Over the course of the meal, they each took turns sharing their stories.

After Rachel, and the starter, Mercedes dazed the group with her tale of being a vocal coach in LA, while Sam told them how he was working with James Cameron on a sequel to the film Avatar. Lauren and Artie went next, over their main course, followed by Tina and then Mike Chang, who’d spent the last ten years in England as a professional dance teacher.

After they’d ordered dessert, Brittany declared that she was also in this line of business, although she had stuck with America – and Santana, once they’d finished college. It was no shock to the group when Finn stated afterwards that, like Puck, he hadn’t gone to college and had instead dived straight into work.

‘I didn’t think college would work out for me,’ he shrugged. ‘The only thing I kind of wanted to do was football, and I didn’t manage to get a scholarship for it to anywhere, in the end. And, besides, I knew there was a job for me at Hummel Tyres and Lube, working for Burt.’

‘Why waste money with college when you could be earning it?’ added Puck.

‘Exactly,’ agreed Finn, although no one else shared this view. ‘And, when the twins were born a year or so later, we needed all the money we could get – right, Quinn?’

She nodded and Santana smirked, stating, ‘So that’s what happened.’

Sam frowned, tearing his gaze from Santana to Quinn. ‘Wait. What? I thought you went to San Francisco to study law.’

‘I did,’ she told him, before sighing, knowing she was trapped and had to tell them as she admitted, ‘When I came home for Winter break, I bumped into Finn and… well – ’

‘He knocked you up,’ Puck finished for her bluntly.

‘Thank you, Noah,’ Kurt said sarcastically. ‘As if we couldn’t figure that out for ourselves, considering Finn’s last sentence.’

Quinn shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she hurriedly finished, ‘I had to drop out four months later, when – well, when the pregnancy really became a bitch. I moved back to Lima, and that’s that.’

‘You married Finn?’ asked Rachel, her voice slightly cautious.

She looked down at the gleaming band on her finger. ‘Yeah.’

‘You didn’t invite me, bitch,’ whined Santana, evoking a chorus of agreeable complaints from uninvited guests around the table.

‘It was only a small do,’ Quinn tried to rectify. ‘Just family.’

‘We would have invited you all if we could have,’ added Finn.

This seemed to settle the group, as they quietened down and raised no further complaints. Kurt half wished he could have been one of them, so ignorant to the truth; instead, he was Finn’s step-brother and was forced to witness the shambles of a married couple in front of him.

‘So what are you doing now?’ Mercedes enquired, moving the conversation along. ‘Do you work, or stay at home with the twins?’ 

‘I work at Lima Estate Agents,’ Quinn stated, adding, ‘Although looking after Ethan and Evan is a fulltime occupation; when I’m not at the office, I’m rushing around, trying to make sure they don’t send anything – or anyone – flying.’

‘They’re going through an airplane phase,’ Finn explained simply.

‘I noticed that,’ Blaine mused, smirking.

‘And you’re happy?’

The question felt a bit unusual to Kurt – not the sort of thing you’d ask someone, especially someone you’d never really been close enough to really care if their life was everything they’d wanted or not. But even Kurt had heard the regret in Quinn’s voice as she told them of her last ten years.

And everyone must have heard the pause before she answered.

‘Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like – what would have happened if I’d done things differently,’ Quinn admitted in a small voice, meeting Kurt’s eye as she went on, ‘But then I remember what I’ve got out of my mistakes – of what I’ve achieved, of what I’ve made, of what I’ve gained – and the pain doesn’t hurt so bad.’

Kurt knew he couldn’t have been the only one to notice that she didn’t answer the question.