Author's Note: I'm dragging out the 1x13 "Sectionals" episode over like 5 chapters probably. Sorry. This is part 3 of 5 lol. ;) This chapter is not really based on any scenes in the actual show. But it's sort of about that episode because it's after the scenes at the beginning of it, and before the scenes at the end. I feel like it's extra lame, and when I have scenes to work with my writing might be better. But I hope you all enjoy this nonetheless.

Chapter 21: Food and Shelter

Driving away from Finn's house, Quinn had no real destination in mind. She considered, as a plan for when night fell, simply finding a place to park and sleeping in her car. She thought about what else she needed to do today, before that time came. She needed to do her homework and… and eat dinner. She realized she had barely enough money with her for a day or two worth of meals and then she'd be screwed. She wanted to stay on a healthy diet of three meals a day for her unborn child's sake, but here she was - jobless and alone. She decided, for now, to stay in denial about how the whole "food" issue would be one she'd have to deal with sooner rather than later, and instead of coming up with a solution, she headed toward the public library. She glanced at the digital clock in the car. It was still only 4:00 pm. She was pretty sure the library in Lima would be open until at least six on a weekday.

When she got there, she had to dig through the trunk to get to her textbooks, pencils, and paper. She'd packed away a few vital items underneath her clothing and it was a hassle getting to the bottom of her suitcase. She hoped no one she knew was around. Lima was a frustratingly small town at times, and she didn't want to run into her classmates, or her parents, or anyone at all. She wanted to be a nobody who no one would even give a passing thought. She headed inside with her school stuff and tried her hardest to focus on all of it. After about an hour, she was almost finished and her stomach had started to make those little growling noises. She was a little paranoid that since the library was so quiet, other people might be able to hear them. She (and her baby) hadn't eaten for a whole six hours, plus she was used to eating a snack after school.

Finishing her homework at a table in the library, thankfully not once being disturbed and not recognizing a soul, she put her papers back in the appropriate folders and tried to come up with a plan for what to do next. A part of her wished she had mountains of homework so she could just keep herself busy for longer. She didn't want to be doing nothing, alone, for the rest of the evening, possibly just sitting awkwardly in her car. She hated the idea of living in her car for the entire foreseeable future. She could maybe do it for one night, but as a long-term plan… this wasn't going to work for her. She reached down into her purse and found her cell phone. Scrolling to the contacts list, she considered her options in alphabetical order.

Artie. Hmm. She considered him for a good minute. She had actually met his parents, briefly. They were nice people, but she had no idea if they knew she was pregnant or not – she hadn't really been showing yet that time she'd been at their house. Quinn knew her own father had had no idea about what her situation was at that point. If Artie hadn't mentioned it to them… they wouldn't know. Working on ballads with him had not been so bad, and she certainly found his house pleasant enough. By the end of their teamwork activities, they maybe had started to consider each other real friends. But she knew deep down that Artie was a silly option. She barely knew the boy. They weren't close enough of friends. Asking this huge favor of him would clearly be inappropriate. She only had gotten his phone number for that ballad assignment for glee, and it had been the only time she'd ever used it. Mentally she crossed Artie off her list.

Brittany was next. When Quinn had been captain of the Cheerios, she'd gotten all of the fellow cheerleaders' numbers and added them into her contacts. Brittany was actually still in her life now, unlike most of the rest of them. Quinn and Brittany had never really had real conversations - not at cheerleading practice, nor in glee club. Sure, Coach Sylvester had grouped Santana, Quinn, and Brittany together as her three best cheerleaders, impressed by their gymnastic skills, and so Quinn had found herself around Brittany quite often. But Quinn would have never actually called Brittany her "friend". Quinn realized now, however, that Brittany might. The girl had many unusual qualities about her, and one was that seemed to think she was close friends with people who were barely her acquaintances. If Quinn wanted to suddenly become her best friend in the world, and crash at her house, it might be possible. Quinn wasn't sure where Brittany lived, nor what her parents might be like. But she didn't want to eliminate Brittany as a solution quite yet.

Carole was still in her phone, and Quinn knew she should probably delete the woman from it. But she couldn't bring herself to. Just like she didn't want to delete the woman's son, who was just a few down. She also still had her parents' numbers in there. These people were all too important to her. Erasing them would feel wrong. She still had hope they might call her or text her at some point, for some reason. She scrolled away from her, "Dad", and "Finn", and landed on her sister's name.

