FIC: The Book of Quinn | Book One (1/4) PG-12ish
Title: Month Three and Four
Author: berry_hearts
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee (Ryan Murphy and FOX do) and make no profit from this work of fiction.
Characters, Pairings: Quinn-centered, Finn/Rachel, Puck/Quinn, Rachel and Quinn Friendship
Synopsis: Quinn and the baby leads to complications in life.
Spoilers: Up to Wheels. There shouldn’t be any major spoilers
AN: I wanted to like Quinn. So I wrote a Quinn I could like.
**
Three Months
Quinn gripped the locker door tighter than she should, the uneven metal digging into her palms. Unable to draw her eyes away from the scene in front of her, she could only grip the door tighter. It was her unbearable punishment for the rest of eternity: Finn and Rachel. Rachel and Finn. Together forever being their romantical and fantastical selves.
She actually liked Rachel Berry, but now that she was happy and giggling with her ex-boyfriend, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed. They went to Winter Formal together, and practically humped each other during Glee practice, she even swore they were jogging past her house yesterday! But that might have been a nightmare because they were wearing matching tracksuits.
Making her day even worse, it was Friday (Game Day) and she was not wearing her uniform. Rachel however, was wearing Finn’s jersey, the large 5 making her stick out like a sore thumb. Coach Sylvester wouldn’t let her wear his Jersey on game days. Cheerios only wore their uniforms- they had to be ready to be filmed at all hours of the day. And having the captain wearing a jersey would be unprofessional. And at the time she had understood.
But seeing Rachel wear his jersey- it wasn’t pleasant. She even had black smudges of grease under her eyes. It was sickeningly cute and normal. The two things she wasn’t. She had accepted her fate a long time ago, and bought dresses and cardigans to blend in with the popular Non-Cheerio crowd (even though they rejected her after the fact). Glancing down at her outfit of jeans and the blouse Kurt picked out for her at the mall- her old life was over and her new life had begun.
Finn still wouldn’t even look at her. Rachel had been trying to smooth things over, for Glee’s sake, but he still wouldn’t talk to her. Mr. Schuester had to give her solo back to Rachel because he wouldn’t sing DSB with her in practice. Things had gotten so bad they had to cancel glee last week because Finn had given Puck a black eye on top of the piano bench. It was the saddest thing she had ever seen- Finn whaling on him, the noise it made- it made her sick to think about it.
Drama aside, her education was one of the few things she had left. So she came to school and suffered silently- even when she didn’t have to. Mrs. Shuester had forged a note for her today to go to the obstetrician. Little Girl Fabray needed a sonogram-
“Finn!” Rachel shrieked, pretending to be upset. He had hoisted her onto his shoulders and the team members were clapping at the other end of the hallway. Stupid initiation rituals by the Boosters. Finchel (as the freshman were calling them) ran down the hall laughing and shrieking and Quinn finally had enough. And her hand was really starting to hurt.
Ever since she quit being a Cheerio, she had to get her life into perspective. Santana, former best friend, wouldn’t talk to her anymore (unless they were in glee) and the only friends she had anymore were Tina and Puck. And Brittany depending what she had said to Ben Israel in his gossip column about her “alien baby” during the week.
She turned away from the stupid football crap and headed towards the Nurse’s Office. She smiled at Artie as she passed him in the hallway and the three seconds it took to help him open the door to his classroom, Puck had shanghaied her arm and dragged her along with him.
Screaming Rape or Fire like Oprah said probably wouldn’t go over well with Figgins, and she felt sorry for his beat down, so she slowed the pace but continued to hold his arm. Like they were dating. Like she even liked him- Like she could look at him without thinking of the baby in her stomach that was slowly ruining her life.
“What are you doing?” She hissed, hiding her annoyance by smiling at Mr. Schuester.
“I am going with you, Quinn. I told Mrs. Schue that Finn wanted to go too and got a note.” He held up the pink note “Custom Stationary Message Here from the desk Terri Schuester”. She pulled the matching note out of her jeans and snickered. Terri couldn’t even order stationary right. Puck refused to look at her, but he kept smiling at Mr. S before whispering in her ear, “Why didn’t you tell her that he dumped you two weeks ago?! Hey Mr. S! How’s it hanging?”
“-Uh, Good, Puck. Thanks. Don’t forget to practice Somebody to Love- we’re singing it for the PTA meeting tomorrow to try and wrestle up some donations!” She widened her smile and nodded at Mr. S enthusiastically before he finally turned to leave.
