Chapter Three

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There they were, half an hour later, in some random-ass café around the corner.

Up until then, Puck had never bothered with coffee; his choice of beverage was hard liquor. But considering his… situation, he decided maybe coffee wasn't such a bad idea.

If they thought their encounter three weeks ago was uncomfortable, then this just was downright awkward. They were dead silent as they stared at the paper cups in front of them.

"So…" Puck began, shuffling awkwardly in his seat as he broke the silence. "You're sure you're pregnant?"

"No, you know what," She snapped at him as she dug her fingernails into her palm. "I think a unicorn might be growing inside me."

Puck ignored her sarcasm. "Well, what are you going to do?" He asked, looking at her for the first time since they'd sat down.

"I was thinking I might punch my stomach to see what happens to it." She spat, running a hand through her hair.

Puck blinked. "What?"

"I said you're an idiot." Quinn said bitterly.

He sighed deeply. God, she was pissing him off. Because well, it was technically his kid too.

His kid.
He was having a kid. Holy fucking shit, he was having a kid. He didn't know all that much about children, other than what he knew of his little sister; but she was a little brat, and quite frankly he didn't want another one of those in his life.

In all of his thought, he realized something. This girl was a complete stranger to him. Hell, he didn't even have her phone number, and yet here she was, knocked up with his baby.

"What's your number?" He blurted out. He didn't realize he'd said this aloud until he looked up to see the look on her face.

Quinn blinked at him silently for a moment. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She hissed at him, "I tell you pregnant and all you can ask me for is my number?" She threw her hands up, as she reached for her purse at her feet. "You know what? Fuck this and fuck you." She stood up, headed for the door.

He decided this wasn't a good time to retort with his usual, 'You already did' remarks and he groaned as he stood to chase after her.

He wasn't letting her get away; not this time.

"Quinn." He grabbed her arm, keeping his grip on it even when she tried to pull it away. "We're not done talking about this. It's mine too, you know. I want to help you."

She scoffed as she pulled her arm away harshly. "Please, don't even bother acting like you give a shit. You don't want this." She rolled her eyes as she began walking down the street again, calling over her shoulder. "I don't want your help."

He stayed on her heels, reading her like a book. "But you need it."

She stopped dead her tracks. God, she hated him. She hated him for chasing after her. She hated him for being a complete ass. She hated him for knocking her up. But most of all, he hated that he could see right through her. After a long moment she breathed out, "Okay."


Before they knew it, they were sitting in a Chinese restaurant, and once again, silent. Puck looked over a menu and glanced at the blond across from him. He nodded at the unopened menu in front of her, "Are you just going to sit there, or are you going to order something?"

"I hate Chinese food." She said bluntly, giving him a dirty look.

"Figures." He rolled his eyes as he continued reading over the menu. "Do you also hate unicorns?" She scoffed.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He was such a fucking asshole. Out of every guy in Lima, he had to be the one to knock her up.

"Nothing." He waved the waitress over and ordered kung pao chicken. "Can we just… talk about this."

She stared at him, raising an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes. So, obviously he was going to have to do the talking, but he didn't really know what to say. He decided to attempt 'small talk', something he typically avoided as much as possible.

"A girl like you must live up in East Lima." He glanced at her, "with all the rich assholes." He watched her face go pale. Fuck. He sure had a knack for fucking things up, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to know he just did it again.

"Not anymore." She said coldly, looking at her hands in her lap. With everything else going on, she'd almost forgotten she was going to be homeless in just a few days.

He groaned, "You have to give me a little more than that, Princess. I'm not a fucking psychic, here."

"I don't have a place to stay." She blurted out, almost instantly regretting it. It was quiet for a good minute before she spoke again, her voice shaky. "My parents are moving... They've left me to find my own place, and that hasn't exactly happened." She looked around the restaurant, avoiding his gaze.

He rolled his eyes and snorted. "What, daddy isn't going to buy you a nice big condo?"

