Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.
*Apologies for the wait, I have been on holiday to Majorca and for once I didn't take my laptop, it was just sun, sea and relaxation for a whole week, bliss.*
A/N: So how will the future play out?
"Hi," Beth cried as she all but leapt off the train on Friday night. She ran to greet her parents and got caught up in the tightest, squishiest hug her mom could give her. "Wow," she exclaimed and pressed both hands to her mom's stomach. "Mom, what have you been eating?" she laughed. "This is huge," she giggled to her dad. "What happened? I was gone for a week and boom, she popped?" she demanded joyfully.
"I don't know," Puck replied with a huge grin, he'd thought the same thing this morning when Quinn had waddled down the stairs. "Only five more weeks and your sister will be here," he reminded Beth as they climbed into the truck.
"We've been trying to decide on baby names," Quinn panted, she couldn't really get her breath anymore, the baby was pushing up against her diaphragm, squeezing the air out of her lungs and making eating a thing to dread rather than savour, heart burn really was the pits. "I like Lily," she told Beth and waited for her input.
"I like that," Beth nodded thoughtfully. "Hm, Lily. Lily. Lily Puckerman," she whispered to herself. "Lily Puckerman," she repeated. "Mmm, I like it," she announced with an emphatic nod.
"That makes three of us," Puck said with a huge, cheesy grin. "And is there something you want to tell us?" he asked with his eyebrow raised high.
"About what?" Beth asked with interest, she hadn't the faintest idea what her dad was getting at.
"About a guy named Jordan?" Puck expanded and watched Beth's face while he waited for her to add more. "About the fact that he says he's your boyfriend?" he added when Beth remained silent. She chewed her lip nervously. Oh crap, her old phone. Jordan must have called her thinking that she had it with her at ballet camp, Beth didn't know his number off by heart to have been able to contact him with her new phone number and the internet connection out in the asscrack of the back of beyond, where she'd been for the last week, had been sketchy at best. Shit, her dad looked pissed. "Beth, you aren't even fourteen years old yet, there's no damn way you are dating that guy, or any guy come to that," Puck insisted.
"But, dad," Beth cried.
"We'll discuss this again when you're eighteen," Puck replied firmly, interrupting Beth's cry, his eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead.
"But da-ad," Beth wailed.
"We can discuss it when you're twenty-one if you prefer," Puck countered, still without making any eye contact with either Quinn or Beth.
"Mo-om," Beth turned to Quinn and wailed to her too. Quinn said nothing, she'd talk to Puck later, see if she could get him to calm down, change his mind. Quinn couldn't help but have a little giggle to herself, talk about over-protective-dad syndrome!
"How old were you when you started dating?" Quinn asked as she climbed into bed beside Puck.
"That is so not the point," Puck sighed. "You don't fool me," he advised Quinn as he reached out to pull her into his arms. "I know exactly where this is going, and she is still not dating that guy, or any other guy," he insisted. "And it's late, let's get some sleep, we have that appointment with Dr Clark tomorrow morning, remember?" And anyway, Puck didn't actually start dating anyone, he went from whoring around to being a dad at sixteen and married at seventeen, to his gorgeous, blonde baby mama. And she was still gorgeous even after all these years, especially with that little pregnant waddle she had going on at the moment. Puck shifted against Quinn, his body on fire for her as usual, but he tempered that, controlled his lust to allow her the rest that she so sorely needed, she looked absolutely exhausted.
"We'll agree to shelve this discussion till a later time," Quinn replied diplomatically then yawned delicately behind her hand. In truth, she was tired, way too tired for this particular topic anyway. Quinn lay quietly for a while, unable to switch off her mind despite her exhaustion. "Ok, it's later," she announced firmly an hour later. Quinn struggled to sit up then snapped on the lamp at her side of the bed. "Why can't Beth date?" she asked. "She'll be fourteen years old in two weeks. Even I was allowed to date when I turned fourteen and you know how strict my parents were," she rambled on. Quinn shuffled about to get comfortable. "Don't pretend to be asleep," she grumbled at Puck and nudged him. "Puck," she said. "Puck," she called, louder than before. "Puckerman," she yelled right beside his ear.
"Fuck, Jeez, what?" Puck cried as he shot up, almost banging heads with Quinn. "Is it the baby? Is it coming?" he demanded, blinking owlishly in the unexpectedly bright light of their bedroom.
"Why won't you allow Beth to date?" Quinn asked calmly as she smoothed the covers over her knees.
"What?" Puck demanded. "You woke me up to ask me that?"
"Yes," Quinn replied primly. "So come on," she encouraged. "Why can't Beth and this Jordan boy date?" she asked.
"You know how old I was the first time I wanted you? First time I dreamed about getting you naked, about getting inside you?" Puck sighed, he leaned back on the bed on his elbows, with his fists bunched into the covers. "Fourteen. I was fourteen years old. And I tried every trick in the book to get with you," he told her. "Absolutely everything, but you ignored my every move. I would have moved mountains to get you to notice me, I would have slayed dragons for you, but you never even saw me, you only saw Finn. I wanted you to see me so desperately, I even hooked up with some of the most self-centred, self-obsessed, boring people that God ever put on this earth, the damn Cheerios. And you still never noticed me. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when Sue Sylvester upset you so much that day, when I found you crying, it was like the stars had collided or something, everything had fallen into place. Finn was off practicing his singing and dancing with Rachel, your parents were out of town, none of your girls were available for shopping and moral support, so you turned to me. Me. The one guy on the planet you should probably have run a million miles from. But you didn't. And look what happened."
