Do not own

All men of action are dreamers

-John Huneker

Tonight is the night.

Puck stares into the wide skies under the glass roof of his attic. Tonight is the night when Quinn brings Beth over to spend the weekend with him. A smile lights up his face at the mere thought of it. He hasn't seen her in months because he was away cleaning as many pools as he could so he could save up enough to buy Beth a piano, something Beth had always wanted and something that she had just started learning.

Sometimes Puck wishes life was kinder to him. Once upon a time, he was the popular guy who threw kids into dumpsters and always got the girl he wanted until the girl he wanted happened to be his best friend's girl. And then things got complicated and she got pregnant and just because leaving his family was not the way he rolled, he had married her. Quinn Fabray, the captain of the Cheerios, the most gorgeous thing at school. The perfect mother; the not-so-perfect wife.

Puck sighs. This is something that has always bothered him. His family was a broken one, with his father an alcoholic and gambler and his mother a helpless little woman who had lost her husband to gambling, womanizing and so many more unforgivable sins. He had tried; damn did he try to be the perfect husband and father to the Quinn and Beth. How much had he wanted his marriage to work out.

But a marriage doesn't go well when you're sixteen and so is she and she is pregnant and you don't have a cent for diapers or milk or an OB and you are lost and all you two do is wonder where your next meal is going to come from. And Puck hates it, he hates that he that happened, he hates that he let Quinn work at McDonalds part-time while she was eight months pregnant, he hates that he was leaning on her for money because he couldn't make enough for her and most of all he hates that he had to lose her and his little princess because he couldn't be the perfect husband and father that he was supposed to be.

Puck sighs as he sees a wishing star fly past him as he lies on the couch, in a black tank top, sipping a coke, in his boxers, with the light off so he can get a good view of the wide night sky and the stars it never fails to show case. On a whim, he wishes for something impossible but he had given up on wishing a long time ago. He had always been a failure, in Geography, Math, Spanish, everything. Puck thinks back and is amused that he was surprised when Quinn gave him the divorce papers.

He still remembers that day, it was raining heavily and he was lying down on the bed with Beth sleeping soundly in her cot. He remembered that he was watching a re-run of some old ass Simpsons episodes when she came into their stinky motel room and passed the letters to him.

He remembered the look on her face as she averted her eyes from him and the way she told him in a voice as cold as ice that she needed to leave him and she was taking Beth with her and after that he doesn't remember anything she had said. He remembers the exact moment, 17:31, because that was when he looked up at the digital clock on the wall, and then she was gone and before he knew it, she was gone gone and she had custody over Beth and he was divorced and alone and twenty and when it was all finalized and he came back to his empty motel room wearing a red checkered shirt with his inner white tank top showing. He had realised that he had just lost everything he cared so much about.

There is a knock on his door and he springs up like a rabbit catching a whiff of carrots and he rushed to get some pants on and then he pulls the door wide open and makes sure his eyes are not sleepy and can focus on Quinn's face just so she knows that he is not a loser.

"Daddy!" Beth squeals and jumps into his arms. He cannot help but hug her as tightly as he can and almost squeezes all the air out of her lungs. He looks at Quinn and mouths a 'thank you' as he raises his baby girl up into the air and stares into those large eyes of hers. She is the spitting image of Quinn and he has no doubt that there will be hordes of boys trying to get into her pants by the time she reaches high school and he then will have to beat them off with sticks and throw them into dumpsters because no one touches his baby girl.

"Bethy dear", Quinn's voice is as soft and demure as he remembers and both father and daughter turn to face her. "Run along inside and play with your toys", she tells her and he knows that she is about to explain to him her complicated milk feeds and what time he needs to wake her up for a pee so she doesn't soil the sheets. And most importantly, he knows she is going to tell him how he is under no circumstances allowed to feed her any of the junk food he gets for himself every so often. Puck releases his daughter and catches her from her fall, pressing her into his muscular chest before letting her run off into the dark of the attic so she can go play with the toys she leaves here.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for bringing her over", he tells Quinn and absently switches the lights on. "You know I really am grateful", he tells her and she smiles. He smiles back. There is a little aching in his chest as he looks into her sad eyes. It's like the divorce still upsets them both.

"Just take care of her, her milk powder is in here and here's the hot water, I know you don't boil any for yourself but please, Beth likes her milk warm. She sleeps at 9pm sharp no later", she tells him in that motherly voice and he smirks at her. "Not even if she bugs you for five minutes", Quinn attempts to break the ice, but everything is still so awkward. "Oh and remember no…"

"No fast food got it, you wanna come in? Have some coffee or something? I've got some somewhere", he turns and gestures into the attic he had begun to rent about two months ago as he leans casually against the wall.

"No I can't, I've got class, you know", and that is when he gives her a sad smile. It was because of him that she didn't go to Yale and for that he will always feel that same amount of guilt weighing on his shoulders. He looks at her as she says goodbye and starts off.

"Hey Quinn", she pauses mid-step "thanks", he tells her and then they smile at each other and that feeling comes back again, he wishes he could have her in his arms for just one more moment. He watches her nod and thank the owners of the house; an old couple and then he thinks about them. He wishes he and Quinn could have such a future together, but he knows it is impossible. Or is it?

A/N: Just a little fic about how Quinn and Puck interact with each other and pull through difficulties together despite their divorce. Please review.