She looked at him in disgust. "You're such a fucking prick." She shook her head and stood again, ready to storm out a second time. "You know, I think it's impossible to have a civil conversation with you. You somehow always find some way to screw it up." She shook her head and laughed bitterly. "You don't want to help me." She looked him dead in the eye, and spoke harshly. "You're selfish. You don't care about anyone but yourself, and I don't see that changing any time soon. So I hope you and your ego have a nice life together." She turned to walk away; something she was getting pretty good at.

"Hold on." He pushed aside her hurtful insults, because even though deep down he knew she was right, he wasn't about to admit it. He moved towards her cautiously, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I can't just let you walk out of here without a place to go."

She decided it would be pointless to tell him that she still had a couple days before she had to be out of her house, instead she shrugged his hand off. "Will you just leave me alone? You've done enough by getting me pregnant." Saying it aloud was like acid on her tongue, and she quickly realized she was never going to get used to the idea of being pregnant.

Puck flinched at the word then he shook his head. "I know, my sperm works that way I guess. It like, travels all around town till it settles."

Quinn looked at him blankly, feeling as if she wanted to laugh but not giving him the satisfaction. She cracked a smile though, for the first time their whole meeting, then laughed once. She frowned and pursed her lips after Puck smirked at her laughter, then she took a step back.

She was about to say something rude but then she remembered what Santana said about having to live in an appropriate place. As far as Quinn knew, Puck's apartment was nice (not his room, but the apartment) and she liked it: it was small and comfortable and very modern, and the wood floors were nice and she suddenly pictured herself there, rubbing her pregnant stomach and for some reason, for some strange fucked up reason, she liked it.

Quinn looked at Puck and took a deep breath. "Okay, you want to help?" Puck nodded once. "Let me stay at your place."

Okay, she beat him to the offer.

Puck sighed and nodded. "Of course."

"Nine months, though," Quinn warned him. "Nine months. Once the baby is born, we give it up, and we move on with our lives like it never happened."

Puck looked down. Did he really want that?

Yes, he did.

Because he was so not taking care of this crazy lady and especially not of her child.

And his.

"Deal." He said, looking up at Quinn. Quinn took a deep breath.

"Okay." She could not believe she was actually going to ask the next question. Never in a million years did she think she'd have to ask it, but of course, all of the events led her to this place and she took a deep breath before asking firmly, "So when do I move in?"


What the hell did this girl carry, anyway?

She had thousands and thousands of boxes and suit cases. He wondered how she would ever find a place to stay that would fit all of her things, and then he realized he didn't care. Already, just the day she was moving in was becoming hell.

Quinn rolled her eyes as she saw Puck come in with another of her boxes and drop it carelessly on the floor. She gaped at him. "Be careful with my stuff!" she hissed, and Puck rolled his eyes.

"Nothing broke." He said, then walked back downstairs.

Quinn looked around. She still wasn't sure if this was the best idea, but living with someone who could actually take care of her (or, she hoped anyway) and the baby was the only thing on her mind, at least until she could give the bastard up and leave Lima like she originally intended.

She didn't tell her parents. She told them she was staying with Santana and Santana backed her up, but she didn't tell them about her being pregnant. She couldn't. She really, really tried but it wasn't going to happen. She decided to tell them maybe after the baby was born, after it was gone, and she didn't have to go through the embarrassment of telling them their daughter had slept with a complete stranger and had gotten knocked up.

She looked around the well kept apartment and wondered how Puck's room could be such a dump but out here, everything was so clean and presentable. She grazed her fingers over the kitchen's countertop and looked at her hands, noting not one spot of dirt was there. She admired the colors of the wall and the step-down living room, where it seemed so comfortable to sit in and watch TV a lazy night. She walked towards the hall and saw multiple doors, and she decided to investigate to get comfortable with her new place.

She opened on at the very end and found out it was the laundry room, where everything was neatly organized and the clothes that were folded were all stacked by color. She smiled as she saw multiple detergents in a rack above the machines: some for all black, all white, and colors. She left the laundry room and laced her fingers behind her back as she walks further into the hall. She found a small restroom close to the laundry room, then a door that she remembered to be Puck's room (and she tried not to shiver, really), then she found another door. Frowning, she wondered what it was, so she opened it and looked around.

