Beth/Rest (Bon Iver)

"I was having a bit of a breakdown. Your mom suggested that I needed some time to myself and offered to let me stay here."

"That's awkward." She chuckled, the faint sound of a glass clinking as she continued to speak, "As I said, I'm keeping my promise. I love her with everything I've got. What are you doing to hold up your end?"

"I don't recall making a promise to you."

"On the contrary. I'm talking about the one you made for yourself. A birdie tells me how close you are to getting Beth back," She burst out in a fit of chuckles. "Sorry, the mental image of Puck as a tiny bird just came to me." She let out a sigh and then continued. "When you dyed your hair in Kool-Aid, you promised that if you ever had the chance to get Beth back, you would move heaven and Earth to do it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Beth isn't there with you, is she?"

"Goodbye, Santana." I sighed, ending the call with a frustrated grunt, knowing she was way too accurate. I also knew she'd call back, and I was a little more prepared when she did, so much so that I didn't even give her a chance to speak.

"Look, it's not going to be easy to get her back, Santana. I have to ease her into it, and I plan on doing just that soon enough. I need to get myself together first. That's what I'm doing. I'm trying to get myself together. Is that so wrong?"

"Bullshit. You're putting off the inevitable, like ALWAYS. You're probably sitting in my bed after crying yourself to sleep and moping about what could have been when you pushed ME away countless times. So I call bullshit on your whole pity party, Quinn Fabray. You are so much stronger and smarter than this. You hesitate way too much. That's how Rachel stole Finn; that's how you and I ended apart. I came after you before getting back with Britt, and what did you do?"

"I pushed you away and got with Biff." I said in one breath.

"That's right; you wasted time with that Ass-hat. You hesitated in coming to Rachel's wedding, and you broke your back. Nothing good has come of your pussyfooting around, so stop hesitating already. The world isn't going to wait for you anymore. Pursue your daughter like you pursued that degree. Everything else can wait. Even me." And with that, she hung up, leaving me in the darkness in a breakfast t-shirt, with a headache blooming and my heart at war with my head.

What a place to be!

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when I was shaken awake, but I didn't want to move.

"Hmm?" I groaned, burying my face further into the pillows.

"Quinnie? Wake up. We need to talk."

"Mom?" I groaned. "It's too early." I turned my face towards her but kept my eyes closed; she rubbed my back and leaned into my face, blocking the sunlight coming into the room. "Does it have to be now?"

"Yes. This cannot wait another minute." She kissed my cheek, and then suddenly, I was freezing. She ripped the covers from me, and like a child, I curled up even further into myself.

"Mom!" I groaned, finally flipping over and opening my eyes.

She looked at me for a moment, and then her face split into a smile as she came closer.

"What on Earth are you wearing? Are those eggs?" She grinned, and that's when I remembered the shirt.

"Shit!" I grumbled, sitting up and covering myself.

"And a sausage? Where did you get such a ridiculous shirt?" She was giggling like a two-year-old now.

"It was on the floor. I think it's Brittany's." I said, feigning aloofness.

She controlled her emotions and sat down on the edge of the bed. Her face got serious like she was about to lay some serious heaviness on me, and all I could do was sit there, hair sticking all over the place, a ridiculous shirt on my body, and morning breath and listen.

"There is no easy way to say this, so I'll jump right in. Merna had a stroke in the middle of the night. She's at Lima Memorial, and they aren't sure she will regain the ability to speak."

"Wait, what?" I was completely confused.

"Merna-" She began again, but I held my hands up.

"Where's Beth?"

Mother smiled a tiny bit and then looked down at her hands.

"She's having breakfast with her uncle in the kitchen. He flew in this morning and wanted to have a sit down with you. It seems things will be happening a little faster than we expected." She said, blowing out a sigh and looking up at me with a big smile.

I was stuck. Frozen in place, utterly unconcerned with every other worry I had before that moment.

"Pinch me." I muttered, my voice the only thing available to respond.

"What was that?" She said as she leaned in closer.

"Pinch me, Mother, prove to me this is real." I said, feeling a little more clear-headed.

I didn't expect her to do it, but I haven't expected much of what's happened since I left New Haven.

It was real.

So utterly and beautifully real. I kept the breakfast shirt on because I thought Beth might like it and made myself more presentable by brushing my hair and teeth.

"Are you sure you want to wear that shirt?" Mother asked me again as we walked down the kitchen stairs. I could hear Beth laughing and didn't care how dumb the shirt looked.

Brittany couldn't be the only person on the planet who could pull it off, and even if she was, I had to stop worrying about it because BETH was HERE to see ME!

I pushed into the kitchen, and there she was, my baby girl with big headphones on, watching something on her tablet.

"Aha, you have to be Quinn. There is no way you couldn't be." said the most perfect jawline I had ever seen as he stood up to greet us. He had to be the son that Merna had told me about; my God, he was strikingly beautiful. He had the strong jawline that Rachel, Shelby and Merna shared, but the rest of his face looked like the Gods had chiseled it.

I felt a pinch from my Mother and was grateful that she had snapped me out of it. Maybe I'm just not attracted to Puck anymore?

