Yeah… I shouldn't even be considering writing this – esp. right now (and that's meant literally since it was nearly 5am when I started writing this and I have an tomor that I really have to study for) but anyway, I've wanted to write a Glee fic for ages (well, this'll be my second, but I mean a Puckleberry one, obv ;) ) and couldn't seem to follow through on any of my ideas and then this came to me and snippets of conversations followed – *breathe* – and so I give you my newest fic, and hope you enjoy it …

Title: Power On
Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the characterization of Sarah, shame really ;) – chapter titles from the song 'I Am Not A Robot' by Marina and the Diamonds
A/N: Oh, and I'm going with the name Sarah for Puck's wee sis, 'cos apparently that's what it actually is, according to the wiki page anyway ;)
Summary: Post-Sectionals. When Rachel agreed to do Puck a favor, she didn't realize just how deeply she would be pulled into his life or that she'd be the one to throw him a lifeline to stop him being sucked in further.

"I don't want the world. I just want your half."
They Might Be Giants, 'Ana Ng'

.

Chapter One: It's Okay To Say You've Got A Weak Spot

"A wise old owl sat on an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why aren't we like that wise old bird?"
Edward Hersey Richards

.

When the slushie was presented to her, she didn't screw up her eyes like last time or tense in advance of the cold drink being unceremoniously splattered across her face and clothing. Instead she calmly looked up from the cool beverage, still held in his grasp, and met Noah Puckerman's gaze head-on.

"It's grape," he offered by way of explanation.

"Yes, I had already ascertained that fact," Rachel nodded her head and awarded him a brief, bright smile. "I didn't imagine you had forget my fondness for the flavor, even if you have forgotten certain other factors of late."

"Such as Glee practice," she tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at him. "I would've thought the times and days of our rehearsals were ingrained deep into the recesses of your mind, but apparently you were knocked unconscious one too many times with a football during those games of yours because you haven't been at practice for nearly a week, Puck! And we have Regionals to prepare for! And if you're not prepared to be fully committed to our endeavor of winning, then – "

"Yeah, about that… " he trailed off slightly and his gaze fell to the floor as he scratched the base of his Mohawk.

"I got a favor to ask you," and he lifted his head to face her; well, she supposed, at least he had the decency to look mildly sheepish about it, not that that excused him in any way.

He was standing in front of her asking for a favor, after he'd missed Glee practice for the third consecutive time – which was simply unacceptable, by the way – and hadn't even offered so much as an explanation or some form of apology. The absolute gall of the boy!

Of course, she agreed.

He flashed her a quick grin and pushed the slushie further into her line of vision and plucked the straw from behind his ear to present it to her as well. She relieved him of the drink, part grudgingly, and he looked damn near ecstatic when she took a sip; her lips curving at the edges as the taste hit her tongue.

And then suddenly she looked down and found that he had presented something else to her as well; something completely different and not at all like that which she held in her hands. Because for one, the new addition was grinning toothily up at her: and that was how she found herself face-to-face with the miniature female version of Puck.

Every bit as difficult to say no to, and every bit the handful: she was also ridiculously cute.

.

"So, I have this thing I gotta do, an I wouldn't ask if I had any other option, but I don't, so I am, an yeah… 'd'you be able to keep an eye on her while I'm away for a bit?" He raised an eyebrow, his voice peaking slightly at the end, and if she didn't know any better she'd have said he was rambling. Except the boy before her didn't ramble.

"Puck! We're supposed to have Glee practice," she all-but hissed at him, downright scandalized at his insinuation that she should skip it to baby-sit his little sister; and trying to avoid the wide-eyed look of the little girl between them.

"Yeah, I know that, but I really have to do this thing, and I've no one to watch her," he actually sounded mildly apologetic, but she might've just imagined that.

"And you're sure you can't you take her with you?" she asked then, raising an eyebrow at him; she was really more curious than resentful of his actions by this stage.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he answered shortly.

He snapped his head to the side and blew out a ragged sigh before turning back to look her in the eyes, a hard edge overcoming his as he clicked his jaw out.

"Look, can you watch her or not?" he prompted, and she could've huffed at his indignant attitude; wasn't she the one doing him the favor?

"I can be really quiet," the voice from below piped up then. "And I could come listen to you sing, and I'd just sit there and not say a word and just listen."

She thought she heard Puck snort at this admission, but she chose to ignore it, because really, his sister was trying to help his cause and his blatant disbelief of her words wasn't helping his case any.

