Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.
A/N: Our grandmas are best friends!
"Hi Quinn," Beth said with a smile as she arrived at the table in the food court. "Hello," she added to Judy. "Do I call you...?" she asked, trying to remember this woman's preference.
"Grandma, if you'd like," Judy replied with the best, pleasantest smile that she could muster, she was determined to end this ridiculous state of affairs between herself and her daughter, and it seemed the only way to do that was to accept into her life the granddaughter who's advent had been instrumental in destroying their relationship in the first place. "Oh, there's Ruth," she said as she glanced over Beth's shoulder to see Ruth Puckerman hurrying towards them.
"Hi," Ruth called from a few feet away. "Quinn, sweetie, you look just amazing, yellow is definitely your colour," she complimented. "Judy, hello," she added. "Beth, darling, come and give your nana a hug," she instructed and held her arms out to the young girl. "Where's your mom? Oh, I see her," she said as Shelby arrived carrying a tray of steaming coffee mugs. "Rachel," she cried when she spotted the younger brunette behind the older one. "Oh my word, I have not seen you in the longest time, how are you?" she asked and hugged Rachel tight.
"I'm good, Ruth, how are you? How is Rebecca doing in college?" Rachel asked.
"Fine, she's doing fine," Ruth replied as she sat down at the table. "So this is wonderful," she added as she caught her breath. "I feel like we're just one big happy family, all part of one tree, just lots of different branches," she mused as she sipped her coffee.
"Very eloquent," Quinn grinned and nudged Ruth with her shoulder. "So, how have you been mom?" she asked Judy. "I haven't heard from you since dinner the other day," she noted.
"I'm fine, I've been busy," Judy replied, it was a strain, it was always a strain to begin a conversation, she never felt that she had anything in common with people, nothing that she could talk about with anyone. "Frannie was excited to hear your news," she added after a few moments.
"Great," Quinn replied, also struggling to find common ground. "So, here's the ultrasound pictures," she said suddenly, remembering why they were all together in the first place. "There he is, your grandson," she told her mom.
Judy melted, quite literally, she melted. She looked at the picture of her daughter's unborn child and melted. "Oh, Quinnie," she sighed, her eyes were full of tears and her face showed every emotion. "I am so happy for you," she told her honestly. Quinn felt as though a corner had been turned.
"And I bought these, too," Quinn said, holding the dresses against herself and giving Puck a little bit of a fashion show.
"Great," Puck replied, "but show me the underwear again," he grinned and pulled Quinn close to kiss her. "I'm glad you had a good time, seems like your mom did too," he noted.
"She did," Quinn sighed happily. "Look at this, she chose this for the baby," she exclaimed and brought a beautiful crocheted blanket out of a large shopping bag that was emblazoned with the name of a very exclusive baby store. "Isn't it gorgeous?" she asked.
"It is," Puck answered and nodded, he was impressed, not so much with the blanket, sure it was nice, but it was just a blanket. No, the thing that had impressed Puck was that Judy had made the effort to do something nice for Quinn. "So did you talk to my mom about Robyn?" he asked.
"Yes, Rachel and I managed to get her on her own for a few minutes, we had Beth distract my mom, she took her off to somewhere girlie and force-fed her glitter or something," she joked. "Anyway, your mom thinks that Rachel and I should go to Carole with the information that we have, the DNA report and Sue's confession," she said then bit her lip. "I'm still a little scared though, what if she doesn't want to know?"
"I think that she will," Puck said quietly, giving the matter even more thought. He truly believed that Carole's troubled heart would be soothed by the knowledge that her son left something of himself behind, it might make her feel that his life was not wasted, that he wasn't totally lost. Puck really hoped for that, for Robyn's sake as much as Carole's.
Quinn wore one of her new empire line dresses for school the next day. The style flattered her and also drew a little emphasis to her burgeoning waistline. She waited almost all day for someone to say something, but no one did, not until the penultimate class of the day.
"Do you think Ms Puckerman is pregnant? She looks pregnant. Or fat," Robyn whispered to Beth as they sat in class. Robyn was staring intently at Quinn, like she was trying to figure out Quinn's subtly altered shape. Unfortunately, Robyn's question wasn't quite as whispered as she thought.
