Well, well! :) We are moving along, aren't we? Kind of. Not sure, actually… Okay, moving along.

Also, this chapter goes out to SuzQQ, who inspired Puck's words with Quinn! Thank you for the help! :)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Skin

"This isn't working," Abbegail said, flopping down onto the hardwood floor of the Puckerman's basement ballet studio.

Rachel sat down on the bench to the piano and took a sip of water, her breathing heavy and tired. "Well, I think that the dance is beautiful and the song is perfect."

"But, it isn't working!" Abbey let her legs fall until she was splayed out on the ground like a star. "I'm just not feeling it."

"Maybe we need to take a break."

Abbey stood up and dusted herself off. "No, no, we can try this again. Just one more time. I'll get it, I promise."

Rachel started the music again for the one hundredth time that hour and Abbey took her position in the middle of the dance floor. As the other girl started to sing, Abbey swept her feet and moved her arms to the beat of the music, doing each dance step as perfectly and as carefully as she had selected them. Rachel wasn't even at the chorus of the song yet before Abbey stopped mid-pirouette and stormed across the floor to turn off the music.

She turned around, her hands balled into fists by her sides and let out an extremely frustrated yell, throwing an empty water bottle across the room at a mirror opposite her. "God damn it all to hell! I give up! I'm not doing it anymore!" she shouted, kicking random pieces of furniture that lay about the room.

Rachel ran a hand through her hair. "You shouldn't just give up, Abbey. This is something that you want to do, you should try as hard as you can, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I- I'm just, like-" She let out a small whine before letting herself fall into a purple beanbag chair. "It's not working."

The door to the basement opened. "Ladies?" Puck called down the stairs. "Lunch is ready."

"Perfect timing," Rachel said to him as she climbed the stairs. "I think Abbey is about to break down. She says it's not working."

The three of them sat down at the kitchen table, digging into the grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup Puck had prepared. They were quiet for a little while and one could nearly hear the anger in Abbegail's chewing.

"What's wrong, Abbs?" Puck said, taking a sip of water.

The thirteen-year-old sighed and stirred her soup. "It's the dance. It doesn't feel like it's working for me, I don't know." Puck raised his eyebrows. "Rachel is singing the song perfectly and I have the dance steps memorized and they are all done to a 'T', but, it just doesn't feel like… Me. If that makes sense. It's not right."

"What isn't right exactly, Abbey?" Rachel said, dipping a corner to her grilled cheese into the soup before taking a bite.

"Everything about it… Sort of." The two of them looked at her. "Well, not everything. Your singing is perfect, the choreographing is perfect, the dancing is perfect, everything is perfect, except for me."

Puck arched one eyebrow at her. "What about you?"

"It doesn't feel like something I should be dancing for my solo for my last performance at Kristen Ballet Academy and for their last performance until next year… Nothing feels right. This is something on my list, but to me, it feels like the only thing that's not going to happen because I can't get it right."

Puck thought for a long time. He knew that this dance meant a lot to his sister. She had never spent so much time working on choreographing a dance as she had with this. She hadn't been so into anything in her life before as she was with this and he knew that this entire thing, the song, the dance, the everything, would mean more than the world to her if she could just get it right.

"I think you just need to find something that works with you," he said suddenly, looking thoughtfully at his sister. "Maybe you like the song and maybe you like the dance you put together, but is it really something that's coming out of you?" Puck asked as his little sister kicked her feet back and forth. "Dance is an art, right? And art is supposed to be about feeling and emotion that comes from the depths of your soul or some shit like that. Does this song represent everything you want with life? Does the dance come from your heart or are you just trying to make yourself look like the experienced dancer you are? Because if it's not, then you need to do something about it. You need to find something that comes completely from you."

Abbey looked at him in terror. "You mean… Find a new song and choreograph an entirely new dance and have everything done and new by tonight? Because, you do know that the performance is tonight, right?"

Puck nodded. "Yeah, I know. You've been practicing with Rachel for, like, two straight days."

Abbegail looked at him. "So, do you realize how much work I would have to do to be able to start again from scratch and have it be perfect in less than ten hours?"

"There's your problem. You're trying to make it perfect, Abbegail. Don't make it that way. Make it from you."

