I'm Yours
1/1
“She’ll be sixteen in a couple months.”
“What’s that,” questioned the young woman sitting across from the middle-aged rocker. She looked up from her menu to see him watching a family down the row of vinyl booths at their favorite diner.
“It’s been sixteen years,” he closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, “I feel old.”
The woman let her menu flop to the table top and reached out to take his hand in hers, “Honey, you are old.”
He laughed and looked up to her pretty face, “You would know.”
This was where he was now; across the table from his long time girlfriend, and nowhere near pro football player like he’d imagined. He was thirty-two, and she was twenty-six. They had met when he had still been playing local clubs and bars with his old band, and she had just been a sweet little twenty-one. He held her hand for a while as they sat eating breakfast.
Sixteen years ago he and the head Cheerio had made a big mistake. A big, stupid mistake, but he could only blame it on himself. You know, since he had pressured her into it. Her name was Quinn, and he had loved her at one point. After high school they had gone their separate ways, only linked by a single soul somewhere out in the world. Sometimes, he wondered about that little girl he helped build.
Highway run
Into the midnight sun
Wheels go round and round
You’re on my mind
He and his band would be leaving on a six month tour the same week as her birthday. Lizzy was helping him pack, making sure he had the appropriate amount of underwear, socks, and t-shirts. She sat in the floor at the edge of their bed using the small bulge under her cotton shirt to stack the folded boxers. He smiled at the image, almost afraid to leave it behind.
“What are you smiling at, Noah?”
He shrugged his shoulders and collapsed beside her in the floor, taking the stack of underwear and stuffing it in the large black duffle of his, “Just wondering what I’m going to do without my house maid.”
Noah slung his arm around her shoulders, trying to shake the annoyed look from her face. Instead of leaning into him, Lizzy stood carefully and left the bedroom. This meant he was in trouble. Noah rubbed his hand over his barely buzzed skull. Lizzy hadn’t been angry before about him leaving with his band. If anything, this meant more money for them and their unborn child. It was money that was needed.
He found her wiping down the kitchen counters to the tune of static from the radio. They weren’t rolling in dough, but who really needs a television anyway? She heard him stop at the edge of the linoleum flooring, so she threw her rag into the sink and turned to face him.
“Shelby Corcoran called,” she sighed and pushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear, “She said Beth has been asking questions. About you and Quinn. She wants to know her real parents, Noah.”
“Why are you worried about it?”
“I’m not worried- I’m, concerned, is all,” Noah sighed and shook his head, sending a pained look across Lizzy’s face, “Have you even thought about what you want to say?”
Restless hearts
Sleep alone tonight
In a mid-sized bedroom painted pink, a fifteen year old girl with big brown eyes and dirty blonde hair sat cross-legged on her canopy bed. Spread around her were childhood photos of her and her adoptive mother, with the occasional appearance of her sister Rachel. This is what she grew up with; it’s who raised her, but she needed to know more. She was Beth Corcoran, she was fifteen, and she was a straight-A student at a plain mid-western high school. Her mother had been in theatre most of her life, and eventually settled for coaching a local glee club. Then came Beth.
The teenager stacked the photos together and placed them back in the box they came from. She wasn’t like her mother or sister, though. Sure, she was outspoken and got anything she put her mind to done, but she felt there was something missing. Her mother had never married, and it took its toll on Beth.
A soft knock came at her door and she jumped to stuff the box underneath her bed, “Come in!”
“Hey, sweetie,” her mother smiled as she let herself into the room, “I’ve got something for you.”
She produced a creamy white envelope from behind her back, this piqued Beth’s interest, “What’s that?”
“This,” Shelby sat on the corner of the purple canopy bed, “Is an early birthday gift. But before I give it to you, I need to say something,” she took a deep breath, “This is a letter from your biological father.”
