There was one problem with the plan to go to Shelby that weekend and deliver all the milk, as well as bringing Rachel along for the ride. Rachel was still just fifteen and didn't have a license yet. Quinn didn't have her car. Artie offered to drive but then said he didn't want to complicate the situation with his chair and the second-floor walk-up apartment. (And Quinn felt awful about that again.)

Enter Amy. She'd just come home from college for the summer, with all of her stuff in tow, when Artie cornered her and asked her if she'd drive Quinn and Rachel to Akron. But Amy, being just as generous as her brother and the rest of the Abrams family, immediately said yes without giving it a second thought.

And so bright and early on Saturday morning, they picked Rachel up at her house. Amy gave no indication that she minded spending her first day of summer vacation driving three hours both ways to reunite the pair of mothers and daughters. She made sure that they stopped for coffee on their way out of town. Her treat.

"Oh, I just do a hot chai tea latte with honey to help with my voice," Rachel said, from the backseat, because of course she did. "Thank you, that's so kind of you."

Quinn went with a vanilla latte since that was what Amy got. She needed the pick-me-up, too, because the only thing harder than waking up multiple times a night to pump was doing that and going to school. Just one more week.

"What a small world," Amy remarked, as they pulled onto the highway. "It's crazy that Rachel's biological mother adopted your baby, Quinn."

"I know," Rachel and Quinn said, in unison.

"What's college like, Amy?" Rachel wanted to know. "It feels so far away when you're just a lowly sophomore, enduring slushie facials and humiliating comments on your MySpace page."

"I said I was sorry," Quinn muttered, getting a smile out of Rachel as she caught her eye in the rearview mirror.

"Does anyone still use MySpace?" Amy wondered out loud, as Quinn hid her smirk behind her coffee. "Anyway. College is probably great, if you actually go off on an adventure and leave Ohio. Oh, and join a sorority and go to a bunch of frat parties. I'm too boring for any of that. When I didn't make it as a college cheerleader, I went with my back-up plan, which was to go to Ohio State and major in education."

"Nothing wrong with that plan," Quinn said. "It's been a dream of mine to go to Yale, but if my little pregnancy blunder renders me ineligible to try out for Cheerios and puts a stain on my otherwise untarnished record... I guess Ohio would be fine. I'd be near Beth and Shelby."

"I want to go to NYADA," Rachel said, with a sigh. "But I'm sure they won't even look at me if I don't have any extracurricular activities that highlight my talent. I'll probably wind up an old spinster, working at the library, doing background work in community theatre..."

"Okay, can we talk about something less depressing?" Amy finally said. "Anyway, you two are so young. You still have two years before graduation. I'm sure you'll figure out something. Is glee club for sure a goner?"

"I mean, we've emptied the choir room and they revoked our privileges to the auditorium, too, as of Monday..." Quinn trailed off, catching Amy's eyes and reading her thoughts. "I'd say it's a done deal. I'm really sorry. I know it meant a lot to Artie, too."

"So much for talking about something less depressing," Amy remarked, sighing. "Yeah. It did. And I was happy for him, too. Now he doesn't have glee club and his girlfriend's probably going to dump him this summer."

"Tina's going to break up with Artie?" Rachel seemed to leave the world that revolved around herself long enough to ask about this. "I thought they really liked each other."

"He still likes her," Amy retorted. "But he's pretty sure she likes Mike Chang. I don't see their relationship surviving when Mike and Tina go off to work at this camp all summer and Artie..."

Quinn noticed how Amy didn't finish that thought, but Rachel didn't. After exchanging the briefest of glances with Quinn, Amy quickly changed the subject.

"Do you both want some music?" she asked. "I have the soundtrack to 'Wicked' in my CD player. That's usually my go-to for the drive to and from school."

And that was how Quinn and Rachel ended up doing an impromptu duet in the car to 'For Good,' from 'Wicked,' with Rachel naturally taking the Elphaba parts and Quinn singing all of Glinda's. Even Quinn had to admit, they sounded good together, and it was kind of a shame they'd never gotten to explore this musical chemistry during their short stint as glee clubbers.

"Brava, ladies," Amy complimented them, when they had finished. "I'm sorry, for all our sakes, that you never got to perform that. Maybe Mr. Schuester would be allowed to sponsor a school musical or something, and you could do 'Wicked.' Artie's always been interested in directing."

School musical? Quinn cast a doubtful look at Rachel's hopeful face in the backseat. If Sue could convince Figgins to shut down the glee club, she surely would also make sure that there wasn't another alternative, because that was just how evil she was.

"He could probably overlook the ableist undertones of 'Wicked,' given its current popularity with the public," Amy went on.

"Ableist?" Quinn had never heard this term, though she could use context to figure out what Amy meant.

"Yeah," Amy said, emphatically. "Do I have to point it out? The whole Nessarose storyline, where she needs a cure to feel any sort of self worth? That's extremely ableist. Did you not know that was a thing?"