“Just because Finn and I broke up doesn’t mean I want you to drive me to the Doctor’s.” She bit out, her stupid hormones betraying her words. Tears were slipping down her cheeks and her heart was pounding too fast… stupid Puck and his stupid cologne. He smelled good and she was lonely. That’s what she told herself anyway. Puck just motioned to where their arms were entwined and added a spring to his step.
“You’re lonely, horny, and carrying my kid, you’re not safe to drive unless you have a little more Puck.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her before helping her into his car. Perv. He was so good at reading her, with that stupid smirk and stupid Mohawk. Angry. Angry was a great emotion-
“Not going to happen.” There she was back to normal.
“Well then I am driving you to your appointment and I’ll buy you a Baconator from Wendy’s.” Puck smiled then, and it turns out he was right: she was lonely and horny, because for a second there she swore his eyes were actually conveying an emotion. And he was buying her a cheeseburger, which was a plus.
It all could have gone differently, Quinn mused as they drove past the houses and the trees that lined the street.
Her parents would still love her, her boyfriend would still be her boyfriend and she could be in Celibacy Club and the Cheerios-
Finn was so stressed out with the baby. It was killing him. He wasn’t sleeping right, not doing his homework. She was worried about him. And then he announced that he was going to quit Glee and football to get a job after school. This garnered large protests from the rest of the club (especially from future girlfriend Rachel Berry) and they banded together to keep him in glee.
He was barely keeping it together- - Finn, her sweet dork Finn was so moody and depressed she just snapped. Told him the truth in the middle of the cafeteria while they were eating lunch. It was Chicken Patty with Cheesy Broccoli his favorite.
To say the shit hit the fan was not severe enough. Finn stormed out of the cafeteria, Rachel and Artie trailing after him. Word spread thanks to that leech, Ben Israel. Santana quit talking to her outside of glee and Brittany did her best to mediate. But Brittany’s best was more like a toddler’s best and all of the notes drawn with crayons weren’t going to solve the problem. “Finn was our friend too, Quinn.”
He hated her, that was a given. She would normally call him after school and they’d talk about it, try to work things out. But Rachel rode in on her stupid white horse and the next day they were dating. And after he got detention for a month for punching Puck- there was no coming back from that.
“I don’t want this to get in the way of our budding friendship or Glee.” Rachel confessed to her solemnly looking around the corner for Finn, “But I’ve liked Finn for a very long time, and I need to take my chance while I have it.”
“I get it, Rachel. I messed things up- majorly.” And then she cried over Rachel Berry’s shoulder for an hour. She was pretty sure Rachel was crying there for awhile too, so that made her feel a little better. She was normally not an emotional freak, and Rachel was. Very comforting. Sadly, she had been right all along: She could never be friends with Rachel if she was still dating Finn.
“Yo- wake up we’re here.” Puck’s voice brought her back to the real world, where she was 16 and pregnant. But she made her mistakes, and she needed to take responsibility for them. Starting with her parents.
***
Needless to say it goes badly with her parents.
Yelling, more yelling. Her parents had preached smiting the evildoers since she was little girl. Why she ever thought they wouldn’t smite her, their youngest child, was beyond her. Puck was holding her hand so tightly during the whole ordeal, and didn’t say anything-
Until her father stood up and came inches away from hitting her face. Puck kept her father from hitting her and started yelling back. Everything after that was a blur- there was yelling, and then there was packing. And then she was at Rachel’s. Puck ushered her out of his car and into one of the windows on the north side of the house, boosting her in carefully.
Finn and Rachel had been doing homework on the floor, but Rachel’s top was crooked and Finn was glowering at them in the corner. Before she knows it Puck’s talked her way into an invitation and, she’s being hugged by Rachel’s two gay dads and being ushered into the guest room. She had seen Rachel’s pink room many times on myspace and the guest room exactly the same except blue.
“We made Rachel with love. We just didn’t know in the turkey baster if she would be our princess or our prince. “ She could care less about the story, but there was a fluffy blue robe on the bed and a heated sleep mask calling her name.
“No parties. No boys after ten.” Her other dad (the black one) informed her before shutting the door behind them as they left. Puck snuck in the window with more of her stuff and mumbled some half-assed story trying to explain why his shoulder was sore. She’s guessing it was 200 pounds of angry father.
