Chapter Five:

"Mom, I can't find my dance shoes!" Abby yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"I thought you set them in the shoe basket by the door," Rachel called out from a room upstairs.

"I did too, but they are not there."

"Then I don't know."

"Sarah! Did you steal my shoes again?" Abby asked her sister who was sitting in front of the television, enjoying Spongebob.

Sarah shook her head, brown curls flying around her face. "Nope."

"Argh," Abby groaned, stomping her feet. They had to leave for dance lessons in 10 minutes and her shoes were nowhere in sight. She was brought out of this line of thought by the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it!" Rachel yelled.

Abby rolled her eyes. Rachel had this weird thing about her and Sarah answering the door. Abby went to the door defiantly. She was almost 10, she was old enough to answer the door. She opened to see two unfamiliar adults standing on the porch. The man and woman were stiff and looked uncomfortable. The girl was a stunning blonde, and Abby felt a tinge of jealousy seeing the long golden strands of hair. Most of her classmates had blonde hair and she wanted to be like them. The man was the tallest person she has ever seen. She had to tilt her head back to look at him full on.

"Umm, is your…"the female hesitated for a second. "Does Noah Puckerman live here?"

Abby gave the female a puzzled look. "Who are you?"

Before she could answer however, Rachel came skidding into the hall. "Abby, I told you I don't want you answering…" She paused mid-sentence as she took in the figures standing in front of her. "What are you two doing here?"

"Rachel? Rachel Berry?" Finn gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Before Rachel could correct him, Abby spoke out. "Her name is Rachel Puckerman." Her hand was on her hips and she looked as if this was common knowledge that everybody should know.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as Quinn and Finn took in this new information. Rachel took this moment to try to organize herself. "Abby please take your sister to her room and keep her occupied."

"But, I have dance lessons," Abby whined.

"I know. But I don't think we are going to make it in time. I'll make it up to you later."

Abby grumbled something inaudible but followed her mother's directions. "Come on Sarah, let's go play up in your room."

Sarah perked up at this information. "Can we play with my Barbies?"

Abby rolled her eyes, seeing as Barbies were kids toys and she was too old for such things, although she secretly still liked playing with them. "Sure, Sarah let's go."

The two trotted up the stairs, although Abby kept looking behind her at the strangers that still stood in the doorway. She was curious about them and had a feeling her mother was hiding something from her.

Rachel stared at Finn and Quinn, different emotions warring for dominance. There was anger, sadness, curiosity, and confusion. She decided that the manners her fathers taught her came first. "Would you two like to come in so we can talk?"

Finn and Quinn exchanged looks before Finn took the first step into the house, Quinn following right behind him. They walked into the front room where Rachel motioned for the two to take a seat on the couch. Before taking a seat herself she caught sight of herself in one of the mirrors. She hated that she did not look better for this moment. She always secretly expected Quinn to return. In her imagination Rachel would inspire jealousy in Quinn at the life she lead. Her mental self wore a nice cotton dress, her hair falling in soft curls, with just a touch of make up on her face. Instead her face was bare of all make-up, and her hair was currently falling out of the messy bun she had it in. She wore a pair of loose fitting jeans and a t-shirt that was slightly too tight over her growing baby bump. There was also a lovely spot of jam on the knee of her jeans from when Sarah had hugged her earlier after eating her jelly sandwich. For a moment Rachel wanted to die of embarrassment, but then she remembered this was the life she had chosen and the one she was proud of. She would not be ashamed of her appearances because this was the real her. It still was a little unnerving to see Quinn in a pretty skirt and blouse set that showed off her still perfect figure and not a hair was out of place.

Rachel looked between Finn and Quinn, hoping one of them would start up the conversation. But both just sat their awkwardly. "So, what brings you two here?" Rachel tried to keep her tone neutral, but had a feeling her tone was slightly accusatory.

Finn took a quick glance at Quinn and noticed she made no move to speak. Her face had a slightly far off look like she was still in shock at the turn of the events. Finn decided to speak, his tone still held his easygoing nature in it. "We were home from San Francisco visiting our parents and well we wanted to see how Puck and Abigail were doing. We had been talking for a while about looking them up. We talked to his mother and she just told us that they lived here. She didn't tell us that…well, that…you know…you had…"

"Married Noah? Was Sarah's mother?" Rachel threw out there.

Quinn flinched at those words, her eyes raised to meet Rachel's. "I'm her mother." Her voice was firm and steely.

Rachel laughed, although there was no humor in it. "Oh really? How many diapers have you changed? How many scrapes have you kissed and put band aids on? How many times did you sing her to sleep? How many times did you comfort her after a bad nightmare? Did you see her first step? Hear her first words? See her graduate from kindergarten?"

