A/N: So I didn't get much of a response on my last chapter, but anyway…I hope you all love this one.
I was wondering if you guys prefer the longer chapters or shorter ones.
Chapter Thirteen: Can't Stay
"Is she going to be okay?"
Quinn turns away from the front door and pulls out her phone to shoot off a text message to Lucy and Rachel.
"I don't know. Now do you understand why I told you that you should've called first?"
"Would you have answered if I did?"
Quinn doesn't respond. She avoids looking at Noah. Noah follows Quinn into her kitchen.
"Do you want to explain how long you have had Beth and why you didn't tell me?"
Quinn places her phone on the counter.
"Why does it matter Puck? You think just because you get Lucy and Beth's name tattooed onto your skin that you're a father. You're wrong. That doesn't make you anything."
"Oh get off your high horse, Doctor Fabray! If my memory serves me right, you weren't exactly complaining that night. Sure, we were drunk, but you didn't say no. It happened almost 16 years ago. You need to get over it. I'm not that same guy anymore."
"It doesn't matter if you're that guy anymore. The last few years of high school were hell for me. I had just broken up with Rachel and you had come in with your stupid school crush on me and try to rescue me."
"Guys don't have crushes," Noah mutters as Quinn goes on ranting.
"The next think I know I'm pregnant and all of a sudden I'm a social outcast. I love Beth, don't get me wrong, but I was made the outcast and you walked around like you were gods gift to women everywhere!"
"Get over it!" Noah yells as he slams his hand down onto the counter top. "All you care about is you! It was always you. You gave Beth up for you!" Not once did you ask my opinion on anything." Noah's hands curl into fists. "You sat on that hospital bed and willingly gave our child away. You didn't even ask me what I thought. You just did it. How was that fair?"
Quinn looks at Noah in shock; this had been the first time in 16 or so years that Puck had said anything about the decision that had been made in high school. Quinn could see the hurt in Noah's eyes. It had been the same look she's seen before, but never understood what it was. Until now.
"Puck, I…"
A cough from the other side of the room broke Quinn and Noah's gaze. Rachel and Lucy stood awkwardly in the archway.
"Are we interrupting anything?"
Quinn turns to her wife and shakes her head.
"No, it's okay. Beth ran out of the house and I wouldn't know where to start looking for her."
Noah sighs and looks towards Rachel and Lucy. He knew the subject was dropped for now. Again it was all about Quinn.
"She's been spending a lot of her time with Amanda," Lucy comments as she keeps her eyes trained on Noah. The last time she had seen him she was 10.
"Honey, can you call Amanda and see if Beth's with her?" Rachel asks.
Lucy begins to pull out her phone, but Noah's voices stops her.
"She may be kind of busy."
All eyes turned to Noah.
"Brittany's back."
Quinn locks eyes with her wife. She knew Rachel wanted to call Santana to make sure she was all right. Over the years, Rachel and Santana's friendship had confused many people. Their friendship never really started in high school. It had started after she and Quinn had moved to New York. They would call every once and awhile, possibly tease each other, bit no matter what, they were always there for each other, especially when Brittany left last year. Quinn shakes her head at Rachel and sees Rachel's shoulders slump.
"I'll just text Beth and see if she answers," Lucy says before walking away from the tension in the room. Adults had too much drama.
"I'm going to call my dad and see if Beth went there. I'll let you and Noah talk," Rachel says as she walks to her wife. She gives her a quick kiss and quickly walks out of the room.
"What do we do now?" Noah asks.
Friend to a stranger
Santana sat staring at her wife. It was the first time in over a year that she saw her wife.
"What are you doing here Brittany?"
"I want to come home."
"Why now?" Santana questions. She leans back on the couch. She was trying not to show any emotion, but with Brittany sitting in front of her it was a hard thing to do.
"I miss you and I miss Amanda."
"It's been over a year. You didn't miss us before."
"Of course I did, but we left on bad terms and I was scared."
"You changed us when you left. Amanda and I are completely different people."
Brittany fiddles with her fingers in her lap.
"I changed too."
"Oh, I know firsthand. I'd never think you of all people would leave me."
"I don't know what to say except I'm sorry and that I love you."
