Disclaimers: I do not own Glee or its characters. I do own all OCs, unless ownership is given to another, specific person.
Spoilers: None.
Rating: T

Notes: Hey, all. I am sorry this is so late. I have a longer note at the bottom explaining some thing. And thank you to those who reviewed on the last one. I will come back sometime and answer them, but in the meantime, here is the next chapter! :)

Character credit for David Puckerman and Charlotte Thatcher go to Boris Yeltsin. I will call David Puckerman "DJ" so I can differentiate between David Puckerman and David Berry. Also, Mike's brother, Marco, is mentioned once, by name. Name credit also goes to Boris Yeltsin.

Enjoy! :)

Quinn is 17 weeks, 3 days pregnant

December 21st, 2009

*Rachel & Quinn's house – around 3:45 p.m.*

It is later, while Lexie and the twins are taking their nap, that the doorbell rings. Josiah goes to answer it and gets a big surprise…

Noah's family is here. His mom, Diane, and his older brother, David, or DJ, as everyone calls him, along with his girlfriend, Charlotte Thatcher.

"Hey! DJ, Char, come on in!"

"Hello, Mr. Berry," Charlotte greets as she steps inside, and they move so David can use his white cane to enter the house.

"Char, come on!" Josiah holds out his arms in a 'really?' gesture. "You know it's Josiah, none of that 'Mr. Berry' nonsense!"

As they move through the house, down the hall to the kitchen, DJ chuckles from his place at the beginning of the line.

"Yeah, Char, come on! You know better than to remind Jos how old he really is!"

They all continue to banter until they reach the kitchen, where everyone sobers up. No matter how much they would love to, the two families cannot ignore what has happened in the last month and a half.

DJ waits until he can sense Josiah is in front of him before saying, "I'm sorry I was not here for them, Josiah." His little brother and the girls he considers his sisters went through something that no person on the entire planet should go through. And it kills him that he was no here to support them.

And even worse?

His little brother is going to be a father. And where was he?

In England with his girlfriend.

"David, you came as soon as you could. You are here, now, and that is what matters."

Still, the oldest Puckerman child sighs. He makes his way to the dining room table, knowing the layout of the rooms and furniture perfectly from growing up here as a child. He takes a seat, senses that Charlotte is now beside him, and holds his right hand out for her to take.

It gives him the comfort he needs at the moment.

"How is she?" He asks and he cannot tell whether the silence around him a good thing, or something he should dread.

Finally, after several moments, Josiah clears his throat, and asks, "Full disclosure?"

Charlotte tightens her grip on DJ's hand, and he swallows around the lump in his throat, suddenly feeling like he is horribly unprepared for what he is about to be told.

"Y-Yes," He chokes out. "Full disclosure, please."

Josiah lets a breath, "Okay, but I can only give the disclosure of what has happened in the last six weeks. Quinn and–… They have been forced to explain what happened in the last four years to so many people, and they should get to decide whether they do want to tell you, and when they that to happen."

DJ nods his consent, and Josiah and David take turns explaining everything.

*30 long, dreadful minutes later*

It is really is amazing how a day can go from happy and innocent and positive to…

Well…

This.

There is not a dry eye in the room once Josiah and David finish giving a recap of the last 6 weeks' worth of events. Of course, Charlotte knew a little bit of what happened. Her father, Anthony Thatcher, is the attorney for the case against Russell.

He is the one Santana and Brittany have been meeting with. But for the past month or so, DJ has been with Charlotte and her family, in England, where they went to spend some time with Charlotte's grandparents, for Thanksgiving and such.

"I–…"

DJ starts and fails several times before he is able to actually speak. None of this comes even close to what Noah has been telling him.

"God, what is wrong with those people?!"

It seems being pissed off is the way this going to go.

