Thanks so much for all the reviews last chapter...you all really are amazing.

Thanks as always to my amazing beta Scarlett88 :)

Keep up the reviews and the updates will keep coming! Enjoy!

Chapter Nine

Quinn woke up Saturday morning to the sounds of tiny whispers. She opened her eyes to find Ella and Ayden silently fighting with each other by the door, a tray full of food in tow.

"Good morning you two," she said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. "What are you two doing over there?"

Ella smiled and skipped to the bed where her mom was laying. "We made you bweakfast!" she said proudly. Ayden joined them, tray in hand and handed it to Quinn.

Quinn chuckled a bit when she saw what was on the tray. It had a granola bar, a pack of fruit snacks, an unwashed apple, and a bowl of Cheetohs. "Aw thank you so much!" she said, kissing the top of both her kids' heads. "What made you do this?"

"You looked sad last night," Ayden explained. "After you talked to daddy so sissy and I wanted to cheer you up!"

"That's so sweet of you," Quinn cooed. "I have the two best kids in the world."

"You got lucky," Ella giggled. Quinn laughed along before patting a spot on her bed for her kids to join her. They both hopped on the bed with smiles plastered on their faces.

"Want to share?" Quinn asked and both kids nodded eagerly. They split the breakfast into thirds (Quinn had Ayden wash the apple in the sink). Quinn watched as her kids smiled and ate happily and she felt sick to her stomach knowing she would be ruining it soon.

Once the threesome was done with breakfast Quinn had the kids take the tray down to the kitchen and get dressed while she got ready for the day. It was a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon and they had no plans so Quinn decided she would at least make the day as fun for the kids as possible by taking them to the park before dropping the bomb on them.

When she was ready she went to Ella's room to help her dress and do her hair. Once she put the little girl's thick blonde hair into a bow they went downstairs to meet Ayden in the kitchen.

"I thought we could go to the park today and have a picnic," smiled Quinn.

"Yay!" Ella yelled as she danced around the kitchen.

"Is dad coming with us?" Ayden wondered.

Quinn shook her head reluctantly. "Daddy can't come today. It's just the three musketeers."

"Three musketeers!" Ella chanted as she continued to dance around. Quinn swore that girl had more energy than the energizer bunny itself.

Quinn made the sandwiches as the kids loaded whatever else they needed into the picnic basket. Once Quinn had triple checked they had everything they needed they headed to the car and ultimately the park.

Quinn was obviously not the only person who had the idea to have a picnic at the park that day. The weather was perfect, not too cold and not too hot, and the leaves were beginning to turn colors. The park was crowded with people, but the three was able to find a nice spot under a big oak tree. Ayden and Ella spread out the blanket while Quinn got everything situated.

The kids ate their lunch as fast as they could, eager to go and play on the playground. Once Quinn was sure they finished all their fruit she allowed them to go along and play. It didn't take but two minutes for the two to find a group of kids to play tag with. Quinn wished she could remember a time where you could go up to a stranger in the park, ask them to play tag and the next minute they were your best friend. She wished things would stay this simple for her kids forever, though she knew the complexity that came with growing up was inevitable.

As Quinn watched her kids run and laugh she worked out in her head how she was going to tell them about herself and Joe. She tried to think of a way that they could understand this situation because she knew it was much too complex for a six and eight year old to understand.

Before Quinn knew it the kids had been playing for two and a half hours and she decided it was finally time to leave. Much to her surprise neither kid put up a fight to leaving. Both kids fell asleep on the drive home, both having minimal energy after running around so much.

Quinn knew she could not carry Ayden inside; he was tall for his age, the second tallest kid in his third grade class. She gently shook the sleeping boy and when he awoke she helped him down from the car. She then went to the other side and unbuckled her sleeping daughter before carrying her into the house with a very groggily Ayden at her heels. Once both kids were sound asleep in their beds Quinn was able to take a deep breath and walk downstairs to some peace and quiet.

She sat down at the computer to check her email when the doorbell rang. She sighed once again before getting up and heading towards the door. She opened it carelessly, expecting the UPS man or god forbid her husband but neither of those is what she found. The person she found on her front porch was probably the last person she ever expected.

She gasped when she saw the familiar tiny brunette standing in her doorway with a slightly worried look on her face. What on earth was Rachel Berry doing standing on her front porch? Quinn had made Rachel's life miserable since the fourth grade. She had thrown slushies into the girls face and started rumors about her behind her back. Quinn didn't blame Rachel for going far away for college and honestly Quinn never thought she would see the brunette again after graduation.

