DISCLAIMER: Why would I write this if I was RIB?

A/N: It's a "wrote this instead of studying" kind of day. Sorry for the wait. Title comes from "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. References to my fic "Best Laid Plans," but it's clear still (In my opinion) if you haven't read it.

Second semester junior year, Quinn finally got the lead in a school production, not counting Viola in McKinley's Twelfth Night which she had to drop due to her car accident.

Her acting resumé had been accumulating fun credits since joining Glee sophomore year. She really enjoyed Rocky Horror and West Side Story, but honestly, she'd preferred The Crucible, the one straight play she'd gotten to do at McKinley. At Yale, she'd done a lot of fun, smaller roles, and stretched her acting range across dramas and comedies, plays and student films, but Catherine in Proof was her first lead. It was a big deal.

Such a big deal that when Beth found out, she decided she wanted to come watch.

After re-reading the script, Shelby decided it would be fine. Beth wouldn't know a lot of the words and references and, honestly, probably would be more focused on Quinn than the story (Shelby's words, not hers). It was a big deal, to have Beth there. Her daughter, who called her Mama Quinn now and everything.

The play went up in late February. Beth was an exemplary audience member and big hit with Quinn's friends who came to the performance, especially with her endearing question of why Mama Quinn kissed Hal and not Daddy Puck. Puck couldn't make it until the next day, so Shelby and Beth were renting a hotel in New Haven for the night so he could see her the next morning, which was incredibly nice and thoughtful. Beth definitely seemed to like exploring campus with her and seeing her dorm room, becoming ever more popular along the way.

Not many people had believed her when she'd first started openly talking about Beth, following her break-up with Biff and reconciliation with Puck. Many even said she didn't seem like mom material. She'd thought, after the disbelief of dating an Air Force stud was proved false, they'd be more open to the possibility of Beth. Not that it really mattered, since the little girl wound up being so liked, which Quinn put down to Shelby entirely. It wasn't like she and Puck could take credit for her personality, not really. Genetically, yes, but how it actually manifested? All her.

March had become such an important month for them, it was nice for her not to have too many commitments. Between the anniversary of Finn's death and Beth's birthday two weeks later, having time to go up to New York and see Beth, or Boston and visit Puck, was nice. Not that he had a ton of opportunity to get away. He was trying to take less leave this year, prove he was committed. He'd used a lot last year to do things like help bring back New Directions or go to the big double wedding she was still kind of irritated to have missed, even though she had been the one to decide to stay home with her mom after the car accident. Her mom had stayed home with her, after all, when she had been in her accident. It seemed only fair to make it up to her.

This March felt different because of that wedding day, though, when they'd decided this was it for them. They had kind of done that before, back when she'd asked him to stay, but things just felt different now. This man was officially her life now. They would be building up and moving on, together.

How many people her age got to say that?

We need to talk texts in their group chat (Now christened "The Beth Squad" by the titular girl) were always interesting. The simple sentence had a range of meanings, from 'Puck and I are getting back together' to 'Beth asked about her dad' and everything in between. This time, it meant Shelby's friend was producing a new show, and he didn't want her to merely music direct, but star.

She and Puck had let Shelby do what she wanted career wise. It was Shelby who had decided to not try and actively do shows, who had founded the daycare as an alternative. She was still teaching and could still spend time with Beth. But Beth was getting older. She would be starting kindergarten soon. The daycare was running fine. So Shelby had started music directing a bit, local shows, mostly youth ones, where they didn't need her for the performances because there was no orchestra, just a few hours a week, and they didn't mind if Beth tagged along.

But this time, she wanted their input.

"It feels almost like we're divorced parents," Quinn laughed, but she knew he got the meaning behind those words. She and Puck had been in their weird limbo state back when her parents were fighting over custody. Well, less custody and more child support. Frannie had been off being married and out of their father's way, and Quinn had started to feel like nothing more than a chew toy. Puck had known that, tried to help her cope with it.

"Hey, stop that," he said, and she wished he was there with her, and not hours away, not just a voice on the phone. "It's awfully nice of her to include us, right?"

"I'm not sure why."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to think about how my future fits in with Beth more and more these days," he said. "I know I'm close to you guys right now, but. I'm still far. Living on base makes sense for now, but that could change. And I know you're still kind of figuring stuff out, but doing the show this summer I think is going to help you."

Her advisor helped her find some summer theater she could do outside of the Lima Community Theater, and she'd been cast in a production of Much Ado About Nothing at a summer Shakespeare festival in upstate New York. She liked her classes and everything, and she really liked being in shows and student films, but she wasn't quite sure yet if she wanted that to be her life. She was running out of time to firmly figure that out. Her father still wanted her to go to law school, and her mom just wanted her to be happy, which was nice but not exactly helpful for the moment.