"Yes, so?" Quinn demanded with a puzzled look at Puck.
"We were in your bed inside fifteen minutes," Puck reminded Quinn. "I had your panties off you and your virginity was history within thirty minutes. You think I want that for her?" he asked, hooking his thumb in the general direction of Beth's bedroom, Puck was absolutely incredulous that he should even have to ask that question.
"No, of course not, neither of us wants that for her," Quinn replied and rolled her eyes, "but the best way to make something more exciting and enticing is to make it forbidden," she advised. "If we really don't want anything to happen, if we really want them to take it slow, we invite him in, get to know him, let him get to know us, make sure he knows all about us, about what can happen in life, you know? Make him think twice, three times, whatever, before he'd take a chance on doing something stupid with Beth," she said softly. "And then you take him to one side and let him know that you'll kick his ass all the way to Lima if he tries to so much as look at her in a bathing suit," she added in a harder voice. Puck didn't speak, he grinned and nodded, he could see the logic.
"Fine," Puck sighed tiredly, "she can invite him to her welcome home dinner tomorrow evening," he agreed, "but if I catch him putting the moves on her, he's gone, he is so gone," he promised.
"Cool," Quinn murmured then snapped off the light and shuffled down in the bed to snuggle up to Puck. "Night," she whispered then stroked and kissed his chest. Puck hugged her tight as the tenderness between them evolved into something far more satisfying.
"Mmmm," Puck sighed as his breath slowed down, "I love that we can still do that," he murmured into the back of Quinn's neck, he gently squeezed her breast with one hand and with the other, he rubbed her tight belly. "I think we rocked Lily to sleep," he muttered with a hint of a laugh.
"I think we did," Quinn agreed and turned her head to touch her lips to his. "Night," she whispered again.
"Night," Puck repeated, "I love you," he added softly, but Quinn was already asleep.
"So what are your plans for the summer, Jordan?" Puck asked as Beth and Quinn brought wonderfully aromatic dishes into the dining room, where he and Jordan were both sat, regarding each other uncomfortably, slightly suspiciously.
"Oh, I, er, I think my dad has plans for me to work with him," Jordan replied cautiously.
"And your dad is a...?" Puck queried, allowing Jordan to answer.
"He's an architect and a contractor. He always wanted to get involved in the builds, to see a project through from start to finish, so he does that too," Jordan quickly answered, Jordan knew it made his dad sound like a really great guy but he also knew his dad was just a control freak who hated anyone getting his plans and designs wrong. "He does a lot for the church, helps parishioners who need work done on their property but can't afford it, a bit like Extreme Makeover but not on such a large scale," he added. Puck nodded, impressed that the guy seemed to be setting a really good example to the boy in front of him. It still didn't mean that he liked the kid sniffing around his baby though.
"So, we thought we might spend a few days hanging at Morris Cove, all the guys are going to be there, Gabby's dad is going to be testing their new boat," Beth said as she took the seat next to Jordan and offered him the steaming bowl of pasta. "Pasta?" she asked and still managed to give Jordan a slightly flirty glance, even in front of her dad.
"I thought you were working with your dad?" Puck pounced immediately on the contradiction.
"I will be but he does let me have some down time too," Jordan answered with a shrug. "Thanks," he muttered to Beth as he helped himself to a decent sized helping of pasta.
"Jeez, the kid can eat," Puck thought to himself as he helped himself to an equally large portion of pasta. Puck scowled at his plate.
"Chicken Parmesan?" Quinn interjected quickly before Puck could say anything else, she thrust one hot dish in front of Beth and Jordan and the other in front of Puck. Quinn glanced at Puck and could see that he was simmering slightly, he looked like he might just blow before the meal ended, he really needed to work on that, Quinn needed to come up with a distraction. "I made you something really special for dessert," she informed Puck with a flirty smile of her own. Quinn bit her lip and looked through her lashes at him, whisking Puck right back to their high school days. God, she could still do it for him, every time. Puck felt the blood rush to his groin and was thankful that the pastel coloured table cloth covered the evidence. Quinn glanced in that direction and lifted one eyebrow, she knew exactly what his reaction would be and she teasingly poked her tongue into her cheek a couple of times, Puck gulped, he loved it when she did that, he knew that as soon as it was physically possible, he was going to get transported to his own personal heaven.
"Oooh," Beth cried, "what's for dessert?" she asked excitedly, her mom was fabulous at making desserts.
"Cannoli?" Puck almost begged. What could make his day any better? Apart from dickwad quitting looking at his baby like she was a piece of chocolate cake to drool over. Chicken Parmesan, cannoli and the promise of a blow job, God, life was treating him good right now. Puck absolutely loved Quinn's current cravings, Italian food and him - more specifically his dick in her mouth - usually in that order.
