I Made A Promise

Puck p.o.v.

For those who don't know me, though at this point you all should, my name is Noah Elias Puckerman. Husband to Rachel Barbra Puckerman(Berry for work), and father to Rebecca Ann and Noah Jr. I am a badass music producer and music teacher, and I have worked with a lot of artist, including my hot and crazy talented wife.

I'm writing this little thing for my wife's book because she thinks that it's a big part of our story, the 'Puckleberry Story' as she and our old classmates like to call it. She says it is a part of the story of us. To me, it's not that big of a deal, especially since this particular story happened so long ago. But Rachel likes to think about this, telling our six year old, who loves hearing about her parents as kids. And despite me being a total and complete BAMF, what my wife wants, my wife gets.

To start this story, we have to go all the way back to when I was a bamf in training, and Rachel was a diva in training. I was 8, and she was 7, and we had known each other our entire lives. Living in a small town, everyone knows everyone, and growing up Jewish in a small town, You all hang out together, seeing as there probably aren't going to be many of you. Being two out of the three Jewish kids in our time, Rachel and I knew each other inside and out, backwards and forwards, and any other way you can think of. Her dads and my moms were essentially best friends, so that made us even closer if that's even possible.

The summer before going into 3rd grade was a hard one for me. My dad had just fucked off and left us, forcing my mom to turn into a single working mom, staying at the hospital all hours of the day and night, just to be able to buy food for me and my sister, whom she had just had six months prior. That left us going to and staying at the Berry's house just about every day, which wasn't unusual; the reason behind it was. I didn't really understand why my dad was gone, nor why he wasn't coming back. All I knew was my mom was crying every time I saw her, which was either crashing on the couch after a 16 hour shift, or leaving to start another one. It made me sad and upset all the time, and I didn't know how to talk about the emotions I was feeling.

One day, like all the others, I was sitting on the Berry's back porch with Rachel eating an ice cream cone(Rachel wouldn't become vegan for another few years). It was a hot day, so we had been swimming in their pool essentially all day, and came out for a break, still dripping water off our swimsuits. It had been around a month since my dad had left, so everything was still pretty fresh in my mind, so I wasn't my usual playful self around her. Rachel mostly stayed quiet around me during this time, which a rare occurrence with her (she later told me it was because she didn't want to say the wrong thing to me and make me mad or upset.) I had always seemed to catch her looking at me with sad eyes like she didn't know what to say or how to say it.

As we were sitting there, I remember thinking about the last month and how my dad had hurt my mom, and how I didn't ever remember seeing them happy. For as long as I could remember they were always ways fighting, going into these loud screaming matches that almost always ended in him slapping my mom or punching a hole in the wall. Five minutes later, he would apologize that he would never do it again and how he would do better and get help. But I slowly started to understand that he was lying, because he never changed, he never kept his promises. The only thing that changed was the amount of holes because my mom got pregnant and he didn't want to be 'that guy'.

I guess I had been quiet for a while, and my ice cream had melted all over my hand and legs. Rachel tapped my shoulder, which brought me out of my thinking to look into her expressive eyes. She was so young and innocent, and I couldn't help but think that I didn't want her to go through what my mom was going through. I wanted to protect her from all the bad guys out there, because that's what my dad had become; a bad guy. She was too pretty and too nice and too sweet to have someone treat her like she really didn't matter, because she did. She was my best friend.

"Noah, are you okay?" I blinked at noticed that Rachel with her sad eyes. It wasn't out of pity, just compassion for me. "Your ice cream is melted all on your legs." I didn't have to look to feel the stickiness of it dripping all the way down to my toes, so I just got up and threw the rest of the cone away, stopping to rise off with the water hose. When I sat back down, she leaned her head on my shoulder like she always did when we sat right next to each other. I got to thinking again, this time about promises and how my dad didn't keep them, and I knew I could never be like him. I don't know why I just felt this need, but I HAD to be the one to make sure no boy would ever make her cry. I was her best friend, plus I was older, so it was up to me. No matter that she had two fathers to protect her way better than I ever could, I was gonna be the one that would save her like Spiderman did Mary Jane.

"Rachel?" I said quietly. She hmm'd without lifting her head. "You're my best friend right?"

"Yeah. And you're mine, right?"

"I am. And as your best friend, and sort of older brother, I have to protect you from all the bad guys. My dad really hurt my mom, and I don't want anyone to make you feel like my mom feels all the time."

Rachel looked at me with curious eyes, and I knew she was wondering what brought this on. She didn't say anything though, almost like she knew that I needed to get this off my chest. I couldn't really look at her, because even then she had this way of looking into your soul and making you squirm. Wrapping her arms around me and laying her head back down, she settled in to listen to the rest of what I had to say.

"My mom is nice and she takes care of me and my dad still hurt her. I don't want any boy to ever hurt you and make you cry like that. You're so nice and sweet and no one should be able to ruin that."

"You know you don't have to do that for me Noah."

"Yes I do! The boys at are school are mean, and I can't let them be mean to you like they are to the other girls. So I promise you that I will always be there for you. I will always protect you from bullies. And when we get older, I promise I won't let anyone break your heart, okay?"

I could feel her nod as she hugged me tighter. She really believed that I would be there, and at the time I meant it. Of course, we all know that I essentially did the opposite of that. For the next ten years, I became one of her biggest tormentors in school and in life. I broke my promised her to keep her safe, and I hurt her the worst. Even after my own fall from grace, I wouldn't bring myself to truly face her and apologize until she was close to graduating from college. And in true Rachel Berry fashion, she immediately forgave me, though if I were in her position, I'd have let her know how mad I was still. To this day I still keep my promise, and apologize for how I treated her, and just about every day, she tells me it isn't necessary anymore.

Dear Rachel, I love you more than life itself, and I promise that for the rest of my life I will never let you forget that. I will always be your life in shining armor, the Spiderman to your Mary Jane, the shiny Tony to the musical that is our life together.