The youngster smiled brightly up at her, and somewhat against her better judgment, she found her heart ruling her head as she nearly melted at the sight. The girl was missing a few of her front teeth and she looked positively adorable; how could she ever say no to that face? She supposed that was what her brother had been counting on.

"Well, I'm sure you wouldn't be expected to maintain your silence throughout the whole of the session, though you might not be permitted to join in with the performances – we are trying to practice after all, and an additional voice, as lovely as I'm sure yours may be, would likely throw off our whole ensemble," she said to the girl; though she at least tried to sound mildly apologetic with her words.

Puck's little sister merely blinked up at her.

"Would you look at that – she's shut up already," he commented with a smirk.

The girl swirled round then and threw a scowl at her brother, which elicited a brief laugh from him and a flippant whatever, kid.

"I hope you know that I will expect you to offer me something just as monumental in return for my participation in this whole act. You are asking quite a lot of me – of all of us, really," Rachel told him then quite matter-of-factly, and with a self-satisfied smile she took a sip of the drink he'd given her.

"Right," was all he said to that, before adjusting his gaze so he was looking down at the younger female before him.

"So, you've got your stuff with you?" he asked and the little girl nodded, without uttering a word. "Alright, so… think you could try not be too off-the-wall?"

"I'm going to sit quietly and listen to the singing," was all his sister replied to that; as if she'd made her point perfectly clear once and her response now should have been obvious to him.

And Rachel decided she liked the girl; she reminded the older brunette of herself in certain ways. And she liked the ideas this thought conjured: she'd always secretly wanted a younger sibling whom she could show and impress upon her talented, but wonderfully guiding, and ultimately helpful and meaningful, ways. It seemed Sarah Puckerman could be the perfect candidate to fill that role.

"Of course you are," was his response, and it was obvious he didn't believe her for a minute.

"Listen, about this – thanks, yeah?" It couldn't have been plainer that he wasn't entirely sure what to say to her; it was mildly endearing, really. Extremely mildly endearing. "I just really need to do this, and I can't take her with me."

"And don't worry about the payback – I'll make it up to you for sure," he winked at her, and she rolled her eyes at the smirk that seemed to be planted firmly across his face.

"Indeed you will," she told him brightly. "On my terms."

And it was his turn to roll his eyes, before informing her offhandedly, "Her name's Sarah, by the way."

"I'm Rachel," she struck out her hand to shake the little girl's, a wide smile sunning her features. "And I really am very glad to meet your acquaintance. It's unfortunate that it has to be under these circumstances, where your brother has all but blackmailed me under the duress of your completely adorable face – which I'm sure he was counting on to win me over."

"Nonetheless, I'm certain you will thoroughly enjoy our time together, and I sincerely hope you take pleasure in our singing," she continued, and began to move towards her original destination, the little girl taking up step beside her, eyes wide as she watched mesmerized by every word that left the elder's lips. "Hopefully enough to remind your brother of the absolute importance of Glee club and all the hard work we all put into each rehearsal in preparation for Regionals, which are really not that far away, and – "

"Hey Berry!" he called out to her, cutting her off mid-sentence.

She turned at the sound of his voice, her hand on his sister's shoulder as she led her into the choir room to where the others were already seated.

"She's seven – how 'bout talking to her like a normal person would, eh?" he quipped, and then flashed her a grin, before turning on his heel and striding towards the doors with steps that were so determined she couldn't help but stare curiously after his retreating form.

.

"Don't worry, Noah'll be here soon," Sarah reassured her, swinging her legs out from under the seat and watching them disappear again. "He's never very late seeing Mom."

"He was away to see your Mom?" Rachel asked at that, because honestly? That was his 'emergency'? Sure, his mother might work with emergencies every day, but he couldn't pick another time to apparently go visit her than during their allotted time schedules for Glee?

"Mhmm," the seven-year-old voiced. "She makes him leave before they kick him out – or so he says anyway, but I don't know how true that is."

She smiled down at the youngster: she was really quite smart, especially when you considered she'd most likely been subjected to the likes of Puck and Finn as her main daily influences. It was an achievement that she was so well adjusted at all with those boys around her all the time.

"He was only ever late that time she made him play to the whole ward!" Sarah told her then, turning her face up to look at the elder's; and there's excitement in her voice like only a little sister could have when she was divulging something she knew her big brother would rather she didn't. "Mom told me about it when she came back home, 'cos No didn't say anything about it. And then Mom made him play the song to me, 'cos I missed it – it was really good. My brother can play guitar really well."

And there was unabashed pride in the seven-year-old's voice that made Rachel smile along with her.

