13One Love
Summary: Quinn remembers a time where things were simpler: Sam did not exist and Puck was all she could see. In reality, Sam is still here and Puck still wants her. Puck/Quinn and a cameo by Finn, who believes that Puck may be the thing for Quinn.
Note: I am aware that in order for this to work, Quinn would have to have lived with Puck and his mom a lot longer than in the TV show. So I request that you suspend your belief for me, okay?
Quinn hurried out of Cheerios practice, eager to get to football practice and see Sam.
Sam. Her mother loved him and he was The Golden Boy and he loved her and she-
She didn't love him; that much was obvious to her. She cared about him a lot though and couldn't believe how wonderful he was. He was so much different than all the other guys at her school. Well, so much more different than Puck.
Darn it. Why did her thoughts always come back to that boy? She wasn't with him and hadn't been in so long. Technically speaking, they had never been together anyway, so she shouldn't be so messed up about him, always relating everything back to him, always comparing Sam to him.
She shouldn't compare the two. They were nothing alike. Where Puck would comment inappropriately, Sam would simply stay quiet and look when he thought she wasn't looking. Where Sam was sweet Puck would have been intense. Quinn didn't want intense.
At least, she didn't think she wanted intense.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she picked up her pace down the hallway, running to the doors that led to the boys' locker room and waiting.
She hummed to herself, a sweet, hopeful tune that she couldn't place the lyrics to but had been stuck in her head for weeks.
"What is this song?" she thought aloud, biting her lip. Realization dawned on her voice and the cheerleader gasped. "The lyric…it's…One Love," Quinn groaned.
Quinn had heard Puck and Artie singing the song a few weeks ago. The sound of Puck's beautiful and melodious voice crooning this song made her heart stop for a while as she remembered another time he had dueted on the song. Sure, he hummed the song under his breath on a regular basis, but a duet…
Quinn sat in bed, propping up Pride and Prejudice on her swollen stomach, eating up the romantic words about the dashing Mr. Darcy and beautiful Elizabeth Bennett and their story. She heard the door creak open but didn't bother to look up. Quinn figured it was either Stacey coming in to sing to the baby or Mrs. Puckerman coming in to scold her on the pork package she found hidden in the garbage (Mrs. Puckerman wasn't the one who was pregnant, so shouldn't Quinn be able to cheat and eat pork every once in a while?). The bed sagged where the person sat, a lot more than if either of the two women had sat down. Quinn looked up into the warm eyes of Noah Puckerman, felt herself start to get caught in them, and then quickly looked down and back at her book.
Quinn had tried very hard to resist Puck and as of yet, it was working. However, if he was going to come in here and be all irresistible (not that she couldn't resist him, because she could…maybe…) Quinn was worried her resolve would waver somewhat.
She felt him shift and suddenly his hands were on her belly with his head resting on them. Quinn's brow wrinkled in confusion and she looked at the boy. Quinn became further perplexed when Puck started talking to her stomach.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"Stacey said the kid could hear me, even though it's all gross and covered up and stuff in there so I figured I could talk to the kid," he said.
"Why?"
"Well…you know, just because," Puck said, starting to get flustered. Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Hey Beth," he whispered. "It's your papa."
"Why are you talking to her?" Quinn asked again. Puck sighed.
"I know you're giving her up but I figured that if she ever wanted to come find us, her knowing my voice might help her and…I mean, I know a lot of adopted kids kind of hate their parents, but if she somehow knew I had talked to her then maybe she won't hate me," he mumbled.
Quinn felt her heart melt at his vulnerable words but ignored it, even as the tears threatened to well up in eyes. She cried all the time, at the drop of a pin, so that was all this was. She told herself this over and over but didn't really believe it.
"Hey baby Beth," Puck cooed. She wasn't aware he was capable of cooing. "I'm gonna sing to you okay? I hope you like it. It's my favorite song. Bob Marley was pretty epic even if he wasn't a hot Jew," Puck told Quinn's stomach. She gave a small laugh.
"Do you only listen to people who were Jews?" she asked.