Gabrielle. Gabi was certainly an option. On Thanksgiving, their conversation had made Quinn so happy, and seeing her in person for the first time since then was very tempting. But she lived hours away with her husband in a small house. If she decided to go there, she'd have to officially change schools. Give up Glee club. And go through an entirely new student body whispering and staring as they realized, slowly but surely, that this new girl was also a pregnant girl. The thought alone terrified her.

Grandma. This was actually the home phone number to where both of Quinn's maternal grandparents lived, but she'd only written down "Grandma" as the "contact name". She loved her grandparents. It was getting close to Christmas, so her grandmother would probably any day now be preparing to make all sorts of gingerbread men cookies and her grandfather had probably already adorned the house with holly and poinsettias. She had such fond memories of their house, and now that their only child, Judy, was a grown woman, her bedroom was vacant and would be a delightful place to crash. But like Gabrielle, they lived a bit too far away for it to be practical. She'd have to change schools. Plus, she had no idea if they had heard the news that she was pregnant, nor what their reaction would be. They were old people, and generally pretty traditional. They might be just as bad as her own father. They weren't really an option.

Neither were her other grandparents, who had a huge house which is what made it ideal for family holiday get-togethers. They had plenty of spare bedrooms. But she didn't even have their phone number in her phone, and besides, they were the people who raised a man who would kick out his own daughter for being pregnant. She was sure they had instilled that type of "Christian value" into him themselves.

There were some cheerleaders in her contact list who Quinn barely knew – Hannah, Katie, Marilyn, etc. Most of them had also been in celibacy club too, and so she'd wanted their numbers in case she was going to be texting everyone about a new meeting. But she… she didn't really feel close with any of them. One by one, she skipped through them. After a bunch, she landed on…

Rachel. Of all people, Quinn knew the average person who might be looking through her phone would be surprised to find this girl in here. In Quinn's mind, she was usually not "Rachel" but rather "the annoying Berry girl". This was the person who had mere hours ago caused her current predicament by revealing the truth to Finn. This brunette was certainly not someone she'd consider a friend. There were so many issues Quinn had with Rachel, and the only reason she was in her phone was glee. Rachel had insisted upon getting everyone else's number so that she could call impromptu meetings such as the recent one where she'd announced that the club had been booked for the mattress commercial. Quinn wanted to just move on from Rachel, but she was nearing the end of the alphabet, and the bottom of her list. She knew her options were running out, and so she let herself really consider Rachel for a moment. Quinn knew that Rachel felt guilty for what she'd done. Rachel would probably be willing to let her crash there, and with two gay dads, she had more faith that they'd be cool with the whole teenage pregnancy thing. She had no clue what to think about Artie's or Brittany's parents.

She wished she'd had more people's numbers in her phone. She was down to the final two people.

Santana. Her "best friend", sort of. But Quinn knew deep down that the bitchy Latina was not the correct choice when running to someone's house for comfort. Especially not after Santana's whole "keep your paws off my man" speech – now that Santana knew that "her man", Puck, had actually slept with Quinn… Quinn didn't want to come into any sort of contact with Santana Lopez any time soon. That replacement head cheerleader truly frightened Quinn.

So she was down to the very last number in her phone. The last person, alphabetically, was…

Terri. The crazy woman who had begged for her child, but refused to help her out with any bills… but who Quinn still kind of trusted to be a good mom. She couldn't quite describe it… but even with the way Terri treated Quinn at times, Quinn felt some motherly kindness emanating from her. And Terri was Will Schuester's wife. If he had picked her to marry, how bad could she be?

Quinn thought over her options. Artie and Brittany would be too weird and she didn't even know if she could trust their parents to help her. Begging Rachel for help was maybe her best option, despite how weird in its own way it'd be. But she… she didn't think she could stand staying in the same house as Rachel. It'd be her back-up plan. But for now…

Quinn found herself driving toward Terri Schuester's apartment, hoping to be allowed to crash on the couch she had actually sat on multiple times. She would feel more uncomfortable going to a house she'd never seen before, meeting Rachel's dads for the first time, and asking Rachel to overlook the awful things Quinn had drawn in the bathroom stalls. So she headed towards the place she knew she'd feel more comfortable at. A home she'd been inside before, where both of the people in the household already knew of her predicament. The worst that could happen would be that Mrs. Schuester would refuse her request, and Quinn could go from there if that happened.

