Plans Change, Dreams Change
By: silverwriter01
All characters belong to Glee, FOX and Ryan Murphy. I'm just
borrowing them.
Note: This story was written last year after Season One's
Home episode. (You know, back when we still had lots of
Rachel/Quinn subtext). So it's true to Glee's storyline up until
that episode, but after that it changes. However, when I edited the
story, I did mention things that do happen or trivia that was
mentioned. Rachel, for example, is not a vegan but Quinn does enjoy
bacon.
Synopsis: One slushie changed Rachel's entire life plan. One
slushie caused her to get revenge on all those who tormented her
and her fellow Glee members. She never planned for that event to
entangle her and Quinn's lives.
Questions? Comments? Rude remarks?
silverwriter01@yahoo.com.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Rachel Berry winced as she saw the Cheerio coming
towards her with a slushie. She braced herself as she closed her
eyes, waiting for the inevitable. The cherry slushie left its cup
gleefully as it splattered its victim, causing a gasp which was
followed by the sound of laughing.
Rachel opened her eyes in confusion. She wasn't
covered in sticky corn syrup.
"There. Now you match all the other losers on the
bottom of the social pool."
Rachel spun around to see the former head Cheerio
Quinn Fabray covered in red slushie mix, which Rachel noted clashed
horribly with her white blouse and blonde hair. The look of shock
and humiliation on Quinn's face caused something to snap inside of
Rachel. For the first time in her life, she was
livid.
Sure, she had been angry several times in her life.
She had even been furious on a few occasions, especially on matters
that made her storm out of Glee club. But she had never been livid.
Angry Rachel Berry would huff, sigh, stomp her foot, and diva-storm
out of the room. Furious Rachel Berry would yell, shout, and then
diva-storm out. A livid Rachel Berry did none of those
things.
Rachel watched as Kurt, Mercedes and Tina rushed in
to usher Quinn to the bathroom while the Cheerio strutted past
Rachel. The future star narrowed her eyes as she watched the girl
walk away. Kelsey Smith was her name. She had never been popular as
Quinn, Brittany or Santana but now that all three had lost some, or
all in Quinn's case, of their popularity, she was competing for
head Cheerio against Santana.
Rachel calmly shut her locker and walked to
second-period Spanish with Mr. Schuester. She was eerily quiet for
the rest of the day until she went into Ms. Pillsbury's office at
the beginning of lunch.
"What can I do for you, Rachel?" The doe-eyed
counselor asked, praying it wasn't about sex again.
"I have a question, Ms. Pillsbury. Theoretical
question of course. How much punishment would I accumulate if I
were to, say, publicly humiliate several students whilst covering
them in slushies?"
Ms. Pillsbury did her best imitation of a fish for
several moments before clearing her throat, "Well, Rachel, this
school has a strict policy about such things. We frown about
slushing people and anyone caught in the act of doing so can be
expelled."
Rachel rolled her eyes. No one was ever caught in
the act of slushing someone, otherwise half the school population
would be expelled for all the times she was slushed.
"I'd say a minimum of two weeks," Emma
added.
Rachel checked her phone's calendar and nodded
happily. She could handle two or so weeks. "Thank you, Ms.
Pillsbury. That is all I wanted to know. That is far too much
punishment for me to handle and besides, it was just a theoretical
question."
Outside of Ms. Pillsbury's office, Rachel texted
several of the Glee members to meet her in the music room now. She
knew just want to add to make them all come.
"You're leaving?" Kurt, Mercedes and Santana asked
excitedly together. "As in soon? As in we won't see you at
all?"
"Yes," Rachel said. She counted to make sure
everyone was there. Santana, Brittany, Tina, Artie, Mercedes, Mike,
Matt and Kurt were all gathered around the piano with her. "But
first you have to do me a favor."
"I knew there was a catch," Santana
groaned.
"Just hear me out," Rachel said. She proceeded to
tell everyone the plan she had been brewing all day. Everyone
stared at her with their jaws hung open afterwards.
"You want us to what?" Mercedes snapped, "Are you
out of your freaking mind?"
"Why should we help you with your little plan?
You're always going to get slushed and Mercedes and I have finally
gone up on the totem pole since we joined the Cheerios. Why should
we help you?" Kurt asked.
Rachel slammed her hand down onto the piano,
startling everyone. She said, her voice and eyes firm, "This isn't
about me. This is about us. New Directions is going to show that
we're not to be messed with and no one, no one, messes
with our own."
Rachel took a deep breath to calm herself. She
hooked Kurt, Brittany, Mercedes, Artie and Tina by saying, "Guys,
please. I promise this will increase your bad-ass
statuses."
"Once we do this, no one will dare argue that you
are the top dog of the Cheerios, and the jocks will never dare to
give you crap again about being in Glee," Rachel said to Santana,
Mike and Matt.
"And as a bonus, you're all going to blame this on
me in which I shall get suspended from school for at least two
weeks."
"I'm in," Santana said immediately. The others
quickly agreed except for one.
"But I don't want you to go," Brittany said. No one
was more surprised than Rachel, except for maybe
Santana.
"Excuse me?"
"You're my friend. Everyone here is my friend. You
guys don't pick on me and you don't care that Santana and I have
sex or that we cuddle together in rehearsal," The blonde
said.
Santana tried not to blush. Brittany continued, "So
I don't want you to leave, Rachel. Besides, you sing
pretty."
"Brittany's right. How are we going to win
Regional's if you get expelled?" Kurt asked.
"You guys will just send me the sheet music and I'll
practice from home. This will give you a chance to get more solos,"
Rachel replied. She then said to Brittany, "Thank you, Brittany. I
think you sing beautifully as well, and I promise to come back.
You'll just have to cuddle more with Santana until I
do."
"Okay," Brittany brightly agreed. Santana shot
Rachel a look before rolling her eyes. She wasn't going to argue
with more cuddling. Cuddling usually led to scissoring, but the
rest of the Gleesters didn't need to know that.
"Wait," Brittany said, "I don't want to do this if
it will hurt Becky. She's my friend and she helps me with
math."
"We're not going to hurt Becky," Rachel reassured,
"In fact you and Becky are going to distract Coach Sylvester while
all this goes down."
"Okay."
"Now I want to do this on Monday. It's going to be
tight, getting everything together over the weekend, but I'll
manage it. I'll talk to Noah and Finn after rehearsal. Now Artie
and Tina, you'll need to get…"
****
Quinn Fabray sighed in the back of Chemistry class.
She glanced to the far side of the room where she and Finn used to
sit, but now Finn sat alone. He had sat with Rachel for a while,
but Man-hands now sat on the other side of the room since their
breakup.
Quinn was surprised Rachel had been so quiet all
day. They actually had all the same classes but after second period
Rachel hadn't said a word, which was very un-Rachel like. She
wondered what the Jewish girl was concentrating so hard on.
Probably her boyfriend Jesse, Quinn decided.
She sighed again as she could still smell the
lingering scent of cherry on her. After receiving her second
slushie ever, Quinn felt defeated and worthless. She wished she
could publish a second G-list but reminded herself of what Mr.
Schuester had said. She pressed a hand to her stomach and thought
about her unborn child. Quinn hoped the girl wouldn't turn out to
be like her. That she never went around throwing slushies in
other's faces just to feel better about herself.
She wondered how Rachel did it. Rachel received a
slushie facial almost every day, but she never seemed to let it get
her down. Rachel would go to the bathroom, clean up, and come out
with her 'I'm-going-to-be-a-star' attitude still intact. And with
her hair perfectly styled, Quinn mentally added.
The former head cheerleader was sure Rachel had
laughed herself silly this morning after Quinn was slushed. Even
though the Jewish singer had said she didn't hate Quinn, she was
sure it felt good to see one's tormentor get
tormented.
Quinn was shocked when the bell rang and students
started to leave. The last she had checked, class still had another
thirty minutes. Had she really just spent the last thirty minutes
thinking about Rachel Berry?
Finn, Quinn and Rachel all headed to the music room
though they didn't walk together. Quinn found she couldn't keep her
eyes off Rachel. It was just abnormal that the other girl wasn't
talking. So much of Quinn's life had changed drastically that she
didn't want anything else to change, and Rachel not talking was a
drastic change.
Quinn couldn't help but notice that the Gleesters
seemed quieter than usual. Everybody seemed to look at each other
and nod. She felt like she was being left out. Rachel took a seat
apart from everybody else and Quinn felt her heart twitch a little.
Rachel had fit in more with the group when she had been dating
Jesse, but now she was separated from everybody else, like
Quinn.
Quinn was about to sit down when Brittany came in,
crying. Almost everybody ran to her to see what was the matter.
Santana was the first to arrive by her side, actually pushing Artie
into some chairs to get to Brittany faster.
"What's wrong? What's the matter?"
"She died," The blonde cheerleader
cried.
"Who? Who died?"
"Bambi's mother. She died."
"Huh?"
Brittany sniffed, leaning her head on Santana's
shoulder, "We started watching Bambi in last period since there
were was nothing else to do. Bambi's mother died just before the
bell rang. I'm sad, now, S."
Santana hugged her tight while everyone else patted
her back. Santana said, "It's okay. It will be
fine."
Will Schuster chose that time to walk in. "What's
wrong? What happened?"
"Brittany's sad," Tina explained.
"Oh," The Spanish/Glee teacher said. He thought
desperately of how to cheer the blonde up, "Well, since its Friday,
how about we play a game?"
That perked Brittany up, "I like
games."
"Good. Everyone get into a circle down here," Will
said. He thought for a moment while everyone took their seats off
the tiny bleachers and moved them to sit in a circle. Brittany sat
as close as she could to Santana but kept a hand on Quinn's knee,
who had sat by on the other side of her, drawing
comfort.
Will put two hats on the piano and got a stack of
papers. He said, "Okay, your names are all going to go in one hat.
Now I'm going to give you all a sheet of paper and you write down a
song you want to hear sung. Then we'll put them in the other hat
and you will each come up one by one to draw a song. Then you'll
draw a name and you'll sing that song to that
person."
Brittany perked up even more as everyone thought of
what song they'd like others to sing.
Artie went first and he drew Finn's name along with
Sitting in a bar. Finn went after him and drew Mercedes,
to whom he sang Two Worlds from Tarzan. Next Mercedes drew
Santana and Akon's Beautiful. She received a standing
ovation.
Santana went to the hats and drew Rachel's name. She
happily called out instead, "Brittany."
Brittany clapped ecstatically. For the song, Santana
drew a blank piece of paper. She decided that it could be any song
she wanted. Santana grinned as she knew what would make Brittany
really happy. A song from one of her favorite movies, Home On
The Range.
"Mr. Schuester, this is going to be a group song.
Girls, come up here. No, Brittany you sit there."
All the girls but Brittany crowded around Santana.
All of them were smiling as they broke apart and Santana went to
tell the band what to play. Santana started off singing, a large
smile on her face and eyes only for Brittany.
When you're sad,
When you're feeling low
When you're hurt and don't know where to
go.
The smile on Brittany's face lit up the entire room.
Quinn took the next verse.
Think of me. There I'll be,
Anytime you need a friend.
Tina gave Brittany a bright smile.
When you're down,
And your luck runs out,
Rachel joined the Asian girl for the next few
lines.
Or if you're in trouble or in doubt,
It's okay. Turn my way,
Anytime you need a friend.
All the girls started singing to
Brittany.
When you're scared,
I will stay with you,
When you feel you're falling,
I'll lift you.
When your heart breaks,
I'll ease your aches,
Whatever it takes, I'm in
Anytime you need a friend.
Santana went to kneel in front of Brittany as she
sang the next few lines.
All our lives,
Anywhere we are,
Just reach out.
I'll never be too far.
Rachel picked up the song as Brittany leaned in to
quickly kiss the other cheerleader.
Come what may
There I'll stay
Anytime you need a friend.
All the girls sang again.
When you're scared,
I will stay with you,
When you feel you're falling,
I'll lift you.
When your heart breaks,
I'll ease your aches,
Whatever it takes, I'm in-
Anytime you need a friend.
Mercedes belted out the next few lines, moving
everyone with the power of her voice.
When you need a friend,
Come what may,
There I'll stay,
Now until the very end,
Anytime you need a friend.
The song slowly died and all of the Glee club broke
into applause. Brittany was crying again but from happiness, she
promised.
Since Brittany did not look like she was going to
let Santana go, Rachel offered to go next. A look of confusion
crossed her face as she drew Brittany's name. But after looking at
the cuddling cheerleaders, she had to smile at Santana's
thoughtfulness.
She pretended to put the name back in the hat as she
secretly crumpled it so no one would learn Santana's secret of just
how sweet she really was. When she received curious looks, Rachel
lied, "I drew my own name. While I am more than capable of singing
to myself, I feel it best to play by the rules."
Rachel felt her heart skip a beat as she drew
Quinn's name. Without saying anything, she quickly drew the song,
hoping for something entirely non-romantic. Fate would not let that
be so. She drew Your love is my drug by
Ke$ha.
Rachel's mind raced. She knew she should come up
with another song to sing, but her mind wouldn't let her. She
finally decided to take this as a chance to practice acting. She
could pretend that Quinn's love was her drug.
She went to tell the band what to play and they all
grinned. As the music started up, Rachel took a breath and then
started to sing.
Maybe I need some rehab
Or maybe just need some sleep
I got a sick obsession
I'm seeing it in my dreams
I'm looking down every alley
I'm making those desperate calls
I'm staying up all night hoping, hitting my head against the
wall.
Everyone was looking curiously at each other. They
wondered who she was singing to. Their question was answered when
Rachel moved closer to Quinn and started singing right to
her.
What you got girl, is hard to find
I think about it all the time
I'm all strung out my heart is fried
I just can't get you off my mind!
Because your love your love your love is my
drug
Your love your love your love
Your love your love your love is my drug
Your love your love your love
Quinn felt breathless. Rachel Berry was singing to
her with her incredible voice. Quinn wasn't going to deny Rachel
had the most amazing voice she had ever heard, and to have that
voice singing at you while those big brown eyes stared right at you
was enough to steal anyone's breath away. She had felt like this
before when the group had sung Keep Hanging On. Rachel had
sung the first few lines of that song right to her, singing to
Quinn that she was not alone, together they stood, and she would be
by her side and take her hand.
But now Rachel was singing a different song to her.
One about love and Rachel was looking at Quinn with quite a lot of
passion in her eyes.
Won't listen to any advice
Daddies telling me I should think twice
But look into my own devices, I'm addicted. It's a
crisis
My friends think I've gone crazy.
My judgments getting kinda hazy.
My steeze is gonna be affected if I keep it up like a
lovesick crack head
Rachel had moved to circle Quinn's chair and with a
strength that surprised Quinn, Rachel easily spun Quinn's chair
around so Quinn was facing her as Rachel sang.
What you got girl, is hard to find.
I think about it all the time.
I'm all strung out, my heart is fried.
I just can't get you off my mind!
Because your love your love your love is my
drug
Your love your love your love
Your love your love your love is my drug
Your love your love your love
Rachel spun Quinn back around as she moved to the
center of the circle everybody's chairs had created. She sang the
next few lines with so much passion that everybody thought she
truly was in love with Quinn for a moment. They then shook that
thought from their heads because it was ridiculous, all except
Brittany, who knew Rachel was looking at Quinn the way Santana
looked at her.