Beth’s heart skipped a beat, and her breath caught in her throat, “You don’t have to read it, but I have to warn you things may not turn out the way you want. I know how much you’ve wanted this, but you need to know I will always love you and I will always support you in anything you do. Just, don’t get your hopes up.”
Sending all my love along the wire
They say that the road
Ain’t no place to start a family
“Puck? Is that you?!”
Rachel Berry rushed to the tall man who had been lurking in the wings of the auditorium during the rehearsal for her off-Broadway production. She squeezed a hug out of him and stood back to admire the sharp black jacket stretched across his broad shoulders; almost reminiscent of Acca-fellas, “What are you doing here?! I thought you still hated me!”
“If you thought that, then why did you put on that display of affection?”
Rachel crossed her arms, “Well, no one from school talks to me anymore; not even on Facebook. Why are you in New York anyway?”
“I’ve got a favor to ask.”
“Didn’t you marry Santana,” Rachel pecked, “She kicked you out didn’t she.”
“No, we didn’t get married- where’d you hear that? You know what, not the reason I’m here,” Noah pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket, on the front was a scrawled name, “I’m only here for tonight, and I need you to deliver this.”
Noah explained the envelope to Rachel, and after a little coaxing she took it from the music man. It was the least she could do.
Right down the line, it’s been you and me
And loving a music man
Ain’t always what it’s supposed to be
Lizzy called for an ambulance, there would be no way she could drive herself to the hospital. Noah was still on tour. As she waited by the front door her eyes began to tear up, and she only wanted to blame it on the labor pains. Several EMTs arrived shortly and loaded her up in the back of the wailing vehicle. She was hoping Noah would have been on break by now. She’d wanted to share this with him.
Once she was checked into the hospital she called her mom to hurry down to help out. It wasn’t but twenty minutes when her mom burst into the hospital room lead by a nurse. Lizzy grabbed at the bed rails as another cramp mounted, she was breathless, “I need to call Noah.”
Circus life
Under the big world top
We all need the clowns to make us smile
“Noah, you’re missing it!”
“I know, I know. I’m trying,” he could hear the struggle she was having, trying to keep everything straight. He held the phone to his ear and listened to all that was going on hundreds of miles from the airport. All he could hope for was the flight was a quick one.
Through space and time
Always another show
Wondering where I am, lost without you
Tears dripped off Beth’s upturned nose. The ripped envelope had fallen to the floor, and the four page letter clutched in her hands. She hadn’t expected this. Accompanying the letter was a single, black guitar pick and a silver heart charm. These little trinkets were her parents.
Dear Beth, it read, We are proud to present you with the knowledge you deserve. These are little pieces of us, something for you to touch. We know we can’t be there; we know we haven’t been there. We know this will be hard for you, so your biological mother has opted out of revealing herself. Don’t be angry about it.
Your father’s name, me, I’m Noah Puckerman. Congrats, you can be Jewish! I’m a thirty-two year old rock star and I’m on tour right now. I’d like to say we’re an amazing band playing Madison Square, but we’re only playing the lowly bars and clubs of not so big cities. Hopefully the performance talent of your mother and I came out in you. Like, the Partridge Family.
Your mother was a cheerleader, she says I can tell you that much. The heart charm was hers when she was your age. She says it will serve you better. She’s married now. She’s happy.
We’ve made deal with each other. When you’re eighteen, and only if you want to, we would like to meet you…
The letter just went on and on.
Being apart ain’t easy on this love affair
Lizzy was asleep in the hospital bed when Noah arrived. He’d made a quick trip of the flight and rushed as fast as he could to see her. When he entered the room Lizzy’s mother smiled at him and dismissed herself so he could be alone. He set his guitar case down by the bed.
In a bedside incubator lay their child, a little boy. The little bracelet around his wrist spelled out Eli. Noah grinned at the bundle of blue. This is what it was like. He’d been through this before, but this time he would stick around. He would do all he could for this little boy. For his son. His son. He had a son.