Abbey thought about that for a while. She knew her brother was right and she knew what she had to do, she just didn't believe she could do it. Abbey had put aside an entire week of her life to choreograph the dance she had worked hard to memorize. She did want the performance to be perfect, but she also wanted it to be from her, and not perfection.

"Okay," she said after a while. "I'll do it. I'll start from scratch and do it all over again."

Rachel and Puck smiled. "Good," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"I've even got a song already. I'm going to need some help, though." Rachel nodded and was about to get up to help her, but Abbegail shook her head. "Not you. Yet." The brunette laughed as her friend stood up from the table. "I need to call Jeremy."

Puck frowned. "What has Johnny got to do with this? He doesn't dance… Does he?"

"No, he doesn't, but he can help."

"How?"

Abbey stood up from the table and picked up her phone, dialing her boyfriends number. "You'll see. If you come to the show tonight, you'll see."
~*~

"I'm nervous…"

"You'll be fine," Jeremy and Rachel said at the same time, looking at the ballerina.

She was dressed in a white leotard, white tights, a red ballet skirt wrap and red Pointe shoes. Her hair was done in a low bun that Rachel had done and it had a white flower pinned on the side. Her eyes were lined with thick make-up and her lips were so red they matched her ballet shoes.

"I don't know about this. Maybe it was a bad idea to start over."

Jeremy, who was wearing black pants, black dress shoes and a white button down, put his hands on her arms and rubbed them a few times. "It wasn't. It was a good idea." Abbey closed her eyes. "Just take a few deep breaths and relax. You're going to be amazing."

Rachel smoothed her hands over her blue dress a few times. "I have faith in you, Abbey. I've seen what you can do, and I know you're going to be brilliant."

"And, now, for our final performance, we would like to welcome Rachel Berry onto the stage. She will be singing live for our last performance."

People clapped as Rachel walked on, her red high heels clicking on the dance floor as she made her way to the microphone set up near the stairs that led onto the stage.

"And last, but most certainly not least, here is Abbegail Puckerman, our most talented dancer, to do her very own, self-choreographed dance, her last dance here at Kristen Ballet Academy."

The people in the audience started to clap and Abbey could hear Puck whistling loudly and cheering with the rest of his family. She felt a small smile form on her face before she took a deep breath, turned around, and waited for the music to start.

Sara Beth is scared to death
To hear what the doctor will say
She hasn't been well, since the day that she fell
And the bruise it just won't go away

So she sits and she waits with her mother and dad
And flips through an old magazine
Till the nurse with the smile stands at the door
And says, will you please come with me?

Abbey took deep breaths as she spun across the stage, closing her eyes and letting the music wash over her. She didn't open her eyes because she didn't want to see the stage, or where she was going. She didn't need to see.

Sara Beth is scared to death
Cause the doctor just told her the news
Between the red cells and white, something's not right
But we're gonna take care of you

Six chances in ten, it won't come back again
With the therapy we're gonna try
It's just been approved, it's the strongest there is
And I think we caught it in time
And Sara Beth closes her eyes

She rolled her body back and for a split second, she opened her eyes to look up at the ceiling. Even the people in the catwalk above her were watching the show. She felt tears spring to her eyes.

Sara Beth is scared to death
As she sits holding her mom
Cause it would be a mistake for someone to take
A girl with no hair to the prom

For just this morning, right there on her pillow
Was the cruelest of any surprise
And she cried when she gathered it all in her hands
The proof that she couldn't deny
And Sara Beth closes her eyes

Abbey spun and leapt across the stage, hearing cheers from the audience that made more tears spring to her eyes. She kept them closed. It was at this moment that she really knew that Puck was talking about when he said to find a song from the depths of your sole. A song and a dance that could make you cry while you were performing, something that meant more to you than just perfection.

And she dreams she's dancing
Around and around without any cares
And her very first love was holding her close
And a soft wind is blowing her hair

It's quarter to seven, that boy's at the door
And her daddy ushers him in
And when he takes off his cap
They all start to cry
Cause this morning where his hair had been
Softly she touches just skin

After a round of nine pirouettes, Abbey ran across the stage gracefully to the curtain, where Jeremy was waiting. She held her hand out to him and brought him onto the stage, where the two of them began waltzing. He spun her out and when he spun her back in, she wrapped her arms around him. She could feel Jeremy smile into her neck.

