Fate Without Destiny

by ladidai

There is a subtle distinction between fate and destiny in Chinese culture. Fate will bring two people together, but they may not end up connected. It is only when they are destined do they find happiness together.

1. Chapter 1

"You yuan wu fen" ancient Chinese proverb meaning to have fate without destiny

XXX

"Welcome to Patton Boggs, Michael."

"Thank you," Mike said as he shook the hand of the pleasant, plump lady who worked in HR.

"We should be the ones thanking you. No one at the firm expected you to move from LA to join us."

Mike shrugged. "I wasn't really expecting to take this offer either, but things change."

"Well, I'm sure you'll love it here," she said as she pulled out a folder from her desk drawer and handed it to Mike. "Here's your welcome packet. Some of the paperwork needs to be finished today. Make sure you get that back to me before you leave."

Mike nodded and said, "Sounds good."

The plump, pleasant HR lady picked up her phone and pushed a button. "Heather, it's me. I'm all done with Michael. You're up." She hung up the phone. "Any questions while we wait?"

"Was there a reason the firm wanted me specifically?"

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that. I'm just handling your final paperwork." She tucked her pen back into a cup with the firm's name on it. "I'm sure the associate you're working with can answer that."

"Right, of course."

"Any other questions?"

A knock on the door stopped Mike from saying he didn't.

The pleasant, plump HR lady gestured towards Mike. "Heather, this is Michael. He's your new policy analyst."

Mike turned around in his seat and looked at the newcomer, a pretty brunette who had a face that said she graduated from college a week ago. The perfectly tailored suit, expensive jewelry, and the way she carried herself said otherwise. The fact she left her suit jacket unbuttoned said something completely different.

"Hi, I'm Heather," she said with her hand extended. "Gonna be working as an analyst with James?"

Mike took her hand and shook it. "Yea. That's right."

"Same here," Heather said with a smile. "Welcome to the team."

"Team?"

"We do things a little differently around here." Heather looked at the HR lady and said, "You guys all done here?" to which the HR lady nodded. Heather looked back at Mike and gestured towards the door. "Come on. I'll show you around."

The elevator made them wait which Mike didn't mind because it gave him time to think. New environments and situations always made him want to think and even less talkative. Not that there was much to think about since it was his first day and all the work he had was to fill out his new employee paperwork.

"So, not much of a talker are you?"

"Not really." Mike grinned. "What gave it away?"

She grinned back. "Guys usually flirt with me the second they see me."

"Sorry, I haven't offended you have I?"

"Depends." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you gay?"

"Heh," Mike said as he shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"Then I'm a little offended." She looked over as the elevator doors opened and she walked in. "Don't worry; you can make it up to me later."

He followed her into the elevator. "Ah…"

She smiled and touched his arm. "Don't be nervous. I don't bite."

Mike glanced over at her with a look that said he was more frightened than he actually was.

"Okay," she said with pursed lips. "That was a bit much."

"Just a little," he said as he held an index finger and thumb half an inch apart to show her just how little it was.

The elevator softly dinged, the doors slid open, and she walked out with Mike following her.

"We're on the ninth floor with the rest of the government accounts." She began gesturing around her as she described how the office was set up, where the essential rooms were, and who worked where. It was your basic office floor, copy room, supply closet, secretary's desk, and employee lounge. Cubicles were stuffed into the center of the area, fitting in as many as possible while still making each one semi-comfortable for its occupant. Offices for more important employees, mostly lawyers, lined the sides of the floor.

She led him to the one of the corners of the floor and stopped. "This is our team's area. No one else is here, so we'll get you introduced when they get in." She pointed at the cubicle against the far wall. "That's yours." She pointed at the cubicle next to his. "That's mine. IT set you up with a login right?"

Mike nodded and he followed her swaying hips as she walked past him and toward her cubicle. The wink and smile she threw at him as she entered it told him that she knew what he was doing. He had nothing better to do, so he went into his sparsely furnished cubicle, took off his suit jacket, and began to work through his new employee paperwork.

The next thing he knew there was a light tapping at the entrance of his cube and a voice he never thought he'd hear again, calling him by a name no one had used in years.

