Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story. I hope you enjoy chapter two!

Chapter Two: We All Fall Down

Puck's eyes fluttered open when he felt a slight pressure on his leg. Confused, he looked to his left to find some anonymous girl lying in bed next to him. God, I love 'thirsty Thursday', he thought as his eyes scanned the girl. She was very pretty with chestnut brown hair sprawled in a mess on the pillow. Her pink lips formed a pout as she slept and her skinny legs kicked slightly. I could really love you, he thought- if I wasn't already in love with someone else.

Carefully, he climbed out of the bed and tip-toed out of his room, shutting the door noiselessly behind him.

"Why so quiet?" he heard his roommate, Chris Walker, ask.

Puck smirked. "I don't want to wake up the pretty lady sleeping in my bed."

Chris nodded with a goofy smile plastered on his face and he held his hand up for his roommate to high-five. "How is it you get all these ladies and I'm getting none?"

Puck laughed as he looked his roommate up and down. He was on the football team with Puck; a linebacker, almost two times his size. He was big and hairy and made a mess wherever he went. He was a good guy, though, and although he ate more food than Puck imagined anyone could eat and he left hair all over the bathroom when he shaved, he was a good roommate and always put up with Puck's shenanigans.

"Your time will come, dude," Puck said as he slapped Chris's back. He walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a Gatorade and an apple before heading towards the door. "I'm heading to the gym to lift some weights."

"What do you want me to do about this chick in your bed?"

"Show her where the door is?" Puck said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. By now Chris should know how this whole thing operates. He parties, brings a hot chick home, sleeps with her, and never seems her again. It's much easier that way, without the strings and heartbreak and all that girly shit.

He walked down to the garage of his off-campus apartment and got inside his car. He drove to the indoor football facility on campus and hit the weights to let off some steam. He had practically lived at the gym the past few months; even coming in on off-days to work out. This year was his last year to play football and he was going to put blood, sweat, and tears into it. He was going to make sure his team made it to a bowl game and, not just that, but won as well. As one of the leading wide-receivers, it was his job to make sure passes were caught and runs were successful. Plus, all this working out helped to take his mind off other things he didn't want to be thinking about.

After working out Puck went back to his apartment and sat down at the computer to check his e-mail. Luckily, whatever-her-name-was had left by the time he got back, so he didn't have to deal with any of that. When he logged on and saw he had an e-mail from Quinn, he opened it immediately. Usually Quinn only contacted him via e-mail if it was something urgent, or else they just wrote each other back and forth once a month when he sent the check.

Puck,

Yesterday, Beth's doctor informed us the next step in her treatment was to do a bone-marrow transplant. He seems optimistic that if it is successful this may put her into remission, maybe forever. The first thing they do is check immediate family members to see if their marrow is compatible; there is a thirty-five percent chance ours will be. The reason I am e-mailing you is that if it turns out I am not a match you will be the next best option. I'm hoping it doesn't come to this because I know it will give Finn too much to be suspicious about, but if it does, I'm not going to deny you the right to see if you're a match, especially if it means getting Beth better. I'll find out if I'm a match or not next week, so I will e-mail you then and let you know. Thank you for everything.

Love,

Quinn

Puck sighed loudly as he read along. So many emotions filled his head at once he didn't know what to do with himself. He was happy, thankful, and hopeful that they might have found a possible cure for his little girl's disease. He was also a bit thrilled at the prospect of Finn finding out the truth. Years ago he had promised Quinn he wouldn't be the one to tell Finn the fact that he was actually Beth's father, and he had stayed true to his word. But he would be lying if he didn't check his e-mail or phone every single day, waiting for the message that told him things between his best friend and Quinn had gone south. Then he would just sit back and wait for the right moment to swoop in like Batman and save the day.

He got off his computer chair and walked the couple steps to his bed before plopping down on it lazily. He turned until only from his waist down was on the bed, the other half hanging off like a limp noodle. His hands searched under his bed before he found what he was looking for. Carefully, he grabbed a hold of the overflowing Rubbermaid container and, using his amazing abs, lifted his upper-body back onto the bed.

He huffed as he sorted through the many pictures and papers inside the container, making a mental note to organize it one day. He got about half-way through the mess before finding what he was looking for. A sad smile spread across his face as he held the picture to the light for a better look.

It was one of two pictures he had of him and Beth together. The first one was taken at the hospital the day she was born. Being Finn's best friend, it wasn't weird that he suggested he take a picture with the new-born baby. It was the first thing Quinn had ever sent him via mail.

The other picture of them together was the one in his hands. It was taken the summer before he went off to college. Finn and Puck were to go to a Cincinnati Reds game together, sort of like a last hoorah before going their separate ways. But Quinn had ended up getting sick, so the only way they could go was if they brought Beth along. It was hard for Puck to be around Beth, knowing he would never get to raise his baby girl, but it was nice getting to spend a whole day with her.

