Making Everyone Happy
Will Schuester sat in his office, feet on his desk, idly tapping his pen on his knee. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Quinn and Puck make there way out of school along with the crowds of other students. And then the idea hit him. He literally moved fast enough to both clear his desk of all objects and end up on the floor in milliseconds.
Disentangling his cell phone from his pocket he dialed and waited until it was answered. As he demanded this person get to McKinley High as soon as possible, Mr Schue rushed outside. He made it just in time to see Puck helping Quinn into his truck.
"Puck, Quinn, hold on a sec!" he shouted while jogging up to him.
"Sup, Mr Schue?" Puck asked, ready to deny any and all accusations. Honestly he hadn't done anything. Well, he wouldn't go that far, but it was definitely a minor offense this time.
"I need you two to meet someone, it's pretty important." Quinn got out of the car and lead the other two back to Mr Schue's office. She may not have all of her Cheerio's, patent pending, attitude, but she was still Quinn Fabray after all.
Quinn took the seat opposite her teacher's desk while he sat behind it and Puck stood. "So, who are we meeting?" Quinn finally asked.
"Well, I think-" he had started to explaining before he was interrupted.
"Is Rachel okay?" Shelby Corcoran asked with a panicked shriek.
"Shelby, she's fine. I wanted to introduce you to Noah Puckerman and Quinn Fabray," Mr Schue explained.
"Are you trying to get us to jump ship to those Vocal Adrenaline bastards?" Puck asked.
"What makes you think we'd take you?" Shelby glared at the jock.
"Whoa, people calm down. This is about something a little more important."
"Mr Schue what is going on?" Quinn asked, personally getting fed up with the lack of directness.
"Well, Quinn, you know how Shelby wanted Rachel back into her life because she really wanted a daughter, but that didn't pan out the way they'd hoped it would. So I had a new idea. One that would still make everyone happy," Mr Schue explained.
"And what is this marvelous idea?" asked Shelby still confused. Puck was confused too, only because he had stopped paying attention. But Quinn understood. The tears forming in her eyes threatened to overflow as she nodded with a happy, but still sad smile.
"Shelby, I think you would be the perfect person to adopt Quinn's baby."
For the first time in a long time, Shelby Corcoran was honest to goodness speechless. Her mouth hung open just slightly, her gaze slowly shifting to the young girl sitting only feet away. And then she smiled. It wasn't an ear-to-ear grin or filled with heart-breaking emotion, but it was special.
Puck was finally back on planet Earth and caught up with the conversation. He walked over to Quinn and lightly squeezed her shoulder. He had been hoping that against all odds they would keep the baby and be the family he always craved. But, he too had learned something. This whole experience will never leave them; he and Quinn will always have the memory of this baby girl to keep them together. And as long as his daughter would be loved, then he was happy. Sure, Ms Corcoran's first child is a complete lunatic and frightens him on a regular basis but she would treat their baby the way she deserved, like the princess she was destined to be.
Giving Puck's hand a squeeze, Quinn stood and walked over to Shelby. "It would mean a lot to me, to us, if you would name her Beth." Shelby could only nod as this young girl hugged her tightly. "You take care of her," Quinn whispered.
"Of course," Shelby promised, her own tears mixing with Quinn's. From a distance Puck looked to Mr Schue and nodded in thanks, blinking away his own tears at the same time.
Quinn had, ironically, gone into labor just after their performance at Regionals. Not bothering to find out who had won, Will grabbed Shelby by the wrist, loaded the kids onto the bus, and had the driver get them to the nearest hospital.
Everyone was completely freaking out, but no one as much as Noah "Puck" Puckerman, the tough guy, the jock, the man. "Holy shit guys! What are we doing wrong? We've got to be doing something wrong," he yelled while pacing up and down the aisle of the moving bus.
Leave it to Rachel Berry to set things in order. Stepping in front of him and causing him to stop abruptly, Rachel slapped Puck across the face. "Be a man, Noah! Quinn is having your baby and you're no help to her if you're not getting oxygen." Breathing heavily, Rachel took charge, "Mercedes, Tina get Quinn comfortable in the first front seat. Everyone else move to the back so I can think. Noah, go sit by Quinn, hold her hand. Mr Schue, call the hospital and make sure they're ready for a school bus and a pregnant teenager. Shelby, you sit by Quinn too make sure Noah doesn't do anything stupid."
