Chapter 3

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Beth lifted her bag of her peg and swung it onto her bag, the boy behind her ducking out the way as she almost hit him in the face with it. Not realising that he was now glaring at her she darted out of the classroom and into the playground.

She glanced around looking for a familiar face and then spun round upon hearing her name being called out several times. Finn and Puck were standing together waving at her enthusiastically. "Hey Puck, hey Uncle Finn." She greeted cheerfully.

"Uncle Finn?" He questioned surprised while Beth hugged Puck and then him.

"Yeah; you're with Aunty Rachel so you're Uncle Finn." She said simply as though he was stupid not to have come to this conclusion before. Finn smiled touched by this display of love and took her bag from her.

"Have you had a good day at school?" Finn asked as Beth slipped her hand into Finn and Puck's, after the latter had taken her lunchbox from her, and she led them out onto the streets for the way home.

"Yeah we played baseball during PE." Beth seemed excited by this which surprised the two men as Quinn had not struck them as the sporty type. "My team won."

She was about to carry on with this topic but another thought struck her. "Puck?" She asked glancing up at him. "Why did you ask me yesterday if Mommy was dating someone?"

The man froze and blushed before carrying on walking sending Finn a 'help me' look to no avail as the taller man was trying his hardest not to laugh having already figured out Puck's feelings towards Quinn. "Because I like her." Puck answered carefully keeping his eyes away from the curious little girl's.

"Do you want to date her?"

"Yes he does." Finn answered for her ignoring his friend's murderous glance.

"Ok then." Beth shrugged happily. "I'll race you too the end of the street." She let go of their hands and sprinted off.

"Stop at the road." Finn called after her before turning to Puck. "Well she seems alright with you fantasising about her mother."

"Not that she will know that I'm fantasising." Puck raised his eyebrows. "She's young and innocent." He paused. "I'll race you."

He sprinted off after Beth while Finn chased after him dodging the people who were coming in the opposite direction.

The three eventually arrived home after a detour though the park where they had stopped for ice cream. While Finn and Puck had decided to inform the girl of the chocolate smear around her mouth she had come to the conclusion that it would be funnier not to tell the two grown men of their own ice cream moustaches and they had also decided not to tell each other.

"You're late home." Quinn called as she heard the sound of the three entering through the shop which was empty at the moment. She smiled as the sound of her daughters giggles floated through to her own ears and the two deep laughs of the men accompanying her.

"We stopped at the park for ice cream." Beth appeared in the kitchen of Puck's back having been piggybacked from the park.

"Thank you." Quinn nodded at him as Finn appeared behind them both. "You didn't have to do that."

"Well we did if we wanted ice cream." Finn pointed out eyes flying round the kitchen taking in the chocolates that had been made by Quinn and Kurt that day.

"Speaking of which you've both got ice cream round your mouths." Quinn bit back the giggles while her daughter didn't even pretend to hide hers and dissolved into giggles as Puck lowered her to the floor.

"How could you not tell me?" The two men turned to each other and spoke in unison while Quinn joined in with her daughter's laughs.

"Have you got ice cream round your mouth again Finn?" The other three appeared as well and Kurt rolled his eyes at his step-brother. "Every time, you think you would have grown out of it by now."

"You think they both would have." Rachel added giving Finn a kiss anyway before sending him and Puck away to clean up.

Ten minutes later the building had calmed down a little as Finn and Rachel had gone for a walk and Blaine and Kurt had volunteered to go to the supermarket to get enough food to last them for a while and Beth was upstairs watching TV leaving Quinn and Puck to tidy up the kitchen.

Quinn had decided to close early that day as she had friends over and it was quiet in the shop anyway after four on a Tuesday. "Does this actually come off?" Puck groaned scrubbing hard at the surface where some chocolate had dropped off the dipping fork, being used to coat truffles, and had set on the surface.

"Use a fork to scrape it off." Quinn advised setting down one plate on the draining board and reaching for the glass bowl to wash.

"You think you'd make less mess seeing as you do this every day." Puck complained.

