Kurt's Gamble

by The Drowned World

Kurt is tired of being the golden boy, and living with Finn, and being picked on. When he snaps, it's an explosion no one sees coming. But when Kurt uses Puck to try to shake up his image, things get...complicated. Kurt/Puck. Complete.

14. 14 It's a Man's Man's Man's World

A/N: Oh, boy, we really only have one chapter left after this – it's kind of surreal; this is the quickest I've ever finished a story that I've been completely happy with. Once again, I'd like to take the opportunity to truly, deeply and sincerely thank every single one of my readers and especially those who took the time to review and let me know what they thought – for those who weren't keeping up with the author alerts, this year has been pretty tough for me, and the overwhelming enthusiasm you guys have given me for this story has just blown me back and put a smile on my face.

Seriously: thank you, so much.

Note One for This Chapter: This chapter will be entirely from Quinn's perspective, and I've thoroughly enjoyed writing it. She is one of my favorite female characters on TV right now, and seeing as how the writers of Glee have so thoroughly killed all character development from season one for every single character except for Quinn, it just makes me like her all the more (sorry, fellow gleeks, but I've been hugely underwhelmed by season two thus far). The title/theme of this episode is fitting, and I'd like to take the opportunity to say that I thoroughly disliked the episode "Funk" from season one, but Quinn's rendition of "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" was one of my favorite moments from season one, so there it is.

Note Two for This Chapter: After how heavy last chapter is, I'm trying my best to inject some humor into this, but all the characters – yes, even Finn – are going through some issues at the moment, so I'm going to resolve that before anything else.

Note Three for This Chapter: IF YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO MARK SALLING'S NEW SOLO ALBUM "PIPE DREAMS", IT IS AMAZING!

With all of that out of the way, let's move on to:

Glee

Kurt's Gamble

Chapter 14: It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World

You see, man made the cars to take us over the road
Man made the trains to carry heavy loads
Man made electric light to take us out of the dark
Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark

This is a man's, man's, man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

You see, man made the cars to take us over the road
Man made the trains to carry heavy loads
Man made electric light to take us out of the dark
Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark

This is man's, man's, man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

6:00 a.m.

Quinn woke up feeling disgusting, though she tried to not hold it against Kurt too much; the poor boy had spent half the night sobbing and blowing snot all over her before they'd fallen asleep curled up together in his bed. Now, there were many things that Quinn loved about Kurt, but one thing she disliked about sleeping with him – which she'd done a few times now since Uncle Burt had taken her in like a papa bear with a stray cub – was that he drooled, which, ew. She affectionately stroked his hair back from his face as she strangled his alarm clock into silence. She'd reset it to an ungodly 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning for a reason.

"Mrr?" he muttered, blinking his dreamy hazel eyes. Kurt Hummel was practically her twin at this point, but there were many points on him that she hated. One – no matter how much time he spent on his perfectly coiffed appearance, he always looked appallingly cute with his hair sleep-ruffled, just woken up. Two – his bathroom. Three – his palatial queen-sized bed that was one of those memory foam fancy factory ordered numbers that left you feeling like you'd gotten ten hours of sleep even if you'd only gotten three.

"Go back to sleep, baby," she said soothingly. "You need to sleep in."

"Mmm-kay," he whispered, and just like that he rolled over and was back to sleep without so much as a faux-struggle. Reason number four, the bastard. Quinn sighed and clambered up from the bed, stumbling toward the bathroom. She sighed in bliss as she stepped into the miniature spa that was Kurt's bathroom.

When Mrs. Hummel had died, Kurt had ended up being treated for depression as a small child. Already bullied, when the woman he was closer to than anyone else had died Kurt hadn't spoken for more than a month – even Quinn remembered that, when they'd all been in elementary school. Kurt had missed school for a couple of weeks, and when he'd come back Burt had tried to buy Kurt's happiness. It hadn't really worked, but one of the things that Kurt had gotten out of it was his downstairs suite/sanctuary that was strictly controlled by Kurt alone. Anyone could spend an hour in Kurt's bathroom and walk out on a cloud.

Quinn stripped down and stepped into the large walk-in shower with pressure jets coming from the walls and ceilings, massaging her into wakefulness as she gleefully abused the large collection of beauty supplies in Kurt's bathroom that contained those "bursting bubbles" things that woke the skin up (and thus Quinn's tired mind). Today was going to be one long day, she was willing to bet, and if she could take this small amount of time for herself she was going to abuse it.

She allowed herself a small amount of narcissism as she finally stepped out and blow-dried her hair. Kurt and Mercedes had splurged when she'd been well enough to come home from the hospital and brought her into this very bathroom to shower her with a wealth of beauty products; among them, the newest stretch-mark-be-gone cream that had worked like a miracle. Quinn paused as she slowly ran her brush through her long blonde hair, fighting back a tear desperately. She had too much to go through today and today wasn't about her personal drama.

Her mom had assured her that her pregnancy hormones had knocked her usual hormones around, and that it was perfectly okay to still be overemotional, but Quinn knew that that wasn't the answer. The truth was, there were still these little…moments, where she'd remember how it felt to hold Beth in her arms, to see her little baby, a life that she had created and carried and nurtured inside of her. She'd remember what it felt like to let her go. She remembered that she would never know what it was like to brush her little dirty blonde hair like this.

Quinn stopped, and took in a deep breath. Today was not for her. Today was for her friends, who deserved this just as much, if not more, than anyone else she knew…even if they were too stupid to realize. She wiped a tear from her eye and took her Cheerios uniform from its hook on the wall, carefully pulling her hair back till her tight ponytail fell in its usual elegance, zipping up her uniform. There was something about the uniform and the small golden pin on the shoulder that proclaimed her captain (well, co-captain now) that conferred a certain amount of wonder to the world: here was the best of the best of the fearsome Sue Sylvester's squad, practically a queen or even a goddess. Quinn applied some dark red lipstick, a bit of mascara and eyeliner, and just a tiny touch of blush, and stepped back to survey the results with grim satisfaction. She was going into battle today and Athena had nothing on her.

Smiling, she laced up her pristine white shoes and stepped out on tiptoe to grab her Prada messenger bag that Kurt had gotten for her, and she shot a quick text message for confirmation to Mike. Receiving a ridiculously complicated smiley-face, Quinn smirked and headed upstairs.

"Good morning, honey," Carole said softly from the coffee machine.

"Morning, Carole," Quinn said. "Everyone still asleep?"

"Oh, you know the men in this house," Carole said, rolling her eyes. "It's Saturday."

"And this is why God made women," Quinn agreed. "What would they do without us?"

"You're not going to tell me what happened last night, are you?" Carole asked rhetorically, handing Quinn one of Kurt's nonfat bagels.

"Don't worry – this time tomorrow it'll all be right as rain," Quinn said, easily stepping in for a brief hug.

"I don't suppose any of them are ever going to catch on quite how twisted around your fingers they are," Carole said, but she was smirking as she put her coffee in a travel mug.

"Or Uncle Burt around yours," Quinn said innocently. She and Carole shared a snigger as the other woman finished touching up her makeup before grabbing her bag. "Can I hitch a ride to Starbucks on your way to work?"

"Of course, sweetie – start the car for me, will you? I need to make sure this darn fancy thing Kurt insists on using isn't going to blow the house up," Carole said, tossing Quinn the keys. Quinn smiled and shook her head at Kurt's label-whorishness rearing its head once more as she went out to wait. A few minutes later Carole had dropped her off with a wave and a smile, and Quinn's smirk grew to a genuine smile as she saw Mike waiting for her outside the coffee shop, already holding her favorite brew and a large crème puff to split.

The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little prayer for you
While combing my hair, now
And wondering what dress to wear, now
I say a little prayer for you

Forever, forever, you'll stay in my heart
And I will love you
Forever, forever, we never will part
Oh, how I'll love you
Together, together, that's how it must be
To live without you
Would only be heartbreak for me

Mike had been an unexpected surge of joy in her life that Kurt, interfering little creature that he was, had somehow managed to hide his hand in until Mike's little display in the coffee shop. Mike was a gentleman who always held the door for her, wasn't ashamed for her to meet his parents, and never once pressured her to do or say anything. He was probably the only one other than Puck that knew how much she was struggling with the idea of Beth, and he'd been the greatest shoulder to cry on other than Kurt and Mercedes.