He put his hand out, and I took it, feeling like I might swoon, which was inappropriate and unexpected.

"Um...yes...sorry, I don't think I'm fully awake. I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm not dreaming." I rambled, feeling my face flush with embarrassment as I took his hand.

"Oh, that's alright. As you can imagine, a certain four-year-old doesn't like to sleep past six in the morning on a Saturday. I'm Vincent Ignacio, Merna's son. Shelby was my big sister. Thank you for trusting her with Beth."

"I'm sorry for your loss. Shelby was many things, but more than anything, she was the amazing woman who stepped up to take care of the most important person in my life when I couldn't.." I said, glancing at Beth.

He nodded, "Thank you for saying that. It would have meant a lot to her."

There was a charged silence, but I knew how to keep conversations going when I had to.

"How's Merna? Any news?" I asked, trying to get my head together.

"It's not looking good, honestly, but she's a tough cookie; this won't stop her."

"I hope not. Your mom is a great woman."

He smiled perfectly and then looked down at the blonde, who still hadn't moved a muscle. Beth bopped her head along, and I couldn't help but lean closer to see what she was doing. A cartoon danced in front of the screen, and she was completely invested.

"Beth?" He called, but she didn't respond.

Vincent's smile was replaced with a frown as he reached over to the girl next to him and tapped Beth on her shoulder. I watched as she took off her headphones and turned her head to look up at him.

"Yes?" She whined, obviously annoyed that he had interrupted whatever she was doing on the tablet in front of her.

"Turn that off for a while, Bunny. There is someone that I want you to meet."

Beth sighed and looked up at him impatiently before turning towards where her uncle was looking. Our eyes met, and I felt the breath leave my lungs. My heart thudded in my chest as I looked at a four-year-old version of myself.

"Hi. Quinn Quinn Fabray." She said, raising her eyebrow in expectation, proving that she knew exactly who I was and remembered our talk.

"Hi, Beth." I said as soon as I could get the air in my lungs again. "It's nice to meet you." I wanted to say again, but I wasn't sure what she knew, so I smiled.

"Your shirt is funny." She said as she slid out of the chair until her feet hit the floor.

She was so effortlessly adorable.

I watched as she padded over to me, with her eyes squinting and eyebrow raised. We watched Beth as she stood before me, barely coming up to my waist and crooked her finger at me. I leaned down until I was on her level, and she reached out and touched the sides of my face.

I looked into her beautiful eyes as she looked over my face in wonder.

"You look like me." She said, her raised eyebrow falling and her eyes going wide. "Mama said I lived inside another Mommy when I was being made. Are you her, Quinn Quinn Fabray?" She asked, tears filling her eyes.

I looked up at Vincent, and he looked just as surprised as I felt, but he nodded for me to answer.

"Yes, I'm her."

She let go of my face, took a step back, dropped her face into her hands for a moment, then took a deep breath and looked back at me with a small smile.

"You're pretty, just like Mama said." Another tear slid from her eye, and she angrily wiped it away. "I'm sorry. I cry when I think about her in heaven." She apologized.

I stood back up because my back demanded it, but I didn't lose eye contact with her.

"It's okay to cry, Beth. It's okay to be sad about losing Mama." I said, smiling at her. I was finding it impossible not to smile at her.

"No. I wouldn't say I like to cry. That's for babies." She said, her face clearing up as she swallowed whatever emotions she had. Even without raising her, she had that Fabray determination from Russell. It would be her greatest weakness if she allowed it to be, and if she had that, I was willing to bet that she was just as stubborn.

"Me either."

"Okay! Who's hungry?" Maribel's voice came from the other side of the kitchen, where she had been standing this whole time quietly.

Beth's face perked up, and she grinned.

"Me! Quinn Quinn's shirt is making me hungrier."

"So, Bunny," Vincent said once we were all digging into the best testing waffles on the planet. Maribel's food was so good that I was amazed Santana wasn't fat. "How would you like to spend the day getting to know Quinn?"

Beth looked up at him in surprise and then over at me.

I tried to play it cool; I mean, come on, I'm her birth mother, and she has to be curious about where I've been.

"No, thank you." She said, as a matter of fact, as you please and then went back to eating her waffle without a second glance.

"No? Why not, Bun?" Vincent asked, and she looked back at me again without saying a word. "She seems nice enough. I'm sure she could take you to do whatever you want today."

Beth turned her gaze towards Vincent and stared him down, silently asking why she was being put on the spot. He didn't seem to understand, but I sure did, and I was doing my best to swallow the rejection from my child.

"I want to see Meemaw, just in case she wants to go to heaven, too. I want to be there to hold her hand." She looked over at me with fresh tears in her eyes, but she didn't seem angry about them this time. For Merna, she let them stay. "I'm sorry, Quinn Quinn."

I shook my head and smiled as nicely as I could.

"That's perfectly fine, Beth. It's important to be with your Meemaw right now. I will be here when you're ready."

"Promise?" She asked, looking at me with that discerning look again. "You won't run away?"

That rumor about kids being honest is true. Her words stung, but in a sense, they were right. It's what I've always done, and I run away from things. Yale has been the only exception; maybe I can keep that momentum going.

"I promise."