Before she knew it, she was knocking tentatively on the Schuesters' door, hoping someone was home. Quinn wanted it to be Terri, with Will preferably gone and still sleeping elsewhere, like when he'd slept at school. She was afraid that Mr. Schuester would not be able to be kind to her anymore, not after his wife had lied to him and broken his heart and then he was there to witness Finn's heart breaking in a somewhat similar way over a somewhat similar lie.

When the door opened, though, she found herself face to face with the man.

"Quinn?" he asked, a surprising amount of concern and kindness in his tone. He also looked a little confused at her showing up at his doorstep.

"Hi," she replied softly, glancing down toward her feet a few times, finding it hard to maintain eye contact with him. "I was wondering if Mrs. Schuester was… around," she mumbled.

"Oh, Terri? She's… staying at her sister's for the time being," he informed her.

Quinn nodded.

"I'm sorry she's not here. Is there something… that maybe I could do for you?" He shot her a warm smile. "Why don't you come in for a second?" He stepped back and to the side, then gestured toward his living room.

"Um." Quinn gulped. She didn't really want to come in. It would be too awkward to already be inside when she asked what she was about to ask.

"Quinn?" He stepped back to his previous position in the doorframe. "You don't have to come in, I was only trying to be nice…" he trailed off awkwardly, sounding so unsure of what to say or do.

"I know you'll probably say no, and that's fine," Quinn said, mustering up her courage as she started speaking. "I have other options," she added, trying to convince herself as much as him. "But um… could I maybe sleep here tonight?" She looked up at him, waiting for his response, hoping she wasn't revealing just how desperate she was through her eyes.

The teacher raised his eyebrows, clearly taken aback. He didn't say anything for a few moments.

"It's okay. Nevermind," Quinn said. She looked away from him and started to take a step back toward the exit of the building.

"No, Quinn, wait," he said, stopping her. He looked at her with a lot of sympathy, and she was grateful that he wasn't acting like she was the coldhearted bitch she felt like. "Sure. If you want to sleep on the couch tonight, that's fine. Come on in."

She couldn't quite believe he was saying 'yes'. She took a few seconds to let it sink in. So she had a place to sleep, at least for this one night.

"Thank you," she whispered, tears threatening to fall because she still felt so grateful. "Could I… get my bag first?" she asked, thinking about how she needed pajamas to sleep in and her toothbrush and clothes for school the next day.

"Of course."

Will actually invited her to eat dinner with him, and Quinn suspected he didn't mind having the company. It looked like he would have been eating his frozen dinner alone if she hadn't shown up, and she thought that seemed like such a sad way to live. He apologized for not being a cook, but she assured him she did not mind one bit. The frozen dinner sounded great.

They didn't talk much as they ate, but somehow it wasn't too awkward. They just… felt comfortable around each other. She knew now she could truly trust Mr. Schue to really take care of her, like a father figure, if she ever needed him. It was very comforting.

After the meal, Will found a set of sheets for the couch, and he told Quinn she could watch TV in the living room and of course she was free to just go into the bathroom whenever and if she wanted to, use the shower. Then he disappeared into his bedroom to watch something on his own television. And Quinn couldn't help but feel a strong sense of loneliness once again.

She did take advantage of the shower. Then she changed into a nightgown and crawled under the covers on the couch. She didn't feel like watching TV. She didn't feel like doing anything. She thought about her crazy day. In the morning, she'd found out Will didn't want her baby, and then had cried her eyes out alone in the girls' bathroom at school. Only six or so hours ago, she had still been with Finn, and everything was fine. The events that had transpired after all of that had been even more excruciating than her worst nightmare, and so here she was, exhausted and going to sleep before the clock even struck 10:00 pm. However she decided, right before closing her eyes for the night, that she needed to pray. She didn't mind doing it while already lying down, silently talking in her head to God. She knew God would hear her. She asked him to please help her get through this. To make the next day at school bearable. To help her find a more long-term solution to her homelessness. To let everything work out with her baby, Sectionals this weekend, and the rest of her life to come. To conclude her prayer, she thanked God for loving her despite all of her sins. Then, she let herself drift off, hoping her dreams might be more pleasant than her reality.