"And now please welcome…DEFYING GRAVITY!"
The crowds went wild as the five singers stepped out on stage. Rachel stepped out in front and began singing the first few notes of Walking on Sunshine, all the other girls joining in in succession. Quinn smiled from the third row back, remembering the time that she herself had performed the song in a mashup with Halo with Rachel, Tina, Brittney, Santana, and Mercedes. The last three were the only ones she'd really ever been friends with, and looking back, Quinn saw that her friendships with Brittney and Santana had been based solely on Cheerios unity and the fact that all three of them knew the "right" makeup to wear and the "right" clothes to buy and the "right" people to throw a slushie at. High school stuff. All the stupid things that mattered for exactly four years of one's life and never again. Her friendship with Mercedes, on the other hand, had been real. While it had lasted.
The next song they sang was one Rachel had written herself called "Faithful Hearts," which resembled an adaptation of "Faithfully" that could be sung better by an all female band. The first time Rachel had sung that song she'd dedicated it to Finn. Those were the days, he thought bitterly as he put his hands over Destiny's to keep her from clapping along to the song and over her mouth to keep her from belting out the words to Hello when the band started singing that.
Meanwhile, Quinn was smiling for the first time in years-a real smile, not the irritated kind that she used to intimidate her students. The music was making her feel happy, and the fact that Kurt was shamelessly glancing over at her whenever he sang the words, "without you my life just ain't the same" was making her feel downright special, almost like her old self, back before she'd dyed her hair pink and changed her wardrobe. Certainly the way she was before Jesse St. James had started giving her free drugs hoping to sabotage New Directions' chances at Regionals. That hadn't worked at all, they'd only made her perform better for the entire rest of the year. He had, however, managed to ruin her life.
Six or so songs later, everyone in the audience was standing up to give Defying Gravity a standing ovation except for Finn, who stood up carefully with Destiny asleep on his shoulder and nodded politely to his wife, brother, and friends on stage. Rachel blew Finn a kiss like she always did, but somehow it seemed less sincere than usual.
After the singers took their bows, Santana took Brittney's hand and led her off the stage, both squealing and grinning like schoolgirls, Kurt and Mercedes exiting more solemnly. Rachel stepped up to the front of the stage and grabbed the microphone. "Thank you so much for coming everyone! I would like to say a special thank you to our sponsors…"
As she continued talking, Puck was escorting Mercedes to her car through the back door while Brittney and Santana stopped to sign autographs. Then Puck came back to escort them to their car and saw Quinn coming up the steps to where they were. "Why are you trying to get backstage, Q?" asked Puck.
"I invited her!" called Kurt.
"Quinn!" said Santana. "How are you? Got any meth I can borrow?"
Quinn clenched her jaw. "I was a crack addict, not a meth addict," she snapped. "And that's all over now. Thanks."
"She was just kidding, Quinn," said Brittney. "Pregnant people can't do drugs anyway."
Quinn's eyes darted back and forth. "What…"
Santana beamed. "And guess who the baby daddy is?" Quinn didn't say anything. Santana flashed an evil smile. "Your former high school boy-toy! I'll refer to him by name so there won't be any confusion: Sam Evans." She let out a laugh that was almost a cackle as she patted her stomach. "Just think: if you hadn't been such a screw-up, this could be yours!"
"Okay, that's enough!" snapped Puck. "Do you girls want to get to your car or not?"
Quinn flashed Puck a grateful smile as she made her way backstage. One of the nice things about him was that he had a habit of protecting his friends with benefits. Even when the things people were saying about them were mostly true.
"Kurt!" called Quinn as she attempted to put the grotesque thought of Sam and Santana in bed together and now having a child together out of her mind.
His face lit up as she came over and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much for inviting me! That was the most fun I've had in years! You guys are amazing!"
"You're amazing, Quinn," said Kurt as he gave her a quick squeeze before letting her go. "That's why I think you're the perfect person for me to ask to do this."
"What?" asked Quinn. Her mind raced. What did he need? Was he going to ask her to sing with them? Yes! That must be it!
"I want you to be the biological mother of mine and Blaine's baby."
Quinn froze. The words hit her like a slap.
"Don't worry, you wouldn't have to carry it," said Kurt. "You would just have to donate some of your eggs-and yes, that would require surgery-but it would be fairly minor, and at the other end you would get to live with the knowledge that you made one very happy couple's dream possible." Still smiling, he held his breath, waiting for her reaction.
"This is why you've been so nice to me, haven't you?" asked Quinn slowly. "You never really wanted to hang out with me any more than the rest of them do." The anger rising up inside her showed on her face…"You only wanted me for…your little science experiment!" she spat out.
Kurt paused for a moment, trying to shake off the fact the way that she'd just referred to his future child and focus on persuading her. "No, no, I do like hanging out with you," said Kurt. "I just thought you might be able to help me out, since you're such a good natured…"
"Oh, save it," snapped Quinn, turning away from him and heading for the door.
Tears burned behind Kurt's eyelids. Now he was angry, and he wasn't someone who angered easily, at least to this extent. Finn, strangers, and the universe were bad enough, but what the hell right did Quinn Fabray have to deny him fatherhood?
"Why the hell not, Quinn?" he suddenly yelled. "Why not?" he shouted. "You already gave one away! What's the problem?"
Quinn froze. You already gave one away.