I don't care what people say
The rush is worth the price I pay
I get so high when you're with me
But crash and crave you when you leave.
Quinn couldn't look away from Rachel Berry to save
her life. She did however move back in her chair an inch as Rachel
started walking right towards her, singing the next few
lines.
Hey, so I got a question
Do you wanna have a slumber party in my
basement?
Do I make your heart beat like an 808
drum?
Is my love your drug? Your drug?
Huh, your drug?
Huh, your drug?
Is my love your drug?
Rachel leaned over Quinn as she finished those
lines, softly singing, asking if her love was Quinn's drug. Brown
eyes stared into hazel ones for the heartbeat of time they had
before the final lines of the song came up. Rachel moved away and
she belted out the end of the song.
Because your love your love your love is my
drug
Your love your love your love
Your love your love your love is my drug
Your love your love your love.
Your love is my drug.
No one clapped for a moment as Rachel
ended. Then Brittany stood up, clapping as hard as she could. The
others clapped from their seats except Quinn, who was still frozen,
Finn, who was thinking about the mailman, and Puck, who was
thinking he'd love to see his baby mama and ex-girl hook up while
he had a camera in one hand and Puck Junior in the
other.
Will cleared his throat, "Well, that's all we have
time for. I'll see you guys Monday."
As everyone started to leave, Rachel called to Puck
and Finn to stay for a moment. Quinn hesitated; she usually walked
with Puck to their vehicles and headed to his house, where she was
staying after she left Finn's house. They could have ridden
together, but driving was the only time she felt in control of
herself, of her life.
She would have stayed to see what Man-hands wanted
with her current and ex-boyfriend, but Santana and Brittany grabbed
her and pulled her out into the hallway.
"Did you see the way Man-hands was singing to you?"
Santana demanded to know, "She looked like she wanted to kiss you
and then kiss you in places that I'm sure only Puckerman has
touched."
"Hey!" Quinn exclaimed, "She did not and frankly,
that's disgusting. She was just singing the song and acting. Rachel
is a good actress."
"Rachel?" Santana repeated in disbelief. She
couldn't remember when she had last heard Quinn call Rachel Berry
by her first name.
"She did look like she wanted to kiss you," Brittany
added dreamily, "And you look like you wanted her too. Like you
were both drugged on love."
"Have you lost your mind?"
Brittany ignored her question, "Are you two going to
start dating? If you two start dating then Santana and I can start
dating. Then we could go on double dates."
Quinn and Santana both looked
shell-shocked.
Rachel chose this moment to walk out of the music
room with Puck and Finn, both of whom looked
uncertain.
"What's up?" Puck asked, noticing the look on
Quinn's and Santana's faces.
Brittany opened her mouth to repeat to Puck what she
had said to them, but Santana quickly covered her
mouth.
"Nothing. We were just leaving. See you Monday,
right?" Santana gave Finn and Puck a meaningful look. Puck and Finn
nodded, reluctantly.
Quinn got that weird feeling she was being left out
of something again. She ignored it as Puck escorted her to their
cars and then ignored him when he said she and Berry were kind of
hot together. She also ignored him when he said he was going to
clean some pools tonight, which meant a few MILFs in the
surrounding area would be happy tonight.
She didn't mind that he was sleeping with other
women. Well, she didn't mind if he slept with married, older women.
When he started on teenage girls, she would step in and point out
her pregnancy. Unable to keep him from sleeping with teenagers, she
had gotten Puck to start using condoms when he slept with anyone.
She couldn't ignore the irony of how a condom would have made all
the difference in the world that night she felt fat and had wine
coolers.
Puck wanted to sleep with her again, but she
refused. Just because she was pregnant with his child didn't give
him any rights to her body. She knew it was stupid, but she felt
like she was waiting on the right one. It hadn't meant anything
with Puck. She barely remembered it, and what she did remember
hadn't been satisfying. Quinn knew sex was supposed to be
satisfying, or at least that's what all those books she read
said.
****
Rachel smiled at her Dad, Leroy Berry, as she walked
into the house. She hugged the large black man, who was easily the
size of his husband and daughter put together. "Hi,
Dad."
"Hey, baby-girl. How was school?"
"Fine," Rachel replied, opening the fridge to get
the 2% milk as Leroy removed the chocolate syrup from its place in
the cabinet. Rachel and Leroy shared a glass of chocolate milk
every day after school since her first day of kindergarten. Leroy
worked night shifts at the Lima General Hospital as an ER doctor
while Hiram, his husband, did his engineering job during the
day.
Most people assumed since Leroy was big, black and
played football all through high school and college that he was the
more masculine one. Hiram, who was tiny in stature and everyone
pinned as gay the first time they saw him, was actually the more
masculine of the two. His large workshop out back was full of
woodworking equipment and Hiram often went fishing with Kurt's dad,
though nobody really knew that. Leroy and Rachel were both
completely grossed out at the thought of baiting a hook, taking the
fish off the hook, and having to clean the fish.
Both men fit the stereotypes of gay men by loving
musicals. That's what brought them together and it was a passion
they had passed down to their daughter.
As they drank their milk, Rachel hesitated before
asking, "Dad, did you ever get in trouble at
school?"
"Yes," Leroy admitted, "I was a jock and wasn't the
best person in high school. I bullied people because I was
stronger, tougher and cooler than most. I also bullied them
because I knew I was different, that I might be gay, but I couldn't
handle that. What I really was, was a stupid kid."
"Sounds like some kids I know," Rachel
said.
Leroy shot up straight, "Did someone hurt you,
baby-girl? Has someone been picking on you? I swear to God I
will…"
"No, no, Dad. Calm down. I'm fine. I get along fine
with everyone at school," Rachel lied. She hated lying to her
fathers but knew they would know the truth in a few days
anyway.
Leroy settled down, "Okay. Just making
sure."
"What would you have done if someone got back at you
when you bullied them?" Rachel asked.
Leroy thought about it for a moment, "I don't know.
I just don't know. I'd like to think I would have realized what a
jerk-off I was being sooner, but one never can
know."
Rachel smiled at her father and finished off her
milk, "I'm going to go practice singing."
"Dinner's at six, baby-girl."
"Okay."
Rachel went up to her room on the second floor. She
stopped on the stairs when she realized she was humming Your
love is my drug. She shook her head and muttered, "Note:
Remove that song from my iTunes."
Rachel was busy the rest of the weekend. She made
sure not to let her fathers see her steal every one of Hiram's
five-gallon buckets around the house and drive to all the
convenience stores in Lima. She had bribed seven clerks by the end
of Sunday. Monday morning she woke up early and skipped her
exercise routine. She was sure she'd have plenty of time to
exercise the next few weeks. After making several trips to and from
the stores to the school, Rachel was ready for the day to
begin.
No one got slushed that morning at school. The
cafeteria didn't make slushies until lunchtime and every
convenience store in Lima seemed to be out of slushie
mix.
Fifteen minutes before lunchtime everything went
down like clockwork. Becky and Brittany were in Sue Sylvester's
office, listening to Sue's life story since Becky asked for it.
Brittany had quickly stolen Sue's phone, which she used to text
almost all the Cheerios to get to the women's locker room on the
double. All the Cheerios who received the message ran to the locker
room, but were confused when they didn't find Couch Sylvester. They
were even more confused when they saw the Asian singer Tina holding
a video camera.
At the same time, Puck and Finn had rounded the
jocks into the guys' locker room. All the jocks looked confused to
see the cripple singer Artie there with a video
camera.
"What's going on?" One of the jocks said. Puck,
Matt, Mike and Finn merely looked up. All the guys, who had gone to
the center of the room, looked up in time to see a large fishing
net (one of Hiram Berry's) drop on them. In a flash, Mike and Matt
had taken rolls of duct tape and started taping the guys together.
Soon all the jocks were tied together, unable to get
out.
"What's going on?" One of the Cheerios asked
Santana. The Hispanic cheerleader merely grinned as she looked up,
as did Mercedes and Kurt. Hiram's other large fishing net dropped
from the sky and soon all the Cheerios were taped together as
well.
"What are you doing?" The jocks and the Cheerios
shouted. "We're going to kill you!"
All seven members of Glee Club pulled out a large
five-gallon bucket filled with slushie. All the jocks' and
Cheerios' eyes went wide (which is a mistake when one is getting
slushed) as they were all soaked in slushie mix. Screams and shouts
filled the air.
"Shut it!" Puck shouted, "You see this! It's on
film. Now if you have a lick of damn sense…"
"…you will never pick on anyone from Glee Club
again and never dare slush anyone else either. If you don't, we'll
post this on YouTube and Facebook. You'll be the laughing stock of
the whole school," Santana growled.
"And we'll make sure it goes viral. Wouldn't want
the whole world to know how you got slushed by some Glee kids would
you?"
"Now one last thing, when asked how this happened to
you, you will reply…"
****
All the members of Glee walked out of the locker
rooms at the same time to give each other the thumbs up across the
gym. They made sure to close the doors since all the bound, slushed
victims were screaming their heads off.
Rachel was waiting outside and once she saw the
looks of victory, she went off to complete the last stage. The
lunch bell rang as she marched the halls, looking for Kelsey Smith.
Most of the students had already gone into the cafeteria, but
Kelsey remained by her locker. She texted her other Cheerios,
demanding to know where they were.
Rachel walked right up to the cheerleader with a
large grin on her face, "Hello, Kelsey. How are
you?"
"What do you want, trannie?" The girl sneered at
her.
"I wanted to give you a chance to say you were
sorry. I'm giving you this opportunity to go apologize to Quinn
Fabray right now for what you did yesterday and I'll let you go
unscathed."
Kelsey busted out laughing, "Have you hit your head,
Dwarf? Too many slushies to the brain, huh? And what if I don't go
apologize?"
"You're going to pay," Rachel replied with a sweet
smile.
Kelsey leaned close to the future star and growled,
"You and what army are going to make me pay? I rule this school.
I'm the prettiest girl and head cheerleader."
"Quinn Fabray is far prettier than you
are."
Kelsey sneered in disgust, "You're a freak. Just
like your disgusting Dads."
The smile left Rachel's face. She said with a
hardening look, "Are you going to apologize to Quinn or
not?"
"Not," Kelsey laughed.
The smile returned to Rachel's face, "I had hoped
you would say that."
With a quick flash, Rachel reached up and grabbed
Kelsey's ear. Pinching with her nails, Rachel started walking to
the cafeteria, pulling a screaming Kelsey along by her
ear.
"You bitch! Let go of me! I'm going to kill you, I
swear to God!"
Everyone parted for Rachel as she walked into the
cafeteria. Quinn, who had been getting her food, dropped her tray
at the sight of Rachel Berry pulling a screaming cheerleader by the
ear towards the slushie machines.
Everyone stood still and no one
talked.
Rachel reached her final destination and pulled
Kelsey down to sit right under the full machines. Rachel smiled,
"I'm so glad you decided to do this the hard way, Kelsey. Makes
this so much more fun."
Kelsey glared up at Rachel at the same time Rachel
used her free hand to turn on both slushie machine nozzles. The
container of grape and the container of cherry gushed from the
nozzles to rain down on top of Kelsey, who screamed in
horror.
Rachel let go of Kelsey as the last bit of slushie
mix fell on her. She shook her hand, which had gotten slushed on as
she held Kelsey in place, and turned to address the stunned crowd.
She said, loudly and clearly with a pleased smile on her face,
"Anyone who dares slush or pick on a member of Glee again will get
a far worse treatment than this."
"You bitch! You fucking dyke! I'm going to kill
you!" Kelsey screamed as she tried to stand up. She only succeeded
in falling back down, which caused a few people to laugh. As she
tried to stand up again, she fell again. This time the whole
cafeteria busted out laughing and Rachel could see Kelsey go pale,
then red under all the slushie mix.
Rachel turned to walk out of the cafeteria to head
to Principal Figgins' office. On her way out, she met Quinn's eyes.
Rachel gave her a tiny smile before exiting altogether, humming
R.E.S.P.E.C.T..
****
"I demand retribution," Sue Sylvester said, "My
girls had been tied up for two hours before I found them. Do you
know what it looked like? It was like the time I infiltrated a
group of terrorist cheerleaders in Chicago at a Pizza
Hut."
"And my boys were in the same mess," Coach Ken
Tanaka said.
"The ones who did this will be punished," Figgins
assured them.
"I'm telling you," Rachel said, "That I am the sole
person responsible for all of this."
Will and Emma, who were also in the room, looked
dumbfounded. Will protested, "Rachel, you couldn't have done
this."
"I did," Rachel replied easily.
"Did you ask the jocks who did it?" Rachel asked
Ken. He nodded and reluctantly said, "They blamed
you."
"And I'm sure the Cheerios did the same," Rachel
said to Sue. Sue merely glared at her.
Rachel turned to Figgins, "And you have over a
hundred students who just saw me slush Kelsey Smith. If you go to
the convenience stores around town, they'll tell you I bought them
out of all their slushies."
Everyone in the room stared jaw-slacked at Rachel
for the longest time. Figgins finally shook out of his
shock.
"This slushie business has gone on long enough. I'm
removing them from the cafeteria and anyone caught bringing in one
drop into the school shall be suspended from now on," Figgins
declared, "Besides, we're having to hire extra janitors just to
clean up all the messes and that's money the school can't afford to
lose."
"Ms. Berry, what you did was wrong in so many ways
that I can't find the way to arrange the words. You are suspended
for two weeks from school and all school activities including Glee
club. I'm calling your fathers."
"That's it?" Sue shouted. "That's all you're going
to do to her? I want blood!"
"You always want blood," Figgins replied, "Go eat a
rare steak or a small child."
Sue glared at him before leaving. Ken glared at both
Will and Emma before storming out as well in his short
shorts.
Will started to protest, "Can't she come back for
Glee? Regional's are in a month and…"
"I'm sorry, Will," Figgins said, "She broke school
rules and now she has to live with the
consequences."
Will groaned and turned to Rachel, "How could you do
this, Rachel? This isn't like you. You'd ruin the Glee Club's
chances of winning Regional's just to get back at some jocks and
Cheerios?"
Rachel smiled at him, indulgently, "That's not the
case at all, Mr. Schue. We will still win Regional's. Just email me
the song list everyday and I'll practice 24/7, I
promise."
Will walked away shaking his head with Emma
following him. Rachel waited in the office as her Dad, Leroy, came
up to the school. Hiram had been in a meeting he couldn't get out
of.
A lot of Rachel's self-confidence vanished as her
father walked into the room. He gave her a stern look and then sat
down as Mr. Figgins explained the situation to him.
Leroy sat quietly through it all. At the end he
said, quietly and calmly, "Rachel, get your things. Thank you, Mr.
Figgins. Your punishment is more than fair."
Rachel tried not to tremble as she gathered her
things. When her Dad was quiet and calm, that meant he was worse
than mad. It meant he was disappointed in her.
As they were walking out, one of the large jocks,
Azimio Adams, spotted Rachel and made the mistake of coming towards
her.
