After the disappointing first whatever-it-was with Marley, Quinn's visit gave Artie something to look forward to. He knew he'd probably winding up analyzing the whole Marley thing with Quinn at some point. Artie couldn't decide if it qualified as a date or not, but he was leaning towards not.

Artie prepared his spaghetti for Quinn's visit on Friday evening, since she had always expressed a strong liking for it back when she'd lived with them. She, Artie, and his mom shared a nice, quiet dinner. His dad was traveling for work again. Amy couldn't come home that weekend on account of her job as a resident assistant; it was move-in weekend on campus.

After dinner, naturally he and Quinn had planned to go for a dip in the pool, but before they could suit up and head to the backyard, Artie got an interesting text message. It was from Marley. Hey, it read. That Ryder guy found me on Facebook to tell me about volleyball at the park tonight. Want to come with? They start at 7. It's a bunch of McKinley kids.

Marley was either protecting Artie's feelings or she was really naive. Ryder most definitely did not find Marley on Facebook just for the purpose of informing her about volleyball.

"What is it?" Quinn wanted to know. His mom had already left the kitchen. Quinn was about to take she and Artie's empty plates to the sink. She noticed him pausing to read the text, and he might have let out an exasperated sigh as he did so. Without explanation, he just rolled his eyes and thrust the phone at Quinn.

He'd already brought Quinn up to speed on the disaster that was the Marley date earlier that week. In fact, after he'd taken Marley home Wednesday evening, he'd called Quinn with a full report. They couldn't talk long that night because Quinn had been busy with Beth, who wasn't sleeping well, and Artie had been a little too worked up over it to really talk anyway.

The more he thought about it, the more he worried it was always going to be this way. He imagined himself off at college, pushed aside there too. Always having plenty of friends, maybe the occasional date or two, but nothing beyond that. He was too much of a hassle for anyone to really consider being serious about him. It was hard for anyone else to imagine a future that included a spouse with a disability that could be such a burden. These kind of thoughts didn't happen all the time, but when they crept in, they consumed him.

Quinn mouthed the words silently as she read Marley's text. The look she then cast in his direction was so very full of the pity he despised that he had to look away. And deflect.

"It's okay," he said, quickly. "We didn't really hit it off anyway," he lied, hoping she was convinced.

"Artie, I don't do this," she said, her eyes pleading with him to give up the act. "You do this anytime you like a girl but she likes someone else. You just bow out. Why don't you stop being afraid to fight for what you want?"

She'd questioned him straight into a rare moment of silence. Why don't you fight? Artie replayed the question in his mind as she held his gaze, her hazel eyes searching his blue ones.

"Could you have done it?" he finally asked, following her question with one of his own. "If you had been like me permanently, do you think you could've done it?" He paused, and smirked, answering that for himself. "Well, maybe it's different for you. I mean look at you."

"Look at me? Look at you!" she fired back, her hazel eyes blazing. "Artie, I mean it when I say that you sell yourself short. You have so much more to offer. Take it from someone who's been hurt by guys who I thought it had something to offer. It turned out, all they had was sperm. And no condom. And also, no money to support a baby."

The corners of his mouth twitched. How Quinn could even joke about what she went through now, he did not know, but her passionate rant got a smile out of him. She giggled. He smiled even wider.

"Alright, so we agree, I'm a total catch," he said. "You know, this might surprise you, but the person I felt the most comfortable with was Brittany. I'm still kind of grateful to her for taking my virginity and making me feel like a man..."

Quinn's eyes grew wide with surprise and interest. "That was not what I expected you to say at all," she mused. "To me, you and Tina made a lot of sense. And you looked so hurt when she danced with Mike, and we all saw those two getting closer even then. Even when she was supposed to be with you. I remember. You know I do."

"Yeah, and I felt something for her back then, you know I did..." Artie trailed off. He still loved Tina, of course, but not like he once had. It was difficult to explain. It wasn't all because of Mike. And those two breaking up didn't automatically make him want to go running back to her, metaphorically speaking of course.

"But you don't anymore," Quinn supplied.

"No," Artie said, completely truthful in his response. "No, I really don't. But, I mean, if neither of have prom dates or homecoming dates this year, we'll probably be each other's dates. And, if neither of us is married by the time we turn thirty..."

"Oh, Artie, honestly!" Quinn admonished him. "That's not going to happen and you know it."

