Summary: Once upon a time, there was an evil king that tried to take over the kingdom of Lima. This is the story of the fair maiden who wouldn't let his schemes get in the way of her royal destiny and the pirates that helped her along the way.

Pairings: Finnchel, Puckleberry, Tike, Bartie, Samtana, possible future Klaine with some strongly suggested Seblaine and Kurtofsky

Warnings: Despite what this section may have said before, this is in no way shape or form canon. This story does not contain any spoilers because it's a total A/U with only the barest hints of canon.

Disclaimer: I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did I assure you I wouldn't be writing stories about them. I would be fixing the hot mess they're making of certain characters!

Author's Note: We've reached the end of our journey. This story has been a blast to write but I'm kind of glad it's over so now I can devote my full attention to the other plot bunnies that have attacked my poor overworked brain. Also thank you to Maroon 5 for your wonderfully addictive song Payphone which totally inspired this chapter's title. Anyway, enjoy!

All Those Fairytales Are Full of Shit

Rachel didn't bother to respond. She heard Tina answer Jesse but it was all background noise to her. All she could focus on was the too still body of the man she loved. Tears stung her eyes as she realized that she never had a chance to tell him. And now it was too late. She was left holding onto the remnants of what she thought was her happily ever after. This was not how her story was supposed to end. This was not how they were supposed to end.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, barely touching him but she was willing to admit later that it was too damn long. She was Rachel Berry, damn it! She never sat back and waited for things to come to her before. She went after what she wanted and she almost always got her way. When she learned that she was supposed to be a queen, she went after her destiny with the passion and zeal of a champion. She always fought for what she wanted. And there was nothing in this world that she wanted, or needed, more than Puck. She was not about to let him die on her like this.

"Noah, you listen to me," she started, rolling him over so that he was lying on his back. He didn't move, not even a slight twitch. "You're the one that said we make our own destines. Well I've decided to amend mine to include you. That means you can't leave me."

She placed her hand on his cheek. His skin felt cooler but she wasn't sure if that was because she was rolling him around on the cold, dungeon floor or for another reason more ominous. "Please, Noah. I love you. Is that what you need to hear? I love you and I'm choosing you. I want to be with you. You can't leave me. You can't leave any of us. What would we do without you?"

"Knowing Sam and Mike, they'd accidentally start some kind of world war by eating a sandwich or something," Santana quipped, joining them on the floor by Puck's free side. Rachel idly wondered about the quiet in the room but she vaguely recalled Jesse ordering his troops to stand down. Had she not been engrossed by her pleas to Puck, she might've noticed the tight lines of tension in the corrupt prince's face. But she didn't notice. She was too consumed with the task of bringing Puck back through whatever means necessary.

Santana caught Rachel's eyes for a brief moment and nodded. "You have to wake up, babe. If you die, Will is going to straight up murder the hell out of Prince Finnocence over there. Naturally we'll have to help him, which is basically just going to start a fight between us and Lima. You know, I'd really hate to break my 'no killing' rule on Rachel's people. No offense, Rach."

"None taken," Rachel shrugged. She stroked his cheek gently. "You hear that, Noah? You can't die on us. We need you too much."

"Wait," Tina said, kneeling between her two friends. "Where's the blood? He should be bleeding but he's not. There's no blood."

Rachel glanced down at his chest. She could see the hole where the bullet struck but Tina was right. There was no blood there. On an impulse, Rachel ripped his shirt open, choosing to ignore the lewd comments from Santana and Tina. It didn't take long to find the answer to the lack of blood. Resting on the smooth, muscled (very well muscled and 100% hers) skin was a large, circular metallic necklace bearing an intricate design and a small, dented bullet. There was an ugly bruise forming on his chest spreading down his right side but it was the only mark on him. Santana's fingers pressed against across his ribs, checking for broken bones. That's when they heard the quiet groan.

"Ouch."

