One minute, she's totting across the yard on her short, chubby little legs and the next, she's sitting firmly on her butt with tears in her hazel eyes. Puck rushed across the yard and lifted her up, staring into the gaze that looks so much like his own.

"You okay, baby?" he murmured softly to Beth, placing a gentle kiss to the top of her blonde curls. The blonde was all Quinn but the curls were his. The little girl nodded through her tears but buried her face in the curve of his neck nonetheless. He inhaled deeply and silently thanked God once again for Shelby letting him have days like this with his daughter. "I think Burt found a swing for you. Why don't we try that for a while?"

It was the first really nice day of summer, that period in early June where Ohio was warm enough for swimming but not so hot that you could fry an egg on the side walk at 9 AM. The Hummels were throwing a family barbecue with Blaine, Puck and Beth as their only guests. Rachel was out of town with her fathers on one of their infamous gay family cruises and Quinn had left the week before to start her internship at some tiny paper in Denver. Puck was actually kind of glad to have this time with Beth to himself. He had really missed his little girl.

"Papa Burt, come push!" Beth called across the yard. She had been confused about who the kind man was to her at first but had decided that he would be called papa just like Shelby's father was. The man looked up from the grill and grinned, happily handing the spatula over to his wife to come toward the pleading girl. "Yay, Daddy! Papa Burt is gonna push."

It was hard to believe that she was already three. Burt finally reached them and not-so-subtly pushed Puck out of the way. "I got her for a bit," he announced as he gave the back of the old wooden swing a push. "You go take a load off before Kurt and Blaine get here. I'm sure that it'll be impossible to get a minute of peace once my son starts talking about the wedding again."

Puck laughed and nodded before crossing the yard to sit next to Carole at the patio table. The older woman was smiling fondly at her husband pushing Beth. "He must have been in the shed for a half hour digging that old thing up this morning," she laughed as Beth giggled happily, blonde hair trailing behind her in the air. "It's been awhile since we had any kids around. It's nice having her here."

"Yeah, it is pretty great, isn't it?" he asked happily. He exchanged a content smile with Carole before looking back at his daughter. "Hey, Mom, where did that swing come from? It looks really familiar."

"It should, Noah, it used to hang in the backyard at the old house," she reminded him with a forlorn look. He saw the flash of something familiar in her eyes when he realized what she meant. "Christopher made it for Finn when I found out I was pregnant. He never did get to put it up, though. I had to do it myself when Finn was old enough, but I swear, I spent hours pushing him in that thing."

"Finn always did love to swing," Puck remembered. They used to jump out of them like superheroes when they were kids. Puck always wanted to be Batman, which made Finn his Robin by default. Finn never minded though, just content to be the sidekick to his best friend. Sometimes, on special occasions like Finn's birthday or when Gracie Harper kicked the taller boy really hard, Puck let him be the one who led. Shaking his head a little, he looked back at the old swing. "It's help up pretty well."

Carole nodded before snapping a quick photo on her phone. "Nothing a coat of paint wouldn't fix," she decided. "You should take it with you, fix it up a little and hang it when you get settled at the new place. I'm sure Burt would lend you a ladder."

"Or maybe you guys could come by to help me hang it," he offered. "Ma and Sarah are going to come over to help paint the living room next weekend. I could throw together some lunch, and you guys could bring Kurt and Blaine. I'm sure Kurt will have some strong opinions about my decorating abilities."

He had just signed the lease on a tiny little two-bedroom house just off campus. It had just five rooms and the smallest backyard with a pair of tall oak trees, but Puck was really glad it was going to be his home for the next year. He had thought about leaving Lima, but with Shelby coming back to teach at McKinley again, he wanted to be near Beth. They had even talked about him keeping her overnight once a week, and he wanted the spare bedroom to be ready for her if that happened.

"I'm sure the boys would love that," Carole said finally. They both turned when they heard the gate rattle. Blaine and Kurt came strolling through the yard, arms full of cupcakes from the bakery downtown and enough buns to feed an army. "Wouldn't you, boys?"

"Sure, Mrs. Hummel," Blaine replied automatically while Kurt offered up a distracted, "Huh?"

"Noah here was just asking for our help getting the house together. He thought you might have some opinions on what he should do to decorate, Kurt," Carole replied. "And Blaine, seriously, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Carole?"

Kurt's eyes lit up. "I have the perfect Pintrest Board for this!"

"Oh, God," Blaine muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as Kurt excitedly tapped away on his iPhone. "Thanks, I just talked him down from wanting to redesign my entire wardrobe for New York."

Kurt narrowed his eyes at his fiancé just as a certain little girl hollered across the yard. "Kurty!"

"Princess Beth," Kurt called back, handing his phone off to Blaine so he could go retrieve the little girl. They had spent a little time together since Kurt happened to stop by to check on Puck at least once every few days now that he was home for the summer. The bond had been instantaneous, and Shelby swore that he was now her favorite person after Shelby and Puck. "Are you swinging with Papa Burt?"

"He pushes me way higher than Daddy will," she said in a not-so-quiet whisper. Puck chuckled as Kurt lifted her from the seat and tickled her sides playfully. "Mama Quinn says that Daddy is too protective, but he says that he just wants to make sure that I'm always okay."

"That's right," Puck confirmed as he leaned across Blaine to ruffle his daughter's curls. "Now who's ready to eat? I'm starved."

An hour later, Kurt and Blaine are huddled over a navy blue binder with Carole, deep in the midst of wedding plans. Burt had disappeared inside to watch the Indians game, and Beth was curled up in Puck's lap while they talked quietly in the far corner of the yard.

"Daddy, I have a question."

"What's that, baby?"

She curled her fingers into the soft material of his worn tee. "When is Uncle Finny coming home?"

Beth still remembered Finn in bits and pieces, and Puck dreaded the day that those memories would fade away. She had always loved the tall oaf, how he would get down on the floor to play with her and laugh at the cartoons like she did and call her Drizzle. He had been really great with her when she'd come to see Puck at the dorms. Somewhere, still hidden away, he had a picture of the three of them playing with a red rubber ball on the Quad.

"Baby, remember how I told you that Uncle Finn was in heaven?" he asked her. She nodded seriously. Puck was Jewish and had a more complex view on the whole heaven thing. But Beth was three and the thought of the traditional heaven was admittedly quite comforting. "Well, that means he's an angel. He's not going to be able to come back and play with you like he used to. But he's always going to be there, watching over you and protecting you, even if you can't see him."

"Like Nana Connie?" she asked quietly, referring to the great-grandmother that Puck always told her about. "Well, I guess that is better than him going away and never coming back. That's what happened to Mrs. Howard's cat, Boots. A car hit him." She looked at him for a minute and then leaned up to whisper in his ear. "I miss Uncle Finny, Daddy."

"I know, baby, me too," he told her gently, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. She wrapped her little arms around him and hugged him tightly, probably feeling how sad he suddenly was. "But Uncle Finny wouldn't want us to be sad, okay? He'd want us to laugh and play and have fun. Papa Burt is going to come over and hang that swing up in the tree at Daddy's house next weekend. Did you know it belonged to Uncle Finn when he was a little guy just like you? Every time you swing in it, you can think about him and how much we all miss him."

She cocked her head to the side for a minute before nodding resolutely. "Okay, Daddy," she declared before snuggling back up to him. "Lots of people loved Uncle Finny, didn't they, Daddy?"

Puck grinned down at her and mirrored her confident nod. "So many people, baby, but not like us."