“We need to take you to the hospital, Puck!” She whispered harshly, praying the walls in the house were thick enough to avoid any weird questions.
“The kid needs the vitamins and you need your backpack so we can go to school and pretend were normal like all the other losers in that hellhole.”
She’s touched. And she blames her hormones but she kisses him sober for the first time and doesn’t regret it. Not much, anyway. She changes into her pajamas, puts on the comfy robe and the eyemask, and drifts off to sleep with his arms around her.
A quick rap at the window wakes her up in the morning, and half-asleep she opens the window to find Kurt, dressed in pads and carrying two extra duffel bags.
“Hi. I’m Kurt Hummel. Hell has frozen over, because I am here at the crack of dawn to save the guys who threw pee balloons at me and threw me in the dumpster. Powder your nose quickly, Sweet cheeks.”
“Thanks Gay Kid.” Noah smirked reaching for his pants. He was wearing them when they went to sleep-
Her door whipped open and Finn stumbled through apologizing profusely to Rachel and kissing her on the cheek. “Oh. Hi, Kurt thanks for the lift. And the warning text .” he hopped out the window without a glance at them and Quinn just sighed.
“Your boobs look great today Quinn.” Noah winked before following Kurt out the window.
“They won the game last night and Tanaka called them in to practice.” Rachel explained, dragging her feet before sitting next to her. “My Dads say you can stay as long as you need to.”
“At least Finn didn’t call me a Cheating Bitch.” Quinn mumbled, scooting over and offering Rachel a pillow. She paused for a beat but shrugged off her robe and crawled under the covers with her.
“This could be seen as my first lesbian encounter.” Rachel giggled
“Shut up. The baby likes having a warm body to sleep next to.” Quinn snuggled against her pillow and hoped that things would get better from here. At least she wasn’t alone. Oh god. “I think I like Puck.”
“He knocked you up- it’s the least you could do.” Rachel whispered, already half-asleep.
“Thanks, Rach.” Quinn whispered, biting her lip and doing her best to fall asleep.
**
Four Months
Rachel’s Dads somehow get the rest of her stuff and she moves into their house and actually really likes it. Rachel gets up at an ungodly hour to exercise, but eventually Quinn is so used to it, she pads over to Rachel’s room to do baby Yoga on her iPod while Rachel is “climbing the stairs of success”. Dad #1 makes them breakfast shakes every morning before work and Dad #2 brings their lunch to the office during his lunch break (he works at Machiavelli’s Italian Explosion).
Her Dads do their homework with them, and lets Rachel drive their Prius whenever she wants. They are the nicest people she’s probably ever met and she cries when they hug her and tell her she’s special. They tell Rachel that all of the time, and they ask what happens in Glee or at school, or with Finn. They chat like friends every day at dinner and even that’s a little weird for Quinn to stomach.
After the first month, when she’s used to everything, she makes changes. The first thing that had to go was Rachel’s stupid myspace videos. She calls Kurt, Britt and Tina to come over and they go into the basement and record and actual video for youtube. Explaining to Rachel that there are scripts, lighting and planning, needless to say Rachel’s mind is blown. Mercedes does makeup, Finn holds the boom mic she had Puck steal from the AV Club, and naturally, she directs. She has Rachel sing “Coming Clean” by Hillary Duff and It gets 10,000 hits in the first day. Smiling for the first time in weeks, Quinn eagerly reads over the new comments and she and Rachel drink Organic Hot Chocolate and bond over the experience. Internet Celebrity may not mean much, but on the Rachel Berry Scale of Stardom, it meant a lot.
The second thing to go was Rachel’s ungodly wardrobe. High-waisted short skirts were only okay in the 60s. Kurt and Mercedes start arguing about neon colors halfway through Modernity/Maternity and Quinn drags Rachel into Anthropologie , H&M, and Forever 21. Blouses without sleeves, cardigans that weren’t school marm-y and jeans. They lived in Ohio, it was a staple of the midwest. And boots. And T-shirts.
“I am not going in there, Quinn Marissa Fabray.” Rachel stumbled a bit in her new pair of boots, but if Quinn was too fat to look like a teenager, Rachel sure as hell was. Rolling her eyes, Quinn tugged on Rachel’s arms and effectively dragged her in front of Victoria’s Secret.
“You like pink ,Rachel.”
