A/N: Aww I love you all. I did this like massive girly squeal when I opened my inbox to have all these FF emails in there. I love that you guys are enjoying the drama; because I have fun writing it. And so we have Quinn finding out. But we also have Puckleberry! And sorry about the POV changes. There's a few. This chapter depressed me to write so my apologies for its shoddiness.
***
Chapter Four: The Guilty Ones
Finn liked to think he was an overly calm person and not at all aggressive. He rarely ever beat people up, unlike Puck who was getting in fights every second day. But ever since he'd joined Glee, he'd found himself panicking often and had resorted to punching Karofsky and several of the other hockey players. And come the Monday after everything with Rachel, Finn was a wreck of nerves. He'd flinched everytime someone brushed past him, swearing it was Quinn coming to accuse him of cheating…which he had but she didn't know that yet, and was ready to throw a punch at anyone who looked at him oddly.
After Rachel had calmed down in the diner on Saturday morning they'd decided they would both break the news to Quinn before Glee, and Finn had spent the majority of the weekend avoiding Quinn like the plague, choosing to play video games with Puck, Matt and Mike instead, thankful that Quinn had turned her girls night into a girls weekend.
As though thinking about her was enough to conjure her up, Quinn appeared next to him and threaded her arm through his. Kissing his cheek, she grinned up at him,
"Hey. I missed you this weekend." she whispered and Finn smiled back, his heart panging with guilt as he spotted Rachel down the hall. She gave them a weak smile as Quinn waved cheerfully,
"Hi Rachel. Thank you so much for helping Finn on Friday, I was busy and couldn't do it myself." she said and Rachel's face flushed in embarrassment,
"It's fine. I didn't mind. I should go, I have homeroom." she muttered, avoiding Finn's gaze. Quinn looked surprised,
"Okay. See you in Glee. You look really good today too." she replied with another bright smile as Rachel hid her head and wandered off.
Quinn looked up questioningly at Finn and he had to hold back from blurting everything out now. Glee couldn't come fast enough.
***
Puck wasn't a truly observant person. Please, he barely noticed anything that didn't involve chicks, cars or booze, and he definitely didn't do feelings. So it surprised the hell out of him when he spotted Rachel Berry sitting on a bench looking utterly dejected, and also totally hot at the same time. Since when did she wear tight jeans like those? And it was a pity she'd covered her chest up with a baggy hoodie because he'd caught a glimpse of her figure-hugging shirt that would totally emphasise her rack. Anyway he was getting off topic, he'd noticed her sitting there looking sad and in totally un-Puck –like move, he'd sat himself down next to her.
"Hey Berry. What's up with you? Did you get another solo taken away?" he mocked and Rachel gave him a pathetic excuse for a glare before wringing her fingers again. And just because he was a badass didn't mean Puck was a total asshole to women – just occasionally Quinn and Santana, but never an upset woman – so he flung his arm around Rachel's shoulders and pulled her in next to him,
"Wanna tell me what's up? I promise I won't laugh," he said as she attempted to pull away,
"Don't worry about it Noah. It's irrelevant to you." she muttered and he sighed,
"Did Finn do something douchey again? Because if he's using your feelings against you again, I can totally beat him up. I'm not a total deadbeat ex-boyfriend, even if we only dated for a week and you wouldn't let me near your boobs." Rachel laughed weakly,
"It's fine. I'll be fine Noah. Thank you for trying. I'm just tired and I've got a few things going on at the moment." she said as she stood up getting ready to walk off.
"You sure? If you need I'm always here if you wanna talk my ears off or we could make-out again, I don't mind," he propositioned and Rachel shook her head, smiling feebly, muttering something along the lines of "You will mind soon." before walking off.
Puck shrugged, he would never understand girls.
