Disclaimer: There is no claim to ownership of any part of the original Glee concept. I do however admit to using my imagination to create this particular storyline.
A/N: To the people following this tale, JessieStorm40, miss agron, Cheesycow, stepheyy, LaughAlways88, CandyMe21, Jellyfin, MissWilson94, eclectic girl, Boris Yeltsin, Julyyy, razz girl, CarterIsMine, SMichelleS, hernandez516, Gleekalwaysand4ever, Gemma945, lovewriter1991, thank you everyone. I am trying to keep the momentum going, it is a struggle right now, if you have read my other current fiction, Nothing Compares To You, you'll understand why.
"Jeez." Puck whispered as the curtain went up, "that could be you up there on that stage. I've never seen Beth looking more like you. And that's saying something, you're like two peas in a pod." Puck, Quinn, Rosa, Jesse, Evie and Roo sat in the audience to hear New Directions sing. "Everything. The costumes, the songs. It's unbelievable." The first song, Faithfully, had been recreated exactly how it had been sung when Puck and Quinn were in New Directions. Even Keegan and Beth's places on stage were exactly the same. It was like watching a video of the original event.
As the mash up of Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' and Anyway You Want It began, they couldn't help but smile to each other, Puck took Quinn's hand and gave it a little squeeze. Keegan sang the same line that Puck had, "I was alone, I never knew what good love could do" then Beth joined him in front and sang the rest of the verse with him "Then we touched, then we sang, about the lovin' things". They stood in front as the whole team repeated the same simple dance sequence during the '"lovin' touchin' squeezin" part of the song, Beth's hands on Keegan as Quinn's had been on Puck all those years ago, before Keegan spun her into his arms exactly as Puck had with Quinn. During Don't Stop Believin' Keegan again sang the same line as Puck, Beth took the line that Santana had sung in their original performance. Even from that distance Quinn could see the sparks between them as they circled each other exactly as Puck and Santana had. Ramon and Amy taking the leads in Don't Stop were absolutely mind blowing. Their voices blended together so well, it was unreal. As the team took their bow at the very end of their set Puck stood and with his fingers in his mouth whistled very, very loudly. The audience were on their feet, cheering.
Mr Schue stood in the wings, his heart in his mouth. Across the stage, in the wings opposite he saw Shelby Corcoran clapping and cheering on his team. Would she be alone or would she have a fifteen year old boy with her? Mr Schue wasn't sure he wanted to know. He hoped Shelby was alone. He'd never missed what he'd never seen. Shelby glanced over and saw Mr Schue. She blinked very slowly, the smile on her face faltering slightly then she turned away without fully acknowledging him. Mr Schue breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fantastic you guys, you were fantastic." Mr Schue cried as they ran past him back to the dressing room.
Puck and Quinn walked hand in hand towards the dressing room, Rosa stayed in the auditorium with Jesse, Evie and Roo. Just outside the dressing room door Puck almost stumbled, he turned to face Quinn. "This is it, this is the place." He whispered to her. "Where you were stood, right after we came off stage, that was the second that it all became real." Puck's hands drifted up to cup Quinn's face. "It was right here where I knew that if you went through with the adoption idea, I'd be lost. And I don't think I'd have ever found my way back." Puck bent just slightly and placed a sweet, gentle kiss on Quinn's lips. "Thank you, for loving me, trusting me, believing in me, for letting us be a family." He murmured, his eyes intense.
Suddenly Beth was at the door of the dressing room, "Mom, dad, what are you doing here?" She asked with a breathless little laugh, unaware that she had, almost word for word mimicked her mother.
Quinn felt a stab of déjà vu. Her own mother had stood before her, here, in the exact spot that she now stood in, straight after New Directions came off stage. Quinn had asked her almost the exact same thing Beth had just asked. Judy had said she wanted Quinn to come home, that she'd turn the guest room into a nursery at the very moment Quinn's water broke. Throughout Quinn's brief labour Judy had been at her side, holding her hand and encouraging her, as had Puck and Mercedes.