The two men spoiled her rotten that day. They got her food, candy, and soda. Finn bought her a Cincinnati Reds baseball hat and Puck bought her a foam finger. It was a long game, going into three extra innings, and Puck could remember how content and happy he felt when Beth fell asleep in his arms. Sure, the game was amazing since the Reds won in overtime, but the thing he remembers most from that day was the feeling of Beth's soft skin, hot against his arm. The way she held his shirt, twisting it tightly in her balled-up fist like she was holding onto him for dear life. The way she smiled in her sleep, like she was dreaming of funny circus clowns. He remembered looking down at her, marveling at how much she looked like him. The dark curls, the hazel eyes, the pouty lips. Moments like that were priceless to Puck, and mainly the reason he decided he had to leave Lima. It was just too damn hard.

In the picture was Puck, holding two-year-old Beth in his arms. Her brown, curly hair was wild and untamed since her hygiene had been left to the men that day. Her big, hazel eyes shone the same color as his in the spring afternoon sunlight. On one hand both of them wore a large, red foam finger. It was nearly the same size as Beth and swallowed her entire arm. Puck remembered tickling her slightly as Finn took the picture, the sound of her giggle a perfect melody to his ears. Her smile was large and care-free. His was happy yet sad at the same time. What a bitter-sweet moment that was for him.

Of course if it came to it, Puck would be more than willing to give his marrow to Beth. Even though she was not technically his daughter to protect, he would still do anything for her. All he truly wanted was for her to be happy, and he knew the thing that would make her most happy was getting to be a normal kid again.

X-X-X-X-X

Quinn was exhausted. She had been working over-time ever since she found out about the transplant, trying to earn whatever extra money she could.

Money had always been tight, even before Beth got sick. Finn had started working at Burt's tire shop in high school after his mom started dating the older man and he offered Finn a job. After graduation, Finn began working there full-time. Quinn got a part-time job waitressing at Breadstix while taking on-line college courses. It was difficult for the both of them, balancing work with parenting Beth and finding time to spend together. There was a lot of fighting and Finn spent many nights sleeping on the couch, but they had made it through for Beth.

For two years they kept this balancing act going, but then Beth got sick and it was like their world was turned upside down. The routine they had managed to find was completely disrupted. There's nothing that can prepare you for the moment your doctor tells you your four-year-old daughter has cancer. It was like walking on the beach on a clear, sunny day and out of nowhere comes a hurricane and you're been blown away in the wind, unsure of where you're headed or what lies ahead.

The first and hardest thing Quinn had to do was to quit college and begin working at Breadstix full-time. She had to spend her tuition money on the piling number of medical bills they were receiving. She always promised herself that one day when Beth got better she would go back and finish college. She wanted to be an example to Beth, someone she could look up to. But with the ever rising amount of debt her and Finn had, she was sure she would be sixty before she had enough money to go back to college.

Quinn sighed. She was sitting in Burt and Carol's living room thinking about all of this while waiting for Carol to finish dinner. She did this once a week when they had their 'Hummel family dinner night'.

She looked at Beth who was sitting at the coffee table in front of her, coloring away. In extreme concentration, Beth had her tongue sticking out, a trait she had inherited from her mom. Quinn smiled at how cute her daughter could be.

Just a couple more months Quinn, she thought. Just a couple more months before Beth gets better and things can go back to normal.

Quinn started to think back to the day normal had been erased from her vocabulary.

For the first time in months, Quinn was not startled awake by the sounds of pattering little footsteps coming towards her, jumping on her bed with a thud! She glanced at the clock on her night-stand thinking that it was odd that it was already nine-thirty and Beth had yet to come in and bounce on her bed like a little bunny.

She sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes, her head already filling with things that needed to be done that day. Beth needed new shoes for her first day of pre-school. They were out of milk and flour. She had an English paper she had yet to write, and the laundry still needed to be folded. She sighed as she turned so her feet dangled from the bed. In one little bounce, she hopped off the bed and, still half-asleep, walked slowly down the hall towards her daughter's room.

She squinted as she opened Beth's bedroom door. The light coming from the windows was as bright as the sun to her un-suspecting pupils. She looked over at Beth's bed to see her daughter was still fast asleep. Quinn remembered Beth had said something about not feeling well last night, so she figured maybe she had a cold.

"Wake up, Critter," Quinn said as she gently wiped some curls out of Beth's eyes. As soon as her hand touched the girl's forehead she noticed it was scolding hot.

Beth opened one eye then the other. "I so tired," she said, her voice raspy and forced.

"Your forehead is hot. Do you feel sick?" Quinn asked.