***
Quinn knew something was up. Firstly Finn seemed almost reluctant to touch her, and he was like the king of inappropriately wandering fingers, and he kept giving her this 'I'm so sorry' guilty look. And then there was the incident with Rachel this morning. Normally she would be chattering along at inhuman speeds using words that Quinn herself didn't understand, let alone Finn, and yet she'd almost been happy to escape them. All of this however had Quinn desperately wanting to break out in a grin; clearly her plan had worked. Kurt had complied and performed some kind of magic because as long Rachel kept her mouth shut and didn't scare people away, she looked like a normal attractive person, and the uncomfortable way she and Finn were eyeing each other proved that something had definitely gone down, Quinn just didn't know what.
So she continued to play the cheerful, unsuspecting pregnant girlfriend, waiting for Finn to drop the bomb and spent the rest of the day analysing almost every move both he and Rachel made. However as the day went on she grew more and more suspicious, neither of them were speaking to each other and all the classes they shared were spent in tense silence.
It wasn't until the middle of lunch that it all came to a standstill. Quinn was finally getting over her shame and had unpacked her lunch out on the Gleek table. Smiling at Mercedes and Kurt whom were cheerfully discussing what he had done to Rachel, and raising her eyebrows at Artie and Tina who were trying to avoid each other's eyes. Suddenly Finn loomed down on them all,
"Hey Quinn, can I borrow you for a second? I mean technically not borrow because that's just odd, how can you borrow a person? I guess I mean can you come with me?" he rambles and Quinn shakes her head in amusement, standing up and grabbing his hand,
"'kay," she says, grabbing her box of carrot sticks, when the baby's hungry, the baby's hungry.
Finn half pulls her along to the choir room before nudging her inside and closing the door. As she walks in, Quinn spots Rachel huddled in chair, her hood tossed over her head. As the sound of the door closing, she looks up and Quinn notices that her eyes are red and bloodshot as though she had been crying.
Finn leads her to sit down before taking a seat nearby,
"Umm...we need to tell you something." he mutters and Quinn falters, the look on his face is a little more serious that she'd hope.
"Finn, what's wrong? Why is Rachel so upset. What happened!?" she partially yells, her heart rate peaking and tears begin to drip down Rachel's face again,
Finn swallows deeply, "On Friday, when Rachel was helping me with the dancing, I kinda stayed behind afterwards, her dads were having this party," he says and Quinn nods,
"I know. I spoke to Rachel about that beforehand, you aren't answering me!"
Finn slips his hand down to grip her hand, clasping Rachel's tightly in the other.
He gulped once again, "I stayed after and we had a few drinks. Just wine-coolers but I guess we're both lightweights when it comes to alcohol,"
Quinn tightens her hold on his hand, "I know all this Finn! I know you can't hold your alcohol and I know you would've drank. I'm not stupid! Just tell me what happened!" she half-screams, this entire scenario he's bringing up is sounding far too familiar to her and she knows what he's about to say before he does,
"We got drunk and slept together." he panics and blurts out. Rachel muffles a sob as Quinn's heart sinks and begins to beat even faster as everything sinks in.
Finn. Rachel. Wine-coolers. Drunk. Sex. Together.
Her head is ringing with it all and she desperately wants to scream. Rachel is bawling in her seat and Finn looks ready to burst into tears too. Quinn rubs her forehead. Karma, she thinks, this is all karma for her and Puck. But then she takes another turn, no, none of this is her fault, it's all them, they're the ones who slept together regardless of anyone else, they should be the ones punished. Quinn ignores the little voice whispering that this is exactly what she did too, and the angry bubbling up inside reached its limit.
"You slept together!" she shrieked and she could hear Finn whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Instead of placating her, it just aggravates Quinn more,
"Oh you're sorry. That makes it all better, that totally makes up for the fact you went behind my back and betrayed everything we have for a roll in the sack with Manhands!"