"You Glee ho! You're behind this. I swear to God I'm
going to…"
Azimio never got the chance to finish those words.
Though the jock was heavy and full of muscles, Leroy Brown was 6'3"
and even more muscled. Leroy slammed him into the locker. Azimio
almost wet himself as he realized he was dangling off the
ground.
Leroy growled, "You finish that sentence and I will
end you. You mess with my daughter again, I will end
you."
Rachel reached over to put a hand on her Dad's arm,
"Dad, let's go. He's not worth it."
Leroy gave the jock one lasting glare before letting
him fall to the ground. Rachel was allowed to drive her car home
only after she pointed out it would get vandalized if she left it
at the school. Once home, she sat quietly on the couch with her
hands on her lap. Leroy was quiet for a long time before he said,
"I'm not upset about what you did. I'm upset you lied to your
father and myself."
Rachel blinked away some tears, "I didn't want to
lie. It's just that I couldn't tell you that no one likes me at
school. Between my diva attitude and…"
"And having two gay fathers?" Leroy
offered.
Rachel nodded timidly, "I've never made any friends.
But I'm sure it's my diva attitude that has caused so much
trouble."
Leroy sighed. His daughter was just trying to
protect him and his husband from what they knew would happen once
they had a child. He had just wished he had been more perceptive on
what Rachel was going through.
"Well, you're grounded for sure. Your father and I
will discuss the details later. Go up to your room."
****
Everyone in the Glee Club was high-fiving each
other. Mercedes grinned, "I can't believe it worked. All the
Cheerios have been keeping their heads down all
day."
"And I'm the new head Cheerio since Kelsey ran away
from the cafeteria," Santana boasted.
"That was amazing!" Artie exclaimed, "I never knew
that Rachel had it in her."
"And the best part," Kurt said, "No more Rachel for
two weeks."
"What?" Quinn asked softly.
Everyone turned to her. Kurt explained, "She's been
expelled for two weeks."
Quinn frowned, "But all of you were in on
it."
"But Rachel insisted on taking the blame," Tina
said.
Kurt gasped, "OMG, did you see her father in the
hallway?"
"God yes," Mercedes cried, "That is one fine black
man!"
Even Puck had been impressed by Rachel's dad, "He
picked up Azimio, man. Just picked him up. I had met Hiram, who's
this little gay Jewish dude. But never met Leroy. Glad I never
tapped that or he'd have crushed my head in."
Quinn was still having a hard time wrapping her head
about what had happened today, "Okay so let me get this straight.
All of you went along with Rachel's plan to slush all the jocks and
Cheerios, and then let her take all the blame for
it."
"She insisted on taking the blame," Tina
repeated.
"And why wasn't I in on the plan?" Quinn demanded to
know.
Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. Artie
said, "Who knows? She hates you so she probably didn't want to
include you on the bad-ass status scale."
This confused Quinn. She knew Rachel didn't hate
her. Rachel had said so. And Rachel had smiled at her before
leaving the cafeteria and not the evil smile she had been giving
Kelsey.
"But why would she do this now? Did Kelsey slush her
Friday as well?" Quinn asked, "Why didn't she pull this stunt on me
after all the times I slushed her?"
Again everyone shrugged. Kurt pulled out a notepad
from his man bag and said, "From my notes Rachel hasn't been
slushed in…over a week."
Everyone looked at each other in surprise and
disbelief.
"So who was slushed Friday to piss her off so
bad?"
Kurt revived his notes again, "Only
Quinn."
This caused the entire Glee club to go silent again.
Brittany had a knowing smile on her face.
"Anyway guys, no Rachel Berry for two weeks. Do you
know what that means?" Mercedes asked, "More solos!"
Will chose this time to walk in. He said, "I'm sure
you guys have heard about Rachel and I know for a fact she couldn't
have done it by herself. Nevertheless, we have to keep practicing
so here is the new music list."
"Lucky that Jesse kid has scrammed back to Vocal
Adrenaline," Puck remarked.
"Jesse hasn't left us," Will stated, "He merely took
some time off to spend time with his friends from Vocal Adrenaline
during their spring break. He'll be back."
"Sure," Finn muttered.
Despite everyone being happy about Rachel being gone
from rehearsal, rehearsal just wasn't the same. Everyone knew it,
but didn't want to admit it. Well, except one
person.
Brittany sniffed, "It's not the same without
Rachel."
Remembering Rachel's words, Brittany cuddled close
to Santana. When people weren't looking, she moved her hands in
places that made Santana jump and wish they were
alone.
Will sighed, "Come on guys, you're going to have to
step up to the plate. This team isn't just made of Rachel. Now I
want everyone to practice and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Oh, and
will someone take this sheet music over to Rachel's
house?"
For a long time, no one volunteered. Quinn then
sighed, "Okay, I'll take it."
"Thank you, Quinn."
Quinn told herself it was just to help Mr. Schuester
out. After all, he had been very nice to her about the Glist. She
wasn't going for the chance to talk to Rachel and figure out what
inspired the diva to pull such a stunt. Despite what Brittany had
said, she didn't like Rachel.
Quinn drove to Rachel's house. The last time she had
been there was to egg it, but the Cheerios had gotten scared when
they saw her Dads come outside. Leroy was huge and Hiram had gone
to the barn and came out with a running chainsaw. None of the
Cheerios had known the gay men had simply wanted to start a fire on
that nice night, and had not even seen them hiding in the
bushes.
Quinn argued with herself for the longest time about
whether she should go to the door or just leave the music in the
mailbox. Her curious side won and the next thing she knew, she was
ringing the doorbell. She softly gasped when Rachel opened the
door.
Rachel was wearing threadbare jeans with a few well
placed holes and a cutoff A-shirt, showing her midriff. If Puck and
Finn had been there, their tongues would have been on the ground.
Even Quinn couldn't deny Rachel looked hot.
"Quinn," Rachel said, obviously shocked to see the
former cheerleader at her door.
Quinn meant to say hello but that's not what came
out of her mouth, "What are you wearing?"
Rachel suddenly looked very self-conscious. She
blushed, "Part of my punishment is that I can't wear my favorite
clothes until I go back to school. No more argyle sweaters or
skirts."
Quinn thought Rachel's Dads should punish her all
year long.
"Was there something you wanted,
Quinn?"
"Oh, yeah, here."
Rachel took the papers that were thrust into her
face. She smiled when she saw what they were, "Oh, thank
you."
The brown-haired girl bit her lip for a moment
before saying, "Would you like to come inside? I mean, to tell me
how rehearsal went."
Quinn knew she should say no, but her curiosity got
the better of her again. She always wondered what it looked like
inside Rachel's house. And truth be told, she wasn't looking
forward to going home to Puck's. While his mom and little sister
were nice, the conversations were always forced.
Still, Quinn felt like she shouldn't agree so fast,
"Are you allowed to have people over? I mean you're being
punished."
"I am being punished. I'm not allowed to wear my
favorite clothes, leave the house, or use my cell phone. However
they said nothing about friends being able to come over. I don't
have friends… over much," Rachel finished
awkwardly.
Quinn felt something inside of her hurt for the
other girl. She knew Rachel meant to say that she didn't have any
friends.
"Well, I guess I can come inside for a
while."
Rachel beamed as she let the other girl in. Rachel
gave her a tour of the house. Quinn was surprised it had a nice
down-to-earth feel to it. There wasn't anything that screamed gay
about it except for the pictures of the couple and their child. It
could look like anyone's home.
"My parents are at the store. They like to go
grocery shopping together. They say it keeps them bonded. Anyway,
would you like something to drink? We have water, green tea, milk,
diet soda, etc."
Quinn politely took a bottle of water and Rachel
joined her by having one. They sat down on Rachel's couch together,
both feeling awkward. Rachel started looking through the sheet
music and before she could ask about rehearsal, Quinn asked, "Why
did you do it?"
Rachel started biting her lip again.
"Why did you do it?" Quinn repeated.
"Why?"
"Because it was the right thing to do," Rachel
finally said, "It was to show them that they could no longer mess
with us."
"But why now? I've tossed more slushies in your face
than I can count."
"168," Rachel replied.
Quinn looked at her partly in horror, "You kept
track?"
Rachel shrugged.
"So why didn't you do it to me? Why didn't you drag
me into the cafeteria and make a mockery of me?" Quinn demanded to
know, "I'm sure you wanted to."
"I did want to," Rachel agreed, "Just to show you
what it was like. But then I realized…"
"What? You realized what?" Quinn didn't know why she
was demanding to know every little thing Rachel was thinking. She
just had to know.
"I realized you were just as alone as I
was."
Quinn looked at her in disbelief and snapped, "I
have never been like you. I was head cheerleader. I had
friends."
It didn't escape Quinn that she was talking in the
past tense and that made her even more angry, "Just because I got
knocked up, doesn't mean I'm on your level, Berry."
The blonde stood and was prepared to storm out when
Rachel grabbed her hand, "I wasn't referring to when you got
pregnant. You were alone before all of that. Quinn, you were the
queen of McKinley, the most popular and beautiful girl in school.
But I also know you were alone. You walked in front of Brittany and
Santana, never beside them as friends. You always sat off a little
from all the other Cheerios at lunch. On parent-teacher day, no one
came to sit beside you."
"How dare you," Quinn hissed, her hazel eyes getting
dark with anger and pain.
Rachel pleaded, "I'm not saying this to upset you.
I'm merely pointing out that I would never humiliate you since you
were already in enough pain. That's why I don't hate you, even
after 168 slushies you have thrown at me. I don't feel sorry for
you, Quinn. I just hurt for you because I know what it feels
like."
Quinn wanted to run, wanted to cry. She wanted to do
a lot of things, but all she did was sit back down on the couch,
feeling empty. But she had the answer she had come searching
for.
"You did it for me, didn't you. You took down Kelsey
because she threw a slushie at me." It wasn't a question, since
Quinn already knew it was true.
Rachel tried not to blush as she
nodded.
"Why then though? I've been slushed once before with
Finn. Why didn't you do something then?"
"Oh, I did. I helped Noah slash all their tires. He
said I'm very good at it," Rachel proudly confessed.
Quinn laughed, she couldn't help it. Only once she
started laughing, she couldn't stop nor could she stop the laughter
from turning into sobs.
Rachel was sure there was nothing more heartbreaking
than Quinn Fabray crying.
Unable to stop herself, Rachel reached over and
pulled Quinn into a hug. Quinn resisted, trying to pull away, but
Rachel wouldn't let her. After trying to get away two more times,
Quinn finally gave in and cried on Rachel's
shoulder.
After a while, the sobs quieted but they remained
hugging. Finally Quinn pulled away and started wiping her eyes.
Rachel quickly reached over to grab some tissues from the coffee
table and helped wipe the tears away from her eyes.
"Thank you," Quinn whispered.
"You're welcome."
Both girls jumped apart when they heard the door
open. Quinn quickly ducked her head to hide the fact she had been
crying. Rachel's fathers gave them both a curious glance. Rachel
quickly said, "Umm, this is Quinn. Quinn, these are my Dads. Could
you two give us a second?"
Her fathers nodded before heading into kitchen with
their laden, grocery bags.
"I must look a mess," Quinn laughed,
humorlessly.
"You don't. You are perhaps the most beautiful crier
I have ever met."
Quinn looked taken back, "Was that a
compliment?"
"Yes," Rachel simply replied.
Quinn gave a real laugh, "Well if I ever want to
cry, I'll come to you. At least I'll feel beautiful when I
do."
"I hope you feel you can come to me if you do feel
like crying. Anytime you need anything, Quinn, I'm here for
you."
Watery hazel eyes met serious brown ones for a long,
intense moment. They broke apart when Hiram called, "Rachel, is
Quinn staying for dinner?"
Rachel gave Quinn a questioning look and Quinn found
herself torn. She hadn't had a home-cooked dinner in a long time.
The Puckermans always ate TV dinners around the TV at
night.
Sensing Quinn was battling with herself, Rachel took
it upon herself to decide for Quinn.
"Yes, Daddy, she is," The starlet
called.
"Good. Go fetch the rest of the bags from the car
and come wash up. You're cooking dinner. You are grounded after
all."
Rachel rolled her eyes as she stood. After a moment,
Quinn followed her. Rachel said, "You don't have to do anything,
Quinn. You are our guest."
"I know, but I want to," Quinn said as she helped
grab some of the grocery bags. The smile Rachel gave her made
something warm inside of her that had been iced over for a long
time.
Quinn helped Rachel cook, after calling Mrs.
Puckerman to inform her she wouldn't be home for dinner, and found
she really liked Rachel's fathers. They were kind, funny, and never
gave her stomach a second glance.
Quinn found herself laughing at all the embarrassing
stories Rachel's fathers insisted on telling over dinner. She found
herself drying her eyes after Hiram retold the story of how Rachel
had burst into her fathers' civil union party they were hosting at
their house. Little four year old Rachel had gotten hold of Leroy's
red dress shirt and wore it as a dress as she marched into the room
singing Fancy by Reba McEntire.
All Rachel wanted to do was cover her eyes in
embarrassment, but she refused to lose face. She said defensively,
"It was a number one hit at the time and Reba is an icon of the
country music industry."
The former cheerleader took one look at Rachel and
busted out laughing again.
"Fine," Rachel huffed, "I don't have to sit here
withstanding such treatment."
She started picking up the finished plates, but gave
Quinn a wink when the blonde was worried Rachel really was upset.
That was a new worry for Quinn, to worry if Rachel Berry was
upset.
Quinn reluctantly left after helping Rachel wash
dishes, even though Rachel protested. Quinn was surprised that she
had had a good time and as she was leaving, Hiram said, "You're
welcome back anytime Quinn."
Rachel nodded earnestly in agreement.
****
Santana sat up with a gasp. She was glad her parents
were away visiting relatives or they would have burst into her room
at that last scream.
"I don't think I can cuddle anymore," She declared.
It was only eight and she and Brittany had 'cuddled' five times.
While she was used to multiplying cuddling sessions with Brittany,
she was sure she couldn't handle any more tonight.
"Lie back down please."
Santana turned to look down at the blonde
cheerleader. She felt something inside of her soften as it always
did when she looked at Brittany.
"Okay," The Hispanic Cheerio said, "But only real
cuddling for now. We just burned fifteen hundred
Calories."
Having sex with each other was the real reason they
both stayed in great shape. Each round of active sex burnt three
hundred Calories.
Santana motioned for Brittany to turn on her side so
she could spoon up behind her. It was half for self-preservation as
she wrapped an arm around the blonde and pulled her close. It
wouldn't be easy for Brittany to start anything if she had a hard
time reaching her.
"I'm just doing what Rachel said. I miss her,"
Brittany stated.
Most people could get offended when their partner
mentioned another girl in bed, and Santana did, a little. However
she knew that was how Brittany's mind worked. She also knew that if
she had any hope of surviving the next two weeks, she was going to
have to divert Brittany's attention from cuddling.
"She looks at Quinn the way I look at you," The
blonde stated, "And Quinn looks at her the way you look at
me."
"So they want to have sex?" Santana asked, wrinkling
her nose. The idea of Quinn and Rachel wasn't pleasing, at first.
