A/N - Wow, that update took longer than I planned! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, and I truly hope you enjoy this one! I'm working on a one-shot as well, so Quick fans, watch out! This is set during Home. Please please review! Thanks! - Sash


Flashback:

"You're all Cheerios now, which means you live and breathe it. And I hope you enjoyed whatever you ate last, because as of now, you don't eat." Coach Sylvester boomed. "The Sue Sylvester Master Cleanse," she held up a plastic bottle. "Water, lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and what makes it the Sue Sylvester Master Cleanse – ipecac,"

Quinn looked at the other girls beside her; they looked as bewildered as she did.

Sue continued, "A tablespoon of sand should also be added to it. You'll have to work up to it, so you can compete between yourselves to see who the first person is to handle it,"

There was a blonde and a Latina standing next to Quinn. The blonde had walked in with a smile and she seemed to remain unfazed by what was being thrown at them. The Latina had a sassy, confident look in her face, but even she blanched when Coach began talking about sand. "Did she say sand?" she asked the blonde.

"You're dismissed! Practice is at 6am tomorrow. Be there or face my wrath," Coach roared.

The girls dispersed, leaving they gym through various doors. The blonde and Latina had their arms linked as they skipped along. Quinn approached them. "Hi, I'm Quinn,"

They stopped alongside her and the blonde offered her a smile, "Hi! I'm Brittany and this is Santana," she gestured to the other girl.

"How much did she tell you had to lose?" Quinn asked them.

"Five pounds," they told her simultaneously.

Quinn's heart plummeted. She had been told ten.

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Now that Quinn wasn't lording over the rest of the school, she found she had the chance to observe and analyze what was really going on. Occasionally, she saw things that really struck a chord with her. This day, it was Mercedes' behaviour that was concerning her. It was lunchtime, so everyone was in the cafeteria. Quinn was waiting for Puck to get there from the wood shop. She stood by the wall, but she was close enough to hear what was being said between Mercedes, Brittany and Santana. The seasoned cheerleaders were encouraging the new recruit to abandon all food in favour of the Sue Sylvester Master Cleanse. Quinn had found she had evolved over the past few months, and her view on appearances had changed with it. Mercedes' situation was incredibly sad to Quinn; because she is a beautiful girl, and not a cookie-cutter type, with an incredible talent. Quinn felt a tap on her shoulder, and found Puck standing beside her, with a tray in hand.

"Hi babe, let's sit,"

They sat side-by-side at the end of a corner table where Quinn expressed her concerns for Mercedes to Puck. "I really think I should talk to her, but I'm worried about crossing a line,"

"You'll do the right thing, you always do," Puck reassured her.

They finished their lunches and sat close, fingers interwoven, saying nothing. As they did, Puck was thinking about how lucky he was. Here he was, cuddled up to the prettiest girl in school, in town even, and it was out of love. Suddenly, they were brought out of their reverie by a commotion in the middle of the room. There was a crowd of people surrounding something. A fight, Puck thought. Normally he'd be there cheering it on, but he resisted. They quickly found out that it wasn't a fight, but Mercedes had passed out.

"Oh my gosh," Quinn slipped off the bench and moved to see what was going on. When she was satisfied that the situation was serious, she decided she needed to be with her friend. "I'll see you later?" she gave Puck a kiss.

"Of course babe, you go be with her. I've got another twenty minutes so I'll go lift some weights," Puck flexed his arm. "Carrying you from the couch to bed isn't enough to keep these up,"

Quinn gave his rock-hard biceps a glance and laughed at him, "Egghead," she told him with a grin, before walking after Mercedes, who was in the process of being carted out.

Seeing Mercedes being carried out of the cafeteria to the nurse's office by Finn and Matt reminded Quinn of her own struggles and the poisonous influence of Sue Sylvester and her mood sobered quickly. She followed them slowly, keeping her distance.