Lizzy opened her eyes and reached for Noah’s hand. She smiled through the daze, “You missed it.”
“I know.”
“That’s Eli.”
“I see.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Whenever you want me to.”
Noah sat in the chair Lizzy’s mother had previously occupied, holding the young woman’s hand, “I talked to Quinn.”
“Yeah?”
“We decided to meet her, in two years, if she wanted to.”
“That’s good,” Lizzy mumbled.
Noah loosened his hand from hers and pulled his acoustic guitar from its case. He began to pluck out a melody he had been working on. It was soft and sweet with a little edge, just like the girl he loved. Lizzy smiled sleepily at him, and he just had to ask, “Will you marry me?”
Lizzy bit her lip in a grin, “Yeah, but you better be on time.”
Two strangers learn to fall in love again
I get the joy of rediscovering you
Quinn Fabray, now Fabray-Bryce, sat in the driver’s seat of her black Lexus. Her blonde hair spilled around her shoulders, and her brown eyes blocked by oversized sunglasses. Her car was parked across the street from a suburban home just down the street from Mr. Schue’s old place. A light haired girl sat on the porch swing with a brand new guitar, fumbling over the strings. This was her daughter.
Quinn had married young and had been married happily. She hadn’t had any children since Beth, but she wasn’t worried. She’d done her deed. She had given up the one she loved most, just to insure she had the fullest childhood possible. Watching the teen sent memories flooding, and Quinn could remember the day of Beth’s conception clear as day.
She knew one day, she would meet her daughter properly. She would get to know her likes and dislikes, her favorite movies and songs; and maybe one day she would be a grandmother. But she had given up the right to Beth the day she was born. She could pretend what it would have been like, but it wouldn’t have been either girl’s life, not really.
The blonde woman put her car in drive and pulled out onto the street, passing the house with the guitar playing teen. As she passed she sent a prayer, straight from her heart that her little girl would never have to have her heart broken as hers was. That was no life to begin.
I’m still yours
I’m forever yours
Ever yours
Faithfully
“What’s that,” questioned the young woman sitting across from the middle-aged rocker. She looked up from her menu to see him watching a family down the row of vinyl booths at their favorite diner.
“It’s been sixteen years,” he closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, “I feel old.”
The woman let her menu flop to the table top and reached out to take his hand in hers, “Honey, you are old.”
He laughed and looked up to her pretty face, “You would know.”
This was where he was now; across the table from his long time girlfriend, and nowhere near pro football player like he’d imagined. He was thirty-two, and she was twenty-six. They had met when he had still been playing local clubs and bars with his old band, and she had just been a sweet little twenty-one. He held her hand for a while as they sat eating breakfast.
Sixteen years ago he and the head Cheerio had made a big mistake. A big, stupid mistake, but he could only blame it on himself. You know, since he had pressured her into it. Her name was Quinn, and he had loved her at one point. After high school they had gone their separate ways, only linked by a single soul somewhere out in the world. Sometimes, he wondered about that little girl he helped build.
Highway run
Into the midnight sun
Wheels go round and round
You’re on my mind
He and his band would be leaving on a six month tour the same week as her birthday. Lizzy was helping him pack, making sure he had the appropriate amount of underwear, socks, and t-shirts. She sat in the floor at the edge of their bed using the small bulge under her cotton shirt to stack the folded boxers. He smiled at the image, almost afraid to leave it behind.
“What are you smiling at, Noah?”
He shrugged his shoulders and collapsed beside her in the floor, taking the stack of underwear and stuffing it in the large black duffle of his, “Just wondering what I’m going to do without my house maid.”
Noah slung his arm around her shoulders, trying to shake the annoyed look from her face. Instead of leaning into him, Lizzy stood carefully and left the bedroom. This meant he was in trouble. Noah rubbed his hand over his barely buzzed skull. Lizzy hadn’t been angry before about him leaving with his band. If anything, this meant more money for them and their unborn child. It was money that was needed.