Quinn guessed this must have been the guest bedroom, because it was so…neat. It literally looked like one of those big shot bedrooms, where the sheets were a plain brown color and the bed big and queen sized with tons of pillows, and nothing hanging out. She walked further inside and her brows furrowed as she saw a picture frame on the nightstand next to the lamp, and she grabbed it and looked at it. It was a picture of a good looking guy carrying a very pretty looking girl and they were laughing, looking at everywhere but the camera. She cocked her head to the side and placed the picture back on the nightstand, wondering where the hell that came from.

She then started noting little things, like a small cologne bottle sitting on the dresser and a watch resting on the bed. She walked into the closet and blinked as she saw a side filled with nice dress shirts and suits, then the other side with casual t-shirts and jeans. She shook her head and tried making sense of everything. Did Noah Puckerman live a double life?

Finn walked quickly inside his apartment, frowning at the already wide open door. He rolled his eyes, thinking about how stupid Puck was and how he would get them robbed one day as he walked further into the apartment. He didn't notice the boxes lying around the living room as he walked into his room, not noticing how his bedroom door was already open.

He closed the door behind him and took off his casual shirt and started unbuckling his belt, throwing it on the bed. He began unbuttoning his jeans as he walked towards the closet when he saw what he least expected in his closet: a blonde girl looking through his clothes.

Quinn looked up and saw a shirtless guy in front of her. She screamed and Finn blinked, taking a step back. Quinn, not knowing what to do, grabbed one of the random shoes on the closet floor and started hitting him with it, still screaming her lungs out.

"What the—hey!" Finn cowered out of the closet as the crazy blonde continued to hit him with his own fucking shoe, holding his hands up to cover the blows. "Hey! You! Would you stop?"

Quinn blinked and did so, looking at him. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" she spat, holding the shoe up threateningly. "I will call the cops if you don't tell me right away."

Finn looked at her, dumbfounded. "Uh, I'm Finn Hudson, I live here, and that would cost me if you did call the cops." He looked at the shoe. "And that's a two hundred dollar shoe, so if you could just please let it down easily…"

Quinn looked up at the tall man, blinking. She suddenly dropped the shoe to the floor and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh!" she said, her face flooding red with embarrassment. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't…Puck didn't mention he had a…" what was he, a gay mate?

"House mate," Finn finished for her, quickly grabbing his shoe off the floor. "Best friend, pal. I pay for most of the apartment, anyway." He told Quinn. "And clean up most of it. And…wait, who am I complaining to?"

Quinn laughed weakly. It figured Puck wouldn't be the one to have this apartment so nice and clean, and this room sure told her a lot more about Finn Hudson than she knew about Noah Puckerman. "Uh," Quinn played with her hands nervously. "I'm Quinn Fabray. Puck didn't tell you about me?"

She meant her moving in, but she was surprised to hear what Finn said next. "Oh, right. You're that girl he slept three weeks ago. He finally found you!" he laughed. "He'd been going crazy, thinking nonstop about you."

Quinn was almost flattered, but then she realized that this guy had no idea she was moving in. "Ah, well, you see, it's a funny story…"

Her funny story was cut off by Puck clearing his throat in the door frame. Both of them looked over and Quinn glared at him, while Finn looked extremely confused.

Puck, of course, was used to Finn having that look on his face. "Oh, good. You two met. Spared me the introductions."

Finn raised an eyebrow. Okay, he had absolutely no clue what the hell was going on in that place. Plus, he was still shirtless and his jeans were falling from his waist as they spoke. He buttoned his jeans again and glanced at Quinn, then looked back at Puck. "Yeah, we did." He shook his head. "Now may I ask why she's in my room?"

Quinn was about to respond but Puck beat her to it. "She was probably wandering around. Like a lost puppy." He smirked at Quinn and Quinn scoffed, looking up at Finn and smiling sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to look around the apartment and Noah had failed to mention he had a housemate."