"Of course," Quinn replied with a grin and sat down next to Puck, opposite Jordan and Beth. Quinn and Beth managed to distract Puck enough to enjoy the meal that they had made for him and Jordan, even Jordan began to relax and be himself around Puck and the atmosphere relaxed somewhat.
"So now that you're out of school for the duration," Puck asked Quinn, turning slightly to his side to ask her, "do you think we can get this nursery painted and everything ready for Lily to join us? We only have a few weeks left," he reminded her unnecessarily.
"Errm, I can help with that," Jordan offered, "if you'd like," he added nervously.
"Really?" Puck asked, taken aback that the youth would offer up his spare time to get covered in paint for no reward. "It's not a paying job," he informed Jordan, "just so you know that upfront."
"It's cool," Jordan replied with a shrug. "I'm usually assigned to my dad's paint crew," he added, letting Puck know that he was more than capable of painting a room. He had a few design ideas for babies rooms that he hadn't been able to get past the project manager on the last few builds that he'd been involved in, he'd been told they'd be too expensive for the limited budget. "I have some ideas," he said, deciding to just come out with it. "Here, check these out," he suggested as he brought up a file on his phone and offered it to Puck and Quinn to look at. "I want to be an interior designer," he murmured with an embarrassed shrug.
"These are really cool," Puck said with absolute honesty. He had to give credit where it was due, the kid really knew how to create a warm, relaxing space or an exciting, stimulating space. "Do you want to come up and look at the room?" he asked, standing up from the table. "Maybe if we give you a few parameters to work with, maybe you can come up with a design for us?" he suggested. Jordan nodded and stood up to follow Puck up the stairs, Quinn and Beth gave each other 'what the hell?' looks.
"So he's not as bad as you thought?" Quinn asked as she struggled to get her pillows comfortable.
"I'm still holding judgement," Puck sidestepped giving an actual answer. He didn't want to admit that he'd been impressed with the kid, saw that the kid had respect for his elders, respect for Beth too or at least it seemed like he had. He'd see. Maybe. Quinn sighed and got comfortable. "I haven't forgotten, you know," Puck murmured and leaned over her to flick her nipple with his tongue, he blew on the cotton pj top covering her and watched her nipple rise up. "I seem to remember the promise of a blow job," he said with a grin, looking up into Quinn's shining eyes. "I'm willing to get things started," he offered, sounding magnanimous as though it would be a chore to make sweet love to his wife.
"I haven't forgotten either," Quinn replied, struck breathless as the sensations flooding through her right at this second were almost overwhelming. Puck sucked the distended nub into the hot cavern of his mouth. Quinn sucked in her breath. "No, I can't take it, too sensitive," she gulped, pushing Puck further down her body. Puck didn't need Quinn to draw him a map, immediately, he thrust his hand between her thighs and stroked her through her cotton, mid-thigh length, pj pants. "Mmmmm, right there," she sighed and allowed her legs to fall open. Puck happily obliged. "Mmmmm," Quinn groaned as he slipped his hand into the waistband of her pants and slid lower. "Kneel up," she instructed and turned over onto her side slightly. Puck complied in an instant, he knew exactly how this was going to go, it was her favourite, he would kneel at her head so that she could indulge in her passion for his dick in her mouth and he could still reach into her pants to tease her with his dexterous digits.
"Ahhhh," Puck sighed as Quinn kissed along the length of the growing bulge in his boxers. He kept up the strumming movement of the fingers of his right hand - Quinn thanked God for Puck's amazing guitar skills - even as he thrust the fingers of his other hand into her gleaming blonde locks. "God, you're awesome," he groaned and rocked his hips forwards. Quinn looked up through her lashes and smiled, she pulled the waistband down slowly, very slowly. Puck's erection sprang forwards, almost slapping Quinn in the face. She giggled and opened her mouth to catch it. Puck moaned with delight, Quinn maneuvered herself to get into a better position. She hummed as her tongue stroked all the way from his tingling, aching balls to the sensitive, quivering tip. Puck hissed when she took as much of him as she could into her mouth and sucked, sucked him hard. "Fuck," he growled, "fuck, fuck, God I love you."
Puck pulled back when he felt himself getting close, felt the tingle grow, knew that just one more twist from her talented hand, one more suck from her amazing mouth, could make him lose it, big style. Quinn turned over onto her side away from Puck, he slid down behind her and lifted her leg enough to make room for himself, he fed his raging erection into her soaking, weeping slit. Quinn mewled, her body contracted and twisted away from Puck, her head twisted towards him, their lips joined, their tongues tangled together, Puck's fingers nipped and tweaked at her nipples, they rocked together, slammed together, Puck went as deep as he dare, he pulled back, Quinn cried out and pushed back into him, she'd felt the loss acutely. "Careful," Puck groaned into Quinn's ear, his hand slid over her stomach to cradle their baby girl. "God, Quinn," he cried as he exploded inside her, deep inside her, an instant later Quinn felt herself burst into a million pieces.
Beth tiptoed past her parents' room on her way down the stairs, she winced as she heard them, knew that they were in the throes of passion, she gagged and pulled a face. "God, how embarrassing," she thought. "My mom and dad still go at it like rabbits and she's about to pop. Gross!"
