Uh-oh...
Chapter Twenty-Six: When She Knows Best
"Noah! Where are you? You're really making me worried now. Please, call me or text me or let me know in someway that you're okay... I love you, bye."
Puck deleted the message from his voicemail and put his phone back on the ground next to him. He was at the lake, in the middle of the day, in November. It was fucking freezing out there. He didn't even know why he was here, really... It wasn't like this place was special or anything. Yeah, sure, it was the place where he first lost his virginity to a sophomore when he was a freshman and it was the first place he let Santana blow him when they made their relationship official until she broke up with him six months later for something about needing good financial support.
Then, after a while of thinking, he remembered why it was special. He'd been coming here to think ever since he was nine, when he found out that Abbey had leukemia. It was risky to come out here alone, but he still did it anyway because he needed to get away.
So, as he sat on the rock he always sat on, Puck threw stick, rocks, anything he could find into the icy water. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't want to see anyone, not even Rachel. If he faced Rachel, he'd have to tell her. He would have to tell her that Quinn's baby was actually his and not Finn's and he would have to tell her that Quinn had picked him to be the father.
Puck let out a sigh, letting his head fall onto his knees as he continuously rubbed his hand over his Mohawk with a frustrated look on his face. He kept going over what had happened only a few minutes ago through his mind. Quinn had texted him earlier in the week to tell him to meet her in the chorus room. That wasn't so hard to believe. Then, she was pacing around and freaking out and being all fidgety, not so bad, but a little worrisome. Then, she said that she wanted him to be the father. And that made his heart drop, then rise again like he was going to barf it up.
Of course he wanted to be. It was his baby, wasn't it? His little girl. His baby girl. His baby. She belonged to him, and no one else, so he should be the father. There was no one else moer fit for the job, except for the dad. And that was him.
But that freaked him out. Puck was seventeen. And he just turned seventeen, no less. He was basically just an old sixteen year old. And no sixteen year old can properly take care of a baby... Except for him... Taking care of his sister for all his life made him more than capable of doing something like that.
But, is that what he really wanted? To take care of a baby?
Puck looked up at the rippling water that had started to freeze around the edges. "I've just gotten myself into too much shit now."
"You've got that right."
Puck jumped a foot in the air when he heard a voice behind him and he turned around, his hands up in a ninja chop as if that were supposed to help him. But, then he let them fall when he saw Abbegail standing there in sweatpants and a t-shirt, her winter jacket wrapped around her but not zipped.
"Holy shit, you scared me." She grinned at him and sat down on the rock next to him. "What are you doing here?"
"Rachel called home and I picked up..." He scoffed. "Hey, come on. You're the one who disappeared and didn't tell her where you were... But, she said that you weren't at school, and I had a hunch that you would be here." He nodded slowly, running a hand over his Mohawk. "So, what's happened now, Puck?" He shook his head. "Come on, you only come here when something's happened... What's wrong now?"
Puck took a few deep breaths. "Okay, if I tell you, you can't tell anyone, not even Mom, and especially not Rachel... I can't risk anyone finding out. At least, not yet." Abbegail nodded and promised to not tell anyone. "And I'm only telling you because I trust you because you're really the only one I have right now."
"Okay! I promise, now tell me!"
"You know Quinn?" Abbey nodded. "She's keeping the baby and she said she wanted me to be the dad."
His little sister froze. Puck actually saw her back go ridged and her eyes widened, her mouth dropping nearly to the ground. He nodded slowly as her hands gripped at the legs to her sweatpants and her body just going completely still.
Puck nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know... That's what I said." Abbey bit her lip, wrapping the jacket closer around her body. "You wouldn't happen to have any booze in there, would you? I know that coat is like freaking Mary Poppin's bag, so..."
"Yeah, Puck, I just have some Jack Daniels hidden away in this pocket for emergency times," she said sarcastically, reaching into her pocket and pretending to take out a bottle of liquor.
He waved his hand. "No problem at all. Lucky for me, I have a stow away." He reached behind him and started removing stones from a pile of rocks before producing a bottle of the brown alcohol. "From the last time I was hear, when I found out Quinn was pregnant." He unscrewed the cap and raised the bottle at her. "Cheers."
He took one swig of the liquor, but before the bottle could even leave his lips, Abbey snatched it away, making some excess whiskey fall from the bottle and onto his jeans. "Mm!" he said, looking down at his pant leg.
She just rolled her eyes. Puck tried to take it back, but she held it from his reach. When he stretched for it again, she flung it into the water, the glass bottle making a splashing noise before it sunk to the bottom of the pond.
He swallowed the alcohol that had been in his mouth and he gave her a look of astonishment. "What the hell did you do that for? You just threw my fucking booze into the water!"