When everyone had calmed down, they were able to relax and think. Everyone was excited; the competition they had looked forward to for months was now on no one's mind, not even Rachel's.
Finally arriving at the hospital, Shelby signed Quinn in, Mr Schue, Puck, and Miss Pillsburry got her into a wheelchair, and the other Glee guys helped Artie out of the bus. Once organized, they made a mad rush for her delivery room until the doctor stopped them, "Whoa, everyone, just calm down. I can't have you all in there."
This time it was Finn who answered, "Shelby, Puck, and Mr Schue, you go ahead. Miss Pillsburry will watch us." After clapping his good friend on the back, Puck followed the others.
The nest few hours were excruciating. Artie was rolling around the waiting room, Tina in his lap. Mercedes and Kurt were talking about who knows what. Matt, Mike, Santana, and Brittany had all gone to find something to eat. Miss Pillsbury was continuously sanitizing her, while Rachel and Finn simply watched everyone.
Though they were not dating, they were also still friends, even though Jesse had returned to Vocal Adrenaline, making Finn correct and, had he followed through on his promise, no longer Rachel's friend.
They were probably two of the most anxious ones in the room. Regardless of their arguing, Finn and Puck had become, not as close as before, but still best friends. And though they were rivals once, Rachel and Quinn had become very close. In truth, though she had never said it, and apart from Finn, Rachel saw Quinn as her best friend.
"They'll be okay," Finn said suddenly. Though she suspected it was more to himself than to her, Rachel grabbed Finn's hand and that's how they waited. Everyone did something to occupy themselves, except for Finn and Rachel. Mercedes had done every one of the girl's hair, and Artie's. Kurt had rated everyone's outfits, eventually Tina had to remind him they were still in costume and look relatively the same.
And then, before they knew it, Puck was rushing out to them, hospital scrubs on and, being very out of character, openly crying with the biggest smile they had ever seen. Everyone made a mad rush to go and see Quinn.
Rachel was the first in and gave Quinn a huge hug; well, huge but still gentle. Everyone else was able to sustain his or her joy enough to wait and hug Quinn when she looked less exhausted. "Where's the baby?" Santana asked, her usual cool composure now dust in the wind.
"In the nursery, I didn't really want to see her. The more I get to hold her the less I'll want to give her to Miss Corcoran. I mean I can still see her if I ever want to, but I don't want her life to be like that, my mom is always here and from time to time my mother drops by? It'll just be too confusing."
Everyone nodded sadly, no one had talked about, but they all expected Quinn to change her mind. "But, Shelby did promise us one other thing, besides naming the baby Beth. That we get to pick godparents."
Puck stepped forward, cleared his throat, and said, "I realize I'm an ass most of the time, especially to you, but you're still my best friend, so Finn would'ya?" Finn smiled and hugged Puck in acceptance.
"And, I realize you're Jewish and therefore this means nothing to you, but how about it Rach?" Quinn asked. After emitting an unusually high-pitched noise, Rachel looked ecstatic and as though, it did in fact, mean a lot to her.
As all the Glee kids and their two chaperones sat down around Quinn's bed; Puck lying next to her, Tina in Artie's chair, Finn and Rachel smushed together on a small chair that was supposed to be a couch, and everyone on various forms of seating, except Brittany who happily sat on the floor.
While the rambunctious group laughed and joked in one room, Will Schuester made his way to the nursery where he saw Shelby beaming at a small baby wrapped in a pink blanket. The look on her face made Will rethink some things.
"I think I was wrong," he said, startling her as she hastily wiped away her tears. "I said you weren't like Rachel, that you were too hardened to really be like her. Well, all you needed was that baby. She's changed you Shelby, and you haven't even held her yet."
Shelby was ready to defend her toughness when Will gave her a genuine smile and said over his shoulder as he left, "It's a good thing, trust me. You take care of that baby or you may just have a riot of angry teenage, glee club members breaking down your door."
And as he left, Shelby giggled. Whether at his joke or the way little Beth just looked straight at her, who knows?