"Don't call her that!" Finn yelled back before realising he just yelled at a pregnant female, Quinn clenched her jaw,
"Oh I'm sorry. Did I insult your little girlfriend or are you guys just friends with benefits now?" she spat and Rachel sank further into her chair, still sobbing,
Finn shook his head manically, "We're not together. It meant nothing to either of us. It was just a stupid drunken mistake," he blubbered, tears dripping down him own cheeks, neither he nor Quinn noticing the hurt look cross Rachel's face.
Quinn dry-sobbed, "If it meant nothing then why did you do it? Why did you turn your back on me, on our baby, on us?" she softly questioned and Finn shrugged lifelessly,
"I don't know." he hoarsely whispered and Quinn turned to Rachel,
"Are you happy? You got what you wanted, to twist your way in with your pretty voice and 'don't-give-a-shit' attitude and tear Finn and I apart. Are you happy now?" she hissed and Rachel shook her head, still crying.
The door swang open at that point and the rest of the Glee kids wandered in for their scheduled jam session. They all halted to a stop and Artie ran into the back of Mike's legs as they took in the scene of Finn bawling his eyes out, Quinn looking ready to kill and Rachel curled almost catatonically in a chair.
"Guys, what's going on?" Mercedes bravely asked and Quinn span to glare at them all.
"Why don't you ask Stubbles? Ask her how she managed to seduce Finn with her whoreish ways and a bunch of wine-coolers to get him to sleep with her. Ask her how she single-handedly managed to destroy everything like she always does!" she snarled and they all turned shocked eyes on Rachel who stared intently at the titles and Quinn continued,
"Not so innocent is she anymore? I always thought the things written on Jacob's blog about her were just him dealing with rejection but I guess she is the little skank he goes on about anyway. And she even needed the alcohol because there's no way anyone would have sex with her without it."
Puck couldn't help but snarl under his breath, it was bad enough that Quinn was pretending his baby was Finn's but she didn't need to act all high and mighty over Rachel for making the exact same mistake.
"Shut up Quinn!" he roared, only felling half guilty over the fact he'd yelled at a girl. The rest of the group stared at him in surprise whilst Quinn just narrowed her eyes and glared.
"Get off your bloody moral high horse," he complained, "Big deal they slept together! Didn't you hear a word Finn said? He still chose you! He obviously doesn't care that Rachel just lost her virginity to him and would most likely be more than happy to start a relationship; he's throwing that away because he loves you! And you certainly cannot judge, half of us have seen you when you've drank too much. Or do I need to mention the unfortunate incident that happened last year involving you and a swimming pool? Just leave them the hell alone, you and Finn can sort all your issues out together but leave Rachel out of it. I've seen her on alcohol, the girl had one sip of wine and was halfway drunk, if she drank a few wine-coolers I very much doubt she or Finn had any real clue as to what they were doing. So how about you start thinking about some of the mistakes you've made before you judge others."
Mercedes, Kurt and several of the others widened their eyes as they realised Puck pretty much just admitted out loud to being the baby's dad, whilst Finn and Brittany just looked confused. Puck rolled his eyes and bypassed both Finn and Quinn before grabbing Rachel's hand gently in his own and leading her out of the room.
***
Tucking an arm tightly over Rachel's shoulder Puck started to lead her towards the auditorium, knowing that she always felt safe and happy in there before she broke away from him, sprinting into the nearest bathroom, a sob echoing behind her.
He rubbed his temple lightly before following after her, not at all afraid of entering the girls' bathroom – he used to do it for his sister all the time when she would get herself trapped in the cubicles. He nodded gently on the closed door inside,
"Rachel, please open up. I want to talk to you," he said, for once not bothering to use just her last name. He was greeted with a sarcastic cross between a sob and a laugh,
"Like you'd care. I'm just the slut who was stupid enough to fall for Finn's drunken charms. Go back to Quinn; she's the one who deserves your sympathy." Rachel spat and he sighed,
"I'm not giving anything to Quinn. She doesn't have the right to treat anyone like that. You made a mistake!"