"Yeah, because she'll be married by then," he said, with a quiet sort of pause that Quinn didn't exactly know what to do about.

"Let's go watch Marley play volleyball," she finally said. "She clearly told you she was going tonight and invited you to come because she wants to see you again–" Artie opened his mouth to protest, but she held her hand up to stop him. "– yes, that's exactly what she was doing, Arthur, and don't argue with me, I'm the girl and you're not, I know what we do. C'mon. We can go swimming anytime. Let's go."

Quinn still had a way of making sure that you didn't argue with her, once her mind was made up. Plus, she'd called him Arthur, and Artie couldn't remember her ever having given him the full first name treatment, even though he liked to call her 'Lucy' all the time.

She offered to drive, since she had parked behind his car, and that suited Artie just fine, since the new car Quinn's father had given her as a graduation-slash-apology present was pretty nice. They would look pretty cool showing up in that, which of course, was the goal.

"I want to talk about your love life, though," he said, once they'd gotten settled into her tiny, dark blue sports car and were headed for the park. "Why'd you hook up with Puck when you already had Finn?"

It had taken him this long to be comfortable enough to ask Quinn such a personal question, but because they were pretty close now, he knew she didn't mind.

"When I tell you why, you're going to think my reason was pretty stupid," she said, with a bitter laugh. "Which I agree, it was stupid, but I have to tell you the truth because we're friends and you asked. Finn and I had been together for almost a year by this point. Everyone was pretty used to thinking of us as a couple. We even had these cute, rhyming names. It made sense, of course, the Cheerio and quarterback. But I wanted something less predictable. I wanted adventure. I guess I even wanted danger. And that's when I started flirting with Puck.

"Well, Beth is beautiful," Artie said.

"She's grown up so much this summer, already, I wish you could see her," Quinn gushed. "She talks to me nonstop, and in full sentences too. She's so amazing, and I can't believe that me and Puck had anything to do with her. But I worry about our situation sometimes. Someday, I do want Shelby to tell her about me and to tell her who I am. And... I'm going to have to tell my future husband and kids all about Beth. I don't want her to resent me for it someday. I don't want her to look at my future family and feel excluded somehow."

This was pretty heavy stuff. Artie didn't know what to say about it to Quinn. She was driving one-handed, with her left hand on the wheel and her right hand resting on the console, so he reached for her free hand, covering her hand with his and idly running his thumb across the top of her hand.

"I really am so glad to see you before I leave for Yale, Artie," she said, glancing over at him and then back at the road. "Sorry for not sticking around this summer."

"Hey, you had a really good reason not to," said Artie, who would never begrudge Quinn for spending the time with her biological child instead of him.

Quinn nodded. During a lull in their conversation, Artie picked up his phone and furtively composed a text message to a group. He wanted to make sure anyone who wanted to see Quinn during her short time at home before she left for good had the chance. And it would be nice to do so quietly, so as to surprise her. He quickly and subtly sent a message to a group that included everyone he could think of, letting them know where he and Quinn would be. At the top of his list were Sam, Blaine, Brittany, and Tina, since that was who he had been spending most of the summer with. After that, he went ahead and added a bunch of people who had graduated and may or may not be around. Finn and Kurt were around, of course, so he included them. He added Rachel and Mercedes, even though Rachel had left soon after graduation for New York and Mercedes had moved to L.A. sometime in July. And nobody ever knew where Puck was, plus he hadn't talked to him since graduation, but Artie added him anyway. He briefly debated on whether or not to add Santana, but weirdly, he did have her number so he included her.

"Who are you texting over there?" Quinn wanted to know.

"Nobody," Artie said, saved by the fact that they were arriving at the park now. He wanted Quinn to just be surprised when hopefully a few of the people on his list turned up.

Just as Marley had said they would be, a small group was already gathered on the sand volleyball court. It looked like everyone else had just turned up, as they were huddled together talking, possibly about to divide themselves into teams.

"Hey Artie, hey Quinn!" Joe Hart stepped out of the group, still sporting those enormous and heavy-looking dreads of his, grinning from ear to ear when he saw them. Artie hadn't thought about texting Joe, who had briefly been in a casual sort of relationship with Quinn last year, but that was probably because he didn't have the other guy's number.

