Note: formally called "Keep On Believing, Baby" for those who Story Alert-ed this before I changed the title and summary.

Characters/Pairings. Puck/Rachel, Mike/Tina, Will/Shelby, Quinn/Artie, Finn/Santana; implied MattBrittany; with Kurt and Mercedes, of course!

Disclaimer: Glee © Fox; All songs used © their rightful artists


And I Need You Now

Chapter One: Monday

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"There's someone else isn't there?" Tina asked, almost desperately. Oh no, she thought as she felt a lump forming in the back of her throat and her vision began to blur around the edges. I will not cry! I will not cry! I will not cry! She chanted this over and over in her head like a mantra as she stared back at who she'd thought had been her boyfriend.

Artie looked away, guilt showing on his face so plainly that it might as well have been a blinking neon sign.

Tina gulped. Hard.

"It's not… It's not…" Artie stammered.

"'It's not you, it's me,' right? That's what you're going to say?"

"But it's true!"

"…Fine!" she snapped, her sadness mixing with her anger before she could notice.

"We can still be friends, Tina, really," he insisted, trying to make things better, when in fact it was going in the complete opposite direction.

Tina laughed humorlessly, pushing out of her chair and getting up. "Of course we can. And as your friend, I should warn you that the next time you try to talk to me I might not be so friendly."

And she stormed out of the empty classroom, leaving behind Artie, who watched her slam the door shut. She felt his eyes on her even as she was walking down the hallway and turning in the other direction. She wasn't used to displaying so many emotions, and now they were dangerously flaring within her.

She'd been so distracted that she hadn't even noticed someone else was there until she ran into them.

She yelped slightly, automatically shutting her eyes and expecting to hit the wall or floor, but instead, strong arms caught her.

Her anger and sorrow disappeared immediately, and all that flooded through her was embarrassment.

Well, that, and the blood that was rushing to her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry!" she automatically exclaimed, praying to God that it wasn't someone who would hurt her over an accident.

"It's cool," her victim, and well savior, reassured.

She cracked both eyes open. "Mike?"

He smiled at her. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Forgot something in my locker."

"Ah."

That's when Tina noticed his arm was still around her waist, keeping her up, and more blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Hey," he said, sounding a little troubled, and she turned to see that he was studying her closely. "You okay?"

"Huh?"

"Your cheeks are wet. And really red. Have you been crying?"

"No," she said automatically, too quickly to be convincing, and Mike arched an eyebrow. "I got to go," she blurted out suddenly, twisting out of his arm and sprinting down the hallway by the time he tried calling out to her.

She was not going to let the water-works come. Especially not in front of Mike Chang.


Finn sighed, stabbing at his cafeteria lunch as he tried to drown out the sounds of everyone around him, especially of Matt and Brittany, who were sitting right beside him, talking all lovey-dovey and kissing each other every few minutes. He seemed down all the time lately, and he had no idea why. They'd already won Regionals, he and Quinn were on good terms again since Little Beth had been born, he and Puck were best friends again, and all should be right with his world. Right?

He sighed again and spotted a familiar face across the cafeteria: Rachel Berry.

She had a distant, deep-in-thought expression on her face, and though she walked in between Kurt and Mercedes with their arms all linked together, she didn't seem to be part of Kurt and Mercedes' conversation.

Maybe it was Rachel. Things hadn't exactly worked out for them as a couple – too much baggage for the both of them, they supposed.

Of course they were both still great friends. He'd do anything for her. But he had a feeling that the love he held for her was more similar to the same kind he held to the rest of his glee-clubbers: a sort of sibling love. It was a mutual decision, for Rachel didn't seem to have the spark either.

No, he decided. It wasn't Rachel. It had to be something else bugging him. Or perhaps, someone else.

"…Santana?"

Finn looked up, and saw that Matt and Brittany were both staring at him.

"Huh?" he asked.

Matt frowned. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah, I'm cool. What was that about Santana?"

"I was asking you if you've seen her," Brittany informed.

"Oh, uh, no I haven't, sorry," he answered, but as he spoke the words, he spotted said cheerleader through the open cafeteria doors.

She was hard to see through the crowd at the entrance, but she was heading towards them. That is, until her eyes met with Finn's. Then the strangest expression crossed her face, and one he couldn't quite figure out.

Then she turned on her heels and started back towards the hallway.

What the hell?

He got up, and before Matt or Brittany could question him, he was running after her.

He caught up to her a few hallways down, and grabbed her wrist as they entered an empty hallway more towards the back of the school.

