"Beth?" Noah asked surprised. "What about our daughter?"
"It's kind of complicated," Quinn began.
"I've got time," Noah teased.
"You're going to hate me when I tell you this," Quinn sighed as she jumped up from the bed.
"I could never hate you Q," Noah assured.
"You don't know what I have to say then," Quinn said looking him in the eyes.
"If I promise I won't hate you, no matter you say, will you tell me?" Noah pleaded.
"Get ready to break your promise," Quinn said, still stalling to tell him the truth about Beth.
"Quinn, please," Noah asked as he looked into her eyes.
"Okay, I'll tell you," Quinn sighed. She took a deep breath, sat back next to him on the bed and prepared herself to finally tell him the truth.
"You know how Shelby used to send us letters and pictures of Beth?" Quinn asked.
"Yeah," Noah smiled. Receiving those pictures were the closest things he had to remind him of Beth. He treasured the photos and the letters about her walking and losing her first tooth and everything. Shelby was very thorough and he appreciated it. As much as it made him sad to know he wasn't there for those moments, it helped him feel closer to his daughter.
"Okay, you know how she just stopped sending them?" Quinn asked again.
"Yeah," Noah sighed. "I haven't heard a word about how Beth is doing since she stopped sending the letters back in our freshman year of college. I miss hearing from her. Getting the letters and pictures helped me feel close to Beth."
Quinn got up from the bed again, feeling extremely guilty for not telling him the truth sooner. Sure, she tried to, but she should have been more persistent. No matter what happened that night, it shouldn't have stopped her from reaching out to him after the fact.
"I know why they stopped, the letters and the pictures," Quinn finally blurted out.
"Wait you know?" Noah asked confused. "Why?"
"Shelby died," Quinn finally confessed as she looked into Noah's eyes. They were these beautiful brown orbs that reminded her so much of her daughter's. Beth had his eyes and every time she looked at her little girl, she saw him.
"Shelby died?" Noah asked in disbelief. "My God, what happened?"
"Her and Beth they were uh, they were in a car accident," Quinn said, tears forming in her eyes.
"No, no, no," Noah repeated as the scenarios ran through his head. "Is Beth, did she?" He couldn't even get the words out. Thoughts that his daughter might have died were just too much.
"Noah I'm so sorry," Quinn said unable to stop the tears. "I should have told you sooner."
"Quinn, she didn't, did she?" Noah asked, tears forming in his own eyes now.
"The accident was really bad and, and Shelby had had turned around to check on Beth," Quinn continued, not answering Noah's question. "That's when she uh, she was hit."
"Q, you're scaring me," Noah said as he grabbed her hands. "Beth, did she survive?"
"Someone called 9-1-1 as soon as they saw them," Quinn continued. "They were rushed to the hospital and Shelby, she didn't make it past the night."
"And Beth?" Noah asked again. "Quinn, answer me please. What happened to our daughter?"
"She's with her mother," Quinn finally blurted out, now standing face to face with her ex.
"But you just said Shelby died," Noah announced confused. "How can she be with… Oh, you're her mother."
"I'm so sorry Puck," Quinn said as she turned away, unable to look at him. "I wanted to tell you, I tried to tell you."
"Tell me what?" Noah asked, anger starting to replace the sadness in his eyes. He knew Quinn was keeping something from him. In fact, if he was honest with himself he knew that something had been up with her for a while. Even before she came to UConn, he could tell there was something going on, a reason why she hadn't called or answered any of his texts. This was the reason.
"Beth, she, she's my daughter," Quinn said as she fumbled for the right words, the words that would cut him the least. "Before Shelby died, Rachel saw her in the hospital. She didn't have a living will and didn't want Beth to go back into foster care. Rachel, Rachel was going to take her but, but Shelby wanted Rachel to offer her back, back to me first, before anything happened."
"You said the accident happened back in our freshmen year of college," Noah said as calmly as he could. "That was four years ago. You've had our daughter back for four years and didn't tell me."
"I, I didn't have her for the whole time," Quinn began. "It's complicated but there were a lot of legal matters and,"
"Four years," Noah interrupted, the anger in his eyes starting to come out. "You've had our daughter for four years and you didn't tell me. Four years and not one damn text or phone call or email."
"I, I didn't have the words," Quinn sobbed.
"How about, 'hey Puck, I know we haven't talked in some time but Shelby died, I've got Beth back and I wanted you to know.' What the hell was wrong with that?" he asked.
"It's not that simple," Quinn replied, hating herself for what she did to him.
"It is that simple Quinn," he responded harshly as he turned away from her. "Why, why did you keep this from me? You know how much I love our little girl. Why did you keep her from me? Do you not want me in her life?"
"No, it's not that all," Quinn admitted as she got closer to him. She reached out to grab his hands, but he pulled back and turned around to face her.
"Then why, why didn't you tell me?" he begged her to tell him.
"I tried Puck I did," Quinn said, her eyes still filled with tears. "I tried so many times to find the right words but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to tell you, I tried to. I came to your school, I came here."
"If you wanted to tell me so bad that you would come to my school, then why didn't you tell me?" Noah asked again. "Did you chicken out or cat get your tongue or something? What the hell could have gotten in the way or could have been so important to keep you from telling me the truth?"
"I, I can't," Quinn said.
"Tell me Quinn," he yelled at her as he grabbed her arms. "For once in your life, tell me the damn truth."
"You weren't supposed to find out like this," Quinn continued to sob.
"Yeah I was supposed to find out four years ago right?" he stated angrily. "Just tell me Quinn, just tell me," he continued to ask as he tightly grabbed her arms.
Immediately, Quinn started to flash back to that night. Just the touch on her arms like that made her flinch and quickly back away.
"Damn it Quinn," Noah screamed as he slammed his fists into the side of his desk. "Tell me, tell me, tell…"
"I was raped," she cried, before he could say another word.
"What?" he asked, unsure if he heard her right.
"The reason why I didn't tell you when I came to see you," Quinn said, attempting to regain her composure, "was because I was raped that night."
A/N: Some of you may have speculated this was the big incident, but now it is finally out. So Quinn was raped. Part of the story is out. But where does Puck's involvement fit into all of this? Keep reading and hit the review board with your thoughts. I'll do my best to get another chapter up ASAP!