A loud cheer erupts from the auditorium as they officially graduate, but it doesn't matter to him. Quinn, his beautiful girlfriend of two years, is crying as she tries to explain why she's been so weird over the last two weeks.

"Babe, what's wrong?" he asks, his brows furrowed.

"I'm pregnant. Two months pregnant. Oh god, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen", she whispers, her voice breaking.

His heart sinks in his chest. Two months ago, he and Quinn were in a major fight. They were barely speaking to each other, let alone having sex. His girlfriend is pregnant but he's not the father.

"I was mad at you so I went out with Santana to this stupid bar that doesn't check ID. She left early because Britt called her and said that she wanted to watch a scary movie. Santana invited me too but my drink was still full and I just wasn't in the mood for a horror movie. There was this guy who bought me a few more drinks, and he seemed really nice. He kissed me and I didn't stop to think about it – I just kissed him back and when he offered to take me home, I said yes. My parents were out for the night and I just didn't want to be alone, so I said yes. I'm so sorry Puck; I didn't know I would get pregnant... I had hoped that I would never have to talk about him... I had hoped that I could forget it ever happened. Please, I'm so sorry, don't leave me. Please"

"I can't look at you right now Quinn", he whispers, as more loud noises drift out of the auditorium. He's fairly sure he can hear Santana and Brittany screaming with joy.

"Please, you can't leave me", she screams after him as he walks away.

(He tries to ignore that stabbing feeling in his chest but he just can't).

Santana's the one who tracks him down. Before she started dating Matt, she was him in female form, so she knows all of his hangouts, and even knows never to show up empty handed when he's angry.

"Puck, I just heard. I'm really sorry", she says softly, handing her a bag of food that she picked up on her way to find him.

"I don't need your pity Satan", he hisses, his eyes bloodshot and his hands trembling as he reaches to pick up his drink.

"It's not pity Puck. It's concern. I'm worried about you. You haven't spoken to any of us in three days, and Quinn's been crying her eyes out, and Brittany's been trying to comfort her even though the bitch doesn't deserve it, and Mike and Matt have been looking for you but they had no idea where you went, and you're my friend, so I couldn't just leave you".

"I thought she was the person I'd spend the rest of my life with. I've done nothing but support her for the last two years and this is how she repays me. I can't even think about her without feeling sick and I have no idea where to go from here", he says softly, his eyes avoiding Santana's.

"She made a mistake Puck. She slept with someone else and lied about it. In the grand scheme of things, it was a huge mistake. We all know that, her most of all. She's still sitting in your apartment though. She hasn't tried to run away and she hasn't gone to that guy and told him that he's going to be a father. Shetold you. She loves you. She wants you to be the father. She made a huge mistake Puck, there's no denying that, but she's still Quinn. She's still the girl you're head over heels in love with. That's why this hurts so much. She's still Quinn", Santana replies, before patting him awkwardly on the back and walking out of the bar, instinctively knowing that he needs time to think.

(His minds already made up though. He's going back).

There's no denying that it's tough. She cries delicate tears that turn into full blown sobs, and often dissolve into hysteria. She's paranoid that he's going to leave, or that he's going to cheat on her so that she'll feel the same way he feels.

He slams doors and doesn't talk to her for hours at a time. He can't look at her without wanting to throw something, but he can't leave because she's Quinn. They're slowly tearing each other apart, and their friends can do nothing but watch on helplessly.

The only thing keeping them together is the baby. He's always wanted to be a father, and as Matt tells him one night, a father isn't necessarily the person who created you; it's the person who raised you. He's determined to be a good dad to the baby and make none of the mistakes his own dad made when he left them.

They're surviving until something comes along and shatters them.

Quinn's four months pregnant. She's moody and depressed because she was supposed to be starting university but instead, she's the size of a whale and waddling everywhere.

She's angry at Brittany for pursuing her dancing dreams; angry at Mike for finding a job doing something he loves; angry at Santana and Matt for finding an apprenticeship at a local law firm. She's mad at him because he has a job in a tattoo parlour and she's stuck in their crappy apartment all day.

She tells him that she's putting the baby up for adoption on a Tuesday night and that nothing he says will change her mind. He packs his bags and leaves the next morning.

Matt and Mike let him move in with them, and he appreciates it. He really, really does. Their apartment is down the hall from Santana and Brittany's, and he likes being close to his friends.

He just doesn't like being close to Quinn, whose staying with Santana and Brittany.

He sees her in the mornings when he's leaving for work, and he sees her after work as she comes back from shopping, and doctor appointments and coffee with Santana and Brittany. She's there all the time, looking at him with sad eyes, just begging him to talk to her.

So he goes over to her one day after work and asks her if they can talk. He says that he can't forgive her for cheating on him and lying about it. He says he can't forgive her for wanting to put their baby up for adoption. She sticks the knife in a little further by saying that it's not his baby and that he has no say. He says that they're over, and she sniffles but doesn't cry.