However when she threw out the fact Rachel was annoying as hell and
Quinn was pregnant, she could see how it could be hot. At least it
would have been if Brittany hadn't just exhausted her
libido.
"No, I think it's more than that. I think they
should date. That way we can date."
Santana asked, nervous, "Aren't you happy with what
we have? We are the top dogs in school. We can have anyone we
want."
"I want more. I want you," Brittany said
quietly.
Santana could feel the girl tensing in her embrace
and she knew in a minute Brittany would jump up and
leave.
Santana pulled the other girl close as she rested
her forehead on Brittany's shoulder. She thought about what she
had. She was top dog, head of the Cheerios again thanks to Rachel's
plan. She had several guys wrapped around her finger. She had slept
with most of the jocks, including the thirty-second-wonder Finn.
She ruled the school and that could all come crashing down if she
openly dated Brittany.
There was also the matter of her parents. She didn't
think they were supportive of homosexual behavior, though they were
never around long enough to notice the more than obvious thing
between their daughter and her best friend. They might cut her off
or disown her if they knew.
Despite all that, Santana knew she wouldn't be a
Cheerio forever. Somewhere down the line, high school would end and
she would go onto college off her parents' money and graduate. Then
she would start a job and live out the rest of her life, no longer
under her parents' reign. There was only one person she could
picture by her side through that all.
Brittany was starting to struggle a little,
obviously wanting to get away and run, terrified she was being
rejected. Santana pulled her back close and whispered into her ear,
"There's no getting away from me. You're mine, forever. And I'm
yours."
Brittany went completely still and asked, her voice
cracking in happiness, "Really?"
"Yes," Santana said, "I mean we can't tell my
parents until after college. But I want to just date you, just have
sex with you. You can only tell people in the Glee club
though."
"Okay," Brittany happily agreed. She tried to turn
around so she could cuddle with Santana some more, but found the
other girl wouldn't let her.
She protested, "Santana, I want to cuddle
you."
Santana started kissing the shoulder before her as
she traced patterns onto the tightly muscled stomach with her
finger tips. As her fingers slipped down further and Brittany
started whimpering, Santana said, between nibbling the blonde
girl's shoulder, "Not until I cuddle you first."
****
Quinn and the other Gleesters were going through
their warm-ups when Finn came in late to rehearsal. Will stopped
everything to scold him, "Finn, Regional's are just around the
corner. You can't come in late."
"Sorry, Mr. Schue. I went with Rachel to the
doctor."
Everyone went dead silent and thought the same
thing, "OMG, Finn got Rachel pregnant!"
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"She's got tonsillitis. The doctor wants to do
surgery, but she's afraid she'll lose her singing voice," Finn
confessed.
"Oh my god," Will replied. Quinn could tell the
Spanish teacher was afraid Rachel would lose her voice
too.
Will finally seemed to get over his scare and turned
to the rest of the group as Finn took his seat, "I've noticed that
most of you guys are just quietly singing along. I think this group
has lost its voice and we need to find it again. Everyone has to
find a song to express what they're feeling right now, and
everyone's going to get up here to sing."
Everyone looked excited about that. Kurt was
especially happy about it, but Quinn wasn't. Her hormones were all
over the place.
The rest of the week was an interesting one for
Quinn. Puck's mom had found something on top of his head while
washing his hair and panicked. He went to the doctor, who shaved
off his Mohawk to get a better view only to find out it was
nothing. Feeling like he had lost status at school, he told Quinn
that he was going to date Mercedes since she had gained status from
being a Cheerio. Quinn gave them her blessing. She was glad she no
longer had to listen to his Super Mario Brothers
theories.
Kurt went through an identity crisis, thinking he
was straight. Even though Brittany and Santana had agreed to be
exclusive, Santana gave Brittany permission to make-out with him so
Brittany could have her perfect record of making out with every guy
at the school. Santana wasn't concerned. Kurt was the gayest boy
she ever met and knew he was just trying to connect with his
dad.
Quinn found herself frowning as Finn sang
Jesse's Girl at Glee rehearsal. She was well aware of what
he was talking about and she got to thinking about Jesse's girl.
She wondered what Rachel was doing and how she was feeling. She
tried to tell herself she was just concerned for the club and the
fact they depended desperately on her voice. At least that's what
she kept telling herself as she found herself on the Berrys'
doorstep and ringing the bell. She just wanted to check on Rachel's
voice.
Quinn was shocked at how exhausted and weak Rachel
looked when she opened the door. Rachel looked just as shocked to
see Quinn and quickly slammed the door shut. This left Quinn
flabbergasted. No one had ever slammed the door in her face and it
rather ticked her off.
She angrily punched the doorbell and she was about
to start shouting when the dark haired girl opened the door again.
Rachel had a medical mask on and a notebook which she was rapidly
writing upon. Quinn took the notebook when it was handed to her and
read it aloud, "I'm on a vow of silence to save my voice and I
don't want you to get sick. It wouldn't be good for you or the
baby."
Quinn tried her hardest to ignore how thoughtful
that was, "You're only contagious the first few days you have a
cold, you know." She reached out to pull the medical mask off of
Rachel and after she had done it, she had no clue as to why she
had. Instead of dwelling on her action for too long, she asked,
"Where are your dads?"
Rachel took the notebook back and wrote some more.
Quinn read it, "They're away at a gay rights' rally for a few days
even though they're worried about me. They keep calling every
hour."
Just as she said that, the phone started to ring.
Rachel rolled her eyes and walked inside the house. Quinn followed
her, closing the door.
Rachel pressed the speaker button on the phone and
Hiram's voice came on the line, "Rachel, honey, if you're there
just clap or something."
Rachel shook her head and clapped.
"Great! How are you feeling? Once for okay, twice
for bad, three times for…"
"Hi, Mr. Berry. It's Quinn. I'm here with
Rachel."
"Quinn! What a relief you're there. Leroy and I just
can't get away and we don't like the thought of Rachel being by
herself like this. Now if we pay you to baby-sit, would you mind
staying with Rachel until we get back tomorrow
evening?"
Quinn started laughing at the aghast look on
Rachel's face. The former cheerleader was certain the Jewish singer
was going to break her silence to say several mean words to her
father so she pressed her hand gently across Rachel's
mouth.
"Now, now, Rachel. No talking. Yes, Mr. Berry, I'll
baby-sit Rachel for you. She looks like she needs a nap so I'll go
put her down."
"Thanks, Quinn," The relief obvious in his voice,
"And you can call me Hiram."
"Okay, Hiram. Rachel sends her love.
Goodbye."
Rachel looked positively outraged and furiously
glared at Quinn before sticking out her tongue and storming off
into the kitchen. Quinn merely chuckled as she followed and watched
Rachel mix a giant batch of herbal tea.
"You really should go get some
sleep."
Rachel pretended as if she hadn't heard the blonde.
This is when Quinn first discovered just how much it bugged her to
be ignored by Rachel Berry. She wasn't used to being ignored. It
was why she created the Glist after all. However having Rachel
pretend she wasn't there bothered her even more than the events at
school.
Rachel whelped when Quinn roughly grabbed her wrist
and started pulling her out of the room. Quinn stated, "You're
going to bed. Now which way is your room?"
When Rachel didn't reply, not that she could anyway,
Quinn started pulling the girl up the stairs. Rachel tried to pull
away a couple of times but Quinn's grip on her wrist was too tight.
Since she couldn't bring herself to hit a pregnant woman, Rachel
submitted to letting Quinn drag her around.
Feeling Rachel relax and stop fighting, Quinn
loosened her grip on the dark-haired girl. The act caused her hand
to slip down into Rachel's and years of holding hands with other
Cheerios caused her fingers to intertwine with Rachel's without
even thinking about it.
It only took a second for both girls to realize what
had happened and each pulled their hand away like it was on fire.
Quinn asked, hoping she wasn't blushing, "Where's your
room?"
Rachel, who was blushing, took the lead down the
hallway.
The former cheerleader followed Rachel into her
room. The room was impeccably clean except for Rachel's four-post
queen sized bed. The bed was unmade but the sheets were piled on
top, as if they had just been washed. Quinn eyed the room with
slight distaste. It was a little too white with brightly colored
decorations.
"Okay, Berry, get in bed. Don't give me that look.
If I can handle three rowdy, hyperactive boys, I can certainly
handle you. You look like you haven't slept in
days."
Rachel marched over to a small marker board on her
wall and wrote in a bright pink marker, "You're one to
talk."
"What are you talking about Berry?" Quinn snapped,
already knowing what Rachel was referring to.
"You have circles under your eyes. You should really
try…" Rachel continued writing until Quinn moved to take the
marker out of her hand.
"Okay, I get the point. But we're not here to
discuss my lack of sleep. You go get in bed."
Rachel fervently shook her head like a
toddler.
Quinn rolled her eyes and said, "Well, at least help
me make the bed. Your room just looks so messy with it
unmade."
Quinn saw the light of worry reach Rachel's eyes and
had to smile to herself. It was easy to guess what a neat-freak
Berry was.
Both girls made the bed and Quinn had to roll her
eyes at how silly the comforter looked. Once made, Quinn turned
back the covers and ordered the dark-haired girl into bed. Again
Rachel shook her head.
Quinn sighed, frustrated. She said, "Berry, it's
like this. First you sit down on the bed and
oh…"
Quinn had sat down on the bed to prove her point but
found herself sitting on the most comfortable mattress she had ever
sat upon. "Oh, what kind of mattress is this?"
Rachel couldn't write the answer since Quinn had her
marker in her pocket. It was a tempurpedic bed and Rachel was
surprised how well Quinn seemed to take to it. It had taken her a
week to get used to the weightlessness feeling before falling in
love with it.
The blonde tried really hard not to lie down but
couldn't resist. She promised herself she would get right back up
but she never did. It only took closing her eyes to fall
asleep.
Rachel couldn't believe the situation she was in.
The former head Cheerio was asleep in her bed. Rachel never
believed any cheerleader would sleep in her bed, not even Brittany,
who she was closest too. They attended dance class together and had
even made out one time after class just a year ago.
"You're a good kisser," Brittany had declared before
Santana had shown up to pick Brittany up. The blonde promptly
walked over to the Hispanic girl and pronounced, "I just made out
with Rachel."
The Jewish girl was fully prepared to die at the
moment because she was sure Santana was going to kill her. Instead
Santana had just rolled her eyes, "Does that make everyone in your
dance class now? Good, let's go."
The only time Santana had ever gotten onto Brittany
for kissing someone was when she made out with the janitor. She put
her foot down with making out with people above the age of high
school and Brittany promised to never do it again.
Shaking the memory of making out with Brittany from
her mind, Rachel wondered what she should do about Quinn. She
didn't have the heart to wake the girl so she gently took off
Quinn's shoes and eased her under the covers.
What Rachel did next, she blamed on the antibiotics
and the green tea. If her head had been clear, she would have gone
to lie down in the guest room. However since she was tired,
exhausted, and had possibly overdosed on drugs, Rachel lay down in
her bed beside Quinn. She didn't cuddle up with her, matter of fact
she lay the furthest she could from the former cheerleader. She
soon fell into an exhausted sleep as well.
When Quinn opened her eyes, it took her a while to
figure out where she was. She sat up and looked around. From a soft
glow of a nightlight coming from the bathroom that connected to the
room, she realized she was in Rachel's room. There was no sign of
the other girl though. Quinn then pulled out her cell phone to see
what time it was and gasped when she saw it was
6:03AM.
Quickly finding her shoes, Quinn went downstairs.
She had to go back to Puck's to get a shower and get ready before
school started. She was mentally planning to come back and check up
on the diva after school when she stopped halfway to the door. She
smelled food. She was in the kitchen before she could blink. Once
she was there, she could only blink in surprise.
Rachel was up and had apparently cooked a variety of
breakfast food. The dark-haired girl was just getting some pancakes
off the skillet when she noticed Quinn standing in the doorway,
looking dumbfounded.
Rachel smiled and said, "I was just about to come
wake you. I figured you should have a good breakfast before heading
over to Noah's to get ready for school."
"Is that bacon?"
It had slipped from Quinn's mouth before she could
stop herself. Puck's mother didn't allow Quinn to have any pork
products and she had been craving some for a while. She tried not
to seem eager as Rachel handed her the plate of bacon, but she was
fooling no one. She had eaten three pieces before asking, "Aren't
you Jewish? Isn't this forbidden?"
Rachel pushed Quinn into a seat at the kitchen table
and started bringing the pregnant woman the other foods she had
fixed. "Daddy was born and raised as a Jew. He promised his mother
he would marry someone Jewish so Dad converted for him. We're
really lenient Jews and Dad loves pork anyway."
"What happened to your vow of silence?" Quinn asked
before digging into her eggs and pouring syrup on her
pancakes.
"I'm feeling much better. It's strange how effective
a good night's sleep is. I slept until 4am and got up to make you
breakfast. I can only sleep a maximum of ten hours at a time
whereas you slept twelve hours."
Quinn had to stop and think about that. She was
still thinking as she absentmindedly took the orange juice Rachel
handed her and drank it. She had slept twelve hours and she felt
more refreshed then she had in a long time. She hadn't slept so
well since she found out she was pregnant.
"Well, you have a great mattress."
"Thanks. It's one of the best. Now I would go into
details on how a good mattress is critical on a star's performance
but you need to go so you can get ready for school," Rachel said
brightly.
Quinn looked down at her empty plate and wondered
when she had eaten it all, "Thanks…for breakfast and letting
me stay over."
Rachel smiled, "It was no problem. You were looking
out for me after all."
Quinn snorted. Some babysitter she was; she fell
asleep on the job.
Rachel followed Quinn to let her out the door. As
Quinn stepped outside, Rachel said, "You know, if you ever need a
place to stay, Quinn, you can always come here. I talked to my Dads
about it after you had dinner with us, and they said they'd love to
have you. We have a guestroom with its own private bathroom. It's
yours anytime you want it. And there's a bonus, the guest bed has
the same kind of mattress as mine."
Quinn felt tears come to her eyes. She fought hard
against them. She did not want to cry in front of Berry. Still the
offer was very sweet. Finally she said, "Thank you for the offer,
but I would murder you in ten minutes after living here,
Stubbles."
"The offer still stands. I mean it,
Quinn."
Quinn found herself under a barrage of questions
once she returned to the Puckerman's. Puck was all over her as she
tried to get ready for school. He asked where she had been, who she
had been with, why she didn't call, and if she was alright. She
laughed at him. He sounded just like his mother.
"I was at a friend's and fell asleep on her bed. I
didn't wake up till a while ago. Are you happy now?" She
asked.
Puck seemed satisfied with her answer and then told
her he had to leave to go get Mercedes breakfast. She smiled as she
thought of how good Mercedes was for him. She was at least showing
him to think of other people's needs.
Quinn found herself having dinner at Rachel's house
almost every night the next week. She didn't know if it was because
Rachel's dads were so nice or if Rachel just seemed calmer and less
annoying at home, but she really liked being in the Berrys'
household.