Finn nodded. "Oh, well that's okay I guess." He scratched the back of his head.

Puck snapped his fingers. "Right! Hey. Quinn's moving in. I hope you don't mind."

Quinn looked over at Puck, shocked, and Finn's facial expression matched her. "What?" he breathed out, and Puck shrugged.

"I forgot to mention it. Must have slipped my mind."

"Okay, Puckerman, things like someone moving in don't just 'slip your mind'. They're usually haunting it." He spat at him. Puck rolled his eyes and shrugged again, walking back out to the living room.

Quinn looked apologetically to Finn. "I'm so sorry."

Finn shook his head. "Uh, no. Let me just…I'm gonna go talk to him." He looked down at the shoe still in his hand and handed it to her, walking out to the living room and grabbing Puck's arm, turning him over. "Hey!"

"Hi, how's it going?" Puck said, and Finn shook his head.

"Why is she moving in?" he asked.

"She's pregnant." Puck responded, trying to sound as if this was no big deal but the word still tasted like venom in his mouth. Finn blinked.

"She's pregnant." He repeated.

Puck scoffed. "I thought you were Sherlock and I was Watson."

"Is it yours?" Finn ignored his comment, staring at him seriously. Puck shrugged.

"Apparently."

"So wait, you're saying…" Finn cleared his throat, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're saying that a random girl you knocked up is coming to live with us."

Puck nods once. "Pretty much."

Finn stayed silent for a while. "Well," he said. "I knew it would happen sooner or later."

Quinn walked out of the room and cleared her throat. Finn and Puck both looked over at her. Quinn waved lamely. "Hi."

Puck and Finn both muttered a lame 'hi'.

Quinn looked up at Finn. "Look, I didn't mean to intrude. If you want, I can leave and stay with a friend, and we can pretend this whole thing never happened."

Finn shook his head. "Wait, you don't have a place of your own?"

Quinn sighed, feeling embarrassed. "I don't. But like I said, I can stay…"

"No!" Finn refused. "By all means, stay. If you're going to keep this idiot up all night and going to make him take responsibility for his actions once and for all, then I don't see how this doesn't benefit all of us, huh?" Finn grinned widely and walked back to his room without another word.

Quinn blinked at the empty space he had left. "Well he's…pleasant."

"He's Finn," Puck said.

"I know that, thanks." Quinn said bitterly, then looked around. "Is that all, then?" she walked over to one of the boxes and knelt down to open it.

"It should be, unless you hid something with the baby." Puck said, and Quinn decided to ignore this comment.

"Well I guess it is." She stood up and looked at Puck, raising an eyebrow. "I suppose you'll be sleeping on the couch?"

Puck laughed. "Yeah, I thought you could."

Quinn looked at him. "I'm pregnant."

"So?"

"So pregnant women don't sleep on couches, Noah." Quinn said matter-of-factly.

"Uh, pregnant women who I only met three weeks ago do." Puck said, shaking his head. "You're not taking my bed."

Quinn scoffed. "I wouldn't want to take your bed! It's so disgusting and filthy and ugh! How did I ever sleep with you on it?"

Puck's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, hey, you're acknowledging we slept together!"

"It's hard not to. What do you think brought the baby, a stork? You're a fucking idiot." She stated, rolling her eyes. "I seriously am not looking forward to spending the next nine months of my life with you."

"That makes two of us, then, because you're no fucking carnival, princess." Puck walked past her and to his room. "Oh hey, happy unpacking!" he yelled furiously, slamming the door behind him.

Quinn screamed. "What are you, five?"

Puck called out in a mocking voice. "What are you, five?"

"Oh, very mature, Noah!" she rolled her eyes and looked around, sighing as she saw all of the boxes around her. She bit her lip and a lump built in her throat. God, she couldn't handle this. She needed a hug, she needed to think this was all a dream, she needed someone who understood.

