Puck was confused as hell when he woke up to Barbara Streisand blaring out of Rachel's phone at six in the morning. Said Berry groped across his body for his phone and managed to get it to her ear with no small struggle. By the time she was able to hear she was propped up on Puck's chest with a look of fear in her eyes.

"Hello, Daddy."

The look on her face had him chuckling in an instant, but she pressed a finger to her lips with pleading eyes, and he suddenly realized that her fathers might kill them both if they knew where Rachel had spent the night. Spending the night at home on the Berry's couch with parental supervision was one thing; sharing Puck's bed with his mother an hour away, however innocent the night had been, would get them both in hot water. Nodding at her, he clamped his mouth shut.

"I'm so sorry I didn't call you Daddy. We were up all night doing karaoke and eating pizza and junk food and we all just crashed on Tina's floor," she lied, praying he'd believe her. "I didn't want to call you when it was so late and by the time we went to bed I had just completely forgotten." Some of the tension drained from her face and she nodded. "I'll be much more cognizant of the worry I could be putting you through next time. What was I planning on doing today?"

Her eyes met Noah's and this time it was his that pled with her. She knew he needed the support when he gave his little girl to her new parents today, and despite the ache in her heart she absolutely wouldn't abandon him now. Especially not after a very rare word fell from his lips. "Please," he whispered.

Rachel nodded. "Quinn is leaving the hospital today which means that she and Noah will be officially transferring guardianship of the baby to her new parents. If it's alright with you I'd like to be there with him." There was an affirmative noise on the other line and she let out a happy sigh. "Thank you, Daddy. I'll let you know when I'm on the way home."

She disconnected the call, and Noah pulled her down into his arms, squeezing her tightly. "Thank you."

"Of course," she told him. She couldn't seem to help but nuzzle her face against the soft fabric of his shirt. "You two need the support."

Puck nodded. "We do; I just wish Quinn's parents had pulled their heads out of their asses and come to meet their granddaughter." With one last hug he released her and slid from the bed. "Speaking of which, we've got to go. How're you feeling?"

Still in the bed, she stretched gingerly and took a survey of her body. Her head was hurting, but it was much better than it could have been if the Cheerio Gleeks hadn't forced aspirin and water on her. She was a bit sore from cramping into a twin bed with Noah, but all in all she felt relatively decent. "I'm okay," she told him with a soft smile. "Thank you for taking care of me."

The smirk he shot her was pure Puck. "Pleasure was mine. But rest assured I will get you at least tipsy again; I can't wait to hear your version of You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want," he told her as he went over to pull a pair of jeans from his dresser.

"Oh God, I sang Avenue Q?" She sounded completely embarrassed. Burying her head in her hands, she shook her head. "Nobody was ever even supposed to know that I know the songs!"

Puck laughed out loud at her. "Why not? It's one of the few kickass musicals on the planet, and it's totally unberryish, which is kind of hot. Anyway," he snapped his sweatshirt at her playfully. "We've got to get Matt and the Cheerios out of here so we can leave."

She pouted a bit, but she finally rolled out of the bed. Her head twinged a bit more as she transitioned to upright and she let out a little groan that sounded mysteriously like 'pain killer.' Before she could dig some out of her bag a bottle came flying at her followed closely by a well worn t-shirt. A girly shriek she couldn't suppress escaped as she hit the bed again. "Noah!"

"Up and at em, lightweight."

As the morning progressed it became painfully clear to Rachel that Noah's bravado was all for sure. When he thought nobody was looking the smile fell away, and at one part his hands even started to shake. The others seemed to sense it too and Matt offered a man hug, Brittany threw her arms around him, and even Santana managed a somewhat awkward pat on her ex's shoulder before the three of them headed out.

Rachel and Puck followed them out the door, but they were both silent as they got on the road. This was the biggest, scariest day of his life thus far, and actually maybe his entire life; and neither of them quite knew what to say. It didn't take either of them long to realize that maybe nothing could be said, and they spent the ride in comfortable if sad silence with their fingers laced together on the seat.

When they finally pulled up to the hospital Noah took a huge breath and steeled himself for what was to come. Rachel was out of the car and next to him again almost before he could blink, and with her hand twined in his he felt worlds better. They met his mom and sister at the door, and together as a unit they made their way up to Quinn's room.

The blonde was very quietly and efficiently packing her bag up, though the busy work couldn't disguise the shaking of her hands. They all swapped their hellos, but when the nurse brought the baby into the room it was like the world slipped away. Puck held her first, cooing over her in a very un-Puck way and trying to hold back the tears in his eyes. After a while he made his way over to Quinn, passing their daughter to her with a look of anguish that made Rachel feel like a vice had tightened over her heart. Quinn took the baby with tears already falling, and she had just cuddled her up against her chest when Jared and Emily came in the room.

Noah felt like the world was crashing down on him, and even though he knew he would get to see his little girl grow up and most likely spend time with her down the line, he felt like his heart was breaking; and for once in his life he was completely unashamed to cry. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to the baby's head before Quinn laid her in Emily's arms.

Suddenly, everyone in the room was crying. He could hear Quinn talking to Jared and Emily and his mother having a conversation, but it was all forced to the back of his mind like some sort of sadistic white noise. Turning around, his eyes searched blindly for Rachel, finding her right where he had left her by the hospital room door. There was nowhere else he wanted to be.

When Noah strode over to her to pull her into his arms Rachel felt all of the emotions she'd been trying to tamp down for the past two days come flooding out. In what seemed like a split second the pair of them were holding onto each other like the only port in the storm, and Rachel's mind began to reel. Noah had come to her. When his heart had broken he hadn't gone to Quinn, but to her. Could she have been wrong?

