No Strings Attached

25

"Hey." Noah said as he stood in the doorway of Quinn's room.

"Hey." Quinn replied.

"Before I go to bed, I just wanted to thank you for entertaining everyone today." Noah told Quinn.

"Oh, you don't have to thank me." Quinn shook her head. "They were really sweet."

"They really like you." Noah noted. "Especially Sarah."

"What about your mom?" Quinn wondered.

Noah shrugged. "When I told her you weren't Jewish, she wasn't happy, but I reminded her she's gonna be a grandma so..."

Quinn nodded slowly.

"I know I said it before, but I'm really glad you're here." Noah stated with a small smile.

"Yeah." Quinn agreed. She paused for a moment. "Will you stay with me again tonight? I don't wanna be alone."

"Yeah." Noah nodded. "Everything okay?"

Quinn nodded back. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"About the baby?" Noah guessed.

"About a few things." Quinn said.

Noah looked at Quinn. "Why don't you come in my room and we can talk or just go to sleep?"

"Okay." Quinn responded as she got up. "I just need to get some sleep I think."

-

Quinn was laying awake in Noah's bed for what felt like hours, but she knew it was only minutes.

"Noah." Quinn whispered.

"Yeah?" Noah whispered back.

"Why are you whispering?" Quinn wondered.

"Because you are." Noah pointed out as he turned on a lamp and sat up. "What's up?"

"What the hell are we doing?" Quinn asked as she sat up. "I mean, we're strangers and we're having a baby together and we hang out and meet each other's families and-"

"Hey, slow down." Noah cut Quinn off. "We're not strangers. Not anymore. And we're navigating parenthood together. We're... friends."

"Yeah." Quinn agreed.

"We've been apart a lot." Noah noted. "And that's my fault. I know it is. I've just been trying to get everything ready here so I can be in New York."

Quinn looked at Noah.

"The thing is, I like you, Quinn." Noah told her. "I never thought I'd see you again after that night and I didn't think you'd get pregnant."

"Neither did I." Quinn said.

"I like you." Noah repeated. "And I wanna be with you. But I didn't wanna do long-distance and I didn't wanna put any of my public life stuff onto you because you didn't really sign up for all of this."

"You wanna be with me?" Quinn asked.

Noah nodded. "You don't have to make any decisions now, but I want us to be together and I want the baby to grow up in a stable, and maybe even normal, home."

Quinn took a deep breath as she looked at Noah. "Have you been with anyone else?"

Noah looked at Quinn.

"It's okay if you have." Quinn told him. "We weren't together."

"A few weeks after I met you, I slept with someone else to get you out of my head." Noah admitted. "I don't even remember her name or if she was a blonde or a brunette, but it didn't work and when Finn called me to come visit New York, I thought maybe I'd get to see you so I came back."

"Finn called you?" Quinn asked.

"He wanted help ring shopping." Noah nodded.

"Well, thank you for telling me." Quinn said. "You didn't have to."

"I know." Noah said. "But it's good to have it in the open."

Quinn nodded.

"Get some sleep." Noah advised Quinn. "We can talk more tomorrow."