Everyone was sitting in Glee club waiting for Mr Shuester's unveil of the whiteboard when Rachel ran in yelling nonsense about something Rachel yells about; "something's happened Quinn's in the bathroom crying. Something's happened!"

Brittany commented vaguely about that happens to her too sometimes...no one wanted to approach that one but Artie who wheeled his chair over to hold her hand, "it's alright Brit, I'm here for you." Brittany nodded her head in recognition. One day they would be back together.

"Well, I doubt she's pregnant...again so the worst thing that could happen already has. That bitch needs to grow up." Santana leaned farther back in her chair on the stage in the classroom and threw her long black hair over her shoulder.

Rachel was outraged, "Santana! Quinn needs her friends right now and Glee club has always been there for each other, this isn't the time to stop." Santana refrained from commenting, Rachel was so god damned righteous sometimes...but no, she couldn't help herself, "good thing you're the girl scout of the group. Go offer her cookies."

Rachel stormed out of the room; clearly going to offer her assistance...she was out of cookies.

As she neared the door to the women's washroom she slowed her steps. She and Quinn weren't always on good terms and she didn't want to be slapped again. She drew up her courage; she is Rachel Berry after all, a star. And life experiences were actually really good for her career, people need to fill a whole book of her life, she can't leave them wanting too much more.

She heard sniffling at the far end of the long dirty hall like room. "Quinn? Is that you?" Then there was silence. "Quinn, what happened?"

"Nothing Rachel," Quinn flung the door opened and stepped out to stand almost head to head with Rachel, "and what makes you think coming into a bathroom with me is in your best interest?"

In Rachel's calmest voice she answered the ridiculously logical question. "When it comes to members of our group I'm not always looking for my best interest. No, you have never been kind to me but no one deserves to hurt and I know as well as anyone how it feels. With nationals coming up I'm not willing to lose anyone. I – we– need to win."

Quinn processed Rachel's speech as she dried her eyes. "Beth's adoptive mother was killed in a car crash. Puck was the driver who hit them. Beth – my daughter – has no one...but me. They called from the hospital, since it's been less than a year they were able to contact me. She is in critical condition."

Quinn stood absolutely still with the look that earned her the title she prized as head cheerleader. There was one slow tear that was making its way down her check, leaving a mark with her mascara where her immaculately matched foundation covered her flawless skin.

Rachel noticed all that and wouldn't trade anything for that kind of perfection because she has watched first hand all the pain it has caused.

Rachel offered her hand to Quinn, "We should go. I don't know of any relatives my mother has and your daughter needs her mommy."

Quinn grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her into a hug. She would deny that ever happened but she needed something solid. She started crying again, she was ruining Rachel's shirt, she only felt bad for a second though, she was really doing that girl a favour. "yeah, let's go."

They walked to Quinn's red car and drove the 10 minutes to the hospital.

Rachel knew that today was about being there for Quinn and her baby and not about herself and losing her estranged mother. Rachel Berry, being the drama queen she self proclaimed is, had trouble not questioning herself about her relationship with her mother. Had she not been so...so Rachel then maybe or had she contacted her when she was a bit older or even when she actually became the success she was destined to be. But no, it was now too late.

She shook her head, not about her right now.

Quinn parked the car and just sat there with her hands on the wheel taking deep breaths, bordering on hyperventilating. "Quinn, we need to go."

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to have to take her aren't I?"

"It's completely your call. Don't feel that you need to."

"No, I know what has to be done."

"You're ready to go in then?" Rachel didn't want to point out that she'd only need to think about this if her daughter made it through the next 24 hours. But no, it didn't seem like the time.

Quinn sighed and opened her door.

The nurses at the front counter directed them to where they needed to go. They were characteristically uninterested, when you've seen as much sadness and tragedy as them you must start to desensitize yourself.

"Quinn, are you going to be ok to go up there now?"

"Yeah, where are you going?"

"I need to identify my mother's body." Rachel said it so coolly she was afraid she'd broken herself, she was always used to feeling so much emotion and openly expressing it to everyone and now she felt as dead as the bodies she was going to look at.

"Rachel..." the whisper slipped through Quinn's mouth, she hadn't even thought of that, Rachel's mother had just been killed in a car crash. She reached out in a gesture of comfort but Rachel shook her head.

"Your daughter needs you. I'll be up shortly."

Quinn walked hesitantly to the elevator and stood with some very busy looking hospital officials waiting to go up to intensive care and maybe become the actual mother to her daughter. True, she had the kid but she gave her away even faster. "Miss? You coming?" the youngest of the group called out to her, he had been holding the door.

"Yes, thank you."

He nodded at her and smiled, appreciating the attention. As always in elevators each person took a corner and the remaining few stood as far away as possible from the others as they made their way to the 5th floor.

When everyone was walking out the shiny sliding doors into the intensive care unit she stopped the young one, "do you know where the young children are?" Her voice was choked up even to her own ears. He put a sympathetic hand on her cardigan covered arm and said "just through that door. Your sister?"

"Thanks and no, my daughter."

The man stood there stunned, clearly he was new. Weren't they taught not to do that?

Quinn walked away with a smirk, "thanks again." It was always good to know she had that kind of power. She walked into the section with the children and was stopped by the nurse.

"Immediate family only miss. Are you a sister?"

What is with these people, assuming only makes asses out of themselves. "No actually. I got a call that my daughter was in here and I needed to come in since her adoptive mother was killed. Custody is reverted back to me within the first year."