"Well, I mean, racism is a thing," Rachel reasoned. "And homophobia is most definitely a thing. I suppose ableism... is that how you said it? Could be..."

"Most definitely is," Amy corrected her, coolly. "A thing. I'm sure it'll be a few more years before the mainstream media takes note."

Quinn had to admire that fierce protectiveness in Amy, when it came to her brother. Amy didn't say any more about the topic, merely turning the music back up after she'd made her point.

Quinn's thoughts turned back to Beth. Her chest was beginning to throb now, as it was once again past the time that she ought to have started pumping. Keeping up with this was as mentally draining as it was (literally) physically draining. Quinn was beginning to stretch it out to three hours between pump sessions now, and four hours at night. It had been an accident at first, but her body adjusted, and she still made plenty of milk. That alone was a blessing, as she'd read about women who didn't respond to a pump. The consensus online was that exclusive pumping was hard for everyone, given the extra work involved that simply wasn't a factor when it came to regular old breastfeeding.

Quinn supposed there was always formula, but she still wanted to do this. She still wanted to be needed somehow. She couldn't explain why, but the feelings were intense. And if she didn't have that, she'd be left with a flabby stomach and a feeling of complete and utter loss.

When they arrived at the apartment complex, the first thing Quinn saw was Shelby sitting out on the porch, giving Beth a bottle and enjoying the sunlight.

"Hi, come on up!" she greeted them, calling down to them as they climbed out of Amy's car. "Beth and I have been so excited for your visit today!"

The three girls headed up the stairs, but it was difficult for Amy and Rachel, who shared the task of carrying the enormous cooler full of frozen milk in baggies. Quinn couldn't help them just yet, as she was not supposed to lift anything or strain herself in any way.

Shelby went back into the apartment and then greeted them at the front door as they came in, stepping aside to allow them entry, her eyes widening when she saw the cooler. "Is that all milk?" she wanted to know.

"Yup." Quinn beamed proudly, as she leaned over to kiss Beth's little forehead and take in her wonderful smell. "And um, I'd better go pump right now before I explode. Can I use your room?"

"Of course, go right ahead," Shelby said. She embraced Rachel and then Quinn heard Amy introducing herself, but she couldn't hang back another minute. She hurried back to the bedroom to hook herself up to her pump for the what felt like the thousandth time.

Shelby's room was much messier than the last time Quinn had been there. Her bed was unmade. Clean laundry — both hers and the baby's — covered the top of the dresser. Somehow the laundry basket still overflowed with dirty clothes, towels, and burp rags. And a few empty bottles, more burp rags, and coffee mugs littered the bedside tables. All in all, it was a clear picture of how exhausting motherhood could be, especially when caring for a newborn.

After she'd produced four full bottles of milk for Beth, she returned to find them filling the freezer. As they did so, Quinn spotted something on the now-cluttered kitchen countertop that made her scowl. "Is that formula?"

Shelby looked nervously from the can to Quinn. "Just the kind that's meant to supplement your milk," she said, quickly. "I wasn't sure if you'd left enough for the week, plus the pediatrician was a little concerned about her weight at the last appointment. She's on the smaller side, so we needed to just make sure she was getting enough calories."

"Oh." Quinn didn't know why that made her feel inadequate, but it did and it was a feeling she couldn't quite shake as she looked at Beth, who was currently being cradled by Amy while Rachel and Shelby loaded up the freezer. There was plenty of milk now.

"Do you want to hold her?" Amy said, quickly, and Quinn didn't hesitate to reach for her daughter. Shelby's daughter.

And then, a sort of embarrassing thing happened. Her eyes welled up immediately, and she was unaware of how truly difficult the week had been until this moment, when it all became too much to see her and smell her and bring Shelby her week-long efforts in a giant cooler. As tears spilled over her cheeks, Quinn felt their eyes on her as they turned and fell silent.

"I'm sorry," she said, quickly. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad, Sh-Shelby. I promise I'm not. It's just... been a long week."

"I understand completely." And Shelby looked at Rachel, who had just closed the freezer in time to notice, locking eyes with her biological mother and giving a small nod in return.

"I missed you more than I knew," Quinn said to Beth this time, as she touched her tiny fingers and memorized the feeling of her soft skin once more. She tried to hold back any more tears, feeling like Shelby's patience and understanding might run out if she didn't get this under control.

"Let's sit down," Shelby suggested. "Would anyone like something to drink? Quinn, I made some of that iced raspberry leaf tea you used to drink when you were here..."

"Yes, thank you," Quinn said, as she carried Beth to the couch and took a seat, with Rachel and Amy sitting on either side of her to admire the infant. When Shelby came over to bring the tea, Quinn handed Beth back to her, still working hard to maintain her composure.

"Well, maybe you'd like to live here again, after school is out for the summer?" Shelby suggested, and Quinn couldn't decide if she honestly wanted her to take her up on that offer.

Even so... "No, thank you but I don't think that's a good idea," Quinn said, taking a shaky sip of the tea. "I, um, I'm afraid it would make it even harder for me to return in the fall..."

