Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.
A/N: From Sectionals to Funk, what really happened when Quinn went to live at Puck's house.
"Quinn, I'm very pleased to meet you," Puck's mom said as he and Quinn entered the house.
"Thank you," Quinn whispered nervously, her throat almost dry. "Could I have a glass of water please?" she asked Puck.
Puck put Quinn's bags down at the bottom of the stairs. "Sure, I'll be right back," he murmured then went to fulfil her request.
Puck returned with the drink for Quinn, he handed it to her and motioned for her to sit down in the lounge. Puck's mom flicked the TV off and looked at the pair of them on the sofa, watched them in silence for a few moments. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want, Quinn," she said, her tone and manner soft and welcoming, "but you both have to abide by my rules," she added more sternly. "First of all, I expect you both to help out around the house, Noah, you know what I expect of you, Quinn, we'll work out some chores for you, nothing too strenuous. Secondly, Noah, you will attend Temple every Friday with your sister and I, no excuses, Quinn, I expect you to attend your own church every Sunday," she said, her tone still firm. "And thirdly, Noah, you will take the attic room, Quinn will have your room, ok?" she instructed. "And I am a very light sleeper," she added, her eyes flicking between the two, the shivering, nervous blond and her brazen son.
"Of course, Mrs Puckerman, and thank you, for opening your home to me," Quinn murmured, she didn't think the rules were excessive, Puck, on the other hand, was giving his mother such an incredulous look, as though he couldn't believe the words that had come out of her mouth. "Well, whatever," Quinn thought, "I get what you mean with the light sleeper bit but you don't need to worry. Not at all. I screwed up by letting your son get me pregnant but there is no way on God's green earth that he is ever getting in my pants again. Ever," she vowed to herself then realised that the conversation had moved on. "I'm sorry Mrs Puckerman," Quinn apologised, "it's been a very trying few days and I just can't seem to focus on anything," she explained. And it was true, she couldn't focus on anything or keep her mind occupied ever since Finn had found out the truth two days ago and had thrown her out of his house. For the second time in six weeks Quinn had found herself abandoned and homeless, she felt just like a piece of driftwood floating on the tide, she had no rudder, no anchor and she was not enjoying the turbulent ride.
"I understand," Mrs Puckerman said with a sympathetic smile at Quinn, "and please, call me Moya," she invited Quinn.
"Thank you, Moya," Quinn replied. "At least it's more of a welcome than I expected," Quinn thought to herself. From all the grumbling Puck did about his mom she'd expected the cold shoulder and no sign of a welcome at all. Quinn was glad to be pleasantly surprised for a change.
"Noah, please take Quinn's belongings to your room, you can change the sheets and the towels too while you're at it," Moya Puckerman ordered her son. Puck considered protesting then remembered the alternative that his mother had offered this morning when he'd broken the news to her about her impending grandchild and it's mother's homeless situation, just seconds before he left for the glee competition. No, moving in with Nana Connie was not an option, the old lady had a serious gas problem and couldn't hear anything under a million decibels, plus she smelt like mothballs and she always gave him out of date candy. Nana Connie was actually Puck's great-nana, his dad's nana. "Nana Connie would take you in in a heartbeat," his mom reminded him. Puck shuddered.
"Let me show you to your room," Puck said quietly as he stood then offered a hand to assist Quinn.
"Thank you," Quinn murmured as she followed Puck. "I wonder if anyone ever died from an overdose of politeness," she thought then had to stifle the giggle that the random thought generated.
"If I empty the closet, will that be enough for you?" Puck asked once they were in his bedroom, his manner was still very stilted, formal, nothing like his usual laid back 'Puckerone' persona.
"It'll do for now but I would like some drawer space too," Quinn replied, checking out the bathroom with something like morbid curiosity. "And please, could you clean up in here?" she asked, noting the discarded underwear and the t-shirt she knew he'd worn to school yesterday, both thrown on the floor along with a damp towel. Quinn also saw the immediate change in Puck, gone was the weird polite person she didn't know, replaced by the cocky self assured Puck she knew and lov...oh crap, where did that come from? Quinn shivered slightly then concentrated on what Puck was saying.
"I suppose you're going to want me to clean the tiles in the shower too, aren't you?" Puck asked, giving Quinn a sly grin. He pulled back the curtain and pointed out some of the higher marks on the wall. "See how high I can get if I think about you when I'm knocking one out?" he asked, taking great delight at the look of disgust on Quinn's face. "That there, that's the goth chick in glee," he said as he pointed lower. "That's Berry," he pointed lower still, "Sue Sylvester washes straight down the drain, no height what so ever," he grinned.
"And Santana?" Quinn asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Santana doesn't leave any marks, she always swallows," Puck said as he turned and left the bathroom.
Quinn followed quickly. "But you're going to clean it, right?" she asked, a little scandalised and a lot disgusted and maybe even a touch flattered, if he had been telling the truth that is and if thoughts of her made him...no, she didn't even want to think about that, she'd made her one mistake, it was never going to happen again, not until she was a lot older and safely married. Maybe then God would forgive her, maybe even her father would too. She might even find it in her heart to forgive herself.
"So how are things working out for you?" Santana asked as she sidled up to Quinn in the hallway. Truth be told, Santana didn't really want to know, she just wanted an excuse to talk to Quinn and to gloat and, if she was honest, she wanted to rub salt in the wound too, but whether that was Quinn's wound or her own, Santana hadn't yet figured out.
"Really good, thanks," Quinn replied absently as she checked the files and books she needed from her locker.
"Oh really?" Santana asked, giving Quinn a narrow eyed stare. "Is that why Puck's asked me for a blow job every day this week?"
"That's probably because I have his room and his spacious bathroom and he has the attic room and a tiny little cramped bathroom and he doesn't have the space to jerk off in the shower," Quinn retorted, she wasn't entirely sure why she felt slighted by the fact that Puck was turning to Santana, but she did. Quinn turned away to walk to her class, Santana followed her.
"So you're telling me that you don't let your baby daddy, the studliest guy in this school, you don't let him get anywhere with you?" Santana asked, her voice rising in pitch, volume and disbelief. "And you live with him?"
"I don't live with him," Quinn denied loudly, "I live in his house, that's a different thing entirely," she explained, despite Santana scoffing and trying to refute that.
"It's the same thing in my book," Santana said, looking down her nose at Quinn, "and if I lived in his house, he wouldn't be in no attic room either," she muttered.
"Well that's the difference between you and me," Quinn replied, making her voice sound as though she was bored with the conversation,"you're a slut and I'm just an idiot who got caught out when I succumbed to a single moment of weakness," she sighed then walked away knowing her arrow had hit it's target, dead centre, bull's eye. Santana quietly fumed.
On Friday night, after Temple, Moya went on her monthly girls' night out with her work colleagues. The second she left the house, Puck ran up to his attic room and made a call.
"Does it bother you that Santana's up there in his room with him?" Chloe, Puck's little sister asked, she was sat on the bed with Quinn, searching for Waldo while Quinn concentrated on her homework. They both looked up at the ceiling as they heard yet more muffled, sultry giggles from Santana and a long happy groan from Puck.
