One Final Apology

Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, this would have happened already.

"I mean, can you believe it! Schuester put the pot in my locker!"

Quinn Fabray gave her ex-boyfriend a small smile, admittedly only paying partial attention at the cafeteria table.

"Why'd he tell you now?" Noah Puckerman asked from his seat beside Quinn.

"Guess he wanted to make amends?" Finn shrugged. "Maybe he thought I'd be mad or something."

"Whatever man. I wish I knew that Schuester had balls a long time ago."

"Noah, you are so crass," scolded Rachel Berry from her place beside Finn. "Obviously, Mr. Schue had years of residual guilt, and seeing as this is the last time he'd be seeing Finn for a long time, he wanted to be completely open and honest."

Quinn perked a little. Will Schuester didn't need to say anything to Finn. In theory, he could have been fired for his admission if Finn had actually been angry.

"I wonder why Mr. Schue found it necessary to tell Finn anything," Quinn commented aloud. "I mean, it was years ago."

"Old wounds can still hurt, Quinn," replied Rachel.

"You know, I kinda appreciated the apology," Finn stated. "I know that Schue's our teacher and everything, but him telling me that was like…saying that we were friends. It's nice that he respected my feelings."

Puck coughed. "Gay."

"Noah!"

As Rachel and Finn reprimanded Puck for his comment, Quinn's mind began to wander again. Two years was a long time…but was Rachel right about old wounds still hurting? The blonde knew that in her high school years, she had hurt a lot of people. Were there people out there still affected by her past mistakes?

Instinctively, Quinn's mind went to Beth, mentally cursing herself for considering Beth a mistake. As she subconsciously put a hand to her stomach, Quinn thought about the many people that she had hurt during her pregnancy—three of them at the exact same table as her.

Puck. Beth's biological father. For a while, he really wanted to be a part of her life, and Quinn was so focused on herself and her personal image that she didn't consider Puck worthy of being the father of her child. And now they were back together. Clearly, Puck and Quinn's bridges had long been mended.

Rachel. Her vices towards Rachel went beyond Beth; yet, through her rivalry over Finn, that was when their issues began. The transformation of their relationship from adversaries to close confidantes was something that the girl still considered remarkably unbelievable. Quinn smiled, hoping that Rachel would use the subway pass she had given her as often as possible.

Finn. Quinn's smile went away upon seeing him. Hurting Finn was one of her greatest regrets. The lovable oaf was too kind for his own good sometimes. In retrospect, Quinn hated the way that she lied to Finn about Beth's paternity, briefly chuckling to herself on the Maury-esque style of their situation.

Quinn had no regrets, however, about where Beth was now. Unbeknownst to anyone, Shelby Corcoran had been sending Quinn e-mails once a month, complete with pictures of Beth. Rachel's birth mother was raising Beth much better than Quinn ever could have, and for that, she was thankful. She honestly couldn't think of anyone else that could have trusted to raise Beth.

And then she remembered: Terri Schuester. In Quinn's frantic, pregnant teenage state, the girl thought back to how she had agreed to "give" the woman her baby. How did Will Schuester not realize that his now ex-wife was faking a pregnancy? Wasn't it obvious?

It was obvious to Quinn because she was on the other side. It was obvious to Quinn because she was let in on the plan. It was obvious to Quinn because she knew about the cracks in the Schuester marriage before the husband even did. Even in her "old Quinn" days, the girl knew that a marriage could not last like that. It was just impossible to build up such a lie.

Quinn Fabray had spent years thinking about the people that her pregnancy had affected and how she had made amends in some way or another. Finn. Puck. Rachel. Her parents. Mercedes. How did Will Schuester never cross her mind? After all, her pregnancy had indirectly caused his divorce.

"Quinn, are you alright?"

The girl jumped in her seat as Rachel's question snapped her out of her thoughts. Puck and Finn were staring at her in concern as well.

"Um…yeah," she replied breathily.

"You were out for a while there, Q," added her boyfriend. "You sure everything's okay?"