"Yes," Puck said seriously. Quinn rolled her eyes. "One love, one heart, let's get together and feel alright. Hear the children crying, hear the children crying. Saying give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright. Saying let's get together and feel alright," Puck crooned to her stomach. "Let them all pass on their dirty remarks. There is one question I'd really love to ask-"
"One heart," Quinn sang quietly. Puck smiled.
"Is there one place for the hopeless sinner who has hurt all mankind to save his own?"
"One love, one heart, let's get together and feel alright," Quinn continued.
"As it was in the beginning, one love, one heart. Give praise and thanks to the Lord and we will-"
"Feel alright," they both sang softly. Puck kissed Quinn's stomach softly.
"See Beth? I told you she secretly liked me," he whispered. Quinn let out a watery chuckle, the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.
"You're sweet," she said. Puck kissed his way up her stomach while his hand lightly traced its way up her side, staying away from – Quinn noted gleefully – her breast. Puck pulled himself up so he was face to face with Quinn and leaned in. He kissed her tears away and then moved to her lips, softly pressing against them.
He didn't push her into anything, just kissed her chastely, letting her decide how far they should go. After a bit, Quinn's tongue snaked out and she deepened the kiss, needing more. One of Puck's hands stayed on her stomach while the other went to her cheek. Quinn's hands roamed over his body, feeling strong arms and back, lightly tracing the muscles on his chest.
Her hand grabbed at the bottom of his shirt, sliding it up but Puck's hand stopped her.
"What-"
"No. You will hate me forever if we do anything more right now. I'm not going to lie Quinn, I love sex and I would really really love to have sex with you again, but one night is not worth you hating me. I'd rather stop now and wait for a bit," he whispered against her lips.
Quinn smiled at him and pressed herself closer.
"Besides," Puck said with a smirk, "One night does not equal the hundreds of nights I could get in the future."
"Oh really, you jerk!" Quinn said, but she laughed as whacked Puck's chest. He smiled down at her and captured her lips again and Quinn was lost in the kiss yet again. After a few minutes – or perhaps several hours, Quinn wasn't quite sure – Puck pulled back and slid back down her body, resting his head on her stomach and kissed it again. Quinn closed her eyes and brought one of her hands to his head holding him close to her.
"Do you want me to leave?" he asked quietly and Quinn almost started crying again at the vulnerability and want present in his voice.
"No. I want you to…I want you to stay with me," she whispered. Quinn put her marker in her book and turned out the light. She felt safe with Puck's arms wrapped around her middle, humming softly to her belly, that she felt sleep envelop her almost instantly. Just when she was about to succumb to her dreams completely she heard Puck whisper.
"Don't hate me Beth. We love you but…maybe Quinn is right. Maybe we're not ready to be parents. I'd be a good dad and I know Quinn would be the best mom but…I love you Beth," he said. Quinn struggled to stay awake, to hear the end of his message. It seemed Puck sensed that Quinn was awake for he said, "I love you Quinn," ever so softly. Quinn squeezed her eyes shut, not trusting herself to answer. She felt his lips press against her stomach once more before falling asleep.
"Quinn?" a voice asked, pulling her out of her daydream. Quinn's eyes opened to find none other than the object of her fantasy, Noah Puckerman.
"Hello," she said curtly, even though her cheeks were flushed at the thought of the intense memory.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Waiting for Sam," she said. She saw Puck's eyes glaze over with anger and fury and sadness for just a second but they quickly fixed themselves.
"Right, Lady Lips. He'll be out soon." She saw Puck's eyes stray to her hand, widen as he saw the ring, and fill up again, but this time there was no anger, only sadness and…defeat?
"Puck?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Don't," he said sharply. "Don't try and explain, don't apologize, just don't…just don't Quinn," he said, anger ringing in his voice.
"Puck I-"
"Please Quinn." This time, anger boiled through Quinn.
"If you love me so darn much, why don't you fight for me, huh? Why don't you tell me not to be with Sam, beg me, whatever, and fight? Why are going to meet Santana for who the hell knows what later and walking away? Why Puck, if you love me so much? You love me?" she demanded.
Puck remained silent.
"Do you love me?" she growled.
