Noah Puckerman sat in the empty waiting room snoring softly. Five hours ago he had became a father.
An announcement from the loudspeaker woke the boy up abruptly. He blinked his eyes open slowly, the room gradually coming into focus. The clock read 10pm. Puck stretched out his arms and yawned.
As his arm hit the chair next to him he realized that said chair was unoccupied. He distinctly remembered a tiny brunette sitting there before he fell asleep, and he vaguely recalled Rachel going to the bathroom, but that was like, two hours ago. He lifted himself up and out of the chair and groggily walked to the front desk.
"Excuse me, but did you happen to see a tiny girl, brown hair, about yay high, probably talking really fast?"
"About two hours ago I saw her go into the elevator. I haven't seen her since then though."
Rachel must have gone to see Quinn. Where else would she be? Something was up, and he was determined to find out.
"Okay… well can you tell me what room Quinn Fabray is staying in?"
The woman looked at him and nodded, immediately checking her computer.
"301 in the ICU."
Puck looked at her impatiently.
"Where is that exactly?"
"Take the elevator to the third floor and go to the end of the hall. It'll be the fifth door on your left."
"Thanks," he said and practically ran to the elevator, energized at the prospect of seeing Quinn.
He stood in the elevator, his foot tapping to the beat of the crappy music filling the small space. When the doors opened, he was greeted with the sight of a creepily empty hallway.
It reminded him of a scene out of the Grudge or something. Not that he was scared or anything. The Puckasaurus was never scared. Ever.
The sound of his dress shoes hitting the tiled floor echoed through the hallway as he counted the doors. Finally he reached the room. Suddenly, his stomach flipped and his heart began pounding faster. He prayed no one could hear it because the sound was ringing in his ears.
He nodded and reached for the handle, opening the door quietly so he wouldn't wake Quinn.
Except Quinn wasn't alone.
Quinn Fabray was sleeping soundly in Rachel Berry's arms. He rubbed his eyes, convinced it was a mirage or something. He was exhausted after all. When he opened his eyes and saw the same thing as before his mouth hung open in shock.
He looked at the blonde's face more carefully. It was serene, soft, void of any stress. She was beautiful. Her chest rose and fell gently, her breath barely audible. Blonde hair was splayed onto the pillow, glistening in the fluorescent lights.
His heart skipped a beat as his eyes gravitated towards the girl's eyes, her nose, and finally her lips.
Quinn was special. She wasn't just another hookup for him. She was so much more.
His eyes landed upon the brunette holding Quinn. The girl's brown hair fell near Quinn's shoulders, and Quinn's face was buried in Rachel's neck.
Rachel's expression was identical to Quinn's, serene, calm, content. They seemed to fit perfectly together. A surge of jealousy took over the boy. He had never done that with Quinn, even after they had done it.
-/-
"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked softly as the girl threw on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, the sunlight reflecting off of her hair.
She shook her head and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail.
Noah sat up in the bed, the covers concealing his body, and gazed at the girl getting dressed. Quinn made him feel better than any other girl he'd done it with. She was different.
"You need to leave," she said, her voice void of emotion.
"What-wait, I mean, we could just sleep for a little while," he stammered, looking at the clock. "It's only like seven a.m. We still have some time."
He patted the bed and smiled softly at the blonde as he tried to coerce her to come back to bed.
"My parents will be home in an hour. I'd prefer it if you were gone by then."
Puck felt the sting of the rejection, but he swallowed his pride and got out of the bed.
He threw his jeans back on before slowly walked over the girl staring at herself in the mirror. As he went to stroke her arm with his hand, she jerked away.
"Don't touch me," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.
Puck wanted to make the tears stop.
"Quinn, please I'm sorry…"
"Please, just go."
So the boy listened. He left the girl alone in her room, oblivious to the fact that once he was gone, the girl cried into her pillow for the entire day, claiming to her parents that she had the flu.
-/-
Puck stared at the girls lying in the hospital bed, envious of what they seemed to have. Quinn was supposed to be his. He had taken her virginity. She was the mother of his child. That was a bond no one could take from him.
Screw Rachel.
He cleared his throat loudly, causing the brunette to stir slightly. Once she opened her eyes and saw Puck standing at the doorway, she practically fell out of the bed.
"Noah, I didn't realize you were here. I must have fallen asleep," she glanced out the darkened window, "What time is it anyway?"
"10:15," he answered shortly.
"Oh," she said as she fixed her hair.
