A/N: Dude, I am so fired. I'm sorry about the lack of updates. To make up for it I will post another chapter tomorrow! Remember to read and review!
Puck and Rachel sat across from Dr. Nelson as they awaited the results from Puck's bone marrow test. Thank God he didn't make them wait long.
"Mr. Puckerman, I'm sorry, but your marrow isn't a match." Dr. Nelson set down the paperwork he'd been reading over. "Do either of you have any other children that we might be able to have tested?"
"I do." Puck sighed. "I had a daughter when I was sixteen. She'd be about eight now, but we gave her up for adoption."
Dr. Nelson nodded. "Do you know anything about the adoptive parents or what type of an adoption it was? Because I highly recommend that you contact the adoptive parents to see if they will allow her to be tested."
Rachel laughed, a bitter bark of sound. "Yeah, it was my biological mother that adopted Beth." Rachel shook her head. "I haven't heard from her since the adoption." She turned to Puck. "Have you?"
Puck shrugged. "I know that she sends Quinn a letter and pictures every few months. I could call Quinn and see if she has a way to get a hold of Shelby."
"The sooner the better. It is urgent. Nathan has to have a bone marrow transplant soon." Dr. Nelson sighed. "His latest test results show that his counts are rapidly decreasing."
"What does that mean?" Puck leaned forward. Although he had done some research after he'd found out about Nathan, he still didn't know enough to understand what the doctor was saying.
Rachel was the one to answer him, her words barely above a whisper. "It means that he's getting worse and without the transplant he's going to die."
Without thinking, Puck took Rachel's hand in his, squeezing. "I'll call her now. We'll find Beth. We have to."
Puck hadn't been able to get a hold of Quinn when he and Rachel had left Dr. Nelson's office, but he'd left her an urgent message to return his call as soon as she could. That had been hours ago and Puck was getting anxious. He kept making himself deals, saying that if she didn't call by a certain time he'd call her again. Glancing at the clock he saw that he had just fifteen more minutes before he would call again.
Why the fuck wasn't she calling him? Fuck. Didn't she understand what urgent meant?
The sudden ringing of his phone pulled him from his thoughts and he quickly picked it up to see Quinn's name on the caller ID. "Thank fuck," was all he said when he answered the phone.
"Well, I'm glad to see that some things never change." Quinn's laughter rang over the line.
"Fuck that shit. Do you not understand the concept of urgent? As in call me as soon as you fucking can?"
"Calm down, Puck. I am calling you as soon as I can," Quinn snapped at him. "Sam and I had to bring Isabelle to the emergency room. She fell off the jungle gym at school and broke her arm."
Well fuck. Isabelle was Sam and Quinn's oldest child and she was an accident waiting to happen. They were constantly bringing her to the ER or the doctor's office after some accident that she'd gotten into.
"I'm sorry, Q." Puck sighed, running a hand over his head. "Look, a lot has happened in the last few days and it's got me on edge."
"What's going on?"
"I got a phone call from Rachel about a week ago and she told me that I had a son." Puck laughed. "A four and a half year old son that she'd never told me about. She named him Nathaniel. But damn, Q, he's sick." Puck found himself fighting against tears. "He's got leukemia and that's the only reason Rachel called me. If it hadn't been for him getting sick I never would've known about him."
There was silence on the other end of the line before Quinn finally said, "I'm sorry, Puck. What can I do?"
"He needs a bone marrow transplant. Neither Rachel nor I are a match. The doctor says the best match is usually from a sibling and Nathan only has one sibling."
It didn't take her anything to figure whom he was talking about. "Beth." She paused. "You want me to give you some way to contact Shelby?"
"Please, Quinn." His voice was hoarse as he choked it out. He hated to ask for help and he didn't want her to hear that he was crying, but knew that there was no way to hide it.
"Fine. Talk to Sam for a minute while I see what I can find."
"Dude," Sam said in way of greeting.
"'S up, man?"
"Another day, another trip to the ER. Ya know how it is." There was a pause. "From the sound of the conversation I take it there's something serious going on. Wanna talk about it or should I just ask Quinn after you guys get off the phone?"
Puck laughed. "I don't mind telling you. I got a call from Rachel."
"Fuck, dude. Really?"