"Mike? Mike Chang?"

He turned around and laid his eyes upon the most beautiful person he'd ever seen in his life. Sure, there were actresses and supermodels that were more beautiful, but in Mike's mind no one he'd seen in person could ever top Quinn Fabray. Especially when she was smiling the way she was as she leaned against the entrance of his cubicle with her arms crossed and dressed in white blouse and grey skirt.

"Quinn?"

Her eyes and smile widened. "It is you."

"And it's you."

"It is me." She tapped the side of his cubicle. "What's with Michael? Did you stop using Mike?"

"Hmm? Oh." He started rocking his seat back and forth. "People just started calling me Michael in college and I didn't care enough to stop them."

"Huh." Her eyes skimmed downward. "Still can't sit still can you?"

He stopped rocking and chuckled. "Can't stop the beat right?"

"What?"

"Don't remember our glee club?"

She pursed her lips. "I try not to think about those times."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad was it?"

She gave him a look which said more to him about her time in high school than words ever could. He could understand why someone wouldn't really want to remember the experiences that made them stronger.

"Right." He took a deep breath and let it out. "So, how long have you worked here?"

"I started here right after I graduated from Yale."

"That's impressive," he said and it showed on his face because it was. Patton Boggs was one of the best legal firms in the United States and consistently ranked among the top lobbying firms in the country. People in the industry would kill to work at Patton Boggs.

"Not really, it was mostly because I interned with Burt every summer. It's easy to make connections at a lobbying firm when you're actually working in Congress."

"Doesn't matter." He raised his arms and gestured around him. "You don't get awesome cubicle like this without knowing what you're doing."

"Oh." Her lips quirked up. "So you know what you're doing huh? Cause we're not going to cut you any slack just because you're new here."

"I was talking about you, you know."

"I know, but I don't have an awesome cubicle like this."

"You don't? Where do you work then?"

She turned part way and pointed at the small office in the corner. "That's mine."

He leaned over in his seat to look past her and could see part of the interior of her office. What he could see wasn't much, just a comfortable looking leather chair and a piece of abstract modern art hanging on the wall opposite of the door. "Wait, what'd you do here?"

"Same as you, policy analyst."

"Wait, why do you get an office?"

"For one," she said as held up her index finger. "You're new here." Her middle finger joined the first. "Two, I'm the best analyst in the firm and perks come with that. Three—"

A sheepish smile appeared on Mike's face as Quinn's little speech continued because it was probably the most he'd ever heard her say at one time. And it had something to do with the fact that she sounded just like she did all those years ago in that choir room.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said as he shook his head. "That's just the most I've ever heard you speak."

An eyebrow was raised. "That's funny coming from you."

His mouth flopped open and he waited for the former high school ice queen to continue her onslaught, but all she did was smile. Hearing something, she turned her head slightly then said, "C'mon, I'll introduce you to our fearless leader."

James, their fearless leader of an attorney, he first met through videoconferencing during the interview process and he seemed like a laidback guy. He said as much when Mike meets him in person for the first time and that as long as Mike did a good job and didn't look like a slob at work, everything else didn't really matter. After that quick chat, James sequestered himself in his office to get ready for the half a dozen meetings he had that day. With a grin, Quinn said that this was a common occurrence because they were the best in the business.

Heather introduced herself again, only more formally this time. It wasn't as though Mike thought she wasn't qualified for what she did, but he had never run into anything like her at any of his previous jobs. Still, he was a bit surprised to find out that she graduated from the top one percent from her class in Georgetown. It wasn't surprising at all to find out she was president of the only sorority at the school.

Neither Quinn nor Mike mentioned that they knew each other from high school to anyone else. Mike didn't care if anyone from work found out about it but he wasn't going to go around telling people for no reason because that piece of information wasn't really important. He assumed Quinn didn't tell anyone because she had things she wanted to keep to herself, so that gave him another reason for him to keep quiet. Not that he ever had a problem doing that.

"Any questions?" Quinn asked as they walked back.

"No." They reached his cubicle. "Wait, what do I do after I finish my HR paperwork?"