Instinctively, she kicked backwards and tried prying herself free, screaming, "Get your hands off of me!", but Finn tightened his grip and dodged her kicks. She pun herself around, dropping her binder in her other hand (most likely to free it so she could punch him), but stopped when she saw it was him. "Finn?"

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? You grabbed me!"

"You know that's not what I meant!" he said, more angrily this time.

She paused, furrowing her eyebrows at him. "What?"

"What's been up with you these past few days?" he asked. "Something's bothering you. You're distracted all the time, you're always messing up on your cheers, you're never with Brittany anymore, you're forgetting dance steps in glee – what's your problem?"

"Me?" she asked in disbelief. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You've been down in the dumps, too, Hudson! You never eat, you don't hit the right notes, you forget the words! What's your problem?"

"I don't know!"

"Well I don't know either!"

He blinked at her explosive response.

Santana got angry, and she got jealous, but never has he heard or seen her as frustrated and confused as he had that moment. Her voice was loud and enraged, but it had cracked when she yelled, like she was about to burst into tears, and that strange expression was on her face again.

She looked down at the floor and bent down to pick up her binder.

"Can I go now?" she asked, still not looking at him, and he let go of her wrist.

Then she looked at him one last time before spinning on her heels and walking away.


Quinn opened her locker and was met with the picture of her baby girl only hours after she'd been born. She was already cleaned off, dressed, and napping in her arms. The one next to it was a picture of Beth in an ultrasound, and the one beside that, her fellow glee-clubbers and Mr. Schue all crowded around her and were smiling at the camera.

She ran her finger tightly against the picture of Beth and just shook her head.

She was so frustrated and confused on what to do.

She knew the odds were against her. She knew it was the right thing to do. She couldn't live off of Mercedes and her family and have them help her support a child. Though the Jones were a loving family and would never abandon her at a time like this, she just didn't want to be an even bigger burden on them. Plus, if she didn't have to raise a child at such a young age, she could have her life back and finally get out of this town. But none of those reasons could put out her urge to keep Beth.

"Quinn?"

She gasped slightly, wiping away the tears she hadn't realized were there. "Artie?"

"Hey, it's going to be okay," he reassured.

She exhaled. "No, it's not."

"She's in a safe, loving family. She's a very blessed little girl."

"I know that… but I kind of wished I could've still keep her," Quinn admitted. "I wish that somehow I could have given her all those things."

It was silent for a minute, and then Quinn shook her head again. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Sure. No problem."

Quinn smiled appreciatively and exchanged binders for her next class before closing her locker.

Then she walked down the hallway with Artie rolling beside her in perfect silence. She liked it – it was comfortable.

"So, what's wrong Artie?" she asked a few minutes later. "You seem kind of… off."

Artie sighed. "I broke up with Tina today."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. But Tina seemed really upset," he admitted.

"She'll forgive you," Quinn reassured. "I don't think Tina's one to hold grudges."

"Maybe, but I didn't break up with her for the right reasons," he explained.

"Oh," she said softly. "Is there someone else?"

He was hesitant to admit it. "…Yes."

"Well, I hope she knows she's a lucky girl," Quinn said as they came to a stop in front of her next class. "Bye Artie."

"See you, Quinn."

He waved back at her and watched her enter the classroom, before sighing to himself.

"I sure hope you feel that way."


"See you later, Rach," Mercedes said, and Rachel waved goodbye to her and Kurt before they left for their next class.

Rachel sighed, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. She thanked the Lord that the hallway was empty – though the instances were very scarce nowadays, she didn't want to risk getting bullied or slushied while not on her guard. She just needed a few seconds of rest anyway, but as soon as she started to relax, the bell rang. She groaned.

"Rachel?"

She cracked on eye open and saw Puck standing there.

She opened both eyes and her forehead creased in confusion. "Noah? What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing out of class?"

"I could ask the same thing."

"But I always skip class."

"Fair enough."

He sighed, shaking his head at her. "You can be such a child sometimes, Berry."

"You can act rather childishly as well, Noah," she reminded.

He shrugged it off. "But I'm a stud – I can pull it off."

She rolled her eyes but decided not to comment. "Well I'd better be off to class."

"Why?" he asked. "You're already late. Just skip. Here, we'll go to my truck."

"What about sixth period? And glee?"

"We'll be back in time for glee."

She smiled at this.

She loved how much glee has changed her and all of them, but most of all, she loved how much glee has changed him. He's still the same Puck who liked to break rules and can be arrogant, but he was a warmer, friendlier person. A small part of her skipped a beat whenever he was around. She got chills whenever he sang; that voice of his was beyond words. And, as little as she'd liked to admit it, he's still had that same hold over her that he had had when they dated. She secretly missed their alone time together.

