A/N: This is going to be a pretty short story, probably just three or four chapters, and this is really just the introductory chapter, so the next few chapters should be a bit longer. Let me know what you guys think - any suggestions I can get would be helpful for the rest of the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This world belongs to Ryan Murphy and Fox. I'm just playing with it. The title and lyrics in this story are taken from a song by Colbie Caillat.

But I never told you
What I should have said
No, I never told you
I just held it in

And now
I miss everything about you
Can't believe that I still want you
And after all the things we've been through
I miss everything about you
Without you

The apartment was empty, but that was nothing new. Quinn dropped the grocery bags off on the kitchen table, which was conveniently located two feet away from the front door. Her place wasn't exactly big. She was lucky enough that it had one bedroom. But it was clean and warm and homely and that was enough for her.

She started pulling the food out of the grocery bags and sorting it into the small cupboard, making sure that everything went exactly where it was so supposed to be; nothing could be out of place. Her friends thought she was a little too organized, to the point of being obsessive compulsive, but she didn't really care. It was just who she was.

The loud beeping of her cell phone pierced the otherwise peaceful quiet. She grabbed her phone from her purse and found a text from Ryan telling her that he had a long night of studying to do for his exam tomorrow, so he wouldn't be able to hang out tonight. She felt a little bad when the relief hit her. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy spending time with her boyfriend, but today had been long and exhausting and right now she really needed some time for herself.

After all of the food was put away, she grabbed the mail off the table and stepped a few feet away into the living room. She settled herself onto the couch as she scanned through the mail. They were all bills, except for one – one she'd been waiting months for. She'd been hoping it would arrive today. It was just what she needed after a long day at the hospital. Eagerly, she tore at the envelope. A piece of paper slipped out, along with a few pictures piled neatly together. She set the pictures aside, wanting to wait for last to see those.

She read through the letter swiftly, knowing she'd end up reading it countless times again. Her smile widened as she read about how her daughter was doing. Beth was six now and she'd just started school last month. Shelby said she was incredibly smart, at the top of her class already, and Quinn hadn't expected any less. She could also be quite the trouble maker when she wanted to be, and was as feisty and stubborn a six year old could be – something Quinn thought she probably gained from her father more so than herself. The letter was fairly short, just giving Quinn an update on what had been going on with Beth during the six months that had passed since the last letter. It wasn't enough for Quinn, but the letter could have been twenty pages front and back and it still wouldn't have been enough. She wanted to know everything she possibly could about her daughter. It wasn't possible, though. Quinn had resigned herself to that the day she'd given her daughter to Shelby.

After scanning through the letter a few more times, Quinn decided it was time to move on to the pictures. There were only three new ones, along with a few old ones Shelby had emailed her from Beth's sixth birthday. Quinn's smile widened. Even though everyone had said she'd looked just like Quinn when she was born, all Quinn saw when she looked at her daughter was Beth's father. Everything from her light brown hair tied tight into a pony tail to her dark brown eyes, to the smirk on her face as Shelby placed a kiss on her cheek breathed Noah Puckerman. Beth was her father's daughter. There was no doubt there.

It was funny. When she thought of Puck separately from Beth, she could barely last a minute before having to push the thought of him out of her mind completely; it just hurt too much. But when she looked at Beth and she saw him so clearly in their daughter, she couldn't help but smile because she loved that their daughter was so much like him. The fact that Beth had been raised by someone else and yet she contained qualities that were so irrefutably Puck could only make Quinn happy. Because even though it would be a long time, if ever, that Beth knew her real parents, at least she could know them a little bit through herself. And that satisfied Quinn for now.

It was over a half an hour later when she finally looked away from the pictures, but it wasn't by choice. Her phone was ringing. She stretched lazily over to the coffee table and picked it up. It was Rachel, and because that guaranteed a very long conversation, Quinn was tempted to ignore it, but she knew better; Rachel would call back in five minutes anyway.

She answered with a sigh. "Hey, Rachel."

"Quinn!"

Quinn smiled a little at her friend's overexcited voice. "What's up with you?"

"Oh, Quinn, you won't believe it. It's so amazing! I can't even begin…" Rachel went on to explain that whatever the hell was going on was just so unbelievably incredible, she had no words to describe it, blah, blah, bah. Quinn loved Rachel, she really did, but sometimes she just didn't know how to get to the point.