Abbey shook her head. "You're going to be a dad... You can't deal with stuff like this through alcohol, Puck. You've got to be mature."
"No, no, no. I've got to be mature later. Right now, I need my Jack Daniel's." Abbey just stared at him. "You could have at least put the cap back on it so I could go get it later. Now all the alcohol is all over the pond. That could kill the fish. Or the frogs."
"For someone who comes here often, you don't know shit about this place. There aren't any fish or frogs or anything in this pond. There was a chemical that was put into the water three years ago. There's nothing here..."
Puck glared at her for a few moments. "Whatever. You still threw my escape goat into the water." Abbey raised an eyebrow at him. "I need that right now, Abbey. I just found out that the girl I knocked up wants me to be the father. But she's dating my best friend. And I'm dating Rachel. Who Quinn hates. Do you see the problems here."
"I do, yes, Puck, but the better thing to do, instead of drinking, is maybe to think about what you're going to do... Maybe form a plan, like, how are you going to take care of this baby? Are you going to get a job, since you never go to work at the 7-11 and I'm pretty sure that means you're fired?" Puck ran a hand over his Mohawk in frustration. "Are you going to tell Rachel soon? And if so, how will you tell her? Are you going to tell Finn? Or is Quinn going to tell Finn? How are you going to be providing support for your baby, and her mother?"
"Okay, I get it, Abbey, I get it. There are a lot of things I need to think over. And a lot of things that I need to figure out. But, I don't know how to figure them out. I don't know what I'm going to do, let alone how I'm going to do it. And what should be done first? Should we tell everyone that it's actually my baby, or should we wait until everyone just figures it out? If we let people figure it out, how will I take care of things, like bills or furniture for the baby, without Finn finding something strange when he's not paying for any of it? Will I tell Rachel? And if I do, how will she react? Will she break up with me, or try to help? Like, what the fuck!"
Abbey stared at her brother while he was going on his rant about what will happen when, and why. She didn't know what to say to him. He was sitting there, just sitting on the rock and staring at the water like a crazy person. His knees were bouncing at twenty miles an hour and his hands were fidgeting with the zipper to his sweatshirt.
Abbey gave him a worried look, chewing on her lip nervously. "Are... Are you alright?"
He snapped his head up to look at her. "No... Abbey, I'm not okay... I'm going to be a dad." Abbey nodded slowly, reached up to stroke her thumb across his cheek a few times. "I'm sixteen. I can't be a dad."
She gave him a soft smile. "Yes, you can. And do you want to know why?" He gave her a puppy dog look. "Because you are amazing... Because you can."
~*~
At the end of the day, Rachel was walking down the hall, checking the time on her cell phone every three seconds. The school was buzzing with kids, a lot of people talking with their friends, while some football players were throwing around a football, running around the halls and laughing at people who they his with the ball.
But, Rachel stayed out of the way. She had reached her locker, her face turned to the metal door so she wouldn't get his with a Slushee for the second time today. She'd changed into an extra skirt and sweater that she had shoved into the way back of her locker, the outfit she hadn't needed for at least three weeks.
"Come on, Noah, call me back. You're making me worried," she said to her cell phone, shaking it in her hand once, as if that were going to make it ring, or at least buzz once to say that she got a text message. "Call, call, call."
Rachel was about to call him again when someone bumped into her, making her cell phone fly out of her hand and slide across the floor, thirty feet away from her. Instantly, she slammed her locker door and scrambled after it, getting jostled around by the people in the hallway. She saw someone stop next to her phone and pick it up, and she silently cursed to herself when she saw that it was Quinn.
Walking toward the blonde, she held her hands politely in front of her. She was about to say something when Quinn suddenly spoke. "Is this your phone?" Rachel nodded, biting the inside if her lip. "Oh, well, here," she said, handing the smaller girl her cell phone back.
"Oh... Um, thank you." Quinn nodded and started to walk away. "You're not going to make me do something utterly embarrassing and reputation ruining?"
Quinn turned around and faced Rachel. "No, not today. I'm not in the mood." Rachel's brow creased and she looked closer at Quinn. She could hear the stuffiness in her nose. Her eyes were red and she had a look on her face that screamed tired, worn out, and hurt.
Rachel let out a sigh. "Do you want to talk about it?" she said in a quiet voice, clutching her phone in her hand.
The blonde looked at her for a moment, her fingers silently snapping at her sides before she let her shoulders slump. "I can't talk about it. Not with you." Rachel's brow furrowed and she felt kind of hurt. She knew that Quinn didn't like her, it wasn't an unknown fact or anything of the sort, but the fact that she specified that she couldn't talk about what was bothering her with Rachel is what made her upset.
"Why, Quinn? Don't you need someone to talk to?"