"Thank you so much, Noah," she said. "It's very sweet of you. And it sounds like a lovely idea. But I think I need to spend this time to myself."

He sighed, taking in her expression. It was sad, and apologetic, but also distracted and troubled. "It's your mom, isn't it?"

She blinked. "What?"

"That's what's been on your mind, right?"

"How did you…?"

"You're not hard to read, Rach."

She sighed. He was right. It was her mother that was bothering her lately.

Though they'd come to a mutual decision to love each other from afar, she still couldn't believe that she was so close yet so far away. It had always been her dream to get to know her mother and have a mother-daughter relationship, and while she still loved her dads infinitely, she wanted her mom. She wanted it so badly that it hurt.

"Yes, but I'd really rather not talk about it," she admitted.

At his disappointed expression (which she figured he was trying hard to hide), she smiled and took his hand in hers.

"Maybe when I'm in a better mood your offer will still be available?" she asked.

He couldn't help but smile at her effort. "Yeah."

She pecked his cheek. "I'll see you later, Noah," she said, and she smiled at him one last time before walking away.


Will looked up instinctively as the bell hanging over the Starbucks door chimed, and his jaw dropped slightly as he saw Shelby Corcoran walk in. Maybe it was because he couldn't picture her anywhere other than the Carmel High School auditorium, but it seemed odd that a woman like her would drop by Starbucks for coffee; it just seemed too… common.

As she reached the register and was placing her order, he noticed that her usually darker attire was gone. Now that it was spring-going-on-summer, the weather was warmer. People shed their winter coats for their warmer clothes, which is exactly what Shelby has done. Her black jacket was draped over one arm, she wore a crisp yet slightly wrinkled white blouse with a shiny black belt wrapped over her stomach, a black skirt, and black flats rather than heels. He couldn't help but notice he found this fashion on her much more appealing.

When she received her coffee and turned to look for a table, he averted his gaze. It wouldn't be long until—

"Will?"

He looked up, pretending to be surprised. "Shelby?"

She walked over to him and cocked an eyebrow. "So even you cut classes?"

"Actually, I don't have a fifth or sixth period," he informed, "and occasionally I like to get out of the office."

"Ah," she said, and then looked to the vacant chair across from him. "Mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all," he said. "Go ahead."

She draped her jacket on the back of the chair before sliding onto the seat, crossing one leg over the other. They drank their coffee in silence for a moment, just enjoying the warmth that seeped through the large window they were seated beside.

Shelby closed her eyes, soaking up the sunlight.

"How's Quinn?" she asked, seemingly out of the blue.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "I know she decided not to keep her because of the difficulties, but I know Quinn also misses her."

She smiled sadly, opening her eyes. "Even if she only saw her briefly, saying goodbye is the hardest part."

Will looked at Shelby warily as a fond expression crossed her face. "Was it the same when you gave up Rachel?"

She nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "It was there in the beginning, and then I suppressed it by trying to do shows. But it kept coming back up."

"How are things between you… and Rachel? Of course," he hurried to add as he saw her face fall slightly, "not that any of this is my business."

"No, no, I don't mind," she reassured, staring down at her coffee cup. "It's just that… the day of Regionals, I told Rachel that I missed out on my life. I missed out on my chance at a happy life with her. I told her I wanted a house with a dog and a family—I wanted my second chance. But I just don't think she and I have that chance anymore."

"Who's to say that's certain?" he asked.

Her eyes cut to him.

"Rachel, obviously, still wants to get to know you," Will reminded. "She's decided you two have a second chance."

"It's just going to be strange for her, and, frankly, overwhelming," Shelby reminded.

"Then those struggles will be what helps you two come together, right?" he asked.

She sighed, shrugging her shoulder.

"At least reconsider," he insisted. "Rachel will put just as much effort as you."

She looked at him warily before bringing her cup back up to her lips.

"I hope you're right, Will. I hope you're right."


A/n.

Mainly dialogue because I'm setting things up in this chapter, so the songs won't come until the later chapters.

I hope you don't mind my couple selection. It's not that I don't like the couples the show is leaning towards—Finn/Rachel, Artie/Tina, Puck/Quinn, Will/Emma—I just like my choice of couples a little more. It's as simple as that. If you don't like the couples, I suggest you not read. Oh, and I outlined this fic before the season finale, but went back to modify a few things. The only major things I decided to keep out were (obviously) the couples, and then Shelby adopting Beth. Again, not that I didn't like those events; I just changed it to make these couples possible.

Hope you all enjoy this!