Quinn Puckerman couldn't remember the last time she had been so mad. Right now, she could honestly say she wanted to kill Rachel Berry, ring her neck until she was blue in the face. How dare she do this? Berry was so damned selfish that when she got pregnant she just whisked them away, away from their father and into a new life where she could be happy. It was selfish and cruel, and totally something Rachel Berry would do. Care only for herself, and do what only she wanted.
Right now, as she watched her first love and closest friend break try to figure out what they were trying to tell him, Quinn Puckerman wanted to tear that selfish bitch Rachel Berry into a thousand pieces and feed them to her dog. Right now, as she stood before her closest friend, and watched as her friend broke down into tears as he realized what they told him, she wanted to kill her, but first she wanted answers.
Santana Lopez-Pierce had been many things in high school: cheerleader, bitch, slut, lesbian (she really was only bisexual though), and glee member. She had not, however, ever been called or been a hypocrite. That's why, instead of the supposedly righteous anger teen mom Quinn had, she felt an odd mixture of awe and pity for one Rachel Berry. To have found out she was pregnant by her then ex-boyfriend who couldn't forgive her for kissing another man and have to watch him get back together with the girl who had sex with his best friend and then paraded the bastard child of as his, Santana knew it would have been heart-breaking. To then decide to leave all that she had known, in order to raise her children in an environment that would prove beneficial and safe, all by herself no less, Santana couldn't have done it.
Santana would have raged at the world and screamed and blamed everyone but herself. She would have demanded the attention of the father, the support of him, and maybe even marriage even if they would divorce once the children were born, just so she wouldn't have bastards. She wouldn't have the courage to leave, to willingly sacrifice the last of her childhood so that the man she loved could have the rest of his unmarred.
Santana Lopez-Pierce was many things, but no hypocrite. That's why, when Quinn watched Finn with storming eyes, she decided that she herself admired Berry, for the strength no one else had. As she watched through her own eyes and Quinn's, Finn break down into tears as he realized there were two people in the world he should have been there for, she still felt the admiration but she also realized something, something she was sure everyone else did to, the moment they realized Rachel couldn't trust them. She wanted to know why.
Brittany Lopez-Pierce normally was confused, confused about why the sky was blue or why no one else saw the little wonders of the world like she did, but at the moment, she was crystal clear. She wondered why Quinn was so mad, or why Sanny looked awed. It was a sad thing really, that Rachel went raising the children by herself for fifteen years. She understood now, why Rachel had seemed so forlorn the last days she had ever saw her. Why she seemed close to tears every time she looked at Finn. It all made sense. What didn't was why Quinn looked angry, or Santana humbled, because Brittany felt sadness. For Natalie and Blaine for never knowing their father, for Rachel for raising the children alone, and, as she watched Finn start crying, for Finn for never meeting his children.
Brittany knew she wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box and the simplest things confused her, but in this she understood. Rachel had raised children all by herself, because she was strong like that, and it was horrible, sad affair all the way around, and Finn was the only one who truly realized it, she noticed when he looked up at her for the briefest of moments. What Brittany wanted to know, was how Rachel got through it.
Noah Puckerman could honestly say that this moment where he felt so nervous that he was going to puke had only been felt a handful of times. When he had found out Quinn Fabray was pregnant sophomore year, when he asked her to marry him at graduation, and when his baby girl was about to be born. He couldn't say there was any shock, he had known since high school, but he was nervous as soon as he saw Finn walk through that door. When they told him about the children, he was nervous at the flash of anger that pierced Quinn's eyes, at the glimmer of awe in Santana's, but most of all, he was nervous as soon as the tears started to fall down Finn's face.
Noah had only felt so downright shitty once in his life; when he had gotten his best friend's girlfriend knocked up and didn't even have the balls to tell him. That had made him feel like a right ass and now, fifteen years after Rachel Berry walked out of their lives, he felt it again. He felt it for not telling Finn as soon as he noticed, for keeping it from everyone for years, and he felt it for not trying to stop Rachel, for not grabbing her into a hug, and holding her until the tears flowed. He felt it for a lot of reasons, and he wanted it to stop. He didn't know how, but he was going to make it stop.
William Schuester prided himself on a lot of things. His organization for one, for even when he was a newly declared bachelor after that whole baby debacle he had kept his little apartment as clean as possible, for another, the acute ability to sense when something was wrong with his students. All except for one, apparently. Maybe Rachel Berry was great at hiding things behind that flashy show smile she always wore, or perhaps he didn't pay enough attention to her, but when her children got in front of him and sang their hearts out, he realized something had escaped his notice.
