Noah misses school the Monday after Regionals. It's perfectly understandable given the situation he's in with Quinn but it worries her non-the-less. She makes it to third period before her unwarranted concerns overrule her rational side forcing her to duck out the side gym doors and head towards his house.
He's not there. She thinks about going to Quinn's but she's sure the blonde won't be receptive to her presence and she thinks maybe she'd be an unwelcome reminder of the choice Quinn had had to make. Instead she tries to think like Noah, he's too young to be in a bar drinking his sorrows away and she recalls seeing Mike and Matt in homeroom today. Finn was in school too but its possible Noah could be hiding out at the Hudson/Hummel home. She quickly shakes that thought away because of Noah's volatile past with Kurt.
When she pulls into the parking lot at Lima General she's taken aback because she doesn't recall how she'd gotten there. She knows the baby's gone, adopted by Shelby Corcoran and yet she feels like something's beckoning her from inside. With a deep breath she steps out of her car and makes her way through the rotating door.
She finds him standing in front of the nursery window, hands jammed into his pockets, head resting against the glass. The sight takes her breath away and breaks her heart a little at the same time. He wanted to keep the baby, she knows that. They'd talked about it once, after his fight with Finn in the choir room. She'd seen it then, the kind of man he could be and she'd hoped that Quinn would see it too.
He startles when she lays her hand on his shoulder, not much just a subtle shift of his torso. He glances at her briefly before turning back to the line of babies wailing on the other side of the wall.
"I think she made the best decision she could under the circumstance Noah," she offers trailing her hand down his arm and curling her fingers around his. "You're both so young and a child is a huge responsibility."
"I know!" he barks.
His elevated voice draws the attention of several people standing nearby. He closes his eyes, jaw clenching against his anguish, and shakes his head. When he speaks again he's lowered his voice to a near whisper, "I know, okay? I'm not a fucking idiot."
"I didn't mean to imply that you were."
"S'not that easy," he adds. "How do you just walk away from your kid?"
"You're not walking away from her you're giving her a better life," she explains despite the fact that she thinks his last question wasn't entirely about Beth. "She needs you to be strong for her, to know that you did the right thing."
"What if I can't?"
"You can. I know you can." She squeezes his hand briefly to give credence to her words. "Most people are stronger than they know, Noah. They just forget to believe in it sometimes."