"They– He– Wha–…" He splutters some more before just… standing up, and he foregoes his cane and he shakes off Charlotte's hand and he steps forward five steps, no more, no less. Before anyone can question what he is doing – because if he took another step, he would run straight into the wall, – he pulls his hand back, and smacks into the wall.

And then…

He just stands there, and barely hears the sharp,

"David Johnathan Puckerman!"

From his mother.

Because, while Diane would love to be – and is – so very pissed off about what she was just told, her son did just punch a wall and now she has to go all mothery on his ass about it.

The older Puckerman boy sighs before saying,

"I'm sorry about that. I'll give you some money to patch it up."

But Josiah just waves him off and says its fine.

And that he understands.

He, himself, would like to punch a wall. Or maybe a face.

Yeah, defiantly a face.

Preferably Russell's face.

But he is the adult. Which means he has to be all adulty about it.

Which also means no punching jackasses in the face. Because if he did, his husband would have to arrest him for assault.

And that would just make things even worse than what they are, so…

Yeah.

"Dave, honey," Charlotte come up behind him. "Why don't we sit back down?" She guides him back to the table, where he sits and, after a few moments, says,

"Hello, little brother."

And this alerts the others to Noah's presence. And, right behind Noah are…

"Bubby!"

Adeline yells it out as soon as she sees him. It has been too long since she saw her big(gest) brother, whom she absolutely adores. DJ holds his arms out, and playfully acts like the seven-year-old's strength is enough to knock him backwards.

"Well, hello there, Lila…"

He jokes around with her, and knows he succeeded when Lila-June giggles from across the room, and Addie says, "No, Bubby, it's me, Adeline!"

"Adeline?!" He questions. "I thought your name was Addie-Grace!"

"It is– But–… Wait–…," She stammers for a moment before what he is doing catches up with her. "Bubby! Stop tryna confuse me!" Her giggles are enough to break the tension in the room, as everyone follows suit, laughing and smiling, and DJ gets a hug from both of his little sisters.

"I am so happy to see you two again. How are you? You been good for mama?"

DJ lets Lila-June take his hand and rest it on her cheek, so he can feel her nodding, while Adeline responds verbally, "Yep! I got all A's and B's on my Report Card! And I made my bed and cleaned my room without Mama tellin' me so!"

"Well, good. I am proud of both you." Adeline climbs into his lap while Lila sits in Charlotte's lap, and holds his hand. He asks, "Now, who all is here with us?" Since he knows his brother is here, but is unsure of where Rachel or Quinn is, or even if they are home at the moment.

"Me!" Brittany calls out, then asking, "May I give you a hug?" To which he says 'yes'. Santana pipes up also and Rachel gives a formal greeting, telling him, also, that Quinn is there.

He can feel the shift in the room. How everyone suddenly quietens down, even his two sisters. There is whispering. It sounds like Rachel, and he knows right away that she is speaking to Quinn.

He remembers how this used to go on when they were younger. At first, he thought they were talking about him – about how he was Noah's weird older brother who couldn't see.

And once, he even snapped at them.

He was angry, of course, because Quinn never spoke.

He could hear the whispers, but he did not know what they were saying.

He was only seven when Noah first met them, having been 18 months older than Noah, and in the first grade. And already, he had his (un)fair share of people whispering about him, talking about him, saying things, playing tricks on him, even if he did have friends, there was always that one group of kids (or adults) who bullied him.

So when the whispering started with Rachel and Quinn?

Of course he immediately thought it was bad. But, it turned out, that was not the case. Of course it wasn't. Rachel was just trying to calm Quinn down – her anxieties, her nerves.

He came to know her – she was a very sweet little girl, protective of her friends, caring, and loving. And never did she ever deserve the kind of treatment she was getting from her own parents.

And now?

God, now he knows what those whispers mean.

It means she isn't talking – again.

It means that, no matter how much he was told of the events of the past 6 weeks… there are obviously things he does not know, and probably cannot understand.

It means that whatever Russell Fabray did fucked her up, and goddamnit, what did she ever do to deserve this?