"Yeah and that's not even the worst part. I have a kid and she didn't fucking tell me. The only reason she told me is because he's sick."
"That's fucked up. What's wrong with him?"
"He's got leukemia." Puck paused. Every time he said the word it sounded worse. He hated feeling like his world was out of control and it couldn't be any more out of control than it already was. "Basically, he needs a bone marrow transplant and his best bet is Beth."
"Ah shit. I was wondering why you guys were talking about Beth. That sucks, man."
"No fucking kidding."
"Well, Quinn's back. If you need to talk, call me. Or if you need to go for a drink, just jump on a plane and I'll go out with you." He laughed.
"Thanks, Sam. I'll talk to you later."
He knew that to outsiders the friendship that he had with Quinn and Sam was abnormal, but they were two of his closet friends. When Sam had started dating Quinn during their junior year, he'd been in juvie. When he got back to find his baby mama dating some dude, he'd freaked out. He'd almost gotten into a fight with Sam until Rachel had reminded him that he was on probation. He'd spent the rest of the year avoiding the two of them and Finn and Rachel.
When they'd gone back to school for their senior year he'd found a devastated Rachel. Finn had cheated on her with Santana and it had apparently happened on numerous occasions while they'd been dating. Probation or no probation, he'd beat the shit out of Finn. Somewhere along the way he and Rachel had gotten together and she'd helped him patch up things with Quinn and Sam. Once they'd graduated and gone their separate ways, he'd made sure that he stayed in contact with the pair who had married within the first year after graduation. Seven years and three kids later, they were the only people that he truly trusted.
"Puck?" Quinn's voice came back on the line.
"Yeah, babe. Did you get it?"
"I did and as long as she's still in the same place, then she's in Cleveland. She left me a number in the last letter although I don't know why. Whatever, it's 216-555-2420."
"Thanks, Q. I'll call you when I know more."
There was a short pause before Quinn spoke. "Remember that we love you, Puck, and that we're here for you no matter what."
"I know."
Without another word, he disconnected the phone, turning the paper with Shelby's number over and over in his hand. This would be the first contact he'd had with Shelby or his daughter in the years since she'd been born. Although he often found himself wondering about Beth, he'd never let himself dwell on it because he knew deep down that he and Quinn had made the right decision.
He'd never dreamed that he'd be contacting her. Shelby had told them when she adopted Beth that she would allow Beth the option to contact them when she got older, but she wasn't older and it wouldn't be her decision. But fuck, he had to do this for his son.
Rachel sat in Nathan's hospital room gazing out the window while he slept. Her thoughts were all over the place. Having Puck back in her life was driving her crazy. No matter how bad he had hurt her, she had never stopped loving him and every time she had looked at her son she saw Puck in him and it broke her heart. She never resented Nathan, but sometimes it had hurt so bad that she would have to lock herself in her room and just cry.
And now all of those feelings were rushing back to the surface and she couldn't (wouldn't) deal with that on top of Nathan's being sick.
She turned as the door opened, almost laughing out loud when she saw that it was Puck. "Hello, Noah."
"Berry." Puck stepped into the room, glancing at their son before turning his attention back to her. "I called Quinn and she had a number for Shelby."
Rachel stood up quickly. "Did you call her? What did she say? How did she sound?" Those were only a few of the questions that flew threw her mind as she drew closer to him.
Puck just shook his head. "I didn't call. I thought that you might want to do it."
Rachel shook her head. "I don't want to talk to her. I really don't." She paused. "But it might be better coming from me. Where's the number?"
Puck drew a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She looked at it, recognizing the area code immediately. "She's back in Ohio?" At Puck's nod she sighed. "Will you sit here with Nathan while I go make the call?"
"Of course." Puck went to sit in the chair that she'd just vacated and she could feel his eyes on her as she exited the room.
She hadn't spoken to her mother since she'd adopted Beth; she'd had no reason to. Shelby had made it completely clear that she wanted nothing to do with her daughter and that she was going to start over with Beth. The bitterness that she had felt back then suddenly reared its ugly head. She hadn't thought about it in years and yet suddenly it was just there.
With a sigh, she pulled out her phone as she exited the hospital. She dialed the number with shaking hands before lifting the phone to her ear as it began to ring.