Never be alone again - Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

Rating - T

Characters - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman, Puck's sister.

A/N -I'm not sure where this came from, but after the Puck/Shelby kiss it wouldn't leave me alone! It's probably going to be a one shot but who knows I may add to it in the future.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

"Noah" Shelby called his name as he walked towards the lunch room, "could I have a quick word?"

Puck nodded and followed Shelby into her office only speaking once the door was closed, "is it Beth, is she sick?".

"No no she's fine." Shelby was quick to reassure the worried father, "it's just, My mom's sick and I told my dad I'd go over there this weekend to give him some time off. It would be a lot easier for me if I didn't have to keep an eye on Beth too, so I wondered if you'd watch her for me. I mean if you already have plans that's fine."

"No, I'd love to have her" Puck grinned.

"Do you need to ask your Mom?"

He shook his head, "Nah, as soon as she sets eyes on Beth, that'll be it, I probably won't see the poor kid again for the entire weekend."

Shelby smiled, "you should have said something, she could have come round to visit with you. But anyway, I'm free last period on Friday, I could pick Beth up from daycare and meet you here with her stuff, it would save you trailing over to my place and I could get straight off."

"That sounds good" Puck grinned, "I'll meet you here?"

"Sure" Shelby returned his smile, "but please check it's okay with your Mom tonight, I'll completely understand if she doesn't want a baby spoiling her weekend."

"Honestly, it won't be a problem" Puck saw the glare Shelby was giving him, "but I'll ask tonight anyway."

"Good" Shelby smiled, "now go get some lunch."

Puck knocked on Shelby's office door on Thursday afternoon, waiting for her to call him in before entering. "Noah" she smiled, "what can I do for you?"

"It's about this weekend."

Shelby's heart sank, "Okay, I understand."

"What?" Puck frowned

"Something's come up, it's okay I'll take Beth with me, thank you for letting me know."

"No, no, I still want to have her, I mean, I just wanted to ask if Beth had a swimsuit, my sister has swim classes on a Saturday morning and my Mom usually stays to watch, I thought me and Beth could splash about in the baby pool instead of waiting for them to come home." He explained.

"Oh" Shelby smiled, "I'll make sure I pack her swimsuit for you, she's got armbands too, I'll pack those."

"Thanks" Puck grinned, "I'll see you both tomorrow"

As promised Puck met Shelby in her office just minutes after the final bell rang on Friday, "Hey you." He scooped Beth into his arms and kissed her head softly as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"She's just woken up" Shelby explained, "she was late taking her nap."

"Oh right. Do you want me to try and get her back down when I get home?"

Shelby shrugged, "it's up to you, I'd probably try and keep her up and then put her to bed a little early tonight, if she has a nap now she probably won't sleep tonight."

"Are you going to be a grizzly little bear until bed time?" Puck tried tickling Beth to cheer her up but she batted his hands away and babbled in protest.

"She usually has a bath around 7 and then goes to bed about 7.30 8 ish. I packed some books for her, if you read her a story she should go down fine, but I've put a bottle in just in case. I've been trying to wean her off it, but if she really won't settle at night or she wakes early and won't go back down just fill it with regular milk and warm it in the microwave for about a minute. Make sure you shake it well before giving it her though so it doesn't burn her mouth and if you need me for anything call me, my parents are only an hour away, you've got my number right?"

Puck nodded, "I think we'll be fine. My mom's got the weekend off work and she's bought up two children so I should be good."

Shelby smiled, "I've put her swim things in there" she gestured to the large bag by her desk, "there's a pull up in there with fish on, she needs that on before she goes in the pool, a regular diaper will just soak up all the water." Puck nodded, "do you want me to fix the car seat in your truck?"

"Please." Noah always insisted Shelby fitted the car seat, he trusted himself to strap the young girl into the seat but not to install it properly. "I've been saving some money" he told Shelby, "I was thinking, if I'm gonna start taking her out a lot then maybe I should buy my own car seat for her, and I wondered if you'd come with me to make sure I get the right thing. Maybe next weekend or something?"