Quinn figured it also didn't hurt that he had abs of steel and could kiss like nobody's business, but that wasn't here or there at the moment.

"Hey," Mike said, jumping up and grinning as she leaned in for a light peck on the lips. "How did it go last night?"

"As predictably bad as ever," Quinn said, trying not to blush when he blushed as she licked some of the delicious crème out of the sweet before taking a sip of her latte. "Sometimes I don't even know why I bother when they screw themselves up like this."

"But haven't you been telling me for like a month now that the three of them were going to explode?" Mike asked, confused. She shot him a look and he pursed his lips. "This is one of those times when I'm just supposed to nod and smile, isn't it?"

"I knew there was a reason that I kept you around," Quinn said with a magnanimous smile. Mike chuckled and bumped their shoulders together. Quinn nudged back, and for a long moment they were quiet as the sun slowly rose over Lima, bringing the warmth of summer up with it. They headed inside to sit down and finish off their breakfast date.

"Boy, am I glad it's Saturday," Mike said. "I'm heading over to Matt's so we can finish that PowerPoint Mrs. Eric wants for history."

"I'm so glad that I'm in AP classes," Quinn said with a shudder. "That woman has always given me the creeps. And I'd much rather write a paper than make a presentation to give to the rest of the class."

"She isn't that bad," Mike protested. "She just kind of slobbers."

"I was there in the teachers' lounge when she popped out her dentures to reapply the paste," Quinn said firmly. "When I was done vomiting I made sure to avoid her like the plague and thus far it's worked." They clinked cups together and snickered.

"So what's the plan for today?" Mike asked after a moment.

"The battle plan is to start with Rachel, because she's the only one other than us who's most likely awake at this beastly hour; not to mention, she won't take long. Phase two will be Finn, because that's probably going to take most of the morning," Quinn said decisively. "When I'm done with Finn Kurt will be up and done with his bathroom stuff, so I can tackle him, before I move on to Noah – knowing him he'll be at the gym pounding a punching bag by then. Thank god I finished with Santana a few weeks ago, because I'm going to be exhausted by the end of today."

"I thought Puck helped her with that?" Mike said.

"He certainly thinks he did, and without any help, too," Quinn said sweetly.

"You have this entire town in your fist," Mike marveled.

"It's a gift." Quinn smiled mysteriously before she glanced down to check her watch. "It's nearly 7:30; where's—oh." Quinn smirked as she saw that Tina and Artie were too busy gazing at each other soulfully to notice that they were running late.

"Do they have Hallmark moments every time they get out of a car together?" Mike asked, but he was smiling and looking at her in a way that made Quinn's stomach tingle pleasantly. She shrugged and returned the look, and Mike blushed and glanced down at his coffee. Oh, this one just might be a keeper, Quinn thought happily, and lightly dragged her finger through the whipped cream at the top of her drink – a luxury and one that she'd pay for later with an extra workout, but she was giving herself a pass on calorie-counting today. This wasn't anything she was planning on saying aloud. She had the uncanny feeling that if she voiced the blasphemy Sue Sylvester would appear like the hounds of hell within an instant to haul her by the ear to the school's weight room.

She and Mike finished up their breakfast and headed outside, exchanging hello's with Artie and Tina who thankfully didn't look any the worse for wear from last night. Usually Mercedes would join the four of them for their little Saturday morning jam sessions but when Quinn had sent out her group text last night changing the time to before eight o'clock, Mercedes had sent them all a novel-length text on the importance of beauty sleep that Quinn was sure she'd copied from Kurt (thankfully none of them paid for incoming texts; ever since Mercedes had upgraded to a full keyboard phone she was death to text bills). Quinn smiled to herself as they followed Artie's wheelchair with Mr. Abrams waving cheerfully after them. Artie had told them all rather bluntly that his parents were overjoyed that he actually had managed to make friends at school after spending years just known as 'That Wheelchair Guy'.

Mercedes had called her as soon as they were done texting and spent twenty minutes harassing Quinn to make sure that she didn't need backup to deal with Kurt, and Quinn had reassured her that once she was done screwing Kurt's head back on straight she'd send him straight to the chocolate diva. One thing that Quinn had accepted early on was that no matter how Kurt had officially adopted her as a member of his family that he and Mercedes were best friends, period, and there was no use trying to come in between them, something Quinn didn't think was going to be a problem. Mercedes had signed off the phone after letting Quinn know that she still thought she was a crazy white bitch even though they were kind of sisters. Quinn giggled to herself thinking about it, and Mike smiled blissfully and caught her hand in his.

The four headed to the nearby park, to their favorite gazebo, as Artie pulled out his guitar. "Quinn, you want to start us off?" he offered.

"What should I do?" Quinn asked, leaning back and letting the sun hit her face through the wooden roof slats.

"Something happy," Tina said. "It's been a little gloomy lately."

"I thought you liked it gloomy," Mike pointed out, smirking.

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not actually a vampire," Tina complained.

"That doesn't explain the biting fetish," Mike said innocently, gesturing to Artie's fresh new hickie inexpertly covered with makeup. Tina flushed and Artie stammered while Mike laughed at them meanly. Quinn smiled as she thought up a light song and piped out,

Boy, we've had a real good time
And I wish you the best on your way
Eh, eh
I didn't mean to hurt you
I never thought we'd fall out of place
Eh, eh, hey eh

I have something that I love long-long
But my friends keep telling me that something's wrong
Then I met someone

And babe, there's nothing else I can say

After a moment, Artie picked up the easy melody on his guitar as Mike bopped his head along, smiling at her bashfully. Tina rolled her eyes good-naturedly and joined in the chorus, a little jarring at first but then melding with Quinn's voice easily enough.

Eh eh, eh eh
There's nothing else I can say
Eh eh, eh eh
I wish you'd never looked at me that way
Eh eh, eh eh
There's nothing else I can say
Eh eh, eh eh

When Mike jumped up to dance, a passing jogger stared at them all askance, and Quinn just smiled as the sunlight began to brighten the world, glistening off the dew.

Phase One: Rachel

8:00 a.m.

Mike had a little moped that was actually quite fun to use, and Quinn was abusing it for the day. She pulled over to the side of Rachel Berry's large house in the more affluent part of town. Both of Rachel's dads were lawyers, and Quinn smiled slightly when she realized that they'd both already gone to work. They were nice enough guys, but they'd struck her as nearly as manic as Rachel, and Quinn deeply suspected an addiction to energy drinks. Dealing with an emotional Rachel Berry was going to be hard enough this early in the morning; having to face down all three members of the family unit would be next to impossible, and Quinn was nowhere near ready to admit defeat on this issue.

Success or death, she thought grimly, remembering the last time a newbie Cheerio had protested Sue Sylvester's treatment of them. Sue had politely put the bullhorn down before screaming one of her favorite catchphrases in the girl's face. To Quinn's memory, after she'd been forced to do so many windsprints that she'd fainted, the girl's parents had tried to sue the school. The parents and the lawyer had spent all of ten minutes alone in a room with one Sue Sylvester before the girl transferred schools and wasn't heard from again.

Quinn knocked on the door, but there wasn't an answer. Hearing the strains of Sarah Brightman loudly enough on the street that she was starting to get an idea of exactly why the neighbors complained so often about noise levels from this house, Quinn tried the front door, blessing small-town mannerisms when it was unlocked and she blithely strolled right in.

When I'm alone I dream of the horizon and words fail me.
There is no light in a room where there is no sun
and there is no sun if you're not here with me, with me.
From every window unfurls my heart the heart that you have won.
Into me you've poured the light,
the light that you found by the side of the road

Quinn smiled; it was one of her favorites. Aside from being a Madonna fag (one of the words Quinn tried not to use as much since Kurt had politely explained to her the original meaning of the term and why it bothered him so much; however, he'd also explained that all of Madonna's gay fans referred to themselves as such) Kurt Hummel worshipped at the altar of Sarah Brightman, and Quinn had had to admit she was starting to gain an appreciation for her. This was actually one of her favorite songs by the woman, under normal circumstances, but if Rachel was going to try to be overdramatic today Quinn would be forced to cut through the bullshit fast.

She followed the impassioned sound of Rachel's rather amazing voice joining with the stereo till she hit the girl's room, and opened the door. Rachel was staring deeply into the mirror, using a prop microphone and looking like she was trying hard not to cry.