"Joe, it's great to see you," Quinn said, stepping forward to give the other guy a quick hug. There were six others gathered to play volleyball, and Artie realized he knew all but one of them. Brittany, Marley, Kitty, Bree, Ryder, and the other guy all eyed Quinn curiously.

"Quinn Fabray?" That was Kitty, who approached with a baffled look, as she glanced at Artie and then looked back at Quinn, as she stepped away from Joe. "As in, 'Kitty, you could be the next Quinn Fabray if you knew how to stop falling out of your back tuck.'"

"Oh, no, does Coach really say that?" Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yes, hi, that would be me. And my back tuck was nothing to brag about."

"Missed you!" Brittany threw her arms around Quinn next, pulling her in for a hug. They stepped back. "Well, I kind of missed you," she went on. "Sometimes, especially when I'm tired, I look over at Kitty and I think I've gone back in time and she's you." She pointed in Bree's direction as the brunette approached. "And she's our new Santana."

"Hi, Bree-not-like-the-cheese," Artie said, remembering the Cheerio from the Dairy Queen, the one Tina had berated about parking in a handicap spot.

"Oh... hey," said Bree, who clearly didn't say his name because she couldn't remember it. She smiled down at him briefly, then looked at Quinn. "I've heard a lot about you, too, Quinn. Want to play with us? We have an uneven number." She then looked down at Artie apologetically. "Oh. Sorry."

"Just here to watch," Artie said, fixing a tight smile on his face.

"Same here," Quinn said, without hesitation. "I'm just here to watch with Artie. I had to see him before I left for Yale."

A smile played on Artie's lips. Quinn was good, very good. She'd left the nature of their relationship out of her statement. Bree and Kitty were possibly wondering now if perhaps there was something going on between Quinn and Artie. Whatever the case, however, Artie knew she had just scored him cool points by showing up with him.

"Hey, Artie!" It was Marley who spoke up next, having hung back while the other girls greeted Quinn. She turned and addressed the new face. "Hi, I'm Marley." Then she gestured to the other guys, who had followed the girls over. "And this is Ryder. And Jake. They'll both be sophomores like me."

Jake was a light skinned black guy who might have actually been mixed race, but Artie wasn't quite sure. He was shorter than Ryder, but still built like an athlete like the taller boy. All three guys, including Joe Hart wore tank tops that showed off their impressive, muscular arms. Were all of these guys really younger than he was? They looked like they could be a Calvin Klein ad. Though Artie really didn't want to picture any of them in underwear. He was reminded of Sam whose ambition was to become a Calvin Klein underwear model, as he'd once told Artie, just so he could have his junk plastered on the side of a New York City bus.

"Nice to meet you," Artie said, reaching up to shake hands with them both, glad he didn't have the gloves on today. "And this is Quinn. She was in the glee club I told you all about, Marley, but now she's graduated."

"Wait, Quinn Fabray?" Jake sounded alarmed as he said her name, immediately blushing furiously when all heads whipped in his direction.

"Uh, yes?" Quinn blinked a few times. She took a seat on a nearby bench, and Artie was just glad to no longer be the only one seated in the crowd now. He knew she did that on purpose for him. "Yes, that's me. Has my reputation preceded me again?"

Jake was instantly embarrassed over his outburst. He mumbled something but Artie didn't quite catch what he said. Bree, however, had decided this was her business, and quickly reminded Artie why he was glad he'd be leaving high school behind in a year.

"Where's your baby tonight, Quinn?" Bree asked, playing it off like an innocent question, instead of what it actually was – her obnoxiously phishing for gossip.

Quinn pursed her lips. "So, I've become something of a cautionary tale, I hear," she said, as Kitty elbowed Bree, who just looked pretty proud of herself. "She's in Akron with her mother, the lady who adopted her. I've been her nanny all summer. Are you guys going to play or what?"

That was all it took for them to spring into action. Jake was the first one to reach the court. He suggested, loudly, "Girls versus guys!" Since there were four girls and three guys, this was as good a plan as any. But those four girls were all pretty athletic, Marley included, and gave the guys a run for their money. Joe was terrible.

"You'd really think, to look at him, that he'd be good at this," Artie muttered to Quinn at one point, when Joe had sent the ball flying off the court in reverse. "I mean, it's a sport you play barefoot, for crying out loud."

That got a snicker out of Quinn as Joe ran off to retrieve their ball.