"Come get me. I'll find something for you to do."

He gave her a confused look because he was pretty sure James was his boss. Not to mention it seemed like she was flirting with him, but that was just crazy.

She rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb at herself. "Remember those perks I was telling you about for being the best? I basically get to boss you around until James thinks you can work on your own."

"Seriously?"

"Don't worry." She smiled. "I'll take care of you."

He didn't really know how to respond to that.

"Just don't screw up too badly. I'd hate to have to tell James you can't cut it here."

He grinned. "I won't."

"I know you won't." She turned to head into her office, but before she stepped inside, she looked back and said, "We could always count on you."

He looked down, a bit embarrassed, because he never imagined that Quinn Fabray would ever be complimenting him. However, he decided that he was too damn old to be embarrassed about a pretty woman complimenting him, even if it was Quinn Fabray. So he raised his head and said, "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too."

XXX

The knocking coming from behind distracted Mike from the position paper he was editing in front of him. Unlike a lot of people his age, he preferred to do his reviewing with a pen on actual paper. Something about the feel of a pen gliding across paper felt much more satisfying compared to rearranging electronic bits on an LCD screen. Everyone made a comment about it and the person behind him was no different.

"Didn't think you'd be so old school."

He spun around and found Heather standing at the threshold of his cubicle, grinning at him.

"C'mon it's lunch time. Did you brown bag it or do I get to show you around the area?"

"Uh, I guess you get to show me around." He pointed behind him with his thumb. "Gimmie a few minutes; I need to finish going over this for Quinn first."

She smiled and shook her head then said, "Terrible. Your first day and she's already got you doing her work," before leaving.

He turned around and pulled up the electronic version of the paper so he could copy over the changes he made to the paper. This didn't take long at all. Just because he enjoyed using a pen and paper didn't mean his computer skills were lacking, so it took little time for him to complete his task and email the document back to Quinn.

The door to Quinn's office was left ajar. A quick glance inside told Mike that she was busy working and he wondered what she did for lunch while walking over to Heather's cubicle. He found her not working at all but rather watching videos of cute animals on YouTube.

"I can come back later when you're not busy."

"No way. Cute animals can wait." Heather closed her browser window and stood up. "Let's go. I'm starving."

"So, how's your first day been?" Heather asked as they walked towards the elevator.

"It's been fine. Lots of first day stuff then Quinn gave me that short position paper to look over."

"Liking it so far?"

Mike shrugged. "Not much to dislike."

He fell silent like he usually did, but Heather didn't seem to mind since that let her fill the air with chatter about the food options that were around their downtown building. The way she made it sound, there wasn't much to eat so he started to make plans to bring his own lunch from now on. He was figuring out what to do for food the rest of the week when a thought came to him.

"Hey, what does Quinn do for lunch?"

"Quinn? She usually eats by herself in her office or in the lounge."

"Huh."

"Don't bother. She turns down everyone who's asked her to eat with them."

"Well, can't hurt to try," he said before turning around and heading back to where they came from.

Her door was still ajar and he knocked twice before opening it. Her head rose with a look of annoyance on her face that quickly vanished when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Heather and I are going to lunch. Wanna come?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "I've got too much work to do."

"You gonna be able to finish it all today?"

"No, but—"

"No, buts. It'll still be here when we get back."

She pursed her lips and glared at him. For a second, he thought she would turn down the offer, but when her hands dropped down to the keyboard and her fingers hit the keys to lock the computer, he knew he had her.

"When did you become so pushy?" she asked with a smile as she grabbed her purse and stood up. "I'm not sure if I like this new you."

The smile told him she wasn't really serious but he still stumbled over his reply while stumbling backwards out of her office. "I— I'm not. I just thought it'd be nice for you to eat with someone. Heather says you always eat alone."

She arched an eyebrow and he flashbacked to their time in high school which filled him with dread while she followed him out.

"I see Tina's love of gossip rubbed off on you."

This time, he was the one who pursed his lips.

Quinn's hard gaze quickly softened and words tumbled out of her mouth. "I— I didn't mean— I don't even know what—"

"It's alright. It's okay." He let out a breath. "I guess we both have things from high school we don't like to think about."