“Those are over-priced lacey undergarments.” She reasoned, fingering the silk nightie on the mannequin.
“I know for a fact Finn’s seen you naked, because he gets all red in the face even when you’re not wearing lowcut sweaters or short skirts, so suck it up Berry. For a girl who preaches for sex, you sure are a PRUDE.” Quinn sighed, shaking her head. She threw some hangers at Rachel and escorted her to the dressing room. Pacing the length of the store, she eyed Finn pushing Artie (and Tina who was in his lap) towards Game Stop and smiling. She was glad he was happy. Rachel finished paying for the pink polka dot nightie she had just bought and their eyes met-
It was all very romantic: Rachel flinging the pink bag up in shock (towards her face). Finn running over (almost pushing Artie and Tina into the fountain). The makeout session in front of Auntie Annie’s pretzels.
“I think this counts as heavy lifting.” Puck’s voice startles her, and somehow he maneuvered the 20 reusable canvas bags out of her arms and her arm in the same motion. She rarely even saw him anymore, he was either at Glee, or football or getting tutored in Math. He had this- skill of getting under her skin. One week she thought he was a decent human being and the next he was ignorant as ever.
“-What am I supposed to say, Puck?“
“Thank you would be a nice start.” He smirked, and damn him, her insides melted a little bit. He just started talking about stupid stuff, and somehow they had walked the entire length of the hallway, and got him a new Winter Coat from Sears. She didn’t feel the urge to vomit or kick him in his man-area once. He got her a cheesy dog from the food court, and she shoved some at his face, not even bothering to feed it to him. Something about him being serious makes her want him to be silly.
“Jewish, remember? The only kosher part to that is soy filling. And eating wiener is the last thing this Stud Muffin needs to do.” She laughs so hard she forgets that she’s supposed to be miserable. Sprite spewed out of her mouth before she could stop it, and the sick perv that he is, he kisses her.
“Kurt said I should give you space, but I don’t want to give you space, Fabray. Unless your into that sort of thing-I think my sister has a webcam, somewhere-”
She hits him with hot dog again and lets him drive her home.
**
Her sister mails her a note from her parents. The letter, written by her mother says that they are moving away and there was a check stapled to the bottom written out to cash. There was no “I Love You” scribbled at the bottom, so she does her best not to cry and cashes the check. She buys her first tight maternity dress and she’s gone up a shoe size so she splurges on shoes, but she makes Puck take her dancing at the VFW hall with all of the old ladies. They glare at her, and she doesn’t care.
“Why yes, I am pregnant.” Quinn gushes, doing her best Rachel impression. The glaring turns to staring and she runs her fingers along Puck’s mohawk and the cheap suit he was wearing and makes out with him in the coat check. The evening is overall a success, and she spends the rest of her money on vitamins and buys Rachel a birthday present: A microphone stand. She puts her hairbrush in it and hugs her before singing into the mirror.
Rachel Berry officially changed, karma really is a bitch and she starts trying to change her. Dragging her out of bed at 5 in the morning, Rachel hands her baby yoga DVD and pair of sweats. After the yoga is singing in the shower, Rachel warming up while sitting on the toilet, and making her sing scales until her throat hurts.
Then every afternoon after Glee, She-Devil would drag her (plus Finn) to the auditorium and shine the bright lights in their faces. Then came the choir books from seventh grade, and they would practice singing more. Her copy had an unidentifiable stain that was the color of peanut butter.
“You’re sharp, Quinn. Sing it again.”
Rolling her eyes around Rachel was practically a reflex now. She tried the song again, which seemed to satisfy Rachel. Until Puck ran into the room, wrapped his arms around her middle and kissed her. Even dipped her near the end. “Hi.” She smiled.
He was sweaty and gross. And smelled like- turkey. Which just made her hungry. Stupid hormones.
“I just wasted Wheels at Cripple Basketball. He came close near the end, but-”
“You can quit puffing out your chest, we all know Artie beat you.” Rachel chimed in, giving Puck a wink. Quinn could tell he was lying too.
“I only lost by one point, Berry!” Puck laughed twirling her around the practice room. “I’m gonna go shower.”
Finn looked up from the sheet music and nodded at Puck before starting “Don’t Stop”. In falsetto. That cracked all of them up. He was getting better at tolerating her now, which Quinn figured was one of the reasons Rachel dragged him along to their extra practice session.