She didn't have time to think about it. Emily and Jared were laying the baby in her car seat, and as they headed for the door with promises of a status report in the next few days, Puck called out to them hoarsely. "I forgot to ask, what are you going to name her?"

Emily smiled. "Annabelle," she told him. "Annabelle Penelope Faith."

Quinn smiled despite the pain she was feeling. "You're giving her our initials?" she questioned somewhat incredulously.

Jared nodded. "She'll probably go by something a little less verbose when she gets older, but we wanted her to have something of you two to always keep."

Then with a smile and a wave they were gone, and the bare threads that had been holding Quinn together seemed to snap the minute that they were out of sight. "Can we go, please?" she questioned desperately. "I can't…?"

The devastation in her eyes had Rachel on the move, and she had stopped her tears in the time it took to make it across the room. It was something she never thought she'd ever do, but she gathered Quinn in her arms and guided them both to sit on the bed. Once the comfort was offered she couldn't seem to hold anything in anymore, and Rachel just let her cry as she stroked a comforting hand over her hair. "Mrs. Puckerman is going to go take care of your paperwork now, okay? She'll get you all discharged and we can all go back to the hotel and you can have a nice hot bath. But for now you just go ahead and cry."

"It'll be okay, Quinn," Puck said quietly. His mother and sister had gone to do what Rachel had not so subtly suggested, and with fewer people there to witness their grief he had crossed the room as well to join them. He sat down heavily next to Rachel, running a hand briefly over her back in silent thanks. He knew that eventually his words would prove true, but at the moment they just seemed hollow; even so, he couldn't help but repeat them, if only as a prayer that they would come true sooner rather than later. "It'll be okay."

Mrs. Puckerman drove them back to the hotel in shifts, seeing as they only had Puck's truck. She had rented a second room and kept both for the night, knowing that everyone would be too spent to want to drive back to Lima; though if she was being completely honest with herself she would admit she wanted her son and his friends to be able to take some time to try and heal before they had to return to the harsh reality of questions and inevitable measure of derision that would be coming towards them.

Rachel was sitting on her bed turning Noah over and over in her mind when Quinn emerged from the bathroom they were sharing two hours after giving up her baby girl. Her hair was tangled and wet from her long bath, her eyes red and puffy, but she managed a small smile. "Thank you, Rachel," she said quietly. "For being there."

The brunette shook her head. "You don't have to thank me, Quinn. What you and Noah went through today…." She was momentarily at a loss for words. "I just don't know how you made it through."

"With your help, and Puck's and his family's. You were here for me, and that's what counts in the end."

Rachel knew she was thinking about her parents, so she slapped a happy smile on her face and turned to face Quinn head on. "You know, I've never had a real slumber party."

"Seriously Berry?" Quinn looked positively floored. She knew that Rachel was mostly trying to distract her from the heavy things that had been going on and give her a chance to act like a silly teenager, and she appreciated more than she could express. Still, she couldn't believe that her new found friend had never had a real sleepover. "We can only do a half decent job in a hotel room, but brace yourself, Berry. We're having a slumber party."

A couple hours later Quinn and Rachel had done a host of girly things that every teenage girl needed once and a while to keep a hold of their girl card. Their hair was braided, their nails painted with the 'pretty in pink' polish the former Cheerio hadn't been at all surprised to find Rachel kept in her purse, and they had filled the hotel notepad with dozens of games of MASH that told them Rachel would one day drive a secondhand Nova and live in a mansion with 19 cats and Quinn would someday own 5 porta potty franchises and drive her Porsche home to her shack every night. They were seriously contemplating trying to turn the honey and sugar that came with the hotel's hot beverages when there was a knock on the door.

Rachel knew that Quinn was still dealing with the aftermath of giving birth, so it was she who bounced over to the door, figuring it was their room service grilled cheese and fries. But when she opened the door she just let out a surprised, "Oh."

The seemingly intense muffled conversation made the other girl's brow furrow. Then a very amazed looking Rachel stepped back into the room with their caller in tow and she suddenly understood. "Finn!" she cried in surprise.

"Can we maybe talk a bit quieter?" he asked with a wince. "It was kind of a long night."

"Yeah sure," she said, sounding dazed and feeling almost painfully hopeful. "But Finn, what are you doing here?"

He rubbed his hand awkwardly over his neck. "I was hoping that… that we could talk I guess."

She barely registered that her eyes were tearing up again as she nodded emphatically. "We can definitely do that."

Rachel slipped out as Quinn agreed to a talk with Finn. Though she knew she should only feel happy that the two of them were finally going to talk things out, there was a veritable symphony of feelings swirling through her. The spark of hope that had kindled in her in the hospital was barely burning now as she hadn't a clue as to what his taking solace in her meant.

Feeling torn, she leaned back against the wall, sliding to the floor. She must have been relatively out of it, because she didn't even hear anyone approach. She just opened her eyes and found Noah sitting there.

"So," he said softly, those gorgeous hazel eyes boring into hers intensely. "Are you going to tell me what's up?

Note From The Author—Yes, okay, cliffhanger, but I couldn't seem to help myself. Also, never having given birth, I have no clue if I'm right here, so please humor me : ) Also, I don't know how if y'all played the kind of crazy games of MASH that I did when I was younger, but I have so had games of MASH turn out like Quinn and Rachel's. I also need to tell you that I don't own Avenue Q