It didn't take Puck long to figure out exactly where she would be.

Puck took pride in his vast knowledge of (what he liked to refer to as) the whinier sex.

Excluding a few rare examples, Puck often knew what chicks were thinking and why they were behaving in certain ways. He had studied hard. One might say that Girls were his favorite subject in school.

Puck also gained wisdom from popular culture. He felt it was a good indicator of human behavior.

Whenever a chick in a movie or on TV made a big scene and ran out of a room, she would inevitably end up sobbing in her car.

Puck approached cautiously and saw that Quinn was in fact sitting in her car in the school parking lot using a tissue to mop the tears off of her face.

If Puck were a betting man, (he occasionally played the ponies) he would guess that she was also blasting the radio.

She was probably playing some crappy chick music, like a sad Celine Dion song (as if there were any other kind).

Taking a deep breath, Puck grabbed the handle of the door on the passenger side.

It was unlocked.

Puck opened the door and his ears were immediately assaulted.

Every night in my dreams

I see you

I feel you

That is how I know you go on

Damn.

A part of him was amused that he had guessed right, but he could have sworn he felt his eardrum cracking from the sheer suckiness.

Puck moved to turn the radio dial, but Quinn slapped his hand away.

"I can't listen to this," Puck said pathetically.

Quinn turned the dial to the right, increasing the volume even more.

"You got in my car jackass," Quinn said between sniffles, "Feel free to exit anytime."

"Come on Quinn, you and I both know that we have to talk."

Quinn blew her nose on the tissue. "I guess so," she stiffly admitted.

Puck leaned forward again. "Right, but I can't talk if my ears start to bleed."

"Now that would be a shame," Quinn said as she turned the volume up even higher.

Near

Far

Wherever you are

You are safe in my heart and

My heart will go on and on

Puck clasped his hands to the sides of his head in a futile attempt to block out the noise.

Forget waterboarding, this song was its own kind of unique torture.

Quinn was amused by his actions and relented slightly by lowering the volume.

Puck removed his hands. "Thank you."

Quinn bit her lip. "To be honest, I wasn't even paying attention to the music when I got in. I can change the station if you like."

Puck nodded.

Quinn pressed some of her pre-programmed buttons.

A Backstreet Boys song came on.

Puck wished they had just stayed gone.

Strike One.

Quinn pressed another button.

Keith Urban.

Puck had to admit that the dude had good hair, but still no.

Strike Two.

Puck told Quinn to keep going.

She spun the dial.

A Taylor Swift song.

Oh hell no.

Big freakin' Strike Three.

Puck mimed stabbing himself in the heart to accurately convey his feelings about the "music."

"Fine," Quinn said, "You get one spin to pick something better. Whatever you land on is what we are listening to."

Puck blew on his hands like a player at a casino would blow on dice to make them lucky.

Rock Gods don't fail me now, Puck thought as he twirled the dial.

You're herrrrrrrrre,

There's nothing I fearrrrrrrrrr

You are safe in my heart and

My heart will go on and on

There is no God, Puck thought bitterly.

He was even on a different station then before.

Preferring silence to this travesty of a "song," Puck quickly switched the radio off.

He leaned back, and settled in his seat.

Now, they could talk.

All he needed to do was break the ice.

Puck turned to face Quinn; he stuck out his right hand, and said, "Hi, I'm not sure if you remember me or not, but I'm Puck. I'm the one who knocked you up."

Quinn couldn't help it, she smiled a tiny bit.

"You're an idiot," she said.

"Okay," he agreed. "I'm Puck, the father of your baby, and a complete and utter idiot."

"Ain't that the truth."

"And you are?" Puck continued with his fake introduction.

"I'm Quinn Fabray: a pregnant teen, an ex-cheerleader, and a proud member of glee club."

"Glee club? Sounds kind of lame if you ask me." Puck joked.

Quinn smacked Puck on the shoulder.

"Just kidding, just kidding," Puck promised. He grabbed Quinn's hand in his, and shook it. "It's nice to meet you."

"We'll see."

Puck noticed that Quinn had gotten most of her tears cleaned up. Except for her blotchy eyes, she seemed fine considering the circumstances.

"You okay?" Puck asked even though he already knew the answer.

"I'm just peachy," Quinn responded. "I loved telling our peers that I am a betraying tramp. I also loved the look on Finn's face when he found out the truth, that look of anguish. And, I loved making such a dramatic exit, you know, running out with my tail between my legs."

"It could be worse," Puck thought out loud.

"Really, how?" Quinn wanted to know.

"Well," Puck struggled, "You have a family…"

"That hates me."

Oops, Puck had forgotten about that.

Quinn continued, "I can't wait until my parents hear that Finn isn't the father, but a Jewish juvenile delinquent is."

