"They're gone?" Quinn whispered.

Her fingers trembled, her brain was empty, her heart heavy.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Fabray" the doctor said.

He was her age, maybe a bit older. In his mid-thirties with blonde hair and kind eyes.

"A car crash?"

He nodded. Quinn couldn't stand sitting in that office. She wanted to leave, to run away and never come back. But she couldn't. She couldn't even move.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Fabray."

"Thank you."

"You were Rachel's contact person. A man named Noah Puckerman was Finn's. We called him, but he didn't pick up his phone" the doctor said.

Quinn looked at the clock on the wall. It was past eleven. Puck was probably too busy with a girl to answer the phone.

"I'll try to reach him" Quinn said.

The doctor nodded.

"And their child?" Quinn asked.

"Child?"

"They have a daughter, a baby girl. Lily."

"She wasn't in the car, miss."

Quinn closed her eyes.

"She wasn't in the car?"

"No."

"The couple was on their way home from a dinner, they may have left their daughter at home with a baby sitter."

Quinn nodded slowly.

"Yes" she agreed. "Yes, that must be it."

She stood up so hastily that her chair fell over. The doctor looked sympathetically at her.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Ms. Fabray."

"I have to go their house and take care of Lily."

"Of course" he said smiling. "Here is my card, call me if you need help with anything."

Quinn took the card and put it in her purse. Her fingers moved, but her brain was somewhere else. She had to go and get Lily. Then she had to call Puck. If he didn't answer, she would drive to his apartment. Yes. That would be what she would do.

"Good-bye" she said and left the office.

Outside, she began to cry.

"Why are you calling me so late?" Puck answered the phone.

A wave of disgust filled Quinn. He was drunk. She could hear a girl laughing in the background. He was drunk, in bed with a girl when his best friend has died.

"I have called once every ten minutes for the last four hours" Quinn said stiffly.

She sat on Rachel and Finn's couch. In her arms lay baby Lily, a year old. On the walls were pictures of posters from Funny girl posted next to huge family portrait of the happy Hudson-family. Quinn shut her eyes.

"You finally realized you love me?" he asked, his voice sarcastic.

"Puck, listen to me" she began.

"Or do you just want to get laid?"

"Puck, shut up" she yelled.

Her voice broke. He went quiet.

"Finn and Rachel, they died. Tonight. In a car crash."

Tears burned in her eyes.

"Is this a fucking joke?"

"No, Puck. It isn't."

"Where's Lily?"

"With me, in their house."

"I'll be there in ten. I just have to find my car keys."

"Puck, you're drunk. You can't drive."

"Oh, right. I'll take cab."

"See you."

She hung up the phone and put it down in the couch next to her. Lily stirred in her sleep, unaware of everything. Quinn wished she could be as unaware.

Noah Puckerman wasn't Quinn's favorite person. Frankly, if it wasn't for Rachel and Finn, she probably wouldn't have seen him again after graduation. In high-school they had been a couple for a while, mostly because Quinn had been pregnant with his child, but after they gave the baby away, they had drifted apart. But since Rachel, Quinn's best friend, and Finn, Puck's best friend, decided to be soul mates, they were very much in each other's lives. Quinn could stand him now. Even though he was self-centered, cocky and man whore, she could stand him. That was it.

"Hey" he said as she opened the door.

She didn't know what to do, but he solved that by hugging her closely. She could feel his breathe on her neck, it was warm and it soothed her.

"This can't be true" he whispered.

She slowly stroked his back.

"I know" she whispered back.

"They can't be gone."

"I know."

He drew a long breath and let go of her. Her arms felt empty without him.

"What's going to happen to Lily?" he asked, turning around to try and find her.

"She's in her nursery" Quinn answered his unasked question.

She couldn't answer the one he had asked. She didn't know.

"Maybe Rachel's dads…" she said.

"They live in a gay community in Bali."

"What about Finn's mom and Burt?"

"Burt's sick, Quinn. He might not live through the year. Carole can't look after him and the baby at the same time."

"You're right" she admitted.

He put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm tired" she whispered.

"You sleep in their bed, I'll sleep on the couch" Puck offered.

Maybe he wanted her refuse, but she didn't. She just nodded and went upstairs. She had never felt more like disappearing into nothingness.

Puck woke up four hours later on the couch. His back hurt like hell. Why was he on Finn and Rachel's couch? Why was he so hung-over? Why was Lily screaming like hell upstairs? Then it all came back to him. Quinn's phone call as he was making-out with that Bulgarian girl, the cab ride to the house, during which he had cried like a baby, and Quinn's face as she opened the door, the controlled Quinn Fabray looking scared. Fuck. Finn was dead. His best friend in the entire world. Dead.

Lily stopped screaming eventually and Quinn came down with her in her arms.

"Morning" she said.

