Thanks everyone for reviewing last chapter, you all are amazing :)

Thank you to my awesome beta scarlett88.

Exams are coming up which means, unless i somehow write the next chapter before them, the next update might be a bit longer than usual, but believe me, its gonna be a good one.

Enjoy the next chapter and review, review, review!

Chapter Twelve

Quinn didn't sleep very well that night; she kept tossing and turning and waking up every thirty minutes. Finally, at seven she decided she could sleep no longer and got out of bed. She went to the bathroom and as she looked in the mirror she felt as if her face had aged ten years in one day. The bags under her eyes were heavy, not only from the lack of sleep the night before, but even the nights before that. She could feel wrinkles start to form, and she was only thirty-two. She wouldn't even be surprised if she found a gray hair at this point.

She sighed, as she put her messy blonde hair into a bun (no grays found). She put some make-up on, so as to hide a bit of the sleeplessness she had then made her way downstairs to cook breakfast.

She still wasn't that hungry and didn't know if everyone else would be, but she needed something to do until everyone else woke up. She made eggs, bacon, toast, and waffles, and still no one was up. Quinn was about to start making sausage as well when she heard footsteps coming into the kitchen. She turned around to see a sleepy Puck walking into the kitchen.

"Good morning sleepy head," she smiled, hoping he had forgotten what had happened the night before so they could move on.

"Good morning," he smiled back. "Everything smells good."

"Thanks," said Quinn. "I've been up for awhile and I had nothing else to do."

"You didn't sleep well either then?" he asked,

Quinn shook her head. "I can't help but think it's all my fault this has happened." She knew if one person felt that way she did, it would be Puck considering they were both in the same boat.

"I know," Puck agreed. He shook his head in disbelief. "I just can't believe something like this happened. How did Shelby let this happen?"

"We can't blame Shelby for this," Quinn said. "She obviously didn't know." Puck didn't look so sure. "You didn't see her when she found out," Quinn continued. "She was hysterical. I mean, I know she's a good actress and all, but I don't think there's any faking that."

"Yea, I guess…" Puck said. There were a few more moments of silence as Quinn set the table. Puck's eyes followed her from chair to chair as she placed silverware in front of it. In high school she probably would have scolded him for doing so, calling him a perv, but it was different now. She could tell by looking at his eyes he was not the same person he had been in high school, and truthfully, it makes Quinn a bit sad.

"Puck, I…" Quinn began, but before she had a chance to finish she heard more footsteps climbing down the stairs. A second later they were joined in the kitchen by Beth and Shelby.

"Good-morning," Shelby said.

"Good-morning," Quinn answered. "I made some breakfast."

"This looks wonderful, Quinn," Shelby smiled.

"Yea," Beth agreed.

"Does anyone know if Rachel is up?" Quinn asked.

"I heard her taking a shower earlier," Beth answered. "I'm sure she'll be down in a minute."

"Well, I guess we should wait for her then," Quinn said. Everyone nodded as they stood awkwardly around the island counter and waited for the brunette.

Luckily Rachel came down a minute later, her usual smiling self. "Mmm, it smells good in here," she noted as she walked into the kitchen. "Oh, hello everyone, good-morning."

"Morning," everyone said in unison.

"Shall we eat?" Quinn asked. Everyone nodded and migrated towards the table. They all sat down and passed around the food until their plates were full (except for Rachel who only ate the toast because of her being a vegan).

Quinn sat and nibbled some bacon. When she looked around she noticed everyone was doing the same.

"Beth is in the Glee Club at McKinley," Rachel said, trying to diffuse the awkwardness. Now that everyone talked through the problems of yesterday, no one really knew what to say to each other.

"Really?" Quinn said. "How's it going?"

"Good," Beth smiled. "I just got the solo for Sectionals next month."

"That's awesome, Beth," Quinn cooed.

"I guess you really are our daughter," Puck smiled. "I always knew you would be a rock star."

"I'm hardly a rock star," Beth blushed.

"Well, I've sang with her and she is very talented," Rachel said. "Maybe even as good as I was at that age."

"Wow, I've never heard Berry say anyone was even near as good as her," Puck said. "She must really like you, Beth."

"Well, she is my sister," Rachel said defensively.

"Oh my god, you two sound exactly the same as you did in high school," Quinn laughed.

"We do not," Rachel said, less than amused.

"Whatever you say."

"You know Mr. Schuster is still in charge the Glee Club," Rachel said, changing the subject.

"Haha, oh yea?" Quinn chuckled. "I miss him."

"Yea, he said some nice things about you when I talked to him," Beth answered. "And you, too, um, Puck."