“From the top!” Rachel clapped, imitating Mr. Schue.
**
Author: berry_hearts
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee (Ryan Murphy and FOX do) and make no profit from this work of fiction.
Characters, Pairings: Quinn-centered, Finn/Rachel, Puck/Quinn, Rachel and Quinn Friendship
Synopsis: Quinn and the baby leads to complications in life.
Spoilers: Up to Wheels. There shouldn’t be any major spoilers
AN: I wanted to like Quinn. So I wrote a Quinn I could like.
**
Three Months
Quinn gripped the locker door tighter than she should, the uneven metal digging into her palms. Unable to draw her eyes away from the scene in front of her, she could only grip the door tighter. It was her unbearable punishment for the rest of eternity: Finn and Rachel. Rachel and Finn. Together forever being their romantical and fantastical selves.
She actually liked Rachel Berry, but now that she was happy and giggling with her ex-boyfriend, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed. They went to Winter Formal together, and practically humped each other during Glee practice, she even swore they were jogging past her house yesterday! But that might have been a nightmare because they were wearing matching tracksuits.
Making her day even worse, it was Friday (Game Day) and she was not wearing her uniform. Rachel however, was wearing Finn’s jersey, the large 5 making her stick out like a sore thumb. Coach Sylvester wouldn’t let her wear his Jersey on game days. Cheerios only wore their uniforms- they had to be ready to be filmed at all hours of the day. And having the captain wearing a jersey would be unprofessional. And at the time she had understood.
But seeing Rachel wear his jersey- it wasn’t pleasant. She even had black smudges of grease under her eyes. It was sickeningly cute and normal. The two things she wasn’t. She had accepted her fate a long time ago, and bought dresses and cardigans to blend in with the popular Non-Cheerio crowd (even though they rejected her after the fact). Glancing down at her outfit of jeans and the blouse Kurt picked out for her at the mall- her old life was over and her new life had begun.
Finn still wouldn’t even look at her. Rachel had been trying to smooth things over, for Glee’s sake, but he still wouldn’t talk to her. Mr. Schuester had to give her solo back to Rachel because he wouldn’t sing DSB with her in practice. Things had gotten so bad they had to cancel glee last week because Finn had given Puck a black eye on top of the piano bench. It was the saddest thing she had ever seen- Finn whaling on him, the noise it made- it made her sick to think about it.
Drama aside, her education was one of the few things she had left. So she came to school and suffered silently- even when she didn’t have to. Mrs. Shuester had forged a note for her today to go to the obstetrician. Little Girl Fabray needed a sonogram-
“Finn!” Rachel shrieked, pretending to be upset. He had hoisted her onto his shoulders and the team members were clapping at the other end of the hallway. Stupid initiation rituals by the Boosters. Finchel (as the freshman were calling them) ran down the hall laughing and shrieking and Quinn finally had enough. And her hand was really starting to hurt.
Ever since she quit being a Cheerio, she had to get her life into perspective. Santana, former best friend, wouldn’t talk to her anymore (unless they were in glee) and the only friends she had anymore were Tina and Puck. And Brittany depending what she had said to Ben Israel in his gossip column about her “alien baby” during the week.
She turned away from the stupid football crap and headed towards the Nurse’s Office. She smiled at Artie as she passed him in the hallway and the three seconds it took to help him open the door to his classroom, Puck had shanghaied her arm and dragged her along with him.
Screaming Rape or Fire like Oprah said probably wouldn’t go over well with Figgins, and she felt sorry for his beat down, so she slowed the pace but continued to hold his arm. Like they were dating. Like she even liked him- Like she could look at him without thinking of the baby in her stomach that was slowly ruining her life.
“What are you doing?” She hissed, hiding her annoyance by smiling at Mr. Schuester.
“I am going with you, Quinn. I told Mrs. Schue that Finn wanted to go too and got a note.” He held up the pink note “Custom Stationary Message Here from the desk Terri Schuester”. She pulled the matching note out of her jeans and snickered. Terri couldn’t even order stationary right. Puck refused to look at her, but he kept smiling at Mr. S before whispering in her ear, “Why didn’t you tell her that he dumped you two weeks ago?! Hey Mr. S! How’s it hanging?”
“-Uh, Good, Puck. Thanks. Don’t forget to practice Somebody to Love- we’re singing it for the PTA meeting tomorrow to try and wrestle up some donations!” She widened her smile and nodded at Mr. S enthusiastically before he finally turned to leave.