It was the large amount of time Quinn spent at the
Berrys' home that caused her to go live at the Berrys'. Quinn
arrived at the Puckerman's home after a late dinner with Hiram,
Leroy and Rachel to find Mrs. Puckerman waiting up for
her.
The older woman demanded to know where she had been
and Quinn, full of pregnancy hormones, told the woman to never use
that tone with her again. This broke out into a large fight where
Mrs. Puckerman called Quinn a no-good whore who had she kept her
legs closed, they wouldn't be in this situation. Rather than fight
back and tell Mrs. Puckerman about how Puck had slept with over
half the women in the tri-county area, Quinn packed her
bag.
She drove mindlessly until she found herself in
front of Rachel's house. She didn't know why she seemed to always
come back here.
Rachel didn't say a word when she opened the door to
find Quinn holding her bag with tears rolling down her face. She
just took the bag from the upset girl's hand and used her other to
take hold of the girl's now empty hand. She led Quinn up the stairs
to the guestroom. She quietly pointed Quinn's bathroom out to her
and softly said she was going to get Quinn some fresh
sheets.
Quinn came out of the bathroom, her face freshly
scrubbed, to find Rachel had already put the sheets on the bed. The
former cheerleader obediently lay down as Rachel gestured and let
the other girl tuck her in. Quinn sighed heavily into her
pillow.
Rachel hesitantly sat down on the bed beside her,
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Quinn shook her head and Rachel didn't
press.
"Would you like me to leave?"
Quinn merely shrugged and Rachel took that as a sign
she could stay. When Quinn started crying again, the dark-haired
girl gently rubbed her back until the other girl ran out of
tears.
"Still think I look beautiful?" Quinn asked, sitting
up to rub her eyes. She knew she looked a mess with red, puffy
eyes.
"You are a beautiful crier," Rachel said, "It's
heart-breaking."
"Heart-breaking? Why should my problems break your
heart?" Quinn snapped, not meaning to.
"It's heartbreaking to see someone so beautiful in
so much pain. I am positive this is what it is like to watch an
angel cry."
Quinn tried not to show how taken back she was by
the comment. Rachel thought she was as beautiful as an angel? It
made her want to cry again. Instead of showing her true feelings,
Quinn diverted the conversation, "Well, I'm going to pay your
fathers back. I'll get a job or…"
Rachel placed her fingers over the blonde's mouth,
"Now, none of that. We're happy to have you and we'll not accept a
penny of your money."
"Damnit, Rachel. You're going to make me cry
again,"
"There's perfectly nothing wrong with crying. It has
been shown by…"
Quinn broke up, "Okay, okay. No need to ramble. I'll
cry when I feel like it."
Rachel smiled as she stood, "Good. Now I'll let you
get your rest. I'm very glad to have you here."
"Thanks for having me," Quinn softly
said.
Rachel was to the doorway when she turned around
with a mischievous smile, "And Quinn, it's been over ten minutes
and you haven't killed me yet."
Quinn groaned and threw a pillow at her, "Don't
think you're safe yet, Berry."
****
Living with the Berrys was so much different from
anything Quinn had experienced. Leroy and Hiram were really good
parents who took the same days off so they could spend them with
each other and Rachel. They occasionally argued about things, but
nothing serious. Rachel stated they occasionally got into serious
fights, like when Leroy put up wallpaper in one room without
telling Hiram about it. She said they had to go to couple's
counseling to keep from killing each other. Besides that, Hiram and
Leroy truly seemed happy to be together and they were happy to have
Quinn around.
Seeing Hiram and Leroy left Quinn with confusing
feelings. If she gave her baby up for adoption, some good people
like Hiram and Leroy could adopt her. Then again, someone like her
own parents could end up adopting her baby.
Rachel was still a whirlwind at home. She was always
doing a million things. She spent four hours singing each day and
made sure to upload a video to her MySpace account each day as
well. She no longer received terrible reviews from the Cheerios
since they were all scared of her.
Rachel spent her afternoons with Quinn once the
blonde arrived home from Glee practice. Quinn would give her the
school work she had missed and the sheet music from Glee. They
would sing and Quinn would show her dance moves set
out.
On Sunday Rachel was gleefully going through her
closet. She was trying to pick out her outfit for Monday, her first
day back to school. Quinn peeked in the dark-haired girl's room and
groaned when she saw the sweater and skirt Rachel was looking at.
This started an hour long argument between Rachel and Quinn about
her wardrobe. Quinn won the argument but only because she
cheated.
The past few days Quinn had noticed Rachel agreed to
do anything Quinn wanted if she was crying. When Quinn had come
into Rachel's room at 3am, insisting they go to Taco Bell for some
burritos, Rachel had basically said no way and get lost. All it
took was a sniffle and a lone tear for Rachel to get up and drive
them across Lima for a Fourth-meal. The same thing had happened
when Quinn woke up craving french fries the next
night.
Quinn sniffed, letting her eyes water, "I was just
trying to help you, Rachel."
Rachel looked torn between angry and softening. She
didn't like the blonde had just insulted everything in her
wardrobe, but she didn't want the other girl to cry. Quinn was just
trying to help after all.
"Fine," Rachel huffed, "We can go shopping for some
new clothes."
Quinn brightened immediately, "First we have to get
rid of some of these. I'll just go get a bag."
Two large black trash-bags later, Rachel's once full
closet was half-empty. Quinn had let the other girl keep her jeans,
the sweaters that didn't have animals on them, t-shirts, some nice
dresses and skirts, and the incredible black corset she had worn to
impress Finn that day.
Rachel refused to help Quinn load her clothes into
the car to take to Goodwill. She pouted the entire way to the mall
with the credit card Leroy had given them. At first, Leroy said,
"Well, Rachel is still technically grounded
and…"
Leroy was just like his daughter. It only took one
sniffle and a tear from Quinn for the large black man to crack and
hand Rachel his credit card, "Don't spend more than three hundred,
girls."
Rachel was impressed at how amazing Quinn was at
shopping. Five hours later, they had several bags of clothes and
they hadn't spent more than two hundred. Quinn said she learned it
from her mother, who was the shopping queen of the
world.
Quinn hadn't wanted to buy clothes for herself, but
knew she needed to. In the dressing room, she found herself wanting
to cry as she looked at her swollen stomach. She used to have flat,
tight abs that she worked hard for. The three sizes she had grown
felt like a hundred pounds.
When Quinn stepped out of the dressing room, she
found a saleswoman in her path.
"Did you find everything you were looking
for?"
"Yes, these are…"
The woman interrupted her, "Perhaps you'll find
better clothes at another store."
Quinn was taken back, "Excuse me?"
The woman sniffed disdainfully, "You'll more likely
find better clothes to fit your…growing
problem…somewhere else."
Quinn just didn't know what to say. Usually
saleswomen fell over themselves to help her. Now she was being
requested to leave. It was almost as humiliating as getting slushed
and she felt a blush rise upon her cheeks.
"Hey, baby, did you find everything you were looking
for?" Rachel asked.
The saleswoman and Quinn both turned their heads to
give Rachel a look. Baby? Rachel had been leaning in to give
Quinn's cheek a kiss but since Quinn turned her head, their lips
meet instead.
The blonde and the dark-haired girl shared a shocked
look at what had just happened, but Rachel recovered quickly. She
wrapped a possessive arm around the former
cheerleader.
"Sorry it took me so long on the phone, baby. You
know how they get at the Capital if I leave them alone too long,"
Rachel said, smiling at Quinn. That smile turned icy as she turned
to the uptight saleswoman.
"I don't believe we've met. Rachel Berry, civil
rights attorney. There isn't a problem here with my wife's
purchases, is there? Do we need to call your manager or perhaps the
district manager? Because section 4.20.11B of Ohio state law
clearly states…"
Quinn started to smile as the look of superiority
fell from the saleswoman face. The woman also looked confused since
Rachel and Quinn didn't even look over 18. However, Rachel talked
like she was thirty. Quinn interrupted Rachel, "Honey, there's no
problem. She was just telling me she could give me a discount of my
purchases."
The woman reluctantly nodded. She tried not to shoot
them looks of disgust as they cuddled together in front of the
register. Still, she knew not to push her luck and politely asked,
"When is the baby due?"
Rachel beamed as she placed a protective hand over
Quinn's stomach, "Late May. I'm very excited to be meeting her in a
few months. I am positive she'll look just like her mother, but I
do hope she'll take after me. The donor we found is quite similar
to me."
The saleswoman gave a tip-lipped smile and glared at
them as they left the store.
"There were so many things wrong with what just
happened that I don't know where to start," Quinn
said.
Rachel smirked, "I have no idea what you're
referring to. I think it went quite well."
"You're not getting off the hook," The blonde firmly
stated, "Now what was the 'wife' bit?"
Rachel shrugged, "She was being extremely impolite
and intolerant. I thought she could use a wake-up call. My
godmothers are two powerful attorneys in D.C. so I just mimicked
them."
Quinn continued to question Rachel all the way to
the car, "And what was that about you and the 'donor' being so
similar? You and Puck are nothing alike."
"Actually, we are. We're both Jewish, dark haired
with dark eyes, nice tan skin, and we're both great
singers."
For a second, Quinn imagined having a little Rachel
coming out of her instead of a little Puck-ette. It wasn't as
horrifying as she imagined.
"Well, just don't think I'll play along with the
wife bit again. I'm already knocked up. I don't need rumors that
I'm a lesbian too."
"Well, that would be an interesting transformation.
From head cheerleader to pregnant lesbian. I'd earn the respect of
the entire Sapphic community," Rachel grinned.
Quinn glared at her as she punched Rachel in the
arm. Rachel's confident grin changed into a pout, "That
hurt."
"That's what you get for saying stupid stuff like
that."
Out of all the questions Quinn asked Rachel, she
never once asked about the kiss.
****
Rachel caused jaws to drop as she walked into
school. With Quinn's help, she looked stunning and with the added
fact all the Cheerios were scared of her, she parted the halls like
the sea. While part of Quinn was jealous of what Rachel had, she
really was glad for her friend. Quinn hadn't missed the oddity that
Rachel had gone from someone she wanted to punch every time she saw
her to considering her a friend.
At first the singer was unsure with what to do with
her popularity. She could feel her head swelling and thoughts of
running the school were going through her head. It only took
looking at Quinn for her head to deflate back to its normal size.
She smiled brightly at the former cheerleader before continuing
down the hall. She felt an evil grin cross her face as she saw
Kelsey standing with some other cheerleaders.
All of the cheerleaders scattered as they saw Rachel
coming. Kelsey made a show of standing her ground, but Rachel could
see a bit of fear mixed with all the anger inside her eyes. The
entire hall quieted as they watched the two come
face-to-face.
Rachel smiled, "Hello, Kelsey. How are
you?"
The other girl merely glared at her. Rachel leaned
forward and whispered into the other girl's ear, "You'll go
apologize to Quinn Fabray or I'm going to make what happened two
weeks ago look like a regular day at school for
you."
Kelsey gave her a glare but that turned into fear as
Rachel grabbed her arm. Rachel led her down the hall and Kelsey
started pleading, "Okay, okay. I'll tell her I'm sorry. Just don't
do anything."
"I won't, Kels. Just making sure you apologize nice
and proper like."
Quinn was stunned when Rachel marched up to her with
Kelsey Smith. Kelsey muttered, "I'm sorry for slushing you,
Quinn."
"What was that?" Rachel asked, "Didn't quite hear
you."
Kelsey turned a dark shade of red and said, louder,
"I'm sorry for slushing you, Quinn. I'm really
sorry."
"Thank you, Kelsey," Quinn said.
Rachel let go of the cheerleader and said, with a
grin, "I'll be watching you, Kels."
Quinn stared at Rachel for the longest time. She
didn't know Rachel had such a backbone. She tried not to look
surprised as Rachel wrapped an arm around her and started walking
down the hall with her. Even though it wasn't because of her, Quinn
felt a little better as all the students made way for
them.
****
The next month flew by for the girls. They went to
school and lived together. They got into countless arguments that
usually led to one of the girls crying or storming off. Just as
Rachel didn't like to see Quinn crying, Quinn couldn't stand for
Rachel to give her the silent treatment. They usually made up or
forget the argument entirely.
Rachel made up with Jesse, who had come back from
Chicago to find she had been suspended and sulked around school
until she returned. Quinn let them spend time in the house together
by themselves. Rachel seemed happy for a few days but she suddenly
became very quiet and withdrawn. Rachel stayed in her room everyday
for a week after school. Quinn would listen in at the door only to
hear a song being played over and over again with Rachel sometimes
singing along. Jesse left McKinley not long after that, returning
to his original glee club. No one dared tell Rachel 'I told you so'
since Quinn had given them each a death glare when they
tried.
However, after a few more days being quiet in her
room, Rachel started to come out of her shell and live again. Quinn
had tried to get the other girl to talk about it but she refused.
So life continued as they got ready for Regional's. There was a new
fire in Rachel to beat her traitorous ex.
Quinn continued to grow more pregnant over the month
and she couldn't wait for the baby to hurry up and come out. Her
ankles sometimes swelled and it hurt to look down and see stretch
marks across her stomach.
Leroy made sure Quinn got the best care a pregnant
woman could ever need. She also went to the best prenatal doctor in
a fifty mile radius, who just happened to be a friend of Leroy's
and saw Quinn for free. When Quinn went in for her next sonogram,
Rachel went with her. While holding the blonde's hand, Rachel cried
when she saw the tiny heart beating on the screen. When Quinn
pointed out she probably wasn't going to keep the baby, Rachel
merely stated she was just emotional like that.
"Do you know anything about your mother?" Quinn
asked one night. Rachel was rubbing her back, which constantly
ached since she couldn't lie on her stomach or bend too far down.
They both sat on Rachel's bed with Quinn in front, leaning slightly
forward.
The dark-haired girl paused and asked, in a panicked
voice, "No, why? Has someone said something?"
"What?" Quinn asked, confused. Even though Rachel
was putting her to sleep with the massage, she tried to concentrate
on what the other girl was saying.
"Umm, I mean, no. I don't know anything about her.
My Dads say she was smart and beautiful," Rachel softly stated.
Slowly the massage died off and Quinn was able to pay more
attention to what Rachel said next.
"Quinn, may I show you something? Something I've
been keeping secret for some weeks now."
Quinn sat up and looked at the girl behind her, who
looked scared, "What is it, Rachel?"
Rachel nervously went over to her stereo. She
pressed play and went back over to sit behind Quinn. Quinn's eyes
widened as she heard, "Hi, baby, it's your mom. I think this pretty
much says it all."
Both girls sat quietly as the woman sang I
Dreamed A Dream and neither said anything long after the song
ended. Quinn finally managed, "Wow. She has…a beautiful
voice."
"Do you think she's better than me?"
Quinn gave Rachel a look. Was that the only thing
she could ask?
Rachel nervously shrugged, "I…I just don't
want her to be disappointed that I'm not as great a singer as she
is."
Quinn softened and she said, "You both are equally
stunning singers. I'm sure she couldn't be prouder of
you."
"When Jesse was back, he asked me my dream. I said
to be a Broadway star and he said that wasn't a dream; that was
inevitable. He then asked what was missing in my life and I said my
mom. He helped me search for her and we found this tape in a box of
my things downstairs," Rachel confessed, "Then he left after he
made me listen to this tape. How ridiculous is
that?"