Quinn looked taken aback by the passion in Rachel's voice. She looked a little shame faced. "I'm sorry. I know I haven't been there. But, I have always regretted that decision and have now just gotten up enough courage to face my mistakes. I want her to be able to get to know me."

Rachel sighed, appeased a little by the apology. "I don't know about that. Noah and I will have to discuss that. He should be home any minute if you wanted to wait to talk to him yourself."

Quinn and Finn nodded eagerly, glad that they weren't getting kicked out yet. They settled back into the couch, looking around them at the home around them. "You have a beautiful house," Finn complimented.

It was hard to be angry at Finn, Rachel remembered. "Thank you. We are happy here."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you guys get to this point?" Finn looked a little puzzled at his own wording. "I guess I mean what have you guys been up to since graduation?"

Rachel giggled at the simple question and all the implications behind it. Finn looked interested and Quinn's face was soft again, a small smile playing on her lips. "Well, we got married right after graduation."

"What?" Finn gawked.

"We had been dating for a year and a half and, well we wanted to live with each other at college but the only way was if we got married. Although Noah insists that was just a bonus reason to propose." Rachel hesitated for a second, but decided she wasn't going to hide anything to spare their feelings. "We got married in my parents' backyard and soon after that I legally adopted Abby."

Quinn nodded and tried to not look that shocked. Her voice betrayed her feelings though. "Does she know?"

"That I'm not her biological mother? Yeah she does. We never raised her to think otherwise. It was kind of just an understanding although we had to explain it to her more clearly about a year ago because obviously she didn't understand how we were different from other families."

Finn squeezed Quinn's hand for support. Quinn forced a smile on her face. "And you guys graduated from college and moved back to Lima. I never would have guessed you would settle here." There was no malice in her voice, just curiosity.

"Noah didn't either. It was a fight to get him to accept a job he was offered at the middle school. He's a math teacher there. I teach vocal lessons and help out with New Directions when I can. Sarah and Abby keep me pretty busy and I have another on the way." She patted her belly proudly.

"Congratulations, Rachel," Finn exclaimed.

"Thanks. What about you two? Last I heard you two went to NYU. I hadn't heard anything since then."

"We went there for a couple years, although Quinn here is the only one that graduated. She got her degree in journalism and we have been traveling since then. She has been doing a lot of freelance work and I pick up odd jobs when I can."

"I got offered a more permanent job in San Francisco so we are thinking of settling down there. Finn just recently got up the nerve to propose," Quinn laughed.

"Wow, it really took you some time there," Rachel teased.

"Well, she kept expecting it and saying how this would be a good time for me to propose. It took me forever to actually get her by surprise, so really it's her fault."

They all laughed and for a few minutes they all forgot about the serious situation that brought them here. However they were reminded as the door opened and Noah's voice called out from the foyer, "I'm home. You will not believe the day I had. Two kids cheated on a test. I had to have a meeting with…" His voice cut off has he entered the living room.

Rachel rushed out of her seat, to stand in front of Noah. "Noah, they came here to talk about Abby and check in."

"Check in?" Noah's voice rose. "Just wanted to check in after what, ten years?"

Rachel put her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look down into her eyes. She held his gaze silently for 30 seconds. She kissed his lips quickly and then spoke softly. "Just listen. They have just come to talk. Give them that. Please, for me."

Noah nodded minutely before turning back to their guests who were taking in the changed man in front of them. He was wearing a pair of jeans and button down shirt that of course was untucked. His hair was a sticking out at all angles, grown out several inches. He was clean shaven though and he had a pair of rimless glasses on. There was little sign of the Puck they knew in high school.

Noah came over and sat down in the chair that Rachel had vacated and she sat on the arm rest of it, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Her hand rubbed comforting circles on his shoulder.

"So, you have something you want to talk about." He tried for a calm voice, but it only came out strained.

Quinn knew it would be harder to win him over than it had been Rachel. "Look. I know what I did to you and Abigail was wrong. I have regretted it since the day it happened. But I couldn't face you two after everything I had done. I finally decided that enough was enough and I wanted to see you two again. I figured Abigail deserves to meet her mother."

"She has a mother," Noah growled.

Quinn took a deep breath, trying to keep her cool. "I know that now. I didn't know anything about Rachel until I rang your doorbell. Believe me. I am not here to upset anything. I just want to get to know my daughter."

"The daughter you abandoned." Noah's voice was threatening. Rachel tried to shush him, but he would not be soothed. "We have been the ones that have been with her all these years, raising her. We have been there through the good and bad and you just want to swoop in and take her away from us."

