Now in the month of May, Quinn's birthday was only 2 weeks away and Rachel was currently writing a letter of request to The Voice.
"What cha writing?" Quinn asked, leaning over Rachel's shoulder, trying to get a look at the paper that the girl was writing on.
"Nothing that concerns you Fabray!" Rachel squealed, pulling the paper out of the girls view and folding it into her pocket.
"It wouldn't happen to be my birthday present, now would it?" Quinn asked smugly attempting to reach into the girls pocket once again.
"Nope" she said, smacking the hand away. Quinn held her hands up in a tickling motion, making Rachel squeal as she jumped to her feet and ran towards the storage room.
Before Quinn could grab her, Rachel pushed the slip of paper under the door, dancing with victory when the blonde came sliding into the room, pouting.
"No fair" she complained.
"Don't pout baby. You'll get wrinkles" Rachel joked.
"Oh yeah? Well if I'll get wrinkles from pouting just this once, then you're going to look like an old lady by the time you're 30!" Quinn teased.
"Oh yeah? Well you're not getting any for 2 weeks for that!" Rachel said, walking out of the room with a smirk on her face.
"Aw man" Quinn kicked the ground after the brunette left the room.
###
The 'no sex for 2 weeks' rule lasted for 12 days. Quinn walked around the house with a grumpy look on her face and refused to cuddle with Rachel until the girl gave in. But that didn't work.
On the day of Quinn's birthday, the 12th of May, Quinn received a recent picture of Beth that looked to have been taken from a short distance while she played at a park. Quinn feared that The Voice was now stalking her baby girl but after she finished her shower that morning, The Voice spoke loud over the intercom.
Good morning ladies. And Happy 20st Birthday Quinn. I hope you enjoyed your present. Your little girl is getting rather big. Don't worry, I mean no harm to her. I only observe to keep an eye on her for you. She lost her first tooth last month and her favorite color seems to be blue.
Quinn began to cry and mumble about him going after Beth.
"Baby, baby. Don't cry. Shhhhh it's okay. She's okay. He said he won't hurt her" Rachel said, rocking her girlfriend back and forth.
Quinn I have no intention on hurting your daughter. But I regretfully wish to inform both of you that this morning, at 6:43 am, on her way back from dropping a friend off at the airport, Shelby Corcoran, aged 39, was involved in a pile up on a main highway ending her life. Beth was not in the car. She is being placed with a Lima local foster family. I am very sorry for your loss of your biological mother Rachel.
The speaker crackled when it turned off and Rachel released a heavy sob as she cried.
So far, May 12th was not a good day that was meant to be full of celebration.
###
That night, as Rachel and Quinn laid on a blanket in the garden together, presents from The Voice long forgotten on the kitchen table untouched, Rachel sat distracted.
"Baby are you okay?" Quinn asked concerned for her girlfriend. They had already spoken about how Rachel no longer had any hard feelings towards Shelby for abandoning her and she understood why Quinn and Puck had given Beth to her.
"I could be better" She replied.
"What can I do to make things better? I'll do anything" Quinn said wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist.
"Marry me" She whispered.
"What?" The blonde asked, pulling back to look at the girls face.
Rachel shifted, pulling a box from her pocket and opening it to reveal a diamond engagement ring.
"Marry me. I want you to marry me. I love you Quinn. You're my world and I want you to marry me"
Quinn nodded, still shocked and wide eyed.
"Yes?" Rachel asked to clarify.
"Yes. Yes yes yes I'll marry you Rachel Berry" she said, pulling Rachel into a kiss and holding her tight.
###
Leaving kisses along Quinn's jar line, she left a path leading up to the girls lips and holding them there.
"Baby time to get up if you want to get any sun this morning" She told the blonde, shaking her awake.
"No. Sleep" Quinn whined, pushing Rachel away. Shaking her head, Rachel moved away from the bed and walked over to the window across from their bed. Pulling open the curtain, to annoy the girl with the rays of the sun, she was met with shutters similar to the ones that could be found on the living room windows whenever renovation was in progress outside.
"Quinn. Quuiiinnn" She called across the room.
"Rayyy lemme sleep"
"The window has shutters on it" Rachel informed her.
"Yeah I don't care. Let me sleep" Rachel knew to leave the girl alone, obviously she was having a bad day.
