Chapter Text
Part I
Little Elena Hudson was her mother's pride and joy and the apple of her father's eyes. Finn and Rachel Hudson loved her more than anyone else and catered to her every need. But the person she loved most in the word was her uncle.
He was always around and more than often took care of her when her parents weren't home. He told her to call her Uncle Puck, but she thought it was silly and refused to call him that.
She really didn't care why he was around only that he was. He was a very big part of her life and she never wanted him gone.
When she drew a family portrait for show and tell, she just had to add in her Uncle Noah. Her mother asked who was the man standing next to her daddy and she answer "Uncle Noah". The look on her mother's face was stricken and she quickly left the room.
That confused Elena so very much. She didn't understand why her mother didn't love Uncle Noah the way she did. She loved them both and wanted them to get along… maybe daddy could help.
When she asked her dad, he merely mumbled something along the lines that her mother just loved him more, and that was that.
And that explanation sounded stupid Elena and she refused to accept because her mother loved everyone. Not loving her Uncle Noah was not an option.
Curiosity was eating at her and she wanted to understand and the sooner the better. She had to know why her mother was acting so weird. But she didn’t know who to talk to.
Her opportunity finally came during some during some dinner party that her parents were hosting for all their friends. They didn't do this often, but her mother believed it was necessary for whatever reason.
Elena didn’t like these parties at all there was no one to talk to, even her Uncle Noah had disappeared not long after he arrived. She decided she might as well go look for her missing uncle.
She wondered around aimlessly until she saw her Uncle Noah in the den… with her mother. In her 6 years of life she never saw them say two words two each other and here they were. She knew it wasn’t proper to listen to other people’s conversations, but this was her moment to get all the answers she’d been looking for.
"Rachel, I'm trying," Uncle Noah stressed.
"That's not enough."
"Why? Why the hell is that never enough for you?" Elena winced; her uncle never used bad words before.
"I love you, I love Elena. I've done everything I possibly can to do to make things right with you." Elena heard her uncle say.
"How many times must we go through this, I'm married to Finn and we have…" But Elena didn't hear her mother say anything else.
"Go on Rachel, I dare you to keep lying to yourself. Keep telling yourself that Elena is Finn's kid and that I'm just her uncle. You wanna know the fuck up thing about all this? That’s my kid is getting raised by someone who isn't even her dad."
Elena let out a small gasp and the tears flooded from her eyes. Her mother quickly turned around and saw the look on her baby's face.
"Mommy?"
Rachel quickly walked over and embraced her daughter.
"Is Uncle Noah really my dad?" Rachel pulled away and pushed away some of the tears on Elena's face.
"Ellie," her mom started and then she pushed her mother way.
"No! Uncle Noah is dad!" she yelled, "My real one. You lied!"
Elena sobs turned into hysteria and not another moment later, Finn showed up and made everything much worst.
"Hey, is everyone, ok? I heard Ellie yell," he looked down at Rachel then at Noah who was also crying.
"We need to clear everyone out, Finn," Rachel advised him. All Finn could do was nod and do as he was told.
"Does he know?" Noah asked.
"He’s guessed, but never said anything. He loves Ellie like his own," Rachel said simply.
"Is that why you don't love Uncle Noah? Because of me?" Elena finally spoke. Noah made his way over to her and crouched down in front of her.
"No, we love each other very much, but we couldn't make it work. It's my fault Ellie, everything is my fault. I love you and your mom so much that I couldn't stay away. But she chose your dad because he was ready to be your dad and I wasn't."
"Will you leave?"
"You? Never."
She leaned in and hugged him tightly.
"I love you," she said softly and continued to cry on his shoulder.
"Me too, Ellie."