"No," Quinn lied. "He's a free agent, he can do what he likes," she added then wondered who she was trying to convince, Chloe or herself. "I hope your mom doesn't come home and catch them, I think he's in enough trouble with her already," Quinn said, and again, if she analysed it, she'd have to admit she was lying about that too. Quinn really hoped that Moya would come home and catch them and ban Santana from the house and ground Puck. Shit. Where were her thoughts going? Quinn had no idea. She glanced up at the ceiling again, her body on full alert for any sounds from Puck, like that one, that, the groan he made just when he...yeah, Quinn felt herself jerk a little and realised that she was holding her breath. She closed her eyes and pictured Puck as he would be right now, right this very second, towering over her, his hips thrust tight into her, Quinn could almost feel him inside her, her flesh remembered...
"Hey," Puck said from the doorway where he lounged against the frame, the button of his jeans unfastened, barefoot and shirtless.
"Santana gone?" Quinn drawled, projecting her boredom like a missile. She turned a page in one of her books and made a great show of studying it before writing something in one of her pink files. Puck waited for Quinn to look up again. "You still there?" she asked in surprise twenty minutes later after completing one of her assignments.
"Like you didn't know," Puck mocked. "Yeah, you can hide it all you like from everyone else, I know you're still panting for me," he thought, his trademark little smirk on his face.
"Sorry, I was concentrating on my homework, I thought you'd gone," Quinn lied and for once, she didn't feel guilty about doing it. "I'm going out tonight, ok?" she said as she packed her work away in her school bag.
"What?" Puck cried, shocked and rather put out that Quinn would be going out anywhere. "Where are you going? Who are you going with?" he demanded.
"Tom is picking me up at eight o'clock," Quinn replied, smoothing her hair in front of the mirror and checking her appearance, covertly watching Puck's reaction.
"Who the fuck is Tom?" Puck cried, coming into Quinn's room and slamming the door shut behind him. "And where the fuck do you think he's taking you?" he demanded again.
"He's a guy from my church and he's taking me to the movies," Quinn replied calmly, turning to the side to check her figure, she pulled her dress tight to her body to see how much her new curves showed, how much her belly had popped in the last couple of weeks. "Blah," she sighed and pulled a face at herself.
"Does he know that's my baby in there?" Puck growled as he came up behind her, he reached round her to run his hand over her bump. Quinn sucked in a breath as he touched her, it wasn't lost on Puck.
Quinn felt her mouth go dry as their eyes met in the mirror, her breath stalled when Puck stepped even closer up behind her and wrapped both arms around her, holding her captive while one hand traced every part of where their daughter lay. She watched soundlessly as Puck cupped one tender, swollen breast, his other hand inched the hem of her dress higher until he could gain access to her panties. Quinn wondered who the puppet master was who made her feet move, gave her a wider stance, gave Puck room to work his magic with delicate, sensitive fingers. Quinn couldn't even remember turning so that they both faced the mirror, she could just see that they had. Quinn shivered as Puck's fingers stroked and teased her. She sighed, her eyes drifted closed of their own accord as he slid one long, talented finger inside her. They snapped open when that finger started to move, started to thrust in and out, started to create the most delicious sensations that Quinn had ever felt.
Puck hugged Quinn tight to his chest, one hand taking the weight of one of her visibly bigger boobs, the other copping a feel in her panties. "Yeah, two more seconds Puckerman and she is going to fucking cripple you," he told himself. "Maybe not," he added with a glance at her in the mirror. Quinn's mouth was open slightly, her head was back on his shoulder, her eyes were closed, her hands were gripped onto the arm over her belly. "Mmmm, you like this don't you?" Puck thought, he thought about asking her if she did but he didn't want to spoil the moment. Puck had noticed how easy his passage had been this time, far smoother than the day he'd knocked her up, yeah she was really desperate for this, for some Puck-lovin'. Puck's lips found the tender skin at the back of Quinn's ear, his tongue traced a thin line then sought the curve of her ear. "I fucked Santana from behind but I kept my eyes closed so I could pretend she was you," he whispered. Quinn jerked as if she'd been slapped, her eyes flew open again and connected with his in the mirror. "Yeah, you heard us, right?" he asked, Quinn nodded as if someone else was moving her head for her. "I left the door open so you could hear, I thought you might have come up to watch," he murmured, his finger moving faster and faster, Quinn gripped the arm tighter and tighter, her breathing became more and more eratic. "I had to stop myself from shouting out your name when I came all over her ass," Puck admitted, his breath chasing hot patterns over her ear and her cheek. Quinn froze for a split second, her entire body splintered into a million pieces, Puck felt the wash of her satisfaction coat his finger, slowly he withdrew it from her and with their eyes still locked together, Puck lifted his finger to his lips and sucked it slowly into his mouth, Quinn almost fainted in his arms when his eyes closed in ecstasy. "Mmmm," he purred, "delicious," he sighed, then the look on his face turned hard. "Just remember where you live and who you live with when you're giving Tom a blow job in the back of his daddy's car to say thanks for taking you out on a date," he sneered.
"Fuck you, Puckerman," Quinn hissed, their eyes still locked together through the mirror.
"Whenever you're ready," Puck offered, smirking at Quinn. "Just say the word and it's all yours, baby," he offered, indicating his groin area.
"Thank you Tom, for a lovely evening," Quinn said politely as the young man stopped the car outside the Puckerman home. "I know your father forced you into this and maybe he feels he can save both of us at the same time but I..."
Tom cut Quinn off. "So you figured out my secret?" he asked, embarrassed.
"That you're gay?" Quinn asked, Tom nodded. "Tom," Quinn sighed, touching the lapel of Tom's jacket, "I've known since we were six," she told him, Tom rolled his eyes and looked even more embarrassed. "You always wanted to play with my dolls house and my baby carriage," she reminded the blushing boy. "Tell your mom and dad I'm fine and I'll be at church this week, Moya insists on it," she said with a nod towards the house. "She's making Puck go to Temple every week too, he is so pissed," she added with a snicker of laughter.
"Good night Quinn," Tom said softly as she got out of the car after he'd kissed her cheek. "I'll tell the pastor," he said, giving his father the name he always called him, "that you're doing fine and you don't need me complicating your life any more than it already is," he added with a nod towards the top floor windows and the angry faced young man who was glaring out at them. Quinn smiled her thanks and waved goodbye before entering the house.
Quinn woke suddenly, dragged out of her slumber by something, she wasn't sure what. There it was, a noise, a weight, a heat behind her. Quinn moved as slowly as she could, as silently as she could, she held her breath as she nervously looked over her shoulder...
"So you're awake?" Puck growled, his frustration almost sending visible sparks into the darkened room.
"I am now," Quinn grumbled, her heart rate slowing to normal levels. "What time is it?" she asked.