There was a lull in the conversation before Quinn said, "I won't say anything if you won't." She held out her hand. "Deal?"

He gave her a hand a funny look before shaking it and saying, "Deal. C'mon, let's go get lunch."

XXX

To the amazement of Heather and pretty much everyone else at the office, Quinn began to eat lunch with Mike. She didn't do it every day, but more often than not they spent their lunchtime together. It wasn't as though they talked that much while they ate. Neither one of them had ever been the talkative type so putting the two of them together just led a quiet table with a few small conversations about how their respective days were going.

Mike had learned a long time ago at his first job that a professional workplace was not that different from high school so he wasn't surprised that gossip about him and Quinn had started. When he mentioned it to Quinn, she said that she no longer cared about what people thought about her. That had been the trend during their senior year but in Mike's mind it was still high school and everyone thought about their public image no matter what they said or how they acted, even him.

He liked to think that he was above the gossip, but the rumors started to rub him the wrong way when they became about how quickly Quinn started to sleep with the new guy. Thinking that Heather would be someone who could stop them, he told her that he went to high school with Quinn and it was nice of Quinn to eat with him because she was a friendly face. His reasoning proved to be correct when the rumors about them died that same day.

He knew she knew what he did when the first words out of her mouth during lunch were, "I heard what you did today."

"Yea? I didn't think my first assignment from James would be that easy," he said as he played stupid.

"Mike."

"Quinn."

She rolled her eyes and pulled out a Tupperware container filled with salad from her lunch bag. It amazed him that all she ever ate at work was salad and some grilled chicken.

"You didn't have to do it. I told you I didn't care what people said about me."

He fished out his bacon cheeseburger from a paper bag from what had quickly become his restaurant of choice then ripped open said bag for easier access to his fries and poured ketchup over them.

"I know you did, but the rumors weren't just about you."

She arched an eyebrow. "Didn't want to be associated with someone who slept with the new guy before his first week was up?"

"You know I never cared about that," he said before he stuffed a few ketchup covered fries into his mouth.

"Then why tell Heather that we went to high school together?"

He swallowed the food in his mouth. "Because you aren't someone who sleeps with the new guy."

She dropped her gaze and poked at her salad with a fork. "I always forget how nice you were— are. How nice you are."

While she poked away, he ate a few more fries and thought it was crazy that Quinn didn't care if everyone in the firm thought she slept around. And from the way she looked right now, he would've bet that she did care.

"Plus, I didn't want to be known as the new guy who slept around."

Her head shot up and for a second he thought that she might have taken him seriously until a grin appeared on her face. They spent the rest of lunch chatting about Mike's work, with Quinn giving him suggestions on how to improve his writing. He gladly took her advice because she'd been at this job and in the industry much longer than he had and he was always one to know his weaknesses.

Eventually, he noticed that she glanced at his bag of fries one too many times and said, "You can steal one if you want."

"Steal what?"

"A fry. You keep looking at them."

"No, I don't—"

"Go ahead." He pushed the bag closer to her. "I know I'd be bored after a week of salad and grilled chicken."

She smiled and stole the first of many fries.

XXX

It was interesting to Mike to see the differences that Quinn had with her high school self as he sat down in the chair she was gesturing towards.

They were celebrating his successful first week of work at a restaurant with some of her friends. It was strange to see that no one from work was there aside from him, but it didn't surprise him since she didn't talk to the people at work about her personal life. To be honest, he didn't know if he was included in that group since they only talked about job related things during work, so he was happy when Quinn practically ordered him to come have drinks and dinner with her and her friends Friday after work.

As he listened to the conversations around the table, he liked that this version of Quinn was more involved, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen this before. Apparently, Quinn and her friends were regulars at this restaurant since the chef kept coming out with small dishes for them to try. He finally figured out what his subconscious was trying to tell him as the chef brought out yet another dish for the table to try out and one of Quinn's friends was telling some amusing anecdote about someone they knew. Everyone else at the restaurant was looking at their table and he realized that this was just like high school. She was still the head of the group that everyone wanted to a part of.

