A/N My first attempt at a Glee story. Couldn't resist. Let me know what you think.

As he held her in his arms, he found that he couldn't quite resist counting all her miniature fingers again, even though he had done it countless times before. After he had made sure they were all there he moved onto her toes, unwrapping her from the pink blanket just for a moment. Again all her ten tiny toes were there. As he wrapped her back up, he noted that her skin was soft and smooth and creamy, just like her mothers. And even though her eyes were closed at this moment, he knew that under her eyelids, lay her mother's warm brown eyes, eyes that he had spent months wishing that this baby would have. Her nose didn't belong to her mother though, something that he was sure she would grow up to be thankful for, - not that he didn't love the nose on Rachel, it was just the idea of such a small girl having it seemed wrong. Her little pink lips moved as she gently breathed, and Puck found himself taken back to when Beth had been born, and he had done exactly the same thing with her.

That night seemed like forever ago now, and he found that his mother had been right – it did get better with time. The first few months after Shelby had taken his daughter away had hurt like a bitch, it was like there was a empty spot in his chest where his heart was. He had hated Quinn for doing that, for giving away their daughter as if she was a sweater that Quinn no longer wanted. He had wanted to scream at her, yell that it wasn't fair, he wanted her, why couldn't she let him keep her? But he had stayed silent, because maybe, just maybe, Quinn was right. Maybe he was just a Lima loser.

It had been Rachel who had saved him. She had told him that while she didn't exactly understand what he was going through, she felt as though she had a slight idea. So they spent their summer together, long nights in the park, where he would talk about Beth, the child he would never know, and she would tell him about Shelby, the mother who had appeared in her life for the briefest second, and then walked right out again. They both agreed Shelby was a bitch, for walking out on her daughter (twice), and for stealing away his daughter. They would share beers that he bought, or on bad days a bottle of Jack Daniels. That summer he found out more about Rachel Berry than he had anyone else before. He had lived with Quinn for months when she was pregnant, yet they had never had a meaningful conversation that didn't centre around their daughter. He had never been much for listening, but with Rachel, he found himself happy to listen to her as she talked so passionately for hours on end. He had never wanted that summer to end.

Then when school started again in the autumn, he had been the one to pick Rachel up from her house, and walk her down the hallway, eyeing anyone carrying a slushy. She had saved him, and this was the only way he could think of helping her. One day, a couple of weeks after school had started someone threw a slushy right at Rachel, taking advantage of Puck not being around. That kid never returned to school after Puck found out. He swore he didn't do anything, - well nothing really bad – and that the kid had decided that Carmel High was more where he belonged.

They spent the most of their junior year together, putting together songs for Glee, or sitting in her room, her singing while he played the guitar. She told him her plan for the future, which involved Broadway, several Tony's and a white wedding. Puck mentally decided his future, would inevitably be linked in with Rachel's, that he would follow her to New York when they graduated. Rachel pushed him to study more, and he found that once he begun to go to classes regularly and do his homework, he wasn't as stupid as he had assumed.

By the time they graduated, - her with straights A's, and him with mostly B's – he was sure that this was it. She may not know it yet, but damn it, he was never going to leave her side, because for him, she was the one.

Then she had gotten pregnant, only a year after her wedding and she had cried, because it wasn't in her plan. He could still remember her telling him, how she had been twenty seven and still wearing those ridiculously short, plaid skirts. She had twisted her fingers around each other, and looked at him, and then away again, a dozen times, before he finally asked her what the hell was up with her.

Her dark brown eyes, had looked up at his hazel ones, and she had said.

"I'm pregnant, asshole."

He had put that down to hormones, and not a reflection of his behaviour. His heart had jumped right to his throat, and he frantically tried to think of something to say, something that would comfort her, so maybe she would stop be pissed with him.

But he wasn't known for his words, and this time he couldn't say anything, so he just watched her flounce away.

She came back though, she always did. This time he held her tight in her arms, and she felt tinier than ever. They ended up on the sofa, Rachel wrapped in his arms, and she spent the whole night voicing every single concern she had about being pregnant. From having to give up her Broadway career ("Because really, Elphabea can't be pregnant, can she?"), to not being ready, ("This wasn't meant to happen so soon. I'm not ready for this."), to how to be a parent, ("How am I meant to know how to be a mother, when I never even had one myself?"). He told her that she would be fine, a badass MILF, and she laughed and rested her head on his shoulder.

Months later she was even more crazy than usual, which he totally blamed on the hormones. She had a rant one day during lunch, about the fact that she had spent the whole night – since going on maternity leave, she had a lot of spare time – searching online for maternity plaid skirts, and hadn't found a single one. And when someone sitting at the table next to them, had the audacity to laugh at Rachel's plight, he gave them his most threatening glare and they backed off.