"Yes," he said through clenched teeth.
"Then fight!" she practically yelled.
"You don't think I want to?" he yelled back. "You don't think I want to go in there and kick the crap out of Sam for even looking at you? Quinn…all I want to do right now is tell you that guy is a fucking wimp and beg that you be with me." Puck walked towards her place on the wall, putting his arms on either side of her, blocking her in.
Quinn had a feeling she should be scared, but couldn't bring herself to feel anything except aching want for Puck to kiss her, touch her, anything.
"All I want to do is kiss you until you forget all about Big Mouth in there and ask me to stay with you and…" Puck stopped and looked away, swearing under his breath.
"Then why don't you?"
"Because I already lost Quinn," he whispered to her. His whole body sagged, his eyes filled with regret and sadness, and Quinn knew that he really believed he had lost. "I got it okay? You needed time to cope with Beth and us and I was okay. I would have waited; I did wait. I don't want to be with Santana or any of those cougars, I want to be with you but you…I lost Quinn, I already lost. I lost the moment you let that dickwad kiss you, the moment you put that stupid ring on your finger without coming to me and asking me if I still wanted you. You never gave me a fair chance Quinn. So I'm done. I'm done fighting. When you two go up in flames because you realize you still want me, you just say the word and I'll dump Santana in a second. But I'm not fighting anymore because I already lost," he said, completely defeated.
"Puck…" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm so-"
Her words were cut off by Puck's lips on hers. The kiss wasn't the sweet one she remembered from the room, or the drunken ones when she got pregnant either. Instead, it was fierce and harsh and rough and completely desperate.
"Remember that," Puck said fiercely, "when you're off with your little boyfriend." Puck pushed himself away from her, turning and leaving the building without a second glance. Not five seconds later, Finn and Sam came out of the locker room. Sam ran over, worry evident in his eyes.
"Quinn what happened? Are you okay?" he asked, putting his hands on her arms. Finn came over, worried almost as much.
"Yeah, I just, I just…uh," Quinn did not know how to answer. Desperate, Quinn met Finn's eyes, willing him to understand. Finn caught on immediately to what was really upsetting her and thought quickly.
"Well, you know, sometimes, after a mother has a baby, there's this depression thing that goes on and sometimes it just pops up randomly, especially when the baby was given up for adoption. You know, it just, it just, like, sets in so randomly and the weirdest thing can set it off, it's just, like, so weird," Finn rambled, hoping he sounded convincing. To one with an average IQ, it wouldn't have, but that was just another thing the two quarterbacks had in common: their IQ's weren't the highest in the world, so Finn made sense.
"Yeah, I know about that, it happened to my mom after she had my little brother. It's uh…post partum depression right?" Sam wondered. Quinn shook her head.
"Yeah, that's exactly it, it just pops up out of nowhere sometimes. I'm sorry Sam, I just-"
"It's fine," Sam said quickly.
"Evans! You forgot your Trig book in here!" Beiste called out. Sam rolled his eyes.
"I left it there on purpose," Sam muttered. He cast a worried glance at Quinn then walked back into the locker room. The moment he was out of earshot, Finn pulled Quinn close to him.
"It's Puck, isn't it?" he asked. "You ran into him and you're having second thoughts about Sam again," he guessed. Quinn had started crying again and could only whimper in response. "It'll be okay Q, I promise. It'll all fix itself out and it'll be okay somehow. I don't know how, but…it'll be okay Q," Finn chanted over and over. Quinn pulled away.
"What if it's not?" she asked. "What if I never get over Puck?" Finn looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Well…did you ever think that if you can't get over Puck it's because you shouldn't get over Puck? I mean, he's an ass and kind of a man-whore but…I really do think he loves you. Maybe you two are supposed to be together and you should be getting over Sam," Finn told her. Quinn looked up, startled, into Finn's big brown eyes.
"You really think that?" Again, Finn thought for a moment before answering, honesty ringing in his voice.
"Yeah, I really do."
So? This little plot bunny has been hopping around in my head for a while now so I finally figured I would post it. I'm really proud of it, and I hope ya'll like it as well!