It certainly wasn't every day that a teenager went into labor in the middle of a number at a Glee competition. After Quinn's announcement and a retrieval of their chaperones a sense of general chaos seemed to descend upon the group. There was a lot of yelling and freaking out layered with confusion from the other groups backstage. Finn looked like he might throw up, Puck was pretty sure he was going to pass out, and Rachel and Santana were rubbing Quinn's back soothingly.

The noise and commotion continued until Mr. Schue finally cried out over all of them. "Everyone quiet!"

There was a sudden stillness and an almost eerie silence broken only by Quinn's labored breathing. "I really think a hospital would be a good idea, Mr. Schuester," she said, looking pale and frightened.

"She's right on the money there," Ms. Pillsbury said calmly, though the way her hands were twisting contradicted her composed demeanor. "I'll stay here with the kids; Will, you get a taxi and take Noah and Quinn to the hospital."

There was no dissent from any member of the group, but as Mr. Schue gathered up what they needed Rachel met Noah's' eyes. Seeing the panic and worry there, she hurriedly made her way to him, leaving Quinn to Brittany and Santana. Puck looked down at her when she got there and it struck her that in that moment he looked as young as she'd ever seen him. "Noah, it's going to be alright," she said quietly. "There's a hospital nearby and they're going to take good care of them."

"Yeah," he said weakly. "I know."

Rachel decided she didn't care that they were being watched by what seemed like half of Ohio and she cradled his face in her hands and stood on her tip toes to press a kiss to his bent head. "It'll be fine, and you'll get to meet your daughter soon. Now go."

Mr. Schue ushered the two teens out, and nobody missed the desperate look that Quinn shot Finn, who turned away looking sad. The monumental nature of what was occurring hit Rachel as they all watched them go; it must have shown on her face because she suddenly felt her hands grasped tight and looked over to see Kurt and Mercedes on either side of her.

"It's nice to know even the biggest badass in Lima gets scared too," Mercedes said with a note of surprise in her voice.

She nodded. "Any of us would be."

There was a heavy silence until Kurt spoke up in his usual chipper voice in an effort to break everyone out of their reverie. "Come on ladies and gentlemen, let's get ourselves cleaned up and get ready for the big moment!"

Everyone began to move again, but Rachel couldn't help but look towards the door that had just stopped swinging.

In the taxi Mr. Schue was doing his best to keep his two teenage charges calm while simultaneously doing the same for himself. "Quinn, would you like me to call your parents?"

She shook her head as another contraction coursed through her and a tear trailed down her cheek. "They abandoned me Mr. Schuester. They don't want anything to do with me or this baby so they'll just have to deal with that." She squeezed her eyes shut. "God I want Finn."

Will expected Puck to be at least somewhat upset by the statement, but the boy just nodded. "I wouldn't mind having my best friend either, but it's just us." He met Quinn's eyes and for the first time in months he reached out to lay his hand over hers where it rested on the huge mound of her belly. "And we're going to do this."

She nodded, and for the first time since she'd gotten pregnant she took what Puck offered and turned her hand so that she could lace their fingers together. Squeezing at his hand with another contraction, she took a deep breath. "We're going to do this."

The almost tender interaction between Puck and Quinn in the cab had admittedly thrown Mr. Schue. Usually the pair of them barely spoke to each other without making some sort of smart ass comment or slinging insults, so the serious moment between them had been surprising.

But it soon became abundantly clear that their pleasant rapport was not to last. Before they even reached the hospital Quinn's contractions were raging out of control and rather than weeping she had evidently decided to channel every last bit of her pain into screaming at Puck. By the time they got her to a room she was vehemently cursing the day she'd ever let him laid hands on her, and Mr. Schuester willingly took refuge in the waiting room as things moved forward.

When the doctor came in she was threatening to remove any appendage she could think of. "I swear to God Puckerman, if you and Rachel ever get your crap together I'm going to make sure that she never lets you touch her. Ever!"

He didn't miss the confused look that passed between the nurse and the doctor examining Quinn, but he just shook his head. "You want to talk about Rachel right now? Seriously?"

She almost growled. "It's either that or I rip off something valuable to you and shove it down your throat," she forced out between gritted teeth.

"Shit," he sighed, running his hand over his mohawk as he turned to the doctor. "Can you give her something for the pain? Maybe something that'll strike her speechless?"

Fabray popped him in the shoulder before the nurse could get out the disapproving words that were clearly on her lips. "I swear Puck I will kill you if you don't shut up."

The doctor looked up at the pair with a bemused smile. "Claws away kids; don't want your daughter to hear mom and dad shouting and keep that as her first experience on this planet." As she expected it promptly shut both of them up. "Now, as to you oddly worded request, Mr. Puckerman, I'm afraid it's too late for an epidural. This labor has progressed faster than I've seen in a long time, and as quick as a wink there'll be a baby in the room."

"Holy shit."

"Language," the nurse chided as she and the doctor pulled on new gloves.

Noah sat down hard on the chair next to the bed. "Sorry, it's just…. Holy shit."

Quinn seemed to agree, though her form of expression appeared to be running more towards a murmured prayer. Looking over at him she admitted the one thing that she always hated to with a whisper. "'I'm scared."

"I'd be more worried if you weren't I think. But hell, you had the balls to face down Sue Sylvester; a baby'll be a breeze."