"What are you doing here? I thought you went to the bathroom or something."
"Well, I used the restroom down the hall," she gestured towards the door, "and saw Quinn's room on my way back to the elevator. I needed to see that she was okay."
"So you just stayed here for two hours while I sat in the waiting room counting down the seconds until I could see her? What the hell, Rachel?"
"Shh, please be quiet, Noah. You might wake her, and she's in a lot of pain."
Puck scoffed at her.
"Why do you care, huh? Quinn hates you. When are you going to accept that?"
Rachel froze, her eyes suddenly glued to the floor.
"Listen, Rachel. I'm- I'm in love with Quinn, okay? Whatever you're doing you need to put an end to it. Do you have a crush on her or something, because while that's super hot it's also super inconvenient."
"I-I," she stammered, unable to finish her sentence.
She literally was at a loss for words. Puck's eyes widened with hurt.
"You like her. Yeah, that's why you didn't go home with the rest of the club. Let me set the record straight. Quinn slept with me. Quinn had mybaby. When are you going to understand that Quinn is in love with me too?" he spat.
"Is that what you say to help you sleep at night?"
Puck was fuming now, his voice growing into something much louder than Rachel's whispers. Before he could retaliate, the blonde in the bed stirred slightly.
"Rachel," Quinn mumbled as she rolled over onto her stomach.
Puck's heart stopped.
The pair stared at Quinn as she sleepily felt the empty space next to her. Quinn's eyes opened abruptly. She looked anxiously for the brunette, but once she found her she smiled groggily.
"Hey," she said softly.
Rachel smiled too, but not completely. Quinn was puzzled by the look until she saw that Puck was standing at the foot of the bed. Her face froze momentarily, but she immediately composed herself.
"Hey, Puck," she greeted and motioned for him to come closer to her.
He walked over slowly to the bed, leaning down to a light kiss on her forehead. Quinn winced at the kiss, but Noah thought the movement was Quinn leaning into it so he held on for a little longer.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I've been better," she replied and looked over at Rachel who was wringing her hands, obviously embarrassed by something that Quinn couldn't put her finger on.
"You okay, Rachel?" she asked.
Rachel didn't respond for a few seconds. Quinn looked at her expectantly.
"I am fine, Quinn. If you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom."
With that Rachel hurried out of the room, leaving the blonde alone with Puck. She looked up at him and she gestured for the boy to sit down in the chair next to the bed.
He looked behind him to make sure Rachel was gone before he began.
"She likes you, you know," he said quietly.
"I think we need to talk," Quinn said.
"Quinn, Rachel likesyou," he repeated with more emphasis on the word like.
Quinn evaded his stare, looked down at her hands, and sighed.
"We're friends now, Puck."
"Since when?" he asked incredulously.
Before she could answer his question, the doctor walked in, chart in hand.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
Quinn shook her head.
"Is something wrong?" she asked worriedly.
The man shook his head.
"No, everything is fine. Your daughter is in the pediatric intensive care unit. We've been closely monitoring her heart rate as well as her breathing and both have been stabilized. She's on a ventilator at the moment, but in a few weeks we'll gradually take her off of the support. Her lungs and heart are still very underdeveloped. From the looks of it, it'll be at least a few weeks until she can be released. Were you two thinking of adoption?"
Puck looked at Quinn for the answer to his question. Her eyes were trained on the doctor.
"When can I see her?"
"Now, if you're up to it. I can get a wheel chair for you and perhaps this gentleman could accompany you?"
Quinn looked anxiously at the door for Rachel.
"That sounds fine," she said neutrally.
The doctor left for a few moments, neither teen saying a word. He came back with a blue wheel chair.
Puck and the doctor helped Quinn into the chair. Quinn flinched at the movement as she felt a sharp pain from her stomach. Puck wheeled her to the elevator and as he pushed her in he saw Rachel at the end of the hallway. He glared at her as the doors shut.
"Are you ready?" he asked Quinn quietly.
She nodded slowly and the doors opened to their floor. The wheels glided over the freshly mopped floor of the ICU. The hallway seemed to be three miles long.
Finally, they stopped at a large clear window. Quinn craned her neck upward, but she couldn't see anything.
"Help me up," she ordered Puck.
Puck wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up into a standing position. He felt her wince in pain.
"You okay, babe?" he asked, truly worried about her condition.