He found her wiping down the kitchen counters to the tune of static from the radio. They weren’t rolling in dough, but who really needs a television anyway? She heard him stop at the edge of the linoleum flooring, so she threw her rag into the sink and turned to face him.
“Shelby Corcoran called,” she sighed and pushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear, “She said Beth has been asking questions. About you and Quinn. She wants to know her real parents, Noah.”
“Why are you worried about it?”
“I’m not worried- I’m, concerned, is all,” Noah sighed and shook his head, sending a pained look across Lizzy’s face, “Have you even thought about what you want to say?”
Restless hearts
Sleep alone tonight
In a mid-sized bedroom painted pink, a fifteen year old girl with big brown eyes and dirty blonde hair sat cross-legged on her canopy bed. Spread around her were childhood photos of her and her adoptive mother, with the occasional appearance of her sister Rachel. This is what she grew up with; it’s who raised her, but she needed to know more. She was Beth Corcoran, she was fifteen, and she was a straight-A student at a plain mid-western high school. Her mother had been in theatre most of her life, and eventually settled for coaching a local glee club. Then came Beth.
The teenager stacked the photos together and placed them back in the box they came from. She wasn’t like her mother or sister, though. Sure, she was outspoken and got anything she put her mind to done, but she felt there was something missing. Her mother had never married, and it took its toll on Beth.
A soft knock came at her door and she jumped to stuff the box underneath her bed, “Come in!”
“Hey, sweetie,” her mother smiled as she let herself into the room, “I’ve got something for you.”
She produced a creamy white envelope from behind her back, this piqued Beth’s interest, “What’s that?”
“This,” Shelby sat on the corner of the purple canopy bed, “Is an early birthday gift. But before I give it to you, I need to say something,” she took a deep breath, “This is a letter from your biological father.”
Beth’s heart skipped a beat, and her breath caught in her throat, “You don’t have to read it, but I have to warn you things may not turn out the way you want. I know how much you’ve wanted this, but you need to know I will always love you and I will always support you in anything you do. Just, don’t get your hopes up.”
Sending all my love along the wire
They say that the road
Ain’t no place to start a family
“Puck? Is that you?!”
Rachel Berry rushed to the tall man who had been lurking in the wings of the auditorium during the rehearsal for her off-Broadway production. She squeezed a hug out of him and stood back to admire the sharp black jacket stretched across his broad shoulders; almost reminiscent of Acca-fellas, “What are you doing here?! I thought you still hated me!”
“If you thought that, then why did you put on that display of affection?”
Rachel crossed her arms, “Well, no one from school talks to me anymore; not even on Facebook. Why are you in New York anyway?”
“I’ve got a favor to ask.”
“Didn’t you marry Santana,” Rachel pecked, “She kicked you out didn’t she.”
“No, we didn’t get married- where’d you hear that? You know what, not the reason I’m here,” Noah pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket, on the front was a scrawled name, “I’m only here for tonight, and I need you to deliver this.”
Noah explained the envelope to Rachel, and after a little coaxing she took it from the music man. It was the least she could do.
Right down the line, it’s been you and me
And loving a music man
Ain’t always what it’s supposed to be
Lizzy called for an ambulance, there would be no way she could drive herself to the hospital. Noah was still on tour. As she waited by the front door her eyes began to tear up, and she only wanted to blame it on the labor pains. Several EMTs arrived shortly and loaded her up in the back of the wailing vehicle. She was hoping Noah would have been on break by now. She’d wanted to share this with him.
Once she was checked into the hospital she called her mom to hurry down to help out. It wasn’t but twenty minutes when her mom burst into the hospital room lead by a nurse. Lizzy grabbed at the bed rails as another cramp mounted, she was breathless, “I need to call Noah.”
Circus life
Under the big world top
We all need the clowns to make us smile
“Noah, you’re missing it!”