The blonde still hated the thought of the boy, but
she didn't hate him as much now that she knew he tried to make
Rachel's dreams come true, if only for a little while. She still
thought he was the scum of the Earth for leaving Rachel like that
and running back to Vocal Adrenaline.
"Are you going to try and find her?" Quinn asked.
Rachel shrugged, "I haven't decided. Can we talk about something
else?"
Sensing Quinn was going to push the subject, Rachel
quickly diverted the girl's attention by massaging her back again.
Quinn quickly forgot that anything existed in the world but
Rachel's hands.
Rachel bit her lip as she made the decision to slide
her hands under Quinn's shirt to massage with direct skin contact.
The tiny moan Quinn gave startled them both, but Rachel didn't stop
what she was doing. Not even when Quinn asked, her voice cracking a
little, "What in the Hell do you think you're doing,
Berry?"
Rachel had to smile a little, even though she was
nervous. She rubbed her thumbs in a circular pattern on Quinn's
lower back and asked, "Do you want me to stop?"
Quinn bit her lip to stop the moan this time,
leaning forward just a little to give Rachel better access to her
back, "I didn't say that."
"Then shut up and enjoy it," Rachel ordered. However
the blonde wasn't used to being ordered so she sat up with every
intent to chew Rachel out, "Now look here,
Man-hands…"
Quinn stopped abruptly as Rachel's hands, which had
been loosely holding her sides, slid around Quinn's stomach as the
blonde sat up. If Rachel's hands being on Quinn's firm swell hadn't
been surprising enough, they felt a tiny thump underneath Rachel's
hands.
Both girls remained dead quiet for a moment. Finally
Rachel asked, rather breathless, "Did you feel
that?"
"It's just the baby moving. She does it all the
time," Quinn said, amused by Rachel.
"She's moved," Rachel whispered, in awe. She
repeated, excitement creeping into her voice, "She moved, Quinn.
Did you feel her? She moved."
Quinn laughed, "Of course I felt her, Rachel. She's
inside of me after all. She does it all the time."
Rachel lifted Quinn's shirt up without permission
from the other girl and started rubbing the smooth stomach. This
action took Quinn by surprise and she felt very self-conscious.
"Umm, Berry, what are you doing?"
"Trying to make her move again," Rachel
announced.
"It's not your inner cavity that you're trying to
make this child kick," Quinn dryly said. It would have been a
harsher statement if she had not rested her head back on Rachel's
shoulder, silently given the other girl permission to
continue.
Rachel merely grinned and continued a light rubbing.
After ten minutes, with Quinn practically asleep in her arms,
Rachel said, a little disappointed, "Guess she's not going to kick
again."
Quinn moved a little and sleepily muttered,
"Probably tired herself out. Felt like she had marching band
practice in there around lunch."
Rachel nodded at the thought, "You're right. She has
to build up strength before she can beat the sides of your uterus
like a drummer 24/7."
"That's a lovely thought," Quinn sarcastically
stated.
Rachel chuckled, "You should probably go to
bed."
"Okay," The other girl mumbled, not
moving.
"You got to get up."
"Yeah."
Rachel shook her head as she realized Quinn was not
going anywhere. She laid Quinn down on her bed, grinning as Quinn
fussed a little. She then tucked the former cheerleader under her
covers and sat down beside her. Rachel rested her hand gently on
top of where Rachel considered nothing less than a wonder growing
inside of Quinn.
She wondered if her mother had ever thought of
keeping her instead of giving her up to her fathers. She wondered
if she still meant all the words she sang.
With Regional's coming up, Rachel refused to sleep
anywhere but her own bed. She eased in next to Quinn and hovered
near the other girl, reaching out to softly rub Quinn's belly
again. It felt like there was a magnetic connection between her
hand and Quinn's stomach, she just couldn't stop rubbing it. Rachel
smiled brightly as she felt a hard thump under her
hand.
The dark-haired girl glanced up at the other girl to
make sure she was still asleep as she softly said what was on her
mind, "Quinn, I know you really want to give her up for adoption,
and I'll support you in whatever you decide. It's just…I've
never regretted having two gay fathers. Dad and Daddy are the
greatest in the world and I know I couldn't have asked for a better
life. It's just sometimes…I wish I knew my mother. I just
don't want this little girl to ever wish that either. We're your
family now, Quinn. We'll always be here for you. And her if you
want."
Rachel lay down beside the blonde and turned over,
never noticing the tear that ran out of the corner of one of
Quinn's eyes.
****
"So I guess you've given up on Quinn and Rachel,"
Santana stated as they lay in Brittany's bed. They weren't always
able to have sex at Brittany's house, not with Brittany's parents
and siblings all over the place, but Santana liked being there. It
actually felt like a home, something that she had never had.
Brittany's mother, Brenda, had welcomed Santana with open arms.
Brittany's father, Johan, had been standoffish before accepting the
Hispanic cheerleader as well.
"No," The blonde cheerleader stated, "I'm just
watching them. I thought they would hook up without our help, but
they're not dating yet. We'll have to do something at Regional's to
get them together."
"And what do you have in…"
"Girls," Brenda called, "Light's out and keep it
down. Your father and I aren't as young as we used to be and don't
like to be reminded of it."
Santana was still staring jaw-slacked at the door as
Brittany turned off the lights. She whispered, desperately,
"Brittany, your parents don't know about us, do
they?"
"Of course they do," The blonde girl said, trying to
pull Santana down beside her.
"What?" Santana gasped, "They know we're…that
we…why did you tell them?"
"San, they've known I've been in love with you since
3rd grade and I told Mama about us after the first time
we had sex."
Santana became even more shocked, "And
they…they're okay with it?"
Brittany sighed, she wanted to snuggle. She sat up
and pulled the other girl back down with her. She said, as she got
comfortable, "Mama accepted right away. Papa wasn't sure you would
be able to support me so he's been testing and teaching
you."
"That explains all those Sunday afternoons he
pressured me to spend with him," Santana muttered as she wrapped an
arm around the girl.
Johan had spent many afternoons with Santana, seeing
if she could fish, shoot a gun, chop wood, and teaching her how to
fix things around the house. He showed her how to spackle a hole in
the wall thanks to Brittany's younger, hyperactive twin brothers.
Brittany's younger sister could do a lot of damage around the house
too. He showed her how to fix a leaky faucet and seal a bathtub.
They cleaned gutters together and washed and repainted the house.
On one level, Santana did not enjoy hard manual labor but on the
other, she liked learning from Johan. She imagined their time
together really was what it felt like to have a father. That
feeling didn't go away even knowing that Johan was just teaching
her things he thought she should know to take care of his eldest
child.
"So they know?" Santana repeated.
"Yes."
"And they're okay with it?"
"Yes, Santana," Brittany sighed, unable to
understand why her girlfriend couldn't comprehend what was
obvious.
"And they know we do this?" Santana asked. She
didn't give Brittany time to answer as she leaned to deeply kiss
the blonde. It was some minutes later before they pulled up for
air.
"Umm, yes, they know we do that," Brittany managed
to answer, out of breath.
"I don't want to think about that," Santana said
before going in for another kiss.
****
The next morning at the Berrys' household, Rachel
shyly walked into the kitchen where her fathers sat. She wouldn't
have, couldn't have, done it if Quinn hadn't been right behind her.
She cleared her throat to say what she had to say calmly and
rationally. It actually all came out in a jumble,
"Iwanttoknowwhomymotheris."
Hiram and Leroy looked at her as Rachel started to
blush. She almost turned to run out of the room, but Quinn's hand
touched her shoulder and she found she could stay. She took a deep
breath, "I want to know who my mother is. I feel it's time I
know."
Leroy and Hiram looked at each other and sighed.
Hiram said, holding his half of the newspaper, "We knew this day
would come. We were always waiting for you to ask. You see, we had
your birth mother sign a contract when she agreed to have you.
She's not allowed to contact you until you turn eighteen unless you
specifically ask about her and want to meet her."
"I can meet her?" Rachel asked breathless.
"Yes. She doesn't live very far away. You actually
probably already know her, or at least know of her."
"Well who is she?"
"Shelby Corcoran, the director of Vocal
Adrenaline."
Quinn was suddenly grateful for all the hardcore
training Coach Sylvester put her through because it was only her
quick reflexes that kept Rachel from falling to the floor as she
fainted.
****
A week before Regional's, Quinn and Rachel stood
outside the Carmel High's auditorium.
"You ready?" Quinn asked. It had been an unspoken
agreement that Quinn would come along. Rachel hadn't asked, nor had
Quinn offered. It was a good thing Quinn had come along since
Rachel would have never been able to drive since she couldn't stop
trembling on the ride over.
"Quinn, I can't do this. What if she doesn't know
I'm her daughter? What if she doesn't want to see me? What if she
thinks I'm a horrible singer? I can't do this," Rachel blurted
before she started to cry.
Quinn frantically looked around for help. She didn't
know how to handle a crying Rachel. She had never seen Rachel cry
before, not even after all the times she had been mean to her.
Rachel always hugged her when she cried, and she always seemed to
want to cuddle close to Quinn after a sad movie. Rachel had to be a
hugger, Quinn concluded.
She awkwardly hugged the other girl, hoping she
wouldn't be pushed away. Quinn relaxed when Rachel didn't push her
away, but hugged her back. The former Cheerio started to panic
again when Rachel didn't stop crying.
Quinn didn't know why she started to sing or why she
sang that particular song, but she did. She softly started to sing
Keep Holding On, the one Rachel had sung with Finn a few
months before. The one where Rachel had sung directly to her with
so much honesty that Quinn had started crying during the
performance.
You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your
hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
No I won't give in
Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it
through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for
you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the
truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it
through
Rachel had stopped crying as Quinn softly finished
the chorus. They continued to hug until Rachel turned her head to
place a lingering kiss on Quinn's neck in gratitude. She whispered,
"Thank you, Quinn."
The former cheerleader was glad the other girl
stepped away so she wouldn't feel the shiver that went down her
back. Trying to ignore the feelings Rachel had brought up within
her, Quinn said, "It's what friends do."
Quinn had never seen Rachel smile so brightly
before. The Jewish girl then took a deep, shaky breath and exhaled.
She wiped the tears from her face, glad she had worn no-run
mascara. She gave a faint nod, "I'm ready."
Quinn opened one of the auditorium's doors and they
were blasted with the sound of music. Vocal Adrenaline was
rehearsing.
As they walked in, they saw a brunette stand up and
shout, "STOP! No, no, no! What was that? Are you aware Regional's
are in a week? Look at Jesse here. He's been gone forever and he's
still performing better than the rest of you. Do you know what will
happen if we lose Regional's? You'll be anonymous and being
anonymous is worse than being poor!"
"I can see the family resemblance," Quinn dryly
remarked.
Rachel couldn't take her eyes off the woman ordering
all the exhausted students around.
"Jesse! I just gave you an order. What are you
staring at?"
Jesse had actually caught sight of Rachel and Quinn.
He wordlessly pointed and Shelby spun around. Her expression
matched Rachel's. It was an expression of shock mixed with
hope.
"Alright, that's a wrap, people. Time to go home.
Nothing to see here," Jesse called out. He started ushering the
rest of the students off the stage as he turned to give Rachel one
last lingering look.
Quinn gently pushed Rachel forward and that was all
it took. Rachel went running towards the choir director, who met
her halfway. As both women wrapped each other in a desperate hug,
Quinn settled herself in one of the auditorium's seats. She'd wait
as long as she needed to. The wait would give her time to process
why the kiss Rachel had placed on her neck had caused her to
shiver. She couldn't convince herself it was a bad shiver either,
like one of repulsion. It scared her to think it had been pleasant
and she wanted to feel it again.
Quinn Fabray realized one important thing as she
watched the mother and daughter reconnect for over an hour. She
wasn't going to give up her daughter. She knew it would be hard and
she would probably always be in debt since she would refuse to live
off the Berrys' kindness forever, but she wanted to keep her baby.
She rubbed a hand over her belly and whispered, "It's going to be
me and you, kiddo."
The thump she felt against her hand reassured Quinn
she had made the right decision.
Quinn's head shot up as Rachel shrieked, "You want
me to what?" She was out of her chair and by Rachel's side as fast
as a pregnant, former cheerleader could move.
"Just consider it, Rachel," Shelby
pleaded.
Rachel was silent for a long moment before shaking
her head, "I'm sorry. The offer is very tempting, but I can't do
it. I think it's time for us to go."
"Rachel, even if you don't accept my offer, I really
want to see you again," Shelby said, her dark eyes (exactly like
Rachel's, Quinn realized) filled with unshed tears. She worried she
would lose her daughter all over again.
Rachel smiled as she gave the woman a bone-crushing
hug, "I want to see you again too. You should come by the house for
dinner."
"I'd like that," Shelby whispered.
"Then I'll see you soon…Mom."
Quinn had a soft smile on her face as she followed
Rachel to the car. The dark-haired girl couldn't look happier,
like her dreams had just come true. Seeing Rachel so happy made
Quinn happy.
As they drove back to Lima, Quinn tentatively asked,
"What was her offer?"
Rachel didn't answer for a moment. She finally said,
"She asked me to transfer to Carmel High. She said she could have
me transferred in a day and I could have the female lead's solos
and she'd practice with me day and night so I'd be ready within the
week for Regional's. She said with Jesse and I, there's no losing
Regional's or National's. She said we'd get to spend so much time
together and that Jesse couldn't get his mind off of
me."
Quinn was stunned. She pulled off the road because
she was sure she couldn't concentrate enough to drive. Rachel had
just turned down a path that would surely lead her straight to
Julliard and Broadway. With a team like Vocal Adrenaline and a
leading male like Jesse, Quinn had no doubt Rachel would go on to
easily win National's. That would bring Rachel the attention and
fame she so craved and winning the show choir national competition
looked really good on a Julliard application. Rachel had just
turned down the chance of a lifetime and Quinn couldn't understand
why.
"Why?" The blonde demanded, "Why did you turn it
down?"
Rachel softly smiled, "I already have a team that's
going to win National's. I see no need to change."
Quinn couldn't stop herself. She would later have no
clue as to why she did it. Maybe it was Rachel's selfless act that
prompted her or maybe she had just really wanted to, but Quinn
kissed Rachel on the lips right there on the side of the road. It
was hard to tell which girl was more surprised.
"W…w…why did you...you…just do
that?" Rachel stuttered like Tina once had.
Quinn didn't have an answer for that. So she changed
the subject while trying to keep herself composed, "I decided I'm
going to keep my baby."
She jumped as Rachel let out a squeal and wrapped
the blonde in a hug as best as she could in the car. Rachel kissed
the blonde on the lips before excitingly stating, "Wait until I
tell Dad and Daddy. They're going to be so happy. You're family
now, Quinn, and your daughter will be our family
too."
Quinn was shocked still at the second kiss she and
Rachel shared that day, "Why did you just kiss me?"
Rachel froze. She had whipped out her phone,
excitingly texting her fathers. She cleared her throat, "I…I
guess because it was good news?"