"Actually," Quinn stood up, "I need to find Mr. Schue."

"Why?" Finn questioned.

"It's like Rachel said," began Quinn. "Old wounds can still hurt, and who knows when I'll see him again."

Quinn left without any semblance of an explanation.

"Mr. Schue?"

Will Schuester looked up from his desk to see the former Cheerio. "Come on in, Quinn."

As she entered Mr. Schuester's office, Quinn spoke. "I checked the teachers' lounge, but Miss Pillsbury and Coach Beiste said you were here."

"Yeah, I needed to grade a few last-minute papers," the teacher replied. "Is there something on your mind? Did you think of a goodbye song for the glee club?"

"No, nothing like that," said Quinn, taking a seat. "Um…Finn told us about the pot planting back in sophomore year."

Will paled, so Quinn quickly amended herself. "Don't worry; we won't rat you out."

"We?" asked Will nervously.

"Me, Puck, and Rachel. But that's not why I'm here, either."

"Okay, continue."

"Well, when Finn told us about how you apologized for something that happened so long ago, my mind got to thinking about that year…I made a lot of mistakes."

"But you've come a long way, Quinn."

"Thank you, but I realized that…I've never really apologized to you."

The teacher looked confused for a second, but then his face changed in realization. "Quinn, I never blamed—"

"I knew about the cracks in your marriage before you did," Quinn told the man. "And instead of warning you about Terri, I just let my own issues get in the way."

"Quinn, that was a rough year for you."

"But that doesn't excuse anything," the teen concluded. "And I should have told you about your wife's lies a lot sooner. I'm so sorry."

The girl was looking at her lap now, a little embarrassed.

"Quinn," started Will, "once again, I never blamed you for anything that happened."

"But I never said anything!" the girl almost screamed.

"You didn't make Terri lie in the first place, though, did you? Terri just took advantage of a poor confused girl who had gotten herself in a very difficult situation at such a young age. When you think about it, you were as much of a victim as I was."

Quinn remained silent as Will continued. "Besides, my marriage with Terri had been cracking long before…Babygate." He couldn't help but grin, using the term that the glee kids had coined the predicament of sophomore year. "And look where we all are now! I'm engaged to Miss Pillsbury and you're off to Yale…and you gave a woman a daughter to love!"

Quinn smiled once again at the thought of Beth and Shelby, proud of herself for finally being happy for them.

"If it hadn't been for what happened then," Will continued, "we wouldn't be where we are now. And I wouldn't trade that for anything."

"Mr. Schue…I don't even know what to say…"

"Say that you won't blame yourself for this. And say that you'll go to Yale and make us all proud. Just like you always have. You're a survivor, Quinn, and an inspiration."

The school bell rang, signaling the class change, and Quinn arose from her chair.

"I come in to apologize, and you end up giving me a Finn Hudson pep-talk."

"What can I say?" said the teacher. "You kids have taught me a lot."

Quinn hugged Mr. Schue, offering a quick, yet unnecessary, apology, coupled with a word of thanks for his encouragement before leaving for her next class.

Will stepped outside of the room, observing Quinn interact with Puck, Finn, and Rachel once more. Watching them, the teacher smiled, for the "old Quinn" of two years ago would never have found herself dating Noah Puckerman publicly while letting the captain of the football team go off with Rachel Berry, of all people.

He also knew that the "old Quinn" would never have apologized for something like this. Will had meant what he said: he never blamed Quinn for the events that lead to his divorce. But the fact that she chose to apologize spoke volumes to him. Just as he had done so with Finn earlier, Quinn seemed to honestly care. With a gesture as simple as an apology, the girl had shown humbling compassion. The girl had truly changed.

And that was worth more than any National Championship.

This one-shot has been in my head for a while. I was always a little unhappy that Quinn never really made amends with Mr. Schue about Babygate, so I decided to do something about it. Hope you enjoyed it!

And just for the record, this one-shot is completely independent and has no relation to my DynamiX series.