Quinn's raised her voice. "That's not what I said. I live in San Francisco now. I wouldn't even be in her day to day life. I just thought I could meet her and make myself available if she wants to know me. She has that right."

"Don't even think about putting her in the middle of this. This is about you abandoning us because you didn't want to be a mother and now you have some misplaced feelings of maternal affection for the daughter you left behind."

Now Quinn was truly angry. "Oh don't give me you high and mighty lecture about how I didn't want her. You didn't either. You didn't want her either. You were saying that you would be supportive but I know you were just hoping that I would get rid of it and have an abortion."

Noah's face turned red and Rachel and Finn looked shocked at the harsh words that Quinn had spoken. Before anybody could respond though a clear sob came from the stairs and they could hear footsteps running upstairs before a door was slammed.

Quinn's face crumpled as she realized what she had said. Anger completely left Noah as he could only feel concern for his daughter. He rose to go talk to her but Rachel pushed him back to the chair. Her voice was stern as she spoke to Quinn and Noah. "You two need to work this out on your own…civilly. I will go talk Abby."

Finn rose from his seat. "I'm going to come with you."

They all kind of looked wide eyed at Finn but he looked pointedly at Quinn, telling her that she needed to fix this. Rachel shrugged as Finn followed her, not really seeing the harm in it. The two walked up the stairs silently, Rachel leading the way to Abby's room that was at the end of the hallway. She knocked quietly before opening the door. "Abby?"

"Go away!" Abby's voice was muffled from the pillow she was crying into.

Rachel sighed heavily before stepping into the room. Finn hung back in the doorway, not really wanting to interfere in the private moment. He mainly had wanted to give Quinn and Noah a chance to resolve their problems.

"Oh baby girl, none of that was true," Rachel tried to explain, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and placing her arm around Abby's shaking frame.

"She said Daddy didn't want me," Abby's voice was choked with sobs.

"She was just saying that in the heat of the moment. You know how you are angry sometimes and you say things that you don't mean? Like yesterday how you said you hated Sarah for stealing your cookie, but you really didn't mean it. "

Abby sat up and nodded. Rachel let a tear fall at seeing the anguish across Abby's face. "You have to believe that we always wanted you. You are so special. Remember you brought me and Daddy together. You are the reason we have this family."

"But at first did Daddy not want me?"

Rachel hesitated for a brief second, thinking back. She and Noah didn't talk too much about what had happened between him and Quinn because it was such a sore topic. She wanted to think the best of Noah but she actually had no idea if he had hoped for an abortion when he had initially found out.

It was Finn's turn to jump in. "I know I wanted you from the moment I heard about you."

Rachel looked at Finn in shock, but Abby just looked hopeful. "You did?"

"Yes. I was dating Quinn at the time when she was pregnant. Even though I knew you were not my baby, I hoped Quinn would keep you because I wanted a daughter just like you. I was so sad when Quinn decided to leave you. I loved you before you were born and I know your dad felt the same way. He was so protective of you and Quinn. And I know Quinn didn't leave you because she didn't want you. She was so young and she didn't know if she could be a mother so she ran away, thinking you would be better off without her. She loved you so much and still does. It is just hard for her."

Abby smiled at the thought that lots of people wanted her. She reached forward and Finn didn't hesitate in the invitation to pick her up and hold her, the daughter he always dreamed of.

Quinn and Noah looked at the retreating steps of Rachel and Finn before turning back to each other. Both took deep breaths, trying to steady their nerves. They knew that anger was not going to get them anywhere.

"I'm sorry," Quinn whispered. "I know I shouldn't have said it and I didn't mean it. I'm sorry that Abby heard that as well. I am not here to hurt her. You have to believe that."

Noah studied her face for a second before nodding. "I know you aren't."

"I loved her," Quinn's voice broke. "I loved her so much that I couldn't keep her. I was not fit to be a mother. I was not brave enough, not like you. I know I went about everything the wrong way but I did it because I cared. And it has taken me a long time to see how I went about everything wrong but I want to fix things."

"There is nothing to fix anymore. Yeah, at the time I was so angry that you abandoned both of us. You knew I loved you and would have been happy being a family with you, but you turned your back on that. But because of Rachel, that has all been healed. We are family now and Abby isn't missing anything, and neither am I."

"I know that. But, I just need to be able to explain myself to her and get to know her a little bit. I want her to have the opportunity to know me as well. I don't want to take her away from you guys and I don't even need her to call me mom. I just…I don't know exactly what I want. But I do know that this not knowing each other is killing me and I want a chance to change that."