"I thought you were never coming," Jordan whispered when Beth finally eased the door open. "Come here," he murmured as he drew her into his arms. "I missed you this week," he admitted. Beth melted a little more at his words. "Please, for me, just this one time," he begged after whispering something into Beth's ear.
"I can't, you know I can't," Beth refused with a nervous giggle, she began to feel rather uncomfortable. Sneaking out to meet Jordan had seemed like such an exciting thing to do when she was planning it in her head, she'd planned the entire romantic conversation in her mind. This was when Jordan would tell her that he loved her, that he would love her for forever, that they would be together for all time, just like her mom and dad. Beth thought that the dream was a lot better than the reality.
"You know there are other girls at school who will put out, right?" Jordan grumbled, pushing Beth away from him a little, they both knew that was true, they both knew the two girls at school who were pregnant already, at fourteen! "Look, if you want to act like a little kid, that's fine, but I'm a dude, I've got needs," he informed Beth with a sneer. Beth didn't reply, she watched Jordan walk away, her heart fell to her feet. Oh God, what should she do now?
"You've got a spring in your step this morning," Steve, Puck's boss commented with a chuckle on Monday morning. "You get lucky last night or something?"
"Life is good, man, what can I tell you?" Puck replied with a huge cheesy grin before throwing himself into his morning's work. "Last night and this morning, Quinn sure is horny when she's pregnant, it's fucking awesome," he reminded himself silently.
"Puck," Steve shouted over the noise of the workshop a couple of hours later. "Puck, Quinn on the phone for you," he yelled, holding the handset up to gesture for Puck to come to the office.
"Hey babe, s'up?" Puck asked as he tucked the phone between his cheek and his shoulder and wiped his hands on a moist, chemical impregnated cleansing cloth. "Babe, calm down, slower, speak slowly," he advised when he couldn't understand a word that she said. "Holy crap," he hissed. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm fucking sure, you idiot," Quinn yelled. "I should know when I'm in fucking labour, you moron," she growled then moaned as another pain tore through her. Fuck, they both knew that sex at this stage of pregnancy could bring on contractions, and they'd done it a lot over the last few weeks, the past few days more than ever, Quinn was almost insatiable right now, morning, noon and night if she got the opportunity. And Puck never refused.
"Where's Beth?" Puck asked at the same time as he unfastened his overalls.
"Out, she's out with Jordan," Quinn replied, her voice almost a whine. "Please come home, I need you here," she wailed, bursting into tears.
"I'm on my way," Puck assured her then hung up. "Steve?" he called, jogging into the workshop. "I got to go, man, she's in labour," he added.
"Good luck," Steve shouted after Puck's retreating back. "I bet you and Carla don't leave that big an age gap between kids," he called to Joe who was working quietly at the other side of the garage.
"Don't even joke about that, she's already bustin' my balls wanting another kid," Joe grumbled, he shook his head and sighed. "We're eighteen years old, we're barely keeping our heads above water as it is and she wants to try for another? She must be freakin' nuts," he muttered. Joe really loved his son, would do anything for him, but he wasn't ready to do it all again, not just yet, in five or ten years, maybe, but not right now.
"Quinn?" Puck shouted as he flew through the front door. "Did you call the doctor?" he demanded. He raced in and out of every room downstairs and found no sign of her. "Quinn? Where the fuck are you?" he shouted.
"I'm up here," Quinn replied, she sounded extremely despondent, she sounded like a petulant three-year-old.
"S'up?" Puck asked, a bit puzzled and completely freaked out when he found her, laid on her back on the floor in the yet to be started nursery. "Are you ok?"
"Nope," Quinn replied tearfully. "It wasn't labour," she mumbled. "It was gas," she admitted with a pout.
Puck tried, with immense difficulty, to hold back the laughter. He knew that Quinn would not appreciate any of the jokes or comments that were currently bombarding his brain. "Oh babe," he managed to say before he burst out laughing. "All this time we thought you were pregnant and really, you just needed to fart?" he spluttered. Quinn gave him her ice-maiden stare. Puck stopped laughing abruptly. "Come on," he said, getting down on the floor with her and wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sure it won't be long till Lily puts in her appearance," he assured her. "But I'd rather she stays put for a couple of weeks longer, you know?" he added quietly and pressed a few kisses to Quinn's head.
Quinn sniffed and nodded, she felt stupid, ridiculously stupid. And fat. And uncomfortable. "I need to pee," she grumbled and let Puck help her to her feet. Puck watched with amusement as Quinn sloped away to the bathroom, her shoulders slumped in total dejection.
"Phew," Puck thought, "I am so not ready for this to happen today, we need to get this nursery fixed up, pronto," he sighed to himself as he looked around the as yet unprepared room. "Better see what design this Jordan kid comes up with."
"Wow, she popped that out quick, I didn't expect you to come back today," Steve commented when Puck walked back into the workshop. "You know, you should take a couple of days at least, I mean, Quinn will need some help with the new baby, won't she?"
"False alarm," Puck replied with a roll of his eyes. "You'd think she'd know the difference between labour pains and gas, right?" he asked with a snort of laughter. "I mean, it's not like she hasn't done this before, right?" he snorted again and shook his head. "Then again," he scoffed, "I might have known, she had no clue when she went into labour before, she just went out on stage and performed with the rest of us, three song and dance numbers then her water broke straight after we got off stage," he sighed, remembering the day that Beth was born in minute detail.
