Quartie One Shots and Teasers

Chapter 04: Quinn and Adult Beth Have Lunch

Author’s Notes: The following takes place during a future chapter of Quartie Ever After when Quinn has lunch with her adult daughter Beth and they end up having a shocking conversation. Quinn and Artie live in LA, but are visiting Lima. This will make more sense to you if you read that and Quartie Headcannon first. 

Disclaimer: Thie story mentions sexual assault and character death. 

= = =

When Quinn and Artie returned to Lima for the holidays, Quinn had called her birth daughter Beth and invited her to visit her grandmother Judy, along with Quinn and Artie while they were there. Lima Ohio was a lot closer to New York than Los Angeles was. Beth had readily agreed, and the day after the younger woman’s arrival, Quinn had invited her to have lunch together, just the two of them. 

The two women sat across from each other at a table at BreadstiX. Like many other things in Lima, Quinn marveled, the place had barely changed in fifteen years. That’s kind of how it was in small towns.

At first things had been quiet and awkward between them. While Beth had “met” Quinn when she’d been about twelve, the two of them had never spent an extended amount of time together, just the two of them. But after a few awkward starts, the flood gates had been open and it was as if they had been doing this for years. 

The two women spent a large chunk of their meal chatting about various subjects, including Quinn’s career, Beth’s high school and college experiences, and boyfriend. They were just finishing their meal and had ordered a dessert when Quinn decided to change the subject. 

“As great as it’s been catching up,” Quinn said, “there’s something specific that I wanted to talk to you about, just the two of us.” 

Beth got a puzzled look on her face, as Quinn continued. “I’m not really sure how to tell you this or how you are going to react. I want you to know that there is no right or wrong reaction to this.” Beth nodded, nervously, before Quinn continued.

“So I’m just going to say it…. I’m Pregnant. You’re going to have a birth half-sister or brother.”

Beth just sat there stunned, not sure what to say. The two of them sat there silently for several moments. Quinn fidgeted in her chair several times before Beth broke the silence. 

“Wow,” she finally said with a half smile on her face. “That’s … that’s just about the last thing I expected you to say.”

“So what do you think?” Quinn asked, nervously.

“I, I didn’t even know you were dating anyone,” Beth told her, with an astonished look on her face, ”let alone that you wanted to have more children. We just finished catching up and-.”

“Well,” Quinn told her, “technically I’m not dating anyone. Your uncle Artie is the father.”

Beth gave her another confused look, so Quinn continued to explain. “I suppose I should start at the beginning.”

“That might be helpful,” Beth said.

“As you know,” Quinn began, “I had you at such a young age that I wasn’t ready to be a mother.” Beth nodded. “But I never intended for you to be my only child. I always planned to start a family someday. But over the years none of my romantic relationships ended up lasting long enough to develop into a marriage and family situation. 

“Artie and I have been friends since we were five years old. He’s had a similar romantic experience, and a few months ago he and I decided that we wanted to have a child together while it was still medically possible.”

“I see,” Beth said, taking the time to absorb what she’d heard and formulate her next question. “I’m not sure how to ask you this. It’s something that I’ve always wondered about…. Did you ever actually want to keep me?”

“Of course I did!” Quinn exclaimed, reaching across the table, placing her hand on her daughter’s arm. “I wanted to keep you so badly that I actually considered having a relationship with your father, so we could be a family, something that I never would have otherwise.”

“I don’t understand,” Beth responded with an even more confused expression. “I thought that he was your high school boyfriend.”

“No,” Quinn clarified. “While we did try dating after you were conceived, at the time I was dating Finn Hudson, his best friend.”

“I … I don’t understand….” Beth said.

“Are you sure you want to hear this?” Quinn asked, a worried expression on her face. “I’m sure that you have some preconceived ideas about what happened. I’m not sure I want to shatter them, or your illusions about your father or some of the members of my family or myself-.”