Sleeping for an extra amount of time was no harm, right?
Making a quick stop to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth, Rachel made her way out to the living room, noticing that the shutters in there were also locked.
'I guess there goes our plans of sun bathing' Rachel thought to herself as she closed the bedroom door and then moved forward to head into the kitchen.
But something on one of the couched caught her attention.
"Quinn! Quinn!" She yelled, turning around and banging on the door before storming into her fiance.
"WHAT RACHEL? JESUS ALL I WANT TO DO IS SLEEP!" Quinn snapped, flinging the covers off of her.
"There's a child on our couch" Rachel informed the girl in her frozen state.
"A what?"
"A kid! There's a kid, which I hope is sleeping, on our couch."
Taking another look at the seriousness on Rachel's face and deeming this not a joke to get her out of bed like the many attempts the brunette had tried before, Quinn jumped out of bed and ran to the door which lead to the living room.
Rachel was right. There was a young girl asleep on their couch. Grabbing Rachel's hand, they moved forward towards her.
"Wait" Rachel whispered, pulling them to a halt only a few feet away from the child. "What if she's like a zombie or something? Or a possessed demon child that The Voice released in here to mess with our minds?"
"Remind me to never let you watch horror movies again!" Quinn said, rolling her eyes at the girl and then turning back to the couch, where the girl was now sitting up, looking at the two of them.
"Beth?" Quinn said, her breath catching in her chest and tears welling in her eyes.
"Where am I?" the little girl asked, starting to cry as she looked around.
Quinn looked to Rachel panicked but Rachel's eyes were focused on a piece of paper that was pinned to the girl's t-shirt and what looked to be a baby blanket, clutched in the girls arms.
"Beth, I'm Rachel" she said, moving forward slowly. "Can you please pass me that note on your chest?" Rachel asked slowly, trying to not scare the child anymore than she already was.
Beth looked down and saw the note for the first time. She pulled at it, released it from the safety pin that was still there. She placed it on the table, halfway in Rachel's reach and then sat back onto the couch fully to focus on taking the pin off her shirt.
"Can I help you?" Quinn asked, taking a step forward but stalling when she saw Beth's look of panic.
"I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to help get the pin off of you before you hurt yourself"
"Okay" She nodded and moved her hands away from where she had been struggling with the pin.
"Wait" Rachel called out as her fiance was taking the steps towards her daughter. "Read this. I'll help Beth" she said, handing her the letter before kneeling down in front of Beth.
Ladies. As you are aware, Shelby Corcoran passed away in a car accident in May. As a promise to both of you, I continued to keep a watch full eye on Beth. The foster care, ever continuing to fail in this country, placed her with an unsuitable family. The father, a vile money guzzling creature, was abusive towards anyone who crossed paths with him. I rescued Beth from that house before he was able to lay his hands on her. Construction will be taking place for the next 7 days to accommodate your new guest. The bedroom door will be locked from 1 pm onwards. Please gather any necessary clothing, toiletry and supplies that you may need from the room, closest area and bathroom. Off the gym, you will see that a mirror has been removed from a wall and a door now lies in it's place. A new bathroom can be found inside. Both couches are fold out.
"Quinn what are we going to do?" Rachel asked once the blonde was done.
"You're Quinn?" the small voice of Beth asked. She nodded.
"You're Quinn? My tummy mommy Quinn?" Rachel and Quinn looked at each other.
"Beth, you know who I am?" Quinn asked her.
"My mom said that you were my tummy mommy because I was in your belly. But you couldn't take care of me so you gave me to my mommy."
"Why am I here?" she asked the two women, looking from one to the other.
"Can you handle this while I get stuff out of the room before the door locks?" Rachel asked, getting up from the couch. Quinn nodded and moved to sit on the floor in front of Beth.
"Rachel and I have been locked in this house for the past two years," a look of shock and confusion came across the younger girls face. "The man that took us and now you, he's never hurt us. Not ever. But he's going to keep us here until he's done with us"
"But why?" Beth asked, her voice breaking as tears flowed down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the blanket in her hands. Quinn's breath hitched when she spotted the object. It was the blanket she had given to her daughter the day she gave her to Shelby. The one gift she could give her other than a chance at a better life without her.