Shelby nodded, "sure."

She reached for the bags but Puck stopped her, "here" he passed Beth back, "I've got these." He picked up the large holdall and the bag containing Beth's travel cot, slinging them over his shoulders before picking up the car seat and carrying them out to his truck.

Shelby strapped Beth into the car seat and kissed her softly, noticing the young girl's eyes already starting to close. "You might have a hard time keeping her awake" she smiled. She turned from the car and saw Quinn talking with Santana outside the school, "I'd rather she didn't see Beth." Noah had told Shelby how Quinn had tried to set her up as a bad mother and now Shelby would do anything in her power to keep Quinn away from Beth.

"I don't think she'd dare come over" Puck told her before saying his goodbyes and taking Beth back to his house.

As predicted Noah's mom pounced on him almost as soon as he walked through the door, "oh look at her, she is so precious" She reached out for Beth but she clung tightly to Noah, burying her head in his shirt and shaking her head.

"She's just woken up Ma, give her some time to get used to you." He sat on the sofa with Beth on his knee, "do you want to play?" Beth shook her head and Noah looked at the clock, it was a little after four. "How about we give you some dinner and you have an early night."

Beth grinned sleepily, "Ninnins."

Noah settled Beth on the floor with the toys Shelby had packed before going to make Beth's dinner. He came back to find Beth curled into his sister's lap as she read to her. Beth smiled and held her arms out as she saw Puck come back into the room, quickly scrambling from Hannah's lap and making her way over to her father. "Are you having fun?" he asked, nuzzling his nose against her neck before blowing a raspberry on her bare skin.

Puck fed Beth before beginning to get her ready for bed. He left the bathroom after Beth's bath dripping from head to toe, convinced he was wetter than the young girl currently snuggled in a huge pink towel on his bed. He read her a story and sang her a lullaby before trying to place her in her travel cot, only to find that every time he lowered her into the cot her eyes would shoot open and she'd cry and cling to him. "Okay, okay" he sat her in the cot for a moment as he pushed his bed against the wall. "Come on" he lifted the now screaming child from the cot and rocked her gently, kissing her forehead as he tried to settle her once again. Once she was no longer screaming Puck pulled back the covers and laid Beth in the bed, climbing in beside her, stroking her stomach and singing softly to her until her eyes finally closed. "Sweet dreams" he whispered as he kissed her softly, laying pillows beside her to stop her falling from the bed before leaving the room.

"Is everything okay?" Puck met his mom on the stairs.

"Yeah" he ran his hand through his mohawk, "she cried every time I tried to lay her in the cot so she's sleeping in my bed.

Beth woke Puck the next morning by climbing onto his chest and placing sloppy kisses on his face. "Good morning to you too slober face" he grinned, rolling onto his side so Beth fell onto the mattress beside him he tickled her sides until she was shrieking with laughter and batting his hands away. "Lets get some breakfast, then we'll get our stuff ready because we're going swimming" he told her glancing at the clock to see it was almost 8am. "Thanks for not waking me up at 5" he kissed Beth's forehead as she wriggled in his arms babbling loudly. "Okay, I get it, breakfast" he laughed, leaving his room.

Shelby hadn't given Puck Beth's high chair, so he tried sitting her on cushions at the kitchen table but she fell off, he tried sitting her on the table but she kept crawling away so he settled on sitting her on his knee, the problem came when Beth decided she wanted to feed herself and Puck and Beth ended up wearing more cereal than Beth actually ate. He danced around the kitchen with Beth in his arms as he made himself some toast before taking Beth into the living room and setting her in front of her toys. Only when Beth had eaten some of Puck's breakfast too was Puck ready to get them dressed. "If you'd have eaten your cereal instead of throwing it everywhere you wouldn't have needed to eat my toast." He told her as he dressed them both and put the things they'd need to go swimming into a bag. "Now we've just got to wait for stinkyface and the old lady to be ready."