"He doesn't like me going with him when he goes to the hospital," the seven-year-old added then, her voice quite serious, and her eyes fell back down to her swaying lower limbs.

"But you've visited your mom at work before, certainly?" Rachel inquired at that, because this was all a bit vague and quite frankly, rather suspicious. And somehow, she now seemed involved in it.

"Well, yeah – but that was mainly because I'd done something, an' I sort of had to see her there," Sarah answered, ducking her head a little as a cheeky smile twirled the edges of her lips upwards, and absentmindedly picking at a band-aid that was plastered across the top of her forearm.

"'Sides, Noah says this is diff'rent," she added at that, and gave Rachel a half-shrug of her shoulders when she looked up again. "He says it's too somber."

Sarah's lips quirked up and she fell to the side to bump shoulders with the elder as she confided in a very-ineffective whisper, "I think he probably learned that word from you."

Giggles erupted from the little girl's mouth then, though they were soon drowned out by the sound of a door slamming back against a wall and the appearance of a breathless Noah Puckerman moments later.

"Noah!" Sarah exclaimed in all her uncontainable excitement, and she took of instantly in a sprint to get to him.

"Alright squirt," he greeted with a quick flash of smile as she aimed her hug around his leg.

He barely stumbled as her tiny body barreled into him, and Rachel supposed he must've had practice with this routine; she felt a smile touch her lips as she watched the siblings interact.

"I see you didn't completely destroy the place in my absence," he remarked, and Rachel didn't miss the mark of pride in his voice with the words. "Good going."

"I told you I'd sit quietly and listen – they're really good, Noah! You should sing with them, you know," she told him, her voice taking on a tone of childish seriousness then; and Rachel momentarily wondered if it was this or his little sister's words that made him roll his eyes.

"Should I now?" he remarked, sarcasm lilting his words.

"Mhmm," the little girl nodded, and fixed her eyes on his. "Rachel even said you might get to sing a song just with her if you come back."

"I bet she did," was all he said to that, though he raised his eyebrows at the girl in question, one side of his mouth quirking up in apparent amusement.

"Just think of all that leading-man potential going to waste as your absentee record rises," Rachel responded casually, but with a decidedly pointed look aimed his way.

"Right, because I care about how many black dots or x's go against my name every time I cut class," he tossed back at her, and she caught sight of his eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly in her direction.

"Well, maybe if you cared a little more you would realize that your rising levels of non-attendance are affecting Glee's chances of doing well at Regionals, and that – "

"God!" he exclaimed then, through gritted teeth, clenched hands lifting and then falling by his sides once more. "Would you give it a rest with Regionals, already? I know this might be difficult for you to understand, because your whole life revolves around that stupid gig, but some of us actually have other things going on that take up more of our time and energy, than Regionals!"

"Come on, Sarah," he addressed the girl still latched onto his leg. "Let go, we're going home."

"Come on," he prompted of her, his hand gesturing for her to release him. "Sarah, come on, we're going, I mean it, let go."

She did, after another minute or so; and with more reluctance and grumbling than Rachel could've predicted.

He grabbed her backpack from where it sat primly on the chair by the doorway ready for him to collect, her doing of course, and nudged the youngster out the door ahead of him without even a backward glance.

"Come on," he repeated as they started to walk along the corridor to the front doors, and Rachel stepped out to watch them go.

"Hey!" she heard Sarah protest then, and she twisted her little body to clasp his hand firmly between both of hers, digging her heels in to slow his solid march until it came to a halt.

"What?" he demanded, turning to face her, having done as she'd intended.

The little girl stared back at him with a stern look on her face around a small pout that pinched her lips together as she told him, "You said I wasn't ever to let you go – no matter what you said. You said you'd always be here, which meant I wasn't allowed to let you go."

He released a sigh and she watched him close his eyes slowly. When he opened them, he simply replied, "You're right. I'm always gonna be here, an that means you're always gonna be with me. We're stuck with each other."

"Satisfied?" he asked, and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She grinned and nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Good," he remarked and turned to start walking towards the door once more.

"Do the weight lifting!" Sarah shouted at him then, and tugged a little more at his arm with both of hers.

And as he hoisted his little sister in the air and then dropped her to the floor, before repeating the action again-and-again; she caught the smile that was sent straight to her as they passed through the doorway, and she knew it was in reference to any and all of the his choice wording.

The little hand that waved to her from the truck window, however, that spoke volumes of a thank-you.

TBC...

A/N: This won't be a babysitting fic – though some babysitting might be covered over other chapters.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think – it means a lot!
Steph
xxx