"I don't know sweetheart. We woke up here just like you did. He says that he just wants to observe us, which means that he wants to watch us. We don't know why, but so far it hasn't been so bad"
In the room, Rachel kept her ear to the door as she listened to her fiance explain to her daughter. She wondered if this would now change everything for them in the house. Of course she was happy to have Beth here if it meant making Quinn happy and keeping the child safe from an abusive foster family.
###
After showing Beth briefly around the house and describing to her what the outside looks like, they grabbed the rest of the blankets, pillows and toiletry from the bathroom that they would need, along with clothing that they would need for the next week that they were going to be locked outside of their room. Beth, not knowing where anything was so she wasn't much help to them at that time, only moved when Rachel volunteered to show her around the house briefly.
###
Beth sat on the couch for the rest of the day, taking in her surroundings. The girls sat on the other couch observing Beth. The little girl seemed to be in a state of shock since they had told her where she was and she had remained quiet even when they should her around the house.
The only comment she had made was when she pointed out that her picture was in 3 rooms. Quinn couldn't read her expression when she said that she had printed copies of the picture to have Beth's face around the house. Something that she looked forward to when she got out.
"Beth, what was the last thing you remember before waking up here?" Rachel asked, shifting forward on the couch. Quinn wasn't sat as close to her as she usually would be. The blonde had hesitated when she even sat on the couch. Rachel guessed it was because she wasn't sure how to act around Beth yet, if the girl would be okay with them being together or not.
"I was hiding" she said, looking up at Rachel. "I was hiding from Uncle John"
"Uncle John?" Quinn asked. She hadn't been aware that Shelby had any living relatives since The Voice had said that Beth was in the care of a foster family.
"He made me call him that. He was the man in the house that I went to when my mommy died" Beth whispered, looking down at her hands.
Rachel and Quinn shared a look of concern. Getting on her knee's, Rachel moved to the floor in front of Beth.
"And why were you hiding from John?"
"We were at the park and I fell over and push a little boy by accident. John yelled at me cause the boys mommy called me a bully. He made one of the older girls that live in my house bring me home and then he was gonna punish me. He's mean to everyone and when he punishes someone they don't get a time out."
"What does he do?" Quinn asked, joining Rachel on the floor to be closer to her daughter.
"He usually locks them in their room. But when he's really mad, like he was in the park before I left, he hits them"
Rachel gasped and then covered her mouth with her hand. All that she thought at that moment was that she was glad that The Voice had taken Beth. No matter how bad it was going to be for Beth to be trapped also with them in this house, she'd prefer that than to in danger Beth.
As you are aware from what Beth has told you, her career was unfit to take care of her and insure her safety. I have informed social services anonymously and watched this morning as all 4 other children in the care of John Basset, were removed from his custody and he was taken away by officers in handcuffs.
Quinn pulled her hand from Rachel's grasp, and shook it out from the pain. The girl had grabbed it once The Voice had started and had held a death grip onto it until the speakers turned off.
"Jesus Baby. My freakin' hand" She growled, inspecting it. Rachel turned to her in concern, leaning over to also inspect her hand. Beth laughed, covering her mouth and leaned back into the couch.
"Hey little girl, are you laughing at me?" Quinn said, playfully. The pain in her hand was forgotten when she heard the sound of her child's laughter for the first time.
"I think she is" Rachel smirked, trying to hold back her giant grin as Beth continued to laugh.
"Rachel you're funny" Beth said, wiping the tears from her eyes with the blue hand towel that she had used earlier to dry her tears when she was first informed of why she was in the house. "Mom was right about you"
All noise had stopped after they had each took in what had been said.
"You know who I am?" Rachel questioned, getting up on the couch to sit next to the young girl.
Beth nodded. "My mom had pictures of you. And she had a picture of the both of you in Glee. And my dad"
"You've seen pictures of Puck?" Quinn asked, surprised. She hadn't been aware at all the Shelby had picture of them, let alone had told Beth about her biological parents.
"Who's Puck?" Beth asked confused.
"Puck is Noah. It's a nickname from his last name, Puckerman" Rachel told Beth, smiling at the childs confused face.
"Ohhh. Pucks a silly name. Is he silly?"
"Very. You'd get along with him right away"
"Really? Where is he now?" She asked, excited.
"Right now he's a solider and he's in a different country with this man right here" Quinn pointed to Finn in the group picture she had pulled up on her computer. "They're both in the army"
"I knowed someone in the army" Beth informed them.
