A/N: Hey guys, long time no post! I'm so sorry I haven't been active here in so long, I've kind of switched platforms to AO3, but I realized I never finished this story, so I'm going to upload the last few chapters because I've got them on my phone. Hope you enjoy!

The weeks rolled by, and soon September imposed itself on the Puckerman household, and Puck found himself waking up at the same time as Quinn,

"Today's the day," she said sleepily as Lucy began to cry "you go get Beth up, and I'll go take care of Lucy; maybe you'll both get over your fear of her going to school," she said the last part more to herself, but Puck still heard her, rolling his eyes as he left the room while Quinn went to tend to the baby.

"Time to get up, monkey face," Puck knocked gently on Beth's door, going in to find the little girl rolled over with her back to him "Beth, come on darlin', it's your first day of school today!" he tried to sound enthusiastic, but the words made him nauseous as he said them, and his heart broke a little as his daughter rolled over to reveal the tear stains on her cheeks and worry that had set into her features.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently as she sat up.

"I don't wanna go to school, daddy," Beth said in a small voice, and Puck sighed, pulling her into his arms.

"I know, darlin'," he said gently, then after a moment; "wanna know a secret?" Beth pulled back a little bit, nodding "I don't want you to go either,

"Really?"

"Yeah," Puck told her "if I was in charge, you would always stay with me, but your mommy says you have to go to school,"

"Daddy, if we hide, then mommy can't make me go!" and with that, Beth leapt off the bed, grabbing Puck's hand and dragging him into her inbuilt wardrobe, shutting the door behind them as Puck smirked,

"She's never gonna find us in here, right monkey face?"

"Right!" Beth replied excitedly, proud of her genius plan.

"Puck, Beth! Come have breakfast!" Quinn called from downstairs, but after receiving no reply, she sighed, looking down at Lucy in her arms "I bet your daddy and sister are being silly," she cooed as she headed upstairs to Beth's room "Wow!" she said mockingly as she entered the room "Beth and daddy have disappeared, Lucy! I guess that means that Beth doesn't have to go to school!"

"Really?" Beth asked excitedly, flinging open the wardrobe door and jumping out, followed by her sheepish father.

"No honey," Quinn told her gently.

"Sorry Q," Puck said, rubbing the back of his neck "it was her idea," Quinn rolled her eyes at him before turning back to Beth as she patted Lucy's side gently.

"How come you don't wanna go to school, Beth?" Quinn asked gently.

"I'm scared," the little girl said in a small voice "Daddy said I don't have to go!"

"Daddy did not!" Puck tried and failed to defend himself under Quinn's glare, but the blonde's features soon softened as she turned to her daughter.

"I know it's scary, baby," she said gently "but you've gotta go to school; besides, mommy and daddy will be right there with you until school starts, OK?"

"Promise?" Beth asked hesitantly.

"Promise," Quinn smiled "now you go show your daddy what outfit you wanna wear today," Beth's usual enthusiasm returned, and she beckoned her father over to her cupboard where she yanked a white dress covered in sunflowers out, and grabbed her little white sandals.

Puck dressed her quickly, and soon the family had eaten, dropped Lucy with Quinn's mother and was piled into his truck, Quinn mumbling again that he needed to make it safer as he rolled his eyes jokingly.

The car was silent as they arrived at the local elementary school, and Puck stole a glance at Beth to find that she was sitting silently in the back seat, nervously fiddling with her dress. With a sigh, he parked the car, got out, went around to Beth's side and opened the door,

"Scared, monkey face?" he asked gently, and she nodded wordlessly "it's gonna be OK," he gently unbuckled her seatbelt "school is just like kindergarten, but you get to play all day," Beth's visits to kindergarten had been slightly less regular after Shelby died, and Quinn and Puck had been called down to the centre on a number of occasions to pick her up because she hadn't stopped crying. The memory did nothing to ease Puck's own nerves, but he pushed them aside and lifted Beth out of the car before taking her hand and slinging her little pink backpack over his other shoulder "you're gonna like it here," he told her "you'll see,"

"Good morning," the classroom teacher greeted cheerfully as Puck, Quinn and Beth walked in to the empty classroom; they had arranged to come early so that they could meet with the teacher and get Beth used to the idea before they dropped her off "you must be Mr and Mrs Puckerman," the young couple nodded before the young woman in front of them turned to Beth, kneeling down so she was at eye level with the little girl "and you must be Beth!" she said cheerfully, not deterred by Beth shying away from her "It's nice to meet you, my name is Miss Thatcher," she then stood up and spoke to Puck and Quinn "or Tracy," she smiled, and Puck and Quinn introduced themselves before Miss Thatcher invited the family to sit opposite her desk, Beth sitting on Puck's lap and looking apprehensively around the room.