Three sets of eyes flew up to see a hazel pair blinking blearily at the ceiling above. Puck groaned as Santana continued to prod the deep purple and black marks on his chest. He batted at her probing fingers weakly.

"Getting shot does not feel good," he muttered. After a brief struggle, and a little assistance, he managed to prop himself up on his elbows. They watch as his eyes struggled to focus first on the three tears stained faces above him. His gaze slowly traveled down to his ruined shirt. A smirk formed before he realized that they were still surrounded by the guards. Though they were blocked from view by Jesse and Tina. He pouted looking back to his friends. "This is definitely not how this dream is supposed to go. Three hot chicks, yes. A bunch of dudes, hell no."

Rachel laughed, feeling the tears in her eyes, before she just threw all reservations and hesitation out the window. She carefully pulled him into a seated position before crashing her lips against his. There was only a brief second of hesitation before she could feel his arms winding around her body, moving her even closer. As her lips moved against his, Rachel felt finally complete. The whole world could've disappeared in the next moment and she wouldn't have noticed. She was holding him and he was breathing. The hell with everything else.

She belatedly remembered his injured chest, when he let out a small grunt of pain. It was enough to cause Rachel to pull away but Puck apparently did not feel the same way as he tried to dive back in. She smiled, resting her forehead against his.

"Better than your dream?"

"Much better," he admitted. "I heard you. You said that… that… you love me?"

Rachel pulled away so that she could see into his eyes. "Yes, I do. I love you."

"Are you sure? Because you've spent your whole life trying to live up to that prophecy. Are you sure you want to throw it all away?"

"A wise man once told me, 'we make our own destines'. This is me choosing mine. I don't care that I'm supposed to have an epic love story with some prince. I have that already with you. That's all I want."

Puck's lips slowly curled into her favorite smile of all. It was rare sight but it was worth it because it was beautiful. "So it's a pirate's life for you?"

"It's a pirate's life for us," she corrected.

"What happens when we meet this hypothetical prophesized prince?"

Rachel bumped her nose against his. "You have my permission to feed him to your stupid sea monster."

Puck chuckled. "Sammy isn't stupid. Now Sam might be stupid but Sammy is awesome."

"You're insane."

"And you love me."

She smiled broadly. "Yes, I do. I love you."

"Good. Because I love you too," he ran his hand through her hair. "I love you more than sun or the moon." His fingers touched the clips. "You're wearing them."

She lifted the cuff of his sleeve, eyeing the bands circling his wrists. "So are you."

"I have to admit, this is definitely not how I thought today was going to end," he said, still smiling. He rolled his eyes towards Santana, who was watching the couple with a smile of her own. "Hey, babe."

"You ever scare me like that again, I'll murder you myself," she replied, her smile fading away leaving a cold, dark glint to her eyes. Puck managed to nod, even though Rachel could see that he was definitely afraid. Santana sensed it too bringing a warm smile to her face. "That being said, it's a good thing you chose to wear your necklace, huh?"

Puck let out a shaky breath, pushing himself to stand. Once he was fully upright, he winced at the burning pain in his chest but still managed to lift his arm enough to rest against the cold metal of the necklace. "Will gave it to me the night I turned sixteen. He said that it was my father's and that he meant for me to have it on my sixteenth birthday. I figured if we were going to be in the place where my father was from the least I could do was honor him by wearing it."

"Just when I think Will would've been smarter to leave you on a deserted island somewhere, you say things like that and remind me that you're a human being underneath all that annoying," Santana grinned. He growled playfully in her direction and Rachel felt the world tilt back into place.

"Wow, what's with the crowd in here?"

From her place, practically plastered against Puck's side, Rachel felt his breath catch as his uncle causally sauntered into the room. Will looked as unaffected by everything going on around them as usual. She noticed that he seemed almost at home in the castle full of hostile guards. His sword was held tightly in his grip and there was a tell tale reddish substance staining the previously pristine blade.

"Puck, why are you half naked? What happened to your chest?"