"I didn't think of that," Shelby admitted.

But then Quinn looked at Amy and remembered Artie's upcoming surgery.

"Although maybe... I could just come for a week or so?" she suggested, thinking that her real purpose for going would be to get out of the Abrams family's way for a minute, right around the time Artie came home from the hospital.

"I'd be happy to host you for a week," Shelby said, looking genuinely cheerful at the prospect. Then she turned to Rachel. "And that goes for you, too, Rachel. These short visits are nice but don't really allow us much time to get to know each other."

"No, they don't." Rachel was beaming now, and though Quinn didn't much want to share her visit, not to mention the small spare bedroom, she supposed she'd have to settle for doing just that.

"Sorry, you've probably noticed the place is a mess," Shelby said, with a light laugh. "It really bugs me. I'm not normally like this, but well, this is how time consuming a baby really is."

If she was saying this to remind Quinn why she couldn't have handled motherhood and high school, well, message received. But instead of just agreeing with her, now she was beginning to feel resentful. And for the first time, she regretted the choice she'd made.

She stared hard at Beth's beautiful, perfect face. She was awake now, and more alert than Quinn had ever seen her. I'm so sorry, baby girl, she thought. I'm so sorry for giving you up.

The day was dedicated to just hanging around the apartment and ordering in food, as Shelby and Rachel took care of almost sixteen years worth of catching up. Quinn mostly payed attention to Beth and held her nearly the entire time they were there. Amy was a good sport about being there, chiming in conversations when she could and mostly paying attention to Beth, too.

When it was time to go, Amy proved that she was every bit as perceptive as her brother. She gave Quinn a quick hug around the shoulders but said nothing until they were in the car and about to drive off. As Quinn stared out the window, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to find Amy's kind blue eyes staring back at her, filled with concern.

"This couldn't have been easy for you," she said. "I'm really sorry, Quinn. You did give Shelby a beautiful, beautiful gift, you know."

"Just like Shelby gave my dads," Rachel added, and for once, Quinn didn't mind that Rachel had made it about herself. She knew that it was the other girl's way of relating and, in a weird way, it didn't bother her so much anymore.

"The only difference being, she chose that from the start," Quinn said, with a sniffle. "I never would have been that generous, not if I didn't have to do it. I'm not like Shelby. And Beth might not be like you, Rachel. She might not be so forgiving one day."

"There will always be a place in my life for Shelby," Rachel went on. "Just like there will always be a place in Beth's life for you."

...

After a tumultuous and confusing weekend, Quinn was actually grateful for the last week of school, to give her some sort of routine as a distraction from missing Beth.

At the end of the day on Monday, Principal Figgins made a couple of announcements. First, he asked for the graffiti artists in the bathroom to stop making antisemitic statements, to keep McKinley High off the news. And secondly, he asked if the members of the New Directions could please assemble in the choir room.

"Why did he even refer to it as the choir room?" Tina wondered out loud, as they filed inside after school. "I thought it was Couch Sylvester's new trophy room."

But they were greeted instead by the choir room, looking exactly as it had before last week, when they'd all spent several hours dismantling everything and finding new homes for the furniture and the piano. Now their piano was back in place, complete with Brad faithfully perched behind it, and their maroon chairs were back on the risers. A general murmur of confusion was heard as Mr. Schuester triumphantly entered the room.

"We've got another year!" he exclaimed.

"What?"

"Come on, we got another year!"

"Oh, my god, are you serious?!" Rachel screamed, as everyone jumped out of their seats and began hugging and exchanging high fives. Artie stayed in his seat, naturally, but he covered his mouth with his hands and looked around at everyone, wide-eyed, until Mercedes remembered him and hugged him, too.

Rachel ran up to the front of the room to embrace Mr. Schue, then turned to address the others. "Okay, you guys, I think this is the perfect opportunity for us to start rehearsing for next year's Sectionals immediately…"

But Mr. Schuester held up a hand to stop her.

"Guys, you've all worked really hard this year," he told them. "And you deserve a break."

"But I have ideas," Rachel countered.

"Take the summer off," their teacher insisted. "Have some fun. Oh, but before you go, I have something for you. You all sang for me the other day, so today I'd like to return the favor. Puck, if you're ready."

'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' was the song they'd picked for the final serenade of the year, with Puck on guitar and Mr. Schue on ukelele. Mr. Schue must have tipped Puck off, in order to practice this at some point, but Puck had done an excellent job of keeping the secret under wraps that day.

Quinn reached across Kurt to grab hands with Mercedes. Rachel leaned against Finn, who cast a fleeting glance back at Quinn. Puck made a point to catch her eye, too. Matt and Mike exchanged a quick fist bump. Santana and Brittany hooked pinkies and put their heads together. Artie grabbed Tina's hand, and Quinn took note of the slightest hesitation on Tina's part.

But for today, as the song said, their troubles would melt away like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops.

That's where you'll fi-iind me."