Judy hadn't stayed around after Beth was born. As soon as she saw the baby, saw how Quinn and Puck had looked at each other and their daughter, she left. Judy could deal with Finn as the Baby Daddy, she could control him and in turn Quinn, but not this guy. She couldn't deal with Puck. He was too much his own person to follow Judy's dictates. So she'd left and then did what she'd vowed she would never do after hearing of her husband's affair. She allowed him to come home. Russell felt that he had won and had remained absolutely steadfast, he had never allowed any further contact between Judy and her youngest daughter.
Judy was the one who had missed out the most. Quinn had a full and happy life, a genuinely happy life. Judy had the country club and fake friends. Fake nails and fake boobs. And even Botox to keep her looking youthful. Such a fake.
Quinn shuddered. "Are you ok? Cold?" Puck asked her, frowning.
"No, not cold. Memories. Not really happy ones either." Quinn gave Puck a tight smile, "ones that are best left in the past. Way in the past."
Puck nodded. He got it. Sometimes things just reminded Quinn of the family that she still to this day missed, despite their shortcomings and obsession with portraying the illusion of the perfect family. He wondered sometimes if he should tell her about the many times he'd arrested Russell Fabray for drink driving, for kerb crawling, for trying to pick up young girls. One time, just after Roo was born, Puck had picked Russell up yet again and had taken him to the holding cell to give him a chance to sober up. As he was processing the paperwork he murmured to Russell that his daughter had just given birth again, "That's two girls and two boys and I am so thankful that my kids don't have to grow up with an asshole like you as their grandfather. My wife and my kids are amazing, you're just a drunken dickhead with no idea what you lost the day you threw her away." Russell had thrown himself against the bars of the cell trying to get Puck.
"SIMMER DOWN" shouted the duty officer, "behaviour like that is not going to get you out of there any faster. Settle down." He then turned to Puck. "What did you say to him? It was something to antagonise him, what was it?" The duty officer noted Puck's smirk and the twitch of his eyebrow.
"Nothing. Nothing at all. That drunken shithead isn't worth my time outside of arresting him." Puck denied saying anything. "Now if Quinn," he raised his voice as he said Quinn, "my beautiful wife, mother of my children was to see him in there, I've no doubt she'd be devastated, it'd kill her to see her father locked up. Me?" Puck shook his head and sneered, "doesn't bother me. Never liked the man, never will. He's never met any of my kids, never acknowledged my marriage to his daughter, nothing. His loss. His and his wife's." That was the only time that Puck had ever acknowledged any relationship, however tenuous, between himself and Russell Fabray. Puck made sure his voice was loud enough for Russell to hear when he said, "I'm just glad Quinn wanted our four kids to be brought up Jewish like me, 'cos if that's an example of a good Christian" he nodded towards Russell Fabray, "then God help us all."
Puck shook his head and brought himself back to the present. "We wanted to tell you all how amazing you were," he said to Beth. "It was like going back in time, watching that performance. I'm so proud of you."
Beth accepted her parents' praise then went back to join her team mates. Puck and Quinn returned to the auditorium to await the results of the competition.
"…And the winner is….New Directions" Shelby Corcoran read out the results. She clapped along with the audience as Mr Schue collected the trophy from an aging unheard of wannabe singer drafted in at short notice when the original choice, a popular singer for over twenty years, Bruno Mars, had dropped out at the last minute.
On the bus back to school the whole team were on a high. "Ok, team. We have five weeks. Five weeks, " Mr Schue held up a hand, the fingers spread wide for emphasis, "to knock 'em dead at Regionals. Can we do this?" He called.
"YES WE CAN" came the yelled reply, the whole team in unison.
"Ok, we're going to go with the Jackson tribute, right? From Sectionals 2012." He looked around at the excited faces of his students, "you're all happy with that, right?"
"We are Mr Schue," Ramon replied for everyone, "we can totally nail this, right guys?" Again the affirmative answer was yelled out.
As they arrived back at school Beth found her dad waiting for them. "Hey dad, what's up?" She asked, going to him for a hug.
"Nothing, just wanted to tell you to invite all the team back to our house." He told Beth as he hugged her back, "party for you all in the den. Ok? Mom and Nana are getting things organised for you."