And they go dancing
Around and around without any cares
And her very first true love is holding her close
And for a moment she isn't scared

He spun her out two more times and when she was brought in the last time, she stood up on her pointe shoes and pressed her lips to his quickly, but deeply. Rachel vocalized softly as the two younger teenagers bowed and scurried off stage, their arms wrapped around each other. The audience erupted into cheers that made the tears from Abbey's eyes finally fall. Rachel got a round of applause as well before exiting the way Abbey and Jeremy had. When she did, she threw her arms around the two of them in a mini-group hug.

"Abbey, that was absolutely astounding," she said, kissing Abbegail's temple quickly.

Suddenly, the announcer and runner of the ballet academy, Mrs. Barker, walked out onto the stage and took the microphone. When she spoke, you could tell she had been crying. "Well, I think we can all say that that was an absolutely wonderful performance." The crowd cheered again. "Let's have Abbegail come on out here for another applause!"

Slowly, Abbey walked out onto the stage, holding her hands delicately behind her as she walked to the elderly woman. Mrs. Barker hugged her and smiled, handing Abbey a giant bouquet of red and white roses. When the teenager had control of them, she handed her the microphone as well.

Abbey held it for a moment, then cleared her throat. "Ahem…" People in the crowd quieted. "Wow… This is- This is beyond amazing. I never thought that this moment would be so life changing for me. It means so much that you all could be here to watch me in my last performance, especially since I won't be coming back next year. My leukemia is, um, finally taking control, so that means no more dancing, but it's been an amazing experience while it lasted. I've learned so much about life, I've made so many friends, and-" Her voice choked. "-and it makes me feel like the cancer has gone away to know that I was able to be a apart of Kristen Ballet Academy history."

She looked into the audience and saw Puck. She could have sworn he was crying. "I love every single one of the girls here, and they are just as much a family to me as my big brother is, who I love every much." She saw him smile. "But, um, I'd just like to say, thank you. Thanks to Rachel and Jeremy for making this performance possible, thanks to Mrs. Barker for teaching me dance ever since I was out of diapers, and thanks to you all for believing in me, and for keeping me this strong for as long as you did."

The audience started cheering again. Abbey couldn't help the tears that were rolling down her cheeks and she handed the microphone back to Mrs. Barker. They hugged again and then Abbey was allowed to leave the stage, smiling through the tears she was crying.

Jeremy was gone, but Rachel handed her a tissue and cupped Abbey's jaw in her hands. "You're beautiful, you're strong, and you've got so many people who believe in you." She hugged Abbey tightly. "I love you."
~*~

After the recital had ended, Puck was standing outside the auditorium in the lobby, holding his coat, Abbey's coat and Rachel's in either hand as he waited for his sister and girlfriend to come meet him. Two bouquets of flowers was on the floor beside him, put together especially for Abbey and Rachel. He'd gotten Rachel plain white roses, but in the middle of each flower, Puck had placed a gold star pin. Abbegail's were roses that had, somehow, been set to bloom in multicolor, the most Abbegail-esque bouquet of flowers he could find. He was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, whistling the tune to the song Abbey had danced to.

He had almost started dancing—he was so bored of waiting—when Abbey came hurdling out from the dressing room, red Converse on her feet in place of her pointe shoes, still dressed in the rest of her ballet get up from the performance. She practically threw herself onto him and he caught her in a hug after she had dropped her bouquet from Mrs. Barker on the floor gently.

"Hey, beautiful!" he said, spinning her around a few times as they laughed. "That was amazing! You did so well, Abbegail!"

She giggled as he set her down on the floor. "I know! I mean, thank you!" she squealed, hugging him again. "It felt so amazing. I loved it. You were right! It was unbelievable!"

"I knew you could to it!" he said, spinning her around again, his hands gripping her rid cage. "Fucking blew my mind!" He set her down on the floor and helped her into her coat before bending down and picking up both Mrs. Barker's bouquet and the one he had gotten her. "Here you go," he said, handing her one, "and, these…" He produced the flowers to her. "…Are for you, Abbey!"

