A/N

Enjoy this Joe chapter written by Zemmamma777!

Joe's POV

It was Sunday, the day for church, and the day for mine and Quinn's date. Okay, it wasn't officially a date, it was a hangout, but I'm treating it like a date. I don't know how she sees it, though.

I was getting dressed in the morning when my phone vibrated from my bedside table. I picked it up and opened the text, which was from Sam.

'Last bro tip, bud, wear a jacket. Or a sweater. ALWAYS wear a sweater or a jacket on a date, which you will graciously give to your date when she gets cold. Best of luck from me and the guys!'

Sound advice. I grabbed a cardigan from my closet. This was quite warm, so I figure I'll wear that.

I looked at my reflection. I kept my dreads down and I was wearing a purple t-shirt under the brown cardigan I grabbed, along with stone-washed jeans. To complete it, I slipped my ever-present sandals. The perfect outfit. I think.

I went down stairs and grabbed things from the fridge that I'd prepared last night, packing plates, utensils, glasses, and finally, a red and white checkered picnic blanket into a wicker basket, putting it in the trunk of the car.

I did a quick pat-down, making sure I had phone and wallet, then went back in to wait for my parents.

I was nervous, so incredibly nervous. Here we were, Quinn and I, in the car on the way for our date.

We soon enough got to the park and I helped her into her chair, quickly grabbing the basket from my trunk and handing it to Quinn, who smiled and set it down on her lap as I grabbed the handles of her chair and pushed her down the paved path until we got to about the spot I picked.

I set everything up while Quinn watched, still smiling. I came back and carried her to our picnic and set her down there, running back and grabbing her wheelchair. It couldn't really go through the grass and over the slightly uneven ground all that well.

As I sat down, a young girl with blonde pigtails and a pink dress skipped up to us, hand me a bouquet of flowers.

"Thanks, Macy, I said, smiling brightly at my young neighbour.

"You're welcome, Joseph," she said, playing with the hem of her dress.

"Macy, this is Quinn Fabray," I said, motioning to Quinn, who smiled and waved. "Quinn, this is Macy, she lives next door to me."

"Nice to meet you, Macy," Quinn said sweetly.

"Nice to meet you too," Macy replied. "You're very pretty. When I grow up, I want to be as pretty as you!"

Quinn and I chuckled.

"You'll grow up to be even more beautiful than me Macy!" Quinn said.

"Nuh-uh, that's not possible!" Macy said, shaking her head.

"And why is that?" the older girl asked, puzzled.

"Because, you're an angel. Joseph said you were. That you are the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and that you have the voice of an angel."

"Oh, he said that, did he?" Quinn asked, arching an eyebrow and looking at me, with amused intrigue.

"Quinn?"

"Yes?"

"Are you going to marry Joe?"

Quinn laughed and I joined in, albeit nervously.

"Possibly," Quinn said, still looking at me.

"Good," the younger girl said, nodding.

My heart skipped a beat, did Quinn actually say that?

A voice called out.

"That's my Mommy, I have to go," Macy said, turning and running in the direction of the voice.

"Bye Macy!" we both chorused and we saw her turn slightly to wave at us.

"She's an absolute sweetheart," I said, smiling.

"She has to be the cutest thing ever!" Quinn giggled. "So, I'm the most beautiful girl you've ever seen?" I wasn't looking at her at that point in time, but I could hear the grin in her voice.

"Aw, shoot. I was hoping you weren't going to ask me that!" I said ruefully, scratching the back of my neck.

"Too late, I'm asking now!" she laughed.

"Yes, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, and when I look at you, I honestly think that God has sent an angel down to Earth and her name is Lucy Quinn Fabray," I said, looking her right in the eye as I said that.

She smiled warmly at that, the blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"You're so sweet," she said simply.

I held up my hands, "I'm just calling it how I see it."

She laughed and we dug into the spaghetti I had made for us. I knew it was her favourite and I had gotten the chance to quickly warm it up before leaving. I poured her some juice and we went through some small talk as we ate, not seeming in any way awkward or forced.

"… So there we were: 3 o'clock in the morning, having a little jam session to show what Puck had retained!" I said, laughing slightly at the memory. "We were all so dead, ready to fall asleep, when he suddenly said it! Him, Sam and I grabbed guitars and started going all punk rock, Finn was drumming and I think Rory might have been going around with maracas? I'm not sure! And then Mike and Blaine chipped in with a few little English accent bits! I just really hope that did end up helping Puck! He really seemed to know his stuff by the time we were done!"

"That's really great that you guys stood by Puck and helped him out in a time of need!" Quinn replied.

"Yeah," I said, smiling. "Well, you think it's time we head off to the bookstore?"