The burly nurse swerved uncomfortably in her rolling chair. "Right then, name?" Ok, what was her daughter's last name under? Her last name was Fabray, obviously. Her adoptive mother's was Corcoran and Puck's was Puckerman. So she had 3 and would look like an idiot. She took a breath and with all the confidence cheerleading had instilled in her...

"Fabray."

The nurse typed in the name to the archaic computer and it groaned.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yes."

The nurse nodded, "very well, I wish her the best, a real sweetheart. We were afraid no one was coming for her. Teen mom cases don't tend to end well." Quinn nodded and took the papers passed to her. She was then directed to the waiting room to fill them out.

When she sat down and stared blankly at the pages of forms she wondered where the calm had just come from. Then she read the first question and took out her phone to call her mom.

She entered her 4 character password and 27 new messages popped up. The blue light on her blackberry was going crazy and there were 7 missed calls.

They were all basically the same thing:

Quinn you ok? Call me.
~Finn

What happened?
~Tina

Rachel bring her first aid kit out yet?
~Santana

Missed you at Glee, crying in the bathroom is so lonely.
~Brit

Where you at?
~Mercedes

And the voicemail was basically the same thing.

She looked at the questions again and felt ridiculous that she'd need to call her mom. She was a mom now and it was her job to step up. A couple were legal forms giving doctors the right to be doctors. Some were forms for payment explaining that the publicity of her recovery from such a tragic accident would cover the cost. And then she got to the end where it passes custody to her.

It was like she couldn't understand the English printed on the pages. It was a jumble that, with a few signatures, passed a life back to her arms.

Quinn paused and looked up when she heard one of Rachel's greatest performances. She was having it out with the head nurse. There was a pause and Quinn knew what was coming next; the tears. No more than a minute later Rachel was plopping down next to her in the leather chairs blowing her bangs out of her face. "Well that was interesting. How are you holding up? Have you seen her? You didn't respond to me. I had to ask this guy in the hall for directions. He wasn't much help, standing there with his mouth wide open. I think he might have escaped from floor 7."

Rachel paused, uncharacteristically, and waited for Quinn to say something. When she didn't Rachel continued. "You know there's a reputation here about floor 7, this one nice gentleman asked if I was lost and he was going to escort me. He seemed to have his hands full with some patients so I passed. They were heading up there. And this other lady at reception when I was passing. How odd."

Quinn finally looked up and genuinely smiled; only Rachel would confuse that.

"What are the forms?" Rachel asked as she leaned over to read them anyway. Clearly the trip to the morgue hadn't affected her too badly.

"The normal stuff, the doctors rights, payment...custody," Quinn swallowed the knot in her throat. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Everything is just another chapter in my biography."

"Don't you mean AUTObiography?"

"Oh no, I won't be writing it." Rachel was so confident in that, Quinn just nodded.

"Miss Fabray?" Another of the nurses walked towards Quinn and Rachel looking between the two and stopping on Quinn. "You can come with me now, you've signed the wavers?" She gestured to her to the clipboard.

Quinn nodded and handed the clipboard to Rachel who was more than eager to read through them. She followed the nurse's relaxed pace through the doors and to the fourth bed in the circular form along the wall, above read FABRAY, ELIZABETH.

The sweetest little girl was lying in an oversized bed with thousands of wires connected to every part of her tiny body. There was something to help her with everything from breathing to eating.

Quinn felt her heart break and thanked everything for giving her another chance to care for the child. The features were delicate and feminine like hers but she had Puck's nose, slim and perfect. The thin layer of hair on her head was also a darker shade than hers.

Quinn wanted nothing more than to hold her baby and apologize for the lost time between them. She was thankful that she had missed a year her daughter would never remember.

The nurse was trying to get her attention; "she should only need to be here one more day before we can move her to the Children's. After such an incident we put them here though she has improved drastically today alone. The wires are now precautions. And your beautiful daughter will grow up to be happy and healthy."

The nurse turned to Quinn and smiled, she was completely thrown off guard by Quinn hugging her. "Thank you so much for all you've done." The nurse smiled warmly again, "and love, will you be coming tomorrow or should we call with an update?"

Quinn didn't even stop to think about it, "I'll be here tomorrow."

Rachel was reading the fine print of the custody document when Quinn walked back out. "Oh my god, she is so amazing. She is such an adorable little girl. She's the perfect combination of magnificence. But I don't understand why her last name is Fabray. Why isn't it Corcoran?"

Rachel finally drew her attention away from the document and rubbed her eyes. "It went back to Fabray just the same as you were called for custody. It all reverts back to you within the year. Lucky though because it's a year next week. Will she be out by her birthday?"

Quinn's face lit up, "yes, they said she'd be fine. Week tops, they are moving her out of intensive care tomorrow!"

Rachel placed the clipboard aside and hugged her tightly.

"I'm glad to hear. But we'd better get going, 65 messages and 10 voicemail on your blackberry."

"Hey, how did you know my password?"

"You're very unimaginative you know that?"

"Whatever, let's go."

*SPOILER* if you haven't seen the most recent episode.

So, my friends and I decided this would have been a better story for Glee to follow because this could keep it going so long. Before we saw the funeral episode we speculated and decided this was the best thing. Because though Sue's sister dying is sad there's nowhere else to really go with it. And so Quinn's daughter's adoptive mother dies and Quinn takes the baby. I couldn't not let it end well so I changed their personallities a bit (lot) but it's alright. Hope you like...or at least let me know.

Have a great day

~Skylarking