"Hello Quinn," Rachel said with her signature world-class smile plastered on her face. It was only then that Quinn looked to the left of Rachel and saw there was a younger girl standing next to her. Quinn was even more confused when she saw the girls face with swollen with tears and it took Quinn a good minute of staring at the poor girl to finally realize who she was looking at.

"Oh…My...God," Quinn said as she stared at the young girl, mesmerized. There was no mistaking that face, that hair, and that smile. It was Quinn's, but obviously Quinn wasn't looking at herself which only meant one other thing. It was her daughter. It was Beth.

"Beth?" Quinn whispered as she took a cautious step forward. Beth nodded and tears began falling down Quinn's pale cheeks as she enveloped her daughter in a hug. The young blonde collapsed in her arms, but Quinn held her up and held her tight, never wanting to let go.

"Oh my God I can't believe it's you," Quinn cried into Beth's hair. "It's really you." She pulled the girl back so they were looking straight at each other and Quinn's breath was taken away by how absolutely stunning her daughter was, even with a red and splotchy face. "And you've been crying," Quinn said. She took a finger and used it to wipe the tears that were escalading down Beth's face. She watched as her daughter melted into her touch.

"Uh, maybe we should go inside," Rachel suggested awkwardly.

"Oh yes, where are my manners?" Quinn asked as she let go of her daughter and led the two into her house. She took them to the sitting room where she ushered them to sit on the couch while she took the chair across from it.

X-X-X-X-X

Beth could not believe she was currently sitting in the living room of her birth mom's house. In her head she had dreamed about how this would happen and she was not lying when she said she never thought it would happen like this.

Rachel, Quinn, and Beth were sitting in Quinn's living room, staring at each other in amazement. No one really knew what to say first so for the longest time they stayed silent and just stared.

Beth figured she should be the first one to say something so she finally spoke up. "Your house is so beautiful…" she was going to say 'mom', but didn't know how Quinn would feel about that and she thought 'Quinn' sounded awkward too so she decided to leave it at that. Beth wiped her swollen eyes a bit so she was actually able to see clearly.

"Thank you," Quinn said. There were a few more moments of silence before Quinn finally said something. "I have to ask you this and I don't want you to take it the wrong way but what are you doing here?" She gave Beth a pleasant smile to make her more comfortable. "Not that I don't want you here, of course I do, I was just a bit thrown off guard by your arrival," she finished.

"Beth has something she wants to tell you," Rachel urged and Beth began to panic. She didn't want the first face to face conversation she had with her birth mom to be about this. She felt like they needed time to get to know each other and be comfortable with one another before they talked about anything that heavy. "And why did you drive her here?" Quinn asked and she couldn't help but notice a hint of jealousy in her voice. She knew when she gave Beth up that Rachel would be her sister but she couldn't help but feel jealous about all the times the brunette probably got to see Beth that she didn't. "Where's Shelby?"

"She was unavailable for the day and Beth really wanted to come up here and see you so I offered to bring her," Rachel answered.

"I thought you lived in New York?" Quinn questioned. Although she would never admit it out loud she had, in fact, bought the Wicked CD when it came out all those years ago.

"I was in Lima on vacation," Rachel answered simply.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything else soft footsteps were heard walking down the hall and into the living room. "Mommy?" Ella yawned as she walked into the room. She spotted her mom and walked to her chair. "Who are these people?"

"This is mommy's friend from high school, Rachel," Quinn said pointing to the brunette. Rachel offered Ella her world class smile, which the young girl returned. "And this is…this is," Quinn didn't quite know how what to call Beth without confusing smallest blonde.

"I'm Rachel's sister, Beth," Beth offered. Quinn sighed in relief and mouthed a thank-you.

"Ella, why don't you go in the den and turn on some TV?" Quinn suggested. "I'll bring you a snack in a little while. And if your brother comes down tell him to join you." Ella nodded and exited the room.

"So that's…that's your daughter?" Beth asked once Ella was gone. Her whole life she had wanted nothing more than to have siblings and this week had gained three; funny how that worked.

"Yes," Quinn nodded. "That's Ella. And I have a son, too. His name is Ayden."

"And your husband?" Beth asked. "Where's he?"

Quinn hesitated. "He's…he's at work now."

Beth nodded.

"I think I'm just going to go get myself acquainted with Ella and let you two talk," Rachel said, standing from her spot on the couch.

