Beth sat on the couch, cuddled up in blankets. The first words she said after allowing Quinn to call Shelby were, "It's cold in here." Quinn wouldn't dare let her be cold. She sat her on the loveseat and bundled her in as many throw blankets as possible. The girl's big green eyes peered up into Quinn's, and she found the eye contact overwhelming. There sat her daughter...And she didn't even know she was looking into the eyes of her own mother. Quinn had to break the connection and stammer to offer her something hot.
"Would you like some hot chocolate?" Quinn raised an eyebrow. Beth continued to pout and crossed her arms under the blankets.
"No thanks, Ms. Fabray."
Please, call me Mom. was all Quinn could think. She had to remind herself that this was real...but temporary. A bittersweet thought, if she did say so herself.
"Do you have tea?" Beth pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Quinn was taken aback- turning down hot chocolate in favor of tea? Sounds like something she would've done at age seven.
"Um...yeah. I have uhhh..." Quinn hustled into her kitchen and opened her drawer full of teabags. "Normal tea, green tea, raspberry, peach..."
"Peach, please." the girl responded softly from the living room. Quinn gave a smirk. Peach was her favorite. She plugged up her electric water heater, and examined her cupboard. "Honey? Lemon?"
"Yes, please."
She was behooved by how amazingly polite the girl was. Everything "please" and "thank you". Beth had hardly moved since she came in. Quinn could tell just how shaken up she was by this fight with Shelby. What could a little girl possibly be fighting with her mother about, to the point where she would run away? Quinn had to keep reminding herself that she had already checked for bruises, albeit pathetically. How much had motherhood changed Shelby Corcoran?
Quinn prepared the tea and brought it in a mini mug back into the living room to an eerily quiet Beth. But she was still awake, staring before her, in deep thought. Quinn rested the mug on the coffee table. "It needs to cool. I'm going to go ahead and call your mom now, okay?" she gave the girl a small smile, which Beth returned. Quinn got up from the couch and sifted through her bag of files, pulling out the emergency contact list for her classroom. She knew the school had one on file, but Quinn liked to have one, too, just in case. She never thought she'd be using it in a situation like this.
Not until she reached out a hand to dial Shelby's number did Quinn realize her hands were trembling. The idea of talking to Shelby again after years of not speaking and months of avoiding each other whenever possible...Her heart began to pound in her chest.
She almost considered simply not calling her and merely staying the night with Beth..And perhaps sending her back in the morning. But given Quinn's past with Shelby and Beth, she knew the woman would not hesitate to charge her with kidnapping. And she supposed she had the right, didn't she? Beth stopped being Quinn's the moment Shelby signed the adoption papers...And who was to say that she wasn't being a good mother?
Quinn shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and began dialing the number. The ringing on the other end blared in her ear, loud and obnoxious, taunting her anxiety. After three rings, Shelby's voice picked up on the other end.
"Hello?" she breathed. Quinn could hear the franticness in her voice, and a sniffle as if she'd been crying. Quinn bit her lip.
"Ms. Corcoran..." she began. Could she really play this off as if she weren't Quinn Fabray? As if she was a stranger? But..if she were a stranger, there was no chance of her being able to spend more than ten minutes with Beth. "...Hi, it's um...Quinn Fabray, your daughter's teacher." Shelby sucked in a breath, probably too shocked to speak. "She just showed up at my doorstep, and I figured you should know."
