Okay, so from now on I promise that there will be no more late updates, and that I will be faster at it, since I'm hoping to wrap this story up in the next few chapters, so those ones will probably be very long, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyways!
Of course I don't own anything…except for the Glee and Gilmore Girls DVDs, and the Glee CDs of course! Lol.
Chapter 8
That morning, Quinn woke up to the early morning sun seeping through the little spaces in her curtains, and for once she wasn't angry about having to wake up this early to go pee. No, for the first time in the longest time, she was actually happy, and nothing could break her out of her mood. For the first time since before her parents kicked her out, she felt like she had a real family here—she felt more loved and accepted here than she's ever felt anywhere else, (even in glee club, because not everyone has forgiven her for what she did yet). But it wasn't only this that was making her happy—no, she also felt like maybe Puck was finally coming around, because for the first time ever since Babygate blew wide open, he was finally respecting her and she felt like she could finally trust him, and she needed as many people as possible that she could genuinely trust at this point in her life. She was also happy about the decision she made basically over night, which was the decision to give two people she truly cared about and loved with all her heart, the family they've been trying to make for what seemed like years now. So thinking about all of this, Quinn started getting ready for the day with a smile on her face.
Not long after, she was sitting in Luke's Diner with Lorelai at their usual table, like they always do—except this morning was different. As she finally saw Puck walk down the stairs that led from the upstairs apartment to the diner, (which Luke-but-really-Lorelai-who-bribed-him-into-it-using-her-'feminine-wiles' offered to Puck for as long as he wanted it), she sucked in a breath, and calmly asked Lorelai to go up and order them breakfast, knowing full well that she'd be up there for a bit talking to Luke. Then, she waved Puck over who pulled out a chair and sat at the table with her.
"I got your text this morning, what's up?" He asked her, with a questioning look on his face, seeing as she was so vague as to what she wanted to talk to him about in said text. So being Noah Puckerman, he obviously thought something was wrong. Apparently noticing this in his face, Quinn quickly erased his worries.
"Nothing's wrong, don't worry", she reassured him. "I just—we need to talk about her", she said while putting a hand on her belly so he knew what 'her' she meant. Noticing this, the worried look that was there a minute earlier, returned to Puck's face, because he's always known what Quinn wanted, and what Quinn wants is usually what Quinn gets, and he was pretty sure that she wanted to give the baby up, no matter what he said.
"I know", he finally said, staring intently at the floor, then speaking once again. "It's okay if you want to give her up, Quinn, I know we're not ready to be parents, I just—" he started speaking, but was cut off by Quinn. "Don't want her thinking we abandoned her, and didn't care about her". As she said this, he could see her sad smile as his head slowly came up, but she quickly recovered and put a comforting hand on his arm. "Well she's not going to think that, we'll make sure of that, and so will the family that adopts her", she reassured him, which seemed to have helped because he didn't look as sad as he did before. She then looked over to Lorelai as she said "the family that adopts her", which didn't go unnoticed by Puck, who furrowed his brows in confusion, but quickly shook his notions off. After what seemed like forever, Quinn finally spoke up once again.
"Puck, what do you think about Luke and Lorelai?" She asked him in a friendly tone, which confused Noah slightly, as to why she was asking this, but he answered nonetheless.
"They seem like nice people, I mean Lorelai kind of scared me at first, but she seemed to back off once I explained everything. And Luke still kind of scares me though. I don't think he wanted to give me the apartment, and even when he did and was showing me around, he threatened me many times with his baseball bat and he 'accidentally' tripped me", Puck said, grimacing at the thought, which Quinn just giggled at.
"Oh don't worry about them, they just care about me a lot, they've always been protective like that, it's a good thing", she said smiling at him, but then quickly returning to the subject she came to talk to him about. "Which is why I think they would make great parents for her", she said quickly, putting a hand on her belly once again. She didn't mean to just drop it on him, but how else was she going to tell him? Hearing what she just said, Puck's head shot up, and he stared at her wide-eyed. "What?" Was all he managed to get out.
"I-I said that I think we should give our d—Beth, to Luke and Lorelai", she said again, but clearer this time, because she was sure that Puck didn't believe her the first time she said it.