After almost a minute of rambling, Quinn cut her off. "Okay, drama queen, slow down. Just tell me what happened."

"Finn proposed and I said yes!"

"Rachel, that's great!" She couldn't say she was surprised, but she really was happy for them. Rachel and Finn had been together since high school. They had moved to New York City together after graduation, where Rachel pursued her dream of Broadway and Finn went to school to be a teacher. They'd lived together for four years now so Quinn thought it was about time they actually got married.

"Isn't it? It was so romantic, Quinn. I came home from the show and he'd made me dinner – actually made it! I think that was the first time he ever cooked, actually. So I knew something was up, of course. And then there were roses…" Quinn listened patiently as Rachel went on a long-winded explanation of Finn's proposal. "I suppose now that I think back on it all, it was a bit cliché," Rachel finished , "but I don't care. I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect."

"I'm really happy for you both," Quinn said. "You know I've been pushing Finn to propose to you pretty much ever since we all moved here."

"I know. Now you can't tease us about living in sin anymore."

Quinn grinned. "You know I never meant it in a bad way. It was just the traditional side of me coming through."

"I know," Rachel said, chuckling. "But I've got some other news that coincides with the engagement. I'm going to throw an engagement party, and I'm going to invite everyone from Glee club. It's been four years since we've all last been together and that's way too long, don't you think? I've already talked to Mr. Shuester and he's going to help me organize it. I really want everyone to be there. It would be incredible, don't you think?"

Quinn's eyes fell back down to the picture of her daughter and she saw him in her mind. Puck. She hadn't seen him for two years, but if Rachel got what she wanted, she'd be seeing him again very soon. "It definitely sounds interesting," Quinn replied.

Rachel sensed her hesitance. "Quinn, I know you're worried about seeing Noah for the first time in two years, but maybe it will be a good thing. Maybe you two can be friends again."

Quinn doubted that very much. She would never be able to be friends with Puck, not when she would always want more. But she decided now was not the time to have this conversation with Rachel. She would support her friend because she could tell that this party already meant the world to her. "Yeah," Quinn said, letting a small tint of hope drift into her voice, "maybe it will be a good thing."

"And you'll get to see Mercedes, and of course Kurt and Brittany and Mr. Shue and everyone else. You'll have plenty of people to distract you from him, just in case things do turn sour."

"I know. I really do miss Mercedes. And I haven't seen Mr. Shuester in forever." She nodded to herself; she was starting to believe that maybe it really would be alright. "It'll be good," she said, more to herself than to Rachel.

"No," Rachel said, "it'll be great."

Quinn really hoped she was right.

888

It was another typical day for Puck. Drop off his sister at school, eight hour day at Burt's auto shop, pick up his little sister from soccer practice, go home and help his mom around the house before going to sleep and repeating yesterday. Yup, he thought with a roll of his eyes, his life sure was grand.

There was one difference today, though, and it was enough for him to easily resist his usual temptation to stop at the bar across from Burt's and have himself a drink. His mom had called him earlier and told him he'd gotten a letter from Shelby. He'd been counting down the hours until he could go home and see what his little girl had been up to during the past six months. The letters from Shelby were always the one bright spot in his otherwise sucky life.

He pulled up at McKinley High just as Leah's practice was getting out. He spotted Mr. Shuester across the parking lot and sent him a feeble wave. Thankfully Mr. Shue seemed to be caught up in an argument with Sue Sylvester (some things never changed), which meant Puck wouldn't be forced to chat with his old teacher. He and Mr. Shue were actually pretty close, and on any other day Puck would be happy to talk to him, but today he just wanted to get home.

He spotted Leah jogging towards his car, her dark hair swinging back and forth in her pony tail. She threw her duffle bag into the bed of truck before sliding into the passenger seat. He ruffled her hair because he knew she hated it. "Sup, midget."

"Neanderthal." He let out a low chuckle. He and Leah had a habit of cutting each other down, but it was never meant to be serious. Actually, it was sort of how they showed their fondness for one another. She swatted his hand away, used to his torment, before observing him for a moment. "You look depressed."

"You look like a sweaty pig."

She ignored him. "I guess that's nothing new, though. You always look depressed."

"I do not." He was actually in a pretty good mood, for him at least. Of course compared to anyone else, he probably would look depressed.

"Yeah, you do."

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he picked it up, eyebrows raising in surprise when he saw who it was. "Shut up, sis, I've got a phone call." Leah punched his leg in response and he held back a groan as he answered. "Hey, Finn."

