Happy Anniversary - Quick
“Mom! Jack took my dolls! I can’t find them anywhere!”
Quinn huffed and lowered her mascara brush from her left eye.
“Jack, give Lizzie her dolls back,” Quinn called down to her kids.
She took a deep breath and continued to work on her makeup again, hoping the kids could sort this out for themselves so she wouldn’t have to go downstairs. Quinn needed to finish up her makeup before Beth arrived so that she and Puck would be ready to go and make their reservation on time.
“Mommy?” Quinn heard come quietly from the bathroom door. She turned to see her youngest son, Charlie, peeking in at her.
“Hi there, baby boy. What’s up?” Quinn asked.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m putting makeup on for my date with Daddy,” Quinn said as she applied mascara to her other eye.
The five-year-old took a few steps further in the room to watch his mother.
“Does that hurt?” he asked.
Quinn chuckled a little and screwed the brush back into the mascara bottle.
“Nope, not a bit. Here,” Quinn said. She picked Charlie up and sat him down on the counter next to her makeup. “You can watch.”
“What is this?” Charlie asked, picking up the mascara bottle.
“That makes my eyelashes look longer and darker,” Quinn said. “This,” she continued, picking up her eyeliner, “makes outlines my eyes.”
“Why? We can see them fine,” Charlie said. Quinn smiled at her son and kissed him on top of the head. “You look super pretty even without makeup, Mommy.”
“Oh, thank you, baby,” Quinn said.
“Why are you and Daddy going out on a date?” Charlie asked as he watched his mother finish up her makeup.
“Because it’s our anniversary,” Quinn said.
“What’s that?”
“It means that today is the day that me and Daddy got married on,” Quinn explained.
“You got married today?” Charlie asked.
“No, baby. Daddy and I got married twelve years ago today. March 25, 2017,” Quinn said.
“Oh! Like in the video where Uncle Sam dances all crazy? That’s your wedding, right?” Charlie said.
“Yep, that video,” Quinn said with a smile. “And your favorite part where Aunt Rachel sings?”
“Yes!” Charlie said with a smile.
“Quinn! Beth is here!” Puck called from the bottom of the stairs.
“Beth!” Charlie screeched and jumped off of the counter and out of the bathroom.
Quinn smiled fondly as she watched him leave, put her makeup back into her bag, and headed out the door. She walked down the stairs to see Charlie was already in Beth’s arms.
“I missed you too, Charlie!” Beth said. She kissed his head and set him down.
“Hey, hot mama!” Beth said to Quinn.
Quinn laughed and hugged her first born.
“Hi, Beth. How’s your mom?” Quinn asked.
“Good!” Beth said. “Happy anniversary!”
“Thanks, kid,” Puck said as he walked into the room, stopping short when he saw Quinn. “Whoa.”
“What?” Charlie asked, looking back and forth between his parents.
“Quinn, you look…” Puck trailed off as he admired his wife in her new black dress. The lace on her shoulders complimented her slight tan perfectly and the velvet below hugged her curves in all the right places. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said. She blushed slightly and ducked her head shyly as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear.
“You’re blushing,” Beth teased.
“Yeah, nineteen years and I can still make her blush,” Puck said with a smirk.
“Mommy said twelve years!” Charlie said.
“They’ve been married twelve years,” Beth explained. “But they’ve known each other for nineteen.”
“Mom, Jack still won’t—Oh, Beth! Hi!” Lizzie said as she came into the room.
“What’s Jack doing?” Beth asked.
“Being a pain,” Lizzie pouted.
“That’s what big brothers do,” Beth said. “Okay, well you two get going and I’ll take care of Jack.”
“Feel free to use extreme force if necessary,” Puck said and gave Beth a kiss on the top of her head.
“Will do,” Beth nodded in affirmation before following Lizzie into the other room. “Jack Hudson Puckerman, get your butt over here!”
“After you,” Puck said as he opened the door.
Puck was concerned about being late for their reservation, although he wouldn’t admit it out loud to Quinn. The fast pace of Puck’s driving didn’t make Quinn nervous while they were in the suburbs, but once they got into the city, she had to close her eyes as her husband sped through the streets.
They finally reached the restaurant and were seated at their table. They had a seat near the window with a beautiful view of the New York skyline all lit up in contrast to the dimly lit room that they were in. Despite being able to barely read their menus by the light the small candle in the middle of the table was providing, the lack of light was actually relaxing. The tablecloth was black as well, the waiters wore black, but the carpet and walls were a dark red. It was beautiful and peaceful; and peaceful wasn’t something either of them got with three kids.
“Is it just me, or did Beth grow up, in like, the past two weeks since we saw her?” Puck asked once they had placed their orders.
“Right?” Quinn agreed. “Our daughter has curves now.”
“Oh stop,” Puck said with a groan, making Quinn laugh. “She’s our baby!”
“A baby who is eighteen years old,” Quinn said with a sigh. “I can’t believe it.”
“Me neither,” Puck said. “I remember the day she was born.”
“I think most of McKinley High remembers,” Quinn said.
“It’s our anniversary, should we make a deal not to talk about the kids?” Puck asked.
“Puck, honey, I know we’ll just end up talking about them anyway,” Quinn said with a shrug. “They’re just such a big part of our lives.”
“But we can try,” Puck said.
“We can,” Quinn said. “Did you have anything in mind?”
“Well,” Puck started. “I was talking to Charlie—,”
“Talking about our son,” Quinn playfully chastised Puck with a soft hit on the arm.
“Right,” Puck said with a chuckle. “Didn’t think my segue through, I guess. But anyway, Charlie said something to me that got me thinking.”
“Oh, that’s dangerous,” Quinn said with a smirk. Puck made a face at her before continuing.
“He said that Lizzie is doing very good in her dance classes and that she must get her dancing abilities from you,” Puck said.
“Did he?” Quinn asked with a laugh.
“He did,” Puck said with a nod. “And he was right. And he said that I look like a robot when I dance, which is also true.”
“And what does this have to do with what you were thinking?” Quinn asked.
“Well, I figured that I should practice,” Puck said as he rose from his seat. He extended his hand out to his wife as the soft music started to get louder in the restaurant. Quinn could feel tears fill her eyes at the sentiment from her husband. She took his hand and stood up. Puck wrapped one arm around Quinn’s waist and held her other hand in his own. They swayed together to the music and Quinn looked up into Puck’s eyes.
“I love you,” Quinn said softly.
“I will never get used to you saying that,” Puck said with a smile. “It still makes me feel like an excited teenager.”
“There’s a lot of things about you that are still like an excited teenage,” Quinn joked with a smile.
“This time it was you who ruined a romantic moment,” Puck said with a chuckle.
“Then let me fix it,” Quinn said. She leaned in and gently pressed her lips against his. Puck instantly kissed her back softly, wanting to preserve this perfect romantic moment between the two of them.
They had known each other for almost two decades and they were still falling more and more in love with each other every day. The two of them had been through a lot in their pasts. Love, cheating, deception, birth, death, heart breaks, and that was only in their first five years. But they would both agree that they would go through all of it again, as long as they got to this point, this moment in their lives, with their three plus one children at home, with everything in their lives not perfect, but everything they ever wanted with one another.