Weakly, Beth nodded her head. "I's too tired to move my body."

"Maybe you have the flu," Quinn suggested. "Mommy will just go into the kitchen and get a wet rag for your forehead."

When Quinn came back into the room Beth had already fallen back asleep. She looked down at Beth to see she was ghostly pale, which was abnormal since she had inherited Puck's naturally tan skin. She laid the wet rag across her daughter's fevered forehead and kissed her before quietly sneaking out of the room.

Quinn was able to finish her English paper as well as fold the laundry before Beth woke up again. She took her temperature and was a bit worried when it was 101 degrees. Because Beth was too weak to even get out of bed, Quinn brought her a bowl of chicken-noodle soup and fed her in bed.

Beth fell back asleep and this time when she awoke, her fever had risen to 103. Quinn knew she needed to get her daughter to the emergency room; she had never seen her fever spike so fast.

As Quinn was helping her feeble daughter get dressed, she noticed a bruise on Beth's leg that was almost the length of her entire thigh. It was purple and blue and very alarming.

"Bethy, how did you get this bruise?" she questioned.

"I bumped it on the table last night on my way to bed."

"Did you hit it hard?"

"No, I didn't even cries," Beth answered.

Quinn scrunched up her forehead. How could her daughter have gotten such a big bruise from bumping it on a table? Suddenly, Quinn began to panic that maybe Beth had more than just the flu.

She called Finn at work and told him to meet her at the emergency room before picking four-year-old Beth up and carrying her out to the car.

They arrived at the hospital in record time. Quinn had to set Beth down to sign her in at the reception desk. It only took two minutes but by the time she picked her daughter up again she was exhausted from standing for so long. Quinn took a seat and Beth cuddled into her lap, resting her head on Quinn's breast and holding on tightly to her stuffed lamb.

A couple minutes later the automatic doors of the emergency room opened and Finn fumbled in. When he saw Quinn he rushed over to her side.

"Daddy, I feels awful," Beth said when she saw her father.

"I know, but you'll be better soon," Finn hoped.

Beth's sweaty curls were sticking to her forehead so Quinn grabbed a bobby-pin from her purse and clipped them back out of the way.

"Elizabeth Renee Hudson," a nurse called a few minutes later. Finn picked Beth up from Quinn's lap and carried her to the nurse, Quinn right behind him. The nurse proceeded to take them into a small room and ask them some questions before leading them into an exam room.

"A doctor should be right with you," the nurse said before leaving, closing the door behind her.

Finn laid Beth down on the exam table. Quinn took one of her tiny hands and began to rub soothing circles on the little girl's palm. They sat in silence for an agonizing ten minutes before the doctor finally showed up.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Lansing," she said with a smile, "what seems to be the problem?"

Quinn explained to her what was going on, listing Beth's symptoms and showing her the bruise. Dr. Lansing did a flu swab as well as a blood test to see if she was anemic.

They had to wait another hour for the results to come back. Beth had fallen asleep on the table. Finn and Quinn just sat in their chairs, their fingers interlocked but they didn't dare speak. They were afraid anything they said would jinx them, so they stayed silent and thought about the fact that their worst fear may be coming true.

When the results came back, it turned out Beth was, in fact, anemic. Dr. Lansing explained that the next thing to do was to find out what was causing the anemia. She made Beth an appointment with a pediatric oncologist and Quinn remembered thinking, 'An oncologist, that's weird. Aren't they cancer doctors?' Then the realization hit her like a train.

"You, you think she might have cancer?" she whispered, like it was a cussword and she didn't want to say it loud enough for Beth to hear.

"There's a possibility," Dr. Lansing answered honestly. "But this meeting with the oncologist is really just to rule it out. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

But asking a mom not to worry about her sick child was like asking the sun not to shine or the moon not to glow; it was pointless. And in the end, all the worrying wasn't for nothing because it turned out Beth did have cancer and Quinn remembered looking out the window, wondering how the sun could shine on such a horrible day.

"Mama, are you okay?" Quinn snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Beth's soft voice. "You look tired."

Quinn rubbed her eyes like it would do something to take the exhaustion away. "Yea, Critter, I'm okay," she answered.

"I colored you a picture." She smiled proudly as she held the picture up for her mom to see. It was a picture of her and her mom and dad standing in a field, holding hands.

"It's beautiful." Quinn bent down and gave her daughter a hug. "I love you, Beth."

"I love you, too, Mama."

X-X-X-X-X

"Bethy, can you come sit down at the table? Mommy and Daddy have to tell you something." Quinn and Finn were sitting at the wooden table that sat in the middle of their small kitchen. Beth, who was playing with her dollhouse in the next room, nodded before striding over and taking a seat across from her parents.

