After Deployment

27

Quinn and Puck didn't talk much for over a week. They avoided each other as much as possible. Quinn spent a lot of time with Rachel, and Puck spent a lot of time with Santana and Brittany.

Quinn was curled up with a blanket on the couch watching reality TV when the apartment door opened and Puck entered.

"Hey." Puck said softly as he closed the door.

"Hey." Quinn repeated.

"I don't wanna do this anymore." Puck blurted as he sat on the edge of the living room table, blocking Quinn's view of the TV.

Quinn got up from the couch and walked into the bedroom.

"Quinn." Puck called after her.

Quinn grabbed a small black box from her nightstand and returned to the living room. She handed the box to Puck.

Puck furrowed his eyebrow as he held onto the box. "Are you breaking up-?"

"I found this in the closet, like, an hour ago." Quinn cut Puck off. "I wasn't snooping, but I found it, and it got me thinking."

"About what?" Puck wondered.

"We've been through so much, Noah." Quinn went on. "We're gonna have disagreements and we're gonna fight, but..."

Puck looked at Quinn to continue.

"We're having a baby together and we love each other, and I just wanna be with you." Quinn told Puck.

"I wanna be with you, too, Quinn." Puck said.

"So let's be together." Quinn decided. "No more avoiding each other."

"Okay." Puck nodded. He took a deep breath. "I stopped drinking."

Quinn looked at him as she sat down on the couch. "You did?"

"Yeah." Puck answered. "I'm almost one week sober."

"I'm proud of you." Quinn told Puck.

"I also started going to therapy." Puck added.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Quinn offered.

"It was a little weird, but the lady's okay." Puck responded. "I spent the whole first session talking about my life and telling her why I was there, and yesterday it was more like a conversation."

Quinn nodded as she took Puck's hand.

"It's PTSD, like you said." Puck stated. "Mostly with anxiety."

"At least now you know and they can help you manage it." Quinn said as she squeezed Puck's hand.

"She gave me some meds to help and got me involved in group therapy, and Santana said I even slept through the night without any nightmares when I slept over there." Puck informed Quinn.

"That's really good." Quinn smiled. "Do you feel good?"

"No side effects so far, but I feel like it's not melting my brain." Puck stated. "Which is good."

"I'm proud of you." Quinn told Puck. "And I'm glad you finally got some sleep."

Puck smiled. "Me, too."

"Sleep in our bed tonight." Quinn responded. "With me."

"Quinn, it's only been a few days." Puck told her. "I don't wanna push it."

"You said the nightmares have stopped since then, right?" Quinn asked. "So sleep inside with me."

"What if I have a nightmare tonight?" Puck wondered.

"What if you don't?" Quinn questioned Puck. "Please, Noah."

Puck sighed. "If you're not gonna take no for an answer, then I'll sleep next to you."

"Good." Quinn grinned.

"But you have to sleep with something on the nightstand." Puck told Quinn. "Something you can hit me with. Just in case."

"Noah, I'm not gonna-"

"Then I'm not sleeping next to you." Puck cut Quinn off as he looked at her. "Sleep with a freaking pan on the nightstand just in case."

"Fine." Quinn gave in. "I won't need it, but if that's what it'll take for you to sleep next to me, then fine."

"Okay." Puck said.