"Did you hear that guys?" Beth shouted over her shoulder, "party at our house tonight." And received a cheer from the waiting group of teenagers.
Puck left them alone to plan things, he walked over to Mr Schue. "How's it going?" He asked, shaking Mr Schue's hand. "Were you ok today?"
Mr Schue nodded, his face showed the strain. "Yeah," he coughed and cleared his throat. "I haven't seen her in years and it threw me a little. I spoke to her just recently, you know, called in a favour but, yeah, it still threw me."
Puck nodded, "I can see why it would. I can't imagine knowing there was a part of me out there somewhere and never seeing him, meeting him." Puck hugged his former teacher, "you know where I am right? If you want to talk about this. Did you ever tell Emma?" He asked quietly.
"No. She has no idea." Mr Schue confided. "I think it would destroy her if she ever found out. I mean I know we never….we didn't actually…..it was….." He couldn't actually say the words. Puck took over.
"It was a donation." He reminded Mr Schue. "Science took care of the rest. It's not like you were unfaithful to Emma."
Mr Schue looked at Puck sadly, "I'm not sure if Emma would see it that way. There's still a child out there with my DNA." Puck couldn't think of anything to say that would make it feel right to Mr Schue.
"I'll see you later, Will." Puck told him, "and don't forget, anytime, give me a call, alright?"
The team started arriving at the Puckerman home about seven thirty. Quinn had organised snacks and drinks, nothing alcoholic, and reminded the younger kids that this was Beth and Keegan's party and they had to stay out of the den.
"Aww mom, that's not fair," grumbled Jesse. "It's not like Beth ever usually goes down there. I'm the one who uses it most. I should get to go to their party."
"And if Beth or Keegan invite you, you can." Quinn told Jesse, "if they don't well, it's a night up here with me and your dad. Hurray," she cheered, grinning at her sulking son. "What? A night with me and your dad is that bad?" She asked.
"Err, yeah." Jesse couldn't help but grin a little, "you two all lovey-dovey over each other, how can anyone watch a movie with that going on?"
"We are not lovey-dovey with each other," Quinn denied, just as Puck walked up behind her and wrapped his arms round her, kissing her below her ear.
"Right," Jesse laughed, "keep telling yourself that mom. One day even you'll believe it." He turned as his name was called from the bottom of the stairs to the den. "What?" He shouted back to Keegan.
Keegan came up to the kitchen, "we wondered if you wanted to join us? Maybe play guitar a little? Have some fun with a few songs? It's up to you, you can if…" Keegan didn't get to finish his sentence, Jesse was already on the way down to the den.
"That was nice of you Keegan," Quinn smiled, "thank you for including him."
"Don't thank me," Keegan raised his hands, fending off the praise, "thank the girls who've been drooling over him, they don't care that he's only thirteen." He grinned before trotting back down the stairs. Puck and Quinn stared after him for a moment then looked at each other.
"Safety talk?" Puck asked.
"Safety talk." Quinn replied, stern faced.
Down in the den Beth was curled up on the huge comfortable sofa along with Jennifer, who was currently eyeing up Jesse, Amy who was drooling over Ramon, Emily who thought Max was a god, Megan who was texting her boyfriend and Robyn who knew that Ben would follow her around salivating and would do anything she asked.
"So, are we going to get to see the nursery?" Robyn asked, "is it even ready yet?"
"Almost, there's still a couple of things to do," Beth admitted, "but Keegan has been working hard on it. If you want to come on up, I'll show you."
"Hey, just watch the paintwork up there," Keegan called after them, "don't go messing up all my hard work." He turned back to the guys. "Why do girls even need to do that? It's like they have to check out each others' bedrooms whenever they go to someone's house. I don't get it."
"It's a territory thing," Jack informed them, "they have to make sure no one else has something they don't."
"I'm pretty sure that none of the other girls has a nursery attached to their bedroom. Just Beth." Keegan wasn't convinced of Jack's answer.
"Maybe they're just being nosey?" Jesse replied, strumming on his guitar.
"That sounds more like it," Ramon agreed with Jesse. And they were just about right.