Noah sat silently, digesting her words. He tried to push away the hurt he still felt at Quinn leaving him and Abby. Looking past that hurt he knew that Quinn meant well. She just wanted to know his daughter and he knew Abby had always had questions about Quinn, ones that were hard to answer. He reasoned with himself that this changed nothing, but maybe it would be good for both them. He knew Quinn loved Abby and that was the only thing that was important in the grand scheme of things. He didn't want to deprive Abby of that love.

"How long are you in town for?"

Quinn's face lit up at the question. "For a week."

"Why don't you two come over for dinner tomorrow? We can test the waters then. That is if Abby wants you to come over. I will leave the decision in her hands. But if she wants to know you, I am not going to stop her."

Quinn let out a sigh of relief. "That is all I am asking for. I would love that."

"You can ask her yourself. Let me go up and check on them and tell them it's safe to come down now." He gave Quinn a rueful grin before bounding up the steps.

He peeked into Abby's room to see that Sarah and Rachel were playing with a Barbie while Finn and Abby talked about her dance lessons. Noah smiled, already knowing his daughters answer to Quinn's question. But he still wanted it to be her decision. "Quinn's downstairs and she wants to talk to you Abby."

Abby looked up, her eyes wide. But she nodded and led the group down the stairs. Quinn was waiting in the front room and Abby didn't make any hesitations before boldly going straight up to her and sitting down on the coffee table in front of Quinn.

"Abigail, I guess you have figured out who I am from what you heard earlier."

Abby glance at her parents before looking back at Quinn. "You're my mother."

"Yes. And I want to say that what I said earlier was all a lie. I was just mad at your father and I didn't really mean what I said. He wanted you so badly, so much that he was actually quite annoying, always pestering me."

A ghost of a smile played on Abby's lips giving Quinn encouragement to go on. "And I wanted you as well. More than I can ever express. But I was a coward and I thought I was too young to take care of you. I thought I was not ready. Really I was just scared and so I left which was the wrong thing to do. I have always regretted that decision. And I want to face that mistake and get to know you. And if you want to get to know me as well you can."

"I already have a mom," Abby responded bluntly.

"I'm not going to try to be your mom," Quinn assured her. "I just want to learn about you and you can ask me anything you want as well. Your dad invited me and Finn to dinner tomorrow but he said you have the final say. Can we come over tomorrow so we can get to know you better?"

Abby looked at her father who nodded at her. "I would like that."

Quinn let out a nervous laugh. "Oh that's great. I'm so happy." She reached forward and gave Abby a quick, nervous hug. "Thank you. We'll go ahead and get going but we'll be back tomorrow." She stood up and joined Finn to leave. She didn't want to give them a chance to change their mind. She looked back and looked at Abby again, still not believing that she was going to get a chance after all to get to know her daughter.

Abby gave Quinn a full smile. "I'm glad you came back."

"I am too," Quinn said happily before the couple took their departure.

As the door closed behind their guest the family kind of just stared at each other quietly.

Sarah was the first to speak, completely confused about everything. "Who were those people?"

Noah and Rachel looked at each other and let out a laugh. They had never explained the situation to their youngest daughter, not really seeing the point. Abby stood up straight. "I can take care of this." Abby ushered Sarah out to the backyard to try to explain to her what just happened. But as she passed Rachel, Abby reached out and hugged her. "You know you'll always be my mom?"

Rachel smiled down at her daughter, a feeling of warmth filling her. "I know, baby girl. Thank you."

Noah and Rachel reached out, hugging each other tightly. They stayed in the embrace for a few minutes, trying to take comfort from the other's closeness. When they pulled apart they took a deep breath and smiled at each other knowing that no matter what happened they were a family and that was all that mattered.

"Do you want me to help with dinner?" Noah asked Rachel.

"That would be nice." Rachel led him into the kitchen. "So two of your kids cheated on a test? How did that go?"

And just like that they fell back into a comfortable rhythm.

A/N: And that is the end kids. I really loved this story and I am so thankful for all of your support. It has kept me posting. This is probably the fastest I have ever finished this story and it feels good. I give a lot of credit to you readers for being so encouraging. I hope you all liked it and for those hoping for Finn and Quinn making an appearance I hope it lived up to your expectations. I tried to not make Quinn horrible, because I actually really like her and I hate when people portray her as a bitch. I honestly think she is just really insecure. Anywho, please leave any feedback you have on the story.

I have another Glee story I am working on, but it probably won't be posted for quite a while because it is slow going, it is much angstier than this.

Finally a huge thanks to Alicia who beta'd this. She was so helpful editing this for me. Thank you!