Story: Give Your Heart A Break

Rated: T for now

AN: Long time, no write! My personal life has been hectic with school and work, but with summer vacation just around the corner, my life should be getting a whole lot simpler. This is the product of a new plot bunny that has now taken residence in my head. This is AU and as usual, I didn't create Glee or it's characters because if I did, the show would be a lot better right now.

"Mommy, Mommy! Wake up!"

And so began another day in the life of Quinn Puckerman as she was woken up by her oldest child. Beth Puckerman had her mother's face and her mother's hair, but her eyes were definitely her father's and at that particular moment, Quinn could practically feel those eyes boring into her skull and forcing her awake.

"Where's Daddy?," Quinn muttered sleepily, rubbing her eyes before slowly sitting up against the headboard of her bed. Daddy. Noah Puckerman or as Quinn had always called him, Puck. If Quinn could tell her seventeen year old self that she would be a mother and married to the bad boy that lived a town over, she probably would have laughed, but then again, how was she supposed to know that she would have gotten pregnant a few months later?

"Daddy went to work and I don't have school s'cause it's Saturday," Beth began, this time climbing onto the bed next to her mother. "Can we have bacon? Gramma says it doesn't make us good jews but it's so good!"

A genuine smile crossed Quinn's lips at her daughter's outburst, her hand going to ruffle through her daughter's messy hair.

"Can there be waffles too?"

Another voice joined them, Quinn instantly recognizing it as the one of her 4 year old son. As much as Beth looked like her mother, Mason Puckerman was definitely his father's son. Brown curly hair along with hazel eyes and a smirk that even as a four year old, Quinn could tell that her son knew had a deadly power that went along with it.

"Yes, we can have waffles," Quinn added to her previous promise, watching as her little boy beamed with happiness before making a running jump for the bed. Quinn always felt her heart swell whenever she was near her children and right now as she felt Beth snuggle up to one side of her and Mason on the other, Quinn could revel in the love that she felt for her family. The fact that their father wasn't a part of the picture perfect moment didn't seem to faze her at all. Maybe Quinn should have been concerned with that, but at the moment her mind was set on breakfast.

With her kids bounding around her as Quinn slowly placed strips of bacon across the heated frying pan, the blonde knew that she was destined to be a mom. Sure, it wasn't in her life plans to be married by 18, but as her daughter taught her son 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' and her son clumsily made the same hand movements along with his sister, Quinn couldn't imagine her life any different. It wasn't as if Puck wasn't too bad.

Once upon a time she had truly loved him, but now they had gotten into the steady rhythms of marriage and kids. Puck loved his daughter and son though, and that was a blessing in surprise. When she had met Noah Puckerman, he was everything her daddy hated and a badass more worried about his music than anything else. Even Quinn couldn't have realized that Puck would have been such a softy. After his shift at the local mechanics or his second job as the only pool cleaning business in a three town area, Puck's attention always went straight to his kids. Playing with them, singing to them, tucking them into bed and reading them to sleep; the smile on his face didn't seem so forced when it was for his children. If Quinn could appreciate anything about her husband, at least it was that he loved his children.

Mixing the batter for the waffles that her son and daughter had so desperately wanted, Quinn told them that they could play in the living room with their toys quietly. The smell of the bacon sizzling was a calming smell and with her mind so focused on the task in front of her, Quinn almost didn't notice when she felt Beth tugging on the hem of her shirt, an envelope in the little girl's hand. Taking the envelope before watching the flash of blonde hair ran off, Quinn's eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she placed the plastic bowl on top of a counter and flipped the envelope over to see her nickname, Q, in Puck's writing staring back at her. The letter inside was only half a page long, but Quinn reread it again and again, even as the bacon began to burn.

Q,

I can't do this anymore. This life is killing me. I could've been a rockstar and not stuck in this dead-end town. I'm getting out. Tell Beth and Mace I love them.

P.

"Mommy, it's burning!"

It was her son's cries that forced Quinn back to the real world, a sharp breath released unconsciously.

"I got it," Quinn sputtered out, moving the hot pan off the hot burner and onto a cool one before turning off her oven completely. Running from the kitchen and back into her bedroom , Quinn chastised herself for not noticing that Puck's guitar wasn't sitting on its rack in the corner of the room, that his clothes weren't hanging in their closet, that his side of the bed was completely untouched from the night before. Shutting the door to the bedroom, Quinn placed her hand over her mouth to muffle her sounds as the realization finally sunk in. Her husband had snuck off in the middle of the night, leaving her and their two kids to fend for themselves. As Quinn collapsed against the edge of her bed and felt the hot tears fall against her face, she could feel the carefully crafted world she created crumbling down.

AN: And thus our story begins! Thank you for taking the time to read this! Reviews, comments, or concerns are greatly appreciated!