"Oh, okay," Quinn said a bit surprised. There really must be something Beth wanted to tell her if Rachel was going to leave the room. "The den is the first door on the right." Rachel nodded. She leaned down and whispered, "Tell her," in Beth's ear before leaving the room.

"What's this all about?" Quinn asked, curious about this whole situation.

Beth sighed. "The reason I came here was because there was something I wanted to tell you. No, actually, I don't want to tell you I need to tell you because if it were up to me I wouldn't tell anyone, but for the sake of my sanity I know I need to." Quinn became a bit worried at what this was about and nodded for Beth to continue. "I just…I've never said this out loud before and I don't know how to say it."

"What is it Beth you can tell me," Quinn urged. Beth looked down at her lap. She opened her mouth to speak like she had so many time before, but once again nothing came out. "Come on Beth, you can tell me," Quinn said again. Beth opened her mouth a second time and no sound escaped. Tears began to fall once again down Beth's cheeks and before she knew it she felt loving arms wrap around her body and for the first time in years she felt safe. She felt like nothing could hurt her, especially Jim. She was ready now, she was safe.

Beth took one more deep breath before the words finally came out, quietly. "My…my step dad r…rapes me." Beth expected terrible images of her weekends with Jim to pop into her head like they did every other time she thought about it but they never came. They never came because she was safe from Jim and from the nightmares of those nights when she was in her mother's arms.

Quinn froze when she heard the words escape Beth's mouth. They were small and quiet but there was no mistaking what the young girl said. Quinn felt as if she might vomit at any moment. For the first time in sixteen years Quinn was really, really feeling guilty about giving her baby up for adoption. She felt anger rush through her body at the sorry bastard. She did her best to control her anger when she felt Beth shake with sobs in her arms. She had to comfort Beth- that was all that mattered at the moment.

"Oh Beth I'm so sorry," Quinn cried. "This is all my fault." She continued to rock the teenager in her arms and sing softly into her ear the way she did to Ella when she had a nightmare. Beth's sobs lessened a bit by the sound of her voice but they never subsided until about fifteen minutes later when the girl fell asleep in her arms.

X-X-X-X-X

Quinn gently laid Beth on the couch, doing all she could not to

wake the teenager. When she was completely freed of Beth's body she walked down the hall and towards the den. She opened the door to find Rachel showing her kids pictures of her dressed as Elphaba. Both kids were looking at her with awe and if Quinn hadn't heard of Beth's situation she would've laughed at the faces her kids were making.

"Ella, Ayden, I need to talk to Rachel for a minute," Quinn explained.

"But mom she was just about to show us a picture of Glinda!" Ella complained. "You know she's my favorite."

"Don't worry Ella, I'll show you right after I talk to your mommy," Rachel said, rubbing the young girl on the head.

Ella crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine."

Quinn wasn't in the mood to deal with her daughter's foul attitude so she turned around and exited the room, Rachel at her heels.

"Where's Beth?" Rachel asked as Quinn led her to the kitchen.

"She's asleep on the couch," Quinn answered. "Exhaustion from crying would be my guess."

"What did she tell you?" Rachel asked.

"It's bad Rach," Quinn said, ignoring her hatred of Rachel for the sake of her daughter.

Rachel's face went grim. "What is it?"

"She told me her step-dad…" Quinn paused, not even wanting to say the words but Rachel urged her on with her hands. "He molests her Rachel." Rachel gasped and quickly held onto the chair behind her for support. Of all the things she let her mind go to this was one place she stayed away from, hoping and praying it was not the problem. Like Quinn, Rachel felt like she would throw up. She gripped her stomach.

"Oh my gosh I had no idea it was something that big," Rachel said.

"Didn't you see the way she was crying?" Quinn asked, eyebrow arched.

"I thought maybe she was a bit over-dramatic like I was at that age," the brunette explained. "I never imagined it would be anything like this. What are we going to do?"

"We'll have to call Shelby," Quinn answered. "She deserves to know." Rachel nodded in agreement. Although she guessed from Beth's behavior earlier she did not want Shelby to know, she knew it was in the best interest of Beth to tell her mother.

"I'm going to go take Ella and Ayden a snack," Quinn said. "Will you call her while I do that?"

Rachel nodded and Quinn grabbed two packages of fruit snacks and some pretzels before leaving Rachel alone in the kitchen. Rachel was scrolling through the phone looking for Shelby's number when she passed a name that made her stop. Without even thinking it through she pressed call. A few seconds later there was a "hello" on the other line.

"Hello, Noah, this is Rachel. I think you need to come to Cincinnati. As fast as you can."