Puck laughed at Beth's awkwardness. "You can call me dad if you want to, Beth."

"I've never had anyone to call dad before," Beth commented.

"Well, now you do."

The rest of the breakfast went on like this. No one ate that much, but that didn't surprise Quinn; she didn't know why she made so much. She knew no one would have much of a stomach after the events of yesterday.

"I think I better be heading back," Rachel said as everyone was clearing the table. "I told Finn I would meet him tonight, and I need to talk to my dads before I leave."

"Okay, thank you so much for everything, Rachel," Shelby said, embracing her daughter in a hug. "Promise you'll come by once more before you go back to New York?"

"I promise," Rachel said as she went to hug Beth.

She thanked Quinn for her hospitality and said good-bye to Noah before grabbing her purse and heading out to Beth's car, which she was driving back to Lima- Beth was riding in Shelby's.

A few minutes later Puck discovered Joe's guitar and took Beth into the living room to play to her, while Shelby and Quinn were in the kitchen doing the dishes.

"Quinn, I need to ask you a favor," Shelby said as she scrubbed a pan full of eggs.

"Anything," Quinn answered.

"I want, well actually I don't want I have, to go home and confront Jim about this, but I really don't want Beth to be there, so I was wondering if she can stay here one more night, while I go and do that."

"Of course," Quinn said. "I would be delighted for her to stay here one more night."

"Great," Shelby smiled. "I know she really wants to get to know you and Puck anyway."

"And we want to get to know her," Quinn said.

X-X-X-X-X

Rachel arrived in Lima that afternoon and immediately went up to take a shower. When she was done she made her way downstairs to the living room where her dads were watching TV.

"You didn't come home last night, Honey," her dad, Hiram, noted.

"I know; I was having lunch with Beth when I confronted her about her step-dad, and she just broke down crying and begged me to take her to Quinn's, so I did. Then Shelby came and so did Puck and before we knew it, it was too late to drive back, so we all just stayed there," Rachel explained.

Her dads, of course, wanted more detail, so Rachel gave them the full story.

Rachel had always been good at making a long story longer and by the time she was done telling her dads everything it was nearly five, and when she talked to Finn earlier that day she agreed to meet him at Breadstix at six. She excused herself from the living room and went upstairs to get ready.

She went through almost every outfit she brought, trying to find the perfect one. She didn't know why she was so nervous, it was only Finn after all, he had never cared what she wore, but that still didn't help to diffuse her nerves. Finally she settled on a pair of dark skinny jeans (which she now wore thanks to her stylist) and a comfortable pink sweater (for old times sake). She straightened her long brunette locks and clipped her side-bangs back. Once she was satisfied with her appearance she grabbed her purse and headed back downstairs.

"Can I borrow one of your cars tonight?" She asked her dads. "I'm going to meet an old friend for dinner."

"Only if you tell us who this old friend is," Hiram smirked.

"Well, it's Finn, of course," Leroy said. "I can see it written all over her face."

"Daddy," Rachel said, giving him her best unamused face. Was it really that obvious she was excited to see Finn?

"Alright, you can take mine," Leroy said, handing her the keys.

"Thank you." She gave both her dads a kiss on the cheek before heading towards the front door.

"But you owe us details!" Leroy called out the door as she left. She slammed it shut, just like she had done when she was a teenager.

When she arrived at Breadstix Finn wasn't there yet, so she sat in her booth and waited. She had nothing better to do so she decided to finally check her e-mail and she had about a hundred e-mails from her publicist. She sighed and hit end. She felt bad she hadn't told her publicist she was leaving New York for awhile after the show ended, but she really needed a break from that life.

Before she had time to ponder it further Finn arrived at their table.

"Sorry it took so long," Finn apologized. "Kennedy had a slight melt down when I dropped her off."

"Don't worry about it," Rachel said. "I'm just glad I get to see you."

"You too Rach," Finn smiled. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too," Rachel said. "And I'm so sorry I never called or e-mailed or anything. I was just too busy trying to follow my dreams and when they finally came true I was too busy to do much of anything besides the play. I know that's no excuse but…"

Finn cut her off. "Really Rachel, it's okay. I'm proud of you for what you've accomplished, but everyone knew it was going to happen. You were always so driven and it's something I've always admired about you. You've never given up on your dreams, even when people were telling you they were impossible."

Rachel blushed. "Thanks Finn, that means a lot."

The waitress came by and took their drink orders. "Well enough about me," Rachel said once she was gone. "What about you?"

"It's pretty much the garage, Kennedy, and me," he answered.

"She's adorable you know?" Rachel cooed. She wanted so badly to ask if there was a reason the little girl had seemed so far off, but she didn't want to be rude, so she didn't say anything.