Time to say goodbye
Places that I've never seen or experienced with you
Now I shall, I'll sail with you upon ships across the seas,
Seas that exist no more,
It's time to say goodbye

Quinn firmly shut the door behind her and switched Rachel's impressive stereo system off, not even bothering to try to hide her amusement as Rachel's eyes went comically wide and her arms windmilled wildly while she flailed, screeching. "Quinn, what if you had scared me so much that scream damaged my vocal chords?" she finally shrieked, scandalized, and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Rachel, dear, if you can be singing along competently with Sarah Brightman this early in the morning, I don't think your voice is in much trouble," Quinn pointed out dryly. Rachel considered this for a moment before nodding.

"It still begs the question of why you've broken into my house," she said after a moment, her sheer determination to have the last word forcing her to speak.

"I didn't break in; the door is unlocked," Quinn said calmly. "Now, sit down on that pink monstrosity you call a bedspread. I know that Kurt's spoken to you about this before, but your décor really is horrible. The sheer amount of pinks that you use, you'd think a bottle of Pepto Bismol exploded on contact with the door." Rachel's mouth worked, but no sound came out for a few moments before her butt made contact with her bed. Quinn nodded in satisfaction as she dragged Rachel's hard white wooden chair out from her small desk, positioning it directly in front of the other girl. She sat down primly, her legs crossed in ladylike fashion, and she took a moment to smooth the pleats of her skirt before facing Rachel and making direct eye contact.

For a brief moment, Quinn was still as they regarded each other – Rachel's lips trembling, but then, Rachel had always been that way around her whether the diva wanted to admit the nervous reaction or not. It was one of the reasons that Quinn had used to pick on her so mercilessly back when she'd been…different.

There was a swirling mass of confused feelings in the back of Quinn's heart when it came to Rachel Berry, and it was taking her longer than she'd like to face and confront them. For a very long time she had honestly despised the girl – she was everything that Quinn couldn't be because she was at the bottom of the social heap: honest, a little brave, able to go through her day without editing everything she said in case it affected her popularity. No matter how abrasive and horrible Rachel's personality could often be, she was so true to herself that it was hard to be in the same room as her at times without feeling completely horrible about oneself (and without wanting to punch that obnoxiously Barbra-Streisand-like nose right off her face).

And no matter how much this last year's explosion that had nearly destroyed her was completely of Quinn's own making, there was nothing she wanted more some days than to blame it entirely on Rachel. But it hadn't been Rachel's fault, and despite the fact that the girl had acted entirely selfishly in her single-minded pursuit of Finn, the fact that she'd swallowed her (self-admittedly humongous) pride enough to seek Quinn out in the bathroom and apologize for her actions had gone a long way toward fanning the grudging flame of respect in Quinn for the other girl.

But that didn't necessarily mean that they liked each other – in fact, some of the girl's actions and words toward the glee club at large and in particular Kurt, Mercedes and Quinn herself had Quinn feeling nothing but outright loathing for the girl. However, Quinn's complicated feelings regarding Finn and her other boys, not to mention her growing attachment to glee club, meant that Rachel was going to be a part of her life moving forward, and it was time to put her foot down.

"So, Rachel," Quinn started. She paused. Rachel dealt best with direct and as unsubtle as possible, but Quinn would also have to make sure that she left no room for argument. "I'm sure that you're wondering why I'm here."

"Not at all," Rachel said, recovering herself. "I'm sure that Finn sent you to patch things over, or maybe Kurt sent you to tell me that I'm a horrible person and that what happened with Finn is all my fault."

"Actually," Quinn said flatly, "I came on my own to patch things over with you and Finn, and to tell you that you acted like a terrible person last night and that what happened last night in particular was mostly your fault." Rachel blinked her large eyes, and Quinn quickly soldiered on before Rachel ducked out of the oncoming confrontation by faking tears. "Stop crying. Right now," Quinn snapped out, and Rachel sort of jerked back. Quinn sighed and retracted her claws…slightly. "Rachel, you and I have been spending much more time together lately – you and Kurt have become better friends, you and Finn have gotten closer in a good way, and I consider myself a better singer and performer thanks to some of your work and your…advice during our glee club sessions. Lately, you've been acting much more human than you used to, and frankly I'm a little disappointed that you've sort of regressed back to the raging bitch you used to be when I first met you. Granted, I was known as the Frigid Ice Queen Bitch of our school back then, but I think that I can say we've both changed since then."

Rachel, thankfully, began to nod, and Quinn continued. "Finn told me what you said in the bathroom, and you and I both know that you're wrong. I know that Finn's going through something, and you're so used to dealing with your own issues that the idea of Finn needing you to help him through this is scary. But that's your problem, Rachel – you've been expecting Finn to be there for your hard times but you need to be there through his."

"That's very unfair," Rachel said, her eyes welling up. She turned her head to look away from Quinn's gaze, and Quinn sighed, sitting back and letting Rachel continue. "Finn has been completely distracted from our relationship, and whatever my faults in this issue he's been forcing me to handle nothing but his feelings for Kurt when I need some attention for myself! And he chose to kiss Kurt after regionals; I had nothing to do with that and I chose to forgive him for it anyway!"

"Yes, but Rachel, Finn is a heterosexual man," Quinn said gently. "You and I both know that when it comes to dealing with feelings in a healthy way they're all pretty much retards, and Finn is about ten times worse. Part of that is my fault; after the way I treated him, he has a hard time letting anyone in. But we both know that I lost Finn to you a long time ago, and when you walk into a room or start to sing you're all he sees. Hitting one rocky patch is no reason to just give up."

"I didn't mean to steal him from you," Rachel said after a moment. She still wouldn't meet Quinn's eyes, and Quinn snorted inelegantly.

"Yes you did, Rachel, and you had your reasons for doing what you did just like I had mine. And now I'm telling you that you make Finn happy, and that's something that we both want."

"I just like him so much," Rachel burst out, hopping to her feet and twirling dramatically. "I don't want to give him my heart only to expect him to stomp on it again. And now that Kurt and I are becoming friends, I don't want to hurt Kurt worse than I'm sure I already have, but…"

"Things were much less complicated when you didn't have friends, weren't they?" Quinn asked bluntly. Rachel sighed and nodded. "Trust me – I was the Queen of this school. I know exactly what it's like to be surrounded by people and be completely alone, only caring about your own goals. But now that we've got glee, we've got people we care about, and more importantly, people who care about us. It's worth it to try, Rachel, trust me."

"Do you think that Finn would forgive me?" Rachel asked, sounding small.

"Do you think that you can forgive yourself?" Quinn asked gently. She stood up from her chair and gave Rachel a smile as she watched the girl sink down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as if asking God for answers. "Think about it," Quinn said softly, before she let herself out of the room. After a long moment, the music started playing again, though softer than before.

When you're far away I dream of the horizon and words fail me
And of course I know that you're with me, with me
You, my moon, you are with me
My sun, you're here with me with me, with me, with me

Time to say goodbye
Places that I've never seen or experienced with you
Now I shall, I'll sail with you upon ships across the seas,
Seas that exist no more

Quinn smiled and checked off phase one from her mental checklist, flouncing down the stairs and letting herself out of the house. The sun was fully up by now and she checked her watch, making sure that she was on time as she hopped back on Mike's scooter and headed off toward the Hummel house.

Phase Two: Finn

9:00 a.m.

Set me free why don't cha babe
Get out of my life why don't cha babe
You don't really need me
But you keep me hangin'on

Why do you keep a comin' around
Playing with my heart
Why don't cha get out of my life
And let me make a brand new start
Let me get over you
The way you've gotten over me yeah

For a moment, however briefly, Quinn paused when she opened Finn's door. The office that was serving as his bedroom looked like a disaster zone, with clothes and junk all over the floor. In a weird way, Finn was just like Kurt in that he felt better when his room was cleaner. The tangled snarls of crap all over the floor gave Quinn pause.

On the futon that was serving as his bed until Burt had time to add a bedroom, Finn was stretched out, frowning in his sleep. The problem with Finn was always that he was such an open book, emotionally speaking; everything he felt, everything he did, was written all over his face and over his eyes, which made it ridiculously easy to wound him. She'd done it herself, so many times, when she'd been pregnant. Part of this entire mess, she couldn't help but feel, was her own fault for screwing Finn up so badly when they'd been dating.