Puck had been surprised at how much Beth had loved the pool, she'd looked adorable in the frilly pink swimsuit Shelby had packed and it was like bath time all over again as Beth kicked and splashed. She'd enjoyed jumping into the pool, holding onto Puck's hands of course, and playing with some of the floating toys the pool had provided. She'd only cried when Puck had taken her out of the pool, she'd grabbed at his shoulder and tried to climb up his wet chest to get back into the water. "Hey, we can come again" he promised as he wrapped her in the large hooded towel he'd left by the pool, "and maybe next time Mama will come too."

Saturday afternoon was spent at a large indoor play centre which wasn't as busy as Puck had feared. He'd left Beth in the soft play area to sit with his mother, they both saw Beth fall and hit her head on one of the many large soft shapes and although they knew she wasn't hurt she began to cry anyway. Sarah Puckerman had the young girl in her arms before Puck had even got out of his chair, "shh, you're okay Beth" he told the young girl once he finally had her cradled in his arms, once he'd calmed her down and kissed her tears away Puck took her into the larger section of the play area, sitting her on his lap to go down the slide from the fourth level to the bottom level, both Beth and Puck laughing when Beth almost disappeared in the ball pool at the bottom of the slide. Unbeknown to Puck his Mom had taken many photos of her son and granddaughter enjoying their day together, photos that both Puck and Shelby would both come to cherish.

Noah woke on Sunday to Beth laying on his chest, singing to herself as she sucked on the first two fingers on her left hand, he turned to find it had gone nine, "we really wore you out yesterday eh?" He ran his fingers down her back, smiling when Beth turned her head to grin up at him. He laid in bed enjoying the time he spent with his daughter, the only sound in the room came from Beth as she occasionally babbled something incoherent. They stayed like that until Beth started to become restless and Noah took her downstairs for breakfast, deciding against cereal and making them both toast.

They spent the morning playing in the living room and the afternoon running around the local park until it was time for Puck to pack up Beth's things and take her back to Shelby.

"Mama" Beth grinned holding her arms out as Shelby opened the door to the her apartment.

Surprisingly Shelby didn't seem happy to have Beth back, she took the young girl into her arms but she looked anxious and worried. She stepped into the apartment and gestured for Puck to follow her. It was only once she was sure the door was shut and locked that she finally spoke. "Noah, I, I need you to look after her a while longer, please" she pleaded reaching for her purse. She grabbed a handful of notes and pushed them into Puck's hand, "Please" she turned her attention to Beth, "come on baby" she spoke softly, "you're going to stay with daddy for a while."

"Shelby" Puck had never been called daddy before, "I don't."

"Please Noah, you don't understand, I need you to take her, please, it won't, I don't, I can't explain Noah, please she can't be here, I'm begging you, please keep her safe." Shelby's face fell as she realised what she'd just said.

"Safe from what?" Puck asked but got no reply from the woman, "Shelby" he said firmly, "what is going on?" he tried to keep his voice level to avoid scaring Beth. "If Beth's in danger then I need to know what I'm keeping her safe from."

"I can't" Shelby shook her head, unable to meet Noah's gaze, "please just take her, keep her safe, I thought I could protect her but, but" she reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes, "I can give you more money Noah, I just need you to watch her for a while."

"Shelby" Noah reached out and took her chin in his hand, noticing she flinched at the contact, "what the. . ." Noah felt his blood pressure rise as he saw the bruise under Shelby's eye, the concealer she'd covered it with laid amongst the tear tracks on her face. "Oh my god Shelby", he used his thumb to wipe away more of her make up to reveal more bruises, some obviously older than the others. "What happened?"

"I, I fell down the stairs carrying a tray for my mom."