"Hold up," Steve shouted. "Singing and dancing?" he asked incredulously. "You?" he demanded, amusement ready to spill over. "You seriously want me to believe that the badass with the mohawk was into song and dance in high school? Seriously?" Steve couldn't hold it back any longer, he burst out laughing, almost choking himself in an effort to get it together, bring himself back under control.
Joe just looked at Puck in utter amazement. "Mohawk?" he asked.
Puck shook his head. "You had to be there," he said in dismissal. "And hey, you," he called to Steve, "when Marilyn comes to pick you up for your salsa lesson on Saturday, I am not going to lie and tell her you got called out on a tow job, I am going to point her in the direction of the john and tell her you're hiding in there," he informed his boss. Steve quickly stopped laughing, he looked worried. And scared. "Yeah, that shut you up, didn't it?" Puck muttered as he walked away to collect his overalls.
"This is great," Quinn sighed as she looked over the design that Jordan had created for the nursery. "Puck, look at this," she said with excitement as she handed the tablet over for him to browse through the different pictures showing the room from different angles. "When can you get started?" she asked.
"Tomorrow?" Jordan offered uncertainly. "My dad is willing to excuse me from working with him to concentrate on this project," he explained with a slightly nervous shrug. Jordan glanced over at Beth who was glaring at him slightly. Crap. Jordan wondered if Candice Walters had informed Beth that she had stepped into the breach while Beth had been away at ballet camp, and offered her services for the duration. And what freakin' services. Jordan squirmed a little at the kitchen table, he felt the excitement race through his body and knew exactly where it was going to land. Yep, there it was, in his lap for all the world to see and know he was a freakin' pervert for getting a hard on when he was talking to his girlfriend's parents about a freakin' nursery. But all he could think about was Candice Walters' lips wrapped around his dick. Jordan really wished that Beth would have agreed to do that on Saturday night so he could get Candice out of his head. Crap, what did her dad just say?
"Cool," Puck nodded his agreement. "What do you need to get started?" he asked. "Will you two be ok here if me and Jordan go to the hardware store to get the stuff?" he asked, he really didn't want to leave Quinn alone for too long, this morning might have been a false alarm, but that didn't mean that Lily wasn't getting ready to join them soon.
"Sure," Beth answered with a touch of something in her voice, Puck couldn't tell what it was, but she was looking at the kid like she was going to rip his balls off.
"Want to tell me what you did to piss my daughter off?" Puck asked as he and Jordan drove away in his truck.
"I'm not sure," Jordan replied with a blatant lie. He knew exactly what had pissed Beth off. First of all he'd kissed another girl behind her back and this other girl had also shown Jordan the benefits of kissing girls who did not respect themselves and who wanted desperately to be older than their fourteen years.
"Well, my advice is to make sure you find out what it is you did then never repeat the mistake," Puck advised as they turned into the huge superstore's parking lot, "because, if Beth is anything like her mother, she can hold a grudge for freakin' years," he sighed, more to himself than Jordan. Puck noted that the kid gulped and looked scared. Yep, he knew what he'd done alright, but as long as he didn't hurt Beth in any way, Puck could let him live. Beth being pissed at him was probably punishment enough, plus, Puck kind of liked the fact that Beth seemed to be cooling off this guy. Awesome.
"Oh Rachel," Quinn sighed into the phone. "I am so pissed off with all of this," she moaned and rubbed at her stomach where Lily seemed to be trying to push her foot right through Quinn's skin. Even through her dress Quinn could see the shape of the tiny foot. "How have you done this so many times?" she demanded with a childish pout and poked at the foot. "Why?"
"God only knows," Rachel admitted, "but this is the last, I told my OBGYN that I did not want to know the sex of the baby, I'll just wait and see and if it's another boy that pops out of this tired old uterus then Finn can go hang himself because there is no damn way I am getting pregnant again, if he wants a baby girl that much he can carry the next one himself," she announced crossly.
"Wait," Quinn pounced, "I thought it was you that desperately wanted a girl," she told Rachel.
"I only want one because that's all that Finn ever talks about, having a baby girl and calling her Drizzle," Rachel admitted. "Like I'm ever going to let him call my child, Drizzle," she scoffed. "I'd have stopped at two otherwise and now look at me," she groaned, "baking baby number seven even as we speak, I must be freaking nuts," she cried. "I don't want any more babies," she wailed. "I need a nanny," she added as she started to sob uncontrollably.
"You need birth control," Quinn advised and made a mental note to call Finn and put him in the picture. They might have been together forever, but it seemed like Mrs and Mrs Finn Hudson did not communicate with each other at all.
"Wow," Quinn breathed as Puck led her into the completed nursery. It had only taken Puck and Jordan one weekend to get everything prepped, painted and built, once Jordan had created the mural for the feature wall. The room was now ready for their new little princess to arrive and fill the beautiful oak crib. "It's beautiful, amazing, the wall, it's just, it's so, wow," she said, she couldn't get her words together.
