A/N: Warning, this one is quite a bit grittier and darker than the previous two chapters. But I promise there's a happy ending. Also, there are some swear words!

Quinn Fabray

She married him although she didn't love him, or even like him and now she had it all. Or so she was told.

It was Quinn's mother, naturally, who had first introduced them. Quinn was in her final year at Owen's Community College where she was studying science. She had wanted to go to a school in Michigan but her mother had insisted otherwise.

Her mother had become quite demanding since Quinn had left school. Mrs Fabray was finding it hard to support such a large house and high-maintenance daughter considering that she had no job. She and Quinn were living on the money their lawyer had clawed from Mr Fabray in the divorce settlement.

And so Mrs Fabray had come up with a failsafe solution: to marry her daughter to someone with money. She had dug her best dresses from the back of the closet and texted some of her old friends from her heyday. Then, Mrs Fabray had schmoozed her way to the top.

Everything, from thereon in had gone completely to plan for her. Quinn was married to Charlie Averton, the mayor of Lima's son, now. Mrs Fabray accepted endless money from her son-in-law, lost her daughter but got to keep the nice house.

Quinn was distraught. She fought and yelled and screamed and kicked things and threatened to run away but her mother just smiled at her so blankly and complacently. The ex-Cheerio was sobbing as she recited her marriage vows and both she and her new husband knew that they weren't tears of joy.

She was thirty-two now. Her hair was as blonde as ever, thanks to her stylist and her teeth as cute and gleaming white as when she was seventeen. She wore dresses and cardies, Quinn was still absolutely beautiful.

Charlie was a crap husband; he was a layabout, neglectful and rude to his wife. He had hit her once or twice before and Quinn was aware of the other women, she had never been stupid. She'd have left him if it wasn't for their four kids.

Sometimes she thought of Finn with burning desire – not for him but his decision to get away, slipping out of Ohio in the dead of night. They exchanged birthday and Christmas cards. Quinn had seen Rachel's name in the local paper when she landed her role as Éponine on Broadway; she'd bitten back a smile as she read the article over breakfast and felt her heart break when she reached the small paragraph about the successes of "New Directions, the glee club at our very own William McKinley High School!".

Then her attention had been grabbed by her youngest, a boy only eighteen months, knocking his cup of juice all across her freshly mopped floors.

"Sam," she sighed, grabbing the cup and setting it up right. Quinn would have gotten him a fresh drink but no sooner had she reached the fridge when four year-old Clara ran into the kitchen, clutching her knee and wailing.

"Mommy! Will pushed me over…" Her sobs reached a crescendo but Quinn didn't mind; she swung the blonde child up high, kissing the skin above the graze gently.

"A kiss and a My Little Pony Band-Aid, huh? That's sure to make your cut better, right?" Quinn smiled softly at her daughter, holding her close. She pressed the Band-Aid onto Clara's knee before leaning out of the kitchen window, over the back lawn.

"William, don't you dare push your little sister! What have I told you about being rough?" She didn't yell; Quinn could never bring herself to shout at her kids, but her voice was full of reproach and disappointment. The seven year-old looked chagrined and apologised swiftly.

This was the pattern that most of Quinn's days followed. Once she got her degree from the community college and soon became engaged to Charlie, she gave up on her hopes of becoming a nurse.

Yet, she never resented a single minute; she loved her children more than anything in the world. It almost scared her how much she felt for them. Her love was an ache, it was so strong. She knew without a single doubt that she would throw herself in front of a ten-ton truck to save them.

Once she'd put Sam down for a nap and settled Clara and Will in front of the television, Quinn would always find time to sneak into the library where Elizabeth would undoubtedly be. Lizzie (as Quinn had insisted everyone call her) was a complete bookworm; her mom loved that and encouraged her habit wholeheartedly.

The two would mostly sit in silence. If they did talk it was to discuss Lizzie's current read. Elizabeth was Quinn and Charlie's eldest child at ten.

Quinn hated it when people described her as a mother of four. The urge to scream at them, tell them the truth about the little girl who she missed unbearably, was almost uncontrollable. Without her Beth, it felt like a piece of her heart was missing. Yet the love she felt in the peaceful moments Quinn stole every day, with her beautiful children content and quiet, managed to soothe the pain somewhat. Quinn always felt so blissfully happy in these moments which made Charlie's crashing reality even harder to bear.

He was impolite, rude, crude and just the laziest man Quinn had ever met. She wished she could just leave, or send him away like her mother had done to her dad. But the children needed stability, they needed the best. And so Quinn needed Charlie.