"Everyone," His voice cracks, and he has to clear his throat. "Can I speak to Quinn alone, please?"

There's shuffling around him, Charlotte kissing his forehead and gently urging Addie and Lila away from the table. Noah pats him at the shoulder, and he pulls his brother into a hug before he, too, leaves the room.

Quinn and Rachel come over to him. He stands, holding out a hand so that Quinn can decide when to initiate touch-contact, and how much. He gets it all, though, as she wraps her arms around his waist, and feels her press her face against his chest, and he wastes no time in returning the hug.

Her sobs hurt his heart.

"I am so sorry, Quinn."

He feels it is not enough. He knows it is not enough, but…

What can he say?

How the hell can he make this better?

He can do nothing but stand here with her in his arms, and pray that this – her life – gets better.

*Much later*

They do presents before eating. Well, some of them, anyway. Most of the presents will be for Christmas, however, the adults are letting the girls (and Noah) open presents for each other, today, because Christmas Eve/Day will be a little less… fun. Malachi and Lydia Brown, Josiah and Judy's parents, aka Rach and Q's grandparents, are coming.

This will the first time Quinn "meets" them as their granddaughter, instead of "just" the "grandma and grandpa of her best friend". It will be pretty… undefined… as far as how this meeting will go for Quinn.

Therefore, they are opening some presents earlier. And taking it one day at time with… preparing… Quinn for what is to come.

The girls gather in the floor around the couch, and the grownups gather around with their drinks and watch the scene unfold. The first set of gifts are for each of the girls. Matching charm bracelets, with little charms to represent each girl (and Noah).

For example…

"Let's see… I won't be able to wear all of these at once, of course, but I still do have several charms that represent Britt… There is the duck, of course." She holds up a small silver 'duck' charm. "I liked this one the most. Just something simple."

She hands it to Britt so the dancer can "examine" it, and starts separating the rest of her charms into different piles. "I also have this one," The second one is a flat, silver circle, with 'Love' engraved on it in cursive. "Because you are my love."

"I have this one, as well," She holds up a "Snow White" charm, which is painted as the princess, of course. Black hair, red headband, and the blue, red, and yellow dress.

"Aw! You found Snow White!" Brittany abandons her place beside Santana, deciding that sitting next Rach is obviously better at the moment.

Rachel digs through the bag for a moment, "And this one," She pulls out five more charms.

They are Sesame Street charms, of course. Because even at 15, the girls love it (though they watch it mostly with the little kids).

"'Grover' for you, B." Which, obviously, thrills her. Rachel tells her she can pick out two of the charms for the Diva to wear right now.

"Those are the four I have for you, personally, but I think our parents may have bought us more."

Rachel smirks at the look on Josiah's face as he realizes he and the other grownups apparently were not as convert about the extra charms as they had thought.

"Next is Santana." Rachel has a frog, which is silver and small like Britt's duck, because frogs are Santana's favorite animal. She has 'The Little Mermaid' charm, – Sebastian, – and 'Elmo', because he is Santana's favoriter character although…

"If you tell anyone this charm is for me, I will deny it until the day I die." And with that, Santana picks out one charm from those three.

"Here is another, T."

Rachel gives her a similar one to the 'Love'. It says 'Precious', which is sometimes Rachel's nickname for her. She does not use it much, but it has been "utilized" enough that Rach wanted to get it.

"And lastly, this…" She holds it up. "It is supposed to be the "solar system", though you cannot actually tell it. It has a star and perhaps the tiniest representation of the planets ever made."

"Wow." She squints at it, trying to make out the individual planets, but…

They certainly are hard to see. And she is trying not to laugh, so instead, she just looks through the charms to pick out two of them for Rachel to wear.

"Now on to Lucy's!"

She turns to the blonde who is sitting next to her.