"That's right Robyn, I am, in fact, pregnant," Quinn answered almost nonchalantly even as she continued to write on the whiteboard. "Yay, someone noticed," she cheered inside her head.
"Is she keeping this one?" Robyn whispered much more quietly.
"Yes," Beth mouthed back and glowered at Robyn. "Shut up," she hissed, she didn't want the popular girls or the bully girls to get wind of anything personal between her and Quinn, because no doubt, if they knew something, they'd use it to their advantage.
"Ok," Quinn said as she turned back to face the class. Immediately everyone's eyes went to her middle, she blushed just a little self-consciously, she felt like she was under the microscope. Quinn had to let go of a strangled giggle. She heard the mumblings of voices, hidden behind hands, even as they all just looked at her. "Can we start?" she suggested gently. "Ok, today we're going to look at words that sound alike but mean totally different things, can anyone think of anything?" she asked. "Yes, Robyn," she said as Robyn Sylvester raised her hand.
"Are you going to keep this one or are you going to give it up for adoption like you did Beth?" Robyn asked. Quinn almost fainted. Beth wanted to die. Robyn glanced around as the whole room seemed to empty of air after everyone had sucked in a shocked breath. "What?" she demanded.
"Hey, come on, it can't be that bad," Puck crooned as he took Quinn into his arms to hug her better. He'd been called to the school, to the teachers' lounge because that was the only place that Beth could think of to get Quinn to after Robyn's revelation in class.
"It is," Beth sighed as she stood up too. "Now the whole school knows," she informed Puck sadly. "Well, they don't know about you, but they know about me and her," she explained with a nod towards Quinn, who was still in shock.
"And is that so bad?" Puck asked Beth. "I mean, you look like a carbon copy of her, how has no one noticed until now?" he added with a grin. "Hey, we've been through worse," he reminded Quinn and tilted her head back so that he could look in her tear-filled eyes. "Remember when Finn found out?" he asked her. "Remember what happened then, how we dealt with it?" Quinn sobbed and nodded, yes she remembered, they'd brazened it out and made it look to the entire world that they were a couple, they held hands, they smooched and made out in the hallways, Puck defended her to anyone who thought they had the right to badmouth her. "So, do it again," Puck advised. "We know it's the truth, so make the truth common knowledge instead of trying to keep it a secret and then they don't have anything to talk about anymore, right?"
"Right," Quinn agreed as she sniffed and tried to get herself back under some semblance of control. "Did you do the journal thing that I asked everyone to do at the weekend?" she asked Beth. Actually, Quinn had asked her students to keep a journal for two whole weeks, but maybe if Beth had documented their weekend activities, they could let the truth out in their own way.
"Of course," Beth replied with one eyebrow raised, she looked even more like Quinn. "I take it I'm going to read my homework out in class tomorrow, right?" Quinn nodded, grateful that Beth understood so quickly. "I'll clear it with my mom this evening," she said and then hugged Quinn too. Beth really didn't want to see her so upset, she didn't want to see her hurt, she really liked Quinn.
"Mom," Beth called as soon as she walked into the house after school, after Puck and Quinn dropped her off. "Mom?" she called again.
"Yes, sweetie, I'm coming," Shelby called back, she sounded like she was upstairs.
Beth went into the kitchen to get herself a drink of juice and a snack. "Mom, I'm in here," she shouted when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "I need to talk to you," she added in a sing-songy kind of way. "Hey," she smiled when Shelby hugged her. "I kind of have something to tell you," Beth sighed, and wrinkled up her nose. "Robyn kind of outed me and Quinn today at school," she said with a pout, she glanced up to see her mom's face, saw that she looked slightly shocked.
"And how do you feel about that?" Shelby managed to ask, she was swallowing hard, almost gulping back the hint of nausea.
"I'm...I'm kind of ok with it," Beth said softly, she realised that she was. "See, I've been thinking, right?" she said and looked again at her mom. "Like, most kids, they only get one mom, right?" she asked, Shelby nodded in agreement. "I get two, I mean, I know I only get one dad, but at least I have him, right? And now I've got grandmas, aunts, uncles and everything whereas before, it was just me and you, right? So it's got to be good, right?" she said, she sounded a little excited. "I mean, I even get to have a brother, how cool is that?"
