Oh, Baby
"Quinn, what is this?" Sam asked, holding up that pastel-pink envelope I'd been dreading him finding.
"It's nothing," I said hastily, snatching it away from him.
"If it's nothing, why does it invite you and Puck to the birthday party of someone called Beth?" he asked, strengthening his grip on my shoulders.
"I can't believe you read my mail!" I shouted. "Trust is the basic foundation of all relationships, Sam! You broke my trust in you!"
"Just answer me," he said, staring into my eyes, trying to make me break my shield of secrecy.
"Beth is the daughter is had with Puck," I explained hurriedly, wincing at his tight grip on me. "She was adopted by Shelby Corcoran, who used to be the director of Vocal Adrenaline and is Rachel's mum."
"Can you take guests?" he asked. "I don't trust Puck alone with you."
"Of course, everyone can come," I said. Anything to get him to let go of me.
So, three weeks later, that's exactly what we did. All dressed in a way suitable to a little girl's first birthday party, we arrived at Shelby's house. The first thing Puck did was whistle at the size of the place.
"She must be doing pretty well for herself," he said, ringing the doorbell.
"I would have thought you'd just smash the door down, Puckerman," Santana said, glaring at the man who had dumped her for Lauren. "I remember your muscles from our bedroom time."
"Keep your claws off my man," Lauren said threateningly, giving Santana a warning push that sent her flying.
"We should go in and greet Shelby," Mr Schuester said, averting any fight. We heard heels on the floor inside the house and a moment later the door opened. The Shelby standing in front of me was a far cry from the Shelby who'd adopted my daughter. She'd always looked strained and worn business suits, whilst this Shelby had a soft, smiling face and wore a frilled cream blouse and a pair of jeans.
"Welcome, everyone," she said, giving us all a warm smile and kissing Mr Schue's cheek. "It's lovely to see you all."
"It's good to see you too, Shelby," Mr Schue said, speaking for all of us as most were too interested in exploring the house to speak to Shelby.
"Kurt, I'll tell your dad if you start anything with Blaine again!" Rachel called up the stairs. We all heard something that sounded suspiciously like 'Interfering bitch' before Blaine and Kurt returned back down the stairs, looking oddly ruffled. Most of us were hard-put to hold back a giggle at the look on Rachel's face.
"Rachel, don't interfere in other people's love lives," Santana said.
"Oh, like you haven't?" Rachel shouted hotly.
"Please, quieten down, Beth is sleeping," Shelby said. Even Santana stopped shouting after that. Shelby led us all up the stairs - 'Don't you dare try sneaking into that bedroom, Kurt!' - and into a room that was a young girl's dream. Everything was various shades of pink or pure glossy white. In a round cradle with its rim edged with a pink frill lay a little girl wrapped in a white crocheted shawl.
"Is that her?" Puck breathed. Shelby nodded and slowly backed out of the room, taking everyone else but Puck with her, leaving Puck and I alone with our daughter. There were a few minutes of silence, broken only by Finn's yell of 'Kurt, if you don't stop that I'll take a picture and put it on Facebook for your dad to see!' and Kurt's shout of 'Gimme that phone!'
"She's so beautiful," Puck whispered. As if she'd heard the compliment, Beth opened her eyes and gurgled. I hesitantly approached the cradle and lifted her up.
"Hey baby, I'm your mama," I whispered to her. She looked at me with big brown eyes that seemed to hold far too much wisdom for such a small child and tugged on my hair. I stroked the blonde curls decorating her own hand wonderingly, feeling tears pricking my eyes. "She has your eyes."
"She has your hair," Puck whispered, stroking her small head. "And, just like you, she's beautiful."
"Hold her," I said quietly, passing her to him. It seems that men don't have the same instinctive manner of holding babies that women do. It took him a few minutes to realise how to hold her securely in his arms, but when he figured it out I was glad we could share this moment together as a family.