"That's pretty cool," Beth whispered. "Oh, there's Nana, and aunt Frannie," she realised as she saw faces of people that she loved peeking out at her from the huge woodland scene that Jordan had made for one wall. He'd used a program on his computer to create three huge posters that filled the entire wall, he'd photo-shopped friends and family into different characters and creatures who were popping out at Beth and Quinn. Puck changed the lighting a little and the picture took on a different hue, it became a soothing scene, one that a small child would not be too stimulated by. He changed the light again and the original scene popped back into place, the picture that was designed to engage and stimulate tiny, inquisitive minds.
"Look," Quinn giggled as her stomach jiggled up and down. "I think Lily likes her room already," she said with a grin. "Just three more weeks, baby girl," she advised as she lovingly stroked her huge stomach.
"Are you definitely sure this time?" Puck asked with a grin as he unfastened his overalls. "It definitely isn't gas, right?"
"Oooooh, nooooooo," Quinn cried through gritted teeth. "My water broke just now, this is definitely it," she confirmed then hung up.
"Or you just pissed yourself," Puck thought unkindly then immediately felt apologetic even though he hadn't said it out loud. Puck knew he was just nervous, it had been fourteen years - almost to the day - since they had last been in this position. "Beth?" he said as his call was answered. "Yep, how close are you to home?" he asked. "Good, go be with your mom, I think your sister is on her way," he told his daughter and then had to take the phone away from his ear as her squeal threatened to burst his ear drum.
"Do you think she might hold on till tomorrow?" Beth asked excitedly.
"Better tell your mom to cross her legs if you want the baby to come on your birthday," Puck replied. "Honey, I've got to go, I'm leaving work right now," he told her, "I'll be home as soon as I can."
"I just got here," Beth informed her dad. "Ewww, gross, mom? Did you pee yourself?" she asked, she'd obviously forgotten that her dad was still on the line.
"Beth? Is your mom ok?" Puck demanded, he could hear Quinn's none too quiet pants, grunts and moans in the background. "Tell her I'm on my way, ok? I'll be with you soon, and Beth, bring her bag down from the hall closet," he instructed.
"I'm here, I'm here," Puck murmured against Quinn's head the second he reached her, she was bent over, leaning against the back of the sofa in the den. "How far apart are the contractions?" he asked.
"About every seven to nine minutes," Beth replied, she'd been timing them because her Nana had told her that she should. "They last about thirty seconds or so," she added because Nana had told her to time that too.
"Cool, so no rush then?" Puck murmured with a hint of sarcasm. He felt Quinn tense up as another contraction built in her, he talked her through her breathing technique, helped her to take control. "Better?" he asked as he felt her relax again. Quinn nodded and licked her dry lips. "So when did the doctor say we should go to the hospital?" he asked.
"Any time now," Beth replied for her mom. "She said when the contractions are consistent and regular that we should make our way to the delivery suite."
"Oh, we should, should we?" Puck asked with a grin. They'd talked about Beth joining them for the birth and wondered if it was a good thing. Puck thought it was an extremely good thing, he could think of no better way to bring home the realities of childbirth than for her to be present at the birth of her baby sister. "Ok, let's go," he said as he helped Quinn to the front door, thankful that she'd changed her clothes, he so didn't want to ruin the seats in his truck.
"And breathe. Mom, breathe," Beth urged as she rubbed her mom's hand that was gripping her own in an almost bone crushing hold. "And relax," she added as the contraction eased off.
"How are you two doing?" Puck asked as he returned with yet more ice chips. "This is way longer than it took for you to pop out," he informed Beth, Quinn glared at him.
"Pop out?" she demanded. "Pop, fucking, out?" she growled. "I'd like to see you laid here with your feet in fucking stirrups, popping one out," she added nastily and gave Puck a stare that almost melted his junk. Puck knew better than to reply, Beth was trying to contain her shock and surprise and her amusement, she'd never heard her mom say words like that before.
"Almost there, one more, just try one more, come on Quinn, push," Dr Freeman urged.
"I don't want to push any more," Quinn wailed tiredly, she'd been at this for hours and nothing seemed to be happening. "I want the baby to stay here forever," she cried dramatically. "I want Dr Cl-ar-ar-ar-ar-ark," she sobbed.
"Well, she can't and Dr Clark would prefer to be here doing this than in intensive care as a patient, I'm sure," Dr Freeman said sharply, she'd been watching the monitors and had noted that the baby's heartbeat had dipped drastically during the last few contractions, she was getting worried. "Now Quinn, I need you to dig deep, deeper than you ever have before, I need you to push this baby out right now, here's another contraction, go with it. Puuuuuush," she urged forcefully. Quinn couldn't do anything but comply, her body was doing it for her. "That's it, perfect, Quinn, stop, stop, stop, I need you to stop," she shouted as the baby's head emerged. "One second, one second," she muttered to herself as she ran her finger around the baby's neck. "The cord is around her neck," she muttered in an aside to the nurse by her side. "Quinn, Quinn," she called to get Quinn's attention. "Quinn, you need to listen to me right now, ok," she said when Quinn looked at her through tear filled eyes. "I have to try to get the cord from around her neck first, ok?" Quinn snivelled and nodded. "Oh crap," Dr Freeman thought, she could feel that the cord was also wrapped around the baby's arm and there wasn't anything she could do about it right this second, not without performing an episiotomy on Quinn. The doctor picked up the weird shaped scissors from the instrument tray at her side. Carefully, she made a snip, then another. A woosh of fluid cascaded over the floor, the doctor grabbed for the baby who now almost flew into her waiting hands. Quickly she untangled the cord from around baby's left arm and wrist and from around her neck, she turned the baby over onto her stomach across her hand, the little girl was still blue, a darker blue than Dr Freeman had wanted to see. The doctor rubbed the baby's back briskly, handled her quite roughly, Puck thought as he watched in horror, another doctor quickly clamped the cord and cut it, a job that Puck had been planning on doing, but this seemed rushed, no one was talking, something was seriously wrong here.