"Hey," Puck protested, "Jesus was a Jew."

Quinn wasn't impressed with that logic, so Puck moved on, "You have friends…"

"Who hate me."

"You have extracurricular activities…"

"That I've been kicked out of."

"Well…you have me…"

If anything, Quinn looked even more depressed as he started to say that.

Puck decided to add, "And my friendship…if you want it."

Quinn said nothing.

Puck had to convince her that they could do this, that they would be okay.

"Look, I may not be Ivory League material, but I got ambition. I got heart, and I have a kickass CD collection. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that you and the kid are taken care of. I promise everything will work out."

Quinn gave off a short laugh.

Puck wasn't sure if she was making fun of his speech or if her hormones were making her act crazy. He wasn't sure which he would prefer at the moment.

"What's the deal?" Puck asked.

"You said Ivory League…"

Puck failed to see what was funny.

"So?"

"So…Ivory is a type of soap. You meant to say Ivy League."

"I was just…" Puck scrambled for an explanation, "proving my point. I'm not the brightest kid and I hate to clean. Case closed."

Puck wished he had a gavel that he could bang on the dashboard to emphasize his point. That would be so badass.

Note to self, Puck thought, buy a gavel.

Time to switch topics.

"As your friend, I want to help you. Do you need a place to stay?"

"No," Quinn said, "Brittany said I could stay with her. She said her family would welcome a normal problem like teen pregnancy into the house. Although, Brittany's a little sad that I told her she has to put her love of taxidermy on hold while I'm there."

"Errr…okay."

Never one to back-down from a challenge, Puck decided to go for the big question next.

"Have you decided what you want to do? You know, like do, after the baby's born."

Puck knew she was leaning towards adoption, but he hadn't spoken to her about it in a while. For all he knew, she may have changed her mind.

Quinn let out a big sigh. She squirmed in her seat a bit, but Puck waited patiently. He took a pee break before he came out, so he could totally wait all day if he had to.

The seconds ticked by, but finally Quinn spoke up.

"Adoption. I want to give the baby up for adoption."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't think any one can ever be completely sure, but I've made up my mind. I think this is the best decision for everyone."

"Do you think your choice would be different if Finn was actually the father?"

Puck wasn't sure why he wanted to know that, but he did.

Quinn looked away, "Maybe…"

Puck felt like he had been kicked in the gonads. Quinn really seemed to hate him.

"But probably not," Quinn continued. "At my age, I just don't feel ready to raise a child…with anyone. I don't think I can handle the responsibility, and I don't think I want to try."

Maybe Quinn did hate him, but it sounded like the person she was most mad at was herself.

Even if it hurt like a bitch, Puck was going to try and do this Quinn's way.

"I could still help you," Puck said.

"How?"

"We're both kind of hated right now. Finn doesn't want to see either of us, and Rachel basically told me to go screw myself. We're kind of short on friends. You're not gonna pop that kid out for another couple months, so you could probably use a friend."

Quinn looked thoughtful. "It wouldn't hurt to try, I guess."

Not the enthusiastic response Puck was looking for, but he would take it.

Puck's legs were starting to fall asleep, so he went to adjust his seat to move backwards. As he reached for the little lever, he realized that Quinn's storming out of the school reminded him of something. It reminded him of the time Quinn cornered him in that classroom…

Puck pulled the lever too far, and his seat went flying back.

Hello ceiling, Puck thought as he struggled to sit back up.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked.

Puck managed to right himself before he pointed a finger at Quinn.

"You kissed me," he accused. "What the hell was that about?"

"Huh?" Quinn was confused.

"You kissed me, that day in the classroom. You pulled me in, then pounced on me, and then ran away. Why did you do that? I thought you didn't like me."

Quinn looked guilty.

"Well?" he prodded.

"Well…I was conducting an experiment."

Puck was annoyed, did he look like a frickin' lab rat?

"I guess I was giving you a test run, but then I chickened out."

Great, now Quinn was comparing him to a car. Did she run out because he didn't have that new car smell?

"You said you wanted Finn and you wanted me, so which is it?"

"I've always felt a certain…physical…attraction for you," Quinn's face turned red, "but I've also always had genuine feelings for Finn."

Puck needed a little help, "So what you're saying is?"

Quinn rushed to spit the words out, "What I'm saying is that I liked you enough to sleep with you, but I don't trust you, and I don't think we would ever work out as anything more than friends. When I saw that you were getting close with Rachel, I panicked. I got jealous and I wanted to make her feel insecure."

Things were beginning to get clearer.

"Is that why you told Finn at practice that Rachel had kept the secret from him? You were jealous?"

Quinn's voice got softer as she explained. "I wanted to hurt Finn like he had hurt me. Do you know how hard it was to stand by and see Rachel get the two guys that I wanted, the two guys that I cared about the most?"