Flashback: Quinn's house

Quinn lay on her bed, still in shock and still wishing she was dreaming. "Google," Quinn thought. As much as she desperately wanted to deny reality, she was a smart girl, and knew that could be dangerous. She dropped the taunting plastic stick with its pink lines into a drawer, grabbed her laptop and sat in a corner of her dark room. As she typed into the search box, she held her breath and swiftly opened several of the search results. Quinn scanned the pages, absorbing the information quickly.

She felt her stomach rumble and knew she had to eat. Her current diet consisted of much less than was healthy for any girl, let alone an active, and now, pregnant one. She by no means had an eating disorder, but ate so little because of the pressure she was under from one Sue Sylvester. "Screw Coach and the Cheerios," she thought to herself. Quinn had bigger problems than what Coach Sylvester might say, and Coach wasn't about to throw her off the team she knew, considering they had major competitions in the next couple weeks. Sighing, Quinn got up and went downstairs to the kitchen. She stood in front of the open pantry for several minutes before summoning the courage to grab several Oreo cookies, without giving their calorie and fat content a second thought. She still hadn't completely wrapped her head around the fact that she was pregnant, and she had no idea what she would do about it, but Quinn knew that she was responsible for this baby, who hadn't asked to be conceived. She poured herself a glass of milk and hustled upstairs, returning to her corner. She stuffed a whole cookie into her mouth and chewed, "What's it gonna matter in a few months anyway," she muttered resignedly. Quinn felt like she was engaging in clandestine activity – eating cookies in the dark and surfing the internet for information she shouldn't need. The dark was therapeutic, calming, for her.

Quinn heard the front door open and shut and footsteps below. One set ascended the stairs and a then came a knock on her door. "Quinnie dear, we're home," she heard her mother's sing-song voice. "Are you there?"

"Yeah, hi Mom," Quinn responded.

"Are you okay dear?"

"Not really," Quinn thought to herself. "I'm fine," she said aloud. She heard her mother walk away and when the footsteps faded, Quinn got up and went to her dresser. On top of it was a booklet that contained Sue's food rules and pages to chart everything you'd eaten. She made a Cheerio do this if they gained any weight, so if you kept it down, you wouldn't have to use it. Quinn's last entries were about 4 weeks ago, when she was informed that she had gained two pounds, about the same time that all this trouble started. She opened the top drawer, in which she had put the damning stick and looked back and forth between the two items before throwing the booklet into her trash can and shutting the drawer.

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Quinn took a chair in the nurse's office. Mercedes had come to and was being seen to by the nurse. The nurse finished examining Mercedes and then went to call her mother. When the nurse walked away, Quinn approached her friend.

"Eat this," Quinn held out a granola bar to Mercedes.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry" was the weak reply.

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Yes you are. You're starving. I know, I've been there." She paused and hazarded a guess. "Did all the other kids start looking like food before you fainted?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Mercedes was surprised at this.

Quinn shrugged, "Been there. Eat the granola bar,"

"How would you understand the pressure I'm under?" Mercedes accepted the food.

"Because I was you. Scared. Hating myself for eating a cookie. But I got over it,"

Mercedes snorted, "Yeah, well of course you did, pretty blonde with the white girl ass,"

"When you start eating for somebody else so that they can grow and be healthy, your relationship to food changes. What I realized is that, I'm so willing to eat right to take care of this baby. Why am I not willing to do it for myself?" Quinn explained softly. "You are so lucky; you've always been at home in your body. Don't let Ms. Sylvester take that away from you,"

Mercedes' lower lip quivered, "I'm so embarrassed, this isn't me. How did I become this person?"

"You are beautiful. You know that." Quinn reassured the new Cheerio and took her hand. "I'll wait with you until your mom gets here,"

"Thank you,"

Quinn's maternal instincts had clearly arrived, Mercedes thought. "How does it feel?" she asked her.

