Quinn Fabray sat in her cold studio apartment, bundled up in blankets and pajamas. Like every elementary school teacher in her mid-twenties, she was grading homework at ten o'clock at night, with a red pen in one hand and a carton of Ben & Jerry's in the other. Her life these last few years had been...content. She went to Yale majoring in Drama while dabbling in teaching on the side, as a backup. And boy, was she glad she'd gotten that backup. New York was cutthroat when it came to its actors. So while Quinn tried to find an acting job, she took up a job at Oakvale Elementary school, teaching the third grade.
She flipped through her pages of homework, scanning ones she'd forgotten to grade. One name caught her eye- a certain name that made her flinch every time she saw it.
Beth Corcoran.
Yes. The Beth Corcoran. Quinn hadn't thought that with moving to New York she'd be bringing up her entire past, too- Rachel was there, Santana was there...and the second she got her student roster, so was her estranged daughter Beth. Quinn could tell that Beth's adoptive mother, Shelby Corcoran, was going out of her way to avoid meeting Quinn face to face- not showing up at back to school night, avoiding the first quarter student-teacher conference...And well, Quinn wasn't complaining. She wasn't sure she was ready to face Shelby, either, after what she tried to do to her during her senior year. For most people, it was easiest to chalk it up to post-partum depression, which was what it was. But she tried to hurt Shelby so bad...it was embarrassing to see her.
And due to overcapacity of students, parents couldn't switch their kids out of certain teachers' classes. So Quinn had to deal with this awkward tango for about three months, now, trying to be a good teacher to Beth, all the while avoiding her mother. And Quinn could just tell that the girl had no idea who her real mother was.
On the first day of school, Quinn went around the classroom asking the kids to introduce themselves by saying what makes them special. This was before she was entirely sure if this Beth Corcoran was her Beth Corcoran. And the little girl had said, Quinn remembers the words exactly, "My name's Beth. I like dancing ballet and what makes me special is that my mommy adopted me. My real mom didn't want me, and my adopted mom couldn't have babies so she adopted me."
Didn't want her. Quinn liked to imagine that that wasn't Shelby spouting off that bullshit to her, and just Beth's misunderstanding of the situation. She liked to imagine that Shelby had told her "Of course your mommy wanted you. She was just really young and couldn't take care of you."...But as an actress, Quinn knew what inner monologue was. And she knew when people said things motivated by other people.
The girl was...amazing. Just as Quinn had thought all those years ago, she was perfect. Her soft blonde curls from when she was a baby had darkened to a reddish strawberry blonde, and she had Quinn's eyes. Okay, to be fair, she and Puck had the same eye color, but the shape of her eyes was Quinn's. Beth had Puck's jawline, as well as his smile. Quinn often found herself getting lost in the girl's features- she looked so much like her, couldn't she see? She had so many of Quinn's mannerisms- tapping her pencils, placing the palm of her hand on her chin when she was irritated...She had Quinn's attitude, too. Quinn once overheard the girl calling Aiden Wallace, the classroom booger, a "Moron." Quinn had to bite back a laugh before telling her that it was impolite to call someone a moron. She supposed she could contribute some of that to Puck's fearlessness, too. Point being, they made a real spitfire together. And while Noah Puckerman was the farthest thing from Quinn's mind right now, she had to thank him for their daughter. But she didn't dare call or text him when she found out Beth was in her class.
As she finished off grading the homework, Quinn gave a heaving sigh. She was almost down to the bottom of her ice cream carton. She shoveled the spoon into the very bottom, and tossed it back in a few swift gulps. Since becoming a teacher she'd maintained a diet of TV dinners, Ramen noodles, and ice cream, as well as gained ten pounds. She planned to work that off soon.
Just then, a ring on her doorbell. The buzzing of a New York studio apartment doorbell was possibly the most unpleasant noise ever. Quinn stood, wrapped herself in her robe, and walked over to the door. She stuck an eye at the peephole, but saw nothing. Hm, she wondered. Quinn unlatched one lock then twisted the other, and opened the door. Straight ahead, she saw nothing. But once she heard a sniffling beneath her, she looked down.
Strawberry blonde hair looked back at her.
"B-Beth?" she stammered.
