What It Could Have Been

Chapter Four

|PUCK|

You would think that with the months that had been spent being woken up by a crying baby would prepare me for waking up an hour and a half early for school, but that is so incredibly wrong.

The sun hadn't come up yet and I was driving to Quinn's house. It was the first day of school, I was supposed to still be asleep—maybe even be late.

I had been given a key to the Fabray residence when I had stopped staying with them after six weeks. I unlocked the door to find Quinn situating things into the baby bag in the living room.

I look to the couch to find the reason why I was so willing to be up this early. Beth was sitting up—a pillow supporting her—holding onto a toy that looked like a phone, but whenever you press a button it made a noise. Due to the sound of my footsteps, Beth's attention turned to me, with a smile on her face, reaching out for me—her toy dropped on the floor catching Quinn's attention.

"Hi Baby B, I missed you," I said as I picked up my baby girl, kissing her cheek, "were you good for your mommy?"

Of course Beth's response was a string of baby talk.

"Hey Quinn," I turned to Quinn, who was busy checking things off a list.

"Hey," she offered me a smile, before turning back to what she was doing. I noticed that she was still in her pajamas and hadn't put in any makeup or done her hair—very un-Quinn like.

I sat down on the couch, reaching down to retrieve Beth's toy from the floor. I turned my baby around so that she could sit on my lap and handed her the toy.

"Quinn," I called out to regain Quinn's attention. Once she looked up I continued, "why don't you get ready and I'll watch Beth."

I knew she needed time for herself. Even though Beth was sleeping longer through the night, she still had to get fed and changed in the middle of the night.

"I'm almost done-" Quinn began to argue, but I swiftly interrupted.

"Go, we have plenty of time. I got here early for a reason," I responded.

With a huff, Quinn stood up from the floor and walked up the stairs to her room. A few minutes later, I heard her shower turn on.

"She loves you so much, that sometimes she forgets to take care of herself," I whispered to Beth, earning a giggle, as I tickled her, "I can't really blame her though, you are a Puckerman after all."

I pressed a button on Beth's toy—it made some sort of lullaby—she leaned back on me, laughing as if I had just done the funniest thing in the world.

About twenty minutes was spent like that, playing and tons of baby laughs and in turn my own. Quinn came down in one of her trademark dresses.

"How'd she sleep last night?" I questioned once Quinn got back to her previous task, "She seems really happy."

"She kept me up all night," Quinn looked up with a slight smirk on her face, "she's just happy to see you."

I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face and I buried my face into Beth's tiny head, which had blonde curls finally starting to grow out of it.

"Alright, all done." she mumbled, standing up, straightening her dress and walking over to the kitchen, to place the bag on the counter.

I stood up with Beth, settling her on my hip. Quinn warmed up some milk that she had pumped—that sounds so painful and strange—in a bowl of warm water, testing it on her wrist, once she was done. She put the bottle on the counter, while I put Beth in her car set. My baby girl started getting cranky because I had put her down.

"I know it sucks, I'm pretty awesome, but we have to get going." I tried to sooth her, reaching for the bottle and starting to feed her.

Quinn rolled her eyes at my comment, before grabbing her phone and checking it. There must have been a message because she read over it a few times before responding.

Once Beth was done with her bottle and she had burped on her own—my baby is perfect, deal with it—Quinn and I walked out of the house and into my truck, where I attached the car seat and secured Beth—Quinn of course double and triple checked that our baby was safe.

I began making my way to McKinley. Quinn seemed oddly quiet and I was positive it wasn't just because it was early.

"We're lucky that the school has a daycare." I tried to make small talk. McKinley has a daycare that was available to teachers, administrations, and in this case students.

There was a moment of silence before Quinn said: "I'm scared, Puck. What if she gets sick or hurt and there's nothing we can do about it because we're in class?"

"The same things could happen if she was with anyone that isn't us, babe. Your mom, my mom, anyone. I'm scared too, but it means that we care," I attempted to console her, "we made a decision and it's hard, but we're going to make it through and we have Beth."

Quinn wiped away a singular tear from her cheek, "Yeah," was all she could say.

===

Jew-Fro had cornered me in the locker room, asking me questions I had barely been listening to—answering them in the way I knew he wanted to hear, in order to get it over with. That was until, he asked about Quinn. I had ensured that the camera picked up my reaction and made him aware of the fact that comments about Quinn was not something I took lightly.

He'd already put me in a pissy mood, on top of that, I had to make sure that Quinn was adjusting to not being with Beth all day, everyday.

===

AN: My heart is heavy as I hear more and more about the news regarding Naya. She's such a light and I pray that she is brought back to her son alive. I have signed petitions to keep the search going and I encourage you to do the same.

PRAY FOR NAYA