In that moment, Rachel blew one last kiss to her adoring fans and skipped backstage, only to immediately see Quinn in the room smacking Kurt across the face as hard as humanly possible. "Hey!" yelled Rachel, marching up to Kurt's side. "What the hell are you even doing in here?"
"You!" shouted Quinn, suddenly pointing her finger at Rachel. "You stole everything! You stole my friends, you stole the spotlight, you stole my boyfriend. You two are proof that high school relationships can last. I should've been Mrs. Finn Hudson!"
She spun around and stormed out of the room. Rachel turned around and put her arms around Kurt, who was in tears, and tried to process what had just happened. Was Quinn back on the drugs or something? She didn't look high, but why just come backstage so that she could attack Rachel and Kurt for no reason? And Mrs. Finn Hudson indeed, ha! That score had been settled a decade ago. What was the point to rehashing it now?
"I asked Quinn to be the egg donor," Kurt finally whispered.
"Oh," said Rachel. "Oh…"
"I don't get this," he whispered. "When's it my turn to be happy?"
For once, Rachel didn't know what to say. She just hugged him closer to her and put her head next to his head. "You will," she finally said, almost convincingly.
"How?" said Kurt
"I'm sure we've got plenty of options," said Rachel. "We just have to look for them."
"Then why do I feel like Quinn was the last hope?" asked Kurt.
"She wasn't," said Rachel. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
"Since I was a little boy pushing baby dolls in a stroller," said Kurt.
Just like me
, she thought. Now even Rachel was almost crying. This wasn'tfair.
"Why don't you just use Rachel's eggs?"
Slightly startled, Rachel looked up and saw who was in the doorway. "Finn," she said softly.
Finn came closer. Destiny was in his arms, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "Hey Destiny," he said, patting her back. "Do you think Uncle Kurt should have a baby?"
Destiny nodded. Then she turned her body around and patted Kurt's shoulder. "Me hold it?" Then she held out her arms expectantly.
Everyone had to smile at that. "Come here, you!" said Kurt, holding out his arms for Destiny to jump in.
"I still think it would be too weird for the baby to have the same DNA as his or her cousins," Rachel admitted. "But thanks, Finn." She let him pull against his chest and kiss her on the top of the head. Then Finn put his free arm around Kurt who put his free arm around Rachel, Destiny happily snug in the middle of all of them.
"You know," said Finn. "There are organizations for this kind of thing. Maybe we should ask Mrs. Shuster. She probably knows someone."
"Hey, yeah!" said Kurt. "I'll call her tomorrow morning."
"Let me know if there are any appointments you need to go to," said Finn, patting Destiny's shoulder meaningfully, causing her to look up at him questioningly.
"What I do?" she said. And everyone had to laugh.
Quinn Fabray quietly peeled off the blue and yellow dress that she had worn that night, the only dress she owned anymore and hadn't worn in years. A tear rolled down her cheek as she put it on it's hanger and pushed it to the back of the closet, thinking that it would probably remain there forever. Then she sat down on her shabby armchair, the only chair in her lonely studio apartment, and just stayed there all night, too miserable to sleep, too tired to do anything else, missing something she couldn't explain.
"So, how did you figure out that I had her?" asked Shelby as she and Puck moved through the middle school auditorium.
"I remembered talking to you in the hospital," said Puck. "And I remembered telling you her name. Then about two months ago I heard that you had a daughter named Beth."
Shelby nodded. "I'd always planned on writing a letter to you guys someday, just to let you know what had happened. I didn't think it would be before Beth was eighteen though." They saw two vacant plastic seats and sat down in them. "How's Quinn doing, by the way?"
"She's…" Puck hesitated. Where did he start? With the lengths she went to trying to put Beth out of her mind in the months after giving her up for adoption? With her rushed comeback as the queen bee at William McKinley high school, only to sabotage her reputation with a series of failed relationships and then turning to the dark side? With the biker boots? The drugs? The lies? The maniacal destruction of the choir room after Mr. Schu told her she wouldn't be coming back to Glee club the next year if she didn't clean up her act? The intervention that followed? Rehab? Morphing into Sue Sylvester's saner, sexier clone?
"She's okay now," Puck finally said.
Shelby nodded quietly. "I know how hard it is giving a baby up, you know."
Puck nodded. "I wished she wouldn't have."
Shelby looked up, slightly started. She hadn't known Puck wanted to keep Beth. Then they both fell silent as a sixth-grade boy came out on the stage and began singing.
"What is this play, anyway?" whispered Puck.
"Honk," said Shelby. "It's a musical version of The Ugly Duckling. Beth is the female lead," she said with a hint of pride in her voice.
A few moments later, the curtain drew back, revealing a set that resembled a barnyard with six or so kids dressed up as farm animals. Towards the left, there was a girl with the most amazing blonde curls standing in a white dress with a plastic beak over her nose. Puck froze. She stepped forward and began to sing.
"That's her," whispered Shelby
"I know," said Puck. It was almost eerie how quickly he recognized her after so many years.
"Her voice," he whispered. "How did she learn how to sing like that?"
"I taught her, of course," said Shelby. Puck suddenly remembered that she used to be the coach for vocal adrenaline and nodded. "Part of it is genetic, though."
Puck felt an unexpected wave of pride as she stepped forward and began to sing to the audience about the joys of motherhood. That's her, he thought to himself. That's my little girl.