"Two, three, something like that," Puck shrugged, "You sleep like the fucking dead, I've been trying to wake you up since midnight," he complained. "I had to wait till my mom fell asleep, light sleeper my ass," he mocked, "I could have tap danced the whole way up and down the stairs and she wouldn't have fucking heard me," he bragged. "So what's with you and this Tony guy?" he asked, finally getting to the point of why he was in her room. "Why don't I know him, does he go to McKinley?"
"Tom," Quinn corrected, "he goes to Dalton and he's an old family friend, his parents thought it might be an idea if we got together once in a while just to touch base," she mumbled sleepily.
"Yeah? Well if he touches any of your bases he'll answer to me," Puck snarled.
"Jealous, much?" Quinn murmured, turning back over and settling down to sleep again.
"Oh, I'm not jealous," Puck claimed angrily, sounding even more jealous.
"Right, whatever," Quinn mumbled, sleep claiming her once more.
"I'm not," Puck insisted quietly. "I am not fucking jealous," he repeated firmly to himself. "Fuck it," he hissed when nudging her had no effect. Puck got under the covers with Quinn.
Quinn came to very slowly on Saturday morning, she felt incredibly strange, her bed felt strange, different. She stretched, stopping abruptly when her toes encountered warm flesh. Warm, hairy flesh. She opened her eyes and found Puck staring at her, laid on his side next to her, just staring. "Stalker," Quinn accused under her breath.
"I've been awake for hours waiting for you," Puck grumbled. "Chlo just dived in here and said my mom's up, she's in the bathroom by the way," he added as they heard the toilet flush.
"Who is? Your mom?" Quinn asked, confused.
"Chloe," Puck replied as though Quinn was a simpleton.
"Hey, Quinn, what do you want for breakfast?" Chloe asked happily, jumping onto the bed and snuggling with Quinn. "Mom says you're not allowed in here Noah," she reminded her brother. "I'm telling," she added, poking her tongue out at him.
"A bird will come and peck that off if you're not careful," Puck growled at the seven year old. "And if you tell mom, I won't sneak you any more sour patch kids," he bargained.
"It won't, will it Quinn?" Chloe sort of claimed, asked and begged, all at the same time. "A bird won't get my tongue, will it?"
"Of course not," Quinn replied, automatically wanting to comfort the little girl. "Your brother is just being an idiot," she told her, "and mean," she added. "A mean idiot. Nothing new there then," she sighed. "What are you doing in here anyway?" she asked Puck. "And did you wake me up through the night?" she demanded, puzzled. "I had the weirdest dream, I thought you woke me up to tell me it was like two o'clock in the morning," she laughed, shaking her head at her ridiculous imagination.
"I did, I wanted to talk to you and you just fell right back to sleep," Puck grumbled. "So I waited till you woke up just now."
"You mean you went back to your own room and came back when you woke up," Quinn corrected him.
"No, I mean I stayed here till you woke up," Puck corrected Quinn.
"No, no, no, no, no," Quinn cried, her hands covering her face, her fingertips pressing tight into her eyes. "No, you can't do that to me, you can't sleep here with me," she wailed. "God won't ever forgive me if you do stuff like yeste...like that," she cried, catching herself when she realised she could give a lot of information away.
"Noah, what are you doing in here and why are you in bed with Quinn?" Moya demanded from the doorway.
"I'm in here too mom," Chloe shouted happily from in between Puck and Quinn.
"I can see that sweetie," Moya answered with a smile, "you're allowed, your brother isn't," she said, her voice turning hard. "I already warned you Noah, if you want to go live with Nana Connie, that's fine by me," she said as she turned away from the door.
"Jeez, I just wanted to find out how Quinn made out on her date last night," Puck sighed. "And I miss my bed," he added under his breath, shifting slightly on his wonderfully comfortable mattress, a far cry from the lumpy, uncomfortable mattress that graced the bed in the attic room.
"Date?" Moya asked, as she spun back to look at Quinn, she was clearly scandalised. "You can't go out on dates," she exclaimed. "You're pregnant with his baby," she reminded Quinn, as if she could ever forget.
"God," Quinn cried, covering her eyes again. "It wasn't a date," she said forcefully. "Tom is an old family friend, his dad is the pastor of my church, his parents asked him to take me out just to keep in touch and he's gay for Pete's sake," she shouted. "And if I can't date, you can't invite Santana over either, fair's fair," she shouted at Puck.
"Santana?" Moya cried, even louder, looking aghast at Puck. "That-that, oooh, that girl," she eventually managed to say through gritted teeth. "She was here? When?" she demanded.
"Noah and Santana were in his room last night when you went out," Chloe happily explained. "She must have been ill because she was moaning and groaning then she went home early," she added, "I think Noah scared her away because he only had his jeans on, she maybe thought he was tired and wanted to go to bed."
"Noah," Moya screeched. "We talked about this before."
Puck sank back onto his own bed, the one with the memory foam mattress and pillows, the one with the flat screen TV that rose up from the foot of it, the one with the stash of porn DVDs underneath it, the one he'd had to give up to Quinn. Kid fucking sisters, they all ought to be gagged at birth, he wished a bird really would come and peck off her tongue. He didn't even dare look at his mom.
"Noah," Moya began, her voice a calm, measured show of patience. Puck wondered if it was better to just try his luck at Nana Connie's. "Go get dressed, I will see you downstairs and you better believe you are in trouble, boyo," she hissed.
"Thanks Chlo," Puck growled sarcastically at his sister the second their mom was out of earshot. "You're a little shit, you know that? Always fu-reakin' stirring it," he sniped at her, but at least he saved himself further punishment from his mom, no way would Chloe not tell her if he'd actually said the f word.
Moya waited at the kitchen table for Puck to reluctantly join her. "Ground rules, Noah," she said, the second he walked through the door. "You will not bring back or invite any other girls here, you most certainly will not have a girl in your bedroom, you will treat Quinn with respect and you will do any and all chores without complaint, delay or diversion. I am disappointed in you, Noah, I cannot tell you how disappointed," she sighed. Moya looked at Puck with tears in her eyes. "You were such a kind little boy, what happened to you?" she asked in wonderment. "Did I fail you? Was it something your father did? What?" she asked, hoping to get some sort of understanding.
Puck sat down heavily, he sighed, his body sagging back against the seat. "Mom, it's not your fault, it's just me, I like sex, what can I say?" he said with a sigh. "Quinn's never going to let me get near her again," he told his mom although he was hopeful that he could change her mind in the near future, those hormones had to kick in sometime, according to the baby books anyway, "not that you'd ever let us share my room in any case," he acknowledged with a roll of his eyes. "I don't see why it would be a problem," he added with a shrug, "it's not like she could get any more pregnant than she already is," he mocked. "I know I screwed up mom and I'm sorry, there's no way to apologise to Quinn enough, I mean, I can't change what's happening right now, but you're right, I should treat her with more respect and I promise, I'll try to control myself from now on," he finished, knowing it was what his mom wanted to hear. Puck couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. "Woah, where is this shit coming from Puckerman?" the words twirled round his head even as he was speaking to his mom. "Yeah, right, like you're ever going to give up sex," his internal voice mocked. "You'll die if you don't get laid every day." Puck surreptitiously crossed his fingers under the table.
