Title: Accidents of Faith and Nature
Pairing(s): Brittany/Santana, Sugar/Harmony, Quinn/Rachel
Rating: PG-13 for now
Spoilers: Spoilers from season 1 and onward. Basically, anything that has happened is fair game.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters of Glee or any likeness to the characters. Not making any money writing this and all that jazz. The title is from the Snow Patrol song "The Lightning Strike (Part II)"
Summary: A bit of an angst-ier, different take on Sugar: from the future. Sugar and her girlfriend, Harmony go back to the past so Sugar can get to know her mother. Brittana, Faberry, Sugarmony.
"Brittany!"
The way Quinn rushes into the room, voice loud and stern, is enough to scare even the doctor—an older man with snow white hair and fragile shaky hands—who glances up, eyes blown wide and glassy like saucers.
Quinn sounds angry.
She's not though.
She frightened.
It's easy to tell when Quinn's scared or angry and this is definitely scared.
Brittany doesn't blame her; she was scared too when she got the call from the hospital.
She's less scared, more worried, now that she's figured out what's going on.
"Quinn, this is Doctor Harper," Brittany introduces.
Quinn has questions, Brittany can see them pouring from her eyes, but Brittany won't be able to answer those questions until Quinn gets the most mundane ones answered by the good doctor.
"Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray," Quinn stills his slightly shaking hand with her handshake. "I'm Harmony's mother,"
"Oh!" the aging doctor bristles. "Mrs. Fabray!" His tone kind of hitches, like he's surprised. Most people are; Harmony is pretty much all Rachel until she starts scheming and then she's so Quinn it's kind of scary. "As I was just telling Mrs. Lopez here," Pierce-Lopez, Brittany doesn't correct him. "all of our scans have come back completely normal. In fact, it just appears as if your daughters have fallen into a deep sleep,"
"A deep sleep?"
Once again, she's scared, but the way Quinn parrots him makes her seem angry, like the medical staff are so incompetent that all they've managed to come up with is absurdity.
"Of course, our test results thus far are inconclusive. We're trying our best, Mrs. Fabray, and we will continue to exhaust all options until we've come up with a conclusive diagnosis and treatment for this ailment," he offers kindly but Quinn just blinks in shock.
"Hey, maybe it's like Mono. I mean, it'd make sense for them to get it from each other. And remember when San got mono? She kept falling asleep even when we were trying to do homework," she means to placate Quinn, to offer a viable diagnosis until the doctor leaves and she can tell Quinn what she really knows, however, she realizes she said the wrong thing almost instantly when Quinn's eyes widen and her jaw slackens a bit in shock.
"Quinn, I—"
Doctor Harper seems to take Brittany sticking her foot in her mouth as a good excuse to flee Quinn's perceived wrath because he mumbles something noncommittally before heading for the door.
"They were going to tell you, Quinn," Brittany explains. "Rachel too!" she adds. "It's just you guys are so busy,"
"I'm not that busy, Brittany,"
Brittany totally begs to differ; she almost asks if Quinn actually knows how many times Harmony has been home in the last couple of weeks because Quinn hasn't even called to check if she is indeed staying with Brittany; she doesn't say it though because Quinn is really edging towards anger now.
"I mean how could she start dating a girl without even telling me! I haven't even spoken to her about protection or anything,"
"Whoa," Brittany would laugh at that if she wasn't so offended. "First of all, she's a teenager, Quinn. And I'm her godmother; she talks to me, you know? And secondly, it's not like she's dating just any girl. Harmony and Sug have known each other since they were born,"
Quinn sighs.
It's never really been hard to make Quinn feel bad but Brittany hates doing it because making Quinn feel bad kind of makes her feel bad too.
"I know, Britt. I'm just… surprised and scared," Quinn admits, her face softening when she takes in her daughter, who is laying on the hospital bed next to Sugar's, her slowly rising chest and flushed cheeks the only real signs of life.
She actually looks quite peaceful but Brittany doesn't say it aloud for fear of upsetting Quinn again.
