Beth, What Can I Do? Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.
Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.
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New Directions Jr.
I was excited but surprised that everyone had decided to stay in Lima after the "reunion." Apparently Sam and Emily Evans, Mike and Tina Chang, and Mercedes and Shane Tinsley were staying at Artie and Tabitha Abrams' house. Kurt Hummel and David Karofsky, Rachel and Jesse St. James, and Noah Puckerman and Lauren Zizes were staying at Finn Hudson's house. Blaine and Sebastian, Santana and Leslie, and Quinn and Bill were staying at hotels. I didn't know where Brittany was.
Tina and Mercedes were adamant that I meet everyone's kids. I suppose it was every mother's dream to have her children play with the children of all her friends. Even though I was too old, I agreed to be part of the play date as long as it wasn't at Shelby's apartment. I arranged for us all to meet at Finn Hudson's house. Finn's house was small and a little drab for my taste, but the kids wouldn't care because they'd have each other to distract themselves with. Finn introduced me to his daughter Savannah.
"I like your coat," said Savannah, dressed in preppy, fashionable apparel.
"Thanks," I told her. "I got it on Macy's. Black Friday shopping."
'Cool," said Savannah, and Rachel's daughter Angelina ran up to me and waved.
"You're really pretty!" she told me.
"Wow, thank you!" I said, flattered. "You're really pretty too."
Dave, Kurt, and Noah walked up to me. "Kids, meet Noah's daughter Beth," Kurt said to Savannah and Angelina.
I laughed at him and then turned to Noah. "Hi Dad," I said, giving him a big hug.
"Hey kiddo," he replied, hugging back. "I'm sorry, but I gotta go in a minute. Lauren demands that I go shopping with her. I'm gonna buy a lot of things for her, and… so is she."
"That's okay," I sighed. I'd been hoping to spend some time with him today.
"Come on, Puckerman!" Lauren shouted. Noah smiled apologetically and walked away.
"Sorry about that, Beth," Kurt shrugged, crossing his arms. "Lauren has him at her beck and call."
"I don't think she likes me very much," I admitted. "She resents the fact that Noah has Quinn's daughter. I'm something they share."
"She might not like it, but she can't change the fact that Noah's your father," Kurt assured me. I was glad he was being so kind. Kurt seemed like a self-important guy who didn't spend a lot of time talking to teenagers, but it was nice that he was making an attempt with me.
"Thanks Kurt," I said. He smiled and started off to the guestroom, and Dave smiled awkwardly at me and then followed after him.
The bell rang and there in the doorway stood eight children. The six African Americans were Mercedes' and Shane's. They had seven children, so they must not have sent the baby over. The two other children that were there were Brian and Michael. Brian was Caucasian and was the son of Artie and Tabitha. Michael was Asian and was the son of Mike and Tina. Brian didn't have glasses like Artie, but Michael wore glasses. The two of them and Myron Tinsley were holding books.
"Michael, Myron, and I are going to find somewhere to read," Brian said as the children all entered the house.
The oldest Tinsley – Keisha – walked over to Savannah and Angelina and started talking to them about fashion. The remaining Tinsley's ran around yelling. The doorbell rang again and in came Quinn with my blond half-siblings Drew and Kristen. The kids didn't even greet me. Drew ran past to talk to Brian, Michael, and Myron, and Kristen ran past to talk to Keisha, Savannah, and Angelina.
"That's your brother and sister," Quinn said to me with a smile.
"Yes I know, but do they know that?" I asked curiously.
"No," she sighed. "If I told them they would tell their father, and I'm not ready for Bill to know that I have another daughter yet. But for now, you can at least try to get to know them."
"They don't seem to care about me," I muttered, observing them. "They ran right by me. I'm probably not good enough for them…"
"You're good enough for me!" Quinn groaned. "Look, I apologize for how I was at the Lima Bean, okay? Are you happy?"
I let out a surrendering sigh. "Yeah, I'm happy."
"So will you try to get to know them?" she pleaded. "They are your brother and sister."
"Half-brother and sister," I corrected.
She smirked. "Noah doesn't have kids to be brothers and sisters to you."
"First of all, you didn't have those kids so that they could be my siblings," I pointed out. "And is that why you came here today? To compete with Noah?"
"No, of course not!" she laughed. "But he went out to shop with his wife. I don't see him making an attempt to spend time with you today."