His best friend's voice sounded excited over the line. "Puck, how are you doing, man?"

"Pretty good. How about you?"

"Good. Great, actually." Finn paused dramatically for a moment (Puck thought Rachel was definitely rubbing off on him), before continuing with uncontained enthusiasm. "I proposed to Rachel!"

No surprise there. Puck thought it was about time those two made things official since they'd been dating for over four years now, not including their on and off stages in high school. "That's awesome. Wait, she said yes, right?"

"Of course!" Puck pictured Finn pacing on the other side of the line, a huge smile on his lips as he tried to find some way to contain just how happy he was. "I mean, I was worried at first that she'd say no, because you know how she is. She wants to make it big on Broadway before settling down and all that stuff. But she didn't even hesitate. She said she's wanted to marry me since she first laid eyes on me."

Finn continued on to talk about the proposal. Puck listened in silence, a little bored by Finn's more than cheesy ramblings about how perfect it had been. He loved Finn and he was more than happy that he and Rachel were finally tying the knot, but he could only handle hearing about how awesome Finn's life was going for so long. It was a little too much for him and his not so awesome life. Maybe Leah was right. Maybe he was a little depressed. Not like clinically depressed, but more like he was in a funk. For the past two years.

"Anyway," Finn finished with a big burst of breath. "You probably didn't want to hear all that."

He chuckled softly. "Not really, no. Seriously, though, I think it's great, Finn. I'm really happy for you two."

"Thanks. But this isn't why I called. Well, it's part of the reason, but the main reason was to invite you to our engagement party. It's in a couple of weeks and Rachel's already got it all planned out. She wants it to be sort of a reunion for Glee club." Finn sounded a bit more wary than excited, probably because he was thinking exactly what Puck was thinking.

"A reunion, eh? Sounds…fun."

"Yeah, I guess. You'll come, though, right? I know it might be a little weird after everything, but Rachel really wants you there, and so do I. It won't be a real reunion unless everyone's there."

Puck wanted to say no – he really, really wanted to, because he really wasn't ready to see her – but he couldn't. After all he and Finn had been through, Puck owed this to him. "Yeah, of course I'll come. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

This seemed to reassure Finn. In fact, Puck didn't need to see Finn to know he was beaming. "Awesome. Seriously, Puck, thank you. It's gonna be great, I promise. You're not gonna regret coming."

"I know I won't. Congrats, Finn. You and Rachel really deserve this."

"Thanks, man. I'll see you in a couple weeks then."

"Yeah. I'll see you then."

He set his phone down, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he tried his best to focus on the road. Two weeks. Two weeks and he was going to see her again. This seriously sucked.

"That was Finn?"

Puck turned to Leah in surprise; he'd almost forgotten she was there. "Yup. He and Rachel are engaged."

"That's good." Leah observed him with a frown. "You don't look very happy."

He wasn't going to bother keeping anything from her. She'd find out soon enough anyway and it was better to get her pestering over with sooner rather than later. "They're having an engagement party in a couple of weeks, and it's also going to be a Glee reunion. I promised him I'd go."

Leah registered what this meant immediately. "So you're going to see Quinn?"

He let out a long breath. "Yup."

"You're already thinking of ways to get out of this, aren't you?"

He smiled softly and shook his head. "There's no getting out of this one, kid."

He was a little surprised when Leah's small hand covered his. "Don't worry, Noah. It'll be okay."

He just shrugged. He hoped she was right, but he had no way of knowing how things would turn out. He hadn't spoken to Quinn in two years and he definitely hadn't left on the best terms. He had very little idea of where she was in her life and she probably couldn't care less about his own life.

A smack against the back of his head drew him back into reality. There was the Leah he knew. "Oh, stop all your moping, Noah. You've got to see her eventually. You can't avoid her forever."

"She's avoiding me too, you know."

"Well it looks like it's the end of that road for the both of you. Now you're both going to have to act like adults and actually try to sort out your issues. Scary, I know, but it's just the way things work in adult land. Not that I'd actually know, since I'm still a teenager, but, well, let's just say I grew up fast."

He stared over at his sister. She was such a smart ass sometimes. But she was right. Strange as it was, his fifteen year old little sister really knew what she was talking about. He wasn't going to let her know that, though.

"You're insanely annoying, you know that?"

She grinned. "Looks like we really are related, 'cause so are you."