Santana shakes her head. She was going to lose it. She needed not to fall for Brittney's sad eyes. She needed to be strong. Santana gets up from the couch and walks over to the fire place. On the mantel were a few pictures through the years. The first picture was of Santana and Brittany during graduation. They were in their robes and their arms were wrapped around each other. Santana's eyes then drift to the next photo. It was of her and Brittney on their wedding day. Their foreheads were touching in the photo and they were smiling lovingly at each other. Santana's eyes drift towards a few more photos. One was when Amanda was a baby and to the last one of herself, Brittany, and Amanda a year before Brittany had left.
"San?"
Santana feels the tears in her eyes, but she does nothing to wipe them away. She turns to face her wife.
"You left and things got bad. Amanda and I didn't talk. I went deeper into my work and then Amanda landed in the hospital."
Brittany's eyes widen and begin to water.
"She was destructive and disregarded her limits and she drank too much. She told me she was lonely and she blamed me for you leaving and I realized she had a point. I spent so long trying to figure out why you left and I figured out that it wasn't because you didn't love me, but it was because I was never there. I spent so much time in my work, trying to start a new restaurant that you weren't happy."
"Santana," Brittany tries to interrupt, but Santana ignores her and continues talking.
"As I sat by her bedside I swore to myself that things were going to change. I stopped trying to start my business and took over a job at the high school. I made sure I was home more. Then of course Amanda changes dramatically. She chooses to sleep around. Although that might be changing, but that's beside the point. I waited for you to come home, but you never did. So one day I just stopped waiting."
Santana lets out a long breathe and looks at Brittany who just keeps looking at the floor. When it looks like Brittany isn't going to say anything, Santana sighs and wipes the tears from her face.
"If you're just going to sit there and not say anything then I'm going to go find Amanda. She is probably not thinking right now and I'm worried."
Brittany sniffles and lifts her head up to look at her wife.
"I feel like no matter what I say it can never make up for me leaving."
Santana reaches down to the table and grabs her phone.
"I've had too much feelings talk so I can't respond right now. I've got to look for our daughter."
Santana walks to the front door. Before opening the door Santana turns to Brittany.
"Are you going to help me?"
Brittany wipes the tears from her face and follows Santana out the door.
Friend to a Stranger
Beth silences her phone before shoving it into her pocket. Amanda looks at her and sighs.
"You can answer your phone."
Beth glances at Amanda and shakes her head as they continue to walk down the street.
"It's Lucy. I kind of stormed out of the house. Rachel and Quinn are looking for me."
"Why did you storm out of the house?"
"My bio dad showed up."
"Wow. Now I feel like crap."
Beth made Amanda stop walking and face her.
"Why?"
"You came to comfort me after my mother shows up unannounced and your biological father shows up. Don't you want to know him?"
Beth starts walking again and Amanda quickly follows.
"I don't trust men. Ever since I was younger, I never trusted them. I've been hurt to o many times to ever trust them again."
"You trusted the Berry's didn't you?"
Beth slowly nods her head.
"They are gay men. They were less likely to hurt me."
"Beth, we don't have to talk about this. I'm sure you've told Sara. You don't need to tell me, too."
Beth chuckles and shakes her head.
"What's so funny?" Amanda questions as she looks at her friend slash crush.
"I don't talk about my past so easily. Why is it so easy to talk to you?"
Amanda doesn't answer the question. She had her own ideas on why it was so easy for Beth to talk to her, but Amanda didn't want to get her hopes up. What she had told her mama was true. For the first time in Amanda Pierce Lopez's life, she was in love. To her, it didn't matter that she and Beth had never kissed or made love or that Beth had a girlfriend. What mattered was that they were friends. They comforted each other. They were just there when no one else could be.
Amanda and Beth stopped in front of the Lopez house.
"Do you still want to do this?" Beth asks carefully. "I've done it before and it's hard, but you have to want to do it. Do you want to do this?"
Amanda turns to Beth and grabs her hand.
"I can't be here."
"Alright, let's get your bag packed."
Before making their way inside, Amanda turns to Beth once more.
"You are coming with me, right?"
"I'm not letting you go alone."
Amanda smiles and the pair make their way inside the house. Their hands still held together.
Friend to a Stranger
"This isn't how I pictured your room."
When Beth had walked into Amanda's room she had been surprised. Beth had considered Amanda to be a very girlie girl. She had assumed that Amanda's bedroom walls were going to be pink or purple and that a lot more girlie things would be around. What Beth hadn't expected was to see Amanda's room with red walls covered in random posters from movies and television start to just random artwork.
Amanda turns from her closet and grins at Beth.
"You've pictured my room, have you?"
Beth blushes and Amanda grins wider.
"You're cute when you blush," Amanda flirts playfully.