"I might not be an A+ student Shelby but I know that you don't get bruises like that falling down stairs, you get them after someone laid into you."

"Noah" Shelby collapsed onto the sofa hiding her head in her hands as she continued to sob.

"Listen" Noah sat beside her placing one hand on her back, "you are a brilliant Mommy to Beth, and me and Quinn, we let you adopt her because we knew you'd look after her and you'd bring her up well. You can't look after Beth if you're not looking after yourself."

"I've been seeing someone" Shelby confessed quietly, "he works away, I only see him at the weekends, he, he hurts me Noah" Shelby took in a shaky breath as she tried to compose herself, "Beth was cranky last weekend, he told me if I couldn't shut her up he'd shut her up for me. Beth's terrified of him Noah, she gets clingy, whenever she sees him the only thing she says is no no no. I can't, he's got time off work, he'll be back soon, please Noah, please take Beth."

Puck nodded, "Okay."

"Okay?" Shelby asked, "You'll take her?"

"I'll watch her yeah. But I'll need some more clothes and diapers and stuff, some toys would be good and if you want me to take her for a while I'd probably be best taking her high chair too"

Shelby nodded, "I'll go pack a bag." She hated that she was practically giving Beth away but she was relieved that Beth was going to be safe.

Puck nodded, he knew what he had to do and he knew he had to be quick. He slowly crept into Shelby's bedroom, finding a large suitcase by the wardrobe he laid it on the bed and began throwing clothes into the empty case, not even bothering the take them off the hangers or fold them. He didn't even stop when he tipped the entire contents of Shelby's underwear drawer into the suitcase before finding another bag and throwing in several pairs of shoes. He then moved to the bathroom and managed to fit most of Shelby toiletries and make up into the bag with her shoes. Satisfied that he'd not forgotten anything he placed the bags in the living room beside the bags he'd bought with him and sat to wait for Shelby.

"I've packed her. . ." Shelby's eyes were instantly drawn to the suitcase, "what's that?"

"Oh" Puck's face gave nothing away, "did I forget to say that if I take Beth I'm taking you too."

"I can't" Shelby dropped the bags and collapsed to the floor as she sobbed, "I can't make you do that" she whispered.

Puck was quick to fall beside her, "you're not making me do anything. My mom loved Beth and she'll love you. What sort of Daddy would I be if I kept my baby safe but let my baby's Mommy get hurt?" He pulled her into a hug but quickly pulled away when Shelby yelped in pain. He didn't even give her chance to explain before he reached out and lifted her t shirt. "Fucking hell Shelby" he couldn't help but swear when he saw the mass of bruises tainting her tanned skin.

"Noah, I, he".

"No" Puck said firmly, "do not try and make excuses for him. You need to get your shoes on and take Beth out to my truck" he passed her the keys, "I'll grab these bags and meet you out there. You said he'd be back tonight?" Shelby nodded, "right, I'll get you settled at home, my Ma's a nurse, she'll take a look at those, check he's not broken anything, then I'm coming back here to give the bastard a taste of his own medicine."

"Noah, please, I can't let him do this to you too."

Puck sighed, "I never thought I'd say this but if I'm not going to sort it out then we stop off at the police station on the way home and they sort him out."

"Please Noah, I"

"Shelby" Noah interrupted, "imagine for one minute that this was Rachel and some douche was hurting her, you'd want her to go to the police right?"

Shelby nodded "of course I would."

"There we are then, we can drop Beth off with my Ma then I'll take you to the police station, if you want me there that is?"

Shelby nodded again, "I don't think I could do it on my own."

"Right then" Puck helped Shelby from the floor, "let's go before he comes back and I do something I regret"

Puck loaded up his truck and drove Shelby and Beth to his house, he left them in the truck while he explained the situation to his mom and for a minute Shelby felt like running, but the sharp pain in her side whenever she moved convinced her to stay, and instead she closed her eyes and leant back against the seat, taking several deep breaths to stop the tears in her eyes for falling. She couldn't believe this was what her life had become, sure she had the daughter she'd always wanted, but she never imagined there'd come a time when the teenage father of their daughter would save them from a violent relationship.