Puck hastily fastened what was left of the buttons on his shirt while still eyeing his uncle warily. "The promise…?"

Will's nonchalant expression melted into one of understanding and caring. "He's in the throne room. I didn't kill him but he's definitely not going anywhere for awhile."

Her favorite smile was back on his face even as he nodded. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, Puck," he said, seriously. Rachel watched as he visually examined Puck for any other injuries, moving to Santana next and then both her and Tina. His gaze then traveled towards Jesse. "So, I hear you've been working on both sides of the fence."

Jesse lifted his chin, almost defiantly. "Yes, I have."

"Don't you think it's time you picked one?"

Jesse smirked, nodding his head. "I already have… Father."

Rachel was happy that hers was not the only jaw to drop open in surprise. "What the hell? He's your son?" Puck spluttered. "You told me that your wife and son died that night."

"No, actually I said I lost them. And I did, technically. Well, not really sure about the son part but whatever. Family isn't always a matter of blood any way."

Puck's eyes slid over to Jesse. He sized his newfound cousin up before shrugging. "This is probably the weirdest part of my day. That includes getting shot. Still not fun."

"Can we go home now?" Santana asked, sticking out her lower lip.

"Uh, about that," Will started but was quickly interrupted by the sounds of many footsteps approaching the dungeons. Rachel felt her heart sink at the sight of the Lima Royal Guards, the Titans, practically dragging in the rest of the New Directions crew, Artie and the Dalton siblings included, as well as some other people that she didn't know. But judging from the tension on both Jesse and Puck's faces, it wasn't a good thing that they were captured too.

"What happened to not engaging them?"

Sam glared. "We didn't engage them. They came in dragging Artie, Britt and Blaine and started pointing swords at us. It was a totally nonconsensual engagement."

Mike's nose wrinkled. "Don't say that again. Makes me feel like I need an adult."

"I definitely do," Artie groused. He glanced at the guard holding him. "That better be your sword and I mean the metal kind!"

"They're freaking worse than Sebastian," Blaine muttered. Brittany nodded in whole hearted agreement.

"Your highness, I'm glad to find you alive," an older woman stepped forward, approaching the silent Finn and ignoring the still bantering pirates. The woman looked around the very crowded dungeon. Her sharp gaze landed on Will and a curious frown pulled at her mouth. "Do I know you from somewhere? That rat's nest you call hair seems disturbingly familiar."

Will smirked. "I guess I have one of those faces."

The woman shrugged, turning back to Finn. "I see you managed to get free."

"Yes, I have, Sue," Finn said, stepping forward. He eyed the rest of the pirates. Rachel could tell that they were basically just humoring the Titans. There was no way that they were holding onto this crew. They were clearly just waiting for some indication from either Puck or Will as to what they should do in term of an escape. "Is this all of them?"

"Yes, your highness. We spotted the ship drifting slightly off the coast and found these three. The others were in the castle, for lack of better words, wrecking stuff." Sam and Mike exchanged smug smirks of satisfaction. "What shall we do with them?"

"What we do to all enemies of the kingdom: arrest them. Upon return to Lima, they will be hung as a warning to all pirates."

"A warning to what?" Santana snapped. "Not save idiotic princes?"

"I'm pretty sure every other pirate in the world got that memo but you guys," Blaine drawled. "Have you considered a career change yet?"

"I'm working on it," Puck replied, wrapping his arm around his chest.

"You can't arrest them," Jesse pointed out. "They haven't committed any crimes against your country. As a matter of fact they've actually helped you. Last time I checked, you didn't just walk out of that cell. You were helped by your fiancée, a maid and, what was it you called her again, oh yeah, the 'pirate trash'."

Five sets of eyes narrowed, and even Blaine and Brittany looked upset, as they all tuned to Santana. "He called you that?" Sam practically hissed. Santana beamed. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because you're just so adorable," Santana retorted, still grinning. "Like I care what Prince Gigantor has to say about me. I'm awesome and very aware of it."