“-Yes,” Beth said firmly. “I’ve wanted to hear this since I was twelve years old!”

Quinn sighed and took another sip of her drink before beginning her story again, ”Very well, don’t say I didn’t warn you ….”

“Back in high school I was the Queen Bee of the school, and head cheerleader. I’d attained this post halfway through my freshman year when the former captain fell and broke her leg during one of our stunts, and I’d already managed to impress our coach with my athletic and leadership abilities. By the end of the year I was dating the Captain of the football team, Finn Hudson.  I was the President of the Celibacy Club and expected to be the Queen of the Chastity Ball the following fall. As you could probably tell from Grandma Judy, my family is very conservative.”

Beth nodded. 

“Going into sophomore year I had it all,” Quinn continued. “Then Finn got it into his head to join the newly reorganized glee club. I know that people are a lot more open minded now, but back then, that was social suicide. People thought that Finn was gay – and back then that was considered a bad thing – and that he was only dating me to cover up that fact. They used to call that being someone’s ‘beard’. I felt humiliated and pressured him to quit. So did your father, his best friend Noah Puckerman or Puck as we called him.”

“Finn was my first real love, and I was very confused and it frustrated me that he seemed to be prioritizing a stupid Glee Club over me.”

“I thought that you liked glee club in high school?”

“I did,” she explained, “very much. But that came later.”

Beth nodded. 

“One day,” Quinn continued, “Puck and I were keeping an eye on him after he cancelled his plans with me to do something for the glee club. When I saw him together in the auditorium with your step sister Rachel Berry, it was obvious that they were into each other, and when she told him that he could kiss him if he wanted I couldn’t take it anymore. 

“I was very upset and stormed out of the school. Puck followed me, auspiciously to comfort me, but I found out later that he had ulterior motives. I don’t want you to think badly of your biological father, but back in high school he was a real dog. I heard through the grapevine, months later, that he thought it would be funny to deflower the President of The Celibacy Club and Queen of the Chastity Ball before she even attended the ball, and had a bet with some of the other football players that he could do it before Finn did. 

“I wasn’t quite sixteen, and didn’t have my license yet. He offered me a ride home, and my mind was so distracted that I didn’t really give it much thought. In addition to being upset with Finn, I’d also gained two pounds in my Cheerios weigh-in earlier that day, and was sensitive about that. I was so upset that I didn’t resist when Puck offered me a wine cooler to, as he said, “take the edge off.”

“Well, I was so upset that I kept ranting about Finn, and Rachel, and at Coach Sylvester’s obsession with my weight, and glee club that I apparently wasn’t paying too much attention to how much I was drinking; and where we were. Before I knew it, we had finished off one four pack of wine coolers and were halfway through a second, and were up in my room laying on my bed kissing; and he was clearly wanting more.” Her face cringed in anguish from the memory. 

«« FLASHBACK »»

Teenage Quinn and Puck are laying on her bed making out and moaning. He reaches up under her shirt.

“- I can’t do this,” she tells him, grabbing his hand.

“- Yes, you can,” he tells her. “Have another wine cooler.”

“I’m president of the celibacy club,” she reminds him. “I took a vow.”

“So did Santana and Brittany,” he informs her, “and I did them.”

“What about Finn?” She wants to know. “He’s your best friend.”

“Come on,” he pleads. “We’re in high school. You think either one of us is gonna give a damn about Finn in three years? Life’s just a bunch of experiences, you know. You don’t get a medal at the finish line for being good. You just get dead.”

“Okay,” she finally relents, the alcohol blurring her thinking, “but you can’t tell anybody. I can’t lose my rep.”

“Our secret, baby,” he assures her, reaching for the hem of her top.

She stops him. “What about protection?” 

“I got it,” he assures her. ”Trust me. This isn’t just another hook-up for me.”

He begins kissing her again.

“Tell me one more time,” she pleads.

“- You’re not fat.”

«« END FLASHBACK »»

“So basically he raped you?” Beth concluded, clearly upset. 