Quinn grabs the sleeping girl's hand, stroking softly.
"When you called, I just—they didn't even call me themselves, Britt,"
"Well, because I'm her emergency contact," Brittany points out logically although she realizes her mistake when Quinn whips around to look at her. "Sorry, I—I discussed it with Rachel. I thought she'd tell you,"
Now Quinn looks hurt and that really makes Brittany feel bad.
"It's just, you know, since you and Rach—" split up; she doesn't say that part out loud. "Rachel's so far and you're really busy. It took nine tries and sixteen text messages before you actually even answered the phone when I called and I can leave class whenever I want. You know my students don't care and my TA is kind of really glad when I leave. He still thinks I'm a bit crazy. But that's what an emergency contact is about though, right? Who can get here first?"
Quinn nods her understanding although she still doesn't look all too pleased. Her concern for her daughter quickly overshadows her upset though.
"I just don't understand what could cause this. They both just—fell asleep?"
Brittany knows exactly what could have caused this but now that the time is here for her to explain, she kind of doesn't even know where to start.
"Quinn, remember when I did my dissertation at UMB?" She broaches, starting easy.
She knows Quinn remembers, most people found it surprising enough that she got into MIT for her undergrad, they were downright shocked when she started grad school at UMB—she had offers from Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and even Oxford, but Santana had already given up so much for her to go to MIT and when San got into Johns Hopkins, her decision was made.
"Brittany, what does that—?"
"Remember how I couldn't tell you what it was about?"
Quinn nods slowly, obviously confused.
"I couldn't tell you because what I was working on was certified by the government. It's restricted information,"
"Brittany, what are you—Maybe you've been watching too many movies or something,"
Brittany almost laughs at how her friends still do that—still accredit most of what she says to her just being ditzy even though she's pushing 45 with a doctorate in physics and teaching at an Ivy League university.
"I'm completely serious, Quinn,"
"Serious? About what? Are you gonna tell me you're like a spy or something and someone has done this to our daughters to get back at you?"
Maybe Quinn's the one who has been watching too many movies.
"I—"This is a nightmare to explain. "I started working on this machine in high school. It was kind of a joke back then and then I stumbled onto quantum mechanics and as I dug deeper and deeper into it, I was almost convinced I could make it work. There was a professor at MIT—I mean, clearly it wasn't my grades they were interested in—he kind of took me under his wing. Eventually, we made it work,"
"A machine? You're not making any sense. What does this have to do with Harmony and Sugar?"
"It's a machine to hop realities,"
"Realities?"
"Except there are so many realities, so many branches, I mean, every decision, every step spawns a new reality so it's almost impossible to encompass all of them thus the machine really just travels along the path of the largest reality,"
"Brittany?"
"Time," she explains even though Quinn is staring at her, lips parted in shock.
"Brittany, I don't understand. What are you—are you saying that you've built like a time machine?"
"Fully functioning,"
Quinn looks like she may faint but Brittany really hopes she doesn't because she needs to continue explaining.
"This is why Santana thought your dissertation would make you famous," Quinn pieces together and Brittany can't help but smile at that.
No one believed in her quite like Santana.
Of course, she chose making sure the technology stayed out of the wrong hands over fame although she still worries sometimes—mostly when elections roll around—how her technology is being used.
"So, Harmony and Sugar?"
She was just getting to that part.
"See, the thing about the machine is transporting a body is difficult, I'd say even impossible if there wasn't this guy in my molecular physics class who is on the cusp of a breakthrough. So, without the ability to transport bodies, when we laid the blueprint for the machine, we had to find a way to recreate bodies,"
"You created a cloning device?"
"Well, the technology for it was already there; we just created a use for it. The machine, then, instead of transporting a person, transports a person's psyche to the new body. It's actually pretty safe. Things don't really get dangerous unless someone is transporting themselves to a reality in which they already exist because in that case, a new body isn't created, the psyche is just transported into the body that is already there. Then you run the risk of one of the psyches getting lost or destroyed or something,"
"So, Harmony and Sugar used your machine?"