Finn Hudson had been a convenience for her: a genuinely nice guy who was high enough on the social heap to be a suitable boyfriend. Kissing him was nice enough, but there had never been any real passion on her part for their time together – especially not when her relationship with Finn had introduced her to Noah Puckerman. If there was any one regret that Quinn prayed to God every day to forgive, it was how she'd hurt Finn to get, even for one moment, what she really wanted – the freedom that Puck's "badass" persona gave her to be herself and make her own choices. If she'd just stood up for herself to her parents for once and dumped Finn before going for Puck, all of their lives would be so different right now…

Closing her eyes firmly, Quinn waited until the moisture receded, before she looked up, sucking in a breath and calming herself down. Like she'd thought before, this day was not for her, it was for her friends. God only helped those who helped themselves, and if she really wanted to make amends to Finn she was going to make damn sure that he and Rachel would be dancing down the aisle while an obnoxious opera soundtrack wailed in the background so they could have annoyingly musical children with large noses and freakish heights.

Smirking to herself, Quinn stepped forward and poked Finn firmly in the ribcage. "Up!" she cried, and watched with some amusement as he flipped over, screeched, and fell off the futon with a loud thump, staring at her in dazed horror as she stood over him. "Get up, sweetie. We're going to IHOP; I want breakfast."

"Huh?" Finn asked after a moment, blinking.

"I said, get up. I'm starting the shower for you and you need to be quick; they're serving free pancake refills until noon on weekends this month and the line will be long," Quinn said patiently. When he continued to stare at her, she pointed a finger at him threateningly. "I'm not above poking you in there," she said, waggling a finger menacingly, and Finn jerked back.

"Okay, jeeze! We aren't even dating!" he protested. Quinn just smirked and went downstairs to wait. Thankfully, Finn was a teenage boy and was generally okay in the shower if he just threw some shampoo on and threw soap over the smelly bits, so she wasn't waiting for long. When his huge legs came stumbling down the stairs, she stepped up from the couch and frowned at him.

"Be quiet; Kurt still hasn't woken up," she instructed reprovingly. "Get your keys."

In retrospect, she thought as she rode in the passenger seat of the old SUV that Burt and Carole allowed Finn to drive, it was probably a bad thing that Finn still snapped-to at every order that she gave him. But then, it was Finn's own confused feelings that she was addressing today, and sooner rather than later. They didn't talk much as the air blowing from the windows woke Finn up. She snuck a look at him and was surprised to find him looking at her with the most painful expression on his face.

He turned away first and snapped on the radio, and Quinn winced as Amy Lee's duet with Seether switched on. Talk about bad timing…

The worst is over now
And we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high and steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn
And no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

Finn's hands tightened on the steering wheel.

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

Quinn moved forward and switched the radio into silence, and they sat in a tortured sort of quiet until Finn pulled into the IHOP parking lot, which was thankfully not even half full so early on a Saturday. She was the first to step out, and Finn shuffled awkwardly behind her as she requested a private booth, away from people. The waitress took them to one of the window seats, away from the two or three families where it was quiet enough for them to talk. Finn was still silently staring at her in his fixed way, the way that Quinn hated because whenever Finn stared at her like that she always felt like a pinned butterfly on a collector's wall.

Quinn looked down, her fists clenched under the table, and she ordered an ice water and a stack of buttermilk pancakes while Finn stuck with chocolate milk and an enormous breakfast sampler platter. When the waitress gave them their drinks and left again, Quinn dared to look up while Finn petulantly blew bubbles in his milk.

It was such an endearingly stupid thing to do that she had to sigh, pained, and glance out the window.

"Why did you cheat on me?" Finn asked quietly, and the question took her so far off-guard that for a long moment she just stared at him. But he kept looking at her, with those damn eyes, and she closed her eyes long enough to get control of herself.

"Finn, what did you used to feel about me?" she asked instead of answering him. He gave her a confused look, and Quinn sighed. "Exactly. That was how I felt about you. I liked you, but I wasn't in love with you, and you weren't in love with me. That's why I hated Rachel so much, when you first started in glee – because you never looked at me the same way that you look at her whenever the two of you are singing together. And I've spent my entire life having people look at me like that, but even my own boyfriend didn't…know me, the real me, enough. I spent every minute of my life doing what was expected of me, and Puck…"

She trailed off, and finally looked up, meeting his eyes head-on, and for once Finn looked down, but not before she saw his eyes welling up, and a lancet of pain shot through her heart. "I was never in love with Puck, Finn, I need you to know that. It wasn't him as a person, it was him as a…symbol. Puck has always been this figure of freedom, you know? The badass, the dangerous one who does what he wants when he wants. And I'd fantasize about being with him instead of you because what I really wanted was the freedom to choose. So when the opportunity was there, I took it, and I paid for it in the worst possible way that you can imagine. That's why I cheated on you. It doesn't make what I did right, but you need to know that it really wasn't you – you need to know that I'm happy that you and Rachel have each other now that I'm not around to make your life miserable."

"You didn't make me miserable," Finn mumbled. He finally looked up, the pain in his dopey eyes making her feel like she'd stomped on a puppy; it was the most curious pain, the same pain, in fact, that had shot through her when Finn had stormed into glee that fateful afternoon and started pounding on Puck's face. Having to face him, having to say Puck is the father in front of the entire club, had been the single most miserable experience of her life, except for maybe the night that her father had sent her away.

"Finn, I—"

"You took Baby Drizzle away from me," Finn whispered, looking away from her. "Why would you do that?"

"I lost her too, Finn. And there's a part of me that spends a little bit of every day wondering what it'd be like if I'd kept her, if I'd gotten to raise my daughter. But she's gone, and I can't punish myself for that, and you shouldn't either. Beth is in a good home, with a good mom who's got money and stability and everything that you and I would never have been able to give her. And it isn't fair to take this out on other people, except for maybe me." Quinn buried her face in her napkin, trying to get the tears away before they ruined her makeup.

Finn touched her hand, his fingers trembling, and his hands were so warm and comforting that it just made Quinn feel worse. "I'm sorry that I made you cry," Finn said miserably. "That's all I'm good for lately, is making people I like cry. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you last night."

"No, you shouldn't have," Quinn agreed. "But I shouldn't have cheated on you either."

"Guess we both suck, then," Finn said. Quinn snorted inelegantly and they both looked away from each other as they discreetly tried to dry their eyes, until the waitress uncomfortably cleared her throat and put their food down before hurrying away to get them drink refills.

For a few minutes they both resolutely chewed through their food, avoiding looking at each other. Quinn tried to enjoy the warm, buttery goodness that she would have to pay for later, but the unexpected conversation had her on edge. Had Finn understood what she had been trying to express, or had Quinn somehow managed to screw the both of them up even further when all she'd been trying to do was help?

Once she'd finished eating, Quinn politely cleared up the space where she was sitting and piled her dishes for the waitress, taking a long drink of cold water to clear her head. She looked up to find Finn stealing glances at her between bites off his plate, and she smiled sadly. This was going to be harder than she'd thought, but it was worth it – if she could get through to him, it would all be worth it. Bearing that in mind, Quinn put her hands on the table and said, "Finn, I'm here to talk to you about Kurt – and yes, before you ask, I know exactly what happened and exactly what Rachel said to you in the bathroom, so just let me talk and then you can tell me if I'm right or wrong or if you just want me to go to hell and leave you alone."

Finn nodded slowly and took a large bite of hash. Quinn's lips quirked, but she took another sip of her drink and looked him straight in the eye. "So, let's get this out of the way, then: you're not gay, Finn, and you're not in love with Kurt, so you can stop freaking out about what Rachel said. And close your mouth; there's food in it." He shut his amazedly open mouth with a snap, and Quinn sighed and leaned over the table to take his hand. "I know that you've been confused, Finn, and you've been angry and hurt and that's just making you feel like you don't know what's going on. But that's okay. It's okay for you to be pissed off about all of this." She waited until he nodded slowly to continue.

"Finn, the reason you've been so out of it lately is because you're confused – you love Kurt, but you're not in love with Kurt, and it's important for you to know the difference. When you think about Kurt, what do you think of him?"