"I know what you said, I just—I think we should meet with them first, I mean have you even told them about your plan?" He said, stressing the word 'your', which Quinn noticed of course and huffed at. "Well I was hoping this could be our plan, but only if you agree, and I'm serious this time—it's all up to you", she said now looking him directly in the eyes, and Puck looked deep in thought. Part of him couldn't believe it—she was actually letting him make the final decision about Beth, and he couldn't be happier. The other part of him however, thought that even if he did say no to giving Beth to Luke and Lorelai, that Quinn would do it anyway, but maybe it was what was best for the baby, and making sure that his daughter gets only the best in life, even if it's not from him, didn't feel like abandonment to him. So with his mind finally made up, he spoke at last.
"I think they would make great parents for her", he said smiling, a slightly watery smile, which Quinn returned, only hers was about ten times bigger. "But", he continued, "I think we should talk to them about it first, since they don't know about our plan yet", he said to her which she completely agreed with. Suddenly, it was almost as if Lorelai heard her, because at that moment, she returned to the table.
"Luke's a meanie, he said, and I quote; "No Lorelai, I'm not cooking you and Quinn five pounds of bacon, the girl needs to eat something healthy for once, which alos gives me an excuse to finally cook you something healthy!" Lorelai huffed loudly, while flopping down in her chair overdramatically. Quinn had a shocked look on her face, then said; "Ugh, this is so not fair! When I lived with Puck, his mother never let me eat bacon, so I've missed it! And besides, he knows I'm pregnant right? And that pregnant girls should get everything they want or else the ugliness of my hormones comes out?" Quinn ranted, talking loud enough so that Luke could hear her, while Puck had a scared look on his face, when Luke came over to the table. "Luke if I were you, I'd give her at least some bacon, 'cause trust me, I've lived with her long enough to know that giving her what she wants when she's like this, is the safest way to keep your manhood", Puck whispered to the older man, who finally gave in while rolling his eyes. "Fine, Quinn you get three pieces of bacon, but for the rest of the week, I'm cooking you healthy meals!" He said, and Quinn smiled lightly, glad that she got her way, but was definitely not looking forward to the healthy meals.
"Wow Quinn I'm proud of you, you're finally learning the ways of the Gilmores!" She said, while high-fiving the younger girl, while they both giggled and Puck just rolled his eyes at them. A few minutes later, after sitting through a comfortable silence, Quinn decided that now would be the best time to ask Lorelai if she could talk to both her and Luke. So, when Luke came back over to bring them their food, she asked Luke to sit down for a minute.
"Sure Quinn, what's up?" Luke said, slightly confused and worried by the sudden change of atmosphere at the table.
"It's nothing to worry about, Puck and I would just like to talk to you about something whenever you're free. It would be better if we could do it somewhere more private, since this is a serious matter, but we would really like to ask you something", she said, trying to not give anything away, because she didn't want to discuss it right now in the middle of a busy diner. Luke and Lorelai both looked at each other with questioning stares, but finally spoke up.
"Uh sure Quinn, how about tomorrow night? You guys can come over to my house and Luke can cook us dinner, then we can discuss things, is that okay?" Lorelai asked the two teens, who just nodded their agreements. "Are you sure you guys are okay though? You did say this was a serious matter?" Lorelai asked Quinn. "Yes, we're fine, we're not in trouble—I'm actually happier than I have been in a while", she said to the older woman while smiling widely. "I'm glad", Lorelai smiled back. The sweet moment was soon ruined however, when the doorbell jingled and in walked Rory.
"Rory!" The two girls exclaimed while jumping up and hugging her tightly.
"Hey guys!" She said back to them, while they ushered her to their table, which is when Rory noticed Puck.
"As you've probably already guessed, this is Puck", she said to her, adding in a whisper; "Don't worry, we don't hate him anymore, so you can be nice to him", which both girls giggled at, while Rory shook Puck's hand. It wasn't until she sat down however, that the two other girls noticed the change in Rory's demeanor; she didn't look as happy as she did the last time she came to visit, which was visible in both the way she dressed and the fact that she wasn't wearing any makeup. There was also the fact that she kept looking at her food and was very fidgety, so finally, Lorelai decided to speak up.
"Okay spill it hon, what's wrong?" She finally said, and Rory's eyes widened at this. "N-nothing, everything's fine", she said, still looking intently at her food, trying desperately not to break out into tears in the middle of the diner. The two other girls then shared a look, that said "We're not buying that bullshit", and then turned their gaze to Rory who finally broke, sucking in a deep breath.