The question sounded vague, but Quinn knew what she meant. "It's weird. There's really no other word for it. It feels like you'd imagine, especially now, like there's a moving weight inside you," she giggled.

Mercedes laughed quietly. "Well, if the way you've handled me is any indication, you'd make a great mom,"

"Thanks 'Cedes,"

"Can I ask you something, like more personal?" Mercedes asked her.

"Sure," Quinn shrugged.

"Does it feel like you're just carrying around dead weight? Or do you actually feel like a connection already?"

"I don't know what its like for other people, but for me, even if I don't want to, I'm aware that this is my baby girl, and that I'll do whatever's best for her, even if it breaks my heart," Quinn answered.

"Sounds like a mama,"

They sat quietly for a couple moments and then Mrs. Jones walked in. "Mercedes dear, are you alright?"

"Yeah Mom, just low blood sugar I guess," Mercedes responded.

Mrs Jones looked relieved, "Let's get you home anyway," she helped her daughter up. "Quinn, am I right?" she turned to the blonde and offered her hand

Quinn stood and shook hands with her. "Yes, hi Mrs. Jones,"

"Thank you for watching my Mercedes,"

"Of course. I hope you feel better quickly 'Cedes. I'll see you later" Quinn moved to leave.

Mercedes smiled, "I'll try to be at the rink for Glee."

Quinn's parting words were, "Just remember what I told you. Nice to meet you Mrs. Jones,"

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"Seriously? Carole and Mr Hummel?" Puck was surprised. The idea of Finn's mom dating never crossed his mind. She had been alone for awhile now; he supposed that perhaps it was time.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure about it at first, but we went out for dinner and Burt's pretty cool." Finn shrugged as he opened his locker.

Puck clapped Finn on the shoulder, "Well that's great man,"

Finn and Puck's relationship was decidedly less frosty, and friendly if anything, since the videogame evening at Mike's. It worked because Puck respected the fact that Finn was still hurt and didn't shove his relationship with Quinn in his face, and Finn respected the fact that Puck couldn't help who he loved and quickly pursuing a relationship with Quinn was part of stepping up.

Just then, Kurt marched up to them and grabbed Finn's arm. "We have to talk," he told a confused Finn, at which point Puck quickly excused himself.

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Rinky Dinks – it was an incredibly cheesy, cliché roller rink, but Quinn had to admit it looked like fun. April Rhodes made sure the pizza and soda was flowing freely to the Glee club's tables and everyone was skating around, except Quinn. She hardly thought that skating of any form, while pregnant, especially at this stage, was sensible. Luckily people were coming on and off the floor to take a break, so there was always someone to talk to.

Puck had been skating around with Matt and Brittany, checking in on Quinn frequently. While she smiled and assured him that she was fine and perfectly content on the sidelines, he wasn't entirely convinced. He went to the counter and asked for a pair of skates in Quinn's size and took them over to her. "Here Q, let's get these on. You can't just sit here and watch everyone else have fun,"

"Puck! What if I fall?" Quinn protested.

"I won't let you. Please, trust me?" Puck assured her.

Quinn looked at the pleading look on his face and listened to the assuring tone in his words, and took the skates from him. Her bump was fairly small considering how far along she was, but it was still awkward to work around, and putting shoes had gotten difficult. She kicked her ballet flats off without using her hands but stalled as she contemplated which angle to try pulling on the skates.

"May I?" Puck looked at her fondly as it was clear that skates would be more awkward to get on than her usual shoes. She nodded and he took the skates and knelt before her. Once the skates were on and tied, Puck helped her up.

"Thanks,"

"Anything, babe," Puck put one arm around Quinn's waist and held her hand with the other. He gently guided her onto the skating surface and they slowly glided along, their legs moving in tandem. "See? You can do it,"

Quinn's face lit up as she got more comfortable on the skates. She had always been a very capable roller skater, but she was surprised that she felt so steady considering she now had balance issues. With Puck keeping a firm grip on her, she was feeling confident enough to speed them up a little.