Shelby hugged Beth close. This was her Beth back, this was her little girl, not the moody, sullen girl who had inhabited Beth's body for the last few weeks. This girl, the one who always looked for the positive, the one who always looked for the rainbow, and she was so thankful to have her back. "As long as you're happy, I'm happy," Shelby sighed into Beth's hair and pressed kiss after kiss on her head. "I'm glad you're back, Boo," she whispered. Beth said nothing, she smiled to herself and hugged her mom, she was rather glad that she felt more like her old self too.
The silence was almost deafening. Beth suddenly realised that she was in class, that there was silence all around her, that everyone seemed to be looking at her and that she didn't have a clue even what day it was. She must have been really, really daydreaming. She sort of knew that Quinn had asked her a question and she was sifting through lots of rubbish in her brain to see if she could actually remember hearing what she'd been asked. "Erm, I'm sorry, Qu...erm...Ms Puckerman, could you repeat the question?" she asked faintly and blushed madly, she could feel the heat spreading throughout her body. Beth swallowed hard.
Quinn smiled at Beth in an encouraging way. "I asked if you had worked on your journal," Quinn said again. Quinn knew how it would read: Friday, went to OB appointment with birth parents, saw baby brother. Saturday, spent the day chillaxing with my mom. Sunday, met Rachel Berry. In my kitchen. Actually Rachel Berry, the real one, the one who played Fanny Brice on Broadway for five whole years. Turns out, she's my mom's real daughter, so my weekend was interesting.
"Yes," Beth replied, happy that she could say that she had begun the task that Quinn had set for the class.
"Would you like to read yours out?" Quinn asked, and gave Beth a nod of positive encouragement. Beth gulped and stood slowly to walk to the front of the class. They had discussed this on the phone last night, in a call that involved Beth, Shelby, Quinn and Puck.
"Ok," Beth sighed and walked to the front of the class. She paused a second to glance at Quinn before she turned to face the class with her journal held in a slightly trembling hand. "Before I tell you what I did on the weekend, there's something you should know about me," she bravely told the class. Beth glanced around and saw even the popular clique sit up and take notice. "I was adopted when I was born. My birth parents were high school kids, they were too young to take care of me so I was adopted by my mom," she announced and saw the interested and shocked looks on various faces around the room. "Just recently, I have met my birth parents and I have been spending some time with them, getting to know them, they're quite cool people," she added with a half-smirk and a sidelong glance at Quinn. Quinn bent her head to hide her smile. "So, here we go. On Friday, after school was out, I went with my birth parents to a very special appointment," she told the class. "I saw my baby brother for the first time, and he looks kind of cool," she read out. "I think he looks like..." Beth glanced over at Quinn, she'd written their names in this part, Quinn nodded, they'd discussed it with each other and with Shelby too, it was fine for the truth to come out. "I sort of think he looks like Puck," she read out and glanced again at the class, "Puck is my dad, by the way, he's always been called Puck, his name is Noah Puckerman, but he prefers Puck," she explained. A few in drawn breaths were audible as the connection to their teacher was made. Quinn felt the gazes land on her, she continued to look at Beth. "But Puck thinks he looks like me and Quinn, Quinn is my birth mom," she added and waited half a second for someone to click.
"Wait a minute," one of the popular girls shouted from the back of the class. "Quinn and Puckerman?" she stated rather than asked. "Isn't that a bit too much of a coincidence?" she demanded.
"It's no coincidence," Beth denied. "Ms Puckerman," she indicated Quinn with a hitch of her thumb, "is my birth mother," she revealed.
"Oh my God," the girl hissed. "You're like, really her mom?" she asked, thrilled with the news, scandalised that her teacher had given up a baby and excited to have gossip that she could use for currency until it became common knowledge.
"No, Ms Corcoran is Beth's mom," Quinn corrected. "I gave birth to her," she admitted, "but I am not her mom, Shelby is her mom," she repeated and gave Beth that smile, the one that was identical to Beth's.
"She's my biological mom, my birth mom," Beth explained, she felt kind of important, she held the attention of the class.
"I don't get it," another girl exclaimed. "You married the guy, right? The dad?" she asked.
"Yes, Noah and I did eventually get married," Quinn replied, nodding carefully she wondered where this was going. All around the room, Quinn could hear whispered voices, she knew that they were commenting on how alike she and Beth looked and wondering how they hadn't noticed before.