"I remember when we watched her in her cot when she was born," he said, looking down into her eyes. "Do you remember what I told you?"
"You told me that you loved me," I replied. The memory was as clear in my mind as if it had just happened. Somehow, when he bent his hand down and brushed my lips with his, I clung to him and deepened the kiss while our daughter was squashed between her embracing parents. In our moment of bliss, we didn't hear Mercedes' shout of 'We are coming to see the baby!' or see the door fly open.
"Quinn, what the hell?" Sam yelled. I pulled away from Puck, horrified at what I'd just done. I'd cheated on Sam for the second time in our relationship. Except, this time was worse, because what I felt for Puck was more than I felt for Sam. The horrified silence was ended by Santana's crow of triumph.
"I told you she was cheating on you!" she shouted at Sam. "I told you so!"
"Well, I think we should all go and get a drink," Mr Schue said, clearing his throat. "Shelby, could you perhaps-"
"Of course I could, Will," Shelby said. "Follow me, everyone." She led our shocked friends down the stairs and I could hear the sound of the tap running and shouting.
"What was that?" Puck asked. "I thought you were in love with Sam. Truly, madly, deeply and all that shit."
"I was," I said slowly. Suddenly the tangled threads of my love life were unravelling to one conclusion. "The only person I'm truly, madly and deeply in love with is you."
"Don't joke with me, Quinn," Puck said. "I've taken too much crap from Santana and Lauren to want any more of it from you."
"Puck, I'm not joking!" I said, my voice getting higher. "I love you!" Perhaps that had been a bit loud. From below, we heard Sam yell 'Oh, hell to the no!' and Mercedes respond with 'Uh-uh, white boy, you do not steal my line and get away with it!'
"You really love me, huh?" Puck asked, looking right into my eyes.
"Yes, I do," I said. "I realize that now." Looking into his beautiful eyes, I just couldn't take the torment anymore. With tears spilling out of my eyes, I turned and ran out the room, straight into Lauren.
"Let me guess," she said. "You've realised that you're madly in love with the Puckster and you would really like me to leave him so you can have him."
"Lauren, I'm so sorry," I sobbed, unable to hold back my tears anymore. "I don't know when it happened, I don't want to hurt you, I'm so sorry-" Her finger pressed to my lips stopped my fervent rant.
"It's cool," she said. "Puckerman was never entirely ready for this jelly anyway." She smiled and walked away.
"Lauren Zizes never fails to surprise me," Puck's voice said from behind me. "Well, I've been a free agent for approximately thirteen seconds, but no longer do I want to be one. I want to be exclusively yours." Even though his tone was jokey, his eyes showed how deadly serious he was about this.
"Of course," I said, giving him the answer he wanted to hear, the answer I wanted to speak. He grinned and kissed me gently.
"Thank you," he said. "I do love you, still." Our lips met again and this time the last thing I heard before surrendering to blissful oblivion was the clunk as my back hit the wall.
It was a good ten minutes later that we finally went downstairs to join the others, with Puck's arm around my waist and my head resting on his shoulder. Everyone looked at us for a moment when we walked into the kitchen, before most of them cheered and hurried over to congratulate us. Sam remained in his seat, flirting with Santana to irritate me, but it didn't bother me. I had Puck now, and, as Mercedes put it, we were 'almost as unbearably right for each other and adorable together as Kurt and Blaine.'
"Raise your glasses for Fabruck!" Kurt shouted, lifting a glass of lemonade high into the air and splashing a little onto Blaine, who began making a fearful fuss about his hair.
"To Fabruck!" everyone shouted. They clinked their glasses and drank. Puck drank his while we smiled into each other's eyes. When he kissed me, his lips tasted like lemons, and I was reminded of a saying my sister had once drilled into my head. When life gives you lemons, turn them into doves.
What did you think? Did I find Quinn's voice? Was it just too sweet and romantic? Did you like the mentions of Klaine? Is 'Fabruck' a legitimate couple name? Review and let me know!