Author's Note:

I know this is a tad abrupt but I felt it was the right way to end the season one part of the story and start on the five-chapter epilogue section. Yes, this is the beginning of the end but I hope you still like it and thank you so much everyone who has reviewed and given me so much praise for this story. It just makes me sad that Will and Quinn never really had much interaction in the series, but that's Ryan Murphy's affair not mine! I would like to say at this point though that I've decided my favourite Quinn Fabray song is Saving All My Love for You, which she sings with Joe. Feel free to post any agreements/disagreements in reviews/PMs. I'd be overjoyed to hear other opinions!

DaenerysTargary3n

A year later…

O, lift me from the grass!
I die, I faint, I fall!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale,
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My Heart beats loud and fast
Oh! Press it close to thine again,

Where it will break at last!

~ I Arise From Dreams of Thee (P.B. Shelley)

"And the winner of this year's Nationals is…" the compere began, "New Directions from William McKinley High School, Lima, Ohio!"

Once they heard their group's name fall from the lips of the announcer, all of them erupted in cheers and shouts of glee upon knowing that they had actually won the biggest competition for glee choirs in the country. New York had been discovered by Quinn as she had pushed the pram with her adorable baby and boyfriend around the city. She had mentioned to Will that she could imagine living here one day soon if her Juilliard application were to be accepted and Will said yes to Shubert who had headhunted him for the post of Artistic Director for the Belasco Theatre, which was right on Broadway. All the two were waiting for was Juilliard, but as Quinn's grades and audition were up-to-par, it was really just a matter of waiting for mail.

As Will sat in the auditorium of another theatre on Broadway watching as the kids on whom he doted, amongst them his girlfriend, understood that they had won – and deserved to win – at Nationals, his attention was drawn to the small human being sitting on his lap.

Kayleigh had the makings of her mother's long blonde tresses but had hints of Puck's darkness in her complexion and eyes too. In short, she was a heartbreaker. She had started to walk but the young parents had so far had no success in getting her to utter her first words yet. So, when the little girl gobbled out the word 'mama' from her daddy's lap, he turned her around and stared at her in the face.

"What did you say, Kayleigh?" Will asked.

She just replied succinctly, "Mama," and pointed her chubby little index finger at where Quinn was standing onstage next to Kurt bouncing up and down with joy.

"My God," Will spluttered, "you are a clever girl! Yes, I knew you'd say mama first! Yeah, your mama has just won Nationals!"

Before Will could snuggle his daughter any more, Rachel and Finn had descended from the stage to bring him (and Kayleigh, who accompanied her father everywhere) back up onto the dais with them. Once they got up there, Will deposited his daughter into her mother's arms and accepted the grandiose trophy that Blaine extended to him.

As they all cheered and celebrated together back at the hotel, they all took turns in telling each other their favourite moments of their triumph. Will looked on as he cradled Kayleigh who was being more stubborn than usual and resisting sleep, and dwelt upon how this ragtag group of youngsters had truly bonded and worked together to achieve something magnificent which none of them would forget as long as they lived…he certainly wouldn't.

"Hey, Mr. Schue," Kurt hollered, "stop being a wallflower and come over here. We want to know your favourite moment of the show."

He nodded and walked over, slumping down into the chair that Sam pulled up for him and began his usual post-performance speech but since it was Nationals, he gave it a special touch.

"Well, before I get to that, I just want to tell you all while we're all here and happy that I am so, so proud of what you achieved tonight not just as performers but as people. It absolutely was the best way to bring this year's glee club activities to an end, particularly as it is the last year for some of you: Quinn, Mercedes, Finn, Puck, Artie, Rachel, Kurt, Tina, Mike. The way you've all come together and supported each other over the past two years since New Directions got started has inspired me. After everything you've been through: being attacked, having a baby, giving up a baby, coming out, accepting who you are, potential cosmetic surgery, angry parents and all the rest of it, it is amazing that you've survived and all of you have really become a unit and a family. You are all special and yes, I know how cliché that sounds, but it's true. I could go through the group one by one and tell you just what makes you you but I won't because I don't need to. You know your strengths and your weaknesses but most importantly, you now know that there's a whole group of friends at your back to support and care about you…always."

Usually, it was Mr. Schuester who led the crying in an emotional glee moment but in this case, he surprisingly remained dry-eyed whilst everyone else (including Noah Puckerman!) had teary eyes.