"Hey" Puck spoke softly breaking her from her daydream, "my Ma's waiting for you in the living room, I'm going to get Beth settled upstairs then we'll go to the police station." He lifted Beth from her car seat and lead Shelby into the house "Ma, Shelby, Shelby this is my Ma" he introduced the two women.

"Mrs Puckerman, I"

"Call me Sarah please, Mrs Puckerman was my mother in law". Puck's mom smiled.

"Sarah, I don't, I said I'd be fine, I don't want to put you out."

"Nonsense, who says I'm not looking to some decent company, at the moment I've got a choice between Noah and a stroppy fourteen year old." She saw Noah standing in the corner of the room, "Go get Beth settled, I'll call you when you can come back down, make sure Hannah stays up there too." She said shooing him up the stairs before beginning to check Shelby over.

Puck settled Beth in the middle of his bed before grabbing some clean clothes from his wardrobe. He grabbed some extra blankets and a pillow from where his Mom kept them in the cupboard in the hall and knocked on his sisters door. "Clear some crap up Hannah" he said as he stepped into the room. "What are you doing?" he was puzzled as he saw his sister taking her own clothes from the wardrobe.

"I heard what you said to Mom, about Shelby."

"Yeah, she's going to be staying here for a while so you need to clear some crap up so I can crash on the floor, I'm not making her sleep on the couch."

"I thought I could share with Mom" Hannah explained, "then Shelby and Beth can have my room. I know it might be a squash with Beth's travel cot but it should fit, like you said I'll clear my crap up and change the sheets"

"Han, you don't have to."

Hannah shrugged, "I don't mind sharing with Mom, and I'm sure Shelby's more likely to take my bed when I've just moved to another bed down the hall, if she knows she's in your bed while you're on the floor I bet she won't be happy."

"Thanks" Puck smiled, "Oh and Ma said I've got to keep you upstairs until she says we can go down, she's making sure Shelby's okay."

Hannah smiled and squeezed Puck's arm, "She'll be okay now Noah, she's safe here."

Puck was surprised to feel his eyes fill with tears, "I'll go put these back" he gestured to the blankets, "and get you some clean sheets"

Puck helped his sister get her room ready for Shelby and Beth before moving some of her stuff into his mom's room, he then agreed his sister could put some of her clothes in his wardrobe to give Shelby more space for the items currently crumpled in the suitcase Puck had left in the truck. Hannah was shocked at the state of Noah's bedroom, she'd thought hers was a mess but Puck's was much worse even though he'd told her it was tidy before he'd collected Beth on Friday. They tidied Puck's bedroom and Sarah Puckerman was surprised to find not only two tidy bedrooms but her two children laughing and joking together as they played with Beth who was now wide awake.

"Noah, Shelby's ready to go now, I offered to go with her but she said she'd rather you go."

"Is she okay?"

Sarah nodded, "I think she's got a cracked rib but she won't go to the hospital, it'll hurt for a while, I've given her some painkillers but it should heal just fine."

Puck nodded "You're okay to watch Beth right?"

"We'll be fine, would you like me to set up her travel cot."

Puck nodded, "if you don't mind Ma, Shelby's going to sleep in Hannah's room"

"Hannah's room?" Sarah was confused but after Puck explained how his sister had volunteered to give up her bed to save him sleeping on the floor, she couldn't help but feel proud of how grown up her children were being, especially as they usually spent most of their time yelling at each other. Sarah reassured Hannah that it was okay for her to share her room and agreed to set up Shelby and Beth's stuff so they would feel more at home before telling Hannah she was in charge of watching Beth and sending Puck downstairs to take Shelby to the police station.