Rachel sobbed from inside, "I do. I do deserve to be treated like that. She's pregnant and I slept with her boyfriend, her baby's dad of all people,"
Puck bit his lip, ready to admit to being Quinn's baby's dad when the bathroom door opened behind him and he turned to see Tina wander in. She gave him a small wave before knocking on the stall door.
"R-r-r-rachel? It's Tina. Can you c-c-c-come talk to us? Artie and I are worried." she stuttered and Puck raised his eyebrows before she pointed to outside. Puck walked to the door, pushing it open to see Artie parked outside, glaring at a few students who walked past. Chuckling under his breath, he walked back over to Tina who was softly trying to urge Rachel out of the toilet.
"Please Rachel. We aren't going to judge. Personally w-w-we think that Quinn's being t-t-t-t-t-totally unfair to you," she muttered and Puck groaned,
"Berry. If you come out of there, I swear I will be your personal chauffeur for three months and I won't even complain when you make me listen to showtunes. You just have to come out for us." he bargained and whilst Rachel gave a light laugh, she still refused to come out,
"I can't Noah. I can't go out there and face everyone one. I can't be the 'other woman' my dads raised me better than that."
Tina stifled a chuckle at him being called Noah and he resisted giving her the bird, "Rachel. You'll be fine! You've got Tina and I on your side, and Artie sitting outside the bathroom giving everyone the most pathetic attempt at a menacing glare so that they don't come in here. And your dads don't have to know anything! How do you think I've survived so many years with minimal groundings from my mother?"
The toilet door swung open at that moment and a red, swollen faced Rachel came out, "It's a little more difficult than that," she muttered, "After it happened, Finn and I went to sleep and my daddy came and looked in on us. Both my dads know I had sex with Finn. That was the most awkward weekend of my life. They're both so disappointed; I can barely go home anymore. I haven't eaten dinner with them for the last two nights. I can't deal with things like this." she said before collapsing into tears again. Almost automatically Tina threw her arms around Rachel's waist and hugged her tightly,
"If you need to, come escape to my house," she promised, "It's a little insane but my parents won't mind at all. They like me having people over; it gives my mom a chance to cook more."
Rachel wetly nodded into Tina's shoulder and Puck grasped her hand again, "and you can always come home with me. My mom is so disappointed in me because I didn't bring my nice Jewish girlfriend home to meet her, no matter how many times I've said we broke up. And my sister loves meeting people I go to school with so she can deluge them with embarrassing stories about me. Whatever happens you've got Tina and I to back you up, and even Artie seems ready to run people over if they look twice at you. You're going to be fine." he said, shifting Rachel out of Tina's arms and into his own, trying not to enjoy the way she fit so well.
Rachel nodded again before whispering quietly, "The baby's yours isn't it. That's why you berated Quinn about getting off her moral high horse, because she did the same thing as me and won't let you be a father as punishment?" she asked and Puck nodded,
"We're all in a bit of a mess aren't we?"
***
A/N: Gah! That was a terrible chapter for me to write! I brought back bitchy Quinn, but adorable Puck. Not too sure how I feel about it. On one side I'm thinking in a way this is pretty much comeuppance for Quinn, but on the other Finn and Rachel are still in the wrong too. And I hate being mean to Rachel, 'cause she's totally going to be destroyed. But I decided Puck, Tina and Artie can be her knights in shining armor (and chairs!), because well it's Puck! plus I don't think Tina nor Artie really has that much against Rachel (minus the whole Tonight situation and the wheels thing). Anyway that's just me heating the drama up a little. Next chapter will be the start of 'Mattress'. And sorry about any mistakes, I'll get it fixed eventually, and more apologies about the Puckleberry too, it's not really going to get much more than that at the minute.
And so to my totally awesome reviewers; I have your replies!