"What's happening?" Quinn cried, no one was speaking, the baby wasn't crying, she didn't know what was going on.
A flurry of activity was happening on at the other side of the room, doctors and nurses crowded round the large, clear plastic crib where Dr Freeman had laid baby Lily. Someone was holding an oxygen mask near the baby's face, someone else was rubbing her tummy roughly with a towel, someone else had thrust a stethoscope against her chest. All of a sudden the baby coughed and spluttered then cried out weakly, the wail rising, gaining in volume and strength everyone in the room let out a relieved breath that few of them even realised they were holding. It took a few more minutes until Dr Freeman was satisfied that everything was alright with the tiny girl.
"There you go," Dr Freeman sighed as she handed the baby to Quinn, placed her gently into her mother's waiting arms. "She gave me quite a fright there," she admitted.
"But everything's ok now, right?" Puck all but begged.
"Yes, she checks out just fine, her APGAR was a three on delivery but a solid ten at five minutes," Dr Freeman replied, "she was just a little lazy to get going but I think she'll be fine."
"That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my entire life," Beth told Puck quietly once they had moved to Quinn's room on the maternity ward. Quinn was asleep in the bed, Beth and Puck sat side by side on the sofa, Beth had Lily cradled in her arms, Puck's arm lay along Beth's shoulders. "I never knew, never realised just how hard it is, for a woman I mean." she whispered, as she gazed at her baby sister, trying to sort through her emotions, filter out the best and worst parts of what she'd seen. Beth knew that she had witnessed a life changing moment. "I know what I want to do," she said decisively. "I want to go to Yale and I want to be a doctor, I want to do Dr Freeman's job," she announced with a satisfied smile.
"You know that it doesn't always work out as well as it has today, right?" Puck felt he had to say, he stroked a gentle finger across Lily's brow, Beth nodded and choked back a tear. Yes, she realised that things could have gone so differently today, could have gone so badly wrong and she was grateful that they hadn't and if she could help just one family have this moment, have this feeling, with their healthy baby in their arms then that would be enough. "Hey, happy birthday," he said as he noticed the time, he leaned over and kissed Beth's head. "Is she the coolest present ever?" he teased.
"Happy anniversary to you and mom, too," Beth murmured and kissed her dad's cheek. "I think she's more your present than mine, I'll go with the sound system that we talked about the other day," she decided with a wink.
"Hey," Quinn croaked from the bed at the other side of the room as she woke up. "Happy birthday, darling," she said to Beth. Beth stood and carried the baby over to her mom.
"Happy anniversary," Beth said quietly to Quinn and kissed her cheek. "Thank you," she added as all three of them watched the shifting, changing expressions cross the little girl's face as she slept.
"For what, honey?" Quinn asked.
"For having me, for giving me a fabulous life," Beth answered. "I know you were only two years older than I am when you had me and you could have done things so differently, I know a girl who made a different choice and she cries every day at school," she revealed, Quinn gasped at that, sympathy for the poor girl flooding right through her. "I am so proud of you, proud that you're my parents...our parents, God, that's going to be hard to get used to," she giggled.
"And we're proud to be your parents," Puck replied from Quinn's other side. "And any choice you make in the future, college, career, whatever, we will always support you," he reminded Beth.
"One thing that today has brought home to me," Beth added and drew in a nervous breath, "is that I'm not ready to have a boyfriend, especially not one who thinks that fourteen is old enough to do things that could land a girl in this bed right here. I'm happy to just have boys who are friends, I'll leave the rest of it till I'm older. A lot older," she finished with a little giggle. "But not twenty-one, dad, don't get your hopes up." Puck snickered at that and felt a tinge of shame spread all over him. He had been that guy, the one who thought that it was ok to play adult games when really they were still just children. Puck was so glad that Beth did not want to put herself in the same position that he and Quinn had been in, he was so relieved that she was looking towards a bright and sparkling future for herself. And he was proud of her for being able to say, in front of both him and Quinn that the asswipe who had called himself her boyfriend had been putting pressure on her to go further than she was comfortable with. "Dad," Beth said as she saw his face change. "I want you to promise that you won't do anything to Jordan," she demanded, "I am your daughter after all, I took care of it myself," she announced proudly.
"What did you do?" Quinn asked, not quite sure if she felt proud or horrified.
"Called his house and left a message with his mom that his test results were in and could he make an appointment at the STD clinic," Beth giggled.
"That poor kid," Puck thought with a grim laugh. "Serves him right, don't ever mess with a Puckerman."