"Yes, but not... Not you."
Rachel bit the inside of her cheek again. "Why not?"
Quinn's lip trembled and her eyes reddened again. "Because I can't talk to you. I don't want... I don't want to ruin anything, Rachel, so, please, just leave me alone."
And then she turned and pushed herself into the crowd of people, easily hiding from the small brunette she had been talking to before.
"Just breathe, Quinn," she said to herself, straightening her top and holding her binders as close to her body as she could, trying to hide the barely noticeable baby bump that had begun to form on her stomach. "Ignore it. She probably won't come after you, so you don't have to worry."
Quinn veered off suddenly from the crowd, finding herself in the auditorium, staring at the stage. She loved being in the theatre, with the spot lights flashing at you and the whole crowd watching. It was like when she was on the field at cheer practice, but better. When on the stage, she was able to be alone. Just her, just the microphone, just the spot light.
Just her.
Slowly, Quinn walked over to the light board. She remembered learning about how to work one when she was in tech class freshman year. Cautiously, hoping she was reaching for the right switch, she flicked it up, making the spot lights for the stage flash on, but it was only one, right in the center of the stage. She smiled to herself because she actually had turned on the right light, and then moved around the light table, walking down the aisle and to the stage.
A microphone was resting on the floor, probably from when Rachel had been practicing earlier, and when she picked it up, there was quiet feedback and made her cringe slightly. Suddenly Quinn heard footsteps, but then Brad came into the theatre, a confused look on his face. But she just gave him a small smile and he shrugged, going to sit at the piano.
"Could you play 'Trouble With The Truth'?" she said quietly, biting her lip.
He nodded, but said nothing, and began to play the song as Quinn turned around to face the empty audience.
Oh the trouble with the truth
Is it's always the same ol' thing
So hard to forget
So impossible for me to change
Everytime I try to fight it
I know I'll be left to blame
Oh the trouble with the truth
Is it's always the same ol' thing
Quinn looked up at the light that was shining on her, her heart beat seeming to slow as she let the lyrics wash over her live a wave.
And the trouble with the truth
Is it's just what I need to hear
Ringing so right deep down inside my ear
And it's everything I want
And it's everything I fear
Oh the trouble with the truth
Is it's just what I need to hear
It has ruined the taste of the sweetest lies
Burned through my best alibis
Every sin that I deny
Keeps hanging 'round my door
Oh the trouble with the truth
Is it always begs for more
Thats the trouble trouble with the truth
Thats the trouble trouble with the truth
She felt like someone was watching her. Not Brad, obviously, since he was playing the piano, but someone else, in the audience. Someone who she couldn't see. A shadow, like the shadow being help over her, the truth.
And the trouble with the truth
Is it just won't let me rest
I run and hide but there's always another test
And I know that it won't let me be
'Till i've given it my best
The trouble with the truth
Is it just won't let me rest
Thats the trouble trouble with the truth
Thats the trouble trouble with the truth
Thats the trouble trouble with the truth
Thats the trouble trouble with the truth
When Quinn finally fell silent, there was clapping that suddenly filled the auditorium, and Quinn dropped the microphone on the ground, startled. It made a hollow 'thunk' that echoed though the theatre and with that noise, Quinn prayed to God that it wasn't Rachel.
Lifting her arm to shield her eyes, Quinn only saw the silhouette of the person standing at the door. At first, she thought it was Santana or Brittany, but after looking closer, she realized the person was too short to be either of them.
"That was wonderful, Quinn. Really, really beautiful."
The blonde watched as the small brunette walked down the aisle to the edge of the stage. "What are you doing here, RuPaul? I thought I ditched you."
"I wanted to talk to you."
"Sucks for you, then, because you can't."
Rachel walked even closer to Quinn. "You... You said you didn't want to ruin anything. What did you mean by that? Ruin what? And with whom?"
Quinn shook her head. "Ask all the questions you want, Rachel, but I'm not going to tell you anything. You'll have to bother me for years before I tell you a thing."
"I can do that. I have been bothering you since first grade. I'll just keep asking you. And asking and bothering and asking." Quinn just stood there. "Why can you tell me, Quinn? Don't you need someone to talk to?"
She snorted. "Yeah, but not you," she snapped, and Rachel's face fell even more. "Santana would be better than you."
Rachel nodded once. "Fine, Quinn, if you want to be so stuck up about this than fine. I'll just keep asking and asking and asking..." She started walking away. "And asking and asking and asking and asking." Rachel was half way up the aisle now, her hands held innocently behind her back and Quinn knew she was making a mistake. Or, at the very least, she was about to. "And asking and asking and-"
"Wait!"
Rachel stopped in her tracks and spun around. "Yes?" she asking, drawing it out slowly.