Finn swallowed and furrowed his brow. "He's…pretty cool. He says things that are confusing sometimes but he doesn't think I'm stupid and he'll explain them to me – you know he's teaching me how to fix my truck up in Burt's garage? And he can be really annoying sometimes, too; like when I just try to help with his clothes and he gets all bitchy and mean—" Quinn tried really hard not to laugh, but she couldn't fully suppress the giggle that escaped, and Finn shared a smile with her. "I like how he doesn't let anyone get to him. I always let people get to me. He'll try some of my movies if I try some of his, and he cooks real good so mom doesn't have to stay on her feet so much."

"Does that sound like you have a crush on him, then?" Quinn asked leadingly.

"Not really, no," Finn said after a moment.

"You think of Kurt like he's your little brother, but Kurt was in love with you for a really long time, Finn, and you knew that. He used to light up like the sun whenever you walked into the room. I know that feeling, Finn – it's a powerful thing and it makes you feel good about yourself. And that's why you never really said anything to him about it, because you liked that he liked you that much even if you didn't feel that way about him." Quinn paused, to see how Finn was taking this. He had that half-constipated look on his face like when he was puzzling through math, and Quinn took that as a sign that he was actually listening to what she was saying.

"So, when you put your foot in it and blew up at him in his basement, suddenly Kurt had to start thinking about you like you were a real person instead of this…idea of you that he had in his head. And you wanted him to hero-worship you again, and you wanted to make him feel better, so you kissed him and it was probably the worst thing that you could've done, but you know what? It's done, and you've had a while to try to make it up to him but you haven't really done that great a job because of Puck."

"It isn't just what happened with you!" Finn burst out quickly, his eyes lighting up, trying to make her understand. "It's what happens with everyone that Puck is around! He just uses people to get what he wants and then he throws them away – even me. And we all saw what happened that day in glee club, Quinn; once he and Kurt do…you know," Finn said, screwing up his face, "and Kurt stops being all new and interesting Puck's just gonna throw him away and move on to the next cougar or whatever, and then Kurt's going to be even more screwed up than he is now and I don't want Kurt to get hurt like that!"

"They haven't slept together, Finn," Quinn said gently. Finn's mouth worked slightly, and she took his hand in hers again. "How long have the both of us known Noah Puckerman? Have you ever seen him date anyone this long without having sex? He cares about Kurt, Finn, he really, really does, and that's why he's been acting so weird lately because the last people he cared about his much were me, you and Beth, so maybe you can understand why he's just as scared about all of this as you are."

"He has a funny way of showing it," Finn said darkly.

"Finn, he misses you more than he'll ever say. Ever since his dad walked out Puck's been pushing people away from him because he's terrified that they'll leave him. Why do you think he never hit you back the day that you found out about…the baby? Because he felt like he deserved it for hurting you, and that's why he hasn't been pushing you and him to get back together like you used to be because he has this idiotic man-code of honor or whatever and now here we all are."

"None of that makes what he did okay," Finn said stubbornly, and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Of course it doesn't make what he did okay, Finn, but he's never asked you to forgive him for what he did. He's asking you to watch what he's doing now so that you can know that he isn't going to screw things up so bad again. But what you really need to understand is that no matter how much you want to protect Kurt, he's going to need to get hurt to live his life."

"But I do need to protect Kurt," Finn insisted. "He's even more screwed up than Puck is, you know? But he won't ever tell anyone what's wrong or that anything's wrong until he explodes like he did, and then he won't let anyone in because he's scared or hurt, and I don't know how to get him to let me in…"

"And you don't understand how he let Puck in to begin with," Quinn finished for him. Finn was squeezing her hand tightly, his voice raw, and she put her other hand on top of his like she was cradling him. "But, Finn, that has to be Kurt's choice. If I told you, right here and right now, that I cared about you like you were my little brother and that I think Rachel's bad for you and that you should never talk to her again, what would you do?"

"I'd tell you to go to hell and mind your own business," Finn said with a weak chuckle.

"Exactly," Quinn said, patting his hand before withdrawing hers. The waitress came bustling by to grab their mess and hurry away before the emotional teens could ruin her day. "We'll have to tip that one," Quinn noted, and Finn laughed, a nice, strong laugh that had Quinn smiling. She took his hand again. "And for the record, Finn, I do care about you, and I want you to know that I'm happy for you and Rachel. That girl has more problems than a math book, and she just wants some attention for herself instead of you talking about Kurt all the time. But I talked to her today and I think I made her see that she needed to let you talk about you sometimes too. The two of you are going to be on your own from here on out, alright?"

"You know, you're like the weirdest, bitchiest, coolest sister ever," Finn said fervently.

"Just don't ever try to kiss me again, alright? Because it'd be gross now that we're family," Quinn said firmly, and they shared a loud laugh as the sun climbed higher in the sky.

Phase Three: Kurt

11:30 a.m.

Left here alone
And unsure of what I feel
Unclear but I see
Just what I'm afraid of
I can't find my way anymore
And I
Cannot heal the wounds I've created
And I can't let go
Of what's killing me

When Quinn and Finn got back to the house, she heard the powerful, primally sad singing emanating from downstairs to know that she'd timed it right and Kurt was definitely awake. "Are you going to talk to him too?" Finn asked, peering at her.

"Yeah – but first I'm sending you over to Rachel's so the two of you can actually talk or maybe, god forbid, you can sing a ridiculously sappy love ballad and forgive each other again," Quinn said, smiling at him sweetly.

"We don't sing that many ballads—" Finn began. Quinn turned the full force of her deadly Bitch, please glare on him and he sighed. "Okay, I get your point."

"Go get dressed," she ordered him, but she leaned up and kissed his cheek before she turned to head toward the basement as she heard Finn's feet pounding up the stairs. "Like a puppy, I swear," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she opened the basement door, shut it firmly behind her, and headed down the stairs.

Falling from this edge
I am lost to all I know

She found Kurt sitting at his desk, his ridiculously expensive headphones on; when the house was empty Kurt tended to forget the noise levels. She recognized the moody piano rock music she heard pouring from the headphones and she paused to listen to the beautiful melody. Kurt's voice was a revelation – able to go from the lows to the highs, mixing opera with a hard rock edge when he really wanted to. For all that Rachel Berry was obviously going to go to Broadway and succeed, there was just something in the way that Kurt sang when he really meant it that took Quinn's breath away. Quinn sighed as she noticed that the DVD of the glee club's competition, in particular his and Puck's performance, was paused on the television.

I can't breathe anymore
Somehow I'm locked inside this cage
And I try
But I cannot fight to stay alive

Kurt closed his eyes and breathed in before pitching his voice as high as she'd heard him hit in his eerie performance of "Harem" during the rally. She hoped that Kurt hadn't seen the plans that Sue was building to put him at the top of a ridiculously complicated pyramid at the dramatic ending of the song and force him to hold the note even longer. She was already plotting Quinn's solo to last longer and to throw in Santana's surprisingly gorgeous singing voice as a surprise guest at the end.

Falling from this edge
I am lost to all I know
Time is only the answer see and
Lies, the only
Reverie

Enough being enough as far as moody opera went, Quinn leaned over Kurt's shoulder, ignoring his shocked spasm, and clicked the STOP button on his iTunes library. "You wouldn't be half as shocked if you didn't use those headphones to block out the rest of the world while you were singing," she informed him blithely when he threw her a glare. Quinn squeezed his shoulder as she gestured toward the television. "You know, you two were absolutely spectacular; I voted for you," she said carefully.

"Yeah, we were, weren't we?" Kurt asked, sighing as he reached for the remote on his desk and switched the set off.

"God, you're an idiot," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. Kurt jerked back and stared at her with shock. "Don't give me that look, Kurt! You know as well as I do that all you're doing right now is giving yourself a million and one reasons to not forgive Puck without even talking to him, and I've watched both of you go through too much to let you sabotage it all at the end because you're scared!"

"He lied to me, Quinn; he manipulated me and then he used me as an excuse to beat someone up that he was already mad at," Kurt snapped, color rising. "You should know better than anyone how that feels."

"That was really low, Kurt, even for you," Quinn said after a moment, and Kurt turned away from her, clenching his fists. "And besides, how do you know for one minute why Puck did what he did? Did you even bother to ask him, or did you just take everyone else's word for it? He's fought for you, Kurt, and I think that the least that you could owe him is to hear him out."

"You say that like it's the easiest thing," Kurt said after a moment. "But you just don't know…"

"I don't know what?" Quinn asked, crossing her arms.