Quinn nodded and gazed through the window, her eyes frantically searching for her child, her baby girl. Then she saw her, a tiny infant wrapped in a light pink blanket and dressed in a matching pink hat. She laid in an incubator with the name Fabray written on it. She was beautiful, despite the ventilator covering her tiny lips. Her little hands were concealed by pink mittens.
Quinn gasped, and Puck felt her shudder. He held her and looked at his daughter. She was beautiful, breathtakingly so, and had Quinn's nose, Quinn's perfect little nose. His vision became cloudy as his eyes filled with tears and his heart swelled at the sight of his baby girl. There was no way he could give her away. A tear fell from his eyes.
"She's beautiful," he breathed into Quinn's ear, causing the girl to shiver.
She nodded, her eyes still fixated upon the infant in the clear bucket.
"Quinn, I need to tell you something," the boy whispered
Quinn was taken aback and simply nodded for him to continue, worried about what he was about to say. He had a nervous look on his face, a look she had only seen once before and that was when he had asked to stay a little longer after they had conceived the child they were admiring.
"I'm so sorry for doing this to you, Quinn. This is all my fault."
Quinn opened her mouth to respond but Puck beat her to it.
"I know that I act like I don't care about you and that I'd rather spend my time sexting with other cheerleaders or playing video games, but the truth is I really like you, and I wasn't lying when I said that you weren't just another random girl I hooked up with. I-I think I'm in love with you."
Puck looked at the blonde nervously, trying desperately to read her expression, but her face was frozen, her hazel eyes wide in shock.
"I-I don't know what to say," she breathed.
"Say you want to keep the baby. Quinn, I'll be a good dad. I can promise you that. I'll take care of you and our baby girl, always. I promise you I will never hurt you or our baby girl."
"But you already did, Noah," Quinn interrupted. "The last time you told me all of these things, a day later you were off sexting my best friend. And this entire time I've been living at your house, you've barely even looked at me. I've never felt so alone in my entire life. At least Finn had the decency to get a job, and talk to me, and hold me when I cried, and get me the food I craved no questions asked. You ignored me, Noah."
Noah looked down in shame.
"I know I was a douche bag, but please Quinn I'll do better this time. I'll get a real job and try in school and all that shit. Give me a shot, Quinn."
Quinn sighed and covered her face with her hands. Puck looked at her expectantly.
He leaned over and pried her hands off of her face to look deeply into her eyes. They were swirling with guilt.
"I can't do this," she whispered.
"Yes, Quinn, you can do this. We can do this. We can be a family."
Quinn shook her head and gazed up into his desperate eyes.
"It's Rachel, isn't it?" he said brokenly.
Quinn's eyes widened.
"Why would you say something like that?"
"Come on, Quinn, I'm not stupid. I went to go find Rachel and came to your room. You two were sleeping together, in the same bed, under the blankets. What's going on, Quinn?"
He let her down, helped her back into the wheel chair, and stared into her eyes.
"I-I like her."
Puck released the breath of air he had been holding.
"I'm such an idiot," he mumbled.
"No, Puck you're not an idiot," Quinn said reassuringly as she held his hand. "I shouldn't have led you on like I did. I've liked her for a while now, but I haven't had the guts to actually tell anyone, well except Kurt and now you."
Puck's stomach turned and he tried to blink the tears back and prevent them from falling. He would never be good enough for Quinn. There was no use in even trying now. Quinn didn't love him.
"You never even liked me, did you?"
Quinn hesitated slightly.
"I thought I did, Puck, I really did. You said I looked hot when I was bloated and PMSing and Finn was too busy drooling over Rachel to care. You made me feel good about myself, but only for a little while," she paused for a moment. "Do you really think you love me?"
Puck looked at his daughter through the clear glass. He watched her eyelids flutter and her tiny chest rise and fall. He raised his hand and placed it softly on the window.
She was beautiful, just like her mother.
His hand remained on the glass as he spoke softly.
"I'll always love you, Quinn, even if you like Rachel, or Finn, or Artie or whoever. For me, it's always been you. It will always be you."
With that he turned away from the window and walked towards the elevator, tears falling down his face.
As he turned the corner and flew the door to the men's room open, a petite brunette watched from a far, not needing to know what Quinn said to understand what was going on. Her eyes gazed over at Quinn's back and noticed how her blonde hair fell perfectly over her shoulders. She smiled softly, admiring the girl in the wheel chair. Somehow, Rachel sensed that Quinn was upset still, that something other than Noah was on her mind. Maybe it was her sixth sense. Maybe it was her keen attention to detail. Maybe it was love.