"Well, you are going to do the grocery shopping today, take Chloe with you," Moya instructed, not the slightest bit fooled by her son, "but first, you can wash the windows," she said, her eyebrow raised as Puck opened his mouth to protest. "Outside," she added with relish.
Puck realised that he was only going to get more stuff heaped on him if he complained so he wisely shut his trap. "Do you need Quinn for anything?" he asked his mom, she shook her head. "She might want to come shopping too, maybe there's stuff she likes to eat that we don't usually buy," he said with a shrug, hoping she'd see that as him being more considerate.
"That's fine, if she wants to go," Moya nodded. "But you are still taking Chloe, whether or not, so deal with it," she reminded him. Puck pouted but didn't reply, he sighed as he went to take care of the first of his chores.
"Chlo, just knock it off," Puck sighed as his sister whined yet again about some stupid cereal or other. "Mom's told you before, you can't have the stuff that's full of sugar, it sends you hyper."
Quinn listened to the siblings grumble and argue. "Do we have to go straight home when we finish here?" she asked.
"Well, if we don't, the frozen stuff will defrost, so yeah," Puck replied absently as he checked the list again. "But we have to stop off at Kramer's on the way home, why?" he asked.
"Why Kramer's, why don't you just get meat here?" Quinn asked as she pointed to the chilled displays of meat products, wondering why they didn't buy their meat at the supermarket instead of going to the small, family run butcher shop.
"Because that's not Kosher," Chloe informed Quinn with a cute grin. Quinn looked surprised, she hadn't realised that she had been eating something different and said so.
"Kosher isn't a type of food, it's the way that the food is prepared, stored and cooked," Puck explained. "It's the same stuff, it's just that we only eat certain parts of an animal and it must be slaughtered in a specific way then prepared in a certain way," he elaborated but still saw confusion clouding her face. "It's like," he sighed, trying to think of an example. "Right, like, I love pizza, right?" he asked, Quinn nodded. "Have you ever seen me eating a pizza with meat on it?" he asked, Quinn thought for a moment then shook her head. "Right, because we don't eat meat and dairy together, I always have a veggie option pizza, and a lot of foods like lasagne, pasta dishes usually that call for a lot of cheese, we tend to go for the veggie option with that too, it's why we have two food prep areas at home, a dairy and a meat area, two fridges, two sets of utensils, it's not hard and actually, it's really healthy to keep Kosher," he finished then checked his list before walking away to a different aisle. "Come on, keep up," he called over his shoulder with a grin.
Quinn followed Puck, catching him up as he read the label on something his mom had written on the list. "See, Kosher," Puck pointed out to Quinn. "We try not to buy anything that doesn't say Kosher on the label," he explained. "Where's Chloe?" he asked, looking round for his sister. "Chloe?" he shouted.
"What?" Chloe answered, wandering round the end of the aisle towards her brother. "I was only looking at the hair stuff on the twirly thing," she told Puck.
"Well, don't," Puck warned her. "I'm already in enough trouble with mom without you disappearing too," he grouched at the little girl. "Don't even," he ordered when it looked like Chloe was about to poke her tongue out at him. "I told you this morning, a bird will fly down and peck it off. It happens. It happened to a guy at our school and now he can't talk. Ever," he said dramatically.
"It does not," Chloe insisted, "you're a liar, I googled it," she announced then poked her tongue out.
Puck made a grab for it. "I swear Chloe, I am going to cut that damn thing off if you keep doing that," he growled at her. Chloe skipped away to hold Quinn's hand.
"Can we just get on with this?" Quinn sighed, fed up with food shopping already. "We still have to get to the butcher's then get everything home and I thought maybe, after that, we could maybe go out again?" she said, her voice disappearing as she came to the end of her sentence, she winced at the look on Puck's face.
"Where were you thinking of going?" Puck asked, not sure if he wanted to go anywhere with Quinn, not if it was going to be some lame dumbass girl thing that she wanted to do.
"I don't know yet," Quinn sighed, seeing the look on Puck's face. "Doesn't matter," she added with an even bigger sigh.
"No, come on, we'll finish this and then we'll do whatever you want," Puck offered, seeing his afternoon of lazing round on the sofa and watching crap on TV melting away in favour of brown nosing some forgiveness points from his mom. Quinn happily hurried through the rest of the shopping and a trip to the butcher's.
"So where did you want to go?" Puck asked as they climbed back into his ancient, clapped out truck.
"We could just drive somewhere pretty and then go for a walk," Quinn suggested.
Puck didn't even turn the key in the ignition. "If by somewhere pretty you mean the mall, it's not happening," he insisted. "The weather's decent, we'll drive over to Fort Amanda, there's a nature trail that leads to the river," he suggested, surprising himself that he was looking forward to such an activity.
They drove in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts. "How am I going to make it through a week if I can't have sex with anyone?" Puck asked himself. "Maybe I can do Santana at school," his inner voice suggested. "She doesn't usually object, but she normally gets more out of it, like being able to hang off me and pretend like I'm her boyfriend or something, but that really wouldn't be fair to Quinn, not that she'd ever think of me as her boyfriend, God I'd love to be in bed with her right now, her skin is just so..." he breathed heavily, sniffing in a great lung full of air. "What?" he asked, suddenly realising that Quinn was talking to him.
"I didn't like knowing what you were doing with Santana," Quinn said again, her voice quiet, a little tearful.
"Were you jealous" Puck asked, almost afraid of the answer.
Quinn didn't reply immediately, she bit her lip nervously and took several deep breaths before she could. "Yes," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I was jeaous when you went out with that guy," Puck admitted. "I wanted to rip his fucking face off, especially when you kissed him," he told her with a scowl. Puck parked up as they arrived in the almost abandoned parking lot.
"I only gave him a peck on the lips," Quinn defended herself with a grin she tried to hide.
"What constitutes a peck?" Puck asked, seeing the possibility of taking advantage a little.
"You know, just a little peck," Quinn murmured as she self-consciously smoothed her hands up and down the length of her thighs.
Puck turned in his seat a little, smirking at the blush on Quinn's cheeks. "No, I don't know, explain it to me," he suggested.
"How about I show you?" Quinn sighed and leaned in to Puck at the same time as he leaned in to her. Quinn's smooth, soft, strawberry flavoured lips tingled as they touched his taut, talented ones. "Like that," she said after the briefest of contact.
"No," Puck denied with a grin, "that can't be a peck, this must be a peck," he said as he swooped in to meld their mouths together for a much more satisfying, tongue tangling, toe curling kiss. "Wow," he breathed as they drew apart. "I thought I must have imagined how good it was, that day, built it up in my head because of this," he stroked her stomach, "but I didn't, it was real," he muttered, staring into Quinn's eyes, his hand cupping her cheek. "I've never felt anything like that with anyone else, ever," he assured her, bemused by it, by the sensation, the electricity that was still racing through his body.