"I have several for you. I really could not decide, and probably went a little overboard…"

"Let's see… An Angel, of course." This is very similar to the 'duck' and 'frog' charms. Shaped like an angel with its wings spread out, it is small, silver, and has 'Angel' in cursive across it. "Simple, and exactly what I wanted." Rachel explains. "You are my Angel."

Quinn smiles, shy and barely there, as she runs her thumb over it. It reminds her of Rachel, sure, but it also gives her flashes of her big sister. Whom she would give anything to see right now.

"Ok, next is this–" A flat circle with 'Soulmate' engraved. The two of them, and even Britt, San, and Noah, have said that Rachel and Quinn are each other's soulmate. If there was ever a time where soulmate was described as best friends instead of lovers, it would be these two.

At Quinn's smile – bigger, this time – Rachel gives sigh, and a smile, meeting Santana's eye as she explains,

"Yeah, the woman in the Jewelry Department was hostile about this one. I explained I wanted it for you and at first, she was all for it… Until she realized one, Quinn is a girl not a boy, – I probably should have just said Lucy, – and two, you are my best friend in the whole world, my cousin, and my little sister."

Santana was with her that day. While Rach was picking out a soulmate charm for Quinn, Santana was there for Britt, and she remembers the argument that went on between Rachel and some older woman named Karen in the middle of the Jewelry Department.

Rachel just shakes her head, signaling for Santana not to say anything, and instead, continues with, "Next is…" She holds up a "10" charm that has the '1' connected to the '0'. "Because this year is our tenth anniversary."

10 years. Wow.

It seems so long ago, and just yesterday, at the same time.

"This one is technically for Noah also."

"Nice of you to remember me," The boy quips from his place on the couch with Lila in his lap. Rachel just sticks her tongue out at him.

"Which reminds me," Rachel pulls out a 6 this time. "For Britt and T. Six years back in August."

"Next, we have this one for you LuLu," A camera, because Quinn loves photography, though she never shows it. Most likely because such a hobby was considered "irrelevant" at her… well, y'know, that place.

"And this–" A small, gold lion, with 'courage' engraved in it. Quinn looks confused but Rachel side-eyes Brittany, and sees the dancer smile in recognition. Courage, or courageous, is another word for brave, and that coupled with the lion, represents leone coraggioso, Rachel's new nickname for Quinn.

"I will explain later, if you want, ok?" Quinn just nods.

"This…" It is a name charm, heart-shaped, with Lucy carved on it. "Annnd… This one." She holds up the Big Bird Sesame Street character.

The smile is tiny this time, and it is hidden with the blanket wrapped around the two girls, but Rachel sees it, knows that Quinn likes the charm, and she leans over to give her a quick kiss to the forehead.

"And lastly… Our rose," This is actually a two-part charm. It is a small, yellow rose, which means friendship, and then also a white flower, "This one is a Gardenia. It technically means secret love, but then again, so does the red rose."

The smile is harder to contain this time and nearly everyone else is confused, because they know about the rose being "their" flower, but are unsure of what a Gardenia is supposed to be for.

Quinn reaches for it, and holds it tight amongst Rachel's other charms – the angel, the lion, and the Lucy, – that are in her hand.

"You're silly, you know it?" Rachel comments as she hands it over, the grin on the blonde's face literally too big to smother by now.

Rachel does Noah's last. His is a helmet and a football, a guitar, 'Cookie Monster' from Sesame Street, even though he would deny that he still watches with Adeline and Lila-June, and a treehouse, because he loves building them.

That is what he does as a hobby sort of thing. He goes around to people's houses, asks if they would like a tree house build, and if they say yes, he draws up plans, takes the boys with him (Mike, Matt, Finn, and Mike's little brother, Marco), and builds the houses.

He makes $200 per house, during the months of April thru October, weather permitting, of course. The money is split up between the five boys, although in September and October, they started giving him their share, in case Quinn wants to keep the baby, and so he can help her pay for the ultrasounds, vitamins, etc.