"She sure is," Finn smiled. "Except she does have her moments. You might have noticed she seemed a bit unfocused yesterday?" He asked, like he had read her mind. Rachel nodded. "She has Kanner's Syndrome, a type of Autism."

"Oh, Finn, I'm so sorry," Rachel said. She noticed something was a little off about the girl, but she never would have hoped it was something like Autism.

Finn shrugged. "It is what it is."

"When did you find out?" Rachel wondered.

"When Kennedy was twenty months we started to notice that she hadn't begun to talk yet; she barely made noise at all. She was always fixated on one toy and was very easily distracted," Finn explained. "So we took her to the doctor and it took a couple months of tests, but the doctors finally decided on a diagnosis."

Rachel couldn't help but notice he kept saying 'we' while telling the story and she wondered if he was talking about Kennedy's mom. "So what did Kennedy's mom do?" she couldn't keep herself from asking.

"She left when they made the final diagnosis," Finn said sadly. "We were still young then-only 26- and we weren't even married. She just kind of freaked out and left and I haven't heard from her since."

"I'm so sorry," Rachel said, as tears filled her eyes. "I should have called; I could have helped you through that."

"Yea, well, my mom and Burt have been really generous with helping. My mom takes her to school and her therapies while I'm at the shop and she's very patient when working with her. You know how I said she threw a fit earlier when I dropped her off?"

Rachel nodded. "Well, it's because she has a pretty strict routine she has to stick to, and me taking her over there disrupted it. I don't do it very often because of how upset she gets, but sometimes I just need a break, you know? I love her, she's my whole world, but sometimes it can get to be too much to do on your own, and that's when I just need a night out."

"That's understandable," Rachel said. "You know I can tell just by the way you talk about her that you're a great father."

"Thanks," Finn smiled. "I really try."

The waitress came by and asked for their orders. Rachel caught Finn up on everything that happened those years apart while they waited for the food.

"So, you haven't mentioned anyone special in your life," Finn noted as he took a hefty bite of his cheeseburger. "You're not dating a huge movie star or anything?"

"Well, yesterday I think I saw an article about how I'm dating Nick Jonas," Rachel chuckled as she shook her head. "No, I'm just kidding, I've been a bit too busy for that lately."

"Oh, that's too bad," Finn said.

The two friends finished their meal and Finn walked Rachel to her dad's car. "You know I've really missed you, Rachel," Finn admitted. "Surprisingly enough you're a really good listener."

"I've missed you too, Finn," Rachel said. "Maybe we can do this again sometime? Before I go back to New York."

"Yea, I'd like that," Finn nodded.

Rachel gave him one last smile before turning to get inside the car. When she was almost in the car she heard his voice. "I really did love you, Rachel," he said shyly. "I think I still do."

"I loved you too, Finn," she said honestly. "And I think I still do, too."

"So where do we go from here?" he asked.

Rachel shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I mean, if you didn't have Kennedy I would ask you to come back to New York with me, but you have a daughter, one with Autism no less, and I can't ask you two to give up everything to be with me."

"I know," Finn said, staring at his shoes. Neither person wanted to admit what they were thinking.

"And I would say I want to enjoy the little time I have left here, together, but that means when I go to New York my heart will be broken all over again." A tear fell from her eye as she exited the car and took hold of Finn's large hands. "It took me so long to get over you when I moved. Heck, I still don't think I'm over you now, but I'm in New York and I have my career, and you live here and you have Kennedy, and your mom. Maybe it's just best if we leave it like that."

"Yea, okay," Finn said. "I probably wouldn't have worked out anyway." He knew he didn't mean it, if the two of them really wanted to work it out they could, and he wanted to, but it was obvious she didn't.

"No," Rachel said, "It wouldn't have." The words felt like throw-up as they left her mouth. She wanted nothing more but to try, but it was clear he didn't feel the same.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll be seeing you around," Finn said awkwardly. "Uh, until you leave I guess."

"Sure," Rachel nodded. "Good-bye Finn."

"Good-bye, Rachel." Finn turned around to go walk to his car, but before he did Rachel swore she saw a tear drop down his cheek.

When he was out of sight, Rachel climbed back into her dad's car and turned the engine on, but she couldn't bring herself to drive. Tears fell as freely as a waterfall down her face and it became harder for her to breathe. Why did this always happen to her? She wondered. Finally, she had a chance to be happy, truly happy, with someone she really cared about, but once again her career got in the way. Rachel was starting to wonder if being a star was worth is after all.

Next chapter will be Quick+Beth and Shelby confronting Jim...drama!