"Is it weird sharing a bedroom with your boyfriend?" Robyn whispered as they climbed the stairs. "My mom flipped when I wanted to go on holiday with Tom's family and we wouldn't have even been sharing a room."
"It was a little at first," Beth thought back to when Keegan had first come to stay, initially for the weekend. "Not anymore. It's even better now that Evie's moved to the old guest room, it means we don't have to share the bathroom with her." Beth smiled remembering the 'shower incident' as it had become known in the family. "So this is our room," Beth opened their bedroom door and walked in, her friends followed. "Urgh, Keegan is so untidy." She grumbled, bending to pick up Keegan's discarded shirt and his shoes. She opened the closet to put the shoes away then walked into the bathroom to drop the shirt in the hamper, "and through here," Beth led the way through the bathroom to the other door, "is the nursery." She opened the door to the room that used to be Evie's and was now almost ready for Baby Hudson.
"Aww, it's so sweet" Amy crooned, "and Keegan's done this all by himself?" She turned to see Beth nod. Beth smiled with satisfaction as she looked round the room. The walls were a soft cream colour with the slightest hint of pink. The oak cot and matching dresser looked warm and inviting in colour. The crib that the baby would be sleeping in initially, in Beth and Keegan's room was there already, the linens folded and stored inside it, ready to be put on it. Beth opened the closet to show the tiny little dresses hanging up already.
Jennifer opened the drawers of the dresser and found them full of the items that the baby would need straight away. "So you're all prepared then? How many weeks left to go?" She asked, closing the drawer.
"Eleven weeks." Beth replied, looking round the room again. "We still have the stroller to get and a few more things but we're just about there."
"What do you think?" Keegan asked, walking up behind Beth and wrapping his arms round her, his hands resting on their daughter, "did I do a good job?"
"I'm impressed," Robyn told them both, "I'd never have thought you could do all this." She nodded looking round the room again.
Puck, who'd just read Roo his bedtime story, was walking by the room. He poked his head through the open door. "You're really taking all the credit? Seriously?" He shook his head. "Keegan, my man. Disappointed." He sighed. "I think you should paint the other room all by yourself for that." Puck walked away, sighing and shaking his head as though disappointed.
Keegan went to the door and called softly. "What?" he turned back to look at Beth, "is he serious?" Then turned back to Puck. "Oh, come on, that's not fair. Puck." Keegan called after Puck's retreating back and waited for him to look over his shoulder. "You're not really going to make me paint another nursery. Are you?"
"Another nursery?" Emily asked, puzzled, "Are you having a nursery at your house too? I thought you were living here now?"
"I am. Errm, the other room. I meant the other room." Keegan tried to back track, Beth hadn't told anyone at school yet that her mom was pregnant too.
Puck came back to the doorway, he glanced at Beth first and winked at her, seeing her smile back at him, "He means the nursery for Beth's new sister or brother. We still don't know yet what it is." Then Puck walked away. Beth was left to answer a bunch of questions. And yes, was one answer, it still felt a little weird that Beth and her mom were both craving Chinese food at ridiculous times of the night. But at least they had Chi's number to call him with whatever they wanted ready for mostly Keegan to run out and pick up. Puck had gone once or twice but as he put it, you don't have a dog and bark yourself so poor Keegan ended up making the majority of the trips to East Wind. So much so that Chi called him by name now and had offered him a job making deliveries at more reasonable times of the night. The other girls laughed at the expression on Keegan's face.
"And don't even think about it tonight," Keegan warned Beth, smiling at her over his shoulder, "I know for a fact your dad's already had a couple of beers so if you or your mom want mushroom chow mein tonight it'd have to be me who has to go for it."
"I shall try to control myself," Beth replied, almost seriously.
"I wish you'd thought of that six months ago," Puck called from the hallway.
"Dad" Beth cried, "why are you out there listening to us?"
"I'm not out here listening to you," Puck replied, "I'm out here doing this." Puck was up a ladder changing a light bulb. "Keegan, your dad called earlier and left a message on the machine. They want you two to choose a stroller and let them know which one so they can order it for you."
"Cool, we'll do that tomorrow," Keegan nodded to Beth, "I'm going back down to the den, I just came up to change my pants, I knocked Max's drink out of his hand." Keegan looked down at the dark stain on his jeans.