"You don't know what it's like to be me!" Kurt hollered, finally spinning around. "I like him so much, and how sick does that make me? This is the guy that used to throw me in the dumpster every morning, who got people started throwing me into lockers and slushies on my clothes! He's been fighting for me? I have to fight every single day just to make myself go into that school knowing what's waiting for me! And now here I am, torn up over Noah Puckerman, for Gaga's sake, just like all those other girls, and I don't know what to do anymore!"

Quinn sighed and moved forward, draping her arm around him and letting him collapse next to her side as he started crying. "I can't do this; I have to be strong or they get in," he whispered.

"No one can be strong all the time, Kurt, not you, and certainly not Noah. And that's all he's asking you for – to let him be strong for you sometimes so that you can be strong for him. I've never met a pair of idiots so well-matched as you two: you both have matching mental problems and you both need each other to the point that you can't even see what's right in front of your face," Quinn said, stroking through his hair.

"What if I can't? What if I let him in and he just hurts me? I don't know if I can do it, Quinn," Kurt whispered brokenly.

"He's thinking the exact same thing, Kurt, and you know it," Quinn said flatly, keeping the hug going so he couldn't wriggle away. "You two are both so scared of letting people in. But you let me in, and look how well that's turned out."

"You don't have a penis," Kurt said after a moment.

"Oh my God, you really just said that." Quinn banged the back of her head against the wall.

"Do you think he really is…scared? I don't think I can picture Puck scared of anything," Kurt commented after she paused in her attempt to beat it out of herself. She turned and shot him a scornful look.

"You weren't in the delivery room when I started bleeding after I had Beth," she said bluntly. "Or when Shelby came to us at the viewing window and offered to take her. Puck gets scared more than anyone I know, but he's even worse than you are about reaching out to people and asking for help when he needs it, and believe you me, I never thought I'd meet anyone worse about that than you."

"I'm not some delicate flower, Quinn," Kurt protested irritably, glaring at her balefully.

"Keep telling yourself that, Faggetty Anne," she said, patting his hand consolingly.

"Does that make you Andy?" Kurt snorted.

"I happen to be a natural blonde," Quinn said sweetly.

"I don't ever want to know," Kurt said fervently. Then he banged his head against the wall. Quinn cocked her eyebrow. "I really am an idiot; I didn't even give him a chance to explain himself. It's just, what happened between me and Finn was so private, and so personal, this hell that I've been fighting so hard to get through, and then along comes Puck, who just knocks down all these walls I thought were so secure, and then I got so scared…I don't want to lose the feeling that I get when I'm with him, but I'm more afraid of him leaving than I am of anything else…" Kurt trailed off, then he snorted and inspected his nails. "Things were so much simpler when I was just insulting people with Mercedes. I thought I hated being a loser, but you know what? Having to care about this many people is just atrocious for my stress levels. I'm going to start getting pimples soon, Quinn. Pimples."

"That was so selfish I think I might just slap you and call you Rachel Berry," Quinn noted.

"The day that I crossdress as that creature, you have my every permission to perform an immediate mercy killing. And I don't want to be mortally wounded, I want to be dead. That way if anyone manages to snap a picture of me in a filthy Argyle sweater and a miniskirt with thigh high stockings, I won't have to confront the fact that not even I can make the Slutty School Marm look hot," Kurt decreed.

They both shared a look and burst into wicked cackles.

"Is that Puck's guitar over there?" Quinn asked, once she'd calmed down slightly, pointing in surprise. Puck never forgot his guitar or trusted anyone with it.

"Yeah – he's been teaching me how to play," Kurt said shyly. "I was going to get dad to drop it off at Puck's house this weekend because I know how bad he gets when he doesn't know where it is…stop giving me that look, you skank, I know I've got it bad," he said bitchily when he caught her smirking.

"I didn't know that you could play guitar, too," Quinn elected to say next. "I'm impressed."

"Yes, I'll play you something," Kurt said waspishly. "Don't give me that look. I live in your head just as much as you live in mine."

"And creepiness abounds," Quinn said, smiling as Kurt carefully took the guitar out of its case and ran his fingers over the strings.

"I wouldn't have it any other way between you and I. Otherwise this relationship might become incestuous and wrong," Kurt said. Quinn stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled as he started to strum an easy, haunting melody, unsure at first but then gaining in power as he started to sing.

Have you ever felt like you're starting to slide

down the side of a hill at the bottom where you will lose your mind?

So many contributing factors to hide

never will find what's hidden inside

all your friends surround you

they're made out of air

they act like they do

but they don't really care

that just leaves the sickness

the music in me

take my medicine and then you'll see

Quinn smiled and joined in on the chorus, Kurt's higher notes challenging her to take the lower. Kurt smiled at her when he realized that she knew the song.

The sun go down

and so are we

I'm screaming at you

but you don't hear me

am I alone or am I crazy

the ghost will come around for you inevitably

Kurt started playing the chords faster as Quinn took over for the next verse, drawing up to a tighter tension.

Have you ever encountered a skeleton

just a pile of bones I remove from my phone

so how've you been

let me sing the song that reminds me again

of the black in your soul

it's natural

I could take these problems

and blame them on you

I know what you did

and you know what I do

that just leaves a guitar, a pipe and a crow

you're my melody

and then you'll know

Kurt lost the chords toward the end, so he sort of strummed along an ending, and Quinn applauded politely. Kurt took a mock bow and she laughed at him. "I wouldn't think you'd recognize a song like that," Quinn said. "Isn't that more…Puck's speed?"

"Piss off," Kurt suggested. "We were working on it together last week, before…well, you know." Quinn smiled at him as he smiled at the floor. Oh, yes, her work was definitely done here. Then Kurt looked up, frowning slightly. "Isn't it so freaky how Puck and Mark Salling look so much alike?"

"You noticed that too!" Quinn exclaimed. "Sort of like when you showed me the album art for that Broadway play Spring Awakening and Lea Michele—"

"—looks exactly like Rachel Berry!" Kurt exclaimed. "And Jonathan Groff is like a carbon copy of Jesse St. James, which is creepy on so many different levels!"

"Do you ever get the feeling that we're all just characters in an increasingly crazy story?" Quinn asked after a moment.

"I'm not up for a metaphysics discussion today. I have to figure out how to apologize to Noah," Kurt said after a moment, nodding decisively.

"You may just want to head over to Mercedes' for that," Quinn suggested. "And it's Noah again, hmm?"

"Yeah, yeah, mission accomplished, thank you very much, shut up," Kurt said. Quinn smirked at him and kissed him on the forehead, ignoring his splutter as she sashayed all the way up the stairs. She had one last big ol' fish to fry before her work was done today and the world was back firmly in her delicate, girlish fist.

Phase Four: Puck

2:00 p.m.

Papa I know you're going to be upset
'Cause I was always your little girl
But you should know by now
I'm not a baby

You always taught me right from wrong
I need your help, daddy please be strong
I may be young at heart
But I know what I'm saying

The one you warned me all about
The one you said I could do without
We're in an awful mess, and I don't mean maybe – please

Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep
Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep
But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby, oh
I'm gonna keep my baby, mmm

After pausing at Subway for lunch (if Quinn was going to have to pay for today already, she was going to enjoy herself all the way to the gym, damn it), Quinn drove past the Puckerman house to make sure that Puck wasn't there. She headed up the steps and knocked on the door, thanking her lucky stars that Mrs. Puckerman wasn't there. When Sarah opened the door, Quinn smiled.

During her (thankfully brief) sojourn into living on the Puckermans' couch, with Puck so terrified of her and the baby and the prospect of the two of them together, and Mama Puckerman glaring at the non-Jew and muttering to herself as she served up dinner while Puck tried to make idiotic jokes and shooting glances in her direction that he thought she didn't notice, Sarah had been the only one who'd really adopted Quinn into the house. They'd had tea parties while Quinn helped Sarah with her history homework.

She'd sure gotten one hell of a shock when Sarah revealed that Puck had an enormous pair of nerdy glasses that he used when he corrected Sarah's math homework, which was apparently something that he'd been doing for years. Quinn had stared at her in stunned, shocked glee, and then promptly schooled Sarah in the art of blackmail, promising her that if she threatened to expose her older brother as a closeted math geek she'd be able to ply him for various things. Sarah had proved an amazingly good protégé, so much so that Quinn had nearly gotten a heart attack when Puck (looking annoyingly adorable) had stomped in one day, glasses on and scowl on his face, as he took out a book of Super Advanced Sudoku puzzles and a sharpened number two pencil, stabbing in numbers in staggeringly quick sequences and glaring at her when he said "Thanks a lot, bitch."