"Me either," Quinn replied, "I thought it was the wine coolers," she admitted, "I thought they'd made me feel things that just weren't possible, but it wasn't them it was you, just you," she said in wonderment. Puck's head descended again to claim her lips once more.
Puck held Quinn's hand as they wandered the trail to the river, he made sure that she didn't lose her footing, he was ultra careful of her. In a clearing, just near the river bank, they sat at a picnic table to talk. "We have to take things slowly," Quinn said, thinking aloud. "We've rushed into too much already, we need to take things slowly," she repeated firmly, looking at Puck to make sure he understood what she was saying.
"You mean you still won't sleep with me?" Puck translated with a grin, Quinn nodded her head, thankful that he'd got it. "But we get to make out, right?" he asked, suddenly scared that even that privilege would be denied him.
"I suppose we can make out," Quinn agreed cautiously, although she sounded happy about it.
"Cool," Puck murmured, "I can't promise I won't try to tempt you," he admitted without a hint of shame, "because from what I've read in those baby books, you are going to be howling for it soon," he grinned then leaned in for another kiss.
Quinn pulled away, laughing. "Trust you," she groaned. "How did I know you'd find that section?" she asked in mock disgust. "Did you read anything else?" she asked.
"Nope," Puck replied proudly, "just that we can do it right up till she's born," he informed Quinn, "and then you have to wait six weeks till you're up for it again. Just the important stuff," he grinned.
Quinn didn't answer, she just rolled her eyes and tried her best to suppress her smile. "Tell me about your sister," she suggested to change the subject. "She's such a lot younger than you, what's the story?" she asked, trying to get Puck to talk.
"Well, my dad left when I was about seven," Puck began with a sigh, he never liked talking about that.
"So you have the same mom and different dads?" Quinn asked, assuming that Moya had found another guy when Puck's dad left.
"No, we have the same mom and dad," Puck corrected Quinn's assumption. "No, he came back a couple of months later, California hadn't worked out for him. Mom took him back, she got pregnant, he skipped again, last time I saw him I was maybe eleven, twelve, something like that, he came to see us at Hanukkah for some reason," he shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Chloe doesn't know him at all, he's never been a part of her life, he's just an asshole," he explained, his words deceptively uncaring, as though he didn't give a shit. Truth was, Puck cared a great deal, he was still dealing with the hurt of being abandoned by his dad. Quinn silently gave Puck a sympathetic smile and his hand a squeeze.
"Come on, you know you want to," Puck whispered, his lips touching her ear, his fingers describing circles on her hips .
"No," Quinn whispered back, but she couldn't contain either the smile or the shiver that both his words and his lips caused.
Puck groaned and pouted and gave Quinn the sad, sad puppy dog eyes through the mirror. "Pretty please?" he begged and pouted even more.
"What are you doing in here?" Rachel demanded as she walked into the girls' bathroom near the choir room. She glanced between both Puck and Quinn, noted how close Puck was stood, tucked right up to Quinn's behind, it all looked very intimate.
"Nothing," Puck replied, "I'm just leaving, I'll be in the parking lot at three thirty, see you later," he added to Quinn, catching her eye again in the mirror, giving her a little wink as his hand just very faintly stroked across her ass. Puck saw the glint in her eyes, he knew she was just as affected by him as he was by her. He seriously had to speak to his mom about the rules.
"It's nice to see you and Noah getting on so well," Moya commented at the end of the following week while she and Quinn made dinner. Quinn smiled prettily but didn't answer. "That doesn't mean you get to stay in Quinn's room after ten o'clock, Noah," she shouted over her shoulder. "Doing homework is one thing but you're not staying there all night," she reminded him as he came to the kitchen door to check out what Quinn and his mom were talking about.
"Right, 'cos people can't have sex in broad daylight, only at night, right mom?" Puck replied a touch sarcastically. "And only in bedrooms. You know the only time we ever did it before was in the afternoon, right?" he asked, ignoring the 'oh God shut the fuck up' face that Quinn was pulling at him. "And would it be so bad? We are at least actually dating now," Puck reminded his mom. "She was dating someone else when we did that," he grinned and nodded towards Quinn's stomach.
Moya looked at both her son and at Quinn, she weighed his statement up in her head, listened to his words as her mind replayed the conversation, she glanced once more at Quinn, saw that she looked nervous, unsettled. "Ok," she started, nodding in Quinn's direction, keeping her eyes firmly on her rather than on her son. "Ok, if you both agree that it's what you want," Moya started again, "and it's not just some flash in the pan thing," she added, "then at weekends you may spend the night together," she announced and glanced at Puck, she saw the half smile appear on his face, the one he'd inherited directly from his dad, no wonder Quinn couldn't resist it, Moya totally got it, she'd had the same problem. Moya looked at Quinn, she didn't look quite as happy as Noah but she looked relieved, which surprised Moya. "Quinn? Is everything ok?" she asked, concerned.
Quinn struggled to answer. How could she say to Puck's mom that she was very happy about the change in rules, thrilled actually, because she thought she was about to explode with frustration, really, how could she say that? None of the baby books said anything about that, they just said that the sex drive can increase. "Way to understate things," Quinn thought with a snort, "yeah, from nought to screaming for it in twenty weeks." She'd come perilously close to taking advantage of herself in the shower, like Puck proudly claimed he did, the day she moved in. Quinn gulped then nodded, yes, she was ok, she was very ok with it, she determinedly blanked out the little voice in her head that was screaming "only after marriage," over and over again.
Puck was verging on ecstatic, he knew how hard Quinn was trying to hold off, he knew how frustrated she was, how close to exploding she was, but still she'd refused to let him help her out, and he had offered plenty of times, but she'd remained steadfast because his mom had said they weren't allowed. Puck didn't even attempt to hide the naughty little grin that appeared on his lips, they might not have actually got naked since the wine cooler thing, but they sure got close when they were making out on her bed. He wondered how long dinner was going to take, they'd already been to Temple so technically this was already the weekend, so in theory, according to his mom's new rules, he could stay in his own room tonight. With Quinn. Hallelujah.
"No way do you want to watch that crappy movie," Puck whispered into Quinn's neck as they washed up after dinner. Quinn had just told him that she wanted to hurry up because a movie was starting soon and she and Moya were going to watch it. "We're going to finish up in here and go upstairs," he murmured, his hot breath making Quinn shiver. "And you are going to become very familiar with Puckasaurus," he groaned as Quinn pressed her body back into him, connecting with the front of him, it made him shiver, just like she did.
"Fine, no movie," Quinn whispered back, her lips nibbling along Puck's jaw once she turned in his arms, her wet, soapy hands sliding up past his ears to smooth over his head. "Or maybe we can watch one of the ones you have hidden under your bed," she murmured with an eyebrow arched up.
"You found those?" Puck asked with a wince. "Hey, sometimes my hand needs inspiration, what can I say?" he offered with a grin and a slight blush.