Quinn sniffed back a few tears. She was done crying.

"Even when Finn was with me, I knew that he talked to Rachel behind my back. I knew that they were good friends, and it bugged me so much. And when you started dating Rachel, I really began to resent her because you stopped trying to call me. I know it's stupid, but I felt hurt."

Puck had been right. "So, you didn't want me…"

"But I didn't want Rachel to have you either," Quinn finished for him.

Although it hadn't turned out the way he thought it would, Puck's plan with Rachel had succeeded in making Quinn jealous.

Puck rubbed his mohawk, this conversation was giving him a headache.

"Quinn, if you had crooked your little finger at me, even once after we hooked up, I would have come running. Once I found out about what happened, I wanted to take care of you and the baby so badly."

Quinn acknowledged that Puck had used the past tense. His feelings had changed.

"Face it Puck, if I hadn't gotten pregnant, you would have moved on. Yeah, we had a good time that one night, but it would have ended there."

Puck had never really thought about it that way. He started to protest because he felt like it was the right thing to do, but Quinn held up a hand to stop him.

"If I weren't pregnant, would you still want to be with me after I've been such a bitch to you?"

Forget aspirin, Puck needed a drink (and he wasn't talking about getting a Yoohoo).

Quinn patted her expanding stomach. "Your feelings for me are wrapped up with this baby. I know that your father left you when you were little, and you don't want to be anything like him. Therefore, you had yourself convinced that we would make a good family, the three of us. But that's a fantasy, it's not real. A part of me wants to give it a shot anyway because I love this baby, but I realize now that I could never be with a guy who feels obligated to be with me. I should have never tricked Finn, and I should have never forced you to lie. If I hadn't done that, then maybe we could have spared some people a lot of hurt."

Puck had to give the girl credit; she had described the situation perfectly. The thing he was most afraid of in this world was becoming a deadbeat like his dad.

Puck didn't see how adoption was much better though, leaving was still leaving.

"I'm not sure I can do it," Puck confessed. "Just hand the kid over to some strangers and wave good-bye. That doesn't seem right to me."

Quinn grabbed onto his arm. "It won't be like that. The adoption agency has a strict screening process for prospective parents. We'll find a good couple to take care of her. Besides, there's such a thing as an open adoption. That means that you could get updates and pictures of your daughter as she grows up."

Puck liked the sound of that.

"Besides, we're not giving her up because we don't want her, we're giving her up because we want what's best for her. And that's not us, at least not right now."

Quinn searched for Puck's eyes. "You're gonna make a good dad one day. When you're ready."

Puck felt moisture well up in his eyes.

But, Puck reasoned, he wasn't crying. It was something else that was causing that inexplicable liquid to slide down his face. It was probably just sweat dripping down because the car was too hot. Or, he must have inadvertently poked himself in the eye while not paying attention. Or, he was just allergic to something. That must be it. Because there was no way that he was crying.

Noah Abraham Puckerman didn't cry.

Oh hell, who was he kidding, he was verklempt. He was crying like a sissy little girl who skinned her knee playing sissy little girl games.

But, if you asked him to admit that fact in a court of law, he would deny it (he really needed to get that gavel).

Puck squeezed Quinn's hand before letting go. He needed to leave this car before his castration was fully complete.

He looked to Quinn for confirmation that he could go, and she gestured toward the door.

"Don't make me throw you out of this car, I got places to be and a future to plan," Quinn teased.

"Yes mam," Puck tipped an imaginary cowboy hat, smiled, and got out of the car.

As he watched her drive away, Puck let the truth of Quinn's words sink into his brain.

She was right, maybe it was time to let go and move forward.

He would always love his kid, but somebody else would do a better job of taking care of her.

And as lame as it sounded, Puck hoped that he and Quinn would get to a place where they could completely trust each other. He wanted to be there for her in the coming months if she needed him.

Now that he had settled a few things with Quinn, there was something else that was weighing on Puck heavily.

Rachel Berry.

He had missed her these past few weeks.

Puck needed to see her, to talk to her, and beg her forgiveness if necessary.

It had been hard letting Rachel go after Finn, even though he knew it was probably for the best.

Puck tried not to imagine how Rachel's encounter with Finn had gone. Finn had probably been weepy (understandable considering the circumstances) and Rachel had probably wanted to comfort him with a hug where their bodies would inevitably be pressed close together, and with Rachel's skirt already so short…

Nope. Puck wasn't going to let his mind wander there. He would put his hands over his ears and hum the Battle Hymn of the Republic before he let that mental image completely form.

No matter what had happened in the past, Puck had to find Rachel and convince her that things weren't over between them.

He hoped with everything he had that it wasn't already too late.