"Logan called me. He called the apartment, and of course, of all days not to be home, I chose that one. Jess answered the phone, and, well long story short, we got into a fight and he left that night to stay at a friend's house, which is pretty much why I'm here", she finished, blinking back a few tears and returning her gaze to her food. At this, the two other girls looked at each other for a moment, before abruptly grabbing Rory by both arms, and dragging her away from the table.
"Uh, guys where are we going?" Rory asked, shocked that she was being dragged away from her food.
"We're taking you upstairs so we can talk about this and so that the whole town doesn't get another show", Lorelai explained, and Rory just shrugged it off, pulling herself away from the two other girls to walk up the stairs herself. Once they got up to Luke's old apartment, they practically threw Rory on the couch that was still up there, (Luke rented his apartment out from time to time), and told her to start explaining.
"Oh hon, how did he find your number?" Lorelai asked, taking a seat beside her daughter who looked mentally exhausted, and rubbing small circles on her back.
"After I saw him at the mall, I called him, just to apologize for that day, but we got talking and we actually got along, so I gave him my number. Now I feel like all of this is my fault, because it was dumb to call him in the first place, I don't know why I did it, but I love Jess and I don't want us to—" she couldn't finish her words, because at this moment, she broke down, and the two other girls smothered her in a warm embrace.
"Don't worry hon, I'm sure he'll come around. You know Jess is a jealous guy, so it'll just take him a while to come around, but he will—as long as he doesn't punch Logan in the face first", Lorelai said, trying to joke about this serious matter, but her joke seemed to have stressed Rory out even more, because she suddenly gasped. "Oh my god I never thought of that! He's probably hunting him down now!" She said, now trying desperately to get up, but was forced down by Quinn and Lorelai.
"Hon, hon, I was just joking! He's grown up since then, I don't think he'll do that", she said, but she was still unsure of herself, because I mean come on, it's Jess after all, right?
"Ya, I mean I know I don't know Jess, but I'm sure he loves you too much to let you go that easily. And besides, I don't think that what you did was wrong at all—you just wanted to talk and catch up with him, it's not like you let yourself get knocked up by your ex-boyfriend's best friend or anything—oh!" She abruptly ended her speech once she realized what she said, while gasping and covering her mouth with her hand. This confession earned her two questioning glances from the other two girls, and then she realized that she hadn't told them that story yet.
"Oh god I'm so sorry Rory, I didn't even mean to say that. I just meant to say that I know where you're coming from, and I'm sure you guys will make up, even if it might take a while at first", she said reflecting back on how her and Finn still weren't exactly talking to each other yet, but every now and then, Finn would smile at her or if they were alone in the choir room and Quinn was having one of her daily crying fits, (damn hormones!) Finn would sit down beside her, and put and arm around her shoulders, just to let her know that he didn't hate her, (well at least not completely).
"It's okay Quinn, but we do need to talk about your Freudian slip later, I need details woman!" Rory said in a demanding voice, while Lorelai nodded her head vigorously. Quinn just smiled at the two, glad that at least they didn't hate her for the mistakes she has made.
"Okay it's a deal. Oh and Rory, if you want, I can talk to Logan for you, he called me the other day and wanted to get together anyways, so it would be a good chance to bring anything you want to say to him up, but only if you want me to", Quinn offered.
"Sure Quinn, we'll talk later, but right now, I want to get home and have an all night movie marathon, while eating copious amounts of Chinese food, with two of my favourite girls", Rory said, while the other two girls just nodded and followed Rory out the door.
Back down at the diner, Puck was sitting rather awkwardly at the table, seeing as the three girls had abandoned him, and he was now forced to make small talk with Luke. They mostly just talked about baseball and other sports, just guy stuff, until he said that he recently went to a Red Sox game with his daughter, who he knows hates sports but was glad to go with her father, since she goes between parents.
"You have a daughter?" Puck asked, slightly surprised, seeing as he didn't give off a fatherly vibe, then again, neither did her really.
"Ya, I do. She's pretty, very smart, around your age actually. I don't get to see her much, since she mostly lives in New Mexico with her mom, but we hang out a lot when she does come here, she likes Lorelai a lot too, which is good", Luke said, smiling slightly at the mention of his daughter. This made Puck sad though, because he knew there was probably a very good chance that after Quinn has Beth, he'll never see her again. Puck must have been showing this in his body language because all of a sudden, Luke stepped towards Puck and took a seat at the table he was sitting at.