Shelby and Puck sat in the waiting room at the police station waiting for someone to speak to Shelby. Puck noticed her nervously tapping her foot and chewing her lip and he gently laid a hand on her knee smiling sadly as she took it in hers and held it like it was the only way things were going to get better. They sat in silence for about ten minutes before a young female police officer introduced herself and lead Shelby to an interview room down the corridor, "I'll wait right here" he promised before Shelby left.

It was almost an hour later when Shelby emerged from the room, it was obvious to Puck that she'd been crying and he ran down the corridor, taking her in her arms and lowering her to the floor when her legs failed to support her and she began to sob again. "Can we go now, they've gone to wait for him at the apartment, I don't want to be here when they bring him in."

"Yeah" Puck hated seeing the usually strong woman so broken, "do you think you can walk?"

Shelby nodded, "Thank you Noah" she said as he helped her into the truck, you didn't have to do this, I mean" her eyes filled with tears, "you're so young, I feel like I should be making sure you're okay, I should be watching out for you not, not this."

"I said I'd be there for you and Beth, I meant it Shelby, I didn't just mean I'd be there for the important things like Beth's first day at school or whatever, I meant I'll be there whenever you need me, and right now you need me. I want you to call me at 3am because Beth's got chicken pox and she won't stop scratching, I want you to call me at midnight because you've been out for a drink and you miss Beth, Birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, I'm there Shelby, I want to be Beth's Daddy, I've always wanted to be Beth's Daddy. I just hope I'm good enough for her."

"Noah" Shelby said quietly as she wiped at her eyes, "after today I have absolutely no doubt that Beth is lucky to have you."

Puck wiped at his own eyes, "look at us" he laughed, "I'm gonna call my Ma, see if she wants us to stop for take out on her way home."

Puck and Shelby walked into the house half an hour later to the sound of Beth's loud giggles, as she stepped further into the house Shelby saw her sat in the corner of the room with Hannah. Hannah kept trying to build a tower of Beth's blocks but she never got past four blocks before Beth reached out and sent the blocks tumbling to the floor, an event which had Beth laughing loudly, "is everything okay?" Sarah Puckerman walked over to her son and Shelby, taking some pizza boxes from them and placing them on the coffee table.

"Yeah" Shelby wiped at her eyes, "the police called me when we were waiting for the pizza, they found him waiting in my flat, he's been arrested and he won't get bail. They're adding resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer to the charges too."

Sarah smiled, "you're safe now" she pulled Shelby into a hug. "Beth got a little cranky earlier so I gave her some macaroni cheese for her dinner, I didn't know how long the two of you would be. I thought she could play for half an hour before her bath."

Shelby smiled, "That's fine."

It was at that moment Beth noticed Shelby, "Mama" she grinned, pushing herself to her feet and toddling over to Shelby, Hannah close behind.

"Pizza, great I'm starving." Hannah flopped onto the sofa and began opening the boxes.

"Hannah" Sarah scolded, "we have guests."

"Ninnins" Beth giggled struggling to get down.

"Hey" Shelby tickled Beth's side, "you've already had your dinner young lady."

Puck was quick to take Beth from Shelby, "come on Bee, one slice wont hurt you." He turned his attention to Shelby, "If you want to eat you better be quick, Han's like a hoover." He ducked quickly as his sister threw a scrunched up serviette at him.

"Hannah move up" Sarah told her daughter as Noah sat in the arm chair with Beth on his knee, "make room for Shelby". The older woman turned to Shelby, "come on" she gestured to the space on the sofa, "sit down, get some pizza, make yourself at home."

Shelby took a moment to take in the scene in front of her, Beth sat on Puck's lap happily helping herself to fries from the paper plate he was holding whilst Noah was arguing with Hannah over something and Sarah was trying to get them to shut up. They were a family, Beth was a part of that family and by extension so was she. She moved to sit beside Hannah and she knew that from that moment on she'd never have to go through anything alone again, the Puckermans wouldn't let her.