"So if you were going to get married, why didn't you just keep Beth, be a real mom to her?" the girl asked.
"It wasn't as simple as that," Quinn sighed, but oh how she wished it had been. "For a number of reasons, life didn't work out quite so simply, we didn't have a continuous relationship," she admitted, "we did however, finally realise that we were right for each other so here we are," she said and then was so thankful to hear the bell to denote the end of the lesson. "Oh thank God," she thought. "Ok, so can you all work on your journals, please?" she called over the sound of chairs scraping and footsteps heading towards the door. "Thank you," she called as the door closed.
"Are you ok?" Beth asked quietly at her side.
"I am, thank you, how about you?" Quinn asked and rubbed her hand over Beth's shoulder in a comforting motion. "You need to be getting to your next class," she added, although she was extremely pleased that she had a free period herself.
"It's just gym, and I don't feel so good," Beth pouted. "I have a stomach ache," she claimed and rubbed her hand low across her stomach. "Do you think I might be excused?" she asked with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that one?" Quinn asked Beth with a grin.
"No," Beth sighed with a pout. "But it was worth a try," she added over her shoulder as she went out into the hallway. Quinn laughed a little at her cheek.
"Oh, crap," Rachel whispered as she and Quinn stood on the porch outside Carole Hummel's home. "My knees are shaking," she admitted out of the side of her mouth.
"Mine too," Quinn whispered back. They were stood side by side, their arms were linked together, taking courage from each other. "Press the bell again," she urged Rachel. Rachel pulled a face and did so.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Carole Hummel called from inside the house. "Rachel," she cried when she opened the door. "Quinn," she added and hugged both girls. "What brings you here?" she asked once they were inside and seated, cups of coffee on the table in front of them.
"Actually, Carole, we have something to tell you," Rachel said after she had cleared her throat a few times. "And please, we aren't telling you this to upset you, hopefully it will be just the opposite," she explained. Rachel took a moment to compose herself, she knew exactly what she was going to say, she'd rehearsed all afternoon, this was just exactly like an opening night. "Finn had a child," she announced then paused for a second for that to sink in. "He was Sue Sylvester's sperm donor, Sue's daughter, Robyn, she is Finn's daughter," she said then glanced up at Carole's shocked face.
"Wait...wait...Finn? No, wait," Carole stuttered, she looked as though she'd been slapped. "What?" she demanded.
"Finn fathered a child," Quinn said softly and took Carole's hand in both of her own to give the floundering woman something to hold on to. "You have a granddaughter," she explained, again in a soft and gently voice.
"Gran...granddaughter?" Carole repeated, she couldn't take this in, she was dreaming, surely, this was almost like Finn being raised from the dead. "A child? Finn?"
"Yes," Rachel confirmed. "I have the DNA report right here," she said quickly and delved into the huge purse to find it. "Here, here," she muttered as she indicated the relevant information for Carole.
"That...that could be anyone, I mean, it's just a code, it doesn't mean anything to me," Carole said as she looked at the report, and rightly so, it was a print out of three DNA codes. "Are you sure?" she asked a moment later. "Sue Sylvester? That God awful coach woman?" she asked. "Oh my, that poor little girl," she sighed. "Does, does she know about me?" she asked.
"No, not yet, Robyn doesn't know yet," Quinn replied. "Sue asked us to come to you, to tell you because she knows that Robyn should have other people in her life and she would like you to be in Robyn's life, if you want to," she explained.
"If I want to," Carole repeated Quinn's words. She took a second to think, to get her head together. "If I want to?" she asked. "How can it be if?" she sniffed. "I have a granddaughter," she cried as she finally allowed her excitement to come through. Carole sobbed with happiness, and with shock, but overall, it was happiness.
"So do you want to let Sue know?" Rachel asked as they climbed back into Quinn's car. "Maybe we should go there right now, tell her now and then she can talk it over with Robyn, maybe then we can arrange a meeting before I go back to New York," she sighed. She wasn't particularly looking forward to going back for a while, she felt a bit burnt out. "Maybe I'll stay here for another week," she suggested with a sigh.
"You know you're always welcome at our house," Quinn reminded Rachel. She checked the traffic before pulling out into the street. "Could you have ever imagined this?" she asked, thinking back to the time when they were something of rivals for Finn's attention. "You know I was in love with Puck, even back then, right?" she asked Rachel with a grin.