“Just because Finn and I broke up doesn’t mean I want you to drive me to the Doctor’s.” She bit out, her stupid hormones betraying her words. Tears were slipping down her cheeks and her heart was pounding too fast… stupid Puck and his stupid cologne. He smelled good and she was lonely. That’s what she told herself anyway. Puck just motioned to where their arms were entwined and added a spring to his step.
“You’re lonely, horny, and carrying my kid, you’re not safe to drive unless you have a little more Puck.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her before helping her into his car. Perv. He was so good at reading her, with that stupid smirk and stupid Mohawk. Angry. Angry was a great emotion-
“Not going to happen.” There she was back to normal.
“Well then I am driving you to your appointment and I’ll buy you a Baconator from Wendy’s.” Puck smiled then, and it turns out he was right: she was lonely and horny, because for a second there she swore his eyes were actually conveying an emotion. And he was buying her a cheeseburger, which was a plus.
It all could have gone differently, Quinn mused as they drove past the houses and the trees that lined the street.
Her parents would still love her, her boyfriend would still be her boyfriend and she could be in Celibacy Club and the Cheerios-
Finn was so stressed out with the baby. It was killing him. He wasn’t sleeping right, not doing his homework. She was worried about him. And then he announced that he was going to quit Glee and football to get a job after school. This garnered large protests from the rest of the club (especially from future girlfriend Rachel Berry) and they banded together to keep him in glee.
He was barely keeping it together- - Finn, her sweet dork Finn was so moody and depressed she just snapped. Told him the truth in the middle of the cafeteria while they were eating lunch. It was Chicken Patty with Cheesy Broccoli his favorite.
To say the shit hit the fan was not severe enough. Finn stormed out of the cafeteria, Rachel and Artie trailing after him. Word spread thanks to that leech, Ben Israel. Santana quit talking to her outside of glee and Brittany did her best to mediate. But Brittany’s best was more like a toddler’s best and all of the notes drawn with crayons weren’t going to solve the problem. “Finn was our friend too, Quinn.”
He hated her, that was a given. She would normally call him after school and they’d talk about it, try to work things out. But Rachel rode in on her stupid white horse and the next day they were dating. And after he got detention for a month for punching Puck- there was no coming back from that.
“I don’t want this to get in the way of our budding friendship or Glee.” Rachel confessed to her solemnly looking around the corner for Finn, “But I’ve liked Finn for a very long time, and I need to take my chance while I have it.”
“I get it, Rachel. I messed things up- majorly.” And then she cried over Rachel Berry’s shoulder for an hour. She was pretty sure Rachel was crying there for awhile too, so that made her feel a little better. She was normally not an emotional freak, and Rachel was. Very comforting. Sadly, she had been right all along: She could never be friends with Rachel if she was still dating Finn.
“Yo- wake up we’re here.” Puck’s voice brought her back to the real world, where she was 16 and pregnant. But she made her mistakes, and she needed to take responsibility for them. Starting with her parents.
***
Needless to say it goes badly with her parents.
Yelling, more yelling. Her parents had preached smiting the evildoers since she was little girl. Why she ever thought they wouldn’t smite her, their youngest child, was beyond her. Puck was holding her hand so tightly during the whole ordeal, and didn’t say anything-
Until her father stood up and came inches away from hitting her face. Puck kept her father from hitting her and started yelling back. Everything after that was a blur- there was yelling, and then there was packing. And then she was at Rachel’s. Puck ushered her out of his car and into one of the windows on the north side of the house, boosting her in carefully.
Finn and Rachel had been doing homework on the floor, but Rachel’s top was crooked and Finn was glowering at them in the corner. Before she knows it Puck’s talked her way into an invitation and, she’s being hugged by Rachel’s two gay dads and being ushered into the guest room. She had seen Rachel’s pink room many times on myspace and the guest room exactly the same except blue.
“We made Rachel with love. We just didn’t know in the turkey baster if she would be our princess or our prince. “ She could care less about the story, but there was a fluffy blue robe on the bed and a heated sleep mask calling her name.
“No parties. No boys after ten.” Her other dad (the black one) informed her before shutting the door behind them as they left. Puck snuck in the window with more of her stuff and mumbled some half-assed story trying to explain why his shoulder was sore. She’s guessing it was 200 pounds of angry father.