Abbey laughed, clapping her hands together and taking the multicolored flowers into her arms just as Rachel came walking out from back stage as well, adjusting her headband and jewelry. She was smiling widely when she reached Puck and he wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off the ground and kissed her deeply.

"You sounded great, Rach," he said, kissing her again, more passionately this time.

"Ew!" Abbegail said, slapping her hand over her eyes. "Don't do that while I'm around. It's gross."

Puck and Rachel smirked at each other then kissed again, Rachel's foot lifting into the air. "Thank you," she finally said in response to his compliment when they pulled apart. "It was definitely my best performance considering I had only learned the song a couple hours in advance."

He grinned, kissed her cheek and set her down on the floor. "Could have fooled me," he said with a smile as he handed her the white roses with stars placed in the middle.

Rachel gasped and took the flowers from him. "Noah, they're beautiful!" She cradled them in one arm as she wrapped the other around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you so much!"

"No biggie."

They kissed again, causing Abbey to exclaim disgustedly just before Jeremy came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders in a hug. "Hey, you were great!"

Abbey turned around and smiled when she saw her boyfriend. She stood up on her toes to kiss him. Puck, cried in disgust the same way she had. "Ew! Don't do that while I'm around! It's gross," he said, mocking her tone from before. Abbey pulled away from Jeremy to stick her tongue out at Puck. "Oh, you can dish it, but you can't take it, huh?"

His little sister just rolled her eyes. "I loved it, Bumble Bee," Jeremy said, touching his nose to hers quickly. "It was really beautiful." Abbey smiled and rested her forehead against his. "Did you ask your brother?"

"Oh, right…" Abbey turned to look at Puck, who was currently talking with Rachel, their faces only inches apart. "Puck?" He looked up at her. "Jeremy wants me to come with him to Grandview."

Puck nodded his head once and looked at Jeremy. "Chemo?" Jeremy ran a hand through his curly brown hair and nodded once.

"Yeah, I switched back to Grandview a month and a half ago."

"Oh, yeah, Abbey told me…"

Jeremy let out a sigh. "They wanted to start me as soon as possible but there were a lot of tests. Today's my first day back on the medicine."

"Oh, good luck, man." Puck held his hand out to him and they did the ridiculous upturned handshake that boys do. "Sure, you can go," he said to Abbey, who squealed. "But, only for company purposes. I don't want any shenanigans or anything. If I get a call from anyone at that hospital saying there has been a teenage girl who looks a lot like you running around the halls, we're back to grounding, understand?"

Abbey saluted him before wrapping her arm around Jeremy's. "Deal." She hugged Puck and Rachel. "Thank you so much for helping me with this, Rachel. It means a lot. You really were wonderful."

Rachel laughed once. "You were, too. And you're welcome. I'd do it again any day."

They smiled at each other before Jeremy and Abbegail went out to the parking lot, where his parents were waiting. Puck helped Rachel into her coat and slipped on his own before they walked out to the parking lot as well, climbing into Puck's shiny new truck that he was more than thrilled to be driving. They pulled out and headed toward Puck's house as Rachel turned to him.

"Jeremy has cancer, too?"

"Yeah, leukemia, like Abbey. They met at Grandview when Abbey was about seven. He was nine or so. They were in chemo together. Became instant friends. It wasn't until Abbey turned twelve that they started, like, getting slightly involved."

Rachel's eyebrows shot up. "Getting involved?"

Puck laughed once. "Well, not involved involved, but it was obvious they liked each other in that way and everything. It was kind of cute, actually, I guess, if you're into that whole, we grew up together, suffered through leukemia together and then fell in love kind of thing. Which I'm not." She smiled. "But, they started dating when she turned thirteen last year. Julio's cancer never went away, when Abbey's did and she stuck with him a lot. They might as well be married."

"That's nice," Rachel said, looking out the window before her eyes flashed to the bouquet in her lap. "Thank you for my flowers."

He shrugged. "It was no problem. Figured you deserved the best. This was the best I could do." They fell into silence. Puck was halfway to his house when his hit his hand on the steering wheel. "Oh, damn… I forgot."

Rachel looked up from the flowers she was still admiring to stare at him. "Forgot what? Do we need to turn around?"