There was only one thing Quinn knew would force her to leave; if that ass-hole ever raised a hand to one of her babies, they'd be out of that door in seconds. Half of her stuff was already packed.

During his frequent drunken rants, Charlie would often laugh at Quinn's dream of leaving him. "You don't even have anywhere to go! You have no friends, and your mother sure as hell wouldn't take you back, would she?"

No, Quinn thought to herself, that bitch wouldn't. But I have a place that you don't know about, a happy and safe place – the only happy place I've ever known.

Puck was fast asleep when a sharp rapping on the front door woke him suddenly. He groaned slightly at the rude awakening and stretched his hand out to the cold side of the bed, wishing she was there. But she wasn't because, as she reminded him every time she left, she had a husband. Fuck that bastard.

Puck padded slowly through the apartment, a fairly nice place in a fairly nice part of Lima. He made himself a good living as the only non-child-molesting guitar teacher in town. All the mothers swooned over him but he'd never touched a single one. Except her.

When she'd called him, requesting two lessons a week for her son Will, her voice was formal and detached. Puck played along, acting the professional. He knew her so well; he understood that this was her chance to re-evaluate her feelings for him. He also knew that they'd still be there. He had until next Tuesday (Will's introductory lesson) to decide what he, Noah Puckerman, was going to do about it.

Could he be 'the other guy'? Could he be Quinn's second-best? Did he still even love her? Hell, who was trying to fool – he could never stop loving her. He would be whatever she wanted him to be. And she assured him, the Wednesday after Will's introductory lesson when she snuck back over to his flat alone, that he would always be her first choice.

However, for the past five years he'd been stuck in this flat only being able to see her when she could sneak over. She'd had two kids in that time. And still he was content.

Maybe he would have been annoyed if all their affair consisted of was sex but it didn't, although there definitely was some of that. Sometimes they'd just talk over a cup of coffee, one time they worked out a duet to his favourite R.E.M. song and other times they'd watch a film together, Puck always ruining the tense moments with snarky comments.

He understood why he couldn't be his wife and why he would probably be 'the other guy' forever and he never expected the situation to change. That was why he was so surprised to find Quinn on the doorstep when he opened the door, Sam cradled on her hip and the other three clutching suitcases.

Charlie was drunk by the time he got home, which was becoming a more and more frequent occurrence. He knocked over the coat stand as he stumbled through the doorway causing Sam to wake and begin to yell. Quinn, who had spent two hours trying to get Sam to sleep, was furious.

She rarely yelled at the children and almost never shouted at her husband. That night she really let loose. Her torrent of rage woke Clara and Will too; they peered down at their angry parents from the upstairs landing.

Eventually, Charlie's roaring voice even bought Elizabeth out of the library. She observed the scene quietly, making no attempt to stop the fight. And still, her softly spoken words halted both of her parents in their tracks.

"Daddy, please don't hit mommy. You make her really sad sometimes."

Charlie's face crumpled into a mask of pure rage as he rounded once more on his wife. "Who else have you told? Tell me, you fucking whore, who you've told?"

Quinn shook her head. "I haven't told anyone."

"LIAR." Charlie was shaking with rage. Quinn had never seen him so angry before; instinctively she braced herself, ready for his attack.

It never came.

She opened one eye tentatively before realising why her drunken husband hadn't hit her. She was across the hallway faster than he could blink, her perfectly manicured nails clawing at his arms.

"Don't you dare touch my daughter!" Quinn's voice was a snarl as she shoved Charlie away from Elizabeth, his arms still raised, preparing to strike. "Pack your things, kids – No, Will, I said pack them. We're leaving now."

Charlie stared at his usually submissive wife in shock before laughing in her face. "Don't kid yourself, Quinnie. You have nowhere to go."

It was Quinn's turn to laugh now, she grinned at him triumphantly. "Oh yes I do."

It was two years to the day that Quinn had left Charlie, having sent divorce papers round next week. The children had stopped crying about having to leave their father within a couple of months; they saw him every other weekend – if they wanted to. Clara and Sam had even started calling Puck "Dad".

And Quinn was exultant. There had been some gossip and dirty looks at first but no one could stand up against the strength of Quinn's smile. Maybe it was for the bets after all, the residents of Lima agreed.

Now Quinn had more in her life than just her love for her children. She had Puck, and the townhouse they'd bought together, she had the dog and her job, working at the old peoples' home a few blocks away.

Now she really had it all.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it despite the violence etc. I try never to write unnecessary violence/swearing/abuse/general dark stuff but I wanted to make this as realistic as possible - I hope I managed to capture this right.

Sorry for the wait. I think I'll do Kurt's story next!

Reviews are adored!

Elle xxoo