Blue

"Noel come and get your breakfast!" Mercedes called from the kitchen. She placed the plate consisting of a small amount of eggs, two strips of bacon and a waffle that sported the imprint of the latest Disney Princess. She still couldn't believe that Disney actually made a Central American princess; she'd never thought she'd never see the day. Just then a bright young girl came bouncing in the room. She had a little onesie on that had the same princess covering the front.

"Morning Mommy!" she said as she came up and hugged Mercedes leg, being too short to reach any higher.

"Morning sweetie. I need you to eat up since I want to get out as soon as possible." Mercedes said as she put cream cheese on her bagel.

"Are we going to see daddy?" the little girl asked with a mouth full of waffle. Mercedes just chuckled.

"Well one, don't talk with our mouth full, and 2, yes we are. So finish your food and we can get dressed." She said taking out her phone to check the news. The child started to stuff in her mouth at a hurried pace. "Hey, hey I didn't day you had to rush. Just finish eating "she laughed. The little child smiled brightly as best she could with a mouth filled with food.

After they both finished up, Mercedes helped her daughter get dressed. After they finished putting their jackets on, Mercedes decided to put a hat on Noel's since it was starting to get cold. But her hand was quickly swatted away.

"Mommy it will mess up my hair!" she exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Her hair cornrowed up on both sides upwards to the top of her head, where her curly hair hung loose forming a Mohawk. The little girl had wanted on after seeing her father's old yearbook photo.

Mercedes sighed."Hun, I understand but it's getting cold outside and I don't want you to get sick. Do you want to get sick and have to miss Lorena's birthday party at Auntie Tana and Brittany's house?" she asked using her best weapon besides bribery; guilt. Noel sighed in defeat.

"No…"

"Exactly. Now put your hat on and lets go".

After about a 20 minute drive, they finally arrived at their destination. After parking along side of the road, Mercedes got out of the car and walked over to the other side of the car to retrieve her daughter. She lightly shook her awake, before unbuckling her from the car seat."Hey sweetie we're here". The little girl portrayed contradictory emotions of joy and sorrow as she looked around. When Noel was softly placed on the ground Mercedes took her hand and they began to walk on too the grass towards their final destination. As they walked through the slightly frigid air, Noel kept getting distracted by all the various items that decorated the various headstones. They finally made it to the one headstone that they were looking for. Mercedes took a deep breath, releasing a slight white mist in the cool air. She looked at the words on the stone she had seen for the last four years but still couldn't believe they were there.

Noah "Puck" Puckerman

1993-2022

She looked down at the little girl who was staring at the stone quizzically.

"Mommy, how come I never met daddy?" she looked up at her mom." Know you said he was in heaven now, but how come I never meeted him?" Mercedes had assumed that at some point her daughter would ask this question. The last 3 years they've come here she really wasn't that aware of things but she had come a long way in her comprehension.

"Well like I told you before, daddy passed because he got really sick and had to go up to heaven to be healed. Well it wasn't until after he past that I realized that I was pregnant with you."

"Well how come you didn't know? When Auntie Tana was pregnant her belly got really big" she gestured to her stomach. Mercedes cursed her daughter's intelligence.

"Well in the early months of when you are pregnant you can't tell" Mercedes looked at her daughter who had a clearly confused expression on her face. "It's hard to explain but just know that if your dad was here he would love and hug you all the time and he's watching over you every day." She bent down to hug her daughter and kissed the top of her head.

"Can we send up the balloons now?" Noel asked excitedly.

"Mercedes chuckled."Yes we can." They counted to 3 before releasing the two balloons in the air. Each one having a small message writing in sharpie since Noel wanted to "tell daddy about her day" and Mercedes left a personal message on one of them. They stood in silence as they watched the balloons rise into the sky.

"Happy birfday to you "Mercedes looked down to her daughter as she looked up to the sky with a big smile. "Happy birfday to you. Happy birfday dear daddy; happy birfday to you!" Mercedes looked down to her daughter as she looked with a small yet bright smile, tears stinging in the corner of her eyes. "How high until he gets the balloons mommy?"

"Well as soon they will go so high that we won't be able to see them. That's when he will catch them for the big party they're having up there." They stood in silence for the next minute looking at the headstone and the small picture Noel had drawn and put next to it. Mercedes had made sure to laminate and frame it first so that it would at least last a month or two out here.

"Can I go play on the playground?" Noel asked pointing toward the small playground on the far end of the grounds. While it seemed out of place, they had put the play area there to entertain children while adults mourned.

While it was chilly out, she figured that running around would keep Noel warm enough. Mercedes watched as the little girl bounced down the small path towards the playground. Mercedes turned back to the head stone and looked at in silence. The only sounds being the wind and distance cars.

"Happy birthday to you…" she quietly sang." Happy birthday …to you." She felt the sting of tears in the corners of her eyes. "Happy bir-"

"Birthday dear Noah" Another soft voice sung from behind her. Normally she would've jumped at the sudden intrusion, but she recognized the soft angelic voice.