He shook his head. "Naw, that's not it. I wanted to go talk to Quinn," he said, still shaking his head. "I wanted to talk to her about the little-"

"Spat that the two of you had?" He looked at her with one raised eyebrow. "I could hear you guys from upstairs that morning. You were shouting so loud, I woke up. Heard the whole thing."

Puck frowned. "Oh… Well, I wanted to talk to her about it."

Rachel nodded her head. "I think that's a good idea. You need to straighten things out between the two of you."

"You wouldn't mind if I stopped at Finn's house? You could take the truck back to my house to get your car."

"How would you get home?"

Puck shrugged. "I could walk."

Rachel gaped at him as if that were an appalling idea. "No, you won't be walking home in this weather! I can drive the truck back to your house, pick up my car and you can call me when you're done talking with Quinn."

Puck was already pulling into Finn's driveway. He was glad that Finn's car wasn't there. "You sure?"

He turned to look at Rachel, who nodded. "Yeah, of course. That will give us some time to talk about what you and Quinn discussed, if you want to, of course."

Puck looked uneasy, but nodded, smiled and climbed out of the car as Rachel slid over to the driver's seat. "Don't crash my new truck," he said before kissing her and shutting the door.

He took a deep breath and waited until Rachel had pulled out of the driveway before walking up the walk way and ringing the doorbell once. He waited for a few seconds before it flung open. Quinn was standing there, looking quite disheveled in wrinkly pajamas, a messy bun that was falling out and puffy, red eyes. Puck knew she had been crying. She didn't even have to say anything. Quinn just stood to the side and opened the door enough for him to walk in before slamming it shut behind him.
~*~

"What are you doing here?" Quinn sniffled when Puck settled himself in the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink? Water, juice, tea, something?"

Puck thought she sounded like she had a cold, even though it was more than obvious she had been crying for at least a couple hours straight. "I'll make it," he said, getting up from his seat at the kitchen table as he started bustling around for the ingredients for tea.

Quinn hopped up onto the counter, crossing her legs like a first grader and nearly making her entire body disappear into the giant sweatshirt she was wearing. "What are you doing here?" she asked again, blowing her nose into a paper towel.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said, filling the electric kettle with water. "Do you want some?" She nodded and he put more water in. "About the fight we had on Friday morning after thanksgiving…"

She sniffled. "Oh, that," she said through her nose. "Yeah, I remember that."

Puck pulled two big mugs from the cabinet. "You still upset about it? Is that what you're crying about?"

"That, among other things." Puck waited for her to continue. "Finn and I had a fight because I wouldn't tell him why I was upset because I couldn't tell him why I was upset."

Puck leaned against the counter. "Well, you could tell him, you just won't."

Quinn ignored his comment and continued. "And, I think that I'm just overly hormonal."

The kettle started to whistle and Puck poured the boiling water into the mugs, finished the tea and handing her one. "Yeah, babies, man. They're a pain in the ass."

"That's not what I meant, Puck…" He shrugged, blowing on his tea and taking a sip. Quinn pinched the mug between her legs and stirred it with a spoon for about five minutes. "What exactly did you want to talk to me about?"

"What you said to my mom, and what I said to you." Quinn bit her lip. "I'm going to be honest with you, Quinn. I don't think I need to be, since honesty can only help us at this point. We need to be honest with each other in this whole shindig, otherwise it'll just be a waste of both of our times and the baby will grow up to be just as screwed up as we are. Do you agree?" She nodded once, but kept silent. "So, I'm not going to say sorry. I'm not going to take back anything I said. I'm not going to say that I was right about everything, but I'm not going to say that I was wrong either. We know that both of us were right and wrong about what happened.

"I must sound like a really big jerk right now, and I don't care that I am because if we're gonna do this, then we have to do whatever it takes to make it work. So, here goes…"

Puck took a deep breath and set his tea down on the kitchen table before turning to face her again. "Quinn, I think you're being really selfish." Her jaw dropped slightly. "Especially since you just up and told both Rachel and my mother without my permission. I don't understand how you would think that was okay."