"Yeah," Quinn readily agreed, "That's why I kissed
you too. It was good news."
"Yes, good news. Kissing for good news is okay,"
Rachel stated. It was perhaps the most unintelligent statement that
had ever come out of her mouth.
****
It was now June and everyone was nervous and excited
at Regional's. Since it was a two day event, they had four rooms
reserved at the Holiday Inn Express with Mr. Schuester watching the
boys and Ms. Pillsbury keeping an eye on the girls. Principal
Figgins had told them there was no budget for a hotel but after
another one of Puck's bake sales, they had easily raised the
money.
Tina and Mercedes were rooming with Ms. Pillsbury
while Brittany, Santana, Quinn and Rachel shared the other room.
This arrangement was thanks to Brittany, who pulled some strings
with Tina and Mercedes. The two had easily agreed. Even though
Rachel was acting a lot better with the other members of Glee, she
was still a bit much to handle.
"You girls make sure to go right to sleep," Ms.
Pillsbury stated as she checked on them one last time at 9pm, "The
body needs nine hours of sleep to perform the best each day. Now I
left some disinfecting spray in the bathroom. Call me if you need
anything."
As soon as Emma had left, Brittany said, bouncing on
the double bed she was sharing with Santana, "Let's play truth or
dare."
Quinn groaned, "We've played that a dozen times
before, Brittany. I know everything there is to know about you and
Santana's sex life via Cheerio sleepovers."
Brittany sniffed, "I just wanted to play with you
and Rachel."
Santana didn't even have time to draw up a glare
before Quinn gave in, "Okay, okay. We'll play."
"Don't I get a say in the matter?" Rachel asked as
she slipped into the bed she would share with Quinn. Sharing with
Quinn wasn't going to be a problem for the dark-haired girl. Late
night talks had led them either to both sleep in her or Quinn's bed
together each night in the past week.
"No," All the other girls replied simultaneously.
Rachel huffed as she folded her arms across her
chest.
Quinn rolled her eyes as she got in beside the
brunette. She took Rachel's hand and placed it on her stomach,
"She's kicking like a soccer player."
Rachel's bad mood vanished as she felt the thumping
under her hand.
"Like a dancer," Rachel corrected with a soft
smile.
Brittany jumped across the room for a chance to
feel as well, dragging a reluctant Santana with her. While the
blonde placed her hand on Quinn's stomach, the Hispanic cheerleader
hesitated. Rachel finally reached up and grabbed the other girl's
hand to bring it down on Quinn's stomach. Santana's eyes widened,
"That's so weird."
When the baby quieted back down, Brittany and
Santana removed their hands from Quinn's stomach and went back to
their own bed. Brittany excitedly said, "Rachel, truth or
dare?"
Rachel sighed, "Truth."
"Coward," Santana snickered.
Brittany shushed her girlfriend and turned to
Rachel, "What was sex like with Jesse?"
Quinn turned her full attention to Rachel, who was
suddenly blushing. Quinn softly said, "You don't have to tell
us."
"I…we didn't have sex. I backed out at the
last minute," Rachel confessed, unable to look at any of
them.
The room was quiet for a moment before Quinn covered
Rachel's hand with hers. "It's your turn."
"Oh. Right. Santana, truth or dare?"
"Dare," The girl proudly declared. Quinn rolled her
eyes, "There's pretty much nothing Santana hasn't done, Rachel.
Better make it good."
"I dare you to take your underwear
off."
Santana smirked. She was wearing a tank top and
short gyms shorts, but nothing else and she told Rachel so, "I have
nothing on under here."
Rachel blinked, "Oh, well, I dare you to go get a
bucket of ice without your shirt on."
Santana rolled her eyes, "Child's
play."
Without a second's hesitation, Santana ripped of her
shirt. All three girls watched her leave the room, her breasts
leading the way. From the hallway, they heard Santana cheerfully
say, "Hi, Ms. Pillsbury. Just getting some ice."
A minute later, Santana came back in the room with a
full bucket of ice.
"Must have been cold at the ice machine," Quinn
dryly stated, unable to miss the detail that Santana's nipples were
hard.
"It was," Santana said. She didn't even bother to
put her shirt back on, "Quinn, truth or dare?"
And so the game continued. Before long, all the girls
were missing some article of clothing. Quinn and Rachel had lost
their shorts while Brittany had lost her shirt, though she was
wearing a bra.
"Rachel, truth or dare?" Santana asked. Brittany had
given her the sign that it was time to start things.
"Truth,"
"Coward," Santana repeated, "Have you kissed a
girl?"
"Yes," The Jewish girl easily
replied.
"Who?" The question had come out of Quinn's mouth
before she could stop herself.
"It's not your turn," Rachel reprimanded. She turned
right back on her questioner, "Truth or dare,
Santana?"
"Dare," Santana proudly stated. Rachel grinned
evilly, "I dare you not to touch Brittany for 10
minutes."
Santana's face fell, "That's not a dare! That's
cruelty."
"Are you going to not fulfill the
dare?"
"No," Santana growled as she pulled out her cell to
set the timer. It was going to be a long ten minutes of being in
bed with Brittany and not touch her. All throughout the game they
had been holding hands or cuddling. "Quinn, truth or
dare."
"Dare," The pregnant girl bravely
replied.
It was Santana's turn to grin evilly, "You have to
touch Rachel as I would touch Brit until my time is
up."
Quinn hesitated. It was one thing to hug or sleep in
the same bed. It was an entirely different thing to touch Rachel as
Santana touched Brittany. They would be touches of love and
desire.
"Just pretend it's the two of us watching a movie,"
Rachel softly suggested. So Quinn rested her head on Rachel's
shoulder and cuddled into her side where her baby bump fit nicely.
She asked after she rested her hand on Rachel's stomach, "Rachel,
which girls have you kissed?"
"Since when do I not get a choice of truth or
dare?"
"Since dare would require you to move and you're not
allowed to until Santana is allowed to touch Brittany. Now
answer."
Rachel shook her head, "I've made out with Brittany
and a girl from dance camp once. Kelsey Smith actually kissed me in
the bathroom the other day."
"What?" All three other girls
exclaimed.
Rachel shrugged, "It was weird. She kissed me then
slipped a piece of paper into my pocket that had her phone number
and address. She said if I ever wanted to punish her in private
just give her a call. I found the entire situation very
strange."
Santana and Quinn were left jaw-slacked. Brittany
had already lost interest in what Rachel was saying. She was
concentrating on how Quinn was still cuddled up to Rachel and
preparing for the big dare of the night. Santana finally said,
"Well, I always thought Kelsey enjoyed getting chewed out by Coach
Sylvester a little too much. Now I know why."
The game of truth or dare slowly dwindled down into
lazy questions. When the timer went off, it was actually Brittany
that jumped Santana, pushing her back onto the bed for a kiss.
Quinn reluctantly moved away from Rachel, missing her warmth and
comfort immediately. After a long kiss, Brittany sat back up. It
was her turn.
"Rachel, truth or dare?"
"You know she'll just choose truth," Santana
sneered, "She is a wimp like that."
Rachel huffed, "Fine, I choose dare."
"I dare you to kiss Quinn for a minute," Brittany
sweetly said. Santana tried not to laugh at the stunned looks on
Quinn's and Rachel's faces.
"You want Berry to what with me for a
minute?"
"Kiss."
Quinn was firmly shaking her head while Rachel still
seemed stunned.
"I knew she wouldn't do it," Santana
sneered.
That snapped Rachel out of her trance. She turned to
Quinn and before kissing her, she whispered, "It's just good
news."
Quinn went dead still as Rachel's lips touched hers.
They had kissed three times before, but those were accidents at
best.
Brittany and Santana watched as for ten seconds,
Quinn just let Rachel kiss her. But after that, Quinn started
kissing back. She felt Rachel push closer to her and slide a hand
to the small of her back. Their lips overlapped, suckling, and once
Quinn gently nipped Rachel's lover lip.
A minute can go by either really fast or really
slow. To the two kissing girls, it seemed like they had just
started when another voice interrupted them. Rachel and Quinn were
on the forty-five second mark when Ms. Pillsbury walked in. For ten
seconds she could only gape at them. She loudly cleared her throat,
"Girls, lights out now. I mean it."
Rachel and Quinn jumped apart at the sound of Ms.
Pillsbury's voice. Santana sighed, "Fine, if we
gotta."
She turned out the lights and got under the covers
with Brittany. She felt Brittany cuddle up to her and after a
moment, felt someone kissing her neck.
Rachel and Quinn lay on opposite sides of the bed,
still breathing hard from what they had just done. Their hearts
were pounding and they weren't sure of what to make of the
situation.
They could both hear sounds coming from the other
bed and it wasn't making matters any better. Santana would let out
a soft sigh or Brittany would whimper. Quinn finally snapped,
"Either you two knock it off or I swear to God I'll stuff you both
in the ice machine."
"I'd like to see you try," Santana growled. She was
in a tough situation. She was horny, both from Brittany's doing and
the show Rachel and Quinn had put on. The Hispanic cheerleader knew
she wouldn't be able to sleep until she had an orgasm. She didn't
really want to do it in front of Preggers or the Dwarf
though.
Brittany showed just how smart she really was. She
sat up and said, grabbing Santana's hand, "I need to shower.
Santana, would you help me wash my back?"
Santana didn't even answer as they both rushed to
the bathroom. Quinn sighed as she heard a moan before the shower
turned on full blast.
"Should we discuss what happened between us?" Rachel
asked softly into the dark.
Quinn snapped, feeling on edge and vulnerable,
"Nothing happened. It was just a stupid dare. I didn't even like
it. I like men if you couldn't tell from my
situation"
"You didn't like it?" Rachel asked, sitting up and
turning to look where she thought Quinn lay. "You were the one who
tried to slip your tongue in my month at the end."
Quinn growled, "I was just putting on a good show.
As soon as they are out of the bathroom, I'm going to brush my
month out with bleach. I don't know of anything stronger to get
your bad taste off my lips."
Rachel didn't say anything and that's how Quinn knew
she had really hurt the shorter girl. She felt the girl lie back
down.
Another 15 minutes went by before Brittany and
Santana came out of the bathroom. They looked happy and fell right
to sleep. It took Quinn a lot longer to fall asleep and she was
sure Rachel was still up when she did.
Quinn woke up at 7am, a habit learned from living
with Rachel. She frowned when she saw Rachel was not beside her nor
anywhere in the room.
The rest of the day flew by quickly for the Glee
Club. They watched Aural Intensity perform amazingly for the
star-quest judges. They couldn't believe Coach Sylvester was on the
panel of judges as well. They just knew they would
lose.
Quinn was upset not only because she thought they
were going to lose, but also because Rachel wasn't speaking to
her.
Will gave everyone a pep talk right before it was
time for them to go on. It seemed to lift their
spirits.
Quinn looked at Rachel right before the group split
up. Rachel caught her eye but said nothing as she and Finn went to
the back of the auditorium. Quinn frowned as she and the rest of
the group took their place behind the giant curtain. Why couldn't
she have handled the situation better last night? All this tension
was making her stomach hurt.
They performed their tribute to Journey by singing
Faithfully, a mash-up of Anyway you want it and
Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin', and Don't Stop
Believing. They sang and danced with all their heart, and when
it was over, they couldn't be more proud of
themselves.
Just as they walked back into their dressing room,
Quinn stopped dead in her tracks. The look on her face caused Artie
to ask, "What's wrong?"
"I think my water just broke," Quinn stated rather
calmly.
Rachel was by her side in a split second, "It just
broke? Are you having contractions? How's your pain
level?"
The whole group broke into chaos. They quickly
started rushing Quinn to their bus to take her to the
hospital.
"What about the competition?" Tina
asked.
"Screw the competition. We're going to the
hospital," Rachel snapped. She ordered, "Kurt, my fathers are in
the audience. Would you please go find them and tell them what has
happened?"
Kurt nodded and with Mercedes by his side, they went
to find Rachel's parents.
Rachel never let go of Quinn's hand the entire time.
With Puck on one side and Rachel on the other, Quinn gave birth to
her child. There was a lot of screaming and shouting, but she
finally pushed out her baby.
Puck and Rachel held their breaths as the nurse
cleaned the baby up and cleared her airways. When the baby started
to cry, they let out a heavy sigh of relief. Puck went out to tell
everybody his daughter was here. He also bragged that she had hair
and it was pointing straight up like a Mohawk.
Quinn was exhausted. She barely had enough energy to
pass the placenta before collapsing. She was barely aware Rachel
was still holding her hand until Rachel finally let
go.
"Is she okay?" Quinn tiredly asked.
Rachel beamed, "She's perfect. Ten fingers, ten
toes, and a touch of black hair that really does look like a
Mohawk. Don't worry, we can fix that."
Quinn smiled. She continued to smile as Rachel wiped
her face and soothed her hair down.
"Why are you crying?" Rachel asked.
Quinn hadn't known she had been. She finally said,
"I'm glad you were here. I'm sorry for…upsetting you last
night."
Rachel shook her head, "Don't worry about it. Now
here comes your daughter."
Quinn struggled to sit up as her baby was placed in
her arms. Quinn felt her heart melt as she gazed down at the most
beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
"Isn't she beautiful, Rachel?"
"Yes," Rachel gushed, "She's
beautiful."
"It is a Mohawk, isn't it?" Quinn smiled, looking at
her daughter's pointed tuft of hair.
Rachel gently ran a finger across the baby's head,
afraid to touch her but couldn't stop herself. She smiled, "She's
perfect."
Puck came back into the room at the same time as the
nurse asked, "What is the baby's name?"
Quinn smiled, "Her name is Beth. Beth Joy
Fabray."
"Why Joy?" Rachel asked. She had been asking Quinn
what she was going to name the baby, but Quinn had been keeping it
a secret.
"Because it's a synonym of glee and Glee has come to
mean the world to me."
Both Puck and Rachel smiled. Puck snapped pictures
with a camera that one of Rachel's Dads had given him and went back
to show the other Glee members his daughter, Beth
Joy.
Quinn was moved to another hospital room while all
the Gleeks, except Rachel and Puck, went back to Regional's to see
how they did. When Rachel learned they didn't even place, she just
shrugged. Suddenly, the world seemed so much bigger. What was the
point of worrying over Regional's when she had Quinn and the baby
to think about?
****
The rest of the summer seemed to fly by for Rachel
and Quinn. Hiram and Leroy had transformed half of Quinn's room
into a nursery by the time Quinn arrived home from the hospital.
The first week was actually easy but after that, it seemed like
Beth never wanted to stop crying. Rachel finished the last few
weeks of school with bags under her eyes. Quinn took her last exams
of her freshman year from home.
Quinn was never more grateful to have Hiram and
Leroy living with her. The blonde cried when they asked if they
could be Beth's grandfathers and she made them cry when she got
them matching "#1 Grandpa" shirts. Not only were they good
grandfathers, they knew how to handle a baby who wouldn't stop
crying.
Lucky for Quinn and Rachel, Beth seemed to calm down
when someone sang to her. Even though they were too tired to sing
sometimes, they had a whole group of friends ready to come by and
sing for them.