"Listen, this has been wonderful but can we just agree that you have absolutely no grounds on which to arrest us and move the hell on?" Artie asked though his eyes were locked on Puck. Rachel felt the slight trembling from his body and knew that he needed to be sitting and soon. She caught Artie's gaze and nodded.

"You're pirates," Finn stressed. "And you also kidnapped the future Queen of Lima as well as her maid, Tracy."

"It's Tina, asshole," the former maid never known as Tracy snapped. "And we weren't kidnapped. We went willingly."

"So then you admit that you're guilty of treason?"

"Rach, no offense but your fiancé is kind of a tool," Mike said, shaking his head. He was about to say something else when he finally noticed that Puck was wincing. "Dude, what the hell happened to you?"

Rachel looked up and could see that due to her exuberant ripping, the top buttons were missing leaving his shirt hanging open. The vivid bruises were visible to everyone in the room.

"I got shot in the chest," he snorted. "We can wipe that off the list of things to do in life. So not fun."

"Why did you think it would be?" Blaine questioned, before clearly remembering who he was talking to. He would learn soon enough, Rachel was confident. "Anyway, how are you still alive? Aren't shots to the chest supposed to be fatal?"

"Ahem, I think you'll find that there are more pressing issues at hand," Finn said, clearing his throat, pointedly.

"Like what?" Brittany chimed in innocently.

"Like your impending deaths for acts of war against Lima."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Like we're in any real danger. We've come way too far in this story to be killed off now. This is the last chapter. Your threats not even believable at this point."

"Fourth wall, Britt. Fourth wall," Blaine warned. "Anyway back to Puck and his conveniently never before mentioned exposition tool. I mean his necklace."

Puck raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Will. "We're returning them to Dalton after this is over, right?" Will shrugged. Puck sighed. "Damn it! I knew we were adopting them!"

"Last chapter, dude. Time to move it along."

"Right, well this was a gift from my father," Puck shifted the hand that was wrapped around his sore torso to lift the necklace up. Now that she was looking at it a second time, Rachel finally realized why the design seemed familiar. But before she could share the reason aloud, the captain of the Titans gasped.

"I knew I recognized that horrible hair and butt chin. You're the Queen's brother!"

Puck's brow furrowed. "The Queen, who?"

"The Queen of Carmel," he replied, softly. "Well, the late Queen of Carmel. She was my sister."

"Wait, if you're the Queen's brother… then that means that you're not really my uncle?"

Santana groaned out loud while the rest of the crew (including Rachel) settled for rolling their eyes. "Seriously? That's your takeaway from that? Damn, it's a good thing you're hot because you're really not that bright."

"Bitch."

"Moron."

Will stepped forward, ignoring the two sets of guards that appeared to be both confused and slightly bored with the scene. He lifted the necklace still hanging around Puck's neck. "This is the coat of arms designed for the royal family of Carmel. The king was given this necklace on his sixteenth birthday and it was always his wish to present it to his son on his sixteenth birthday. He wasn't able to but I made sure he got it anyway."

Puck swallowed. "You said that my father…. this was his… but that would mean that…. I'm the dead baby prince?"

Rachel grimaced but chalked his words up to shock. Admittedly it was pretty shocking. Although in retrospect, it really wasn't. The clues were all there the whole time.

"Yes, Noah," Will said, reverting to using his birth name. "You're Noah Aaron Puckerman, the only remaining member of the true royal family of Carmel. And that means that you're a prince."

"Actually," Jesse said, the corners of his mouth tilting upwards. "That makes him a king." Puck's eyes opened so wide, Rachel was worried that they might actually fall out of his head. "All hail the true King of Carmel, Noah!" he glanced at the confused guards. "In case you're all brain dead that means you kneel."

Silently, the guards, Jesse and Will all kneeled before the very confused newly titled royal. Sue smirked before kneeling as well, prompting the Titans to kneel. Puck's mouth opened and closed several times as he looked around the room.