“We need to take you to the hospital, Puck!” She whispered harshly, praying the walls in the house were thick enough to avoid any weird questions.
“The kid needs the vitamins and you need your backpack so we can go to school and pretend were normal like all the other losers in that hellhole.”
She’s touched. And she blames her hormones but she kisses him sober for the first time and doesn’t regret it. Not much, anyway. She changes into her pajamas, puts on the comfy robe and the eyemask, and drifts off to sleep with his arms around her.
A quick rap at the window wakes her up in the morning, and half-asleep she opens the window to find Kurt, dressed in pads and carrying two extra duffel bags.
“Hi. I’m Kurt Hummel. Hell has frozen over, because I am here at the crack of dawn to save the guys who threw pee balloons at me and threw me in the dumpster. Powder your nose quickly, Sweet cheeks.”
“Thanks Gay Kid.” Noah smirked reaching for his pants. He was wearing them when they went to sleep-
Her door whipped open and Finn stumbled through apologizing profusely to Rachel and kissing her on the cheek. “Oh. Hi, Kurt thanks for the lift. And the warning text .” he hopped out the window without a glance at them and Quinn just sighed.
“Your boobs look great today Quinn.” Noah winked before following Kurt out the window.
“They won the game last night and Tanaka called them in to practice.” Rachel explained, dragging her feet before sitting next to her. “My Dads say you can stay as long as you need to.”
“At least Finn didn’t call me a Cheating Bitch.” Quinn mumbled, scooting over and offering Rachel a pillow. She paused for a beat but shrugged off her robe and crawled under the covers with her.
“This could be seen as my first lesbian encounter.” Rachel giggled
“Shut up. The baby likes having a warm body to sleep next to.” Quinn snuggled against her pillow and hoped that things would get better from here. At least she wasn’t alone. Oh god. “I think I like Puck.”
“He knocked you up- it’s the least you could do.” Rachel whispered, already half-asleep.
“Thanks, Rach.” Quinn whispered, biting her lip and doing her best to fall asleep.
**
Four Months
Rachel’s Dads somehow get the rest of her stuff and she moves into their house and actually really likes it. Rachel gets up at an ungodly hour to exercise, but eventually Quinn is so used to it, she pads over to Rachel’s room to do baby Yoga on her iPod while Rachel is “climbing the stairs of success”. Dad #1 makes them breakfast shakes every morning before work and Dad #2 brings their lunch to the office during his lunch break (he works at Machiavelli’s Italian Explosion).
Her Dads do their homework with them, and lets Rachel drive their Prius whenever she wants. They are the nicest people she’s probably ever met and she cries when they hug her and tell her she’s special. They tell Rachel that all of the time, and they ask what happens in Glee or at school, or with Finn. They chat like friends every day at dinner and even that’s a little weird for Quinn to stomach.
After the first month, when she’s used to everything, she makes changes. The first thing that had to go was Rachel’s stupid myspace videos. She calls Kurt, Britt and Tina to come over and they go into the basement and record and actual video for youtube. Explaining to Rachel that there are scripts, lighting and planning, needless to say Rachel’s mind is blown. Mercedes does makeup, Finn holds the boom mic she had Puck steal from the AV Club, and naturally, she directs. She has Rachel sing “Coming Clean” by Hillary Duff and It gets 10,000 hits in the first day. Smiling for the first time in weeks, Quinn eagerly reads over the new comments and she and Rachel drink Organic Hot Chocolate and bond over the experience. Internet Celebrity may not mean much, but on the Rachel Berry Scale of Stardom, it meant a lot.
The second thing to go was Rachel’s ungodly wardrobe. High-waisted short skirts were only okay in the 60s. Kurt and Mercedes start arguing about neon colors halfway through Modernity/Maternity and Quinn drags Rachel into Anthropologie , H&M, and Forever 21. Blouses without sleeves, cardigans that weren’t school marm-y and jeans. They lived in Ohio, it was a staple of the midwest. And boots. And T-shirts.
“I am not going in there, Quinn Marissa Fabray.” Rachel stumbled a bit in her new pair of boots, but if Quinn was too fat to look like a teenager, Rachel sure as hell was. Rolling her eyes, Quinn tugged on Rachel’s arms and effectively dragged her in front of Victoria’s Secret.
“You like pink ,Rachel.”
“Those are over-priced lacey undergarments.” She reasoned, fingering the silk nightie on the mannequin.