"Sure!" Quinn said brightly.

She helped me pack the food and dishes back into the basket and then I brought her chair back onto the paved section and carried her to it, folding up the blanket and pushing her back to the car. I popped all the picnic things into the trunk and transferred her into her seat, packing up the wheelchair in the back.

A few minutes of singing along to the radio, and I pulled into the lot of the local Barnes & Noble, which had a Starbucks inside.

"Ooh, come with me!" Quinn said, as soon as we got in.

She wheeled over towards the kids' section, heading over to the teen fiction section, while my frown grew as I followed her.

She stopped in front of a bookcase and was pointing to a book.

"Harry Potter?" I asked, picking up the one she was pointing to, entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

"It's the single most popular book series in the whole world. It's right up there with Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia…" she saw my blank look. "Which you haven't read, but we'll get you caught up on that!"

Ten minutes later, I had bought the box set of Harry Potter books and an all-in-one Lord of the Rings book, with Quinn promising to lend me the Narnia books once I was done with the other two sets of books. She had grabbed a book of her own, which I'd bought and we sat in the Starbucks section, sipping on drinks that Quinn had bought, after much debate between us as to who would pay.

Once we'd finished our drinks, we tossed the Styrofoam cups in the garbage and left the store, me once again helping Quinn into the car.

"So, you have no feeling in your legs, whatsoever?" I asked as I drove.

"None, the paralysis basically makes me unable to move them or have any sensation in my legs at all," Quinn said.

I had accidentally hit the side of her seat with her legs when lifting her in and apologizing when she reminded me of her not having any feeling in her legs.

We pulled up to the theatre and once Quinn was out, we looked up at the billboard to see what was playing.

"Well, there's really The Five Year Engagement or The Lucky One we could see," I stated, still craning my neck at the billboard.

"You know what?" Quinn asked.

"What?"

"How about we just skip the movie, leave it for another time?"

"Umm, I guess, sure," I said, a little taken aback.

"Besides, we've had a few dates' worth up until now, anyways," she stated.

It was my turn that evening to quirk an eyebrow.

"So it's a date now?" I asked playfully.

"Oh come on, the flowers from Macy, the picnic, plus, even if it wasn't officially a date, I'd like it to count as one, our first date."

I grinned at that.

"So what do we want to do instead?" I asked her, looking up and down the street, trying to see if there was anything else we could do.

"How about we just go for a little stroll around the block?" she suggested.

I shrugged and grabbed the handlebars, pushing her down the sidewalk, away from the theatre.

I looked down at Quinn and saw her shivering slightly. Without hesitation, I took off my cardigan and draped it around her shoulders, once again grabbing the handlebars once I'd freed my arms from the cardigan.

"Thank you," I heard her say.

"No problem," was my response.

I noticed she slipped her arms into the sleeves and sort of snuggled into it a bit, burying her head into the collar.

"It's so warm, and it smells really nice," she commented.

Laughter took me over as I processed her words.

"I had no idea I gave off that kind of heat and- quote, unquote- 'smell really nice'," I replied jokingly.

"Oh no, not you, the cardigan itself. You on the other hand, Mr. Hart, smell funny," she shot back, deadpan.

That took me a bit off-guard and as I mulled that over, Quinn burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't resist it!" she managed to say through her laughs.

"You, Ms. Fabray, are mean," I sniffed.

By now, we'd gotten back to where I'd parked and we got back on, Quinn still wearing my cardigan. The drive back was in a comfortable silence. I pulled into the driveway and got Quinn back into her chair, and carried girl and chair up the steps and into the entranceway, setting her down in the hallway.

She spun about to face me.

"I had a really great time, Joey," she said, smiling.

"Me too," I replied.

She spread her arms for a hug, and I went in for it, my dreads brushing with her golden vanilla-scented locks. We were hugging for a good minute, neither of us seemingly wanting to leave the other's embrace.

As I was pulling away, Puck's words began ringing in my ears, and I stopped and looked her in the eyes. We were inches from each other and as if by a magnetic pull, started leaning back in until our lips brushed tentatively.

I closed my eyes when that happened and suddenly Quinn made our lips' contact more substantial, leaning in the rest of the way.

It was magic, our lips moving against each others', seeming to fit as if we were destined for this. I felt a little unstable from the sheer feeling of this, and set my hand down on her thigh to steady myself as we kissed.

That's when she froze.

I pulled away.

"Q, is everything alright?" I asked, concerned. "Was the kiss too far?"

"No, no, it was perfect," she said absent-mindedly. "I can feel you resting your hand on my thigh."

A/N

Oooooh suspence! Yes, this is not following the show much anymore, but we hope you still like it!