"I… I don't know…."

"Always knew there was something special about you," Santana grinned. She glanced at the rest of the New Directions crew and Rachel wasn't surprised when they all went to one knee as well. Rachel started to as well but his grip tightened around her waist.

"Please don't," he pleaded. "I don't understand."

Rachel turned him around so that she was facing him completely. "You're the king, Noah," she smiled, gently.

"But this doesn't make any sense," Puck whispered. "There has to be some kind of mistake. I can't be a king! I'm a pirate."

"Not a very good one, love."

"Yes, that's true but…" he trailed off looking around the still kneeling people in the room. "Rachel, I can't do this."

"Yes, you can," she replied, confidence in her tone. She didn't know how she knew this for sure but she did. She knew that she was telling the truth. Puck was already a natural born leader. The same energy that kept the crew in line would be there to help him lead the entire kingdom. She knew he would do it. And even though he doubted it now, she knew she would be by his side to prove it to him every day until he did.

"Noah, trust me when I say that you will be an amazing king. Your people will love you. I promise."

He frowned. "Wait, what does this mean for us? I mean you were dumping the royal life to be a pirate with me. But it seems that I've got a bit of a royal thing going for me too."

"Silly, I could care less if you were a pirate, a prince or a peasant. I love you. I chose you, not your career or your title. I love you for you. You're my sea monster hugging witch bait."

Puck smiled broadly, leaning his forehead against hers. "Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"Want to rule a kingdom with me?"

She giggled, winding her arms around his neck. "Sure."

"Hey!" Finn barked. The Carmel guards rose in unison. Now that Puck's identity had been revealed, and it was clear that Dustin was ousted, the guards were showing their acceptance and loyalty to their new king. Not to mention, it was beyond obvious that none of them were too fond of the Lima prince. Finn ignored that, however, in favor of glaring at Rachel and Puck. "You're supposed to be my fiancée!"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Last time I checked, you traded me to the Prince of Carmel for Lima's freedom and peace. So really, Finn, I'm just living up to my part of the bargain. I have to think about the people of Lima. That takes precedence over everything, including my own needs and desires." Finn winced at his own words being thrown in his face.

"He traded you?" Puck repeated, incredulously. He glanced at Will. "Do I get to declare war on places?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Let's not have your first act as king be an international incident, ok? I'm very much aware of the fact that it's pretty much a given with you as a king but let's save that for a few years down the road."

"Ok, I guess," Puck grumbled.

"You traded your fiancée for freedom?" Sue asked, though it came across more as a disapproving statement. Finn flushed as several of the guards looked disappointed and slightly disgusted. "Come along, your highness. I believe that we have officially over stayed our welcome."

"You're not going to tell my parents about this, are you?" Finn's concerned voice asked even as Sue practically dragged him out of the room. The rest of the guards, save for one, trickled out after them. Rachel heard Will direct Sue to the throne room where they could find Dustin. Despite his need for vengeance, they all knew it would be easier to allow Lima to deal with Dustin than to place the murdering pirate's fate in Puck's hands. A decision that heavy would probably break the already too shaken young man.

"Lady Rachel." She snapped out of her thoughts as she recognized the Titan that stayed behind. Though he still bore some marks from his mistreatment at Dustin's hands weeks ago, David looked better than the last time she saw him. His eyes seemed lighter as well. "I'm glad that you're safe. I just wanted…to thank you."

"For what?"

"For reminding us that we're strong," he smiled. "After you left, the king realized that he was giving in to his fear. I know that he would want to tell you that himself but I have a feeling it may be a while before we see you in Lima again."

Rachel's eyes drifted up to Puck. "Yeah," she agreed. "I think you may be right." she looked back to the knight. "Take care of yourself, David. You're a good man." She kissed him on the cheek before moving her mouth beside his ear. "Say hello to Prince Kurt for me," she enjoyed the flush that spread across his cheeks. She pulled away to stand beside Puck again.