"Yes," Brittany affirms, and then upon Quinn's pointed glare, adds, "Without my knowledge or consent. The transportation can take a couple of days, which is probably why they both collapsed at school but right now, what we're looking at is two bodies without their psyches, "
"And are they alright? Like, what you said before about psyches being damaged—"
"They've gone back to a time before either of them were born; their psyches are safe,"
"But, why would they—?"
"I have a theory," Which is why she's so worried. "I think—I mean, well—Sugar's been asking a lot about San lately,"
Quinn's face falls.
"Oh, Britt!"
Quinn's hugging her in an instant, her palm rubbing her back soothingly.
"It's alright," it's not really. "I mean, it was bound to happen. "She would have loved you. She already did," was only going to sate her for so long,"
Quinn pulls back, worry creasing her brow.
"But you said they've gone back before they were born. The shooting happened—"
"That's kind of the part I'm most worried about," Brittany admits. "They haven't gone back to then," It'd be no use anyhow; Brittany has gone back to that date so many times, she's gone back to days, weeks, years before it even, she's warned San, forced her to stay home, once, she has even taken the life that took San's, God, she's risked her psyche so many times that it's terrifying but it seems even time travel can't stop death.
"When have they gone back to, Britt?" Quinn asks, and then it seems, the possibilities spawn new worries. "Oh my God, what if something happens to them there? What happens if they change the past? What happens to the future?"
Too many questions asked at once, as usual, Brittany diverts back to the first one.
"They've gone back to our senior year,"
"Our senior year?" Quinn blinks slowly. "Nothing noteworthy happened in our senior year,"
"Our senior year of high school,"
"Oh," The possibilities seem to hit Quinn like a freight train. "They could change everything,"
Brittany nods.
"In this case, yes. The technology for them to come back to this reality hasn't been built yet so there is a huge possibility that their psyches grow with their new bodies and they grow into the future they create,"
"Brittany!" Quinn looks horrified which actually offends Brittany for a moment, because seriously, could Quinn have so little faith in her? She's clearly not just gonna let their daughters float into new realities.
"Which is why I'm going back to get them,"
"What?" But Brittany, you said—you'll already have a body then! What if you damage the psyche of Brittany back then? What if you damage the psyche of you?"
"Trust me, I've thought about all the things that could go wrong," Travelling into the body of her seventeen year old self both thrills and terrifies her. "I mean, if I damage the psyche of old Brittany then I grow into that future—"
"And I'm left here with you, Sugar and Harmony basically in comas while you live in this new reality your time travel has created?"
Brittany wants to say that isn't true, but there really is no way to sugarcoat it so she nods.
"Brittany, no. If you're going, I'm coming with you,"
"No," She won't let it happen. There are more risks if both of them go. "I need you to stay here. Rachel will be confused. I'll need you to explain it to her,"
"Brittany!"
"Look, I'm really sorry about this, Quinn, but I'm gonna fix it. I've already dialed the date to go back. My psyche is much more accustomed to the travel so I'll probably be gone in a couple of hours. I'd rather travel at home, so I know this body will be safe,"
"I trust you, Britt," Quinn resigns, "But the technology? You said it isn't there yet! Will you be able to get what you need in Lima, Ohio circa 2011?"
"I honestly don't know, Quinn," Brittany admits. "But if there is one person in 2011 who can help me, it's my old professor from MIT, Dr. Motta,"
Quinn nods, although there are worry lines on her forehead that Brittany wishes she had the word to soothe away.
"I don't really know the etiquette for time travel, Britt. But, safe travels?" She hugs her tight, "please, hurry back!"
TBC.. I'm thinking about chapter switching between Brittany, Santana and Harmony in the past and Faberry bonding and working through their troubles in the present/future but I dunno. This story is probably crazy. Review please or hit me up on my tumblr: downlikeyourinternet (dot) tumblr (dot) com