"At least he doesn't go behind her back when he does spend time with me," I snapped. "Your husband probably has no idea you're here."
"Actually, he knows I'm here," Quinn disagreed. "But he thinks it's just because Drew and Kristen are hanging out with the other kids –"
"Right, he doesn't know I'm here," I said in annoyance. "I'll hang out with my 'siblings' once my mom tells them the truth."
Blaine and Sebastian arrived at the door with a boy who had curly auburn hair and hazel eyes. He was their son Oliver. "Hey Beth, meet Oliver," Blaine said in a friendly tone to me. "He said he wanted to spend some time with you. He's nervous about meeting the other little kids."
All the other children wanted to spend time with each other, but this one actually wanted to spend time with me! Oliver seemed shy. That was okay. I was shy too. He took my hand and blushed when he looked up at me. Quinn looked at Blaine and Sebastian with disapproval.
"Don't worry Blaine and Sebastian, I'll make sure he feels welcome here," I assured them with a warm smile on my face.
"Thank you Beth," Blaine said, smiling back. He kissed Oliver's cheek. "See you later, buddy."
"Yeah, pal." Sebastian mussed his son's hair. "Beth here will bring you out of your shell."
"Bye Dads!" Oliver called after them as they walked back to their car.
"I'm okay with a man being gay," Quinn said to me. "I guess I just don't love to see them married to each other with kids. I think children should have a mother and a father, not two fathers. It just makes me wonder which one's the wife –"
I walked away with Oliver before she could finish. After all, she was insulting his parents!
"Hey, you know Angelina," I told Oliver. "Your dads are friends with her parents, and she's a good friend of yours. Why don't you let her introduce you to Savannah and Keisha?" Kristen was no longer standing with them.
"Yeah," said Oliver quietly.
"Oliver!" Angelina called, waving at him. "Come over here!"
"See," I said to him. "I'll come visit you in a few minutes to spend time with you, but first you should meet Savannah and Keisha."
He nodded and went over to them. Angelina took his hand and said "This is my friend Oliver! He has two dads like I have two grandpas! My mom has two dads!"
I walked over to the door when Santana and Leslie arrived with their blonde curly-haired daughter Nina.
"Come on in!" I told Nina with a big smile on my face. She smiled at me and then ran over to Kristen, who was now standing by herself. Nina and Kristen looked happy to talk to each other, but Quinn didn't look as happy.
"Hey Quinny," Santana said in a sing-song voice, smiling at her. Quinn forced a smile in response. It was hard for me to believe there was a time they used to be best friends. Then Santana looked at me, laughed, and said, "Do you think you can handle baby-sitting all these kids, Beth?"
"I'm a patient girl," I chuckled. "Maybe ya'all can pay me for watching your kids."
"Maybe," Santana said smiling, and Leslie laughed. "Bye." The two of them left.
"Beth, can I please spend some time with you?" Quinn begged. "I really want to get to know you since you're my daughter. You don't get a second chance at a first impression, but I'd really like for us to start over."
I considered this. "Maybe if you tell your husband and kids about me. Then we could work something out."
Before she could say anything else, I went over to Oliver. "Hey honey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," he said with a smile.
"Good," I said. "I'll be back in a few minutes." I went over to the guestroom door and knocked.
"Who is it?" Dave Karofsky asked.
"It's me. Beth. Do you guys mind if I come in?" I asked.
"Uh, sure, come in," Dave replied after asking Kurt for an opinion. So I entered the room.
"Hi guys," I said, awkwardly standing in the doorway. "This is really random, but I'm thinking of writing a book about myself for Quinn and Noah. And it's not only about me. It's also about them. So I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. I hope I'm not bothering you."
"Uh, no. Guess not," Dave shrugged.
"Of course not." Kurt smiled politely. "Ask anything."
"Do you remember when you found out that Quinn was pregnant with me?"
"Yes, I do," said Kurt. "I was in the choir room with Mercedes and Tina. Puck told us. We all thought you were Finn's."
"Oh that's right!" Dave laughed. "Everyone thought it was Finn's. I was a jerk and made fun of him. I thought it was payback for all the times he made fun of me in fifth grade."
So I was an 'it' now. "Everyone thought I was Finn's?" I said in surprise.
"Yes. Quinn lied that Finn was your father," Kurt explained. "She manipulated him into believing that you were conceived in a hot tub, while they were clothed."