"You know how we talked to Dr. Cohen a couple days ago?" Quinn started.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, he told us that there may be a way to put you into remission again."

"Really?" marveled Beth. Her hazel eyes shone with enthusiasm and the prospect of getting to go to school and wear that pink backpack.

"It's called a bone-marrow transplant," Finn explained.

"But there's one thing…" Quinn added.

"What is it?"

"You would have to do another round of chemo. I'm sorry, baby." Quinn reached her hand out and put it on top of Beth's, squeezing lightly. She knew, as hard as it was for her to watch Beth go through chemo, it was even harder for her daughter. She was the one who lost her hair and appetite. Who threw up every day from the medicine and felt sick all the time. Who people stared at in public. Who could die from something as simple as a cold.

Beth's full, pink lips were turned downwards in a slight frown. She looked up at the ceiling, thinking about everything her parents had just told her. "If I do this, can I have a castle jumpy house at my princess birthday party next month?" Beth wondered.

Quinn looked over at Finn with concern. She really wanted to give Beth everything she wanted and deserved for her birthday, but with all the money troubles they were having, she wasn't sure they could afford a bouncy house.

"We'll…see what we can do," Finn answered hesitantly.

"And then, after this is overs I will gets my hair back and get to go to school?" A little glimmer of hope shone in Beth's eyes.

"Uh-huh," Quinn said. She knew she probably shouldn't have promised something she will have no control over, but she needed to give her daughter something to look forward to in life besides doctor and hospital visits.

That night, Quinn was sitting in bed, bills scattered all around her. She was hard at work, punching numbers into her calculator over and over again to see how they would afford to pay for everything.

"Grrr," she grunted as she took her glasses off and threw them down on the bed.

"You okay in there?" Finn asked. His head popped out from the bathroom where he was washing his face.

"I just don't know how we're going to do this, Finn," she sighed. "Our medical insurance sucks so we're going to be paying so much more with this new treatment and, unless we're going to starve ourselves for an entire year, we can't afford it."

"Everything will be okay," Finn assured as he climbed onto the other side of the bed.

"I'm so sick of all your 'everything will be okays'," Quinn huffed. "What if they aren't okay? What if something happens and it's not okay? What then?"

"Then we deal with it when we get there," he shrugged.

Quinn turned and looked at Finn, her heart breaking into a million little pieces like glass shattering from a broken mirror. He looked so lost, so unsure of what to do. He wasn't (and still isn't) ready for any of this. And he shouldn't have had to be, if she had just told the truth from the beginning. What kind of person is she to take away his teenage years? The best years of your life, people always say. She had stolen that from him. She made him grow up faster than he should have and now the result is something of a puzzle- still the confused and clueless high school boy, yet now a hard-working and dedicated father. He tries so hard to be there for her, to say the right things, and to be the man he should be, but he doesn't know how. Quinn knows it's not his fault, but lately it's like every little thing he does gets on her nerves. The spark in his eyes has vanished completely. He doesn't even look at her the same way he used to.

She knows the only reason they're still together is for Beth. After everything's she's gone through, they cannot break up the only true family she's ever known. So here they are, stuck a black hole they can't seem to get out of.

"Why can't you ever take anything seriously?" she scolded

"Why can't you ever just relax?"

"Because our daughter in dying for Christ's sake and we can't afford to keep her alive!" Quinn yelled as loudly as she could without worrying about waking Beth up.

"Quinn, you know there are people who will help. No one is going to let Beth die."

"I don't want their charity. Do you know how bad that makes me look? I can just hear everyone whispering, 'oh, you know Quinn Fabray, I hear she can't even afford her own kid. Should have given her up after all, at least the girl would have had a chance'."

"Who cares what other people think?"

"I do!" Quinn's face was flushed with anger. Why couldn't Finn just understand where she was coming from?

"No one thinks you're a bad mom."

"You don't know that."

"Fine, Quinn, what do you want me to say? I'm the man here. I'm supposed to be providing for this family but I can't. How do you think that makes me look?" Finn looked at her, his eyes tired and defeated. She knew she made him feel worthless and she hated herself for that.

Quinn sighed as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and putting her head in her hands. "It wasn't supposed to turn out like this."

Tears began to form in her eyes. "Do you love me, Finn? Like, do you really love me? The way you used to back in high school."

He took time to consider this before he answered. "I love you, Quinn. I always will."

"That's not what I'm asking."

"I…Beth…" was all he said and Quinn knew his answer was 'no'.

Quinn bit down on her lip, trying to keep the tears from falling. She collected all the bills and placed them in a wicker basket before pulling down the covers and slipping under their warmth.

"Quinn."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"Me too, Finn."

And the last thing she thought about before she went to sleep is that she was too young to be so broken.

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