A/N: Okay intense chapter! Again thanks for the reviews and those who are readers and haven't reviewed, thanks for reading. Although don't be shy, I would like you're feedback! A lot more of Artie/Quinn interaction in this one than any of the others thus far so I hope some of you like that! Read, Review, Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Still own nothing but my characters. We all know who Glee belongs to.
Quinn felt her body go numb. It felt like one of those outer body experiences, where you feel like you're watching the action that's going on in your own life. In a way she was more shocked by the first part of what Artie said, rather than the part about the birth control pills alone. He asked her if she had any idea, and she should be able to answer that question 'yes.' Give some kind of explanation, know something; but she knew nothing. Her daughter had gone on the Pill, and she had no clue.
"No." was all she managed to breathe out.
"What do you mean no?" Artie asked getting more and more panicked with every word he spoke.
His breathes were staggering and even in her state of shock and worry, Quinn was able to see how badly he was freaking out. All she really wanted to do was freak out, but she knew she couldn't. In relationships sometimes you have to alternate being the strong one because the other person really needs to be the scared one. Artie had been the strong one countless times, but right now, it was her turn.
"I didn't know, I don't know. She, she didn't tell me anything."
"How could she have gotten these without you knowing? Without either of us knowing?" Artie questioned trying to control how he was feeling so he could use some of the practicality he still had left in his body to figure this out.
"I don't know, a clinic maybe? That's the only way I can see how." Quinn reasoned.
Artie let out a huge sigh, "This, this can't be happening. Okay, she can't be having sex with Alec. She just can't be." Artie said shaking his head. His eyes were moving everywhere, he was fidgeting in his chair, his face was beginning to flush. He was completely unraveling.
Quinn took a deep breath, "We don't know that she is. You know we shouldn't just jump to conclusions."
"Not jump to conclusions? Quinn, they're birth control pills! Birth control pills that you didn't know about! If she was to be put on those for any type of medical reason, besides pregnancy prevention, you would've known. She would've told you because it wouldn't have been a big deal and she would've needed more guidance from you and from a doctor. Haylee doesn't do this, okay? She has never once gone behind our backs or kept secrets, why would she start now?" Artie huffed out.
Quinn knew everything that he was saying was the truth. She didn't want to be in denial but she wasn't going to give up that easily. Not before she at least got to the bottom of this.
"Let me see those pills." She told Artie as she held out her hand.
Artie looked a little confused by what she was going to do, but he handed her the little plastic circle. Quinn took a few minutes and inspected. She opened up the container to see that only four pills were missing.
"I don't think she's started having sex with him yet if that's what she's planning to do. There are only four pills missing. Besides the more I think about it, the more it's starting to make sense that she just started these. Nausea is a huge side effect when you get started on these, that's probably why she got so sick today."
Artie sighed a little bit of relief, even though in reality he really didn't feel any better. "She has to get off of those, you have to talk to her and tell her she can't take those anymore."
Quinn furrowed her eye brows. "Are you crazy? I can't do that, if she's planning on having sex with him there is no way I'm taking away something that could protect her! Artie, we can't do that!"
"Well the other solution then is me taking an axe and using it to chop off Alec's dick, because I can't let this happen! I can't! I can't just watch my daughter get on the Pill and start having sex! I can't do it!" he cried out, to the point where Quinn could tell that he was on the verge of not only tears, but a complete breakdown. She was having trouble now not keeping her eyes a little misty.
"Artie, do you know why I got pregnant when I was sixteen?" she asked him solemnly.
"Because you got drunk and had sex with Puck. Quinn I know that story." he retorted back.
"No, it was because all my parents ever did was preach abstinence to me. I barely knew anything outside of that, and look what good it did? If she would've came to me like I wish she did, and asked me about getting on the Pill, I would've said yes. I'm not going to have her go off of these because unlike me she was smart enough to take control. I'm not going to take that control away from her and watch my daughter get pregnant in high school like I did! If I know something like this is going on, and I did something that would in a way cause her to be put in that position I wouldn't be able to live with myself, Artie."
Artie sighed, "That's the last thing I want for her too, you know that. Just the sex thing is what scares me the most. Protection, no protection, she's having sex. She's just a kid, Quinn. She's our baby, and I just don't know if I can deal with that."
"I know, I feel the same way. But I have to deal with it, and you have to too. I'm not talking about letting her do whatever she wants. I'm going to talk to her about all of this in the morning but no matter what, we have to be practical, kids have sex. We have to handle this rationally. I think first thing I'm going to do is put these back, while she's still sleeping. I don't know what time she's been taking them and I don't want to screw it up."
"Here, let me take them back. I'm headed out that way anyway. I think, I think I'm just going to sleep on the couch tonight." he told her.
Quinn felt even more saddened. "Why? You're not mad at me for all of this are you?"
Artie shook his head rapidly, "No, honey of course not. I just need to be alone for a little bit okay? It has nothing to do with you though babe. I promise."
Quinn nodded and handed Artie back the plastic pill case, "Alright. I love you, try to get some sleep."
"I love you too." he told her as he wheeled out of their room and quietly back into Haylee's. He made sure to be quiet so he wouldn't wake her up and put the pills back into her sock drawer.
It was once that he got settled on the couch that he let the tears finally pour out of his eyes. Haylee couldn't have sex, she just couldn't. She was too young, she was still his little girl and he wasn't ready to accept that she wasn't so little anymore. At least not in that way. Also he was scared. He knew the birth control would be their to protect her but stuff could always go wrong. Also this was too grown up. He didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want to see her get into something that she wasn't mentally ready to handle yet. This was one of the scariest moments he has had yet to face as a parent. He hated the scared parent feeling. It sucked.
He remembers the worst one of those moments he ever had with that feeling. Quinn had taken Haylee to go shopping when she was seven and Emmy was three. With the two of them gone it left him and Emmy to have a few hours to themselves. They were in their backyard, playing in the snow considering it was december. He was sitting near her as she played near a section that was near a pond that their neighbors had in their backyard. Everything was supposed to be completely frozen and with snow covering everything, he really couldn't tell that she was over a pond. Until he heard a crack and a scream. As he looked over he saw her head bobbing down into the water; she didn't know how to swim yet. Panicked was a complete understatement as he managed to get over to where she was and pull her out. Her entire body was blue and her clothes were soaked. She was coughing up so much water and could barely breathe. Artie had stripped her of her wet clothes right there and then and took off almost all of his later and put them around her, and then managed to get in the car and drive to the hospital as fast as he could. When they got there and were helped he just felt so helpless. They were saying she had hypothermia and all he could do was try not to break down into sobs as they tried to get her body temperature back up to normal. That day haunted him everyday for months. He couldn't help but think what if something worse would've happened. He could've lost her. Years later when Emmy asked to take ice skating lessons because she had such a short memory of the entire ordeal, he flat out refused. He never wanted her near ice again, it was just too scary. Since the days that both of his girls were born, he made a vow to each of them. To protect them no matter what. Every time he got the scared parent feeling, he felt like he was failing with that vow; and it killed him.
Now he felt some of that feeling again. It was no way near as scary as what happened with Emmy and the ice, but it was actually pretty close. He was terrified of what could be going on with his daughter, and now all he wanted was his baby girl to be safe and to not do this. He just wanted his daughters to not grow up this fast, he couldn't take it. Especially if that had anything, anything at all, to do with sex.