Her hair was up in a tight bun, she was wearing the same outfit as yesterday but it was newly ironed. She looked tidy and controlled again.

"Morning" he replied, sitting up.

"I have to get to work" she said.

"You're going to work today?"

"I have to. I'm the boss."

Quinn was the owner and CEO of Fabray's Publishing, a company that published new and interesting writers. It was fairly successful as far as Puck knew.

"I can take the day off" Puck said.

"Great."

Puck was the lead guitarist in the band that played behind Santana Lopez on her tours. For months at a time he would travel, and then he could be home, strumming his guitar, recording tracks for her new singles for six months. Today, he was off, but it sounded better to say that he would take the day off.

"I'll be home early" Quinn said, handing him Lily.

Up close he could see that her eyes were red. There was a crack in the perfect mask. It consoled him.

"Call me if you need anything" she said and left.

Puck held up Lily in front of him. She smiled at him. God, she looked exactly like Finn when she smiled. Puck's heart ached.

"Hey babe" he whispered to the baby. "I'm sorry your parents are gone. I'm sorry that they aren't gonna see you grow up, baby girl."

She began to cry in his arms. Her face contorted and her yells again echoed across the huge house.

"I know, babe" he whispered. "I want to cry to."

Puck realized during those few hours that he had no idea how to take care of a baby. When Lily's diaper smelled really bad, he pulled it off and put her in the bath tub. He had no idea how to put a new one on, so he let her crawl around the house naked. It resulted in pee all over his new shoes. He didn't really know what to feed her when she cried. He tried an apple, but she didn't really have the teeth to eat it. He tried some baby food he found in the fridge, but she refused it. In the end, he gave her cornflakes, which she ate with relish. Puck had a feeling that Quinn wouldn't have fed cornflakes to a baby.

"I don't know what I'm doing" he whispered in Lily's ear when she finally fell asleep. "All I want to do is to go out and get drunk."

He promised himself he would when Quinn got home. He would take a cab to a bar and drink until he couldn't see straight. Quinn could take care of Beth.

"Sit down" Quinn said as she entered thehouse the afternoon.

Her bun was out and her golden hair brushed her shoulders.

"Why?"

"I think you need to sit down."

Puck sat down on a kitchen chair. Fear built up inside him. What else had gone wrong? Who else had died?

"I spoke with Finn and Rachel's lawyer today" Quinn began.

"Okay."

"They left us the house and all their assets, Puck."

"Why would they do that?"

Quinn twisted her hands.

"They wanted us to take care of Lily."

"We are taking care of her."

"I mean, forever. Raise her, together, in this house."

Puck actually laughed. It sounded hoarse.

"You're kidding?"

"No, I'm not. It's in their will."

"They wanted you and me , to live in this house, and raise their kid."

"Yes."

"That's fucked up, Quinn."

"Don't swear" she hissed, looking meaningfully at Lily.

"She's asleep."

Quinn sat down to, but then got up again.

"We can't do this, Puck. We gave up our kid 10 years ago because we couldn't raise a baby together."

Puck sighed, looking at Quinn pacing the kitchen. He had wanted to keep that baby, but Quinn was right. It had been the right thing giving her up. They didn't work a team, Quinn and him. She was controlling and a perfectionist. He was laid-back and sloppy.

"Maybe there's someone else" Puck began.

"As we said yesterday, none of their parents can take her. Neither of Rachel and Finn have siblings, no real ones anyway. And Kurt, god, I don't even know where Kurt is nowadays."

"I think he's living in Amsterdam."

"Kurt can't take of Lily."

"We could ask him" Puck suggested.

"Fine. You do it. You call him up and ask him if he wants to take care of his stepbrother's baby."

Quinn aggressively reached for the phone and handed it to him.

"I don't have his number, Quinn" he said calmly.

"Then find it!"

She stomped off and closed the bathroom door hard behind her. Puck could hear her crying.

"Kurt, it's Puck" Puck said into the phone.

"Hi!"

The reception was really bad.

"How are you?"

"Wonderful!"

"Right. Good. Kurt, did anyone tell you about Rachel and Finn?"

"Yes" Kurt answered.

His voice had changed, it was low-key now.

"Lily's an orphan, she needs someone to take care of her" Puck began.

"Noah, I live in Amsterdam. I share an apartment with seven other guys. I work nights at a gay club."

"Right, I get it."

"I love Lily, but I only met her once…"

"I know."

"I'm coming home for the funeral though; it's in two weeks, right?"

Quinn must have planned it today. Her effectiveness stunned Puck.

"Sure."

"See you then."

"Yeah, see you then."

Puck hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair.

"No luck?" Quinn asked.

She had smudged make-up all over her face.

"Nope."

"Fuck" she whispered.

"Language, Fabray" Puck said, smiling.

She actually smiled back.

"You hungry? I'll make some dinner."

Puck nodded. The booze could wait.