As if on cue, Santana walked abruptly inside the apartment and looked around. "Classy," she said, raising an eyebrow. "It's very…modern." She looked over at the blonde and she suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Hey! Are you crying?"

Quinn sniffled and looked down, shaking her head. Santana shook her head and walked over to her, grabbing her face and pulling it up. "Oh hell no. You're crying. Where's this Noah character? I want to see how brave he is when I kick his balls."

Quinn laughed weakly and shook her head, wiping a tear that had managed to escape her eye. "No, no. Don't worry about it. He's an asshole, he's not worth it." She swallowed. "It's just…this whole thing finally hit me, you know? I'm pregnant and I'm living with a guy I hate and it's really all just too overwhelming and I don't know why I'm so sentimental!" she cried out, suddenly sobbing into her best friend's shoulder.

Santana blinked, never having seen Quinn cry this hard, and she sighed deeply, awkwardly stroking her best friend's hair. "There, there," she said lamely. "It's all going to be okay."

"You suck at making people feel better." Quinn laughed, pulling away. Santana scoffed.

"Hey! I wasn't made for this, okay? I can fuck like no other though, that's what I'm good at." She said defensively.

Quinn laughed again, wiping away her tears. "I wouldn't know."

Finn walked out of his room in a dress shirt and dress pants, wearing his two hundred dollar shoes and a suit. He looked at Quinn and then at Santana, then frowned. "Oh no. He didn't knock you up to, did he?"

Quinn giggled. "No, uh, Finn, this is my friend Santana. Tana, this is Finn, Puck's housemate."

Santana smirked and held out a hand, looking him over. He was fine, she'd admit, and he looked like he could work it in a bed…or, more like, he was tall, and when they're tall other things seem to be bigger as well. "Santana Lopez." She said.

Finn swallowed and tried not to look her over, noting how her dress fit her curves perfect. He took her hand and cleared his throat, shaking it. "Finn Hudson. Nice to meet you." he took his hand back and quickly looked at Quinn, averting his gaze from Santana. "Hey, are you okay? Your eyes are all red and puffy."

Quinn shrugged. "I must have gotten something in them," she said, and Finn sighed.

"He made you cry already?" he shook his head and called out, "Hey Puckerman! Get your lazy ass out here and help Quinn unpack her things!"

Puck's voice was heard from his room. "I don't want to!"

Finn scoffed. "You sound like a five year old."

"You, too?" Puck called out mockingly. "You are not my father, Hudson."

"But I do pay your fucking rent and food, so if you don't get out here right now I'm kicking you out."

Puck dragged his feet to his door and walked out, walking over to the living room and crossing his arms over his chest. He glared at Finn. "Fuck you."

"Don't make me answer that," Finn warned, and Puck scoffed and looked over at Santana.

"Who're you?" he asked rudely, and Santana rolled her eyes.

"I'm the other waitress you flirted with that night? You know, the night you got my girl Quinn here knocked up?" she said, raising an eyebrow. Puck looked her over and smirked.

"Oh. Now I remember."

Santana held up a hand. "Boy, please. In your fucking dreams."

Finn laughed. "Ouch."

Santana looked up at Finn and smiled, a genuine smile that Finn noticed made her face look extremely pretty and he smiled back on instinct, making Santana's stomach flutter.

Then Santana looked away because when a guy made her stomach flutter, it was time to move on.

Puck groaned. "It's like when my sperm finally settles my game is off." He mutters, and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"You are so fucking insensitive. I'm the one who is going to carry this baby around for nine months!"

Puck looked over at Quinn. "Oh I'm sorry. Maybe I should hit your stomach to see what happens!" he mocked her words from two days before and Quinn gaped, shaking her head.

They started going at it, causing Santana and Finn to take a step back. Finn sighed and shook his head. Santana elbowed him and looked up at him. "How long do you think it's going to take for them to fall for each other?"

Finn smirked down at the brunette. "I say a hundred bucks for four months."

Santana grinned slyly. "I say double or nothing it's two."

"Deal."