"Like I said earlier," Rachel explains. "I think our parents may have some more for us."

The others go through theirs, well, actually, Britt and San do theirs. Quinn wants to do her own charms and who they represent later, in the bedroom, with just the five of them.

Santana has an Amor for Britt, and a duck, though this one is yellow with a detailed beak and eyes. She has ballerina shoes, also. For literally as long as she has known Britt, there has not been a day that she did not dance.

She has a camera for Quinn, as well. It looks like a polaroid camera, though, instead of a more recent model, along with a tripod stand. The 6 & 7 are for the number of years they have all known each other, 7 for her and Britt, and 6 for the five of them.

For Rachel, instead of a simple star, San got a cursive word of Estrella. It better symbolizes Rach than an actual star, because it is what Santana calls her.

It makes Rachel smile.

"I figured, technically, you know…" Santana comments.

Music notes are also for the Diva, three of them, looped together. Noah, for her, was hard. They are close but nearly as close as he is with the others.

She got the cliché football themed charms – a ball, field goal, and one that spells out touchdown, with cursive letters looped together. She also just went ahead and got a couple to partner with Britt's Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

Brittany goes next. Hers was easy: a cat, – grey and black – for Quinn, to represent Zeke, along with a ballerina, because Britt knows Quinn only wanted to be on the Cheerios team to dance, like she did. She has a cheer person, a set of pompoms, and the number 7 for Santana. And a paint brush and artist hat, because Santana loves to draw, and is very talented at it.

She was disappointed in how little variety she has to go on for Quinn. She wanted photography-themed charms, but the only ones she saw was a camera, a tripod stand, and a video camera type one. So, she got a detailed camera, black and silver, and the video camera.

She has Amoré, for Santana. It's love in Italian. And Stella in cursive letters because it is Italian for star. Like Santana, she does not call Rachel "star", – that is Quinn's name for the Diva, – and instead, calls her Stella. She has a microphone for Rachel, too.

Noah's was easy – she got a Slinky toy charm from Toy Story, and a football, a guitar, different from Rachel's, and a tiny, black and white Panda Bear.

Once they are finished, Josiah does confirm that the parents bought them more charms. They let the girls open them now, since they will be separated from Rachel and Quinn on Christmas Day.

For Rachel and Quinn, they both get a heart, which says, Cousins by blood, sisters by heart, friends by choice.

It chokes them up, though Quinn is able to hide it better.

For all four, they get a flat circle that says BFFs since 2003, which is the year that Noah, Quinn, and Rachel met Britt and Santana.

They all get a Scooby-Doo charm – Rachel's is Velma, Noah gets Scooby, Quinn's Daphne, Santana is Fred, and Britt's is Shaggy.

Brittany, Santana, and Quinn all three get a cheer megaphone, while Rachel gets a charm that says, Where words fail, music speaks. And the five of them, well the four girls and one representing Noah, get a five-piece friendship charm. It is pizza slices, with their own personal initials (Q, B, S, R, and N) engraved into them.

Quinn gets both the 'Q' and the 'N' for her bracelet

They each get several charms for themselves, Santana's is the Solar System, planets and stars, while Rachel's is music notes, a microphone, a very tiny sheet music, and a piano. Britt's is more Snow White pieces, Santana gets The Little Mermaid, and Quinn's is photography pieces, which again, has to be improvised.

She has a camera, a video camera, a tripod stand, a tiny rectangle, which Josiah literally describes as a "picture frame thingy", and a plane… that Josiah, again, comments on with,

"We ran out of improvising ideas, all right?"

The four of them also get their Zodiac signs as well as birthstones, and then each person gets four letter initials for each other (for example, Rachel gets a L, T, B, and N, Quinn got a N, B, S, and R, and so on).

*Rachel and Quinn's bedroom*

Noah goes next. He asks to do this upstairs in the bedroom, because he is nervous about several of the charms he picked out. The five of them gather everything up, he gets his gifts, and they head up to the bedroom.