Quinn rose unexpectedly and beckoned for Finn to join her before she said clearly, "Mr. Schue, all that you've said is true but you've left out one important – in fact, the most important – person in all of that: you. I know I speak for everyone here when I say that the way you care and help us is amazing and we all really appreciate it and love you for it. I say this not only as your student, the former captain of the Cheerios and bitch queen of McKinley High, but also as the girl you took in and helped recover from something that should have destroyed me. You are a great teacher, a great man and a great father to Kayleigh and I'm, we're so lucky to have you in our lives."

"So," Finn carried on after Quinn, "we'd like to give you this to say thank you."

Will did not know quite what was happening as he beheld the young man striding towards him with a wrapped packet in his hand. When Finn reached him, he angled his hand around Kayleigh, who had finally surrendered to sleep, and unwrapped the gift carefully. Once the treasure hidden underneath the paper was uncovered, he had to choke back the tears. It was a black photo frame with a black and white image of New Directions they had posed for which was for the yearbook. On the rims of the frame in silver and gold, each member of the club who was graduating had signed their name.

"I truly am speechless, guys," he mumbled, "this is the perfect gift; the second best I've ever received, which brings me back to my favourite moment of the showcase. Firstly, I thought it was going to be Rachel and Finn's duet. The audience, myself included and I've heard it God knows how many times, was enraptured. It really was a brilliantly written song, Quinn. Though something happened when the winner was announced that made that my favourite moment of the evening."

"What happened?" Santana asked, unable to recall anything especially notable about that moment that hadn't already been said.

"Kayleigh said her first word. She said mama."

"What?!" Quinn interjected before Will had finished speaking, both making her friends turn their heads towards her and her daughter wake up.

She sped over to where Will was sitting, now attempting to soothe a crying one year old but in vain, and lifted Kayleigh out of his embrace and up into her own arms.

"Kayleigh, can you speak for me, sweetie? Can you say mama?" Quinn asked hopefully.

After a few seconds of whimpering and groaning at being so violently roused, the small child gurgled, "Mama," before placing her head on her mother's shoulder to use as a pillow on which she was desperately trying to go back to sleep.

As their friends cooed and congratulated around them, Quinn and Will gazed at each other longingly and silently decided to spend the rest of their evening as a family.

"Hey guys, I'm going to take Kayleigh up now," Quinn said quietly, patting the dozy child on the back, "so I'll say goodnight and see you tomorrow."

Will tacked on, "I'll come with you, Quinn. I'm too old to be up this late anyway. So night, guys and have fun – you deserve it – but not too much!"

So the parents left the party and walked upstairs together, being careful about not touching each other too intimately before they were in the safety of the suite Will had conscientiously reserved for the three of them.

Once they were enclosed in the elevator, Quinn turned to Will and murmured, "If we put Kayleigh down and it doesn't take too long for her to settle, I think…tonight's the night. I just feel like I can do anything after the show tonight."

"Really? Tonight? Are you sure, because I don't want to pressure you? You can take more time if you need or want it, Quinn." Will replied just as softly.

She shook her head, knowing that she was finally, after a year of abstinence and waiting, ready to make love to Will properly again. In the aftermath of her delivery, it had taken her four months to feel physically ready to have sex with Will again but the acknowledgment of that preparedness had led to a night of flashbacks to the night of her rape and a nasty bruise on Will's cheek. Needless to say, it had been an overwhelming catastrophe. Since then they had restrained themselves but about six months ago they had discovered that Quinn did not lose her mind when they performed other acts of love so their libidos did not go unfulfilled but both longed for that complete satisfaction that came with real making love.

"Very well, but let's take it slow. I want to relearn every inch of your body in all of its post-Nationals glory."

Quinn blushed at the thought of what he would do to her once their child was abed and what she would do to him in turn. She was just expecting to go into their room and put Kayleigh to bed before tumbling into bed together, but when Will unlocked their room and the door was ajar, the sight before her promised different – equally as wonderful – things.

"What's all this?" She asked as she drank in the sight of their suite bedecked in roses and scattered with candles.

"Well, while you guys were getting changed, I called the hotel concierge and told him to do the room up to say well done and congratulations to my girlfriend, whom I love more than life itself. I didn't expect that this night would be memorable thrice over, Quinn. First because of Nationals, then Kayleigh's first word and because we're going to make love for the first time since she was born. It's an amazing night."

"I agree and thank you, Will, for doing so much for us. I don't deserve all of this but I am glad that I have you and Kayleigh because I love you so much."