"Hello," Moya called as she and Chloe burst through the front door two days later. "Where are they?" she asked Puck who was carrying what looked like a load of fluffy, pink blankets, towards the kitchen.
"The den," Puck replied with a nod of his head in that direction. "And watch yourself, kid can puke," he muttered to himself as he went through the kitchen to the utility room. "And crap," he added as he gagged at the smell from the bundle he'd just unwrapped to thrust into the washing machine.
Puck stood in the doorway and watched his mom, his sister, his wife and his daughter all fawn and coo over the tiny little girl in his mom's arms. "She is so precious," Moya whispered tearfully. "Quinn, you did an amazing job," she said with a sniff, "again."
Puck pushed away from the door frame. "Hey, what about me? Don't I get any praise too?" he teasingly grumbled.
"No," all four of them replied. "You get the fun bit at the beginning, it's the woman who has to endure the hard part at the end," Moya added then looked at her son and smiled. "But you did good, Noah, you did really good," she told him proudly.
Puck walked toward the group and took the baby from his mom. "There are three days in my life that I have never felt prouder of," he said as he swayed slightly to rock the baby. "The day that you were born," he said to Beth and watched her eyes well up, "the day that Lily was born," he added and saw his mom's chin tremble as though she was trying not to cry, then he looked at Quinn, their eyes locked together. "And the day I married you," he said softly, "those are the days that changed my life forever, that made me the man I am, that made me a man I can be proud of being. I love you all so much and I just want you to know that no matter what, I will always be here for you, always." Quinn sobbed first and rushed to hug Puck, he thrust one arm around her, Beth came at him from the other side, careful of Lily in his arms. Moya quietly cried, she couldn't add a word, even Chloe was struck dumb as she tried to get a handle on her emotions.
"And this is your room," Quinn whispered as she walked around the nursery with the slumbering baby in her arms. "Your daddy did this for you," she said as she looked at the huge mural again, still finding new things to see in it. "Well, he didn't actually do it, he had someone do it but he chose it so it's the same thing," she qualified quickly. "But this is the bit I can't wait for you to see," she said, getting back on track. "When I was a little girl, there was a park near my house," Quinn said quietly as she settled into the nursing chair and put her feet up on the matching footstool. "And I loved nothing more than to go there after school. Sometimes my big sister would take me, sometimes my mom, but my favourite times were when my daddy used to take me. He would push me so high on the swings I thought that I was touching heaven," she sighed, smiling at her own fanciful memories. "When I moved in with your daddy and your nana, I could see that little park from your daddy's room," she whispered, "that's why I spent so much time in there. Not because your daddy was hot or anything, not because he could make me shiver inside with just a glance," she said, totally inappropriately, Quinn was so glad that Lily had no idea what she was actually saying. "Well, maybe it was because of that, see, your daddy was such a show off in those days, all the girls were after him, they all chased him, and sometimes he even let them catch him. But I knew what he was up to, I knew that he was always watching me, showing off and flirting in front of me and I liked it," she murmured. "I used to pretend to ignore him, I even dated other guys so that he'd get jealous, blach, I was so stupid, I should just have told him that Finn never meant anything to me, he was a means to an end, a crown that I didn't even really want, all I wanted was for your daddy to love me, which, thinking back, after all this time, I guess he really did and now I've lost the plot, what was I telling you? Oh, yes, the park, Lily, let me just tell you, I'm not always so scatterbrained, mostly I'm really level headed, it's pregnancy that does this to you, there's no wonder your aunt Rachel is completely nuts, I mean seven kids, she must be totally loopy," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Right, back to the story," Quinn sighed as Lily shifted in her arms, stirred as though to wake up. "So, eventually, me and your dad decided that we were meant to be and on Beth's first birthday, we got married and yes, you're absolutely right, we did put the cart before the horse and it will seriously be frowned upon if either you or Beth do the same," she informed the sleeping child. "And a year or so later we moved here, to New Haven. Our first house was so cute, Beth loved the yard, it had a swing set in it and she would play outside for hours and hours. Eventually, after I finished college and got a job, after your dad finished his engineering course and got promoted at work, we bought this house here and the first thing I noticed when we came to view the house before we put in an offer, was the view from this window, because out there, right across there, is Fort Wooster Park and it looks just like the little park my daddy used to take me to," she said with a huge sigh. "And one day, when you're bigger, maybe Beth can take you to the swings, just like your aunt Frannie used to take me, maybe I can take you, just like your grandma used to take me and maybe your daddy can take you too, because he'll be able to push you so high in that swing, your feet will truly touch the sky," she said and nuzzled at Lily's tiny, tiny feet. "And if your daddy doesn't stop listening from the hallway, he might hear your mommy say some bad things about him," she giggled and looked over to the doorway where Puck stood, peeking shyly into the room.
"Did you mean all of that?" he asked nervously. Quinn bit her lip and nodded. "You really did notice me, knew that I wanted you, had feelings for you?" Again Quinn nodded. "And you never thought to tell me before now?" he asked. "Right," he muttered and shook his head, he couldn't feel sad about it, he'd always known, deep down, that Quinn had loved him for forever. "Did you love me?" he asked with the hint of a grin.
"Yes," Quinn replied, a little smile touched her lips, "especially now."