He used to see Quinn and the Cheerios plant themselves on the bleachers while they watched football practice. Normally, this wouldn't have been a memorable thing, but it was always strange that they sat in a triangle formation. As Head Cheerio, Quinn sat alone at the top row, forcing everyone else to look up at her as she held court. Her best friends, Santana and Brittany sat on the row just below and all the other Cheerios sat in whatever order they were supposed to be in that day.

Now, Quinn was holding court again.

XXX

"Hey, you wanna grab a drink after work?" Quinn asked as she poked her head into his cubicle one Friday afternoon.

"Uh, yea sure."

He thought that Quinn might be flirting with him, but he was awful at reading signals from members of the opposite sex. That had made for plenty of awkward moments during his early college years. His skills gradually became better but he wouldn't say he was actually any good at it, probably a smidge better than mediocre now. Not that going from awful to mediocre was all that helpful.

It turns out he was wrong when she introduces him to her boyfriend, Andrew, at the bar they go to after work. One of Quinn's friends he met at dinner last week was there also, but he doesn't give it much thought because it was nice to unwind over drinks after a week of work. Soon, the table was filled with conversation and even he and Quinn were forced to talk more than they normally do since there were only four at the table.

Naturally, he spent a bit more time talking with Quinn's friend since the other pair at the table had a reason to talk to each other. Not that he minded because she turned out to be pleasant enough to talk with and was easy on the eyes. So the four of them drank the night away while making small talk.

"Andrew's a doctor doing his residency in internal medicine," Quinn said when he went off to the restroom.

"Couldn't wait to brag about that, could you?"

The look Quinn shot him could've frozen a large body of water.

He grinned back and said, "So, how'd you guys meet?"

"We were on the train and he tapped me on the shoulder and whispered some pickup line into my ear."

"Must've been a good line."

"I don't remember," she said with a shrug. "I freaked out and got off at the next stop. He chased after me and well," she shrugged again, "here we are a year and a half later."

Quinn's friend excused herself to go to the restroom and, when she got out of earshot, Quinn said, "Sorry for dragging you out here."

"Don't worry about it. Not like I had anything better to do."

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Quinn asked with a glance towards the restrooms.

Mike nodded and followed her glance with his own eyes.

"She practically begged me to do this."

With a laugh, he looked back at her and said, "Look at you playing matchmaker."

"Don't be ridiculous," Quinn said as she rolled her eyes. "I didn't promise her that you'd actually go out on a date."

Mike gestured around him. "So what'd you call this?"

"This is just four friends getting a drink together." Her hand covered his, causing him to glance down for a second, and her voice lost its playfulness when she said, "I'm serious. Don't think you have to date her."

Quinn looked down and it took a second before she pulled her hand away. When her gaze returned to him, she smiled and he said, "She seems nice enough. Maybe I will ask her out."

"Good. I'm sure she'll be happy."

XXX

They were at their bi-weekly status meeting with James going over their current assignments. Heather and Mike got through their stuff quickly. Quinn outlined the things she was working on and it looked as though it was going to be another fast meeting.

"Lastly—"

"Wait," James said. "Go back to what you just said."

Quinn looked down at her papers. "The public parks thing?"

"Yes. Can you get it done any sooner?"

"There are some bigger accounts that are more pressing."

"I'd like to have it done to get the environmentalists off our back. Mike," James said as he looked down at his notes, "write up the position paper for the corn subsidy legislation."

Out of the corner of his eye, Mike could see Quinn's head jerk toward him because that was one of her major assignments. It wasn't glamorous but it was something she was looking forward to writing because the issues and arguments were complex. She'd said as much during a few of their conversations over lunch.

"Um, I'm not sure I know enough about the issue."

"I've read your papers, you'll be fine. This'll be your primary assignment." James wrote a little note. "Quinn, I think you had one last thing?"

The last item took barely took her a minute to get through and the meeting was over, though for once, Mike wasn't sure he wanted the meeting to be finished. He had a feeling there was a reckoning coming and was proven right from the look he got from Quinn as they walked back. The feeling was even worse when Quinn basically stopped talking to him over something he had no control over.