Funnily enough, Sarah Puckerman had come dancing into the house that day with an all new addition to her Barbie Dream House.

"Hi, Quinn!" Sarah sang out when she opened the door. "Noah's not here right now."

"I know," Quinn said. "Can you tell me where he is?"

"He said to not tell anyone – especially not that evil blonde psycho-bitch," Sarah quoted.

"I'll just bet he did," Quinn nodded. "But I really need to talk to him."

"What's it worth?" Sarah asked skeptically, her eyebrow cocked in a way that scarily echoed her brother's.

"Well, you see, if I don't talk to Noah and get him to stop being an idiot, he and Kurt might stay broken up and then Kurt might not be able to actually design that costume for your school's Halloween contest next year…" Quinn shrugged. Sarah's eyes widened comically.

"What did that idiot do to get Kurt to dump him?" Sarah shrieked, emphasizing 'idiot' in such a Kurt-like way that it was everything Quinn had to not laugh at the girl. "He's at the school in the gym; he'll be there all afternoon!"

"Thanks," Quinn said, ruffling the girl's hair affectionately, before she turned and headed back for Mike's scooter.

"Give him a smack from me!" Sarah yelled after her, and Quinn laughed as she kicked the thing in gear and headed for McKinley. She had to give it to him; that school on a Saturday was most likely the last place anyone would think to look for him.

Quinn slowed down as she approached the school. She had such a mixed surge of feelings in her gut whenever she saw the place. On the one hand, it was fairly easy to remember how she'd felt as a freshman, just transferring from middle school, shining star of the Cheerios and envy of every girl in the school. Popularity hadn't been a fight or a struggle or even a question. She was Quinn Fabray, adored by all. Then…then there was everything else; the heartbreak over Puck and Finn, memories of Beth, of her pregnancy, of being invisible (or worse, a target), highs and lows in glee club, finding friends and losing others, the dissolution of her parents' marriage and the shaking of her faith in God that she'd once thought was so strong. Quinn had never thought she'd find herself doubting.

But oddly enough, no matter how Puck had broken her heart – albeit unintentionally – or how much trouble it all had caused, Quinn would never, ever trade her memories of her pregnancy for anything. So much had been lost but so much had been gained; in a dumb, totally Mr. Schuester-special way, she'd found herself. When she'd managed to connect to Mercedes and help her through Sylvester's reign of terror, Quinn had felt as if she were touched with the glow of God once more. There was a grace that no one but a mother could feel, that spark of life growing within her that she had protected and nurtured and brought to term. There were parts of her that missed her little girl so fiercely, but this last month her mother had called her home from school to show her that Shelby Corcoran had unexpectedly sent the Fabrays a thick folder full of pictures of Beth and her new room and her expensive clothes. Her daughter was happy, healthy, and loved, and in giving her up Quinn had given a gift more precious than anything to a woman and eased her loneliness.

Maybe there was something to Kurt's argument that if there were a God then She was a woman, Quinn thought, and smiled to herself. Her confused romantic feelings for Puck had long since passed. She'd seen the man that he had tried to hide inside the scared little boy hiding behind his 'guns', and Puck deserved someone who could see Noah as well, and Kurt could give that to him more than anything. Not to mention, she just wanted them together, and Quinn just refused to accept anything short of success from today's mission.

She parked in the parking lot and headed around the school toward the locker rooms; the school's weight room was in between the boys' locker room and the gym with the girls' locker room on the other side of the gym toward the rest of the school. The door was unlocked, naturally, but then, the janitors had long since given up trying to stop the vandals of WMHS from doing whatever they wanted over the weekend.

She didn't have to look around long; heavy metal was pouring from the overhead speakers that Sylvester had installed (she hooked them up to her bullhorn while she was overseeing the Cheerios lifting weights to emphasize her screeching about how weak, pathetic and worthless they all were) and she just followed the noise until she saw Puck, shirtless, sweaty, and in a pair of beat-up grey sweatpants pounding the hell out of the punching bag with an intent bordering on desperation. The look on his face – anger, hopelessness, fear – was enough to churn her stomach, and of course, the lyrics of the song weren't helping (Quinn was not appreciative of how mood-appropriate the unintentional soundtrack of her day was; honestly, this wasn't a glee club meeting and hopefully Brad the piano man wasn't lurking around a corner somewhere like Quasimodo waiting to ring the bells for a meaningful ballad).

It's haunting
This hold that you have over me
I grow so weak

I see you
And everything around you fades
And I can't see

You can never know what it is you do to me

I can't take what you do to me
I can't take it

No matter what I say or what I do
I know how this will end
So I'm turning away now before we begin
And now matter what you say or what you do
I know how this will end
So I'm turning away now
I'm dangerous for you

And, really, where Quinn was concerned, enough was enough with introspection, damn it, so she skittered around Puck's side and jabbed her finger at the OFF button, the music so loud that the silence rang in both of their ears as he aimed a few last vicious jabs at the bag before turning around to glare at her. Quinn wasn't sure if she should feel gratified or concerned that he didn't look in the least bit surprised to see her.

"You know, whatever happened to family bonds and all that other bullshit?" Puck snapped. "When I told Sarah that I didn't want anyone to find me, especially not you, I was really telling you to not come here."

"Gee. I'd never have guessed," Quinn sneered, turning and rooting through the closet until she found a clean white towel that she put on one of the weight-lifting benches before she sat down. When Puck opened his mouth, she speared him with a look and continued, "I also found it interesting that you didn't say a word to Sarah that you and Kurt had had a fight last night."

"We broke up, Q, there's a difference," Puck said bluntly, turning around to aim a few more body shots at the bag.

"How long have you been here beating the crap out of that thing and pretending that it's Finn?" Quinn demanded irritably. Puck didn't answer her, which worried her more than she wanted to admit. "Puck?"

"'S not Finn," Puck grunted, slamming the bag again and again. "It's me." He punched it as hard as he could before he moved on to kicking, vicious body shots and higher head shots than she'd known he was capable of – but then, fight club. "I promised I wouldn't hurt Kurt," he continued, his voice lowering to a snarl. "You're supposed to keep your promises!" His face twisted into an ugly scowl, and Quinn's heart broke in her chest. She took a deep breath to steady herself, before she stepped forward and slapped him across the face.

It wasn't the worst slap she'd ever delivered (actually, Finn had been on the receiving end of that one last night and she'd been secretly (evilly) glad to see that he was still carrying a bruising handprint on his face this morning); actually, it was kind of weak. But it worked to jerk Puck back from that punching bag, and she took both of his cheeks in her hands and looked right into his eyes as she said firmly, "Noah, you are not your father."

The angry mask that had been obscuring Puck's face crumpled like old paper and he turned away from her to fist his eyes angrily so she wouldn't see. She gave him a few moments to collect himself before she gently led him back to her bench, and she sat down while he folded to his knees, listlessly letting her peel the boxing gloves and hand wrap off, making sure that his knuckles weren't bleeding, before she took another towel and gently wiped his face off and dabbed at the sweat percolating on his chest and back. He sighed and tipped his head back, laying in her lap (but not before she put the towel back down, because dry cleaning for this uniform was hell).

"God, I really fucked everything up this time," Puck said listlessly.

"You made a mistake, Noah, but so did Kurt, and so did Finn, and Rachel, and hell, so did I, thinking that the four of you could work through all of your issues without my help," Quinn said firmly, trailing her hands through the short spikes of his hair. "You just need to talk to Kurt, Noah, and explain why you did what you did, and stop trying to hide behind being the badass. He didn't fall for Puck, you moron, he fell for Noah, and don't you roll your eyes at me because he's still head over feet in love with you and he's being even more ridiculously sappy about last night than you are. Stop looking so happy."

"He…really?"

"Oh, for the love of—yes, you're both idiots, and now you can be idiots together. Congratulations," Quinn said. "And you'd better be prepared when you get home, because Sarah's not exactly happy with you."

"You just had to tell her, didn't you?" Puck said grumpily, climbing to his feet.

"I trained her well – she demands exchanges now," Quinn said happily.

"Don't remind me," Puck grumped.