Santana and Britt take the beanbags while Quinn lays on the bed with her head in Rachel's lap, the Diva resting her hand on her forehead, after asking for touch-permission, of course, while Noah, well… He just paces around the room nervously.

Finally coming to a halt near the bed, he says, "This one is for all of you, but just you three get this particular one. I have something different for Q…"

He hands them – Santana, Britt, and Rach, – similar bags that contain identical charms.

Angel wings.

"They are to represent, you know… Abby."

Silver, plain… but symbolizing their entire childhood.

Noah rubs his hands over his mohawk at the silence. He should have known this was silly idea.

Just as he goes to take it back, apology on the tip of his tongue, he is smothered in a hug by Brittany.

"It's perfect, Noah," She tells him, because she knows. "Please don't doubt that." The dancer pulls away, asking, "You said this one was just for the three of us… ?"

He nods.

"Yeah, um… I have– That thing, you know–…" Noah goes over to the closet, where his overnight bag and backpack are. Reaching into the side pocket of the backpack, he pulls over a long, slender jewelry box.

"This one is for Q."

He comes over slowly. Brittany's eyes widen as she realizes what it is.

"I-I thought–" She stutters. "But, you said–"

Santana looks between the two blondes and the taller boy, not understanding. Quinn, though, takes the box, slowly opening it. She sits up slightly, and now Rachel is the only one who can see what it is.

It looks like a locket.

Heart shaped and wrapped in angel wings.

It is also a necklace instead of a charm for her bracelet.

Rachel gasps at it, as she sees something. She scrambles backwards, grabbing the flashlight on her bedside table. Shining the light on it, it reveals this is a necklace – not a bracelet or charm – with angel wings wrapped around a heart, which is engraved with ridges and lines…

"Oh, Noah…" Surprisingly, it is Brittany who breathes it out, tears welling up in her eyes, and as she looks at him, blinking, they fall. "I though you said…" She looks to him for an explanation.

He just kind of shrugs, saying, "I found someone last minute."

"What the hell is going on?"

Santana asks it but she does not receive a response for several more moments. Not until Quinn is up and in his arms, and Rachel is left holding the necklace.

"Is this what I think it is?" When Noah nods mutely, Rachel motions for Santana to move closer. She shines the flashlight on the necklace.

As she looks, Santana's throat goes dry, but she has no idea why until Rachel explains it with,

"It's–… It is engraved with Abby's fingerprint."

And that concludes out lead-up chapters for Christmas. Next will be the four girls, Josiah, and David on Christmas Eve! What did you think of Noah's present? As soon as I saw the popup ad for it, I knew that was going to be something Noah gave to Quinn for Christmas.

It is a silver heart on a chain. It has angels wings wrapped around the edges, and the surface of the heart was engraved with Abby's fingerprint. Also, I mentioned Noah's job in this. I did not want to do what he did on the show, so I chose something different and ended up with building treehouses.

Please review and let me know what you thought! :)

Next up: Christmas Eve – a day of relaxing to prepare Quinn, one last time, for Christmas Day.
Then: Christmas Day – Malachi and Lydia make their official appearance.
Then: January of 2010. Important milestones in Quinn's pregnancy are reached, and very important characters are introduced!

***Longer Note***

I think I am officially running out of steam for this story. I am so incredibly stuck on the next chapter. I know what I want to do, I just can't get it wrote out. I have also been extremely exhausted the last several months, along with having more than I should have them.

I am taking a new medicine that is supposed to help with the tiredness and getting the headaches under control, and along with that, in order to really get the next chapter outlined, details sorted, and finished, I will putting this story, as well as Snapshots, on hold.

It is not a Hiatus – I am simply a short break away from stressing about when I will or will not update. I will be posting a chapter on July 17 as a one-year anniversary for this story. So don't worry about that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)