Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 53rd cycle. Now cycle 54!

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: The Fair Collaboration, chapter 2.

"Sharing the Light"
(Rachel &) Quinn, Puck, baby Nora (AU!Beth) - Puck/Rachel, Finn/Quinn
Sunshine Girls series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Part of her hated herself for even thinking it, but if she was honest with herself, getting a few days to regroup and rest would be good. She was going into agony at the thought of being away from Nora when they had never been apart from the day she was born, and she would have to keep telling herself that her daughter wouldn't suddenly grow resentful for sending her with her father for a few days. It needed to happen at some point. All this time she had spent caring for Nora, she wanted her to know that she loved her and cared for her, and no matter how she had come to be, no matter how old her parents were, none of that would keep her from getting everything she would need. If she had been older, they would have been living on their own, or at least with their significant other. She could have been living with Finn, and Puck, if the two of them could just come to their senses and realize they still loved each other more than anything, would be living with Rachel. Quinn would know that she was meant to share Nora with her father, and everything would be simpler. Only they weren't older, they were still in high school, and she lived with her mother, all of them lived with their parents… But they were still all there to help her and Nora out, and Puck more than anyone needed to share in the rights and the privilege of looking out for his own flesh and blood.

So after he and Rachel had left, probably to go and gather up supplies he would need, she had started putting Nora's things together, so she could take her over to his house later on. She had to think about what she needed to bring, but then remember that he probably had some of these things, so she shouldn't show up there with enough bags to topple her off her feet. Eventually she had everything ready, had Nora dressed and… now it was time to go. Her mother would drive them, and as they approached, Puck was already coming out the door to help take the bags in.

She had never been in Puck's room, not before or after Nora's birth, and she had expected a mess, but instead what she found was a clean room, ready to welcome the baby girl she carried in her arms. "I do try to pick up after myself more," he explained as they came in. "But I wanted it to be really clean for when you guys came. Rachel helped a bit… or, well, a lot."

"Looks good," she promised him with a nod. "You have a crib?" she looked to it, surprised.

"It was mine, then it was my cousin's, then it was my little sister's, then my other cousin's… I got it back from their garage, cleaned it, too," he promised. She turned back to him with a smile. "Can I?" he indicated Nora, and Quinn came up to hand her over.

"Of course you can, I mean she's yours, too," she made sure he had her head and everything; he always did, always held her like she was the most precious and fragile thing to hold.

"Hey, princess," he hushed, even though she slept. "Gonna spend some fun time with your dad," he promised her, then, "Not that your mom isn't fun." Hearing Quinn laugh, he looked up to her. "You stay as long as you need, okay?" he told her and she nodded.

"I've got bottles for her, I'll bring more later," she explained, indicating one of the bags. "I wrote down what she usually eats, what she likes and doesn't like…"

"Okay," he nodded along.

"And there's her blanket, she always sleeps better with it."

"Blanket, got it."

"Leave some music in the background while she sleeps if you can. Doesn't have to be very loud, but it can be anything," she went on.

"Classic rock it is," Puck smirked.

"And if she gets fussy, just hold her close and keep talking to her, she'll calm down…"

"Quinn, I've got it," he assured her calmly and she sighed. "You can always call now and then and I'll hold the phone up to her," he suggested, making her smile.

"We're just going to have to get used to this, right?"

"Hey, we can do this. Come here," he looked to her before bringing Nora and putting her down in the crib. He turned to Quinn, now standing at his side, staring down at their daughter. "You know, someday it won't all be like this. Right now it's new, and none of us have a clue what we're doing, but it doesn't matter if we're sixteen, or thirty… We've never done this before. We're going to make mistakes here and there, and we're going to be scared, think we're messing everything up, but… look at her. That looks like a happy kid to me. She's got everything she needs, she's perfect… Most of that is she's related to you," he shrugged, and she smiled.

"If she's anything like you, she'll be better than you think," she promised him, and he looked down to Nora in the crib. "So are we going to talk about the Rachel thing at all?" she slowly asked, and he looked to her. "Don't pretend like you don't know."

"What do you want me to say?" he shook his head.

"You love her," Quinn stated.

"Of course I do," he made no effort in hiding it.

"Then don't let her get away. The two of you came over today because you wanted to help me, well I want to do this same for you, because I can't understand how the two of you would just let it all end this way. You've been miserable without each other, and you pretend like you're okay with it."

"She broke up with me, not the other way around," he reminded her.

"Keep hanging on to that and you'll never get her back," she concluded. "I have to go. Call me if there's anything," she told him before reaching down, pressing two fingers to her lips before resting them on Nora's hand, stroking her cheek.

Talking to Puck had helped her somehow, allowed her the distance to be able to leave that room and her daughter without feeling like she had to be dragged out of it. She was sure that once she got home, to her room, and saw the empty crib, she would be heartbroken for a while, but it had to be done, and she would get through it. And when she'd see Nora again, hopefully, she would be rested and able to give her all the love and attention she deserved.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!