I chuckled quietly. "That sounds like something she would do."
Kurt laughed. "Yes, well, I don't think you're like her at all."
I took a moment to look at Kurt. I observed his soft, coifed brown hair, his sparkling blue eyes, long white neck, and the way he bit his full lower lip. He started to look uncomfortable. He must have noticed the way I was looking at him. "Oh, what's wrong?" he asked self-consciously.
"Oh, n-nothing," I said in embarrassment. "It's just that… you're gorgeous, if you don't mind my saying so."
He blushed and gave a small smile. "Well, thank you."
Dave chuckled defensively. "You're not the only one that thinks so," he told me, putting a protective arm around Kurt. The way Kurt grimaced under his touch made me realize that the two of them made a very awkward couple.
"Actually," I continued to Kurt, "you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life."
Kurt laughed quietly. "You're a very nice girl to say that…. Dave, would you please go find Finn and ask him if he could invite my father over for dinner tonight?"
"You can't go ask him?" Dave wanted to clarify.
"Just… please do it," Kurt said under his breath, so Dave stood up and left the room.
"How… does Blaine feel about you?" I asked Kurt once we were alone.
He shrugged his slender shoulders and took a deep breath. "Well, I don't know. He and I dated in high school. We had problems. For a while I thought he was perfect, but we competed a lot, and after our relationship became… physical, he seemed to suddenly be interested in Sebastian – really. I don't want to talk about this."
"I know, but I get the sense that you don't want to be with Dave," I said, getting personal. "I think you want to be with Blaine, and I think he wants to be with you."
"He sleeps around," Kurt continued, "yet Blaine's been in a relationship with him since the end of his junior year, my senior year of high school. He stays with him no matter how many times they cheat on each other."
I shook my head. "I wouldn't stay with someone who cheated on me that many times."
"Well," Kurt said bitterly, "Sebastian exudes sex appeal and confidence that I suppose is alluring to Blaine –"
"He's got nothing on you," I scoffed. "That's my opinion. If I was a gay guy, I would definitely choose you over him."
Kurt looked embarrassed, but gave a cute laugh. "You're a funny girl."
I sat and talked with him for hours. As reserved as we both were, we really enjoyed each other's company. Little by little, the parents arrived at Finn's house to retrieve their kids. I wasn't out in the living room to say good bye to the children though. Kurt and I had to leave the guestroom when we heard yelling though. It sounded like Santana and Quinn. "What the hell's going on?" I asked.
"Nina said that Kristen told her they can't be friends because she has two mommies instead of a mommy and a daddy!" Santana explained. "Gee, I wonder who told her that!"
"Quinn, how could you?" Kurt shrieked. It was the shrillest sound I ever heard in my life.
"You shut up!" Quinn snapped at him. "You don't even have a child! Stay out of this!"
"After all those years you spent in Glee Club, you didn't gain an ounce of tolerance?" Kurt went on. "I guess after you graduated high school you went back to being that right-winged homophobe you were before you got pregnant, huh? Why are you so frigid? Your daughter's not gonna catch 'gay' by hanging out with a girl with a lesbian mother!"
"You're calling me 'intolerant'?" Quinn scoffed. "What do you have against right-winged conservatives, Prom Queen?" After Quinn said that, Kurt looked hurt. Then Quinn said, "Stop insulting me in front of my kids!" She jerked her head in my direction.
"I'm not your kid," I said coldly.
"What?" Quinn sounded devastated.
"You're not my mother," I said louder. "Shelby's my mother. You're a horrible person. I don't even know you."
"Beth!" she called after me when I left the house, got into my car, and drove home. And then I felt bad. I shouldn't have been so mean to Quinn. Maybe she'd told Kristen not to hang out with Santana's daughter because she was angry about me not wanting to spend time with her and felt she needed to take it out on somewhere else. I wanted to go back and apologize to Quinn.
But I didn't. I continued on home, making her wonder what was wrong with me. After all, she would have done the same thing.
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Author's Note: Poor Quinn, poor Santana, poor Kurt, poor Nina. Gosh, I feel bad for everyone after having written this chapter. Happy day after Thanksgiving, everyone! Sadly, Thanksgiving break's almost over and I'll be really busy when school starts again, but hopefully I'll be able to update often. And hopefully the characters will be happier in the next chapter, and we'll see another side of Quinn. Bye!