"Yes, well," David cleared his throat. "Farewell, Lady Rachel, King Noah," he bowed in their direction. "Thank you for helping to save my kingdom."

"You're welcome," Puck nodded. David smiled again before leaving the room. Jesse dismissed the rest of the guards shortly afterwards. As soon as they were gone, Puck's eyes were on his uncle. "So do you have anything you want to add to this, William?"

Will smiled smugly, draping an arm over the redhead that was dragged in with the rest of the crew. She beamed in his direction before nodding at Puck. "Welcome home, Noah!"

Puck narrowed his eyes before laughing incredulously. "You're insane, you know that? At no point in the past sixteen years did it ever occur to you to tell me that I'm a prince? Hell, even during the last two weeks?"

"When I found your mother that night, she made me promise that I would protect you. I honestly never thought that I would get a chance to go after Dustin. And even though I trained you and the others and I knew that you were strong, I didn't want to risk it. I didn't know if it would be worth the chance that I could lose you too." Will's smile dimmed. "But then Rachel found us. And I knew that it was fate."

"So was. Puckleberry fate," Brittany murmured in the background. She was ignored.

"Honestly," Puck started, shaking his head, "this whole adventure has been chock full of the crazy. Mostly just you though, Uncle Will."

"I topped the brainwashing witch and her psychic siblings," Will snorted. "Seriously though, welcome home."

Puck took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He looked over to his friends. "So you guys are sticking around, right?"

"Yeah, because we've followed you all around the damn world on that floating death trap we call a ship, saving you from one ridiculously stupid situation after another just so that we could walk away when the single most incredible life altering event happens to you. Because why would we want to support you now? It's not like you've been there for any of us. Ever," Artie retorted. Sam, Mike and Puck gaped in his direction.

Santana smothered her laugh behind her hands. "I think what Artie is saying is that of course, we're staying, dumbass. You and Will took us in when we all needed someone the most. That means a lot to all of us. So of course we're going to be there for you. Besides, we're pretty much brother and sister at this point. That means I'm like a princess." An excited glimmer entered her eyes as a thought occurred to her. "Wait, if Puck gets killed before he and Rachel have babies does that mean I get to be Queen?"

"Well, I guess if you put it that way, possibly," Will said, frowning slightly. "Santana, there will be no assassination attempts on Puck. Real or not."

"Think of them as ways of keeping him on his toes to make sure he doesn't get lazy being a king."

Jesse looked mildly concerned. "Is she always like this?"

"Nah, sometimes she's full on crazy," Puck shrugged, ignoring Santana's assassination drill plans. Rachel could only imagine the years those drills were going to take off of her life. "So, cousin, do we have to worry about you making any real attempts on my life?"

"Seeing as how I went through all the effort of not killing you when you were helpless and not capable of fully kicking my ass, I'm going to go with no."

"About that," Tina said, eyeing Jesse suspiciously. "Everyone says that you killed the baby. Wouldn't Dustin know that you didn't?"

Jesse shook his head. "Dustin is an arrogant asshole. And that's coming from me. Anyway, he believed that as long as he ordered something to be done, it would be done. I told him I drowned Noah and he believed me. His mistake. Among many others."

"Why'd you help him in the first place?" Mike asked, leaning against Tina. Rachel had to smile at the subtle interrogation.

"Dustin," Jesse started, shaking his head in disgust. "Dustin came to me and my mother a few weeks before the siege. He told me that he was my real father. I was eight at the time and I suppose I was jealous of the amount of time that your uncle spent with the royal family. I didn't get it at the time. I didn't get that I was just recycling my mother's bitterness. But I believed him and I agreed to follow his plan. I guess I didn't think it would go as far as it did. That is until he told me to murder you. For a really horrible moment, I actually thought about it. But I couldn't go through with it. I was there the day you were born. Little Prince Puck."