"So," the teacher began brightly "to begin with, I just want to ease your nerves a little and tell you that Beth will be under the care of some of the best administrative, medical and educational staff available, and I can assure you that she will be educated and minded with the utmost care." Beth, understanding none of this, still looked nervous "I try and make my classrooms as welcoming of an atmosphere as possible so, once you get used to going to school Beth," she caught the little girl's attention "we're all gonna be one big family that learns about exciting things together!" something in her tone of voice had Beth relaxing a little bit, and Puck's heartbeat returned to a slightly normal rhythm as he felt her tension ease. Miss Thatcher brought her eyes back up to the couple as Quinn spoke,

"So, you'll be the one teaching her all the time?" the blonde had to admit, she liked this woman, and the way she had helped Beth be a little more at ease already meant that Quinn's own nerves about who Beth would get as a teacher had now settled.

"Yes, I'm the pre-school teacher, so I'll take Beth for all of her classroom activities, but she'll have a new one when she moves on to first grade, and again in second grade, and so on, but for her art, music and sports classes, which are scattered throughout the week to get the kids out of the classroom, she will have a set of different teachers; we find that the kids really warm up to them, and they've all seen plenty of pre-schoolers through their first year of school, so they're more than ready to help Beth in any way she needs if I'm unavailable," Puck, however, still sat rigidly in his chair, stroking Beth's blonde hair gently,

"So, what can we do to help her at home?"

"We'll mainly encourage you to read with Beth as much as you can over the next month, rather than reading to her, even if its just matching words in her books with the pictures, so that we can jumpstart that want in her to be able to read so when she's ready, she'll be more inclined to pick up reading and wanting to do it early on in the year. We also encourage you to make school sound fun for her, particularly in the first week; everything's very new for Beth, and the last thing we want is for her to catch on to the fact that you're nervous yourselves," Puck nodded,

"And what happens if she doesn't want to stay here?" he asked, glad Beth was distracted with playing hand games with her mother.

"It's totally normal, most pre-schoolers are incredibly attached to their parents, so when the time comes for them to leave it becomes difficult, but basically you just have to do it; she'll be upset at first, but most kids get over that within the first few minutes of being here, and the more you leave her here in the mornings, the more she'll get used to it," Puck's stomach churned at the thought of just leaving Beth behind for the day, and was just about to open his mouth when Quinn spoke,

"Thanks for your help," she said, getting up and shaking the woman's hand "we've gotta get going, back to Beth's sister," she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as the woman didn't judge her for having a second child so young, and she nudged Puck in the shoulder, making him lift Beth off his lap before getting up, still keeping a hold of her hand, just in case.

"No problem," Tracy smiled "we'll see you at 3.00," Puck reluctantly slipped his hand from Beth's grasp when they reached the door to the classroom, and the little girl looked at him worriedly.

"You're gonna stay at school today, remember, monkey face?" he said gently, kneeling down to her level.

"I don't wanna!" Beth's bottom lip began to wobble and Puck felt sick to his stomach.

"It's gonna be OK honey," Quinn said gently, kneeling down opposite her daughter "you're gonna have fun here with Miss Thatcher and all the other kids, I promise,"

"No mommy!" Beth cried out, stamping her little foot as tears rolled down her cheeks "I don't wanna go here!"

"You have to, baby girl--"

"No!" Beth cried, flinging herself at Puck, who caught her in his arms, rubbing her back as she sobbed "Daddy I don't wanna!"

"I know," Puck's heart ached as he watched his little girl cry "but it's gonna be OK, monkey face, you'll see," he felt someone nudge his shoulder at that point, and he looked up to see that Quinn, now standing, was sadly indicating the door. Puck reluctantly pushed Beth away from him, holding her at arm's length before wiping her tears gently with his thumb, "mommy and daddy have to go now, darlin', but we'll be back to get you really soon, OK?"

Beth's cries had simmered down to whimpers, and Puck took that as his cue to get up and head towards the door, but as soon as he turned his back to her, she began crying again, tears streaming down her red cheeks as she reached out and grabbed his hand,

"Daddy don't leave me!" Puck couldn't look at her as he let go of her little hand, and he tried to block out her cries as he and Quinn left the room, turning and looking through the window to see that Tracy was doing her very best to distract Beth, who had again resigned herself to whimpers.

"That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Puck said in a low voice as he and Quinn headed towards the exit of the school.

"I know," Quinn reached out and took hold of his arm with both hands, as if she was clinging to him to support herself "I know,"

There we go guys, little Beth is off to school!