"I'm moving back in with my mum and dad so you don't have to worry about seeing me around. I'll stay with them until the baby is born, and then I'm moving to Chicago. I've won an internship in a newspaper there, so I won't be coming back"

He just nods, his head reeling from all the information she's given him in the last couple of minutes. "Good luck with everything Quinn", he whispers when he regains his voice.

"Thank you for everything Puck. There's a part of me that will always love you, and even though you probably won't believe me, I really am sorry for everything I've done"

He walks away without a word because he doesn't know what to say to the girl who's taken everything he knew and shattered it without a second thought.

(She leaves three hours later).

He sleeps around and drinks a lot. He picks up as many shifts as possible, and avoids his friends as much as possible, only talking to Mike and Matt when he can't avoid them in the apartment. He knows that he's pissing off Santana and upsetting Brittany, but he can't bring himself to care. Caring always ends up with him in pain.

On the one year anniversary of Quinn leaving, he gets a phone call from a hysterical Santana, ordering him to get to the hospital immediately.

"Brittany fell off the stage at dance rehearsals. Some idiot hadn't dried the stage properly and she fell, and they rushed her to hospital, and we've been here for hours, and she shattered her knee and she's never going to be able to dance again", Santana sobs, barely stopping to breathe as she gets more and more hysterical.

He hangs up the phone without saying anything (he's never been good with crying girls) and jumps into the shower.

(He's at the hospital within the hour).

Brittany's released from hospital after a week, but she's only a shadow of her former self. She doesn't laugh or tell them little anecdotes about her day and she's always tired.

He sees Santana watching her with concern, her eyes tracking her best friend at all times. He sees Matt worrying about Santana, who loses weight because she's so worried about her best friend. He sees Mike slowly losing his excitement over every little thing in his life as he watches his girlfriend drift further and further away from him.

He realizes that this can't go on any longer when he overhears a conversation between Matt and Santana.

"Santana, you have to start eating properly. I know you're stressed about Brittany – we all are – but you're killing yourself. You have to stop doing this", Matt whispers to his girlfriend one evening while the rest of them are sitting in front of the television.

"She's my best friend Matt; I'm allowed to be worried about her. Dancing was her whole life and she can't do it anymore. She's lost part of herself and that means I've lost part of myself and I just can't deal with it".

"Watching you waste away is killing me Santana. It's bad enough that Brittany is fading away, and it's awful watching Mike lose everything that made him Mike but I can't lose you. I just can't", he whispers, stroking her hair away from her face.

"I've already lost Puck. I can't lose Brittany too. I am going to do everything in my power to get my best friend back, even if that pisses you off", she hisses, misinterpreting Matt's concern for an order to back away from Brittany.

"Santana..." he calls as she walks away from him, but she doesn't reply, merely slamming the apartment door behind her.

(He never realized he was hurting his friends).

He talks to Brittany the next day. Matt, Mike and Santana are at work so he sits next to her on the couch and tells her to pull her head out of her ass.

"You need to pull your head out of your ass Britt. Santana's freaking out, Mike's going insane and Matt's trying to hold everyone together but they just don't work without you", he tells the blonde bluntly (he's never had any tact).

She turns to look at him, a ferocious glare on her face, and he's a little scared. Brittany never gets angry. "I need to pull my head out of my ass? You fucking hypocrite", she screeches, her eyes wild. "You've been moping around this apartment for a whole year because Quinn left you. She's a bitch Puck, and you deserve so much better, but you've still been moping around. She's on her way to becoming a journalist and all you have to show for the last year is an indent in the couch from your ass, because you've haven't moved for the last twelve months!"

"Britt, calm down", he says softly, in an attempt not to spook her.

"I will not calm down! You have no idea what I've lost. I was supposed to be a dancer; it's all I've ever wanted, and because some idiot couldn't dry the stage, I can't achieve my dream! Everything I've worked for is for nothing", she whispers, breaking down in tears at the end of her sentence.

"Britt, you are more than just a dancer. You have Mike, and he loves you so much. He'd give up anything to be with you, and at the moment, he's slowly losing his mind because he's so concerned. You have Matt, whose trying to hold Santana and Mike together while trying to give you space because he considers you the closest thing he has to a sister. You have Santana. She's your soul mate Britt and she's not eating or sleeping properly because she's so worried about you", he tells the crying girl as he wraps her up into a hug. "And you have me".

At this, Brittany looks up, her eyes wide and confused.

"It's not fair for me to put you guys through this much crap. The four of you are my family, and I should have remembered that. You would have helped me through everything, and I'm finally ready to take you up on that offer".

"Of course we'll take care of you Puck. That's all we've wanted to do for the last year, but you've been pushing us away. It made me really sad", Brittany says quietly, her eyes trained on Puck's.

