Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.
A/N: A different take on what happened after 'On My Way'. This version is AU, Beth was not given up for adoption, she lived happily with her parents at the Puckerman home. The song is Jane Siberry's Calling All Angels.
Every single one of the students gathered in the auditorium for the emotional, special assembly. Principal Figgins gave a short stilted speech about the dangers of texting and driving, Mr Schuester took over once he had finished. "As you all know, we lost one of our own last week. This is what the Glee Club has to say about it," he told them, then he left the stage, wiping away a tear as he went.
The curtain rose slowly, on stage, New Directions stood ready to perform. Puck was at the front, he stood with his head slightly down, his eyes were closed as he fought to rein in the emotion. Behind Puck stood his team mates, they flanked him in a V formation, they stood as he did, heads down, trying to hold back the tears, a few of them failed. They had all dressed similarly, they all wore black pants, they all wore red shirts and they all had a white rosebud on their chest. She would have liked that, the red, black and white, Cheerio's colours, Titan's colours, McKinley colours.
At the rear of the stage the huge screen flickered to life, the posed picture of head cheerleader Quinn Fabray smiled down on the whole audience. The screen began to scroll through the slide show, it showed pictures of Quinn throughout her life. One after the other, picture after picture, some were posed shots, some were candid shots, some were of Quinn on her own, some were with her family, some with her friends. Puck's favourite pictures, the ones he'd cried over when he'd picked them out to be added to the slide show, the ones of him and Quinn together while she was pregnant with Beth and the ones after, he loved those ones, especially the one in the hallway outside the choir room, the one where he was stood behind her with his hand on her bump, the one where they were both feeling Beth kick. Puck glanced behind him and saw the one that Judy had taken in the hospital when Beth was only minutes old, cradled in Quinn's arms with Puck looking down on them, if she'd taken the picture another second later it would have shown Puck kissing Quinn with the baby in between them. Puck took a deep breath, he realised that the music had begun and that Rachel and Santana were almost at the end of their speaking part, it was almost his cue, he took a step forwards and swallowed hard.
"Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Santa Anna, Santa Susannah
Santa Cecilia, Santa Copelia, Santa Domenica, Mary Angelica
Frater Achad, Frater Pietro, Julianus, Petronilla
Santa, Santos, Miroslaw, Vladimir and all the rest," Rachel and Santana's voices quietly intoned and then the music became louder.
"A man is placed upon the steps, a baby cries
High above you can hear the church bells start to ring
And the heaviness, the heaviness, oh it settles in and
Somewhere you can hear a mother sing
"Then it's one foot then the other as you step out on the road, yeah
Step out on that road,
How much weight, how much?
Then it's how long and how far and how many times?
Oh, before it's too late," Puck sang and in the back of his mind, he wondered how he had got to the end of the first part without his voice breaking.
"Calling all Angels, calling all Angels," the wall of sound from the gathering of Puck's friends joining with him, gave him the strength to continue.
"Walk me through this one, don't leave me alone,
Calling all Angels, calling all Angels
We're trying, we're hoping, but we're not sure how this goes" they sang.
"Oh, and every day you gaze upon the sunset
With such love and intensity
Why, it's almost as if you could only crack the code
You'd finally understand what this all means
"Oh, but if you could, do you think you would
Trade it all, all the pain and suffering?
Oh, but then you would have missed the beauty of
The light upon this earth and the sweetness of the leaving," Puck sang alone, he knew he would have Finn's voice to support him in just a second.
"Calling all Angels, calling all Angels," Puck and Finn sang, just ever so slightly cannon, Finn just a beat or so behind Puck.
"Walk me through this one, don't leave me alone," they sang together.
"Calling all Angels, calling all Angels
We're trying, we're hoping, but we're not sure how," the whole of New Directions sang.
"Calling all Angels, calling all Angels," the guys sang and the girls were just a beat behind to give the words emphasis.
"Walk me through this one,
Don't leave me alone," again the guys sang the lines a beat before the girls, they sounded amazing.
"Calling all Angels, calling all Angels
We're trying, we're hoping, we're loving and we're hurting
We're crying, we're calling
'Cause we're not sure how this goes," they sang together as a group.
"Calling all angels," Puck sang the last line, very softly, almost silently.
As soon as he had finished singing, Puck knew that he wouldn't be able to hold it in any more. He allowed his head to fall for a split second, he wiped the tears from his face then looked up, unashamed, they all had to know how hard this was. Puck turned as Mr Schuester carried his daughter on to the stage. Beth had her hands clasped together, looking out at the sea of faces shyly. As they neared Puck, Beth leant forward. "Daddy," she squealed. Puck reached for her and brought her close to his body, hugging her and burying his nose in her neck. Beth saw a picture of Quinn on the huge screen at the back of the stage. "Mommy," she shouted and pointed to the picture. Beth turned back to her daddy and clapped her chubby little hands.
Puck couldn't contain his sobs any longer, he didn't care if the hockey jocks thought he was a loser, he didn't care if they made fun of him for the rest of his high school life. Puck knew that he had lost one of the most important people in his life ever, his soul mate, his Quinn, and nothing would ever be the same again. The only thing he had to live for was this beautiful miniature Quinn in his arms. "Yes baby, that's mommy," he said through his tears, smiling at the baby. "And she loves you very, very much, she always will," he assured the little girl.
The people sitting nearest the stage, the ones who had been able to hear the exchange between father and daughter were in tears. Not one of them thought that Puck was weak or a loser, not even Rick the Stick. In fact, Rick was the first one to stand and begin clapping, in just a few seconds, the whole of the student body had risen and joined the ovation to this young man's open display of his pain and his love for his two girls, the love that would never die.