House of Puckerman

24

Puck went to the eye doctor in big sunglasses to hide his bruised eye. He signed in and scrolled through his phone while he sat in the waiting room.

Puck's eye doctor wasn't there so he had to see one of the other ones in the practice. The eye doctor examined Puck's eye and ran a few tests before determining that his vision should return as the swelling decreased.

Puck left the eye doctor and drove to Mercedes' house. He parked in front and walked up to the door. Puck rang the doorbell and waited for an answer.

The door opened and Mercedes stood there.

"Hey, Puck." Mercedes said. "Quinn doesn't wanna see you yet. You should go."

"This is like sophomore year all over again and I'm not doing it." Puck noted. "We're adults now. Can I come inside?"

"Fine." Mercedes sighed, stepping back to let Puck in. "Quinn and Beth are in the living room."

"Thank you." Puck said as he stepped inside. He walked through the house to the living room, where Quinn and Beth were curled up watching TV. "Hey."

"Daddy!" Beth exclaimed as she got up to greet Puck.

"Hi, Monkeyface." Puck smiled as he scooped Beth up and kissed her cheek. He put her on his hip and looked at Quinn. "Hi, Q."

"I asked you for space." Quinn responded softly.

"I was just on my way back from the eye doctor and I thought I'd come see Beth." Puck answered. "And I figured maybe we could talk."

"Noah." Quinn sighed.

"Five minutes." Puck requested as he put Beth down. "And then I'll get out of here."

"Five minutes." Quinn repeated as she got up.

-

"The first thing my dad did was apologize." Puck explained. "He called his sponsor and they're working on a new program to get him sober."

"And how long will that last?" Quinn asked.

"No, it's gonna work this time. He's gonna be stronger." Puck insisted.

"I'm not bringing Beth back into that house." Quinn told Puck.

"That's not why I'm here." Puck replied. "I just wanted you to know that I'm not doing this ignore each other and hide out at Mercedes' house thing. Not again."

"You don't get to act like I'm the bad guy when all I'm trying to do is protect Beth." Quinn said, folding her arms. "And rightfully so, look at your eye."

"The doctor said I should regain full vision." Puck told Quinn.

"I knew you were lying when you said you could see." Quinn said, shaking her head.

"It's not that bad. It'll be fine." Puck said.

"That's not the point." Quinn replied. "The point is, you look horrible, but you got lucky this time."

"It's not a big deal." Puck shrugged.

"You only think that because you grew up with him hurting you." Quinn pointed out. "What's it gonna take for you to realize that you need to stop trying to help your dad?"

Puck took a deep breath, but Quinn continued.

"What if it was worse and the cops came and then Beth got taken away?" Quinn asked. "Or what if Beth got hurt? Did you ever think about that?"

"Of course I did." Puck said. "Beth's fine. She's not gonna get hurt or taken away."

"Did you think you were gonna get hurt?" Quinn wondered.

"When I saw him walk in drunk yesterday, yeah." Puck admitted.

Quinn shook her head and rolled her eyes before taking a deep breath. "I'll see you on Wednesday, Puck."