“No,” Quinn responded, stunned that Beth would say that, “I had sex with him because I was mad at Finn, he got me drunk on wine coolers; and I felt fat that day because Coach Sylvester had been critical about my weight in front of the rest of the squad. That, added to the usual insecurities that all girls have about their weight and appearance, put me in a bit of a weakened emotional state, and that didn’t even factor in the alcohol. It weakened my inhibitions, but I wouldn’t call it rape.”

“Mother Quinn,” Beth said, “he intentionally got you drunk in order to lower your inhibitions, and get you to have sex with him. When you resisted he kept pressing you, offering you more alcohol. Even back in 2009, that was rape!”

“I wasn’t falling down drunk or passed out-“ Quinn tried to explain.

“Maybe not,” Beth countered. “But your inhibitions were clearly affected. You just said that you would never have let him do it otherwise.”

“I- I never really thought of it that way,” Quinn said, now quite shaken herself. 

She paused for a few moments, playing with her napkin, before continuing. “Even though he’d said that it wasn’t just another hookup, his actions said otherwise. He left only a few minutes after he … finished, and I just lay there alone. He didn’t even stay and cuddle. 

“When he left, I felt so empty inside…. Your first time changes you. I really hope that your first time is more special than mine was. We all have these romantic ideas about what it’s supposed to be like. It wasn’t like that at all. I wasn’t in love with him. He definitely wasn’t in love with me, and it was actually kind of awkward. I mostly just lay there scared. I didn’t enjoy it at all. 

“Afterwards, I felt so cheap and dirty….

«« FLASHBACK »»

A 15 year old Quinn stands crying in the shower, trying desperately to scrub herself clean, but it’s no use.

«« END FLASHBACK »»

“Did it hurt?” She asked. “I’m sorry if that’s too personal, but they say it’s supposed to hurt for the first time.”

“No, it’s okay. Ask me anything you want. I’ve already told you way more than I ever intended to,” she told her. “I don’t really think so. I’m not sure if that was because of the alcohol, or the fact that I broke my maidenhead riding bikes with Artie when we were seven.”

Beth nodded as Quinn continued the story.

“I had always been taught to save myself for marriage, and I couldn’t believe what I’d done, and who I had done it with. I felt so awful inside!  I decided that no one would ever find out about what had happened – EVER – and if Puck went against his word, I would just deny it and it would be the word of the Queen Bee of McKinley against that of a Lima Loser with no proof, so no one would believe it. 

“I put the whole thing out of my mind, and refocused on getting Finn back, which turned out to be a lost cause. He was clearly in love with Rachel. I was going to have to move on with someone else.

“But of course it didn’t work out that way,” she continued. “As it turned out, Puck hadn’t used a condom after all, and a couple weeks later I missed a period. I had always been fairly regular so that was unusual. After a week or so of denial, I wore a disguise and went out and bought a pregnancy test.  I was so terrified when I waited for the results, and devastated when the pink plus sign appeared.

“My life had just changed forever…”

“What about my father?” Beth asked.

“What about him?” Quinn asked nervously, sensing where this conversation was going.

“Where is he?” Beth asked. “Whenever I ask mom about him she just says that he is out of the picture-“

“Out of the picture,” Quinn said at the same time, repeating the explanation that Shelby and Quinn had come up with to tell Beth whenever the subject came up. 

“What exactly does that mean?” Beth asked. 

Quinn signed. “Shelby didn’t want-“

“-To hell with what she wanted! I’m asking YOU!” Beth exclaimed. “I’m almost 20 years old; an adult. I’m able to decide things for myself. I deserve to know…. Is he dead?”

“No,” Quinn answered, reluctantly, “but he may as well be. He’s in the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth Kansas.”

Beth gave her an even more confused look.  She’d already said more than she intended to. But now that the cat was out of the bag, she supposed the girl was right and deserved to know. 

