actually took it. Spring Awakening just opened and it was a bigger success than the previous plays she had been in and now on her one of two nights off a week, she taught at her alma matter. Noah was back to work himself, now a detective instead of just a cop. He loved his new position. He got to do more and he didn’t have to wear the blue uniform anymore. He actually got to dress up nicely in a suit and tie. She always found him hotter dressed up anyway. As to the baby front, they were still struggling. They have been trying almost religiously since February and she was still empty. She thought it was her fault. Maybe her body simply didn’t want her to be a mom now. It was frustrating to go through. Still, they continued to try as their wedding date coming up at the end of the week. By Saturday night, she would be Mrs. Noah Puckerman and the thought made her extremely happy. She was keeping Berry as her stage name, but off the stage, she would proudly flaunt Puckerman.

It was midnight when she let her class out, running her fingers through her hair with a sigh. All she wanted was to crawl into bed with her fiance and make love to him and sleep. She still had to get home first. She had this funny feeling someone was following her when she walked out of the classroom, but she ignored it. She was tired, her senses were off. She began to wonder how the trial went for Noah as she stepped out of the building into the spring air. It was a big case and rumor had it that the guy was known to send out hits on his enemies. Her hand went into her purse, wrapping around the bottle of pepper spray as she walked a little faster. She heard footsteps behind her and she began to run. Suddenly, she ran into somethig and fell backwards. Looking up, two men were standing above her before one roughly grabbed her. “This is a message to your husband to watch his back.” She tried to scream, but they began to hit her until she blacked out.

They warned him, publicly, the day he arrested the guy, that this wasn’t over. Puck just rolled his eyes and ignored it, escorting the bastard to a cop car where he was taken down to the station for questioning. There was something eerie about what the guys said to him, “You think this is over? You’ll see, just wait.” He couldn’t shake it, this was the third time he’s arrested this guy and some of his buddies. They were constantly causing trouble around the city, it was only a matter of time before they slowly started arresting them, one at a time. He was brought out of his thoughts by the clap of a hand on his shoulder, turning his head towards his partner, “Don’t listen to him, they’re all talk.” His partner said, heading towards their car so they could head back to the station. Puck ran a hand over his head and nodded, thinking that maybe the guy was right and there was nothing to worry about. The guy was currently in handcuffs, he couldn’t exactly do anything. He put a smile on his face at the thought, thinking about the fact in a few days the guy would be behind bars since his team was one hundred percent positive this guy was behind the crime spree around the city. It made him feel relieved, clearing his mind of the threat and then hopping into the passenger seat of the car they took there and let his partner drive them back to the station. 

It wasn’t until almost four days later, when the court case was finished and the guy was rightfully behind bars, that he wished he listened to the guy’s warning. He was running from the parking lot of the hospital straight to the entrance, loosening his tie on the way so he didn’t start suffocating. He figured that even without the tie he would still feel like that. Rachel, of all people that they would target, it had to be Rachel. His wife, his life, his everything. And he still didn’t even know what exactly happened, just that she was in the hospital and she needed him. He went straight up to the front desk, throwing his badge on the counter and asking for Rachel’s room. Without any hesitation, the nurse led him through the hallways which seemed endless and it was like he couldn’t breathe. ICU, she was in the ICU. Fuck. He ran a hand over his head, his short hair growing evenly over it as he tried to get himself together. He stopped in front of the room she was in, sucking in a deep breath and then walking through the door. He sort of froze in the doorway, his eyes landing on the sleeping figure of his wife as she was hooked up to tubes and machines. “Shit,” He murmured, feeling his phone go off in his pocket, expecting it to be his partner but he ignores it anyways. He walks over to her bed, reaching for her hand and lacing their fingers together, “I’m right here, baby.” His thumb brushed over the back of her knuckles, “I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”

Puckleberry in Saturday Night Glee-ver

foreverrachelberry:

It’s alright, Noah. :)

Love you.

foreverrachelberry:

Is that sarcasm I am sensing?

Just a little bit, sorry babe.

foreverrachelberry:

Alright! We haven’t been there in a while!

I know, its been forever! Wooo!

foreverrachelberry:

Not if you’re a vegan, Noah.

Saladworks next time?