Puck's lips curled. "You're the one that started calling me Puck."

"Noah seemed like too big a name for a tiny little runt like you," Jesse replied flippantly, but Rachel could tell that the nickname was given with genuine affection. "So I called you Puck. It wasn't long before everyone was calling you that."

"Cool," Puck nodded with a brighter smile. Jesse returned the gesture.

"So that's it? It's over now?"

All eyes flickered to Brittany. The seer was twirling a strand of hair through her fingers absently. Blaine elbowed her in the side. "Uh, Britt?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, it's over for now. I mean this part of the story anyway. Clearly there's the whole part where the kingdom has been left to wallow in misery and poverty due to being ruled by an egomaniacal tyrant who viciously overthrew the preexisting sovereignty. Not to mention the obvious identity issues that Puck is going to go through due to the fact that he always thought he was an ordinary guy when really he was the lost prince of Carmel this whole time."

"You're going back to Dalton," Puck said, pointing in her direction.

Brittany smirked. "No, we're not. You're already attached to us."

"We're very attachable," Blaine agreed.

Puck shook his head but Rachel noticed he didn't argue. He really was a softie. "As long as the drama is over for now, I don't really care about anything else. All I know is that I'm tired and everything hurts. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm finding a room and crashing. Then we're totally exploring this castle. I've never lived in something that didn't move."

"You shouldn't tell people that," Santana said, blinking. Never mind the fact that she hadn't lived in anything that didn't move in close to twelve years either.

"I could definitely go for a nap," Sam said, yawning as if to prove his point.

"Oh no, not you two," Puck said, glaring at Sam and Mike. "You two need to clean up the mess you made in the hall"

"But... but… you told us to do that!"

"That was Pirate Me. Now King Me is ordering you to clean it up by the time I wake up from my nap!" Puck snickered. He then dragged a giggling Rachel with him in search of a room. Even as they walked away, she could hear the two boys continuing to whine and protest. She then caught sight of the real reason behind Puck's order. She squeezed his hand, laughing.

"How long do you think it'll take them to realize that the guards are already cleaning up the mess?"

"Knowing those two, probably by the time we wake up from our nap."

"Our nap?"

Puck raised an eyebrow. "I realize that we're practically engaged now but there will be no defiling today. I'm injured and exhausted. So keep your grabby hands to yourself."

"You're such a jerk!" she smacked him on his good shoulder.

"But I'm yours."

"Yes," she kissed him gently. "And I'm yours."

No, this was not the way that she thought her story would end. In the beginning, she imagined sailing off into the sunset with Finn's arms around her and a sense of satisfaction that she would be viewed as a hero in Lima. When she was standing on that beach, what felt like months ago, she never imagined that the pirates she was begging for assistance from would come to mean so much to her. She never thought that she would willingly give everything up for this one in particular. And she knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she had to do it all over again with Puck not being a prince, she still would. She would always pick him. Because somewhere along the lines in the past two weeks, he became a huge part of her world.

This was not your typical fairytale ending but those stories were stupid anyway. Fairytales ended with the smart heroine eventually being bored to death by endless balls and meaningless social functions. Reality found Rachel challenging both her patience and her mind dealing with the restoration of Carmel and the random insane interactions and actions of the former pirate crew. Reality gave her a husband that loved her more than the sun and the stars but also drove her up the wall with his lack of self-preservation and devotion to the insane. They became the parents of three beautiful children with his eyes and her smile. Thankfully for both of them, only one of them inherited their father's proclivity for finding trouble.

But no matter how headache inducing it could all be, Rachel would look back at her life and know that reality was much better than her stupid fantasy life. She wouldn't trade a moment of her life for anything in the world. Although she could do without the day that Puck finally found his stupid sea monster. But even with the giant nightmare beast living in the moat in the back, Rachel got her prince and a love that lasted a lifetime.

*Hope you all enjoyed! Until next time. Ciao for now.