“I know for a fact Finn’s seen you naked, because he gets all red in the face even when you’re not wearing lowcut sweaters or short skirts, so suck it up Berry. For a girl who preaches for sex, you sure are a PRUDE.” Quinn sighed, shaking her head. She threw some hangers at Rachel and escorted her to the dressing room. Pacing the length of the store, she eyed Finn pushing Artie (and Tina who was in his lap) towards Game Stop and smiling. She was glad he was happy. Rachel finished paying for the pink polka dot nightie she had just bought and their eyes met-
It was all very romantic: Rachel flinging the pink bag up in shock (towards her face). Finn running over (almost pushing Artie and Tina into the fountain). The makeout session in front of Auntie Annie’s pretzels.
“I think this counts as heavy lifting.” Puck’s voice startles her, and somehow he maneuvered the 20 reusable canvas bags out of her arms and her arm in the same motion. She rarely even saw him anymore, he was either at Glee, or football or getting tutored in Math. He had this- skill of getting under her skin. One week she thought he was a decent human being and the next he was ignorant as ever.
“-What am I supposed to say, Puck?“
“Thank you would be a nice start.” He smirked, and damn him, her insides melted a little bit. He just started talking about stupid stuff, and somehow they had walked the entire length of the hallway, and got him a new Winter Coat from Sears. She didn’t feel the urge to vomit or kick him in his man-area once. He got her a cheesy dog from the food court, and she shoved some at his face, not even bothering to feed it to him. Something about him being serious makes her want him to be silly.
“Jewish, remember? The only kosher part to that is soy filling. And eating wiener is the last thing this Stud Muffin needs to do.” She laughs so hard she forgets that she’s supposed to be miserable. Sprite spewed out of her mouth before she could stop it, and the sick perv that he is, he kisses her.
“Kurt said I should give you space, but I don’t want to give you space, Fabray. Unless your into that sort of thing-I think my sister has a webcam, somewhere-”
She hits him with hot dog again and lets him drive her home.
**
Her sister mails her a note from her parents. The letter, written by her mother says that they are moving away and there was a check stapled to the bottom written out to cash. There was no “I Love You” scribbled at the bottom, so she does her best not to cry and cashes the check. She buys her first tight maternity dress and she’s gone up a shoe size so she splurges on shoes, but she makes Puck take her dancing at the VFW hall with all of the old ladies. They glare at her, and she doesn’t care.
“Why yes, I am pregnant.” Quinn gushes, doing her best Rachel impression. The glaring turns to staring and she runs her fingers along Puck’s mohawk and the cheap suit he was wearing and makes out with him in the coat check. The evening is overall a success, and she spends the rest of her money on vitamins and buys Rachel a birthday present: A microphone stand. She puts her hairbrush in it and hugs her before singing into the mirror.
Rachel Berry officially changed, karma really is a bitch and she starts trying to change her. Dragging her out of bed at 5 in the morning, Rachel hands her baby yoga DVD and pair of sweats. After the yoga is singing in the shower, Rachel warming up while sitting on the toilet, and making her sing scales until her throat hurts.
Then every afternoon after Glee, She-Devil would drag her (plus Finn) to the auditorium and shine the bright lights in their faces. Then came the choir books from seventh grade, and they would practice singing more. Her copy had an unidentifiable stain that was the color of peanut butter.
“You’re sharp, Quinn. Sing it again.”
Rolling her eyes around Rachel was practically a reflex now. She tried the song again, which seemed to satisfy Rachel. Until Puck ran into the room, wrapped his arms around her middle and kissed her. Even dipped her near the end. “Hi.” She smiled.
He was sweaty and gross. And smelled like- turkey. Which just made her hungry. Stupid hormones.
“I just wasted Wheels at Cripple Basketball. He came close near the end, but-”
“You can quit puffing out your chest, we all know Artie beat you.” Rachel chimed in, giving Puck a wink. Quinn could tell he was lying too.
“I only lost by one point, Berry!” Puck laughed twirling her around the practice room. “I’m gonna go shower.”
Finn looked up from the sheet music and nodded at Puck before starting “Don’t Stop”. In falsetto. That cracked all of them up. He was getting better at tolerating her now, which Quinn figured was one of the reasons Rachel dragged him along to their extra practice session.
“From the top!” Rachel clapped, imitating Mr. Schue.
**