"Hey now! Let's take it easy." It was as if Puck could read Quinn's mind. "I know you're feeling steady, but I don't want to take any more chances,"

"You're right. You take such good care of us," Quinn leaned back into Puck a little and he hugged her closer.

Mercedes, Tina, Rachel, Artie and Kurt were fooling around near the middle of the rink. "Look at them!" Mercedes cooed, gesturing at Quinn and Puck.

"Yes, even I have to admit that they do look cute," Rachel concurred.

Kurt shook his head with a smile, "They're living up to their name,"

The other four turned to him, puzzled.

"Quinn plus Puck make Quick, which they are clearly living up to. There was a time when they were only just civil to each other, and now they're all loved-up and happy," Kurt explained.

"They've both really changed. There was a time when Quinn didn't talk to any of us, and Puck was throwing slushies at us. And now that they aren't all concerned about image, I think we're seeing who they really are," Tina added.

"As bizarre as it is, I think that Quinn getting pregnant was the best thing to happen to those two," Kurt mused. "She's less of an ice queen and Puck has something to concentrate on, like I think his behaviour before, was down to boredom,"

"Before, if anyone were to ask me if I thought they'd make good parents, either together or separately, I would have said probably not. But clearly, they aren't the same people anymore," Rachel continued to watch them. "Noah is a good person, and he clearly cares very much for Quinn and the baby, and while her tongue is still sharp, she displays a considerable amount of compassion now,"

Mercedes piped up, "There was something…maternal about the way she treated me in the nurse's office. If it was any indication, she'll be a great mom. She said she'd put her feelings aside to do what was best for her baby,"

"We should show them our support, maybe a baby shower or something," Tina suggested.

Kurt shook his head, "We don't know if they're gonna keep it. But if they do, we could throw a party afterwards? Like a baby shower, just after the baby is here,"

"Great idea Kurt," Rachel twirled on her skates.

Quinn and Puck skated by blissfully. "Thanks for making me do this. And I have to say, I like your style," Quinn sighed.

"I never want to skate any other way," Puck agreed.

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There was yet another pep rally, and the school was being fumigated, so there was little choice but to attend.

Mercedes had called Quinn up to let her know what she had planned for it. She had decided to buck Sue's plan, and perform something meaningful that she hoped would give a positive message to the school. So Quinn sat on the gym floor, where she could see Tina, Artie, Rachel and Jesse nearby. Mercedes and the rest of the Cheerios emerged, where they launched into Christina Aguilera's Beautiful. It was a fitting song and while few could do it justice, Mercedes sang it note perfect. During their phone conversation the night before, Mercedes had asked a favour of Quinn.

"Could you join me? Like up at the front? I understand if you don't, but I thought I'd ask,"

Quinn bit her lip, "Sure, of course I will," she said into the phone.

When the time came, Quinn got up and stood alongside Mercedes, in front of the entire school and joined in the harmony. She put a protective hand on her bump, fully aware of the eyes on her, but she knew she had to ignore it. Others joined them, including Puck, who stood behind Quinn, arms wrapped around her, and a defiant look in his eye.

The song ended and the student body stood, roaring in applause. Quinn saw Sue's disgruntled face and couldn't help but feel that she had brought this on to herself. The bell signalling the end of the day rang, and most of the student body filed out, the Glee club convened. Puck and Quinn lingered in each others' arms awhile longer before following their Gleemates.

April Rhodes had made her grand return that week and wanted to surprise Mr Schue, and recruited the club to help her out. She wanted to send him a message, and like everyone involved with Glee, just telling him wasn't good enough, it had to be sung. Nearly invisible, dressed in black against a black backdrop, the club provided background vocals for April's performance of Home, from The Wiz. April was one of those singers, who could be singing gibberish in another language, and you still want to listen to her, Puck thought.

When it was over, Quinn turned to Puck. "Let's go home,"