XXX

It was a random Saturday night when Quinn stopped by.

She said she was in the neighborhood and decided on a whim to see if he was home. He wasn't sure if she was lying, but he was pretty sure she knew he was there. The only people who he knew in the city were from work or her friends and she was always there when he hung out with either group. His only other option was going out on another date with Quinn's friend but after a few dates, he wasn't in a rush to go out on another and he didn't think she was either.

Holding a bottle of Malbec and two glasses, he walked back from the kitchen and found her sitting primly on the couch with her hands and legs crossed. With the nice dress she had on, he wondered what her original plans for the night were.

"Thank you," she said when he handed her a glass. It amused him to see her hold the glass by the stem and swirl the liquid inside before sniffing it a few times. Only after all that did she take a sip and smile.

"Any reason you're staring at me?" she asked since he had been staring at her through the entire process.

"This stuff isn't that expensive," he said as he held his own glass, cupping the bowl with the palm of his hand. "You didn't really need to go through all that."

"And you really shouldn't be holding your glass like that. Your hand is going to warm the wine."

He chuckled then said, "I didn't know you were a sommelier."

The glare she gave him reminded him of the ones she used to give out back in high school and it made him nervous out of some Pavlovian response he learned from back then. He went back to wondering why she stopped by as he stared ahead. Most of their conversations were work related even though she was the person he saw the most outside of work because they were both still pretty quiet so they usually listened to the stories her friends told.

After a few sips of his wine, he turned his head and found her looking around.

"So, um—"

"I like your apartment," she said, still looking around between sips of her own.

"It's not much." And it really isn't. The place is pretty small and all his furniture is cheap stuff from Ikea. He's always been pretty messy and this place was no different, so there were piles of his things everywhere.

"It's comfortable," she said before looking at him, "like a home should be."

"Thanks?"

She went back to looking around and the conversation died. The silence started to bug him so he turned on the TV which drew her attention.

"What're we watching?"

"Don't know. See if anything is on; if not, I've got Netflix." He sipped on his wine. "Any preferences?"

"No sports. No reality shows, unless it's Top Chef," she said with a tone that told him that he had better pay attention to her.

He surfed around for a while until he found a channel that just started to play Star Trek, the J.J. Abrams version, and Quinn stopped him, commenting that she loved the movie and its sequels. Chuckles came out of him because he found it amusing that she would like those movies until she looked over at him which quickly shut him up.

Every once in a while Mike glanced over at her during the movie and every time he does, she was still primly sitting in the exact same position as when he first saw her. The only things she did were play with her charm bracelet on her right wrist and recross her legs every once in a while. For someone who said they liked the movie, she sure didn't react to it like someone who did. At the very least, he figured that the stuff with Scotty would make her laugh because Simon Pegg is a funny dude, but when he looked over all she had was a smile on her face. Well, it was better than nothing.

Meanwhile, his lanky arms and legs are sprawled all over the rest of the couch and constantly shifting around because that's how he's always been. He's happy that she doesn't seem to mind it, even when his foot accidentally bumps into her a few times.

The bottle of wine was almost finished when the credits began to roll. Quinn checked her watch and stood up. A little unsteadily, Mike scrambled up to his feet to join her.

"Thanks for having me over," she said like he had actually invited her over, but whatever.

"Thanks for coming over."

She picked up her handbag and started to make her way to the door.

"Quinn."

She turned around.

"Is everything alright?" I meant you just stopped by…"

A smile appeared on her face. "Everything's fine. Andrew got called in to work a double shift, again and, like I said, I was in the neighborhood."

"Oh."

"Thanks again," she said before beginning to walk away again.

"Quinn."

She turned around again.

"Do you want me to walk you home?"

She looked at him wobbling and smiled. "No, I'll be okay. It's not that late and I don't live too far away."

"You sure?"

"Yea, because I'd probably have to walk you back after you escorted me to my place," she said before heading towards the door again.

"Quinn."

She turned around again and, by the tightness of her smile, he saw that she was starting to get annoyed.

"Bring the wine next time."

Her smile widened until it reached her eyes and she said, "I will."

And she did.