Little bit of a change of pace for me. I don't have a lot of this planned out, it's mostly just me going with the flow to see what happens. I'm already 75% through chapter 4. Figured since I'm far enough along I'd go ahead and post it.

Most of my stories consist of some kind of angst that one of the characters has to overcome. This really doesn't have that in this story.

Let me know what you think. Ideas are welcome, what would you like to see them deal with/handle/anything like that.

Oh, and I don't like Finn, so this will have some Finn bashing in it :)

Help Me Help You
Chapter 1

It was just like any other day. Morning, that is. Quinn rushed around in her little apartment on the south side of town to gather all of her school supplies, as well as all of Beth's belongings for the day. "Where in the world are your diapers?" She turned to look at the nearly two year old, as if she would somehow magically respond to her with the answer to her question. "We're running late baby girl." She picked up her daughter, slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and reached for her backpack. Upon lifting the blue bag from the floor, a small package of diapers fell over.

Thank God. She thought to herself. At least now, she didn't have to make a stop before dropping Beth off at her mother's – effectively making her late to school. She placed Beth back onto the floor and grabbed a handful of the diapers to shove into Beth's bag before gathering her daughter in her arms again and heading toward the front door. As she normally did, she stopped at the door and surveyed the items in her hands. After deciding she had everything, she slipped on her sneakers and made her way out the door and to her car.

Quinn placed the bags on the ground beside the back seat of her car before unlocking the door. "Ready to go see Grammy baby?"

The young girl's face lit up with excitement and she allowed her mom to buckle her into her seat. "Gammy!" She continued chanting as she bounced in her car seat. Her simple antics drew a laughter from Quinn.

"And guess what honey?"

"What?"

"Daddy's picking you up after school and you're spending all weekend with him."

Beth's eyes lit up and she squealed excitedly. The girl definitely loved her dad. "Daddy, yay!" She continued bouncing in her chair, this time, clapping her hands as she did.

Quinn smiled warmly at her daughter. How had she ever even considered giving her up for adoption? She'd never understood why the thought had even crossed her mind. Seeing how Beth was growing up so quickly – remembering her first steps – her first words. Quinn wouldn't trade any of that for the world. If she were to be honest with herself, having lost her relationship with her father had been worth it. Being raised as part of such a closed-minded society had driven Quinn into a depression. She never felt that she could truly be happy.

While growing up, she was forced to be who they wanted her to be – molded to be the 'perfect daughter.' She swore to herself when she was younger, that she would never subject her own children to the same criticisms she was brought up with. She was taught to judge those who were different – that nobody was on the same level as she was. But once she fell pregnant from a drunken one night stand with Noah Puckerman – her entire world had changed. She became a victim of the same preaching she'd been raised to believe and live by. To this day, Quinn never fully understood how her father could make so many mistakes and be forgiven by God, but she made one mistake and nobody in her family would forgive her.

Except her own mother.

After Quinn was kicked out of her home, her mother had eventually come around. She saw Russell for what he really was and kicked him to the curb. Judy begged and pleaded for Quinn's forgiveness. And earned it. Over time, Quinn saw her mother the way she'd always seen her whenever her father wasn't around – loving and caring. Judy loved Beth from the moment she was born and insisted on watching her every day so Quinn could continue going to school and earning her degree.

Quinn finished loading the bags into the car before she climbed into the driver's seat to make her way across town to her mom's house. During the entire ride, Beth continued bouncing in her seat. Quinn loved it whenever Beth was so excited about something. Most of the time, it involved cartoons, candy, or Puck. Her daughter definitely had Puck's genes when it came to how easily amused she could be. But Quinn didn't mind to be honest, she loved her no less because of it. To Quinn, her daughter was perfect.

"Gammy's house!" Beth announced when Judy's house came into view, and continued to announce as Quinn pulled into the driveway behind her mom's car.

Just as Quinn started getting out of the car, she saw the front door swing open and Judy came out to meet her. "Hey mom." She barely looked up as she opened the back door to unhook her daughter from her car seat. She barely got Beth's straps unhooked before the little girl climbed out of the car and ran toward Judy, only to fall to her knees in the grass. "Be careful Beth." Quinn just shook her head as the little blonde girl laughed and stood up to continue her trek to her grandmother.

"Good morning Quinnie, I was starting to think you weren't coming this morning." The older woman happily picked up her granddaughter. "Well hello there honey. Aren't you looking especially cute this morning." She placed several kisses to the little girl's cheeks, causing her to giggle uncontrollably.

"Well, let's just say she figured out how to open her sippy cup this morning, and dumped her juice all over herself. So, she got an impromptu bath this morning. Which is why we're running late." Quinn pulled the bag from the back seat before pushing the door shut and approaching her mom. "Are you gonna be good for Grammy today?" Beth nodded, with a huge smile on her face. "Alright, come here and give mommy a hug and kiss." Quinn held her arms out to her daughter, who quickly accepted the offer and allowed herself to be pulled away from Judy. "Mommy loves you Beth. You be good for Grammy. And you be good for daddy this weekend. You know I'm going to call daddy to check up on you."

"Yea. Love you mommy." She wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck and hugged her tightly, then wiggled out of her arms to get back to her grandmother.

"Puck should be here after school to pick her up. Will you call me when he does? Sometimes he forgets."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Honey, it's the same thing every other weekend. I know he forgets. And I always call you after she leaves with him."

Quinn blushed – she couldn't help but to worry. Now that she was a mother, she was finally understanding what her own mother had always said about worrying so much. "I'm just making sure. I'd stay to talk some more, but I need to go. I'll just barely make it to school. Love you mom."

"I love you too Quinnie." She leaned in to kiss her daughter's cheek moments before she hurried back to her car. "Wave by to mommy, Beth." She picked up the girl's hand and helped her to wave at the teenager.