"It wasn't. Puck, I just want to-"

"I'm not finished." She shrank back into her sweatshirt. "You're selfish about everything. You won't tell Finn, you randomly told my girlfriend and mother, and you just decided to keep the baby all by yourself. I love her, I do. Quinn, I love that baby with all my heart and I haven't even met her yet, but you're lucky I'm taking care of her, and you're taking that for granted. I told you I would help out and that I would do everything I can to take care of her, but you don't even talk to me about it. Out of the blue, you just decide, 'Hey, I'm gonna keep the baby', and you think that everyone is just going to go along with it?

"What if that didn't work for me? What if I didn't want to take care of her? My life is with Rachel and loving her, I shouldn't have to be tied down to helping out you and the baby. What would you have done if I didn't want her? Would you have raised it with Finn and not told him that the little girl that he takes care of every day and pays for and loves isn't even his? Or would you have given her up for adoption?

"Honestly, Quinn, Jesus! Just because you're having a hard time right now because you're a teenager and you could have had a whole life ahead of you that now can't happen because of your daughter, doesn't mean that you can just make decisions on your own. I'm the baby's father and you have to talk with me about this stuff.

"You don't want to tell Finn because you're waiting for the right time, right? Well, did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted to do that same thing with my mom and Rachel? How is that fair to me. These things take time and you're just rushing into all the things that don't effect you.

"You're selfish."

When Puck finally took a breath and quieted down, Quinn looked at her tea, which she had still been stirring. "You're being really mean," she said in a quiet voice, once that Puck could barely hear.

He shook his head. "I'm just being honest, Quinn." She bit her lip. "Just think about what I said for a minute."

"I don't have to. You're right. I know you are… You're mean, but you're right. I'm really sorry about everything I did, Puck. It wasn't fair and I- I wasn't crying because you hurt my feelings. Well, I was, but that's not the point. At first, I was. But, then, after a while of thinking, I wasn't. I was being selfish and self-centered and I'm sorry. I didn't want to be that way with the baby."

Puck took a sip of his tea, which had gone cold. "… Really?" he said in a slightly disbelieving tone.

She nodded. "Really." Quinn took a deep breath and rested her head against the cabinet behind her. "I'm going to try to do things differently. I'll talk with you before I make any decisions at all. I'll even tell Finn if you want me to. Things are going to change with you, me and the baby, if you still want to be involved with her. I won't stop you if you don't want to because you don't want to deal with me anymore."

"Whoa, Quinn, hang on. I'm still in this, no matter what," he said, stepping toward her and taking her hand. "I'm angry for what you did, and I do agree with you when you say things need to change, but I'm in this with you."

They were silent for a long time. "I don't expect you to forgive me…"

He locked eyes with hers. "I will… eventually. Just make sure that you don't act like a selfish bitch and I won't have a reason to not forgive you."

"Don't act like such a pigheaded ass and I won't have a reason to act like a selfish bitch."

Puck smiled and held his hand out to her. "I think we have a deal, then."

She shook his hand with a tearful grin. "I think we do." Puck nodded and poured his cold tea down the sink. "Now, go home. Be with Rachel, like you're supposed to be."

"I'm gonna be with both of you."

Quinn nodded, but grabbed his hand. "You should talk to her about the baby, Puck… I think it's kind of a sensitive subject with her."

"And that's why I'm waiting to talk. I'll talk baby-talk when I'm ready."

She rolled her eyes and let go of his hand, scoffing. "Yeah, right… I forgot. You like to wait until you're ready to talk about her…"

"See, now you're acting like a selfish bitch again."

Quinn slowly looked at him, her eyes narrowed, but a smile formed on her face. "Shut up, Puckerman."

So, this chapter is very OCC on Puck and Quinn's parts, I think, but I didn't know how else to handle it than to get a little out there. I'm trying to make you guys like her! Jeez, like, no one likes Quinn. Everyone's all, I HOPE THE GIVES THE BABY UP FOR ADOPTION! LALALA! But, she's not. Learn to like her, guys. Quinn is here to stay.

Once again, thank you to SuzQQ for the inspiration! :) Outfits for this chapter will be on my website, as well as the URL for Abbey's ballet dance, if you want to be able to see the real thing! :) I didn't make up the dance, it's something that I found, so, if the person who did the dance magically is reading this fanfiction, no copyright intended or anything. Not my dance, it's hers!

Hope you liked it and REVIEW!