"I wondered about that but I'm too polite to ask," Jennifer grinned.
"Yeah right," Keegan replied, going through the bathroom into their bedroom. He heard Beth call after him to put his pants in the hamper, not leave them on the floor. "Yes mom," Keegan replied with just a little sarcasm. He heard Puck laugh. As he left the bedroom Puck was passing with the folded up ladder.
"You think she's a neat freak now?" Puck laughed, "wait till she starts 'nesting'. God it's going to be so much fun. Once again, payback, I love it. And you're right, you're on 'craving call' tonight, I've already had a couple of beers and I'm going to have a couple more too." He winked at Keegan and gave him a huge grin. The grin that always made Keegan think Puck was praying for him to fuck up in a massively major way.
When Keegan reached the bottom of the stairs Quinn was just leaving the kitchen with a mounded up plate of left over Chinese. She started, looking guilty, as though she'd been caught in the act. Keegan gave her a huge smile. He nodded towards the plate. "Does this mean I won't have to make an emergency East Wind run later?" He asked.
Quinn looked down at the plate, considered what was on it then looked up, slightly frowning. "I'd like to say yes, but I'm not totally sure it would be the truth. Can I just say at this moment I'm convinced that I won't want anymore Chinese food tonight?"
"Is that followed by 'hopefully'? Keegan asked her, a half grin making him look so much more like his brother. Quinn wondered yet again how they had all missed that over the years, missed all the signs that would have given them any indication that there was more between Finn and his son than adoption papers. She smiled and nodded, already forking food into her mouth as she walked away.
Down in the den the guys were taking bets on whether Beth would actually be able to compete at Nationals, if they were lucky enough to get through Regionals. "You know, my mom competed at Regionals when she was in labour with Beth. It's my dad's favourite story, she only just made it off the stage. Another few minutes and…."
"Hey, I did actually manage to get her to a hospital you know, Beth wasn't born in the auditorium." Puck corrected Jesse, coming down the stairs to the den, "and she didn't actually tell me she was in labour till after we came off stage so it wasn't my fault, ok?"
"So Mrs Puckerman sang the songs we did today and did the dance routines too, while she was in labour?" Ramon asked.
"Yep." Puck nodded, his lips pressed tight together. He was still, even after all these years impressed that Quinn had managed to get through that without giving it away to anyone that she was in tremendous pain.
Beth and the girls returned to the den. "Dad, now you're in here? What's with you tonight, it's like you're checking up on us. Don't you trust us?" Beth asked, a smirk on her face. She knew it was Jesse that her dad was keeping an eye on. It was fine when all the girls were upstairs with Beth but Keegan had told her that he'd freaked her parents out by saying all the girls were crushing on Jesse. She couldn't understand why herself, I mean her almost 14 year old brother was an annoying dweeb as far as she could see. Beth knew that Jennifer almost salivated whenever she actually spoke to Jesse. Beth just didn't get it.
Quinn did. Quinn got it. Jesse looked so much like his dad, and if she remembered correctly, which she did, all the girls just dropped their panties if Puck even winked at them. And Puck totally took advantage of that. Before Quinn anyway. She really hoped that Jesse didn't ever wake up to the fact that he could get anywhere with any girl and turn into the same manwhore his dad had been years ago. So she'd asked Puck to take a quick trip to the den to see how the land lay. "I'm going, I was just checking if you needed anything. Jesse, can you come with me to bring some more drinks, please?" Puck thought on his feet. Oh yeah, that was the look Quinn was terrified of. Jesse was totally aware of Jennifer, totally aware of the electricity that passed between them. Quinn was not going to be happy.
Jesse sighed and stood up reluctantly, putting his guitar down. He followed his dad. As soon as they reached the kitchen Puck turned and held Jesse's gaze. "I'm only going to say this once." Puck said quietly, aware that Jesse might protest. "I see how Jennifer looks at you and how you look at her. Keep it zipped." Jesse tried to protest although couldn't actually form any words, he knew his dad was right. Given half a chance with Jennifer he wouldn't mind finding out what all the fuss was about.