"I think you'll find Kurt was working there today." Quinn retorted indignantly. "That's my bit." She pointed to the other side of the room which in fact was messier than the one Puck was cleaning.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Point made."

Quinn stuck her tongue out at him and then flicked water, splashing him with water and bubbles. "Hey." He cried darting over and grabbing his own handful of bubbles and coating her hair in them. A water fight quickly started between them with the washing up forgotten and the water soaking through their clothes and bubbles getting everywhere.

"Got you." Puck grabbed her round the waist spinning her round and off the ground before setting her down. There was silence between them as her arms remained around his neck and his round her waist their faces inches towards each other.

Quinn could feel his breath on her face and felt her cheeks heat up but did not draw away as his lips started to close the distance between his and hers. And then "We're home." Rachel sang cheerfully as the two sprang apart blushing.

"What the hell happened in here?" Rachel asked poking her head round the door and taking in the soaked surfaces, floor and people.

"Water fight." They answered in unison catching each other's eyes and then looking away quickly.

Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head but her lips twitched into a smile. "Go and get changed; I'll tidy up in here."

"Thanks Rach." Quinn grinned slipping past Puck and up the stairs.

"Cheers." Puck patted her on the shoulder before following the blonde upstairs.

"How come I'm not allowed to have a water fight with you?" Beth glared at her mother who laughed and kissed her forehead before going into her room to change leaving her daughter to the TV and Puck to change in the bathroom.

She closed the door and sunk against it. She had always been careful with men having the policy that it wasn't fair on Beth to get close with someone who might not always be around. She had been on several dates, mainly to stop Santana and Rachel from nagging her, but had only introduced Beth to one man who had been with her for nine months before she had realised he had been cheating on her.

She hadn't coped and immediately Rachel had abandoned her opening night of her new play, Mercedes had dropped work on her album, Brittany had left her dance class to another teacher and Santana had missed several important meetings and the four had converged to help Quinn get over Jesse, look after Beth and help Tina keep the shop going while Mike, Tina's fiancée had gone straight round to Jesse's and given him hell.

Beth had been scared for her mother and Quinn still hated herself for what she had done to her daughter during that time and from then on had vowed that she wouldn't fall for anyone, she wouldn't date. And she had kept her word despite the other's protests.

But then Puck had arrived and she genuinely liked him, he seemed great and Beth loved him. And she was terrified of what would happen.

She shook her head deciding to try and keep a distance from Puck and pulled out a new shirt and pair of jeans tugging them on and dumping her wet clothes in the basket where dirty clothes were kept before they were washed.

She caught sight of the photo she had of her mother and father and bit back a sob. She hadn't spoken to them since she had broken the news that she was pregnant. As devoted Christians they hadn't taken the news well and her parents had chucked her out although after a furious conversation with Santana and Rachel, who could be terrifying when angry, her father had bought her the shop and flat above it under the condition that she would never contact them again.

"Quinn?" Rachel knocked on the door and poked her head round and saw where her friend was looking. "Oh Quinn." She sighed sitting next to her on the bed and wrapping her arm around her shoulder.

"I miss them." Quinn sniffled leaning her head on Rachel's shoulder. "And Beth has no family; she only has me."

"She has us." Rachel reminded her. "You have us, me, Mercedes, Santana, Brittany, Tina, Mike and now you've got Finn, Kurt, Blaine and Puck." There was another choked sob at the sound of Puck's name and Rachel glanced down at her in surprise. "What?"

"I think I like him." Quinn whispered reaching for a tissue. "I don't want too; I don't want a Jesse repeat but I like him, I'm falling for him. We almost kissed and then you came in. I can't like him Rach, I can't do that to Beth again."

Rachel rubbed her arm comfortingly. "You can't do this by yourself forever Quinn. You need someone like Puck to help you and he's a great guy. Not everyone's a Jesse."

"I know." She murmured. "I just don't know what to do."

"See what happens." Rachel advised. "And we're all here for you."

"Thanks."Quinn whispered. "Love you."

"Love you too." Rachel grinned. "Go on, go and look like you've stopped crying and then come and join us."

"Will do." Quinn disappeared into the bathroom and Rachel joined the others.