"Seriously, who invited Tarantula Head?" Kitty asked, wearing a bored expression as she surveyed her cuticles. Artie couldn't decide if she was mean or funny, but he was leaning towards funny. For whatever reason, she caught his eye as her comment made him chuckle. She gave him the tiniest smile in return and went back to examining her nail beds.

"Look who I found!" Joe had come back with reinforcements.

Blaine, Sam, and Tina had arrived, the only three to respond to Artie's message, which he'd kept hidden from Quinn. Those three were already hanging out, so they easily switched up their plans to meet up with everyone else. After a brief reunion with Quinn and another round of introductions, they reconfigured the teams. It wound up being the New Directions versus the new kids. Sam, Blaine, Tina, Brittany, and Joe versus Kitty, Marley, Bree, Jake, and Ryder.

"Can't believe someone got Tee to play a sport," Artie commented to Quinn, shaking his head. Tina looked like she also hadn't the slightest clue why she was there. "Y'know how she pretended to stutter to get out of giving a speech? Well, she's faked various illnesses over the years to get out of gym class. Last spring, she told Coach Beiste she had shingles. She didn't even really know what shingles is."

Quinn giggled. "Well, I think it has something to do with one or both of the guys currently picking her up out of the sand." (Tina had just made a spectacular leap, missed entirely, and landed face-first on the ground. Sam and Blaine were hoisting her up on either side.)

Artie had to agree. The way Tina looked at Blaine right then reminded him of the way she'd always gawked at Mike, like she couldn't believe he'd picked her. Only Tina was currently looking at the absolute last person who would show her any interest. She should have been giving her attention to Sam instead.

The game grew increasingly competitive, with the younger students working hard to prove themselves as worthy opponents to the older ones. Despite having Joe and Tina as weak links, Blaine, Sam, and Brittany put up a strong showing. But Jake, Ryder, and Kitty (the three best players on the opposing side) were just as determined. Several times, Artie and Quinn got to cheer on an exciting volley. People who passed by the game actually stopped to watch.

On a particularly wild hit from her friend, Bree, Kitty went running out of bounds to try to hit the ball back in. As she did so, she tripped and went crashing into the sand. Kitty, who usually seemed so poised and coordinated, let out a screech and clutched her ankle. Everyone gathered around her quickly. Artie released his break and moved to the edge of the pavement, stopping short of the sand.

Kitty tried to get up again, but she was babying her right ankle. "I think I twisted it," she moaned, looking distraught. Everyone knew why – besides the fact that it hurt, Kitty surely didn't want to have to explain this to Coach Sylvester on the first day of school.

"Can you walk on it?" Bree looked upset for that same reason, most likely, as she let Kitty lean on her while she stood, putting all her weight on the opposite foot.

"It hurts," Kitty said, weakly.

"I brought wheels," Artie heard himself suggest, as he rolled forward a pace but could go no closer, due to the sand. "Um... your chariot?"

His gesture to his lap was received with a nervous, embarrassed sort of chuckle from Kitty. And then she quite unexpectedly accepted his invitation to sit in his lap in front of all of their friends.

"Am I hurting you?" she wanted to know, as she tried to sit as gingerly as she could and couldn't seem to figure out what to do with her hands.

"No, I can't feel anything," Artie said. She met his gaze then, looking honestly surprised by his response. She'd probably noticed all the times his legs spazzed out on their own when he transferred in and out of the pool. The moment was quick and then it passed, but he definitely felt something. And it wasn't his legs.

"Need a push?" Tina asked, coming up behind him but leaving his chair handles alone. It had only taken her a good three or four years, but she'd figured out that it was now better to ask Artie first.

"Nah, we're good," he said, as he pushed himself and Kitty toward the parking lot. Everyone else was kind of following along slowly behind them, Kitty's injury having abruptly ended the game. "You might wanna pass us," he said to the rest. "I'm moving slower than Joe Hart running across the volleyball court!"

"HEY!" Joe pretended to be hurt, clutching his heart dramatically as he followed with the others. Artie turned and grinned at him to show he was joking.

"I have an idea," Artie said, addressing them all. "Seeing as Kitty just ended the game, how about a pool party? My place!" (He was possibly going to be in so much trouble for not checking with his mom first but it was gonna be worth it.)

He caught Quinn's eye. She just looked impressed.

To be continued!