"I really don't think we'll need any outside inspiration today," Quinn told Puck, pouting a little to offer her lips to him.
Puck made sure the lock was firmly in place the instant they stepped into Quinn's room. Right now he was so glad that he'd insisted on it, when his grandpa was still around to argue his case for him with his mom. Puck remembered it. "Give the boy a break, Moya," Puck's grandpa had said to his daughter. "He's growing up, getting older, he needs his privacy," he said, nodding with his bushy grey eyebrows hiked right up towards his even bushier grey hair. "He doesn't want to be enjoying his 'private time' and have little Chloe here wander in, she's walking round now, you can understand the kid, give him a break," the old guy had said again. Puck had got the lock, he and his grandpa had installed it together. Puck smiled at the memory.
"What?" Quinn asked when Puck seemed to remain attached to the door, his hand on the lock.
"Nothing," Puck answered, his smile changing slightly. "I promise we'll take this slow," he said quietly as he stepped towards her. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to," he offered, like the gentleman he really wasn't. Puck initiated the next kiss and it started out white hot, Quinn took over and it became molten, neither of them could breathe properly, both of them were on the verge of hyperventilating.
Quinn stepped back, taking herself out of his arms. She stepped round him and crawled onto the bed, she glanced over her shoulder, flirting for all she was worth. Puck didn't wait for a verbal invitation, he followed Quinn down onto the bed, sliding up close to her. Puck's arm stole underneath Quinn's shoulders, he leaned over and looked down into her glowing eyes, watched them drift shut as his head descended to join their lips again.
For a long time they just kissed, made out, like they'd been doing every night since last weekend, then suddenly, that wasn't enough, not for either of them. Quinn shifted, turned slightly and leaned over him. With one hand she grasped the back of Puck's neck, holding his lips against hers, her other hand roamed down his front till it encountered the waistband of his jeans. Puck broke the kiss to suck in a breath as Quinn's fingers at first slid under the denim and stroked across his stomach from hip to hip then tugged his jeans open, one button at a time.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Puck forced himself to ask, his voice almost quivering with need. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, hoping, praying that she would answer with...
"Yes," Quinn replied, her voice husky. "Yes, I'm sure," she assured Puck and slid her hand into his unfastened jeans. Puck groaned, his stomach clenched up a little, his muscles contracting in response to her delicate touch. "Teach me," she murmured against his chest through his t-shirt, her lips moving, trailing lower to meet her hand. "Show me how," she pleaded.
"Show you what?" Puck replied, trying his best to sound normal, finding it difficult to talk with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.
"Show me how to do everything Santana does for you," Quinn explained, looking up the length of his body to his half closed eyes, she saw the instant they snapped open in shock.
"You don't have to do that," Puck said huskily. "You don't have to compete with her," he added to make sure she understood.
"I don't want to compete," Quinn quickly denied, "I want to win," she said as her tongue made contact with the quivering skin just below his neat little belly button. "Tell me what to do," she said again.
Puck took a slow breath in to calm himself. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, lifting Quinn's head with his hand under her chin, he looked down at her, into her sparkling eyes. "Pull my pants down," he instructed when her look remained steady. Quinn followed his instruction awkwardly, Puck lifted his hips to help. When the pants were low enough on his hips he spoke again. "You might want to touch first, explore, make yourself familiar with..." he stopped as Quinn broke in.
"With Puckasaurus?" she asked with a little giggle.
"Yeah," Puck answered with a grin. "Puckasaurus," he repeated as he pushed his boxers down exposing himself to her.
Quinn gulped as Puck's hot, hard, impressive erection came into view. "I don't remember it being that big before," she said nervously then looked up into Puck's amused face.
"Well it was, you just didn't look before," Puck replied, feeling quite proud of himself and his appendage.
"So what do I do with it?" Quinn asked again, shuffling to get comfortable. "Mmm," she moaned as Puck's leg slipped between both of hers and gave her a touch of relief. She took matters into her own hands. Literally. Quinn took a deep breath to calm herself then wrapped one hand lightly around Puck's fairly substantial girth, sliding it all the way up then all the way down. Quinn repeated the move a number of times. "Is that good?" she asked as Puck tried to stifle a moan.
"Mm," Puck nodded, "but it's better if you don't go all the way down like that, at least not that hard," he suggested, not particularly loving the almost thump in the nuts she'd managed to give him each time her fist descended. "This way," he advised and gently clasped his hand around hers, showing Quinn the motion, the rhythm that he liked best. "If you want you can use your tong...yeah, yeah, like that, just like, oh God, are you sure you've never done...God, fuck, yeah, Jeez, Quinn, ahh," he stuttered as Quinn's lips wrapped around him, her tongue curling over the tip, her hand still moving slowly under his direction.
"Quinn?" Chloe shouted after trying the door handle. "Will you find Waldo with me?" she asked.
Quinn had jerked to a stop, she lifted her head and looked at Puck in absolute terror. "We shouldn't be doing this," she whispered, completely ashamed of herself. "I can't believe I was doing this, we shouldn't do this, we are so going to hell," she muttered to herself as she climbed off the bed, her head in her hands.
"Quinn, Quinn," Puck growled quietly to get her attention without alerting his sister to his presence. "Relax," he said as he took hold of her shoulders. "We are not going to hell," he said firmly, "but we sure as fuck are going to find a little bit of heaven," he added with a grin, "just as soon as I get rid of my sister." Puck fastened his pants as he went to the door. He opened it a crack and looked through the gap with just one eye. "S'up Chlo?" he asked the little girl.
"Oh I am so telling mom you're in here," Chloe chirped. "I want Quinn, not you," she sneered as only a seven year old can.
"Tell mom, see if I care," Puck responded and only just stopped himself from poking his tongue out at her. "And Quinn is busy, really busy, so buzz off and find Waldo yourself," he said then shut the door and locked it again.
"Mom," Chloe yelled from right outside the door. "Mom, Noah's in Quinn's room and he locked the door," she shouted. Neither Puck nor Quinn could actually hear Moya's reply but Chloe's groan made Puck smile even more. "That's not fair," Chloe whined, "I wanted to spend time with Quinn."
"I guess that told her," Puck murmured against Quinn's lips as he brought them close again, got them back in the mood again. Puck taught Quinn a lot through the rest of the night but he was surprised by how much she taught him too. Together they discovered the most comfortable ways for them to be together without crushing the baby, Quinn discovered that years and years of workouts had given her muscle control that Puck really, really appreciated and Quinn found that Puck could do things with his tongue and his fingers that she was sure would be illegal in some states. By the time she fell asleep, Quinn felt truly worshipped and adored. More than once. More than twice actually, but she didn't want to brag.
Quinn woke to find Puck already awake, spooned up behind her, stroking her stomach. "Morning," she whispered huskily, her voice not quite ready to be used yet.
"Morning," Puck murmured against her hair. "How do you feel this morning?" he asked, slightly worried in case they'd done too much, been too energetic.
"I feel wonderful," Quinn replied as she stretched, luxuriating in his warm, loving embrace.