Now, fifteen years since he watched Rachel Berry walk out with a simple hug and insincere apologies about her having to go, as he watched Finn Hudson cry his heart out for something he just realized he had, he realized how big that something was. Rachel Berry, he had not gone a day without that name flashing his mind, small body but big voice, loud and proud, with the talent to back it all up. She had been amazing and, he thought, wore her heart on a sleeve. He had always thought about things that had escaped his notice, the longing, worried looks Puck would give Quinn throughout her pregnancy, how the baby bump on Terry was just suddenly there one day and never grew more, the slightly worsening abuse Kurt faced, and now, but he never thought he'd missed something of Rachel's. She had been so open, and so he never worried about deep secrets. Now, as he watched Finn slowly stand, and ask stiffly for the twin's address which Will would have to get out of their folder, he knew he would go with Finn, just like the others, for answers. Specifically, how on Earth Rachel Berry could have played such a poker face that no one knew.
Finn was a mess of swirling emotions. Shock first, children? Rachel? It just confused him, they had only had sex once, they had broken up almost right after, and they had most definitely used protection then, so how did it happen? Anger next, how dare Rachel keep this from him? He knew they kept secrets from each other, Rachel's fear of abandonment had never been discussed (though he suspected because of her mother), or Finn's hatred of all things camo. But this? To keep this from him was cruel, wrong; they were his children for god's sake. And she kept them from him for the better half of fifteen years, but why? Why had she done that, was she afraid he wouldn't be there?
And then, sadness fell in and he broke down, sobbing into his hands. He knew Quinn would think they were angry tears, and perhaps some of it was, and Santana was looking at him weirdly so he didn't know what she thought. Mr. Schue's gaze was pitying and Puck wasn't looking at him, but he knew only Brittany understood. Only she got that the tears weren't for him, but for Rachel. Why did she go through this alone? He would have been beside in a snap of her finger, so why? Why did she always feel she had to go alone, to balance the world on her shoulders and then twirl away before anyone could help her?
The last feeling was desire. Desire to see his children for the first time, and undoubtedly to see the love he had lost in high school when she danced away to face the world. But most of all, when he stood up, the tears still falling but determination etched in his face, he wanted the answers to his questions. He wanted to know why and damned to hell if he didn't get them. He knew the others did too, and that they deserved them, so he didn't say anything when they followed him out the parking lot, with their own cars, and drove with him to Rachel Berry's house. His children's house.
Rachel knew they were there before the knocking rounded through the house. She had heard the soft squeal of car tires along the gravel outside long before the others looked up, half panicked, half excited. She fought down the wild urge to tell the others to be quiet and ignore the people at the door until they gave up, and instead stood. She was done running, she knew that, and she had come this far, she wasn't going to start now.
She smiled in an attempt to reassure the others, but from the concerned look Kurt shot her, she doubted it was convincing. Still, they sat up silently and watched her walk in the foyer without a word, and she was grateful. With a long, comforting breath, she thrust the door open quickly, before she could back out and came face to face with the man she had been avoiding for over a decade.
Finn Hudson stood before her, the same towering height he had been at the last time they saw each other, when they were saying goodbye. Tears had stained his cheeks, but steely determination had all but erased the marks and he looked at her with those big brown eyes, questioning, and she almost broke down right then and there. Behind him stood the others. Quinn stood, anger in her eyes, and Rachel fought back the angry thoughts on how much a hypocrite Quinn truly was. Santana stood beside her, a mixture of awe and pity staring at her and Rachel bit her lip, unsure about the emotions that brought on. Beside Santana stood Brittany who smiled at her sadly. Mr. Schuester and Puck took up the back, confusion and guilt stretched across their respective faces.
Rachel fought the urge to slam the door, and lock it. She had promised herself not to run and by damned she had come this far. So, she gently stood aside and let the group in, gesturing the right, where the living room was. She knew what they would find in there, Kurt and Blaine sitting beside their godchildren, two more people who had been lying to them. And Finn would find his children, children that he knew not of until today. And she knew what she would find, anger and disgust. And she knew she would deserve it. She silently followed them into the living room, prepared for the destruction of life as she knew it.
For the revulsion and hatred that could flourish in the soils of the situation.
Yeah, so another kind of cliffhanger although I know you guys hated the last one. It's kind of more a snapshot of everyone's feelings and a prelude to the actual confrontation than a chapter, but I thought it was necessary so that it could all make sense. Please tell me what you thought, and I hope you enjoyed it! See you next time.