(He spent the rest of that afternoon at a dress making shop, where he had the seamstress make him seven different plaid skirts, all maternity, because after all Rachel deserved to get what she wanted. And he had to admit, those skirts were kinda sexy.)

They spent long lazy weekends with him putting together what seemed like endless amounts of nursery furniture, and painting thousands of coats of paint on the walls, while she sat folding piles of miniature clothes. Sometimes they would sing, she would start, singing softly to herself and he would join in. Whenever he sang to her, she always smiled this amazing smile, a smile meant just for him and he would melt.

Because you can be totally whipped, but still a badass.

He had made sure she ate right, and she even gave up her vegan diet, much to Pucks delight. He would read her baby name's from the book he bought, and she dismissed them all, while he just smiled. He even took an afternoon off work to babyproof the whole house, after Rachel had seen a news report on a toddler getting stuck in a cupboard because it wasn't childproof.

When she got so sick of staying at home all day, he would take her to see her favourite Broadway shows, and buy her all the candy that she desired. They would go to dinner first at a fancy restaurant, and Rachel would always end up eating most of Puck's food. He never really minded though, he kind of liked how she would eat now.

Sometimes he would find her with Quinn, swapping pregnancy tales, and he never liked those times. Beth would be ten now, her childhood almost over, and he didn't like to be reminded of the fact that he had missed it all. That didn't mean he didn't carry around the only picture he owned of her in his wallet. Shelby didn't send updates anymore, and she had moved out of Ohio. Any hope he had held on to of ever seeing his daughter again had vanished. Quinn had two children now, with her husband, whom she had met when she was away at college. Two boys, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Whenever anyone asked about her children her eyes would mist over for a moment before she began talking about her two sons.

Rachel sometimes tried to talk to him about Beth, but these days he preferred to just leave the subject alone. She talked to him about Shelby sometimes, and he would listen, but he never showed much enthusiasm during those talks. Shelby would always be the woman that took away his baby, and left her own.

The nearer Rachel got to her due date, the more panicked Puck got. He became more protective of her every day, and she eventually had to tell him to stop calling her at hourly intervals. She had gotten used to being alone, and while before she had found it unsettling, she now found it relaxing, and would sing lullabies to her unborn child. She read all the parenting books she could get her hands on, and any that she couldn't order online, she would demand Puck buy them for her. She was determined that motherhood would be just one more thing for her excel at.

When she had gone into labour, Puck had held her hand tight, and kept calm even though he was more freaked out than her on the inside. And when the little girl was born several hours later, Rachl had cried as she held her in her arms, and Puck had felt an overwhelming urge to protect them both.

And now here he was, the beautiful baby cradled carefully in his arms, as her mother slept soundly beside them. A creaking door alerted him to his friends presence and he looked up sharply.

"Hey." It was Finn. Puck's heart dropped, and he involuntarily held onto the little girl just a bit tighter.

"Sup." Grumbled Puck back, his eyes dropping back down to the bundle he was holding.

"Can I hold her?" Finn asked, as he gangled his way towards the pair, and clumsily scooped the baby into his arms.

Puck sat there glaring at the taller man, as he sat down on the end of Rachel's bed, holding the baby in completely the wrong way. After a few minutes of admiring the baby, Finn glanced down at Puck.

"Thanks for this Puck." He nodded towards the sleeping brunette and the baby, "but I think I've got it from here. "

Pucks heart plummeted downwards, and he had to remind himself to breathe. He found himself watching the sleeping Rachel, and wanted nothing more to be in Finn's place. His heart ached for it, he wanted to cry at the unfairness of the situation. How come Finn always won. Couldn't Rachel see it? Finn could never love her, or the baby as much as he did.

Instead he nodded and ambled over to Finn, and planted a delicate kiss on the baby's head.

"Love you." He mumbled quietly, willing her to open her eyes just so he could see them one last time. She didn't.

Then he went up to Rachel, and pushed a brown curl behind her ear and took in her beauty one final time.

"I love you babe." He whispered into her ear, quietly so that Finn wouldn't hear, "I wish I could've made you happy. That I could've been the one for you, because you're the one for me. Take care Berry." Planting one last kiss on her forehead, (because he heard that means true love or some shit) he turned and left.

He turned and took one last look at the room, Finn was now whispering away to his daughter, and Rachel was beginning to stir. He doesn't stick around to see her wake up properly, because he doesn't think his heart can take seeing them all together as one happy family.

He know its a cliché, but it should've been him. He and Berry were meant to be, if she could have only seen that. He supposed he had waited for her to realise, and even when she and Finn had started dating again, he had held onto the hope they would break up. When Finn proposed, he thought that maybe Rachel would get cold feet and back out, and realise he was the one. When they got married, he thought that perhaps Rachel would get bored with Finn. When she told him she was pregnant, he had hoped that Finn would freak and leave, and then he and Berry could finally be a family.

But no. Because he never gets the girl. Not the right girl anyway.