Beth blushes harder and Amanda chuckles and goes back to her closet.
"What should I pack?"
"Pack for all contingencies. You want to bring more clothes than anything else"
As Amanda begins to pack, Beth takes a seat on Amanda's bed. She had to get her thoughts in order. They had to figure out what they were going to do for money because Beth's savings could only go so far. Then they had to figure out where to go. Amanda zips up her bag and throws it on the floor getting Beth's attention.
"Anything else? I'm kind of new at this whole running away thing."
Beth stands up from the bed and sighs.
"No. well not really. I need to go pack a bag and then make one more stop."
"What do you need? I could help"
"Money."
Friend to a Stranger
Rachel parks the car into the school parking lot and waits. Lucy turns to her mother in concern.
"Are you okay?"
Rachel pats her daughter's knee.
"I'm going to be fine."
"You're a terrible liar. Now tell me what's really going on. I'm a good listener."
Rachel licks her lips before speaking.
"My best friend slept with my girlfriend in high school. I've never forgiven him."
"Then why do I exist?" Lucy asks harshly. "Why am I composed of half his DNA?"
"It's very complicated Luce. You wouldn't understand."
Lucy sighs and shakes her head before opening the car door.
"I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't have to protect me."
Lucy gets out of the car in search for her sister. There was a possibility that Beth would be here, but right now she just needed to get away from her mother. Her whole family had issues that she didn't want to deal with at the moment.
Rachel hurries out of the car.
"Lucy!"
Lucy slows down from running and waits for her mother to walk up to her.
"I'm sorry," Lucy apologizes. "I shouldn't have said what I did."
"No. I'm the one that should apologize. You asked a questions and an important one at that and I basically blew it off. I apologize."
"You and mom have been lying to me my whole life. You never told me I had a sister and that we were fully related at that. But all I am asking for is an answer to my question. If you have still not forgiven Puck, then why did you use him as a donor? You could have used anybody else in the entire world. Why'd you choose him?"
"That's one question I don't have an answer for definitively. When your mom gave birth to Beth she was a beautiful baby just like you and there was a moment where I felt okay with what had Noah had done. There were a lot of moments like that after. When your mom and I talked about having a family we went over the pros and cons of an unknown donor or somebody we do know and ultimately we chose to go with somebody we knew. The only two guys we were close to were Noah and Finn. Quinn and I knew that Finn had feelings for me so he was out. That left Noah and there wasn't going to be any genetic risks. It was just a logical choice."
Lucy bites the bottom of her lip before asking a question she really didn't want an answer to.
"Do you regret it?"
Rachel quickly wraps her arms around her daughter.
"No, baby, no. Not once have I ever regretted it."
Rachel places a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
"Now let's go and find your sister."
Friend to a Stranger
Beth and Amanda stood in front of the ticket window at the bus station. Their bags were hanging off of their shoulders.
"I need two tickets," Beth says as she gets out the money.
"Where would you like to go?"
Beth looks over at Amanda who shrugs her shoulders. Beth looks at the board full of possible cities to go to.
"Two tickets for the farthest city from Lima, Ohio!"
The woman in the ticket window goes to her computer to get the two tickets. The woman prints them off and hands it to Beth as Beth pays for them.
Have nice trip ladies."
"Thanks," Beth responds.
Beth grabs the tickets and she and Amanda walk out of the bus station to locate their bus. Once they locate their bus they stow away their bags and pick out seats. Amanda takes the window seat. Beth sits in the aisle seat. Beth turns to Amanda and grabs her hand.
"Are you okay?"
Amanda squeezes Beth's hand and smiles back.
"I'm just tired."
The bus starts moving.
"Close you eyes and get some sleep. I'll wake you up in a few hours."
Amanda yawns and let's go of Beth's hand. She rest her head against the window and closes her eyes When Beth knew that Amanda was asleep she pulled out her phone and checked all of her messages.
The rents R freaking out-Lucy
Beth, where RU?-Quinn
I'm worried about you-Rachel
Amanda is missing 2. She wit u?-Lucy
Beth goes through her phone and picks out Lucy's name. Beth types up her message.
Amanda's with me. Give us 2 wks.
Beth sends her message and shuts off her phone. She leans back in her chair and closes her eyes. She opens her eyes when she feels something on her shoulder. She looks down and Amanda's head was now resting on her shoulder. She was still sleeping. Beth smiles and closes her own eyes while wondering what the next two weeks were going to bring.