Quinn's POV
I tie Beth's little pink bow around her middle as Santana zips up her dress. I turn her around and take a look at her, she wears the cute little pink flower girl dress that Rachel picked out when she asked if Beth would be the flower girl in her's and Finn's wedding. "Thank you for the help"
"Yeah, no problem" Santana smiles at me and then stands up, she is wearing the same pink dress I am wearing as one of the bridesmaids for Rachel. I take Beth into my lap and start to fix her hair. "Has everything been going okay?" While me and Santana have had our differences in the past, especially when it came to my pregnancy but I know that she has seen me raising my daughter and I can tell she has found some new respect for me.
"Yeah, things have been really good" Ever since meeting with our social worker we have kinda gotten into the role of dating, things aren't super official but we are already raising our daughter together so we are more official than most people who are dating already. "Things with Puck have been good too, he's really stepped up"
"I wouldn't have thought that Puck would be the father type, I mean obviously he can get people knocked up but I didn't think he could really step up when the time came"
"I'll admit I was surprised too but he's really been such a great father to Beth"
"Well, I'm really happy for you two" She gives me a sincere smile and I know that the two of us can put our past behind us, I mean me and Rachel did, I mean now I am a bridesmaid at her wedding to her soulmate. I finish Beth's hair and pick her up as Rachel walks in in her beautiful white wedding dress. Mercedes and Tina and Brittany follow Santana as they crowd around Rachel to admire her dress, her hair is curled and done up with a few strands falling in front of her face. I pick up her boutique of flowers and hand them to Rachel.
"You look really beautiful"
"Thank you Quinn, and Beth looks adorable in that flower girl's dress"
"Beth, tell aunt Rachel how pretty she looks" Beth just smiles and claps her hands.
"Are you ready to walk down the isle Rach?" Santana starts passing out everyone's flowers and I set Beth down and give her the basket full of flower petals. Rachel's dad's come in and get ready to walk her down the isle, we all line up and it starts with Tina walking down, followed by Mercedes, and then Brittany and Santana. I tell Beth she needs to walk behind me and I start my way down the isle. I see Puck standing next to Finn as his best man and I can't help but think about the last time Finn and Rachel were going to get married, it was canceled after my car accident. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, I was lucky to get out of it alive, and eventually walk again. I get to the end of the isle and watch as Beth makes her way down the isle, I make the motion of throwing the petals to remind her what to do and she takes her little fingers and makes a tiny fist and throws the little fistful of flowers along the isle as she walks. I turn to look at Puck's face as he watches his daughter, his whole face is in a smile and it's full of pure joy, he couldn't be any happier. As Beth makes her way down the isle she runs up to me and hugs my legs, everyone laughs and then everyone stands for Rachel. She walks down the isle with one of her dad's on either side of her and she steals everyone's gaze. I look to Finn and see how happy he looks, he even seems to tear up a bit at the sight of his bride to be. We all watch as they make their vows and share their love with all their close friends and family, and as they walk down the isle hand in hand, now husband and wife, I know that they were always meant to be together. It was never supposed to be me and Finn, it was always supposed to be Finn and Rachel and Puck, Beth and me.
Puck holds me close as we slow dance to the music, Finn and Rachel just finished their first dance as husband and wife and opened up the dance floor for all the couples, Sam and Mercedes dance a few feet away from us and Brittany and Santana are dancing close a little farther down the dance floor. I look over at Finn and Rachel who are going around talking to various members of their families, they look so happy together, it makes me really happy. Puck pulls me a little closer and kisses my neck, I feel like I could get lost in this moment with him, just then Beth runs over and grabs onto Puck's legs giggling. "Hey baby" Puck picks her up and she wraps her arms around his neck.
"Do you want to dance with daddy?" She nods her head and I kiss her cheek and then Puck kisses my lips. "Don't let her get too handsy, tell her your already taken" I tease.
"I'm not sure, this one looks a little feisty" Beth giggles and Puck spins around with her in his arms. I go and get a drink and sit down, Rachel comes over and sits down next to me, I turn to her and give her a big hug.
"Congratulations again"
"Thank you!"
"We are both really happy for you, it was a great ceremony and everyone could tell how in love you two are"
"I've waited four years to marry him, and now I finally have, it's a really good feeling" She has the biggest smile on her face as she watches Finn who is across the room, she looks at him the way I know I look at Puck, at Beth. "How are things going with you two?"
"Really good, we both are committed to each other and most importantly committed to Beth"
"Any wedding bells in your future, or a sibling for Beth?" She laughs from the look I must show on my face, just the thought of having another kid anytime soon kind of freaks me out.
"We both aren't interested in getting married right now but he wants to propose sometime in the future he told me, and I want to be in my twenties before I have another kid"
"Well hopefully this will be the first of many glee club weddings, maybe yours and Puck's will be next"
"My money is on Kurt and Blaine, there really isn't anything that could come between Puck and I, we are already more married than some people, I mean we are raising our child together"
"Yeah, well I am really glad things are finally working out for you two, I always wanted you two to end up together. I know this might not be what you want to hear but you two helped me and Finn get together and I am going to always be so grateful for that, you two just always seemed to be like you were meant to end up together"
"Yeah, it's hard to imagine being with anyone else after going through what me and Puck did, it wasn't an easy decision to put Beth up for adoption but nothing has felt more right than being her mother, I thought raising her myself wasn't the right decision but now I know that it was always supposed to be me and Puck doing it together"
"I know what you mean" I follow Rachel's gaze to find Finn and Puck walking over to us, Finn is now holding Beth and I can already see Rachel's mind working, she is already imaging her new husband being a father to their future children.