"Yeah. I mean, if I wind up doing this, it'll be New York or LA. Probably. Maybe Chicago. I don't know anymore," she said, running a hand through her air. "We've got a lot to start talking about, it looks like."

"Agreed."

With finals and everything, Quinn wasn't free until May to actually sit down and talk things out with Puck and Shelby, so she let them make the call without her involvement. After careful consideration (And, according to Puck, more of a blessing than input on his part) and talks with Beth, Shelby took the job.

With her own rehearsals starting in just a few days, she had to pack up her dorm and then head straight into Manhattan, meeting Shelby and Puck at her and Beth's apartment. Beth opened the door with cries of, "Mama Quinn!" and her heart soared, just like it always did now that she was more than just 'Quinn' in the little girl's eyes. It was so hard to believe she was five now, and off to kindergarten in the fall.

Beth got picked up by a friend to go to the park not too long after her arrival, and Puck arrived not long after that. Shelby got them all drinks and then they sat down around the kitchen table together, staring at each other like they didn't know exactly why they were all there, what they needed to do.

Senior year would start before she knew it. The real world was coming. But she wasn't afraid of it anymore. It was okay that she didn't have all the answers yet, but it was time to start working them out.

"I think that Puck and I should pull back a bit," she found herself saying. Puck looked up at her in outrage. "You and I need time to think about ourselves as individuals and as part of a couple. We aren't raising Beth. Modern technology makes it almost impossible for us to lose touch. We want to be involved and we can be. But we need time, too."

"Yeah, we do," Puck agreed after a few minutes of deep silence. "God, it's going to suck, isn't it?"

"I think it will for a bit, yeah. But it'll help. I know it will."

The three of them have gotten good at working out plans. This one is meant to last through Quinn's graduation. It's a good plan, if rough on her emotionally. She and Puck need that time, though. Time to come into their own as people, as a couple.

Because in the end, they're not the ones raising Beth. She's Shelby's now.

That summer, she had the time of her life at the festival. Beth and Shelby came up one day and even Shelby agreed that performing suited her.

She returned to school armed with desire to continue performing. She was cast as Harper in their two-semester mounting of both halves of Angels in America. Beth wasn't allowed to see this one considering the simulated sex and the sheer length of each play, but she sent her lots of pictures. It was a good but busy semester. She didn't go into the city or even to Boston. Puck came and visit one weekend, but that was it.

Christmas night found her sitting on his couch back in Lima, curled up next to him as they ate Chinese and watched Schindler's List with his mom and Sarah. His mom cried at the end and then she and Sarah went to bed with a reminder for the two of them to behave. Quinn laughed into Puck's shoulder as he pulled her closer to him, kissing her head.

"What'd you think of your first Puckerman family Christmas?" he asked.

"Nice. Quite different from your Fabray Christmas last year, huh?"

At her mother's insistence, Puck had participated in going to church and the big family dinner on Christmas Day. He hadn't known what to wear so he'd pulled out his uniform, which made him a definite hit with Frannie. Most of her extended family either had no idea she'd ever been pregnant or pretended she hadn't, so the two of them had been careful not to upset anyone, no matter how much it irritated them. Quinn put her foot down with her mother this year, so she'd done the big fancy dinner and then headed straight over, changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt in the Puckermans' bathroom, and watching the second half of the movie while fighting Puck over her spring rolls.

"Yes," he said, kissing her head again. "What do you think Beth and Shelby did today?"

"Much the same as you, I would suppose," she replied. She'd never really thought about it other than that first Christmas back during sophomore year, but as Shelby wasn't Christian, she doubted it was a huge affair like it was for her.

"Do you ever regret giving her up?"

"No," she said without hesitation. She glanced up at him. "Do you?"

"No. I just wonder sometimes, you know? Our lives would've been completely different."

"We would've grown up so fast. I wasn't ready for that. I don't think either of us were." She fingered one of the buttons on his flannel, not looking him in the eye. "I think I wanna go to New York after graduation."

"Okay." She moved out of his hold so she could look him right in the eye.

"I want you to come with me." He gulped.

"I can't promise I can do that."

"I know. But I want you to try."

"Yeah. For you, Quinn… I would do anything."

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviews, favorites, and follows! They all make me so happy; you have no idea. Head on over to yetanotheremptypage on Tumblr for more general flailing about fictional relationships, what-could-have-beens, and more.