"Happy birthday to you" the two voices harmonized. There was a moment of silence as the person walked up next to Mercedes.

"I didn't expect to run into you here" Mercedes said not turning towards the woman.

"You know I come every year" The woman said softly turning towards Mercedes. "It's good to see you Mercedes"

"You too Quinn" They both leaned in and hugged before letting go and returning to look at the grave

"I can't believe its been 4 years" Quinn said as she leaned down to place a rose down in front of the head stone.

"Yeah…me neither. It seems like just yesterday…" Mercedes trailed off letting a stray tear fall. Quinn noticed and put her arm around her friends shoulder. "I'm sorry, it always gets …hard when I come down here" Mercedes said as she pulled out s few tissues from her coat pocket.

"Hey you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I honestly cry a little before I got here. It's ok that we miss yourself proclaimed badass" she jokingly nudged Mercedes. Mercedes could tell she was trying to add levity to the situation and laughed slightly. This was one of the many reasons why Quinn is one of her closest friends. After she got herself together, she turned to Quinn.

"So how goes the campaign for senate?"

"It's going great actually. Based on projections you might be standing next to a Massachusetts state senator." Quinn said proudly with a smile.

"That's so great! I'm so proud of you. Noah always said you would go far" Mercedes said trailing off with a weak smile again.

"So how's the little one over there?" she asked pointing to Noel as she went down the slide. "She's gotten so big. I remember when she was born"

"Yeah" Mercedes looked off at her daughter with a fond smile….

{Flash back}

Mercedes sat in the hospital bed holding her new born baby. He parents had just left the room so she could rest and have a moment with her "miracle baby" as her mom put it. She looked down at the squirming little one in her arms as the baby opened her eyes. Mercedes was instantly filled with a warm feeling of love and it took her over. She realized how blessed she was to be holding this child. Noah's and her child. She was filled with mixed emotions as she felt the joy that she was given this blessing of a child from her late fiancé, but she was sad that he would never be able to meet his child and her child would never be able to meet her father. Mercedes softly pulled the baby closer to her. She stuck her finger in the child's hand and the baby lightly grasped onto it.

"I know you don't understand me right now but I love you so much and I know if your father was here he would say the same. But you see he'll always be here to watch over you. Maybe not physically, but spiritually. He will be there for your first steps, your first day of school; hell he may find a way to scare off your first boyfriend…or girlfriend. But right now it's just you and I together. All you have to do is hold onto me and we will get through anything." She reached over and grabbed a small necklace that had a Jewish star ion it. It was Noah's that he always wore up until he gave it to her while he was in the hospital for the last time. She placed the object I on top of the blanket over the now sleeping baby. It was then that she began to sob softly; a few tears falling on the necklace…

{Present}

Mercedes sighed as she pushed away the memory, just in time for Noel to run up to her and then over to hug Quinn's legs.

"Hey Noel. How are you doing?"

"I'm , wanna see my new microphone that I got?!" before Quinn could even respond, the little girl took off towards the car.

"A new mic? You're not plugging your career on the child at all." Quinn said sarcastically with a smile.

"Hey, I'm not making her do anything" Mercedes nudged Quinn as they turned to head back towards their cars. "Which reminds me, we have to get home and get changed for dance class in 2 hours" she said checking her watch.

"Dance classes? Mercedes the child is 4"

"They're not intense dance classes girl. From what I heard it's really just to get the kids moving and it introduces them to the skill, not forcing them to do it.

"Really? Where is it at?" Quinn asked as they reached their cars.

"It's called Hough Studios. San found it. Apparently the instructor is really hot. At least that's what she said with shameless implications." Mercedes shook her head smiling.

"Well if he is, maybe you should go for it."

"Uh-yeah no. I mean it's not really the right time and I'm not sure how Noel would feel and Noah-"

"Noah wouldn't want to sit around and make excuses to sideline your love life. You told me that he said that he didn't want you to spend the rest of your life alone. Now I', not saying that you need to go for this guy or that you need to just jump into the dating game; but you need to start getting open to the idea. Could you honestly say that you don't wish that you had someone? I know, hell everyone knows, you're full of so much love. You can't just bottle that up."

Mercedes just hung her head. She knew everything Quinn had just said was true, but it was just hard to make that move.

"I'll think about it…"

"That's all I'm asking" Quinn came over to hug Mercedes one last time before getting in her car. They promised to go out to eat while Quinn was in town and then Quinn headed off down the road. Mercedes looked back at the head stone one last time before taking a deep breath and turning around to buckle Noel in the car seat.

"Is Miss Quinn coming with us? I wanted to show her my mic."

"Nope, it's just you and I together."

"Like always?" the little girl said as she reach for her cup that was laying on the seat. Mercedes just shook her head and got into the driver's seat.

"Maybe that's gonna change soon." She thought with a small smile, before she pulled off…

You and I together.

Come on baby won't you hold on to me.

Hold onto me,

Blue.