She actually cracked a smile. "You are such a boy."

"Guilty," he said with that trademark smirk firmly in place. "But then you already know that."

Quinn's eyes rolled back in her head. "Way to ruin the moment Puck."

There was no time to respond as the doctor looked up at them. "You two ready to have a baby?"

Their eyes met briefly before she grabbed ahold of his hand with a fierce glint in her eyes. "I'm ready."

Back at the hotel, Rachel and the others were waiting anxiously for any news about Quinn and Puck. Their first place trophy and effective invitation to state was sitting on the desk in the guys' hotel room, where they had all taken up residence. They were thrilled by the win, but the arrival of the baby was effectively eclipsing pretty much everything else. They had tried to have a celebratory lunch but had just ended up taking their food to go and going back to gather together to talk and worry as a unit.

Rachel knew that Noah would call her as soon as he could, but it didn't stop her from glancing down at her cell every five seconds. It had been three and a half hours when she finally got up and put the thing across the room so she could just stare at it. She had barely made it back to the bed she had been sitting on with Brittany and Mike when Sweet Caroline blasted through the room.

With a rather undignified squeak she scrambled to her feet and bolted across the room, tripping over Santana's feet and being righted by Matt as she snatched the phone from the desk. "Noah?" she questioned breathlessly.

"She's here Berry," he said on the other line, sounding a bit shaky. "She's here and Jesus she's beautiful."

Her eyes closed contentedly as she heard the joy in his voice. "Congratulations, Noah. How's Quinn?"

He snorted. "Tired and sore and fawning all over her. She wants to get as much time with her as she can before…"

And there it was. The elephant in the room that they had all been trying to ignore; the fact that as soon as mom and baby were ready to leave the hospital the baby wouldn't be going with Quinn and Puck. Feeling her heart ache for him she tried her best to make him forget, if only for a second. "Well there's more good news," she told him. "We won. We're going to state."

There was a whoop on the other line, followed by a surprised squeal from Quinn in the background. "Epic! We totally deserved it. I hope you're celebrating."

Rachel shook her head. "We tried, but everyone just wanted to know what was going on with you guys, and now I'm being bombarded with random sign language asking when we can see the baby," she said with a laugh as Mike mimed rocking a child in his arms.

Another voice, presumably the doctor, chimed in and Noah came back to her. "You guys can stop by on your way back to Lima. I'm going to stay here with Quinn until she can come home; my mom and sister are driving over and getting a hotel room."

"I'll let everybody know," she said with a smile. "Congratulations, Noah."

"Thanks," he said quietly.

The message was certainly passed on, and everyone had their bags packed almost quicker than Emma could get a hold of the bus driver to let him know they were ready to leave. Luggage was loaded on as quickly as they possibly could, and they made it to the hospital only hours after the baby was born, and only an hour before the end of visiting hours.

Finn insisted on staying on the bus with the driver, but the rest of them piled out and into the waiting room. Mr. Schue tried to keep them as quiet as he could, but when Puck came out a cheer they couldn't contain rose up.

Rachel was the first to him, and after a bone crushing hug he brought her back to Quinn's room. The former Cheerio was looking tired and worn, but at the same time she seemed the happiest she had been in months. The tiny pink bundle in her arms completely held her attention until Rachel said hello.

"Hey Berry," she said with a tired smile. "I heard we won."

She nodded. "Yes, and it was a runaway win too. Can I see her?" she questioned hesitantly.

Quinn looked as if she was hesitating, but one look at Rachel told her she was ridiculous to worry; it must have been something about the mom instincts surging through her. "Of course."

She and Puck moved across the room and he bent to take the baby as Rachel took a seat next to the bed. "Hey there, gorgeous," he said quietly, beaming down at her. "This is Rachel, she's crazy but we like her anyway."

"Hey," she said, her eyes suddenly filling as he laid his daughter gently in her arms. "Hey, you really are gorgeous aren't you?" she asked, taking in her shock of dark hair and sleepy eyes. "Don't listen to your dad; I'm not crazy, just driven. You have no idea how much these two love you, little one."

Rachel knew that it wouldn't be fair to keep holding her for too long; not with her adoptive parents coming to get her in a matter of days. So she passed the baby back to Puck and stood up. Noah held the baby for a moment longer, and then leaned down to hand her back to Quinn. Rachel couldn't help but watch the interaction between the two of them, and a moment after he brushed a finger over his daughter's cheek his eyes caught Quinn's and held, and the look that passed between them made Rachel's heart clench. She knew that look, knew what was passing between them.

He still loved her.

Her revelation hurt more than anything ever had, but Rachel knew that there was nothing to be done now; not as the two of them introduced their daughter to the world and got to be with her for only days before they gave her up. So she put on a smiled and walked back out to the waiting room to send the next visitors in.

She didn't know how she did it, but she kept a smile on her face, managed to chat and coo over the baby, and actually made it to the bus without anyone noticing that anything was wrong. It was only after they started home and everyone else fell into an exhausted sleep that she leaned her head against the window and let herself cry.

Note From The Author—Okay, okay I suck, and I know it. But if you've ever read anything else I've written you know that I don't do the whole sad ending thing, so this is not the end for Rachel and Puck; in a lot of ways it's only the beginning. Hopefully I can get the new chapter up relatively soon, and there will be some resolution to the angst Rachel is feeling.