Like-Vines-We-Intertwine - Hehe thanks. Here we go; I'm hoping you liked the way I did it. :)
Bibz – LOL. I like inspiring people too. There's my Quinn reaction. Enjoy!?
jaymcb – I already replied to this one, but again apologies. I don't think I worded that sentence right so I didn't mean it the way it sounded.
Berlian – Hehe. I hope I didn't disappoint!
Ch3lsBishop – Sheldon is like uber awesome. He totally makes that show! Yeah, I'm a little stuck on how I'm going to do this, I sorta want Finn to be there for Rachel, because he was there too but at the same time, he has to be there for Quinn because we need the Puckleberry-ness. 'Tis very confusing. And yeah, Puck would totally be an awesome dad, he doesn't want to be Quinn's boyfriend cuz he wants to be that role for someone else...I mean what? I said nothing. :P
rolley2001 – Oh awesome! I'm totally going to start a 'That's What She Said' club. :) Thank you!
...World. - Aww thanks! Don't worry, I'm a major sucker for the drama. :) Agreed on the man-whore front. I was like aww he was so sweet to Rachel in 'Mash-Up' and then with Quinn it's like 'holy crap' where's sweet Noah gone?...maybe the writers are hinting at something there....
violent-smurf – Hehe thank you! I know. Poor Drizzle, she is just the rope in their bizarre game of tug-a-war. Oh god! That'd be incrediably awkward. I'm trying to work out how it'd work. Because they'd have different parents but at the same time they'd be somewhat step-siblings....I'll get back to you when I've worked it out. I'm curious now. And yeah. Poor Finn, he's going to hit a rough patch soon. :(
Literati Lover – Hehe. Sorry about the reaction, I think I'll have to redo one to get it right. It wasn't going to work the way I thought. Aha see? I took your review to heart and made her dads notice! Moohaha! I feel evil. Oh excellent, you can be my 'Never-Been-Drunk' buddy on here! And for review number two; yeah Rachel was a virgin, I'm trying to stick to most of the episodes but veer of course at the same time. Yeah, I feel sorry for Quinn and Rachel at the same time! And then Finn is kinda just in the middle; cuz quinn got cheated on, Rachel's going to get blamed for it all and then there's Finn whose getting it both ways. Oh I think it could maybe get even twisteder like Kurt could run off to get married with Karofsky!...okay that totally came out of nowhere – my apologies.
.lover – 'Tis a very messed up square. And then if we throw Kurt's infatuation with Finn in there we have a very, very messed up pentagon!
Lunar Kitty Kat – Ah don't worry. I understand. We moved in August last year and I still haven't finished unpacking – which is incredibly sad. Yeah, I love Finn but he is a little stupid and I totally agree with everything you said; teenage girls are terrible; derogatory names are very popular during fights at my school. Which is why I sit back and don't fight. But thankfully we always have Puck the superhero to help – because you so know half the school are still terrified of him. Aww I'm glad I excited you! You'll have everyone else's reaction next chapter.
mayball31695 – Naww thanks. Don't worry I feel really sorry for Rachel too. I was ready to start bawling writing this before I asked myself why was I getting so upset about what I'm doing to a fictional character (I still haven't answered that question).
bjaarcy – Aww no problem. I don't mind. Oh god!? How many times did I use it? I still continue to do that; I swear I wrote an essay last year that used the word 'then' at least 30 times. Sorry that there's not a lot of Puckleberry; I'm slowly leading up to it. He'll just going to be a friend for awhile first. Hehe thanks. Oh yay! So you noticed that I was using songs for the titles? I was waiting for someone to do that. :)
And so yeah...that's pretty much it. I'm turning up the drama because that's the way I roll. And again apologises to anyone who is getting confused by my randomness, mainly in review replies. It's sad because I'm actually worse in real life. Anyway hopefully will update soon; it's my birthday on Monday (woot!) and a friend and I are going second-hand book shopping because I don't think I own enough books. Anywho.
:P