"I have to get up, my mom just shouted, she has stuff for me to do, you too," Puck advised Quinn, "but we're going out for pizza tonight with Mike, Matt, Brittany and Santana, Mike text about an hour ago," he informed her.
Quinn wrinkled up her nose and pouted. "Do we have to?" she asked, almost a whining tone in her voice, she turned over to lay facing him.
"Not if you don't feel up to it," Puck agreed. "Maybe you'll need an early night?" he suggested hopefully.
"We haven't even got out of bed yet and already you're talking of getting back in it," Quinn giggled. "But I think so," she said as she touched her lips to Puck's. "And there's no way I'm going anywhere with you and Santana except for school," she added in her head.
"Sorry dude," Puck apologised on the phone to Mike later in the day. "Quinn isn't feeling up to it, she's like, really tired or something," he said, making it sound like he had no idea. Puck winked at Quinn. "Yeah, I know, it's really shit but what can I do? It's not fair to just dump her on my mom, you know?" he finished then listened to Mike mutter something about a deal with the devil or satan or something, Puck wasn't really taking any notice, he was far too busy tasting Quinn's amazingly sensitive, pouting nipples. "Later," he said suddenly then dropped his phone onto the bed.
"You got off light on Saturday night," Mike grumbled to Puck on Monday morning. "I got stuck with Santana all night and God was she in a bitch of a mood," he complained. "She never stopped fucking whining all night," he explained. "See, I wasn't in her plan, I was supposed to hook up with Quinn leaving you free to do your thing with her."
"Never going to happen, dude," Puck said, patting Mike's shoulder. Yes he knew Mike had a thing for Quinn, he'd had that since the very first time Quinn had stepped out on the field in her tiny, little Cheerios uniform. Puck had been there that day, he'd seen her too and wondered when he was going to get to tap that, although he'd actually been more entranced by Santana's overt sexuality, if he was being honest. "Just keep her in your spank bank and move on," Puck advised Mike. "And for fuck's sake don't tell me about it, I'd hate to have to explain to Coach Tenaka why I'm pounding the fuck out of one of my team mates," he added to himself.
"I don't care, Noah," Moya shouted at Puck as he grumbled about seeing the specialist. "You're going to see Dr Freidlander on Monday and that's final," she insisted, checking the mole again, she was certain it had grown in the ten minutes since she'd found it.
On Monday Dr Freidlander shaved Puck's head, then cheerfully told him it was just a freckle. Moya was not convinced. "Are you sure it's not skin cancer?" she asked the doctor five times before the end of the appointment.
"I am absolutely certain," Dr Freidlander replied, "but don't forget to cover up when you're cleaning those pools, Noah, slip, slap, slop, don't forget now," he called with enthusiasm.
"Could that guy get any more lame?" Puck grumbled as he and his mom headed for the elevator. "He was totally checking you out mom," he decided to say to see if he could freak her out as much as he was freaking out at the reflection that was staring back at him.
"He was not," Moya replied, "and it's lovely to see you without that mohawk," she added with a smile then brushed her hand over his shaven head. Puck scowled.
Puck's new look brought a whole bunch of issues. There were the dweebs, the nerds and the losers who suddenly thought that they were allowed to fight back for the years of torment that Puck had inflicted on them since his muscles started filling out in middle school. There was Mercedes suddenly giving Puck the eye, despite her being one of Quinn's closest friends. There was Santana openly competing with Mercedes for Puck's attention. "Well excuse the fuck out of me," Quinn sighed almost silently as she watched them stare each other down.
"You know it's not going to happen," Puck insisted as he snuggled up to Quinn in her bed. He smiled happily into her hair and pressed closer for a second then relaxed. "If my mom finds us again, we are screwed," he mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.
"It's Wednesday night," Quinn murmured, "that's almost the weekend," she added with a tired smile. Quinn hugged Puck's arms closer to her as she melted back into him then drifted off to sleep.
It happened. Quinn gave Mercedes the go ahead, in a tongue in cheek fashion, to pursue Puck because she felt secure in the knowledge that Puck wouldn't go for Mercedes. And he didn't, not really, he just walked around school with her a little to let some of her new found coolness rub off on him. And it worked, it freakin' worked. And then came the showdown.
"Fuck, this is embarrassing," Puck murmured to Quinn as Santana and Mercedes almost came to blows during a duet, each of them claiming priority over Puck.
Quinn had heard enough. "Actually," she sighed as she stood up, "I think you'll find he's mine," she announced then stalked out of the choir room with everyone's gaze on her back.
"I did not see that coming," Artie murmured to Tina almost conversationally, they both turned to look at Puck to see if he'd dispute Quinn's claim. He didn't.
"When she's right, she's right," Puck said and stood up to follow Quinn.
"What do you mean?" Santana screeched, grabbing hold of Puck's hand as he passed, stopping him in his tracks. "She just lives in your house, you aren't together," she insisted.
"Would you like me to spell it out for you?" Puck asked facetiously. "Quinn and I are in a relationship, an exclusive relationship," he clarified.
"How come she never told me?" Mercedes and Santana both cried at the same time, both of them trying to assert their right as Quinn's friend.
"Maybe because neither of you have really been there for her," Puck shouted back. "Tell me," he suggested crossly, "when did either of you call her just to chat, to maybe make plans for the weekend, to go shopping, to the mall, just hang out?" he demanded. "I can answer you," he told the two girls who were studiously avoiding his angry eyes. "You haven't, not once since she moved in with me," he reminded them. "You think she can handle this all on her own?" he asked. "No," he answered that question too, "she can't, neither of us can, but she's got the hardest part of it," he said, getting a touch angrier. "You know what? Forget it," he growled as he left the room in search of Quinn.
The whole group looked at the empty doorway, wondering if either Puck or Quinn would come back.
"He's right," Mercedes said quietly. "When she lived with Finn I went round all the time, picked her up, did stuff with her. Since she moved to Puck's, I haven't even called her," she admitted, feeling ashamed of herself.
"Maybe that's because you knew the truth all along and when she lived with me she was in the wrong place," Finn suggested. "You knew who was really responsible, maybe you felt like she'd moved to the right place, didn't need you," he said, wondering if anyone actually understood what he meant.
"Maybe," Mercedes murmured, still feeling the flush of shame coating her.
"Hey," Puck murmured as he found Quinn in the girls' bathroom. "You ok?" he asked, checking her face to see if he could read anything in her expression. "You know you have nothing to worry about, right?" he said, stepping up behind her. "They all know now that we are together, we're a family," he added quietly, his lips finding her ear as his hands moulded her bump.
"Oh how touching," Sue Sylvester said as she came out of one of the stalls. "Nope, that's not quite what I meant," she corrected herself. "Stop touching, that's what I meant," she said firmly, watching Puck and Quinn in the mirror, saw Puck's hand tighten just a little over the grotesque mound that was a human, growing like an alien inside her head cheerleader. "Quinn Fabray, you had such potential," she sighed sadly, shaking her head slowly in disgust, "till you let the sperminator into your regulation spanks and that was that," she sighed again. "You'll always be a nothing now, a nobody," she told Quinn. "You could have been a champion, you could have led a team of champions, instead you..." she was cut short by Quinn.