"I found this adorable little girl running around and I was wondering who she belonged to?" Finn teases and hands Beth to Rachel.
"She's just so cute I think we should keep her Finn" Beth starts to laugh.
"Is aunt Rachel being silly?"
"Yes!" Beth is always so excited when she speaks, she knows the words apple, giraffe, cup, yes, and no. She hasn't called Puck or us mommy or daddy yet but it should be coming soon. I always refer to Puck as her dad but that's because she hasn't known any other dad in her life, she did previously have someone she used to call mom, I don't know if she will just know me as Quinn, or mom but I can only wait to see what she decides. Rachel kisses Beth's cheek and then hands her back to me, Finn gives her his hand and she stands up and he wraps his arms around her.
"Finn I want one" This earns a laugh from him.
"One thing at a time Rach, we just got married" She playfully hits Finn and then turns back to us.
"Well I hope you two have a great time, in case you might leave early because you need to get Beth to bed just know we are so happy you are here and that we are glad you spent this amazing day with us" Rachel pulls me into a hug and then I hug Finn.
"It really was an amazing wedding"
"Yeah, I'm really happy for you man" Puck pulls Finn into a hug and then Finn takes Rachel's hand and they walk together to go enjoy their wedding. We stay another hour and a half to watch them cut the cake but eventually Beth has fallen asleep on the chairs at our table and we decide it's probably time to take her home. Puck takes her into his arms and we say our goodbyes and then get into the car and make our way home. Puck pulls into the driveway and gets Beth out of the car, she is still asleep and we want to keep it that way so we try to be as quiet as we can when walking inside. "I'm going to put her in her crib"
"Okay, I'm going to check the machine for any messages"
"Okay" He leans down and kisses me as if it is the most natural thing in the world, lately it's felt like that. I go over to the answering machine and see that we have one message, with everything going on with Beth's adoption process and the social worker it's very important to still have an answering machine and to always check the messages. I press play and listen to the message.
"Hi, this is Kevin from the Air Force Enlistment program, we are looking for Noah Puckerman. We have received your form and it has been approved, we have talked over the phone before and you have explained your situation and we will need you back in California in the next few weeks to have you begin your training, call me back as soon as you can" The message ends and I am left standing there, feeling completely blindsided. I can't believe this us how this is how I am finding out about this, I can't believe that he didn't tell me.
"I just put her down, she should be out for the night" He walks into the room and looks at my face and stops. "What's wrong?" I press play again on the machine and lets the message run again. For the next minute it is the only sound that fills the kitchen. When it finishes I can see his face fall. "Quinn, just let me explain"
"Explain what? How you were going to leave me and your daughter behind while you go off and join the air force? Something that I can't even remember you having talked about once before to me"
"I wasn't going to leave you guys"
"Really? So you just planned to take us all to California? Was that before or after I decided if I wanted to go back to school or not. Don't for a second pretend that you thought of us once"
"Don't you understand, this is why I am doing this. I knew that we couldn't go back to California and that I couldn't support my family with just my pool cleaning business, I wanted a good life for our daughter, I wanted to take care of both of you"
"Don't you think I wanted to go back to Yale, get back on track with the life that I had imagined for myself as soon as I got accepted?"
"You knew what life you were going to get when you decided when you decided to have her when we were 16 years old, and you knew what you were doing when you agreed to take care of her"
"Yeah, to take care of her with you. You agreed to this too"
"I did it for Beth!" We are both yelling now.
"So you were just pretending the whole time then? Is that it?"
"You know I would never do that, I love her" His words cut me deeper than I ever thought they possibly could.
"So you were just pretending with me then? I get it"
"Quinn... That isn't what I meant" I can already feel the tears coming.
"Why don't you just go, get an early start on your way to California"
"Quinn this isn't how I wanted you to find out okay? I didn't want to leave you guys"
"You better believe that you already made your decision to leave when you applied, for whatever reason you choose this, but know you didn't choose me and Beth"
"Don't ever say that, she is my daughter and I will always be there for her"
"Why don't you just leave"
"Quinn come on"
"I said leave!" I scream at him. He looks actually hurt. I can hear Beth crying from her room. "You woke her up, I want you to be gone by time I get her back to sleep, I don't want her to know you left like this" I don't even give him the chance to respond because I am in her room and am picking her up as I hear Puck in the next room getting together some of his stuff. I rock her back and forth and get her to stop crying when I hear the front door slam. As selfish as I am for not wanting to be alone I take her into the bedroom that Puck and I had been sharing for the past few months and lay her down on the bed. I pick up one of her picture books from the nightstand and realize now how bad I have been crying because the cover is all blurry to me. I wipe away the tears and begin to read to her. I am holding her in my arms and am reading when I just stop and look down at her, she smiles up at me, so oblivious to the fact that the two people in her life that are supposed to take care of her can't even get their shit together and make it work. She surprises me and starts to mumble the word I have selfishly always wanted to hear from her.
"Mamma" I am in utter disbelief, I don't know how to respond. I don't know if to correct her or reassure her that she is right. Technically she is right, I am biologically her mother, I carried her around in my belly for 9 months, but I haven't been the one who has raised her from birth, I just recently filled the position a few months ago. "Mamma" She repeats it again and this time I decide to give in, I am her mom, and now I always will be.
"Yeah, that's right. I am you mama" I kiss her head and know that from now on it will just be the two of us. Beth and her mamma.
