House of Puckerman

54

"I'll take care of her." Quinn decided as she laid Beth down on the bed. "You can go back outside."

"No." Puck said. "I'm staying with her."

"Oh, now you wanna stay with her." Quinn noted. "If you stayed with her when I asked you to, this wouldn't have happened."

Puck furrowed his eyebrow. "Quinn."

"Just go outside." Quinn said softly. "Please."

"No." Puck replied.

"Noah." Quinn sighed.

Puck paused as someone knocked on the door. He turned and looked at Jake. "Now's not a good time, Jake."

"I just came to check on Beth and to apologize." Jake said, looking at Quinn and Puck. "I should've kept a better eye on her."

"It's not your job to look after her." Quinn pointed out. "You're not her father."

"I know, but I feel responsible." Jake added. "So I'm sorry, Beth."

"It's okay, Uncle Jake." Beth replied.

"Thank you." Quinn said softly.

Jake nodded and excused himself.

Puck looked at Beth. "Mommy and I are gonna go back outside and let everyone know you're okay. You wanna try to get some sleep or watch TV?"

"Okay." Beth said.

"Do you want one of us to stay with you, B?" Quinn offered.

Beth shook her head as she grabbed the TV remote and started flipping through channels.

Quinn and Puck excused themselves and left the room.

"I'm sorry, Quinn." Puck apologized. "I'm sorry things suck so bad and I'm sorry she got hurt."

"That's not the point. The point is, you're supposed to be there for her." Quinn said.

"If it's easier for you to handle this by blaming me, then fine. I can take that." Puck said. "But I won't let you call me a bad father or say I don't take care of her."

"They interviewed us at the hospital, Noah." Quinn replied. "They weren't just making small talk. They were trying to make sure Beth wasn't in any danger being with us."

Puck furrowed his eyebrow.

"People build cases with CPS through those kind of interviews." Quinn stated.

"Beth is fine." Puck said, taking Quinn's hand. "No one is gonna take her away from us."

Quinn bit her lip.

"But she's both of ours, Quinn. And I'm sick of you acting like she's not." Puck added.

"I love you, Noah." Quinn replied. "But I can't trust you with Beth. You're her dad. You're supposed to put her before anyone or anything else."

"You really don't trust me?" Puck raised his eyebrow.

Quinn took a deep breath.

"No, that's fine." Puck muttered, pulling his hand away from Quinn's. "You know what? Why don't you pack up your stuff and spend some time at Mercedes' house? Beth can stay here."

"No." Quinn shook her head. "If I go, she goes."

"No, she doesn't." Puck argued. "If she wants to stay, she stays."

Quinn folded her arms.

"You don't get dibs on her just because you're her mom." Puck told Quinn. "She's starting a new school and she needs consistency, and she should stay here. If you wanna walk away, that's on you."

"You wanna talk about walking away?" Quinn asked. "Where the hell were you the last four years?"

"We made that decision together." Puck said. "If you wanna go disappear for four years, then go. But you can't hold that over my head. I was around as much as possible."

"Noah." Quinn said softly.

"I'm done chasing you and begging for you." Puck replied. "If you're so miserable here and you hate me so much, then just go figure things out. I don't care anymore, Quinn."

Quinn looked at Puck.

"Go." Puck repeated. "I'll be back to check on Beth soon."