Quinn sighed, taking another sip of her drink and after a moment to consider where the best place to start was, she reluctantly continued her story.

“I told you that your dad and Finn Hudson were close friends.” Beth nodded. “Finn’s death, not quite a year after we graduated, affected all of us in different ways. I was riddled with guilt for the things I had done, even though he had long since forgiven me, because that’s just the kind of guy he was. Rachel mourned him deeply and regretted not marrying him when she had the chance senior year. Puck really went off the deep end. He got drunk, and was very angry. Puck had always looked to Finn for help making good decisions, and for the first time in as long as he could remember, he didn’t have that to rely on.  

“He decided to enlist in the Air Force, and I have to say it was good for him. He seemed to mature, and really come into his own. Eventually he began dating Lauren Zeises, a girl he’d dated in high school who was also in the Air Force.  Things were looking up for him. 

“Then about nine years ago at one of our many Glee Club reunions, a bunch of us were at a club when some guy we’d never met began making disparaging comments about Lauren – she’s overweight – and Artie about being in a chair. Your father had always had problems with impulse control. That, along with the alcohol we’d all consumed caused Puck to defend their honor – physically. The guy took a swing at him, which really set him off. We tried to stop him, but it happened so fast. Before we knew it, Puck had dropped the guy. He was unconscious and someone poured a pitcher of beer on him, but unlike the movies, he didn’t wake up. 

“After a few more attempts to get him to respond, someone called 911. When the police and ambulance arrived, Puck was arrested, and the guy was taken to the hospital.  We never got the full details, but the guy was in a coma with severe brain damage. Puck was active duty military, so the local police turned him over to the Air Force Military Police. Puck was charged with assault and a court martial was scheduled. 

“About a week later the guy still hadn’t woken up, and on the advice of the doctors, his family disconnected his life support and feeding tubes, and he died a couple of days later. The charges were increased to manslaughter because Puck was a trained soldier. He was on active duty, in uniform, and the news media had gotten ahold of the story. Someone had recorded it with a cell phone camera and there were loads of witnesses. They wanted to make an example of him, so they threw the book at him. He was sentenced to 20 years to life at hard labor, and a dishonorable discharge.”

Beth was stunned.

“I understand that this is a lot to absorb,” Quinn told her, reaching for her arm. 

“That’s an understatement!” Beth exclaimed. “Not only did my father rape my mother, resulting in my unwanted conception, but he later became a murderer!”

“He’s not a murderer-“

“Murder? Manslaughter? It’s just semantics. He killed someone!”

“Not intentionally-“

“-That doesn’t matter!” Beth exclaimed, tears beginning to fill her eyes. “All of my life I’ve wanted to know about my father, and now I wish I hadn’t asked.”

“Beth….” Quinn said, reaching for the girl’s arm in an attempt to comfort her.

“No!” Beth said, snatching her arm away.  “He was a monster!” 

“No,” Quinn said, firmly, “he wasn’t.”

Beth rose to her feet and began rushing towards the door.

“For what it’s worth, Beth,” Quinn called out to her, rising to her feet, “your father wanted to keep you. He was so in love with you from the moment he found out about you. He’s the one who actually named you. It was my choice to put you up for adoption. I did it because I thought that it was the best thing for all of us, and Shelby seemed like she’d be a good mother.  It took him a long time to forgive me for that.”

But Beth heard almost none of this as she ran out.

“Shit!” Quinn mumbled, returning to her seat. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, it’s me.  I think I just made a huge mistake.”

= = = = =

Author’s Endnote: So what does everyone think?  I personally have mixed feelings about it, and wonder if I took it too far. Their was written in late 2017 and what Mark Salling did was already common knowledge. I can’t say that his crimes had no influence on it. But at the same time, I always knew that Puck was a pretty shady character. His numerous disgusting comments, especially about underage girls, had always upset me. I saw what he did as rape (and lager emotional manipulation) literally the first time I watched Glee in July 2012. What does everyone think?