As they kissed, Quinn tried to deepen their contact and bring Will in as close as he could be, but the sleeping girl in her arms was keeping them apart. It was a painful parting and although both adults adored their baby, in that moment, they needed to be touching each other everywhere without a sleeping babe between them.

Once Quinn had placed Kayleigh into her hotel cot, she tugged Will back to her as she tried to bring them both into their bedroom with its luxurious queen-sized bed. It was a difficult endeavour but once Quinn had pushed Will onto the bed, straddling him, she had his whole form to please her and she would most certainly return the favour.

"Are you ready because I can't wait to have you, my love?" Will uttered breathlessly.

Quinn tried to nod as she suckled on Will's neck, working on the pulse point that made him shiver and his toes curl. She couldn't wait to give him pleasure and to feel his naked muscles ripple beneath her fingers so she ripped his shirt, not caring a jot about ruining it. As she kissed her way further south, making an erotic journey across his pecs and down the shallow valley of his chest to his abdomen, her deft fingers worked at shedding him of his trousers and boxers. Thus, when her mouth reached his nether region, she popped her lips around his cock and sheathed him in her mouth. She kissed and sucked and caressed his member with her tongue, all the while listening to his groans escalate and reacting to the increasingly fast bucking of his hips, until he came and she swallowed his comings willingly.

Quinn planted a chaste kiss on his lips and rolled off him, satisfied that she had thanked her boyfriend for everything he had given her over the past two years of her life.

Although he was spent for the time being, Will remembered his original plan for after the club celebrations with Quinn and reached out for his bedside table drawer where he had stashed something he wanted to present to Quinn on this auspicious evening.

"Quinn, I've got something for you and I hope you like it," Will said as he turned back to face her and opened the black velvet box, "it's a promise ring."

"It's beautiful! Oh, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I love it!"

Will smiled and removed the band with the solitary diamond heart at its core, being careful to put it on her ring finger with the apex of the heart pointing towards her body. He kissed the jewel tenderly as it covered her skin gorgeously as he hoped it would for their entire lives.

"I'm not going to ask you to marry me, Quinn. I think we're past that point and we've outgrown the type of relationship that needs that question. Instead I'm just going to tell you that I love you and I want you to be with me until the day I die. This ring doesn't only symbolise my love for you and how much you mean to me but also signifies the power that you have over me and that you accept it and that I am the man you want in life and love. So, do you agree to that, swee"Youtheart?"

She leaned in and kissed him, swirling her tongue around his mouth, thanking him with every tender lick and suck for being the man he was. He reciprocated by telling her she was the lifeblood in his veins and the one woman who made him feel young as he battled with her for domination of the kiss.

"You are mine, Will Schuester, and don't you forget it," Quinn responded, "but enough words, baby. Just make love to me."

Will laughed, "You will never have to ask me twice."

With that said, Will stripped her swiftly of her clothes, flinging everything haphazardly around the room, until she was completely and stunningly nude before him. His lips never wanted to leave her intoxicating flesh and he kissed her passionately on her collarbone (her most erogenous place, which he knew as she knew his own), sucking hard and leaving a red mark on her alabaster skin. He wasn't usually permitted to leave hickies but he couldn't help but mark her to prove his passion for her that night.

Quinn fisted her hand into his permed hair, gripping at the locks she could pushing Will closer to her body so she could feel him breathe against her and even feel his heart beat against her stomach. As her yearning for her lover's body grew, she recalled him saying in the elevator that he wanted to take their lovemaking slowly and steadily but in the light of recent events, she couldn't stand that idea. He had already had one release, but she didn't think she would be able to wait for theirs to come after an elongated fuck.

"Don't make love to me slowly, Will," she whispered in want, "just fuck me."

"Sure?"

"Yes, I won't break, I promise." Quinn garbled out, the warmth pooling in her groin.

Will gripped her hips and plunged between them, filling her exquisitely and causing her to exhale in desire. As he rocked into her hips, setting an unforgiving rhythm that he knew would keep their passion short but intense. After a few thrusts, he hit a spot that made Quinn shudder and squirm, so he aimed for that exact place over and over and over again as he fucked her. Each time his tip came into contact with her g-spot, her shouts of pleasure grew louder and her muscles contracted all over her toned body. Neither lasted long afterwards and minutes later, both came together with a resounding cry that bounced off the walls but fortunately did not rouse their sleeping daughter. That and pretty much accepting they were engaged was what made the renewal of their lovemaking memorable for the ecstatic couple.