Quinn reappeared minutes later looking calm and with no sign that she had been crying. Puck and Beth were sat at the dining room table heads bent together as he helped her with her homework at Rachel's insistence. Kurt and Blaine were back and unpacking the shopping while Rachel and Finn were looking through a recipe book trying to decide what to make for dinner that night.

Puck looked up as she entered and sent her a silent question to see whether she was alright. She smiled and nodded at him, glanced over at Beth's homework gave her a hug and then went to help Kurt and Blaine with the shopping as they tried to decide where to put each item of food.

"So how do you spell people?" Puck asked glancing down at the list in front of him. He had helped Beth with her maths homework for the night and was now testing her on the spellings for that week ready for the test on Friday.

"P-E-O-P-L-E." She sounded out and then glanced up at him hoping he was right.

"Brilliant." He ruffled her hair. "You got them all right." He held up his hand for a high five and she slapped her hand against his.

"Will you play cards with me?" Beth asked grabbing a pack from the coffee table as the two moved into the living room.

"Sure- so will Finn." Puck answered as the other man bounded towards them excusing himself from his conversation with Rachel.

She was unable to look miffed as she loved her goddaughter. "Just don't teach her gambling games." She warned them.

Puck waved an impatient hand at her as Finn shuffled the deck and Beth made herself comfortable on a pile of cushions.

"They're going to corrupt that child."Kurt muttered to himself as he joined the other three at the dining room table where they had gathered to talk before dinner staying away from the already loud and competitive game of snap.

"They'd better not." Quinn raised her eyebrow as Finn half jumped off the sofa, slamming his hand down on the table and screaming snap.

"I can't believe he's your brother." Blaine smirked at his boyfriend while Rachel rolled her eyes at Quinn.

"We're not related." Kurt shot back immediately. "Step-brothers- does not mean we share the same blood. And I had no choice in this she's the one who wants to join the family willingly." He pointed at Rachel.

"Hey." Rachel blushed but glared at him. "He's not that bad."

Four heads turned to see Finn and Puck throwing cards at each other and Beth trying to catch them as they fell, completely having missed their target of the bodies they were aiming at. "Oh god they are corrupting her." Quinn sighed as Beth threw one back at Finn.

"Told you." Kurt grinned at her.

"Did you have a good day at school?" Quinn asked from where she sat behind Beth running her towel through her hair to dry it after having watched minutes before.

"Yeah." Beth shook her hair trying to get her mother to stop towelling it roughly. "Alice is having a party this weekend for her birthday can I go?"

"Sure, where is it? What is it?" Quinn asked deciding that her hair was dry enough for the moment.

"It's a fancy dress party at her house." Beth rambled. "It's a Disney theme."

Quinn bit back a groan at the thought of having to make a costume. "Who do you want to go as?"

"I don't know." Beth admitted as Quinn raised an eyebrow; Beth was going through a Disney theme at the moment where she only watched Disney channel, movies, and listened to Disney songs. It was for that reason that Quinn would be singing 'Tale as Old as Time' tonight to send her daughter to sleep.

"We'll talk to Aunty Rachel tomorrow; she'll have lots of ideas and she can help me make it for you." Quinn shelved the issue for the moment. "Come on lie down; time for sleep."

Beth snuggled under her covers and looked up expectantly at her mother and her godmother who had literally just poked her head round the door to say goodnight. "Will you sing with Mommy?" Beth asked the puppy dog eyes coming out to play causing her godmother to cave.

Quinn grinned at Rachel mouthed the song at her as the smaller woman sat down on the chair in the corner of the room while Quinn folded her legs under on the end of the bed and Rachel started the song.

The song ended and Rachel kissed the half asleep girl and then disappeared out leaving Quinn to say goodnight. "Night Beth, love you."

"Love you too Mommy." She whispered her eyes fluttering closed. "I think Puck loves you too."

Quinn froze but her daughter's eyes had closed and she was well on the way to being asleep. Deciding that she hadn't meant anything by it and it was just something that seven year olds said she left the room, flicking the switch off as she left.

Thanks for reading- please leave your thoughts, I would love to hear from you.

Tacxxx