"Instead I'll be a mother," Quinn retorted, her eyes flashing fire at her former coach. "And I'll make a damn good one, too," she told Sue forcefully. "My daughter won't fall into the same trap as me, I'll make sure she knows the facts of life. But even if she does, I'll love her unconditionally," she said, her voice breaking, cracking as tears fell. Puck turned Quinn and drew her tighter into his arms, shushing her, his eyes still locked on Sue.
"And that will always be your weakness, Q," Sue Sylvester sighed as she wiped her hands on a paper towel. "Love," she said with disgust. "It's a useless emotion, it just sucks the life right out of you," she told them both. "And if you had any sense you'd give this child to a family who deserve it, who really want it," she advised. "Just because you hooked your legs round your ears in the back seat of the first car he could jimmy open and then didn't even think of using a condom," she said cruelly, "doesn't mean you'll make good parents. Selfish," she cried, pointing at both Quinn and Puck. "Both of you. Selfish. Give your child to someone who needs it, go back to being kids, both of you, before it's too late." With that, Sue Sylvester spun round and marched out of the bathroom.
The silence reigned for a long five minutes after Sue had left. "Well that was fun," Puck murmured sarcastically.
"She's right though," Quinn said quietly. "We should give the baby up for adoption," she added then looked into Puck's shocked eyes.
"Adoption?" Puck croaked, the word almost choking him. "Why?" he demanded, taking Quinn by the shoulders. "We can do this, we can be a family," he reminded her. Quinn didn't reply, she allowed Puck to haul her close, to hug her tight, she allowed the tears to fall on his shoulder and she allowed her mind to wander down the years, saw the sort of future they had, their little family, the struggle, the daily grind. Quinn cried even harder.
"Well, adoption is an option," Moya agreed as she picked up her coffee cup.
"Mom," Puck growled, his arms crossed over his chest, his scowl set in place. "It isn't an option, not in my mind," he muttered, slouching back to keep out of the conversation.
"What's 'doption?" Chloe asked with interest as she ate her dinner.
"What mom should have done with you when you were born," Puck hissed, still scowling.
"Noah," Moya cried. "It means that the baby wouldn't come home from the hospital with Noah and Quinn, she'd stay there and a new mommy and daddy would chose her and she'd go home with them, they'd be her family," she explained to Chloe. "Oh God, that is so not an option," Moya cried silently. "Don't do it, Quinn, please don't do that to my boy," she begged in her head but she kept her expression blank, she did not want to influence them either way.
"And what about us?" Chloe asked. "Would she come and visit us or would we go visit her?"
"No," Quinn said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard. "No, we wouldn't be able to see her at all, she wouldn't be a part of..." she broke off, not able to finish what she was saying.
"Please, Quinn," Puck begged, sitting forwards again and taking her hand. "Please don't do this, please," he implored.
Mercedes was so thankful for Quinn's input, her help and her unswerving friendship after Mercedes' little fainting episode. Quinn was so understanding, helped Mercedes to see the light, she even smoothed the way with her mom for her. Mercedes made a decision. Just one more time, this last time then that would be it. Sue Sylvester could swivel.
In full view of the entire school, centre of the basketball court, Mercedes opened her heart and let all of her emotions flow out. She encouraged others to make the statement with her. The second that Mercedes' beautiful, powerful voice began the song, Quinn felt the tiny piece of resentment that she'd harboured against Mercedes for getting on the Cheerios, melt away. As soon as she had finished the first verse Quinn stood and made her way to Mercedes' side, standing proudly with her hand on her bump, knowing that the stance made her daughter more pronounced, more visible.
"I am beautiful, no matter what they say," Mercedes sang, the joy in her heart restored as she saw her friends, the only people in the school who mattered to her, saw them stand up and join her. Mercedes felt a little tweak of something as Puck joined Quinn, standing slightly behind, beside her, his arm around her, his hand resting on top of Quinn's. The whole of the glee club gave their voices in harmony to enhance Mercedes' performance. The entire school applauded and cheered such an emotional, honest display of true feeling and friendship.
"I need space, away from you," Quinn explained as she packed her things, throwing them haphazardly into an open suitcase. "I can't think when I'm around you," she admitted, "and you went out with Santana on Monday night, you think I can just forgive that?" she demanded. "You say you want us to be a family but you haven't done anything to prove that to me," she accused as she zipped up the case. "Mercedes is outside, I'll stay with her for a few days, try to get my head together, see ya," she mumbled then reached up to place a tearful kiss on his lips.
"Please," Puck whispered, his voice leaving him as he tried to keep from actually bursting into tears. "Quinn, please don't make any decisions, please don't do..." he couldn't carry on, his voice broke, the tears came anyway, he hadn't even managed to tell her he'd been with Finn on Monday night, not Santana. She could ask the coach of Vocal Gremlins or whatever the hell they called themselves, she knew where Puck and Finn had been on Monday. So did Mr Schue and Principal Figgins. Thank God they hadn't been suspended though, otherwise his mom would know too.
"I won't, I promise," Quinn said as she turned and stepped back into the room to him. She hugged Puck tight and kissed him again before leaving the room and hurrying downstairs.
"Let me take that for you," Mercedes said quietly as Quinn opened the door. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked before she pulled away in her mother's car.
"Yes, please, just drive," Quinn begged then sagged back in floods of tears.
"Frannie?" Quinn said nervously as her sister answered her phone.
"Quinn? Honey, is that you?" Frannie asked, sounding both frantic and relieved at the same time.
"Yes, it's me," Quinn replied with a laughing sob. "Have you got a minute, I need to talk," she asked.
"Sure, I've got all the time in the world, baby, what's wrong?" Frannie asked, settling down to help her baby sister through what she figured was probably her first serious boyfriend break up.
"I have a favour to ask," Quinn said through a tremuous breath.
"Sure,anything," Frannie agreed.
"Can I come and stay for the weekend?" Quinn asked Frannie.
"Of course, do you want Karl to come and pick you up after school tomorrow?" Frannie asked, knowing that her sister would not like to make the three and a half hour drive all by herself.
"That would be great," Quinn sighed with relief. "Errm, Frannie?" she added nervously.
"Yes, baby?" Frannie replied, she was already worrying, there was something scaring her in her sister's voice.
"Please don't be mad at me," Quinn whispered before she hung up. "Please, please don't abandon me like mom and dad have," she prayed through her tears. Quinn turned over and buried her face into the pillow in Mercedes' brother's bed, trying to be quiet, trying to keep her tears and torment to herself. Quinn cried herself to sleep, she still hadn't been able to come up with anything that made as much sense as Sue Sylvester's idea, but she didn't know if she could do it, if she could give birth to her child then just walk away. Quinn's fitful sleep showed on her face the next day.
To be continued...