Baby Mine

Prologue

"Do you want to keep her?" Puck asked as they stood outside the nursery at Saint Mary's memorial hospital. They were looking through the window, staring at the little pink bundle of baby lying in the bassinet. It was close to two a.m. and the baby had been born just before nine.

The delivery was lightning fast- too fast for any pain medication- according to the nurses, but to Quinn it felt like an eternity. In hindsight, she probably should have noted the cramping and back aches as more than just general pregnancy discomfort. However, she was too distracted with the Regional's competition for it to really stand out to her. That was another thing that the nurses had a hard time believing. The fact the fact that she had been in labor for the entire day and she didn't realize it was astonishing, which in that perspective made Quinn think she was pretty damn lucky in comparison to other women who did this.

Once her water broke the contractions definitely reared their ugly head, though. It was as if the way they tore through her body was making up for the hours of labor pains that she had experienced before that hadn't fazed her. For as quick as that delivery was, she thought she was just going to die as she pushed that baby out of her. That all went away when she finally got to hold Beth. Up until that point (minus some brief changes of heart) Quinn had been pretty set on adoption. She thought that would be the best option for the both of them. However, when Beth's little eyes searched her face Quinn's heart clenched in uncertainty.

She knew that babies were born legally blind, but nothing would convince Quinn that Beth wasn't actually looking at her...Those little eyes, and those little lips, and those round little cheeks, and long little fingers- all of that was suddenly make her question her decision. Deep down, she knew what she wanted- but it was all a matter of if she could do it. Could she really give Beth the life that she so deserved?

"Quinn?" Puck said after a few moments with no answer. "Quinn, do you want to keep her?"

"Yes." she said, surprised in herself as she was brought out of her thoughts. "I want her. I want Beth." She knew it

A small smirk cracked Puck's face, which had been pretty morose since the delivery- the uncertainty of his fate as a father hanging over his head. She knew that he wanted Beth too. He wanted her almost more than Quinn did- so it didn't surprise her that he was happy now- happy that he could be a dad.

"I'm going to take care of you, you know." Puck told her, immediately diving into the speech about how she wouldn't regret this decision, "We're going to be a family, Quinn. I'll take care of you and her. I promise. I love her so much...and I love you, Quinn."

She turned to face the mohawked boy in front of her and just stared at him, her mouth slightly gaped. "Puck..." The confession hadn't exactly been a shock to her. She knew that he had feelings for her...and at some level, she did return those feelings. However, she knew she wasn't in love with him- not in the way he wanted her to be. He was the father of her baby, and for what it was worth, he tried so hard to take care of her during her pregnancy. But in her heart, she knew that was the extent of her affection toward him. She didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want him to go into this thinking that they were going to be together. "I-Noah...you're very sweet...and have not gotten enough credit for the past few months...and I..."

"Listen, I know what you're gonna say," he interrupted, "I know you don't feel the same...and...That's cool. I mean...it sucks balls...but it's okay. I'm just glad you're giving me this chance..."his words trailed off as he looked back at Beth. She could feel the pride radiating off of him. Noah Puckerman was a lot of things...some bad, but mostly good. And the best thing about him, in her eyes, was the way he looked at that baby girl. "Even if we're not together...You're not going to do this alone...I promise.

Quinn sighed, smiling for the first time since she held Beth about six hours ago. It wasn't a big smile, but a smile nonetheless. She was going to be taken care of. Beth was going to be taken care of...somehow...somehow this whole thing was going to work.

The next few months were hard- harder than Quinn had ever expected. When she and Beth were discharged from the hospital, they went directly to Judy Fabray's house. While the woman had been so supportive of Quinn and the baby moving in, she had not however, been as accepting of Puck's presence in her house. It had been quite an uncomfortable conversation when Quinn had to explain to her mother why the boy with the Mohawk was there instead of the tall gangly singing boy. While Judy had been originally willing to overlook the fact that her daughter had sex and been impregnated before marriage- the fact that cheating had been involved made the novelty of reuniting with each other wear off quickly.

However, in between Judy's disapproving looks whenever Puck came over- she really couldn't be happier with the arrangement. And Puck really was amazing. To his credit, he agreed to just about everything she wanted. When she told him that she wanted Beth to be baptized Catholic? He said his Mom would be pissed, but he was more Jew-ish than Jewish. When she said that because she was going to be nursing, Beth would have to live with her full time- he didn't even bat an eyelash. "Whatever's best for my girl," he said. Essentially- he let Quinn call the shots, but only asked that the baby carried his last name. Something that Quinn readily agreed with.

Quinn was finishing her sophomore year online so that she could stay home with Beth. It was so close to the end of the year she finished up the rest of the year's assignments pretty quickly- between naps and feedings. And then, when school was out, Puck would come over and take care of the baby so that Quinn could get some rest herself. Judy wasn't around much during the day, and when she came home, it was time for Puck to go. Judy didn't want the boy in her house when there were two people there to take care of the baby. Though, they all knew that once home, Judy turned to the wine and would be no help anyway.

Because of that, night time was the hardest. Quinn knew that a newborn didn't sleep well at night. She had been prepared for that- but it didn't make it any less tiring to never really fall asleep before it was time for Beth to be fed again. It made for long nights.

Thankfully, summer came around and it got easier. Puck would come over for the day and help with the daily activities of caring for Beth. They had the baby on a routine and for the most part they did okay. There were bumps in the road, and sometimes one of them would be short tempered with the other and a fight would start. But all in all- they were doing really well. Beth was growing and meeting all the milestones that she needed to and thriving in her situation. Quinn couldn't have been happier with her baby girl, and she couldn't be more thankful for Puck.

August came around much too quickly, though. This meant school would be starting up again and Quinn would have to leave Beth during the day. Though she wasn't excited for this prospect- because of more than one reason- she knew that integrating herself back with kids her own age would be good for her. And Beth had a wonderful babysitter in the form of Mrs. Harris- a lady from church.

All she had to do was survive it.

A.N: Another project from me. You know when you have nothing to do and you think you're going to do some writing, but it never comes to you. But then your life starts getting busy and all this inspiration comes to you out of no where? Yeah...that happened to me. This is an AU idea that I got today. I know by the looks of the prologue, it's looks pretty Quicky...but it won't be. It's going to be a Fabrevans story with some Quick feelings...though when it comes down to it, Quinn and Puck are best friends. Anyway- I hope you all enjoy.