A genuine smile overtook Quinn's face as she blew her daughter a kiss. She turned her head around to watch behind her as she backed out of her mom's driveway and sped toward the school.

Once she was there, the only parking spot she could find was near the back of the parking lot. Great, now she'd never make it to class on time. She threw it into park barely after coming to a stop and flung her door open. There was one thing Quinn hated, and that was being late for anything. It came from years of 'training' from Russell, as well as years spent under Sue Sylvester's wrath. She reached into the back seat to grab her backpack. After locking the car door, she sprinted into the building just as the first bell rang. Five minutes. At least her locker was just down the hall from her homeroom class.

"Hey Quinn." Santana called out to her friend as she ran by her.

"Morning San. Can't talk. Gonna be late." She spoke in passing, between heavy breaths of air.

Santana only laughed at her friend before hooking her arm with Brittany and continuing down the hallway to their first class of the day.

Quinn made it to her locker and quickly put in her combination. After the door was open, she unzipped her backpack and pulled out her binder and math book, then shoved the bag into the small locker. She grabbed her history book as well before slamming the door shut and hurrying down the hallway. Just as she entered her AP Calculus class, the late bell rang. She breathed a sigh of relief as she slumped down into her normal chair next to one of her best friends.

"Good morning Quinn. You're looking a little flustered this morning."

"Could have sworn I was going to be late." She opened up her binder to pull out the worksheet they'd had for homework the night before.

"Is everything alright? You're never late."

"Beth figured out how to open her sippy cup this morning. Juice… everywhere…" Quinn threw her tablemate a warning glare before continuing, "don't laugh Rachel, it wasn't really that funny." Although to Beth, it was outright hilarious to see mommy so upset.

"She's only two Quinn, I'm sure it was bound to happen." Rachel grabbed the worksheet from Quinn and placed it with her own before passing them toward the front of the classroom. "I can only begin to imagine how upset you were at her."

"I can't stay mad at her though… I wanted to, hell I even tried to. But the minute she started laughing, I couldn't do it. I scolded her for it, but just hearing her laughing warms my heart."

Quinn's statement brought a megawatt smile to Rachel's face. She knew exactly what Quinn meant. Ever since Beth was born, Rachel had been one of the few people who didn't turn their back on the blonde. Rachel was one of the few people who helped Quinn every time she needed it. Even if it was to run to the store for her, for a pack of diapers because she'd forgotten. Rachel, Santana, and Brittany – not including Judy since she was Quinn's family – were the only people who seemed to help her out. Puck helped when he could, and always stayed true to his word to take Beth every other weekend. But Beth spent almost all of her time with Quinn.

"Are you still coming to Santana's party tonight?"

Quinn glanced at her friend before flipping open her textbook. "I won't be there until a little bit later. I have to work until ten tonight. I'll have to go home and shower first."

"I can meet you at your apartment. We can go together."

This drew Quinn's attention. "Aren't you going with Finn?" She knew the couple had been having some problems as of late, but Rachel never fully disclosed the reasons for their problems – not yet at least.

"He's going, just on his own…" Rachel turned her attention to the teacher at the front of the room. It was a silent plea that Quinn knew all too well to just let that topic fall.

So she did.

"Okay, come over about 10:30 or so. I should be just about done then."

"Miss Fabray, Miss Berry… is my lesson interrupting your conversation?"

Rachel's cheeks grew a deep red color in embarrassment. Quinn could only smirk at her friend, then at the teacher. "Not at all ma'am. We were just finishing up." Her comment drew a little bit of laughter from a few other students. The teacher though, did not look impressed.

Without another word to the pair, she turned back to the whiteboard and continued her lesson for the day.

"We'll talk later Rach." Quinn nudged the brunette before finally picking up her pencil to take some notes.

"Quinn! I need you to lock up tonight!" An older man called back into the kitchen to the blonde. "I trust you can handle it."

Quinn smiled at her boss. "Of course I can Scott. I've done it before." She accepted his set of keys and reached under her shirt to hook them onto her bra strap, keeping them secure for the remainder of her shift.

"Thanks Quinn, keep this up, and I'll look into that promotion we talked about last week." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before smiling down at her.

"Can I just call my friend real quick to let her know I'm gonna be here a little longer?"

"Sure, go for it. Shop's closed. You know I don't really care when there's no customers around." He pulled off his apron before throwing it into the hamper in the back to be dealt with in the morning. "I'll see you Sunday morning Quinn. Make sure everything's locked up alright?"

"Got it Scott, thank you." She reached into her apron pocket for her cell phone. She wiped some flour off of her hand before unlocking the screen. She scrolled through her contacts until she spotted Rachel's name and hit the call button. Quinn tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder before going back into the office to finish up some evening paperwork.

"Hello Quinn."

"Hey Rach. I'm going to be here a little bit later than I thought. Scott wants me to close up tonight. Why don't you go ahead and head over to Santana's and I'll just meet you there."

"I… I kind of don't want to see Finn alone. That's why I wanted to go with you."

Quinn frowned. She really wished that Rachel would just tell her what was going on between her and her boyfriend. "Well, you could come and keep me company while I finish off here. Scott won't mind. He knows I'd never let anybody in here that would hurt the place."

"I don't want you getting in trouble Quinn."

"I won't… Please? It's actually kind of lonely here all by myself." Quinn made herself comfortable at the desk to file away some orders they'd filled that day and pull some order forms to be filled first thing in the morning.

"Fine. Give me about fifteen minutes."

Rachel didn't even say bye to her before she hung up the phone. That worried Quinn to no end. Rachel usually wasn't one to hide things from her. Whatever it was, it was big, and it was obviously tearing Rachel apart from the inside out.