After Deployment

75

Quinn followed Puck to the living room with Hudson in her arms. Her jaw dropped as she took in the winter wonderland in front of her.

Not only did Puck get a big Christmas tree, but he had decorated it with lights and tinsel, too.

There were four stockings hanging from the kitchen counter, facing the living room.

Quinn looked up at the ceiling at the paper snowflakes Puck had made and hung up.

"Noah." Quinn said softly as she looked at him. "I can't believe you did all of this."

"I know it's your favorite holiday, and I wanted Hudson's first one to be special." Puck noted. "It was Finn's favorite holiday, too."

Quinn nodded as she looked at Hudson.

"Do you like it?" Puck asked.

"It's beautiful." Quinn told Puck. "I love it."

"Good because there's one more thing." Puck said as he gently took Hudson from Quinn's arms. "Max, come."

Max ran out of the nursery with reindeer antlers on his head. He sat down in front of Quinn and looked up at her.

"Good boy, Max." Quinn smiled as she took the antlers off of him and pet him. "Merry Christmas."

Puck looked at Quinn. "So I'm sure you noticed that the tree doesn't have any ornaments on it."

"Yeah, but you did so well with everything else." Quinn said.

"Actually, I did that on purpose." Puck noted.

Quinn furrowed her eyebrow.

"I thought it could be fun to collect ornaments over the years." Puck said. "So to start, I got three."

Quinn nodded as she looked at the three boxes on the living room table. Each box was labeled with a number.

"Go ahead." Puck encouraged Quinn as he sat down on the couch, cradling Hudson. Max sat down beside Puck, resting his head on Puck's leg.

Quinn opened the first box, which had a golden retriever ornament.

"Max." Puck grinned, proud of the ornament.

Quinn smiled as she put the Max ornament on the tree. She returned to the other boxes and unboxed the second ornament.

"Baby's First Christmas." Quinn read, looking at the ornament of the sleeping baby boy. She looked at Puck. "You even got his name on it."

"Yeah." Puck said. "Put it on the tree and open the last one."

Quinn put the Hudson ornament on the tree, close to the Max ornament before returning to unbox the final one.

"You should do this one." Quinn said.

Puck shook his head. "My hands are full. You got it."

"Okay." Quinn nodded as she unboxed the ornament. She pulled out a figurine similar to a wedding cake topper, but with regular clothes.

It was a girl with blonde hair and a guy with dark brown hair. There was a big red heart connecting them.

"Quinn and Noah. Twelve twenty-three." Quinn read off the heart through tears in her eyes. She put the ornament on the tree and looked at Puck while shaking her head. "You really outdid yourself, Noah."

"Come here." Puck smiled.

"Thank you for everything." Quinn said before she kissed Puck passionately. "Merry Christmas. I love you so much."

"Merry Christmas, Q. I love you."