Puck spent a lot of time with his daughter at the
Berry household. He spent so much time there that Hiram ended up
becoming very impressed with him. When summer vacation started,
Puck didn't clean pools. He worked in one of Hiram's construction
crews as a part-time laborer. He made more money than he did in his
pool cleaning business and gave Quinn half of what he made as
child-support. Puck hated hard work, but there was also something
satisfying about seeing a completed building that he had helped
make with his own two hands. Also it made him even more buff and
women seemed to like a man who could work with his
hands.
Quinn knew she never would have made it without
Rachel by her side. Somehow the girl she had hated the most in the
world had turned into her closest companion. They never brought up
the night before Regional's.
****
Quinn Fabray would never forget the moment she
realized she was in love with Rachel Barbra Berry. It was also the
same moment she realized she wanted Rachel Barbra
Berry.
Time seemed to fly by at the Berry household. Summer
had passed and the girls had started back school. Beth was doing
well in an open-minded daycare and Quinn had gotten a part-time job
at a doctor's office as a desk assistant. The doctor was a friend
of Leroy.
Halloween came and went with over two hundred
pictures of 5-month-old Beth in her tiny pumpkin
costume.
Rachel would swear that even though Beth had black
hair and dark eyes, she looked just like Quinn. Quinn would
occasionally tease Rachel that it was nurture vs. nature and that
Beth looked more like the diva than herself or Puck.
Thanksgiving saw all of Rachel's extended family
gathered into their house and Quinn didn't see her baby for the
rest of the day since Beth was awed over and passed from one person
to the next. Rachel held Quinn later that night as the blonde cried
from being so openly accepted as part of the family.
The day Quinn realized she was in love with Rachel
was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Leroy and Hiram had driven
five hours away to see Leroy's sister and wouldn't be back until
Sunday evening. Rachel usually went with her parents but decided
Quinn and Beth needed her more.
It was an ordinary day just with leftover turkey
sandwiches. Santana and Brittany had come over for a while to play
with Beth. They only left when Brittany and Beth had tired each
other out. Quinn and Rachel had been sitting on the couch together
when Rachel decided it was time for Beth to have her bath and be
put down to sleep.
Rachel took Beth upstairs and after a few minutes,
the former cheerleader heard so much giggling coming from the
bathroom that she decided to go watch from the
doorway.
Beth sat in a few inches of water with her bath
chair. She was giggling and lifting a washcloth up and down with
her arms. Rachel cooed, "Yes, you like a nice bath. You like to be
clean."
Quinn rolled her eyes even though she knew everyone
talked that way to Beth. People couldn't help
themselves.
Beth laughed and splashed more water. Some got onto
Rachel and Rachel looked down at her shirt.
"Look what you did? Do you see what you did? You
should be ashamed of yourself," Rachel teasingly scolded. Beth
responded by putting the wash cloth in her mouth. She never noticed
Quinn behind her.
"I bet you'll be a swimmer when you grow up, hmm?
You sure love the water. You can swim and go to the Olympics. Or
how about a singer? Would you like that? It doesn't matter if you
can't talk yet. I've listened very closely to you and you have
perfect pitch already. Puck says you're strong like him so you're
going to be a football player. I think you can be whatever you want
to be and I'll be there for you no matter what. Whether it's at
your swim meet, Glee concerts, or football game. I promise I'm
going to be there for you and your Mommy no matter what. I love you
both very, very much."
Quinn didn't know how someone could hear an honest
confession like that and not fall a little bit in love with that
person. Of course Quinn had gradually been falling in love with
Rachel over the months. She just hadn't recognized it until now.
They did everything couples did. Well, they did everything couples
with a baby did, she mentally corrected herself. It had taken a
while but once she got past all the things that Rachel did that
annoyed the hell out of her, she found an incredibly loyal, honest
and kind person. That person who loved her daughter as if she were
her own and treated Quinn better than Puck or Finn had. Quinn asked
herself how could she not be in love with Rachel
Berry?
Beth replied to Rachel's promise and love
declaration by splashing her with more water. The front of Rachel's
top was now completely soaked. Rachel gave a false heavy sigh and
said, "Well, if you can't beat them, join them."
Rachel wiped off her top and Quinn very quickly
noticed that Rachel wasn't wearing a bra. Quinn left the doorway of
the bathroom feeling flushed. She didn't know what was the matter
with herself. She often took off her top to bath Beth or even just
took a bath with her baby. Why did seeing Rachel without her bra on
make her feel so… warm?
The blonde knew the answer and she knew why Finn
kept trying to get Rachel back. Her breasts were amazing. Quinn was
shocked still as the mental image of touching those amazing breasts
while kissing Rachel's soft mouth flashed into her
head.
"Oh God," she said, "I can never think that
again."
Of course since she said that, she couldn't help but
think about it. She also kept thinking about all the times Rachel
touched her, massaging her shoulders, scratching her scalp lightly
with her nails. She wondered what it would be like to have those
nails rack down her back…
"I have got to stop this," Quinn growled, shaking
her head. She was feeling an uncommon throbbing between her
legs.
The blonde had felt absolutely no sexual desire
since the birth of her baby. Having someone rip apart your genitals
does that to a person. Even before than Quinn had never felt much
sexual desire. She had never even masturbated before so the thought
of wanting someone, of wanting to do something sexual with someone
was very unsettling for Quinn.
Quinn collapsed on her bed and groaned. She couldn't
get Rachel's breasts out of her mind. Is that what Santana and
Brittany thought about all the time? Is that why they were forever
having sex?
A few minutes later Rachel came into Quinn's room
with herself and Beth wrapped in a towel. Rachel grinned,
"Reporting for inspection ma'am. Presenting one clean
baby."
Quinn had to smile as she got up from her bed. She
went to tickle Beth's side, making her giggle.
"Well, she seems pretty clean."
Quinn leaned forward to make a show of smelling Beth
(though who didn't enjoy the smell of a fresh, clean baby?) and
when she did, she came very close to Rachel's neck. She could smell
her daughter but she also was able to smell Rachel, who smelled
very good. She was shocked as she was overcome with the desire to
nip Rachel's neck and move lower…
Quinn quickly straightened and coughed,
"Well…she…uh…smells clean too. She passes
inspection."
Rachel gave Quinn a look before moving to put Beth
in her crib. Quinn went back to lie down on her bed and watched as
Rachel tucked Beth in for the night. She found her eyes closing
with her daughter's as Rachel sang a lullaby. She hadn't realized
she had fallen asleep until Rachel got into bed beside her and she
jolted awake.
Over the past few months, the girls had taken to
sleeping in the same bed. It made it easier for them to split who
got up to take care of Beth in the middle of the night if she woke
up. Quinn sat up to look over the shorter girl and felt another
rush of warmth for her. Not everyone would wake up at 4am to change
a dirty diaper.
"Rachel?"
"Hmm," Rachel tiredly grunted.
"I love you."
Rachel grumbled, "No, I got up last night to take
care of her. It's your turn tonight."
"No, I mean it. I love you."
The Jewish girl sat up as if she realized the
seriousness of the conversation. Rachel rubbed her eyes before
meeting Quinn's hazel ones. She repeated, "You love
me."
Quinn bit her lip and dug her hands into the bed to
keep from bolting out of the room, "Yes."
"Let's clarify this. Do you love me as a friend, as
a co-raiser of Beth, or as…as…a potential
partner?"
Quinn started blushing which Rachel took as a good
sign. Over the past few months she had grown to care about Quinn
more and more and Beth felt like her own daughter. She knew that
she didn't want to lose either of them from her
life.
Becoming a parent at sixteen wasn't what she had
planned. Nor had falling in love with a woman been part of her
plan. It honestly wasn't on the board of her planned out life. She
hadn't planned on Quinn to move in or to fall in love with the
mother and daughter so much that it hurt to think of losing them.
While she occasionally had the brief daydream of what it would be
like if she wasn't tied down to a 'wife and kid', but those
daydreams never lasted long. Who could daydream over singing in
front of thousands every night when she had a little girl who
couldn't fall asleep unless she sang to her? She wasn't putting the
idea of Broadway completely out of her mind, but Rachel realized,
for the first time in her life, that plans can change. That dreams
can change and it's all for the better.
Rachel had hoped Quinn felt the same but after she
had flipped out about the kiss, she wasn't sure. Rachel finally
asked Brittany for a second opinion.
"She looks at you the way I look at Santana,"
Brittany said and that was all Rachel needed to
know.
"I don't know what you mean by partner," Quinn
finally said.
Rachel moved closer to Quinn. She said, "It means
someone who shares responsibility with you, someone who you are in
an established relationship with, and… a fellow participant
in sexual activity."
The dark-haired girl held her breath.
She knew she desired Quinn, it had taken everything not to kiss
Quinn again over the months, but she needed to know if Quinn had
that same desire for her.
Quinn cleared her throat, feeling her blush deepen,
"Then I love you as all three."
"Truly?" Rachel asked, unable to believe her
ears.
"Truly," Quinn repeated with a smile. She watched as
a look of wonder and glee crossed Rachel's face. That expression
paused as Rachel said, suddenly very serious, "Quinn, this is
extremely good news."
"Only if you feel the same about me."
"I do," Rachel smiled, "I've loved you for months
now. So you agree with me that this is good news
then?"
"Yes, Rachel, this is good news." She didn't know
what the dark-haired girl was getting at. She understood perfectly
when Rachel leaned closer.
"You recall how we celebrate good news,
correct?"
Quinn found she couldn't remember how to speak so
she just nodded. She didn't wait for Rachel to continue; she kissed
the dark-haired girl before another moment went by.
****
Epilogue:
The chances of two sixteen-year-old girls with a
baby staying together are slim at best. Rachel and Quinn made it
through high school together, but when the time came to apply to
colleges, Quinn started breaking away from Rachel. This led to
arguments, horrible fights, and their ultimate breakup. Rachel went
off to Julliard and Quinn stayed in Lima with her
daughter.
Beth cried almost every night for three months after
Rachel left. She couldn't understand why her Mom had left her and
why she wasn't there to sing her to sleep every
night.
Puck had worked his way up to assistant foreman in
Hiram's company and he was making very good money. He asked Quinn
to marry him but she declined.
Hiram and Leroy bought a house down the block from
them and gave it to Quinn and Beth. Quinn refused at first but
later gave in. She took a few online college courses, unsure of
what she wanted to be once she got out of high school. She settled
on becoming an accountant.
Quinn remembered it had been a cold November night
and there was snow on the ground. She had just turned 20 and was
one semester away from obtaining an associate's degree in
accounting. Beth was four and spending the night at Hiram and
Leroy's. The two men spoiled their granddaughter rotten but she
couldn't get angry over it.
There was a knock on the door that caused Quinn to
raise her eyebrow. She didn't know who it could be. When she opened
the door, she was stunned to see it was Rachel.
The two women hadn't spoken in almost two years. The
last words Quinn said to Rachel were, "I want you out of my
life."
Rachel's had been, "You'll never see me in it
again."
Quinn knew Rachel still spent time with Beth. Leroy
and Hiram were always showing Beth emails and videos that Rachel
had sent just for her. She even allowed Beth to have the constant
stream of packages Rachel sent. Rachel had spent the first two
years of Beth's life as her second mom.
"Rachel…what are you doing here?" Quinn
gasped.
Rachel came inside the house, uninvited, and took
off her thick coat to hang on the door.
"Come in, please. Make yourself at home," Quinn
dryly commented.
"Are you seeing anybody?"
Quinn blinked once, twice. She said, "Excuse
me?"
Rachel repeated her question, her eyes firm, "Are
you seeing anybody?"
Quinn straightened and crossed her arms, "That's
none of your …"
"Quinn," Rachel snapped, "Answer the
question."
"Fine," the blonde growled, "No, I'm not. Haven't
seen anyone since you. Does that make you happy?"
The reply she got wasn't what she expected. Rachel
kissed her, pushing her back against the door. Even though she was
stunned, even though she wanted a reason as to why Rachel was here
instead of a kiss, her body had spent two years responding to
Rachel's kiss. It was programmed to respond and respond she did.
She kissed back just as hard, pulled Rachel closer by her hips. She
hadn't been with anyone since Rachel and she had missed
her.
It was Rachel who started the kiss and Rachel who
ended it. She pulled away, breathing very hard. Quinn was left in
her position by the door.
"You're an idiot," Rachel growled. Quinn snapped out
of her daze, "How dare you call me…"
"You're an idiot," Rachel repeated. She then added
softly, "And I'm an even bigger one."
"Okay, I'm lost. What are you doing
here?"
Rachel sighed, "It's been almost two years since we
broke up. The other night I was in my dorm watching the snow fall.
All of a sudden, it just dawned on me. I realized that you were
pushing me away our senior year."
Quinn started looking everywhere but at Rachel. She
said, starting to move towards the kitchen, "Interesting. Well,
it's been nice seeing you but…"
Rachel caught the blonde's arm, preventing her from
leaving. She firmly stated, "No, you're going to listen to
me."
The blonde huffed but stood still. She refused to
look at the other woman.
"You were pushing me away because you wanted me to
go to Julliard. You wanted me to get out of Lima and you knew I
wouldn't if we stayed together. That I would stay here with you and
Beth."
"You belong there," Quinn softly replied, "I saw the
videos your fathers have of your concerts and plays. You belong
there. I would never fit in New York. I could never take Beth
there, but you belong there."
"And at that time of my life, part of me thought so
too. I think part of me knew what you were doing. That part of me
wanted to go to New York and try to follow the dreams I've had
since I could talk. That's why I didn't fight you about breaking
up."
Hazel eyes briefly met brown before Rachel
continued, "New York was fine if I kept busy and luckily, one can
stay very busy at Julliard. But at night, I'd think of you and
Beth. I'd wish you were lying down beside me. I'd wake up in the
morning, wondering why I was alone. I wondered why my alarm woke me
up instead of Beth."
Quinn smiled, "She still gets up early. Just like
you."
Rachel shared that smile, "So as I watched it snow
out my window, I realized I wasn't where I wanted to be. And I
remembered something I thought when I was sixteen. Plans can
change, dreams can change, and it can all be for the better. I've
wanted to be a Broadway star since I could talk. Now, I want
nothing more than to be here in Lima with you and Beth. Took me two
years to realize that but it's what I want."
A tear slid down Quinn's cheek and Rachel reached
out to wipe it away. She softly asked, moving closer to the blonde,
"Why are you crying?"
"Cause it's what I want too. I've wanted you here since
the moment I let you go," Quinn confessed. She pulled the
dark-haired woman into a hug and just held on. She couldn't believe
this was happening.
Rachel asked, "Should we go tell my parents and
Beth?"
Quinn pulled back to look at the woman who had held
her heart since she was sixteen. She leaned in to give her a
passionate kiss before pulling back to say, "Tomorrow. We can tell
them tomorrow. Tonight I just want you all to
myself."
Quinn started pulling a very willing Rachel in the
direction of her bedroom.
Tomorrow they would tell Leroy, Hiram, and Beth.
Tomorrow they would call up Santana and Brittany (who had broken up
and also gotten back together). Tomorrow they would tell the whole
world and Rachel would start moving back to Lima. But tonight was
for them.
THE END