Quinn squeezed her eyes shut and let out a quick sigh. "Let's talk, Rachel," she said as she opened her eyes again. "But, promise me, no matter what I say, you won't change anything about what's going on with you and Puckerman."
The brunette's face dropped. "What are you talking about? What's going on with Noah?"
Quinn bit her lip.
~*~
"Please say something," Quinn said, wringing her hands together nervously. "You're making me want to hurl..."
Rachel stared straight ahead. She didn't move, but her eyes were frozen wide, her lips pressed into a tight line. Gripping the arm rests of the chair she was siting in while Quinn while Quinn was next to her, wanting to gauge her eyes out with a spoon. Rachel on the other hand, wanted to set herself on fire. Her body felt like it was going to burst into fire at any moment.
"Please, please say something."
Slowly, Rachel turned her head to look at Quinn. "So, Finn isn't the father of your baby?" she said in monotone, her lips barely moving as she spoke. "And Noah is?" Quinn's forehead creased together, and even though she didn't say anything, Rachel took it as a yes. "And you slept with him while you were still with Finn because you were drunk because you felt fat even though you're the skinniest girl in the school?" Her forehead creased even more. "And you decided to keep the baby, as well as let Noah be the father, because he wanted to?"
Quinn's eyes burned, and her chin began to wobble. "I know, Rachel... I know it sounds really bad," she said, her voice choking every other word as the hot tears began to slide down her cheeks. "And, believe me, I was thinking of you and Puck when I made this decision, but I was also thinking about my daughter. Finn, even though he's such an amazing person and is very caring, doesn't know anything about taking care of a baby... Puck has been raising his little sister since he was ten." Rachel, eyes still wide, nodded slowly. "He would be better for her. I'm just so sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" Rachel said, turning her whole body to face Quinn.
"Because I just don't know what to do now. I shouldn't have told you and now you and Puck are going to be different. I just... It's all so awful, and it's my fault."
Rachel put her hand on Quinn's. "Quinn, the only way things would be different between me and Noah were to be if we decided to make them different," Rachel said, trying to soothe the sobbing teenager in front of her. "Nothing bad will happen between me and Noah, unless we ourselves make them different." The words seemed to roll of Rachel's tongue like nothing involving her boyfriend and a baby had happened. She felt like she was lying to Quinn. Maybe she was.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it's not like Noah cheated on me, is it? No, it's not. You were pregnant before Noah and I were even speaking civilly to each other."
Quinn's lip wobbled. "Yeah, I know, but now I'm letting him be the father and things are going to change between you two because he's going to have to take care of a baby now, and my baby no less, and it's all my fault!" she wailed, crumpling into a ball and sobbing into her hands.
Rachel didn't know what to do. Quinn wasn't her friend. How was she supposed to rightfully comfort this bawling teenager in the right way if she wasn't even her friend? She wasn't supposed to, that's how. This wasn't supposed to happen... None of this was. Her boyfriend wasn't supposed to have a baby with his best friend's girlfriend. Quinn wasn't supposed to be crying her eyes out in the auditorium with a shocked Rachel not knowing how to comfort her. Puck wasn't supposed to have a baby.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Rachel scooted closer to Quinn before wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Rachel held Quinn tightly, stroking her perfectly made ponytail as the blonde shifted and began crying into Rachel's sweater.
"Shh, it's okay, Quinn, it's okay. Just take a few deep breaths, relax... You'll be alright. You can do this."
Quinn shook her head. "I can't. This isn't how it's meant to go. Finn should be the father. Finn should have been the one I first slept with. Finn should be everything to me, just like Puck is everything to you. Now, that's ruined because Puck is the father. And it just shouldn't be like this. I messed everything up, Rachel, and I'm sorry."
Rachel lifted Quinn's chin to make the girl look at her. "Stop saying you're sorry. I don't want to hear it anymore. You're Quinn Fabray, you should never be sorry, especially if all you're sorry for is a mistake. A stupid mistake made on a stupid impulse and the impulse wasn't even your fault—It was Noah's." Quinn's face scrunched up. "He's stupid, Quinn." The blonde let out a small laugh. "I love him but even I can admit that he's really dumb and does really immature things. This being one of them." A sigh escaped Quinn and she looked at Rachel with sad eyes. "You can do this, I promise."
"How do you know?"
"Because you're Quinn. Captain of the Cheerios and one of four lead vocals in glee club. You have all honors classes and practically half the school is friends with you. You can do this... Because you can."
Ah, ah, see what I did there? Ended Puck's scene with Abbey the same exact way as Rachel's scene with Quinn. Hahaha, I know I'm wicked clever.
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P.S. I know that Rachel is really OOC in this chapter, but just go with it. I have a plan.