"Look, I'm not usually the curious type of guy, I mean your business is your business and no one else's, nor do I talk much, but are you guys planning on keeping the baby?" Luke asked, nervous that he might have crossed some sort of line—he barely knew the kid after all. At this, Puck put his head down and said a low and gruff "no", being careful not to say any more than that because, like Luke said, his business was his business.
"Well at least you know she exists", Luke mumbled, not even realizing what he said until he said it. "What?" Puck said, suddenly looking up at the older man. Luke then took a deep breath, trying to decide if it was a good idea to tell this stranger his personal problems, but he decided that if anyone could relate to him, it would be this young man. So, letting out his breath, he started talking. "I never knew my daughter even existed up until about 5 years ago, and I always kind of felt it was my fault that her mother never told me, I mean I was so distant to her when we were dating, so that's why she left. I guess I was kind of a jerk to her, and she never really trusted me to take care of a kid", he said while looking out the window. As Luke was speaking these words, Puck felt like he was suddenly hit with a ton of bricks. Once he found out about Quinn's pregnancy, he knew that Quinn had absolutely no desire to ever tell him about his kid because like Luke said, she felt like she would never be able to trust him. That's why he was now glad the he was slowly changing, but part of him was still worried that that wasn't enough to keep her, even after Beth was born and—well ya, you get the picture. Puck however, was soon pulled from his thoughts by Luke standing up and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"You're a good kid, Puck, even though the nickname's kind of weird and you were kind of a jerk at first—but I can tell that Quinn likes you, so y'know, be careful with her, 'cause she's a good kid also. And whatever you decide to do, I'm sure your daughter will be happy and know that you love her", Luke said, smiling slightly at the end, while leaving hurriedly, (this conversation was way too personal for a guy like Luke, so he had to get away before he became a total girl). After their short but deep conversation, Puck knew that Luke was right—well at least about his daughter, (he still wasn't sure about Quinn). He knew what he had to do, even if when it came to emotions, Puck was somewhat disabled in this area, but he knew he had to try his best. He took one last look at Luke before he disappeared into the backroom and thought that Luke would make the perfect father to his daughter, because he was just like himself, (which honestly kind of scared him a bit, but he'd deal with that later). Sure, he had his bad qualities, but all in all he was a good guy, it just took him a while to show anyone his good side and to open up to people. So, with that thought in mind, he decided that he was going to try to be happy about this adoption thing, because he knew she'd be in good hands. He also knew that he wanted to show Quinn that he had changed for good, and wasn't going to be a womanizing jerk anymore, because he really cared about Quinn, and wanted them to have a relationship other than him being the father of their daughter. Yes, from this day forward, Puck was going to be a new man.
As Quinn, Lorelai and Rory finally came back downstairs after what seemed like hours, Puck just smiled back at Quinn while they all took a seat at his table.
"Sorry we were so long, lots of girl drama, you know the usual", Quinn said.
"It's fine, I was talking to Luke anyways, he's actually not a bad guy", Puck said back, and the three girls just smiled and giggled to themselves, knowing full well that at first Puck was scared of the older man.
"Well that's good, and no he's not, he just cares a lot about his three main girls", Lorelai said while her smile grew bigger, yes she knew she had the best husband in the world.
"Ya, we're very similar in that way", Puck said while looking right at Quinn, almost looking right into her soul. Quinn just smiled back at him and blushed, and the other two girls just looked at each other knowingly and silently agreed to give these two their space. "Well, we're gonna head out, but you guys can join us later if you want, we're just gonna be watching movies, probably all night", Lorelai said as the two girls stood up and headed towards the door.
"Sounds good, I'll call you", Quinn said back, standing up as well to hug the two girls goodbye. Lorelai and Rory then said their goodbyes to Luke and they were gone.
And then there were two.
It was very awkward for a while, until Puck finally spoke up.
"So, uh wanna go for a walk or something?" Puck said while scratching his head, 'he's so cute' Quinn thought. "Sure, we can talk about what we're gonna say tomorrow night too—you still wanna do it, right?" Quinn said, hesitating slightly, since she was nervous that Luke might have changed his mind.
"Ya, I do, it's what's best for her", Puck said smiling down at Quinn while he stood up. He then did something he hasn't done in a very long time—he reached down to grab her hand and helped pull her up, but they never let go of each other. Quinn smiled at the newness of it all—she has never seen Puck this way ever, and she kind of really liked it.
Review as usual!