"Oh really, who?"
"My mommy's friend Megan. She used to bring me to the park. She was there when mommy got buried and she held my hand when I was sad. She had to go back on the airplane after cause she had to go to work"
"Well, when we get out of here, I promise that you can go to the park with Megan again, okay?" Quinn promised the girl.
"Kay" she smiled.
###
"What's something that you miss from the outside world?" Quinn asked, playing with Rachel's fingers as they sat on the couch bed. Beth was on one side with her head leaning against Quinn's shoulder, Rachel was on the other.
"My dads and Glee club" Rachel answered. Quinn nodded in agreement.
"What about you kiddo?" She asked, turning to Beth.
"I dunno. I miss my mom Shelby but she still not be alive outside here" Beth answered, but quickly pulled back from Quinn and looked at the two women. "I'm sorry"
"Why are you sorry?" Rachel asked confused.
"Cause both of you are here. And Quinn you're my tummy mom and Shelby was Rachel's mommy too"
"Honey, you can talk about Shelby anytime that you want. It's okay to miss her. You talking about her is never going to upset us" Quinn answered, brushing the hair from Beths face.
"Yeah, I know she was my mom too, and even though I didn't know her well, I miss her" Rachel told the girl.
"You do?" the little girl asked, looking over to Rachel, who nodded.
"Whenever you miss her, we'll always be here to listen, okay? And I'm always gonna miss her too, so you can talk to me if you want" Rachel assured the girl.
Beth smiled and then crawled across Quinn, into Rachel's arms. This was the first time the young blonde had made a move to be affectionate with them. Lifting her head from Rachel's neck, Beth leaned over and hugged Quinn as well.
The older blonde couldn't contain her emotions any longer and let out a muffled sob in her daughters hair.
"I really like you" Beth whispered into Quinn's ear.
Laughing, Quinn replied "I really like you too".
Beth moved back to Rachel an whispered into her ear. Quinn watched as Rachel's cheeks went red after Beth pulled back smiling.
"Can we watch cartoons?" The little girl asked, sitting herself between Rachel's legs and leaning back on top of the girl.
Quinn raised an eyebrow at Rachel in question to her reaction to Beth's whispered words, only to receive a head shake in reply before Rachel turned the TV on.
###
During Dinner, Beth stayed quiet as she ate her pasta. She had helped Rachel out in the kitchen stirring the sauce, while standing on a chair but had quickly lost interest, opting to help Quinn pick out clothes online that would fit her while she was there. Currently, the only clothes that Beth had were the ones on her back and those weren't even nice or that clean as her foster family hadn't given her access to the clothing she had brought from home. Only giving her hand me downs from the other kids which were torn and stretched in awkward angles.
For a 4 year old, Quinn was surprised to find that Beth had a style and that style was very mixed. She chose many sundresses, in a variety of colors, along with boys section jeans and t-shirts. Quinn sat back and allowed the child to select multiple items of clothing before she made a list and then should Beth where they slid their lists under the door in the storage room.
Beth seemed creeped out, just like they were, of walking into the storage room. They kept as much food as they could in the kitchen to prevent having to take trips to the room. And they never entered it alone in fear that they would be grabbed. It was just another fear that they gained that came with living in the house.
During dinner, Beth spilled some pasta down her t-shirt and jeans, leading to Rachel suggesting that she wear a t-shirt of Quinn's that was long enough to act as a dress until they received clothing. The girl agreed, changing in the handmade area in the bathroom which was again made out of a clothing horse and highly hung sheets to block the view of the camera.
###
"Bedtime kiddo" Rachel announced, helping Quinn pull out the other fold out bed. They were going to sleep on one bed, while Beth slept in the other. They felt it was safer to assume that she would be okay by herself, rather than freak her out by making her sleep in the same bed as one of them. And if it had came to that, which one would she feel more comfortable with? Her birth mother that she hadn't seen since birth until today or the adoptive half sibling that she had never known and only heard about?
Once done making the bed, they looked over to the unresponsive child to see that she had already fallen asleep on their bed, with her 'Blankie' clutched to her chest.
"I guess we're sleeping here" Quinn said, climbing into the bed they had just made.
"I guess so" Rachel whispered back, before she pulled the covers up and around Beth, hoping that they would keep her warm enough throughout the night.