“I know, I know. I’m trying,” he could hear the struggle she was having, trying to keep everything straight. He held the phone to his ear and listened to all that was going on hundreds of miles from the airport. All he could hope for was the flight was a quick one.
Through space and time
Always another show
Wondering where I am, lost without you
Tears dripped off Beth’s upturned nose. The ripped envelope had fallen to the floor, and the four page letter clutched in her hands. She hadn’t expected this. Accompanying the letter was a single, black guitar pick and a silver heart charm. These little trinkets were her parents.
Dear Beth, it read, We are proud to present you with the knowledge you deserve. These are little pieces of us, something for you to touch. We know we can’t be there; we know we haven’t been there. We know this will be hard for you, so your biological mother has opted out of revealing herself. Don’t be angry about it.
Your father’s name, me, I’m Noah Puckerman. Congrats, you can be Jewish! I’m a thirty-two year old rock star and I’m on tour right now. I’d like to say we’re an amazing band playing Madison Square, but we’re only playing the lowly bars and clubs of not so big cities. Hopefully the performance talent of your mother and I came out in you. Like, the Partridge Family.
Your mother was a cheerleader, she says I can tell you that much. The heart charm was hers when she was your age. She says it will serve you better. She’s married now. She’s happy.
We’ve made deal with each other. When you’re eighteen, and only if you want to, we would like to meet you…
The letter just went on and on.
Being apart ain’t easy on this love affair
Lizzy was asleep in the hospital bed when Noah arrived. He’d made a quick trip of the flight and rushed as fast as he could to see her. When he entered the room Lizzy’s mother smiled at him and dismissed herself so he could be alone. He set his guitar case down by the bed.
In a bedside incubator lay their child, a little boy. The little bracelet around his wrist spelled out Eli. Noah grinned at the bundle of blue. This is what it was like. He’d been through this before, but this time he would stick around. He would do all he could for this little boy. For his son. His son. He had a son.
Lizzy opened her eyes and reached for Noah’s hand. She smiled through the daze, “You missed it.”
“I know.”
“That’s Eli.”
“I see.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Whenever you want me to.”
Noah sat in the chair Lizzy’s mother had previously occupied, holding the young woman’s hand, “I talked to Quinn.”
“Yeah?”
“We decided to meet her, in two years, if she wanted to.”
“That’s good,” Lizzy mumbled.
Noah loosened his hand from hers and pulled his acoustic guitar from its case. He began to pluck out a melody he had been working on. It was soft and sweet with a little edge, just like the girl he loved. Lizzy smiled sleepily at him, and he just had to ask, “Will you marry me?”
Lizzy bit her lip in a grin, “Yeah, but you better be on time.”
Two strangers learn to fall in love again
I get the joy of rediscovering you
Quinn Fabray, now Fabray-Bryce, sat in the driver’s seat of her black Lexus. Her blonde hair spilled around her shoulders, and her brown eyes blocked by oversized sunglasses. Her car was parked across the street from a suburban home just down the street from Mr. Schue’s old place. A light haired girl sat on the porch swing with a brand new guitar, fumbling over the strings. This was her daughter.
Quinn had married young and had been married happily. She hadn’t had any children since Beth, but she wasn’t worried. She’d done her deed. She had given up the one she loved most, just to insure she had the fullest childhood possible. Watching the teen sent memories flooding, and Quinn could remember the day of Beth’s conception clear as day.
She knew one day, she would meet her daughter properly. She would get to know her likes and dislikes, her favorite movies and songs; and maybe one day she would be a grandmother. But she had given up the right to Beth the day she was born. She could pretend what it would have been like, but it wouldn’t have been either girl’s life, not really.
The blonde woman put her car in drive and pulled out onto the street, passing the house with the guitar playing teen. As she passed she sent a prayer, straight from her heart that her little girl would never have to have her heart broken as hers was. That was no life to begin.
I’m still yours
I’m forever yours
Ever yours
Faithfully