"You guys can take care of me if you'll let us take care of you Britt".

"Deal", she whispers, shaking his outstretched hand, before standing up and pulling him to his feet. "Now, we're going to make a really nice dinner for San, Mike and Matt to say sorry", she orders.

They brush things under the rug after that, and choose to pretend that the bad things never happened. Brittany smiles and regains her enthusiasm, and he stops sleeping around, and becomes more dedicated to his job, not stopping until he's one of the best tattoo artists in the place.

Santana convinces Brittany to go to university for a degree in dance so that she can teach at the same studio as Mike, and Britt agrees because she always agrees with whatever Santana deems a good idea.

Mike helps her edit together a montage of all her dance performances so that the university knows how she used to dance. Santana helps her buy new clothes and new stationary because Britt wants this to be a fresh start. Matt looks for a bigger apartment because Santana will be moving in with them now that Brittany has announced she wants to live in the dorm (he's grateful because he's so tired of sleeping on the couch). He helps Brittany pack all her boxes and buy new furniture for the dorm room.

(They all pretend they don't notice Brittany's tears when she sees her dance video).

His phone rings one morning, waking him up from his nap on the couch. He doesn't recognise the number but he answers anyway, thinking it might be one of the girls he gave his number to months ago.

"Puck... it's Quinn".

"What do you want Quinn?" he asks softly. Every few months, she gets drunk and calls him, gushing about how sorry she is and how much she wishes things were different.

"I'm so, so sorry Puck. Our baby would have been so beautiful and you would have been the best father ever. I didn't realize what I was doing Puck but if I could go back in time and change what I did, I would"

"Quinn, I get the same phone call from you every couple of months. Your drunk and you won't remember this phone call in the morning. Just... hang up now before you embarrass yourself, ok?"

"This times different Puck, I promise"

"You promised the same thing the last three times you called Quinn. I'm tired of hearing from you; I'm tired of not being able to move on because you won't let me. Just... you have to drop it Quinn... you have to let go of us, and you have to let me let go too".

"I can't do that. I've booked my flight home and I'm coming to see you. I miss San and Britt and Mike and Matt and I miss you most of all. I miss you guys... I left my family and I want to come home", she whispers, her voice filled with tears.

"You have no idea what's been going on in our lives. Brittany shattered her knee and she'll never be able to dance again. Santana's losing her mind worrying about her best friend, because no matter how hard Brittany tries to smile, there's always this little bit of pain in her eyes. Matt spends most of his time trying to hold us all together, because I'm generally drunk, Santana's generally pissed at me or worried about Brittany, Brittany's trying to smile even though she can't dance and Mike spends most of his time silent because he doesn't want to upset Britt by talking about dancing", he hisses down the phone.

"Well, I'm coming home and you can bring me up to speed on everything that's happened".

"Quinn, don't you dare come back here. You've hurt us all enough already", he says down the phone line but it's too late. She's already hung up.

(He sends a text message to everyone, letting them know that Quinn might be on her way home).

He gets drunk on the second anniversary of Quinn leaving. He promised Santana that he would make an appearance at NYU to help Brittany settle in, but he just couldn't stomach it.

He asks Matt to lie and say that he's at work because he can't cope with an angry Santana at the moment. It's hard enough dealing with an angry Santana at the best of times, but when he's drunk, her voice gets louder and she ends up practically screeching and he can never find the right words to calm her down.

She finds out anyway, because she's Santana and she always knows everything. She texts him at about 5pm, and he can already tell that she's pissed off.

Satan [5.05pm] Brittany's settled in. Her roommate seems okay. We're going out for drinks. Have fun at "work" Puck.

Satan [5.09pm] You promised that you'd be here for this.

Satan [5.11pm] Don't ever make Matt lie to me again or I'll castrate you when you're sleeping.

Satan [5.30pm] Brittany just asked me why you weren't here. Do you enjoy being such a douche?

Fuck. He's in trouble.

Matt [5.32pm] Santana's pissed. Sober yourself up now and come up with a good excuse. I'm in the dog house now, so don't you dare dob me in.

Matt [5.40pm] If you aren't too drunk, get down to the bar now. Maybe you can start trying to get back into her good books early.

(He goes to the bar because he needs to make Satan less angry. He smiles at Brittany and buys Santana drinks, and he's a total douche to Matt, for being a shit liar; Mike, for not standing up for him and Britt's new roommate, because she shouldn't be there).

He wakes up the next morning, hung over and pissed off because someone's knocking at his door. A quick look at his clock tells him its 4pm, but he's still annoyed because all that knocking is giving him a headache.

He opens the door, ready to tell whoever's there to go to hell, but he loses his voice.

Quinn's standing there in all her glory. Her hairs curling around her face and her eyes are sparkling and there's a small smile playing at her lips, and good god, he remembers why he loved her so much.

(She's been gone for two years, but she's pulled him straight back in already).