Not beta'ed, any mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, not mine.

Anyways, please enjoy and PLEASE review!

Chapter 23: I, Am Your Family

This was torture.

Waiting was something Puck hated. He could never do it and even more now when he didn't know what type of news he was going to get.

He'd been waiting for what felt like hours but had been really only been an hour.

Puck was weary, the doctors weren't giving him any information. Standing around the waiting holding a paper coffee cup and watching people rush in out was exhausting.

But he had no choice. He had to wait.

Rachel didn't have time and getting her here as fast as he could had been the easy part. As soon as he had arrived, the doctors and nurses had pushed him out of the way and taken Rachel through the doors where he couldn't see her anymore. She had cried out his name and his instinct had been to run through the doors but a nurse had rushed out and handed him a clipboard of forms for him to fill out.

In that moment, he had never felt so helpless. Rachel was gone and he had to sit out there unable to hold her hand.

Answering the stupid question seemed so trivial. He didn't want to be here, he wanted to be in there with Rachel and comfort her. Tell her that everything was going to be ok. He didn't know if things were really going to be ok but he didn't care. He needed to be with her.

An hour ticked by when he decided he had had enough.

He walked to the nurses' station and demanded information. The night nurse had looked at him with an unfazed face and relayed what she told everyone.

"There isn't any information yet. Please have and seat. A nurse will be with you as soon as we know something."

Bitch.

This was bullshit, and this fucking nurse was being a bitch. Puck needed to know how Rachel and the baby were doing. He ran his hand through his scalp for comfort as he walked back to the waiting room, nothing at this moment would be a comfort except seeing Rachel safely in his arms. The baby was ok and would be born when it was time.

As he sat and waited, he thought about them getting away. That was what he was going to tell her when they were home. A little baby-moon after they got married in the coming weeks. Being in New York was slowly making Rachel more uncomfortable. Running into Santana or Jesse was possible and after last night, they needed to get away.

He looked over at a middle-aged man laughing and smiling surrounded by what Puck presumed was his family. They were in the waiting room of the maternity ward and the man had brought out a bundle of pink to show his family. They looked so happy, joyous at the new life while Puck sat with his nerves on edge.

He brought his hands up his face and felt the tears start to form. Fuck being a man, he had a fiancé that he loved and was in danger with their unborn child.

He felt a weight on his shoulder. Had he really called her? It must've happened when the nurse had shoved him out, he couldn't remember.

"Puck," He quietly heard next to him.

He turned and came face to face with a pair of green eyes on the brink of tears.

He shook his head, "I don't know anything."

oo

Quinn turned the page of the magazine and looked up when she heard a sign. She saw Beth staring intently at her. Quinn smiled but Beth pouted her lips. Quinn furrowed her eyebrows and stood up. She pulled a chair out and placed it next to Beth; she sat down and enveloped Beth into a hug. Beth buried her head into Quinn's chest and sighed again.

"Beth, sweetie, what's wrong?" Quinn asked.

Beth inhaled Quinn's scent and smiled before saying, "I'm just glad you're here with me today mom. I miss you."

Quinn couldn't help but smile.

"So am I sweetie. I'm sorry I've been away."

Beth pulled her head up and looked into Quinn's eyes, "Promise?"

Quinn loved her daughter but loathed feeling the guilt about leaving her behind so much, just to fulfill her ridiculous ego.

"Promise." The words made Beth fill with happiness, Quinn released her.

"I'm gonna call dad. He said that he was gonna take me shopping!"

She internally cringed but smiled at Beth. The little girl happily skipped away.

Quinn hadn't booked a modeling in weeks; her agent had warned her to slow down and spend time with Beth, the little girl wasn't going to be little much longer and soon Quinn was going to be alone.

Alone.

She hated that word, "alone". It meant sadness, no one to love her, look after her; was it wrong to want someone to love her?

She was pretty, she had manners, and in her humble opinion, she was the perfect woman.

However, if she was all that, why didn't she have who she wanted? She wanted Puck, plain and simple.

Did she love him?

No.

However, she wanted Beth to have a family, a mom and a dad that loved each other and loved Beth to pieces. That's what her little girl deserved and more.

But no.

He was with Rachel, why?

Ever since high school, everyone had chosen Rachel. First Finn and now Puck. Then Santana and Kurt as well, everyone loved Rachel.

What did Rachel have that everyone liked her better than Quinn?

Quinn couldn't understand. Rachel got everything while she had nothing.

Well, she did have something that would keep Puck around for at least six more years: Beth. No matter how pissed or angry he would get, he still had to call and see Beth.

oo

Rachel was tired.

Beyond tired and to the point where she wanted to burst into tears and yell "FUCK IT!" She didn't of course, she still had manners but this was pushing her to the limit.

This was not part of her (very) detailed birth plan, which she had been updating every time she read something new in a book or during her daily Google searches.

She knew being tired was part of the plan but not like this. All the warnings from the baby books said the same thing; expect little sleep before the baby's born and after.

She needed to sleep, desperately, but with Noah coming in and out of the room asking her if she needed anything every five minutes, sleep was becoming a commodity; for goodness sake all she wanted was to sleep for more than ten minutes.

She chided herself the third time he had come in, because she knew why he was doing it. He was just so worried for her, this wasn't easy for either of them and he felt so helpless; she was the one suffering physically but both were suffering emotionally as well.

Being on bed rest was draining, it sounded like a dream come true to be able to lay all day in bed but it was far from it, considering she was an active person and self-reliant; being confined to a bed all day was the worst.

Running to the hospital had been a nightmare,

oo

Shit. Shit. SHIT.

Puck ran a hand through his newly shaved head, it was a comfort for him but it didn't work. He messed up and now, well now he was in some deep shit.

He stood outside gripping the cell phone tightly in his hand, his eyes shut tight and muttering to himself.

He had rushed Rachel to the hospital and right now she was asleep, the doctor had managed to calm her down but

"I can't, please. I just want to sleep. You can't make me. I'll just keep the baby in-"

Rachel felt a hand swipe the hair out of her face, her eyes popped open and the coldness of a washcloth opened them. A nurse smiled at her and passed the washcloth again.

"I'm done. I can't, I can't. I'm tired."

"Babe."

She looked to Noah who was holding her hand, "Rachel, I know baby. You're tired-"

"You don't know," she bit out.

He flinched at her tone.

(She didn't care.) "You're not pushing out a watermelon through your ass and you don't feel-"

A contraction hit before she could finish, she didn't care that Noah groaned because she crushed his hand, all she wanted was to get this baby out and sleep.

She was tired, her labor had been going on for twelve hours and so far all she had managed was to be six centimeters dilated.

The contraction subsided and she fell against the pillow.

This was a nightmare.

A/N: So so sorry for the massive delay! Life has gotten away from me and well things aren't going so well. I had to go back to school, move from the state to get away from a very toxic divorce. Things have gotten so bad that I think that I might have to move again. Excuses I know BUT I PLAN TO FINISH THIS STORY! This chapter is crappy I'm sorry and angsty but that's the mood I've been in for the last 6 months. Again, SORRY but no promises.