"Oh I know that," Rachel exclaimed. "Why do you think I dated him?" she added with an even bigger grin, they both burst out laughing. "Come on, let's get this Sue thing over with then we'll do dinner."
"Sue, hi," Quinn said breathlessly once Sue opened the door. "May we come in?" she asked. Sue stood back for the to enter. "Oh, Robyn, hi," she said in surprise, she hadn't expected her to be there for some reason.
"Is this about my dad?" Robyn asked with a nervousness that Quinn hadn't seen in her before.
Quinn glanced at Sue, she gave a slight nod of assent. "Yes," Quinn replied. She glanced again at Sue, Sue nodded a little more overtly. "Robyn, we know who your dad is, who he was," she said as she sat down on the couch.
Robyn sat down suddenly too, as though her legs had failed her. "Was?" she asked with a gulp.
"Yes, was," Quinn repeated. "Your dad was a wonderful guy, a really, really great guy," she said, building Finn up. "He was a great friend to everyone, he loved music, he loved his friends, he was a really, really great guy," she said, she was running out of things to say.
"So what happened to him?" Robyn asked. A great guy was all well and good, but it still didn't tell her who her dad was.
Quinn looked at Rachel, they weren't sure how much of the truth they should give. "I think it might be better for his family to tell you about that," Rachel suggested and relief flooded through both Quinn and Rachel once that was suggested.
"Family?" Robyn asked with interest. "I have family?" she asked, Rachel nodded. "Do they know about me?" she asked warily.
"They do now," Quinn replied. "And they want to meet you, if it's ok with you and your mom," she added and looked at Sue, Sue nodded, she still hadn't spoken. "Let me know and we'll arrange it, ok?" she suggested softly and stood up. "We have to get home, dinner to make, you know?" she muttered to Sue as she and Rachel made their way to the front door.
"Thank you," Sue called softly, her voice was quite gruff as though she was holding back the tears. Quinn looked back and smiled, she didn't reply, neither did Rachel, they didn't need to, the look said it all.
"Are you sure she'll like me?" Robyn hissed to Beth, she was so, so nervous.
"Yes, I'm sure," Beth hissed back, they were sat at a table in Breadstix, with Quinn and Rachel, they were waiting for Puck to come, he was bringing his mom and Carole Hummel.
"Robyn," Rachel said gently and took the young girl's trembling hand, "she is going to love you," she assured her. The more she looked at Robyn, the more she could see Finn, and she loved that, she loved that she could see bits of him in this young girl. "Here they are," she murmured and gave Robyn's hand another gentle squeeze. "Carole, hi," she called as she stood to give the older woman a hug. "Ruth," she added and hugged her too. "May I introduce you to Ms Robyn Sylvester," she said and held a hand out towards Robyn.
Robyn gulped and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Hi," she whispered then gulped again.
"Robyn," Carole breathed. "I'm...I'm...oh, you have his eyes, you have Finn's eyes," she cried, she couldn't help herself. "And that little freckle, there, just there," she said as she gently touched a fingertip to Robyn's temple, "Finn had one just like that," she said and turned to Ruth. "This is real?" she asked, she was still having to pinch herself.
"I'm real," Robyn quipped, she didn't get overly emotional, and the woman hadn't run away screaming yet, so she must be ok.
Carole sat down beside Robyn and just drank her in. "How have you lived in Lima your whole life and I didn't know about you?" she asked. "I mean, look at you, I can just see so much of Finn in you," she said with absolute pleasure, she was so happy.
"Hey, nana," Beth whispered as Ruth hugged her, they happily watched the growing interaction between Robyn and Carole, it was interesting to see. "That was us just a couple of weeks ago, right?" she murmured, Ruth nodded, yes it had been and now she felt so involved in Beth's life that she didn't think she'd missed out on anything. Ruth really hoped that Robyn and Carole would come to that.
"My journal," Robyn read out in class at Quinn's bidding. "Keeping a journal is nothing new to me," she read then glanced up at Beth. "My mom has kept journals for years and years, there's some really interesting stuff in those," she said and glanced beside her to Quinn, Quinn gave Robyn the slightest wink. "But writing about myself is difficult because I don't really know who I am, see, journal, I've never known who my dad is and I feel like half of me is missing..."