"Oh, and Noah?" she continued, climbing to her feet. "Look, I had a nice long talk with everyone else today, but this is your relationship, and it matters. I've never seen you look at anyone the way you look at Kurt, and believe me, that feeling? It's something worth fighting for. The next time something like this happens, I expect you to man up and talk to Kurt about it and work through it, because I'm not going through all of this again. I have my own life to worry about."

"Thanks, Quinnie," he said with a wry smile. "Never thought you'd be playing Dr. Phil for a bunch of losers, did you?"

"Of course not," Quinn snorted. "But you're all my bunch of losers now, and you take so much looking after." Puck shot her a look which she quelled with one of her own. "Now go home and clean up. Kurt's going to be spending the weekend with Mercedes, most likely, so you better be ready to patch things up come Monday. And Puck? Try not to do anything too stupid when you're wooing him back, hmm?"

"You said woo," Puck smirked.

"I'm going home," Quinn said irritably, but she smiled when she turned around as his laughter echoed through the locker room after her.

Endgame: Burt

4:00 p.m.

It was after four by the time Quinn pulled back up to the Hummel house, which was thankfully silent, meaning that Finn and Rachel were off singing God-knew-what and staring at each other in disgustingly sappy ways and Kurt and Mercedes were most likely knee deep in a What Not to Wear marathon and shrieking horrifically cruel insults at the screen. Quinn tried not to think about what Brittany and Santana were doing at the moment. All was right with her subjects, and now she was on to speak to the papa bear.

She let herself in and headed downstairs, depositing her uniform in Kurt's dry-clean safe hamper for the moment and digging through the drawer that Kurt had decreed was hers since she spent so much time over there (Mercedes had two). She found a pretty blue sundress and a light cardigan to throw over it that would look nice enough and headed in to take a nice long shower, exulting in the massaging hot spray that restored her tired muscles. She wanted to feel nice and loose, knowing how much she was going to have to work out next week to make up for what she was putting in her body today alone.

Ah, well, she shrugged, scrubbing her skin with specialty soap that left a nice tingling sensation behind it. It was a work day, and I deserved it all.

She used a hairband to draw her hair back from her face and dried off, slipping into the airy dress and appreciating how light it was in comparison to her Cheerios uniform. She checked the clock and grinned with satisfaction that she'd timed it just right, as it was getting close to 5:00, and she slipped upstairs and used the hide-a-key to lock up behind her as she headed back to Mike's scooter and drove off down the street to Hummel's Garage. Burt glanced up from a customer he was finishing up with and smiled when he saw her, and Quinn waved brightly as she headed over.

"Quinnie, you should be wearing a helmet with that thing," Burt said, looking her over.

"Uncle Burt, it isn't even highway safe; it barely gets over twenty miles an hour," Quinn said, easing behind the counter to help him pack up his stuff.

"Where are we going today?" he asked, bemused.

"Dairy Queen," Quinn announced firmly. "And we are splitting an ice cream cake, too."

"And…" Burt looked at her meaningfully.

"And, I say absolutely nothing about these trips to Kurt, or he might start pricking you with needles at odd hours to start checking your blood for sodium content," Quinn reeled off with a smirk.

"Exactly," Burt nodded. "I just have to lock the doors up and close out the computer after that guy pulls his car out." Quinn nodded and pulled one of Kurt's Vogue issues out from its box behind the counter and paged through the upcoming late summer/early fall collections while she waited, until Burt was standing over her in an undershirt that used to be white and a pair of jeans, looking so much like the stereotypical Ohio dad that her throat closed up.

"Uncle Burt, I really am so grateful for everything you've done for me," Quinn started, but she was cut off as he pulled her into a quick hug.

"You're family now, Quinnie, don't you worry about that," Burt said firmly, and if he didn't say anything when she wiped a few tears away, then she wasn't going to call attention to it either. It had been a long day. The two headed out to Burt's truck and loaded the scooter in the back. "This Mike kid is treating you right, isn't he?" Burt said skeptically.

"Yes; he's a perfect gentlemen," Quinn said with a smile.

"Good. I'd hate to have to threaten his life like with that Puckerman kid," Burt said darkly. "Who needs to learn to keep his grubby paws off my kid."

"You know, I think he's growing his Mohawk back," Quinn said sweetly.

"God," Burt muttered darkly, ignoring her cackle as they headed out together, making a quick stop by the Chang house so that Quinn could wheel the scooter to the front porch and leave the key in the pot that Mike had left out for her. She found a sticky note curled up inside and she smiled sappily as she saw that it said love you! with a ridiculously Asian smiley face underneath it. She tucked the note into her front pocket and skipped back to the truck, before they headed out to Dairy Queen.

She took the table while Burt went to order, and she picked one with the bright sunlight warming the seats and streaming over the table. It wasn't long before they were both tearing into ridiculously fattening burgers and sighing with satisfaction, and Quinn breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that Sue Sylvester was nowhere around to breathe fire on Quinn's well-deserved indulgence – particularly the large slabs of ice cream cake waiting for them behind the counter. God, give my friends the strength and the brains to work through this day, she thought, glancing up at the brilliant heavens. When the opening chords of the next song started to play on the stereo, she, for once today, actually appreciated the psychic radio thing that seemed to have infected Lima lately, while the sun shown down on her new family.

You think that I go home at night
Take off my clothes, turn out the lights
But I burn letters that I write
To you, to make you love me

Yeah, I drive naked through the park
And run the stop sign in the dark
Stand in the street, yell out my heart
To make, to make you love me

I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho…

END OF CHAPTER

Songs Used in This Chapter:

"It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" by Glee Cast (Quinn) – As this chapter was so Quinn-centric, it seemed appropriate to use her solos throughout. Not to mention, her rendition of this song is probably my favorite cover of this song that I've ever heard, and in my opinion, it was one of the only good parts of "Funk", so there you have it.

"I Say a Little Prayer for You" by Glee Cast (Quinn) – It was just so adorable that I couldn't help myself, really.

"Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" by Lady Gaga

"Time to Say Goodbye (English Version)" by Sarah Brightman — This song (one of her signatures) is usually an Italian duet with Andrea Bocelli, but her English translation is a gorgeous piece and the actual lyrics are amazing…not to mention, I don't credit Rachel with classical Italian opera training, so there you go.

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Glee Cast (Quinn)

"Broken" by Seether (featuring Amy Lee of Evanescence)

"Reverie" by Megan McCauley – This song is absolutely gorgeous. I realize I've kind of been using this story to pimp out Megan McCauley's music, but the more people I get to listen to her, the sooner she might actually release a second album, and I'd love for that to happen, so…pimpage!

"The Descent (Confessions of a Ghost)" by Mark Salling – One of the best songs off of his new album Pipe Dreams. I really cannot recommend that album enough. Plus using it gave me that opportunity to insert random meta-jokes here and there.

"Papa Don't Preach" by Glee Cast (Quinn)

"The Promise" by In This Moment – Here's another bit of pimpage; this is an absolutely astoundingly raw female-fronted heavy metal band, and they are amazing. Their new album A Star-Crossed Wasteland is likely one of my favorite metal releases of the last five years or so, and that's saying something.

"Extraordinary" by Liz Phair – I have a love/hate relationship with this woman and this album; I loved Liz Phair initially and I bought the deluxe anniversary redux of Exile in Guyville. She took a huge, years-long break from music and came back doing pop instead of grunge/alternative, and while I hate that she sold-out like that, in terms of actual pop albums Liz Phair is a pretty good one. And this song's lyrics just sort of described my feelings about Quinn at the end. Thus, its inclusion.

A/N: HOLY SHIT! I thought I'd never get this chapter finished, god damn it all! It was so much fun to write, though, and I wanted to get everything finished exactly to my satisfaction. I changed songs around, cut songs out, put songs in, changed conversations around, decided what was too much – I was nearly pulling my hair out at the end, because I wanted you guys to get this before the end of last Sunday, and here we are now. But, I am supremely satisfied with this chapter, and I hope that you will be too.

Next time around we're going back to Puck's POV and resuming the regularity of this story, just to let you all know. Also, next chapter will (hopefully) not be quite as long…

COMING NEXT TIME on Kurt's Gamble: Kurt and Puck have to man up and have a talk, while Finn has some apologies to hand out. Puck undergoes a radical change to prove himself, but how will Kurt react?